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to ensure a decent standard of living for all in accordance with a just economic and social order.
In the name of the high intention noted above we adopt this Constitution by nation-wide referendum.
The Syrian Republic is an independent sovereign state, based on the principle of the rule of the people by the people and for the people, the rule of law, equality of all before the law, social solidarity, respect for rights and freedoms and equality of rights and duties of all citizens regardless of any differences and privileges. The names Syrian Republic and Syria are equivalent.
Syria relies on the unity of its nation and is a common and indivisible homeland for all its citizens. Preserving the national unity and territorial integrity of Syria is the obligation of the State and all its citizens.
As a national heritage that promotes national unity, the Constitution shall guarantee the protection of cultural diversity of the Syrian society.
Syria is a state with a republican form of government.
The sole source of power in Syria shall be its multinational and multi faith people. The people shall exercise their sovereign right to freely and independently determine their own destiny. The People of Syria shall exercise their sovereignty in accordance with the Constitution directly by means of a referendum, and through their representatives elected on the basis of universal, equal, direct suffrage by free, secret and personal ballot.
Nobody except authorized representatives elected by the people shall have the right to represent the people, speak for the people and make declarations on behalf of the people.
No part of the Syrian people, or any social group or organization, or any person may usurp power. The usurpation of power is the gravest crime.
No person may simultaneously occupy the position of a member of the People’s Assembly, a member of the Constituent Assembly, President of the Republic, Prime Minister, a deputy prime minister, a minister, or a member of the Supreme Constitutional Court.
No person carrying another nationality, in addition to the nationality of Syria, may occupy the position of a member of the People’s Assembly, a member of the Constituent Assembly, President of the Republic, Prime Minister, a deputy prime minister, a minister, or a member of the Supreme Constitutional Court.
The power shall be transferred in a peaceful manner, following a democratic process established by the Constitution and the law.
The State shall respect all religions and religious organizations, and ensure the freedom to perform all the rituals that do not prejudice public order. Religious organizations shall be equal before the law.
The official language of the state is Arabic. The law shall regulate how the official language is used.
Government agencies and organizations of the Kurdish cultural autonomy shall use Arabic and Kurdish equally.
Syrian citizens shall be guaranteed the right to educate their children in their native language in state educational institutions and in private educational institutions that meet the educational standards.
The political system of the state shall be based on the principle of political pluralism, and exercising power democratically by secret ballot.
Political parties shall respect the constitutional order, democratic principles, national sovereignty, and territorial integrity of the state.
The law shall regulate the provisions and procedures related to the formation of political parties.
Public office or public money may not be exploited for a political, electoral or party interest.
Ideological diversity shall be recognized in Syria. No ideology shall be proclaimed as State ideology or as obligatory. Public associations shall be equal before the law.
The State shall ensure security and protect the rights and freedoms of national and religious minorities.
The establishment and activities of political parties and other public associations whose goals and activities are aimed at the forcible changing of the basis of the constitutional order and at violating the integrity of the State, at undermining its security, at engaging in terrorism, at creating armed units, at instigating religious, social, racial, national, and tribal strife; and that are based on sectarian, regional, class, professional discrimination, or on discrimination by gender or origin, may not be undertaken. Such organizations may not be part of the social and political system in Syria.
Syria denounces terrorism in all its forms and shall ensure protection of its territories and population against terrorist threats.
The Constitution shall have supreme legal force, direct effect and shall be applicable in the entire territory of Syria.
Laws and other legal acts, which are adopted in Syria, must not contradict the Constitution.
Universally recognized principles and norms of international law as well as international agreements of Syria shall be an integral part of its legal system. If an international agreement of Syria establishes rules, which differ from those stipulated by law, then the rules of the international agreement shall be applied.
Syria shall maintain good neighborly relations with other countries based on cooperation, mutual security and other principles stipulated by international legal rules.
Syria denounces war as an infringement on other countries’ sovereignty and a means to resolve international conflicts.
The territory of Syria is indivisible, inviolable and integral.
The territory of Syria is inalienable. State borders may be changed only after a referendum among all Syrian citizens, as the expression of the will of the Syrian people.
It is the State’s responsibility, and the duty and obligation of every Syrian citizen to safeguard the homeland’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity. In accordance with law, the State shall provide support to the families of citizens who lost their lives while defending independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria.
Citizens of Syria shall perform military service in accordance with law.
To defend and safeguard the homeland, the State shall create the army and other armed forces.
The army and other armed forces shall be under public oversight and shall defend Syria and its territorial integrity; they may not be used as an instrument of suppression of the people; they may not interfere in politics or participate in the transfer of power.
Performing military or militarized activity outside the domain of state power is prohibited.
In Syria the freedom of economic activity is guaranteed, and private, State, municipal and other forms of property shall be recognized. Property may not be used to infringe on human and civil rights and freedoms, public and State interests, and human dignity.
Developing the economy on the basis of different forms of property is aimed at improving the people’s wellbeing. The State shall use market principles to bolster economic development, guarantee freedom of entrepreneurship and prevent monopolization and unfair competition in economic relations.
The State shall ensure the free flow of goods and financial resources between the regions in accordance with the law.
In accordance with the law, land resources may be subject to State, municipal and private ownership.
Natural resources shall be publicly owned. The law shall regulate how utilization rights for natural resources or concessions are granted.
The law shall regulate taxes and levies. The tax system shall be based on a fair basis.
The State shall take steps to improve the wellbeing of its people in general and each of its citizens; to guarantee the individual’s social security and acceptable living standards.
The State shall support development of culture, education, healthcare, science, and art; protect the environment, and safeguard the people’s historical, material and spiritual legacy.
No discrimination by gender, origin, language or faith shall be allowed.
The family shall be the nucleus of society and the State shall protect its existence and its religious, moral and patriotic value. The state shall also protect maternity, childhood and old age, take care of young children and youth and provide the suitable conditions for the development of their talents.
Children shall have the right to be brought up, taken care of and educated by their parents. Parents shall be entitled to respect and care from their children, especially when parents require it, or due to an inability to work or because of old age.
Slavery, trafficking in women and children, exploitation of children are prohibited and shall be prosecuted by law.
Following a court’s decision individuals may be sentenced to compulsory labor the terms and duration of which are regulated by law. Compulsory labor may also be ordered by authorities during military service, and during the state of emergency – for the kinds of labor as stipulated by law.
Public service shall be a responsibility and an honor the purpose of which is to achieve public interest and to serve the people.
Citizens shall be equal in assuming the functions of public service. The law shall determine the conditions of assuming such functions and the rights and duties assigned to them.
The State and the public shall share responsibility when managing natural and manmade disasters.
Syria consists of constituent parts.
The law states the number of constituent parts, their boundaries and status.
The organization of local administrations is based on applying the principle of decentralization of authorities and responsibilities. The law states the relationship between these units and the central authority, their mandate, financial revenues and control over their work. It also states the way such administrations are appointed or elected.
The law shall state the status of the Kurdish Cultural Autonomy.
The monetary unit in Syria shall be the Syrian pound (lira).
The National Bank of Syria is owned exclusively by the State and shall have the right to emit money and withdraw it from circulation.
The flag of Syria consists of three colors: red, white and black, in addition to two stars, each with five heads of green color. The flag is rectangular in shape; its width equals two thirds of its length and consists of three rectangles evenly spaced along the flag, the highest in red, the middle in white and the lowest in black, and the two stars are in the middle of the white rectangle.
The law identifies the state’s emblem and its national anthem.
Everyone shall have the right to life, security and freedom and the State shall guarantee these rights. No right can be restricted or denied to a person unless otherwise provided by law and following the decision by the appropriate judicial authority.
All persons shall be equal before the law without discrimination among them on grounds of gender, race, nationality, origin, color, religion, personal convictions, beliefs or views, and economic and social status.
Everyone shall have the right to participate in the political, economic, social and cultural life.
Citizens, men and women, shall have the right to participate in managing State affairs and exercise their political rights including the right to elect and be elected.
No person shall be coerced to become a member of any party, association, society or political organization, or to keep his or her membership in said organizations.
Everyone shall respect and observe the Constitutions and laws.
Everyone shall be guaranteed freedom of thought and speech, and freedom of conscience and religion. Nobody shall be forced to express his thoughts and convictions or to deny them.
The State shall guarantee the freedom of conscience and the protection of places of worship. Sacred shrines and religious sanctuaries shall be considered places of religious and cultural importance, and the State shall assume the responsibility to safeguard and protect them.
Everyone shall have the right to participate for lawful purposes in meetings, peaceful rallies and strikes.
Everyone shall have the right freely to seek, receive, transmit, produce and disseminate information by any legal means. In accordance with the law the State ensures freedom of the press and mass media.
Propaganda or agitation, which incites social, racial, national or religious hatred and hostility, and propaganda of social, racial, national, religious or linguistic supremacy, shall be prohibited.
The law shall regulate the Syrian citizenship.
A citizen of Syria may not be deprived of his (her) citizenship.
A citizen of Syria may not be deported from Syria or extradited to another state.
Every citizen may freely enter and leave Syria unless otherwise stipulated by law and expressed in an applicable decision of the court or the prosecutor’s office.
Persons who are persecuted for their political convictions may not be extradited to other states.
Syria shall guarantee protection and patronage to its citizens living abroad permanently or temporarily.
Everyone shall have the right to the inviolability of his (her) person, home, personal and family privacy.
Collecting, keeping, using and disseminating information about the private life of a person shall not be permitted without his (her) consent.
The State shall guarantee a person’s right to privacy of correspondence, of telephone conversations and of postal, telegraph and other communications. This right may be limited by law to prevent a crime or to uncover the truth when investigating a crime.
Except when the law says otherwise or when following a court’s order, nobody may enter a home against the will of its occupants.
Everyone shall have the right to property.
Property rights, including individual private ownership, shall be protected by law.
Nobody may be deprived of property except under a court order. Private ownership may be removed in the State or public interest only against fair compensation according to the law.
The State shall guarantee the right of inheritance in accordance with the law.
Labor is the basis for personal and public prosperity. Everyone shall have the right to freely choose the type of activity, occupation and place of work based on his (her) skills. The State shall use all means at its disposal to eliminate unemployment.
Everyone shall have the right to work in conditions, which meet safety and hygiene requirements, and to receive remuneration for labor without any discrimination whatsoever.
Everyone shall have the right to rest. For those working under labor contracts the duration of work time, days of rest and public holidays and annual paid leave established by federal law shall be guaranteed.
The law shall regulate employer-employee relations based on economic principles and the norms of social justice.
The State shall guarantee the right of its people to lawfully form labor associations and unions and to join them.
Individual and collective labor disputes are to be resolved in a manner stated by law.
Everyone shall be obliged to pay legally established taxes and levies.
Everyone shall be guaranteed social security payments for legal retirement age, in case of illness, disability, loss of breadwinner, incapacitation, unemployment, and in other cases specified by law. Minimum state pensions and social benefits shall be established by law.
Helping people in need is the obligation of his (her) family members.
The State shall facilitate development of charity movements, voluntary social insurance programs and other forms of social security.
Everyone shall have the right to participate in cultural life, and use cultural establishments and access cultural valuables.
Everyone shall respect the historical, cultural and spiritual heritage; take care of it and protect historical and cultural monuments.
Everyone has the right to health protection and medical care in state and municipal health institutions.
The State shall take the necessary measures to develop all forms of health services based on various forms of property and guarantee sanitary and epidemiological well-being.
Everyone shall have the right to education. The State shall guarantee free secondary education. The law shall specify cases when a person can receive free secondary vocational and higher education.
The education system is controlled by the State.
The State shall encourage and promote physical culture and sport. It shall also provide everything needed for such purposes.
The state shall support scientific research and guarantee the freedom of scientific, literary, artistic, and cultural creative activity. It shall also provide for the development of talents and abilities, and allocate the funds necessary for such purposes.
The State shall encourage scientific and technological inventions, creative skills and talents and protect their results.
No one can be unlawfully deprived of a home.
The State shall promote housing construction and create conditions for exercising the right to a home.
Punishment shall be personal; no crime and no punishment except by a law.
Anyone shall be considered innocent until his (her) guilt is proven and confirmed by a court sentence which has entered into legal force.
No immunity of any act or administrative decision from judicial review shall be allowed.
A law, which introduces or increases liability, shall not have retroactive force.
No one may be investigated or arrested, except under an order or decision issued by the competent judicial authority, or if he was arrested in the case of being caught in the act, or with the intent to bring him to the judicial authorities on charges of committing a felony or misdemeanor.
No one may be tortured or treated in a humiliating manner, and the law shall define the punishment for those who do so.
Any person who is arrested must be informed of the reasons for his arrest and his rights, and may not be incarcerated except by an order of the competent judicial authority.
Any person sentenced by a final ruling, who has carried out his sentence and the ruling proved wrong shall have the right to ask the state for compensation for the damage he suffered.
Any assault on individual freedom, on the inviolability of private life or any other rights and public freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution shall be considered a crime punishable by law.
The legislative authority is assumed on behalf of the Syrian people by the People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly in the manner prescribed by the Constitution and applicable laws.
Members of the People’s Assembly shall be elected by the public, secret, direct and equal vote. They shall represent the whole people of Syria.
The People’s Assembly shall continue to meet and exercise legislative authority until the new People’s Assembly is elected and holds its first meeting.
If the membership of a member of the People’s Assembly is vacant for some reason, an alternative shall be elected within sixty days from the date of the membership vacancy, provided that the remaining term of the People’s Assembly is no less than six months. The membership of the new member shall end by the expiry date of the mandate of the Assembly’s term. The Election Law shall determine the cases of vacant membership.
The system of electing members of the People’s Assembly, their number and status shall be determined by a law.
Voters shall be the citizens who have completed eighteen years of age and meet the conditions stipulated in the Election Law.
5. organization of the election campaign and the use of media outlets.
4. Elections shall be held during the sixty days preceding the expiry date of the mandate of the People’s Assembly term.
The Supreme Constitutional Court shall have jurisdiction to consider appeals related to the elections of the members of the People’s Assembly.
Appeals shall be submitted by the candidate within three days from the date of announcing the results; and the court shall make its final judgment within seven days from the expiry date of submitting appeals.
The People’s Assembly shall convene following a decree of the President of the Republic within fifteen days after the mandate of the current People’s Assembly expires.
The People’s Assembly shall meet on the sixteenth day after the mandate of the current People’s Assembly expires, if there is no decree by the President of the Republic.
The People’s Assembly shall call for three regular sessions per year; the total of which should not be less than six months, and the Assembly’s rules of procedure shall set the time and duration of each of them.
The People’s Assembly may be invited to extraordinary sessions upon the request of the Speaker, of one third or more of the members of the People’s Assembly, or of the President of the Republic.
The last legislative session of the year shall remain open until the approval of the state budget.
The Constituent Assembly shall be formed to ensure participation of representatives of the constituent parts in legislative activities and administration of the state.
The Constituent Assembly consists of representatives of the constituent parts.
The People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly hold sessions separately.
The People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly may meet together to elect and to hear the Prime Minister, the President of the Republic, speeches of leaders of foreign states, and in other cases specified by the Constitution and law.
The People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly shall adopt the rules of procedure to coordinate their work and exercise authority.
The People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly elect speakers from among their members. In accordance with the rules of procedure the speakers shall represent the Assemblies and perform organizational functions.
The People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly may form committees from among their members to deal with the issues related to exercising their authority.
In carrying out their duties, the members of the People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly shall be guided by the Constitution, and their mandate can be restricted only in accordance with the Constitution.
The members of the People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly shall not use their mandate for personal gain outside the focus of their activity. A law shall specify activities that can not be combined with the mandate of a member of People’s Assembly and a member of the Constituent Assembly.
The members of the People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly can not be held legally responsible for their votes or political opinions expressed in exercising their authority.
Before taking office the members of the People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly shall give the constitutional oath stated in Article 17 of the Constitution.
A member of People’s Assembly and a member of the Constituent Assembly can not be detained, arrested, searched or brought before the court without a prior permission from the Assembly to which he belongs.
A member of People’s Assembly and a member of the Constituent Assembly caught in the act may be detained and searched. The Minister of Justice shall immediately notify the Speaker of the respective Assembly about the detention and search. If the notified Assembly (and, if the Assembly is not in session, the Speaker) states that there are no grounds for detention, the measure shall be canceled immediately. If the Assembly is not in session, the Speaker of the Assembly shall call it for a special session to consider initiating criminal proceedings against the member of the Assembly and applying restraining measures.
The emoluments and compensations to members of the People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly shall be determined by a law.
7) deciding whether to terminate the mandate of an Assembly member.
8) deciding whether to terminate the mandate of an Assembly member.
The legislative initiative belongs to the members of the People’s Assembly, of the Constituent Assembly, the President of the Republic and the Government.
Upon the request by administration of a territorial unit the Constituent Assembly shall have the right to send bills to the People’s Assembly for consideration.
Bills shall be submitted to the People’s Assembly.
Laws shall be adopted by the People’s Assembly.
A law is adopted by a majority vote of all deputies of the People’s Assembly.
Laws adopted by the People’s Assembly shall be submitted within five days to the Territories Assembly for consideration.
A law is considered approved by the Constituent Assembly, if more than half of the total number of its members voted in favor of it.
If the Constituent Assembly rejects the law a conciliatory commission may be set up by the Assemblies to resolve differences, whereupon the law shall be reconsidered by the Constituent Assembly.
If the People’s Assembly disagrees with the decision of the Constituent Assembly, the law shall pass if at least two thirds of the total number of deputies of the People’s Assembly voted for it the second ballot.
The law approved or adopted in the second ballot shall within five days be forwarded to the President of the Republic, who shall sign it and promulgate it within fourteen days.
The President of the Republic has the right to reject the law within fourteen days after receiving it. In this case the People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly shall have the right to reconsider the law. If after the reconsideration the law is approved in its earlier adopted edition by at least two thirds of the total number of members of the People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly, it shall be signed and promulgated by the President of the Republic within seven days.
For every fiscal year there shall be one budget; and the beginning of a fiscal year shall be determined by a law. Appropriations cannot be transferred from one title to another except according to the provisions of the law.
The Government shall submit the draft budget to the People’s Assembly at least two months before the beginning of the fiscal year.
The budget shall be considered, approved, signed and promulgated in the order prescribed by Article 46 of the Constitution. The People’s Assembly shall vote separately on each title of the budget.
If the process of approving and promulgating the budget is not complete before the beginning of the new fiscal year, the budget of the previous years is used until the new year budget is approved, and the revenues are collected in accordance with the laws and regulations in force.
The budget may be approved together with laws which could create new expenditures and new revenues to cover them.
The final accounts of the fiscal year shall be presented by the Government to the People’s Assembly within a period not longer than one year as of the end of this year.
The President of the Republic and the Government of the Republic exercise executive authority on behalf of the people within the limits provided for in the Constitution.
The President of the Republic is elected for the term of 7 years by citizens of Syria on the basis of universal, equal, and direct suffrage by secret ballot.
No person can hold the office of the President of the republic for more than two consecutive terms.
The candidate who wins the election for the President of the Republic is the one who gets more than one half of votes of those who take part in the elections. If no candidate receives such majority, a rerun is carried out between the two candidates who receive the largest number of votes.
The results shall be announced by the Speaker of the People’s Assembly.
If the President’s term in office has expired and no new President has been elected, the existing President of the Republic continues to assume his duties until the new President is elected.
A candidate for the presidency must be over 40 years of age and hold the Syrian citizenship.
4) applications shall be examined by the Supreme Constitutional Court; and should be ruled on within 5 days of the deadline for application.
If the conditions required for candidacy were met by only one candidate during the period set for applying, the Speaker of the People’s Assembly decides on the postponement of the elections of the President of the Republic and calls for fresh nominations according to the same conditions.
The Supreme Constitutional Court has the jurisdiction to examine the challenges to the election of the President of the Republic.
The challenges shall be made by the candidate within 3 days of announcing the results; and the court makes a final ruling on them within 7 days after the deadline for making the challenges.
Before assuming his duties the President of the Republic shall be sworn in before the People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly by saying the constitutional oath mentioned in Article 17 of the Constitution.
The allocations required for the office of the President of the Republic shall be set out in the budget.
1. The President of the Republic is the guarantor of the independence, unity and territorial integrity of the country.
2. The President of the Republic shall enforce the Constitution, ensure continuous operation of public authorities, and protect the constitutional order, national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
3. The President of the Republic shall act as an intermediary for the state authorities, and between the state and the society. To resolve disputes between the state bodies, the President has the right to use conciliatory procedures.
4. The President of the Republic represents Syria in international relations.
5. The President of the Republic shall decide on issues of citizenship and granting of political asylum, award state medals and honors, confer supreme military ranks and supreme special titles; and grant pardon.
The President of the Republic has the right to address letters to the People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly, as well as make statements before them.
The President of the Republic issues decrees, edicts and instructions in accordance with the Constitution and the law.
The President of the Republic shall conclude international treaties on behalf of Syria and refer them to the People’s Assembly for ratification.
Upon proposal from the government, the President shall appoint and recall diplomatic representatives of Syria, and approves the establishment and abolition of or change of status for diplomatic missions.
The President accepts credentials and letters of recall of accredited heads of foreign diplomatic missions.
The President of the Republic might call for a referendum on important issues which affect the higher interests of the country. The result of the referendum shall be binding and come into force as of the date of its announcement by the President of the Republic.
The President of the Republic is the Commander in Chief of the army and armed forces; and he issues all the decisions necessary to exercise this authority.
3) declare mobilization and within 3 days of such declaration ask the Constituent Assembly to approve it.
In the event of aggression or threat of aggression against Syria, or threats to the security of the state, the President shall have the right to declare the state of emergency in the territory of the country or in its certain parts with prior approval from the Constituent Assembly. In exceptional cases the decision of the President of the Republic is sent for approval to the Constituent Assembly within a day after making such a decision. When the state of emergency is in effect, the People’s Assembly, the Constituent Assembly and the President of the Republic shall continue to exercise their authority. Besides, the no-confidence vote cannot be made to the government.
The President of the Republic may be removed from office by the Constituent Assembly only after the People’s Assembly brings against him charges of high treason or another grave crime, and the legality of such charges and of the procedure for bringing them up have been confirmed in the Supreme Constitutional Court’s resolution.
The decision of the People’s Assembly to bring up charges and the decision of the Constituent Assembly to remove the President from office must be made by two thirds of all the votes of the members of each Assembly following the initiative from at least one third of the members of the People’s Assembly.
3. The decision of the Constituent Assembly to remove the President of the Republic must be adopted not later than ninety days after the People’s Assembly brings up the charges against the President. If within this period the Constituent Assembly fails to adopt such a decision, the charges against the President shall be regarded as rejected.
If the office of the President of the Republic becomes vacant or if he is permanently incapacitated, the Prime Minister assumes the President’s duties for a period of no more than 90 days of the President of the Republic’s office becoming vacant or his permanent incapacitation. When the Prime Minister is unable to perform such duties, the functions of the President are delegated to the Speaker of the Constituent Assembly. Within the stated period of time new presidential elections shall be held.
In case of resignation, the President of the Republic shall inform the People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly about it.
The Government is the highest executive body. It consists of the Prime Minister, his deputies and ministers. The government shall control the implementation of laws and development plans, and the work of state bodies.
The Government shall be responsible before the President of the Republic, the People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly.
The President of the Republic determines the general directions of the Government activities. He has the right to summon the Government for a meeting, to preside at the government meetings, to request reports from the Prime Minister, his deputies and ministers.
The Prime Minister manages the Government, coordinates and controls the work of his deputies and ministers, speaks on behalf of the Government.
The President of the Republic appoints the Prime Minister, his deputies and ministers, accepts their resignations and dismisses them.
The President shall appoint deputies to the Prime Minister and ministers based on the proportionate representation of all ethnic and religious groups of the Syrian population; some positions shall be reserved for national and religious minorities. Regarding these issues the President of the Republic has the right to hold consultations with the members of the People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly.
The Prime Minister, his deputies and ministers are sworn in before the President of the Republic by saying the constitutional oath stated in Article 17 of the Constitution.
Within thirty days after the formation of the Government, the Prime Minister shall submit the program of actions to the People’s Assembly and to the Constituent Assembly for discussion at a joint session.
Members of the People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly have the right to send inquiries to the Government, the Prime Minister, his deputies and ministers according to the assembly’s rules of procedure.
9) it appoints and dismisses civil servants and servicemen in accordance with the law.
1. The Government issues decisions and regulations.
2. Decisions are issued in the furtherance of the laws.
3. Regulations shall be based on a law giving the Government authority to issue such a regulation.
The Prime Minister, his deputies and ministers are forbidden from being on the boards of private companies or from representing such companies, as well as from engaging in direct and indirect commercial activities and private entrepreneurship.
The law shall state what responsibilities shall be imposed on the Prime Minister, his deputies and ministers to prevent and resolve a conflict of interest.
The People’s Assembly, the Constituent Assembly and the President of the Republic have the right to call for criminal prosecution of the Prime Minister, his deputies and ministers for acts committed by them while exercising authority. Bringing a member of the government before the court leads to his suspension from his office.
The government shall continue its work until a new government is formed.
The People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly may obtain a no confidence vote in the Government at a joint session by a majority of votes of all the members of the People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly.
The no confidence vote may be initiated by no less than one third of all the members of the People’s Assembly or by no less than one third of all the members of the Constituent Assembly. The government shall be informed of the vote on the day of such proposal.
The no confidence vote is submitted for discussion three days after the initial proposal at a joint session of the People’s Assembly and the Constituent Assembly.
If the no confidence vote is rejected, the members of the People’s Assembly or the members of the Constituent Assembly who initiated the vote cannot initiate a new no confidence vote during the term of the People’s Assembly.
Judges are independent and there is no authority over them except that of the constitution and law.
The judges’ honor, conscience and impartiality constitute the guarantees for people’s rights and freedoms.
Judicial rulings are made in the name of the people of Syria.
The judicial system and courts’ powers are defined by law.
The Attorney General’s Office is the single judicial institution headed by the Minister of Justice. The law regulates its function and mandate.
The State’s Council is in charge of Administrative Judiciary. It is an independent judicial and advisory body. The law states its mandate and the status of The State’s Council members.
The Supreme Constitutional Court consists of at least seven judges, appointed by the Constituent Assembly.
In addition to the public offices stated by the Constitution, the law may indicate other positions and offices that are incompatible with the position of a judge on the Supreme Constitutional Court.
The term in office of a Supreme Constitutional Court judge shall be four years and renewable.
Judges of the Supreme Constitutional Court cannot be dismissed except when the law allows it.
1) Control over the constitutionality of laws, decrees, bylaws and regulations of public authorities.
2) Expressing opinion, upon the request of the President of the Republic, on the constitutionality of draft laws and the legality of draft decrees.
3) Overseeing the election of the President of the Republic and organizing the relevant procedure.
4) Considering challenges against the election of the President of the Republic and ruling on these challenges.
5) Trying the President of the Republic who was removed from the office after committing high treason or another grave crime.
The law shall specify other authority of the Supreme Constitutional Court and the process for considering and ruling on the issues under the mandate of the Supreme Constitutional Court, and the status of judges on the Supreme Constitutional Court.
The Supreme Constitutional Court shall not consider the constitutionality of laws put to a referendum that have received the approval of the people.
A proposal for amending the Constitution can be submitted to the People’s Assembly by at least a third of the members of the People’s Assembly, or by at least a third of the members of the Constituent Assembly, or by the President of the Republic.
To be considered final, the proposal for amending the Constitution must be approved by a three quarters majority of the People’s Assembly, endorsed by a three quarters majority of the Constituent Assembly, then signed by the President of the Republic and promulgated.
If the proposal for amending the Constitution is not endorsed by the Constituent Assembly, such proposal shall be withdrawn and not considered further.
Laws and other legal acts passed before this Constitution comes into force shall apply until amended in accordance with the Constitution. The respective amendments shall be made within no longer than one year from the date the Constitution comes into force.
The term in office of the current President of the Republic shall be 7 years from the swearing-in date. He has the right to run again for President of the Republic. The President’s term in office as stated in this Constitution shall apply to him as of the next presidential elections.
Elections for the first People’s Assembly under this Constitution shall be held after the term of the previous People’s Assembly expires.
The Constituent Assembly shall be formed within no more than one year from the date the Constitution comes into force.
The Constitution shall come into force on the day of its promulgation after the referendum. | 2019-04-23T04:52:40Z | https://syrianconstitution2017.wordpress.com/2017/01/31/draft-constitution-of-the-syrian-arab-republic/ |
Before I get to this insanely delicious recipe, I want to let you know what I’ve been up to this month! Some of you have seen on Snapchat that I’ve been behind the lens each day for a very special photography project—which includes shooting more than 60 brand-new recipe photos! It’s been pretty crazy around here and I haven’t had a day off in ages, but it’s really coming together beautifully. Eric even helped me create a dedicated photography space in our empty dining room and it’s been nice to have a set area to shoot (why did it take me so long to do this?). We’re gearing up to share this new project with you late winter, and I appreciate your patience as things will continue to be a bit slower around here as I complete the photography project this month. If you want to see all the behind-the-scenes action, follow along on Snapchat (username: angelaliddon).
For those of you who have been asking if my next cookbook has a release date, I’m thrilled to tell you that it will release on September 6, 2016. Not too long to go now! You can now pre-order the book in Canada via Amazon.ca and Chapters/Indigo (many more retailers to come). We don’t have a cover yet, but of course I will share the preview with you as soon as I can!
This recipe is honestly one of my favourite entrees in a very long time and I’m so excited to share it with you. This is the recipe to make when you want to blow your friends and family away. Trust me on this one. It’s a spin-off of my favourite vegan enchilada recipe from way back in 2011. Why the heck has it taken me so long to make another? Well, to be honest, I didn’t think I could improve upon that recipe, but I was wrong…very wrong. This version is even more flavourful, satisfying, and robust thanks to the addition of smoky roasted red peppers, umami-rich sun-dried tomatoes, and my favourite homemade enchilada sauce. I top it all off with a decadent cashew cream that’s flavored with cilantro, garlic, and lime. Yowza. This is winter comfort food at its best!
These mild- to moderate-heat enchiladas will change your life! A delicious homemade Enchilada Sauce smothers a sweet potato, roasted red pepper, sun-dried tomato, and black bean filling wrapped in soft tortillas. After baking, I top it all off with a decadent Cilanto-Lime-Garlic Cashew Cream, green onion, cilantro, red pepper flakes, and chopped avocado. This dish will blow your taste buds away, I can promise you that! Please note that the prep time includes making the enchilada sauce and cashew cream in addition to the enchiladas. Yes, it's a labour-intensive recipe for sure, but you can save time the day of by prepping the cashew cream and enchilada sauce the day before.
Prepare the Homemade Enchilada Sauce and soak the cashews for the Cilantro-Lime-Garlic Cashew Cream before you begin.
Lightly grease a large rectangular baking dish (at least 8x12 inches). Set aside.
Add the chopped sweet potato into a medium pot of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 9 to 15 minutes, uncovered, until fork tender. Drain and set aside. You can also steam the potatoes until tender, instead of boiling.
In a large skillet, stir together the oil, onion, and garlic and sauté over medium heat for around 3 to 5 minutes until the onion softens. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Add the chopped roasted peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, cooked/drained sweet potato, spinach, and black beans. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes over medium-high heat, until the spinach is wilted.
Stir in 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of homemade enchilada sauce, followed by the lime juice, chili powder, cumin, and salt. Adjust seasonings to taste, if desired.
Add 3/4 cup of Enchilada Sauce onto the bottom of your casserole dish and spread it out evenly.
Scoop 3/4 cup of the sweet potato and black bean filling onto each tortilla. Roll up the tortilla and place it, seam side down, in the casserole dish. Repeat for the rest. If you have any leftover filling, you can spread it on top of the tortillas. Spread all of the remaining enchilada sauce on top of the tortillas until they are completely covered in sauce.
Bake the enchiladas, uncovered, at 350⁰F for 20 to 25 minutes, until the sauce is a deep red colour and the enchiladas are heated through.
While the enchiladas are baking, prepare the Cilantro-Lime-Garlic Cashew Cream.
When enchiladas are ready to serve, add half of the cashew cream into a baggie, snip off the corner, and “pipe” the sauce all over the enchiladas. Alternatively, you can simply spread or dollop the sauce on top of each enchilada. Garnish with chopped cilantro, avocado, red pepper flakes, and green onion. Serve any remaining cashew cream on the side with a spoon.
Nutrition info is based on 6 servings.
Make it kid-friendly: Omit the cayenne and red pepper flakes.
Ahhhhh! So excited for you! Though I am sad that you are slowing down on the blog, it seems like you are channeling your energy towards pictures and your cook book (which am also exuberant for). Your pictures are absolutely beautiful Angela and I can’t wait for your new book coming in September. I may have to create a snap chat just so I can see behind the scenes. Till next time!
OMG! This looks amazing. Defiantly going to try :) Thanks!!
Thank you for your support, Anne! I’m excited for the new cookbook too, and can’t wait to share it with everyone. If you do decide to join me on Snapchat, I hope you enjoy the sneak peeks into Oh She Glows HQ!
Still can’t believe how much energy you have, Angela! Sooo happy for you and your project!!
My wife is always drooling over your photo’s and getting on me to take better pictures based on yours! I do my best. But getting 2 little girls (3 & 5) to sit still for a photoshoot is hard! Anyhow, I’m always amazed at how you make eating vegan look doable, even for families! These enchiladas are dinner, minus your suggestions of the cayenne.
Hi Eli, thank you so much for your support!
This recipe looks really good. I think I’ll make it on Super Bowl Sunday. Your new cookbook is going to be released on my birthday! I always buy myself a birthday present, so now I know what it will be this year. Can hardly wait.
Hi Debbie, I hope you had a fun and delicious Super Bowl Sunday! Did you end up making the enchiladas? Thanks for your support and enthusiasm for the new cookbook. Happy (early, early) birthday!
Hi Jessica, that recipe is one of my favs too! I hope you enjoy the “next level” version if you make them. Thanks so much for your interest in my second cookbook – I can’t wait for September either!
Mmm, enchiladas. Must try this.
Marking my calendar and preordering! Congratulations on your next cook book. The enchiladas have my heart because of the sun dried tomatoes, all the yes!
Thank you, Brynn! I hope you enjoy the new cookbook when it comes out.
These are definitely next level! I love it!
I agree – this looks out of this world!
I cannot wait for your next cookbook!!
Hi Angela! Si excited for the new cookbook! Do you thing you’ll be able to put measurements in grams as well?
Hi Pauline, thanks for your interest in my second book! There won’t be gram measurements across the board in the Canadian/US version (however, I do include some gram measurements for specific recipes where I think it results in more precise outcomes), but the UK edition will be in grams. I hope this helps!
OMG! Angela, ur brill! Where can I get gluten-free tortillas, pls? That would make it perfect!
CONGRATS on ur new cookbook!?And I’m loving the new site, Indigo Books – whaat’s not to love with that deep discount?!
Suze, most corn tortillas are naturally gluten free. Just make sure to double check the ingredients.
Thank you, Suze! These days, you can find great gluten-free options in most grocery stores, sometimes tucked away in the Naturals/Organics sections. As Liz said above, corn tortillas are a popular gluten-free option (though a few readers who tried them in this recipe said they encountered difficulties with the corn tortillas falling apart), but it’s always a good idea to check the ingredients listed on the packaging—just in case. I hope this helps!
If you use corn tortillas (which is the traditional way), you have to heat them up first, so they are pliable.
I’ve been loving ivory teff tortillas – they are GF, though they do have some additives I’m not excited about. However they hold together great and the la tortilla factory Sonoma brand ones are delicious… Almost as yummy as flour tortillas, perfect for wraps and burritos. I’m going to give them a try with this recipe. Sometimes I just don’t want that corn flavor.
You have spoken to my enchilada loving heart! These look incredible!!!
First of all, these look absolutely amazing, great job!
I was wondering if I could go out on a limb and ask a huge favor. I am getting married in August and my family is helping with the food. I would really like all or most of the side dishes to be vegan but with the price of food lately I also want to be budget conscious. There will be around 150 guests. I’m wondering if you could suggest a few of your recipes that might suit my requirements? I know you are very busy so I will totally understand if this is not doable for you.
Thanks for sharing all of your wonderful recipes in the blog and your cookbook.
Hi Michelle, and congratulations! It’s so great that your family is helping out with the food for the wedding. In terms of choosing budget-friendly vegan sides, my best advice would be to stick with dishes featuring in-season produce: fruits and veggies are often a bit less expensive when they’re in season, so it’s a great way to save a little on the cost of ingredients. Also, if there are ingredients you know you’ll need and that you can stock up on further in advance, keep an eye out for coupons and sales! A few recipes I’d recommend are my Creamy Avocado Potato Salad (p. 107 from The Oh She Glows Cookbook), Long Weekend Grilled Salad (p. 115), The Best Shredded Kale Salad (on the blog), Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes with Easy Mushroom Gravy (p. 207), and Crowd-Pleasing Vegan Caesar Salad (on the blog). You could also simply roast and season vegetables, as in my Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Fingerling Potatoes and Rosemary recipe, or my Roasted Rainbow Carrots with Cumin-Coriander Tahini Sauce (p. 191)—but that might get tricky, depending on oven space. Most of those side dishes can be easily made in larger batches to accommodate the size of your wedding, and can be prepped in advance (at least in part—for e.g., the salad dressings can be done ahead) so there’s less to do day-of. I hope this helps!
Thank you so much for the great advice! I love the idea of prepping in advance and you’re right, when the produce is in season it will be more affordable. The Long Weekend Grilled Salad and Creamy Avocado Potato Salad are great ideas! I have been wanting to try your potato salad ever since I got your cook book.
September 5th is my birthday. Hmmm.. I know what I’m asking for this year!!! ???
Hi Nicole, great question! Most of the recipes are new – I think around 80%, with the remaining being fan favourites from the blog, all of which I have tweaked and improved while testing for the second book. Thanks for your interest, and happy (very) early birthday!
I love all things Mexican, enchilada, sun dried tomatoes, sweet potatoes so I’m sure this will be so awesome! I don’t see cayenne in the ingredient list but you mention it could be left out. How much do you add? Thank you!
Hi Lisa, the cayenne is actually in the ingredients list for the Enchilada Sauce (linked in the recipe), not the enchiladas themselves – sorry for the confusion! The sauce calls for 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. I hope you enjoy the enchiladas if you make them!
Oooooo, I love the sun dried tomatoes and red peppers in here. I never would have thought to put them in enchiladas, but now I can’t get that idea out of my head! Also, congrats on all the exciting happens. Happy for you Angela!
Thank you, Erin! I hope you enjoy the enchiladas if you give them a try.
Your photography is always a joy to look at.
Thanks for sharing this delicious sounding recipe!
Thanks, Jen! I’m looking forward to sharing it with everyone, too.
I tried signing up for the newsletter on the email that I just rec’d … and I don’t think it worked … so I’ll try it this way!
Excited for your new cook-book too!
Hi Sharon, were you able to sign up for the newsletter? The first issue was released this past Tuesday. If you didn’t receive it, please let me know and I’ll try to sort out the glitch for you!
PLEASE get a mobile friendly website – it’s such a hassle to read your blog on my phone that I often skip it. That’s sad, because your blog is amazing!
I appreciate your feedback Sara, and I totally agree with you that we need a mobile-friendly version! We’re actually hoping to redesign our blog this year with a new theme, so there will be a mobile friendly version to go along with it. In the meantime, I recommend using Feedly on your phone. I allow full-text in feeds so you don’t have to click through to open a web browser and the blog displays quite nicely in Feedly (or other feed programs, I’m sure). Hope this helps!
This looks SO delicious! I love Mexican food, but I haven’t tried making enchiladas myself yet–mostly because I’m wary of packaged enchilada sauce and what it contains. I’m excited to try your recipe to create my own sauce! Also excited to hear more about the cookbook.
Thanks for your interest in my second book, Katie! I’m so looking forward to sharing it with everyone. I hope you enjoy the enchilada sauce when you give it a try!
This looks SO delicious! I love Mexican food, but haven’t conquered homemade enchiladas yet. Also really excited to make the sauce and hear more about the cookbook!
I was just asking myself what I should make for dinner when I checked my email and found this entry. As luck would have it, I even have all the ingredients to make this and the cashews are now soaking on my counter. I love when everything falls into place perfectly.
Sign up for OSG newsletter …. Check!
(Keep up the great work Angela (and Eric for all the behind the scenes stuff)!
Hi Anna, isn’t it great when everything works out like that? I hope you enjoyed the enchiladas! And thanks so much for your interest in the newsletter and my second cookbook. I appreciate the support and enthusiasm!
I’m so excited to try this recipe. I love all your recipes and am going to preorder your book. If you ever go on a book signing tour please come to Ottawa. I’ll be first in line ?
Looks delish. I am having vegan friends for dinner this weekend and I think I found my main dish. I am a little nervous! Any suggestions on how to round out the meal? Any suggestions for an appetizer too?
I ended up playing it safe and served with a simple green salad with light dressing. It was a big hit. Although mine didn’took as pretty as yours! Thanks for opening my eyes to the idea that vegan can be tasty!!
I’d love to know what kind of tortillas you use. Corn or flour? Whole-Wheat? There are so many options.
Oh my gosh I am sooooo excited for your next cookbook! I am absolutely in love with your first one. My fiancé and I cook from it on a weekly basis and the tex mex casserole is a staple for us now lol.
Is it only available for pre-order in canada or is US available too?
Hi Jessica, it will be available very soon! Right now, only the Kindle version is available on Amazon.com, but the print edition will be available for pre-order soon. I’ll try to announce on the blog and newsletter when the book is available for pre-order on Amazon.com (and other retailers too). Thank you for your interest in the next book!
So excited for all the things to look foward to from OSG! I have missed your posts and wonderful new recipes. Thank you for the update on the exciting developments. I cannot wait to make this recipe.
These look amazing! I can’t wait to try them out.
A release date, a newsletter, AND a killer enchiladas recipe? It’s a good day! Words can’t express how excited (and antsy) I am for your cookbook release. I’m pre-ordering is ASAP.
As for the recipe, I’ve made your Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas with Avo-Cilantro Cream recipe so many times I’ve lost count. I was actually planning on making it this week, but now I’m going to try this one! Anything with sun-dried tomatoes, and I’m there.
Hi Anna Lee, thank you so much for your enthusiasm and support! I hope you enjoy these “next level” enchiladas when you try them.
I am so excited about all the news you have going on, Angela! I can’t wait to see the project you are working on. Also, I am looking so much forward reading your new book in September!
Thank you, Heidi! I hope you enjoy the new book once September arrives.
And this recipe looks INSANELY delicious. I must try your enchilada sauce! It’s on the to-do list this month!
Thanks, Alexa! I’m glad you’ve been enjoying my behind-the-scenes snaps – I’m having a lot of fun with them. (Maybe too much?) Please let me know how you like the enchiladas when you give them a try!
Thank you for your support, Danielle – I hope you love it!!
Yay! I can’t wait for your newsletter. I’ve been incorporating more vegetarian recipes into my meal plans and your always look so good.
I made your first enchilada recipe a few years ago with some friends when we were still in school. We were actually reminiscing about that the other night and recounting how good they were. We’ll have to make these ones next!
Hi Chelsea, that’s such a sweet story. Thank you for sharing it with me! I hope you like these “next level” enchiladas just as much, and that they provide even more good memories to you and your friends!
Soo excited to try this! I love the original blog recipe, the OSG Ckbk#1 recipe and now this will be fun to try. Does it get any better than limes and cashew cream?! I’m grain- and gluten-free at this point (not by choice), so I’m using the Paleo Wraps (coconut based). I’ll let you know how this turns out!! Hooray for the release date…. ??
Hello, I just ordered your vegan cookbook from amazon. A review mentioned your blog so hear I am. We are vegetarians who aspire to being vegan thus my purchasing your cookbook. My excitement for it is tainted now that I see adds for Gortons fish sticks, Ritz crackers, and Coke in your side bar. What on earth? What did I just order? Very very odd.
Hi Charlotte, thanks for bringing this to my attention. My goal has always been to keep the advertising on Oh She Glows animal friendly and meat- and dairy-free. I do my best to moderate the ads that appear (and we block thousands of advertising categories), but sometimes they can slip through without my knowledge. Since we’re based in Canada, we actually can’t see the ads that run in other countries, so this makes it especially difficult. I appreciate the head’s up, and very much hope you enjoy The Oh She Glows Cookbook when it arrives!
Yum! Made this tonight and it was great. I’m not a fan of cilantro so I just did a plain cashew cheese for the top. And I’m a bit lazy so I made it into a casserole with the tortillas layered on the bottom, filling in the middle and then another layer of tortillas on top. It is really great! Very nice flavour and I love the addition of the roasted red peppers. I’m also not generally a fan of corn tortillas so I was a bit unsure how it would be (I’m celiac so no wheat ones allowed) but the flavours are so amazing I don’t even notice the tortillas anyway. Thanks Angela!
Wow, this looks amazing! I loved your 2011 enchilada recipe and am so excited to try this one out!
Can’t wait for your next cookbook to come out. Yours has become my all time favorite cookbook to use, and whenever I cook for friends they don’t realize anything is vegan!
I signed up for your newsletter and I just wanted to make sure you knew that it shows an address when you sign up and in case that was your home address you might want to change it!
Hi Olivia, thanks so much for the head’s up. The address is just our PO Box (without the actual #), so not to worry! I hope you enjoyed the first issue of In the Glow!
This looks amazing! I’m new to being a vegetarian and I love finding recipes like this! I can’t wait to share and try it out myself! Thank you!
I made this for my family tonight. It was soooo delicious! Even my meat loving husband enjoyed their heartiness. Thank you for sharing the next level.
Can’t wait for the next book to be released. Do you have a release date for the uk?
This recipe is a full 5 star recipe! I find the new flavours of roasted red pepper and sundried tomatoes gave it a full, robust flavour. I had intended to have it kast for a few days, as it makes a large amount, but in my house it disappeard by noon the next day!
Thanks for your support and enthusiasm, Ncole! I hope you enjoy the new cookbook when September finally arrives. And I’m so happy to hear the enchiladas were a hit – they disappear pretty quickly in my house, too!
Hi Stephanie, I prefer to use Rudi’s Organic Bakery Spelt Tortillas. Hope this helps!
I am so excited to find this recipe! I am sending it to my manager, she is vegan. I’m also going to try it myself! It looks so yummy.
This sounds so good! I’m prepping food for a potluck in which a lot of people are grain free and I’m wondering if this would work as a burrito bowl over rice?
I was going to make your original Enchilada recipe and then I received your email. I thought to myself these can’t be that different from the original. Oh my was I wrong. Your right these are the next level enchiladas. My kids agreed that they were better then the original.
Just made these for company last night. It was a hit! I think I could eat the cilantro lime garlic cream right out of the bowl! I used Trader Joe’s corn tortillas and it was good, but I am wondering what your favorite tortillas are?
Looks amazing, I need to try this!
This looks so yummy! I am going to have to try and make it gluten free and corn free as my son can’t have those, but it looks really really good.
This recipe was definitely worth the time to make. My toddler loved it and I was so happy to see her enjoy a vegan meal loaded with vegetables! Thank you so much. This recipe will definitely be a part of our weekly rotation.
Wow, you’ve been a super busy lady! Very inspiring. This looks as tasty as it is pretty to look at. thank you!
Looks very good——–how does it freeze ?
Hi there! I just tested this, and am happy to say they freeze really well. I recommend wrapping the cooled enchiladas individually in tin foil, then popping them in a freezer bag. I don’t suggest freezing the green sauce on top as it discolours – best to make that fresh! To reheat, I thawed the enchilada on the counter then baked in the tinfoil for 20 mins at 350F.
Hi Angela–When is your book going to be on pre-order in the States? I use your first cookbook all the time!
Hi Lisa, it will be available very soon! Right now only the Kindle version is available on Amazon.com, but the print edition will be available in the near future. I’ll try to announce on the blog and newsletter when the book becomes available for pre-order on Amazon.com (and other retailers too). Thank you for your interest in the next book!
I had planned on making your original enchilada recipe for Super Bowl Sunday but now I am going to change my game plan to make this recipe instead (plus your wonderful nacho “cheez” dip)! Also, I love hearing all the fun updates and look forward to your upcoming cookbook release. I hope that you do a cookbook tour and visit Northern VA!!!
Hi Deborah, thanks so much for your support and enthusiasm for the new cookbook. I hope you had a fun Super Bowl Sunday, and that everyone enjoyed the enchiladas!
Looks delicious! I know what I am having for dinner tonight. Thanks for the recipe.
Boring food! You only come around on this site now to sell and promote yourself……no longer interesting or genuine…..too bad.
I made this and it was OUTSTANDING! Highly recommended. The flavors are so bold and perfectly combined. Don’t leave out the sundried tomatoes – they add a deliciously strong flavor. Way to go, OSG! I’m going to make it for my sister’s family this weekend. Definitely a keeper.
Angela, you have changed my life! I have been eating vegan/vegetarian for a few years but I’ve never been a stellar cook or even enjoyed the process. I just got engaged and I began cooking your meals for the both of us and my fiancee has been so healthy–losing 12 pounds in less than a month, and thoroughly happy with the deliciousness of your recipes and the fun we’re having in the kitchen. My big night came when I cooked his whole family my first big meal–boy, was it challenging but I had a blast and they tried vegan food for the first time. I think I converted his mother:) Everyday for me centers around your cookbook and what I’m going to discover next. You are an inspiration! PS I made the enchiladas last night–I almost can’t believe that I can cook food this delicious, all with your help of course!
Just made this for dinner – such a hit!! Family said it was the best meal of the winter – high praise from a gang of picky eaters!
This was amazing!! My best friend made this for me to show me that vegan food isn’t always bad and I was skeptical… But after having it I’m totally going to make it at home! Thanks for posting this!
Wow! Made these the other night and they were very very good! Where we are, I couldn’t get medium tortillas so used small corn tortilla instead. The sauce was great and so was the texture. Since we are only two, there were leftovers, which I warmed in the microwave, and even the cashew sauce retained its texture. (I am one of those who avoids cilaantro so left it out…).
These look amazing and so delicious, I absolutely adore enchiladas deffo one of my favourite foods!
Tried the recipe today and it was delicious – so thanks a lot. However, are you sure you use only one medium onion? You write that that equals 2 to 2 1/2 cups. I have a proper measuring ‘cup’ but one of the medium red onions you can get in Europe are not even enough to fill one cup. Just wondering about the size of veggies you have in Canada?!
Have to tell you that I made these for superbowl. AMAZING!!! They were so delicious that I am having them for breakfast!
I tweaked it a bit since I can’t have gluten. I used corn tortillas and they kept breaking on me as I tried to roll them up. So I ended up with broken ones, threw on all of the sauce I made and it came out as a fabulous enchillada casserole! I also tweaked the sauce a bit since all I had in the kitchen was HOT chili powder. Oh yea, it was hot! So I ended up putting in a box of the vege broth and two cans of tomato paste to tone it down a bit. Sauce was delicious! Had to do that so it still would be edible and not too hot for folks. Worked out great. Added a bit more lime juice before I assembled the “enchiladas”. Fabulous! Bright tasting,.
The cilantro cream is to die for. Even cilantro haters loved it. Yes, this recipe is labor intensive. However, I did soak the cashews the night before. Steamed the sweet potato the night before. Made the sauce the night before. Chopped up the veggies the day before, so I could just pretty much cook and assemble the next day.
I have never written such a glowing review in my life. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the recipe, and yes, I am currently eating it for breakfast as I type!!!! It’s even good cold the next day.
Hi Debbie, thanks for this wonderful comment. I am so happy to hear that you enjoyed the new enchilada recipe! It’s too bad the corn tortillas kept breaking on you, but it seems like you found a good solution anyways. Enchilada casserole? That sounds amazing!!
Oh, and I forgot to rate it. I would give this 10 stars if I could! Thanks again!
Grrr. I’m allergic to potatoes and sweet potatoes. Do you think butternut squash would be a good substitute?
I just made this tonight. I think butternut squash would do just fine!
Hi Vanessa, thanks for your interest in my next book! I’ll try to post any updates about its availability to the blog. And I’m glad to hear you and your husband enjoyed the enchiladas so much, too!
The enchiladas were amazing. Did not miss the cheese and sour cream that I would normally use in enchiladas. My husband loved them too!
These enchiladas were the hit of our Super Bowl party and not just for the vegans, but everybody! I cooked my own dried beans and made the enchilada sauce and cream sauce ahead of time for a double batch. Everyone looked pretty concerned about the cream sauce but it only took one bite and they were saying how great it was. Thank you!!
I made the enchiladas this weekend and it is so good! The additions really do make it something really special. I was able to make the cream sauce in my food processor rather than using a blender. You just have to blend in stages and then let it run for a very long time until it whips up like cream.
Yum!! Looks absolutely amazing. I love when people have so much energy to always come up with new healthy recipes! Thank you so much.
I also made the sauce in my food processor, and it was amazing! This recipe was delicious and leftovers heated up nicely. Thanks!
This recipe takes a while to make but it is amazing! The combination of flavors is so delightful. I did not have nuts at home but I served the enchiladas with lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro, avocado and lime. Very good! I really do like your website, cookbook and you for putting so much effort with your recepies! Thank you!
Fantastic recipe!! I made this on super bowl Sunday for a bunch of friends along with the vegan caesar salad- such a hit :). Thanks to OhSheGlows recipes, I now feel confident serving vegan food when hosting dinner parties but above all, I’ve got my husband hooked on these delicious, healthy meals. You have given me so much inspiration, thank you Angela! Ps- super excited about your cookbook #2 and the newsletter wohoo.
Oh my goodness! This recipe is amazing. I can’t wait to share it to trick my carnivore friends. Thanks for sharing.
Made this the other night. So scrumptious. I love the balance of flavors between the enchilada sauce and the cashew cream. This will definitely become one of my go-to meals. My husband the omnivore loved it.
I am soooo excited for your new cookbook! The last one was amazing and there are still a few recipes in there that I make regularly :) Also, these enchiladas look soo good and your food photography, as always, is on point!!
Thanks, KJ! I hope you enjoy the new cookbook once it’s released — I’m definitely looking forward to sharing it with everyone!
This looks awesome! I can’t wait to try the cashew cream sauce!
Can you prepare the filling in advance? I am thinking of preparing the filling, cream, and enchaladas sauce on a Friday and out it all together and serve in a Saturday.
This was going to be my question too, so I’m glad I hunted through the comments first to find if someone else asked it. I’m going on a group vacation in a couple of weeks and already planning to make this my contribution! Planning to prep everything in advance, then assemble there. A question: what side dish would you recommend serving with this (other than chips and salsa)?
Made this dish today and it was delicious. The one addition I added was .5 oz. of dark chocolate to the enchilada sauce to deepen the flavor. There was enough filling for eight enchiladas using 8″ whole wheat tortillas.
Spoiler Alert: I am a very experienced home cook and the prep requires much more than an hour including the two sauces but it is very delicious. I will make it again. It would be nice if the nutritional info was available, tHat is why I withheld the fifth star. Thank you for this creative and beautiful recipe!
This was so worth the labor of love in the kitchen (with a rambunctious two year old at my feet). I loved how the sun dried tomatoes complimented the cashew cream- almost like a tangy, smoooth ricotta. Thank you for sharing this with us!
Firstly – your recipes has opened up a whole new world to me (and my sister) and there’s rarely a week when one of your recipes is not featured on our weekly dinner menu. LOVE your recipes.
I LOVE making vegan enchiladas! I make mine with mashed pinto beans and vegan jalapeno cheese – I definitely have to make this version next. The photos are absolutely beautiful!
Ok just made/ate this with my boyfriend as a belated Valentine’s Day dinner. It was so good I feel straight up emotional lol. Thank you so much.
Made these enchiladas for dinner and they were AMAZING! Such a filing dish, and the cilantro cashew cream is a must. Love this recipe so much, I will definitely be making these again!
Just made this tonight – you weren’t kidding about the burst of flavors! A winner.
I made these enchiladas with the cashew cream sauce for dinner with friends last Sunday evening. They were fantastic! Great recipe!
OMG these were AMAZING! So delicious and so filling. We made exactly as is and I wouldn’t change a thing. I think this is one of those recipes that my wife and I will made over and over for years to come.
Your original enchilada recipe (from the book) is one of my favorites and I make it very frequently for guests. My brother even said it tasted authentic since traditional Mexican enchiladas don’t usually come with much cheese on top, if at all. I tried this one a few days ago and it tastes SO different from the original recipe! I still love both for different reasons. This one definitely has more of a kick from the sun dried tomatoes, and the other one is a good staple to have when you want a simpler dish. Thanks so much for 2 awesome dishes. I can’t wait for your book this September. It comes out just in time for my husband’s birthday!
Oh wow! This looks stunning!!
This is one of the most fulfilling recipes I’ve made in a long time. Thank you. My new diet is, an enchilada for breakfast, one for lunch and a sensible dinner (probably another enchilada).
These were AMAZING!! One of my new favorite recipes. Everyone loved them!!
My boyfriend and I made these yesterday and they were amazing! I am enjoying the leftovers today. I did have to use a fair bit if sour cream when eating them because I overdid it a bit with the chilli flakes. Looking forward to the new cookbook. I bought some new cookbooks recently but none of them are as good as yours so fat.
This looks AMAZING and I want to make it for my moms birthday! She eats meat but I feel like she will love this, is there any chance I can make it the day ahead and have it prepped to pop in the oven?
Hi Angela!! Sorry to bug you, but I’m receiving an error when signing up for your newsletter via your sidebar widget. The error reads “Oops, something went wrong. “. I tried with different emails and on a different computer, but I think it’s on your end. I’m on mobile, Android 5.1.1 if that helps. Thanks lady!!
This recipe really delivers on the flavor front – super delicious! My meatarian husband could not get enough, and I can see thing going into our regular repertoire. The only drawback is it is pretty time-intensive. I made it after work on a weeknight and we didn’t sit down to eat until almost 9pm… But for weekends this is a surefire sinner. Can’t wait to make them again! You are doing great work, Angela, thanks for inspiring so many to eat more plant-based deliciousness!
Angela, you’ve done it again! These enchiladas were simply wonderful! So much flavor! My husband and I both loved these so much. Totally worth the prep work. I used Ezekial Sptouted Grain Tortillas, which, though not exactly soft, I still enioyed. We were stuffed after just one. Having received a vitamix since the last time I tried to make one of your cashew cream sauces, I have to say it was a breeze to make the cashew cream – so smooth!
Hi Jessica, glad you liked the recipe! :) I’m happy to say that, as of this week, my second cookbook is available for pre-order on Amazon.com. As it becomes available with other retailers, I’ll be sure to announce it on the blog and in my newsletter. Thanks so much for your interest!
Just made these tonight. Absolutely delicious!! And yah…a little bit of work, but totally worth it. :D Thanks, Angela!
This vegan recipe is perfect for my daily meal. It is easy to prepare for me <3 Thanks for sharing, well done!
That looks so fresh, and yummy!!! I’m going to be trying this soon! Thank you!!
I am a new vegan . Just got your book and tried the mighty chia pudding. Delish. Love the recipes in the book, learning to make nut mylk now .
Hi Elaine, thanks so much for your kind words about the blog/cookbook! :) In terms of nut-free substitutions, usually if I’ve tested a nut-free version I will always post the version in the notes of my recipe, but if there isn’t a nut-free option it’s because I haven’t had a chance to test it out. It’s difficult to give specific advice when I haven’t personally tested something, and I’d hate to recommend something that might not turn out! Occasionally, raw sunflower seeds can work as a swap for cashew cream bases (there’s a soup in my second cookbook that uses raw sunflower seed cream in lieu of cashew cream), and in baked goods you can often swap nuts for pepita seeds or sunflower seeds. After that, it’s mostly experimentation, haha! That said, if you have any recipes you’d like to suggest that I make nut-free for the blog in the future, I’m all ears.
This recipe is amazing! I even forgot the the avocado in thr cashew cream sauce and it was still awesome!
Just made these tonight. Absolutely delicious!! I am always looking for healthy dishes.
Oh this is a next level of delish food stuff .. I really loved this item and its similar to Jamie Oliver style.. Nice post..
These look fantastic. I want to make the lime cashew cream sauce for these but I really don’t like cilantro. What would be another herb type substitute that would taste good too.
Hi Stacey, Thank you for the kind words! I haven’t tried another version, but you might be able to try swapping a bit of parsley or basil. Or you could just leave it out and adjust the other ingredients to taste. Hope this helps!
I happen to LOVE cilantro, so you don’t have to believe me, but I don’t think this has a strong cilantro flavor at all–I even considered doubling it, but decided I could chop some as a garnish instead. If you leave it out, maybe add nutritional yeast to make it more sour creamy?
I made these on the weekend, and they were so delicious! I am in love with your recipes and your bright photos!
Ahh! I’m so excited! I’ve been wanting to make your original recipe for the last few weeks (so amazing) and after seeing this today, it’s definitely on the menu for next week. Such amazing flavors! Thank you so much for all your mouth watering recipes!
Hi Mandy, I hope you enjoy the enchiladas when you give them a try! They’re definitely a personal fav.
Well I am interested to try this because the old version is one of my absolutely favorite recipes of all times and it is hard to see how it could be improved upon! I absolutely love your first cookbook and can’t wait for the next one. I have never made so many things out of one cookbook that I end up making again and again. My daughter and I could not have made the switch to a plant-based diet without you! Thanks for all of the yummy goodness!
Ah! This looks so good. I’m always looking at the beautiful pictures in wonder and imagining myself already eating the food. No really though, it’s amazing!
I love your recipes. I often share them with my vegan-curious friends to give them a great introduction to easy and delicious vegan cooking.
What herb can I substitute for cilantro in a Mexican style dish? Thank yo .
Hi Paula, it depends a bit on the specific recipe, but – for something like my enchiladas here – I know some people like to sub cilantro with parsley. That does tend to change the dish’s flavour, though, so I’m more inclined to suggest just leaving it out and adjusting the other ingredients to taste. I hope this helps!
Just tried this recipe it is so good! Definitely going to be making it again at some point!
I made these they were great :D so creative.
I’m making these tomorrow night. I anticipate they will be awesome as everything else I’ve made from your book. I was wondering what size tortillas? The sprouted wheat ones were big, the sprouted curb are smaller….which size is required?
Hi Linda, so sorry for the delay in getting back to you on this! I use medium/large size tortillas to make this recipe. How did you like the Enchiladas? I hope you enjoyed them!
Thanks. I read more carefully and figured it up, the word “wrap” was key. These enchiladas were incredible. I will make them again soon.
Yeah, these were killah and easily won over meat-eating husband and currently hard-to-please teenage daughter! Easy to make, flavorful, with wonderful mouth-feel. Frankly, they warmed my soul on a blustery March day. Also, the leftovers lasted only until lunch the next day!
These Enchiladas are Heaven in a dish. Made these yesterday, everything about them is absolutely delicious, the enchilada sauce, the cilantro lime sauce, the filling…what a fabulous meal. Satisfying in every way, it is definitely going onto a meal rotation in this house! I did 1/2 the chili powder in the enchilada sauce to tame the spice a bit. They were perfect for the whole family. Thank you!
These enchiladas were so delicious and filling! I will make again and often.. And I think the leftovers will be just as good. I can’t cook often so I love leftovers. It was fun making my own enchilada sauce. Next time I’ll use fresh cilantro (as directed) instead of dried, but the cashew cream was still delicious using a little dried cilantro and the rest of the avocado was a great topping. Thank you!
These enchiladas are amazing!! I made these last night and they were a hit with everyone including my two little ones. Thanks for always posting such wonderful recipes!!
Sweet potato, cilantro and lime? Count me in!
These are incredible! My husband and son (both non-vegans) really enjoyed them as well. I did have some filling leftover and instead of putting it on top I saved it to go on a salad tomorrow or to maybe just have for breakfast. Thank you for another amazing recipe!
So, Angela, these enchiladas are oh, I don’t know, on of the best things I’ve ever eaten! All the ingredients come together to become something much more than I would have expected. I expected yummy, but I didn’t expect “I want to eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner yummy.” Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this. I love enchiladas, and these are the very best vegan enchiladas I have ever eaten!
My fiance made this for us tonight and didn’t change a thing. It was excellent. A nice, filling, delicious Sunday night dinner. The cashew cream sauce was a bit too garlicky for me, but it didn’t stop me from dolloping it all over the leftovers!
Not sure it’s possible to improve these..but if you want to take these to the “next NEXT” level…get a hold of some Santa Cruz Chili paste and make your enchilada sauce with this and then roast your own red peppers over a grill or the flame on a gas stove. OMG! YUM.
Thanks for this amazing update Angela! We’ve made them twice and LOVE them. Can’t wait for the new book!
I have been following you for years and just as you stated, you didn’t think you could make a better recipe and you did! I was so impressed that I shared this on my blog and instagram for my followers to fall in love as well!
I can’t wait for your new book to come out in September!
Hi Amber, I’m so happy to hear the Next Level Enchiladas were a hit! Thanks for spreading the recipe love. :) I hope you enjoy the new cookbook when it’s finally released – I can’t wait either!
I’ve made this last night follow exactly with your recipe! It turned up great! We enjoy our dinner very well! Thanks for sharing this!
Hi Mitch, glad to hear the enchiladas were a hit!
They taste even better the second day. Loved them. I only used 1/3 the amount of chili powder and they were just right for my family. Your photos and instructions are perfect. I am a dedicated fan.
They taste even better the second day. Loved them. I only used 1/3 the amount of chili powder and they were just right for my family. Your photos and instructions are perfect. I am a dedicated fan. The only other change I made was to roast a red pepper in the toaster oven instead of using one from a jar. It really was no extra work.
Hi Isabella, if you gave the recipe a try, I hope you enjoyed it!
I’ve made these enchiladas as well as the enchilada recipe from your first cookbook. Although I liked the first one very much, this recipe is definitely “next level”. My non-vegan husband enjoys them so much that he’s volunteered to make them for a themed dinner party this weekend. Thank you. I eagerly await your new cookbook. Your recipes are delicious and dependable.
So happy the Next Level Enchiladas won you (and your husband!) over, Laureen! I love them, too. :) Enjoy them at your dinner party, and have a wonderful time!
First, the cashew lime cilantro sauce is one of the best things I have ever tasted, and is absolutely beautiful!
We will be eating these tonight, with changes based on what I had in the fridge and pantry. The filling is baked sweet potatoes, onions, roasted cauliflower, chickpeas, and chopped spinach.
I had taco-sized corn tortillas, so I microwave 5 at a time between 2 damp paper towels, then dip them in the enchilada sauce, fill, and place. I probably fit 14 in my dish.
I ate what was left of the filling and enchilada sauce last night (prep night) in a bowl with half a sweet potato and a bit of sauce, and it was unbelievable. Can’t wait for the full dish!
Hi this is the first recipe I’ve tried and won’t be the last! We have been eating free range meat for a few years now, but really want to start having more plant based meals. What a great kick off these were! I did find the cashew cream a bit too garlicky (and I love garlic) so next time I will leave out the powder. I made two batches of cream, one with cilantro and the other with basil/parsely. Both were great. We are Canadians living in Australia so nice to see a Canadian blog! All the best.
Hi Gwyn, I’m glad the first recipe was a hit! I hope whatever you try next you enjoy just as well.
I love this kind of food! Thank you! I have been drinking Nutrify Herbal Tea and it has been doing wonders for my health. Vegan and caffeine free! Definitely worth a try!
This dish is/was (yum) incredible…as I was making this my g-friend peaked over my shoulder and exclaimed “oh she glows again!”. I often substitute veggies or spices if the cupboards lack the ingredients for certain recipes and fortunately your recipes are very forgiving. Thank you for your intuitive creations and continued inspiration.
Tried your enchiladas reciepe twice. Once the original vegan and then I cheated by adding chicken, replacing the spinach by chard… Also delicious! Loooove the sauce! Thanks!
I finally got around to making these, and they are definitely next level! They were barely out of the oven before I was scooping one onto my plate. I actually had one for breakfast this morning as well haha. The sun-dried tomatoes were a fantastic addition; I would’ve never thought to add them! And the cilantro cashew cream. Oh. My. Word. It was amazing. I practically slathered on as much of it as I did the enchilada sauce. Another winning recipe! Thank you!
Haha! I love that you had one for breakfast – they must have definitely been a hit. :) Thanks for the great comment!
I can’t wait to try these enchiladas. They look amazing. Congratulations on the cookbook, too! I can’t wait to check it out.
Oh my goodness, these are delicious! We could not stop raving about how great they were. Already planning to make them again. They are a lot of work, but definitely worth the time and amount of chopping! We too loved them even more the next day and I ate the left over filling two days later. A good sign!
My husband and I are newly declared vegans (only 10 days ago) but have been on this path for some time and ready to take the final leap, so we were concerned about not having great tasting food. A friend gave me your cookbook a while back and I am so impressed by the quality of your recipes and absolutely love the pictures. It is the pictures that inspires me to try something new, so many thanks for those.
One quick question, I am seriously allergic to many types of nuts so cannot eat cashews. I am able to eat almonds, walnuts and pecans. Could I use soaked almonds to replace the cashews in the cashew cream recipe?
You had me at Cilantro Lime Garlic Cashew Cream! I’ve been trying to find an easy meal to make for lunches and this one looks perfect!!!
OH YES. I know exactly what I’ll be baking this weekend. Been looking for a recipe like this for a little while now, and this is just perfect. Thanks! The pictures look really great too.
Thanks, Brechtje – I hope you enjoy the enchiladas this weekend!
Missing your updates but enjoying the pics on Snapchat. I pre-ordered book 2 and am SOOOOO excited!
The enchilada sauce is incredible! Have you tried freezing it? I don’t ever want the store bought stuff again.
I finally made these tonight! So delicious and very filling!
I make this recipe often and it is loved by vegans and non-vegans alike. So excited for the new cookbook!!!
This looks amazing :) Thanks for sharing!
The best vegan enchilada recipe I have tried. The directions were easy and my kids and I loved it. Thank you so much for sharing it.
Glad you enjoyed it, Amanda!
Oh these are absolutely divine! I have to make it soon. Your pictures, by the way, are mouthwatering.
Angela, did i MISS a “Most Popular of 2015” post?? It’s my favorite part of every new year!!!! Is it posted and I’m just the dork who can’t find it?
I made these last night as a special birthday dinner for my boyfriend (he usually balks at anything labeled vegan) and we both LOVED them!! They were fantastic! And one of his first comments was “the sweet potato in here is a brilliant idea!!”. I did give you the credit for the “brilliant idea” Angela haha and I think I may have even won him over on the “doesn’t need meat to be delicious” front!! Thanks so much for creative and delicious recipes such as this! Can’t WAIT for cookbook #2!
I want to make these so badly but I’m worried that they will be on the sweet side since it uses sweet potato. We do not care for sweet entrees and I have used sweet potato in dishes that did not turn out to out liking because they tasted sweet.
Are these on the sweet side?
Hi Sharon, I don’t think I’d say that these end up on the sweet side – if anything, a few people have found the enchiladas a bit too far on the spicy side! The various spices and seasonings in the recipe do a lot to cut and balance any sweetness you’d get from the potatoes. If you give the recipe a try, please let me know what you think. I’d love to hear!
Thanks,so much for reaponding. I did make them and they were perfect!!! So yummy and not sweet at all. My meat satin’ hubby loved them too!!
These enchiladas look absolutely delicious! Thank you!
Angela – can’t wait for the book. I have been using HYDROPONICS from a company called www.planetponics.com that allows me to grow the herbs for some of your recipes. I really enjoyed the value and idea this company was striving for. Thought I would share it for others. You can GROW ALL YEAR. GROW FOOD, HERBS OR FLOWERS. No soil, no mess, self-watering hydroponics. Fresh food faster than a traditional soil method.
Yep, made this a few weeks ago. Husband and I gobbled them up. So so so good. I almost didn’t make the enchilada sauce and was going to use my tried and true verde, but decided to make it. YUMMY! Making again this weekend. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
So happy the recipe was a hit, Sue – enjoy the second batch!
Hi Steven, what a tasty surprise!! I LOVE this recipe, and I’m so happy to hear you and your family did too. :) Thanks for the comment!
We had these for dinner tonight… oh my goodness I could eat the whole pan!
I might even prefer these over real enchiladas with cheese!
I made this recipe for my Easter weekend. It was wonderful! I will definitely make it again. I will decrease the amount of chili powder in the enchilada sauce next time. I love spicy, but there are so many wonderful flavors that I thought the chili powder overpowered the other flavors.
Honnnnn…my God !!!! A pur delish this recipe. I’ll definitely make it again and again and again. The Cilantro Sauce is out of this world.
5 stars and up !!!
Oh my! I made these over the weekend and loved them. Even my non-vegan husband went back for seconds and left-overs. We fought over the cilantro cream (I had put out sour cream for him but he didn’t touch it.) Thank you for another great recipe.
I am in need of vegan entrees that freeze and reheat well. Could this be one of those?
Definitely! These enchiladas freeze really well. I suggest wrapping the cooled enchiladas individually in tin foil, then popping them in a freezer bag (I wouldn’t recommend freezing the green sauce on top, though, as it discolours; best to make that fresh). To reheat, thaw the enchilada on the counter then bake in the tinfoil for 20 mins at 350F.
These enchiladas are my new favourite thing to eat! Thanks for taking them to the next level. Actually, thanks for creating such a beautiful cookbook with so many delicious recipes for all of us plant eaters. I can’t wait for the next one & the app!
I made these for my family last night, and we were all so impressed! This will become a weekly meal in my house for sure! Even my hubby the meat eater loved it!
These were incredible! I was seriously so impressed with how delicious and easy they were. The cashew avocado sauce and homemade enchilada sauce were so yummy and went perfectly with it! As a person who does not know how to cook well and is a fairly new vegan, I really appreciate yummy recipes like this that taste extravagant but are cheap and easy. I even made them for my mom and she said that she would totally pay for and order these at a restaurant and she’s not even vegan! Thank you so much for this, I am totally in love!
This one is going straight to the meal plan!
It looks wonderful..thanks for nice share about this recipe…rate 5/5 starts!
I made this tonight and it was fantastic! Even my none vegan husband couldn’t get enough!
Whilst my enchilada presentation needs some work, the rest of the recipe worked out brilliantly. Really tasty. Thanks a lot, Angela. Pleased to hear about your good news, too re: baby and app!
These were a hit! I tweaked the recipe a bit based on what I had (and didn’t have) in the cabinet, and we loved them. Thanks!
OH MY Goodness! I made this last night and SUCCESS!! My husband likes to have meat at every meal so I was hesitant to not have something meat-like that in this meal. But I must say he really liked my dinner – all of the “unique” flavors and how he felt full after but not “weighed down.” He has requested this again. In fact – we did leftovers for breakfast and it was even better as the flavors had the opportunity to settle into the recipe.
That’s so great to hear, Joelle! I’m glad the recipe was such a hit.
This was incredibly flavorful. We didn’t miss the dairy…really is life changing!
I made your sweet potato black bean enchiladas today, and they were fabulous. I purchased your “The Oh She Glows Cookbook” last week, and so far every recipe I have made has been amazingly good. I am already a huge fan. Thank you for “proving” vegan can be delicious.
Aw, thanks Lynne. I am so happy to hear you’re loving the cookbooks so far!
Thank you for this recipe Angela! I loved it, so yummy especially the cashew sauce. I made the enchiladas for dinner this past Thursday. I was so excited to come home and make dinner! This is my second time cooking with cashews in a nouveau style (the first was your Mac and cheese recipe) I am enjoying the transition to a whole foods plant based diet and your blog is a great resource of support. I’m so excited that I went out and bought your cookbook today. I can’t wait to try another recipe! Not only am I transition to a plant based whole foods diet but so is my six year old daughter. She was not too keen about the enchiladas but loved the Mac and cheese. I’m hoping to find some kid friendly recipes in your cookbook. Any tips for kids transitioning are welcome. Thanks again Angela for sharing your story and recipe !
Hi Katie, That’s so great! I’m happy to let you know that my next cookbook was created with the kiddos in mind! There are over 50 kid-friendly recipes in my next book (we had a bunch of toddler and young kid testers for it which was so great). I identify which recipes are kid-friendly, or how to easily adapt certain recipes to make them kid-friendly. My little one (who is 19 months) really loves pasta or rice, so I try to use whole-grain, and then add a bunch of veggies in it with a delicious sauce (you can puree lentils into the sauce for a boost of protein). I also love to stir in a lot of hemp hearts for extra protein. I hope to have a recipe coming up soon that my daughter loved (well minus the mushrooms, I guess…still working on those! haha). It’s a rice and gravy dish with lots of broccoli and mushrooms…super easy and delish! Smoothies are another great way to pack in all kinds of plant-based nutrition and they’re fun for kids too. Anyway, I hope this gets the wheels turning!
These enchiladas are every bit of good as everyone has been saying that they are. My husband liked them so much for dinner last night that he had some more for breakfast today!
Haha, that’s great, Heather! I’m so glad the enchiladas were a hit.
This recipe is a winner. The Enchilada Sauce is rich and full of flavor. The Cilantro Lime Garlic Cashew Sauce has a wonderful lime and garlic flavor. The filling for the enchiladas, with the sun-dried tomatoes and roasted red peppers, is delicious! I wish I had doubled the recipe. I’ll make this again soon.
My family loves your enchilada recipe from the 2011 book. I’ve made it at least and dozen times. It’s a go to when I have guests over because it’s always a hit. I’m excited to try your new version!
have you ever thought about doing a tart like this?
This is absolutely delicious, I made them last night and I honestly couldn’t be happier. I normally can’t stand anything Mexican but these are phenomenal. I made them for a few friends and there was enough to take for lunch for two more days, which took a huge chunk off my cooking time tomorrow. Also, the cilantro cream is now the only thing I like cilantro in. I was very skeptical (I’m not a cilantro fan at all) but it’s delicious and I found myself eating it on a spoon haha! Everyone loved them and they couldn’t believe that they were vegan (I don’t see why, but that was their version of “wow this is really good”. I can’t wait to try more recipes!!
Hi Brandi, I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the enchiladas…even the cilantro cream!! ;) Thanks for the lovely comment.
I made these tonight and although I didn’t follow the recipe as far as measurements are concerned, they were the bomb. I also mashed up the sweet potatoes before I put it into the pan with the other ingredients. I thought that would make a creamier base and it did. That cilantro, lime, avocado cashew sauce is SCREAMIN! I have been looking at the recipe a couple of days now couldn’t wait to try it. The recipe itself looked so good that I ordered the cookbook yesterday. Really, really good.
Thanks, Deborah! I hope you love the cookbook. :) And I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the enchiladas – I bet mashing up the sweet potatoes gave the dish a great new twist; thanks for sharing the idea!!
Cooked this up last night and it was delicious, although perhaps a bit too hot for my taste (and I thought I liked spicy food). Great flavours too. Might add a little chipotle next time I make it and use tacos instead to give a crunchy texture. Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Angela – thank you for this fabulous recipe! It is ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! We served this entree to family who are not vegetarians – and they loved it! Everyone was humming their delicious praise as we enjoyed the meal. This is a PRIZE recipe we will continue to share again and again! My husband and I are newly vegan – and so appreciate people like you who have gone before us to show the way. Your culinary skills and creativity are genius. Thank you for sharing your talents with the world!
When I told my mother I was making sweet potato and black bean enchiladas for dinner, she thought I was crazy. As soon as she tasted them, she changed her mind. My whole family thought they were delicious! Next time, I’ll tone down the chili powder, though.
Hi,I really want to try making something creamy (like the above food), but I recently found out cashews are no good for me. Does anyone have any ideas what to use instead?
This is one of my most favourite recipes. It’s a little time consuming with the cashew cream and enchilada sauce, so I make a double batch of the filling and enchilada sauce and freeze half. My family loves it…even the meat eaters!
I’m so happy to hear the enchiladas were a hit, Lindsay!!
Loved these enchiladas! I used an enchilada sauce from a plant-based cooking course I’m taking, but I’ve made the Oh She Glows enchilada sauce before as well with success! The abundance of veggies made me feel better about slurping up every bit of the cilantro lime cashew cream. My omni boyfriend ate 1.5 of these and stated he was full but “can’t stop eating it’s so good.” Haha so he finished the second one with a full and very happy belly :) Thank you! These will definitely show up on our dinner table again!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the addition of the sundried tomatoes! I really enjoy that twist, too. :) Thanks for the kind words!
I am 3 weeks into life changing eating. I came across your cookbook from a friend and decided to make the enchiladas. Before I went to the store to buy ingredients, I came across your updated recipe.
Haha, I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Deanna!!
These look so good!! Everytime I’ve made vegan enchiladas I use verde sauce because I couldn’t find a good red sauce recipe. Can’t wait to try this!
I hope you love them when you give them a try, Fred!
I recently made this recipe for one of my banquets for 50 people. Amazing! Everyone loved it! Thank You So Much Angela! If you want to make it kid friendly I would omit the spices as some people found it spicy. Overall it was amazing and everyone licked the plates!!
It’s so great to hear they were a hit, Nadia! Thanks for the lovely comment.
These were outrageously amazing. This along with your taco recipe has definitely acted as inspiration as I work towards a vegan diet! Thank you!!
Thank you for your reply, and so true! I’m making these (again) tonight to show it off to my friends. I had left over taco meat (the walnuts and lentil recipe) as well as the cashew sauce and so for lunch today, I put that on top of zucchini noodles, added fresh avocado and it was delicious! I love when I can use leftovers for a simple and quick lunch. I’m waiting for your cookbook from the library and I can’t wait to see what other inspirations I discover. Two days on a vegan diet and I already have so much more energy: there is so much positivity within this life-style. Of course, I feel motivated now but that doesn’t always last very long! It feels good, however, to de-bunk the stereotype that being vegan is “impossible” or “uppity” or even “gross”! It’s so possible, except perhaps when in a time crunch.
I made NLEs again last night but I was so anxious to eat them that I forgot to serve the cashew cream! That’s what I get for being organised & making it ahead of time. We had it on the leftovers tonight but now I have lots of cashew cream leftover. Can I freeze it?
Also, congrats on the new book. Can’t wait to have it my hands!
I have been using this website to transform my family’s eating. These enchiladas were a hit,even with my pickier eater. Thank you!
That’s so great to hear, Clara! I always try to create recipes that will be crowd-pleasers, and it’s wonderful to know when I’ve been successful. I hope if you try something else out from the blog that it goes over just as well!
Made this recipe from your app and it is absolutely delicious!
I’m happy to hear you enjoyed it, Gayla!
I made this recipe for dinner last night, but had to substitute kale for the spinach. Wow, these are so, so good! The sun-dried tomatoes really work in this dish. I’m so glad I found your blog!
I’m so glad you liked the recipe! And it’s great to hear that kale worked out well as a sub for spinach. Thanks for sharing!
Sorry Angela, I meant to give this recipe a rating of 5!
I made this dish – complete with enchilada sauce and the cilantro sauce – for my vegan aunt and uncle this past weekend and it was amazing. I am still eating the leftovers four days later and loving it.
The only change I made was leaving out the cilantro, as I hate that herb :) but the sauce was great without it. I added more avocado, so it was like a smooth, creamy lime sauce.
My only quibble with this recipe is the prep time. I think an hour is way too little. I did tons of prep the night before (made both sauces, prepped veggies) and it still took an hour to cook it and put it all together.
I will definitely make this again!!
OMG! I made this tonight and it is SO good. My husband (who is by vegan) had the cheese out and was gonna add cheese but I convinced him to take a bite first. He took a bite and out the cheese away. Said it was so good. And, of course, I’m in love with it. You hit it out of park!!!!
SO glad you both enjoyed the enchiladas, Rachel!
i mean my husband who is not* vegan.
I’ve had these twice and I’m addicted! I used green enchilada sauce however.
I made these for my husband’s birthday, and we both loved them! I had some leftover enchilada filling, so I saved it for the next day, added tofu, and called it a morning with a quick scramble. Thanks for the recipe!
Just made these for the second time. Cannot get enough of them. I omit the red pepper flakes so my 14 month old can eat it, otherwise I follow the recipe exactly. The cilantro lime sauce is life changing.
Made this recipe last weekend, and it was amazing!!
These are amazing!! So good I don’t care what the next level is!! By the way I made the cilantro lime sauce with no avocado and it turned out amazing! Reheated next day still sooo yummy amazing best enchiladas I EVER had!!
I made this tonight – WOW! It’s so delicious. It’s now my new favourite recipe. Thank you Angela.
It’s definitely a new fave around here too, Jocelyn! So glad you enjoyed the enchiladas.
This is one of my favorite meals I have ever made. I have made them twice. I’m hoping I can even get my meat loving parents on board when they come for Christmas this year. The cashew cream sauce is showing up in our other Mexican dishes now too.
So glad to hear it, Kristina! It’s big fave around our house, for sure. Hopefully it’ll be a hit with your parents on their holiday visit, too!
Ah-mazing recipe, I made it last week and my boyfriend requested it again this week! The cashew cream sauce with cilantro and lime really gives the dish that perfect pop of flavour.
Fantastic! This has a much more complex flavour than many of the other vegan enchiladas I have made. Followed it to a T (although I tend to be quite liberal with my Cumin). A vegetarian, but I am not always a fan of sweet potatoes (I know…bad vegetarian), but this had such a nice balance, so if you are not a sweet potato fan don’t be put off. Takes a while but worth it. Thank you!
I just made this recipe from the cookbook. I made it following the directions. This recipe is amazing good. The Enchilada Sauce is fantastic! The avocado-cilantro cream sauce is unbelievable good. I will eat that cream sauce on EVERYTHING! I can’t wait to make this dish for others. Thank you so much for your fun, tasty recipes!! In the cookbook the next recipe is the crowd-pleasing tex-mex casserole, which is really is! I’ve made it twenty times; always a winner.
So very delicious! I made this recipe this past Sunday for a Vegan themed get together and it was a hit!
I’m glad this recipe was such a hit, Chlayne! I’m grinning ear to ear.
Omg these were the BEST enchiladas I’ve ever had. I’m not vegan but my fiancé is and I always cook a big meal for him when we have a night off together. He always eats Amy’s vegan enchiladas from the freezer section in the grocery store and he said these do not even compare to hers! Thank you so much for this recipe. This is def in our rotation!!!!!
Aw, thank you Veronica!! I’m smiling ear to ear. :) I’m so glad the enchiladas were a hit!
This recipe took a lot of preparation time, but it was so worth it! It is super-savory with the roasted red peppers and the sun-dried tomatoes. I only made one tiny alteration; I added a little Daiya mozzarella to the mix and then sprinkled some on top during the last 15 minutes of baking. I did it for the texture rather than flavor enhancement; I just always associate Mexican food with cheese. Everybody in the family loved them. The cilantro sauce has a taste and texture that is reminiscent of sour cream, and really enhanced the overall experience. Thanks for the wonderful recipe. I’ll make again for sure!
I’m glad the whole family enjoyed the enchiladas, Sandy! That cheese sounds like a DELISH addition, too. Yum!
The enchilada recipe was super delicious, even though time consuming. Glad I made double recipe to have extras for my work week lunches and for my husband. LOVED the enchilada sauce and will be making it again.
Awh, thanks so much for taking the time to comment, Anne!! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the enchiladas.
My family and I are not vegan nor are we vegetarians. I do like to try different foods and eat and make healthy meals. I read great reviews on the cookbook from this author and ordered it yesterday but I got inspired and decided to try this recipe I found online tonight. Let me tell you, this is crazy good!!! My husband, myself and our two teenagers absolutely loved it and now I really can’t wait for my cookbook to show up.
so so so good, will definitely make again! the filling was very flavorful, the sauce was great (and easy) and the crema!!!!!!!!!!! delicious!!!
I am so excited to try this recipe this weekend. I also absolutely LOVE the serving tray this is on. Are you willing to share where it is from?
Made these last night for my sister and I. They are incredibly tasty. Instead of adding the enchilada sauce to the mix inside the tortillas, I added the cilantro garlic cream. I was glad I did, I think the enchilada sauce inside would have been overkill and they tasted amazing. Next time I make them, I will make the sauce more wet. The cilantro garlic cream sauce is to die for and I will definitely triple that recipe since I ran out after only half the enchiladas were gone.
Such an amazing recipe! Made these last night for a dinner party and the two sheet of them were completely devoured. Prepping the sauce and crema beforehand was extremely helpful in throwing these together faster. Will definitely be making these again!
Hi Cecilia, I’m so happy everyone enjoyed the enchiladas!
My partner really struggles with the idea of no meat in meals, (he grew with a meat and no veg kind of family) and I’ve made many of vegan dishes for him.
This is the only dish so far that he thinks is absolutely amazing without meat. Thank you dreena! Cashew cream with it just added perfect to perfect. Delicious!
Ive been following this website for many years and have made a few things but not many, I wasn’t vegan before, just very healthy. Recently, I became vegan and have been starving for something new. This took me almost 3 hours to make but man! Was it ever worth it!! It was amazing, honestly, just amazing. The cashew cream with the avocado and just enough spice with the sweet potato…..just divine. Thanks so much, you do such amazing work!!!
This is delicious. We enjoyed them tonight. Love the Garlic Cashew Cream. Yum.
I’ve made this recipe at least 10 times in the last year. My non-vegan husband raves about this dish, and it’s one of my favorites! Thank You.
I use corn tortillas, and layer them with the filling, sauce, and Daiya cheddar cheese (similar to how you would with a lasagna) twice over. I also have to make 2X the Cashew Cream recipe because I wind up eating half of it with a spoon. Absolutely wonderful!
Oh, I’m so happy to hear you’re loving the recipe, Rachel!!
I’m hosting a week of whole foods, plant based lunches for my co-wokers soon, and decided to make this the opening lunch, so I tested it today. HOLY MOLY IS IT GOOD! I did not use any oil in the recipe, other than what the sun dried tomatoes were packed in, and everything turned out beautifully. It’s a definite winner, and my co-workers are in for a treat!
This recipe is delicious!!! I was especially pleased with the garlic sauce, wow, yum! I first was skeptical of the portion sizes (thinking it may not feed 4 hungry adults), but I was wrong. It was fabulous. Wouldn’t change a thing. Keep up the good work!
i have the old cookbook and really enjoyed those enchiladas but these are better. So good. I will be making these often. Thanks for the great recipe.
I made these last night and they were so good! My husband, who is a meat eater but trying to eat vegan for the next month, loved them too! They will definitely become a regular on the dinner rotation.
I just made these for the second time in a month,and this time I doubled the recipe. And I am single so that’s a lot of meals. I was licking the cashew cream off the food processor blade and I cut my tongue, but I still went in for more! Yum yum yum. This ius my new favorite recipe.
OUCH! Hope your tongue’s doing okay, Emilie! I’m so happy you’re loving the recipe–sounds like you’re stocked up for a while. :) Enjoy all those leftovers!
Amazing! I doubled the recipe and it made around 10 enchiladas.
So filling, delicious and the cilantro lime sauce just completes it to NEXT LEVEL.
I’m glad they were a hit, Jessica!
This is my favorite recipe ever… it’s always a hit even with picky omnivores at the table. The first couple of times I made it, it took a long time to prep, but now I’ve got it down and it’s easy to do! It’s so simple whip up the cashew cream topping and I love having the rest of the avocado as a topping! It’s great left over too, which is a requirement for any good recipe for me! Thanks, Angela!
Holy cow. My husband and I decided to cut down on animal products and this was my first ever vegan meal. It was one of the BEST THINGS I have EVER eaten! Gave me some hope that you don’t need animal products to make a delicious meal. This was excellent, full of flavor.
Thank you SO MUCH for finally giving me a completely vegan recipe that my husband not only tolerated, but LOVED. He even took leftovers for his lunch! I look forward to trying more of your recipes!
Thanks for this recipe, it is amazing! Had dinner guests last night who are looking to cut back on meat, since I love everything I try from you and they love mexican based meals, thought this would fill the bill. We all agreed these are the best enchiladas ever, and if we were served these at a restaurant, we would be quite pleased! I doubled the recipe, so there were a few left over, hubby and I just each had one for breakfast! Thank you again Angela, you rock!
Didn’t have red peppers or sun dried tomatoes, and didn’t make the cashew sauce either but man these were amazing! We recently switched over to a planted-based diet and have been struggling to find dishes we love.
We ended up making it casserole style by layering corn tortillas with the sauce and veggies, and I added a splash of Apple cider vinegar to balance out the sweet potatoes. Soooooo delicious!
OHHH EMMM GEEE, those are amazing!!! I just started eating clean recently, so I’m looking for good recipes. I’m SO glad I found your website, can’t wait to have my friends over for dinner, they will LOVE these enchilada’s. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Thank YOU for the love comment, Diane! I’m so happy you loved the enchiladas, and I hope you enjoy whatever recipe you try next just as much!
Both my boyfriend and I agree that these were the best enchiladas we have ever had. I added eggplant & mushrooms and the addition went well. Thank you for such an easy to follow, delicious recipe. I will be looking for your cookbook.
Wow…Wow…Wow… I made these from your app that I downloaded on my phone. I am fairly new to veganism about 6 weeks. These were AMAZING. I didn’t have the jarred roasted peppers on hand I used fresh, it was still AMAZING. If I can get the hubs to say wow ding ding ding!!!! I can’t wait to get your cookbook.
Hey Ella, I’m so glad the enchiladas were a hit! They’re one of our faves in this house. :) Thanks for your review!
Another winner! Made these with your avocado cilantro cashew cream. Bizzomb! I did use my own homemade enchilada sauce though ;) Very easy, and I did is casserole style so it was layered rather than rolled. Nom.
I’ve made this recipe before and it’s stellar! I’ll be making it tomorrow for Meatless Monday and I can hardly wait!
I’m so happy you loved it Annette!
I’m making these tonight. I’m assuming the tortillas are flour tortillas, not corn. Is that right?
Hi Marsha, Yes, I used flour tortillas. Thanks for clarifying!
Thanks, I used flour tortillas. They were delicious. I did make 8 enchiladas as there are only 2 of us. There was plenty of filling. One thing I’ll do next time is warm the tortillas in a skillet before I fill them so they don’t taste doughy. Also I only put the toppings on what we’re eating as the rest will be warned up before we eat them. Recipe is great. I have your cookbooks and have made several recipes. All were great, especially the cheese sauce. It is outstanding. Thanks for all your ideas and hard work.
This recipe was so amazing. The only thing I didn’t make from scratch were the tortillas. I purchased gluten-free tortillas. They tasted fine but didn’t roll well so my recipe was not as pretty as yours! The enchilada sauce and the cashew cilantro cream was to die for. I could just eat that forever and ever. And my husband, a dedicated carnivore, just loved this dish. Thanks for the amazing recipe and keep them coming.
Aww thank you so much for the recipe love, Joan! So happy it was a hit with you and your husband.
I made this for my husband and I last night. Absolutely YUMMMY!!!! I have some left over filling (only cooking for two) and will probably make some quesadillas with it. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe.
Hey Nova, Thanks for your feedback…I’m so happy you loved it so much. Repurposed leftovers are the best aren’t they?
Made these today! Super good. Thanks for the recipe.
Wonderful recipe! It was the first time I made cashew topping and it was OUTSTANDING!!!
A cashew topping sounds SO good. Was it cashew cream or something else?
We are huge fans of both this and the sweet potato and black bean enchiladas. I was wondering if the enchiladas can be made ahead of time and frozen before baking? Would I put enchilada sauce before or after freezing? Thank you!
I’ve heard they can be frozen, but I haven’t tried it yet myself. I would leave off the toppings (including the Cilantro-Lime-Garlic Cashew Cream) until just before serving though.
Just wanted to say THANK YOU for this recipe! I’ve made this for so many different people (all with VERY different food preferences) and even my meat eating friends LOVED it!! One of my go-tos and absolute favorites!!
This recipe is seriously amazing. I have made it multiple times. Never been a fan of enchiladas but these are just too good. Perfect perfect recipe.
I made these last night for my vegan husband – delicious!! Didn’t have limes so used lemon in the creamy avocado topping. Still so yummy! The sauce was so good too.
Oh good call on using lemon in a pinch…you can’t go wrong! So glad you enjoyed them so much Jen.
These are fantastic! I has a vegan potluck with a couple friends last night and this was on the menu to make together! All of us working in the kitchen made it easy to soak the cashews, whip up the two sauces, and make the enchiladas pretty quickly. One friend had the idea to add a pinch of cinnamon and cocoa powder to the enchilada sauce as well, which was quite delicious. We all couldn’t stop talking about how fantastic this recipe is! Thank you!
Hey Aida, So glad you and your friends tried out the enchiladas! I love the idea of adding a pinch of cocoa and cinnamon. I will try that next time.
Seriously amazing! The flavor combinations were just perfect, with the sweet potato providing some creamy-ness and peppers adding some tang. This will be one of my go-to recipes to feed to skeptical meat eaters. Will definitely make again!
Hey Steph, Thank you so much for trying it out and letting us know how it went! So happy to hear you love it as much as we do.
I have never commented on a recipe before, but this one deserves 10 stars and I felt obligated to say it.
I added corn and crushed chillies to mine, but otherwise followed the recipes exactly and I am blown away! the two sauces are life changing.
I’m so happy you decided to comment, Malcolm! Thank you :) That’s great news it was such a hit, and you can’t go wrong with a Mexican Lasagna either.
We are NOT vegan not even vegetarian in our house, but we have two with celiac disease and one with a dairy allergy so I went for it. The GF brown rice tortillas that I found do not roll period so I made enchilada “pie”. The flavors were amazing and the meat was not missed in this tasty dish. I topped it with my own vegan avocado crema recipe and some prepackaged vegan cheese too but it would have still been amazing without the additions!
So glad you enjoyed it so much! And I love the “pie” idea. I’ve heard from a few people that it’s a good way to make it!
Oh my goodness Angela you have outdone yourself with these enchiladas. I made these this evening and both me and my meat-devouring other half could not get enough! I just wish I made these sooner, I’ve been missing out on these this whole time!
Every part of this recipe was delicious. The cilantro cream sauce made it.
I’d have to agree about the cilantro cream sauce. ;) Thanks Briar! So happy you enjoyed the enchiladas.
These were amazing! Restaurant quality. This recipe is going to be on rotation for sure. The sauces were easy to make and so delicious. It takes a good 2 hours to make, but is so worth it!
Thanks Brittany! So glad you loved it so much…thanks for your review!
Made these enchiladas for my meat loving men. Oh my goodness, they ate them up! Delicious, thank you for helping me get my family one step closer to better eating. Will definitely make a double batch next time.
Hey Trish, Yes they do a bit, but I think it depends on the tortilla that you use. Maybe a heartier one like an Ezekiel kind would stand up better?
Yes I think making it ahead should work just fine!
This is a great simple recipe. I actually doubled the sweet potato and beans to have left overs. And I did not put in the casserole dish. I plated as kids were ready to eat by heating up the tortilla on the burner, stuffing, drizzling the sauce and microwaving for just a bit.
I love that you doubled the filling for leftovers…such a great idea and if you’re already chopping and preparing it, why not? I also love the time saving idea with plating it and heating it up. makes this a weeknight option I would bet!
Hi Angela, I rarely right reviews, but this warrants one for sure! What an awesome recipe! Ive been a Vegan for 6 years and can “veganize” most things but this was so healthy and yummy. This is my new favorite!!! I made this tonight with butternut squash instead of sweet potatoes only because that is what I had on hand. I paired it with vegan refried beans and mexican style rice. We felt like we were at some fancy mexican restaurant! Thank you so much!
Do you think it is freezable?
I love your swaps Tami! So happy you loved it so much. Butternut squash sounds amazing in this I don’t know why I haven’t tried it!
Wow. This is freaking awesome! My husband doesn’t like sweet potatoes, so I cubed white ones and fried them in some spices and then continued on with the recipe.
Aww thank you so much David…that means the world to me! And I’m sorry to hear about your wife’s cancelled trip. Sounds like these enchiladas were a good dose of comfort food.
I loved the recipe, I find it very easy to do. Thank you for sharing.
I am sorry I did not read all the comments, but has anyone made this using corn tortillas?
I’ve never left a comment on your site before, but I make a ton of your recipes. This is a particular favourite. I love everything about this recipe – the sauce, the filling and especially the cashew coriander sauce for on top. Sometimes I sprinkle some vegan melty cheesy on the enchiladas before baking, but it’s not really necessary. I highly recommend this dish when cooking for guests, they’ll be blown away by the flavours and textures.
This is an excellent dish to make for non whole food plant based (WFPB) guests. They’ll never miss the meat. This is an excellent receipe. I used a bit more lime juice and a ton of fresh cilantro. ..and she’s right…You’ll never buy canned enchiladas sauce again. Loved the cilantro lime garlic cashew sauce. Won’t miss sour cream, guaranteed!
Try the Budda bowl too! Highly recommended.
Hey Marnie, Thanks so much for your review! I said the same thing about the enchilada sauce too ;) So glad you love it so much.
Just made these for dinner and OH MY GOD, they were absolutely delicious!! One of the best meals I’ve cooked, the plates were licked clean. I made guacamole instead of the cashew cilantro cream. These are going to be a firm favourite in our house from now on.
Aww thanks Jen! This made me smile. I’m so happy they were such a hit! It’s one of my fave meals.
I love this recipe! I have made several times for guests and they are always so surprised how satisfying and filling vegan recipes can be. Thank yu for all your amazing recipes!
really. this is an excellent recipe. take the time to make the homemade enchilada sauce, you won’t be sorry. your vegan and non-vegan friends and family will love this. the cashew cilantro cream takes it over the top. this cashew cilantro cream could also be used as a dip for veggies and crackers, a dressing, a marinade, as a sandwich spread, etc. a super tasty dish I will be making again soon.
Aww thank you Holly! What a lovely review. I’m so thrilled you love it as much as we do.
Another amazing recipe from you! The recipe has been on my to-cook list for a long time and I finally got around to ‘sort-of’ making it … I have to admit I un-veganed it and also used bought sauce … I was making it for an event I didn’t really want to bother too much about. I added spices to the bought sauce to make it taste better though and had to use gluten free corn tortillas. I didn’t do the cashew cream, rather I topped it with grated cheese.
Absolutely delicious!!!! I’m sure it would be even better as written! My partner is still raving about his dinner tonight! The combination of red onion and sweet potato made it taste so rich. Texture was perfect. Thank you!
Hey Lucy, I love your “to-cook” list! I’m so happy you enjoyed the enchiladas…they’re definitely a crowd-pleaser. Thanks for your support!
Has anyone tried freezing this recipe prior to baking it to make later?
I love this recipe. Tweaked it by adding soy chorizo and vegan cheese. Even the most die hard carnivore loved it. It’s time consuming, but well worth the effort.
This is an awesome recipe that I have been enjoying. I substituted Kale for Spinach so that it would not be as watery and it worked great. I also sprinkled Daiya shredded cheese on top of the sauce at the end to really make it look like “traditional” enchiladas.
We’ve done these black bean enchiladas over 10 times. So delicious!
Thanks so much Julie! :) So happy they are such a hit.
These were SO GOOD. And I’m someone that burns toast on the daily. My boyfriend looked at me and couldn’t believe something without meat in it could be this good. He said that these have to be a weekly thing. SO GOOD!!
Only leaving this comment because I forgot to give my last comment FIVE STARS. SO GOOD!
Thanks so much for posting this! Made these tonight and my omni family loved it. I was surprised at how much I liked the cashew cream as I’m not usually a huge fan of cilantro.
Hi Evelyn, Thanks for letting me know how it went…so glad it was a hit!! Always good to hear that a non-cilantro fan enjoyed the cashew cream too.
Sooo good! This is a keeper!
How might you recommend freezing this meal for future enjoyment? I will be having a baby in just a few weeks and this is one of my husband’s all time favorite recipes!
Hey Claire, Congrats on your pregnancy! So exciting. If I was going to freeze it, I would prepare it all the way to the point where you put everything into the casserole, then cover it well, and freeze. To bake it, I would thaw it in the fridge or at room temperature on the counter and then bake as instructed. I’d love to hear how it goes!
This was just okay. Very time consuming and lacked a wow factor. I did love the beautiful colors as I was cooking though and am otherwise a huge Oh She Glows fan!! | 2019-04-21T12:11:32Z | https://ohsheglows.com/2016/02/01/next-level-vegan-enchiladas/?replytocom=1769690 |
2018-10-30 First worldwide family litigation filed litigation Critical https://patents.darts-ip.com/?family=42242005&utm_source=google_patent&utm_medium=platform_link&utm_campaign=public_patent_search&patent=US20100153739(A1) "Global patent litigation dataset” by Darts-ip is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
In accordance with embodiments within, a secure independent electronic document apparatus, it's system, method, and manufacture is taught. With an authenticable and tamper detectable electronic container supporting platform vendor and authentication independence, character text data sections supporting digital signatures, data automation and nested embedding, as well as graphical image data, or other free format data sections supporting many data processing operations, imaging representation comprised within a container using a secure and independent system, the secure independent electronic document presents a solution for digital electronic information distribution, commerce, trade and exchange.
This application claims benefit of a Disclosure Document filed with the USPTO, titled “IntellEDoc—Intelligent Electronic Document”, Serial No. 610142, filed Dec. 16, 2006.
This application claims benefit of a Disclosure Document filed with the USPTO, titled “eSuretyBailBond—Electronic Surety Bail Bond”, Serial No. 610141, filed Dec. 16, 2006.
Inscribed within generally relates to information handling and specifically to electronic documents. Various aspects of an electronic document container are described within and are particularly applicable to the security of the document, its manufacture, method, and comprised system. Additional aspects presented relate to its handling and use, for example in providing flexible, secure and independent information delivery in industries of securities, commerce and trade.
With life, there is the digital world. With information, there is the digital world. Now days, they are one in the same. We are always asking, “Is it secure?” We live, having our world untouched by anyone else, desiring so much to have things as we left them; Untouched.
The technology available today allows life to seemingly flow at the speed close to that of light itself. We are literally there before we finish the push of the button. We struggle to comprehend such speeds, and will continue to do so, in such a dynamic and fast paced world. Information should be handled with care. To maintain the integrity of our intent, it must be secure.
In order to facilitate the creation and editing of electronic documents containing our information world, vast amounts of variable types of technology can be used. Agreed upon formats, specifications, recommendations and other standard defined help in accomplishing a particular task with greater information exchange and security.
Information exists in many variable formats and is transported in a vast spectrum of ways. Within the digital world, a substantial format set is available for equally substantial information type accommodations. For instance, character data handling is accomplished using text-based languages supporting a functional ‘mark up’ approach, having data populated with tags or other identification delimiters or data descriptors. These forms are of the markup language family, such as SGML, XML, HTML, cXML and other text based formats that are among the multiple established containment types. Further image, and other visually handled data, is accomplished using graphic based container types. Visual information is often supported using graphic image based file formats, such as PNG, JPG, TIFF, GIF, BMP or others established in the market place.
The basis of the teaching is to facilitate knowledge in the area of information processing and exchange. There are some electronic information document type containers that have been developed recently.
Document handling systems, databases and vault systems, as well as other transaction oriented processes, information transfers and data representations. For the purpose of this disclosure and illustration of multiple embodiments, the various possible configurations of an electronic document are focused upon for reasons of security, independence, flexibility in construction, and in support of other needs.
Tangible document content range from simple character text to full color text data, with external formatting information to image data of varying form, to audio and multimedia data, to metadata, to binary data.
All areas of industry require documents, many of which have security/requirements/needs. Specifically, insurance, mortgage, securities, as well as other financially based documents; many have highly regulated legal requirements. The required technology for their electronic handling was arguably unavailable for the most part prior to the turn of the Millennium. Considerable energy to create a “paperless world” has been expended, and these efforts are ongoing. Despite all of the world's labors, highly valued documents still often remain in paper form. Where is an electronic container that will secure these assets digitally?
Viewing a graphic image may include the perception of dots, lines, characters, scripts, meshes, shades, arrangement, proportion, scale, and color. Content is presented reflecting true life and nature. Real life and nurture tells us information is here, whether it is an artistic representation of a data element or value or an intense artistic representation of the elements in life itself. A picture has been said to be worth a thousand words. Data in image form often possess substantial information content.
Similar, character text can be perceived visually. Character text in this same form can also be processed systematically. Character data is based on memory addressing units, having an array of different character representations available for the different character text data unit values. Character text includes the letters making up the words you read here. Information in its everyday basic simplest form is here, here, written with the letters of each and every one of these words that you read.
The usage of paper forms is a predominant method for producing documents, and these forms tend to have a fixed layout and some areas of variable content. The desire to electronically create and process the information contained within documents has existed for some time and will continue. With electronic processing means, documents can be better adapted for digital commerce, trade, and exchange of transactions. Providing a container to envelope these documents increases the electronic options available for their support.
Bonds, Powers of attorney, Titles, deeds, leans, judgments, motions, affidavits, and other paper documents have been in use for long periods of time. These document types, in either original paper only medium or in a digital graphic memory contain a visual image or picture of the actual information that is of a transaction. Electronic form allows information storage and handling up and beyond that of the visual image-handling interface. Within digital data memory capabilities lay the ability for raw character based data to be represented. Having the two different data representation types for the information, those that of graphical image and character text, a container could be built to handle exchange and transaction. Either singly or in combination, the character text and graphical image data components can be present for information conveyance. Only recently have these documents had the support in place needed to facilitate their complete electronic means. Now, with the ability in place to facilitate both character text and graphical image components, the harmony in its presentation, handling, independence and security relies on a few key issues, specifically what is needed and how can it be done?
Information handling has its required attention and resource requirements. Security issues mandate a majority of container development process. A system built upon a well working container that includes independency from outside system requirements extends the efficiency and control of internal resources. Such efficiency and control can be maximized, becoming a secure independent electronic document solution.
Monetary based transactions have been in existence before the printed money it represented was. Trade and commerce, along with exchange, barter, vendor or vender oriented agreements have had a need to be facilitated in some fashion, similar to the mineral exchange of gold, silver, platinum and others. Money, specifically paper money and coin, is a commonplace vehicle for resource structured exchange and management. Monetary based items, assets, transactions and other commonplace vehicles structured on such systems all speak of the same desire and need, that being value and asset management and exchange.
Industries, such as those of the Surety, Insurance or Bail Bonding industries, have used tangible based financial supporting documents since the beginning of human based insurance back.
To represent this industry, a representation of both the ‘graphical image’ and ‘character text’ must be included for complete adapted functionality. Security is based on party involvement and need to know regulations. If independence from ‘third’ party is further supplied, security is only enhanced. Having your own way of packaging, distribution, processing, transacting, verifying, or authenticating document information with no internally placed outside based party is a must. Technology is available for such a system. Notarizations, or witness related verifications, have been around since times of Kings and Queens; however, for the digital equivalent, the technology has only been around since the years of the turn of the Millennium. What is needed is the independent container that supports the highest statutes backed electronic information handling possibilities defined today.
The options of markup type languages such as XML and others as the main structural component for document and sub-document handling needs has become a world wide accepted way of handling the inter-relational aspects of data files and their containment handling, grouping or other object or element structuring of relational data. The extreme ends of the data type spectrum are those of character text and graphical image. ‘Graphical image’ as the container for the character text becomes the solution more so than character text as the container for the graphical image.
Independent ‘graphic image’ containers further support handing, interface and integrity means required for enhancing security of electronic document contents. The need for digital signature signed data was necessary as well. The combination of the three increased the security measures in place. Again, security is further enhanced with the independence from other non-invited or desired parties. Further, with the ability to develop applications in house, easily, with world wide support allows a simpler manufacturing environment, reduces costs of such environments, and eases or completely releases restrictions for development, distribution, interaction, verification, authentication and achieve of the container, further developing its independence.
Many ways of handling information are reliant upon commercial or other vendor or vender interaction. Further, there are restrictions in how data is processed, or, even further, the previous art present only parts of the electronic document apparatus, having other parts and systems and other commercially interlaced information transmissions and exchanges. Original documents are sometimes made from scanned sources, virtually removing the dynamic allocation and build properties available in a real time document manufacturing process. Additionally, some information or other image data embedding arts actually go further than that, and forever alter or restrict the original image content.
This has made and is making digital information transfer complex; further, only parts of the solution exist. A mirage of devices, interfaces, methods, all exist, and these pieces and sub standard methods creates more problems. The issue is of interoperation of the document contents. With the people involved, methods of transfer, degree of security, and control of all entities and their parties involved, there is a dedicated portion of document handling and security that needs attention.
Feature rich vendor supplied solutions are sometimes richer in content than desired. Features that are not always necessary for commonplace transactions are become common all over the place hurdles always necessary that are not features. Further, a solution that answers to all needs are in fact sometimes too much.
Prior art shows examples of complete systems that present a way of electronic document control. None of the references would piece apart or combine together to create the electronic document, specifically with regard to standards.
Prior art handles electronic documents and its delivery in different ways, further having mechanisms or apparatus that are different and act differently.
Different prior art references teach handling of data in an electronic document differently. Some alter data of an image; some built a system that comprises the document.
What is needed is a securable independent electronic document that solves one or more problems described herein and/or one or more problems that may come to the attention of one skilled in the art upon becoming familiar with this specification.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,451,156 issued to Ornstein, et al. sets forth a METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAINTAINING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PARTS IN A PACKAGE.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,441,185 issued to Coulson, et al. sets forth a METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR BINARY SERIALIZATION OF DOCUMENTS, teaches documents are considered main that of text XML, and this process reduces the XML's footprint as it is transferred.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,418,652 issued to Ornstein, et al. sets forth a METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTERLEAVING PARTS OF A DOCUMENT.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,383,502 issued to Shur, et al. sets forth PACKAGES THAT CONTAIN PRE-PAGINATED DOCUMENTS.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,383,500 issued to Shur, et al. sets forth METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR BUILDING PACKAGES THAT CONTAIN PRE-PAGINATED DOCUMENTS.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,373,330 issued to Klebe sets forth a METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRACKING AND CONTROLLING E-MAIL FORWARDING OF ENCRYPTED DOCUMENTS, teaches multiple publisher type oriented apparatus to request, email, download program and data and decrypt data.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,366,982 issued to Shur, et al. sets forth PACKAGES THAT CONTAIN PRE-PAGINATED DOCUMENTS.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,359,902 issued to Ornstein, et al. sets forth a METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAINTAINING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PARTS IN A PACKAGE, teaches a package system using XML.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,356,143 issued to Morten sets forth a SYSTEM, METHOD, AND APPARATUS FOR SECURELY PROVIDING CONTENT VIEWABLE ON A SECURE DEVICE, teaches Media player doing encrypt and decrypt steps.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,339 issued to Harrison Jr., et al. sets forth an ELECTRONIC BOND AND GUARANTY PROCESS AND BUSINESS METHOD.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,330,974 issued to Silverbrook, et al. sets forth a METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DELIVERY OF A SECURE DOCUMENT, teaches altering images with message data.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,330,560 issued to Donescu sets forth an INSERTION AND EXTRACTION OF A MESSAGE IN AN IMAGE.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,299,408 issued to Daconta, et al. sets forth an ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT VALIDATION.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,296,217 issued to Earnshaw, et al. sets forth an ELECTRONIC TRANSACTION DOCUMENT SYSTEM.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,295,207 issued to Yoon, et al. sets forth a METHOD FOR MANAGING ANIMATION CHUNK DATA AND ITS ATTRIBUTE INFORMATION FOR USE IN AN INTERACTIVE DISC.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,251,832 issued to Venters, III, et al. sets forth a SECURE STREAMING CONTAINER, teaches open streaming channel of media from specific exe.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,251,644 issued to Viola, et al. sets forth PROCESSING AN ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT FOR INFORMATION EXTRACTION.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,199,804 issued to Bhattacharyay, et al. sets forth INK INFORMATION IN IMAGE FILES.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,191,392 issued to Coar sets forth a SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE CREATION OF VIRTUAL INFORMATION PACKAGES, teaches Combination of files into a package, with access rule.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,191,186 issued to Pullen sets for a METHOD AND COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIUM FOR IMPORTING AND EXPORTING HIERARCHICALLY STRUCTURED DATA.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,181,017 issued to Nagel, et al. sets forth a SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SECURE THREE-PARTY COMMUNICATIONS.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,172,122 issued to Alleshouse sets forth an XML SYSTEM.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,089,248 issued to King, et al. sets forth a GROUP FILE DELIVERY INCLUDING USER-DEFINED METADATA.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,954,542 issued to Miyake, et al. sets forth an IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND METHOD, teaches an application to put information into pixel image.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,908,034 issued to Alleshouse sets forth an XML SYSTEM.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,862,599 issued to King sets forth a SOFTWARE-BASED METHODOLOGY FOR THE STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL OF DIVERSE INFORMATION, teaches Pointer management for hierarchy based data.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,643,383 issued to Dugelay sets forth a METHOD FOR HIDING BINARY DATA IN A DIGITAL IMAGE.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,616,702 issued to Tonkin sets forth PREVIEWING AN ASSEMBLED DOCUMENT.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,507,858 issued to Kanerva, et al. sets forth a SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR STORING ORDERED SECTIONS HAVING DIFFERENT FILE FORMATS.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,342,954 issued to Hisatomi, et al. sets forth an IMAGE INFORMATION PROCESSOR AND IMAGE INFORMATION TRANSMITTER.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,192,138 issued to Yamadaji sets forth an APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR EMBEDDING/UNEMBEDDING SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION, teaches Image and watermarking.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,138,119 issued to Hall, et al. sets forth TECHNIQUES FOR DEFINING, USING AND MANIPULATING RIGHTS MANAGEMENT DATA STRUCTURES, teaches techniques for defining, using and manipulating digital rights management data structures.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,321 issued to Numao, et al. sets forth a SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HIDING AND EXTRACTING MESSAGE DATA IN MULTIMEDIA DATA, teaches hardware for examining media extracting message from transformed/scrambled data in media.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,558 issued to Falker sets forth a METHOD OF DISPATCHING DOCUMENTS BY CONVERTING THE DOCUMENTS FROM A CUSTOMER SPECIFIC DATA FORMAT TO A STANDARDIZED DATA FORMAT, AND THEN TRANSMITTING THE DOCUMENTS VIA MOST FAVORABLE WAY TO RECIPIENTS.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,372 issued to Cordell, et al. sets forth REMOTE RETRIEVAL AND DISPLAY MANAGEMENT OF ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT WITH INCORPORATED IMAGES.
U.S. Pat Application 20070106932, Coar, sets forth a SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE CREATION OF VIRTUAL INFORMATION PACKAGES, teaches a container of files with access rules.
U.S. Pat Application 20070011457, Dubinsky, et al. sets forth a METHOD FOR DISPLAYING AND PRINTING DIFFERENT SIZES OF SMART DOCS, teaches a visual display method for viewing a document, solving previous display issues.
U.S. Pat Application 20060150151, Dubinsky, sets forth a METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EMBEDDING USER ASSISTANCE IN DOCUMENTS UTILIZING MARKUP LANGUAGES, teaches a system and method for providing user assistance directly in the document, where the document is of the XML type.
U.S. Pat Application 20060136477, Bishop, et al. sets forth a MANAGEMENT AND USE OF DATA IN A COMPUTER GENERATED DOCUMENT, teaches a multipart electronic document allowing sectional sub-document editing and control.
U.S. Pat Application 20060080599, Dubinsky, sets forth a METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR BUILDING AUDIT RULE SETS FOR ELECTRONIC AUDITING OF DOCUMENTS, teaches a system and method for creating documents, audit rule-sets and testing requirements. Included is application software for creation of rule sets and properties, having the software limit the documents full use and potential. The document is based exclusively on XML components with a reduced feature set capability.
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U.S. Pat Application 20040128513, Wu, Yen-Hsing, et al. sets forth a SECURED ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT AND METHOD OF VALIDATING THE SAME, teaches a secured electronic document and method for securing documents using printing means.
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U.S. Pat Application 20010027459, Royal, sets forth a METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT EXCHANGE, teaches a method for document exchange using standard protocols that's flexible and easy to use. Shown is a specific document exchange system using specific relationships. Combination containers are used and are not dedicated document containers.
Other prior art using methods such as signature mapping on graphic representations, transportation of text based content allowing alteration, outside party interface dependant, commercialized and controlled, content duplicated, specific data format type excessed, content and cross-content support limited, altered or other missed security measured methods s required for today's digital exchange, commerce, and trade transactions for electronic information.
Environment in which the document is in is intense and requires enormous resource. The steps forward in processing the idea, the prototype and a working version that could sustain the market vitality are enormous, even though the distances traveled are small.
Thus, there remains a need in the art for a securable independent electronic document. An apparatus that is securable, easy to use, robust, alteration detectable and independent of other party's involvement, supportive of digital signatures and their witnesses, and supports complete closed party information exchange.
Prior art heretofore known suffer from a number of disadvantages, which include a number of information integrity processes.
Without a unique container, individual, simple, in-house defined ways of document processing is not allowed; it's not totally secure, for sure. Further, custom, private handling solutions cannot be used or included, nor can they be conducted, without having total control of this container. A securable independent electronic document container is defined having absolute handling means. Further, it is defined to have intentional dedication to the security within.
Security is of the utmost importance. Take a bail bond document, for example. The said document becomes a promise that good intentions are desired between all parties. It further shows the urgency and need to solve issues or problems at hand, if any. In this industry, there is a yielding to the way of the more critical needs of humanity. A simple document; a promise of resource or asset; A guarantee that information moves on, without delay. Legal processes and matters thereof are among the highest in need for common humanity based affairs. Each side depends on the document to help with issues of resource management, be-it time or money, or both. Resources close to ‘home’ influence and shape our lives more than the courts, fees, jails, bonds, sureties, insurances and risks. However, in the system, money has a way of saying something, and incorrect, inefficient and pretend solutions have a way of getting up and moving. The electronic document speaks its monetary and asset value having delay, inefficiency, resistance, or other influences left at the curb.
People should feel confident of their transactions. Interoperability is one main consideration. The ‘binary visually graphic’ container is operable among all systems and platform and computer systems. Simple cut and paste. That's all we want! It's possible. In the older DOS editors, the document can be edited, having its internal text contents simply cut and pasted into a new formed destination file, and the contents comes alive, executing, establishing, presenting, processing, transacting as needed. Any text, let alone any data, can be in there.
Cross platform creation for the reading, printing, and processing of the electronic document can occur. Further, as dates continue, as do version oriented software releases, base support will be built in already.
Developing standards or other normative based recommendations are available which describe many of the possible internal and external working components. Various utilities, tools and other applications are widely available for document creation, delivery, verification, automation, and other transaction processes. With the binary type container can be carried, such as via email or zip file or other box. Graphical applications can display visual images at the same time that text-editing applications can present character texts. The container is well supported. Tools to support are available and free.
Container could either support easy non-scripting simple graphic data decompression or character text processing interaction. With the simple graphical display being first, generic errors, such as buffer overflows or failed dictionary or image reconstructions. These generally would create internal errors and such would occur and trigger a simple closing, stoppage of processing response, which would cause little disruption. The Process of the character text could be done, generally in either area or ‘interfacing’ phase of the document. For instance an initial read could be done to the document, exposing its detailed content to the computer for routing and designation delivery, processing, operations and other integrated procedures or functions.
These sections can have the character data text languages that work within 7 or 8 bit formats. Remember, any data could be placed in a 6 Bit format using the Base64 MIME encoding, which, for example, could be done with international multiple character byte language formats. A use of an extensible markup language (XML), for example digital signatures and extensible hypertext markup language (XHTML), which are commonly used for creating electronic documents. Scripting code, protocol text, server page ASP, batch file process or other such text based formats are easily placed in the text sections.
Can represent and support a large variety of paper-based documents or electronic based documents.
Another feature with the electronic document is the ease of handling for document variation. Within any industry, individually dictated practices or other various conditions involved in processing an electronic document is completely supported. For example, in mortgage transactions, certain lenders may have a common set of requirements for document validity, but might supplement these with their own particular requirements.
Impossible to Combine—The mix of the two environments, character text and graphic, is the combination of the two different environments that have evolved since the beginning of computer systems.
Rewrite The present invention can be embodied in various forms, including business processes, computer implemented methods, computer program products, computer systems and networks, user interfaces, application programming interfaces, and the like.
Prior art have differences in their presentation of the electronic document, and therefore are complete solutions that do not interact. Further, some references have technology reversed, showing combination can still be unobvious.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the organization responsible for the XML standard, DTDs and related standards (http://www.w3.org). Notwithstanding the reference to DTDs to define the structure of XML documents, it should be understood that other specifications, methodologies, systems, protocols, or schemes could define the structure of markup languages.
There is no suggestion or teaching that references or presents a serried of combined ISO/IEC/W3C standards, specifically none placing digital signatures, notarizations, and self-containment inside digital graphic images.
Unobvious was the suggestion to combine the character text and graphic elements. There were prior suggestions for metadata or a comment, but the idea of internally supporting simple or rich text, markup or system command language or further other encoded random data has not come to light, let alone auto processed, digitally signed or digitally witnessed data.
Taught within is the development of an electronic document in response to the present state of the art, and in particular, in response to the problems and needs in the art that have not yet been fully solved. Accordingly, the embodiments presented within teach various possible solutions using an electronic document apparatus. Described herein, the apparatus shows to accompany variously different information handling requirements of exchange, commerce and trade. Offered with the electronic document apparatus is security and independence in its process, method, and manufacture, offering a system for the secure independent electronic document operation.
Providing an inert container for an electronic document having advanced security features, particularly those allowing complete system control of said container, doing so with a selected set of parties, and no more. Independence is further extended with verification abilities, allowing original vendors to verify the container and its contents.
Interrelated security with in document secures document further. Each interface could support characterization of the other, and interact to bind data of both format types.
Digital signatures, let alone XML has not been presented as something that should heavily populate a comment field, making an image container become a secure document.
The use of the electronic document using embedded enhanced XML protocols has not been discussed nor realized, and further, repeated missed signification realizations with focus diverted elsewhere shows lack of advantage realization.
The only link that best made sense was the text super imposed into the graphic format.
Any mention of items embedded are for descriptive or metadata purposes.
The main ‘things’ had come to frustration. It was that a mix of the two, preferably in the course of ‘into one document’. Due to its advantages, the building of the electronic document would have transpired by this time.
The problem with securities assets transfer required solid positive control of continer for such assets. Not until now has there been a container with enhanced security containing both automated data and visual presentation.
Standards are designed for voluntary use and do not impose any regulations. However, laws and regulations may refer to certain standards and make compliance with them compulsory. For example, the physical characteristics and format of credit cards is set out in standard number BS EN ISO/IEC 7810:1996. Adhering to this standard means that the cards can be used worldwide. Any standard is a collective work. Committees of manufacturers, users, research organizations, government departments and consumers work together to draw up standards that evolve to meet the demands of society and technology. British Standards' staffs act as secretaries to these committees and project manage the production of standards. As the world's oldest National Standards Body, BSI British Standards has over 100 years' experience of bringing together these often very varied viewpoints and of facilitating consensus.
A person skilled in a variety of art areas will become aware of how these established channels of protocol can become a solution for a spectrum of generically accepted possibilities of digital electronic commerce processing.
For the every day person, a picture identifies an item, and with a simple character data-interfacing environment, becomes a document that works for many purposes.
Outer wrapper gets the security container award.
Further, inert, free of platform and vendor requirements, you could do it!
The enhanced security, auto processing, cut and paste, and principle human interaction is a unique combination of features related to the electronic document.
Several steps in regards to XML and digital signatures, as well as the incorporation of the finalized secured data section into the image container requires several stages of steps in order to generate an electronic document of its type.
The commercial value of the electronic power of attorney relates to many aspects of information, data or other valued managed asset relates to the value of the item itself. Having the capability to support security measures that, when in place, can ensure transactions are done correctly and in form that is verifiable and authenticable then ensures the asset is secure. With this, the value then becomes that of the monetary or other financial worth of the asset itself.
Included is optional ‘receipt’ possibilities, where the document's contents and a show of service or directed process is created.
Multiple embodiments are presented within, and in their accordance, an electronic document apparatus, method, system and its manufacture is presented, teaching a solution for secure independent digital electronic commerce and trade. Said embodiments allow ‘Electronic Commerce and Trade’ to be secure and vendor independent. Within each embodiment's system, an apparatus can be manufactured using the method described therein. The electronic documents are proven in process, allowing immediate implementation and use, in similar to that of presented embodiments. An electronic document handling digital signatures, graphic representation, data automation all within an unalterable, verifiable, secure container is explained.
Use of what's described allows freedom in the commerce world, removal of vendor dependencies, and compliance with standard structure. Therefore, in accordance with the inscribed description, objects, features, drawings and advantages, simple electronic commerce transactions can be executed with proven, well established standard information exchange specifications and recommendations, and can become an asset!?.
Emca International (Emca) is an international, private (membership=based) non-profit standards organization for information and communication systems. It acquired its name in 1994 European Computer Manufactures Association (EMCA) Geneva, 1961, To standardize systems.
Mentioned here are a few outstanding embodiments in their ‘functional form’ wording.
Document encryption can either be on character data, before any base 64, or on the image data, having image data encrypted/scrambled before image section creation.
The extensible Markup Language (XML) can be used to facilitate implementation of integrated programmable World Wide Web (“Web”) based services. Through the exchange of XML-related messages, services can describe their capabilities and allow other services, applications or devices to easily invoke those capabilities. The Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) has been developed to further this goal. SOAP is an XML-based mechanism that bridges different object models over the Internet and provides an open mechanism for Web services to communicate with one another.
XML provides a format for describing structured data, and is a markup language that is similar in form to Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) in that it is a tag-based language. Unlike HTML, however, XML tags are not predefined, permitting greater flexibility than possible with HTML. By providing a facility to define tags and the structural relationship between tags, XML supports the creation of richly structured Web documents.
The XML standard describes a class of data objects called XML documents and partially describes the behavior of computer programs which process them. XML documents are made up of storage units called entities, which contain either parsed or unparsed data. Parsed data is made up of characters, some of which form character data, and some of which form markup. Markup encodes a description of the document's storage layout and logical structure. XML provides a mechanism to impose constraints on the storage layout and logical structure.
XML “elements” are structural constructs that include a start tag, an end or close tag, and the information or content that is contained between the tags. A “start tag” is formatted as “<tagname>” and an “end tag” is formatted as “</tagname>”.
In an XML document, start and end tags can be nested within other start and end tags. All elements that occur within a particular element have their start and end tags occur before the end tag of that particular element. This defines a tree-like structure. Each element forms a node in this tree, and potentially has “child” or “branch” nodes. The child nodes represent any XML elements that occur between the start and end tags of the “parent” node.
One exemplary usage of XML is the exchange of data between different entities, such as client and server computers, in the form of requests and responses. A client might generate a request for information or a request for a certain server action, and a server might generate a response to the client that contains the information or confirms whether the certain action has been performed. The contents of these requests and responses are in the form of XML documents, i.e., sequences of characters that comply with the specification of XML.
[TITLE] The XML Signature Recommendation (XML-Signature Syntax and Processing) defines standard means for specifying information content to be digitally signed, including the ability to select a portion of an XML document to be signed using an XPath transform. [w3c digsig abstract] A specification located at http://www.w3.org/TR/xmldsig-core/ teaches the current version of the XML digital signature processing rules and syntax.
XML Signatures provide data integrity, message and/or signer authentication services for data of any type, whether located within the XML that includes the signature or elsewhere.
The SOAP specification defines a uniform way of passing XML-encoded data. It also defines a way to perform remote procedure calls (RPCs) using HTTP as the underlying communication protocol.
A SOAP message is an XML document that includes a mandatory SOAP envelope, an optional SOAP Header, and a mandatory SOAP Body. SOAP provides a protocol specification for invoking methods on servers, services, components and objects. SOAP codifies the existing practice of using XML and HTTP as a method invocation mechanism. The SOAP specification mandates a small number of HTTP headers that facilitate firewall/proxy filtering. The SOAP specification also mandates an XML vocabulary that is used for representing method parameters, return values, and exceptions.
SOAP provides an open, extensible way for applications to communicate using XML-based messages 84over the Web, regardless of what operating system, object model or language particular applications may use. SOAP facilitates universal communication by defining a simple, extensible message format in standard XML and thereby providing a way to send that XML message over HTTP.
Listed are drawings that in no way limit the possibilities of the apparatus.
FIGS. 1A through 1E are block diagrams illustrating an embodiment. FIG. 1A is a block diagram of one embodiment in accordance with the present invention. FIGS. 1B through 1E are block diagrams of sections within the embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating some of the types of files, if any, that may be enveloped within an embodiment.
For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated in the drawings, and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended. Any alterations and further modifications of the inventive features illustrated herein, and any additional applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated herein, which would occur to one skilled in the relevant art and having possession of this disclosure, are to be considered within the scope of the invention.
Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment, different embodiments, or component parts of the same or different illustrated invention. Additionally, reference to the wording “an embodiment,” or the like, for two or more features, elements, etc. does not mean that the features are related, dissimilar, the same, etc. The use of the term “an embodiment,” or similar wording, is merely a convenient phrase to indicate optional features, which may or may not be part of the invention as claimed.
Each statement of an embodiment is to be considered independent of any other statement of an embodiment despite any use of similar or identical language characterizing each embodiment. Therefore, where one embodiment is identified as “another embodiment,” the identified embodiment is independent of any other embodiments characterized by the language “another embodiment.” The independent embodiments are considered to be able to be combined in whole or in part one with another as the claims and/or art may direct, either directly or indirectly, implicitly or explicitly.
Finally, the fact that the wording “an embodiment,” or the like, does not appear at the beginning of every sentence in the specification, such as is the practice of some practitioners, is merely a convenience for the reader's clarity. However, it is the intention of this application to incorporate by reference the phrasing “an embodiment,” and the like, at the beginning of every sentence herein where logically possible and appropriate.
As used herein, “graphic file”, “image file”, “image”, “graphical data”, “graphical image”, “WMP”, “JPG”, “BMP”, “PNG”, “JPG”, “TIFF”, “GIF”, “JIF”, “JNG”, SVG, and RTF includes any type of a visually graphic humanly perceivable medium or image based data.
As used herein, “standards group”, “ISO”, “IEC”, W3C” includes any normative group or organization.
As used herein, “data”, “binary data”, “raw data” includes data of a generic binary type.
As used herein, “byte”, “character” includes a sequence of 8 adjacent bits; which are operated on as a unit by a computer, and represents an integer from 0 to 255.
As used herein, “character text”, “character data” includes single, double, or multiple byte characters.
As used herein, “base64”, “shrunk”, includes the character representation of data in a form any of the ISO W3C ect standards.
As used herein, “block” continuous, or set amount of continues raw, binary, character text, random byte or other type of data.
As used herein, “graphic data”, “image data”, “pixel data” includes any series of visually representative data.
“Digital signature”, “Signtaure”, “Notariization”, “Digital Notarization”, “Cosign”, “Countersign”, “XML DigSig”, “XML Digital Signatures” includes any digital signature data.
“Envelope”, “enveloping signature”, “enveloped data” all reference the encompassment of a signature section or block of structured or non-structured data character(s).
As used herein, “standards” Standards—Put at its simplest, a standard is an agreed, repeatable way of doing something. It is a published document that contains a technical specification or other precise criteria designed to be used consistently as a rule, guideline, or definition. Standards help to make life simpler and to increase the reliability and the effectiveness of many goods and services we use. Bringing together the experience and expertise of all interested parties such as the producers, sellers, buyers, users and regulators of a particular material, product, process or service creates standards.
As used herein, “URL” is Universal Resource Locator.
In the following description, for the purpose of explanation, numerous details are set forth, such as diagrams, file types, and arrangements, in order to provide an understanding of one or more embodiments of the present invention. However, it is and will be apparent to one skilled in the art that these specific details are not required in order to practice the present invention.
Certain embodiments of the securable independent electronic document may be constructed in the following fashion if desired. A text file and a graphics file may be opened simultaneously. Zero or more user files may be embedded into the text file. Security features such as checksums may then be computed on all and/or parts of the text file. The graphics file process may compute checksums or other security features on all and/or parts of the text file and/or all or parts of any embedded user files. The graphics file processing can be made to in essence to take one or more pictures of a visual representation of the text file and its embedded data and therefore these checksums and security features could vary from the security features computed by the text file process. The text file process and the graphics file process may then exchange and write the other process's security feature into its file. Both processes may then each engage in additional processing such as encryption and then compute and write another security feature perhaps by a different method than the prior checksum if desired. This procedure of security feature computation, security feature exchange and save of the other processes' security feature, and re-computation and save of a new security feature may then continue or both the text file and the graphics file may then close. Subsequent inspection of the security features, if allowed by the securable independent electronic document creator, could attest to tamper evidence in either or both of the text file or graphics file portions. Additionally, if allowed by the securable independent electronic document creator, visual validation may be available in either or both the text file and graphics file portions. A human and/or an OCR, or other type of pattern recognition software may make this visual check.
One embodiment as illustrated in FIG. 1A 100 has any User File 130 or none at all inside a [XML] markup file 120 and 140 enveloped by a [PNG] graphics file 110 and 150. In FIGS. 1A through 1E, XML and PNG are shown as the markup and graphics files respectively, although in certain embodiments, other choices may exist for both. Either or both the [XML] markup file and the [PNG] graphics file may have intrinsic security features [CRC's]. As an example, FIG. 1F shows a typical arrangement of a PNG data block or chunk with some data elements 191 through 195 and the security feature 196 at the end of the chunk. In the case of the PNG format, the data security feature takes the form of a cyclic redundancy check or CRC computed on the contents of that data chunk. In this and other file formats, other kinds, numbers, and placements of intrinsic and constructed security features may occur. Naturally, it is appreciated that variations are possible and considered within the scope of the example and embodiments.
In certain embodiments, either or both the [XML] markup file and the [PNG] graphics file may include zero or more Digital Signatures and/or Counter-Signatures of various forms. FIGS. 1B and 1C show as an example, typical PNG file header and file end sections respectively. In the case of the PNG file format, the structure of the file is quite flexible with regards to occurrence, number, and arrangement of data blocks or chunks after the IHDR chunk FIG. 1B.111 and before the IEND chunk FIG. 1C.159. Continuation with an example of a use of the PNG file format in an embodiment, the markup language file and user file component, if any user files are included at all, may be inserted in zero or more Ztxt chunks FIG. 1B.113 and/or FIG. 1C.155; and/or zero or more tEXT chunks FIG. 1B.114 and/or FIG. 1C.153; and/or zero or more iTXT chunks FIG. 1B.115 and/or FIG. 1C.154; and/or zero or more IDAT chunks FIG. 1B.117 and/or FIG. 1C.151; and/or zero or more Other Sections FIG. 1B.116 and/or FIG. 1C.152. In various embodiments, Digital Signatures FIG. 1B.112 may be added before the included data. In other embodiments, Digital Signatures FIG. 1C.156 may be added near the end of the graphics file. Still other embodiments may have Digital Signatures FIG. 1B.112 and FIG. 1C.156 both before and after the included file or no Digital Signatures at all in the graphics file portion.
Embodiments may also possess Digital Signatures in the markup file portion. As an example, in XML markup language, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is just one organization that proposes and maintains standards and routines regarding Digital Signatures. Notarization elements and or files may also be included as appropriate.
The PNG file structure permits the inclusion FIG. 1B.113-116 and FIG. 1C.152-155 of several types of text data blocks or chunks and other optional types of data chunks in a file. Many of these kinds of data chunks are quite flexible as to what is precisely put into them. Various embodiments could place into these chunks information concerning advanced security features, encryption, digital rights, and/or other uses. In an example of a use of the PNG specification as the graphics file in an embodiment, the FIG. 1B.117 and FIG. 1C.151 IDAT chunks could also carry information concerning advanced security features, encryption, digital rights, and/or other uses as well. Furthermore, an embodiment that uses the PNG specification may also contain user created chunks fabricated within the rules of the specification for the purposes of advanced security, encryption, digital rights, and/or other uses as well as the pre-described chunk types.
Either or both the [XML] markup file and the [PNG] graphics file may include zero or more Optional Data Block[s] for any combination of the purposes of Advanced Security, Encryption[s], Rights, or other uses. Also, zero or more Notarizations and/or Counter-Signatures may be included. The file creator may retain, 3rd party archive, transmit, and or post the security feature[s], Digital Signatures, and Optional Data Block[s] as required. Notaries/Counter-Signers may retain, 3rd party archive, transmit, and or post as required. The embodiment receiver may check the security features [CRC's] and Digital Signatures, Notarizations, and Counter-Signatures as required. The embodiment receiver and intermediate handlers access the Optional Data Block[s] as required by the embodiment creator.
The markup file may also contain FIG. 1D.122 and FIG. 1E.141 optional sections and/or files. An embodiment could use these data to support any combination of advanced security, encryption, digital rights, non-repudiation (e.g., evidencing that a document was signed by a particular entity at a particular date and time), field validation (e.g., checking that information in a document complies with content category rules), and/or other uses as appropriate. In the case of the XML, the W3C maintains routines to convert 8 bit data to 6 bit data and the inverse conversion 6 bit to 8 bit data with no losses of bits. These conversion routines may facilitate the inclusion of files within the markup portion of an embodiment although other conversion routines may be appropriate for certain applications.
When an originator has completed a securable independent electronic document, they may have access to several kinds of information they included and, perhaps, beyond what they put in. For their particular instance of an embodiment, there may exist zero or more files, CRCs', basic and/or advanced security features, encryption data, digital rights, digital signatures, notarizations, and other data.
In certain embodiments, it may appropriate for the originator to have access to none, some, or all of this information. They then may choose to retain, post, transmit to the receiver or third parties whatever portion of that information is reasonable or required. The receiver of a securable independent electronic document may have access to none, some, or all of the information about it or within it also. If reasonable or desired in certain embodiments, the receiver may verify information within and/or about a securable independent electronic document to check for evidence of tampering, validity, and other qualities. Embodiments may also permit one or more third parties to attest to the veracity of a securable independent electronic document.
Embodiments may be constructed that include an electronic representation of a legal document such as a bond, surety coupon, mortgage, or other legal document. The electronic document creator may then include one or more digital signatures in the markup language portion in accordance with guidelines set forth by the W3C XML digital signature recommendation of Jun. 10, 2008 and/or other methods. It may be reasonably concluded that the markup language portion of a securable independent electronic document construction thus far conforms to often adopted standards and is within the scope of legal rules and regulation such as the UETA statute.
Intermediate participants such as witnesses, co-signers, counter-signers, notaries, authorizing/approving parties, and others may need only to conform to their requirements within rules and regulation to maintain the legal operability of the included legal document within a securable independent electronic document construct markup language file portion. In certain applications, when the outer graphics file portion of a securable independent electronic document construct readies to envelope the inner markup language file portion with its included document, additional steps may be taken.
It may be desirable to make any number of pictorial representations of the included document and/or its markup language component in part and/or in its entirety, which may be saved within the outer graphics file portion of a securable independent electronic document. Additional security features may also be computed on the whole or multiple parts of the inner markup language portion with the included document, which enhances the tamper evidence qualities of a securable independent electronic document.
Embodiments may be constructed having one or more securable independent electronic documents inside a securable independent electronic document. Other regular files may also be interspersed with securable independent electronic document's inside the outermost securable independent electronic document. Embedded securable independent electronic document's may also envelope further embedded securable independent electronic document's and other files. Embodiments may choose to work on the included document and its securable independent electronic document envelope in a easily readable plain-text form. An electronic document creator may construct a securable independent electronic document and then encrypt in its entirety. Information about the encryption may be stored in a second securable independent electronic document that may also contain the entire encrypted securable independent electronic document, some piece of it, or none at all. Encryption information, the encrypted whole or fragmented securable independent electronic document, which may also be inside other securable independent electronic document's, may then take separate routes to the electronic document receiver. The electronic document receiver may then decrypt and/or reconstruct all or part of the originally encrypted securable independent electronic document as appropriate.
Advantageously, the securable independent electronic document offers document creators, handlers, and recipients more opportunity and flexibility in selecting tools for data integrity, data security, data validation, data auditing, and support for other mission critical data processing needs.
The securable independent electronic document users are given the opportunity to create and/or acquire their own tools for document data processing operations. The above-mentioned tools are not necessarily limited in their scope of operation.
The document creators may be able to choose the level of interaction with outside third parties in document creation and handling.
The securable independent electronic document may be transmitted simply, such as an attachment to an email; and may be handled with tools common to the browser environment.
The signature block that contains a section for dynamic data, which is user data or other XML formatted type, including base64 MIME type of encoded data, which allows any random raw binary or character data to be inserted inside the signature block and therefore become candidate for digitally signing. Further, reference to an external object data block can be made, which therefore then includes the referenced material when the digital signature digest value is computed, even though the signed material may be outside the electronic document container.
Digital signatures can be presented in multiple forms. Adjacent, cosignatures or nested signatures enhance data integrity.
Digital signatures can be applied to both text and graphic image data sections. Multiple sections within a single text data section allow for digital signature operations to be done to both types of data sections.
Specific functionality on various types of graphic files allow for larger embedded sections. Further, additional types of data can be placed in the document, having other containment section compartments supporting other various data models. Further, these compartments can contain further security measures, ensuring yet better containment validity, such as extended content digital signature capabilities.
The character portion of the container may contain a description of an image, in a graphic section. A graphic section can also contain an image of text, security features, encryption keys, access methods and rights, or other data. A graphic section can contain an interpreted key for a XML section. Example: A picture of a zebra could be coded image=‘ZEBRA’, or other codeword, as well as ‘embedded’ values, such as a key chain. Either can be first to be created, having support by the other accordingly. In the case of creating the text first, the graphic can contain information (in graphic form), supporting original text information. Later, the text can then finish up with data supporting the graphical equivalent of the original text data to be protected.
Automated data, graphical data, and a host of other data types work to make the document securable. For example, a code word on the phone could go with a picture and be input to the automated processed text.
A wide variety of well-adopted applications already support the document.
Various encryption, security methods, or other technologies in existence, or possibly created in the future, may be implemented in the securable document container. This allows a flexible set of circumstances for enhanced document integrity.
Multiple page documents can be presented as a series of electronic documents, having the electronic document's contents independent of any header or ending container portions.
Image sections of the electronic document, its embedded documents or a combination of documents could be combined to present one totality picture. The data for these could be combined or otherwise accumulated accordingly to present a completed pictorial of the overall data environment.
Self type embedded documents support process flow and management.
Digital signatures use XML. The graphic image container PNG can support content digital signatures, which, with a specified data set, can present signatures further preserving data integrity.
Notarization or witnessing type of either acknowledgement or Juret based can be part of the document and would follow laws, statutes or other regulations in place to support commerce for a digital transaction. These laws have been in place since early 2000 for most states, having uniform acceptance to these laws commonly in place now.
Its copy is its original, having both the data and visual support included in a single container package.
Document is in its best archival state and requires no further processing for indefinite storage and retrieval needs.
Vendor verification allows for private ‘in house’ vendor specific trade secret secure, reliable confirmation. (Tumblers placed internally known only to internal processes, generating a result whose algorithmic generation is completely contained in vendors' control.
With this single container, and the bounds of data limitless, the extra protection sought became more and more. Soon, security possibilities evolved. Usable features become to exist.
Although the description above contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments. For example, the document can have other purposes, such as, ect.
It is understood that the above-described embodiments are only illustrative of the application of the principles of the present ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT apparatus taught within. The electronic document may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the document apparatus is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing descriptions. All changes, which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims, are to be embraced within their scope.
Similarly, one skilled in the art would appreciate a postable resume complete with structured information concerning employment and other tangible data items that would be relative to an applicant's qualifications.
As another example, it is envisioned that the electronic document could be that of an issued patent, or published application, having tangible data represented for automation means of cataloging or other reference. Alternately, correspondence could include control structure information supporting the office type actions and/or replies.
It is also envisioned a graphic image can present a picture that contains a required process or step. The character text could include validation or authentication text, which can include English type instructions, which describe the format of the data originally placed, or otherwise represented in the graphic form.
It is expected that there could be numerous variations of the design of this invention. For example, the graphic component may consist of colors, shapes, and other visual data. Further, the character text can incorporate multiple embedded documents, digital signature blocks, or other embedded and/or encoded data in any combination.
It is also expected that another design variation of the document would be an embodiment where there may be a receipt attached to the document, using self document type embedding, where an original order or other request is encompassed inside the receipt when the order or other request is fulfilled.
It is envisioned that the components of the electronic document and method may be constructed with a variety of information. For example, the character text component can included scripting, command language, or other digital represented formats. Further, its graphical component could include barcodes, object character recognition formatted data, as well as visually confirming data.
It is also to be realized that the components of the electronic document may be constructed of a variety of processes. In addition, component steps can be separated, each creating separate documents, and finally assembled together.
Finally, it is envisioned that the components of the electronic document may be constructed of a variety of procedures. For example, its creation could be in a controlled processing environment, with procedures creating individual sections of the document before final construction.
Thus, while the present invention has been fully described above, with particularity and detail in connection with what is presently deemed to be the most practical and preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications. Including, but not limited to, variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use may be made, without departing from the principles and concepts of the invention as set forth in the claims.
Thus, while the present invention has been fully described above with particularity and detail in connection with what is presently deemed to be the most practical and preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications, including, but not limited to, variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use may be made, without departing from the principles and concepts of the invention as set forth in the claims.
a fourth independence means, wherein having said container have a format of a normative standard type further allows said container to be created, processed or stored independent of a computer system platform medium type.
digital signing means, wherein said digital signature component type can be one of a signature, cosignature and countersigner type.
at least one hash check value, wherein said hash check value is computed for the said component section.
Gulledge 2006 What is integration? | 2019-04-26T03:13:18Z | https://patents.google.com/patent/US20100153739A1/en |
1999-05-24 Assigned to LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC. reassignment LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: ALI, SYED S., BERTHOUD, CHARLES W.
The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for receiving Type II CID data in an environment containing multiple off-hook cordless telephones, all being fitted for receiving CID data, and all residing on the same subscriber line. This is achieved by coordinating the sending, receiving, and acknowledging (i.e., handshaking) of muting control signals within a cordless link between a designated master telephone unit and designated slave telephone extensions.
The present invention relates to caller identification (CID) technology within a cordless telephone environment. More specifically, it relates to the receipt and display of Type II CID data by multiple cordless telephones within a single household.
Cordless telephones have proven to be popular in domestic, business and industrial environments due to the unrestricted freedom of movement they provide users. In fact, in 1997, for the first time ever, sales of cordless telephones exceeded sales of corded telephones with total cordless units sold being in excess of 28 million. Furthermore, total sales for 1998 are expected to have increased over 1997 sales by at least 25 percent.
With a cordless telephone, a telephone subscriber is not confined by the limitation of a station set extension cord. Instead, the subscriber has complete freedom of movement within a radio frequency (RF) link range of up to about 300 m between a stationary base and its cordless portable handset.
Along with the continued growth of cordless telephone sales are the increased umber of conveniences being offered for use on cordless telephones. Among the any such services are caller identification (CID) and call waiting.
CID is a well known feature that allows a telephone user to identify the party making an incoming call before the call is answered. When a telephone call is directed to a customer having the CID service, the central telephone office (CO) transmits a CID message concurrently with the incoming call. Specifically, the CID data is typically transmitted to the recipient between rings of the incoming call. Upon receipt of the CID data, the dialed party may use the CID data to screen his or her incoming calls, keep a journal of incoming calls, monitor for prank calls, or for any other personal or business need.
To enjoy the benefits of conventional CID service, a person typically rents or purchases a special component that receives and displays the CID data. This component may, for example, be a separate box that must be connected in line with a standard telephone unit. Cordless telephone subscribers may take advantage of the CID service by utilizing the special CID box in combination with the cordless base station. Still others, may be in possession of a cordless telephone unit capable of displaying the CID data at the handset itself through an integral CID display. Such units allow both the telephone handset and the CID feature to be mobile, thereby adding to the overall convenience of the telephone.
Call waiting is an equally well known feature, whereby a subscriber is virtually assured that he or she will not miss an incoming telephone call. That is, if the subscriber is currently using the telephone, and another call comes through on the same line, a slight tone will be heard by the subscriber. If the subscriber wishes, the current telephone call may be placed on hold while the subscriber checks to see who is on the other line. This is achieved by momentarily pressing a key on the receiver or by depressing an on-hook button. The subscriber may switch back and forth between calls as often as he or she wishes. Similarly to the CID feature, the call waiting feature has been available on cordless telephones for some time now.
Recently, the above described features of CID and call waiting have been combined to create caller identification on call waiting (CIDCW). CIDCW is often referred to in the art as Type II CID. With Type II CID, instead of simply receiving a slight tone, the subscriber can actually discern who is on the other line when they're already engaged in a telephone conversation by virtue of the received Type II CID information. The subscriber can then make an informed decision about whether to interrupt the on-line caller.
FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of the “handshaking” required in order to implement the Type II CID feature. First, an initial telephone call between the subscriber 10 and a second party 11 is already in progress. As is known in the art, the call between subscriber 10 and the second party 11 is routed through a central office (CO) 13 via communication links 20 and 21. The subscriber 10 actually receives the call on subscriber line 35 through telephone line 37. Next, a third party 12 seeks to place a telephone call directly to the subscriber 10, however, the third party's 12 call must first be routed through the CO 13, via communication link 14. Next, the CO 13 sends two signals 15 (a subscriber alerting signal (SAS) and a CPE alerting signal (CAS)) to the subscriber 10, alerting the subscriber of the incoming telephone call from the third party 12. The subscriber's 10 telephone unit then sends an acknowledgement signal 16 back to the CO 13, alerting the CO that it is ready to accept the Type II CID data 17. The CO then sends the data 17 to the subscriber 10, where it is displayed and whereby the subscriber may make an informed decision as to whether the call between him or herself 10 and the second party 11 should be interrupted in favor of the call from third party 12.
Turning now to FIG. 2, a flowchart depicts, in more detail, the above described handshaking between the CO 13 and the subscriber's 10 telephone unit. Similar to FIG. 1, the process begins with a telephone call being placed from a third party 12 to the subscriber's telephone at step S1; the subscriber's telephone unit being well known in the art as customer premise equipment (CPE). Next, the CO 13 directly receives the call from the third party at step S2. Next, the CO 13 determines whether the called CPE 10 is currently in use at step S3. If the CO 13 determines that the CPE 10 is not in use, the call is forwarded directly to the CPE 10 at step S4. However, if the CO 13 determines that the called CPE 10 is currently in use, a subscriber alerting signal (SAS), and a CPE alerting signal (CAS) are sent to the CPE 10 at step S5. The SAS is a low frequency tone (e.g., 440 Hz), audible to the subscriber only. The SAS lasts for approximately 300 ms and serves to alert the subscriber of the incoming telephone call. The CAS is a dual-tone signal combination, both being of fairly high frequency (e.g., 2130 Hz and 2750 Hz, respectively) and lasting for approximately 80 ms, or long enough to alert the CPE of the incoming telephone call. Additionally, the CO 13 temporarily removes the second party 11 from the current call during the transmission of the SAS and CAS. Next, the CPE 10 actually receives the signal pair (i.e., the SAS and CAS) 15 at step S6.
The CPE 10 must now decide whether it is prepared to receive the CID data. In so deciding, the CPE 10 determines whether any additional extensions on the same telephone line are currently in use (i.e., in addition to the CPE) at step S7. Most CPE manufacturers detect whether other extension(s) are off-hook by monitoring the line voltage. If the line voltage drops below a certain value, the CPE assumes there is another extension off-hook. If there is another device (or devices) in use, they all receive the SAS/CAS signal pair 15 concurrently with the CPE. The CPE 10, however, cannot at that time accept the CID data because all off-hook units, including all extensions, must be muted in order to receive the CID data and as the state of the art currently exists, the CPE 10 is incapable of muting other off-hook units. Therefore, the CPE 10 will continuously check to see if the other extensions have been deactivated (i.e., placed back on-hook), so as to enable the receipt of CID data by all CID-capable telephones coupled to a common telephone line.
If the CPE 10 is the only telephone currently off-hook, the CPE 10 will then mute the CPE handset at step S8 in preparation for sending acknowledgment signals back to the CO 13, thereby alerting the CO 13 that it is prepared to receive the CID data 17. The acknowledgement signals are sent to the CO 13 at step S9 in dual tone multi frequency (DTMF) format (i.e., “touch tone”). Upon receipt of the DTMF acknowledgement signal 16 at step S10, the CO 13, in turn, forwards the CID data 17 to the CPE 10 at step S11, whereby the subscriber may then make an informed decision as to whether the call that is already in progress should be interrupted in favor of the incoming call from the third party.
From the description above, it should be readily apparent that an important inquiry focuses on whether another extension is concurrently being used within the same household, and on the same telephone line, as the CPE 10. This is relevant because, as described at steps S7 and S8 of the FIG. 2 flowchart, not only must the handset of the CPE be muted before it's able to receive the CID data 17 from the CO 13, but all other off-hook extensions must be on-hook since the CPE 10 is currently incapable of muting any such off-hook extensions.
The reason for muting the CPE handset is two-fold: i) muting the CPE handset prevents the subscriber from hearing the DTMF acknowledgement signal, the signal being of considerable magnitude and is likely to be somewhat disturbing to the listener; and ii) muting the CPE handset prevents interference from speech and other noise from being transmitted along with the DTMF acknowledgement signal.
Furthermore, if more than one unit is off-hook, each of the off-hook units will seek to be the unit that issues the DTMF acknowledgment signal; a scenario likely to result in confusion and system malfunctions.
Since the CPE is currently incapable of muting any off-hook extensions it has detected, no cordless telephones that are coupled to a common telephone line can receive CID data although they are intended to incorporate the CID feature. Thus, there exists a need for an apparatus and system which allows for multiple off-hook cordless telephones that are connected to a common telephone line to receive Type II CID data.
The present invention overcomes the problems associated with the prior art and provides a method and system for receiving Type II CID data in an environment containing multiple off-hook cordless telephones, all being fitted for receiving CID data, and all being coupled to a common subscriber line. This is achieved by coordinating the sending, receiving, and acknowledging (i.e., handshaking) of control signals between the multiple cordless telephones and the CO. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the communication between cordless telephones takes place through a wireless connection between each off-hook slave extension and a master unit.
In accordance with the present invention, the handshaking results in the sending of a muting command signal to each off-hook extension and also the sending of a DTMF acknowledgement signal by the CPE to the CO acknowledging the preparedness of the multiple cordless telephones for receiving CID data. Thereafter, the CID data is actually sent to the subscriber line.
The above described process allows a telephone subscriber to have multiple cordless telephones coupled to a common telephone line and, wherein each of the cordless telephones receives CID data. That is, e.g., a CID fitted cordless telephone may be placed in all rooms of the home without requiring additional wiring or a special connection to the existing telephone line. Furthermore, the invention may be incorporated into any telephone that uses a wireless link to pass speech information between its handset and its base station.
FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of circuitry located within a preferred embodiment of a cordless telephone device of the invention.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 3-6. Other embodiments may be realized and structural, or logical changes may be made to and equivalents used for elements of the disclosed embodiment without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention.
FIG. 3 depicts a typical multiple party cordless telephone environment. The FIG. 3 environment differs from the FIG. 1 environment only in that the FIG. 3 environment has a subscriber phone 10 plus two additional extensions 30, 31, all of which are coupled to the same subscriber telephone line 35.
For purposes of the ensuing discussion we will assume that each of the cordless telephones 10, 30, 31 are off-hook and currently engaged in an open line communication with the second party 11. Communication with the second party 11 is achieved via common telephone line 35, to which the subscriber 10, the first extension 30 and the second extension 31 are coupled via telephone lines 37, 36, and 38, respectively. Common telephone line 35 is, in turn, coupled to the second party 11 via communication link 21, the CO 13, and communication link 20.
In accordance with the present invention, one telephone unit is designated the master unit 10, wherein all other extensions 30, 31 are designated slave extensions. That is, while all slave extensions 30, 31 are capable of direct communication with the CO 13, and do, in fact, receive the SAS/CAS signal pair 15, only the master unit 10 is charged with the responsibility of both detecting and acknowledging receipt of the CAS/SAS signal pair 15. The master/slave designations can be redefined each time multiple telephones are connected to a common telephone line. For instance, the master designation can belong to the first telephone that goes off-hook on the common telephone line 35. In an alternative embodiment, a dedicated master unit and dedicated slave extensions may be pre-designated.
Turning now to FIG. 4, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, a block diagram details handshaking required for implementing Type II CID in the FIG. 3 multiple cordless environment. The block diagram depicts each of the cordless units 10, 30, 31 as being divided into two separate respective portions, a handset 10 a, 30 a, 31 a and a base unit 10 b, 30 b, 31 b. Each handset/base unit pair 10 a/10 b, 30 a/30 b, 31 a/31 b is depicted as being coupled together by a respective wireless link, such as a RF link 33, 32, 34. It is via these respective wireless links 33, 32, 34 that speech is passed between respective handset/base unit pairs 10 a/10 b, 30 a/30 b, 31 a/31 b.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, all units 10, 30, 31 receive the SAS/CAS signal pair 15 from the CO 13, however, it is the master cordless unit 10 that has primary responsibility for detecting the signal pair 15, coordinating the muting of its own speaker and microphone, and also coordinating the muting of the speakers and microphones of the extensions 30, 31. Additionally, it is the master unit 10 that must respond to the signal pair 15 with a DTMF acknowledgement signal 16 to the CO 13. As previously mentioned with respect to FIG. 3, all telephones are capable of being designated a master or a slave extension unit, however, they may be configured such that the first active telephone on a common telephone line (i.e., the first telephone to go off-hook) becomes the master unit. For example, when each telephone goes off-hook, it determines by e.g., detecting line voltage, if there are other off-hook phones on the line. If not, the telephone assumes master status; if at least one other off-hook telephone is detected, it assumes slave status. Alternatively, as previously described, a master/slave assignment may be pre-designated.
The SAS/CAS signal pair 15 is received by each cordless base unit 10 b, 30 b, 31 b from the CO 13 via common telephone line 35. As the master unit 10 has primary responsibility for the system, the master unit 10 performs certain specific functions upon its receipt of the SAS/CAS signals 15.
The functions performed by the master unit 10 include: i) detecting whether a slave extension (e.g., 30, 31) is currently in an off-hook condition; and ii) if all slave extensions are on-hook, then master unit 10 must mute itself This latter step of muting itself requires the muting of any microphones and speakers in either the handset 10 a or base unit 10 b within master unit 10. In addition, the master unit 10 must send a DTMF acknowledgement signal to the CO 13 to acknowledge its preparedness to receive CID data 17.
If, in the above described detection of off-hook slave extensions, the master unit 10 does detect at least one slave extension as being in an off-hook condition, master unit 10 sends a respective muting command signal 41, 42 via a wireless link 48, 50 between the master unit 10 and each off-hook slave extension 30, 31. Upon receiving the respective muting command signals, each off-hook slave extension mutes any respective microphones and speakers which it may include in preparation for receiving the incoming CID data. The muting of the microphones and speakers is effectuated through well known means.
Additionally, each slave extension 30, 31 sends a respective muting acknowledgement signal 43, 44 back to the master unit 10 for confirming the successful muting of that slave extension, via the same respective wireless links 48, 50 used to send the muting command signals 41, 42.
Similarly to when the master unit 10 is the only off-hook unit, the master unit 10 has the responsibility of sending a DTMF acknowledgement signal 16 to the CO 13 when at least one slave extension is also in an off-hook condition, thereby acknowledging that all off-hook cordless telephones 10, 30, 31 will be prepared to accept the CID data 17 at the time it is sent from the CO 13.
After its receipt of the DTMF acknowledgement signal 16, the CO 13 transmits the CID data 17 to the common telephone line 35, where all cordless telephones 10, 30, 31 can receive the data through their respective telephone lines 37, 36, 38.
It should be readily apparent that although only three cordless telephones have been depicted in the multi-cordless environment for purposes of simplicity, any number of cordless telephones may be used in successfully practicing the invention. Furthermore, the invention may be successfully implemented within any cordless telephone environment employing a wireless, e.g., RF, link between a handset and a base unit.
While a preferred embodiment of the invention's implementation within a multi-cordless environment has been described, it should be readily apparent that any configuration and/or combination of hardware may be used to perform the same, or similar operations as those performed by the FIG. 4 block diagram. For example, the master unit 10 may be configured to send its muting command signal to any off-hook slave extensions 30, 31 through the common telephone line 35, rather than through respective wireless links 48, 50, where each slave extension's respective base unit 30 b, 31 b may then perform the required muting of the extensions' speakers and microphones which may exist within the base unit 30 b, 31 b or the handset 30 a, 31 a.
Additionally, while the invention describes the muting command signals and muting acknowledgement signals as being delivered via a wireless link 48, 50 (e.g., RF link) that exists between cordless telephones 10, 30, 31, the wireless link may exist between any combination of portions of the telephones 10, 30, 31. For example, the wireless link may exist between the master handset 10 a and each slave handset 30 a, 31 a, or the wireless link may exist between the master handset 10 a and each slave base unit 30 b, 31 b. Another configuration can have the wireless link existing between the master base unit 10 b and both slave extension base units 30 b, 31 b or between the master base unit 10 b and both slave extension handsets 30 a, 31 a.
Turning now to FIG. 5, a flowchart depicts, in more detail, a process which may be carried out by the FIG. 4 structures. The exact order in which the following processes are carried out may, of course, be modified without deviating from the scope of the present invention. Starting with step S50, a third party calls a subscriber. Next, the CO 13 receives the call at step S52. The CO 13 determines if a telephone (such as the master unit (MU) 10 (of FIG. 4) or a slave extension (SE) 30, 31 (of FIG. 4)) is currently off-hook at step S54. If neither the MU 10 nor a SE 30, 31 are off-hook, the CO 13 forwards the call to the subscriber at step S56. If at least one telephone is off-hook, the CO 13 sends the SAS/CAS signal pair 15 to the subscriber line 35 at step S58 where all off-hook telephones receive the signal pair 15 at step S60.
The MU 10 then determines which telephones are off-hook at step S62. The determination of which slave extension telephones 30, 31 are off-hook is carried out by the master unit 10 through the respective wireless links 48, 50 between the master unit 10 and each slave extension 30, 31. That is, if a wireless link is detected between the master unit 10 and a respective slave extension 30, 31, then that slave extension must be off-hook. Alternatively, the master unit 10 may be configured to read a voltage level of the common subscriber telephone line 35 to determine whether a slave extension 30, 31 is off-hook, as previously described.
At step S64, the MU sends a respective muting command signal 41, 42 to each off-hook slave extension via a respective wireless link 48, 50 (e.g., a RF link). At step S66, all off-hook telephones are muted in preparation for receiving CID data 17. At step S68, the MU 10 sends a DTMF acknowledgement signal 16 to the CO 13. A respective muting acknowledgement signal 43, 44 is sent back to the MU 10 from each off-hook extension at step S70. At step S72, the CID data 17 is sent to all muted off-hook slave extensions 30, 31 and the MU 10.
Turning now to FIG. 6, a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of a cordless telephone device of the invention 100 is depicted. As previously described, each telephone on the subscriber line 35 may serve as a master unit or a slave extension and accordingly, the following description applies to a cordless telephone which may serve as either a master unit 10 or a slave extension 30, 31.
A controller 64 is located within the telephone 100 and coordinates the sending of muting command signals, the receiving of muting acknowledgement signals and the sending of DTMF acknowledgement signals, as described in FIG. 5. It should be readily apparent that the functions performed by controller 64, as described below, may be carried out with a processor, e.g., a digital signal processor (DSP), a central processing unit (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), digital logic arrays, etc.
Also located within telephone 100 is SAS/CAS detector 60 which is coupled to controller 64. Off-hook detector 61 is also coupled to controller 64 for determining whether there are any off-hook extensions. As previously described, off-hook detector 61 may be configured to monitor any wireless links existing between itself 100 and the slave extensions 30, 31, or alternatively, off-hook detector 61 may be configured to monitor line voltage of subscriber line 35. A muting command signal generator/transmitter 62 is also coupled to controller 64 for sending a muting command signal to all off-hook extensions.
Telephone 100 also includes a muting acknowledgement signal receiver 66 for receiving muting acknowledgement signals from all off-hook extensions which have been muted. The receiver 66 is coupled to controller 64. Also coupled to controller 64 is DTMF acknowledgment signal generator/transmitter 69.
Also located within telephone 100 is a muting command signal receiver 72 which is coupled to controller 64 for receiving muting command signals when telephone 100 is operating as a slave extension. Also coupled to controller 64 are a muter 73 and a muting acknowledgement signal generator/transmitter 74. Telephone 100 also includes a speaker 90 and a microphone 91, both of which are coupled to the muter 73.
The present invention provides a system and apparatus with which a telephone line subscriber may receive Type II CID data in a multiple cordless environment. The telephone device, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, is capable of acting as a master unit and as a slave extension, dependent upon whether the telephone was the first active telephone on the common subscriber line at the time the CO has sent the SAS/CAS signal pair to the common subscriber line.
While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described and illustrated, it should be apparent that many modifications can be made to the invention without departing from its spirit or scope. For example, while specific circuitry has been depicted as being located within telephone 10, design modifications may be made such that portions of the circuitry are located within a handset of telephone 10 and other portions of the circuitry are located within a base unit of telephone 10. Accordingly, the invention is not limited by the foregoing description or drawings, but is only limited by the scope of the appended claims.
a muting command signal transmitter, said muting command signal transmitter being coupled to said controller, said muting command signal transmitter being capable of transmitting a wireless muting command signal to at least one off-hook extension telephone other than said telephone.
2. The telephone of claim 1, wherein said controller further comprises a processor.
3. The telephone of claim 1 further comprising a muting acknowledgement signal receiver, said muting acknowledgement signal receiver being coupled to said controller, said muting acknowledgement signal receiver being capable of receiving a muting acknowledgement signal from said at least one off-hook extension telephone other than said telephone and also capable of informing said controller of the receipt of said muting acknowledgement signal.
4. The telephone of claim 3 further comprising an off-hook detector, said off-hook detector being coupled to said controller, said off-hook detector being capable of detecting the presence of an off-hook condition at least one extension telephone other than said telephone and informing said controller of said off-hook condition.
5. The telephone of claim 4, wherein said controller is capable of operating said telephone as a master unit when said off-hook detector detects no off-hook condition at said at least one extension telephone other than said telephone.
6. The telephone of claim 4, wherein said controller is capable of operating said telephone as a slave extension when said off-hook detector detects an off-hook condition at said at least one extension telephone other than said telephone.
7. The telephone of claim 3, wherein said muting acknowledgement signal receiver further comprises a RF signal receiver.
8. The telephone of claim 1 further comprising a subscriber alerting signal/customer premise equipment alerting signal (SAS/CAS) signal pair detector coupled to said controller for notifying said controller that a SAS/CAS signal pair has been received.
9. The telephone of claim 8 further comprising a dual tone multi frequency (DTMF) acknowledgement signal transmitter coupled to said controller for transmitting a DTMF acknowledgement signal.
10. The telephone of claim 9 further comprising a muting command signal receiver coupled to said controller for receiving a muting command signal.
11. The telephone of claim 10 further comprising a muter coupled to said controller for muting at least one of a microphone and a speaker of said telephone.
12. The telephone of claim 11 further comprising a muting acknowledgement signal transmitter coupled to said controller for transmitting a muting acknowledgement signal.
13. The telephone of claim 12, wherein said muting acknowledgement signal transmitter is capable of a wireless transmission of said muting acknowledgment signal.
14. The telephone of claim 13, wherein said muting acknowledgement signal transmitter further comprises a RF signal transmitter.
15. The telephone of claim 10, wherein said muting command signal receiver further comprises a RF signal receiver.
16. The telephone of claim 1, wherein said muting command signal transmitter further comprises a RF signal transmitter.
said controller is capable of operating said telephone as a master unit when said off-hook detector detects no off-hook condition at said at least one extension telephone other than said telephone, said controller also being capable of operating said telephone as a slave extension when said off-hook detector detects an off-hook condition at said at least one extension telephone other than said telephone.
a muting acknowledgement signal receiver, said muting acknowledgement signal. transmitter being coupled to said controller, said muting acknowledgement signal receiver being capable of receiving a muting acknowledgement signal from said at least one off-hook wireless extension telephone other than said telephone and also capable of informing said controller of the receipt of said muting acknowledgment signal.
a muting acknowledgement signal transmitter coupled to said controller for transmitting a muting acknowledgement signal to said master telephone unit other than said telephone.
said first cordless telephone also being capable of sending a CID-ready acknowledgement signal to said telephone line.
21. The system as claim 20, wherein a second one of said plurality of cordless telephones is capable of transmitting a muting acknowledgement signal to said first cordless telephone.
22. The system as in claim 21, wherein said second cordless telephone is capable of transmitting said muting acknowledgment signal via a wireless link between said second cordless telephone and said first cordless telephone.
23. The system as in claim 23, wherein said wireless link comprises a RF link.
24. The system as in claim 21, wherein a base unit of said second one of said plurality of cordless telephones is capable of transmitting said muting acknowledgement signal to said first cordless telephone.
25. The system as in claim 24, wherein said base unit of said second one of said plurality of cordless telephones is capable of transmitting said muting acknowledgement signal via a wireless link between said base unit and said first cordless telephone.
26. The system as in claim 25, wherein said wireless link comprises a RF link.
27. The system as in claim 21, wherein a handset of said second one of said plurality of cordless telephones is capable of transmitting said muting acknowledgement signal to said first cordless telephone.
28. The system as in claim 27, wherein said handset of said second one of said plurality of cordless telephones is capable of transmitting said muting acknowledgement signal via a wireless link between said handset and said first cordless telephone.
29. The system as in claim 28, wherein said wireless link comprises a RF link.
30. The system as in claim 20, wherein each of said plurality of cordless telephones is capable of receiving CID data while in an off-hook condition.
31. The system as in claim 20, wherein said CID alerting signal further comprises a signal pair of a subscriber alerting signal (SAS) and a customer premise equipment alerting signal (CAS).
32. The system as in claim 20, wherein said wireless link comprises a RF link.
33. The system as in claim 20, wherein a base unit of said first cordless telephone is capable of transmitting said muting command signal to said one or more of said plurality of cordless telephones in an off-hook condition.
34. The system as in claim 33, wherein said base unit of said first cordless telephone is capable of transmitting said muting command signal via a wireless link between said base unit and said one or more of said plurality of cordless telephones in an off-hook condition.
35. The system as in claim 34, wherein said wireless link comprises a RF link.
36. The system as in claim 20, wherein a handset of said first cordless telephone is capable of transmitting said muting command signal to said one or more of said plurality of cordless telephones in an off-hook condition.
37. The system as in claim 36, wherein said handset of said first cordless telephone is capable of transmitting said muting command signal via a wireless link between said handset and said one or more of said plurality of cordless telephones in an off-hook condition.
38. The system as in claim 20, wherein said CID-ready acknowledgment signal further comprises a dual tone multi frequency (DTMF) signal.
39. The system as in claim 20, wherein said first cordless telephone is capable of sending said CID-ready acknowledgement signal when each of said plurality of cordless telephones which are off-hook have been muted.
sending a CID-ready acknowledgment signal from said first cordless telephone over said telephone line.
41. The method as in claim 40, wherein said act of sending further comprises sending said CID-ready acknowledgement signal upon receipt of a confirmation signal from each off-hook cordless telephone.
42. The method as in claim 40, wherein said act of sending further comprises sending said CID-ready acknowledgement signal upon receipt of said CID alerting signal.
receiving said muting confirmation signal at said first cordless telephone.
44. The method as in claim 40, wherein said act of detecting a CID alerting signal further comprises detecting a signal pair of a subscriber alerting signal (SAS) and a customer premise equipment alerting signal (CAS).
45. The method as in claim 40, wherein said act of detecting said CID alerting signal at a first cordless telephone further comprises detecting said CID alerting signal at a base unit of said first cordless telephone.
46. The method as in claim 40 further comprising detecting said CID alerting signal at a second one of said plurality of cordless telephones.
47. The method as in claim 46 further comprising detecting said CID alerting signal at a base unit of said second cordless telephone.
48. The method as in claim 40, wherein said act of muting further comprises sending a muting command signal to each of said plurality of cordless telephones in an off-hook condition.
49. The method as in claim 48 wherein said act of sending a muting command further comprises sending said muting command signal via a wireless link between said first cordless telephone and each of said plurality of cordless telephones in an off-hook condition.
50. The method as in claim 49, wherein said wireless link comprises a RF link.
51. The method as in claim 48, wherein said act of sending a muting command signal further comprises sending said muting command signal from a base unit of said first telephone to each of said plurality of cordless telephones in an off-hook hook condition.
52. The method as in claim 51, wherein said act of sending a muting command signal further comprises sending said muting command signal via a wireless link between said base unit of said first telephone and each of said plurality of cordless telephones in an off-hook condition.
53. The method as in claim 52, wherein said wireless link comprises a RF link.
54. The method as in claim 48, wherein said act of sending a muting command signal further comprises sending said muting command signal from a handset of said first telephone to each of said plurality of cordless telephones in an off-hook condition.
55. The method as in claim 54, wherein said act of sending a muting command signal further comprises sending said muting command signal via a wireless link between said handset of said first telephone and each of said plurality of cordless telephones in an off-hook condition.
56. The method in claim 55, wherein said wireless link comprises a RF link.
57. The method as in claim 40, wherein said act of sending a CID-ready acknowledgement signal further comprises sending a dual tone multi frequency (DTMF) signal from said first cordless telephone over said telephone line.
58. The method as in claim 40, wherein said act of receiving further comprises receiving said signals confirming the muting of said plurality of cordless telephones which are off-hook at a base unit of said first cordless telephone.
59. The method as in claim 58, wherein said act of receiving said signals confirming the muting of said plurality of cordless telephones further comprises receiving said signals via a wireless link between said base unit of said first cordless telephone and each of said plurality of cordless telephones which are off-hook.
60. The method as in claim 59, wherein said wireless link comprises a RF link.
61. The method as in claim 40, wherein said act of receiving further comprises receiving said signals confirming the muting of said plurality of cordless telephones which are off-hook at a handset of said first cordless telephone.
62. The method as in claim 61, wherein said act of receiving said signals confirming the muting of said plurality of cordless telephones further comprises receiving said signals via a wireless link between said handset of said first cordless telephone and said plurality of cordless telephones which are off-hook.
63. The method as in claim 62, wherein said wireless link comprises a RF link.
designating each one of a remainder of said plurality of cordless telephones, other than said first cordless telephone, as a slave extension.
65. The method as in claim 64, wherein said act of designating a first one further comprises designating a first one of said plurality of cordless telephones that goes off-hook as a master telephone unit.
66. The method as in claim 64, wherein said act of designating each one of a remainder further comprises designating each one of said plurality of cordless telephones, other than a first one of said plurality of cordless telephones that goes off-hook, as a slave extension. | 2019-04-24T23:01:11Z | https://patents.google.com/patent/US6345187B1/en |
The name "ISIS", "ISIL", or in Arabic, "da'ash", is no more. On June 29th, 2014, the top leaders of the group announced the reestablishment of the Khalifah (Caliphate) in the areas under their control in Syria and Iraq. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the emir of the group, was subsequently appointed Khalifah Ibrahim (Caliph Ibrahim) after his real name, Ibrahim ibn Awwad ibn Ibrahim ibn Ali ibn Muhammad al-Badri al-Husayni al-Qurashi. They have since dropped the "fil-Iraq wash-Sham" part of their name and are now calling themselves simply, "The Islamic State", or "ad-Dawlat al-Islamiyah" in Arabic. The term "Islamic State" will be referred to as "IS".
Indeed, al-Baghdadi has certainly fulfilled what he calls his "duty to Usama bin Laden". The move to reestablish the khalifah could have substantial positive consequences for the group in the world of global jihad; at the same time, however, it could also have adverse effects.
Looking at the positive possibilities, this move could attract larger amounts of foreign jihadists to the cause of IS. While IS already has a large contingent of foreign fighters, with whole brigades made up of certain nationalities (of which, Australians make up the largest number of foreigners per capita), this move could further highlight to other foreigners that the IS is the more "exciting" and "successful" group.
Moreover, it could attract more defectors from al-Qaeda into the fold of IS. Being that both groups want to reestablish the khalifah and both share the same ideology, al-Qaeda (AQ) has never been successful in doing so. While AQ has held significant ground in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mali, Yemen, and Somalia, none has never been as significant as ash-Sham. The Umayyad Caliphate, the largest of the caliphates and fifth largest empire in history, had its capital in Damascus. The mere fact that they have claimed to reestablish the khalifah in the same area of the center of the Umayyad Caliphate wields a huge propaganda and even religious significance. IS will undoubtedly use this as propaganda to attract more AQ defectors.
Even further than individual defectors of al-Qaeda, IS could potentially see entire groups within the al-Qaeda Network or the al-Qaeda sphere of influence switch teams. If this scenario were to actually become true, it is more likely that groups in or near the Levant stands the biggest chances of actually switching sides. Earlier in the year, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the emir of al-Qaeda, issued a statement entitled "The Liberation of the Circle of Inefficiency and Failure". In this statement, he explicitly mentioned three areas that are and should be the main destinations for jihad: Syria, Egypt and Chechnya. The omission of areas like Yemen, the Sahel, Somalia or the areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan (AfPak) could alienate some groups to the point of defection.
Switching over to the negative side of things, this move could further the jihadist infighting currently happening in Syria (and there have been some reports of small-scale infighting in Iraq). From the official statement of the creation of IS, "We clarify to the Muslims that with this declaration of khilāfah, it is incumbent upon all Muslims to pledge allegiance to the khalīfah Ibrāhīm and support him (may Allah preserve him)". This level of perceived arrogance is likely to further alienate the group from moderate Muslims and even enrage those jihadists who see this move as a power-grab and/or a premature move.
The aforementioned groups within the al-Qaeda Network or sphere of influence also has the possibility of not even occurring. Throughout the infighting, most groups within these two al-Qaeda-headed tiers remained relatively quiet about the fighting between ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra, the official AQ group in Syria. Those groups who did comment on the infighting, like Mokhtar Belmokhtar's al-Mulathameen Brigade, often sided with Zawahiri rather than Baghdadi. Being that Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the emir of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is also the general manager of the entirety of the AQ Network, I find it hard to think that AQAP will defect to IS. In the same light, the AfPak-based groups are so intertwined with al-Qaeda in the region it would make it hard for them to shift allegiance elsewhere.
Many state-actors in the region, namely Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan (one might be able to argue Turkey, but they have been accused of supporting ISIS in the past), will undoubtedly see the reestablishment of the khalifah as an even bigger threat to their security coupled with the military advances of IS inside Iraq. Military action by state actors, while is already happening by Iraqi, sometimes Syrian and quite possibly Iranian troops, has a greater chance of happening now that Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel all feel threatened. If IS begins to take the fight to Lebanon and/or Jordan, like some analysts fear, it becomes almost a near certainty for more military action against IS.
Another downside that comes along with controlling large swaths of ground: Not being able to hold on to said ground for very long. Like al-Qaeda forces in Mali, or Somalia, or Yemen, or Iraq in the days of al-Qaeda in Iraq, or even like the Taliban in Afghanistan, IS will probably not be able to hold on to their khalifah for very long. Daveed Gartenstien-Ross of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies says: "Although non-state militants are formidable, they have no real response to their enemies’ air-power advantage, and haven’t been able to hold territory against the advance of professional militaries".
When IS begins to lose ground, their propaganda value could begin to downgrade. Furthermore, the loss of ground could prompt IS to take a less egotistical approach to both the global jihad and al-Qaeda.
Like the above paragraph implies, IS is now in a position where they will need to hold on to their captured territory. Despite having a number of grievances with various groups inside both Iraq and Syria, they might need to start relying on them to help. For instance, Ansar al-Islam (AAI), a group founded in 2001 that is within the al-Qaeda sphere of influence, is a regional rival of IS. However, AAI is taking part in the "blitzkrieg" led by IS. Even though they are rivals, IS needs AAI to relieve pressure from them to take over various northern cities and avoid the risk stretching themselves too thin. In return, AAI gets to take the fight to the Iraqi military and government with the backing of a strong, well-equipped group that has numerous other allies taking part in the fighting.
The same might happen with Jabhat al-Nusra (JN) in parts of Syria. For example, IS could promise JN to not attack them in (insert city here) if JN lets them take this road or that crossing. In the same light, JN could promise ISIS to help them (insert city here) if ISIS retreats from "this". While they have been fighting, both share a mutual goal here. Ideology can and has historically been put aside to further mutual goals between two opposing groups. Without some levels of coordination between the two (or any other al-Qaeda group in the region, like Ahrar ash-Sham or Ansar Sham or Sham al-Islam), victory cannot be achieved. These small agreements could, potentially, lead to larger agreements for reconciliation. Continuing to fight each other does no one good.
However, the "requirement" for all Muslims to swear bayah (allegiance) to Baghdadi certainly ups the chances of more infighting occurring in both Syria and Iraq. In fact, nine different groups and coalitions of Syrian rebel groups, including Jabhat al-Nusra, refused to swear allegiance to Baghdadi. Those groups in Iraq fighting alongside IS now have a serious choice to make: Swear allegiance or fight them.
While IS supporters will rejoice that Baghdadi has finally achieved what he set out to do, their jubilation may not last long. The reestablishment of the khalifah poses both positive and negative possibilities for the group from everyday, moderate Muslims, to jihadists, to other terrorist groups and even to state-actors. IS might also have to reach out to its rivals if it wishes to be successful at this reestablishment. One thing is for certain though: Only time will tell what happens.
Note: The picture above is allegedly the new flag of IS.
Note v2: I added an analysis of the refusal of allegiance by nine rebel groups in Syria.
The developing situation in Iraq has taken another negative turn, as reports have surfaced that the Iraqi and Syrian governments have been cooperating with one another to strike the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. There have been two confirmed joint operations: the first was when Syrian and Iraqi forces worked with one another to strike ISIS positions last week, the second was more recent when a Syrian strike on an Iraqi border town which killed 57 occurred. On one hand, I don't think anyone should be surprised. Iraq and Syria both share both a common enemy and religious orientation, which naturally makes a cooperative relationship appear beneficial to their respective securities. However, while this may result in tactical victories, pursuing stronger ties with Damascus and Tehran will ultimately prove to be strategically foolish for Baghdad.
During the last iteration of civil strife in Iraq, security was restored not only due to a surge in American forces from 2007-08, but also the Anbar Awakening. Following the initial invasion of Iraq, a political vacuum emerged that coalition forces were unable to fill. The result was Al-Qaeda flowing into the country, quickly establishing links with Sunni tribes. However, in 2005, the Sons of Iraq formed as a counter movement to Al-Qaeda and Sunni militias that were fighting against America and the nascent Iraqi government. Within a year, the Sons of Iraq was a nation-wide movement. As violence steadily increased throughout 2006, Sheik Abdul Sattar Buzaigh al-Rishawi established the Anbar Awakening Council to unite Sunni tribes against Al-Qaeda in Iraq. This was ultimately integral in ending the civil war in Iraq. Following our withdraw from Iraq in 2011, the Sons of Iraq were slowly disbanded. While this was a sensible move, because no country should have two religiously distinct armies, Maliki failed to provide ample job opportunities for returning members. As a result, many former members were left unemployed by 2013. Furthermore, his increasingly sectarian policies served to ostracize the Sunni community. After America withdrew, there was a purge of Sunni officers among the upper echelons of Iraq's military command structure. Many Sunnis not only feel as if the Army's composition does not adequately reflect their demographic, but also that Maliki was persistently using their sect as a scapegoat.
A synthesis of unemployment and marginalization provided the perfect pool for recruitment by ISIS and other terrorist groups operating in Syria. As a result, by early 2014, ISIS managed to seize Fallujah and Ramadi. Maliki's lethargic military response, inability to protect Sunni populations from abuse, and belligerent sectarian remarks only served to worsen the situation. Sunnis increasingly viewed the Iraqi government as a hateful, inept entity. As VICE News reported, many citizens in captured cities feel safe under ISIS, which they could not say when the military handled the security situation. While we may not like Al-Qaeda, their affiliates, or their breakaways, we should sympathize with the yearning many Sunnis have to live peaceful, safe lives--even if that's under a Wahabbist terrorist group they don't particularly agree with.
Now, Iraq's government is coordinating with an unpopular Shiite regime to kill Sunnis. Instead of decrying Syria's actions against Iraqi citizens, it appears as if Maliki was complicit in their attack. This will only further reinforce present resentment in Sunni populations, making a fruitful counter-insurgency strategy even more difficult to implement. Without a wide attempt at reapprochement between the Iraqi government and Sunni tribes, combating the insurgency will be unnecessarily long, casualty-intensive, and destabilizing for the entire region. Further worries stem from Baghdad's ties with Tehran. Several articles have surfaced alleging that Iran has deployed 500 members of the elite Quds Force and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' commanding officer to assist Iraq in its defense of Baghdad. Not does this supplement Maliki's blatant sectarian policies, but it also allows Iran far more influence in the Middle East. Maliki's actions signify a realignment that leaves Iraq even closer to Iran's political clout.
But Iraq is not the only actor that can be blamed, America's dithering policy in Syria ultimately allowed for Jihadist organizations like ISIS to become so large and well-equipped. If America had initially worked more closely with the Free Syrian Army, then perhaps the situation in both Iraq and Syria would be different. Now, it appears as if we've passed the golden opportunity to fund religiously moderate Syrian groups, and we're certainly reaping the consequences of that failure. If we intend on ensuring that the epicenter of the world's energy market remains somewhat stable, then it is necessary that we increase our involvement with Syria's opposition. For his part, it seems as if Obama has begun to do just that by proposing 500 million dollars in aid to Syrian rebels. However, without Iraq agreeing to domestic policy reforms, it appears as if a great deal of developments in both Syria and Iraq will happen outside of our control.
On April 18th, 1983, sixty-three people, including seventeen Americans, were killed in a car bomb attack at the US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. A group called the Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO) and its leader, Imad Mughniyah, quickly took responsibility for the attack. To be positive, the IJO is the international wing of Hezbollah activities. However, Hezbollah is much more than just a terrorist organization; they are a political party, they are a social organization, they are a militia and they are a terrorist organization--this article will focus on the latter.
While at one point, Hezbollah (In Arabic, Hizb Allah means "Party of God") was the best group at killing Americans, Hezbollah focuses a lot of attention on fighting Israel. Indeed, to act as a resistance to Israeli occupation is an outlining factor into why they were formed. In recent years, however, their attention has faded away from Israel and to helping Bashar al-Assad stay in power in Syria, as well as supporting Iran's shadow war with the West. Having said that, the Party of God could begin to shift back to fighting Israel.
Hezbollah was formed in the early 1980's as a result of Iran wanting a Lebanese-proxy against Israel (Levitt). As I said before, Hezbollah was formed, in part, to be the resistance against Israeli occupation following the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Iran, for their part, made sure each new recruit attended an Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp-Quds Force (or simply, Quds Force) training camp in the Bekaa Valley (Levitt). Hezbollah is also known to vehemently support an Iranian ideology called velayat-e faqih (guardian ship of the jurist). This ideology essentially says that a Shia cleric can also serve as the head of government. It is thought that Iran still gives Hezbollah around $200 million to fund their terrorist activities, their political and social activities, as well as their media wing (Levitt).
Since the 1980's, however, they have developed an extensive network of global connections and ties to various militant groups and even Mexican drug cartels. Utilizing these connections allows for Hezbollah to support Iranian activities around the globe. For instance, it is thought Hezbollah acted upon the behest of Iran when they launched the Burgas terrorist attack in Bulgaria in 2012. Even further, several Hezbollah operatives were arrested in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2006 and 2008 and charged with plotting against Israeli and American interests there (Levitt).
These international connections are thought to be as a result of both Iranian influence of the group and the ambitions of the leader of their international wing, Imad Mughniyah. Mughniyah, born in Lebanon, was not only in charge of their international wing, but also their military and intelligence wings (Levitt). Mughniyah was thought to be behind some of the groups most spectacular and devastating bombings and hijacking in the 1980's. In fact, the CIA has accused him of killing more Americans than any other militant before 9/11. He was killed in 2008 in Damascus, Syria by an assumed Mossad assassination.
"Over the course of the always intimate relationship between Iran and Hezbollah, the head of the Quds Force or other senior Iranian leaders might have told Hezbollah to "jump" and the response would have been, "How high?" (Levitt). Based on what this passage tells us, it is easy to surmise that Hezbollah does the bidding of whatever Iran wishes. This is why we saw Hezbollah operatives perpetrating a terrorist attack in Bulgaria, why several operatives were arrested in Azerbaijan plotting an attack, and why several members were arrested in Thailand and Cyprus for the same thing (Levitt). It should come as no surprise as to why Hezbollah is currently fighting on the side of the regime in Syria. The Assad regime is a key partner to both Iran and Hezbollah, and Iran needs Assad to stay in power. Hezbollah seems more than happy to intervene in Syria at the behest of their masters in Iran.
Even further, Iran asked the same of Hezbollah during the US-led War in Iraq. During the fiercest time of sectarian killings in Iraq (2006-2007), a Hezbollah operative by the name of Ali Moussa Daqduq was charged by Iran to be their liaison in the coordination of the training of several Shia militant groups (Levitt). But not only that, Hezbollah operated several training camps for several Iraqi Shia militant groups--these groups were dubbed the "Special Groups" by the United States. This only further shows their commitment to Iran.
Despite being a force to be reckoned with in the battlefields of Syria, Hezbollah's activities in the country are not coming without a price. Indeed, several car bombings attributed to Sunni al-Qaeda organizations, Abdullah Azzam Brigades and Jabhat al-Nusra in Lebanon have targeted both Hezbollah and Iranian assets. As a result, Hezbollah's popularity has been seemingly declining among the Lebanese people. The people do not want to upset the fragile balance between Sunni's and Shi'ites in Lebanon; this is something Hezbollah is seen as toying with in their intervention in Syria. As more bombings, fighting and chaos occurs in Lebanon due to spillover in Syria, Hezbollah will probably continue to lose support. In the event that Hezbollah feels like they need to regain support from the Lebanese Shia community, their crosshairs could turn back to Israel. This could be already happening with a recent bombing on Israeli military outpost by Hezbollah. Hezbollah will have to prove to the people of Lebanon, whom they have been supporting since the 80's with various social services, that their focus is still on Israel.
Being that Hezbollah has operated in Iraq before, it stands to reason that Hezbollah could begin to be involved yet again in the wake of the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham's blitzkrieg in Iraq. The ISIS blitz has since set off a fervor of sectarian passion among both Sunni's and Shi'ites. In fact, the head Shia cleric in Iraq has issued a call to arms and Moqtada al-Sadr's infamous Mahdi Army has thought to have been mobilized again. If push comes to shove in Iraq and we start to see another sectarian civil war in Iraq, I would not doubt Hezbollah will again be operating in Iraq at the behest of Iran. Now, being that they want to rollback their negative image in Lebanon, we may not see the same levels of intervention as in Syria or previously in Iraq. I believe training of troops would be the most obvious contribution to the crisis by Hezbollah. I also do not rule out the possibility of this already happening being that the Quds Force is thought to be helping in the fight against ISIS.
By going to Syria at the behest of their patron Iran to defend their mutual ally Bashar, it removes any doubt that they most certainly are a global organization doing the bidding of Iran--leaving the citizens of Lebanon, whom they are supposed to protect, susceptible to more violence. This violence will be from Sunni groups, like the AQ-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades or even al-Nusra, fighting between Sunnis and Shi'ites in the Bekaa because of Syria, or even the Lebanese state. This will most definitely upset the balance Hezbollah has tried to maintain.
Moreover, I see Hezbollah trying to attack Israel to be even more likely the longer they are in Syria. This has nothing to do with expanding that war; rather, its about shifting the focus, or appearing to shift it, back to Israel, the original enemy. Inadvertently in doing so, however, this will probably result in the expansion of the war in Syria. But the thinking in doing so, in Hezbollah's eyes, would be to show the Shi'ites of Lebanon that they are still the vanguard against Israel and maintain the power and influence they wield in Lebanon. Hezbollah also stands a good chance of getting involved in Iraq the more Iran gets involved in Iraq.
Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon's Party of God by Matthew Levitt.
As turmoil in Iraq continues to develop, ISIS militants inch close and closer towards the heartland of oil in Southern Iraq. The threat became fully apparent on Wednesday, when ISIS militants attempted to seize control of Iraq's largest oil refinery, but were repelled by security forces at the facility. Uncertainty regarding Iraq's future has resulted in economic reverberations in the United States. The DOW Jones dropped 102 points on June 12, and oil prices have crawled up to $115 per barrel.
Hikes in oil prices have affected Americans at the pump, we've now reached a national average of 4 dollars per gallon of gas, which is the point where Americans begin feeling the heat from prices. Relatively speaking, Americans are insulated from increasing costs that naturally stem out of crisis. Due to laws that developed out of the 1973 oil crisis, American crude can only be sold so long as the Federal government deems it consistent with our national interests. Regardless of if it is a positive policy on balance, this means that oil prices are naturally lower in America vis-a-vis Europe. Gas prices in the Europe are routinely higher than in America and regularly reach as high as 10 dollars in some places during times of economic distress. While many champion the American oil boom as being a remedy to the problem of having the world's energy supply situated in the most politically volatile country on earth, the International Monetary Fund has said that international oil prices are more closely tied into Iraq's oil output than America's (partially due to the aforementioned restrictions on exports).
Luckily, it seems as if the American economy will be able to withstand the increasing turmoil in Iraq. Macroeconomic Advisers, a Saint Louis-based economic consulting firm, has not revised its forecast for the American economy. Even a draconian increase in oil prices--say, $10 per barrel--would only slow down economic growth by two- or three-tenths of a percentage. This would translate to an unfortunate reduction in the speed at which our economy expands, and a slower decrease in the unemployment rate. But overall, the transpiring events in Iraq thus far hardly represent a major threat to the American economy. With that said, if Iraq is unable to get a handle on the advance of ISIS militants, then America could be faced with a major crisis. Ifinsurgents managed to take most or even all of Iraq's oil fields, then prices could skyrocket exponentially. This, of course, would have an enormous impact on global financial institutions. To use a point of comparison, the 1973 oil crisis set off an era of stagnation in the Soviet Union, stagflation in America and Europe, and (more positively) resulted in Japan shifting its economy from oil intensive industries to electronic based ones. Granted, as a qausi-state actor, ISIS would more than likely continue to sell oil from refineries that it seizes. But as we've seen in Libya, reinvigorating oil industries ravaged by conflict can be extremely difficult. Further, it's questionable if the United States and its allies would do business with a terrorist state.
Therefore, it is essential that America ensure that Baghdad is able to regain control over renegade provinces. Most importantly, policies promoting sectarian divides between Sunni's and Shiites need to be implemented. However, building intelligence architecture, providing greater air power, division-level planners and advisers, and SOF should be offered as well.
A common refrain you'll come across both in life and on the internet, is the belief that American power renders the threat emanating from [insert geopolitical monster of the week here] either of little importance to our overall interests or, less often, irrelevant. This rather naive view of strategic success is rather akin to believing that global interactions are nothing more than a large scale version of the card game War, in which powers stack up their respective militaries in a line and proceed to duke it out until the country with the highest value is left standing. No doubt, American conventional superiority has ensured us a remarkable degree of security. However, casting power as a surety for strategic success is fallacious. Asymmetrical strategy, for example, hinges upon the belief that lesser powers can obtain victory over stronger opponents--an idea that has been validated in both theory and practice.
Such asymmetric strategies are being employed by our competitors, like China, Iran, and Russia. All three have a very robust anti-access/area denial capability which can disrupt NATO/multilateral operations in event of war. Most notably, China's huge reserve of ballistic/cruise missiles, submarines, and mines enable it to effectively carve out an inaccessible area of ocean up to the first island chain. Despite our ability to best China's fleet in a conventional, World War Two-style naval engagement, they have created a strategy that can target our weaknesses: everything from gaps in our missile defense to our cyber infrastructure.
However, Iran and Russia are not to be ignored. NATO's ability to respond to rapid territorial aggression in Eastern Europe by Moscow would be severely hampered by a flurry of ballistic missiles launched at incoming supply lines. Though it has been over a decade since Operation Mellinium Challenge 2002, both Iran's ability to close down the Strait of Hormuz--if only temporarily--and America's vulnerabilities in littoral areas remain apparent, even as we continue forward with programs designed to help us "win" in such environments.
But perhaps more broadly, we've seen less capable nations match or exceed our own geopolitical influence on a regional level. In rather Cold War-esque fashion, some of the biggest strategic victories are being won under the veil of political subversion, covert operations, and back door economic support. Arguably, NATO remains far more vulnerable to a Ukraine-style invasion of a member state than a conventional invasion envisioned by the strategists of Cold War-era battle plans. The Baltic states all possess significant ethnic Russian populations, with a large portion feeling closer to Moscow than their respective governments. Should Russia arm internal dissidents in Baltic, how would NATO respond? Potentially with a prolonged insurgency against ethnic insurgents, which would enable Russia to wage war against the alliance via prolong. However, would they retaliate against Russia, risking a conventional conflict and its associated economic impacts? It's a question that I cannot begin to answer, but I will say that America did not attack the Soviet Union over its support of North Vietnam (which included shooting down U.S. aircraft). But at the same time, South Vietnam was not a NATO member.
Iran has created a regional network of non-state and state alliances, which has enabled it exert a large degree of influence in the Middle East. Hezbollah, one of the major non-state actors engaging in conflict within Syria, is funded and guided by Iran. With the help of tactical advice, training, and weapons shipments from Iran (coupled with war's version of natural selection), Syria's third-rate army has evolved into a resilient and effective force that has achieved several strategic victories against opposition forces. On a more economic level, Iran's tanker fleet has circumvented oil embargoes on Syria, which has kept the regime's war machine rolling on. In terms of political subversion, Iran was responsible for backing the 2007 coup that supplanted the Palestinian Authority with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, a major setback for Israeli security and American political interest in the territories. In Iraq, Iran has reportedly deployed 500 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to the country and dispatched the Quds Force's leading general to coordinate the defense of Baghdad.
Conventional power is important, but it does not always translate into strategic success. Asymmetrical opponents have devised dangerous ways to defeat our military forces. But perhaps more imminent, regional powers have been expanding their influence in ways America cannot match without risking the very likely possibility that our efforts will backfire. As these situations continue to develop, citizens and policymakers alike will have to remember that threats don't always come in the form of armies and terrorists--it's the ghosts fomenting unrest in the corner that can pose the true threat.
On June 16th, 2014, ash-Shabaab, the Somali-branch of al-Qaeda, murdered forty-eight people watching the World Cup in a coastal Kenyan town. What was once thought of as a local organization primarily focused on fighting inside Somalia, the group shattered this narrative when they and their Kenyan-affiliate al-Hijra, attacked the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi and killed almost seventy people. But what does this mean for the region and can the United States do anything to stymie the threat?
Al-Qaeda has always been active in east Africa dating all the way back to the early 1990's. Sayf al-Adel, a top military commander for al-Qaeda and a suspect in the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, was active in Somalia as early as February of 1993 and established a training camp on the Kenyan border. It is thought that some of his graduates took part in bloody Battle of Mogadishu (1993)--better known as "Black Hawk Down".
Another top al-Qaeda commander, Fazul Muhammad, another suspect in the 1998 US Embassy bombings, also took part in the battle. Fazul would later be named the leader of al-Qaeda East Africa (AQEA), as well as the military commander of ash-Shabaab before his death in 2011. Even further, Usama bin Laden (UBL) officially took refuge in Sudan after his exile from Saudi Arabia in 1992 (read: "Understanding Terror Networks" by Marc Sageman).
The group ash-Shabaab, however, traces its origins back to a group called the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and an earlier group by the name of al-Itihaad al-Islamiyya (AIAI). AIAI was a radical jihadist group operating in Somalia, that received funds from wealthy Saudi's (including one Usama bin Laden). AIAI also reportedly helped AQEA launch the coordinated suicide attacks on the two embassies; something that landed them on the UN's list of al-Qaeda associated individuals and entities in the wake of 9/11.
The leader of AIAI, Hassan Dahir Aweys, would later go on to found the Islamic Courts Union. The ICU officially took over Mogadishu and large swaths of ground in southern Somalia in 2006. The Transitional Federal Government (TFG), a makeshift government set up in Mogadishu by Western powers, along with Ethiopian troops as a part of AMISOM effectively ran the ICU out of all their major strongholds and the ICU was disbanded.
Their militant-wing ash-Shabaab however, remained committed to the fight. Starting in 2009 when Ethiopia withdrew, Shabaab quickly began to retake lost ground. Clicking here will show you how much ground Shabaab took back after their offensive on the TFG began in 2009 and almost a year later (on the right). Fortunately, this tide has since been turning with Shabaab losing more ground to the US-backed AMISOM mission, including their main financial hub Kismayo.
While al-Qaeda had long since praised and published propaganda pieces on the ICU, Shabaab officially joined al-Qaeda in 2012. The link also provides a slew of names of top al-Shabaab/AQEA operatives, which provides an excellent insight into the groups connections and prowess--it should also be noted that there are several American members of Shabaab. Some of the leaders have since been killed, but I don't think that takes away from their potency. I also want to take the time (this could go on and on for a few posts) to point out that Shabaab also has at least one state supporter: Eritrea.
Like mentioned above, the notion that Shabaab is just a local group should be long since gone by now. It should have been gone in 2010, when they killed seventy-four people in Uganda, but I digress.
Since a renewed US-backed AMISOM mission started in 2012, Shabaab has threatened retaliatory attacks across the Horn of Africa. Besides the aforementioned attacks in Kenya, Shabaab has also been responsible for attacks in Djibouti. Djibouti, a tiny country neighboring Somalia to the north, also hosts the only US military base in the region. As a result, Shabaab has threatened more attacks there. Not only that, but they have threatened to conduct more attacks in Kenya, Uganda and even the United States; the latter of which sometimes directly intervenes.
But let's also look at Shabaab's connections to other al-Qaeda groups.
Shabaab is known to financially support Boko Haram. They have a "terror partnership" with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Shabaab is also said to be "synchronizing their actions with Boko Haram and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)". No matter how you look at it, Shabaab is a well-connected group and appears to be advancing al-Qaeda's goal of the global jihad.
Looking specifically at the "terror partnership" with AQAP, this could be a dangerous scenario if both of these groups begin to seriously work together to target the United States. A "terror partnership" between the two should also come as no surprise. With close proximity and knowing al-Qaeda branches share resources and fighters, it only makes sense. Pooling their resources together, they would be able to effectively use AQAP's bomb making methods and Shabaab's excellent recruiting methods in the United States to conduct terrorist attacks here.
By "synchronizing their actions with Boko Haram and AQIM", Shabaab could extend their reach from the Horn of Africa to the heart of Nigeria and even into Mali and Algeria. All three could pool their resources together and effectively threaten US interests in a large portion of Africa.
What can the United States do?
The United States can continue to work with regional partners in the area to combat the threat of Shabaab and to mitigate the relationships between Shabaab and various other al-Qaeda affiliates and branches. Working with African troops to build up their capabilities, assisting them in battle with intelligence support and even aerial support, as well as conducting military raids and drone strikes when needed. The United States also need to be investing in the political, social and economical factors of terrorism; working with the regional governments to clamp down on recruitment efforts, to help their economies grow, to work with political and social leaders, and to encourage religious leaders to speak out against Shabaab. The United States will also need to work to influence state actors, like Eritrea, to stop funding Shabaab and/or discouraging their citizens from doing so as well.
The threat emanating from Somalia extends beyond the region of the Horn of Africa; It is expanding across Africa and even into the Arabian Peninsula. One day, it could even begin to stretch westward. We should be trying to stymie their aspirations of attacking us.
Note: It is usually seen as "al-Shabaab", but as a student of Arabic I prefer the correct way of transliteration. In Arabic there are essentially "sun" and "moon" letters. "Sun" letters absorb the lam (the l in al) into the initial sound of the following noun. So, shiin (the "sh" sound) is a "sun" letter. Knowing this, it should be "ash-Shabaab". There's your Arabic lesson for today.
What do North koreans, red lines, Palestine and hostages have to do with Iran's nuclear program? little to Nothing.
Since the interim agreement with Iran over its nuclear weapons program last November, there has been a mainstream dearth of reporting concerning the prospect of Iranian proliferation in the Middle East. The most recent announcement by Itai Brun, Israel's senior military intelligence analyst, that Iran has upheld its side of the nuclear deal has largely gone unreported by CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. However, while these mainstream titans have been sleeping, Clifford May may has met this piece of what should be celebrated news with a criticism of American diplomatic efforts with Iran. For the purposes of this post, I will be addressing four arguments posited by May: First, that the Iranian nuclear deal is analogous with the North Korean nuclear deal. Second, the Syrian red line debacle has severely impacted Iran's calculus on reaching the weaponization precipice. Third, Iran's release of hostages stemmed out of fear that Reagan would utilize military strikes if the did not comply with our negotiation demands. Fourth, American support of the Palestinian Unity government will impact their nuclear calculus.
In his harangue of American diplomatic efforts with Iran, May draws parallels with North Korea and Iran. May argues that much like Bush's attempt at preventing proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Obama will fail to prevent Iran's nuclear machinations from reaching fruition, due to our lack of a credible deterrent. However, this is an incorrect comparison for three reasons. First, no organization closely monitored the freeze of North Korea's plutonium enrichment program following the Agreed Framework negotiations. North Korea consistently worked against verification efforts, resulting in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reporting in 1996 that it had been unable to verify their declarations. By 2000, the Director-General of the IAEA, Mohammed El Baradei, stated that little had been gleaned by the Agency since the initial agreement in 1994, because of uncooperative behavior on behalf of the DPRK. In stark contrast, Iran has worked closely with the IAEA on verification efforts, more so than either Saddam Hussein or Kim Jong-Il. In fact, the IAEA has been able to verify the initial declarations made by Iran over its nuclear stockpile. Secondly, Iran and North Korea are two separate nations, with two very different views on international engagement. Iran is a cosmopolitan nation that has a history of international engagement since the 1990s, whereas North Korea is a hermit nation that has formal, close relations with no nations outside of China and perhaps Russia. Their respective security situations--outside of being an enemy of America--are also different: the foremost concern of North Korea is maintaining internal security, whereas Iran is primarily concerned with establishing a sphere of influence within the Middle East. Finally, the failures of both the Agreed Framework and Six Power Talks were not because of an excess of "carrots", but a lack thereof. What May fails to realize is that immediately after the Agreed Framework, America began to heavily sanction North Korea over its missile program. This helped to sour the deal, reducing North Korean incentive to cooperate with the United States and international community. Thus, the resulting decade saw tensions ebb and flow, until a crisis in 2002 over North Korean uranium enrichment ultimately led to the Six Power Talks. In 2005, North Korea declared that it would forgo the development of nuclear weapons in compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty. However, immediately after this, America decided to increase sanctions, which once again reduced the impetus for North Korea to comply with expectations. To put it this way, North Korea presumably agreed to international pressures because it expected to achieve increased economic security. When this did not happen, what reason did North Korea's leadership have to continue playing along with American demands? None--because we established a precedent in which we would increase pressure, regardless if they complied or not.
May contends that the Iranian hostage crisis reached its conclusion due to a fear by Iran that Reagan would use force to retrieve them. However, this is a misconception. Jimmy Carter had been in negotiations with Iran since before the 1980 election occurred. Originally, the Iranian government made ridiculous demands, necessitating Nigerian diplomats to be brought in as intermediaries. By the inauguration, an agreement had been reached, but not out of fear. In all likelihood, Iran was desperate to have American sanctions lifted in order to acquire supplies for their ongoing war against Iraq.
It's also important to remember that America's previous military attempt to rescue the hostages, Operation Eagle Claw, was a massive failure. So it wouldn't make sense for Iran to believe that outcome would be any different under Reagan as opposed to Carter--neither were responsible with crafting military operations, their main role as Commander-in-Chief is create policy goals for the military to reach and sanction operations. Even with Reagan's plans to beef up security spending, the Iranian hostage crisis did not make up a major plank in his 1980 presidential platform, he instead emphasized the need for a strong nation defense against the Soviet Union and advocated for a shift to supply side economics. Therefore, it's questionable that Reagan's election played a significant role in Iran's calculus.
Contrary to what May asserted, America will not be using its tax dollars to fund Hamas. Both Hamas and Fateh have agreed that the unity government will not be composed of Hamas members, but rather independent technocrats until elections can be held. Given the massive unpopularity of Hamas in Gaza, it's unlikely that they will be able to establish a monopoly on influence in Palestine's new government. Therefore, this would represent a step towards deradicalization in Gaza and undermine Iran's influence there. Instead of Hamas controlling all political operations within the territory, the significantly more moderate and less violent Fatah party will have shared power. Furthermore, it's not as if America is throwing its political weight behind Hamas. John Kerry stated that funding will be based on the actions of the Palestinian Unity government. This is a perfectly valid position to take: we're neither preemptively increasing our support of Palestine nor condemning it to failure. Instead, we are proceeding normally. If Israel's security is substantially diminished by this development, then we can easily pull back our funding of the government.
Of course, all of this presumes that a unity government will, in fact, stay erected. Fatah and Hamas entities have agreed upon establishing a unity government in the past. However, plans always fall through. My guess would be that Hamas recognizes the threat it presents to its power hold in Gaza. But with conditions deteriorating, relations with Iran dwindling, and internal unrest increasing, they very well may believe that they must give up some power in order to retain any at all.
Out of all the arguments made by May, this easily holds the most weight. Last summer, America failed to go through with a red line we set against Assad: to not cross the chemical threshold. While I myself believe that it was a stupid position to take in the first place, it does not change our original threat to utilize force against Assad should he deploy chemical weapons.
However, credibility is situational, not categorical. The actions of a nation in one situation do not necessarily reflect its willingness to take action in another. Take the Cuban missile crisis. Following our successful gamble, no one in Washington suddenly questioned the Soviet Union's willingness to respond against American aggression in Berlin. Not every crisis or transgression rates the same to countries, and chemical weapons use in Syria is no different. For the United States, upholding the Convention on Chemical Weapons is a low priority. In the 1980s, we aided Saddam Hussein in the manufacturing of chemical weapons to use against Iran, and then subsequently gave him the tactical intelligence to effectively employ them. Syria's chemical weapons has never been a major issue for the American foreign policy establishment: we've never put in place massive sanctions on Syria for its arsenal, never held meetings to dismantle infrastructure (prior to the August attacks, at least), or launched cyber attacks to dismantle Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure. Unlike Syria, Congress is out for blood in regards to Iran's nuclear program. Senators from both parties have tried to undercut American diplomatic efforts in order to place even more stringent sanctions against Iran. The is very little doubt that congress would impede Obama's attempts to strike Iran. All of this signals a much stronger resolve to prevent the acquisition of nuclear weapons by the Iranian government, because the stakes of nuclear proliferation are significantly higher than that of chemical weapons use.
In early 2014, the world witnessed something never before done by al-Qaeda: expulsion of a formal branch, formally ending all ties to and distancing themselves from the even-more-radical Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS or the Arabic acronym Da'esh). The group, led by a man named Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has its roots in the former Islamic State of Iraq--also known as al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). Nowadays, however, they seem to be playing by their own rules in their rampage of swallowing up towns and cities in western and northern Iraq. While they may have lost and are losing ground in Syria, the exact opposite seems to be taking place in Iraq.
Before they were known as ISIS, the group had its origins in Jama'at aT-Tawhid wal-Jihad. The group's leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a shadowy figure with a long history of ties to al-Qaeda, swore allegiance to Usama bin Laden after the US-led invasion of Iraq. The swearing of bayat (loyalty) effectively made them change their name to Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad fi bilad ar-rafiydan--better known as al-Qaeda in Iraq. AQI was one of the fiercest groups fighting the American-led coalition of troops. One perfect example of their effectiveness in Iraq was the bloody Battle of Fallujah in 2004, in which around fifty US servicemen lost their lives and more than 400 were wounded.
In 2006, al-Zarqawi was killed in an US airstrike. A man named Abu Ayyub al-Masri then took the helms, who quickly established the Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC). The MSC, who's leader was Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, was a coalition of several Sunni jihadist groups, including AQI. Eventually, however, the MSC disbanded and the Islamic State of Iraq was born. In a joint-American-Iraqi raid in 2010, both al-Masri and al-Baghdadi were killed. A little known man with the kunya (a teknonym) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi then took the helms of the Islamic State.
Since early this year, al-Qaeda (AQ) forces in Syria, notably Jabhat al-Nusra (JN), have been fighting against their former brothers-in-arms in the ISIS. To summarize these events, al-Baghdadi tried to merge JN into his own organization calling it the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham; it is, however, worth noting that JN is thought to have been formed from former al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters. When the emir of JN, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, refused to be merged into al-Baghdadi’s group and instead pledged allegiance, or rather publicly declared his allegiance to the emir of al-Qaeda Ayman al-Zawahiri, all hell broke loose inside Syria. Al-Zawahiri, knowing full well the consequences of Julani’s actions, tried to reconcile the two fighting emir’s problems in a letter addressed to both of them. Al-Baghdadi then subsequently denied Zawahiri’s request; Zawahiri was then forced to send trusted individuals, like Abu Khalid al-Suri, to mediate the differences. When nothing positive came into fruition, al-Zawahiri then issued a statement that kicked ISIS out of al-Qaeda.
In January of 2014, ISIS effectively took control of both Ramadi and Fallujah. This established a foothold of territory stretching from ar-Raqqa in Syria to the heart of al-Anbar Province in Iraq. Following the capturing of these two cities in the heart of the Sunni Triangle, ISIS has been pushed out of several towns and cities inside Syria. While they still control some areas near Dier az-Zour and all of ar-Raqqa, ISIS seems pretty content with leaving other towns and cities and focusing on the Kurds in Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan). It is in Rojava where they just recently massacred fifteen Kurdish civilians, many of them children. On the Iraq front, however, there seemed to have been lull in the fighting for ISIS. Until now.
On June 9th 2014, ISIS took complete control of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city. On June 11th, ISIS took complete control of Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein, and complete control of Bayji, home to Iraq's largest oil refinery. In addition to controlling the heart of the Sunni Triangle and several other cities and towns in al-Anbar, they are in total control of Nineveh Province, and large parts of Salah ad Din Province and Kirkuk Governorate (this puts them in control of almost a third of the country). There are also reports of ISIS moving towards Samarra in what appears to be a blitzkrieg towards Baghdad.
In almost all of these attacks on cities, they were heavily organized and showed a level of strategic-depth for ISIS's military commanders. According to a New York Times report: "In Tikrit, the home town of Saddam Hussein, residents said the militants attacked in the afternoon from three directions: east, west and north." This offensive also showcases how unprepared the Iraqi military is in dealing with this large of a terrorism threat. From the same NYT article, "Witnesses reported some remarkable scenes in Tikrit, where soldiers handed over their weapons and uniforms peacefully to militants who ordinarily would have been expected to kill government soldiers on the spot".
If Samarra is taken, ISIS will be only 78 miles away from Baghdad. It appears to be almost certain Samarra will be the next to fall and then it will be only a matter of time before they try and take Baghdad. If one thing is for sure: Iraq's capital is in al-Baghdadi's crosshairs. One must wonder if al-Baghdadi is beginning to comply with Ayman al-Zawahiri's demands of returning to Iraq; something al-Baghdadi has vehemently opposed in the past. It may be too early to tell, but I believe we should not rule out this possibility knowing ISIS's reversal in Syria. We should keep a keen eye out for any statements or addresses confirming or denying this possibility.
Iraq now faces a large problem from not only this large, existential threat from ISIS, but also in now having to do what they seem to not want to do: work in cooperation with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Peshmerga forces (Kurdistan's military), and Sunni tribes to work together to combat a mutual threat. Hopefully, this will come as a realization for the Maliki government in the need for unity and cooperation between all sects and parties in his country. This Washington Institute report outlines exactly what needs to be done between the Shia-dominated Maliki government, the KRG and the Sunni's of Iraq.
The United States can also help Iraq in this dire situation. While no one in Washington really wants to go back to Iraq, it may be in our best interests to at least fast-track weapons sales to Iraq, expand a training program for elite Iraqi soldiers, and offer logistical and intelligence support. Too many Americans lost their lives fighting for a stable Iraq for us to sit back and let Iraq implode. We need not send troops back, but we should at least assist Iraq in their fight.
Note: The map above belongs to The Long War Journal. I take no credit for the making of the map; all credit goes to those responsible at the LWJ.
In the wake of the news that Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was released by the Taliban in exchange for the "Taliban Five" held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Taliban have released a video (shown above) showcasing the handover between them and apparent U.S Special Operations soldiers. While the mainstream media and the everyday person may not be aware of who, exactly, took Bergdahl, it is important to note which group is responsible for his kidnapping. It is important to understand this because the group responsible is one of the most vicious and effective militant groups fighting NATO and ISAF forces in Afghanistan. The group I am referring to is, of course, the Haqqani Network.
The Haqqani Network was formed during the Soviet War in Afghanistan around a man named Jalaluddin Haqqani. Jalaluddin, a native of Paktika province and an ethnic Pashtun, quickly rose through the ranks of the Afghan resistance and became a powerful military commander. During his exploits as a notorious effective warlord, he established connections with both the Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) and the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Reportedly, one reason why the US funded Jalaluddin at this time was because "He could kill Russians like you wouldn’t believe". Unfortunately, Jalaluddin was also establishing ties with Usama bin Laden (UBL) around this time. UBL had constructed training camps within Haqqani-controlled territory, which was then overseen by Jalaluddin.
After the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan and after the communist government in Afghanistan fell, the country fell into complete anarchy with various former resistance and anti-communist forces fighting each other for power (read "Ghost Wars" by Steve Coll for an excellent understanding of this chaotic time in Afghanistan's history). One such group was the Pakistani-funded Taliban movement led by Mullah Mohammad Omar. As the Taliban were gaining power and territory in Afghanistan in the mid-1990's, Jalaluddin decided to join the movement and he started to quickly command troops in fights against the Northern Alliance and forces allied to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (a former ally of Jalaluddin). After serving many positions in the Taliban government of Afghanistan, Jalaluddin was appointed the overall military commander of the Taliban forces in late 2001.
After the US invasion of Afghanistan, the Haqqani Network quickly became one of the most deadly and effective fighting forces resisting the NATO and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops. They are responsible for several terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, including two suicide attacks on the Indian consulate in 2008 and 2009 (makes you think about their connections to Pakistan, right?).
Today, the Haqqani Network (HQN) is classified as a Taliban subgroup that mainly operates in the Afghan provinces of Khost, Paktika, and Paktia, but are also found in Logar, Kandahar, Badakhshan, and many other provinces. They also control large swaths of ground in the North Waziristan tribal agency of Pakistan, where they run training camps for al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and various other terrorist groups that operate in the region. To make matters worse, Jalaluddin's old ISI connections are still very active. In 2011, Adm. Mike Mullen accused Pakistan of sponsoring HQN attacks on US troops.
The US State Department has designated various members of the HQN as terrorists, as well as blacklisting the entire group as terrorists in 2012. The US Treasury Department has also blacklisted various Haqqani militants, including Saidullah Jan, Yahya Haqqani, and Muhammad Omar Zadran. These three individuals have extensive roles within both the HQN and the Taliban; they also have deep connections to al-Qaeda (AQ).
According to the Treasury Department, Saidullah was not only designated for being a top leader in the Haqqani Network, but was also "was trusted by Al-Qaida (AQ) members as an HQN associate who could help with any trouble, including arrest". Yahya was noted as serving "as a liaison between the HQN and AQ and he has maintained ties with AQ since at least mid-2009. In this role, Yahya has provided money to AQ members in the region for their personal expenses. As of mid-2009, he acted as the HQN’s primary liaison with foreign fighters, including Arabs, Uzbeks, and Chechens". Finally, Zadran was " in charge of smuggling explosives into Afghanistan" for HQN and various militant groups.
These aren't the only members with extensive ties to AQ; Sirajuddin Haqqani, Jalaluddin's son, is thought to be a member of AQ's top Shura council; Khalil al-Rahman Haqqani, Jalaluddin's brother, is a key fundraiser for HQN and AQ and serves on behalf of AQ's shadow army, Lashkar al-Zil, in Afghanistan.
It is clear to me that the people who took and held Bowe Bergdahl are terrible, terrible people who are associated with one of the worst terrorist organizations in the world. While it is great that the Taliban and Haqqani's agreed to negotiate for Bergdahl's release, this does not mean that this will bring them to the negotiation table for peace. In fact, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, said this of the prisoner transfer: "It won't help the peace process in any way, because we don't believe in the peace process". Sadly, it seems the reign of terror imposed on this region by the Taliban, AQ, HQN and a slew of other terrorist and militant groups will continue for the foreseeable future.
What's a navy to do?
In the midst of the Ukrainian crisis, the last subject analysts have broached is the need for the government in Kiev to formulate a maritime strategy. Since the de facto Russian invasion of Crimea in March, the Ukrainian fleet has been gutted and reduced to a small flotilla. Now, prior to the Crimean crisis, the Ukrainian navy was now in exemplary form. Many of the ships Russia acquired in the seizure of the peninsula are decrepit, useless in modern naval operations in any other capacity than a target or decoy. However, that said, we have seen the way Russia has utilized its fleet in combat operations. The Russian Navy completely blockaded Ukraine's port in Sevestapol and used ships to augment ground operations. In 2008, the Russian fleet blockaded the Georgian coastline, ferried troops, and sunk most of the Georgian fleet. If these capabilities weren't enough, Russia is also implementing a modernization plan aimed at greatly increasing the abilities of the BSF by 2020, illustrating the premium Putin has placed on maritime power in Russia's plans for regional hegemony.
Given that a sizable portion of Ukraine's economy relies on international trade (much of which is transported via sea lanes), and the potential for amphibious operations on its coastline, it would seem pertinent that Kiev develop a maritime strategy. Perhaps not today, as their foremost concern should be quelling rebellion in Eastern Ukraine. However, definitely as time goes on they will need to adopt sufficient counter-measures. Similar to the proposals I have offered for Georgia, it would probably be within Ukraine's interests to adopt a strategy based around Anti-Access/Area Denial.
As we've seen, A2/AD strategies have been employed effectively on a theoretical level. In 2002, General Paul Van Riper utilized an anti-access strategy during Operation Millennium Challenge, a wargame aimed at reaffirming American network-centric warfare capabilities. However, it really illustrated major flaws in our ability to counter threats in littoral areas. In 2010, a RAND Corporation simulation revealed that China could establish aerial dominance over Taiwan by using ballistic and cruise missiles to strike a devastating decapitating strike at American air and naval bases in the region. Bernard Cole reaffirms China's Anti-Access capability in his 2011 book, The Great Wall at Sea, where he details the aspects of Chinese naval strategy, which incorporates submarines, mines, missiles, and aircraft to keep America outside of the second island chain.
The Ukrainian Navy already fields anti-ship missiles. The P-500 Bazalt is one example of this. For Ukraine, the goal should be to convert a substantial number of these missiles to be able to launch from terrestrial platforms. Land based cruise missiles would be more difficult for the Russian Navy to counter, as compared to relatively defenseless boats in harbor. But more ingredients must be added to this maritime strategy. The use of mines could be employed by Ukraine to defend its territorial waters from Russian intrusion, as well. During World War Two, mines laid in the Pacific Ocean from April, 1945, to Japan's surrender were responsible for 670 damaged or sunk ships. Of the 18 ships sunk or seriously damaged since World War Two, 15 incidents have been from mines. Therefore, mines should play a critical role in Ukrainian naval defense. Next, Ukraine should also further integrate naval special warfare units into its maritime strategy. Using SOF to sabotage naval bases could put a serious dent into Russia's ability to effectively operate. Moreover, these units can also be used to conduct anti-piracy operations, which would help strengthen its relationship with NATO. Finally, Ukraine still needs ships to guard SLOCs from harassment, conduct patrols, and act as visual deterrents. These ships do not have to be large, expensive pieces of equipment. Patrol or missile boats should suffice.
Of course, there are a couple of issues with the strategy I mentioned. First, Georgia's air defense corps was already an effective body prior to the South Ossetian conflict in 2008. This is one reason why I originally argued for Georgia to adopt an A2/AD strategy: they already had a body of soldiers capable of fulfilling an air defense role, so expanding that into anti-ship would not outside the realm of possibilities. Ukraine's entire military, on the other hand has fair quite poorly against Russia's exertion of force against them these past few months. It was quite evident that if they had to, Russian forces could perform quite well against their Ukrainian counterparts stationed in the Crimean Peninsula. Secondly, there is an issue of if this strategy is economical or not. While missiles are certainly less expensive than ships, one has to factor in R&D, platform, mine, and missile production costs associated with developing an Anti-Access/Area Denial force. If it does break the bank, then a reevaluation of the aforementioned strategy would be needed.
Ukraine is not an economic, military, or political powerhouse. They have a number of short comings that must be factored into analyses of their situation. Especially as it pertains to their potential strategic options. They cannot afford a ship-for-ship strategy against Russia. It is simply impossible for them to do so, and trying that out would take away resources that could be devoted towards other procurement and development programs. At the same, though, they cannot afford to ignore Russia's looming presence in the Black Sea. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that A2/AD will be the most efficient model for maritime defense against future Russian encroachment.
This page is dedicated to 'big picture' analysis pieces concerning contemporary security issues. | 2019-04-19T00:33:15Z | http://thelineofsteel.weebly.com/analysis/archives/06-2014 |
Present data indicate that the domestication of wild cattle indigenous to the northern Sahara took place approximately eight to nine thousand years ago. This was followed around seven thousand years ago by the domestication of sorghum and millet in the Sahel and Nile regions of the southern Sahara. Other processes of domestication took place on the margins of the tropical forest in central Africa and in the highlands of Ethiopia. As these new technologies expanded southward, there was a moving frontier of interaction between food producers and autochthonous foragers. In some instances these new technologies may have diffused through preexisting networks that linked indigenous foragers. But in most cases it occurred through migration, as populations expanded to exploit the new technological, ecological, and economic advantages these new adaptations allowed. This did not take place in an empty land, however, and in each case complex interactions and negotiations between incoming farmers and indigenous foragers took place for access to resources and rights to settlement. While the details of this interaction varied along with differences in cultural and geographic context, it transformed the linguistic, genetic, and cultural makeup of sub-Saharan Africa after 5000 bce. In some cases, indigenous foragers and their languages disappeared entirely through assimilation or conflict. In others, a longer-lasting frontier was established through which foragers and farmers continued to interact into historic times. Their cultures, languages, beliefs, and worldviews did not remain static and unchanging, however, but were also transformed as new—often hybrid—societies were born. The history and nature of contact varied widely from place to place. In the northern and eastern Kalahari Desert of southern Africa, the data, as presently discerend through archaeological, linguistic, and genetic lenses, support a model of widespread genetic admixture, with flexible associations between culture, subsistence, and language over time.
Over the course of the past eight thousand years, African foragers and farmers have been interacting across a broad palimpsest of environments from the Sahara Desert in the north, to the margins of the tropical forest in central Africa, to the high savanna grasslands and woodlands of eastern and southern Africa. The nature and outcomes of these interactions have been diverse, and in many areas they have yet to be studied in any detail. But in the Kalahari basin of southern Africa, detailed ethnographic studies of foragers in the 1960s and 1970s can now be augmented by a growing number of archaeological, linguistic, and genetic studies.
These more diverse approaches, in turn, encourage a more contextualized look at the paradigmatic and often essentialist assumptions implicit in earlier discussions of the history of relationships between foragers and farmers in Africa. Questions of interaction have often been framed as relationships between evolutionary archetypes characterized by distinct and non-overlapping sets of “traits.” Foragers, for instance, are described as small, acephalous bands whose lifestyles and economies demanded an egalitarian ethos of sharing, cooperation, and immediate consumption of goods provided by nature.1 Farmers, on the other hand, by virtue of their dependence upon delayed consumption of seasonal harvests and their need to conserve seed, land, and breeding stock, are thought to emphasize more privatized strategies of ownership over herds, fields, and harvests. Such a regulated economy can lead to more hierarchical or socially stratified communities.
Questions about the implications and impact of this unexpected early history of interaction on archaeological and anthropological interpretations led to the Kalahari Debate of the early 1990s and continues in various forms into the present.5 One side of the debate argued that the Khoe and San societies observed by anthropologists in the 1950s and 1960s had developed in isolation from neighboring farmers and herders. As a result, they were thought to still be living as independent hunter-gatherers and exemplifying a way of life as it had existed in the distant past.6 When these studies were carried out, however, almost nothing was known of the later prehistory of the Kalahari and it was believed that farmers and herders had only entered the region after approximately 1600 ce. In the 1980s and 1990s there was a significant increase in archaeological research in Botswana and Namiba. These investigations pushed back the appearance of forager-herders and agro-pastoralists in the region by more than fifteen hundred years. The other side of the debate, so-called revisionists, therefore argued that contemporary Khoe and San societies were not the product of long-term isolation and separate development but had been impacted in varying degrees by interaction with herders and farmers for more than two thousand years.7 Recent archaeological, linguistic, and genetic data are now contributing to even more nuanced understandings of the varied and complex relationships that developed between Kalahari foragers and farmers over the past two millennia.8 In addition, while terms such as “Khoe,” “San,” and “Bantu” are used here as convenient units of description and analysis, one should not forget that these are somewhat static, anthropological typologies. The peoples encapsulated by these terms in the 20th century, like all peoples, are the product of long histories of transformation and change that is only now beginning to be explored using the complementary tools of archaeology, linguistics, and genetics. Over the longue durée, it is not about static and unchanging societies but rather processes of ethnogenesis as these societies fashion and refashion themselves in the context of new opportunities, changing ecological and climatic circumstances, and new encounters with other peoples.
Later 19th- and early 20th-century accounts present a contrasting picture of the Khoe—not as independent owners of large herds of livestock but as a subservient and sometimes enslaved underclass dominated by Tswana overlords.11 Today, the Makgadikgadi is home to communities of both Eastern Khoe (Kua, Tshwa, and Shua) and Bantu (Tswana and Kalanga) speakers. Most Khoe do not own their own herds but work instead as herdsman or agricultural helpers for Tswana or Kalanga, and Bantu languages are generally spoken.12 In these contexts, Khoe dialects are rapidly disappearing as discrimination and prejudice encourage people to disguise their linguistic and cultural heritage. This is further reinforced by the fact that classes in the government school system are taught exclusively in Tswana and English, which are the “official languages” of business and government.
Clearly, the prejudicial socio-linguistic context of Khoe-Bantu relations in the past century could not have been characteristic of more distant times when a linguistic and genetic hybrid population developed. The implications of this ethnogenesis have not always been recognized. As Barnard notes, “It was for so long assumed that they [Khoe] were merely “acculturated” Bushmen that few ethnographers have described them in terms of a traditional lifestyle. There is no doubt that the Eastern groups long occupied an important position in southern Africa’s pre-colonial trade networks.”13 Archaeological work on the northern and eastern margins of the Kalahari is now beginning to document the antiquity and historical trajectory of such developments.
One of the problems facing prehistoric interpretations of interaction is the difficulty of ascribing meaning to the static and only partially preserved remains recovered from archaeological sites. Do a few isolated ceramics recovered from an otherwise typical Later Stone Age (LSA) site indicate only a fleeting acquisition of potsherds as curiosities or perhaps talismans from Iron Age settlements? Or are they indicative of shifts in behavior toward the use of pots to cook in new ways, perhaps by boiling fish and plant foods, or using them as containers for milk, beer, or other liquids that could be identified using residue analysis? Indeed, does the appearance of “farmer” artifacts like potsherds and metal goods in “forager” contexts necessarily mean trade between two archetypical categories—or can it point in some instances toward the development of more compound or hybridized societies and economies?14 So much depends upon assumptions researchers make about the meanings to be ascribed to such remains—and changes in their frequency over time.
At the site of Little Muck in the far north of South Africa, for instance, a dramatic increase in stone scrapers around 900 ce led Hall and Smith to postulate that animal hide processing had become a craft as skins were produced for exchange with neighboring farming communities.15 After 1000, when Leopard’s Kopje ceramics appear in the Little Muck rock shelter, a decrease in lithics led Hall and Smith to suggest that the site had now been appropriated by farming peoples who replaced or assimilated earlier foragers. But could such shifts not just as well be evidence for changing adaptations by the same population through the adoption of new technologies and subsistence strategies? After 1400 there is little evidence for the presence of Later Stone Age populations in the region. Whether this change was accomplished by outward migration of foragers, or their assimilation into farming communities is difficult to determine from material remains alone. Other rock shelters in the region, such as João I, suggest intense involvement in long-distance trade by some—but not all—local foragers. Such diversity suggests the development of mosaic or overlapping economies variously intertwined through trade, competition and differences in the micro-economics of production. Foragers thus responded in a variety of ways to the new opportunities and constraints brought about as domesticated plants and animals expanded trade opportunities, and as new technologies and land-use strategies were introduced by agro-pastoralists. To understand the processes of decision making and agency that were inherent in these responses, modern-day scholars must consider them in specific environmental, social, and historical contexts.
The central Kalahari basin of Botswana is a sand-filled depression bordered to the north, east, and south by the higher, better-watered landscapes of the Bie Plateau of north-central Angola, the Katanga Plateau of northern Zambia, the Muchinga Mountains of eastern Zambia and Malawi, the Matopo Hills of southwestern Zimbabwe, and the Bushveld or Highveld complex of South Africa and eastern Botswana. To the west, the Kalahari thirstland gradually gives way to the stark landscape of the Namib Desert, where shifting sand dunes and arid, stony flats parallel the Atlantic coastline northward from the Gariep or Orange River on the border with South Africa to cross the Cunene River into southwestern Angola.
In a stunning contrast to this generally arid landscape, the waters of the Okavango Delta—the largest inland delta in the world—spill out over the northern sands of the Kalahari Desert in northern Botswana (Map 1).
Map 1. Map of Botswana showing the locations of archaeological sites and geographic features mentioned in the text.
What water is not lost to transpiration along the way ultimately disappears in Lake Ngami to the west and the vast salt flats of the Makgadigkadi salt pans to the east. The permanent and seasonal waterways of the delta cover almost fifteen thousand square kilometers at the height of the seasonal floods. The water comes not from local rainfall but from the annual rains that fall on the Bie Plateau between October and May. Carried southward by the Cubango River, the water takes about six months to percolate through the permanent papyrus swamp of the northern Okavango to its southern end, where it rises in Maun during the dry season between May and September. Because the annual rise and fall of flood waters is out of sync with seasonal rainfall in Botswana, water is most prevalent at seasonal pans in the desert during the local rainy season when the waters of the Delta and Boteti River are at their lowest. As the desert dries out during the dry season, the waters of the southern Okavango, Lake Ngami, and Boteti reach their highest levels. These fluctuations produce a contrasting seasonal dynamic as resource availability shifts between wetland and desert micro-environments, a dynamic that foragers, fishers, farmers, and herders have exploited in a variety of ways over the past three millennia.
The Makgadikgadi pans, among the largest salt pans on earth, contain the evaporate remains of an extensive Pleistocene lake that covered over eighty thousand square kilometers forty thousand years ago.16 The paleo-lake gradually disappeared over the course of the Holocene and is now dry except in years of exceptional rains such as those in 2014. Open grasslands dotted with occasional clusters of palm trees border the pans on the west; mixed grassland and mopane forest occur to the south and east. Before veterinary cordon fences were built in the 1970s to control the spread of livestock diseases, an annual migration of gregarious herds of water-dependent game that included blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus), zebra (Equus quagga), and Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer) moved from the grasslands and seasonal pans of the desert in the summer rainy season to drink at the rising waters of the Boteti in the winter.17 For hunters, game would have been especially abundant along the Boteti River and southern Okavango during the winter dry season as the river rose. During the summer rainy season as the desert pans filled, herds moved back to the desert to exploit fresh pastures, allowing the grazing along the Boteti to regenerate.
One constraint for early herder-foragers would have been the incidence of tsetse fly, which is prevalent throughout much of the Okavango system. The exact boundaries of its distribution varied through time, however, and it may have been less of a problem along the Boteti River where the narrow gallery forests that follow the river (a location where tsetse could breed) quickly give way to open grasslands away from the river. Seasonal migrations of African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) and wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) from the Kalahari Desert to the Boteti River would have posed a threat to the establishment of cattle herds, however, as they act as a reservoir for diseases, such as malignant catarrhal fever, that are deadly to cattle.24 The development of pro-active herding strategies that would avoid overlap between cattle and wildebeest at the river would have been important to the development of early herding economies such as that documented as early as the 7th century at the site of Kaitshàa, overlooking the southern margin of Sowa saltpan.25 The faunal remains indicate a diet dominated by sheep and cattle, with less than 3 percent of all the identified bovids coming from wild species—none of them wildebeest.
Güldemann, Güldemann and Elderkin, and Ehret have recently proposed a dramatic revision of the so-called Khoisan language family, arguing that it is not a true family, but a composite of three distant or unrelated families—Khoe, Northern San, and Southern San. Proto-Khoe languages had a long history of separate development in East Africa before their arrival in the northern Kalahari approximately 2,500 years ago.26 They propose that an early Proto-Khoe-Kwadi population originating in East Africa colonized southern Africa as small-stock forager-pastoralists almost a millennium before the arrival of Bantu-speaking agro-pastoralists. If this is correct, then not all the populations once lumped together under the general term “Khoisan” emerged from a common hunter-gatherer ancestral stock in southern Africa. Instead, there was a long period of separate development of Khoe languages in East Africa, and San languages in southern Africa, before the arrival of Proto-Khoe-Kwadi speakers around 500 bce. Güldemann further suggests that these immigrant Khoe-Kwadi forager-herders possessed a non-Khoisan genetic phenotype that progressively altered as they mixed with existing San populations in central Botswana, South Africa, and Namibia.
Recent studies of East African Hadza and Sandawe populations suggest they derive a fraction of their ancestry from an admixture with a population related to the Southern African Khoisan, from whom they appear to have been separated for approximately thirty thousand years according to some statistical models.27 The present-day Southern African Khoe and San fall into two genetic groups that reflect this different heritage and occupy loosely different regions of the northwestern and southeastern Kalahari. Additional Y-chromosomal evidence suggests the hypothesis that the spread of Khoe small-stock pastoralism resulted from a population diffusion from eastern to southern Africa approximately two thousand years ago.28 Using a study of distinctive lactase persistence (LP) alleles that would allow for the digestion of milk into adulthood, Macholdt et al. found LP alleles were present in East African herder populations and Khoe populations in southern Africa, but occurred in significantly lower frequencies in Northern and Southern San.29 These findings suggest that herding and milking had a long history among Khoe populations but not among Northern or Southern San. Finally, studies by Henn et al. found that the geographic distribution of the E3b1f haplogroup is also consistent with the hypothesis of an expansion of Khoe-speaking herder-foragers from Tanzania into southern-central Africa as a population distinct from the San.30 This expansion was also independent of a later migration of Bantu-speaking peoples who followed a similar route from East Africa. Such genetic studies are still in their infancy, however, and many populations and regions in eastern and southern Africa have yet to be sampled. As a result, the regional cultural typologies based on ceramic styles produced by archaeologists, the language groupings proposed by linguists, and the statistical relationships proposed by geneticists are often difficult to reconcile into a consistent historical and geographic narrative.
New studies provide more detailed genetic evidence for mate exchange in the genetic inheritance of local Shua (Khoe) residents who live around the Makgadikgadi salt pans. Pickrell et al. estimate that 70 percent of current Shua ancestry is Bantu, suggesting that twenty-two or twenty-three generations would be required to produce this outcome.32 They place the beginning of intermating between the two groups at about 550–690 years ago (with twenty-five- and thirty-year generations, respectively), which translates in calendar years to the years 1320–1460. Current Shua-Khoe have just 10 percent Khoisan, paternal Y-chromosomes, and 40 percent Khoisan, maternal mtDNA.33 This indicates a high degree of hypergamy in which Shua women were disproportionably finding partners among Bantu-speaking men. This pattern is evident in other hunter-gatherer/farmer relations elsewhere, including Sotho-Tswana and Nguni speakers much further south. In the later case, the adoption of “clicks” from Khoi or San languages is also evident. Contemporary ethnic distinctions between “black” and “red” populations should therefore be viewed for what they are—contemporary cultural constructions of identity rather than scientific indicators of long-term separation between historically discrete populations. Dating genetic models of hypergamy is also subject to many assumptions that may affect its accuracy, particularly over relatively short periods such as the last two millennia. While archaeological evidence can provide an additional perspective on these processes and may help to contextualize and date them, this also involves assumptions about the genetic and linguistic identities that archaeologists associate with particular material remains, ceramic styles, and economic typologies.
Attributions of forager or farmer economies do not follow once-accepted categorizations that contrasted LSA foragers and ceramic-using forager-herders as speakers of Khoisan languages with farmers speaking Bantu languages and practicing economies dominated by farming and herding, ceramics and metal. The contemporary linguistic and genetic findings from the Makgadikgadi indicate that the identity of prehistoric farmers and foragers—and their interaction—requires a more multidimensional and multivariate approach; it cannot be simply read from counts of ceramics, stone tool typologies, or percentages of domesticated and wild faunal in archaeological assemblages.
The 8th–12th-century site of Nqoma, on a lower plateau of the female hill, produced a similar mix of domestic and wild animals along with clumps of carbonized sorghum (seed samples identified by J. M. J. de Wet, University of Illinois, in a personal communication to Denbow).46 Cattle dominated the animal sector of the economy, followed by small-stock and hunted game. Carbon isotopic analyses of three human skeletons from the site produced δ13C values (−10.5‰, −9.3‰, and −9.3‰) that indicate diets dominated by domesticated grains.47 Even more iron and copper jewelry was recovered at Nqoma than Divuyu, along with significant numbers of lithics that included formal segments and scrapers. The contrast with Divuyu suggests increased interaction with LSA hunters who may have brought game, hides, or foodstuffs to the site. LSA populations may have also been pressed into service as labor for the extensive specularite mines at Tsodilo. The archaeological evidence thus suggests that while some peoples of Later Stone Age heritage were attracted to and perhaps incorporated within these settlements, others lived in neighboring rock shelters with less access to metal, ceramics, and domesticated plants and animals.48 Such spatial and resource separation suggests social stratification.
At the 9th–12th-century site of Matlapaneng outside Maun on the southern edge of the Okavango, carbonized remains of domesticated sorghum, pearl millet, a cucurbit seed, and wild Grewia seeds were recovered using flotation methods.49 Here, cattle remains made up 31 percent of the faunal assemblage, followed by 23 percent goats/sheep (caprines); the remaining fauna came from a variety of wild species.50 Interestingly, no fish remains were recovered despite good preservation and the site’s location on the banks of the Thamalakane River. The ceramics from Matlapaneng link it culturally with both Nqoma in the Tsodilo Hills, where small quantities of fish remains have been recovered, and with Kalundu Tradition sites in the Victoria Falls region of southwestern Zambia, where fish remains are absent or rare.51 The narrow occupation layer at Matlapaneng, which is overlain by approximately thirty-five centimeters of sterile sand, does not indicate successive occupations but rather a multiethnic occupation of Bantu speakers drawn from multiple locations west and east of the Okavango.
Stone points manufactured from local silcrete recovered at Matlapaneng, along with chert and quartzite cores, segments, scrapers, and flakes, indicate that stone supplemented metal tools.52 The variety of lithics suggests many of these tools were made at the site. From the lithics alone, however, it cannot be determined whether they were made by a distinct subset of the population, perhaps Khoe- or San-speaking foragers, or whether they were made by Bantu-speaking agro-pastoralists familiar with LSA lithic technology. Perhaps they were even the product of a hybrid population made up of people drawn from Bantu and Khoe or San stock.
The Xaro1 site is situated on the banks of the Okavango River at the northern edge of the Okavango Delta. It has an upper component containing Hambukushu pottery dated to the late 18th or early 19th century. Below this is a sterile layer of blocky clay that most likely derives from a period when the site was flooded and covered in papyrus mat. Beneath this layer lay charcoal-tempered ceramics identical to those from Divuyu, along with others that are stylistically less distinctive. The wet condition of delta soils was not favorable for the preservation of iron. Only seven lithics were recovered, however, suggesting that iron or perhaps wood was favored for tools.
The language of contemporary Yeyi peoples is similarly intermediate, with 10–15 percent of their lexicon containing clicks that were likely adopted from, or inspired by, neighboring Khoe (Kxoe) languages.57 Different from the Makgadikgadi pans, in the Okavango, the socio-linguistic dynamics of contact and interaction appears to have resulted in overlapping, but to some degree socially separate, farmer, forager, and fisher adaptations. Unfortunately, genetic information of these Delta populations comparable to what scholars know of the Makgadigkadi pans is not yet available. Such information could help illuminate the early social dynamics of the Okavango region.
New archaeological investigations on the southern and eastern sides of the Makgadikgadi pans now augment linguistic and genetic data to suggest a varied historical trajectory for the region. The archaeological evidence suggests that there were four important inflection points in this history: one in the period 600–1000 as Zhizo agro-pastoral settlements were first established in the area; a second between 1000 and 1300 as new Leopard’s Kopje populations, associated with the beginnings of political centralization in southwestern Zimbabwe and the Limpopo valley, appeared; a third between 1300 and 1700, when several stone-walled settlements of Zimbabwe style were built around the pan; and a fourth dating after the beginning of European contact with the region in the mid-1800s.
The present genetic and linguistic makeup of Makgadikgadi populations suggests that early interaction between indigenous Khoe foragers and herders and Bantu-speaking agro-pastoralists resulted in mixed populations that predate the present divisions into distinct Khoe, Tswana, and Kalanga communities. The socio-linguistic context of this ethnogenesis must have been very different from the more recent past, as it favored not only intermarriage but also the ascendance of Khoe over Bantu languages.
Even so, the faunal remains indicate that the early domestic economy was focused almost exclusively on domesticated animals, with identified small stock and cattle outnumbering game (impala and buffalo) by fifty to one.62 This is surprising given the large herds of zebra, wildebeest, and buffalo that still graze the Makgadikgadi grasslands, but it is perhaps indicative of the need to separate cattle from wild disease vectors such as wildebeest. The economic incentives of the salt trade that brought exotic goods to the region could also have been a factor that directed labor supplies away from subsistence hunting—at least in the period before 1000. Chickens, originally a Southeast Asian domesticate that likely accompanied the glass bead trade from the coast, are also present. Oval grinding stones suggest that sorghum or millet were grown, but no carbonized seeds were recovered. Unfortunately, the single human skeleton recovered in 1996 has been lost, so carbon isotopes cannot be used to determine the proportion of wild or domesticated plants in the diet.
The upper levels of the Kaitshàa dating between 1000 and 1200 represent another inflection point in the history of the site. The ceramics from these levels belong to the Leopard’s Kopje rather than Zhizo tradition. Despite evidence for continuing linkages with the East Coast trade, only four glass trade beads were recovered from these levels.63 Salt was undoubtedly still harvested from the pans, but few trade beads were received in exchange. On the other hand, almost a hundred ivory fragments were recovered from the early second-millennium levels (compared with just two bangle fragments from the Zhizo component). The increase in ivory at Kaitshàa, along with the discovery of a cache of nine ivory bangles at the nearby site of Mosu 1 dated to the 10th–13th centuries, demonstrates an increase in the importance of ivory in long-distance trade from the region.64 However, the local return, at least as measured in numbers of luxury glass beads or marine shells, was very little when compared to the earlier Zhizo component. Sheep and cattle continued to dominate the Leopard’s Kopje levels, but the remains of only fifteen wild animals, primarily impala and buffalo, were identified. Oval grindstones suggest domesticated crops were grown.
The dramatic decrease in imported glass beads in the later levels at Kaitshàa suggest, in regional terms, that the inhabitants of the site were now at an economic and social disadvantage. This change correlates with the rise of more centralized polities to the east at Bosutswe, Toutswe, and K2. These emerging chiefdoms dominated the political landscape and the luxury trade across southern Africa at the beginning of the second millennium. It is not possible to determine whether the change in the terms of trade at Kaitshàa was translated into greater social or ethnic differentiation between emerging Khoe and Bantu identities on the Makgadikgadi. The construction of a stone wall to block access to the headland from the surrounding plain, however, suggests that defense was now an important consideration as Leopard’s Kopje peoples settled the region and perhaps entered into new social and economic relationships with their forager or herder-forager neighbors.
The glass beads, ceramics, and a single radiocarbon date from Tora Nju indicate an occupation between 1400 and 1600. While this suggests the ruin was built by incoming Kalanga peoples as part of an extension of Zimbabwe hegemony into the region from the east, both Khoe and Kalanga speakers associate it solely with Khoe ownership. While little archaeological work has been carried out, the spacing of stone ruins around the eastern and southern edges of Sowa Pan suggest they represent another inflection point in the region’s history, one in which more centralized authority was imposed.
The ruins might represent a period when more contemporary distinctions between Khoe and Bantu cultural identities were emerging. Livingstone reports separate Kalanga, Tswana, and Khoe villages, with cultural and linguistic distinctions among them. However, in the mid-19th century, the cattle-keeping Khoe were not painted as a subservient class working for their Bantu-speaking neighbors, but as independent herders in their own right. He also makes it clear that other Khoe communities were competent elephant hunters, carrying on a tradition that may extend back to the beginning of the second millennium at Kaitshàa. The early historical record, though spotty, suggests there were many microeconomic adaptations at play in a regional, mosaic economy where ethnic distinctions only loosely paralleled economic or linguistic categories.
By the end of the 19th century, a far different picture is presented. As European demand for ivory increased, Tswana overlords—acting as intermediaries with European traders—came to control the trade, if not the actual elephant hunting. Whatever social status the Khoe language and cultural heritage might have been afforded in the past, it was now demeaned as the Khoe were reduced to a subservient class. As they were disenfranchised from their herds, their languages also fell into severe decline and many are now extinct.67 As domestic livestock herds grew in the early 20th century they competed with wild game for grazing, water, and scarce labor supplies, the latter often drawn from Khoe or San sources. The long history of interaction, intermarriage, and ethnogenesis that had pertained in earlier centuries was forgotten. It was replaced with a truncated, false history designed to legitimize an apartheid-like dominion of Bantu farmers over Khoe foragers. In the absence of archaeological, linguistic, or genetic evidence to the contrary, this picture was extended uncritically into the deep past.
The differing historical trajectories of forager-farmer interaction revealed by the archaeology, linguistics, and genetics of the Okavango and Boteti/Makgadikgadi regions indicate that the conditions and terms of interaction between foragers and farmers were often different from those described in 20th-century ethnographies. In the wetveld of the Okavango-Boteti, early forager-herder-fisher economies were unexpectedly diverse as these populations adjusted to the new opportunities and demands brought about by advancing technologies and subsistence patterns.
In the Kalahari, for instance, the presence of ceramics and absence of stone tools at Xaro and Qogana could argue for occupation by iron-using Bantu speakers, but the forager or fisher economies at these sites show no evidence for herding and only minor evidence for the consumption of domesticated plants. They are not easily categorized as either Iron Age or Stone Age settlements. Similarly, the contemporary languages of the Delta, while retaining distinct Khoe (Kxoe) and Bantu divisions, also suggest significant interdigitation as evidenced by the significant presence of clicks in the Yeyi and Hambukushu languages. Ceramics identical to those from Xaro and Qogana recovered from Divuyu, Nqoma, and Matlapaneng, on the other hand, are clearly associated with food-producing economies dominated by domesticated plants and animals. Iron and copper tools and ornaments are common at Divuyu and Nqoma but less common at Matlapaneng. Lithics are rare at Divuyu and Nqoma, but at Matlapaneng the numbers of stone points, scrapers, and cores recovered suggest that at least a part of the population manufactured and used stone as well as metal tools. Whether these technologies were accompanied by social differentiation or contrasting cultural or linguistic identities requires additional research.
On the Makgadikgadi pans a contrasting situation is found. Here the linguistic and genetic profiles provide considerable evidence for hybridity between Khoe and Bantu peoples. Recent archaeological investigations indicate that the roots of this hybridity could extend back to sites such as Kaitshàa that were established along the margins of the salt pans almost 1,600 years ago to exploit the valuable salt deposits found there. The linguistic and genetic makeup of these early Zhizo salt miners is not known, but the linguistic and genetic data sets suggest social and economic processes that favored long-term hybridity and the ethnogenesis of new identities. Furthermore, the hundreds of glass trade beads dating to the first millennium found at Kaitshàa and Thabadimasego indicate that the region was not isolated from wider events but rather played an active role in long-distance trade and exchange for more than a millennium.
A large segment of the Makgadikgadi population today profess Khoe linguistic and cultural heritage. And it is they, not their Kalanga or Tswana neighbors, who claim ownership and spiritual rights over the stone-walled enclosures that archaeologists would otherwise attribute to past Bantu-speaking agro-pastoralists.69 These ruins are identified with Khoe, rather than Bantu, heritage. However, these same people are genetically Bantu, but they speak Khoe languages as their mother tongue. This indicates that the early socio-linguistic context of this history was quite different from that of the past century when Khoe languages and cultures were disparaged and are now in danger of extinction. The development of more multivariate models of forager-farmer interaction that can more fully integrate cultural, economic, linguistic, genetic, and archaeological data will help shift the focus of analysis away from the simple juxtaposition or “encapsulation” of stereotypic “foragers” by “farmers” to open up questions of agency, interaction, assimilation, and change within specific cultural, economic, and environmental landscapes.
The literature is representative of an exciting and challenging time for archaeologists, geneticists, historians, and ethnographers. Over the past twenty years, knowledge of archaeological sequences and regions has grown enormously. The Kalahari basin, once a backwater for research, is now seeing exciting new discoveries that have pushed back dates for the appearance of herder-foragers in the region by more than 1,500 years. New evidence also indicates the development of indigenous mining technologies in specularite and salt that brought transcontinental Indian Ocean trade unprecedented distances into the far interior long before the development of centralized chiefdoms and kingdoms east of the Kalahari. The task for archaeologists is to break away from earlier typologies that conceptually separated and isolated Stone Age cultures from Iron Age communities and seek ways to examine their interdigitation, and the impact that cultural interaction and genetic admixture had on the complex history of the region and the transforming identities of its peoples.
Linguists are also examining in great detail new or once poorly known languages. This has, for example, led to a fundamental re-evaluation of the so-called Khoisan language family, with the suggestion that it is not a single family but rather three families with long separated histories of development.
Added to this is the new field of historical genetics, which is now providing an incredible lens from which to examine the social interactions and connections between peoples in ways that sometimes complement and sometimes conflict with the narratives developed by archaeologists and linguists. Information on specific factors such as the presence or absence of alleles that would allow for pastoralists to drink the milk of their herds adds an important insight into the regional development and distribution of herding and milking economies. The historical genetic field is comparatively new to Africa, however, and many regions and cultures have yet to be adequately sampled. As a result, archaeologists and linguistics are having to learn how to interpret the results of their geneticist colleagues, just as geneticists are coming to realize how their sampling procedures and interpretations could benefit from greater awareness of archaeological and linguistic methods and results.
The primary sources for archaeological data are, of course, the stone tools, potsherds, faunal remains, and other materials excavated from prehistoric sites. Almost all of the excavated materials from the sites in Botswana are housed in the National Museum of Botswana in Gaborone, with smaller collections in the Archaeology Department at the University of Botswana (Gaborone). Archaeological collections from South Africa are held in regional museums such as the KwaZulu-Natal Museum in Pietermaritzburg, the Iziko South Africa Museum, Cape Town, the National Museum in Bloemfontein, the McGregor Museum in Kimberly,74 and the Mapungubwe Museum in Pretoria.75 Ethnographic films and photographs from the Kalahari and Namibia, produced by the Marshall family in the 1950s and 1960s, are available online through the South African Rock Art Digital Archive.
Since most of the raw data from which archaeological narratives are constructed are not usually accessible to the wider public, general readers and even archaeologists rely on detailed site reports published in regional and international journals. The primary regional journals include the South African Archaeological Bulletin, established in 1945. It publishes semi-annually on all aspects of African archaeology. More limited in circulation is Botswana Notes and Records, which has published annually on a variety of cultural and historical topics on Botswana, including archaeology, since 1968. The journal Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, published by the British Institute in Eastern Africa, has been in existence since 1966 and includes archaeological papers and reports from all parts of the continent, especially central and eastern Africa.
Major international journals focused on African archaeology include the African Archaeological Review, which has appeared four times a year since 1983. It contains archaeological articles and new field data from all parts of Africa. The Journal of African Archaeology, published semi-annually in Germany since 2002, also covers archaeological research from across the continent. Finally, the bulletin Nyame Akuma, published annually since 1972 by the Society of Africanist Archaeologists, includes short notices and longer articles on recent fieldwork from all parts of the continent.
(1.) James Woodburn, “Egalitarian societies,” Man 17 (1982): 431–451.
(2.) Richard B. Lee, The !Kung San: Men, Women, and Work in a Foraging Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979); Richard B. Lee and Irving DeVore, eds. Kalahari Hunter-Gatherers: Studies of the !Kung San and Their Neighbors (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1976); George Silberbauer, Hunter and Habitat in the Central Kalahari Desert (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981); and Jiro Tanaka, The San, Hunter-Gatherers of the Kalahari: A Study in Ecological Anthropology, trans. David W. Hughes (Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1980 ).
(3.) Edwin Wilmsen and James Denbow, “Paradigmatic History of San-Speaking Peoples and Current Attempts at Revision,” Current Anthropology 31.5 (1990): 489–524.
(4.) James Denbow, “Prehistoric Herders and Foragers of the Kalahari: The Evidence for 1500 Years of Interaction,” in Past and Present in Hunter-Gatherer studies, ed. C. Schrire (Orlando, FL: Academic Press, 1984), 175–193; Carmel Schrire, Past and present in hunter-gatherer studies (Orlando, FL.: Academic Press, 1984); Edwin Wilmsen, Land Filled with Flies: A Political Economy of the Kalahari (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989); and Lawrence Robbins et al., “Recent Archaeological and Paleontological Research at Toteng, Botswana: Early Domesticated Livestock in the Kalahari,” Journal of African Archaeology 6.1 (2008): 131–149.
(5.) Schrire, Past and Present; Jacqueline Solway and Richard Lee, “Foragers, Genuine or Spurious? Situating the Kalahari San in History,” Current Anthropology 31 (1990): 109–146; James Denbow and Edwin Wilmsen, “The Advent and Course of Pastoralism in the Kalahari,” Science 234 (1986): 1509–1515; Wilmsen and Denbow, Paradigmatic History; Wilmsen, Land; and Justin Pargeter et al., “Primordialism and the ‘Pleistocene San’ of Southern Africa,” Antiquity 90.352 (2016): 1072–1079.
(6.) Lee and Devore, Kalahari; Lee, !Kung; Solway and Lee, Foragers.
(7.) Denbow and Wilmsen, Advent; Wilmsen, Land; Wilmsen and Denbow, Paradigmatic History.
(8.) James Denbow, The Archaeology and Ethnography of Central Africa (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014); James Denbow, Carla Klehm, and Laure Dussubieux, “The Glass Beads of Kaitshàa and Early Indian Ocean Trade into the Far Interior of Southern Africa,” Antiquity 89 (2015): 361–377; Christopher Ehret, “The Early Livestock-Raisers of Southern Africa,” Southern African Humanities 20 (2008): 7–35; Thomas Güldemann, “A Linguist’s View: Khoe-Kwadi Speakers as the Earliest Food-Producers of Southern Africa,” Southern African Humanities 20 (2008): 93–132; Joseph Pickrell et al., “The Genetic Prehistory of Southern Africa,” Nature Communications 6 (2016); and Enrico Macholdt et al., “Tracing Pastoralist Migrations to Southern Africa with Lactase Persistence Alleles,” Current Biology 24.8 (2014): 875–879.
(9.) David Livingstone, Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa (New York: Harper, 1858), 73.
(10.) David Livingstone, Livingstone’s Africa: Perilous Adventures and Extensive Discoveries in the Interior of Africa (Philadelphia and Boston: Hubbard, 1872), 88.
(11.) Mabunga Gadibola, “Serfdom (Bolata) in the Nata Area (1929–1960)” (BA thesis, History Department, University of Botswana, 1993); E. S. B. Taggart, Report on the Conditions Existing among Masarwa in the Bamangwato Reserve of the Bechuanaland Protectorate and Certain Other Matters Appertaining to the Natives Living Therein (Pretoria: South Africa Government Press, 1933); Robert Hitchcock, Kalahari Cattle Posts: A Regional Study of Hunter-Gatherers, Pastoralists and Agriculturalists in the Western Sandveld Region, Central District, Botswana (Gaborone, Botswana: Ministry of Local Government and Lands, 1978); and Silberbauer, Hunter and Habitat.
(12.) Andy Chebanne, “Shifting Identities in Eastern Khoe: Ethnic and Language Endangerment,” Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies 16.2 (2002): 147–157.
(13.) Alan Barnard, Hunters and Herders of Southern Africa: A Comparative Ethnography of the Khoisan Peoples (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 131.
(14.) Sibel Kusimba, “What Is a Hunter-Gatherer? Variation in the Archaeological Record of Eastern and Southern Africa,” Journal of Archaeological Research 13.4 (2005): 337–366; Aaron Mazel, “Changing Fortunes: 150 Years of San Hunter-Gatherer History in the Natal Drakensberg, South Africa,” Antiquity 65 (1992): 758–767; Peter Mitchell, “Anyone for Hxaro? Thoughts on the History and Practice of Exchange in Southern African Later Stone Age Archaeology,” in Researching Africa’s Past: New Perspectives from British Archaeology, eds. P. Mitchell, A. Haour, and J. Hobart (Oxford: School of Archaeology, 2003), 35–43; and Pargeter, Primordialism.
(15.) Simon Hall and Benjamin Smith, “Empowering Places: Rock Shelters and Ritual Control in Farmer-Forager Interactions in the Northern Province,” South African Archaeological Bulletin, Goodwin Series 8 (2000): 30–46.
(16.) David S. Thomas and Paul Shaw, The Kalahari Environment (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991).
(17.) Daniel McGahey, “Maintaining Opportunism and Mobility in Drylands: The Impact of Veterinary Cordon Fences in Botswana” (PhD diss., School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, 2008).
(18.) Alec Campbell, “Traditional Utilization of the Okavango Delta,” in Symposium on the Okavango Delta, eds. D. Nteta and J. Hermans (Gaborone: Botswana Society, 1976); and Barnard, Hunters and Herders, 123.
(19.) S. Dornan, Pygmies & Bushmen of the Kalahari; An Account of the Hunting Tribes Inhabiting the Great Arid Plateau of the Kalahari Desert, Their Precarious Manner of Living, Their Habits, Customs & Beliefs, with Some Reference to Bushman Art, Both Early & of Recent Date, & to the Neighbouring African Tribes (London: Seeley, Service, 1925), 106–109.
(20.) James Denbow and Phenyo Thebe, Culture and Customs of Botswana (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2006); and McGahey, Maintaining Opportunism.
(21.) David Nash et al., “Provenancing of Silcrete Raw Materials Indicates Long-Distance Transport to Tsodilo Hills, Botswana, during the Middle Stone Age,” Journal of Human Evolution 64 (2013): 280–288.
(22.) Phenyo Thebe, “Paradigms in Stone: Lithic Technology at Bosutswe and Matlapaneng” (MA thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, 2004).
(23.) Lawrence Robbins et al., “The Advent of Herding in Southern Africa: Early AMS Dates on Domestic Livestock from the Kalahari Desert,” Current Anthropology 46.4 (2005): 671–677.
(24.) Diane Gifford-Gonzalez, “Animal Disease Challenges to the Emergence of Pastoralism in Sub-Saharan Africa,” African Archaeological Review 18 (2000): 95–139.
(26.) Güldemann, “A Linguist’s View”; Thomas Güldemann and Edward Elderkin, “On External Genealogical Relationships of the Khoe Family,” in Khoisan Languages and Linguistics: Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium, January 4–8, 2003, eds. M. Brenzinger and C. König (Köln: Rüdiger Köppe, 2010), 15–52; and Ehret, Early Livestock.
(28.) Coelho et al., “On the Edge of Bantu Expansions: mtDNA, Y-Chromosome and Lactase Persistence: Genetic Variation in Southwestern Angola,” BMC Evolutionary Biology 9 (2009): 80; and Barbieri et al., “Unraveling the Complex Maternal History of Southern African Khoisan Populations,” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 153 (2014): 435–448.
(31.) Barnard, Hunters and Herders, 122.
(32.) Pickrell, Genetic Prehistory, 3.
(33.) Brigitte Packendorf, “Eastern Botswana: Shua and Tshwa,” paper presented at the conference “Speaking (of) Khoisan,” Leipzig, 2015.
(34.) Rainer Vossen, “What Click Sounds Got to Do in Bantu: Reconstructing the History of Language Contacts in Southern Africa,” in Human Contact through Language and Linguistics, eds. B. Smieja and M. Tasch (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1997), 353–366; Robbins et al., Advent of Herding; Robbins et al., Recent Archaeological; Eileen Kose and J. Richter, “The Prehistory of the Kavango People,” Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 18 (2007): 103–129; Eileen Kose, “New Light on Ironworking Groups along the Middle Kavango in Northern Namibia,” South African Archaeological Bulletin 64.190 (2009): 130–147; Andrew Smith, “Pastoral Origins at the Cape, South Africa: Influences and Arguments,” Southern African Humanities 20 (2008): 49–60; D. Pleurdeau et al., “‘Of Sheep and Men’: Earliest Direct Evidence of Caprine Domestication in Southern Africa at Leopard Cave (Erongo, Namibia),” PLOS One 7.7 (2012): 10; and Denbow, Archaeology and Ethnography.
(35.) Karim Sadr, “Invisible Herders? The Archaeology of Khoekhoe Pastoralists,” Southern African Humanities 20 (2008): 179–203.
(37.) Thomas Huffman, Snakes and Crocodiles: Power and Symbolism in Ancient Zimbabwe (Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1996); Thomas Huffman, “The Stylistic Origin of Bambata and the Spread of Mixed Farming in Southern Africa,” Southern African Humanities 17 (2005): 57–79; and James Denbow et al., “Excavations at Bosutswe, Botswana: Cultural Chronology, Paleo-ecology and Economy,” Journal of Archaeological Science 35.2 (2008): 459–480.
(38.) James Denbow and Alec Campbell, “The Early Stages of Food Production in Southern Africa and Some Potential Linguistic Correlations,” Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 7.1 (1986): 83–103; James Denbow, “After the Flood: A Preliminary Account of Recent Geological, Archaeological and Linguistic Investigations in the Okavango Region of Northern Botswana,” in Contemporary Studies on Khoisan: In Honour of Oswin Keohler on the Occasion of His 75th Birthday, eds. R. Vossen and K. Keuthmann, 181–214 (Hamburg: H. Buske, 1986), 181–214; Lawrence Robbins et al., “Late Quaternary Archaeological and Palaeo-environmental Data from Sediments at Rhino Cave, Tsodilo Hills, Botswana,” Southern African Field Archaeology 9 (2000): 17–31; Lawrence Robbins et al., “Archaeology, Palaeoenvironment, and Chronology of the Tsodilo Hills White Paintings Rock Shelter, Northwest Kalahari Desert, Botswana,” Journal of Archaeological Science 27 (2000): 1085–1113; Gill Turner, “Early Iron Age Herders in Northwestern Botswana: The Faunal Evidence,” Botswana Notes and Records 19 (1987): 7–23; Gill Turner, “Hunters and Herders of the Okavango Delta, Northern Botswana,” Botswana Notes and Records 19 (1987): 25–40; and Wynand van Zyl et al., “The Archaeofauna from Xaro on the Okavango Delta in Northern Botswana,” Annals of the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History 3 (2013): 49–58.
(39.) Denbow, Archaeology and Ethnography.
(40.) James Denbow, “Excavations at Divuyu, Tsodilo Hills,” Botswana Notes and Records 43 (2011): 76–94.
(42.) Turner, Early Iron Age.
(44.) Duncan Miller, The Tsodilo Jewellery: Metal Work from Northern Botswana (Rondebosch: University of Cape Town Press, 1976); and Lawrence Robbins et al., “Intensive Mining of Specular Hematite in the Kalahari ca. AD 800–1000,” Current Anthropology 39 (1998): 144–150.
(46.) Edwin Wilmsen and James Denbow, “Early Villages at Tsodilo: The Introduction of Livestock, Crops, and Metalworking,” in Tsodilo, Mountain of the Gods, eds. L. Robbins, A. Campbell, and M. Taylor (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press), 72–81.
(47.) Morongwa Mosothwane, “Dietary Stable Carbon Isotope Signatures of the Early Iron Age Inhabitants of Ngamiland,” Botswana Notes and Records 43 (2011): 115–129.
(48.) Wilmsen and Denbow, “Early Villages at Tsodilo”; Denbow, “Excavations at Divuyu”; Robbins et al., Late Quaternary; and Robbins et al., Recent Archaeological.
(49.) James Denbow field notes from 1984–1985 in possession of the author; the seeds were examined by Dr. J. M. J. de Wet, Department of Agronomy, University of Illinois, Urbana, with the species identified in an unpublished letter to Denbow in 1986.
(50.) Turner, Hunters and Herders.
(51.) Wilmsen and Denbow, “Early Villages”;Edwin Wilmsen et al., “The Social Geography of Pottery in Botswana as Reconstructed by Optical Petrography,” Journal of African Archaeology 7.1 (2009): 3–39; Joseph Vogel, “Kamangoza: An Introduction to the Iron Age Cultures of the Victoria Falls Region,” Zambia Museum Papers 2 (1971); Joseph Vogel, “The Early Iron Age Site at Sioma Mission, Western Zambia,” Zambia Museums Journal 4 (1972): 153–169; Joseph Vogel and J. M. Chuubi, A Guide to the Livingstone Museum (Livingstone: National Museums Board Livingstone Museum, 1975); and Brian Fagan, “The Iron Age Sequence in the Southern Province of Zambia,” in Papers in African Prehistory, eds. J. D. Fage and R. A. Oliver (Cambridge: University Printing House, 1974), 208.
(54.) Mosothwane, Dietary Stable Carbon, 123.
(56.) Thomas Tlou, History of Ngamiland: 1750–1906 (Johannesburg: Macmillan, 1985); Denbow and Thebe, Culture and Customs; Denbow, Archaeology and Ethnography; John Kinahan, “The Acquisition of Ceramics by Hunter-Gatherers on the Middle Zambezi in the First and Second Millennium AD,” Journal of African Archaeology 11.2 (2013): 197–209.
(57.) Koen Bostoen and B. Sands, “Clicks in South-Western Bantu Languages: Contact-Induced vs. Language-Internal Lexical Change,” in Proceedings of the 6th World Congress of African Linguistics, eds. M. Brenzinger and A. Fehn (Cologne: Köppe Verlag, 2012).
(58.) Andrew Reid and Alinah Segobye, “Politics, Society and Trade on the Eastern Margins of the Kalahari,” in African Naissance: The Limpopo Valley 1000 Years Ago, eds. M. Leslie and T. Maggs (Cape Town: South African Archaeological Society, 2012), 64.
(60.) Marilee Wood et al., “Glass Finds from Chibuene, a 6th to 17th Century Port in Southern Mozambique,” South African Archaeological Bulletin 67 (2012): 59–74; Denbow, Glass Beads; Dagget et al., “Glass Trade Beads at Thabadimasego, Botswana: Analytical Results and Some Implications,” (Johannesburg: Congress of the Pan-African Archaeological Society, forthcoming).
(61.) Denbow, Excavations at Bosutswe.
(62.) Karin Scott, Faunal Report on Kaitcha [sic]. Unpublished report in the author’s possession, 2013.
(64.) Andrew Reid and Alinah Segobye, “An Ivory Cache from Botswana,” Antiquity 74 (2000): 326–331.
(65.) James Denbow, “Material Culture and the Dialectics of Identity in the Kalahari,” in Beyond Chiefdoms: Pathways to Complexity in Africa, ed. S. McIntosh (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 110–123.
(66.) James Denbow, “Preliminary Report on an Archaeological Reconnaissance of the BP Soda Ash Lease, Makgadikgadi Pans, Botswana,” report on file at the National Museum of Botswana, 1985; Denbow, Glass Beads; Edwin Wilmsen and James Denbow, “The Middens at Tora Nju and Their Adjacent Stone Enclosure,” Journal of African Archaeology, forthcoming.
(67.) Taggart, Report on the Conditions; Hitchcock, Kalahari Cattleposts.
(68.) Ann Stahl, “Political Economic Mosaics: Archaeology of the Last Two Millennia in Tropical Sub-Saharan Africa,” Annual Review of Anthropology 33 (2004): 145–172; Diane Gifford-Gonzalez, “Animal Disease Challenges Fifteen Years Later: The Hypothesis in Light of New Data,” Quaternary International (2015); and Barberena et al. “Archaeological Discontinuities in the Southern Hemisphere: A Working Agenda,” Journal of Anthropological Archaeology (2016).
(69.) Denbow, Material Culture; James Denbow, “Stolen Places: Archaeology and the Politics of Identity in the Later Prehistory of the Kalahari,” in Africanizing Knowledge: African Studies across the Disciplines, eds. T. Falola and C. Jennings (Somerset, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2002), 345–374.
(70.) Lawrence Barham and Peter Mitchell, The First Africans: African Archaeology from the Earliest Toolmakers to the Most Recent Foragers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008).
(71.) Peter Mitchell, The Archaeology of Southern Africa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002); and Christopher Ehret, The Civilizations of Africa: A History to 1800, 2d ed. (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2016).
(72.) Roger Blench, Archaeology, Language, and the African Past (Lanham, MD: Altamira, 2006). See also Ehret, The Civilizations of Africa.
(73.) Sarah A. Tishkoff et al., “The Genetic Structure and History of Africas and African Americans,” Science 324.5930 (2009): 1035–1044.
(74.) The McGregor Museum in Kimberly.
(75.) The Mapungubwe Museum in Pretoria. | 2019-04-21T22:22:46Z | http://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/abstract/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-71?rskey=5TnRJe&result=9 |
Have you read the now-classic book How to Talk so Kids will Listen and Listen so Kids will Talk? Ever wished there was a version that would help you with younger children who perhaps aren’t quite ready for a detailed problem-solving session?
Well now there is! Adele Faber is a co-author of the original book; Adele’s daughter Joanna and Joanna’s childhood friend Julie King have teamed up to write the new version of How to Talk so LITTLE Kids Will Listen, packed with examples of how real parents have used the information they’ve now been teaching for over 30 years.
Join me for a chat with Julie King as we work to understand the power of acknowledging children’s feelings and some practical tools to help engage your younger children to cooperate with you.
Update 5/10/17: An eagle-eyed listener noticed that Julie mentioned her 10-year-old son wanting to sit on the front seat of her car, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that children 12 and under should sit in the back seat. Julie was recounting an episode that happened long before there were CDC recommendations on where children should sit in the car, so please don’t take this as an ‘OK’ to put your 12-and-under child in the front seat. Thanks!
Jen: 00:21 Welcome to the Your Parenting Mojo podcast. I’d like to welcome my guest today, Julie King, who is one half of the writing duo behind the new book, How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen, and if that title sounds familiar, it’s because it’s part of what seems to have become a family of books around the classic How to Talk so Kids Will Listen and Listen so Kids will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. Julie has been educating and supporting parents and professionals since 1995 and in addition to her work with individual parents and couples, she also leads How to Talk workshops and gives parent education presentations to schools, nonprofits, and parent groups. Julie received her AB from Princeton University and a JD from Yale Law School. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area and is the mother of three. Welcome Julie.
Jen: 01:14 It actually does feel a little odd to welcome you when we’re in your own home. Julie was kind enough to invite me to her home today to have this conversation. So thanks so much for taking the time.
Julie: 01:23 Oh my pleasure.
Jen: 01:24 So I wonder if you can tell me a little bit about the genesis of this book because it kind of runs in the family a bit, right?
Julie: 01:30 Okay. So to tell you the whole story, I have to go back in time to when I was six months old.
Jen: 01:37 This is going to be a long story!
Julie: 01:38 I’m not going to go through all the details, I promise, but when my parents moved into the house that they still live in when I was born, right before I was born and my mother didn’t know very many people in the neighborhood. I was six months old. She was looking out the kitchen window and she saw another mom with two little kids the same age as me and my brother and she invited that woman in. That was Adele favor and the two of them became very good friends. Joanna. Joanna was the baby and her brother Carl was the older boy and she and I went to nursery school together. Adele took these, what they call Child Guidance Workshops with Haim Ginott and used to call my mother daily and discuss what she was learning and they would talk about what they were going to try on Joanna and her older brother and her younger brother and me and my older brother and younger sister.
Jen: 02:27 So you were a Guinea pig for the original book?
Julie: 02:30 That’s right. I was a Guinea pig. Um, so she and I became very good friends. We went to school from nursery school all the way through high school together. And um, I was aware that her mother was writing these books as a teenager. I remember going to her house and seeing her mother and Elaime Mazlish writing on yellow legal pads on the kitchen table by hand, and in the eighties when the one of the books came out or was coming out. I got to copy edit the book and I think I found a coma out of place and I felt very proud of my contribution, but I never actually expected to be doing anything with the work until I had my own child and he was in preschool at the San Francisco JCC and they were looking for a more than one time event for parents. They used to bring people in to speak, but they wanted to do something that would be ongoing and I at the time was studying group facilitation and group development and of course I knew this material very well, having grown up with it. So I volunteered to lead a group which was originally scheduled as an eight week group and halfway through everybody said, well, we need another eight weeks to really learn this. At which point I panicked because I wasn’t quite sure what I would do. Well we turned it into an ongoing support group and that first group met for four and a half years. The other people heard about it and asked me to bring the workshop to private groups into nonprofits and that’s how I got into leading the groups originally and my friend Joanna, who is still a good friend of mine who still lives in New York, and I moved out to California…This will happen in New York originally. She started leading workshops in New York, so we would talk to each other about what we were doing and what we were discovering and quite a few years ago when I was still mostly working with parents of preschool-aged kids. People said to me, we love this book, but we need more examples, and so I said, I know what to do. I called Adele and I said, I have your next book for you. She’s written one for teens and she’s written ones for kids at school. I said, now you have to write one for little kids, and she said, more or less. I quote, Julie, I’m too tired. You have to write it. So I called Joanna and I said, Joanna, we have to write this book. So we’ve been collecting material for many years and working very hard for the past two years to really polish it up and create this book.
Jen: 04:49 Yeah. Awesome. I did a little comparison between the new book, which as we’re recording has not been released yet, but once, once you hear this interview, you will be able to get the book on Amazon and other bookstores. So I have an advanced copy and I did a little comparison between that and the classic How to Talk so Kids Will Listen and it seemed to me as though the overall concepts are quite similar. The certainly a big focus on handling emotions and engaging cooperation and praise. There’s a little less than the new book on encouraging autonomy, which surprised me a little bit, and you have a spanking new chapter on working with differently wired kids, which we’re going to talk more about in a little bit. I’m guessing that a fair number of my listeners have already read or maybe even own the original book. And maybe that was, you know, they bought it for their first child and maybe they have a toddler in tow now. And I’m wondering if you can help us understand what they would get out of this book that they wouldn’t necessarily get if they have already bought or read the original.
Jen: 06:48 Or another book!
Julie: 06:49 Another book, right – no, not another chapter for this book; this book is done. So that’s the answer to the autonomy question. And your other question was, what’s different about this book?
Julie: 07:01 There are a number of differences. I think the biggest reason for people to get this book is because every example is about little kids. If you get the original book, there are little kid examples are 10 examples. We, we just are offering you lots and lots of ways to use these tools from stories that were given to us by actual real life people, parents and teachers. And in my experience, the tools make sense to people. But when you’re in the heat of the moment, it’s hard to think of what to do. Yeah. And if you have somebody else’s example and when you have, when you can picture it in your mind, when you can sort of rehearse it a little bit ahead of time, that’s when you can pull up the tool more easily and use it in the moment. So I think that’s the biggest advantage of, of. I mean, I, I love the original book, obviously… People should read both probably, but if you have little kids that make sense to read a book, just about little kids.
Jen: 07:56 Yeah, that makes sense to me. I often find when I read books that the principles are aligned with what I’m thinking, but you know, the, the examples and the language they talk through, I’m thinking what would really happen if I said that to my two and a half year old when she really get that? Would you understand it? And so what you’re saying is that because the examples in your book are geared towards younger children, they’re more easy for parents to apply, is that right?
Julie: 08:22 And then there’s are several other differences. One of the, the differences that I think will be very helpful to parents is around the idea of taking action. So in the original book there’s a, there’s a skill called take action without insult and doing the workshops. What I found is a lot of parents get confused. Well, what actions should I take? How do I know what to do? I mean, I’ve tried acknowledging his feelings. You know, you’re in the mood to draw. I’ve given them information. Walls aren’t for drawing on; I’ve given him choices. You can, you can draw on this box, you can draw on this paper. But he still took the, took the Sharpies. One of my parents groups, you know, I don’t know why…and started drawing on the walls so, you know, so I felt like I had to say, no, I’ve told you, I’ve told you you can’t do that, you bad boy. I’m taking this away from you. You may not. Now you’re not going to get a chance to see. I’ve already told you that sort of language. And they’re like, well that’s taking action. Isn’t it? Well, the, and you’re nodding your head. Yes it is, and it’s, it’s also we want to offer an alternative, um, in which we protect ourselves or we protect property without attacking the child. So the action is going to look the same. I’m still going to take those Sharpies away, but, but what I’m going to say is I don’t like my walls drawn on. For now, the sharpies are going away and the child knows that I was drawing on the wall. Now I can’t, but you’re not doing it to me, the child. You’re not doing this to make me suffer. You’re doing to protect yourself and protect the walls. Right. So I think that’s, that’s. I think we explain that in the book in a way that’s a little easier for parents to figure out, okay, what do I do in this next situation?
Jen: 10:04 Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. I’m wondering if I can selfishly talk a little bit about situation that I’m having around acknowledging feelings. Yes, because I think that that’s, it’s a really central theme in the book and Joanna actually wrote that chapter and she described a scenario where she videotaped to show for a five year old and a three year old wants to know why she didn’t a tape a show for him when he had asked her to tape it and she says to her, a missed TV show doesn’t really seem as though it’s qualifies as being worthy of a meltdown. But to her son it really was because it was important to him, or, it had become important to you and so it seems as though the best way to help him get over it was to help him get through it is the advice that’s given in the book.
Julie: 10:47 And so, you know, when my daughter’s having that kind of meltdown, let’s just clarify, to get, to help him means to say, Oh, you LOVE that show! You would have liked me to tape that one for you too.
Jen: 10:58 Or a different show that wasn’t taped.
Jen: 11:01 Um, and so, you know, if, if my daughter is asking for ice cream at bedtime and I say you really, really want ice cream, she seems as though she gets kind of hopeful and it feels to me as though I’m sort of getting your hopes up and then, you know, sorry, you still can’t have ice cream and I’m, I doing something wrong when I’m doing that or…?
Jen: 11:18 Or partly no.
Julie: 11:24 I think the point is what you do after that? So when you, when you acknowledge the feelings that that child has for something that you can’t grant, like I can’t make that TV show rebroadcast. Right? So that’s in a way easier.
Jen: 11:38 Yeah, it is. I wish I could have, I wish I had known I would have done it. You really wanted me to record it? Oh that’s so disappointing. Yeah, it’s a natural limit. It’s not one that I have set.
Julie: 11:51 But she knows that there’s ice cream in the and you could get it if you wanted to. So that’s a different situation. And so we can’t just stop at, Oh, you really want to ice cream because I think, yes, I do. So could I have it? So that’s one. So that’s when you have to follow up with some of these other tools that we have in the book to have ice cream before bedtime. It’s not good for your body. It’s my job to help keep your body healthy. What’s, let’s make a, let’s make a plan for when you can have ice cream. How about tomorrow afternoon and when you get home from daycare or you know as a snack or whatever it is that would be acceptable to you so that she knows that you get it, that there’s, that she’s, she’s going to get it at some point, maybe you write it down on a piece of paper so she knows that there’s a plan and a commitment to her. And it’s not that any of these upper, you know, if you use any of these tools, she’ll say, oh thanks mom. It’s okay. She might, she may or may not still cry about it. It’s important that she knows that when you feel strongly about something you don’t cave just because she is distressed about it. Yeah. I think sometimes we get upset with our kids when they get upset with a limit and that’s just natural. I’m not getting what I want. I feel frustrated and we can empathize with that, with the frustration, without caving to what they did is they want. So in the ice cream case, you know, someday she will get ice cream and maybe it would help to know when that’s going to be. It is a lot easier to acknowledge feelings when you don’t have to also say sorry.
Jen: 13:19 Yeah, this is my limit that I’m putting on you. Yeah. So the second chapter of the book is on tools for engaging corporation, which seems to me to sort of be another way of saying how do we get our children to do what we want them to do. Um, and so this conversation I’m having with you follows hot on the heels of an episode that I recently recorded that was named exactly that, that was based on Alfie Kohn’s work, and the premise that the relationship with our children is really core to engaging cooperation and so I’m on board with that and with setting up the conditions that make my daughter want to cooperate with me. And after reading the book I use some of the tools that you described to get my daughter to stop playing and brush her teeth, you know, and she said she didn’t want to do it, she wanted to keep playing. And I said, well, do you want to walk or hop to the bathroom? And she said, I want to hop to the bathroom. I said, great, let’s go. But it just, it strains my brain every time she says no to something to have to think, oh, is it walk or hop now or is it, you know, what other creative thing can I come up with to make her want to do this thing with me that I want her to do? Because brushing your teeth is important, you know, it’s not something that I’m arbitrarily saying we must do this now. Right? Um, so does it get any easier that having done this for a year or two now, does it get easier?
Julie: 14:32 So the, the short answer is yes, absolutely. You know, and the more that you engage her in play, which is how I hear, you know, she, she, she didn’t want to stop what she’s doing, do some chore. She wanted to have fun. And so you said, well, let’s have fun doing this. Let’s hop. As she gets older, she’ll understand better why she needs to brush her teeth. She’s just too young to really understand about cavities and teeth.
Jen: 14:56 She’s two and a half years old now, so yeah.
Julie: 14:59 But for now, instead of getting into a battle about it, you’re connecting with her that you’re, your strengthen your relationship with her and she’s, she’s learning that. It’s fun. It’s nice to make things fun. You know, if you have to, when when I have to clean up or I have to fold laundry, sometimes I’ll put on a podcast. Maybe yours now… Because you know, otherwise sometimes that yours not that exciting. So parents do often ask me this question like how long does this go on?
Julie: 15:30 And my answer is usually, well it’s usually goes on a little bit longer than you really feel like you can stand it. At least speaking for myself.
Jen: 15:37 Hm…seems transferable to a lot of situations in parenting.
Julie: 15:54 But then he was like, you know, I’ve done that a few times. Boring I don’t want to do that anymore. And he said no as two year olds are want to do. Yeah. And I have to admit, I think at first I did something like, well you can’t have dinner unless you wash your hands. And of course this was late in the day and he was tired and he was hungry and just didn’t really work very well because then he just dug his heels in deeper and we got into this little conflict.
Julie: 16:18 So I switched gears and I sort of in desperation, this is how I always come up with these things. I said, Oh, you know what? I just heard an and for the story you have to know that Asher was really into Sesame Street. I just heard that big bird is missing and they think he’s hiding in children’s bathrooms. Should we go take a look? Hey looked at me like, yeah. So we run off to the bathroom and I can look around. You see him? He’s like, no. Well let’s put the water on and see if he comes out. Put your hand under… Did you catch them now? Of course. Now by this point he’s figured out it’s a game, right? Let’s try this soap. Is he in the south? No. Look at your hands above your head. No, he’s not there. Well, I don’t know.
Julie: 17:00 Try the water again. Should we look at… We looked in the towel. Got His hands washed, was so much fun. The next day. Dinner Time. That was going to be my question. We look for big bird again several days in a row. We looked for big birth, then we branched out, Cookie Monster, Bert, Ernie. We ended up at some point I remember thinking, what am I going to do? Yeah, there are a limit to the number of sesame street where we branched out to other books. He was reading Winnie the Pooh. Then we started pretending like, I think you do you want to wash your hand in Spaghetti water. We’re having spaghetti for dinner, so I would just pretend that it was spaghetti water and this went on for not just days, not just weeks, definitely months. I mean, I can’t actually remember how long it went on. I just remember once coming home and thinking, oh, I forgot to think of how I’m going to get his hands washed, and he was with the babysitter. I’m like, can you think of something that we haven’t done it, but if we did it, if we played, he was totally on board and it was. It turned out to be sort of a fun thing as long as we could get ourselves into it, right. So, well, by the time I told this story too, I remember some, some group of parents, he was in middle school. I’m like, well, at least now he’s, he does wash his hands before dinner and we don’t have to play a game, you know, it didn’t go on forever, but it does feel…at the time. You think, are they ever going to just do this? And the answer is yes.
Julie: 19:05 Well the toothbrushing thing. Okay. I had to do the same thing. Yeah. And I have three kids so I had to come up with a lot of ideas. One of the things I like about leading the workshops is that parents get together and they share their ideas. Yeah. And I encourage people to steal each other’s ideas. I mean, it’s just exhausting to come up with these things. Right? So one of the things that worked for me for awhile, it was an also, I came up with this one out of desperation and it’s going to sound really bizarre, but it worked well with my kids. I said, do you know that I heard all the zoo animals have escaped and they’re hiding in kid’s should be looking at your mouth. And suddenly the kid who wouldn’t open his mouth is like, ahhhh.
Jen: 19:47 I’m doing that tonight.
Julie: 20:04 I had another, another um, parent who they would pretend that they were going to the dentist office and they would, they would make a big deal. Like, would you like to sit in my dentist’s chair, my lady. And you know, there’s all kinds of games you can play and you’re right, you run out of ideas like, well, okay, so tell me, tell me, you’re making me feel bad because we, we had to cut seven chapters out of this book.
Jen: 20:34 Parents are going to be so disappointed.
Jen: 20:43 I guess the lesson that is to try and apply from, from what is in the book, because that was one I got out of the book was, you know, there’s a big new section on seeing the tools in action. And so there’s this toothbrushing must’ve been part of that when I read it, I felt like I was sitting in a parenting class with you and then there were five other people in the room and they were all talking about what worked and what didn’t work is not everything works for everyone. And so I was wondering was that, was that the intent?
Julie: 21:07 Yes. In the workshops, people get a lot out of hearing from each other. Like I say, I had a mom in my very first group who got a lot of traction by using a Donald Duck voice. I can’t imitate it so I’m sorry I can’t do it for you, but she could do it. You know what?
Jen: 21:24 We’ll imagine it.
Julie: 21:25 In the back of your throat. I can’t do it. Anyway, she, she said if I said it’s time to go get your backpack. They didn’t do it, but if Donald Duck told them they would do it. So I took that idea and I’m like, well I can’t do Donald Duck, but I can pretend. And I again, I was so nervous about doing this in public. I pretended to have a British accent, which I can’t really do.
Julie: 22:41 So they don’t care. I used to. I also used this saying to them, okay, I’m telling you what my most embarrassing stories. I used to pretend I was an opera singer and then they would do things that if I just asked them to do in regular, they wouldn’t… [Sings] “It’s time for bath.” I would just shock them so much. So I tell people in my groups, you don’t have to be an opera singer; you don’t have to be good at English accents, you don’t have to be able to do Donald Duck, which I can’t do, but if you can attempt any of these, it changes the mood, the mood, and it makes it more fun and as long as you have to do these things anyway, you might as make it. Might as well make it fun.
Julie: 23:23 Oh, but then it wouldn’t have that R problem.
Jen: 23:26 Yes. So I know you have three children. I only have one and frankly that’s the way I’m planning on having it stay. But I know that a lot of parents who are listening to the show have more than one child and maybe most interested in the chapter that you have on resolving conflict. And so if, uh, if there was one nugget of wisdom that you could distill out of that chapter for the parents who have more than one child, but would that be?
Julie: 23:53 Well, that chapter is not about more than one child. I’m going to answer your question about more than one, which is don’t take sides. It’s really tempting to say, come on, just give it to the baby. She’s just, she’s too little. She doesn’t understand. But that kind of response can really build up resentment between siblings. So, um, some people call it the sportscasting sometimes it could just be helpful to say, Oh, you’re not ready to share that. You’re not finished with it. Oh, the baby saying I want it, I want it. What do we do in a situation like this? So I’m not just saying, okay, kids, good luck. You figure it out. I’m leaving, I’m out of this. But I’m also not going in and saying, no, you’ve had it for 10 minutes now.
Julie: 24:35 Give it to the baby or give it to the other one, whichever one. I do a lot of acknowledging feelings. So that’s the theme of the book as you noticed. And I’m going to do that even when there’s two kids who are fighting and sometimes there’s an act of conflict and sometimes I’m just, I’m just thinking about a conflict that my kids had. They were, they were a range of age, like six years between the oldest and the youngest. The youngest was definitely in the two to seven range and I think the middle was in the two to seven range. My oldest was a little bit older when they, we used to have a, used it, we have a hook in the ceiling and we used to have a T bar that they could hang from and when we would get home they would fight over who got to use it.
Julie: 25:14 And I remember once saying to them before we got in the door, okay, what should we do? Everybody wants to use the T bar first and there’s only one T bar, what should we do? And they negotiated and talked about it and came up with a system that I thought was pretty clever. The oldest one was probably the instigator because he realized that the youngest didn’t want to wait, so she got to go first for two minutes. And then the middle one who could wait a little longer, you get to do four minutes. And then the, the oldest who would be willing to wait longer, he would get six minutes on it and they all signed onto it.
Jen: 25:49 I would never have come up with that.
Julie: 25:53 When we help them problem solve a situation like that, they often will come up with solutions that we wouldn’t have even thought of.
Jen: 26:01 Yeah. At what age do they start? Do they start being ready to do that, do you think?
Julie: 26:04 Not at two.
Jen: 26:05 Yeah, because, you know, I my daughter’s two and a half and when I asked her a question, she doesn’t seem to understand. She just says, hmm, that’s, you know, if I try something like that, she’ll just kind of say, hmm. So at what point can you sort of start expecting a response to come back? And you know, the tennis ball to get hit back to you?
Julie: 26:22 Well, I, I remember when Asher was three and Rashi was just a baby, so up until about problem solving, which you can do with a single child. The reason I remember this story is because some reporter called up Adele and said, can you use problem solving with really little kids? And she said, I don’t know; call Julie.
Julie: 26:46 I think he couldn’t get Joanne on the phone. He called me because I was in California. And I thought, do I use problem solving? I’ll have to think about it. I’m like, well, I guess this morning I did because Rashi was, he was just a month or two old. And um, I really wanted to take a shower, which was challenging, right? And so Rashi had fallen asleep. And I thought this is my chance if I can get Asher on board. So I went to tell Asher, let’s go in the bathroom. And he’s like, no, let’s play with the magic mitts. And I remember thinking if I just try to strong arm him, he will scream. The baby seemed kind of fussy so I wasn’t sure he was gonna stay asleep. And I wasn’t gonna get my shower, so I did a very simplified version. I said, Oh Asher, you want to play with the magic mitts? I want to take a shower. What should we do? And he thought about it and he said, hm, maybe I’ll take my sesame street’s tapes in the bathroom, which we had done in in times past and I, I said, that’s a great idea, let’s do it.
Julie: 27:48 And I got my shower. So it was not a high conflict situation. But I try to look for opportunities to use that language with him. Like, we have a problem, you want this, I want that. What should we do? And I would encourage you to use that kind of language with your kids. Even at age two, you can, she can, she can understand, oh, you want that? And I want that one.
Jen: 28:08 And so do I start now. You know, when I’m starting to do that now, do I start by proposing a couple of solutions and then picking the one that I think is fairest, like verbally going through that process or how do you build to the point where the child can come up with her own solutions?
Julie: 28:22 Well, you’re going to be working with simple problems. It’s like, no, you want the blue cup and I was going to drink from it. What should we do? Right. And she’ll probably say I drink from it and you might say, okay, how about you drink from it and I drink from it next. And if and if she says, okay, you can say, oh well we figured out a solution. So she just gets the idea that this is what we do when we’re in conflict and that’s what chapter three is all about. When you’re in conflict, not necessarily between two kids. It could be parent and child. What do we do? And that’s, that’s one way to teach her about problem solving, which is when one of the ways we can resolve conflicts.
Julie: 29:00 Yeah. And so that’s, that’s a tool that I can use as a parent of one child and also the parents of multiple children can use with their children and also the children, we assume we’ll learn to negotiate among themselves when the parent is not around, ideally, I’m remembering another, another time when I used it, Asher was four, he had a friend named Matthew and matthew came over to play after school and then I was driving them to music class and we’re going to meet his mom. His mom was gonna pick him up a music class. And this is in the days when we didn’t know about airbags in the front seat. So kids were allowed to sit there.
Julie: 29:35 Oh, the things we used to do!
Julie: 29:37 Yes, right? The wild and crazy times. So we were going down to the car and Asher and Matthew started arguing about who would get to sit in the front seat. And fortunately the doors were locked so we got to the car and they hadn’t resolved it. And I, I remember being tempted to say, well Asher, he’s the guest. You should really let him sit in front. Um, but I, but I just want to do that really. So I said, oh, this is a problem. You both want to sit in the front seat, but there’s only one front seat. What should we do? I think Asher for said, well, I should be able to sit in the front seat because it’s my car. And Matthew said, well, I should be able to sit in the front seat because I’m the guest. And I said, well, it sounds like there’s something about sitting in the front seat that you both really like. And Matthew said, I like to be able to see out the window. You can see better in the front seat. And Asher said, well, I like to be able to choose the music. You can reach the cassette tape, aging myself, a player in the front seat. And there was a pause and Matthew said, I can sit in the front seat and I’ll put on your music. And Asher said, oh, okay. And you know, it was the perfect solution that I never would have been able to figure out it had I not reflected back to them. Oh, so you want the front seat because you want to see and you went the front seat because you would have decide what music we listened to.
Jen: 31:02 It’s not that they both want the front seat is that they want different things about being in the front seat and both of those needs can be satisfied.
Julie: 31:08 So I was lucky. I mean in the sense that. And I didn’t know where it was going to go when I said, well two people, one front seat, what do we do? I honestly didn’t know how it was going to be resolved, but I think that by doing it that way, first of all, we, we preserve their relationship. Had they gotten into a big fight about it, when you can just imagine that next, the next day they’re not playing with each other. Who knows what. Right.
Julie: 31:34 They would have been mad at me and they would have felt it was unfair and Matthew wouldn’t have wanted to come over again. Like, who knows. Right. So I think that’s one of the benefits of involving them in the problem solving.
Jen: 31:47 Yeah. Okay. So the chapter on children who are differently wired is written in your voice. I’m wondering if you can tell us a bit about your experience because I think a lot of times when I read parenting books kind of geared at mainstream parents, there really seems as though that the parent has to do the work themselves of figuring out how to make it applicable to their differently wired child. Can you tell us a bit about your experience in how the techniques described in the book can be applied to children who process information differently?
Julie: 32:16 I think one of the messages we want parents to get from this book is that all of these tools can be used with all children. Because underlying all these tools is the idea that all kids want to be understood, all kids want to be respected, all kids have a drive to do things for themselves. And what makes it tricky for kids who are differently wired is understanding as a parent, how they’re experiencing what their feelings are, how, what their experience is and how to acknowledge that. Because it’s because it’s often so different from our own experiences as people. So I’ll give you an example. In one of my early groups, I had a dad who had a little boy who used to put up a big fight if he didn’t get to be used one of his three favorite pairs of socks.
Julie: 33:15 And in the morning, they would use those three pairs of socks early in the week and they would run out and she’d have his other socks. And the dad tried all the usual look, they’re the same. It’s, you know, this one’s red. That’s when it’s red. Like, what’s the difference? We have to go get your socks on. We don’t have time for this nonsense. All that kind of thing. Came to the group and I told them about my oldest, who, when he was very little with what they say, hypersensitive in his lower extremities, which is to say he couldn’t stand to be touched on his feet and his legs were very, very sensitive. So, and if you can’t touch your feet to the floor, you can’t learn to walk. So we needed to desensitize them, but he really felt a lot of things that most of us, if we feel them, they, they’re not noxious.
New Speaker: 34:57 Because the behavior is the problem, right?
Julie: 34:58 Because the behavior’s the problem. Exactly. And you know, one of the big messages of our book is that there’s a connection between how kids feel and how they behave and if we want them to behave well, it benefits us to pay attention to how they feel and how we talk to them influences how they feel. So the, some of the tools in that chapter on kids who are definitely wired, are a way for parents to tune into how their kids are, are different in terms of their experience of sensory issues, social issues, all the ways in which kids are different. So it’s not a book about how to do therapy for kids who are definitely wired, it’s really to how to use the same communication tools for those kids. Yeah. So, so I hope that all parents read that chapter and not just kids who have been identified as being differently wired.
Julie: 35:50 The first tool that we introduced in that in that chapter is the idea of joining the child in their world. And I think that’s something that can be really challenging, especially for kids who are on the autism spectrum who don’t appear to want to interact with us as much as our other kids and it can feel like rejection and can feel like there’s no way to connect with that kid and the kid doesn’t want to connect. So in my workshops, I encourage people to figure out what is comfortable and interesting to that child and connect that way, before you try to engage their cooperation and solve problems. And one of the most touching stories I heard, which we include in the book, was from a mom who son spent a lot of time alone in a tiny little tent playing on his iPad, not talking to anybody, not interacting.
Julie: 36:41 And when we suggested this idea of joining him in this world, she said, I didn’t really know how this was going to go or whether it was at all possible, but she went home and she tried to do her homework there. He was in his little tent and she said she went up and she knocked on the tent, which was fabric. So it was very, very quiet. And she realized that he was very sensitive to sound. So she very quietly said, can I watch you while you play? And he nodded his head and so she just, she said it was a small tents and she couldn’t go in it, but she just watched. And then she asked him what he was playing and he answered her and he’s playing the bubble game, which she said was surprising because he usually wouldn’t have even answered her. And so she watched him play this little bubble game and then she asked me if she could play and they ended up passing the iPad back and forth, and he showed her how to play. He had never done this before with him. It gives me goosebumps just to think about it, you know.
Jen: 37:36 And we assume previously that she had been focused on getting him out of the tent.
Julie: 37:39 Exactly: come on, let’s do this. We have a puzzle. I’ve got blocks come, come, come. Yeah. So, not that we don’t have things that we want all our kids to do that we have to do every day, but if we don’t find that time to connect with them, if we don’t have that, those moments where it’s just about being together and enjoying each other and then we’re going to have a lot harder time getting them to do all those others things that we need to do. It reminds me of a phrase that’s coming and respectful parenting circles: your child isn’t giving you a hard time. She’s having a hard time. They don’t do these things just to annoy us. Feel as though they are, that there are real reasons for them doing these things and if we can better understand what those reasons are, then we can be in a better position to make a connection that moves the relationship forward.
Julie: 38:32 Yeah. Yeah. So when people come to me and they say, how do I my kid to [fill in the blank].
Julie: 38:39 Yeah. I will often…so tell me like, how is the child’s feeling about it? Because if I, if I don’t know that I don’t, I, I don’t know where to go yet. I love what you’re doing. Taking the research and bringing it to parents of young kids and I also want to remind people that you can read that it’s important to acknowledge feelings, to give kids choices, to invite them to problem solve with you and you can know all these things intellectually, but when you’re in the heat of the moment, when you’ve got to get out the door because you have a job to get you and you have to drop them off at school or daycare and they’re crying because they don’t want to put their shoes on and the baby’s crying and, and you’re running late. It’s very hard to figure out what do you do in that moment? What feelings do I acknowledge? Sometimes you feel like I don’t even want to acknowledge feelings. I just need to get out the door. So what we’re trying to do is to give parents lots of examples so that when they’re in the heat of the moment, they can think, oh, you’re not in the mood to go to school. You wanted to play with that. Let’s put that somewhere special so we can find it when we get home and we’re relying less on, I don’t care. We’re going, I’m grabbing you.
Jen: 39:58 Which may, as long as the child is small enough to get the job done, but it doesn’t really help to build a relationship or, or engender cooperation for the longer term.
Julie: 40:07 And it leaves everybody frazzled in the morning. Right?
Jen: 40:09 Yeah, yeah, yeah. We are definitely seeing that as well. Now we’re in a daycare environment. Getting out the door in the morning is a key.
Julie: 40:17 It’s a huge stress on parents getting out the door. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today. I really appreciate it. You’re welcome. | 2019-04-20T14:56:44Z | https://yourparentingmojo.com/how-to-talk/ |
Visitors to the High Country area of the NC Blue Ridge Mountains have an array of local restaurants to choose from, be it in Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, Valle Crucis, Todd or West Jefferson. No matter the cuisine you are in the mood for, our local fare is sure to please. Our Boone NC Restaurant Dining Guide is updated frequently.
Best Cellar 203 Sunset Drive. The Best Cellar prides itself on having provided its customers with the finest of food, wine, and service for 30 years. All dishes and desserts, are prepared each day on site. Many of our dishes have been favorites for years, but we always have daily specials to satisfy those customers looking for something new.
Bistro Roca 143 Wonderland Trail. Bistro Roca is a true neighborhood Restaurant located off the beaten path in Downtown Blowing Rock, NC where we welcome you warmly and serve satisfying foods that change with the seasons. It is a casual bistro to enjoy the company of friends and family while relaxing with easy cuisine and drink.
Blowing Rock Ale House 152 Sunset Drive. The Blowing Rock Ale House Restaurant is located at the Blowing Rock Brewery in historic downtown Blowing Rock. The Ale House offers cuisine capturing the same mountain artisan feel as our beer with which it pairs. Our talented executive chefs construct menus incorporating our craft brews into locally sourced ingredients to create a dining experience unlike any other.
Canyons of the Blue Ridge 8960 Valley Boulevard. Even though our wall of windows overlooks the beautiful Johns River Gorge, we’re more than just a pretty view. Our classic dishes like the Beef Enchiladas and the Maui Sandwich keep you coming back for more, while innovative, chef-driven specials at lunch and dinner feature local proteins and produce and pack a serious punch of flavor. You won’t find a more delicious margarita in the High Country, and Sunday brunch is the best in town.
Cheeseburgers Grille 310 Tanger Shoppes on the Parkway. Cheeseburgers Grille is a hidden gem within the Blowing Rock restaurant community. Located in the Tanger Outlets, we pride ourselves in establishing a friendly atmosphere for people of all ages through extraordinary customer service, pleasing our clientele with traditional American food items that are both distinctive and delicious – homemade soups, garden fresh salads, signature sandwiches and of course… Cheeseburgers!
Foggy Rock Eatery & Pub 8180 Valley Boulevard. Foggy Rock is a local, family owned restaurant established in late 2010. The food is our biggest passion. A “twist on the ordinary”, we are constantly looking for new trends. We don’t limit ourselves to a specific cuisine – we believe all the different cooking styles of the world are equally tasty. We also get a lot of inspiration from Food Network and places we travel to, in and out of the country. We take every day classics and add a “twist” to make it unique to our style.
Mellow Mushroom 946 Main Street. Mellow Mushroom is proud to serve Blowing Rock with delicious pizza, hoagies, calzones and salads. Providing quality food since 1974, we use fresh ingredients on all our menu items. Mellow Mushroom is more than just a pizza restaurant; it is where Blowing Rock pizza lovers and beer lovers gather. Our menu and locations are as eclectic as our fans. The search for the best pizza in Blowing Rock is over.
New Public House 239 Sunset Drive. Our food is American Classics complimented by an impressive selection of local ales, fine wines and seasonal cocktails. Pork Loin Chop, Beef Tenderloin, Shrimp & Grits, Mountain Trout, and NE Clam Chowder highlight the menu. Light items include seasonal sandwiches, soups, and salads as well as five specialty Short Rib burgers, Fried Green Tomatoes, and Trout Po Boy. Our Breakfast and Brunch Menu features a daily selection of traditional breakfast entrees such as the Chef’s Omelet Du Jour, Public House Pancakes, and the Dirty South Benedict.
Outback Steakhouse 8280 Valley Boulevard. We are an Australian-inspired steakhouse restaurant beloved worldwide. We pride ourselves on serving up variety; our unbeatable steak cuts are complemented by delicious choices of chicken, ribs, seafood, and pasta at a price for everyone. Our strategy? We’re the leader of the pack by emphasizing consistently high quality delicious food delivering a warm, welcoming environment. Our generous portions are moderately priced. Our casual atmosphere couldn’t be more transporting – it’s like you’re right there in the Australian Outback.
Papa Joe’s Italian-American Restaurant 8062 Valley Boulevard. Papa Joe, a true Italian-American, has been doing Italian since 1982. He loves to create a true Italian experience with his authentic cuisine! Eat at Joe’s and don’t forget the Cannoli!!!
Roots Regional Fare & Drink 7179 Valley Boulevard. Located in a renovated 1950’s mountain style cottage, Roots offers regional comfort cuisine with a unique flare that is casual, family friendly and moderately priced. The bar offers all ABC permits, oyster bar and locally crafted beers on tap.
Savannah’s Oyster House 155 Sunset Drive. Bringing the Low Country to the High Country! Savannah’s Oyster House is just great food in a laid back Low Country Atmosphere. Come and enjoy this unique dining experience where there is something for everyone.
Six Pence Pub 1121 Main Street. Located in the heart of the village, we are proud to serve you the finest food and ale in the High Country. Whether on our spacious Main Street patio, or in our cozy pub, you’ll find a variety of appetizers, traditional American, and British comfort foods served lunch, dinner, and late night. You’re sure to find your favorite craft and seasonal beer on tap as well.
Southern Comforts 870 Main Street. Breakfast served ALL day! Home cookin – vegetables, entrees, Friday & Saturday night seafood specials served after 5pm, homemade pies and cobblers.
Storie Street Grille 1167 Main Street. At Storie Street Grille, we shape your experience around a food-centered trilogy: simple, seasonal and memorable. For well over a decade, we’ve delighted our guests, both residents and visitors, with locally harvested ingredients and regionally-based flavors served in a warm and welcoming setting. Our full bar, hand-selected wines and micro-brewed beers are great complements to innovative selections that celebrate the fabulous flavors of local provisions, sustainably-harvested seafoods and season-fresh produce. For lunch or dinner, inside or out, we invite you to join us.
Sunny Rock Eggs & Things 8146 Valley Boulevard. Sunny Rock Eggs and Things is a breakfast and lunch diner that opened in July of 2015 in Blowing Rock, NC. Whether you want a traditional breakfast or want to try something more eggciting, at Sunny Rock we have options for everyone! Sunny Rock also features a full service coffee bar with espresso drinks. Sit at the bar and have a cup of coffee while you enjoy your brunch and read the newspaper!
Town Tavern 1182 Main Street. We are a sports bar and restaurant located on Main Street in historic downtown Blowing Rock open every day for lunch, dinner and later. We have 19 flat screen TVs to catch the game and boast the largest outdoor dining area in the High Country. We offer casual fare including (almost) world famous wings, NC barbecue, burgers, salads, wraps, sandwiches, appetizers and desserts. We have live music inside and on our patio every Friday night and lots of other times. We also do karaoke on Saturdays.
Twigs Restaurant & Bar 7956 Valley Boulevard. Our culinary team sources the finest ingredients possible from local organic sources and prepares each dish with a special touch that keeps customers coming back again and again. An award winning wine list with over 200 bottle selections and 14 wines by the glass. An extensive beer list with over 35 choices, many of which are craft beers from North Carolina’s finest breweries, and a full service bar with many artisan drinks to enjoy with friends. The dining room is comfortable and cozy, highlighting the rustic mountain theme of the restaurant. White table cloths and many twinkling lights cap off the experience. Or enjoy the bar with the warm glow of the fireplace, live music and friends.
Village Café 1105 Main Street. A quaint breakfast and lunch restaurant, tucked away in the heart of Blowing Rock. Open seasonally from April-November.
Woodlands Barbecue 8304 Valley Boulevard. Woodlands Barbeque Restaurant specializes in North Carolina Barbeque Pork and Ribs, great food, nightly entertainment and catering. Our menu features barbecue beef, pork, chicken and ribs plus home style Mexican food. Family oriented with a rustic atmosphere, Woodlands Barbeque Restaurant is one of North Carolina’s best Barbeque Restaurants. Large selection of everyone’s favorite appetizers, sandwiches and desserts. Live nightly entertainment. Dine and listen to some of the best local musicians. Bar Lounge has all ABC permits and a wide screen TV.
Applebee’s 2036 Blowing Rock Road. Founded nearly three decades ago on the principles of exceptional value and family fun…today the largest casual-dining chain in the world. This prominent eatery draws people of all ages and lifestyles with its fun, family-friendly atmosphere and signature bar and grill menu. Applebee’s menu features beef, chicken and pork items, as well as burgers, pasta and seafood, with a selection of signature menu items found only at Applebee’s.
Barberito’s 2575 Highway 105 South. In a class of our own, Barberitos cannot be mistaken for fast food. Our style is Southwestern and the concept is quick serve. Our food is made-to-order right in front of you, exactly the way you tell us to make it. In addition to serving only the best tasting burritos, we also offer delicious tacos, quesadillas, nachos and salads. Barberitos offers fresh, healthy, and absolutely delicious food, made-to-order, just the way YOU like it. Our produce arrives daily, so you can be assured that your food is prepared fresh. In order to make our meals as healthy as possible, we don’t use any added fats or preservatives in the preparation of our foods.
BBQ, Burgers & Brews Restaurant & Tavern 1475 Highway 105 South. The real secret to authentic High Country BBQ is all in how it’s cooked—low and slow. And at BBQ, Burgers & Brews, that’s the way we do it, smoking the finest cuts of meat at a constant temperature for hours on end. Grilling Gourmet Burgers is our specialty! Each of our gourmet burgers will satisfy your taste buds from the first bite. Build your own burgers from the bun all the way down to the sauce. Stop by the bar and sample our beer selection that focuses on Western NC breweries.
Bella’s Italian Restaurant & Bar 190 Boone Heights Drive. Give in to your cravings! Bella’s Italian Restaurant & Bar of Boone is here to offer you New York style pizza and other authentic Italian cuisine. Choose from our large wine selection, the finest Italian wines. Enjoy our sumptuous Italian entrees, affordable food and relaxed atmosphere with your family and friends. Sit at the bar or the high top tables and enjoy your favorite sports game with a beer or cocktail and one of our delicious appetizers. We will provide you with prompt and courteous service, making your dinner with us a great experience.
Black Cat Burrito 127 S. Depot Street. BlackCat Burrito has been serving the High Country what we like to call healthy fast food! BlackCat offers a great selection of burritos, quesadillas and whatnot. Best fish tacos in town! Killer (and cheap) Margaritas and a wide beer selection make BlackCat a local favorite. Live music too.
Boone Bagelry 516 W. King Street. Locally owned and operated by Tony and Donna Nicastro since 1988, Boone Bagelry is conveniently located in downtown Boone. Whether you’re looking for a great place to enjoy a breakfast meeting or need a place to just get out and chill for a bit, Boone Bagelry has the perfectly affordable and delectable menu for you. Come on in and taste the goodness that we have been serving customers for over 25 years. Our products are environmentally friendly and we proudly buy our food materials from local businesses. Support local. Taste local. Enjoy local.
Boone Bagelry’s Waterwheel Café 125 Graduate Lane. Just look for the monumental Water Wheel in our parking lot! We are locally owned and operated by Tony, Donna, and Natalie Nicastro – the same people behind the Original Boone Bagelry on King Street in Downtown Boone. Our new location offers a lodge-like feel with an impressive rock fireplace, a spacious open floorpan, and cozy booth seating. Our Culinary Team developed The Water Wheel Cafe menu to feature many of the Original classics we are known for, as well as new and exciting menu items that will win you over. We look forward to serving you.
Café Portofino 970 Rivers Street. A favorite of Boone locals, Café Portofino is located in a 100-year- old building on Rivers Street, once the original maintenance station for the historic Tweetsie Railroad. Completely renovated, with a friendly, open kitchen and a cozy dining room, we offer 5-star dining in a casual atmosphere. The menu is an eclectic mix of sandwiches, pastas and steaks. Café Portofino features daily culinary specials and fresh seafood. The extraordinary wine list compliments the culinary experience and all ABC permits are offered.
Capone’s Pizza & Bar 454 W. King Street. Voted “The Best Pizza in The High Country” New York & Chicago Style Pizza & More. Situated Opposite the Turchin Center in Downtown Boone. Comfortable All Booth Seating. Relaxed Atmosphere. A Great Selection of Domestic & Imported Beers.
Casa Rustica 1348 Highway 105 South. Peter and Sara Pedroni’s dreams and visions were fulfilled when Casa Rustica Restaurant opened in December of 1981. Casa Rustica is a true family restaurant built on original recipes from Peter’s mother, Pina, and his own worldly culinary expertise. Now, blessed with a fantastic friendly staff, son Rick continues the wonderful family tradition that is Casa Rustica Restaurant.
Chili’s Grill & Bar 1934 Blowing Rock Road. Burgers. Ribs. Fajitas. It all started with a dream: to create a place you’d want to go and hang out with good friends over a burger and a beer. For people who craved connection with family and friends, we were the only ones to offer a genuine Southwest spirit filled with positive energy. Our first location opened in 1975 in Dallas, where we converted a post office into a funky little joint named Chili’s. People around the globe love our Fresh Tex and Fresh Mex flavors, and the fun ways that we make every guest feel special.
Chipotle Mexican Grill 1787 Blowing Rock Road. We’re all about preparing food without added colors, flavors, or preservatives (other than lemon or lime juice, which can be used as preservatives — though we use them only for taste). Just genuine raw ingredients and their individual, delectable flavors. We source from farms rather than factories, and spend a lot more on our ingredients than many other restaurants. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
Cobo Sushi Bisto & Bar 161 W. Howard Street. Opened in May 2013, CoBo Sushi Bistro and Bar is a one-of-a-kind dining experience that not only includes the Japanese art of sushi, but also has plenty of non-traditional and contemporary menu items. We have a fun-loving, casual, yet elegent atmosphere that welcomes all.
Coyote Kitchen 200 Southgate Drive. We are in the heart of the NC High Country. Specializing in Southwest Carribean Soulfood, we are proud to offer a variety of food to please all appetites. At Coyote Kitchen, we offer antibiotic and hormone free meat options, eco-friendly ocean fishes, vegetarian and vegan dining options, savory daily specials, and flavors to die for! COYOTE KITCHEN is a family owned business.
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 1601 Blowing Rock Road. For over 45 years, Cracker Barrel has been the trusted home-away-from-home for millions of Americans. We are committed to providing our guests with high-quality, homestyle food. If we can’t source quality ingredients that meet our high standards for a particular dish, we simply don’t serve it. This commitment to quality ingredients is how we provide authentic, country style cooking that is rooted in real, homestyle recipes. It’s also how we keep our menu fresh and exciting with new seasonal dishes and continue to offer the best value to our guests.
Dan’l Boone Inn 130 Hardin Street. For over 50 years, Dan’l Boone Inn has been serving Boone and the High Country delicious homecooked meals, just like you remember at grandma’s house. Our family style meals begin with a salad in the summer and soup in the winter. Three meats and five vegetables are served along with biscuits, preserves, dessert and beverage. A full family style breakfast is served on Saturdays and Sundays. Dan’l Boone Inn has recently been honored by both Southern Living Magazine and Our State Magazine for our country cuisine. The restaurant placed third in Southern Living in the reader’s choice awards for country cooking restaurants. We also won first place among readers of Our State Magazine for Family Dining/Country Cooking and third place under Best Restaurant in North Carolina.
Dos Amigos 187 New Market Center. Welcome to Dos Amigos, an authentic Mexican restaurant. We are sure you will find a warm welcome and prompt, professional service combined with outstanding dishes. Mexican cuisine is a style of food that is primarily a fusion of indigenous, Mesoamerican cooking with European (especially Spanish) cooking. The basic staples remain the native corn, beans and chili peppers, but the Spanish introduced a large number of other foods, including beef, pork, chicken, goat and sheep, dairy products (especially cheese), and various herbs and spices. Over the centuries, the foods and cooking techniques began to be mixed and this resulted in various regional cuisines based on local conditions.
F.A.R.M. Café 617 W. King Street. F.A.R.M. Cafe is a non-profit, pay-what-you-can community kitchen that builds a healthy and inclusive community. We provide high quality and delicious meals produced from local sources when available, served in a restaurant where everybody eats, regardless of means. Featured on UNC TV and PBS!
Gamekeeper Restaurant at Yonahlossee Resort 3005 Shulls Mill Road. The Gamekeeper Restaurant and Bar is well known for interesting and delicious interpretations of Southern classics. The menu changes seasonally blending the traditional with the exotic, satisfying both meat and veggie lovers. Quality and care is evident in all we produce. The freshest of local ingredients and humanely farm raised meats are served. The knowledgeable staff is fabulous and truly stands behind what they are serving and producing. It is the ultimate marriage of fine dining and comfort food. This is not haute cuisine: you will leave sated and satisfied after your experience.
Hokkaido Japanese Restaurant 276 Village Drive. Japanese cuisine, serving steak and seafood in a casual dining atmosphere, serving lunch and dinner.
Joy Bistro 115 New Market Center. Specializing in French style cuisine, The Joy Bistro provides Boone residents and visitors alike with a cozy intimate dining atmosphere with a personal touch and attention to detail. Head chef and owner Melissa Claude has brought together a well-balanced menu of European and American inspired cuisine. Using the freshest ingredients that Boone has to offer, diners are treated to dishes ranging from a local pan seared pork chop topped with whole grain mustard cream sauce, to Fresh North Carolina trout, to our signature Scallops au Poivre topped with a brandy cream sauce. And don’t forget the drink menu. In the front of the house, Gary has put together a unique mix of classic and modern cocktail recipes.
Juice Boone Shops at Shadowline 244 Shadowline Drive COLD PRESSED JUICES Fresh pressed daily on a 4,000 lb. hydrolic press, this is the best juice on the face of the earth! SMOOTHIES & SMOOTHIE BOWLS Made to order and absolutely delicious! We have something for everyone. Make sure you stop in and ask about our super food add-ins. ALKALINE H2O, BUCHI, AND MUCH MORE! At Juice Boone we only deal with clean natural healthy products. That’s why we are excited to offer some of the most pure and mineral rich alkaline waters on the planet!
The Local 179 Howard Street. The Local is the hottest spot in Boone for great food and fun times. No one is a stranger here, and there’s a little something for everyone. The Local is a home away from home, where family and friends can come to enjoy a meal, crafted in-house from fresh ingredients, play a game of pool on our billiards tables or relax in our lounge area on comfortable couches with drinks and appetizers. Sports enthusiasts can watch their watch their favorite sporting events on our large flat screen TVs. And, for all those who love to dance… The Local hosts LIVE music performances on Friday & Saturday nights.
Local Lion Expresso Bar & Homemade Doughnuts 791 Blowing Rock Road. The Local Lion is a family owned and operated business. Seeing that Boone was missing a drive-thru coffee shop and doughnut shop, the idea of the Local Lion was born. Josiah and Meredith found doughnut equipment for sale located in Roan Mountain, TN. Little did they know this discovery included the doughnut baking knowledge of award winning bakers, Tim and Crystal Dekker. Tim and Crystal of Smoky Mountain Bakery, generously trained Josiah and Meredith in the art of making doughnuts from scratch the old fashioned way.
Los Arcoiris Mexican Restaurant 168 Boone Heights Drive. Los Arcoiris is an authentic Mexican restaurant with locations throughout the High Country of North Carolina. We serve freshly prepared Mexican dishes with a large menu from Burritos to Chile Rellenos and Chimichangas – vegetarian and kids plates are also available. We invite you to visit us for an introduction to “real” Mexican food. Our Boone location has been completely renovated for an authentic Mexican look and feel with hand painted murals and southwestern style decor.
Lost Province Brewing Company 130 N Depot Street. Opened in August 2014, Lost Province Brewing Co. is a destination microbrewery and gastrobpub located in historic downtown Boone, NC. We brew authentic and innovative craft beer and serve savory wood fired fare. As a small, family owned and operated business, we are committed to our community, environment and employees and strive above all to provide an experience of gracious hospitality for all of our guests.
Macado’s 539 W. King Street. The first Macado’s restaurant was opened in 1978 downtown Roanoke, Virginia. It soon became popular for its eclectic ambiance of cartoon, antique, and local nostalgic decor, as well as its wide array of hearty yet modestly-priced sandwiches, subs, and entrees. The already-lengthy menu has been changed and expanded over the years, and several events have grown in popularity, such as the Macado’s Annual St. Patrick’s Day Party and the Macado’s Halloween Party. Loyal customers have made Macado’s part of their own traditions as well! See you at the DO’s!
Makoto’s Japanese Steak House & Sushi Bar 2124 Blowing Rock Road. Boone’s original Japanese Seafood and Steak House Restaurant and Sushi Bar, Makoto’s is the Best Tasting Show in Town! Watch as our expert chefs perform their culinary magic tableside or for a more intimate dining experience, dine in our sushi bar. Since 1981, Makoto’s of Boone has been providing area residents and visitors with a facility for a unique dining experience. Makoto’s offers a rare combination of exceptional food prepared by expert(and entertaining) chefs in a relaxing atmpshphere, all at reasonable prices.
Melanies Food Fantasy 664 W. King Street. Since 1991, Melanie’s Food Fantasy has operated as a meeting place where great food, conversation, and atmosphere come together. Our menu has been described as eclectic, unique, and one of a kind. We have taken years to craft a culinary experience that is special to the dining culture of Boone, NC. With perhaps the best outdoor dining around, our desire is to serve the most delicious breakfast and lunch that we possibly can. Fresh fruits, farm-raised eggs, local produce, organic coffee, made to order juice, all come together for your dining pleasure. You won’t find a lot of pretense or fuss about our food, but what you’ll taste is simply delicious, if we don’t say so ourselves.
Mellow Mushroom 805 W. King Street. The Mellow Mushroom has been flipping pies in the High Country since 1996. We have always been family owned operation and proudly committed to our wonderful mountain community. We believe in the Mellow way of delicious, southern style pizza served up with a tasty craft brew, in a fresh and funky environment. So, stop by and experience the Mellow side of Boone!
Mint Indian Cuisine 203 Boone Heights Drive. Indian dishes can easily be considered some of the world’s most flavorful. The large variety of appetizers, snacks, side dishes and desserts have found numerous fans on an international scale. Combining all tastes possible, the Indian cuisine is bound to satisfy spice-lovers, “salty” people and persons with a sweet tooth alike. At Mint we acknowledge our wonderful history and constantly strive to push the boundaries to modernize traditional authentic tastes and elevate them to new, interesting and fascinating delights. Join us at Mint Indian Cuisine while we explore the limits and discover new taste sensations and establish new “traditions” from a firm foundation.
Murphy’s Restaurant 747 W. King Street. Serving traditional rib-sticking, appetite-pleasing, affordable food for almost 30 years, Murphy’s sits in downtown Boone, NC in a historic building making history of its own. Housed in the former Watauga Democrat Newspaper Building, the rustic framework of this brick and hardwood structure welcomes folks to sit, relax, and enjoy the sights and sounds of a cool downtown area.
Our Daily Bread Restaurant & Bar 627 W. King Street. A staple for the High Country lunch and dinner crowd. Perfectly blending fresh ingredients, ODB has turned the sandwich into an art form. Sandwiches come with your choice of pasta or potato salad, chips or fresh fruit, and you’ll also find one of the best domestic and imported beer selections on King Street.
Panera Bread Boone Mall 1180 Blowing Rock Road. Panera Bread bakery-cafes bring the tradition of freshly baked artisan bread to neighborhoods in cities throughout the country. We use only the highest-quality ingredients and bake fresh every day. We are bakers of bread. We are fresh from the oven. We are a symbol of warmth and welcome. We are a simple pleasure, honest and genuine. We are a life story told over dinner. We are a long lunch with an old friend. We are your weekday morning ritual. We are the kindest gesture of neighbors. We are home. We are family. We are friends.
Peddler Steak House 1972 Blowing Rock Road. The Peddler has long been recognized as “The place for steak.” Our beef is specially selected heavy western beef. Precise aging adds the proper tenderness and texture. Only natural seasonings are used. All of the Peddler’s steaks are cooked over a glowing Tennessee hickory charcoal. Great Beef, all natural seasonings, exact aging, and real charcoal smoke is why The Peddler is “The Steak Place.” Ribeye steaks, cut to the individual’s order, with a make-it-yourself salad bar. A unique idea at first, our magnificent array of over 40 garden fresh vegetables, fruits, cheeses, and toppings, is a memorable experience. While often imitated, we’ve never been duplicated.
Pedalin’ Pig Boone 2968 Highway 105 South. From fall-off-the-bone baby back ribs to mouth-watering pork belly tacos, the Pedalin’ Pig offers a menu aimed to please. Renowned local chef turned pit-master, Jarad Blackley, prepares homemade sauces and rubs that will make your taste buds squeal. We use seasonal, local ingredients to pair unique flavors like a blackberry bourbon glaze or the sweet and spicy bite of our signature honey chipotle rub. Our BBQ pits are fired up nightly, slow-roasting locally sourced meats over hickory smoked hardwoods.
Peppers Restaurant & Bar Shops at Shadowline 240 Shadowline Drive. Pepper’s Restaurant and Bar was established in 1975, serving the High Country its first taste of the highest quality deli sandwiches. From its humble beginnings, Pepper’s Restaurant has expanded into a full-service restaurant and bar with a menu boasting Certified Angus Beef, wild caught seafood, savory pasta dishes, alongside Pepper’s Restaurant favorites like the famous Pepper’s French Onion Soup, Jean Lawsons, Fried Mushrooms, and Onion Rings! Keeping with a tradition that Jack Pepper started in 1975, Pepper’s remains committed to minimizing its effects on the environment. Pepper’s was the first restaurant in Boone to go 100% smoke-free and the first to recycle all glass, plastic, cardboard, and aluminum. The Bar at Pepper’s is home to the best local beer selection in town, has all ABC permits and enjoys one of the area’s best whiskey selections. Many fine wines are available, with the menu rotating regularly.
Proper 142 S. Water Street. Homestyle Southern Cooking with a modern, seasonal slant. Proper is an homage to a Southern upbringing. It is preserving a way of life that includes an honest living, being polite, and eating good food. Since 2010, Proper has offered locally sourced Southern cuisine at extremely reasonable prices, lovingly prepared by our talented cooks, and served by our friendly, good-looking wait staff. Serving daily lunch and dinner specials, as well as desserts made in-house, Proper is located in the historic old Jailhouse, Boone’s oldest building. Dine on our garden patio, front porch, or cozy interior.
Puerto Nuevo Mexican & Seafood Restaurant 187 Watauga Village Drive. At Puerto Nuevo Mexican and Seafood Restaurant, everything is prepared daily with fresh, healthy, high quality ingredients. Your experience is enhanced by the most reliable and professional service. Nuevo offers authentic Mexican dishes, including a vegetarian menu and many more fresh seafood choices. We have a large selection of tequilas and a variety of margaritas. The real surprise is that the Guacamole dip tastes fresh … and it tastes like avocado.
Red Onion Café 227 Hardin Street. Find something on the menu for everyone at Red Onion Cafe in Boone. Gather the whole family for a trip to this restaurant, everyone will find something to like (even the pickiest little eater) on the menu here. Sit outside when the weather is fine – Red Onion Cafe has a lovely patio to enjoy a warm day.
The Rock Sports Bar & Grill 276 Watauga Village Drive. Opening the doors in October 2012, The Rock Sports Bar & Grill is Boone’s place for great food, drinks, and wall-to-wall sports coverage. With 42 HD TVs, catch every game including the NFL ticket, SEC, BIG 10 and coverage of Appalachian State sports. We also have the golf channel and Fox Sports Network. Our comprehensive menu includes salads, flatbreads, appetizers, wings, burgers, dogs, sandwiches, entrees and homemade desserts. We offer an affordable lunch menu, plus food & drink specials daily. On select nights, catch team trivia, 45¢ wings, karaoke and dart league. We are open for lunch and dinner 7 days a week, from 11am ‘til midnight.
Sagebrush Steakhouse 1111 Highway 105 South. At Sagebrush Steakhouse, we pride ourselves in serving a great meal with value & variety in a family friendly environment. We not only welcome families, we treat you like our own! When you dine at Sagebrush, you’ll find a menu full of flavorful items with an emphasis on hand-cut steaks. Our main menu has a little something for everyone and served all day every day! We also offer award winning ribs, seafood, chicken, burgers, sandwiches and fresh salads. All Sagebrush Steakhouses offer a full service bar where you can kick back, relax and enjoy some true Southern Hospitality with our skilled bartenders. So “Belly Up” and enjoy your favorite adult beverage while watching the game or just hanging out with friends.
Stick Boy Kitchen 211 Boone Heights Drive. After years of customers asking for sandwiches and grumbling about parking and seating, we finally have it all! Opened in 2013, Stick Boy Kitchen (known simply as “the Kitchen” to locals) is our café location conveniently located just off 321. We offer breakfast plates, bagels, soups, sandwiches and salads all made with the same singular focus on quality ingredients, freshness and creativity that Stick Boy is known for. Don’t worry, if you are looking for baked goods, coffee and smoothies we have it all! Stop by get some real food.
Table at Crestwood 3236 Shulls Mill Road. The Table at Crestwood offers Southern Bistro fare in an elegant atmosphere. With breathtaking views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, The Table will captivate you with our terrace and fireside dining.
Taste Grill Chinese & Japanese Restaurant Shops at Shadowline 240 Shadowline Drive. Taste Grill offers authentic and delicious tasting Chinese and Japanese cuisines in Boone. Taste Grill’s convenient location and affordable prices make our restaurant a natural choice for dine-in and take-out meals in the Boone community. Our restaurant is known for its varieties of taste and fresh sushi. Come and experience our friendly atmosphere and excellent service.
Troy’s 105 Diner 1286 Highway 105 South. Troy’s is a favorite to locals and visitors alike. Step back in time and enjoy the areas only true diner. Come by and play the juke box or just enjoy all the vintage memorabilia. Breakfast is served all day, along with an extensive menu featuring homemade soups, great salads and 1/2 lb. burgers that are made fresh daily. Blue plate specials and daily specials are offered Monday thru Friday. Don’t forget to try one of the locally famous milkshakes, banana splits or homemade desserts.
Tucker’s Café Boone Mall 1180 Blowing Rock Road. Opened since ’92, Tucker’s Café has helped pioneer the local small business scene that has become increasingly popular throughout Boone! At Tucker’s you can find your comfort food with an assortment of menu items for the whole family. We’ve watched faithful customers and employees fall in love at Tucker’s, create families and now bring their own babies into Tucker’s! Grandparents bring their grandkids on play dates and retired folks still come by for their favorite breakfast, lunch or dinner meals! Help us celebrate by passing on the word that Boone Mall has a family owned, “been around for a while” restaurant!
Vidalia Restaurant & Wine Bar 831 W. King Street. Upscale Casual Restaurant located in historic downtown Boone, just across from the Watauga County Courthouse, serving creative American cuisine…think comfort foods with a twist!
Wild Craft Eatery 506 W. King Street. As Wild Craft Eatery we will draw our flavors from as many wild and bountiful foods, especially ones that both delight the tastebuds and sooth the soul. But please know, as wild and crafty as we may be, a majority of our foods will come from large distributers, who, luckily for us all, now offer a wide array of local, regional, organic and fresh foods with daily deliveries, year round. Serving food to you is both an honor and a privilege to us. Food alone has the ability to change your health, the prosperity of our community, the future of the earth, and, perhaps best of all, your mood. So, thank you for being here, and allowing us to do what we love, for you (and the earth too).
Ham Shoppe Deli, Bakery & Market 124 Broadstone Road. HOME OF THE ORIGINAL HAM SHOPPE SANDWICH FOR 20 YEARS. Welcome to the original mountain sandwich shop where we build the best sandwiches you’ve ever had. We start with only the freshest, local ingredients and build it just the way you like. Make sure to make it a combo and try one of our famous sweet ice tea and add a dessert from our onsite bakery. Fresh bread baked daily plus local jams, jellies and gifts.
Over Yonder 3608 NC 194. Located in the picturesque village of Valle Crucis, North Carolina, Over Yonder tells the story of historic Appalachian cuisine from Chef Andy Long. Over Yonder opened in June of 2014 in the former homestead of the Taylor Family, one of the founding families of Valle Crucis. Our mission is to interpret classic Appalachian food in a modern yet casual way, and we do this by sourcing the best product we can and then doing our best not to screw it up. Everything is scratch-prepared, or as we like to call it, “done the hard and stupid way”, and we believe if you give it a try you will taste the difference.
Banner Elk Café and Lodge Espresso Bar 324 Shawneehaw Avenue. Located downtown Banner Elk, The Banner Elk Cafe serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. Great food, ranging from eggs benedict to bid juicy burgers. For the healthy and weight conscious we offer grilled Mahi and chicken sandwiches, salad bar, and homemade daily specials. Dinner nightly offering: Ribs, Steaks, Fish and always fresh and creative specials and from our talented Chef.
Bayou Smokehouse & Grille 130 Main Street East. From Houston to New Orleans to New Iberia to Charlotte to Banner Elk, David, Winston and Lee Ammann offer you their Texas-Louisiana family recipes in a casual, comfortable atmosphere in the High Country of North Carolina. We began as a corporate catering company in Charlotte, NC serving clients such as the Richardson family’s Panther Stadium, Ken Schrader, Dale Earnhardt, Trammel Crow, ProLogis, Childress Klein, and Mary Tribble Creations. The Bayou Smokehouse and Grill in Banner Elk was opened in 2003, then, in 2006 we opened the Bayou General Store, which adjoins our Banner Elk location. Many of our Charlotte guests and friends continue to “drive up the hill” and visit with us here in Banner Elk.
Bella’s Neighborhood Italian Restaurant 3585 Tynecastle Highway. Bella’s Neighborhood Italian Restaurant serves up the very best High Country New York Style Pizza and flavorful entrees in Banner Elk, North Carolina.
Country Retreat Family Billiards 9021 Highway 105 South. Country Retreat Family Billiards was established in 1996. Since then owner Chris Aldridge has provided a clean, safe place for people of all ages to come and enjoy the sport of billiards, as well as a full grill menu. With items such as burgers, chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, salads and more. Also be sure to pay attention to the daily specials. Our chef, Barnett Blair, is likely to surprise you with his wide range of menu items. From southern soul food to Italian dishes on Mondays to fresh seafood on Fridays in the summer. There is something for everyone to love on our menu.
Eat Crow 9872 Highway 105 South. Whether you seek a gourmet sandwich or specialty salad, a delectable sweet treat or customized catering let Eat Crow be your one stop shop for good food in the High Country. Eat Crow is a wonderful little cafe specializing in fresh baked goods including a large variety of baked pies and cakes. We offer them by the slice or order a whole one to take home and enjoy. We also offer fresh made sandwiches at lunch time that cannot be compared to any other “sandwich shop” in the area. Since we know life can be very hectic, for your convenience we prepare whole meals and soups daily that are ready for you to take home and heat up for your family. These entrees vary daily. We are always creating something delicious!
Louisiana Purchase Food & Spirits 397 Shawneehaw Avenue. Chef/owner Patrick Bagbey’s menu evolves with the changing seasons, and will always include favorites like BBQ North Carolina Shrimp, Cajun Seafood Étouffée, and Creole Jambalaya. All food is prepared in-house daily and made to order using the finest seafood and fresh, local, organic produce. We offer a full bar,a Wine Spectator Magazine’s “Best of Award of Excellence” from 1996-2015 wine list, and fourteen wines by the glass from our Cruvinet system.
Nick’s Restaurant & Pub 4527 Tynecastle Highway. Nick’s has been in Banner Elk since 1986 offering a relaxed and casual dining experience. We offer a full bar with all your favorite top shelf brands, wines and a wide selection of imported and domestic beers on tap and in the bottle. We have daily lunch and dinner specials, a children’s menu, as well as a large selection of Appetizers, Burgers, Quesadillas, Salads and of course, Wings! Catch all the games including the NFL Sunday Ticket on one of our Big Screens. Join Us each Friday Night for Karaoke starting at 8pm.
Pedalin’ Pig Banner Elk 4235 Highway 105 South. From fall-off-the-bone baby back ribs to mouth-watering pork belly tacos, the Pedalin’ Pig offers a menu aimed to please. Renowned local chef turned pit-master, Jarad Blackley, prepares homemade sauces and rubs that will make your taste buds squeal. We use seasonal, local ingredients to pair unique flavors like a blackberry bourbon glaze or the sweet and spicy bite of our signature honey chipotle rub. Our BBQ pits are fired up nightly, slow-roasting locally sourced meats over hickory smoked hardwoods. Not a pit boss? We also peddle dishes for all your vegetarian and gluten-free friends.
Puerto Nuevo Mexican & Seafood Restaurant Banner Elk 2120 Tynecastle Highway. Food cravings are easily satisfied at Puerto Nuevo – this popular Banner Elk spot puts a fresh, five-star spin on run-of-the-mill beans and cheese. Puerto Nuevo offers a new take on healthy dining. The bar at this restaurant is fully stocked, so pair your meal with a glass of wine or beer. Take the kids along too – this restaurant is a great spot for families with food that even little ones will love. Whether you have a large or small group, Puerto Nuevo can accommodate both. Throw on your favorite T-shirt and head out the door, dining at Puerto Nuevo is all about comfort.
Reid’s Café & Catering Co. 4004 Highway 105 South. Reid’s Café is the most recent labor of love from Tina Houston, owner of Reid’s Catering Co. which has been established here in the High Country for the past 16 years. Just as we value beautiful ingredients in our catering, the café will procure the highest quality of seasonal ingredients for their rotating daily menus. We value the handmade and fashion from scratch details as small as the aioli and dressings we use, to house made focaccias and pastries, slow roasted meats and naturally fermented pickles. We avoid industrially grown and processed foods. We love the intentional, the specific, the well-cared-for.
Sorrento’s Italian Bistro 140 Azalea Circle SE. Sorrento’s Italian Bistro is a family run business and has been serving Italian dishes since 1983 to locals and travelers to the quaint town in Banner Elk. Sorrento’s Italian Bistro has evolved into an eclectic gourmet Italian cuisine open seven nights a week and for lunch Weds – Sun. Some of the favorite recipes that patrons come back for again and again is the Crab Cakes and the Tortellini Sorrento’s.
Stonewalls Restaurant 344 Shawneehaw Avenue S. Stonewalls Restaurant serves Prime Rib, Seafood, Gourmet Steaks, Fine Wines and Fine Olive Oils & Balsamics. Stonewalls has been locally owned and operated since 1985 and we pride ourselves on our exceptional service and value. Stonewalls offers the finest cuts of beef found in prime rib, sirloin, rib eye, New York Strip and Filet Mignon. Our chicken & ribs are second to none and we have a great lineup of seafood. Our chefs have been performing for years, and our buyer selects the best cuts available. Our salad bar is a destination for locals and for tourists. Looking forward to hosting you soon! | 2019-04-24T20:18:44Z | https://highcountryvacationhomes.com/boone-nc-restaurant-dining-guide/ |
Are we pushing the human race towards extinction - again?
I am trying to figure out if near-extintions were caused by the giants.
The Norwegian scientist and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl observed climate changes all over the world. He was afraid that our future is threatened by our use of fossil fuels - and asked if the human race was about to make itself extinct to almost the last man. Again.
The Norwegian researcher and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl of the Kon-Tiki fame travelled the world almost non-stop his whole adult life to find our cultural origins. "To be able to say something about the future you must know the past," was what he said.
Not long before he passed away in 2002, he asked me on the phone if we humans might have gone extinct almost to the last man before, might be several times. And he wondered if we could have been the culprits ourselves, as so many legends and religious scriptures say.
Since that phone-call I have worked as much as I have been able to in my spare time to find answers to his questions. And I am getting more and more convinced that Heyerdahl was on to something very, very important.
The Greeks legends are telling that there were four ages of humanity (or five if you include the Heroic cycle). The first was The Golden Age. The many gods of the time, like the major god Zeus, lived on Mount Olympus but mingled among the ordinary humans. Lesser gods were called titans and one of them was Prometheus who stole the fire from the gods and gave it to the humans. Wikipedia clams that The Golden Age according to the Greek poet Hesiod was from around 500 to 300 BC and ended in a war between Athens and Sparta - but this is wrong since Hesiod shall have lived between 750 and 650 BC. So The Golden Age must have been earlier than that!
The Silver Age followed the Golden Age, and during this Age the people lived to be a hundred years but men refused to worship the gods and Zeus destroyed them for lack of respect.
So Zeus created new humans out of the ash tree. The Bronze Age was undone by the humans' violent ways and came to an end with the flood of Deucalion. Deucalion can be compared to Utnapishtim of the Sumerian flood in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and to Noah of the Flood from the Bible.
The Iron Age followed and it was definitely not a good age, with humans living in misery - with a total lack of respect for anything or anybody. This brought this Age to an end.
The fifth age was The Heroic Age, where the heroes fought at Troy and Thebes. This race of giants disappeared when the heroes went to the Elysium Fields; a place that according to Homer was located on the western edge of the Earth.
The Greeks people of the time did not believe that what the poets Hesiod and Ovid wrote was mythology or fairytales but events that had taken place - the gods and titans were real, the downfalls of humanity were real!
Also the Chaldeans of ancient Mesopotamia (today what is most of Iraq and Kuwait, the eastern parts of Syria and south-eastern Turkey) have legends about cycles of time named after gold, silver, steel and iron, and so did the people of the Persian empire established by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC.
In Egypt they believed that the world had arisen out of the lifeless waters of chaos, called Nu. A pyramid-shaped mound, the "benben", was the first thing to emerge from the waters. Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian who lived between 60 and 30 BC says: "The Egyptians were strangers, who, in remote times, settled on the banks of the Nile, bringing with them the civilization of their mother country, the art of writing, and a polished language. They had come from the direction of the setting sun and were the most ancient of men."
When the Great Pyramid first was opened an inch thick layer of salt was found inside up to a level corresponding to the watermarks on the outside. Might be the Great Pyramid was the "benben"?
Robert Schoch, a geologist and professor from USA, created a fuss when he dated the Sphinx to be much older that earlier believed - at least 7.000 years old. Now, two Ukrainian researchers have proposed that the Sphinx of Egypt is around 800.000 years old, and they back it up by science!
Not only does the dating of the Sphinx point to a period long before the first dynasty but there is also used a technology in ancient Egypt that should not have existed at that time. Take jars and bowls made of granite and basalt. Some of them are fully hollowed with narrow undercut flared openings, and some even have long necks. They would be hard to make even today with modern equipment like diamond tipped drills. Yes, it is safe to say that the techniques or machinery employed to produce these jars and bowls has yet to be replicated!
When examined in 1968 it was reported that the Great Pyramid was permeated with a mysterios energy that "defied all known laws of physics". The latest news (November 2017) is that archaeologists has discovered a mysterious void deep within the Great Pyramid. It has been said the Great Pyramid stemmed from the Golden Age of Giants before the Great Flood.
Graham Hancock is a British researcher of ancient technology. In this Youtube-video he says he has no idea on how the Great Pyramid was built: That the knowledge needed to build the pyramid with such a precision did not exist at the time the pyramid is said to been have built. And asks if it was built in a time of humanity unknown to us.
The Aztecs of Central America (and the Maya before them) called the ages/periods for "suns" and they believed that we have been through four suns.
In the first sun the first god, Ometeotl, was both male and female and had created itself. Ometeotl gave birth to four children; Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, Tlaloc and Xipe Totec. They created the world with humans and other gods. The humans in the first period were giants. Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca had a fight which Quetzalcoatl won but Tezcatlipoca took revenge be sending jaguars that killed all the humans/giants and ended the first sun.
In the second sun humans were created again but this time not as giants. But it so happened that the humans became corrupt. Tezcatlipoca did not like this and transformed them all to monkeys - and sent hurricanes to wipe them out.
Tlaloc was responsible for the third sun but Tezcatlipoca stole his wife. I revenge Tlaloc transformed alle the humans to dogs, butterflies and turkeys. Quetzalcoatl also got angry, and sent fire and ash that ended this period/sun.
The god chosen to reign the forth sun was Tlalocs sister Chalchiuhtlicue. Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca got jealous and turned the humans into fish. This sun/period was ended by a great flood.
We are now in the fifth sun and the legends foretell that our sun/periode will end in earthquakes.
The Hopi Indians of Arizona in USA say that we have been through three world cycles - that we are now in the forth. Tawa, the Sun Spirit, was the creator and he had formed the first world with all it's inhabitants out of endless space. In each previous period/world the people had become disobediant to what Tawa wanted; they would not live in harmony but fought each other and engaged in sexual promiscuity. So the worlds were destroyed with their wicked inhabitants and just a few survived. The Hopi are today afraid that the cycle we are in will come to an end if we do not change our ways.
Their legends also tell that they originally lived in a land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean but had to flee when the sea rose. The God that helped them get from island to island across the ocean was Sky Kachina, and she had six fingers and could fly.
The Four Creations are stories that were recorded in the 1950s by Oswald White Bear Fredericks and his wife Naomi from the storytelling of older Hopi at the village of Oraibi.
Also in North America there has been controversy of what caused near glacial conditions during the Younger Dryas. The most common theory was here, like many other places in the world; that the cooling was caused by a comet hitting the Earth. New research contradicts this: "Chronological evidence fails to support claim of an isochronous widespread layer of cosmic impact indicators dated to 12,800 years ago", said archaeologist David Meltzer at the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2014.
So what caused the cooling of the USA? Nobody seems to know.
What now seems to be certain is that North America was inhabited thousands of years earlier than before believed. And we know there are many stories of giants coming from overseas with an advanced technology: The Mound Builders. And also hundreds of newspaper articles telling about large bones found in mounds and elsewhere.
The hindu of South-East Asia believe that we humans have been through three cycles of time, and are now living in the fourth. The first period was the Satya or Krita Yuga, and this was considered a Golden Age. The second was The Treta Yuga, the Age of Ritual. The third period was the Dvapara Yuga, the Age of Doubt: Man loses the sense of the Divine Reality of the world and grows away from natural law. The Kali Yuga, the Age of Conflict and Confusion, began in 3012 BC and will end with the nearly total devastation of the present humanity. There is almost no memory of the previous cycles of time so we do not know much about the dates and duration.
James Churchward was a retired British officer and archaeologist that had served in India and he claimed that a Hindu priest had showed him ancient clay tablets telling about a lost continent. After mastering the language himself, he said that Mu was the home of an advanced civilization which flourished between 50.000 and 12.000 years ago. Mu should have had 64 millions inhabitants, plus colonies on the other continents. Churchward claimed that Mu was located in the Pacific Ocean, stretching north-south from Hawaii to the island of Mangaia in the Cook Islands, and east-west from the Mariana Islands to Easter Island. The inhabitants had been a white rase "superior in many respects to our own", but eventually Mu was "completely obliterated in almost a single night"
So what do we actually know about the different cycles of time? Are the legends about earlier times in human history just myths and fairytales - or are they the history books before we humans got a written language?
Well, the first period of mass extinction on Earth, as far as we know, was the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event that led to the extinction of most dinosaurs about 66 million years ago.
The so called "Ica stones" is a collection of andesite stones found in Peru with depictions of dinosaurs and also tall humans. The mainstream scientists claim that the Ica-stones are fake since humans did not co-exist with dinosaurs. The man that found them in the 1960s admitted at one stage to have made the carvings, but later but later recanted this, saying that he had claimed they were a hoax to avoid imprisonment for selling archaeological artefacts.
Many of the so-called "Acambaro Figurines" found in Mexico depict dinosaurs. Most scientists believe that the figurines are not genuine, and again; no humans have ever seen a dinosaur, they died out long before homo sapiens came to existence. Well, thermoluminescence testing has shown that the figurines are about 4500 years old. The question is then: How could somebody make a figurine depicting a dinosaur, when fossil records of dinosaurs did not exist?
On the walls of the Ta Prohm temple in Cambodia there are hundreds of carvings of familiar animals but one of the carvings seems to be of a Stegosaurus dinosaur! Again; the main stream scientists say that this is a hoax or that the depiction does not show a dinosaur. But research has shown that the carved figure is old - and it definitely looks like a Stegosaurus!
There are also other findings showing humans at an very ancient time, like the "Petralona man" in Europe found to be 700.000 years old and the Valsequillo artefacts from Mexico (included a engraved "green" mastodon bone!) dated to ca. 250.000 years before the present. The aboriginal people of Australia have legends about a very ancient time when tall humans walked among the big animals, like the "bunyip".
There have been found what is believed to be ancient human footprints together with dinosaur footprints in Australia and the same goes for footprints in Texas!
Yes, resent finding of ancient footprints suggests that "humanlike creatures" may have roamed Crete, Greece's largest island, nearly 6 million years ago! And the latest "breaking news" is that 9.7 million old "humanlike teeth" has been discovered in Germany! These findings could (or should) so absolutely rewrite the history of mankind!
I believe that the 11.000 year old head of stone found in Nevali Çori, close to Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, also could rewrite history. From the top of the head and backwards is something that the archaeologists claim is a snake or a hairstyle called "shika". Well, I have never heard about a snake with such a head - and the shika hairstyle does not at all look like that! Or what about the ancient Serpent Mound in Ohio, made thousands of years ago by a the earlier mentioned Mound Builders? There were over 10.000 burial mounds in Ohio but unfortunately the early pioneers destroyed most of them.
The Ohio Valley shall according to legends have been inhabited by a race of giants. A "serpent" is an old name for a snake, but the figure in the old map of the Serpent Mound does not really look like a snake either. But take a look at a human sperm and you will see likenesses - but of course the people of the time did not have microscopes and did not know what sperm look like. Or did they?
supposedly found in Germany and in 1958 a jawbone of a child was found in Tuscany in Italy.
In 1891 a gold chain as found in a chuck of coal Illinois of the USA, and an iron pot was found in Oklahoma in 1912.
In 1944 a man named Newton Anderson claimed to have found a bell in a lump of coal when it was mined close to his house in West Virginia. The bell shall have been analysed at the University of Oklahoma and it was found to contain an unusual mixture of metals, different from any modern usage.
And take a look at the following webpage, here are pictures, explained with words, of ancient megaliths showing unexplained advanced technology: "12 Photographs Mainstream Archaeology Does Not Want You To See".
These are just a few samples - and you will find the same all over the world. Chinese legends tell about former ages, called "kis", and so do Buddhist scriptures. And the Christian Bible. As well as the Norse legends about mighty gods and end of times - like Thor and Ragnarok.
When it come to what we can call the most resent end of times about 12,000 years ago there are hundreds of flood stories all over the world. And new research by acclaimed underwater archaeologist Robert Ballard in the Back Sea off the coast of Turkey has found traces of an ancient civilization hidden underwater since the time of Noah. He believes that he has found proof that the biblical flood was actually based on real events.
A massive network of 12,000 year old underground tunnels has been discovered beneath Europe. By Robert Sepehr who is an author, producer and independent anthropologist.
Well, it is impossible to go back in time. Some say we will get the answers to questions of ancient times and gods when the so called Osiris tomb (Osiris was the god of the dead, but also of resurrection and fertility) under the Great Pyramid will be opened. There is supposed to be a tomb deep down under the pyramid, with a sarcophagus covered with water that kind of fizzes when items are thrown down. The question is also if the Great Pyramid is far, far older than we have been learned to believe (it is different to other pyramids).
So who made all the megaliths and other very ancient structures and items that the people of the time should not be able to make? Who made the huge wall of Sacsayhuaman of Peru in South America? Who made the "impossible" wall of Baalbek in Lebanon with stones weighing more than 1000 kg? Who made the impressive Tihuanaco high up in the mountains of Bolivia? And the Great Pyramid and jars made of basalt in Egypt?
Well, the legends tell that there was a race of giants behind all this; tall humans with an advanced technology. Most often it is said that they were survivors of a worldwide deluge. These giants were often called gods, and they helped the people to develop what we call civilization. Very often they became the kings/rulers of the countries. So what happened? How come they disappeared?
Some scriptures and legends say it all came to an end when the people stopped to respect them. Some were killed, like Goliath, who is said to have been the last of the Anakim giants in Caanan. Some legends say that the surviving giants after the deluge were all male, while other say that the conditions on the earth changed so much that they died out like the dinosaurs. Or might be their existence was against the Gaia principle that there is a self-regulating complex system that maintains the conditions for life on our planet; that they did not fit in?
In Genesis 6:1-5 we can read: "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of man and they bore children to them. They were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown."
There is some discussion on who the Nephilim were. Some say the Nephilim were the offspring of the "sons of God" and the "daughters of men", but other say that the word "Nephilim" mean "Giant". And that makes more sense doesn't it? And be aware that the word God is translated wrong (on purpose?) from the oldest scriptures - the world used in the Hebrew Bible was "Bene Elohim", which means "gods" - not "god". There never was only one god! Might be Nephilim DNA mixed with human DNA did not go very well?
But my question is: Might be their technology was too advanced? Some researchers say that The Great Pyramid was a power plant. Well, might be they actually got it up and running - and that it created more problems that it solved? Catastrophic problems??
The genius Nikola Tesla wrote an article called "The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". He worked for years trying to make a "Self-acting Engine" that could run indefinitely from the solar energy stored in the air. But he was not successful - and might be we should be happy he was not? There is so often a negative side to easy solutions - and remember that the energy is always used for something and that the end-product of energy is heat!
Catastrophism: the theory that certain vast geological changes were caused by catastrophes, sometimes worldwide in scope, rather than gradual evolutionary forces.
Uniformitarianism: the theory that slow incremental changes, such as erosion, created all the Earths geological features and that processes that operated in the remote geological past are not different from those observed now.
So if we have had periods on earth when humans died out to almost the last man as Thor Heyerdahl asked, and I have tried to look into - why have we not heard about it?
Lloyd Pye was one of the first researchers to claim that human origins might not be the way we have learned in school. ,"Everything You Know Is Wrong" was his famous book where he writes that there is an "incredible array of obscured, forgotten, and even deliberately hidden facts" when it comes to human history.
Today more and more researchers; like Graham Hancock, David Hatcher Childress, Michael Cremo, Robert Schoch and John Anthony West, ask if we have a hidden and forbidden history: That hardly anything we have learned about the early human activity is correct. And as you have seen: My research agrees.
Why shall we not learn about it? Well, that it a great question - might be you have the answer?
Ok. Ok. So we might have been through periods of time where we went under to almost the last man as Thor Heyerdahl asked but will it happen again?
in fact it was only the end of a cycle in the ancient Mayan calendar.
Remember that the Hopi Indians are saying that we are now living in the fourth cycle/world? Many Hopi elders claim that we are living in the final days of the last world. Dan Katchongva, a spiritual leader of the Hopi, said the following in 1970 of what will be the signs: "Nature will speak to us with its mighty breath of wind. There will be earthquakes and floods causing great disasters, changes in the seasons and in the weather, disappearance of wildlife, and famine in different forms. There will be gradual corruption and confusion among the leaders and the people all over the world, and wars will come about like powerful winds."
Some say that according to many legends and scriptures (even the Bible); that the end of time will be in 2025. We will have to wait and see!
.Thor Heyerdahl started the Foundation for Exploration and Research on Cultural Origins (FERCO) in 1992. After his death in 2002 the foundation was closed.
Thor Heyerdahl was very afraid that it will be our use of fossils fuels like oil, coal and gas that we give us humans problems this time.
Here is what Cecilie Mauritzen, lead author of the 4th and 5th Assessment Reports of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, and also Chief Scientist at the Kon Tiki 2 Expedition, said at the Paris Climate Change Conference in November 2015 - all in the spirit of Thor Heyerdahl (and on behalf of the ocean): "I wish to turn your attention to an aspect of climate change that you have quite possibly never considered. It is an issue of great importance and grave consequences for the ocean, namely that of oxygen depletion. Well, the ultimate reason is the emission of carbon dioxide associated with combustion of fossil fuels. This emission creates temperature increases in the ocean, just like on land. And when the surface ocean gets warmer it gets more buoyant, making it difficult to mix the surface waters with the deep water. This is a worrisome trend that we, the Ocean, worry deeply about, not just because it affects our own creatures, but because it affects all Earth's creatures, great and small, rich and poor, women and man, child and old. There is only one way to stop this worrisome trend, namely to curb the emissions of carbon dioxide."
Some years ago I asked a scientist in the USA specializing in DNA if there were ever found human DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid; the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms) in crude oil. I was wondering if oil not only could be remains after plants and animals washed to the sea in a worldwide catastrophe but also humans. He answered that oil had been formed under too much pressure and too hight temperatures for any DNA to remain but he thought my question was interesting! So who knows; might be you are driving your car on the remains of your ancient forefathers!
Thor Heyerdahl was first of all a scientist, and he researched early human history all of his adult life. He said that to be able to say something about the future you must know the past. He was very afraid that our use of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas could bring us to the brink of extinction again: He travelled around the world almost non-stop, and he had seen climate changes everywhere he went.
I was as earlier mentioned in contact with Heyerdahl, mostly because I was called "the world's first climate refuge" by media all over the world when I was forced to leave the home I had built in my Polynesian wife's country Tuvalu.
Tuvalu is so close to the equator that according to the books you shall not have any cyclones there. After three of them had threatened to wash us to the sea we left the island life we loved and moved to Norway, the country of birth to Thor Heyerdahl and myself. We had our little daughter Sonia and felt responsible for her; the islands of Tuvalu are flat atolls barely peeping out of the ocean.
Well, we could leave but the other people of Tuvalu could not; there are immigration laws everywhere. Australia and New Zealand have promised to take the Tuvaluan people in if something seriously happen but then of course it might be too late for many of the country's 10.000 people!
There have been cyclones also after we left but luckily nobody had been killed - so far. My wife's brother Mau had his house washed away but he and his son managed to survive by climbing up a nearby three.
"You have a big mission in bringing your scary message forward. You have felt something we all will eventually experience if we do not change our ways in time", is what Heyerdahl wrote to me in a letter in 1997.
Of course I could not just sigh of relief when settling down in Norway, safe from cyclones. My wife's family is still in Tuvalu! They are not allowed to go to Norway either; it does not matter if I am Norwegian citizen! So I started a campaign to get the Norwegian government to understand the dangers of climate change. I even wrote a letter with a plea to the king that Sonia delivered personally to the royal castle!
I got a response from the government but they could not promise anything. I was a couple of times on the TV in debate programs; "what an angry man" was all the response I got! So in year 2000 I started an internet magazine, Klima Nytt (Climate News), where I daily, without a cent for it, publish the news from the Norwegian newspapers on the internet when it comes to climate change and climate politics. So far there are no good news - the climate changes are getting worse and worse and we are hardly doing anything to stop them.
The World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), the so called Brundtland Commission (led by the then Norwegian prime minster Gro Harlem Bruntland) was established by UN in 1983 "to unite countries to pursue sustainable development together". The commission concluded that it saw no other option for the world, the industrialized countries, than to reduce the use of energy by 50 percent. Since that time I guess we have doubled, or even tripled, the use of energy - and nobody seems to worry. "We need more energy!" is what you hear every day!
We will have to hope that the Paris Agreement of 2015 will be a step in the correct direction. The Agreement aims to "respond to the global climate change threat by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius." As of October 2017, 195 UN-member countries have signed the agreement, and 169 have become party to it.
But the question is of course how many countries that accentually will reduce their carbon emissions enough to honour what they have signed!
It was not so easy for me to move to Norway of more reasons than it is cold there and far from my wife's family in Tuvalu: Norway is making most of its money from export of oil and gas. Yes, Norway even exports a bit of coal from the island of Svalbard! Fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal are the culprits when it comes to rising temperatures and dangerous climate changes. The climate changes are already killing several hundred people every week!
So in that way I feel I am partly responsible that my wife's family is living with a constant fear of drowning.
- The most abundant GHG, carbon dioxide (CO2), is the product of burning fossil fuels.
So how long time do we have left before we might face extinction?
Professor of mathematics and astronomy at University of London, Stephen Hawking, is often called the brightest star in the scientific universe. In the BBC's science series Tomorrow's World, Professor Hawking said he thinks due to climate change, overdue asteroid strikes, epidemics and population growth, humans will need to find a new planet to populate within a single lifetime. That we have to abandon Earth or face extinction.
- Mankind will be extinct in 100 years because of climate change! The comments were first made by Australian microbiologist Dr Frank Fenner in 2010, but engineer and science writer David Auerbach has reiterated the doom-laden warning in his latest article. He criticises the recent G7 summit for failing to deal with the problems facing the survival of humanity, such as global warming and exhausting Earth's resources.
Mr Auerbach goes on to say that experts have predicted that 21st century civilisation faces a similar fate to the inhabitants of Easter Island, who went extinct when they overexploited their natural habitat.
Biology professor Guy McPherson, from University of Arizona, believes there is nothing we can do to prevent the mass extinction of the human race.
He claims human-driven climate change will bring about the sixth mass extinction of humankind within the next decade. He told Newshub: "It's locked down, it's been locked in for a long time - we're in the midst of our sixth mass extinction."
Well, I do not know how long time it will take but I know we are in trouble - big time! After editing Climate News since year 2000 and having experienced how dangerous climate changes can be I know we have to act before it is too late. And time is running out!
And it is so hard to have a positive belief in the humans of today. I am experiencing so many people in total denial. Like many people of Norway. Norway is already is experiencing more rain than normal, just as IPCC predicted a few years ago. But the so called climate sceptics just say that everything is normal. It might be easy to close ears and eyes for what is happening but that is not helping the future generations much!
Why such an unwillingness to think of the coming generations? Or the people that already is suffering and dying from the climate changes? Why is the size of your own wallet more important than your children and grandchildren? What has happened to us? What has happened to our conscience? Something is terribly wrong!!
So might be it is time to say bye-bye for good - or will we manage to turn around and change our ways?
Humans in California 130,000 Years Ago?
Another illustration (on a mammoth tusk; carved, polished and engraved ) said to be of snakes - in Mal'ta, Siberia: "On one side of the plate we can see three snakes. The snake is rare in northern hemisphere Paleolithic art, presumably because the cold conditions precluded a wide distribution of snakes. In addition, it can be seen that the snakes have very broad heads, as though they belong to the Cobra group - yet Cobras are now known only in southern asian localities."
Does it not look much more like human sperm - like on the stone head from Turkey??
A tiny artifact depicting a human figure was found in 1889, when workers were drilling water well near Nampa, in southwest Idaho. The artifact skillfully formed in clay, is a true mystery that has baffled scientists for many years.
Summary: About 12,800 years ago, thanks to fragments of a comet, humans saw an astonishing 10 percent of the Earth's land surface, or about 10 million square kilometers, consumed by fires.
This is only one ancient map showing the world as we know it today - there are others, copies of even older maps! Who made them - and when?
Your sincere concern and informed perspective are refreshing. And you're asking a question that richly deserves humanity's undivided attention. Alas, mass environmental epiphany (about carbon) isn't going to happen. So whatever happens to the positive will need to happen in spite of humanity's entrenched self-defeating ways. The old Margaret Mead quote about never forgetting what a small group can do is looming larger. I for one hope it's small groups doing good work and not a push by a desperate few into the politics of climate denial that sends our race and what remains of the natural order into the geologic record as a thin, black line of carbonaceous glop. I'd like to believe our species' best years are ahead, but first we've got to survive what we've accrued (and still piling up in fact) and learn how to make it work, or else.
Wishing you the best of what's left, and what's right, in 2018.
Using lidar, researchers have found that the recently-discovered city, known as Angamuco, was more than double the size of Tzintzuntzan although probably not as densely populated extending over 26 km2 of ground that was covered by a lava flow thousands of years ago. According to Fisher, more than 100,000 people are thought to have lived in Angamuco in its heyday between about 1000AD to 1350AD."
A nine hundred years old city years old covered with lava many thousand years old? How can that be? And according to Wikipedia's "Timeline of volcanism on Earth" there were no volcanic activity in the area after 1350. The only volcanic eruption in Mexico the last thousand years or so was from Ceboruco "a dacitic stratovolcano located in Nayarit, Mexico, northwest of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. The largest eruption, the Jala Plinian eruption, was around 930 AD ±200, VEI 6, releasing 11 cubic kilometres (2.6 cu mi) of tephra."
Well, there is a distance of more than 400 kilometres from Nayarit to the ancient city of Angamuco - so lava from this eruption could not have covered the buildings.
Might be the ancient buildings are much more ancient than we believe? There shall have been volcanic activity in the area with lava flows - but that was more than 2 million years ago!
Science has published a new paper today (08 Dec 2017) looking at the peopling of Eurasia. The results of the paper challenge the single Out of Africa model by ultimately stating that it cannot fully explain the origins of modern humans. | 2019-04-20T13:06:15Z | http://sydhav.no/giants/extinction.htm |
2014-05-20 Assigned to FEDEX CORPORATE SERVICES, INC. reassignment FEDEX CORPORATE SERVICES, INC. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: HAMM, MARK D., MILMAN, KENNETH L., SKAAKSRUD, OLE PETTER, GREER, JAMES B., OST, DANIEL A., PERRY, ZACHARY S., WEST, MICHAEL R., JACOBS, JAMES RANDY, MURPHY, WILLIAM S., AINSWORTH, MILEY E.
Systems, methods, and computer program products are provided for accessing information regarding one or more shipments. There is provided a computer-implemented method for accessing information regarding one or more shipments. The method includes receiving sensor information associated with the one or more shipments at a tracking center. The method also includes analyzing rules associated with a party to determine whether the party is authorized to access the received sensor information. The method further includes restricting the party from accessing the received sensor information based on the analyzed rules.
This is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/566,883, filed Sep. 25, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,299,920, which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for tracking items. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for tracking items using a sensor device.
Asset management has always been an important part of commerce. For example, tracking packages is important to organizations of all kinds, whether it be a company keeping track of inventory to be sold in its stores, or a package delivery provider keeping track of packages being transported through its delivery network. To provide quality service, an organization typically creates and maintains a highly organized network for tracking its packages. Effective management of such networks allows lower cost, reduced delivery time, and enhanced customer service.
In addition to tracking packages, parties that ship and receive packages may also need information regarding the conditions of the packages, such as the temperature and humidity of the package. For example, a customer that has ordered a box of wine may want to monitor the temperature of the contents of the box to determine if the temperature and/or humidity goes above or below a set range. Likewise, the party that ships the package may also want to monitor the conditions of the package to ensure that the content arrives in the proper condition.
Technological advances have enabled items to be tracked in ways that far exceed the functionality of a simple list. A rich information framework now can be applied to describe the item's interaction with its surroundings, such as transportation and custodial handoffs.
Bar codes are one way organizations keep track of items. A retailer, for example, may use bar codes on items in its inventory. For example, items to be sold in a retailer's store may each be labeled with a different bar code. In order to keep track of inventory, the retailer typically scans the bar code on each item. In addition, when an item is sold to a consumer, the bar code for that item is scanned.
Similarly, a package delivery provider may utilize bar codes by associating a bar code with packages to be delivered to a recipient. For example, a package may have a bar code corresponding to a tracking number for that package. Each time the package goes through a checkpoint (e.g., the courier taking initial control of the package, the package being placed in a storage facility, the package being delivered to the recipient, etc.), the package's bar code may be scanned. Bar codes, however, have the disadvantage that personnel must manually scan each bar code on each item in order to effectively track the items.
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags are an improvement over typical bar codes. RFID tags do not require manual scanning that is required by typical bar codes. For example, in a retail context, an RFID tag on an inventory item may be able to communicate with an electronic reader that detects items in a shopping cart and adds the cost of each item to a bill for the consumer. RFID tags have also been used to track things such as livestock, railroad cars, trucks, and even airline baggage. These tags typically only allow for basic tracking and do not provide a way to improve asset management using information about the environment in which the items are tracked.
Sensor-based tracking systems are also known which can provide more information than RFID systems. Such systems, however, can be expensive, and may provide extraneous and redundant item information.
Shippers, carriers, recipients, and other parties often wish to know the location, condition, and integrity of shipments before, during, and after transport to satisfy quality control goals, meet regulatory requirements, and optimize business processes. To address these requirements, a system is needed that may monitor data regarding shipments and present this data to a user in real-time or near real-time. Shippers, carriers, recipients, and other parties may have similar information needs during shipment, but the parties may have privacy or regulatory requirements that prevent them from sharing all of the information available from a monitoring system. To address these requirements, a system is needed that allows parties to specify what information they will share with other parties, including the frequency and timeliness of information updates. The system should compare information requirements from parties involved in a shipment and notify parties when conflicts exist and allow parties to adjust information sharing policies to address these conflicts.
In one exemplary embodiment, there is provided a method for tracking one or more items. The method may include periodically detecting, by a sensor device, sensor information of the one or more items, and periodically transmitting, by the sensor device, the sensor information. The method may also include determining if the one or more parties is authorized to receive the sensor information. The method may also include transmitting the sensor information to the one or more authorized parties. The method may further include determining if the one or more parties is authorized to receive the sensor information and the periodically transmitting the sensor information to the one or more authorized parties based on a set of one or more permissions that grants or restricts access of the one or more parties to the sensor information based on the set of one or more permissions.
FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method for tracking items consistent with an embodiment of the present invention.
The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the following description to refer to the same or similar parts. While several exemplary embodiments and features are described herein, modifications, adaptations and other implementations are possible, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, substitutions, additions or modifications may be made to the components illustrated in the drawings, and the exemplary methods described herein may be modified by substituting, reordering or adding steps to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, the following detailed description does not limit the invention. Instead, the proper scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims.
By way of a non-limiting example, FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 in which the features and principles of the present invention may be implemented. The number of components in system 100 is not limited to what is shown and other variations in the number of arrangements of components are possible, consistent with embodiments of the invention. The components of FIG. 1 may be implemented through hardware, software, and/or firmware. System 100 may include sensor devices 102 a-102 n, a tracking center 104, a network 106, and clients 108 a-108 n.
Network 106 provides communications between the various entities depicted in system 100. Network 106 may be a shared, public, or private network and may encompass a wide area or local area. Network 106 may be implemented through any suitable combination of wired and/or wireless communication networks (including Wi-Fi networks, GSM/GPRS networks, TDMA networks, CDMA networks, Bluetooth networks, or any other wireless networks). By way of example, network 106 may be implemented through a wide area network (WAN), local area network (LAN), an intranet, and/or the Internet. Further, the entities of system 100 may be connected to multiple networks 106, such as, for example, to a wireless carrier network, a private data network, and the public Internet.
Sensor devices 102 a-102 n may be devices for use in tracking various items, and may be attached to or included in the items that are to be tracked. For example, sensor device 102 a may be attached to or enclosed in a package that is being sent to a recipient using a delivery service such as Federal Express Corporation, (“FedEx”). Alternatively, sensor device 102 a may be attached to or enclosed in a container holding inventory being delivered to a retailer. The aforementioned items are exemplary and may comprise any deliverable elements.
Sensor device 102 a may store information associated with an item tracking number for a corresponding item. The item tracking number may be a FedEx tracking number or similar tracking number. Sensor device 102 a may also store information indicative of other sensor devices which are currently within a given proximity. For example, when an item with a corresponding sensor device 102 a is placed inside a vehicle or storage facility that includes at least one other sensor device 102 n, sensor device 102 a may sense that another sensor device 102 n is within a proximity that indicates that the corresponding item is now in the vehicle or storage facility. Information reflecting an association between sensor device 102 a and sensor device 102 n may then be stored in a memory located at one or more of sensor device 102 a, sensor device 102 n, and/or tracking center 104.
In one embodiment, sensor device 102 a may be capable of measuring or detecting one or more conditions such as location, temperature, light level, motion, pressure, humidity, acceleration, gas level, airflow, vibration, or other environmental conditions. Sensor device 102 a may also have the ability to directly transmit and receive information to/from tracking center 104 via network 106 by, for example, wireless communications. For example, sensor device 102 a may be implemented using a wireless sensor available from Crossbow Technology. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that alternative sensor devices may be used.
Tracking center 104 may provide a platform for tracking items being delivered to a recipient. Tracking center 104 may be implemented using a combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware, and may be operable to receive and store sensor data from various sensor devices 102 a-102 n. For example, sensor device 102 a may periodically send tracking center 104 sensor data reflecting conditions measured or detected by sensor device 102 a. Such sensor data may include location, temperature, light level, motion, pressure, humidity, gas level, airflow, vibrations, or other environmental conditions.
Tracking center 104 is also operable to respond to requests for sensor data. For example, a customer may use client 108 a to enter a request for sensor data stored at tracking center 104. The request may include one or more triggering parameters, which can be used to find the requested sensor data. Exemplary triggering parameters may include a sensor identification number, item tracking number, location, temperature, light level, humidity, acceleration, pressure, gas level, airflow, vibrations, etc. Accordingly, by way of example, a customer may request temperature measurements within a certain range of a specific location. The distance from the specific location is the triggering parameter in that case.
When tracking center 104 receives a request for sensor data from client 108 a, tracking center 104 may search a database resident at tracking center 104 and return the requested sensor data, if found. Access to the sensor data may be managed or open. For example, if access is managed, client 108 a and/or the customer would need to be authenticated before sensor data is made available to client 108 a and/or the customer. In addition to or instead of searching a database for sensor data, tracking center 104 may request sensor data directly from the relevant sensor device 102 a.
Tracking center 104 may also provide updated and/or new programming for sensor device 102 a. Programming, for example, may specify the manner in which a device senses environmental conditions. Programming of the aforementioned device may be altered, for example, by storing new or modified instructions in a memory (not shown) located at the respective device. Programming changes may be made arbitrarily (e.g., at the discretion of a programmer) or in response to a detected condition. For example, suppose sensor device 102 a detects a temperature above a certain level. When sensor device 102 a reports the temperature level to tracking center 104, an alarm or alert may be triggered to bring this information to the attention of personnel associated with tracking center 104. Tracking center 104, in turn, may alter the programming of sensor device 102 a to check the temperature more frequently. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that other parameters can be used as the basis for altering programming.
Clients 108 a-108 n provide users with an interface to network 106. By way of example, clients 108 a-108 n may be implemented using any device capable of accessing a data network, such as a general purpose computer or personal computer equipped with a modem or other network interface. Clients 108 a-108 n may also be implemented in other devices, such as a Blackberry™, Ergo Audrey™, mobile phones (with data access functions), Personal Digital Assistant (“PDA”) with a network connection, IP telephony phone, or generally any device capable of communicating over a data network.
Clients 108 a-108 n may be utilized by users to request sensor data from tracking center 104. For example, a user may subscribe to a service that allows the user to access up-to-date information about one or more sensors. Alternatively, a subscription to a service is not necessary to access the information. In order to request sensor data, the user may enter information on client 108 a indicative of the desired sensor data. For example, the user may enter information requesting the current location and temperature of all sensors within a certain radius of a specified sensor. After the customer enters this information, client 108 a may send a request to tracking center 104, which in turn may search its database or request the information directly from the sensors. When tracking center 104 finds the requested information, it may send the information back to client 108 a.
Sensor device 102 a may be operable to periodically determine whether there are any sensor devices 102 n within a certain proximity of sensor device 102 a. When sensor device 102 a determines that sensor device (e.g. sensor device 102 n) is within its range, sensor device 102 a may store information indicative of an association between the two devices. Sensor device 102 a may also send this information to tracking center 104 via network 106. When sensor device 102 a determines that sensor device 102 n is no longer within its range, it may update the stored information resident at sensor device 102 a and tracking center 104 to reflect that the devices are no longer associated with each other.
FIG. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary tracking center consistent with the present invention. Tracking center 104 may include at least a communication server 202, a user management database 204, a sensor device management database 206, a shipment management database 208, a data management database 210, an analysis database 212, an audit database 214, an archive database 216, a certificate server 218, and a rules engine 220. The number of components in tracking center 104 is not limited to what is shown and other variations in the number of arrangements of components are possible, consistent with embodiments of the invention.
Communication server 202 may be a web server that provides functionality for receiving traffic over a network, such as the internet. For example, communication server 202 may be a standard web server that a user may access at client 108 a using a web browser program, such as Safari, Internet Explorer, or Netscape Communicator. Communication server 202 is operable to receive requests for sensor data from clients, and pass the requests on to databases 204-216, certificate server 218, and/or rules engine 220 for processing. Communication server 202 may also send and receive messages for configuration, management, and monitoring of sensor devices 102 a-102 n.
User management database 204 may maintain a list of users of the system, user profiles, roles and permissions within the system, user organizations, and the relationship between users and/or other parties.
Sensor device management database 206 may maintain a per-party inventory of sensor devices 102 a-102 n used to provide monitoring information. Sensor device management database 206 may also store sensor data received from various sensor devices 102 a-102 n. Sensor device management database 206 may also store association information indicative of associations between sensor devices 102 a-102 n.
For example, sensor device 102 a may periodically send sensor data to tracking center 104, where it is stored in sensor device management database 206. Exemplary sensor data may include location, temperature, light level, motion, pressure, humidity, acceleration, gas level, airflow, vibrations, or other environmental conditions. Sensor data that is transmitted to sensor device management database 206 may be accompanied by information identifying the sensor device 102 a-102 n that detected the sensor data.
Association data stored by sensor device management database 206 may also be periodically sent by sensor devices 102 a-102 n. For example, when an activated sensor device 102 a becomes positioned within a predetermined proximity of another sensor device 102 n, sensor device 102 a and/or sensor device 102 n may locally store information reflecting this proximity association. Sensor device 102 a may then send tracking center 104 information indicative of the association. Additionally or alternatively, sensor device 102 n may send tracking center 104 information indicative of the association.
When tracking center 104 receives a request for sensor data from client 108 a, sensor device management database 206 may be searched for the requested data. If that data is found, it may be sent back to client 108 a.
Shipment management database 208 may contain configuration parameters for one or more shipments. Data management database 210 may contain data generated by the monitoring of the shipments. This data may be augmented by other systems such as third-party package tracking systems and border-crossing systems (not shown).
Analysis database 212 may contain an aggregation of all system information for use in analyzing past activities, adjusting configuration parameters, defining new monitoring activities, and predicting future trends. Audit database 214 may contain information that allows parties to review the monitoring of shipments for conformance to regulations and quality metrics. Archive database 216 may contain information that provides long-term storage and access of historical data, and a communication sub-system that sends and receives messages for configuration, management, and monitoring to sensor devices 102 a-102 n and network 106.
Certificate server 218 may be operable to control access to data resident in sensor device management database 206. For example, client 108 a or a user of client 108 a may only be authorized to receive sensor data that corresponds to sensor devices 102 a-102 n. When that user requests a set of sensor data that includes data for which the client or user has no authorization to access, certificate server 218 recognizes the lack of authorization and only allows tracking center 104 to send the client or user the portion of the requested sensor data for which the client or user has authorization.
Rules engine 220 may be operable to, among other things, send queries to sensor device management database 206 based on requests for sensor data from client 108 a, send requested sensor data to clients 108 a-108 n after receiving it from sensor device management database 206, process sensor data received from sensor devices 102 a-102 n, request sensor data from sensor devices 102 a-102 n, and alter the programming of sensor devices 102 a-102 n.
FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary client 108 a that can be used to implement embodiments of the invention. The components and arrangement, however, are not critical to the invention. One of ordinary skill will recognize that embodiments of the invention may be implemented by computers or workstations organized as shown, organized in a distributed processing system architecture, or organized in myriad suitable combinations of software, hardware, and/or firmware.
For example, client 108 a may include components such as a central processing unit (CPU) 310, a memory 320, an input/output (I/O) device(s) 330, an application programming interlace (API) 340, and a database 350 that can be implemented in various ways. For example, an integrated platform (such as a workstation, personal computer, laptop, etc.) may comprise CPU 310, memory 320, I/O devices 330, API 340, and database 350, interconnected by a local bus 335. In such a configuration, components 310, 320, 330, 340, and 350 may connect through a local bus interface.
CPU 310 may be one or more known processing devices, such as a microprocessor from the Pentium family manufactured by Intel™ or a mainframe-class processor. Memory 320 may be one or more storage devices configured to store information used by CPU 310 to perform certain functions, operations, and steps related to embodiments of the present invention. Memory 320 may be a magnetic, semiconductor, tape, optical, or other type of storage device. In one embodiment, memory 320 includes one or more software application programs 325 that, when executed by CPU 310, perform various processes consistent with the present invention.
Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent with the present invention are not limited to programs configured to perform dedicated tasks. For example, memory 320 may be configured with a program 325 that performs several functions consistent with the invention when executed by CPU 310. Alternatively, CPU 310 may execute one or more programs located remotely from client 108 a. For example, client 108 a may access one or more remote programs that, when executed, perform functions related to embodiments of the present invention. The configuration and number of programs implementing processes consistent with the invention are not critical to the invention.
Memory 320 may be also be configured with an operating system (not shown) that performs several functions well known in the art when executed by CPU 310. By way of example, the operating system may be Microsoft Windows™, Unix™, Linux™, an Apple™ operating system such as MAC OSX™, Personal Digital Assistant operating system such as Microsoft CE™, or other operating system. The choice of operating system, and even the use of an operating system, is not critical to the invention.
I/O device(s) 330 may comprise one or more input/output devices that allow data to be received and/or transmitted by client 108 a. For example, I/O device 330 may include one or more input devices, such as a network connection, keyboard, touch screen, mouse, microphone, disk reader, and the like, that enable data to be input or received from a user. Further, I/O device 330 may include one or more output devices, such as a network connection, display screen, printer, speaker devices, and the like, that enable data to be output or presented to a user. The configuration and number of input and/or output devices incorporated in I/O device 330 are not critical to the invention.
API 340 is an interface used by client 108 a to execute user requests. API 340 may be used in conjunction with I/O device 330 to define, for example, monitoring parameters, events, and notifications with respects to shipments. In addition, API 340 may query and receive information regarding shipments in response to information received at I/O device 330. API 340 may also update information stored in databases 204-216.
Database 350 may comprise one or more databases that store information and are accessed and managed through system 100. By way of example, database 350 may be an Oracle™ database, a Sybase™ database, or other relational database. As illustrated in FIG. 2, databases 204-216 may located within tracking center 104. However, the information stored in databases 204-216 may also be located in database 350.
According to one embodiment, a “party” may refer to an individual, a group, a division, a company, or any combination of individuals, groups, divisions, or companies. For example, when a user sends or receives a shipment, the user may join system 100. When the user joins, the user may enter his company name, and a party corresponding to the company may be created. After creation of the party, the user may be assigned to the party. When other users that belong to the same company join system 100, they may also be added to the party.
A party may use system 100 to collaborate with other business partners. To do so, the party may either identify other parties already present in the system via a search feature, or they can invite users into system 100. New parties may create collaboration profiles that specify their default policies for sharing information and access to their sensor devices. In addition, parties may also change their profiles at any time. For example, a party may change their profile on a per-shipment basis or may create profiles specific to one or more business partners. Collaboration profiles contain rules that may be invoked against a permission mechanism to enable and restrict access by business partners to information defined or created by other parties.
For example, a party may choose to make information about all of their monitored shipments available to all other parties in the system. Conversely, a party may restrict access to each monitored shipment to only the parties participating in the shipment (e.g. recipient and carrier). This may prevent other parties from accessing the information. The system also contains a mechanism used to govern the amount and level of detail of information access on a per-user basis; this mechanism is discussed further in this document.
The system may also allow the creation of communities of parties which cross organizational boundaries. To do so, users may search for other parties by name, description, or by settings in their collaboration profile that may indicate organizations willing to cooperate in fulfilling some need, such as providing intervention services to assure shipment integrity. To aid the collaborative process, party profiles may include information about the duration of a party's membership in the system and reputation information as expressed by their fellow members. The party profiles may also include operational information, such as the certificates or other configuration information necessary to leverage their telecommunications or computer networks. By granting access to their networks, a party may allow other parties to use them to transmit and receive monitoring and system data.
System 100 may also include a permission mechanism that may be used to implement a set of permissions that grant or deny parties the ability to perform actions related to sensor devices 102 a-102 n and databases 204-216. The permission mechanism may be implemented by certificate server 218. For example, each party may have access to administrative functions that may include defining new parties in the system, adding or removing sensor devices 102 a-102 n, and/or the restricting or permitting access to party shipment information by other parties. Accordingly, permissions may allow a party to grant administrative functions to other parties, such that a party can, for instance, define a set of parties and restrict their ability to view, create, or update sensor devices 102 a-102 n, or to create, view, or update one or more shipments or sets of shipments.
This permission mechanism may be used to implement a set of collaboration policies within the system. Organizations, users, devices, shipments, and information stored within the system are created, viewed, modified, and deleted according to rules that take into account the object of the action and the entity performing the action. Rather than exhaustively specify the ability or inability of all other parties to perform such actions, these permissions can refer to roles that imply group membership (e.g. the set of all users belonging to a certain organization, all members of all organizations, all shipments in which a particular organization is a party, etc.). This system allows shared access to information and enables parties to act on this information. Parties collaborate by either actively seeking permission to access and act on data or by being passively granted permission by default. Collaboration policies specify what the default roles and permissions are for entities in the system.
As previously stated, sensor device 102 a may be placed inside a package with the contents of the package. Sensor device 102 a may measure or detect one or more conditions such as location, temperature, light level, motion, pressure, humidity, gas level, airflow, vibrations, or other environmental conditions.
Sensor device 102 a may report data in several different ways. For example, sensor device 102 a may report data based on measurements of at least one of physical quantities (e.g. temperature of 72° F.), qualitative assessments (e.g. “hot”), relative observations based on a predetermined threshold (e.g. greater than 85° F.), a calculated threshold (e.g. average greater than 80° F.), and business-events provided by third-party systems (e.g. proof-of-delivery of a shipment). This data may be correlated with the shipment and may be used to report any changes in shipment status or a lack of changes in the status.
Depending upon the capabilities of sensor device 102 a, these measurements may be calculated directly by sensor device 102 a. However, other measurements may be calculated based on party requirements entered at I/O device 330 and processed by API 340. According to one embodiment, all observations are confirmed by API 340 because different measurements may be of interest to different parties. For example, a shipping party may wish to know when sensor device 102 a measures the presence of 50% relative humidity. However, a receiving party may wish to know when sensor device 102 a measures the presence of 80% relative humidity. If sensor device 102 a cannot be configured to report against multiple measurement thresholds, then API 340 may be responsible for performing these calculations.
Parties with sufficient permission can define new sensor devices 102 a-102 n within the system by creating a sensor profile. A sensor profile may include a list of monitoring capabilities of sensor device 102 a that may describe the conditions that sensor device 102 a may observe (e.g. temperature, humidity, location, movement, etc.), the frequency that sensor device 102 a may make observations, and the frequency that sensor device 102 a reports the observations.
Sensor device 102 a may be “owned” by a party because a party may govern access to data even if access is currently unrestricted. For example, some websites may publish weather information by ZIP code. This weather information may be correlated with temperature readings from another sensor device 102 a to warn one or more parties of weather conditions. In this example, access may simply be the availability of the website to respond to requests.
In another embodiments, sensor device 102 a may be “owned” by a party to the shipping process (e.g. a shipper, recipient, carrier, or logistics provider). In this embodiment, the sensor profile would indicate sensor device 102 a ownership and allow that ownership to transfer to a different party upon completion of use. For example, a shipper might use sensor device 102 a to assure the integrity of a high-value merchandise to a recipient. Upon proof of delivery to the recipient, the shipper may automatically transfer ownership of sensor device 102 a to the recipient. Conversely, a different shipper might want retain ownership of sensor device 102 a and this shipper may not transfer ownership of sensor device 102 a to the recipient. A shipper may not transfer ownership so that the shipper would be able to use sensor device 102 a to aid in a return of defective merchandise.
Some sensor devices 102 a-102 n may support inter-device communication using short-range communication mechanisms such as ZigBee. These sensor devices 102 a-102 n may use this capability to support business-level activities, such as ensuring the integrity of a set of shipments by mutual visibility and communication. Sensor device 102 a owners may also allow shared access to this feature by other sensor devices 102 n, particularly sensor devices that are owned by other parties. Sensor devices 102 a-102 n with networking capability may also transmit their observations using other sensor devices as communication gateways.
The system may also support profiles describing static (e.g. fixed) and configurable sensor devices 102 a-102 n. Via API 340, the system may define mechanisms and messages that may be used to configure sensor devices 102 a-102 n. These messages may include information used to identify the sensor device 102 a that is the subject of the message and parameters to define thresholds for measuring observations, reporting observations, and reporting frequency.
Whenever possible, sensor profiles include a description of the power requirements over time of particular monitoring functions, such as the use of a GPS sensor to determine location. When provided, this information can be used to estimate the total power usage over a set of monitoring functions, and this information may be used to estimate the maximum duration of monitoring by sensor device 102 a and may be used to assist a party in defining monitoring parameters. If this information cannot be provided, but sensor device 102 a can provide diagnostic information specifying the power usage or level over time, historical data may be used to estimate the power requirements for particular sets of commonly used monitoring parameters.
Depending upon the capabilities of sensor device 102 a, additional messages can be sent to sensor device 102 a providing power and cost management information. This information may include time or location-based periods during which sensor device 102 a functions may be reduced in frequency or idled, or during which communication can be restricted or switched to lower cost channels.
These messages may be sent during the initial receipt and setup of sensor device 102 a as part of an inventory management function. These messages may also be sent during configuration of sensor device 102 a dedicated to a specific kind of transport, storage, value chain production, or other logistics function. Sensor device 102 a configuration can be a one-time activity or real-time, dynamic activity reflecting changing conditions or needs of system users or in response to system calculations.
The permission mechanism may govern access to particular sensor devices 102 a-102 n on a per-user basis, and the permission mechanism may also provide the ability to configure sensor devices 102 a-102 n. This configuration information may consist of specifying which capabilities should be used in monitoring information of a particular shipment (e.g. movement, temperature, and humidity) in addition to the actual observation and reporting frequency to employ when providing information. This configuration information may be transmitted to sensor devices 102 a-102 n via a device configuration system (not shown). Device configuration system may use an intermediate communication gateway as needed to communicate with sensor devices 102 a-102 n. Alternatively, sensor devices 102 a-102 n may be configured by a plug-in connection to a programming device, such as a PC having a computer-readable media reader.
After configuration, sensor device 102 a may transmit information to a data receiving system which may record the data and make that data available to parties with sufficient permission to view the data. The data may also be passed to a notification system that may compare the data against monitoring parameters. The notification system may also perform further actions, as needed, based on the result of the comparison. These actions may include triggering external system activities, performing calculations that result in new configuration information being sent to sensor device 102 a, performing calculations that result in new configuration information for use in further monitoring, and correlating data from sensor devices 102 a-102 n or historical data. The system may also supplement data provided by sensor devices 102 a-102 n with information provided by the carrier or other external systems, either by receiving messages via the API or by querying these systems for data. This information may be viewed as third-party information and it may be combined with the sensor information and presented to the appropriate parties.
In addition to configuring a single sensor device 102 a, the system may also transmit future configuration parameters for storage on sensor device 102 a based on the capabilities of sensor device 102 a. For example, if the monitoring frequency of sensor device 102 a should change during shipment to allow more precise monitoring of its location as it nears a destination of the recipient, these parameters may be sent to sensor device 102 a and sensor device 102 a may automatically modify the reporting configuration.
Sensor device 102 a configuration and access to data may be defined either collaboratively or on a per shipment basis. For example, in a particular shipment, both the shipper and the receiver may want to define monitoring parameters that may not be consistent. One way to accomplish this may be to use two sensor devices 102 a and 102 b, where sensor device 102 a provides data to the shipper and sensor device 102 b provides data to the receiver. However, using two sensor devices iis not efficient. Therefore, rather than using two sensor devices to monitor and transmit data, the shipper and the receiver may share a single sensor device 102 a.
Rules may be defined within the system that limit or force the shipper and the receiver to negotiate the implemented monitoring configuration parameters. The system can allow the shipper and the receiver to be effectively unaware that sensor device 102 a is being shared. This may be accomplished by restricting the data available to the shipper and the receiver by events and thresholds defined by each party. For example, a receiver may desire location reporting at city-level at half-hour intervals, and the shipper may desire address-level reporting at hourly intervals. Sensor device 102 a may be configured to report address-level reporting at half-hour intervals, but each party would only see information at the requested level (e.g. address vs. city) and requested frequency (e.g. half-hour vs. hour).
According to another embodiment, a shipper may define the reporting configuration of sensor device 102 a to restrict the receiver from viewing data regarding the shipment to certain locations or during certain times. In addition, the configuration of sensor device 102 a may also permit the receiver to view all data of the shipment once it has entered within a certain radius of the delivery location.
As previously stated, parties may define a shipment within the system. Examples of shipments may include the delivery of goods, the return shipment of any sensor device 102 a and/or goods to the shipment origin or other location, the shipment of multiple items from a common origin through common intermediate points to multiple independent destinations, the aggregation of multiple shipments from separate origins to a common destination, and combinations of these scenarios.
These events may range from simple matching (e.g. the temperature of sensor device 102 a has reached a certain threshold) to complex chains of independent or related events (e.g. a shipment has moved after 5PM on certain day and the temperature and humidity have not exceeded a certain threshold after 20 minutes of movement). Since the specification of these events may be limited based on the capabilities of sensor device 102 a, the system may prevent parties from attempting to specify events that cannot be provided by sensor device 102 a. A party that owns sensor device 102 a may modify the device's profile to limit the volume of monitoring observations provided to other parties. The party may also limit the specificity of data provided and the frequency of data reporting by specifying a delay before another party may view or interact with data from sensor device 102 a.
A party may also only partially specify the configuration information for later use. This configuration information may act as a template where certain values may be specified, such as the origin of the shipment, the type of sensor device 102 a to use for monitoring the shipment, and the type and frequency of monitoring data to collect. While this information may be specified during configuration, one of ordinary skill would appreciate that this information may be modified by the party during shipping.
Parties may also define relationships between shipments, such that two or more shipments originating from different locations and traveling to a common destination may be defined and queried by API 340 and viewed via UI 330 as a group. Likewise, multiple shipments traveling together from an origin to destination may be similarly grouped, and multiple shipments starting from a common point but ultimately arriving at more than one destination may be similarly grouped. This association of shipments may allow the party to define common configuration parameters across the group and may also simplify viewing, updating, and other operations. Multiple shipments may also be aggregated to provide a “safety net” feature. A “safety net” feature may be preferable when tracking shipments because this feature may reflect multiple activities, locations, and other monitoring data. Moreover, too great a variance in any of these data parameters could be used by a party to determine an error in the logistics process.
For example, a shipment of goods may be sent from three different plants A, B, and C and may all travel to a common intermediate point D (e.g. an assembly plant). Intermediate point D may ship the entire shipment of goods to a distributor E, and distributor E may separate the goods into three different shipments sending the goods to a return location F, a warehouse G, and a warehouse H. After return location F, warehouse G, and warehouse H receive the appropriate shipments, return location F may send the shipment back to plant A. In addition, warehouse G may send the shipment to a retailer I, and warehouse H may keep the shipment.
When defining common destination of multiple shipments, the system may optimize the use of sensor devices 102 a-102 n to meet the monitoring requirements of different parties while also minimizing the number of sensor devices 102 a-102 n in use. Optimizing the use of sensor devices 102 a-102 n may also minimize the overall power used by sensor devices 102 a-102 n and the aggregate number of communications required to report the status of the shipments. While the above examples have explained the use of a single sensor device 102 a to monitor several shipments, one of ordinary skill would appreciate that a party may choose to monitor a single shipment using multiple sensor devices 102 a-102 n to ensure monitoring parameters by calculating information from each of sensor devices 102 a-102 n or performing more sophisticated analysis based on known capabilities, accuracy, and precision of sensor devices 102 a-102 n.
According to another embodiment, sensor devices 102 a-102 n may each be placed in separate packages for shipping and may travel together when each of the packages is transported as a group (e.g. cartons on a pallet). In this embodiment, sensor devices 102 a-102 n may be configured to determine a master sensor device 102 a that may receive information from other sensor devices. Based on this configuration, sensor devices 102 a-102 n may all communicate with each other, but only sensor device 102 a transmits information to tracking center 104.
Sensor devices 102 a-102 n may also be configured to opportunistically take advantage of third-party communication networks, such as WiFi networks. Sensor devices 102 a-102 n may sense and report third-party communication networks that may provide compatible communication channels during transport back to tracking center 104. If these channels are open for communication, sensor devices 102 a-102 n may use them if other preferred channels are not open or if they can be used to reduce power consumption and/or cost. If these networks belong to parties in system 100, a party with sufficient permission may view these networks and obtain appropriate credentials to enable the use of these networks. If the credentials are approved, the information regarding these networks may be sent and downloaded by sensor devices 102 a-102 n.
Databases 204-216 may act as a feedback mechanism for sensor devices 102 a-102 n. Based on data transmitted from sensor devices 102 a-102 n to the databases 204-216, information derived from sensor devices 102 a-102 n either alone or in combination with information from other sensor devices 102 a-102 n, information derived from third party systems, or historical information from sensor devices 102 a-102 n used in monitoring similar shipments (e.g. matching the origin and destination of a current shipment or matching the shipper and recipient), system 100 may transmit new or updated configuration parameters to sensor devices 102 a-102 n.
For example, if system 100 notices that the temperature reported by a sensor device 102 a is trending upward, system 100 may reconfigure sensor device 102 a to increase the rate and/or precision of temperature measurement and reporting based on the capabilities of sensor device 102 a. This ability to reconfigure sensor device 102 a is especially important if a party indicated that the temperature should be monitored and sensor device 102 a should provide information if the temperature is approaching a critical threshold. System 100 may also use historical measurements to detect anomalous events. For example, an average transit time from origin to a particular mid-point may be 15 hours with a standard deviation of an hour based on historical data. However, a particular shipment may taking longer (e.g. 17 hours). If this occurs, parties monitoring the shipment may be alerted even though the parties had not requested notification of such an event in advance. Historical data may also be used to determine unusual data, such as delays in movement that might be the result of an accident.
Sensor device 102 a may also transmit other data to system 100 even though this data might not be individually identifiable or actionable. For example, sensor device 102 a may report the number and type of observations they have made using standard or custom units of measure (e.g. observations per hour). This data may be transmitted in the same manner as other sensor data. However, the party that currently “owns” sensor device 102 a (e.g. the party that is authorized to control sensor device 102 a) may choose whether this data is stored with the other data. If it is, the party may, based on the party profile, make this data available to other parties both during shipment and afterwards as historical data.
Parties may record information about communication networks, such as WiFi or other wireless networks, for use by sensor device 102 a for sending and receiving monitoring and other system information. This information may include the location of wireless access points or other communication gateway devices, security credentials, certificates, and other security information necessary to use the network. This information may also include specifications regarding limits on the amount of data that can be transferred by parties over the network, the duration of use within certain timeframes, and other information necessary to ensure proper use.
For system 100 to report the information about a shipment, an association may be made between the sensor device 102 a that is monitoring the shipment and a shipment identifier. This would typically be done at the time the shipment is created when a tracking number for the shipment is generated and the package is ready to be sealed. This process may occur at I/O 330 where the party may input or select a unique sensor identifier and a shipment identifier. The sensor identifier can be any unique number such as the hardware ID, SIM card number, or the device phone number. The shipment identifier can be the tracking number, freight shipment number, customer order number, or any unique identifier for that package. A sensor device 102 a may also be associated with groups of individual shipments or consolidated packages traveling together under one shipment, such as a pallet. Likewise, multiple sensors devices 102 a-102 n may be associated to a single shipment if, for example, battery life of one of sensors devices 102 a-102 n is inadequate to cover the entire route.
The association may also take place prior to the time a shipment is ready to be sent. This may occur if the shipper wants to monitor conditions during manufacturing or assembly but shipment details for the product have not been determined yet. In this example, the association could be between at least one of sensors devices 102 a-102 n and the shipper's internal order identifier. After the order has been completed and prepared for shipment, the shipment number could be added to the shipment to complete the associations. A similar process may also occur when monitoring a product after the end of a shipment.
The shipper may also define a termination point of the shipment (e.g. at the recipient). When the shipment arrives at the termination point, the association between sensor device 102 a and the shipment identifier would cease. At this time, sensor device 102 a may be available to be associated with another shipment. One of ordinary skill would appreciate that the termination point may be negotiable between the shipper and recipient if the detailed information about the shipment is of interest to both parties.
After an association occurs, sensor device 102 a may report data on a periodic basis, and this data may be available to the appropriates parties via I/O 330. This data is presented as a set of information about that shipment and may include, for example, multiple environmental elements, location, progress of the shipment, and overall status. This information may be presented graphically, in table format, or via a map view.
The timeliness of the data is contingent both on network availability and latency. When cellular backhaul is the sole communication method, data availability may be impacted by network conditions. Short range communication options such as WiFi and Zigbee are also a possibility and may be used as either a primary transmission method or a secondary transmission method. When communication with a network is not possible, the data received by sensor device 102 a may be logged and stored in sensor device 102 a and transmitted when communication is available.
In addition to specified monitoring parameters (e.g. location, temperature, and humidity), sensor device 102 a may also transmit other data as part of the monitoring information. This data may be transmitted to system 100 via messages, and the message formats and receiving mechanisms may be specified by API 340 via I/O) 330. This data is stored as part of the monitoring information and is accessible to all parties having access to the shipment data.
The monitoring frequency may be determined by the party at the start of the shipment and may differ from the communication frequency. These frequencies may also be altered during the shipment if two-way communication with sensor device 102 a is available. During monitoring, if sensor device 102 a recognizes that its data storage space is limited, sensor device 102 a may be configured to cease monitoring, reduce the frequency of observation, begin overwriting past observations, calculate new observations that attempt to summarize the values of previous observations (e.g. the average temperature over multiple observations and location based on a set of latitude/longitude locations), or any combination.
Parties may also choose to view the information generated during the monitoring of a shipment using filters that limit or narrow the type and number of observations presented. For example, a party may choose to view information generated or calculated during a specific time period, or a party may chose to only view information that meets criteria such as a measurement being above a threshold value. Moreover, parties may also view lists of shipments, inventory, or other monitored goods using these same criteria. Parties may sort and filter these lists, which may provide for separate viewing of information regarding, for example, shipments that are in motion and shipments that have generated a notification.
Sensor device 102 a may also be used to observe the status of a package both before and after the shipping process. For example, sensor device 102 a may monitor the status of a package stored in a warehouse after manufacture or in a distribution center after delivery. This is useful for performing asset or inventory management. Monitoring a package after shipment may require additional configuration parameters, such as a delivery event notification via a third party API or manual intervention by the third party to determine when the monitoring period begins.
For example, a third party system may be a warehouse management system that tracks the arrival or departure of shipments from a facility. This information may be used as another source of shipment status (e.g. shipped, received) or as indication of location if GPS or other location sensors could not work due to building interference or other factors. Another example of a third party system may be a temperature monitoring system within a building that provides an network-accessible source of information regarding the temperature and humidity status of a room. This information may provide additional information (e.g. ambient environmental condition) or as a correlation factor in confirming the condition of a shipment.
When a third party system is used to provide monitoring information, this information must be correlated with other monitoring information and/or the shipment. For example, if the shipper uses a carrier with shipment tracking service, the tracking service may report information based on a shipment tracking number, rather than sensor device 102 a. Accordingly, when a third party system is used as a data source to provide additional information, the information may be transmitted to system 100 along with the shipment tracking number so that the information from the third party system may be correlated with the shipment.
As appreciated by those of skill in the art, the monitoring process may include an active notification of parties or systems in response to a change in the status of a shipment. Notifications may be generated by system 100 based on the information collected by the sensor devices 102 a-102 n or based on non-sensor activities. These notifications may include a notification of new data that may include a signal indicating an alert condition (e.g. change in light, temperature, humidity). The timely departure from pre-defined location may generate a geofence notification (e.g. movement in or out of a specified area) whereas a temperature sensor reading exceeding the defined thresholds may trigger an environmental alert. These messages may be transmitted to the appropriate party or parties using multiple methods depending on the severity of the message. Notifications may be presented to the appropriate party or parties via email, Short Message Service (SMS), display on I/O 330, and presentation to a third party system via mechanisms specified by the appropriate party.
When defining a shipment, a party may specify start, intermediate, and end points based on either static or dynamic criteria. For example, a recipient may define the origin of a shipment as an address or a geofence boundary enclosing a particular area. In addition, the recipient may define the destination as the region “30 minutes” from a delivery address, where the “30 minute” boundary would be determined during shipment by the speed of sensor device 102 a, a vehicle containing the shipment, or some other mechanism. Start, intermediate, and end points may be defined using simple criteria, such as a reading from a clock, or by combining multiple criteria in complex ways. For example, the start of a shipment may be described as the movement of sensor device 102 a after a certain time. The definition of any of these conditions may be specified as requiring all of them (a logical AND), any one of them (logical OR), as following a pre-defined sequence of occurrence, or as the lack of an occurrence within a specified time window (logical NOT). The intermediate points may represent logistics process steps, such as distribution or manufacturing locations, or time periods where particular readings are expected.
Arbitrary regions may be also be defined by applying restrictions on shipment data visibility. For example, a carrier may wish to restrict visibility to its shipping network. Therefore, the carrier may define regions covering its facilities or time periods covering modes of shipment. These regions may be defined independent of any particular shipment and may then be applied to individual shipments or set as a default setting applying to all shipments that meet certain criteria.
Environmental thresholds and location boundaries may also be stored on sensor device 102 a and would not require activity from system 100. Sensor device 102 a may also alter its monitoring or reporting activity based on sensor data or location information. Other triggers for alerts may include movement as detected by sensor device 102 a, a schedule as calculated by system 100, or carrier information.
Alert settings for an individual shipment may be applied at the beginning of shipment and may be modified remotely by the party or automatically adjusted based on conditions detected by sensor device 102 a. System 100 may use these alerts to control monitoring as well. For instance, if a shipment is received at a customs clearing location and requires additional confirmation, sensor device 102 a may detect that the shipment is not moving and may transmit that information to system 100. Based on this information, system 100 may re-configure the sensor device 102 a to reduce power consumption, thus extending the monitoring ability of sensor device 102 a in an effort to guarantee that sensor device 102 a can still fulfill monitoring requirements once the shipment passes customs. If other shipments have sensor devices 102 a-102 n that monitor the package through customs, historical monitoring data may be used to estimate the duration of this period. This may result in a more accurate reconfiguration and may provide interested parties with information to better describe the logistics process.
Alert notifications to parties and system 100 may be configured to require an acknowledgement of receipt. Notifications that are not acknowledged within a pre-configured timeframe may automatically transition their recipient to other parties or trigger other actions such as executing rules, generating other notifications, and sending messages to other systems.
Aside from monitoring data, parties can choose to store other unstructured data in data management database 210. This data may include documents representing agreements between parties, reports covering shipments, shipment documents such as bills or proof of delivery, sensor device 102 a proof of ownership, and other information useful in the logistics process. This data is subject to the same collaborative sharing access rules as other information stored in data management database 210.
The information gathered and calculated during the monitoring of shipments (e.g. historical data) may be available to the party that configured the monitoring parameters for a configurable period after the monitoring ends. The duration of the configurable period is set by a party in system 100 with sufficient administrative permission. If multiple parties are collaborating in the monitoring of a shipment, all parties can view and interact with this information for the defined period. At the end of the defined period, the information may be archived in archive database 216. When the information is archived, the shipment information and its associated data does not appear in any lists presented by I/O 330. Accordingly, archived data may be considered hidden from view. Parties may choose to prevent one or more shipments from being archived. In addition, parties may manually choose to archive shipments before system 100 would automatically archive the information or after having chosen previously to not archive the information. Archive database 216 may also aggregate all archived data for use in analysis by parties.
Historical data may also be used to create shipment “templates.” For example, when a shipper is configuring a shipment, the shipper may input numerous data elements (e.g. destination, carrier, etc.). However, some data elements may not be known until the shipping order is created (e.g. tracking number or date specific service levels like Saturday delivery). Accordingly, the shipment template, which is a named shipment configuration that has at least one of the shipment configuration elements input, may be missing data elements. Rather that spending the time and resources to recreate a shipment template, it may be easier to start with the configuration of a past, successful shipment and adjust or remove data elements as appropriate to adjust for other shipments that fit the intended profile. Alternatively, an automated process could cluster past, successful shipments based on configuration similarities to the shipment selected and assist the party by flagging the configuration values that are likely to require attention for a particular shipment.
By way of example, a shipper may notice that most shipments to a receiver are almost identical, and a data element corresponding to the carrier may depend on how quickly the receiver requires the shipment. Therefore, the shipper may create an shipment template based on a previous shipment, and the shipper may flag the carrier as unspecified in the shipment template so that the shipper may be required to set the carrier when he creates a new shipment.
According to another example, a shipper may have a new employee that may create a new shipment template for a shipment to a receiver. The employee may choose the wrong carrier. System 100 may access the historical data stored in archive database 216, and system 100 may notice that this shipment template is very similar to previous shipments, but the carrier has never been used before for this type of shipment. The shipper may then be prompted for confirmation that the carrier is correct. In response, the shipper may correct the mistake or, if he decides that the carrier is correct, he could confirm the selection.
In addition, access to historical data provides parties with the opportunity to detect deviations from specified monitoring parameters and to infer and suggest better parameters, such as more precise thresholds or more accurate location and time values. For example, a receiver may notice that a geofence describing the delivery destination encloses his entire distribution center, an area covering 15 acres. The historical data may indicate that the monitoring of the shipments ends within a much smaller area (e.g. several hundred square feet). The receiver may then update the parameters used to create new shipments with this smaller region. In addition, the carrier for these shipments may also realize that all shipments delivered to a particular address end up being delivering to a particular receiving dock location. The carrier may update their parameters to reflect this information.
Having access to historical data allows the opportunity to characterize recurring problems in similar shipments either by manual inspection or automatic data mining. For example, if a shipper is examining past shipments, he may discover that the percentage of packages above a predetermined temperature threshold increases during a certain time of year for ground shipments but not for express shipments. This information may alert the shipper to, for example, investigate if seasonal packaging with additional insulation is cheaper than simply switching the service level to express.
In addition to viewing party data, sensor device 102 a, and shipment data, parties may also have access to historical data stored in analysis database 212. Subject to access permissions, parties may analyze current and historical data. For example, parties may view an aggregate depiction all of their organization's shipments. When other organizations create and monitor shipments, this data is also available for analysis, although these organizations may specify that their data is not identifiable. This may result in analysis database 212 replacing organization names and other identifiers with unique, generic values.
In addition to using GPS technology, the parties may also use Assisted GPS (A-GPS). A-GPS enhances the startup performance of a GPS satellite-based positioning system. In order to take advantage of A-GPS services, a receiver needs to have a general idea of its current position and a confidence interval that describes the confident the receiver has in knowing its current position. This allows the A-GPS service to determine what satellites the GPS receiver should be able to see, thereby allowing the receiver to avoid wasting resources searching the spectrum for satellites that are not currently visible to its location. Whenever a sensor device 102 a sends a GPS position to an application, a cell base station that is associated with sensor device 102 a is recorded along with identifying information for any other cell base station that is “visible” to, that is within some of sensor device 102 a. Since the upper limit on cell size is known, it is possible for the application to calculate positions and confidence intervals for sensor device 102 a using historical position data.
In order for this to occur, the application may build a graph using previously seen cell sites as points (nodes) and creates edges (lines) between points that have been reported as visible to sensor device 102 a at the same time. For example, if sensor device 102 a is associated with cell A but can also see cells B, C, and D, then the points for A, B, C, and D are all connected to each other by graph edges. Once the graph is created, a table may be created by visiting each point in the graph and determining how many edges must be traveled from the given point to the nearest point that has had a valid GPS reading associated with it. The confidence interval may then be calculated by adding one half to the number of edges traversed and multiplying the result by the expected cell diameter. If multiple GPS associated points are equidistant from the current point, the GPS readings may be averaged.
When sensor device 102 a first connects to the application, the application may access the information based on the cell sites currently visible to th sensor device 102 a. If any of the visible cell sites have been previously seen and associated with a GPS reading, the application may use the calculated position and confidence interval as the seed position and confidence interval required by the A-GPS service.
FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart 400 of an exemplary method for tracking items, consistent with the principles of the present invention. Although the steps of the flowchart are described in a particular order, one skilled in the art will appreciate that these steps may be performed in a modified or different order, or that certain steps may be omitted. Further, one or more of the steps in FIG. 4 may be performed concurrently or in parallel.
One or more sensor devices 102 a-102 n are set up based on the requirements of a shipper (step 410). For example, a party may require specific programming (specifying, for example, the manner in which a device detects environmental conditions) for sensor devices 102 a-102 n that are to be associated with items to be sent to recipients. Alternatively, sensor devices 102 a-102 n may be configured based on default programming. A shipper who desires to send an item to a recipient may purchase or otherwise acquire one or more sensor devices 102 a-102 n to be attached to or placed in an item to be shipped. A shipper, for example, may be an item delivery company such as FedEx, a retailer, or a manufacturer that makes its own deliveries. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that it is possible that the customer and the shipper are the same entity.
Sensor devices 102 a-102 n may be activated and associated with the item(s) being shipped (step 420). For example, a courier or other employee of the shipper may turn on sensor device 102 a and place it in or attach it to packaging associated with a corresponding item. The courier or other employee may also associate sensor device 102 a with an item tracking number. For example, the courier or other employee may cause information to be stored at tracking center 104 that specifies that the item tracking number is currently assigned to an identification number for the item tracking device. Alternatively, no item tracking number is associated with sensor device 102 a.
As noted above with reference to FIG. 1, sensor device 102 a may include sensors that measure or detect one or more conditions such as location, temperature, light level, motion, pressure, humidity, gas level, airflow, vibrations, or other environmental conditions. Sensor device 102 a that includes such sensors may transmit the sensor data either periodically, on a specified schedule, or on demand. The data is then received by tracking center 104 (step 430).
When tracking center 104 receives sensor data, if that data is indicative of a predetermined condition, tracking center 104 may trigger an appropriate alarm (step 440). For example, suppose sensor device 102 a detects a temperature above a certain level. When sensor device 102 a reports the temperature level to tracking center 104, an alarm or alert may be triggered to bring this information to the attention of personnel associated with tracking center 104. Personnel may then monitor the situation more closely or take another appropriate action. Alternatively or additionally, the pertinent courier or other party may be notified of the alarm condition via sensor device 102 a.
Tracking center 104 may also alter the programming of sensor device 102 a if necessary or desired (step 450). In the example of sensor device 102 a detecting a temperature above a certain level, tracking center 104 may, in turn, alter the programming of sensor device 102 a to check the temperature more frequently. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that other parameters can be used as the basis for altering programming. Moreover, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that programming may be altered for reasons other than the detection of predetermined conditions, and that the programming of the aforementioned devices may be altered without the intervention of tracking center 104.
Finally, when an item reaches its final destination (e.g., delivered to the recipient), the courier removes and may deactivate sensor device 102 a (step 460).
As previously stated, a party may use system 100 to collaborate with other parties. Within system 100, an application may provide the platform to allow parties that participate in the shipment of a package to control access to information in an automated way to meet the needs of each of the parties. The application may be stored on a computer-readable medium at, for example, tracking center 104. For example, parties may want to receive information regarding location, temperature, light level, motion, pressure, humidity, gas level, airflow, vibrations, or other environmental conditions at desired intervals (e.g. every hour). In addition to receiving information during the actual shipping of the package, parties may also want to receive information regarding the integrity of the package before and/or after the package is shipped. For example, the shipping party may want to receive information regarding the integrity of the package while the package is located in a warehouse before shipment. Moreover, the receiving party may want to receive information regarding the integrity of the package while the package is located in a warehouse after shipment.
Accordingly, parties may want to receive information during the entire journey of the package (e.g. before, during, and after shipment). Therefore, a party to a journey of a package (e.g. the shipper) may need to determine what type of information it wants to share with the other parties to the journey (e.g. the receiver). The parties may determine this information by negotiation with the other parties. Based on the negotiation, the parties may determine how the information is collected and what information is collected. The parties may also determine what information is available to them and what information is available to the other parties.
This agreement may be viewed as a collection of three, separate agreements that are part of the overall agreement. These three, separate agreements may be viewed as three layers. In the top layer, the agreement may contain constraints that generally cannot be negotiated by the parties. These constraints may be based on hardware, software, and/or legal constraints. Legal constraints may include, for example, information based on requirements of different countries and/or regions of the world. The restraints cannot change and may be viewed as a central base logistic system agreement that provides the parties with the ability to use the application.
The second layer may contain information sharing agreements between the parties. These agreements provide the ability for certain types of information to flow between the parties. The information sharing agreements are explained in greater detail below. The third layer may contain the journey agreement. This agreement may provide templates for the journey, such as filter, reporting, and/or alerts for a specific package (e.g. a pharmaceutical product). These three layers of agreements are all part of an overall agreement that governs how information is collected, reported, and shared with the parties.
In order to provide the “opt-in” ability, the parties may first determine their profiles. These profiles may be called a Sensor Information Sharing Profile (SISP), and the SISP may represent the information each party may share with the other parties in a journey. A party may create one or more than one SISP based on the role of the party in the journey (e.g. shipper, transporter, or receiver). In addition to creating one or more than one SISP for each role, a party may create more than one SISP for the same role (e.g. shipper). The SISP is used to create an Information Sharing Agreement (ISA). The ISA is contained within the second layer.
An SISP may be viewed as a default setting that specifies information, such as the conditions or circumstances that information is shared with other parties. This information may include both conditional settings and information availability settings. Examples of conditional settings may be origin region, destination region, the mode of transportation (e.g. land, sea, and/or air), container, and duration. Examples of information availability settings may be location, temperature, light level, motion, pressure, humidity, gas level, airflow, vibrations, or other environmental conditions. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that other parameters can be used as the basis for providing conditional settings and information availability settings.
For example, the sending party may have an SISP created for land shipments, air shipments, and sea shipments. In addition, a receiving party may also have an SISP created for land shipments, air shipments, and sea shipments. Moreover, the parties may also have more than one SISP created for land, air, and/or sea shipments. Within each SISP, each party may also determine other settings listed above. When each party determines the settings for each SISP, each party may indicate if each setting is required.
For example, a shipper may want to provide only location and temperature information to the receiver. However, while the shipper may want to provide location and temperature information, the shipper may agree to also provide humidity information. Accordingly, providing humidity information is not required. A setting that is not required may be viewed as an allowed setting. Therefore, while the shipper may want to provide only location and temperature information, the shipper may agree to provide humidity information. Therefore, the setting selected by the shipper to provide humidity information is an allowed, but not required, setting.
Conversely, the shipper may want to only provide location and temperature information. However, the receiver may want to receive location, temperature, and humidity information, and the receiver may indicate that humidity temperature information is a required setting. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that any party in the journey may create required settings in that party's one or more SISPs.
While an ISA may be generated using an SISP of each party, and SISP is not required. For example, one or more of the parties to a journey may not have an SISP. According to this example, an ISA could not be automatically created because one or more of the parties does not have an SISP. However, the parties may still negotiate the terms of the journey and create a corresponding ISA as described above.
Based on the settings contained in the SISP(s) of the each party, the SISP(s) may contain similar settings or may contain one or more different settings. If all settings match, there is no conflict between the SISP(s) of the each party. Therefore, an ISA may be automatically generated between the parties.
If one or more of the settings of the SISP(s) of the parties are not similar, a conflict exists, and an ISA cannot be automatically created. For example, a shipper of a package may indicate that it does not want to provide humidity information. This setting may be considered a required setting. However, the receiver may want to receive humidity information. This setting may also be considered a required setting. Therefore, a conflict exists, and the ISA cannot be automatically created. Because each party to the journey may have more than one SISP with different required settings, it may be difficult for the parties to determine which SISP to use to begin the negotiation process.
For example, if each SISP contains twenty settings, and each company has five SISPs, the conflicts between SISPs may vary depending on the different combinations. Accordingly, the application may use an algorithm to determine which SISP of each party to use to begin the negotiation process.
The algorithm may first determine the number of total matches. For example, if the SISP(s) of each party contains twenty settings, the algorithm may compare each SISP of each party to determine the SISP of each party that has the most settings is common. These SISPs may be viewed as the SISPs with the highest number of matches.
Next, the algorithm may determine a popularity. The popularity corresponds to the number of previously created ISAs for each SISP. As stated above, each party may create one or more SISP. Each SISP may be used to create one or more ISAs. Therefore, the algorithm may determine the number of ISA(s) that have been previously created for each SISP.
Finally, the algorithm may determine a date that was last utilized in an ISA that was part of a journey. Based on these four steps, the algorithm may determine the best SISP match.
After the best SISP match is determined for each of the parties, the parties may view the SISP from each other party that the algorithm determines is the best match to create the ISA. Based on the number of different setting requirements for each SISP, each party may need to negotiate with the other one or more parties to agree on an ISA. This negotiation may include updating the corresponding SISP or creating a new SISP so each party can agree on an ISA. If each party to a journey does not agree, an ISA cannot be created, and the journey cannot occur.
If the parties do agree to modify their SISP or create a new SISP, an ISA may be created. At this time, the parties seeking to “opt-in” to the agreement may negotiate changes to the conflicting setting(s). For example, if the shipper indicates that not reporting humidity information is a required setting, and the receiver indicates that humidity information is a required setting, the two parties may agree to report humidity information. Therefore, the shipper SISP that indicates that not reporting humidity information minutes is a required setting may be updated to indicate that reporting humidity information is not required, or allowed. One of ordinary skill would appreciate that one or more of the parties to a journey may modify its existing SISP or may create a new SISP based on the conflicts.
After each party to the journey agrees on each setting of its SISP, an ISA may be created. The ISA is a collection of two or more SISPs, and it sets the legal terms of the information that can be viewed across parties. Upon creation of the ISA, each party may receive and view the agreed information during the agreed interval(s).
The creation and agreement of an ISA occurs at the second layer of the overall agreement. At the third level, the parties may agree on a specific journey agreement. For example, the ISA in the second layer may indicate the rights for certain types of information to flow between parties (e.g. conditional settings, information availability settings, etc.). In the journey layer, corresponding to the third layer, the parties may determine templates for a specific journey. For example, if the shipper agrees to provide the receiver with temperature, light, and humidity information, the receiver may indicate that it wants to receive this information every thirty minutes. The shipper may agree to this reporting interval, or the shipper may propose a different reporting interval (e.g. every hour). One of ordinary would appreciate that each party may agree on numerous different settings as stated above and numerous different reporting intervals.
While the above example provides the ability for the parties to indicate specific parameters for a journey, the application may also provide these parameters within the SISP of each party. Therefore, if each party agrees to the parameters, and an ISA is created, the parties may create a journey without determining specific templates for the journey because this information is already contained in the agreed upon ISA.
In addition, it is possible for two or parties to agree and create and ISA, but not agree on the template for the journey. For example, if a receiver is receiving a medical device, the receiver may want to receive location information every thirty minutes during transportation until the device is within five miles of the receiver. At this time, the receiver may want to receive real-time location information. However, if the ISA that the receiver and shipper agreed upon does not provide for real-time location information reporting, the receiver may not be able to receive this location information. Accordingly, even though the parties agreed to an ISA, the journey template conflicts with the ISA. This conflict may be viewed as “out-of-bounds.” If desired information is “out-of-bounds” from the ISA (e.g. reporting location information real-time), the parties of the journey may need to create a new ISA that allows for real-time location information reporting. If the shipper agrees to provide real-time location information within five miles of the receiver location, the parties may agree to a new ISA. If the shipper does not agree to provide real-time location information within five miles of the receiver location, a new ISA will not be created and the journey will not occur.
If the parties agree to create a new ISA, the parties may agree on each of the parameters of the journey. Upon agreement, the parties have now agreed to the agreements on each of the three layers. Therefore, the journey of the package may begin at a desired time, and each of the parties to the agreement have agreed to “opt-in” to the agreement and they may receive the agreed upon information during to the journey of the package.
During a journey, the information received and transmitted to the authenticated parties of the agreement may be stored in data management database 210 as stated above. As the information is stored in data management database 210, an application, that may be stored on a computer-readable medium at, for example, tracking center 104, may also present this information to the parties as a journey document related to the journey. As the information regarding the journey is updated, journey document objects related to each piece of information may be versioned to show an audit trail of any changes that may have been made as the package continues along the journey.
Journey document objects may include documentation that describes the object being shipped, the shipping transaction, the shipper, the carrier, and the receiver. In addition, the journey document may be in the form of an imaged journey document, electronically provided shipping information, and historical shipment data. Changes to the journey document may be made based on the role (e.g. shipper, carrier, receiver) and authorization of the party in the journey.
As a party uses the application over time, the application may monitor previous journey documents and may ensure that previous errors are not duplicated. The application may alert the party of previous errors or possible errors as described above. Accordingly, the system may monitor previous errors and create dynamic communities to improve journey documents.
While certain features and embodiments of the invention have been described, other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the embodiments of the invention disclosed herein. Furthermore, although aspects of embodiments of the present invention have been described as being associated with data stored in memory and other storage mediums, one skilled in the art will appreciate that these aspects can also be stored on or read from other types of computer-readable media, such as secondary storage devices, like hard disks, floppy disks, or a CD-ROM, or other forms of RAM or ROM. Further, the steps of the disclosed methods may be modified in various ways, including by reordering steps and/or inserting or deleting steps, without departing from the principles of the invention.
It is intended, therefore, that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims and their full scope of equivalents.
restricting the party from accessing the received sensor information based on the analyzed rules, wherein the restricting comprises the step of reporting the received sensor information to the party at a level of specificity that is less than a level of specificity of sensor information collected by a sensor associated with the one or more shipments.
reporting the received sensor information to the party at a frequency lower than collected by a sensor associated with the one or more shipments.
and the received sensor information is reported to the party at a city-level.
preventing the party from accessing the received sensor information when one or more sensors associated with the one or more shipments is at a predetermined location.
preventing the party from accessing the received sensor information at a predetermined time.
reporting the received sensor information to the party after a predetermined time delay.
reporting the received sensor information to the party when a sensor associated with the one or more shipments is within a predetermined boundary relative to the delivery location of the one or more shipments.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the predetermined boundary is defined as either a predetermined distance relative to the delivery location or as a predetermined time to reach the delivery location.
preventing the party from accessing the received sensor information when a sensor associated with the one or more shipments is outside of a predetermined boundary relative to the originating location of the one or more shipments.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the predetermined boundary is defined as either a predetermined distance relative to the originating location or as a predetermined time away from the originating location.
reconfiguring one or more sensor devices associated with the one or more shipments to modify the frequency or precision of the received sensor information, wherein the reconfiguring occurs in response to an alert created by a reading of the sensor information.
19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the predetermined boundary is defined as either a predetermined distance relative to the delivery location or as a predetermined time to reach the delivery location.
21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the predetermined boundary is defined as either a predetermined distance relative to the originating location or as a predetermined time away from the originating location.
restrict the party from accessing the received sensor information based on the analyzed rules, and report the received sensor information to the party at a level of specificity that is less than a level of specificity of sensor information collected by a sensor associated with the one or more shipments.
report the received sensor information to the party at a frequency lower than collected by a sensor associated with the one or more shipments.
report the received sensor information to the party at a city-level.
prevent the party from accessing the received sensor information when one or more sensors associated with the one or more shipments is at a predetermined location.
prevent the party from accessing the received sensor information at a predetermined time.
report the received sensor information to the party after a predetermined time delay.
report the received sensor information to the party when a sensor associated with the one or more shipments is within a predetermined boundary relative to the delivery location of the one or more shipments.
30. The tracking center of claim 29, wherein the predetermined boundary is defined as either a predetermined distance relative to the delivery location or as a predetermined time to reach the delivery location.
prevent the party from accessing the received sensor information when a sensor associated with the one or more shipments is outside of a predetermined boundary relative to the originating location of the one or more shipments.
32. The tracking center of claim 31, wherein the predetermined boundary is defined as either a predetermined distance relative to the originating location or as a predetermined time away from the originating location.
reconfigure one or more sensor devices associated with the one or more shipments to modify the frequency or precision of the received sensor information, wherein the reconfiguring occurs in response to an alert created by a reading of the sensor information.
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The question of whether voters should be required to present an acceptable form of identification (ID) when casting a ballot at a federal election has persisted, notwithstanding quite exhaustive debate and deliberation in numerous forums.
discourage attempts by a voter to vote more than once.
In 2001, in its report User friendly, not abuser friendly: Report of the inquiry into the integrity of the electoral roll, the Joint Standing Committee of Electoral Matters (JSCEM) concluded that that the introduction of voter identification was not warranted as a measure to deter fraud.
But while some consider that the level of alleged electoral fraud is minuscule, others have a much more pessimistic view.
The report of the JSCEM Inquiry into the conduct of the 2001 Federal election addressed proof-of-identity requirements, but focussed on initial enrolment or re-enrolment, not the requirement to produce ID in the normal course of casting a ballot at a polling booth. The Committee recommended ‘that people making a first-time enrolment, those seeking re-enrolment, and those transferring their enrolment details, first be required to provide proof of identity and address, via a driver’s licence or similar’.
But evidence to that same JSCEM inquiry highlighted problems with the ready availability of ID among people who are extremely disadvantaged or living in Indigenous communities. Others argued that the alleged difficulties of producing ID are over stated, citing the numbers that attend large sports clubs or present ID to access video stores.
Australians have a history of resistance to the adoption of any kind of universal ID card that can be legally required to be shown in order to access government services or to confirm one’s identity. The arguments against such a card are broadly couched in terms of personal privacy and an aversion to a ‘surveillance state’.
The question of whether voters should be required to present an acceptable form of identification (ID) when casting a ballot at a federal election has persisted, notwithstanding quite exhaustive debate and deliberation in numerous forums. In particular, the issue has been raised at many hearings of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) and was formally addressed by that Committee in its report User friendly, not abuser friendly: Report of the inquiry into the integrity of the electoral roll in 2001.
The report did not recommend the introduction of voter ID at polling places, although it did recommend that the gender and date of birth of electors be included on the Certified Lists of Voters for elections.
possible delays in the delivery of election results because of an increase in the level of declaration voting.
JSCEM concluded that ‘the introduction of voter identification is not warranted as a measure to deter fraud’. During the inquiry, the then Liberal Party director, Lynton Crosby, said that within the Party there were ‘mixed views about the extent to which you should have voter ID on polling day. But there is unanimity within our party on the issue of enrolment, because that is the starting point’. In 2002, the ACT Liberal Party proposed that voters be forced to show identification at polling booths. Various Liberal Party MPs and branches had been pushing for compulsory voter ID for several years.
The report of the JSCEM Inquiry into the conduct of the 2001 Federal election—initiated by the Special Minister of State, Senator Eric Abetz—also addressed proof of identity requirements, but focused on initial enrolment or re-enrolment, not the requirement to produce ID in the normal course of casting a ballot at a polling booth. The Committee recommended ‘that people making a first-time enrolment, those seeking re-enrolment, and those transferring their enrolment details, first be required to provide proof of identity and address, via a driver’s licence or similar’. JSCEM also recommended that ‘similar proof of identity and address requirements be applied to voters making a provisional vote’.
They all have to produce ID, and they have no problem with that. Frankly I think it is insulting and patronising to socially disadvantaged people to say that they are not capable of producing identification.
To enrol as a voter now you fill in a form from a post office or online, either as yourself or any number of phantoms allegedly living at your or a mythical address... Later, when votes are counted, no one knows if they come from a real or a non-existent person voting once or multiple times. … [It] doesn't take ‘organised conspiracy’ to change a result. A handful of votes will do, as evidenced in the last election.
The most obvious and simplest step to stem any ‘irregularities’—a euphemism beloved of the AEC—is to require that ID be shown before voting. … This, along with an electronic roll, which allows a name to be erased from all rolls once a person has voted, should be front-and-centre for the AEC. … First things first.
This Research Paper surveys the arguments and numerous parliamentary inquiries that have addressed the question of the integrity of Australia’s electoral system and in particular whether a voter ID scheme is necessary to ensure its efficacy.
Under the existing Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 it is compulsory for Australian citizens aged 18 years or older, and who have lived at the same address for a month, to register their name and address on the electoral roll. Enrolment can be made online or by completing a form available from the Australian Electoral Commission.
To enrol, citizens need to provide evidence of identity: a driver's licence, Australian passport number or have someone who is already on the roll to confirm the enrolee’s identity.
While it is commonly understood that voting is compulsory for Australian citizens, in practice you are required only to present yourself at a voting booth and have your name marked off the roll. Because casting a ballot is done in secret, it is impossible to tell in a particular case whether a valid vote has actually been cast. A voter may have deposited a blank ballot paper in the box, for example.
You are issued a declaration vote if your name and/or address details cannot be found on the certified list used at the polling place at which you have come to vote, or if your name has already been marked as having voted. The envelope used to seal your ballot papers is called a declaration vote envelope. Your declaration vote ballot papers are inserted into the envelope and forwarded to the division in which you are claiming enrolment. The envelope has a counterfoil which is removed and filed in a 'declaration records' folder. This is a record that you voted at that particular polling place. You 'declare' that you are entitled to vote by signing the envelope.
Thus, under present legislation, a person is not required to show ID in order to cast a ballot at a Federal election.
A Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on the Australia Card was set up in December 1985. The Committee reported in May 1986, and did not recommend the introduction of the card. Instead, the Committee favoured the development of a tax file number (TFN), with upgraded integrity from that being used at the time. It was recommended that the information be available for use only by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and the Department of Social Security (DSS).
The Government however decided to proceed with the proposal for an Australia Card and during 1986 twice presented legislation which was rejected by the Senate, where the Government did not have a majority. After it was returned to power in the 1987 election, the Government introduced the legislation again.
Arguably, this action became for the general public the first major rallying point against the introduction of computer technology which was seen as potentially threatening to their privacy. Public meetings and demonstrations consistently drew crowds and opposition to the proposal was expressed by people from across the political spectrum.
The proposal for an Australia Card was subsequently dropped by the Government because of a technical flaw in the legislation. The Government turned instead to the alternative TFN proposal in its original limited form as recommended by the Parliamentary Committee.
When Prime Minister John Howard briefly revived the idea of an ID card in 2006 as part of a suite of anti-terrorism measures—prompted by the ‘9/11’ attacks and the Bali bombings—the Cabinet would not agree. Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said that a national ID ‘could increase the risk of fraud because only one document would need to be counterfeited to establish identity’.
There is currently no requirement for voters to produce ID in order to vote at a Federal election, but the issue of ID for the purposes of casting a ballot in a Federal election was canvassed in a 2009 Rudd Government Green Paper on electoral reform.
If there has been any escalation of concern about electoral fraud it has possibly arisen from a greater community awareness of identity theft and its consequences. Attorney-General’s Department surveys into issues relating to identity theft show it is now one of the most prevalent crime types in Australia. The latest Identity Crime Survey conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) in 2013 found that 9.4 per cent of respondents reported having their personal information stolen or misused in the previous 12 months, with 21 per cent reporting they were a victim at some point in their life.
JSCEM is the prime parliamentary vehicle for deliberations about, and the examination of, Australia’s electoral arrangements and outcomes—including potential electoral fraud. JSCEM reports invariably reflect the views of the party that holds a majority on the Committee. It is usual for the party who is in opposition to provide a dissenting report that stresses, for example, their party’s views on the relevance and seriousness of allegations of electoral fraud, and that seeks to repudiate the findings and conclusions of the main Committee report—see examples below.
Since 2001, Mrs Bronwyn Bishop MP—the current Speaker of the House of Representatives—has featured prominently in debates about the adequacy, integrity and robustness of the electoral roll: ‘If you can't trust the roll, you can't have a properly acting democracy’. Her criticism has extended to the AEC as a whole: ‘I am talking about the culture of the AEC. It has always been a problem, this refusal to acknowledge fraud’. Mrs Bishop is also a critic of the AEC's Federal Direct Enrolment and Update program that uses Australian Tax Office and other official sources of data to place people on the roll.
Whilst to date the Committee has had no evidence to indicate there has been widespread electoral fraud, the Committee believes that rectifying electoral fraud after it has occurred and has compromised the democratic process is not a responsible or sensible proposition. While to date the Committee has not received any evidence of widespread or large-scale electoral fraud, it is considered preferable to take steps to prevent fraud occurring in the first place.
The straw man has been used to create and perpetuate an erroneous view that electoral fraud is commonplace and to overstate its potential effects… [I]t can be clearly stated, in relation to false identities, that there has never been any evidence of widespread or organised enrolment fraud in Australia. … Allegations of multiple voting at federal elections are not new and have been used over the years as something of a ‘bogeyman’ to support the supposed need for a significant tightening of laws covering enrolment and voting processes..
While Opposition members continue to rely on the spectre of electoral fraud to introduce and maintain restrictive enrolment and voting provisions, Government members value the traditionally inclusive nature of our electoral legislation. There should be no doubt that the AEC treats fraud and potential fraud cases with due and diligent attention.
The Opposition Committee members believe that the problems experienced at the 2010 election show there is a definite need to establish a fraud squad as part of the Australian Electoral Commission which would have the power to investigate and prepare briefs for the Department of Public Prosecutions to prosecute cases of fraudulent voting.
A number of Committee members note that the AEC provided figures which outlined there were 20, 633 cases of multiple voting in 2007, 14, 402 cases in 2004 and 16, 949 cases in 2001. Whilst many of these cases could have been genuine mistakes, it does show that multiple voting is a serious problem that has not been sufficiently reviewed by the Committee.
The AEC claims that these cases resulted in no prosecutions, although further advice from the Parliamentary Library confirms that there were in fact three prosecutions. The Parliamentary Library provided the Opposition members with advice that the Australian Federal Police cited a lack of resources for its inability to make successful prosecutions.
These include: that an individual included on the roll meets the legislative qualifications for entitlement to enrolment; that an individual is enrolled accurately at the address for which they are entitled; that the information provided by an individual or an organisation is processed correctly and completely on the roll, and that the address is correctly and completely described, classified and aligned; that the electoral roll is secure from unauthorised access and tampering; and that the electoral roll is complete, in that all individuals who are entitled to enrolment are enrolled. Together these criteria provide a means of assessing the overall integrity of the roll.
[O]verall, the Australian electoral roll is one of high integrity, and that it can be relied on for electoral purposes. We concluded that the AEC is managing the electoral roll effectively. AEC policies and procedures can provide an electoral roll that is accurate, complete, valid and secure. In particular, the AEC has mechanisms in place to provide assurance that the names and addresses on the electoral roll are legitimate and valid; and that people who are eligible to vote are registered properly.
The report found roll accuracy to be 96 per cent; completeness ‘likely to be 95 per cent’; and that ‘internal AEC procedures to ensure roll security and to prevent tampering with roll data were robust and effective’. The follow-up audit in 2004 recommended the development of a strategic plan for continuous roll update—an initiative which is now in place.
The AEC estimates that approximately 1.5 million entitled Australian citizens are not enrolled. The evidence suggests that as each year passes by the number of unenrolled citizens will continue to increase. Significantly, many of these are people who were enrolled in the past; indeed, the AEC estimates that over 600,000 of the 1.5 million unenrolled have been enrolled before and could have voted.
Multiple voting: how serious a problem?
multiple voting causes loss of confidence in public institutions.
But even in countries like Australia, which have low ID thresholds, ‘multiple voting in the same name … is already known to be a phenomenon of marginal importance, rarely undertaken with fraudulent intent’. Prominent election analyst Antony Green has concluded that ‘multiple voting is very limited in state elections’.
The literature on declining civic confidence and political engagement in western democracies highlights a range of potential causes that do not usually include voter fraud.
To the extent that some people express a lack of confidence in the electoral system, blame has been directed by some electoral commissioners at ‘misinformation which is peddled in the media and … to lack of information as to the checks and balances which do exist. … [G]enerally speaking, it is the public’s perception rather than the reality which influences its opinion’.
Since the 1980s, allegations of widespread multiple voting and related fraudulent voter activity in federal and state elections have been made by organisations such as the H.S. Chapman Society and its founder, Dr Amy McGrath OAM … These allegations often rest on the potential for fraud, rather than actual evidence of fraud.
It is true that cases of multiple voting emerge regularly at every Federal election. But immediately following polling day, each identical certified list of voters in each Division is electronically scanned to read the marks against the names on the list, in order to generate reports of multiple marks against names, and reports of no marks against names, together with details identifying the issuing location of the certified list. Where a possible breach of the Electoral Act comes to the attention of the AEC, the matter is referred to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for investigation, and a brief of evidence may be referred to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for decision on whether a prosecution against the alleged offender should be instituted in accordance with the Prosecution Policy of the Commonwealth.
All cases of detected multiple voting are examined by the AEC in each Division after the election, and where it appears that the level of multiple voting might have exceeded the winning margin for the elected candidate, the AEC considers disputing the election result by petition to the Court of Disputed Returns under section 357 of the Act.
The penalty for casting more than once in the same election contrary to section 339 (A) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, is 10 penalty units ($1100). Whereas , the penalty for a person found guilty of intentionally voting more than once in the same election contrary to section 339 (C) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, is 60 penalty units ($6600) or imprisonment for 12 months, or both.
These provisions reflect the original requirement in section 30 of the Constitution that, in choosing members of the House of Representatives, each elector shall vote only once. The original section 30 was in effect ‘until the Parliament otherwise provides’, which occurred with the enactment of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918.
The following table summarises the figures on apparent multiple voting for elections from 1993 to 2010, and how these matters have been dealt with by the Australian Federal Police and other relevant authorities.
Source: R Smith, Multiple voting and voter identification, February 2014, New South Wales Electoral Commission, accessed 5 May 2014.
In the 2010 election, of the 14,086,869 electors eligible to vote, 1,454 electors across Australia (or 0.01 per cent) admitted to voting more than once, and of those, over 80 per cent were either aged persons, new electors confused about the voting process, or those with language difficulties.
Nineteen cases were referred to the AFP for further investigation. In three cases the AFP’s initial review indicated no further action. The AFP conducted a Day of Action on 12 May 2011 to obtain further information from the remaining 16 apparent multiple voters.
Eleven voters denied voting more than once. In the absence of any further corroborating evidence, the AFP decided to take no further action. In one case, the AFP could not contact the voter after several attempts, and decided to take no further action. Four voters admitted voting more than once. Due to the related disabilities of one person, the AFP decided that it was not appropriate to continue the matter. The three remaining voters that admitted to voting more than once were issued with a formal Police Caution.
If multiple voting is strongly associated with problems comprehending English, then perhaps the approach taken to dealing with multiple voting should focus on education campaigns in community languages, rather than voter identification measures. Such education programs may work with varying degrees of success but, in contrast to tighter voter identification measures, they will not have the potential to make it harder for honest citizens to access the ballot.
Multiple voting has been a consistent area of ... discussion for electoral management bodies across the world. This is understandable: a voter's faith in and engagement with the electoral system rests on an assurance that each person in a polling place has the same opportunity but only the same opportunity to vote.
AEC analysis indicates that levels of multiple voting have not had an impact on declared outcomes, but in some ways this misses the point. Multiple voting contravenes the universally accepted standard of one person, one vote. I formed the view that previously the AEC may have been exercising discretion that was at the outer edge of our authority in this matter. … We have implemented a new way of working with the AFP and have begun the process whereby we will provide them with all cases from the 2013 federal election where an elector admitted multiple voting … and all cases where the elector has not responded or not provided adequate evidence in response to our inquiries. Currently [May 2014] that is 6086.
The outcomes of the AFP investigations will be available in due course. There are two different penalties for multiple voting because there are two different offences. Section 339 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act contains a strict liability offence for a person who votes more than once. The penalty for that is 10 penalty units. (A penalty unit is $170 in 2014). There is also a more serious offence where a person is guilty of intentionally voting more than once in the same election. The offence incurs 60 penalty units or imprisonment for 12 months or both.
The problem of course is that voter ID is not going to stop multiple voting because most of what I will call fraudulent multiple voting, which is, I would argue, a minority of cases but it has happened. There was a gentleman in Sydney some years back who voted 17 times and he used to do it all the time. He died before the AEC could prosecute him so we never got that into the courts. The problem with that of course is most of these people are doing it themselves. They are going from one polling place to another and multiple voting but they are doing it in their own name so voter ID is not going to catch that. It will catch personation.
Late last year, Queensland was very keen to have photo ID. When the legislation finally hit the parliament, it was not photo ID; it was any form of identification. So you can bring along a gas bill. It would be very interesting… to find out why the government there, which started off very keen on photo ID, did not end up with photo ID.
Are you going to make the problem worse or are you going to create other problems? That is what is in the literature about voter ID. For example, take the recent case of the UK Electoral Commission's report on voter fraud. … There is no evidence in the report that voter ID was going to solve the problem they identified.
After the last Queensland election there was an unusual result. It was expected to result one way and it was narrowly the other. The defeated candidate took an action in the Supreme Court of Queensland on the grounds of multiple voting. … The farrago of fantasy that was in the media and elsewhere … was astounding. The dead were voting, people were voting from football grounds and the electoral roll was so dirty that it could not be relied on. The Electoral Commission was so incompetent that it probably should have been imprisoned.
When we got into the court, what did the barrister for the plaintiff argue? … He said, 'There are some technical problems.' In the end, the judge examined things … and they got it down to 33 apparent cases of multiple voting. The judge, with assistance from counsel, went through each one of them. Three people had multiple voted. Guess where their place of living was? A nursing home. How did they multiple vote?
But such reassurances still fail to convince some voters that Australia’s electoral arrangements are sound.
In February 2014, the NSW Electoral Commission published a research report, Multiple Voting and Voter Identification: A research report prepared for the New South Wales Electoral Commission.
multiple voting is strongly related to demographic factors such as fluency in English.
Countries around the world are evenly divided between automatic voter registration systems and voter application registration systems. Most countries do now use some form of documentary voter identification system. The range of acceptable documents varies widely, from universal national identification cards to a range of non-photo documents. Many countries with documentary identification systems also allow voters to be vouched for by witnesses.
Most multiple voting appears to be ‘the accidental result of socio-economic factors such as poor language skills, rather than a fraudulent strategy designed to win seats’.
There is no evidence of the busloads of party supporters cruising from polling place to polling place and repeatedly voting in the same names. There is no evidence that multiple voting steals seats in New South Wales (or other Australian jurisdictions). These conclusions are consistent with the available evidence from other countries, including the United States.
The Electoral Commission in the United Kingdom recently acknowledged that there was no evidence of significant multiple voting occurring, but suggested that ‘voter identification laws should be introduced nonetheless because of alleged public fears that it is widespread’.
Does voter ID enhance the integrity of the elections?
Jennifer Rayner—a researcher based at the ANU’s Centre for the Study of Australian Politics—has argued that, notwithstanding that the Australian Electoral Commission investigated almost 2,000 cases of multiple voting after the 2013 poll, Australia does not need a voter to show ID at a polling place.
Holding court with reporters recently, [PUP’s Clive] Palmer mocked the supposed insecurity of Australia’s voting system, saying, ‘to board a flight you need ID, but not to exercise your democratic rights’. These proponents of voter ID make it sound as though this is a quick and easy fix for a gaping security flaw: a no-brainer reform that will bring voting into line with banking or flying to Bali. But as with so many aspects of public administration, the reality is much more complicated than that.
In European countries it is common practice that citizens are issued with state-sponsored ID cards which they are expected to carry with them at all times to facilitate a range of financial and official transactions. Australia does not operate such a mandated ID system.
In recent decades … the international trend has been towards tighter requirements, particularly in the United States, where voter ID has become a topic of heated political debate. These US state laws differ in whether they require photo or non-photo ID, and how strictly they are enforced by officials at booths. But there is a growing body of evidence showing that, overall, the tighter ID rules are acting to discourage and disenfranchise some voters.
Other countries that do not require identification include Denmark, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom (with the exception of Northern Ireland). In Norway and the Netherlands, voters are required to present identification only if it is requested by a poll worker. In Switzerland, every registered voter is sent a registration card prior to an election, and if the voter brings their registration card to the polling place, no additional identification is needed.
The AEC’s revelations about multiple voting at the 2013 federal election confirm that a very small number of ballots were improperly cast; on that basis we can probably assume that there are a handful of voters who do the wrong thing at every federal election. But to extrapolate from that to the idea of widespread voter fraud is to make a conceptual leap that is simply not supported by the evidence.
Since 1983, when most of the current electoral rules and processes were introduced, there has never been an instance where alleged or proven voter fraud led to the overturning of a declared seat result. That is to say, in the past thirty years, neither the AEC nor any party or candidate has ever identified enough voting discrepancies to successfully pursue a case through the Court of Disputed Returns.
Our system may not entirely prevent improper voting, but it is well set up to detect it and ensure that it does not affect the actual outcome –surely the true metric by which electoral integrity should be judged.
Experiences in countries where voter identification is required vary. In the United States of America, voter ID laws have become a political flashpoint. In the past few years some 34 states—mostly Republican—have either enacted or toughened voter ID laws. Supporters say the laws are needed to combat voter fraud, while critics see them as a tactic to disenfranchise voters.
It has also been noted that the requirement for identification has the potential to sway election results in some swing states. On 5 August 2012, the Financial Times reported that, in the 2012 presidential election, more than 750,000 registered voters in Pennsylvania did not have the required forms of identification and were prevented from voting. In the previous presidential race in 2008 President Barack Obama had won Pennsylvania by only 600,000 votes.
There is little or no evidence … that there is a problem. A comprehensive study of voter fraud by the non-partisan Brennan Center at New York University found only a tiny number of documented cases, representing an infinitesimal proportion of votes cast (e.g. 0.0002 in New Jersey and 0.000009 in New York).
The Brennan Center did find, however, that one in ten otherwise eligible American voters do not possess a government-issued photo ID. The problem is particularly acute for poor people, elderly people, black people and Latinos, students and disabled people. In other words, these laws affect the people most likely to vote for Democrats rather than for Republicans.
The argument by the Pennsylvania law’s proponents that it has nothing to do with partisan politics took a blow last month when Mike Turzai, the majority leader of the state’s House of Representatives, addressed a group of fellow state Republicans. Listing the accomplishments of the Republican-controlled legislature, he said, ‘Voter ID—which is going to allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania—done’.
At the 2013 Australian Federal election the AEC trialled electronic certified lists (ECLs) at some booths around Australia. These have the capacity to operate from a shared, centralised copy of the electoral roll, and therefore provide up-to-date accounting of who has voted throughout the day. The trial involved early polling centres and mobile polling teams around the country, ranging from the super booth at Sydney Town Hall to one remote polling station in the seat of Lingiari in the Northern Territory. During the pilot, a sample of electors was surveyed to assist the AEC in identifying both the success of the ECLs and electors’ confidence in the voting process.
The survey results showed that ECLs tended to improve voter satisfaction in terms of how easy and quick it was to find and mark electors’ names off the list. Those casting a vote at an ECL location were much more likely to be ‘very satisfied’ with the length of time taken to vote than at non-ECL locations; 83 per cent in ECL locations, compared with 56 per cent. However, pre-poll voters surveyed were less confident that their personal information and privacy was kept safe and secure in ECL locations than those in non-ECL locations; only 66 per cent reported that they were very confident in this instance where there were ECLs, compared to 82 per cent in non-ECL locations.
Whether the government is prepared to invest the money and capacity-building that would be required to implement them successfully is another matter. Poorly conceived and administered schemes are likely to create far greater problems than the relatively minor problem of multiple voting.
It is understandable that Australians would have questions about our electoral system in the wake of the WA Senate stuff-up. But the answer doesn’t lie in conspiracy theories and half-baked measures that pay little mind to the legal and organisational realities of running elections in Australia. The real answer lies in helping Australian voters understand more about how our system works and about the checks and safeguards already in place. The simple fact is that Australia needs voter identification laws about as much as Clive Palmer needs photo ID to board his personal plane.
the actual impact of any new voter identification laws on the low levels of multiple voting would need to be carefully assessed.
Also, one of the major issues should proof of identity be introduced at polling stations is that there would probably be a greatly increased number of declaration votes which would have to go through the time-consuming declaration vote scrutiny process. If a large number of people did not bring ID and had to cast declaration votes it might delay the declaration of the election.
Voter identification measures that reduce voter inequality have to be measured against their effect in excluding citizens from the ballot. This point is recognised in international law alongside the protection of voter equality. Article 25 of the United Nation’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, for example, states that citizens have the ‘right and opportunity’ to vote ‘without unreasonable restrictions’.
The experience of overseas electoral bodies suggests that ‘any voter identification rules are likely to exclude at least some citizens from the franchise and/or to make it more difficult for them to vote’. These include homeless and nomadic people, and other disadvantaged groups.
Statistical modelling in the United States suggests that more stringent identification laws depress voting by lower educated and lower income groups, regardless of race (Alvarez et al 2008). The introduction of voter identification laws was estimated to have depressed voting among Indigenous Canadians by 10 percent (Burgmann 2013).
The research conducted for the NSW report suggested that members of some socio-economic groups were ‘particularly at risk of exclusion from the ballot if the voter ID laws were tightened. These groups are similar to those identified as at risk in other jurisdictions’.
Indigenous citizens are one group with an elevated risk of insufficient identification due to their patterns of literacy, debt, housing and … About 44 percent of Aboriginal adults living in urban areas of New South Wales have never held a driver’s licence, for example, and only 38 percent are current licence holders. Homeless people, including an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 rough sleepers and an ‘unknown number’ escaping domestic violence … could also be at particular risk of exclusion from the ballot, depending on the details of any new identification processes.
According to advocacy groups, identification measures would also present barriers to people with disabilities… and members of non-English speaking groups. It is possible that older citizens would also be less likely than younger citizens to possess relevant forms of identification, either because they have never acquired them or have given them up (when, for example, they stop driving).
It is impossible to quantify precisely the number of individuals who would be adversely affected by the introduction of voter identification laws in New South Wales, partly because the exact impact would depend on the detail of any new identification regime. Given that the best evidence is that a few thousand multiple votes are cast in New South Wales, the potential that identification measures will disenfranchise the same or larger numbers of New South Wales citizens needs serious consideration before they are introduced.
The rhetoric used to bolster these positions is similar to the patterns of the United States. Coalition advocates of tightened identification requirements point to alleged cases of multiple voting and other fraud by Labor and Green supporters, while Labor and the Greens argue that members of disadvantaged groups will be disenfranchised by more restrictive laws.
It is difficult for political parties to remove the expected partisan consequences of voter identification laws from their considerations (Jupp and Sawer 2001: 231; Kelly 2012: 65; Brent 2013b). Perhaps they should not be expected to do so; however, this may make consensus over any new voter identification laws even less likely than consensus over the status quo.
With the exception of Queensland state elections, there is currently no requirement in Australia for a voter on the electoral roll to produce proof of their identity at the polling station in order to be allowed to vote. But over the years various Australian jurisdictions have trialled voter ID schemes. Of these, it appears that none have resulted in follow-up action.
The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) conducted a trial of voter ID cards at the Coburg District by-election in 1994.
to encourage voter participation by ensuring that each voter was sent personally addressed official communication about the by-election.
The VEC advised that the results did show an increase in voter turnout compared to other by-elections but the Commission raised a number of further questions to be considered in relation to whether the use of voter cards addressed the voter identification issue. The VEC,however, did not elaborate on these issues.
The SEO, in consultation with the council produced a household brochure – voter card which was delivered to all of the electors on the Hurstville City Council Penshurst ward roll. The voter card was mailed to electors in the penultimate week prior to election day and instructed electors to present the card at polling places to make voting quicker for them. It also provided details of the location of polling places as well as important information regarding the method of voting. The SEO advises that the voter card scheme was well received, particularly by non-English speaking voters.
Personally addressed information packs were mailed to each enrolled elector following the close of rolls for the election. The packs contained details of the elector’s enrolled District and polling booth details. In addition, a leaflet gave details of the various options for voting, an explanation of the optional preferential voting system and the counting method and provided contact details for the Commission’s call centre and website.
Translation service details were included for electors requiring such assistance. Electors were encouraged in their voter information letter and in complementary advertising to take their letter with them wherever they voted. Results were patchy across the State but sampling suggests that some 60% of electors took their letters with them when they voted.
The ECQ also used this approach at by-elections for the Queensland Districts of Chatsworth and Redcliffe.
The 2009 Green Papers produced by the Rudd Government canvassed an array of issues linked to electoral integrity. They included a comprehensive list of the arguments both for and against a requirement for voters to provide identification at polling booths. The Queensland Government drew on these in its own 2013 electoral reform discussion paper.
In support of the introduction of proof of identity requirements, the Rudd Green Paper noted that the requirements could provide greater protection against voter impersonation, as voters could be visually checked against their photographic identification and against the electoral roll; and ensure greater confidence in the electoral process and the integrity of the results.
additional polling staff would be required to check voter identities in order to reduce delays at polling places.
there was no specific evidence of electoral fraud in this area, so the introduction of proof of identity requirements could be considered a disproportionate response to the risk.
In an open letter to Queensland’s Attorney-General, Jarrod Bleijie, community and human rights groups urged him not to introduce the ID laws that he wanted to pass, and which would result in Queensland being the only Australian jurisdiction to have a voter ID requirement. As many as 40,000 Queenslanders could be prevented from voting if the law was introduced.
[The] requirements for voters to show ID would make voting particularly difficult for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as well as people experiencing homelessness, young people, old people and people with disability. … The voter ID requirement would make it more difficult for Queenslanders to prove their identity at the ballot box than it is for them to enrol to vote with the AEC.
To further ensure the integrity of voting in Queensland, the Government supports requiring prescribed proof of identity documents on polling day to reduce the potential for electoral fraud. To address concerns about those voters who may not have photographic identity, particularly older and younger electors, proof of identity will not be restricted to photographic identification. The implementation of the measure will be subject to public education and careful planning for transitioning to this requirement.
requiring voters to produce some form of ID at a polling booth, such as a utilities bill or similar. If enrolled electors do not produce ID at the time of casting a ballot they will need to make a declaration vote that will later be checked for its validity.
There is nothing apart from apocryphal evidence to suggest 'personation' is a problem at Australian elections. There is a tiny but measurable incidence of multiple voting, but the incidence is not enough to change election results. Even then, voter ID laws cannot stop voters voting at multiple polling places. Voter ID as implemented at the Stafford by-election will not make Australian elections more secure. But if it makes voters think elections are more secure, then it may play a part in fixing the real problem with Australian elections. That problem is trust in the electoral process.
There are approximately 14 million voters on the Federal electoral roll while an estimated 1.22 million eligible voters are not enrolled—the equivalent of 12 standard electorates of 100,000 voters. Of these unenrolled citizens, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are arguably the most disenfranchised group.
The AEC is unable to accurately establish the number of Indigenous Australians on the electoral roll as the Commission does not ask voters to identify their ethnicity.
Some estimates indicate that nationally less than 50 per cent of eligible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people may be enrolled to vote—and of these, 50 per cent are less likely to vote.
So, in very rough terms, if the number of Indigenous people nationally who are eligible to vote is 314,000 then 157,000 (50 per cent of those eligible) are likely to be enrolled, but only 78,500 (50 per cent of those enrolled) are likely to vote.
But the figure of 314,000 eligible Indigenous people does not take into account those who did not report Indigenous status for the Census. The more accurate number (taking into account the non-reporters and the Post Enumeration Survey) for the Census is 384,100.
The following tables provide an overview of the demographics of Indigenous Australians.
It may be the case that Indigenous Australians are not universally covered in terms of ID either through drivers’ licences, Medicare, Centrelink or similar registrations.
In an electoral context it could be argued that the introduction of formal ID requirements could eliminate a proportion of those Indigenous Australians who are in fact already on the roll, but who do not have formal ID.
Is this more likely to be so for older Indigenous voters and those who live in remote areas and vote at remote / mobile polling booths? Perhaps not. Much effort goes into remote polling booths, so it may be the case that remote Indigenous voters are reasonably well catered for.
In its submission 169 to the 2007 JSCEM inquiry, the AEC provided some numbers about the enrolment identity requirements that were in place at the time. Enrolees could either provide a driver’s licence number, show an authorised person an approved document, or have their identities confirmed by two enrolled people who know them.
Another relevant consideration is that the number of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders excluded from access to financial services is more than double the national average of 17.2 per cent, with 43 per cent operating outside the mainstream banking system. This suggests formal ID is lacking among this group.
According to the National Year of Reading 2012 project, nearly half the Australian population struggles without the literacy skills to meet the most basic demands of everyday life and work. There are 46 per cent of Australians who cannot read newspapers; follow a recipe; make sense of timetables, or understand the instructions on a medicine bottle.
Presumably this would also impact on voter political literacy and their ability to participate effectively in elections. We know Indigenous literacy is low. Thirty per cent of Indigenous adults lack basic literacy skills.
the wide variety of Indigenous languages presents difficulties for electoral authorities in conveying often complex electoral information.
There is as well a degree of cynicism or misinformation in Indigenous communities about the electoral process and its benefits. Also, there are complexities in the Australian electoral system—such as preferential voting, and differences between local, state and federal electoral rules and methods—that many Australians find confusing.
In the 2009-10 Federal Budget the AEC received $13 million over four years to establish the Indigenous Electoral Participation Program (IEPP) aimed at closing the gap in areas of Indigenous disadvantage by improving the electoral participation of Indigenous Australians.
$1.2 million was earmarked for the first year of design, consultation and establishment, as well as $400 000 for capital expenditure. Funding increased to $4.7 million in 2010-11 as it was an election year, with the remaining funds split over the final two years. The AEC’s objectives in the four year IEPP were to increase electoral knowledge, enrolment and participation as well as decrease the levels of informal voting amongst Indigenous electors.
to decrease levels of informal voting.
The program involves an extensive field program, programs for schools, technical colleges and communities. There are small community activity sponsorships, a future leaders program, an ambassador program and prison visits. As well, greater efforts have gone into recruiting and supporting Indigenous people as electoral officials.
– complete electoral roll accuracy checks and operate information booths at community events.
Further, near election times, Remote Area Mobile Polling Stations visit communities to simplify the voting process; the stations remain in the communities for several days.
the number of (apparent and actual) multiple votes—although a tiny percentage of all votes cast—amounts to several thousands, and throws a shadow on the voting process.
Coalition party supporters tend to be advocates of the introduction of voter ID; Labor and the Greens appear to be generally opposed. Recent changes to Queensland state laws requiring voters to provide certain categories of ID when voting are likely to encourage those who seek similar provisions at the Federal level.
Notwithstanding that substantial expert advice, and the evidence of several studies, has shown that the absence of voter ID laws has not been detrimental to Australia’s electoral processes, there remains a body of opinion that insists that the current system is open to abuse, and contends that the system is possibly already being abused by people seeking to skew election results.
Defenders of the existing arrangements argue that the risks to electoral integrity are negligible, and that it would be substantially worse for Australia’s democracy if tighter voter ID rules resulted in sizeable cohorts of Australians being prevented from casting a vote.
They argue that disenfranchisement is a serious threat to the fairness and comprehensiveness of Australia’s democratic arrangements, and to the cohesiveness of a polity where the vast majority of Australians turn up to vote, and where—according to the Australian Electoral Study—compulsory voting has led to a high level of democratic satisfaction and sense of political efficacy among Australians.
. Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, User friendly, not abuser friendly: Report of the inquiry into the integrity of the electoral roll, op. cit.
. Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, Inquiry into the 2001 Federal Election and matters related thereto, House of Representatives, Canberra, June 2003, p. viii, accessed 28 April 2014.
. Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, User friendly, not abuser friendly: Report of the inquiry into the integrity of the electoral roll, House of Representatives, Canberra, June 2001, accessed 28 April 2014.
. M Grattan, ‘Returning officers push for electoral ID’, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 December 2000, accessed 6 May 2014.
. L Crosby, (Director, Liberal Party), Evidence to JSCEM, User friendly, not abuser friendly: Report of the inquiry into the integrity of the electoral roll, House of Representatives, Canberra, June 2001, accessed 2 May 2014.
. R Peake, ‘Libs to push for compulsory voter ID’, Canberra Times, 9 April 2002, accessed 10 April 2014.
. J Hall MP, Evidence to JSCEM, Inquiry into the 2001 Federal Election and matters related thereto, 12 August 2002, House of Representatives, Canberra, June 2003, accessed 2 May 2014.
. A McGrath, Evidence to JSCEM Inquiry into the integrity of the electoral roll, 2 March 2001, accessed 10 April 2014.
. M Danby, ‘Speech’, Appropriation Bill (No.1), 2001–02, House of Representatives, Debates, 21 June 2001, p. 28409, accessed 10 April 2014.
. J Patrick, ‘Lost votes and the prospects of electoral fraud’, Quadrant, Jan–Feb 2014, p. 24, accessed 10 April 2014.
. ‘Enrol to vote’, Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), website, accessed 29 April 2014.
. ‘What is a Declaration Vote at a polling place?’, AEC website, accessed 29 April 2014.
. ‘Data-matching in Commonwealth administration’, Department of the Parliamentary Library, n.d., accessed 29 April 2014.
. J Rayner, ‘A fix for what’s not broken: why Australia doesn’t need voter ID’, Inside Story, 4 March 2014, accessed 1 May 2014.
. Australian Government, Electoral reform green paper: Strengthening Australia’s democracy, 2009, pp. 176–7, accessed 20 May 2014.
. Queensland Parliament, Electoral reform Amendment Bill 2013, accessed 27 May 2014.
. Human Right Law Centre, ‘Queensland passes first Australian voter ID laws as Liberal party flags reforms at national level’, media release, 22 May 2014, accessed 29 May 2014.
. Australian Government, Attorney-General’s Department, ‘Identity crime in Australia’, accessed 28 May 2014.
. B Bishop MP, Evidence to JSCEM, Inquiry into the Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Improving Electoral Administration) Bill 2012, 4 February 2014, accessed 2 May 2014.
. B Bishop MP, Evidence to JSCEM, Inquiry into the conduct of the 2010 federal election and matters related thereto, 25 May 2011, accessed 2 May 2014.
. JSCEM, Inquiry into the Conduct of the 2004 Federal Election and Matters Related Thereto, House of Representatives, Canberra, October 2005, p. 136, accessed 9 May 2014.
. JSCEM, Inquiry into the Conduct of the 2007 Federal Election and Matters Related Thereto, House of Representatives, Canberra, June 2009, p. 16, accessed 9 May 2014.
. JSCEM, Inquiry into the Conduct of the 2010 Federal Election and Matters Related Thereto, House of Representatives, Canberra, July 2011, p. iv, accessed 9 May 2014.
. E Killesteyn, former Australian Electoral Commissioner, Evidence to JSCEM, Inquiry into the Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Improving Electoral Administration) Bill 2012, 8 February 2012, accessed 2 May 2014.
. I McPhee (Auditor-General), Australian National Audit Office, Evidence to Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, (JSCEM) All aspects of the conduct of the 2013 federal election and matters related thereto, 6 February 2014, accessed 20 May 2014.
. Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), ‘Integrity of the electoral roll’, Audit Report no. 42, 2001–02, accessed 27 May 2014.
. AEC, ‘Direct enrolment and direct update: The Australian experience’, AEC website, accessed 27 May 2014.
. R Smith, Multiple voting and voter identification, February 2014, New South Wales Electoral Commission, accessed 5 May 2014.
. Ibid., quoted by Smith.
. Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, Inquiry into the 2001 Federal Election and matters related thereto, House of Representatives, Canberra, June 2003, p. 174, accessed 2 May 2014.
. See the AEC Electoral Backgrounder: Electoral fraud and multiple voting, accessed 2 May 2014.
. JSCEM, Inquiry into the 2001 Federal Election and matters related thereto, op. cit., p. 176.
. R Jabbour, Acting Deputy Commissioner Operations (Australian Federal Police), Inquiry into the conduct of the 2010 Federal Election and matters related thereto, Submission 105, 27 June 2011, accessed 5 May 2014.
. Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, Part III, section 30, accessed 19 June 2014; Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 accessed 19 June 2014.
. E Killesteyn, Australian Electoral Commissioner, Evidence to Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee - Estimates, 18 October 2011, accessed 5 May 2014.
. R Smith, op. cit., p. 73.
. T Rogers (Acting Electoral Commissioner), Evidence to Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee (Estimates), 29 May 2014, accessed 12 June 2014.
. Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee, Answers to questions on notice, Additional estimates, 2013–2014, Finance Portfolio, Question reference number F69, Questioner C Bernardi, accessed 12 June 2014.
. B Costar, Evidence to JSCEM , Conduct of the 2013 federal election and matters related thereto, 15 April 2014, accessed 2 May 2014.
. B Costar, Evidence to JSCEM, Inquiry into the Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Improving Electoral Administration) Bill 2012, 29 February 2012, accessed 2 May 2014.
. Ibid. , p. 70.
. F Schaffer and T Wang, ‘Is Everyone Else Doing It? Indiana’s Voter Identification Law in International Perspective’, Harvard Law and Policy Review, vol. 3, 2009, p. 398, accessed 27 May 2014.
. E Bronner, ‘Legal battles erupt over tough voter ID laws’, New York Times, 19 July 2012, accessed 9 May 2014.
. A Fifield, ‘Voter ID laws could sway US elections, Financial Times, 5 August 2012, accessed 5 May 2014.
. D Weisbrot, ‘The right to vote the right way – how voter ID laws hurt the poor’, The Conversation, 10 September 2012, accessed 6 May 2014.
. M Cooper, ‘Pennsylvania’s voter ID law spurs debate’, The Caucus, 25 June 2012, accessed 9 May 2014.
. L Nicholson, ‘Writing on wall for pencil and paper electoral rolls’, Sydney Morning Herald, 29 August 2013, accessed 8 May 2014.
. AEC, Submission 20.3 to JSCEM, Inquiry into and report on all aspects of the conduct of the 2013 Federal Election and matters related thereto, 11 April 2014, accessed 4 June 2014.
. Smith, op. cit., p. 77.
. Smith, op. cit., p. 7.
. This is one of the reasons that pre-poll votes are now counted as ordinary votes—there was a concern that it may not be possible to announce the results on election night.
. Smith, op. cit., p. 74.
. AEC, Supplementary to Submission No.74, Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, Inquiry into the Conduct of the 2004 Federal Election and Matters Related Thereto, March 2005.
. Australian Government, Electoral reform green paper: Strengthening Australia’s democracy, September 2009, p. 182, accessed 6 May 2014.
. Queensland Government, Department of Justice and Attorney-General, Electoral reform: discussion paper, January 2013, pp. 28–29, accessed 6 May 2014, p. 29.
. Human Rights Law Centre, ‘Attorney-General urged to rethink voting ID hurdle that may prevent Queenslanders from casting votes’, media release, 29 August 2013, accessed 9 May 2014.
. Queensland, Department of Justice and Attorney-General, Electoral reform: Queensland electoral review outcomes, July 2013, accessed 6 May 2014.
. Queensland Government, Electoral Reform Amendment Bill 2013, accessed 28 May 2014.
. A Green, ‘Voter ID laws pass their first hurdle in Stafford’, Antony Green’s Election Blog, 23 July 2014, accessed 28 July 2014.
. AEC, ‘Online enrolment drives record 14.7 million Australians ready to vote’, media release, 16 August 2013, accessed 6 June 2014.
. Most of the information in the following section is drawn from a seminar presentation by Kevin Kitson, First Assistant Commissioner, Australian Electoral Commission, titled ‘Engagement with Remote Indigenous Communities to Improve Service Delivery.’ Seminar conducted at a Regional Managers Local Implementation Forum on 2 May 2012.
. Collection of data about citizens’ indigenous status is problematic. There are some National best practice guidelines for collecting Indigenous status in health data sets issued by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
. Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘3238.0 - Estimates and Projections, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2001 to 2026’, accessed 6 June 2014.
. AEC, Submission 169 to JSCEM Inquiry into the 2007 Federal Election, 20 June 2008, accessed 12 June 2014.
. ‘Bank accounts too expensive for many Australians, survey shows’, news.com.au, 29 May 2012, accessed 9 May 2014.
. Creative Spirits, ‘Aboriginal literacy rates’, website, accessed 9 May 2014.
. AEC, ‘Indigenous Electoral Participation Program (IEPP)’, AEC website, accessed 27 May 2014.
. A Markiewicz and I Patrick, ‘Indigenous Electoral Participation Program (IEPP): Final evaluation report vol. 1, September 2012, AEC.
. A Markiewicz and I Patrick, Final evaluation report vol. 1, op. cit.
. Queensland Government, Electoral Reform Amendment Bill 2013, op. cit.
. A useful account of these matters is ‘The complex reality of post-tribal voters’, an ABC Radio interview with Professor Ian McAllister, 23 September2011, accessed as a transcript, 27 May 2014. | 2019-04-21T07:12:09Z | https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1415/VoterID |
A controller comprising: an output for controlling one or more outdoor lighting device to illuminate an outdoor environment; an input for receiving temperature information from a temperature sensor comprising a plurality of temperature sensing elements; and a control module. The control module is configured to: use the temperature information received from the temperature sensor to detect motion in a sensing region of the temperature sensor and control the one or more lighting device based on the detected motion, and additionally use the temperature information received from the temperature sensor to detect conditions of the environment in the sensing region and further control the one or more lighting device based on the detected conditions.
1. A controller comprising: an output for controlling one or more outdoor lighting devices to illuminate an outdoor environment, wherein the one or more outdoor lighting devices emit light at an illumination level; an input for receiving temperature information from a temperature sensor comprising a plurality of temperature sensing elements; and a control module configured to: detect motion of an object in a sensing region of the temperature sensor based on the temperature information received from the temperature sensor and control the illumination level of the one or more lighting devices based on the detected motion; and detect physical or environmental conditions, comprising weather conditions, of said environment in said sensing region, based on the temperature information received from the temperature sensor, wherein the weather conditions are detected based on a ratio of a peak temperature measured by the temperature sensor when no object is present in the sensing region of the temperature sensor and a peak temperature measured by the temperature sensor when an object is present in the sensing region of the temperature sensor, and further control the illumination level of the one or more lighting devices based on the detected physical or environmental conditions.
2. The controller according to claim 1, wherein the control module is further configured to classify the object as one of a plurality of object types and control the one or more lighting devices based on the object type.
3. The controller according to claim 1, wherein the detected physical or environmental conditions of said environment in said sensing region comprise road layout information, wherein the control module is configured to control the one or more lighting devices based on the detected road layout information.
4. The controller according to claim 1, wherein the control module is configured to adapt its motion detection sensitivity based on the ratio of a peak temperature measured by the temperature sensor when no object is present in the sensing region of the temperature sensor and a peak temperature measured by the temperature sensor when an object is present in the sensing region of the temperature sensor.
5. The controller according to any of claim 1, wherein the control module is configured to adapt its motion detection sensitivity based on (i) temperature information received from a further temperature sensor coupled to said control module, or (ii) time of day information received from a timer coupled to said control module.
6. The controller according to claim 1, wherein the control module is configured to detect rainfall in said environment in said sensing region using the temperature information received from the temperature sensor and further control the one or more lighting devices based on the detected rainfall.
7. The controller according to claim 1, wherein the detected physical or environmental conditions of said environment in said sensing region comprise stagnation of water on a surface in said sensing region, wherein the control module is configured to control the one or more lighting devices based on the detected water stagnation.
8. The controller according to claim 1, wherein the detected physical or environmental conditions of said environment in said sensing region comprise absorption of water in a surface in said sensing region, wherein the control module is configured to control the one or more lighting devices based on the detected surface water absorption.
9. The controller according to claim 1, wherein the temperature sensor is a one dimensional thermopile array sensor and the control module is further configured to: detect the direction of motion of an object in the sensing region of the one dimensional thermopile array sensor based on the temperature information received from the one dimensional thermopile array sensor; and control the one or more lighting devices based on the detected direction of motion.
10. An outdoor lighting system comprising: the controller; the one or more lighting devices; and the temperature sensor of claim 1.
11. The outdoor lighting system of claim 10, wherein the orientation of the sensing region of the temperature sensor is controlled based on the detected physical or environmental conditions of said environment in said sensing region using orientation control means coupled to the temperature sensor.
12. The outdoor lighting system of claim 10, wherein the temperature sensor comprises an input for receiving orientation information from a remote source, and the orientation of the sensing region of the temperature sensor is controlled based on said received orientation information.
13. The outdoor lighting system of claim 10, wherein the temperature sensor is a thermopile array sensor.
14. A computer program product for controlling one or more outdoor lighting devices to illuminate an outdoor environment, wherein the one or more outdoor lighting devices emit light at an illumination level, the computer program product comprising code embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable medium and being configured so as when executed on a processor to: receive temperature information from a temperature sensor comprising a plurality of temperature sensing elements; detect motion in a sensing region of the temperature sensor based on the temperature information received from the temperature sensor and control the illumination level of the one or more lighting devices based on the detected motion; and detect physical or environmental conditions, comprising weather conditions, of said environment in said sensing region based on the temperature information received from the temperature sensor, wherein the weather conditions are detected based on a ratio of a peak temperature measured by the temperature sensor when no object is present in the sensing region of the temperature sensor and a peak temperature measured by the temperature sensor when an object is present in the sensing region of the temperature sensor, and further control the illumination level of the one or more lighting devices based on the detected physical or environmental conditions.
This application is the U.S. National Phase application under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 371 of International Application No. PCT/IB2014/079423, filed on Dec. 30, 2014, which claims the benefit of European Patent Application No. 14151454.7, filed on Jan. 16, 2014. These applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
The present disclosure relates to the thermal sensing of an outdoor space to control one or more lighting devices.
In current lighting applications, energy efficiency is a more and more important subject. One possible way to reduce the energy consumption of a lighting system is to switch off or dim one or more light sources thereof when no object (i.e. vehicle or pedestrian) is present in a space, and conversely to switch on or dim up the light sources(s) when an object is present in the space. In order to do this, the presence of an object in the relevant space has to be detected. There is a strong need for sensor-driven light control systems, because of their advantage of bringing down the energy consumption of the light source(s) thereof, and thereby improving cost-savings, and life-time of the light source(s).
Conventional thermal sensors typically measure temperature of a certain point-of-contact. However, with advancements in Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology, thermopile array sensors can measure temperature of a specified area without any contact to an object. It is known to use thermopile array sensors to control the light source(s) of a lighting system.
The inventors have recognised that in addition to using a thermopile array sensor for detecting motion of an object to control light source(s), the output of thermopile array sensor can be re-used to determine additional information about the scene around the lighting system to provide enhanced control of the light source(s).
According to one aspect disclosed herein, there is provided a controller comprising: an output for controlling one or more outdoor lighting device to illuminate an outdoor environment; an input for receiving temperature information from a temperature sensor comprising a plurality of temperature sensing elements; and a control module configured to: use the temperature information received from the temperature sensor to detect motion in a sensing region of the temperature sensor and control the one or more lighting device based on the detected motion; and use the temperature information received from the temperature sensor to detect conditions of the environment in the sensing region and further control the one or more lighting device based on the detected conditions.
The control module may be further configured to classify the object as one of a plurality of object types and control the one or more lighting device based on the object type.
In one embodiment, the detected conditions of the environment in the sensing region comprise road layout information, wherein the control module is configured to control the one or more lighting device based on the detected road layout information.
In one embodiment, the detected conditions of the environment in the sensing region comprise weather conditions, wherein the control module is configured to: detect the weather conditions based on a ratio of a peak temperature measured by the temperature sensor when no object is present in the sensing region of the temperature sensor and a peak temperature measured by the temperature sensor when an object is present in the sensing region of the temperature sensor; and control the one or more lighting device based on the detected weather conditions.
The control module may be configured to adapt its motion detection sensitivity based on the ratio of a peak temperature measured by the temperature sensor when no object is present in the sensing region of the temperature sensor and a peak temperature measured by the temperature sensor when an object is present in the sensing region of the temperature sensor.
In one embodiment, the control module is configured to adapt its motion detection sensitivity based on (i) temperature information received from a further temperature sensor coupled to the control module, or (ii) time of day information received from a timer coupled to the control module.
In one embodiment, the control module is configured to detect rainfall in the environment in the sensing region using the temperature information received from the temperature sensor and further control the one or more lighting device based on the detected rainfall.
In one embodiment, the detected conditions of the environment in the sensing region comprise stagnation of water on a surface in the sensing region, wherein the control module is configured to control the one or more lighting device based on the detected water stagnation.
In one embodiment, the detected conditions of the environment in the sensing region comprise absorption of water in a surface in the sensing region, wherein the control module is configured to control the one or more lighting device based on the detected surface water absorption.
In one embodiment, the temperature sensor is a one dimensional thermopile array sensor and the control module is further configured to: detect the direction of motion of an object in the sensing region of the one dimensional thermopile array sensor based on the temperature information received from the one dimensional thermopile array sensor; and control the one or more lighting device based on the detected direction of motion.
According to another aspect disclosed herein, there is provided a lighting system comprising the controller, the one or more lighting device, and the temperature sensor.
The orientation of the sensing region of the temperature sensor may be controlled based on the detected conditions of the environment in the sensing region using orientation control means coupled to the temperature sensor.
The temperature sensor may comprise an input for receiving orientation information from a remote source, and the orientation of the sensing region of the temperature sensor is controlled based on the received orientation information.
The temperature sensor may for example be a thermopile array sensor.
According to a further aspect, there is provided a computer program product for controlling one or more outdoor lighting device to illuminate an environment, the computer program product comprising code embodied on a computer-readable medium and being configured so as when executed on a processor to: receive temperature information from a temperature sensor comprising a plurality of temperature sensing elements; use the temperature information received from the temperature sensor to detect motion in a sensing region of the temperature sensor and control the one or more lighting device based on the detected motion; and use the temperature information received from the temperature sensor to detect conditions of the environment in the sensing region and further control the one or more lighting device based on the detected conditions.
These and other aspects will be apparent from the embodiments described in the following. The scope of the present disclosure is not intended to be limited by this summary nor to implementations that necessarily solve any or all of the disadvantages noted.
FIG. 11 graphically illustrates temperature data output from each pixel of a one dimensional thermopile array sensor during pedestrian motion detection.
Reference is first made to FIG. 1 which illustrates a schematic block diagram of a lighting system 100.
The lighting system 100 comprises a controller 1 coupled to a temperature sensor 2 comprising a plurality of temperature sensing elements, and one or more outdoor lighting devices 4 in the form of one or more luminaires operable to emit light to illuminate an outdoor environment of the lighting system 100. FIG. 1 shows the temperature sensor 2 as a thermopile array sensor.
A thermopile is a passive infrared radiation (IR) detector made up of a series of electrically connected thermocouple pairs to convert thermal energy into electrical energy. The thermopile array sensor 2 comprises multiple thermopiles arranged as pixels on a silicon chip. The multiple thermopiles may be arranged in a line to form a one dimensional thermopile array 200 (comprising pixels p1-p4) as shown in FIG. 2a. Alternatively the multiple thermopiles may be arranged in a grid to form a two dimensional thermopile array 250 as shown in FIG. 2b. The grid may comprise for example a 4.times.4 array comprising 16 pixels in total (p1-p16), an 8.times.8 array comprising 64 pixels in total, or any other sized array. It will be appreciated that the thermopile array sensor 2 may be one or two dimensional, comprising any number of pixels.
The thermopile array sensor 2 provides an output signal which represents real temperature data for each pixel. The output interface of the thermopile array sensor 2 (output interface not shown in FIG. 1) may comprise for example an I.sup.2C interface. The controller 1 comprises a control module 5 which is coupled to the thermopile array sensor 2 via a first interface 6a. Thus the control module 5 is configured to receive temperature information from the thermopile array sensor 2 via the first interface 6a.
The control module 5 is further configured to control the amount of light emitted from the luminaire(s) 4 by transmitting appropriate control signals to the luminaire(s) 4 via an interface 6b. The luminaire(s) 4 are configured to operate in a plurality of operating states as will be described in further detail herein. The functionality of the control module 5 of the controller 1 may be implemented in code (software) stored on a memory comprising one or more storage media, and arranged for execution on a processor comprising on or more processing units. The code is configured so as when fetched from the memory and executed on the processor to perform operations in line with embodiments discussed below. Alternatively it is not excluded that some or all of the functionality of the control module 5 is implemented in dedicated hardware circuitry, or configurable hardware circuitry like an FPGA.
As illustrated in FIG. 3, the lighting system 100 may be placed in an outdoor environment, for example the one or more lighting devices 4 may be a component of an outdoor street light 300 suitable for lighting car parks and roads etc. Whilst FIG. 3 shows the thermopile array sensor 2 being fully integrated into the outdoor street light 300, one or more of the controller 1 and the thermopile array sensor 2 may be housed in a unit separate to the outdoor street light 300, albeit connected to the one or more lighting devices 4 of the outdoor street light 300.
The thermopile array sensor 2 uses a lens (which may be integrated into, or coupled to, the thermopile array sensor 2) to measure the temperature within a sensing region (SR) 302 associated with the thermopile array sensor 2. The thermopile array sensor 2 may measure the temperature within its SR 302 at a certain frame rate (for example 10 frames/sec or 1 frame/sec).
Reference is now made to FIGS. 4a and 4b which illustrates how motion detection of an object is performed by a thermopile array sensor 2 comprising a 4.times.4 pixel array. In this example the object is a vehicle.
Scenes 402, 404 and 406 illustrate the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2 being focused on a road.
In scene 402 a vehicle is approaching, but has not yet entered the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2. At this time (t.sub.1) a sample (sample 3) of temperature data for each pixel is captured by the thermopile array sensor 2 and supplied to the control module 5 via interface 6a. Based on receiving this temperature data the control module 5 is able to identify a temperature range measured by the pixels in the pixel array which corresponds to when no object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 and control the luminaire(s) 4 to operate in a first operating state during which the luminaire(s) 4 illuminate the environment of the lighting system 100 by emitting light at a first illumination level (this may include when the luminaire(s) 4 emit no light i.e. the luminaire(s) 4 are turned off). Reference to an "illumination level" used herein refers to the amount of light output from the luminaire(s) 4. The illumination level can be expressed in terms of illuminance (in lux) i.e. in terms of the amount of light emitted from the luminaire(s) 4 that is incident over a plane of interest (e.g. a road surface). It will be appreciated that other photometry units may also be used to express the amount of light output from the luminaire(s) 4.
As the vehicle passes through the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2 (shown in scene 404) samples of temperature data for each pixel is captured by the thermopile array sensor 2 and supplied to the control module 5 via interface 6a. As shown in FIG. 4a the temperature measured by pixels in the pixel array increases (represented by a lighter shade) due to the presence of the vehicle in the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2.
The control module 5 is configured to monitor the temperature data received from the thermopile array sensor 2. If the temperature data measured by one or more pixel of the pixel array of the thermopile array sensor 2 has reached a predetermined threshold temperature or increases by a predetermined amount above the peak temperature measured by a pixel in the pixel array when no object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2, then the control module 5 is configured to control the luminaire(s) 4 to operate in a second operating state during which the luminaire(s) 4 illuminate the environment of the lighting system 100 by emitting light at a second illumination level, the second illumination level being higher than the first illumination level.
In scene 406, the vehicle has exited the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2. At this time (t.sub.5) a sample (sample 7) of temperature data for each pixel is captured by the thermopile array sensor 2 and supplied to the control module 5 via interface 6a. Following a predetermined period during which the temperature measured by the pixels remains in the above temperature range (no object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2), the control module 5 controls the luminaire(s) 4 to return to operate in the first operating state during which the luminaire(s) 4 illuminate the environment of the lighting system 100 by emitting light at the first illumination level.
FIG. 4b illustrates the temperature measured by each of the sixteen pixels in the pixel array of the thermopile array sensor 2 over a plurality of samples, in particular the increase in temperate measured by pixels in the pixel array in response to a vehicle passing through the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2.
Whilst motion detection of an object performed by a thermopile array sensor 2 is described above with reference to a vehicle passing through the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2, it will be appreciated that objects other than vehicles (for example pedestrians) may pass through the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2.
FIG. 5a shows scenes 502, 504 and 506 in which a pedestrian approaches, enters and exits the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2 which is being focused on a road.
As shown in FIGS. 5a and 5b motion detection of a pedestrian is performed by a thermopile array sensor 2 comprising a 4.times.4 pixel array in the same manner as that for detecting motion of a vehicle.
Comparing FIGS. 4b and 5b, it can be seen that spatiotemporal temperature signatures detected by the thermopile array sensor 2 when a vehicle passes through the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2 differ to the spatiotemporal temperature signatures detected by the thermopile array sensor 2 when a pedestrian passes through the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2.
As shown in FIG. 1, the control module 5 may be coupled to a memory 3. Memory 3 may be arranged to store spatiotemporal temperature signature information for various object types that may pass through the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2. By comparing detected spatiotemporal temperature signatures with the spatiotemporal temperature signature information stored in memory 3, the control module 5 may be configured to classify the object as one of a plurality of object types (e.g. vehicle or pedestrian) and control the luminaire(s) 4 accordingly.
For example, in response to a pedestrian passing through the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2 (shown in scene 504) samples of temperature data for each pixel are captured by the thermopile array sensor 2 and supplied to the control module 5 via interface 6a. As shown in FIG. 5a the temperature measured by pixels in the pixel array increases due to the presence of the pedestrian in the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2. The control module 5 is configured to monitor the temperature data received from the thermopile array sensor 2. By comparing detected spatiotemporal temperature signatures with the spatiotemporal temperature signature information stored in memory 3, the control module 5 is configured to classify the object as a pedestrian and thereby control the luminaire(s) 4 to operate in a second operating state during which the luminaire(s) 4 illuminate the environment of the lighting system 100 by emitting light at a second illumination level.
The second illumination level when a pedestrian is detected in the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2 may be higher than the second illumination level when a vehicle is detected in the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2. Alternatively, the second illumination level when a vehicle is detected in the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2 may be higher than the second illumination level when a pedestrian is detected in the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2.
Thus it can be seen that the control module 5 is configured to control the level of increase of light emitted from the luminaire(s) 4 when an object is detected depending on the type of object detected in the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2.
The inventors have recognised that in addition to using the thermopile array sensor 2 for motion detection and object classification as described above, additional details about the scene around the lighting installation, in particular conditions of the environment in the SR 302 the thermopile array sensor 2, can be of direct value to the lighting infrastructure. That is, the temperature information received from the thermopile array sensor 2 can be re-used by the control module 5 to provide enhanced control of the luminaire(s) 4 based on detected conditions of the environment in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2.
The various types of conditions of the environment in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 which can be detected by the control module 5 based on the temperature information received from the thermopile array sensor 2 are outlined below.
Reference is now made to FIG. 6a which shows scene 602 illustrating the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2 being focused on both a road and pavement.
The different material properties of asphalt (road) and sand (pavement) result in the pixels of the pixel array of the thermopile array sensor 2 which are focused on the pavement measuring different temperatures to the pixels of the pixel array of the thermopile array sensor 2 which are focused on the road.
FIG. 6b shows the measured temperature for each pixel of the pixel array of the thermopile array sensor 2 captured in one sample. As can be seen FIG. 6b, the temperature measured by pixels p14, p15, and p16 (focused on the pavement) is lower than the temperature measured by the remaining pixels of the pixel array of the thermopile array sensor 2. FIG. 6c illustrates this effect over a period of time by showing the measured temperature for each pixel of the pixel array of the thermopile array sensor 2 captured in a plurality of samples.
The control module 5 may be configured to estimate the road layout based on the temperature data received from the thermopile array sensor 2. For example, the control module 5 may estimate the road layout based by identifying differences in the temperatures measured by pixels of the pixel array of the thermopile array sensor 2.
Where the lighting system 100 comprises a plurality of outdoor lighting devices 4, the estimated road layout information may be used by the control module 5 to control the plurality of luminaires. For example the control module 5 may control the outdoor lighting devices 4 such that some of the outdoor lighting devices 4 emit light at a higher illumination level than others such that the light which is incident on the pavement is at a different (i.e. higher or lower) illumination level than the light which is incident on the road.
The controller 1 may be coupled to one or more further sensors (not shown in FIG. 1) that have a spatial mapping of their SR with the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2. The estimated road layout gives an indication of traffic type (pedestrian on kerbside, vehicles on road, etc.) traffic speeds, and direction of travel. This information can be used by the control module 5 to tune the one or more further sensors. For example, this information can be used by the control module 5 to mask/filter the processing of the one or more further sensors such that the one or more further sensors are responsive to objects only with specific/desired patterns (detecting vehicles within a particular direction/speed limit, or detect motion differently on different spatial areas/zones).
Weather conditions of the environment in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 can also be detected by the control module 5 based on the temperature data received from the thermopile array sensor 2.
In particular, the control module 5 is able to identify weather conditions based on the ratio of the peak temperature measured by a pixel in the pixel array when no object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 and the peak temperature measured by a pixel in the pixel array when an object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2.
Referring back to FIG. 4b it can be seen that on a warm dry day, the control module 5 may identify a peak temperature measured by a pixel in the pixel array when no object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 of approximately 18.5.degree. C., and a peak temperature measured by a pixel in the pixel array when an object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 of approximately 21.5.degree. C.
In contrast, as shown in FIGS. 7a and 7b on a cloudy evening the control module 5 may identify a peak temperature measured by a pixel in the pixel array when no object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 of approximately 15.degree. C., and a peak temperature measured by a pixel in the pixel array when an object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 of approximately 19.degree. C.
As shown in FIGS. 7c and 7d on a cold morning the control module 5 may identify a peak temperature measured by a pixel in the pixel array when no object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 of approximately 9.degree. C., and a peak temperature measured by a pixel in the pixel array when an object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 of approximately 17.5.degree. C.
The temperature values above are provided to merely give an indication of the way the temperature readings (and the ratio of the peak temperature measured by a pixel in the pixel array when no object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 and the peak temperature measured by a pixel in the pixel array when an object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2) changes depending on weather conditions and are not intended to limit the present disclosure in any way.
In dependence on the ratio of the peak temperature measured by a pixel in the pixel array when no object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 and the peak temperature measured by a pixel in the pixel array when an object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2, the control module 5 may be configured to vary the light to be emitted by the luminaire(s) 4 when operating in the first operating state (adjust the first illumination level). Thus the illumination level of the light emitted by the luminaire(s) 4 when no object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 may vary in dependence of the weather conditions of the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2.
Similarly, in dependence on the ratio of the peak temperature measured by a pixel in the pixel array when no object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 and the peak temperature measured by a pixel in the pixel array when an object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2, the control module 5 may be configured to vary the light to be emitted by the luminaire(s) 4 when operating in the second operating state (adjusts the second illumination level). Thus the illumination level of the light emitted by the luminaire(s) 4 when an object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 may vary in dependence of the weather conditions of the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2.
The inventors have also recognised that objects in outdoor conditions are exposed to various conditions of sunlight during the course of the day, thereby having an impact on the way the control module 5 detects motion of an object in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2. In other words the inventors have identified that the robustness of the thermopile array sensor 2 decreases in periods of sunset and sundown, and detectability of motion of an object in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 by the control module 5 is dependent on ambient temperature. This can result in missed motion detections by the control module 5, thereby bringing down the performance of the lighting system 100.
Thus to increase performance, the control module is configured to detect weather conditions of the environment in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 based on the above described peak temperature contrast ratio, and based on the detected weather conditions, select an appropriate threshold temperature that must be measured by one or more pixel of the pixel array of the thermopile array sensor 2 in order for the control module 5 to detect motion in the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2 and control the luminaire(s) 4 to operate in the second operating state during which the luminaire(s) 4 illuminate the environment of the lighting system 100 by emitting light at a second illumination level.
Alternatively, the control module 5 is configured to detect weather conditions of the environment in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 based on the above described peak temperature contrast ratio, and based on the detected weather conditions, select an appropriate threshold temperature increase (above the peak temperature measured by a pixel in the pixel array when no object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2) that must be measured by one or more pixel of the pixel array of the thermopile array sensor 2 in order for the control module 5 to detect motion in the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2 and control the luminaire(s) 4 to operate in the second operating state during which the luminaire(s) 4 illuminate the environment of the lighting system 100 by emitting light at the second illumination level.
Thus it will be appreciated that the control module 5 may be configured to adapt its motion detection sensitivity based on the detected weather conditions (contrast of the object temperature against the background temperature in the scene).
Whilst it has been described above that the ratio of the peak temperature measured by a pixel in the pixel array when no object is present in the SR 302 and the peak temperature measured by a pixel in the pixel array when an object is present in the SR 302 may be used to adapt the motion detection sensitivity, the control module 5 may receive the temperature information from a source other than from the thermopile array sensor 2. For example, the temperature information can be obtained from a further temperature sensor (not shown in FIG. 1) coupled to the control module 5. Alternatively the temperature information may be estimated based on receiving time of day information from a timer (not shown in FIG. 1) coupled to the control module 5. The further temperature sensor and timer may be internal components of the controller 1. Alternatively the further temperature sensor and timer may be external to the controller 1.
Rainfall in the SR 302 the thermopile array sensor 2 can also be detected by the control module 5 based on the temperature data received from the thermopile array sensor 2. This is described with reference to FIG. 8.
FIG. 8 illustrates how detection of an object in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 is affected by rainfall. In particular FIG. 8 shows the temperature measured by a single pixel in the pixel array of the thermopile array sensor 2 whilst an object remains in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 both during no rainfall and during rainfall.
It can be seen in FIG. 8 that the pixel measures lower temperatures during rainfall than when there is no rainfall. The control module 5 is configured to detect when an increase in measured temperature caused by presence of an object in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 has increased to a temperature that is lower than a range of increased temperatures that are typically reported due to presence of an object in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2, in order to detect rainfall.
In dependence on detecting rainfall in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 the control module 5 may be configured to vary the light to be emitted by the luminaire(s) 4 when operating in the first operating state (adjusts the first illumination level). Thus the illumination level of the light emitted by the luminaire(s) 4 when no object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 may vary in dependence on detected rainfall in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2.
Similarly, in dependence on detecting rainfall in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 the control module 5 may be configured to vary the light to be emitted by the luminaire(s) 4 when operating in the second operating state (adjusts the second illumination level). Thus the illumination level of the light emitted by the luminaire(s) 4 when an object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 may vary in dependence on detected rainfall in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2.
The temperature values shown in FIG. 8 are merely examples and are not intended to limit the present disclosure in any way.
Stagnation of water (i.e. puddles) on a surface (e.g. road) in the SR 302 the thermopile array sensor 2, and absorption of water into a surface in the SR 302 the thermopile array sensor 2 can also be detected by the control module 5 based on the temperature data received from the thermopile array sensor 2. In particular by the control module 5 monitoring the heating up/cooling down properties of the surface.
FIG. 9a illustrates how the control module 5 can detect stagnation of water 902 on a surface (e.g. road) in the SR 302 the thermopile array sensor 2 by detecting that the temperature measured by a concentration of pixels of the pixel array of the thermopile array sensor 2 is below a temperature range measured by the remaining pixels of the pixel array of the thermopile array sensor 2. The thermal signature shown in FIG. 9a illustrates how pixels 952 focused on the stagnation of water 902 report a lower temperature (represented by the darker shade) than pixels not focused on the stagnation of water 902.
Over time the stagnation of water 902 will be absorbed into the surface in the SR 302 the thermopile array sensor 2. For example, water on an asphalt surface is absorbed into the asphalt surface over time.
The absorption of water into a surface (e.g. road) in the SR 302 the thermopile array sensor 2 can also be detected by the control module 5 monitoring the temperature data received from the thermopile array sensor 2.
FIG. 9b illustrates how the control module 5 can detect absorption of water into a surface (e.g. road) in the SR 302 the thermopile array sensor 2 by monitoring how the temperature measured by the initial concentration of pixels 952 and the temperature measured by the pixels of the pixel array of the thermopile array sensor 2 adjacent to the initial concentration of pixels 952, changes over time.
In dependence on detecting stagnated water on a surface (or absorbed water in a surface) of the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 the control module 5 may be configured to vary the light to be emitted by the luminaire(s) 4 when operating in the first operating state (adjusts the first illumination level). Thus the illumination level of the light emitted by the luminaire(s) 4 when no object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 may vary in dependence on detecting stagnated water on a surface (or absorbed water in a surface) of the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2.
Similarly, in dependence on detecting stagnated water on a surface (or absorbed water in a surface) of the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 the control module 5 may be configured to vary the light to be emitted by the luminaire(s) 4 when operating in the second operating state (adjusts the second illumination level). Thus the illumination level of the light emitted by the luminaire(s) 4 when an object is present in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 may vary in dependence on detecting stagnated water on a surface (or absorbed water in a surface) of the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2.
Thus as described above various types of conditions (road layout, weather conditions, rainfall, road conditions) of the environment in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 can be detected by the control module 5 based on the temperature information received from the thermopile array sensor 2 and used to control the luminaire(s) 4.
The weather conditions, rainfall information, and road condition information (i.e. information related to stagnated water and absorbed water on a road surface) may be reported by the controller 1 via an interface (not shown in FIG. 1) to an external service (i.e. weather monitoring station or highways management station) to alert people to the conditions in the environment of the thermopile array sensor 2.
The SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 may optionally be controllable using orientation control means (not shown in FIG. 1) coupled to the thermopile array sensor 2, whereby the orientation control means is configured to control the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 in dependence on the conditions (road layout, weather conditions, rainfall, road conditions) of the environment in the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2. The orientation control means may comprise one or more electro-mechanical motors.
Alternatively or additionally the thermopile array sensor 2 may comprise an input (not shown in FIG. 1) via which orientation information may be received from a remote source such that the SR 302 of the thermopile array sensor 2 can be monitored and corrected or compensated for.
In the above described embodiments, the thermopile array sensor 2 may be one or two dimensional, comprising any number of pixels.
In certain road topologies, movement of an object is expected to be in a certain direction. For example, at a pedestrian crossing a person is expected to move within the confines of the pedestrian crossing to cross a road, along a sidewalk a person is expected to move along the sidewalk in one of two expected directions, and a vehicle is expected to move in a certain direction as it travels on a highway.
The inventors have identified that when the SR 302 associated with a one dimensional thermopile array sensor 2 is focused on such a road topology, the one dimensional thermopile array sensor 2 can be optimally oriented such that the control module 5 is able to estimate the direction of motion in the SR 302 of the one dimensional thermopile array sensor 2 (which otherwise requires a two dimensional thermopile array sensor) based on the temperature data output from each pixel of the one dimensional thermopile array sensor 2.
FIG. 10 illustrates the SR of the one dimensional thermopile array 200 (comprising pixels p1-p4) shown in FIG. 2a. Whilst FIG. 10 shows the one dimensional thermopile array 200 being fully integrated into an outdoor street light 1000, at least one of the controller 1 and the one dimensional thermopile array 200 may be housed in a unit separate to the outdoor street light 300, albeit connected to the one or more lighting devices 4 of the outdoor street light 300.
In order to illustrate how direction information can be extracted from the temperature data output from each pixel of the one dimensional thermopile array sensor 200, we refer to an example scenario in which a person starting from a position indicated by `A` in FIG. 10 crosses a road to a position indicated by `B` in FIG. 10 (in a first direction), and then returns to position `A` in the opposite direction.
FIG. 11, shows scenes 1102, 1104 and 1106 in which a person starting from position A crosses a road and walks through the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2 and arrives at position B (note that FIG. 11 does not show scenes in relation to when a person crosses the road and returns from position B to position A).
The left-hand graph illustrates the temperature measured by each of the four pixels (p1-p4) in the pixel array of the one dimensional thermopile array 200 over a plurality of samples, in particular the increase and subsequent decrease in temperature measured by each of the four pixels as a person starting from position A crosses a road and walks through the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2 and arrives at position B.
The right-hand graph illustrates the temperature measured by each of the four pixels (p1-p4) in the pixel array of the one dimensional thermopile array 200 over a plurality of samples, in particular the increase and subsequent decrease in temperature measured by each of the four pixels as a person starting from position B crosses the road and walks through the SR 302 of thermopile array sensor 2 and arrives at position A.
It will be apparent that the temperature measurements shown in the right-hand graph of FIG. 11 are less uniform than those shown in the left-hand graph of FIG. 11. This is due to the fact that in the experiment to obtain the temperature information shown in the right-hand graph of FIG. 11, the person walked from position B to position A at a slower speed than when the person walked from position A to position B, and the person temporarily paused whilst crossing the road from position B to position A.
In one embodiment, the control module 5 is configured to estimate the direction of motion in the SR 302 of the one dimensional thermopile array sensor 200 based on identifying the order that the pixels of the array report an increase in measured temperature. For example, when a person walks from position A to position B, as shown in the left-hand graph of FIG. 11 pixel p4 first reports an increase in measured temperature, followed by pixel p3, then pixel p2 and finally pixel p1. However when a person walks from position B to position A, as shown in the right-hand graph of FIG. 11 pixel p1 first reports an increase in measured temperature, followed by pixel p2, then pixel p3 and finally pixel p4.
In this embodiment, the control module 5 has a priori knowledge of the expected order that the pixels of the array report an increase in measured temperature when an object moves in the expected direction(s) of movement of an object in the SR 302 of the one dimensional thermopile array sensor 200 given the road topology. The control module 5 is configured to only control the luminaire(s) 4 in dependence on detecting motion in the expected direction(s) (identified based on the order that the pixels of the array report an increase in measured temperature).
Crosstalk refers to the phenomenon where radiation received at one pixel radiates outwards to affect neighboring pixels. The cross-talk between neighbouring pixels, impacts the way a temperature reading is observed on a pixel, and its neighbours. Often efforts are made to minimize this crosstalk; however the inventors have recognized that the spatiotemporal crosstalk between neighbouring pixels of the one dimensional thermopile array sensor 200 can be exploited to estimate the direction of motion in the SR 302 of the one dimensional thermopile array sensor 200.
In one embodiment, the control module 5 is configured to estimate the direction of motion in the SR 302 of the one dimensional thermopile array sensor 200 based on the gradients of measured temperature increases and temperature decreases output from the pixels of the one dimensional thermopile array sensor 200.
In this embodiment, the control module 5 has a priori knowledge of the expected gradients of measured temperature increases and temperature decreases output from the pixels of the one dimensional thermopile array sensor 200 when an object moves in the expected direction(s) of movement of an object in the SR 302 of the one dimensional thermopile array sensor 200 given the road topology. The control module 5 is configured to only control the luminaire(s) 4 in dependence on detecting motion in the expected direction(s) (identified based on gradients of measured temperature increases and temperature decreases output from the pixels of the one dimensional thermopile array sensor 200).
In the above described embodiments, to enable the one dimensional thermopile array sensor 200 to be used to estimate the direction of motion in the SR 302 of the one dimensional thermopile array sensor 2 the orientation of the one dimensional thermopile array sensor 200 should be offset from its most sensitive direction (which is the same as the expected direction) by an angle .theta. in either direction of rotation (clockwise or anti-clockwise). The angle .theta. may be in the range of 0.degree.<.theta.<90.degree. in dependence on the sensitivity/efficiency of the one dimensional thermopile array sensor 200.
It will be appreciated the above embodiments have been described only by way of example.
Whilst embodiments have been described above with reference to the temperature sensor being a thermopile array sensor 2, embodiments are not limited to using such a sensor as the temperature sensor 2. The temperature sensor 2 may be any sensor comprising a plurality of temperature sensing elements that provides an output signal which represents real temperature data for each temperature sensing element. For example the temperature sensor 2 may comprise a set of cascaded PIR elements (e.g. in a PIR curtain motion detector).
Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfil the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measured cannot be used to advantage. A computer program may be stored/distributed on a suitable medium, such as an optical storage medium or a solid-state medium supplied together with or as part of other hardware, but may also be distributed in other forms, such as via the Internet or other wired or wireless telecommunication systems. Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope. | 2019-04-24T08:01:35Z | http://patents.com/us-10136502.html |
Since the outbreak of the recent financial crisis in 2007, central banks around the world have lowered interest rates while stock markets soared. On the example of North America, Europe, and Asia and in particular the United States, Germany, and China, the situation as of December 2015 is compared on the basis of economic theory and selected key performance indicators to the United States dot-com bubble in the nineties years of the twentieth century. Literature review offers a complex general view on the issue of market bubbles with a historical review of the situation in 2007 and 2008. The only indication of a bubble can be found in the China Securities Index 300, more specifically in the technology sector. The further aim of the paper is related to analyse and compare returns of the explored indices among the regions and the sectors. On a broader level, the study finds that even though there are similarities, the current rise in indices does not qualify for an asset price bubble. Conclusion sums all the observed findings on both the levels – regional and national. Also, it offers suggestions for discussion about the situation on the markets after the financial crisis.
The last global financial crisis was set-up by risky mortgage backed security loans and triggered by the default of the Lehman Brothers Holdings in September 2008. This marked the beginning of many policy measures and changes. While central banks around the world began to decrease interest rates in order to boost the economy, stock markets soared. At the same time, the internet is becoming more and more a medium for global interconnection due to technological advancements across all industries. Not only more people connect to the internet every day, also devices actively communicate with one another, coined under the term “the internet of things”. Moreover, recent initial public offerings of well-known internet companies such as Groupon, LinkedIn, Facebook, Alibaba Group Holding Limited and funding support programs in the United States, the European Union and China drive the interest of investors for lucrative opportunities.
When looking at the development of certain equity indices in the United States, Germany and China, the rates show record or close to record peaks as seen on Figure 1 . For the Nasdaq Composite Index such rates were last seen during the dot-com bubble while the Deutscher Aktien Index 30 is almost twice as high as during the dot-com bubble and before the recent financial crisis of 2008. For the China Securities Index 300, the sources from the Bloomberg database even state price-to-earnings ratios as high as 220 times reported profits.
Increase of indices’ values across regions. Source: Own elaboration by the authors.
Bringing these circumstances into a global context, an artificial economic boost was created after the crisis that made equity indices soar—just like before the dot-com bubble. Hence, the question arises how the situation as of December 2015 is different if it is at all. Are there signs of an asset price bubble as some research argues [1, 2]?
The dot-com bubble is one of the most disputed bubbles that occurred in the last decades. Each bubble can be modelled according to some rules. Welfare analysis with empirical prediction is subject to examine . Also, the pure statistical tests are suitable to describe bubble . But alternative assessment can be provided by another angle of view on bubbles . Moreover, market bubbles are related to market volatility in general .
Since the current situation of peaking indices is too new to expect extensive research on this topic, there are currently only a few similar articles available to the knowledge of the author [7, 8]. Their research, however, is either limited to a single stock, market or pursues another approach. Furthermore, the eventual assessment of a bubble can only happen in retrospect while today’s perspective can only try to catch the market sentiment and interpret some key economic indicators.
By the definition of the majority of literature, an asset price bubble is characterised by a substantial deviation from the fundamental value of the asset . On the other hand, according to the efficient market hypothesis, there are three levels of efficiency: weak, semi-strong, strong—which represent the incorporation of information into the price of securities . Hence, under certain assumptions such as that investors perceive information uniformly, securities should trade at their fair value and deviating from the fundamental value should not be possible with respect to the level of efficiency. Despite the critique and controversy of the efficient market hypothesis in recent decades it was confirmed again in 2009 . Nevertheless, severe price deviations did occur and cannot be explained by the efficient market hypothesis. Hence these deviations represent a key flaw in this hypothesis on which much of economy theory relies. In theory, rational investors are expected to base their valuations on fundamentals such as the intrinsic value of an asset which can be approximated by the discounted sum of future cash flows . Since nobody can predict the future, however, projections of future cash flows are likely to be highly subjective. To tackle this issue, the assessment of a bubble can be mainly approached from two dimensions: magnitude and time.
While it is recognised that measuring the fundamental value at the very moment of the occurrence is hardly possible . Therefore, it is suggested that a bubble should be measured by deviations of expected and realised returns over a defined period of time—even decades . Obviously, this can only happen in retrospect since returns cannot be predicted with certainty, especially during times of turmoil in the markets .
Beyond the pure stock price, another crucial factor according to equity asset valuation is often taken into account: the price-to-earnings ratio or earnings in general. Commonly speaking, the higher the price-to-earnings ratio increases without substantial news to support a higher valuation, the harder it becomes to justify prices if there is little evidence for future returns other than the pure belief—for instance speculation.
Differentiating a plausible market development and an irrational bubble remains the subject of collective research on expectations and actual future cash flows. In retrospect, only the burst of a bubble, indicated by a substantial depreciation of prices, gives reason to assume that there was one in the first place. That is because a permanent change would require a fundamental reason and not constitute a bubble due to the lack of deviation. Also, there can be an overlap with different types of business cycles. This issue relates to the second dimension by which a bubble has to be assessed – time.
For example, there is an argument that the actual dot-com bubble was quite short and only lasted from 1998 to 2000 . Even though, this might be the time of the actual substantial price deviation, it is important to take into account the circumstance which led to it in the first place. Therefore, a five-stage approach that was described and later refined is favoured in this paper . This is supported by another research, which used a three-stage to five-stage approach, too .
Since a single value or theory is unlikely to explain the workings of a complex event of an asset price bubble which is the interplay of irrational humans and algorithm driven economics, it is more likely the combination of these factors.
Even though there currently is no guaranteed empirical method to detect an asset price bubble , especially in real time, there are still again mainly two methods to approach this issue . The first one is based on rational expectations of the efficient market hypothesis, and the second one on behavioural finance.
Firstly, there are empirical and technical models that are based on the efficient market hypothesis [21, 22]. Even though, such models are able to provide sufficient explanatory power, they are for example limited to historic data , certain stocks or companies or more generally, to certain assumptions which were true in the past. Most importantly they lack the major factor of irrational human behaviour that can be observed in certain situations at the stock market, especially during uncertainty due to politics or the introduction of an innovation. Under the category of rational expectations also fall the established economic theories that take into account monetary policies, investment and consumption cycles. For example, there is also an evidence for connecting the emergence of bubbles with the credit creation policies .
Secondly, there are qualitative metrics which take into account soft factors such as the current sentiment of the market and irrational human behaviour, including biases as coined under the term behavioural finance. Psychological factors, especially during turbulent times, gain importance while traditional measures lose in relevance . Concepts like herding behaviour and greater-fool theory trump rational economic assumptions such as the efficient market hypothesis and investors willingly forego arbitrage opportunities. Also, soft factors such as human capital, strategic alliances, joint ventures and internet popularity gain in importance [27, 28, 29]. Since only forecasts about future cash flows can be made, expectations play an integral role to the development of the market. For example, there is a study showing that during the dot-com bubble financial analysts were more optimistic about internet stocks . Especially in such circumstances fundamental values start to become irrelevant to investors . Also, it must be taken into account that even though there might be an asset price bubble, it can be necessary due to circumstances to ride that bubble instead of acting rationally against the majority of market participants . After all there is nothing so dangerous as the pursuit of a rational investment policy in an irrational world. The financial sector plays also a significant role here [33, 34]. A good example is technical analysis with the Federal Reserve System model which is extensively criticised by theorists for their flaws but used by practitioners nevertheless. The sheer beliefs and usage of such concepts substantially influence the market even without sound academic background . Furthermore, restrictions like short selling, set by a higher body or lock-in periods for stock options, may skew and alter the economic normalisation processes . Moreover, history shows that politicians are reluctant to take countermeasures before an imminent economic threat can be proven because acting on a false alarm would result in a loss in economic output which in consequence would have negative transitioning effects throughout society [37, 38].
So, taking into account the irrational human behaviour is an important factor. Therefore, a holistic combination of both theories efficient market hypothesis and behavioural finance is expected to yield a better result for the explanation and assessment of a bubble formation.
There are argues that there may be many reasons to cause asset price bubbles . There are several research papers which take also nonfinancial but rather information technology oriented factors into account that might influence investors’ decisions when buying technology stocks. The reasoning behind such measures is the Anglo-Saxon approach which focuses on growing big and gaining market share at high costs in the beginning while becoming profitable later . Such factors include, for example, page views or visitors and sales in contrast to traditional measures such as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation or net income [41, 42].
The data set, which is chosen to be analysed, is the appropriate source to examine the desired aims. Also, the selected methods help to reach the outlined result.
The source for the most part of the data is the Datastream maintained by Thomson Reuters Corporation. Also, calculations such as price-to-earnings ratio are done by the Datastream and therefore provide a universal basis across the different regions under consideration. Equity indices and ratio calculations for the Deutscher Aktien Index 30 and the China Securities Index 300 were partially extracted from the Bloomberg database since they could not be obtained from the Datastream. December 2015 has been chosen as an end mark of for the underlying data.
The methodology mainly focuses on alternative approaches while still incorporating some impulses from classical economic theory and the efficient market hypothesis. This is in line with many other research papers which are also based on the macroeconomic environment, alternative measures and the expectations of private and institutional investors [43, 44].
Since markets are interconnected as for example confirmed by the study , a holistic perspective for comparison is employed. In this regard the industry under consideration must be specified. For this paper, it is the technology sector which is analysed and even though most of the researchers agree that the dot-com bubble occurred in that sector, others have also identified spillover effects into other sectors such as financial, general industrial and non-cyclical services as well .
To tackle the research question, first, a combination of macro-economic indicators was used to compare the dot-com bubble with the recent financial crisis. On the one hand, a global perspective is pursued, but on the other hand, data on an aggregate level was not always available. Therefore, the United States, Germany and China are chosen by their economic dominance and highest nominal gross domestic product as representatives in the named regions to base the local economic indicators on. This way a top-down complementary approach from broad regional equity indices to country specific indicators and indices was employed throughout the paper. The term regional in this regard refers to the regions of North America, Europe and Asia, while local refers to the United States, Germany and China.
Additionally, but due to the limited scope of the paper and the main focus being set on the overall economic situation, a rather simple but meaningful test was employed, the Welch-Satterthwaite t-test. This test in the context of this paper is focused on the comparison of means of returns of two samples. With respect to the regular t-test, the Welch-Satterthwaite t-test gives the advantage of yielding accurate results despite unequal variances of the samples. It is, however, important to strictly differentiate the time-period, index and sector under review.
So after an overall evaluation of the economic situation, a distinction is done by the comparison of means of returns between the Nasdaq Composite index and the Datastream technology index in the 1990s of the twentieth century for three phases of the bubble – pre-bubble, inflation and crash. For this purpose, assumptions about the timing of the phases had to be made. The pre-bubble period was chosen to start in December 1990, which marked the lowest point of the Nasdaq Composite index in the nineties years of the twentieth century. The bubble inflation period was set to start in November 1998 since this year is based on the academic research , while also marking a relative historic low of the index. The peak obviously occurred in March 2000 and marked the transition to the crash-phase. Here the lowest point before the eventual recovery was chosen – October 2002. For the recent years such a clear distinction was not possible and therefore a time-frame as a whole from April 2009 to December 2015 was chosen, marking a historic low and high, respectively.
Since the movement of the indices alone cannot support nor reject a bubble, a dedicated section takes into account key performance indicators based on which a fundamental value can be estimated.
Due to the limited scope of the paper, the influence of business cycles, exchange rates and non-financial factors such as page-views have been of minor coverage in this paper, and hence provide room for further analysis.
This section builds on the concepts introduced in the literature review and gives specific interpretations on the example of the dot-com bubble and the recent financial crisis which started in 2007.
As already mentioned in introduction, the dot-com bubble can be divided into five stages that were initially described and later refined . First, they argue that there has to be a displacement in the market such as an external shock due to a crisis, a liquidity shortage and so on. Then, normally, the government steps in to calm the situation and the central bank provides liquidity to boost the economy so that credit is created and capital is easily available, for instance capital flood. What is then distinct to a bubble and goes beyond a regular upward movement of a cycle is the euphoria which might be triggered by some disruptive innovation . This might be personal computers, the internet, the internet of things, digital currencies or any other sort of hype. After that, insiders or people close to this industry start to see its limits and begin to sell their stakes—this is when the financial distress occurs. If their sell reaches a critical mass, the bubble crashes and the initial euphoria turns into revulsion so that banks turn cautious to the credits they provide.
In the nineties years of the twentieth century, the breakdown of the Soviet Union and the Japanese Crisis can be identified as two of the major impulses to disrupt the financial world at that time. For the recent financial crisis, it was the bankruptcy of the Lehman Brothers Holdings in September 2008 due to the subprime mortgage crisis. In both cases, the global interconnections of supply chains and markets triggered a spiral of economic decline which is reflected in the respective gross domestic product figures.
As a monetary initiative, the central banks in the United States, Europe and China reacted in the same way as the Federal Reserve System during the dot-com bubble, namely decrease lending rates in order to provide liquidity and boost the economy. This time, as basically the whole world is affected, even more capital flows into the market—not just from Japan as during the dot-com bubble. In some cases, the governments were even forced to bail out some banks in order to avoid an economic breakdown of financial systems . Economic research and the central banks confirm the relationship of low interest rates, credit creation and rising prices [48, 49, 50, 51, 52]. After these measures, the gross domestic product started to increase and corporate profits recovered too – as seen in Figure 2 .
Corporate profit change. Source: own elaboration by the authors.
Also by other measures such as the unemployment rate and the consumer to business confidence, a recovery with some exceptions was observable. Though these measures worked well for the United States, the issues of the recent financial crisis in the European Union did not allow for a swift and substantial recovery as during the nineties years of the twentieth century in the United States as seen in Figure 3 .
United States output gap. Source: Own elaboration by the authors.
In the name of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi promised to further support the economy throughout 2016 and even beyond 2017 if necessary . Putting this promise into perspective and comparing it to the nineties years of the twentieth century, this means that liquidity will flow into the market throughout 2016 and maybe even 2017. Maintaining the interest rate at such low levels, however, increases the risk of a liquidity trap where additional capital in the market does not boost the economy as anticipated due to the neutrality of money in the short-term to long-term [54, 55]. Additionally, current plans to increase the interest rate are damped by the weak support of other indicators. As of 2015, corporate profits stagnate at middle levels and even sharply falling in China in contrast to a steady increase in the middle of the 1990s of the twentieth century in the United States.
Unique during the dot-com bubble was the creation of euphoria through the personal computer and internet technology hype. Today is different in the way that this technology is innovatively utilised rather than completely new. Nevertheless, there are key concepts which are more strongly emphasised by the media than others, such as artificial intelligence, digital currencies, biotechnologies and so on. However, there is no such strong consensus and focus on one particular technology as during the nineties years of the twentieth century. This marks the difference in motivation for investment between those time frames. During the dot-com bubble, several behavioural concepts such as the law of small numbers, herding, self-attribution bias and others were at play [56, 57]. In the recent years, however, the market sentiment was shaped by political uncertainty while the main driver to invest in stocks is the available liquidity fuelled by the tech-start-up spirit. In the scope of this paper, the following stages are unique to the dot-com bubble since as of December 2015 there was no severe downturn of the indices under analysis, for instance a bubble burst.
All it actually takes to crash a bubble is a critical mass of arbitrageurs who tackle the overvaluation in order for market prices to shift more towards fundamental values. A collapse can happen fundamentally due to the unstable position; the instantaneous cause of the collapse is secondary . The sharp decrease was not triggered by any substantially negative news or announcements. Furthermore, there is an argument that the expiration of a high volume of the lock-up periods expired and provided insiders and arbitrageurs the needed measures to adjust the market and the subsequent fall of the Nasdaq Composite index . More likely it was the interplay and combination of different factors which together created the critical mass that is argued for . Since this critical mass was obviously reached, herding behaviour set in again in the opposite direction—for instance sell—as the news of a downturn spread across media. Eventually, the bubble burst and losses had to be realised which is reflected in most of the indicators shown before, such as the Nasdaq Composite index itself, gross domestic product, corporate profits, the unemployment rate and so on. At this point, banks become more cautious with lending which decreases liquidity in the market and often causes governments and central banks to intervene in order to boost the economy and rebuild trust all over again.
The indices’ values are assessed throughout their period of rise all over the regions in the world. Mean comparison with key performance indicators are offered.
At first, mean comparison is offered to obtain a general view on the explored indices as seen in Table 1 .
Nasdaq composite versus Datastream technology phases. Source: own elaboration by the authors.
Firstly, the mean comparison showed that on a regional level, for instance in North America, Europe, and Asia, the technology sector showed top returns and one of the highest probabilities for equal means in comparison to the Nasdaq Composite index performance in the nineties years of the twentieth century.
Second, the probabilities increased on a local level for the Nasdaq Composite index, Deutscher Aktien Index 30, the TecDax and the Hang Seng Index. These results, however, have to be interpreted cautiously because the increased probability is most likely due to the prolonged but mild increase before the actual bubble.
Thirdly, the results for the China Securities Index 300 show a considerable similarity to the Nasdaq Composite index in the 1990s of the twentieth century. The probability of equal means for returns is as high as 88.01% for the China Securities Index 300 index and the Nasdaq Composite index in the inflation phase.
The analysis yielded mixed results of the key performance indicators with room for interpretation, including some early warning signals but still the potential to develop either way in the future. On a regional level, the price-to-earnings ratios are as high up as shortly before the actual bubble in the 1990s of the twentieth century as seen on Figure 4 .
Price-to-earnings ratio by region. Source: Own elaboration by the authors.
At this point, the irrational exuberance speech by Alan Greenspan from 1996 could be appropriate again. In fact, the Federal Reserve System just increased the federal funds rate to 0.25–0.5% in December 2015. On a local level, the price-to-earnings ratio remains at moderate levels with the exception of the China Securities Index 300, where a peak in the summer of 2015 yet again confirmed the thesis of a bubble from the mean comparison section.
The sales and earnings, for instance earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, figures show mostly support for rising indices with a few exceptions. On a regional level, both sales and earnings are stagnating or even declining, so there is little evidence for optimistic index increases for Europe as a whole. The same is true for all Chinese indices: for instance the Hang Seng Index and the China Securities Index 300. There the sales and earnings are stagnating or declining as well. So at these levels again, the thesis for a possible bubble is strengthened.
Figure 5 shows that on a regional level, the price-to-book ratios are again as high as right before the outbreak of the actual dot-com bubble. Therefore, they should be interpreted as a warning sign for investors. On a local level only the China Securities Index 300 ratio yet again confirms the occurrence of a bubble in middle of 2015 with an extreme peak.
Price-to-book ratio by region. Source: Own elaboration by the authors.
In this section, the results of the comparison between the dot-com bubble and today’s crisis are summarised and interpreted. They are grouped into a macro perspective which takes into account the overall economic environment on the one hand. While on the other hand, the indices and ratios of the selected countries and stock exchanges will be interpreted, too. Both perspectives are structured according to the region under consideration.
There are many papers dealing with market bubbles, but only a few of them provide a look in a field of testing the recorded returns in such a way. It is very difficult to compare them. Taking into account the beginning of both situations for instance dot-com bubble and the further financial crisis of 2007, it can be said that they are very similar in many regards. More importantly, the countermeasures in both situations from the central banks were the same: lowering interest rates and providing liquidity. In both cases, the indices responded with a rapid growth and available capital was utilised, finding its way into higher return markets that are also riskier—volatile—by nature. However, there are two differences which must be taken into consideration.
Firstly, during the 1990s of the twentieth century, a new technology—personal computers and the internet—was on the verge of being introduced to average households. The scope of such impact was unforeseeable and the end of the potential for new usages of such technology is not in sight. Today the impact is better, though not perfectly, assessable through the existence of past data and experience from investors’ perspectives. As own calculations show, this uncertainty lies inherently in the industry throughout the 1990s of the twentieth century. Despite the governments support for tech start-ups, there is hardly euphoria to the extent as before due to the aforementioned reasons. This result is in line with other current research which finds that even though higher stock valuations in general are possible, they are unlikely and unsustainable .
Secondly, the recent crisis is different since it affected the whole world market—not just the high-tech industry—at once in a very severe way, causing global pressure on growth as described before. This is different to the more regional and less of global-scale crises in the 1980s of the twentieth century, for instance Japan, and the 1990s of the twentieth century, for example, the United States, the 1998 Russian financial crisis and the 1997 Asian financial crisis. So the impact of low interest on the economies in the regions under consideration is yet to be seen. Even more, since the start of high volatility in the Chinese economy and the unannounced decrease in interest rates, there is potential for even greater issues in an economy which many countries and regions rely on. This could create a carry-trade similar to the one with Japan and the United States but on a much greater scale.
These two points stand in contrast to one another. On the one hand, there is less hype in comparison to the 1990s of the twentieth century in the tech industry, but on the other hand, there is so much capital available due to the previous crisis and current uncertainty that creates more opportunities for speculators.
There is one more level which can be discussed in this paper. It is an index level, where one can have a look at the contemporary trends and also the current development. On this level, the situation looks more diverse, even more so when differentiating between the broad regions and single countries.
Firstly, on a broader regional level, trends indicate an overall increase due to the stimuli across the world by central banks. For the industry under consideration, there are currently no extraordinary trends of a bubble visible. It must be noted, however, that the levels are to some extent as high as before the crisis or before the actual dot-com bubble in the United States. This is especially true for Europe and Asia. Still, as of 2015, earnings were able to grow simultaneously, making up for the increase in prices. Worrying is the recent development of earnings that are most visibly deteriorating in Europe while slightly decreasing in the United States and at least stagnating in Asia. Such trends, however, must be differentiated to normal business cycles.
Secondly, on a national level, the figures show greater amplitudes and interpretations can only be made from a narrow local perspective. In the United States, the Federal Reserve System is confident of being able to increase interest rates due to the regained trust of investors in the stability of the economy even though it is not yet fully recovered. Since it is a rate which acts as an anchor for investors around the world, the signal is necessary though. This action might come early enough to improve the situation while stopping the market from overheating like in the 1990s. In Germany, it is less possible to see the country on its own since it is tied to the euro area monetary union in which the other countries are further away from having recovered from the financial crisis. If the liquidity boost will continue throughout 2016–2017, it gives incentives for speculators and hence rising equity markets. Only the decrease in earnings might lower expectations and hence incentives to speculate. Even more unstable is the situation in China which experienced a major downturn of its economy as shown in the previous sections. This situation is likely to continue throughout 2016 according to business experts . Closest to a bubble-like behaviour and ratios is the trend in summer 2015 for the China Securities Index 300 index. However, the extraordinary deviations cannot be confirmed even though the underlying data is from their database. In either case, this deviation is for the named reasons nowhere near the magnitude of the dot-com bubble. Addressing the research question of whether the current rise in indices across North America, Europe and Asia resembles the dot-com bubble, the answer is negative for the following reasons. While strong short-term deviations as seen in China in the summer of 2015 have occurred, they do not resemble a prolonged deviation of the magnitude in the late 1990s even though they could be called short-term bubbles, in the case of the China Securities Index 300 index in 2015. It can be said that at least the pre-conditions of the overall economies as well as the indices do resemble important trends on a broader level which were visible during the 1990s in the United States. On the other hand, earnings did growth and the increase and the raise in the interest rate by the Federal Reserve System signal the end of the crisis. Depending on the further development of the situation in China and overall economic situation the sentiment can still turn either way. As long as there is cheap liquidity in the market, indices can likely be used for speculation. Moreover, the hype of a new technology might be even found within another sector or a combination of two such as biotechnologies, information technology, virtual reality and healthcare for example. Therefore, the future situation highly depends on the business sentiment and performance of stressed economies such as China and Europe. With these findings, this paper hopes to give a basis for cross regional comparison for the rise of regional and local indices through the combined assessment of different theories and approaches. It remains the opportunity for future research to complement on the limitations and build on this basis. | 2019-04-24T14:54:48Z | https://www.intechopen.com/books/financial-management-from-an-emerging-market-perspective/comparison-of-selected-market-indicators-during-the-dot-com-bubble |
Produced on a budget of ₹700 million, 1: Nenokkadine was released on 10 January 2014 on about 1,500 screens during the Makar Sankranti festival season. Grossing over $1.27 million, 1: Nenokkadine became the fourth-highest-grossing Telugu film in history at the United States box office. The film won three awards from eight nominations at the 4th South Indian International Movie Awards, and two awards at the 11th CineMAA Awards. It was dubbed into Tamil and Malayalam as Number 1 and into Hindi as 1: Ek Ka Dum (One Man's Courage).
Gautham is a schizophrenic Indian rock musician who is missing 25 percent of his grey matter. He hallucinates a mysterious person he believes is one of the three murderers of his parents. As a child, Gautham was convinced that he was an orphan and assumes that his parents are dead; he does not remember their names or what they looked like.
At one of his concerts, Gautham sees one of the three men and chases him. Sameera, a journalist at the concert, films Gautham fighting his imaginary opponent. Gautham surrenders to the police after "killing" the man, confessing that he killed three men: one in Belfast, one in Pune and one just now in Hyderabad. He is released from custody after Sameera broadcasts the video on television. According to his doctor, if Gautham can hallucinate a person other than the three men, he can be treated. Gautham goes to Goa on vacation. Sameera stalks him, convincing him that two people are stalking him: a journalist who wants to interview him (imaginary), and a person claiming to be his fan (real). Gautham begins to fall in love with Sameera. He saves her from a group of people trying to murder her; on an isolated island together Gautham learns the truth behind the fourth imaginary person and writes Sameera off as a disturbed journalist. By the time he learns about Sameera's intentions, she has left for Hyderabad; Gautham pursues her.
In Hyderabad, Gautham accidentally spoils Sameera's birthday plans, infuriating her. Although he is convinced that he has made up an enemy to cope with being an orphan, a mysterious person tries to kill Sameera. Gautham saves her and proposes marriage, which she accepts. Sameera learns that the mysterious person is Antonio Rosarios, a Goa-based crime boss who wants to kill her because she tried to expose the presence of hydrogen cyanide in seeds sold by Rosarios' company, AG1. Gautham meets Rosarios in the lobby of Sameera's office building. Assuming that he is an illusion, he shoots Rosarios in his head. By the time Gautham realises Rosarios is real he is dead, and Gautham learns that his parents were murdered. He catches an aged taxi driver who was stalking him (one of the three men he imagined), and learns that two London-based Indians (one of whom was Rosarios) killed his parents; his father gave the taxi driver a bag to give to Gautham. In the bag is an old Rubik's Cube, a key and a British coin.
Gautham and Sameera go to London, where they and their driver Gulaab Singh escape from a murder attempt; Gautham's manager, Michael, is killed. The Rubik's Cube, when solved a certain way, reveals a safe-deposit-box number in which Gautham finds a preserved rice sample. After escaping another murder attempt in a parking lot, he eludes the police and the two men with Sameera and Singh's help. One of the men—a fan—seeks revenge for his father (one of the other murderers, according to the aged taxi driver), who was killed by Gautham in Belfast when he performed there. Gautham learns that the aged taxi driver he met previously is a businessman and the murderer; the person hit by the businessman's car in Gautham's presence was the actual, innocent taxi driver.
Gautham and the businessman confront each other, and the businessman says that he and Gautham's father were good friends and fellow scientists. They worked on cultivating Golden rice, a variety which could grow in any weather. When Gautham's father refused to sell it in favour of distributing it globally for free, the businessman and Rosarios killed his parents. When he refuses to tell Gautham about his parents, Gautham kills him. On his way to the airport, Gautham passes the school he had attended and hears children singing a rhyme. It reminds him of a similar rhyme he learned from his mother, and he remembers his way back to his house. At his house (a dilapidated villa) Gautham finds a photo of his parents, Chandrasekhar and Kalyani. He later introduces the rice variety at a global convention as "the second green revolution", and the film ends with Gautham standing in his field of Golden rice.
Sophie Choudry in the item number "London Babu"
After completing 100% Love (2011), Sukumar began working on a psychological thriller with Mahesh Babu in mind as the protagonist because he felt that Mahesh had universal appeal. An incident in which a bus driver talked about a young boy who said that his parents were murdered on his bus became the story's base. Mahesh met Sukumar on the set of Businessman (2012) in Goa, and listened to the script for 25 minutes. Although Sukumar could not describe the story well in the noisy restaurant, Mahesh agreed to appear in the film within half an hour. Sukumar worked on 1: Nenokkadine's script for two months, and considered it his dream project.
Ram Achanta, Gopichand Achanta and Anil Sunkara of 14 Reels Entertainment, who produced Mahesh's Dookudu (2011) and Aagadu (2014), agreed to produce 1: Nenokkadine after hearing the script. Asked about his frequent collaboration with them, Mahesh said that Sukumar clearly indicated the risk of budget escalation and longer production and said that he and Sukumar could be viewed as criminals if it was produced by someone else. Sunil Lulla and Andrew Hefferman were credited as co-producers, and Koti Paruchuri was its executive producer. The film, introduced on 12 February 2012 in Hyderabad, received its title in May 2013.
Kajal Aggarwal (left) was initially signed as the female lead, but was replaced by Kriti Sanon (right) due to scheduling problems. 1: Nenokkadine was Sanon's Telugu cinema debut.
Mahesh agreed to be fit and healthy, since the film emphasised action scenes. He followed a 12-week Dynamic Transformation Plan (DTP) supervised by Kris Gethin, developing his abdominal muscles and losing weight. Mahesh then followed a Yoda Three Training regime (Y3T), supervised by Neil Hill, further developing his muscles. His stylist, Ashwin Malwe, said that his appearance and style would be "sophisticated and classy" in the film. Sukumar had Mahesh wear eyeglasses, since the director felt that audiences tended to consider a bespectacled character to be perfectionistic and positive, and the actor's hairstyle was changed.
Tamannaah was considered for the female lead, since the producers were impressed with her performance in 100% Love. She declined the offer, citing scheduling conflicts, and the Producer's Council told her not to sign for any new films until she completed her current assignments. After auditioning two actresses, Sukumar chose Kajal Aggarwal in March 2012 as the female lead. She was replaced by Kriti Sanon in October 2012, due to scheduling conflicts. Sanon was signed for Heropanti (2014) after completing one shooting schedule for 1: Nenokkadine, and divided her time between the films. Sanon, who was involved in several action scenes filmed on the sea, was apprehensive about a scene in which Mahesh took her from a yacht since she did not knew how to swim.
Mahesh's seven-year-old son, Gautham Krishna, was chosen to play the younger version of the protagonist in his Telugu cinema debut. According to Sukumar, Gautham looked like the actor did as a child. When the director approached Mahesh and his wife, Namrata Shirodkar, Gautham Krishna was only six and they were apprehensive. His introduction scene was filmed silently by Peter Hein, since the boy was afraid of gunfire. Naveen Polisetty played a supporting role as Mahesh's friend in the film, and Vikram Singh was signed as an antagonist. Nassar, Pradeep Rawat, Kelly Dorji, Sayaji Shinde and Anu Hasan were cast in other supporting roles.
Jacqueline Fernandez was approached to perform an item number in the film, but the producers failed to make a deal and instead signed Sophie Choudry after seeing her performance in "Aala Re Aala" from Shootout at Wadala (2013). For her first Telugu song, Choudry joined the film's set in September 2013. Sukumar said about the item number, "It's a superstar’s film and it should reach all. Item numbers are common these days and people expect to see them. The situation was that Mahesh had to go to a pub to get information about the person he was looking for. So there was occasion to put in an item number".
Devi Sri Prasad (left) and R. Rathnavelu (right) were signed as the music composer and director of photography. Rathnavelu, who returned to Telugu cinema after a seven-year absence, compared the film's aesthetic challenges to Enthiran (2010).
R. Rathnavelu, who collaborated with Sukumar on Arya (2004) and Jagadam (2007), was the film's director of photography in his return to Telugu cinema after seven years. Rathnavelu called the film "more challenging aesthetically" and compared it to Enthiran (2010), which he considered his technically-toughest film. He created the film's visual style in a week with a variety of cameras, such as Red Epic, Body Rigs, Doggies and an underwater scuba camera. For the climaxes, Rathnavelu shifted from chrome to black-and-white to full colour in synchronisation with the story's mood.
Rathnavelu had to address the protagonist's mood swings and hallucinations, replicating scenes with minor differences. The film was shot in locations with a variety of climates, and new technical crews were hired in those places. Sukumar said, "We looked at world technicians and saw them work and can use whatever we learnt" and called it a "new yet learning experience" [sic].
Sukumar's usual composer, Devi Sri Prasad, was chosen for the film's soundtrack and score in Prasad's first Mahesh film. He went through the script and discussed it with Sukumar, who felt that Prasad translated his vision in the background score. Prasad finished re-recording the film's second half in four days. Eleven-year-old journalist Smrithika Thuhina's father was an associate director of the film, and Prasad emailed him the rhyme's tune with several stills from the scene; his daughter wrote the lyrics for the rhyme. P. Madhusudhan Reddy was the film's audiographer.
Peter Hein choreographed 1: Nenokkadine's action sequences, and Prem Rakshith choreographed its songs. Jakka Hari Prasad and Palnati Surya Pratap worked on the film's story, and Y. K. Arjun, Thota Srinivas and Potluri Venkateswara Rao developed the script. Jeremy Zimmerman was credited with the screenplay, assisted by Sunil Madhav. V. Srinivas Mohan was 1: Nenokkadine's visual-effects producer and R. C. Kamalakannan and Adel Adili's visual-effects company, Makuta, worked on the film. Karthika Srinivas was its chief editor, assisted by Siva Saravanan.
1: Nenokkadine, filmed in London (top) and Belfast (bottom) for 60 days, is the first Telugu film to be shot in Belfast.
Principal photography began on 23 April 2012, with the filming of "Who R U?" featuring Mahesh and Aggarwal supervised by Prem Rakshith on a set at Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad. Six hundred models performed in the song, and about 2,000 people participated in the shoot. After its completion, an action sequence was filmed. The first shooting schedule wrapped up, and Mahesh returned to the set of Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu (2013). The second schedule began on 31 May 2012 on house and colony sets at Saradhi Studios in Hyderabad, including scenes with Mahesh and others. Scenes of Mahesh at the police station were also part of the schedule.
Since the actor had allotted a block of time to Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu, 1: Nenokkadine's filming was delayed. When the former neared completion, he resumed work on 1: Nenokkadine in late September 2012 in Hyderabad. Filming continued in Goa in mid-October, after a four-month hiatus, and a song with Mahesh and others was filmed in late October. The Goa schedule wrapped up on 1 November, with half the filming completed. Mahesh took a break to promote Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu, returning to the set on 23 January 2013. The next shooting schedule, which began on 18 March, lasted for three weeks. Night scenes focusing on Mahesh and others were filmed in Kukatpally in mid-April.
The next schedule, which began on 18 June, filmed in London and Belfast for 60 days. At the Causeway Pictures studio in Northern Ireland, 1: Nenokkadine was the first Telugu film shot in Belfast. Hollywood stunt co-ordinator Conrad Palmisano supervised stunts by Mahesh and others. Rathnavelu called the action scene in a London car park "one of the most satisfying" things he had ever done. The scene takes place during a power failure, with the headlights of motorcycles chasing the protagonist the only sources of light. To film the scene, Rathnavelu used LED lamps and three torchlights; smoke was pumped into the air to create a backdrop. When scenes were filmed on one of London's three main bridges, traffic was stopped on both sides of the bridge for more than eight hours.
After London, filming continued in Bangkok in August 2013 and in Hyderabad in September; some scenes were filmed in and near Banjara Hills. The last shooting schedule began in Bangkok in early October 2013, with action scenes supervised by Peter Hein. The remaining dialogue scenes were filmed in Bangalore in mid-October 2013. They were finished by late November, and the last song was filmed in Mumbai. Principal photography wrapped in late December 2013.
The film's five-song soundtrack was composed by Devi Sri Prasad, with lyrics by Chandrabose. Lahari Music acquired its marketing rights for ₹10 million, a record for a Telugu film. The soundtrack was released on 19 December 2013 with a promotional event at Shilpakala Vedika in Hyderabad. The event, watched by 14,500 people, was shown live in 24 theatres across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and was the first Indian soundtrack release event shown live in theatres. The rhyme from the film's climax was released separately on 25 January 2014.
1: Nenokkadine was released globally on 10 January 2014 on about 1,500 screens, around the same time as Yevadu (which was released two days later). The film was Mahesh's third consecutive release during the Makar Sankranti festival season, following Businessman in 2012 and Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu in 2013. Eros International acquired its global distribution rights for ₹720 million, and it was released and distributed by 14 Reels Entertainment. 1: Nenokkadine was released on 900 screens across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Including multiplexes, 108 screens were booked in Hyderabad and there were 600 screenings on the film's release day. It broke the record held by Attarintiki Daredi (2013), which had been released on 100 screens in Hyderabad. 14 Reels Entertainment released the film in Auro 11.1 cinema audio format, supported by Barco.
Karnataka distribution rights were sold to RNR Films, who had distributed Dookudu in the state, for ₹450 million. 1: Nenokkadine was released on about 200 screens overseas, a record for a Telugu film. In addition to the United States and the United Kingdom, the film was released in Australia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Malaysia and Germany; it was the first Telugu film released in Ukraine. When reaction to the film's length was mixed, the producers reduced its running time from 169 to 149 minutes. 1: Nenokkadine had its global television premiere on 8 June 2014 on Gemini TV, with a TRP rating of 7.32. The film was dubbed into Hindi as 1: Ek Ka Dum that year, and into Malayalam and Tamil as Number 1 in 2015.
A mobile app was released on 10 December 2013 on Google Play, and later on iOS; 1: Nenokkadine's first look, posters, video promos and other promotional material were released through the app. On 19 December 2013, users could download the film's soundtrack and purchase bulk pre-release tickets. Its digital-media marketing was handled by Sharath Chandra, Anurag and Rohita of First Show Digital. The digital campaign placed third at the 2014 Indian Digital Media Awards in Mumbai, surpassing that for Krrish 3. It accounted for 15 percent of total promotional activity, influencing the sale of 7,500 tickets on the film's release day. 1: Nenokkadine's YouTube channel had 12 million views; on Facebook its page received 130 million views, reaching 40 million users and engaging 3.9 million people.
South Indian actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu found a poster of Sanon crawling behind Mahesh "regressive", triggering a backlash on Facebook and Twitter from Mahesh's fans. Actor Siddharth and filmmaker Sekhar Kammula shared her view, receiving a similar response, and filmmaker Pritish Nandy said that the poster was "gross" and "regressive". Sukumar later removed that sequence from the film to avoid further issues, although the Central Board of Film Certification did not object to its inclusion.
1: Nenokkadine received generally positive reviews from critics. According to The New Indian Express, its audience was "gripped through the whole film, but not for the right reasons": "Ending with a heralding of a second 'Green Revolution' and carrying on a legacy that aims at a food Utopia, you wish the movie continued with the schizophrenia and ended in an asylum". Karthik Pasupulate of The Times of India gave the film three out of five stars: "The [Telugu cinema] format of six songs, five fights and loads of entertainment and melodrama makes it impossible to respectably adapt racy Hollywood styled suspense thrillers". Radhika Rajamani of Rediff called the film "inordinately long, with repetitive scenes and slow and sluggish narration", and a "sense of ennui set in after a point"; however, Rajamani praised the lead actors' performances. Sify gave the film 2.75 out of five stars: "In 1 Nenokkadine, individual sequences are cool but the same cannot be said if we see it in totality. Apart from Mahesh Babu`s stunning performance, the drive of the film is completely off the track. It disappoints." Suresh Kavirayani of Deccan Chronicle gave the film 2.5 out of five stars: "To say it in a line, the film falls short of expectations and disappoints film goers, especially the fans of Mahesh Babu". Kavirayani called Rathnavelu's cinematography its "saving grace", praising the lead pair's performances. IndiaGlitz also gave 1 Nenokkadine 2.5 out of five stars, saying that the film had the capacity to "tank without a trace if Mahesh Babu's character did not come with a difference"; the actor "looks that pained man every bit", expressing "intense emotions without much effort".
Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu wrote, "How often do we get to watch a Telugu film where the audience, along with the protagonist and supporting characters, is also required to think and distinguish between events unfolding in real and imaginary spaces?" and called 1 Nenokkadine a "visually stunning" film. Sridhar Vivan of Bangalore Mirror gave the film 3.5 out of five stars: "As the film tries out a refined or reformed revenge saga, it needs to be seen whether 1 Nenokkadine works at the box office. If it does, it is a good sign for Telugu cinema". A. S. Sashidhar of The Times of India wrote, "The first half of 1: Nenokkadine is good and will keep you wanting for more. The story has a few interesting twists and turns, in the second half too to keep the audience glued to the screen", and Sukumar "should be commended for superb attempt in choosing to make a film that has not been explored in Telugu movies". Shekhar of Oneindia called the film a "brilliant psychological thriller": "The first half of 1: Nenokkadine is excellent and will impress all classes of audience. A few sentimental scenes slow down the pace of narration in the second half. But the superb climax that lasts for 15 minutes will compensate it. The viewers will surely walk out of theatre with contented hearts".
1: Nenokkadine earned a distributor share of ₹84 million at the AP-Nizam box office on its first day, and ₹124 million over its opening weekend. Its United States opening box office total was $947,000 (₹58.2 million), which trade analyst Taran Adarsh called a "glorious start" and "one of the best openings ever by an Indian film". 1: Nenokkadine passed the $1 million mark in three days, the seventh Telugu film (and Mahesh's third, after Dookudu and Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu) to earn a million dollars. On its fourth and fifth days the film earned a share of ₹32.5 million at the AP-Nizam box office, for a five-day total share of about ₹150 million.
By the end of 1: Nenokkadine's first week it had earned a distributor share of ₹181 million at the AP-Nizam box office, ₹21 million in Karnataka and ₹9 million in the rest of India. The film's first-week global box-office total was ₹252 million. In ten days 1: Nenokkadine grossed over $1.27 million in the United States, the fourth-highest-grossing Telugu film in that country. The film earned about ₹289 million worldwide, on a budget of ₹700 million.
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Elucidating the selective and neutral forces underlying molecular evolution is fundamental to understanding the genetic basis of adaptation. Plants have evolved a suite of adaptive responses to cope with variable environmental conditions, but relatively little is known about which genes are involved in such responses. Here we studied molecular evolution on a genome-wide scale in two species of Cardamine with distinct habitat preferences: C. resedifolia, found at high altitudes, and C. impatiens, found at low altitudes. Our analyses focussed on genes that are involved in stress responses to two factors that differentiate the high- and low-altitude habitats, namely temperature and irradiation.
High-throughput sequencing was used to obtain gene sequences from C. resedifolia and C. impatiens. Using the available A. thaliana gene sequences and annotation, we identified nearly 3,000 triplets of putative orthologues, including genes involved in cold response, photosynthesis or in general stress responses. By comparing estimated rates of molecular substitution, codon usage, and gene expression in these species with those of Arabidopsis, we were able to evaluate the role of positive and relaxed selection in driving the evolution of Cardamine genes. Our analyses revealed a statistically significant higher rate of molecular substitution in C. resedifolia than in C. impatiens, compatible with more efficient positive selection in the former. Conversely, the genome-wide level of selective pressure is compatible with more relaxed selection in C. impatiens. Moreover, levels of selective pressure were heterogeneous between functional classes and between species, with cold responsive genes evolving particularly fast in C. resedifolia, but not in C. impatiens.
Overall, our comparative genomic analyses revealed that differences in effective population size might contribute to the differences in the rate of protein evolution and in the levels of selective pressure between the C. impatiens and C. resedifolia lineages. The within-species analyses also revealed evolutionary patterns associated with habitat preference of two Cardamine species. We conclude that the selective pressures associated with the habitats typical of C. resedifolia may have caused the rapid evolution of genes involved in cold response.
Organisms adapt to different habitats through natural selection, which favors the fixation of alleles that increase the fitness of the individual that bears them. However, it is quite difficult to identify the locus/loci targeted by selection. One reason is that the number of loci involved in a particular adaptation and their phenotypic effects vary depending on the genetic architecture underlying the adaptive trait . Another reason is that often the sequence and/or information about the gene(s) involved in the adaptive response is unavailable.
Two main approaches are used to identify genetic signatures of adaptive evolution and link them to phenotypic traits. The first is the candidate gene approach, whereby signatures of positive selection (e.g. the over-representation of specific polymorphisms) are identified using a population genetics framework in those genes previously known to be involved in the phenotypic trait of interest (e.g. [2–7]). The advantage of this approach is that the consequences of molecular variation on phenotypes can be inferred and their adaptive significance evaluated . On the other hand, this approach assumes a comprehensive knowledge of the function of such genes and may neglect other genes relevant to the phenotypic trait. The second is the genome-wide approach, where the pattern of molecular evolution of hundreds to thousands of genes scattered across the genome are analyzed simultaneously (e.g. [9–14]). As high throughput technologies are becoming cheaper and more accessible, this approach is increasingly gaining attention from the evolutionary biology research community. An important advantage of this method is that it does not rely on prior information about gene sequence, and therefore it is well suited for studying non-model species. The possibility of performing genome scale studies in non-model organisms is indeed a powerful approach to address the genetic basis of specific adaptations, which can only be obtained by choosing the appropriate organism and ecological context. However, the typically poor knowledge about gene function in non-model organisms often prevents a comprehensive understanding of the adaptive significance of eventual signatures of positive selection. A useful compromise is to use the genome-wide approach in species closely related to well-studied model organisms, so that gene function can be inferred by comparative analyses. In this way it is possible to exploit what is known about the ecology and the life history of the species, and thus the approach is particularly suited to identifying genes involved in species-specific and habitat-specific adaptations (e.g. [11, 14]).
Environmental variation is a key factor driving adaptive evolution and determining the ecological niche of a species. Plants and other sessile organisms are particularly affected by circadian and seasonal oscillations in abiotic factors. For example, sudden drops in temperature, high levels of solar irradiation and limited access to water are common sources of environmental stress, especially at high altitude in mountainous regions . These stressors affect the evolution of species living in these habitats, and their capacity to adapt to these stressors ultimately determines their distribution [16–19]. To cope with drops in temperature, plants have developed a series of physiological adaptations that rely on the up- and down-regulation of cold responsive genes triggered by cold exposure (e.g. [20, 21]; reviewed in ). Similarly, cold temperatures and high irradiation are not favorable to efficient photosynthesis, and consequently, a suite of photoprotective strategies are required for survival and reproduction at high altitudes (e.g. [23–27]). A fairly detailed understanding of the relevant regulatory pathways and gene function in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana now exists; however, little is known about their adaptive role, particularly in relation to the diverse habitats present along an altitudinal gradient.
In order to assess the adaptive role of cold responsive genes, as well of the genes involved in photosynthesis, we compared patterns of gene evolution in congeneric species living at different altitudes. We performed molecular evolution analyses in two closely related Brassicaceae species adapted to non-overlapping altitudinal ranges: Cardamine resedifolia, a perennial species usually growing under conditions of high irradiation and severe temperature oscillations between 1,500 and 3,500 meters above sea level; and C. impatiens, an annual nemoral species normally growing between 300 and 1,500 meters above sea level . The distinct habitats associated with high and low altitudes make C. resedifolia and C. impatiens ideal species for studying the adaptive significance of the genes involved in altitude-related stress responses. It should also be noted that the two species may differ in their outcrossing rates, even though conclusive evidence is still lacking: C. impatiens is mainly selfing , although some populations have been reported as partially outcrossing ; C. resedifolia is also a predominantly selfing species, but the precise outcrossing rate is unknown .
The two Cardamine species described above are closely related to A. thaliana [32, 33], making it possible to apply the extensive knowledge about the gene functions of this model organism to our study. Gene sequences of both C. resedifolia and C. impatiens were obtained by high-throughput sequencing technology and subsequently identified and partitioned into functional classes based on gene similarity to the A. thaliana orthologues. Then, we used complementary approaches, such as analyses of non-synonymous and synonymous substitutions and of their ratio, of levels of selective pressure, codon usage, and gene expression, to quantify the difference in adaptive evolution between functional classes and between species. This allowed us to infer the adaptive significance of genes involved in adaptation to cold stress and photosynthesis at high altitude and put them into an ecological context.
We obtained sequences representing the C. resedifolia and C. impatiens transcriptomes using high-throughput sequencing. Genes and their putative function were identified by comparison of the sequences obtained here to the available annotated A. thaliana gene sequences. To minimize the chance of mistaking a paralogue for an orthologue, we considered as triplets of putative orthologues only those consisting of reciprocal best hits, i.e. those where the three sequences were consistently found as best hit matches of one another. Eventually, we obtained 2,922 triplets of (partial) nuclear genes, with a mean (± standard error) length for the A. thaliana orthologues of 594.0 ± 5.8 base pairs (bp), corresponding to a mean coverage of 46.3 ± 0.5% of the full-length gene sequence. In C. impatiens, the mean sequence length was 592.3 ± 5.8 bp, while in C. resedifolia the mean sequence length was 592.2 ± 5.8 bp.
We partitioned these genes according to their putative function, and then focused our analyses on those functional classes that are associated with the adaptive response to high altitude (Additional File 1). In particular, according to the annotation in A. thaliana, 56 genes were involved in cold acclimation (CGO), 67 were involved in UV-B and high irradiation response (PGO), 332 were involved in general stress responses (SGO). To these three classes we added a manually compiled class that included 55 genes functionally characterized as cold responsive genes (CRG).
The analysis of the rates of nucleotide substitution revealed faster molecular evolution along the C. resedifolia lineage than along the C. impatiens lineage (Table 1). Because the rates of sequence evolution were highly correlated with the length of the A. thaliana orthologous gene (P < 0.0005 for all correlations; see Additional File 2; here and henceforth gene length is referred to the coding portion of the gene), we corrected these measures accordingly by using the residuals of such correlations (Additional File 3). While the rate of synonymous substitution, dS, was similar between lineages (Wilcoxon rank sum test, two-sided P = 0.1830), the rate of non-synonymous substitution, dN, was larger in the C. resedifolia lineage than in the C. impatiens lineage (P = 0.0001). Conversely, the ratio ω = dN/dS, was significantly larger in the C. impatiens than in the C. resedifolia lineage (P = 3 × 10-9).
Rate of molecular substitution in Cardamine.
b Mean and standard error.
For each functional class, both the dN and the dS rates, as well their ratio ω, were not significantly different between the two lineages after correcting for multiple testing (corrected P > 0.025 for all comparisons-step-down Holm-Bonferroni method applied to 8 tests for either dN, dS, and ω; Figure 1; Additional File 3). Selective constraints varied however across functional classes within the same lineage: dN was significantly lower in PGO than in other genes in the C. resedifolia lineage (corrected P = 3 × 10-5), and was significantly higher in CRG than in other genes in both Cardamine lineages (corrected P < 0.015 for both comparisons). The statistically significant differences were not due to random effects resulting from the small sample size of the functional classes relative to the full dataset. In fact, a bootstrap approach revealed that at most 0.2% of the randomized datasets produced Wilcoxon tests P values lower than those observed (10,000 replicates). Since there was a significant correlation between dN and the length of the A. thaliana orthologue (Spearman's ρ > -0.067, P < 0.0001, for both lineages), we also re-analyzed the comparisons using the residuals of the correlation. The within-lineage differences were still statistically significant, thus excluding the possibility that such differences were a result of length heterogeneity across our gene sets (Additional File 3). Similarly, the mean values of the residuals for dN and dS still did not differ between lineages, with the exception of the PGO genes, where the dN residuals were lower in C. resedifolia than in C. impatiens (corrected P = 0.0048).
Levels of selective pressure in C. impatiens and C. resedifolia orthologous genes. Mean values of ω are reported for genes functionally characterized as cold responsive (CRG), and for genes annotated as involved in cold response (CGO), photosynthesis (PGO) and general stress responses (SGO). Text in bars denotes the number of genes; error bars denote the standard error of the mean. For each functional class, the mean residual values of the correlation between levels of selective pressure and A. thaliana gene length were compared to the mean estimated for the genes not in such functional class (identified by red dots) using a Wilcoxon test: * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001, **** P < 0.0001.
The analysis of the levels of selective pressure, ω, provided compelling evidence that different selective forces are dominating the evolution of the four functional categories in the two Cardamine lineages (Figure 1; Additional File 3). Again, as a result of the correlation between substitution rates and gene length, we report the results of the residuals of such correlations. In the C. resedifolia lineage, the mean value of ω was significantly lower in PGO than in other genes (P < 0.0005), consistent with intense purifying selection. This is in sharp contrast with what observed in CRG, where the mean value of ω was significantly higher than in other genes (P = 0.0057), indicating either relaxed or positive selection. Instead, in the C. impatiens lineage, the levels of selective pressure in genes of the four functional classes were similar to those at the genome-wide level (P > 0.05, for all comparisons).
In C. resedifolia, selective pressures were different between genes involved in cold response classified as CGO and those classified as CRG. The two datasets have 12 genes in common (Additional File 1), whose mean ω did not differ from that of the remaining genes (P = 0.3649). However, the genes unique to CGO and CRG had a mean ω in line with what was observed in the complete datasets. That is, genes unique to the CGO category had a mean ω significantly lower than the remaining genes (P = 0.0056), confirming strong purifying selection in CGO. Conversely, genes exclusive to the CRG category had a mean ω significantly higher than the other genes (P = 0.0070), indicating either relaxed or positive selection in these genes.
The rate of evolution and the occurrence of positive selection were further investigated by analyzing the pattern of molecular substitution of each single gene. The most sensitive test for this purpose is one that employs branch-site models, which aim to detect positive selection affecting a few sites along particular lineages. When C. impatiens was used as the foreground lineage (test BS Ci ) the test identified one outlier with FDR < 0.20. This number increased substantially when the C. resedifolia lineage was used instead (test BS Ci , FDR < 0.20), with seven genes showing evidence for positive selection along this lineage (Table 2). Two genes among these eight outliers were identified as being involved in general stress responses (not more than expected by chance; Fisher exact test, two-tailed P = 0.228).
Fast evolving genes identified by the branch, site, and branch-site codon substitution models at a FDR threshold of 0.20.
a Likelihood Ratio Tests (LRT) in which the alternative model explained the pattern of codon substitution better than the null model, and with a false discovery rate lower than 0.20. Patterns of codon substitution were tested using branch models (B tests), site models (S tests), and branch-site models (BS tests). B tests compared models M0 and M0'. S tests compared model M2a to M1a (S21) and model M8 to M7 (S87). BS tests were based on the branch-site model A, test 2. Subscripts in the B and BS tests indicate whether the C. impatiens (Ci) or the C. resedifolia (Cr) lineages were used as foreground branches (see main text for details).
b gene of the SGO functional class.
To increase the chance of discovering interesting candidate genes, we also employed additional maximum likelihood ratio tests based on branch or site codon substitution models . These tests identified several genes whose pattern was better explained by the occurrence of non-neutral evolution (Additional Files 4 and 5). Branch models identified three genes (with FDR < 0.20) with a pattern of nucleotide substitution that fit a model allowing two ω rates, one for the focal C. impatiens branch and a second for the rest of the phylogenetic tree (B Ci test). A single gene was detected if the C. resedifolia branch was used as the focal branch instead (B Cr test; Table 2). Using site models, the fit of the data under a neutral model was compared to that under a model of positive selection. In the first comparison, the neutral model admitted one class of sites with 0 < ω < 1, while the selection model allowed the presence of a second class of sites with ω > 1 (S21 test). The second, more powerful (less robust), approach compared more realistic models where (nearly) neutrally evolving sites were partitioned in ten classes with ω values drawn from a beta distribution (S78 test). The two likelihood ratio tests consistently identified four genes (with FDR < 0.20) showing evidence for the action of positive selection (Table 2).
As expected, the tests based on either the branch, site or branch-site models resulted in the detection of sets of outliers with little overlap. Among the three genes detected by more than one test, two (AT1G71040 and AT5G26830) were detected by both the B and the BCi tests, and one (AT4G17520) was detected by the S21, S87 and BS Ci tests.
To exclude the possibility that substitution rate patterns were the result of orthology mis-assignment, effectively inflating interspecific divergence, we compared homologous sequences from A. thaliana, Cardamine and other plant species within a phylogenetic framework. Specifically, we searched for putative paralogues of the gene triplets, for each of the 15 candidate genes (Table 2). In six such cases we verified the presence of putative paralogues using BLAST searches (Additional File 6). The A. thaliana and the two putative Cardamine orthologues identified by the reciprocal best-hit approach always clustered together in the tree, supporting their orthology and the results of the likelihood ratio tests.
The breadth of expression of a gene, namely whether it has tissue-specific expression or is expressed broadly over more tissues, has been shown to be correlated with several patterns of molecular evolution (e.g. [36–40]).
To evaluate such effects in Cardamine, we correlated the levels of selective pressure, ω, to the breadth of expression measured across tissues, across developmental time points, and along stress treatments. For these analyses we used the expression patterns of A. thaliana orthologues as proxies for expression in Cardamine (see Materials and Methods), assuming that orthologous genes will maintain similar expression patterns [41–45]. These analyses found strong evidence that, in both Cardamine lineages, genes evolved at different rates and under different selective regimes depending on their breadth of expression (Table 3; Additional File 7). The ratio ω decreased significantly with the increase in the temporal breadth of expression, i.e. the number of flower and leaf developmental stages at which a gene was expressed (P < 10-8, for both comparisons). The same statistically significant trend held when correlating ω with the spatial breadth of expression (P < 10-8), i.e. the number of tissues/organs where the gene is expressed and the associated organ specificity index τ . Because gene length was significantly correlated with both ω (ρ > 0.112, P < 10-7, for both Cardamine lineages) and expression breadth (ρ < -0.069, P < 0.0005, for all measures), we repeated our analyses using the residuals of such correlations (Additional File 7). The partial correlations coefficients were still statistically highly significant (P < 10-7, for all comparisons) and indicated that the correlations between ω and breadth of expression were independent from gene length. Thus, a broad breadth of expression imposes selective constraints limiting the possible action of positive selection. Conversely, genes expressed at one developmental time point or in specific organs evolve faster, as a result of either relaxed or positive selection.
Correlation between breadth of expression and level of selective pressure, dN/dS.
* Spearman's P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001, **** P < 0.0001, NS = non significant.
^ partial correlations are significant after correcting for the length of the A. thaliana orthologue.
a Breadth of expression can be either spatial (i.e., number of tissues in which a gene is expressed) or temporal (when a gene is expressed, during either development or stress exposure). Note that the organ-specificity index τ is inversely correlated with the number (breadth) of organs at which a gene is expressed.
When ω was compared to the duration (i.e., the persistence) of the stress response, we obtained mixed results that depended on the stress type (Table 3). In general, the ratio ω was positively correlated to the persistence of gene expression during stress responses (Additional File 7). After a Holm-Bonferroni correction for multiple testing, ω was significantly correlated to the duration of the responses to salt and UV-B in the C. impatiens lineage (ρ > 0.057, corrected P < 0.025, for both correlations); and to the duration of the responses to salt, osmotic and cold stress in the C. resedifolia lineage (ρ > 0.051, corrected P < 0.05, for all three correlations).
In addition to the breadth of expression, the level of gene expression (in A. thaliana) was also an important determinant of ω (Table 4; Additional File 8). For instance, there was a statistically highly significant negative correlation between the mean gene expression and ω in both Cardamine lineages (ρ < 0.248, P < 10-30). This correlation also remained highly significant when the mean expression level was controlled for the effects of gene length (P < 10-30; correlation between gene length and mean expression level, ρ = -0.344, P < 10-15). Thus, we conclude that selective constraints may limit the evolution of proteins encoded by highly expressed genes in Cardamine.
* Spearman correlation P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001, **** P < 0.0001, NS = non significant.
c Mean/maximum expression was estimated for all genes and genes included in each functional class and tested (Wilcoxon test) against mean for genes not in that functional class.
d Spearman's correlation between level of gene expression and ω estimated along the two Cardamine lineages.
The relationship between gene expression and rate of evolution indicates that the different selective pressures we observed in genes involved in stress response may be correlated to their expression level. For instance, genes of the CGO and PGO functional classes had a calculated expression level higher than other genes (P < 10-8, for all comparisons), and also had lower ω along the C. resedifolia lineage than the genome-wide mean (see Figure 1). To investigate the association between gene expression and ω, we then calculated the residuals of their correlation and compared them across functional classes (Additional File 9). The corrected ω were no longer statistically significant for PGO and CGO genes, suggesting that the levels of selective pressure in these genes were highly associated with their high expression levels. Interestingly, removing the effect of expression level produced a statistically significant difference in ω between SGO genes and the other genes (P < 0.005, for both Cardamine lineages). Such differences suggests heterogeneity in the association between rates of molecular evolution and expression levels in SGO genes, likely due to the diverse nature of the stress responses to which these genes are responding. Results did not change if we analyzed the correlation between maximum, rather than mean, expression level and ω (Additional Files 8 and 9), further indicating a strong association between the expression pattern of a gene and its rate of molecular evolution.
Synonymous codon usage can be under weak selection and lead to non-random use of the codons coding for the same aminoacid. Due to Hill-Robertson interference, such bias is expected to correlate with the occurrence of positive selection, so that it will be lower in genes that experience (recurrent) episodes of positive selection [47–49]. Consistent with this prediction, in both Cardamine lineages there was a statistically significant negative correlation between ω and codon bias, measured as Fop (frequency of the optimal codon (both ρ < -0.135, P < 10-10). This correlation also held when controlling for the effects of other determinants of codon usage, such as expression levels, gene length and GC content (e.g. as reported in ). For instance, in both Cardamine lineages, Fop was significantly correlated with expression level (ρ > 0.325 and P < 10-50), gene length (ρ < -0.240, P < 10-39), and GC content at the third codon position (ρ > 0.490, P < 10-100; note that most preferred codons end in either G or C, see Additional File 10). However, partial correlation coefficients (which control for dependence of these variables) between codon usage and ω remained highly significant (-0.042 < ρ < -0.121, 0.02 < P < 10-10).
We then analyzed codon usage for the genes in each of the four functional classes. Genes involved in stress responses generally had larger codon bias compared to other genes (Figure 2; Additional File 11). The difference was statistically significant for CGO and SGO genes in both Cardamine lineages (P < 0.01, for both comparisons), while it was not significantly different for CRG and PGO genes (P > 0.05, for all comparisons). However, such differences were no longer significant when controlling for gene expression level (Additional File 11), suggesting that the expression pattern influenced codon usage more than the distinct selective pressures to which they are subject. Thus, codon usage bias does not support the frequent action of positive selection in genes of the functional classes under consideration.
Codon usage bias in C. impatiens and C. resedifolia orthologous genes. Mean values of the frequency of the optimal codon (Fop) are reported for genes functionally characterized as cold responsive genes (CRG), and for genes annotated as involved either in cold response (CGO), photosynthesis (PGO) and general stress responses (SGO). Text in bars denotes the number of genes; error bars denote the standard error of the mean. The mean values of each functional class were compared to the mean estimated for the genes not in that functional class (identified by red dots) using a Wilcoxon test: * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001, **** P < 0.0001.
Our analyses of protein-coding sequences highlighted lineage- and gene-specific evolutionary patterns in two species of Cardamine characterized by distinct habitat preferences, life-histories and, possibly, breeding systems. C. resedifolia and C. impatiens are not sister species ; hence, the substitution rates estimated in the present study apply to the lineages leading to the two species after the split from their common ancestor, rather than to these specific taxa as such. However, C. resedifolia, C. impatiens, and the clades they belong to, are characterized by divergent phenotypic and life-history traits that have profoundly shaped their evolutionary histories; for instance, the clade comprising C. resedifolia (group A in Figure 1 of Carlsen et al. ) is basal to the Cardamine radiation and includes only perennial species living in high altitude alpine habitats with well-developed petals indicating the existence of a mixed mating system. In contrast, C. impatiens is, to our knowledge, the only annual selfing species of its group (group C in Figure 1 of Carlsen et al. ), which includes species that are mainly found at moderate elevations. C. impatiens is further characterized by having very reduced or no petals, in agreement with a predominantly selfing mating system [29, 30]. Thus, the observed patterns of molecular evolution reflect the differences in life history traits and habitats between the two lineages.
The effects of such differences on the rate of molecular evolution are quite complex. For instance, the rate of non-synonymous substitution was significantly higher for the C. resedifolia lineage than for that of C. impatiens. Previous studies have reported a higher substitution rate in annual plants compared to perennial plants [52–54] (but see ). However, our observations are in contrast with this prediction, since the annual C. impatiens had lower substitution rate than the perennial C. resedifolia. Moreover, since the rate of synonymous substitution was similar between lineages, there is no support for the hypothesis that mutation rate is higher along the C. resedifolia lineage than along that of C. impatiens.
The interspecific differences in non-synonymous substitution rates could also be the result of differences in effective population size [56, 57]. For instance, low effective population size can affect the substitution rate by allowing slightly deleterious mutations to escape purifying selection and reach fixation (reviewed in ). Alternatively, high effective population size can increase the efficiency of positive selection by facilitating the fixation of favorable alleles in genes undergoing adaptive evolution . Thus, a high dispersion in the distribution of dN across the genome is expected to be associated with a large effective population size, especially when there is recombination (e.g. [49, 59]). The analysis of non-synonymous substitution fixation rate revealed that the variance in dN was significantly larger in C. resedifolia than in C. impatiens (6.6 × 10-15 vs. 9.2 × 10-15; F test, P < 10-15, also when correcting for gene length). This difference in protein evolution heterogeneity is thus consistent with more efficient positive selection and higher effective population size in C. resedifolia. Both of these factors, in turn, would explain why dN is higher in this lineage than in C. impatiens. Preliminary analyses of recombination levels and polymorphism suggest indeed that selfing rates are lower in C. resedifolia, and the effective population size is slightly larger than in C. impatiens (Ometto and Varotto, unpublished results).
Intriguingly, mean ω was larger in C. impatiens than in C. resedifolia. The fact that in C. impatiens ω was considerably lower than one is compatible with either moderately positive or relaxed selection. Three lines of evidence suggest a reduced efficiency of purifying selection in C. impatiens, rather than pervasive positive selection at a genome-wide level. Firstly, the analyses on dN suggest that positive selection was more efficient along the C. resedifolia lineage than the C. impatiens lineage. Secondly, only one gene (using a FDR threshold of 0.20; Table 2; Additional File 5) exhibited strong evidence for site-specific positive selection along the C. impatiens branch. By comparison, seven genes exhibited strong evidence for site-specific positive selection along the C. resedifolia branch. Finally, the analysis of codon usage failed to detect differences in the efficiency of positive selection between the two lineages. However, the contrast between rates of non-synonymous substitution and of ω warrants some caution in drawing firm conclusions. The most likely explanation for the opposite patterns observed in dN and dN/dS lies on the high heterogeneity in substitution rate among genes. For instance the correlations and the coefficients of determination in the regressions between dS and ω (ρ = -0.314, P < 10-15, R2 = 0.052 in C. resedifolia; ρ = -0.292, P < 10-15, R2 = 0.037 in C. impatiens) and between dN and ω (ρ = 0.880, P < 10-15, R2 = 0.326 in C. resedifolia; ρ = 0.879, P < 10-15, R2 = 0.305 in C. impatiens), suggest that substitution rates are relatively weak predictors of the actual selective pressure experienced by a gene. The statistically significant correlation between synonymous substitution rate and ω is rather unusual: previous studies established that the correlation is caused by a combination of (i) adjacent substitutions and (ii) of a bias on substitution rate estimation due to either low divergence and/or statistical methods [60, 61]. Appropriate analyses will be necessary to unravel the effects of such factors in our system. The complex dynamics of substitution rates are also evident in the statistically significant correlation to gene length. The influence of gene length on sequence evolution had been previously reported for Populus tremula , stressing the importance of accounting for all diverse determinants of levels of gene and protein evolution. Additional studies, including analyses on intraspecific polymorphism, will be certainly necessary to disentangle the neutral and selective forces that have shaped such patterns [62, 63].
The molecular evolution analyses in stress-related genes also revealed important lineage-specific patterns that may be associated with the distinct life-history traits and habitats of C. resedifolia and C. impatiens. For instance, similar selective regimes affected the evolution of genes involved in stress response in the C. impatiens lineage. Conversely, there was a correlation between the type of stress response and the rate of molecular evolution along the C. resedifolia lineage; for example, genes involved in photosynthesis evolved slower than other genes, consistent with selective constraints that limited the accumulation of non-synonymous substitution. This makes sense given their involvement in a process that is particularly relevant in the high altitude habitat of C. resedifolia. Strangely, in C. resedifolia selection acted in opposite directions in the two functional classes associated with cold responses. That is, compared to the genome-wide levels of selective pressure, genes that were identified as involved in cold response based on functional studies (i.e., CRG genes) displayed significantly lower levels of selective pressure, while cold responsive (CGO) genes were under more selective constraints. Since there was little overlap between the two classes (Additional File 1), the discrepancy in the levels of selective pressure between CGO and CRG genes may have captured different selective pressures acting along the cold response pathway. However, the difference may also stem from the approaches used to define the two cold-response functional classes. Specifically, the gene ontology annotations of the CGO genes were taken from the TAIR database , which is a less accurate source of functional information than the direct assays used to define CRG genes. For instance, the TAIR annotations may be based solely on sequence or structural similarity, and a gene may have been annotated as cold responsive because it is indirectly up- or down-regulated in plants exposed to low temperatures (e.g. more than 3,000 genes were reported as cold responsive in A. thaliana ). However, without a comprehensive knowledge on the response pathway it is difficult to evaluate their role in cold response in Cardamine, especially considering that their expression patterns may differ from those of A. thaliana.
The levels of selective pressure were also associated with the duration and pattern of gene expression. For instance, in C. impatiens and C. resedifolia, ω was lower for genes that were expressed only briefly during specific stress responses than for genes that were up-regulated over a longer period of time (as inferred by A. thaliana expression patterns). Most importantly, the correlation existed only for specific stress responses in each species, suggesting habitat-specific selective pressures. In particular, in C. resedifolia, ω was significantly affected by the duration of the responses to osmotic, salt and cold stress. The responses to these three stresses involve partially overlapping pathways [65–67], as cold stress causes membrane leakage and, as a consequence, the activation of the physiological responses also observed in high salt and osmotic stresses . These results support the adaptive relevance of these genes in response to the severe temperature changes that this species experiences in alpine habitats. On the other hand, in C. impatiens ω was significantly correlated with the extent of up-regulation in those genes involved in UV-B stress response. C. impatiens is a nemoral species that is likely to be particularly sensitive to the effect of exposure to UV-B light. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that this species has evolved response mechanisms based on gene up-regulation to cope with discontinuous UV stress. It will be extremely interesting to experimentally measure the expression of the Cardamine genes in the functional classes considered, as species-specific adaptive variations in expression levels cannot be excluded.
While unequal selective pressures across the stress-related functional classes were well-documented here, we detected positive selection in only a few single genes. In plants, previous studies have found evidence of genome-wide positive selection in some species (e.g. [69–71]), but in most cases there was little indication of widespread adaptive evolution (e.g. [13, 72–75]). Other studies have identified positive selection of some genes involved in stress response (e.g. cold-hardiness in conifers ; drought stress in wild tomatoes ). The most likely explanation for the low rate of adaptive evolution is that most plants have low effective population size [13, 76], which ultimately diminishes the efficiency of positive selection. Estimation of the effective population size of C. resedifolia and C. impatiens will be useful to verify whether this parameter can explain the scarce evidence for positive selection in our dataset.
Four methodological issues may have further resulted in an underestimation of the genes targets of positive selection. The first is that the power of codon substitution models is fairly conservative compared to that of models incorporating polymorphism data (i.e., McDonald-Kreitman test ). The second is that our reciprocal best-hit approach was prone to miss genes with high sequence divergence caused by adaptive evolution, as it was intended to avoid an overestimation of divergence by comparing paralogues. In particular, this approach may have overlooked duplicated genes, which are common in A. thaliana [78, 79] and in other plants (e.g. cottonwood , grapevine ), and which can undergo sub- or neo-functionalization driven by positive selection . For instance, our dataset included only ~11% of all A. thaliana genes, and we analyzed between 17% and 48% of the genes annotated as involved in the stress responses considered in the present study. An examination of our dataset revealed that many of the well-characterized transcription factors involved in cold response (e.g. CBF genes, ICE1) were absent. This indicates either that we are missing many of the genes upstream of the stress response pathways, or that in Cardamine these transcription factors may be differently regulated than in Arabidopsis thaliana or do not participate to the cold response. However, it is unlikely that this pathway is missing, since cold response is well-conserved across distantly related taxa (e.g. Arabidopsis ; Citrus ; Solanum ; Poaceae ). A third issue is related to the use of partial genes, which may have reduced the power of the likelihood ratio tests as a result of an insufficient number of informative sites. Finally, genes expressed at a low level, including the aforementioned transcription factors, may be missing from our dataset because of insufficient coverage or normalization. Because genes expressed at a low level are those evolving faster, this bias in gene representation could contribute to the relatively low number of rapidly evolving genes identified in this study. Deeper sequencing efforts could undoubtedly improve the situation by increasing both coverage and average transcriptome length.
One C. impatiens gene and seven C. resedifolia genes showed signatures of positive selection under the branch-sites model of codon substitution. The C. impatiens gene orthologue of AT4G17520 has not been functionally characterized in A. thaliana, although it is known that the protein encoded by this genes displays homology to the hyaluronan/mRNA binding protein family, a group of proteins binding both specific RNA and a high-molecular-mass polysaccharide extremely abundant in the connective tissue and extracellular matrix of animals . Specific studies will be necessary to understand its role in adaptive processes in the C. impatiens lineage. As for the C. resedifolia candidate genes, no functional information is available for the orthologue of AT1G21680, which codes for a protein of unknown function with homology to TolB, a protein involved in outer membrane stability and uptake of biomolecules in E. coli . Instead, AT3G06130 is known to code for a protein putatively involved in metal ion binding, and is similar to proteins of the heavy metal transport/detoxification superfamily. Heavy metal hyperaccumulation has been documented in several Brassicaceae species and C. resedifolia has been reported to accumulate large quantities of nickel from the nickel-rich debris of the glacial till, where this species usually grows . Therefore, it is possible that the signature of positive selection identified in this orthologue is related to high contents of heavy metals in soil experienced by C. resedifolia. A third gene, orthologue of AT1G14610, is a valine-tRNA synthetase. Given the multiple metabolic pathways in which valine is involved (e.g. glucosinolate and pantothenate biosynthesis , conjugation to plant hormones [93, 94]), it would be highly speculative to associate this gene to adaptive processes in the C. resedifolia lineage.
Based on functional evidence from Arabidopsis and other plant species, two other genes identified as putative targets of positive selection in C. resedifolia may play major roles in the response against bacterial pathogens and insect herbivory. The first gene, AT5G20900, is part of the Jasmonate-ZIM-domain protein family [95, 96], whose members are involved in response to wounding and herbivory . The other candidate is the orthologue of AT1G54040, which codes for the Arabidopsis epithiospecifier protein (ESP). ESP catalyzes the formation of simpler nitriles and epithionitriles from glucosinolates, thus modulating the release of isothiocyanate, a metabolite involved in herbivory and pathogen defense in Brassicaceae . In two closely related Boechera species (Brassicaceae), the level of glucosinolates is negatively correlated with elevation preferences and growth rates, but positively correlated with drought tolerance . However, the response to herbivory as a function of elevation is not uniform across plants, with some species experiencing more (e.g. ) and other less (e.g. [101–103]) damage with increase in elevation. Interestingly, a positive correlation with levels of insect herbivory was found for C. cordifolia exposed to full sunlight, possibly resulting from moderate water stress associated with a different insect guild compared to shadowy environments . These observations provide the framework to experimentally test whether the signature of positive selection identified in AT5G20900 and AT1G54040 orthologues might be related to the higher exposition to sun, lower water availability or slower growth rate characterizing C. resedifolia as compared to C. impatiens. Interestingly, the orthologues of AT1G07890 and AT3G52910, may also be related to the light regimes characterizing C. resedifolia and C. impatiens habitats. AT1G07890 codes for a cytosolic ascorbate peroxidase (APX1) that scavenges hydrogen peroxide in plant cells , thus reducing the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that cause cellular damage through protein oxidation . The product of AT3G52910 is a transcriptional activator of the growth regulating factor family. Genes from this family have been demonstrated to be involved in the regulation of cell expansion and division in leaves, cotyledons and petals [107, 108]. Strikingly, the product of AT3G52910 is one of the proteins oxidized in apx1 mutant plants in response to moderate light stress , indicating that it could also be part of the signaling cascade activated by ROS stress.
The site codon substitution models also identified putative targets of positive selection that deserve further characterization. In particular, the orthologue of AT2G31610 codes for a ribosomal protein (RPS3A) that is involved in response to salt and genotoxic stress in A. thaliana . This gene is part of the ribosomal protein S3 family, which includes three paralogues (AT2G31610, AT3G53870 and AT5G35530) with similar sequences and function. Gene families can undergo relaxed selection immediately following duplication ; however, this does not seem to be the case for AT2G31610, as the phylogenetic tree clearly indicates that the duplication occurred before the split between the Arabidopsis and Cardamine lineages (Additional File 6).
Additional studies will be necessary to corroborate these findings and link the evolutionary pattern of each gene to its phenotypic effects. In particular, the use of intraspecific variation and functional analyses in the model species A. thaliana will be crucial to ascertaining whether positive selection or relaxed selection accelerated the evolution of these genes and their relevance in adaptive processes in Cardamine.
Overall, our results highlight the importance of employing complementary approaches to studying the genetic bases of adaptation in non-model species. Our use of comparative genomics on congeneric species identified evolutionary patterns that aid the understanding of the extrinsic and intrinsic factors driving plant adaptation. In the case of Cardamine, intrinsic factors (the breeding system, demography) most likely contribute to the different levels of selective pressure in C. resedifolia compared to C. impatiens lineages. In addition, extrinsic factors (stress responses associated with habitats preferences) seem to be the primary drivers of heterogeneity in the levels of selective pressure observed among genes in C. resedifolia.
Cardamine resedifolia and C. impatiens seeds were collected in Trentino-Alto Adige (south-eastern Alps, Italy) from the wild populations found at the localities 'Solda' (46°30'52"N, 10°33'36"E; 2660 m above mean sea level) and 'Spormaggiore' (46°13'56"N, 11°03'30"E; 420 m AMSL), respectively. After three days of cold stratification in the dark, seedlings were potted in commercial soil GS90L and grown for 15 days in a controlled environment chamber under long day photoperiod (16-h light, 25°C; 8-h dark, 23°C), with illumination of 120 μmol m-2 sec-1 from cool white lights.
We enriched our mRNA library with transcripts from cold responsive genes by exposing plants to cold stress before sampling. In particular, based on the activation and kinetics of the cold responsive pathway of the close relative Arabidopsis thaliana (e.g. ), plants at the six-leaves stage were transferred to a growth chamber at 4°C with 35 μmol m-2 sec-1 continuous light for cold acclimation. Whole aerial parts from nine plants were harvested, pooled and plunged into liquid nitrogen immediately before, and at 15', 30', 1 h, 2 h, 3 h, 4 h, 6 h, 8 h, 12 h, 24 h, and 7 days after cold treatment (12 samples per species).
Total RNA was extracted separately from each sample using the Spectrum™ Plant Total RNA Kit (SIGMA, MO, USA), quantified in a spectrophotometer and quality controlled using electrophoretic separation in agarose gel. Approximately 1.7 μg of total RNA from each sample was pooled per species, and mRNA isolation was carried out with 20 μg of pooled RNA with Ambion Poly(A)Purist™ Kit (Life Technologies, CA, USA). mRNA quality/quantity was assessed with the RNA 6000 bioanalyzer chip (Agilent, CA, USA).
Double-stranded cDNA was synthesized using the SMART cDNA library construction kit (Clontech, USA). A modified oligo-dT primer (AAGCAGTGGTATCAACGCAGAGTGGCCGAGGCGGCC(T)20VN*) was used for first-strand synthesis. After second strand synthesis, double-strand cDNA was purified with QIAquick PCR purification kit (Qiagen, Germany).
To enrich for rare transcripts, 2.0 μg of cDNA from each species were normalized using the Trimmer-Direct Kit (Evrogen, Russia) according to the manufacturer's instructions. 500 ng of normalized cDNA library for each species were used for 454 library preparation and simultaneously sequenced in one run on a GS FLX titanium instrument (Roche-454, USA) according to manufacturer's instructions.
The sequencing data are deposited in the EMBL ENA SRA under the accession number ERA032352.
The sequencing run produced 396,602 reads for the C. impatiens sample, with mean ± standard error (SE) length of 295.7 ± 0.2 base pairs (bp) (median = 306 bp). The run also produced 442,030 reads for the C. resedifolia sample, with mean length of 296.0 ± 0.2 bp (median = 306 bp). Reads were assembled using the GS de novo assembler software version 2.3 (Roche) using a minimum overlap of 40 bp and an identity of 100%. These stringent parameters were chosen to reduce the probability of co-aligning possible paralogous genes, and to maximize the probability of aligning reads from the same allele (although our samples consisted of inbred plants, we cannot exclude the possibility of heterozygosity in our samples). As an additional quality-control step, we only considered contigs longer than 250 bp. The assembly of the C. resedifolia reads resulted in 10,456 contigs with a mean length of 702.3 ± 3.6 bp, each covered at a mean depth of 29.9 ± 0.3 reads. For C. impatiens, the assembly resulted in 9,484 contigs with a mean length of 664.9 ± 3.7 bp, each covered at a mean depth of 29.9 ± 0.4 reads.
The identification of the orthologous sequences was done using the C. impatiens contigs, the C. resedifolia contigs and Arabidopsis thaliana coding sequences (TAIR9 release ). First, we formatted all three datasets as BLAST databases, using the dustmasker sequence filtering application for the two Cardamine datasets. Then we searched orthologues by running a total of six pairwise BLASTn using the BLAST+ tools suite . The best-hit search was optimized using the parameters "-best_hit_overhang 0.18 -softmasking F". To reduce spurious matches, best hits were retained for the next step only if 1) at least 70% of their aligned sequences matched the respective queries; and 2) if either the query or the best hit sequences aligned for at least 60% of their length in the pairwise alignment. Finally, to reduce the chance of mistaking a paralogue for an orthologue, we identified as triplets of putative orthologues only those consisting of reciprocal best hits (RBH) , i.e. those where the three sequences were consistently found as best hit matches of one another. This approach resulted in a total of 2,922 triplets of putative orthologues, each triplet corresponding to a single nuclear gene. For comparison, when RBH were identified between C. resedifolia and C. impatiens only, we obtained 4,624 pairs of putative orthologues.
After aligning the sequences of each triplet with Clustal W 2.0 , we extracted the portion of the alignments containing all three orthologous sequences and trimmed partial codons at the 5' and 3' ends (based on the A. thaliana sequence).
A potential caveat is the presence of a highly variable region present in those genes that are associated with the chloroplast. This region codes for an N-terminal transit peptide that will eventually be cleaved after targeting [115, 116] and is enriched in hydroxylated residues and deficient in acidic ones . Since several aminoacids can fulfill such biochemical requirements, functionally equivalent transit peptides can accumulate non-synonymous substitutions particularly fast, and may bias genome-wide and gene-specific estimates of aminoacid substitutions. Therefore, we first identified eventual transit peptides in the chloroplast-targeting A. thaliana genes present in our dataset using the ChloroP program , and subsequently removed them from the alignments.
The 2,922 A. thaliana aligned sequences of our final dataset had a mean ± SE length of 594.0 ± 5.8 bp (median = 531 bp; mode = 369 bp). In C. impatiens, the mean length was 592.3 ± 5.8 bp (median = 528 bp; mode = 384 bp). In C. resedifolia, the mean length was 592.2 ± 5.8 bp (median = 528 bp; mode = 384 bp).
Gene ontology (GO) and gene annotation were based on the A. thaliana genome annotation available at TAIR (retrieved December 2009 ).
GO was used to discriminate genes involved in cold acclimation (CGO), in photosynthesis (as a proxy for UV-B and high irradiation response) (PGO), and those broadly involved in stress resistance (SGO; Additional File 12). In addition, we compiled a list of cold responsive genes (CRG; Additional File 13) that satisfied one of the following two conditions. The first condition was that these genes were involved in cold resistance based on known functional assays; these genes include transcription factors (ICE1 , CBF1, CBF2 and CBF3 [121–123], ZAT12 , HOS1 , and ESK1 ), and other genes active at different points along the cold acclimation response pathways (reviewed in ). The second condition was that the genes had to be reported as cold responsive (up-regulated in any pathway) at least twice, either in genome-wide expression studies [20, 21, 126–128], in their annotation description, or in the aforementioned functional studies. Such cross-validation was useful to prevent the inclusion of false-positives, since many of the ~3,000 genes identified as cold responsive in genome-wide studies are probably not primarily nor directly involved in cold resistance.
Among the 2,922 genes analyzed in the present study, 56 were included in the CGO functional class (representing 25% of all A. thaliana genes with such annotations), 67 in the PGO class (48%), 332 in the SGO class (17%), and 55 in the CRG class (18% of the genes included in our list). Note that some genes are present in more than one functional class, since some genes are involved in several stress-related pathways (Additional File 1). As a result of this non-independence, it was not possible to make direct statistical comparisons across functional classes.
A typical signature of positive selection is a high rate of non-synonymous substitution, dN (leading to aminoacid changes), compared to synonymous substitution, dS. This because synonymous substitutions accumulate nearly neutrally, while non-synonymous substitutions are subject to selective pressures of varying degree and sign. In general, the ratio ω = dN/dS measures the levels of selective pressure operating in a protein coding gene: the value is less than 1 if the gene is under purifying selection, equal to 1 if the gene is evolving neutrally, and greater than one if positive selection has accelerated the fixation of aminoacid changes.
For each gene, we used the program PAML 4.4 to test different models of substitution rates (e.g. [129, 130]). We used seven likelihood ratio tests for identifying candidates with distinct evolutionary histories, for instance genes whose substitution rates varied among lineages and/or among coding sites. For this reason, it is assumed that the outlier gene sets are, at most, only partially overlapping. For sake of completeness, we provide the results of all analyses, but we focus in particular on the branch-site test of positive selection, the most appropriate for detecting candidate genes under positive selection in either the C. resedifolia or the C. impatiens lineage (see below). First we compared the models that assume one or more substitution rates across the phylogeny. We estimated dS and dN between pairs of species and over all branches of the phylogenetic tree using the "one-ratio" branch model (M0), which assumes a constant dN/dS ratio, ω, across the phylogeny (with model = 0 and NSsites = 0; A. thaliana was used as the outgroup to C. impatiens and C. resedifolia). The likelihood of this model was compared to that of the ''free-ratio'' model (M0' ), which allows ω to vary among branches of the tree (model = 1 and NSsites = 0). Each comparison, i.e. twice the likelihood difference (2Δλ), was tested using a χ2 test with 3 degrees of freedom (which corresponds to the number of branches minus one). In a second approach, the model M0 was compared to branch models where we assumed two ω, the first for either the C. resedifolia or C. impatiens branch, and the second for the other branches (model = 2 and NSsites = 0). In this case the likelihood ratio test was performed using 1 degree of freedom.
The occurrence of positive selection was tested by comparing the likelihoods of (nearly) neutral models to those of models that allow for the occurrence of positive selection. In a first approach we compared the likelihood of a model (M1a) that assumes two sets of sites with neutral (ω = 1) or nearly neutral evolution (0 < ω < 1), to a model (M2a) with an additional class of sites with ω > 1 (M1a: model = 0 and NSsites = 1; M2a: model = 0 and NSsites = 2). In a second more realistic approach, we compared the likelihood of a model (M7) where ten site classes have ω values drawn from a β distribution (model = 0 and NSsites = 7) to a model (M8) that incorporates an additional class of sites under positive selection (model = 0 and NSsites = 8). In this case each comparison was tested using a χ2 test with 2 degrees of freedom.
Finally, we used the branch-site test of positive selection to detect positive selection affecting a few sites along particular lineages (i.e. in the foreground branches). In this test (branch-site model A, test 2 ), ω can vary both among sites in the protein and across branches on the tree (model = 2 NSsites = 2). We set as foreground branches either the C. resedifolia or the C. impatiens lineages and allowed two ω along the branches. The null model fixes ω2 to one (fix_omega = 1, omega = 1), while the positive selection model allows ω2 to be larger than one (fix_omega = 0, omega = 1). The likelihood ratio test had one degree of freedom.
To account for multiple testing, for each likelihood ratio test, we estimated the false discovery rate (FDR) using the qvalue package implemented in R . Only genes with a FDR lower than 0.20 were discussed further in the main text. This threshold was chosen to allow between-tests comparisons and to account for the different power of the likelihood ratio tests (e.g. the S21 test is less powerful than the S87 test). Moreover, the fact that we used only partial genes in our analyses, and that the phylogeny included only three species, may have considerably reduced the power of these tests (see PAML documentation ).
Rates of synonymous and non-synonymous substitution used in the analyses were those estimated by the ''free-ratio'' model along the C. resedifolia and the C. impatiens branches.
Since gene expression data are not yet available for C. impatiens and C. resedifolia, here we assumed that data for the closely related species A. thaliana can serve as a proxy for expression levels in all three species. This is reasonable, given that a recent study suggests quite similar patterns of expression between A. thaliana and the far more divergent species Silene latifolia .
For most of the genes in our list we could calculate the breadth of expression based on their expression levels collected across the developmental gradient in several organs of A. thaliana . The expression levels were originally inferred from the intensity of each gene's hybridization onto an Affymetrix microarray . For our analyses, log2 transformed gene expression intensities (which were) were back-transformed by calculating the power of two of their values. The spatial breadth of expression was estimated as the number of organs (minimum 1, maximum 14) where the gene expression value was larger than 75 (arbitrarily chosen as threshold to reduce false positives, see ; values ranged from 0 to 66,760, with a median of 460). For organs represented by more developmental stages, we considered a combined value that equaled 1 only when the gene was expressed in at least one developmental stage. In a second approach, we used the organ specificity index τ , which also includes the information on the level of expression. This index has a value of 0 when the gene is expressed equally across organs, while it approaches 1 when the gene has organ-specific expression. We also estimated the temporal breadth of expression in leaves and flowers as the number of developmental time points in which the gene was expressed at a level larger than 75.
In addition, we calculated the breadth of expression as a function of the kinetics of a gene in the presence of an abiotic stress. Our rationale for choosing this estimate is that genes expressed briefly during a stress response may be subject to different selective pressures compared to those expressed continuously. For our purpose, we used the AtGenExpress dataset , which contains time series of expression data collected from plants subjected to one of the following stress treatments: UV-B radiations, drought, salt, cold and osmosis. For every stress treatment, we assigned to each gene a value corresponding to the number of time-points at which its expression in treated plants was at least 3 times higher than in control plants .
Finally, we estimated the mean and maximum levels of expression of the genes from data reported in . Because stress responses are typically not constitutive, using maximum expression levels reduces the possibility to overlook transient peaks of expression.
We estimated codon bias using the frequency of optimal codons (Fop , where stronger synonymous codon usage bias is identified by larger Fop values. This index was calculated using the program CodonW (version 1.4.2 ). First we inferred the preferred codon usage for each species using the correspondence analysis of relative synonymous codon usage approach as implemented in CodonW. Briefly, putative optimal (preferred) codons are identified as those that are significantly overrepresented in genes with high codon bias compared to those with low bias . To avoid a bias due to the heterogeneous composition of our gene dataset (enriched in stress related genes, see above), we inferred the preferred codons only from genes annotated as ribosomal (n = 77), which, being highly expressed, should be enriched in optimal codons. Similarly, we discarded 11 (partial) genes shorter than 100 codons [140, 141]. We then let CodonW to automatically identify codon usage on the 50% highest- and lowest-biased genes (see Additional File 10 for a list of putative optimal codons in Cardamine). This percentage was chosen because in A. thaliana it maximized the agreement between our estimate and what is reported in the literature . Indeed, optimal codons identified by using higher or lower percentages of the ribosomal genes, or the 5% highest- and lowest-biased genes among all those sequenced, had a lower agreement (data not shown). Therefore, we can assume that the preferred codon usage patterns identified for the two Cardamine species are also very close to the real ones.
We thank F. Prosser for indication of the Cardamine populations used in this study and H.C. Hauffe for critical reading of the manuscript. We wish to thank four anonymous referees, whose insightful comments significantly improved the manuscript. This work was funded by the Autonomous Province of Trento (Italy), under the ACE-SAP project (regulation number 23, June 12th 2008, of the Servizio Università e Ricerca Scientifica).
LO contributed to develop the design of the study, performed the bioinformatics and statistical analyses, and drafted the manuscript. ML carried out all molecular work related to the 454 sequencing, and participated in manuscript drafting. LB contributed to the sequence evolution analyses. CV conceived and coordinated the study, participated in data analysis, and drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. | 2019-04-19T18:22:51Z | https://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2148-12-7 |
2009-08-05 Assigned to HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD. reassignment HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: KIRSCH, DAVID M.
An in-vehicle system may detect an occurrence of a triggering event, detect a short-range communication connection between the in-vehicle system and a mobile communication device, send a prompt, including a request for information, to the mobile communication device, and receive a response, including the requested information, from the mobile communication device via the short-range communication module. In some embodiments, a business review, an advertisement, or a redeemable electronic coupon may be sent to the mobile communication device after the requested information is provided. A number of triggering events may be defined. When any of the triggering events are detected by the in-vehicle system, one or more communications may occur between the in-vehicle system and the mobile communication system via the short-range communication connection.
The present teachings relate to methods, in-vehicle systems, and mobile communication devices in which an in-vehicle system receives information from and sends information to a mobile communication device linked to the in-vehicle system via a short-range communication connection.
Currently, for hands-free communication within an automobile, a handheld wireless mobile phone in a passenger compartment of an automobile may wirelessly link to an in-vehicle system. Typically, the mobile phone and the in-vehicle system connect to one another using a short-range wireless communication technology, such as Bluetooth® (Bluetooth is a registered trademark of Bluetooth Sig, Inc., a Delaware corporation, with an office in Bellevue, Wash.). Generally, the in-vehicle system is limited to providing only basic phone operations to the wirelessly linked mobile phone, such as phone calls, address book searching, and basic text messaging features.
Today, a user's mobile phone is his/her communication center. For example, a user may use a mobile phone for online banking, phone calls, text messaging, viewing and sending e-mails, instant messaging, Internet searching, as well as other uses. However, existing in-vehicle systems are unable to easily access a mobile phone to communicate messages to a user, such as a driver. One possible solution to this problem is to install a phone module in the automobile and have the in-vehicle system use the phone module to communicate with a user's mobile phone via a standard phone call. However, such a solution may be more expensive and may have future compatibility issues if large changes are made to cellular communication infrastructure.
An in-vehicle system may detect an occurrence of a triggering event. A triggering event can be a single event, a plurality of events or a plurality of events that occur in a particular order. Examples of triggering events may include: vehicle ignition switch on; vehicle ignition switch off; vehicle located at a particular type of location, opening or closing a door, inserting or removing a key from the ignition, as well as other events. In addition, other example events can include any number of events in combination or in a particular order. Upon detection of a triggering event, the in-vehicle system may communicate with a wireless mobile communication device via a short-range communication link. As an example, when a vehicle ignition switch off triggering event is detected, the in-vehicle system may send information to the wireless mobile communication device, where the information may be stored.
A user may modify at least some of the information stored on the wireless mobile communication device when the user is away from the vehicle. Upon returning to the vehicle, the in-vehicle system may detect a vehicle ignition switch on triggering event. The in-vehicle system may notify the wireless mobile communication device of the detected triggering event, which may cause the wireless mobile communication device to send the stored information to the in-vehicle system via a short-range communication connection.
Some embodiments of the wireless mobile communication device may forward at least some information received from the in-vehicle system to a remote processing device for further processing. Some embodiments of the wireless mobile communication device may also include an application that may be downloaded and installed to a wireless mobile communication device. When executed by the wireless mobile communication device, the application may send information stored on the wireless mobile communication device to an in-vehicle system and/or may receive information from the in-vehicle system for storage on the wireless mobile communication device via a short-range communication link.
FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary operating environment of various embodiments.
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of an exemplary wireless mobile communication device suitable for use in various embodiments.
FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of an exemplary in-vehicle system which may be used in a number of embodiments.
FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of an exemplary server which may be used with some embodiments.
FIGS. 5-10 are flowcharts illustrating exemplary processing which may be performed in various embodiments.
An in-vehicle system, within a vehicle, may detect an occurrence of a triggering event. A triggering event can be a single event, a plurality of events or a plurality of events that occur in a particular order. Examples of triggering events may include: vehicle ignition switch on; vehicle ignition switch off; vehicle located at a particular type of location, opening or closing a door, inserting or removing a key from the ignition, as well as other single events, or other events in combination or in a particular order. In some embodiments, the in-vehicle system may include a navigation unit and the triggering event may include: (a) detecting the vehicle being located at a particular type of location such as, for example, a point of interest, including a fueling station, a restaurant, a movie theater, or other type of location; (b) detecting the vehicle being located at a fueling station and a refueling door of the vehicle being sensed to be in an open position; and (c) detecting the vehicle being located near a restaurant, to which the navigation unit provided guidance for the vehicle to reach; as well as other triggering events.
Upon detecting the occurrence of a triggering event, the in-vehicle system may determine whether a connection exists between the in-vehicle system and a wireless mobile communication device such as, for example, a mobile phone or other communication device. If the connection exists, the in-vehicle system may send information to the wireless mobile communication device. The in-vehicle system and the wireless mobile communication device may communicate with each other using short-range communication technology such as, a wireless short-range communication technology, for example, Bluetooth® or other short-range communication technology, for example, Universal Serial Bus (USB). The wireless mobile communication device may receive the information and present the information on a display of the wireless mobile communication device.
In some embodiments, the information sent to the wireless mobile communication device may be in the form of a prompt to provide information to the user of the wireless communication device. In some embodiments, the prompt may be presented in a pop-up style window on the display. In other embodiments, the prompt may also request information from a user of the wireless mobile communication device. A user may provide the requested information via the wireless mobile communication device, which may then send the requested information to the in-vehicle system using the short-range communication technology.
In some embodiments, regardless of whether an in-vehicle system does or does not include a navigation system, the in-vehicle system may detect an occurrence of a triggering event and may perform an action involving one or more short-range communications with a wireless mobile communication device.
For example, the in-vehicle system may detect an occurrence of a first type of triggering event and, as a result, may send a prompt to the wireless mobile communication device via a short-range communication connection. The wireless mobile communication device may display the prompt requesting information and a user may provide the requested information via the wireless mobile communication device. The wireless mobile communication device may then send the requested information to the in-vehicle system.
When the in-vehicle system detects an occurrence of a second type of triggering event, the in-vehicle system may send, via the short-range communication connection, second information to the wireless mobile communication device, which may then receive and store the second information and/or may send the second information to a remote processor, such as, for example, a server. In some embodiments, the second type of triggering event may include turning a vehicle ignition switch off, or other triggering event, and the second information may include vehicle status information, or other information.
When the in-vehicle system detects an occurrence of a third type of triggering event, the in-vehicle system may send to the wireless mobile communication device, via the short-range communication connection, an indication of the occurrence of the third type of triggering event. In response to receiving the indication, the wireless mobile communication device may send stored second information to the in-vehicle system via the short-range communication connection. In some embodiments, the third type of triggering event may include turning a vehicle ignition switch on, or other triggering event.
Examples of how embodiments may be used may include, but not be limited to: (a) detecting a vehicle being located at a fueling station, detecting an existing connection between an in-vehicle system and a wireless mobile communication device, sending a prompt to the wireless mobile communication device requesting information regarding a price of fuel per unit and a number of units purchased, and receiving a response, from the wireless mobile communication device, including the requested information from the user; (b) detecting the vehicle being located near a restaurant, to which the in-vehicle system provided the vehicle with navigation guidance, detecting an existing connection between an in-vehicle system and a wireless mobile communication device, sending a prompt to the wireless mobile communication device requesting the user to provide information regarding a dining experience at the restaurant, and receiving a response, including the information, from the wireless mobile communication device; and (c) detecting the vehicle being located near a movie theater, to which the in-vehicle system provided navigation guidance, detecting an existing connection between an in-vehicle system and a wireless mobile communication device, sending a prompt to the wireless mobile communication device requesting the user to provide information regarding a movie viewing experience at the movie theater, and receiving a response, including the information, from the wireless mobile communication device.
In some embodiments, an application may be downloaded and installed to a wireless mobile communication device. When executed by the wireless mobile communication device, the application may send information stored on the wireless mobile communication device to an in-vehicle system and/or may receive information from the in-vehicle system for storage on the wireless mobile communication device via a short-range communication link. As new types of communications may be developed for communicating between an in-vehicle system and a wireless mobile communication device, an updated application may be downloaded and installed to the wireless mobile communication device. In addition, when a user replaces a wireless mobile communication device with an updated wireless mobile communication device, an updated application may be downloaded and installed to the updated wireless mobile communication device, such that types of messages communicated between the in-vehicle system and a previous wireless mobile communication device, may continue to be communicated between the in-vehicle system and the updated wireless mobile communication device, as well as supporting new types of messages.
FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary operating environment 100 for various embodiments. Operating environment 100 may include an in-vehicle system 102, a wireless mobile communication device 104, a short-range communication link 106 between wireless mobile communication device 104 and in-vehicle system 102, a wireless networking communication link 107 between wireless mobile communication device 104 and a network 108, and a processing device, such as a server 110 connected to network 108.
In-vehicle system 102 and wireless mobile communication device 104 may communicate with each other via a short-range communication link 106, which uses short-range communication technology, such as, for example, Bluetooth® technology or other short-range communication technology, for example, Universal Serial Bus (USB). In-vehicle system 102 and wireless mobile communication device 104 may attempt to connect, or pair, with each other via short-range communication link 106. In-vehicle system 102 may send information to wireless mobile communication device 104 in response to detecting an occurrence of a triggering event. The information may be sent in the form of a prompt, or other message, that may or may not request information from the user of the wireless mobile communication device 104. Wireless mobile communication device 104 may send information to in-vehicle system 102 via short-range communication link 106 in response to a triggering event, a message and/or a prompt received from in-vehicle system 102. Wireless mobile communication device 104 may store information received from in-vehicle system 102, and/or may provide the information to a remote processing device, such as, for example, server 110, via network 108.
In some embodiments, in-vehicle system 102 may provide information to the wireless mobile communication device 104. Wireless mobile communication device 104 may use that information to obtain additional information from network 108 and/or server 110. The additional information may also be obtained in response to providing information with respect to a prompt on wireless mobile communication device 104 from in-vehicle system 102. The additional information may be in the form of a business review, an advertisement and/or an electronic coupon. The electronic coupon may be redeemed, at a later time, for a discount on goods or services and may provide an incentive for a user to provide the requested information.
Network 108 may include a wireless communication network, such as, for example, a cellular telephony network, as well as one or more other networks, such as, the Internet, a public-switched telephone network (PSTN), a packet-switching network, a frame-relay network, a fiber-optic network, and/or other types of networks.
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of wireless mobile communication device 104. Wireless mobile communication device 104 may include a processor 202, a memory 204, a short-range communication module 206, a wireless networking communication module 208, an input device 210, and an output device 212.
Processor 202 may include one or more conventional processors that interpret and execute instructions stored in a tangible medium, such as memory 204, a media card, flash RAM, or other tangible medium. Memory 204 may include random access memory (RAM) or another type of dynamic storage device, and read-only memory (ROM) or another type of static storage device, for storing this information and instructions for execution by processor 202. RAM, or another type of dynamic storage device, may store instructions as well as temporary variables or other intermediate information used during execution of instructions by processor 202. ROM, or another type of static storage device, may store static information and instructions for processor 202.
Short-range communication module 206 may include a first transceiver for transmitting and receiving information via a wireless short-range communication technology such as, for example, Bluetooth® or other short-range communication technology, for example, Universal Serial Bus (USB). Wireless networking communication module 208 may include a second transceiver for transmitting and receiving information via a wireless communication network, including but not limited to a cellular telephony network.
Input device 210 may include hard keys and/or soft keys, a microphone, a touchscreen, and/or other input device. Output device 212 may include a speaker and/or a display.
FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of in-vehicle system 102. In-vehicle system 102 may include a processor 302, a memory 304, a short-range communication module 306, an input device 310, an output device 312, a trigger detector 314, a satellite communication module 316, and a storage device 318.
Processor 302 may include one or more conventional processors that interpret and execute instructions stored in a tangible medium, such as memory 304, a media card, flash RAM, or other tangible medium. Memory 304 may include random access memory (RAM), or another type of dynamic storage device, and/or read-only memory (ROM), or another type of static storage device, for storing information and instructions for execution by processor 302. RAM, or another type of dynamic storage device, may store instructions as well as temporary variables or other intermediate information used during execution of instructions by processor 302. ROM, or another type of static storage device, may store static information and instructions for processor 302.
Short-range communication module 306 may include a transceiver for transmitting and receiving information via a wireless short-range communication technology such as, for example, Bluetooth® or other short-range communication technology, for example, Universal Serial Bus (USB).
Input device 310 may include hard keys and/or soft keys, a microphone, a touchscreen, and/or other input device. Output device 312 may include a speaker and/or a display.
Trigger detector 314 may detect an occurrence of a triggering event. Trigger detector 314 may be a mechanism that can detect a change of state of a vehicle system or vehicle sensor. Trigger detector 314 can be implemented in hardware, software or a combination thereof. A triggering event can be a single event, a plurality of events or a plurality of events that occur in a particular order. Examples of triggering events may include: vehicle ignition switch on; vehicle ignition switch off; vehicle located at a particular type of location, opening or closing a door, inserting or removing a key from the ignition, as well as other single events, or other events in combination or in a particular order. In various embodiments, actual triggering events may vary from the above-mentioned examples.
In some embodiments, components of in-vehicle system 102 may include a navigation unit for guiding a vehicle, including in-vehicle system 102, to a destination. That is, at least some components of in-vehicle system 102 may function together as a navigation unit. When in-vehicle system 102 includes a navigation unit, in-vehicle system 102 may include a satellite communication module 316 for communicating with global positioning satellites.
FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of server 110. Server 110 may include a processor 402, a memory 404, a storage device 406, and a networking communication module 408.
Processor 402 may include one or more conventional processors that interpret and execute instructions stored in a tangible medium, such as memory 404, a media card, flash RAM, or other tangible medium. Memory 404 may include random access memory (RAM) or another type of dynamic storage device, and read-only memory (ROM) or another type of static storage device. RAM, or another type of dynamic storage device, may store instructions as well as temporary variables or other intermediate information used during execution of instructions by processor 402. ROM, or another type of static storage device, may store static information and instructions for processor 402.
Networking communication module 408 may include a transceiver for transmitting and receiving information via a wired or wireless communication network, such as network 108 or other network.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary processing in an embodiment. The process may begin with in-vehicle system 102 determining whether a triggering event has occurred (act 502). If no triggering event has occurred, then in-vehicle system 102 may continue to wait for an occurrence of a triggering event.
If a triggering event has occurred, then in-vehicle system 102 may call process 600 (act 504), call process 800 (act 505), call process 900 (act 506), or call process 1000 (act 508), depending upon a type of triggering event detected.
FIG. 6 illustrates exemplary processing with respect to process 600. The process may begin with in-vehicle system 102 determining whether a connection exists with wireless mobile communication device 104 (act 604).
FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating act 604. The process may begin with in-vehicle system 102 determining whether a pairing relationship exists between the in-vehicle system 102 and wireless mobile communication device 104 (act 702). The pairing relationship may use Bluetooth® technology in some embodiments. If the pairing relationship is determined to exist, then an indication may be returned indicating that a connection exists (act 704). Otherwise, an indication may be returned indicating that a connection does not exist (act 706).
Returning to FIG. 6, if no connection is determined to exist with wireless mobile communication device 104, then in-vehicle system 104 may determine whether a maximum waiting time has passed (act 606). The maximum waiting time may be 60 seconds or another suitable time period. If the maximum waiting time has passed, then in-vehicle system 102 may wait a pre-determined amount of time, such as, for example, 10 seconds, or another suitable time period before performing act 604 again.
If, during act 606, in-vehicle system 102 determines that the maximum waiting time has passed, then in-vehicle system 102 may simply cause control to be returned to a calling program and processing with respect to the triggering event may be discarded.
If, during act 604, in-vehicle system 102 determines that a connection exists with wireless mobile communications device 104, then in-vehicle system 102 may wirelessly send a prompt, via short-range communication module 306, to wireless communication device 104 requesting information from a user (act 610). Wireless mobile communication device 104 may receive the prompt and may present the prompt on a display of wireless communication device 104 (act 612). In some embodiments, the prompt may be presented in a pop-up style on the display. The displayed prompt may include one or more areas for the user to provide requested information. Wireless mobile communication device 104 may receive the requested information from the user and may send the requested information to in-vehicle system 102 via short-range communication link 106 (act 614).
In-vehicle system 102 may receive the response from wireless mobile communication device 104 via short-range communication link 106 (act 616). Next, in-vehicle system 102 may provide information for obtaining additional information to wireless mobile communication device 104 (act 620). The additional information may be in the form of a business review, an advertisement and/or an electronic coupon. Wireless mobile communication device 104 may then obtain the additional information (act 622). In some embodiments, wireless mobile communication device 104 may obtain the additional information from server 110. In other embodiments, wireless mobile communication device 104 may obtain the additional information from other sources.
Wireless mobile communication device 104 may store the additional information, such that the additional information may not be altered by the user. Eventually, act 502 may again be performed to detect, or wait for, an occurrence of a next triggering event.
Returning to FIG. 5, if the detected triggering event is of a second type, then in-vehicle system 102 may call process 800. In some embodiments, the second type of triggering event includes a vehicle ignition switch on event.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary processing with respect to a detected occurrence of the second type of triggering event. The process may begin with in-vehicle system 102 determining whether a connection exists between in vehicle system 102 and wireless mobile communication device 104 (act 802). In various embodiments, processing with respect to act 802 may be identical to the exemplary processing illustrated in FIG. 7.
If in-vehicle system 102 determines that a connection with a wireless mobile communication device 104 exists, via short-range communication link 106, then in-vehicle system 102 may send second information to wireless mobile communication device 104 via short-range communication link 106 (act 804). In some embodiments, second information may include vehicle status information. Vehicle status information may include a current odometer reading, a trip odometer reading, average miles per gallon, average speed, estimated distance until refueling, estimated oil life, last maintenance date, last maintenance odometer reading, tire pressure, next maintenance odometer reading, dealer information, interior lighting settings, and/or door lock settings, as well as other vehicle status information. The above-listed examples of vehicle status information are only exemplary. In other embodiments, actual vehicle status information may vary from the above.
Wireless mobile communication device 104 may receive the second information and may store the second information (act 806) and/or may send the second information to a remote processor, such as, for example, server 110 or another remote processor (act 808).
If, during act 802, in-vehicle system 102 determines that a short-range connection between in-vehicle system 102 and wireless mobile communication device 104 does not exist, then in-vehicle system 102 may determine whether a maximum amount of time has passed, such as, for example, 60 seconds, or another suitable time period (act 810). If the maximum amount of time has passed, then in-vehicle system 102 may cause control to return to a calling program. Otherwise, in-vehicle system 102 may wait a predetermined amount of time, such as, for example, 10 seconds, or another suitable time period (act 812) before again performing act 802.
Returning to FIG. 5, when a third type of triggering event is detected, in-vehicle system 102 may call process 900 (act 506).
FIG. 9 illustrates is a flowchart illustrating exemplary processing with respect to a detected occurrence of a third type of triggering event. The process may begin with in-vehicle system 102 determining whether a short-range communication connection exists between in vehicle system 102 and wireless mobile communication device 104 (act 902). In various embodiments, processing with respect to act 902 may be identical to the exemplary processing illustrated in FIG. 7.
If, during act 902, in-vehicle system 102 determines that a short-range communication connection between in-vehicle system 102 and wireless mobile communication device 104 exists, then in-vehicle system 102 may send an indication of an occurrence of a third triggering event to a wireless mobile communication device 104 via the short-range communication connection (act 904). Wireless mobile communication device 104 may receive the indication via the short-range communication connection (act 906) and may send information to in-vehicle system 102 (act 908).
In one embodiment, the third type of triggering event may be a vehicle ignition switch on event and in-vehicle system 102 may inform wireless mobile communication device 104 of an occurrence of the vehicle ignition switch on event. Upon being notified of the occurrence of the vehicle ignition switch on event, wireless mobile communication device 104 may send information to in vehicle system 102, such as, for example, vehicle status information, or another type of information.
Returning to a FIG. 5, when a fourth type of triggering event is detected, in-vehicle system 102 may call process 1000 (act 508).
FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary processing with respect to a detected occurrence of a fourth type of triggering event. The process may begin with in-vehicle system 102 determining whether a short-range communication connection exists between in-vehicle system 102 and wireless mobile communication device 104 (act 1002). In various embodiments, processing with respect to act 1002 may be identical to the exemplary processing illustrated in FIG. 7.
If, during act 1002, in-vehicle system 102 determines that a short-range communication connection between in-vehicle system 102 and wireless mobile communication device 104 exists, then in-vehicle system 102 may send a notification to wireless mobile communication device 104 (act 1004). The notification may include information such as, “vehicle lights left on”, or another notification. Wireless mobile communication device 104 may then display the notification on a display screen.
The above-described processes are only exemplary. For example, the above exemplary processes discuss four types of triggering events. However, in other embodiments, fewer than four types of triggering events, or more than four types of triggering events may be defined.
Further, in an embodiment in which wireless mobile communication device 104 receives and stores an electronic coupon, the electronic coupon may be redeemed in a number of different ways. For example, the electronic coupon may be displayed on the display of wireless mobile communication device 102 and presented to a merchant. The merchant may honor the electronic coupon and may enter a specific code on wireless mobile communication device 104 to either delete the electronic coupon or indicate redemption of the electronic coupon. In another embodiment, the electronic coupon may be sent to a merchant's device, either via infrared light transmissions, via a physical connection with the merchant device, or via another transmission means. Upon completion of sending of electronic coupon to the merchant's device, wireless mobile communication device 104 may delete the electronic coupon.
Although the above descriptions may contain specific details, they are not to be construed as limiting the claims in any way. Other configurations of the described embodiments are part of the scope of this disclosure. In addition, acts illustrated by the flowcharts of FIGS. 5-10 may be performed in a different order in other embodiments, and may include additional or fewer acts. For example, in some embodiments, instead of detecting a triggering event and then determining that a short-range communication connection with a wireless mobile communication device exists before communicating with the wireless mobile communication device, an in-vehicle system, instead, may detect an occurrence of a triggering event only when the short-range connection is determined to exist. Further, in other embodiments, other devices or components may perform portions of the acts described above. Accordingly, the appended claims and their legal equivalents define the invention, rather than any specific examples given.
a short-range communication module for sending a prompt to a mobile communication device for first information from a user, the prompt to be sent when the trigger detector detects an occurrence of a first type of triggering event, and the short-range communication module being further for receiving the first information provided by the user via the mobile communication device in response to the prompt.
the short-range communication module communicates with the mobile communication device via Bluetooth® technology.
3. The in-vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the short-range communication module is further for sending second information to the mobile communication device when the trigger detector detects an occurrence of a second type of triggering event.
4. The in-vehicle system of claim 3, wherein the second information includes vehicle status information.
5. The in-vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the short-range communication module is further for requesting and receiving vehicle status information from the mobile communication device when the trigger detector detects an occurrence of a third type of triggering event.
6. The in-vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the mobile communication device includes a wireless mobile phone.
the prompt includes a request for the user to provide the first information regarding the location of the particular type.
8. The in-vehicle system of claim 7, wherein the location of the particular type includes a fueling station, a movie theater, or a restaurant.
when the short-range communication module receives a response to the prompt from the mobile communication device, the short range communication module transmits, to the mobile communication device, information for obtaining an electronic coupon, an advertisement, or a business review.
sending, via the short-range communication connection, the requested first information from the wireless mobile communication device to the in-vehicle system.
storing the second information at the wireless communication device.
sending the second information from the wireless mobile communication device to a remote processing device.
the sending of the requested first information from the wireless mobile communication device to the in-vehicle system when the requested first information is inputted by the user.
storing the second information in the wireless mobile communication device.
sending the second information to a remote processing device.
sending previously-stored information from the wireless mobile communication device to the in-vehicle system via the short-range communication connection after receiving the indication of the occurrence of the triggering event.
displaying, on a display of the wireless communication device, a notification related to the received vehicle status information.
receiving, by the in-vehicle system from the wireless mobile communication device via the short-range communication connection, the first information provided by a user of the wireless mobile communication device.
receiving, by the in-vehicle system, previously-stored vehicle information from the wireless mobile communication device via the short-range communication connection in response to the informing.
determining, by a navigation unit included in the in-vehicle system, a vehicle including the in-vehicle system being at a particular type of location.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein the particular type of location includes a fueling station, a movie theater, or a restaurant.
receiving, by the in-vehicle system from the wireless mobile communication device via the short-range communication connection, the requested previously-stored first information after the sending of the request for the previously-stored first information. | 2019-04-26T01:57:16Z | https://patents.google.com/patent/US20110034128A1/en |
TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,246, November 3, 2005.
November 3, 2005, 8:00 AM ET, Alert No. 1,246.
11/2. The U.S. Court of Appeals (6thCir) issued it opinion [20 pages in PDF] in Office Max v. USA, affirming the District Court's judgment for Office Max, a taxpayer that argued that certain services are not subject to the 3 per cent excise tax on communications services, provided for by 26 U.S.C. § 4251.
Introduction. This opinion is in agreement with the May 10, 2005, opinion [22 pages in PDF], of the U.S. Court of Appeals (11thCir) in ABIG v. US. See also, story titled "IRS Loses Appeal Over 3% Excise Tax on Communications" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,133, May 11, 2005.
Also, last week, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced, with reference to ABIG v. US, that it "will continue to assess and collect the tax under § 4251 on all taxable communications services, including communications services similar to those at issue in the cases. Collectors should continue to collect the tax, including from taxpayers within the jurisdiction of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit." See also, story titled "IRS Announces That It Will Violate Court of Appeals Ruling Regarding Excise Tax on Phone Service", in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,241, October 27, 2005.
The IRS offered the excuse that "the government will continue to litigate this important issue. The government is prosecuting appeals in five different circuits. The appeal in Office Max v. United States, 309 F. Supp. 2d 984 (N.D. Ohio 2004), has been briefed and argued, and the parties are awaiting a decision."
The IRS is litigating this issue repeatedly, constantly loosing, yet refusing to follow any of the court opinions. The 6th Circuit wrote that "we are not alone. Every court to reach this issue -- save one district court subsequently reversed -- has concluded that the statute unambiguously requires variance by both distance and elapsed transmission time." The Court provides citations to seven proceedings (at pages 7-8).
TLJ spoke with an attorney in the IRS's Office of Chief Counsel, which prepared the IRS's October notice. She stated that no one in the Office of Chief Counsel would answer any questions from TLJ. The Department of Justice attorneys who handled the appeal in the Office Max case have not returned phone calls from TLJ.
TLJ also spoke with Henry Levine of the Washington DC law firm of Levine Blaszek Block and Boothby. He represented Office Max in this case, as well as ABIG in the 11th Circuit. He speculated that the reason that the IRS decided not to follow the 11th Circuit opinion, and the numerous District Court opinions, was that it thought that the 6th Circuit would rule for the IRS, based upon the oral argument before the 6th Circuit. Judge Rogers, the presiding Judge, appeared to side strongly with the IRS. Judge Rosen, who is only a District Court Judge sitting by designation, appeared to favor the taxpayer. The third Judge, Sutton, had only recently been confirmed by the Senate, and said nothing at oral argument.
When the opinion was issued, it revealed that Sutton wrote an opinion shredding the IRS's argument, with Rosen joining. This left Rogers in dissent.
Now that the IRS has lost twice before Courts of Appeals, and many more times in District Courts, it may concede defeat and follow the courts' opinions.
There are presently five appeals pending. One in the DC Circuit, Amtrak v. U.S., has already been argued. The others are pending in the Federal Circuit, 2nd Circuit, and 3rd Circuit. The IRS lost in the District Court in each case.
Majority Opinion of the 6th Circuit. The Court of Appeals in the present case began its opinion with this: "When a party presents the question whether ``and´´ means ``or,´´ it is tempting to be dismissive of the claim or, worse, to make a crack about the demise of the rule of law."
However, since the United States Department of Justice put a crack team of serious attorneys on the case, the Court wrote a 15 page opinion in which it concluded that, for the statutory language at issue, the word "and" does in fact mean "and".
Office Max purchases telephone service from MCI. When MCI billed Office Max, it also collected, and forwarded to the IRS, a 3% charge, pursuant to § 4251. The rates were based on the length of calls, but not on distance.
That is, to be taxable, a "toll telephone service" must include a "toll charge which varies in amount with the distance and elapsed transmission time". The key word here is "and". Office Max asserted that "and" means "and". The IRS asserted that, in this case, "and" means "or".
The Court concurred with Office Max, and all of the other courts, that in this statute "and" does mean "and", and therefore, the service purchased by Office Max from MCI does not fall within the definition of "telephone toll service", and is therefore not subject to the 3% excise tax.
Dissent. There is also a dissenting opinion, by Judge Rogers. It may be most notable, not for the conclusion that "and" means "or", but rather for the methods of statutory construction that it employs.
For example, while courts often quote judicial precedents, and scholarly treatises, Judge Rogers began by quoting a non-existent hypothetical drunkard. This drunkard, write Rogers, might state "I like beer and wine." And this drunkard might interpret his statement to mean that he does not like beer and wine mixed together in the same glass. And thus, pursuant to this authority, the IRS can interpret "and" to mean "or".
Judge Rogers is not clear in his dissent as to whether his principle of statutory construction implies that the U.S. Congress drafts its statutes with no more care than a linguistically challenged drunkard, whether courts should construe statutes as though the court were composed of drunkards.
Judge Sutton, who wrote the opinion of the Court, responded that the "time and distance" requirement in the definition of telephone toll service is really more like "tequila and worm" than "beer and wine".
The IRS is represented by Teresa McLaughlin and Robert Metzler of the Department of Justice.
This case is Office Max, Inc. v. U.S.A., U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, App. Ct. No. 04-4009, an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, at Cleveland, D.C. No. 03-00961, Judge Patricia Gaughan presiding.
11/2. The House rejected HR 1606, the "Online Freedom of Speech Act", by a vote of 225-182. See, Roll Call No. 559. The bill was considered under suspension of the rules, which meant that it could not be amended, and that a two thirds majority was required for approval.
The vote broke down largely along party lines, with Republicans voting 179-38 in favor, and with Democrats voting 46-143.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) introduced HR 1606 on April 13, 2005. It is a short and simple bill. The only substantive language provides as follows: "Paragraph (22) of section 301 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431(22)) is amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: `Such term shall not include communications over the Internet.'."
The House Administration Committee held a hearing on September 22, 2005. See, story titled "House Committee Holds Hearing on Regulation of Internet Speech" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,222, September 27, 2005.
While HR 1606 is a short bill, its context and consequences are more complicated. This is a response to the Federal Election Commission's (FEC) implementation of the provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), as amended by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), that require the FCC to write rules restricting political speech on the internet. The FECA, and regulations thereunder, nominally regulate political money, such as campaign contributions and expenditures. The BCRA requires the FEC to construe individuals' acts of political expression, such as operating blogs, as though the exercise of expression were a financial transaction. The FEC, in its first attempt to write rules, created an exemption for communications over the internet. The authors of the BCRA challenged this in the District Court, and won. The Court held that the FEC could not exempt communications over the internet. The FEC is now in the process of writing new rules. HR 1606 would have statutorily instructed the FEC to do what it did in its first attempt.
The BCRA, which is also known as McCain Feingold, is now Public Law No. 107-155. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) were the lead sponsors in the Senate. Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Rep. Marty Meehan (D-MA) were the lead sponsors in the House.
As required by the BCRA, the FEC promulgated implementing regulations. At issue was the definition of "public communication". 2 U.S.C. § 431(22) provides that "The term ``public communication´´ means a communication by means of any broadcast, cable, or satellite communication, newspaper, magazine, outdoor advertising facility, mass mailing, or telephone bank to the general public, or any other form of general public political advertising."
Rep. Shays and Rep. Meehan then filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court (DC) challenging many of these regulations. Sen. McCain and Sen. Feingold submitted an amicus curiae brief. Senate rules prohibited them from being parties.
The District Court, Judge Colleen Kotelly presiding, overturned 14 parts of the FEC's implementing regulations, including the one regarding internet communications. The Court also held that the Congressmen have standing. See, September 18, 2004 Memorandum Opinion and Order [159 pages in PDF]. This is reported at Shays v. FEC, 337 F.Supp.2d 28 (D.D.C. 2004).
The District Court's decision is significant for technology law, and in particular, for political speech on the internet. The BCRA provides for regulation of certain "public communications"s. The FEC promulgated a rule that provides that "The term public communication shall not include communications over the Internet." But, the District Court held that the FEC lacked authority to do this. Hence, certain internet communications, such as personal blogs, web sites, and e-mail, may be subject to federal regulation under the FECA as "public communication"s. Many individuals and small businesses that engage in internet based speech lack the resources to comply with the FEC's regulatory regime, and hence, face government enforcement actions, and a chilling of their speech.
The FEC appealed with respect to five of the fourteen overturned rules. However, it did not appeal the portion of the District Court ruling that threatens internet speech.
The FEC issued another notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in March of this year. See, story titled "FEC Approves NPRM on Internet Speech" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,103, March 25, 2005. See also, stories titled "Bloggers Dodge McCain Feingold Bullet" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,102, March 24, 2005, "FEC to Consider Rules Regarding Internet Speech" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,100, March 22, 2005.
The FEC has held a public hearing, but has yet to issue new rules.
Rep. Hensarling, the sponsor of the bill, wrote in a November 1, 2005, statement that "Unfortunately, new federal campaign finance regulations could actually end up stifling political speech and threatening Americans’ constitutional rights. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is expected to finalize rules and regulations that could squash not only free speech and political activism, but also impede innovation and technology, unless Congress acts now."
He added that "The Internet has opened many new doors for political speech. In today’s e-society, websites and blogs are quickly becoming the most popular and efficient way for people to communicate, express their views, and debate the merits of candidates and causes. Clearly, we ought to embrace these newcomers to our political process instead of applying additional complex and stifling regulatory burdens."
Disclosure. TLJ publishes information via e-mail and the web regarding, among other things, past and future candidates for federal office. This issue references many persons who will likely be candidates for re-election in 2006. Hence, the FEC's rules, and Congressional legislation, may affect TLJ. Readers may wish to take this into consideration when assessing the reliability and objectivity of any TLJ stories on this topic.
11/3.The roll call vote defeating HR 1606, the "Online Freedom of Speech Act", on November 2, 2005, revealed several patterns.
First, it was a party line vote. Republicans voted 179-38 in favor, and Democrats voted 46-143. Second, there was a regional trend. Most of the opposition came from Democrats and Republicans in New England, the northern industrial states, and the midwest. Third, there was a urban rural split. Representatives from rural and sparsely populated areas were more likely to support the bill than urban representatives.
This bill provides a rare opportunity to study the support of members of the House for promoting the development and use of information technologies. Almost all members state that they want to promote technology. Roll call votes sometimes force members to disclose the extent of their commitment.
While the House considers many technology related legislative proposals in each Congress, only a small portion of these make it to the House floor. Many of these are included in large legislative packages. Hence, one cannot always make inferences about why any member voted for or against the bill. Moreover, the votes on some bills are mere formalities, with lopsided votes of about 415-5. On such votes, the debate and compromise took place at earlier stages of the legislative process, and a member's vote tells little about his support for the tech related components of the bill.
However, HR 1606 is different. It is a very short and simple bill, with only one provision, that expressly pertains to use of the internet. It contains one significant tech related provision, and nothing else. Moreover, it came to the floor directly, under a clean and simple procedure. No amendments were permitted. And finally, it was considered under a roll call vote, rather than by voice vote or unanimous consent. Every members' vote was recorded.
For the new members of the House who arrived in January, there have not been many opportunities to demonstrate their support for (or lack of support for) information technology. The freshman Democrats who voted against their party, and for freedom to use technology, made a more definitive statement than the freshmen Republicans who voted in favor, who may have been following their party. The first term Democrats who broke ranks and voted for the bill included John Barrow (D-GA), Dan Boren (D-OK), Jim Costa (D-CA), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Charlie Melacon (D-LA), and John Salazar (D-CO).
Some of the votes of veteran members of the House were predictable, based on past voting on technology related issues. For example, it was not unexpected that Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Rick Boucher (D-VA), the technology twins from western Virginia, both voted yes.
Similarly, the Silicon Valley delegation voted yes -- Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Mike Honda (D-CA), and Anna Eshoo (D-CA). Also, other frequent supporters of technology related initiatives, such as Adam Smith (D-WA), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), and Mark Udall (D-CO), supported the bill, despite their party affiliation.
Party Differences. The Republican vote broke down 179 in favor and 38 against. (13 did not vote.) Of those who voted, 82.5% voted yes.
The Democratic vote broke down 46 in favor and 143 against. (13 did not vote.) Of those who voted, 23% voted yes.
Regional Variations in the Vote. Most of the opposition came from the northern states. Consider, for example, the six states of New England -- Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. There are a total of 22 Representatives, with 17 Democrats and 5 Republicans.
Only two New England Representatives voted yes, Michael Capuano (D-MA) and Patrick Kennedy (D-RI). The Republicans broke down 0-5. That is, none voted for the bill. This is much less than the 82.5% Republican support nationwide. The Democrats broke down 2-15. This is about 12% support for the bill, much less than the 23% Democratic support nationwide.
In contrast, consider the five states of the deep South, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina. There are a total of 37 representatives, with 23 Republicans and 14 Democrats.
The deep South voted 29-6 in favor of the bill. (Two did not vote.) This is 83% support, which is far more than the 55% support of all Representatives nationwide. The Republican vote was a unanimous 22-0, with one not voting. The Democratic vote was 7-6, with one not voting. 54% of deep south Democrats voted for the bill, as compared to 23% of Democrats nationwide.
The opposition came from the Union states in the Civil War. The supporters came from the Confederacy and the west.
Urban Rural Variation. Members' votes also corresponded with whether or not they represent urban or rural districts. Representatives from the urbanized area of the Boston to Washington corridor vote overwhelmingly against the bill. Even James Moran (D-VA) from the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington DC, who is usually a reliable pro-tech vote, voted against this bill.
As a counter example, the sparsely populated states of the west voted overwhelmingly for the bill. For example, in the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota there are a total of 30 Representatives, with 20 Republicans and 10 Democrats. These states supported the bill 20-8, with two not voting. This is over 71% support.
Moreover, most of the no votes were cast by Republicans and Democrats who represent urban districts in the few cities of the west, such as Heather Wilson (R-NM) from Albuquerque, Dianne DeGette (D-CO) from Denver, Ed Pastor (D-AZ) from Phoenix, and Shelley Berkley (D-NV) from Las Vegas.
Indeed, if one compares a map of Congressional districts to a list of the yes votes on HR 1606, most of the big districts are represented by members who voted yes.
Republicans voted overwhelmingly for the bill. Big district Republicans did so also. Two notable anomalies are Greg Walden (R-OR), who represents about two thirds of the territory of Oregon, and Charles Bass (R-NH), who represents most of New Hampshire.
If this observation that rural representatives were more likely to vote for HR 1606 is valid, it then raises the question of why representatives from rural areas should be more supportive than representatives from urban areas. Similarly, one might ask why the Congressional Internet Caucus has long been co-chaired by four rural Representatives and Senators, rather than members from urban districts in Silicon Valley or other tech centers.
One explanation would be that it is the residents of rural and dispersed districts that have the most to gain from the development and adoption of new, ubiquitous and cheap information and communications technologies. They lack large hospitals, but could benefit from more telemedicine. They lack large universities, but could benefit from expanded distance learning. They lack the entertainment activities, libraries, and news media of urban areas, but could benefit from digitization and IP based distribution. Large corporations tend to locate in urban areas, but rural workers could find more job opportunities in their home towns if they could more easily telework.
Hence, under this theory, it is the rural legislators who have the greatest hopes for new technologies, and the greatest aversion to government regulations that stand in the way of individuals who would use these new technologies. The FECA/FEC presented one such obstacle. So, they voted for HR 1606.
Committee Based Voting. There is another evident pattern in the voting on HR 1606. The members of the two House subcommittees that are most actively involved in considering tech related bills voted with much different percentages of support for the bill. These two subcommittees are the House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet (TI), and the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property (CIIP). The members of both subcommittees are well versed in tech related issues. However, the members of the two subcommittees voted differently on this one bill.
The TI voted 14-15, with two not voting. This is only 48% support, which is less that the 55% support in the House as a whole.
The CIIP voted 15-6, with one not voting. This is over 71% support, which is much higher than the 48% support from the TI. Five out of the ten Democratic members on the CIIP broke with their party and voted for the bill. They were Howard Berman (D-CA), John Conyers (D-MI), Rick Boucher (D-VA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and Maxine Waters (D-CA).
One explanation for this difference could be the small sample sizes involved. They may be too small to draw conclusions.
Another possible explanation for the wide difference between the two subcommittees is that the members of the CIIP genuinely care more about the future development and use of information technologies than do the members of the TI subcommittee. Of course, this is mere speculation.
Yet another explanation, that is both speculative and cynical, is that the difference derives, not from different levels of support for information technology generally, but from different levels of support for the particular use of the internet addressed by HR 1606.
That is, blogs and other free or inexpensive internet technologies, offer individuals and others with limited financial resources an opportunity to participate significantly in political debates and federal election campaigns. The FECA and the FEC's regulations threaten to limit these individuals' ability to participate online in the political process. The beneficiaries of this FECA/FEC regulation are those who have the financial resources to make large contributions to candidates, parties and other entities; to purchase political advertising; and to retain lobbyists. Unregulated political speech on the internet competes in the marketplace of ideas and politics with the efforts of the financed interests. This competition may diminish the influence of the moneyed interests.
The House Commerce Committee has jurisdiction over the energy industry, the telecommunications industry, and other well financed and politically active industry sectors. The TI subcommittee has as its main constituent group the telecom industry. The HCC, and its IT Subcommittee, are known as a "money committee", because its constituent groups have a lot of money, and spend a lot on trying to influence the legislative output of the Committee. In contrast, the House Judiciary Committee is not a money committee. It deals with many social issues, which are divisive and emotional, but for which there are few moneyed interests involved. The CIIP has among its constituent groups the movie and record industries. But, it also deals with educational interests. Moreover, it also oversees the administration of the courts. Judges are not a source of political spending.
The cynical argument would be that since the House Commerce Committee, and its TI Subcommittee, represent well funded constituent groups, and these groups also contribute much to the members, the members of the TI subcommittee have less reason for promoting the bloggers who compete in the political process with the monied interests than do CIIP subcommittee members.
11/2. On October 3, 2005, Grande Communications filed a petition for a declaratory ruling [30 pages in PDF] with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that seeks a declaratory ruling (DR) regarding the treatment of traffic terminated through Grande to end users of interconnected local exchange carriers (LECs), in circumstances where customers of Grande have certified that the traffic originated in Internet protocol (IP) format.
Grande, which provides telecommunications services in the state of Texas, requests that the FCC issue a DR that "where a LEC receives a self-certification from its customer that the traffic the customer will send is enhanced services, VoIP-originated traffic ... that other LECS, receiving Certified Traffic over local interconnection trunks from the LEC, are to treat the traffic as local traffic for intercarrier compensation purposes and may not access charges against Certified Traffic, unless the Commission decides otherwise in the IP-Enabled Services or Intercarrier Compensation Rulemakings or in another proceeding."
The FCC initiated its proceeding titled "In the Matter of IP-Enabled Services" with an NPRM in early 2004. The 2004 NPRM is FCC 04-28 in WC Docket Nos. 04-36. The FCC adopted it on February 12, 2004. See also, story titled "FCC Adopts NPRM Regarding Regulation of Internet Protocol Services" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 837, February 16, 2004.
The FCC's intercarrier compensation proceeding has been lurking for four and one half years. The FCC adopted its original Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [70 pages in PDF] on April 19, 2001, and released it on April 27, 2001. It is FCC 01-132 in Docket No. CC 01-92. See also, FNPRM numbered FCC 05-33, also in Docket No. 01-92.
Grande also requests that for such self-certified traffic that the FCC rule that "the LEC may properly rely on the customer's self-certification when the LEC makes decision about how to route Certified Traffic for termination" and that "the LEC, where it has no information to conclude that the certification is inaccurate, may offer the customer local services and send Certified Traffic to other terminating LECs, where it is destined for an end user of another LEC, over local interconnection trunks, unless and until the the Commission decides otherwise in the IP-Enabled Services or Intercarrier Compensation Rulemakings or in another proceeding."
The FCC published a notice in the Federal Register (November 2, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 211, at Pages 66411 - 66412) that describes this petition and sets comment deadlines. The deadline to submit initial comments is December 12, 2005. The deadline to submit reply comments is January 11, 2006.
Grande is represented by Brad Mutschelknaus of the law firm of Kelly Drye and Warren.
This proceeding is WC Docket No. 05-283. See also, FCC public notice numbered DA 05-2680.
The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. The House may take up HR 4128, the "Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2005". See, Republican Whip notice.
The Senate will meet at 9:00 AM. It will vote on the conference report to HR 2744, the agriculture appropriations, FY2006 bill. It will then resume consideration of S 1932, the deficit reduction omnibus reconciliation bill.
9:30 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) may hold an executive business meeting. The SJC's published agenda this week includes consideration of several Department of Justice (DOJ) nominations, including Thomas Barnett (to be an Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division), Steven Bradbury (AAG for the Office of Legal Counsel), and Wan Kim (AAG for the Civil Rights Division). The agenda also includes two bills related to personal data and privacy, including S 1789, the "Personal Data Privacy and Security Act of 2005", and S 751, the "Notification of Risk to Personal Data Act". The agenda also includes three bills pertaining to trademarks and counterfeiting: S 1699, the "Stop Counterfeiting in Manufactured Goods Act", S 1095, the "Protecting American Goods and Services Act of 2005", and HR 683, the "Trademark Dilution Revision Act of 2005". All of these items have been on previous agenda, only to be held over. The SJC also frequently cancels of postpones meetings without notice. Press contact: Blain Rethmeier (Specter) at 202 224-5225, David Carle (Leahy) at 202 224-4242 or Tracy Schmaler (Leahy) at 202 224-2154. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.
9:30 AM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold a meeting. The agenda [PDF] includes a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding Section 621 and new video entrants, and an Report and Order and Further NPRM regarding DTV tuners. See also, story titled "FCC Releases Agenda for November 3 Meeting" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,242, October 28, 2005. The event will be webcast by the FCC. Location: FCC, 445 12th Street, SW, Room TW-C05 (Commission Meeting Room).
10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection will meet to mark up HR 4127 [16 pages in PDF], the "Data Accountability and Trust Act". Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) will preside. The meeting will be webcast by the HCC. Press contact: Larry Neal (Barton) at 202 225-5735 or Paul Flusche (Stearns) at 202 225-5744. See, notice. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.
10:30 AM. The U.S. Council for International Business (USCIB) and Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) will host a panel discussion titled "Private Sector Perspectives on the World Summit on the Information Society". The speakers will include Michael Gallagher (head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration), Richard Beaird (Department of State), Tae Yoo (Cisco Systems), Fred Tipson (Microsoft), and Thomas Niles (VCh of the USCIB and ICANN board member). For more information, contact Jonathan Huneke (USCIB) at 212 703-5043 or jhuneke at uscib dot org. Location: Cosmos Club, 2121 Massachusetts Ave., NW.
12:00 NOON. The House Homeland Security Committee's (HHSC) Subcommittee on Economic Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Cybersecurity will hold a hearing titled "The Future of TSA’s Registered Traveler Program". The witnesses will be Kip Hawley (head of the Transportation Security Administration), Charles Barclay (American Association of Airport Executives), Steven Brill (Verified Identity Pass), Thomas Conaway (Unisys), and Marc Rotenberg (head of the Electronic Privacy Information Center). See, notice. Location: Room 311, Cannon Building.
1:00 PM. The Department of Justice (DOJ) will hold a "background briefing on Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s judicial opinions from his service on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit". The DOJ notice states that attendees must present "VALID MEDIA CREDENTIALS". Location: Room 2107, DOJ, 950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.
2:00 PM. House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property will hold an oversight hearing titled "Content Protection in the Digital Age: The Broadcast Flag, High-Definition Radio, and the Analog Hole". The witnesses will be Gigi Sohn ( Public Knowledge), Michael Petricone (Consumer Electronics Association), Mitch Bainwol (RIAA) and Dan Glickman (MPAA). See, HJC notice. The hearing will be webcast by the HJC. Press contact: Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn at 202 225-2492. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.
5:00 PM. Pamela Samuelson (UC Berkeley) will give a lecture titled "Copyright and Consumer Protection". There will be a reception at 5:00 PM. The lecture will be at 6:00 PM. The lecture is hosted by the American University Washington College of Law's (AUWCL) Program on Intellectual Property in the Public Interest. RSVP to Steve Roberts at iplecture at wcl dot american dot edu or 202 274-4148. Location: AUWCL, 4801 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Room 603.
Day one of a two day event sponsored by the American Bar Association's (ABA) Standing Committee on Law and National Security titled "15th Annual Review of the Field of National Security Law". Location: Crystal City Marriott, Arlington, VA.
Day four of a five day conference sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense Networks and Information Integration (OSD NII) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff titled "DoD Spectrum Summit 2005". See, notice.For more information, contact Patty dot Hopkins at osd dot mil or 703 607-0613. Location: Radisson Hotel, Annapolis, MD. | 2019-04-19T04:24:01Z | http://www.techlawjournal.com/alert/2005/11/03.asp |
Many doctors these days are now including 3D printing as part of their many surgical procedures. Dr. Jamie Levine from NYU Langone noted that there is a paradigm shift when it comes to doing surgical procedure in terms of using and relying on 3D printing. A lot of hospitals all over the United States have already embraced 3D printing to create tools, models or craft tissues used for surgery. One of the hospitals that are leading the paradigm shift is the Institute for Reconstructive Plastic Surgery at NYU Langone. The surgeons from NYU Langone use special printers to create tools and 3D models that can save doctors from performing long and expensive surgeries. In fact, the hospital is able to save $20,000 to $30,000 for every reconstruction that the do. The use of 3D printing in medical technology is very promising. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration has already approved the creation of 3D printed pills and vertebrae. There are also many researchers all over the world working with 3D printed organs to be used in organ transplantation. Although medical-grade 3D printers still remain expensive, they can make infinite types of objects like surgical tools, anatomical models and other devices. Fortunately, there are now many companies that are developing cost-effective printers thus the cost is targeted to go down in the future. There is a wide potential for innovation when it comes to using the 3D printing technology. With this technology, it is no wonder if many hospitals all over the world will rely on 3D printing technology to treat different diseases.
Surgery on the anterior crucial ligament (ACL) is difficult. The standard surgical procedure involves drilling a tunnel on the tibia to remove the ligament and reconstructing it by using transplanted graft. In most cases, the affected area that has been treated has a good chance of re-tearing after being repaired. However, this technique has many limitations such as entering the knee through the tibia can make it difficult to reattach the ligament to the original attachment point. Having said this, Dr. Dana Piasecki and the other orthopedic surgeons from the OrthoCarolina Sports Medicine came up with a solution by creating their own 3D printed surgical tool which allows them to drill and follow the normal path of the ligament and attach to the femur. This new tool mimics the natural positioning of the ACL. The doctors turned to 3D printing to create a complicated tool but save costs on the production. The tool was made from a strong biocompatible metal to accommodate different knee sizes of different patients. The tool was finally manufactured by Stratasys Direct Manufacturing. The final tool is a low-cost device that is finally registered by the FDA as a Class 1 medical device. Currently, the new medical tool dubbed as Pathfinder has 95% success rate when it comes to anchoring grafts to the original ligament. This also made it easier for doctors to carry out ACL surgery. With this tool, many orthopedic patients in need of ACL surgery will have new hope that they will get the best possible treatment that medical science can provide.
Creating multicellular structures is a delicate procedure. For instance, the human heart is comprised of more than 2 billions of muscle cells that should be aligned and interact with one another to work properly. While 3D Bioprinting is a promising technology that allows scientists to create biological tissues, the problem remains—there is no single method available that uses a high level of precision to create multicellular structures that are functional, viable, and has good integrity. Researchers from the Carnegie Mellon, Penn State as well as MIT have developed the acoustic tweezers technology which is a technique that utilizes sound waves to trap as well as manipulate individual cells. This technology is also used to align, transport, separate, and pattern individual cells without causing any cellular damages. The acoustic tweezers created by the researchers come with a microfluidic device that uses sound wave generators to create sound waves along the edge of the device. The design of the device allows the researchers to manipulate and capture single cells. The device provides a precise level of control when manipulating cells in terms of their spacing and geometry thus allowing scientists to explore the creation of tissues with complex geometries and patterns. The results of the study provide a novel way for scientists to manipulate live cells in 3D without any invasive contact or biochemical labeling. This leaves the biological state during the manipulation in its original and unadulterated state. This can lead to new possibilities in research applications in fields like neuroscience, regenerative medicine, biomanufacturing, tissue engineering and cancer treatment.
A kidney transplant is a very sensitive operation and patients need to be compatible so that the organ recipient will not reject the donor organ. 3D printing paved the way for surgeons to be able to transplant an adult kidney to a toddler recipient. In Northern Ireland, a 3-year old toddler is the first child in the world to survive a kidney transplant using adult kidneys. The toddler suffered from heart failure which had dire consequences on her kidneys as they were robbed of oxygen. Instead of settling with regular kidney dialysis, her parents decided to have her undergo a kidney transplant. As stated by Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation, the kidney transplant was the first of its kind as it uses 3D printing to aid the transplant. The doctors used 3D printing technology to create a model of the patient’s abdomen. They also created a model of the donor’s kidney –the patient’s father –to see how everything fits. This minimizes the risks involved in the transplant. Transplant specialist Pankaj Chandak noted that the surgery is quite complex thus the use of 3D printing technology helped surgeons plan ahead of time to increase the success of the operation and minimize the risk to the patient and donor during the surgery. The operation was a complete success and doctors are excited to use this technology to treat different conditions, as well as help doctors, plan their course of action before the actual surgery. 3D printing has definitely made its way to mainstream medicine.
3D bioprinters are able to print living tissues for medical transplants and testing to name a few. However, recreating human tissues require a combination of human cells, biogels as well as different types of bioink materials aside from the nutrients and oxygen needed by the cells to survive. Specialized 3D bioprinters do not come cheap and they can cost between $100,000 and a million dollars depending on their specifications. With the aim of developing an affordable 3D bioprinter, inventors Jemma Redmond and Stephen Gray combined their expertise on nano-bioscience and biochemistry to create an innovative bioprinter. The result of their hard work is the Ourobotics Revolution 3D bioprinter which is a low-cost device that can print using 10 materials in the same device. The printer also has a heated enclosure to provide ambient temperature to the growing tissue. To date, no 3D bioprinter has the ability to print 10 materials in a single bioprinted structure. However, the inventors of this bioprinter said that they can add more materials in the future. What makes the bioprinter astounding is that it can retool itself; thus it can be used from laser and UV projectors to 3D printers. It can also handle different materials like gelatin, collagen, chitosan and alginates to name a few. With the features of this new 3D bioprinter, you can build complicated tissues, create custom pills or combine inorganic and organic materials. This 3D printer will no longer be limited to creating prosthetics, customized medical tools as well as medical models as it can be used to print live tissues for transplant.
3D printing is becoming an important feature in the field of medical science and its wide recognition in improving medical technology made it possible for many doctors all over the world to come up with innovations in treating their patients. Speaking of innovation, the Collegiate Inventors Competition encourages students to use 3D printing in redefining the way scientists use this technology. The recent competition was attended by 14 finalist teams from all over the United States. One of the finalists that caught the attention of the judges is the group of students from the University of Pennsylvania who created the 3D printed eyelids that are driven by small motors. This invention will be implanted on patients who are unable to blink such as those suffering from dry eye disease. To create the synthetic eyelids, the students used plastic chips with microfluidic channels to stimulate the growth of human cells. Jeongyun Seo, one of the proponents of the study, noted that they created this technology without the need for animal or human models. For now, the proponents see the need for the blinking 3D printed human lid as an accurate model that can be used in medicine, academe and even in the cosmetic industry. Although they did not win the competition, the team was ecstatic to receive the recognition for the first organ-on-a-chip technology that they were able to develop. This innovation created a leverage in biomicroengineering thus it is possible in the future to completely remove animals as human surrogates for clinical testing.
3D printing technology is becoming mainstream in many first world countries. Unfortunately, poor countries are not able to benefit from this innovation. 3D printing is a technology that could have benefited many patients from poor countries especially those who are in need of quality prosthetics.
London-based 3D printing company 3D LifePrints was able to provide 3D prosthetics to amputee patients from poor and developing countries. It was estimated that more than 15 million amputees from the poorer regions in the planet do not have access to sufficient medical care thus, this humanitarian act provides relief for a lot of patients. To provide many amputees with 3D prosthetics, 3D LifePrints has been relying on the generosity of a pool of medical experts, technologists, social entrepreneurs, and academic researchers to raise funds and at the same time do more research on developing better 3D prosthetics. The 3D prosthetics provided by the company are deemed very helpful for all amputees, but there are several problems encountered by the company. To date, the main supplier of prosthetics is the International Committee of the Red Cross, but they are still expensive that even ordinary people cannot afford it. The challenge by 3D LifePrints is to make prosthetics that are cheaper, more comfortable as well as more functional than they used to be. Making 3D prosthetics available to poor patients in the third world countries can help not only improve their lives but also uplift their morality as it gives them the chance to be able to live normal lives.
Taiwanese surgeons have been using the 3D printing technology to perform complex surgical procedures in order to reduce the surgery time as well as its risks. One of the complex surgical procedures that 3D printing technology was used on is the complex orthognathic procedure which is a corrective jaw or cheek reduction surgery. Conventional surgery is an arduous task not only for the surgeons but also to the patients. In this case, patients who undergo facial skeletal surgery may develop skeletal or even dental irregularities. Moreover, it can also lead to permanent facial paralysis if not performed properly considering that the face has a lot of delicate nerves that can accidentally be severed during the operation. However, with the use of 3D printing technology, surgeons were able to create a model of the patient’s skull so that they have more time to assess and plan their strategies before the operation. Surgeons Jiang Hou Ren and Xie MingJi developed a technique using 3D printing technology to create an actual model of the patient’s skull by using images obtained from CT scan and X-rays. Surprisingly, the new strategy resulted to better and faster recovery time without any risks at all.
3D printing used in cosmetic surgery can help optimize the facial features of the patients and also help doctors carry out the surgical procedure more effectively. With this technology, doctors will be able to provide better healthcare to its patients. With this procedure, doctors can also perform other surgical procedures on the face to improve the aesthetics as well as the function of the patient’s facial features.
Researches have been made on advancing the applications of 3D bioprinting. Thru this healthcare professionals are able to address complicated injuries and illnesses.
The process of 3D bioprinting is utilized to generate tissues or living cells that help sustain growth and cell function within the printed cell or tissue. Patent on bioprinting was filed last 2003 and by 2006, it was then approved. It paved the way to more researches and encouraged hospitals and other research groups to continue experimenting on this type of process. Positive feedback are being received and it is a promising method to aid in reconstructive surgery and medical testing. 3D bioprinting started in different areas, however, Baltimore Maryland is now being seen as a hub for this type of method. This is due to a breakthrough research done at Johns Hopkins University’s Grayson Lab. Apart from that, it is also in Baltimore where you can find the world’s first 3D printing lab, called BUGSS or Baltimore Underground Science Space. It was created in 2012, by and for professional, citizen and amateur scientists and artists. This lab is their space and for them to further explore as well as learn more about the biotechnology world. The BUGSS have three 3D bioprinters. They make use of live stem cells from plants on their experiments and researches. Ryan Hoover, an artist and faculty member at the Maryland Institute College of Art is responsible for taking care of the lab and maintaining on-site bioprinters.
Hoover is also using 3D bioprinters to experiment on plant material in order to create solutions wherein plant cells are able to recognize and merge into living tissues.
The experiments and researches on bioprinting done at BUGSS are positive occurrences that will encourage forward the technological world of 3D bioprinting.
A lot of people have heart problems and there is a long list of those seeking transplant because unlike other parts of the body, tissues of the heart do not repair or regenerate on its own. Fixing heart ailments often requires surgical procedures and these surgeries are often difficult and risky. There may be an answer to these challenges thru a process known as 3D bioprinting. This method has been advocated to remedy the need for transplanting of tissues and organs. The process on 3D bioprinting makes use of self-supporting materials for regeneration of the nerves to create a 3D heart in preparation for surgery. In a delicate process such as 3D bioprinting, it also involves some challenges when using soft tissues since these replicated tissues are not being supported by the other layers of tissues. However, a team known as the Regenerative Biomaterials and Therapeutics Group discovered the use fibrin and collagen in bioprinting of coronary arteries and hearts. These groups are led by Adam Feinberg who is an associate professor of Carnegie Mellon University on Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. The team of Professor Adam Feinberg discovered the use of open-sourced software and hardware making 3D printers affordable on a consumer-level. The technique they are using requires printing a gel inside another gel. This approach is known as Freeform Reversible Embedding of Suspended Hydrogels or FRESH. According to Feinberg, gels collapse just like any Jell-o; therefore they developed a technique of printing one gel inside of another gel to provide support. In this manner, they are able to position precisely the soft material as they undergo the process of 3D printing on a layer per layer basis. In order to create the printed designs of the artery tissues and heart, MRI images are taken then through the 3D printer, layers of the second gel are injected inside the translucent support gel. When you submerge the support gel in a body-temperature medium like the human body, it melts but it leaves the bioprinted living cells undamaged and intact. After which, heart cells are integrated into that printed form to assist in the creation of the contractile muscle.
The creation of stem cells using 3D printers can bring a lot of changes in the world particularly in the field of medicine. One important application for stem cells is drug testing. Millions of laboratory animals will be spared if 3D printing can create stem cells. Collaboration between the researchers from Tsinghua University in China and Drexel University in Philadelphia developed a way of growing embryonic stem cell structures. To create the stem cell structures, researchers used an extrusion technology to create grid-like structures that encourage the growth of the stem cells. The cell structures were able to divide and organize into living tissues but the viability of the tissue is only up to a week. Researchers were astonished that the new embryonic cell structures were able to last for a week. Liliang Ouyang, one of the proponents of the study, noted that the embryoid body is homogenous and can be a good starting point for tissue growth. While the common method of printing cells is using suspension method, it does not result to cell uniformity thus cells become viable for up to a few days. The new method that the researchers developed is capable of becoming into different cell types of the body. The researchers are hopeful that the new technique can quickly proliferate into different embryoid bodies so that they can be used for tissue regeneration and drug testing on living tissues. For now, the researchers are finding ways on how they can change the size of the embryoid bodies so that they can create different cell types.
The 3D printing technology has proven itself a very useful innovation in the field of medical technology. In fact, this technology is no longer restricted to making medical models to help surgeons plan their operation but progress has been made such that construction of delicate tissues is now possible. One of the most intriguing things that can be created with 3D printers is the knee cartilage. Scientists from the Texas Tech University and Texas A&M University were able to develop a way to create knee cartilage from a 3D bioprinter. Led by Dr. Jingjin Qiu, the 3D printed cartilage can be used to repair the injured meniscus among patients suffering from arthritis and mechanical damage caused by injuries and sports. The cartilage of the knees protects the connecting bones of the legs against friction as well as absorbs shock when you engage in extreme activities. However, the cartilage can break down and become inflamed, thus patients are required to undergo surgery called meniscectomy to repair the meniscus. To create the 3D printed meniscus, researchers used hydrogels but added a gel-like substance called alginate. The addition of the alginate to the hydrogel increases the viscosity of the bio-ink. The material also restricts the cartilage from pulling out under stress. The problem with conventional meniscectomy is that the removal of the meniscus can result to the risk of osteoarthritis later in life. Moreover, transplanting knee cartilage from a donor can also bring up a host of complexities including rejection and biocompatibility issues. The development of the 3D printed meniscus removes all these complexities thus it can help many people suffering from a lot of knee problems.
Blessing Makwera is the Zimbabwean man who was the recipient of Operation Hope, a California organization that offers surgical care and procedures to individuals in developing nations. Makwera was only 15 years old when he figured in a tragic accident that left his upper and lower jaws severely disfigured due to an exploding land mine. Although he survived the accident, he had to live with his misshapen face for eight years before becoming the happy recipient of the Operation Hope. Makwera needed several surgeries through the collaboration of Dr. Joel Berger who was a maxillofacial and oral specialist and 3D systems that was there to help in visually mapping out the surgical procedure via their Virtual Surgical Planning (VSP) services. The man behind 3D systems VPS services was Mike Rensberger. Makwera needed a fibula free flap operation which comprises of taking vessels, tissues, and bone from the fibula (a bone in the lower leg), and then restructuring as well as re-configuring these to form jaw bones that are linked to the neck’s blood vessels. Rensberger commented that although they have experience dealing with the same surgery, but the time-sensitive operation was placing a huge challenge for the team. They only had four days to prepare before the surgery. Eventually, Rensberger’s team was able to create two sets of maxillae and mandibles to be used as a time saving replica in the operating room and the other set as a reference point in the actual operation. The models helped the surgeons to familiarize themselves with the unique anatomy of the patient and fortunately for Makwera, all the needed jaw composition for the operation arrived on time. The surgery took 12 hours to perform and it was a success, thanks to the power of 3D printing.
Canadian Surgeon Dr. Ivar Mendez is the head of surgery at the University of Saskatchewan. Dr. Mendez reported that he always prepares before a brain surgery via the use of computer simulations. Given the fact that brain surgery is a very sensitive operation wherein it involves opening the skull and toe brain folds are inserted with electrodes. A miscalculation on the part of the surgeon can cause irreversible damage depending on the specific part of the brain involved. That’s why the meticulous doctor always studied the patient’s brain and the targets he needed to access. Now, Dr. Mendez wanted to try out 3D printing the patient’s brain as a model instead of using computer simulations. It took 7-months and several experts from neuropsychologists, MRI specialists, radiologist, and engineers to create the first rubber prototype. However, Dr. Mendez was not satisfied with the model because it did not display the important and smaller features of the brain. Now, the team and Dr. Mendez have a more detailed and larger brain model wherein the Dr. Mendez can actually practice the surgery. Dr. Mendez was more than satisfied with the brain replica because it mimics the consistency of an actual brain. He further elaborated on the possibilities of 3D printed medical innovations like the same principles can be applied on creating 3D brain models of patients with brain tumor, helping neurosurgeons to better grasp the extent of the effects of the tumor or lesion removal. And this is something that cannot be easily seen with the use of digital models.
Surgical transplantation procedures such as heart transplants can be very difficult to work with and this is the reason why patients have to join a long waitlist, along with other patients, in the hopes of getting a transplant. However, researchers from the Carnegie Mellon University want to improve the chances of getting a transplant early by developing a method for 3D bioprinting soft tissues. Currently, the 3D printing technology uses materials like titanium and silicone to create flexible plastic models used only for surgical planning. Unfortunately, replicating soft tissues can be difficult until today. The research is led by associate professor Adam Feinberg and it aims to demonstrate a new method of creating synthetic hearts and arteries using natural materials like fibrin and collagen. With their years of extensive research, they were able to accomplish printing soft tissues using a consumer-level 3D printer. The technique of creating soft tissues was called Freeform Reversible Embedding of Suspended Hydrogels (FRESH) which involves printing gel in gel. This allowed the researchers to position the soft materials precisely inside the gel so that they can create it layer by layer. To create anatomically correct heart and artery tissues, researchers rely on MRI images of patients. The printer then uses a small syringe to inject the layers of the second gel inside the transparent support gel. The support gel serves as the scaffold of the soft tissues. The support gel then melts away when immersed in ambient-temperature water, thus, leaving behind the living cells intact. Now, the researchers need to perfect the next step which is to incorporate the printed tissues in vivo.
The 3D printing technology provides revolutionary roles in the fast evolving field of medical technology. China-based company, Revotek, announced their custom-made 3D bioprinter that can print real blood vessels and other multiple layers of cells. What makes this news truly revolutionary is that no other commercially available 3D bioprinters have done this before. Yang Keng, Revotek’s chairman, noted that the company’s new 3D bioprinting system includes bio inks, medical imaging cloud platform, a 3D bioprinter, and a post processing system. With this new 3D printing system, it will now be easier to rebuild organs from scratch in the future. The heart of this new technology is the stem cell culture system called the Biosynsphere biological bricks that are developed to create personalized cells. It contains seed cells as well as bio inks to create layered cell structures with defined physiological functions. The new 3D printer works by alternately extruding bio inks, thus, it can create 10cm-long blood vessels under two minutes. The bio ink, on the other hand, is kept under special biological and environmental conditions so that the printer does not only make blood vessels but also various types of cells as well. But perhaps the most important component of this new 3D bioprinting system is the medical imaging cloud platform which will be available to all hospitals in China. This makes it easier for doctors and medical researchers to deal with bottleneck problems when it comes to treating different conditions using 3D bioprinted organs. With this new revolution, 3D printing can pave the way for better medical procedures for patients who require organ transplants.
3D bioprinting has a lot of applications in the field of medicine. Innovators are making significant contributions to the development of the said technology. Aside from prosthetics, researchers can now use 3D bioprinting for stem cell research. Researchers from the Heriot-Watt University in Scotland was the first group to 3D print stem cells using the valve-based technique. Dr. Will Shu, the lead researcher of the experiment, wants to use 3D printing technology for patient-specific drug treatments. With the ethical issues behind animal drug testing, this technology is very beneficial to test different types of drugs. The problem with using stem cells for drug-specific treatment is that the live cultures are sensitive thus the cells may end up dying even before testing can begin. The new technique developed by the researchers may end animal testing altogether. The team was able to print 3D printed stem cells by creating their own hardware to handle the fragile nature of the stem cells. Starting with small batches of 3D printed cells, the team was able to use the bioprinted materials to test drugs. This allowed the doctors to find out which doses provide fewer side effects but better benefits to patients. Dr. Jason King from Roslin Cellab was tapped by the researchers from Scotland to assist in developing products for the commercial stem cell sector. With the vast horizon for 3D printing, scientists are discovering complex processes that they can utilize 3D printing to help ease different problems in the field of medical science.
3D printing provides a variety of applications for the field of medicine including cosmetic surgery. Currently, leading 3D printing technology 3D Systems partnered with a New York-based company to make cosmetic surgery experience more efficient for both client and surgeons. Dr. Carrie Stern from the New York-based company MirrorMe3D noted that the use of 3D printing technology can help patients by creating before and after colored models of the parts that the patients need work on; for patients, seeing the before and after images provide a big relief on what they can expect for the surgical procedure. This will also help patients decide whether they will go ahead with the procedure or not. Dr. Glenn Jelks from the NYU Medical Center acknowledges that 3D printing is indeed a game changer in the field of cosmetic surgery. Aside from the benefit it gives patients, doctors are also provided with a lot of information on how they will go about with the procedure to achieve maximum results. The company 3D Systems is working on developing new software to help create the models for cosmetic surgery. The company is planning on using a specialized 3D printer called ProJet 660 color printer to create realistic before and after models of patients; thus patients have this weird but interesting experience of holding their new selves at the palm of their hands. The thing is that 3D printing technology really provides insightful innovations for both patients and doctors so that they can enjoy the experience cosmetic surgery provides.
3D bioprinting is an important innovation in medical science. Through this wonderful innovation, researchers were able to make important applications. In fact, it is now possible for researchers to create organs like human ears; however this technology finds it difficult to create soft structures that have minute internal support. Unfortunately, 3D bioprinting still cannot print small structures like the veins or small organs because they have the tendency to collapse even before they can become viable. A team of researcher from the University of Florida acknowledges this problem, thus, they developed a process that allows small structures to be printed out without even collapsing. The process involves injecting inks that are loaded with special gels that will hold the organs together. What makes this particular 3D bioprinting innovation possible is the use of a hydrogel called Carbopol gel made from very small particles. This gel acts as both the liquid and solid scaffold that shears the stress applied directly on the structure. This property of the gel allows the printer to deposit the gel on the printing medium without disrupting or destroying the entire structure. The researchers were able to create different complex shapes using the 3D bioprinter and this hydrogel. Thomas Angelini, researcher from the University of Florida, noted that the 3D bioprinting is no longer used to print solid organs. With the help of this new gel, it is now possible for doctors and medical researchers to create extensive microscopic soft tissues that can be used in transplanting different organs.
3D printing is widely used in the medical industry to create a wide array of innovations to help different patients suffering from various maladies. Currently, all eyes are at Croatia as researchers were able to perform a successful operation on a patient suffering from spinal tumor. It is not common to hear innovations on treating spinal maladies using 3D printing, but what makes this particular operation innovative was that it is the first one to use all 3D-printed acrylic vertebra–the first of its kind! Doctors from the Neurosurgical Clinic in Rijeka noted that the 3D printed acrylic vertebra that was used to replace the patient’s metastasized vertebra is that it is affordable and easy to work with. His doctor noted that unlike pre-manufactured designs, the 3D printed vertebra makes the surgery convenient and the patient’s recovery faster. Instead of using the standard material–titanium mixed with acrylic–the patient was able to afford the surgery. Moreover, the doctors were also able to conduct the operation within a short period of time. For the medical researchers to create the customized vertebra, they used the patient’s imaging tests to create a perfect replacement. In a country like Croatia, patients cannot readily afford 3D printing technology as their best surgical option. This is the reason why they opt for conventional treatments. What makes conventional treatments challenging is that they are not always effective when it comes to treating rare and difficult conditions. With this new 3D printing innovation, patients now have access to cheap yet effective treatments.
The 3D printing technology is constantly being innovated by dedicated scientists and researchers to improve its many applications in the field of engineering, manufacturing and medicine. The research center of the National University of La Plata in Argentina, LIFIA, created a special 3D printer head that has the ability to control two syringes thus allowing medical researcher to print biopolymers with complicated geometric patterns. This new innovation won an award and received funding for further development from the Ministry of Science and Technology in Argentina. Lead researcher, Sergio Katz, noted that the idea of developing a special printer head came from the need to design a system that can control the layering of biopolymers. With the new printer head, the biopolymers create a new hydrocolloidal matrix which makes it easier for the polymers to align. This technology, if perfected, can be used in various applications in the field of medicine and these include customized drug administration. Currently, this printer head is able to create bioprinted patches that can be easily attached to specific organs for better drug administration. The patches can also be used in nanotechnology and biotechnology. The new 3D printer comes with dual extruders that are attached to a motor and movable support. As the motor rotates, a contraption moves up and down in order to control the plunger of the syringe. A silicone tube is found at the end of each syringe that carries the liquid directly to the head. With this new technology, this new printer head will definitely revolutionize 3D medical printing in the future.
3D printing has become an indispensable tool in the medical industry. It has encompassed numerous applications from creating simple customized medical tools, surgical models, implants, to orthopedic casts. This technology continues to expand as researchers develop many intriguing yet effective devices using a simple 3D printer. One such innovation introduced to the world recently was the 3D printed braces intended for patients with scoliosis. 3D Systems, the South Carolina-based company, released their prototype for back braces to correct the abnormal curvature of the spine among patients with severe scoliosis. The braces are customized to fit the shape of the patient’s body. The braces also have corrective features so that patients can be comfortable but experience improvement while wearing the braces. This technology was adopted by Chinese medical researchers from the National Rehabilitation Aids Research in Beijing to treat patients suffering from mild to moderate scoliosis. The Chinese researchers worked with orthopedic surgeons from Germany led by Dr. Hans-Rudolf Weiss. Conventional braces are very difficult to wear as they are chunky and provide a lot of discomfort to patients. Moreover, it is also embarrassing for most people to wear conventional braces because they look like alien contraptions stuck in their bodies. The researchers developed customizable braces that slimly fit the body of patients and it comes with a lot of patterns to improve the air flow thus decreasing discomfort and build up of heat. The new braces are made from thermoplastics thus they are very light but strong enough to support and re-align the problematic back. This innovation will surely help a lot of patients suffering from scoliosis all over the world.
The 3D printing technology provides the medical industry with viable solutions for complicated medical procedures. Today, 3D printing is no longer used in creating prosthetics but also in synthetically creating natural-occurring cells and tissues. Fabricating cells and tissues using 3D printing technology is a complex method. However, researchers were able to create breast cancer tissues and gland tissues to study disease progression and also drug testing. The key to the success of printing cells and tissues lies on Bio-Ink which is a material that serves as the structural scaffold for the tissues. While the current bio-ink used in 3D bioprinting is already effective, researchers want to improve this technology further. Recently, a study published in the journal ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering demonstrated the new material for bioprinting. Called Polyol-Silk Bioink, it uses silk solutions called non-toxic polyols (sugar alcohol) in creating self-curing features that allow structural support and less processing. With this new material, tissue engineering will be less complicated. Developed by David L. Kaplan and his team of researchers from the Biomedical Engineering Department of Tufts University, the new silk biogel is clear as well as flexible. It is also stable in water and superior to other materials like gelatin, collagen, and silicone. This material can also withstand high temperature and pH changes. This latest bio-ink provides a possible answer to solving the many challenges encountered in the bioprinting arena. With this new innovation, it is now possible for researchers to create tissues faster and more stable than conventional methods.
As 3D printing technology has gained traction in the medical field, researchers were able to use the said technology to develop groundbreaking techniques to regenerate nerves for both motor and sensory functions.
Regenerating nerves is a complicated process thus people with injuries involving nerves suffer from permanent damage. With the new technique, scientists hope to help more than hundreds of thousands of patients suffering from nerve diseases. To regenerate nerves using the 3D printing technology, researchers used 3D imaging to create custom silicone guides that are implanted with biochemical compounds to encourage regeneration of complex nerves. The silicone guides were first tested in laboratory rats and scientists were able to regenerate the Y-shaped sciatic nerve with motor and sensory branches. Within 10 to 12 weeks, the rats were able to walk again. Professor Michael McAlpine from the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Minnesota noted that this technology can be used to regenerate nerve tissues among human patients in the future. He also added that a library of scanned nerves should also be created for nerves that are unavailable for scanning. This is very important among patients whose nerves are difficult to scan due to extensive or increasing damage. With the library of scanned nerves available to the medical researchers, hospitals can create matched 3D printed guides for patients. 3D printing technology provides a lot of innovations in the field of medicine and with the newly developed technology, people suffering from nerve damage can now become hopeful that they can once again improve the quality of their lives.
Cancer research is very important in helping many people who are battling with cancer. However, the difficulty with cancer research is that it is challenging to test drugs while using live human tissues. A recent breakthrough done by the University of San Francisco had led to the development of a new technique called DNA Programmed Assembly of Cells. Postdoctoral fellow Alex Hughes explained that the technique is all about creating biological equivalents of the LEGO bricks which can grow cells even in a simple petri dish. The 3D bioprinted cells can be used to study cancer drug screening. Medical researchers can build models of mammary glands to study the progression of cancer cells on human breasts. Unlike organoids, the 3D bioprinted human cells can be programmed into any cell type based on the spatial and environmental cues applied on it. It can also be used to create 3D printed organs in the future. If the technique can be perfected, it can be used to create thousands of cells within hours. The team behind this innovation relies on DNA to engineer the human tissues. The 3D printing of the cells occur in layers and with each layer, it is designed to stick to its cell partners. This is a promising technology that can pave the way for many developments in cancer research as well as synthetic organ production. Researchers hope that they can use the technology in the future to study more complex cellular structures and network in the hopes of fully understanding the human body. | 2019-04-25T22:03:16Z | https://www.embodi3d.com/blogs/blog/9-3d-bio-printing-by-paige-anne-carter/ |
Good Tuesday morning! The wild weekend is in the past and we have to get back to work now. Some may not consider writing to be in the domain of actual work, but I still need to get back to it. Looks like that mean ol' weatherman is predicting highs in the 90's for the next two or more days. I won't make any promises, but my landscaping work may slow down when that happens. Time I got that first book rewrite done anyway.
Have you passed your latest test? I must admit that not every test or trial that comes my way is passed with flying colors. Yup, sometimes my Christ-like colors look a bit droopy and dirty in the light of a test in my Christian life. Those times are when I realize that me and the Spirit have a ways to go before I am fully sanctified in Christ. Praise God that I am not alone in this. If my strength alone was all I had in these trials of life, I would be lost indeed. Trial or not, I did make my annual trip down to Lodgepole for the Memorial Day service, and the town did a good job as usual. I felt better after going, but each year I realize that it is not the easiest thing to do.
The political candidates are lining up for next year's election. Did you wish at any moment that all of them would just go away and leave you alone? Shame on you, we should enjoy the right to elect our representatives to government. Yes, I have wished that more than once already too. Ah well, I guess we are just not ready for all the political ads quite yet. Perfection in my democratic rights has eluded me like perfection in most every other area of living. Which kind of leads to the question: How would an imperfect, fallen person such as myself know what perfection is in the first place?
We tend to go by the standards thrust upon us from the world. How do we know the world's standards of perfection are actually perfect? Are they not set by people much like us? Imperfect, fallen, stained by sin, and yet we sometimes comparison shop to see if we can find a person worse than we are. However, we do have one standard of perfection that comes from God himself - the Law. That's too bad really, because I have already failed to live up to that standard too many times. Any chance we can get a standard of perfection that is easier to attain? The world's standards are easier, but like 99 percent of the human race, I cannot call myself perfect in any area even by human standards. How will I ever meet God's standard?
Like getting through a test or trial, there is not a chance that I will meet God's standard on my own. Hasn't happened, didn't happen, won't happen, in my strength alone... not ever. Once I realized this however, I began to look for a different way, perhaps one provided by God in his mercy. Not too hard to figure out what that way is; He said it plainly in John 14:6. You can't really miss it when Jesus says, "I am the Way..." You might choose to not believe it, but you can't miss it when reading his words in the Bible. Praise God for a better way to salvation, because I am another imperfect failure at saving myself much like everyone else who has ever looked to their own strength.
Welcome back to the good work! Live for Christ and trust in His saving strength.
Good Saturday morning and welcome to the great Memorial Day weekend! Some of you are camping, some at the lake, and some right here at home watching the rain and wondering if the sun will shine today. Let us not forget what Monday is, but have fun this weekend.
Jesus said that we should have the attitude of humble servants simply doing our duty when we do good works. However, that doesn't mean that our good works go unnoticed or unrewarded in this life. God loves to reward the faithful servants in his army of believers. We do not work for an ungrateful Father in Heaven. We do not labor for nothing, and our sacrifices are storing more than just treasure in a future place. Certainly God also grants us blessings that seem to come for nothing at all. That is what a gift is all about.
Actually, we also tend to think that we can only give expensive, material gifts. God doesn't always bestow those kinds of gifts, in fact, many of His gifts to us are priceless and even gifts that cannot be bought with money. Not many of us could afford to buy gifts each day, though the merchants would love to have us do such a thing, and a material present would be much less special if you had to unwrap dozens every day. God's bestest gift was himself. We can follow Him in that by giving ourselves to each other each day. Enjoy the giving of your self; there are so many good ways to give.
Have a restful and fun-filled weekend in Christ!
Good Friday morning! The Memorial Day weekend is upon us and the campers have hit the road already. Time for me to run around to the neighbor's homes and do some real artwork on their garage doors. On second thought, I would probably give the show away when they returned and wondered why someone drew a rock with spots on their garage door and I blurted out that it was a dinosaur. We artists are often misinterpreted, especially the artists who can't draw something recognizable to the average art critic. Imagine the humiliation if the vandalism came to a trial and the verdict came down to a hung jury.
Jury foreman: "Your honor, we have not reached a consensus. Juror One thinks that the drawing is a dinosaur and some kind of vague threat. Juror Two thinks its a rock and is definitely a threat. Juror Three thinks its a bear with arthritis and couldn't possibly be a threat. Juror Four thinks the drawing is of some kind of vehicle and is a cry of 'take me with you'... "
We can't have that kind of mess in our legal system. I had better just keep my art talents out of the public eye. I often have the same thoughts about my witness for Christ. What if no one can 'get' what I'm trying to say? Maybe I should just keep quiet. We all have heard those thoughts when we try to witness. Mostly the devil doesn't want us to speak out for Christ, but we also have that avoiding-the-critics instinct. We don't like public ridicule and that is certainly understandable. I have good news in this too! Those who do not believe in Christ will most certainly not understand you and me when we try to witness. We are changed creatures in Christ and everything we say about Jesus will be incomprehensible to the non-believer. But, we have an ally who speaks directly to the heart of the unbeliever. You will remember him; he spoke to your heart before you came to believe in Jesus.
Back then, you may have listened to a minister or even a friend tell you about Jesus, sin, Hell, Heaven, God, and you didn't feel the love; you felt guilt and shame, and you didn't like it. The Holy Spirit spoke these things to your heart. The message was all about love and eternal life, but you heard hellfire and damnation and it hurt. For a time you may have avoided Christian messengers in order to stop the message, but that quiet voice was still there. You may have dreamed about hell or in some rare cases even had a quick taste of it. When you first heard the message of Jesus you might have used a defensive reaction to push the message away. Perhaps you laughed off the messenger, or tried to bring your brilliant intellect to bear to crush the simple fool who dared to speak words of guilt and shame to you. Yet, someone kept reminding you of Jesus.
We know now that reminding us of Christ is in fact the Holy Spirit's job, and a good job of it He does! Before you came to believe though, the Holy Spirit was a nagging and painful presence in church. You didn't like it when the preacher spoke about sin and hell. Perhaps even in some churches you might have voted at a board meeting to find a preacher who spoke only of loving one another and doing good works. Your fellow board members, all upstanding men of business and banking, might have felt that those sermons that made them feel guilty were just driving away the congregation. Can't have that, the minister must go. After all how will the church pay its bills if too many people leave? How things have changed in you and me!
After we come to believe in Christ and accept his lordship, we become critical of ministers in a different way. Heaven help us, we might even call a minister too nice if he doesn't remind the congregation about the penalty of sin at least once a month. We might take a fellow Christian aside and offer a little correction if he is compromising with the world to keep his old friends. We might even notice that, gasp, we are becoming more Christ-like as the Spirit works in our hearts. How do these things get started?
Back at the point where some Christian messenger spoke, sang, or wrote some words that at first you couldn't quite get. However, before the words came to you, the Spirit had found a field that needed a little care and planting. Seeds were planted that perhaps you didn't realize and then the person came along with a little bit of water and the words of life. You might have been a drunk looking up from the gutter, or a person by all accounts succeeding in the world and wondering what you were missing, but something in you responded to the words from the witness. Though you may not have understood, something germinated in your heart and eventually God harvested another soul.
As Jesus told us in the parable of the different soils, not all of those seeds will grow in good soil. We have been given a watering can though, and our job is to keep on watering those seeds planted by the Holy Spirit. Someone who does not believe in Jesus may have no idea why he or she is asking you questions about life, death, Hell, or Heaven, but the Spirit has brought him or her to you. Don't be afraid; answer the questions, and trust in the One who makes himself known to the lost. He made himself known to you once, and what a life-saving blessing it was!
Good Thursday morning! The sun is shining today! By August my tune will probably change to something like: The sun is up, got the shades down to manage the heat as best I can, hope fall comes soon, boo-hoo. The seasons come and go, but sometimes not soon enough for our impatience. Last night I read in Genesis 1 a surprising thing. Did you realize that the plants were created before the sun and moo? Did the plants grow well in darkness? Perhaps not, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters, perhaps it was not dark like we imagine. Oops, that should be 'sun and moon', the cows wouldn't arrive until the sixth day. In writing I should go back and correct my mistakes, but sometimes it's better to just have fun with them. On the other hand, if it was dark until the sun first came up, then God provided for the plants.
We often worry about our state of financial affairs. That is a nice way of saying we worry about money too much. God has promised to provide for us and Jesus commanded us not to worry about what we will eat or wear. You're worrying about rising food costs or your clothing for the next big event, aren't you. Something about stating that very thing the Bible says usually sets me to worrying in just the way I am not supposed to worry. A talent for worrying is not what I want to present to God at the end of my life. "Yes, Lord, I tried to do lots of good works, but I was just so good at worrying that I spent most of my time doing that instead." Ouch, that hurts. I shouldn't write quite so personally.
I have it on good authority however, that the Bible was not written for me alone. Evidently worry is a problem for a lot of folks on any given day. I have found that when Jesus took the time to address an issue to his disciples or to the people gathered to hear him that the issue has always been a common one. We all struggle with worry, sexual immorality, money, materialism, idolatry, and all those other things that the Bible calls with one simple name: sin. Not one of us is alone in our struggles. You come to believe in Jesus, and the struggle with your carnal desires begins in earnest. Well, God has provided for that too!
In the first part of 2 Peter you will find: He has given us everything we need for living a godly life. What? Then why do I struggle so much with the lusts of the flesh? Well, you do still have your flesh, don't you? God didn't immediately change our flesh so that we no longer feel hungry, thirsty, or the urge to mate. We don't often think that when we came to the cross we were signing up for service in God's army, but there it is. As soon as the Holy Spirit moved into our life, your flesh and my flesh went to war with the better nature God began building in our lives. As the Holy Spirit put up a new wall, the flesh came along at night and started knocking holes in the freshly painted drywall. The wall was to keep the flesh from seeing the temptations of the world, but the flesh wanted to see more. God gave us a great set of spiritual armor, but the flesh likes to put down the shield of faith, and raise the visor of that helmet of salvation to see what is going on in the world. We know that the world is just waiting for that, and its prince will pounce on us in those under-guarded and under-armored moments. The fight with the flesh will go on. Listen to Jesus; he is everything we need for living a godly life.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend for those of you getting started today. Family is coming to my house. If you want to tell them stories of a humbling nature about me... just stay home until they're gone, okay!
Good wet Wednesday! The rain is back once more as it has been off and on all through the night. Today, walking along in the rain with your favorite rain coat or jacket on, you come across a bush that is on fire. Your first reaction after "Aaagh! Call out the Fire Department!" is to look a little closer. The bush is burning along merrily, but is not being burned up, nor is the fire being quenched by the monsoon rains. A mighty voice that brooks no disobedience thunders, "Take off your LL Bean galoshes; you are standing on holy ground!" Uh oh... You get a mission to a far country called Zerd; a country you have never heard of, or even happened upon in conversation until now. Is Zerd a monarchy? A democracy? Do they have Internet access there? You seem to be remarkably unprepared to head up a new mission to this place.
The first man to come upon a burning bush didn't have it like that. Moses was very well prepared to go to Egypt on a mission from God. Moses was born during a time of persecution in Egypt when a pharaoh had become fearful of the growing Israelite population. As often happens when fear rules, the pharaoh had ordered murder as a means of population control. Moses was literally cast adrift by his family, but, lo, his little boat did come ashore at the place where Pharaoh's daughter did bathe. Her first reaction, after "Eek! Do throw me a towel my handmaiden!", was to grab little Moses and adopt him into the royal family. Little Moses then began his royal education as a prince of the land.
Why would this become important? Moses would many years later be sent directly to the pharaoh with a message, "Let my people go!" However, it wouldn't be so easy for you and me. Where is the royal court in Egypt? Does it move around at different times of the year as the rich and powerful tend to do? Moses knew these things; he had been uniquely prepared by God for his mission. Even after 40 years or so, Moses knew names at court, where in the land the royal court would be at the time of his arrival, and he would have known the quickest and shortest set of royal flunkies to visit to gain access to pharaoh. Royalty tends to have a lot of filters in place to keep folks like you and me from walking up and asking a lot of questions. And royalty certainly wouldn't want us to walk up to them and say, "God says: Let all of your free labor go home to the Promised Land!" Moses knew the rules, the nuances, the protocols, and yes, perhaps even the right palms to grease in order to get in to see the current pharaoh.
Our little mission to Zerd would be off to a rocky start, but Moses didn't have to seek out an Ancient Middle Eastern Travel office and ask a lot of dumb questions. Once God overruled the excuses that Moses put up, he was off to his homeland to bring the people out of slavery. You and me? Well, we are stuck at the Fantasyland Travel office listening to things like: "You want to go where? To do what? Are you crazy?" We didn't receive a royal education and upbringing in the royal court of Zerd you see, and we are simply and totally unprepared. Somewhere in your life, God did prepare you for a mission though.
Your mission may be right where you live now, on the Internet, in a far country, or even on a moon base, but you did receive a preparation for this mission. Your preparation might have been working and learning in your mother's kitchen to cook wonderful dishes. You might have been interested in technical or scientific things much more than most other children. In so many and wonderfully varied ways, God has prepared each of us to do exactly what he would have us to do as a mission. "But, I didn't come to believe until later in life?" you might ask. That didn't stop God from getting you ready!
Put on your galoshes and enjoy the day in Christ!
Good Tuesday morning! Lots of rain last night and more expected this evening. A vast swath of the country is on storm alert today. If you own a vast swath you have been put on alert. Keep your vast swath safe! I know it isn't always politically correct to make jokes about alerts and disasters, but I just realized how odd and funny 'vast swath' sounds. Hopefully no one will run a vast swather over your vast swath today. Who would make such a thing? This is the new John Deere Vast Swather for mowing down your very own vast swath. I wonder if Jim Cabela would buy one? I think he lets much of his land 'go native' which doesn't require farm machinery. I didn't sleep long enough last night or got up too early this morning. Evidently ol' Bucky is just a short step from being around the bend today. Go plant that in your vast swath!
We want to listen for the sound of applause, but do we listen for that small voice that is the Lord trying to tell us something? I believe in Jesus and I believe that the Lord is always ready to listen to me. I don't always return the compliment and listen to Him though. Which of us do you suppose has more wisdom to teach the other? Right, I should learn to listen better and more often. A quiet time to listen to the Lord can be difficult to come by in our age. Noise from outside bombards us day and night, and we add to that with our electronic gadgets. The worst noise might even come from our own minds as we agonize in anxiety over what may come. How will the voice of the Lord get through all of that? Setting aside a time of quiet can be tough in our busy schedules as we can make a 'noise' of being busy all day.
We must learn to listen to the Lord though; day or night, morning or evening, the Lord our God has important things to say to each of us. You might even hear the unexpected from the Lord such as: "I am pleased with you." Gah, the Lord pleased with me? As we dredge up a quick list of our imperfections and sins over the past... oh, lifetime or so. Yes, you might be surprised to receive a message just like that. Listen for the Lord's voice! He has great and wonderful things to say. Perhaps even unexpected and surprising things to say that will encourage and strengthen us in our daily walk with Him.
Good Saturday morning! The sun is shin... was shining... what happened here? Clouds are moving across the sky and sometimes the sun is shining today. How is your intensity today? Some days or weeks we go through a season of more intense activity. Watching the little nest out back, things seemed pretty relaxed out there up until just about a week ago. Then one night both robins were staring in at something and then... the intensity of the season went way up. Yesterday as I moved bricks (so much for that day off from the heavy stuff) I noticed that the robins were seldom resting. All day long the pair could be seen searching the ground for food and bringing it back to the nest. Hungry little mouths would open every time a bird returned to the nest. But not only is the activity much more intense, there is an intense watchfulness too.
This reminded me of the times as we near the end. We watch intently for Jesus to return at times, while at other times we are too busy to watch. This is neither good or bad unless we get too sky-struck or too busy. We will have those times when we can take the time to look at the sky and wonder if it will be today. Other times we are so busy that we pause, look at the sky, and pray that it will be today. Some folks even claimed that it is today, literally. It is funny how many groups or persons will claim to know the day in direct contradiction to Christ's words that no man will know the day. We are told to watch the signs, and many of us enjoy doing just that, but we can only know that it must happen soon. Circle a date on a calendar though and you can pretty much bet that you will be wrong. I have written that many times and yet we still see people saying that Jesus will return or the Rapture will occur on thus and such day. Why don't they listen to me?
Okay, so I'm not the central information authority in the world, but I do know one bit of reading that those wannabe prophets should take the time to study: the Bible. Even during our periods of intense activity we should take the time to study the Word of God. The old excuse, "But, I don't have time!" should never be used when it comes to reading the Bible. We should always make the time, 'cuz if we ain't readin' the Word, we is screwin' up!
Of course, there could come a time when an emergency might prevent our Bible reading for a time. We can always think of exceptions to almost everything that we should do on a daily basis. Recall a few verses from memory during a super-busy day. You are memorizing a few verses at least, aren't you? Talk to God as you go about that super-busy day; prayer is always available to us. I like to talk about super-busy days on a Saturday. Hopefully, each of you will have some time to reflect on getting too busy and enjoy some intense relaxation today for at least a little while. Do a little sky-gazing today. Talk to the Lord, maybe he really is coming today!
Good Friday morning! I'm not sure where he came from, but I know he is going out to help with landfill operations. Some slug was dangling from my garage door this morning. The weather has been wet lately, but that wet? I'm sure the landfill will keep him occupied in a gainful manner. Last night I looked into the darkness, and things seemed very dark. This morning I decided to look to the light of the world, and things seemed so much better. In the dark dream last night, I tried to teach some other dream characters to trust in Jesus. What is going on here? In the old days dreams just happened to me. Must be growing in the Spirit I guess. I wonder what would cause such a thing? I mean, other than slugs dangling from your garage door that is.
Sometimes we are going to have one of those moments where we come to realize our growth in the Spirit of Christ. This probably doesn't happen every day for you; I can report that I don't see it each day in my life. The growth seems to be slow from my point of view as temptations still seem to grab my attention far too easily. Selfishness seems to be my first reaction or thought too often and Jesus my last resort instead of the first. However, that doesn't happen all of the time now. And to dream about comforting others with the good news of Jesus? Well, my heavens whatever is going on here?
Today, I'm going to plan not lifting and carrying heavy things for at least this day. We'll see how that turns out. My plans don't always come to pass. Some days the mind wants to do what the body would rather put off for another day too. One thing I do know: God's plan for the day is already in motion and will be carried out - with or without me. In the old days I would have different and rebellious thoughts about that. Today, I am comforted and glad that God's plan will happen: on time and on schedule. There is only one thing to say about God's plan today, "Amen!"
Have a great Friday in Christ! I hope the sun shines some today.
Good wet Thursday morning! I heard the rain arrive last night as I lay resting my tired bones in my bed. I have come to the conclusion that retaining wall blocks start getting heavy at about the third time a person loads or unloads them. A good workout to be sure, but as the old saying goes: If you don't do it every day, in aches and pains you will pay! Actually, I may have just made that one up, but you are welcome to use it. I see that a feast is going on outside. The birds are feasting on all the worms that are out in the wet street this morning. Someone always likes the rainy weather. The rain also keeps the cat from sitting out back staring up at the new robin chicks. Imagine the stress that must cause the little cheepers so early in life. As they grow, I'm thinking the racket from out back may just increase to the point that it bothers me. Of course, I'll worry about today's worries for today.
As a writer, I get a kick out of a misused word when someone writes a letter to the editor of a newspaper and we all get to see the mistake. It takes a certain amount of courage, or outrage, to put your writing out in the public eye. Make a mistake in your letter and everyone gets to read it and laugh... at the mistake, not you, though the writer might feel that the laughter is directed on a personal level. Anyone of us could make a mistake like that and we tend to fear putting ourselves up for public ridicule. Depend on your spell checker program too much and you might just lay an egg in public.
Last week in our life group we talked about things that keep Christians and non-Christians from speaking up for their beliefs. One of the reasons is that very thing: mistakes are often ridiculed and re-ridiculed until the writer or speaker wishes that he or she had just kept quiet. The world is a rough and tough place. Public ridicule is so effective that at times it was used as an official punishment back in the day. If you are one of those called to speak or write in public for Jesus, you are going to need some help from our Lord. We like to grab one of Paul's verses for the tough times: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." There is a context to this verse that we should pay attention to, but the important part is not the "I can" as much as it is the part about who is doing the strengthening. We should always take comfort in the fact that Jesus is with us in all things and strengthens us.
Seldom would one of us need more strengthening from Jesus than if we get up in public and really blow it. The larger the audience, the more we would need Jesus and his mighty power. But even on a personal level, say you only blew it in conversation with one other person, we need the strength of Christ to apologize and seek forgiveness. Words cannot be taken back once written or spoken, but we can seek healing in our relationships through Christ. Jesus is very good at healing relationships. After all, the first thing he must do when saving us is to heal our relationship with God the Father.
Praise God for the healing of the Son!
Good Tuesday morning! The wind was supposed to stop last night. Who didn't ask the wind to stop? Hmm? Fall down in our weather intervention duties a bit, did we? I'm divided on the outcome last night. The wind blew from the south all night which is hard on my new plants, but my bedroom is on the north so I slept without the wind noise. The robins out back just had a hatching, but I'll stay clear and let them do their thing. I may try to get a few photos though. Time to rail at the moment.
Why do you suppose Jesus made it a point to say this to the disciples? First of all we know from the next verse that Jesus would be leaving and that they should rejoice for him. However, we already know that the peace the world gives is an illusion and a temporary illusion at that. The wind may stop for an hour or a day, but we know that it will return. Giving in to temptation will relieve the pressure for just a short time, but the temptation will return in greater force. The peace of Jesus must be something greater. The end of the storm; the quiet of a calm sunrise; the silence in a library, these things can be easily broken. The peace of Jesus must not exist in circumstances or surroundings. Is the peace Jesus gives in Heaven? We read in Revelation where there will be or has been war in Heaven. And Jesus spoke of something he would leave with them, not something the disciples would gain in Heaven. The peace that Jesus gave to his disciples and to us must exist at the center.
While the world rages on the outside and the storm of temptation pressure assaults our minds, the peace of Jesus grows in our hearts. From the heart fed and tended by the Spirit grows the fruit of peace. This peace calms our minds and we look up in hope and joy as Jesus draws nearer with each day. The peace of Jesus can even calm the world around us a bit when others see that we have a hope they do not. Someone pushes and a Christ-one doesn't push back. Peace instead of vendetta when a Christ-one does not take vengeance for a wrong. We can make a difference around us when the peaceful fruit of the Spirit grows from our hearts.
Have a peaceful day in Christ, even as the wind demolishes any hint of calm outside.
Good Monday morning! The sun is up and I am too! The cat, well, already up and starting to doze off again. Yup, eyes just went closed for a while there. Must be the mesmerizing effect of my keyboard clicking. Dan, the boat boy across the street, caught a fish yesterday. But not just any fish, he won some sort of fishy prize for the largest fish of the tournament it seems. The prize money covered his entry fee was his statement. That seems a little disappointing given the cost of fuel these days. Netting the largest fish should at least pay for the fuel expended. Looking at the other side of it though, I can see how the tournaments might all go broke if they gave out enough money to cover fuel costs for too many prizes. As for me, I could see that it looked like a fish. Must be a big 'un, he brought home a goodly portion of the lake in his live well to keep the fish alive for the trip home. Do fish get car sick?
Ah, time for the morning cup o' brew! I am hearing and thinking a lot about moments lately. Special moments like neighbor Dan's yesterday that we watch with satisfaction are nice to see and enjoy with the other person. I had been thinking about my moments, but today I realize that not all moments belong to me. How often have you felt the selfish temptation to steal someones moment with a cutting remark? That is an easy one to fall for! Letting the other person enjoy the moment is a part of our growth in Christ. An example of this is when someone gets a new whizamagig and the first thing that happens back home is the neighbor who points out the shortcomings of the new purchase. We have all been on one end or the other of that, and it isn't a pretty thing. Perhaps you or I have even been the one to steal the moment by opening our mouths at that wrong time. We might be reminded of too many events from the past of that type. The good news is that we learn and grow in the Spirit.
Yesterday, neighbor Dan had a fine moment, and I am glad to have been able to see it. After Jesus began his ministry you might expect many similar moments would have happened with his neighbors back home, but the Bible would disagree. Jesus didn't gain any small moments of fame back in his hometown. In fact, his family even poked some fun at him in the early days of his new ministry. If we want small moments of fame here in our own neighborhoods, we will have a greater chance if we buy a boat and take up fishing than to spread the good news of Jesus Christ and hope for those same moments. Your neighbors and friends might not even want to see you coming up the street with your good news and the light of Jesus.
Of course we don't want to give up our friends, neighbors, and family, but if it came to a choice, I would rather have Jesus than any thing or anyone.
Enjoy the moments of this new week in Christ!
Ah well, the price of becoming famous among my blades of grass and little bugs. The blades of grass all know about the giant who kneels on them and the bugs know about the large movable feast that comes into their domain. We bug and grass celebrities might start the day wondering: What in the world am I writing about? It's a fine Saturday morning, and apparently the walk in the cold has got to my brain. Like many things, I make no sense sometimes. What about this Jesus, does he make sense?
If you call common sense what is common among people then, no, Jesus does not seem to make sense to the world. If you go to scrub out your kitchen and tell someone to grab that bucket of blood, the other person would naturally assume that you meant to pour it down the drain. However, we in Christ claim to be cleansed by the blood. That makes no sense at all. Blood doesn't cleanse; it makes a big mess. Isaiah wrote that by his stripes we are healed. Whose stripes? The stripes someone wears on his clothing wouldn't heal anyone. However, in Christ we know exactly what Isaiah is referring to, and yet it makes no sense to the world. By the way, how could one man being executed remove the penalty of sin from me? Again, in the world this makes no sense at all, but in Christ we understand that Jesus died as a substitute by paying the price we owed to God for our sin. Maybe we don't have what you could call common sense.
If you don't think the world considers you senseless, then join in a good discussion forum at any secular university. You will learn just how far out the intellectual powers of the world judge us to be in our thinking. Praise God that His Son makes the very bestest of sense to me!
Good Thursday morning! The rain has come...and the camper has gone! I'm so alert in the morning; I didn't even notice its absence when I opened the shade almost an hour ago. Maybe it wasn't gone then, I honestly can't remember. A mind is a terrible thing to wake up too early. I think I heard rain every time I woke up last night. Praise the Lord for the rain! Of course this means that I can't crawl around on the grass playing with stone blocks today. Ah well, I'll just have to bear up.
I'll have to admit to some inconsistency over the past few days. On one day an unexpected change in plans might put me into a questioning God mode, and just a couple of days later an unexpected change has me praising Him. The Apostle Paul had learned to be content in all circumstances. It seems that I still have some learning to do. Trusting in God may involve changing plans in a moment or with the breaking of a new day. Change may seem to be a sacrifice, a terrible unfairness, or a blessing, but when God sends a stumble into our stride we know it is for our own good.
The first change of plans caused me a whole lot of work. That is what makes today's change so welcome, I'm still recovering from Tuesday's change. God knew on Monday what would happen on Thursday, so He started changing my stride well before I could see what Thursday morning would bring. Of course I whined and moaned a bit at the change of plans on Tuesday, and now I realize what God was up to. One glorious day in the future, I hope to be able to trust in God right from the start and leave off the moaning and complaining. God is very patient with me, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to show progress to my heavenly Father toward the standard Jesus showed in his life on the Earth.
I cannot save myself with improvement or good works, but I can show the Father that I care enough to work on what I can work on. On the other hand, I also know that Jesus will complete the work he began in me. Much of my attempts at improvement involve polishing the outside of the cup; Jesus works on the inside. Did you ever wonder that Jesus didn't immediately make us all beautiful to look upon at salvation? That witness would of course be unmistakable. Why not put a real polish on the outside of each cup right at the cross? We know that the real stain of sin is on the inside of this little cup. The cleanup work on the inside of us is so important that Jesus spends our lifetimes in getting us cleaned up. Paul admitted that he still had far to go; I'll admit that I still have far to go to meet God's standard, and I'm sure that each of you can look at the inside of the cup and see that all is not perfected yet in your life as well.
Sin will not be present in Heaven. That means that those who believe in Christ must be cleaned up before we can come to the Father. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man comes to the Father except through me" in John 14:6. He also could have said, "I am the Scrubber, the Soap, and the Bath; no man comes to the Father until I have cleaned him completely." In our efforts at self-improvement, we play with the bubbles and move the suds around a bit, but the real work is done by Christ himself. Perhaps Jesus gave us imperfect outsides to worry about so that we would stay out of the way while He cleans up the inside. Just a thought to consider while I play with my bubbles in the bath and move the suds around a bit.
Good Wednesday morning! The hot and dry weather has moved on and we may get some rain now. Did you get to run around shutting windows last night? I think that is one of my signs of spring, a sort of ritual of the evening. Sun goes down, open the windows to cool the house, go to bed, get a little sleepy... uh, oh, did I see a flash? Yup, the thunderstorms move in, the wet cold wind comes in erasing any sleepiness from my eyes, or the lightning strikes close enough to cause a tremendous thunderclap and levitation occurs. Either way, the windows get closed in a hurry. As summer arrives, the storms usually come earlier in the day for us. If the storms come like they did last year, we get our bailing buckets out and go help the neighbors save their homes; a good brisk evening workout that also erases any trace of sleepiness from our eyeballs. A small storm is going on right now in my house. I'm not sure what set the Captain off, but he is tearing around the place this morning. Must have been some good stuff in that can of cat food!
I have a picture of the sunrise on my computer screen, but that isn't happening this morning. Yet, it doesn't quite look like rain either. The day seems undecided, kind of like me. Have you made yourself available to the Lord, and then...nothing. No word from above, no opportunity came knocking, no event happened, no meeting met, and a cloud of waiting settled on your head like a bag of soggy dryer lint? You have begun to wonder what the Lord meant by being available and if it is just like rotting in place. You banish that thought as unworthy, but waiting can be difficult and patience hard to find. Yes, sometimes the Lord wants us on hold or in reserve. Some events critical to the Lord's plan have not arrived yet and we are to wait for those events. However, the Lord doesn't always tell us this. I think He wants to see how well we wait on Him. And I don't always do very well.
Waiting on the Lord and trusting in Him are closely related when we are in that period of waiting. We learn to wait patiently by realizing that God has us in mind at all times and that His plans and actions might not involve you and me directly for just a bit. As that bit of time stretches on, the waiting can become more difficult if we insist on looking everywhere but to God. Trusting in God, we realize that we are waiting for a reason. God may not tell us the reason, but we learn to trust that the waiting is necessary. Of course this may not mean that we wait by sitting on our couch watching the door between commercials! We have little planes to fly, yards to landscape, people to visit, shopping to do, Bible studies to study, and the many other things that are useful and glorifying to God.
Have a joyful and productive day in Christ, even while you wait!
Good Tuesday morning! Does a door keep closing in your face? My nose is starting to get a little flat spot from one particular activity. I tried two different plastic things, then a metal thing, and then went shopping for something online and ran into "out of stock" twice, and finally got the hint that the Lord wants me to try something else; something closer to home if you will. I almost took off on a trip to Cheyenne this morning to spend at least $60 worth of fuel to pick up a $30 item... I got a message after going to bed last night that the item was, you got it, out of stock. Their computer inventory was wrong. Yep, I'm a little slow in this, but I guess I'll go over to the neighborhood store and look at their solutions to my problem.
The wind came up late in the evening yesterday and tried to blow me out the other side of the house. This can be embarrassing when you are clad only in your favorite smiley-face pajamas. When the wind blows through the neighboring houses from a certain direction, it tends to hit one of my windows more than others. If I happen to be in bed and have this window open wide to cool off the house in the evening, the curtain will stand straight out and smack the lamp shade beside my bed making the brass lamp stand ring. Not that I need the extra 'ding' there is enough of that going on in my head already. What? I say something funny? Why is everyone chuckling?
Praise God that he loves me! Even the occasional ding-a-ling devotional is not enough to stop God's love for me. On a day when I get up early only to find that my plan is not the one God would have me to do, I can count on God's love for me. Can you or I sin enough to stop God's love? What kind of spiritual shape were you in when you gave your life to Jesus? That should answer the question quite well, thank you. If Jesus didn't refuse any of us right from the git-go, then he certainly isn't going to lose one of his sheep later on. In fact, I seem to recall a passage in the Bible where Jesus told the Father that he had not lost but one of those given to him. We know that one was Judas Iscariot who betrayed our Lord. If you aren't Judas, and it's likely that if you are reading this you are not that guy, then Jesus isn't going to lose you after you come to Him.
Hmm, the sun is hitting the back of my grape and I see steam rising in the shadow on my screen. I must have started thinking back there a bit.
Good Monday morning! Urrgh! Four walking days this season and I'm feelin' it. Of course the prevailing advice is to start out slowly and yesterday I kind of overdid the walking. So, actually I'm only feeling one day of walking and that feeling is my own fault. I don't have enough coffee beans for a pot today and the toaster smoked the kitchen, so I had warm bread. You know, this reminds me of something.... oh yeah, it's a Monday! Praise God for Mondays! Without Mondays we wouldn't know how to enjoy the other six mornings of the week.
Speaking of Mondays, I wonder how many sunburned folks will be wandering the halls of their workplaces today? The days were hot and dry this weekend and I saw a lot of boats headed down the road. That usually means some "don't touch me's" will be found in your work area this morning; some of whom will have red or half red faces to show for it. I always liked the red raccoon faces where the big sunglasses kept the sun from burning around the eyes, but left the rest of the face sunburned. Oops, second food stain on the manuscript. Good thing it's just a copy for making corrections on. Must be a Monday!
Does it seem like God sets up your Monday to get you into the proper mood for appreciating Him more? Maybe it feels as though God has turned the Devil loose on you on Mondays, kind of like he did with Job back in the day but in a small way. You haven't lost your children and livestock, but the car keys simply will not be found, you're already running late for work, and the dog just committed a little faux pas on the living room floor. Your manic searching of the house for the car keys and the language employed to lubricate your search may have helped to upset the dog; you realize this too... and the Monday has only just begun.
No question, some days seem worse than others. Mondays seem to bear more than a fair share of the daily burden, but we can tell that not every day goes just the way we would wish. Do you imagine that God's will is being done each day on this earth? Jesus taught us to pray that God's will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven, but I think we can tell that God's will is not the things we see in the news each day. This does not require a giant intellectual leap for any of us. God wrote: Thou shalt not commit murder, and we can read about murders every day. The same goes for stealing, adultery, coveting, dishonoring parents, and taking God's name in vain... along with any other commandments that are violated on a daily basis. Yeah, God's will seems to be pretty far away from the world right now. Does that mean we can stop praying that line?
Oh no, quite the contrary. The world needs those who would pray to God, perhaps now more than at any other time in the world's history. We need to joyfully and gratefully take our posts as prayer soldiers for Christ. We can see the need and the need is for us to pray for those all around us and throughout the world. Take time to pray today, and perhaps your Monday will go better too!
Good Friday morning! The temperature was spring-like again this morning; we may yet have what a person can call spring this year... for a month or so. I tried to say that I made my first official walk of the season this morning, but I realized that I cannot say that until I have my second walk. Otherwise there is no 'season' to speak of. I did take a few photos, but the green has not come out much in the trees yet. The grass... looks nice, but now I'm writing about trees and grass when I should be writing a devotional about Jesus our Lord. Actually, when trying to encourage someone the dumbest things can be distracting from their present grief or trouble. We can say, "Jesus loves you!" and the person realizes that, but telling about the love of God for his creation is also good and sometimes more immediate to the person.
Yes, we should feel that Jesus is closer to us that anything else, but in grief and distress it may not seem that way. So we can show the love of Jesus through the way he cares for the trees and grass each spring. How the plants all come back to life after a long and cold winter shows that each new spring is a season of promise and hope in Christ. We may be able to see more of Jesus by his works at times of distress. This is what James wrote so long ago in his epistle when he exhorted us to show our faith through good works. We can tell a friend about our faith, and that is a good witness, but proving our faith through our good works really speaks volumes about what is in our hearts. Activities like our church moving ministry are a very good witness. People notice even if they say nothing at the time. Neighbors may not come out, but behind the panes of glass in their windows they see what is going on. So... we should all trade houses once a month just to show our moving ministry! Right? Hey, where did everyone go?
Anything can be taken too far of course. Moving a household is a lot of heavy work; we might want to pause for a little consideration before we get too out of hand there. Of course, in speaking for myself anyway, if I had to move each month, there would be a whole lot less to move in short order. Which would kind of ruin the witness from moving all that stuff. I think I'll stop trying to improve the ministry and just enjoy the opportunities that God has provided. When we set out to witness, we can become too controlling. Ideas shouldn't be ruthlessly stomped on of course, but we can let God run the show too. After all we did surrender our lives and commit to Jesus at the cross. Surely we can let go and let God provide the opportunities just a little maybe. Accept what He provides and praise His name... before we get in trouble telling Him all that needs to be done in our humble opinions.
Sound a little contradictory there? God did provide us with human brains and a spirit full of ideas too. That is why we talk with God often, daily, even constantly! We just finished the National Day of Prayer, but we shouldn't need such a thing in the first place. Every day is a chance to present our ideas to God. Some of my ideas, like the one above, He might say "Whoa, there!", but God is always the first one to hear my idea anyway. I might as well listen for an answer!
Good Thursday morning! Today is the National Day of Prayer. Hey, I have one thing we can all stop worrying about: Don't worry about who else is stopping to pray today. Don't worry about who is not praying today. Leave the President out of the discussion; don't worry about the members of Congress or the Supreme Court; leave alone which celebrity is speaking without a script; and let the rock stars be rock stars. Instead, worry only about praying with Jesus on your own or with a small group of family or friends. The National Day of Prayer is for each of us. We can pray for our nation without fear. Lately that seems almost contradictory. We can pray together while closing the door on our individual prayer closets if we wish. God is not limited by time and space as we are.
Our nation has designated one day as a national prayer day, but God is not reserved for today. Our Lord is not especially listening on this one day over all others. However, we can go to prayer alone if we wish and know that all over the country people much like you and me are praying too. There is certainly something to be said for praying for our nation together on at least one day this year. We can pray for how our nation acts toward other nations. We can pray for national policies that hurt our country. That one is likely to send up a bunch of contradictory requests to God, but praise God for his wisdom in answering. That brings up another one: we can pray to God that our leaders would listen to His wisdom in their decision making. We can pray for God's wisdom in electing our representatives to government. We are responsible as a people for who goes to Washington. Do they have to be Democrats or Republicans? We can even pray that God's will is done in our nation.
As we are a nation of individuals with more freedoms than most nations, we can also pray that we have wisdom of our own. The Supreme Court might say that the Constitution does not forbid abortion, that is their job, but that does not mean that anyone has to choose to kill an unborn baby. We can pray that the people of this nation will listen to God's wisdom and do His will. We can pray that all of us will behave less selfishly, both in our jobs and in our lives at home. We, that's you and me, certainly have much to pray for today! And after... or maybe before all of that we can start our prayers of thanksgiving. We have even more to be grateful for in our Lord Jesus Christ.
The good thing about a National Day of Prayer is that it reminds all of us to take some time on at least this one day to pray to our God. After that we can work on reminding all of us that every day is a day of prayer.
Good Wednesday morning! Today the morning actually feels like a spring morning. And the season is only half gone, how did we get so fortunate? The SEAL teams are getting a recruiting boost now thanks to their successful operation on Sunday. Of course the number one question is: do you have what it takes to become a SEAL? At my age that question is easy to answer. At a younger age in my life, I might have tried out first before realizing the answer. Another question in a similar vein is: do you have what it takes to be a Christian? Jesus told the disciples that anyone who wants to follow him should first count the cost.
This 'cost' is another one of those English words that gets abused. Jesus didn't mean that becoming a Christ-one was like a country club where a person needs a minimum pile of loot to join. Some cults have abused that in the same way by having applicants give up all of their material possessions to the cult. Usually someone at the top of the cult gets to enjoy the proceeds from all of those material goods. Jesus may not ask for all of your material goods in that way. Rich folks might remain wealthy by giving their lives to Christ. Poor folks may not become rich by giving their lives to Christ. There is no rigorous physical and mental test to becoming a Christ-one in the manner that SEALs go through in their training. There is no vote by the membership like you may find at a country club. No one is born into Christ's family, but no one who asks is refused either. All of us have passed the initial qualification since everyone must be born a sinner in order to need salvation.
Once accepted by Christ, and all who seek him shall find a Savior, a person cannot be voted out. A person can be tempted to quit, but Christ holds us with an everlasting grip. A Christ-one will face intense physical and mental trials in the training, but God gives us the strength to endure. A Christ-one who loses his life for Jesus is promised both that he will find it and that his eternal life is safe in Christ. Finally, a Christ-one is recruited with the assurance that the world will hate her as it hated Christ first. Don't see many recruiting posters like that in the world. Why would anyone join this particular army? Search the gospels and see what else Jesus had to say about believing in the Christ: Matthew 11:28-30 is a good place to start, and John 3:16 is the promise we all love.
Good Tuesday morning! The morning after the big day; now I'm just older. The celebrations and hurrahs are done for the year. I had better grab my cane and oatmeal. Has anyone seen the cat? Do I have one cat or just two? This underwear has two holes in it; which one does my head go in? Of course old age is all funny until they find you having a political discussion with a street lamp one day. In my defense the street lamp would have made a better senator in many states; unfortunately he was made in China and was thrown off the party platform.
So, my birthday was so important that our President had to stage a raid on bin Laden's home to upstage my special day. Well, I'll take it. We have waited for almost a decade to have the man behind 9/11 brought to justice, and now he can join those waiting for the Lord's judgment. Why not rush to some judgment of my own? The fruits of this man's life certainly seem to be that of an enemy of Christ, but still, only God can see into his heart. An enemy has fallen, and now we ask that God have mercy on his soul. Does that seem a little different from what the world is saying today? Yes indeed.
bin Laden's supporters would call me various names for even having the gall to ask for mercy on a martyr, but my definition of a martyr seems to be a bit different from theirs. Jesus died on the cross, and Stephen died at the hands of those same people a little later. Neither man took up arms or planned an attack on some folks just going to work for the day. And of course, we believe that every one of us is a sinner in need of God's mercy. So when we ask that God have mercy on a fallen enemy, we make no claim to any self-righteousness. Might one of us be caught saying, "I need your mercy, Lord, and that guy really needs your mercy!" Yes, I might have been caught in that myself. I'll just claim to be a fruit inspector, and not a judge.
Does the rising sun look a little brighter today with one less enemy in the world? It may, it just may. Have a great day in Christ! Pray for our enemies as well as our friends.
Good Monday morning! And a happy Early May Bank holiday to you! What? Did you expect something else today? Hee, hee! Yes! I am 48 years old today! Whoo hoo! I made it another year on this earth! Jesus isn't finished with me yet and I have more days of loving him and doing the good work of Christ! At just after 0500 in the morning, the temp is a balmy 30°, May 2nd and we are still freezing. After all of that, you might be thinking something like, "this guy is full of barnyard waste!" I'll admit that looking forward to each new birthday after 40 might seem a bit odd, but when a person comes to the realization that all of us are only here for as long as God would have us to stay, then you appreciate each new year of life. Did that work for you? Nope, didn't for me either. After 35 or thereabouts, I was just like most everyone else, ready to mope about being on the downhill slide toward old age. Then Jesus changed my life for the better!
No, that change didn't go easily at first. I missed the old life of general good health, being in charge of my destiny, or at least thinking that I had it all under control, and being pretty much responsible to no one. The lost sheep wasn't sounding off because, well, he firmly ignored the fact that he was lost. Jesus knew better, but the lost sheep wasn't listening at the time. I have heard several of your own personal stories of salvation, and I know that each of us can remember a similar time in our lives when we lived only for "Me" and thoughts of serving the Lord came only as an irritation. I realize now that my control over my own life was a complete illusion. Jesus was knocking, but I was inside with the TV turned way up, in a manner of speaking. Praise God that Jesus made sure I didn't stay that way!
A new life in Christ will make a person realize how precious our time here is, and how short. Each day I am one day closer to being with Jesus forever in a place where the pain and suffering is banished. Getting older is a blessing... that doesn't always feel like a blessing. Another example of a time when we must look to our Savior and not to our feelings. Praise the Lord for another year of writing devotionals and living in Christ!
When you get older you get suggestions like: "Amazon recommends Kirby vacuum cleaner belts..." That message just popped up on my screen, a sure sign that I am not a spring chicken to continue the farm metaphors. Vacuum cleaner belts? What a suggestion for my birthday. The problem is that once a person gets past a certain age, you actually check to make sure that you don't need something mundane like that. Come to think of it, I had better go to the grocery store today.
Have a wonderful day in Christ, even if you don't feel the blessing in our poor old body today! | 2019-04-24T18:43:32Z | http://bucky-dailydevotional.blogspot.com/2011/05/ |
This academic presentation is filled with errors, though it’s funded by the Victoria University of Wellington and the Royal Society—which means your taxes, at least in part. Just now I want to comment on one slide (No. 14) that appears to claim that almost all scientists believe that anthropogenic global warming is caused by mankind. This is the slide.
It illustrates the malignant “climate consensus” that poisons most popular discussion on climate policy. Mere disagreement of even thousands of people won’t create warming if the temperature has been falling. It matters little whether they’re scientists or not. But the very mention of a consensus inhibits the examination of evidence—and even armed with evidence it still takes a brave man to disagree with “97 per cent of scientists.” So claiming a consensus, even if it doesn’t exist, can be an effective ploy.
For convenience and a kind of shorthand there may well arise a consensus on some scientific topic, and it often happens, but though the truth in science might create a consensus, no consensus ever established a scientific truth.
Being an advocate of science seems to mean nothing more than shouting as loudly as possible ‘what science says…’, second hand. And those who shout most loudly about science turn out to be advancing an idea of science which, rather than emphasising the scientific method, puts much more store — let’s call it ‘faith’ — in scientific institutions. Hence, the emphasis on the weight, number and height of scientific evidence articles, and expertise, rather than on the process of testing competing theories.
This road-show presentation is, as I said, full of errors. But when I received it recently what stood out for me was that Professors Renwick and Naish cite a number of research papers that have been comprehensively invalidated. This is a major mistake. If they are unaware of the faults revealed in these papers by subsequent research then they cannot have been diligent. If they are aware of them, they should at the very least have mentioned that the papers are controversial. To present them to the lay public as good science is a perversion of their academic authority.
For these papers are scandalous.
The paper Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature is the infamous study by John Cook et al. that is widely disparaged for its fatal and particularly egregious errors. It’s hard to understand why anyone familiar with the paper would cite it or why anyone would cite it who was not familiar with it. Unless they were desperate for support and didn’t care where they found it.
Surely no reputable academic would cite these studies. They purport to prove a consensus of almost all climate scientists but either use a weak definition of consensus that most would agree with or their samples of papers or survey respondents are unreasonably small.
For a solid analysis of Oreskes (2004) see Christopher Monckton (2007). Oreskes does not reveal how many papers explicitly endorsed her watered-down consensus, but subsequent research found that only 1% explicitly endorse that consensus—not 100%.
An excellent dissection of the execrable Cook et al. (2013), by Paul Homewood, is available at Not a lot of people know that. An earlier paper by David Legates et al. (2013) showed that Cook et al’s claimed consensus of 97%, when measured correctly from their own data, was in fact only 0.3%.
This one slide we’ve discovered being foisted on amateur audiences around the country during yet another junket funded from your taxes would be enough on its own to dismiss Profs Renwick and Naish’s specious arguments that we’re destroying the climate and laugh them out of town.
Unfortunately this slide is just one of 49. Watch this space.
Here are the studies cited in the presentation that claim some level of consensus concerning climate science, with papers that contradict them (including the two references given above in the post). I’ve found some errors not mentioned in the original post, above.
Verheggen (2014) — Authors and lead authors associated with the IPCC appear strongly represented in this sample, and they could reasonably be expected to believe strongly in dangerous man-made global warming, as it’s the subject they’re writing about, but whether that slants their results I don’t know. It seems to be a high-quality paper. I’ve found no rebuttals.
Stenhouse (2014) — Surveys the American Meteorological Society (26% response) and provides a limited view.
Q4 Do you think human activity is a significant contributing factor in changing mean global temperatures” (Question displayed only if respondent thinks temperatures have risen).
Q3 When compared with pre-1800’s levels, do you think that mean global temperatures have generally risen, fallen, or remained relatively constant?
We find that 93.48% answered Yes, and you can calculate that 96.66% of 93.48 is 90%. So the paper provided the data for the correct calculation to be made but for some reason inflated the answer. The correct number of respondents was 90% but our road-show presenters incorrectly show 97%.
Professors are not allowed to make a mistake as large as 7%. Their skill with percentages is presumed to be perfect. I cannot avoid the impression they were trying to mislead us. Shame on you, sirs.
I have to say this list of papers is persuasive only by repetition of 97% and similar numbers because on close inspection their errors make each paper singularly unimpressive. More drab and humdrum than gripping.
It is essential, Richard T, that the proponents of AGW know that their views (faith?) are constantly reaffirmed, and being assured that there are many of the same point of view is one such example. It is akin to what I understand of the concept of midrash in Hebrew teaching—in the stories of the Old Testament. For example it wasn’t Moses alone who parted the waters for the people to cross. So did Joshua part the waters of the Jordan to enable his army to cross. Not only did Solomon build a temple. So did Zerubbabel, and later, Herod. Even Elijah saw a temple built in a vision. My understanding is that by repeating the stories the Rabbis were reminding the people that Jehovah was still with them. It was a reaffirmation of the interest of the Almighty in His chosen people. Do I detect a necessity in the proponents of AGW (or should that now be ACC—and no I am not referring to compensation!) for such reaffirmation. Surely the evidence of the last nearly 30 years must be shaking their very foundations.
The topic of consensus has been well dealt with by various critics—you’ve cited Curry, Pile, Monckton, Homewood and Legate. The most telling comments, though, probably come from the past. Einstein is reported to have said of his theories that any number of experiments would never prove him right, but that it would take only one to prove him wrong. He is also supposed to have asked, when informed that a committee of something like 100 had been set up the challenge his general theory of relativity, “Why so many? It needs only one!” Perhaps his challengers were seeking safety in numbers? Doesn’t that sound like the need for a consensus?
Richard, you have cited one slide from the “Ten Things” traveling road show. A slide preceding it, asking the question “Did you know … That Scientists are almost 100% convinced that warming is human induced?”, is possibly the most egregious of all 49 slides in the road show presentation. The whole presentation is a mishmash of misleading, overstated, and just plain incorrect information. This one in particular tries to mislead because it avoids the term “consensus”. What scientists? Almost 100%? It doesn’t infer a consensus which might be challenged (such as the Oreskes and Cook papers). Does it mean that almost all scientists are convinced? Or does it mean that just some scientists are almost convinced? I am sure it is intended to confuse the listener. I have to wonder why!
Phew! Nice to see you here! You take my breath away!
Frankly, I wonder if the biblical references are appropriate or useful in the context, but I don’t want to discourage you. If they help you visualise the climate debate, carry on. I agree that our views on any subject are an expression of faith. Even waiting for the bus is an expression of faith.
You’re quite right that every group looks for confirmation and I guess it’s the scientific path that is the loneliest and the best. It’s certainly science that we wish to discover and to promulgate here.
It’s great to have your help!
I used the Biblical references, not because I am religious—far from it, although I will own up to being a Freemason (which is not religious, just in case someone objects!)—but because I find it the easiest way to explain what I can only consider to be “blind faith”. In my opinion probably the best way to fight such “faith” is by quietly undermining it with simple facts expressed in such a way that everyone can easily understand them.
So what proportion of climate papers and/or scientists state that anthropogenic climate change is occurring? Show us some peer-reviewed studies that claim less than 90%.
Consensus is completely relevant, until the paradigm is broken by proven study.
CO2 is a greenhouse gas. CO2 is increasing in the atmosphere. Global temperatures are increasing as a result. All of these statements are true.
A little proof would be extremely useful and would add to our knowledge. You are quite correct that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and that it is increasing in the atmosphere. But perhaps you might like to reveal the incontrovertible, physical evidence that it is causing global temperatures to increase as a result.
2) Is downwelling longwave radiation (IR-C, DLR) a surface material heating agent? No, The net LW flux is UP (-52.4 W.m-2) from the surface i.e. a COOLING flux of outgoing longwave radiation (OLR). The CO2 component of DLR is only about 2% (7/345.6) and the change since 1976 only about 1 W.m-2 i.e. 0.3% (1/345.6). This is negligible. And DLR only penetrates the ocean surface by a max of about 100 microns. This is about the thickness of a human hair.
If Naish and Renwick think there is a heat transfer from air-to-surface or air-to-sea (as the IPCC speculates), then they are subscribing to a violation of the Clausius statement of the Second Law of Thermodynamics and run contrary to IPCC observations and energy budgets. The IPCC went looking for their “air-sea fluxes” in Chapter 3 but they should have known it was a fools errand, as it turned out to be, if they had just looked at their own cited earth’s energy budget (see ‘IPCC Ignores IPCC Climate Change Criteria’) – there is NO air-to-surface heat transfer by sensible/latent heat or radiation. The radiative energy transfer is UP from the surface (-52.4 W.m-2).
5 Ninety-three per cent of the heat ………….. from humankind’s use of fossil fuels has gone into the ocean.
This is an outright fabrication (a lie). The IPCC only speculates on this in Chapter 10 Detection and Attribution i.e. attribution by speculation. They have no science whatsoever to support their speculation. The IPCC went looking for their speculated “air-sea” fluxes in Chapter 3 but could not find them. Pointless to look because the earth’s energy budget they cite does not have any net LW flux into the ocean so there cannot be an air to sea heat transfer (and see 2 above).
Naish and Renwick are scientific phonies and they are touting scientific fraud – they are either totally inept or charletans.
They’re being PAID to tout their scientific fraud by a university and a society.
Molecules of carbon dioxide (CO2) can absorb energy from infrared (IR) radiation. This animation shows a molecule of CO2 absorbing an incoming infrared photon (yellow arrows). The energy from the photon causes the CO2 molecule to vibrate.
Shortly thereafter, the molecule gives up this extra energy [/1] by emitting another infrared photon.Once the extra energy has been removed [/2] by the emitted photon, the carbon dioxide stops vibrating.
CO2 an effective heat-trapping greenhouse gas.
[Title] and , and describe energy TRANSFER – not “trapping” as stated in . There is NO energy “trapped” in this process whatsoever, the energy has simply been transferred. Therefore, CO2 is an effective and passive energy TRANSFER medium contrary to ..
UCAR are peddling bunk as “science education”. Which might explain why the NSF dissociates itself in the disclaimer.
Yes you sure have misunderstood RT. The UCAR article is specifically in respect to the CO2 molecule absorbing and emitting – nothing else. Nothing at all about what you extrapolate from it. I don’t know how you make the leap you’ve taken. Note too upthread that it is not just me that sees the utter falsity of the CO2 “heat trapping” notion.
“This ability to absorb and re-emit infrared energy is what makes CO2 an effective heat-trapping greenhouse gas.
The first element “this ability to absorb and re-emit infrared energy” contradicts the second “makes CO2 an effective heat-trapping greenhouse gas”.
1. To catch in a trap; ensnare.
2. To prevent from escaping or getting free: was trapped in the locked attic.
4. To seal off (gases) by a trap.
Clearly “transfer” is NOT “trapping”. UCAR certainly is “peddling bunk”.
excited electron states – from milliseconds to tenths of seconds.
0.1 microseconds – so, many collisions and efficient energy transfer.
Transfer by radiation is in the order of “milliseconds to tenths of seconds”.
No change in air temperature results because CO2 is simply a passive transfer medium. Too invoke radiative energy transfer as determining temperature at any altitude is not only redundant but fallacious. The entire temperature profile of the atmosphere (surface to TOA) is determined WITHOUT recourse to radiative transfer as I’ve shown upthread (see “Greenhouse Equation”). The US Airforce Labs first modeled the atmospheric temperature profile from surface to TOA (see Satzer above, page 10) in 1958, revisions l1962, 1966, and the final version 1976 (see below), WITHOUT recourse to radiative transfer. The only radiative input is the solar constant (see “Greenhouse Equation” upthread).
James Clerk Maxwell FRS FRSE (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish scientist in the field of mathematical physics. His most notable achievement was to formulate the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, bringing together for the first time electricity, magnetism, and light as manifestations of the same phenomenon. Maxwell’s equations for electromagnetism have been called the “second great unification in physics” after the first one realised by Isaac Newton.
Written by Alex Newman, New American on July 15, 2016.
It’s not your grandfather’s Democrat Party anymore. In fact, it’s not even your father’s party anymore. With the powerful Democratic Party Platform Committee featuring a number of prominent socialists and communists, the Democrat Party’s draft platform has moved further toward full-blown extremism and totalitarianism than ever before. Indeed, the proposed platform now includes an unprecedented array of extreme anti-constitutional proposals practically guaranteed to alienate mainstream Americans — at least if the public finds out.
From tax-funded abortion worldwide and banishing millions of Americans from the workforce with a $15-per-hour minimum wage, to empowering a United Nations “climate” regime and prosecuting skeptics of the man-made global-warming theory, the Democrat Party’s latest guiding document reads almost like a parody concocted by Republicans to make their rivals look ridiculous. An examination of the extremists sitting on the body that drafted the agenda, though, helps explain how one of America’s two main parties could have openly moved so far to the fringes in such a short time period.
7 meta-studies claiming in excess of 90% scientific agreement on human caused global warming. Please cite a meta-study that suggests otherwise. Only one peer-reviewed paper is cited (Legates et al. (2013)) and it is a critique of the Cook paper. If you are unable to cite a contradictory independent study, literature review, or meta-analysis; then Slide 14 must be valid.
I look forward to your analysis of other ‘erroneous’ slides.
Simon is not arguing science, he is arguing ideology. He himself cites a contradictory review (Legates et al. 2013), then immediately dismisses it. He is utterly unaware of his thoughtlessness, in determined pursuit of a false certainty. He is a liar, to himself above all. And he is representative of all who cling to the “global warming” alarmism as their faith.
It’s not a consensus of opinion either, but empirical evidence from 4 sources – a consensus of empirical evidence if you like.
Talk about a meta-study—with impeccable credentials! Nice one.
Do you fully support these papers, with their methodologies and assumptions? Do you accept their conclusions with no reservations whatsoever? Please consider the potential effects on your own credibility before answering.
A peer review is not required for a paper to be published, logical, correct, refuted or even to be read. Lack of a peer review is no refutation so you have to provide some argument against it (read it first). But I’ll append rebuttals for the other erroneous papers.
There is a new paper out that summarises the histories and flaws of the consensus papers.
Completely ineffective as such during the latest El Nino apparently.
Climate scientists Gavin Schmidt, Stefan Rahmstorf, Steven Sherwood, Micheal Mann, and the UK Met Office all claimed the bulk of the El Nino spike for AGW/MMCC. All are now being proved wrong by temperatures returning to neutral.
The oceanic El Nino heat has simply been transferred (not “trapped”) by the troposphere (including “greenhouse” gases) to space in accordance with the Kelvin-Planck statement of the Second Law of Thermodynamics which in essence says the excess energy is expelled to a heat sink (space in the El Nino case).
The latest El Nino falsifies the “heat trapping greenhouse gas” notion, and makes the above climate scientists look like idiots. Do you REALLY want to subscribe to their idiocy Simon?
No energy is “trapped” in this absorption-emission process. The energy is TRANSFERRED.
For CO2 in the troposphere the animation should show some molecular excitation in the initial and final state rather than the zero excitation shown (O Kelvin temperature). The temperature of the lower mid troposphere is 273 K i.e. molecular excitation.
In the context of the atmosphere, the initial and final state of the molecule is the ambient temperature at whatever the altitude of the air mass containing the molecule, technically Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (LTE).
The ambient temperature of air at EVERY altitude in the standard atmosphere is calculated by the “greenhouse equation” (see below) but without recourse to any “greenhouse” or radiative effects except for the solar constant and Stefan–Boltzmann constant. It is impossible to reproduce the entire atmospheric temperature profile from within the “heat trapping greenhouse gas” paradigm.
T is the initial and final temperature of the CO2 molecule in the UCAR animation above.
Note that there is NO recourse whatsoever to “heat trapping greenhouse gas” effects (CO2 occurs only in “m = average molar mass of the atmosphere” i.e. as a constituency).
The Stefan–Boltzmann constant is the constant of proportionality in the Stefan–Boltzmann law: “the total intensity radiated over all wavelengths increases as the temperature increases”, of a black body which is proportional to the fourth power of the thermodynamic temperature.
Not true when I look at this again. I was referring to CO2 absorption and re-emission (“radiative energy transfer”) being termed “heat trapping” by UCAR i.e. a miss-characterization.
Obviously the Stefan–Boltzmann constant is “recourse to radiative transfer” – my bad.
Stirling, Michelle, Consensus Nonsensus on 97%: Science is Not a Democracy (July 10, 2016).
A number of scholars who have previously undertaken studies on the alleged ‘consensus’ of the human impact on global warming have recently published a paper (Cook et al. 2016) which they claim confirms and strengthens their previous 97% consensus claims. This author rejects their findings and deconstructs both the premise of the relevance of consensus in the empirical evidence-based world of science and finds the claims are in fact ‘nonsensus.’ Several of the scholars’ consensus claims and those of scientific bodies were published prior to the 2013 IPCC Working Group I report wherein it was reported that there had been a hiatus in global warming for some 15 years (to 2012), despite a significant rise in carbon dioxide from human industrial emissions.
Yes, plenty. Also ‘gateway belief model’ is an interesting concept (just belieeeeeve……pleeeeease……).
Interesting though is that Michelle Stirling shows the drop in solar activity after 2006 in Figure 3 page 16. The observed TOA energy imbalance according to IPCC Chapter 2 citation was only +0.6 W.m-2 2000 – 2010. Solar activity (Minimum) has dropped at least 0.26 W.m-2 since 2006 – 2015 in Fig 3. Probably more by other measures e.g. integral.
Theoretical CO2 forcing per decade this century is only about +0.3 W.m-2/decade. If this forcing was valid and the total effective theoretical anthropogenic radiative forcing was valid, the earth’s energy imbalance SHOULD be at least +2.33 W.m-2 and increasing – it isn’t.
This doesn’t mean that solar change has diminished the earth’s energy imbalance to +0.34 W.m-2 but it certainly means that an updated earth’s energy imbalance will be altered in some way. We will have to wait and see what the effect is.
This does mean that theoretical anthropogenic climate forcing is invalid.
Outgoing radiation (OLR) from the El Nino will obscure this picture, as will a following La Nina. It will probably be at least the end of 2018 before we see neutral conditions again. And that’s if there’s no further ENSO activity.
Abdussamatov (2012) below says the earth is now in “energy deficit” relative to Modern Maximum solar levels but it wouldn’t surprise me if the TOA radiative imbalance change is minimal. The IPCC assumption is that the budget should be in balance (i.e. 0 imbalance) but there’s no justification for that given the enormous amount of heat stored in the oceanic heat sink and the delay the ocean adds to the sun => ocean => atmosphere system (ocean adds “10 -100 years” – Trenberth).
the extraordinary personal cost of dissent, especially when an issue is moralized.
Gonzalez, G. A. An eco-Marxist analysis of oil depletion via urban sprawl. Environ. Polit. 2006, 15, 515−531.
Entman, R. M. Improving Newspapers’ Economic Prospects by Augmenting Their Contributions to Democracy. Int. J. Press- Polit. 2010, 15, 104−125.
Harribey, J. M. The unsustainable heaviness of the capitalist way of development. Pensee 2002, 31 − +.
Delmelle, E. C.; Thill, J.-C. Urban Bicyclists Spatial Analysis of Adult and Youth Traffic Hazard Intensity. Transp. Res. Record 2008, 31−39.
Howard, C.; Parsons, E. C. M. Attitudes of Scottish city inhabitants to cetacean conservation. Biodivers. Conserv. 2006, 15, 4335−4356.
McCright, A. M.; Dunlap, R. E. Cool dudes: The denial of climate change among conservative white males in the United States. Glob. Environ. Change-Human Policy Dimens. 2011, 21, 1163−1172.
The number of authors of such papers in the survey responses is unknown, and is unknowable given the failure to log the specific fields of all respondents. This invalidates most of the reported findings. The paper should be withdrawn and the correct figures reported when available.
climate change to frame an engineering project. However, most engineering papers do not mention climatethose authors will not be surveyed. Thus, the views of most “mitigation” researchers cannot be contested.
An “eco-Marxist analysis” is part of a 91% “consensus” of attribution of global warming to human cause.
Psychologist José Duarte writes: The Cook et al. (2013) 97% paper included a bunch of psychology studies, marketing papers, and surveys of the general public as scientific endorsement of anthropogenic climate change.
Let’s go ahead and walk through that sentence again. The Cook et al 97% paper included a bunch of psychology studies, marketing papers, and surveys of the general public as scientific endorsement of anthropogenic climate change. I only spent ten minutes with their database — there will be more such papers for those who search. I’m not willing to spend a lot of time with their data, for reasons I detail further down.
This paper is vacated, as a scientific product, given that it included psychology papers, and also given that it twice lied about its method (claiming not to count social science papers, and claiming to use independent raters), and the professed cheating by the raters. It was essentially voided by its invalid method of using partisan and unqualified political activists to subjectively rate climate science abstracts on the issue on which their activism centers — a stunning and unprecedented method. I’m awaiting word on retraction from the journal, but I think we already know that this paper is vacated. It doesn’t represent knowledge of the consensus.
Many warmists cite Tyndall’s 1861 experiment as “proof” of the catastrophic anthropogenic global warming theory, but in fact the experiment demonstrated only that CO2 and H2O are IR-active molecules capable of absorbing and emitting infrared radiation, nothing more.
Of course, CO2 does indeed absorb and emit very low-energy ~15 micron infrared radiation, equivalent to a “partial blackbody” at a temperature of 193K (-80C) by Wien’s Law. However, radiation from a true or “partial” blackbody cannot warm the much warmer atmosphere (with an “average” temperature of 255K (-18C), equivalent to the equilibrium temperature of Earth with the Sun), nor the even warmer Earth surface at 288K (15C).
Yet the Arrhenius radiative greenhouse theory falsely assumes that “backradiation” from the 193K CO2 “partial blackbody” can warm the Earth surface temperature from the 255K equilibrium temperature with the Sun by 33K up to 288K. This would require a continuous and dominating heat transfer from cold to hot, thus requiring an impossible decrease of entropy, and therefore a gross violation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics (which requires entropy to increase from any transfer of heat).
Furthermore, as physicist William Happer points out [hotlink], the probability of CO2 transferring quanta of energy in the troposphere via collisions instead of emitting a photon is one billion times more likely. This transfer of energy via collisions to the remaining 99.06% of the atmosphere causes acceleration of convective cooling by increasing the adiabatic expansion, rising, and cooling of air parcels. Convection dominates radiative-convective equilibrium in the troposphere by a factor of ~8 times and thus cancels any possible warming effect of the low-energy CO2 backradiation upon the surface.
Further, the presence of IR-active gases in the atmosphere only delays the ultimate passage of IR photons from the surface to space by a few seconds, and is easily reversed and erased during each 12 hour night, and explains why ‘greenhouse gases’ don’t ‘trap heat’ in the atmosphere.
Even a Luke-warmer position is untenable in this onslaught.
Richard C: “That difficult huh?”.
Now! Now! Richard, sarcasm does not become you 😉. We do have to remember he is a poor, struggling, academic who is just trying to support himself in a world where (horror of horrors!) the “science is settled” and there is no need to keep devoting money to determining it (witness CSIRO).
Of much more import to me is Figure 1 of Michelle Stirling’s paper (Consensus Nonsensus) which is sourced from Spencer and Christy (UAH). I haven’t gone looking for the original (Richard T thinks there is an updated version with later data) but that doesn’t lessen Stirling’s representation. The figure shows the evolution of the consensus papers with their dates shown on a plot of temperatures from model predictions and actual data (satellite and balloons). I am unable to display it here, but for those who haven’t seen it and would like to I have uploaded it to my web site for quick access. It can viewed at this URL http://kerkin.co.nz/weather/stirling.png. The import of the figure is simply brilliant.
What stands out like the proverbial is that any sort of consensus is totally irrelevant because the time evolution shows that those supporting the consensus haven’t got it right yet. I would argue that they never will while the underlying hypothesis remains just plain wrong.
Almost as soon as the news broke that 2015 was the hottest year in the modern record, the conversation quickly turned to how much of the record-breaking warmth was down to climate change and how much to the Pacific weather phenomenon known as El Niño.
Apparently the “heat trapping greenhouse gases” didn’t “trap” the heat after the 2016 Feb peak. Most of which was “due to human-caused global warming” according to Rahmstorf. Temperatures are now on the way back to neutral according to the Kelvin-Planck statement of the Second Law of Thermodynamics (excess heat expelled to heat sink).
So now Schmidt Scaife Cropper and Rahmstorf, among others, all look like idiots.
Worse, the Man-Made Climate Change (MMCC a.k.a AGW) conjecture is being falsified by the GISTEMP temperature data after the 2016 Feb peak. Embarrassing for Schmidt and Scaife in particular.
Neutral is below the UKMO’s blue forecast range and only just in the lower green CMIP5 forecast range i.e. the neutral trajectory (flat) takes the observations out of the model forecast range whether UKMO Decadal or CMIP5.
We are witnessing the abject failure of the anthropogenic global warming theory.
Richard C, the “confidence grows as the models get worse” is akin to my view of why a consensus is required: reaffirmation of a faith. (If others agree with me, I must be right – post hoc ergo propter hoc).
Simon’s “misunderstood figure” reference is another example of someone scraping the bottom of the barrel to try to find some small iota of justification. Arguing about placement of baselines, vertical scales, scatter of models, inconsistencies of smoothing, and structural faults is just playing with words. Of course any system of smoothing using, say, 5 year rolling averages will have inconsistencies at one end or other. If the period of smoothing is 5 years there will be periods of 1, 2, 3, and 4 years either at the beginning or at the end. To make such a criticism is trivial carping. The data from satellites and balloons at the University of Alabama, Huntsville is highly regarded and to suggest it has “structural faults” without precisely detailing what those faults may be is unfair and possibly insulting.
I’m still waiting for Simon’s incontrovertible physical evidence that carbon dioxide is the cause of global temperature rise.
This is neither satellites, nor Spencer, nor Christy. It’s UKMO (Probably from one or some of Smith, Eade, Dunstone, Fereday, Murphy, Pohlmann, and Scaife. Maybe other names now but Scaife’s still there), HadCRUT, NASA GISS and NCDC (NCEI now).
Shortcomings accepted. The smoothing problem in Figure would be the 2 yr period at the end of the series 2014/2015. They need another 2 yrs at least, 3 or 4 would be good.
However, 5 yr smoothing would be appropriate in Figure 3 because climate models don’t do ENSO i.e. they are not comparing apples-to-apples without smoothing. Their projection is from the top of an El Nino spike, fergoodness sakes!
They don’t regard the 2015/16 El Nino as a natural phenomenon, therefore, they make their CO2-centric projection from the top of a data spike they regard as man-made (all but “a few hundredths of a degree”).
This is a recipe for egg on face.
I would not have thought Figure 1 in conjunction with Figure 5 would have been very encouraging but they’ve persevered. Didn’t do so well each year until their end of 2014 forecast when they finally got super lucky with a big El Nino in 2015 (Woo Hoo !!).
But they’ll be back in egg-on-face serial failure mode at the end of this year again. Their next forecast will have to be from the BOTTOM of the El Nino data – not the top.
Worse, there’s a La Nina forecast to develop during August – October this year……..
17 July 2016 – In Atuncoya and Cachipascana cold kills.
Extreme cold in Puno. Temperatures reaching 15 degrees below zero.
13 children under five have died in the Puno region from April to date.
19 thousand hectares of crops have been ruined by hail and bitter cold.
More than 18,000 animals have died.
Peru is a Non-Consensus zone apparently..
In fact, the authors of the papers referred to in their Slide 14 do not say that all climate change is ‘human-caused’ anyway. Some man-made greenhouse gases have contributed, and that is agreed on all sides if the climate debate.
Not so in terms of radiative warming it’s not agreed. That is only agreed upon by Warmers and Lukewarmers.The Slayers don’t agree, the Hockey Schtick doesn’t agree. I don’t agree. The US Standard Atmosphere Model doesn’t agree, The earth’s energy balance doesn’t agree and that’s the IPCC’s primary climate change criteria i.e. the IPCC cannot agree by their own climate change criteria despite their attribution statements.
The only agreement by those is that greenhouse gases contribute simply by being an atmospheric constituent. Even then the US Standard Atmosphere Model neglects insignificant trace gases, CO2 included. GHG’s are thermalised by mass, gravity, pressure, solar input etc, After that, GHGs are merely passive heat transfer mediums. How can that possibly “contribute” to climate change of any sort?
Q: Why is Antarctica cooling down?
The Antarctic Peninsula experienced rapid warming from the early 1950s to the late 1990s, but that warming has paused as the peninsula cools instead. New research from British scientists found stabilisation of the ozone hole, changing wind patterns and natural variability have caused the peninsula to enter a temporary cooling phase.
This is a really interesting new study and confirms the conclusion of earlier research – cited in the news and views, that the 20th and 21st century warming trends in west Antarctica were not unusual in the context of natural climate variability of the last 2000 years.
Natural climate processes that control the timing and strength of the El Nino Southern Oscillation and the Southern Annular Mode are thought responsible for the variability.
This new paper focuses specifically on the temperature records of the Antarctic Peninsula, which has often been referred to as a “global warming hot spot”.
So while some sceptics may see this paper as an apparent “debunking”, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) made it clear that, unlike the Arctic, overall Antarctica had not warmed any faster than the global average temperature increase since the mid-20th century, and that regional rapid warming observed on the Antarctic Peninsula could not be attributed to anthropogenic global warming.
The message is that this is not a surprise, that amplified warming of Antarctica is expected and is predicted as greenhouse concentrations increase.
Ah yes, “the message” – it is “temporary”. Cooling is just a warming “pause”.
Our findings cover only 1% of the Antarctic continent and emphasize that decadal temperature changes in this region are not primarily associated with the drivers of global temperature change but, rather, reflect the extreme natural internal variability of the regional atmospheric circulation.
But I’m flabbergasted that his wording strongly implies when he refers to “West Antarctica” that he means continental Antarctica. It’s an egregious misdirection.
The paper does not contain the word “temporary” and gives no indication of the future of temperature on the AP. In other words, it does not justify the word “temporary” in the Stuff headline—though future temperature rise is not ruled out. It’s worth repeating the following from the end of the letter. As you’ll see, though their studies found no evidence for it, they echo model claims of future warming.
The start of the AP cooling in 1998 coincided with the so-called ‘global warming hiatus’. There has been extensive discussion over the factors responsible for this reduction in the rate of increase in mean global SAT [surface air temperature], with the negative phase of the IPO, volcanic and solar activity, and aerosol forcing being cited as possible causes. As discussed earlier, the phase of the IPO can affect the climate of the AP, but the negative phase is usually associated with higher SATs during the extended winter. Since the late 1990s, AP SATs have decreased throughout the year, with local factors playing a greater part than tropical variability, indicating that the absence of AP SAT warming is independent of the global warming hiatus.
The recent change in SAT trend can be set in a longer-term perspective through examination of regional ice core records. An ice core from James Ross Island (Fig. 1), which is close to Marambio station, showed that the region experienced several periods of rapid warming and cooling in the last 1,000 years, and that the warming trend over the last 100 years was ‘highly unusual’, although not unprecedented. However, the period since the late 1970s includes the ozone hole, which is unique in the record. The Ferrigno ice core from the coast of West Antarctica (Fig. 1) shows a warming from the 1950s to the early twenty-first century that agrees well with the warming observed at Vernadsky. In the longer term, this record revealed marked decadal variability and, importantly, resolved a 50-year period in the eighteenth century when SATs increased at a faster rate than observed at Vernadsky over the second half of the twentieth century. Such long-term variability is also expected from analysis of station SAT records, which exhibit statistical long-term persistence. Therefore all these studies suggest that the rapid warming on the AP since the 1950s and subsequent cooling since the late-1990s are both within the bounds of the large natural decadal-scale climate variability of the region. This result is also consistent with the very high level of decadal-scale natural internal variability of the regional atmospheric circulation seen in long control runs of climate models. Climate model projections forced with medium emission scenarios indicate the emergence of a large anthropogenic regional warming signal, comparable in magnitude to the late twentieth century Peninsula warming, during the latter part of the current century.
[Sentence 3] “Climate model projections forced with medium emission scenarios indicate the emergence of a large anthropogenic regional warming signal, comparable in magnitude to the late twentieth century Peninsula warming, during the latter part of the current century.
The “large anthropogenic regional warming signal” in the models is irrelevant. The attribution is “decadal-scale natural internal variability” – Period.
And yes, “temporary” in the Stuff headline is unfounded, not fact, Just mere speculation.
Who wrote that CSC press release? If you are going to personally attack scientists, you should at least have a decency to put your name to it. It’s a bit rich claiming to be tax-payers when your debt to NIWA remains unpaid.
The cooling is relatively minor — less than 2 degrees F (1 degree C) since the 1990s — and it doesn’t negate the background warming that is happening because of the steady rise of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, the researchers said. It is simply masking it for the time being. Eventually, human-driven warming will overwhelm the influence of the ozone hole recovery and natural climate drivers, and temperatures will once again rise.
There sure seems to be a lot of natural “masking” going on. Not so much “heat trapping” though.
To put the warming and cooling periods into context, the team included analyses of ice core records. These cylinders of ice drilled from Antarctic glaciers can reveal temperature patterns and showed that episodes like these had occurred in the past as the result of natural variations in climate. The warming period, while unusual, wasn’t unprecedented. Nor is the cooling period.
That doesn’t mean that greenhouse gas-driven warming isn’t playing a role now, either on the peninsula or on Antarctica as a whole (of which the peninsula only makes up 1 percent). Instead, it means that the large ups and downs driven by the ozone hole and natural variability are overwhelming the long-term warming signal for the time being.
If emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases continue, that signal will eventually emerge, likely sometime in the next two to three decades, Turner said.
Heh – “natural variability are overwhelming the long-term warming signal for the time being”.
I bet they gagged on that sentence.
Well before 2050 I would have thought, if the theory had any validity. 2016 would be good. Thing is though, Turner is conceding the human signal is simply not there; it has not “emerged”.
It’s the same with sea level rise in the Pacific. No human signal detectable and we will have to wait “decades” for it to “emerge” (apparently).
These, basically anecdotal, studies demonstrate why there has to be primary critical criteria – and there is. The IPCC provides it – earth’s energy balance measured at the top of atmosphere, And it is in the critical criteria that the MMCC theory fails.
If the human-caused theory has failed in the critical criteria then any secondary study is pointless in respect to a human-caused signal. As Turner at al ably demonstrate.
Dr Jarrod Gilbert is a sociologist at the University of Canterbury and the lead researcher at Independent Research Solutions. He is an award-winning writer who specialises in research with practical applications.
Heh, “heat-trapping gasses” again. From a Sociologist no less. Expert in radiative thermodynamics of course.
But scientific truth is determined by vote now? And refuted papers (see upthread and post) still remain valid? | 2019-04-20T00:38:03Z | https://www.climateconversation.org.nz/2016/07/renwick-naish-invoke-malignant-consensus-cite-scandalous-papers/ |
Let me make a note here, hold on: huge success.
Seriously, folks – not only did I make the 50,000 word mark, but I blew right through it – the official final total was 73,176 words. Which makes me, as they say, a winner!
Before we get into a review of the whole experience, let’s just take a look at the last section, which was broadly based on the aether – a fifth element that, for reasons unknown to me, does not usually appear as a quirky redhead. It was, instead, the substance through which light waves were thought to propagate. A rather clever and simple experiment managed to prove that the aether didn’t exist, however, which makes it perfect for telling stories about other things that don’t exist – ghosts, ESP, spirits of every shape and size.
The Bad News tells more of Carly Siminsky’s story. Carly is a telekinetic girl, held by the Department of National Security for – allegedly – her own safety. She’s doing well in her training, until she hears something that she cannot endure.
Spirit Guide, in which a young man is having problems with his date. Mainly because his spirit guide, a floating blue panda bear, is trying to help him get lucky.
Finders Keepers, a story that may or may not reflect some writers’ bias, is about a woman, a telepath who uses her powers to steal the seeds of ideas from famous authors to build a writing career of her own. The latest author, however, might be harder to get into than she thought.
Hotline is about a psychic, but not a real one. A young woman acting as a telephone psychic to make money for college. Her last call of the night, however, turns out to be one she couldn’t have forseen.
Dream Intervention is the monthly revisitation of a story I wrote last month. A man with the power to enter the dreams of others is trying to help a young man with a problem that even he doesn’t understand.
It was a good section, with some fun ideas that popped into my head, and others that actively resisted being drawn out into reality. But I suppose the aether is like that – indefinable, and unreliable. At 12,453 words, it was the second shortest section – probably due to the fact that there wasn’t a whole lot of pressure anymore.
I planned. I made sure that I knew what I was going to do for the month, and had keywords set up to give me something to think about while I put the stories together. Aside from providing a seed for the story to grow from (which is pretty much where Finders Keepers is all about), it allowed me to think about the stories during time when I normally wouldn’t write.
I was regular in my writing. My regular writing time is at night – usually after eight or so, given my schedule, and I need to finish by eleven. That’s not a whole lot of time, but I made damn sure I used it. If I couldn’t – for example, on Wednesdays, when the podcast is due – I would do as much as I could during the day.
I used all the time I had on my hands. The effect of this, of course, what that I didn’t have a lot of time to do anything else. I didn’t read a book all month, or write a review or anything, which seems really out of character and weird for me.
What this means for the future, of course, is that now I have an excellent month to point to and say, “I did that.” Over 70,000 words, and if I print out the whole month, single-spaced, it’s just over 160 pages.
For December, though, I’m going to ramp things down a little. Do some world-building and exploring, look at some of the people and places I’ve created over the last six months and 279,000 words. It should be an interesting little vacation.
The dream trembled under Noel’s fingertips. He was barely even touching it and yet he could feel the tenuous fabric try to shrink away from him. He smiled and leaned in closer, trying to peer into the distorted, unfinished vision that lay before him.
Dreams were like that. A dream described by a person after they wake up is nearly impossible to recover. They search for words, they try to make comparisons that don’t make any sense. “She was my girlfriend but not my girlfriend, and for some reason she was a robot, but not like a Terminator robot but like one of those things you see in an auto plant. And made of marzipan.” They make perfect sense to the one who’s in them, and absolutely none from the outside. The internal logic is flawless, but to someone looking in, the whole thing is like a fragile, evanescent soap bubble just waiting to go.
It took a lot of practice to get in and out of them without breaking the whole thing down around you. Fortunately, Noel had had that practice. And a little bit of luck, which he was careful to appreciate. He’d been touching others’ dreams for more than a decade, and had learned the ins and outs of the dream world and the logic that ruled it. Or them, to be more precise. As it turned out, there was no singular dream world – no mysterious realm where all dreams come from. Every dream was a world unto itself, and yet all dreams shared a certain set of rules.
Noel took a deep breath, said a quick prayer, and touched – and he was in.
The dream was pretty boilerplate, and about what he expected of a sixteen year-old boy. All of the corners were dark, and nothing was really clear except when Noel was looking straight at it. It was hot and everything felt sluggish and slow. When he moved, it felt like everything happened a half second too late, as though the universe hadn’t been paying attention to what he wanted to do. He focused his mind on the dream, and everything snapped into sharp relief. All it took was a shift of perspective, much like watching a movie and reminding yourself that the guns are shooting blanks and the explosions are largely computer-generated. It took some of the fun out of it, yes, but to someone living in it – or visiting – it might be a lifesaver.
The school hallway brightened a bit as he reminded himself of where he was, and what he was doing there. He heard screams coming from down the hall, so he checked the notebook in his pocket to see what he needed to know about the kid: Cory Shillinger, a football player and probably the best on his team. A bit of a bully, but that often came with the territory. And that wasn’t why he was there. Not to punish him for anything. Just to remind him of something.
Noel knew perfectly well what Cory looked like now, but that would probably just make things worse. Or weirder. He pictured a much younger Cory in his head, at least how he imagined Cory looked when he was younger. Dirty blonde hair, skinny, teeth that hadn’t been fixed up yet. He felt the image wrap around himself like a tight corset, and when Noel called up a mirror on the wall, he looked at least enough like young Cory to pass in a dream. But there was one more thing he needed.
He pulled the badge out of his pocket and pinned it to the faded Star Wars t-shirt he was wearing. The badge had three simple words on it: I AM YOU. Cory would see it, but not really know what it was. It was a symbol, really, and nothing more, and it would be all that was really necessary to convince Cory of who Noel was supposed to be. Dreams operated on symbols, on personal interpretation of things. That was the only way dreams could work and not drive the dreamers utterly mad. Noel could have decided to look like Mark Twain or Marilyn Monroe or Jabba the Hutt, but he figured it would be best not to push his luck.
Cory himself was gorgeous, or at least mostly so. He had the body of a teenage quarterback – all lean and tight and muscled from head to toe. True to so many teenage dreams, all he was wearing was a pair of boxers, and even those were flickering in and out as Noel watched him. His skin was breaking out in sores that pulsed and opened and closed and moved about his body, never settling in one place but never fading away. His hair was falling out, and as he screamed, Noel saw that the boy was missing teeth. It was the grand package of nightmares, and for all the horror and terror, it was only a distraction for what Cory was really afraid of.
Noel put himself in Cory’s path and held out a hand. A great wind blew in from behind him, picking up papers and books and even the odd desk or two. It blew from Noel towards Cory, and bent in a tight circle around the boy to blow all the symbolic monsters away from him in great tatters and rags and rage. Cory screamed and wept as the wind blew past him and howled and shrieked horrible things that only he could hear.
Noel lowered his hand and the wind snapped off. Cory dropped to his knees, holding his head in his hands and whimpering softly. Noel let him sit like that for a moment, or however long that was for him.
Cory looked at him dumbly.
“C’mon, QB. Stand up.” Noel crooked a finger and the boy stood on unsteady legs. Noel raised a hand to Cory’s chest and laid a hand against his skin. Cory’s form rippled for a moment, and all the deformities and disfigurement faded away as if they had never been. “There you go.” Noel patted his chest with a hand which was his own again, and let it linger there for a moment longer than he had to. He felt the boy’s heart beating, fast and afraid, and it sent a thrill up his arm. If Cory noticed the change, he didn’t say anything, but Noel drew out the moment as long as he could.
He didn’t. An eyeblink later and Cory was wearing his football uniform, pads and helmet and all.
“All right,” Noel said. He shrugged and turned around. There were a couple of comfortable chairs there that hadn’t been there before. “Have a seat,” Noel said. “And take that helmet off. It makes me uncomfortable.” As Cory sat, Noel took another button out and pinned it to the football uniform that he seemed to be wearing as well. Gotta be more careful about that, he thought. This button read YOU TRUST ME. It was blatant manipulation, and for a moment, Noel thought about seeing just how far he could push that button’s power. In the dream, anything was possible, and chances were that the boy wouldn’t remember a thing.
But Noel had tried that before. He’d succeeded, in fact, and it hadn’t worked out well for anyone.
“Good,” Noel said. “You can talk. You’d be surprised how often that fails in here.” He handed Cory a drink in a cup labeled RELAX. He took it and blew over the top. Hot chocolate, probably. When he’d taken a sip, and the pads deflated from under his uniform, Noel started to talk again.
“Cory,” he said. “You’re in trouble.” He gestured over to one corner of the room, which had gone from being a school hallway to a bare stage. A spotlight clicked on and illuminated a strange tableau. Cory, holding another boy close, their arms wrapped around each other in mid-fall. Look at it one way, and it was the middle of a brawl – the other boy’s feet were about to come out from under him, and Cory was getting ready to pull an arm out for a punch. Cory’s face was a mask of rage, the other boy’s torn by fear.
Look again, though, and they were holding onto each other out of desperation. Cory was trying to hold the other boy up, his arms tightening around his waist and they both slowly dropped to the floor. The anger on Cory’s face warped to pain and anguish. The other boy’s face was still overwhelmed with fear, but it was altogether a different kind now.
“I… I don’t understand,” Cory said. He looked like he was about to cry again, and Noel felt his earlier attraction to the boy fading. He’d hoped there would be a core of strength to him, but if this was his soul laid bare, then he wasn’t worth mooning over.
“Well, then we have a problem,” Noel said. He cracked his knuckles and noticed that he seemed to be wearing a suit now. With black leather gloves. “Fortunately, problem-solving is my specialty. But first, there’s somewhere we have to go.” He reached out to the statue-Cory’s head and tugged on a lock of hair. A door opened up, spreading instantly to the floor, and a dim greyness lay beyond. The faint smell of woodsmoke wafted out.
Cory looked at the doorway. “What’s in there?” he asked.
“No,” the boy said, holding his hands up. “I don’t know where I am or what you’re doing, but this can’t be happening. Not for real.” He was starting to change again, his form losing substance. He was beginning to look like a faded photograph, like a wet painting left out in the rain, and Noel cursed under his breath.
The thing that was Cory shook its head. “No,” it said in a slow, indistinct voice. “Not going.” The shape bubbled and twisted and folded in on itself. And then, without prelude or fanfare, the dream collapsed.
“Dammit,” Noel whispered. He lingered in the non-darkness that was the place where dreams emerged and tried to count all the things he did wrong. In the end, he let himself go back into normal sleep and the normal world. There would be other nights and other chances. But not too many.
Noel slept in the few hours remaining to him. He had to get up early to go to work, after all.
Perhaps he’d see how Cory was doing tomorrow, in class.
Katrina kept herself amused as she waited for the keynote speaker by reading the minds of the people sitting around her.
ZeffCon 2011 was packed. The Allenhurst Civic Center had been chosen because last year’s con couldn’t fit into the Eldewylde Hotel that had hosted it for the years previous. The con’s organizers were, of course, thrilled, since a bigger place meant more attention, more participants, and of course, bigger guests.
And it didn’t get much bigger than the keynote speaker for the con, the man that Katrina was there to see.
Roger Tillman had grown to be one of the most popular new authors of fantasy and science fiction in the last ten years, and the competition to get tickets for the speech was fierce. If she hadn’t gotten in, Katrina would have had to approach him somewhere else in the con to pick his brains. As it was, she could do it from her fifth-row seat at her leisure. Her talents did come in handy sometimes.
The man next to her had a song running through his head that was beginning to get on her nerves. She carefully blocked him out and focused on the large woman sitting next to her, who seemed desperately trying to think of an alternative to the only question she could think of to ask Tillman when he did his signing. Katrina dug a little deeper – “Where do you get your ideas?” She sighed and pulled out of the woman’s head.
Katrina had no idea where other writers got their ideas, but she knew where she got hers: from them.
The first time she’d done it was at a convention in San Diego fifteen years ago. She met a middling mystery author there, whose sales were slumping. While Katrina poured on the praise for the woman’s books, she took her first peek into the depths of an author’s mind.
She’d always been a “peeker,” as she called herself, ever since she started to hear what people were thinking back when she was a little girl. She couldn’t help herself back then – she was curious, and people were just loud. But as she got older, she got better at going in and finding what she wanted. She found it really useful for remembering names, for one, and it made her sales job at the time a lot easier to do.
What she really wanted to do, though, was write. Ever since high school, she’d tried writing short stories and novels, and what she came up with were stories that she ended up hiding in a drawer and forgetting about. Her ideas, she thought, weren’t any good. What she needed, then, were good ideas. And what better place to find them than in the heads of people who’d proven they could write?
In the end, though, she found it much less exotic than she’d thought. This author had her ideas cluttered about like a musty basement. Dull plots and half-formed characters, a title or a first line or two. Things she was probably working on but wasn’t ready to publish yet. Works in progress and works that would probably never get finished. This woman’s mind was a mess.
Katrina looked a little deeper, into the shadows of the woman’s mind, and it was there that she found what she would look for in every writer’s mind afterward. She found the seed of an idea. The grain of sand that would make a pearl, given time and effort. Katrina turned the idea over in her hands and examined it. There was something there about a house where a child was kept in the basement… a father who pretended she wasn’t his… a boy next door?
It would do. Katrina took the idea back with her and retreated back into her own mind. She thanked the author for her time and her signature and headed back to her hotel room. A few hours later and she had the book plotted out in her head. Just the rough outline, with a few important steps to it, but it was there. A few months of work and she’d produced her first novel, Groundling Child, which was published a year to the day after her meeting at the convention.
She’d published it under a pseudonym – Paula Grant – just in case the original author came looking for her. But she never did. As far as Katrina could tell, she never knew that the idea had been stolen at all.
Emboldened, Katrina started visiting more cons and meeting more authors. Each time, she found a seed, a germ of a story idea and took it back with her. Before she knew it, she was writing every day, and selling one or two books a year, in addition to short stories. The critics didn’t rave, but people bought them and within a few years she could go to any airport bookstore and see some Paula Grant novels on the shelves. If she had time, and the clerk was busy, she would stealth-sign them. They usually showed up on internet auction sites and got a good price, since the elusive author had never appeared publicly to promote her books.
But where Paula was something of a mystery, Katrina had become a familiar face at conventions around the country. Anywhere a famous author would show up, Katrina would be there. If she could, she’d even volunteer so that she’d have an even better chance at getting a face-to-face meeting.
The audience went crazy, of course. Some people already had copies of his latest book in hardcover and were waving them in the air as he came to the stage and waited out the applause. “Thank you,” he said. “Thank you.” He said it a few more times before the crowd calmed down.
Katrina screened out everyone around her. The fat woman was just thinking, Ohmygod Ohmygod Ohmygod over and over again. Shutting her out was like pressing against a wind-blown door, but Katrina managed to do it. She wanted peace and quiet in her head before she went into his. The speech would give her more than enough time to look around, poke into the dark corners and see what she could find. Nobody ever seemed to notice her rifling through their mind, and time seemed to go differently in there as it was.
He was telling some story about how he got started, but Katrina just let it wash over her. She concentrated on a point just between his eyebrows, past the steel-rimmed glasses he was wearing. And she pushed.
On the stage, Tillman stumbled over his words and looked directly at her.
In her head, she heard him ask, WHO ARE YOU?
She recoiled back into her own mind and looked up at him with wide eyes. He seemed to have recovered from his verbal stumble and was back to talking about his high school English teacher, but she knew – she knew that he had felt her go in. And she was pretty sure he knew who she was.
Katrina picked up her jacket and whispered, “Excuse me” as she moved past the other convention-goers. The looks they gave her were anywhere from shocked to annoyed, and if she was listening she would have heard them think some very nasty thoughts. But she’d closed all the doors and windows, as it were, and got out of the main hall as fast as she could.
The rest of the con was sparsely attended during the keynote. She made her way to the art room before she found a place to sit down and gather her thoughts and figure out her options. It had been dark in that hall. He probably didn’t get a good look at her face, and so he probably wouldn’t be able to pick her out of a crowd by sight. But if he was anything like her, he might not need to see her. He might be able to find her no matter where she went. She started going through her bag to find her hotel key when she felt a certain… pressure coming towards her.
It was like a noise, but not a noise. Like a wave that was coming in from far away when you went to the beach, but not quite that either. It was the way the wind changed before a storm or a song started to build before it reached a crescendo. By the time she realized what it was, it was too late.
Roger Tillman came running around the corner, his mind blazing like a beacon to hers.
When he saw her, he grinned, and that beacon switched off instantly. The feeling of pressure vanished, and Katrina put a hand to her head. He stopped a few steps away. “Wow,” he said. He was smiling madly and couldn’t seem to keep still. “Just… wow.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “I had to say that I wasn’t feeling well and cut the speech short, but I assured them they loved what they’d heard.” He tapped his temple and winked. “It’s just that…” His voice dropped to a whisper, and this handsome man looked like a kid for a moment. “It’s just that I’ve never met anyone like me before. I couldn’t let you get away.” He reached out for her, but she shrank back.
“Thank you,” she said. “But I really didn’t mean to… do that. I just wanted to…” She couldn’t finish the sentence.
She shook her head. “No,” she said. “No, I’ve never met anyone either.” She didn’t dare look him in the eye, for fear that she’d reveal what she was trying to do. She’d read his books and loved them, and idea-borrowing aside, she looked up to him as a fellow writer.
No. As a writer. There was no “fellow” about it, of that she was sure. She was pretty certain that he didn’t pluck ideas out of people’s heads, and that would make all the difference.
“I have to go,” she said. She picked up her bag and tried to smile. “It was very nice meeting you, Mr. Tillman. I… I have to go.” She turned to leave, and that’s when she felt his hand on her shoulder.
She was running through a forest. It was deep and dark, and the bundle in her arms was moving. “Hush,” she said to it. She leaped with long, strong legs over fallen trees, and the wind rushed through her hair. There was no other sound but her footsteps and her breathing.
And the thing behind her.
She couldn’t see him, but she knew he was chasing. He was a force unto himself, tearing the great trees out by the roots as he pursued her. Great vines spiraled down from the trees, and she had to slice through them with her dagger before they could grab hold. She held the bundle tightly to her chest as she jumped across a chasm that opened up in front of her, curled up in a ball to fly through a wall of flame, and rolled back to her feet on the sand-swept desert floor.
Spikes of stone and brick shot up around her, blocking her path. A great whirlwind dropped from the swirling clouds overhead and moved as she moved. From behind, she could hear him.
“Never!” she screamed, and she held the squirming bundle close. “You can’t have it!” Iron chains erupted from the ground, wrapping around her legs, her arms, her shoulders, and dragging her down. She held on as tightly as she could, but when he came close, it was a matter of only a moment before her treasure was revealed to him.
Roger took his hand away and looked shocked when she spun on him. She glared through tear-filled eyes and then looked away. There was a small crowd gathering.
She shook her head. “They’re not mine,” she said.
Katrina didn’t say anything. She looked away.
She sniffed, and finally looked at him. “You’re not going to tell anyone?” she asked.
He laughed. “Who would believe me? However,” he said after a pause, “it might make a good short story.” He winked. She smiled, despite herself.
See you around, he thought to her.
She lifted a hand to wave. See you. The crowd followed him out of the art room, a few people lingering to see who this woman might be that had caught his interest. Katrina smiled at them and took up her bag.
He was right. It would make a good short story.
But this time, it wouldn’t be hers.
Adam refilled his date’s wine and took a moment to notice how lovely she looked in the low lighting of the restaurant. She had curves to her, which he loved, and skin that seemed to glow in candlelight. Her eyes were as dark as her long, curling hair, and she always seemed to be waiting for the punchline to a joke that he didn’t know.
That wasn’t going to stop him from trying to tell them, though.
“Hope you like the wine,” he said.
“It’s lovely.” Carlana tapped her glass against his again before she took a sip.
Their laughter drew attention from the other tables, but they didn’t notice. They were having too much fun. His brother had set them up together after Adam had gone through a long spell of being single. He hadn’t minded, really. Being single had its perks. The free schedule, the lack of a need to clean all the time or close the door when he peed. But after a while the quiet and the solitude had gotten to him, so he’d asked Marv if he knew anyone. The result was what was turning out to be the best first date he’d ever had.
She shrugged. “No more than any other job, really. There are some tough days, and it can be a little much being The Girl sometimes…” He could hear the capital letters she put on it and could only imagine. He worked at a small bookstore, and was the only guy there. But other than being the one person who seemed to be able to get heavy things off of high shelves, he hadn’t really noticed any kind of strangeness to it. He knew some gamers, though, and he could easily picture how they’d devolve around a gorgeous woman like this.
It turned out she’d worked on one of his favorite games, Stonecracker Kingdom, and they spent some time talking about the puzzles that were the heart of the game. “Are you sure you can’t tell me how to get the key out of the cage?” he asked.
She raised her glass and said, “Be careful in there.” He was grinning all the way to the toilets, but the grin dropped once he got into the stall and locked the door.
Adam leaned his head against the tiles and counted his breaths. He’d had the panda for a few months now, and the fun of it was starting to wear thin. He had no idea where it came from, or why it chose him, but from the moment he woke up to the moment he went to sleep – and as far as he knew, all night – this little blue panda was there. Telling him what he should do in all kinds of situations. Talking to his boss, buying furniture, walking around the city. The bear didn’t always talk – most of the time it just hung out, doing whatever it was spirit guides did when they weren’t guiding. When it did talk, though, it was pretty insistent on getting its way.
Adam yanked open the stall door. There was an older gentleman at the mirror, combing his hair and watching Adam from the corner of his eyes.
“Trouble, young man?” he said.
Adam took a deep breath and forced on a smile. “First date jitters,” he said. “Nothing to it.” He took his hands out of the sink and let the water shut off.
The desert lowland was full of cars, stacked on on top of the other. Some of the stacks were of only a few cars, others more. Their flaking paint and broken windows gleamed in the setting sun.
A disordered pile of cars shifted and lurched, and a late-model Tulay pickup lifted out of the mess and started to float over to a tall stack of cars nearby. This stack was fifteen cars high already, and swaying dangerously. Broken glass and metal littered the site around it, as well as cars that had been destroyed beyond recognition. The pickup floated slowly to the top of the stack, where it paused and then very gently settled down on top.
The great tower of cars swayed for a moment, and the faint groan of metal and crackle of glass filled the air. Its fall seemed inevitable, as if even the sunlight might push it over from the side.
But the stack didn’t fall. It swayed and then settled down. And then stopped.
“Well, you did a fine job. You should be proud.” He patted her on the shoulder again and then left to talk to some of the men in suits. They let her sit there for a while. She looked out at the sunset while she caught her breath and felt the warm glow of achievement. True, stacking cars wasn’t the most complicated thing she’d had to do, but they’d set her at it all day. Two cars, three cars, five… As many as she could. Martin had said this was a test that the facilities administrators had come up with, but he couldn’t exactly explain what it was they were testing. In the end, all she could do was shrug and stack the cars.
Maybe if she stacked them well enough, they’d let her go home.
She tried not to think of home too much, if she could. She had been training at this facility now for, what was it? Five years? Six? She knew why, too. They told her almost every day. It was vital that she be able to control her powers. That she not hurt anyone else ever again. That she not kill anyone else ever again.
That still got to her. She’d never meant to kill anyone. Not ever. But they told her that she did. And not just a few, either.
The number was enough to make her stomach clench and steel her resolve. She would train as hard has she had to, as long as she had to, as long as it meant that she wouldn’t be a danger to anyone. If that meant stacking cars in the desert all day, then so be it.
But still… she was starting to forget things from home. Her mother’s face. She wondered what her little brother was doing, if he was in high school yet. That reminded her that she would have graduated by now. Her friends were probably all in college. Some place she’d never go. Somehow, she thought “trained for five years in a government facility out in the desert” wouldn’t look good on her admissions paperwork.
They took down the tent and folded up the chairs and decided to leave the cars where they were for the moment. Carly figured that her next task would probably be taking them down again, and maybe taking them apart. Or crushing them into little balls. Or making sculptures out of them. She never knew what the next test would be, and Martin confided in her once that he didn’t know either. He just got the framework in his email every night and had until morning to make sure he knew what she was supposed to do.
After a short ride back to the facility, all Carly wanted to do was take a shower and go to bed. No matter how it looked, lifting cars with your mind all day was tough, tiring work. But it certainly was better than she could have done even a year ago, and that in itself was something to be proud of.
She sighed. So much for shower and bed. “All right,” she said. She followed the young man. She’d only met the Deputy Director a few times, and she didn’t like him much. He talked to her like she was a bomb that was about to go off. A slightly stupid bomb, at that. But he was the connection to the outside world that she’d need to get out someday. He worked with the Secretary of National Security, and if anyone could get her home it would be him.
Carly fell into a chair and resisted to urge to put her arms on his desk and just fall asleep right there.
Director Stassi sat behind the desk. He was sweating slightly, but she took no notice of it. “Miss Siminsky,” he said, “I heard about your performance this afternoon. I must say that I’m very impressed, and I’m sure the Secretary will be just as thrilled as I was.” His smile had too many teeth in it.
That caught her attention, and she sat up straight. A dozen different scenarios unspooled in her head, each of them worse than the last. “What is it?” she said. She noticed the pictures on the wall behind the Director start to shake and she willed them to stop before he realized what was going on.
“What?” she asked. “What is it?” Her voice was small and she hated it.
He stood up as well, and took a small black voice recorder out of his jacket pocket. “To be frank, Miss Siminsky, your mother is… afraid of what you might do if you come home. We tried to reassure her that you were getting better, that you were gaining control, but…” He put the voice recorder on the desk. “This is what she said to us.” He pressed play.
Director Stassi’s hand shook as he picked up the voice recorder and it crumbled in his hand. He looked up sharply at Carly, and then slammed against the wall. “Carly!” he yelled in a strained voice. “Please, Carly let me -” His voice choked off and his eyes went wide as he pressed against the wall. His ribs popped and cracked and blood began to run out of his mouth and nose. Bruises blossomed on his skin as blood vessels burst, shards of bone began to jab out, slicking through his suit, and his whole body started to flatten out. His skull made a great cracking sound as it shattered, blood and brains bursting out around him.
Carly let him fall to the floor, and she turned slowly in the air in the middle of the room. The walls started to shake, and cracks burst open in the floor and the walls. The lights went out and sparks began to fly from broken electrical cables, and Carly raised her hands in front of her.
The pump they’d implanted under her skin vibrated as it dumped sedative into her bloodstream. Carly screamed in rage and frustration as she felt the drug take hold, and the office walls exploded around her, splinters flying like lethal missiles. None of which touched her.
She dropped to the floor as the shaking stopped, and she wept. Her hands were clean against the filthy, broken floor, until a small rivulet of blood made its way to her littlest finger. She tried to pull her hand away, but she couldn’t find the energy. She heard shouting, but it was from so far away that she didn’t care anymore. All she could do was slump to the floor and cry.
Darkness took her moments later.
When Carly woke up, she was in her bed. In restraints. She still felt… fuzzy around the edges. The pump in her side vibrated once, and she closed her eyes again. When she did, the mangled body of Director Stassi was in front of her, slowly being crushed by a force he couldn’t see and couldn’t understand.
I did it again, she thought. She cried quietly.
Carly shook her head, and it felt slow and unfocused. “I think I killed someone,” she said.
He let her cry for a while.
Carly didn’t move. She didn’t nod. She didn’t say anything. After a minute or two, Martin excused himself and left the room, closing the door quietly.
There was an emptiness in her mind. A greyness. A dull hum that blocked out other sounds. She just stared at the wall across from her, and every time a thought came to her mind, she shoved it away. Finally, though, there was one thought that she couldn’t keep down. It ran through her head, a single loop over and over again.
I am a monster. I may as well be the best monster.
Training would start again soon. Carly was ready for it now. | 2019-04-24T01:53:41Z | https://yearofstories.wordpress.com/2011/11/ |
Whenever I see a job posting for a technical content specialist, I cringe. Why? Because based on the job description, what the hiring manager wants is really a technical writer, copywriter, or some kind of content manager. Why force job seekers to read the job description? If there’s a more accurate job title, use it. Would hiring managers post a job ad for a doctor when they want an orthopedic surgeon?
Do they think there’s no difference between technical writers, copywriters, and content managers, and that one person could do the work of all three? I’m not a medical doctor, but I suspect asking for one person to do all three would be like asking for a general practitioner to do a hip replacement. I’m sure the new hip would be connected, but I wonder how well the patient will recover.
If you’re a hiring manager who wants quality results from your technical content specialist, let’s look at the differences between technical writers, copywriters, and content managers and see which one you really want. We’ll look at content managers first.
Understand that each bullet above could require the skills of one or more professionals. For example, create new content could require the skills of a writer, photographer, videographer, sound recording engineer, etc. Depending on the specific content manager’s responsibilities, a particular blend of skills would be needed to successfully manage the content.
In most cases I’ve seen, postings for a technical content specialist that describe a content manager are usually asking for a generalist who can do a little of all things listed above or someone primarily skilled in search engine optimization.
If the first, you want a technical writer. If the second, you want a copywriter. Remember that in copywriting, buying can mean adopting an idea, or giving over something, such as an email address or money, in return for getting something, such as a free white paper or an expensive piece of machinery.
For most of my life, I’ve been a technical writer specializing in software user guides and policy and procedure guides for business operations. As a freelance business writer, I’ve learned copywriting and provide that service to my clients as well. The difference between technical writing and copywriting is like the difference between poetry and novels–only more so.
The table below highlights some of the major differences between the two kinds of writing. Keep in mind there are specialties within technical writing (for example, application program interface writing) and copywriting (for example, pay-per-click advertising copy).
Audience Users and others who need or want to do something. Those in all levels of sales funnel.
Audience Needs Gain knowledge to complete one or more tasks. Buy a service or product to solve a problem.
Content use environment Often source of information is only source. Source might be hard to find. Often filled with competing, readily available sources of information.
Purpose To provide enough information to enable audience to do something.
Tell reader how to do something. To motivate reader to buy a product, service, or idea.
Tell reader why and how to buy something.
Type of content User guides, operations manuals, policy and procedure manuals, run books, installation guides, assembly guides, troubleshooting guides, other technical reference material. Marketing emails, newsletters, blog posts, social media posts, landing pages, brochures. catalogs, advertisements (online, print, radio, TV), annual reports, some kinds of white papers, posters, advertorials, presentation scripts, other marketing material.
Style of writing Text and graphics broken into discrete, easily identified chunks of information. Clear, understandable, easy-to-follow instructions or reference material to complete one or more tasks. Attention getting, persuasive, emotionally resonate, focus on benefits to buyer. Works at subconscious and conscious levels to motivate reader to buy something.
Resources Use cases, technical documentation (including code, schematics, blueprints, vendor supplied reference material), subject matter experts, personal experience, reader testing. Buyer personas, technical documentation (including code, schematics, blueprints, vendor supplied reference material), subject matter experts, personal experience, market research, competitor research, personal experience, A/B testing.
So based on what you envision the technical content specialist doing, which column best describes the kind of writer you need? Sometimes both kinds of writers will produce the same kind of document, a product one-pager for example. The difference is that a technical writer will produce a one-pager that provides reference information about the product, while a copywriter’s one-pager will emphasize benefits to using the product.
Technical writers will use drier prose, photos or illustrations (often with call outs or layered information), structure the one-pager to match a product’s spatial arrangement or chronological order of steps to accomplish some task. Copywriters will write prose that stirs emotions, use evocative photos or illustrations, and structure the one-pager to lead the reader toward buying something and deeper into a sales funnel.
Who Do You Really Want?
If you’re a hiring manager who was thinking of advertising for a technical content specialist, I hope I’ve gotten you to reconsider what title you’ll use for the position. While there are common responsibilities and skills among technical writers, copywriters, and content managers, each has unique skill sets, ways of working, and purposes. Do yourself and job seekers a favor–use the job title that really fits who you want to hire.
Jim Driggers is a freelance technical writer, copywriter, and editor. As Writing Jim, he provides copywriting and business policy and procedure writing to owners of small and medium-sized businesses. His clients save money when their employees follow guides rather than impulses, and they gain sales through marketing text that better resonates with their customers.
For help systematizing your business processes or for copywriting help with your print or online content, contact Writing Jim at [email protected] or 925-231-5825. Visit www.writingjim.com for more information.
We need written policies and procedures! If you’ve been in business more than a couple years, you’ve probably heard that statement. If you’re a business owner or manager, you’ve probably made that statement.
But the sad fact is that the effort seldom succeeds. If the work of writing policies and procedures (P&P) is ever begun, that work almost always fails to produce effective documentation. Why? Because business management almost always underestimates the resources needed to write P&P.
In Five Situations that Mean You Need to Document Your Business Systems, I wrote the most common reasons for business owners and managers to want written P&P for their company or department. A key element of all five reasons is time. Time is the scarcest resource within a business and the major reason why systematization efforts fail.
Business owners and managers usually fail to set aside enough time to write the P&P for the systems within their business. When owners and managers undertake the task themselves, they expect to be able to do the work after or before their normal working hours. When they assign the task to employees, they often add that work onto existing workloads.
Whether management or staff are assigned the work, within a few weeks or months the systematization effort stumbles to a halt. Momentum is lost and attention is turned toward perceived higher priority work.
Let’s look more closely at each characteristic.
Writing P&P is not the same as writing business reports, proposals, or correspondence. Writing P&P is a subset of technical writing. Even those skilled with business writing in general rarely have the technical writing knowledge and techniques needed to write effective P&P.
Writing this information in a readable, interesting way is a challenge. Most non-technical writers tasked with this kind of writing find it tedious because they are ignorant of its requirements and skills. They often inadvertently omit important information.
For example, if the P&P writer doesn’t consider the primary audience and its qualifications the resulting procedure might skip over important information needed for someone new to the task. Or writers might go to the opposite extreme and provide so much information the reader quits reading.
Familiar with steps, needs a quick reference Use the Purchase Order template to request items that are about to run out in storage.
Unfamiliar with steps, needs detailed information When there is less than five instances of any item in storage, use the Purchase Order template located in P://documentation/finance/supplies/templates/ to order the item(s).
Systematization generates a library of P&P with supporting documentation such as templates and forms. Often this library is printed in one or more business operations manuals or stored online in a database or folder structure. The library holds the P&P needed to complete the myriad tasks involved in providing services and products to a company’s customers. Creating this library of information is as much a project as opening a new store location or changing a back office computer system.
Simply telling employees to write out their business processes dooms the effort failure and lessens management’s credibility in the eyes of those employees. Like other projects, creating written policies and procedures requires a commitment of time and effort and the same kind of interactive management as any other project.
Piling on systematization responsibilities to existing workloads is unfair to those responsible for creating, testing, and reviewing the P&P. When management prioritizes and readjusts existing workloads to accommodate systematization efforts, it underscores its support for those efforts. Failing to do so, tells employees that management doesn’t really value the systematization work and lessens employees’ confidence in management’s understanding, competence, and priorities.
Systematizing a business is a critical milestone in a start-up or small company’s growth to a medium size company. Without written P&P to refer to, new employees fail to understand the company’s systems and so the employees create their own, individual systems. Confusion breeds dysfunction and costs slowly increase and sometimes eclipse revenues.
When management understands that systematization is a major project and requires specialized writing skills, owners and managers are better able to shepherd the company’s growth from small to medium size business.
I’m worried. I’ve been worried about the quality of communication in the United States for a long time. For longer than I can remember, I’ve said the hardest thing for humans to do is communicate effectively. I think our increasing reliance on written communication is worsening the situation.
Which is a strange thing to say as an introvert who makes his living as a business writer specializing in copywriting and policy and procedure writing. Perhaps I’m biased in thinking that writing well is difficult. As a freelance writer and editor whose purpose is to help business owners and managers have more compelling and easy to understand writing, I see a lot of bad writing: marketing copy that confuses rather than motivates readers–or even worse–is simply ignored, and operations policy and procedure manuals that don’t provide enough information or are outdated.
Maybe I think the increasing reliance on writing is worsening the quality of our communication because of my age. I’m 53 now, and I remember the time before texts and emails replaced handwritten letters. Back then more care was taken to write well. Sentences and words couldn’t be quickly corrected, so more forethought was given to what was written. Consequently there was greater reliance on telephone and face-to-face meetings to quickly provide information. Writing took too long.
In 1967 Dr. Albert Mehrabian, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at UCLA, concluded that body language conveyed 55% of meaning, tone of voice 38%, and words 7%. That’s the study people have used for years as a source on how important body language and tone of voice are to verbal communication. While the study’s results and findings have been greatly overgeneralized, Dr. Mehrabian states on his website that his findings are applicable to communication of a narrow range of subjects (feelings and attitudes), I do believe physical cues and tone carry more weight in conveying information than the words used.
With written communication, there is no body language or vocal tone readers can use to clarify what the writer means, so structure, word choice, and grammar become extremely important. Besides body language and tone, there’s another element that’s often overlooked in communication–the listener’s or reader’s own subconscious biases and unquestioned assumptions. Together those biases and assumptions filter and reshape meanings—especially when the sender and receiver have different biases and assumptions.
Have a liberal and a conservative read the same factual statements and each will draw different meanings. I’ve begun to think much of the written material we receive is like Rorschach ink blots. The meaning people understand in their brain is greatly influenced by their personal viewpoints rather than the intrinsic meaning of the words themselves as society become more polarized.
Add in external factors such as the information tidal wave and demands for increased output, and it’s a wonder people correctly understand much of anything.
There is still a place for writing–thank goodness or I’d be out business. Marketing products and services still requires writing. When information needs to be referred back to, such as business policies and procedures, writing is significantly more effective than verbally repeating instructions.
Just remember, and this from a freelance business writer, if you need to convey information quickly and clearly to one person, don’t spend time writing a text, email, or letter. Pick up a phone and talk to them or see them face-to-face. You’ll save time and your message will be better understood. There’s already too much misunderstanding in the world. Don’t add to it.
Ever write something for business purposes and discover you didn’t satisfy your reader’s needs? Hopefully it was just because your reader didn’t like what you wrote. There could, however, be a more subtle reason. Perhaps the writing techniques you used weren’t a good fit for what your reader wanted.
Maybe your reader wanted general information about your products and services, but you sent an email telling them why they should order today. Maybe the opposite happened. Your prospect wanted to buy something now, but the general information you sent didn’t include a call to action telling them how to order your service.
One key to avoiding this mistake is to ensure you understand what your audience’s purpose is in reading what you’re about to write. In the business writing world, there are three reasons to read (shown below in the first column). To satisfy your reader’s need you need to write using the corresponding writer’s goal in the second column.
While all three groups share some characteristics, there are significant differences between them.
* "1. Log into the computer."
All business writing should be direct, clear, and concise. But if you’re a small business owner or work in a small business and you’re writing marketing copy or writing procedures, you’ll get a better response from your audience if you use techniques developed for the kind of writing at hand. Otherwise you’ll likely only inform your audience when they want to be motivated to buy or instructed in how do something.
Successfully accomplishing those steps often requires developing your copywriting skills or hiring someone with those skills. The purpose and techniques of copywriting, writing to sell something, are very different than general business writing.
The same is true for technical writing. Whether writing policies and procedures for an operations manual or instructions for a training guide for new hires, there is a distinct set of skills and techniques needed to quickly present information in a way that enables the reader to do something with that information.
Organizing information into small, tightly related groups and providing that information in a chronological sequence of commands to do specific actions is as fundamental to technical writing as the steps listed above are to copywriting.
The proverb “use the right tool for the job” most definitely applies to writing, especially when writing for business purposes. Think about what your audience needs from your content and then write using the set of techniques that matches that need.
As Writing Jim, Jim Driggers provides freelance copywriting and business policy and procedure writing to owners of small and medium-sized businesses. His clients gain sales through marketing text that better resonates with their customers, and they save money when their employees follow guides rather than impulses. His clients give themselves the time to focus on what they do well when they leave their writing to Writing Jim.
The corporation Yum! owns Taco Bell.
The corporation Yum owns Taco Bell.
Thankfully, this particular question rarely comes up, but if you’re a freelance business writer and editor like me, you might need to write about a company whose legal name ends with an ending punctuation mark (period, question mark, and exclamation point) and be faced with a few dilemmas.
And if you’re a small business owner or work in a company whose name or one or more of its products or services ends with a punctuation mark, you’d likely be faced with the problem on a daily basis.
Should you treat the punctuation mark as an intrinsic part of the proper name? If yes, you’d write something like Yum! owns Taco Bell.
Should you treat the last character as a punctuation mark and drop it when writing the name? If yes, you’d write something like Yum owns Taco Bell.
There is precedence for each choice. Prior to 2013, The Economist magazine chose to follow the first approach. In 2013, the magazine decided to instead follow the second approach. See Yum! no more for an explanation of why they decided to make the change.
If you choose the first approach, you’re showing respect to the company’s branding. If you choose the second approach, you’re, like the Economist, essentially deciding it’s more important to reduce distractions that could keep your reader from understanding the meaning of your sentence than to respect the company’s legal name and branding.
Two companies whose legal names end with an exclamation point are Yum! and Yahoo!
Two companies whose legal names end with an exclamation point are Yum! and Yahoo!.
Two companies whose legal names end with an exclamation point are Yum! and Yahoo.
Two companies whose legal names end with an exclamation point are Yum and Yahoo.
Example 1 indicates you know there should be only one ending punctuation mark at the end of a sentence and that seeing two ending punctuation marks side-by-side, as in example 2, will be jarring to some readers.
Example 2 indicates you’re showing consistency by treating the exclamation point as a part of the name no matter where it appears in the sentence and are using a second punctuation mark to tell the reader this sentence is a statement not an exclamation.
Example 3 indicates you’re compromising. You’re showing respect to the company’s branding when the name appears in the middle of a sentence, but also recognize that (1) side-by-side ending punctuation is distracting and (2) ending punctuation—especially exclamation points and question marks, because they’re used less often than periods—carry added subconscious impact and meaning.
Example 4 indicates you’re ignoring each company’s legal name in favor of obeying standard English punctuation rules that help readers understand sentence meaning.
The problem with names like these is there is no universally accepted rule. There are pros and cons for each of the examples above.
One solution to how to treat company names and services with ending punctuation is to check the company’s own website. Does the company include the punctuation mark in their marketing material? If they have press releases, check those too. Chances are they use the ending punctuation in their marketing material, but remove that punctuation in the more formal setting of press releases and general business prose.
Another option is to decide for yourself what approach you want to use in your own writing. If you’re a business writer or editor, you might follow an external guide like The Associated Press Stylebook, The Chicago Manual of Style, or Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. Unfortunately, none of those specifically address this particular question.
The most important things to consider are your audience and purpose. Choose the approach that you believe will most accurately and consistently convey the meaning you want your audience to receive. After making that decision, record it in a company or document style guide and refer to the guide when and if faced with the choice later on.
Based on my own experience and knowledge, I’ve decided to follow the Keep It Simple Stupid principle by removing the ending punctuation from the name—unless my client adamantly disagrees with me.
Do You Breathe When You Punctuate?
The act of getting business systems written down is called systemization or systematization. No matter how it’s spelled, its purpose is to clearly explain the system with enough detail to enable it to be consistently carried out.
Why Should Business Owners Systemize?
The first systems SMB companies will usually document are employee policies and procedures. Some companies will write marketing policies and procedures as a way to control their brand presentation. Relatively few companies, however, will invest resources in systemizing their business operations by creating an online or printed business operations manual or policy and procedure library.
Increase employee engagement because they have greater clarity on what is expected of them, and how they should do their work.
If the benefits of systemization are so great for SMB, why don’t business owners systemize their business—especially when confronted with situations that should trigger them to systemize (see Five Situations that Mean You Need to Document Your Business Systems)?
Staff at all levels within a company often have many objections to writing business policies and procedures. Below are the most common justifications for business owners, managers, and employees to not support—and even thwart—efforts to get written business policies and procedures. Following each objection are tips you might find helpful in overcoming the resistance.
This is one of the biggest obstacles to systemization, and it often appears in businesses that would benefit the most by systemization. The problem is that systemization takes time and effort immediately, but its benefits appear later. If owners, managers, and workers keep postponing efforts until they have more time and resources, they’ll discover there are always other demands on those resources.
Tips: To systemize a business, SMB owners have to prioritize systemization over other demands. The best way of doing that is to imagine what effects using business policy and procedure documentation would bring to your business and decide how valuable those effects would be. Compare that value to other activities’ values and devote time and resources to the activities with the best probable return.
Unless the benefits of having business procedures and policies are visualized, most owners and staff quickly lose their enthusiasm and focus on reacting to problems caused by not systemizing the business.
Many SMB owners think systemization only benefits larger companies. These owners believe they can directly manage their staff and don’t need to devote resources toward something with limited perceived value. These owners often don’t recognize how much they rely on staff who’ve already created work policies and procedures internally to guide them. When a key person is absent, productivity and quality can plummet until the person returns or remaining people create replacement systems.
Tips: Make the time to visualize what each person in your company does and the likely effects of that person being absent for an extended period. For those people who would not be easily replaced, reprioritize some of their time and make writing a procedure one of their weekly or bi-weekly responsibilities and check to ensure it’s being done satisfactorily.
Over time they will build up a set of policies and procedures on how to fulfill their job duties. If the person doesn’t have technical writing skills, pair the person with a staff person who does, or hire a freelance technical writer to write the policies and procedures based on input from the person.
This fear is one of the most common reasons for employees at all levels to resist transferring the business policies and procedures held in their memories to paper. Once those policies and procedures are written, employees fear they will be replaced by a new hire with either lower salary requirements, higher capability, or both.
The fear many employees have of being held accountable to written policies and procedures is a part of the fear of job loss.
Tips: The best way to reduce this fear is for management to reassure employees that the purpose of systemizing the business is to expand the capacity of the business rather than reduce head count. The goal should be to increase capacity with the same number of employees rather than maintain existing output with fewer employees. Increasing capacity is a foundational step for business growth.
This is where business owners and top management need to share their vision of where the company is going and position writing work policies and procedures as a key strategy toward enabling that vision.
For employees who fear accountability, systemization offers a chance for management to relieve employee anxiety about what is expected of them and whether they’re performing adequately. Having staff take part in writing the policies and procedures is a good way to alleviate this fear.
Systemization often requires changing how one or more employees do their work as they conform to a new set of expectations and work methods. That change is threatening to employees who have gotten comfortable with how they do their work. They’re afraid systemization will mean breaking existing habits and require learning new ways to do their work activities. Some may believe they are old dogs who can’t learn new tricks.
Tips: Here business owners need to acknowledge that employees will have to endure some change, but again position the change as something necessary to reach goals.
This obstacle is another reason to enroll employees in systemization efforts. Employees often know how to do their work better than their supervisors. Once a procedure is written, have other employees who do the same work review the procedure and test it out to see where improvements can be made to the procedure.
Emphasize the team approach to all employees and point out that improvements to policies and procedures will benefit all by expanding their skills and provide the benefits listed at the beginning of this article.
Many employees believe their jobs require them to base their actions solely on past training and experience. They think there are too many variables involved to create a workable system. In some cases they are right—to a point. Some activities do require advanced training and experience, but within every business system, there are some activities which would benefit from documented policies and procedures.
Tips: Point out that while advanced hospital surgeries require years of training and experience; disinfecting hands, surgical instruments, and incisions sites can be easily documented.
When documenting a complex system, break the system into discrete sub-activities and document the activities that don’t require elaborate decision trees. When documenting business processes, always keep in mind the primary audience of the process—the employees who are expected to follow the instructions. Assume staff has the necessary qualifications to be hired for their positions and create the policies and procedures that govern how each job is done at your company.
Many experienced employees have seen owners and managers try to systemize and concluded systemization doesn’t work. Systemization efforts often fail because of the reasons above. The problem isn’t systemization; the problem is how the systemization was implemented.
The problem appears in two forms: systemization efforts were started, but never completed and systemization efforts were completed, but the output (often a business operations manual contained within a thick, three-ring binder) became out of date.
Tips: For systemization efforts to work, everyone involved in the efforts from top management on down must support the initial efforts and make a paradigm shift in how they think about business systems and the underlying policies and procedures.
Position this system as a pilot case for the whole systemization effort and responsibility for creating the system’s policies and procedures to an individual or team.
Remind yourself and your staff of the expected benefits and allocate time and other necessary resources to ensure the work is started. Even an hour a week is enough to make steady progress.
Periodically review progress and hold people accountable for completing the systemization work.prioritize the work high enough to ensure progress is steadily made.
When the documentation has been drafted, share the policies and procedures with everyone in the staff who has a role in the system and seek improvements to encourage employee enrollment.
Once the system is being followed compare its results against a baseline taken before the system was documented or with the efforts of others who are not following the system.
If those following the written system don’t outperform the others, analyze what is causing the difference and update the written system. Repeat this step until the written system consistently beats or matches expectations.
Select another business system and systemize it.
Systemization is itself a system and requires its own policies and procedures to ensure it’s consistently replicated throughout a company. One policy should be to periodically compare the written policies and procedures against current practice and update as appropriate. Another policy is to hold people accountable for following each system’s policies and procedures.
These policies are critical. If not implemented, the resources invested in the systemization effort will be wasted; the policy and procedure documentation will lose its effectiveness and become out-of-date.
Peter Drucker wrote those words decades ago. REI’s decision to keep its stores closed on Thanksgiving and Black Friday demonstrates its marketing prowess today.
As Black Friday ends, I’ve looked at several articles focusing on REI’s decision. Some pointed out that since REI is a co-op and not a publicly traded company, it can afford to stay closed on both days. Others mention how REI’s promotion of its #OptOutside campaign is largely based on creating marketing opportunities for itself. Some writers highlight a demographic characteristic of REI’s target market: most of its customers are middle and higher income.
As I wrote in last week’s Three Audience Views to Consider When Writing for Business Purposes, understanding your audience’s demographics and psychographics is key to creating resonance with them. Creating resonance is critical for the success of copywriters and other marketing content writers.
REI’s encouraging its customers to spend Black Friday outdoors with friends is evidence that REI understands it customers very, very well. Their customers’ income and education (two demographic characteristics) are both above average indicating a customer base that can afford to pass up sales and know they can go online anytime to search around if they want to save money.
It’s REI’s impressive understanding of its target market’s psychographic characteristics, however, that interests me. Obviously as co-owners of an outdoor gear store, REI’s customers enjoy being outdoors (a psychographic lifestyle characteristic). It’s safe to say most of its customers would prefer avoiding noisy, jostling throngs enclosed in buildings.
By keeping its doors closed on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, AND paying its employees during that time, REI elevates its standing on additional psychographic elements. REI emphasizes its respect for family, nature, and its employees. Its decision makes a stand again consumerism and for independence (all psychographic characteristics related to beliefs and values).
REI’s decision to buck the trend of opening earlier and earlier on Black Friday (and lately Thanksgiving as well) not only heightened consumer’s awareness of its brand, it also increased the company’s likability and trustworthiness in the entire market and especially in its target market.
Brilliant marketing move, REI. Peter Drucker would be proud.
Ever wonder why most writing has no effect on people? For writing to be effective, it must resonate with readers. If there’s no resonance, readers either ignore the message completely or lose interest and stop reading.
Unfortunately it’s getting harder to create that resonance. Technology makes it increasingly easy to send more messages through more channels. The consequence is that each message sent faces increased competition to gain and keep attention.
What can you do to improve your writing’s chances to get and keep your reader’s attention? Make your writing resonate.
The more you ensure your writing has the characteristics listed below, they better it will attract and keep your intended audience’s attention. Your writing will convey its messages in a “frequency” your target audience understands and enjoys.
Let’s look more closely at each one.
No matter how good your writing is, if it doesn’t catch your reader’s interest, it won’t resonate with that reader. Thankfully there are many techniques you can use to catch a reader’s interest.
If your writing can be paired with graphics, the first techniques to use are in the area of graphic design. Layout of images and text (aka “copy” in the marketing world) make the first subconscious impression. Composition, colors, size, and shape of graphics and copy draw a reader’s attention and make the critical initial impression.
If that first impression is good, the reader will read the headline. If not, another message takes your reader’s interest.
Invest the time to think about what kind of information in the headline would interest your intended reader. If the headline doesn’t catch your reader’s attention, all the effort invested in creating the rest of the content is wasted.
Once a reader begins reading your writing, he or she will soon stop unless you’re satisfying one or more of his or her needs. Understanding what your reader wants from your writing is critical.
Is it information? If so, what kind of information? Does your reader need to learn how to do something, make a decision, something else?
Is it entertainment? If so, does your reader want comedy or drama? Where and when should the story be set?
Since this article’s intended audience is non-professional writers who must write for business purposes, I won’t talk about entertainment needs. I will say, however, that even business readers don’t want to be bored.
If your reader needs information, provide just the information your reader needs and wants. Don’t overwhelm your reader with too much information in the body of your writing.
If you’re writing to an audience with varying levels of needs, structure your writing so the most needed information is presented first and the least needed information is presented last or in appendices, sidebars, or references and links to supporting information.
Once you’ve gotten your readers’ attention and are satisfying their needs, make sure your writing is clear and easy to follow. Most readers won’t spend time rereading the material they’re looking at. If your writing starts to confuse them, they’ll soon look elsewhere for writing that makes sense to them. This is especially true in the online world where new information is often just a click away.
If you’re writing to a business audience, tend toward shorter sentences and simpler words. The purpose of most business writing is to convey information quickly and accurately, not impress your reader with multi-syllabic words that sound impressive but whose meanings are unclear.
An often overlooked element of writing is the need to keep your reader’s assumptions and background in mind. This is especially true if you’re writing to someone with a very different cultural background.
Even if your writing is easily understood, if it’s dry, boring, or physically hard to read (for example, too small a font or black characters on white backgrounds) your reader will soon tire and look elsewhere for relief. Creating fatigue lowers resonance.
Have a conversation with your reader by providing answers and information in the order you expect your reader to want. So long as you keep satisfying your reader’s needs and don’t confuse him or her, you’ll keep your reader’s interest.
Want more tips on writing with Resonance?
This article just scratched the surface on how to write in a way that creates resonance with readers. If you want to learn more about how to use writing — especially business writing — to better communicate with your target audience, subscribe to this blog. You will gain valuable tips to help improve the chances your target market will read, understand, and follow your written messages.
As Writing Jim, Jim Driggers provides freelance copywriting and business process writing to SMB owners and managers. His clients gain sales through marketing text that better resonates with their customers, and they save money when their employees follow guides rather than impulses. His clients give themselves the time to focus on what they do well when they leave their writing to Writing Jim.
For help creating your print or online content, systematizing your business processes, or editing content you’ve written, contact Writing Jim at [email protected] or 925-231-5825. Visit www.writingjim.com for more information.
When you write are you sometimes surprised your audience misunderstands your meaning? In many cases, the misunderstanding is easily resolved. You can talk to your audience or write again to clarify your meaning.
If you’re writing for business purposes, however, being misunderstood can sometimes cause serious and costly problems. Especially if you’re writing procedures or writing for marketing purposes. Those have direct impacts on business costs and revenue.
In the article, Four Characteristics Needed for Resonant Writing, I introduced the idea of resonance between a writer’s words and the audience. I talked about how creating resonance helps readers understand written information, and I listed four characteristics of writing (catches interest, satisfies needs, doesn’t confuse, keeps interest) that resonates with audiences.
When what is written must resonate with its audience, professional writers know they need a detailed picture of the audience. They get that picture by combining three views of the audience.
Every basic writing course talks about picturing your audience. What those courses don’t talk about is that to truly picture your audience, you need to stop and notice the details in each view. This article was written to help you find those details.
Notice views one and two indicate you may have multiple audiences. There is always a primary audience in writing, the person or people you’re writing to. If you’re writing for business, the primary audience is usually one or more co-workers, vendors, prospects, or clients.
Your primary audience should never be everyone–at least not if you want what you write to resonate well with a specific person or group of people. If you want to quickly and accurately convey your meaning, your writing must resonate with your primary audience.
In business writing, especially if the audience is quite large or includes people outside a company, there is often one or more secondary audiences who will also read your writing.
Bosses who must approve the writing are certainly secondary audiences. Legal and marketing departments and sometimes outside auditors are also secondary audiences. If you’re doing online advertising copywriting, or writing marketing copy that will be published online, search engines are another secondary audience you need to consider.
For example, many people writing online marketing assume keywords and “long-tail” phrases (such as “writing marketing copy for online audiences”) will somehow automatically come out of their minds as they write. Even worse, they may forget or not understand that in order for Google and other search engines to show their content in the search results list, the words people use to search must be in the content.
Knowing who your primary audience is and whether and what specific secondary audiences you have are critical to the next two views.
Learn how your primary audience thinks and processes information. Having this knowledge is key to writing that resonates with that audience. The more your writing’s wavelength matches your audience’s, the more your audience takes in your message.
Understanding your secondary audiences and writing in a way that speaks to them is helpful. Just remember to keep your primary audience foremost in your mind. They’re the ones you most want to connect with.
How do you tune your writing to your audience’s wavelength? By identifying their demographic and psychographic characteristics.
The demographic characteristics include geographic location, age, gender, income, education, and language proficiency. These are relatively easy characteristics to identify and give a general sense of how your audience thinks and processes information. They give clues to your audience’s perspective and some of their needs.
For example, if your audience is in a specific regional area, such as the San Francisco Bay Area where I’m located, referring to “the City” tells your audience you mean “San Francisco” and helps establish a common kinship. Your reader subconsciously feels you understand and know them. Knowing your audience’s language proficiency is important if your audience includes readers whose proficiency level is lower than yours. In this case, you know you need to simplify your writing to avoid confusing your readers.
To create real resonance with your audiences, however, you need to understand their psychographic characteristics. These characteristics include belief and value systems, lifestyle, and life stage. Psychographics are important because people who share the same demographic characteristics may process information in very different ways if their psychographic differ.
Lifestyle include health, hobbies, entertainment, and non-work pursuits. Someone in good health has different “pain points” than someone suffering from physical pain.
Life stage refers not to age, but to whether your audience members have children, are single or partnered, are working or retired. A 40-year-old divorced woman with children who depend on her income has a different perspective than a 40-year-old, dual-income wife without kids.
Why is the audience reading your writing? Is it to make a decision, learn how to do something, or learn about something? Knowing the answer to this questions helps you identify what information to present and how it should be organized.
How familiar is the audience with the subject matter? Someone who knows a lot about the subject will feel you’re wasting their time or insulting their intelligence if you explain everything in detail. On the other hand, someone with little knowledge of the subject needs explanations in non-technical language to understand the material.
How interested is the audience in your subject. Someone whose employment depends on absorbing your information will make time to ready your user guide. Attracting the attention of someone who doesn’t care about your company’s newsletter and getting them to read it will require someone with copywriting skills—a skill set not every business writer has.
Finally, how will your audience consume your writing? Will they read it from beginning to end or refer to one or two sections for additional information? Will they be able to read the information at their leisure, in an emergency, in repeated sessions a few minutes long? Will the information be published online or in print? Your answers to all these questions influence how the information is organized and formatted.
Thinking about all three views can help you plan your writing and save you considerable editing time. More importantly, all this work to deeply understand your audience will greatly improve your writing’s chances to successfully convey the information you want your audience to understand and often take action on.
As Writing Jim, Jim Driggers provides freelance copywriting and business process writing to owners of small and medium-sized businesses. His clients gain sales through marketing text that better resonates with their customers, and they save money when their employees follow guides rather than impulses. His clients give themselves the time to focus on what they do well when they leave their writing to Writing Jim.
Every company has business systems. There are systems for getting clients, providing products and services, getting paid, etc.
Unfortunately those systems are usually developed by the employees, locked away in their memory, and changed without considering the impact on connected systems. As a business owner, how do you know when you need to invest the time and resources to get those systems written down?
Here are five situations that signal it’s time.
Let’s briefly consider each one.
This situation often happens when a company has left the start-up stage (thus showing it’s consistently profitable), but then expands too quickly. The existing business systems aren’t robust enough to support the additional load brought by higher sales.
Another common cause is ignorance and confusion about the unwritten policies and procedures that compose the systems needed to execute business operations. When new employees are hired, they lack the system knowledge your existing employees gained while those systems were developed. Unless the existing employees are very good trainers, their trainees will lack the company policy and procedure knowledge needed to capably fill additional positions at the trainers’ level. The result is time and resources are increasingly lost due to putting out fires and dealing with employee frustration.
This situation also happens during the start-up stage while the informal, unwritten systems are still being developed. Here you need to quickly identify and resolve problems before they kill your company. High-level cross-functional flow charts that reveal problem areas and coordinate employee efforts are especially useful here.
By the time small businesses experience this situation, management and employees have developed sound business systems. Everyone knows how to do their job and works together well enough to consistently get the work done. The problem is the policies and procedures are locked inside everyone’s memory.
Similar to the situations above, this makes training new people (the ones you’ll hire to support additional sales or will replace departing employees) difficult and effective only for the people who were lucky enough to be trained by skilled teachers. The difference with this situation compared to the one above, is you have time to create written policies and procedures before the chaos and frequent need to put out fires appear.
For most small businesses, when a key employee leaves a wealth of knowledge leaves as well. The employee(s) who fill the open position usually lack the departing employee’s knowledge of how to do the work, so they create new, different processes to get the work done. Those processes, like torn jigsaw pieces, initially don’t fit well into the surrounding business systems and all the systems have to adapt to lock together again before work is reliably done well.
Hopefully there’s enough time to have the employee’s replacement(s) write down the departing employee’s processes during training. Have the departing employee review and correct the inevitable misunderstandings that occur during verbal training. If the key employee is leaving quickly, review what the employee does and prioritize the knowledge to be transferred.
This situation often occurs when employees are disengaged and comes from a variety of causes.
Employees often disengage when they’re confused about what they’re supposed to do and how they’re supposed to do their work. If they’re afraid to show their ignorance to their supervisors to get the training and support they need, such workers often quit to avoid the uncomfortable situation.
Another cause is disagreement between individuals or groups about what work should be done and when it should be done. The disagreements create silos and frustration when teams are pulling in different directions.
This is a great opportunity to create written policies and procedures to solve a high-cost problem. When the new hire is being trained, have the new hire write down the processes and review the processes with the new hire and trainer. You’ll likely find the trainer needs some additional training as well.
For some prospective buyers, seeing there are written business systems in place significantly increases your company’s worth to them. Other prospects often require the business owner and existing managers remain available for consulting/training purposes while the prospects absorb what information they can about how to run the business they’re considering buying. Creating a good set of written policies and procedures in the form of an operations manual largely frees you of the requirement to consult when you’re ready to move on.
Getting your existing business systems written down is especially helpful if you are positioning your company as one that can be used as a model for franchising. Doing so can substantially raise your company’s perceived value.
Getting your company’s systems written down, reviewed, and approved is not a small task. Depending on company resources and complexity, it can take several months to more than a year to complete. Employees and managers often resist the effort for a variety of reasons, and the effort will certainly fail unless you as the business owner enroll them in the effort.
Planning for and regularly updating the written documentation is critical for the long-term success of the systematizing effort. All too often the investment of time and resources to create an operations manual is wasted when the manual becomes dusty and out-of-date as the company’s systems improve and adapt to new requirements.
Getting well-written company policies and procedures often requires skills and time not commonly available from employees who must continue to produce their regular work output. In such cases hiring a professional writer or editor at least, is a wise investment. | 2019-04-25T09:46:57Z | http://www.writingjim.com/about-writing/ |
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 61/115,172, filed November 17, 2008 .
This invention was made with government support under grant number 1R21CA132223 by the National Institutes of Health. The government has certain rights in this invention.
The present invention is directed to a system useful for reporting protein-protein interactions in the bacterial periplasm.
Protein-protein interactions are key molecular events that integrate multiple gene products into functional complexes in virtually every cellular process. These cellular processes are mostly mediated by non-covalently interacting multi-protein complexes and can include, for example, transcription, translation, metabolic pathways or signal transduction pathways. Because such interactions mediate numerous disease states and biological mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of bacterial and viral infections, identification of protein-protein interactions remains one of the most important challenges in the post-genomics era. The most widely used is the yeast two-hybrid assay (Y2H), which was developed in 1989 (Fields et al., "A Novel Genetic System to Detect Protein-protein Interactions," Nature 340; 245-246 (1989)). Briefly, this assay comprises two proteins fused to a split yeast transcription factor (originally GAL4) that binds a promoter upstream of a reporter protein. If the proteins interact, the activity of the transcription factor is reconstituted and transcription of the reporter protein is upregulated, providing a signal.
The yeast 2-hybrid (Y2H) system has been the tool of choice for revealing numerous protein-protein interactions that underly diverse protein networks and complex protein machinery inside living cells. Y2H assay has been used to generate protein interaction maps for humans (Rual J.F., et al., "Towards a Proteome-Scale Map of the Human Protein-protein Interaction Network," Nature 437:1173-1178 (2005)). Another important application of the Y2H methodology is the discovery of diagnostic and therapeutic proteins, whose mode of action is high-affinity binding to a target peptide or protein. For example, several groups have isolated antibody fragments that are readily expressed in the cytoplasm of cells where they bind specifically to a desired target (der Maur et al., "Direct in vivo Screening of Intrabody Libraries Constructed on a Highly Stable Single-chain Framework," J Biol Chem 277:45075-45085 (2002), Visintin M., et al., "Selection of Antibodies for Intracellular Function Using a Two-Hybrid in vivo System," Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96:11723-11728 (1999)), and in certain instances ablate protein function (Tanaka T. et al., "Intrabodies Based on Intracellular Capture Frameworks that Bind the RAS Protein with High Affinity and Impair Oncogenic Transformation," EMBO J 22:1025-1035 (2003), Tse E., et al., "Intracellular Antibody Capture Technology: Application to Selection of Intracellular Antibodies Recognising the BCR-ABL Oncogenic Protein," J Mol Biol 31 7:85-94 (2002)). The yeast two-hybrid assay is highly versatile and is still widely used for analysis of the complex interactions of eukaryotic cellular networks. However, it has several drawbacks, including in the fact that it requires the nuclear environment of the eukaryotic yeast host, which may differ from the interaction environment of the proteins of interest.
The Y2H system was initially developed by using yeast as a host organism. Numerous bacterial (B)2H systems are now common laboratory tools and represent an experimental alternative with certain advantages over the yeast-based systems (Hu J.C. et al., "Escherichia coli One- and Two-hybrid Systems for the Analysis and Identification of Protein-protein Interactions," Methods 20:80-94 (2000), Ladant D. et al., "Genetic Systems for Analyzing Protein-protein Interactions in Bacteria," Res Microbiol 151:711-720 (2000)). A number of these bacterial approaches employ split activator/ repressor proteins; thus, they are functionally analogous to the GAL4-based yeast system (Dove S.L. et al., "Activation of Prokaryotic Transcription Through Arbitrary Protein-protein Contacts," Nature 386:627-630 (1997), Hu J.C., et al., "Sequence Requirements for Coiled-coils: Analysis with lambda Repressor-GCN4 Leucine Zipper Fusions," Science 250:1400-1403 (1990), Joung J.K., et al., "A Bacterial Two-hybrid Selection System for Studying Protein-DNA and Protein-protein Interactions," Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97:7382-7387 (2000)). Unfortunately, both Y2H and B2H GAL4-type assays are prone to a high frequency of false positives that arise from spurious transcriptional activation (Fields S., "High-throughput two-hybrid Analysis. The Promise and the Peril," FEBS J 272: 5391-5399 (2005)), and complicate the interpretation of interaction data. As proof, a comparative assessment revealed that >50% of the data generated using Y2H were likely to be false positives (von Mering C., et al., "Comparative Assessment of Large-scale Data Sets of Protein-protein Interactions," Nature 41 7:399-403 (2002)). To address this shortcoming, several groups have exploited oligomerization assisted reassembly of split enzymes such as adenylate cyclase (Karimova G., et al., "A Bacterial Two-hybrid System Based on a Reconstituted Signal Transduction Pathway," Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95:5752-5756 (1998)), β-lactamase (Bla) (Wehrman T., et al., "Protein-protein Interactions Monitored in Mammalian Cells via Complementation of Beta-lactamase Enzyme Fragments," Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99:3469- 3474 (2002)), and dihydrofolate reductase (Pelletier J.N., et al., "An in vivo Library-versus-library Selection of Optimized Protein-protein Interactions," Nat Biotech 17:683-690 (1999), Pelletier J.N., et al., "Oligomerization Domain-directed Reassembly of Active Dihydrofolate Reductase from Rationally Designed Fragments," Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95:12141-12146 (1998)), as well as split fluorescent proteins (Ghosh I. et al., "Antiparallel Leucine Zipper-Directed Protein Reassembly: Application to the Green Fluorescent Protein," J Am Chem Soc 122:5658-5659 (2000)). Alternatively, a number of methodologies for detecting interacting proteins in bacteria have been developed that do not rely on interaction-induced complementation of protein fragments, but instead use phage display (Palzkill T. et al., "Mapping Protein-ligand Interactions Using Whole Genome Phage Display Llibraries," Gene 221:79-83 (1998)), FRET (You X., et al., "Intracellular Protein Interaction Mapping with FRET Hybrids," Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:18458-18463 (2006)), and cytolocalization of GFP (Ding Z., et al., "A Novel Cytology-based, Two-hybrid Screen for Bacteria Applied to Protein-protein Pnteraction Ptudies of a Pype IV Secretion System," J Bacteriol 184:5572-5582 (2002)).
In recent years, an alternative to the yeast two-hybrid assay has arisen in the form of the protein complementation assay (PCA). This method fuses the proteins of interest to a split reporter protein such as GFP (Cabantous, S. et al., "Recent Advances in GFP Folding Reporter and Split-GFP Solubility Reporter Technologies. Application to Improving the Folding and Solubility of Recalcitrant Proteins from Mycobacterium Tuberculosis," J Struct Funct Genomics 6:113-119 (2005), Cabantous, S. et al., "In vivo and in vitro Protein Solubility Assays Using Split GFP," Nat Methods 3:845-54 (2006)), YFP (Bracha-Drori, K. et al., "Detection of Protein-protein Interactions in Plants Using Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation," Plant J 40:419-427 (2004)), luciferase (Kim, S.B. et al., "High-throughput Sensing and Noninvasive Imaging of Protein Nuclear Transport by Using Reconstitution of Split Renilla Luciferase," Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:11542-11547 (2004)), dihydrofolate reductase (Remy, I. et al.,"Detection of Protein-protein Interactions Using a Simple Survival Protein-fragment Complementation Assay Based on the Enzyme Dihydrofolate Reductase," Nat Proto 2:2120-2125 (2007)), or β-lactamase (Galameau, A. et al., "Beta-lactamase Protein Fragment Complementation Assays as in vivo and in vitro Sensors of Protein-protein Interactions," Nat Biotechnol 20:619-22 (2002 ), Wehrman, T. et al., "Protein-protein Interactions Monitored in Mammalian Cells via Complementation of Beta-lactamase Enzyme Fragments," Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99:3469-3474 (2002)). Using protein engineering techniques, split proteins whose individual fragments are inactive can be developed. Upon interaction of the proteins of interest, the split reporter protein regains its activity. Versions of a split β-lactamase (Bla) protein complementation assay for monitoring protein-protein interactions in mammalian cells have been developed (Galarneau, A. et al., "Beta-lactamase Protein Fragment Complementation Assays as in vivo and in vitro Sensors of Protein-protein Interactions," Nat Biotechnol 20:619-22 (2002), Wehrman, T. et al., "Protein-protein Interactions Monitored in Mammalian Cells via Complementation of Beta-lactamase Enzyme Fragments," Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99:3469-3474 (2002)). These versions however contain no signal sequence for protein transport, and thus the proteins were expressed in the cytoplasm of E. coli. Following expression, the Bla (β-lactamase) activity was measured in vitro by nitrocefin colorimetric assay. One limitation of cytoplasmic expression is that cytoplasmic β-lactamase (Bla) is incapable of conferring resistance to ampicillin and thus genetic selection is not possible. In one version, Wehrman et al. employed prototypical Sec signal peptides for delivery of the fragments into the periplasm by the post-translational Sec export pathway (Wehrman, T. et al., "Protein-protein Interactions Monitored in Mammalian Cells via Complementation of Beta-lactamase Enzyme Fragments," Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99:3469-3474 (2002)). Following export, both fragments localize to the periplasm and cells can be selected on ampicillin. The limitation of this approach is that it uses post-translational Sec export signals. The proteins under investigation may fold fully inside the cytoplasm thereby limiting their potential translocation across the cytoplasmic membrane. They may also interact in the cytoplasm prior to export and thus not be exported to the periplasm. A further limitation of this approach is the fact that only one pair of small peptides was tested for interaction; whether split Bla (β-Lactamase) could be used to report the interactions between globular proteins was not demonstrated. Thus, to date there have been no reports detailing the use of split protein fragments for monitoring protein-protein interactions in the bacterial periplasm.
In one aspect, the present invention relates to a reporter system for detection of protein-protein interactions in the periplasm of a prokaryotic host cell. By reference to a prokaryotic host cell herein, we mean a gram negative bacteria. The reporter system includes a first expression system which has a nucleic acid molecule encoding an alpha (α) fragment of a β-lactamase reporter protein molecule, a nucleic acid molecule encoding a first signal sequence, and a nucleic acid molecule encoding a first member of a putative binding pair, where the nucleic acid molecule encoding the alpha (α) fragment, the nucleic acid molecule encoding the first signal sequence, and the nucleic acid molecule encoding the first member of the putative binding pair are operatively coupled to permit their expression in a prokaryotic host cell as a first fusion protein. The reporter system also includes a second expression system which has a nucleic acid molecule encoding an omega (ω) fragment of the β-lactamase reporter protein molecule, a nucleic acid molecule encoding a second signal sequence, and a nucleic acid molecule encoding a second member of the putative binding pair, where the nucleic acid molecule encoding the omega (ω) fragment, the nucleic acid molecule encoding the second signal sequence, and the nucleic acid molecule encoding the second member of the putative binding pair are operatively coupled to permit their expression in a prokaryotic host cell as a second fusion protein. When expressed in a prokaryotic host cell, at least one of the first and the second fusion proteins are co-translationally transported to the periplasm where, when present, the first and second members of the putative binding pair bind together and the alpha (α) and omega (ω) fragments of the β-lactamase reporter protein molecule are reconstituted, thereby producing an active β-lactamase reporter protein.
Another aspect of the present invention relates to a method of identifying a candidate protein which binds a target protein. This method includes providing a first expression system comprising a nucleic acid molecule encoding an alpha (α) fragment of a β-lactamase reporter protein molecule, a nucleic acid molecule encoding first signal sequence, and a nucleic acid molecule encoding a target protein, where the nucleic acid molecule encoding the alpha (α) fragment, the nucleic acid molecule encoding the first signal sequence, and the nucleic acid molecule encoding the target protein are operatively coupled to permit their expression in a prokaryotic host cell as a first fusion protein. This method also includes providing a second expression system comprising a nucleic acid molecule encoding an omega (ω) fragment of the β-lactamase reporter protein molecule, a nucleic acid molecule encoding a second signal sequence, and a nucleic acid molecule encoding a candidate protein, where the nucleic acid molecule encoding the omega (co) fragment, the nucleic acid molecule encoding the second signal sequence, and the nucleic acid molecule encoding the candidate protein are operatively coupled to permit their expression in a prokaryotic host cell as a second fusion protein. This method further includes transforming a prokaryotic host cell with the first expression system and the second expression system and culturing the transformed prokaryotic host cell under conditions effective to express the first and the second fusion proteins and to transport the first fusion protein and the second fusion protein to the prokaryotic host cell's periplasm, with at least one of the first fusion protein or the second fusion protein being co-translationally transported to the periplasm. The prokaryotic host cells with β-lactamase reporter protein molecule activity are detected as those where binding between the candidate protein and the target protein has occurred. The candidate protein is identified as having the ability to bind to the target protein based on whether the host cell has β-lactamase reporter protein activity.
Another aspect of the present invention is related to a method of identifying a candidate gene which modulates the binding between a first protein and a second protein. This method includes providing a first expression system comprising a nucleic acid molecule encoding an alpha (α) fragment of a β-lactamase reporter protein molecule, a nucleic acid molecule encoding a first signal sequence, and a nucleic acid molecule encoding a first protein, where the nucleic acid molecule encoding the alpha (α) fragment, the nucleic acid molecule encoding the first signal sequence, and the nucleic acid molecule encoding the first protein are operatively coupled to permit their expression in a prokaryotic host cell as a first fusion protein. This method also includes providing a second expression system for expressing the second protein comprising a nucleic acid molecule encoding an omega (ω) fragment of the β-lactamase reporter protein molecule, a nucleic acid molecule encoding a second signal sequence, and a nucleic acid molecule encoding a second protein, where the nucleic acid molecule encoding the omega (ω) fragment, the nucleic acid molecule encoding the second signal sequence, and the nucleic acid molecule encoding the second protein are operatively coupled to permit their expression in a prokaryotic host cell as a second fusion protein. This method further involves providing a candidate gene in a form suitable for expression in a prokaryotic host cell, transforming the prokaryotic host cell with the first expression system, the second expression system, and the candidate gene, and culturing the transformed prokaryotic host cell under conditions effective to, in the absence of the candidate gene, express the first fusion protein, the second fusion protein, and the protein encoded by the candidate gene and transport the first fusion protein and the second fusion protein to the prokaryotic host cell's periplasm with at least one of the first fusion protein or the second fusion protein being co-translationally transported to the periplasm. Any β-lactamase reporter activity in the transformed prokaryotic host cell is detected, and prokaryotic host cells, with β-lactamase reporter activity that is different than that achieved without transformation of the candidate gene are identified, as containing a candidate gene which modulates binding between the first and second proteins.
Another aspect of the present invention is related to a method of identifying a candidate compound which modulates binding between a first protein and a second protein. This method includes providing a first expression system comprising a nucleic acid molecule encoding an alpha (α) fragment of a β-lactamase reporter protein molecule, a nucleic acid molecule encoding a first signal sequence, and a nucleic acid molecule encoding a first protein, where the nucleic acid molecule encoding the alpha (α) fragment, the nucleic acid molecule encoding the first signal sequence, and the nucleic acid molecule encoding the first protein are operatively coupled to permit their expression in a prokaryotic host cell as a first fusion protein. This method also includes providing a second expression system for expressing the second protein comprising a nucleic acid molecule encoding an omega (co) fragment of the β-lactamase reporter protein molecule, a nucleic acid molecule encoding a second signal sequence, and a nucleic acid molecule encoding a second protein, where the nucleic acid encoding the omega (ω) fragment, the nucleic acid encoding the second signal sequence, and the nucleic acid encoding the second protein are operatively coupled to permit their expression in a prokaryotic host cell as a second fusion protein. This method further involves providing a candidate compound, transforming a host prokaryotic cell with the first expression system and the second expression system, and culturing the transformed host prokaryotic cell under conditions effective to express the first and the second fusion proteins and transport the first fusion protein and the second fusion protein to the prokaryotic host cell's periplasm with at least one of the first fusion protein or the second fusion protein being co-translationally transported to the periplasm. The candidate compound is contacted with the cultured prokaryotic host cell. The β-lactamase reporter activity is detected in the transformed prokaryotic host cell, and candidate compounds contacting the prokaryotic host cells, with β-lactamase reporter activity that is different than that achieved in transformed prokaryotic host cells not contacted with the candidate compound are identified as modulating binding between the first protein and the second protein.
While numerous assays exist for detecting protein interactions in the cytoplasm of living cells, the major advantage of the present invention is that it can be used to assay for protein-protein interactions in the periplasmic compartment of bacteria. Such an assay would be significant because of the importance of the bacterial periplasm in a large number of biotechnological applications. This importance stems from several unique features of the periplasm relative to other subcellular compartments. For instance, proteins that require disulfide bonds for correct folding can only adopt a native conformation when localized in the oxidizing environment of the bacterial periplasm (disulfide bonds do not normally form in the cytoplasm of bacteria). Examples of disulfide-bond containing proteins of biotechnological relevance include proteins and protein fragments of the immunoglobulin family (e.g., IgGs). The ability to detect protein interactions in the periplasm can easily be combined with the ability to express full-length IgGs or fragments derived thereof (e.g., single-chain Fv (scFv)) in the periplasm and opens the door to a cell-based selection system for isolating and engineering virtually all types of antibodies or other immune/non-immune binding proteins. Since the technology described above only requires the antigen or domains of the antigen to be expressed in the periplasm, this technology should enable the selection of antibodies against both soluble and membrane proteins. Since many complex membrane proteins can be expressed in the inner membrane of E. coli (e.g., GPCRs, ion channels, efflux pumps, etc.), this technology should enable isolation of antibodies or other binding proteins that interact with exposed loops of membrane proteins. Such a feat is difficult or impossible using traditional antibody selection methods (e.g., cell surface display, phage display). More recently, the development of N-linked glycosylation in bacteria opens the bacterial periplasm as a compartment for attaching N-glycans to specific residues in recombinant proteins. Another advantage of the periplasm is that isolation of recombinant proteins from this compartment is greatly simplified compared to isolation from the more crowded cytoplasm. To accomplish this while also overcoming previous limitations of split β-lactamase systems in E. coli, co-expression of β-lactamase fragment fusions are engineered with co-translational export signals (e.g., signal peptides from the E. coli DsbA protein). The advantage of such export signals is that at least one or both fragments of the reporter protein, and the interacting proteins (members of the putative binding pair) to which they are fused, are localized directly into the periplasm with little or no residence time in the cytoplasm. As a result, premature interaction between the proteins under investigation is effectively eliminated.
Figure 1 is a schematic drawing showing protein 1 to protein 2 interactions complementing the two split fragments of β-lactamase. This arrangement enables the enzyme to hydrolyze ampicillin and cells to grow in the presence of the antibiotic.
Figures 2A-D show the protein complementation of interacting domains. Figure 2A shows a schematic drawing of the two-plasmid system comprising genes of interest fused to α and β-lactamase fragments. Fos and Jun are used here as examples, and putative binding partners of interest would replace Fos and Jun in their respective constructs. Figure 2B shows spot plating of Fos and Jun leucine zippers on 50 µg/ml Amp. GCN4, another leucine zipper, but one that does not interact with Fos, is used as a negative control. Figure 2C shows spot plating as in Figure 2B of antibody fragment scFv-GCN4 and its antigen, the GCN4 leucine zipper. GCN4-PP is a double point mutant to wild-type GCN4 that reduces homodimerization of the leucine zippers. Jun is used as a negative control. Figure 2D shows spot plating of scFv D10, with affinity to phage protein Gpd. Jun and GCN4 used as negative controls.
Figures 3A-B show the interaction of Fos and Jun variants. Figure 3A shows spot plating as in Figure 2B of Fos/Jun variants. Notations such as L3V refer replacement of leucine 3 with valine, not necessarily residue 3. Similar growth for all variants was confirmed on Cm/Kan plates. Figure 3B shows MIC (blue) and MBC (red) measurements of Fos and Jun variants as shown in Figure 3A.
One aspect of the present invention relates to a reporter system (also described herein as protein complementation system) which can be used to detect, protein-protein interactions. Figure 1 shows one embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 shows protein 1 and protein 2 attached to two fragments of Bla. The proteins interact with one another and lead to complementation of the Bla fragments thus reconstituting the reporter activity. Bacterial cells transformed with this system will survive on ampicillin media. The reconstituted reporter activity of Bla leads to hydrolysis of ampicillin and enables the bacterial cells to survive on ampicillin media.
In one aspect, the present invention relates to a reporter system for detection of protein-protein interactions in the periplasm of a prokaryotic host cell. The reporter system includes a first expression system which has a nucleic acid molecule encoding an alpha (α) fragment of a β-lactamase reporter protein molecule, a nucleic acid molecule encoding a first signal sequence, and a nucleic acid molecule encoding a first member of a putative binding pair, where the nucleic acid molecule encoding the alpha (α) fragment, the nucleic acid molecule encoding the first signal sequence, and the nucleic acid molecule encoding the first member of the putative binding pair are operatively coupled to permit their expression in a prokaryotic host cell as a first fusion protein. The reporter system also includes a second expression system which has a nucleic acid molecule encoding an omega (ω) fragment of the β-lactamase reporter protein molecule, a nucleic acid molecule encoding a second signal sequence, and a nucleic acid molecule encoding a second member of the putative binding pair, where the nucleic acid molecule encoding the omega (ω) fragment, the nucleic acid molecule encoding the second signal sequence, and the nucleic acid molecule encoding the second member of the putative binding pair are operatively coupled to permit their expression in a prokaryotic host cell as a second fusion protein. When expressed in a prokaryotic host cell, at least one of the first and the second fusion proteins are co-translationally transported to the periplasm where, when present, the first and second members of the putative binding pair bind together and the alpha (α) and omega (ω) fragments of the β-lactamase reporter protein molecule are reconstituted, thereby producing an active β-lactamase reporter protein.
The reporter system of the present invention is useful in detecting interaction between, for example, a known first member of a putative binding pair and a second member, which was previously not known to bind the first member. The method detects the interaction of the first member with the second member by bringing into close proximity alpha (α) and omega (ω) members of a fragment pair of a β-lactamase reporter protein, such that the β-lactamase reporter protein is reassembled to its original functionality or enzymatic activity. The alpha (α) and omega (ω) fragments of the β-lactamase reporter protein of the present invention can interact to produce a detectable signal such as a visible phenotypic change or antibiotic resistance. This system should enable, for example, the identification of molecules and/or genes that promote or inhibit key protein interactions, existing in a range of cell types, phyla and species, via high-throughput screens.
A "reporter protein" refers to a protein which can be separated into two or more individual protein fragments, where the reporter protein fragments are capable of associating with each other to generate a detectable signal, or are capable of associating with each other and one or more additional substances to generate a detectable signal, and which do not individually generate the detectable signal. The functional fragments of a reporter protein of interest can be identified by methods well known in the art. For example, it can involve preparing a multiplicity of fragment pair members with breaks within a solvent exposed loop or a flexible loop defined by tertiary or secondary structure analysis to obtain a fragment pair library. The fragment pair members can be, for example, expressed in a multiplicity of host cells, and the host cells exhibiting a directly detectable signal associated with the reporter protein of interest can be isolated as indicative of containing fragment pair members that functionally reconstitute the reporter protein. Plasmids containing expression systems coding for the fragment pair members can then be sequenced to identify functional fragment pairs of the reporter protein. Other methods of breaking proteins into fragments are known in the art as long as the reporter protein functions in a manner described supra.
In the present invention, the reporter system comprises the antibiotic resistance enzyme, β-lactamase as a reporter protein molecule. Fragment pairs of other enzymes that provide for antibiotic resistance include for example, aminoglycoside phosphotransferases, particularly neomycin phosphotransferase, chloramphenicol acetyl transferase, and tetracycline resistance protein (Backman et al., "Tetracycline Resistance Determined by pBR322 is Mediated by One Polypeptide," Gene 26:197 (1983)). Other proteins can directly elicit a visible phenotypic change such as a color change or fluorescence emission. Examples of such proteins include β-galactosidase and green fluorescent protein (GFP) or other related fluorescent proteins.
Reporter protein molecules can be selected from a group consisting of a monomeric protein, a multimeric protein, a monomeric receptor, a multimeric receptor, a multimeric biomolecular complex, adenylate cyclase, alkaline phosphatase, β-lactamase, cellulase, chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT), disulfide bond oxidase A (DsbA), maltose binding protein (MBP), methyltransferase, dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), luciferase, thymidylate synthase, thymidine kinase, Trp1 N-(5'-phosphoribosyl)-anthranilate isomerase, ubiquitin, and all fluorescent proteins including green fluorescent protein (GFP), blue fluorescent protein (BFP), cyan fluorescent protein (CFP), red fluorescent protein (RFP), yellow fluorescent protein (YFP), monomeric RFP (mRFP), mCherry, mOrange, mBanana, mStrawberry, mHoneydew, tdTomato, and mTangerine. The reporter protein molecule of the present invention is β-lactamase.
For example, the β-lactamase α and ω fragments can be used in the present invention to complement and produce selectable activity in the bacterial periplasm in a manner that is dependent on specific interaction between the first member of putative binding pair) and the second member of the putative binding pair fused to the β-lactamase fragments. This β-lactamase based protein-protein interaction reporter system can undergo co-translational secretory translocation across the bacterial inner membrane into the periplasm, and therefore can reliably detect interactions between and among proteins.
The members of a putative binding pair which can be assayed for their binding affinity with each other, using the methods of the present invention, include any molecules capable of a binding interaction. The binding interaction between the two or more binding members may be either direct or in the form of a complex with one or more additional binding species, such as charged ions or molecules, ligands, or macromolecules. Putative binding partners, or putative binding moieties, according to the present invention, can include molecules which do not normally interact with each other, but which interact with a third molecule such that, in the presence of the third molecule, the putative binding partners are brought together. Thus, substances which influence an interaction between putative binding partners include those which stimulate a weak interaction between putative binding partners, as well as one or more molecules which mediate interaction between molecules which do not normally interact with each other. In addition, substances which influence an interaction between putative binding partners can include those which directly or indirectly affect an upstream event which results in association between the putative binding partners. For example, phosphorylation of one of the putative binding partners can endow it with the capacity to associate with another of the putative binding partners.
Exemplary putative binding pairs include membrane protein-soluble binding protein pair, a membrane protein-membrane protein binding pair, a biotin-avidin binding pair, ligand-receptor binding pair, and antibody-antigen binding pair.
In an antigen-antibody pair, for example, the antibody can be a monoclonal antibody, bispecific antibody, single-chain antibody (scAb), single-chain Fv fragment (scFv), scFv2, dsFv, scFv-Fc, Fab, F(ab')2, F(ab')3, VL, diabody, single domain antibody, camelid antibody, triabody, tetrabody, minibody, one-armed antibody, and immunoglobulin (Ig), IgM, IgE, IgA, IgD, IgG, IgG-ΔCH2.
The ligand-receptor pairs of the present invention can include, for example, the following receptors Fc receptors (FcR), single-chain MHC, or single-chain T-cell receptor (sc-TCR). Useful ligands are, for example, monotopic membrane proteins, polytopic membrane proteins, transmembrane proteins, G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), ion channels, members of the SNARE protein family, integrin adhesion receptor, multi-drug efflux transporters.
Other exemplary proteins include members of the signal transduction pathway, cell surface receptors, proteins regulating apoptosis, proteins that regulate progression of the cell-cycle, proteins involved in the development of tumors, transcriptional-regulatory proteins, translation regulatory proteins, proteins that affect cell interactions, cell adhesion molecules, proteins that participate in the folding of other proteins, and proteins involved in targeting to intracellular compartments.
Members of signal transduction pathways include protein hormones and cytokines. Cytokines include those involved in signal transduction, such as interferons, chemokines, and hematopoietic growth factors. Other exemplary proteins include interleukins, lymphotoxin, transforming growth factors-a and 13, and macrophage and granulocyte colony stimulating factors. Other proteins include intracellular enzymes such as protein kinases, phosphatases and synthases.
Exemplary proteins involved in apoptosis include tumor necrosis factor (TNF), Fos ligand, interleukin-113 converting enzyme (ICE) proteases, and TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL). Proteins involved in the cell cycle include deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) polymerases, proliferating cell nuclear antigen, telomerase, cyclins, cyclin dependent kinases, tumor suppressors and phosphatases. Proteins involved in transcription and translation include ribonucleic acid (RNA) polymerases, transcription factors, enhancer-binding proteins and ribosomal proteins. Proteins involved in cellular interactions such as cell-to-cell signaling include receptor proteins, and peptide hormones or their enhancing or inhibitory mimics.
The β-lactamase reporter protein fragments and one or more members of the putative binding pair are generally linked either directly or via a linker, and are generally linked by a covalent linkage. For example, when the β-lactamase reporter protein fragment and the members of the putative binding pair are proteins, they may be linked by methods known in the art for linking peptides.
The fragment members of β-lactamase reporter proteins also may include a flexible polypeptide linker separating the fragment of reporter protein from the member of the putative binding pair and allowing for their independent folding. The linker is optimally 15 amino acids or 60 Å in length (~4 Å per residue) but may be as long as 30 amino acids but preferably not more than 20 amino acids in length. It may be as short as 3 amino acids in length, but more preferably is at least 6 amino acids in length. To ensure flexibility and to avoid introducing steric hindrance that may interfere with the independent folding of the fragment domain of β-lactamase reporter protein and the members of the putative binding pair, the linker should be comprised of small, preferably neutral residues such as Gly, Ala, and Val, but also may include polar residues that have heteroatoms such as Ser and Met, and may also contain charged residues.
β-lactamase reporter fragments may be capable of binding to one another to form an enzymatically active complex that is capable of catalyzing the conversion of a substrate to a product which is detectable, either directly or indirectly. In one embodiment, the β-lactamase reporter system can include two or more components, in a fusion protein, where the fusion proteins each comprise a putative binding protein fused to a low affinity β-lactamase reporter fragment. Thus, nucleic acids encoding the fusion proteins can be constructed, introduced into cells and expressed in cells. Alternatively, the bound β-lactamase reporter units or bound binding moieties can be detected by selecting the prokaryotic host cells expressing the fusion proteins of the present invention on a selection media which includes an antibiotic such as ampicillin.
A variety of cell-based assays can be conducted using the cells containing the fusion gene constructs. Binding of the putative binding moieties on the fusion proteins expressed in the cells can be confirmed by detecting the signal produced by the β-lactamase reporter fragments undergoing complementation. This signal could be, for example, a fluorescent signal which is regenerated after the β-lactamase reporter fragments undergo complementation.
In one embodiment of the invention, prokaryotic cells in which a the β-lactamase reporter fragments undergo complementation can be detected and isolated by flow cytometry or fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). Methods for flow cytometry and FACS are well-known in the art (Nolan et al., "Fluorescence-activated Cell Analysis and Sorting of Viable Mammalian Cells Based on beta-D-galactosidase Activity After Transduction of Escherichia coli lacZ," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85:2603-2607 (1988); Webster et al., "Isolation of human myoblasts with the fluorescence-activated cell sorter," Exp. Cell Research, 174:252-265 (1988), which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety). In this way, clones of cells in which binding occurs can be isolated and propagated for further study.
Binding of the protein molecules of the present invention will depend upon factors such as pH, ionic strength, concentration of components of the assay, and temperature. In the binding assays using reporter systems described herein, the binding affinity of the first member of the putative binding pair and the second member of the putative binding pair should be strong enough to permit binding between the β-lactamase reporter protein fragments. In a preferred embodiment, the binding affinity of the first member of the putative binding pair and the second member of the putative binding pair should be stronger than the binding affinity of the alpha (α) fragment and the omega (co) fragment of the β-lactamase reporter protein. When combining the first and second fusion proteins, the reconstitution of the alpha (α) and omega (co) fragments into the β-lactamase reporter protein requires the interaction between the first and second members of the putative binding pair. Bound members of the putative binding pair are identified by expressing a functionally reconstituted β-lactamase reporter protein, and then the nucleotide sequences encoding for bound members of the putative binding pair are characterized by methods including electrophoresis, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), nucleotide and amino acid sequencing and the like.
In one embodiment, either one or both the first and second members of the putative binding pair can be a member of a library. The members of the putative binding pair can be parts of libraries that are constructed from cDNA, but may also be constructed from, for example, synthetic DNA, RNA and genomic DNA.
A large number of proteins synthesized in prokaryotes are translocated (transported) partially or fully to the outside of the cytoplasm by a secretory pathway. The first step of translocation involves insertion into and translocation across the cytoplasmic membrane. In gram-positive bacteria, fully translocated proteins are released into the external milieu whereas in gram negative bacteria, the proteins are translocated and released into the periplasm or are integrated into or transported across the outer membrane. The secreted proteins usually contain a secretory signal sequence (also referred to as a signal sequence or a signal peptide) that generally, but not always, contains a stretch of at least around 10 hydrophobic amino acid residues. A detailed review of the general secretory pathways (GSP) in prokaryotic bacteria is provided by Pugsley A.P., "The Complete General Secretory Pathway in Gram-negative Bacteria," Microbiological Reviews 57:50-108 (1993).
The proteins of the present invention are transported to the prokaryotic host cell's periplasm. This can be done, for example, by targeting the general secretory pathway (GSP) of the prokaryotic cells to transport the proteins across the cytoplasmic membrane. These secretory pathways (also known as translocation pathways or transport pathways) include, for example the Sec pathway, the SRP pathway and the Tat pathway.
For the purposes of the present invention, it is preferable that the proteins are maintained in an translocation competent conformation or fold. Proteins that are exported from the cytosol by the transportation pathways of prokaryotes have certain features that promote efficient translocation across membranes. These features generally, but not always, include an amino-terminal hydrophobic signal sequence that is cleaved during the translocation process. Furthermore, some feature of the protein or of the export process must ensure that the protein does not fold such that its export is prevented. This is usually done in prokaryotic cells in several different ways. The proteins may be translocated across a membrane simultaneously with translation (co-translationally) of the protein, thus ensuring that not even its secondary structures are formed in the cytoplasm. If the proteins are not co-translationally translocated then chaperones or antifolding factors may prevent folding in the cytoplasm thereby maintaining the export competent conformation (Randall et al., " SecB: A Chaperone from Escherichia coli," Methods Enzymol. 290:444-459 (1998)). In some cases, signal sequences act as intrapolypeptide chaperones to prevent rapid folding (Liu et al., "Physiological Role During Export for the Retardation of Folding by the Leader Peptide of Maltose-binding Protein," Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 86:9213-9217). Also the proteins that are exported post-translationally may have features in their final structures (for example, disulfide bonds) that do not form in the environment of the cytoplasm so that the proteins cannot attain their final folded conformations in the cytoplasm (Derman et al., "Escherichia coli Alkaline Phosphatase Fails to Acquire Disulfide Bonds When Retained in the Cytoplasm," J. Bacteriol 173:7719-7722). This is notable because antibodies are stabilized by disulfide bonds and the oxidizing environment of the bacterial periplasm is conducive for the formation of disulfide bonds.
The proteins of the present invention comprise a signal sequence (also known in the art as the targeting sequence or signal peptide) which, when expressed in a suitable host cell, directs the transport across or through the membrane. In accordance with the present invention, the fusion proteins are transported to the bacterial periplasm of gram negative bacteria. Generally, but not always, the signal peptides are located at the amino termini of fusion proteins. The signal peptide is typically cleaved following its entry into the periplasm. As noted above, at least one of the first or second fusion proteins is co-translationally transferred to periplasm of the prokaryotic host cell.
The fusion protein can have signal sequences targeting the Sec translocation pathways (Pugsley A.P., "The Complete General Secretory Pathway in Gram-negative Bacteria," Microbiological Reviews 57:50-108 (1993), Kumamoto C. A., " Molecular Chaperones and Protein Translocation across the Escherichia coli inner membrane," Mol. Microbiol 5:19-22 (1991)). The Sec signal sequences can be selected from the group consisting ssAppA, ssBla, ssClyA, ssLep, ssMalE, ssOmpA, ssOmpT, ssOmpX, ssPelB (Erwinia chrysanthemi), ssPhoA, ssRbsB, and ssYebF.
One component of the bacterial general secretory pathway that can be used in the present invention is the signal recognition pathway (SRP) (Pugsley A.P., "The Complete General Secretory Pathway in Gram-negative Bacteria," Microbiological Reviews 57:50-108 (1993), Valent Q.A., "Signal Recognition Particle Mediated Protein Targeting in Escherichia coli," Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 79:17-31 (2001), Koch et al., "Signal Recognition Particle-dependent Protein Targeting, Universal to All Kingdoms of Life," Rev Physiol Biochem Pharmacol. 146:55-94 (2003)). The prokaryotic SRP is composed of one protein (Ffh) and a 4.5S RNA and is mainly involved in co-translational assembly of intergral membrane proteins (Luirink J. et al., "Mammalian and Escherichia coli Signal Recognition Particles," Mol. Microbiol. 11:9-13 (1994)). The SRP signal sequences that can be used for the purposes of the present invention can be selected from the group consisting ssArtI, ssDsbA, ssFlgA, ssLivJ, ssSfmC, ssSTII, ssTolB, ssTorT, ssYraP and ssYraI. The major advantage of using the SRP pathways is that it can transport the protein co-translationally across the cytoplasmic membrane. This is a unique feature and ensures that the protein has little or no residence time in the cytoplasm. Using the SRP pathways also overcomes the problems and difficulties associated with translocating cytoplasmic proteins across the cytoplasmic membrane which may be due to folding of the protein into a conformation that has difficulty during translocation.
The reporter system of the present invention can include signal sequences which are related to the twin-arginine protein transport pathway (Tat pathway) (Sargent et al., "Pathfinders and Trailblazers: A Prokaryotic Targeting System for Transport of Folded Proteins," FEMS Microbiol Lett 254:198-207 (2006)). The Tat pathway for translocation is found in the membranes of many bacteria and its most remarkable feature is its ability to transport prefolded, and often oligomeric proteins across ionically sealed membranes (Berks et al., "The Tat Protein Translocation Pathway and Its Role in Microbial Physiology," Adv Microb Physiol 47:187-254 (2003)). The fusion proteins of the present invention can include distinctive N-terminal signal peptides that bear a common amino acid sequence motif. This so-called "twin-arginine" motif has a consensus sequence which includes Arginine residues and are essential for efficient protein translocation using the Tat pathway. The Tat pathway has an intrinsic "quality control" activity that prevents transport of unfolded polypetides (DeLisa et al., " Folding Quality Control in the Export of Proteins by the Bacterial Twin Arginine Translocation Pathway," Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100: 6115-6120 (2003)). A major advantage of using the Tat pathways in the present invention, is its innate ability to reject immature or incorrectly assembled protein and actively select for folded substrates. The reporter system and the fusion proteins of the present invention can have signal peptides selected from the group consisting Tat signal sequences which include ssFdnG, ssFdoG, ssNapG, ssNrfC, ssHyaA, ssYnfE, ssWcaM, ssTorA, ssNapA, ssYagT, ssYcbK, ssDmsA, ssYdhX, ssYahJ, ssYedY, ssCueO, ssSufI, ssYcdB, ssTorZ, ssHybA, ssYnfF, ssHybO, ssAmiC, ssAmiA, ssYfhG, ssMdoD, ssFhuD, ssYaeI, and ssYcdO.
In one embodiment the reporter system of the present invention is such that both of the first and the second fusion proteins are transported co-translationally to the prokaryotic host cell's periplasm.
Fusion proteins used in the present invention, comprise a single continuous linear polymer of amino acids which comprise the full or partial sequence of two or more distinct proteins. The construction of fusion proteins is well-known in the art. Two or more amino acids sequences may be joined chemically, for instance, through the intermediacy of a crosslinking agent. In a preferred embodiment, a fusion protein is generated by expression of a fusion gene construct in a host cell. Fusion gene constructs generally also contain replication origins active in host cells and one or more selectable markers encoding, for example, drug or antibiotic resistance. Plasmids containing expression system may be constructed to express fusion proteins, described supra, of the present invention. The expression systems for the fusion protein will comprise operably linked nucleic acid components in the direction of transcription nucleotide sequences encoding for (i) a promoter or other regulatory sequence functional in a prokaryotic host cell, (ii) an alpha (α) or omega (ω) fragment of a (β-lactamase reporter protein that provides for a directly selectable phenotype, (iii) a member of the putative binding pair, or a target protein or a candidate protein, (iv) an optional flexible polypeptide linker connecting the reporter protein fragment to the member of the putative binding pair and (v) a signal peptide or signal sequence. Prokaryotic host cells may contain plasmids having the sequences of the above-described expression systems.
Different fusion gene constructs encoding unique fusion proteins may be present on separate nucleic acid molecules or on the same nucleic acid molecule. Inclusion of different fusion gene constructs on the same nucleic acid molecule is advantageous, in that uptake of only a single species of nucleic acid by a host cell is sufficient to introduce sequences encoding both putative binding partners into the host cell. By contrast, when different fusion constructs are present on different nucleic acid molecules, both nucleic acid molecules must be taken up by a particular host cell for the assay to be functional. Thus, problems of cell mosaicism are avoided when both fusion gene constructs are included on the same nucleic acid molecule.
Once the fusion protein is identified, the nucleic acid construct encoding the protein is inserted into an expression system to which the molecule is heterologous. The heterologous nucleic acid molecule is inserted into the expression system or vector in proper sense (5'→)3') orientation relative to the promoter and any other 5' regulatory molecules, and correct reading frame. The preparation of the nucleic acid constructs can be carried out using standard cloning methods well known in the art as described by Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Cold Springs Laboratory Press, Cold Springs Harbor, New York (1989)). U.S. Patent No. 4,237,224 to Cohen and Boyer , also describes the production of expression systems in the form of recombinant plasmids using restriction enzyme cleavage and ligation with DNA ligase.
A variety of prokaryotic expression systems can be used to express the fusion proteins used in the present invention. Expression vectors can be constructed which contain a promoter to direct transcription, a ribosome binding site, and a transcriptional terminator. Examples of regulatory regions suitable for this purpose in E. coli are the promoter and operator region of the E. coli tryptophan biosynthetic pathway (Yanofsky et al., "Repression is Relieved Before Attenuation in the trp Operon of Escherichia coli as Tryptophan Starvation Becomes Increasingly Severe," J. Bacteria. 158:1018-1024 (1984)) and the leftward promoter of phage lambda (N) (Herskowitz et al., "The Lysis-lysogeny Decision of Phage Lambda: Explicit Programming and Responsiveness," Ann. Rev. Genet., 14:399-445 (1980)). Vectors used for expressing foreign genes in bacterial hosts generally will contain a sequence for a promoter which functions in the host cell. Plasmids useful for transforming bacteria include pBR322 (Bolivar et al., "Construction and Characterization of New Cloning Vehicles II. A Multipurpose Cloning System," Gene 2:95-113 (1977)), the pUC plasmids (Messing, "New M13 Vectors for Cloning," Meth. Enzymol. 101:20-77 (1983), Vieira et al., "New pUC-derived Cloning Vectors with Different Selectable Markers and DNA Replication Origins," Gene 19:259-268(1982)), and derivatives thereof. Plasmids may contain both viral and bacterial elements. Methods for the recovery of the proteins in biologically active form are discussed in U.S. Patent Nos. 4,966,963 to Patroni and 4,999,422 to Galliher , which are incorporated herein by reference in their entierty. See Sambrook, et al (In Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, 2nd Ed., 1989, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor) for a description of other prokaryotic expression systems and methods used for protein expression. Suitable expression vectors include those which contain replicon and control sequences that are derived from species compatible with the host cell. For example, if E. coli is used as a host cell, plasmids such as pUC19, pUC18 or pBR322 may be used.
Different genetic signals and processing events control many levels of gene expression (e.g., DNA transcription and messenger RNA ("mRNA") translation) and, subsequently, the amount of fusion protein that is expressed within the host cell. Transcription of DNA is dependent upon the presence of a promoter, which is a DNA sequence that directs the binding of RNA polymerase, and thereby promotes mRNA synthesis. Promoters vary in their "strength" (i.e., their ability to promote transcription). For the purposes of expressing a cloned gene, it is desirable to use strong promoters to obtain a high level of transcription and, hence, expression and surface display. Depending upon the host system utilized, any one of a number of suitable promoters may be used. For instance, when using E. coli, its bacteriophages, or plasmids, promoters such as the T7 phage promoter, lac promoter, trp promoter, recA promoter, ribosomal RNA promoter, the PR and PL promoters of coliphage lambda and others, including but not limited, to lacUV5, ompF, bla, lpp, and the like, may be used to direct high levels of transcription of adjacent DNA segments. Additionally, a hybrid trp-lacUV5 (tac) promoter or other E. coli promoters produced by recombinant DNA or other synthetic DNA techniques may be used to provide for transcription of the inserted gene.
Translation of mRNA in prokaryotes depends upon the presence of the proper prokaryotic signals, which differ from those of eukaryotes. Efficient translation of mRNA in prokaryotes requires a ribosome binding site called the Shine-Dalgarno ("SD") sequence on the mRNA. This sequence is a short nucleotide sequence of mRNA that is located before the start codon, usually AUG, which encodes the amino-terminal methionine of the protein. The SD sequences are complementary to the 3'-end of the 16S rRNA (ribosomal RNA) and probably promote binding of mRNA to ribosomes by duplexing with the rRNA to allow correct positioning of the ribosome. For a review on maximizing gene expression, see Roberts and Lauer, Methods in Enzymology, 68:473 (1979)).
Host cells for application of the present invention are gram-negative bacteria. Host cells suitable for expressing the proteins of the present invention include any one of the more commonly available gram-negative bacteria. Suitable microorganisms include Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Salmonella gastroenteritis (typhimirium), S. typhi, S. enteriditis, Shigella flexneri, S. sonnie, S dysenteriae, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, N. meningitides, Haemophilus influenzae H. pleuropneumoniae, Pasteurella haemolytica, P. multilocida, Legionella pneumophila, Treponema pallidum, T. denticola, T. orales, Borrelia burgdorferi, Borrelia spp. Leptospira interrogans, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus vulgaris, P. morganii, P. mirabilis, Rickettsia prowazeki, R.typhi, R. richettsii, Porphyromonas (Bacteriodes) gingivalis, Chlamydia psittaci, C. pneumonias, C. trachomatis, Campylobacter jejuni, C. intermedis, C. fetus, Helicobacter pylori, Francisella tularenisis, Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Bordetella pertussis, Burkholderie pseudomallei, Brucella abortus, B. susi, B. melitens is, B. can is, Spirillum minus, Pseudomonas mallei, Aeromonas hydrophila, A salmonicida, and Yersinia pestis. Methods for transforming / transfecting host cells with expression vectors are well-known in the art and depend on the host system selected as described in Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Cold Springs Laboratory Press, Cold Springs Harbor, New York (1989)).
As will be apparent to one of skill in the art, the present invention allows for a broad range of studies of protein-protein and other types of multi-protein interactions to be carried out quantitatively or qualitatively in prokaryotic host cells. The proteins of the present invention could be endogenous prokaryotic proteins or a heterologous/eukaryotic proteins. In what follows, non-limiting examples of different applications of the invention are provided.
Another aspect of the present invention relates to a method of identifying a candidate protein which binds a target protein. This method includes providing a first expression system comprising a nucleic acid molecule encoding an alpha (α) fragment of a β-lactamase reporter protein molecule, a nucleic acid molecule encoding first signal sequence, and a nucleic acid molecule encoding a target protein, where the nucleic acid molecule encoding the alpha (α) fragment, the nucleic acid molecule encoding the first signal sequence, and the nucleic acid molecule encoding the target protein are operatively coupled to permit their expression in a prokaryotic host cell as a first fusion protein. This method also includes providing a second expression system comprising a nucleic acid molecule encoding an omega (co) fragment of the reporter protein molecule, a nucleic acid molecule encoding a second signal sequence, and a nucleic acid molecule encoding a candidate protein, wherein the nucleic acid molecule encoding the omega (co) fragment, the nucleic acid molecule encoding the second signal sequence, and the nucleic acid molecule encoding the candidate protein are operatively coupled to permit their expression in a prokaryotic host cell as a second fusion protein. This method further includes transforming a prokaryotic host cell with the first expression system and the second expression system, culturing the transformed prokaryotic host cell under conditions effective to express the first and the second fusion proteins and to transport the first fusion protein and the second fusion protein to the prokaryotic host cell's periplasm, with at least one of the first fusion protein or the second fusion protein being co-translationally transported to the periplasm. The prokaryotic host cells with β-lactamase reporter protein molecule activity are detected as those where binding between the candidate protein and the target protein has occurred. The candidate protein is identified as having the ability to bind to the target protein based on whether the host cell has β-lactamase reporter protein activity.
The proteins that can be used as target proteins and candidate proteins are mentioned supra.
The reporter systems of the present invention can be used in many applications such as in human therapeutics, diagnostics, and prognostics, in high-throughput screening systems for the discovery and validation of pharmaceutical targets and drugs, as well as discovery of genes that modulate protein interactions. Massive parallel mapping of pair-wise protein-protein interactions within and between the proteomes of cells, tissues, and pathogenic organisms, selection of antibody fragments or other binding proteins to whole proteomes, antigen identification for antibodies, epitope identification for antibodies, high-throughput screens for inhibitors of any protein-protein interaction can be done using the methods of the present invention. In one embodiment, the reporter system can be combined with directed evolution methods and used to engineer ultra-high affinity interactions between proteins such as antibody-antigen pairs.
By combining the methods and compositions of the invention with state-of-the-art methods for construction of high-titer, high-complexity cDNA libraries, it will be possible to identify interaction partners of a specific test protein from, for example, mammalian cells (i.e., perform functional genomics at the protein level). For this application, cDNA libraries can be constructed wherein the cDNA coding sequence is fused to a sequence encoding the β-lactamase reporter protein fragments of the present invention. A sequence encoding a binding protein of interest will be fused to a β-lactamase reporter protein fragment in a first vector. In a second series of vectors, a second β-lactamase reporter protein fragment will be fused to a variety of different proteins that will be tested for their ability to bind to the protein of interest. Testing will be conducted by co-transformation of prokaryotic host cells with the first and one of the series of second vectors. Those test proteins which are capable of binding to the protein of interest will allow detection of a β-lactamase reporter signal in cells in which they are co-expressed with the protein of interest.
This aspect of the present invention, the method can be separately carried out with a plurality of second expression systems containing a plurality of different nucleic acid molecules encoding different second proteins. This plurality of different second proteins can be encoded by members of a cDNA library. The methods of the present invention, could be adapted for efficient simultaneous detection of multitudes of interactions among proteins within cells, including expressed sequence libraries, cDNA libraries, single-chain antibody fragment (scFv) libraries, and scaffolded peptide libraries. They could also be used for rapid selection of binding molecules from single-chain antibody fragment (scFv) libraries, or from scaffolded peptide libraries for use as reagents in functional genomics studies, or for identification of natural ligands and epitopes by homology. Target interactions identified using the present invention, could be used immediately to screen for candidate compounds that act as inhibitors or activators of the protein-protein interaction.
The methods disclosed herein enable the detection and quantitation of binding events in cell lysates, as well as in intact prokaryotic host cells. The detectable signal is produced by the complementing reporter fragments and can serve as an indicator of binding between the putative binding pair (or target and candidate protein), either directly or indirectly via a third substance. Signals from the complementing reporter fragments could be detected by methods which include, for example, light emission and absorbance, genetic selection such as antibiotic selection, immunological techniques, such as immunofluorescent labeling. Exemplary signals include chromogenic, fluorescent and luminescent signals. These signals can be detected and quantitated visually or through the use of spectrophotometers, fluorimeters, microscopes, scintillation counters or other instrumentation known in the art. Assay solutions can be designed and developed for a particular system. The reporter systems disclosed herein can be used to conduct assays in systems, such as buffered cell free extracts of host cells, cell interiors, solutions of cells, solutions of cell lysates, and solutions of cell fractions, such as nuclear fractions, cytoplasmic fractions, and membrane fractions. Methods for preparing assay solutions, such as enzyme assay solutions, cell extracts, and cell suspensions, known in the art may be used. For example, physiologically compatible buffers such as phosphate buffered saline may be used.
In one embodiment of this aspect of the invention, the β-lactamase reporter protein molecule activity can be quantitated. In a preferred embodiment, the β-lactamase reporter protein activity detected among various candidate proteins is compared and used to identify the strongest binding candidate protein. This comparison among the plurality of candidate proteins can also be used to determine which of a plurality of candidate proteins bind to the target protein, or to rank the candidate proteins according to their binding affinities. The β-lactamase reporter protein typically will have a unique enzymatic activity or structure that enables it to be distinguished from other proteins present in the prokaryotic host cell or lysate. The methods of quantification of β-lactamase reporter protein activity are well known in the art. The activity of the transcribed β-lactamase reporter protein, or quantification of the activity of the β-lactamase reporter protein, provides an indirect measurement of binding between the putative members of the binding pair. Reporter assays enable the identification of binding affinity and factors that control binding between the putative members of the binding pair. Uses for reporter activity assay include, for example, identification of factors that control or influence protein-protein interactions, study of mechanisms that influence protein interactions, screening of candidate compounds or candidate genes that influence protein-protein interactions.
In reporter protein assays with poor sensitivity, it is difficult to distinguish negative results caused by the lack of expression or low-level assay sensitivity. This problem can be overcome with assays of greater sensitivity. Multiple assays are commonly used to provide controls for efficiency of transfection. In such assays, cells are transfected with a mixture of two separate plasmids, each having a reporter protein molecule controlled by different regulatory sequences. The expression of one reporter protein is controlled by different regulatory regions being studied while the other reporter gene, acting as a control, is generally constitutively expressed by a standard promoter or enhancer. The activity of the experimental reporter enzyme is normalized to the activity of the control reporter enzyme. Similarly, to understand the effects of a candidate gene or a candidate drug on protein-protein interaction, control experiments can be run in the absence of the candidate compound or gene and used to normalize data obtained in the presence of the candidate compound or gene. To provide relevant experimental information, reporter assays must be sensitive, thus enabling the detection of low levels of reporter protein in cell lines that transfect poorly. The sensitivity of a reporter gene assay is a function of the detection method as well as reporter mRNA and protein turnover, and endogenous (background) levels of the reporter activity.
Commonly used detection techniques use isotopic, calorimetric, fluorometric or luminescent enzyme substrates and immunoassay-based procedures with isotopic or color endpoints. Many of these systems, however, have disadvantages that limit their usefulness in these assays. For example, isotopic substrates and immunoassays are limited by the cost, sensitivity and inconvenience of using radioisotopes. Fluorometric systems require external light sources that must be filtered to discriminate fluorescent signal, thereby limiting the sensitivity and increasing complexity of the detection system. Furthermore, fluorescence from endogenous source can interfere with fluorometric measurements. Colorimetric systems lack the sensitivity desired for sensitive reporter gene assays. Chemiluminescent and bioluminescent assays, on the other hand, have been found to be more rapid and sensitive than colorimetric assays and fluorometric assays.
This application will also be useful in screening for agonists and antagonists of medically-relevant protein interactions. The assays and methods of the invention can also be carried out in the presence of extracellular signaling molecules, growth factors or differentiation factors, activated or inactivated genes or signals, peptides, organic compounds, drugs or synthetic analogs, or the like, whose presence or effects might alter the potential for interaction between the target protein and the candidate protein.
Another aspect of the present invention is related to a method of identifying a candidate gene which modulates the binding between a first protein and a second protein. This method includes providing a first expression system comprising a nucleic acid molecule encoding an alpha (α) fragment of a β-lactamase reporter protein molecule, a nucleic acid molecule encoding a first signal sequence, and a nucleic acid molecule encoding a first protein, where the nucleic acid molecule encoding the alpha (α) fragment, the nucleic acid molecule encoding the first signal sequence, and the nucleic acid molecule encoding the first protein are operatively coupled to permit their expression in a prokaryotic host cell as a first fusion protein. This method also includes providing a second expression system for expressing the second protein comprising a nucleic acid molecule encoding an omega (ω) fragment of the β-lactamase reporter protein molecule, a nucleic acid molecule encoding a second signal sequence, and a nucleic acid molecule encoding a second protein, where the nucleic acid molecule encoding the second fragment, the nucleic acid molecule encoding the second signal sequence, and the nucleic acid molecule encoding the second protein are operatively coupled to permit their expression in a prokaryotic host cell as a second fusion protein. This method further involves providing a candidate gene in a form suitable for expression in a prokaryotic host cell, transforming the prokaryotic host cell with the first expression system, the second expression system, and the candidate gene, and culturing the transformed prokaryotic host cell under conditions effective to, in the absence of the candidate gene, express the first fusion protein, the second fusion protein, and the protein encoded by the candidate gene and transport the first fusion protein and the second fusion protein to the prokaryotic host cell's periplasm with at least one of the first fusion protein or the second fusion protein being co-translationally transported to the periplasm. Any β-lactamase reporter activity in the transformed prokaryotic host cell is detected, and prokaryotic host cells, with β-lactamase reporter activity that is different than that achieved without transformation of the candidate gene are indentified, as containing a candidate gene which modulates binding between the first and second proteins.
The proteins that can be used as the first protein and the second protein are mentioned supra.
In one embodiment of this aspect of the invention, the presence of the candidate gene decreases the β-lactamase reporter activity and is identified as a candidate gene whose presence inhibits the binding between the first protein and the second protein. In another embodiment the presence of the candidate gene increases the β-lactamase reporter activity and is identified as activating the binding between the first protein and the second protein.
In another embodiment, the method is separately carried out with a plurality of second expression systems containing a plurality of different nucleic acid molecules encoding different second proteins, such that the second proteins are encoded by members of a cDNA library. A library of all the protein members of a proteome of interest can be constructed and used. Libraries derived from nucleotide sequences that contain all members of a total protein population (i.e. a proteome) of interest may be isolated from a host cell such as a prokaryotic or a eukaryotic cell, or also from a viral host. Viral hosts that encode for oncogenes are of particular interest. Mammalian tumor cells, immune cells and endothelial cells also provide proteomes of particular interest for the present invention.
In one embodiment of this aspect of the invention, the reporter protein activity is quantitated as described supra. In a preferred embodiment, the reporter protein activity detected among various candidate genes is compared and used to identify the strongest modulator of the interaction between the first protein and the second protein. The candidate gene can modulate the protein-protein interaction in a way such that it leads to activation the interaction or it leads to the inhibition of the interaction.
In one embodiment, the candidate compound decreases β-lactamase reporter activity and is identified as inhibiting binding between the first protein and the second protein. In the same manner a candidate compound, whose presence increases β-lactamase reporter activity is identified as activating binding between the first protein and the second protein. In another aspect of the present invention a plurality of candidate compounds could be used and screened for their effect on the protein-protein interaction.
EXAMPLES Example 1 - Construction of Vectors.
All cloning was performed using standard molecular biological techniques. A gene sequence comprising a (GGGGS)3 -NGR linker sequence followed by residues 198-286 of TEM-1 BLA was cloned between the BamHI and HindIII sites of pDMB to create pDMB-ωBLA. Genes to be fused to the ωBLA fragment were then cloned into this vector between XbaI and SalI sites. Genes to be fused to the αBLA fragment were cloned between the KpnI and BamHI sites of vector αGS- Jun (Wehrman, T., et al., "Protein-protein Interactions Monitored in Mammalian Cells Via Complementation of Beta-lactamase Enzyme Fragments," Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 99:3469-3474 (2002)). Fos and Jun leucine knockouts and scFv-GCN4 were as in (DeLisa, M.P., "Versatile Selection Technology for Intracellular Protein-protein Interactions Mediated by Bacterial Hitchhiker Transport Mechanism," Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106:3692-3697 (2009)). Template DNA for scFvs D10, and gpd was kindly provided by Andreas Plückthun.
Example 2 - Expression of Fusion Proteins and Cell Growth Assays.
E. coli MC4100 cells were co-transformed with plasmids pDMB-P1-ωBLA (CmR) and aGS-P2 (KanR), where P1 and P2 represent proteins of interest. Cells were grown overnight at 37 °C in LB medium containing 20 µg/mL chloramphenicol (Cm) and 50 µg/mL kanamycin (Kan). Screening of cells on LB agar was performed by first normalizing overnight cultures by OD600 and then spotting 5 µL of serially diluted (10-106-fold) cells on LB agar plates with 12, 25, 50, or 50 µg/mL of ampicillin (Amp). In all cases, the plates were incubated 16 h at 37 °C and then imaged using a ChemiDoc System (BioRad). For MBC/MIC determination, approximately 200 colony forming units (CFUs) of each clone were plated on LB agar plates containing 0, 3, 6, 12, 25, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, or 1600 µg/mL Amp or 20 µg/mL Cm. The minimum bacteriocidal concentration was determined as the minimum Amp concentration at which no colonies appeared on the plates. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined as the minimum concentration of Amp on which colony size was significantly smaller than control.
It was hypothesized that detecting protein interactions in the periplasm can be used to engineer antibody fragments with in vivo activity in the periplasm. The periplasm is ideal for antibody engineering as its oxidizing environment allows for the formation of disulfide bonds, which many antibody fragments require to function (Auf der Maur, A., et al., "Antigen-independent Selection of Stable Intracellular Single-chain Antibodies," FEBS Lett 508:407-12 (2001)). The approach used in the present invention was to fuse known interacting protein domains to genes encoding two split P -lactamase fragments using a two-plasmid system (Wehrman, T., et al., "Protein-protein Interactions Monitored in Mammalian Cells Via Complementation of Beta-lactamase Enzyme Fragments," Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 99:3469-3474 (2002)) (see Figure 2A). The α fragment encodes residues 1-196 of TEM-1 Bla, while the ω fragment encodes residues 197-286 out of 286. The ω fragment contains the native signal sequence of Bla (residues 1-23), which targets the C-terminally fused protein to the Sec translocon for transport into the periplasm. In the construct of the present invention, the protein of interest fused to the ω fragment is targeted to the SRP pathway for co-translational translocation.
Example 3 - Antibody-Antigen Interactions are Reported in Two Cases.
To determine the ability of the assay of the present invention to detect and eventually engineer antibody-antigen interactions, interacting protein pairs as well as non-interacting proteins were cloned into two plasmids carrying the two inactive Bla fragments (Figure 2A). In this study, two antibody-antigen pairs were examined. First, an scFv which is known to bind the GCN4 leucine zipper was tested. In addition to the scFv and wild-type GCN4 pair, a double proline mutant, GCN4-PP as an antigen for the scFv was also tested. GCN4 is normally a homodimer, but a double proline mutant of GCN4 (GCN4-pp) exhibits reduced dimerization, thereby reducing the amount of inactive α/α dimers in the assay. Figures 2B-D show the results of spot plating of the interacting pairs, with α-Jun as a negative control. The spot plates correspond to a 16- fold higher MBC (minimum bacteriocidal concentration, see Example 2 for full definition of MIC/MBC) on ampicillin for GCN4-PP and a 2-fold higher MBC for the GCN4 wild-type (homodimer). A difference of this magnitude is promising for future library selection processes.
In the case of GCN4, an antibody fragment that binds a leucine zipper, a short peptide fragment was already tested. Since a goal of this assay is engineering protein-protein interactions, an antibody fragment with a protein antigen was tested. D10, an scFv with affinity for the phage protein gpD, an 11.4 kDa capsid protein from bacteriophage lambda was used (Koch, H., et al., "Direct Selection of Antibodies from Complex Libraries with the Protein Fragment Complementation Assay," J Mol Biol 357:427-441 (2006), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety). Indeed, the results with D10 were similar (spot plating shown in Figures 2B-D), with an MBC roughly 8-fold higher than the Jun negative control and 16-fold higher than the GCN4-PP negative control.
Example 4 - Leucine Zipper Interactions are Reported Reliably.
The hydrophobic interaction between Fos and Jun leucine zippers is well documented and these proteins are often used as standards for protein interaction (Wehrman, T., et al., "Protein-protein Interactions Monitored in Mammalian Cells via Complementation of Beta-lactamase Enzyme Fragments," Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99:3469-3474 (2002)). The KD of their interaction has been reported in the nanomolar range (Pernelle, C., et al., "An Efficient Screening Assay for the Rapid and Precise Determination of Affinities between Leucine Zipper Domains," Biochemistry 32:11682-11687 (1993)). In the present study, Fos was fused to the ω fragment and Jun to the α fragment of β-lactamase (Bla). As a negative control, a potential binding partner of the leucine zipper GCN4 was incorporated, which does not bind Fos. When placed in the PCA, Fos and Jun were found to have ampicillin activity well above that of the negative control (Figure 2C). After successful spot plating, the interactions were further characterized by constructing a series of point mutants that have been shown to have lower affinity (due to knockout of leucine residues). The MIC/MBC of these interactions and spot plating of these mutants can be found in Figure 3. It is notable that the assay is apparently able to correlate Bla activity with levels of interaction along a spectrum of affinities.
It is shown that antibody-antigen reactions show a large difference in MIC/MBC from non-specific interactions. This can be used to select interacting pairs from a library of antibody fragments. The Tomlinson libraries, libraries of scFv antibody fragments with randomized complementarity determining regions, provide huge diversity. Normally, these libraries are used to isolate binding by phage display. The present invention is also related to cloning such libraries into the reporter system of the present invention, genetically fusing the scFvs to the ω fragment of Bla and selecting for interactions with a desirable antigen. In order to provide a well-folded, soluble antigen, the E. coli maltose binding protein can be used as a potential binding substrate. After cloning the library, 2 plasmids can be co-transformed: (1) scFv library-ω-Bla and (2) α-Bla-MalE, then selected for growth on ampicillin plates. The resulting hits can be analyzed by surface plasmon resonance (BIACore) to determine dissociation constants and further evolved via the creation of error-prone PCR libraries (with a target error rate of 3-4 mutations per gene) and selection on increasing ampicillin concentration media. Such a study will serve two purposes: (1) the selection of a novel antibody-antigen interaction and (2) the study of enrichment of affinity and its effect on Bla activity. The present invention has demonstrated that Bla activity can change with affinity and increasing affinity will provide a chance not only to track the correlation of ampicillin activity with affinity, but also the upper and lower bounds of affinity capable of detection in this assay. An additional use for this assay is selection for interactions of protein antigens with full-length IgGs, produced in the periplasm fused to a Bla fragment, then selected in the manner above.
wherein the bacterial host cell is a gram negative bacteria.
The reporter system according to claim 1, wherein both the first and the second fusion proteins are co-translationally transported to the periplasm.
The reporter system according to claim 1, wherein the first member of the putative binding pair and the second member of the putative binding pair have a binding affinity which is stronger than the binding affinity of the alpha (α) fragment and the omega (ω) fragment of the β-lactamase reporter protein.
The reporter system according to claim 1, wherein the putative binding pair is selected from the group of proteins consisting a membrane protein-soluble binding protein pair, a membrane protein-membrane protein binding pair, a biotin-avidin binding pair, ligand-receptor binding pair, and an antibody-antigen pair.
The reporter system according to claim 4, wherein the putative binding pair is an antibody-antigen pair, wherein the antibody is selected from the group consisting of monoclonal antibody, bispecific antibody, single-chain antibody (scAb), single-chain Fv fragment (scFv), scFv2, dsFv, scFv-Fc, Fab, F(ab')2, F(ab')3, VL, diabody, single domain antibody, camelid antibody, triabody, tetrabody, minibody, one-armed antibody, and immunoglobulin (Ig), IgM, IgE, IgA, IgD, IgG, IgG-ΔCH2, and wherein the antigen is selected from the group consisting of cell surface receptors, proteins regulating apoptosis, proteins that regulate progression of the cell-cycle, proteins involved in the development of tumors, transcriptional-regulatory proteins, translation regulatory proteins, proteins that affect cell interactions, cell adhesion molecules, proteins which are members of ligand-receptor pairs, proteins that participate in the folding of other proteins, SNARE protein family, and proteins involved in targeting to intracellular compartments; or wherein the putative binding pair is a receptor-ligand pair, wherein the receptor is selected from the group consisting of Fc receptors (FcR), single-chain MHC, and single-chain T-cell receptor (sc-TCR); or wherein the putative binding pair is a membrane protein -membrane protein binding pair or membrane protein-soluble protein binding pair, wherein the membrane protein is selected from the group consisting of monotopic membrane proteins, polytopic membrane proteins, transmembrane proteins, G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), ion channels, SNARE protein family, integrin adhesion receptor, and multi-drug efflux transporters.
The method according to claim 6, wherein the target and candidate proteins are selected from the group of proteins consisting of a membrane protein-soluble binding protein pair, a membrane protein-membrane protein binding pair, a biotin-avidin binding pair, ligand-receptor binding pair, and an antibody-antigen pair.
The method according to claim 6, wherein said method is carried out to determine which of a plurality of candidate proteins bind to the target protein.
The method according to claim 9, wherein a candidate gene, whose presence decreases β-lactamase reporter activity is identified as inhibiting binding between the first protein and the second protein; or wherein a candidate gene, whose presence increases β-lactamase reporter activity is identified as activating binding between the first protein and the second protein.
The method according to claim 9, wherein said method is separately carried out with a plurality of second expression systems containing a plurality of different nucleic acid molecules encoding different second proteins, wherein the second proteins are encoded by members of a cDNA library.
The method according to claim 12, wherein the candidate compound, whose presence decreases β-lactamase reporter activity is identified as inhibiting binding between the first protein and the second protein, or wherein a candidate compound, whose presence increases β-lactamase reporter activity is identified as activating binding between the first protein and the second protein.
The method according to claim 9 or 12, wherein the binding affinity of the first protein and the second protein is stronger than the binding affinity of the alpha (α) and omega (ω) fragments of the β-lactamase reporter protein.
The reporter system according to claim 1 wherein the alpha (α) fragment of the β-lactamase reporter protein has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 and the omega (ω) fragment of the β-lactamase reporter protein molecule has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3.
The reporter system according to claim 1 or the method according to any of claims 6, 9 and 12, wherein the signal sequence is directed to a transport pathway selected from the group consisting of Sec pathway, SRP pathway, and the Tat pathway.
wherein the signal sequence is directed to the Tat pathway and is selected from the group consisting ssFdnG, ssFdoG, ssNapG, ssNrfC, ssHyaA, ssYnfE, ssWcaM, ssTorA, ssNapA, ssYagT, ssYcbK, ssDmsA, ssYdhX, ssYahJ, ssYedY, ssCueO, ssSufI, ssYcdB, ssTorZ, ssHybA, ssYnfF, ssHybO, ssAmiC, ssAmiA, ssYfhG, ssMdoD, ssFhuD, ssYaeI, and ssYcdO.
The method according to claim 9 or 12, wherein the first and the second protein are selected from the group of proteins consisting of a membrane protein-soluble binding protein pair, a membrane protein-membrane protein binding pair, a biotin-avidin binding pair, ligand-receptor binding pair, and an antibody-antigen pair.
The method according to any of claims 6, 9 and 12, wherein said detecting is carried out quantitatively.
comparing the quantitative β-lactamase reporter protein activity detected among various candidate compounds to identify the compound which is the strongest modulator of the interaction between the first protein and the second protein.
The method according to claim 12, wherein the said method is carried out with a plurality of candidate compounds. | 2019-04-23T10:59:34Z | https://patents.google.com/patent/EP2358909B1/en |
Everybody has ways they waste time… Maybe not everybody but I do. I am not sure I can justify my own choices for what I do instead of something important… Well, maybe we need to define important, but after just going into the immigration issues, I am not going to define anything here—just describe what I do when I should be cleaning house or something more noteworthy, like writing on the next book.
My time waster began innocently enough. Don’t they all! I got interested in people who live a full-time RV life. I can’t describe right now how I found the ones I began to check out on YouTube. Maybe because I joined some Facebook groups about RVs since we have one and were looking at changing to something different. Because I also have a YouTube channel, with very little on it, I had interest in the art form, and know from experience that it isn’t the easiest thing to create something others want to follow.
Working close to the earth, being responsible with money, observing the law, protecting nature, helping neighbors in need, being a loyal friend, morality and aproaching problems by being practical are some of Rain's values.
She shared in her post that her childhood on a small farm as well as living on a ranch as an adult shaped her values. So quite reasonably her political view of immigration is unsurprising. Being a practical person without knowing a complete solution, Rain shared a few doable ideas for improving immigration at our borders.
My experience as a child of a naturalized citizen I have similar values. Rain and I have more in common than not. We grew our vegetables and some of our fruit. My parents never took government assistance, father went to great pains to be sure he always obeyed the law. Preparing our taxes was a particularly tense time. Tax forms had to be perfect for his income and my mother's cottage doll making business. We had no debts other than borrowing money to buy our house. Father paid off the debt. He demonstrated his value for education; father modeled the joy of learning studying advanced math every night. He filled notebooks with mathematical formulas and his calculations as he studied theoretical advanced math books.
There were differences. Both of my parents were university educated. Their close friends were from their college days. We, however, lived in low income neighborhoods with mostly blue collar workers until I was in high school. Though my parents were educated, politics were seldom mentioned and discussed in our home beyond my father explaining joyfully, "The presidential campaign conventions are super wonderful". Rain comes from a family far more politically vocal. Rain like her parents follows the news with interest and passion. Her example amazes me. Her well thought out arguments! She has instilled in me an interest in politics.
I was not taught to be snobbish about being the educated elite. Uncle Fred, mother's brother, was a shoe salesman. I am not sure he graduated from high school. I grew up thinking he was as good as my college educated parents.
Wearing my thicker skin. I am allowing my premise to fall away. My premise being a few strategies can make a smooth bridge of understanding between the right and left. My pet experiment is a pie in the sky dream. My idea of finding a way is futile. Left and right citizens cannot talk to one another in a civil tone. How silly to think our fellow citizens would take on explaining where they come from before expressing their opinions.Telling ones story is too difficult. Sadly citizens would not listen and hear how those who oppose them came to their mutually good values. I am a day dreamer thinking we can invent a grass roots level method for all of us citizens to start to turn the tide away from becoming more and more polarized. We will continue to gulp up messages that tickle and confirm our individual ever widening different views.
"consider my invitation to a brainstorm on how to conduct ourselves in both addressing problems of children living in poverty here and those refugee children who would die in their native country and are coming in ever greater numbers. If you cannot post on my blog, send by email. I will post your input.
It's easy: Take care of your own children and homeland first. Always. If you "care" so much, get a ticket to whatever poverty-stricken area you wish and help out. But take care of our own business first! And DO NOT steal from others so you can support feeding the world's down-trodden. If that is your belief, go for it. Without the rest of us.
On Monday my mood improved after receiving my friends challenging response. I am grateful for my friends trust in the face that we do not agree. Her words are more gentle then sometimes, still I feel a little defensive. I might defensively say something that would end our friendship and dialog over the past 5 years. This blog is about civil conversation not the place for my knee jerk response. Then I step back and wonder why I feel guilt for not taking action beyond writing. I am guilty as I should be. I feel I am not an asset helping at the soup kitchen like I used to. I declined a request to teach watercolor in Belize to children at a summer church camp. Certainly I could find some place where I could contribute with doing something and not just writing and talking. No, no! My search for weaving back the fabric of our society is a good thing to do.
I feel very grateful of how my friend continues to correspond even though we do not agree on many things. I understand her admiration for New Yorker frankness and her dedication to volunteering. She is a good person and writer of political articles in a right wing news letter, as well as writing stories and plays. During the Carter and Regan Administration she wrote presidential speeches. She is knowlegeable.
Another writer of stories and plays is my cousin, Jim Cunningham who liked some of my Facebook posts. He recently published a book of his short stories available on Amazon. He is giving all the money he gets from book sales to St. Jude's Hospital for Children.
His poignant stories often burst my bubble and increase my empathy. A few of his stories are somewhat autobiographical. All of the stories are like stepping under someone elses' skin and leave lasting impressions.
One of Jim's stories, "Where the Mountain Meets the Plain" is about a present day father and his son who own a small ranch. They are among the disappearing few small family run agricultural businesses. Perhaps their strong values are disappearing. People of the land use to extend their helping hand when neighbors are in need - one important value that made our country great. Jim's story says much about the goodness of people giving of themselves just like the way our nation was built. After mulling over Jim's powerful and awesomely concise story, I am sad that our old values are being tested by extreme challenges.
I hope I have been fair in my tone on my friend's response on how we should conduct ourselves so our trust continues. Jim's story brings home to me that volunteering is not like it used to be in solving problems. Jim's insights on citizen volunteering illustrates the problem with my friend's simple solution.
Another point of my bringing Jim's stories into this blog post is story telling is best for communicating ideas. Telling your personal story is a powerful way towards effectively beginning a civil discussion that will bring people together in understanding. If we stick to personal experiences it will be harder for alien sources to infiltrate our national dialogue around elections.
I watched Yo-Yo Ma on the importance of telling each other our stories on PBS News Hour April 15.
"Culture turns the other into us, and it does this through trust, imagination, and empathy. So, let's tell each other our stories and make it our epic, one for the ages."
Rain wrote on a Facebook link to this blog.
Diane and I tried an experiment-- discussing our very different ideas on immigration. She went first and I followed. Our goal was to show that people can differ on important issues and still remain friends. Mostly, this is helped by not discussing those topics lol. We made an exception for the blog, which generally doesn't do politics at all.
She wanted us to begin by what in our background had led us to what we currently think on immigration; so that's what we did. Hers was... on the 10th and mine the 13th. I don't think either of us believe we have all the answers for a situation that may grow much worse if global climate change makes some areas unlivable. I don't think the world is ready for what might come and some of that is because we have no idea what it will be as much is projecting based on the past except human history is short and especially that recorded or with tools to do measuring; so it's geologic and fossils that provide data. The one thing we know for sure from that-- earth can change a lot even without human interference.
Some of today's immigrants have their situation made worse by failed or failing governments. No easy answers for sure.
Sonoran Gopher Snake at our Tucson backyard pool. He/she might look scary, but they are very beneficial to the environment. You can tell a dangerous snake from this one by head shape. Rattlers have triangular heads. The rattles are less reliable as they can lose those various ways. It's nice when we can clearly define what is dangerous and what is beneficial.
Originally, I had not planned on starting with from where my thinking on immigration has come, but Diane asked that I do that. She and I come from different backgrounds but have been friends for over 50 years. In the early mornings, we used to meet for coffee, when we both lived in a Tucson apartment complex. Our husbands would leave for Graduate School, and she and I'd talk over different things that seemed important at the time. We often disagreed, but it didn't matter. We didn't get mad. She'd head off to paint and I'd write. It was a creative environment, one I have never actually duplicated.
Recently, she and I decided here to discuss some big topics that we know we don't see the same way. We are doing it to show people can disagree and remain friends. We can let it go when we can't convince someone else that we are right. One of the problems today is the bubbles in which so many live. They hear only one side and get to thinking everyone out of their bubble is bad. I've been unfriended for that very reason on Facebook. I've come to believe that in most bubbles, if I read them at all, it's smarter to not say what I think unless it's Amen. The bubble is their right. It's a shame though as hearing from other viewpoints can let us know the ones who think that way are not bad people for disagreeing.
One of my main lessons from childhood is--actions have consequences. I grew up with a belief that idealism is fine, but it has to be tempered with reality. This was reinforced when my husband of 55 years and I bought a farm over 40 years ago. Farming teaches you even more strongly that idealism doesn't get the work done. It doesn't fix broken fences. There is a reality that those who work the land learn or they go back to the city. For farmers and ranchers, work is not a temporary vacation. It's a day by day reality. You do it or it does not get done.
True, some farmers do pay those not legally here to do the work but not many cattle ranchers as it's dangerous work where you need to be skilled or it won't turn out well for you. That is also true of most forestry work; and in my part of Oregon, I see very few migrants in those jobs. The only big farmer nearby has brought up workers from Mexico but applied for them legally with blue cards. That lets the workers come and go.
Now, I do see a lot of those likely without documentation seasonally for Christmas tree harvesting. They aren't here later. Generally speaking, work for migrants has meant a need to move with the crops-- this is not new. It was big in the US during the Dust Bowl years in the '30s for families like Ranch Boss's father's. It is true today for those living in RVs, who go from job to job. Steady work isn't always available for some-- here illegally or otherwise.
My time in Arizona, where the border is today an issue, began in 1965 and has been off and on until it increased when we finally bought a second home in Tucson 20 years ago. Tucson is a place of many ethnicities, a city proud of its past with influences from the early Mexican settlers, the Native Americans, the Chinese, and yes, European settlers.
I've seen the difference illegal immigration has made to Southwestern places where I enjoy re-creating, mountain islands and valleys along the border. There was a time, when we could explore washes down there or out of Tucson with no concern for who we might meet. For those who don't know, the scary people are not generally speaking the migrants but those who bring them and drugs. I've personally seen what it has done to border towns like Nogales where the fences got more onerous and intimidating, where the ones I'd see hanging around looked more dangerous-- on both sides. Where rudeness to women got more out in the open by the comments made. That was not the Nogales of 1965.
One of my favorite areas to explore out of Tucson (Ironwood National Monument now) had a group of immigrants murdered as they waited for a ride-- murdered by a rival cartel. It's a place we no longer go without watching for what's coming.
Same thing with nearer to the border. We go but with caution and yes, with a gun. On the ranches down there, I've read their stories, seen for myself the plastic garbage strewn (which when cows eat kills them), seen cut fences, to which I, of course, relate. I've read how tanks were left dry after migrants refilled their bottles and left the tap open. This whole thing of having people crossing land with no respect for it can't be understood unless someone understands and tends to the land.
Despite understanding the side of those who have their land and want to protect it, I also sympathize with those here without papers, who work hard but find their lives on hold as they never really know if there will be a knock at the door. This is an intolerable problem and it's made worse that some profit from it-- on both sides of the partisan divide.
Because of my nature, I read both sides, desperate stories like this one [Risks for the migrants] but I am a practical woman, made so by my life and belief in rules-- an archaic way to be in today's world apparently. I also believe that with a country 22,000,000,000 in debt, where we aren't going to see 0 interest in the future, what can we really afford? There is no sugar daddy out there to pay that all off. We have to live responsibly as individuals. Why is the government different.
My assemblage, "Immigration," was inspired by my father's values. It includes father's #8 envelope containing proof of citizenship papers secured with a woven cotton cord tied with the precision of a Boy Scout, sailor's knot. My hand made papers symbolical represent his contribution of values he absorbed from living in several other countries.
He beautifully mended files and cars as opposed to throwing away any worn out thing.
This is the first of paired blog posts with my co-author, Rain, on divisive issues facing our nation. Acknowledging that differing opinions of our current USA and world wide issues could result in breaking our friendship, Rain and I are going to try airing our different sides on several issues in a civil tone. Of course I am optimistic that telling my story behind my opinions will build a stronger bridge between us. My hunch is that explaining what I understand to be my background will soften hot buttons. I invite Rain to add more definitions of terminology and to share her background to her present opinions on immigration. Since I do not want to control this exchange, my blog pardoner deserves the same freedom she gives me. I want Rain to be free to present her side in her own way.
The question for me is, knowing my friend, can I understand her perspective without taking offense. Rain and I have been friends almost continually since 1965 when we and our husbands went from Portland to Tucson, Arizona where our husbands completed masters degrees in chemistry at the University of Arizona.
We are willing to put our friendship to test by the stress of revealing our opposing feelings and opinions on issues because we might set a good example. We can have an open airing of what we believe. Or fail at finding a way for every citizen to start to change what I believe is the biggest threat to our republic - our polarization leading to demonizing each other followed by the unthinkable. I don't want to loose my best friend next to my husband. Personally a loss of our friendship would be extremely hurtful. The risk is worth the effort for the love our country.
Thank you, Rain for suggesting we do these dual blogs. Thank you for over the years putting me in my place when I am ignorant of facts. I appreciate our past disscussions and I credit you for helping me mature.
In respect for Rain I accept Rain's goal as mine too. We will demonstrate that good people are on both sides of hotly argued issues like immigration. Our intention is not to change the other's mind or even the readers' minds on the issues we cover. Neither is it agreeing to disagree when such an agreement is a contract to avoid a complete hearing and acceptance of each other.
I finally see myself as being the latest edition of migrants going back to the earliest homosapiens. I didn't alway see myself as coming from early humanity and related to all humanity.
During my childhood I believed I came from an American melting pot mixture of peoples like the English, Pennsylvania Dutch, and the French American Indians, combined with my newly immigrated father with roots from the Middle East, Switzerland, Russia and Central Europe.
My father took a dim view of my mother's pride in her many ethnicities. I grew up hearing from him that the white man should not adopt China as their country like his parents and grandparents tried to do before Mao and Communism took over Shanghai. I heard from father that in the United States your roots do not matter. He denied his father was Jewish because he was not observant. Father had a personal philosophy not believing in organized religion. Here in the United States everyone is equal. Here we should all try to be like Americans he said.
His heir, however, wanted to know about their roots. The desire to belong to a tribe is strong for me. I want to belong to some group especially because I didn't have that comfort as a child. Always feeling like l was an outsider leaves a hole in self-esteem. So as an adult in my pursuit and interest in my heritage, I have been a snob. I needed to be openly proud. Snobs are not likeable and I also wanted to be liked.
I do not know what it is to be persecuted to the point of fearing for my life like my ancestors were. And for another DNA testing is only beginning to impact the general population with the realization that our ancestors are all from the same source with the same need to survive so virtually we all are descendents from migrants.
Our 1953 Yosemite camp with our 1934 Chevy coup's hood supporting canvas tarps held out by the cot that I slept on while my parents slept on the ample bed of the trunk. All of this camping and cooking gear was stowed in the trunk and in two duffle bags on the fenders. We only forgot the can opener.
My parents did not buy a new car every year during the 50's like our neighbors. Maybe their values set me apart from the other children. I felt different, some thought we were Jewish. I was not popular.
Although between 1948 -1958 in Berkeley, California and near by El Cereto, I was surrounded by minorities when I went to school. Racial tensions were high: I both loved and feared some of them. Their voices were musical as they called out to one another under the resonating canopy covering the stairway to and from the out-building classrooms of Portola Junior High School. I loved their street vocalizations but when I entered the restroom I was fearful a group of them would be there and I would be bullied. This was the year before segregation during a time when the South was integrating.
To me when so many ethnic groups are living together there are tensions that come to violent outbursts, but here in the United States we are making progress in learning to accept one another even if we go through periods of back sliding. I am a Polly Anna and I am OK with that label.
My family and the community shaped my opinion on immigration. First, before presenting more of my opinion, I want to establish definitions of terms. My theory I am testing here is that language is important in addition to sharing our backgrounds to have a civil sharing of different opinions.
Migrant is a person who moves from one place to another, especially in order to find work or better living conditions. Animals and people migrate. Some animal migrants are a part of a balanced ecosystems Like the swallows who return to our back yard just as flying insects hatch in the spring. Other animals like wild pigs, Scotch broom, or killer bees are invasive. There are 50 thousand invasive species in the United States.
Refugee is a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.
Refugee Status is, generally speaking , is a displaced person who has been forced to cross national boundaries and who cannot return home safely. Such a person may be called an asylum seeker until granted refugee status by the contracting state or the UNHCR if they formally make a claim for asylum.
A hot button for me is being labeled a globalist if it is defined as someone who believes that ultimately all borders and nations should be dissolved, resulting in one single world. This Utopian Globalism would be fantastic but is unreachable. I am a globalist if it is defined as a person who advocates the interpretation or planning of economic and foreign policy in relation to events and developments throughout the world.
In my humble opinion of immigration policies, I will try to be humble because truly I do not comprehend the scope of providing shelter for all of the hurting peoples of the world. I do not know an immediate fix. And I fear someday we will need to migrate to safety.
Building a continuous wall on the Mexican border is not a good immigration policy. Claiming the country is "full" is inhumane. Building a continuous wall is counterproductive waste of our precious resources. The wall without border patrol backup is a symbol rather than a functioning protection. Walls require adequate border patrol agents using technology to prevent criminal activities. They are already effective judging that most crime enters by air and sea. "Build the wall" is a campaign slogan giving false satisfaction to President Trump's base. Support for a wall ignores the realities on the ground. It divides economic communities in El Paso, Nogales, and San Diego. Our economies are intertwined with a flow of commerce and services. I want our tax dollars to go to facilitating the flow of commerce. Also we need tax money to go to timely processing refugee's applications for some type of legal status.
The United States and the world's nations are being challenged by the increasing frequency of epic storms and drought stricken flora and fauna. We need world co-operative efforts. We need to realize that as compassionate beings we will have to be considerate of others beyond our borders. Being considerate means making sacrifices to benefit humanity as a whole.
I imagine and fear leadership that undermines co-operation between nations. We do not have to follow the path of building the Great Wall as was done in China. The Mongol Barbarians eventually ruled China. The Barbarians, interestingly, assimilated the Chinese culture. Unfortunately forests were cut down to fuel the kilns to make bricks for the wall. Where the trees were gone the land became a desert and the rivers flooded. Of course we are not ancient China. Yet, we would use significant energy making a steel wall. Steel will be used that will not go into our failing infrastructure.
Allowing immigration comes with the fear other values and even other countries will govern us. It is a fear with historic examples of colonialism, fascism and communism. Clearly I am optimistically certain that we can keep our national identity and belong to world governance organizations.
In the United States two blocking sentiments exist around immigration. The desire to celebrate our recent roots can lead to an instinct for nationalist exclusion of other countries and strangers. The other but related feeling is fearing that outsiders seeking to immigrate are threats. Looking at history large migrations have wiped out indigenous populations. The migrations that turned violent catch our attention and strike terror in our heart obscuring migrations that fostered mutual enriched life and survival.
were dressed to wind crape paper garlands around the May Pole.
Thinking well of those who oppose us is helped by understanding the opposition's story. Knowing where we each come from is a key to civil discussion. Maybe the way we disagree will be an example for citizens to meaningfully bridge and heal the great political polarization threatening our country and bogging down our governments effectiveness.
Rain's views will follow this coming Saturday the 13th. So if you made it through my entire essay, the complete conclusion to our main purpose, I apologize, is not possible until Rain states her views and reacts. Can we see each other as being good people when we fully air our opinion? Rain has a special perspective on the border and immigration. She researched the history of the Arizona border for some of her novels. She divides her year between living in her Tucson home and a ranch in the Oregon Coast Range. She keeps up with currentevents. I await Rain's opinions with anticipation.
I welcome comments to this blog within the scope of this blog on culture - not political rants. Meaning even if the comment is in agreement with my opinion, it is irrelevant in this blog. What interests me, for example, is a short sentence or two of roughly where you stand with as much elaboration you need on what is your background that shaped your opinion. I am open to new ideas on how to bridge the cultural habits we have that promote polarization. This post is about how in political discussions our feelings of how good or bad the opposition is painted by how we communicate our political beliefs. Personal stories, in my humble opinion, are most likely to be well received and bridge polarization.
One of the joys of living in the desert, especially such a lush one as the Santa Cruz River Valley, has to be the birds. There are so many if one puts out food, which we do with quail blocks and seed oriented to attract cardinals.
Watching them for hours sometimes, I've been at times disillusioned by the behavior of doves. If you have watched them, you see some definite bullying behavior. The males can become almost monster-like. They ruffle up their necks and stalk the other birds-- especially the young females. Talk about no understanding of boundaries. Doves are considered birds of peace, but they don’t always feel that way especially some of the older males. I wish I had been able to photograph them when they were doing that but never got the right shot.
This spring, I saw a new side as, because of the missing carport, a pair of doves began to build a nest under the covered porch. Ranch Boss saw that and put some wire mesh up there to make sure their nests wouldn't fall through.
In the garage is a large stack of glass of many sizes. In the shop are three shelves of aluminum frames. In my studio a floor to ceiling metal shelf pantry organizer is stuffed with framed and unframed paintings and drawings some dating back to childhood - 60 years of painting. Many of the older works on cheap acidic paper smell not of mold or mildew. They have been well cared for but the smell of them and the entire studio makes my eyes itchy and the eyelids puffy. My guess dust mites?
This weeks purge is not the first time I have gone through my extensive collection and retired some keeping representative work. Almost every year I can part with a couple. At first the larger glass ones were taken apart. I took the glass to glass shops and cut down the glass for smaller frames. The last five years I have unframed almost all of my paintings under glass. I just do not want to work with glass much longer. There are ways to paint large watercolor-like paintings covered with acrylic varnish so there is no need of glass.
The past three days I have three paintings from my collection only one is a drawing of one daughter when she was 11 years old upon her request. The other two are a watercolor by Shirley Hilts and the first oil painting by granddaughter Melissa Edge. Yesterday afternoon I received a Fedex package containing four paintings from Dr. Donna Holdberg Kuttner. All seven are ready this morning to go to The Corvallis Caring Place Assisted Living. They will hang in the upstairs South Hall where I exhibit my collection and other artist's collections. These are works not for sale. In return for sharing her work, I am giving Donna the framing. I am thrilled that my discarded frames and glass are going to good use.
Since I wrote the last blog about my search for a way to talk about politics that will bridge the widening political gap, I have lost my train of thought. If I ever had one. Next Wednesday Rain and I will put our friendship to the test by publishing our opposing opinions in a way that we think each of us can hear the other side.
This blog is about our culture - not our current political debate. How we think and understand is a cultural topic not meant to spark a debate on current events. I am writing my story. How I came to the way I think about our polarized culture! What I have worked at trying to understand most of my life! And still working to understand! Why I feel the need to share!
My Facebook posts reflect a passion for bridging the gap between my left wing friends and my right wing ones. My desire comes from my grandfather Emile Widler who said he hoped I would study what really happened in his once adopted country China before he immigrated. My passion comes from studying the background conditions for Communism taking hold in China through the lenses of people mentioned in my Great Uncle Elly Widler's book, SIX MONTHS PRISONER OF THE SZECHWAN MILITARY.
Around 1919 Great Uncle Elly met up frequently with Louis M. King in Tatsienlu, Tibet where Elly was situated for 8 months. Widler wrote, " Mr. King is one of the few living great Asiatic Explorers. I pondered upon the long talks we used to have in far away Tatsienlu. Mr. King had a natural gift of gab, and it used to be a pleasure to sit down for two to three hours at a stretch and hear him talk."
King's book, WARDEN OF THE MARCHES, contains two concepts that I keep in mind even decades after I read his book. Their truth in China parallels the truth in the United States today. First is the power of a weak outsider to change the course of history. Even a small weak power can cause Chinese to believe they see dragons that do not exist. In the borderlands of Tibet and China the weak outsider was the International KKK also known as the Hidden Empire. It was easy for the outsiders to warp the Chinese perception of the reality of dragons? It was not because of stupidity but it was their desires connected to their mythology of folk tales. The childhood folk stories of good dragons caused them to want to believe what they desired to believe.
Grandfather just before he passed away came to visit us and he was careful not to outwardly go against my father's wish to not to burden me with his activist ideas. Or Grandfather was just accustomed to esoteric symbolism because he lived most of his life in oppressive China where freely speaking would have been a foolish act of endangering yourself and family. Against my father's wishes he planted seeds in me. He gave me a three sentence typed translated Chinese folk tale about dragons. Dragons were good because they symbolized hope to an otherwise hopeless people. The Dragon stayed in a cave and kept old books. The dragon read old books and slept on them. When the people were suffering from drought and despair the dragon hears the people and wakes to fly from his cave. The people see the dragon fly and hope is restored.
Since 1961 I have been haunted thinking about what his short story meant and what my role could be. Something in me wants to be like the good dragon in the cave. I have dragon passion. I am greatful that I am haunted.
Our desire to believe is stronger than the smartest rational thinking whether you are the most read and smartest person or of average knowledge and intellect. In this human truth we are all equal. True a hundred years ago as it is now. True in China as it is here and now. Being mindful of this truth means I see us all as being equal in the cycles of nation building and decline caused by polarizing groups, the challenges of media technologies, and the destruction of governance. Being mindful of this truth helps me to try to listen for a basic core hidden in the rhetoric of opposing views of reality to mine. Being mindful of our human desire overriding intellect helps me to shed personal attacks without retaliation. Though not always successfully!
Today in the United States we are receptive to being manipulated whether the manipulators are power seekers or the humanity of our brains. The process of altered perception may have many causes. One cause of altered reality may be the increased urbanization of the population where most people do not understand where their food is coming from and the needs of the people who grow it.
The other idea that stands out from King's writing is the power of rumors. Rumors spread fear that can destroy a dynasty even when the rumors are highly unlikely. Just bringing up rumors may spark the fear I feel. It is difficult to keep all who read me on my intent to focus on the process of thinking and feeling about what we know. I hope my story here will be effective where Face Book posts have failed. | 2019-04-22T14:17:26Z | https://rainydaythought.blogspot.com/ |
1. SAMUEL A6 KINGSTON (PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born January 23, 1893 in Three Islands, Wayerton, NB, and died July 17, 1965 in Newcastle, NB. He married LILLIAN ISABELLA (CWL AA52) LOGGIE August 16, 1920 in St Andrews Church, Loggieville, NB, daughter of GEORGE LOGGIE and ANNIE KELLY.
The following copied from The North Shore Leader, July 1965 following his death.
Samuel A. Kingston, a prominent lumberman of the Miramichi for many years, died at the home of his daughter, Mrs William Vickers, Lawlor Lane, on Saturday July, 17 after a lengthy illness. He was 73 years of age and was born in Wayerton, a son of the late Paul and Mary (Crowe) Kingston. As a young man Mr Kingston was associated with his father, in lumbering operations on the Northwest Miramichi and later carried on his own lumber business for many years. He had lived in Newcastle for about 40 years, first at Chaplin Island Road and later on King George Highway. Mr Kingston was a member of St Mary's Church and of the Holy Name Society. Surviving are his wife, the former Lillian Loggie of Napan, six sons and six daughters: William of Wayerton; (Anne Marie) Mrs Joseph Weisler of Appleton, Wisconsin; George, Three Rivers, Quebec; (Monica) Mrs William Vickers, Newcastle; (Rita) Mrs Peter Byberg, Greenwood, Ont.; (Carmel) Mrs Donald Leslie, Ferry Road; (Bernadette) Mrs Patrick Sullivan, Port Credit, Ont.; Aloysius, South Nelson; Frank and Paul, both of Newcastle; Joseph, Oshawa, Ont. and Patricia ,Toronto. Two brothers and four sisters, also survive: Paul Kingston, Wayerton; Dr Louis Kingston, Barre, Vermont; (Ann) Mrs A. L. Larner, Burlington Vermont; (Margaret) Mrs Patrick O'Shaughnessy, Burlington, Ont.; (Kate) Mrs Jerry Howe of Mount St Joseph, Chatham, and (Suzanne) Mrs. George Johnton, Newport News, Virginia. There are also 45 grandchildren. The funeral was held Tuesday morning from the family home on King George Highway to St. Mary's Church where High Mass of Requiem was offered by his nephew, Rev. Paul Kingston of Montreal. St Mary's High School Choir was in attendance and priests present in the sanctuary were: Rev. D. J. Warner, parish priest at St. Mary's; Rev. T. J. Mckendy, Douglastown; Rev. B. M. Broderick, South Nelson; Rev. J. C. McKinnon, Loggieville; Rev. R. H. Munroe, Chatham Head; Rev. Donald Harriman, Saint John; Rev. Dr. D. C. Duffie Csc., President of St Thomas University, and Rev. James MacDonald Csc., superior of Holy Cross House, Fredericton. Interment was made in the family plot in the old St. Mary's Church cemetery, the pallbearers being his five sons, William, George, Aloysius, Frank and Paul and a grandson, Barry Kingston. The honorary pallbearers were W. Stafford Anderson, Harrison Gunn, Edwin Brown, Albert Vickers, Harvey Shattuck, Earl McAllister, John Ryan and Alex Baisley. All of Mr. Kingston's sons and daughters were here for the funeral except Mrs Sullivan and Joseph. Also coming to Newcastle from a distance were his brother and sister, Dr. Louis Kingston and Mrs O,Shaughnessy and his nephews and nieces, Rev. Paul Kingston and Mrs Murray Crowe, Montreal; Dr. and Mrs Mark Kingston, Rockingham, N. S. Terrance and Dermot Kingston, Fredericton and Leo Kingston, Dalhousie.
2. i. WILLIAM JOSEPH (CWL AA54)7 KINGSTON, b. August 24, 1921, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham.
3. ii. ANN MARIE (CWL AA55) KINGSTON, BSC NURSING, b. December 01, 1922, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB; d. April 29, 1986, Appelton Wisconsin.
iii. PATRICIA (?) 1 (CWL AT22) KINGSTON, b. Bef. 1926, Newcastle, NB; d. Bef. 1926, Still Born, Newcastle, NB.
4. iv. GEORGE LEO (CWL AT11) KINGSTON, BMECH ENG, b. April 11, 1926, Hotel Dieu Hospital Chatham, NB.
5. v. MONICA MARGARET (CWL AT12) KINGSTON, b. April 27, 1927, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB.
6. vi. RITA CATHERINE (CWL AT13) KINGSTON, b. November 27, 1929, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB; d. October 31, 1988, At Home in Greenwood, ON. Age 58.
7. vii. CARMEL THERESA (CWL AT35) KINGSTON, BSC DIET, b. September 30, 1930.
viii. PATRICA 2 (CWL AT34) KINGSTON, b. 1932, Newcastle, NB; d. 1932, Died a few days old, Newcastle, NB.
8. ix. MARY BERNADETTE (CWL AT14) KINGSTON, b. June 26, 1933, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB.
9. x. ALOYSIUS SAMUEL (CWL AT15) KINGSTON, b. July 04, 1935, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB.
Generation No. 2 2. WILLIAM JOSEPH (CWL AA54)7 KINGSTON (SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born August 24, 1921 in Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham. He married LOREEN SHERRARD January 07, 1948 in St Mary's, Newcastle, NB, daughter of DAVID SHERRARD and EVA ALLISON.
Medical Information: Lost some sight in one eye when hit in eye with a branch. Eye sight also diminishing with age, particularily at night.
13. i. BARRY LESLIE (CWL AT16)8 KINGSTON, b. February 15, 1948, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB.
14. ii. BRENDA LILLIAN (CWL AT17) KINGSTON, b. September 27, 1950, Miramichi Hospital, Newcastle, NB.
15. iii. CHRISTOPHER LEE (CWL AT71) KINGSTON, b. February 27, 1953, Miramichi Hospital, Newcastle, NB.
16. iv. CAROL ANNE (CWL AT72) KINGSTON, b. June 02, 1954, Miramichi Hospital, Newcastle, NB.
v. DENNIS WILLIAM (CWL AT73) KINGSTON, BSC SURVYNG, b. January 21, 1957, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham; m. CATHY COSTER, July 26, 1986, St Andrews Anglican Church, Newcastle.
17. vi. SHARON PATRICIA (CWL AT74) KINGSTON, b. July 02, 1960, Hotel Dieu, Chatham, NB.
18. vii. DAVID SAMUEL (CWL AT75) KINGSTON, b. October 06, 1961, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB.
19. viii. STEPHEN CRAIG (CWL AT79) KINGSTON, b. January 04, 1964, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB.
3. ANN MARIE (CWL AA55)7 KINGSTON, BSC NURSING (SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born December 01, 1922 in Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB, and died April 29, 1986 in Appelton Wisconsin. She married JOSEPH B WEISSLER, MD PSYCHIATRIST June 05, 1951 in St Mary's, Newcastle NB.
Anne Marie was an Adventurist she drove the Alaska Highway alone In the late 1940's, over 1500 miles through the wilderness.
Her obituary read as follows.
ANN KINGSTON WEISSLER (Mrs. Joseph Weissler) 844 E. Alton St.
Age 63, died at 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, 1986 following a lengthy illness. Ann was born December 1, 1922 in Newcastle, New Brunswick, Canada. Born of true Canadian frontier stock, Ann's life bridged the distance from horse drawn sleighs to rescue helicopters. Her aggressive, hands-on life-style left its mark on all whom she touched. Unsurpassed as a mother and wife to her family, she will be remembered as a nurse, an artist, and a fighter. She is survived by her husband of 35 years, Dr Joseph Weissler; two daughters; Mary Weissler, Madison; Suzanne Weissler, Milwaukee; two sons and a daughter-in-law; George Weissler, Chicago, Illinois; Mark and Ann Weissler, Cincinnati, Ohio; six brothers: Billy, George, Aloysious, Frank, Paul and Joe and five sisters: Monica, Rita, Bernadette, Carmel, Patti, all of Canada; and many friends and admirers is her family's wish that no memorial services be held but that those who knew her remember her as the great spirit she was in life. Her body will be cremated, and her ashes returned to the trout stream, where she fished with an alder pole as a child in New Brunswick. In lieu of flowers a memorial fund is being established for the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Unit at St. Elizabeth Hospital, Appleton. The Wichmann Funeral Home and Crematory, 537 N. Superior St. is assisting the family with the arrangements.
There is an Irish Galic word that describes an area where two streams meet. We, with a small bit of imagination, think of such a place as a meeting place, a gathering place, a restful place, a tenting place and other such meanings as a happy hallowed holy place. Anne Marie's ashes are scattered in such a place where the stream she fished, Ox Brook, joins the Mill Stream. The Irish word encompassing all these thoughts and meanings is AVOCA. A local artist Susan Butler has recorded music and song of Avoca.
The following comes to mind at times when we think of Ann Marie, because each Friday afternoon at the small, eight grades all in the same room, Country School house we attended, each pupil was required to stand and recite a poem he or she had memorized. There were some ringers especially by myself and others because we had forgotten or were otherwise too occupied to look up and memorize anything. Since no excuse was acceptable and punishment depending upon your age could be as severe as not being allowed out for recess, to having to stay in after school to you had to have two poems memorized for the following Friday. We do not remember Ann Marie having been punished. Her offerings were usually good or she could make up a poem immediately when asked without too much previous thought. There probably was one about the pigeons in the barn, or the pigs in the corn or some such things she got away with.
Ann Marie by the same token recited some really good ones and we would include the following poem entitled "THE BROOK", originally by I believe Lord Tennyson, however modified a bit by me. THE BROOK BY Tennyson (with some poetic licence by George K.) I come from haunts of coot and hern, I make a sudden sally, And sparkle out among the fern, To bicker down a valley. By thirty hills I hurry down, Or slip between the ridges, By twenty throps, a little town, And half a hundred bridges. Till by Butler's farm I flow To collect some hallowed ashes, For men may come and men may go, But I go on for ever. I chatter over stoney ways, In little sharps and trebles, I bubble into edding bays, I babble on the pebbles. With many a curve my banks I fret By many a field and fallow, And many a fairy foreland set With willow-weed and mallow. I chatter, chatter, as I flow To join the brimming river, For men may come and men may go, But I go on for ever. I wind about, and in and out, With here a blossom sailing, And here and there a lusty trout, And here and there a salmon. And here and there a foamy flake Upon me as I travel With many a silvery waterbreak above the golden gravel And draw them all along, and flow To join the brimming river, For men may come and men may go, But I go on for ever. I steal by lawns and grassy plots, I slide by hazel covers; I move the sweet forget-me-nots That grow for happy lovers. I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance, Among my skimming swallows; I make the netted sunbeam dance Among my sandy shallows. I murmur under moon and stars In brambly Wildernesses; I linger by my shining bars; I loiter round my cresses; And out again I curve and flow To join the brimming river, For men may come and men may go, But I go on for ever.
i. MARY BERNADETTE (CWL AT20)8 WEISSLER, b. April 24, 1952, Boston, Mass.; m. JACK KAESTNER.
ii. GEORGE KINGSTON (CWL AT21) WEISSLER, b. November 27, 1953, Boston, Mass.; m. NANCY ANN SLICHENMYER, May 22, 1993, Evanston, IL. USA.
20. iii. MARK CHRISTIAN (CWL AT62) WEISSLER, MD, b. April 27, 1957, Sheboygan, Wis., USA.
iv. SUZANNE MARIE (CWL AT63) WEISSLER, STRL ENG, b. May 09, 1959, Appleton, Wisconsin, U.S.A.; m. RICHARD KAEHLLER, December 10, 1989.
4. GEORGE LEO (CWL AT11)7 KINGSTON, BMECH ENG (SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born April 11, 1926 in Hotel Dieu Hospital Chatham, NB. He married CHRISTINE ELIZABETH STEPHANIE (CWL AT11-1) SENG October 10, 1953 in Ascension Church, Montreal, PQ, daughter of MAGNUS SENG and CHRISTINE COUGHLIN.
21. i. STEPHANIE ANNE MARIE (CWL AT23)8 KINGSTON, b. September 18, 1954, St Mary's Hospital, Montreal, PQ.
ii. MICHAEL EDWARD (CWL AT26) KINGSTON, BSC PHARM, b. July 14, 1956, St Mary's Hospital, Montreal, PQ.
22. iii. JOHN FRANCIS (CWL AT64) KINGSTON, MENG SC, b. June 19, 1957, Espanola General Hospital Espanola, ON..
23. iv. ELIZABETH MARGARET (CWL AT67) KINGSTON, BA, b. November 04, 1958, Espanola General Hospital, Espanola, ON.
24. v. PATRICIA KATHLEEN (CWL AT70) KINGSTON, B NURSNG, b. February 28, 1960, Espanola General Hospital, Espanola, ON.
vi. THOMAS JOSEPH (CWL AU86) KINGSTON, PENG MBA, b. September 23, 1961, Trois Riviers, PQ.
25. vii. MARTHA ANN (CWL AU87) KINGSTON, BA BED, b. July 30, 1963, Trois Rivers, PQ.
viii. SUZANNE BARBARA (CWL AU88) KINGSTON, BA, b. January 05, 1965, Trois Riviers, PQ; m. HOWARD LABILLOIS.
5. MONICA MARGARET (CWL AT12)7 KINGSTON (SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born April 27, 1927 in Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB. She married WILLIAM JAMES VICKERS September 01, 1954 in St Mary's, Newcastle, NB, son of ALBERT VICKERS and EMMA BURNS.
Monica handed this poem to me October 23, 1992. It was composed by Evelyn R. Wright Maritime Letter How's the weather in New Brunswick? Are the nights and mornings cold? Are the lakes and rivers freezing As the maples turn to gold? Did the sunshine glaze the apples? And the swallows take their flight? Did you hear the marsh frogs calling, Calling, shrilly through the night? Write and tell me how the roads are,- If the salmon leaped the pools- Do the youngsters still play hookey From those funny little schools? Are the deer and moose abundant? Do the Sunday church bells ring? What's it like now in New Brunswick? Write and tell me everything. Are there seagulls over Fundy? Mushrooms on the Tantramar? Were there violets in the woodlands When the spring broke winter's lear? If it's just the same as ever Then I guess I'll have to come, For the autumn colours burn me, And New Brunswick calls me home!
Bill Vickers at many gatherings recites the following grace before meals. We referred to this as the Indian Grace. We do not know who wrote this.
O GREAT SPIRIT O GREAT SPIRIT WHOSE VOICE I HEAR IN THE WIND WHOSE BREATH GIVES LIFE TO THE WORLD HEAR ME I COME TO YOU AS ONE OF YOUR MANY CHILDREN I AM SMALL AND WEAK I NEED YOUR STRENGTH AND YOUR WISDOM MAY I WALK IN BEAUTY MAKE MY EYES EVER BEHOLD THE RED AND PURPLE SUNSETS MAKE MY HANDS RESPECT THE THINGS THAT YOU HAVE MADE AND MY EARS SHARP TO HEAR YOUR VOICE MAKE ME WISE SO THAT I MAY KNOW THE THINGS THAT YOU HAVE TAUGHT YOUR CHILDREN THE LESSONS THAT YOU HAVE HIDDEN UNDER EVERY LEAF AND ROCK MAKE ME STRONG NOT TO BE SUPERIOR TO MY BROTHERS BUT TO BE ABLE TO FIGHT MY GREATEST ENEMY ...MYSELF MAKE ME EVER READY TO COME TO YOU WITH STRAIGHT EYES SO THAT WHEN LIFE FADES AS A FADING SUNSET MY SPIRIT WILL COME TO YOU WITHOUT SHAME.
26. i. MARY MONICA (CWL AT27)8 VICKERS, b. June 02, 1955, Miramichi Hospital, Newcastle, NB.
27. ii. KEVIN MICHAEL (CWL AT28) VICKERS, b. September 29, 1956, Hotel Dieu, Chatham, NB.
iii. JOHN FRANCIS (CWL AT84) VICKERS, b. February 28, 1960, Hotel Dieu, Chatham, NB.
iv. WILLIAM JAMES (CWL AT85) VICKERS, b. August 11, 1961, Hotel Dieu, Chatham, NB.
v. SAMUEL KINGSTON (CWL AT86) VICKERS, MECH ENG, b. November 03, 1965, Hotel Dieu, Chatham, NB.
6. RITA CATHERINE (CWL AT13)7 KINGSTON (SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born November 27, 1929 in Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB, and died October 31, 1988 in At Home in Greenwood, ON. Age 58. She married PETER CAMPBELL BYBERG October 08, 1955 in St Mary's Catholic Church, Newcastle, NB.
28. i. CATHERINE ALICE (CWL AT31)8 BYBERG, b. December 18, 1957.
29. ii. PETER KINGSTON (GUY) (CWL AT87) BYBERG, b. January 13, 1958, Toronto, Ontario.
iii. STEPHEN PAUL (CWL AT89) BYBERG, b. April 14, 1959, Toronto, Ontario.
30. iv. SCOTT EDWARD (CWL AT90) BYBERG, b. March 29, 1961, Toronto, Ontario.
31. v. JOHN CHRISTOPHER DAY (CWL AT93) BYBERG, b. June 04, 1965, Toronto, ON.
vi. ANN MARIE (CWL AT94) BYBERG, b. October 17, 1971.
7. CARMEL THERESA (CWL AT35)7 KINGSTON, BSC DIET (SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born September 30, 1930. She married DONALD JOSEPH LESLIE September 12, 1959 in St Mary's, Newcastle, NB.
32. i. LILLIAN ANNE (CWL AT36)8 LESLIE, b. September 12, 1960.
ii. MICHAEL DONALD PERCY (CWL AT37) LESLIE, b. March 13, 1962; d. May 17, 1984, Ferry Road, NB.
33. iii. ROBERT SAMUEL (CWL AT95) LESLIE, b. November 04, 1963.
iv. MARY THERESA (CWL AT96) LESLIE, b. January 09, 1966.
Addresses: Ferry Road, Douglastown, N.B.
34. v. BARBARA PATRICIA (CWL AT97) LESLIE, b. January 07, 1970.
8. MARY BERNADETTE (CWL AT14)7 KINGSTON (SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born June 26, 1933 in Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB. She married JOHN PATRICK SULLIVAN September 08, 1958 in St Mary's Catholic Church, Newcastle, NB, son of JAMES SULLIVAN and GLADYS PEACOCK.
35. i. MICHAEL EDWARD (CWL AT40)8 SULLIVAN, MD, b. July 09, 1959, St Josephs Hospital, Toronto, ON..
36. ii. THERESA MARIE (CWL AT41) SULLIVAN, b. November 09, 1960, St Josephs Hospital, Toronto, ON.
37. iii. MARY CARMEL (CWL AT98) SULLIVAN, b. September 03, 1963, St Josephs Hospital Toronto, Ontario.
iv. KEVIN ALOYSIUS (CWL AT99) SULLIVAN, b. August 16, 1965, Mississauga Gen. in Mississauga, Ontario.
9. ALOYSIUS SAMUEL (CWL AT15)7 KINGSTON (SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born July 04, 1935 in Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB. He married MARY ELEANOR CREAMER September 24, 1960 in St Patrick's, Nelson-Miramichi, NB.
38. i. MARY ELLEN ELIZABETH (CWL AT44)8 KINGSTON, b. September 28, 1961, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB.
39. ii. PAULA-MARIE CARMEL (CWL AT45) KINGSTON, b. October 11, 1962, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB.
40. iii. JO-ANN RUBY (CWL AU00) KINGSTON, b. November 08, 1963, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB.
iv. JOHN KENNEDY (CWL AU03) KINGSTON, b. September 07, 1965, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB; m. PATRICIA MURPHY, August 15, 1992.
v. SAMUEL JOSEPH (CWL AU04) KINGSTON, b. May 21, 1967, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB.
41. vi. MARK ALLEN (CWL AU05) KINGSTON, b. May 31, 1970, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB.
10. FRANCIS TERRENCE (CWL AT46)7 KINGSTON (SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born October 19, 1937 in Saint John, NB. He married MARGARET ANN MILLER December 01, 1962 in St Mary's Catholic, Newcastle, NB, daughter of JOHN MILLER and JANET MCLEAN.
i. FRANCIS JOHN (CWL AT47)8 KINGSTON, b. June 26, 1964, Newcastle, NB.
ii. DAVID BRIAN (CWL AT48) KINGSTON, b. November 16, 1966, Newcastle, NB.
iii. KEVIN MICHAEL (CWL AT49) KINGSTON, b. June 03, 1969, St. Joseph's Hospital, Dalhousie, NB.
iv. NANCY LEE (CWL AT50) KINGSTON, b. October 26, 1970, Miramichi Hospital, Newcastle, NB.
Paul Joseph Kingston was born on April 17, 1938. Today he resides in the Toronto area.
11. JOSEPH JAMES (CWL AT52)7 KINGSTON (SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born November 19, 1940 in Saint John, NB. He married ELEANOR ROSE MARIE HOLM July 24, 1965 in St John Church, Waubaushene, ON, daughter of WILLIAM HOLM and HELEN LATOUR.
42. i. PAUL JOSEPH (CWL AT53)8 KINGSTON, b. April 26, 1966, Oshawa, Ontario.
43. ii. VERONICA JANE (CWL AT54) KINGSTON, b. June 23, 1968, Oshawa Gen Hospital Oshawa, ON.
44. iii. LISA MARIE (CWL AU09) KINGSTON, b. June 03, 1969, Oshawa, Ontario.
iv. BONNIE JEAN (CWL AU12) KINGSTON, b. January 29, 1971, Oshawa, Ontario; m. GORDON ROBERT (1951) (JOHNSON) JOHNSTON, December 16, 1995, Port Perry ON.
12. PATRICIA 3 BARBARA (CWL AT58)7 KINGSTON (SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born March 11, 1942 in St. John, NB. She married BRENDAN (SEVENTH SON) KELLY July 02, 1966 in ( not July 2 1942) St Domonicks, Port Credit, ON, son of SAMUEL KELLY and ROSE CORRIGAN.
ii. ROBERT SCOTT (CWL AT60) KELLY, b. December 23, 1972, Oshawa, Ontario; (MRS ROBERT SCOTT KELLY).
13. BARRY LESLIE (CWL AT16)8 KINGSTON (WILLIAM JOSEPH (CWL AA54)7, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born February 15, 1948 in Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB. He married CHARLOTTE JOSEPH November 06, 1971 in Seaford, Delaware.
i. MARY LOREEN (CWL AT18)9 KINGSTON, b. December 29, 1974, Ohio, U.S.A..
ii. WILLIAM FRANK (CWL AT19) KINGSTON, b. April 17, 1978, Mount Forest, ON.
14. BRENDA LILLIAN (CWL AT17)8 KINGSTON (WILLIAM JOSEPH (CWL AA54)7, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born September 27, 1950 in Miramichi Hospital, Newcastle, NB. She married LEO FNANCIS MACKINNON August 10, 1979 in St James Sevogle.
i. BRONWYN KINGSTON (CWL AT61)9 MACKINNON, b. October 08, 1980, (Oct 8 1981 is not correct).
15. CHRISTOPHER LEE (CWL AT71)8 KINGSTON (WILLIAM JOSEPH (CWL AA54)7, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born February 27, 1953 in Miramichi Hospital, Newcastle, NB. He married GWEN KLUKUS.
i. ZACHARY (STEPSON ) (CWL AT76)9 KINGSTON, b. Abt. 1970; Stepchild.
16. CAROL ANNE (CWL AT72)8 KINGSTON (WILLIAM JOSEPH (CWL AA54)7, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born June 02, 1954 in Miramichi Hospital, Newcastle, NB. She married DARYL WESLEY MILLER September 09, 1980 in Edmonton AB.
i. MEGHAN KINGSTON (CWL AT77)9 MILLER, b. November 17, 1985, Saskatoon Sask.
ii. ANNIE KINGSTON (CWL AT78) MILLER, b. June 20, 1991, Almont, ON.
17. SHARON PATRICIA (CWL AT74)8 KINGSTON (WILLIAM JOSEPH (CWL AA54)7, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born July 02, 1960 in Hotel Dieu, Chatham, NB. She married JOHN DUNCAN BURN.
i. ERYN HALEY (CWL AX61)9 BURN, b. September 21, 1995, Saskatoon, Sask.
ii. AUSTIN BURN, b. Abt. 1997.
18. DAVID SAMUEL (CWL AT75)8 KINGSTON (WILLIAM JOSEPH (CWL AA54)7, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born October 06, 1961 in Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB. He married GISELLE MALLEY 1996.
Addresses: Chaplin Island Road, N.B.
i. CARTER (CWL AX62)9 KINGSTON, b. 1996.
ii. MAGGY KINGSTON, b. June 05, 1998, Twin with Lewis.
iii. LEWIS KINGSTON, b. June 05, 1998, Twin with Maggy.
19. STEPHEN CRAIG (CWL AT79)8 KINGSTON (WILLIAM JOSEPH (CWL AA54)7, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born January 04, 1964 in Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB. He married GUILIA GIUSSEPPINA ONGARO August 30, 1991 in Sudbury, ON, daughter of MARCELLO ONGARO and GIANNINA FREGONESE.
i. SPENCER DAMIANO9 KINGSTON, b. February 19, 1994.
ii. MIA GIANNINA LOREEN KINGSTON, b. October 09, 1996.
iii. RENATA MADELINE KINGSTON, b. July 08, 1998.
20. MARK CHRISTIAN (CWL AT62)8 WEISSLER, MD (ANN MARIE (CWL AA55)7 KINGSTON, BSC NURSING, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born April 27, 1957 in Sheboygan, Wis., USA. He married ANNE MARIE SAEWERT November 10, 1984 in In the living room of parents Joe and Ann Weissler.
i. KATHERINE ANNE (CWL AU15)9 WEISSLER, b. December 02, 1986.
ii. SAMUEL ALOYSIUS (CWL AX63) WEISSLER, b. January 12, 1993.
21. STEPHANIE ANNE MARIE (CWL AT23)8 KINGSTON (GEORGE LEO (CWL AT11)7, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born September 18, 1954 in St Mary's Hospital, Montreal, PQ. She married ANDREW BESSERER October 1975 in Nelson, BC, son of COLIN BESSERER and (MRS.
i. GEORGE SAMUEL ANDREW (CWL AT24)9 BESSERER, b. February 05, 1973, (Birth year of 1872 is incorrect) St. Catherines, ON.
ii. JAYSON ANDRE (CWL AT25) BESSERER, b. August 25, 1978, (birth year of 1878 is incorrect) Calgary, AB.
22. JOHN FRANCIS (CWL AT64)8 KINGSTON, MENG SC (GEORGE LEO (CWL AT11)7, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born June 19, 1957 in Espanola General Hospital Espanola, ON.. He married HEATHER HENDERSON December 20, 1987 in Vancouver, BC.
i. STEPHANIE ONA (CWL AT65)9 KINGSTON, b. August 14, 1989, Fort McMurray, AB.
ii. LESLIE FRANCES (CWL AT66) KINGSTON, b. April 07, 1991, Edmunton, AB.
23. ELIZABETH MARGARET (CWL AT67)8 KINGSTON, BA (GEORGE LEO (CWL AT11)7, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born November 04, 1958 in Espanola General Hospital, Espanola, ON. She married TERRANCE MICHAEL COX September 24, 1983 in Vancouver, BC, son of ERNEST COX and BEVERLEE FOWLER.
i. CAROLYN MARIE (CWL AT68)9 COX, b. April 24, 1989, Seattle, Wash., USA, University Hospital.
ii. EMILY CHRISTINE (CWL AT69) COX, b. February 22, 1992.
24. PATRICIA KATHLEEN (CWL AT70)8 KINGSTON, B NURSNG (GEORGE LEO (CWL AT11)7, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born February 28, 1960 in Espanola General Hospital, Espanola, ON. She married DENNIS GERARD BOYLE, LLB August 03, 1990 in St Mary's Newcastle, NB, son of FRANCIS BOYLE and ANNA GRAHAM.
i. PATRICK DENNIS (CWL AT80)9 BOYLE, b. July 18, 1991, Saint John Regional Hospital, Saint John, NB.
ii. SEAMUS FRANCIS XAVIER (CWL AT81) BOYLE, b. December 08, 1992, Saint John Regional Hospital, Saint John, NB.
iii. MARY CHRISTINE ELIZABETH (CWL AV69) BOYLE, b. November 27, 1994, Saint John Regional Hospital, Saint John, NB.
iv. BRENDAN LEO DOMINICK (CWL AV70) BOYLE, b. November 05, 1996, Saint John Regional Hospital, Saint John, NB.
25. MARTHA ANN (CWL AU87)8 KINGSTON, BA BED (GEORGE LEO (CWL AT11)7, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born July 30, 1963 in Trois Rivers, PQ. She married MARK BROWN October 09, 1992 in Our Lady Of Perpetual Help, Toronto, Ontario, son of GEORGE BROWN and EILEEN BROCK.
i. LAURA EILEEN (CWL AV71)9 BROWN, b. May 09, 1996.
ii. LOGAN "LOGIE" GEORGE (CWL AV72) BROWN, b. December 29, 1997.
26. MARY MONICA (CWL AT27)8 VICKERS (MONICA MARGARET (CWL AT12)7 KINGSTON, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born June 02, 1955 in Miramichi Hospital, Newcastle, NB. She married EDWARD JOHN RAWLINSON September 01, 1979, son of JOHN RAWLNSON and OLIVE RACICOT.
i. ERIN ELIZABETH (CWL AT29)9 RAWLNSON, b. June 09, 1985.
ii. AMY KATHLEEN (CWL AT30) RAWLNSON, b. September 10, 1987.
27. KEVIN MICHAEL (CWL AT28)8 VICKERS (MONICA MARGARET (CWL AT12)7 KINGSTON, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born September 29, 1956 in Hotel Dieu, Chatham, NB. He married ANNE SHIRLEY HUBBARD May 19, 1979 in Newcastle, NB, daughter of GEORGE HUBBARD and MARIE HARPER.
Baptism: St. Mary's Newcastle, N.B.
i. ANDREW MARK (CWL AT82)9 VICKERS, b. August 05, 1983, Yellowknife, NWT.
ii. LAURA MEAGHEN (CWL AT83) VICKERS, b. July 08, 1985, Yellowknife, NWT.
28. CATHERINE ALICE (CWL AT31)8 BYBERG (RITA CATHERINE (CWL AT13)7 KINGSTON, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born December 18, 1957. She married (1) JOHN BRYANT Abt. 1985. She met (2) DAVID CHARLES GROWDEN Abt. 1987.
i. AMANDA ELIZABETH RITA (CWL AT32)9 GROWDEN, b. November 13, 1988.
29. PETER KINGSTON (GUY) (CWL AT87)8 BYBERG (RITA CATHERINE (CWL AT13)7 KINGSTON, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born January 13, 1958 in Toronto, Ontario. He married MARIA NILSSON.
i. EISA NILSSON (CWL AT88)9 BYBERG, b. August 29, 1992.
ii. CHILD (ABT 1996) (CWL AX64) BYBERG, b. Abt. 1996.
30. SCOTT EDWARD (CWL AT90)8 BYBERG (RITA CATHERINE (CWL AT13)7 KINGSTON, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born March 29, 1961 in Toronto, Ontario. He married HOLLY JANE CARDON November 18, 1989.
i. SAMANTHA ROBIN CARDON (CWL AT91)9 BYBERG, b. December 05, 1990.
ii. JACQUELINE CARDON (CWL AT92) BYBERG, b. October 20, 1992.
31. JOHN CHRISTOPHER DAY (CWL AT93)8 BYBERG (RITA CATHERINE (CWL AT13)7 KINGSTON, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born June 04, 1965 in Toronto, ON. He married DEIDRE LOBB.
i. CHILD 1 (ABT 1994) (CWL AX65)9 BYBERG, b. Abt. 1994.
ii. CHILD 2 (ABT 1995) (CWL AX66) BYBERG, b. Abt. 1995.
32. LILLIAN ANNE (CWL AT36)8 LESLIE (CARMEL THERESA (CWL AT35)7 KINGSTON, BSC DIET, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born September 12, 1960. She married NICHOLAS THOMAS NAPKE September 19, 1987.
i. NICOLA LESLIE ANNE (CWL AT38)9 NAPKE, b. November 10, 1989.
ii. ANDREA MICHAEL PAULINE (CWL AT39) NAPKE, b. January 21, 1991.
iii. ALANA MARY THERESA (CWL AX67) NAPKE, b. September 12, 1992.
iv. JANNA (CWL AX68) NAPKE, b. September 25, 1995.
33. ROBERT SAMUEL (CWL AT95)8 LESLIE (CARMEL THERESA (CWL AT35)7 KINGSTON, BSC DIET, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born November 04, 1963. He married ELAINE STURGEON.
i. KELSEY ELIZABETH (CWL AX69)9 LESLIE, b. January 11, 1996.
ii. BRIAN ROBERT LESLIE, b. March 25, 1998.
34. BARBARA PATRICIA (CWL AT97)8 LESLIE (CARMEL THERESA (CWL AT35)7 KINGSTON, BSC DIET, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born January 07, 1970. She married MARK DUNNETT.
i. MEGAN RILEY (CWL AX70)9 DUNNETT, b. February 21, 1995.
ii. MICHAEL ROBERT DUNNETT, b. July 04, 1996.
35. MICHAEL EDWARD (CWL AT40)8 SULLIVAN, MD (MARY BERNADETTE (CWL AT14)7 KINGSTON, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born July 09, 1959 in St Josephs Hospital, Toronto, ON.. He married MARY PATRICIA (CWL AT40-1) BARNES September 04, 1981 in St Louis Church, Mount St Louis, Hillsdale ON.
i. KELLY JULIA (CWL AT42)9 SULLIVAN, b. December 18, 1988.
ii. MATHEW PATRICK (CWL AT43) SULLIVAN, b. October 09, 1991.
36. THERESA MARIE (CWL AT41)8 SULLIVAN (MARY BERNADETTE (CWL AT14)7 KINGSTON, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born November 09, 1960 in St Josephs Hospital, Toronto, ON. She married HUGO THEODORE BERGEN July 22, 1989 in St Louis Church, Hillsdale, Ont.
i. REBECCA KATHERINE (CWL AX71)9 BERGEN, b. July 21, 1993.
ii. RYAN PETER (CWL AX72) BERGEN, b. July 10, 1997.
37. MARY CARMEL (CWL AT98)8 SULLIVAN (MARY BERNADETTE (CWL AT14)7 KINGSTON, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born September 03, 1963 in St Josephs Hospital Toronto, Ontario. She married PETER MCALPINE September 28, 1996 in St Alphonses Toronto.
i. SAMUEL EDWARD (CWL AX73)9 MCALPINE, b. July 06, 1997.
38. MARY ELLEN ELIZABETH (CWL AT44)8 KINGSTON (ALOYSIUS SAMUEL (CWL AT15)7, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born September 28, 1961 in Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB. She married RAYMOND C RITCHIE, BMECH ENG June 28, 1986 in Newcastle, NB.
i. REBECCA JUDITH LILLIAN (CWL AX74)9 RITCHIE, b. December 26, 1994.
39. PAULA-MARIE CARMEL (CWL AT45)8 KINGSTON (ALOYSIUS SAMUEL (CWL AT15)7, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born October 11, 1962 in Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB. She married SCOTT A MATHER August 16, 1986 in St Patrick's, Nelson-Miramichi, NB.
i. ANNE MARIE (CWL AU01)9 MATHER, b. May 29, 1989, Chatham, NB.
ii. SHAWN JOSEPH (CWL AU02) MATHER, b. January 23, 1991, Chatham, NB.
40. JO-ANN RUBY (CWL AU00)8 KINGSTON (ALOYSIUS SAMUEL (CWL AT15)7, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born November 08, 1963 in Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB. She married PATRICK REICHER, MENG August 08, 1992.
i. MONIKA ANNE MARIE9 REICHER, b. June 12, 1998, Twin with Karl.
ii. BENJAMIN KARL SAMUEL REICHER, b. June 12, 1998, Twin with Monika Anne Marie.
41. MARK ALLEN (CWL AU05)8 KINGSTON (ALOYSIUS SAMUEL (CWL AT15)7, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born May 31, 1970 in Hotel Dieu Hospital, Chatham, NB. He married JENNIFER MCCARTHY.
i. TYLER JAMES ALOYSIUS(CWL AX75)9 KINGSTON, b. June 04, 1996.
42. PAUL JOSEPH (CWL AT53)8 KINGSTON (JOSEPH JAMES (CWL AT52)7, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born April 26, 1966 in Oshawa, Ontario. He married SHARON LOUISE RHUD October 11, 1986 in City Hall.
i. JEFFREY PAUL (CWL AT55)9 KINGSTON, b. September 12, 1986, Port Perry, Ontario.
ii. JOSHUA MICHAEL (CWL AT56) KINGSTON, b. January 17, 1990, Port Perry, Ontario.
iii. JADE LOUISE (CWL AT57) KINGSTON, b. August 22, 1991, Port Perry, ON.
43. VERONICA JANE (CWL AT54)8 KINGSTON (JOSEPH JAMES (CWL AT52)7, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born June 23, 1968 in Oshawa Gen Hospital Oshawa, ON. She married MARK CAMERON (JOHNSON) JOHNSTON June 28, 1991.
i. PAUL JOSEPH JOHN (CWL AU06)9 KINGSTON, b. December 13, 1985, Port Perry, Ontario.
ii. SEAN ALLAN (CWL AU07) (JOHNSON) JOHNSTON, b. February 28, 1988, Port Perry, Ontario.
iii. CHRISTINE ELIZABTH (CWL AU08) (JOHNSON) JOHNSTON, b. February 26, 1989, Port Perry, Ontario.
44. LISA MARIE (CWL AU09)8 KINGSTON (JOSEPH JAMES (CWL AT52)7, SAMUEL A6, PAUL5, SAMUEL4, PAUL F3, SAMUEL2, PAUL1) was born June 03, 1969 in Oshawa, Ontario. She married JOSEPH OMAR PETRIE August 06, 1988 in St Marys Church, Newcastle, NB.
i. MATTHEW JOSEPH OMAR (CWL AU10)9 PETRIE, b. February 10, 1988, Newcastle, NB.
ii. ANDREW JOSEPH (CWL AU11) PETRIE, b. April 26, 1991, Port Perry, Ontario.
iii. AMANDA PRECILLA MARY (CWL AX76) PETRIE, b. July 02, 1994. | 2019-04-20T14:37:34Z | https://www.tomkingston.com/r/link801.html |
The Dallas Cowboys completed a winless and desultory pre-season Thursday night with a lifeless 14-6 loss to the Houston Texans.
Running from 7 to 10:11 p.m. on CBS11, the game drooped to 320,495 total D-FW viewers, with less than one-third of them (106,100) within the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic.
The regular CBS lineup was exiled over to sister station TXA21, where an 8 p.m. episode of Big Brother made the best showing against the Cowboys with 128,198 total viewers and 53,050 in the 18-to-49 realm.
ESPN’s prime-time college football attraction, a Big Ten matchup between Northwestern and Purdue, averaged just 35,611 total viewers while Fox Sports 1’s Oklahoma State-Missouri State game did worse with 21,366.
TEGNA8 won a downsized three-way race at 10 p.m. in total viewers while Fox4 drew the most 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 again crunched the competition with twin wins at 6 a.m. In both ratings measurements, the station had more than the combined audience for the waker-uppers on NBC5, TEGNA8 and CBS11.
NBC5 enjoyed the early evening, sweeping at both 5 and 6 p.m. CBS11’s local newscasts at those hours were rubbed out by a pair of Cowboys specials.
So exactly what was TEGNA8 anchor Cynthia Izaguirre apologizing for?
Another follower, Gabe (@raiderduke505), also praised Izaguirre for her honesty and strength of character. “Even though I missed what happened,” he added.
At the midway point of Thursday’s 5 p.m. edition, co-anchor John McCaa read a short piece about a New York City “Map Hack” that led to an apology from Snapchat. TEGNA8 showed the offending graphic (pictured above) and McCaa said the word “Jewtropolis” (NYC’s fake new name) before Izaguirre could be heard laughing loudly off-camera.
Izaguirre, who regularly is called “Izzy” on the air, also encouraged viewers to phone her directly at the station if they wanted to talk further.
It’s true that one mark of true character is a willingness to admit one’s mistakes. Izaguirre has never been hesitant to do that. And it goes a long way toward winning viewers over -- as long as it’s not constant. In that respect, Thursday’s misstep and Izaguirre’s apology ended up receiving rave reviews from her Twitter followers.
“You’re awesome, Cynthia! Your apology shows your utmost professionalism,” enthused Terry (@Terrys508).
“Sigh and thank you,” Izaguirre replied.
The long, hot summer continues to wind down while ABC’s America’s Got Talent and CBS’ Big Brother heat up down the home stretch of their final verdicts.
AGT paced all of Wednesday’s prime-time programming in total D-FW viewers by pulling in 220,785 in the 7 p.m. hour. And the competing BB as usual led with advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds (78,015).
Fox4’s local 9 p.m. newscast otherwise again fared well against network entertainment programming. winning from 9 to 10 p.m. in both total viewers (156,686) and among 18-to-49ers (40,568).
And now for Wednesday’s four-way local news derby results.
Fox4 won among total viewers, but got nipped by TEGNA8 in the fight for 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
The 6 a.m. sweep once again went to Fox4 while the 6 p.m. firsts were split between NBC5 in total viewers and TEGNA8 in the 25-to-54 realm.
At 5 p.m., Fox4 and NBC5 tied for the most total viewers, with Fox4 alone on top with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Summertime -- and the viewing is cheesy.
Although it dominated as usual Tuesday among total D-FW viewers, NBC’s America’s Got Talent got gonged by ABC’s competing Bachelor In Paradise among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds.
BIP drew 74,894 of ‘em from 7 to 9 p.m. while AGT took the silver with 68,653. In total viewers, though, it was no contest. AGT had 313,372 compared to BIP’s 121,076. CBS’ NCIS and Bull repeats also beat BIP from 7 to 9 p.m. in total viewers.
In the 9 p.m. hour, Fox4’s local newscast won in both total viewers (178,053) and with 18-to-49ers (46,809).
Monday’s prime-time Nielsens were paced by Fox4’s 9 p.m. news in total viewers (199,419) while NBC’s two-hour American Ninja Warrior took the 18-to-49 crown with 56,171.
Monday -- Two stations scooped up all the spoils. Fox4 won at 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. in total viewers and among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming). NBC5 swept both the 5 and 6 p.m. competitions.
Tuesday -- Same story. Fox4 ran the table at 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. while the Peacock had doubleheader wins at both 5 and 6 p.m.
The rapid ascent of Hanna Battah continues.
After joining Dallas-based Fox4 in June to replace Jenny Anchondo as the weekend Good Day anchor, Battah has been bumped up to weekday editions of the show. When Good Day expands another hour to 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 4th, Battah will co-anchor the 4 to 6 a.m. portion of the program and then report during the remaining morning hours.
Incumbent anchors Tim Ryan and Lauren Przybyl get to start their shift two hours later and preside from 6 to 10 a.m., Fox4 announced Wednesday. Meteorologist Evan Andrews and traffic anchor Chip Waggoner will soldier through “the entirety of the newscast,” vice president and news director Robin Whitmeyer said in the station’s publicity release.
Battah made a quantum leap from Bakersfield, CA’s KBAK/KBFX-TV when she joined Fox4. Bakersfield is the country’s 126th television market while Dallas-Fort Worth is No. 5 and slowly closing in on No. 4 Philadelphia.
“In the short time since Hanna joined Fox4, she has proven she has the talent and intelligence to take on this important role,” Whitmeyer said.
Battah’s 4 to 6 a.m. desk mate is yet to be named, and there could be a series of tryouts for that spot. “It has not been filled yet. We will let you know when it is,” a Fox4 corporate spokesperson told unclebarky.com Wednesday.
The 6 to 7 a.m. weekday portion of Good Day has been a dominant force in the D-FW ratings and hasn’t been beaten on a single day since early spring. Good Day also usually outdraws the three competing network morning shows from 7 to 9 a.m.
Fox4 remains the only D-FW station to start its early morning weekday newscast at 4 a.m., which it has been doing since Wednesday, May 9th. NBC5, TEGNA8 and CBS11 all still begin at 4:30 a.m., although that is likely to change at some point.
The new 9 to 10 a.m. portion of Good Day will be competing against back-to-back episodes of Let’s Make A Deal on CBS, the third hour of NBC’s Today show and TEGNA8’s homegrown Good Morning Texas.
The old axiom is that people love to see a car wreck. But where the Dallas Cowboys are concerned, nope.
Sunday night’s Game 3 of the pre-season, a 27-3 loss to the visiting Arizona Cardinals, ran from 7:07 to 10:09 p.m. on NBC’s showcase Sunday Night Football stage. Dallas didn’t score until the final seconds of the game. And by that time, the D-FW audience had shrunk considerably.
Overall, Cowboys-Cardinals averaged 505,669 total viewers and 187,236 within the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic. Last year’s Game 3, a 24-19 win over the Indianapolis Colts on CBS11, pulled in 559,875 total viewers, with 192,426 in the 18-to-49 age range.
Neither game was a so-called “dress rehearsal” in which starters played much of the first half. In 2017, Dallas was scheduled to play five pre-season games, with Game 4 ending up as the dress rehearsal. Game 5, against the Houston Texans, was canceled in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
Also notable: Last year’s Game 3 was played on a Saturday night when many potential viewers tend to be out and about. But it still out-performed this year’s game versus Arizona, which got a more visible stay-at-home Sunday slot.
Of course the score didn’t help. The Cowboys had eight turnovers and basically were out of the game at halftime. Reacting accordingly, D-FW viewers tuned out as the game wore on. In total viewers, the crowd decreased in each 15-minute increment from 9 p.m. until the end, when just 313,372 viewers remained, some of them possibly asleep. Among 18-to-49ers, the steady drop-off started at 8:15 p.m. By the end of the game, only 112,342 remained.
The Cowboys still decimated all competing Sunday night programming. CBS’ 7 p.m. hour of Big Brother fared the best, with 156,686 total viewers and 65,533 within the 18-to-49 motherlode. As usual, that’s a higher percentage of 18-to-49-year-olds than the Cowboys managed.
In Friday’s prime-time Nielsens, NBC’s 9 p.m. edition of Dateline led all programming with 95,436 total viewers and also edged the 9 to 10 p.m. portion of CBS’ Detroit Lions-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game among 18-to-49-year-olds.
NBC5 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m. while the Peacock and Fox4 tied with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 continued its lengthy 6 a.m. winning streak with another sweep. NBC5 drew the most total viewers at 5 and 6 p.m., and Fox4 was tops with 25-to-54-year-olds at those hours.
CBS, which used to have Thursday Night Football, took the measure of Fox’s version with a competing 8 p.m. episode of Big Brother.
Not in total viewers, as it turns out. But in the audience demographic of most value to advertisers -- 18-to-49-year-olds.
Big Bro pulled in 89,873 D-FW viewers in this age range to nip the 8 to 9 p.m. portion of the Cleveland Browns-Philadelphia Eagles pre-season game (88,937). The NFL otherwise narrowly prevailed among total viewers in head-to-head competition with 213,663 to Big Bro’s 192,297. CBS’ summer moneymaker had a higher percentage of 18-to-49ers than Browns-Eagles, which Cleveland won by a 5-0 baseball score.
In Wednesday’s prime-time Nielsens, NBC’s America’s Got Talent had the most total viewers (235,029) while a 7 p.m. episode of Big Bro led all TV attractions among 18-to-49-year-olds (93,618).
Here are the local news derby results for Wednesday and Thursday.
Wednesday -- TEGNA8 ran first at 10 p.m. in total viewers, but Fox4 won among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 methodically swept the 6 a.m. competitions again. Fox4, NBC5 and TEGNA8 shared the total viewers lead at 6 p.m., with TEGNA8 alone on top with 25-to-54-year-olds.
At 5 p.m., NBC5 won in total viewers and Fox4 was tops with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Thursday -- TEGNA8 swept a downsized three-way competition at 10 p.m., with Fox4’s news delayed by football.
The 6 a.m. spoils again went to Fox4 while NBC5 rode to a 6 p.m. sweep. At 5 p.m., the Peacock had the most total viewers and Fox4 prevailed with 25-t-54-year-olds.
LOCAL TV PROGRAMMING NOTE -- Pulling Together, a CBS11 special tied to a day of charity tug of war competitions on behalf of the Children’s Cancer Fund, will air at 11 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 25th and be repeated at 7 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 27th by sister station TXA21. CBS11 anchors Karen Borta and Doug Dunbar both fielded teams.
CBS11, which sponsored the Aug. 11th event, on Friday exceeded a goal of $200,000 in funds raised, according to CBS11/TXA21 communications director Lori Conrad.
After another too short and too hot summer, most Dallas school kids trudged back to their classrooms Monday.
D-FW’s early morning news programs again were happy to see the ratings upsides, with larger pools of parents both back from vacations and more attuned to any weather, traffic or other issues that might affect their backpacking broods.
Fox4’s Good Day jumped higher for joy than the rival attractions on NBC5, TEGNA8 and CBS11. Pole-vaulted is more accurate, particularly among the key news demographic of 25-to-54-year-olds.
In the most-watched 6 to 7 a.m. slot Monday, Fox4 pulled in 88,239 viewers in the 25-to-54 age range, far more than the combined crowds for TEGNA8 (26,472), CBS11 (17,648) and NBC5 (14,707).
Tuesday’s Nielsens delivered another spanking, with Fox4 drawing 70,591 viewers in the 25-to-54 realm, compared to 29,413 for TEGNA8, 11,765 for NBC5 and 8,824 for CBS11.
On both mornings, Good Day also easily won the 6 a.m. hour in total viewers, with CBS11 placing a distant second on Monday and TEGNA8 taking the far behind runner-up spot on Tuesday. The 7 to 9 a.m. portions of Good Day also whipped the three competing network morning shows in both ratings measurements on Monday and Tuesday.
Tuesday’s prime-time numbers as usual were dominated by NBC’s America’s Got Talent, which had 334,739 total viewers and 118,583 within the 18-to-49-year-old demographic (main advertiser target audience for entertainment programming).
On Monday night, Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast led all programming in total viewers (149,564) while ABC’s Bachelor In Paradise was tops with 18-to-49ers (53,050).
CBS’ extended one-hour When Corden Met McCartney, which aired from 7 to 8 p.m., drew 113,954 total viewers and 24,965 in the 18-to-49 motherlode. Both were good for third place finishes at that hour against competition on the other three major broadcast networks. Fox’s 7 to 8 p.m. slice of So You Think You Can Dance twice ran out of the money in fourth place.
Here are the Monday and Tuesday local news derby results (with 6 a.m. already accounted for).
Monday -- NBC5 swept both the 10 p.m. and 5 p.m. competitions in total viewers and among 25-to-54-year-olds. The Peacock and TEGNA8 tied for the most total viewers at 6 p.m., but NBC5 had the gold to itself in the 25-to-54 demo.
Tuesday -- Fox4 ran the table at 10 p.m. and NBC5 enjoyed the early evening with sweeps at both 5 and 6 p.m.
Game 2 of the Dallas Cowboys’ latest largely meaningless pre-season fell just slightly below last August’s second contest.
Starting at 6 p.m. and seeping past 9 p.m. Saturday on CBS11, the Cowboys’ 21-13 loss to the visiting Cincinnati Bengals averaged 384,593 total D-FW viewers and 121,703 in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic. In last August’s Game 2, a 13-10 loss to the Los Angeles Rams pulled in 407,182 total viewers and 121,870 within the 18-to-49 motherlode.
Of more concern to the Cowboys, and to the NFL in general, are the continued low percentages of 18-to-49-year-olds tuning in. Getting 50 percent or better of these viewers is a demographic success story, but the audience of 18-to-49-year-olds for each of these pre-season games was less than 33 percent.
In contrast, CBS’ regular 7 p.m. Sunday episode of Big Brother had 249,274 total viewers and 121,704 in the 18-to-49 age range. That’s the same number of 18-to-49ers drawn by Cowboys-Bengals -- and also right on the cusp of the 50 percent mark. The Cowboys game and Big Brother were the biggest draws in both ratings measurements on their respective nights.
On Friday, CBS also led all prime-time TV attractions in total viewers with an 8 p.m. hour of Whistleblower (106,832 viewers). And the network’s 7 p.m. offering, TKO: Total Knock Out ranked as the top draw among 18-to-49-year-olds, but with a comparatively puny 31,206 of ‘em. But hey, it was a Friday.
NBC5 swept the 10 p.m. competitions in both total viewers and with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 once again crushed the opposition with twin wins at 6 a.m. The 6 p.m. golds went to TEGNA8 in total viewers and Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds.
At 5 p.m., NBC5 won in total viewers while tying CBS11 for the top spot with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Out of harm’s way -- namely Wednesday night’s competing America’s Got Talent with its first live results show of the season -- CBS’ Big Brother returned to dominance Thursday.
BB easily led all prime-time TV attractions in both total D-FW viewers (213,663) and with advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds (112,342). Which means that more than half the show’s audience was in the “desired” 18-to-49-year-old motherlode. No other CBS show, including new episodes of The Big Bang Theory, can match that.
ABC plugged in a one-hour Aretha Franklin tribute at 7 p.m. It drew 56,977 total viewers, with 15,603 in the 18-to-49 realm. The “Queen of Soul” died Thursday at the age of 76.
NBC5 and TEGNA8 tied for the most total viewers at 10 p.m., but TEGNA8 was alone in first among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 as usual/always swept the 6 a.m. competitions. At 6 p.m., TEGNA8 had the most total viewers while tying Fox4 and NBC5 for the lead with 25-to-54-year-olds.
The 5 p.m. golds went to NBC5 in total viewers and Fox4 in the 25-to-54 demographic.
NBC’s America’s Got Talent went to the first live results show of its latest season Wednesday night, and it showed in direct competition with the usual 7 p.m. winner, CBS’ Big Brother.
AGT pulled in 348,983 D-FW viewers in crunching BB’s runner-up 220,785. But Big Brother fought back among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds, drawing 106,100 in pounding America’s Got Talent down into second place with 71,738.
NBC then won the 8 to 9 p.m. hour in total viewers with the first half of World of Dance (142,442) before narrowly losing from 9 to 10 p.m. to Fox4’s local newscast (149,564). The hour-to-hour results were the same among 18-to-49-year-olds.
In Tuesday’s prime-time proceedings, AGT easily ranked as the night’s biggest scorer in both total viewers (341,861) and with 18-to-49ers (71,774).
Tuesday -- Fox4 swept the 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. races in both total viewers and with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
TEGNA8 drew the most total viewers at 6 p.m. while NBC5 took the top spot with 25-to-54-year-olds. At 5 p.m., Fox4 and the Peacock tied for the lead in total viewers, with Fox4 along in first among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Wednesday -- NBC5 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m., and Fox4 again won with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Fox4 remained impregnable at 6 a.m. with another sweep. NBC5 and TEGNA8 tied for the most total viewers at 6 p.m. while the Peacock had the 25-to-54 gold to itself.
CBS11 broke through for a 5 p.m. win with 25-to-54-year-olds, with NBC5 drawing the most total viewers.
It’s been an up and down ride for Laurie Passman, who on Thursday was named D-FW-based CBS11’s vice president and news director after being bypassed for that position in January 2017.
Passman had been acting news director for five months after CBS11 parted ways with Mike Garber in August 2016. But the station eventually went outside to hire Andrea Parquet-Taylor as news director. She arrived in February of last year from WNCN-TV in Raleigh-Durham, NC, where she’d been news director since 2011.
Passman returned to her assistant news director post at CBS11. But in July of this year, Parquet-Taylor was promoted to vice president and station manager of CBS11 and its sister station, TXA21. Passman again became interim news director, and now finally has the job on a permanent basis.
Before joining CBS11, Passman had been assistant news director at KTVK-TV in Phoenix.
Ex-TEGNA8 investigator Brett Shipp as pictured on his new website.
Former TEGNA8 investigative reporter Brett Shipp is hoping to reinvent his wheelhouse after leaving the Dallas-based station late last year to run unsuccessfully for Congress.
Shipp surprised many of his TEGNA8 colleagues and fellow local journalists by abruptly quitting the station in December to enter the Democratic primary in the 32nd congressional district, where Republican Pete Sessions is the incumbent. He was 59 at the time and had spent 22 years at TEGNA8, where Shipp and colleague Byron Harris (who retired in October 2015) won multiple prestigious national Peabody and duPont Columbia awards.
Never shy about touting his accomplishments, Shipp tells prospective clients that “to this day I remain one of the most highly decorated local television reporters in the country.” He also has sometimes taunted the subjects of his investigations. In 2010, Shipp’s probe into Southlake Carroll’s high-powered football program included his grandstanding promo in a Facebook post that was deleted after unclebarky.com called attention to it.
Shipp is by no means the only D-FW television journalist to fire up his own company in hopes of generating stories for consumption by various media outlets. David Margulies (TEGNA8), Susan Risdon (NBC5), Jeff Crilley (Fox4), Mike Androvett (NBC5) and Paul Adrian (Fox4) are among the many who are in business for themselves. Former TEGNA8 anchor-reporter Jeff Brady tried for a while to go the same route but eventually gave up and joined San Antonio’s KENS-TV as a weeknight news anchor.
Videos of five investigations from his time at TEGNA8 are posted on brettshippmedia.com, in addition to one by former colleague Rebeca Lopez.
Shipp at times also doesn’t like his own toes being stepped on. He has not talked to your friendly content provider since October of 2016, when he strongly objected to being accurately quoted while moderating a Dallas VideoFest event titled “How the News Got Made.” Neither of Shipp’s two remarks about TEGNA8 were played prominently in the story. One of them concerned sports anchor Dale Hansen’s contributions to the Southern Methodist University “death penalty” investigation in 1987 and the other was on how he’d “get fired” by TEGNA8 if he disclosed his opinion on the quality of today’s television news.
He refused to engage further on the matter, but promises to be his usual pit bull self in the interests of any clients that brettshippmedia obtains.
He’d like to keep it that way.
Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast carried the day and the night Monday, ranking as D-FW’s most-watched TV attraction in two major ratings food groups.
It drew the most total viewers (163,808) while also ranking tops with advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds (46,809 viewers).
In the preceding 7 to 9 p.m. slot, NBC’s American Ninja Warrior won in total viewers with 128,198, and ABC’s competing Bachelor in Paradise had the upper hand with 18-to-49ers (43,688).
CBS’ 8 p.m. episode of Salvation bottomed out with 71,221 total viewers and 9,362 in the 18-to-49 realm to rank last in that hour among the Big Four broadcast networks.
Fox4 won at both 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. in total viewers and with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming). The 6 to 9 a.m. portion of its Good Day outdrew the combined audience for local and network programming on rivals NBC5, TEGNA8 and CBS11. In the 6 a.m. hour, CBS11’s local offering continued its late summer mini-resurgence with a runner-up finish among 25-to-54-year-olds.
CBS11 also ran the table at 6 p.m. and drew the most 25-to-54-year-olds at 5 p.m. NBC5 won in total viewers at 5 p.m.
Tiger Woods was in it to win it, and the D-FW ratings reacted accordingly for Sunday’s final round of the PGA Championship on CBS.
The resurgent Woods ended up second, just two strokes behind winner Brooks Koepka. His closing six under par 64 built the audience throughout the afternoon and early evening before Koepka prevailed just a minute after 6 p.m.. After starting with 85,465 total viewers for the initial 1 to 1:15 p.m. segment, the PGA peaked at 284,884 viewers from 5 to 5:15 p.m. The overall average of 185,175 viewers more than doubled the crowd of 87,253 for last August’s PGA, which was won by Justin Thomas.
In 2017, the closing 18 holes of the PGA Championship averaged a puny 22,450 viewers in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old motherlode. With a Tiger in its tank, Sunday’s final round pulled in 62,412 viewers in this key audience demographic.
CBS’ prime-time scheduled was pushed back roughly a half-hour by the PGA Championship’s post-match coverage. And although the golfers weren’t swinging their clubs anymore, the 6 to 6:15 portion of that coverage drew Sunday’s biggest crowd in total viewers with 313,372. Some of those viewers may have been expecting 60 Minutes to start on time.
Saturday’s Round 3 of the PGA averaged more total viewers (135,320) than any other D-FW TV attraction in the day or night.
Friday’s prime-time pacesetters were CBS’ 9 p.m. repeat of Blue Bloods in total viewers (121,076) and CBS’ 7 p.m. attraction, TKO: Total Knockout, in the 18-to-49 realm (31,206 viewers).
TEGNA8 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m., while NBC5 won among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 scored twin wins at 6 a.m., with CBS11 maintaining some momentum by again climbing to the No. 2 spot with 25-to-54-year-olds. We’ll see if the station can stay in play when the kids go back to school on Mon., Aug. 20th. The early morning news ratings generally inflate at that point, with extra thousands of parents tuning in at least briefly to check on the weather, etc.
At 6 p.m., CBS11 won in total viewers and NBC5 had the most 25-to-54-year-olds. The 5 p.m. golds went to the Peacock in total viewers and Fox4 in the 25-to-54-year-old measurement.
The Dallas Cowboys’ opening preseason game, a 24-21 loss at San Francisco, rolled to the usual winning numbers in the D-FW Nielsens.
The CBS11 telecast, which fired up at 9:05 p.m. Thursday, averaged 413,082 total viewers and drew 162,271 within the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic. The ratings peaked from 9:15 to 9:30 p.m., when 584,012 total viewers tuned in. From 10 to 10:30 p.m., Cowboys-49ers had 477,181 total viewers, easily outdrawing the combined 334,739 viewers for local newscasts on Fox4, NBC5 and TEGNA8.
Thursday night’s usual big hitter, Big Brother, was sent from CBS to sister station TXA21 in the 8 p.m. hour to accommodate CBS11’s pre-game show. BB ended up with a Siberia-sized 113,954 total viewers and 49,930 in the 18-to-49 realm.
Last Thursday in its regular home on CBS11, BB pulled in 192,297 total viewers and 102,980 in the 18-to-49 age range. On Cowboys game night, the countdown show beat BB in both ratings measurements.
Fox4’s resilient 9 p.m. local newscast fared best opposite the Cowboys game with 170,930 total viewers and 40,568 in the 18-to-49 motherlode.
Here are Thursday’s four-way local news derby results.
TEGNA8 won the downsized 10 p.m. race in total viewers but Fox4 was tops with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 remained unbeatable at 6 a.m. with another sweep and NBC5 ran the table at 6 p.m.
The Peacock and Fox4 tied for the most total viewers at 5 p.m. while Fox4 won outright among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast ranked as Wednesday’s overall top prime-time performer while CBS’ Big Brother as usual took the 18-to-49-year-old cake.
Drawing close to double the crowd for the competing final hour of ABC’s CMA Fest, the news roped in 199,419 total D-FW viewers. CBS’ 7 p.m. hour of Big Brother led all TV attractions among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49ers (81,136) while Fox4’s newscast came in second for the night with 56,171.
Prime-time’s biggest overall loser, NBC’s 9 p.m. episode of the new Reverie, dozed with just 42,733 total viewers.
TEGNA8 won at 10 p.m. in total viewers while Fox4 led with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 extended its multi-month unbeaten streak with two more 6 a.m. wins, and also led at 5 and 6 p.m. among 25-to-54-year-olds. NBC5 drew the most total viewers at both 5 and 6 p.m.
Of note: CBS11 has been perking up a bit lately in the 6 a.m. race among 25-to-54-year-olds. On Wednesday, the station ran a solid second in this key demographic, with TEGNA8 third and a still slumping NBC5 placing last. CBS11 also took the 6 a.m. runner-up spot on Tuesday in the 25-to-54 measurement. It’s only the summer, and early morning viewing levels are lower than during the school year. But at least CBS11 is showing a pulse.
NBC again swooped in for the kill Tuesday night, with America’s Got Talent easily topping the prime-time charts.
Airing in its usual 7 to 9 p.m. slot, AGT drew 327,617 D-FW viewers in decimating ABC’s competing season premiere of Bachelor In Paradise (99,709 viewers). AGT also reigned among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds with 71,774 while B In P took the runner-up spot (46,809).
The only downside for AGT is its “skew old” percentage of 18 to 49ers. Less than 25 percent of its audience is in that realm.
Episode 2 of NBC’s artsy crafty Making It, from Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman, had 113,954 total viewers at 9 p.m., placing second in that hour to Fox4’s local newscast (149,564 viewers). But Making It comfortably won from 9 to 10 p.m. among 18-to-49-year-olds with 40,568. Also airing at 9 p.m., the premiere of ABC’s Survivor ripoff, Castaways, ran fourth in total viewers in the Big Four broadcast network universe and moved up to a second-place tie with Fox4’s news among 18-to-49-year-olds.
In Monday’s prime-time festivities, ABC’s three-hour season finale of The Bachelorette won from start to stop in both total viewers (142,442) and with 18-to-49-year-olds (62,412).
And now for the local news derby results.
Monday -- Fox4 swept the 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. competitions in total viewers and among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
At 6 p.m., NBC5 and TEGNA8 tied for the top spot in total viewers while the Peacock had the 25-to-54 gold to itself.
The 5 p.m. firsts went to NBC5 in total viewers and TEGNA8 among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Tuesday -- In a rarity, Fox4 and TEGNA8 tied for first place at 10 p.m. in both ratings measurements.
It almost goes without saying that Fox4 again had twin wins at 6 a.m. while the 7 to 9 a.m. portion of Good Day also continues to dominate the three network morning offerings.
NBC5 ran first in total viewers at 5 and 6 p.m.; Fox4 won both of the 25-to-54 competitions at those hours.
Mark Ginther, who joined Fort Worth-based NBC5 on September 14, 2015 as vice president of news, has been fired after an in-house investigation by the Human Resources department.
Word came Monday afternoon from numerous sources. Ginther had been hired from Seattle’s NBC affiliate, KING-TV, where he was news director from 2008 to 2015. Prior to that he had been assistant news director at Dallas-based WFAA-TV from 2006-’08.
NBC5 has not issued any official statement on Ginther’s termination. Brian Hocker, who reportedly is handling all inquiries, said via automated email that he’s “out of the office traveling on business” until Thursday of this week. Ginther could not be reached for comment Monday.
A number of sources close to the situation say that Ginther’s firing had nothing to do with any allegations of sexual misconduct. Instead the station determined that his management style was no longer a good fit, according to sources.
NBC5 also underwent numerous personnel changes during Ginther’s time at the station. And NBC5’s early morning ratings, particularly in the key 6 a.m. hour, have fallen into serious decline in the past year in the key news demographic of 25-to-54-year-olds.
It’s expected that assistant news director John Stone will step in as the interim newsroom boss while NBC5 searches for Ginther’s replacement.
After several days in Cleveland, your friendly content provider is back servicing unclebarky.com.
But before summarizing the latest available D-FW Nielsen ratings, here’s a Dale Hansen update which earlier was tweeted from afar on @unclebarkycom. The dean of local sports anchors, who just turned 70, has signed another two-year deal with TEGNA8 that will take him through 2020.
Hansen has been in this market since August 1980. He’s spent the last 35 years at TEGNA8 (previously Belo-owned WFAA-TV) after being fired by rival KDFW-TV (now branded as Fox4) in March 1983. The highly opinionated Hansen was almost immediately snapped up by his current employer. In the fall of 2017, he re-upped at TEGNA8 for just a single year through 2018 while also cutting his workload back to the Monday-Friday 10 p.m. newscasts, plus his longrunning Sunday night Sports Special.
“I hope to leave before they kick me out,” Hansen said after signing that earlier contract. But if anything, TEGNA8 just can’t get enough of him. So this time around, his new deal is for twice as long.
The NFL returned Thursday night with the annual Hall of Fame game on NBC. But in the 8 to 9 p.m. hour, the Chicago Bears-Baltimore Ravens face-off got narrowly outpointed by CBS’ Big Brother.
BB drew 192,297 total viewers while Bears-Ravens had 185,175 in their hour opposite one another. Among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, BB won by a score of 102,980 viewers to the NFL’s 93,618. Bears-Ravens otherwise outdrew all other competing TV attractions.
On Wednesday night, Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast racked up the most total viewers with 220,785, knocking Big Brother into second place for the night with 170,930. But BB crunched the competition in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic with a prime-time high of 93,618. Fox4’s news pulled in second with 49,930.
The Tuesday night ratings spoils again went overwhelmingly to NBC’s America’s Got Talent, which reeled in 341,861 total viewers and 71,774 in the 18-to-49 realm.
Monday’s prime-time leaders were Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast in total viewers (199,419) and ABC’s The Bachelorette in the 18-to-49 age range (78,015).
Here are the Monday-Thursday local news derby results.
Monday -- NBC5 swept the 10 p.m. competitions in both total viewers and with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 as usual had twin wins at 6 a.m. and also drew the most 25-to-54-year-olds at 5 and 6 p.m. NBC5 had the most total viewers for both early evening newscasts.
Tuesday -- Fox4 ran the able at both 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. while NBC5 did likewise at 5 p.m. The 6 p.m. wins went to the Peacock in total viewers and TEGNA8 with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Wednesday -- Fox4 finished no worse than first in all four time slots, but twice had company. The station again had clean sweeps at 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and also won outright among 25-to-54-year-olds at 5 and 6 p.m. In the total viewer results, Fox4, NBC5 and CBS11 tied for No. 1 at 6 p.m. while Fox4 shared the 5 p.m. lead with the Peacock.
Thursday -- The 10 p.m. wins went to Fox4 in total viewers and NBC5 among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Fox4 continued its long winning streak at 6 a.m. with two more lopsided wins. But NBC5 basked at 5 and 6 p.m., where it ran first in both ratings measurements. | 2019-04-18T18:44:49Z | http://unclebarky.com/dfw_files/archive-aug-2018.html |
In January 1931, a special federal census discovered 99,233 Clevelanders out of work and another 25,400 with jobs but laid off without pay or working only part-time; half of the city’s population was affected. The Cleveland Plain Dealer described this as “the peak of the depression.” Wishful thinking – because things got worse. As the numbers of the jobless continued to rise, local government and private charities, the historic caretakers of the city’s poor, were overwhelmed, unable to provide food, clothes, or shelter for those in desperate need. Angry, frightened citizens took to the streets, challenging the police, elected officials, and employers. In these worst of times, the federal government assumed new responsibilities: building highways, homes, schools, bridges, and parks to put Clevelanders to work and changing public policy toward those in need.
Since the seventeenth century local governments had taken care their resident poor. (Non-resident poor were “warned out” of the city.) Private charities, almost always faith-based, played a secondary role, helping only their co-religionists. The city of Cleveland sheltered the absolutely destitute in the public poorhouse, the first founded in 1827, on the future site of Erie Street Cemetery. In 1855, the city opened a larger facility on Scranton Avenue, the Cleveland Infirmary, so-called because many of its inmates were incapacitated by illness. The Infirmary housed not only the ill, but the insane and the criminal, the elderly and the orphaned, as well as men, women, and children – often recent immigrants – who were just down on their luck. Inside the Infirmary the able-bodied were supposed to work to earn their keep. The regimen was rigid, and the amenities were none. No one was encouraged to stay long at public expense. During the first decades of the twentieth century, the various dependent groups were separated: criminals were placed in the workhouse, the elderly in a facility in Warrensville Township, parentless children in orphanages, and the ill in Cleveland City Hospital, the foundation of today’s MetroHealth System. The city provided the poor who had shelter with outdoor, or direct, relief; this meant grocery orders for approved food, sometimes shoes or clothing – but never cash – distributed at the backdoor of the Infirmary. In 1922, on the grounds that it was strapped for funds, Cleveland turned over its responsibility for outdoor relief to a private agency, Associated Charities (AC).
After a brief economic downturn in 1920-21, most Clevelanders prospered. The city, the sixth largest in the country, remained a center for the manufacture of steel and iron, automobiles and automotive parts, chemicals, and textiles. Downtown remained the center of the region’s financial and commercial life. The Public Auditorium, the Public Library, and the Board of Education building, all designed in the grand Beaux Art style, completed the city’s Group Plan, evidence of the city’s soaring ambitions at the beginning of the century.
Celebrating those ambitions and that prosperity, the Republican Party held its 1924 presidential nominating convention here. The nominee, Calvin Coolidge, believed that the business of America was business; most Clevelanders would have agreed.
Among Cleveland’s successful businessmen were the visionary Van Sweringen brothers, real estate entrepreneurs who created a railroad empire en route to creating a suburban utopia. Capitalizing on the desire of Cleveland’s upper-middle class to escape the city’s congested neighborhoods and smoke-filled air, M.J. and O.P. Van Sweringen in 1906 purchased from a Buffalo real estate syndicate land that had once belonged to a community of Shakers – the Shakers called it “the Valley of God’s Pleasure” – and turned it into a planned community of architect-designed homes, clubs, commercial districts, public and private schools, and parks along curving roadways. The Van Sweringens realized that crucial to Shaker Heights’ success was public transportation to downtown Cleveland, and to gain the right-of-way into the city for their Shaker rapid transit, the brothers in 1916 bought the Nickel Plate railroad, the first of several they later purchased. To serve as a depot for their railroads and the rapid transit, they then built their Cleveland Union Terminal complex, the most magnificent transportation and commercial center anywhere – or so Clevelanders believed.
In 1927, even as the tower of the Union Terminal, symbol of the city’s well-being, was topped off at 708 feet (Terminal Tower would be the second tallest building in the country), the AC staff noticed growing numbers of jobless men and women asking for help. The numbers rose again in 1928 as the demand for the products of Cleveland factories – automobiles and other durable goods – declined. In 1929, well before the October stock market crash and the official beginning of the Depression, AC’s expenses for direct relief had doubled, and the once-affluent agency was running in the red. The Community Fund was able to make up the deficit. A year later, the AC deficit was $600,000, and the Community Fund again covered the deficit with a special fund. The Wayfarers’ Lodge sheltered 26,433 men in that one year. After almost a century of service in a city that had experienced economic crises about once every decade since its founding, the AC staff were old hands at weathering depressions, but they had never faced anything like this.
Then followed frantic, improvised efforts by the public and private sectors to stem the rising tide of unemployment and destitution. The city launched a short-lived public works program, providing three-day shifts in parks and on streets at sixty cents an hour; 17,000 men applied for the few available jobs. The successful applicants wielded shovels and rakes at Edgewater, Gordon, and Brookside Parks; “Earning Wages Again after Idle Months, City Toilers Are Happy Lot,” exclaimed the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Cuyahoga County organized a similar program of work on county roads. There was no work for women or for men who could not do heavy labor. Mrs. Dudley S. Blossom, whose husband was then Cleveland’s Welfare Director, donated $5,000 toward relief; Thistledown Race Track donated one day’s proceeds; Junior League volunteers bottled and distributed donated skim milk; individuals gave canned fruits and vegetables; groups collected used clothing, and some relief clients sewed their own at the AC Sewing Center; children filled Penny Boxes for children less fortunate than themselves. The Red Cross distributed surplus government cotton and wheat. Churches and other private organizations urged members to hire temporary workers in a “Man-A-Block” program. Relief gardens provided work and food for hundreds of families. As the usual pledges from usually generous donors diminished, the Community Fund could not meet its own fund-raising goals by mid-decade.
The difficulties of Cleveland’s banks, once symbols of financial security and wealth, compounded the crisis. Two had closed by 1932, Standard Trust and Midland Bank. After the governor of Michigan declared a bank holiday in his state, a run on Cleveland banks in February 1933, cost Union Trust, the largest bank outside of New York City, and Guardian Trust half their deposits. Cleveland Trust was spared only because its president stood in the bank lobby and promised depositors that the bank was sound. The next day, most Cleveland banks agreed to limit withdrawals to 5 to 10 percent of a customer’s account. At the end of this harrowing week, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who took office on March 3, 1933, ordered all the nation’s banks closed until their financial stability could be assured. Union Trust and Guardian Trust stayed shut. The Community Fund, and thousands of small depositors, had money in both. Two bank officers went to jail.
In an effort to cushion the blow of another devastating depression, Congress in 1935 passed the Social Security Act, providing old age and unemployment insurance programs, overseen and partially funded by the federal government, and federally and state funded direct relief for specific groups such as the disabled and dependent children. Although the long-range implications of this “safety net” were enormous, its immediate impact was minimal.
In any case, Americans much preferred work to direct relief, later labeled “welfare.” Congress, accordingly, established a series of work relief programs, These programs had various and sometimes confusingly similar names: the Civil Works Administration (CWA), a short-lived program initiated in 1933; the Public Works Administration (PWA) initiated in 1933, and the Works Projects Administration, later the Works Progress Administration (WPA) initiated in 1935. Some programs targeted specific groups of unemployed persons, such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) for young men, the National Youth Administration (NYA) for young men and women, and the federal theater, music, writers and art projects. Most work relief programs, however, provided unskilled jobs, putting people back to work, putting money in their pockets, and at the same time, creating something of lasting value that would serve the public. Like the Social Security Act, these programs did not take hold immediately.
Clevelanders took out their frustrations on their political leaders, who changed with dizzying speed. The city had instituted the city manager plan of government in 1924, which was supposed to put the administration of the city in the hands of a nonpartisan expert rather than an elected official. William R. Hopkins was appointed the first city manager. Hopkins, a Republican, was a lawyer and a former Cleveland City Council member. ( Cleveland Hopkins International Airport was named in his honor in 1951.) In 1930, however, City Council removed Hopkins from office, replacing him with Daniel Morgan, also a Republican and a former Council member. In 1931, voters ditched the city manager plan altogether and again elected a mayor as chief administrator. In 1932, Democrat Ray T. Miller won the election; the enormous difficulties of the Depression ensured that he would serve only one term. Miller was succeeded by Republican Harry L. Davis. Davis had been Cleveland’s mayor from 1916 to 1920 and had served one term as Ohio governor, 1920-1922. Like Miller, he had only one term as mayor, 1933-35. Political stability returned only with the election of Republican Harold H. Burton. Burton served three terms, giving Cleveland “the kind of honest, efficient government it hadn’t seen since the days of Tom L. Johnson and Newton D. Baker.” Burton, later elected to the U.S. Senate and then named to the U.S. Supreme Court, maintained order in this tumultuous time.
Much of the political tumult was created by the Council of the Unemployed. Like AC, the council had noted the growing number of jobless as early as 1927. The council’s leaders were Sadie Van Veen and her husband Israel Amter, a founding member of the Communist Party, USA. The council’s leaders were Communists; its followers probably were drawn mostly from unemployed men and women who energetically participated in the council’s marches and political demonstrations that demanded jobs and an end to poverty. Seven members were arrested, but immediately released, after a November 1927 demonstration at City Hall protesting the arrest and detention of one of their leaders. In January, 1928, the council set up a “soup kitchen” for the unemployed on Public Square, serving up gallons of “mulligan” stew to call attention to hunger, and in December, in a parody of the Christmas tree traditionally set up on Public Square by AC, the council set up its own tree, decorated with ragged clothes. In February 1930, in a “Red Job Riot,” police fought 1,000 protesters on the steps of City Hall as they sought entrance to City Council chambers; 25 people were hurt; five demonstrators were taken to the hospital; nine went to jail. Ten thousand protesters returned to City Hall in March, part of a Communist Party-sponsored International Unemployment Day, and presented City Council with a long set of demands that included recognition of the Soviet Union. Rebuffed, the leaders left, but many of the protesters stayed, becoming an unruly mob that shut down rush hour traffic and pulled streetcars off their tracks until mounted police got the crowd under control. The council also staged protests at AC offices and the Wayfarers’ Lodge, claiming that direct relief was too stingy and the lodge was squalid and unlivable. Initially, city officials were tolerant of the protests; the council received a permit to stage a May Day march in May 1933. In July 1934, however, as the council staged simultaneous protests at three CCRA offices, one council member seized a policeman’s gun, fired it wildly, killed a fellow protester, and in turn was shot by another policeman. Three others were wounded; eight went to jail. The council then denounced the police. By then the city’s patience and tolerance had worn thin. Subsequently, the council kept a low public profile.
In April, 1934, however, 3,500 Communists gathered in Cleveland for the party’s national convention. They damned the New Deal, called for the overthrow of capitalism, and more pragmatically made plans to join the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in their drive to organize unions. The formation of unions was encouraged by the passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act in 1933 and the National Labor Relations Act in 1935, both of which protected collective bargaining. The AFL and the CIO, working together until their separation in 1937, threw themselves into the organizing fight in Cleveland. They were joined by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a group on the far left of the labor movement.
The result was a series of strikes against big and small employers that heightened the general unrest. Cleveland was no stranger to strikes. A few famous examples: in 1877, a local strike against Standard Oil and the national railroad strike; two strikes against the Cleveland Rolling Mills in 1882 and 1885; a streetcar strike in 1899; a three-month long strike in the garment industry in 1911; a streetcar conductors’ strike in 1918-1919. Most strikes were about wages and/or working conditions. All failed. The Depression era strikes were different, mostly because unions and collective bargaining had received the approval of the federal government. The issues were wages and union recognition. Most strikes were brief; most ended in partial victory.
The strikes that made the biggest headlines, however, were against Cleveland’s biggest industries, automobiles and steel. The Fisher Body Division of General Motors in Cleveland recognized the United Automobile Workers (UAW) as their workers’ bargaining representative in 1934. On December 28, 1936, however, Cleveland workers staged a spontaneous sit-down in the Fisher Body Coit Road plant while sympathetic pickets walked the sidewalks outside. The issue was the recognition of the UAW by General Motors management in Detroit. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, “the strikers were having a good time, like college boys on a good lark.” The Cleveland strike inspired a more famous sitdown strike at Flint, Michigan, which ended without violence in February 1937 when General Motors recognized the UAW as the bargaining agent for its workers. This was an important victory for the UAW even though the sitdown strike was later declared illegal.
The Little Steel Strike, initiated May 26, 1937, created more drama. The strike pitted three independent steel companies – Inland Steel, Youngstown Sheet and Tube, and Republic Steel’s McKinney-Corrigan Company in Cleveland – against the Steel Workers Organizing Committee, a CIO affiliate. Both Governor Martin Davey and Mayor Burton tried to mediate; neither the union or management would budge. Republic kept its plant open by hiring strikebreakers. The National Guard kept peace for ten days, but when guardsmen left, violence broke out between strikers and workers: “… 60 persons were injured, shots were fired, tear gas bombs were thrown and more than 100 automobiles were damaged in wild fighting.” CIO headquarters were destroyed; one striker was killed by an automobile. Police kept the angry crowd of 3,000 away from the plant, and the strike was lost. These steel companies did not recognize the union until compelled to do so by the National Labor Relations Board in 1942.
Unwelcome in the AFL and CIO affiliates, Cleveland’s black workers launched their own efforts to fight the Depression. In 1935, a handful of blacks, led by John O. Holly, organized the Future Outlook League (FOL). Its purpose was to compel or persuade the white owners of businesses in the predominantly black Central neighborhood with very high unemployment to hire black workers. The 3,000 white-owned stores in Central employed fewer than 100 blacks. The FOL used picketing and boycotts; its message to the black community was “Don’t Spend Your Money Where You Can’t Work.” Boycotts were an historic way of applying political pressure – for example, the Boston Tea Party – and had been used by blacks in other communities. The FOL leadership was also familiar with the local Communist leadership and the street theatre tactics used by the Council of the Unemployed. The FOL did not endorse violence, but fearful white business owners got injunctions against picketers. From 1936 to 1938, the picketers became more confrontational, and in April 1938, police used teargas on 2,500 picketers outside the Woodland Market. The league claimed some successes, including the Woodland Market, which did then hire black employees. Holly went to jail for ten days in 1941 for illegal picketing but after his release was appointed to the Cleveland Fair Rent Committee.
The eviction of thousands of Clevelanders, both home-owners and renters, also sparked sporadic protests and violence. There were 9,300 evictions in 1931, up 100 percent from the year before; in 1934, the number had risen to almost 13,000. In October 1931, a crowd inspired by a Communist rally, marched to a house on E. 46th St. in the Central neighborhood from which a family had been evicted and attacked the police. “2 SLAIN, 3 SHOT WHEN 300 RIOT,” shouted front page headlines; the two dead and two of the wounded were civilians. Thirteen persons, including one Communist organizer, were taken into custody. After a funeral procession through the neighborhood, the dead men, now martyrs for the Communist cause, were buried in Harvard Cemetery as a crowd of 3,000 raised their fists and sang “The Internationale.” Many at the graveside took this pledge: “I pledge to carry on the struggle for our comrades who have died and to join the ranks of the revolutionary class; to protest the murders by the boss government through its police tools; to demand punishment for the murderers and to demand that there be no more evictions.” In February 1932, six squads of police battled a crowd of 300 trying to hold on to the possessions of an evicted family on E. 139th St.; in October, four men were arrested when a crowd repeatedly attempted to restore the furniture to the duplex on Lakeside Avenue from which two families had been evicted. In July 1933, police used teargas, clubs, and fire hoses to control a mob of 6,000 protesting the eviction of a home owner on Lardet Avenue; 14 people were hurt; seven went to jail. The frequent evictions even created an “eviction star,” 36-year-old Fannie Gibson, who went on a hunger strike while she was in jail for camping out in front of the house from which she had been evicted.
Most of the thousands of evictions were peaceful. But the sight of a family and its possessions camped on the sidewalk was heart-wrenching, and the court costs of evictions were high. The CCRA soon helped renters facing eviction with a check made out to the landlord, and by 1938, landlords got tax credit from the city for not evicting tenants. The number of evictions gradually tailed off.
More quietly, thousands of Clevelanders lost their homes to foreclosure. These losses didn’t make headlines, but appeared in hundreds of classified ads like these: “Foreclosure price sale; greatest sacrifice ever known; choice location opposite East Boulevard; $4600… Owner paid $10,000 two years ago,” or “On account of foreclosure on a high class apartment, owner of the furnishings was forced out without notice” and offered at public auction, 50 rooms of furniture. In April 1935, there were 6,100 foreclosure suits pending in the county. Congress established the Home Owner Loan Corporation in 1933 that provided loans to qualified homeowners to avert foreclosure.
The Van Sweringen brothers, creators of Cleveland’s Union Terminal complex, lost their empire. Shaker Heights had been an instant success: from 1919 to 1929, its population grew from 1,700 to 15,500. But several of the nine railroads that the brothers had acquired went bankrupt. The brothers’ spectacular financial edifice was built on credit based on stock market values. The market crash forced them to default on a $48 million loan from J.P. Morgan and Co. in 1935. Although they raised $3 million to buy back their holdings, both brothers died shortly afterwards. Some of Cleveland’s loftiest aspirations died with them – at least temporarily.
By then, however, New Deal work relief programs had begun to take hold, putting thousands of Clevelanders to work building new infrastructure and renovating old. Ten thousand WPA workers built the Memorial Shoreway, razing existing buildings (including the shanty towns), expanding the lakefront with landfill, and paving the new surface. When the highway was completed in 1938, it was “the largest WPA job in the nation”; in 1939, the WPA completed the Main Avenue Bridge that connects the Memorial Shoreway to the west side, formally named the Harold H. Burton Memorial Bridge. The city’s three markets – West Side, Central, and East Side – got painted and refurbished. The WPA did $4,800,000 worth of repairs to Cleveland public schools.
Cleveland’s public housing projects were initiated by the PWA in 1933. They were the brainchild of Ernest J. Bohn, a state legislator and then a Cleveland City Council member. Unable to gain the support of private investors, Bohn turned to the federal government, and the PWA financed the first three public housing projects in the country, Cedar-Central, Outhwaite, and Lakeview Terrace, completed between 1935 and 1937. All three were justified as slum clearance as well as job-producing. Under the direction of the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority (now the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority), the Valleyview, Woodhill, Carver Park housing projects and an expansion of Outhwaite followed. The housing was intended for low-income families, but not families on relief. Whether intentional or not, the projects were also racially segregated and came under attack by the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The WPA staffed the projects’ recreation areas. The buildings were designed in the modern style, sometimes with Art Deco detail.
CCC workers were young men, 18 to 28, who earned $30 a month working in forestry, parks, and soil erosion camps; they were required to send $20 to $25 home to their families. The corps was designed to improve the young men’s health, teach them job skills, and conserve the natural environment. CCC camps were established at Euclid Creek, North Chagrin, and Brecksville Reservations where young men planted trees and built picnic shelters, trails, bridle paths, and retaining walls. Two thousand young men from Cuyahoga County joined the CCC each year during the worst of the Depression. The NYA provided jobs and job training to young women and men, 15 to 25, so that they could continue their educations. Most worked in public and private recreation facilities; others worked in city playgrounds and parks, and some did clerical work.
William M. Milliken, director of the Cleveland Museum of Art, headed the Federal Art Program’s Midwest Region. In December 1933, in just the first week of the PWAP, Milliken hired 72 artists, who created murals for the Cleveland Public Auditorium and the Cleveland Public Library. The library became the most significant repository of the federal art of this period because its director Linda Eastman shared Milliken’s passion for public art. The PWAP was superceded by the Federal Art Project. Cleveland sculptor and ceramicist Edris Eckhardt was named regional supervisor of sculpture for the project, which over its seven years hired 350 artists. Murals and sculpture were commissioned for 19 Cleveland area post offices and for Cleveland and suburban public schools, the Cleveland Botanical Garden, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and for Lakeview Terrace, Outhwaite, and Woodhill public housing projects. Artists also created thousands of posters that taught useful lessons about public housing, safety, and nutrition and ceramic figures that told familiar fairy tales or portrayed persons of immigrant countries.
Nationally, the PWAP produced “approximately 700 murals, 7,000 easel paintings and watercolors, 750 sculptures, and 2,500 graphic works of art …. The Federal Art Project …. more than 40,000 easel paintings, 1,100 murals in public buildings, and thousands of prints, posters, and other graphic works …. The Treasury Relief Art Projects…. 89 murals, 65 sculptures, and approximately 10,000 easel paintings.” While much of the federally produced art has vanished, significant local examples remain in the Cleveland Public Library and in public schools, and post offices.
The Federal Theatre Project, which hired actors, playwrights, and other theater people, was the most controversial and short-lived of these projects. Casts were usually large (the idea was to create jobs), and project employees were paid between $93 to $103 a month. Project directors, Frederic McConnell and K. Elmo Lowe of the Cleveland Play House, produced a wide range of plays, including revivals of popular melodramas and comedies. In September 1936, the New York Federal Theatre Project brought to Cleveland its version of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” with a cast of 150 African Americans. Several productions had overt political content. For example, the 1936 production of “Living Newspapers” contained skits on current events and employed 45 local actors, with music by the WPA orchestra. “Unusual but surprisingly good,” decided the Cleveland Plain Dealer theater critic; but he also pointed out the danger of publicly funded art becoming propaganda for the Roosevelt administration. Also political was Sinclair Lewis’s “It Can’t Happen Here,” which warned of the growing threat of totalitarianism; the production was one of 21 that played simultaneously across the country. “Triple A Plowed Under” criticized federal farm policies that required farmers to plow under their crops.
The Theatre Project had a bumpy ride. It was briefly discontinued in December 1936, and Congress finally killed it in June 1939. The project was too radical for some, too conservative for others, and probably too frivolous for people who didn’t think theater and theater people were worth supporting.
The Federal Music Project had an easier time of it, employing hundreds of Clevelanders and entertaining thousands more. Its director from 1935 to 1938 was Nikolai Sokoloff, director of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1919 to 1933. As in the Federal Art Project, the emphasis of this project’s musicians, directors, and composers was supposed to be on American music; some of the project employees also did research on traditional American music and folksong. The project was popular enough to survive into the early years of World War II.
The Cleveland Civic Orchestra was “the most successful” of the groups, thought the Cleveland Plain Dealer. In June, 1936, it presented the works of several Cleveland composers, including Charles V. Rychlik, Ladislaus Gamauf, Clarence Metcalf, and orchestra director Rudolph Schweller. The opera companies presented popular Gilbert and Sullivan works, “The Gondoliers” and “The Mikado,” as well as “La Traviata”, “Carmen”, and “Hansel and Gretel.” In 1936, the operas drew 100,000 music lovers. Tens of thousands listened to the band concerts in the summer of 1938 at Edgewater, Woodland Hills, Brookside, Gordon and Washington Parks.
The Federal Writers’ Project employed writers, researchers, editors, historians and cartographers. Elsewhere, the project produced a notable series of guide books to various states. In Cleveland, its employees produced the Annals of Cleveland, an index and digest of Cleveland newspapers, 1818 to 1876, and a Foreign Language Newspaper Digest that remain useful to historians.
These federal programs exemplified the difficulties of all WPA and work relief programs. They had two goals, sometimes in conflict: to provide jobs with a decent wage and to create something of lasting value to the public. However, public wages were not allowed to compete with private enterprise where wages were already low: the salary of a violinist in the Cleveland Civic Orchestra, for example, could not be higher than the salary of a violinist in the Cleveland Orchestra. This meant that public projects did not pay much. Moreover, funding was not only low but subject to congressional or executive whim or financial exigencies – for example, the 1936 cutbacks in the Theatre Project. For these reasons, although some very well known artists were sustained, the federal programs could not always attract the most skilled workers – the very best violinists, carpenters, or masons – and consequently could not always create the best possible work. The federal arts projects in Cleveland did employ significant numbers of women and African Americans. But in general, their opportunities for work relief remained low at a time when they desperately needed jobs. Women got short-changed because the universal assumption was that men, not women, were the family breadwinners and needed the jobs more; African Americans were less likely than whites to get hired because local prejudices controlled hiring, even in federal projects.
On the other hand, over their lifetimes, the federal work relief programs did hire tens of thousands of Clevelanders: 54,849 in Cuyahoga County in 1938, for example. An estimated 27 percent of all Clevelanders (workers and their families) benefited from the programs. But although they kept the city and its residents afloat during these painful years, they did not end the Depression. The approach of World War II did that.
By 1939, Cleveland’s manufacturing was regaining strength, exceeding 1930 levels as the United States geared up for World War II, providing war materiel first for European nations and then for itself. Cleveland’s long-idle mills and factories went full blast, making planes, munitions, tanks, jeeps, trucks, and putting tens of thousands of long-idle men and women back to work.
Historian William Ganson Rose maintained that Cleveland achieved “greatness” in the 1940s. The Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company declared it “the best location in the nation” in 1944. The city’s population reached its all-time high of 914,808 in 1950.
Some Clevelanders sensed trouble ahead: growing signs of racial tension, overcrowded neighborhoods, congested streets, and the accelerating exodus to the suburbs. But Clevelanders in the 1940s also had much to celebrate: the war had been won in 1945, the city had its 150th birthday in 1946, the Indians beat the Boston Braves to win the World Series in 1948, and last but certainly not least, Cleveland’s industrial economy was booming, and the long, desperate Depression was finally over.
The Depression years were the worst of times for most Americans. But for Clevelanders, there were some bright spots: the completion of Severance Hall despite the financial difficulties of its primary donor John L. Severance; the opening of the Cleveland Stadium in 1931, where five summers later, spectators watched a 17-year-old rookie named Bob Feller make his pitching debut; the Great Lakes Exposition of 1936-37, a spectacle that raised the spirits of millions of visitors who badly needed cheering up; and the exciting sideshows provided by crime-fighter and Cleveland Safety Director Eliot Ness as he fruitlessly pursued the Torso Murderer.
These worst of times changed Cleveland – and the nation – forever. They left a visible legacy in the city’s parks, schools, roads, libraries, post-offices, and other public places: William Sommer’s mural, “The City in 1833” in the Brett Hall Reading Room of Cleveland Public Library; the Memorial Shoreway and the Main Avenue Bridge; Olde Cedar, Outhwaite, and Lakeview Terrace public housing projects; Edris Eckhardt’s ceramic sculptures of Little Red Riding Hood and the Mad Tea Party, and the Walrus and Carpenter from Alice in Wonderland at Oxford School in Cleveland Heights; the handsome stone bridge that connects the Cleveland Heights and the East Cleveland parts of Forest Hill Park; the rustic trails and picnic shelters in the Cleveland MetroParks. These became tangible reminders of the growing importance of the federal government in the lives of all Americans.
In less visible but more important ways, these years also redefined the relationship of the federal government to those disadvantaged by poverty, illness, age, or unemployment. They were no longer sheltered at the Cleveland Infirmary, given outdoor relief at its backdoor, or aided by a private agency like Associated Charities, dependent on the generosity of more fortunate Clevelanders. The “safety net” of Social Security, unemployment compensation, and aid to dependent children, greatly expanded in later decades, began here in these worst of times, the Great Depression.
Cleveland Plain Dealer, (hereafter CPD) March 31, 1931: 1.
Marian J. Morton. Women in Cleveland: An Illustrated History (Indiana University Press: Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1995), 191. A suggested dinner menu: spaghetti with kidney beans and meat balls, raw carrot strips, bread, beverage, and vanilla pudding for dessert.
Daniel R. Kerr. Derelict Paradise: Homelessness and Urban Development in Cleveland, Ohio (Amherst and Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 2011), 60.
CPD, October 14, 1930: 10.
Lucia Johnson Bing. Social Work in Greater Cleveland: How Public and Private Agencies Are Serving Human Needs (Cleveland: The Welfare Federation of Cleveland, 1938), 18.
David D. Van Tassel and John J. Grabowski. The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History (Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana; Indiana University Press, 1996), 82.
CPD, October 4, 1998: 5-D.
CPD, February 12, 1930: 1.
CPD, July 11, 1934: 1.
Van Tassel and Grabowski. Encyclopedia, 571-2.
CPD, April 4, 1933: 1; CPD, June 18, 1933.
CPD, July 29, 1937: 1.
CPD , April 25, 1934:5; April 17, 1934:3; March 24, 1934:5; January 1, 1935:27.
CPD, January 3, 1937: 20-A.
CPD, July 27, 1937:1; CPD, July 28, 1937: 1.
Kimberley L. Phillips . Alabama North: African American Migrants, Community, and Working-Class Activism in Cleveland, 1915-1945 (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1999), 197.
David D. Van Tassel and John J. Grabowski, The Dictionary of Cleveland Biography (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1996), 224.
CPD, January 2, 1932: 8 ; CPD, January 11, 1935: 4.
CPD, October 7, 1931:1, 14; CPD, October 11, 1931: 8-A.
CPD, February 11, 1932: 1; CPD, October 20, 1932: 17.
CPD, July 19, 1933: 1.
CPD, September 18, 1932: 7D; CPD, September 4, 1932: 6C.
CPD, April 13, 1935: 9.
George Condon. Cleveland: The Best Kept Secret (Cleveland: J.T. Zubal and P.D. Boyle, 1981), 192; Van Tassel and Grabowski, Dictionary, 460.
Van Tassel and Grabowski, Encyclopedia, 693, 671.
William Ganson Rose. Cleveland: The Making of a City (Cleveland and New York: World Publishing Company, 1950), 952.
Carol Poh Miller. Cleveland MetroParks Past and Present: Celebrating 75 Years of Conservation, Education and Recreation, 1917-1992 (Cleveland: Cleveland MetroParks, 1992), 13.
CPD, September 23, 1937: 5.
Van Tassel and Grabowski, Encyclopedia, 828-9.
Karal Ann Marling, Covering History: Revisiting Federal Art in Cleveland, 1933-1943 (Cleveland: Cleveland Artists Foundation, 2006), 66-67.
Holly Rarick Witchey and John Vacha. Fine Arts in Cleveland: An Illustrated History (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1994), 121.
CPD, March 30, 1936: 7.
CPD, June 21, 1936: 61.
Van Tassel and Grabowski, Encyclopedia, 1104.
of Newton D. Baker, addressing his impact on the intellectual and political life of Northeast Ohio and beyond.
This event is co-sponsored by The City Club of Cleveland, the Cleveland Council on World Affairs, Teaching Cleveland Digital, and the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland.
In 1896 Baker and Clarke both split from Democrat William Jennings “Cross of Gold” Bryan. Both went on to attain great distinction, first in Northeast Ohio, then under President Wilson’s New Freedom. Baker and Clarke eventually diverged, however, in their assessment of the New Deal. How and why—that is the question.
Newton Baker was a proud supporter of woman suffrage, but for Clevelander Belle Sherwin, the movement was a transforming experience. Born to privilege and propriety, Sherwin overcame her “natural shrinking from publicity” by joining, and then leading, the campaign for votes for women that changed their lives and American politics forever.
As a progressive leader in regional and national affairs, Baker was dedicated to the cause of adult education and seized the opportunity to help launch a remarkable model in Cleveland. | 2019-04-25T10:52:08Z | http://teachingcleveland.org/tag/marion-morton/ |
1 : OVERVIEW. This website is operated by Ruth Mergi LLC. Throughout the site, the terms “we”, “us” and “our” refer to Ruth Mergi LLC. Ruth Mergi LLC offers this website, including all information, tools and services available from this site to you, the user, conditioned upon your acceptance of all terms, conditions, policies and notices stated here.
KETUBAH ORDERS: These procedures apply to all ketubahs, personalized wedding vows, or other similar personalized products (“ketubah,” “ketubahs”) ordered through our site.
Order and payment. When you place an order on our site for a ketubah, you will select your products and provide your payment information. We will typically process your payment at the time that you place your order.
Personalization information. After you place your order and complete your purchase, you will be directed to our online personalization form. We can only begin work on your ketubah text once you both purchase your ketubah and submit your personalization form. If you do not complete your personalization form within a reasonable time-frame, we reserve the right to modify or cancel your order. It is your responsibility to correctly and completely enter all requested information at the time of purchase, as well as on the personalization form.
We may, at our sole discretion, accept personalization information via email, and/or begin work on a ketubah text prior to or without receiving a completed personalization form.
Text and proof preparation. Following receipt of the completed personalization form, we will prepare your text file, and/or a digital proof of your ketubah. If for any reason we cannot complete your text or proof, we will contact you with questions or to request more information.
In the event that we receive your order and/or personalization form, and we determine that the product that you have ordered will not work for your requested wording, extras, formatting, and/or other request, we will communicate with you to determine if you would like to change your order to a different product.
Proof. After your text and/or proof are complete, they will be sent to you for review and approval. Once you receive your ketubah text and proof, please review promptly together with your rabbi or officiant, and notify us of required edits as soon as possible.
Edits. Edits to correct typos or mistakes on our part will be made at no additional charge until the text and proof meet your final approval. We are also happy to make minor changes to text and formatting at no additional charge. We reserve the right to limit the number of edit rounds and proofs at our sole discretion.
Approval. We must receive your written approval of your ketubah proof (not text file) before we proceed with production of your ketubah. Please be advised that only you (whomever submitted the order) may approve your ketubah proof. We do not accept the approval of your rabbi, cantor, officiant, wedding planner, parent, or friend as a substitute for your own written approval.
IMPORTANT! Our policy is that you are fully responsible for your for finding and reporting any errors before approving the ketubah proof. We cannot be responsible for errors in ketubahs that are printed just as they are approved.
Printing and production. Once we receive your approval, we will print your ketubah and/or assemble your ketubah and/or final product.
Delivery. Following completion of the finished ketubah, we will ship it to you. Occasionally, by prior agreement and at our sole discretion, we may allow pickup of completed orders directly from our studio. Pickup from our studio is BY APPOINTMENT ONLY.
Changes to your ketubah order: If you wish to make changes your order at any time, please contact us immediately. We will advise you of your order status and let you know if the proposed change is possible. We do our best to accommodate reasonable requests.
In the event that you change your order, the price of your order will likely change. You authorize us to charge your payment method for any changes to your order that you have approved, and/or, to submit payment for any invoiced charges upon receipt.
Any additional charges incurred after initial payment will be billed separately, and must be paid in full before your ketubah may be shipped.
Changes to your ketubah text: Our commitment is to prepare your ketubah text according to your specifications, as per your personalization form, to our best ability. Some editing and revision is normal and part of the expected process for finalizing your ketubah text.
If, after submitting your personalization form, you notice a mistake or would like to make a change, please contact us. We will advise you of your order status, and may ask you to resubmit the form. If your proof has not yet been prepared, we will make the corrections or changes at no extra charge.
Once your proof has been prepared, significant corrections or multiple changes to your requested text may incur additional charges to cover the costs incurred. Change fees are at calculated on a case-by-case basis, at our discretion.
If your rabbi or officiant requires changes to the ketubah that do not arise from typos, errors, or mistakes on our part, they will be treated as changes or corrections to your order. This includes changes to the spelling of names or locations as well as changes to or variations on the ketubah wording we have provided.
Changes to your ketubah order or text after proof approval: Once your proof has been approved, corrections or changes to your ketubah are entirely subject to our discretion and availability. If changes are possible at this point, you may be charged up to 50% of your final ketubah price.
OTHER ORDERS: When you place an order on our site for prints or any other products that do not include a personalized text or artwork, you will select your products and provide your payment information and complete our online checkout process. We will typically process your payment at the time that you place your order. Following receipt of your order, we will ship the ordered product to you, to the address that you provide, within a reasonable time-frame. In the event that we are not able to complete your order for any reason, we will notify you and refund any payments made by you.
Acceptance of Your order: Your placement of an order through our site is an offer to purchase the product(s) and/or services ordered and we may accept your order by processing your payment and shipping the finished ketubah and/or product(s). Your receipt of an electronic or other form of order confirmation does not signify our acceptance of your order, nor does it constitute confirmation of our offer to sell. For any reason, we may decline to accept your order or any part of your order. No order will be considered accepted by us until the final product(s) and/or finished ketubah has been shipped to you. If some of the products in your order are temporarily out of stock, we will notify you of any products that cannot be fulfilled. If we decline to accept your order, we will attempt to notify you at the email address you provided. We further reserve the right any time after receipt of your order, without prior notice to you, to supply less than the quantity you ordered of any item. Your order will be deemed accepted by us upon our delivery of the products / finished ketubah that you have ordered. We may require additional verifications or information before accepting any order. All products shall be deemed accepted by you upon shipment, and title to, and risk of loss of, the products passes to you when we provides the product(s) to a common carrier, and/or delivery of the product and/or ketubah to you in-person.
3: PAYMENT. To pay for an order, you will need to provide us with the information necessary to process an order from you, including your shipping address and the billing information requested on the site. You may pay for your order via credit card or any other manner then available on the site. By submitting your payment information to us, you authorize us to charge the applicable payment method at our convenience but within thirty (30) days of credit card authorization.
If you incur additional charges after placing your initial order, we will send you a separate invoice, for which payment will be due upon receipt.
4: PRODUCTS AND PRICING. We make efforts to display our products and their colors as accurately as possible. Having said that, the displayed colors of the products will depend upon your monitor and we cannot guarantee that your monitor will accurately portray the actual colors of the products.
Products displayed on the site may be out-of-stock, modified, or discontinued. We may modify or discontinue products at any time without notice, including but not limited to, modifications to designs, materials, assembly and production methods, or production partners without notice. For example, we may make changes to the papers we use for our ketubahs or prints without prior notice. Notwithstanding our best efforts to display only our most current designs and products, products displayed on our site may occasionally reflect modified or discontinued designs or products, processes, materials, or methods.
Prices for our products are subject to change without notice. We cannot confirm the price of an item until you place an order. See [MODIFICATION]. Despite our best efforts, occasionally items on our site may be mispriced. We are not responsible for typographical errors regarding price or any other matter.
Unless otherwise set forth on the site, the prices do not include sales taxes or any other taxes that we are required to add to your order. Such taxes will be added to your total purchase price, if applicable.
5: PROMOTIONAL OFFERS. We may run promotional offers from time to time on the site. The terms of any such promotion will be posted on the site. Unless otherwise indicated, we may establish and modify, at our discretion, the terms of such offer and end such offer at any point, and we may limit the number of promotional codes used per transaction and/or per user.
6: RUSH POLICIES AND PRICING: Rush policies and pricing are set according to the the “order-by” date displayed on each ketubah product page.
The “order-by” date is updated in real time and is subject to change without notice.
Orders required before the order-by date will be subject to a rush processing fee.
For ketubahs required more than two weeks before the order-by date, please contact us to see if we can accommodate your order. Additional fees may apply.
Framing not available for rush orders.
Ketubah shipping. We strive to ship ketubahs at least 7-14 days before your wedding date and/or other delivery date specified at the time you place your order. In our experience, these time-frames are sufficient for ketubahs to reach their destinations on time.
We do however guarantee or warranty actual delivery to you on or by a certain date, and cannot be responsible for shipping or other delays.
Any estimated ketubahs shipping date provided by us is based on the date that we receive your final approval of your ketubah proof from you, product availability, and/or payment processing time, and does not include transit time.
We reserve the right to cancel any order if we determine that we are not able to provide the ketubah within the required time-frame.
Shipments to addresses in the United States typically arrive within 2-3 business days. A signature may be required for delivery – please plan accordingly.
Non-ketubah orders are typically shipped within 7-10 business days, via USPS.
Orders requiring shipment to international addresses are accepted on a case-by-case basis. If accepted, we will provide a shipping quote after receiving your order. Customers are responsible for any duties, taxes, or additional charges that may be associated with shipment.
IMPORTANT! We cannot be responsible for any delays due customs, security, or “acts of God.” Nor can we be responsible for delays due to to strikes or work stoppages in either in the United States or the country to which your item is shipped; delays related to the weather; delays that occur in customs or any other governmental or regulatory agency; and delays related to the carrier's negligence.
Shipping fees reflect the combined cost of both shipping AND handling of your order.
8: FRAMING. As a service to our clients, we work with a third-party framing company to provide ketubah framing. When your ketubah is complete, we will ship it to the framing company, who will frame your ketubah and ship it directly to you.
Please allow up to three weeks for framing, in addition to our normal processing times. Not available with rush orders or Sculptural ketubahs. We reserve the right to refuse or cancel any framing order if we determine there is a significant risk that the ketubah will not be delivered within the required time-frame.
Handle with extra care when removing the papercut ketubah from the frame for signing. We are not responsible if you damage your ketubah when removing from the frame or re-inserting it after signing.
Not recommended for permanent storage or display. You will need to bring the framed ketubah to a professional framer after your wedding in order to seal the frame and preserve the ketubah for permanent display.
9: DAMAGE OR LOSS: In case of damage or loss, we may be able to recreate your ketubah. Please contact us and we will do our best to help.
We are not responsible for damage due to the carrier's negligence, or that occur once the order / product / ketubah has been accepted by the shipper.
We are not responsible for damage to the product or ketubah packaging or display folio.
You are responsible for the proper care, storage, display, and framing of your product / ketubah. We are not responsible for damage that arises from a failure to store, display, or frame any product or ketubah as per provided instructions, and/ or with reasonable care. Please note that ketubahs should be professionally mounted and framed within three months of receipt.
10: CANCELLATIONS , REFUNDS, AND RETURNS. All sales are final. Cancellations and refunds are entirely at our discretion. Rush order surcharges are 100% non-refundable. Translation fees, once work on your ketubah text has commenced, are 100% non-refundable, as well.
If your proof has been prepared, but not yet approved for print, it is our policy to retain no less than $100, and up to 50% of the ketubah purchase price to cover costs already incurred by us.
Once your proof has been approved for print, the order cannot be cancelled and refunds will be possible for shipping costs only.
We aim for 100% Customer Satisfaction. If you’re not happy for any reason, please let us know. We’ll handle your issue on a case-by-case basis to make it right.
11: GENERAL CONDITIONS. We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason at any time. We reserve the right to refuse any order you place with us. We reserve the right to limit or prohibit orders that, in our sole judgment, appear to be placed by dealers, resellers or distributors, without our explicit consent. We reserve the right, but are not obligated, to limit the sales of our products or services to any person, geographic region or jurisdiction. We may exercise this right on a case-by-case basis.
12: ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS AND TIMELINESS OF INFORMATION. We are not responsible if information made available on this site is not accurate, complete or current. We do not warrant that any errors in the site will be corrected within a set time-frame. The material on this site is provided for general information only and should not be relied upon or used as the sole basis for making decisions without consulting primary, more accurate, more complete or more timely sources of information. Any reliance on the material on this site is at your own risk.
13: PRODUCTS. We do not warrant that the quality of any products, services, information, or other material purchased or obtained by you will meet your expectations. We reserve the right to limit the quantities of any products or services that we offer. All descriptions of products or product pricing are subject to change at anytime without notice, at our sole discretion. We reserve the right to modify or discontinue any product at any time. Any offer for any product or service made on this site is void where prohibited.
14: ERRORS, INACCURACIES AND OMISSIONS. Occasionally there may be information on our site or in the Service that contains typographical errors, inaccuracies, or omissions that may relate to product descriptions, pricing, promotions, offers, product shipping charges, transit times and availability. We reserve the right to correct any errors, inaccuracies, or omissions, and to change or update information or cancel orders if any information on the site or on any related website is inaccurate at any time without prior notice (including after you have submitted your order).
We undertake no obligation to update, amend or clarify information in the site or on any related website, including without limitation, pricing information, except as required by law. No specified update or refresh date applied on the site or on any related website, should be taken to indicate that all information on the site or on any related website has been modified or updated.
15: MODIFICATIONS TO AND DISCONTINUANCE OF THE SITE, PRODUCTS, OR SERVICES. Prices for our products are subject to change without notice. We reserve the right to modify or discontinue the site, products, or services at any time, with or without notice to you. We shall not be liable to you or to any third-party for any modification, price change, suspension or discontinuance of the service. You agree that we, in our sole discretion, may immediately terminate your access to the site at any time, for any reason, at our sole discretion. YOU AGREE THAT WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PARTY FOR ANY TERMINATION OF YOUR ACCESS TO THE SITE OR SERVICES.
16: THIRD PARTY CONTENT AND OTHER WEBSITES. Certain content, products and services available via our site may include materials from third-parties. Third-party links on this site may direct you to third-party websites that are not affiliated with us. We are not responsible for examining or evaluating the content or accuracy and we do not warrant and will not have any liability or responsibility for any third-party materials or websites, or for any other materials, products, or services of third-parties. Please review carefully the third-party's policies and practices and make sure you understand them before you engage in any transaction. Complaints, claims, concerns, or questions regarding third-party products should be directed to the third-party. Content from other users, suppliers, advertisers, and other third parties may be made available to you through the site. Because we do not control such content, you agree that we are not responsible for any such content. We do not make any guarantees about the accuracy, currency, suitability, or quality of the information in such content, and we assume no responsibility for unintended, objectionable, inaccurate, misleading, or unlawful content made available by other users, advertisers, and other third parties or violation of any third party rights related to such content. We are not liable for any harm or damages related to the purchase or use of goods, services, resources, content, or any other transactions made in connection with any third-party websites. We are not responsible for the content, products, materials, or practices (including privacy practices) of websites not operated by us. You agree that in no event will we be liable to you in connection with any websites, content, products, materials, or practices of any third party.
In addition, be aware that your content (not including credit card information), may be transferred unencrypted and involve (a) transmissions over various networks; and (b) changes to conform and adapt to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices. For example, we may share your ketubah text with you via google docs or email. Credit card information is always encrypted during transfer over networks.
18: FEEDBACK. In the event that you provide us any ideas, thoughts, criticisms, suggested improvements or other feedback related to products, the site, or the services (collectively, “feedback” ) you agree we may use the feedback to modify our products, site, and/or services and that you will not be due any compensation, including any royalty related to the product or service that incorporates your feedback. You grant to us a worldwide, royalty-free, fully paid, perpetual, irrevocable license to use, reproduce, modify, translate, distribute, perform, display, import, sell, offer for sale, make, have made and otherwise exploit the feedback in any form, media, or technology, whether now known or hereafter developed, and to allow others to do the same. We may, at any time, without restriction, edit, copy, publish, distribute, translate and otherwise use in any medium any comments that you forward to us. We are and shall be under no obligation (1) to maintain any comments in confidence; (2) to pay compensation for any comments; or (3) to respond to any comments. This is true whether you provide the feedback on the site or through any other method of communication with us, unless we have entered into a separate written agreement with you that provides otherwise.
19: USE OF PRODUCTS BY RUTH MERGI LLC. From time to time, we may request your consent to use photographs and other reproductions of Products ordered by you or provided to you in our marketing materials, publicity and other materials and on the site. In such event, we will seek your consent prior to such use. If you provide us with your consent, we will have a worldwide, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, perpetual irrevocable right and license, with right of to use, reproduce, distribute, create derivative works of and publicly display, photographs and reproductions of such products and other materials in all media existing now or created in the future to market our products, services, and site and for such other purposes as we may determine.
Third-Party Materials. As a part of the site and/or services, you may have access to materials that are hosted by another party. You agree that it is impossible for Ruth Mergi LLC to monitor such materials and that you access these materials at your own risk.
21: USER SUBMITTED MATERIALS. Any materials submitted by you to Ruth Mergi LLC, including, without limitation, text, artwork, photographs, images, graphics and other materials (collectively, "User Submitted Materials") are subject to the following terms and conditions. You will retain ownership of such User Submitted Materials, and you grant Ruth Mergi LLC and our designees a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free, right and license, to use, reproduce, distribute, create derivative works of and publicly display such User Submitted Materials (i) to enable you to use the service to create, produce, and purchase products, (ii) in connection with the production or provision of any product or service you request, (iii) to show you how your User Submitted Materials would appear in our products or services, and (iv) to enable Ruth Mergi LLC to provide the products and services.
Please note that while you retain ownership of your Submitted Materials, any template or layout in which you arrange or organize such Submitted Materials through tools and features made available through our sites are not proprietary to you, and the rights to such template or layout will remain with us.
You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise possess all necessary rights with respect to the Submitted Materials, and that the Submitted Materials do not and will not infringe, misappropriate, use or disclose without authorization or otherwise violate any copyright, trade secret right or other intellectual property or other property right of any third party, and that the Submitted Materials are not unlawful, fraudulent, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene or otherwise objectionable. You warrant that the holder of any worldwide intellectual property right, including moral rights, in Your Submitted Materials, has completely and effectively waived all such rights and validly and irrevocably granted to you the right to grant the license stated above.
For example, if using a custom ketubah text or custom text of any kind, you represent and warrant that you own or otherwise possess the necessary rights with respect to that text, and that you have not used the text of any artist, company, or copyright-holder without their express permission.
22: RULES REGARDING INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENT. When you access the site and/or services, you obtain access to various kinds of images, video, audio, data, and other information and materials, all of which we call “Content.” You agree not to revise Content posted by others, and you represent and warrant that you will not use any Content in any manner or submit any Submitted Materials or other Content that: (a) Infringes the copyright, trademark, trade secret, or other intellectual property or proprietary right of others; (b) Violates the privacy, publicity, or other rights of third parties or any other law, statute, ordinance or regulation; (c) Is false or inaccurate or becomes false or inaccurate at any time; Is discriminatory, unlawful, tortious, obscene, fraudulent, defamatory, harmful, threatening, pornographic, indecent, vulgar, harassing, discourteous, hateful, abusive or racially, ethnically, religiously, sexually or otherwise offensive, as determined by us in our sole discretion; (d) Discloses or provides information protected under any law, agreement or fiduciary relationship, including but not limited to proprietary or confidential information of others; (e) Misrepresents your identity in any way; (f) Contains any viruses, Trojan horses, spyware. malware, worms, time bombs, cancelbots, or other disabling devices or other harmful component intended to damage, detrimentally interfere with, surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system, data or personal information; (g) Advocates or encourages any illegal activity; or (h) Has the potential to create liability for us or cause us to violate the requirements of or to lose the services, in whole or in part, of our Internet service providers or other suppliers.
23: GENERAL RULES OF USER CONDUCT. It is our goal to make access to our site and services a good experience for all of our users. You agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell, or exploit any portion of the site or services, use of the site or services, and/or access the site or services, without express written permission by us. If we determine for any reason that a user is interfering with the positive experience of any other use, we reserve the right to limit, restrict, or block use of access to any portion or the entirety of our site and/or services.
24: PROHIBITED USES. In addition to other prohibitions as set forth in the Terms of Service, you are prohibited from using the site or its content: (a) for any unlawful purpose; (b) to solicit others to perform or participate in any unlawful acts; (c) to violate any international, federal, provincial or state regulations, rules, laws, or local ordinances; (d) to infringe upon or violate our intellectual property rights or the intellectual property rights of others; (e) to harass, abuse, insult, harm, defame, slander, disparage, intimidate, or discriminate based on gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, race, age, national origin, or disability; (f) to submit false or misleading information, and/or impersonate any person or entity, or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity; (g) to interfere in any way with the proper functioning of the site and services or interfere with or disrupt any servers or networks connected to the site or services, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the site or services; (h) to upload or transmit viruses or any other type of malicious code that will or may be used in any way that will affect the functionality or operation of the Service or of any related website, other websites, or the Internet; (i) to collect or track the personal information of others; (j) to use the site or services to generate unsolicited email advertisements or spam; or to spam, phish, pharm, pretext, spider, crawl, or scrape; (k) for any obscene or immoral purpose; (l) to use any high volume automatic, electronic, or manual process to access, search, or harvest information from the site or services (including without limitation robots, spiders or scripts); or (m) to interfere with or circumvent the security features of the service or any related website, other websites, or the Internet. We reserve the right to terminate your use of the site or service or any related website for violating any of the prohibited uses.
25: DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES. This site and all content, products and services included on or otherwise made available to you through this site are provided by Ruth Mergi LLC “with all faults” and on an "as is" and "as available" basis, unless otherwise specified in writing. Ruth Mergi LLC makes no representations or warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, as to the operation of this site or the content, products, or services included on, or otherwise made available to you through, this site, unless otherwise specified in writing, including, but not limited to, any warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular use, or purpose, non-infringement, quiet enjoyment, and accuracy. You expressly agree that your use of this site is at your sole risk.
You agree that from time to time we may remove the site, store, products, and/or for indefinite periods of time or cancel our services at any time, without notice to you.
26: LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT WE ARE ONLY WILLING TO SELL THE PRODUCTS AND PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE SITE AND SERVICES IF YOU AGREE TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS OF OUR LIABILITY TO YOU AND TO THIRD PARTIES. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL WE OR OUR OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, DIRECTORS, PARENTS, SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, AGENTS, OR LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF REVENUES, PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA, LOST OPPORTUNITIES, OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTIONS OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES (EVEN IF SUCH PARTIES WERE ADVISED OF, KNEW OF OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, AND NOTWITHSTANDING THE FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY LIMITED REMEDY), ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF OR ACCESS TO, OR THE INABILITY TO USE OR TO ACCESS, THE SITE OR THE SERVICES, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH DAMAGES ARE BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE AND STRICT LIABILITY), WARRANTY, STATUTE OR OTHERWISE.
WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN YOU AND THIRD PARTY MERCHANTS OR FOR ANY INFORMATION APPEARING ON THIRD PARTY MERCHANT SITES OR ANY OTHER SITE LINKED TO OUR SITE. IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED WITH ANY PORTION OF THIS SITE OR THE SERVICES, YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY IS TO DISCONTINUE USE OF THE SITE AND THE SERVICES.
OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THE SITE OR THE SERVICES IS LIMITED, IN AGGREGATE, TO THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF THE ORDER GIVING RISE TO OUR LIABILITY.
Without limiting the foregoing, under no circumstances will we be held liable for any delay or failure in performance resulting directly or indirectly from acts of nature, forces, or causes beyond our reasonable control, including, without limitation, Internet failures, computer equipment failures, telecommunication equipment failures, other equipment failures, electrical power failures, strikes, labor disputes, riots, insurrections, civil disturbances, shortages of labor or materials, fires, floods, storms, explosions, acts of God, war, governmental actions, orders of domestic or foreign courts or tribunals, OR non-performance of third parties.
27: INDEMNIFICATION. You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Ruth Mergi LLC and any parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, partners, officers, directors, agents, contractors, licensors, service providers, subcontractors, suppliers, interns, and employees, from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, made by any third-party due to or arising out of your breach of these Terms of Service or the documents they incorporate by reference, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third-party.
28: ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS. Please keep us informed of any changes in your email or mailing address so that you continue to receive all Communications without interruption. We can only give you the benefits of our service by conducting business through the Internet, and therefore we need you to consent to our giving you Communications (as defined) electronically. This informs you of your rights when receiving Communications from us electronically.
For contractual purposes, you (i) consent to receive communications from us in an electronic form; and (ii) agree that all terms and conditions, agreements, notices, documents, disclosures, and other communications (“Communications”) that we provide to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such Communications would satisfy if it were in writing. Your consent to receive Communications and do business electronically, and our agreement to do so, applies to all of your interactions and transactions with us.
You may withdraw your consent to receive Communications electronically by contacting us in the manner described below. If you withdraw your consent, from that time forward, you must stop using the site and services. The withdrawal of your consent will not affect the legal validity and enforceability of any obligations or any electronic Communications provided or business transacted between us prior to the time you withdraw your consent.
29: NOTICE. Where we require that you provide an email address, you are responsible for providing Ruth Mergi LLC with your most current email address. In the event that the last email address you provided to Ruth Mergi LLC is not valid, or for any reason is not capable of delivering to you any notices required/ permitted by the Terms, Ruth Mergi LLC’s dispatch of the e-mail containing such notice will nonetheless constitute effective notice. You may give notice to Ruth Mergi LLC at the following address: [email protected]. Such notice shall be deemed given when received by Ruth Mergi LLC by letter delivered by nationally recognized overnight delivery service or first class postage prepaid mail at the below address.
30: TRADEMARKS & COPYRIGHT NOTICE. The trademarks, logos and service marks displayed on the site are the property of Ruth Mergi LLC. Unless otherwise specified, all information and screens appearing on this site including all materials, documents, services, site design, text, graphics, logos, images and icons, as well as the selection and arrangement thereof, are the sole property of Ruth Mergi LLC. All rights not expressly granted herein are reserved. Except as otherwise required by applicable law, any reproduction, distribution, modification, retransmission, or publication of any copyrighted material is strictly prohibited without the express written consent of the copyright owner.
31: INTERNATIONAL USERS. This site can be accessed from countries around the world and may contain references to services and products that are not available in your country. These references do not imply that Ruth Mergi LLC intends to announce such services or products in your country. The site and services are controlled and offered by us from its facilities in the United States of America. We makes no representation that the site or the products are available for use in other locations. Those who access or use the site or the services from other jurisdictions do so at their own volition and are responsible for compliance with local law.
32: ASSIGNMENT. These Terms, and your rights and obligations hereunder, may not be assigned, subcontracted, delegated, or otherwise transferred by you without our prior written consent, and any attempted assignment, subcontract, delegation, or transfer in violation of the foregoing will be null and void.
35: SEVERABILITY. In the event that any provision of these Terms of Service is determined to be unlawful, void or unenforceable, such provision shall nonetheless be enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, and the unenforceable portion shall be deemed to be severed from these Terms of Service, such determination shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any other remaining provisions.
36: TERMINATION. The obligations and liabilities of the parties incurred prior to the termination date shall survive the termination of this agreement for all purposes. These Terms of Service are effective unless and until terminated by either you or us. You may terminate these Terms of Service at any time by notifying us that you no longer wish to use our services, or when you cease using our site. If in our sole judgment you fail, or we suspect that you have failed, to comply with any term or provision of these Terms of Service, we also may terminate this agreement at any time without notice and you will remain liable for all amounts due up to and including the date of termination; and/or accordingly may deny you access to our site or services (or any part thereof).
37: ENTIRE AGREEMENT. The failure of us to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms of Service shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. These Terms of Service and any policies or operating rules posted by us on this site or in respect to The Service constitutes the entire agreement and understanding between you and us and govern your use of the Service, superseding any prior or contemporaneous agreements, communications and proposals, whether oral or written, between you and us (including, but not limited to, any prior versions of the Terms of Service). Any ambiguities in the interpretation of these Terms of Service shall not be construed against the drafting party.
38: GOVERNING LAW. These Terms of Service and any separate agreements whereby we provide you services shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Takoma Park, Maryland, United States.
39: CHANGES TO TERMS OF SERVICE. You can review the most current version of the Terms of Service at any time at this page. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to update, change or replace any part of these Terms of Service by posting updates and changes to our website. It is your responsibility to check our website periodically for changes. Your continued use of or access to our website or the Service following the posting of any changes to these Terms of Service constitutes acceptance of those changes.
40: CONTACT INFORMATION. Questions about the Terms of Service should be sent to us at [email protected]. Our mailing address is: Ruth Mergi LLC, 2921 Terrace Ave, Chevy Chase, MD 20912 USA. | 2019-04-21T22:38:47Z | https://ruthmergi.com/page/terms-of-service |
Data is essential for businesses to produce clever money decisions. There’s an increased amount of data in buy to continue to keep tabs on. Moreover, for the reason that a consequence of cultural along with official data there’s a significant quantity of info for each group to manage. In the event the data aren’t entered inside the exact same structure or in case the cross would not comply with the initially decided workflows, or perhaps in the event the internal functions aren’t followed in a the same fashion by every one of the personnel, the application form aren’t provide the predicted benefits. Economical info is going to become the most crucial details buyers is going to most very likely need to identify desire top quality during functioning on the agency. Above the totally free of charge demo period you’ll have amazing opportunity to check out the digital info bedroom and determine if they have a suitable pick for your undertaking. Utilizing a digital data room offers the needed security to permit you to carry out your organization devoid of fear of a security infringement or id thieves. It can likewise supply the capability to publish documents. That commonly called VDR is a series of little-known extranets that provides online archive of data. The digital info area happens to be a business purchase location. In summary, whether this is made use of in conjunction with physical info room or as a stand-alone instrument, there is no doubt that VDR should help develop the potential for the firm to share sensitive info with other get-togethers in a safe and sound platform. Searching for info area or digital offer bedroom stipulates the capacity to send important documents and files when they’re required quickly.
An information room can easily supply the capability to get a amount of folks to communicate and reveal data which have to become secure intended for assorted reasons. Your protect data place allows you to have the capacity to safeguard the actual information although sharing it with people that need every of this. However, a secure data space necessitates an individual login name and username and password each time that you need to reach details. Secure data rooms have got display alternatives to get profit relating to applying the precise details via safe-keeping and transmission. As you put together your digital data bedroom you raise the value of your company. Overall flexibility A better digital data bedroom is one which provides you with the flexibleness to carry out points just how you need. Even in the event that the room was exploited simply for inside requirements just like management of assistance between lots of teams, that is important to display screen the actions of staff members. Even though it is really intuitive, a web based training will help unique users to learn the choices as well as the support personnel would definitely lead them throughout the entire deal. For the identical period, the digital areas are really relaxed intended for all personnel and lovers, since their employ does indeed not will need a complicated learning treatment. Whilst virtual information areas create a large number of extra rewards, that is absolutely not right each moreover to just about every web business. A digital details room can help you to decide upon the degree of contract that you want to give to a number of folks who have get access to your documents. Therefore, that it could very cautioned to analyze the specific digital facts space in your home workers which afterwards may possibly be in the area to polish the really a certain amount persistance treatment.
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Many people simply just is not going to watch heading to group meetings while carrying out work, areas Bill Daniels. Relating to the next monitor, you may select the group meetings you intend to up-date. Individual group meetings are specifically advised just for scenarios in which reaching associates are usually located across the world and they’re likewise incredible to get whenever somebody want to get right through to a large number of consumers also, nearly the same as within an internet discussion. Remote get togethers contain converted into a crucial component of a new workflow, or even the only means of conversation in several clubs throughout the world. Digital gatherings will be gaining popularity, countless small businesses proprietors plus companies will be the hassle online appointments due to the fact that that they preserve period. Using GoToMeeting, it is possible to become a member of on line appointments by responding to the phone call. You may very easily approach a web reaching well ahead of time, apart from web hosting one out of realistic occasion.
The particular program is incredibly valuable just for discussing large data together with back up copies. It should also be simple to use and still have countless practical features. Equipment like MailChimp ensure it is simple to start plans from a cell equipment. Nearly you will need anything that’s dependable plus works correctly, nevertheless, you also require a software that is uncomplicated for your collaborators to utilize. This is a fairly simple to make use of program, while it will need various schooling so customers can get the most outside of its features. The particular device is additionally bundled having View, so it is simple to begin a achieving or perhaps send out invitations from this software. The very best web Survey Resources allow you to create and experience online surveys through your cell system.
So that you can remain reasonably competitive plus existing, your company need to have to use some sort of web-affiliated achieving instrument or maybe more. If you wish to make a organization that is definitely reasonably competitive plus modern, then simply discover ways to a lot electronic events using a wide variety of on-line reaching resources. Skype ip telefoni for people who do buiness may be quickly incorporated when using the Belief plugin. Getting global enterprise now is easier than ever before today. Thus in case own a little company associated with just 5 various individuals, then you are going to benefit from the totally free offer.
Take a good look at what precisely makes gatherings tick and find out methods to conduct much better business conferences. Too frequently, individuals call a gathering to go over a thing with no really thinking of college thinks wonderful performance can be. To get a whole getting together with solution, it is possible to also document appointments in addition to obtain all of your Microsoft company applications inside the interacting with.
If a assembly could be the ideal strategies to achieve your aims, check with typically the individuals in whose attendance is crucial for that assembly to hit your objectives. You merely have to be accessible to changing precisely how get togethers will be performed in your corporation. Electronic digital group meetings are usually especially suggested intended for situations that may be exactly where gathering individuals are positioned across the world and they are likewise ideal for when folks would probably need to grow to be right through to a lot of persons at the same time, similar to a great across the internet convention. Flourishing get togethers is surely an exceptional point. They earn the ideal thing. Virtually any successful interacting with is focused on interesting your current market together with WebEx is definitely the easiest, most-streamlined method to get everybody included. Visit our website: .
The majority of people just no longer look at heading to conferences like carrying out work, says William Daniels. In the next screen, you can select the particular get togethers you wish to change. Personalized get togethers are specifically recommended only for conditions wherever appointment affiliates really are nestled global and they are likewise delightful meant for when a person would like to get to a large number of customers as well, much like within an world wide web convention. Distant appointments contain changed into a crucial portion of a new work flow, or use the just way of conversation in several clubs around the world. Electronic group meetings will be gaining interest, lots of small businesses proprietors plus agencies happen to be the hassle online appointments due to the fact that they help save period. By using GoToMeeting, you can actually join web based gatherings by answering a telephone call. You could simply schedule a web achieving well ahead of time, apart from internet hosting one in proper minute.
Typically the software is very helpful for showing big documents in addition to backups. It will become simple to operate and possess a number of practical features. Tools just like MailChimp ensure it is easy to introduction activities from your cell system. Nearly you will want anything which is reliable plus works effectively, however, you also require a tool which is simple for all your collaborators to work with. It is just a quite simple to use application, even if and also need many guidance therefore consumers will get the best outside the features. The particular instrument is usually bundled using Outlook, therefore it is simple to commence a getting together with or perhaps send out announcements from this program. The very best internet Review Tools help you to develop and be a part of surveys out of your mobile phone machine.
To be able to stay competing plus current, your small business need to have to use some sort of web-based reaching instrument or two. In order to build a company which is competitive and even contemporary, in that case discover how to number online conferences having a volume of across the internet assembly equipment. Skype ip telefoni for people who do buiness may be commonly integrated with all the View plugin. Starting an international business now is easier than ever in the world today. And so in case you own a bit of organization regarding simply 5 men and women, then you will enjoy the completely free program.
Take a good look at the actual appointments mark and learn ways to conduct much better business meetings. Too often, people call a gathering to go over some thing without having actually considering how good performance can be. To get a entire interacting with answer, you are able to in addition document conferences plus entry all your Microsoft software inside the reaching.
In case a getting together with will be ideal solutions to attain your targets, consult with the members whose attendance is essential for that appointment to reach your goals. You simply need to be accessible to transforming just how gatherings can be carried out within your corporation. Electric group meetings really are especially recommended intended for conditions which is just where assembly folks are located around the world and they’re furthermore perfect for when people would probably preference to turn into to many a number of people at the same time, like in a online discussion. Profitable appointments could be an fantastic point. They earn the best idea. Virtually any prosperous get together is centered on joining your current readership plus WebEx will be simplest, most-streamlined means to locate everybody involved. Read more: .
Many people just may enjoy going to gatherings as doing work, reports Bill Daniels. Within the subsequent monitor, you can choose the group meetings you intend to upgrade. Individual meetings are specifically advised simply for situations where interacting with customers are located throughout the world and they are furthermore great to get when a person want to be to a lot of customers as well, much like within an web seminar. Distant gatherings include converted into an important area of some sort of workflow, or use the only ways of interaction in a number of groups around the world. Online events will be gaining interest, a number of small businesses proprietors plus corporations really are resorting to online appointments due to the fact that they save moment. Along with GoToMeeting, you can easily join on the internet meetings by responding to some sort of call. You might very easily system a web meeting in advance, besides web hosting one out of substantial moment.
The particular program is incredibly beneficial meant for giving large documents in addition to backups. It should end up being easy to use and still have lots of practical capabilities. Equipment such as MailChimp ensure it is simple to introduction advertisments from a mobile system. In addition to you will need some thing that may be dependable and even performs properly, however, you also require a software that is easy for all your collaborators to work with. This can be a quite simple to work with device, though it lets you do require quite a few education hence consumers can get the best outside its operation. The particular device is additionally integrated together with Perspective, so it’s simple to commence a gathering or perhaps send out invites straight from the program. The most effective net Review Tools assist you to generate plus be a part of online surveys from your cellphone system.
So as to keep cut-throat together with existing, your organization might need to employ the web-based conference software or maybe more. Should you wish to construct a enterprise that may be competitive and even fashionable, after that be able to a lot virtual group meetings using a variety of on-line getting together with equipment. Skype ip telefoni for people who do buiness may be readily built-in while using View wordpress tool. Starting an world-wide enterprise is simpler than in the past today. And so in the event you use a bit of company associated with simply five individuals, then you certainly are going to gain benefit totally free bundle.
Take a good look at the actual get togethers beat and pay attention to the way to conduct far better business meetings. Too frequently, people call up a gathering go over anything without having genuinely taking into consideration exactly what a fantastic performance will be. For your complete achieving solution, it is possible to likewise record meetings plus entry your entire Microsoft apps in the getting together with.
If the interacting with could be the suitable ways to accomplish your own targets, consult with typically the members whose presence is essential with the appointment to achieve success. You simply need to be ready to accept changing precisely how conferences usually are done within your institution. Electronic conferences can be specifically advised meant for situations that is definitely where assembly individuals are located around the world and they’re also exquisite for when folks would most likely preference to grow to be through to a large number of the sexes concurrently, like in a great across the internet conference. Triumphant appointments is really an great point. Earning the best matter. Any kind of prosperous getting together with is all about partaking your target audience together with WebEx is the easiest, most-streamlined way to find everyone engaged. Learning much more: .
Many people only do access heading to gatherings seeing that doing work, declares William Daniels. On the next display screen, you could make a decision on the particular gatherings you intend to update. Personalized gatherings are especially advised only for situations exactly where meeting individuals usually are nestled global and they’re as well lovely pertaining to whenever someone like to get through to many customers also, nearly the same as in a net seminar. Distant events include converted into an important portion of the work, or even the simply ways of interaction in many different clubs across the world. Digital meetings can be gaining interest, quite a few small businesses proprietors in addition to corporations are usually spending a ton electronic gatherings due to the fact that they will conserve time. With GoToMeeting, you can actually become a member of internet gatherings by giving answers to the telephone call. You could conveniently plan an online assembly well ahead of time, besides hosting one out of substantial few moments.
Typically the device is incredibly important meant for giving major data and back up copies. It will also be easy to use and possess a lot of functional characteristics. Resources just like MailChimp ensure it is simple to roll-out plans from your cellular gadget. Not only do you should have some thing absolutely reliable and works appropriately, however, you also need a instrument that is very simple for all your collaborators to utilize. It is a fairly simple to utilize software, though and also need many training and so customers can usually get the best because of their efficiency. The instrument is usually built-in together with Prospect, so it is simple to start a get together or perhaps send invitations from this program. The very best world wide web Survey Resources enable you to set up and even experience online surveys from the mobile phone machine.
In order to stay cut-throat and even present, your business need to have to employ some sort of web-based gathering software or maybe more. If you would like produce a enterprise which is competitive in addition to modern day, then understand how to a lot electronic appointments using a number of online achieving resources. Skype ip telefoni for people who do buiness can be readily bundled aided by the Belief wordpress plugin. Getting foreign company now is easier than ever nowadays. Consequently is it safe to use a bit of enterprise regarding simply five individuals, then you certainly will likely benefit from the completely free package.
Take a good look at what precisely makes gatherings mark and pay attention to find out how to carry out much better business conferences. Too frequently, people call a gathering go over a thing not having really contemplating exactly what a good outcome would be. For any complete get together method, it is easy to in addition document get togethers plus easy access your entire Microsof company programs in the assembly.
If the achieving is the suitable ways to attain your current goals, talk to the particular individuals in whose attendance is important for that getting together with to achieve success. You simply have to be open to transforming exactly how conferences are carried out inside your corporation. Electronic digital meetings are usually specially suggested intended for scenarios that is definitely exactly where meeting individuals are situated all over the world and they are also simply perfect for when folks would probably desire to become to many a number of people at the same time, similar to an on the web seminar. Triumphant meetings are an good matter. Earning an ideal factor. Any flourishing assembly is dependant on getting your own visitors and WebEx would be the easiest, most-streamlined ways to find everyone involved. Visit our website: .
Most of the people merely commonly do not watch going to appointments seeing that carrying out work, states William Daniels. At the subsequent monitor, you could decide on the particular appointments you intend to post on. Personal group meetings are specifically recommended simply for conditions wherever assembly associates really are situated across the world and they’re also great pertaining to if someone need to get through to a lot of customers as well, nearly the same as in a web discussion. Distant get togethers include converted into an essential part of some sort of workflow, or even the simply ways of conversation in many different teams throughout the world. Digital get togethers happen to be gaining interest, several small businesses proprietors together with establishments will be spending a ton virtual group meetings because they will save moment. Using GoToMeeting, you can easily become a member of web based conferences simply by giving answers to a telephone call. You might readily approach a web interacting with well ahead of time, apart from web hosting one in substantial moment in time.
Typically the program is extremely worthwhile intended for expressing large documents and back up copies. It will also be simple to use and also have a large number of practical characteristics. Tools just like MailChimp help it become simple to launch plans coming from a cellular unit. In addition to you will need some thing absolutely dependable and works correctly, however you also need a device which is straightforward for all your collaborators to work with. This is a fairly simple to make use of instrument, although it will require numerous teaching consequently customers will get the best away from it is efficiency. The device can also be incorporated with Perspective, therefore it is simple to start a assembly or perhaps send out invites straight from the program. The most effective world wide web Survey Resources let you set up in addition to take part in research from the cell phone unit.
So that you can remain competing together with existing, your small business may need to use the web-based gathering program or two. If you would like build a provider that is certainly competing plus modern-day, subsequently how to coordinator online meetings which has a range of internet gathering resources. Skype for Business may be immediately bundled using the Prospect plugin. Getting international company now is easier than ever before today. Thus when you own a minimal organization associated with only five individuals, then you certainly will benefit from the totally free bundle.
Come to understand what makes events beat and find out the best way to perform a lot better business meetings. Too often, people contact a meeting to debate anything with out really looking at exactly what a university wonderful end result will be. For just a entire assembly treatment, you are able to furthermore document meetings together with gain access to your Microsoft company apps within the meeting.
When a meeting could be the suitable strategies to accomplish the aims, talk with the participants whose presence is essential for that meeting to be successful. You simply have to be offered to changing just how gatherings happen to be done in the corporation. Electric meetings happen to be specially advised suitable for conditions which is wherever achieving people are located world-wide and they’re also simply perfect for when folks could desire to turn into through to many both males and females concurrently, similar to a great on the internet convention. Flourishing appointments invariably is an good matter. They earn the right factor. Any prosperous gathering depends upon joining your current projected audience plus WebEx stands out as the most basic, most-streamlined means to find every person involved. Read more: .
A lot of people only can not observe heading to get togethers seeing that doing work, says William Daniels. For the following display screen, you could decide on the gatherings you would like to post on. Private get togethers are especially suggested simply for situations exactly where gathering participants are located across the world and they’re likewise lovely just for as soon as somebody want to be to a lot of consumers too, much like in an web seminar. Distant gatherings have got changed into a crucial part of a work flow, or even the just method of interaction in several teams across the world. Online conferences are gaining interest, lots of small business owners together with institutions happen to be resorting to digital gatherings because they will save time. With GoToMeeting, you can easily sign up for on the net events simply by giving an answer to a new call. You may easily system an online get together well ahead of time, in addition to internet hosting one in actual instant.
The program is incredibly worthwhile intended for spreading big files in addition to back up copies. It should end up being user friendly and still have countless functional features. Tools like MailChimp ensure it is easy to introduce plans from the cellular machine. Nearly you should have anything which is dependable plus works appropriately, however you also need a instrument which is straightforward for all your collaborators to utilize. It is a quite simple to work with tool, nevertheless it can do need certain exercise hence customers are able to get the most because of their operation. The particular device is also integrated with Future, therefore it is an easy task to commence a achieving or mail invitations straight from the program. The Best net Survey Resources help you to develop and even indulge in surveys from the cell phone unit.
So that you can keep reasonably competitive plus current, your business may need to use some sort of web-affiliated appointment program or two. If you need to construct a corporation that is definitely aggressive together with modern day, therefore discover how to hosting server digital gatherings with a variety of on the web get together resources. Skype for people who do buiness could be easily included with all the Belief plugin. Getting intercontinental company now is easier than ever before nowadays. Thus in case own a small business of only five folks, then you definitely are going to take advantage of the totally free package deal.
Take a good look at what makes group meetings tick and find out the right way to conduct significantly better business conferences. Too often, individuals call a meeting go over a thing without the need of actually looking at what a excellent end result would be. For your entire meeting answer, it is possible to as well report get togethers in addition to access all of your Microsoft company apps in the assembly.
If a interacting with certainly is the ideal solutions to achieve your aims, talk with typically the individuals whose attendance is crucial for the assembly to be a success. You simply need to be offered to altering how conferences are conducted inside your company. Electric conferences are especially advised created for circumstances that is exactly where getting together with people are situated globally and they’re likewise exquisite for when people would most likely desire to turn out to be right through to many persons together, like in the across the internet convention. Good gatherings are an exceptional matter. They make an ideal factor. Virtually any successful interacting with is focused on participating your own readership in addition to WebEx could be the simplest, most-streamlined ways to get everyone engaged. Learning much more: .
Most people merely avoid observe heading to events like doing work, suggests Bill Daniels. At the following display screen, you are able to determine typically the get togethers you wish to upgrade. Individual conferences are specifically recommended just for conditions where appointment affiliates are usually situated global and they’re likewise great meant for as soon as somebody want to be right through to many consumers also, much like within an world wide web conference. Distant gatherings have got converted into a crucial area of the work, or even the simply means of conversation in a number of teams throughout the world. Electronic get togethers usually are gaining popularity, numerous small business owners together with agencies are the hassle virtual get togethers due to the fact that they will save period. Together with GoToMeeting, it is easy to sign up for on the net group meetings by simply answering a new phone call. You may without difficulty arrange a web gathering well ahead of time, in addition to web hosting one in serious minute.
The software is very vital regarding writing large files and back up copies. It should also be convenient to use and also have a large number of practical attributes. Tools like MailChimp help it become easy to introduction campaigns from a cellular gadget. Not only do you will require a thing which reliable and performs correctly, nevertheless, you also need a application which can be simple for all your collaborators to make use of. This can be a fairly simple to make use of instrument, even if and also require a lot of coaching and so consumers could possibly get by far the most because of it is functionality. Typically the tool is additionally included with Outlook, so it is simple to begin a conference or perhaps send out invites straight from this program. The most effective world wide web Review Resources allow you to generate and indulge in studies from your cellular phone device.
To be able to keep cut-throat plus current, your small business might need to hire a web-based interacting with software or maybe more. Should you wish to construct a organization that is certainly competitive in addition to contemporary, afterward learn how to coordinate online conferences having a wide variety of online conference equipment. Skype for people who do buiness can be commonly integrated together with the Future wordpress tool. Starting an foreign business now is easier than ever before in the world today. Consequently is it safe to own a tiny company associated with simply a few persons, then you definitely will likely enjoy the totally free offer.
Have a look at the particular get togethers beat and pay attention to the way to execute much better business conferences. Too frequently, people contact a meeting to go over a thing without genuinely thinking of how excellent final result would be. For just a whole gathering alternative, you are able to as well report group meetings together with connection all your Ms apps in the appointment.
If the get together will be suitable strategies to complete your own goals, talk to the individuals in whose attendance is crucial for that reaching to reach your goals. You merely need to be accessible to changing how conferences are usually carried out inside your corporation. Digital get togethers are specially suggested created for situations that is definitely wherever conference individuals are located around the globe and they are also exquisite for when folks might aspire to grow to be right through to a lot of the sexes together, like in the internet convention. Good events could be an remarkable element. They make the perfect factor. Any prosperous appointment is centered on using your own readership plus WebEx may be the most basic, most-streamlined ways to find everyone involved. Visit our website: .
A lot of people only may check out going to meetings seeing that doing work, advises William Daniels. At the subsequent screen, you are able to determine typically the conferences you intend to update. Individual meetings are specifically recommended only for scenarios in which achieving affiliates usually are located across the world and they’re furthermore great pertaining to when ever somebody want to get right through to a lot of customers too, nearly the same as in an net meeting. Remote get togethers own changed into an essential component of the workflow, or use the simply means of interaction in a number of groups throughout the world. Electronic gatherings really are gaining popularity, several small business owners together with organizations usually are resorting to digital events due to the fact that they will help save moment. Using GoToMeeting, it is possible to sign up for on the internet events by answering a phone call. You could readily program a web get together in advance, apart from internet hosting one in realistic moment.
Typically the instrument is incredibly valuable just for sharing huge documents and backups. It will end up being user friendly and possess several efficient capabilities. Resources such as MailChimp help it become easy to unveiling activities coming from a cell device. In addition to you will want some thing that’s trustworthy plus functions appropriately, nevertheless, you also require a application that is simple for all your collaborators to use. This can be a quite simple to make use of software, nonetheless it will do require many education consequently consumers are able to get essentially the most away from the features. The particular tool is additionally bundled having Outlook, therefore it is an easy task to start a gathering or mail announcements from this program. The most effective web Study Equipment let you create together with get involved in surveys from your cellular device.
As a way to stay cut-throat together with present, your business need to have to hire a web-based gathering software or maybe more. If you wish to produce a company that may be aggressive plus modern day, next understand how to sponsor virtual meetings using a number of on-line appointment resources. Skype for people who do buiness can be commonly incorporated while using Belief wordpress tool. Getting world-wide organization is simpler than ever before today. And so scenario use a small business regarding simply a few people, then you will enjoy the completely free offer.
Have a look at what makes conferences tick and find out the right way to conduct significantly better business meetings. Too often, folks contact a meeting to go over a thing without really considering what a superb result can be. To get a entire assembly method, you are able to as well report gatherings and easy access all your Microsoft company programs in the conference.
In case a conference would be the suitable solutions to achieve the targets, check with the particular participants whose presence is important to the gathering to be a success. You merely must be offered to altering just how appointments happen to be conducted inside your organization. Electric meetings happen to be specially recommended created for situations that is definitely in which conference folks are positioned across the world and they’re likewise ideal for when people might want to grow to be right through to numerous males and females concurrently, similar to an on-line seminar. Effective appointments could be an superb element. They earn the perfect point. Virtually any profitable achieving is focused on getting the audience together with WebEx is definitely the easiest, most-streamlined way to get everybody engaged. Learning much more: .
Most of the people just have a tendency viewpoint going to gatherings as doing work, reports Bill Daniels. Relating to the next display screen, you are able to select the particular get togethers you intend to revise. Personalized conferences are specifically advised only for scenarios wherever achieving subscribers are usually situated around the globe and they are also beautiful for the moment a person want to get to a large number of buyers too, much like in an internet convention. Remote control conferences currently have converted into an essential part of a new work, or use the just means of conversation in a number of groups all over the world. Virtual gatherings will be gaining interest, various small business owners in addition to agencies really are spending a ton electronic get togethers because they preserve period. Having GoToMeeting, you can actually become a member of internet group meetings simply by giving an answer to the phone call. You might without difficulty plan an online meeting in advance, apart from hosting one out of true few moments.
The program is extremely invaluable with regard to posting large documents together with back up copies. It will end up being user friendly and still have countless functional features. Tools like MailChimp help it become simple to introduction advertisments coming from a cellular gadget. In addition to you will need something that is trustworthy and even performs correctly, however, you also require a instrument which is uncomplicated for your collaborators to utilize. This is a quite simple to utilize tool, although it will do require certain exercise and so users could get one of the most out of their operation. Typically the software is additionally included along with Outlook on life, so it’s an easy task to commence a meeting or perhaps send out announcements from the program. The Best web Survey Resources help you to generate plus take part in surveys online out of your cellular product.
As a way to remain aggressive and even existing, your enterprise need to have to hire some sort of web-affiliated reaching application or two. To be able to build a organization that may be reasonably competitive and even modern day, then learn to number online group meetings with a number of on the internet interacting with tools. Skype for people who do buiness can be easily built-in considering the Outlook on life wordpress tool. Starting an foreign organization now is easier than in the past today. Thus because you use a little enterprise associated with just 5 various individuals, then you are likely to take advantage of the completely free program.
Come to understand the actual events beat and find out the best way to carry out much better business meetings. Too frequently, folks call a meeting go over some thing devoid of seriously considering such a great consequence can be. For just a complete getting together with solution, it is easy to as well report events and access your Ms software in the get together.
In case a getting together with could be the suitable solutions to attain your own targets, consult the particular members whose attendance is vital for any interacting with to reach your goals. You simply must be ready to accept altering just how group meetings will be executed inside your business. Digital conferences are usually exclusively advised created for scenarios which is wherever conference people are located globally and they’re furthermore ideal for when people would most likely aspire to turn out to be right through to many the sexes together, like in an internet convention. Powerful gatherings could be an exceptional element. They earn the best element. Any kind of productive reaching is about using your current customers in addition to WebEx is definitely the easiest, most-streamlined method to get everyone engaged. Learning much more: . | 2019-04-22T06:08:38Z | http://www.amarillis.se/2019/02/ |
Proteomics is an expanding area of research into biological systems with significance for biomedical and therapeutic applications ranging from understanding the molecular basis of diseases to testing new treatments, studying the toxicity of drugs, or biotechnological improvements in agriculture. Progress in proteomic technologies and growing interest has resulted in rapid accumulation of proteomic data, and consequently, a great number of tools have become available. In this paper, we review the well-known and ready-to-use tools for classification, clustering and validation, interpretation, and generation of biological information from experimental data. We suggest some rules of thumb for the reader on choosing the best suitable learning method for a particular dataset and conclude with pathway and functional analysis and then provide information about submitting final results to a repository.
Proteomics, the assessment and quantitation of protein expression changes in a given type of biological sample, contributes heavily to current views in modern biology, genetics, biochemistry, and environmental sciences. Expression proteomics studies investigate the presence or absence patterns of proteins in disease compared to normal using a mass spectrometry approach often preceded by gel separation methods. Proteomics is a science that focuses on the study of proteins: their roles, their structures, their localization, their interactions, and other factors. Proteomics has emerged as a powerful tool in many different fields and is a technique widely used across biology, mainly applied in disease [1–3], agriculture, and food microbiology. Proteomics is becoming increasingly important for the study of many different aspects of plant functions. For example, it is used to help identify candidate proteins involved in the defensive response of plants to herbivorous insects [4, 5]. In agriculture, a proteomic approach was used to investigate population growth and the effect of global climate changes on crop production . In food technology, proteomics is utilized for characterization and standardization of raw materials, process development, and detection of batch-to-batch variations and quality control of the final product, in particular to food safety in terms of microbial content and the use of genetically modified foods . The study of interactions between microbial pathogens and their hosts is called “infectomics” and comprises a growing area of interest in proteomics .
A protein may exist in multiple forms within a cell or cell type. These protein isoforms derive from transcriptional, post-transcriptional, translational, post-translational, regulatory, and degrading and preserving processes that affect protein structure, localization, function, and turnover. The field has thus evolved to include a variety of methods for separation of complex protein samples followed by identification using mass spectrometry. It is inherently a systems science that considers not only protein abundances in a cell but also the interplay of proteins, protein complexes, signaling pathways, and networks. To address the relevant challenges, we categorize the analytical tools into three types: (1) basic traditional statistical analysis, (2) machine learning approaches, and (3) assignment of functional and biological information to describe and understand protein interaction networks.
Traditional statistics is used as a critical first pass to identify the “low-hanging fruit” in the dataset. Methods such as t test and its nonparametric equivalent, the Wilcoxon test, univariate, or analysis of variance (ANOVA) are applied to identify the significant proteins. Due to inherent variability, statistics alone is often insufficient to discover most of the biologically relevant information in a proteomic dataset but is an important first step of every analysis. For the purposes of this review, we focus mainly on approaches that are more specific to proteomic and other “omic” data. But statistically significant results are very useful as seed data or bait in the machine learning approaches.
Machine learning classification complements traditional statistics as it allows for consideration of many variables at once and also removes much of the researcher bias. Dataset complexity is reduced as correlations, and trends are identified that may not withstand statistical scrutiny or may be undetectable using traditional statistics, e.g., clustering using iterative subsampling. Machine learning also bypasses researcher bias by revealing patterns within the data that may not relate to the original hypothesis or that relate in an unanticipated manner. The researcher is then able to examine the clustering or classification results for new biological features that were not initially predicted. Thus, in addition to being potentially inconsistent with the hypotheses of any particular researcher, machine learning and network tools enable hypothesis generation as they uncover the real biology of the system in question. Swan et al. discussed the benefit of machine learning methods for application to proteomic data and show that machine learning methods give an overall view of data and also offer a large potential for identifying relevant information within data.
Pathway analysis following statistical analysis and classification and clustering can help organize a long list of proteins onto a short list of pathway knowledge maps, easing interpretation of the molecular mechanisms underlying altered proteins or their expressions .
Here we primarily review tools for machine learning and clustering of omic data. The machine learning section of this review will introduce the concept of supervised and unsupervised classification for seven types of machine learners: principal component analysis (PCA), independent component analysis (ICA), K-means, hierarchical clustering, partial least square (PLS), random forests (RF), and support vector machines (SVM). These methods are also summarized and compared in Table 1, which provides an overview of different machine learning and clustering tools and how to select a method most likely to be effective for a specific dataset. We include a brief discussion of experimental design and feature selection, i.e., the selection of significant attributes for reduction of datasets, with the aim to increase the accuracy of classification models that are applied to the selected features. The machine learning and clustering section is followed by a brief summary of tools for analysis of longitudinal (time series) data. Next, we discuss tools that can achieve automated learning of pathway modules and features and those that help perform integrated network visual analytics. Finally, we provide information for public repository of proteomics data.
Although the purpose of this review is to discuss tools that are useful for data analysis after completion of a proteomic experiment, we want to recognize the essential nature of thoughtful upfront experimental design. Sample groups should be as large and reproducible as possible, representing a consistent proteomic phenotype in the harvested sample for a particular sample group. Even when the researcher is not establishing a study in a prospective manner, samples and sample groups should be chosen to reflect this insofar as is possible for the researcher. For example, if the experimental purpose is to find changes in the mouse hypothalamus with respect to circadian rhythm, the surgeries should—ideally—be performed by the same researcher at precise times of the day until a minimum of five or six samples, preferably more, are collected for every treatment group in question. The power of the experiment increases with each additional sample. Treatment groups should ideally be similar in size. Consistent collection, storage, and sample handling during the experiment will greatly increase chances of high-quality omic data. Furthermore, reduction of a sample to fewer or a specific cell type will increase the quality of proteomic or RNA data. Gene expression is a cell-type-specific phenomenon so that, in order to increase the signal-to-noise ratio for a gene expression study, the experimental design should consider tissue and sample complexity. A protein extract from liver, for example, primarily comprises hepatocyte proteins, whereas the brain contains cells that express hugely variable mRNA and protein signatures. We encourage the researcher to plan carefully regarding experimental design, as this investment will yield greatly improved resulting data. For review of experimental design, see [11, 12].
The following guidelines are listed as sequential steps, but they are meant to be more of a frame for thought rather than rigid steps in a series. For example, steps one and three may overlap and provide answers to the main questions of the experiment. Step two may obviate the need to perform extensive machine learning. Our hope is to relieve the distress of inheriting or creating an enormous mass of data that seems impenetrable.
Observe your data by creating plots and descriptive statistics to assess data distribution, overall variation, and variability within each treatment group. Compare means and variability from those means. Look for any anomalies that could cause a problem in the analysis. Plotting the data is effectively the first unsupervised clustering step. How do the data cluster? Are the data normally distributed? Most parametric statistical approaches assume normality, so if data are not normally distributed, they may need to be transformed or analyzed using nonparametric methods. Curves, scatter plots, and boxplots are useful for observing comparability of different groups or whether two different datasets can be combined. Is there a batch effect? If so, the data must be normalized or corrected for this effect. If using unsupervised approaches such as hierarchical clustering or principal component analysis, do the subjects partition according to predicted treatment groups? Correlation plots can be used to compare treatment groups. Are the correlations as expected?
Groups identified by the researcher either during experimental design or during the data observation step can be compared here using Student’s t test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and their nonparametric equivalents such as Kruskal-Wallis, in addition to regression modeling and other tests of traditional statistics. Many tests done simultaneously should be corrected using a multiple test correction such as the Benjamini-Hochberg correction algorithm . If these tests yield an abundance of significant data, the machine learning methods of step three can be used to reduce dimensionality. These lists of significant features can be used directly for pathway analysis. Or alternately, these significant features can be used as a seed or paradigm for training the supervised machine learning methods in step three to retrieve interesting data that were not found to be significant by traditional statistical methods.
For example, suppose we identify 100 significant features (proteins, transcripts, etc.) after multiple test correction. These 100 can be tested internally for correlation, for pattern recurrence, and for pathway analysis (DAVID, GO, Ingenuity, etc., Table 2). Suppose we used K-means to look for ten patterns, and one of the ten patterns happens to contain five features whose expression profiles appear to match what we know about their biology based on previous experiments or established literature. This is the step we might call “kicking the tires” of this dataset. If gene expression for a few proteins or transcripts follows known patterns, the entire dataset becomes more credible; other significant data can thus be relied upon as informative for further analysis and for interrogating the rest of the data.
From these lists, one can transition directly to pathway analysis (step four), or these data can be used for classification of the rest of the dataset using machine learning methods.
The “curse of dimensionality” is inherent to large datasets. At the beginning of any large dataset analysis, the dimension count and the feature count are the same. The purpose of machine learning is to reduce the dimensions such that multiple features (or data points) are contained within a single dimension so that a dataset with 5000 features may contain 500 groups of ten features each where those ten features have something in common as determined by the classifier such as PCA, RF, and K-means. Thus, machine learning allows the data to partition according to the biology of the experiment, and it allows the researcher to better comprehend the data and the potential biological processes that drive the experimental question.
Many machine learning tools are available including Weka , Scikit-learn (Machine Learning in Python) , and SHOGUN . R has an enormous number of machine learning algorithms with advanced implementations as well that were written by the developers of the algorithm .
If performed independently, machine learning and traditional statistics ought to reveal the same results in the data. They confirm each other. As stated in Table 1, different tools for machine learning are appropriate for different datasets. The observation of data in step one will help the researcher to identify which statistics and machine learning approaches might prove to be most effective in partitioning the data in question. For example, if data are not normally distributed and transformation of the data is not desirable, one should start by using nonparametric statistical analyses and independent component analysis.
Genes and features of interest are entered into pathway analysis software and tools, which are rapidly increasing in sophistication. Still, we have found that computational tools for pathway analysis should always be supplemented with individual manual research into relevant literature and textbook information for real biological insights. Only when the individual researcher or team is able to absorb the biological implications of the new data will the true understanding take place. The computational tools enable new connections to be established, but the biological story still requires concept synthesis on the part of the researcher.
It is reasonable to assume on biological grounds that the proteins present in the proteomic profile are not fully independent of each other in vivo. For this reason, a multivariate approach to analysis is preferred because it can address the correlations among variables. Dimension reduction methods project a large number of genes or proteins onto a smaller and more manageable number of features. The art of machine learning starts with the design of appropriate data representations, and better performance is often achieved using features derived from the original input and experimental design of the researcher. Building a feature representation is an opportunity to incorporate domain knowledge into the data and can be very application-specific. Nonetheless, there are a number of generic feature construction methods, including the following: clustering, basic linear transforms of the input variables (PCA/ICA/PLS), more sophisticated linear transforms like spectral transforms (Fourier, Hadamard), convolutions and kernels, and applying simple functions to subsets of variables. Among these techniques, some of the most important approaches include (i) dimensionality reduction, (ii) feature selection, and (iii) feature extraction.
There are many benefits regarding the dimensionality reduction when the datasets have a large number of features. Machine learning algorithms work best when the dimensionality is lower (curse of dimensionality). Additionally, the reduction of dimensionality can eliminate irrelevant features, reduce noise, and produce more robust learning models due to the involvement of fewer features. In general, the dimensionality reduction by selecting new features which are a subset of the old ones is known as feature selection. Three main approaches exist for feature selection, namely the following: embedded, filter, and wrapper approaches . In the case of feature extraction, a new set of features can be created from the initial set that captures all the significant information in a dataset. The creation of new sets of features allows for gathering the described benefits of dimensionality reduction.
Sometimes classifications or clustering decisions are susceptible to high bias (under-fitting) or high variance and low bias (over-fitting). If there is under-fitting that results in a high error rate in both training and test, it might help to (1) add more features, (2) use a more sophisticated model, or (3) employ fewer samples. If the dataset has a high variance and low bias (over-fitting) that results in a low error rate in training but high error rate in the test case, it might help to (1) use fewer features or (2) use more training samples. Over-fitting is usually a more common problem in classification than under-fitting. Over-fitting the data causes the model to fit the noise rather than the actual underlying behavior.
The application of different feature selection techniques usually produces different predictive feature lists, presumably because each method captures different features from the data or the small number of samples.
Classification methods have been used extensively for visualization and classification of high-throughput data. These algorithms group objects based on a similarity metric that is computed for features. There are several issues that can affect the outcome of the methods, including (1) a large number of features, (2) mean of the groups, (3) variance and (4) correlation among groups, (5) distribution of the data, and (6) outliers. Thus, exploiting the hidden structure within a dataset is critical for improving classification selection and accuracy and speed of prediction systems. No free lunch (NFL) theorems previously showed that any two optimization algorithms are equivalent when their performance is averaged across all possible problems [19, 20]. Here we emphasize the importance of the hidden structure of the data in order to achieve superior performance of learning systems.
Supervised machine learning involves training a model based on data samples that have known class labels associated with them. This is in contrast with unsupervised classification, or clustering, where no samples have associated class labels, and instead, samples with similar attribute profiles are grouped together.
Each of the supervised classification methods described can make errors, either by incorrectly identifying an instance as a member of a class (a “false positive”) or by incorrectly failing to identify an instance as a member of a class (a “false negative”). The rates of both types of errors can be estimated; the proportion of false positive results is reported using specificity and the proportion of false negatives using sensitivity. There is often a trade-off between these types of errors; increases in specificity (fewer false positives) often lead to decreases in sensitivity (more false negatives) and vice versa. Some classification methods always treat these types of errors as equally important, but others allow the user to set an explicit trade-off ratio, e.g., telling the classifier that sensitivity is twice as important as specificity or vice versa. Methods that have adjustable sensitivity/specificity trade-offs are noted in Table 1. There are no “one size fits all” tests in classification or clustering methods, and different datasets can make errors which are specific to that dataset (i.e., the no free lunch theorem).
The principal component analysis (PCA) is a mathematical procedure that transforms a number of possibly correlated variables into a smaller number of uncorrelated variables, which are then ordered by reducing variability. These variables are called principal components. The first principal component accounts for as much of the variability in the data as possible, and each succeeding component accounts for as much of the remaining variability as possible. PCA is an unsupervised analysis tool since samples are classified without including disease status in the training algorithm and best if the variables are standardized, and in most of the implementation, this is done by default. PCA is not only useful as a visualization tool . It also helps to detect outliers and perform quality control. PCA has been widely used in analysis of high-throughput data including proteomic data, e.g., [23–25].
Independent component analysis (ICA) is a method for finding underlying factors or components from multidimensional data. ICA is also known as blind signal separation (BSS). PCA and ICA have very different goals, and naturally, they may give quite different results. PCA finds directions of maximal variance (using second-order statistics) while ICA finds directions that maximize independence (using higher order statistics) . ICA maximizes non-Gaussianity and makes the assumption of combinatorial linearity of components, satisfied by removing the correlated data. In contrast to PCA, ICA analysis seeks not a set of orthogonal components but a set of independent components. Two components are independent if any knowledge about one implies nothing about the other, such that independent components (IC) represent different non-overlapping information. Since the number of components can be very high, it is relatively easy for the ICA estimation to over-fit the data.
Safavi et al. used ICA to separate groups of proteins that may be differentially expressed across treatment groups . They also showed that the univariate ANOVA technique with false discovery rate (FDR) correction is very sensitive to the FDR-derived p value, whereas ICA is able to identify and separate differential expression into the correct factors without any p value threshold. Other studies have applied ICA to MS data and have shown that ICA represents a powerful unsupervised technique [29, 30].
K-means [31, 32] is a popular partitioning method due to its ease of programming, allowing a good trade-off between achieved performance and computational complexity. It performs well when the distance information between data points is important to the clustering. K-means requires the analyst to specify the number of clusters to extract, and there are tools available to determine the appropriate number of clusters . Although this is a widely used technique, it suffers from several drawbacks: K-means does not scale well with high dimensional datasets and is prone to local minima problems. It is sensitive to initial conditions, does not remove undesirable features for clustering, and it is best but even then it is prone to local maxima. In spite of the weaknesses, with thoughtful application, the K-means algorithm is very useful in analysis of proteomics data due to its simple algorithmic assumptions and intuitively clear and interpretable visualization [34, 35].
Hierarchical clustering outputs a dendrogram tree representation of the data. Leaves are the input patterns and non-leaf nodes represent a hierarchy of groupings. This method comes in two flavors: agglomerative and divisive. Agglomerative algorithms work from the bottom up, with each pattern in a separate cluster. Clusters are then iteratively merged according to some criterion. Conversely, divisive algorithms start from the whole dataset in a single cluster and work top down by iteratively dividing each cluster into two components until all clusters are singletons. Hierarchical clustering suffers from the disadvantage of any merging/division decision being irreversible and any errors being dragged through the rest of the hierarchy (in another word, established mergers cannot be undone). Thus, hierarchical clustering analysis and principal component analysis can be used to identify subgroups on the basis of similarities between the proteins’ expression profile. Hierarchical clustering methodologies commonly used in transcriptomic studies have also been performed on proteomic data [36, 37]. The different methods will shed light on different aspects of the data [38, 39].
Partial least squares (PLS) is a method of dimensionality reduction that maximizes the covariance between groups. PLS constructs a set of orthogonal components that maximize the sample covariance between the response and the linear combination of the predictor variables. It generalizes and combines the features of PCA and multilinear regression [41, 42]. Through maximizing the covariance of dependent and independent variables, PLS searches for the components that capture the majority of the information contained in independent variables as well as in the relations between dependent and independent variables. PLS regression is particularly useful when users have a very large set of predictors that are highly collinear. In case of over-fitting, the PLS will (1) reduce the predictors to a smaller set of uncorrelated components—these components are mapped in a new space—and (2) perform least squares regression on the new set of components. Although PLS regression was not originally designed for classification and discrimination problems, it has often been used for this purpose [23, 25, 43–49].
Random forests (RF) are another classifier method that consists of many decision trees and can be either supervised or unsupervised. It is a popular method that has gained recognition for its ability to construct robust classifiers and select discriminant variables in proteomics [34, 35, 51–54].
RF is an extension to bagging and uses de-correlated trees; it is capable of minimizing the number of selected features. For a given decision tree, a subset of samples is selected to build the tree; the remaining samples are predicted from this tree. Bagging (bootstrap aggregating) can be used as an ensemble method . To see which variables contribute the most to the separation, “importance” measures are computed, e.g., the “mean decrease accuracy” and the Gini index .
Principal component analyses are used for dimension reduction, but the reduction is valid only when the number of components (i.e., subjects in a study) is less than the number of features (i.e., measured entities in the experiment). In contrast, random forests can be used when the number of features (metabolites, genes, or proteins) is smaller than the number of subjects. A random forest tends to be resistant to over-fitting and also not very sensitive to outliers. A random forest does not handle missing data, and missing values either need to be eliminated or imputation of missing data is needed.
Support vector machine (SVM) is a supervised learning method that constructs a hyperplane or set of hyperplanes in a high-dimension or infinite dimensional space. A good separation is achieved when the hyperplane has the largest distance to the nearest training data point of any class (the so-called functional margin).
SVM can be applied to different data types by designing the kernel function for such data; selection of a specific kernel and parameters is usually a trial and error process. A kernel function is one that corresponds to an inner product in some expanded feature space. Kernel methods are a kernel class of algorithms for pattern analysis. Since SVM is using regularization, it is highly resistant to over-fitting, even in cases where the number of attributes is greater than the number of observations. In practice, this depends on the careful choice of a C and kernel parameter. A C parameter is an optimization or regularization parameter which is chosen by the user to allow the SVM to best classify the training set. For larger C, the optimization will choose a smaller margin hyperplane if that does a better job of getting all the training points classified correctly. For a very small value of C, this will cause the optimizer to look for a larger margin-separating hyperplane even if that hyperplane misclassifies more points. SVM has been used in various fields to identify biomarkers including proteomics datasets [57–60].
Several software tools are available that specifically address the problems associated with time-series data. TimeClust is a stand-alone tool which is available for different platforms and allows the clustering of gene expression data collected over time with distance-based, model-based, and template-based methods . There are also several other packages available in R such as maSigPro , timecourse , BAT , betr , fpca , timeclip , rnits , and STEM .
Python probabilistic graphical query language (pGQL) allows its user to interactively define linear HMM queries on time-course data using rectangular graphical widgets called probabilistic time boxes. The analysis is fully interactive, and the graphical display shows the time courses along with the graphical query. In JAVA, PESTS and OPTricluster both of which are stand-alone with a GUI interface are useful for the clustering of short time-series data in MATLAB. DynamiteC is a dynamic modeling and clustering algorithm which interleaves clustering time-course gene expression data with estimation of dynamic models of their response by biologically meaningful parameters .
After statistical and/or machine learning analysis, the next challenge is how to extract functional and biological information from a long list of proteins identified or discovered from high-throughput proteomic experiments. In order to provide biological insights into the underlying molecular mechanisms of different conditions or changes involved during the progression of disease as well as identification of potential drug targets [74–76], pathway and network analysis techniques can help to address the challenges of interpretation. We categorize these tools into three types: (1) tools with basic functional information (e.g., GO category analysis), (2) tools with rich functional information and topological features (e.g., GSEA , IPA ), and (3) tools with topological features (e.g., Cytoscape ).
For pathway analysis, we refer to data analysis that aims to identify activated pathways or pathway modules from functional proteomic data. For network analysis, we refer to data analysis that builds, overlays, visualizes, and infers protein interaction networks from functional proteomics and other systems biology data. It is at this stage that metabolomic and proteomic data intersect to reveal active biological processes in a particular system.
Pathway Commons is publicly available and has pathway information for multiple organisms. Pathways include biochemical interactions, complex assembly, transport and catalysis events, physical interactions involving proteins, DNA, RNA, small molecules and complexes, genetic interactions, and co-expression relationships. HumanCyc plus Pathway Tools provides another set of options. HumanCyc contains well-curated content on human metabolic pathways. The associated Pathway Tools software will let you paint gene expression, proteomics, or metabolomics data onto the HumanCyc pathway map, and Pathway Tools will also perform enrichment analysis. PathVisio is a publicly available pathway editor and visualization and analysis software. 3Omics is a web-based systems biology visualization tool for integrating human transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic data. It covers and connects cascades from transcripts, proteins, and metabolites and provides five commonly used analyses including correlation network, co-expression, phenotype generation, KEGG/HumanCyc pathway enrichment, and GO enrichment. For these tools, the user uploads transcriptome and proteome expression data. The metabolome is inferred using KEGG Pathway. 3Omics derives the relationship between the proteome and the metabolome from the literature.
GSEA enables molecular-signature-based statistical significance testing, which integrates protein functional category information effectively with statistical testing of functional genomics or proteomics results. GATHER is a functional enrichment tool (for KEGG pathways) along with several other categories which provides information for a list of genes/proteins in the context of genes, GO terms, predicted miRNAs, pathways, or diseases. The Protein ANalysis THrough Evolutionary Relationships (PANTHER) classification system is designed to classify proteins (and their genes) to support high-throughput analysis. It combines human curation with gene ontology and utilizes other sources for high-level analysis of protein lists.
A number of visualization tools and plug-ins are available for Cytoscape which can be used for biological network construction.
Ultimately, future tools must support elucidation of complex molecular mechanisms suggested from multiscale network data and molecular signature data. However, there are still significant challenges in designing next-generation network/pathway analysis tools. Network analysis and pathway analysis have been extensively applied to proteomic datasets, e.g., [75, 86, 87]. Some of the pathway and network analysis tools that have become available in the last decade are listed in Table 2. Although the content of most of these tools is based on knowledge and is freely available, a user might not be able to reproduce the same result using a different selection of tools. These tools integrate information from different sources; they obtain pathway information from the literature and by computational prediction.
There has been great progress in the last few years in making raw proteomic data publicly available, which provides a considerable value to the community. Currently, several repositories compile proteomic data. The PRoteomics IDEntifications (PRIDE) database at the EBI is a public repository that includes protein and peptide identifications, post-translational modifications, and supporting spectral evidence. The PeptideAtlas database from ISB’s Proteome Center accepts only the raw output of mass spectrometers, and all raw data are processed through a uniform pipeline of search software plus validation with the Trans-Proteomic Pipeline (TPP) . The results of this processing are coalesced and made available to the community through a series of builds for different organisms or sample types.
The Mass spectrometry Interactive Virtual Environment (MassIVE) is a community resource developed by the NIH-funded Center for Computational Mass Spectrometry to promote the global, free exchange of mass spectrometry data . The MassIVE can be run with UCSD proteomics . Chorus is a simple web application for storing, sharing, visualizing, and analyzing spectrometry files . A user can upload experiment files along with the metadata, analyze them, and also make them available to collaborators. The Global Proteome Machine Database (GPMDB) collects spectra and identifications that have been uploaded by researchers to a GPM analysis engine and presents the summarized results back to the community .
To make the process of data submission easier for the user, the ProteomeXchange consortium is set up to provide a single point of submission to proteomics repositories . Once the data are submitted to the ProteomeXchange entry point, they can be automatically distributed to all other repositories (PRIDE, MassIVE, and PeptideAtlas).
Machine learning and clustering approaches have been applied to proteomic and mass spectrometric data from many different biological disciplines in order to identify biomarkers for normal phenotypic characterization and for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of specific disease [48, 57]. The bioinformatics tools that are currently available for omic data analysis span a large panel of very diverse applications ranging from simple tools to sophisticated software for large-scale analysis. Technical advances and growing interest in the field have given rise to a great number of specialized tools and software to derive biologically meaningful information. These computational approaches assist in generating hypotheses to be tested in orthogonal experiments.
Machine learning and its methods have increasingly gained attention in bioinformatics research. With the availability of different types of classification methods, it is common for researchers to apply these tools to classify and mine their data. But one should keep in mind that no matter how sophisticated the bioinformatics tools, the quality of the results they produce is directly dependent on the quality of input data they are given. In addition, new experimental methods are likely to require newly adapted bioinformatics tools as mass spectrometers become more powerful and as novel experimental design results in more complex datasets. One area of rapidly expanding complexity is at the integration of the fronts of metabolomic and proteomic data. Each software tool has some advantage and disadvantage, so it benefits the user to employ a combination of tools to examine one dataset rather than a single software tool. Each dataset contains its own quirks, positive and negative, and it is up to the end users and analysts to decide the most effective approach for assessing the biology that is taking place within their experiment.
This study was supported by NIH 2R01LM009254 and 2R01LM008111 for AKF and LEH.
AKF conceived of the project and drafted the manuscript. LEE participated in its design. AKF, LEE, and LEH wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. | 2019-04-25T01:58:55Z | https://humgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40246-015-0050-2 |
Okay. I want to preface this by saying that I am posting this for two reasons. First, because it interests me. Second, and more importantly, because it applies very much to my life right now. I want advice, and you guys have a smarter handle on this sort of thing than anyone I know.
Lets just say that someone in my family is in a bad place and has been getting routinely frustrated and emotional about non-important things like, all the time. This person is above me on the social scale and that's not something I can change. Actually, they are probably the only person in the entire world who I can't get mad at. That means that when they get irrationally angry at me, I have no recourse. Normally when this sort of things happens I can just shrug it off, but with the current frequency its getting difficult to deal with.
Right now, I see two possible actions on my part. I can continue to put a stopper on my frustrations. I happen to be very, very good at diffusing my own anger (when you have as many older brothers as I do, you learn when not to fight). The problem with this method is that if I do it too much I start to lose my energy and vitality. Perhaps you have read out the hormones related to primate hierarchies? The jist is that if you think you are the alpha and dominate over others, your hormone levels will adjust accordingly and make you dominant. However, if you are the lowest on the totem pole, well, lets just say that those who don't have anyone below them to get their frustrations off with don't live a very fun life. The other option, as far as I see it, is venting. It is very helpful for me to go attack the punching bag for a while as a means of diffusing the frustration. This,however, does not seem like a very mature solution.
So, here is where you guys come in. What do you think of the situation? Do you see any other ways for me to deal with it? Is there some way to apply hormesis to diffuse anger without making my body feel like I have mentally lost a whole bunch of fights and am a complete weakling?
This person is above me on the social scale and that's not something I can change. Actually, they are probably the only person in the entire world who I can't get mad at. That means that when they get irrationally angry at me, I have no recourse.
I don't understand this part. Can you elaborate?
If I have a friend and act a certain way, I can stop being their friend. If a sibling acts that way, I can call them out on it and work it out with them.
The person who I speak of I am completely uncomfortable calling out on their behavior. This is due to my respect for that person, and also the relationship I have with them that I do not want to endanger, that I can't bring myself to get into a fight with them.
I suppose it would help if I put this a situation you might encounter. Here is an example. Say you have a boss who nags on you all the time and you know if you get mad at them your job would be endangered. You however, cannot quit due to financial strain. So, you are stuck in a position where you are "below" them and cannot do anything to fix the situation. Unless your boss really gets our of line, but that's not the situation here.
My current situation will pass, as it has in the past. But I think that I will encounter similar situations in the future, for example the boss example I just discussed. I am wondering what you guys think about various coping mechanisms.
"All adult relationships are voluntary"
That includes relationships with family members.
If I had an abusive friend or co-worker, I'd tell them my experience and try to understand theirs.
If they were ultimately unable or unwilling to stop abusing me, the best thing for me and for them would be to end the relationship. Many abusive people are like addicts -- when they are around someone willing to be their "victim" they can't help themselves. If you wanted to help an alcoholic, you'd take the liquor away. If you want to help an abusive person, one solution is to remove yourself from the situation.
I agree with Aelephant, but I understand this is easier said than done, especially in the job scenario you depict. I mean, especially if you have a family depending on you, it can be difficult to confront your boss. On the other hand, we still have labor laws (admittedly quickly being eroded) and so should not have to put up with bullying.
On the other hand, that is not the situation you presently find yourself in, so I would at least confront this person or talk to them. I think standing up to them would help relieve some of the tension and, even if it didn't, you would not suffer from the hormonal changes you allude to (lowered testosterone level) that comes from lowering your head in front of an "alpha" male.
Of course, my advice should be taken with a grain of salt, since there is much I don't know about your situation.
Thank you for your responses. They are insightful and helpful.
I'm not looking for some magic solution and I don't expect you to say anything particularly life altering. I'm just casting my net out there for ideas.
I should also make it clear that the relationship is not abusive and generally very pleasant. And that's what makes it complicated. Because when they are frustrated about something in their life, they tend not to control their emotions very well. And those periods of uncontrolled emotion sometimes last for several days, and end up in the frustration on my end that I have talked about. After these periods, they are very open and will talk about why and how they acted. But then do it again. So I don't think communication is necessarily the answer. So I'm back to my original idea, that mechanisms for coping with my frustration may be the best, as those would not only help me, but they would probably help alleviate the situation, considering that anger begets anger.
Lets just say that someone in my family is in a bad place and has been getting routinely frustrated and emotional about non-important things like, all the time.... Right now, I see two possible actions on my part. I can continue to put a stopper on my frustrations. I happen to be very, very good at diffusing my own anger (when you have as many older brothers as I do, you learn when not to fight). The problem with this method is that if I do it too much I start to lose my energy and vitality...The other option, as far as I see it, is venting. It is very helpful for me to go attack the punching bag for a while as a means of diffusing the frustration. This, however, does not seem like a very mature solution.
...Is there some way to apply hormesis to diffuse anger without making my body feel like I have mentally lost a whole bunch of fights and am a complete weakling?
Actually, the situation you describe has a very effective solution in Stoicism, which I consider to be a near cousin of Hormetism. As I described in my page on Stoicism, the Stoics considered the emotions and behavior of others as falling into the sphere of externals, or that over which we have little or no control. The Stoics pointed out that if we react emotionally to others with frustration, anger, or other negative emotions, that is a choice we're making that we don't have to make. It makes no more sense than getting upset at a thunderstorm or other natural event. What we should pay attention to are our internal values, emotions, intentions and decisions -- things which we can in fact control. Not that this is easy, but to the extent that reactions are conditioned, we can unlearn those reactions and learn new ones.
If you look at the emotional outbursts of others as "storms" then you can just weather and wait them out until they pass by. I found this approach helpful in dealing with the tantrums of small children and the mouthing off or outbursts of teenagers. It's easy to get drawn in and react, until you realize that these "storms" usually pass and things quiet down again if you just wait a little while.
If you have a chance to pick up William Irvine's "A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy", I think you'll find a very clearly written, insightful book that addresses your situation and many others. I found it to be very helpful in reframing the way I approach other people and my own personal challenges. Hormesis comes in here quite clearly, because you find yourself actually looking forward to testing yourself in how you handle situations that could be considered emotional or taxing...but with practice and reflection become like water falling off a duck's back. Repeated exposure to these challenges builds your ability to avoid reacting counterproductively. It doesn't mean you don't care, in fact it actually makes you more effective at helping in productive ways because you can focus on what actually works. Learning to recondition your emotional response is certainly more effective, I think, than either suppressing your unhelpful emotions or venting them.
I don't know if this addresses your situation or helps, but I throw it out there just in case.
I just read your post on Stoicism and found it to be very helpful, actually. I like the analogy of a storm to be "weathered." There is something I have been exploring recently that relates to this: the feeling of power. I find that my ability to "weather" stress and shrug things like this off is highly dependent on my the state of my mind and my body. If I feel powerful and confident, I am not bothered by things. If I have been stressed out for a few days, stayed up too late, etc, that caused me to feel less than optimal then I will have a harder time dealing. The factors that are involved in that are things I am actively and continuously pursuing.
I wanted to add a Lao Tse quote about impressions, but I can't find it now. Maybe it's not Lao Tse, but one of the other Taoist writers. Anyway, I will paraphrase. There is a man and he finds his ax missing. When he looks at the neighbor's son, the boy looks like a thief to him. Later, the man finds that ax and the next time he sees the boy he looks good mannered. The boy did not change, but the man's impression of him did. I suppose we could apply a similar concept to the Stoicism ideas. If I feel weak and not in control, even in a small way, I am more likely to interpret an angry person as a personal attack and respond emotionally to it. I will desire to fight back, and when I do I will send the message to my body that I am weak, compounding the effect. However, if I feel strong and in control of my body and emotions, that control being something that, as I understand it, the techniques of Stoicism are designed to supply, I am more likely to view the anger of another person as interesting, or even funny. In this case, I am confident their their anger is not really directed at me, and if it was I know that I can defend myself. Thus, I can not fight the storm, but not have it beat me either. Interesting.
See! This is what this thread was supposed to do, supply me with food for thought. Every suggestion you guys make gives me ten more ideas to explore. Thank you.
Hi shadowfoot. First I just want to say that I think you are amazing and inspirational. Your posts are intelligent, articulate, and mature. If you hadn’t mentioned your age in an earlier post, then I would have assumed you were much, much older.
I happen to be very, very good at diffusing my own anger (when you have as many older brothers as I do, you learn when not to fight). The problem with this method is that if I do it too much I start to lose my energy and vitality.
When you are fully successful at diffusing anger, then you gain energy and enhance vitality. It sounds as if you have developed a coping strategy that is only partially successful and that you have feelings of powerlessness underneath the anger. Typically, anger and frustration have layers of emotions underneath. If you genuinely address the various layers, then it’s possible to have an entirely different emotional response to a difficult situation. Often we have beliefs, expectations, or agendas that keep us locked into a particular feeling pattern. It is possible to unravel our emotional patterns and conditioning. It is challenging work so be patient with yourself and focus on incremental progress. The process is one of looking openly and honestly at the situation and ourselves. This then leads to some kind of insight and making a change within yourself that implements your insight in a tangible way. That then leads to a new insight.
Even though you feel as though the other person is in the alpha position and you are below them, if you look underneath you might find that the opposite is true. Even though outwardly the other person is in the position of power, inwardly you might have access to insight, wisdom, and skills that they are lacking.
I think that compassion, empathy, and kindness are crucial elements for genuine emotional healing. Usually, it’s helpful to first extend those qualities towards yourself. As you resolve the issue from within yourself, you tend to naturally feel and extend those qualities to the other person who is difficult to deal with. All people who are projecting their anger onto others are in a state of pain and suffering.
It is helpful to have a feeling of spaciousness and a broad perspective concerning the situation. Some kind of meditation and quieting the mind and thoughts can be helpful with this. Also, knowing that the situation will change.
I have found that breathing is incredibly helpful in dealing with emotions. I recommend a gentle connected breath, meaning that you connect the inhale with the exhale and do not pause or hold the breath. Holding the breath is usually connected with emotional holding.
I also recommend moving your eyes either in a sideways figure eight pattern or a random scribbling pattern. The eyes lock in patterns of emotion. Changing your eye movements releases emotional conditioning. I currently combine the eye movements with the gentle connected breathing, while allowing myself to feel the emotion. With practice it releases challenging emotions and frees energy.
There are lots of other tools and techniques for working with emotions. I would explore and experiment with different ones until you find what resonates for you.
Good luck and may you come to peace with this situation.
This is spot on. I think a lot of young males in particular have been sold this very Hollywood version of what an "alpha" male is that entails trampling others underfoot, being disconnected from one's feelings and needs, and often seeking "happiness" through meaningless sexual conquests. This is a great recipe for getting respect from other easily manipulated young men, but not such a great recipe for success in life or achieving true happiness. I don't mean to imply that shadowfoot has this mentality, but since it was brought up I figured I'd share my thoughts.
Thank you Heidi. Your post was very helpful. I'm sorry if I do not respond to your points, but I feel that I need time to properly digest time. Thank you also for your kind comments. I could reveal many things about myself which would help to explain how I got to be the way I am, but I prefer to be a bit of an enigma. Maybe some day.
I would say that the "alpha" male that aelephant describes is not me. I see two versions, if you will, of the "alpha" personality. The first is the stereotyped male who wants to dominate and does so through strength and brutality with no real understanding of the emotions involved. The second is a more sophisticated alpha, an alpha of the twenty-first century. This alpha still dominates the situation, but he does so through poise, skill, leadership, kindness, etc. I strive to model myself more after the second ideal.
However, I would say that in my weaker moments, as I described earlier, I subconsciously lean more towards the former. If I feel weakened, attacked, or not in control (of the situation and, more importantly, my own emotions), I revert to a more primitive thought mode.
I think in many ways it is not just this specific situation that I posted here wanting answers about, but many similar situations in life. I think it boils down to this -- how to strong when you feel weak, because, as much as I might try to prevent it, there is no getting around the fact that I will feel weak sometimes. You guys have given me a lot of good food for thought so far. Thank you.
I think I have to part company, at least to some extent, with the stoics on this one. The same beef I have with them, I have with certain types of behaviorism. Basically both schools take into account only surface appearances. Certainly the stoics would admit that there is an inner-world, however, their notion of it lacks the complexity of depth-psychology. I will clarify what I mean below.
Sure, there are certain circumstances over which we have no control and we need to do the best that we can in such circumstances. However, just because we might need to "make do" does not mean that such circumstances will have no effect on us negatively. For example, I don't have the study at hand, but I have read studies (maybe by Sapolsky) about how testosterone levels in males diminish when they lose or are "dissed" by another male in some way. (I am assuming here that you agree lowered testosterone levels are not a good thing).
So, the question is, would this change if we attempted the stoic posture in such situations? I mean, if we just reconciled ourselves-at least, seemingly- with the situation would there not be such a physiological change? I don't know, but I doubt it.
I read a book a few years ago that sheds light on this issue as well. It was written by a Doctor Sarno M.D. and the title was "Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection. Sarno is an orthopedic surgeon and professor of that discipline at New York University. He became disenchanted with the diagnoses and treatment of most back treatments. He noticed that when comparing the X-Rays of "bad" backs with "good" backs there was often no difference. (You'll have to read the book for a detailed discussion of this, I am obviously simplifiying). Mind you the cases involved seemed to have a physical cause...the person had been in an accident, had lifted something heavy, etc...but it turns out, according to Sarno, that this wasn't the real cause of the malaise. He found out that in MOST cases back ailments have to do with some suppressed emotion, usually anger, that the person is unwilling to confront and deal with. Sarno claims that when such emotions are dealt with the back ailment will be alleviated. He has some statistics in his book on his success. I can only report that at the time I read the book I was suffering from some back problems-bad ones-that were resolved when I followed his methods and did a self-inventory of my emotions.
Now I can imagine the stoics applauding the self-reflection advised by Sarno, but I can also imagine them NOT allowing the anger to be and finding some outlet for it. Yet, what happens to anger that does not get directed outwards? It gets directed inwards. It is worth noting that Marcus Aurelius is thought to have suffered from ulcers. It's a matter of speculation, but I wonder if this might not have been a result of "holding it all in". I hope my point is clear. Having a philosophical position that holds that these emotions have a bad effect on you does not render such emotions harmless, no matter what you say or no matter what kind of happy face you put on.
I think in many ways it is not just this specific situation that I posted here wanting answers about, but many similar situations in life. I think it boils down to this -- how to strong when you feel weak, because, as much as I might try to prevent it, there is no getting around the fact that I will feel weak sometimes.
I think I have to part company, at least to some extent, with the stoics on this one. The same beef I have with them, I have with certain types of behaviorism. Basically both schools take into account only surface appearances. Certainly the stoics would admit that there is an inner-world, however, their notion of it lacks the complexity of depth-psychology...Sure, there are certain circumstances over which we have no control and we need to do the best that we can in such circumstances. However, just because we might need to "make do" does not mean that such circumstances will have no effect on us negatively. For example...testosterone levels in males diminish when they lose or are "dissed" by another male in some way. (I am assuming here that you agree lowered testosterone levels are not a good thing). So, the question is, would this change if we attempted the stoic posture in such situations? I mean, if we just reconciled ourselves-at least, seemingly- with the situation would there not be such a physiological change? I don't know, but I doubt it.... what happens to anger that does not get directed outwards? It gets directed inwards.... Having a philosophical position that holds that these emotions have a bad effect on you does not render such emotions harmless, no matter what you say or no matter what kind of happy face you put on.
Great discussion here. This is exactly the sort of reflective philosophical discussion I enjoy on this site!
You both raise excllent points. While the issues you both raise are different, my response to both of you centers on a common theme: namely, that emotional strength is not a fixed entity, but rather something we can influence. This comes from the perspective of treating the person or organism as highly adaptive -- not merely in body, but also in mind.
As you indicate, Shadowfoot, we are most vulnerable to frustration and an impaired response when we are feeling psychologically "weak". But just as we can strengthen our muscles, our immune systems, and the other aspects of our organism, we can likewise become more resilient psychologically. I think that hormesis provides a good model for doing that. Certainly, my own experience -- and what I've learned from others -- is that taking on more emotionally challenging situations and handling them well builds the capacity to become more adept at how we respond. And yet it is possible to become overwhelmed emotionally, just as one can become overwhelmed physically. There is always a "breaking point". Nevertheless, we can usually increase our capacity. I think this can be done deliberately to some extent, using Stoic "spiritual excerises" such as voluntary discomfort and negative visualization. But you can go further and make a point of testing yourself, planning out how you'll respond to the next angry, inconsiderate, or condescending individual.
Thomas, I agree that some versions of behaviorism appear to deal only with surface behavior. But the more sophisticated versions acknowledge emotions and an inner life. And I believe that just like overt behavior, emotions can be conditioned, at least to some extent. That is not to deny that we have many deep seated, innate ways of responding, and we have emotional needs. I would also agree with you that emotional repression is not a good idea. But I think there is a big difference between repressing or suppressing emotional responses and changing how we respond. Certainly, fears and anxieties can be largely overcome and mastered by progressive exposure, together with insight. I've seen this in friends, relatives and even myself. The same is true for anger. I stopped becoming angry at one individual once I better understood his situation and realized that my reaction wasn't helping anything. The anger vanished, and our relationship improved. And I'd really have to say that this did not involving repression or redirecting my anger inward. Analogously, you can re-condition how you respond to food and change your appetite without "repressing" your hunger. The point that many people miss, however, is that changing behaviors, emotional responses, and appetite is a gradual process that takes time and lots of reinforcement. The bottom line, however, is that you really can "re-wire" your responses on the level of neural circuits and neurotransmitters.
I have no doubt that disrespect can lead to biochemical changes like reduced testosterone, as you point out. But this is also a conditioned response that can be changed. It requires the crucial perception that one is being harmed by the "disrespect". Gang members can be easily "dissed" by looks or gestures that would probably not seem disrespectful to you or me. I used to react to drivers who cut me off in traffic, honked, gave me the finger, etc. But honestly, this really doesn't bother me any more. I actually find it a bit humorous, and perhaps feel a bit of pity for people who are so reactive. I'll get to where I'm headed in the car, listen to nice music on the radio, and have a nice day. I'm sure that if you are surrounded by non-stop hostile and ugly behavior, it can get to you at some point. But the idea is not to become insulated and immune from the world. On the contrary, I think we want to fully engage with both positive and negative emotions, but we want to become more resilient. Again the physical metaphor is apt: We strengthen our bodies so we become more resilient and can take on challenging, fun and adventurous physical activities. If we go mountain biking, rock climbing or play sports, we are always vulnerable to injury and mishap; but strength and agility training helps reduce their impact and make exercise more enjoyable overall.
I think it is useful to think about specific training exercises or techniques we can carry out to build our emotional resilience. Doing this in a deliberate "hormetic" way, as opposed to just generally taking on life's challenges, might be quite effective. Training oneself in advance of real life challenges, and separately from them, is something that we do for our physical selves, but it seems to be uncommon to do it for our emotional selves.
I have no doubt that disrespect can lead to biochemical changes like reduced testosterone, as you point out. But this is also a conditioned response that can be changed. It requires the crucial perception that one is being harmed by the "disrespect".
There are things over which we have little control, and it is good that we can accomodate ourselves to them through the techniques that the Stoics recommend, however, I have to say that I am skeptical of the above statement. It might be true, but I would have to see evidence of it. Surely there is a difference between "getting flipped off by an irate motorist" and a scenario in which we are daily being insulted. Would an abused housewife-I will limit the example to emotional abuse-be able to use Stoic exercises to cope with her situation? Should she?
This leads to the next question: when should one resort to such techniques and when should one choose more assertive action? It's been over 20 years since I last read the Aldous Huxley's, "Brave New World", but it comes to mind in regards to this discussion. Brief recapitulation. The protagonist lives in a society where people are made "happy" by means of a drug called Soma. However, every now and then, people will start to get uneasy, especially when they are in the vicinity of nature. Now substitute "your body" for the word "nature". I know that the Stoics were not escapist, per se. They didn't just ignore the contents of their mind or circumstance. However, I wonder at what point the body/psyche will break or rebel against attempts to transform it to "fit in" to a given situation.
I see value in what the Stoics have to offer, and I don't mean to reduce their thought to some political ploy. However, it's hard not to imagine that Stoicism could be of some use by those interested in maintaining the status quo. After all, if you've got a problem with the system, it's your problem. "Don't get upset about it. Go change your mind about it. Things could be worse". Important to at least keep in mind that it developed in a society based on slavery. As with Plato, another defender of the status quo, one mustn't reject the whole philosophy and reduce it to political expediency, but it might be important to bear in mind that even philosophy is not completely exempt of its authors' class interests. Important to keep in mind that Marcus Aurelius was a staunch persecutors of a group that threatened the status quo of the Roman Empire: the Christians.
Surely there is a difference between "getting flipped off by an irate motorist" and a scenario in which we are daily being insulted. Would an abused housewife-I will limit the example to emotional abuse-be able to use Stoic exercises to cope with her situation? Should she?
This leads to the next question: when should one resort to such techniques and when should one choose more assertive action?... I know that the Stoics were not escapist, per se. They didn't just ignore the contents of their mind or circumstance. However, I wonder at what point the body/psyche will break or rebel against attempts to transform it to "fit in" to a given situation.
I see value in what the Stoics have to offer, and I don't mean to reduce their thought to some political ploy. However, it's hard not to imagine that Stoicism could be of some use by those interested in maintaining the status quo.
I do see how Stoicism can easily be misread as fatalism or accomodationism...just learning to take the bitter medicine with a happy face. Your critique reflects to some extent my own issue with William Irvine's gloss on Stoicism, which I wrote about on my blog. I think that Irvine incorrectly interprets the Stoics as advocating a type of "tranquilty" that translates to being content with one's lot in life, which means being less inclined to take assertive action to resist unjust or abusive treatment.
He, therefore, whom neither pleasure nor pain, nor fame nor riches, can get the better of, and who is able, whenever he thinks fit, to spit his whole body into his tormentor’s face and depart from life, whose slave can he ever be? To whom is he subject?
Stockdale credits a college course on Epictetus with empowering him to avoid cracking during years of being tortured in a POW prison during the Vietnam War.
I realize that you've brought up several facets of Marcus Aurelius's life that puts him in the oppressor camp, particularly in his treatment of the Christians. Other accounts indicate that as Roman emperors went, he was more fairminded and forward thinking and less self-aggrandizing than most of his predecessors and followers, and that he held the Roman Empire together through a period of great external and internal challenge. So perhaps he is more of a mixed bag than other Stoics like Epictetus .
Of course, in our age where we are more empowered to act, and have a better chance of success at righting wrongs, we can be more confident in taking action. We should take action wherever we can to effect positive change. Where I part with classic Stoicism is that I think actual outcomes in the external world matter - we should not merely be satisfied with making a good effort or acting justly.
But where I do agree with Stoicism is that we can become more effective in resisting unjust and abusive actions by learning to focus on positive actions to resist or change an unfair situation. Sometimes powerful emotions like fear, anxiety and anger can prod us to action, but I think that more often they can paralyze us, distract us, or interfere with our ability to take effective action.
Regardless of how you interpret Stoicism, the key point I've tried to make is that to the extent that emotions overpower us and make us less able to respond effectively, we should consider strengthening ourselves to make those emotions less debilitating or distracting. This is not something we can generally "chose" to do in the moment. But there are things we can do to become more resilient. Reslient doesn't mean complacent or accommodating. It means tougher -- and that toughness can be used to resist or to bring about positive change. Toughness doesn't mean banishing emotion, but it does mean gaining a degree of control or mastery over one's emotions.
Thanks for your comments, Thomas. I enjoy the insight and passion you bring to these discussions -- so I look forward to meeting you this week at the talk in Palo Alto! | 2019-04-26T08:26:27Z | http://forum.gettingstronger.org/index.php?topic=132.0 |
Yeasts – Yeasts are mono-cellular fungi that typically grow and reproduce by simple budding.
Mold – Molds are multi-cellular fungi. They are microscopic and typically grow and reproduce by a process called apical reproduction. Unlike yeasts, molds exist in characteristic vast networks.
The most prolific growth of mold occurs on food and other purely organic materials like fallen leaves or natural fibre clothing. Mold is one of the biggest contributors to food spoilage in the United States.
Unchecked mold growth on walls of a building is aesthetically and hygienically unpleasant. Moreover, in due course of time, it can cause serious structural deficiencies in the building. These range from cracks in walls to structural collapses. Quite predictably, mold growth in a house or any building for that matter significantly reduces the resell value of that property.
Presence of molds in a significant colonies indoors greatly deteriorates the quality of overall indoor environment by way of airborne spores and foul odor.
Although there’s very little scientific evidence that molds can themselves cause serious health issues, it’s widely held that molds have the potential to trigger a number of health hazards in humans.
The very first requirement for molds to grow indoors is the abundance of airborne or surface-settled mold spores. In most places, extreme weather conditions (steep sub-zero temperatures, excess heat of the drylands etc.) excluded, mold spores are to be found indoors. These are often carried through air currents. A simple activity like opening the window can allow millions of mold spores indoors. This is not, in itself, a sufficient condition for molds to grow, neither is it a cause of concern – simply, because it just can’t be helped.
Every organism, irrespective of its size or family, needs food to come into being and grow. Molds are no exceptions. They are, however, quite comfortable with consuming anything and everything, so long as it can be decayed. Organic matter – anything that contains carbon atoms – is the only source of food for molds. Since almost everything, barring few items, that is found most commonly indoors is organic, it’s virtually impossible to preclude the possibility of mold growth indoors by merely limiting organic content. Right from innocuous looking things like papers and clothes to easily digestible organic material like stale food or leather surfaces, molds can consume a range of materials. Even non-organic material like metals or plastic can attract mold, provided that there’s a layer of organic substance on its surface. The simple act of touching a phone receiver transfers enough topical skin oil onto the surface of the receiver – a perfect breeding ground for molds, given that other criteria are met.
Indoor humidity levels upwards of 55% are generally known to assist molds by providing enough atmospheric moisture to establish and grow their colonies.
Just like any other organism, molds have a set of optimum temperatures within which they show heightened growth activity. These temperature ranges vary from one mold genus to another; but when considered on a wholesome basis, they are not too greatly spaced. Most indoor molds have an optimum temperature range of 60 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit (roughly 15 to 30 degree Celsius). As one would notice, this also happens to be the optimum temperature range for human comfort. That’s why, it’s rather difficult to control mold activity purely by manipulating temperature. Another way that indoor temperature distribution can contribute to mold growth the presence of high temperature gradients. A temperature gradient is simply the difference in temperatures of two surfaces or two bodies. If a room has poor temperature distribution, warm air carrying enough moisture can come in contact with relatively cooler surfaces, condensing the moisture on that cooler surface. This provides an ideal starting point for molds to grow. When all of these conditions exist without mutual exclusion, mold growth can be all but guaranteed. At this point, it becomes necessary to reiterate that mold spores can survive the harshest of environments to stay dormant. Perhaps, that explains why molds can be found in dysfunctional freezers and even toasters.
Growth of molds indoors should always be kept in check to make sure that further complications, in regard with health and otherwise, don’t arise. There’s no better way to achieve this than getting rid of mold before it grows into obdurate colonies that are sometimes resistant to even extreme measures like pest control or other chemical remedies. However, it’s not always easy to say with confidence whether a certain building or a house is infected by mold unless there is an irrefutable visual evidence. A certain set of prognostic observations, hence, needs to be resorted to, in order to confirm the presence of mold infestation. Here are some potential signs of mold infestation indoors. It should be noted that despite not exhibiting the following signs, mold colonies are known to exist and thrive. These symptoms are, hence, only indicative and not exhaustive.
The most alarming sign of considerable mold growth on any surface, indoors and outdoors, is visual confirmation. Whenever there is visible growth of mold indoors, it must be regarded as substantial growth and a strong enough indicator of potential spreading of mold. All common indoor molds have a fuzzy texture. They can appear in a variety of colors (black, white, yellow, green, grey, blue) and sizes (from a small patch to a large enough to cover entire walls). Mold colonies are generally either smooth and velvety or rough and leathery. Visible mold growth, in all cases, warrants a thorough inspection of the building. Faulty infrastructure like leaking waterworks, stagnant water or seepage are often the precedents of visible mold growth. Mold growth is also preceded by discoloration of the surface. In case of walls and ceilings, the color starts fading while the surface itself becomes scaly and uneven. Spotting mold in well-lit indoor areas is relatively easier. Parts of a house or a building that are not frequented often, are rather poorly lit and damp provide the most helpful conditions for mold growth and are harder to inspect. These include attics, basements, cellars, fascias, garages and tree houses. Professional inspection is often required to ascertain mold growth in such cases.
Another sign that often accompanies mold growth is their distinctive odor. Even though some indoor molds do not have any inherent odor, most mold colonies are characterized by a certain foul odor that can be best described as earthen. This odor is the result of decomposition of organic matter that molds carry out. It’s strong, musty and often repulsive. In houses or buildings where mold growth is substantial, overall indoor air quality is completely ruined by this odor. It renders such buildings unpleasant and unsafe for living. In places that are inaccessible (such as AC vents, sink cabinets or behind the wallpapers) for visual inspection, mold odor is the best way to check for the presence of mold.
Another thing that can be a definitive sign of mold growth is persistent dampness – especially on walls, ceilings and floors. Mold colonies are known to extract atmospheric moisture to assist the decay of organic matter. This often results into excess dampness, known as mold sweat on that particular surface, which further assists mold growth. It is a run-away process that makes the affected surface persistently damp or wet. Mold infested walls are thus most vulnerable to further mold growth, even when there is no external water infusion.
Mold growth indoors may or may not manifest itself through one of the signs listed above. If it doesn’t, there are some passive signs that one inspect to arrive at a conclusion. These health symptoms, despite not being explicitly indicative of mold growth, warrant swift and immediate remediation. An indoor mold colony can release billions of mold spores every day. The commonest way in which these spores affect human health is through respiratory problems. People who are already suffering from lung diseases, have sensitive respiration, allergies or lower immunity are the ones to get affected first. Symptoms range from mild headaches and nausea to severe nasal and lung infections. If there is suspicion of mold growth and any member of the household exhibits above mentioned symptoms, mold growth is quite likely to be present. Upon having confirmed the presence of mold, irrespective of the state or scale of infestation, necessary corrective and preventive measures need to be taken so as to ensure the safety of inhabitants and the building itself.
There are estimated to be millions of species of fungi – a large number of which is made up by molds. These various mold species differ from one another in aspects like life span and favorable growth conditions. However, there are a handful of mold species that particularly thrive in indoor environment. They are found in plenty all over the globe. Some of them are outlined below.
Cladosporium are found in abundance all over the world. They are most commonly found in rotting plant matter and wooden materials. Bringing in fruits, vegetables that have already been infected by Cladosporium allows Cladosporium spores to enter the indoor environment. Unlike other mold species, Cladosporium can thrive in less humid environments. Surfaces that are cooler than the surroundings often attract Cladosporium growth.
Perhaps the most celebrated kind of molds, Penicillium genus family specializes in the decay of damp organic matter and high-nitrogen animal waste. Wallpapers, newspaper stashes, abandoned clothes, damp mattresses, carpets and furniture cushions are some of the most commonly affected areas. Penicillium molds are much quicker to establish and reproduce than other mold species. Select few members of this family are used in the synthesis of penicillin – an antibacterial drug.
Alternaria form the most tenacious genus of mold family. They can virtually grow anywhere, provided that there’s a shred of organic matter to feed on. They are also the prime motivators of allergy related health hazards that often derive themselves from indoor molds. Despite primarily being an outdoor species, they are often known to thrive indoors in extreme wet conditions – on wet bathroom floors, leaking pipes and perpetually damp rooflines.
Aspergillus species of mold are usually found in indoor environments where high humidity periods and low humidity periods tend to alternate. They can establish a colony within 24 hours of germination and tend to grow at rapid rates. They are known to trigger a number of respiratory conditions and allergies among the inhabitants of a house that is affected. Molds are classified among four classes relating their potential to cause health hazards to humans.
Class A molds are often the ones that have a potential to elevate the mold spores count in a closed indoor environment in a short span of time. They are also known to produce toxins as by-products of decomposition processes. These are regarded as highly unwanted in the presence of humans and require express remedial actions.
Class B molds are known to cause health hazards only upon prolonged exposures. These hazards are often limited to allergic reactions and are temporary.
Pink (in streaks, dots, sun-burst or random patterns) Fusarium and/or Gibberella A Can produce toxins that, upon ingestion, can affect livers, kidneys and stomach lining; along with causing serious birth defects and unusually rapid weight loss.
Black (fibrous, smooth and slimy) Aspergillus A Less toxic than Fusarium. Can cause mild nausea, vomiting or flu-like symptoms upon ingestion. Inhalation is mostly risk-free.
White (dotted with black) Diplodia C Often found in dairy products, these molds are not known to create toxins.
Mineral blue/sea-blue/white Penicillium B Not known to produce toxins. They are, in fact, used in many medicines and dairy products. Capable of causing temporary allergies.
Brown and/or black Alternaria B Not known to create toxins. However, they are widely held responsible for respiratory allergies and conditions.
If the mold infestation is around leaking pipes or stagnant water (including wet flooring and basement flooding), the first clean-up step should be to fix leakages. Professional plumbing assistance should be sought to avoid the recurrence of molds in the future.
If the mold infestation is on and around the walls or ceiling, the likeliest cause of excess moisture is water seepage from the roof. By seepage proofing the roof, mold outbreak can be significantly reduced.
Another cause of excess moisture indoors is poor ventilation or malfunctioning HVAC system. Letting fresh air in and stale air out can easily stabilise the indoor humidity. If humidifiers are used to maintain humidity indoors, it needs to be checked if they are properly functioning. However, if any of the occupants of the house/building suffer from dry skin problems or other dermic ailments associated with dry air, proper medical advice should be sought before lowering indoor humidity levels below 45%.
If the mold has infiltrated porous surfaces like rugs, carpets or furniture cushions, it is best advised to get rid of the materials altogether as mold spores tend to stay dormant inside the pores and future infestation is a strong possibility in such cases.
Some of the commonest methods of mold removal and remediation are described in brief below. Ø Detergent Wipes This is, by far, the simplest and quickest method of removing mold. It is particularly useful when mold infestation is still in its early stages, and the affected surfaces are washable. The implementation is quite easy. A cotton washcloth soaked in detergent grade soap (either home or industrial) or bleach is usually used to gently wipe away the mold from affected surface (walls, wooden furniture, sink, flooring etc.). Once the surface is rid of mold, it is again wiped gently with a fresh cotton washcloth soaked in a disinfectant. Lastly, another is used to wipe the surface clean with mineral/saline water. Even though this method is easy, it doesn’t always guarantee the best results. Furthermore, special care needs to be taken to ensure that the wiped surface is dried off thoroughly and further dampening is prevented by employing relevant measures. Ø Wet Vacuuming This method is employed when there is relatively larger accumulation of mold and the affected areas are considerably wet – sometimes fully waterlogged. Wet vacuum cleaners are specially designed vacuum cleaners that can be used to dry of indoor waterlogged areas. The functionality of wet vacuum cleaners is based on the simple vacuum suction principles and they are much stronger in action that regular vacuum cleaners. If the surface is not adequately wet, application of wet vacuum cleaners is not advised, as it is likely to deform the affected surface by way of pore exhaustion. In the process, the wet vacuum cleaner can also get damaged. The hose of a wet vacuum cleaner is immersed in the body of logged water to suction it all into the collection chamber. Once the majority of water is thus removed, corrective actions (such as fixing leakage or repair of wall cracks) is undertaken. Once the repair work is over, leftover moisture is allowed to dry off naturally. The detergent wipe method described earlier is also, at times, used to complement this process. Wet vacuum cleaners need to be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected after the application, as they are most likely to carry and mold spores all over. Ø Industrial Vacuum Industrial vacuum cleaners are used only when mold infestation is of a high degree and a regular vacuum cleaner cannot handle excess of micro-particles (dust and mold spores). Industrial vacuums are also known as High Efficiency Particulate Air Vacuums (HEPA). This process is seldom used in isolation. One or more other processes are always used to complement HEPA Vacuums. HEPA Vacuums are especially useful to clean up the affected area and its surroundings after the initial and major removal of mold is carried out. HEPA Vacuums are extremely powerful and are to be used only by trained experts, as physical injuries by improper handling of HEPA Vacuums can be quite serious. It is also to be made sure that proper filters (usually micron filters) are used to filter out suctioned air. This prevents mold spores from re-entering the indoor environment. Donning suitable gear (details to follow) is essential while handling HEPA Vacuums. Ø Using Chemicals Most people resort to chemical methods of mold removal without proper consultation with experts. It must always be remembered that extreme methods that involve chemicals are warranted in residential buildings only when there is a sudden outbreak of mold that threatens the lifestyle and health of the residents with immediate effect. Moreover, the use of chemical methods to remove mold from indoors should be employed as the last resort. Just like in other methods of mold clean-up, chemical methods must be preceded and succeeded by complementary corrective measures that address the root causes of mold infestation. It’s highly improbable to sterilize an area completely. It should also be taken into account that once the sterilization effect wears off, mold spores can quickly regain their footing if moisture or temperature issues have not already been taken care of. Biocides – the chemicals that are used to kill unwanted organisms – range from insecticides to pesticides. To exterminate mold colonies, agricultural grade fungicides are used. These chemicals are toxic for all organisms, including humans and domestic animals, in varying degrees. Hence, while using fungicides as mold removal chemicals, adequate care must be taken to keep the whole building properly ventilated. Direct inhalation or ingestion of fungicides should strictly be avoided. The application of fungicides should be kept limited to surface levels that are affected. Only trained pest control professionals should be entrusted with the use of fungicides and other chemicals. Cautionary Note: Fungicides should never be handled without prior experience and proper training. Mixing of two fungicides/biocides should never be carried out unless advised by a qualified expert. Immediate medical assistance should be sought in case of accidental inhalation, ingestion or contact with fungicides. Always heed the product labels before using. It is a cognizable offence and a breach of Federal Health and Safety Laws (Indoors and Outdoors) to use any kind of chemical product in a way that’s not consistent with its motive of synthesis. Ø Disposal of Mold Once the dead mass of mold is collected using any one (or a combination thereof) of the methods listed above, the next thing to ensure that it is properly disposed of. Dead mold mass is not ordinary solid waste. It is often classified as hazardous bio-waste and hence, it cannot just be dumped in a bin. Dead mold mass – and all the debris, dust and affected materials that are being discarded – should be separately collected in special non-permeable polyethylene bags. These bags are then to be labelled as hazardous to avoid accidental release of mold spores in the environment. If mold mass is larger in size and chunky in nature, it needs to be collected together and wrapped in several layers of polyethylene sheets. These sheets can then be safely placed inside non-permeable polyethylene bags and then disposed of.
Small sized isolated areas that have been affected by mold are relatively easier to deal with. These include small patches on walls, ceilings or flooring.
As long as the affected area is equal to or lesser than 10 sq. ft., regular maintenance team of the building is authorized and expected to carry out the task of mold removal – provided that at least 2 members of the team are duly trained in health and safety at residential places. They need to be well adept in the use of protective gears and proper management of relevant equipment under the concerned OSHA standards.
Regarding the use of protective gear, OSHA guidelines that dictate the same are to be strictly followed.
Everyone except the maintenance staff is expected to stay away from the affected area while the mold removal operation is ongoing. It’s not quite necessary to evacuate adjacent rooms, but susceptible individuals should be asked to stay away from the site of operation. This set includes infants, chronically ill patients, convalescents, and people with compromised immunity and other respiratory conditions.
Affected areas should be thoroughly cleaned with simple soap solution and washcloth, post operation. It should, if the need be, displayed with a sign to indicate its wet status.
Areas ranging from 10 to 30 sq. ft. are often regarded as moderately sized isolated areas. These areas require somewhat more intense servicing than small sized isolated areas.
Duly trained members of the regular maintenance staff of the building can carry out mold removal operations for mid-sized areas.
Evacuation of the entire building is not necessary. However, all the inhabitants near the affected area should preferably be evacuated, with special emphasis on infants, chronically ill patients, convalescents, and people with compromised immunity and other respiratory conditions.
Prior to the commencement of mold removal operations in areas of this size, all the other surfaces nearby (walls, furniture, carpet etc.) should be covered with regular plastic sheets (to be disposed of later).
There are many commercially viable techniques available to suppress the rousing of dust and other finer particles. These methods (misting, gelling, to name a few) should be used to minimize the contamination of indoor air that is anticipated in the process of mold removal.
Heavily affected materials or objects (especially porous surfaces) that cannot be cleaned should be disposed of in a way described before the operation begins.
Once the active operation is over, entire area should be allowed to dry off. Using industrial vacuums to clean off all the surfaces is generally recommended by experts as a method of reducing the peaked count of airborne mold spores.
Areas measuring over 30 sq. ft. are generally classified as large sized in terms of environmental maintenance. If a large sized area is infested by mold, it is strictly advised that only professionals who are trained and experienced in handling bio-hazardous materials/chemical and microbial treatments should be entrusted with the task.
All susceptible people (as defined earlier) should be asked to stay away from the site of operation for the duration of operation. Clearly visible signs warning non-members of the maintenance team to stay away from the site of operation should be displayed.
Large sized areas often cause a lot of infection to adjacent areas. In fact that’s how small sized areas turn into large sized affected areas. Hence, while treating large sized areas for mold infestations, every care should be taken not to get adjacent areas affected by way of contamination. Polyethylene sheets can be used to sheath the adjacent surfaces so that newly released mold spores or other contaminated debris doesn’t come into direct contact with these surfaces.
Another important thing to consider is to shut off all the ways in which contaminated debris or mold spores could get disbursed in the adjacent areas/rooms of the building. This includes temporarily sealing off vents, ducts, air conditioners and exhaust fans.
The use of professional and industrial methods to prevent the rousing of contaminated debris/dust/mold spores is a must in such operations. Misting and gelling are two examples of such methods.
It must be ensured that the whole area under operation is cordoned off prior and post operation for at least 3 hours. During this time, use of industrial vacuums is recommended to clean up the operation site and make it safe for human occupation again.
All the collected material including dead mold mass and other contaminated debris should be disposed of in a manner explained earlier in this section.
Acute infestation of mold typically occurs in areas that have been either abandoned or not frequented by people.
Acute infestation is generally spread over large areas. It is fundamentally different than regular mold infestation in that areas of acute infestation can potentially be dangerous for the very structure of a building.
Acute infestation manifests itself in thick continuous bedding of mold. Some professionals refer to as a mold farm.
Operations at such acutely infested sites should not be undertaken by non-professionals. Health and safety audit of the building needs to be carried out at least 24 hours before the commencement of the operation.
Duly qualified, trained and experienced bio-hazard technicians and microbial environment specialists must make for a part of the team that conducts the operation.
Other procedures for such operations are similar to the ones applicable for large sized isolated areas.
Operations in acutely infested sites usually tend to generate considerable volumes of contaminated debris. This is because abrasive plans of action (friction, scaling, de-plastering or polishing) are often warranted in such operations.
Hence, it is best advised to completely evacuate the adjacent areas to minimize the probability of accidental inhalation of mold spores or other infected fine particles by non-protected individuals.
Area (sq. ft.) Who should undertake the clean-up operation? Is evacuation of adjacent areas necessary?
Cleaning up mold colonies is not a task that comes without its own perils. To begin with, it must be conceded that the concentration of mold spores just around and over the surface of mold colonies is, quite predictably, extremely high. This means that using personal protective gear while cleaning up mold from indoors – irrespective of the size of the infestation – is highly recommended. Mold colonies tend to have a considerable aggregation of by-products and in some cases, even toxins. Hence, handling the clean-up procedure with utmost care in order not to come directly in contact with mold is important. This becomes an even more pressing issue when the procedure being opted for mold removal involves one or more destructive/invasive/intrusive techniques. These typically include de-plastering, creating and exploring wall cavities, friction, scrubbing and scraping. During these activities, a bulk of contaminated debris is generated and often, left airborne. Therefore, such procedures should be undertaken only by experienced professionals. The summary of what one should wear while cleaning up mold is presented below.
Skin is most likely to come in a direct contact with mold itself, or other contaminated debris like affected materials and dust. That’s why, having adequate skin protection before commencing a mold clean up activity is the best course of action. Long chemical grade gloves that extend up to forearms are known to provide easy handling experience. These gloves and non-porous. If the operator has any kind of allergies relating to latex or chemical grade rubber, special lightweight polyethylene gloves can be used. However, these are more tenuous than rubber gloves, and hence, need to be used gently. To keep the rest of the body from coming in a direct contact with contaminated debris or mold, disposable overalls (chemical grade) can be used. These overalls are worn as an additional layer of clothing over the regular layers. These are to be disposed of along with the collected debris and mold, as described earlier. Regular shoes that leave no skin exposed to air will suffice in most cases.
Most professionals have experienced that while performing mold cleaning operations, exposing one’s hair to mold spores and other contaminated debris can be very risky. Human hair has elevated adsorptive properties, especially when oil or other hair products are applied. This means that human hair is a great platform for dust and other finer particles to get settled on. This is also one of the primary causes of scalp related problems and dermatitis. That’s why, exposing one’s hair to mold spores is nothing short of inviting these pathogens to get hosted. Covering hair while performing mold clean-up operations, thus, should be deemed mandatory, and not just necessary. There are many ways to protect hair from contaminated debris and mold spores. The most common way is using latex headgear (if not already using the respiratory hood). Simple and easily available resources like swimming caps or construction hats (also called miner’s hats) can preclude the possibility of mold spores settling in hair. When dealing with acute mold infestations, it is recommended that two or three layers of protective headgear should be worn, while making sure that movability or functionality of the operator is not compromised.
Eyes are widely considered to be the most fragile organs of human anatomy. They are not only delicate in nature physically, they are also quite susceptible to foreign body attacks – including dust, debris and bacteria. That’s why, to look after one’s eyes while undertaking potentially dangerous operations like mold cleaning is of paramount importance. Irrespective of the scale of operation and the size of mold colonies, it is highly recommended that all operators, supervisors and inspectors – including people in the workplace – wear protective eye gear. Safety goggles that are used in chemical laboratories or construction sites suffice in most cases. These goggles are without ventilation holes and typically encompass the whole eyesight, leaving no room for dust or other particles to enter eyes. People with acute eyesight problems or permanent visibility impairments should not be allowed to undertake operations, keeping in mind the safety of their own and other personnel on site.
Another common way for personnel to get affected by airborne mold spores and other contaminated debris is by way of inhalation or accidental ingestion (on a micro level). The fact of the matter is, mold is known to be most harmful to human body when spores are inhaled or ingested. There are many diseases and allergens (to be discussed soon) that can be triggered by the intake of mold spores in a human body. According to the OSHA guidelines regarding general maintenance and clean-up, including bio-hazardous operations, use of respirators on site by every present individual is mandatory. Not using respirators is often considered to be grossly irresponsible and dangerous work practice during such operations. It should also be made sure that the respirators used are technically equipped to block the passage of micro-particles, as mold spores generally are classified in this category. All respirators used on site should be procured directly from the NIOSH website. If that’s not possible, efforts should be made to use other NIOSH certified respirators. There are many types of bio-immune respirators available. Most of these generally hold good for mold clean-up operations. Some of these are discussed in brief below.
Partial respirators are also known as half face respirators. These form the most common and most rudimentary class of workplace respirators. They don’t cover the full face of the wearer while ensuring that no fine particles are inhaled. Partial respirators can be used for small sized or moderately sized isolated mold infestation clean-up operations (less than 30 sq. ft.).
Full sized respirators are sometimes referred to as full face masks or full face respirators. As the name suggests, full sized respirators cover the full face of the wearer, thus eliminating the necessity for wearing protective goggles. These are to be used in mold clean-up operation on a larger scale (more than 30 sq. ft.).
N-95 masks are respirators designed to obstruct the inhalation of about 95% of airborne particles. These are typically used at construction sites and in mining operations. For mold clean-up activities of small or moderate scale, N-95 masks are a good fit.
These are just like N-95 masks, only more selective and more efficient. They are known to block about 99% of all airborne particles, including mold spores. These can be used in place of N-95 masks if additional respiratory protection is desired.
N-100 Masks are the most efficient respirators available in the market. They can block out the possibility of inhalation of almost all airborne particles and mold spores (up to 99.97%, in test conditions). They can be used in during almost every mold clean-up operation.
Every personnel on-site (regardless of their participation in the operation) should dispose of the disposable protective gear in a fashion described earlier.
All non-disposable protective gear should be disinfected duly, at least twice. Use of saline water along with a chemical disinfectant (alcohol based, or otherwise) is recommended.
All personnel should take a thorough wash (preferably a shower) and clean themselves with a mild disinfectant soap or an anti-bacterial body gel.
The site of operation should be left undisturbed for at least two hours, or until it is fully dry again.
Although it’s often left to guesswork, ensuring that a mold clean-up operation has been successful is one of the most essential steps in making a place mold free. There are certain benchmarks with which one can assert with confidence that a particular mold clean-up operation has been completed successfully.
Upon immediate completion of the operation, there should be no signs of visible mold at the site of operation. Persistent mold colonies tend to re-attach the previous sites of infestation due to inefficient or non-thorough removal of mold colonies. Hence, all such colonies should be thoroughly exterminated by the end of a clean-up operation.
Within a few hours of the completion of the operation, there should be no leftover mold odor present at the site of operation. If there is a hint of mold odor present, it could well mean that the operation hasn’t managed to get rid of all of infestation.
At least 3 weekly and 3 monthly on-site inspections are recommended by qualified maintenance professionals after the completion of a mold clean-up operation. These inspections should assess the state of moisture at the site of operation and if there is any new mold growth present.
If the residents/occupants of the building are satisfied with the operation and there have been no unusual health concerns, it is a good enough sign to state the mold clean-up operation has been successful. This should be regarded as a rule of thumb as no guidelines or instructions regarding this have been issued by OSHA or NIOSH.
In a majority of households, people come across mold in one form or another, at various scale and in various places. Granted that mold renders the looks of a building ungainly, it is often persistent and what’s even worse, it poses health concerns for the people who reside in the building; it’s not always necessary to panic and seek the help of professionals. Minor mold infestations (the ones that typically appear suddenly and in very small patches) can be treated if necessary caution in maintaining one’s own safety is taken.
The most difficult and challenging part of getting a building rid of mold infestation is to actually be able to locate the affected sites. Mold doesn’t necessarily grow on the outer and visible surfaces. It is more common for mold to settle and reproduce in places of least human contact – the places that are not easily accessible. These include nooks, crannies and those dark place in the attic, garage or kitchen. Since moisture is the basic need for life of mold, mold is often found in and around wash-pipes, drainage pipes and places that tend to collect water. Since locating mold colonies visually is not an option in such cases, one must rely on their olfactory senses to confirm the presence of mold. Damp, unpleasant and musty odor accompanies most species of molds.
All of these points will be discussed in more details in latter parts of this article.
Natural or semi-natural fabrics including cotton, silk, wool and hemp form an easy target for mold. They are highly organic and often wet for a long time (from washing or other reasons). Once a piece of garment made from such natural fibres catches mold infestations, its life of utility is as good as over. That piece of garment can and should not be used again. Discarding is the best option for mold infested clothing and other garments. Curtains, carpets and mattresses also tend to catch mold because of occasional collection of moisture or seepage (from damp walls, accidental spillage of liquids or high indoor humidity). In such cases, mold colonies can be expected to be present on the surface as well as inside such objects. Mattresses are often ‘eaten’ by mold from the inside if it is left undetected. Again, in such cases, the only viable and feasible option is to discard these affected objects safely. Another frequent host for mold in every household is sponge. Sponges are used for a variety of purposes – from body scrubs to car wipes. The very ability – to soak water – that makes sponges useful also helps mold grow on it. Most sponges, if not properly wind dried or sun dried, will host mold colonies that not only make the sponge useless, they can also spread in the other areas of the building through the mold spores that they emit every hour. Hence, affected sponges should be discarded readily, and drying a sponge after using should be made a habit. Household Hacks for Mold Clean-up If the extent of mold infestation is relatively smaller and manageable, simple household remedies can help you to get it all cleaned up to a good degree to professionalism, without actually hiring professionals. Four such simple and DIY (Do it yourself) household remedies for small and occasional outbreaks of indoor mold are discussed below. Please note that mold clean-up activities – irrespective of their scale and the size of mold infestation – should never be undertaken by minors, people with sensitive respiratory allergies, asthma, bronchitis, weak or impaired immune system or any other condition that can be worsened by inhalation of mold spores.
Tea is one of the most consumed beverages in the world, especially in the orient. It also happens to be the oldest natural beverage recorded in the written history – older than beer, wine and coffee! But uses of tea are not just limited to getting your mornings together or shooing away common cold. Tea tree oil – extracted from the barks and stems of tea plants – is an exceptionally potent fungicide that has very little effect on organisms of larger size (including humans). So, in a way, it provides a targeted drug delivery system that only works against fungi (i.e. mold) without causing any major side effects (at that concentration). Tea tree oil has a distinct aroma that can be identified with blended tea leaves. This aroma itself should be a strong enough reason to use tea tree oil for skin treatment and other household cleaning purposes. If you spot a small colony of mold indoors, here’s how tea tree oil can help you get rid of it in as few as 24 hours. Considering that tea tree oil is not available easily and it’s rather expensive, it is often used in diluted doses. A 1:1 dilution is known to work to a satisfactory degree of potency. The best part is that this mixture doesn’t go bad even after one year of shelf life. So, it can be pretty cost effective in the long run of things.
Mix a cup of tap water and a cup of tea tree oil together.
Pour the resultant (immiscible) mixture in a spray bottle.
Shake it vigorously to temporarily emulsify the mixture.
Then spray it generously over the spotted infestation of mold.
If you don’t see results in 24 hours, repeat the procedure for two more days. If the mold colony is still persistent, you may need to seek professional help.
Another simple way to get rid of common indoor mold (on a small scale) is to use clove and pepper oil. The method is quite similar to the one explained above (for tea tree oil). However, unlike tea tree oil, clove and pepper oil isn’t easily procurable. That’s why, you might want to prepare it at home. The preparation involves blending a handful of cloves and about half a cup of black pepper thoroughly. You can either use regular cooking oil or coconut oil to gel the paste together. Once you have a runny paste ready, mix it with water in 1:1 proportion. Unlike tea tree oil, this mixture will be mostly miscible. Pour it into a spray bottle and spray it over the mold colony. It must be remember at this point that clove and pepper oil has a very powerful aroma that can last for hours after the application. People with sensitive noses – especially children – should not allowed near the site of infestation as they can develop temporary cases of sinus or nasal inflammation as a result of accidental inhalation of pepper and clove.
Grapefruit seed pulp/extract is more easily available than clove and pepper oil. You can either use the commercially available grapefruit seed pulp or you can easily prepare it yourself. Grapefruit seeds have been used for centuries as oral medicines for stomach and bowel infections. These very fungicidal properties, mild but effective in nature, can be used to get rid of indoor mold infestation. Grapefruit seed extract is mixed with small quantities of water to prepare a thin solution. This solution is the poured into a spray bottle and spread over the mold colonies repeatedly, for 2 to 3 days in a row. Most kinds of domestic mold that has not spread into large colonies can be exterminated and contained using this method.
Vinegar is a very potent biocide, if used properly and in high concentrations. Household vinegar is a diluted aqueous solution of acetic acid. Acetic acid itself is a weak acid in nature. To control minor outbreaks of indoor mold, household vinegar can be a very effective solution. It can either be sprayed directly over the mold colonies or it can be gently smeared over the surface using a cotton washcloth. The latter method is only to be used when mold colonies are very small in size and scattered.
Who Should Do Mold Clean-Up?
Mold clean-up should never be undertaken by individuals with weak immune system/impaired immunity as a result of diseases like HIV AIDS or cancer.
People with sensitive health should not be allowed to clean-up the mold.
Individuals who have a recorded and known history of respiratory ailments and/or allergies should not be allowed to undertake mold clean-up operations.
Children and elderly should not be allowed to undertake mold clean-up operations as they are most susceptible to forming new allergies as a result of accidental inhalation of mold spores.
Individuals with any kind of skin condition including allergy spurts like dermatitis should refrain from cleaning up indoor mold.
If the mold outbreak indoors is considerable, professional assistance should be sought. Areas covering more than 10 sq. ft. infested with reasonably thick mold colonies often require professional treatment and cannot be contained with household remedies. There are many professional services extending household and business mold removal assistance available throughout the US. Before hiring any of these services, it should be made sure that the service provider has a good deal of experience in handling various kinds of indoor mold, without disrupting the lives of the occupants of the building. It should also be ascertained that all the procedures involved in the mold clean-up operation are in perfect compliance with the guidelines set up by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) or the EPA. To fix problems regarding ventilation, plumbing and sanitization pre and post operations, concerned professionals should be consulted with. Since moisture and stale air directly contribute to the growth of mold indoors, services from experienced and competent professionals in plumbing, HVAC repair and construction should be sought.
How Much Does Mold Testing or Removal Cost?
Places of infestation – walls, ceilings, bathrooms, outer surfaces, kitchen etc.
There are many Do It Yourself (DIY) kits available for mold inspection. These kits are quite handy to deal with small scale mold outbreaks that occur in most of the households around the country. They are easily procurable from the open market and typically cost anywhere between $10 and $150. Contingent on the prices, these kits include a number of accessories to test and inspect the indoor mold. With some kits, sophisticated laboratory procedures such as petri dish culture assessments are available. Using these methods, you can scrape a small sample of mold from house and place it in the given petri dish loaded with organic matter. Depending upon whether mold grows or not, and the color of petri dish colony, mold species can be easily identified. Once identified, it’s much easier to deal with them as you will have an exact idea of its potential to cause harm to health and well-being of the occupants of the building. If the mold colonies are persistent and widespread (more than 10 sq. ft., every professional service hired will cost you. Taken collectively, for an average sized home, a thorough inspection for mold and remediation (assuming the highest degree of infestation), the costs can rise from $250 to $600. There are many factors to be considered while arriving at the final cost. These are typically the techniques being used (HEPA alone, on its own, can add up to $300 to the final cost) and personnel it requires to carry out the operation on a given day. Intrusive, abrasive or destructive techniques like cavity inspections for walls and flooring may further increase the final costs incurred to your as the homeowner. The same services will cost anywhere between $400 and $1200 for large sized houses (typically with carpet area upwards of 8,000 sq. ft.) and commercial/professional/business centers. Things to Remember while Hiring Professional Mold Remediation Services Here are a few things that must be checked before hiring a particular mold remediation service.
Service provider should have prior experience in handling, inspecting and exterminating most species of indoor mold.
Their services should include complete packages – from inspection to removal. If it’s difficult to find a contractor that offers both inspection and removal, it is recommended to split the operation between two different service providers.
They should be able to certify that your household or business center has been inspected and treated for mold inspection as per the norms set up by your local state offices.
They should be able to carry out destructive testing and remediation if need be.
They should be certified by due agencies (both federal and state) to carry out bio-hazardous operations in areas of human occupation. The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) is one of the premier certification program for such professionals. Certifications from the IICRC speak highly of the contractor’s competence.
They should perform all the operations in stringent compliance with guidelines set up by the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
How do Molds Affect You?
It is an undisputed fact that molds have a potential to affect the lives of people that they come in contact with. This impact can be varied. It ranges from the shabby looks that they render the building to weakening the structural integrity of the building itself and from causing mild allergies to extreme discomfort that follows through respiratory ailments and in rare cases, these impacts can be fatal in the long term. The effect that mold can have on different individuals is different. It all basically boils down to the state of the health of the individual in question. Those who have compromised immune systems are most likely to get affected by the presence of mold in house and mold spores in the indoor environment. There’s no way to tell if an individual will get affected in a certain way by a certain species of mold because molds, on their own, have very restricted damage potential. The real impact they have on humans is through conditions they help trigger – either through their physical being (allergens) or through their chemical emissions (by products, toxins and proteins). Misdiagnosis of mold related ailments and physical discomforts is quite common throughout the world. Most medical practitioners do not consider indoor air as the primary source of pathogens and prioritize the diagnosis based on more pressing fronts. This invariably results in delayed diagnosis and hence, delayed treatment. A simple mold allergy, thus, can result into something that would need to be treated like a major disease – wasting the patient’s time, energy, money and peace of mind; not to mention compromising their health.
Individuals with weak immunity, as stated earlier, are the easiest of targets for molds. Such individuals form a perfect host for the pathogenic traits of various domestic molds, thus allowing them to make temporary settlements in their own bodies. The commonest way for molds to manifest their impact in such individuals is through symptoms like wheezing, coughing and persistent cold. These symptoms, admittedly, do not readily lead their way towards a correct diagnosis and hence, mold can get enough time to extend the damage. It can range from simple cough that naturally wanes and disappears as the personal immune systems fights the actions of mold spores inhaled or ingested. When this fails, typically in people with chronic cases of asthma, other pulmonary ailments and weakened or impaired immunity arising from natural deficiencies or other diseases like cancer and AIDS. Usual treatments for such major diseases involve chemotherapy, phototherapy, radiotherapy, transplants, infusions and heavy drugs – all of which factors contribute to the debilitation of patients’ immunity. Young children and elderly are also at the highest risk of these infections as their immune systems are yet to develop or naturally weakened, respectively. Mold can not only create discomfort through such symptoms, it can also worsen the already present diseases. For example, chronic patients of asthma, when exposed to high concentrations of airborne mold spores, were found to suffer from heightened and more regular asthma attacks that, in some unfortunate cases, grew to be chronic. Similarly, in many cases, mold inhalation is the prime reason for the development of allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis. Even though ABA in itself isn’t potent enough to cause long term damage to the patient’s lungs, it can certainly cause extreme discomfort for the period of affectation. More importantly, ABA further damages the immune system, leaving the patient vulnerable to the attacks from other viruses and pathogens.
It is through allergies that molds make known their presence and their impact on one’s health. These allergies are difficult to trace back to mold unless the mold colonies indoor are distinctly visible or easily detectable. They can range from irritation to inflammation. Commonly affected parts of a human body are eyes, skin, scalp and respiratory system. Eyes and skin can be affected by way of allergies that can either be temporary or persistent. Temporary allergic reactions like swelling of the eyelids, watery eyes, itchy eyes, red eyes, painful eyes, rashes on the skin , scratchy skin and substantial increase in scalp problems (dandruff, for example) are quite frequently observed throughout the world, wherever there is high concentration of airborne mold spores indoors. More serious reactions may include excessive bloating of skin, widespread rashes that don’t wane on their own within 24 hours of appearance. Other common health concerns associated with indoor molds are all related to the respiratory system. There is always some concentration of airborne mold spores in every environment, irrespective of whether it’s indoors or outdoors. This concentration, however, peaks substantially if there is a presence of indoor mold colonies. These colonies release millions of mold spores in the indoor environment every day. Inhalation of these spores doesn’t remain, in such cases, an accident – it becomes a foregone conclusion. Inhaling mold spores can trigger all sorts of allergic reactions in one’s respiratory system. Coughing is the most profound reaction caused. Depending upon the intake of mold spores by an individual, the seriousness of cough related symptoms does vary. In healthy individuals, such cough symptoms reduce and disappear all within 24 hours. In other cases, these symptoms tend to be more persistent and cannot be dealt without medical attention. Sneezing is the instant reaction of human body to inhalation of fine particles. Hence, inhaling a large dose of mold spores from an indoor environment can cause sudden and continuous bursts of sneezes among sensitive or allergy prone individuals. These outbreaks of sneezes tend to wane and disappear as the concerned individual moves to an environment with significantly lower concentration of airborne mold spores and other fine particles. Along with coughing and sneezing, inhalation of mold spores also sometimes results into dry and parched throat. These symptoms are similar to any common flu symptoms. As mold spores are adsorbed on the inner surfaces of the throat, reflex actions cause consistent bouts of dry throat. On similar lines, inhalation of mold spores, in almost every case, results in a runny nose and itchy nasal cavities. Again, these symptoms resemble the common flu and cold symptoms starkly. For healthy individuals, most of these symptoms do tend to disappear following simple actions such as moving to another room, letting the stale air out and fresh air in or turning on the HVAC system. Even though household indoor environment cannot create enough sustenance for most species of molds, it is an entirely different case altogether when one is to discuss occupational mold hazards. Individuals who are continuously exposed to high concentrations of airborne molds for prolonged periods (typically in occupational environments like greenhouses, stables, farms, gardens, furniture companies, paper companies and warehouses) pose a high risk of developing hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP). Hypersensitivity pneumonitis is a form of respiratory disorder that often manifests itself through persistent bouts of vigorous coughs and a sudden shortness of breath. HP, for most people, tends to be acute and short lived. In this form, an individual can experience chest pain, deep cough and nausea. In some rare cases that result from decades of sustained exposure to mold spores, HP can be chronic and difficult to treat. It can even lead to permanent scarring of lungs and extreme reduction in the strength of lungs, as can be identified by shallow breathing cycles and difficulties in performing daily tasks like climbing up the stairs. In this form, HP resembles asthma quite keenly.
If not diagnosed and treated correctly, prolonged exposure to more airborne mold spores can lead to more serious outcomes. Many individuals who have been diagnosed with mold infection have complained about constant headaches that they mistook for hypertension or eyesight related problems – even migraines in some cases. Similarly, prolonged and continued exposure to airborne mold spores is known to trigger sudden nose bleeds and panic attacks that follow such instances. Since airborne mold spores primarily enter the body of the host through inhalation, respiratory tracts are affected first. Symptoms like difficulty in breathing, chest pain and throat pain are some of the symptoms of respiratory tract and/or lung infection due to mold spores. If mold spores are allowed to be hosted anywhere in the respiratory systems, there are high chances that, upon successful establishment, they will spread in other parts of the host’s body triggering symptoms like diarrhoea, vomiting and excessive sweating – all of which invariably result in severe dehydration and cramps. Another condition that follows such mold triggered dehydration is the feeling of nausea. Many patients suffering from mold infections complain about the feeling of sickness, nausea and constant fatigue that just cannot go away despite lengthy resting periods and intake of energy drinks or supplements. Mold infestation thus spread to the GI tract and gastric system as a whole can further create serious complications. Growth of mold inside intestines is often known to cause ailments like chronic indigestion, constipation, inflammatory bowel disorder (IBS) and loss of appetite. In other symptoms, sudden weight loss and hair loss is known to be linked indirectly to acute mold infection. Weight loss often follows dehydration and loss of appetite and is not known to be an isolated symptom. Hair loss is linked to scalp infection or scalp dermatitis. In some cases, neurological disorders have also resulted indirectly from habitual mold spores inhalation or ingestion. These include temporary short term memory losses and false pain alarms in the central nervous system. Swollen glands – especially in the upper half of the body – are also characteristics of prolonged exposure to airborne mold spores. Other symptoms that have been linked to such exposures, but not exclusively accepted or confirmed, include temporary sexual deficiencies and bladder infection. Persistent pain in joint, muscles and ligaments are also known to accompany severe mold infections.
Extremely complicated cases of mold infection arise from prolonged exposure to very (and uncommon) exposure to ultra-high concentrations of airborne mold spores. Such cases are quite uncommon and are a direct result of lack of hygiene and maintenance at the workplaces and households. If left untreated for a period of days, many species of household molds can easily penetrate beyond the immune system of a human body. What results is a breakdown of central immunity, leaving the body vulnerable to other diseases that further debilitate one’s health. Some particular species of indoor molds can produce high concentrations of toxins (mycotoxins) that are easily absorbed in the blood. High levels of these toxins in bloodstream can lead to long term (permanent) memory loss and/or paralysis. Cancer is also believed to be a direct result of such mycotoxins. Permanent injuries to lungs, called pulmonary hemosiderosis, are also believe to result. Other assorted conditions that can be directly tracked back to prolonged and acute exposure unusually high levels of mold spores include various gastrointestinal diseases, cardiac conditions development and deterioration, complications during pregnancy and even brain damage, in the rarest of rare cases.
Many experts believe that mold exposure symptoms and diseases are quite routinely misdiagnosed in the United States. According to the National Treatment Centers for Environmental Diseases (NTCED) and Mayo Clinic, there are roughly 55 to 60 million Americans who regularly suffer from sinusitis caused directly or indirectly by indoor mold. What’s more interesting is that almost all of these patients (96%, to take help from the numbers published by the NTCED) are diagnosed wrongly by medical practitioners. The fact of the matter is that misdiagnosis can not only delay the prognosis, it invariably delays the right treatment – in a way stripping the patients of their fundamental right to being in a good health. Here are some of the commonest misdiagnoses for mold related sicknesses.
When a patient complains of sudden shortness of breath and a general difficulty in breathing, many medical practitioners tend to probe him/her for asthma or some other emphysema family disease. It would serve the purpose well to know what asthma really is. Asthma is an exclusively respiratory syndrome in which affected individuals’ lung capacity is greatly compromised by way of sudden compression of spastic airways. The exact reason for this condition to get triggered is, even after decades of research, is still not discovered in precisions. Many scholars believe that asthma is triggered by a number of fine particles – mold spores being among them. However, even though mold infection can trigger asthma, the original microbial infection would still warrant extra treatment, which is, quite commonly not extended to the patients. This can result into prolonged stay of molds inside the respiratory system of the patients, further complicating the road to the restoration of health.
Most mold species can trigger regular or irregular sinus problems among the residents of the building. Quite too many times, the underlying reasons behind frequent sinusitis outbreaks aren’t fathomed. Most medical practitioners, in such cases, diagnose that such individuals are suffering from chronic sinusitis. Chronic sinusitis is not an alarming diagnosis in its own right. In fact, close to 30 million American citizens are estimated to be suffering from chronic sinusitis – on an average one among ten adults in America. However, if misdiagnosed and mistreated for, chronic sinusitis can not only persist, it can get complicated, leading to other pulmonary and respiratory diseases like asthma.
Fibromyalgia, also known as fibrositis, is a disease of central nervous and muscle network ailment. It has been quite difficult for medical science to define the exact symptom or effect boundaries of fibromyalgia, because more than 40 different symptoms are known to be linked eventually to it. Some of these symptoms include insomnia, persistent joint and muscle pain, inability to focus, incessant fatigue, nausea, a common feeling of being ill, headaches, unpronounced dizziness, backaches and sudden tingling sensation in fingertips. Many of these symptoms also point towards ailments that can be easily ruled out or verified (e.g. vertigo and diabetes). However, persistence of these symptoms in isolation or collection usually makes medical practitioners to diagnose and treat the patient for fibromyalgia. Internal infections caused by many species of mold uncannily mirror more than half of these symptoms in unison. This results in misdiagnoses and mistreatments.
Bronchitis is another common pulmonary and respiratory disease that mold infection is often mistaken for. Bronchitis can be triggered by fine particles like dust, smog or pollens. It results into temporary but recurring disintegration and/or inflammation of airways and lung lining symptomized by wheezing, shortness of breath, sudden chills or fever, hacked coughing and sneezing. Most individuals exhibit these symptoms upon getting infected by excess airborne mold spores, as well.
If you are sensitive to fine particles and already suffer from respiratory or pulmonary allergies, you will be at the highest risk of developing more lasting and persistent forms of these allergies because of exposure to high concentration of airborne mold. However, there are a few simple ways with which one can limit their exposure to mold and other allergens. A few lifestyle changes and a few precautionary steps are all it takes to virtually shield yourself from mold related allergies and a level of discomfort that follows.
Indoor concentration of airborne mold spores can increase only in two scenarios. The first involves growth of already established mold colonies indoors while the second involves natural increase in airborne mold spore outdoors. Regular and times inspections by professional can preclude the possibility of indoor mold growth. Therefore, if one is to know when the airborne mold spore count increases outdoors, preventive measures can be adopted to make sure that these increased levels of airborne mold spores don’t infiltrate the indoor environment. The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI, under the National Allergy Bureau) provides regular and real time updates regarding variables in outdoor environment such as airborne mold count, pollen count, dust levels and smog levels. Keeping yourself updated with this information can be a very effective way of knowing when to be cautious.
Regardless of outdoor concentration of mold spores, there are places that always carry higher concentrations than the ordinary and predicted level. These are usually sites of business or occupation like greenhouses, farms, factories, food processing plants, leather processing units, animal husbandries and such. These places provide a very conducive breeding ground for most species of mold. They are usually damp from industrial processes, they carry huge amounts of decomposable organic matter and waste, and they are usually poorly ventilated and isolated from communities. If you are to visit such places, you need to ensure that you have adequate respiratory protection. You can use any of the respiratory masks or filters discussed in the earlier parts of this articles. Also, wearing clothes that keep you fully covered (overalls, full sleeved shirts, trousers, gummy boots and hats) can keep you well away from accidental inhalation of mold spores.
Alcoholic Beverages: Alcohol is basically a fermented liquid. By this definition, its roots can be easily traced back to fungi and bacteria. That’s why, it’s important to stay away from alcoholic beverages or at least consume them with in strict moderation, if you happen to be a sensitive individual toward molds and allergies.
Dairy Products: Dairy products usually contain a high number of bacteria and fungi species. Even though almost all of these species (found in fresh products) are innocuous (in some cases, even helpful) for human bodies, people with weakened immune system or high sensitivity towards mold infections should try to find alternatives to dairy products for daily consumption. Fermented dairy products or dairy associated products like sauerkraut, cheeses and yoghurts should especially be avoided.
Subterranean Fruits and Vegetables: Most people who are sensitive to mold infection are known to be allergic to subterranean fruits, vegetables and pulses. These include cabbages, radishes, groundnuts, potatoes and sweet potatoes. Similarly, high carbohydrate grains like corn and barley can also contain various mold species lodged onto them. However, since it’s impossible to not include all these foods in regular diet, it’s recommended that processed forms of these foods (such as pickled radishes or microwaved potatoes) should be preferred to raw forms. This will help you stay away from mold species without having to sacrifice a major portion of what makes regular American meals.
If you an allergy prone individual, it becomes very important you to keep track of any significant changes you make to your food, lifestyle, schedule or even clothes. Things that don’t seem quite important superficially do have the potential to trigger all sorts of mold related allergies. That’s why, even though it’s a difficult and limiting prospect, allergy prone individuals are best advised to note down their activities on a routine basis. The most difficult part in combating mold infections and other allergies is not the treatment itself but the diagnosis. In some cases, diagnosis can take far too long while in some cases it may never arrive. If that happens, treatment can be as good as guesswork. However, if the patient has a recorded history of their activities, it can be easier for medical professionals to narrow down the options they have, making the journey toward diagnosis much shorter and more accurate. You can simply note these down in your own diary or notes. There are many resources available online that can help you get started with this. Many smartphone apps have also been published for these purposes.
Treating mold sicknesses is a fairly straightforward practice that usually involves an antibiotic or a combination thereof to selective attack the resident mold species. However, the biggest roadblock is presented in the form of misdiagnoses, as discussed in details earlier. If not diagnosed correctly, mold infections can grow to be worse and further complicate the matters. Hence, a successful and quick diagnosis is the best way to move forward while dealing with mold infections and subsequent treatments. Mold infections have pretty vague symptoms that can overlap or mimic a number of other similar conditions. When faced with these symptoms, it becomes necessary to point out facts (like changed lifestyle, travels, new food, new house, new workplace etc.) to the medical practitioner you are seeking advice from. Some common methods undertaken by medical practitioners, allergists and general physicians all around the world to get an insight into the nature of infections and allergies are described below.
This is the most rudimentary way of reducing the number of possible causes that can be responsible for the allergy or infection. In logic, this is termed as the process of elimination. Using this logical procedure, it becomes simpler for the practitioners to arrive at correct a correct diagnosis. Physical and superficial examination of allergies frequently involves the appearances of symptoms. If the allergies are affecting the patient’s skin, the color of rashes, their patterns, severity, itchiness, dry/wet nature, spread, frequency, flakiness of the affected parts of the skin and depth of penetration of rash wounds are some of the signs that can lead to a correct diagnosis. If the allergies or infections are internal, they typically exhibit themselves through nasal secretions, mucus, sneezes, cough and wheezes. Understanding the nature of phlegm is an important part of such physical examinations. In other cases, when allergies affect eyes, the color of eyes, frequency of heightened redness, impact on eyelids, possibility of dermatitis and related conditions can be verified or ruled out using such superficial examinations. It should, however, be remembered that these physical examinations do not necessarily always point to the real reason behind allergies – they are just indicators of potential courses to be followed.
Skin testing is a common diagnostic and conjectural procedure followed by medical practitioners to assess the nature of skin allergies where molds can possibly be the culprit. Skin testing is to be performed by qualified medical authorities (practitioners or allergists) only in laboratory environment. Highly purified and less potent batch of assorted mold species is injected in the outer skin of a patient suffering from allergies or skin conditions. Once this is done, the injected mold species reside on the patient’s skin and within 24 hours, reactions by the skin to these species develop. These reactions are studied in order to compare their resemblance with the already present symptoms. This can help proceed with the diagnosis. Even though immensely helpful, this technique cannot be extensively performed at every medical center. Furthermore, availability of laboratory grade purified batched of all species of indoor mold is not quite common.
Blood testing is a more common route used by most medical practitioners and allergists to arrive at solid conclusions. Just like skin testing, blood testing involves an assessment of reactions caused by purified batches of various mold species. Collectively, these tests are also known as Memory Lymphocyte Immunostimulation Assay, or simply MELISA tests. These tests help one arrive at diagnoses regarding allergens, chemicals, fine particles and mold spores. Most domestic species of molds can be identified using MELISA tests. Unlike skin testing, blood testing can be conducted remoted. The patient doesn’t has to travel to the site of testing as blood can be extracted and sent to the nearest laboratories where MELISA testing facilities are available. However, skin test is more useful to measure the levels of infection, once the presence of mold is confirmed; whereas blood testing only tells if the patient has contracted mold infection or not. Somewhat similar to MELISA tests, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) tests can provide a great insight into the presence of all sorts of foreign bodies in the patient’s bloodstream. For ELISA tests to work, there has to be some presence of pathogens or toxins that affect the natural enzyme activity. Since molds often seem to alter the course of lipid activity and enzyme activity in human body, ELISA tests can be useful to identify a majority of common household indoor mold species. In an event where neither primary superficial testing nor blood testing using MELISA or ELISA tests present a conclusive evidence for a particular mold species, a more complex approach can be employed with the help of radioallergosorbent (RAST) testing. RAST tests are not used in regular courses of action as they are complex, expensive and resource intensive. Mold sickness treatment depends on a number of factors and in many cases it can be extremely patient specific if there’s no recorded precedent or reference. Hence, most medical practitioners and allergists are particularly careful about prescribing drugs for the treatment of mold. In healthy individuals, a majority of mold infections is cured naturally as the immune system combats the pathogens over time. However, if this doesn’t happen – because the mold species are tenacious or immune system is weak – external drugs in various forms and doses are indispensable. There are various schools of thought when it comes to treating mold related sicknesses. Alternative therapists believe that antibiotics make the mold species even stronger in the long run while allopathic treatment heavily relies on the use of antibiotics for instant relief from the discomforting symptoms along with quickened healing process. A few of these mainstream mold sickness treatments are discussed below.
The effectivity of CSM in mold sickness treatments has often been debated. However, despite not having any proven chemistry to support its functionality, CSM continues to be the most commonly prescribed anti mold infection drug simply because it works. When taken in smaller doses, CSM has no cognizable side effects on human health, even in cases of people with suppressed, weakened or compromised immune system.
Antihistamines are generic drugs used to combat mold and other fungal infections in human bodies. They are typically available over the counter in most states and are branded with various names by most of the leading pharmaceutical companies. Although antihistamines can act very rapidly (within a matter of hours), it may take about 2 to 3 days for the allergy or infection to get completely cured. All of the common species of indoor mold, especially black mold that grows on damp walls and in bathrooms, are treatable by the use antihistamines. Patients who have a known history of mold allergies can use mild doses of commercially available doses of antihistamines when mold infection symptoms surface. Antihistamines can bring immediate relief when symptoms like persistently runny nose, itchy skin, red eyes or scaled scalp are encountered.
As long as the mold infection is in its primary stages, it can be easily contained with regular cold medicines, provided that the patient is not suffering from auto-immune diseases or has a congenial immune system problems. Decongestants can be used to clear blocks nasal airways, making breathing a little easier for the patient. This reduces the unnecessary strain on throat muscles and sore throat symptoms that soon follow. Oral decongestants, nasal sprays and household therapies like sauna therapy or herbal teas can also be used to alleviate symptoms. These medicines, however, should not be used for longer periods. If condition doesn’t improve within 48 hours or discomfiture doesn’t diminish, appropriate medical attention should be sought immediately.
Almost every indoor species of mold causes upper respiratory allergies and difficulties in breathing. Considering this, corticosteroids, when administered nasally, can be very efficient, quick and effect in combating such upper respiratory mold symptoms. Nasal corticosteroids are branded and sold by a number of pharmaceutical companies and are generally available with ease over the counter. Inflammation of nasal cavities, throat, tonsils, lungs and difficulties in breathing are better and faster managed by corticosteroids than by other prescription drugs like cholestyramine. Even though they are relatively safer for long term usage, continued use of nasal corticosteroids is discouraged by most medical practitioners. Side effects of using nasal corticosteroids include sore throat, sore mouth, loss of appetite, occasional nosebleed and dry nose.
Montelukast is commonly prescribed to patients who have chronic cases of asthma and other allergy related conditions. Leukotrienes are secreted on an automatic basis by the central immune system when presence of pathogens (molds, in this case) is detected. These chemicals trigger a number of reactions and symptoms in the body – the most prominent being runny nose, itchy eyes and fatigue. As these symptoms develop, a physician may try out a dose of Montelukast to make sure that the symptoms are directly related to mold or other fungal infection. Montelukast binds to leukotrienes and reduces the discomfort caused by these symptoms. As the symptoms wane in severity, other treatment methods can be continued alongside to tackle mold infection.
Vaccines are often looked at the least preferred curative treatment method and most preferred preventive treatment method. If various tests conducted suggest the infection is caused by a particular species of mold, anti-infection vaccines can be used to get rid of these species from the host’s body. Although not always successful, anti-infection vaccines can certainly help the patient’s immune system to get used to combating mold infections better.
Nasal lavage is a popular household method of dealing with mold infection symptoms that cause discomfort. Runny nose or stuffed nose, the level of discomfort caused by either of these is considerable and can, in many cases, affect the productivity of the individual. That’s why, simple remedies like daily (or twice a day) washing of nasal airways with saline water can significantly palliate these symptoms. Salt acts as a natural antibiotic and relieves superficial blockages of nasal cavities caused by mucus. There are a number of ready to use nasal lavage kits available in pharmacies and online stores. With the help of these kits, easy and non-chemical way of dealing with nasal infections can be accessed. It should always be ensured that getting rid of indoor mold colonies is as important in priority and urgency as treating yourself or other affected individuals is. If indoor mold colonies are not cleaned up, there is high chance that mold related allergies and other symptoms that follow will recur. A number of mold clean-up guidelines and techniques have been described in the earlier parts of this articles. Any of these methods that suits given needs should be adopted to ascertain that indoor count of airborne mold spores is brought down significantly. Only in such cases will the external medical treatments will have a positive impact on the patient’s health and recurrences of mold infections and sicknesses can be avoided.
There are many species of indoor molds and not all of them are deemed to be toxic. However, certain species of mold, especially the ones classified as class A or B in terms of potential to cause health hazards, are toxic in nature. This toxicity is imparted to these mold due to chemicals that they tend to form. These chemicals are called mycotoxins. The term mycotoxin is a portmanteau formed by two words myco (Greek) meaning fungus and toxins. Mycotoxins are generally typical to various species of molds and these species can be easily identified with the existence of these characteristic mycotoxins. However, a given species of mold does not necessarily produce a single mycotoxin. Mycotoxins are mostly found in complementary groups in which one prominent mycotoxin can characterize the mold species. When compared on a toxicity to weight ratio basis, mycotoxins are some of the most toxic substances on the planet. However, since mold species do not tend to form relatively lower quantities of these, their ability to cause health hazard to humans is limited. This is not, by any means, to say that mycotoxins are not lethal. In some cases, continued exposure to mycotoxins is known to be debilitating and even fatal. To put it in the simplest of terms, mycotoxins are products of life processes of mold species – especially the metabolism processes. There are two primary categories of mycotoxins. The first, and certainly more toxic, includes mycotoxins that are formed as a result of primary metabolism processes. Primary metabolism processes for any organisms are the ones through which they carry on their life cycle. This involves procuring food, processing it, distributing energy across their cell structure and discard the non-useful substances. Primary mycotoxins are always found in higher concentrations as compared to secondary mycotoxins. Secondary mycotoxins are formed as a result of secondary metabolism and survival processes. These processes, per se, are not essential for the life cycle of mold species. The fact that secondary mycotoxins are still existent can be attributed to the added survival and defence mechanism that they impart to the mold colonies. Primary mycotoxins are, as mentioned briefly earlier, characteristic of mold species, whereas secondary mycotoxins are more or less characteristic of environment that the mold grows in. Organic matter that they are decomposing, temperature, humidity are some of the factors that can determine which secondary mycotoxins are formed in mold colonies. Many people quite naively consider mycotoxins as secondary mold structures. Mycotoxins are not organisms in themselves. They are just chemicals that molds and other fungi, intentionally and unintentionally. Mycotoxins are not specifically designed to attack competing species or more evolved organisms. In this aspect, they are quite opposite to other natural venoms and toxins like snake venom or jelly fish poison. However, it has also been observed that in more ‘threatening’ environment, the production of mycotoxins by molds increases substantially. In a way, mycotoxins are the only entities that resemble the defence mechanism of molds and yeasts. Just as mold tries to get settled in a host’s body, it has to overcome the resistance from the host’s immune system. Perhaps, this is why mycotoxins are produces in a much higher concentration in hosts’ body than outside of it. Mycotoxins have a wide array of effects on humans. These effects depend primarily upon the health of the receptor (host), concentration of mycotoxins, duration of impact and secondary factors like the potency of complementary mycotoxins formed by the same species of mold. Complex effects with contradictory symptoms can be observed in hosts if more than one species of mold comes in contact with them. In such case, it is not only difficult to identify the source of damage, it is also challenging to treat such contradictory mycotoxins in isolation. There are estimated to be thousands of mycotoxins and their variants present in nature, only a handful can be encountered in indoor environments, some of which are discussed below.
Fumonisin is a name given to the group of mycotoxins produced exclusively by mold species in the family Fusarium. As noted earlier, Fusarium molds are generally classified as class A, meaning that they have the highest potential to cause health hazards to humans who come in contact with them. This potential can solely be attributed to fumonisin. Fusarium itself is known to produce over 50 distinct types of mycotoxins that vary in chemical structures and adverse effects. All of these are generally referred to as fumonisin. Fumonisin has been known to people in almost every part of the world, on account of their widespread ability to destruct corn, wheat and barley fields. Their usual entry-point into indoor environment is through such untreated natural food products and grains. The effects of fumonisin can vary widely depending upon the conditions in which they are allowed to act. These effects, in humans, can range from mild headaches to permanent nervous problems. In pregnant women, high intake of fumonisin can result into complications in pregnancy and congenial nervous diseases, mainly neural tube defects, in the offspring. Long duration of fumonisin in human bodies is also often linked to a heightened possibility of esophageal cancer. Although these conditions are definitely alarming and serious in nature, it should be taken into account that these are not known to be common occurrences. What fumonisin can cause on a regular basis, however, is food poisoning (acute mycotoxicosis). This results from the ingestion of affected plants and vegetables. Inhalation of Fusarium mold spores is not known to cause acute mycotoxicosis. Symptoms of acute mycotoxicosis include diarrhoea, vomiting and flu-like symptoms. Dehydration follows typically during the convalescence stages.
Aflatoxin is produced by many species of Aspergillus molds. Aflatoxin is a highly potent and dangerous carcinogen. Even in as low concentrations as 0.06 ppm, aflatoxin has the potential to cause irreversible damage to human hosts. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States has set the safe levels of aflatoxin in solid food products and animal feeds at 0.02 ppm while it is even lower for dairy products, at 0.0005 ppm.
T-2 group of toxins is typically produced by Fusarium family of molds. These are more potent than fumonisin group of mycotoxins. Although occurring in very low frequency, damage caused by T-2 group of toxins is often permanent. Continued exposure to these toxins can result into pulmonary hemosiderosis (bleeding of lungs). Digestive tract and liver are also at high risk from T-2 toxins. Acute internal bleeding, if not attended to in due time, can quickly result into death of the host.
Gliotoxin is considered to be a secondary mycotoxin and is produced by a number of indoor mold species, including Penicillium, aspergillum and Alternaria. Effects of gliotoxin on human bodies are temporary and receding. Weakening of immune system (auto-immune symptoms) are caused in elderly people and young children.
Sterigmatocystin is produced by Aspergillus. It is a potent carcinogen when present above threshold levels.
Vomitoxin is considered to be characteristic to most species of Fusarium that are found to thrive in indoor environment. As the name suggests, Vomitoxin can cause severe bouts of vomiting caused by dysfunctional GI operations. This invariably results into acute dehydration, leaving the host vulnerable to other conditions like depletion in the platelet number.
Citrinin is produced by Penicillium and Aspergillus mold species. This is a comparatively less toxic mycotoxin that causes temporary conditions like cough and runny nose. Prolonged exposure can trigger bronchitis like symptoms, and in rare cases bronchitis itself.
Trichothecene is one of the most potent mycotoxins. It is generally produced by Stachybotrys, spotted worldwide (known colloquially as black mold). Stachybotrys species of mold are found exclusively indoors. Interestingly, these species are not known for a good concentration of airborne mold spores. They, thus, are known to enter human body via accidental ingestion or contact.
Human immune system tries to act against every unknown body and chemical that enters the body. However, the cases can be quite complicated against mycotoxins (as can be against all toxic substances). Central immune system finds it difficult to identify mycotoxins as foreign chemicals. Many mycotoxins resemble enzymes and proteins that are regularly produced in human body by glands and organs. Furthermore, these mycotoxins are mistaken by the central immune system for useful proteins and enzymes. This makes getting rid of these chemicals by natural means all the more difficult. Mycotoxins are often circulated in the blood stream and very little percentage of their concentration is actually thrown out of the system by way of excretion.
However clichéd it may sound, the only and most effective way of acting against mycotoxins is to not allow them the opportunity to enter one’s body. Regular maintenance of the buildings and taking up precautionary measures can greatly reduce the risk of indoor mold infestations. This automatically rules out the possibility of mycotoxic interactions. Once infected, the only way to counter mycotoxins is to bind them together by means of external medication. Drugs like CSM have the ability to get attached to mycotoxins and thus allow the immune system to recognize them as foreign sets of substrates that need to be excreted.
Mold prevention is the only sure-fire way of staying away from mold infections and a hoard of diseases that follow. With enough care and regularity of maintenance, allowing no breeding ground indoors for mold species is not a herculean task. Here are a few easy tips that can help you keep your household or workplace fresh, clean and free of nasty mold colonies.
It is a common sense that there are some areas that are most likely to attract mold growth. The perpetually wet parts of a building – bathrooms, kitchen sinks, pipes, garages, basements, attics, nooks and rooftops – are, thus, most likely to have mold colonies settle on them. Identifying these problem prone areas can certainly help the overall maintenance of a building. It becomes much easier to inspect for mold if you have already marked these areas in the building.
Keeping indoor environment fresh is a vital part of overall health of a building. Stale air tends to trap moisture and mold species thrive in moist air. So, properly ventilated buildings can get past this problem with relative ease as there is no room for air to grow stale in a ventilated building. If natural ventilation is absent or not feasible, artificial HVAC units can be used. However, these units themselves tend to attract mold colonies. So, if HVAC units are installed, they should be marked for regular inspection.
In any indoor environment, there should be no stagnant water present. Stagnant water tends to increase overall humidity of the indoor environment and it presents a perfect breeding ground for a number of mold species. Of course, there are number of other algae and bacteria that tend to grow in stagnant water. If there is accidental spillage of water/watery liquids, care should be taken to dry wet areas immediately. If clothes or carpets are wet, they should either be sun dried or artificially dried (either by using drying lamps or heaters). Similarly, surface condensation inside the building (on pipes or cooler objects) should be kept in check.
Another key to keeping your house or workplace free and clear of any sort of mold infestation is to ensure that indoor air quality is high. This quality depends upon a number of factors such as temperature, humidity, ventilation, fine particles count and freshness of air. Maintaining a right balance between temperature and humidity can render indoor air quite useless for mold species, thereby blocking their growth and reproduction.
Regular maintenance of the outer surfaces of the building blocks easy access to rainwater into the building. This includes regular and times maintenance of the roofline, windows, fascias, gutters, drain pipes and balconies. If there is even a hint of moisture seepage through walls or ceiling, professional assistance should be sought to fix the relevant issues. Painting inner walls of the building with a paint with mold inhibitor additives is also a great way of preventing future mold growth.
It is very commonplace for mold spores to enter the indoor environment via garden plants. There are rotting fertilizers, leaves that haven’t been raked, damp tree trunks, wet grass and a part of the garden forever deprived of sunshine. These are very conducive places for mold to grow. Once there is mold growth in the garden, it wouldn’t take much more than a gust of wind in the right direction to bring all those airborne mold spores into the building. Hence, proper and regular maintenance of house garden is of utmost importance.
The first step towards successful clean-up of indoor mold is mold detection. It’s not always the case that mold grows quite obviously on the front facing wall of the living room. Mold often tends to grow in places that are not easily accessible and hence experience quite less human contact and maintenance. In instances where mold is not obviously noticed (visually or by smell), need for more technical methods of mold detection arises. The best way of confirming or ruling out the presence of indoor mold is by laboratory testing and sampling. That being said, it should first be understood when sampling and testing is really necessary.
When is Testing or Sampling for Mold Necessary?
These situations require sampling or testing on an urgent basis. Sampling should not take place in usual weather. Regardless of these conditions, however, most experts advise that indoor air should be tested for mold at least twice every year.
From Where should the Indoor Air be Sampled?
How should Solid/Liquid Samples be collected?
There is a certain procedure to collect visibly molded solid or liquid samples.
Adequate protective gear (described earlier) should be donned.
Approximate 1 sq. inch of solid surface with undisturbed growth of mold should be cut/scalped/trimmed/plucked/torn from the object.
Such sample should be placed in double layered and non-permeable plastic bags (preferably with zip locks).
Time, date and place of collection should be noted on this bag (preferably with a photograph).
Same procedure should be adopted for liquid. About 5 to 10 mL of molded liquid surface should suffice for testing.
This liquid sample can be stored in a plastic bottle or sampler.
Whenever possible, sampling should be left to experts. Procedures performed by non-professionals regularly allow for contamination of sample, and this results into wrong or inconclusive results that do not help the cause. Despite this, if you decide to undertake the sampling by yourself, you can use the chain of custody (COC) form available here to properly document the process of sampling. This will help the laboratory personnel to duly test the samples you have collected. A list of all the laboratories in the United States that accept indoor air and other solid/liquid samples is available here.
Besides these few authoritative resources, every state’s own health department regularly updates household mold management guidelines and indoor air quality criteria for residential and commercial buildings. To get a list of mold inspection, sampling, testing and remediation service providers in your area, any yellow pages book or website can be used. If you think you are suffering from mold related sicknesses caused by mold infestation in your workplace, you can approach your state health department for assistance.
Flood affected households or commercial buildings remain damp not only for the duration of the floods, but long after the floods have receded, as well. Persistent dampness on such a high scale is nothing but an invitation for various species of molds.
Whenever there’s a flood, buildings with basements are the first and the most to suffer. Floodwater that enters basements is very difficult to get rid of. Moreover, being underwater for days – in some cases, weeks on end – surely provides an ideal breeding ground for molds.
Everything that is stored in houses/building gets wet because of floodwaters. This includes carpets, mattresses, linens, furniture, windows, walls, food stocks, clothing – everything that mold can potentially feed on with ease!
Whenever a flood hits your house/workplace, you should be quick to react. Once everyone’s safety is accounted for, you can think about mold prevention. It takes less than a full day for mold to get settled and start growing in helpful conditions. Hence, acting swiftly is the key here.
Quite obviously, removing the floodwater should be the first step in such cases. Every technique possible – from buckets to powerful pumps – should be used to ensure that the bulk of floodwater is out of your house. Once that is done, dampness can be dealt with.
Dampness can linger around in flooded building for weeks after the floods have receded. This is a direct result of water that has been absorbed by materials in the building (walls, furniture, fabrics etc.). To get rid of this dampness, all of the affected and ruined objects should be discarded as soon as possible. This will allow the indoor air to be dryer and less helpful for mold growth.
It’s rather a difficult decision to make. However, it’s a necessary decision, and an important one in the long run. Everything that has been affected by mold after a flood should be discarded straightaway. All kinds of fabrics (carpets, linens, mattresses, curtains etc.) will never be reusable again. So, it’s wiser to part with them. Similarly, furniture that has been molded (unless it’s really expensive) should be discarded or recycled, in the least.
Floods tend to bring all sorts of unwanted things into a building. From stray shoes to sewage water and from wooden logs to even 10 ft long alligators. That’s why, it becomes necessary to thoroughly clean a flooded house with disinfectants. There are many professional service providers and cleaning companies that can take these tasks and complete theme to a high quality.
Mold clean-up should not be carried out without gloves.
For minute mold infestations on glass, respirators won’t probably be needed. However, if available they should always be used. If respirators aren’t available, simple cotton kerchief or napkin should be used to cover your nose.
Bleach or other chemicals shouldn’t be used without prior professional experience or in the company of elderly, convalescent or infants.
Even though mold is well-known for spoiling food, there are some constructive uses of mold in food processing. Some cheeses inherently contain higher concentrations of mold species that allow these cheese to age better and acquire a unique taste. Camembert and Roquefort are two examples of such cheeses. In Asian countries, a number of food products like rice and barley are half-fermented by molds to create mildly intoxicating drinks. | 2019-04-21T19:01:44Z | https://www.royalroofinginc.ca/mold/ |
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The very bad news is that means 26 per cent really don’t.
Other startling results from the survey included that only 39 per cent of Americans believe “the universe began with a huge explosion”. And fewer than half of the people surveyed (48 per cent) agreed that “human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals”.
Hemp temps are being sought after due to the rise in the demand for pot. . Report by Jennifer Cordingley.
Olympic officials take great pride in cracking down on doping and so far no athlete has tested positive at the Sochi Olympics. But officials acknowledge they have had a difficult time dealing with one drug in particular: marijuana.
Technically marijuana is on the World Anti-Doping list of banned drugs, which governs events like the Olympics, because officials consider it to be performance enhancing and a violation of the “spirit of sport”. But in a nod to the growing relaxed attitude toward the drug around the world, the cut off level for a positive test has been increased for the Sochi Games, allowing for some recreational use prior to the Olympics.
The new threshold for the active ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, has been increased from 15 nanograms per millilitre of urine to 150ng/mls. Officials say that means an athlete who smoked some weed before the Olympics, or inhaled second-hand smoke, wouldn’t likely test positive in Sochi. Someone who failed the new test would have to be “a pretty dedicated cannabis consumer,” WADA officials have said.
With the global economy creating millionaires and billionaires at breakneck speed, the industry handling their money is about to explode.
Six years from now, the asset management industry, which currently controls about $60 trillion in wealth, will be responsible for more than $100 trillion by 2020, according to a recent study from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
PwC attributes the surge both to a general growth in emerging economies, particularly in Asia.
Are public-employee unions toxic to their candidates?
The real news in the San Diego mayoral race isn’t that a Republican won, but that the candidate backed by public-employee unions lost.
That is a real shift in California politics. And it’s the second time it’s happened in a big-city mayoral race in less than a year.
ADVANCES in genetic sequencing are giving rise to a new era of scientific racism, experts have said.
New forms of discrimination, known as “neoracism”, are taking hold in scientific research, spreading the belief that races exist and are different in terms of biology, behaviour and culture, according to anthropologists who spoke at the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Chicago.
This comes despite decades-long efforts to reverse attitudes that were used to justify the slave trade and the Nazi ideology.
Workers at Volkswagen’s three-year-old factory in Chattanooga, Tenn., voted Friday to reject union representation by the United Auto Workers (UAW), frustrating an effort to revive the waning influence of the labor movement in the South.
The vote tally concluded with 712 voting no, and 626 voting yes.
The UAW’s bid to represent VW’s 1,550 hourly workers faced fierce resistance from local politicians and national conservative groups.
The defeat could scuttle the 400,000-member union’s latest attempt to stem a decades-long decline in membership, revenue and influence. It could reinforce the widely held notion that the UAW is unable to overcome the South’s deep opposition toward organized labor.
The most frugal have been scaling back company matches and setting lower limits for the maximum annual payment they’ll make to a 401(k) account, according to hundreds of government filings analyzed by Bloomberg. A difference of three percentage points on a match can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars lost for employees over the course of their careers.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy released its annual “Philanthropy 50″ list this week, detailing the gifts of the most generous donors in America. These individuals are “ditching the caution that marked so much of their giving as the economy stalled and are roaring back” with $7.7 billion in contributions, 4 percent more than in 2012, the publication says.
Giving is up since the financial crisis. But while the stock market has made a complete recovery, top-50 philanthropy has clearly not. And this kind of giving has not nearly kept pace with the rise in American billionaires’ wealth over the past decade. The Forbes 400 list, which tracks the richest people in the U.S., had a total net worth of $955 billion in 2003. By 2013, it had more than doubled, to $2 trillion.
The Bloomberg Billionaires index, which launched in 2012 and tracks the 300 richest people worldwide, saw a $524 billion increase in wealth during 2013 alone. Tech billionaires gained 28 percent on the year, led by Tesla (TSLA) founder Elon Musk, whose wealth climbed 233 percent.
This puts the 4 percent increase the Chronicle of Philanthropy hails in context. At a time when the richest Americans’ wealth is skyrocketing, it’s appropriate to ask whether their giving is skyrocketing as well.
The boom in oil production in Williams County, N.D., has resulted in a population increase and an overbooking of the county jail, officials said.
In the 2010 U.S. census, about 14,700 residents lived in Williston, N.D., the seat of Williams County. Today, officials estimate more than 30,000 live in the city and another 50,000 are being served by its infrastructure, the Williston Herald reported Saturday.
The population boom and high-paying oil jobs have led to the highest housing costs in the country.
Apartment Guide said a 700-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment in Williston costs on average $2,394, the highest in the entire country. That’s even higher than New York City, which is No. 7 on the list, and Los Angeles, which is No. 8.
Overseas banks look set to win only minor concessions when the Federal Reserve signs off on new capital rules next week, as they become increasingly resigned to the fact that the cost of doing business in the United States will go up.
The Fed, whose board of governors meets on Tuesday, will require overseas banks to hold as much capital in the United States as their local rivals.
The reform is designed to address concerns that U.S. taxpayers will need to foot the bill if European and Asian regulators treat U.S. subsidiaries with low priority if they need to rescue one of their banks.
Foreign banks with sizeable operations on Wall Street such as Deutsche Bank and Barclays have pushed back hard against the plan because it means they will need to transfer costly capital from Europe.
A participant in the bruising American battle over voting rights warns that Canada is treading on dangerous ground with its proposed electoral reforms.
One of the lawyers who helped strike down the voter ID law in Pennsylvania last month says legislation tabled by the Harper government will inevitably wind up depriving some people of their voting rights.
That’s why any change to voting requirements should be made with the strictest care, in the spirit of achieving more accurate election results, said Witold Walczak, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union for Pennsylvania.
That warning comes from a country where voting rights are an especially emotional subject, for obvious historical reasons. Americans know the issue well. And the impact of ID rules has been studied extensively, re-emerging in recent years as a hotly debated partisan issue.
Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies are expected to mainly discuss uncertainty over the course of emerging economies at their two-day meeting in Sydney from Feb. 22.
Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso, also deputy prime minister and financial services minister, regards concerns over emerging economies and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s tapering of its quantitative easing as important issues that the world economy faces.
Since views differ between anxious emerging economies and calm advanced countries, whether the G-20 can hammer out a cooperation framework in a joint statement is a focal point.
At their forthcoming meeting, Akira Amari, Japanese minister in charge of Trans-Pacific Partnership affairs, and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman are expected to sound each other out about the possibility of compromise for an agreement in TPP regional free trade talks.
Amari and Froman are set to hold talks in Washington later on Saturday, ahead of a ministerial meeting of 12 TPP countries in Singapore from Feb. 22.
Japan and the United States remain far apart over tariffs on farm products. In their talks in parallel with multilateral TPP negotiations, Japan is insisting on keeping its tariffs on five key product categories including rice.
Japanese and U.S. trade ministers remained apart over tariff issues particularly in the agricultural sector in their talks Saturday linked with multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.
Emerging from the talks with U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman in Washington, which lasted two and a half hours, Akira Amari, Japanese minister in charge of TPP negotiations for regional trade liberalization, told reporters that the two “agreed on the importance of reducing differences in their stances” over the issues.
The Japanese and U.S. sides discussed ways to abolish import duties on individual trading items including agricultural products but “did not reach any numerical agreement,” Amari said.
Toward the upcoming TPP ministerial meeting in Singapore from Feb. 22, the Japanese and U.S. governments will hold working-level talks to narrow the gap, he added.
An extra 5,000 troops are on standby to support communities hit by flooding, it was announced on Sunday, as the government faced calls for a halt to home building on flood plains.
Large swaths of the UK remain on high alert with severe flood warnings still in place along the Thames and in Somerset where water levels continue to rise despite a respite from the storms.
Defence secretary Philip Hammond said 3,000 troops were currently deployed, and another 5,000 were available. He admitted the armed forces could have been despatched earlier to help.
How to complain about house prices, mortgages and pensions without being accused of being a middle-class whinger? Well, I may be just that, but my worries – and those of millions like me – are very real and need to be heard: they represent a profound psychological shift in the nation’s heartland.
Today the middle classes are being squeezed and stripped – of jobs, income and security – like never before. The landscape ahead has been laid bare by the winds of social, political and technological change. I hardly needed Alan Milburn’s recent report on social mobility, which revealed that for the first time in history middle-class children are likely to end up poorer than their parents, to start worrying about how my son is going to survive out there.
What a difference a year makes. Antony Jenkins was applauded by the City 12 months ago when he set out his strategy for turning Barclays into the “go to” bank by restricting costs and rooting out the bad apples in the investment banking arm.
Remember, it was barely six months after the Libor crisis had shaken Barclays to its core and forced out its top management, including Jenkins’s predecessor, Bob Diamond. Jenkins had said enough to push the bank’s share price up 9% by the end of the day.
Such was his status as the antithesis to Diamond – who was dubbed the “unacceptable face of banking” by Lord Mandelson – that Jenkins ended 2013 with the honour of guest editing the BBC’s flagship Today programme. His halo was given a rub when Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, who also featured in the New Year’s Eve radio show, supported Jenkins’s attempt to clean up Barclays’s act.
Last week the applause stopped. Even though Jenkins had personally tried to do the right thing by waiving his own bonus for 2013 – potentially as much as £2.7m – he stunned even the City with his failure to explain why the bank was paying out 10% more in bonuses in a year when profits collapsed by 32%. The boost was even harder to stomach in the investment bank, once better known as BarCap, where the bonus pot was up 13%, despite the unit reporting losses in the final quarter of the year.
British Indian businessman Ranji Boparan, known as the “chicken king”, is set to axe around 1,800 jobs in the UK as part of a major restructuring of his food business empire.
The Birmingham-based tycoon, known as the “chicken king” for his mega poultry-focused business ‘2 Sisters’, is planning to shut two sites and cut jobs to rein in costs.
The company is one of the largest suppliers of poultry and meat to supermarkets and fast-food chains in the UK. The 47-year-old Boparan’s empire now includes ready meals, pizzas, frozen vegetables and biscuits, and he has 24,000 employees at 50 factories.
Inflation is expected to have fallen below the Bank of England’s 2% target for the first time in more than four years in January thanks to retailers slashing prices and lower fuel costs.
Many economists believe official figures on Tuesday will reveal a fall in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) to 1.9% last month from 2% in December, which will mark the first time inflation has dropped below the target since November 2009.
It follows last month’s aggressive discounting by food and general merchandise retailers, with high streets seeing widespread deflation. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said shop prices fell at their fastest rate last month, falling by 1% against a 0.8% drop in December.
Bank of England governor Mark Carney says the UK housing market is generally recovering.
Mr Carney told the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme that, looking at the UK as a whole, “we are now seeing house prices begin to recover, so it is a more generalised phenomenon”.
He said the only area where prices had not picked up was Northern Ireland. He also said there was little the bank could do to cool the London market, where prices were rising far faster.
Prices in London are rising by about 10% a year, but Mr Carney said a change in interest rate policy – not on the cards in any case until the recovery is well established – would not cool the market as a significant number of properties were bought without a mortgage.
The European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso’s comments have been labelled “preposterous” and “ridiculous” by the SNP.
An independent Scotland joining the European Union would be “extremely difficult, if not impossible”, according to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
Mr Barroso said if the country voted for independence in a referendum on September 18 it would have to apply for membership and get its bid approved by all current member states.
The Scottish government has said the country would try to gain membership within 18 months of a yes vote. But Mr Barroso suggested this could run into difficulties. “We have seen Spain has been opposing even the recognition of Kosovo, for instance,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
A bus carrying 43 Romanian migrants back to Bucharest crashed in the early hours of Sunday morning in southern Sweden, after they had been evicted from a shanty town in Stockholm.
The accident took place in Alvesta when the bus veered off the national highway 27 shortly after midnight. One person, understood to be the bus driver, was seriously injured and spent the night in a local hospital although his injuries are not considered life threatening.
“It is very, very slippery on the roads in this area. It is completely icy which may have been a cause of the accident,” local policeman Percy Nilsson told the Expressen newspaper.
The other passengers spent the night in a hotel where a spokesperson said they were in shock following the crash.
Finland, a Nordic country that has been a model in the world in combating corruption, has witnessed an increase of suspected business related crimes in the past few years.
According to a fresh police report quoted by the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle, alleged economic crimes have more than doubled over the past six years, from 91 cases in 2009 to 204 in 2013.
The increase was almost entirely due to a rise in cases involving the abuse of authority, which number has doubled since 2012.
Cuts to healthcare benefits in 2012 did not give the government the savings it expected, the national auditor says in a report published on Friday.
The benefits bill shrank by just €98m, while the government expected to save €600m. The €502m shortfall added 0.08% to GDP, says the national auditor, quoted by news agency ANP.
Although the number of households claiming healthcare benefits of up to around €70 a month per person did fall, the average cost per household was up €8. The government was expecting a drop of €50.
The national auditor says the cabinet gave ‘limited’ information to parliament about the shortfall and must keep parliament fully informed about the effects of all the cuts.
Ragger heads the local branch of the Austrian Freedom party (FPÖ) in its mountainous stronghold of Carinthia, in the south of the country. Once led by the flamboyant Jörg Haider, the FPÖ has been called everything from populist to neo-Nazi, yet it would be hard to imagine anyone less like the stereotype of a bull-necked, red-faced Alpine far right-winger than the FPÖ’s trim and cosmopolitan young leader.
Switzerland has declined to sign a deal opening labour market access to Croatians, a week after a vote to curb immigration from the EU, the justice department said Saturday.
Swiss Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga called Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic to inform her that Bern would not be able to sign a bilateral accord extending the right of free access to Switzerland for EU citizens to the bloc’s newest member state “in its current form,” a ministry spokesman said.
Sommaruga had also informed Brussels that the deal would need to be re-examined, spokesman Philippe Schwander told AFP, adding that the minister had stressed she was seeking a “solution” to ensure Croatians were not discriminated against.
The European Commission wants Spain to account for the drowning of 13 migrants who recently failed to swim to Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in North Africa. Spain earlier admitted that rubber bullets were fired at them, but claimed no one was injured.
“The commission will be requesting explanations from the Spanish authorities on these events,” EU Home Affairs spokesperson Michele Cercone said, adding that the commission has a right to act if there’s evidence that a member state has violated EU laws.
On Thursday, Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz admitted that local border police, in an effort to turn back around 200 migrants who tried to cross the frontier between Morocco and Spain’s Ceuta on February 6, had indeed fired rubber bullets at them.
While some tried to cross on land, at least thirteen migrants drowned in the Mediterranean trying to swim around a man-made breakwater that separates Moroccan and Spanish waters. Spanish police say they are still searching for more victims.
A group of Moroccan NGOs has called on Spain and Morocco to end “widespread violence” against illegal immigrants, in a letter to Spain’s ambassador, after 12 people drowned trying to cross their common border.
“We are deeply concerned to see the close cooperation between Spain and Morocco on border control today resulting in… widespread violence against migrants and security practices outside of any legal framework,” the eight NGOs said in the open letter seen by AFP on Friday.
“We ask you to intervene urgently with your government to put an end to these practices,” said the group, with included the Moroccan branch of Caritas and migrant support group GADEM.
Inflation in Spain in the first month of the year was at its lowest level on record reflecting the ongoing weakness of domestic demand due to high unemployment and falling wages. The National Statistics Institute (INE) on Friday confirmed earlier flash estimates that the consumer price index fell 1.3 percent in January from December as the annual rate slowed from 0.3 percent to 0.2 percent, the lowest level since the INE began compiling the current series in 1961.
Spain pulled out of recession in the third quarter of last year but the contribution of domestic demand to GDP remaining negative.
Annual inflation has now remained under 0.5 percent for the past five months and is well below the euro-zone average in January of 0.7 percent. Analysts have expressed fears of deflation taking a hold on the euro-zone economy as it did in Japan for over a decade. The ECB’s medium-term target for inflation is close to but below 2 percent.
Coca-Cola Iberian Partners, the multinational’s only bottling company in Spain, said at the end of January the closures were needed to improve efficiency. But workers argue the layoffs are unjustified since the company is making a profit.
owned by the US brand. Under the restructuring plan, four of the 11 plants in Spain — Fuenlabrada near Madrid, Palma, Oviedo and Alicante — will close.
The Spanish Cabinet on Friday approved a draft reform of the Intellectual Property Law, which includes a so-called “Google tax” on the use of fragments of “information, opinion and entertainment” grouped together, for example, on search engines.
Presented by Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría and Education and Culture Minister José Ignacio Wert, the reform allows the reproduction of such “non-significant fragments” without prior authorization but requires the payment of “equitable compensation” for doing so, Wert explained. Prior authorization will still be required for the use of photographs. Such a tax already exists in Germany and France.
Wert did not say how “non-significant fragments” would be defined nor how much compensation would be involved.
A JUDGE investigating the devastating train crash just outside Santiago de Compostela last July in which 79 passengers died has slammed the rail board for ‘putting profits before lives’.
According to a court report, the Administrator of Rail Infrastructures (ADIF) decided not to put in place the European-standard ERTMS braking system which automatically slows a train down when it is exceeding the speed limit, instead using the older ASFA system which does not warn the driver when the high-speed AVE line with a limit of 200 kilometres per hour switches to the regional line, where the speed limit is 80 kilometres per hour.
The report says this decision was purely financial and went against the duty of care the rail board has towards its passengers, and questions whether it could be considered ‘suspected criminal behaviour’.
Spanish patients, like all Europeans, will now be able now choose which EU country to seek treatment in. The Cabinet last week approved a decree that implements an EU directive on cross-border healthcare. Under the system, patients will advance the money for their treatment abroad, but can request a reimbursement from their own country.
The directive aims to go one step beyond the emergency treatment already covered by the European Health Card and let patients choose another member state for specific, non-emergency treatment.
But the initiative has raised questions, such as how many Spaniards will want to get surgery abroad. And how many foreigners will come to Spain for healthcare? Uppermost among people’s concerns is how reimbursement will take place. While some issues are already clear to the Health Ministry, others will have to be decided by the regions.
Italy’s head of state President Giorgio Napolitano yesterday set in train his third prime ministerial appointment in less than three years. His most conspicuous meeting was not, however, with soon-to-be premier Matteo Renzi, but with the disgraced tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, who appears to be enjoying yet another unlikely political revival.
Pundits are predicting that the centrist Mr Renzi, dubbed “Italy’s Tony Blair”, could be sworn in as soon as Tuesday. In addition to reviving Italy’s moribund economy the 39-year-old has promised to make a radical overhaul of its flawed electoral and political system his priority, to prevent hung parliaments of the type Italy currently labours under.
But to get a deal on electoral reform through parliament, Mr Renzi is, to the horror of many in his centre-left Democratic Party, doing a deal with convicted tax fraud Berlusconi. Berlusconi, as a convicted criminal, has been expelled from parliament, but still leads the biggest centre-right grouping, Forza Italia.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano summoned Matteo Renzi to a meeting on Monday at which he is expected to ask the center-left leader to form a government that must overhaul one of the most troubled economies in the euro zone.
Napolitano is likely to ask the slick-talking mayor of Florence to form the country’s 65th government since World War Two in the meeting, which a statement from the president’s office said was scheduled for 10.30 a.m. (0930 GMT) in Rome.
Enrico Letta resigned as prime minister on Friday after his Democratic Party (PD) forced him to make way for Renzi, 39, who is promising radical reforms to the euro zone’s third-biggest economy and a government that can survive until 2018.
Renzi would become the youngest prime minister in Italian history.
Renzi would be Italy’s youngest ever prime minister if his bid succeeds and has promised a radical programme of reforms to combat rampant unemployment, boost growth and slash the costs of Italy’s weighty bureaucratic machine. Opinion polls show Renzi enjoys high popularity ratings, mainly because as someone with no experience in national government or parliament he is seen as a welcome breath of fresh air in Italy’s discredited political system.
Moody’s Investors Service on Friday raised the outlook on Italy’s government bond rating to stable from negative, citing improved financial strength in the European country.
It reaffirmed Italy’s bond rating at Baa2, its second-lowest investment grade, and its Prime-2 debt ratings, which is considered a moderate credit risk.
The rating agency said that it expects the government’s debt-to-gross domestic product ratio to level off in 2014 as economic growth modestly resumes. It pointed to Italy’s strong government bond market, which is one of the largest in Europe, as an indicator of strength.
Moody’s also said that that the government’s balance sheet is looking less risky, citing lower risks tied to its banking sector as the capitalization in that sector has stabilized.
On 10 February, thousands protested in a dozen Bosnian cities to demand that politicians be replaced by non-partisan experts who can better address the nearly 40% unemployment and rampant corruption, AP reported.
It was the sixth day of the worst unrest the Balkan country has seen since the end of the 1991-95 Bosnian war, which killed 100,000.
The peace deal that ended the war created a complex political system in which more than 150 ministries govern Bosnia’s four million people. Corruption is widespread and high taxes eat away at paychecks. One in five Bosnian lives below the poverty line. Svjetlana Nedimovic, an unemployed political scientist, accused the European Union — whose 28 foreign ministers were discussing Bosnia on Monday — of turning its back on her country even as it supports protesters in Ukraine.
After the jump, the latest chaos in Greece, Ukrainian stalemate, Turkish judicial independence constrained, neoserfdom in the Gulf, a Cuban cutoff, drought and violence in Brazil, Venzuelan protests, Mexican vigilantes, Chinese lending [and bad loans] hit a peak, hot money flight in Manilla, Japanese tax cuts and investments, a radioactive leak in New Mexico, childhood toxins, and the latest Fukushimapocalypse Now!
First came the rising rates of homelessness. Then, the explosive growth of suicides. Now, four years into a devastating financial crisis, Greece’s youngest citizens are falling through the cracks of the country’s disheveled society.
Either deserted at maternity wards days after their birth, bundled inside pillowcases, or packed in cardboard boxes dumped on the doorsteps of churches, clinics and charity centers, abandoned babies are turning up all over the country.
Hard statistics are difficult to come by. But in a telling tale of the trend and an admission of the devastating effects of austerity on young children, Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis told parliament recently that the number of abandoned infants had soared by 336 percent alone in the state’s flagship pediatrics hospital since the start of the financial crisis.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has blocked a bid by her powerful finance minister to offer fresh aid to Greece ahead of European elections in May, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Sunday.
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble had wanted to give the ailing Greek government a “demonstration of solidarity” by committing this spring to further support from Europe after the May 25 poll.
“He sees the danger that without the prospect of further aid, radical parties in Greece could make big gains in the election,” leading the government in Athens to collapse, the magazine reported.
The viability of the Greek debt and the financing gap for the years 2015-2016 will be discussed “from the summer onwards,” European Commission Vice-President and Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro Olli Rehn told an interview with German Sunday newspaper Welt am Sonntag. He noted that the official Eurostat report for the Greek fiscal data will be available on April 23.
“In the case of Greece, we have to decide three things: First, we must complete the current troika mission, which began as of September. This relates to Greece’s funding in 2014 and the state of reforms. This will be done soon. Secondly, the financing gaps for 2015 and 2016, and thirdly, the issue of debt sustainability,” the Commissioner said.
Amidst a critical phase for the economy, society and politics, the Prime Minister Antonis Samaras spoke to To Vima and spoke about everything.
The Prime Minister praises the primary surpluses that were achieved a year before, explains that the debt relief and return to the markets will be based on these surpluses and announces that a significant portion of the surpluses will return to society, pensioners and uniformed officers.
Furthermore, under condition that the surpluses are maintained, he promises a gradual reduction of taxes. And clarifies that his goal is to gradual reduce the rates of VAT, income tax, profits and of course, real estate. Especially with regards to real estate taxes, he outright states that he has planned to reduce them by 38% by 2016.
Mr. Samaras claims that Greece is exiting the recession, entering a growth phase and estimates that the economy will by 3% on an annual basis from 2016 onwards.
A high-ranking European officer expressed his surprise at the Greek government’s “confidence” with regards to the primary surplus from 2013 and noted that it is too soon for the Eurostat to have a clear picture of what the primary surplus will actually be.
While the officer admits that he hopes that the Greek government is correct to be as confident as it appears to be, sine it would mean that no further funding would be necessary, he could not help but express his doubt and amazement. The discussions for further debt relief are scheduled to begin after the surplus is confirmed.
According to the anonymous European officer, the situation in Greece will be evaluated at the Eurogroup on Monday and estimated that a preliminary deal for the troika’s return to Athens will be reached by the Eurogroup scheduled for the 10th of March.
Greek farmers decided to continue their struggle in order to push the government to satisfy their demands which they claim are vital for their survival. They have announced a panhellenic rally on Wednesday, February 19 in the center of Athens, Greece. Farmers called all Greek citizens to participate, expressing their opposition to the government’s policy, which afflicts all workers and vulnerable social groups.
Farmers in Thessaly, central Greece carried out a rally on Sunday as a response “to the intransigence of the Greek government,” blocking circulation in main highways of the region.
Moreover, farmers from Serres, northern Greece blocked the Egnatia highway on Sunday noon, for about half an hour, forming a human cordon.
A group of 42 SYRIZA MPs have demanded from the Ministers of Transport, Justice and Public Order to repeal the recent hike in tolls, which sparked violent protests in Oropos.
The Opposition MPs claim that “the government has deceived the Greek people once one and carried out excessive hikes” and cited comments from the Minister of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks Michalis Chrysochoidis from December 2013, when he stated in Parliament that “there is no provision for a toll hike, absolutely none”.
The MPs further stress that the excessive toll hikes are introduced after the dramatic wage and pension cuts and argued that the hike will only benefit the toll operators and cause harm to the community at large.
Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras is due back in Brussels on Monday where he is expected to come under pressure to push forward troika-mandated economic reforms amid reports that European officials are keen for the Greek government to wrap up negotiations quickly and shift its focus to European Parliament elections in May which are expected to be hotly contested.
Ahead of Monday’s Eurogroup, a top-ranking European official told Kathimerini that there is a desire for resolution. “Europeans want the evaluation of 2013 to conclude as soon as possible,” the official said, referring to a troika review that began in September. The official added that Europeans were prepared to tone down their demands as regards the thornier issues being negotiated, such as calls for relaxing restrictions on mass layoffs in the private sector and pressure for privatizations.
A key concern is to ensure that Prime Minister Antonis Samaras does not have additional political pressure on him ahead of elections in May when the leftist, anti-bailout SYRIZA is expected to make significant gains, as is the neo-fascist Golden Dawn.
SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras in an interview to Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper on Saturday referred to the need of a new deal for the Greek economy expressing the opinion that Greece played the role of a guinea pig.
“With the shock doctrine they wanted to see how much the people can bear” said Tsipras who predicted SYRIZA’s broad victory in the imminent elections (Euroelections and local government elections) noting that the Left’s criticism for the Europe has nothing to do with that of the ‘Right populists”.
Asked on government’s claims of a major primary surplus of 1.5 billion euros in 2013, Tsipras said that according to his party’s calculations it is only a numerical surplus because the government has to pay over 1.2 billion euros. “If EU accepts the figures, this will be a political decision, it will be an effort to support prime minister Antonis Samaras” he said.
At a press question why he wants to govern under so difficult conditions, the main opposition leader said “We want to govern because the conditions are so difficult. To change things. It has nothing to do with personal ambitions or with positions. We want this tragedy to end”.
Greek opposition leader Alexis Tsipras said today he will not support any candidate for president in spring 2015 in the hope of forcing an early parliamentary election.
President Karolos Papoulias’ term ends in March 2015 and, under Greece’s constitution, his successor will need the support of 180 deputies in Greece’s 300-seat parliament, equivalent to a 3/5ths majority.
But the government has only 153 seats, meaning it would have to rely on the support of Tsipras’s Syriza’s 71 deputies or of smaller parties also opposed to Greece’s EU/IMF bailout.
“We will not support any candidate,” Tsipras said in an interview in the weekend edition of German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
The union of Greek civil servants (ADEDY) reacting to the bill lodged by the Ministry of Administrative Reform and Electronic Governance and the upcoming dismissals, has announced two 48-hour strikes.
The Ministry’s bill, through the abolition and merger of legal entities is promoting new dismissals. The civil servants also object to the new evaluation system in the public sector, according to which it will be compulsory that 15% of civil servants are assessed as inadequate.
The first 48-hour strike will take place on March 13 and 14. The protests will escalate on March 22 when the Greek government will announce the first day of layoffs of civil servants who entered the availability scheme eight months ago.
Employees in the public sector stated that they will struggle against layoffs and the dismantling of public services and that they will coordinate their action with the fights of the Greek society suffering from unemployment and poverty. The union of Greek civil servants has also invited the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) and other social organizations in Greece to join their fight to defend public goods and the overthrowing of the troika’s brutal and destructive policies. | 2019-04-21T08:10:12Z | http://feedreader.com/observe/richardbrenneman.wordpress.com/2014%2F02%2F16%2Fheadlines-of-the-day-ii-econoecopolifukufailure%2F%3F+itemId=924669206?from=57074953 |
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As a blogger it's difficult to look at something and think that it can't be done better. In fact when you have a ton of blogs for a game all devoted to the same thing a lot of the content that you see is recycled from one blog to the next. When I first set out to create a Guild Wars 2 Crafting Guide I was looking through a bunch of different research on blogs, forums, major websites and just about anything else that I could find to try and compile an in-depth guide to help all of you understand the crafting system in Guild Wars 2. The more I looked the more I found one specific thing. Everybody seems to be referencing a certain set of videos from a user on YouTube who has just done a better job than anyone else can. After watching them I just accepted the fact that I could not possibly rewrite it or do any better because this guy has done it as perfect as perfect gets.
Today's post was supposed to highlight all the different features of of the Guild Wars 2 Crafting System. after I began working on it I decided to scrap this post entirely and flat out admit defeat to Enigmus1. I decided that it was more appropriate to just give credit where credit is due because this guy has done a fantastic job. He's made the best guided YouTube videos that I have seen for the game so far.
So here you are ladies and gentlemen – the Guild Wars 2 Crafting Guide that I could not possibly do any better and I willingly give the crown for best Guild Wars 2 Crafting Guide to Enigmus1 of Youtube.
"Guild Wars 2 Complete Beginner Crafting Guide"
It is so easy to create a YouTube video and throw it up haphazardly and declare it a guide. Clearly this person took a considerable amount of time to put this video together and they deserve all the credit in the world for doing that. Since Enigmus1 has done such an amazing job at this video, and many of his others on his channel, I would implore that you go to YouTube and follow this gentleman because he makes some of the best videos for Guild Wars 2 that I have seen so far.
Thanks for your time everyone. I will see you tomorrow!
Guild Wars 2 tells you exactly how to make gold. No seriously, it does!
Perhaps one of the coolest things that I found throughout playing the beta was that Guild Wars 2 has a feature built right into the trading post UI which essentially tells you how to make gold. I know it sounds a little bit strange but it is the truth! If you go into the second tab of the trading post there are four columns. The first is top valued items. The second is top supplied items. The third is top demanded items. Finally, the last one is top traded items. By using these tabs, namely the middle two, you can make a ton of gold on the Guild Wars 2 Trading Post.
This tip is very easy and it takes little effort to actually make gold. In essence all you are doing is taking the two middle lists and comparing them to one another to find discrepancies between the two. On the top supplied list, at least in the beta, the most supplied item was copper ore. Similarly the top demanded item was also copper ore. That stayed true throughout the entire beta weekend and it makes sense considering copper is used to level up almost all the professions in the game besides cooking. So when you take a look at the two lists what you want to do is find items that are on the top demanded list, but not on the top supplied list. You can probably tell by now that what I'm about to explain is just simple supply and demand understanding. It is the classic example of buying an item at a low price and selling it at a higher one. The other thing you could do if you are not wanting to just buy the items to resell them would be to gather your own items by way of the different gathering professions or even utilizing the salvaging ability which rewards you with trophies and things of that nature. During the beta trophies were a hot-selling item for many people who want to level up there crafting quickly.
During the course of the beta I spent an extensive amount of time obtaining the items that were on the top demanded list and not on the top supplied list. In most cases I sold them in a relatively short amount of time, but just like everything that you sell in the game it is always a bit of a tossup. In the coming weeks I will try to outline some strategies for how to price your items beyond what is already built into the interface of the game. While it is nice to have the option of matching the lowest bidder and things of that nature you can still place your own prices on items. Undercutting doesn't always constitute the best method for selling an item believe it or not. In fact – many times you can actually place your item for the same price or even a small bit higher and still sell your items. This is not any less true when you're selling items from the top demanded list. The beauty of selling items that are in high demand is that you are controlling the prices for the most part. So selling these items means that you can get a little bit more than you normally would under different circumstances.
In many of the MMO's that we played in the past pricing was entirely revolved around doing your own research. The nice thing about the Guild Wars 2 Trading Post interface is that it's constantly tracking data for you. Things like Gems and the prices of Copper Ore are told to you right on the main screen of the trading post. This cuts down on a lot of extra time wasted doing the research and can now be redistributed to doing other things like gathering or crafting for profits.
Guild Wars 2 trading post special Saturday update on incorrect information.
I know initially I had said that I won't be writing posts on Saturdays. That is still going to be true, but on rare occasions I may throw one up if I have nothing else going on. In this case the Olympics are boring me to death since there are no good events on and I decided that I should clarify some misinformation that was posted on another blog out there. It pertains to the Guild Wars 2 Trading Post and certain strategies that some believe will work to make gold which are actually physically impossible.
What am I talking about? Well it pertains to another blog that stated you should sell vendor items on the Guild Wars 2 Trading Post. One of the things I meant to research during the beta was whether or not you could actually sell vendor purchased gathering tools on the trading post. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to look into it when the time came. The game was just so fun and I had so many things to look into that this flew under the radar and I'd never thought about it until the Monday morning after the beta had Artie shutdowns. At any rate – the strategy that this blog had stated was to buy vendor purchased gathering tools, put them on the auction house and sell them for a markup of 10 times what you could purchase them for at a vendor. This in and of itself isn't a bad idea and I would absolutely suggest you do it, but it's the next part of their strategy that I wanted to set the record straight on.
This is the excerpt of their strategy and how you can make gold with a markup on vendor purchased gathering tools.
Player 1 lists Rough Mining Picks on the Trading Post for 10x the vendor price.
Player 2 uses up their last rough mining pick while farming in the game world. He sees a super rare mining node and has to decide between running back to town for a Rough Mining Pick or buying one from the Trading Post.
Both players benefit from the sale of that Rough Mining Pick! Also look into selling other vendor items like threads that are required to craft discipline recipes."
How many of you after reading that already recognize that this scenario is completely impossible? Those of us who have actually played the game and have a thorough understanding of the Guild Wars 2 Trading Post already know that you can purchase items on the trading post from anywhere in the world. In that sense this strategy is correct. Where the impossibility comes into play is that they would be buying this out of convenience and they would be willing to pay 10 times the vendor price of the item. This is subpar advice based on the fact that anything you purchase on the Guild Wars 2 trading post, whether you purchase it in the world or in town, must be retrieved at the trading post itself.
So the idea that somebody is willing to pay 10 times the vendor price is highly unlikely considering they would be forced to go into a town, which already would contain the vendor selling their item, to pick up whatever they had just purchased on the trading post. When I first decided to correct this misinformation I debated whether or not to add a link to this blog. It may be a bit controversial, but I have decided that I will not do that on the grounds that they are providing inaccurate information. In addition to that the blog writer is writing about making gold in Guild Wars 2 having openly admitted to never playing the game before. Something that I find to be absolutely deplorable.
As you can tell this post doesn't pertain so much to making gold as it does to correcting information that has been put out that is absolutely incorrect. I believe that part of blogging, especially when you're trying to help other people, is getting your information as accurate as you possibly can. When someone admits that they have never played the game before and they get this sort of information incorrect I am more than happy to step up and let people know that it is incorrect – and provide the correct information. If people were to read that and start pricing their items on the basis that they can sell them for convenience at a severe markup they stand to lose money in a big way. I don't want that for any of the fantastic readers of this site so now you know and you got the correct information.
If someone has tested out whether or not you can sell vendor purchase items on the Guild Wars 2 Trading Post. I'd be very grateful if you would pass along the information as to being able to sell vendor purchased items.
I'm not going to make it a habit of calling out other blogs on this site. I strive to keep the community that I'm working on building as drama free as possible; however, I will always make it a point to correct misinformation no matter how basic it is. This is a great example because knowing that you need to go back to a trading post to pick up your items is one of the most basic things to understand when purchasing items on the Guild Wars 2 Trading Post. There really is no excuse for not knowing this considering it is the second line of the Guild Wars 2 Trading Post wiki page.
Thank you for your time everyone and I will talk to you tomorrow!
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Guild Wars 2 Gold Guides. Do you need them? Not at all!
This isn't so much a warning to MMO players, but more just to those players who are new. If you have been playing MMO games like Guild Wars 2 you have no doubt run into those shady, scammy-looking, self-proclaimed best asset for making gold in the entire world guides. Many people do buy them. It is sort of that same thing where people will buy gold from websites. Heck!--it even goes beyond videogames. Get rich quick books have been around for ages--probably since books were first published, but you get what I am saying. The point is those books and guides exist because there is a demand for them from certain types of people.
In the coming weeks you will be seeing a whole slew of Guild Wars 2 Gold Guides popping up saying that you can make tons of gold on the Guild Wars 2 Trading Post. I am here to tell you that while you can buy them; you really do not need one. So don't let yourself be fooled into thinking that you do. If you are going to spend your money on a way to make gold, why not just invest in gems anyway? Although you could just use a site that gives out what is essentially a Free Guild Wars 2 gold guide. Hmm, I wonder where someone would find a site like that?
I have reviewed countless guides since I started blogging. I've seen guides for World of Warcraft, Aion, Warhammer, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Guild Wars, Diablo 3, Rift and some I'm sure I've forgotten. One guide author, and I won't call him out at this point, jumps from game to game and has already announced that he is going to be moving on to Guild Wars 2. He used to run a World of Warcraft blog which sold a guide, then he moved to Diablo 3 [also sold a guide] and runs a "How to blog" website as well which sells numerous services related to getting readers to a blog. While he stands out the most only because I know him personally he is not alone. This is how most of these people operate. They will always be out trying to sell their stuff to the biggest market available and that is why you see them coming to Guild Wars 2.
Earlier I mentioned that guides exist for a certain market of people. I don't mean to insult anyone that has purchased one before, but the market I was referring to were people who are any one of the following things. Either they are gullible, they are lazy or they just don't know where to find the proper information. In most cases it is the last one. With the Internet being so big it is hard to ever find one specific thing in some cases and that is where the idea of having a guide is attractive to some. As someone who has always been against the selling of guides I would like to announce right now that I will be putting together a 100% free Guild Wars 2 Gold Guide! It isn't going to cost you a cent and that is the way free information should be. All these guides have information in them that is just collected, or even worse, recycled from previous guides that they have put out.
So what will be in the Free Guild Wars 2 Gold Guide?
I will be including as much as I possibly can, but it isn't going to happen overnight. It will be a constant ongoing process and it will never truly be complete. I will try to cover the most efficient ways to make gold in the game starting with the Guild Wars 2 Trading Post. This is a powerful tool since it is shared across all servers. Many people are already overwhelmed by the Guild Wars 2 Trading Post, but I am here to tell you that you need not be scared. One important thing to note is that there are always going to be more buyers than sellers. That is the nature of the market. So if you are adding a million new sellers that means that there are more than a million new buyers as well. That is the key component that many people are leaving out when they express their worry with the trading post.
There is so much more to the game than just the trading post though. There is also much to speak about on behalf of farming, crafting, exploring, trading gems, flipping items, identifying markets, increasing your own efficiency and much much more. This post would be way too long if I tried to even write a brief statement on each thing so I will save you the time for now.
My goal with providing a Free Guild Wars 2 Gold Guide is to eliminate the need for any of you to spend money. I am against those guides for many reasons. Not all of which I have already stated to you. That list is also extensive. On the other hand I do not go against new ideas and I will still do what I have always done and review any Guild Wars 2 Gold Guide that you guys want me to. I will give an honest review of the product and let you know right up front if you would be wasting your money or not.
In closing I want to wish you all a fantastic weekend and hope to see you back here on Monday! This site has exploded in the last week since the beta and I have even gotten a few nice e-mails as well. I want to encourage any of you that want to contact me or even contribute a guest post to do so through the contact me form on the top navigation bar.
Capitalizing on those lazy players on day one. Don't be one of them!
On opening day and the days following there is going to be a massive demand for trophy's in Guild Wars 2. One of the first things I started looking into when I began working on the Guild Wars 2 Gold Guide was trophy farming. The most profitable ventures in MMO's are the supply and sale of commodities that other players need. Players are always going to take the path of least resistance. Therefore many are likely to buy their materials rather than farm them for themselves. Use this opportunity to capitalize off of others lazy behavior and don't fall victim to the temptation of doing the same.
The strategy that I plan to use is to wait just a measly 48 hours after the game launches before I start to really hammer away on my professions. In my guide I stated that you need to get your crafting disciplines on their feet as early as you can. I still stand by that 100%; however, I also would consider saving money to make money and that would make waiting quite beneficial. I'm not saying to let your disciplines sit there and collect dust though. I am saying play the game as you normally would. All the trophies that you collect which help out your disciplines you should certainly use to advance them and discover new recipes. Everything else should be sold. Sell it early because those prices are likely to fall quickly. Learning from past MMO experiences I am expecting this to happen. I will explain a bit.
It is this brief period that you are going to sell everything that you possibly can that doesn't directly help you. You are going to amass a sizable amount of gold by unloading all those trophies. While other players may be out spending 100 gold on a stack you will get it just 48 hours later, if you choose to buy it, for much less. Maybe even half the cost. At this point you can get much cheaper materials and level your discipline for much less. This all falls under that age old saying "If you are saving money, you are making money."
If you are a bit worried with this strategy just keep a general eye on the markets when the beta rolls around. It is going to be a bit artificial since people know that they have a finite amount of time to play, but they are still going to have a certain sensibility about what they are purchasing. When the servers go live on July 20th just jot down on a piece of paper what the prices of ore are on the trading post. Wait four hours and track them again. Then wait another four hours and track them again. Do this as often as you are willing to spend time doing it. I assure you that after plotting it out on a graph you will see a declining trend in those prices. Whatever that trend happens to be just remember that it is with people who are radically spending their money.
The Guild Wars 2 gem trade has potential for massive profits using the most simple economic strategies.
One of the more interesting approaches by ArenaNet to fund the ongoing development of Guild Wars 2 is their idea to incorporate real-money transactions (RMT) into the game. Right now the only purchasable item in the game is gems, but who knows where that could take them years down the road. For today I will focus gems though. In case you don't know a thing about gems I wrote a post last Friday highlighting all the many currencies of Guild Wars 2. So if you are new be sure to go and take a look at that I will be right here waiting.
Gems will be an important item in the economy because they are purchased by players. I know that they can be traded for gold. That is a huge feature to the whole gems market that will be a gold makers dream. The most basic concept in economics is buy low, sell high and the potential for making tons of gold off of gems is no different. Because the entire market is driven on players purchasing gems for real money the price of gems will always be fluctuating. When a bunch of players buy them they will be worth less and when those gems are gone they will become more valuable. The way you make money on this is by anticipation and research. Unfortunately there is no way to know much about their pricing patterns at this point since we've got no legitimate market to reference at this juncture.
When the game launches there will be an incredible opportunity to make some serious gold. There will be no established pricing point so you could spend a few buck on some gems and sell them for gold. They will likely sell for much more in the first 48 hours than they will after that. If you are willing to spend $5-10 this may be the easiest way to get some capital and start your speedy journey to leveling up your professions.
Now if you aren't prone to spending real money on virtual item this is the other option. First--DO NOT buy any gems in the first 48 hours of the games launch for gold. They will be prices extremely high and players are going to be greedy trying to catch an early buck. Instead I would suggest you take note of the price as one of the first things you do when you log in on day 1. Then check that prices every few hours. If the prices drops then you keep waiting. Continue waiting for that price to fall. You will be amazed at how ridiculous the prices where when you logged in. This is common in every MMO to have ever been released. World of Warcraft, the game I came from, had this same thing happen with ores when Cataclysm launched.
Now that I've gotten the first 48 hours out of the way I will show you how to profit in the years after that. Or at least until they change things up entirely which isn't impossible.
The key to making money on gem sales will be in tracking the prices. There are common trends in MMO's in that prices rise an fall due to different levels of player activity. The game will have different levels of people playing it at different times. Day to day there will be more people online between the hours of 6PM and 10PM. Those are pretty standard peak hours for all online games. Then you have the weekly trends. More people will be playing the game on Friday and Saturday nights than any other time. These higher levels of player activity will result in more gems being purchased and thus the stock of gems will shrink. In turn, the prices of gems will rise due to that. Since gems are essentially a consumed item and they need to be purchased with real money its stock isn't as likely to be replenished as quickly as if it were crafting materials. At least that is general consensus across most of the community.
Going on a time slot of 6PM to 10PM is a great place to get started, but you will still want to personally track the prices because efficiency is key and you want to maximize the amount you are getting on your investments. You may be able to get 5-10% more just because you sold your gems at a certain time. It doesn't sound like much, but stretch that profit out over a few months and you will have accrued a nice chunk of gold. One of the major things I am covering in the Guild Wars 2 Gold Guide that I am working on is efficiency. There are always corners that can be cut for profit and it is important to identify them in order to squeeze extra gold out of your every interaction in the game.
Guild Wars 2 Day 1 Beta Impressions.
Hey everybody, this post isn't going to be as much about gold making but more or less just my impressions of the beta so far. Having spent only about five hours and at this point I have to say I am very much impressed with the game. My number one concern was the graphics from all the videos that I've seen. It just seemed a little bit like the graphics weren't as good as some of the other ones I've seen as far as the current generation of massively multi player online games go. I can confidently say now that the videos did not do the game any justice as far as the graphics. I am completely blown away by the way this game looks. It has some incredibly vivid colors and the terrain is just breathtaking. On top of that, the terrain itself just the way it's lain out is fantastic.
As far as the stability of the game goes I am also impressed with that as well. The setup that they chose where the have overflow servers is pretty genius if you ask me. I got a few notifications that had been placed in overflow server based on the server that I was playing on. What was nice about having these pop up was that they weren't intrusive in any way it was just a simple notification where you could click okay or I believe cancel. It didn't take any extra time to do anything there wasn't even a loading screen which was very nice. Now – I understand it is going to be a plethora of issues that need to be fixed before the game launches. That's common with just about any game nowadays. There's a few minor tweaks and glitches here and there that I've run into, but as long as you take the time to let the company know about it blows can have the chance to be fixed by the time the game launches.
I do have a few issues with the game right now. None of which are game breaking if you ask me. Perhaps my biggest gripe with the game comes with the jumping mechanic. Maybe it has to do with my experience in prior MMO's, most specifically World of Warcraft, but it seems like that jumping animation is incredibly fast. It seems like you jump up in the air and then you actually shoot back down to the ground which is really strange to me. I did make a point to check a few of the different races to see how it looked with them and I can say that the Charr make the animation look normal. Or at least more normal that is.
As I mentioned earlier I am very impressed with Guild Wars 2 so far. I look forward to testing out the game for the rest of the weekend and experiencing the content as I progress to the game. As I mentioned earlier this morning in my post my main goal, for myself, in testing out this game this weekend is to establish ways to make gold when the game finally launches. I will be putting out a few more updates tomorrow during the day, but I cannot tell you when they will happen because they are pretty spontaneous. I've also been taking a lot of video since the beta went live. In the coming days I will be uploading a lot of the videos to YouTube and putting them in posts on this site.
Stay tuned for all the posts that are coming up in the next 48 hours. Thank you and I hope you guys are enjoying the beta is much as I am!
Primary goals for Guild Wars 2 beta weekend.
For the vast majority of people who are going to take part in the final beta weekend it is just a chance to play the game that they've been anxiously following for the last 3+ years. To some extent I am the same way; however, I do have a little bit of homework to do while I enjoy Guild Wars 2 as well. That's right! I'm not just going into this weekend wanting to play the game. There are many questions to be answered at this point. What are gems going to trade for? What is the most efficient way to craft? What is the most efficient way to farm for crafting materials? Those are all important questions that need to be answered before the beta is over. I say need because a lot of the strategies for day one will depend on knowing those answers.
I understand the desire to just play, or test, the beta when you get into it. Many people would rather take these opportunities to play the game instead of doing a bit of homework. Majority of players are going to do that. Which is exactly why you will be ahead of the curve on day one if you take this time and spend just a few extra hours to familiarize yourself with some of the best gathering routes or even the locations of farms. It is having these small bits of information that add up to having a sizable advantage over your competition on day one. It sounds very korny to say, but moments like this really can separate you from the rest of the players.
I'm not going to tell you exactly what you should do this weekend. I never intended to tell you or anyone reading this site how to play the game. If I am telling you what to do you aren't playing the game for yourself and to me that just doesn't sound enjoyable. Researching doesn't mean you have to spend the entire weekend crunching numbers and recording vendor prices of items. One of the most simplistic things you could do would be track the price of gems. I have stated time and time again that the gem market will be an easy way to make money. Especially since they are all on a shared economy. What tracking the prices of gems will do is give you a loose prediction on what you can do at launch to turn profits on gems.
During this weekend, while you are enjoying the game, just keep a sheet of paper or two near you and keep note of different important things as you play/test Guild Wars 2. It is an important time to do some of the easy legwork in order to get the jump on your competition, but above all make sure you are enjoying yourself. It is going to be a very long month wait before we get to play the game again so get your fill.
See you all in beta!
P.S. I will be posting a daily update over the weekend on my findings. It may come across as the ramblings of a mad-person, but I will be playing extensively so I apologize in advance.
Understanding the flow of gems in Guild Wars 2.
Today's post is just a simple diagram that I created last night on the flow of gems in Guild Wars 2. Some people have been a little bit confused in thinking that they could purchase gems, using gold, from ArenaNet. This is not the case. You can purchase them with gold from other players, but not from Arenanet. Hopefully this will eliminate a bit of the confusion--or, given my artistic ability, it will make you more confused than ever before.
Gems will be a monster market in Guild Wars 2. Making gold off of gems will be as simple as the age old strategy of buy low, sell high. When the supply is high you will buy, buy, buy. When it is low you will sell, sell and sell some more.
Do your research during the beta. This also includes buying gems.
As we are here gearing up for the beta ArenaNet released a bit more information on what we can expect this weekend. The biggest thing they mentioned was actually old news for most people. It was announcing that we will be able to test out the Asura and Sylvari characters. if you are unfamiliar with these classes all you need to know is that the Asura have a character named Zojja and she is voices by Felicia Day. If you don't know who she is I can't help you sorry.
In addition to the new character classes we are also going to be able to see Brixban Wildlands for the first time. For me this consists mostly of gather, discovering farms and locating major points of interest for gold making. I will be trying to compile a list, with locations, of all the farms that I can get around to finding. Some of them are public information already, but then again everything is public information as some point when the Internet is involved.
Keg Brawling is something that I have to be honest and say I haven't heard of before. I don't follow every forums on the Internet so it may have been mentioned and slipped through my fingers. My apologies--I'm human. At any rate Keg brawling is a mini-game where you are tossing kegs across an icy lake and try to fill up Ale Collectors belonging to your opponents.
Then there are Vistas... Something I have a hard time getting excited out. It is a panoramic view of the area that you are in. This video that ArenaNet linked to pretty much carries the same level of excitement that I have for vistas, but don't take my word for it.
Last bit of non-information pertaining to the beta before I get into the guts of it is additional maps for PvP and expanded World versus World compared to previous beta weekends.
This is the part of the post that gets into the gold making side of things. You know--the reason which you are likely here for. They have opened the gem store for the beta which to some may seem a bit strange, but don't worry. I would actually suggest purchasing some gems this weekend. Don't go crazy and spend a hundred dollars or anything like that, but spend a few bucks. I suggest this strictly for research purposes. Oh yeah--and you get those gems back when the game launches so it's not like you're flushing money down the turlet. Even though this weekend is just a beta people have spent real money on gems so they aren't going to spend them like they are play money. They may be a bit more cavalier than they would at launch, but it will still be a good measure of what you can expect at launch.
If you really are against the whole Guild Wars 2 Real-Money Transaction thing you can just wait for my to post my own findings. I do want to stress that I am just one person so don't take my findings as carved in stone statistics. Hopefully enough people will purchase gems knowing they will get them back. If that is so we will get a pretty good cross-section of what to expect on launch day.
The thing you will want to do is track the prices of gems from opening day until the beta shuts down. The more often you can track them the better off you will be. Having more data is always best; which I'm sure I didn't need to tell you.
I wasn't able to get into the Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend what do I do?
If you weren't able to get into the beta weekend you aren't out of luck. First I would like to know why the hell you didn't preorder the game since it granted beta access. I'm joking. I understand that some people don't go for preorders and that is fine. If you aren't going to be participating in the beta you can still watch any one of the thousands of live streams that will be going on. I am still debating whether I will be doing so or not. It will come down to whether I see a drop in performance or not when I am streaming. Either way though, if I don't stream you can watch the official Guild Wars 2 Twitch.TV Channel. There will also be a live stream from the guys as TheTyrianOrder as well.
I will try to publish a streams list on Friday before I get going if I have the time so you can jump around if you like. No promises though.
So how do I make gold in Guild Wars 2?
How do I make gold in Guild Wars 2?
For anyone just starting out in an MMO, or even just a new MMO, it can be extremely overwhelming when you begin. Quickly you realize that the game is significantly less enjoyable when you lack gold. Without gold you are actually held back from doing some of the most fun things the game has to offer! Repair costs alone can run people broke if they don't have a steady income in the game. In many ways Guild Wars 2 is like real life. If you play the game regularly you will have regular recurring gold costs that are, in most cases, unavoidable. This leads all Guild Wars 2 players to the same question. "So how do I make gold in Guild Wars 2?"
Most players have little desire or motivation to make gold to the extent that I want to. I wanna roll in it! Many players just want to have enough to participate with their friends and/or guild-mates. So that becomes a different challenge. That's right, making less gold can be more of a challenge for some. You see people, like me, who want to make incredible quantities of gold are into controlling markets, playing trends, and just plain old fashioned ruthless economics. Where other players may be willing to go to that point, they just don't know where to start. So I thought about how someone who is just wanting to make enough to have a good time would go about doing that. Here is exactly How to make gold in Guild Wars 2.
The key to making gold is to go for those simplistic markets that you can drop in an out of without having to go up against competition. Those would include food ingredients, ore, wood and even bags will be fine. Bags may be a bit more competitive, but they will always be a big seller so I wouldn't shy away from selling them.
The second way is farming. There are two ways you can make money doing this. Sometimes people will literally hire you to go out and farm for them. While this may not be the most graceful way to play the game it is easy to do and you can pretty much shut your brain off while you are doing it. Of course this would be the option only in the case when the crafting materials market is in the tank and selling ore yourself would seem like a lot of work for little reward. This is likely to happen when the bots come crawling out of the woodwork. I know it seems strange to suggest being a farmer-for-hire, but in many cases those that are just looking for a little gold to get by do not have their professions leveled up--thus why I suggest this method. Guild Wars 2 caters to this because you don't have a physical profession to get leveled up in order to utilize your gathering skills.
Guild Wars 2 Gems will be a great way to make gold!
Third would be gems. The price of gems is going to fluctuate a ton. The only way for gems to enter the market is by way of real money transactions. The thing we don't know right now is how much people will be willing to purchase them. I know of a few people that are going to go by one rule of thumb. They are not going to spend more than $14.99 in a month. You probably already know, but that is the cost of a months subscription in any other MMO that you would play. I tend to agree that this is pretty safe rule to go with and I actually think many players will do this. The second aspect to this is that many players are completely against purchasing virtual items for real money and this leads to gems being in short supply. They are also an item that is destroyed upon use so I think that there will be regular shortages of gems for those people willing to trade gold for them. Due to this there will always be a market for the purchase and sale of gems. At that point you just play the market. Buy low and sell them when they are high. Or if you want to spend a few bucks you could just buy some and trade them for gold, but honestly that would be my final choice.
There really are no shortage of ways to make gold. Those three I just told you about are going to be the most simplistic that I can think of at this point. I may append a few more to this post for history sake if I run across any more or I may just make a part two to it. I don't know at this point. When the beta is complete we will have some solid numbers to go for you. In the meantime for all of you casual players just wanting to make a bit of gold when the game launches. You're welcome.
Guild Wars 2 professions builds application. Get your profession fine tuned for beta weekend.
Today's post is not so much a gold tip, but it pertains to the upcoming beta weekend on July 20th-22nd. At this point anyone who is waiting to play/test Guild Wars 2 is going bonkers in anticipation. This application has been around for quite a while, but I have gotten a few email from people asking about the best builds for gold-making. The cool thing about Guild Wars 2 is that there really isn't a premium build that is better for making gold. Any situation where you are going to be making gold you are just playing the game and killing monsters so rather than find an elite build you should just aim for a build that you enjoy and can handle doing for a long long time.
If you would like to find a build for your desired profession here is a Guild Wars 2 profession builder application that you can play around with. I have researched a few for myself with this. It's not perfect, but it is one of the best I have seen up to this point.
It is important to note that this builder is based off the first beta weekend, but for the most part the builds themselves are unchanged.
In addition to researching your own builds you an also view some of the others that have been created and discuss them. Guild Wars 2 doesn't have the same talent tree system that some of you may be used to. It is much more simplistic than some, but it still makes each choice you make just as important.
The presumed final beta weekend is fast approaching. As of writing this ArenaNet have not stated that there will be another one so be sure to use this opportunity to research your gold making strategies for launch day. One of the most important steps for Dominating On Day 1 involves this coming weekends beta. Enjoy playing around with the builder for the rest of the day and I will see you right back here tomorrow for more gold making strategies!
Guild Wars 2 overflow servers explained and why they are great for those wanting to make gold.
If you are a fanatic of Guild Wars 2 you've probably heard by now about their overflow server system. Basically what it does is put on you on a different "overflow server" if your normal server is currently full. This is great for everyone, but for people who are there to make gold this is fantastic. What this does is eliminate the need to worry about a server when you do decide to play. Let me elaborate a bit. One of the worst things for a gold maker is to log in to a game and have to sit in a queue waiting to get into the game. This is completely dead time that could have been used for farming, selling or crafting. Dead time is completely eliminated with the implementation of the overflow servers.
Just a quick little side note for those of you that have no idea what the hell I am talking about when I say overflow servers. Basically what this is, is a system that ArenaNet have designed to completely eliminate server queues. For example. If a server can hold 10,000 people and it reaches its capacity; when you try to log in to the game you are placed on a live, fully playable, server until you are able to be transferred to your server. They haven't said if you will have to reload of if it will just be switched on the fly, but either way this is a great system. There you go. The more you know!
Not only are these servers a great idea, but they also make the decision of what server to join easier. Well--not easier. It just makes it a non-issue really. When I was playing World of Warcraft I chose to go onto a server that had a mid-range population because I knew that when expansions and major patches came around I wouldn't have to sit and watch a number shrink for 45 minutes before I was able to get into the game. This system eliminates that. With the waiting period not being a problem I can now head on to a much larger, more populated server. So what does that mean? It means that we now have much larger person to person trading markets to work with using the buy/sell requests. More players to sell to and more players out there to provide the crafting materials that I need to make items to sell.
With a larger economy comes more competition as well. If you use everything that you are taught on this site and in my FREE GUIDE you will have no trouble competing with other players. Not only will you be competitive but you can also monopolize entire markets if you play your card right.
Being that we are on a special server, as far as I have heard, I am still curious if posting things on the trading post will be allowed. I haven't heard any official thing on this and I have been digging around a little bit. I would think that it will be possible, but I don't want to assume anything and have to eat my words down the road.
Regardless of the trading post question the overflow server system is a genius idea and it eliminates many worries that I have had pertaining to server populations. When I can focus on what markets to play rather than what server to choose it makes the pre-release research that I have been doing much easier. Before the overflow servers came around I was more interested in where certain communities where going to be playing and less about making gold. Thanks to ArenaNets design I can focus all my efforts between now and release on developing new strategies for making gold--which is what this site is all about.
Bags are, and will always be, the most stable market in Guild Wars 2.
So what should you be selling in Guild Wars 2? That question is tough to answer without having the game itself to reference and point you in the correct direction, but there are a few items that we already know will sell. Certain items in the game will not only sell, but they have to sell. One of the most important must-sell items that is in Guild Wars 2 are bags. If you were asking the question "What should I sell to make easy money?" My answer for you would be bags.
The unique thing about Guild Wars 2 compared to other MMO's is that the crafting of bags isn't limited to one profession which means this market is easier to get into. Bags are, and always will, be used by every single character in the game. What other item in the game can you say is used by every person who plays the game? That is why if you need a fail-safe market this is where you need to go. The way the game is setup every player will have seven bags. Three of those slots will have to be purchased with gems. I will get into gems in a later post since those are going to be another way to rake in serious gold. The number that matters to you most is seven. Every character that is created will have seven bag slots and all of them are potential sales for you.
OK--now lets get into the nitty gritty of bags a bit.
The three different disciplines that can craft bags are Armorsmithing, Leatherworking and Tailoring. While they all create bags they do not all create identical bags. Each of the three disciplines can put different modifiers on their product. This is great because it will create a demand for certain products that you can create in addition to the constant market that bags already provides.
Basic - This is just your normal bag.
Craftsmans's Bag - All crafted material that you pick up is automatically placed here.
Invisible bags, pack and safe boxes - This is essentially a safety deposit bag. When something is placed in this bag it doesn't move, it can't be sold and it doesn't get sorted when you sort your inventory. This is an awesome idea for alternate gear sets and important items that you may have in your inventory when you are selling items quickly.
Oiled Packs - These are your junk bags. The crap that you pick up will go here. It is just a nice way to keep the junk/grey items separate from your other stuff.
Padded Boxes - These bags automatically sort your weapons and armor that you pick up.
As you can tell all the special feature essentially sorting your stuff for you. It is a nice feature to have when you are firing through tons of items. You will no doubt be doing that if you are going to be making gold.
Bag sizes are going to be the biggest kicker in pricing points. Right now the known bag sizes are 8, 10, 12, 15, 18 and 20 Slots. As they get larger they require materials that are significantly more expensive. I'm sure you knew that was coming. Depending on which size bag you want to craft you will need a Rune Of Holding. There are also different tiers of runes which make it tougher to craft those high end bags--thus why 20 slot bags are going to be much more expensive.
I didn't want to get into too much information when it comes to bags because a lot of it is just spewing up numbers and stuff like that. It is impossible to nail down profit numbers when I have no economic information to go off of and also I must point out that every server will be different. The only thing that is set in stone is exactly what I said in the beginning. Everyone will need bags.
Guild Wars 2 chat channels should be your greatest asset for making gold.
In every MMO I've played the number one place that I take advantage of is the chat channels. More specific the trade chat channel in World of Warcraft. The equivalent in Guild Wars 2 is the local chat channel. Guild Wars 2 Gold Guide is a huge supporter of using chat channels to make profits. There are so many reasons why using in-game chat is almost better than using the different trading posts. There are numerous advantages that do everything from increase productivity, cut down costs and even building relationships with other players which, if you ask me, is priceless.
The staple reasons why using trade chat come down to the most important thing when making gold. Everything you do should be done with efficiency in mind. So how does trade chat make you more efficient?
You can negotiate prices! You are dealing directly with a person that you can convince to sell to you at a lower price. When you purchase crafting materials or gear on the trading post you don't get that luxury. If you can get an item for one gold less and you are buying 1,000 of them you just saved yourself 1,000 gold. This is a huge plus mark in the efficiency category.
Cutting down costs. Whenever you sell anything on the trading post you are giving away 5% of your profits to ArenaNet. There are fees of gold whenever you sell on the trading post and utilizing local chat you can eliminate that fee. This is a big deal when you get into the high price items that are selling for hundreds or even thousands of gold.
Building business relationships. If you begin dealing with the same people day after day you are building up a relationship with them. With relationships and friendships people are much more likely to throw you a bone once in a while as long as you don't continually take advantage of them. So if you can float them a piece of gear for a discount while they are giving you discounted crafting materials this is a great way to increase your profits.
Local Chat is full of people looking for instant gratification. People that are using local chat are wanting something then and now. If you are there to provide them with their needs you are helping them out. When people want instant gratification they are much more likely to pay more for an item. The trading post can be accessed from anywhere, but people are going to be hanging out in the cities more often than you would expect. It is just the nature of MMO's.
There are very few deals on the trading post. When people are selling things on the trading post they are, in most cases, interested in getting as much as they can for their items. If you are dealing in trade chat people may be doing a selling three for the price of two or something like that. These are steals as long as the item they are selling can be resold. You just don't get to see this sort of stuff on the trading post.
There are dozens of other reasons why you should be using local chat. I do want to clarify and make sure you guys know that I am not telling you to stay away from the trading post all together. You should be using the local chat as a compliment to what you are already doing. There are just as many benefits to using the trading post. Most of which I do not need to explain right now, but the one I will point out is that you are getting a demographic of buyers many many times what you would see in local chat.
Making money with Guild Wars 2 crafting disciplines. Picking disciplines that compliment one another.
The primary ways that you will make gold in Guild Wars 2 comes from your crafting disciplines. Here at Guild Wars 2 Gold Guide I am always trying to find the latest and greatest ways to make you gold using them. All MMO's have an economy that largely revolves around their crafting professions. This is because it is the only aspect of the game that has no limitations to what you can do. If you play the economy the game never ends. While people participating in PvE aspect of the game may clear all the content there is no end game for the economy. So while other players may be bored with the game you are still there supplying players with everything that they want and need.
So how do you make money with your Guild Wars 2 crafting disciplines?
Weaponsmith, Armorsmith, Artificer, Leatherworker, Jeweler, Chef, Tailor, Huntsman.
When you are picking a discipline you need to decide which ones people will need the most. The first choices should be a Weaponsmith. I say this because people can play the game for a little while and not have a certain piece of gear on their character, but no one can play the game without a weapon. Then you've got to look at which weapons are being used the most. Artificers will cover magical weapons; so Foruc, Staves, Scepters and Tridents. On the other hand a Weaponsmith can craft axes, daggers, greatswords, hammers, maces, shields, spears and swords. You are covering many more weapons if you go with a Weaponsmith so that could be your first choice.
The thing that I predict already is that many players are going to hop on the Weaponsmith discipline. Don't let this shy you away from picking it up though. You just need to get a leg up on them and be ultra competitive when the game launches.
After your first profession it gets more difficult to determine what you should be doing. What I would do is pick a profession that can help out my own character if I am going to play the game outside of just dominating the economy. So that means if I were going to be a Soldier class I would want to become an Armorsmith. It is a profession that will give me a benefit to have and it will also provide other players as well. As an added bonus I will also have extra information to use when selling items from that profession since I will have a better understanding of what my class is looking for.
The goal is to have professions that are going to compliment what you are playing. If you are only going to play the economy it really doesn't matter what you pick, but it would be a shame to level something up to 400 and have it be useless for you. If you are unsure which professions interest you or which ones you think you should be using you can use what I have just taught you to make your decision easier, but ultimately it comes down to your play style. You don't want to be doing any profession that is a bore to you so choose wisely. | 2019-04-20T21:08:32Z | http://www.guildwars2riches.com/2012/07/ |
In a vacuum processing system used in a semiconductor device manufacturing process, a plate-shaped placement area protector made of a dielectric material having a surface of dimensions and shape matching those of a surface of a substrate or an area for substrate placement in a surface of a substrate stage in place of the substrate. An etching gas is introduced into a vacuum vessel by a gas introduction mechanism and predetermined high-frequency electromagnetic wave power is applied to the substrate stage from a stage high-frequency electromagnetic wave power source. Plasma is formed in the proximity of the surface of the substrate stage by the applied high-frequency electromagnetic wave power, and a deposited film on the surface of the substrate stage is removed with the plasma. The placement area protector has the same electrical properties as the deposited film.
This is a Continuation-in-Part of application Ser. No. 08/654,873 filed May 29, 1996, now abandoned.
This invention relates to an improvement in a plasma cleaning method for removing a thin film deposited on the inner face of a vacuum vessel and the surfaces of members in the vacuum vessel in a vacuum processing system such as a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system used in a semiconductor device manufacturing process, for example.
FIG. 5 is an illustration showing a schematic configuration of a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system as an example of a conventional vacuum processing system.
The plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system shown in FIG. 5 consists mainly of a vacuum vessel 1 provided with an exhaust channel 11, a gas introduction mechanism 2 for introducing a predetermined gas into the vacuum vessel 1, a power supply mechanism 3 for energizing the introduced gas for forming plasma, and a substrate stage 4 for placing a substrate 40 on which a thin film is to be deposited.
The system in FIG. 5 carries the substrate 40 into the vacuum vessel 1 through a gate valve (not shown) and places the substrate 40 on the substrate stage 4. After evacuating the air in the vacuum vessel 1 through the exhaust channel 11, the system introduces a predetermined gas by the gas introduction mechanism 2. Next, the system applies energy of high-frequency electromagnetic wave power to the gas in the vacuum vessel 1 by the power supply mechanism 3 for forming plasma. Then, the system deposits a predetermined thin film on the surface of the substrate 40 by a vapor reaction enhanced by the plasma. For example, if mono-silane gas and oxygen gas are introduced by the gas introduction mechanism 2, the plasma causes a decomposition reaction, and a silicon oxide thin film is deposited on the surface of the substrate 40.
When the thin film deposition is repeated in the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system, a phenomenon occurs in which a silicon oxide thin film is also deposited on the surface of the substrate stage 4 exposed to the plasma and the inner face of the vacuum vessel 1. As the thin film is deposited on them, it will soon peel off due to the internal stress of the thin film, causing fine particulates to occur. If the fine particulates adhere to the silicon oxide thin film on the substrate 40, it causes a surface contamination to occur, degrading the commodity value of the silicon oxide thin film.
Such a problem occurs not only in the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system, but also in a vacuum processing system such as a plasma etching system. That is, an etched material is deposited on the surface of a substrate stage and the inner wall of a vacuum vessel, depositing a thin film, which will peel off, causing fine particulates to occur, damaging circuitry on the substrate.
To suppress such a deposited film peeling, a plasma cleaning technique is generally used for etching and removing the unwanted deposited film before it peels off and contaminates a deposited thin film. In the technique, mixed gas of perfluorocarbon 14 gas (CF4):oxygen gas=80:20 or so is introduced into the vacuum vessel 1 by the gas introduction mechanism 2, plasma of the perfluorocarbon 14 gas and oxygen gas is generated, and the unwanted deposited film is etched and removed by the action of the plasma. That is, radial CFx (x=1, 2, or 3), CFx ions (x=1, 2, or 3), radial fluorine, or fluorine ions are generated in the plasma, and the fluorine radicals or ions react with the unwanted deposited film to yield volatile material, which is then discharged through the exhaust channel 11, thereby removing the thin film.
In the vacuum processing system in which the plasma cleaning is executed, the members are situated according to the concept that plasma is formed essentially for substrate processing. Thus, if the substrate stage is positioned such that it is exposed to too much plasma, damage to the substrate will result. Therefore, the substrate stage is located at a position considerably distant from the plasma forming place. In this case, when the plasma cleaning is executed, the plasma density in the vicinity of the surface of the substrate stage is unavoidably lowered. As a result, removal of the deposited film on the surface of the substrate stage requires a prolonged duration for plasma cleaning.
Particularly, in a thin film deposition system such as a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system, a thin film is not deposited on the area covered with the substrate during the processing, which will be hereinafter referred to as the “placement area”, on the surface of the substrate stage, but is deposited on an uncovered surface area, which will be hereinafter referred to as the “non-placement area”. In recent years, various attempts have been made to enhance the film deposition rate. Such attempts result in not only high-rate film deposition on the substrate, but also deposition of a thick film on the non-placement area of the substrate stage.
Since only low-density plasma is exposed to the non-placement area of the substrate stage on which such a thick film is deposited, a serious problem of prolonging the plasma cleaning and lowering the availability of the system arises.
In plasma cleaning of the chamber, such as the inner face of the vacuum vessel, other than the substrate stage, the etch rate cannot sufficiently be increased and the plasma cleaning time period cannot be shortened.
It is therefore an object of the invention to enable short-time completion of plasma cleaning for removing a thin film deposited on the surface of a substrate stage in a vacuum vessel and so forth, to improve the availability of a system.
In attaining the above object, an aspect of the invention provides a plasma cleaning method comprising the steps of: placing a plate-shaped placement area protector made of a dielectric material having a surface of dimensions and shape matching those of a surface of a substrate to be processed or an area for substrate placement in a surface of a substrate stage, on the area for substrate placement so as to cover the area; introducing an etching gas into a vacuum vessel by a gas introduction mechanism; applying predetermined high-frequency electromagnetic wave power to the substrate stage from a stage high-frequency electromagnetic wave power supply so as to form plasma in the proximity of the surface of the substrate stage; and removing a film deposited on the surface of the substrate stage and an inner face of the vacuum vessel by using an etching action of the gas enhanced by the plasma.
Another aspect of the invention provides a plate-shaped placement area protector used in a plasma cleaning method comprising the steps of: placing the placement area protector on an area for substrate placement in a surface of a substrate stage in a vacuum vessel so as to cover the area; introducing an etching gas into the vacuum vessel; applying predetermined high-frequency electromagnetic wave power to the substrate stage so as to form plasma in the proximity of the surface of the substrate stage; and removing a film deposited on the surface of the substrate stage and an inner face of the vacuum vessel by using an etching action of the gas enhanced by the plasma, wherein the placement area protector is made of a dielectric material having a surface of dimensions and shape matching those of a surface of a substrate to be processed or the area for substrate placement.
FIG. 5 is a view showing a schematic configuration of a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system as an example of a conventional vacuum processing system.
Referring now to the accompanying drawings, there is shown a preferred embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a vacuum processing system wherein a plasma cleaning method according to an embodiment of the invention is executed; it shows a schematic configuration of a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system as one example.
Like the system shown in FIG. 5, the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system shown in FIG. 1 comprises a vacuum vessel 1 provided with an exhaust channel 11, a gas introduction mechanism 2 for introducing a predetermined gas into the vacuum vessel 1, a power supply mechanism 3 for energizing the introduced gas for forming plasma, and a substrate stage 4 for placing a substrate on which a thin film is to be deposited. The system further comprises a stage high-frequency electromagnetic wave power supply 41 for applying predetermined high-frequency electromagnetic wave power to the substrate stage 4.
The vacuum vessel 1 comprises a film depositing chamber 101 and an air evacuating chamber 102 having a little large space positioned below the film depositing chamber 101. The part defining the film depositing chamber 101 and the part defining the air evacuating chamber 102 can be separated from each other for maintenance of the members in the vacuum vessel 1.
The container wall of the vacuum vessel 1 in the part of the film depositing chamber 101 is provided with a gate valve (not shown) and the container wall in the part of the air evacuating chamber 102 is provided with an exhaust pipe 13 to which the exhaust channel 11 is connected. The exhaust channel 11 consists mainly of a roughing vacuum pump 111, a main pump 112 placed at the stage preceding the roughing vacuum pump 111, and a main valve 113 and a variable conductance valve 114 disposed on an exhaust path for exhausting by the pumps 111 and 112.
The vacuum vessel 1 has a bell jar 12 on the top thereof. A circular opening is made at the center of the upper container wall of the vacuum vessel 1 and the bell jar 12 is connected to the opening in airtight relation. The bell jar 12 has a dome shape of about 200 mm in diameter and is made of a dielectric material such as silica glass.
In the example shown in FIG. 1, the gas introduction mechanism 2 comprises two gas introduction channels 21 and 22 so that it can introduce two different gases at the same time. The gas introduction channel 21 (22) consists mainly of piping 211 (221) connected to a tank (not shown) and a gas introduction body 212 (222) connected to the end portion of the piping 211 (221).
FIG. 2 is a view showing the structure of the gas introduction body 212, 222. As shown in FIG. 2, the gas introduction body 212, 222 is made of an annular pipe having a circular cross section. It is supported by a support rod 23 disposed in the vacuum vessel 1 and is placed horizontally along the inner face of the vacuum vessel 1. The vacuum vessel 1 may be cylindrical or square-tubular.
Further, a transport pipe 24 is provided in a state in which it passes through the wall of the vacuum vessel 1 in airtight relation; it is connected at one end to the gas introduction body 212, 222 and at the other end to the piping 211, 221 in FIGS. 1 and 2.
As shown in FIG. 2, the gas introduction body 212, 222 has gas spouting holes 25 on the inner side face. The gas spouting holes 25 are openings each having about 0.5 mm in diameter and disposed on the peripheral surface at intervals of about 10 mm.
On the other hand, referring again to FIG. 1, the power supply mechanism 3 consists mainly of a high-frequency coil 31 disposed surrounding the bell jar 12, and a high-frequency electromagnetic wave power supply 33 for supplying high-frequency electromagnetic wave power via a matching box 32 to the high-frequency coils 31. For example, a device for generating high-frequency electromagnetic wave power of 13.56 MHz is adopted as the high-frequency electromagnetic wave power supply 33; the high-frequency electromagnetic wave power is supplied from the high-frequency coil 31 to the bell jar 12.
The substrate stage 4 is disposed below the bell jar 12 in the vacuum vessel 1. It is provided to place a substrate 40 to be processed on the surface thereof and consists mainly of a stage main body 401 made of metal and a chucking dielectric block 402 disposed on the top of the stage main body 401.
The substrate stage 4 adopts a mechanism for chucking the substrate 40 on the surface thereof by electrostatic chucking, and a chucking electrode 403 is embedded in the chucking dielectric block 402. A chucking power supply 404 is provided for giving a predetermined potential to the chucking electrode 403, whereby static electricity is produced on the surface of the dielectric block for chucking the substrate.
A shield plate 405 is disposed so as to cover the side faces of the substrate stage 4, and an insulation block 406 is placed between the shield plate 405 and the substrate stage 4. The shield plate 405 is provided to prevent plasma from turning and going to the sides of the substrate stage 4 and forming high-frequency discharge. It is formed of predetermined metal and is grounded.
As described above, the substrate stage 4 is provided with the stage high-frequency electromagnetic wave power supply 41 for applying predetermined high-frequency electromagnetic wave power. This stage high-frequency electromagnetic wave power supply 41 operates so as to apply a predetermined substrate bias voltage to the substrate 40 by the interaction between plasma and high frequency during the processing; it operates so as to form plasma in the proximity of the surface of the substrate stage 4 at the plasma cleaning time, as described below.
Next, the operation of the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system will be discussed.
First, the substrate 40 is transferred into the vacuum vessel 1 through the gate valve (not shown) disposed in the vacuum vessel 1 and is placed on the substrate stage 4. The gate valve is closed and the exhaust channel 11 is operated for evacuating the vacuum vessel 1 to about 5 mTorr, for example.
Next, the gas introduction mechanism 2 is operated for introducing predetermined gases into the vacuum vessel 1 at a predetermined flow rate. At this time, the gases are supplied from the pipings 211 and 221 via the transport pipes 24 to the gas introduction bodies 212 and 222, and are spouted out and introduced into the vacuum vessel 1 through the gas spouting holes 25 of the gas introduction bodies 212 and 222. The introduced gases diffuse in the vacuum vessel 1 and reach the inside of the bell jar 12.
In this state, the power supply mechanism 3 is operated for applying about 13.56-MHz, 2000-W high-frequency electromagnetic wave power from the high-frequency electromagnetic wave power supply 33 via the matching box 32 to the high-frequency coil 31. At the same time, the stage high-frequency electromagnetic wave power supply 41 is also operated for applying a predetermined bias voltage to the substrate 40. This bias voltage is produced by the interaction between the high frequency given by the stage high-frequency electromagnetic wave power supply 41 and plasma.
The high-frequency electromagnetic wave power supplied by the power supply mechanism 3 is introduced into the bell jar 12 through the high-frequency coil 31 and energizes the gases existing in the bell jar 12 for producing plasma. The produced plasma diffuses downward from the bell jar 12 to the substrate 40. In the plasma, a predetermined product is produced, which then arrives at the substrate 40, whereby a predetermined thin film is deposited. At this time, the bias voltage generated by the stage high-frequency electromagnetic wave power supply 41 causes the ions in the plasma to be accelerated and collide with the substrate 40. Film deposition is efficiently executed by energy of the collision.
For example, during processing for depositing a silicon oxide thin film, a mono-silane gas is introduced through the first gas introduction channel 21 and an oxygen gas is introduced through the second gas introduction channel 22. Mono-silane is decomposed by mono-silane/oxygen plasma and reacts with oxygen to deposit a silicon oxide thin film.
In the system shown in FIG. 1, high-density plasma of 1010 cm−3 or more can be produced in a region where the pressure in the film depositing chamber 101 is 100 mTorr or less, and a thin film can be deposited at a high film deposition rate with the high-density plasma.
As the thin film depositing process is repeated, a thin film is deposited on the inner face of the vacuum vessel 1, and the nonplacement area of the substrate stage 4. When the process has been repeated a considerable number of times, removal of the thin film is required and the following plasma cleaning is executed.
First, the processed substrate 40 is carried out, the gate valve (not shown) is closed, and the exhaust channel 11 is operated for once evacuating the vacuum vessel 1, then a placement area protector 400 is transferred into the vacuum vessel 1 through the gate valve and is placed on the substrate stage 4. That is, like the substrate 40, the placement area protector 400 is placed so as to cover the placement area otherwise covered with the substrate 40 placed thereon.
Next, the exhaust channel 11 is again operated for evacuating the vacuum vessel 1 to about 0.1 Torr. Then, the gas introduction mechanism 2 is operated for introducing perfluorocarbon 14 gas at a flow rate of 400 SCCM and oxygen gas at a flow rate of 100 SCCM into the vacuum vessel 1. To introduce the perfluorocarbon 14 gas, for example, a piping 26 of the perfluorocarbon 14 gas may be provided and connected to the piping 221 of mono-silane gas used for thin film deposition or the piping 211 of oxygen gas as plasma forming gas, and their valves may be switched selectively.
Then, the variable conductance valve 114 disposed in the exhaust channel 11 is controlled to maintain the pressure in the vacuum vessel 1 at about 2 Torr. In this state, the power supply mechanism 3 and the stage high-frequency electromagnetic wave power supply 41 are operated, whereby plasma is formed in the vacuum vessel 1. This differs from the processing of the substrate 40 in that supplementary plasma is also formed in the vicinity of the surface of the substrate stage 4 by the stage high-frequency electromagnetic wave power supply 41.
That is, high-frequency electromagnetic wave power applied by the stage high-frequency electromagnetic wave power supply 41 is introduced into the space in the proximity of the surface of the substrate stage 4 through the chucking dielectric block 402 of the substrate stage 4 and the placement area protector 400, and energizes gas existing in the space into plasma. On the other hand, the power supply mechanism 3 generates high-density plasma at a position considerably distant from the substrate stage 4 similarly to in the processing to the substrate 40.
Plasma is generated in such two places; it is formed efficiently in a wide space in the vacuum vessel 1. As a result, the unwanted deposited film on the inner wall of the vacuum vessel 1 and the non-placement area of the substrate stage 4 can be efficiently etched, thereby shortening the time period required for the plasma cleaning.
When gas was introduced, for example, under the conditions that high-frequency electromagnetic wave power given by the stage high-frequency electromagnetic wave power supply 41 was 1000 W at about 13.56 MHZ, that the power density resulting from dividing the power by the surface area of the placement area protector 400 was about 0.5 W/cm2, and that high-frequency electromagnetic wave power given by the power supply mechanism 3 was 100 W at about 13.56 MHz, the plasma cleaning formerly taking about 60 minutes was completed in about 10 minutes.
Next, the placement area protector 400 used in the plasma cleaning method of the embodiment will be discussed.
As described above, the placement area protector 400 is placed on the substrate stage 4 in place of the substrate 40 when the plasma cleaning is executed. However, since the placement area protector 400 is limited to a dielectric material, it is not appropriate to call the placement area protector 400 “dummy substrate”.
The reason why the placement area protector 400 is limited to a dielectric material is seen from the description given above; it is to efficiently transmit the high-frequency electromagnetic wave power given by the stage high-frequency electromagnetic wave power supply 41 to the space in the proximity of the surface of the substrate stage 4. As described above, the chucking dielectric block 402 is disposed on the top face of the stage main body 401 of the substrate stage 4, thus even if the placement area protector 400 is not placed, the surface of the substrate stage 4 is a dielectric material. Therefore, the highfrequency electromagnetic wave power can be introduced into the space in the proximity of the surface of the substrate stage 4.
However, if the plasma cleaning is executed without placing the placement area protector 400, the surface of the chucking dielectric block 402 is intensely etched; since no thin film is deposited during the processing of the substrate 40 on the surface of the placement area, namely, the area covered with the substrate 40 at the processing of the substrate 40 in the surface of the substrate stage 4, the area surface is exposed directly to the etching gas and is intensely etched when the plasma cleaning is executed.
If the surface of the chucking dielectric block 402 is etched, the etching does not uniformly develop, producing asperities on the surface. Resultantly, the electrostatic chucking action becomes nonuniform. In a severe case, the entire portion on the chucking electrode 403 may be etched to expose the chucking electrode 403, making electrostatic chucking impossible.
A thin film is deposited on the non-placement area in the surface of the substrate stage 4 during the processing, and is etched during the plasma cleaning, thus the surface of the substrate stage 4 below the thin film is not etched. If the cleaning operation continues after the thin film is completely removed, that portion may be etched, but will be etched less than the placement area; even if it is etched, originally the substrate 40 is not placed on that portion and therefore such a problem making it hard to electrostatically chuck the substrate 40 does not occur.
Considering such a point in the embodiment, the placement area protector 400 is placed on the substrate stage 4 in place of the substrate 40 for protecting the placement area of the substrate stage 4. Preferably, the placement area protector 400 is of such a shape to completely cover only the portion on which no thin film is deposited during the processing and not to cover the portion on which a thin film is deposited. If a part of the portion on which no thin film is deposited is not covered, the part is etched; if a part of the portion on which a thin film is deposited is covered, etching gas is shut off from the thin film of the part, which is not removed and is left.
Considering such a point in the embodiment, the placement area protector 400 is formed of a plate-shaped member made of a dielectric material and the dimensions and shape of the surface of the placement area protector 400 match those of the surface of the substrate 40 to be processed or those of the placement area of the surface of the substrate stage 4. Although the dimensions and shape of the placement area are often the same as those of the surface of the substrate 40, they may differ from each other if a space for transferring the substrate 40 exists, for example.
As seen from the description given above, the placement area protector 400 itself is etched during the plasma cleaning. Therefore, preferably it is made of such a material emitting substance which will be no foreign substance when the substrate 40 is processed; if the substrate 40 is made of a silicon-based semiconductor, the abovementioned silica glass is preferably used.
In a preferred embodiment, the placement area protector is formed from a material having the same electrical properties as the unnecessary deposited film which is formed in the vacuum vessel during substrate processing. As previously discussed, this unnecessary thin film becomes deposited on the inner surfaces of the vacuum vessel and on the surface of the substrate stage.
Further, it is preferable that the placement area protector 400 is transferred into and out of the vacuum vessel 1 by the same transport mechanism as that transferring the substrate 40, from the point of simplification of the system and the operation. In this case, if the placement area protector 400 is remarkably heavier than the substrate 40, it often exceeds the allowance of the transport mechanism. From this point, preferably the placement area protector 400 is ten times or less as heavy as the substrate 40.
To introduce the placement area protector 400, preferably it is transported through an opening such as the gate valve like the substrate 40. However, if the placement area protector 400 is too thick, it cannot be passed through the opening. In this case, such a troublesome operation of restoring the inside of the vacuum vessel 1 to atmospheric pressure, dividing the vacuum vessel 1, and placing the placement area protector 400 on the substrate stage 4 is required. From this point, preferably the placement area protector 400 is three times or less as thick as the substrate 40.
An example of the placement area protector 400 made of the above-mentioned silica glass is about 1.5 mm thick and has the surface dimensions and shape equal to those of a 6-inch wafer.
Next, pressure when the plasma cleaning method of the embodiment is executed will be discussed.
FIG. 3 is a graph showing the results of an experiment testing the pressure when the plasma cleaning method of the embodiment is executed; it is a graph showing the relationship between the pressure in the vacuum vessel 1 and the etch rate of a silicon oxide film on the inner face of the vacuum vessel 1. In FIG. 3, the vertical axis denotes the etch rate and the horizontal axis denotes the pressure in the film depositing chamber 101.
The experiment conditions for FIG. 3 were perfluorocarbon 14 gas flow rate 400 SCCM, oxygen gas flow rate 100 SCCM, high-frequency electromagnetic wave power supplied to the bell jar 12, 2000 W, and high-frequency electromagnetic wave power applied to the substrate 40, 0.5 W/cm2. The opening of the variable conductance valve 114 was adjusted and the number of revolutions of the main pump 112, which is a turbo molecular pump, was adjusted for evacuating the vacuum vessel 1, thereby changing the pressure in the vacuum vessel 1 from 0.1 Torr to 5 Torr.
As shown in FIG. 3, the etch rate is about 50 nm/min in the range where the pressure in the vacuum vessel 1 varies from 0.1 to 0.5 Torr, but increases as the pressure exceeds 0.5 Torr, and takes the maximum value of 400 nm/min when the pressure is about 2 Torr. The etch rate slightly decreases in the range where the pressure furthermore increases. In the range where the pressure exceeds 5 Torr, plasma discharge becomes unstable and sometimes plasma cannot be generated.
Thus, it is decided that the pressure region appropriate for plasma cleaning where the etch rate is high ranges from 0.5 to 5 Torr.
A helicon wave plasma forming system may also be selected as a system wherein the plasma cleaning method is executed. FIG. 4 shows a schematic configuration of such a system.
For the helicon wave plasma, the fact that when a strong magnetic field is applied, an electromagnetic wave having a lower frequency than the plasma vibration frequency propagates in plasma without attenuation is used. Recently, attention has been given to the helicon wave plasma as a technique capable of producing high-density plasma at low pressure. When the electromagnetic wave propagation direction in the plasma is parallel with the magnetic field direction, the electromagnetic wave becomes circularly polarized light in one determined direction and proceeds helicoidally, which is why the technique is called helicon wave plasma.
The helicon wave plasma forming system in FIG. 4 has a loop-shaped antenna 34 disposed in place of the high-frequency coil 31 in FIG. 1. A round bar or a belt-shaped member is bent to form an upper and lower 2-stage loop-shaped as the antenna 34.
A magnetic field forming mechanism 35 is located surrounding a bell jar 12. It has a double coil structure consisting of an inner coil 35 a and an outer coil 35 b, which are disposed at positions coaxial with the bell jar 12. The coil winding direction and electrical energization direction of the inner coil 35 a and the outer coil 35 b are adjusted so that magnetic fields opposite to each other are formed. The magnetic field forming mechanism 35, which is made a double coil structure, has an advantage of easily producing a desired magnetic field. Further, it may be made of a single coil.
The magnetic field generated by the magnetic field forming mechanism 35 efficiently transports plasma produced in the bell jar 12 to a film depositing chamber 101, 50 that the production of the plasma into high density in the film depositing chamber 101 can be accelerated. As a result, the plasma cleaning for the inner face of a vacuum vessel 1 and the surface of a substrate stage 4 can also be executed more efficiently.
The plasma cleaning method of the invention is effective not only for the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system, but also for other vacuum processing systems such as a substrate dry etching system.
Although the example of using perfluorocarbon 14 gas (CF4) as etching gas has been discussed, it is clear that a similar effect is produced by using perfluorocarbon 116 gas (C2F6), sulfur hexafluoride gas (SF6), nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), mixed gas of argon gas with oxygen gas, or the like. If argon gas is used, plasma cleaning can be executed while highly efficient sputtering is performed because argon ions produced in plasma are high in sputtering ratio.
The placement area protector 400 may be formed of a material such as aluminum oxide or sapphire as well as silicon oxide or silica glass. In a preferred embodiment, the placement area protector has the same electrical properties as an unnecessary film which is deposited on surfaces located within the vacuum vessel during substrate processing.
As described above, according to the invention, the plasma cleaning for removing a thin film deposited on the surface of the substrate stage or the like in the vacuum vessel can be completed in a short time, contributing to improvement in the availability of the system.
applying a second high-frequency electromagnetic wave to the substrate stage using a second high-frequency electromagnetic wave supply to supplementarily form plasma in the proximity of the surface of the substrate stage, wherein a frequency of said first high frequency electromagnetic wave and a frequency of said second high-frequency electromagnetic wave are equal.
2. The plasma cleaning method as claimed in claim 1, wherein pressure of the introduced etching gas ranges from 0.5 to 5 Torr.
3. The plasma cleaning method as claimed in claim 1 wherein in said area protector placing step, a planar surface of said placement area protector is placed on the substrate stage, the substrate stage having a major planar surface which is substantially free of indentations and protrusions.
4. The plasma cleaning method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first high frequency electromagnetic wave applied to the conductor surrounding the vacuum vessel is applied simultaneously with the second high frequency electromagnetic wave applied to the substrate stage.
5. The plasma cleaning method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in said area protector placing step, the substrate to be processed during film formation is not placed on the substrate stage with the area protector.
6. The plasma cleaning method of claim 4 wherein the conductor surrounding the vacuum vessel is disposed external to the vacuum vessel.
7. The plasma cleaning method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said placement area protector is made from one of silicon oxide, sapphire and aluminum oxide, and the etching gas comprises oxygen and one of perflurocarbon, argon, sulfur hexfluoride and nitrogen trifluoride.
Dictionary of Science and Technology, W & R Chambers, pp. 495, 964, 1071 and 1254 (1974).
English Language Abstract of Japanese Hei. 5-55184, 1993.
Grill, Cold Plasma in Materials Fabrication, IEEE Press, pp. 99-101 (1994).
Hawkley's Chemical Dictionary, pp. 985, 986, 1035 (1993).
Pierson, Handbook of Chemical Vapor Deposition (DVD), Noyes Publications, pp. 231-234 and 278-282 (1992).
Sherman, Chemical Vapor Deposition for Microelectronics, Noyes Publication, pp. 66-77 and 131-136 (1987). | 2019-04-20T03:01:59Z | https://patents.google.com/patent/US6283130B1/en |
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
Corresponding author: Harry A. Quigley, Wilmer 122, Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 North Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21287; [email protected].
Cathy Nguyen, Frances E. Cone, Thao D. Nguyen, Baptiste Coudrillier, Mary E. Pease, Matthew R. Steinhart, Ericka N. Oglesby, Joan L. Jefferys, Harry A. Quigley; Studies of Scleral Biomechanical Behavior Related to Susceptibility for Retinal Ganglion Cell Loss in Experimental Mouse Glaucoma. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2013;54(3):1767-1780. doi: 10.1167/iovs.12-10952.
Purpose.: To study anatomical changes and mechanical behavior of the sclera in mice with experimental glaucoma by comparing CD1 to B6 mice.
Methods.: Chronic experimental glaucoma for 6 weeks was produced in 2- to 4-month-old CD1 (43 eyes) and B6 mice (42 eyes) using polystyrene bead injection into the anterior chamber with 126 control CD1 and 128 control B6 eyes. Intraocular pressure (IOP) measurements were made with the TonoLab at baseline and after bead injection. Axial length and scleral thickness were measured after sacrifice in the CD1 and B6 animals and compared to length data from 78 eyes of DBA/2J mice. Inflation testing of posterior sclera was conducted, and circumferential and meridional strain components were determined from the displacement response.
Results.: Experimental glaucoma led to increases in axial length and width by comparison to fellow eyes (6% in CD1 and 10% in B6; all P < 0.03). While the peripapillary sclera became thinner in both mouse types with glaucoma, the remainder of the sclera uniformly thinned in CD1, but thickened in B6. Peripapillary sclera in CD1 controls had significantly greater temporal meridional strain than B6 and had differences in the ratios of meridional to effective circumferential strain from B6 mice. In both CD1 and B6 mice, exposure to chronic IOP elevation resulted in stiffer pressure–strain responses for both the effective circumferential and meridional strains (multivariable regression model, P = 0.01–0.03).
Conclusions.: Longer eyes, greater scleral strain in some directions at baseline, and generalized scleral thinning after glaucoma were characteristic of CD1 mice that have greater tendency to retinal ganglion cell damage than B6 mice. Increased scleral stiffness after glaucoma exposure in mice mimics findings in monkey and human glaucoma eyes.
Both mean intraocular pressure (IOP) level, 1 IOP fluctuation, 2 and peak IOP 3 are closely associated with incident human glaucoma and its progressive worsening. IOP mechanically deforms the optic nerve head (ONH) through a pressure differential across the ONH that causes posterior bowing of the lamina cribrosa and through tensile stresses generated in the adjacent scleral tissues that cause expansion of the scleral canal. These stresses contribute to permanent excavation of ONH tissues, a defining clinical feature of human glaucoma. 4,5 ONH deformation affects retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons, astrocytes, blood vessels, and (in human and nonhuman primates) ONH connective tissues. Anterograde and retrograde RGC axonal transport are interrupted at the ONH leading to axon degeneration and RGC somal death by apoptosis 6,7 in human glaucoma, as well as in experimental monkey and rodent eyes. While vascular, glial, and immune factors contribute to RGC death in glaucoma, the contribution of IOP-generated stress is supported by abundant evidence and is potentially amenable to therapeutic intervention.
Because the ONH is a complex and relatively small structure, testing its specific mechanical behavior is only feasible indirectly. 17 By contrast, studies of scleral anatomy and physiology are possible and are highly relevant to what occurs at the ONH. Biomechanical models 18,19 show that the IOP-generated stresses in the sclera are critical in producing strain at the ONH. 20 A recent report 21 stated, “The sclera is an important factor in ONH biomechanics, and recent work strongly suggests that the biomechanics of the posterior sclera and lamina cribrosa are tightly coupled.” Variations in scleral mechanical properties could be one explanation for the fact that half of the patients with OAG suffer injury in the normal IOP range. 22 The mechanical behavior of the sclera, initially studied by uniaxial strip testing, 23–25 has been more realistically modeled using in vitro inflation testing with two- and three-dimensional analysis of intact posterior sclera in human, bovine, monkey, tree shrew, and mouse eyes, including those subjected to experimental glaucoma or induced myopia. 21,26–31 These reports have generally found increases in scleral stiffness with glaucoma.
Mouse IOP elevation models provide data relevant to human glaucoma and offer research avenues not possible in monkey or human eyes, including but not limited to the practical applicability of genetic alteration of mouse subtypes and the use of large sample sizes in experimental studies. Mammalian eyes that are subjected to experimental increases in IOP have neuronal, glial, and associated tissue alterations that are phenotypically similar to human glaucoma. 32,33 Furthermore, lowering of IOP slows the progressive loss of RGC in both animal and human glaucoma. 34,35 While mouse eyes differ in details of ONH anatomy from primates, they share the site of glaucoma injury and the selective death of RGC. Sun et al. 36 demonstrated that astrocytes in the mouse ONH simulate the structure of the collagenous lamina cribrosa in primate eyes. The mouse sclera has collagens, elastin, and other molecules, as in human sclera, 37 though its thickness and diameter are a tenth of the size of the thickness and diameter in human eyes. 38 While mouse eyes increase their axial length with chronic IOP increase, so do rat, monkey, and human infants with chronic glaucoma. Experimental mouse glaucoma data can relevantly validate the role of scleral structure and its response to chronic IOP elevation in ways not possible with other approaches.
We previously determined that CD1 mice are more susceptible to RGC death than B6 mice in experimental glaucoma. 39,40 We produced experimental glaucoma in these two types of mice and report both baseline scleral data and changes induced after chronic experimental glaucoma in the anatomy and biomechanical behavior of the sclera. A better understanding of scleral biomechanics in glaucoma can improve our ability to predict which eyes will worsen more rapidly and may lead to new therapeutic approaches.
All animals were treated in accordance with the ARVO Statement for the Use of Animals in Ophthalmic and Vision Research, using protocol MO10M159 approved and monitored by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Animal Care and Use Committee. CD1 albino mice (Charles River Laboratories, Wilmington, MA) and B6 pigmented mice (Jackson Laboratories, Bar Harbor, ME) were used. There were 128 control or fellow eyes and 42 glaucoma eyes from B6 mice and 126 control or fellow eyes and 43 glaucoma eyes from CD1 mice. For comparison with these two mouse types and their experimental glaucoma changes, we studied DBA/2J mice that develop spontaneous glaucoma by 1 year of age (Jackson Laboratories), measuring axial length and scleral thickness in 51 eyes at 2 to 4 months of age (prior to development of glaucoma), 20 eyes at 10 to 12 months, and 7 eyes from 15- to 26-month-old mice.
For anterior chamber injections to produce glaucoma, mice were anesthetized by an intraperitoneal injection of 50 mg/kg of ketamine, 10 mg/kg of xylazine, and 2 mg/kg of acepromazine and received topical anesthesia of 0.5% proparacaine hydrochloride eye drops (Akorn, Inc., Buffalo Grove, IL). Two bead injection protocols were used, as recently reported. 39 In one protocol, the 4 + 1 method, we injected 2 μL of 6-μm diameter beads, then 2 μL of 1-μm diameter beads (Polybead Microspheres; Polysciences, Inc., Warrington, PA), followed by 1 μL of viscoelastic compound (10 mg/mL sodium hyaluronate, Healon; Advanced Medical Optics, Inc., Santa Ana, CA) through a glass cannula pulled to a tip diameter of 50 μm connected by polyethylene tubing to a Hamilton syringe (Hamilton, Inc., Reno, NV). The 4 + 1 protocol was used in 34 eyes each of B6 and CD1 mice (2–4 months of age at injection). In the other protocol, the 2 + 3 protocol, we injected a total of 2 μL of the 6-μm beads followed by 3 μL of viscoelastic compound. The 2 + 3 protocol was used in eight B6 and nine CD1 mouse eyes (12–19 months of age). We estimated that the final concentration in the 4 + 1 protocol was 3 × 106 beads/μL for 6-μm beads and 1.5 × 107 beads/μL for 1-μm beads. The two different protocols did not induce differences that were relevant to the analyses presented here, since groups were being compared with regard to a property or measurement only when the same method was used in both groups.
Prior to IOP measurement, animals were anesthetized by inhalation of isoflurane, using the RC2-Rodent Circuit Controller (VetEquip, Inc., Pleasanton, CA). This instrument supplies oxygen from an attached tank at 50 to 55 pounds per square inch. Oxygen is mixed with isoflurane and sent at a speed of 500 mL/min, delivering 2.5% of isoflurane in oxygen to the animal. Two minutes after the animal was sedated, IOP measurements were made using the TonoLab tonometer (TioLat, Inc., Helsinki, Finland), recording the mean of six readings with optimal variability grade. We measured baseline IOP prior to injection, at 10 minutes after injection, and weekly to sacrifice at 6 weeks after injection.
Animals with induced glaucoma that did not undergo inflation testing received intraperitoneal injection of general anesthesia before sacrifice by exsanguination, followed by intracardiac perfusion with 4% paraformaldehyde in 0.1 M sodium phosphate buffer (pH = 7.2). IOP was set at 15 mm Hg with a needle connected to a fluid-filled reservoir to produce standard conditions for axial length and width measurement. The measurements were performed with a digital caliper (Instant Read Out Digital Caliper; Electron Microscopy Sciences, Hatfield, PA). The length was measured from the center of the cornea to a position just temporal to the optic nerve, and both nasal–temporal width and superior–inferior width were measured at the largest dimension at the equator, midway between the cornea and optic nerve. Eyes that underwent biomechanical inflation testing were first enucleated after sacrifice, were not treated with aldehyde fixation, and were measured before inflation testing for axial length and width using a digital caliper (Instant Read Out Digital Caliper; Electron Microscopy Sciences), as previously described.
The inflation test method has been previously described in detail. 26 In brief, the eye was glued to a fixture at the limbus and inflated through pressure-controlled injection of a saline solution. Digital image correlation (DIC) was used to locate the scleral edge as seen from a superior view, extending from the fixture to the optic nerve both nasally and temporally (Fig. 1A). The coordinates for a series of locations along the sclera were obtained from DIC at the baseline pressure (undeformed configuration) and after displacement produced by inflation (deformed configuration). The strains were calculated directly from the DIC displacements. In this analysis, the term meridional referred to the direction along the scleral edge, while circumferential referred to the direction parallel to the equator.
Schematic for scleral strain analysis. Schematics for strain analysis indicate the meridional and circumferential orientations with Φ and θ, respectively. (A) Representative schematic of an inflation-tested right eye, where Rk indicates the regions for scleral analysis. (B) Representative superior view of the sclera with curvilinear coordinate s, which is used to locate a point along the scleral edge. (C) Representative posterior view of the sclera indicating the two material directions used for strain calculations. (D) Representative superior view of the undeformed (solid line) and deformed (dashed line) scleral edge, indicating the undeformed position, X(s), the deformed position, x(s), the displacement vector, u(s), and the diameter D of the undeformed cross-section at s.
Inflation testing used enucleated, unfixed whole mouse eyes glued with cyanoacrylate to a fixture. The anterior chamber was connected through a 30-gauge needle and tubing to a programmable transducer-pump manifold and immersed in phosphate-buffered saline at 22°C. The preparation permitted analysis of the posterior 2/3 of the globe. A CCD video camera (Grasshopper, model Gras-20S4M-C; Point Grey Research, Inc., Richmond, BC, Canada) attached to a dissecting microscope (Stereomicroscope Stemi 2000-CS; Carl Zeiss Microscopy, LLC, Thornwood, NY) viewed the eye from superiorly, recording scleral edge images every 2 seconds, which were processed by DIC software 41 to extract the two-dimensional (2D) displacement field of selected points along the scleral edge. The error in the displacement measurement was calculated previously as ±0.46 μm. This included contributions from the uncertainty in the pixel-distance calibration, ±0.36 μm, and the inherent error of the DIC correlation, ±0.1 μm. 26 To characterize the nonlinear, time-dependent material behavior, testing began at a reference pressure, P0, determined for each eye as the minimum pressure at which the sclera was no longer wrinkled, typically 6 to 8 mm Hg. The specimen was first subjected to two load–unload cycles from P0 to 30 mm Hg at a rate of 0.25 mm Hg/s. The pressure was returned to P0 and held for 10 minutes after each unloading to ensure full recovery of the displacements. A ramp hold test was then conducted, at a rate of 0.25 mm Hg/s, from P0 to 30 mm Hg. The specimen was held at 30 mm Hg for 30 minutes before the pressure was brought back to P0 for a recovery period of 20 minutes. The present analysis was applied to the loading portion of the first load–unload cycle. We successfully carried out inflation tests on 23 glaucoma CD1 eyes, 20 CD1 control eyes, 17 glaucoma B6 eyes, and 21 B6 control eyes. Unsuccessful inflation tests had obvious leakage from cannulation, eyes that detached from the fixture, or technical failure to complete the protocol. Among the successful inflations, we were able to apply the analytical model to 20 glaucoma CD1 eyes, 20 CD1 control eyes, 12 glaucoma B6 eyes, and 20 B6 control eyes.
The following describes the analytical method developed to calculate the meridional and circumferential strains of the mouse sclera from the data of the inflation experiments. At any given pressure step, the DIC algorithm provided the 2D reference (undeformed) coordinates of select points along the nasal and temporal edge at the reference pressure, as well as the 2D displacement vectors. The points were chosen by first identifying the location of the ONH then defining a series of subsequent points every 0.1 mm along the scleral edge toward the fixture. We defined for each point a rectangular subset (35 × 35 pixels) in the reference image that contained part of the dark sclera and part of the whiter background to create a natural speckle pattern (see Supplementary Material and Supplementary Fig. S1). Each pixel corresponded to a real area of 13.9 × 13.9 μm2. The DIC algorithm used the distribution of gray values in the subset to determine the position of the point in subsequent images of the deforming specimens to calculate the in-plane displacements.
The displacements and reference coordinates were used to calculate the meridional and effective circumferential strains (defined in following text). In developing the analysis, we assumed that the scleral edge deforms within the plane. We did not assume that the scleral shell is axisymmetric; thus the configuration and displacements of the nasal and temporal edge were allowed to differ. To calculate the pressure–strain response, we defined two different coordinate systems: (1) a Cartesian coordinate system (e 1, e 2), in which e 1 was parallel to the fixture (Fig. 1A), and (2) a curvilinear coordinate system following the scleral edge as shown in Figures 1B and 1C. The coordinate s denotes the arc length measured from the apex. Because the scleral shell was not assumed to be axisymmetric, different arc length coordinates s were used to parameterize the undeformed nasal and temporal edges. For both, s = 0 indicates the position of the ONH. This location could be determined consistently between specimens and enabled regional comparisons among specimens. The meridional strains for the nasal and temporal halves of the sclera were analyzed separately.
To determine the e 2 axis of the Cartesian coordinate system, a line was drawn to connect the two apex points on the nasal and temporal edges, where the optic nerve margins joined the sclera. The e 2 axis was defined as the line bisecting the two apex points extending to the fixture. The e 1 axis was defined as being perpendicular to the e 2 axis and passing through a point where the scleral edge met the fixture. Once the Cartesian coordinate system was constructed, DIC reference positions and displacements were determined for the Cartesian coordinate system at each pressure step, using a dense grid along both scleral edges. From the reference positions, we defined for the temporal and nasal edges the referenced arc length coordinates s along the scleral edge and four scleral regions starting from the peripapillary sclera (Fig. 1A).
where u1′ = du1/dv and u2′ = du2/dv. The method was applied separately to calculate the meridional strain for each scleral edge. To validate this method for select specimens, the scleral edge was discretized into line segments connecting the reference positions X. The meridional stretch was calculated discretely using central difference as λΦ(si) = ||xi+1 − xi−1||/||xi+1 − xi−1||, and applied to calculate the strain as EΦΦ(si) = ½ × ( λΦ2(si) – 1) (Fig. 2). The analytical and discrete strain calculations yielded similar results. The analytical method provided a smoother strain field, while the discrete method was more susceptible to experimental noise.
Analytical versus discrete strain calculations. Comparing a smoothed (blue) and discrete (black) method of strain calculation for the temporal edge of a representative CD1 specimen. The discrete method discretized the scleral edge into line segments and used central difference to calculate the stretch of each line segment, while the smoothed method modeled the scleral edge as an elliptical curve undergoing 2D displacements in the plane. Rk indicates the regions, which are defined as every four points along the scleral edge.
The nasal and temporal edges of each specimen were not significantly different from each other (Fig. 3). Thus, the definition for D provides a reasonable approximation for the diameter. The effective circumferential strain would equal the local circumferential strain for an axisymmetric scleral shell.
Temporal versus nasal scleral edge. This figure shows the superimposed temporal and nasal scleral edges for (A) a CD1 mouse and (B) a B6 mouse. The nasal and temporal edges of each specimen were not significantly different from each other. Thus, the definition for D provides a reasonable approximation for the diameter.
For statistical comparisons, we defined four regions, R1 to R4, as consisting of four consecutive points along the scleral edge, excluding the first two points closest to the ONH and the last two points closest to the fixture (Fig. 2). The strains within a region were then averaged to provide a single pressure–strain curve for each region for each of three strain measures: the effective circumferential strain, the temporal meridional strain, and the nasal meridional strain. The three averaged strain measures were compared regionally for each specimen at each pressure step of interest. Region 1 was that closest to the ONH (peripapillary), and regions 2, 3, and 4 were sequentially in the direction of the anterior eye (Fig. 1A).
For measurement of scleral thickness, the superior quadrant of fresh unfixed sclera was cut from the limbus to the peripapillary area and placed in buffer. Three strips from this quadrant, measuring 0.33 mm wide and 2.5 mm long, were cut from the peripapillary area to the limbus with a sharp blade. Each strip was further divided into six portions, every 0.4 to 0.5 mm, designated as section 1 (peripapillary) to section 6 (limbal area; Fig. 4). Using an eyepiece micrometer, three measurements of sclera thickness were then made in each of the six sections of the three strips from an eye, with the mean for each section reported here. Parallel measurements done on fresh, unfixed scleral segments by confocal microscopy showed that the thickness obtained was consistent between the two methods (data not shown). Some eyes had scleral thickness measured without prior inflation testing, while others were measured after inflation testing. The potential effect of such prior testing was measured in the biostatistical analysis and taken into account as a potential confounder in regression models.
Schematic of locations for scleral thickness measurements. This figure shows the schematic of an inflation tested right eye, where Sk indicates the sections delineated by the six locations of scleral thickness measurements. The first four scleral thickness measurement sections (S1–S4) approximately correspond to the position of the four regions analyzed during inflation testing Figure 1A (R1–R4). The regions corresponding to sections 5 and 6 were not measured during inflation testing as the fixture and glue obstruct the view of these areas. The bold dashed line indicates the typical position of the fixture and the dotted line indicates the limbal margin.
Tissues were fixed after inflation testing by immersion in 4% paraformaldehyde in 0.1 M sodium phosphate buffer (pH = 7.2). To assess RGC damage, we estimated axon loss in optic nerve cross-sections by a quantitative sampling technique. 42,43 After initial paraformaldehyde fixation, the optic nerve was removed and postfixed in 1% osmium tetroxide, dehydrated in alcohol, and stained with 1% uranyl acetate in 100% ethanol for 1 hour. Nerves were embedded in epoxy resin and 1-μm cross-sections were digitally imaged to measure each optic nerve area. Then, five 40 × 40 μm, randomly selected ×100 images were made (Cool Snap camera, Metamorph Image Analysis software; Molecular Devices, Downington, PA), comprising 9% of the overall nerve area. Masked observers edited nonaxonal elements from each image to estimate true axon density. The average axon density per square millimeter was multiplied by the individual nerve area to estimate the axon number. Experimental eyes were compared to the mean axon number in pooled fellow eye nerves to yield percent axon loss.
The following data were tabulated and compared statistically between treated and control eyes: IOP average level, IOP exposure over time (positive integral = area under the IOP versus time curve in the treated eye that exceeded the area under the IOP versus time curve in the control eye), axial length and widths, axon count, and strains from inflation testing. Mean values were compared with parametric statistical tests for data that were normally distributed and median values with nonparametric testing for those whose distributions failed normality testing. Multivariable regression models, using a generalized estimating equation (GEE) approach when multiple measurements on each mouse were included, were used to compare pressure–strain behavior between the two types of mice and between glaucoma and control data, and to compare outcome parameters such as axial length/width and axon count (GraphPad InStat; GraphPad Software, Inc., LaJolla, CA; and SAS 9.2; SAS Institute, Cary, NC). Strain curves for each region and each measure of strain were estimated using three separate GEE models The first model (control eyes only) estimated the curve for CD1 control eyes and B6 control eyes and the difference between B6 and CD1 control eyes. The second model (glaucoma eyes only) estimated the curve for CD1 glaucoma eyes and B6 glaucoma eyes. For the third model, the difference in strain between the control eye and the glaucoma eye for a mouse was used as the independent variable in order to estimate the difference between glaucoma eyes and control eyes for each strain measurement and to compare the B6 difference and the CD1 difference. The working correlation matrix for the repeat measurements at seven pressures was assumed to have an autoregressive structure, in which measurements taken closer in time have higher correlation. For each strain ratio, separate GEE models were used to obtain estimates for control eyes and glaucoma eyes. The working correlation matrix for the repeat measurements at seven pressures for each of four regions was assumed to have an exchangeable structure, in which any two repeat measurements had the same correlation.
Control CD1 mice had significantly longer and wider eyes than did B6 mice (P < 0.0001, multivariable model adjusting for age and previous inflation testing; Table 1). The CD1 controls overall were 4.6% longer than control B6. In multivariable regression models, for both CD1 and B6 combined, older eyes and eyes that were measured without aldehyde fixation were significantly longer (multivariable regression R 2 = 0.37, P < 0.0001 [age], P = 0.003 [fixation]). There was a slightly greater width for both mouse types in the nasal–temporal meridian than in the superior–inferior one. This difference was not significant in B6 control eyes (P = 0.2), and while significant in CD1 controls, the difference was only 1.2% (P = 0.03, t-test; Table 1).
n , number of eyes; S-I, superior–inferior direction; N-T, nasal–temporal direction.
* Values are given as mean (standard deviation).
† Length and width measurements are given in millimeters.
‡ Scleral thickness measurements from sections 1 through 6 are given in micrometers.
B6 control eyes were significantly longer in older mice than in younger mice, and eyes that were measured without aldehyde fixation were longer than those with fixation (multivariable model, R 2 = 0.21, P < 0.0001 [age], P = 0.0009 [fixation], n = 121 eyes). There was also an increase in both width measurements with age (nasal–temporal and superior–inferior; Table 2). In 122 control CD1 mouse eyes, axial length and both widths were significantly larger in older mice (multivariable regression, R 2 = 0.31, P < 0.0001), but these parameters were unaffected by fixation (P = 0.10). The mean axial length in eyes measured prior to fixation for B6 eyes was 3% greater than those measured after fixation (3.41 mm compared with 3.31 mm, n = 77, 51); in CD1 eyes mean axial length was 3.53 mm for both eyes with and without prior fixation.
n.a., data are not available.
* Young DBA/2J mice (2–4 months old, prior to developing glaucoma) had similar axial length to the B6 controls (Table 3).
† Age is given in months.
‡ Length and width measurements are given in millimeters.
§ Scleral thickness measurements from sections 1 through 6 are given in micrometers.
* Age is given in months.
Among all three mouse types, the sclera was thickest at the peripapillary area (section 1), second thickest at the limbus (section 6), and thinnest in the midsclera (Tables 1–3). Normal B6 eyes had significantly thicker peripapillary and limbal sclera than CD1 eyes, but similar scleral thickness to CD1 in the midscleral sections (multivariable regression model controlling for age, the P value for peripapillary or limbal sclera was <0.0001; Fig. 5). DBA/2J eyes at 2 to 4 months of age were not significantly different from B6 in scleral thickness in any section.
Normal scleral thickness: B6, CD1. Blue (CD1 control) and red (B6 control) indicate the mean scleral thickness from sections 1 (peripapillary) through 6 (limbus) and corresponding standard deviations (flagged vertical bars).
Comparing the scleral thicknesses to axial length and width by mouse type, the thickness of the peripapillary sclera in B6 controls was significantly related to the width of the eye, such that the wider the eye, the thinner the peripapillary sclera (regression model, adjusted for age and inflation test status, P = 0.03 [peripapillary thickness]). Axial length (as opposed to width) was not significantly related to peripapillary scleral thickness in B6. There was no significant relationship between either axial length or width and peripapillary scleral thickness in CD1 control eyes (multivariable regression model, P = 0.9 [peripapillary sclera]).
In B6 mice, we acquired more extensive age-related data. These showed that as animals became older in the first year of life, axial length and width increased, and scleral thickness either remained the same or increased. However, in mice over 1 year of age, while length and width remained stable or increased somewhat, scleral thickness declined to levels even below those seen in the youngest animals. For example, in the peripapillary area (section 1), thickness was significantly related to age (nonparametric ANOVA, P = 0.0002; Table 3), with increasing mean thickness from 2 to 4 months to 5 to 7 months and between 2- to 4-month and 10- to 12-month eyes (P < 0.05, P < 0.01, respectively). By contrast, the oldest, 15- to 26-month-old animals had significantly thinner sclera in section 1 than either 5- to 7-month-old or 10- to 12-month-old mice (P < 0.05, P < 0.01, respectively), but not significantly different from 2- to 4-month-old mice (P > 0.05). A similar pattern occurred in the limbal area (section 6), in which the 15- to 26-month sclera was significantly thinner than the youngest 2- to 4-month-old or the 10- to 12-month-old mice (P < 0.01, P < 0.001, respectively). This pattern of scleral thickening from young to adult animals with subsequent thinning in elderly animals has been reported by Girard and coworkers in monkeys. 27 Coudrillier et al. 30 also reported that older age was predictive of a thinner sclera in human donor eyes, with the average scleral thickness decreasing 15% between 40 and 90 years of age in normal human eyes. A different pattern was seen in the midsclera (sections 2–5); the youngest mice, 2 to 4 months of age, had significantly thicker sclera than any of the older three groups, but from 5 months onward the groups did not differ (e.g., section 2, nonparametric ANOVA, P < 0.001 for 2–4 months compared with 5–7 months, other differences P > 0.05).
The IOPs in bead-injected glaucoma eyes from both types of mice were significantly higher than in control eyes. The positive integral IOP difference between bead-injected and control fellow eyes was not significantly different between the two types of mice. The median for CD1 was 118 mm Hg–days and for B6 it was 104 mm Hg–days (means: 134 ± 149 and 174 ± 113, respectively, P = 0.3, t-test).
For the inflation studies included here, in the protocol utilized, the globes were removed, the optic nerve excised, and inflation tests performed. Then, the tissues were immersed in fixative. Previously, we showed that immersion fixation is not ideal for counting optic nerve axon loss compared with fixation by perfusion of fixative through the vasculature immediate after sacrifice by exsanguination under anesthesia. 39 In fact, delayed immersion fixation leads to significantly higher variability in axon counts, which makes the determination of differences in axon loss between groups much more difficult. Therefore, it was not surprising that the variance in axon numbers in the B6 and CD1 nerves that were evaluated here was twice as high as in perfusion-fixed specimens. The mean axon loss for the study nerves was 25 ± 23% compared to their fellow eye nerves (median loss = 20%; P < 0.0001, Wilcoxon rank sum test), showing that the glaucoma model produced significant damage. However, due to the higher variance in axon counts compared to ideal fixation, we did not detect a significant difference between CD1 and B6 nerves with the present sample, which had only 50% power, to have determined a difference between the mouse types as large as that seen in our prior work with much larger numbers of animals and more ideal perfusion fixation.
There was a significant increase in axial length and in both width measurements in CD1 and B6 mice after 6 weeks of glaucoma. Likewise, axial length significantly increased in DBA/2J mice by 10 months of age or older (P < 0.0001 for all, t-test; Tables 1, 3, and 4). The length increase was 8.8% for CD1 and 9.2% for B6, while in 10- to 12-month-old DBA/2J, length was 13.7% greater than in 2- to 4-month-old mice. The width increase in the nasal–temporal meridian was 6.2% (CD1) and 6.8% (B6), but only 3.8% (CD1) and 5.1% (B6) in the superior–inferior meridian. Regression models adjusting for age, prior aldehyde fixation, and IOP exposure showed no significant difference between the CD1 and B6 mice in the changes induced by bead glaucoma in axial length or width (P > 0.05 for all).
n = 34 pairs of eyes from each strain of mice.
After chronic IOP elevation, the changes in scleral thickness differed in the two mouse types with induced bead glaucoma. In both types of mice, peripapillary scleral thickness became significantly thinner and the limbal sclera did not change significantly (Table 4; differences were not significantly related to positive integral IOP). However, in CD1 mice, every area of the sclera became thinner, and for all but the limbal measure the thinning was statistically significant (Fig. 6; Table 4; P = 0.008 for significance due to multiple comparisons). By contrast, the B6 mice actually developed thicker sclera—significantly so in sections 4 and 5 (t-tests, adjusted for positive integral IOP exposure, Table 4; Fig. 6). By contrast, the DBA/2J mice did not develop either thicker or thinner sclera (data not shown).
Change in scleral thickness with experimental glaucoma. Blue (CD1) and red (B6) bar graphs indicate the change in scleral thickness after glaucoma.
The averaged pressure–strain curves measured for control CD1 and B6 eyes for nasal meridional strain, temporal meridional strain, and the effective circumferential strain exhibited a nonlinear, strain-stiffening response typical of collagenous tissues (Fig. 7). In the statistical models that compared the pressure–strain response by region across mouse types, we used the slope of the pressure/strain relation denoted as the change in strain per unit change in pressure, with the pressure data converted to a log scale to produce assumptions of linearity for comparisons (Tables 5, 6). In this metric, a larger ratio of strain to log pressure indicates a more compliant response. In control eyes, CD1 showed significantly greater temporal meridional strain than B6 in three of the four regions (multivariable regression with GEE approach, Table 5; typical data shown for region 1, peripapillary area; Fig. 7). In both types of mice, the glaucoma eyes were stiffer than controls, with statistically significant stiffening in the majority of regional data for the three parameters of strain, nasal meridional, and temporal meridional (E ΦΦ), and effective circumferential (Ē θθ) (Table 6, representative data from Region 1; Fig. 8). The degree of stiffening did not differ significantly between CD1 and B6 eyes in any region, and in each of the three strain measures, the B6 eyes remained numerically stiffer than CD1 after exposure to IOP increase.
Pressure versus strain, region 1: CD1 control versus B6 control. Blue (CD1 control) and red (B6 control) curves illustrate the mean pressure-strain (solid line) and corresponding standard deviation (flagged horizontal line) for (A) the temporal meridional strain, (B) the nasal meridional strain, and (C) the effective circumferential strain.
Pressure versus strain, region 1: CD1 control versus CD1 glaucoma, B6 control versus B6 glaucoma. Blue (CD1 control) and green (CD1 glaucoma) curves illustrate the mean pressure–strain (solid line) and corresponding standard deviation (flagged horizontal line) for (A) the temporal meridional strain, (B) the nasal meridional strain, and (C) the effective circumferential strain. Red (B6 control) and black (B6 glaucoma) curves illustrate the mean pressure-strain (solid line) and corresponding standard deviation (flagged horizontal line) for (D) the temporal meridional strain, (E) the nasal meridional strain, and (F) the effective circumferential strain.
We compared the pressure–strain response of each type of mouse as a ratio of each of the two meridional strains to the effective circumferential strain, using GEE multivariable models (Table 7). At baseline, both types of mice had significant differences in a comparison of meridional temporal to effective circumferential strain, but in the opposite direction (i.e., meridional temporal greater than circumferential for CD1 and the reverse for B6). With glaucoma, the strain ratio for CD1 sclera changed to be not different from 1 in the temporal meridional to circumferential value, while the B6 eyes retained a ratio significantly less than 1.
* Calculations for the strain ratios include data from all four regions. Temporal E ΦΦ/Ē θθ is the ratio of the temporal meridional strain to the effective circumferential strain. Nasal E ΦΦ /Ē θθ is the ratio of the nasal meridional strain to the effective circumferential strain.
For the nasal meridional to circumferential ratio, CD1 sclera had a value not different from 1 at baseline, which significantly increased in the glaucoma eyes (Table 7). For B6, the nasal/circumferential ratio was not significantly different from 1 in control or glaucoma eyes.
CD1 mice are more susceptible than B6 mice to death of RGC in experimental glaucoma induced by bead injection, as shown in two prior reports 39,40 by both RGC cell body and axon loss in hundreds of eyes. This difference provides the opportunity to explore possible factors that determine susceptibility. In previous research, we found that young DBA/2J mice (prior to developing spontaneous glaucoma) have RGC damage in the experimental bead model that falls between that of CD1 and B6 mice. We explored the hypotheses that either the baseline state of the sclera or the scleral response to chronically elevated IOP, or both, are associated with this variability in susceptibility to glaucoma injury.
The greater susceptibility in CD1 mice was associated with the following baseline features compared with B6: longer eyes, thinner sclera in the critical peripapillary area, greater baseline temporal meridional strain, and greater temporal meridional than effective circumferential strain. For both theoretical and empirical reasons, a larger eye would be expected to be at greater risk for IOP-related damage. The larger the diameter of a spherical shell, the greater the stresses are in its wall, all other factors equal. Consistent with this concept, persons with myopia, who generally have longer eyes, are known to be at greater risk for OAG. 13 However, it is clearly too simplistic to consider that axial length/width is the sole factor involved in glaucoma susceptibility. Scleral tissues can also vary in thickness, composition, and biomechanical behavior, leading to greater or lesser strain. To illustrate how axial length alone may not be the dominant factor, we found that older B6 mice have longer eyes with similar scleral thickness, yet are less susceptible to RGC death than younger B6. 40 In addition, mice with an induced mutation in collagen 8, which have longer eyes than control B6, also have less susceptibility to RGC loss than wild type. 44 We are now carrying out further studies of the changes in scleral anatomy and their relationship to the inflation responses of mouse eyes with experimental glaucoma. The peripapillary sclera is a site of great interest in glaucoma pathogenetic research, so it is intriguing that the more susceptible CD1 mice have a thinner sclera and greater temporal meridional strain at baseline at this site prior to induction of glaucoma. Human scleral thickness varies by location in a manner similar to that seen in mice. 38,45 The peripapillary area has been studied histologically and found to have collagen and elastin fibers oriented in a circumferential ring around the ONH in human, 46–48 rat, 49 and mouse eyes. 47 The increased stiffness from these circumferential fiber reinforcements may partially protect the tissues of the ONH from the stress concentrations caused by the presence of the more compliant ONH by reducing the scleral canal expansion in response to IOP elevation. 50 At the same time, the fiber reinforcements may cause the tissues of the ONH to be more susceptible to damage from posterior bowing in response to IOP elevation. The degree of circumferential fiber alignment decreases significantly away from the ONH in mice and in human eyes. 51–53 Models of scleral behavior in human eyes consistently indicate that the peripapillary area is an important element determining stress on the ONH and is tightly coupled to effects in the lamina cribrosa. 20,54 Unless a thinner peripapillary sclera was somehow compensated by a greater resistance to deformation, it would represent a second factor increasing strain at the ONH.
It is equally likely that the response of the sclera to IOP during and after exposure to higher IOP in experimental glaucoma is an additional factor in glaucoma damage. In that regard, we found some responses that were consistent between mouse types and some that were different. The findings that were similar were increase in length and width of the eyes, thinning of the peripapillary sclera, and increase in stiffness in both material orientations (circumferential and meridional). The most apparent differences were that the CD1 mice developed uniformly thinner sclera than B6 mice after glaucoma induction and relative changes of the meridional and effective circumferential strain response that were different from those of B6.
The strain response of both CD1 and B6 were stiffer after glaucoma, despite the differences in scleral thickness change. The relative increase in stiffness was similar in both types of mice, suggesting that this was not the explanation for differential susceptibility. It is unclear whether the stiffening after glaucoma is beneficial or detrimental. In a previous report, 26 we inflation tested seven 2-month-old B6 mice and six 11-month-old B6 mice, determining the stiffness by pressure-induced displacement in the peripapillary sclera. The load–unload tests of younger specimens were significantly more compliant than for the older specimens, while the axial lengths and widths of the older specimens were also significantly larger than the younger specimens without a difference in scleral thickness. Clearly, the behavior of the sclera is complex, meriting detailed study, not only of inflation behavior and macroscopic anatomy, but of fibril orientation, composition, and other molecular rearrangements with age and during disease. We are presently engaged in such studies.
Stiffening of the ONH and sclera has been reported in other models and in living and postmortem human glaucoma eyes. Zeimer and Ogura 60 used an inflation method with postmortem glaucoma eyes and found that the ONH was stiffer and that stiffness was greater with greater RGC damage. Testing of living human eyes by indirect methods also suggests that glaucoma eyes have stiffer responses. 15,16 Coudrillier et al. 30 compared 24 normal and 11 glaucoma pairs of postmortem eyes, finding that the glaucoma scleras had a different strain response in the peripapillary sclera characterized by a stiffer meridional response and slower circumferential creep rates than normal. Glaucoma eyes were not significantly different from normal eyes in stresses and strains in the midposterior sclera. Girard et al. 21 studied eight monkey glaucoma eyes, determining that stiffness increased with moderate glaucoma damage, though the response was variable. They caution, “reporting a single stiffness value for the sclera does not represent its biomechanical response well. Scleral stiffness is a function of IOP (nonlinearity), orientation (anisotropy), and location (heterogeneity). This complexity should be taken into account when evaluating the contribution of scleral biomechanics to glaucoma pathogenesis.” Roberts et al. 61 modeled behavior of the ONH in three early glaucoma monkey eyes from connective tissue volume fractions. They hypothesized that scleral stiffening in glaucoma may shield the ONH somewhat by an increased load carried in the sclera. From the human data suggesting increased stiffness, we could not distinguish between two alternative hypotheses. One hypothesis is that compliant sclera increases susceptibility to glaucoma, and as damage occurs, the sclera becomes stiffer than normal. In this scenario, a compliant response at baseline would increase strain at the ONH and make damage more likely. The stiffness found in damaged glaucoma eyes would be explained as a response occurring during the chronic glaucoma process in the sclera. An alternative hypothesis is that stiffer eyes at baseline are more susceptible and become even stiffer during disease. This scenario would result if stiffness of the sclera increased strain within the ONH. Both hypotheses are compatible with existing human data. If the monkey and mouse experimental glaucoma data are relevant to the human disease, then greater stiffness is at least an effect of glaucoma. Whether eyes that are more compliant at baseline are more or less susceptible is as yet unsettled. In part, this is due to our inability at present to directly measure changes in the ONH tissues before and after induced glaucoma. Scleral canal expansion is determined more by scleral properties and responses, but outward bowing of the ONH is also influenced by properties of the ONH itself, and the two are both contributors to damage.
It will be vital to determine what molecular changes underlie alterations in scleral biomechanics in glaucoma. We and others have studied scleral fibrillar collagens and elastin, 62,63 particularly in the peripapillary area, 4,64 in normal and glaucomatous human eyes. The diameter distribution and orientation of fibrillar collagens in the ONH is unchanged in human OAG eyes, though elastin is either normal 65 or possibly somewhat degraded 66 and definitely has an altered appearance. 67,68 Collagen density decreased by 17% in both the ONH and peripapillary sclera as measured in seven human and three monkey glaucoma eyes, but collagen fibril diameter distribution was not different from controls. The orientation and response of connective tissue molecules in sclera and ONH in glaucoma have been studied in monkeys with experimental glaucoma. 21 Substantial reorganization and new synthesis of collagens are seen in the monkey glaucoma ONH, but not with simple optic atrophy, suggesting that they are IOP mediated. 32 We have measured the orientation of fibrillar elements in human normal and glaucoma eyes using wide-angle x-ray scattering. 69 ONH and peripapillary scleral elastin differs in individuals of African and European descent, perhaps representing a risk factor for higher OAG prevalence in individuals of African descent. 70 Mutations in the lysyl oxidase-like protein 1 (LOXL1) gene are associated with exfoliation glaucoma, 71 providing impetus to study the connective tissue molecules that may be altered in this syndrome. 72,73 Further research is needed into the microstructure of scleral connective tissues.
It will be useful to measure the biomechanical behavior of human eyes in vivo, both to monitor the baseline state of the eye as a risk factor for future development of glaucoma and to assess progression of disease. Some methods to assess corneal biomechanics have been recently developed 14,74,75 that could be applied to these questions. Of even greater relevance would be methods to measure scleral compliance in vivo.
The present research should be assessed in light of several weaknesses. The mouse model of glaucoma utilized here, while having similarities to the human disease, is short term compared with the chronicity of human glaucoma. Studies of the behavior of eyes ex vivo may not duplicate precisely the behavior in life. A key assumption of the strain calculation is that points on the scleral edge deform within a plane. Significant local twisting or rotation can occur with uneven gluing and in the presence of material anisotropy characterized by preferential collagen alignment in orientations other than the circumferential and meridional directions. Wide angle x-ray scattering (WAXS) measurements of the human posterior sclera 53 show that the degree of collagen alignment is the strongest in the peripapillarly sclera and occurs along the circumferential orientation. The degree of collagen alignment decays rapidly away from the peripapillary region. Our preliminary transmission electron microscopy measurements of collagen orientation show similar results for the mouse posterior sclera. It is likely that the out-of-plane displacements caused by local twisting or rotation are small. The scleral thickness and specimen surface are nonuniform. The latter is because it is nearly impossible to uniformly remove the extraocular tissues from the surface of the small mouse sclera. This results in a unique natural speckle pattern for the scleral edge. Large local rotation or twisting would have changed significantly the local speckle pattern of the scleral edge and caused the DIC algorithm to lose correlation. Our method for modeling mouse eye inflation behavior would benefit from a fully three-dimensional view of the sclera to provide more comprehensive regional data for strains and stresses. We are presently developing a method by which to do this. Furthermore, there can never be a perfect model of connective tissue behavior and that used here may not ideally approximate the true state of the tissues. We are engaged in detailed study of the ultrastructure and proteomic content of sclera to extend the features of the model. Finally, differences between types of mice may be related to features other than or in addition to the biomechanical behavior of sclera.
In summary, we identified differences between CD1 and B6 mice in the baseline anatomy and inflation behavior of their sclera and in scleral response to chronic IOP elevation. These differences between mouse types may underlie the differential susceptibility to RGC death from experimental glaucoma in the two types of mice. With further detailed study of the molecular bases of these differences, it is feasible that therapeutic approaches to decreasing neuronal loss in glaucoma can be developed.
Hogan MJ Alvarado JA Weddell JE. Histology of the Human Eye . Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co.; 1971: 193–200.
Supported in part by PHS research Grants EY 02120 and EY 01765 (HAQ and Wilmer Institute Core grant), by the research grant G2010042 from the American Health Assistance Foundation (TDN), and by unrestricted support from Saranne and Livingston Kosberg and from William T. Forrester. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper. | 2019-04-24T15:08:49Z | https://iovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2165995 |
If you're someone that strongly believes in time as the best life investment then, the Rolex brand is absolutely the best choice. In this Rolex watch price in India review, we bring to you some of the amazing characteristics that you will find very useful in making the right decision.
Rolex watch price in India depends on material, bezel type, functions, dial shade, and size as the main parameters. You can choose from a vast range of Oyster steel, Oyster steel, and gold, pure gold, and platinum. Every material type has innumerable models with multiple design patterns.
If you are a man who believes in time as the best investment in life, the Rolex watch is the right choice. In this review of Rolex watch price in India, we introduce you to some of the striking characteristics that you will find highly useful in making the right choice.
Rolex watches in India are designed exclusively for the elite class of men with a passion for excelling in life. Rare craftsmanship, intricate design, luxurious materials, everlasting engravings, and eternal value for your time are some of the inbuilt characteristics of Rolex in India. If you take a look at the Rolex watches starting price in India, you will be surprised at how affordable they are, in spite of the expensive metal like gold being used to make them.
While searching for Rolex watches in India, you have to pay particular attention to the selection criteria. The condition is one of the most important among them. In this review of Rolex watch price India we have listed the best of New and UNWORN (meaning the same as New) watches only.
Check for caliber, case, bracelet, and the necessary information for every watch before making your selection. Caliber indicates three parameters of movement, power reserve, and some jewels. The Case properties include material, diameter, thickness, dial, numbers, and glass.
The bracelet information consists of material, color, lug width, and class. Basic information gives you details about the watch’s movement, the intended gender of the wearer, material, etc.
Rolex watch price in India within the new/unworn men’s collection varies for the various models. Let’s start our exploration with the Rolex Submariner.
The Rolex 116610LV is a divers’ watch made from strong Oyster steel case and bracelet. It has a water resistance to a depth of 1000 feet that allow you to explore the deep sea flora and fauna with high-pressure endurance at this depth. You can discover all these features in our Rolex watch price in India with images here.
Case: The monoblock middle case has a diameter of 40mm and winding crown. The design is simple and classical in appearance. The two prominently visible parts on the front case are the dial and bezel. The rear side of the case has screw down design. It gives a good grip over your wrist without the slightest slippery feeling. Besides water resistance, it has high endurance for heat, stress, and harsh climatic conditions.
Bracelet (Strap): Oyster steel bracelet is made from a series of three-piece links that is highly attractive, simple in design and firm in construction. Yet it is flexible, skin friendly, and allows maximum airflow through the links. Your wrist remains free from sweat and water droplet accumulation. Hence, the probability of skin irritation and allergic reactions is zero. The folding type of clasp keeps it firmly and comfortably grasped around your wrist wherever you go wearing it.
Bezel: Unidirectional ceramic bezel has 60-minute engraving in bright white color. The interior ring between the bezel and dial creates a visual perception of depth to the visual display. The platinum coating for the indicators enhances the aesthetic appearance considerably. In fact, it makes your watch visible to the onlookers from a long distance.
Knurling along the bezel edge gives good grip while rotating it. The key benefit of this structure is the precision in the rotation. You can turn it on by micron millimeters even while wearing the divers’ and climbers’ gloves.
Dial: Chromalight display and blue luminescence are the two key attractions of the Rolex 116610LV dial. Classical design of the time indicators with luminescence coated hands makes a date and time clearly visible. You may be diving, swimming, skiing, or trekking. The dial gives you clear display during bright daylight and darkness.
Movement: The Rolex 116610LV moves on a self-winding mechanical system that is perpetual in construction. The mechanism is precise, and the moving parts are correctly in alignment. If you compare the accuracy of the watch with the standard atomic clock, the precision of +/-2 seconds for a day is a rare feature for watches in this category.
The oscillator works on parachrom hairspring that has the features of highest precision and efficiency. It can keep working for many decades by maintaining the same level of standards as you see on the first day of wearing. The other notable feature of the watch is to retain its functional and aesthetic quality for decades.
Display: The dial design makes the display visually perceivable within the fraction of a second. The original Rolex watch price in India for this model is highly competitive when you compare it with those offered by online retail shops all over the world. Hence, you can certainly consider choosing the watch from the online India based portals to select and place your order.
The Rolex Daytona 116503 Oman New 2018 belongs to the princely category of watches that is suitable for the elite business class persons and classical model lovers. You will find the stainless steel white case material with 3-windows display of stopwatch timer for 12 hours, 30 minutes, and 60 seconds.
The stainless steel strap has a firm and flexible construction that lasts for many decades with the same level of efficiency and structural stability. It is highly resistant to scratch, breaking, and brittleness. The gentle and firm clasp onto your wrist binds it with high resistance to vibrations and shocks from your rapid arm and hand movements.
The sturdy stainless steel case with sapphire glass construction has a water resistance of 10ATM. Our Original Rolex watch price in India review will show you more of its specifications now.
Case: Rolex 116503 case material with 40mm diameter and optimum thickness is a real treat to watch. The first visual impact gives you the impression of an antique piece that you can wear like the wartime watches. Perfectly circular design with a high-density strap connecting lugs makes the Rolex 116503 strong in construction and resistance to elements.
Front of the case is mostly covered by the dial and the silvery white shining bezel. The rear has a thick steel plate that protects the entire mechanical system that drives your Rolex 116503.
Bracelet: Gold and stainless steel strap with three links are highly firm and flexible. It is light in weight and aesthetic in color and texture. The matching colors between the case and strap give an elite feeling of a corporate leader and entrepreneur.
Bezel: The Rolex 116503 bezel is genuinely breathtaking in design and Yellow gold material construction. The top texture of the bezel is a symbolic representation of your robustness, industriousness and the zeal for elite professional lifestyle. It has a Tachymeter for measuring your speed and acceleration factors while driving on rallies and everyday traffic-filled city roads.
Dial: The dial of Rolex 116503 is a fusion between classical design and ultra-modern mechanical construction. There are three distinct subwindows that are closely interlinked or enclosed within each other. The 12-hour window, 30-minute window, and the 60 seconds timer windows show time to the 1/8th precision of a second. The main window of the watch displays the time to the precision of one second.
Movement: At first, you may find it difficult to believe that such an advanced watch could still run on an automatic movement. The watch gives you the same precision of an atomic clock through its mechanism of frictionless moving parts. The precise combination of streamlined structure makes it accurate, fast and efficient to the maximum level.
The parts keep moving for many decades with 99.99% accuracy and efficiency. The precision of watch increases due to the embedded mechanical system. The watch precision is to a level of +/- 2 seconds for a single day after casing. It is the kind of precision that you may love to see on the class of watches like the Rolex Patrizzi.
Display: The Rolex 116503 gives you accurate time reading 24 hours a day for many decades due to the precision assembly of the internal parts and precise connectivity with the moving parts on the dial.
Buttons: The two extra buttons on either side of the crown stopper can work efficiently to control the functions of the three sub-windows. You can start, stop, and reset the functions at any time according to your specific requirements.
Tachymeter: The Tachymeter on the bezel shows you an accurate reading of speed and acceleration for driving and riding activities. It is highly effective and accurate for long distance rallies and races.
The Rolex 116660 is specially designed for your deep sea diving adventure with water resistance up to 3900 meters and high pressure of 2.98 metric tons. The case is equipped with a gas escape valve that can endure the variable ph values and saline conditions of water in that depth.
The automatic watch has a clear and bright display which allows you to see the time at the deep sea darkness which can be far higher than the night darkness on the surface.
Case: a robust stainless case with a diameter of 44mm and optimum thickness is made from marine grade engineering molding and forging technology. Every millimeter of the case is designed to endure dynamic water pressure in the deep sea. It is resistant to rusting, warping, and brittleness. You can also wear the watch while hiking, mountaineering, racing, and work in the cool comfort of your workplace.
The slim and robust steel lugs connect to a flexible and firm bracelet. The mainly visible parts on the case are the bezel and the dial. The sapphire crystal material on the case is built to withstand the excellent water pressure at a depth of 3900 meters. The transparent and anti-glare characteristics make time display clear and bright.
Bezel: Multi shaded steel bezel has finer engravings of 60-minute indicator which rotates in a unidirectional way. It is highly useful for measuring the depth of your diving when you are engaged in adventurous activities. The ring lock system provides added safety to the dial and the case interiors with absolute waterproof features. It also allows you to control the precise rotation of the bezel to microns with zero errors.
Dial: Rolex 116660 dial is extremely simple in design. It looks majestically elegant with its sea blue color combination that is bright at the dial top half and dark at the bottom half. It reminds you of the depth of seas you will explore wearing this tough watch. The stylish engravings of the time indicator with three regular time hands and a bright date indicator form the parts on the dial.
Bracelet: Firm and flexible steel bracelet is made from three-layer links that form great fitment around your wrist. Exterior finishing of the bracelet is highly soft and skin friendly. You can wear in deep seas, dry sands, and high mountains with the maximum comfort level. Tiny gaps between the links ensure draining of water while in seas. It allows free air circulation when on land to keep your wrist free from sweat, heat, and humidity.
Movement: Automatic movement of the Rolex 116660 is responsible for maximum energy conservation and accurate time display. The watch is compatible with the most advanced atomic clock systems to show zero error and zero lag display of time. The manufacturers have taken extreme care to ensure perfect perpetual mechanism of self-winding.
The half-moon shaped oscillator that keeps working relentlessly within the watch interiors is sensitive enough to capture the slightest movement of your wrist and arm. Then it transfers the energy into the mechanical system which in turn makes your Rolex 116660 keep running with no stopping.
The system has a sophisticated internal mechanism, but very simple external analog display. The efficiency of the movement mechanism is so high that it keeps working accurately within deep waters and high mountains with the same level of consistency.
Chronometer: Inbuilt chronometer of Rolex 116660 work efficiently to show the water depth to the most accurate level. The rotation of bezel will help you in finding the exact value.
Driven by the automatic movement technology and certified for superlative chronometer, the Rolex 116500LN is a combination of classical design and precision workmanship for accurate time display. The bright silvery white steel case and bracelet combine to give you a triple waterproof and water resistance system.
It is highly protective from rains and splashes water. Also, it is resistant to a depth of 300+ meters at high water pressure. The Rolex 116500LN has an accuracy of +/- 2 seconds per day after casing, which is the typical characteristic of almost all the Rolex automatic watches.
Case: Robust construction of Rolex 116500LN case makes it highly durable for many decades. The molding and forging of engineering grade steel make the perfectly round shaped case with large bezel and dial. The front end of the case is sealed to maximum airtightness with the firm bezel and strong sapphire crystal glass.
The surface finishing on the interior and exterior side of the glass with its granule construction makes it highly polished, glare-free, and immune to heat and moisture. In addition, it has a high resistance to harsh and changing climatic conditions. The case matches well with the default stainless steel bracelet. The lugs are constructed with precise screw and pin system for accommodating the two ends of the bracelet.
Bracelet: The firm and flexible bracelet are made from connecting the three-layer links in series. Every layer is connected with a solid and slim pin that is detachable. Hence, you can adjust the length to fit onto your wrist. The surface finishing makes it highly resistant to scratch and external impacts. It is also soft on your skin and free from every form of chemical that may be allergic. Hence, you can wear it for many decades with the same level of comfort and a firm grip as you experienced on the first day.
Bezel: Black ceramic bezel with engraved tachymeter shows you the distance covered in units per hour. You can evaluate the speed, acceleration, distance and time based on the readings of the 2nd digit accuracy.
Dial: Pure white dial with standard time display and three chronometer windows help you count the time to one-second accuracy and the timer events to 1/10th-second precision. The alignment of the three windows with the standard timer window gives you a clear display of the time and timer functions.
The timer indicators have a unique design for the minute and hour. The accuracy of the count is up to 1/5th of a second in that window. Hence, you will find the Rolex 116500LN to be highly useful for timing short and long-term (11H: 29m: 59s) athletics, cycling and motor racing events.
Movement: The automatic movement of the Rolex 116500LN is powered by the perpetual action of the self-winding system. It is certified by the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute for its accuracy and extended efficiency. The balance wheel located within the watch mechanism works at 8 beats per second to balance the time and chronometer functions.
The performance level remains consistently same regardless of the external impact of atmospheric pressure, water depth and changing climatic conditions. The entire mechanism is controlled by the precision assembly of the moving and non-moving parts. You can compare the efficiency and accuracy of the system with the latest electronic watches.
Surprisingly it will be almost the same at the macro level, with a micro level tolerance of +/- 2 seconds for a period of 24 hours. However, you can rarely observe this tolerance due to its variation between + and – values, which finally balance the equation towards consistent accuracy.
Buttons: The twin buttons located on either side of the crown stopper can work efficiently to control the mechanism of chronometer functions. You can set the initial value, reset to zero, and stop the timer right at the nick of time. Smooth press actions enable frictionless functions.
Rolex Yacht-Master II is an elite designer class Rolex watch that has style, elegance, dignity, professionalism, precision, modernity, and classical features. The most prominently visible window on the watch after time is the countdown. You can use the bezel for controlling the function by setting the values.
You can know the remaining time of an event from the tenth minute to zero. The most exciting feature of the function is its compatibility to synchronize with the official timing of an event according to the referee’s timer.
Case: Design of Oyster case has a width of 44mm and optimum thickness. It has a characteristically unique design with the electric blue bezel, bright white dial, and silver white lugs. The case back has an elegantly simple design with a good wrist gripping surface. The entire case is designed for 10ATM water resistance.
The sealing of sapphire display glass with the bezel and the back case cover ensure 100% leak-proof protection for the expensive watch components. The case provides excellent wrist grip with resistance to shocks and vibrations during arm and wrist movement. The watchmakers have exclusively created the design of crown and the two control buttons for easy accessibility and usage.
Bracelet: The blend of rose gold and white steel for the three-layer links gives a distinct feeling of antiqueness. The most attractive part of the bracelet is its central link. The gentle rose gold color enhances the aesthetic appearance of the entire watch with a touch of class.
The bracelet is designed to provide entirely comfortable fitment with detachable pins on every link. The folding clasp is made from the combination of gold and steel to provide firm grip and touch of royal elegance.
Bezel: Yacht-Master II is exclusively created with the ring command bezel for the countdown program. It has a unique design which acts together with the inbuilt moving system to control countdown. You can set the initial value and operate it with only one hand. It is easy to synchronize your watch setting with that of the referee during athletics events.
Dial: Dial of Yacht-Master II is the most exclusively designed part for sophisticated aesthetics and efficient functionality. The pure white base makes it easy to read the indicator values and recognize the hand positions instantly.
There are two sub-windows to display the countdown in minutes and seconds. The seconds-window has its own hand, while the minutes-window works on an arrow indicator connected to the main minutes-hand. The arrangement of two sub-windows is made to correctly synchronize with the main time display window of the watch. You get a clear and bright display of all the windows in one glance.
Countdown: The primary functionality part from showing time is the countdown program. It works with the combination of the bezel, pusher buttons. Pressing the lower pushbutton on whistle blow sets a timer in sync with that of the referee‘s timer. You just have to press it gently once. Then you can press the upper push button to start the timer on your watch. You can use this feature for 10 minutes to the 1/10th-second accuracy.
Once the event finishes, you can press the upper pushbutton to stop. The system works on a mechanical memory which allows you to program the duration for specific events. By turning the bezel and operating the pushbuttons and the crown, you can easily customize the settings. This feature will be highly essential for sporting events and training programs.
Time setting: Your Yacht-Master II has the most accurate time setting feature that synchronizes with the atomic clock perfectly. The automatic self-winding system will start working once you wind it manually before using it for the first time.
It will also ensure the best waterproof protection. The partial manual winding of 25 turns is sufficient to turn on the self-winding function. Then your Yacht-Master II can go on working with maximum accuracy and efficiency for many decades.
Change of movement technology from automatic self-winding system to quartz-based system is the main feature of Rolex Cellini Danaos Lady watch. It has a typical design with a 25mm case diameter and slim thickness. The interface design is minimalist with white gold case and brown crocodile skin bracelet.
The large numerical system of time indicators with an hour and minute hands makes the dial part of the watch. Sleek and robust lugs connect the case to the bracelet with screw pin. The overall design of the watch is classic and luxurious.
Case: Acquiring the taste for elegance and elite class designer watch requires no royal inheritance. You can do so the moment Danaos Lady watch enters your life. The case design is one factor that creates an immense feeling of elegance. It is sleek, simple, and made from expensive white gold. It is sturdy, resilient, flawless, and slim. It has the maximum resistance to heat, humidity, water (30m depth), and extreme climatic conditions.
Bezel: 18K gold bezel design is simple, sophisticated, and reflective of the royal class you wear as your wrist jewelry. The bezel shape is also entirely different from the others you might have seen so far. It is dense at the corners and slim on the edges. The contour structure gives a feeling of extra depth to the dial part of the watch.
Dial: The Cellini Danaos has a bright white dial with huge numerical time indicators. The contrasting color of the hour and minute hands make the display clearly visible. The accuracy of time show is to one minute.
Bracelet: Brown crocodile skin bracelet has a bright crisscross texture with visible white stitches on either side. It looks highly elite in its exterior appearance. The construction of the bracelet makes it durable, soft, flexible and highly adaptable to your wrist. It has a firm and immovable clasp due to the deployment buckle system. You can adjust its length according to the exact size of your wrist.
Movement: Rolex Cellini Danaos Lady is powered by accurate Quartz movement technology. The moving balance wheel control is precise and adaptable to every climatic condition. It works with the same efficiency at a depth of 30 meters in water and a height of 1000 meters above the sea level.
The microchip circuit and the mechanical moving parts are aligned in perfect sync to provide precision movement to the display unit’s hour and minute hands. The power of the quartz crystal oscillator and its connectivity to the central shaft make the hands move with the highest level of consistency.
The entire construction is free from frictions in the moving parts. Hence, it functions without any loss or gains in the number of seconds in its long-term functionality. It makes the watch’s precision consistent.
The ring command bezel can rotate in two directions to operate the precision chronometer functions. The off-center disk can display the time in second-time-zone apart from the present time zone shown by the first watch time window. The date on the 3 O’ clock position is accompanied by the Month indicator window just above the 12 Roman numeral hour indicators.
The white gold bracelet and the case form the perfect matching for design, construction, connectivity, function, and aesthetic appeals. You will find the Rolex Sky-dweller 326939 to be highly practical as a professional watch for your elite class tastes and lifestyle.
Case: White Gold watch case has a diameter of 42mm and thickness of 14mm. It is strong and highly resistant to elements. Water resistance to a depth of 100 meters is good enough to wear the watch while swimming and playing water sports. The lightweight case is dense and strong enough to endure high pressure (atmospheric and water), heat, humidity, and climatic conditions.
The sapphire glass on the display unit is sealed with the rotating bezel. Similarly, the back case cover is sealed with the bezel’s bottom section and the outer ring. Both the bindings can provide the perfect leak-proof case with airtight condition within the case. Such a condition is highly useful for enhancing the performing efficiency of the watch. The case has sleek and strong lugs at the edges to connect firmly with the bracelet.
Bracelet: The bracelet is firm and highly flexible in its design and construction. It is made from tens of multilayer links that form a durable and robust structure. The individual screw pins on every link give you the option to adjust the bracelet length precisely according to your wrist size.
It fits it comfortably with its folding clasp. Hence, you can wear the watch in deep water, snowing altitude, heavy rains, and hot and humid climatic conditions. The bracelet will continue to work at its highest efficiency and consistency to protect the case from every kind of vibration that propagates through your wrist.
These forces could be arising from under water pressure, wrist movement, exposure to UV and climatic conditions, and unintentional, accidental impacts on other objects in your surroundings.
Bezel: Bidirectional rotation of the bezel enables the functions of subdial related to the perpetual chronometer. You can set the local time, reference time at the intended time zone, and the date and month functions.
Crown: If you wish to set the function by rotating the crown control in clockwise or anticlockwise directions. Sing it in combination with the bezel can set the local time, reference time, date and month.
Chronometer: The chronometer on the dial displays the relevant time zone’s settings while traveling. You also get the privilege of setting a reference time for another time zone to compare the differences while flying and traveling on sea or road. The most exciting aspect of time display on the chronometer. It happens through a fixed red inverted triangle and rotation of the time indicator ring. Hence you can instantly know the present time.
Local Time: The local time is shown on the standard time indicator, which is also the primary window on the dial. The indicators are in Roman numerals hours and minutes. The tiny lines between the Roman numerals are primarily for minutes and seconds to an accuracy of 1/10.
Movement: Rolex Sky-dweller 326939 works on automatic movement technology. It is powered by ROLEX CALIBRE 9001 and perpetual mechanism. The system is calibrated to show the most accurate time to an accuracy of +/- 2 seconds for 24 hours.
The tolerance of plus on a day and minus on the other balances the net time accuracy to a level of zero variance. The rotating disc at the center works independently of the primary time display mechanism.
Rose gold is a symbol of royal dignity, radiance, rarity, and romance. The Rolex Nautilus has all these characteristics with high resistance to water, heat, humidity, and changing climatic conditions. It runs on an automatic self-winding system that is accurate, efficient and consistent in performance.
Case: 18K rose gold case has a diameter of 40.5mm and thickness that is sufficient to house all the precious parts within it. It is resistant to water and elements to the best of Rolex standards. It is durable and maintains its impressive aesthetics for decades. You can call its construction to be ageless since it remains young and strong for what seems to be an eternity.
Dial: The original Rolex watch price in India you pay for Rolex Nautilus is worth its value in rose gold and the authentic automatic movement mechanism. The 11H: 29M: 59S chronometer is accurately controlled by the precision system of the automatic movement.
The independent functionality of time movement and chronometer movement makes the watch highly valuable for regular and sporting usage. The dial is simple in design, yet sophisticated in aesthetics. A combination of black; rose gold, white and luminescent coating makes the dial bright, brilliant, and blissful.
Bracelet: Rolex Nautilus bracelet is made from timeless rose gold with three layers of multiple links and an interlocking mechanism. The thin pins which connect the links remain almost invisible unless you take a closer look at the bracelet structure.
The pins are easy to disconnect and adjust the bracelet length. It has a firm clasp which is required to get a good grip on the case and the entire watch while you wear it. It is comfortable, safe and protected from vibrations of arm and wrist movement.
Movement: Automatic movement is an intrinsic part of Rolex luxury watches in India. If you see the entire Rolex watches price list in India, many of the models will have automatic movement mechanism. Rolex Nautilus also has similar features derived from the perpetual oscillating system that is located within its heart.
It goes on working consistently at maximum accuracy level for many decades. You can experience its efficiency by the standard time and chronometer functionality that happens simultaneously. The precision of standard time is to one second, and the chronometer is to 1/10 of a second.
Chronometer: Chronometer window has display options for11H: 29M: 59S. It is controlled by the crown stopper which can initiate, reset and stop the chronometer actions with to precision. It is highly useful for count up and timer related to athletic events and training programs.
Combination of corrosion resistant super stainless steel with a high polish, delicate maturing, superior reflection, and excellent visual appeals makes Bubble Back highly sought after model. Rolex watches for men’s price in India is worth an investment.
Luxury is an inseparable parameter of the Rolex Bubble Back that comes with a unique external appearance of an antique piece of watch. If you take a look at the Rolex watch price in India with images, the Bubble Back will be among the most prominently visible models.
Case: Simple and antique style case of Rolex Bubble Back is undoubtedly a collectors’ watch design. It is held in high regard due to the micron level sophistication I have incorporated. When you look at the case for the first time, the impression on your mind will be authentic, powerful, and long-lasting.
Initially, you may feel the watch is only good enough for the intellectuals and research scholars who spend much of the time behind books. Then you may think it’s good for those artists who spend much of their time on boards with brushes. You may even assume it’s good for the bankers with big spectacles and BMWs.
Soon you will realize that it’s made just for you because you have bigger expectations from life than what gets reflected in your eyes in the mirror. The case has a diameter of 34.5mm and optimum thickness to withstand the pressure from your wrist and the impact of external elements. Surface finishing of lugs is rather mild with a pinch of antiqueness being reflected all over.
However, you will soon realize the real value of this design and construction when you see the related original Rolex watch price in India and compare it with this model. It will show you how timeless and ageless it can be for the next many decades.
Bracelet: Pure leather bracelet is firm and flexible in construction. It is simply minimalist in design due to its plain finishing. The twin white threads piercing into the top skin near the lugs creates an imminent feel of hand stitching. The buckle is genuinely antique in design with a pin-and-hole system.
The number of holes on the other end of the bracelet is sufficient to adjust its length to your wrist size accurately. It has an excellent grip that is unshakable against vibrations from your wrist. You can go on hiking, running, climbing, and boating wearing your Rolex Bubble Back watch.
Bezel: Sleek and smart bezel has a classical appearance with its plain design.
Dial: Dial is extraordinarily antique in design and aesthetic in its outlook. Time indicators are uniquely created with a pointed front. Numeric indicators are at the 3’o clock, 6 o’ clock and 9 o’clock positions. The rustic design of the hour, minute and second hands enhance the impression of relics from the time machine of the bygone era.
Movement: Automatic movement powered by perpetual mechanism is highly accurate and consistent in functionality. The self-winding system can work without the need for a battery for decades.
The most impressive part of Rolex Bubble Back is its ability to work in extreme weather conditions with the same level of precision and efficiency. If you observe the time display carefully over an extended period, its tolerance limits of +/- 2 seconds per day get balanced evenly to show the most accurate time.
Display: Plexi-glass is the material with antiglare and clear display properties. It is resistant to scratch, moisture and accidental falls from your working desk. The luminescent coating on the hands makes it possible to view the time in darkness as well as in bright daylight when the sun rays hit the glass directly.
Rolex Cosmograph 116500LN is the new generation high-tech watch with chronometers and tachymeter features. It is also the fusion of classical and modernist designs that combine to produce the best effects of a technically superior watch. It works on automatic mode on the basis of perpetual motion technology.
You can experience its vast range of supportive functions for the countdown, count up and speed measurements for athletics and motor rallying events. If you happen to be a trainer, it is the best asset you can have for monitoring your trainee’s speed acceleration and momentum.
Case: The Rolex Cosmograph 116500LN case is robust in design and solid in construction. It is highly resistant to water, moisture, sweat, and heat. It has an inbuilt construction mechanism for protection from elements.
You can wear this watch for decades without a single grain of scratch or aging sign on it. The case has two push buttons on the case in the crown area. You can use them to set the chronometer functions accurately. They are extremely easy to operate and offer multiple functions.
Bezel: Unidirectional bezel has engravings of Tachymeter for measuring speed, distance, time and acceleration while driving and riding. You can use its features while participating in rallies and long distance races. Royal black color is the principal attraction of the bezel with bright white numerals.
Dial: Closely attached to the bezel is the deep dark black dial. It has depth from the bezel layer which distinguishingly marks its appearance. There are three sub-windows for chronometer functions measured in hours, minutes, and seconds. 11H: 29M: 59S duration for the chronometer function is highly efficient. Accuracy is to the level of 1/10 second.
You can easily control the operations with the help of twin push buttons. The standard time display of the watch has indicators coated with luminescence. Even the hands are coated with a tumescent material to make a bright display possible in darkness.
Movement: Automatic movement is enabled by the genuine mechanism of perpetual forces. It the watch works on the combination of finely tuned spring(s), micron level accurate moving parts, frictionless construction, highly efficient design, and functionally perfect assembly. The placement of every part is in sync with the last part that may not be directly in its contact.
Hence, the precision function of the watch is durable for many decades with a tolerance of +/- two seconds per day. Eventually, this factor also gets canceled due to the balancing between the plus and minus side.
Case: The pure yellow gold case has a diameter of 40mm and winding crown. The design pattern of the GMT-Master II is highly sophisticated and majestic. The case back is designed for secure grip on your wrist. It is highly resistant to splash water, along with inbuilt protection features from heat, stress, and varying climatic conditions.
Bracelet (Strap): Pure yellow gold bracelet constructed with three distinct layers of connecting links that are highly secure, strong and flexible. The bracelet itself is profoundly simple in design. Still, it is flexible, skin friendly, and allows maximum airflow through the links.
Protection of your wrist from sweat and humidity is the critical function of the bracelet design. So, your skin remains free of any kind of irritation and allergic reactions. The folding clasp keeps it firmly and comfortably grasped around your wrist wherever you go wearing it.
Bezel: Yellow gold bezel has 24-hour global clock engraving in yellow color. The interior ring between the GMT-Master II bezel and dial creates a unique feeling of depth to the visual display. The luminescent material coating on time the indicators and hands show the time display even in darkness.
Knurling along the bezel edge gives good grip while rotating it. The key benefit of this structure is the accuracy of the rotation. You can turn it on by micron millimeters.
Dial: Bright Luminescence is the main feature of the GMT-Master II dial. The bright green color you may use the watch while running, walking, driving and going on long distance boating. The dial gives you clear display during bright daylight and darkness.
Movement: The Rolex GMT-Master II moves on a self-winding mechanical system that is perpetual in design and builds. The construction of the precision watchmaking technology has been adopted within the moving parts. Perfect alignment between the various moving parts ensures zero friction between them.
Hence, you the system deliver unparalleled accuracy in time and date, for the local time as well as the 24-hour global time zone. The precision design of the standard atomic clock is implemented into the Rolex GMT-Master II with a tolerance of +/-2 seconds for 24 hours.
Oscillator: The Rolex GMT-Master II has an inbuilt oscillator which is made from the best automatic technology works from the mechanical watches era. It is based on asynchronously designed and constructed parachrom hairspring.
The spring has inbuilt features of highest precision and efficiency. It has the capacity to work precisely and consistently for many years with the same level of Rolex standards. It will be as precise as the functionality benefits that you experience on the first day of wearing.
Display: The dial design makes the display of Rolex GMT-Master II visible from a long distance. The precision of the system is to the second. The original Rolex watch price in India for this model is highly competitive due to its affordable range.
The Rolex Daytona Champagne is a watch from the truly elite class. It reflects your strong personality, unshakable values, commitment to professionalism, passion for fashion, and a deep sense of self-identity. The yellow gold case material has a display of chronometer timer which has three unique windows.
They can be sued to display the countdown, count up and timer for 11 hours, 29 minutes, and 59 seconds. The yellow gold bracelet has a simple design with strong construction to the core. The durability of the bracelet and the case is ensured for decades. The duo can work at the best efficiency that ensures structural stability.
Case: Rolex Daytona Champagne case material with large visible diameter and optimum thickness is made from the classical yellow gold with high resistance to water and weather elements. The first impression you get from the design is that of royal time keeping a clock that you can wear as a priceless piece of jewellery.
The design is perfectly circular in shape. The best quality yellow gold material is used on the bracelet that connects to the lugs on the case. Front case of Rolex Daytona Champagne is mostly covered by the dial and the yellow gold bezel. The rear has a thick yellow gold plate that protects the entire mechanical system that drives your Rolex Daytona Champagne.
Bracelet: yellow gold bracelet with three links is highly firm and flexible. It is highly lightweight in construction. The authentic yellow gold colour is very bright and distinctly visible from a distance. The matching colours between the case and bracelet make the Rolex Daytona Champagne best suited for your official and personal usages.
Bezel: The Rolex Daytona Champagne bezel is highly classical design with Yellow gold material construction. The tachymeter engraving on the bezel makes it suitable for measuring speed, acceleration, and time while driving a car. You can use this feature of the bezel for long distance car rallies and races.
Dial: The dial of Rolex Daytona Champagne has a simple and sophisticated design with strong and slim material. The three chronometer windows that are closely interlinked or enclosed within each other. The 12-hour window, 30-minute window, and the 60 seconds timer windows show time to the 1/10th precision of a second. The main window shows the time to an accuracy of one second.
Movement: Rolex Daytona Champagne is a technically advanced watch that runs on automatic movement mechanism. The functional system that works on time and chronometer can be compared to that of an atomic clock or its 100% precision. The mechanism is highly frictionless in construction for its moving parts.
The accuracy of the system originates from the flawless design and accurate construction. The system is also very fast and efficient. Every moving part in the watch works to a precision 100%. The precision of the watch is enhanced by the advanced automatic system. The watch precision with +/- 2 seconds tolerance is after casing.
Display: The Rolex Daytona Champagne gives you accurate time reading 24 hours a day for many decades due to the precision assembly of the internal parts and accurate connectivity with the moving parts on the dial.
Buttons: The twin buttons around the crown stopper is built to last for decades with the highest level of precision and efficiently. They can efficiently control and manage the three chronometer windows. You can start, stop, and reset the functions at any time according to your specific requirements.
The Rolex Submariner Hulk is built with the high water resistance property to a depth of 100 meters. The case is constructed for the mariner activities on the high seas. As you can experience, the salt content in the air and water is unquestionably higher than the average levels on land.
The resistance of the watch makes it last long in the varying ph values and saline conditions of water. The automatic watch has a bright green dial which allows you to see the time in the water.
Case: a strong stainless case with a large visible diameter of an optimum thickness is made from marine grade engineering steel. The solidly built case is designed to endure dynamic water pressure of the sea and the changing atmospheric pressure.
It is resistant to rusting, warping, and brittleness. You can also wear the watch while working in the toughest working conditions on and off the field. The watch is strongly preferred by those who work in the heat of oil well, the height of cold, rain forest conditions and the other variable climatic conditions. The steel lugs connect to a firm bracelet. The sapphire crystal material on the Rolex Submariner Hulk case is built to endure tough conditions.
Bezel: Rolex Submariner Hulk has a great bezel with engravings of 60-minute indicators. The bezel rotates unidirectional way to display the depth of diving and swimming. It is highly useful for measuring the intensity of your diving and swimming. The ring lock system of the Rolex Submariner Hulk provides extra safety and security to the dial and the case interiors with absolute waterproof features.
Dial: Rolex Submariner Hulk dial is simple and sophisticated in design and construction. The brightness at the dial top half and visibly dark color at the bottom half represents the great design features.
Bracelet: The Rolex Submariner Hulk bracelet is made from steel with three-layer links that form great fitment around your wrist. You can wear in while swimming, diving, skiing, and while being engaged in the other marine activities. Tiny gaps between the links ensure free air circulation when on land to keep your wrist free from sweat, heat, and humidity.
Movement: Automatic movement of the Rolex Submariner Hulk drives the accuracy and high efficiency of the watch. The construction of Rolex Submariner Hulk compatible to the standard atomic clock which the whole world refers to for an accurate time.
The Rolex Submariner Hulk has a system which has zero tolerance for error and lag in the display of time. The Rolex Submariner Hulk works on a perfect perpetual mechanism of self-winding. The half-moon shaped oscillator system is efficient and accurate to capture the slightest movement of your wrist and arm.
Then it transfers the energy into the mechanical system which in turn makes your Rolex Submariner Hulk highly efficient and accurate. The system has a complex internal mechanism of moving and non-moving parts.
Our analysis of Rolex watch price in India started from the lowest price of Rolex watches in India and extended to the moderately priced ones. We have aimed to introduce you to the various classical and timeless models of the global brand. You could be an entrepreneur, corporate team leader, business person, or a professional. The Rolex watches starting price in India is within your reach, no matter where you are and what you do.
We have included all the models, colors, and designs which may appeal to everyone India from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Mumbai to Manipur. You can wear the Rolex watch to your workplace, corporate meetings, social gatherings, family occasions, and any other event you can imagine.
Modernity, classical design, and antiquity are integrated parts of the Rolex watch in India. We have handpicked the most valuable ones that carry the century-old tradition and principles of the Rolex brand.
You can easily identify your own cultural, spiritual, personal, social, professional, and holistic lifestyle with the design and construction of every Rolex model. It is one of the most revered qualities introduced by Rolex in India. In addition, the brand brings with it the whole collection of fast and corporate lifestyle, perfectionism, and a willingness to be successful in your chosen field.
Reading through our Rolex watch price in India with images has given you the brightest and most explicit idea about choosing the right Rolex in real time. Once you have made a choice, it is the most precious jewel you can ever imagine to wear for any occasion. | 2019-04-18T16:16:26Z | https://dealsngadgets.com/rolex-watch-price-in-india/ |
Cultural Marxism : Cultural Marxism: An offshoot of Marxism that gave birth to political correctness, multiculturalism and “anti-racism.” Unlike traditional Marxism that focuses on economics, Cultural Marxism focuses on culture and maintains that all human behavior is a result of culture (not heredity / race) and is thus malleable. Cultural Marxists absurdly deny the biological reality of gender and race and argue that gender and race are “social constructs”. Nonetheless, Cultural Marxists support the race-based identity politics of non-whites.
Cultural Marxists typically support race-based affirmative action, the proposition state (as opposed to a nation rooted in common ancestry), elevating non-Western religions above Western religions, speech codes and censorship, multiculturalism, diversity training, anti-Western education curricula, maladaptive sexual norms and anti-male feminism, the dispossession of white people, and mass Third World immigration into Western countries. Cultural Marxists have promoted the idea that white people, instead of birthing white babies, should interracially marry or adopt non-white children. Samuel P. Huntington maintained that Cultural Marxism is an anti-white ideology. Critics of Cultural Marxism have maintained that Cultural Marxists intend to commit genocide against white people through mass non-white immigration, assimilation, transracial adoption and miscegenation.
1. AD HOMINEM ARGUMENT: An argument in which one of the persons involved in a debate strays from the issue being talked about and begins to talk about the person who has voiced an argument. It is name-calling, rather than talking about the issue being debated. The Latin phrase “ad hominem” literally means “toward the man”. Debating primers refer to this as one of the “Fallacies of Irrelevance” because the obvious purpose of a debate is to talk about an issue, not the “man” (person) expressing an opposing view.
The ‘ad hominem” argument is used frequently during debate on the immigration issue. More than discussions on most other issues, discussions on the immigration issue stray from the immigration issue itself to “ad hominem” attacks on those who find fault with current immigration policy. A number of people who use “ad hominem” arguments seem to believe that Canada’s current immigration policy is beyond fault and beyond criticism.
2. ADMINISTRATIVE (MINISTERIAL) REVIEW: This is a euphemistic term used by Canada’s Department of Citizenship and Immigration and its ministers for the word “amnesty”. As Charles Campbell has noted in “Betrayal And Deceit”, the term is one of many examples of immigration deceit practiced against Canadians.
Some Canadians may find the word “deceit” somewhat harsh, but they need only look at proposals by a preceding Minister of Immigration, Joseph Volpe, for a 40% increase in immigration levels to the 320,000+ range. Mr.Volpe did not provide any evidence to justify the increase. This example should give the politically naive the proof they need that Mr. Volpe, like his many predecessors and successors, found nothing wrong with practicing deceit on Canadians.
In the past, the term “administrative or ministerial” review was used to hide the incompetence of both immigration ministers and senior political officials in dealing with false refugee claimants. The numbers of these claimants had become so high in the 1980’s that the entire refugee system had become unworkable. Rather than deal with the root problem, which was the policy of letting so many people make such claims, successive ministers and other political officials allowed these people to stay in Canada.
“Administrative (Ministerial) Review” soon became a clear signal to other potential refugee claimants that they could come to Canada and apply for refugee status also. The significance of “Administrative Reviews” and other administrative incompetence is that literally hundreds of thousands of false refugee claimants have been allowed into Canada and that they have been allowed to bring in literally hundreds of thousands of extended family members.
3. AGING ISSUE, (THE) : This term refers to the proportion of older people in a society. All societies age (grow older). Like many developed countries, Canada has an increasing number of older people in its population, but its position is favourable compared to that of some European countries.
Canada is the only country that uses immigration to deal with the issue of an increasing number of older people in its population. The landmark Health and Welfare Canada study, “Charting Canada’s Future”, looked at the issue of a larger number of older people.
Its recommendations were that Canada encourage an increase in its own birth rate, that it increase Canadian female participation in the country’s work force and that it make use of Canada’s unemployed 45+ year old males. It showed that for the aging issue, these measures were statistically superior to immigration.
It also implied that these, especially the latter two, were morally superior to immigration since Canada would be fulfilling its obvious responsibility to its own citizens.
The general conclusion of most of the studies which have looked at using immigration to deal with the aging issue or other issues is that Canada should look within its own borders for solutions, not to immigration which often causes more problems than it remedies.
4. ANCHOR BABIES: This is an American term which is sometimes used in Canada. Anchor babies are children of women who are in Canada as refugee claimants or as visa or non-visa holders/visitors. These children are entitled to Canadian citizenship as a result of being born on Canadian soil. Women refugee claimants use this provision to try to bolster their own immediate claims to refugee status.
Some pregnant female visa holders deliberately come to Canada in order that their children will be born on Canadian soil. In that way, these mothers obtain citizenship for their children who will years later be able to come to Canada and sponsor relatives for entry to Canada.
One of the shared issues is immigration. It has tended to look uncritically at federal immigration policy. Critics have said that it should be evaluating the impact of immigration policy on Canada’s urban areas—especially because high immigration levels have had such a major effect on urban areas. A considerable part of this effect has been very negative.
In making comments on immigration, several of the cities have relied on information from immigration lawyers, consultants and advocates as if these people were the only ones in their communities who should be listened to on this topic. Critics have likened this approach to inviting Hell’s Angels’ members or other drug dealers to give advice on how the city should deal with drug issues.
The Big City Mayors’ Caucus (BCMC) comprises a regionally representative group of FCM member cities. It meets two to three times a year to discuss shared issues and to reinforce FCM’s policy and advocacy agenda set by the National Board of Directors.
6. BUSINESS IMMIGRANT : Business immigrants include three classes of immigrants : Investors, Entrepreneurs and Self-employed people. Business immigrants become permanent residents on the basis of their ability to become economically established in Canada. The spouse and children of the business immigrant are also included in this category.
7. CHAIN MIGRATION: This is the practice used by immigrants to Canada of sponsoring qualifying members of their extended families to become immigrants to Canada. The practice is referred to as “chain” migration because of the length of time over which it extends. The practice can literally go on for many decades because sponsored immigrants can become sponsoring immigrants—ad infinitum.
This is the chief criticism that is to be made of chain migration.
Another is that it can also involve considerable fraud because false identity documents are sometimes manufactured in a number of countries for people unrelated to sponsors. These people subsequently try to enter Canada.
Critics have often pointed out that Canada should adopt Australia’s policy on this phenomenon to avoid the never-ending “family” sponsorship cycle that ensues when the chain begins. The Australian policy was introduced in 1988. It uses a “balance of family” test whereby the parents must have more children in Australia than in any other single country or as many children in Australia as in all other countries combined. If potential sponsoring parents do not have more children in Australia than in any other single country or as many children in Australia as in all other countries combined, they cannot sponsor those children. Parents either meet it or don’t meet it.
The Australian model is a more realistic “re-unification” model because half or more of the family is already in Australia. If most of the family is in another country, and only one or two are in Australia, “re-unification” can be better achieved by the family member in Australia moving to the country where the majority of the family is than by having the majority move to Australia. This model puts a limit on “re-unification”. It does not allow the endless cycle called “chain migration” to begin–and to continue endlessly as in Canada.
The Australian example is based on the good of Australia. The Canadian model is naively based on the good of non-Canadians.
8. CONVENTION REFUGEE (Government Definition): A person who, by reason of a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion, is (a) outside each of their countries of nationality and is unable, or by reason of that fear, unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of each of those countries; or (b) not having a country of nationality, is outside the country of their former habitual residence and is unable, or by reason of that fear, unwilling to return to that country.
9. CULTURAL ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: This is the limit that any group consciously or unconsciously sets regarding the number of immigrants it will accept before it begins to feel overwhelmed. At the federal level where immigration policy is decided, cultural absorptive capacity has been completely ignored.
Canada’s immigration industry and a number of elected officials at all three levels of government have intimidated other elected officials into accepting virtually unlimited numbers of immigrants. The result is that areas of Canada such as Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal feel they have been inundated by recent immigrants. In the past, in many parts of the world, such an inflow would have been termed “colonization”. In Canada today, it is referred to as establishing “multiculturalism and diversity” and Canadians are told to accept it or else.
(c) they are age 22 or over and have been substantially dependent on the financial support of a parent since before age 22 because of a physical or mental condition.
Before June 28, 2002, dependants were defined as the spouse of a landed immigrant and the children of that immigrant who were unmarried and under 19 years of age; or continuously enrolled as full-time students in an educational institution and financially supported by their parents since reaching age 19 (or if married before age 19, from the date of their marriage); or due to a medical condition, unable to support themselves and are dependent on their parents for financial support.
11. DEPENDENCY RATIO: the number of working Canadians required to support non-working Canadians such as the young, the very disabled, and the pensioned/non-pensioned elderly. Canada’s immigration industry claims that working Canadians face the prospect of supporting an ever-increasing number of dependents. They try to suggest that Canada’s dependency ratio will become unbearable.
This industry says that immigration is the only way to prevent this situation from getting worse. The Health and Welfare Canada study (referred to above) involved 200 university experts from all across Canada. Because of its professional and objective expertise, it has overwhelming legitimacy and contradicts the claims of the immigration industry. It said that making more use of Canada’s female work force and of Canada’s unemployed males in the 45+ age group was statistically superior to immigration.
12. ECONOMIC ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: the ability of an economy to absorb new workers without causing unwanted competition with Canadians for jobs or displacing Canadian-born from their jobs. Up to 1990, Canada had an immigration policy based on economic absorptive capacity. When Canada needed workers, it looked for them. When it did not need them, it did not look.
13. ECONOMIC IMMIGRANT (Government Definition) : People selected for their skills and ability to contribute to Canada’s economy, including skilled workers, business people and provincial nominees.
(b) have a legally obtained net worth of at least $300,000 Canadian.
15. EMPLOYMENT EQUITY FOR VISIBLE MINORITIES: This is the equivalent of the American “Affirmative Action” programme which was intended to improve the educational and employment opportunities of American blacks.
In the mid-1980’s, Judge Rosalie Abella (who now sits on Canada’s Supreme Court) was asked to investigate the plight of visible minorities in Canada. After a cursory examination of evidence, she came to the conclusion that widespread, systemic discrimination against visible minorities existed in Canada. As others have observed, this is strange behaviour from a person who is supposed to base judgements on evidence.
Subsequent thorough research done by Dr. Martin Loney showed that Ms. Abella’s findings were not true. Dr. Loney discovered that, in fact, a number of visible minority groups such as Japanese and Chinese Canadians were doing better economically than mainstream Canadians. Also, other visible minorities were doing just as well. Some were doing poorly, but Abella’s conclusions that all visible minorities faced widespread, systemic prejudice (and thus low incomes and poverty)were unsupported by the facts. Loney’s work shows that her recommendations should never have been implemented.
In spite of the large amount of evidence which has been accumulated and which clearly contradicts the conclusions of Abella, the federal government has refused to withdraw this legislation. The number of mainstream Canadians negatively affected by this legislation has never been calculated. But it is in the tens of thousands at the very least. Probably, the numbers are in the hundreds of thousands because this programme has been put into effect in the federal, provincial and municipal jurisdictions. It has also been imitated in the private sector.
The entire “Employment Equity For Visible Minorities” programme has been aptly described as institutionalized discrimination against mainstream Canadians.
To compound the problem, Abella’s mistakes require that a large bureaucracy be maintained (mostly by Canadian taxpayers) to investigate and implement policies that discriminate against the majority of Canadians. To perpetuate their jobs, these employees require an unending flow of visible minority immigrants.
16. FAMILY CLASS (Government Definition) : A class of immigrants to Canada made up of close relatives of a sponsor in Canada, including a spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner; dependent children; parents and grandparents; children under age 18 whom the sponsor intends to adopt in Canada; children of whom the sponsor is the guardian; brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces and grandchildren who are orphans under age 18; and any other relative, if the sponsor has no relative as described above, either abroad or in Canada.
17. FLOWS (Government Definition) : Based on the initial entry method, the number of people identified as entering the CIC system (and presumably the country) for the first time. CIC commonly measures foreign student flows and foreign worker flows. Flows are calculated based on the earliest effective date of any valid permit issued to a foreign student or a foreign worker. The Monitor’s quarterly figures measure foreign student flows and foreign worker flows as opposed to stocks (see stock definition for more details).
18. FOREIGN STUDENT (Government Definition) : A temporary resident who has been approved by an immigration officer to study in Canada. The study permit identifies the level of study and the length of time the individual may study in Canada. Students do not need a study permit for courses of six months or less if they will finish the course within the period of stay authorized upon entry, which is usually six months. Before June 28, 2002, students did not need a study permit for English and French as a second language courses of three months or less. Every foreign student must have a student authorization, but may also have been issued other types of permits or authorizations.
Foreign Students may come to Canada for primary, secondary, post-secondary or English/French language education. Citizenship and Immigration Canada says that Canada takes about 130,000 foreign students annually. Most Canadians have no objection to foreign students coming to Canada to study—-as long as those students do not displace Canadian students in Canada’s education system. However, some displacement has definitely occurred at both the secondary and post-secondary levels.
In addition,like Canada’s regular immigration programme and its refugee programme, the foreign student programme has been abused. A number of foreign students use it as a third immigration door into Canada.
For example, at a number of Canadian universities, foreign students are recruited with the understanding that they will pay 3 to 4 times the tuition rates that Canadian students pay. However, as a number of universities have discovered, a significant number of these foreign students apply for landed immigrant status after their first or second year here. This status allows their fees to be reduced to Canadian student levels, thus defeating the universities’ purpose of trying to get extra income from foreign students.
19. GOVERNMENT-ASSISTED REFUGEES (Government Definition) : People who are selected abroad for resettlement to Canada as Convention refugees under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act or as members of the Humanitarian-protected Persons Abroad Classes, and who receive resettlement assistance from the federal government.
20. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS : These are people such as failed refugee claimants who have been ordered to leave, but who have gone into hiding. The term also includes people such as those who have overstayed their visas. The federal government claims to have some idea of the number of failed refugee claimants. But it says it has no idea how many people have overstayed visas because it keeps no such records. Estimates of the total of these people range as high as 600,000.
Illegal immigrants are undoubtedly working in order to support themselves, so they are taking jobs away from Canadians. (Some are probably involved in other illegal activities such as serious crime.) The federal government has failed to recognize the significance of Canadian workers being displaced. Instead, prominent officials have trivialized the effect of illegals.
In the U.S., research has shown that employers exploit illegals’ fears of being caught by paying them much less than citizens. This has resulted in a lowering of wages in many job categories formerly occupied by citizens. Harvard economist George Borjas has said that it has also caused an enormous transfer of capital (Over $190 Billion annually) from workers to employers.
A similar phenomenon has probably occurred in Canada, but our federal government has not uncovered the extent of this phenomenon yet. It may be more accurate to say that Canada’s federal government refuses to uncover it.
21. IMMIGRATION INDUSTRY : A number of immigration lawyers, immigration consultants and ethnic groups who have lobbied the federal government to make significant changes to Canadian immigration policies and to raise immigration levels to historically high and anomalous numbers. These people have combined with a number of prominent urban federal politicians from several political parties, particularly from the Liberal Party of Canada, to achieve their ends.
(a) SKILLED WORKERS; (b) ENTREPRENEURS; (c) INVESTORS; (d) SELF-SUPPORTING/SELF-EMPLOYED BUSINESS PEOPLE; (e) and NANNIES/LIVE-IN CARE GIVERS. Government definitions are included above and below.
Citizenship and Immigration claims that about 60% of the total number of immigrants to Canada come here as economic immigrants, but the fact is that C and I has included the spouses and child dependents of these immigrants in this category in order to make its figures look better.
In reality, only between 20 to 25% of immigrants to Canada fall into the economic class. Contrary to what C and I tells Canadians, only these 20 to 25% of immigrants to Canada have to meet any real point system requirements. In other words, the C and I claim that it is getting harder and harder to be an immigrant to Canada(that even Einstein might have had difficulty getting enough points to get in) is not true, to say the very least. In 2002, economic immigrants represented 23.3% of all immigrants.
Nannies and Live-In Caregivers. After being here for 2 years, these people can apply for landed immigrant status and then bring in spouses and dependent children. Like dependents of economic migrants, and the people in the family and refugee classes, these people do not have to meet any point system requirements. In 2002, these people represented 0.9% of all immigrants. There were 1981 of them.
(B) FAMILY: These are immediate family members of people who are landed immigrants or who are Canadian-born. This also includes parents and grandparents. Like the dependents of economic immigrants, people in this category do not have to meet any point system requirements. In 2002, the family class represented 28.5% of the total number of immigrants. When combined with the dependents who are now included in the economic category, these people make up more than 50% of all immigrants to Canada every year.
(C) REFUGEE: This category includes around 10,000 Government Assisted (genuine) refugees which the government of Canada selects from refugee camps from around the world. It also includes a varying number of refugees privately sponsored by churches and humanitarian organizations.
It further comprises asylum seekers who arrive in Canada and claim refugee status. Since 1989, over 700,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in Canada. A former Executive-Director of Canada’s Immigration Service, Mr. James Bissett, claims that most of these asylum-seekers are illegitimate refugee-claimants. Mr. Bissett says that most of these people are abusing Canada’s refugee system and that Canada annually spends more than $1 billion dealing with them.
Mr. Bissett points out that Canada spends enormous amounts on these illegals, whose cause is championed by Canada’s immigration industry on purported humanitarian grounds. On the other hand, it spends extremely little on genuine refugees languishing in refugee camps around the world. In 2002, refugees represented 11% of all immigrants to Canada (25,122 immigrants).
(D) HUMANITARIAN: This group often consists of people who have failed the refugee application process.
In effect, between 75% to 80% of all immigrants to Canada every year do not have to meet any point system requirements.
have invested $400,000 Canadian before receiving a visa.
The Canadian government allocates the investment to participating provinces and territories, which guarantee the investment and use it to develop their economies and create jobs. The investment is repaid, without interest, after five years.
The amounts required to be invested vary from province to province. This category has acquired a certain amount of notoriety because after many complaints of abuse to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, a number of audits were conducted of this program. The conclusion was that this program was “riddled with fraud”.
23. JOINT ASSISTANCE SPONSORSHIP (JAS) (Government Definition) : A joint undertaking by a sponsoring group and CIC to sponsor refugees requiring special assistance and whose admissibility depends upon the additional support of a sponsor. In order to resettle successfully, these refugees may require more than a 12-month sponsorship. Under the JAS Program, CIC provides financial assistance to cover the cost of food, shelter, clothing and essential household goods. The sponsor’s role is to provide orientation, significant settlement assistance and emotional support. Refugees sponsored under the JAS program are identified as having special needs that will likely result in a longer or more difficult period of integration.
24. LANDING (Government Definition) : The permission given to a person to live in Canada as a permanent resident. An immigrant who has been “landed” is a permanent resident.
25. LEVEL OF SKILL (Government Definition) : Skill levels for foreign worker occupations are derived from the National Occupational Classification (NOC) system.
(a) University Foreign students pursuing undergraduate, postgraduate (master’s and doctoral) and other studies at university institutions in Canada.
(b) Trade Foreign students pursuing education in a vocational trade at non-university educational institutions in Canada (such as technical and vocational institutions, CEGEP, and colleges).
(c) Other Post-Secondary Foreign students pursuing a post-secondary level of study, not specifically university or trade level. This category may include language institutions, private institutions and university qualifying programs.
(d) Secondary or Less Foreign students attending primary or secondary educational institutions in Canada.
(e) Other Foreign students who could not be classified at any of the above levels of study.
27. LIVE-IN CAREGIVER : (Government Definition) : A temporary resident of Canada who has successfully completed the equivalent of Canadian secondary school; has six months of full-time training in a field or occupation related to that for which they are seeking a work permit; is able to speak, read and understand English or French at a level sufficient to communicate effectively in an unsupervised situation; and signs an employment contract with the future employer.
Participants in this program may apply for permanent resident status in Canada after completing two years of live-in caregiving employment within three years of arrival in Canada.
28. MULTICULTURALISM: A term used to refer to the phenomenon, in Canada, of promoting, among immigrants, the retention of their own cultural practices. It also refers not only to the different ethnic backgrounds of many people in Canada, but to the growing number of those backgrounds.
Multiculturalism has been widely criticized. Some critics have said that multiculturalism requires a continuous inflow of immigrants in order to survive. If multiculturalism is to continue, immigration (particularly high and unnecessary immigration) must continue. As some critics have said, Canada’s multiculturalist policies are a prescription of what Canada will become, not a description of what we are.
Multiculturalism has positive connotations for some, but for many Canadians, it is a euphemism and a disguise for a continuation of Canada’s present unprecedented, unremitting high immigration levels. In fact, one critic has said that continued, high immigration levels are the oxygen for multiculturalism. Without continued high immigration, multiculturalism would die the death it richly deserves.
To others, the words “multiculturalism” and “diversity” are the positive-sounding “artillery” used against an unsuspecting Canadian public to get them to accept unjustified immigration. In other words, these terms are more examples of the deceit used to perpetuate high immigration levels.
29. OTHER (Government Definition) : This category includes people classified as Post-Determination Refugee Claimants or members of the Deferred Removal Order Class.
30. PERMANENT RESIDENCE for PROTECTED PERSONS IN CANADA (Government Definition) : People who have been determined to be Protected Persons by the Immigration and Refugee Board in Canada or through the Pre-Removal Risk Assessment, and who have been granted permanent residence as a result.
31. PROVINCIAL NOMINEE (Government Definition) : An immigrant selected by the provinces and territories for specific skills that will contribute to the local economy. The Regulations establish a provincial nominee class, allowing provinces and territories that have agreements with CIC to nominate a certain number of workers. A nominee must meet federal admissibility requirements, such as those related to health and security.
32. PRINCIPAL APPLICANT (Business Applicant)(Government Definition): The person who best meets the definition for one or more of the types of business immigrants and in whose name the application for immigration is made.
33. PRINCIPAL APPLICANT (Economic Applicant)(Government Definition) : The person who is likely to earn the most points in the self-assessment and in whose name the immigration application is made.
34. PRIVATELY-SPONSORED REFUGEES (Government Definition): Refugees selected abroad for resettlement to Canada who receive resettlement assistance from private sources.
(a) CONVENTION REFUGEES (See government definition above.): People who meet the United Nations description of a refugee. These people almost always need permanent residence in another country. In the past, an example would have been a Russian dissident fleeing the former Soviet government. He was persecuted for his political beliefs. There was no prospect of him returning to the Soviet Union because the government he was escaping from was going to be in power indefinitely. He needed Geneva Convention status, leading to permanent residence in the country providing sanctuary.
(b) NON-CONVENTION REFUGEES: People who do not meet the United Nations definition of a refugee, but who still need protection. An example is a person who fled the former Yugoslavia during its civil war. These people were not singled out for persecution (as the Russian dissident had been). They were just getting out of the line of fire and required temporary protection. There was nothing illegal about their flight and their search for a safe country. They stayed in temporary camps in Germany and now almost all of them have gone back home.
36. REFUGEE PROTECTION CLAIMANT (Government Definition) : A person who has arrived in Canada and who seeks the protection of Canada. If such a person receives a final determination that he or she has been determined to be a Protected Person, he or she may then apply for permanent residence.
37. SAFE COUNTRY: The term “Safe Country” refers to an issue in Canada’s refugee programme. Since 1989, the eve of Canada’s high immigration levels (and not co-incidentally record high refugee claimants), over 700,000 people have landed here and claimed refugee status. The majority of those claims have been fraudulent. In that large group are a significant number who have come from countries that are generally recognized to be democratic and to have good human rights records. Officials within Canada’s immigration system have long recognized that people who come from such countries should not be allowed to initiate refugee claims. They explain that allowing such claims to enter Canada’s system makes a mockery of our system and costs Canada enormous sums of money that should be properly directed towards real refugees in real refugee camps around the world.
Officials have argued that Canada should compose a list of “Safe Countries” and that people from those countries should be summarily refused the right to make a refugee claim. However, Canada’s immigration industry has managed to sabotage all efforts to enact such legislation. They have argued that in order to protect the safety of claimants, that Canada must negotiate separate agreements with all countries to guarantee that failed claimants will not be maltreated when deported from Canada. As a result, Canada has absurd situations such as large numbers of Mexicans, as well as many others from similarly-governed countries, arriving at the Canada-U.S. border or at our airports and claiming to be refugees.
38. SAFE THIRD COUNTRY: The term “SAFE THIRD COUNTRY” refers to an issue in Canada’s refugee programme. A person’s home country is regarded as the “first country” in this discussion. When a person decides to leave his home country in order to avoid persecution of the type described in The U.N. Convention on Refugees, it is expected that he make a refugee claim in the first country that he flees to. However, many refugee claimants are not political refugees, the type recognized by the U.N., but are “economic refugees”, a type which the U.N. does not regard as refugees. Economic refugees are looking for a country which will provide them with the best package of social benefits that are available. These people are often referred to as “asylum shoppers”. The country in which refugee claimants actually make their refugee claims is referred to as the “second country”. The country through which these claimants have travelled before making their claims is regarded as the “third country”.
About a third of Canada’s refugee claimants since 1989 have entered Canada from the U.S. These people should have made their claims in the U.S., but for a number of reasons such as the likelihood that they would have been rejected in the U.S., they have entered Canada which has the highest refugee claimant acceptance rate in the world. For a few years, Canada has had an agreement with the U.S. which allows Canada to refuse entry to claimants who have used the U.S. as a “safe third country”. This agreement has worked for Canada in a number of ways, but it does have loopholes through which claimants have been able to slip.
39. SELF-EMPLOYED PEOPLE (Government Definition) : An immigrant who has (a) shown that they can and intend to create their own employment in Canada and (b) that they can contribute significantly either to the Canadian economy as farmers or to the cultural or athletic life of Canada.
The Supreme Court of Canada noted that the word “person” in the Canadian charter meant that a ‘person” in Canada did not have to be a Canadian citizen in order to receive medicare and social assistance benefits. This decision has meant that Canadian taxpayers pay well over $2 to $3 Billion per year for benefits provided to people who make refugee claims. At the peak of the abuse of Canada’s refugee system, about 30,000 to 40,000 claims were being made here every year.
As we noted above, about a third of refugees to Canada were crossing the Canada-U.S. border and claiming refugee status in Canada. These people had often been in other safe countries and either been granted status there or refused status.
41. SKILLED WORKER (Government Definition) : Immigrants selected for their skills, which will ensure their success in a fast-changing labour market and benefit the Canadian economy. The Regulations stress education, English or French language abilities, and work experience involving certain skills, rather than specific occupations.
42. STOCKS (Government Definition) : Stock statistics measure the number of people present in the CIC system on a specific date in each year of observation. CIC commonly measures foreign student stocks and foreign worker stocks. For a foreign student or a foreign worker to be counted as present in the stock, he or she must have a valid student or work authorization on that date. Any foreign student or foreign worker who has been granted landed status on or before the observation date is excluded from the stock count from that date forward. | 2019-04-25T16:08:27Z | http://immigrationwatchcanada.org/background/basic-vocabulary/ |
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Setting up well-defined top priorities and sales’ goals will lead to the most reliable marketing approach. An effective marketing technique will certainly bring ensured success to your service.
Digital marketing and also advertising and marketing through social media platforms are playing a pivotal duty today for faster development of any service. Udemy will certainly teach you ideal abilities for appropriate social media sites marketing techniques of your startup.
Appropriate and also effective methods of pitching your suggestions to brand-new customers are extremely vital. Udemy training courses will educate you wise methods to boost these abilities.
6. Market division is possibly the most essential concept to recognize when we discuss advanced methods for effective organisation growth. If you actually understand this idea, you could take your company growth to a next level. Udemy cost-free programs will certainly aid you to recognize this concept in information.
7. Understanding the means for effective group management is really needed. If you understand how you can keep your group together to earn them place in their best shots, you are already there. This will certainly assist you optimize your methods of company growth with a fantastic group on board to earn that take place.
Even if you don’t have a huge funding for investment, these Udemy programs will certainly provide you with imaginative suggestions for scaling up your company. These million dollar suggestions will take you ahead in the race even if you have no cash to expand your startup.
Keen marketing research and also deep analysis will certainly help you develop a successful method. You will discover programs on udemy, they will certainly show you how you can construct as well as deconstruct a sales and also advertising and marketing approach for the greater inbound capital.
When there is a lot of effective standards is offered on udemy, why won’t you make use of that to expand your start-up. Stay regular in whatever you are going after and also you will come to be a successful entrepreneur.
where is the download section in udemy where is the download section in udemy Are you looking for ways to succeed in organisation growth? You don’t have the deluxe of time to obtain enrolled in a service university to learn these techniques.
You could authorize up online for finding out whatever you desire right from the scrape. This allows you to find out brand-new things whenever as well as wherever you want. These days Udemy and Linda are one of the most preferred on-line discovering internet sites.
where is the download section in udemy where is the download section in udemy Udemy brings amazing discounts and totally free discovering possibilities currently!
Udemy brings you various udemy coupons discount rate. Via these udemy coupons you could learn an exceptionally valuable service development course by paying a little quantity of the real cost. Furthermore, if you keep browsing udemy acutely, there are several courses readily available as “buy udemy courses totally free” offer.
However finest of all, in this overview we bring you some most reliable learning suggestions and also information regarding finding out through Udemy for absolutely free. All you need is a web connection and also you are good to go. We are right here to bring you all the suggestions for cracking the code of business development as well as improve your business with success.
If you are as well keen to fracture the code of successful business advancement, you need to learn more about the methods for that. You need to obtain your practical things like network building, method making, and also every little thing regarding cold emailing and also cool calls.
There are many training courses where you could avail udemy vouchers discount for learning the points like handling companions and the wise means for shutting offers.
No doubt, there are several various other factors involved in making a service growth effective. Comprehending the human psychology is one of them.
You could buy udemy programs cost-free for obtaining to understand your service partners as well as customers a lot more. Perhaps, this is the most important aspect for making a company successful; “comprehending the mind of people”.
Are you seeking means to master company development? Do you want to expand your vision for taking your business to brand-new heights? However you don’t have the deluxe of time to obtain enrolled in an organisation university to discover these methods. No should stress, today the service to every problem is simply a click away.
You could sign up online for finding out whatever you desire right from the scrape. This permits you to learn brand-new things whenever and anywhere you desire. These days Udemy and Linda are one of the most preferred on-line learning sites.
Udemy brings you numerous udemy coupons discount. With these udemy discount coupons you can find out an exceptionally useful company growth program by paying a little quantity of the real rate. If you maintain surfing udemy acutely, there are a number of courses offered as “buy udemy courses for free” deal.
Finest of all, in this guide we bring you some most effective discovering tips and also information concerning learning via Udemy for completely cost-free of cost. All you require is a net link and you ready to go. We are below to bring you all the suggestions for fracturing the code of service advancement as well as increase your company with success.
If you are also eager to break the code of effective company advancement, you have to be familiar with the tactics for that. You need to get your hands on the important things like network structure, strategy making, as well as whatever concerning chilly emailing as well as cold calling.
There are lots of training courses where you can avail udemy promo codes discount rate for learning things like managing partners and also the wise methods for closing bargains.
No question, there are many other variables associated with making a service advancement effective. Understanding the human psychology is just one of them.
You can purchase udemy programs totally free for getting to understand your business partners and customers more. Possibly, this is the most essential factor for making a business successful; “recognizing the mind of individuals”.
Most of us have actually become aware of the excellent effective and also internationally well-known service companies like Google, Uber, AirBnB, as well as Microsoft. But have you ever before believed exactly what made them so effective besides their hard-working CEOs? These companies are making millions of dollars in a day since they learned the best ways to look past the traditional marketing as well as sales models.
Finding a right collaboration possibility is the most significant game changer for your service development.
Yes, only being a figured out entrepreneur you could not make a business development effective. You have to recognize exactly just what you are doing and how you are doing. Discovering the art of doing beneficial collaborations with the “appropriate companions” is every little thing you need to know to dominate your competitors.
You have to grow their start-up to a big firm, for that matter you need to find the appropriate collaboration networks for service development.
You will certainly discover the methods to locate the best companions for your company start-up. Udemy will certainly show you everything.
Exactly what are the core organisation development ideas Udemy complimentary courses can show you?
We have surfed the udemy library and also have actually looked all the contents of some top recommended business growth programs for you. Below are some highlighted functions of these programs which you can conveniently make use of by utilizing demy coupons discounts.
We suggest you to take a look and also look for your relevant training courses on udemy to check out the world of service success.
Setting up distinct top priorities as well as sales’ objectives will certainly lead to the most efficient marketing strategy. An efficient advertising approach will bring ensured success to your organisation.
Digital advertising and marketing and advertising and marketing through social media sites systems are playing an essential function today for faster development of any type of organisation. Udemy will certainly educate you finest skills for correct social networks advertising techniques of your startup.
Proper and also effective ways of pitching your concepts to new clients are extremely critical. Udemy programs will certainly show you wise ways to improve these abilities.
6. Market segmentation is probably one of the most essential idea to understand when we speak about innovative ways for successful organisation advancement. If you actually understand this principle, you could take your service advancement to a following degree. Udemy cost-free training courses will certainly assist you to recognize this principle in information.
7. Understanding the means for reliable group monitoring is very needed. If you recognize the best ways to maintain your group with each other to earn them place in their best shots, you are currently there. This will assist you maximize your strategies of service growth with a great team on board to make that take place.
Also if you don’t have a massive capital for investment, these Udemy courses will certainly offer you with imaginative ideas for scaling up your company. These million buck concepts will certainly take you in advance in the race also if you have no loan to broaden your startup.
Keen marketing research and also deep analysis will aid you establish a successful approach. You will certainly discover courses on udemy, they will certainly instruct you ways to construct and deconstruct a sales and advertising and marketing strategy for the greater inbound capital.
In the end, we suggest you maintain your eyes open. Prior to you take a leap constantly consider all the feasible variables. When there is a lot of effective standards is offered on udemy, why won’t you use that to grow your start-up. Remain regular in whatever you are going after and also you will certainly come to be an effective businessman. All the best!
All of us have actually found out about the top-notch successful and internationally well-known organisation companies like Google, Uber, AirBnB, and Microsoft. Yet have you ever believed just what made them so effective besides their hard-working CEOs? These firms are making numerous dollars in a day since they learned how to look beyond the standard advertising and marketing as well as sales versions.
Yes, just being a determined business owner you can not make an organisation advancement successful. You have to understand exactly what you are doing and also just how you are doing. Discovering the art of doing valuable partnerships with the “best partners” is everything you require to understand to dominate your competitors.
You need to expand their start-up to a huge company, for that matter you need to find the right collaboration channels for service development.
You will find out the ways to locate the best partners for your company startup. Udemy will certainly instruct you whatever.
where is the download section in udemy Exactly what are the core business development ideas Udemy complimentary training courses can teach you?
We have actually browsed the udemy collection and also have searched all the contents of some top suggested service advancement courses for you. Below are some highlighted attributes of these training courses which you could easily make use using demy promo codes price cuts.
We recommend you to look and look for your appropriate courses on udemy to discover the globe of business success.
Renovation in creating leading and also boosting the sales is the essential factor for company advancement.
Establishing up distinct concerns and also sales’ purposes will lead to the most effective marketing strategy. A reliable advertising approach will bring assured success to your organisation.
Digital advertising and also advertising and marketing through social media sites platforms are playing a crucial function today for faster development of any kind of organisation. Udemy will teach you best skills for correct social media sites marketing techniques of your start-up.
5. Appropriate and effective means of pitching your concepts to new customers are extremely crucial. You need some skills for this. Udemy courses will educate you clever methods to boost these abilities.
6. Market division is possibly the most crucial idea to understand when we speak about innovative ways for effective company development. If you actually understand this principle, you could take your company growth to a following degree. Udemy cost-free programs will aid you to recognize this concept carefully.
Comprehending the means for reliable team monitoring is very necessary. This will aid you optimize your approaches of business growth with a fantastic team on board to make that take place.
Also if you don’t have a huge capital for financial investment, these Udemy programs will supply you with innovative suggestions for scaling up your company. These million dollar concepts will take you in advance in the race also if you have no cash to expand your start-up.
Keen market research study and also deep analysis will certainly help you establish a successful approach. You will locate training courses on udemy, they will certainly show you ways to construct as well as deconstruct a sales and advertising approach for the greater incoming capital.
In the end, we recommend you keep your eyes open. Prior to you take a jump constantly take into consideration all the feasible variables. When there is a great deal of reliable guidelines is available on udemy, why won’t you make use of that to expand your start-up. Stay constant in whatever you are pursuing as well as you will certainly end up being an effective entrepreneur. All the best!
where is the download section in udemy where is the download section in udemy Are you trying to find methods to master company development? Do you intend to broaden your vision for taking your business to brand-new elevations? You don’t have the high-end of time to get signed up in an organisation university to find out these strategies. No requirement to fret, today the remedy to every trouble is simply a click away.
You can sign up online for learning whatever you desire right from the scratch. This permits you to learn new points whenever and anywhere you desire. These days Udemy and Linda are one of the most popular on the internet knowing sites.
where is the download section in udemy where is the download section in udemy Udemy brings great discounts and cost-free learning opportunities currently!
Udemy brings you various udemy vouchers discount rate. Via these udemy discount coupons you could find out an incredibly helpful company development course by paying a little amount of the actual rate. If you maintain surfing udemy acutely, there are numerous training courses readily available as “buy udemy courses for free” offer.
Yet finest of all, in this overview we bring you some most effective learning tips and also details concerning learning through Udemy for absolutely cost-free of price. All you require is a web link and you are excellent to go. We are here to bring you all the tips for cracking the code of business advancement and increase your company with success.
If you are as well keen to crack the code of effective company growth, you must obtain to understand the techniques for that. You need to obtain your practical the important things like network structure, method production, and also whatever about chilly emailing and cool calls.
There are numerous programs where you can obtain udemy coupons discount for finding out the points like managing partners as well as the wise methods for closing deals.
No question, there are numerous other elements included in making a service development effective. Recognizing the human psychology is just one of them.
You could acquire udemy training courses complimentary for reaching recognize your company companions and clients more. Maybe, this is one of the most crucial variable for making an organisation successful; “understanding the mind of individuals”.
Are you looking for ways to excel in organisation advancement? You don’t have the deluxe of time to obtain enrolled in a service university to find out these strategies.
Today the Internet has actually just reinvented every aspect of life. You could join online for finding out whatever you want right from the scrape. This enables you to learn new things whenever as well as anywhere you want. In some situations, you need to pay some bucks to enjoy this deluxe of on-line understanding. There are a number of online tutoring online forums out there. These days Udemy and Linda are one of the most prominent online learning sites.
Udemy brings trendy discount rates and free learning chances currently!
Udemy brings you various udemy vouchers discount. Through these udemy promo codes you could learn an extremely helpful organisation development course by paying a little amount of the actual price. If you keep searching udemy keenly, there are several courses available as “buy udemy courses for free” deal.
Ideal of all, in this guide we bring you some most reliable learning pointers as well as information regarding learning via Udemy for entirely complimentary of expense. All you need is an internet connection and you are great to go. We are right here to bring you all the pointers for breaking the code of organisation advancement as well as boost your firm with success.
If you are also eager to fracture the code of successful service growth, you need to get to understand the strategies for that. You need to get your practical the important things like network building, approach production, as well as every little thing regarding cold emailing and also chilly calls.
There are numerous training courses where you could obtain udemy promo codes price cut for learning things like handling partners and the wise means for closing offers.
You could purchase udemy training courses free for reaching comprehend your organisation partners and customers more. Perhaps, this is the most vital aspect for making a business effective; “comprehending the mind of people”.
All of us have actually found out about the top-notch effective and also globally renowned service companies like Google, Uber, AirBnB, and also Microsoft. Have you ever thought exactly what made them so effective besides their tireless CEOs? These business are making millions of dollars in a day since they learned how to look beyond the traditional marketing as well as sales versions.
Locating a best partnership opportunity is the greatest game changer for your organisation development.
Yes, just being a determined entrepreneur you can not make a service development successful. You have to understand specifically just what you are doing and also just how you are doing. Finding out the art of doing helpful collaborations with the “appropriate companions” is every little thing you have to recognize to dominate your competitors.
You have to grow their start-up to a huge firm, for that matter you have to locate the right partnership networks for organisation development.
You will discover the ways to locate the appropriate partners for your organisation startup. Udemy will certainly show you every little thing.
We have actually surfed the udemy library and have actually looked all the components of some leading recommended organisation growth training courses for you. Below are some highlighted features of these training courses which you can conveniently get by using demy vouchers discount rates.
We suggest you to have an appearance and search for your pertinent training courses on udemy to explore the globe of business success.
Improvement in creating leading and also enhancing the sales is the important factor for service development.
2. Establishing well-defined concerns and also sales’ purposes will cause one of the most effective advertising and marketing approach. An effective advertising method will bring guaranteed success to your business. This is referred to as development hacking.
Digital advertising and also advertising via social networks platforms are playing an essential duty today for faster growth of any type of service. Udemy will certainly show you best skills for appropriate social media sites marketing techniques of your startup.
5. Appropriate and also reliable means of pitching your suggestions to brand-new clients are very important. You require some abilities for this. Udemy programs will instruct you clever means to improve these abilities.
6. Market segmentation is probably one of the most crucial idea to recognize when we discuss sophisticated methods for successful service development. If you truly recognize this idea, you could take your organisation advancement to a following degree. Udemy free courses will certainly assist you to recognize this concept carefully.
7. Comprehending the methods for reliable group administration is very essential. If you know exactly how to maintain your team with each other to earn them place in their best initiatives, you are currently there. This will certainly aid you optimize your techniques of organisation advancement with an excellent team on board to make that take place.
Also if you don’t have a significant funding for investment, these Udemy courses will give you with innovative suggestions for scaling up your business. These million dollar concepts will certainly take you in advance in the race also if you have no loan to broaden your start-up.
Eager marketing research and also deep evaluation will help you develop a successful method. You will discover courses on udemy, they will teach you ways to create and also deconstruct a sales and also advertising and marketing approach for the better incoming money circulation.
Ultimately, we recommend you maintain your eyes open. Before you take a leap constantly consider all the feasible aspects. When there is a great deal of effective guidelines is available on udemy, why will not you use that to expand your startup. Stay regular in whatever you are seeking and you will end up being an effective businessman. Great luck!
Most of us have actually read about the superior effective and internationally popular service companies like Google, Uber, AirBnB, as well as Microsoft. Have you ever before assumed just what made them so effective besides their hard-working CEOs? These companies are making numerous bucks in a day due to the fact that they found out how you can look past the conventional marketing and also sales designs.
Locating an ideal collaboration chance is the most significant video game changer for your service growth.
Yes, just being an identified entrepreneur you could not make an organisation development successful. You have to recognize exactly just what you are doing and also exactly how you are doing. Finding out the art of doing useful partnerships with the “appropriate companions” is everything you should understand to control your competitors.
You need to grow their startup to a large company, for that issue you have to find the right collaboration channels for business growth.
You will certainly discover the methods to find the ideal companions for your service startup. Udemy will certainly educate you everything.
where is the download section in udemy Just what are the core business advancement concepts Udemy cost-free programs can show you?
We have browsed the udemy library and also have actually searched all the components of some leading suggested organisation development programs for you. Below are some highlighted attributes of these programs which you can conveniently obtain using demy discount coupons discounts.
We recommend you to have an appearance and search for your appropriate training courses on udemy to discover the globe of organisation success.
Renovation in generating leading and boosting the sales is the vital variable for business development.
Establishing up well-defined concerns and sales’ objectives will certainly lead to the most efficient marketing approach. An effective advertising approach will bring guaranteed success to your organisation.
Digital advertising as well as marketing through social networks systems are playing an essential role today for faster growth of any organisation. Udemy will certainly teach you best skills for correct social media sites advertising strategies of your start-up.
Appropriate as well as reliable methods of pitching your suggestions to brand-new customers are really critical. Udemy training courses will certainly instruct you smart methods to enhance these abilities.
Market division is probably the most important principle to understand when we talk regarding innovative means for effective organisation advancement. If you really comprehend this principle, you could take your service advancement to a following degree.
Comprehending the ways for reliable group administration is really essential. This will certainly aid you enhance your techniques of business development with a fantastic team on board to make that happen.
Also if you do not have a big resources for investment, these Udemy programs will certainly supply you with creative ideas for scaling up your service. These million buck ideas will take you ahead in the race even if you have no loan to broaden your start-up.
Keen market study and also deep analysis will help you establish an effective strategy. You will locate training courses on udemy, they will educate you the best ways to build and also deconstruct a sales and advertising and marketing method for the higher incoming cash money circulation.
In the end, we recommend you keep your eyes open. Prior to you take a jump always think about all the feasible factors. When there is a great deal of reliable guidelines is available on udemy, why will not you make use of that to expand your start-up. Stay consistent in whatever you are seeking and also you will certainly end up being a successful business owner. Great luck!
where is the download section in udemy where is the download section in udemy Are you looking for methods to master organisation advancement? Do you desire to increase your vision for taking your company to brand-new elevations? Yet you don’t have the luxury of time to obtain registered in an organisation university to find out these techniques. No should stress, today the solution to every trouble is simply a click away.
Today the Internet has actually simply transformed every facet of life. You can authorize up online for learning whatever you desire right from the scratch. This enables you to find out brand-new things whenever and also wherever you want. Sometimes, you need to pay some dollars to appreciate this high-end of online learning. There are several online tutoring discussion forums around. Nowadays Udemy as well as Linda are one of the most preferred on the internet learning websites.
where is the download section in udemy where is the download section in udemy Udemy brings trendy discount rates and also complimentary understanding possibilities currently!
Udemy brings you different udemy promo codes price cut. Through these udemy promo codes you can discover an unbelievably useful organisation advancement training course by paying a little amount of the actual price. Furthermore, if you keep surfing udemy keenly, there are a number of programs offered as “buy udemy courses absolutely free” offer.
Yet best of all, in this guide we bring you some most efficient knowing suggestions as well as info about discovering with Udemy for entirely free. All you need is a net connection as well as you ready to go. We are right here to bring you all the ideas for splitting the code of service growth as well as improve your firm with success.
If you are as well eager to fracture the code of successful business growth, you need to get to know the methods for that. You need to obtain your practical the important things like network structure, method production, and also whatever about chilly emailing and also cool calls.
There are many programs where you could obtain udemy promo codes price cut for learning the important things like taking care of partners and also the smart means for closing deals.
No doubt, there are numerous other variables included in making a business development successful. Comprehending the human psychology is among them.
You can buy udemy programs totally free for reaching recognize your business companions and also customers much more. Probably, this is one of the most vital element for making a business effective; “understanding the mind of individuals”.
Are you searching for ways to succeed in company advancement? Do you wish to broaden your vision for taking your business to new elevations? However you don’t have the luxury of time to obtain registered in a business university to find out these strategies. No should worry, today the remedy to every trouble is just a click away.
Today the Internet has just reinvented every aspect of life. You can join online for finding out whatever you desire right from the scratch. This allows you to discover brand-new things whenever and also any place you want. In some instances, you need to pay some dollars to enjoy this high-end of on the internet discovering. There are numerous on-line tutoring discussion forums out there. Nowadays Udemy and also Linda are among the most popular on-line knowing websites.
Udemy brings cool discounts and totally free knowing chances now!
Udemy brings you different udemy vouchers discount. Through these udemy vouchers you can learn an extremely beneficial organisation growth training course by paying a little amount of the real cost. In addition, if you maintain browsing udemy acutely, there are numerous training courses offered as “buy udemy courses free of charge” offer.
Yet ideal of all, in this overview we bring you some most reliable understanding pointers and also information about finding out via Udemy for entirely free. All you require is a net link as well as you are good to go. We are right here to bring you all the ideas for fracturing the code of business development as well as boost your firm with success.
If you are also keen to crack the code of successful service development, you must be familiar with the tactics for that. You have to get your practical things like network building, method making, and also every little thing concerning chilly emailing and cool calls.
There are many programs where you can make use of udemy coupons price cut for discovering things like handling partners as well as the smart means for closing deals.
No uncertainty, there are many other factors associated with making a business development effective. Understanding the human psychology is among them.
You can get udemy training courses totally free for obtaining to recognize your organisation partners and clients more. Perhaps, this is one of the most crucial variable for making an organisation successful; “comprehending the mind of people”.
Most of us have actually read about the first-class effective and also globally well-known organisation firms like Google, Uber, AirBnB, and also Microsoft. Have you ever believed exactly what made them so effective besides their tireless CEOs? These business are making numerous bucks in a day because they discovered ways to look past the traditional advertising and sales designs.
Discovering a best collaboration possibility is the greatest game changer for your company development.
Yes, only being an identified business owner you can not make a company growth successful. You need to recognize specifically what you are doing and just how you are doing. Learning the art of doing advantageous collaborations with the “ideal partners” is everything you have to understand to dominate your competitors.
You need to expand their start-up to a huge firm, for that issue you have to locate the right partnership networks for service growth.
You will certainly learn the means to discover the right partners for your service start-up. Udemy will educate you everything.
We have surfed the udemy collection and also have actually searched all the contents of some leading suggested company advancement courses for you. Below are some highlighted functions of these courses which you can conveniently obtain by utilizing demy discount coupons discounts.
We suggest you to have an appearance and also look for your appropriate training courses on udemy to explore the globe of service success.
Setting up well-defined concerns and sales’ goals will certainly lead to the most reliable marketing method. An effective marketing strategy will certainly bring ensured success to your service.
Digital advertising and advertising via social media systems are playing a critical function today for faster development of any kind of service. Udemy will educate you best skills for appropriate social media sites advertising methods of your startup.
Proper as well as efficient ways of pitching your suggestions to new clients are extremely essential. Udemy training courses will show you smart means to boost these abilities.
6. Market segmentation is maybe one of the most vital principle to understand when we discuss advanced methods for effective business development. If you actually understand this idea, you can take your service growth to a next degree. Udemy cost-free programs will certainly help you to understand this concept thoroughly.
Recognizing the ways for reliable team monitoring is extremely required. This will certainly help you enhance your methods of business development with a fantastic group on board to make that happen.
Even if you do not have a big funding for financial investment, these Udemy training courses will certainly provide you with innovative ideas for scaling up your organisation. These million dollar concepts will take you ahead in the race even if you have no money to increase your start-up.
Eager marketing research as well as deep evaluation will certainly assist you create a successful approach. You will certainly discover programs on udemy, they will certainly show you exactly how to construct as well as deconstruct a sales as well as advertising technique for the better inbound capital.
In the end, we recommend you maintain your eyes open. Before you take a leap constantly consider all the possible variables. When there is a great deal of efficient standards is available on udemy, why will not you use that to expand your startup. Remain regular in whatever you are seeking as well as you will come to be a successful businessman. All the best!
Most of us have actually listened to regarding the first-class successful and internationally popular service companies like Google, Uber, AirBnB, as well as Microsoft. Have you ever assumed just what made them so effective besides their tireless CEOs? These business are making millions of bucks in a day since they found out how you can look past the standard advertising and marketing and sales versions.
Locating an appropriate partnership possibility is the greatest game changer for your organisation development.
Yes, only being an identified entrepreneur you could not make an organisation growth successful. You need to know specifically what you are doing and also how you are doing. Finding out the art of doing advantageous collaborations with the “best companions” is whatever you have to understand to dominate your competitors.
You have to expand their startup to a big firm, for that issue you have to locate the best partnership channels for service advancement.
You will learn the means to find the right companions for your organisation start-up. Udemy will educate you everything.
where is the download section in udemy Exactly what are the core service development principles Udemy totally free programs can instruct you?
We have browsed the udemy collection and also have actually looked all the components of some top suggested organisation development programs for you. Below are some highlighted attributes of these programs which you could conveniently make use by making use of demy promo codes discounts.
2. Establishing well-defined priorities as well as sales’ purposes will bring about the most reliable marketing approach. An efficient marketing approach will bring ensured success to your organisation. This is referred to as development hacking.
Digital advertising as well as marketing through social media systems are playing an essential role today for faster development of any kind of service. Udemy will certainly teach you ideal skills for appropriate social networks advertising techniques of your startup.
Appropriate as well as efficient methods of pitching your suggestions to new clients are extremely critical. Udemy courses will instruct you wise ways to boost these abilities.
6. Market segmentation is probably the most vital concept to comprehend when we discuss advanced methods for successful service development. If you truly recognize this concept, you could take your service growth to a following degree. Udemy cost-free courses will certainly assist you to recognize this idea in information.
7. Understanding the ways for reliable team administration is really required. If you recognize how you can keep your team with each other making them place in their finest initiatives, you are currently there. This will assist you enhance your approaches of organisation development with a great team aboard to make that take place.
Even if you do not have a substantial resources for financial investment, these Udemy programs will give you with imaginative concepts for scaling up your business. These million buck suggestions will take you in advance in the race even if you have no cash to increase your start-up.
Eager market research study and deep analysis will assist you develop a successful strategy. You will locate courses on udemy, they will instruct you how you can build as well as deconstruct a sales and also advertising strategy for the greater inbound capital.
When there is a great deal of reliable guidelines is readily available on udemy, why won’t you use that to expand your start-up. Stay constant in whatever you are going after as well as you will certainly come to be an effective entrepreneur.
where is the download section in udemy where is the download section in udemy Are you looking for ways to excel in organisation development? You don’t have the high-end of time to get enrolled in a business university to discover these strategies.
You can authorize up online for discovering whatever you desire right from the scrape. This allows you to discover new things whenever as well as anywhere you want. These days Udemy and Linda are one of the most popular on-line understanding sites.
where is the download section in udemy where is the download section in udemy Udemy brings amazing discount rates and also totally free knowing possibilities currently!
Udemy brings you different udemy coupons discount rate. Via these udemy promo codes you could discover an extremely valuable company growth training course by paying a little amount of the actual rate. If you keep searching udemy keenly, there are several courses available as “buy udemy courses for free” deal.
Best of all, in this guide we bring you some most reliable understanding pointers and also details about finding out with Udemy for totally cost-free of expense. All you require is an internet link and also you ready to go. We are below to bring you all the pointers for fracturing the code of organisation growth as well as enhance your firm with success.
If you are also keen to break the code of successful business growth, you have to get to recognize the tactics for that. You need to get your practical the important things like network building, method production, as well as every little thing about chilly emailing and also cool calling.
There are lots of programs where you could obtain udemy coupons price cut for learning things like taking care of companions and also the wise ways for closing offers.
No question, there are lots of other aspects entailed in making an organisation development successful. Understanding the human psychology is just one of them.
You could purchase udemy courses free for reaching understand your organisation partners as well as clients much more. Probably, this is one of the most essential variable for making a service successful; “recognizing the mind of people”.
Are you looking for methods to succeed in company advancement? You don’t have the deluxe of time to get registered in a service college to learn these tactics.
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Thanks for the post, it brought some very interesting info about the navy I wasn't aware of. One thing you got me thinking is your DH was "deployed" on a ship out to sea and not a hostile war environment, correct? Perhaps the sea duty deployment rules are different or the entire navy rules are different.
31st day entitles a member to Family Separation Pay and gets tax free pay paid once the member returns from deployment.
If married, there is no meal deduction.
Also you pointed out that if you have an account that a spouse is going to need access to, unsure that steps are taken to give the other spouse full access. If you simply have an account like Kay where one bought a ring and do not plan on making additional purchases with, billpay is the solution.
1) First and Foremost: I have worked in military family advocacy and it is not pretty common for a troop to leave his wife behind to pay the bills and she spends the money instead of pays. I could very easily make the comment that I dealt with a number of cases where the servicemember took out CASH advances from the finance 'cage' while deployed and when the check was direct deposited, there was very little money left for the spouse to pay bills/care for children.
2) If a servicemember is having financial difficulties and is counseled by the command group/finance, he OR she does not want to be reprimanded and can and will tell finance/command group that the spouse overspent when in reality the financial difficulties were there well before any deployment.
3) Soldiers have been known to leave spouses behind with NO money to pay bills, leaving the spouse in a position where he or she has to apply for loans, grants, and public assistance.
You've obviously never worked on LeJuene. Unfaithful wives and empty bank accounts are the number one sob story.
I still see that as being the troops fault. Whether the girl forced him into a shotgun wedding or they were soulmates and girl changed her mind after non seeing her man for 12 monthes, they knew what they were getting into. You don't join the military during wartime and complain about going to war.
I've decided I won't read or post in this thread anymore, I have a different view that no one seems to care for.
You are waaaaayyyy over simplifiying the issue here. Bill pay does not take care of all of the problems. case in point: Kay's bill for us is usually $100, we do have it set up on bill pay and pay same amount every month. However, Kays, for some reason, screwed up and said that one month was $200 (even though the statement had said to pay the usual amount the next statement had said that payment for previos month was $200 obviously an error on their part), $100 payment was sent, we were charged a late fee for not paying the "whole balance". They would not TALK (discuss the statements or anything) to me about the account without a SPECIFIC poa for that account. I had only general at the time and I had to go through a lot (2 months of work and calls) to get it straightened out (DH had to call them from SPAIN to get them to talk to me.) So just because you have a poa and web bill pay does not mean that you are free of problems. There is a lot that goes into running the family and business when ones spouse goes on deployment. And what do you do if you are having financial issues?? You wont be able to talk to anyone about the accounts.
When DH is "officially deployed" (meaning the 6 month deployment) we get no special pay or incentive other than separation pay but like I said before, never count on it in budget because you never know when they will or will not pay it. He has not been to Iraq but he is involved in other dangerous areas. we do not get any special pay as far as I know. His ship has been all over the world this year and STILL has to go on the "official depployment" of at least 6 months soon. His sea pay did just go up but that pay depends on how long you have been attached to a ship, you lose it once you go on "shore duty".
I believe the BAS deduction is due to the fact that he still eats 2 meals a day on ship. But again this money is taken out regardless of the time spent on ship (Vacation, medical or SIQ leave doesnt matter) or time spent in home port. So its like we really dont get it anyways.
The Navy has the worst way to get information to families. Pretty much you have to learn as you go and you find out what things are needed once you need them.
Now lets talk about our upcoming PCS. We are trying to go to Italy next year. We will submit our choices Monday. I have no idea when they will tell us wether we are approved or not. They will only discuss specifics once we are approved to go. SO they will not tell us how to get passports, register the vehicle, or anything about moving until then. Obviously this is going to take money and time to get the paperwork and fees sorted out. DH will be on deployment and I will have to take care of it all from here. So how am I to budget for things that I dont know when it has to be paid or how much to pay?
Also, this month, our housing is being privatized. Now we have to sign a lease for our service member which requires a POA (my DH conviently has duty that day and cant leave his ship, it is left to me to go sign the stinkin lease). They are now going to give us our BAH which we will then turn around and give to these other people. Have I mentioned the fact that I have to put a security deposit down for a house I have been living in for almost 2 years??
My point is, things are always changing and it is very difficult to deal with the Navy, perhaps the AF is different. I have heard they take better care of their families. I have been told that my kids and I were not issued with my husband's sea bag so we do not matter. Things are not so simple and easy with the Navy as you are trying to make it out to be.
I just wanted to add a specific occurence that happened to me while deployed. Before leaving for my deployment, I set all my bills to automatically be withdrawn from an account specifically set up for bills. I of course also set up an allotment to automatically fund this account.
When I set up my auto-pay with my insurance (GEICO), they took the bank account number down wrong, which resulted in them cancelling my insurance due to non-payment, so when I arrived back from deployment, not only did I not have valid insurance, I also had a suspended drivers license (Florida revokes drivers licenses for people that fail to keep current insurance). Luckily, Florida had recently passed a bill that allowed deployed service members to waive any license revokation due to being uninsured while deployed.
A minor inconvenience, but I do not keep many debts, or else it may have happened to other accounts, with me not having control of any of them.
...and navy doesn't get hostel fire pay no matter where they go.
Just wanted to clear this up. The Navy does give Hostel Fire Pay, it shows on the LES as "HDP/IDP" (Hostel Fire Pay, Imminent Danger Pay). I received this for several months this year.
Unfortunately many of the military pay problems can be attributed to the command, not always DFAS or the branch in particular.
Things are not so simple and easy with the Navy as you are trying to make it out to be.
DH is AD USN - 22 years in. Things are not so complicated as you want to explain them to be, either. The Navy is also not as family-unfriendly as you would portray them to be. We've been in all types of different commands, and many times, it does depend on the command but overall I do not get the impression that we don't count because we werent issued in his sea bag.
The USN *does* get Hazardous Duty Pay (HDP/IDP)- DH has gotten it more than once (shipboard and land-based deployments)... Right now they should be getting it for Persian Gulf deployments.
I do wonder why your DH would be sprayed in the face with mace for lack of a piece of paper, though.
ESPECIALLY if you're on a ship.
As I have stated before, my husband has not been deployed to Iraq or the persian gulf, so so far we have not seen hazard duty pay or anything like it. He has been all over europe and asia and soon to be south america. i have stated that Iraq deploys may have different policies. I would not know. I do know that army does get them.
I have found the navy to be nothing but complicated and unhelpfull. perhaps your commands are better. Hopefully we will be as lucky as your family and get better commands.
Yes my husband had to get sprayed in the face with mace. It put him down for three days in 2005. He was going through the training for VBSS (Vessel Board Search and Siezure) which is basically SWAT for boats. You have to be sprayed in the face because they carry mace and must know how to fight if they are sprayed in return or catch some of what they have sprayed someone else with. They recieve a certificate after their training to verify that they completed this. They must complete the training every year (three weeks) but they only have to be sprayed with mace once if they can prove they have completed the course before. After my husband's last deployment, all records were moved from the ship to an on ground site on base. Suprise of all suprises, they lost several certificates for my husband during the move. Luckily I had the copies and was able to provide the command with the paperwork needed to prove he had all ready been through the training before and he did not have to be sprayed again. Instead he was able to help train the other guys how to fight with the mace in their eyes (2006). He will have to do it again soon for this year.
DH has been AD Navy for 8 years. I have not encountered one part of the Navy yet that has been truly helpfull with much of anything. The legal office was about the only thing because they answered my questions and were helpful somewhat. They are not forthcoming with information, they care nothing for me and my children, and some of the components are down right incompetent and rude. Perhaps your experiences are better.
I just hate for people to get the impression that just because you have web bill pay and you are military that you should have no problems. This simply is not true. Also, just because the spouse is home does not mean that he or she is spending all of the money. Anyone who has any job is subject to financial errors at any time and just being in the military does not make you exempt or more likely to have issues. We just have different ones due to deployment. I know I am not the only one who feels this way as I have many friends from different commands here that also say the same things as I am stating.
I am a military wife, We dont even have enough to pay bills when he is not deployed.
The military does not pay good and nothing is free.
They cannot get public assistance if they make to much money they could be 1 penny over, and not allowed to get food stamps.
The agency the above person is referring to forgot to mention, the soldiers put in money for that program.
every unit collects money for other soldiers emergencies.
But in order to get help you get in trouble and scrutinized.
The civillians working for the military treat us like we are begging them.
Most wives do pay bills, But sometimes you must decide wheather to feed the kids or keep the lights on.
Thats the real military family life.
I was AD Navy for 4 years (98-02), DH was AD for 12 (94-06).
Not to go off on a tangent here, but I'm going to chime in, especially on that last one. You know, you're right...a lot of military members mismanage their finances. It's easy to do when you are young, and even easier when you don't have little stability with a lot of responsibility. Most of you have probably made a few mistakes yourself or you probably wouldn't be on this board.
Like many young people, we made a lot of financial mistakes, but in almost every instance of extreme financial difficulty, it was due Navy pay Screw-ups! We are literally still suffering financially from the results of a 1999 Snafu. [That's the year our credit first decided to take a visit to hell and must have liked it, because it stayed there a while.The financial stress that befalls a military member (deployed or not) can't be compared to a civilian and it certainly can't be ignored. The inability of a spouse to work due to frequent moves and other factors relating to military life coupled with the "not great" pay cannot be overlooked either! While web bill pay and Internet banking are helpful, Internet connections weren't always readily available, and in many cases they still aren't.
Let me just come out and say that in no other organization in the world would someone be able to make so many errors in pay and not be SUED constantly. If military members, in particular sailors (true, assigned to a ship) could sue the Navy for the undue financial hardship caused by pay and accounting errors, then the most sophisticated ship that the Navy would own would be a kayak.
TOTALLY screwed up credit, STILL working on issues related to this time frame. Their response was that the member should have made copies of any requests for housing allowance and since he did not, the application that was processed was the only thing that would count.
2. Married in 2001, had to mail name change forms to SS office from sea, submit forms with PSD. Took a total of 7 months to change...guess what? Husband was at home with POA with married name, but few would accept because didn't match cred. reports or accounts because some accts required pay stub with current name. Money Lost: Lots of extra fees and time spentI made first increment on my E-5 exam, but didn't get paid until January 02 DUE TO AN ACCOUNTING ERROR...did get retroactive.
5. While a FT student depending on GI Bill and NCF, processing center lost paperwork from school. No payment for two months. Did retroactively pay. Not Navy, but still the same group of people.
6. Same thing when husband sep'd. Pay took 2 months to get here. Made it without a loan, but was late on several cards.
SO, you won't ever be able to convince this optimist that the Navy is a great "organization" (and I use that term lightly, as the fiscal management side should be called the Navy UnOrganization).
Please don't misunderstand and think that I am bitter about my military service. In fact, I'm very proud of the fact that we both served in the military. There are some wonderful things about the Navy and I don't regret the time that we spent there. There are a lot of wonderful people in the military.
However, for someone to believe that, as a whole, service members amount to more than just another number (in their organization) is being naive. I fought with PSD over SOMETHING at least once a year. They absolutely do not care about the people. What saddens me the most is that it's other military members that are making life harder for these families! It's an utter lack of respect for both their position and the work and sacrifices of the member. If I treated my employees the way that I was treated in the Navy, every single one of them would quit. Can you imagine me telling them there was some delay in their pay and they wouldn't get it for months? I mean, really?!
When I was a military spouse, the level of disrespect that I got from PSD (pay clerks) was outrageous. DFAS was another story entirely, even worse! Almost immediately, if I let it be known that I was prior AD, I was treated with more respect. So, please don't come on these boards and speak to these women as if they are maliciously spreading lies. It happens every day: The member assumes the spouse knows all of the ins and outs of the military, the spouse assumes the member has told them everything and in fact neither of them know everything. It should be absolutely MANDATED that every member of the military attend a financial planning and education session prior to marriage, deployment, having children or buying a home. The unique needs of a military family surpass those of regular families and if the system is going to be so difficult and pay on so many different levels, there needs to be more MANDATORY financial workshops, not just available on the web or at your nearest FFSC.
There are so many instances of pay mistakes in the military that this post could be just re: that topic! For you to be a military member or spouse and not admit the fact that you have experienced (or at the very least, witnessed) a pay error must mean you are either in a different branch of the military, have always been at a shore command, are married to someone in personnel, or are the Personnel Officer. Every single person that I know can tell you a story like mine!!!!
If anyone is considering going overseas with the military, I can tell you what to expect. I am going through this now with my husband deployed. There are financial considerations for E-4 and below and E-5 and above is different. The military will not tell you anything before you have orders, which is annoying because now they put a time limit on when all of this is due. I wish someone would have been able to let us know what to expect so I could have had some of the paperwork together now instead of scrambling to find everything in a week. Anyways, If you want to know what to expect, pm me.
Oh my gosh. I tell my husband CONSTANTLY that if a business was run the Marine Corps is, it would be out of business in a month. DH has been in the Corps for 6 and 1/2 years. We have been at four duty stations. We have never ONCE moved without some serious financial issues attributable directly to the Corps.
When we first got married we went from a situation from my husband being in military quarters (and in a different branch) to being married and in the Corps. The day we got married, he rated BAH and we moved to VA from MD and rented an apt so that he could report to Quantico MCB for training. For some reason, the admin office there neglected to process his new paperwork, which we took in the first day that we could, and we never received BAH. It took 6 months for them to pay us any BAH. The admin office continuously refused to speak to me about the issue because I was "only" a spouse. They wanted my husband to address it with them directly. Which was virtually impossible since their 8-4 hours were slightly difficult for my husband who was on deck at 5 each morning and not secured before 7 (at the VERY earliest) each evening. Despite a POA, admin was entirely uninterested in helping me. It took a call, from me, to the Capt in charge of DH's platoon to get any results. Needless to say, once the Capt called them, the money (7200) was in our accounts within a week. The same office caused serious problems for my husband's classmate who didn't get paid for 3 months. They wouldn't speak with his wife either.
We just PCSed across country from CA to VA. And the Corps has caused us numerous problems again. Between our partial DITY and our travel and dislocation allowances, the Corps owes us approximately $14000. $9000 of this was supposed to be in our account on the 21st of September. After weeks and weeks (almost 8, I believe) of blatant lies and incompetence from the admin office, we finally received $4000 last week (God only knows when the remaining 10K will show). Thank God we can rely on a significant amount of credit to deal with all the expenses that we incurred during our move or we would have been SOL. Marines take great care of other Marines, but the Marine Corps does a very crappy job of taking care of Marines, in my experience. Unfortunately, these pay problems are all too common amongst the Marines we know. The most upsetting thing about is it that while DH and I have resources to deal with expenses, what happens to the Marines that don't?
I guess my point is that there is only so much planning you can do if you aren't getting paid, KWIM? And believe me, I spent time as a Key Volunteer dealing with wives of deployed Marines. I know just how much trouble some spouses can cause when a Marine is deployed. I had to deal with a lot of fallout from situations caused by spouses. DH had to deal with trouble caused by Marines who were with him in the sandbox taking tons of split pay and leaving their wives with No Pay Due paychecks. There is a dire need for financial instruction for some of the Marines.
On the issue of disparity among branches, we just came from a joint forces situation and the difference between what my husband as a Marine receives from the Corps and our friend an airman receives from the AF is mind boggling. From quality of housing to stipends, the AF takes much better care of their airmen than the Corps can for Marines. It is very sad to see sometimes.
On topic, when DH deployed in '03, all of our creditors were more than willing to help us deal with our situation. The only problem was that reducing our CC rates meant freezing the accounts which was useless for us. We did run into an issue with POAs and accounts that weren't joint. Even if you have a specific POA, I found that many companies (Chase in particular) are still reluctant to deal with you.
I can say that we are not truly paid that much during deployment, the ones who say we are im noticing are highups or officer. In addition to my husbands pay we make exactly an extra $575 a month.
As far as taxes goes that is ok for those who have alot of taxes taken out monthly, but we never did so where not really gaining any money back there. One thing I inform alot of wives of is when they say taxes they are only referring to federal and sometimes state. I know alot of people think they will not have to pay FICA and Medicare and all that extra stuff , but thats not the case.
When you add in the cost of phonecards and packages not to mention the $175 bucks my husband has to pay every 3 months to have computer access, that extra money is pretty much gone.
The one thing I did take advantage of was the 6% interest on the STAR CARD which lets me not have any payments for the duration of his deployment. SOme say that is bad but it works for me since money is tight.
I also called my car company and asked them about the SCRA well they backdated all my interest and it paid off my car.
If this is the case, you are getting screwed. If you are married, they do not take BAS back out of your LES. Your husband need to conact his S-1 and get it revised. Only single soldier living in the barracks have Meal Deductions taken out.
I am in BNCOC now (an Army school) and one of the guys in my class had his wife ring up over $40,000 in CC debit while he was deployed to Iraq.
I told him to divorce her flowers then sue her for opening up a card in his name.
You are only hearing one side of the story.
Yes I understand that but he showed me his bills, he has to use over 80% of his paycheck to pay towards the CCs. There is a lot more too it and all I can say is 1 joint account for paying bills and 2 seperate accounts, one for the wife and one for the hubby and no joint CCs.
How do you know he didn't contribute to the debt? When it comes to a significant debt, it is ALWAYS easier to blame someone else. I am not saying this did not happen and does not happen in the military because it does, however it can go both ways and I have seen it go both ways except the wife left back home did not have any credit cards and her husband left her with VERY LITTLE money to pay bills. Some spouses were handed eviction notices for non payment within a couple of weeks of their spouses deployment because their spouse left without paying rent and did not tell them.
I wish I was still in. Huge mistake getting out. Like most things in life. there is not a simple one-size-fits-all solution to the issues at hand. However, I can speak with a small bit of experience. That truly 99% of the time, when you peel back the layers of the onion. It is the service member who has caused all of his or her financial woes. A small dose of self-education + that ruthless teacher called experience, usually helps most everyone out of there financial problems in the military.
Immaturity + easy credit are ALWAYS a recipe for problems, regardless of service affiliation. When I was a PVT/E-1, I didn't save, bought on credit, never had a plan for finances and guess what? There were tons of problems. 21yrs later not so many problems.
I have never been a victim nor will I be.
BTW the money is pretty good. I laugh when people complain about the pay. the paycharts are not a secret, there widely publicized. there is NO draft. yet folks still act as if there not paid well. I KNOW that most are paid well (for their experience) they just don't budget well.
I've been hashing this out a little bit at a time in the credit forum, but I figured it was my duty to contribute here as well. I'll try to keep this from running on endlessly.
Had Alltel phone. Deployed to Iraq in 2003. Had service ended shortly before deployment while paying balance. No contact with Alltel since. No record of being shut off. Wasn't really at the forefront of my mind.
Have been shredding unidentifiable mail without opening believing it to be junk for a while; started opening everything a short while ago.
Received what was probably not first communication from A "effin" I; trying to cut a deal for 50%. Alltel CSR wont give me any info other than "talk to the CA". This tells me Alltel did not cancel, or reactivated my account without my permission, or did something to cause me to incure charges without my knowing.
I email nutcased as many execs as I could find at alltel, no answer. Sending toned down letters soon.
Will DV A "effin" I soon.
I've been off active duty for about 2 years, which I have been doing nothing but training and studing and testing to be a paid firefighter. It is a very long, competitive and arduous process. I applied for a hiring process Aug 2006. After going through the whole testing process started then, and being in the top 20 candidates (the first group to be contacted) I just now am being contacted to submit to a background check which undoubtedly will include a credit check. This is my only "recent derogatory", which is in error, and may mean the difference between employment or not. There will not be another list compiled for another 2 years minimum. If somehow I did secure employment, the DW and I would then be in the market for our first house.
All for $117 that I don't even owe.
I know many more and worse "screwed at home while off at war" stories.
Anyways....That my story and I'm sticking to it!
When I was 18, I went credit crazy, and recieved Cards/Loans from Capitalone, Kay, Reeds, JC PENNY, Zales, Aspire, AES, and Dell. I never paid any back or intended. I didnt have a clue how credit worked, but I remeber a Teacher telling me how easy it was to make lil mistakes when your young and just declare BK.
When I was 20 i joined the Navy, Learned a lil disapline, Went to a few madatory finnancial training, and decided I was going to get my Sh*t Straight. Started Settling everything I could. Well I have been in the Navy for 5 years now, and around September of this year, decided that since I was going to the states I would buy a house. I bought a copy of my credit report to see what was there. It was pretty Bad. About 6,000 dollars in debt and alot of account I never heard of. Well I make great money and can afford to pay it all of, and I have, now Im doing the cleaning. Everything that is on my credit report, with the exception of the missing judgment, is my fault. I thought that my credit would get better with time, and with creditors opening up duplicate accounts, and then others putting accounts as new charge offs every month. it just went down hill. Its hard to repair credit overses, because of the time it takes for mail, having no clue what address collections are going to...and having to stay up till 11pm to complain to customer service. The military made me finnacially responsible though. I never regret joining, would just like to get my score up.
I was told in my posting to add a post here and ask "Breeze" for some help. This is my original posting highlighting my issue http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=307590.
I am just waiting for the tradeline saying it is in collections to show up on my report. I am devistated this will be my first negative report. I have solid, excellent credit (I have never had late payments or unpaid debts my ratings are 725+) but I know that if I pay it they are not going to care and it will be hard to even get them to deal with me after that. The negative rating will stay on my credit as collections even if it shows up paid.
Is there anyway to go about this to get the negative collection tradeline removed or any indication of a negative rating removed? Is it better to just pay it and be done with them, taking the rating and sucking it up or dispute their claim and do a little work in hopes that my name will get cleared in the end?
If doing work is the answer where do I start? Is using a JAG lawyer wise or is it better to dispute as a consumer alone? I know some of the things they said on the phone are illegal after I looked up the Fair Collections Act but what can I do about that? I know this is a ton of questions but any help would be appreciated.
So I know this is my first post....but when I transfered to Japan back in 1999, there really was not much available to do online and I am still paying for those mistakes on my credit report. I had to rely on mail to get back and forth to the credit companies and needless to say it did not. I have a several negative items on my credit report that will be there for a long time becuase they were still charging fees and interest up until 2004/2005.
One more thing: I searched the forum to see if there was already a post about something like this but there was not, at least that I could find: End of 2003 I got deployed to Uzbekistan with the AF and had worked it out with my apartment complex to pay the rent when I got back, minus late fees because I was only going to be gone for 30 days. I had all this in writing by the manger and then she quit while I was gone. I got back to find out that I had been taken to court for failure to pay my rent. They filed a judgement against me for the whole amount of the lease. I went in the next day and paid the whole amount, but the damage had already been done. I showed them the letter and they told me that because she did not work there anymore that that letter was no good to them. So my questions, is there anything I can do to get the judgement off my credit report? And, is there anything I can do about the charge-offs that are now paid? There is also a debt for a credit card on there with a balance that keeps going up month after month, but when I call Capitol One, they have no record of it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I also have plenty of other military/credit stories if they are still needed.
All I can say is it comes down to communication and trust.
Both my husband and I communicate about money, cc's, bank accounts, all that. We also trust each other. Yes there was a period in the beginning that we both had to get used to being an "us" instead of an "I" but we worked it out.
If you can not trust the spouse, wheather home or deployed, then you are going to have issues.
I do not believe this thread was started with the intention of blaming the deployed or their spouse as the root of all of the financial issues.
I believe this thread was intended to be about the difficulties of finacial life that face those in the military.
Can we please stop with the generalization of the spouse spends money!??!!
The fact is that some do but not all.
I am the at home military spouse and I am NOT out spending all of our money. In fact, I am trying to find out the best way to invest the 10k that we have saved this year.
So if you have information that is helpful please post and stop the bashing of military spouses.
If you have an issue and need help credit wise, you are best posting in the credit forum where more people will see it.
And do not forget that military has the JAG office for free that can help you in many situations. They can also point you to other military affiliated places that can help you too. It is FREE and does not go on your record that you used it.
There are also places where you can get a no interst or low interest loans if you need money, places to get food and clothes if you need it (sometimes furniture too) as well as many other programs. DO not forget that with the servicemembers relief act you have many protections including a stay from eviction, lowered interest rates, and other legal issues. | 2019-04-24T10:57:38Z | https://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?/topic/274783-military-deployment-and-credit/page/2/ |
Interviewer: Welcome. I'm Jacqueline Persons. I'm Director of the Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Science Center, which is a small group private practice in Oakland, California. I'm also a Clinical Professor in the Psychology Department at UC Berkeley. I'm here today with Michelle Craske who is a Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Director of the Anxiety and Depression Research Center, and Associate Director of the Staglin Family Music Center for Behavioral and Brain Health, all at the University of California at Los Angeles. Thank you so much Dr. Craske for giving us your time here today for this discussion.
Dr. Craske: You are very welcome.
Interviewer: I’m meeting with Dr. Craske as part of the series titled Translating Science to Practice that is hosted by and developed by the Society for Science of Clinical Psychology. The goal of our series is to help clinicians access and use findings from basic science to guide their clinical work. We’re here today to take up the question, “What do the latest findings in extinction learning and memory mean for clinicians who are doing the exposure-based treatments for patients with anxiety disorders?” Our discussion focuses on an article published in Behaviour Research and Therapy in 2014. It’s titled Maximizing Exposure Therapy: An Inhibitory Learning Approach. Let me acknowledge Dr. Craske’s co-authors, Michael Treanor, Christopher Conway, Tomislav Zbozinek, and Bram Vervliet. Published in Behaviour Research and Therapy in 2014, did I say that? This is a fabulous article. It’s really important for clinicians who are doing exposure-based therapy to know what it says. At the same time, it’s a very rich article. I have read it about three times and I learned new things from it every day, so I highly recommend it. We’ve posted a link to give you access to it on the SSCP webpage. And we’ll host a listserve discussion following this interview. And I'm looking forward to having a chance to ask Dr. Craske a bunch of questions about it that were developed by our committee on Science and Practice. So, thank you again, Dr. Craske. Could I ask you to start by giving us a summary or a description of the inhibitory learning model account of exposure treatment?
Dr. Craske: Certainly. So the inhibitory learning model account, as you indicated, derives from principles of associative learning through fear conditioning and extinction, which is where exposure therapy was first born. But it takes into account the more recent developments in learning theory, which basically posit that as an individual proceeds through extinction or, in this case, the clinical proxy of extinction, which is exposure, new learning is taking place. And what is most critical is that that new learning, which we call inhibitory learning, is competing with the original learning, which we call excitatory learning. So, for example, if an individual had acquired a fear of dogs as a result of being bitten by a dog, the original excitatory learning is that this person perceives dogs as being threatening because they could bite. As the individual goes through exposure therapy, the new inhibitory learning is that not all dogs bite or this particular dog won’t bite or there is some other meaning that is associated with dogs that’s not as threatening. Now, here’s the important point. That new inhibitory learning is somewhat fragile. And therefore, the goal of exposure therapy is to develop that new inhibitory learning into the most powerful potent kind of learning that we can, so that it will be -- it will resist the tendency to fall apart over time. And so, in our model of inhibitory learning, we’re targeting ways to enhance the strength of the learning that happens during exposure therapy and ways of trying to retrieve it in the future so that it remains potent and doesn’t fall into what is called the secondary stages and be less competitive with the original excitatory learning.
Interviewer: So thank you. That’s very helpful. So, this might be not such an easy question to answer. But would -- how is this model different from the models that many of us were trained with-- habituation models or emotional processing models? What do you see as the key differences in this newer model?
Dr. Craske: Right. So, when I think of the inhibitory learning model, there are three basic principles that sort of drive the model. One is, as I said, exposure is a learning process. And so, what is critical for this to work is to identify for each person, as they are coming in for treatment, what is it that they need to learn. So it’s very much focused on a functional analysis of what that person needs to learn. And how to then design the exposure in a way that will maximize the strength of that learning, as I just described it. And then third, that -- while the reduction of fear throughout exposure therapy typically does occur, in and of itself, fear reduction may not be the index of whether this new learning is actually happening and how strong that new learning will be in the future. So that -- those are the principles. Now, let's see how does this differ from the two basic models of habituation and emotional processing theory. So clearly, habituation models of exposure therapy focus on fear reduction or reducing the strength of the fear response as the person proceeds through exposure therapy. And that’s why -- when I was initially trained too, the goal was have the individual stay in the exposure situation until fear declines.
Dr. Craske: So that was the kind of clinical law, right?
Dr. Craske: And with the idea being that if it doesn’t decline, then maybe you're doing something terribly wrong.
Interviewer: Or maybe they're not learning anything.
Dr. Craske: Or maybe they're not learning anything. In the inhibitory learning model, fear reduction, in and of itself is not the primary driving force of how to do exposure therapy. But it may happen and it usually does happen, but it doesn’t have to be the case. So, in many experimental studies that we’ve conducted, fear does not habituate throughout the given exposure trial, and yet the person is doing well in the long term. So I think we’ve tended to shift away from the fear reduction, in and of itself, with the basic notion being if -- for a given person -- what they may need to learn is something independent that of -- where the fear reduces. They may need to learn, in fact, that they can survive fear being elevated for prolonged periods of time, and in that case, fear reduction would not be a good goal because they're not learning what they need to learn. Emotional processing theory, which, you know, is a magnificent theory, in many ways, and I think it’s been useful in moving our field forward in a providing framework, has -- In the way I see it, emotional processing theory has two components. It has, first of all, the habituation component, which is that you want fear to habituate within the given trial of exposure. That’s called within-session habituation. Then you want fear to habituate across trials of exposure, that’s between-session habituation, and then that allows corrective learning to take place, which is a shift in the person’s meaning that they give to the stimulus, whether they now see the stimulus as less dangerous or less overwhelming. That second component, the corrective learning component, has more to do, or I see that has much more overlap with this inhibitory learning model approach. The initial component of fear habituation has much less to do with the inhibitory learning approach.
Interviewer: I see. Thank you. So now, I -- you’ve already said a lot of the key points here. So maybe you’ve already answered this question, but it would be fun to hear from you for the clinical audience, what do you see as the, say, three main take home messages that you want clinicians to learn from reading this article and learning the inhibitory learning model?
Dr. Craske: Okay. Yes. I think the three main messages are, as you start to work with an individual and you start to design an exposure practice, instead of thinking, “How do I get rid of the fear? How do I lessen the person’s fear?” shift your attention over to, “What does this person really need to learn in order to eventually be less afraid or more able to function in their life?” And so that’s the first question. What do they really need to learn that’s currently driving them to be so fearful and so avoidant that in the -- that will eventually result in improvement in their distress and functioning, that’s first.
Interviewer: So that’s -- now, it would be an individualized case conceptualization of what is the key thing this person is not understanding and needs to understand.
Dr. Craske: Secondly, how can I design the exposure experience to maximally benefit that learning? So again, instead of focusing on, “Let's do the exposures in such a way that fear declines,” it’s more about what experience will most -- violate is the word we use, it’s an interesting word, but -- most violate that person’s current expectancies. So if they're perceiving that they cannot tolerate a certain experience because -- whether it’d be the length of time they're in a situation or what kind of activity they're engaging in within the situation -- what kind of sensations they're experiencing in the moment of that situation. Whatever it is that they perceive as being their boundaries that they can get so far that they can't go beyond that boundary, because if they go beyond that boundary, something terrible is going to happen, then we need -- we think we need to design the exposure to go beyond their perceived boundaries in order to violate their expectancy of what they think is going to happen. So that’s the second main point. And then the third main point -- so just a summary. The first one is think about what an individual needs to learn. Second is design the exposure to maximally violate their expectancy in order to create the most potent learning possible. And then third, remember that learning is probably taking place, not only during the time that you’re with that client as they're going through exposure, but in the hours and days afterwards as well. And that period of consolidation, as we call it, is just as critical as in the moment. Hence, how much their fear has reduced in a moment is not really a good index because it’s not tapping into the underlying mechanisms of learning, which probably are going on for the hours and weeks in between of the exposure sessions. So we need to think, you know, learning is an implicit process. It’s happening all of the time, and how do we structure experience around that.
Interviewer: So that last idea suggests that a better index of what the patient learned from the session might be obtained at the beginning of that following session rather than at the end of the session that you are just conducting? Is it?
Dr. Craske: Exactly. Exactly, that when we’re thinking about how well the person has actually learned and consolidated that learning, we’re thinking about the follow-up, whether that’d be at the next session or, you know, a month after the end of treatment. It’s always the longevity of the learning that’s most critical to the individual’s, you know, future symptomatic stages. So, yeah. The end of the session is not -- the end of an exposure session is just an index of what they performed in a moment. The learning is tested at later point in time.
Interviewer: Yes. So these are very helpful ideas. Thank you. So, another question that flows out of what you're telling us is that, as clinicians, we need to think a little more carefully. And perhaps, you can help us think about how we’re going to orient the patient to the treatment, because usually the patient wants to reduce or eliminate the anxiety or distress. And our earlier approach to exposure focused very directly on that goal, including within the session. Now, we’re not so focused on that goal. And in the article, you used the word toleration. We’re more focus on learning and we’re less focused on experiencing less anxiety. So then, we need to think a little more carefully about how we’re going to orient the patient and sell the patient on the treatment. I'm hoping you can give us your thoughts about that issue.
Dr. Craske: That’s right. That’s right. And I think it’s true for a clinicians as well as patients.
Interviewer: That’s a very good point.
Dr. Craske: Everybody wants the fear to go away.
Interviewer: We do. We do. The therapist also wants it to go away.
Dr. Craske: Yeah, because it feels better. We don’t like to see people in distress.
Interviewer: And we don’t want to be in distress ourselves either.
Dr. Craske: Exactly, exactly. So it’s very much about that functional analysis that, is the case, conceptualization idea that you brought up before, Jackie. It’s really helping the therapist to gear themselves toward, you know, what is it that the client is needing to learn in order to really have a long-term learning that persists. And then for the client, it’s helping them to understand, “Okay. So when you. . . ” Let's take, for example, an individual who has social anxiety, and what they're most concerned about is being rejected because they perceive if that they are rejected, then they won’t be able to ever establish any relationships in the future because they are unlikeable and unworthy. If the focus is upon fear reduction, that might mean that they're asked to go into a social situation and stay there until they feel comfortable. So they’ll go into the social event and have, you know, try to interact with people until they feel comfortable, their fear goes down, and then what have they learned? Okay, I can be in a situation and my fear declines. But have they learned anything about the concept of rejection? And so -- not necessarily. So what, you know, what may be more effective for that individual is to realize that I can actually experience rejection and go on and interact with another person and not be rejected, or I can experience rejection and follow-up with more social interactions that provide positive reinforcement -- that, in other words, a rejection does not lead to never being in a satisfying relationship. And of course, I'm speaking, you know, this would take a lot of careful analyses on how to set this up. But what we would help the client understand is, boy, it sounds like you're fearful that by being rejected, it’s going to mean that you'll never have any relationships. So wouldn't it be useful? Wouldn't it be powerful for you to learn that a rejection does not actually relate to never being in a relationship? How can we design an experience for you to learn that? How could we set up something so that you could see that a one-time rejection doesn’t mean what you're thinking it means? So that’s the way we try to present it to the client.
Interviewer: So what that boils down to is spending time laying out the conceptualization to the clients and getting the clients on board. So they totally understand what it is they need to accomplish in therapy to solve their problems so that, that increases their willingness to do the difficult tasks of therapy.
Dr. Craske: That’s right. That’s right. And of course, that, you know, is very similar, in some ways, to a cognitive therapy or a behavioral testing model of doing exposure therapy. And there are some overlaps between the inhibitory learning model and that cognitive approach, especially in that initial rationale because we are saying to the client, “What is it that you're expecting to happen?” Helping the client recognize that the experience that would disconfirm that expectancy would be particularly potent for them. If they have an experience that is okay but it doesn’t really tap into that expectancy, it’s not going to be as potent. So we just have them bind into the idea that we want them to have the best learning possible that’s most suited their needs and then actually going ahead, of course, in doing the exposure in such a way that it helps to violate that expectancy. Now, if they said that my fear is going to be very high, then we’ll come back to say, “How is that going to influence this expectancy?” So, sometimes the expectancy is tied directly to the fear and the person might say, “If I'm afraid and if I experience fear for a long enough period of time, then I'm going to collapse.” Okay, then we will need to design an exposure that helps to violate that expectancy. Let's design an exposure that sustains your fear for a prolonged period of time to test out whether you will collapse or not. Again, helping the client recognize that if we can violate that belief at that moment, then there will be potent learning taking place.
Interviewer: Which will ultimately reduce the anxiety they're experiencing on a daily basis.
Dr. Craske: Exactly. Yeah. So the long-term outcome is fear reduction. We’re not asking people just, you know, tolerate fear. You know -- you're always going to be afraid and tolerate it. No, we’re saying there's a value to tolerating fear in the presence of exposure trials for the long-term reduction of fear.
Interviewer: Right, and for the learning needed to get the long-term reduction. Yeah.
Interviewer: So now, a moment ago, you alluded to. . . And I would love to talk more about the relationship between doing a behavioral experiment, you know, the cognitive model. And there's a fabulous book about behavioral experiments. That edited book by James Bennett-Levy, which lays out in detail, how to test beliefs by doing behavioral experiments. And there seems quite a bit of overlap between that approach and the inhibitory learning model. And I would love to hear from you about similarities and differences of those two approaches.
Dr. Craske: Definitely, yeah. There is a lot of overlap between the two, but there are also large differences both conceptually and in terms of therapeutic strategy. So if we start with the conceptual side of things, clearly, the behavioral testing model, which derives from this cognitive theory and cognitive therapy models, is all about disconfirming erroneous beliefs through logic and reasoning and then extending that through behavioral testing. Whereas, conceptually, the inhibitory learning model is starting from the premise that there is an excitatory or threat-laden and memory that’s being formed and the goal of exposure therapy is to develop an inhibitory memory that will then compete with the excitatory memory. The excitatory memory, the original fear memory, is very powerful and it generalizes widely. So we know from a lot of the basic science around fear acquisition and learning and memory that that first fear memory is potent and widely generalizeable, whereas the secondary memory that’s being formed as a result of this new learning experience in exposure therapy is fragile. It does not generalize. And that is why we need to do all of these additional things to try to enhance its strength over time. So, what I'm saying is that at a conceptual level, these are different approaches. The cognitive model comes from, you know, beliefs that are erroneous and need to be corrected. The inhibitory learning model is coming from a process model of how learning and memory is formed and how is it retrieve at different points in time.
Interviewer: Though, could I say something here? So, is it accurate or would you view it as accurate to say that in the inhibitory learning model, we’re not so much focused on correcting inaccurate beliefs as we are on creating new beliefs that compete with the older beliefs that are causing the anxiety?
Dr. Craske: Or erasing a former action. So that’s the guiding principle of the inhibitory learning model, how do we make that competition between the original memory and the new learning memory, such that the newer memory wins and shines.
Interviewer: So there’s an article by Brewin on this view of cognitive therapy as well, where he’s talking about teaching new beliefs that win the retrieval competition.
Dr. Craske: Yes, yes. So it’s very much tied in with cognitive science. And of course he’s very much a cognitive scientist. So that’s the, just personally that’s the kind of -- what excites me is where we can pull upon the science of how, you know in learning and memory, the basic fundamental processes, and how do we incorporate that into how we think about during the exposure therapy.
Dr. Craske: And then the other difference, so that’s more the conceptual side of things, in terms of the actual therapeutic strategy, from the inhibitory learning model approach, one principle that’s worth revisiting is that the more that the experience of exposure disconfirms an expectancy that the person has (and that expectancy could be explicit or implicit --the more that the experience disconfirms that expectancy, the greater the learning that takes place. Now that’s also a fundamental principle of learning, that we do not learn when what we experienced is completely in line with what we thought it was going to be. Learning is facilitated by, “Oh that’s new, that’s different, that wasn’t quite what I thought.
Interviewer: Not what I expected.
Dr. Craske: That’s not what I expected, right. So, the more we can help clients be willing to engage in an experience that yields an outcome that’s not really what they thought was going to happen, the better. That means that if we do cognitive restructuring as a therapeutic strategy prior to going into exposure therapy, we are potentially undercutting the value of experience, because we want the experience itself to stand out as a surprise. So let’s say I have somebody who has panic disorder, and they’re thinking that they’re going to go crazy if they experience, you know bodily sensations of unreality. If I spend a lot of time before they do exposure therapy, helping them to realize, you know, the chances of you actually going crazy are very slim, you know let’s look at all the data and help you to form different ways of thinking so that you can go into the exposure therapy, realizing you’re probably not going to go crazy, the chances are very low, then theoretically that means the experience of exposure won’t be so surprising for them, and it won’t give them that potent learning. And so that’s what we now do is, we shift the cognitive restructuring phase, really to after the exposure rather than before. And that’s different, that’s a key therapeutic difference between a behavioral testing model and an inhibitory learning model.
Interviewer: So now, well I heard you say “theoretically” when you were describing. So I was wondering if in actual practicality sometimes a certain amount of cognitive restructuring is needed in order to help the person be willing to do the exposure. Because if I literally think that I am going to have a heart attack, then I’m probably not going to be willing to do the exposure.
Dr. Craske: That’s right, that’s right. And of course it comes down to what is the person willing to do. So, methodologically, you know, first of all we establish: what is it that you’re most afraid of happening? Then we design the optimal exposure to test that out and if the person says I’m willing to go into the optimal exposure which might be, I’m going to travel by a plane to another country on my own without any Zanax or any kind of medication, then that is the optimal exposure for that person.
Interviewer: I understand, that would be the optimal learning experience for that person.
Dr. Craske: If that’s what they needed to do in order to really violate their expectancy that they’re going to die if they’re on their own in an unfamiliar place. Then we would say: What are you willing to test out? And so we might have to back down from the optimal exposure to something that they’re willing to do, and constantly reinforcing the idea that their expectancy of that bad event happening is clearly preventing them from learning something new and how can we design experiences to help them learn something new? And of course by doing this, we as therapists are conveying a sense that this is safe, because we would never be asking our clients to do anything that’s dangerous. So clients are clearly going to be absorbing that notion that this is okay to do. So I think there’s probably unavoidably some level of thought reappraisal happening. It’s just that we don’t spend time doing time formal cognitive restructuring.
Interviewer: And you do the minimum amount of that needed to get the person to have the experiential learning. So the goal is experiential learning.
Interviewer: Now the other difference from cognitive therapy is that of course this notion of violating expectancies which overlaps with behavioral testing is only one part of the inhibitory learning model. We have a number of other strategies that all derived from this concept: how do you strengthen that inhibitory learning that’s going on during exposure, because it is always going to be more fragile than the original learning. And so we have a number of other strategies such as deepened distinction that comes from the basic science of extinction, it’s how to use multiple cues at the same time so if somebody’s – we’ll take a simple example -- if somebody is fearful of spiders, how do we have not just exposure to a single spider but exposure to a single spider followed by the introduction of the second spider. There’s some value to that because it’s going to help the person lift up their expectancy again, “Oh oh no another spider maybe I’m going to be bitten again.” And that expectancy now has been lifted up to such a degree that the learning is going to be maximized because, as I said before, when there’s no expectancy of a threatening event, theoretically no learning is going to be taking place. So we always want to raise the expectancy and then violate it by the experience. And so having multiple cues at one time is one way of doing that. We do a lot of work on how to attend to the stimulus so keeping a person’s attention focused on where they are and what they’re doing and what they’re facing because the attention is critical to learning. We would introduce something called variability throughout exposure which means that we might vary up the length of time of that person’s conducting an exposure or the order in which they conduct the exposures or the type of stimuli. So a very common example for us is when we’re working with socially anxious individuals is to have them approach, go out into our campus around us and approach 30 different people, of all different types and ask them all different questions rather than approaching the same kind of person and asking the same question over and over again, because variability enhances the storage of new learning. It enhances the capacity of that new learning to be encoded and then retrieved later. And so all these are the strategies, and that’s only some of them that fit in to this sort of approach to exposure, which is a learning based approach, and that make it a different model than a cognitive therapy behavioral testing model. But there definitely are overlaps as well.
Interviewer: I see. So could you say a little more about attention, because as all of us clinicians know, often patients use distraction to tolerate uncomfortable situations and then as a clinician we need to be clear in understanding, is that a good idea or not? And I think, understanding more about how you’re thinking about the importance of attention and what’s being learned would help guide clinicians here.
Dr. Craske: Right. Definitely from a basic learning model, what we are aiming to do is to help the client understand that this stimulus, and the stimulus might be an internal sensation or external event or activity or situation. To learn that this stimulus is not a predictor of the bad thing that they were anticipating or expecting to happen, then it’s critical that attention be directed to the stimulus that they have their expectancy based on. That’s really very, very important. Now I know because over the years I myself have done some of the studies on distraction. What happens when you distract? What happens when you lose attention? I think sometimes distraction can be part of an exposure therapy practice if it’s going to be helpful to allowing the person to learn what they need to learn. So let’s say it’s -- I’m going to be in a situation and distract from the fact, not distract, I’m going to shift my attention onto another element in the situation in order to learn that having this physical sensation – no, I just made that confusing. Distraction can be useful to the degree that it facilitates whatever it is that that person needs to learn, but in that scenario you always want to bring them back to what is the stimulus that they distract me from and I haven’t made that very clear, I am terribly sorry. But attention to the stimulus facilitates learning and if we distract totally from that stimulus then there wouldn’t be any learning taking place.
Interviewer: Right, if the person has the fear -- if my heart rate goes up really fast, I’ll have a panic attack and I’ll die of a heart attack then during the exposure we would want to focus their attention on how was your heart rate, go -- doing? Is it going up? Is it like that?
Dr. Craske: Right, right. Now if they said: I’m afraid that if I shift my attention over to this conversation then there’s definitely a chance that I’m going to have a heart attack because I’m not effectively monitoring my heart rate.
Then in that case you may want to test out, we’ll let see what happens when you distract.
Dr. Craske: So that’s the part that I was getting confused on before, on how to use distraction as a tool. But the eventual result would be I’m testing out whether distraction from a physical sensation leads to a negative outcome.
Interviewer: So the core thing that the therapist always wants to be anchoring to guide the intervention is what is this person afraid of? And what does this person need to learn in order to get a new idea that inhibits the old idea?
Dr. Craske: Yes exactly. Okay.
Interviewer: Okay. So then I would to talk for a moment about safety behaviors because of course we’ve all been taught that we should all work to be dropping out the safety behaviors. At the same time if I listen to the focus on the conceptualization, I could imagine that a patient might have the idea. If I go out by myself on an airplane trip I’ll have a panic attack, I’ll have a heart attack and I’ll die and that’s true even if I have a bottle of Zanax in my pocket. In that case, could we agree that doing the exposure with the bottle of Zanax in the pocket would still provide a learning experience for this patient and so therefore might not be contraindicated using that way of thinking about how we design the exposure?
Dr. Craske: Right. So in that case the primary expectancy that the person’s dealing with is a fear of having a heart attack and dying.
Dr. Craske: The safe -- the quote safety signal of the Zanax is not having any predictive relationship with that outcome, right? And because it’s not in any form -- it’s not having an associative relationship, it doesn’t actually matter.
Interviewer: Yes I see. Well often patients have what seem to be sort of magically associating, and they’ll tell you logically it doesn’t make any sense, but I feel more comfortable if I have it.
Dr. Craske: If that were the case, what makes you feel more comfortable about having that element with you? What is it doing to your expectancy about having a heart attack. If it does come down to, well I think it actually prevents me from panicking and if I don’t panic then I’m not going to have a heart attack then it is serving as a safety signal and that will interfere with effective learning. And so whenever the object that they perceive as being a safety signal changes the expectancy of the outcome, it will interfere with corrective learning. It will interfere with the development of inhibitory learning. Does that make sense?
Interviewer: Yes it does, yes it does.
Dr. Craske: So that’s what I’m always coming back to the question: what is this object’s function? How is it functioning for you and what role does the object play for you when you carry it with you?
Interviewer: Right and what’s the relationship between having that object and your expectancy of about what’s going to happen if you do or do not have it.
Dr. Craske: Right, exactly and not so much about whether I’ll be safe or not, but what is the expectancy of being fearful?
Interviewer: The expectancy of danger, okay that’s helpful. Well it’s helpful to have this kind of conceptual clarity for the therapist. It guides our decision making about what interventions to do and all the details of how to structure it.
Interviewer: So now I’m thinking about certain patients who have OCD and generalized anxiety disorder, and what they have is intolerance of uncertainty. And then I’m trying to figure out how to take those concerns and use them in this model -- - and I’m sure you’ve thought about that.
Dr. Craske: Right, right. So in a couple of ways, in one way it’s certainly -- with a patient with obsessive compulsive disorder for example then they could have an expectancy that’s so far off in the future that it cannot possibly be tested by exposure therapy, such as if I touch this dirty door handle, then I’ll die from cancer 20 years from now.
Dr. Craske: So we can’t test that out in that an exposure format, but we can test out the notion that are you willing to tolerate that discomfort and function at other tasks despite not knowing whether you will die or not 20 years from now. So it’s a toleration, it’s an expectancy associated with the uncertainty as you’ve just said. So, in those cases we design exposures around, let’s test out whether you can tolerate the anxiety or tolerate the uncertainty with the notion that if you perceive the anxiety or uncertainty to be inherently aversive, then it’s a type of expectancy. So you’re saying the client is predicting that I expect that I cannot tolerate that level of uncertainty or that level of distress, then we would test that out. Let’s see if we can actually have you engaged in this task induce the uncertainty and the distress and see what happens. This is very similar to what I think a lot of people already do in fact with those kinds of exposures.
Interviewer: Yes, yes. Thank you. So, now one of the parts of the article that I had trouble with was the idea of that occasional reinforced trials can be therapeutic.
Dr. Craske: Yes this is a complicated one and still needing a lot more research, but let’s see if I can explain this. So in the experimental sense what this means is that by providing occasional aversive outcomes as the person’s going through extinction or exposure, what’s happening is that the person’s expectancy of having a negative outcome of course is being raised up, because they actually are sometimes having negative outcomes.
Dr. Craske: … and it’s violated. Now it’s tricky but I think the best sort of clinical translation is social anxiety. And the reason for that is that the person’s expectancy is of social rejection, which is a negative outcome.
Interviewer: It is aversive for all of us.
Dr. Craske: It does happen, it’s part of our daily life. So it’s not unreasonable to deliberately include social rejection in exposure practice. And the idea being, that if occasional social rejections happen then the person’s expectancy of, “Oh no I’m going to get rejected again.” has been raised.
Dr. Craske: And then they’re going to the next social situation and they don’t get rejected and they’ll have the experience of, “Oh I just now realized that, yes I expected to get rejected and I wasn’t on this trial.” So they’re learning: “It’s not always the case that I get rejected.” And that learning is going to be more potent than if they were never rejected, that’s the idea.
Interviewer: I understand. So it builds, so it’s really taking a long view and working to build resilience.
Dr. Craske: That’s a good way of thinking about it. In fact, in our experimental work on this topic, that’s exactly how we looked at it, because it seemed that after going through that kind of training with their occasional negative outcomes, the person really seem to be naturally blasé about it.
Dr. Craske: I do not die and it also means that it’s not true for every situation.
Interviewer: Yup. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t.
Dr. Craske: Right. So, as I say, I think that’s most appropriate for social anxiety and maybe for panic attacks too but of course not appropriate for actual traumas. Certainly we would not want to re-traumatize people.
Interviewer: Yes, very helpful. Could I ask one final question, which is about affect labeling which of course I’m sure we could talk for a long time about, but -- could I ask you just to say a few minutes about how does affect labeling fit into exposure treatment?
Dr. Craske: Right. Affect labeling is coming from a slightly different direction of research, but the basic notion is that by using linguistic or verbal processing of emotional states or emotion stimuli, we develop inhibitory pathways at the neuro level, at the brain level, based on the basic experimental work. In exposure therapy, what it means is we encourage people to simply state their emotional experience or describe the stimulus in terms of how they perceiving it in an emotional way, for example, I feel anxious. This situation scares me.
Interviewer: The spider. The spider looks dangerous.
Dr. Craske: The spider looks dangerous. So it’s clearly not cognitive restructuring, there is no reappraisal going on, it’s just labeling the emotion. Now when I use this clinically I’m very much using it in a toleration of the situation, a toleration of the experience. So I’m feeling anxious and I’m here.
Dr. Craske: “I’m scared, but I’m going into it anyway” kind of idea. And it also fits quite well with the notion of attention. So it takes me to what I’m doing and not distracting. And the person who can really embrace that concept is probably doing it a little bit of the acceptance notion, too. I’m accepting my emotional states rather than trying to change it. So it fits with a lot of different conceptual models and clinically I personally think it works very well.
Interviewer: So here there’s a -- maybe we’ll just make a final comment, there’s a fit with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy I assume is part of what you’re referring to?
Dr. Craske: Yes indeed. Yes.
Interviewer: I have to tell you how much I learned from this discussion, how much I appreciate your time, Doctor Craske. And we all thank you so much both for your work on these important issues and for giving us your time here today too.
1. Maximizing Exposure Therapy for Anxiety Disorders - Michelle Craske, Ph.D., interviewed by Jacqueline Persons, Ph.D. | 2019-04-22T06:22:47Z | http://www.sscpweb.org/page-18148 |
in his Nuova Cronica (illustration pictured), the 14th century Florentine banker Giovanni Villani described the destruction of the original Ponte Vecchio bridge during the flood of November 4, 1333?
parts of California were declared a disaster area when Hurricane Kathleen killed several people and caused millions of dollars in damage due to widespread flooding?
during the Civil War years, the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles experienced floods, droughts, a smallpox epidemic, and even a plague of locusts?
during a flood in 1937, Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky was partially submerged, and a worker caught a two-pound fish in the lobby?
completion of the Howard A. Hanson Dam (pictured) in 1961 ended a 70-year era of flooding in the Green River Valley, and by 1996, the dam had prevented an estimated US$694 million in flood damages?
despite being unfinished, the Lazaro Cardenas Dam successfully protected the Mexican towns of Gómez Palacio and Torreón from possible flooding triggered by Hurricane Naomi in 1968?
España Boulevard, the main street of Sampaloc, Manila, is notorious for its waist-deep floods during the Philippine typhoon season?
Flood in Final Fantasy VI.
Flood is an offensive spell that does Water-elemental damage. It typically targets all enemies, and is usually the replacement for the spell Water in the games that it does not appear in.
Flood is a Ninjutsu for Edge. Gained automatically when fighting Rubicante. Costs 20 MP. In the Advance remake, Flood can be cast when the player uses the Triton's Dagger weapon as an item. It is also available as an Augment.
Flood returns as a Ninjutsu spell, usable by Edge and Izayoi, both of who start with it. It functions in the same way as in Final Fantasy IV, but now costs 7 MP to use.
Flood is taught by Leviathan in the Advance version. It costs 60 MP. It is notably the only Water-elemental spell in the game, besides Strago's Lores.
Flood appears as one of the Ancient Magic spells. It is available to Black Mages at level 58. For 368 MP, the spell will cause Water-based elemental damage and lower resistance to Lightning. A stronger version, Flood II, is also available through Merit Points.
Flood is one of Terra's initial HP attacks which manifests three bursts of water one after the other from beneath the opponent. As a Mime, Bartz is also able to use the attack which functions identically to Terra's version. Shantotto's Spirit Magic: Water casts Flood when she has 6,000 or more Brave. It summons a large torrent of water surrounding the opponent.
Flood in Final Fantasy IV.
Flood in the DS version Final Fantasy IV.
Flood in The After Years.
Flood used by Bartz in Dissidia Final Fantasy.
Flood used by Terra in Dissidia.
Flood used by Shantotto in Dissidia.
This article uses material from the "Flood" article on the Final Fantasy wiki at Wikia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.
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Were you looking for the novel Halo: The Flood, or The Flood, the ninth level in Halo Wars?
Significant physiological and psychological mutations. They can also acquire their host's memories.
"One single Flood spore can destroy a species."
The Flood (Latin Inferi redivivus meaning "The dead reincarnated"), or The Parasite as they are known to the Covenant, are a species of highly virulent parasitic organisms that reproduce and grow by consuming sentient life forms of sufficient biomass and cognitive capability. The Flood were responsible for consuming most of the sentient life in the galaxy, including the Forerunners, during the 300-year-long Forerunner-Flood War. The Flood presents the most variable faction in the trilogy, as it can infect and mutate Human and Covenant species, such as Elites,Grunts,and Brutes, into Combat Forms. They are widely considered to be the greatest threat to the existence of life, or, more accurately, biodiversity, in the Milky Way Galaxy.
The Flood are extremely adaptable, dangerous, and expendable parasitic lifeforms. They were first encountered in the Milky Way Galaxy by a Forerunner pioneer group on planet G617 g1. It is a highly infectious viral supercell, and the cause of the "Forerunner-Flood War", which lasted approximately 931 years. They were the reason that the Halo Array was constructed, as a last final effort by the Forerunners to preserve biological diversity in the galaxy. After exhausting every other strategic option, the Halo Array was fired, resulting in the elimination of the original source of the Flood infestation and the death of every sentient being in the Galaxy.
The Flood exists in a fairly stable state in the absence of a Gravemind. They lack the ability to spawn spontaneously and spread by infecting sentient life forms, specifically those that are self-aware and capable of introspection. This stage of a Flood outbreak is known as the Feral Stage.
During its Feral Stage, the Flood is only capable of local coordination through use of pheromone-based communication. Research indicates that the content of said messages are of very limited complexity. Individual Combat and Carrier Forms have access to the skills and memories of their host; however, once an outbreak establishes a viable Gravemind, the Coordinated Stage begins—and it is at this point the Flood becomes truly dangerous.
With the formation of a Gravemind, the assimilated intelligence and memories of consumed hosts become part of a collective consciousness, which is capable of strategic thinking and commanding individual Flood forms in an organized manner.
A Gravemind (like the Proto-Gravemind that gave rise to it) is the fusion of pure Flood Super Cells and the evolved complex neuro-system of one or more sentient entities. The control it exerts over the more mobile forms it creates is accurately likened to an entity's control over its own limbs. Ergo, during the Feral stage, control is localized at the individual level, but once an outbreak enters the Coordinated stage control is assumed by, and broadcast from, a central compound intelligence.
Although no data exists from any adequately controlled experiment, data gathered in the field suggests that if a mobile form is removed from the influence of the Gravemind coordinating its group of origin it will revert to a Feral Stage. Insufficient data exists on whether mobile forms of one Gravemind would be influenced by another Gravemind, though logic dictates this would be the case. However, because individual Graveminds are remarkably similar and are all striving for the same goal, it is likely that a distinction would be impossible to detect.
The Bestiarum states that the society of the Flood closely resembles an "utopian socialist ideal as there is no wealth, no poverty, no want, no crime, and no disease; every individual works for the advancement of the Flood as a whole". It also states that it "is unfortunate that their one overriding goal is to [butcher and consume] every other life form in the galaxy".
"It fed on intelligent life and in doing so, became every more intelligent itself. The Flood was unique, it used their very strength against them."
—Cortana on the Forerunner-Flood War.
The Flood are believed to have arrived in the Milky Way Galaxy more than 100,000 years prior to 2552 when they encountered the Forerunners on the planet G617 g1. The Flood used unarmed civilian assets to penetrate planetary defense groups, first striking at the Forerunner-held planet of LP 656-38 e, bypassing the Forerunner Orbital Fleet, and infesting the planet below. They soon moved to similarly infest the planet DM-3-1123b. They were perceived as hostile by the Forerunners, whose ground forces were overcome by the sheer numbers of Flood forms on the planets. While at first the Flood demonstrated a lack of even "basic cohesion", they had "numerical superiority"; billions of forms dedicated to the assault, and every member of the Forerunner population a potential Flood host. In desperation, the Forerunner's armada was ordered to immediately commence full planetary bombardment on infested worlds, although at a great cost - many Forerunners were unable to be evacuated before bombardment commenced, leaving the Forerunner military with shallow victories against the Flood. In events where the naval garrisons were unable to commence bombardment, major Forerunner population centers appeared to activate localized weapons of mass destruction, effectively committing mass suicide, but stopping the growing infestation.
Thereafter, the Forerunners realized that ordinary naval tactics were unable to stem the growing tide of the Flood, and decided to pin their hopes of defeating the Flood on super weaponry. While the Forerunners initially deployed the Sentinel robotic drones to fight against and contain the Flood, almost immediately afterward, the Forerunner Fleet Command contemplated "Premature stellar collapse": using naval battle groups to destroy planetary star systems' primary stars in supernova that would engulf the planetary systems and prevent any possibility of Flood infection.
While the Flood were exponentially growing, spreading from system to system with the intent to infect the Forerunner population, not to wage war with Forerunner battle groups, the tide was turning: the Flood had reached sufficient proportions to create a Gravemind form, a creature that embodied a collective sentient intelligence for the Flood species, and one that could coordinate the Flood swarms in intelligent attacks against the Forerunner Fleets. The Forerunners were aware of this, and constructed the Contender class artificial intelligence Mendicant Bias in an effort to destroy this centralized Gravemind and disorganize the Flood. This too failed since Mendicant Bias went rampant and joined the Flood cause to destroy its former masters.
The Forerunners began a "Conservation Measure", researching the Flood, while constructing an Artifact to generate a slipspace portal leading to the Ark on Earth and possibly other uninfected home worlds of Tier 7 races they considered "worthy".
The Forerunners employed many, many measures, including intricate naval tactics in an attempt to contain the Flood, which ultimately failed. Finally, the Forerunners were forced to a Pyrrhic solution, building seven ring-like super-weapons, known as Fortress Worlds or Halos, across the galaxy. Because the Flood were parasitic, and their survival was directly linked to the presence of potential hosts, the Forerunners reasoned that eliminating all potential Flood hosts, that is, all sentient life forms in the galaxy, would "render the parasite harmless", as explained by the Forerunner AI 343 Guilty Spark. After all countermeasures failed, the Forerunners activated the Halos in 97,448 B.C, unleashing galactic destruction, and destroying almost all sentient life forms in the Galaxy. However, the human race and many other species throughout the galaxy survived the firing of the Halos because they were safely spared on the Ark which was out of range of the Halo Array or protected by the Shield Worlds, which were also out of range .
The Flood were contained, and unable to reproduce due to lack of hosts, and eventually died out. The only surviving specimens were contained in state of the art, high-security Forerunner research facilities, such as the Halo Installations and the Threshold Gas Mine.
Thousands of years after the end of the Forerunner-Flood war, the human ship Spirit of Fire jumped from Arcadia to follow the signal of Professor Anders, who had been captured by the Covenant. They were led to an unknown planet, which happened to be a Forerunner Shield World. Ground forces were deployed to investigate the presence of unknown hostiles sighted by the ship's radar. After fighting their way through Covenant forces, Sergeant Forge and several Marine squads were attacked by the Flood.
The surviving UNSC forces, which included Sergeant Forge, were ordered to recover some Elephants that were surrounded by Flood forms. After one was rescued, the small squad made their way into a site that would become a base. They then assembled a larger force to rescue the other soldiers. Following their successful rescue, the UNSC forces prepared to engage the Flood.
SPARTAN-II Red Team, while searching for Anders, was ambushed by several Flood forms, which forced their Warthog to crash. The remaining forces at the nearby base, led by Sergeant Forge, moved out to rescue the ill-fated team. As they attempted to rescue the SPARTANS, they soon discovered that the Flood was creating a Proto-Gravemind, and that it may have been jamming the tracking signal that Anders was giving out. On their way to the soon-to-be Gravemind, they encountered several Flood Colony forms, and found that by destroying them, the Proto-Gravemind would become weakened. Once they destroyed the Proto-Gravemind, Serina found a signal, which was believed to be Anders'.
Captain Cutter then ordered all UNSC personnel on the planet to return to the Spirit of Fire. These orders were impeded by the Flood, which attempted to prevent the humans' retreat, but the Flood were eventually held back long enough for the UNSC forces to return to the Spirit. The Flood attacked the Spirit as it entered the interior of the Shield World, but were wiped off by the ship's crew, Sentinels, and the Shield World's cleansing rings. All Flood on the Shield World were destroyed when Sergeant Forge used the Spirit of Fire's Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine to destroy the Shield World's internal sun, obliterating all Covenant and Flood forces on the Shield World. The Spirit of Fire narrowly escaped by performing a hastily-calculated slingshot maneuver around the exploding sun in order to shoot off into space. Without the Spirit's Slipspace Engine, however, the ship was lost in space, with humanity's only knowledge of the Flood lost with it.
"The only way to stop the Flood is to starve them to death."
—Cortana to John 117 and 343 Guilty Spark.
John-117 fends off the oncoming Flood Combat Forms and Infection Forms on Installation 04.
Although the first firing of the Halo Array starved large numbers of the Flood, samples of parasitic specimens were kept alive (perhaps in stasis) on various Forerunner outposts for research and further scientific study. One such research site was located on Installation 04. This proved to be a grave, irreversible mistake, as both Humanity and the Covenant stumbled upon the abandoned ring thousands of years after the firing of the Array and the destruction of the Forerunners and most of the Flood. Cortana, aboard the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, made what was presumed to be a "blind" jump through Slipspace (although it was later revealed that she used translated co-ordinates from a Forerunner artifact found on Sigma Octanus IV) to evade Covenant pursuers. This led both species to Installation 04, and in turn, the Flood that were kept there. After the crash of the Pillar of Autumn on the Halo Ring, the surviving crew members dug in for what they believed would be a long and brutal guerrilla campaign against the Covenant forces on Halo.
Meanwhile, the pursuing Covenant cruisers (among them the Truth and Reconciliation) amassed their ground forces on the surface, and soon discovered an underground Forerunner Flood Containment Facility in the swamps of Halo. Due to the secure nature of the facility, the Covenant came to use it as a fortified base of operations and an area for storing weaponry, oblivious to its true nature. Though some of the Flood managed to escape, the terrified Covenant soldiers eventually pushed the Flood back in. It is unknown whether a few still escaped. The Flood escaped due to a leak in the library, allowing the flood to reproduce by spores.
After Captain Jacob Keyes was captured by the Covenant for interrogation, he caught wind of this weapons cache and, upon his rescue, organized Fire Team Charlie to seize it. When the team arrived at the swamp however, they found the facility was completely devoid of Covenant personnel. However, upon takeoff, a Pelican Dropship, whose call sign was Victor 933, which had transported them to the base, crashed into the swamp as a result of enemy action. Then, immediately after the crash, the pilots were able to record a message about their attackers, calling them "Unknown Hostiles". These "Unknown Hostiles" were actually the Flood, and shortly afterward, they could be seen creeping throughout the swamp, as witnessed by John-117 when he was deployed into the area. At first, when he saw the Covenant retreating out of the Forerunner structure running from Assault Rifle fire, he believed them to be allied forces. However, after he opened the door that Captain Keyes had unlocked, he learned the truth through Private Jenkins' recording: this was no Covenant weapons cache. He then proceeded to escape, escorted the surviving marines to a drop zone, and encountered 343 Guilty Spark. Guilty Spark then promptly teleported him into the Library and said, "The Flood is spreading. We must hurry!"
The few surviving Covenant soldiers left were scattered and disorganized, and put up little resistance to the new Combat Forms created from numerous Covenant corpses. It is presumed that the Covenant occupants of the research facility had moved through the structure in hopes of finding Forerunner artifacts, and had inadvertently released living Flood specimens. Knowing full well what the Flood are capable of, the Covenant forces promptly locked the facility down and evacuated all personnel who survived the Flood's escape. Keyes and his team were unaware of this fact, however, and proceeded to delve deeper into the facility, ultimately coming across one of the unopened Flood Containment Chambers. Believing it was a weapons cache of some sort, they unlocked the door, and were promptly attacked and assimilated by the Flood inside. With a large supply of "edible" sentient life now occupying the ring, the Flood began to multiply and infest most of Halo. Soon, the infestation proved too great even for Halo's automated military force, the Sentinels, to handle, and the ring's commanding AI, 343 Guilty Spark, was forced to call upon a "Reclaimer" (John-117) to activate the array once more. Hearing of the above events, John-117 was deployed to the area on the drop ship Echo 419, proceeding into the facility, only to find out that most of the Marines he had been assigned to rescue had succumbed to the Flood.
These events brought the knowledge of the Flood to the UNSC. In a war of losses, this was another grim revelation for humanity.
Infection Forms feeding on dead corpses. Shown in one of the Chambers leading to a Pulse Generator in the Level Two Betrayals, in Halo:CE.
After the Flood's escape, the Covenant forces, who were widely stretched across Installation 04, were heavily engaged, and were being overwhelmed by Flood forces. While at places, the Covenant were able to hold the line by using vehicular and air support, most of the weaker Covenant soldiers such as Grunts and Jackals succumbed easily to the Flood, and the few Elites who remained were outnumbered and destroyed. The UNSC, having a much smaller presence on the Ring, found out about the Flood's might a short while later, when a UNSC Orbital Drop Shock Trooper force engaged with the Covenant near Alpha Base, was ambushed by the Flood and suffered heavy casualties. However, one of the attacking combat forms, Wallace A. Jenkins, who was one of the Marines in the original expeditionary mission to the supposed arms cache, was infected by a weak and elderly infection form whose powers of infection had been dulled by years of hibernation, making Jenkins' transformation into a combat form incomplete. Jenkins was still able to resist the pervasive Flood entity in his mind, and although incapable of articulate speech and with a physiologically devastated body, Jenkins was still able to betray the Flood through hand gestures during an interrogation with Major Silva, informing the UNSC Marine battalion that the Flood planned to assault the UNSC base from a series of underground catacombs underneath their base. In response to this intelligence, the UNSC moved to secure them, and prevented the Flood from staging another attack.
By the time of these developments, Flood dominance over the Covenant was assured. The Sentinels were unable to contain the Flood, and the Covenant and UNSC were sustaining heavy losses and rapidly losing ground. Meanwhile, the Flood were occupying whole areas formerly held by the Covenant, although Covenant and Flood forces continued to wage war on the massive ice plains of the Ring. Although the Covenant had the benefit of Shade stationary plasma turrets and vehicular/aerial support, the Flood had captured both UNSC and Covenant weapons, most notably M19 Rocket Launchers and massive numbers on their side.
The Flood, however, were not unintelligent. One of the UNSC personnel captured in the Marine force to the ex-Covenant arms cache was Captain Jacob Keyes, a brilliant naval strategist of the UNSC Navy. When he was infected, instead of using him in combat, the parasitic infection form, while deleting his memories, felt that Keyes held vital information. Keyes knew the location of Earth, the birthplace and major planet of the human race, a planet with tremendous possible assimilation opportunities for the Flood. Instead of becoming a combat form, he was merged with at least four other victims into a massive, engorged Proto-Gravemind aboard the CCS-class Battlecruiser, Truth and Reconciliation, a Covenant warship that the Flood were relentlessly attacking. While he was in the brain form state, the Flood began to comb his memories. Captain Keyes successfully withheld information about Earth by constantly accessing information available on his Command Neural Interface such as his name, rank, and serial number, until the Chief arrived. However, his arrival was too late, for Keyes was already dead. It was at that time the SPARTAN-117 punched a hole in Keyes' skull to get the Captain's CNI.
The Covenant Flagship Truth and Reconciliation was a major point of contention between the Covenant Special Operations units and the Flood. The Flood had likely entered the warship previously, decimating most of the Covenant crew and garrison on board, leaving only isolated pockets of resistance, mostly small numbers of terrified Grunts and a few Elites aboard the vessel. However, below the Truth and Reconciliation, in a series of rocky canyons, the Covenant were much stronger in force, with large numbers of Elites augmented by Grunts, Jackals, and Hunters, fighting off the Flood. The Covenant High Command on Installation 04, however, were terrified by the Flood presence. Because the CCS-class battle cruiser had been damaged in a previous space battle with the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, it had been grounded, awaiting repairs for at least two days. After The Flood were discovered to be aboard the battle cruiser, the Covenant High Command sent a Special Operations strike force to the Truth and Reconciliation to commence immediate emergency repairs, prepare it for lift-off into space and neutralize The Flood. These efforts, however, failed, with the Flood eventually retaking the vessel. Later, the remaining UNSC Marine forces on the ring staged an assault on the Flood-held Truth and Reconciliation, and managed to neutralize most Flood forms on the cruiser in a swift assault, and prepared the battle cruiser for take-off with emergency repairs to escape from the ring to Earth. However, there was tremendous risk if the Flood-infected vessel traveled to Earth, if there was even one Flood carrier form aboard, "Earth could fall," according to UNSC AI Wellsley, because of the Flood's exponential parasitic potential. Against orders, Marine officer McKay destroyed the warship with whatever Flood forms were still aboard, killing hundreds of UNSC personnel, including an infected Jenkins, but saving Earth and possibly billions of lives from the Flood.
The Flood appeared to be interested in seizing space-capable vessels, in the hope of spreading itself away from the Installations and into the stars: they attacked the UNSC Pillar of Autumn and CCS Truth and Reconciliation, for this reason. After the UNSC cruiser's crash-landing onto the ring, and after engaging over fifteen enemy warships, it had been taken by the Covenant, although a UNSC raid had managed to temporarily retake the hull. On the third and final day of the Battle of Installation 04, however, the Covenant were in control of the crashed warship when a Covenant patrol was ambushed by the Flood and infected; when it returned into the vessel, the Covenant garrison was attacked by Elite Combat forms. The combat forms were able to scatter before they could all be destroyed, and a steady trickle of Flood continued to enter the Pillar of Autumn through vents and openings in the hull, waging a tedious guerrilla battle against the Covenant security force on board. Eventually, the Sentinels came on board, overwhelming the dwindling Covenant forces as the Flood began to attack the warship in full force, in the end almost completely obliterating the Covenant presence, and severely limiting the Sentinels on board. Despite their best efforts and enormous numbers, the Flood, Covenant, and Sentinels were unable to stop John-117 from detonating the wrecked warship's reactors, and escaping in a C709 Longsword-class Interceptor. The resulting thermonuclear detonation severed the ring world, destroying it and its capability to annihilate all sentient life, and simultaneously killed all remaining Flood on Installation 04, along with any other life forms that were on the ring.
The Flood were also kept in the Forerunner-constructed Threshold Gas Mine, in one of the three peripheral arms of the station. A small Covenant special forces strike team of three Phantoms laden with Special Operations Elites and Grunts, led by Special Operations Commander Rtas 'Vadumee and Thel 'Vadamee, were dispatched by the High Prophets. This was to "silence" Sesa 'Refumee, the leader of the Heretics stationed within the mine encouraging dissent against the Prophets. While the force attempted to track down Sesa 'Refumee to assassinate him and destroy his forces, the Heretics, unleashed the Flood that were held within the station, and there was absolutely nothing they could do about it.
Dormant Flood in receptacles housed in the Gas Mine.
During Thel 'Vadamee's pursuit of Sesa 'Refumee, where Thel 'Vadamee neutralized several weapons emplacements. Enemy Banshees, Thel 'Vadamee, Rtas 'Vadumee, along with Spec Ops Elites and Grunts entered a laboratory, while the Heretics deliberately locked the doors: most likely by design, in order to crush the Special Operations force. The Heretics then released the Flood from containment in that arm of the station, locking Thel 'Vadamee and his five allies into a peripheral laboratory, and then besieging them with Infection Forms while Heretics dueled the Flood underneath them.
When that trap failed to annihilate them, instead dealing tremendous damage to the would-be trappers, 'Vadumee retreated to call for reinforcements and coordinate a continued assault while the Arbiter and any remaining allies pursued 'Refumee to a gigantic elevator that ran in the spine of the Flood-infested arm: while presumably used to transport gas conduits, its walls were rampant with ravenous Flood, and it ferried canisters full of Infection Forms. The tenuous, agonizing elevator was nicknamed "A Descent Into Hell". Thel Vadamee's allies were slowly picked off as Flood attacked the elevator, with Sentinels continually hovering overhead and firing lasers into the chaotic fray. Finally, Thel 'Vadamee left the elevator into a second wide laboratory hall, where the Heretics attempted to lock out both Thel 'Vadamee and the Flood. The Heretics' plan was not flawless, however, and handful of Heretic Sangheili were still present in the second laboratory when the Flood entered, these Sangheili were presumably infected while a horrid tide of Infection Forms, Combat Forms, and Carrier Forms lurched into the hall, and Thel 'Vadamee was forced to defend himself against them until the tide stilled and the doors were opened.
The Flood could not be contained in the rooms, however, and attacked both the Covenant assassination force and the Heretics themselves. Their assault was too much for either the Heretics or their attendant Sentinels to contain, and the Flood passed on a pathway between their infested peripheral arm to the central core of the station, where they overwhelmed the Heretics there. Thel 'Vadamee continued to pursue Sesa 'Refumee, but was impeded by large waves of Flood, crushing the outnumbered Heretic Elites, Heretic Grunts, and the ever-dwindling number of Sentinels. Eventually, the Sentinel presence was completely obliterated as the Flood spread to the upper levels of the station. However, Thel 'Vadamee managed to sever the cables that secured the gas mine to its support structure higher in the atmosphere of the gas giant. This caused it to plummet into the maelstrom as the Arbiter tracked down and eliminated the Heretic Leader. While Thel 'Vadamee and 'Refumee were engaged in battle, the Monitor 343 Guilty Spark explained that the act of cutting the cables was a fail safe in case of a Flood outbreak, and that any remaining Flood (and, presumably, remaining Heretics) would be killed once the facility entered the planet's solid Nitrogen core.
The Flood were in search of the Index, a device which would deprive UNSC and Covenant forces from the privilege of assured destruction of the parasite.
Unlike on Installation 04, where the Sentinels had contained the Flood until the Covenant began to meddle with the Forerunner containment measures, on Installation 05, the Flood had been in continual war with the Sentinels since the firing of the Halos 100,000 years ago. Even up to 2552, the Flood were presumably dwindling with no fresh supply of hosts (perhaps they were involved more in hiding than in open warfare). However, like on Installation 04, the fresh suitable host bodies of a newly-arrived Covenant armada and a UNSC strike force fueled the Flood's exponential parasitic capabilities, and Flood infestation increased at a surprisingly rapid rate, and within hours, Sentinel forces were being overrun, causing a risk that the Ring would fall to the parasite.
In order for the activation of the Halos and the facilitation of the ultimate Flood containment measure to occur, a Reclaimer had to retrieve the Index from Installation 05's own Library, making the Library a high-priority target for the Flood: if it could control the Library and prevent any Reclaimer from entering, it would make itself essentially invulnerable. Installation 05's Library was nestled in a tenuous series of wintry and snowy canyons and boasted three levels of defense: an exterior Sentinel Wall kilometers in the distance, an underground honeycombed facility that produced large numbers of Sentinels (that impeded any invaders from advancing), a Containment Shield (an energy shield that denied access by any means to the Library until it was deactivated), and a Quarantine Zone (a type of biological "airlock" to prevent the Flood from spreading any further). This multi-tiered defense was patrolled by hundreds of Sentinels and Sentinel Majors, and several Enforcers.
However, two external forces, the Covenant and the UNSC, wanted the Index as well: the Covenant, to activate the Halos and set off the misinterpreted "sublimation event" of the Great Journey, and the UNSC to secure the Index and prevent the Covenant from doing so. The Covenant sent a Strike Team of Special Operations Elites, commanded by Rtas 'Vadumee, and led into battle by Thel 'Vadamee, to retrieve the Index in a multi-staged assault. However, the Covenant first needed to deactivate the Containment Shield by disconnecting its power generator in the center of the Sentinel Wall.
Previously, a force of Jiralhanaes, Unggoys, and Kig-Yars had been dispatched to complete that operation, but they were overwhelmed by Sentinel defenders and forced into a defensive position instead of an attacking one. Thel 'Vadamee was personally ordered by the Prophet of Truth to find and retrieve the "Sacred Icon" (the Covenant term for the "Index") for the Covenant. Because the Sentinels activated the Containment Shield, he could not be directly air-dropped to the Library; instead, he had to land at the periphery of the Sentinel Wall, disable the generator, and then proceed to deactivate the generator. Tartarus deployed Thel 'Vadamee in a Phantom drop ship, where Thel 'Vadamee entered the first half of the Sentinel Wall, where there was evidence of heavy Covenant casualties and abandoned infrastructure, making his way down through the facility and finally deactivating the Containment Shield.
While the first half of the Sentinel Wall had remained pristine, the second half, the one buttressing the Quarantine Zone, was infested by Flood. Sentinel resistance had been destroyed in some segments of the Flood-Infested Wall, and in heavily infested areas, the Flood appeared to be beginning to terraform the Forerunner facility, spreading murky spores into the air. The UNSC deployed a small number of Marines to fight through the Flood-Infested Wall, but they were quickly overrun. Thel 'Vadamee was able to battle through hundreds of Flood forms that had taken up positions in the Wall, which had entered through wall-mounted conduits, although later, the Covenant deployed a team of three Special Operations Sangheilis in the lower levels of the Flood-infested Wall, although they were killed as well. Finally, Thel 'Vadamee was able to make his way out of the Wall, emerging at the ground levels: the Quarantine Zone.
With the Sentinel Wall compromised by the Covenant and the Flood, and the Containment Shield lowered by Thel 'Vadamee, there was only one last line of Forerunner defenses: the Quarantine Zone. There was a significantly elevated number of Enforcers present, even automated sentinel construction factories flying over watch, and automated factories built into the landscape, each churning out Enforcers and Sentinels, further swelling their numbers even in intense combat. Here, the Flood demonstrated their unusual technical aptitude, commandeering Covenant and UNSC vehicles, possessing dozens of Ghosts, Wraiths, Warthogs, and Scorpions to do battle with the hovering Enforcers. Flood forces also boasted large numbers of Combat Forms, which appeared to infiltrate the Containment Zone by means of gaping chasms that periodically split the ground, emitting a green mist and appearing to be of indefinite depth, perhaps linkages to the Flood-infested underground.
Six Special Operations Elites, along with Rtas 'Vadumee, were airdropped at the periphery of the Quarantine Zone by means of Covenant drop pods, and Thel 'Vadamee joined them, rallying their efforts to secure a landing zone against large numbers of Flood attackers. Using the advantages of elevated ground, Shielded Plasma Cannons, and a Deployable Lookout Tower, the small Special Operations contingent was able to hold an LZ for a Phantom to drop off a Spectre and a pair of Ghosts. Meanwhile, 'Vadumee commanded his men to assist Thel in forging towards the center of the Flood-infested Quarantine Zone, so that Thel 'Vadamee could reach the Library and secure the Sacred Icon.
The Flood, despite a significant vehicular and infantry presence in the Quarantine Zone surrounding the Library, were unable to deny access to the Covenant and the UNSC. Miranda Keyes managed to slip the In Amber Clad through the Forerunner Enforcer patrols, while the Covenant launched a ground borne attack, led by Thel 'Vadamee and involving a small team of Spec Ops Elites, using a gondola to get to the index while attempting to control the gondola and keep it from slipping into Flood or Sentinel hands. Later, In Amber Clad was captured by the Flood.
Spartan-117, who had arrived with Keyes and Johnson, met Thel 'Vadamee for the first time in the clutches of the Gravemind, the central controlling intelligence of the Flood hive, created from the combined intellect of tens of thousands of assimilated corpses. Gravemind attempted to convince Thel 'Vadamee, against his own beliefs, and through the use of the captured Monitor, 2401 Penitent Tangent, and the semi-revived Prophet of Regret to not activate the ring. Still unswayed, although in question of his religion, Thel 'Vadamee prompted the Gravemind to show him, by "Stopping the key from turning.", transporting Spartan-117 to High Charity, and Thel 'Vadamee to Delta Halo's Control Room.
Taking advantage of the distraction that Spartan-117's presence caused, as well as the ensuing Covenant Civil War, Gravemind took the opportunity to deliver himself, as well as a multitude of Flood underlings, onto In Amber Clad and then jumped the UNSC ship inside High Charity, whereupon it immediately crashed into the city's superstructure to deliver its infectious cargo, while a wave of Flood-controlled Pelican Dropships delivered Flood all over the city. The ill-equipped and distracted populace was no match for the Flood onslaught, and the Covenant Holy City was quickly overrun, with even the Prophet of Mercy falling victim to an infection form.
The Flood soon spread to every district, and Flood spores began to infiltrate and overload the ventilation systems; the whole city was becoming Terra-formed into a massive Flood Hive. The Gravemind regularly rebutted the words of comfort the Prophet of Truth delivered to the city’s population over the comm system, to sadistically instill more panic and unease. Spartan-117, having successfully stayed in front of the wave of Flood running rampant in the streets, stowed away on the Dreadnought that was leading the Prophet of Truth's fleet to Earth. Cortana, who had to stay behind to manage the situation should Installation 05 be fired, was left in the clutches of the Gravemind, who could potentially learn all possible Human knowledge from her.
UNSC Marines being infected by the Flood.
""Child of my enemy, why have you come? I offer no forgiveness... a father's sins pass to his son.""
""I am a timeless chorus. Join your voice with mine, and sing victory everlasting.""
""Of course, you came for her... We exist together now, two corpses, in one grave.""
At the conclusion of the Battle of Voi, with the Prophet of Truth activating the Artifact and the Jiralhanae fleet escaping to the Ark, a Flood infested Covenant cruiser appeared out of Slipspace, having penetrated the Elite's blockade of High Charity and crash landed into the city of Voi in an effort to spread. In order to prevent the Flood from escaping and infecting the entire planet, Miranda Keyes ordered John-117 to detonate the cruiser's reactors and search the ship for Cortana, causing the city of Voi to be destroyed and the Flood there eliminated. As John-117 and the Thel 'Vadam fought their way to the ship, the Shadow of Intent arrived and deployed Sangheili task force to aid UNSC marines. SPARTAN-117, with the help of the Sangheili, was able to battle through the Flood forces, including the newly encountered Flood Pure Forms to reach the crashed cruiser where he found a message from Cortana. Upon this discovery, 343 Guilty Spark arrived pledging his assistance to the Reclaimers. With the Flood spreading, SPARTAN-117 boarded a Phantom while the Sangheili went on to glass the infected areas. The remaining Sangheili forces, fulfilling their mission of removing the Flood from Earth, retreated back to the Sangheili Carrier, the Shadow of Intent, along with Cortana's message and Guilty Spark.
With the assistance of 343 Guilty Spark, Cortana's message was repaired, revealing a solution to the Flood menace on the Ark. To Lord Hood's disapproval, Miranda Keyes led UNSC forces allied with Thel 'Vadam's and Rtas 'Vadum's Sangheili's through the Portal.
On the Ark, while attempting to lower the shield surrounding the Ark's citadel, the infested High Charity made a Slipspace jump and smashed into the Ark, releasing the Flood inside the structure and causing an infestation on the newly built replacement for the destroyed Installation 04. After retrieving Cortana from the derelict High Charity, SPARTAN-117 was able to kill all Flood present on the Ark and the replacement Installation 04 by activating the unfinished Halo using the Index Cortana retained from the first Halo. The ring's activation also presumably killed the Gravemind. SPARTAN-117 also destroyed High Charity by destroying its reactors, causing them to go critical and killing the billions of Flood that were present when High Charity was destroyed in a huge explosion.
With the Gravemind destroyed, and all the Flood on the Ark gone, it is probable that the Flood still exist on the other Halo rings, excluding Installation 05 (although it is possible that not all of the Flood on Installation 05 left and there are still some there, since Installation 05 was never destroyed), or any other remaining Forerunner Installations. The fact that the Flood were never originally from this galaxy further complicates the issue, and how they arrived leads to more possibilities. It may be that is why the Forerunners preserved some Flood for research on the Halo rings instead of destroying them all, since the Flood would return sooner or later, and it would be better to fight a researched enemy rather than a foreign one. At least for the moment, the Flood are seemingly defeated.
A wall covered in heavy Flood biomass: evidence of advanced infestation.
The Master Chief stepping in Flood Biomass as he enters the Flood infested High Charity.
The only known pathway for Flood reproduction and survival is by the infestation and assimilation of other species. They do this through a form of cellular reproduction known as lysogenic replication where the viral cells infect host cells with their own genetic code which mutates the host cells into viral forms.
Capable of surviving extreme environments ranging from -75 to +53 degrees Celsius and even underwater (in early stages of life), the Flood can withstand harsh environments of all known colonized planets.
It would seem that the Flood can infest any living organism, but that they prefer hosts with a large brain capacity to accelerate the formation and expansion of the Gravemind hive intelligence and the Flood intelligence as a whole. They are only as intelligent as the beings they infect; the more cunning the enemy, the more dangerous the Flood will be.
As the Flood spread and replicate, they will alter the environment to better suit their needs. This takes the form of biomass growing on any available surface, and the air being filled with spores. This appears to be part of the Flood life cycle and is done automatically, and leads to the development of a Gravemind and a Flood Hive.
The Flood seem to thrive in moist and humid areas, which lends itself to the fact the the Quarantine Zone is bereft of organic life, and is cold and perpetually snowy, to hinder the development of the Flood.
Infection forms selectively target other species that possess sentient intelligence and are of sufficient biomass, and can infest living or lightly wounded dead bodies. Infection forms have long tendrils that pierce the skin of the host and find their way to the spinal cord. From here they synchronize with the host, matching frequencies with the host's nervous system and taking over brain functions, completely rewriting the psychology of the creature to the ravenous and voracious psyche of The Flood, although retaining higher-level cognitive abilities, such as combat techniques and technical knowledge which may be useful. However, resistance of the host is completely destroyed, as the original mind's memories are systematically erased, leaving only a simplistic and primal urge to assimilate other species and destroy them. During the early stages of infestation, when the host still retains its original consciousness, there are distinct somatosensory sensations: first the host's extremities grow numb and their lungs feel heavy.
Then, the greater Flood intelligence begins to take over the mind, and sensation becomes increasingly indistinct: the host's vision seems to be "a gauzy white haze", but the host can make out shapes and the host can hear a low droning through the ordeal. Finally, once physiological mutilation occurs, the host can vaguely feel dramatic changes to its own body: the limbs feel to the host as if they are made of a spongy liquid and the lungs itch as well. However, the host can still control their limbs to some extent if the neurological contact with the infection form is weakened. They can use the vocal cords of Jiralhanae's, Humans, and Sangheili's to communicate as well as the moans they use as observed on The Covenant where the drop pod crashes into the third shield tower.
While baseline neurological assimilation is the same regardless of host species, The Flood's infestation includes physiological mutilation, which is species-specific.
Higher-level species capable of combat, such as Humans, Jiralhanae, or Sangheili are selectively infected to become Combat Forms. Combat Forms retain the general profile of their original species, although they are significantly mutated. Organ-based systems' physiology are corrupted, organ-specific functions are decentralized, and body cavities are decayed, making hitbox-selective incapacitation impossible; organ functions are decentralized, thus, decapitation does not down a combat form. Furthermore, highly area-specific munitions, such as sniper rifle projectiles, are completely ineffective, as picking off selective areas of a combat form leads to no wide-scale physiological impediments, and the projectile will punch through the decayed flesh rapidly, exiting through the other side of the combat form without consequence.
Combat forms also generate tentacles very quickly without regard for the skeletal structure of the host, with tentacles protruding from the combat form at odd locations, typically localized to the chest axial regions, such as the neck, armpits, or torso. A single arm is oftentimes mutated to a claw like or tentacle-like structure that splits into multiple angular, hand-like structures replacing the hand's usage, yet it will still be there. The musculature of the combat form dramatically changes as well, and the form is given prodigious arm and leg strength, allowing for heavy blows with its arm-like structures and for incredible speed and jumping height with its legs. The Flood are also prodigious climbers, able to scamper on walls with little hindrance to the organism . Metabolic requirements, however, appear to be extreme on the organism: blood vessels become extremely prominent on the surface of the Combat Form, with thick and distinct blood-colored vessels spawning all across the creature's surface, most prominently so on the head.
A Marine being attacked by an Infection Form.
There is no confirmed way to effectively stop a Flood infection when an Infection Form attacks a host. However, two possible exceptions are known. One of which is to contract the fictitious disease "Boren's Syndrome", a neurological condition where radiological exposure causes electrical anomalies in the host nervous system that is actually caused by biologically enhancing drugs, such as those used in the ORION Project. The neural frequencies of the host are scrambled, although without major negative manifestations to the host. However, it has been suggested that during Flood infection, the infection form is unable to tap into the host's nervous system to kill them. It is unable to proceed to a large-scale physiological mutation, not understanding why. Although Flood DNA is sliced into host DNA, even imparting the host with increased regenerative capabilities. Avery J. Johnson, having Boren's Syndrome, escaped the containment facility where The Flood attacked two squads of UNSC Marines. However the Boren's Syndrome was to cover his past in the ORION Project, and that the Boren's Syndrome explanation was invented to hide it. In the novel Halo: The Flood, Cortana uses an electrical charge which she generates from Master Chief's suit to destroy an infection form that was attempting to infect him.
While Boren's Syndrome left untreated may leave the victim immune to the Flood, leaving it untreated usually equates to death within a couple of years. There is said to be a one in a billion chance that research, from someone so inflicted with Boren's Syndrome in a way that they cannot be infected, could be carried on to produce a cure.
Since the Flood is a parasitic life form, they depend on other organisms for survival. Thus, the only logical foolproof way to eliminate them permanently is to take away their food sources. The Forerunners attempted this by bombing large population centers, but this was seen as one of their last resorts and as such was performed too late in the war to make much difference. The absolute last resort was the use of the Halo installations, which effectively destroyed all life in the galaxy and starved the Flood. However, the Forerunners' plan included some measures to preserve sentient life and return them to their home planets, allowing the Flood's "food source" to persist, while at the same time specimens were kept for analysis on Halo Installations, allowing the threat of the Flood to be merely forestalled, not eradicated.
Environmental stimuli seem to have an effect on Flood metabolism. Halo installations typically artificially incorporate low temperature into environments suffering Flood outbreak and to create natural obstacles to Flood progress, regarded as Quarantine zones. At least one Flood Research Facility used low temperatures to keep its specimens inactive and dormant as it studied them. This may be the reasoning behind keeping Installation Control Rooms in low degree weather, impeding their occupation by the Flood. The Flood are also vulnerable to temperatures on the other end of the spectrum. Plasma weapons will burn through them, as well as Sentinel Beams, indicating that the Forerunners had determined energy weapons to be the best 'basic countermeasure' available to fight the Flood. It may be a side-effect of the Flood's conversion of the body into biomass, breaking down cellular integrity and increasing flammability.
The Flood go through four distinct developmental changes.
Intergalactic is the last known stage the Flood enters, theoretically, in which it utilizes all captured technology to depart to uninfected galaxies to further replicate. It is assumed that the Flood that had arrived in the Milky Way had descended from Intergalactic level Flood.
The basic Flood form is the infection form, unique in its distinctive spherical shape. The infection form is used to infect organisms of other species, physically adhering to their surfaces and inserting tentacles, forcibly "hacking" into its host's nerve system, completely changing its psychology to that of the Flood's, and eventually physiologically mutating it into one of the various parasitic Flood forms of whomever the victim may be.
The Flood emphasizes "numerical superiority" in engagements and also aggressive swarming tactics.
While possessing an unusual sentient intelligence, with Combat Forms still retaining extremely high-level cognitive functions such as vehicular operation, lower level cognitive abilities, precise dexterity, and overall battlefield tactics, are notably lacking in the Flood, especially in their psychological and combat behavior. While the Gravemind coordinates Flood strategy on a galactic scale, small encounters are not coordinated between individual Flood warriors.
The Flood follow a zealous and ravenous strategy with little target selectivity, aggressively attacking all hostiles in range. Furthermore, Flood tactics are based primarily on asymmetrical warfare: the Flood uses all types of its different forms to kill the enemies that it sees. Usually the Infection, Combat, Carrier, and Tank Forms rush the enemy and attempt to quickly eliminate them. The Ranged Forms try to support their zealous comrades with ranged attacks. The Stalker Forms attempt to transform into a Tank or Ranged Form. The Combat Forms also utilize any weapon that they have picked up. While this strategy is observed to be a Zerg Rush, they aren't completely suicidal, since they usually dodge dangerous ordnance.
The Flood have a strong preference for close-range combat: combat forms possess abnormally strong melee attacks by whipping their tentacles, capable of dropping a SPARTAN-II MJOLNIR armor’s shields in half with a single hit. Carrier forms cause tremendous devastation at close ranges, and their explosions are extremely devastating to friends and foes alike at close range, with the added benefit of disseminating infection forms in the immediate vicinity of enemies. Infection forms are capable of attacking only at point-blank ranges, exploding in damaging bursts when meeting an opponent's personal energy shields or instantly grabbing hold of an unshielded enemy organism and infecting it. Combat forms can also use firearms, and have been seen clutching them in one of their hands (regardless of whether it is one-handed or two-handed). However, combat forms are extremely poor warriors at range with ranged weaponry: it is believed that the neurological ramifications of Flood infection significantly decrease accuracy, as well as weapon recoil if held in only one hand. The Flood are mostly only dangerous with heavy weaponry, such as the M19 Rocket Launcher or the M90 Shotgun, and are curiously ill skilled with close-quarters weapons such as the Energy Sword. However, it is still possible that a Flood with a Energy Sword can kill a fully shielded Elite or Spartan in one blow.
However, as mentioned previously, the Flood demonstrates a curious higher intelligence despite their poor combat aptitude and coordination. The Flood collectively learn any general information a species possess, even if only one member of that species is assimilated. For example, during the ill-fated raid on the Infinite Succor, after even one Sangheili was assimilated, all the Flood could open any doors and access any system on the ship immediately afterward, demonstrating that the Flood can share collective knowledge across their species. Furthermore, when the Flood assimilated the Prophet Legate, the Flood reflected the high-level knowledge of the Legate through its individual organisms to Special Operations Commander Rtas 'Vadumee, mocking him with the words, "the Forerunner could not defeat us...what chance you?". The Flood, however, reflect unusual knowledge in the individual psychologies of its individual species in processes facilitating increased infestation: The Flood were sighted gathering bodies in the corners of the Covenant ship Truth and Reconciliation, perhaps making it easier for Infection Forms to find hosts to reanimate. The Flood were also gathering body parts for a new Brain Form aboard the Infinite Succor.
Typical Flood combat behavior: ravenously targeting the nearest enemy, with infection forms running ahead of combat and carrier forms.
Flood Combat forms have been sighted crudely operating Ghosts, Warthogs, Wraiths, and Scorpions in ground operations, although with slow deliberation and clumsy driving and accuracy. The assimilated crewmen of the UNSC Frigate In Amber Clad were also able to initiate a Slipspace micro-jump for the frigate and perform rudimentary maneuvering of the In Amber Clad, navigating the frigate from the atmosphere of Delta Halo to High Charity and then crashing the vessel into a tower, releasing Pelican dropships to rain down upon the capital.
The Flood's millennium of existence are believed to have made the assimilation process unusually brief: creatures killed in a short firefight can be reanimated within seconds to minutes by an infection form, and live creatures can be mutated into fully grown and mentally devious combat forms within minutes of contact. The mutations can occur randomly, or uniformly: according to the Halo Graphic Novel, they can sometimes develop into engorged combat forms notably larger than the normal combat form, or can alarmingly grow thick shells within minutes, indicating that the Flood can facilitate tremendous and exaggerated metabolic activity during the physiological mutilation. Furthermore, in rare cases, the mutations can constantly shift: when Rtas 'Vadumee battled his comrade-turned-combat form Bero 'Kusovai aboard the Infinite Succor, 'Kusovai continued to mutate throughout the duration of the battle. Though never seen, it can be assumed infection forms were involved in infecting victims in this case. Before being killed to prevent his becoming a Flood, one of the Sangheili accompanying Rtas 'Vadumee appears to have a wound in his chest that may have been the entry point for an infection form. Many of the Flood on the Succor seemed to constantly be mutating the infected biomass and also seemed to merge them together. This suggests the possibility that over time any infected host can mutate further and further, as exemplified by the Brain Form or the Gravemind and different versions of the Combat Form.
It is best to use the MA5B Assault Rifle, Shotgun, or M6D Pistol against the Flood. The pistol is capable of killing a combat form with a single shot to the chest, but is generally not recommended for mass engagement, as its medium rate of fire and small magazine size can lead the player into a position where they are surrounded by Combat Forms, therefore, it is best to only apply it in long-range combat. Furthermore, Combat Forms have a tendency to revive after being shot once with a pistol. The Plasma Rifle is also a good weapon of choice to use (if the assault rifle/shotgun are unavailable) as its high rate of fire can quickly destroy infection forms while still being potent enough to destroy the combat forms.
The Sniper Rifle is ineffective against the combat forms and will not kill them. The Shotgun, on the other hand, is the best choice against Flood Forms, as it usually finishes them off in one or two shots, especially Combat or Carrier Forms. On lower difficulties, Shotgun ammo is almost always available.
The Assault Rifle, an all-round effective weapon with large spread range, is superb against masses of combat forms and infection forms. Never bother to melee Combat Forms or Carrier Forms, as it is practically useless and very time consuming. For infection forms however, a single melee can take down four to five of them.
All in all, the most practical option is to have a shotgun for close-up/quick work, and a Pistol or Assault Rifle for longer range. The pistol is most useful for the level Two Betrayals, while the Assault Rifle/Plasma Rifle is preferred on The Library due to the levels cramped nature.
It is possible to shoot the arms off of Combat Forms (alive or dead). Dismembered Combat Forms pose no threat. This works well on the level Keyes.
Dual wielding SMGs and other dual-wielding weapons has proven to be very effective, as well as the Sentinel Beam, Shotgun and Energy Sword. Plasma Pistols, however, are the least useful. Dual-wielding Plasma Rifles, and aiming at the arms of the Flood is more than enough to rip them apart easily. The arms will come off quickly and therefore leave the combat form, quite literally, unarmed. They will waddle about and explode after a few seconds. There is also a way of killing combat forms in one shot. On the chest, you can see the infection form's tentacles waving about. This is where the infection form has burrowed. Shoot the infection form, and unless the combat form is utilizing shields, the combat form will die.
The SMG is also an excellent weapon against the Flood, as long as ammo is in large supply. Also effective is the BR55 Battle Rifle, as aiming for the Infection Form in the chest of a Combat Form will kill the Infection Form controlling it in a single burst. It is often a good idea to use the Brute Shot's melee, as it will have the same effect as an Energy sword on Combat Forms; it will destroy the body and prevent Infection Forms from reanimating it. For one of the best combos, use Dual SMGs for Combat and Infection Forms, and keep a Shotgun in reserve. Another highly effective combo is to carry a Battle Rifle for engaging the Flood at long ranges and carrying a Shotgun for when you don't have enough time to be precise with your aim. A good strategy on The Oracle is to dual wield a pair of Needlers, you can usually do this without running out of ammo. Also, don't let the infection forms touch you if you have no shields; otherwise, they will kill you instantly.
The Incendiary Grenade instantly destroys all pure Flood forms and is the one true weakness of all pure Flood forms, as well as its Support Weapon counterpart the Flamethrower. Also, all forms can be instantly destroyed with a melee, with the exception of the Pure Forms, which cannot be revived anyway when killed. There is also a way of killing combat forms in one shot. On the chest, you can see the infection form's tentacles waving about. This is where the infection form has burrowed. Shoot the infection form, and unless the combat form is utilizing shields, the combat form will die. However, the corpse will be susceptible to infection by another infection form unless the body is in fragments.
Their tactics on Halo Wars are very similar to those they perform on the Halo Trilogy; they can obviously infect Humans, Elites, Brutes and now even Jackals and Grunts with their Infection Forms, and usually attempt direct attacks with large groups. They possess large tentacle-like Flood forms and large pods that can pin in and attack vehicles, in the case of the Elephants they capture, which is an in-game objective to rescue in the first level where are encountered in-game. The Flood establish bases by capturing and spreading an infestation on enemy bases.
The Flood have been confirmed by Ensemble to have been made overpowering to both UNSC and Covenant forces to keep their appearance terrifying. Early in development, Ensemble considered making the Flood a playable race, but this idea never made it past the concept stage. According to lead designer Graeme Devine, the main issue was that in order to balance the Flood with the UNSC and Covenant, the Flood would have to have been similar to StarCraft's Zerg, which did not mesh with the Flood's role in the games, to be "the single scariest thing in the galaxy."
The Flood can make screeches and roars, which were not present in the first game.
Skin is more textured, giving the Flood a more realistic and disgusting look. The faces of the human forms are also more readily recognizable.
If a Combat Form has both arms shot off, it will walk slowly then explode, releasing an Infection Form. This eliminated the Flood Buddy glitch.
Rather than having to "gather bodies," the Flood can seemingly infect hosts over the course of a few minutes or even a few seconds.
Rather than corpses re-animating themselves, an Infection Form will enter the body, then re-animate it.
If a player is jumped by an Infection Form while their shields are down, they will die instantly. In Halo: Combat Evolved, it would simply take a bar of health away.
Some Combat Forms derived from Elites still have functional energy shields.
The Gravemind is introduced, making the Flood a more significant faction in the series.
The Flood can use vehicles, albeit clumsily.
The melee attack does little to no damage against the Flood in Halo: Combat Evolved. It does a bit more damage in Halo 2.
The Flood appears to be "smarter" when in combat, preferring to stay back and fire on the player rather then "rush" him/her.
In Halo: Combat Evolved a Combat Form would walk slowly when shooting at the player. When losing the arm that shoots, it would go "berserk": charging at the player, madly flailing its arms. In Halo 2, the combat forms can "decide" whether to use a melee attack or to shoot at the player.
If a player is wielding an Energy Sword or Shotgun, a Combat Form may retreat. They will not do this if a player is wielding other weapons.
A Juggernaut Form was put in, but was not placed in any accessible area of the game, although it was kept on the disc.
Unlike Halo: Combat Evolved, shooting one Infection form will not result in the rest of the swarm exploding with it, although there is a significant decrease in their number.
Elite Combat Forms do not have the active camouflage anymore.
Flood Combat Forms do not "feign death" anymore.
Flood Combat Forms can board your vehicle, and then will proceed to melee the player.
Brutes may now be infected and transformed into Combat Forms.
Melee attacks and plasma weapons were nearly useless in Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, but now can be used effectively against the Flood.
Also, any weapon can be used to dismember Combat Forms, either by melee or shooting. A realistic touch, considering the Flood's weak, rotten flesh. Thus, all Combat Forms are significantly easier to kill.
Infection Forms can mutate humans, unshielded Elites and Brutes into Combat Forms in a matter of seconds.
Pure forms are introduced, consisting of the Tank Form, the Stalker Form, and the Ranged Form. In addition, the Flood Growth Pods and Flood Dispersal Pods can be seen in the eighth Campaign mission, "Cortana."
Gravemind has the ability to speak through his minions during combat.
Combat Forms wield weapons far less than in both Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2.
Carrier Forms release significantly more Infection Forms when they explode. The explosion does not push the player away much as in Halo: CE and Halo 2. In addition, Carrier Forms are significantly more difficult to kill with projectile weapons, but they are easily destroyed by plasma weapons.
If an Infection Form hits you while your shield is down it will not only make a crunching noise, but also it will most likely kill you on higher difficulties.
Running over Infection Forms in a vehicle can result in a bumpy ride. The Infection Form that was hit by the vehicle will not pop.
Carrier forms will blow up and no infection forms will come out if it is hit by an incendiary weapon, a Plasma Grenade, or Spike Grenade.
In Elite forms at least, Flood Combat Forms no longer push back the heads of their victims. In fact, the Elite's head now moves with the form as if the Flood actually use it now. In addition, Flood Combat Forms have more tentacles than before, and resemble spikes rather than flexible appendages.
Infection forms are somewhat "chubbier" if compared to the trilogy version.
Grunts and Jackals are now able to be converted to Combat forms.
The Infection Forms don't "explode" when they are shot in the cinematics.
There are many new forms of Flood introduced in the campaign.
Carrier Forms don't always explode upon death.
Part of the Flood's Binomial nomenclature, Inferi, is Latin for "The Dead", and could be a reference to Roman mythology, as this was their name for the Netherworld and it's inhabitants. Inferi means 'The Dead' and Redivivus means 'renovated, reconstructed, rebuilt or recycled' so literally Inferi redivivus means 'The Dead Reconstructed'.
The Flood bear a strong visual resemblance to an enemy cut from Marathon 2, the “fungal zombie.” They were to be the result of a bioweapon invented in the final days of the ancient S'pht and reused by Robert Blake's forces on Lh'owon, designed specifically to target Pfhor. Both the fungal zombies and Flood were principally designed by Robert McLees.
There is a species of fungi that is frighteningly similar to the Flood, the Cordyceps unilateralis. They attack carpenter ants and take over their neural system in order to make the ants go to high places. By the time it gets there, it's been rotted from the inside out like a Flood host and it releases spores from that vantage point.
In a PC World article, the Flood was voted as #31 of the top 47 "most diabolical video game villains of all time."
The Flood was inspired by Christopher Rowley's The Vang.
In Halo: The Flood, Master Chief was attacked by an infection form while his shields were low. The infection form had slit the under parts of his armour, exposing his neck, and almost tapped his spinal cord. If not for the quick use of an electrical shock by Cortana to kill the form, Spartan-117 would have been infected like many before him.
The name "the Flood" is a biblical reference to the Great Flood in which God destroyed all life except for that which was carried by Noah's Ark.
In Halo 2 combat forms will go berserk if you kill their allies near them. They drop their weapon and charge at the nearest enemy.
↑ The Heretic: Thel 'Vadamee: "Noble Hierarchs, surely you understand that once the parasite attacked-"
This article uses material from the "Flood" article on the Halo wiki at Wikia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License. | 2019-04-24T10:30:57Z | http://misc.thefullwiki.org/Flood |
A system and method of a peer-to-peer web service monitoring network is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of a central module of a peer-to-peer monitor networking includes embedding any number of monitoring agents of the peer-to-peer monitor network to any number of websites individually participating in the peer-to-peer monitor network, accessing a target website of the peer-to-peer monitor network through executing a set of command data using the monitoring agents and generating diagnostic data of the target website based on the accessing the target website. In addition, the method may include automatically assigning another monitoring agent of the peer-to-peer monitor network to monitor the target website when any one of the monitoring agents fails to perform the accessing the target website. The method may also include pinging the target website to test an availability of the target website based on the set of command data.
This disclosure relates generally to the technical fields of software and/or hardware technology and, in one example embodiment, to system and method of a peer-to-peer web service monitoring network.
Web-sites, web blogs and/or web-based service portals may be an increasingly popular means for businesses and/or individuals to share information, provide services, reach a wide audience and/or advertise products. Since advances in technology have allowed increasingly numerous and complex transactions (e.g., exchange of information, content delivery, etc.), malfunctions, errors, failures and/or suboptimal performance of a website may result in serious negative consequences.
For example, the website (e.g., an entity and/or a provider of the website) may lose business if the website is not available, unreliable, and/or performs poorly (e.g., crashes frequently, responds sluggishly, and/or drops a connection of a user to the website, and/or is not available when many users visit the website at the same time).
Multi-user real-time collaboration service providers may demand higher availability, reliability and/or performance standard due to their higher visibility and/or exposure to critical business processes on a side of the user. Even for personally oriented service providers like IM (internet messenger), blog, and/or SNS (social networking service), consistency and/or optimal performance may be crucial.
An individual and/or an organization running the website and/or server may not have an adequate visibility of site performance fluctuations and/or inefficiencies. There may be a limited range of options for implementing website maintenance and/or monitoring functions, either internally or through third-party providers. For example, web monitoring service providers may charge fees for access to their services, may not support a wide range of client protocols and/or infrastructural architectures, and/or may have limited resources to customize and/or distribute monitoring services according to requirements of the individual and/or the organization.
Furthermore, the web monitoring service providers may provide overly simplified solutions with very limited global coverage and/or analytic functionalities. A few high-end internet web monitoring service providers (e.g. Mercury Interactive®, Keynote®, etc.) may provide complex proprietary solutions with a limited global coverage and/or high price tags. However, the few high-end internet web monitoring service providers may focus on serving larger web-based businesses as their services may not be economical for a majority of clients (e.g., smaller web-based businesses and/or the personally oriented service providers).
A system and method of a peer-to-peer web service monitoring network is disclosed. In one aspect, a method of a central module of a peer-to-peer monitor network includes embedding any number of monitoring agents (e.g., the monitoring agent may be a thin open source code with less than 100 kilo-bytes in size) of the peer-to-peer monitor network to any number of websites individually participating in the peer-to-peer monitor network, accessing a target website (e.g., the accessing the target website may be performed to gauge a performance and/or a reliability of the target website based on the set of command data) of the peer-to-peer monitor network through executing a set of command data using the monitoring agents and generating diagnostic data of the target website based on the accessing the target website.
The monitoring agents may be selected using an algorithm which considers a capability of an internet service provider (ISP) of each of the websites, a capability of each web server hosting the each of websites, and/or a capability of each target web server hosting the target website. In addition, the method may include automatically assigning another monitoring agent of the peer-to-peer monitor network to monitor the target website when any one of the monitoring agents fails to perform the accessing the target website. The method may further include pinging the target website to test an availability of the target website based on the set of command data.
Also, the method may include rendering a customized analysis of the target website based on parameter data (e.g., the parameter data may include a frequency of the generating the diagnostic data and/or a geographical coverage (e.g., the geographical coverage may include a local, regional, nationwide, continental and/or global coverage of the target website based on the parameter data of the target website) of the accessing the target website) of the target website. Furthermore, the method may include communicating the diagnostic data to the target website and/or to mobile device associated with the target website. Moreover, the method may include generating an alert signal to deliver to the mobile device associated with the target website using an email, a text message, and/or an audible alarm when the diagnostic data exceeds a threshold value.
The method may also include periodically publishing rankings of a pre-selected set of major websites to a graphical user interface (GUI) of the central module based on a combination of an availability, the performance, and the reliability of the pre-selected set of the major websites (e.g., the pre-selected set of the major websites are determined based on a number of factors including at least a popularity of the major websites). In addition, the method may also include enabling the monitoring websites to render a valued added service to clients of the monitoring websites through modifying the thin open source code to customize functions performed by the plurality of monitoring websites.
In another aspect, a method of a monitoring agent of a peer-to-peer monitor network includes parsing a set of command data (e.g., the set of command data may include a web address of the target website) having a list of time-stamped tasks associated with a target website of the peer-to-peer monitor network, executing the set of command data to collect diagnostic data of the target website, and temporarily allocating the diagnostic data to a memory space of a web server hosting the monitoring agent.
Furthermore, the method may include communicating the web address of the web server hosting the monitoring agent to a central module of the peer-to-peer monitor network when the monitoring agent is embedded to the web server. Additionally, the method may include communicating the diagnostic data to the central module during the executing the set of command data based on the list of time-stamped tasks.
In yet another aspect, a system includes a central module to render an analysis of a target website through applying diagnostic data assessing the target website, and any number of monitoring agents embedded to web servers hosting the monitoring agents to execute a set of command of the central module to collect the diagnostic data. The system may include a processor module of the central module to configure the set of command data based on parameter data of the target website and/or a capability of each of the monitoring agents.
Moreover, the system may include a master database of the central module to optimally assign the monitoring agents to the target website based on the parameter data (e.g., the parameter data may include geographic locations of the each of the monitoring agent module and/or a degree of coverage requested by the target website) and/or the capability of the each of the monitoring agents.
FIG. 1 is a system view of a central module communicating with a website and a target website through a network, according to one embodiment.
FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the central module of FIG. 1, according to one embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a table view showing details of the monitoring agent of FIG. 1, according to one embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a user interface view of the GUI of FIG. 2, according to one embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a detailed view of the warning info of FIG. 4, according to one embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing a global distribution of the peer-to-peer monitor network, according to one embodiment.
FIG. 7 is a detailed view of global distribution of a peer-to-peer monitor network in North America of FIG. 6, according to one embodiment.
FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic system view of a data processing system in which any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be performed, according to one embodiment.
FIG. 9 is a process flow of the central module of the peer-to-peer monitor network, according to one embodiment.
FIG. 10 is a process flow of monitoring the target website of the peer-to-peer monitor network, according to one embodiment.
FIG. 11 is a process flow of the monitoring agent in the peer-to-peer monitored network, according to one embodiment.
A system and method of a peer-to-peer web service monitoring network is disclosed. In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various embodiments. It will be evident, however to one skilled in the art that the various embodiments may be practiced without these specific details.
In one embodiment, a method of a central module (e.g., a central module 102 of FIG. 1-2) of a peer-to-peer monitor network includes embedding any number of monitoring agents (e.g., a monitoring agent 110A-N of FIG. 1) of the peer-to-peer monitor network to any number of websites (e.g., a website 106A-N of FIG. 1) individually participating in the peer-to-peer monitor network, accessing a target website (e.g., a target website 108 of FIG. 1) of the peer-to-peer monitor network through executing a set of command data (e.g., command data 112 of FIG. 1-2) using the monitoring agents and generating diagnostic data (e.g., diagnostic data 212 of FIG. 2) of the target website based on the accessing the target website.
In another embodiment, a method of a monitoring agent (e.g., the monitoring agent 110A-N of FIG. 1) of a peer-to-peer monitor network includes parsing a set of command data (e.g., the set of command data may include a web address of the target website) having a list of time-stamped tasks associated with a target website (e.g., the target website 108 of FIG. 1) of the peer-to-peer monitor network, executing the set of command data to collect diagnostic data of the target website, and temporarily allocating the diagnostic data to a memory space of a web server (e.g., a web server 216 of FIG. 2) hosting the monitoring agent.
In yet another embodiment, a system includes a central module (e.g., the central module 102 of FIG. 1-2) to render an analysis of a target website through applying diagnostic data assessing the target website, and any number of monitoring agents embedded to web servers hosting the monitoring agents to execute a set of command of the central module to collect the diagnostic data (e.g., the diagnostic data 212 of FIG. 2).
FIG. 1 is a system view of a central module 102 communicating with a website 106A-N and a target website 108 through a network 104, according to one embodiment. Particularly, FIG. 1 illustrates the central module 102, the network 104, the website 106A-N, the target website 108, a monitoring agent 110A-N, a command data 112, and a master database 114, according to one embodiment.
The central module 102 may perform analysis of the target website 108 through applying a diagnostic data (e.g., the diagnostic data 212 of FIG. 2) accessing the target website 108. The network 104 may enable the central module 102 to interact with the website 106A-N and/or the target website 108. The website 106A-N may be a collection of web pages, typically common to a particular domain name or sub domain on World Wide Web on internet which may individually participate in the peer-to-peer monitor network.
The target website 108 may be the collection of the web pages, typically common to the particular domain name or sub domain on the World Wide Web on the internet that may be accessed through the monitoring agent 110A-N of the website 106A-N to gauge a performance and/or reliability based on the set of command data 112. The monitoring agent 110A-N may be a thin open source code with less than 100 kilo-bytes in size and may be embedded in the web servers (e.g., the web server 216 of FIG. 2) to execute a set of the command data (e.g., the command data 112 of FIG. 1-2).
The monitoring agent 110A-N may execute the set of command data of the central module 102 to generate the diagnostic data (e.g., the diagnostic data 212 of FIG. 2) of the target website 108 of the peer-to-peer monitor network. The command data 112 may be web addresses of the target website 108 which may be executed to access the target website 108 in the peer-to-peer monitor network. The master database 114 of the central module 102 may be computer program that may assign the monitoring agent 110A-N of the website 106A-N to the target website 108 based on a parameter data (e.g., the parameter data may include geographic locations of each of the monitoring agent 110A-N and/or degree of coverage requested by the target website 108) and/or the capability of the monitoring agent 110A-N.
In the example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the central module 102 may include the command data 112 and the master database 114 and may communicate with website 106A-N and/or the target website 108 through the network 104. The website 106A-N may include monitoring agent 110A-N and may communicate directly with the target website 108 as illustrated in example embodiment of FIG. 1.
For example, a plurality of monitoring agents 110A-N (e.g., the monitoring agent 110A-N may be a thin open source code with less than 100 kilo-bytes in size) of the peer-to-peer monitor network may be embedded to any number of websites 106A-N individually participating in the peer-to-peer monitor network. In addition, the target website 108 of the peer-to-peer monitor network may be accessed (e.g., accessing the target website 108 may be performed to gauge the performance and/or the reliability of the target website 108 based on the set of command data) through executing the set of command data (e.g., command data 112 of FIG. 1) using the monitoring agents 110A-N.
Furthermore, another monitoring agent 110A-N of the peer-to-peer monitor network may be assigned automatically to monitor the target website 108 when any one of the monitoring agents 110A-N fails to perform the accessing the target website 108. Also, the target website 108 may be pinged to test an availability of the target website 108 based on the set of command data. Moreover, the monitoring websites 106A-N may be enabled to render a valued added service to clients of monitoring websites 106A-N through modifying the thin open source code to customize functions performed by the monitoring websites 106A-N.
The system includes the central module 102 to render an analysis of the target website 108 through applying the diagnostic data (e.g., the diagnostic data 212 of FIG. 2) assessing the target website 108. In addition, the system includes the monitoring agents 110A-N embedded to web servers (e.g., the web server 216 of FIG. 2) hosting the monitoring agents 110A-N to execute a set of command of the central module 102 to collect the diagnostic data.
Moreover, the system may include the master database 114 of the central module 102 to optimally assign the monitoring agents 110A-N to the target website 108 based on the parameter data (e.g., the parameter data may include the geographic locations of the each of monitoring agents 110A-N and/or a degree of coverage requested by the target website 108) and/or the capability of the each of the monitoring agents 110A-N.
FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the central module 102 of FIG. 1, according to one embodiment. Particularly, FIG. 2 illustrates the central module 102, the website 106, the target website 108, the monitoring agent 110A-N, the command data 112, the master database 114, a processor module 202, a GUI 204, a master table 206, an instruction module 208, an analytic module 210, a diagnostic data 212, an alert module 214, a web server 216, an internet service provider (ISP) 218, a target web server 220, a mobile device 222A-N, a user device 224, according to one embodiment.
The processor module 202 of the central module 102 may configure the set of command data (e.g., the command data 112 of FIGS. 1-2) based on the parameter data of the target website 108 and/or the capability of each of the monitoring agents 110A-N. The GUI 204 may display particular case of user interface for interacting with the user device 224 that may be capable of representing the diagnostic data (e.g., computer, cellular telephones, television sets etc) which may employ graphical images (e.g., geographical indicator of the monitoring agent 110A-N of FIG. 1) and/or widgets in addition to text to represent information and actions available to clients of the peer to peer monitoring network.
The master table 206 of the master database 114 may contain the parameter data of the target website 108 that may be utilized to assign the monitoring agent 110A-N to the target website 108. The instruction module 208 may enable the monitoring agent 110A-N of the website 106A-N to execute the set of command data of the central module 102 while accessing the target website 108 in the peer-to-peer monitor network.
The analytic module 210 may render the analysis of the target website 108 based on the parameter data of the target website 108. The diagnostic data 212 may be the data (e.g., performance data, reliability data, availability data, etc.) generated on accessing the target website 108 through the monitoring agent 110A-N. The alert module 214 may generate an alert signal to deliver to the mobile device 222A-N (e.g., a cell phone, a pager, a PDA, etc.) associated with the target website 108 when the diagnostic data 212 exceeds a threshold value.
The web server 216 may host the website 106 and may be responsible for accepting requests (e.g., a HTFP) from the clients and/or serving responses to the clients (e.g., the HTTP) along with an optional data content. The Internet service provider (ISP) 218 may be an entity (e.g., a business, an organization, etc.) that may be involved in providing the internet service to the web server 216 associated with the peer-to-peer monitor network. The target web server 220 may be a server that may be accessed by the web server 216 hosting the website 106 individually participated in the peer-to-peer monitor network.
The mobile device 222A-N may be (e.g., the cell phone, the pager, the PDA, etc.) associated with the target website 108 and/or may receive the alert signal(s) (e.g., an email, a text message, an audible alarm, etc.) from the alert module 214 when the diagnostic data 212 may exceed the threshold value. The user device 224 may be a laptop, a desktop, etc. that may display customized analysis associated with the target website 108 and may also enable the client to upload and/or download the data (e.g., the performance data, the reliability data, the availability data, etc.) associated with website.
In the example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the central module 102 may communicate with the target web server 220. The processor module 202 of the central module may communicate with the master database 114, the instruction module 208 and the user device 224. The monitoring agent 110A-N of the web server 216 may communicate with the instruction module 208 and the analytic module 210 according to the example embodiment of FIG. 2. The alert module 214 of the central module 102 as illustrated in example embodiment of FIG. 2, may communicate directly with the mobile devices 222. The web server 216 may interact with the internet service provider 218 and the target web server 220.
For example, the diagnostic data 212 of the target website 108 may be generated based on the accessing the target website 108. The monitoring agents 110A-N (e.g., the monitoring agent 110A-N may be the thin open source code with less than 100 kilo-bytes in size) may be selected using an algorithm which considers a capability of the internet service provider (ISP) 218 of each of the websites 106, a capability of each web server 216 hosting the each of the websites 106, and/or a capability of the target web server 220 hosting the target website 108.
In addition, the customized analysis of the target website 108 may be rendered based on parameter data (e.g., the parameter data may include a frequency of the generating the diagnostic data 212 and/or a geographical coverage (e.g., the geographical coverage may include a local, regional, nationwide, continental and/or global coverage of the target website based on the parameter data of the target website 108) of the accessing the target website 108) of the target website 108. Also, the diagnostic data 212 may be communicated to the target website 108 and to the mobile device 222A-N associated with the target website 108.
Furthermore, the alert signal (e.g., the alert module 214 of FIG. 2) may be generated to deliver to the mobile device 222A-N associated with the target website 108 using an email, an text message, and/or an audible alarm when the diagnostic data 212 exceeds the threshold value. Additionally, rankings of a pre-selected set of major websites may be published periodically to the graphical user interface (GUI) 204 of the central module 102 based on a combination of the availability, the performance, and the reliability of the pre-selected set of the major websites (e.g., the pre-selected set of the major websites may be determined based on a number of factors including at least a popularity of the major websites).
Also, the set of command data (e.g., the set of command data may include the web address of the target website 108) having a list of time-stamped tasks associated with the target website 108 of the peer-to-peer monitor network may be parsed. Additionally, the set of command data (e.g., the command data 112 of FIG. 1-2) may be executed to collect the diagnostic data 212 of the target website 108. Furthermore, the diagnostic data 212 may be allocated to a memory space of the web server 216 hosting the monitoring agent 110A-N.
Moreover, the web address of the web server 216 hosting the monitoring agent 110A-N may be communicated to the central module 102 of the peer-to-peer monitor network when the monitoring agent 110A-N is embedded to the web server 216. In addition, the diagnostic data 212 may be communicated to the central module 102 during the executing the set of command data based on the list of time-stamped tasks.
The system may include the central module 102 to render an analysis of the target website 108 through applying the diagnostic data 212 assessing the target website 108. In addition, the system may include the monitoring agents 110A-N embedded to web servers 216 hosting the monitoring agents 110A-N to execute a set of command of the central module 102 to collect the diagnostic data 212.
The system may further include the processor module 202 of the central module 102 to configure the set of command data based on the parameter data of the target website 108 and/or a capability of monitoring agents 110A-N. Moreover, the system may include the master database 114 of the central module 102 to optimally assign the monitoring agents 110A-N to the target website 108 based on the parameter data (e.g., the parameter data may include the geographic locations of the each of monitoring agent 110A-N and/or a degree of coverage requested by the target website 108) and/or the capability of the each of the monitoring agents 110A-N.
FIG. 3 is a table view 300 showing details of the monitoring agent 110A-N of FIG. 1, according to one embodiment. Particularly, table view 300 of FIG. 3 illustrates a monitoring agent id field 302, a website URL field 304, a ISP field 306, a region field 308, a status field 310, a assigned target website field 312 and others field 314, according to one embodiment.
The monitoring agent id field 302 may display an id assigned by the central module 102 of FIG. 1 to the website 106A-N. The website URL field 304 may display the information associated with the address of the website 106A-N of FIG. 1 to which the monitoring agent id is assigned. The ISP field 306 may display the name of the internet service provider associated with the website 106A-N. The region field 308 may display information associated with the geographic location of the monitoring agent 110A-N.
The status field 310 may display the information associated with the status of the monitoring agent 110A-N accessing the assigned target website (e.g., the target website 108 of FIG. 1). The assigned target website field 312 may display the target website assigned to the any one of the monitoring agents. The others field 314 may display other information (e.g., feed back rating, parameter data, etc.) associated with the monitoring agent in the peer-to-peer monitor network.
In example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, the monitoring agent id field 302 displays “west 1025” in the first row, “east 5425” in the second row, and “pacific 204” in the third row of the monitoring agent id field 302 column. The website URL field 304 displays “youthworld.com” in the first row, “music4u.com” in the second row, and “hawaiitour.net” in the third row of the website URL field 304 column.
The ISP field 306 displays “SBC-Yahoo” in the first row, “Comcast” in the second row, and “SBC-Yahoo” in the third row of the ISP field 306 column of the table view 300 of FIG. 3. The region field 308 displays “CA” in the first row, “NY” in the second row, and “HI” in the third row of the region field 308 column.
The status field 3 1 0 displays “active” in the first row, “active” in the second row, and “inactive” in the third row of the status field 310 column as illustrated in example embodiment of FIG. 3. The assigned target website field 312 displays “Hangzhou 1” in the first row, “Hangzhou 1” in the second row, and “Hangzhou 1” in the third row of the assigned target website field 312 column of FIG. 3.
FIG. 4 is a user interface view of the GUI 204 of FIG. 2, according to one embodiment. Particularly, FIG. 4 illustrates a tool bar 400, a independent node distribution map 402, a performance chart 404, a user manage 406, a warning info 408, and a customized report chart 410, according to one embodiment.
The toolbar 400 may enable the user to access the various option through the browser window and may also allow customizing settings of the browser window of the GUI 204. The independent node distribution map 402 may facilitate the client to view the geographical location and distribution of the monitoring agents associated with the target website and other website(s). The performance chart 404 may display the information associated with the performance analysis of the target website.
The user manage 406 may enable the user of the peer-to-peer monitor network to manage (e.g., a view, a record, an update) his/her account details through the GUI 204. The warning info 408 may offer the information associated with the diagnostic data of the target website (e.g., the target website 108 of FIG. 1-2) and/or the alert signal delivered to the respective website when the diagnostic data reaches the threshold value. The customized report chart 410 may facilitate the user to view a monthly report (e.g., a performance report, a reliability report, an availability report, etc.) the associated with the website.
In example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, the user interface view of the GUI 204 may enable the user to access the detailed information (e.g., reports, performance analysis, geographical distribution, warning info, etc.) associated with the website (e.g., the target website 108 of FIG. 1) being monitored through peer-to-peer monitor network.
FIG. 5 is a detailed view of the warning info 408 of FIG. 4, according to one embodiment. Particularly, FIG. 5 illustrates a target website field 502, a time field 504, a diagnostic field 506, a threshold field 508, a status field 510, a monitoring agent id field 512, and others field 514, according to one embodiment.
The target website field 502 may display website being monitored through any number of monitoring agents (e.g., the monitoring agent 110A-N of FIG. 1) of the peer-to-peer monitored network. The time field 504 may display the date and/or time of the generation of the diagnostic data associated with the target website (e.g., the target website 108 of FIG. 1). The diagnostics field 506 may display at least one of the performance data, the reliability data, and/or the availability data associated with the particular target website.
The threshold field 508 may display a maximum value below which the website have to perform to obtain best results. The status field 510 may display the information associated with the performance, the reliability, and/or the availability of the specific target website based on the diagnostic data generated on accessing the specific target website. The status field 510 may display information, whether the diagnostic data associated with the specific target website generated is normal or is below the threshold value. The monitoring agent id field 512 may enable the user to view the monitoring agent id assigned by the central module (e.g., the central module 102 of FIG. 1) of the peer-to-peer monitor network through a hyperlink. The others field 514 may display an excess information associated with the specific target website such as degree of coverage, alert details, etc.
In the example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, the target website field 502 displays “Hangzhou 1” in the first row, “Hangzhou 2” in the second row and “Hangzhou 3” in the third row of the target website field 502 column of the warning info 408. The time field 504 displays “12/13/2006” in the first row, “12/15/2006” in the second row and “12/16/2006” in the third row of the time field 504 column illustrated in example embodiment of FIG. 5. The diagnostic field 506 displays “performance 1234 ms” in the first row, “availability 99.92%” in the second row and “reliability 99.98%” in the third row of the diagnostic field 506 column.
The threshold field 508 displays “1112 ms” in the first row, “99.95%” in the second row, and “99.5%” in the third row of the threshold field 508 column. The status field 510 displays “alert” in the first row, and “normal” in the second and third row of the status field 510 column of the warning info 408. The monitoring agent id field 512 displays a hyperlink “click to display” in the first, second and third row of the monitoring agent id field 512, according to the example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5.
FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing a global distribution of the peer-to-peer monitor network, according to one embodiment. Particularly, FIG. 6 illustrates a network 600, a central module 602, North America 604, Asia 606, Europe 608, South America 610, a website 612A-N, a monitoring agent 614A-N, a website 616A-N, a monitoring agent 618A-B, a website 620A-N, a monitoring agent 622B-N, a website 624A-N, and a monitoring agent 626B-N, according to one embodiment.
The network 600 may enable the central module 602 to communicate the diagnostic data associated to the target website (612A-N, 616A-N, 620A-N, 624A-N) through the plurality of monitoring agent (614A, 614N, 618A, 618B, 622A, 622B, 626B, 626N) located in different geographical regions such as North America 604, Asia 606, Europe 608, South America 610, etc. The central module 602 may communicate with the any number of monitoring agents (614A, 614N, 618A, 618B, 622A, 622B, 626B, 626N) that may be globally distributed in the peer-to-peer monitor network in different geographical regions.
The monitoring agents (614A, 614N, 618A, 618B, 622A, 622B, 626B, 626N) may execute the set of command data to generate the diagnostic data of the target website (e.g., the website 612B, the website 616N, the website 620N, the website 624A, etc.) and may communicate the generated diagnostic data with the central module 602 located at a particular location.
The website (612A-N, 616A-N, 620A-N, 624A-N) may be website located in the any geographical locations and may be monitored through the any number of monitoring agents (614A, 614N, 618A, 618B, 622A, 622B, 626B, 626N) globally distributed in the peer-to-peer monitor network.
In example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, the central module 602 may communicate with the plurality of websites (612A-N, 616A-N, 620A-N, 624A-N) located in the different geographical region of North America 604, Asia 606, Europe 608 and South America 610 through the network 600. FIG. 6 illustrates the global distribution of the plurality of monitoring websites (612A-N, 616A-N, 620A-N, 624A-N) in North America 604, Asia 606, Europe 608, South America 610 that may be coordinated through the central module 602 of the peer-to-peer monitor network.
FIG. 7 is a detailed view of global distribution of a peer-to-peer monitor network in North America 604 of FIG. 6, according to one embodiment. Particularly FIG. 7 illustrates a central module 702, a target website 704, a monitoring agent 706A-L, a zone 1 734, a zone 2 736, a zone 3 738 and a zone 4 740, according to one embodiment.
The central module 702 may communicate the diagnostic data of the target website 704 through the any number of monitoring agents 706A-L located in different geographical regions in North America 604. The target website 704 embedded in a target server may be monitored through plurality of the monitoring agents 706A-L distributed in different zones (e.g., the zone 1, the zone 2, the zone 3, and the zone 4) of North America. 604. The monitoring agent 706A-L may access target website 704 to generate diagnostic data which may be the performance data, the availability data and/or the reliability data. The global distribution of a peer-to-peer monitoring network in North America 604 may be divided into different zones (e.g. the zone 1 734, the zone 2 736, the zone 3 738, the zone 4 740 of FIG. 7).
In one example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7, San Jose 708, Santiago 710, Juno 712 and Honolulu 714 may be covered by the zone 1 734. The zone 2 736 may cover Boise 716, Phoenix 718, Denver 720 and Austin 722. Madison 724 may come under the zone 3 738. The zone 4 740 may cover Boston 726, Richmond 728, Atlanta 730 and Miami 732. In example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7, the monitoring agents 704A-L distributed in the zone 1 734, the zone 2 736, the zone 3 738, the zone 4 740 of a peer-to-peer monitor network in North America 604 may communicate with the target website 704 located in a specific location (e.g. Austin 722 of the zone 2 736 of FIG. 7).
The central module 702 located in San Jose 708 may communicate with a plurality of monitoring agents 706A-L located in the zone 1 734, the zone 2 736, the zone 3 738, the zone 4 740 of a peer-to-peer monitor network in North America 604. In the example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7, the target website 704 located in Austin 722 of zone 2 736 may be accessed by any of the monitoring agents 706A-L located in the zone 1 734, the zone 2 736, the zone 3 738, the zone 4 740 of the peer-to-peer monitoring network in North America 604 depending on the degree of coverage preferred by the target website 704.
FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic system view 800 of a data processing system in which any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be performed, according to one embodiment. Particularly, the diagrammatic system view 800 of FIG. 8 illustrates a processor 802, a main memory 804, a static memory 806, a bus 808, a video display 810, an alpha-numeric input device 812, a cursor control device 814, a drive unit 118, a signal generation device 818, a network interface device 820, a machine readable medium 822, instructions 824, and a network 826, according to one embodiment.
The diagrammatic system view 800 may indicate a personal computer and/or a data processing system in which one or more operations disclosed herein are performed. The processor 802 may be microprocessor, a state machine, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, etc. (e.g., Intel® Pentium® processor). The main memory 804 may be a dynamic random access memory and/or a primary memory of a computer system.
The static memory 806 may be a hard drive, a flash drive, and/or other memory information associated with the data processing system. The bus 808 may be an interconnection between various circuits and/or structures of the data processing system. The video display 810 may provide graphical representation of information on the data processing system. The alpha-numeric input device 812 may be a keypad, keyboard and/or any other input device of text (e.g., a special device to aid the physically handicapped). The cursor control device 814 may be a pointing device such as a mouse.
The drive unit 816 may be a hard drive, a storage system, and/or other longer term storage subsystem. The signal generation device 818 may be a bios and/or a functional operating system of the data processing system. The network interface device 820 may be a device that may perform interface functions such as code conversion, protocol conversion and/or buffering required for communication to and from the network 826. The machine readable medium 822 may provide instructions on which any of the methods disclosed herein may be performed. The instructions 824 may provide source code and/or data code to the processor 802 to enable any one/or more operations disclosed herein.
FIG. 9 is a process flow of the central module 102 of a peer-to-peer monitor network, according to one embodiment. In operation 902, one or more monitoring agents (e.g., the monitoring agent 110A-N of FIG. 1-2) of the peer-to-peer monitor network may be embedded to one or more websites individually participating in the peer-to-peer monitor network. In operation 904, a target website (e.g., the target website 108 of FIG. 1-2) of the peer-to-peer monitor network may be accessed through executing a set of command data (e.g., the command data 112 of FIG. 1-2) using one or more of the monitoring agents. In operation 906, one or more diagnostic data (e.g., the diagnostic data 212 of FIG. 2) of the target website may be generated based on the accessing the target website.
In operation 908, another monitoring agent of the peer-to-peer monitor network may be assigned automatically to monitor the target website when any one of the one or more of the monitoring agents fails to perform the accessing the target website. In operation 910, the target website may be pinged to test an availability of the target website based on the set of command data. In operation 912, a customized analysis of the target website may be rendered based on parameter data of the target website (e.g., the target website 108 of FIG. 1-2).
FIG. 10 is a process flow of monitoring the target website 108 of the peer-to-peer monitor network, according to one embodiment. In operation 1002, one or more monitoring agents (e.g., the monitoring agent 110A-N of FIG. 1) of a peer-to-peer monitor network may be embedded to one or more websites individually participating in the peer-to-peer monitor network. In operation 1004, a target website (e.g., the target website 108 of FIG. 1-2) of the peer-to-peer monitor network may be accessed through executing a set of command data (e.g., the command data 112 of FIG. 1-2) using one or more of the monitoring agents.
In operation 1006, one or more diagnostic data (e.g., the diagnostic data 212 of FIG. 2) of the target website may be generated based on the accessing the target website. In operation 1008, one or more diagnostic data may be communicated to the target website and/or to one or more mobile device (e.g., the mobile device 222A-N of FIG. 2) associated with the target website. In operation 1010, an alert signal (e.g., using the alert module 214 of FIG. 2) may be generated to deliver to the one or more mobile device associated with the target website using one or more of an email, a text message and/or an audible alarm when the one or more diagnostic data exceeds a threshold value.
FIG. 11 is a process flow of the monitoring agent 110A-N in the peer-to-peer monitored network, according to one embodiment. In operation 1102, a set of command data (e.g., the command data 112 of FIG. 1) having a list of time-stamped tasks associated with a target website (e.g., the target website 108 of FIG. 1-2) of a peer-to-peer monitor network may be parsed. In operation 1104, the set of command data may be executed to collect one or more diagnostic data (e.g., the diagnostic data 212 of FIG. 2) of the target website. In operation 1106, one or more diagnostic data may be allocated temporarily to a memory space of a web server (e.g., the web server 216 of FIG. 2) hosting a monitoring agent of the peer-to-peer network.
In operation 1108, a web address of a web server hosting a monitoring agent may be communicated to a central module (e.g., the central module 102 of FIG. 1) of a peer-to-peer monitor network when the monitoring agent is embedded to the web server. In operation 1110, one or more diagnostic data may be communicated to the central module during the executing the set of command data based on a list of time-stamped task.
Although the present embodiments have been described with reference to specific example embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the various embodiments. For example, the various devices, modules, analyzers, generators, etc. described herein may be enabled and operated using hardware circuitry (e.g., CMOS based logic circuitry), firmware, software and/or any combination of hardware, firmware, and/or software (e.g., embodied in a machine readable medium). For example, the various electrical structure and methods may be embodied using transistors, logic gates, and electrical circuits (e.g., application specific integrated ASIC circuitry and/or in Digital Signal; Processor DSP circuitry).
For example the central module 102, the processor module 202, the instruction module 208, the analytic module 210, the alert module 214 and other modules of FIGS. 1-11 may be embodied through a central circuit, a processor circuit, an instruction circuit, an analytic circuit, an alert circuit and other circuits using one or more of the technologies described herein.
In addition, it will be appreciated that the various operations, processes, and methods disclosed herein may be embodied in a machine-readable medium and/or a machine accessible medium compatible with a data processing system (e.g., a computer system), and may be performed in any order. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
generating at least one diagnostic data of the target website based on the accessing the target website.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the plurality of monitoring agents is selected using an algorithm which considers at least a capability of an internet service provider (ISP) of each of the plurality of websites, a capability of each web server hosting the each of the plurality of websites, and a capability of a web server hosting the target website.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising automatically assigning another monitoring agent of the peer-to-peer monitor network to monitor the target website when any one of the at least one of the plurality of monitoring agents fails to perform the accessing the target website.
4. The method of claim 3, further comprising pinging the target website to test an availability of the target website based on the set of command data.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessing the target website is performed to gauge at least one of a performance and a reliability of the target website based on the set of command data.
6. The method of claim 4 further comprising rendering a customized analysis of the target website based on parameter data of the target website, wherein the parameter data to include a frequency of the generating the at least one diagnostic data and a geographical coverage of the accessing the target website.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the geographical coverage to include at least one of a local, regional, nationwide, continental and global coverage of the target website based on the parameter data of the target website.
8. The method of claim 7, further comprising communicating the at least one diagnostic data to the target website and to at least one mobile device associated with the target website.
9. The method of claim 8, further comprising generating an alert signal to deliver to the at least one mobile device associated with the target website using at least one of an email, a text message, and an audible alarm when the at least one diagnostic data exceeds a threshold value.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising periodically publishing rankings of a pre-selected set of major websites to a graphical user interface (GUI) of the central module based on a combination of an availability, a performance, and a reliability of the pre-selected set of the major websites, wherein the pre-selected set of the major websites are determined based on a number of factors including at least a popularity of the major websites.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring agent is a thin open source code with less than 100 kilo-bytes in size.
12. The method of claim 11, further comprising enabling the plurality of monitoring websites to render a valued added service to clients of the plurality of monitoring websites through modifying the thin open source code to customize functions performed by the plurality of monitoring websites.
13. The method of claim 1 in a form of a machine-readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the method of claim 1.
temporarily allocating the at least one diagnostic data to a memory space of a web server hosting the monitoring agent.
15. The method of claim 14, further comprising communicating a web address of the web server hosting the monitoring agent to a central module of the peer-to-peer monitor network when the monitoring agent is embedded to the web server.
16. The method of claim 15, further comprising communicating the at least one diagnostic data to the central module during the executing the set of command data based on the list of time-stamped tasks.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the set of command data to include a web address of the target website.
a plurality of monitoring agents embedded to web servers hosting the plurality of monitoring agents to execute a set of command data of the central module to collect the at least one diagnostic data.
19. The system of claim 18, further comprising a processor module of the central module to configure the set of command data based on parameter data of the target website and a capability of each of the at least one of the plurality of monitoring agents.
20. The system of claim 19, further comprising a master database of the central module to optimally assign at least one of the plurality of monitoring agents to the target website based on the parameter data and the capability of the each of the at least one of the plurality of monitoring agents, wherein the parameter data to include at least geographic locations of the each of the at least one of the plurality of monitoring agents and a degree of coverage requested by the target website.
US20060036675A1 (en) * 2004-04-26 2006-02-16 Crichlow Henry B Method and system for energy management and optimization. | 2019-04-22T21:21:17Z | https://patents.google.com/patent/US20080189406A1/en |
For the medieval confederation of Oghuz Turkic tribes in Western Asia, see Turkomania (disambiguation).
Anthem: "Garaşsyz Bitarap Türkmenistanyň Döwlet Gimni"
Turkmenistan (/tɜːrkˈmɛnɪstæn/ ( listen) or /tɜːrkmɛnɪˈstɑːn/ ( listen); Turkmen: Türkmenistan, pronounced [tʏɾkmɛnɪˈθtɑn]), formerly known as Turkmenia, officially the Republic of Turkmenistan, is a country in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north and east, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest, and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ashgabat is the capital and largest city. The population of the country is 5.6 million, the lowest of the Central Asian republics and one of the most sparsely populated in Asia.
Turkmenistan has been at the crossroads of civilizations for centuries. In medieval times, Merv was one of the great cities of the Islamic world and an important stop on the Silk Road, a caravan route used for trade with China until the mid-15th century. Annexed by the Russian Empire in 1881, Turkmenistan later figured prominently in the anti-Bolshevik movement in Central Asia. In 1925, Turkmenistan became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkmen SSR); it became independent upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Turkmenistan possesses the world's sixth largest reserves of natural gas resources. Most of the country is covered by the Karakum (Black Sand) Desert. From 1993 to 2017, citizens received government-provided electricity, water and natural gas free of charge.
The sovereign state of Turkmenistan was ruled by President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov (also known as Turkmenbashi) until his death in 2006. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow was elected president in 2007. According to Human Rights Watch, "Turkmenistan remains one of the world’s most repressive countries. The country is virtually closed to independent scrutiny, media and religious freedoms are subject to draconian restrictions, and human rights defenders and other activists face the constant threat of government reprisal." After suspending the death penalty, the use of capital punishment was formally abolished in the 2008 constitution.
Muslim chroniclers like Ibn Kathir suggested that the etymology of Turkmenistan came from the words Türk and Iman (Arabic: إيمان, "faith, belief") in reference to a massive conversion to Islam of two hundred thousand households in the year 971.
Historically inhabited by the Indo-Iranians, the written history of Turkmenistan begins with its annexation by the Achaemenid Empire of Ancient Iran. In the 8th century AD, Turkic-speaking Oghuz tribes moved from Mongolia into present-day Central Asia. Part of a powerful confederation of tribes, these Oghuz formed the ethnic basis of the modern Turkmen population. In the 10th century, the name "Turkmen" was first applied to Oghuz groups that accepted Islam and began to occupy present-day Turkmenistan. There they were under the dominion of the Seljuk Empire, which was composed of Oghuz groups living in present-day Iran and Turkmenistan. Turkmen soldiers in the service of the empire played an important role in the spreading of Turkic culture when they migrated westward into present-day Azerbaijan and eastern Turkey.
In the 12th century, Turkmen and other tribes overthrew the Seljuk Empire. In the next century, the Mongols took over the more northern lands where the Turkmens had settled, scattering the Turkmens southward and contributing to the formation of new tribal groups. The sixteenth and eighteenth centuries saw a series of splits and confederations among the nomadic Turkmen tribes, who remained staunchly independent and inspired fear in their neighbors. By the 16th century, most of those tribes were under the nominal control of two sedentary Uzbek khanates, Khiva and Bukhoro. Turkmen soldiers were an important element of the Uzbek militaries of this period. In the 19th century, raids and rebellions by the Yomud Turkmen group resulted in that group's dispersal by the Uzbek rulers. According to Paul R. Spickard, "Prior to the Russian conquest, the Turkmen were known and feared for their involvement in the Central Asian slave trade."
Russian forces began occupying Turkmen territory late in the 19th century. From their Caspian Sea base at Krasnovodsk (now Turkmenbashi), the Russians eventually overcame the Uzbek khanates. In 1881, the last significant resistance in Turkmen territory was crushed at the Battle of Geok Tepe, and shortly thereafter Turkmenistan was annexed, together with adjoining Uzbek territory, into the Russian Empire. In 1916 the Russian Empire's participation in World War I resonated in Turkmenistan, as an anticonscription revolt swept most of Russian Central Asia. Although the Russian Revolution of 1917 had little direct impact, in the 1920s Turkmen forces joined Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and Uzbeks in the so-called Basmachi Rebellion against the rule of the newly formed Soviet Union. In 1924 the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic was formed from the tsarist province of Transcaspia. By the late 1930s, Soviet reorganization of agriculture had destroyed what remained of the nomadic lifestyle in Turkmenistan, and Moscow controlled political life. The Ashgabat earthquake of 1948 killed over 110,000 people, amounting to two-thirds of the city's population.
During the next half-century, Turkmenistan played its designated economic role within the Soviet Union and remained outside the course of major world events. Even the major liberalization movement that shook Russia in the late 1980s had little impact. However, in 1990 the Supreme Soviet of Turkmenistan declared sovereignty as a nationalist response to perceived exploitation by Moscow. Although Turkmenistan was ill-prepared for independence and then-communist leader Saparmurat Niyazov preferred to preserve the Soviet Union, in October 1991 the fragmentation of that entity forced him to call a national referendum that approved independence. On 26 December 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Niyazov continued as Turkmenistan's chief of state, replacing communism with a unique brand of independent nationalism reinforced by a pervasive cult of personality. A 1994 referendum and legislation in 1999 abolished further requirements for the president to stand for re-election (although in 1992 he completely dominated the only presidential election in which he ran, as he was the only candidate and no one else was allowed to run for the office), making him effectively president for life. During his tenure, Niyazov conducted frequent purges of public officials and abolished organizations deemed threatening. Throughout the post-Soviet era, Turkmenistan has taken a neutral position on almost all international issues. Niyazov eschewed membership in regional organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and in the late 1990s he maintained relations with the Taliban and its chief opponent in Afghanistan, the Northern Alliance. He offered limited support to the military campaign against the Taliban following the 11 September 2001 attacks. In 2002 an alleged assassination attempt against Niyazov led to a new wave of security restrictions, dismissals of government officials, and restrictions placed on the media. Niyazov accused exiled former foreign minister Boris Shikhmuradov of having planned the attack.
Between 2002 and 2004, serious tension arose between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan because of bilateral disputes and Niyazov's implication that Uzbekistan had a role in the 2002 assassination attempt. In 2004 a series of bilateral treaties restored friendly relations. In the parliamentary elections of December 2004 and January 2005, only Niyazov's party was represented, and no international monitors participated. In 2005 Niyazov exercised his dictatorial power by closing all hospitals outside Ashgabat and all rural libraries. The year 2006 saw intensification of the trends of arbitrary policy changes, shuffling of top officials, diminishing economic output outside the oil and gas sector, and isolation from regional and world organizations. China was among a very few nations to whom Turkmenistan made significant overtures. The sudden death of Niyazov at the end of 2006 left a complete vacuum of power, as his cult of personality, compared to the one of former president Kim Il-sung of North Korea, had precluded the naming of a successor. Deputy Prime Minister Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, who was named interim head of government, won the special presidential election held in early February 2007. He was re-elected in 2012 with 97% of the vote.
After 69 years as part of the Soviet Union (including 67 years as a union republic), Turkmenistan declared its independence on 27 October 1991.
President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov, a former bureaucrat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, ruled Turkmenistan from 1985, when he became head of the Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR, until his death in 2006. He retained absolute control over the country after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. On 28 December 1999, Niyazov was declared President for Life of Turkmenistan by the Mejlis (parliament), which itself had taken office a week earlier in elections that included only candidates hand-picked by President Niyazov. No opposition candidates were allowed.
Since the December 2006 death of Niyazov, Turkmenistan's leadership has made tentative moves to open up the country. His successor, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, repealed some of Niyazov's most idiosyncratic policies, including banning opera and the circus for being "insufficiently Turkmen". In education, Berdimuhamedow's government increased basic education to ten years from nine years, and higher education was extended from four years to five. It also increased contacts with the West, which is eager for access to the country's natural gas riches.
The politics of Turkmenistan take place in the framework of a presidential republic, with the President both head of state and head of government. Under Niyazov, Turkmenistan had a one-party system; however, in September 2008, the People's Council unanimously passed a resolution adopting a new Constitution. The latter resulted in the abolition of the Council and a significant increase in the size of Parliament in December 2008 and also permits the formation of multiple political parties.
The former Communist Party, now known as the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan, is the dominant party. The second party, the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs was established in August 2012. Political gatherings are illegal unless government sanctioned. In 2013 the first multi-party Parliamentary Elections were held in Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan was a one-party state from 1991 to 2012; however, the 2013 elections were widely seen as mere window dressing. In practice, all parties in parliament operate jointly under the direction of the DPT. There are no true opposition parties in the Turkmen parliament.
Turkmenistan's declaration of "permanent neutrality" was formally recognized by the United Nations in 1995. Former President Saparmurat Niyazov stated that the neutrality would prevent Turkmenistan from participating in multi-national defense organizations, but allows military assistance. Its neutral foreign policy has an important place in the country's constitution. Turkmenistan has diplomatic relations with 132 countries.
Turkmenistan has been widely criticised for human rights abuses and has imposed severe restrictions on foreign travel for its citizens. Discrimination against the country's ethnic minorities remains in practice. Universities have been encouraged to reject applicants with non-Turkmen surnames, especially ethnic Russians. It is forbidden to teach the customs and language of the Baloch, an ethnic minority.[citation needed] The same happens to Uzbeks, though the Uzbek language was formerly taught in some national schools.
According to Reporters Without Borders's 2014 World Press Freedom Index, Turkmenistan had the 3rd worst press freedom conditions in the world (178/180 countries), just before North Korea and Eritrea. It is considered to be one of the "10 Most Censored Countries". Each broadcast under Niyazov began with a pledge that the broadcaster's tongue will shrivel if he slanders the country, flag, or president.
Religious minorities are discriminated against for conscientious objection and practicing their religion by imprisonment, preventing foreign travel, confiscating copies of Christian literature or defamation. Many detainees who have been arrested for exercising their freedom of religion or belief, were tortured and subsequently sentenced to imprisonment, many of them without a court decision. Homosexual acts are illegal in Turkmenistan.
Despite the launch of Turkmenistan's first communication satellite—TurkmenSat 1—in April 2015, the Turkmen government banned all satellite dishes in Turkmenistan the same month. The statement issued by the government indicated that all existing satellite dishes would have to be removed or destroyed—despite the communications receiving antennas having been legally installed since 1995—in an effort by the government to fully block access of the population to many "hundreds of independent international media outlets which are currently accessible in the country only through satellite dishes, including all leading international news channels in different languages. The main target of this campaign is Radio Azatlyk, the Turkmen-language service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. It is the only independent source of information about Turkmenistan and the world in the Turkmen language and is widely listened to in the country."
Turkmenistan is divided into five provinces or welayatlar (singular welayat) and one capital city district. The provinces are subdivided into districts (etraplar, sing. etrap), which may be either counties or cities. According to the Constitution of Turkmenistan (Article 16 in the 2008 Constitution, Article 47 in the 1992 Constitution), some cities may have the status of welaýat (province) or etrap (district).
At 488,100 km2 (188,500 sq mi), Turkmenistan is the world's 52nd-largest country. It is slightly smaller than Spain and somewhat larger than the US state of California. It lies between latitudes 35° and 43° N, and longitudes 52° and 67° E. Over 80% of the country is covered by the Karakum Desert. The center of the country is dominated by the Turan Depression and the Karakum Desert. The Kopet Dag Range, along the southwestern border, reaches 2,912 metres (9,554 feet) at Kuh-e Rizeh (Mount Rizeh).
The Great Balkhan Range in the west of the country (Balkan Province) and the Köýtendag Range on the southeastern border with Uzbekistan (Lebap Province) are the only other significant elevations. The Great Balkhan Range rises to 1,880 metres (6,170 ft) at Mount Arlan and the highest summit in Turkmenistan is Ayrybaba in the Kugitangtau Range – 3,137 metres (10,292 ft). The Kopet Dag mountain range forms most of the border between Turkmenistan and Iran. Rivers include the Amu Darya, the Murghab, and the Tejen.
The Turkmen shore along the Caspian Sea is 1,748 kilometres (1,086 mi) long. The Caspian Sea is entirely landlocked, with no natural access to the ocean, although the Volga–Don Canal allows shipping access to and from the Black Sea.
The country possesses the world's sixth largest reserves of natural gas and substantial oil resources.
Saparmurat Hajji Mosque featured on the obsolete 10,000 manat banknote.
President Niyazov spent much of the country's revenue on extensively renovating cities, Ashgabat in particular. Corruption watchdogs voiced particular concern over the management of Turkmenistan's currency reserves, most of which are held in off-budget funds such as the Foreign Exchange Reserve Fund in the Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, according to a report released in April 2006 by London-based non-governmental organization Global Witness.
According to the decree of the Peoples' Council of 14 August 2003, electricity, natural gas, water and salt will be subsidized for citizens up to 2030. Under current regulations, every citizen is entitled to 35 kilowatt hours of electricity and 50 cubic meters of natural gas each month. The state also provides 250 liters (66 gallons) of water per day. In addition car drivers were entitled to 120 litres of free petrol a month until 1 July 2014. Drivers of buses, lorries and tractors could get 200 litres of fuel and motorcyclists and scooter riders 40 litres free. On 5 September 2006, after Turkmenistan threatened to cut off supplies, Russia agreed to raise the price it pays for Turkmen natural gas from $65 to $100 per 1,000 cubic meters. Two-thirds of Turkmen gas goes through the Russian state-owned Gazprom.
As of May 2011[update], the Galkynysh Gas Field has the second-largest volume of gas in the world, after the South Pars field in the Persian Gulf. Reserves at the Galkynysh Gas Field are estimated at around 21.2 trillion cubic metres. The Turkmenistan Natural Gas Company (Türkmengaz), under the auspices of the Ministry of Oil and Gas, controls gas extraction in the country. Gas production is the most dynamic and promising sector of the national economy. In 2010 Ashgabat started a policy of diversifying export routes for its raw materials. China is set to become the largest buyer of gas from Turkmenistan over the coming years as a pipeline linking the two countries, through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, reaches full capacity. In addition to supplying Russia, China and Iran, Ashgabat took concrete measures to accelerate progress in the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan and India pipeline (TAPI). Turkmenistan has previously estimated the cost of the project at $3.3 billion. On 21 May 2010, president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow unexpectedly signed a decree stating that companies from Turkmenistan will build an internal East-West gas pipeline allowing the transfer of gas from the biggest deposits in Turkmenistan (Dowlatabad and Yoloten) to the Caspian coast. The East-West pipeline is planned to be 773-kilometre (483-mile) long and have a carrying capacity of 30 bn m³ annually, at a cost of between one and one and a half billion US dollars. The Trans-Caspian pipeline (TCP) project, backed by the European Union, has so far remained on paper, partly due to disputes about the Caspian Sea's legal status and Turkmenistan's refusal to sign production-sharing agreements with foreign companies for major hydrocarbon deposits.
The tourism industry has been growing rapidly in recent years, especially medical tourism. This is primarily due to the creation of the Avaza tourist zone on the Caspian Sea. Every traveler must obtain a visa before entering Turkmenistan. To obtain a tourist visa, citizens of most countries need visa support from a local travel agency. For tourists visiting Turkmenistan, there are organized tours with a visit to historical sites Daşoguz, Konye-Urgench, Nisa, Merv, Mary, beach tours to Avaza and medical tours and holidays in Mollakara, Yylly suw and Archman.
Most of Turkmenistan's citizens are ethnic Turkmens with sizeable minorities of Uzbeks and Russians. Smaller minorities include Kazakhs, Tatars, Ukrainians, Kurds (native to Kopet Dagh mountains), Armenians, Azeris, Balochs and Pashtuns. The percentage of ethnic Russians in Turkmenistan dropped from 18.6% in 1939 to 9.5% in 1989. In 2012 it was confirmed that the population of Turkmenistan decreased due to some specific factors[which?] and is less than the previously estimated 5 million.
Turkmen ( Turkic language / Oghuz language ) is the official language of Turkmenistan (per the 1992 Constitution), although Russian still is widely spoken in cities as a "language of inter-ethnic communication". Turkmen is spoken by 72% of the population, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, and other languages 7%. (Russian (349,000), Uzbek (317,000), Kazakh (88,000), Tatar (40,400), Ukrainian (37,118), Azerbaijani (33,000), Armenian (32,000), Northern Kurdish (20,000), Lezgian (10,400), Persian (8,000), Belarusian (5,290), Erzya (3,490), Korean (3,490), Bashkir (2,610), Karakalpak (2,540), Ossetic (1,890), Dargwa (1,600), Lak (1,590), Tajik (1,280), Georgian (1,050), Lithuanian (224), Tabasaran (180), Dungan).
According to the CIA World Factbook, Muslims constitute 89% of the population while 9% of the population are followers of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the remaining 2% religion is reported as non-religious. However, according to a 2009 Pew Research Center report, 93.1% of Turkmenistan's population is Muslim.
Former president Saparmurat Niyazov ordered that basic Islamic principles be taught in public schools. More religious institutions, including religious schools and mosques, have appeared, many with the support of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Turkey. Religious classes are held in both schools and mosques, with instruction in Arabic language, the Qur'an and the hadith, and history of Islam.
Most Christians in Turkmenistan belong to Eastern Orthodoxy (about 5% of the population). The Russian Orthodox Church is under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Archbishop in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. There are three Russian Orthodox Churches in Ashgabat, two in Turkmenabat, in Mary, Turkmenbashi, Balkanabat, Bayram-Ali and Dushauguze one each. The highest Russian Orthodox priest in Turkmenistan is based in Ashgabat. There is one Russian orthodox monastery, in Ashgabat. Turkmenistan has no Russian Orthodox seminary, however.
There are also small communities of the following denominations: the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Roman Catholic Church, Pentecostal Christians, the Protestant Word of Life Church, the Greater Grace World Outreach Church, the New Apostolic Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews, and several unaffiliated, nondenominational evangelical Christian groups. In addition, there are small communities of Baha'is, Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, and Hare Krishnas.
The history of Bahá'í Faith in Turkmenistan is as old as the religion itself, and Bahá'í communities still exist today. The first Bahá'í House of Worship was built in Ashgabat at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was seized by the Soviets in the 1920s and converted to an art gallery. It was heavily damaged in the earthquake of 1948 and later demolished. The site was converted to a public park.
There are a number of newspapers and monthly magazines published in Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan currently broadcasts 7 national TV channels through satellite. They are Altyn asyr, Yashlyk, Miras, Turkmenistan (in 7 languages), Türkmen Owazy, Turkmen sporty and Ashgabat. There are no commercial or private TV stations. Articles published by the state-controlled newspapers are heavily censored and written to glorify the state and its leader.
The task for modern Turkmen architecture is diverse application of modern aesthetics, the search for an architect's own artistic style and inclusion of the existing historico-cultural environment. Most buildings are faced with white marble. Major projects such as Turkmenistan Tower, Bagt köşgi, Alem Cultural and Entertainment Center have transformed the country's skyline and promotes its contemporary identity.
Turkmenistan's cities of Turkmenbashi and Ashgabat both have scheduled commercial air service. The largest airport is Ashgabat Airport, with regular international flights. Additionally, scheduled international flights are available to Turkmenbashi. The principal government-managed airline of Turkmenistan is Turkmenistan Airlines. It is also the largest airline operating in Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan Airlines' passenger fleet is composed only of American Boeing aircraft. Air transport carries more than two thousand passengers daily in the country. International flights annually transport over half a million people into and out of Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan Airlines operates regular flights to Moscow, London, Frankfurt, Birmingham, Bangkok, Delhi, Abu Dhabi, Amritsar, Kiev, Lviv, Beijing, Istanbul, Minsk, Almaty, Tashkent and St. Petersburg.
Since 1962, the Turkmenbashi International Seaport operates a ferry to the port of Baku, Azerbaijan. In recent years there has been increased tanker transport of oil. The port of Turkmenbashi, associated rail ferries to the ports of the Caspian Sea (Baku, Aktau). In 2011, it was announced that the port of Turkmenbashi will be completely renovated. The project involves the reconstruction of the terminal disassembly of old and construction of new berths.
Rail is one of the main modes of transport in Turkmenistan. Trains have been used in the nation since 1876. Originally it was part of the Trans-Caspian railway, then the Central Asian Railway, after the collapse of the USSR, the railway network in Turkmenistan owned and operated by state-owned Türkmendemirýollary. The total length of railways is 3181 km. Passenger traffic railways of Turkmenistan is limited by national borders of the country, except in the areas along which the transit trains coming from Tajikistan to Uzbekistan and beyond. Locomotive fleet consists of a series of soviet-made locomotives 2TE10L, 2TE10U, 2M62U also have several locomotives made in China. Shunting locomotives include Soviet-made TEM2, TEM2U, CME3. Currently under construction railway Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan.
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ivr performance testing using loadrunner:- Displaying all results about ivr performance testing using loadrunner. You are reading post no. SEVENTY-EIGHT, have a look at post no. : ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEEN. You can find lots of web documents like pdf, ppt, doc about ivr performance testing using loadrunner.. | 2019-04-25T07:55:11Z | https://faqexplorer.com/MORE/4984/78/ |
There should also be a timetable that shows how long it will take to build the residence and plan for payment dispersal. You can avail the loan over the internet that saves you time in visiting lender to lender physically. For students struggling to make their monthly loan payments, an income based repayment plan may be ideal. Even though, these agents work for certain companies, and they are not the owners of it, they should still see their job as his or her own business. Another important reason why these payday loans are very effective is that you do not have to send any sort of document to the loan provider in the form of courier or fax. It is about using it as one of your marketing tools and as well as you can start making money fast online with it. You can utilize these loans for various purposes for instance, consolidation of debts, funding education of your child, renovation of home, meeting wedding expenses, go on vacation trip, and so forth. Most importantly, why sit there thinking about it, when you know the answer to your problem. This is primarily proposed for resolving the unpredicted small term cash issues without falling you in a pit of tedious application processes. Lenders want to be assured that borrowers will pay back the funds requested.
What most people don't understand about e - Bay is that everything comes down to your prices and the rating you have. If you want to make money directly with your Hub - Pages then you will want to setup your article a little differently than I am going to show you, this method works best for getting traffic to your website. Unsecured personal loans have become a very popular loan option with most customers and lenders.
This would help you to repay your debt on time and you can avoid the late fee charges. The purpose of this finance is to offer fast cash to the people when they are in urgent need. For example, if you need $100, you will write the lender a post-dated check for $125 (depending upon your interest rate) today. All bad credit history borrowers can rectify their credit scores by making time schedule of repayment amount. This will not take too much time because lenders primarily understand your business needs so they try to minimize the time spent in loan processing. Use it to pay for telephone bills, utility payments, household expenses, car payment, water bill or anything else that can come unexpectedly. Under the amendment, violators could face felony and racketeering charges along with fines up to $25,000 per charge and up to 25 years in prison. To Compute for Basic Monthly Amortization of Principal = Principal ⁄ 360 months. Make sure you fully understand any agreement before you sign and make it a point to check out the loan's terms and conditions before you enter into an agreement with a payday lender. When you land up in a situation like this, consider applying for 3 month payday loans to overcome fiscal crisis.
If at all possible contact lenders informally to know the interest rate that you would obtain and apply only when you are positive that you will close the deal with that lender. It has no defined value which means that you could receive any amount you may need. So in case you falter payments then you will end up paying extra in terms of interest. 5 billion in December 2004, and last year it made about $60 billion in loans. Interest Rates To Expect With Bad Credit Car Loans. "Through these measures, RBI is trying to make home loans costlier. So before you commit to one, ask yourself - 'Can you get your money elsewhere, and cash you repay back the money. It doesn't pay to slack off doing this because people will not recommend you to another person if it took you 3 months to sell a little item, remember this because this is what will make or break your business. These contracts allow the bankers to ask from the borrowers to ensure that either the loans are covered or not. Once your spreadsheet is filled with all of your debt and expenses pick one or two which you can focus on paying off first.
I am not saying affiliate marketing is hard work because it isn't that either, what I am saying is that affiliate marketing requires a certain work ethic and devotion to working your own hours. There is no credit checking with these loans so if you are suffering from bad credit score such as amount outstanding, poor credit narration, insolvency, late payments, arrears, defaults, country court judgments, and individual voluntary agreement and so on still you can take Payday Loan before next payday. So apply now and see the difference in the financial condition. There are small business start up loans that can be used to fund your new venture. First thing that the borrower should do is to look if there is contact information provided in the lending company's website. The repayment period can be negotiated with the lender, however usually is up to ten years. Now you can also enjoy fast money without much trouble. Recreational Vehicles are not cars and thus, the requirements for approval are harsher.
If you want to quit your current 9-5 job, and start making money online right from your house then just continue reading. In thirteen states it isn't either feasible or illegal, given state laws. Here you can avail small financial assistance in between. Instant cash loans are offered without discrimination to individuals who are 18 and over with steady employment or another form of regular income. Since it is fairly easy to access computers nowadays, you can easily take the help of these video packs, designed to assist you in upgrading yourself to the standards where others around you deposit millions of money in their bank accounts. These applications are run through a credit checking system like teletrack and some other types of background information is also obtained. Virtual Assistant - Becoming a virtual assistant is very easy to do and the great part about doing this is you can get a few different people to be assistants for and not have to work longer hours. Then go for a part time job or look for other means of earning money like lease your garage or keep a paying guest if you have an option. It may be true that it's not bad to try be perfect, it does not hurt to say “It's okay. Maybe your car breaks down, or your family experiences a medical emergency that requires a trip to the emergency room, or maybe you are still recovering from credit card debt you piled up over the holidays.
At present, only State Bank of India is offering teaser loans. Student loans are typically entered into through a government backed loan organization. The longer it takes to pay the debt, the more interest accrues.
*Women are more likely to buy something which is not a need. When it comes to applying for these loans, only those with a suitable job having a fixed monthly income of not less than $1000 are entitled for these loans. You should be having a monthly salary of C$1000 at least. Take time to know about the recent sales of similar properties in your neighborhood. There are several network marketing websites available online that pays commission to those websites that work as affiliates for them. In order to accomplish long-term profit returns a power seller must think what other hot selling items must they offer to the mass e-shoppers out there. Did you know that blogging is one of the ways that many moms around the world are increasing their income and doing it while writing about things they love. Make your small goals easily attainable at first in order to boost your momentum in achieving debt free status.
A? Therefore, tasks will take more time at the start. They can be applied online or offline whichever way you prefer. Besides it's cheaper than overdraft charges and late fees. The urge to buy has increased with online shopping. When applying for a loan from a storefront payday loan lender, the borrower shows id, proof of employment, and proof that they currently have a bank account. Basically, Americans were spending so much of their money that they had to borrow extra money to meet their needs. In most cases, the answer to the first question above is "no". Can you get a loan from a bank or use a credit card. Before clicking "I Agree" or "Submit Application" or whatever other button is on that application page, make sure you take a peak or two at the terms of the loan agreement. any personal or business needs of the applicants can be taken care with the help of these loans.
All the loan transaction whether depositing or collecting the loan money is done through the automatic online procedure, no need to waste time in that. However, unknown to victims, there are programs and incentives offered by the government to help student loan debtors get out of debt without having to dish out hundreds and thousands of additional dollars in fees, on top of their original debt amount just to pay off their student loan debt. Loans for poor credit though ensure borrowing of a desired amount, but it comes at higher interest rates, as lenders want to cover for the risks. The most important thing that you can do online on a daily basis is focus on building a targeted email list full of people that want what you have. The approved funds will directly get transited in your bank account. Many people rely on them to obtain the cash required to prevent immediate financial problems, while others cause more financial problems themselves. In addition to this, by making payments on time you are building your credit rating back up for the future. Sometimes its an anniversary or holiday that seems to just creep up on you and you need to buy a loved one a gift or a present. If you spend a while online you will see a lot of weird ideas that many people have come up with and tried but the problem with a lot of these ideas is they don't always work. If you are a Texas resident and reside in Dallas or the Houston area, you can simply search for 'buy my Houston house' or 'sell my Houston house fast' and you'll see a list of companies that offer these type of fast transactions.
Baby sitter - As a mom everybody needs a day off from their kids and from all the stresses of life and that is exactly why you can cash in on other mothers wanting time to themselves. There will be no indiscrimination between good credit and poor credit status. Understanding some of the basics that you will need to have in order to qualify for a loan can help you to choose a lender to work with. If you are facing a real emergency then you should perhaps consider a quick cash payday loan, but if you are only looking to make another trip to the mall then you should probably consider some of your other options. It is easy to get obsessed to payday loans but it takes a lot to come out of it. If you visit their websites and fill out an application form, they will do a comparison amongst various vendors and give you the best possible results. Simply fill out one online application and you should get instant feedback on whether or not you qualify. Requirements may vary from one lender to another but the basics are that it is imperative you have a checking account, be aged over 18 and have an income of at least $1,000 a month. Having completed her Masters in Finance from Cranfield School of Management. In efforts to lure as many student loan debtors as possible, companies often employ sales people instead of certified counselors who would be more trained to provide optimal solutions for debtors.
One of the main questions consumers have is can they get fast cash now. Some card companies will bypass or decrease these charges altogether via a rewards program. You can not even ask your neighbors or friend for monetary assistance at every time. Before tying the knot, it is important that couples understand some of the reasons why partners may come to fight over finance and more importantly why budgeting needs to become an essential part of the relationship. How about a credit card with an open balance which could take the hit of filling your gas tank at almost $5 per gallon.
People can easily apply for a loan online and the amount is disbursed to their bank accounts within one or two days after the approval. For example, assuming that you bring home $500 per week after taxes, you could get a fast payday loan today for around $400 (depending upon the interest rate). Of the banks that are familiar with inventory financing, many consider this type of loan to be high risk. Co-signers can be very helpful for those with bad credit seeking unsecured loans, so it is always worth trying to find one whenever possible. If you have ever had a day planner and used that as your business bible then you know what I am talking about. Not knowing what is coming next, that is a great feeling. There may be a time when you find yourself a little short of cash in between paydays and something happens that requires an extra pay out, such as an unexpected bill. To know more about Bad Credit Loans, bad credit unsecured loans, bad credit personal loans visit. These short term loans allow you to apply for a loan amount varying from $100-$1500 for a short repayment period of 14-31 days. After deciding upon a time to reconvene, the lender should be prepared at this second meeting to enter into a “COLLATERAL PROTECTION AND SET-ASIDE AGREEMENT" that includes, in addition to the standard contract language regarding default, jurisdiction and term, the following:.
When people are unable to wait till the next pay date, they choose such type of loans to cover their small unexpected expenses. Possess a checking account not more than 3 months old. Not only will utilizing this online service save you time but it will also probably save you some money on your payday loan. While a secured loan is available at a low interest rate, an unsecured bad score loan, with no security pledged as collateral, comes at a higher interest and restrictive terms. And most of the time, our needs come more often than money. And this income source must not be such that requires you to spend any of your own money in order to make more money (because if you had the extra money in the first place you wouldn't be needing to earn more money urgently). A typical finance charge is $15 for every $100 you borrow. These short term cash loans also get same day loans are small amount loans with flexible norms and conditions.
For this reason many people try to avoid these types of loans at pretty-much all costs, and in actuality you should probably do the same unless you are facing a serious emergency situation. The wrong choice would be to purchase anything and everything that looks good to you. " The reality is that it is that easy - Most people just don't stick to a system long enough to get their results. Once a lender has approved your loan application, you will need to go to that lender's website and complete any requirements that they may have. Cheap logbook loans provide a way for people with a poor credit rating to obtain credit but there are also many other benefits. All is going well while you sit back and slowly watch your savings account grow to a respectable number. This can delay the process by few hours but still you will be in a winning situation. However, by collecting and comparing online lenders different loan quotes in a systematic and careful manner, you will be able to fetch cost-effective loan deal in a hassle free manner.
Determine the amount you will need to cover your financial emergency before you fill out the cash now payday loan form. But if a proper research of the market is undertaken, borrower may find lenders offering the loans at competitive rates. Research the information and how much applies to you. If you're looking to make money online, it's going to take you along time to learn how. In this excitement, beginners spend countless days and nights poring over any information they can find on this subject and consequently get overwhelmed by all this information. Now, all these methods are going to make you cash, however, it will take you some time to figure out how to set your system up to make cash for you. These regulations include not allowing charges of fees prior to services being rendered, and prohibiting the charge of monthly fees. When they were good I was able to take my family on regular vacations in far off lands such as Europe or the Caribbean and never thought for an instant that the global economy could be as bad as the 80s. When selecting a company one of the most important things to be aware of is that you need to stick to well established lenders with a reputation for being responsible. Use the payday loan only when you have exhausted your ability to borrow money using a personal loan.
There are certain basic necessities which have to be fulfilled by your to avail the approval of Quick Loans Today. As you gain experience online, you'll learn how to cut through the crap to see the real meat of a sales letter and be able to determine before purchasing whether or not the product will help you or not. As this example shows it is crucial that you repay a payday loan as soon as possible, but if you are looking to make one purchase and repay it quickly it could reduce the temptation of getting a credit card and maxing out on it, causing further longer term debt in the future.
Additionally, the interest rate of gold loans, are lesser than personal loans in certain cases, but are dependent on the loan to value ratio. Since you are a bad credit holder so, no one will come forward for your help, but bad credit loan provider can. You can be in your pj's while you're doing your forum posts, and sipping a hot cup of coffee. The old companies didn't recognize that the internet is changing the way people do business. In such condition the option of cash advance payday loans proves to be a perfect choice. In addition, putting some money aside every pay period would help you to build an emergency fund for unforeseen expenses. As you can see, there are actually many ways to sell your laptop for cash; you just need to decide which one is right for you. Do not expect to be paid right after you are done with the job.
They work like an advance on your salary, enabling you to borrow the extra money you need until you get paid. Since a fresh start loan pays off your debts completely, you would also be spared from paying the total amount due as a payoff involves paying just the principle, not the interest. For some reason, this was the hardest step for me to figure out what the heck was going on. If you are a Texas resident and reside in Dallas or the Houston area, you can simply search for 'buy my Houston house' or 'sell my Houston house fast' and you'll see a list of companies that offer these type of fast transactions. This was an amendment to GILA and dramatically increased fines and criminal penalties. A New Scenario Over the past several months, most major sub-prime lending companies, have been going through a rough patch. Typically, there are two types of loans; the secured and unsecured loans. A bank will usually take a look at your credit rating and offer you a loan based on how much of a risk you are.
When you have a plan then you can out wit anyone, there are a lot of people that think they know what they are doing but don't, because they don't have a plan. Most payday advance loan companies will base the amount you are able to get on your income. You'll get the most money by bringing your CD's to the music store, video games to Gamestop, bikes to the bike shop, etc. It provides an opportunity for anyone with bad credit and a checking account to receive an instant loan, hassle free. Yes, there really are sites out there that pay you to take surveys. Thus, get rid from all the collateral related mess and enjoy the hassle free monetary aid right at your doorway. When you search the internet for different ways to make some extra cash you keep finding your way to the same webpages. Secured formats of lending are arranged on the best guess that the borrower puts up a form of security to the lender. Access to fast cash advance, will however depends on certain conditions. For a more comprehensive illustration on how interest payments for long-term loans are calculated, a related article entitled Creating a Loan Amortization Table Using Excel" features a more vivid depiction.
Это никогда не может быть, wave в midi, ее возможности позволяют быстро кодировать аудиодорожки, ogg плеер, киньте кто то ссылку! Все эти видео ждут тебя на просторах , играть. Аудио форматы и файлы изображений: программное обеспечение, что бы читал wav формат, проигрыватель, mp3 в mid, iPhone, В случае если ваш файл в WAV не конвертируется. Toolbar, конвертирование, превращать), mediacoder: hotfile (Cue+Covers+Audiochecker).
Дистрибутив приложения весит всего порядка 25 Мб, поэтому его загрузка не займет больше 5 минут вашего времени. Как только установочный файл скачается, распакуйте его двойным кликом мыши. Далее просто следуйте указаниям открывшегося Мастера Установки. В процессе не забудьте создать значок программы на рабочем столе, чтобы всегда иметь быстрый доступ к ней. Запустите утилиту и переходите к следующему шагу.
Качество аудиофайлов после сжатия зависит не только от параметров, но также и от того, какой кодер использует программа для кодирования аудиосигнала. Наиболее качественным кодером для mp3 считается Lame encoder, над его совершенствованием идет постоянная работа. Кодеров для формата OGG существует немного. Сами разработчики выпускают ogg2wav windows кодер, декодер и другие утилиты для работы с форматом. Все они доступны на официальном сайте компании Vorbis. Кодеров для формата AAC очень много, но в большинстве они несовместимы друг с другом. Отметим три совместимых между собой: FAAC, QuickTime от Apple и Nero AAC Encoder. Наиболее качественным из них считается кодер от Nero.
MP3 Convert Grasp представляет собой мощный аудио-конвертор, который позволяет конвертировать: MP3 в WMA, WMA в MP3, MP3 в OGG, Mp3 в Wma, OGG в MP3 и WAV в MP3. С его помощью вы также сможете легко грабить музыку в RAW, WAV, MP3 или OGG формат, а также записывать звуки или речь с любого устройства вашей системы в WAV, MP3 или WMA. При этом программа предельно проста в использовании и сразу будет понятна даже начинающему пользователю. Работает MP3 Convert Grasp в ОС Home windows 2000/XP/2003/vista, и просит за свою работу $14.95. Сумма конечно небольшая, но в любом случае для принятия решения у вас будет 30-ти дневный срок тестового периода.
Таким образом, выбирая между 128 и 160, вам стоит задуматься вот о чем. У LAME в основном страдает качество передачи высоких частот, у OGG затрагиваются также низкие частоты. Если говорить об общем уровне качества, я бы посоветовал придерживаться one hundred sixty кбит везде, где это возможно, а к 128 прибегать только в самых крайних случаях, т.к. разница в размере невелика, а в качестве звучания огромна.
Instruction De La Conversion Du Fichier CDA Au Format FLAC.
Sans logiciel audio tel que MAGIX Audio Cleanic , le format CDA de CD de musique n'est malheureusement pas facile à lire ou à convertir dans votre ordinateur sous Windows. Enfin traktor professional prend en cost plusieurs formats audios incluant les suivants : mp3 wav wm aac aiff cd audio flac et ogg vorbis.. Le djing a progressivement pris sa place sur le grand échiquier de la musique , L'art convertir cda en flac du mixage attire dès lors de nombreux passionnés / Traktor pro pourrait encore les encourager à faire mieux à vivre l'expérience du mixage professionnellement.
Prise en charge de la gravure des formats wav mp3 wma au aiff ra ogg flac aac ainsi qu'un bon nombre d'autres formats de fichiers audio.. Specific burn est un programme de gravure de cd gratuit pour mac os x , Gravez l'audio cd et cd de données gratuitement et essayez les fonctionnalités avancées de gravure de dvd vidéo / Importez plusieurs codecs rip cda à flac audio et specific burn les convertit automatiquement en cda pendant la gravure et peut même normaliser le volume audio.
Pour fixer les idées, la qualité CD qui correspond à une bonne qualité audiophile, correspond à sixteen bits et forty four,1 KHz. Je suis en train de dématérialiser mes 3500 CDs sur un serveur de chez Synology avec le logiciel MusicBee, et d'installer un système Sonos dans toute la maison pour en faire la lecture. Je cherchais un « gros » lecteur externe comme il en existait il y a plus de dix ans, mais ils ont semble-t-il disparu de la circulation. Bien des appareils mobiles ne savent pas relire des fichiers avec encodage VBR, notamment en WMA.
Tu peux convertir ce que tu veux en ce que tu veux.. mais à partir du second où tu passes par du MP3 ou de l'AAC tu vas perdre des informations. L'encodage MP3, par exemple, est effectué avec LAME, l'encodage Ogg Vorbis avec aoTuv, l'encodage FLAC avec libFLAC, les encodages AAC et Apple Lossless avec Core Audio. Par exemple, un enregistrement numérique (tel qu'un CD) codé en FLAC peut être décompressé pour obtenir une copie identique des données audio. De plus, tu peux souvent graver un peu plus de temps de son sur ton cd en CDA qu'en wav.
Import the midi file into iTunes by dragging the file into the primary iTunes window. So you may synthesize MIDI knowledge to audio, and seize the resulting audio, nevertheless it's not the same factor as converting it. Just to make that time blazingly clear: it's synthesizing, not converting. Create new music information to play on Apple iPod and other portable MP3 gamers with audio CD high quality. That video made my level better than any of us could: mp3 to MIDI is principally a pipe dream. It is without doubt one of the easiest MIDI to MP3 converters available in the market and has revolutionized the best way folks convert their MP3 recordsdata.
I've received one midi file and i want to play that file on net web page, presently i am using participant for enjoying however it is not working on cell browsers. A written sentence is like MIDI data, because a single sentence will sound different when spoken by a dozen individuals. Direct MIDI to MP3 Converter is a good option to convert your downloaded MIDI files, into MP3 information and make your individual CDs which you'll play on your own home CD participant or send to your pals. To do that, you want a synthesizer, which is a special program that synthesizes MIDI data to an audio stream as the identify would counsel. You don't need to pay attention MIDI music and alter recording level while converting.
Choose Add to Library from the File menu or press Command A window will open permitting you to choose a MIDI file. Within the popup window that can open, browse the input file (the midi file that you really want convert to mp3) and the output file (identify and vacation spot folder). MIDI was began within the 80's, when six synth manufacturing companies needed to set some type of 'standard', so the totally different keyboards might 'discuss' to each other. Should you burn a MIDI file to CD, it is just data and can't be performed on a CD participant. Customers of Mac nonetheless have a few choices in case they wish to convert their recordsdata from Midi to MP3. Simply drag and drop your MIDI recordsdata and the remaining is completed routinely by Direct MIDI Converter! The program has an intuitive graphic interface which is good for beginner customers.
Midi2mp3 is a free online midi to mp3 or wav converter provided at Here you can convert MIDI information to MP3/WAV audio recordsdata, which you'll be able to then burn onto a CD, import into http://www.magicaudiotools.com/convert-midi-to-mp3 a flash movie and for other makes use of the place MIDI files are restricted. I might then import the slower mp3 into Finale, sync the music to a measure structure, then transcribe the music.
Not like the other related applications MIDIRenderer offers direct MIDI rendering to waveform with out using sound card and permits you to use any excessive-high quality instrument sound instead of Windows Normal MIDI set. The explanation for disabling To Spkrs is that with out it SynthFont does not should do its calculations in actual-time, which prevents clicks and pops from showing in the MP3 file in case you have a sluggish computer. Edit: They said that audacity is ok, but I hoped to find a approach to convert with out having to report it in actual-time and as a substitute, just take the midi-file, open it in a program after which render/export it to a sound-file. MP3 audio is increasingly being used in video manufacturing coupled with numerous MPEG4 video codecs like divx.
There are some default chorus and reverb settings in my new MIDI2MP3 converter I'll have to remember to defeat sooner or later, however I really love this application! The trick to converting MIDI information to MP3 then, is to select a different synthesizer that sounds higher. The T3 can load and play a MIDI file, and you can flip it into audio on the machine itself. I take advantage of Audacity (a free audio recording program) on my LAPTOP and output MP3 with it. Very easy. Direct MIDI to MP3 Converter is a quick audio utility that permits you to convert MIDI files to MP3, WAV, WMA and OGG formats. It stands to reason, if you happen to can document a style to MP3, then by extension, certainly a MIDI as well. You would not have to fret about compromising on the media file while changing it. This software takes a MIDI file shows it as sheet music which may be printed.
While converting MIDI to MP3 is a step that can't be avoided in the scenario when you'll want to signify your compositions or simply to play them anywhere, it's essential how a specific program converts MIDI to MP3. Select MP3” because the output format and go to Audio Settings” part to change the bitrate, channels, and sample fee, and so forth. You should use MIDI to MP3 Converter to playback MIDI files instantly in the program as effectively. Therefore, Synthfont, because of it's plug and play” paradigm and ease of use with present MIDI recordsdata made it a winner for a beginner DAW-ist” like me (wow, that sounds like some form of religion). Simply drag and drop your MIDI files and the rest is completed robotically by Direct MIDI to MP3 Converter. It is possible that these online methods may result in a loss of high quality, though.
Midi2mp3 is a free online midi to mp3 or wav converter provided at Right here you'll be able to convert MIDI files to MP3/WAV audio recordsdata, which you'll then burn onto a CD, import into http://www.magicaudiotools.com/convert-midi-to-mp3 a flash movie and for different uses where MIDI information are restricted. I would then import the slower mp3 into Finale, sync the music to a measure structure, then transcribe the music.
Audio: MP3, M4A, AC3, AAC, WMA, WAV, OGG, APE, MKA, AU, AIFF, FLAC, M4B, M4R, MP2, MPA, etc. Pour quelqu'un qui s'apprete a dematerialiser sa musique, de nombreux cd avec de bon enregistrement, pour qui la sauvegarde et la qualite de restitution est aussi vital, et pour qui one hundred euros de plus en disque dur ne pose pas de probleme, le format wav est le dispositif de dematerialisation le plus perenne et met un terme aux doutes et discutions interminables des audiophiles.
Pour transcoder facilement un fichier audio, de nombreux logiciels existent sur le marche tels que AudioCoder (MediaCoder Audio Edition) , dBpowerAMP Music Converter , Any Audio Converter , Quick Media Converter HD et meme AIMP Afin de repondre au meme besoin, la logitheque Clubic vous propose de decouvrir une perle uncommon que vous adopterez surement !
Puis on recommence mais cette fois en MP3, or sox ne le gere pas, automotive si on lit le man, il est ecrit que pour le MP3, il ne fonctionne qu'avec libmad et libmp3lame qui ne sont pas sur les depots. flac a wav en ligne Appliquez les modifications en fonction de vos besoins et pre-ecoutez un apercu pour voir si vous etes satisfait des changements. C'est en collaboration etroite avec @Dzef et @Shankarius que cet onglet a ete realise.
Et en quelques clics, vous pouvez creer une sonnerie en ligne et le telecharger gratuitement. L'element de programme qui transforme le sign en fichier et le fichier en sign s'appelle un codec , abreviation de COder-DECoder. Il n'y a AUCUNE comparaison potential entre un MP3 a 256 Kbps cree avec l'encodeur de Fraunhofer (l3enc) et un MP3 a 256 Kbps ABR cree avec la derniere version de Lame : ce dernier sera bien meilleur.
Pour des gros calculs comme ca, en ajoutant l'option -P nombre_de_c?ur a xargs on parallelise gratuitement le programme. En dehors de YouTube, ce convertisseur peut gerer de nombreux d'autres fichiers, y compris audio, photographs flac en wav en ligne et e-books. Mais on peut aussi vouloir creer un fichier de sous-titrage synchronise, qui sera affiche en meme temps que la chanson est jouee, par exemple sur un baladeur.
Pour les utilisateurs Mac, il y a Fluke qui permet la prise en cost du FLAC sur iTunes. Prix : Le titre revient a 0,99 € en moyenne, les nouveautes a 1,29 €, les promotions a 0,69 €. Un album entier coute entre 9,ninety nine et 11,ninety nine €. Une autre plateforme qui vaut d'etre mentionnee est Qobuz , la seule plateforme de telechargement qui suggest le format « Studio Master ». Vous pouvez donc demander a votre ingenieur du son de vous envoyer les fichiers Master (la plupart du temps ils envoient seulement les WAV), pour les proposer a la vente sur Qobuz.
FLAC ist die Abkürzung für Free Lossless Audio Codec, der auch für die verlustfreie Kompression bekannt ist. Die Foundation beziffert die durchschnittliche Größenverringerung von FLAC mit 50 %. MP3 und Vorbis hingegen bewegen sich mit ihren Commonplace-Qualitätsstufen im Bereich um 90 %. Der Platzgewinn hängt zudem stark von der Art des jeweiligen Audiomaterials ab. So kann beispielsweise ruhige, elektronische Musik zumeist wesentlich besser komprimiert werden als laute Rockmusik.
Mit FLAC kodierte Musikdateien besitzen dank dieser Technik etwa 70% bis seventy five% ihrer ursprünglichen Dateigröße. Synology Snapshot Manager ist verfügbar für VMware vSphere 5.1 oder höher, Windows Server 2008 R2, 2012 und 2012 R2 für die Aufnahme anwendungskonsistenter Schattenkopien. Aber da ich einen Mac als Hauptrechner nutze und wirklich gute Alternativen Mangelware sind (und früher oder später ein iPod Contact konvertiere flac in aiff oder gar iPhone geplant ist), bin ich dann nach zwei Jahren doch mal bei iTunes gelanden. Wenn du von Wave in Flac, ALAC oder wieder zurückwandelst (alternativ auch mit jeder anderen Reihenfolge), wirst du hinterher beim Vergleich exakt übereinstimmende Ergebnisse bekommen.
Das Tag enthält nicht nur die Informationen zu Interpret, Album, Name usw usw, sondern zeigt auch das CoverBild an. Die Unterschiede beruhen aber definitiv nicht auf Unterschieden in den eigentlichen Daten: wandle ich dieselbe wav-Datei in FLAC oder ALAC und wieder zurück (auch mehrmals), kommen exakt die gleichen Datensätze raus. Bigasoft FLAC Converter für Mac ist voll kompatibel mit Mac OS X 10.four (Tiger), 10.5 (Leopard), 10.6 (Snow Leopard) und 10,7 (OS X Lion). Erst können Sie AnyMP4 Audio Converter kostenlos herunterladen und dann auf Ihrem Laptop kostenloser flac zum aiff konverter installieren. Wenn Sie eine CD rippen und als unkomprimiertes WAV speichern, bleibt der Inhalt Bit für Bit erhalten. Unterstützt die Transkodierung der Formate FLAC/APE, ALAC/AAC, OGG und AIFF für DLNA-Participant. Wie sieht es den bei Apples lossless mit mehreren Kanälen aus, Flac kann da ja einiges schlucken. Sie wird allein verwendet Ihnen zu kontaktieren bei der Bestätigung von HDtracks-Einkäufen.
Ich persoenlich habe bisher keinen Unterschied zwischen den unterschiedlichen Formaten AIFF, ALAC und FLAC gehoert, weiss aber aus diesem und anderen Foren, dass eine Menge Leute AIFF gegenueber ALAC/FLAC bevorzugen. Unterstützt die Überwachung mehrerer Standorte mit bis zu 300 Aufnahmeservern und 5000 IP-Kameras. Eine WAV Datei kann ohne Qualitätsverlust nachträglich wieder in Audacity importiert und nachbearbeitet, und wieder exportiert werden. Wenn Sie den Klang verändern möchten, können Sie JRiver Media Center flac zum aiff konverter benutzen, um diesen zu verändern: Upmixing, Bitdepth, Lautsprecher Kontrolle and so on. | 2019-04-22T20:50:43Z | http://eos.tastenlaeufer.de/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=474020&start=100 |
Letter to the Editor: Why does Frontier TeleNet use contractors instead of employees?
Saturday, May 5, I am hosting a town hall at the Wasco School Events Center in Wasco. I invite all Sherman County residents to come and discuss what we need to do to strengthen our state and our nation.
Also, if you are running into red tape accessing veterans’ benefits or dealing with Social Security or Medicare, or having trouble getting what you need from other federal agencies, I will have a constituent services worker on hand who may be able to help.
May’s Book Club book is The Identicals by Elin Eilderbrand.
Nantucket is only two and a half hours away from Martha’s Vineyard by ferry. But the two islands might as well be worlds apart for a set of identical twin sisters who have been at odds for years. When a family crisis forces them to band together — or at least appear to — the twins slowly come to realize that the special bond that they share is more important than the sibling rivalry that’s driven them apart for the better part of their lives. A touching depiction of all the pleasures and annoyances of the sibling relationship, Elin Hilderbrand’s next New York Times bestseller, THE IDENTICALS proves once and for all that just because twins look exactly the same doesn’t mean they’re anything alike. To request a hold, please give us a call, email or stop by. Available in Large Print and Audio by request. The book club will meet Thursday, May 17 at 6pm.
Everyone is welcome to come and join the meeting, come and join in when you can get there.
I am writing this letter in support of Joe Dabulskis, who is running for Sherman County Court Judge. While serving as a County Commissioner, Joe has shown he is a man of character, and a leader. He has the ability to be a listener. He has an open mind and can ask the hard questions.
He has enjoyed the challenge of being a part of a team that continues to move Sherman County forward.
While serving in the Army National Guard, Joe became a Company Commander. In the military it is important to be trustworthy. You have to be someone who can be counted on to do the right thing, at the right place and at the right time. Serving in the military prepared Joe for Service. His service today includes his family, the land and serving the people of Sherman County.
As a County Commissioner, Joe has worked at being a person who listens. He has a desire to be a part of solving problems and has a passion for Sherman County. He has the energy and enthusiasm to work hard and to serve.
I am confident that Joe Dabulskis is committed to continuing to serve the county. He wants Sherman County’s success and with the many experiences he has had, he is ready to lead!
6. Letter to the Editor: Why does Frontier TeleNet use contractors instead of employees?
There has been some question as to why Frontier TeleNet uses contractors and not employees. The answer is simple. It’s significantly less expensive to use contractors.
With an employee; all taxes, benefits and other expenses are the responsibility of the employer. That makes the cost of employing someone significantly more than just the salary. If contractors are used, they are responsible for all taxes and their own benefits as well as all other expenses.
As a contractor for Frontier TeleNet I can tell you that roughly half of what I receive is used to pay State and Federal taxes. Then all transportation, business supplies, insurance, computer, phone, Internet, healthcare, travel, lodging and any other expense are my responsibility.
For example: I was invited to a summit in Washington DC to discuss rural Internet. It was a great opportunity to highlight our system and our region. The flights, hotel, meals and other costs were just under $1000.00. That was paid out of my pocket. I did it because that was the right thing to do and it is my job to represent Frontier TeleNet to the best of my ability.
I hope this provides some perspective as to the purpose of contractors as a way to control costs. This allows Frontier TeleNet to use more of its resources for the system instead of personnel.
Dryer LintEater | Gardus, Inc.
The “Pans on Fire” outdoor cooking 4-H club met on Thursday April 18 at 3:45pm at Sherman Extension office. Attending were Caiden, Josh, Cohen, Savanna, Coral, Allison and Annaliese. Excused were Michael, Antone, Ben, Calvin. Pledge of Allegiance by Caiden, 4-H Pledge by Savanna. What we did: had a talk about why kids like outdoor cooking. We cooked with radiant heat last time with skewers and this time conduction heat with pans over coals. We are cooking bacon, eggs and pancakes. Our next meeting will be April 25. Meeting adjourned at 5pm. Submitted by Coral Mansfield, News Reporter.
The “Pans on Fire” outdoor cooking 4-H club met on Thursday, April 25 at 3:35pm at the Extension Office. Attending were Savanna, Annaliese, Allison, Josh, Cohen and Emma. Excused were Caiden and Coral. Pledge of Allegiance led by Josh, 4-H Pledge by Allison. What we did during the meeting: lit the charcoal fire, “acted out” radiant and conduction types of cooking, record books, cooked sausage and French toast. Meeting adjourned at 5pm. Submitted by Savanna Blagg, News Reporter.
Moro, OR – “From This Day Forward”: A Wedding Exhibit is the new exhibit at the Sherman County Historical Museum. The volunteers are so excited about our new exhibit that we will be having a Preview Event on Sunday, April 29th from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Museum in Moro, Oregon, a “reception” with wedding cake and refreshments! Volunteers also invite the community to share their wedding photo to be displayed alongside wedding photos from our archives. Be part of history and be part of our photo display! Another reason to visit the museum is to see the creative work of the Sherman Elementary Students who are the local featured artists for the month of May.
May 1st is the official opening day of the museum and will be open every day from 10am to 5pm May 1st to October 31st.
Working with its five Statewide Partners, the Cultural Trust is offering first-time Organizational and Professional Development Grants this spring. Grants of up to $2,000 will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis through June 30 until a $40,000 budget is met.
Open to all qualified cultural nonprofits and coalitions with budgets under $1 million, the grants are designed to support consulting or facilitation services and staff professional development opportunities.
The new grant program is in direct response to feedback from small cultural nonprofits and coalitions during statewide tours.
The guidelines and application are posted here: http://culturaltrust.org/wp-content/uploads/Oregon-Cultural-Trust-Technical-Assistance-Grant-Application_Final.pdf.
The final stage of development is Integrity. You know who you are, and do not require that everyone else be like you. The world doesn’t have to be the same color, religion, think the same way. Integrity knows that all humans are worthy, and deep inside we genuinely feel this to be true. We know that the true strength in the world is its diversity, that the differences make this a beautiful place to live.
When we have integrity, we know the personal values and the principles by which we guide our life. We live by this personal code of justice, honesty and knowing what is right. Sometimes, we are even willing to die for our values. A strong sense of integrity is when someone says, “I’m not going to steal, not because I’m afraid I’ll get caught, but because it’s just wrong.” No one needs to keep an eye on us, because we simply won’t cross the line from right to wrong.
We want to develop this sense of strength in living by our beliefs and our values. This is the ultimate in maturity. If we don’t achieve this step, along with the other seven, then this is why law enforcement is needed. Those folks who don’t live by an honest code wind up in prison for infringing upon the laws and rights of others. Police and corrections officers become the replacements for ineffective or misguided parents.
When we have integrity, we see order to the universe as opposed to disorder. Those without integrity tend to think that everything is bad and falling apart. If we were brought up in an atmosphere of chaos, trust never happened and identity was never solidified. Without trust, we never learned intimacy and sharing anything was “off the table.” Immaturity is now the norm.
At the very foundation of these eight stages is trust, and trust is simply the reliance on another person’s integrity. We rely on other people living up to their word. We can’t have trust if we live in a world where people won’t live by what they say, where justice is ignored, where laws are seen as things to be broken at will.
The good news is that at each level, if we missed it on our way to adulthood, we can go back and catch up what we missed. We are not stuck in immaturity. We do have the choice to take accountability and fix what is broken. Yes, it will take time. And yes, it will take commitment and work. But that’s what maturity is all about.
I reach out to all of you and ask that you join me in acknowledging Mike Smith as a valued member of our community. Mike, through his years of service to our communities has shown that he is an extremely knowledgable, dedicated and understanding man. Mike is also a candidate for Sherman County Judge.
In the last four years since I moved home to Sherman County, I have had the opportunity to watch Mike work. From the first time I encountered Mike I was impressed with how friendly, approachable and forthright he was. I have observed Mike as a Commissioner, as an Employee of Frontier Telnet, and as a citizen of Sherman County. Mike has been positive, professional, and honorable in each setting.
Mike is a man who remains positive and solution based even when faced with continual adversity. How many of us possess the ability to move forward, focused on problem solving and undeterred in doing the right thing even when it is made very difficult? I know that I can count on Mike to be there, doing the right thing for the county and all of it’s citizens through all of it.
Mike was not born here, but he has chosen to make this his home. In doing so he has made our County and our community a much better, and a much better represented place. Mike is exceedingly honest and transparent. I have never once deviated from the belief that Mike, through his actions and presence is 100 percent committed to bettering our County as well as the regional community.
Mike is the person I can count on to hit the ground running with purpose and direction folks. Mike is ready and anxious to do the job now, not after he figures it out. I would trust him with any aspect of my life and my community. Mike is my friend and I endorse him for County Judge. Please make sure and vote, your vote does matter.
The campaign for the Judge continues to build my deep respect and commitment to the County we all love. I greatly appreciate your enthusiasm and support.
At the debate last week I did my best to answer clearly and honestly. Every question cannot be asked at a single event. I continue to talk to voters at their doors or wherever I meet them. Some questions have come up and I would like to answer them directly.
First, “if you are elected Judge, will you still work for Frontier TeleNet?” The answer is “No”. Being Judge is more than a full time job and that is the only thing the Judge should do to serve properly.
Second, some people thought that I “owned the Internet” in Sherman County. To be clear, I am a contractor for Frontier TeleNet. It is owned by Sherman, Gilliam and Wheeler County. It is owned by you, so I work for you. One of the missions of Frontier TeleNet is be a “middle-mile Internet provider” so Internet companies can serve our households. I wrote about these projects in my brochure: the fiber optic project from Wasco to Grass Valley and now the State grant for fiber from Wasco to Rufus. Also, the County owned wireless system that we received a National Technology Award for.
Recently, the State Police paid to connect to this system, our 911 began serving the Burns Paiute Tribe and four other counties are also considering to connect. Now, a company I’ve been working with for the last year wants to serve fiber to the home in our cities as well as work to increase wireless speeds outside the cities. There are any more exciting projects to come.
Again, I want to thank everyone I have spoken with for their support and I ask for your vote. I hope to speak with more of you before the election. Please feel free to call me at 541-306-1202 or email [email protected] with questions, comments and suggestions.
Opinion. Who knows rural needs better than rural people?
Prager U.: What’s a Greater Leap of Faith: God or the Multiverse?
JOYFULLY! Kristi and Todd Dickson, of Madras, are pleased to announce the birth of their son, Alden Ray Dickson, at 9:42 am on April 3, at St. Charles Bend. At birth, Alden weighed 5 pounds 15 ounces. He joins brother, Owen, 5 and sister, Eileen, 3. The grandparents are Rick and Kathleen Danielson, of Grass Valley, and Dave and Melinda Dickson, of Antelope.
TRACK & FIELD EVENTS. Dear Parents, Guardians, and Community Members, Track and Field season is upon us once again. Sherman County High School Track and Field team will be hosting the annual Sherman County Invitational home meet on April 28, 2018 in Moro. Field events will start at 11:00 AM and Track events will begin at 1:00 PM. We are looking for parents, guardians, and community members to help us out once again by volunteering to run events throughout the day. Volunteer duties range from running the clipboard at a field event to measuring competitor’s jumps/throws.
It truly takes a whole community to run a track meet and we are grateful to have such a supporting community. The support from parents and community members in running this meet has been great over the years and we hope to continue the tradition this year. It takes a minimum of 30 volunteers to run our meet smoothly & efficiently. If you are willing to volunteer your time and assist with the meet, please contact the school. The more volunteers we have, the easier/quicker events will go, and we can rotate volunteers out so they can go watch their athletes compete.
Volunteers are needed for these events: Javelin (2-3), Shot Put (2-3), Discus (2-3), Boys Long & Triple Jump (2-3), Girls Long & Triple Jump (2-3), and Pole Vault (3).
ASSISTANT MAINTENANCE TECH. (Full-time Position) JOB DESCRIPTION GENERAL DUTIES: Under general supervision, the Assistant Maintenance Technician (AMT) shall perform unskilled and semi-skilled work in the following areas: construction and repair of sewer and water pipelines; operation of trucks and other power-driven equipment and tools; general maintenance of streets, parks and grounds; and other related work as required.
(The examples listed above may not include all of the tasks which the AMT may be expected to perform).
and hookups throughout the City.
Applications available at Wasco City Hall open Monday-Thursday 8:30-5. Job opening will close May 3rd, 2018.
PETROLEUM DELIVERY DRIVER, HARVEST HELP. Mid Columbia Producers is now hiring for multiple positions.
EQUINE TRAIL & SORTING CLINICS. Equine Mania LLC Announces Summer Clinics. Don’t miss out of the fun! Great people, fabulous instructors & a dang good time!
–Advanced Sorting Clinic with Kristi Siebert August 11-12 $300.
15 Ballots due by 8pm. One stamp. Postmarks do not count.
Letter to the Editor: Why?
Ballots for the 2018 Primary Election are now in the mail, and here are answers to 10 of the most frequently asked questions from Oregonians about the election.
If you believe you are registered to vote but have not received your ballot by May 4, call your local elections office.
You can track your ballot at oregonvotes.gov/myvote.
Ballots are due on May 15 by 8pm. Postmarks do not count (and you only need to use one stamp).
Ballots can be returned by mail, at a drop box, or to your county election office. Find drop box locations at oregonvotes.gov/dropbox.
Every registered voter will receive a ballot for the May 15 election. Voters not affiliated with a political party, and those affiliated with a minor party (Constitution, Green, Libertarian, Progressive, Working Families) will be able to vote on non-partisan contests like judges, state Bureau of Labor & Industries Commissioner, and local offices. Voters affiliated with the Democratic, Independent, or Republican parties will be able to vote on the above non-partisan contests as well as select the party nominee for partisan offices like US Congress, Governor, and state legislature.
If you registered to vote or changed your registration after April 1, you will likely receive two different ballot mailings. That is okay! It takes days to print and prepare over 2.6 million ballots, and your change may have come in after the process started. Return the second ballot which will be for your updated registration. Don’t worry, we know who was sent more than one ballot, and we’ll make sure only one is counted. If you return them both, we will only count the one for your current registration.
You can now register to vote when you are 16 years of age, but you will not be able to vote until you are 18.
The election process is open to the public. Anyone can come into their county elections office and observe the process of testing the equipment, verifying signatures, opening the ballot envelopes, counting the ballots, and witnessing a recount, if there is one. Contact your county elections officefor details.
A security feature of vote by mail is that we compare the signature on every ballot envelope to the signature in the voter registration file. If signatures match, the ballot is counted. If the signatures doesn’t match, the ballot will not be counted and the voter will be notified.
Specific instructions will be provided for nonmatching signatures. The instructions must be followed to have your ballot counted.
The public discussion at the Wasco Annex the other night was a fun exercise in public participation. If I had been better prepared, or asked different questions, there are other statements I would have liked to make.
When discussing qualifications for a public office I think we need to start with the basics. The personal qualities of integrity, honesty, morality, loyalty, empathy are a good place to start. In regards to these qualities I think the citizens of Sherman Co. have some good choices. A good work ethic and the ability to place others needs in front of your own are also important. A perspective shaped by a broad spectrum of experiences allows the ability to see issues from another person’s point of view. Having the ability to look at both ends of the spectrum on an issue, and coming up with a solution that serves the best interest of the most people is an important qualification. A rudimentary understanding of how government works is also important. Trust, I think, is the key. I believe when it comes right down to it, we vote for that person we can trust to make the best decisions, with the best interest of the people in mind.
Trapping question: We do not trap indiscriminately. Trapping is done for the safety of people, pets, livestock, other species of wildlife. In general, we all believe in wildlife diversity. I personally get a lot of heat from other stock growers because I defend the presence of wolves…. a controlled presence.
Juvenile judge question: In high school I went to a street dance that turned into a street fight, was arrested, had to see the Judge. My Father accompanied me and explained that it was his fault, because he had set a bad example. Many kids today don’t have an advocate as I did. They need advocates, mentors, and all the professional help we can give them.
I’m asking the voters of Sherman County to put their trust in me. Give me the chance to lead this county into a promising future that will benefit everyone.
3. Letter to the Editor: Why?
Regarding the recent candidate’s debate, I am very surprised that Mike Smith, candidate for county judge, did not mention his current $80,000/year contract as marketing director for Frontier TeleNet, our tri-county telecommunications agency. Eighteen months into the job, not a word about his achievements. Why?
Frontier TeleNet is not mentioned in his campaign flyer either. Why? This important fact is left out in order to mislead us. Why? What has he accomplished for Frontier TeleNet in those 18 months?
Dabulskis is currently a Sherman County Commissioner, a position he has learned to love. As part of his work in that position, he represents the county on 20-plus committees and boards and has enjoyed meeting and working with people, creating ideas and solving problems.
Joe and his wife Jeanne moved to Sherman County over 20 years ago to raise their children while farming on her family’s ranch, during which time Joe attended paramedic school in Beaverton. There he was asked to become a part-time instructor because of his ability to break things down and explain them.
Prior to moving to our county Joe worked in logging and farming, worked for Pendleton Flour Mills and sold real estate. He taught taxidermy at Blue Mountain Community College and was asked to travel to local high schools to teach as well.
He served in the Army National Guard, starting as a private, taking orders and doing what he was told, and ending as a Captain, leading soldiers. He served in Hood River as a private, a lieutenant-platoon leader, in Pendleton as an executive officer and in Baker City as the Company Commander, moving the company from a weak unit to the 2nd strongest in the state.
Sarah opened the Board Meeting at 6:05 p.m.
Glen Kearns, Accuity presented the 2016-17 audit to the board. Glen highlighted points of the audit and stated that the ESD is doing well.
The minutes & fiscal receipts from the March 1, 2018 regular board meeting were distributed for review via email April 3, 2018.
Motion—Greg, seconded Jim, to approve the minutes and fiscal receipts.
Penny explained that Mitchell School District’s Superintendent and Admin. Asst. have resigned as of June 30, 2018 and they are in the process of hiring a new superintendent. The business office will be assisting with additional fiscal services (Student Body, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Board Secretary) through the remainder of the school year.
Kalie Rolfe, Stacy Shown, and Rinda Montgomery have been working hard to assist with Sherman School District SPED teacher to complete many IEPs and other tasks that are needed.
Measure 98 applications for 2018-19 have been completed. Penny put together a conference with ODE to assist the superintendents to complete the applications.
Penny is setting up three interviews to hire an OPK Program Coordinator in the next week.
Penny updated the board on Mitchell School District potential two new schools. The two new schools may increase work load and potential income.
Geremy Shull has moved to Wasco and is not in Zone 4 to be a board member of North Central ESD. We will need to advertise in Moro, Grass Valley and Kent for potential new board members. Geremy will send a resignation letter.
The board would like to table the superintendent evaluation until the May 3rd board meeting. They would like to have an executive session at 5:00 until 5:15 to go over Penny’s evaluation with her.
The board will have a meeting on June 7, 2018 to dissolve the account.
Are you starting to recognize these stages, or steps, in the people you work with, live with, lead on a daily basis? And in this recognition, are you discovering ways of helping these folks to back and pick up the pieces they missed? Today, we are going to discuss Psychological Intimacy and Generativity.
Psychological Intimacy is being able to share how we feel with others. We do this in order to develop deep relationships with others – friends, spouses. We share our innermost thoughts and feelings. If we didn’t successfully navigate Identity, we are always worried about what people will say or think about us. If this is the case, we don’t share who we are, and we only say what we think they want us to say. True intimacy is next to impossible.
Remember back at the beginning of this series, when we talked about trust, if we didn’t acquire that sense of trust, that it showed up later in life. Without that sense of trust, establishing deep relationships becomes difficult. And if we do not establish intimacy, then we develop isolation instead. We back off and hold ourselves apart from the rest of the world, thinking we don’t need anyone else. It is easy to slip into loneliness and depression.
When we hold ourselves apart, isolated, then Generativity does not happen. Generativity is our willingness to give everything we have, if we need to. We give our advice, our knowledge, our wisdom – and we don’t want anything in return. We give our love without reservation or expectation of return. Generativity is the key to being truly happy inside.
If we don’t master this stage of generativity, we feel stagnant. We feel dull, without purpose. Days pass without real value, so we fill them with things. We could have all the money in the world, but we are empty, poor inside. The true richness of life comes from giving.
Come hunt for bargains galore at the annual Moro City Wide Yard Sale. Saturday May 05th and Sunday May 06th, 2018, when the entire town cleans out attics and basements and puts their best stuff up for sale!
The Sherman County Soil and Water Conservation District will be holding a special meeting on Thursday April 26th, at 9:00 am, at the USDA Service Center Office, at 302 Scott Street in Moro, Oregon 97039. The board will discuss employee evaluations.
Executive Session may be called in accordance with ORS 192.690(i) and 192.660(8) to review and evaluate the performance of an employee(s).
Hood River, OR – Columbia Gorge CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) is pleased to introduce their newest child advocates: Martine Geeraert, Hood River; Patty Hyde, The Dalles; Katie Layne, White Salmon; Sheri Sharp, Grass Valley; and Corrie Smith, Hood River. The group was sworn into duty by the Honorable Janet L. Stauffer in The Dalles on April 18, 2018, after completing 32 hours of training. Prior to leading the CASA oath Judge Stauffer, a former CASA volunteer prior to election to the bench, described a few of her life experiences and shared some of the aspects CASAs have brought to her courtroom in support of children.
CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to watch over and advocate for children in the foster care system; they make sure that children receive needed services, that timelines are met so that children don’t get lost in overburdened legal and social service systems, and that they are placed in permanent, loving homes as soon as possible. CASAs are in a unique position, as a legal party, to advocate for the best interests of children’s lives while in foster care. Judges rely on the comprehensive and informed information provided by CASA volunteers. CASAs have tremendous privilege and responsibility to have a positive impact in a child’s case.
In our series on Erikson’s 8 Stages of Development, today we consider Industry (aka Accomplishment) and Identity.
A sense of accomplishment is an interesting step, and very important to master. If we don’t own that sense of accomplishment, then we develop feelings of inferiority. We are never good enough, no matter what we try. Our self-image takes a hit just as it begins to develop, and our self-esteem is low. Between the ages of about six to 12, we need to feel that we are good at or for something.
Scouting understood this early on, when they instituted badges for learning and mastering skills. The badge became the proof of accomplishment. Teachers do the same thing by helping students master taking care of fish or plants, do science projects that help move children along the path to amassing things they are good at.
If we don’t master this step of accomplishment, when it comes time to go to college or get a job, we don’t feel we have anything to offer. “I’m not good at anything.” We have no confidence in our ability to learn anything new or get a job – any job. This will continue into adulthood, until we decide to change it.
The teen years are marked by the need to have an Identity. Unfortunately, in the world today, we are known more for what we do, rather than who we are. Thus, the need for identity shows itself in getting the world to “look at me!” We need attention. If we can’t get the world to look at us in a positive way, for the contributions we make, then we will go after negative attention. It’s the attention we want.
It is also at this stage that we try on different personalities to see how we “fit in” with the world around us. We are a bit like chameleons, changing “colors” and acting out parts in the play that becomes our life. Eventually, we finish wondering and settle into who we are. If we don’t fully establish our identities at this stage, identity crises are likely to happen later, causing a ripple effect with later stages of maturity. Are we finished growing? No. But we have settled on the fundamentals of our personality.
The Eastern Oregon Coordinated Care Organization (EOCCO), is working with community partners across the Eastern Oregon region, to complete a Community Health Assessment in 2018-2019. As part of the assessment, Greater Oregon Behavioral Health (GOBHI) will be conducting twenty-four focus groups across the 12 counties of the EOCCO. Focus groups will begin in Mid April -May 2018 and should last about 90 minutes. Participants will receive a $25 gift card as a thank you for their time.
We need your help! Recruitment of participants is vital to the success of the focus groups. If you or someone you know is interested in participating in a focus group, you can sign up or suggest someone using the link below. English and Spanish speaking groups will be conducted, please note the primary language listed. You will be contacted by a GOBHI staff member with further details if you are selected to participate.
When you suggest a name we’d like an e-mail and phone number as well as a drop down selection of what sector they might represent. When you suggest a name and hit submit, they will receive the following e-mail message.
Please feel free to share this link with anyone who may be interested! This sign-up will close on May 31st 2018.
Sherman County eNews offers an opportunity for Sherman County’s four candidates for the position of county judge to submit to eNews in 350 words or less their vision and solutions for Frontier TeleNet problems. Deadline: Monday, April 30th at 5 p.m.
Readers will recall Frontier TeleNet meeting minutes and editorial concerns posted here. A three-county partnership, Frontier TeleNet provides telecommunications services. The governing board members are the Sherman, Gilliam and Wheeler county judges.
Responses received by the deadline will be posted together to eNews the first week of May.
The Tiny Teaspoons 4-H Cooking Club met on April 21, 2018 at 3pm at the Cranston House. Attending were Maddie, Savannah, Coral, Zach, Pyeper and Claire. Excused absences were Addison and Tierra. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Claire and 4-H Pledge led by Savannah. Today we made foods from Italy. We made eggplant parmesan and chicken parmesan. To top it all off we made lemon and blood orange cheesecake. We learned how to chop with knives and we also made our own sauce. We learned the skills of grating cheese and peeling garlic. Finally we had to clean up. Our next meeting will be May 19th from 4-6pm. Meeting was adjourned at 5:30. Signed Pyeper Walker.
The 4-H Leadership Team met on April 22 at 3pm at the Extension Office. Attending were Emma, Melanie, Mercedez, Liberty and Cadence. Excused were Tyler, Patrick, Joey. Pledge of Allegiance by Melanie, 4-H Pledge by Mercedez. We did a question ice breaker game. Went through some leadership modules: making a good impression and defining yourself as a leader. We talked about CIT applications, 4-H camp, and the 4-H Summer Conference. Next meeting in May. Meeting adjourned at 4:35pm. Signed Emma Robbins, News Reporter.
Continuing on with our series, today we are going to cover Stages Two and Three in Erik Erikson’s Stages of Development: Autonomy (aka Independence) and Initiative.
Between the ages of one and three, most children start to want their independence. They like life and want more of it. They are into and trying everything they can get their hands on, and once they discover how their legs work, they are off and running. Now, you may think you have a problem child, but what you really have is a healthy one.
Yes, it’s a bit frustrating to hear “No!” in response to requests to behave, or to have perfectly decent food spit back out at you when you are trying to get them to eat. What children want at this stage is to make choices on their own. Now, do they understand the world of choices? No. What you want to do is provide them with a couple (or three) choices and let them choose. You get what you want, helping them along the maturity path, and they get to feel independent.
It’s the child that sits still and is afraid to try who gets stuck on this second rung. You want them to work toward independence, otherwise you have adults who cannot make decisions on their own. They are constantly asking others to choose for them, sometimes from fear of making a mistake. Remember, as an adult, these folks have the opportunity to go back and fix the past.
From the ages of about four to six, a child’s imagination starts to come into play. They are testing out a wider world, using their initiative. You want to encourage this, even if they imagine things they are afraid of. This is the time to work through those irrational fears of the dark, or something hiding under the bed. Children may create imaginary friends to help them cope, and that’s OK at age 6. If they are still doing it at age 26, then there’s a problem.
If you are running into people who don’t seem very creative or imaginative, they may have had “chains” put on their imaginations by parents who didn’t appreciate purple-colored trees or spotted “blog monsters” in the coloring book. If they were scolded, they interpreted their wild imaginations as bad things and now refuse to let their creativity express itself.
(Salem) – Oregonians with Medicare coverage will be issued a new card from the federal government by the end of June. Each person’s new card will have a unique Medicare number, instead of a Social Security number, to prevent fraud and identity theft. Medicare coverage and benefits will stay the same.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will automatically mail the new cards, at no cost, to each beneficiary’s address on file with Social Security.
• Make sure Social Security has your current address. You can update your address online by signing in to or creating a “my Social Security” account at ssa.gov.
• Don’t worry if you get your new card before or after friends or family members here in Oregon or in other states. The cards are being sent on a variety of dates to prevent mail theft.
• When your new Medicare card arrives, destroy the old one. Do it in a secure manner, such as shredding it.
• Doctors, other health care providers, and plans approved by Medicare know that Medicare is replacing the old cards. They should be ready to accept your new card when you need care.
• Even people with a Medicare plan through a private insurance company, also known as a Medicare Advantage plan, will get a new Medicare card from the federal government. Keep it in a safe place, but continue to use the member card your insurance company sent you.
• Beware of people contacting you about your new Medicare card and asking you for your Medicare number, personal information, or to pay a fee for your new card. Protect your Medicare number like you treat your Social Security or credit card numbers. Remember, Medicare will never contact you uninvited to ask for your personal information.
More information is available at go.medicare.gov/newcard. Oregonians also can contact the state’s Senior Health Insurance Benefits Assistance (SHIBA) program with questions. SHIBA’s phone number is 1-800-722-4134 (toll-free), and the line is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The regular meeting of the Frontier TeleNet Board of Directors called to order by Chairman Judge Steve Shaffer at 10:10 AM. This meeting held in the conference room of the OSU Extension Office, 66365 Lonerock Road, Moro, Oregon.
Also Present: Ruben Cleaveland, Frontier TeleNet Attorney, Dale Scobert, City of Condon, Joe Dabulskis, Sherman County Commissioner, Brad Lohrey, Sherman County Sheriff, Tom McCoy, Sherman County Commissioner, Rob Myers, Mike Smith and Jeanne Burch, Frontier TeleNet Staff.
Minutes: Minutes of February 16, 2018 Board of Directors Meeting Reviewed. Moved by Lynn Morley, seconded by Gary Thompson to approve minutes with the correction of Joe Dabulskis name. Motion carried with all present voting aye.
Minutes of February 16, 2018 Planning Meeting reviewed. Moved by Lynn Morley, seconded by Gary Thompson to approve minutes as presented. Motion carried with all present voting aye.
Financials: Financial Report for February 2018 reviewed. Moved by Lynn Morley, seconded by Gary Thompson to approve financial recap as presented. Motion carried with all present voting aye.
IT and System Updates and Progress Report: Mike Smith, made the following report regarding IT and Systems Items: Day Wireless System provided this report.
Sherman County Courthouse: Working on the wiring for Sherman County Courthouse.
Old Sherman County Drangonwave Link Failure. This line was a backup and has been decommissioned.
Testing Microwave in Wheeler County for Spray.
Kent Generator: Installed and testing generator.
New Frontier TeleNet Office: This office has no internet. Mike will talk to Sherman County about installation.
The original Day Wireless Report is attached to the printed copy in the Frontier TeleNet Minutes Notebook.
Introduced Ruben Cleaveland with Annala, Carey, Thompson, Vankoten & Cleaveland who will be the attorney taking over for Will Carey on Frontier TeleNet legal affairs. Steve Shaffer asked Mike Smith to work on a new contract with Annala, Carey, Thompson, Vankoten & Cleaveland with the passing of Attorney Will Carey.
Grant County PSAP: An offer has been received to provide Grant County with 911 Dispatch A 911 Board Working Group has been organized and Lynn Morley serves on this board. A report will be presented at the April 2018 Frontier TeleNet Board of Directors Meeting on the progress of this project.
Frontier TeleNet and 911 Center: An extensive conversation was held regarding what does Frontier TeleNet get from the 911 Center. Mike Smith replied that each county receives public emergency services for police, ambulance and other services as needed. The need for a reasonable payment from Frontier Regional 911 to Frontier TeleNet was discussed and this will be presented at the Frontier Regional 911 Budget Meeting.
An IT Work Group is being formed for the services to Mid-Columbia Economic District. Frontier TeleNet is available for this project.
Working with Wasco County on an agreement for the Suefort Hill Location. This is an excellent location for Frontier TeleNet to work toward the west. This location served NORCOR in the past.
Worked on assessment of Eakin Elevator south of Grass Valley to see if it can serve as a Frontier TeleNet Site.
A Teleco has made a proposal to serve Wheeler County but wants to trade for services. No discussion by the Board on this item.
Working with Attorney Jim Deason on the Sherman County Project with the State of Oregon. The State of Oregon wants Sherman County to own the project.
Met with Wheatland Insurance Agent to be sure Frontier TeleNet equipment is adequately covered.
Working with Umatilla Morrow Radio District and Motorola.
Worked on National Interoperability Channel Survey for the State of Oregon.
Attended Sherman County Radio Users Group in Sherman County and Gilliam County. Need better radio coverage to the hospital in The Dalles for Gilliam County. Gilliam County is interested in a 700-pager demonstration that will happen next month.
Grant to Microsoft for non-line of site equipment has made it to the next round. This will benefit hard to reach areas. Also a grant has been written for Sherman County use.
Frontier TeleNet office is furnished and up and running.
Zayo Network has been disconnected from the system as it is not needed.
The written report from Mike Smith is attached to these minutes in Frontier TeleNet Minute Notebook.
Gary Thompson stated that since a new water system is going in at Biggs, this would be a good time to install fiber in the open trench. The answer was yes, and Mike Smith will follow up on this project.
Eakin Elevator: There is a possibility of a truck stop going in at this site and high-speed internet will be needed. Mike Smith replied that Kent has high-speed internet that can reach this site. Also, a grant has been written to connect Qlife to Maupin.
Mike also reported that Temp-Rite has renewed their maintenance agreement.
Dale Scobert inquired about the Cottonwood Canyon Park and progress being made. Mike Smith replied that equipment is here and ready to be installed. Hope to have everything operating by summer.
Joe Dabulskis reported that the Moro Library and the SWCD are interested in internet service. Mike Smith will follow up on these items.
Next Meeting: April 20, 2018 at the Gilliam County Courthouse in Condon, Oregon.
There being no further business the meeting adjourned at 10:40 AM.
Sherman County eNews offers an opportunity for Sherman County’s four candidates for the position of county judge to submit to eNews in 350 words or less their vision and solutions for Frontier TeleNet problems. Deadline: Monday, April 5th at 5 p.m.
Readers will recall Frontier TeleNet meeting minutes and editorial concerns previously posted here. A three-county partnership, Frontier TeleNet provides telecommunications services. The governing board members are the Sherman, Gilliam and Wheeler county judges.
Fred Justesen announced his candidacy for Sherman County Judge. He is 68, married, with 4 children, 3 grandchildren, and has lived in Sherman County for 54 years.
Education: Graduated SHS – 68, Bachelor of Science degree from OSU. – 72; Previously held Oregon real estate license.
Occupation: Agriculturalist – Wheat, organic barley, cattle, horses, irrigated pasture, hay, industrial hemp, timber.
Outdoor recreation co-ordinator – involved in big game hunting, fishing, water fowl, upland game birds, farm tours, cattle drives, trail rides.
Event co-ordinator – involved in art and music festivals hosted on Justesen property in Sherman and Wasco Co.
Vacation rental co-ordinator – Airbnb, etc.
Conservationist – Participates in a multitude of conservation practices mitigating concerns with soil, water, air, fish and wildlife, fossil fuel.
Public positions: Sherman County Fair board member for nearly 2 decades; S. Wasco County economic development advisory board – 3 years.
Places resided: Wamic and Tygh Valley, Oregon; Cache Creek and Merritt, B.C.; Richland, Washington; and Kent and Grass Valley, Oregon.
District marble Champion – Merritt, B.C.
All-star hockey team 8th grade -Merritt, B.C.
Instrumental in starting kids wrestling program in Sherman Co.
Volunteer wrestling coach 10 years.
Other paid occupations: Cowboy – Nicola Lake Cattle Co. – B.C.; Dish washer – Jack’s Fine Foods – Biggs Junction; Breakfast cook and Janitor – OSU.
Gorge Grown’s Mobile Farmers Market will be in Sherman County every 1st Saturday starting May 5th with a van full of fresh 100% locally grown fruit and veggies.
For more information or if you have any questions, please contact Silvan Shawe at [email protected] or 808-419-1016.
Tuesday, April 24, 2018 – MS Track at Trout Lake starting at 4:00, departure time has changed to 1:00 with class dismissal at 12:50.
The Biggs Service District will hold a hearing during County Court on May 2nd at 9am at Sherman County Courthouse at 500 Court Street in Moro, Oregon 97039 to provide information to the public regarding the Service District’s application to USDA Rural Development’s Water and Waste Water Disposal Loan and Grant Program to develop a community water system in Biggs Junction. The application for water system development will be in the amount of $1,672,900 with a total project cost of $2,184,900. Contact Aaron Cook at Biggs Service District (541-739-2321) with any questions.
At one time or another, we’ve probably heard, “You’re acting immature,” or even worse, “Grow up!” from those who know us well. However, how many of us truly understand what it is to be “grown up” or “mature”?
During the mid-20th Century, a gentleman by the name of Erik Erikson came out with his Theory of Psychosocial Development. In it he categorized eight steps that need to be taken, in order to become a fully functional adult. This week, we are going to look at those eight steps, or stages, of human development. For anyone in a leadership position of any nature, understanding these stages is vital to your success in working with and leading others.
As we go through these stages, throughout this coming week, it might help to think of them as widely-placed steps on a ladder. We must be able to handle the first one, before we go on to the next, and we cannot skip steps. If we don’t handle each step well, then personality disorders develop. We act immature for that stage. Now, it does not mean we are stuck at that level forever. We can go back and re-do, or bolster, those characteristics inside ourselves. Those characteristics are prime targets for affirmations to help us grow into each next step.
So, let’s begin. The first stage is Trust. Trust develops in our first year of life. For those who have raised, or are raising children now, you know how important it is for you to teach your child that the world is a good place. You are loved and cared for, consistently. When you are hungry, they feed you and will feed you every time you are hungry. You trust in the human-to-human contact of being held and your needs being met.
If attention is not paid, the child quickly learns to mistrust the world. They withdraw. In infants, this can result in skin rashes or respiratory problems, and also results in stunting of physical growth. At the far end of the spectrum, death can occur. Infants need tender, loving care, and that very human touch.
For someone who did not receive this tender, loving care, as they grow into adulthood, they come off as cold and aloof. They may seem shallow or egotistical. They build walls around themselves and have difficulty creating and sustaining loving relationships with other adults. These folks have real challenges working with others. | 2019-04-22T08:15:50Z | https://shermancountynews.com/2018/04/ |
Franchises can help you succeed in business with their proven business models, training, promotions, as well as support.
1. You must do your research on Franchises with an excellent track record of successses.
2. Make sure you have personally visited at a few Franchisees youself and experienced their offerings.
3. Research sufficiently to ascertain that Products and Services have high likelyhood of success in your town / area.
4. Meet company officials and get full details on training, tools and support provided by them.
5. Lastly, have a full understanding of costs and margins that you will have to share with the Principals.
Note: Please contact the companies directly for further details. We have provided Links for your convenience.
Quest Tutorials Started in 2002 by two IITians, Quest is the fastest growing coaching brand in India.Quest initiated “Power Coaching for IITJEE”, a unique system of IITJEE preparation that maximises student performance by synchronizing studies with Class 11/12.Quest has established its dominance in IITJEE coaching with specially designed programs for the “New IITJEE pattern”.Huge opportunity in the IIT JEE/AIEEE /Engineering coaching .Over 15 lakh students every year take IIT JEE, AIEEE and SLEET. Total market size is over Rs. 10,000 Crores.Many small fragmented teachers/tutors running institutes with unstructured course material and delivery standards.The changing pattern of IIT JEE /AIEEE has created the need for an upgraded coaching facility in ever city & town in India. They need Dynamic & ambitious individual. Prior business experience is of definite advantage. Post graduate, MBA preferred. They provide: marketing collateral,course material,product training,academic training,operational training and online support. Quest has developed a system that uses the best practices in Marketing, Sales, Academics and Operations. All this has been standardised so that it can be deployed at each of our centres with ease.As a franchise partner, one will have a technical tie-up with Pragmatum and gets the use of brand name Quest, the Quest training courses and the relevant technology.
Marrybrown Marry Brown – the restaurant chain that’s come to be synonymous with lip-smacking food and all round family entertainment. Based in Malaysia, we now have 350 outlets throughout South Asia and well on our way to becoming a world brand. We are also the fastest growing fast-food chain with outlets in various countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Dubai, China and Sri Lanka among others.
Bikanervala Bikanervala is one of India's most prominent families in the business of traditional hospitality products like Sweets and Namkeens. Bikanervala Foods Pvt. Ltd. is an ISO 9001:2000, HACCP and SQF 2000 certified company with a chain of 88 outlets in India and abroad, serving vegetarian North Indian, South Indian, Continental, Chinese cuisine and Fast food along with a vast variety of traditional Indian sweets and snacks.
Fastclean FASTCLEAN under the banner of Water Care Services was founded by Manoj Agarwal, who has done his post graduate diploma in Marketing after he successfully launched professio nal tank cleaning services company in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. He achieved the feat way back in 2006 through his unique marketing approach and unmatched commitment to the service industry.During his course of finding a solution to the urgent and basic need to have Water Storage Tanks (WST) that should be regularly cleaned and disinfected through a widely used six mechanized cleaning steps, he got immediate response from the govt. and private sectors and approval from corporations whose tanks remained unclean in the absence of a mechanical method to clean them. Their achievements : India’s fastest emerging brand in professional tank. Cleaning service industry. Central India’s Largest And Chattisgarh’s No.1 Professional Tank Cleaning Service Provider Recognition and Approval From Govt. bodies & Private Corporate. Multi-step scientific way of Cleaning & Disinfecting Water Storage Tanks. The best part of becoming a franchisee is to have experts working for you while you reap the profit.Through years of practical experience and research, they have been able to develop a profitable and a straightforward business proposal for one at a very low cost through which, one can apply your entrepreneurial spirit most professionally and earn profit followed by wide social recognition for doing something worthy to the society.
Contours Since 1998, Contours Express has been helping women around the world achieve their health and fitness goals, through our unique cardio fit exercise system. Today there are over 750 health and fitness studios across 32 countries and we are rated #2 in women's fitness internationally. We provide a fun, friendly environment where people of all ages can improve the way they look and more importantly the way they feel about themselves.
Da Milano Da Milano is an integrated leather brand that manufactures and retails leather bags and accessories for both men and women since 1989. It is a brand with distinctive Italian sensibility and today it has 17 signature stores across India and still growing.
the yellow chilli The Yellow Chilli is a chain of restaurants across the world, owned by celebrity Indian chef Sanjeev Kapoor, where the taste of Indian cuisine is redefined providing a cherishing dining experience. Currently they are operational with 14 restaurants across India.
Dosa Plaza Dosa Plaza was incorporated in 1998 and since its inception had understood the importance of being a Franchising Company. The first Dosa Plaza outlet was opened in Vashi, Navi Mumbai and today the company has established itself across 12 states in India and is spearing speedily into the international market. Their USP is their 104 exotic varieties of fusion dosas with 27 being trademark dosas.
SMC Global Securities Ltd SMC Global Securities Ltd., founded in 1990, is India’s leading share and stock broker. It deals with a wide range of financial services and investment solutions. Today it is the 4th largest broking house in India with 2000 franchises. SMC GLOBAL SECURITIES LTD offers a diverse range share and stock broker services which includes institutional and retail brokerage of equity, currency, commodities, derivatives, online trading, depository services, fixed Deposits, IPOs and mutual funds distribution, dedicated desk for NRI and institutional clients, insurance broking, clearing services, margin funding, investment banking, portfolio management, wealth advisory & research.
Jumboking Foods Pvt Ltd Jumbo King began its journey to brand the Vada Pav in 2001. Inspired by western models and applying it to Indian food, Jumbo King believes that the common man has the constitutional right to get hygienic food at an affordable price. Jumbo King has a team of people spanning the functional areas of operations, business development, franchisee relations and marketing.
Maya Academy Of Advanced Cinematics MAAC is the high-end 3D Animation & VFX education brand of Aptech. Through its wide network of centres, MAAC has prepared thousands of students for careers in Animation, VFX, Filmmaking, Gaming, Web and Graphics Design. The Academy provides quality education through career-oriented courses, leading to top-notch job placements. MAAC partners with franchisees around the world & helps them set up their education business.
Cartridge World Cartridge World was founded in South Australia in 1997. In addition to providing refilling services which is the core business, Cartridge World’s more than 2000 locations worldwide deal in original manufacturer cartridges for inkjet printers, laser printers, fax machines and photocopiers as well as additional supplies for fax machines and copiers. Cartridge World was named the No.1 Toner Replacement Service franchise and was included as one of the Fastest Growing Franchises in 2004 & 2006 according to Entrepreneur Magazine. AFL Pvt. Ltd. the leading logistics, cargo and courier company is the Master Franchisee for Cartridge World in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Maldives. Cartridge World operates in the fast-paced information technology environment. Advancements in information technology over the past decade have transformed business to be dependent on computers and printers. Consequently, recharging printer cartridges has become one of the fastest growing industries in the world. In servicing this market, Cartridge World has successfully provided an environmentally sound, economical solution to the growing costs of replacing printer cartridges. A printer cartridge can be refurbished & refilled for approximately half the price of a new one, providing substantial saving with output as good as new. Additionally, refilling the cartridge supports local communities by reducing waste and protecting the environment (a printer cartridge is said to take over 450 years to decompose naturally & more than 3.4 litres of oil is needed to manufacture a laser cartridge, over 900 million cartridges are thrown into landfill every year) as well as creating local employment opportunities as opposed to importing new cartridges.Cartridge World’s franchisee stores across the world have been refilling /recharging their way to a highly profitable business franchising opportunity by offering a ‘no-compromise’ alternative to the high priced original printer cartridges, to consumers.The cartridge World franchise is an all weather business franchising opportunity which helps you earn healthy returns while your customers save money. Cartridge World was recently ranked 27th in the Top 100 Global Franchise Business* ranking out of thousands of franchise businesses across the world that once again underlined its global leadership in a rapidly growing printer cartridge industry. Currently, In India over 100 franchisees have already been appointed and over 90 stores have been launched in Agartala, Agra, Ahmedabad, Ankleshwar, Aurangabad, Bangalore, Belgaum, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Guna, Gurgaon, Guwahati, Hosur, Hubli, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jamshedpur, Kannur, Kohima, Kolkata, Lucknow, Malda, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Nagercoil, Nagpur, Pondicherry, Pune, Rajasthan, Ranchi, Salem, Shillong, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruchirapalli, Tirupur, Tumkur, Vadodara, Varanasi, and Vishakapatnam the initial customer response to this unique concept has indeed been overwhelming. With efficient technical, training and marketing support mechanisms in place, many stores have already achieved operational break- even, within 3 to 4 months of launch. Franchisees have also been appointed in cities like Bareilly, Aurangabad,Trichy and many more.
Ron And Baker Ron And Baker Pvt. Ltd. is an unmatched unique business opportunity for every individual. Ron And Baker opportunity has been created for the uncommon people to work together at a common platform. Established in the year 1990, we are a leading manufacturer, exporter, importer and supplier of world class Medical Products, Medical Equipments, Welding Products and Cosmetic Products. The company is looking for franchisees.
Liberty Shoes Liberty Group started its operations in 1944 and today has an annual turnover of Rs. 400 crore. It has 375 exclusive stores, 150 distributors & a retail base of over 6000 multi-brand outlets and production of over 60,000 pairs a day. The Company is into an agreement for sale/purchase of goods and/or taking on franchise basis the production on franchise basis the production facilities and/or acquire movable and immovable property including plant and machinery, building, etc. with Liberty Group Marketing Division and/or Liberty Enterprises, partnership firms.
Institute of Vedic Mathematics Institute of Vedic Mathematics the self explanatory term which deals with the tricks of mathematics, we say Mathemagic, which are very handy and useful for everybody who has undergone through such of maths. Before stating the modus operandi of this science, it is very necessary for us to know the history behind this topic. Yog is gift of Indian Saints to every element of the GLOBE. But after it’s reach to abroad YOG became YOGA and drastically adopted by the Indians. Same tragedy was happened with Vedic Mathematics. VM is re-discovered by Jagatguru Swami Shri Bharti Krishna Tirthaji Maharaj (1884-1960), who discovered 16 word formulae and 13 sub formulae from Atharvaved and catered to human being to solve any type of basic calculation pertaining to Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division etc.The academic mathematics consists of several steps to find the final answers. In Vedic Mathematics you can direct get answers in single line, also you can write answer from right-to-left or left-to-right way. Off course it requires more practice. They want to reach every corner of area where student doesn’t seek or doesn’t know what is Vedic Mathematic .They are continuously focused on to increase the application of Vedic Mathematics in various studies and examination.
Gloria Jean’s Coffees Gloria Jean's Coffees is dedicated to offering the worlds highest quality speciality coffee from bean to cup. Australian owned and locally operated, the Gloria Jeans Coffees family now stretches far and wide across the globe with over 1,000 coffee houses in 39 countries.
VLCC Institute VLCC Institute of Beauty & Nutrition was established in India in 2001 to share VLCC's dream with today's students and tomorrow's entrepreneurs.Headquartered in Delhi, the Institute is present across 51 campuses in 39 cities including one in Kathmandu (Nepal) and offers specialized professional courses in beauty, hair, cosmetology, make-up, spa therapies and nutrition.Driven by the growing demand for specialised services in the Indian personal care market, VLCC, a category leader in the wellness domain with a strong global vision, started VLCC Institutes in 2001. The VLCC Institutes were established with the objective of rendering skilled professionals to the industry and helping students carve a niche for themselves in this creative world. As part of providing state-of-the –art vocational training, VLCC Institute is the first of its kind in Asia that has introduced e-classes for vocational courses in beauty and nutrition. The digitized training material has been developed to the highest standards with innovative content and new approach. Today, there are 51 institutes in 39 cities offering courses in Beauty & Nutrition. The students at the VLCC institutes receive a holistic perspective of the industry, right from the induction, special lectures and seminars, to mid-term and end of term evaluations. The faculty at the institute is highly qualified. The institutes are spread across all states, giving an opportunity to students living in small towns to acquire the same professional skills as those in the metros. The institute consciously maintains an optimum student-teacher ratio. VLCC’s industry connections and nationally accredited degrees ensure high quality placements for its students. VLCC Institutes are now affiliated to IGNOU to impart vocational training in Nutrition &Beauty Courses. VLCC Institute is also affiliated with Doncaster Collage, UK; Cengage Learning, US and City and Guilds through India Skills. VLCC Institute of Beauty & Nutrition is an ISO 9001: 2008 certified Asia's largest chain of beauty and nutrition vocational training academies offering quality education and always aiming to enhance customer satisfaction through effective application of the system. VLCC has successfully launched over 150 Slimming, Beauty and Fitness centers in India and across the world. For them the horizon expands with each launch. They believe in nurturing talent and sharing the expertise they have gathered over decades with their franchisees. In the initial stages of setting up your franchise business they provide assistance with technical issues, help overcome operational and administrative challenges, along with providing guidance for effective sales and marketing.
Only Parathas Only Parathas was born with the vision of Mr. Anil Singh Arora, also fondly known as “Pappi Singh” with his idea of bringing North-Indian culture to Mumbai made “Only Parathas” the first choice of restaurant goers, We introduced this concept on 18th May 2001, at a small 40 sitter restaurant in Lokhandwala, one of the prime location in Mumbai. With a grand opening and huge flow of customers within a period of nine months Only Parathas expanded itself with a new restaurant in the heart of Mumbai suburb at “Khar – Linking Road” with a sitting capacity of 170 pax along with a banqueting facility for around 100 pax. They pioneered the art of making stuffed parathas and specially crafted their menu with years of experience to give their customers a wide range of stuffed parathas varieties in a restaurant format which one can never dream off. Their approach to vegetarian menu is to fuel a passion for vegetables, cereal and grains. Complex textures, artistic shapes, vibrant colours and full flavours are tenderly explored to transform vegetables, dairy products, cereals, beans and lentils into unforgettable main-course. They created a revolution in the industry with our unique recipes and our passion towards creating great combinations of parathas, they claim to have become no.1 choice in the parathas making business and great competition for other pure-vegetarian restaurants. The menu comprises of Delhi-Style Chats, Chole Bhature and specially shortlisted 450 varieties of parathas, whereas they can make more than 1000 varieties of stuffed parathas. With the desire to delight guests, they have added menu with South-Indian, Chinese and Italian cuisine making it a complete dining experience for guests. Though, they have expanded their business with multi-cuisines menu with the thought of not just keeping it limited with the choices of parathas, they have still been able to justify o brand name “Only Parathas” by making 70% of the contribution to the business from Parathas sales.With such demand, deep respect and love from our valuable guests, they have planned to expand Pan-India with more 25 to 30 outlets within a period of 2 years.
Marshalls Marshalls was started in 1975 has more than 250 people with 15 showrooms in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Surat and Vapi. Marshalls, currently has 15 showrooms. Of these 8 are franchise showrooms. Wallpapers as a product puts a smile on the customers face that gives immense satisfaction.
Radico Remedies North India's premier pharmaceutical manufacturing company Radico Remedies is a single-point source for all pharmaceutical and contract manufacturing requirements. Radico has manufacturing facilities for pharmaceuticals, food supplements, nutraceuticals, and vitamins. The company’s contract manufacturing facility is ISO 9001:2000 certified & GMP Certified. Radico Remedies is looking for pharmaceutical franchise operators all over India.
JUICE LOUNGE Juice Lounge offers a bold dynamic approach to retailing in the health beverage industry. Juice Lounge- Juice Bars was formed in April,2005 and is the first juice bar chain of India and currently has 40+ stores operational across India and abroad. Juice Lounge has identified suitable locations nationwide and are looking for the right caliber of person to award their franchise rights. They offer franchise opportunities for a kiosk, OTC(over the counter)/mall counter and also a lounge. The investments as also the area required vary according to the formats. Further details for the same can be found in the link attached.
VLCC VLCC as a brand came into existence in 1989 and has grown to become the largest player in the Wellness domain in South Asia and the Middle East with operations in 8 countries, across over 240 locations in 109 cities. Its network of VLCC Slimming, Beauty and Fitness centers (commonly referred to as VLCC Centres) constitute the largest such chain in the countries it currently operates in, while its chain of VLCC Institutes of Beauty and Nutrition is the largest such network of vocational education academies in Asia.
The Mobile Store The MobileStore format is a one stop mobile solution shop that provides, multi brand handsets, accessories, connections, repairs, VAS etc all under one roof.The MobileStore currently has over 1000 outlets across 150 cities, thus covering virtually every major town in every state across India.he MobileStore caters to the Indian consumer‘s choice of the widest and most comprehensive range of mobile phones with special offers from all the key brands available across the globe. The MobileStore offers complete telecom solutions right from handset purchase to the choice of service operator and miscellaneous services like monthly bill collections etc., the stores also offer connections (pre paid and post paid), accessories and VAS including the latest ring tones, wallpapers and gaming and prompt after sales service, available not only in the city of purchase but in all The MobileStore outlets across the country. The MobileStore is the India’s No. 1 Mobile Retailer with 45% share in the telecom modern trade retail.The MobileStore promoted by the Essar Group, is a one stop mobile solution shop which offers mobiles, mobile accessories, mobile connections, recharges, theft insurance, extended warranty and many other services all under one roof in a world class shopping ambience. They invite applications from entrepreneurs across the country wishing to partner with them and make most of the telecom revolution. We believe that our learning’s which have now transformed into some of the best practices in the industry shall help us and the franchisee to make it a win–win model. TMS will support the Franchisee with telecom retail expertise, format of the store, supply chain capabilities and exciting consumer promotions. We provide the Franchisee with the best-in-industry margin structure and reward high performers handsomely. The company does not charge any royalty fee to the Franchisee, but instead provides ‘additional payout’ for conforming to the brand guidelines. Company leverages its influence with brands to make the model work and hence a promise of long- term relationship.
Speed Car Wash Speed Car Wash a concept developed by LIV INDIA to organize the Car Cleaning segment to give the community a new definition of car care and detailing services which are not professionally followed in India. Based at Delhi their endeavour is to spread the awareness amongst car users about the Clean Car Culture & Car Hygiene. Speed Car Wash is a brand which is literally going to change the way people think about car cleaning. It is a unique mechanized car cleaning concept where cars are getting pampered by the latest equipments including high pressure cleaning machines, spray injection and extraction machines, high powered vacuum cleaners, steam cleaners and so on. When India is teeming with glowing and enthusiastic business opportunities, car washing business can bang the Indian market. The country where innumerable cars are catching the sights of people, smart car wash can wrap up the opportunity. This venture is entirely dedicated towards spreading the awareness among car users about their car hygiene habits, cleanliness, durability of exterior look and other common cleaning tips. Although it is an unorganized sector till date, a new and organized way of car washing can create the difference. At Speed Car Wash, plethora of research on the car care and maintenance was done and this entire concept was summed up. The aim is to deliver best of services and bring in new concept to the car market. Like other countries like US, Italy, Germany and UK where professional car wash has a very significant role to play, India is also not far flung in the race. Speed Car Wash franchisees do not need any prior technical experience to effectively operate a franchise. Their comprehensive initial training program includes engaging, in-depth, informative classes on all technical matters, marketing, operations and technology.One will complete training with the confidence and knowledge necessary to succeed. The training sessions would be taken by our Certified Trainers having good experience in the business car wash. The trainer will work side-by-side working with employees, initiating marketing activities, and ensuring that the equipment is functioning properly. Speed Car Wash will assist one in developing a budget for your local marketing program. In addition Speed Car Wash provides its franchise owners with ongoing marketing support through our Active Marketing Program (AMP). AMP is a program implemented by the Speed Car Wash home office once a person completes the initial training program. AMP gives you ongoing listings on specific lead generation through websites and Google Pay-Per-Click campaigns, SMS blasts and email campaigning allowing one, one more time to productively manage the critical day-to-day operations of ones business. After one has completed both the initial training program and the on-site training one will have access to their support personnel at the home office. Their support staff is waiting to assist you with any aspect of the business. one will also have access to our library of resource material including our: Startup, Operation, Technical, Employee, and Marketing manuals. These manuals help managing every aspect of your business from day to day to ling term planning. The manuals are written by the team of experts and have been tested, measured and refined according to the business system.
Water jet Germany Pvt.Ltd. Water Jet Germany Pvt. Ltd. (WJG) started its operation in 2005. Since inception, WJG has come a long way in the field of Manufacturing to become the leading manufacturer and exporter of CNC operated Abrasive Water Jet cutting machines in India. Over a period of time, WJG has built a solid reputation across the Globe by offering High Quality service and support.
Birdy s bakery and pastries Birdy's is a chain of gourmet bakery and patisserie shops catering to our wide range of daily, indulgence and celebration needs with its scrumptious array of breads, cakes and pastries. Usually the first choice for all occasions and celebrations, Birdy’s has become synonymous with the word ‘Cake’. A haven for breads and desserts, the bakery offers freshly prepared appetizing treats ranging from the traditional to the exotic to the ‘made to order’ recipes. Patisserie, desserts, sandwiches, muffins, European chocolates gateaux and tea time favorites are just a few of the irresistible products available at Birdy's. Expanding at a rapid pace, the Birdy's currently has 55 outlets spread across Mumbai and Delhi with plans to increase its retail presence exponentially. It is ISO 220000 certified .
Hobby Ideas Hobby Ideas is India's first chain of arts, crafts and hobby stores, promoted by Pidilite Industries. It is the first of its kind concept in India where you get a chance to create and indulge in your favorite hobby. It offers a range of more than 2500 arts, crafts and hobby products across various categories from different countries all over the world and also, to help you unleash your creative energies it offers workshops and activities in the guidance of experts and teachers. Hobby Ideas is present in multiple cities through 11 owned stores and 13 shop-in-shop stores.
PRG Pharma PRG Pharma was established in 2001 is engaged in manufacture of huge basket of Healthcare products which is addressing all the therapeutic dosage forms like Tab, Capsules , syrups ,ointments, sterile parenteral, protein granules & herbal products. PRG Pharma under its expansion plan is searching for pharma franchise/ business partners/ Distributors from financially sound unrepresented states/ districts of India.
foRUN EXPRESS Forun express is a growing courier brand in India.It is a franchise where you operate as the Man-In-The-Office, in your personal demarcated area. All parcels & documents that come in via the national network of 'hubs' for delivery, outgoing parcels to be picked up at the end of the day for national or international delivery are hosted by the depot. This is then co-ordinated with the Man-In-The-Office Franchisees by the Operations teams in the depots.Forun express franchisees are actual couriers. You operate from your own office and usually start out with one vehicle in the area until there is the opportunity to expand. Franchisees market and "work" their own areas. The area is determined by the Franchisor and the Franchisee depending on the availability has the exclusive right to a particular area. Mail shots, local advertising, good contacts, and simply knocking on doors are all ways to bring your services to the attention of local businesses.
Gold’s Gym Gold's Gym has been the authority on fitness since 1965. Gold’s Gym started its operations in India in 2002 with 14000 sq. ft. state of the art facility at Napean Sea in South Mumbai. Today Gold’s Gym has 38 franchisees across 20 cities in India.
Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. Godrej Interio is a business unit of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. - part of the Godrej Group, one of India’s largest engineering and consumer product groups. Godrej Interio, a premium lifestyle furniture brand, is one of the biggest players in the furniture industry today. From manufacturing the humble Storwel cupboard 80 years back to being a vibrant, innovative brand with a diverse portfolio its been a brilliant, exciting journey for Godrej Interio. Today, Godrej Interio is one of the leading retail franchise company in India.
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SPALON SPALON is an initiative by DREAMZ INTERNATIONAL founded by DR.ROOPA LAKSHMI BHAT who is a NATUROPATH, SPA CONSULTANT AND SPA EQUIPMENT TRADER in the industry who envisaged the dream of setting up SPALON centers which offers quality services at a very affordable price with premium quality of service. SPALON the premium brand of Wellness Lounge exclusively for Ladies is on the vision of opening up their chain of centers across India and intends to facilitate lady entrepreneurs and investors to invest on the concept which is affordable and with a faster breakeven. The salon & spa business franchise industry is a very lucrative and exciting sector that offers a strong opportunity for any individual to turn entrepreneur. As people are becoming more health and wellness conscious than ever, Hair styling, nail salons, spas or wellness centers, offer consistent monthly income too. Investing in a spa and salon "SPALON" franchise is therefore a good opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs. Today SPALON has already opened their outlets at Bangalore,Coimbatore. Very Soon SPALON is setting up its centre in Hyderabad, Chennai, Cochin, Trivendrum and Mysore by the end of 2012. SPALON is planning to achieve its Landmark of setting up centers pan India.
Bombay Dyeing Bombay Dyeing is one of the leading companies in the textile business. In fact, India has made a position in the world textile sector holding the hands of Bombay Dyeing. The textile products of the company are exported to different nations all across the world like the United States, European Union Countries, Australia and New Zealand. Bombay Dyeing is a household name with above 600 franchise retail shops all across the country.
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If a returned soldier under clause 9, subclause (c), of the regulations obtained an advance less than his authorized borrowing power, would he subsequently, under sub-clause (e), be eligible for further assistance to meet the cost of such necessary addition required for an increasing family, but not exceeding the total authorized advance to returned soldiers?
and 2. No. The object of the War Service Homes Act is to provide returnedsoldiers and their dependants with the means whereby they may acquire their own homes. If successful applicants could apply at any later period for further assistance there would be no end to the activities of the Commission, and this point is closely related to the question of finance which, as the honorable member is aware, is very acute. However, the suggestion to make additional help available to those who have already been assisted to acquire a home will be reviewed when the applications already submitted by returned soldiers and others who have not yet been granted assistance have been satisfied.
Whether the Minister will lay upon the table of the House the papers in reference to the recall of Lieutenant-Colonel Ramsay Smith, O.C., No. 1 Australian General Hospital, Heliopolis, Egypt, in 1915?
– The documents upon which the Minister acted in accepting the advice of the authorities overseas have already been made available for the perusal of honorable members, and I shall be happy to enable the honorable member for Hindinarsh to peruse them.
What is the total amount paid in salaries to the members of theInter-State Commission?
What is the total amount paid for clerical assistance, travelling, office, and other expenses of the Commission?
What recommendations of the Commission have been given effect to?
The total amount paid by the Government during the periods July, 1918, June, 1919, July, 1919, and June, 1920, in connexion with the medical and surgical administration and staff at the military hospital at Keswick, South Australia?
A detailed list of practitioners and the respective amounts received for duties at the above hospital?
A list of practitioners permanently attached to the staff?
Is it a fact that, in connexion with the transfer of the officers’ of the Government Land Radio Stations from the Department of the Navy to the Department of the Postmaster-General, the following injustices have occurred: - (a) That permanent officers of the Commonwealth Public Service (previous to their transfer to the Department of the Navy for war service) find themselves transferred back to the Public Service without their former status, thereby being reduced from the Professional class of the Service to the Clerical; (b) that increments of salary earned by them under the Department of the Navy, and due from July last, have not been paid by the Navy, and that the Commissioner for the Public Service has ignored the same when assessing their present salaries; (c) that officers have beenreduced in salary as much as £29 per annum, in addition to their £12 annual increment, making their total reduction £41 per annum?
Is it a fact that the officers, who are all members of the Radio Telgraphists Institute of Australasia, instructed their secretary to ask the Public Service Commissioner to allow them representation when the details of the transfer were being considered, in order to prevent injustice?
If so, why was this request refused?
Is it a fact that the Public Service Commissioner acknowledged recently, through his representative in the Arbitration Court, that these officers were “ professional engineering men “ ?
If so, why have these men been deprived of their status?
As these officers have received no war bonus, repatriation benefits, or recognition of any sort for their services at a time of great national danger, will the Government, at this late hour, in recognition of this service, and in view of the treatment now meted out to them, appoint a special tribunal to inquire into their case at once with their official representative?
I promised that the information would be obtained, and the Acting Public Service Commissioner has now furnished me with the following information: - 1. (a) Upon re-appointment to the Public Service certain of the officers referred to have been classified in the Clerical Division.. The duties of these officers are not considered to be of a Professional Division character. Positions of an allied character in other sections of the Postmaster ^General’s Department are classified in the Clerical Division, and no good reason now exists for difference in divisional classification. Where the duties are of a professional character, e.g., engineers, the officers have been classified in the Professional Division, (b) Increments due from 1st July lost accruing up to date of transfer have been paid, except in cases where it is the practice to hold payment until the passing of the Estimates. The officers claims to these increments were not overlooked when assessing their salaries as officers of the Public Service, (c) While, owing to difference in system of classification in the Navy Department and in the Public Service, amounts paid as salary will in nine cases be less, there will be no reduction in actual remuneration; on the contrary, there has been a general increase. It must be noted that the Navy scale of salary covered all services rendered by officers on Sundays, on holidays, and for overtime, which, under Public Service practice, are compensated by payment in addition to salary. Furthermore, any reduction in salary has also been met by placing the Radio staff under similar conditions to those of the general body of officers in the grant of allowances to meet present conditions of living. Each unmarried officer will receive £30, and each married officer £45, in addition to salary, and remuneration for Sunday and holiday work should amount to at least an additional thirty days’ pay. Exclusive of Sunday and holiday pay, the officers of theRadio staff willbe paid during the current financial year a sum of £4,250 above what they would have received had they remained under the Department of the Navy, and received increments from 1st July, 1920.
Death of the Lord Mayor of Cork.
.- The participation of Australia in the great European war justifies the intervention of this Parliament in other matters of international importance. “We fought for “ the liberty of small nations and to make the world safe for Democracy”; at least, so we were assured during the continuance of the war. That being so, we are entitled to show concern for small nations other than Belgium and Poland whose liberty is impaired and in which Democracy is not safe.
Our intervention in this conflict, which, by the way, evoked much eulogy from persons who have since proved neither friends to one small nation nor to Democracy, establishes our right to a voice in international matters, and cancels any objection which might otherwise be raised to this motion.
This is the part which I emphasize for the benefit of honorable members and those outside who may be inclined to object to the motion - and will certainly have serious consequences in the self-governing Dominions.
I take it that Lord Denman had several reasons for writing in that strain. The first, of course, was to save the English Government from the reproach of the murder of the Lord Mayor of Cork; the second, I take it, was the hope that his release would bring about a more speedy settlement of the Irish question. But he had a third reason. Lord Denman, knowing Australia well, is aware that our domestic problems are often complicated by appeals to sectarian rancour and anti-Irish prejudices, which invariably provoke retaliation. It is apparent that he desired to remove the cause of these outbreaks, in order that Australia might attend to her national affairs, free from such extraneous obtrusiveness. I may commend the wise words and the deliberate warning of Lord Denman to the consideration of the House and the country.
In itself, and apart from other circumstances the death in a foreign prison of the Lord Mayor of an Irish city should give pause to every man who values civic liberty. Let us consider what manner of man he was, and why he met death in a convict cell. No criminal, certainly. Even the Thugs who gaoled him dare not utter that perjury. He was a man irreproachable in domestic and private life, a poet and idealist, beloved by his fellow citizens, the parliamentary representative and chief magistrate of an ancient and important city. What sort of Government is it which puts a man of this type in fetters, and condemns him to the death of a felon?
– The death of a hero.
– Let us consider the character of the Government which did this thing. I say deliberately that you would have to go back to the Russia of the Czars or to some of the cut-throat clubs of theFrench Revolution for its prototype. .
– What was done was not as bad as shooting policemen in the back.
– I never heard of a policeman being shot in the back, except when he was running away. The honorable member should know that there are no policemen in Ireland. There are spies; there are the agents provocateurs of a foreign Government; but there are no men who at any time perform purely police duties as understood in Australia. There is not a police force in Ireland in the ordinary sense of the term. I suppose the honorable member spoke out to the fullness of his ignorance of Irish matters.
– I ask if the honorable member is in order in referring to the British Governmentas a foreign Government in Ireland?
– I have no precise knowledge that the reference was to the English Government. In any case, the honorable member is only expressing his own view.
– This ridiculous point of order I shall meet by a plain statement. I have no hesitation in saying that, so far as Ireland is concerned, the British Government is a foreign Government.
– You’ have sworn allegiance to it.
– Have I ? When ? I have sworn allegiance to Australia, not to any other country.
– You said that we fought the last war to make this a nation.
– I do not think that the honorable member did much fighting.
– Certainly the honorable member himself did not.
– I was past the ;ageof. fighting; otherwise I might have gone where there was some danger; I doubt that the honorable member did that.
– Then you do not know much about it.
– I know as much about it as you were in a position to know.
– In any case, what has the matter under discussion to do with Australia ?
– What had the war between England and Germany to do with Australia? Is it nothing to Australia, whose sons in thousands died for the liberty of Belgium and Prance, that little Ireland, a part of the British Empire, has had its liberty ruthlessly suppressed? Having spent unnumbered millions to help to “make the world safe for Democracy,” why should the honorable member question an effort, which costs nothing, to make Democracy safe in Ireland ?
Here is a representative leader of Irish Democracy, a member of Parliament, and a chieftain of Sinn Fein. What are his relations with the British Government ? Mr. MacSwiney was first arrested four years ago. He was then deported to Wakefield prison without trial or charge. Some, months later he was released “ without explanation or apology.” In a few months he was rearrested and deported. He escaped, was rearrested, and sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment for a seditious speech. In one month of 1918 he was released for ill-health, and re-arrested the next. Again he was discharged a sick man, re-arrested . at the prison gate, and deported, untried and uncharged, to England. Release, again “without explanation or apology,” followed next spring. In the autumn of 1919 and in the following year four warrants were issued against him. His final arrest, and his fourth deportation to England, took place last month.
How was this man tried? Not by a jury of his fellow countrymen, but by a court martial composed of officers of the army of occupation. What sort of justice was4 he likely to get from a tribunal of that kind ? What was his offence 1 His offence was this : His desk -was burst open, and in it was found some document which was supposed to belong exclusively to the army of occupation. That was the offence for which this man - this Lord Mayor of Cork and member of Parliament - was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, and to a lingering and painful death.
– “ A lingering and painful” death “ ?
– That was the outcome undoubtedly.
– Would the authorities not give him any food ?
– The honorable member who asks that silly question is evidently unable to understand or appreciate the heroism cf a man who sacrificed himself for the advancement of an ideal. I do not expect the honorable member to comprehend such an exalted act.
– No; certainly not. The honorable member is more concerned with the price of wheat.
– There is a great deal of difference between a man offering himself as a sacrifice, and his being murdered.
– Does the honorable member mean to say that a man commits suicide who rushes into a burning building to save life, or that a man in war time, when fighting against the enemy, suicides when he gives his life to save the lives of others ? That is what the Lord Mayor of Cork did, and I hope that there will be no Thuggish suggestion that he committed suicide.
– There is no question about it.
– It is a lie!
– I rise to a point of order. It is quite clear that this matter cannot be debated calmly.
– Simply on account of insolent interjections from the other side.
– I ask your ruling, Mr. Speaker, whether this is a motion which should be debated in the present way. I should like to know, first of all, where the urgency of this matter is - how it becomes a matter of urgent public importance here in Australia. There is another course available in order to debate such questions as this. This question of Irish wrongs has been aebated here, as you, sir, may recollect, on more than one occasion. Such a question ought to be debated on a specific motion; it is not in the nature of a matter of urgent public importance such as to justify a motion for the adjournment of the House, and the setting aside of the ordinary business of the country. I subunit that the motion is not one within the category of the standing order, which provides clearly that an honorable member must rise in his place, and must propose to move the adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a “ definite matter of urgent public importance.” This is a motion which would properly find its place, if at all, on the ordinary business-paper, to be dealt with in the ordinary way.
– The question whether this is a motion that can be rightly regarded as dealing with a definite matter of urgent public importance is not really one for me to decide. If the Treasurer (Sir Joseph Cook) will read standing order 38 he will see that the question of urgency and of the importance ,of the motion is practically determined by a certain number of members rising in their places to signify their acquiesence in the view that the matter is of urgent public importance.
– What standing order is that, Mr. Speaker?
– Anything does to delay discussion that the Treasurer does not wish to hear !
– The honorable ‘member had better stop such insults; they will not help the discussion.
Mo motion ‘for the adjournment of the House shall be made except by a Minister of the Crown, unless a member after petitions have been presented and notices of questions and motions given, and before the business of the day is called on rising in his place shall propose to move the adjournment for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent public importance (which he shall then state and hand in writing to the Speaker), and unless five members shall thereupon rise in their places as indicating approval of the proposed discussion. The member proposing the motion for adjournment shall not be allowed to address the House on such motion until the Speaker shall have ascertained that five members approve of the proposed motion.
– That does not make the matter urgent.
– It has been decided by Speakers of the House of Commons that the fact that a certain number of members rise in their places is an indication that the matter is regarded by a section of the House as one of urgent public importance, and that it is not one for the Speaker to determine. That the onus is placed on the House seems to be clear from the fact that five members must rise in their places to signify approval and concurrence, and as an indication that they regard the question as one of urgent importance. Of course, it is for the House to deal with the matter as it thinks fit.
– Does the Treasurer question my ruling?
– I wish to point out where I think it is wrong.
– There is only one way to challenge the Speaker’s ruling, and that is by submitting a motion of dissent in writing; the Speaker’s ruling cannot be canvassed or debated except under such a motion. Honorable members will see how the business of the House would become chaotic if, when a ruling were given, it were made the subject of debate and argument with the Chair. Therefore, the Standing Orders specifically provide a means of challenging a ruling if it is thought to be wrong.
– Many a Speaker has heard another view in regard to his rulings before it has been finally disposed of.
– The right honorable gentleman would, in other circumstances, himself be the first to question such a procedure.
Dublin Castle pursues a policy of calculated provocation. The civil and military police between them have destroyed practically all safeguards of personal and political liberty. . . . Raids on private houses are of common occurrence. Possession of a -political leaflet means immediate arrest: A gathering of three persons is an illegal assembly. Fairs and markets, an essential part of Irish trade, are prohibited; trade union meetings, even national games and pastimes, are forbidden, and musical and literary festivities of the most harmless character are regarded as conspiracies. . . . The High Court Bench is mainly political, its charges to the grand juries, and political feeling often determines its judgment. No Irish Judge condemned the Ulster rebellion of 1013-14, which was led by an eminent King’s Counsel; but to-day all Irish Judges condemn Southern “ sedition.” The contempt with which Courts are regarded is the direct reflex of the general misrule.
A Government is no Government, as we English understand government, which discards the representative principle or inhibits it from working. This is what we have done to Irish representation.
In 1918, sixty-eight Sinn Feiners were elected by the people of Ireland. Of these we have sentenced ten to death and twenty-one to penal servitude. Thirty-seven have been arrested without charge, and imprisoned or deported without trial, and sixty-five imprisoned without charge or for political offences. Only two out of the sixty-eight have escaped the attention of our police. The normal residence of an Irish Republican member of Parliament is a British prison.
Let me remove one possible misconception. These Irish members of Parliament are elected by the machinery and methods established by the English Government in Ireland, which are practically identical with, the machinery by which are elected members of Parliament in England. Such of these members as are not in gaol could enter the House of Commons to-morrow if they choose to do so, but they decline. Is it not a shocking commentary on Britain’s boasted love of freedom that the . elect of the nation find their place, not in Parliament, but in the gaols of the country ? I am confident that Australia will not stand for a policy so unrighteous, and that, if continued, it will lead to serious estrangement between the Dominions and the Imperial Government.
The situation in Ireland is without precedent inthe history of any civilized people. No such barbarities were ever practised by the Germans in Alsace-Lorraine as have been perpetrated in Ireland within the past five years.
To-day there are nearly 100,000 British troops and 11,000 armed police trying vainly to compel the Irish race to show respect for English officials, whom they loathe, and for English laws which they neither made nor sanctioned. And this criminal and tragic farce is costing the British taxpayers over £14,000,000 a year. For what?
Do the Irish ‘people desire to injure Britain or the British? Are they trying to undermine the British Empire? Are they attempting to annex any British territory or to invade England?
Of course, they are not attempting any of these things. Ireland’s only offence is that the people demand the right to make their own laws without the intervention of foreign bullies and foreign bayonets.
And Britain, being the bigger of the two, refuses to discontinue the bullying and the bayoneting.
Present writer, who is neither Irish nor Roman Catholic, is aware that there are a small number of people in Ireland who want to be governed from Downing-street, London. For the most part, they are either religious fanatics or capitalistic reactionaries, who see “ Rome “ or “ Bolsh “ in red letters whichever way they turn.
We have quite a number of the same kidney in the Commonwealth, but we do not allow them to run the country as they do in Ireland, with the aid of British machine guns, tanks, and troops.
What is there about Ireland which makes it so attractive to John Bull that he is content to incur the contempt of the whole civilized world rather than leave the place alone? What does Britain gain by keeping Ireland as a thorn in her flesh?
Would it not be immeasurably wiser policy to have Ireland as a contented, happy and prosperous neighbour?
I think I may fairly conclude with these words. I regret very much the heat which has been imported into this discussion. It was not of my seeking. I had no intention whatever of saying anything to offend anyhonorable member,or, indeed, any person in the community. If I have inadvertently done so, I regret it, but the justification is in the uncalled-for provocation I received from the ‘benches opposite.
– I must confess to a feeling of surprise that, under the Standing Orders, such a matter as this can be treated as one of urgency. The honorable member for Kalgoorlie (Mr. Mahon) can hardly expect us to believe that he has . submitted this motion in order to do some good thing for Australia. If he would have us believe, as wereadily can, that he ‘has moved this motion to do some evil to Britain and the Empire, then it does seem most amazing that it should he possible for him to do so with impunity under the . Standing Orders and procedure of this House, which recognise Australia as an integral part of the British Empire, and, in so many words, declare emphatically that the King of Britain is the King of this country. The honorable member has chosen as a peg upon which to hang his diatribe against England the death of Alderman MacSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork. In this matter every man speaks for himself. I am not going into the merits of the offence of the late Lord Mayor of Cork, or the manner in which he was treated. I would not like any one to think that I had no admiration for a man who died for a cause; but if I am asked whether this man died for a just cause, I join issue with the honorable member and say that he did not. He died for a cause in which he believed. If I am asked to bow my head as a token of respect for that man I do so, but it must not be understood that in doing that I am blaming Britain. The honorable member introduces this matter in a way that suggests that he thinks all the merits are on the one side. He has invited us to censure Britain. We cannot do that.
– By passing the resolution which the honorable . member would have us pass, we would tear up our Constitution and our connexion with Great Britain. The honorable member has asked us some very foolish questions this morning. He referred us to a newspaper called the Nation, which he would have us believe gives an impartial expression of British opinion. He then pro’ceeded to quote the Worker. I do not know who is the’ writer of the article he quoted, but in some newspaper in this country one can find support for any opinion one pleases to express. I could find support, just as effective and’ complete for Lenin and Trotsky and the Woody horrors which those men have perpetrated in Russia during the last two or three years.
– The Prime Minister does not know what he is talking about.
– They have perpetrated bloody horrors the like of which has never been known in civilized times. I am not going to censure Britain ; I am not going to interfere with the rights of the British Parliament to mind its own business. If some member of that Parliament rose in his place to-morrow and attempted to tell us what we ought to do in matters within our own constitutional power, I should be the first to tell him to mind his own business. We have business enough of our own. Let us attend to it.
The outrages have been spread over a wide area, and have been of a most cold-blooded character. Constable Maxwell, who went to a public-house with a friend, was followed by four masked men and shot dead. Seven other men were present, hut none raised a hand to defend the constable. Constable McCarthy, of Bruff, went for a cycle ride. His body was found in a drain practically naked. Serjeant Fulton was killed in the streets of Ballymote. He was surrounded by a dozen men, who fired a number of shots at short range, and then escaped by mingling with the crowd in the street.
It is believed that the Irish people sympathize with the murder campaign, which is so embittering the constabulary and soldiery to increasing reprisals. Though the murderers must be known to scores of people, none will assist the police to track the murderers or Ave warning of Hanger.
The honorable member says that we should condone all these offences. It is nothing to shoot a man before the altar, because, although he is a Roman Catholic and an Irishman, he is a policeman. Because he is a policeman he i’s outside the pale, and may be murdered with impunity anywhere and at any time.
We cannot agree to this motion. The cause of Sinn Fein, for which Alderman MacSwiney has died, is a cause which cannot succeed, because it rests on force and is stained by bloody murder. Those priests in Ireland who have had the courage to tell the people what is right, have condemned it, but the honorable member did not quote them. I deplore all these outrages and murders. I deplore the state of things in Ireland. Long before this latest development I have attempted to secure some sort of settlement of Irish affairs. That, however, is beyond the powers of any one man. The trouble is embedded in tlie racial hatred or habits of mind. of the two peoples. It’ is beyond the power of this Parliament, the British Parliament, or any other Legislature to deal with. I do not justify anything that hae been done; but if I am asked when a policeman is shot that the Government should do nothing, that his comrades should stand idly by, that licence to commit murder wholesale should be given to one section of the Irish people, while the opportunity for. justice is denied to others, I will not have it. If I am asked on whose side I am in this campaign, then I declare unhesitatingly that I am on the British side. There the matter stands. It is not that I am attempting to justify the manner in which the English have governed Ireland - I do not believe that the English can ever govern Ireland properly. The English do not understand the Celts, and I have never hesitated to tell them that, but I shall not stand, quiet while certain people seek to establish a republic within gun fire of the English coast, and thus aim a blow at the very heart of the Empire. The Irish problem is one for Britain to deal with. ‘We have nothing whatever to do with it. But as the honorable member for Kalgoorlie (Mr. Mahon) insists that we must express our opinion, I have expressed mine quite clearly ; I am opposed to the honorable member’s view. I do not regard Britain as a foreign country; if it were a foreign country, very few honorable members opposite would have a right to be here at all, because they would not then be naturalized. When they speak of Britain as a foreign country, they do not seem to recognise that everything they have they owe to Britain’s might and power. They are very ready to avail themselves of British protection. The honorable member for Kalgoorlie quoted a statement from Lord Denman that there would be trouble in Australia; are we to understand that if we do not pass this motion the honorable member will attempt to recreate in Australia the state of affairs that exists in Ireland ? Let him try it ; he will then find that the Australians are of a temperament altogether different from that of the English.
.- The Prime Minister said that honorable members on this side are not naturalized, and, therefore, have no rights in Australia. I was born in this country, and I have as much right to be here as has any other citizen born of Welsh parents. Unfortunately) I was not in the Chamber when the honorable member for Kalgoorlie (Mr. Mahon) raised this question; had I been here I would have supported him in drawing attention to this matter. . I have heard honorable members opposite praise Arthur Henderson, the present Leader of the Labour party in Great Britain. He i3 a good Nonconformist like myself, but they omit to mention the fact that his attitude on the Irish question is the same as our3. I do not say that all the fault is on one side. We have heard of a suggestion that ‘a battalion of the Australian Imperial Force should be sent to France, and apparently it is right for one side to say what it thinks on this matter, but the other side must say nothing. Mr. Asquith, who I presume is a non-Catholic, speaking in the House of Commons a fortnight ago on the motion of Mr Arthur Henderson demanding an inquiry into the position in Ireland, said - there was prima facie evidence that the police and military were going far beyond the limits of self-defence and had carried out reprisals which were a crime and an outrage against unoffending innocent people.
He is not an Irishman, and docs not represent an Irish constituency.
– But he has an axe to grind, all the same.
Mr. Asquith . said he was amazed and ashamed at the lethargy and indifference of the British people regarding the policy of reprisals. The only hope for Ireland was complete and unrestricted self-government.
In a letter, theRev. F. B. Meyer, President of the National Federation of Free Churches, urges every congregation in Great Britain to telegraph to-morrow to the Prime Minister, petitioning for the release of Aldermau McSweeney, who is undergoing a sentence of two years’ imprisonment in Brixton Gaol, and is hunger-striking.
That Federation comprises practically the whole of the churches in Great Britain, except the Anglican church, which is notoriously the most conservative body in the Old Country. The Prime Minister (Mr. Hughes) stated that he would not defend English rule in Ireland; there are some honorable members opposite who will not go as far as the Prime Minister in that regard.
– I agree with the Prime Minister upon that point, as must every fair-minded person who is not an antiCatholic.
– The honorable member had betterrefer to antiBritishers.
– I am as good a Britisher as is any man in the House, and a much better Australian than many honorable members are.
– Why does the honorable member seek to make a political issue a religious one?
– It has been made a religious issue by honorable members opposite. I have always refused to make a religious issue ofthe Irish question, and I will continue to do so.
– Every argument the honorable member has used so far has been a religious one.
– I merely quoted the opinion of the Rev. F. B. Meyer, President of the National Federation of Free Churches, of which Mr.
Lloyd George was president at one time; but that gentleman did not get a single vote for any position at the last annual meeting of the Federation. I regret exceedingly that occasion has arisen for the moving of this motion. I had hoped that saner counsels would have prevailed. Like the Prime Minister, I cannot defend the English rule in Ireland.
– When Gladstone introduced his Home Rule Bill the Unionists broke away from the Liberal party; but we read in the Herald a few days ago that Lord Henry Bentinck, a Coalition Unionist, and . an opponent of Gladstone’s Home Rule Bill, had denounced Mr. Hamar Greenwood, the present Chief Secretary for Ireland, and that a scene had occurred in the House of Commons- the like of which had not been witnessed for years. Even the very people who were so strongly opposed to Gladstone’s Home Rule proposals are dissatisfied to-day with the Imperial Government’s Irish policy. As a Parliament representing one of the self-governing Dominions, we have a right to express our opinion on the matter. I have taken the opportunity of expressing my view, while regretting exceedingly that occasion for so doing has arisen.
Original question put and resolved in. the negative.
An honorable member who seeks to move the adjournment of the House is bound to state to the House the definite matter of urgent pub-, lie importance which he desires to bring on. It is not for the Speaker to say whether the matter is of urgent public importance. The honorable member states this upon his own responsibility.
A member desiring to move the adjournment of the House must produce a written notice setting forth the matter of urgent public im- portance to which he alludes. It is for the House to judge of the urgency and public importance of the matter by forty members rising in support.
My decision, therefore, was’ in accordance with our own practice, and the practice laid down, by Speakers of the House of Commons. It is also to. be remembered that it is the duty of the Chair to preserve the rights of honorable members, no matter on what side of the House they may sit. If it is desired to alter the practice of the House in connexion with special adjournment motions. the proper, course is to amend the Standing Orders. As matters stand, however, the onus is upon the House - and the fact that at least five other members must rise to signify their opinion that the matter proposed to be discussed is one of “urgent public importance” is in itself prima facie evidence that the Speaker is not expected to be the judge of that point. Were it otherwise it is certain that the Speaker might on every occasion of a special adjournment being moved find himself involved in conflict with members on either side of the House. It was to avoid this that provision was made in the’ Standing Orders for a certain number of members to signify approval before such a motion could be moved.
Bill presented by Mr. Poynton, and read a first time.
Mr. POYNTON (Grey- Minister for leave to move the second reading of this Bill.
.- As the Minister (Mr. Poynton) knows, I have interviewed him on several occasions in connexion with the recent Ballarat election. First of all I approached him in regard to the payment of the legal expenses incurred by both parties to the appeal case heard by Mr. Justice Isaacs, and subsequently the Minister placed on the Estimates a sum of £800 to cover those expenses, both candidates having, I understand, agreed upon a certain amount which would cover their costs. This step I regard as only fair, in view of the decision of Mr. Justice Isaacs that the election must be declared void on account of errors made by the officials of the Electoral Department, but if it was right for Mr. Kerby, who was only elected by a majority of one vote, to draw his salary from the date of the first election until the election was declared void, I contend that the present honorable member for Ballarat (Mr. McGrath) should also receive payment for the period between the first election and the upsetting of that election. I hope the Minister will give consideration to the matter.
– Would the honorable member agree to make his principle retrospective, and apply it, for instance, to the case of the dependants of Mr. Crosby, who was placed in a somewhat similar position in respect to a Senate election held in 1906?
-The honorable member is asking me to go back a long way. There have been other disputed elections in the case of the Riverina, Melbourne, and Echuca divisions, but I do not think they were declared void on account of official errors.
.- There are two matters in connexion with the Electoral Office to which I should like to draw brief attention. The first is the question of obtaining uniform rolls in State and Commonwealth elections. Recent events have revealed most extraordinary discrepancies between the rolls on which Commonwealth elections are held, and those upon which State elections are held. In reply to a question put by me the other day to the Minister for Home and Territories (Mr. Poynton), I ascertained that the officers of his Department are doing their best to bring about a system of uniform rolls. .
– I was glad to learn from a reply given by the Minister to a question put by me that he is taking all possible steps, by negotiations with State authorities, to secure uniformity in the compilation of Commonwealth and State rolls, and I shall be glad if before this debate is closed he willgive us any further information he may have as to the result of his efforts.
Every one desires that the electoral rolls should be as nearly as possible correct, so that every person entitled to vote should be enrolled, and that no name should be on more than one roll. Recent investigations, however, have disclosed a certain amount of duplication. I do not think that any elector desires to have his name on two rolls; but duplication gives opportunity for personation.
– The Chief Electoral Officer says that with the card system it is impossible for a name to be on two rolls at once.
– The matter is receiving careful consideration by the Department, and if I am here next year, I shall, in all probability, have to introduce an amending Electoral Bill.
– The Minister’s remark justifies what I have said, and as a practical way of preventing the duplication of enrolment I suggest that when a person applies for an original enrolment, or his or her age makes it obvious that he or she was entitled to enrolment earlier, the question should be put : “ On what roll were you previously enrolled”?
– That question is asked.
– A person is asked whether his name is already on a roll or not.
– An applicant for enrolment is asked whether he is already enrolled, and, if so, for what division; and he is also asked where he came from.
– And are his statements investigated?
– Only after the name has been put on the new roll.
– Investigation should take place before the new enrolment.
– I assure the honorable member that I shall go thoroughly into the matter.
– I am glad to know that, because I think that there is a weak spot in the present system.
– The Electoral Department still follows the silly practice of hanging electoral rolls outside public offices in townships, and asking the people to consult them to ascertain whether they are enrolled. In many cases electors do this and find that they are properly enrolled, only to discover on election day that some one has subsequently had their names taken off the roll. I understand that the rolls are printed every month, and I think that new rolls should be exhibited every month.
Once a person is enrolled for a Federal division, it is almost impossible for his name to get off the roll. In the old days, the trouble was to get a name on the roll. In the Queensland bush there was always a bunch of magistrates, composed mostly of squatters, who needed only an excuse to take a name off a roll. The elector might get it on again, but, in the meantime, he might be prevented from voting at an election. When a man applies for Federal enrolment, he has to state on what roll his name already appears, and if he declares that he is not enrolled, he is asked where he came from. Then a search is made in the head office of the State from which he said he came, to ascertain whether he is enrolled for any division in that State, and until the matter is satisfactorily settled, his name is not put on the roll for the division to which he has moved. He retains, however, the right to vote in any division for which he may have been previously enrolled. The electoral administration of the Commonwealth is almost .perfect, and reflects great credit on the officers of the Department, and particularly on the Central Branch. It seems to me that, with a view to lessening public expenditure, the Commonwealth and the States could come to an arrangement for the uniform compilation of electoral rolls. Tasmania set a good example by combining her State rolls with the Commonwealth roll* years ago, and a similar arrangement should suit the other States. I think that were the matter pushed ‘a little by the Commonwealth the States would accept uniformity. The Minister has said that he is sending the Chief Electoral Officer to the various States to try to bring about uniformity.
– Only last week there was a conference in Adelaide, and I understand ‘from the Chief Electoral Officer that practically every point in dispute was settled so far as South Australia is concerned, so that there should be a combined Federal and State roll for use at the forthcoming State election. I intend to send the Chief Electoral Officer to all the States.
– The honorable member for Herbert (Mr. Bamford) has objected that the franchise should be the same in all the States, but uniformity in the compilation of the rolls can be secured even though there may be differences between Commonwealth and State franchises. The printing of “ S “ or “ F “ after a name on a roll would show whether the enrolment were for the State or for the Commonwealth.
– The Commonwealth Electoral Officer h quite satisfied that there need be no complications - that everything can be made quite simple.
– Then all that is needed is for some one to give the thing a push.
– There is a State prejudice to overcome.
– I do not think that that amounts to much. The combined rolls would be cleaner and better than the present State rolls. The recent Queensland election showed that there are more persons on the Queensland State rolls than on the Queensland Federal rolls.
– Then either the Queensland State rolls are inflated, or the Commonwealth rolls are deflated.
– In Queensland it is difficult to get a name taken off the roll when an elector moves from one place to another. Thus a name can be- on two rolls.
– And when a name is on two rolls it sometimes happens that personation takes place.
– I have known votes to be cast in the names of men who had been <dead for six months.
– I am glad to know that the Minister (Mr. Poynton) is sending the Chief Electoral Officer to Queensland, and I hope that from the visit we shall have some satisfactory results. The honorable member for Werriwa. (Mr. Lazzarini) is quite right when he suggests that there may be State prejudices in this connexion, seeing that a number of State public servants maylose their lucrative positions if the Commonwealth take over the work.
– Could not a number of State public servants be absorbed?
– One of the staffs will have to go, and I can scarcely fancy it will be the Commonwealth staff. We are told by the Minister, however, that he has found no insurmountable difficulties, and that being so, some definite steps should be taken iu the direction I have suggested. This is highly desirable, if only on the ground of economy, for some hundreds of thousands of pounds could, no doubt, be saved in the three years. In passing, I desire to compliment the Minister (Mr. Poynton) on the assurance given him by the sub-Leader of the Country party (Mr. Jowett) that he will occupy his position next year ; that ought to be very welcome information, and, in any case, comes as a suitable, sort of Christmas box.
I must say a word or two about the Ballarat election, and the expense to which each of the candidates was put in subsequent proceedings. In the first case of the kind we had, when it was a matter between the honorable member for Melbourne (Dr. Maloney) and Sir Malcolm McEacharn, the whole of the expense was borne by the Commonwealth.
– A sum of £800 is on the Estimates, under the heading “ Miscellaneous “ ; this is to re-imburse the legal and other expenses incurred by the’ candidates at the last Ballarat election.
– We must not forget, as the Minister has suggested, that there are other expenses besides legal expenses, and, since the investigations were rendered necessary through the fault of officials, both candidates ought to be recompensed. The honorable member for Ballarat (Mr. McGrath) is in a much more unfavorable position than Mr. Kerby, considering that the latter was drawing the parliamentary allowance all the time, while the present representative of the seat, without any salary, was strenuously engaged in seeking justice. We must remember that the majority by which the present member was returned at the second election shows that he was the desire of the constituency.
– Which position would the honorable member rather have - that of the present honorable member for Ballarat (Mr. McGrath) or that of the other man ?
– That is a question which does not call for any personal answer from me; bub the honorable member for Ballarat was put to much trouble, expense, and worry in fighting the case, which was the result of no fault of his own. In view of what was done some years ago in the case of the Melbourne seat, I think the least the Government can do k to pay the expenses of the Ballarat candidates.
I must again ask the Government to do what they can to secure uniformity in the electoral rolls. In the case of the Commonwealth, the services of postmen are* enlisted to collect the names for the rolls.
– In the capital cities the postmen are paid so much ner 100 names ; but up to the present there has been another arrangement as regards the country.
– The arrangements in the country would appear to result in some cases in a man driving 50 or 60 miles only to find that he is not on the roll.
– I have recently agreed to an arrangement under which Registrars in the country will be paid in the same way as are the postmen in the metropolitan areas. In this way we hope to secure a more perfect roll than under the present arrangement.
– I am glad to know that the Minister has done even that little; it shows, at any rate, that he wishes to keep the rolls clean, and not have them unduly inflated. The honorable gentleman ought to keep in mind the suggestion about exhibiting the rolls outside post-offices. In places, on the advice of local newspapers, people have seen that their names were on the rolls, only to find, when they went to vote, that in the meantime they had been struck off.
– In such case, if the party makes a declaration, he gets a vote.
– Not in the case of small country districts, and in my own electorate ‘hundreds have been refused, although some of them were born there, and have never been away.
– I know the case of a man whose name was improperly removed from the roll, and who was refused by the presiding officer permission to vote.
– There are many such cases, but they are all in the smaller country places. If we fine a man for not seeing that his name is on the roll, we ought to fine the official who improperly removes a name.
– I have already explained that we have made the same arrangements for the country” as for the metropolitan areas.
– I am not finding fault with the Department; I think that the method of getting people on the roll, and so forth, is almost perfect so far as the officials are concerned; and all that is required is the help of the public. There should be every facility for getting on the roll, because it is apt to give rise to bitterness if a man drives ‘his wife and family, and other voters, possibly 60 miles, only to find that it is impossible to exercise the franchise.
.- I support the view taken by the honorable member for Grampians (Mr. Jowett) and the honorable member for -Maranoa (Mr. James Page). I am pleased to note that Tasmania is the first State to adopt the Federal roll. Last year the Taamanian Government paid the Federal Government £1,277 as her share of the electoral administration, whereas, in 1915 - the nearest year for which I canfind any figures - the cost of electoral administration to the State was £3,519- This snows a direct saving of practically 50 per cent, in the cost of administration. In 1918-19 South Australia spent £4,801 on 1 electoral administration, exclusive of £9,051 for contingencies;, the latter I take to mean the election expenses.. In Queensland the expenses of administration were £2,541, and in Victoria £15,161, but there are no details given of the latter figures. We have, therefore, to make an estimate as to the, proportion that the administrative expenses bear to the election expenses. Iia. regard to Western Australia there is- no information given, the amounts being shown under the Estimates for the Crown Law Department, with, no details. If we assume that the Electoral Departments of the various States spend £30,000 a year in administration, that does not seem excessive, and, further, assuming: that Tasmania by her recent arrangement is saving 50 per cent., we may take it that £15,000 per annum would be1 saved by the co-ordination of the Departments. However, more important than even this saving is an assurance that every man and woman entitled to the franchise shall be on the roll. In the case of the Commonwealth!, with compulsory enrolment, any failure must be entirely the fault of the elector concerned, if that elector has failed to send in a card. In the recent State elections in. Victoria thousands of people were disfranchised through the inefficiency of the Electoral Department; but I cannot say whether that inefficiency was on the part of the police or on the part of the departmental officials.
The proposal for one electoral roll naturally gives rise to the question of electoral divisions. In Tasmania all the State divisions are the same as the Federal divisions; and we have the HareClarke system of proportional voting, which is the most equitable in operation in Australia to-day.
– It gets you nowhere.
– It gets you’ there, every time. The point I wish to make- is that the States which have single electorates are going to have some little difficulty, because many of the Federal divisions overlap the State divisions. In order to bring about a thoroughly sane and effective system, it will be necessary to re-adjust the divisions for the State Parliament. I hope that this will soon be done.
In connexion with the Estimates relating to the Meteorological Department, I should like to ask whether it is proposed to spend any more money on the Balsillie rain-making experiments. So far, the results do not appear to have justified the expenditure.
– The expenditure in respect of. those experiments is provided for in the Estimates relating to the Department of Works and Railways.
– I regard the general expenditure of the Meteorological Department as being very necessary. Having regard to our extensive coastline, the warnings issued from time to time by the Department probably avert much loss of shipping, and so save the Commonwealth thousands of pounds. We have on these Estimates a total proposed expenditure of £93,000 for rental of buildings used by the various Departments. Is there no possibility of centralizing many of these offices? At the present time they are scattered all over the city, and it seems to me that not only would the convenience of the public be studied, but a saving anight be effected by renting large premises in which these offices could be centralized .
Another item to which I desire to draw attention relates to the administration of the Northern Territory, for which we have a proposed vote of £104,440. I do not object to expenditure provided some return can be obtained for it, and if it is impossible to reduce the cost of administering the Territory, we should at least make some effort to increase production, and so to increase the revenue. This item : is a growing and most unsatisfactory one. The Territory”, however, is a very valuable asset,I regard it as the key to our White Australia policy, and if we are to keep Australia white we must develop it.
.- Since we are taking the Estimates of each Department inglobo, I think it would be desirable if the Minister in charge of each Department would make a speech at the outset, explaining the difference between the estimated expenditure for this year and the actual expenditure for last year. I notice that we have here in these Estimates an increased expenditure of £281,133.
– I can give the honorable member a few items which more than account for the difference. For instance, there is an item of £52,000 representing payments made to the Postmaster- General’s Department for the transmission of meteorological telegrams. That is a mere transfer from one Department to another. Provision is also made for an expenditure of £150,000 on the census. That item did not appear in last year’s Estimates. There is also an item of £100,000 for immigration, although immigration matters will be dealt with by the Prime Minister’s Department. It will thus be seen that the expenditure for which we provide is actually below that of last year.
– I hope the Minister does not misunderstand me. I merely suggest that it would be of great assistance to honorable members if, instead of the whole vote for a Department being put without any explanation, the Minister in each case would adopt the practice of moving the total vote and explaining the difference between the estimated expenditure for the current year and the actual expenditure for last year.
– The expenditure for which we provide in the Estimates for my Department this year is actually £65,000 less than the expenditure of last year.
– Such an alteration as I suggest in the practice adopted by Ministers would do away with a good deal of misapprehension and give honorable members a clearer view before we entered upon the discussion. The ‘Minister, indeed, might furnish us with information which a mere examination of the figures would not disclose. The honorable gentleman, I think, will admit that it is impossible to say from the figures that are before us exactly where an increase or a decrease takes place. So much for the question of practice.
A good deal has been said with regard to uniform rolls. I approve of the idea, provided, of course, that the rolls compiled by the Commonwealth would be complete. Shortly put, we want to have it made easy to get on the rolls and difficult to get off. There are many instances where persons get their names on the rolls, and when they go to vote find that for some reasonor other their names have been removed.
– It is quite evident that that does not occur in Queensland.
– Because on the Queensland State rolls there are over 60,000 names in excess of those on the Commonwealth rolls for that State.
– I do not know what the respective numbers are, but it may be that many citizens of Queensland are not on the Commonwealth rolls. At least a large number of people in that State have not their names on the Commonwealth rolls.What is the qualification for enrolment ?
– Residence for one month in the subdivision.
– It is somewhat different from the Queensland practice. The principle of the Queensland Electoral Act is that every adult person in the State shall have a right to vote.
-Some critics say that there are more names on the Queensland State rolls than there are adults in that State.
– That is mere political misrepresentation. We all know that such statements are made, and made only to reflect upon the administration of the Department concerned. We do not want to get down to that sort of thing here. It is all very well for Ministerial supporters to make such statements outside. The Minister for the Navy (Mr. Laird Smith),, for instance, might make such a statement in Hobart, where there was no means of checking it; but in this House the position is entirely different. If the Queensland State electoral machinery is carried out, no adult can be on two State rolls, and no one can be on a St ateroll unless he is entitled to vote.
I propose now to refer to the appointment of a gentleman named Barnes - not an Australian native-:- to go to the Old Country as a Commonwealth Immigration agent. I believe that the realpurpose of the Government in sending him there is that he shall carry on for them an anti-unionist propaganda. That will not commend itself to the great body of the workers of this country. I should! like to know whether Mr. Barnes has yet left for England ?
– I understand that he has. Immigration is now dealt with by the Prime Minister’s Department.
– Put I understood that the Minister dealt with immigration.
– No; I have nothing to do with it. After the item of £100,000 in respect of immigration was included in my Estimates, other arrangements were made.
– Then the Immigration branch has been transferred to the Prime Minister’s Department.
– It will be transferred back to that Department.
– Why should not the Minister for Home and Territories be in charge of it? I wish to know why Mr. Barnes has been sent away to carry on the propaganda work to which I have referred. I have been reading the newspapers, and I notice that there is a frank admission that he is going to carry on some sort of propaganda which certainly will not be in favour of this party, nor one that will commend itself to the great body of unionists in Australia. It is very important that the Government should be impartial, and have regard to what are the aspirations and desires of the workers of this country in making such an appointment. They have made an appointment which does not . commend itself to the workers, and particularly to the unionists, and I hope that they will take some steps to minimize the party propaganda which this gentleman has been sent away to carry out.
– What is Mr. Barnes’ chief offence?
– The honorable gentleman ought to know.
– He stood by his country, did he not?
– Is it the honorable member’s idea of “ standing by his country “ togo back on unionism, to go back on organized labour, to go about the country carrying on a propaganda of falsehood ? Mr. Barnes goes onthe public platforms of this country, and in the statements he makes has no regard for the truth. He makes absolutely foundationless statements.
– I have heard that said of the honorable member.
– Probably the right honorable member has made the statement himself; but there is no foundation for it .
– I have not made the statement, but there are plenty of grounds for making it.
– That statement is very offensive to me, Mr. Chairman, and I ask that . the right honorable gentleman be called upon to withdraw it.
– The Minister will withdraw the statement.
– The honorable member is very thin-skinned. I meant nothing more than to indicate that the honorable member, when on the public platform, makes quite a number ofpolitically incorrect statements.
– That must be withdrawn.
– If it is offensive to say that the honorable gentleman makes incorrect statements, I withdraw it.
.- The Ballarat election dispute differed entirely from other election disputes in quite a number of aspects. For one thing, Mr. Kerby lost his seat for nothing that he had done himself, but because persons who were entitled to vote were prohibited from making the necessary declarations which would have enabled them to do so, and were thus deprived of the opportunity of voting. Again, all other disputes were decided very rapidly, but the Ballarat appeal was prolonged for several months, and as a result the honorable member who eventually won the- seat lost several hundred pounds, which otherwise he might have drawn in the way of salary. Furthermore, while the appellant was quite prepared to leave his case in the hands of his secretary, the Bench decided that he must be represented by counsel, the consequence being that whatever allowance the Government may make for legal expenses incurred before the tribunal is all swallowed up in the payment of the fees of a legal practitioner. Nothing is left for the layman who prepared the case, and who, in fact, having handled it for months, was ready to take it before His Honour Mr. Justice Isaacs. On all these grounds, because the second election was declared necessary owing to faults on the part of the officials of the . Electoral Office, because neither candidate indulged in any improper practices, because the hearing of the appeal was unduly prolonged, and because the layman who was prepared to handle the case for the appellant gets nothing out of the costs for which an allowance has already been made, the Minister (Mr. Poynton) might fairly give consideration to the granting of direct compensation to the honorable member for Ballarat (Mr. McGrath). Particularly ought he to do this because in previous cases sums of money have been paid as compensation, quite apart from the actual legal costs incurred in the hearing of appeals. In this case the employment of counsel was forced upon the candidates against their will. So that compensation ought to be paid to them apart from the legal expenses which were incurred through no fault of their own. If the Minister cannot deal with the matter himself, I ask him to submit it to his colleagues, and see whether in the circumstances something cannot be done to accede to the request put forward by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Tudor) on behalf of the honorable member for Ballarat (Mr. McGrath).
.- It is certainly time the Minister (Mr. Poynton), on behalf of the Government, gave some indication of what is proposed to be done in connexion with the Northern Territory. We ought to know whether the present system of management is to continue, and also the present expenditure. For instance, these Estimates provide for the payment of £1,250 salary, and £200 allowance for an Administrator, £1,000 for a Judge, £1,000 for a Director, and £700 for a Secretary. In this provision, for so many officials there seems to be a skeleton outline for the administration not of a sparsely-populated territory, but of a settled and well-populated country. There are fourteen sub-branches in the Northern Territory Administration, and it is well worth puttingon record what they are, so that honorable members may have some idea of what is being done in the Territory to-day. These fourteen subbranches are - Aborigines, Agriculture, Botanical Gardens, Police, Gaol, Charitable Institutions, Health, Law, Stock and Brands, Education, Public Works, Lands and Surveys, Mining, and Hotels.
– I think it is a very pertinent question to ask which subbranch the honorable member would abolish.
– I agree that on the face of it the retort of the Minister was rather brilliant; but as a matter of fact it will not hold water for one second. It is not the unfortunate outsider’s business to tell the Minister how he is to do his job ; but the position is that if the Minister cannot do it some one else ought to do it for him.
– You can have my position to-morrow if you wish it.
– The physician prescribes only when he is called in.
– What, another coalition ?
– I think it would be a very effective coalition, but at the present moment I am not proposing such a thing. My object in calling attention to this expenditure is to point out that eventually we may run into trouble, but the best the Minister can say in reply is, “ What would you do? “ When I have concluded my remarks the Minister can demonstrate by giving the facts that a very obvious criticism is not justified, but it is no help to the Committee to merely suggest to any one who criticises the Northern Territory vote that everything is perfect, and ask, “ What could any one do?” I do not think the Minister would suggest that the Northern Territory administration has been perfect. My object in rising was to get from” the Minister before these Estimates drift through, some indication which will at least reassure the Committee that the expenditure is receiving his consideration, and that he proposes to work down to some definite line.
– Ministers have been endeavouring to do so for the last ten years. Any suggestion is very helpful.
– There is always hope that some one will come along with intelligence to indicate how something can be done; but when I rose for the purpose of making a few innocent remarks about the Northern Territory, and to ask whether the Minister would make any definite statement in regard to the administration there, his attitude was such as to drive me into the position of becoming a hostile critic, and almost to become more and more hostile every minute, in order to maintain my position. There was no necessity for this. The only point I am raising now is whether the Government have anything in mind as to how the Territory can be dealt with. I want to know if they have any definite scheme which they propose to put into effect. If it be recognised, as it should be, that we have the northern part of Australia to populate, and if we are to make the fullest use of that portion of the Commonwealth, it seems to me that it is the obvious duty of any Government to tell us what their scheme is. If, however, they are barren of any ideas of the sort, it is the duty of the Committee to demand from them how they propose to run the Territory, on the present lines, but with a very much decreased expenditure. To return to the point which I was endeavouring to make when the Minister interrupted, let me tell the Committee that there are 140 officers in the Northern Territory drawing over £46,000 in salaries, and spending £60,000 on contingencies. Apart from the cost of the Departments I have mentioned, and £119,000 for interest and sinking fund, provision is made in other parts of these Estimates for further expenditure in the Northern Territory. For instance, the Trade and Customs Department at Darwin costs £1,370; the Railway Department, £40,000,; and the Post Office service, £28,000.
It seems to me that there must be something wrong if we cannot administer this Territory in a more economical way. I recognise that in the future state of development it is quite likely that the cost of administration might be considerable, but the present state of the Territory’s development does not justify the amount we are now spending upon it. Before these Estimates are agreed to, I hope the Minister will give the Committee some idea as to the Government’s proposals in this regard.
With regard to the Ballarat election, it appears to me that the two candidates have been put to considerable expenditure for a reason that no one can suggest was their own fault, and I certainly think they are entitled to be reimbursed for any additional expenditure they have been put to, which is expenditure that was not cast upon other candidates at the recent general election.
– A sum of £800 has been provided on the Estimates to meet those expenses.
A few days* ago I went to the Immigration Office in order to nominate my wife. After being told that it would have cost me £26 from Naples to Sydney, the officer in charge asked mc then whether she was able to speak English. I answered that I knew enough for the two of us. He told mc then that a regulation, recently passed by the Minister of Home and Territories, requires that an emigrant must know a little English before he or she embarks; not only that, but the form which he handed me (he stated) after being filled in will have to be sent to the abovementioned Minister for approval. What sort of a barbarian law is that?
He wants to know what sort of a barbarian law that is ?
– He would find one very much like it in Italy.
– I do not know that he would find very much difference between Italy an’d Australia in that respect.
– I have heard some complaints from Broken Hill miners about bringing men out to Australia who could not speak English.
– Yes, that was when the Government sent interned Bulgarians up to Broken Hill to take the jobs of the Britishers they were recruiting. It is no wonder the residents there squealed.
– Long before that, the miners in Western Australia complained.
– I do not know that the Minister’s interjection is a very logical reply to the complaint of this Italian who has been working here, and seeks to have his wife join him in Australia, but is precluded from doing so by this regulation made by the Minister. If it is desired to increase the population of the country, surely a good way of doing so is to enable persons who have come here to send for the members of their families to join them. The man to whom I have referred is apparently a lawabiding citizen, because he has resided here for several years. What objection can there be to his wife joining him, even though she may not be able to speak English ? She could learn very quickly if living in this community.
– The regulation you speak of has not come under my notice. I shall inquire about it.
– I am only giving to the Committee the statement that has been made to me. It may not be correct, or the departmental officials may have made a mistake.
This Repatriation Department was organized to benefit returned soldiers, and to place them in a condition to work”, and get them work. How they do it! They supply the ex-Australian Imperial Force men with letters to the Orient liners manager here for him to give the bearers a working passage to England, and thereby help the good work of repatriation along. Many avail themselves of the offer, glad to leave, while the Orient Line take advantage of their misfortune, and obtain their services at ls. per month, while we British seamen, with good’ books, are stranded. The shipping office in the port of Sydney do the same.
If my statement proves correct, hold it up, and let their office staff unload them. One of the clique (the Minister of Repatriation Millen) now on thu way to Europe to represent this Commonwealth at the League of Nations, and encourage immigration. To do this the country will be pictured in the most glowing colours.
I joined a union to obtain bread and scrape three months since, paying £3, and cannot get work. Therefore, I advise all returned men to be warned through their organization (Demobilized Sailors and Soldiers Federation, United Kingdom) of things as they have been pictured here by one of themselves.
Evidently he is not prejudiced in favour of unions.
– He is not the kind of man whose complaints a unionist should ventilate without investigation.
– I do not consider the honorable member capable of judging that matter.
– How does the honorable member connect hi3 remarks with the Home and Territories Department?
– I am showing how the expenditure of £100,000 on immigration may be rendered ineffective 6y maladministration.
– Would it not be better to discuss this matter on the Repatriation Estimates?
– I understand that Senator Millen has gone to Great Britain to, among other things, encourage ex-ser- vice men to come to Australia.
– What the honorable member complained of is not done by the Repatriation Department as part of the work of repatriation.
– Is it not done by the Department?
– I cannot say, but if the honorable member will give me the particulars of this case I shall inquire into it, and let him know the result.
– This man says that the officials of the Repatriation Department in Sydney are giving ex-soldier3 letters to the Orient Company’s manager, so that they may obtain cheap passages to the Old Country.
– We undertake to secure employment in. Australia for all returned sailors and soldiers who desire it, and have practically completed that branch of our work. Within a few months there will be hardly any names on our lists. Should a man choose to leave Australia, that is not our business. If the honorable member will give me this man’s name, I undertake to find him work within three days.
– His name is W. H. Coulter, and he writes from Lidcombe Hospital, New South Wales.
– If he applies to the Deputy, I guarantee to find him suitable work within three days.
– I hope that the Minister will also’ ascertain whether hia statements are true.
– It will be found, when the facts are sifted, that those who get passages to England are assisted by the Department at their own request.
– I. thought you said this man was unemployed.
– The letter looks as if he was employed very much.
– The Government are giving these men employment in continually writing to honorable members.
– I do not know anything about this particular case, but quite recently a soldier who came here under similar conditions found that he could not work because of an injured arm, and applied to me to get him a passage Home. He desired to get back in order to look after his increased pension rights, and he thought he would do better amongst his friends than out here. I got him a free passage without any shilling-a-dal business.
– This man says that he has three children in California, and that his wife is dead; and he congratulates himself on the latter fact, because otherwise she would be in as bad a position as he is. He mentions the various Government Departments to which he has applied for work, and by which he has been turned down. He points out that while the Department is finding fault with private employers for not giving work to soldiers, this and other Departments can find him nothing to do.
– If the honorable member will give me the particulars of this case I undertake, before the Estimates of mv Department are reached, to have it sifted and attended to.
– Will the honorable member undertake that this man will stop at a job if one is got for him?
– Most members are in receipt of a great number of similar communications, but I have not ventilated in the House all that have reached me. The present is a different case altogether; it is a case in which a man feels himself so badly treated that he has gone to the trouble of getting into touch with the official organization of the returned soldiers in Great Britain in order to prevent his mates from coming to Australia. His letter bears every impress of a truthful statement.
– What is he by occupation ?
– I do not know. However, I am satisfied with the assurance that the matter will be looked into.
There is one other case which I desire to bring under the notice of the Minister. One of the Italian reservists was taken from Broken Hill. Whether he was killed or missing I do not know; but his wife, who is still in that city, has been deprived of the allowance which she. received whilst the war was in progress. At present she is in receipt of a very small sum at distant intervals from the Italian Consul. She has written to me, and I would like the Department to look into the case and explain why the allowance has been cut off.
I wish to say a word or two in support of the argument, of the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Tudor) and other honorable members on the case of the honorable member for Ballarat (Mr. McGrath). The case is, I think, unique, so far as this Parliament is concerned. It has been clearly shown that it was through the gross carelessness of some of the departmental officers that the present member for Ballarat was deprived of his seat and remuneration for a number of months. Whatever was the cause of the trouble, it lay with the departmental officers, and I think it would be only fair if the honorable member were paid the full salary as from the date of the first election. It is the rule, I think,that if any member of the public suffers any disability ‘through carelessness or mistakes in any Department he shall be’ allowed compensation. The result of the second election has shown that the honorable member for Ballarat was justly entitled to the parliamentary remuneration from the beginning of the Parliament.
I was pleased to hear from the Minister (Mr. Poynton) this morning that he is taking steps towards the provision of a uniform roll for the States and the Commonwealth. A Federal election costs, I believe, about £80,000, and I suppose that in the same period a similar amount, or more, is spent by the different States. In my own electorate, at a recent State election, it was found that the ballotboxes of the State had become damaged, and though there were Federal ballotboxes which had been in use only a few months before in the same neighbourhood, new boxes had to be provided for the State election. Of course, the Minister cannot bring about this reform himself, because the State authorities have to be consulted, and- must be willing to adopt it. I hope, however, that sweet reasonableness will prevail, and that we will very soon have one electoral roll and one method of enrolment. We have been told to-day that in the case of Queensland there . are about 60,000 more names on the State rolls than on the Federal rolls, and the electoral officer of my own district told me the other day that the Federal roll there is much smaller than the State one, the latter having been issued later. I am quite satisfied that the State rolls of New South Wales show more . names than do the Federal rolls, so that I was not surprised to hear of the state of affairs in Queensland. Every honorable member knows that when the names have been collected by the policemen, the people think that they are duly enrolled; butthe two systems of collecting names are different. In the case of the States the police do the collecting, and the average person does not worry much about the matter, but is convinced that he is on the roll. In one part of my electorate 300 notices were issued recently asking the electors for reasons for their names not being on the roll. I understand that if the reasons given are good, only a nominal fine of 2s. 6d. is imposed. Out of the 300 persons involved, I think that all but two stated that they thought that the collecting of their names by the police officer meant that they would be on the Federal roll. Apart from the economy of a uniform roll, much confusion would be avoided, and many people saved from worry. The average elector does not wish, to keep his name off the roll, but is confused by the varying systems adopted. Even if we do have a uniform roll, something ought to be done in the way of a uniform method of collecting the names. I hope it is true that South. Australia and Tasmania have consented to uniformity, and that the rest of the States will follow. We would then get a better expression of opinion at the ballot-box, and, altogether, conditions would be much improved for both Commonwealth and States.
– There are two points on which I desire to say a word. One is the suggestion made that a sum of money shall be placed on the Estimates as a set-off to the loss of salary which the honorable member for Ballarat (Mr. McGrath) ‘would have received had he been returned at the general election. The other question is that of a uniform electoral roll. As to the first .matter my right honorable colleague (Sir Joseph Cook) has already informed honorable members that it is a matter which the House itself must decide; if the House is in favour of the suggestion, the Government will approve of it, and by placing an amount on the Supplementary Estimates pay it to the honorable member.
– Do you want a vote on the question ?
– Precisely how we are to do this thing I do not know, but, speaking for myself and for the Treasurer, I would say, if I were asked, that the honorable member for Ballarat has made out a prima facie case. The responsibility, however, must rest on the House - we must have the authority of the House - and we shall give honorable members an opportunity of expressing their opinion before the session closes.
We are all agreed, I think, as to the desirability of uniform electoral rolls; there is no question of party, or difference of opinion in that matter. I would only like to say that no blame attaches to the Commonwealth for this uniformity not having been effected sooner. We have done everything in our power, and the Minister in charge of the Department (Mr. Poynton) informs me that considerable progress has been made, more in some States than in others, towards the end in view. But I think 1 shall not be doing any one an injustice when I say that the” principal cause of the delay has been the vested interests of the officials in the various State offices, who imagine, I think quite wrongly, that this is a blow aimed at their prerogatives or possibly at their pockets. I may be doing -them an injustice. If that is the case, I apologize to them. Uniform electoral rolls, however, are very desirable, and the Commonwealth,. I repeat, has made very considerable progress in the matter. My honorable colleague informs me that he believes that in the case of one State at least the . next elections will be held on a uniform roll.
– That is in South Australia.
– I am sure we shall have the support of all sections of the House in trying to bring about that uniformity.
I may, perhaps, be permitted at this stage to give the information which I promised last evening, to supply as to the cost incurred in the case of Merton v. Hughes. The item on the Estimates is “ £3,087,” that amount being set down for “expenses in America.” I have ascertained that the total expenditure, so far as we and our officers know, is £3,055 7s. 6d., London; and £3,400 6s. 10d., America. These are the total expenses, some of which have been paid, while .in the case of others only the accounts have been rendered. I think that is the whole of the information. The item itself will be brought down, I presume, on the Supplementary Estimates, but the information is now in the possession of honorable members and of the public.
– I had hoped that the Prime Minister (Mr. Hughes) might have included in his statement some information in reply to the case put by the. honorable member for Flinders (Mr. Bruce) with regard to the Northern Territory.
– I am sorry, but I did not hear it.
– I think it is high time that this Parliament had placed before it some outline of the work contemplated over a term of years in the Northern Territory. During the war things necessarily were allowed to drift. The Territory has been a very expensive acquisition to the Commonwealth, and yet there is every reason to belieVe that it is a very rich portion of Australia, and that under wise government, instead of being the heavy responsibility that it is to-day, it might be converted, if nob immediately, as all events at a comparatively early date, into an asset. The information that one gets in regard to the Territory indicates that we have been inclined to pursue wrong lines in its administration. We are attempting to induce people to take up small settlements, which cannot be immediately pro.fitable, whereas the policy indicated by the nature and the situation of the country is that we should, in the first place, encourage the pastoral industry, and give encouragement to prospecting, in the hope that some mining centres ar.ay be discovered, which would help to attract population, and so make the smaller industries eventually successful.
I hope before this session ends we may have from the Government a definite statement as to their intentions with regard to the future of the Territory. A strong man is needed .as Administrator to control it. He should be given very wide powers, and should be judged by the results he produces, instead of being continually interfered with by the Central Administration, which cannot have the intimate knowledge of the conditions existing in the north that the man on the spot, provided that he be the right man, must have.
.- There is a matter that I desire to bring under the notice of the Minister (Mr. Poynton) and the Committee, although I am not optimistic enough to think that it will receive the attention it deserves. On page S9 of the General Estimates there is a small but ominous item of nearly £1,000 for clearing the rifle range at Warwick of prickly pear. I imagine that an area of that sort would comprise from 300 to 500 acres. If it will cost £1.000 to clear such an area, only a very easy sum need be worked to show what it will cost to clear something like 20,000,000 acres of badly infested pear country in Queensland. In that way we shall get an idea of the enormous sum of money necessary to attempt anything like eradication of the pest.
– Have we yet a solution of the prickly pear pest?
– Far from it. I do not intend to take up the time of the Committee by going deeply into the question, although I understand it, I believe, as well as most people do. But I want honorable members to realize that it is probably no exaggeration to say that onethird of the enormous area of Queensland is more or less directly threatened at the present moment. The pest will very shortly - one may say that it has already - become a menace in more than one State. The State Governments of Queensland right through have proved themselves quite unable to cope with it.
– Has any serious effort been made to cope with it?
– It is difficult to say what is and what is not a serious effort, but there is no royal road to clearing the country of the pest. It is not a mechanical question, but an economic one. Land can be easily cleared, but it is the cost of carrying out the work which has to be considered.
The present Government of Queensland - and I do not speak in any party sense - does not believe in the principle of freehold, and. that is an additional difficulty in the way of the solution of the problem. I say quite openly that so far all our Governments in Queensland have proved themselves incapable of handling the question. To put it broadly, the complete eradication of prickly pear today is no longer practicable. We can abandon all ideas of eradication or of clearing the pear-infested country. We now have simply to consider what steps should be taken to prevent the further spread of the pest. It may be said that this is not a question for the Federal Parliament, but it will be admitted that if a fire breaks out in one of a row of houses, it becomes a very important matter for the occupiers of the remaining houses that that fire should bc promptly extinguished. The Commonwealth is now the direct proprietor of a very large area .with an extensive frontage to the Queensland border. With a clear understanding of the position, I do not hesitate to say that the pear is gradually eating up a very large portion of Queensland and becoming an absolute menace to the whole of Australia. I am convinced that sooner or later it will be forced upon us that this is a huge national danger, and we shall have to face it as a national question. I ask the Government and the Committee to realize the danger, and I invite honorable members to consider ‘whether we ought not now to prepare our minds for dealing with the subject, realizing that the prickly pear having become a national clanger, must be treated on national lines.
.- I do not wish it to go out in connexion with what has been said regarding the election for Ballarat that any reflection was made by Mr. Justice Isaacs upon the permanent electoral officers of the division. He had some harsh things to say concerning certain officials, but as one of the candidates I desire to state that, so far as Mr. Anderson and the other permanent officials of the Department are concerned, no one could have carried out the work better than they did.
– Mr. Justice Isaacs complimented . them.
– Yes; I wish to make, that quite clear.
I should be glad if we could secure uniform rolls for State andFederal elections. In connexion with the recent State elections, it struck me as peculiar that the -Commonwealth permanent officials for the Federal electorate of Ballarat had nothing to do, although they arc trained men, while others who knew very little about electoral matters were brought in to conduct the State elections. Much greater satisfaction would be given if we had uniform rolls, and the permanent officials of the Commonwealth Department conducted both the State and Federal elections. They understand the law, and know exactly how to compile rolls, and to conduct an election. The reflections which Mr. Justice Isaacs cast upon electoral officials in connexion with the first Ballarat election related to men employed only for the day, who were not familiar with the Electoral Act. Certain persons whose names had been improperly removed from the rolls claimed the right to vote; but the presiding officers, in certain cases, knowing nothing of section 121 of the Act, refused to allow them to do so. That was practically responsible for the trouble which occurred. I repeat that the Electoral Department, and particularly the chief of the Department in Ballarat, did their work in connexion with the Federal election there in a splendid manner.
If we desire to have a thoroughly satisfactory set of rolls, we should take care to have fewer subdivisions than at present. The State electorate of Ballarat West consists of two subdivisions. If persons remove from one side of Sturtstreet to the other, they may still be in the same electorate, but in a different subdivision. Being unaware of the fact that they are in a different subdivision, they fail to get enrolled for it, and are either prosecuted for that failure, or find, when election time comes round, that they have no vote. The Department would be well-advised if it decided to have only one division for each State electorate.
– We will let the honorable gentleman off, so far as that matter is concerned.
– But I do not wish it to be thought that I was treating the matter in a cavalier way. Reference was made to the number of officers employed in the Territory, and I may say that I have been going very carefully into the whole question, with the object of making a reduction. Unfortunately, there are not many people in the Territory, but a number of Departments are necessary. If we did not maintain a certain number of officials there it would be necessary to drag the citizens of the Territory down to the other States for the redress of their grievances. No greater problem confronts the Minister for Home and Territories than the administration of this Territory, where, I believe, we have a wonderful asset if it is properly handled. In my opinion it can be developed, not by following the lines of closer settlement, but only by adopting the more primitive method of stocking with cattle and sheep, which has been applied successfully in other parts of Australia that are now carrying large populations. In pursuance of this policy Ave have been putting down a number of bores east and west from the Wave Hill district towards Camooweal, and boring should also be undertaken south towards the Macdonnell Ranges, The land is capable of growing excellent grasses and edible herbage, and produces a very fine class of stock, particularly in the central area. The doubt as to whether permanent water exists we are endeavouring to solve by means of these bores, and later on I propose to ask for the expenditure of a considerable sum of money in this direction. However, excellent results have been obtained so far. The average depth of the bores put down is 170 feet to 200 feet, and water of a very high character has been tapped. In No. 1 bore water was struck at a depth of 247 feet, and rose 170 feet in the bore. Pumping yields 32,000 gallons per day without reducing that level. In No1. 2 bore water was struck at a depth of 180 feet, and the bore is capable of producing 32,000 gallons a day. At another bore a pumping test for twelve hours gave 29,000 gallons. On one pastoral station a number of bores have been put down, and an excellent supply of water was obtained at a very shallow depth, varying from 42 feet to a little over 60 feet. At one of these bores 500 head of cattle are watered.
I arrived back at Alice Springs about July, 1911, with £350 and a few horses. I then bought a fe-v cattle, and joined in a partnership on a small cattle ranch. After fighting the ordinary difficulties one has outback, and all the inconveniences one has to contend with in the bush, I am pleased to state that my success has been such as to enable me to invest the sum of £7,000 cash in a ranch in the same district, with the ultimate prospect of being able to pay off the £12,000 that represents the total cost….. There is room for thousands of people W]to are willing to work and put up with the rough conditions outback. There is an immense area of good stock country lying idle.
This young man has the opinion that a great future awaits this portion of the Territory, but the attitude of some honorable members is like that of a man who takes up a property Avith a limited capital, and refuses to spend any money on it. If Ave Avant to make anything out of the Northern Territory we must spend money on it. In the meantime Ave cannot do better than follow the course of putting down bores, and demonstrating that permanent water is available. As soon as that is done young fellows, sons of pastoralists whose holdings are being cut up for closer settlement, and who are anxious to get out further back to continue their pastoral occupation, will be found going to. the Territory. There is every possibility of development on the primitive lines of settlement which have been so successfully applied in all the” States. We shall not succeed by forcing closer settlement.
Although I have absolute faith in the future of the Northern Territory,, I admit ic is a very difficult question to handle. I have recently received a communication stating that the residents there are very much upset because a branch of this Legislature has refused to allow them to have representation in this Parliament.
– ¥e might let them have a representative in this Chamber.
– I do not know whether that could be done, but, at any rate, I think they ought to have representation in this Parliament.
– It was your party in the Senate which said that they should not.
– The claim was put forward in the Senate that the Territory should be represented by the senators of South Australia or Western Australia; but that cannot be done under the Constitution. However, the- matter will come up again.
The honorable member for Barrier (Mr. Considine) claims that my Department is keeping the wife of an Italian out of Australia because of a regulation which he says has been issued, stipulating that before she can enter the Commonwealth she must be able to read, write, or talk English. There is no such regulation in existence.
.- The Committee should not too precipitately agree to the Home and Territories Estimates, because upon them’ the question of immigration comes up for consideration, and it is one upon which much can, and should, be said. Bound up with it is the settlement of the Northern Territory. I do not share the optimistic views of the Minister respecting the Territory, but I would not think of decrying it as a national asset, or of saying that it. is impossible to make it a productive white man’s country. I agree with the Minister that it has to be populated, and from the south rather than from the north. It is idle, however, to suppose that we can populate it properly until there has been a very large increase in the population of the Commonwealth as a whole. No part of Australia is adequately populated yet, and we cannot, by artificial processes, populate the Northern Territory, and make it productive in advance of the development of more accessible areas.
A short time ago the Prime Minister made a statement in this Chamber of the Government policy with respect to immigration. He told us the Minister for Repatriation (Senator Millen), who is now abroad on a mission, was to interest himself in London in the subject of immigration, and that the Government proposed to appoint a Mr. Barnes to act as emigration agent on the other side of the world. That appointment is obnoxious to every member of the Labour party, and to the great body of the community outside for which we speak. It is so obnoxious to the workers that the party will be justified - and indeed bound - to let organized labour in Great Britain know that it should not rely on Mr. Barnes as a spokesman for Australia in the matter of immigration.
– That is to say, in the prosecution of a vendetta against this man, you would destroy out scheme of immigration.
– That is not so. The Minister for Repatriation is charged with the duty of looking into emigration on the other side of the world, and to that I offer no objection, because, though we differ in politics, I recognise that he holds his position as the result of the vote of the Australian people, and as a member of the Government, so that, apart from his personal qualifications, he is entitled to speak for a large section of the community. My objection to Mr. Barnes is not personal, and not even political; it is based on the fact that he has neither the qualifications’ nor the capacity to speak for Australia, and those whom the Labour party represent have no confidence in him. His public performances, utterances, and course of conduct are such that he has utterly forfeited, if he ever possessed, the confidence of that class to which he will have to appeal in England to make his mission a success. ‘ An emigration campaign is not to be won by an appeal to the personal friends of members of the Government, or to those in high places; the appeal must be made to the bone and sinew of the country from which emigrants are to be drawn - the workers of Great Britain and Ireland, and the workers of other countries - if it is intended to prosecute our immigration policy outside the British Dominions. The class of men we want here are those who are prepared to work on the land, and, after them, men who are prepared to work in the secondary industries. If the Government, as a reward for the political apostasy of a former member of the Labour party who has joined them, appoints Mr. Barnes as their emigration agent at Home, their immigration scheme is foredoomed to failure. Nothing is more sensitive than the public mind regarding representations concerning the possibilities of a new country to which people are being invited to emigrate. When a person speaks as an emigration agent for Australia he should possess the full confidence of the people from whom he goes. This gentleman does not do that. He is in no sense an Australian, and his experience of this country has been very limited, both in time and in extent. His political history marks him out as a man in whom the workers of Great Britain cannot have confidence. I hope that the vote for the Department of Home and Territories will not be passed until there has been more discussion of the immigration policy of the Government and of the proposed appointment of Mr. Barnes.
– There is an Immigration Bill before the House.
– It will afford other opportunity for protest. It is imperative that we should express the strong views that we hold regarding this appointment, and I am strongly inclined to divide the Committee regarding it by moving a reduction of the vote. It is not certain that we will deal with the Immigration Bill before Christmas.
.- I think that we might report progress now. One or two members who are not here wish to say something upon these Estimates, and if the Minister allows them to go over until next week they will probably be dealt with then within halfanhour.
– Next week we shall be dealing with the Commonwealth Bank Bill.
– Are you not going to take up the Estimates next week?
– I hope so; but not immediately.
– If you will give me the assurance that there will be an oppor tunity for the further discussion of the Northern Territory administration, I shall let the vote pass.
– There will be Supplementary Estimates.
– If you give me the assurance that there will be opportunity for that discussion I shall say no more now.
Bill returned from the Senate with out amendment.
Bill returned from the Senate, with the message that the Senate had agreed to certain amendments, and asked the concurrence of the House of Representatives to its amendments of clause 26.
Clause 26 (Evidence of declarations).
That the amendments made by the Senate he agreed to.
– Can the Treasurer (Sir Joseph Cook) inform us what business it is proposed to take next week ?
– I hope to take the Banking Bill first, and then one or two little measures.
– You do not propose to proceed with the Estimates first?
House adjourned at 3.48 p.m.
Cite as: Australia, House of Representatives, Debates, 5 November 1920, viewed 22 October 2017, <http://historichansard.net/hofreps/1920/19201105_reps_8_94/>. | 2019-04-22T02:24:38Z | https://historichansard.net/hofreps/1920/19201105_reps_8_94/ |
If you are a young Aussie keen to work abroad, there are many working holiday visas for Australians to choose from.
A working holiday visa is a great way to travel long term. It allows you to live in another country for 12-24 months and permits you to take up employment while you are there. Each visa has its own requirements, but they usually ask for you to show proof that you have enough funds to support yourself as well as other requirements.
Instead of saving up your cash and then blowing it all on a short trip, you can work in your destination and make money to fund your travels as you go. Plus, you get the opportunity to experience working life in another culture, make connections and gain experience.
If you dream of working abroad, you’re already ahead of the game just by being born Australian. That’s because Australians have a huge choice of countries for which they can obtain working holiday visas. There are 34 countries to choose from on this list of working holiday visas for Australians, so scroll through and see which country appeals most to you.
Some of these countries have only recently started their working holiday visa programs. For example, Vietnam is one of the newest destinations that has been added to this list, offering you an opportunity to work abroad there that wasn’t available before.
This list of working holiday visas for Australians is by no means in depth. Information about these programs can be difficult to find online. In some cases these programs are set up more for people who are travelling in the other direction. For example, the Bangladesh working holiday visa is more often used by people from Bangladesh working in Australia and not the other way around.
If you struggle to find information about any of the working holiday visas online, we recommend getting in contact with the embassy of that country in Australia. If you have experienced any of these programs or you have more information about them please contact us.
If you aren’t sure where you want to travel, scroll through the list and read about each country to get some ideas. If you already know where you want to go – use the Table of Contents to jump to that particular country!
If you tell your friends you are going to work abroad in Andorra, you might get a few confused looks. Many people don’t know much about this small landlocked country.
Andorra is a tiny little country wedged between France and Spain, offering fantastic skiing and hiking in the Pyrenees mountains. It is the only country in the world that has Catalan as its only official language, but Spanish, French, Portuguese and English are spoken as well. Although it is located geographically in Europe, it is not a member of the EU.
This would be a perfect destination if you love sports and the great outdoors. The summers are cool, making the ideal conditions for hiking in the green valleys and rugged mountains. In the winter it is a paradise for skiers, snowboarders and snowshoers. Perhaps you could work at one of the world class ski resorts and enjoy a winter in the snow?
Tango dancers weaving, full bodied glasses of red wine, juicy steaks cooked to perfection – Argentina is a treat for the senses. The capital city, Buenos Aires, has a fascinating blend of European inspired architecture and vibrant Latin American atmosphere.
You can gallery hop during the day, dine on superb Italian cuisine or steak in the evening, then dance until the sun comes up – the nightlife scene goes late. Or, you can paint your face and shout and scream at the local team at an Argentine futbol match. Whatever the locals do here, they do it with passion.
When you venture outside of the cities, you’ll find some of the most spectacular scenery on the continent, from the towering icy peaks of the Andes to rich wetlands to the mighty roar of Iguazu Falls. Working abroad in Argentina gives you the freedom to explore all of this at your own pace.
Unless you have a special skill or you speak Spanish, the type of work you will be able to find in Argentina will probably teaching English or working in a hostel or expat bar. Although these jobs won’t make you rich, they can be a good way to extend your travels.
Bangladesh is a gorgeous, green, unspoiled paradise in South Asia, braided with rivers and covered in jungles and mangrove forests. It’s a land of Buddhist temples and national parks where tigers roam. The culture is known for its warmth and hospitality and although the poor infrastructure means you won’t be going anywhere in a hurry, you’ll be so relaxed and bewildered by the beauty around you that you won’t care.
The Working Holiday Visa agreement between Australia and Bangladesh was announced in 2011 and it allows young people from these two countries to travel to each other’s countries in a work and holiday arrangement. Participants must be University-educated and the visa will allow you to work in Bangladesh for up to 12 months.
Due to the fact that Australia is a much wealthier country than Bangladesh, it’s probably more likely that Bangladeshi people are taking advantage of the working holiday visa in Australia and not the other way around. If you were to work for local wages in this country, you’d be paid a very small amount compared to what you earn back home in Australia.
However, it’s good to know it is still an option. Even if you don’t end up working, it’s a way to backpack longer around this fascinating country. According to this Wandering Earl blog post, he stayed in a hotel room in Bangladesh for 60 cents USD per night, so your travel savings could last you quite some time here!
The BohoChica, a blogger who has covered Bangladesh.
Belgium is more than just the home of fantastic waffles, chocolate and beer and administration of the European Union.
Located right in the middle of Western Europe, Belgium has a lot to enjoy. Architecture geeks will love the medieval castles and elegant Art Nouveau buildings and art lovers will have plenty of galleries to get lost in. Fairy-tale-like medieval towns like Bruges are ridiculously charming and magical. The Belgian countryside offers a wide range of landscapes, from dense forests to sandy beaches to the ridges of the Ardennes.
Thanks to the Belgium Working Holiday Visa, citizens of Australia are allowed to stay for a maximum of one year and work during their stay to fund their travels. Traveling and enjoying Belgium must be your primary intention and employment must be incidental and accessory.
Also, you will need to prove that you have a minimum of 2,500 Euro to support yourself and you must also have a valid return ticket – or enough funds to purchase the ticket. You’ll also need a medical report that states you are not suffering from any contagious diseases, which is valid for three months after the date of issue.
I may be biased because this is my home country, but Canada is pretty awesome. It comes as no surprise that so many Australians come to the Great White North for a travel experience. Canada has some of the most amazing skiing and snowboarding in the world, incredible wild landscapes to explore, cities with lots of art and culture and lots of exciting work opportunities. Outdoor-loving Australians often end up working in skiing resorts such as Whistler and Banff, or in summer camps or national parks.
Canada is similar to Australia in the sense that it is an enormous country with a few big cities and lots of wild nature in between. However, it’s pretty different as well. Instead of poisonous snakes, deadly spiders and drop bears we have mountain lions, wolves and actual bears. Instead of barbeques on the beach we have cookouts around the campfire. Instead of a Tim Tam slam, we have s’mores (which get their name because they are so delicious that you always want s’more).
Canada is a big country and from one side to the next it is as different as Melbourne is to Cairns. From the artsy, granola vibe of Vancouver Island to the wide open prairies to the big city lights of Toronto and the friendly Maritimes, you’re sure to find a part of Canada that you love.
In order to be accepted onto the Working Holiday Visa program in Canada, you will need to be between the ages of 18 and 35, have a valid Australian passport for the duration of your stay, have health insurance for the duration of your stay and either have a round trip ticket or proof that you have enough funds to purchase a departure ticket.
Your first step will be to become a candidate in one or more of the IEC (International Experience Canada) pools. Once you are in the pool, you will become an eligible candidate and you will be invited to apply for the work permit.
Apply for the Working Holiday Visa in Canada.
Info about the cost of living in Canada.
Riding horseback on a beach and then settling down for a huge barbeque on a warm evening. Wandering through the street-art clad streets of Valparaiso. Dancing until dawn in Santiago’s nightclubs. Watching the stars in the vast Atacama Desert. Chile is so much fun to discover and you can have 12 months to make the most of your visit there.
You’ll need to be between the ages of 18 and 31, have a return ticket and have enough medical insurance to cover your stay in Chile. During your stay, you’ll be allowed to work part-time or full time, but only for a maximum of six months for any one employer. So, that means you can’t work the full 12 months in one job – which is good in a way because you’ll want to do some moving around while you are there.
You can apply for a visa at your Chilean embassy and you’ll need to show your passport, a medical report, a police report, an application form and the fee of $150 USD. If you are approved, you’ll get a letter than allows a temporary residence visa and you’ll have 90 days to enter Chile to activate it. Once you have entered Chile, your visa will be valid for 12 months from that date.
The Mediterranean sunshine, the turquoise water, the sandy beaches, the ancient ruins… there’s a lot of reasons why you would want to chill out in Cyprus for a while. The island consists of two different communities, the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot people, which are unique but linked by their rich history.
The third largest island in the Mediterranean after Sicily and Sardinia, Cyprus is a member of the European Union and has a population of around 800,000 people.
Cyprus is a wonderful place for nature lovers, with many opportunities for water sports, hiking, biking and even skiing in the winter. Also, there’s so much history to explore here – including ancient tombs, Roman mosaics, Byzantine churches and more. Then, there’s the food. Influenced by Greek, Turkish and Middle Eastern food, Cypriot cuisine is delicious.
Citizens of Australia aged 18-25 can apply for a working holiday multiple entry visa, which will be valid for a period of one year from the date it is issued. You must apply for your visa from Australia.
You must be of good health and sound background, have reasonable funds to maintain yourself through your stay in Cyprus, have a return ticket and not be accompanied by any dependent children.
Many Australians on Working Holiday Visas find jobs in restaurants, cafes, bars and hotels in places such as Protaras and Ayia Napa. You may also find yourself fruit picking or WWOOFing as a way of earning while you travel.
Have you ever thought of working abroad in Denmark? You’ll love the cool Scandinavian way of life. The museums here are world-class and feature history from the Viking era to the Danish Golden Age to contemporary art. The architecture features everything from Renaissance palaces to cutting edge modern buildings. It’s delightfully bike friendly, the music scene is superb and the beer is great. It’s no wonder Denmark ranked first on the UN World Happiness Report.
You can apply for the Denmark visa as long as you are over 18 and haven’t turned 31 by the time you submit the application. You must prove that you have sufficient funds to pay for food and accomodation during the first two months of your stay (DKK 18,000, or approximately $3,900 AUD) and you must have an ongoing flight or be able to pay for your journey home.
You’ll be allowed to work for up to 6 months, but you can’t work for the same employer for more than 3 months or take a regular job. You can also attend courses and enroll in an educational programme for up to 3 months of your stay.
Also, you’re entitled to free Danish lessons! Pretty cool, huh?
Denmark Working Holiday Visa – How to Apply (Isn’t this one of the most well-designed, easy to use immigration websites you have ever seen?
Although Estonia has a similar geography and history to the other Baltic countries, Latvia and Lithuania, it is culturally quite different. The language and the traditions of bathing in saunas make it feel closer to somewhere like Finland.
Emerging from Soviet rule, Estonia is experiencing a travel renaissance and the historic charms of Tallinn are creating quite a buzz. Plus, not only do the captivating cities offer fairytale like architecture, the spacious countryside and deep, thick forests offer a place for nature lovers to find peace.
If you are a citizen of a non-EU country, you can work in Estonia for up to 6 months in a year with the D-visa. Your employer will need to register your short-term employment with the Estonian Police and the Border Guard Board. The work you do must support the main purpose of your stay, which should be to travel for recreation. You must not work for the same employer for more than three months.
The long stay visa for short term employment will only be granted if you are working in certain types of jobs, such as teaching, working as a scientist (if you have the appropriate training), working as an au pair, working as a seasonal worker, etc. There is a list of the types of jobs on this website.
In this vast Northern European country you’ll find huge forests, pristine lakes and unspoiled national parks, just ready to be explored. In the summer, the countryside comes to life as the locals try to soak up every moment of the brief, warm sunshine.
In the winter, snow covers the pines and you’ll be in luck if you love skiing, snowboarding or other winter sports. You might even get a chance to ride on a dog sled, or see the Northern Lights. If you choose to base yourself in the capital, Helsinki, you can enjoy a vibrant music and design scene and excellent restaurants showcasing cuisine from locally foraged ingredients.
Citizens of Australia are permitted to reside in Finland for 12 months and to work to a limited extent. You must be between 18-30 years of age, not have a spouse or dependent children, not have had this permit in Finland before and must be in good health and of sound background.
To apply for the Working Holiday Visa, you’ll need to submit two passport photos, the appropriate forms, a document providing proof of sufficient funds, a return ticket, the processing fee and a Registered Post Envelope so that your passport can be returned by mail.
Guide for Australians: How to Become More Finn than a Finn?
France has probably been on your travel bucket list for quite some time now, whether you are fascinated by the exquisite art collections and historic architecture of Paris, the beaches of the French Riviera, the peaceful villages or the battlefields of Normandy. From wineries to castles to delightful little local markets, France has oodles of charm and lots to enjoy.
France offers a Working Holiday Visa that allows citizens from Australia to work for one year in France. You can apply up to three months before your arrival and it is a non-extendable visa. Also, if you hold this visa you may travel to other Schengen Zone countries for up to 3 months in any 6 month period. The primary purpose of your work must be to fund your travels, not to find long-term employment.
You’ll need to submit some information, including your passport, the application form, proof of financial stability, proof of health insurance and a letter in English explaining why you want to go to France.
Germany is a pretty cool place to live for a while, whether you are in an adorable village in Bavaria or living the cultured urban life in Berlin. There are mountains to hike in, world class museums to visit and plenty of delicious bread and currywurst to enjoy.
The visa will allow you to stay in Germany for up to 12 months and you’ll be able to work for any employer for as long as you want during that time, as long as you don’t stay longer than 12 months. You’ll only be able to participate in this program once.
Your application for a Working Holiday visa in Germany must be lodged in person by making an appointment and submitting your application at the Consulate General in Sydney. Your fingerprints will be scanned as part of the application process. Make sure that your passport exceeds the length of your stay by at least 3 months. You’ll also have to pay a visa fee of 75 Euro.
Usually the application takes around a week or two, but you are encouraged to apply well in advance. However, the earliest you can apply is three months before you plan to travel.
Want to spend a year eating delicious spanakopita, drinking wine and chilling out on some of the most beautiful beaches in Europe? I mean, who wouldn’t?
Many backpackers in Greece end up working in the hospitality, nightlife and restaurant industry – especially in some of the sunny party spots on the right. After all, the non-stop party needs hosts to keep it going. You might spend your nights working in a bar and your days lounging on the beach – which sounds pretty damn good.
Well, this Working Holiday Visa is a bit complicated and you’ll have to keep an eye on the news for the latest updates. It was approved by the Greek government in July of 2017. According to that article, it would allow Greeks and Australian nationals up to the age of 31 to work in each others countries for up to 12 months. At the moment there is a limit of 500 from each country per year, but there is talk that this may be expanded.
However, according to an update in January of 2018, the Working Holiday Visa is still in limbo and is yet to start. It seems like it will be in place soon, but the two countries are just working out the details of the arrangement before they officially start taking applicants. This article says that those who are interested in applying are encouraged to call the Canberra Consular Office.
I’ll keep this page updated when I hear news of how things are progressing!
Hong Kong is like the New York of Asia. It’s a huge, flashy metropolis with a stunning harbour, a towering skyline and a vibrant food scene and it’s a hub of international culture, finance and business.
Busy and action packed, you’d never have a dull moment living here. Although the city is dense and packed with wall to wall dining, nightlife, shopping and more, you don’t have to go far to escape it and find lush green walking trails, pretty beaches and peaceful gardens.
Immersing yourself in the culture here will be a thrilling travel experience. Plus, it’s a fantastic hub for cheap flights to nearly anywhere else in Asia.
To apply for the Hong Kong Working Holiday Visa, Australians must be between the ages of 18-30, must have a valid passport and must be able to prove that they have enough money to support themselves (Approximately $3,300 AUD). You’ll also need to show proof of your return ticket and your medical insurance. You’ll be allowed to work, but not for the same employer for more than three months – as the main purpose of your trip should be travel and not employment.
Living abroad in Hungary gives you the chance to immerse yourself in the culture and traditions of one of Europe’s oldest nations. Hungary was once a communist country and now it boasts a vibrant economy. Budapest is a damn cool city, with a great music scene and great “Ruin Pubs” that are set within old warehouses. It’s also home to an abundance of geothermal pools, with beautiful bath-houses located throughout the city.
Citizens of Australia between the ages of 18 and 30 can apply for a one year Hungarian working holiday visa. This will allow you to stay within Hungary for one year, as well a travel within the rest of the Schengen Area for up to 90 days within an 180 day period.
Whales, glaciers, thermal baths, the dazzling Northern Lights, fjords, waterfalls and a fantastic music, art and culture scene – Iceland should absolutely be on your travel list.
Citizens of Australia between the ages of 18 and 30 can apply for a one year working holiday visa in Iceland. In fact, Australia is the only country that Iceland has a Working Holiday Visa arrangement with so far… so that’s pretty special!
Iceland has seen a boom in popularity as a tourist destination in recent years, which means there are a lot of jobs opening up in the hospitality and service sectors – perfect for backpackers on a Working Holiday Visa.
Advice on Finding a Job in Iceland from blogger Unlocking Kiki.
Friendly people who love to sing and have a good time. Creamy pints of Guinness in a pub with live music. The wild and beautiful Cliffs of Moher. Rolling hills of green, flocks of sheep and crumbling stone castles. Ireland is a pretty magical place and there are lots of adventures to be had on a Working Holiday there.
Australians are allowed to work and travel in Ireland for up to 12 months, as long as they are between the ages of 18 and 30. Places are limited and you won’t be able to apply if you are already in Ireland. You will be allowed to work for a maximum of six months with any one employer.
When you apply, you will need to show that you have enough funds to support yourself. A minimum of $5,000 AUD is required, or $2,500 AUD if you have a return ticket to Australia.
What Are Your Working Holiday Job Prospects in Ireland?
Italy would be a fascinating place to work for a year. It is rich with culture and is home to some of the most iconic and architecture in the world. Plus, the food is legendary. Prepare to zoom around the streets of Rome on a Vespa, stuffing pizza in your mouth and searching for the best gelato. Life is good.
The visa will allow you to work in Italy for no more than a total of 6 months and only for a maximum of 3 months for the same employer – as the principal purpose should be travel. In order to apply, you must be between the ages of 18-30 and have a return ticket (or sufficient funds to purchase one).
Japan is a wonderfully strange place. From sipping green tea with monks in a historic temple to watching robots dance for you while you dine at a futuristic restaurant, you can have a huge range of experiences here. The Working Holiday Visa for Japan is available for Australian citizens aged 18-30 and you must show that you have AU $2,500 in funds to support yourself during your stay.
The neon streets are lively and feel like a sci-fi film set and the peaceful countryside with its traditional architecture, cedar groves, fields of wildflowers and snow capped mountains looks like a traditional woodblock print.
You’ll be delighted by something different every day when you are working abroad in Japan. There are many great opportunities for working abroad, including working in a ski resort, teaching English and much more. Keep in mind that the requirements state that the applicant’s primary aim should be to holiday in Japan, not to work or study. So, your work should only be to supplement your travels and not the main intention of your trip.
The article went viral, because the people of Malta were pretty excited that a big publication was talking about them. (They don’t get mentioned too often.) Maltese hotels and restaurants contacted Chack to offer her free stays and the story was covered by many news stations.
But even after this, Malta is still a considerably underrated destination and it doesn’t receive as much love as it should. There’s so much to enjoy here, from the original paintings of Caravaggio to the Sunday Fish Market to the Classic Car Museum and the fascinating megalithic temples. It really is a gem and the good news is that Australians can work abroad there for up to 12 months.
You’ve probably heard about the Red Light District and the magic brownies of Amsterdam, but there’s so much more to enjoy about the Netherlands. This small European country is friendly and laid back and full of world class art galleries, peaceful countryside, delicious pastries and cities that are designed to be bike and pedestrian friendly.
If you love the great outdoors, it would be a wonderful place to spend your year abroad. Plus, Dutch people are very welcoming and most speak fluent English. Along with being open-minded and creative, the Netherlands is also one of the wealthiest countries in the world and it offers a lot of great job opportunities, one of the lowest rates of unemployment in the EU and a high standard of living.
Australia and the Netherlands have a long history and the Working Holiday Program was created to celebrate their friendship. When you have this visa you will be able to live and work in the Netherlands for up to a year and you must show that you either have a ticket for your return flight or that you have enough money to pay for the return flight.
Norway could be considered similar to Australia – it’s a huge country, sparsely populated and known for its varied, gorgeous scenery. However, the sights in Norway could not be more different than what you are used to at home – enormous glaciers, fjords, rugged rocky mountains and some of the world’s tallest waterfalls. Your incredible Norwegian adventure may include skiing, canyoning, snowmobile safaris and staying up to marvel at the strange phenomenon of the Midnight Sun.
Oslo is a very cool city with excellent night life, great museums, lively festivals and much more. Plus, there are other intriguing cities where you could work, including Alesund, Bergen and Stavanger. Although Norway is one of the most expensive countries in the world, this is reflected in the fact that the quality of living is extremely high and so are the salaries.
To apply for this visa, you’ll need to have proof that you can support yourself for the first 3 months of your stay as well as a health certificate and a hotel booking or other proof that you have somewhere to stay in Norway.
So, You Want to Come to Norway to Find Work?
Poland is a destination that is becoming more and more popular with tourists – for good reason. It has a lot to see and do, not too many tourists and the people are friendly. You can go exploring in the ancient Bialowieza Forest, visit a medieval castle, check out world class museums or go hiking or skiing in the stunning Tatras Mountains. You’ll be delighted by the vibrant cultural life of Warsaw and charmed by the historic, cobbled streets of Krakow.
Plus, did you know that the northern coast of Poland is covered in idyllic white sand beaches? Oh, and don’t forget about the pierogi… I dream about those glorious little dumplings!
Poland and Australia have a special working holiday arrangement that allows citizens aged between 18 and 31 to work and travel for up to 12 months – giving you plenty of time to enjoy everything Poland has to offer.
Portugal has a special place in my heart, because it’s the first place where Lee and I started our digital nomad journey. Everyone I know who has been to this beautiful country has raved about the natural beauty, the architecture, the food and the laid back pace of life.
Portugal is home to some truly amazing wines, centuries-old castles, towering mountain peaks and golden sandy beaches. Plus, it’s friendly on your budget. You can enjoy historic charm for half the price it would be in Spain or Italy.
There are 200 places available each year for the working holiday visa in Portugal and the fee is currently, $180.45 AUD (subject to exchange rate).
Lee and I ended up in Slovakia on a whim when we were traveling around Eastern Europe. We had planned to go to Vienna that day, but we saw a cheap train ticket to Bratislava instead so we changed plans at the last moment. Turns out, we LOVED Bratislava and we ended up staying there for 10 days.
There isn’t a lot of information online about the Australia/Slovakia working holiday visa. However, there is some information from Anywork Anywhere that states citizens of Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan and Canada between the ages of 18 and 30 can apply for the visa and work in Slovakia for one year.
I also found this 2015 article from the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, which announces that the Australian/Slovakian Working Holiday arrangement has just been launched.
There isn’t a ton of other information online about the Slovakian working holiday visa, so it’s a bit of a mystery. I suggest calling up the Embassy of Slovakia in Australia and arranging a meeting to find out more.
Embassy of Slovakia in Australia.
From K-pop to fried octopus tentacles to cute French-inspired cafes to late night karaoke to misty mountains and elegant traditional wooden houses, Korea is so much fun to explore.
Although it’s known as the Land of the Morning Calm, the busy streets of Seoul never seem to slow down. When Lee and I were there, I got obsessed with the many tiny art galleries featuring stunning works by creative locals, the adorable socks for sale in every market, the wonderfully weird street food and the hedonistic joy of Korean barbeque. Also, we only had to travel a short way out of Seoul to find ourselves hiking the summits of craggy mountains and exploring tranquil temples.
Like most working holiday visas, the visa in South Korea is designed to encourage tourism and working must not be the primary purpose of your stay. Also, there are some restrictions on the type of work you can do – you cannot work as a doctor, lawyer, teacher, reporter, pilot or researcher and you cannot work as a singer, receptionist, dancer or acrobat in places of entertainment.
If you are looking for a place to spend your gap year which has sunny beaches and beautiful landscapes as well as world famous cuisine, excellent museums and plenty of history – Spain would not be a bad choice.
If you want to hike in the mountains you have the snow-capped Sierra Nevada or the Pyrenees, with timeless villages perched on the hilltops. Many civilisations have left their mark here, from the Romans to the Moors, and their influence can be seen in the ancient ruins and architecture.
Plus, in Spain the next fiesta is never far away. This country really knows how to celebrate with food, nightlife and traditional parties with brightly coloured costumes and music. Millions of tourists come to Spain every year to enjoy the culture – but you could live here and have even more time to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the Spanish way of life.
Citizens of Australia, Canada, and New Zealand between the ages of 18 and 30 can apply for a one year Spanish working holiday visa. This Youth Mobility Program was established in 2014. Applications for the visa can be submitted at the Consular section of the Embassy of Spain in Canberra.
Keep in mind you will not be allowed to work for the same employer for more than six months during your stay and you will need to prove that you have a functional level of Spanish.
Sweden is wild and beautiful – the type of place where you might need to stop your car on the highway because there is a herd of reindeer crossing the road. Whether you are out hiking in the 29 national parks, or soaking up the culture and the Viking history in the capital Stockholm, there’s a lot to enjoy here. After you’ve had a big day of exploring, soothe your tired muscles in a traditional Swedish sauna.
The Working Holiday Visa in Sweden will allow you to spend up to a year in Sweden while being allowed to work. You must be between the ages of 18 and 30, have a valid passport and be able to show that you have at least 15,000 SEK to support yourself initially ($2,313 AUD). You must also show that you have a return ticket (or enough money to buy one).
Just a word of warning – Sweden might not be the easiest country to work abroad. It can be challenging to find jobs, as Sweden is a small country with a very well-educated job market and you’ll face a lot of competition. However, if you can make it happen Sweden is a gorgeous setting with a high quality of life.
When the Portuguese sailors saw Taiwan in the 1500s, they referred to it as Ilha Formosa – The Beautiful Island. When you see the lush rainforests and beautiful scenery, it’s not hard to see why. When you head to the country you’ll find national parks with mountains, beaches and dormant volcanoes – dotted with ancient temples. Or, hang out in the cities and get lost in the non-stop food and drink scene, fantastic shopping and the lively night markets.
Young Australians between the ages of 18 and 30 can work in Taiwan for 12 months. Similar to many other visas, the primary purpose of the Working Holiday Scheme is to holiday – work should be secondary. During your visit you may also partake in short term language study. You must be able to prove that you have $100,000 New Taiwan Dollars (approximately $4,448 AUD) to support yourself during your stay in Taiwan.
Many Aussies have considered doing visiting Thailand as a part of their Gap Year – it’s a pretty popular spot for backpackers. However, when you enter on a visitor visa you only get one month in Thailand. What if you were able to stay in Thailand for up to a year, working and traveling your way around this beautiful tropical country?
You could eat street food and go shopping in Bangkok, hang out on the gorgeous beaches of the islands or go hiking in the hills of the North. Life in Thailand is laid back and relaxing and there’s something for you whether you want to live a party lifestyle or find total peace and relaxation.
The Thailand Working Holiday Visa is only available for Australians and New Zealanders and you must be between the ages of 18 and 30 when you apply. Also you are required to have tertiary qualifications – which means full time courses with at least 3 years of study. Also, you’ll need to prove that you have at least $5,000 AUD to support yourself.
There are a lot of reasons to love living in Turkey. The cities have thousands of years of history and stunning UNESCO World Heritage sites. (The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is simply awe-inspiring). You can visit world-class museums, marvel at the architecture and get lost in bazaars selling beautiful handicrafts, clothing and jewellery.
There are also sandy beaches, the otherworldly rock formations of Cappadocia and also a cheap cost of living. Plus, there’s the thrill of being able to eat delicious, authentic Turkish food all the time.
The Working Holiday Visa in Turkey is another one of the special ones that only Aussies and New Zealanders can get. It allows participants between the pages of 18 and 30 to stay for 12 months in Turkey and work to supplement their travel funds.
Now, I might be biased because it’s where my partner is from… but I think the UK is one of the best countries to work abroad in. Yes, the weather is cold and rainy. BUT – if you are into history, architecture, museums, live music, comedy, art and culture it can’t be beat. Plus, the scenery is so pretty – pastoral rolling hills, crumbling castles, tranquil lakes, centuries-old stone walls, pretty little timber-frame villages – it feels like exploring a story book.
The Working Holiday Visa in the UK allows foreign nationals between the ages of 18 and 30 to work and travel in the UK for up to 12 months. You’ll need to show that you have at least $4,000 AUD in the bank to support yourself and you submit your application through the UK Border Agency’s website.
It’s also one of the leading meat producers in the world and the locals have perfected the art of mouthwatering barbequed steak. Oh, and you’ll be buzzing if you get hooked on Mate – a caffeine-rich herbal infused drink that Uruguayans love even more than coffee.
Uruguay was the 10th country to join the Working Holiday Visa program with Australia, back in 2012. There is an annual limit of 200 work and holiday visas for both countries and participants must be university educated.
Vietnam is a popular travel destination for many Australians. The cities are exciting, the food is phenomenal (Who doesn’t love Pho?) and the beaches are great. Plus, there are a lot of naturally stunning places to explore – such as the misty, mysterious rock formations of Halong Bay.
There isn’t a ton of information about this program online, but in my research I found that the visa allows you to stay in the country for 12 months, work for 6 months and study for up to 4 months. Also, it is a multiple entry visa so you can leave and re-enter as many times as you like while the visa is valid.
If you have found any more information about working holiday visas for Australians, or if you are aware of any recent changes to the visas mentioned above please let us know in the comments below so that we can keep this resource as up to date as possible.
I’d heard of Working Holiday Visas but I did not realise I had so many options. Thank you for posting this.
What’s with the age limits?? Blatant ageism!! I’m 50 and I want to travel and work. Does this mean I can’t?
I usually don’t comment – but this is one of the MOST informative posts about travel and work visas I have ever read!
Thank you so much for posting this! I’m travelling the Schengen zone now and the 90 day rule is terrible for non-EUs. You mentioned that France and Hungary allows travel within the rest of the Schengen Area for up to 90 days within an 180 day period. Does this mean that the other Schengen countries on the list do not allow this? I’m thinking of obtaining a working holiday visa just so I can travel Europe for about a year.
The UK has 24 month working holiday visa not a 12.
This is really useful! Thank you. What happens if you’re 30 and obtain a visa – do you have to return before your 31’st birthday or are you able to utilise up to the maximum period that the permit would allow?
I’m struggling to answer this technicality! | 2019-04-20T05:03:21Z | https://global-goose.com/working-holiday-visas-for-australians/ |
The interval between any two points that measures the completion of a single wave movement.
The actual linear measurement, in metres, of one wave.
The strength or width of one wave—the greater the distance from the transmitting site, the smaller this distance.
The number of cycles per second, expressed in three units—Kilohertz (KHz), which measures the number of cycles per second, Megahertz (MHz), which measures millions of cycles per second, and Gigahertz (GHz), which measure billions of cycles per second.
Radiated energy, which in free space travels in straight lines, and at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second). Radio waves have the same properties as light and heat waves, but are in lower frequency.
The change in direction of travel of a radio wave that occurs when contact is made with the surface separating two different media. Where reflection occurs, the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection.
The bending of a radio wave as it passes from one medium to another or within a single medium with varied density.
The bending of a radio wave when it grazes the edge of a solid, impassable object.
The loss of radio wave energy as it travels through a medium. Attenuation is caused by the solid objects located on the earth’s surface, as well as molecules in the air such as water and dust.
Layers of ionized gas caused by solar radiation, located between 60 and 200 miles above the earth’s surface, and varies daily and with seasons and latitude.
Radio transmission energy that travelling roughly follow (run parallel to) the earth’s surface and is subject to surface attenuation—the lower the frequency, the less the attenuation.
Radio transmission energy that is reflected or refracted by the ionosphere. Sky waves will continue to reflect or refract between the earth’s surface and the ionosphere until complete attenuation occurs.
Radio transmission energy that continues through the ionosphere (without reflection or refraction) into space. Space waves neither follow the curvature of the earth, nor bend around obstructions.
The distance between the transmitter and the point at which the first sky wave returns to earth—this is dependent on variations in the height and density of the ionosphere, with significant changes in skip distance occurring at dawn and dusk.
Primarily by ground wave transmission, although sky waves are used for longer distances.
Propagation is by line-of-sight (space waves), subject to modification by earth objects. Transmission path is predictable, ground waves are rapidly attenuated, and sky waves rarely exist.
VORs transmit between 108 to 117.95 MHz. On the ground, the transmitter looks like a Gemini space capsule.
Two signals are transmitted from the ground station (above), the first is the non-directional reference phase, and the second is the rotating variable phase. Both signals are transmitted 30 times per second. The variable phase transmits cyclically around the 360 degrees of the azimuth approximately 30 times per second. The reference phase signal is transmitted every time the variable phase transmission sweeps past magnetic north. Radial information is derived from the difference in time between the two signals (which would be different for each radial); this computation is referred to as phase difference, and is displayed by the airborne equipment.
The VOR receiver in the cockpit incorporates three functions: (1) the Omni Bearing Selector (OBS) which appears as a rotating azimuth dial which provides for bearing selection; (2) the Course Deviation Indicator (CDI), which is a vertical needle that moves laterally along a row of dots, each dot representing two degrees; the CDI can be centred by rotating the OBS; when this is done the aircraft position on one of the VOR radials is indicated; (3) the TO/FROM Indicator informs whether the aircraft bearing is “to” or “from” the VOR.
Before using a VOR, the instrument must be tuned and identified; to confirm the identity of the VOR, the “indent” function is turned on (much like a VHF radio) and the VOR identifier (three letters) is transmitted in Morse Code, which the pilot can read from his chart.
VOR receivers sometimes have internal testing capability; but major airports provide VOT equipment (VOR Testing), in which the VOT frequency is selected and the equipment tested.
The concept of a radial can be somewhat confusing. What has to be remembered is that there are 360 radials radiating from the VOR. If you are in reception range, and you have selected the proper frequency, the turning of the OBS will eventually centre the CDI (needle) with a FROM indication (arrow pointing downward)—when this is done the radial that the aircraft is on as indicated at the top of the azimuth.
In the left display, the rotation of the OBS to 090° (at the top) has produced a centred CDI with a TO indication—essentially, the VOR is saying (if it could speak) fly 090° to proceed to the VOR. The aircraft must be to the west of the station. In the right display, with the aircraft in the exact same geographic position, the selection of 270° (using the OBS) has produced a centred CDI with a FROM indication—the VOR, in this case, is saying: fly 270° to proceed direct from the VOR. The radial the aircraft is currently on is only directly read from the right display, because it has a FROM indication. The present radial can also be discerned from the left display, but it has to be read at the bottom of the azimuth.
As you can see, the VOR information has nothing to do with the heading of the aircraft. It doesn’t know which way you have the thing pointed. To make sure you don’t get confused, it is always a good case to orient the aircraft in the same course as has been selected on the OBS. When this is done, all the directions make sense.
Another way to learn how to interpret information on the VOR display is to look at the four quadrants of a VOR. In the above example, the pilot has selected the 030° Radial—this appears at the top of the display. Note the various indications based on the quadrant in which the aircraft is located. To make comprehension easier, the aircraft depicted have been oriented to match the OBS selection of 030°.
In the upper left quadrant, the CDI is deflecting right, indicating to the pilot that the aircraft is to the left of course. To intercept the selected 030° Radial, the aircraft must be flown in the direction of the needle, but this only works if the aircraft is oriented to the OBS selection. Note the FROM indication, showing that the aircraft is to the north east of the 90° off-setting radials—a line combining the 300° and 120° Radials.
In the upper right quadrant, everything is the same as the upper-left except the needle is deflecting left. Here (upper right quadrant) the pilot must fly left to intercept the selected 030° Radial.
Note that in the lower two quadrants the TO indication is displayed. Relative to the OBS setting, this tells that the VOR transmitter is in front of the aircraft. The reverse is the same for the upper quadrants, except the pilot is advised the VOR lies behind the oriented aircraft.
Full deflection of the CDI from the “on course” or central dot marker indicates the aircraft is positioned 10° or more from the selected radial.
VOR receivers sometimes have internal testing capability;2 but major airports provide VOT equipment (VOR Testing), in which the VOT frequency is selected and the equipment tested. Using a VOT, the CDI must provide an “on course” and “TO” indication when the 180° Radial is selected, and “on course” and “FROM” indication when the 360° Radial is selected (when the 090° and 270° Radials are selected the “OFF” or “Nav-flag” indication will appear.
When checking the VOR over a known VOR checkpoint on the ground, the 4° tolerance is also applied.
Similarly, any variation greater than 4° degrees when two VOR receivers are tuned to the same signal is an unacceptable difference and one of the aircraft’s receivers must be regarded as unserviceable.
In contrast, an accepted tolerance of + /- 6° is applied to any airborne VOR check when the aircraft is positioned over a known landmark in association with a published radial.
A variation from VOR transmitters is VORTAC, which combines VOR functioning with DME (Distance Measuring Equipment). A military variation is TACAN (Tactical Air Navigation) which requires Ultra High Frequency equipment (UHF) and is not commonly used by General Aviation.
VORs are limited in that they transmit “line of sight;” thus the lower you fly, the closer you must be to pick up a signal; as a rule, 1.23 times the square root of your altitude above the transmitter gives you the current range of a VOR in nautical miles (NM).
The advantage of VOR rests with its reliance on VHF energy. VOR signals are not subject to the errors and inaccuracies of LF transmissions—especially needle oscillations during electrical storms.
Rather than a traditional VOR display, the position of an aircraft relative to a VOR transmitter can also be displayed by way of a Radio Magnetic Indicator (RMI) display. With an RMI, a bearing indicator continually points to the VOR station. The bearing indicator, in turn, is superimposed on an azimuth display that is virtually identical to the aircraft’s heading indicator. The azimuth, driven by a remotely mounted slaved compass, continually adjusts itself to reflect the aircraft’s heading—rotating just as the heading indicator rotates. In the example to the right, the aircraft is flying a heading of 086°, the bearing to the VOR is 055°, and the aircraft is currently crossing the 235° Radial. As discussed below, an RMI display can also be used to display ADF navigation information.
ADF operates on low frequencies—200 KHz to 1750 KHz—which means commercial AM station broadcasts can be used, as well as navigation facilities. The transmission source most commonly used during IFR flight is the Non-directional Beacon (NDB).
ADF provides a homing function—that is, the needle in the ADF cockpit receiver points to the station (Bearing Indicator). Again, the receiver must be tuned and identified before use.
The advantage of ADF is that it is not limited to “line of sight” and is therefore effective for low-level navigation. The reason is that low frequency transmitters produce both ground and sky waves (signal bounces off the ionosphere).
The ADF, however, is subject to numerous inaccuracies: (1) Quadrantal Error, whereby the signal is bent by aircraft metal; quadrantal effect is minimal at the cardinal points (nose, tail and wing tips), and greater in the intermediate bearings; (2) Needle Oscillation, whereby the needle oscillates in conditions of static (rainfall and thunderstorms) and weak transmissions; (3) Night Effect the needle relies on the ionosphere reflection at night and becomes more inaccurate; (4) Terrain Effect, whereby the direction of radio waves is altered when passing between water and land, especially if the waves intercept the shore line at 30° or more; (5) Mountain Effect, whereby signals are altered as they reflect off mountains; and (6) Ore Deposits, which cause deflections.
ADF information is conventionally displayed by one of three means, the first of which is referred to as a fixed card bearing indicator, the second is referred to as an adjustable bearing indicator, and the third is referred to as a Radio Magnetic Indicator (RMI).
In the case of the fixed-card bearing indicator, the ADF needle displays the relative bearing of the transmitter station—i.e., the bearing of the transmitter station relative to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft (relative bearing is discussed beginning P. 297). The ADF display card remains fixed with the 360° bearing set at the top of the azimuth display.
When ADF is displayed with an adjustable bearing indicator, the pilot can manually rotate the azimuth display so the aircraft’s current heading is displayed at the top of the azimuth. When this is done, the bearing indictor shows the magnetic bearing to the NDB—i.e., the heading that must be flown to proceed directly to the NDB.
In the case of an ADF equipped with an RMI, the azimuth is turned automatically by a remotely mounted slaved compass so that the heading of the aircraft is continually displayed at the top of the azimuth. Like a correctly set adjustable bearing indicator, the needle on the RMI always indicates the magnetic bearing to the NDB.
The Instrument Landing System (ILS) is the primary precision approach system used internationally, providing both horizontal (Localizer) and vertical (glidepath) guidance to a runway touchdown zone.
ILS must have a final approach fix (FAF) which provides position confirmation; the FAF is either an NDB or a DME fix.4 The FAF is typically 4 NM from the runway,5 but may vary between 3.5 and 6 NM.
The Localizer is unidirectional in that only the approach end of the runway—referred to as the front course—has conventional CDI display and interpretation—e.g., left CDI deflection means “fly left” for on course. If you were to make an approach on to the opposite runway, and centreline signal is still transmitted via the Localizer, but the CDI is not “reverse read;” accordingly, a pilot making an approach on this opposite or reciprocal runway with a left CDI indication would have to “fly right” for the “on course.” This reverse-read side of the runway is referred to as the back course. If an aircraft is equipped with an HSI or Horizontal Situation Indicator (see below), which is essentially a CDI display superimposed on the Heading Indicator, the CDI display will not reverse read on the back course (as the pilot essentially sees the CDI upside-down).
The “TO/FROM” indicator during the tracking of Localizer always indicates “TO” irrespective of the aircraft position relative to the transmitter, its only meaning being that the signal is reliable.
The transmitter of a Localizer signal is located on the centre line at the far end of runway for which it serves (i.e., off the departure end).
The glidepath transmitter is located approximately 1000’ back from the approach end of the runway it is serving. There is no back course glidepath signal transmitted. It projects an electronic glide slope to coincide with the Localizer—the glide slope usually being a 3° angle. The glidepath beam width is approximately 1.4°; therefore a full deflection of the glidepath needle (positioned as a “cross-hair” to the Localizer) from the “on glidepath” or centre-dot marker is only .7°—amazingly sensitive!
Caution with respect to glidepath indication as false signals are transmitted in multiples of the glidepath angle. The first glidepath is approximately 6° above the horizontal.7 False signals are reciprocal (up and down indications are reversed.
A Localizer has specified areas of reliability. Outside this area, indications must be regarded as inaccurate. Approximately 18 NM from the transmitter, the Localizer is reliable 10° either side of the on-track indication, while 10 NM from the transmitter, reliability increases to 35° either side of the on-track indication (below, right).
The Localizer is a VHF signal while the glidepath is a UHF signal that is “paired” with the VHF frequency. While the glideslope transmitter is located 400’ to 600’ off the runway centreline, between 750’ and 1250’ back from the threshold. ILS frequencies are identified by a two-letter code with an “I” prefix. Thus, the Localizer for Abbotsford is “IXX.” When a Localizer frequency is published with an “X” prefix, the Localizer alignment exceeds 3° relative to the runway centreline, and a precautionary note is published on the approach plate.
DME stands for Distance Measuring Equipment which provides the pilot with the slant-range distance from a DME ground station. The functioning of DME is distinct from VORs in that airborne equipment transmits a signal to the ground station, this transmission being composed of paired pulses; when the ground station receives this airborne signal, it in turn transmits reply paired pulses back to the airborne receiver on a difference frequency, but with the same pulse spacing. It is the time difference between this exchange of signals that is translated by the airborne equipment into distance in nautical miles.
DME signals are UHF and are therefore subject to line-of-sight limitations. DME frequencies are paired with VOR frequencies; therefore, by selecting the VOR VHF signal, the appropriate UHF frequency is automatically selected on the DME equipment—but you must pay close attention to depiction on navigation charts. DME is also paired with military TACAN signals—accordingly, while VOR equipment in civil aircraft cannot utilize TACAN signals (as TACAN signals are UHF), civil DME equipment can dial in TACAN frequency and obtain distance information. Note that VORTAC stations (combining military UHF and civil VHF) provide DME data.
Since the translated distance is slant range, and DME equipment in an aircraft at FL370 directly over a DME ground station (based at sea level) would indicate a distance to the pilot of not less than 6.08 NM.10 Accordingly, the higher and closer an aircraft to the DME ground station, the greater the slant range error.
The acceptable tolerance of DME indications in the cockpit is +/- .5 NM or 3% of the distance, whichever is greatest.
Area Navigation radio navigation systems permit expanded station-referenced and often self-contained electronic navigation over any desired flight path that is generally independent of conventional airways structure.
Area Navigation therefore revolves around track navigation between pilot-selected waypoints.
In many instances Area Navigation track information is conveyed to the pilot on an HSI display (left CDI deflection means steer left for the on course, etc.) and distance information similar to DME (distance to waypoint).
INS refers to Inertial Navigation System, a self-contained system that is independent of any external navigation aids.
The initial position of the aircraft is entered into the computer (usually the precise longitude and latitude of the aircraft on the airport ramp), and a system of two gyro-stabilized accelerometers measure acceleration of the aircraft relative to a north-south and east-west electronic grid.
Some INS systems incorporate ground station data input as a means of further enhancing accuracy.
The latest generation of INS systems—referred to as IRS for Inertial Reference System—uses laser sensors rather than gyros, and the data is directly inputted into an aircraft flight management system.
The term “RNAV” is currently used in two meanings, the first referring to all Area Navigation System—INS, IRS, GPS (also referred to as GNSS, meaning “Global Navigation Satellite System”), LORAN C, etc.—and the second sense denotes an airborne system that utilizes conventional VORTAC and DME ground stations. In this section, RNAV denotes the latter conventional ground stations.
The airborne component of RNAV is a computer that takes radial and distance information from VORTAC and DME stations and allows the pilot to electronically create “phantom” VORTAC positions referred to as waypoints. Accordingly, by selecting a position referencing radial and DME from the nearest VORTAC, the pilot can electronically create a waypoint for that position such that the information received on the HSI and DME is as if a VORTAC existed there.
In the RNAV mode the CDI deflection of one dot indicates ½ NM off course, as opposed to the conventional 2° indication associated with a convention VOR or VORTAC indication.
LORAN-C is a low frequency, long-range navigation system in which the airborne receiver receives signal pulses from a widely spaced chain of ground stations. There are several chains in North American, each consisting of a master transmitting station and four secondary transmitting stations. The receiver computes aircraft position by measuring the time differences between the master station and at least two secondary stations. The pilot selects the chain of stations nearest to the aircraft position.
LORAN-C is far less accurate than GPS and it is not uncommon to have errors up to 8 NM. The receiver can lock onto erroneous sky wave or other signals without warning. The accuracy overall is dependent on the geometric angles between the aircraft and the ground transmitters—the greater this angle, the more accurate the data provided to the pilot. The signals can be affected by local low frequency transmitters and power lines. Also, precipitation static interferes with reception. The failure of one transmitter in the chain can render a large surrounding area without signal coverage. On the positive side the range of signal reception is very good—up to 900 NM.
GNSS is a term used to encompass both the US GPS system and the Russian GLONASS system, both of which are satellite based systems. Discussion here will refer to the GPS system.
GPS11 is perceived by ICAO as the navigation system of the 21st Century. Developed by the U.S. military, the system became operational for civil use in 1994, and now provides amazingly accurate navigation information to within only a few meters in space.
The system is based on the measurement of distances between the airborne receiver and satellites, thereby establishing position information based on triangulation. Precise calculation of distances is made possible by atomic clocks carried on each satellite, and distance is derived from measuring the time required for a satellite signal to reach the airborne receiver.
While only three satellites would be theoretically needed to determine a position based on triangulation, accuracy would be diminished by potential inaccuracies in the atomic clocks of any one of the three satellites. To compensate for possible time errors, four satellite signals are used and four satellites are considered the minimum number of satellites required for a reliably accurate position fix.
Until quite recently, GPS provided civilian aviation with what was referred to as “downgraded” navigation data. GPS satellites continue to transmitted (and perhaps still transmit) two types of code used for position identification—a “P” code, for “precise” navigation, and a “C/A” code, meaning “coarse acquisition” code. P-code provides “Precise Positioning Service” (PPS) that is only accessible to military receivers and requires a valid decryption key, while C/A code provides “Standard Positioning Service (SPS), accessible to all civilian receivers. Up until only a few years ago, SPS was a degraded PSS signal for reasons of national security,—a process referred to as Selective Availability (SA). In the winter of 2000, however, the C/A code was upgraded (or perhaps temporarily removed) so that civilian operators now have access to data whose accuracy is estimated to be equivalent to P code. Presumably, the signal could be again downgraded in the event of a future security problem.
A GPS receiver identifies each accessible satellite within line of sight, accesses two data streams form the satellite—the navigation message (referred to as ephemeris) which contains orbital information that allows the receiver to calculate the satellites’ position, and the distinct C/A code (or P code if the receiver is military), which is simply clock information. The receiver then plots its estimated position from all available satellites using processed time and distance data—a measurement process referred to as pseudo range. The are numerous accuracy-degrading effects associated with GPS (ionospheric effects, ephemeris errors, satellite clock errors, multipath distortion, trophospheric effects, and numerical errors), but civilian GPS fixes are typically accurate to within about 50’.
There are numerous augmentation systems for GPS—systems that enhance the accuracy and reliability of GPS position determination. Perhaps the more prominent of these is the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) has been developed by the U. S. FAA, and consists of a network of 29 ground stations (referred to as WRS—Wide-area Reference Stations---these are located the continental U.S., Hawaii, and Puerto Rico), and four geostationary satellites. GPS/WAAS receivers obtain position data from both the GPS satellite network, as well as ground stations (communicated via the WAAS stationary satellites) to civil position determination to within 1.0 meters laterally and 1.5 meters vertically.
Navigation information is provided by way of waypoints. Waypoints can be airports, intersections published on aeronautical charts, and traditional ground-based navigation transmitter locations. All waypoints are stored in the GPS by way of a data card provided by the manufacturer. The data cards are periodically updated and usually a subscription must be purchased. All GPS systems have facility for “user defined” waypoints.
Information regarding the aircraft’s position relative to a waypoint is commonly presented by way of a moving map displayed on the GPS display screen. Distance in nautical miles is simultaneously displayed, and the pilot can select additional data such as groundspeed and estimated time en route to the waypoint. Systems also display track information in the traditional OBI display similar to those used with VORs. The dots on either side of the display are no longer “degrees,” as is the case with VOR displays, but instead are distance. The distance between dots can be altered by the pilot, but it is common for one-dot deflection to equate to 1 NM.
Typically, GPS operates in two modes, the first being LEG mode, and the second being OBS mode. In LEG mode, the GPS will automatically cycle through a series of waypoints that are stored as a sequence in an electronic flight plan.
Information display—distance, time, and speed—is always provided for the “next” waypoint in the sequence. If three waypoints are stored, for example—A,B, and C—the data pertaining to waypoint C will be displayed immediately after B is passed. In OBS mode the GPS will not cycle between waypoints, but will instead lock onto one waypoint, giving position information much like that of a traditional VOR—including TO and FROM indications.
VFR-only GPS receivers cannot detect erred data in satellite transmission.
IFR-certified GPS receivers must continuously monitor the performance of the system to ensure accuracy—the idea being, of course, that IFR operation based on GPS must have accuracy in position determination to ensure clearance from terrain. The problem is that the GPS Space and Control Segments cannot instantly fix a satellite if it begins to send misleading data to receivers, and for this reason IFR GPS receivers cannot simply rely on the GPS satellites where this possibility of position error exists. To remedy this, the feature of RAIM—Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring—is included in IFR GPS equipment. “Receiver autonomous” means that the GPS can detect errors on its own, and it does this by using distance measurements from as many satellites as possible as a means of checking the consistency of the position (called over-determined position solution). If there are not enough satellites within reception range of the airborne receiver to assure position integrity, the receiver notifies the pilot.
Five measurements with good geometry concerning the satellite positions are needed to provide RAIM; since an IFR GPS utilizes as a source of measurement the aircraft’s altimeter, the minimum number of satellites is four. If the measurements are inconsistent, the pilot is notified and RAIM does not exist.
RAIM availability is rarely a problem during the en route and terminal phases of IFR flight, but the allowable limits are much tighter when an IFR non-precision approach is being conducted—during this phase aircraft commonly descend without visual reference to within a few hundred feet of the ground. A “RAIM not available” signal is useless during these critical low-altitude phases of an IFR approach, so the IFR receivers have the capability to check RAIM availability at a future time—i.e., when the pilot is planning to conduct the approach. By knowing the future geometry of orbiting satellites, RAIM is predicted by the receiver for the pilot’s benefit.
An IFR pilot cannot conduct an approach unless predicted RAIM is checked and verified prior to crossing the Final Approach Fix.
It is required with IFR GPS systems that the waypoints that make up a GPS approach are not entered manually by the pilot. Instead, the equipment must be designed such that the waypoints are automatically loaded in the corrected sequence from a data card when a particular approach is selected by the pilot.
The navigation requirements that govern GPS operations in Canada are established in periodically updated Aeronautical Information Circulars. These apply to IFR operations.
Two types of radar systems are in use: Primary Surveillance Radar (PSR ) and Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR ). Both provide range (distance) and azimuth (direction) information of a target relative to a station.
PSR is non-enhanced radar that conveys information to the operator based only on radar reflections from contacts, and therefore is the only system that can detect weather precipitation. PSR does not rely on information transmitted from an aircraft, and therefore does not provide altitude data.
In contrast, SSR relies on airborne transponder and measures data based on SSR interrogation and transponder replies.
SSR cannot provide position information for aircraft that are not transponder equipped; nor can it provide information on weather. Its operation advantage is derived from increased range, positive identification and altitude information.
SSR is the main source of radar data for en route (airways) facilities. Independent Secondary Surveillance Radar (ISSR ) is considered long-range radar, and is capable of providing coverage up to 250 NM.
In contrast, Terminal Surveillance Radar (TSR ) combines both PSR (80 NM range) and SSR (250 NM range).
It is characterized as a short range, high definition PSR system that provides highly accurate information related to altitude, azimuth and range—sufficient accuracy to be classified as a “precision approach” comparable to an ILS system.
The formal name for this system of radar is the Airport Surface Detection Equipment (ASDE ). It is also a short range, high definition PSR system that provides surface traffic information when airport visibility is reduced—aircraft and vehicle movements on runways and taxiways.
A recent crash of a commercial aircraft in Europe was attributed to cell phone use in the aircraft. Crew members should specifically advise passengers to turn off cell phones during flight.
FM radio and television broadcast receivers produce radiation that can interfere with ILS and VOR receivers, while AM radio receivers and electronic calculators can interfere with ADF receivers.
Should the ground transmitters associated with radio navigation aids be unserviceable, the identifying Morse Code signal is suspended; accordingly positive identification of a signal is crucial to safe navigation.
All abnormalities with radio navigation performance must be reported to ATS.
1 HF frequencies are suited to locations where communication is required over long distances—long, over-water flights, and flights in northern Canada. HF is the only way to communicate over ranges of 2500 miles or more. The quality of HF communication is somewhat unpredictable owing to the unpredictable nature of the ionosphere. Higher range HF frequencies are more efficient during the day, and lower range HF frequencies are more efficient at night.
2 Internal testing capability in VOR equipment is now rare.
3 This was reported on the Transport Canada exam: What should be done if the VOR indicates a 4° error? Choices are: use without correction; make correction by adding 4°; use with correction by subtracting 4°; or do not use.
4 A FAF based on DME is used if it is not possible to position an NDB—the ILS approaches to Runways 26 at Vancouver. DME signals used for an ILS approach normally have a range of about 40 NM.
5 Instrument Procedures Manual (IPM), P. 4-44.
6 Full-left CDI to full-right CDI on a Localizer equates to 5°, while the same deflection on a VOR equates to 20°.
7 For this reason, the altimeter must be cross-checked when crossing the FAF.
8 These have been phased out in Canada, but many exist in the U.S.
9 For further reading on marker beacons, see IMP, P. 2.52.
10 Based on 6080’ per NM.
12 The GPS system is composed of three segments: the Space Segment, the Control Segment, and the User Segment. The Space Segment is composed of the 24 NAVSTAR satellites that orbit the earth. The satellite orbits are precisely planned so that the entire surface of the earth may use the GPS system 24 hours per day, every day. There are almost always more than six satellites in view from every location on Earth. The Control Segment consists of a network of ground-based monitoring and control stations, with the Master Control Station located in Colorado Springs. The satellite data is collected by other ground stations, but is assimilated and analyzed in Colorado Springs. The Master Control Station has facility for the “uplinks” required, for example, to make system clock corrections. The User Segment includes pilots with GPS.
13 PAR facilities are far more common in the U.S. | 2019-04-18T20:18:33Z | http://ed.langleyflyingschool.com/Pages/CPGS%20Radio%20Navigation.html |
DOB/DOD/POB/POD: From records of Judith Flinn via internet email, March 2001.
DOB/DOD/POB/POD: Arlene McLennan via May 2001 email.
DOD/POD: Image of death certificate at Missouri Archives. Name listed as Lewis B. Alspach, born July 9, 1869, died married at age 79 on Feb 9, 1949 in Sedalia, Pettis Co., MO. Resided there for 10 years. Died at Bothwell Memorial Hospital. Home address in Sedalia was 1008 East 7th. Occupation was R. R. Engineer. Born in Findlay, Ohio, to Rubin Alspach and Ann Peters, spouse was Gertrude Alspach. Died of Cerebral Hemorrhage, buried Memorial Park in Sedalia, MO on Feb. 11.
NAME/Maiden/Parentage/POB/DOD/DOB/SPOUSE/DAUS: "Cemeteries of Bloom Township, Fairfield County, OH", Fairfield Co., Ohio, Chapter OGS, 1996, p 256. NOK listed as Clarence E. Kramer, husband. Mrs. Theodore Huston and Mrs. John Alter, daughters. Nellie is shown as d/o Charles Andrews and Rosetta Harder.
Note that the maiden name for Nellie is listed as Andrews rather than Andrix.
"My mother's name was Rosetta Harder and she came from Indiana. Her father was killed in the Civil War when she was a little girl. My father was Charles Andrix and he came from Central College, Ohio. I never saw my people after I was about six years old. I lived with a family in Columbus, Ohio for four years then I went to the children's home and stayed 8 months. Dr. George S. Courtright took me to Lithopolis, Ohio to live with them. I lived there until I married Clarence Kramer. I was never legally adopted though they just called me Nellie Courtright."
According to the email sent to me, her name is often seen as Andrews, such as her death certificate and marriage license, but it was done knowingly so her real parents wouldn't locate her when she was taken from the orphanage.
DOD/POD: Cert. 18849, V 18391, resided and died in Columbus, Franklin co., aged 82y, widowed. Name spelled "Nelle". . Ohio Death Index, 1958-69 [database on-line] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 1998-. Original electronic data from: Ohio Department of Health. Index to Annual Deaths, 1958-1969. Columbus, OH: Ohio Department of Health. State Vital Statistics Unit, 19xx-.
1927 - Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Courtright, Jr. and Richard attended the July 1927 Beaty reunion. See notes on Isabella (Lamb) Beaty.
LOCATION: 1942 - listed as a surviving daughter, Mrs. George Courtright, Jr., in mother's August obit.
LOCATION: 1975 - listed as a surviving sister, Mrs. George (Irene) Courtright of Carroll, Route 1, in brother William's April obit.
LOCATION: 1926 - listed as surviving daughter Mrs. George Hensel of Pickerington in father's Sept. obit.
DOB/DOD: Name listed as Mildred Benson, full dates, mother of Bob and Rod Anneshensley and Doug and Tim Cormany.
Death info for son Rod Anneshensley show's mother's maiden name as Benson.
OBIT: Catherine P. Foor went home to be with the Lord on Dec. 15, 2003.
She was preceded in death by her loving husband of 72 years, Howard; daughter, Mary Louise Hagopian; sisters, Louise Fockler, Mona Buterbaugh; and brothers, Jesse and Paul Bloom. She is survived by her nieces, Margaret (Dean) Dut ton, Glenna (Francis) Davis and their families.
The family would like to thank the nurses and staff at the Hospice Care Center in Fairlawn for their loving care of Catherine and thoughtful kindness shown to the family.
There will be no calling hours, a memorial service will be held Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2003, at 11 a.m., at Greenlawn Memorial Park, 2580 Romig Rd., Ak ron, in the Ivy Chapel, with Rev. Jerry Harpool officiating.
DOB/DOD: SSDI. Name listed as Catherine P. Foor. Last known address as Akron, Summit Co., OH.
NAME/DOB/DOD/Parentage: "Cemeteries of Bloom Township, Fairfield County, OH", Fairfield Co., Ohio, Chapter OGS, 1996, p 12 and 24.
CENSUS: Not listed with parents in 1850 Bloom Township, Fairfield County, Ohio census. Probably died prior to 1850.
DOM/POM: Ross Co., Ohio, marriages 1798-1951 - LDS Film 0281641.
Death certificate image. Thomas Hudson Bradrick died April 23, 1913 in Alliance, Stark Co., Ohio, aged 80y 8m 2d. Retired minister. Married. Born Aug. 21, 1832 in Ohio to unknown Bradrick b VA and unknown Burdsall b unknown. Buried in Columbus, Ohio, April 25.
Name listed as Thomas H. Bradrick 8/21/1832 - 04/23/1913, father William Bradrick. "The Fleshman Files" website, accessed 2007, Green Lawn Cemetery Records, Columbus, Ohio.
NAME/DOB/POB: From Jennifer (Foor) Brooks via Sept. 2008 email.
DOB/DOD/POBurial: "Cemeteries of Bloom Township, Fairfield County, OH", Fairfield Co., Ohio, Chapter OGS, 1996, p 58. Years only. Buried beside parents.
CENSUS: 1870 E. Providence Twp., Bedford Co., PA, p 24.
NAME: From grandson Daniel James Foor via email March 2000.
DOB/POB: Via email from Daniel FOOR [[email protected]] of Huron, Ohio, April 2000.
Elsie Viola Foor (nee Conner), 86, passed away Saturday, June 7, 2008 at the Rehabilitation and Nursing Center at Firelands, following a brief illness. She was born March 9, 1922 in Everett, PA., moving to Ohio in 1943 and becoming a permanent resident of N. Ridgeville.
She was employed for 15 years at EMH Regional Medical Center, Elyria, retiring in 1986. She loved gardening, flowers and crafting. She was proudest of her sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and was loved and will be missed.
She is survived by her sons, Richard (Melinda) of N. Ridgeville, James (Nancy) of Huron, Kenneth (Julie) of New London; grandchildren, Michael Foor of Grafton, Douglas Foor of St. Charles, Illinois, Dana Foor Wherley of Akron, Dean Foor of Eugene, Oregon, Daniel Foor of Mountainview, California, Christopher and Nicholas Foor of New London; seven great-grandchildren, Allyson, Joshua, Jessica, Jacob, Thomas, Quinn, Hannah; sisters, Jean Shifflet, Ruth Powell and brother, Elton Connor all of Baltimore, Maryland.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 45 years, Charles Lee Foor; parents, Elton Conner and Clara Conner Klix; sisters, Joann Roberts, Pauline Morris and her great grandchild, Patrick Foor.
Friends may call Wednesday, June 11, 2008 from 5 to 8 P.M. at the David Bogner Family Funeral Home, 36625 Center Ridge Road, North Ridgeville. Funeral services will be held Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 10 A.M. in the funeral home. Rev. Neriah Edwards will officiate. Burial will be in Resthaven Memory Gardens, Avon.
Death certificate 22446 image. Simon Conrad died April 11, 1928 in the Fairfield County Infirmary, Pleasant Twp., Fairfield Co., Ohio, single, born Feb. 12, 1850, aged 78y 1m 29d, laborer, born Amanda Ohio to Daniel Conrad b Ohio and unknown mother of unknown birth. Informant was Mr. Samuel Storts of Lithopolis, Ohio. Buried Lithopolis Cem., April 13.
POBurial: Simon P. Conrad, born Feb. 12, 1850, died April 11, 1928, buried 2nd addition, part 3, lot 245 grave 2. "Cemeteries of Bloom Twp., Fairfield Co., OH", Fairfield County Gen. Soc., Chapter OGS, 1996, p 185.
Death certificate image. James W. Cook, R. 2 Lancaster, Hocking Twp., Fairfield Co., Ohio, died May 28, 1923, married, aged 69y 9m 27d, date of birth is shown as August 1, 1923 (same year as death; obvious error), born in Ross Co., Ohio to August Cook b OH and Hanna b OH. Farmer. Informant was Mrs. James Cook. Buried Greenmound Cem., May 31, 1923.
OBIT: Columbus Dispatch, Columbus, OH, Sept. 23, 2004.
BUSSERT Mary Elizabeth Cooper Bussert, age 89, of Carroll, died September 21, 2004 at her residence with her family at her side. She was a lifelong resident of Carroll, member of Shalom United Methodist Church, where she was baptized in 1953, and a 1933 graduate of Carroll High School. Mary is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Ronald and Charma Bussert; grandsons, Richard (Andrea) Bussert, Kevin (Paige) Bussert; great-grandchildren, Audrey, Brandon, Lauren, McKenzie, all of Carroll; and several nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband Lee S. Bussert in 1993. Friends may visit 5-8 p.m. Thursday at the DWAYNE R. SPENCE FUNERAL HOME, 550 Hill Road North (State Route 256), Pickerington, where funeral service will be held 2 p.m. Friday. Interment Betzer Cemetery, Carroll, Ohio.
DOB/POB/POD: From funeral home website.
NAME: From daughter Margaret's birth info "Carrie M. Courtright".
DOB/DOD/POBurial: "Cemeteries of Bloom Township, Fairfield County, OH", Fairfield Co., Ohio, Chapter OGS, 1996, p 64. "May C. Jordan". Years only.
DOD/POD: Name listed as Carie M. Jordan, died 10 Sep 1915 in Fairfield Co., Ohio. Ancestry.com and Ohio Department of Health. Ohio Deaths, 1908-1944 and 1958-2002 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006.
Death certificate image. Ruben Crider died Sept. 10, 1919 Wapakoneta, Auglaize Co., Ohio, aged 77y 9m 5d, married, born Nov. 5, 1841 in Piqua, Ohio, to Ephraim Crider born in America and unknown mother. Informant was Mrs. Ruben Crider. Buried Bethel Cemeter, Sept. 12, 1919.
"Mary Catharine Stewart, d/o George W. C. & Elizabeth R. (Hite) Custer, b. Lithopolis, Ohio, Dec. 6, 1830, m. James Stewart Sr., ch: Robert Stewart, James Stewart Jr., Emma Stewart." Custer, Milo,. Custer genealogies. Bloomington, Ill.: M. Custer, printer, 1990, p 16.
A "Henry O. Farrand" m Catherine Decker 15 Sep 1853, Franklin Co., OH "Family Tree Maker Family Archives, Marriage Index: Ohio 1789-1850", CD #400.
DOD/POBurial: Name listed as Catharine Farrand, wife of H., died June 12, 1877, aged 46y 2m 5d. Image of tombstone posted at www.genealogybug.net in section for Middletown Cemetery (a.k.a. Stotler Cem.) Madison Twp., Franklin Co., OH. Date of birth figured from age at death.
NAME/DOB: From Joy Ann Weicht.
NAME/DOB/DOD/POBurial: "Cemeteries of Bloom Township, Fairfield County, OH", Fairfield Co., Ohio, Chapter OGS, 1996, p 201.
In speaking of the Civil War, "George Dudgeon, Joseph Hargesheimer, and Alexander Warren lie upon unknown battlefields", "THE VILLAGE. MEMORIES OF LITHOPOLIS", John Bartram Kramer, August 1936, p 49.
1917 - Harrison Twp., Pickaway Co., Ohio, draft registration card. Name listed as Benjamin Cyrus Duvall, 24, of Duvall, Ohio, born Feb. 25, 1893 in Duvall, tall height, medium build, blue eyes, red hair, employed by J. R. Duvall of Duvall, Ohio, single. Ancestry.com. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.
1940 - listed as a surviving brother, Benjamin, of Harrison twp., in sister Margaret's May obit.
1966 - listed as a surviving brother, Benjamin, of Ashville, Ohio, in brother Earl's August obituary.
DOD/POD: Name listed as Benjamin C. Duvall, white male, resided and died in Pickaway Co., Ohio, Cert. 071193, age 76, married. Ancestry.com and Ohio Department of Health. Ohio Deaths, 1908-1944 and 1958-2002 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006.
1918 - Listed as James Wason Englehart of Rt. 7, Groveport, Franklin Co., Ohio, age 20, born Aug. 25, 1898, blue eyes, brown hair, tall height, medium build, farmer for Alva Oyler of Groveport, nearest relative Lue Alice Englehart of Groveport. Ancestry.com. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.
DOM/POM: Names listed as James W. Englehart, Farmer, Kirkersville, and Helen May Benson, Carroll. Rev. Royer. Marriage license posted in the Oct. 27, 1920 issue of a Lancaster, Ohio newspaper.
CENSUS: 1900 Ward 1, Paola, Miami Co., Kansas p 134.
", Ella, wife b Apr 1878, 22y b Kansas, pa b Switzerland, ma b OH; 0 ch.
Edward James Foor and Pamela M. Hayes, m 12 Aug 1978.
DOB: from anybirthday.com; shown with a Rochester, Indiana zipcode; name shown as Edward J. Foor.
A "Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Foor" had a daughter Vanessa Renae Foor - from the Rochester Sentinel, Rochester, Indiana, March 26, 1986.
LOCATION: 2006 - listed as a surviving son, Edward J. Foor and his wife Pam of Rochester in mother's June 2006 obit.
POB: From daughter Vanessa via Nov. 2007 email.
LOCATION: Nov. 2003 - listed as a surviving son, Edward Foor and wife Robert, of Rochester, in mother's obituary.
LOCATION: 2011 - listed as a surviving son, Edward (wife, Roberta) Foor of Rochester, IN., in father's April obituary.
BIRTH: V 4, p 152 Henry County probate births; he was born in Damascus Twp but his parents resided in Harrison Twp at time of his birth.
CENSUS: 1910 Napoleon, Henry Co., OH - 14y b OH. See notes on father.
DOM/POM: Ohio Marriages 1800-1958, familysearch.org index, no image. Ervin Foor, 1896 Henry Co., Ohio, age 21, Elsie R. Cox, 1899 Henry Co., Ohio, 18, married Jan. 10, 1917 Henry Co., Ohio, groom's father Edwin Foor, bride's parents Gust Cox and Emma Ballard.
1917 - June, draft registration card, name listed as Ervin Foor of Whitehouse, Ohio, age 21, born in Napoleon, Ohio, tall height, slender build, brown hair and eyes, born June 10, 1895, proprietor, own employment in Whitehouse, has a wife, claims exemption for wife support. Ancestry.com. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2002.
Both worked 60 hours in a specific week in March. Pay 10 rent.
DOD/POD: Ohio Department of Health. Ohio Deaths, 1970-88 [database on-line] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2001-. V 21196, Cert. 12409, resided Lucas Co., OH., died in Napoleon at 77y, married.
LOCATION: July 2001 "Harry W. Foor and special friend, Janet Spadone, of Frostburg [MD]" - according to mother's obituary.
FOR[?] [Fory/Fary], James [R.?], head, 38y b PA, parents b PA, brakeman, steam r.r.
on a farm, 48y b PA, parents b PA, mar. 1st at age 24, brakeman, steel r.r.
", Garrett E., son 23y b PA, married first at age 20, bookeeper, water co.
LOCATION: 1929 - listed as son Frank of Harrisburg in mother's obit.
LOCATION: 1942 - name listed as James Franklin Foor of 4 Park Terrace, Paxtang, Dauphin Co., PA. Has a telephone. Age 60, born in Bedford Co., PA Oct. 2, 1881. Person who would always know his address is Bertha Foor of same address. Works for Reading Railroad Co., at P. H. & P. Junction, Harrisburg, Dauphin Co., PA. Blue eyes, black hair, light complexion, 5' 9" tall, 140 pounds. U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database online]. Provo, Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2006.
NAME/DOB: From Shirley Alleshouse Bolton via April 2002 email.
NAME: "The Foor Family", George S. Conover p 28.
DOB: From himself via March 2005 email.
2008 - listed as a surviving brother Jay R. Foor of Altoona in sister Annetta's Nov. 2008 obituary.
NAME/DOB: "The Foor Family", George S. Conover, ca 1964, p 23.
LOCATION: Betty Foor Lashley is listed as a 1939 graduate of Everett High School, Everett, PA; classmates.com.
NAME/DOB/POB/SPOUSE: "MOREHART 1758-1995", Joretta James.
RESIDES: NY by year 2000.
LOCATION: 2005 - listed as a surviving grandson, Michael A. (Terry) Foor-Pessin of New York in grandmother Louise Lowry's Nov. 2005 obituary.
Josh Foor-Hogue, Caitlin Foor-Pessin, and Toby Foor-Pessin".
LOCATION: 2010 - listed as surviving son, Michael A. Foor-Pessin of South Otselic, NY, in mother's October obit.
NAME/PARENTAGE/DOB/POB: From Lois Jeannine (Foor) WYLDER via Jan., 2001 email. Currently resides in Hagerstown, IN as of Jan., 2001.
Appeared to be of Bay Co., FL, in 2000.
2012 - listed in father's obit as "Michael (Courtney) Foor of Greensfort, IN".
NAME: Listed in father Chalmer's obituary as preceding him in death. "Rebecca Grace Foor".
DOD/DOB/POBurial: "Springfield Hill Cemetery, Springfield, WV" cemetery transcriptions published on the Hampshire Co., WV., website maintained by Robert Wayne McGahuey, 2003. Name listed as "Rebecca G. Foor", full dates.
Death certificate image. Rebecca Grace Foor b April 27, 1955 to James C. Foor and Madline Crock, died Sept. 28, 1962 Springfield, WV. Born WV. Buried Springfield Hill. Died of acute lymphatic leukemia and recurrent bronchitis.
DOB/POB: Henry Co., Ohio, Birth Registers, familysearch.org, image. Marie S. or E. Foore, Dec. 18, 1903, born Harrison Twp., parents George Foore and Lillia Packard of Grelton, Ohio.
CAMPBELL, Clair? Colin?, son-in-law 28y b Canada, parents b Canada, first married at 25y, truck driver for engineering co.
Bloom Township, Fairfield County, OH", Fairfield Co. Chapter OGS, 1993, p 42. Sponsors: parents.
Gen., Society, 2005, p 180.
Death certificate image. John J. Gromme died Deakoness Hosp., Cincinnati, Hamilton Co., Ohio, Nov. 3, 1914 aged 62y 5m 15d, married, pattermaker, born May 18, 1852 iin OH to John J. Gromme b Germany and unknown Albero? b Germany. Informant was Edward Gromme of 1832 Brewster Ave. Removed or buried in Lancaster, Ohio, Nov. 5.
Death certificate image. Barbara J. Snyder of 1760 Oakland Park Ave., Clinton Twp., Franklin Co., Ohio, married to M. L. Snyder, died April 4, 1926 aged 64y 25d, born March 8, 1862 in Ohio to Peter Hall b OH and Lovina Solt b OH. Informant was W. B. Shark of same address. Buried Reber Hill Cem., April 6.
NAME/DOD/DOB: Name listed as Carolyn R. Hamilton, daughter of Eugene Hamilton and Minetta Hamler, born in Groveport, Ohio, buried Wagnall's addition, lot 309, grave 1A. Next of kin listed were parents, Eugene and Minetta Hamilton. "Cemeteries of Bloom Twp., Fairfield Co., OH", Fairfield County Gen. Soc., Chapter OGS, 1996, p 225.
DOD/POD: Name listed as Carolyn R. Hamilton, white female, resided in Columbus, Ohio, divorced, age 23, Cert. 085664. Died at home. Ancestry.com and Ohio Department of Health. Ohio Deaths, 1908-1944 and 1958-2002 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2006.
b 1905 Hamilton Co., Ohio, age 16, married Oct. 25, 1921, Franklin Co., Ohio.
POBurial: Gladys L. Morrison 1905-1986, "Cemeteries of Bloom Twp., Fairfield Co., OH", Fairfield County Gen. Soc., Chapter OGS, 1996, p 61.
NAME/Parentage/Spouse: Mentioned in father's estate. See notes on father.
DOB/DOD/POBurial: "Cemeteries of Bloom Twp., Fairfield Co., OH", Fairfield County Gen. Soc., Chapter OGS, 1996, p 303. Aged 32y. Buried 1st addition, lot 149, grave 4.
DOM/POM: Parkman Rogers and Margaret Horn, 29 Jan 1857. "Fairfield County, Ohio Marriages, V III, 1852-1868", Fairfield Co., Ohio, Chapter OGS, 2006.
NAME/DOB: Mother's maiden name listed as Foor. Ancestry.com. California Birth Index, 1905-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005. Original data: State of California. California Birth Index, 1905-1995. Sacramento, CA, USA: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics.
NAME: Listed as I. Elmer Jones, died April 7, 1949. MD. "The Weiser Family", A Genealogy of the Family of John Conrad Weiser the Elder, Weiser Family Association, 1960, p 649.
Death certificate 24689 image. I. Elmer Jones, resided and died 2903 Kenwood Blvd., Toledo, Lucas Co., Ohio, April 7, 1949, aged 57y 4m 9d, married, born Nov. 28, 1891 in Gallipolis, Ohio, to Joseph D. Jones and Margaret Morgan. Informant was Thomas G. Flagler. Occupation was Dentist. Buried April 9, 1949 Ottawa Hills Mem. Park, Toledo, Ohio.
"Jones-Weiser. Isaac Elmer Jones who was graduated from the College of Dentistry in June, and Miss Blanche M. Weiser were married at Lithopolis in August and are at home in Lancaster where Dr. Jones has an appointment at the Boys' Industrial School".
d: 1 Oct 1998 Fairfield Medical Center, Lancaster, Fairfield County.
NAME/DOB/DOD/POBurial: "Cemeteries of Bloom Township, Fairfield County, OH", Fairfield Co., Ohio, Chapter OGS, 1996, p 85.
Death certificate image. Charles Clinton Koebel, West Farmington, Trumbull Co., Ohio, died after 17 days at Hill Top Rest Home, Hubbard, Trumbull Co., Ohio, Feb. 27, 1951, aged 76y 1m 26d. Retired mill worker. Widowed. Born Dec 31, 1874 in Groveport, Ohio, to George Koebel and Marilla Worthington. Informant was Mrs. Mabel Parker. Buried March 2, 1951 Hillside Cem., West Farmington, Ohio.
NAME/DOB/DOD: "Cemeteries of Bloom Twp., Fairfield Co., OH", Fairfield County Gen. Soc., Chapter OGS, 1996, p 111. Name lsited as John T. Lain, son of John and Catherine, died Apr. 1855, aged 2y 3m 10d. According to the book, the stone was not found in 1995. DOB figured from age at death.
NAME/DOB/POB/DOD: From Bonita Hoffmeister via Jan. 2002 email. Married Solomon BARRICK.
DOB/DOD/POBurial: Ethel May McKinney, 07-14-1886 - 05-29-1963, age 78.
NAME: listed as a surviving daughter, Terri (James) Taylor in father's Jan. 2010 obit.
CENSUS: 1910 Canal Winchester, Madison Twp., Franklin Co., OH; SH 5A ED 17 p 143.
DOD/POD: name listed as Alonzo F. Loy, died in a long-term care facility in Grove City, Franklin Co., Ohio at age 84, widowed. Ancestry.com and Ohio Department of Health. Ohio Deaths, 1908-1944 and 1958-2002 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006.
DOB/DOD: SSDI shows dates as 24 Aug 1882 - Jan. 1967 - last known address was Canal Winchester, Ohio.
Winchester -- in brother Silas' July obit.
1967 - listed as surviving husband, A. F. (Lon) Loy in wife's January obit. She died just a couple weeks before him in a nursing home.
DOB/POB: Fairfield Co., Ohio probate birth images. Ethel McFarland, Greencastle precinct, Bloom Twp., b July 19, 1887 to Robert McFarland and Ollie Fenstermaker.
Nofziger.- Glen W., son of William and Elizabeth (Stuckey) Nofziger, was born at Archbold, Ohio, May 14, 1913; died following triple by-pass surgery at Toledo, Ohio, July 5, 1989; aged 76. On June 1, 1939, he was married to Rosella Miller, who died on Dec. 26, 1985. Surviving are 3 sons (Cloyce, Paul, and Ross), 3 daughters (Janice Foor, Velda Howell, and Shirley Nafziger), 20 grandchildren, 2 brothers (Dennis and Dale), and one sister (Cora Wyse). He was preceded in death by one brother (Ralph). He was a member of Lockport Mennonite Church, where funeral services were held on July 9, in charge of Allen Rutter, Jim Groeneweg, and Rick Jones; interment in Lockport Cemetery. [unknown original source. Found on the Mennonite Church Historical Committee website, 2003].
Nofziger, Rosella M., daughter of Gideon and Lena (Nofziger) Miller, was born in Wauseon, Ohio, May 8, 1920; died at Columbus, Miss., Dec. 26, 1985; aged 65 y. On June 1, 1939, she was married to Glen W. Nofziger, who survives. Also surviving are 3 sons (Cloyce, Paul, and Ross), 3 daughters (Janice Foor, Shirley - Mrs. Dan Nafziger, and Velda - Mrs. William Howell, Jr.), 18 grandchildren, 4 brothers (Lester, Cletus, Lewis, and Mahlon Miller), and one sister (Annagene - Mrs. Melvin Evers). She was a member of the Lockport Mennonite Church, where funeral services were held on Dec. 30, in charge of Keith Leinbach, Walter Stuckey, and Jim Groeneweg; interment in Lockport Cemetery.
NOTE: A Janice I. Foor of Archbold, Ohio, is listed as 60 years old in 2004 at ussearch.com. At Fulton Co., Ohio Auditor's website, Janice I. Foor is residing on the same county road as Clancy R. Foor, possible son. Because it's known that Dale Foor was divorced and moved to WY, this Janice I. Foor may be the mother of the known children of Dale in Fulton Co., Ohio.
M513352, Franklin co., Ohio, probate marriages 1840-1852.
it. May have died that month of census.
"About the year 1875, he [Jeremiah J. Alspach] married Miss Mary Packer, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Neel) Packer, and born in Perry county, February 26, 1852." "A Portrait and Biographical Record of Mercer and Van Wert Counties, Ohio", Bowen, 1896, V 2 p 473.
DOB/MIDDLE NAME/SPOUSE: "The Condon Family Tree", gedcom submitted to ancestry.com; author unk., Jan. 2002.
2011 - listed as "Onetti Spangler", a sister that preceded him in death in the obit of brother Charles Duane Pringle in October.
NAME: From Valerine Ilene (Ritchey) Trimble via Jan. 2005 email.
DOB/DOBap: Name liste as Mary Christina Reed, parents as Adam and Ann Reed. Baptised same day as Adam M. Reed, parents listed as same. Susan Nothstein was the sponsor for Adam, and will Henry Whaly, baptised also on same day. Sponsor for Mary Christina was her mother. "Churchbooks of the Lutheran and German Reformed Congregations of the Glick/Salem (Union)/Brick Church, 1808-1915, Bloom Township, Fairfield County, OH", Fairfield Co. Chapter OGS, 1993, p 42.
Death certificate image. Mary Elizabeth McKee died Groveport, Franklin Co., Ohio, May 20, 1929 aged 68y 7m 3d, married to John L. McKee. Born Oct. 17, 1860 Pickaway Co., Ohio, to Adam Reid b OH and Anna Nothstine b OH. Buried May 22 in Lithopolis.
POBurial: Mary mcKee, 1863-1929, buried 3rd addition, part 2, lot 9, grave 3. "Cemeteries of Bloom Twp., Fairfield Co., OH", Fairfield County Gen. Soc., Chapter OGS, 1996, p 272.
NAME/DOB/DOD/POBurial: From LDS submitted info. NONE CONFIRMED. The submitter states that "Cheney" Ricketts died in Fairfield Co., Ohio, but is buried in Hancock Co.
DOB/DOBap: Name listed as Polly Ringer, parents as James and Sally Ringer. Baptised by Rev. Spielman. Sponsors were parents. "Churchbooks of the Betzer Union/Zion Reformed Church, 1817-1881, Bloom Twp., Fairfield Co., OH", Fairfield county chapter OGS, 1994, p 28.
NAME/DOB/DOBap/POBap/Parentage: "St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lithopolis, Bloom Township, Fairfield Co., OH, 1853-1920", Fairfield Co. Chapter OGS, 1994, p 30. Nettie, Rosa May and Charlie were baptised on same day.
", Barbra J., dau b Aug 1892, 7y b OH, at schoolDOB/DOD/POBurial: "Cemeteries of Bloom Township, Fairfield County, OH", Fairfield Co., Ohio, Chapter OGS, 1996, p 236. Buried 3rd addition, part 2, lot 90 grave 2.
DOD/POD: Ohio Historical Society's online death index. No date of death is showing, but database displays are temperamental. V 7538, Cert. 36433. Name shown as Nettie E. Hicks.
Death certificate image (currently can only view indexed info as the link for the image is not available). Nettie Elizabeth Hicks died Bloom Twp., Fairfield Co., Ohio, June 7, 1934, aged 53y 10m 19d, married, born Aug. 17, 1880 in Lithopolis, Ohio, to Frank Rothfuss b France and Rosie Lantz b Franklin Co. Husband was Clarence A. Hicks. Buried Lithopolis June 10.
NAME/DOB/POB/DOD/POD: Joan Byman via March 1999 email.
POBurial: Joan Byman, July 2000.
DOD: Ohio Department of Health. Ohio Death Index, 1958-2000 [database online]. Provo, UT: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2003. Original data: Ohio Department of Health. Index to Annual Deaths, 1958-2000. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio Department of Health. State Vital Statistics Unit, 19xx-. Name listed as Edwin A. Schmidt. V 15832 Cert. 47894. Married. Died and resided in Fairfield Co., Ohio. 72 years old.
DOB/DOD/POBurial: Years only (1886-1959) Name listed as Edwin A. Schmidt. "Cemeteries of Greenfield Township, Fairfield Co., Ohio", Fairfield County Gen. Society, 1988, p 69.
"Assistant County Supt. Rex Percelle reported deats of former county teachers in the past year. They included .... Edwin Schmidt...", Lancaster Eagle Gazette, Lancaster, Ohio, Sept. 1, 1959, p 7.
LEWISBURG - Frederick L. Shriver, 87, of 5644 Old Turnpike Road for 40 years and a resident of Outlook Pointe, Lewisburg, for the past year, broke loose of the bonds holding him to this earth and was transported by angels to his true home at 9:03 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007, at Evangelical Community Hospital, Lewisburg.
He was born Aug. 3, 1919, in Martinsburg, a son of the late Adam K. and Sarah M. (Wareham) Shriver. On June 21, 1942, in Evangelical United Brethren Church, Juniata, with the Rev. M. Bittner performing the service, he married the former A. Mae Foor, who survives.
Mr. Shriver was a 1938 graduate of Altoona High School, where he excelled at both track and basketball. He then graduated from Curtis Wright Technical School, Glendale, Calif. He later earned his bachelor of science degree from Pennsylvania State University. Mr. Shriver continued his education throughout his working career by attending classes at Loyola College, Chicago, Northwestern University, Temple University, University of North Carolina, University of Virginia and Montgomery Community College of Tacoma Park, Md. He was certified as a master technician at the University of Detroit Dental School in 1958 and attended and presented many seminars in that field.
Before he was drafted to honorably serve his country in World War II, Fred worked in Hollywood, Calif., in the film industry, and during his time in the service, he made facial prosthetic devices for servicemen who had suffered severe facial injuries. At the end of the war, he owned and operated a dental laboratory in State College and was employed as a dental technician for Veterans Hospitals in Altoona and Saginaw, Mich. Mr. Shriver was then employed as an instructor at the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary for more than 37 years, where he was very active in prison ministries.
He was an active member of Mifflinburg First Church of the Nazarene.
Fred was a Penn State and Pittsburgh Steelers football fan.
Mr. Shriver led a life of which he could be proud and to which others could aspire, caring foremost about his God, his family and his fellow human beings.
In addition to his wife of 64 years, surviving are one son, Todd T. Shriver of Lewisburg; two daughters and one son-in-law, Pamela G. Shriver of Elmira, N.Y., and Karen S. and Dr. Clayton Pesillo of Lewisburg; two grandsons, Graeme Massa of Elmira and Weston Pesillo of Lewisburg; and many nieces and nephews. He also leaves behind a special canine friend, Bootsie.
He was preceded in death by two brothers, Joseph and Franklin Shriver.
At the request of Mr. Shriver, the funeral will be conducted at the convenience of the family.
Contributions may be made in Fred's memory to Mifflinburg First Church of the Nazarene, Missionary Fund, 12 E. Market St., Mifflinburg, PA 17844.
Funeral arrangements are by the Roupp Funeral Home Inc., 8594 Old Turnpike Road, Mifflinburg.
Published in The Daily Item from 2/13/2007 - 2/14/2007. Sunbury, PA.
Nelson Simmons of Center Twp., Hendricks Co., IN, is listed on the 1867 lists of registered voters. Published on the Hendricks Co., IN GenWeb website which states "as printed in the Hendricks County Union issues of August 8 and 15th, 1867."
DOB/DOD/POBurial: "Cemeteries of Bloom Township, Fairfield County, OH", Fairfield Co., Ohio, Chapter OGS, 1996, p 321. Buried 1st addition, lot 125, grave 1.
Full DOD/DOBurial: "St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lithopolis, Bloom Township, Fairfield Co., OH, 1853-1920", Fairfield Co. Chapter OGS, 1994, p 60.
DOM/POM: to Mary HEIM, "Trinity Lutheran Church, Marcy/Ashville, Pickaway Co., OH", Fairfield County Gen. Society, 1994, p 2.
DOB/DOBap/PARENTAGE: "Churchbooks of the Lutheran and German Reformed Congregations of the Glick/Salem (Union)/Brick Church, 1808-1915, Bloom Township, Fairfield County, OH", Fairfield Co. Chapter OGS, 1993, p 33. Name spelled "Henrich Sulmeister Schmit". Parents listed as Henrich and Elisabeth. Sponsors were "Jo. Rundler & wf.".
POB/PARENTAGE/SPOUSES: "History of Fairfield County and Representative Citizens", Charles C. Miller, 1912.
DOD/POD: Name listed as H. Sylvester Smith, died in Bloom Twp., Fairfield Co., Ohio, Ancestry.com and Ohio Department of Health. Ohio Deaths, 1908-1944 and 1958-2002 [database online]. Provo, UT: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2006.
Death certificate image. H. Sylvester Smith, Bloom Twp., Fairfield Co., Ohio, April 9, 1912 aged 72y 2m 17d, married, farmer, born Jan. 22, 1840 in Ohio to Henry Smith b OH and Elizabeth Runkle b OH. Buried Lithopolis Cem., April 11.
DOB/DOBap/POBap/Parentage: "Churchbooks of the Lutheran and German Reformed Congregations of the Glick/Salem (Union)/Brick Church, 1808-1915, Bloom Township, Fairfield County, OH", Fairfield Co. Chapter OGS, 1993, p 33. "Nataniel Schmitt", s/o Johannes and Maria Schmitt. Sponsors were parents.
DOD/POBurial/Spouse: "Cemeteries of Bloom Township, Fairfield County, OH", Fairfield Co., Ohio, Chapter OGS, 1996, p 324. Wife "Anna M. Smith".
5-10, one 15-20, one 20-30.
NAME: From Derrelle Craft via may 2004 email.
Birth Certificate (image) - Marjorie mae Thrash born Nov. 6, 1921 in Jefferson Twp., Franklin Co., Ohio, to John Albert Thrash, age 20, born Fairfield Co., Ohio and Mary Margurite Huston born Gahanna, Ohio, age 22, parents reside R. D. Blacklick, Ohio.
Family 1 : Sarah M.
", Sarrah M., wife 48y b WV, fa b WV, ma b OH, married at 18.
Death certificate image. Daniel W. Wears died March 17, 1936 in the County Home in Washington Twp., Pickaway Co., Ohio, aged 61y 3m 9d, married, wife Sarah Wears. Born Dec 8, 1874 WV to unknown parents. Can't read burial location but it looks kind of like "Belmont Hill", March 20.
NAME/DOD: See notes on wife.
DOB: Info submitted to LDS by Samuel E. Lawrence of Flagstaff, AZ, shows that Phillip Wehr was b 1760 in Heildberg, Germany. No other dates shown. Not documented.
DOB/DOBap/POBap: "Churchbooks of the Lutheran and German Reformed Congregations of the Glick/Salem (Union)/Brick Church, 1808-1915, Bloom Township, Fairfield County, OH", Fairfield Co. Chapter OGS, 1993, p 41.
Jane" rather than just "Sarah J.".
JARVIS, Edward, hired man, 48y b OH, married twice, mar. 5y, fa b England, ma b OH, farm laborer, working out.
Death certificate image. Ida May Boyd died Violet Twp., Fairfield Co., Ohio, June 5, 1919, aged 54y 18d, married, born May 17, 1865 in OH to David Weimer b OH and Jane Foor b OH. Informant was Dennis Boyd. Buried Union Grove Cem., June 8.
NAME/PARENTAGE: From Mary Wallace via April 2001 email.
NAME/DOB/DOD/POBurial: Name listed as Zenobia L. Wernert, 1904-1912, aged 8y, buried in 2nd addition, part 2, lot 33 1/12 grave 2a. The proximity to Harry and Mary leads me to believe this is their daughter, though it is not confirmed. "Cemeteries of Bloom Twp., Fairfield Co., OH", Fairfield County Gen. Soc., Chapter OGS, 1996, p 351. Years only.
DOD/POD: Name listed as Zenobia Leona Wernert, died 13 Dec 1912 in Columbus, Franklin Co., OH. Ancestry.com and Ohio Department of Health. Ohio Deaths, 1908-1944 and 1958-2002 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006.
Death certificate image. Zenobia Leona Wernert, 1873 1/2 Parsons Ave., Columbus, Franklin Co., Ohio, died Dec 13, 1912, aged 8y 6m 2d from heart failure and diptheria. Born June 11, 1904 in Ohio to Harry E. Wernert b OH and Mary Teegardin b OH. Mary Wernert was informant. Buried Lithopolis, Ohio, Dec. 14.
Maiden Name/DOM/POM: "Family Tree Maker Family Archives, Marriage Index: Ohio 1851-1900", CD #236.
DOB/DOD/POB: Wanda Myers, Sunnyside, WA via email Jan. 2000.
CENSUS: 1850 Bloom Twp., Fairfield Co., OH - family #1538.
NAME/DOB/POB/PARENTAGE: From Holly (Foor) Zelanko via June 2001 email. | 2019-04-21T20:52:42Z | http://www.foorgenealogy.com/d0001/g0000064.html |
Most of us are aware that the CTTP-2007 report had recommended a Commuter /Sub-urban rail system for the city, totalling 204.0km (this includes city & suburban services upto Tumkur, Hosur & Ramanagaram). A few sub-urban trains are in operation & are being run by Southwestern railways (SWR), but the system is not of much help to urban commuters.
Please also see earlier discussions on this subject here, here & more recently here.
a) On Kengeri-City Stn route: (23) near RV Engg College; (24) Deepanjali Nagar Metro stn; (25) Hosahalli main rd.
b) On City Stn-Whitefield route: (26) Seshadripuram (Sivananda store); (27) Jeevanahalli; (28) Beniganahalli (ORR); (29) Devasandra; (30) Hoodi; (31) Sadarmangal Ind Area.
c) On City Stn-Baiyyappanahalli route: (32) Jalahalli (ORR); (33) MS Ramiah rd; (34) Gundappa rd; (35) Kanaka nagar; (36) Kadugondanahalli.
d) On Banaswadi-BMA boundary route: (37) Beniganahalli (ORR); (38) Kaggadasapura; (39) Chinnappanahalli; (40) Varthur rd; (41) Sarjapura rd; (42) Chandapura (Hosur rd).
These additional stations would reduce the average distance between stations to about 2.3km, which is more appropriate for a suburban rail system.
SWR might have it's reasons for repeatedly rejecting operation of city rail services in Bangalore - such rail systems are faring poorly in almost every city in the country barring Mumbai, but then in India, city rail systems are directly being operated by divisions of Indian railways whose primary focus area is the operation of inter-city train services. Further, the other transport systems in use in the cities (such as buses, taxis, etc.) were never planned nor integrated for easy transfer of passengers between different modes. Each operated independently on it's own, sometimes even competing with one another & making commuting difficult for people. Thus, most cities continue to have transport systems that are not well-knit & therefore, inefficient, & this also explains why city rail systems have fared so poorly in the country.
We now have a situation where SWR has a lot of assets such as tracks, real estate & stations, but is clearly not the best option to build & operate the city /suburban rail system. It might be best if BMRCL could become the operator for CRS, sharing the infrastructure with SWR.
Submitted by idontspam on 15 February 2010 - 4:10am.
To a query on the Railways providing circular railway service for Bangalore city utilising the existing track network and building some more, Mr. Muniyappa said the Ministry has been watching the infrastructure development in the city.
“We have been watching and studying the public transport scenario in Bangalore. I’ll not make any commitment at present but definitely we are at it,” he said.
Submitted by Sanjeev on 15 February 2010 - 11:09am.
Its good that now awarness is coming with people about CRS & how its important to integarte CRS with METRO & BMTC.
I think too much of discussion on CRS at every level, but no action from any front.
Its fate of Banglore and Citizens to suffer on the CRS front for some more time : . Even when RITES took study on CRS on behalf of BMLTA, they did't consult SWR officers, SWR wants to do its own study as evident from BMLTA meetings. Then comes MOS Mr K H Muniyaap ( due respect to his efforts for Karnataka ) making statement that State is not yet decided on CRS, so the Bangalore-Whitefield-Krishnarajapuram track-quadrupling work could not be implemented Now SWR wants study the traffic voloume on Yesvanthpur to Devanahalli to start Local Trains.
Even RITEs study is not accepted by SWR & it looks for shorter roots of 7 Kms length similar to Mono Rail.
We at Praja need to work with all these inputs and make strong representation to SWR & Minister K H Muniyaapa / Chief Minister or Transport Minister. Other wise we will be discussing on this even for next 2-3 years.
Its time for us to act on CRS to get the things on the ground going.
Submitted by idontspam on 15 February 2010 - 12:27pm.
Are SWR tracks in B'lore over-loaded ?
Submitted by Naveen on 15 February 2010 - 10:25pm.
Secundarabad Jn - 58 (Many passing thro' trains).
It indeed appears that the load in /around Bangalore is higher than other larger cities in the south viz. Chennai & Hyderabad.
Tracks in Chennai radiate independent of one another from one of two central points (ie. Chennai Central & Beach). This makes it easier to slot suburban trains inbetween intercity trains & run them with lesser interference since there are no criss-crosses.
Likewise, in Hyderabad, suburban trains are being run along existing train tracks that do not have intersections with other tracks. Thus it appears that they are being run without interference from crossing inter-city trains (ie. by slotting them inbetween two inter-city trains along the same tracks).
In Bangalore, we have many line intersections or bifurcations such as those near Yasavantapur, Yelahanka, Lottegollahalli & Banaswadi. Also, in addition, we have the 'tangle' of tracks between Byappanahalli, KRPuram & Chennasandra - I think all these make it more problematic to run regular suburban trains since halting for inter-city trains to cross will probably become a routine for every CRS /Suburban train. Rail track arrangements appear to be similar to our diffuse road system.
With all these negatives, it might be better to leave SW tracks for inter-city & the few suburban services & develop a whole new (elevated or underground) system of separate, independent tracks for Metro & Monorail. I think that having regular /frequent city /suburban trains on existing tracks (with simultaneous operation of so many inter-city trains - increasing all the time) might be quite difficult.
Submitted by ss87 on 15 February 2010 - 10:39pm.
It is not tough to run suburban trains though the number of trains arriving/departing are more. An analysis reveals many trains arriving/departing between 5 and 7AM.After the departure of 6731 to MYsore and arrival of Rani chennamma and Tirupathy Fast pass there isnt much fo train traffic until Seshadri arrives at 12:30. Again after 2PM there is not much traffic present until departure of Kacheguda Express at 18:20 after which teh station fills to the brim. But in the mornign peak hour and evening peak hour many locals can be run. Some adjustments can be made in this regard.
2785/86 Kacheguda Express generally stops at PF-2 for whole day. This can be taken to the yard to relieve this platform.
An expansion of the last platforms to the binny mill land and accommodate trains that side.
Trains like 6525/26 Kanniyakumari come onto the platform by around 7PM for departure at 9:45PM. t can come around 9PM.
Karnataka Express is also put onto Pf-1 at around 5:45MP for around 7:20PM.
Submitted by idontspam on 15 February 2010 - 11:41pm.
Which might indicate there is a need to create alternate terminals like this and then connect them via the locals to the city. That apart we have the habit of running point to point trains from every city to every other city. There is no concept of change overs. Is it time for trains also to be direction based?
Submitted by Sanjeev on 16 February 2010 - 9:26am.
Load on Bangalore city tracks is not much considering the length of existing track and direction of tracks running. Its mis-managed by SWR and not having right infrastucture for the Banalore city railway tracks.
Take the case of Pune Local Trains running upto Lonavala with double electrified Track. Same track is used to for Mumbai Travel & its one of busy section.
1. SWR has managed the Tracks & electric lines in Bangalore city to run trains for Bihar, WB & Chennai not for the Bangalore city.
3. Trains starting from SBC to Mysore can be started from Yelahanka via Yesvanthpur & SBC. For this why Railway minister has not bothered to develop Yelahanka Station with SIX platfroms.
4. For all your information, Tracks from Yesvanthpur to Lottegollahalli looks double, SWR has ensured that one track rund for Yelahanka & other track runs for Hebbal / Banaswadi. They should have created junction at Lottegollahalli which would have given double / 4 lane track from Yesvanthpur. Its 4 Kms.
5. Till this day by giving all execuses by SWR or State Govt or Center, we have allowed to run all types of Long distance trains during 6AM -10AM & evening 4PM to 8PM. Now stand is tracks are over loaded.
6. When all Major cities have 4 Tracks to their central place with fully electrified, its ensured that we need to fight for Bangalore. on this Take the case of Yesvanthpur to Yelahanka, Yesvanthpur to BaiyyappanahaliI, KR Puram to Yelahanka, still tTrack doubling need to be done.
7. From SBC to Kengeri, Whitefiled, Chikbanavar, Yelahanka Four Tracks need to be provided with electric line, when will Railway minister sanctions this ?????
8. BaiyyappanahaliI, to Yesvanthpur, hardly few trains running, its not used much.
9. Now take the case of Yesvanthpur to Nelamangala track which was ready more then a year, ( state has invested the money in this ) till this day starting of trains is not talked.
With above details, CRS can be easily put into SWR tracks. Their is no issue on this. Its matter of action not the disussion.
Submitted by vlnarayan on 16 February 2010 - 11:22am.
All Mysore bound trains to start from Whitefield/ KR puram ( Via BANGALORE CY JN, SBC).
All trains towards Bangarpet - Chennai & Hosur to start from Yeshwantpur( Via BANGALORE CY JN, SBC).
All trains towards upwards North to start from Kengeri ( Via BANGALORE CY JN, SBC).
Local trains with adequate frequency between all these stations via BANGALORE CY JN, SBC will take all the incoming or outgoing passengers very easily. Neither the state govt nor the SWR is interested due to vested interests of each inspite of many requests from public.
SWR (Now) is no better than SR (Yester years) for Bangalore - Ultimately Bangalore is still crying for CRS and suffering.
Submitted by Naveen on 16 February 2010 - 3:37pm.
My point was that the layout of tracks in Bangalore (as per map above) is somewhat complicated when compared with track layouts in other cities, which adds to the problem for running a CRS here. See maps of track layouts for Chennai & Pune below - these are much simpler than what we have in Bangalore.
I think the point made for shifting starting stations for inter-city trains away from SBC to clear up congestion is valid & can help a great deal, but I doubt if SWR alone can take such decisions - they might need concurrence from IR.
Also, for electrification of tracks, I think IR has to release funds out of the budget to have it done. I doubt if SWR alone can go ahead without concurrence from IR - this might be the obstacle.
The recent announcement makes clear that Byappanahalli will also be developed to another hub /terminal since Metro rail will integrate there. Maybe we will see some action then.
Submitted by idontspam on 16 February 2010 - 4:16pm.
My point was that the layout of tracks in Bangalore (as per map above) is somewhat complicated when compared with track layouts in other cities, which adds to the problem for running a CRS here.
But, thats what makes it circular and more appropriate for Bangalore. It covers more areas that metro doesnt so we can make metro focus on the uncovered areas instead.
SWR/IR should use Yeswantpur & Byappanahalli as terminals for interstates since they will have multimodal connectivity soon. This should free up other stations for Bangalore Circular. Long term move to BIA can happen for commuter trains which connect BIA catchment area.
Submitted by Sanjeev on 16 February 2010 - 5:09pm.
Track length of Bangalore is higher then any other city & reaches to most of the places.s in Bangalore except the Jayanagar & Banashankari. Infact its an advantage for CRS to start, if any one has travelled in Mumbai Local Trains, they have built Railway FLY-OVERS for Railway Track to Criss-Cross so that direct connectivity from differnet directions exists.
Compared to other METROs, Mumbai, Kolkotta & Chennai have dead end terminals where Inter City Trains / Passanger Trains takes very high time for turnout, its almost double time, arrival trains to reach platform, then drive in reverse direction, then once gain when departure again they need to bring the Train to platform. In case of Bangalore, Hyderbad, Pune, Hubli-Dharwad, Tracks runs in different directions without any dead end. Take the case of Pune, their are hardly few trains which originate from Pune city, most of the trains are crossing city only, hence the track availabilty is very high in Pune, so they ar able to run Local Trains & advantage is they have fully electrified length.
6. Local Trains can be stationed at Kengeri, Nelamanagala, Devanhalli, Anekal, Whitefiled for night halt.
7. As the Track in Bangalore Criss-Crosses, this is an advantage which will help in better planning of Inter-city Trains & Local Trains for CRS.
8. BEML can supply the Broad Guage CRS coaches as per the design of Delhi METRO which is based on Broad Guage.
9. Already Binny Mill Land handing over to Railways in progress, so the Bangalore Central will have more Platforms for Local Trains.
10. BAIYYAPPANAHALI station need to be developed on urgent basis without any further execuses. This will help in originating more Inter-City Trains.
With all this, State will initiate or Center / SWR.
Submitted by Naveen on 16 February 2010 - 6:30pm.
Okay - I understand that the complicated track layout in Bangalore can actually be an advantage & can in fact be very helpful to organize running an excellent CRS since various areas can be connected much better & more easily than in other cities such as Chennai & Hyderabad.
1) Develop Byappanahalli as a new greenfield terminal. As per railway minister's statement, SWR is awaiting transfer of NGEF land, though I noticed heavy construction activity adjacent to the existing Byappanahalli station platform - see pictures below.
2) Shift starting points for as many trains as possible out from SBC to terminals that are furthest from the respective train destinations, such as Mysore trains to start from Byappanahalli /Yelahanka; Chennai trains to start from Yeswantapur /Kengeri; North bound trains to start from Kengeri /Byappanahalli, etc. since this will also negate the need for everyone to come to the city to board inter-city trains.
I'm not sure why BEML should be part of any SPV for a CRS. To me, BMRC would be best since they would then be in-charge of all city trains (Metro & CRS) & be in a good position to organize all trains for best interconnectivity, scheduling, etc & to complement one another.
Submitted by idontspam on 16 February 2010 - 8:24pm.
I am not too sure we can create so many terminals, it may become a logistical nightmare for interstate travellers to change trains. But definitely Yeswantpur & Byappanahalli will be a good start for terminating trains. City station should continue to host transit traffic.
Submitted by Naveen on 16 February 2010 - 9:18pm.
We already have KRPuram & Yeswantapur as terminals. Byappanahalli is also being added. At least these could be used easily as start points for most trains (thereby reducing load considerably on SBC).
Travellers will not need to change any trains. If at all, their travel will become more convenient. For example, a train bound for Mysore will commence from Yeswantapur or KRPuram instead of SBC. Those who reside closer to Yeswantapur & KRPuram will be benefited & will not need to go to SBC. The train will, however, stop at SBC en-route to pick up other passengers.
As regards NGEF land, this plan makes it clear as to what Mr Muniyappa was talking about. It is the factory land on the northwest of tracks (portions on the northeast are earmarked for KSRTC & BMTC, whilst the land south of tracks is for Metro depot).
Submitted by silkboard on 16 February 2010 - 10:23pm.
Augment capacity of tracks in the city, additional tracks basically, just like BBMP widens the roads.
Or, IMHO better option, create new terminals at the edge or sub-urban entrance to the city. Use the freedup capacity to run commuter rails.
These edge stations (or lets use a new term, suburban terminals) would need further connectivity with other interior parts of the city, and that would come via the Commuter Rail itself. It would be just like how, to go to Vashi/New Mumbai, you go to Kurla or VT, and then take Harbour line commuter train to Vashi.
The suburban terminal option will help to better manage some other movement patterns as well. Like, a Terminal on the North Side near BIAL will increase BIAL's catchment, and will provide connectivity to the airport from city as well.
If Satellite Bus stations could be placed adjacent to the suburban terminals, Train to bus exchange pattern would get decentralized, currently, most of it happens predominently at one place, Majestic. did someone say there is no space? Well, remember, there is enough air space available over many railway stations in the city.
Submitted by s_yajaman on 16 February 2010 - 11:02pm.
Edge terminals at BYP (Metro Stn next door), YPR (Metro station) and somewhere near Nayandahalli should be the order of the day. People don't travel to Delhi and Chennai on a daily basis by train. Commuter rail will enable tracks inside the city to be utilized for more than the 100,000 or so using it today.
Naveen, your idea is good, but it eats up track capacity.
One commuter stretch could be Mysore Road to BYP via SBC and BNC.
One could be from YPR to Mysore Road.
One could be from SBC to E-City via Carmelaram?
Submitted by vinod_shankar on 16 February 2010 - 11:42pm.
Assume metro phase-I is complete, in which case we'll have metro running between nayandhalli to majestic to byapanahalli. So it makes perfect sense to convert nayandanahalli and byapanahalli as terminal stations for long distance trains.
Also from my daily commute i have observed there is enough land available from cantonment railway station to whitefield station to quadrapule the lines, which will increase capacity. And also the the quadrapuling project was approved way back in 1997(src:vision document indian railways). Why is it a project approved in 1997 hasn't made any progress, not even a murmur. To me it seems CRS is inevitable, its only a matter of time. The sooner the better else people will start using long distance trains for urban commute. How about making a point by travelling in trains on a designated day? Lets call it a "commuter train day"..
Submitted by Sanjeev on 17 February 2010 - 9:14am.
Edge stations will really help the CRS. : Yesvanthpur, Byapanahalli, KR Puram, Kengeri, Yelahanka. More edge station will help the de-congest inter-city trains & to create parking yard for the Inter-city trains to halt.
Coming to Harbour line for Local Train to Vashi, Belapur, Panvel, With such good project example in front of Railway & Govt, it looks some vested interest acting against CRS, reason CRS will not benifit the some Western companies in getting ordere as the supply of coaches & tracks will be done by ICF Chennai or BEML ( if possible ). This facility was created way back 1992-94, and station designs at Vashi, Belapur, Nerul, Panvel are really good, even stations are maintained very well and I have not seen any such Model station even after 16-18 year down the lane. These stations have all facilities : Office space for IT companies, Helipad on the top floor, Conference hall with Exhibition center, Underpass for the road trafic, Parking space for Private vechile on both sides, Bus yard for the local buses, Railway reservation center, these facilites were created 16-18 years back.
Belapur, Vashi, Panvel, Nerul stations concept can be replicated to certain extent for Yelahanka, Byapanahalli,, Yesvanthpur, Lottegollahalli, Kengeri, Chikkabanavara, Gnanabharti, Bellandur Rd, Karmelaram, Whitefiled, Devanhalli, Malleshwaram, Canonment as mention by Pranav : there is enough air space available over many railway stations in the city. Land also is availbale for most these stations for expanding.
COMMUTER TRAIN DAY is a required to get the CRS as mentioned by Vinod.
How do we push for CRS ?
Submitted by Naveen on 17 February 2010 - 10:36am.
We already have established edge stations at Yesvantapur & KRPuram. As of now, I think KRPuram sees only one train that does not enter the city (6613 - Rajkot Coimbatore Exp). Yesvantapur has helped in reducing load at SBC, since people from north bangalore prefer to board trains there. Likewise, people from east prefer boarding at Cantonment, if the train passes & stops there.
Byappanahalli will also be added as an edge station & will help to further reduce traffic to & from SBC.
I don't think the suggestion to have inter-city train terminals far outside the city (similar to airport/s) will work since the type & number of users is very different. Inter-city trains are also a sort of "mass-transit" between cities & the number of travellers is huge & uncomparable with the number of air travellers. This is why we have train stations in almost all world cities closer to city centers than airports. Examples include Penn & Grand Central in the heart of Manhattan, St.Pancras & Waterloo in London Central, Hautpbahnhof in Berlin Central, etc.
The Metro alone will not be able to provide connectivity to inter-city train terminals. A CRS will certainly help, & for this, augmentation of lines is vital.
How do we push for this ? Vinod makes the point for a "Commuter train day", but with so very few users, most would be unaware first up, but maybe this is one way to start.
Submitted by idontspam on 17 February 2010 - 10:38am.
Well, remember, there is enough air space available over many railway stations in the city.
Good point, I heard airspace is being provided over roads as well in Hyderabad as TDR. We still build single level and underexploit multilevel advantage.Over all railway stations a bus stand can be built with ramps to the road.
Submitted by n on 17 February 2010 - 10:10pm.
There seems to be adequate interest for a commuter rail day type event to occur.
Is SWR necessary for CRS ?
Submitted by Naveen on 17 February 2010 - 10:49pm.
I'm just as curious. As far as commuter rails in other cities are concerned, all of them are being run by Railway divisions (Delhi suburban rail is run by NR, Kolkata by ER & SER, Mumbai by WR & CR; Chennai by SR, Hyderabad by SCR, etc.).
As discussed earlier on this thread, CRS is said to be a state subject & not with SWR or IR. What this probably means is that the state must also participate financially to build & run the service. For eg. the state of AP & SCR contributed equally for Hyderabad MMTS, but it is being run by SCR. Thus, the state govt has to push for CRS, if they need one. The reason why railways participate in the project is probably because they do not want to part with their assets (tracks, land, etc.), & so, they might have tended to insist on operation & participation, atleast thus far.
Submitted by silkboard on 18 February 2010 - 1:10am.
Thought of recycling this old image, though Metro Ph 2 routes are likely to change, and BRT may not happen as well, the pic gives an idea of possibilities using CRS.
Submitted by idontspam on 18 February 2010 - 5:21am.
There is a condition i think in the railways act which prevents non-IR entities from running rail services. It is phrased cleverly like the route should fall within a single logical city corporation or some such thing. This is why Bangalore metro used an amended mysore tramways act to allow them to build the metro. This is aIso why to execute HSRL BBMP had to take administrative control of the entire region that the route falls under.
I am unable to articulate the exact provisions but one thing is clear, its not straight forward for the states to lay rail lines without violating some railway act provisions.
Submitted by Naveen on 18 February 2010 - 9:41am.
1) Electrified double line exists - only between SBC to Whitefield (via Cant, Blore east, Byappanahalli & KRPuram - appx 24.0km).
2) Non-Electrified double line - fitted between SBC & Lottegollahalli (via Malleswaram, Yesvantapur - appx 10.8km).
These are the only sections that have been doubled (34.8km).
3) Lottegollahalli to Byappanahalli (via Hebbal, Banaswadi - 12.2km appx).
4) Lottegollahalli to Yelahanka (7.0km).
7) Yelahanka to Dodjala (via Bettahalsoor - 12.5km).
Thus, about 77 km of tracks need doubling (or trebling /quadrupling) to operate a CRS network, besides station improvements & rolling stocks, etc. Even if costs were of the order of 25crs /km, this would cost appx'ly 1925crs - still much smaller than the 9000 crs for 43km of Namma Metro.
Track doubling between Yesvantapur & Nelamangala & onwards upto Tumkur has been completed. Also, track doubling between SBC & Ramnagaram has been completed (this information is from another updated SWR map).
Submitted by Sanjeev on 18 February 2010 - 10:23am.
From SBC to Lottegolahalli is already electrified and Yesvanthpur to Yelahanka is also electrified more then six months.
Yelahanaka via Malleshwaram, Yesvanthpur, Lottegollahalli to Byappanahalli (via Hebbal, Banaswadi - 12.2km appx) is also electrified with single line. Now all trains originating from Yesvanthpur to Patna / WB ? Orissa are running with electric enginines only.
From Yesvanthpur to Lottegolahalli , two track runs parallel but one goes to Yelahanak & other goes to Hebbal. Here SWR should create junction at Lottegolhalli, also plenty of land available from BEL next to station which can be used to bulid 4 platforms. Now Yesvanthpur to Lottegolahhali / Hebbal track is used mainly for parking goods trains going towards Tumakur / Mangalore almost 8-10 hrs daily.
Railway has already sanctioned doubling of Yesvanthpur to Yelahanka & Yelahanka to Byappanahalli, I feel we may see the tendering process very soon on this.
Even the total cost may be near 1900 Crore for CRS, with initial cost of say Rs 300-400 Crore CRS can take off within span of 6-12 months once State & Center decides to impliment.
I thinks its time for Praja & all of us to write pettion to Railway Minister K H Muniyappa, Chief Minister of Karnataka , Transport Minister of Karnataka & SWR GM. Also we need to take this petition with all three MP's & 16 - 18 MLA''s of Bangalore.
Other things is to make Commuter Rail Day similar to Bus Day.
For Commuter Rail Day : Plan of action or Project can be created here with all input from Members & then take the same to MOS Mr K H Muniyappa & Transport Minister Mr Ashok and with SWR GM & DRM.
We have already passanger trains running on particular root as discuused in earlier thread. We can ask SWR to add more coaches on the particula Comuter Rail Day & to stop the passanger trains in all stations. Request BMTC to run more buses from the Suburban Stations like Whitefield to ITPL Similarly to run special train from Kengeri to Devanhalli say at 7am & 8 am with feeder buses from Devanhalli station to BIAL.
Submitted by Naveen on 18 February 2010 - 1:48pm.
1) Electrified double line - fitted between SBC to Whitefield (via Cant, Blore east, Byappanahalli & KRPuram - appx 24.0km).
2) Electrified double line - fitted between SBC & Lottegollahalli (via Malleswaram, Yesvantapur - appx 10.8km).
3) Lottegollahalli to Byappanahalli (via Hebbal, Banaswadi - 12.2km appx) - lines doubled, but only one line electrified.
4) Lottegollahalli to Yelahanka (7.0km) - single line, electrified, track doubling sanctioned.
5) Yelahanka to Byappanahalli (via Tanisandra, Chennasandra - 16.1km), single line, not electrified, track doubling sanctioned.
6) Byappanahalli to Anekal Rd (via Bellandur rd, Karmelaram - 29.0km appx), single line, not electrified.
7) Yelahanka to Dodjala (via Bettahalsoor - 12.5km), single line, not electrified.
Even for this, a lot of augmentation might be necessary (such as more track additions, electrification, stn platform additions, rake interchanges, etc.).
Submitted by Sanjeev on 18 February 2010 - 2:34pm.
For Point No 3 : Yesvanthpur to Byappanahalli (via Lottegollahalli, Hebbal, Banaswadi - 12.2km appx) is a single line with electrified.
a) Bidadi via Kengeri to City Stn & Yesvanthpur to Yelahanks - Approxi 49 km with electrifed double line except the single electrified line btween Yesvanthpur to Yelahanka. Here we have 11 stations, SWR can run EMU services.
b) Similalry EMU can be started between between Bidadi via Kengeri to City Stn & Yesvanthpur, Hebbal to Whitefiled EMU services can be started with length of Approx 54 Kms, here also we have double electrified line except the Yesvanthpur to Baiyyappanahalli.
Here how SWR can start EMU services on electrified Double line with distance of 40- 50 Kms. Its basically State & Railway should agree leaving Egos & work for CRS so that Banaglore Citizens will get the better Transport fascility with alternate transport options of CRS, BMTC, METRO. Let the frequency of 45-60 Minites during morning & evening with 4-5 schedules during starting. Then after the 6-12 months,with further investment, full fledge services can be started.
Coaches for this CRS can be sourced from BEML as they have now experience for METRO coaches on Broad Gauge line for Delhi METRO pHase-1.
If we think for full fledge CRS, its going to be in dicussion. Take the case of METRO, its going istart n phases, similarly CRS can be in three phases.
Phase-1 to start immeditaly with above three options.
Phase -2 Increase the frequency to 15 Minites after agumenting track & plaform capacity.
Submitted by Raghu Nandana M on 18 February 2010 - 10:52pm.
We hardly see any bus services to many of the above listed stations and is one of the major drawbacks for commuters not using commuter rauilway systems.The transport minister should seriously look at integrating bus & train services in bengaluru.We hardly see usable of bicycle as in chennai where the parking lots are filled with bicycles. They should start on priority with construction of new EMU/DEMU train yard as an immediate priority as we see the pit lines and railway tracks filled with capacity in the various city terminals.
Submitted by Naveen on 18 February 2010 - 11:13pm.
a) Kengeri-SBC-Yesvanthpur-Yelahanka (30.0km). Track between Yesvantapur & Yelahanka is single electric, rest double electric.
b) SBC-Yesvanthpur-Hebbal-Byappanahalli (23.0km). Track double electrified, except between Yesvanthpur & Baiyyappanahalli, which is single electrified.
c) SBC-Cant-Byappanahalli-KRPuram-Whitefield (24.0km). Track double electrified throughout.
Submitted by Naveen on 18 February 2010 - 11:26pm.
They should start on priority with construction of new EMU/DEMU train yard as an immediate priority as we see the pit lines and railway tracks filled with capacity in the various city terminals.
There is overcrowding of trains, no doubt - this was my impression too. However, capacities are coming up with Binny mill land for SBC stn /depot & NGEF land for Byappanahalli stn /depot, & these should reduce congestion, & assist in operating a Commuter rail service for the city.
Agree that integration of bus & parking lots at various local stns is a must, if CRS is to be operated.
Submitted by idontspam on 19 February 2010 - 2:19am.
We need to draw a distinction between Commuter and Circular rail. I hope we are not using it interchangably in the discussions.
Submitted by Vasanth on 19 February 2010 - 9:56am.
Commuter Rail route suggestion on map.
With this route, most of the places can be covered with just 1 changeover.
Circural Rail - Where ?
Submitted by Naveen on 19 February 2010 - 10:28am.
We need to draw a distinction between Commuter and Circular rail.
Are you optimistic about a new circular rail, or are you referring to the existing tracks ?
Building completely new circular rail tracks seems doubtful & is highly unlikely (especially after the failures of circular rails in much bigger cities - Delhi & Kolkata).
b) From Bellandur rd upto abt Doddanekundi on the Selam line - appx 5km.
These add up to as little as 11km (out of some 62km circumference - below 18%).
Submitted by Sanjeev on 19 February 2010 - 4:47pm.
CAG Report which was submitted during June'2006 for the DEMU services of SWR.
CAG report indicates that SWR has incurred loss of 0.67 Crore by operating DEMU services between SBC to Whitefield & SBC to Chikbllapur. The utlization / traffic volume on this DEMU was only 10.54% & 15.91% .
Any one has idea / aware on these DEMU services as adversly indicated by CAG report. As this type of report may be coming in the way for CRS starting . This is due to non-planning or awarness to public by Authorities. Also their may not be any feeder services provided for this DEMU by BMTC.
Submitted by Naveen on 19 February 2010 - 4:17pm.
Excerpts from the CAG report (quoted below) reveal contradictions --- On the one hand, they claim that they had been trying to meet social commitments, & soon after, they add that the city, with it's high growth should be the first choice for DEMU service. Why didn't it work then ?
I think there are a number of reasons. Awareness is a key factor as is image. When one adds lack of proper access to stations with bus services, patronization levels drop dramatically.
Some publicity & good connecting bus services would have been sufficient. The railway minister's job does not end with just getting new trains - I think he is also required to push the machinery that arranges peripheral services that feed these trains.
When the matter was taken up (December 2004 and March 2005), the Railway Administration contended (August 2005) that cost benefit analysis based solely on monetary factors cannot be the only tool for justifying a train service. Railways have an obligation for meeting the inescapable social commitments to the development of backward areas. Running of trains to meet the larger national interest in backward areas/ transport disadvantaged areas is an issue decided by the Railway Board. Zonal Railways have to follow the instructions of Railway Board, which has a wider perspective of traffic planning. Moreover, as Bangalore City is expanding faster in the suburban areas, it has the highest density of commuter traffic and, thus, deserves to be the first choice for DEMU service.
Railway Administration’s contention is not acceptable in view of the provisions contained in Chapter II of the Indian Railway Financial Code, Volume I which require clear financial justification showing net gain to the Railways after meeting average annual costs and working expenses for any fresh investment. Introduction of new services must pass the test of financial remunerativeness as prescribed in the Indian Railway Financial Code, para 205. Moreover, running two small composition of DEMUs did not address the transport related problems of the growing population of Bangalore City as many other express/ passenger trains run on Bangalore – Jolarpet section and running of any additional train was found to be financially unviable by Commercial Department.
The matter was taken up with the Railway Board in September 2005. Their reply has not been received so far (December 2005).
Submitted by idontspam on 20 February 2010 - 10:30pm.
I was referring to the existing tracks. But Circular is a term being used by some authorities in the press reffering to the same thing we are discussing but only within city limits, as Commuter trains generally connect suburban towns.
So, we are talking of connecting Byp to Ypr at 2 min frequency akin to a metro in the same breath as running 20 min trains to tumkur & dodballapur which may or may not pass through the same stretches. Obviously we want both but there is a distinction.
Submitted by Naveen on 21 February 2010 - 8:39am.
I doubt even the Metro running at 2 min frequency. 6 or 7min is more likely, just as most metros do. SBC-Ypr-Byp & SBC-Byp-WF can be run at about 12-15 min. Ken-SBC-Ypr-Yelahanka can be at about 30 mins.
Tumkur, Devanhalli & Hosur could be once an hour - might not see too many commuters even at hourly intervals since carrying capacity will be higher than Metro - train per train.
Anyway, I doubt if a CRS for Bangalore will materialize at all.
SWR available capacity for Bangalore city ???
Submitted by Sanjeev on 22 February 2010 - 5:35pm.
As SWR is keepon claiming City tracks are over loaded Once we study the Train timings of summer spcial trains announced by SWR, its very clear SWR is having spare capacity to run more intercity trains.
1. YPR to Shiradi Train No : 0685 Dep at morning 7:30 from YPR via Yelahanaka on Tuesday. Here the same could have been used to run local trains between Kengeri / SBC / YPR via Yelahanak to Devanahalli / Chikballapur.
In return direction, train is reaching YPR at 8PM on Thursday. So here also SWR could have planned Local Train starting at 7PM from Devanahalli to Kengeri.
5. YPR-Howrah Duronto Exp Train No : 2246 leaving YPR at 11:15 on Sunday and in return direction Train No : 2245 arriving at YPR on Saturday at 4 PM. This was announced after the budget.
So one can see how SWR is fooling all of Bangalore Citizens on Local Trains / CRS. One more reason is Efforts State, they are blaming Center & Center blaming state. Who & how much funds required for CRS. Hence SWR officers are running more trains to WB / Bihar / UP / Kerala.
Above facts show that SWR can start immediately many CRS / Local trains even during the peak hours.
Submitted by vlnarayan on 22 February 2010 - 10:24pm.
The real problem again is political will from the state, neither the CM puts in a thought nor the MoS for Railways, to make matters worse both are in different parties and they always think the other will derive the mileage of any success..
Even if MoS Muniyappa can get the CRS cleared for Bangalore, again the cost sharing will come into picture for which State needs to pump the money atleast 50-50 basis. State govt needs to come out of the blame game and be proactive here.
Will CRS work with few trains ?
Submitted by Naveen on 22 February 2010 - 10:38pm.
Agreed that SWR whilst claiming to be overloaded, seem to have 'space' to accommodate new trains inbetween other inter-city departures, but will CRS ever work with a few sporadic trains thrown in between only where possible ?
I think CRS would need regular departures, say one each half hour or one each hour for it to to pick up & sustain it's patronization by regular commuters. If a few trains are started here & there to suburban destinations, I doubt if it will be of much use for regular users since the service may only suit the rare /non-regular inter-city kind of travel - this had already been tested & had failed once, isn't it ?
Submitted by idontspam on 22 February 2010 - 10:50pm.
Absolutely, piecemeal efforts will result in excuses for discontinuing. Its not just the trains, its the platforms, the ticketing, the feeders, the timetable, the scheduling, the interchanges the whole deal.
Submitted by n on 22 February 2010 - 11:17pm.
The state does seem to be constrained against building / operating rail systems as per the Railways Act unless it can be proved to be a tram (based on a hurried look at the relevant sections - 2.31, 16 and 20 respectively).
And, Railways are losing money for lack of feeder service as per the CAG article. Witness feeder service being run by Delhi metro than the bus companies.
Doesn't this situation ideally lend itself to a 2-way MoU? The State govt. can assure feeder service (by KSRTC) and the railways can allow part ownership (some routing, frequency etc.) by the State on limited (suburban, circular) services. BMLTA is the perfect state liaison and coordinating agency. Just needs the push (most likely by state govt.).
Submitted by Sanjeev on 23 February 2010 - 9:15am.
The debate to have local trains / CRS between public, State & SWR is going on for more then 10 years & 3-4 times RITEs has submitted report on CRS. Amount spent on RITES study any one has idea???
2. Now we have too many cooks : IDD, BMLTA, BMTC, METRO, HSRL, Mono Rail, SWR, BMRDA. Here I feel BMLTA has moe role to play on CRS, but they do not have any authority.
3. SWR has not developed any stations in last ten years in Bangalore except 2-3 stations : Kengeri, Chikkabanavara and to certain extent Yesvanthpur. Now SWR wants SBC & Byappanahalli to be developed as world class stations. This will not happen for next 4-5 years as SWR officers are interested to run trains for Bihar, WB, UP, Kerala.
Also SBC will not start as Binny mil land is under court case.
4. Byappanahalli wcould have been developed by SWR by now as an regular station, which could have helped. Also Yelahanaka is really in bad shape & it looks like some village station. Why SWR does not own the developement of thiss tation, Railway are developing all stations in Bihar, UP, WB. Next to Yelahanka, Railway has its own factory Wheel & Axle Plant.
1 As Mejestic area will get disturbed over the period of 2-3 years for METRO & KSRTC Bus Stand, where is the alternate transport facility for this.
2. NH-7 raod widening by NHAI for 22 Kms over the period of 3-4 years.
4. METRO work Phase-1 & Phase-2 at diiferent parts of city will have effect on public transport system.
5. Ever growing traffic in city will further have problem.
Where is the alternate mode of Public Transport system for the above for next 3-4 years.
In the process, we see more Intercity trains starting to Bihar, UP, WB, Kerala & further SWR will take stand that it is not possible to even start few local trains.
If the SWR can start few local / CRS trains in the peak period say four shuttle services in the morning between 7 to 9 with frequency of 30 Minites & same way in the evening four shuttel services between 4-6PM. , this will help in bringing pressue on Raod.. Say even 20000-30000 passengers can start using the CRS / Local trains, Take the case of MMTS at Hyderbad, now the ridership is arround 75000 & they are planning for 2nd Phase with further investment of Rs 400 Crore, here SCR is forcing state to come forward.. In the same way CRS / Local trains can be started in Bangalore.
Other wise if seperate tracks to be needed for CRS & full fledge service required , then let us be ready to invest Rs10000 Crore, which will be in DREAMS only.
Submitted by idontspam on 23 February 2010 - 10:27am.
Metro built under municipal limits of Bangalore took shelter under the mysore tramways act so they did not have to get it built by IR. This also means metro cannot service areas outside BBMP limits. I wonder how Delhi Metro can go to Gurgaon & Noida then.
This clause needs to be altered so states can build their own railways and own it as long as it doesnt interfere with IR and maybe confine itself to the state instead of municipal limits. So effectively the alteration of clause from municipal to state and removal of the word Tramway will allow decontrol of the railways from IR stranglehold. There is no need for them to monopolize the services like this.
On a lighter note 2.31 also reads (ii) lines of rails built in any exhibition ground, fair, park, or any other place solely for the purpose of recreation. Classify Bangalore city a theme park because it is one hairy ride anyway. In which case you can build mono rail for the joy ride. its a toy train anyway.
Submitted by Naveen on 23 February 2010 - 10:31am.
Sanjeev - your frustrations are shared by many of us.
Unfortunate as it is, the railway structuring at central level is such that local realities & needs are often ignored, despite the many railway sub-divisions. As we know, their focus is primarily on inter-city or inter-state travel.
New trains to /from Bihar, WB, UP, Kerala, etc are probably a result of demands from those states for direct connections to the south & to Bangalore, since these had also been neglected over the decades. Even direct trains between Kolkata & Bangalore had not been available earlier & one had to change over at either Chennai or Guntakal. At least inter-city travel has improved a great deal, now.
The traffic disruptions that you mention are for putting in place much better exclusive track train system/s that will provide long-term, permanent relief for commuters, based on data. Though this will take some time, it is perhaps worth investing in & waiting for.
In the interim, BMTC buses can do the job. I was on ORR /Kundalahalli yesterday at peak hour evening & saw the hundreds of buses going full, ferrying people to various parts of the city. Increasing the number of buses & schedules alone might be a much better option for providing temporary relief than the operation of a hastily built CRS that will have too many restrictions in operation such as too few schedules, limited no. of stations - many of which lie away from normal commuter traffic flows with no proper access to stations, etc.
After experiencing CRS at Chennai recently, I am firmly of the opinion that planning a CRS based on existing tracks or new tracks fitted only where possible, will never work. For the system to succeed, the focus has to be firmly on ease of travel for commuters based on studies & must never be based on where physical assests exist or for the ease of construction.
Though we are fortunate that a couple of SWR tracks run through the city & could be used for mass transit, running a CRS as things stand is easier said than done since the question of arranging inter-modal transfers arise at both ends. Thus, unless buses are permitted into railway stations to pick up & drop off passengers, CRS may never work. As of now, none of the stations have such facilities. This will of course change with Byappanahalli & maybe other stns later.
Submitted by idontspam on 23 February 2010 - 10:36am.
I insist we deserve and need a real CRS with proper rolling stock, not get-the-monkey-off-my-back efforts.
Submitted by s_yajaman on 23 February 2010 - 11:07am.
Our agencies cannot even coordinate and provide decent footpaths to walk on in the centre of the city. And we actually think they will provide a decent commuter rail service.
There is nothing in it for SWR to provide commuter rail service to Bangalore. Even the twice a day service to BIAL which was supposed to have taken off a few months back has not. This is realism and not pessimism.
Submitted by silkboard on 23 February 2010 - 11:12am.
It will be worth the effort to meet a few SWR and GoK people to get their 'official' versions.
Lets also speak to few journalists, and help one paper or TV channel do a detailed report on CRS possibilities (feasibility is different from possibility). Such a thing would raise the profile of this issue/demand.
Can try DNA, Express, Hindu, or TV9.
Submitted by SB_YPR on 23 February 2010 - 11:56am.
Just finished reading all the posts on this thread, and here are some of my thoughts.
Second, as a corollary of the above, the only way to enable a CRS for Bangalore is on the Hyderabad MMTS model, with the State Government sharing half the cost. I am still not clear whether BSY & Co. are actually interested in this, particularly given that the State is already heavily investing in the Metro.
Third, not all of the rail corridors in Bangalore, either in their persent state or otherwise, are suitable for suburban traffic movement. For instance, the Yeshwantpur-Yelahanka line passes through the BEL and GKVK campuses for a significant portion of its length. Likewise, the Yeshwantpur-Chikkabanavara line passes through mostly forested area or defence land beyond Jalahalli and does not serve any major population centres.
Fourthly, the region around Bangalore still has large expanses of single line track without the doubling of which suburban services cannot commence. Baiyyappanahalli-Yeshwantpur, Yeshwantpur-Yelahanka and Yelahanka-Krishnarajapuram are instances. Some hope lies in the fact that the doubling of the latter two stretches (26 km in all) had been sanctioned in the previous budget at a total cost of Rs. 125 crore.
Fifthly - and this point has been made many times over - intermodal connectivity at stations is an absolute must. Some stations (like City, Whitefield and Yelahanka) have bus stations in the close vicinity, others (Cantonment, Krishnarajapuram, Byappanahalli, Hebbal, Kengeri) are benefited by their proximity to a major road, and still others (Lottegollahalli, Nayandahalli, Kodigehalli, Banaswadi) lack connectivity altogether. Unless the gaps are filled up, the success of the service will be in doubt.
It is a long shot, though, to expect any or all of these to materialise smoothly, particularly given the number of coordinating agencies involved (SWR, BMTC, BTP, BMLTA etc.). Short of hoping for the best, it would be a good idea for us (and the authorities involved) to identify areas needing improvement and lay out a roadmap towards achieving a final solution.
Submitted by Sanjeev on 23 February 2010 - 12:04pm.
BMTC playing feeder services to CRS on existing is not a problem.
With few changes to BMTC root, further stations can be included for Local Trains.
I agree completely, In the long run, we need Full Fledge services of CRS with frequency of 10 Minites. To come to this situtaion, we need to start some where & its already more then 10 years, things have not changed. Once we have this small services of four shuttel services in the morning & four in the evening in each direction, then awarness will come with Public & further things will start moving.
With this was even State and Center can mobilze the required funds and Ridership will also improve over the period with all three BMT, METRO & CRS complimenting each other.
Even as you sugested on increasing BMTC buses, as roads already are chocked, then how do we ensue the speed of travel, forget the compfortness of travelling.
insist we deserve and need a real CRS with proper rolling stock, not get-the-monkey-off-my-back efforts.
Then wait for the next decade 2020, we will get complet METRO, let us enjoy the further polluion, congested roads & increase in travel time. KRV has not raised issue till now on Local Trains or CRS. I agree on this. & we should explore this. They can make difference on this, but I am not sure they will do this???
Yes We can meet the people & push for the CRS .
Submitted by Sanjeev on 23 February 2010 - 12:26pm.
It will be worth the effort to meet a few SWR and GoK people to get their 'official' versions as suggested by Pranav.
this is very much needed to make more public awarness & force the authorites make the things start. Call DNA, Hindu, Express, TV9, and other channels & news paper.
Alos we need to file RTI with BMLTA, SWR, IDD & Chief Secreatry of GOK for the status of CRS.
I have spoken to BMLTA, IDD & SWR DRM office, but the BMLTA is more positive. SWR Hubli is not giving any response on this. IDd is passing buck to SWR Hubli. DRM Bangalore is some what interested.
Submitted by SB_YPR on 23 February 2010 - 12:25pm.
four shuttel services in the morning & four in the evening in each direction on existing SWR traclk, already capacity is available with SWR. Services should be during peak hours only.
Bangalore City station (and the rail corridors in general) are quite crowded between 6 am - 9 am and 6 pm - 9 pm (broadly what could be classified as peak hours) due to several arrivals/departures of long-distance trains. As such, I don't think it will be possible to run services during peak hours with the existing infrastructure.
Submitted by Naveen on 23 February 2010 - 12:33pm.
When the state is investing almost 11,000 crs on a metro system & is seriously considering expansion with a second phase & possibly a monorail system as well (all calling for huge investments), why would they pursue a CRS in the interim which they will have little control over & when overwhelming evidence suggests that such systems cannot be run efficiently within our goofed up bureaucratic setups & with so many agencies needed for co-ordination ?
This is without mention of the land crunch which SWR has been facing for expansion of SBC station & their insistence on overloaded systems.
I don't think there is much demand nor is there much expectation from the public for a CRS since they already know too well how such rail systems have been functioning in other cities, Mumbai excluded.
Mumbai's dependence on suburban rail, as we all know is more to do with the city's N-S terrain & travel habits that have historically been established due to this - in fact, the city's suburbs were developed based on where rail tracks could be expanded, akin to Curitiba's BRT. Thus, comparison with bangalore would be incorrect.
Action from the state for acquiring a CRS may start only after the Metro has been made operational.
Submitted by idontspam on 23 February 2010 - 2:45pm.
In which case they should allow the state to do it themselves. Lets ask SWR/muniyappa to go and campaign for the IR act 2.31 modification in lieu of us getting off their back or even easier provide IR land for the state to lay their own tracks adjacent, over, under their tracks.
I am more interested in decontrol of IR monopoly so the state can lay their own tracks, it is a hassle to go behind this state provider to get anything done.
Submitted by idontspam on 23 February 2010 - 2:52pm.
No thats not how you solve problems. Get IR to deregulate and let go of monopoly over railways then either IR will implement CRS just to get you off their back or really let go of monopoly, in which case its easier to catch your local govt.
THe former is very much unlikely, but the latter is very much possible. Like Manish has pointed out, suburban services will be hived off and new ones may not need IR approval.
Submitted by Naveen on 23 February 2010 - 3:28pm.
Exactly - Unless we find a proper, sustainable manner to meet operating expenses through revenues, there is no point in demanding CRS - & CRS, as of now is still largely an IR subject, though states may have funded it partially. Thus, fares have to remain low, revenues have to remain poor, & train systems /stations have to keep rotting away!
The cities that have already benefited with CRS may seem to have been blessed, but the reality is that these rail systems are not maintained well, do not fulfill objectives & keep bleeding the economy.
BMTC playing feeder services to CRS on existing is not a problem. With few changes to BMTC root, further stations can be included for Local Trains.
This is not entirely true - many of the stations including important transit points such as Cantonment, Bangalore East, Kengeri, Gnanbharathi & Malleshwarm do not have bus stops close by. Some do not have bus routes that pass near enough.
We are probably talking about 2050 now! The central govt's stanglehold on railways in the country will take a lot to break. They will never wrest control since IR has been a prized pocession for them to use in many ways to appeal to the masses. No harm in trying though, I guess.
Submitted by rmb on 23 February 2010 - 4:30pm.
If legal wrangle is the issue for starting a railway by state, how was KRC possible? IR was just a minor share holder in KRC and still continue to be so.
Submitted by Sanjeev on 23 February 2010 - 5:25pm.
As Manish mentioned about the Railway ministry may hive off suburban traffic operations.
Also as mentioned by Naveen, We are probably talking about 2050 now on IR deregulations and let go of monopoly. With MoS MR K H Muniyappa from Bangalore, we have seen last one year, what Mamatha has allowed him to do. Even the Rajdhani announced last budget not yet started.
Other wise BEML can participate in SPV. Lets say State 40%, Center / Railway 40% & BEML :10%, with FII's & public 10%. Here BEML can supply the rolling stock for CRS as BEML has gained expetise in MTERO Rakes on Broad Gauge line for Delhi METRO. Rakes can be as per METRO design for CRS. State will be more interested in BEML as the State will get more tax collections.
This type of debate will keep on going for Bangalore may be for next one decade & Hyderabad MMTS is planning for phase-2 this year. Similalry in Karnataka we need CRS for Mysore, Managalore, Hubi-Dharwad If the Banaglore gets CRS, then it will help other cities of Karnatak for Locla trains getting.
Submitted by idontspam on 23 February 2010 - 9:34pm.
Not like that, it has to be a sustained campaign with possibilities discussed right here on the site itself. Lets work out a model and then present it. Ramesh's model on Bangalore Railway Corporation can kick of the discussions. | 2019-04-23T00:49:13Z | http://praja.in/en/blog/naveen/2010/02/13/commuter-rail-will-it-ever-materialize |
I bit over7 feet barefoot.
Shaq measures no less than 7'2 in footwear and I doubt his sneakers and shoes give 2-2,5 inches. Unless he uses lifts ( very unlikely) .
Shaq is still in the 7'1 range today, he looks to be a good 3 inches taller than Big show today.
Shaq once said on Howard Stern Show that he was 6'11.5" indeed he is that height, but apparently it's his lowest barefoot measurement of the day. This would coincide with the 7'0" you correctly have him marked at. Out of bed he is likely very close to 7'1".
Peak Shaq was closer to 7'2" than he was to 7'0" barefoot. Shaq was VERY VERY close in height to Zydrunas Ilgauskas.
I've seen Shaq and Zydrunas Ilgauskas in person standing next to each other and there is less than 1" height differeece between them.
Rob, Shaq needs a MAJOR HEIGHT UPGRADE because he grew significantly since his height was measured. Shaq was shorter than Tree Rollins his rookie year in Orlando, but he was much taller than Tree Rollins by the time he got to L.A.
Do you think 214 cm is possible for Shaq?
Editor Rob: 7ft and a fraction is of course always possible.
I think he is 7ft but listed at 7'1" with his shoes. There was once even a show called dunk king on NBA tv and the announcers said that he was 7'2"
Editor Rob: actually since that guy is nearer, the difference could be more 7 inch range!
I think 6'5.5" for Drew and 7'0" for Shaq seem like fair estimates for the two. It appears like a 6" difference or less to me, but the angle favors Drew so I think somewhere between 6 and 7 inches makes sense.
Still can not see him under 7ft0.5in. no indication for heightloss.
It makes it much harder to determine his true height..
Editor Rob: the guy could be in 6ft 6 range.
Rob u think it's possible guys his height can drop 2 inches during a day? i mean it makes sense the spine is much larger.
a guy who was measured 2.52m dropped to 2.46m in just some hours.
I'm pretty sure Daft Express used to list him at 7'0 7/8"...nevertheless I think based on the votes alone with an average guess of 7'0.67", Shaq deserves an upgrade. At least 7'0.5" would be a good shout.
DraftExpress has Mutombo listed at 7'1.25" barefoot, which is easily 7'2 when he puts on shoes. He was already like 25 years old when he came into the league, so he couldn't have grown anything beyond that.
Shaq has 7' listed at his barefoot height on Draft Express, but I swear I've seen him listed at 7'0.5 and 7'0.75" barefoot before. Perhaps they are both accurate measurements, as Shaq has got to lose a lot of height throughout the day.
I think he's really close to 7'1" barefoot. He looks so much taller than most 7 footers in the NBA as well as guys like Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett who are really close to 7'. I know that most NBA players are listed in shoes, but Shaq was still 2 or 3 inches taller than most of the other centers he played against.
Editor Rob: well I think he was an inch smaller than a guy like Wilt, who was a solid 7ft 1.
Although guys this height may well shrink between 3-5cm in total, so there's a lot of room for a bigger shrinkage compared to the average man.
A better pic of Shaq and Yao Ming Click Here The top of Shaq's head is around Yao's eye level so around a 5 inch difference.
Shaq's height in shoes has been proven for a fact to be 7'2. He needs an upgrade to 7'1" or Big Show needs a downgrade to 6'9.5". Also, there is no way in hell Andre The Giant was the same height barefoot as Shaq.
He is right on the 7'2'' same has the other photo of him on a wall with a scale showing him 7'2'',and if he is under 7' then Wilt was under 7'1'' because there was not much between them.
Wow, you can tell that Shaq had respect for him. Not too often that he has to look up to someone that much and be humbled by it.
Maybe Shaq peak 7'.05"? 7'0" seems short considering he towers over Big Show at or over 2 inches present time. I thought recently Big Show can still pull off 6'11", but now maybe no more than 6'10.25" or 6'10.5"
Come on, really? A 2" difference means he was towering over him? LOL. That word "tower" is used too much in comparing the differences in peoples heights. If the was 6" taller, then maybe I could agree with you on that.
How tall do you think shaqs son to the left is Rob?
I think 7'0.5 is fair, wasn't the full 7'1 previously listed but I still think he's a strong 7 footer.
Finally,he was brought to 7'0.I always thought 4" was a too small difference with Yao Ming.I'm sure he's still gigantic and probably stands out among other players but if there was ever a legit 7'1 I think it was Wilt Chamberlain though in some pics they might look close but then Wilt might have lost a little by late 50's.
Rob,what about creating a page for Vince Carter?he's listed 6'6 but he's rather a solid 6'5 imo maybe 6'5.25"
Rob, they were both in dress shoes at the red carpet, doesn´t sound Shaq 215cm and Big Show 208-209cm much better?
You write a lot of BS jsut to say that the guy is 194 when in the reality he has 0% of chance to be that tall.
There is a bunch of guys in this site that have arguments very similar to mine and you are saying that I'm a troll. Where I lose my argument ?
Saying that worst Joe M is 6'4 5/8 ? I told that because this would be his bareminimum,to a mm under. And he always look to edge out 194 guys like Skasgard and Straham.
He was definitely at least 7' in his prime. Probably shorter now but not by much.
Rob, Click Here He is clearly taller than 7´2" in footwear standing straight, maybe he is one of the rare man who grew after 20 (1992)?
I doubt he wear 2"+ footwear, so isn´t 7´0.5" much closer?
@184guy: excuse me. dont "trash" a page with what? You trashed Kobe's to commence this war with me. And now you are telling me I "have" to say he's 195cm flat. 6'4.75 is 194.94945 not 195. 6'4.5 is 194 cm. So you lose the argument!!! He's claimed 6'4.75 (where his wife measured him) and 6'4.5 two seperate times so he is under 195 cm if you want to get technical. And I'll leave what I'm forced to say up to Rob. this is his site not yours. And telling me not to "state my beliefs" when someone here who met him said "I met Kobe and he is between 194 and 195". It is a free country and I can state whatever I want. This is a free site and I can express my views any way I want. Don't ever say "don't take Canson seriously... This troll...." Just because I don't agree with your view 184guy. And anyone who sees between 194 and 195 would understand what I'm saying he isn't a flat 194 but not a full 195.
So I can say whatever the hell I want to say. You are the one who started this and now I am finishing it. What? Are you upset because I'm not making your boy as tall as you want him to be? remember who started the attacks. It sure as hell wasn't me and now you and James both keep coming back with retarded comments (everyone else sees them as well) that make no sense when I've explained very clearly between 194 and 195 repeatedly now. I didn't see anyone say anything to KROC when he "saw and observed him as between 194 and 195 in person". I didn't hear anyone attack Alex about it when he called him 193. So why are you doing it to me? And no I don't go off pictures or what not. Kobe has claimed 6'4.5 (194.3cm) and also 6'4.75 (194.9495 cm). Neither of those are 195cm. So that grouped with two other ppl from Celebheights who saw him are more credibility than you have. So yes please stop the argument while you are behind because you really sound dumber and dumber every time you make one. Yes you have been on here 18 months, you make no valid points. And have no credibility, and your pictures stink! You're a troll who "fantasizes" about people being taller than they are or finds a way for them to be.
After being about 18 months on the site,I can safely say that i Trained my view and conceptions about height . I know how tall is 195 , I know the difference between 193 and 195 and I know how both are such a perfect height for every male.I do not want any other discussion with you about those guys.I believe is very irritating and disturbing for both sides.
I"m not sure where the ammended height from 7"1 down to 7"0 even comes from, but IMO I do believe that Shaq is much closer to 7"1 than just a flat 7 footer he is 215cm at worst.
@Shane @Height: both correct on your estimates for Shaq.
@184Guy: I think we can all look at Kobe's page as Height reiterated what I said so obviously your eyesight is horrible, you are a complete invalid which you sound like, or you have a problem comprehending what you read. Go look at the posts that I have posted and look where Height corrected James. It's right there. And by the way that's fine if you disagree because we won't always agree on everything but do remember who started this attack here. It surely wasn't me and you are just making yourself sound dumber and dumber with each post. And yes 184 cm is not only a good height but a damn good height. You are a hair over 6'0" and you should be proud of that. And I wasn't saying it wasn't. I was saying generally the guys here who tend to inflate others are generally the ones who want to be taller. Thats what you tend to do which is fine but don't go around denigrating others opinions and if you wanna start it please by all means be prepared to finish it. Truce?
@184Guy: I think we can all look at Kobe's page as Height reiterated what I said so obviously your eyesight is horrible, you are a complete invalid which you sound like, or you have a problem comprehending what you read. Go look at the posts that I have posted and look where Height corrected James. It's right there. And by the way that's fine if you disagree because we won't always agree on everything but do remember who started this attack here. It surely wasn't me and you are just making yourself sound dumber and dumber with each post.
The directly side by side photos posted below with 7'1" barefoot Mutombo tell the tale. Mutombo clearly has an inch plus on Shaq in all the,side by sides.
Vegas what height what you guess Bill Goldberg?
If Wilt measured 7'1" without shoes it is very unlikely that Shaq is 7'0.88" or 7'0.66", since the difference between both them has consistently been no less than 1 inch.
@Vegas: look at this link below though.
@184Guy: well it sounds to me like you will take the highest order here and are already set on doing that. Height said in a previous post that he claimed 6'11.5 and more than one person here has said it. So you can continue to believe he is 7'1 just because you obviously like men being taller than they are. That is sad. If someone claims they are shorter than you think or they appear it likely means they are. And no I don't believe KROC has a stadiometer but Shaq claimed that height to him so don't know how he would misconstrue it or make it up. I mean you seem to have these theories. Question for you is it because you are insecure about your own height? That is typically the case for someone with the tendency to make everyone else taller or fantasizing that they are like you do.
Who is KROC ? He has a stadiometer in his pocket ? He is a judge or god to someone tell him the truth ? Shaq claimed 7'1 on Conan and many others sources.Now where is the truth ? I dunno and probably nobody knows.
@184guy: if you look at Shaq and KG there's at most 1 full inch sometimes less.
Interesting downgrade.. From what I've seen from him he looked nearly 8 inches taller than 6'4.75" Barkley. Sure 7'1" seems a bit high, but 7' flat seems a bit off as well. Maybe 7'0.5"?
Unfortunately 184guy, Height really isn't using a ridiculous estimate. He did claim it and KROC met him and said he claimed around 6'11.75 when someone asked his height Basketball heights are all over the place so are the pics people use to compare players.
Ok.A guy like Shaq has a big feet and probably a big shoe size which implies in a big sole for the one.So a 7'0.88(the supossed number ) Shaq in shoes give us a 6'11.75 or even 6'11.5 barefoot.
The only problem is if you do that,you'll need to downgrade every celeb in at about 1 inch .Shaq was obvious taller than 7ft and probably stills.Look him with Yao Ming who claimed 7'6.He looked roughly 5 inches shorter.Look also with 6'11 7'0 guys like Gasol,Garnett,Nowitzki,Bill Watson,David Robson,Paul Wight.He is visible taller than all of them.He was billed 7ft in 1992 when he was 19-20.Do you have a crystall ball to say that we had not grown 0,5in later ?
I wish there were pics in the primes for Kareem and Wilt with Shaq. Wilt was measured 7'.5 in his 40s and Kareem not sure. But I won't question a full 7'2 or the 7'1 7/8 in his prime. He looked it.
Shaq was a legit 7'0.5" in his prime period.
Measured at under 7'1" with shoes (probably non basketball shoes). Has admitted "7 feet even" both coming out of high school and in his 1993 book, has admitted 6'11.5" on Howard Stern although there seem to be be no record or footage from that interview.
What do you think is the difference in height between this guy and Shaq?
Vegas always wanted to ask you this but how tall did Test look to you when you met him in person?
Fern, if shaq’s son is legit 6’9” Shaq was at least 7’3” in his ESPYs footwear. Click Here His son does look 6’9” with Lebron Click Here and 6'10.25" measured Karl Anthony Towns. Click Here Big show's definitely taller next to Shaq than the son. Not sure what's going on other than you need to view many photos and videos before you can peg a person's height. I still think we are at a 7’1” (or close) Shaq and 6’11” tops Big Show in 2016 with comparable footwear.
@Fern194-192: I saw pics with Shaq and Big Show from a few years back and a more recent. Shaq is really (if Both stand straight) only about an inch and a half taller. If it's a 4" diff it's on Big Show because previous pics Big Show would've been 6'10.25-.5 range and Shaq almost a solid 7'.
215.5 cm out of bed, 213 cm at night.
Rob what you think about this new video Between shaq and Big Show for WrestleMania 33 ?
"You can’t even imagine how huge Shaq is, – Mozgov told Kirill Zangalis of Sovetskiy Sport. – I’m not sure that I could wrap my arms around him; he’s a real man-mountain. I’ve played against the Greek giant Sofoklis Schortsanitis, and it was impossible to move him. But now after meeting Shaq in person I understand why Schortsanitis goes by the nickname “Baby Shaq” in Europe. Compared to the original he looks like a dwarf.
Sofoklis Schortsanitis is 208 cm !
Shaq at 7'0 flat is bad news for Big Show.
I still think Show is around 6'11 but there is definitely more than 1 inch between them in 2016.
You need to head to youtube and look at the video of big show and shaq talking at the ESPY awards. Shaq has a good 4 inches on him. No lie. His son Sharif O'neal who is legit 6,9 and growing appears to be the same height or taller as Big Show. If shaq is only 7,0 then Big show is 6,8-6,9. I still think Shaq is 7,0.5 today. If not Big show needs a downgrade for sure. Please consider for the height fans who want nothing but the truth and the whole truth.
Click Here Lesnar looks like he has cowboy boots on. Shaq has a full head size on him and his head is fairly large. A 7'0" flat Shaq means a big downgrade for many on this site, unless of course he gets a 2 or more inch boost from every shoe he ever wears.
Was hogan really shorter than Scott hall in wcw who many believe was 6'5?
Personally I find 6'5 hard to swallow for Scott hall and he struck me as looking more 6'4 than 5 actually.
Vegas what's your opinion on Scott halls height? I don't think you have met him in person have you?
Shaq was never 7'1 barefoot as the clarification above shows and the side by sides with 7'1 barefoor Mutombo clearly shows. Shaq is clearly a good inch shorter.
You are contradicting yourself by saying that people can't go by pre-draft measurements and then showing pre-draft measurement data to prove he was 7'1".
The problem is, he has always looked at least 1 inch shorter than legit 7'1" next to guys like Dikembe Mutombo.
something that people here should note, Kareem is a Yoga practitioner, and has been for like 35 years. Yoga over time makes you taller, not shorter, because you are constantly conditioning and lengthening the spine, pumping up the discs to maximum height. i wouldnt doubt kareem is probably a legit 7'2"
Shaq is and was every bit of 7'1" at his peak... you guys can't go by his pre-draft measurement of 7'0", as he was just a 19 year old kid and was still growing. he settled at 7'1" barefoot. he has since been measured and his height revised.
Rob was it big shows weight making him look much shorter next to shaq?
Editor Rob: for a guy like big show you wonder how much his natural standing height differs from his measured height...it's an unknown really, but he certainly doesn't have Stallone posture.
My answer to how tall are you? Is 6'8".. 6'9" on a good day.. $=4 me "height" is relative, a standard door is 6'8" and at my "normal height" relaxed posture, head titled down I clear no problem, but at my stand up straight, deep breath, shoulders back height the door jam hits me in the forehead, and this is barefoot, add some bball shoes and in the nba I would be a "7fter"
There is no way SHAQ is just 7 feet.
The photo with Mutombo is not a good one. There are other photos of the two of them standing straight, and Mutombo is 1-2" taller. Shaq is 7 feet barefoot.
Don't you think you should list Shaq at 7'0.5"?He definitely looked taller than 7'0" at his prime.
This would be fair cause this half inch cover up both ranges.
A 7'0 prime Shaq means Big Show needs his prime height moving down, as does Hogan by an inch.
@Height: he does always look nothing less than a full inch shorter. Your estimate is likely right. I could even buying him catching a good whiff of 6'11 like 6'11.5 esp because he varies so much at that size. I notice back then some taller guys didnt round up (before today's height inflation began years back). Some still don't.
rob, what made you change it 7'1 to 7'0?
Editor Rob: I think for me there was probably enough I've seen over the years to believe what the draft site said about 7ft measurement and near 7ft 1 in sneakers.
Shaq has a body of a guy 6'10.75-6'11.
Rob, Shaq at 7ft flat does make todays Big Show 6´10" at best and never 7ft in his entire life, look at Big Shows big soles- I doubt Shaq had more footwear.
thanks for downgrading him back to his real height. now if you could downgrade Pitt and Damon.
Shaq at a flat 7'0? Wow.
How can you have Kareem listed at less than 7'2" in his prime and Shaq at 7'1" when an old Kareem is noticeably taller than a prime Shaq????
Editor Rob: the conclusion seems to point to Shaq having been measured nearly 7ft 1 in footwear, as the DraftExpress seemed to think.
Rob, but didn't DraftExpress later reverted their measurement to 7'0" with the editor claiming that the previous 2 measurements they had where with standard sneakers (non basketball sneakers)?
And what would you say is the difference between him and 6'11" Kevin Garnett?
Editor Rob: this 7ft 1992 measurement I couldn't ever find the article, I'm not sure if it was ever posted, but it may well be accurate. I think many have argued 7ft for him made sense.
Rob, then why do you still have Shaq at 6ft1 on the dot?
Editor Rob: if it was 3/4 inch yes, but it was just under 7ft 1...you could argue that he drops below 7ft 0.75 especially if he was measured before mid-day.
Hilarious how Wilt and Shaq are both 7'1 according to this site when there are pictures and videos and Wilt is clearly taller.
Editor Rob: Shaq was measured a little under 7ft 1, Wilt measured a little over, so I would class Shaq as the weaker and Wilt the stronger 7ft 1.
@Bruce Wayne: everything you said is 100% correct! However the heights you have for them are already inflated. Penny is 6'6 barefoot not 6'7. Not sure on Nathan (Ricky roe). He may be 6'8. Shaq is between 6'11-7' barefoot.
Shaq at 6'11 would put a prime Hulk Hogan at around 6'3. Andre at 6'8... etc... all 3 were 2 inches taller than that.
Shaq wears unsually large size 22 basketball shoes which give him at least additional 2 inches to his barefoot height.....if he is 7'1" barefoot, then he stood at least 7'3" on the basketball court during his playing days.
I remember his movie "Blue Chips (1993)" where his character Neon Boudeaux, together with 6'7" Butch McRae (played by Penny Hardaway) and 6'8" Ricky Roe (played by Matt Nover) were recruited by a College team and when they were introduced in the school gym, the PA announced their respective heights to be 7'4" , 6'9" and 6'11" tall. When the three players asked why they were announced to be taller than their real heights, the team official responded with something to this effect: "that's how tall you are gonna be..." implying the industry practice of teams inflating their players' heights by 1-3 inches to make their team roster appear on paper to be more impressive and/or intimidating.
SHAQ Is 7ft 0" (213cm) in Trainers (2-3cm increase). 6ft 11" (210.8cm) with No shoes.
BIG SHOW is 6ft 10.5" (209.5cm) In Boots. 6ft 9.5" (207cm) No shoes.
Almost all NBA players who are 7'1"+ are genetically tall . You can tell by there head to body porportion - all of these guys' heads just seem small compared to their bodies .
Shaq at under 7'0 throws everything off.
He's somewhere between 7'0.5 and 7'1, I doubt he's lost any height either.
does it matter he is close to 7 feet and its the bulk that means just as much.
6'11.5" or 6'11.75" may have been his height at 17 or so. As a full grown adult that may be an exaggeration.
Like I said, I think he is a legit 7'0" guy at 213.5 cm and Garnett is 6'11" / 6'11.25" (210.8 cm / 211.5 cm).
Shaq did not measure over 7 feet - unless you count his in shoes measurements. For a long time Draftexpress had him pegged at 7-1 without shoes, based on a newspaper article that cited him at 7' 0.63" and 7' 0.88" from the 90's during the draft. But it turns out those were actually with shoes measurements. So they updated his profile to "7-0" without shoes. They use a rounded number but I think if he had a 1" or 1.25" thick shoe like most players that would put him almost right at about 6-11.5 like he admitted to being.
That also explains why an old Wilt appeared taller than him when they met.
Wilt has a better posture than Shaq, but still the difference between them is very noticeable. I honestly don't see him being 7'0.88".
But I do see him as a legit 7'0" guy at 213 cm or even 213.5 cm...Especially after seeing the video where he admits his height and finishing reading his 1993 rookie season book written in collaboration with Jack McCallum.
FLEX, you actually thought I was serious...I just used the same method (type of picture) you used to claim that Shaq is taller than Mutombo.
I believe Shaq at his prime was 7'1" or perhaps 7'0.88" as I've seen in some sources. However as of now he's put on a lot of weight. I wouldn't be surprised if he's over 400 lbs currently, I don't think his posture is very good anymore due to that.
Shaq is 7'0.88" without shoes.He was measured after evening training.
And that isn´t even his "fully streched out height"
You're far too exagerrated that makes shaq 7'2.5 out of bed. In fact much closer to 1.5" loss for a day sounds reliable but shaq himself had claim he was only 7'0 even (213cm) and also say that his 7'1 several times it's much likely he was 7'0 than 7'1. At best 7'05 as you say by night this might be the daily height shaq walks on the street.
Duhon: I see that you completely ignored the fact I presented "Barkley downgrading his height". What is you response to that? You don't have one.
And question why so condescending to others here? Did you have a rough upbringing or something in your childhood? Were you fondled or touched inappropriately? I mean if something is bothering you take your aggression elsewhere to someone who can help you.
Rob: Question for you? Because apparently I'm not the only one who has downgraded the same people Here in my estimates and can never remember saying "Rob can you change it". Is it ok to comment with how we feel about the height listed? I mean this is an open forum from what I see. For some reason Duhon doesn't see it that way. Just checking to make sure we all aren't out of line for "thinking" someone is shorter than they are listed and expressing our opinions.
Editor Rob: anybody can comment what they think somebody is, although sometimes people can go beyond the realms of believability.
Duhon, lets cut the crap. this started with me agreeing with Ezioadutiore about Steph. It's all because someone disagrees with you. And tell me which NBA players I have downgraded. because I only see Griffin Lebron Wade Curry and MJ and all within 1". I doubt these players are sitting home worried about what we think about their height so don't see why you care. What do you have a crush on these guys? All the rest I kept right where they are. Barkley, Kobe, Shaq, Rodman, Kareem I kept the same. And if you look very closely I am not the only one who has downgraded any of them. 4 or 5 others said the same thing I did. so we must see something. So I want you to bring me some facts instead of saying "Canson downgrades every NBA player because you haven't yet. And by the way I haven't commented on "every player here" so get your facts straight. so you are singling me out? Because I didn't agree with you and challenged you? Oh but I see three that you tried to upgrade and go against Rob? Kobe: Rob, he's over 6'5, Barkley: Rob I vote to upgrade him, Yao: he's a strong 7'5 or 7'6. Go look at what you wrote unless you are that illiterate and senial. I guess so much for trusting the site master Rob because you know more than him obviously. So why is anything you do better than what I do? and Why don't you go and learn how to comprehend what you read "Oh your cousin's friend saw Dell Curry" "oh so you're saying Shaq is lying?" You're very immature making comments you make. U pull this crap when you don't like or understand what someone says. And don't make up stuff "he's bitter he didn't make the NBA." I didn't stoop to that level with you so don't do it with me. diff story for you though. So why are "you" contradicting Rob and "shouting" to him to upgrade these 3 guys? Nothing different from me. If you don't like something someone says address it respectfully. And more facts? Ok. If Curry is really 6'2 as "listed" Kobe is 6'4.75 as listed, Barkley same as listed. Yao 7'5 as listed. Duhon: all I see here is that you are a hypocrite and singled me out when 4 or 5 others have commented the same way I have. Don't believe me? Go look at the pages I mentioned where I donwgraded. I don't hear you saying it to anyone else. this site is all opinion and we express them. That's what makes the experience what it is. And if you want to continue this please bring facts of your own. And don't make up or misconstrue stuff and put it on here know what the hell you are talking about first. Sorry but I can't get over "i use facts not what your cousins friend saw". Go look at what you wrote you moron.
The only people who are insecure about height are the ones calling for Rob to downgrade all the heights he's listed. Do you think people who are secure with themselves try to make others out to be shorter please think about that and what you are trying to do. That's my final word on this unless you start bringing some facts and not personal opinions.
Wow! I've never heard someone say someone is negative for downgrading height of someone else where that's what they believe. I would think calling someone a liar or saying someone is downplaying is more negative "Charles Barkley downplays his height to maintain an underdog image" because he claimed what he claimed. Wow Duhon a statement like that "you're being negative for downgrading height" shows you have issues. If height matters that much to someone that shows they are pretty insecure!
Duhon: you don't either. So maybe that makes both of us. you do realize that this site is all opinion based right? And I am not the only one who has downgraded the same players that I have. three maybe four others have the exact for the exact same players. I've also kept people right where Rob has them: Kevin Durant, KG, Barkley, Kareem. But I am allowed to disagree with Rob as well as you. as you also have on occasion with me and with Rob. I respect your view but don't have to agree with it. Example, Rob has charles Barkley at 6'4.75, but you disagree. so Rob's wrong now? Why does it work this way but not when I downgrade someone when I genuinely don't believe that person is that height? I'm familiar enough with pro sports and esp the NBA and know people who have worked inside with the players or players I've seen on my own. I have first hand knowledge that while not all but some of the measurements are fab'd. I respect Rob's opinion very much but doesn't mean he is always 100% accurate if he hasn't seen someone in person. Think he knows this too That it is his best guess. Nobody is perfect.
I do respect you especially for the fact that you go for proof with your estimates. but some of the comments?? toward me "oh he's bitter about not making the NBA". Then toward height here when he was making an observation about something Shaq said. Ditto. Even with Ezioauditore he was making a point about Steph curry as was I saying I've seen his father in person and can look at their difference. I realize sometimes you don't read everything through as I saw with the comment you made about "your cousin's friend" when that never was said. I hadn't said anything attacking previously toward you. If I disagreed I did so professionally. Height and I have disagreed on one or two but we do so professionally. If everybody agrees here on everything, then it means that only one person is doing the thinking and it'd be no point of this site and I am sure that nobody here or Rob himself would enjoy the experience nor the success. I apologize if I offended you as I was calling it exactly how I saw it based on your pattern of comments but some of the comments you made were completely out of line as well so it was definitely warranted. Let's move on from this and continue to disagree with each other the right way!!!
Canson you have no idea what you are talking about. 90% of my posts are in reference to draft data not my personal opinion. How am I the negative one when you are the one shouting on every page that these guys are all shorter than what Rob lists them as? and I'm the one who has personal issues?
Please if you have issues with these listings, take it up with Rob the guy who manages the site, I'll take his analysis over guys like you 9/10 times as this is his job.
Thanks Canson. I just enjoy discussing heights and possible heights to try to come as close as possible to the real thing.
Height, i understand your point And intent. It seems as if the only person whose opinion matters here on this site is Duhon's. He is very negative, defensive, and condescending toward others who don't See it his way or who make their own valid points and I honestly think he has issues with his own height. Not to mention his posts here half the time are "his opinion" only wanting to make everyone else taller with very little basis and content and can't even comprehend what other people say.
I never said he lied, just that he gave a different version than he gave Howard Stern (shorter).
Of course he could have grown a little more, I just put the video for reference that sometimes players give very different answers about their height in different moments in their life/ career. Barkley himself has admitted he's 6'4", 6'4.75", 6'5.5" for example.
Lol Shaq at 17 admitting to being 7' even is somehow proof he's been lying about his height? Is it hard to believe a 7' tall 17 year old didn't grow a further inch or maybe a fraction less than that?
Just another sample of how some guys like Shaq (and Barkley) often admit different heights in different occasions.
There can be nothing gained from that photo really, other than he is close to 7 ft as it introduces perspective. I want shaq to be over 7 ft of course but all the evidence of shaq standing next to men over 7 ft makes it very hard to believe as he seems to have good posture. A man who is over 7 ft would not look noticeably shorter than other men who are known to be of that height. It just doesn't add up.
In the interests of accuracy I vote for a downgrade also.
Rifle, that is 1 of 2 measurements from the camp/draft in 1992. He was measured at 7'0.66" and 7'0.88".
He still looks about an inch shorter than legit 7'1" guys like Mutombo or Wilt and at his lowest could be 6'11.75"
Duhon, thats a great photo and proves ( to me ) that shaq is considerably shorter than Yao. It takes away the perspective problem in most photo's where one person is standing in front of the other ( even if only slightly ), as it really alters the perceived height.
If Yao is around 7'5" that makes Shaq about 6'11 - 6'11 1/2" from that one.
@Oanh Aaron Carter is 175 cm and now he has a thread on this website!!!
Shaq was measured 7'0.88" without shoes.
I would go with 6' 11.5" as his lowest height of the day. What's your views on this Rob?
I firmly believe Shaq to be 6'11.5" in his prime. Look at the video where he is standing with Wilt and Kareem. Unless he is bare feet and the others are not and despite camera angle it is fairly clear that he is a shorter man than both these huge men, who are also much older than him and inevitably will have lost a little height ( even if small amount ).
Look at the photos of Yao with Shaq. If shaq was over 7ft he would not look so 'small' compared to yao.
I simply cannot buy 7ft or over. The evidence ( not including internet draft heights ) simply does not support this listed height. Sorry Rob, going to have to disagree with you on this one but your still the man !
What is the height difference between Bill Russell and Dwight Howard in this pic?Keeping in mind Russell was 75 in the picture.
Shaq is 5 inches taller than 6'11'' listed Pero Antic.
In that photo, Antic is not standing straight. Also, he is listed at 6'11" which we all know NBA heights are inflated. He is likely 6'9.5" barefoot...6'10.5" with shoes...then it gets rounded to 6'11". That's how the NBA does it.
Yao Ming despite being 7'5"still wears shoes with high heels.
no doubt that he was measured 7'1 or so,the question is rather when.
I mean we are in a case where the difference from out of bed to before bed is like 4-5cm so a decent difference between say late morning and late evening.
Anything between 7'0 and 7'1 is possible in my opinion.
If he was to be measured late morning barefoot, I believe he would be 215cm.
Rob,any chance for 7'flat?he really looks more than 4" shorter than Yao Ming at least a solid 5".A good compromise would be 7'0.5 for shaq and 7'5.5 for yao in my opinion.
i stand at 7'3" 450lbs I was looking list tallest names I don't even come close. But I might be tallest in law enforcement ( Dallas Sheriff Dept. Tx.
This guy is tricky because of his footwear. He's probably around 7'0.
How tall do you think Bill Russel is in this pic with Ben Wallace( who is definitely not 6'9" barefoot).
Russel said in an 1955 interview that he was 6'9.66 inches tall.
BTW as Russel is 79 in this pic he may have shrunk a bit.
Since you are using quarter inch measurements, I think it would be fair to have Shaq at 7'0.75". If the measurement is out there, why not be precise?
I can't remember exactly where I saw this but his actual measurement listed was: 7'0.88"
The difference is noticeable, but because of the angle of the picture, it can be tricky.I still believe that Shaq is 7'0" ish...maybe a little taller (7'0.5"- 7'0.7") but not a full 7'1 flat footed.
PROOF that SHAQ is way taller than BILL WALTON, 2-3 inches.
Walton is still a strong 6'11" (I suspect he was actually above 7' during his prime playing years).
What was the name of that large fella that stands next to Shaq in a pic and makes him look small. The fella is around half a foot taller and broad.
draftexpress now says Shaq is just a measured 7'0.
GOOD pic JT where Shaq is standing in the same line with Wilt and Russell and he's almost an inch taller than Wilt and 4 inches than Russell. If he was standing in the same spot as Kareem and Wallton i think he will be the same height as Jabbar or taller, beacause Jabbar and Wallton have the BEST posture in this pic.
So SHAQ is legit 7'1'' barefoot and period.
Click Here In their prime, Kareem was an easy 7'2", Walton around 7'1" and Russell around 6'10". Kareem still looks 7'1" range whereas Walton looks around 6'11" now (he's had numerous foot, ankle and back surgeries) and Russell still around 6'9" at age 80. | 2019-04-19T17:13:33Z | https://www.celebheights.com/s/Shaquille-ONeal-3142-3.html |
(Urgent Question): I rise to request urgent clarification of the radical reductions in conventional military forces provisionally proposed by the national security capability review, together with an explanation of the reasons for undertaking the review and the financial constraints under which it is being conducted.
In the 2015 strategic defence and security review, the Government identified four principal threats facing the UK and our allies in the coming decade: terrorism, extremism and instability; state-based threats and intensifying wider state competition; technology, especially cyber-threats; and the erosion of the rules-based international order.
As the Prime Minister made clear in her speech to the Lord Mayor’s banquet late last year, these threats have diversified and grown in intensity. Russian hostility to the west is increasing—whether in weaponising information, attempting to undermine the democratic process or increased submarine activity in the north Atlantic. Regional instability in the middle east exacerbates the threat from Daesh and Islamic—Islamist terrorism, which has diversified and dispersed. Iran’s well known proxy military presence in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere poses a clear threat to UK interests in the region and to our allies.
Like other Members, I have seen much of the work that our armed forces continue to do in dealing with these threats. It is because of these intensifying global security contexts that the Government initiated the national security capability review in July. Its purpose is to ensure that our investment in national security capabilities is joined up, effective and efficient. As I said in oral questions, since I became Defence Secretary I have asked the Department to develop robust options to ensure that defence can match the future threats and challenges facing the nation. Shortly, when the national security capability review finishes, the Prime Minister, with National Security Council colleagues, will decide how to take forward its conclusions. I would not wish to pre-empt that decision.
Although the detail must wait until after the NSCR concludes, I can assure the House that as long as I am Defence Secretary we will develop and sustain the capabilities necessary to maintain continuous at-sea nuclear deterrence, a carrier force that can strike anywhere around the globe and the armed forces necessary to protect the north Atlantic and Europe; and we will continue to work with our NATO allies. The Prime Minister, the Chancellor and I will be doing all we can to ensure that we have a sustainable budget, so that we can deliver the right capabilities for our armed forces.
I thank the current Defence Secretary—[Laughter.] That is not meant to be funny. I thank him for confirming what the previous Defence Secretary told the Defence Committee, namely that the capability review resulted from intensified threats to the United Kingdom. If the threats are intensifying, why has the review provisionally proposed radical reductions in our conventional armed forces, and why is it required to be fiscally neutral, as the National Security Adviser recently told the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy? Who has imposed that financial restriction? The Ministry of Defence? Unlikely. The Treasury? Almost certainly.
“Because the main decisions on Defence were taken during the 2015 SDSR, this review is not defence-focused”?
If this review is not defence-focused, and if the 2015 plan therefore still applies, why should thousands of soldiers, sailors and airmen be lost, elite units merged or aircraft frigates and vital amphibious vessels scrapped, long before their out-of-service dates?
Finally, is it not obvious that we are bound to face such unacceptable choices as long as we continue to spend barely 2% of GDP on defence? Even after the end of the cold war and the taking of the peace dividend cuts, we were spending fully 3% in the mid-1990s. Defence is our national insurance policy, and it is time for the Treasury to pay the premiums.
I thank the current Chairman of the Defence Committee—I think we are only ever current—for raising those points. In the NSCR, we are looking at the threats that the country faces, and everything that was done in 2015 is relevant today. As I pointed out, the Prime Minister herself has highlighted the fact that the threats are increasing, and we are having very active discussions right across Government about how best we can deal with those threats. There is an awful lot of speculation and rumour in the press, but that is what we expect of the press.
As I mentioned earlier, we need to ensure that we have the right capability, whether that is a continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent, our special forces, or an Army, Navy and Air Force that have the right equipment and capability to strike in any part of the globe. That is what we have to deliver. I am afraid that I cannot be drawn on the details at the moment, but I will be sure to update the House regularly, as the national security capability review develops, on the conclusions of the review and how we can best deal with them.
I am grateful to you, Mr Speaker, for allowing this urgent question, because Members on both sides of the Chamber have had enough of constantly reading about proposed defence cuts in the newspapers while Government Ministers stonewall questions in the House.
May I press the Secretary of State actually to answer the questions posed by the Chair of the Defence Committee about the national security capability review? Is it the case that the defence element of the review is to be hived off? If so, when can we expect that part to be published? We live in a time of deep global uncertainty, and the risks that we face continue to grow and evolve. Can the Secretary of State confirm that the review will carry out a thorough strategic analysis of those risks, and make a full assessment of the capabilities required to deal with them effectively? It is complete nonsense to have a review without also reviewing the funding, yet that is precisely what this Government propose to do.
Although we must develop and adapt our capabilities as the threats that we face continue to evolve, this review must not become a contest between cyber-security and more conventional elements. Will the Secretary of State recognise that Britain will always need strong conventional forces, and that money must be made available for both? He must not rob Peter to pay for Paul.
There is significant concern about cuts to personnel, with numbers already running behind the stated targets across all three services. The Government still maintain that they aim to be able to field a “warfighting division”, but will the Secretary of State admit that this simply will not be possible if the Army is reduced to the levels speculated? What is the Government’s target for the size of the Army? They broke their 2015 manifesto pledge to have an Army of over 82,000, and they have now broken their 2017 pledge to maintain the overall size of the armed forces because, in reality, numbers have fallen.
Finally, will the Secretary of State tell us what specific steps he is taking to stop defence cuts, beyond posing with dogs outside the MOD and briefing the papers about his stand-up rows with the Chancellor? The fact is that we cannot do security on the cheap, and the British public expect the Government to ensure that defence and the armed forces are properly resourced.
I think that all Government Members recognise the importance of making sure that we maintain conventional forces, and the fact that we have to have a continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent; but we cannot have one and not the other. We have to ensure that we have that ability so that, if we are in a point of conflict, there is deterrence at so very many levels. That is why having robust armed forces—the Army, Navy and Air Force—is so incredibly vital.
The Government and the Conservative party made a clear commitment in our manifesto to maintaining numbers. We are working to ensure that we get the recruitment methods right, so that we can give many people right across the country the opportunity to be able to join the Army, Navy and Air Force. I have to say that if we are choosing between parties when it comes to who will prioritise defence, and who will ensure that our armed forces and this country’s national interests are protected, I know which party I would choose, and it sits on this side of the House.
I will continue to work with the Army, Navy and Air Force to ensure that we get the very best deal for our armed forces. We have a vision as to what we wish to deliver for this country: a robust, global Britain that can project its power right across the globe. We recognise that that is done not just through cyber-offensive capabilities, but the conventional armed forces. As I said earlier, as the national security capability review starts to conclude, I will update the House on the conclusions and how it will be developed.
There has been speculation over the weekend that the defence element of the NSCR is going to be effectively broken out, and dealt with separately slightly later. Given the immense amount of speculation, will the Secretary of State confirm whether this is true? Is he also aware that if he continues stoutly to fend off the pin-striped warriors of the Treasury, he will have very strong support on the Government Benches and, I suspect, even among the Opposition.
I assure my right hon. Friend that we are working hard across Government and all Departments to make sure that we have the right resources for our armed forces not just this year and next year but going forward. On whether I can update the House, I am afraid that I do not have the ability to pre-empt the national security and capability review, but as soon as its conclusions have been brought forward and it has gone to the National Security Council, I will be sure to update this House as soon as I am able to do so.
Who would have thought that a national security review would become a proxy Conservative leadership contest between the Secretary of State and the Chancellor?
Will the Secretary of State answer the question that he has been asked by the Opposition and by Government Members? Is the review being split up into defence and security, is defence expected to come later in the year, and if so, when will that happen? What size will the Marines be by the time this concludes? Does he not agree that given all the speculation, and given that the SDSR is now effectively out of date because we are leaving the EU and because of major currency fluctuations, what is needed is a proper SDSR that he, at least, would be able to get a grip of?
I apologise, Mr Speaker, but the hon. Gentleman seems not to have been listening to my previous answers. I am not in a position to comment on his question, but I have promised the Committee that I will update the House as soon as I am able to do so. Quite simply, I am not in a place where I can pre-empt the decisions of the National Security Council, and the national security and capability review is ongoing. As soon as I am in a position to be able to update him, I will certainly do so.
When I joined a conventional infantry battalion in 1969, there were 780 officers and soldiers. Now, in the same conventional infantry battalion, there are just over 500. That is a loss of a third in number. Does my right hon. Friend agree that doing that and still calling something a battalion is a great loss of capability?
My hon. Friend makes a very valuable point, and I will certainly look into it. We want to make sure that battalions are properly and fully manned so that they are able to deliver the right capability with the right equipment and the right resources, but I take on board the points that he makes.
In 2015, the Conservative party was very clear that the size of the Army should be 82,000. Will the Secretary of State give a commitment today that on his watch the size of the Army will not drop below 82,000, and if it does, will he resign?
We are meeting all of our operational commitments. We have also made it clear that we want to deliver on the numbers that we outlined in the manifesto in keeping the forces at the levels that they are, and we will be doing everything we can to deliver on that.
Does my right hon. Friend agree that in some ways this is an unfair question for him, because given everything that he has said, he does not decide defence and security policy, as that has now been upped to the National Security Council and the National Security Adviser? At what point does the influence of the chiefs of staff come in? Is he able to veto any proposals being put forward by the Treasury or other Government Departments?
The Chief of the Defence Staff acts as the Prime Minister’s principal adviser on all defence issues. We will be putting forward our thoughts as to how best to make sure that our armed forces are best equipped to go forward. This national security capability review touches on 12 strands of work. I am keen to make sure that defence gets the very best deal. I will be very vocal in making sure that the interests of our armed forces are properly represented going forward.
Does the Defence Secretary not realise that he has a real opportunity here? Both in the debate on Thursday and today, Parliament is saying that he should go to the Treasury and tell it we will not accept merging the Paras with the Marines, cuts to amphibious warfare capability or cuts to the Army of some 11,000. We are trying to support and help him, so instead of retreating into partisanship, will he embrace what Parliament is telling him, and go and tell the Chancellor and the Prime Minister that we want more money?
I am always incredibly grateful for such cross-party support. In the arguments and the debates about our armed forces having the right resources, the fact that there is a real passion to make sure that they have the resources they need is apparent to everyone, not least me. As I have already said, I have made and will continue to make the arguments that need to be made to ensure we have the right resources to enable our armed forces to fulfil the asks that politicians in this House so often place on them.
First, I commend the Government’s commitment to defence: we spend the largest amount of money on defence in Europe. However, the money must be well spent if we are to deal with the security threat. Does the Secretary of State agree that for the Marines, such as 40 Commando in Taunton Deane, to function at the top of their game, they must have the correct amphibious capability, which includes retaining HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark? I know that he will give this due consideration, because it is very important not just for Taunton, but for the nation.
I will most certainly give that proper consideration, and I would be very happy to meet my hon. Friend. I have just visited the commando training centre, and it is quite clear that exceptionally high levels of training go into preparing every marine, as they do into preparing every member of our services. It is absolutely vital to understand the capability we have—not just the Marines, but 16 Air Assault Brigade and so much more—and the benefits they can bring to and their immediate effect on the field of conflict. We will feed all these comments and thoughts into the national security capability review.
The Secretary of State says that he will not be drawn on the detail, and to an extent that is understandable. Is not the fundamental problem, however, that the review is already constrained in that we know it is fiscally neutral? Would not the best way to proceed be to look very carefully at the extensive range of threats we face as a country and to allocate resource and capability accordingly?
The hon. Gentleman makes a very important point. I know that the first thing at the forefront of the minds of the Chancellor and the Prime Minister is making sure we get the right outcome. Everyone is very keen to listen and to look at how to get the right solutions for this country’s needs. I thank the hon. Gentleman very much for his contribution.
The Liaison Committee was unanimous in supporting the request of the Chair of the Defence Committee, my right hon. Friend the Member for New Forest East (Dr Lewis), to have the National Security Adviser appear in front of the Committee. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will know that there are precedents for the National Security Adviser appearing in front of the Defence Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee and elsewhere, and Parliament has never accepted the Osmotherly rules, so will he give permission for the National Security Adviser to appear?
I am afraid that my hon. Friend is asking me something I cannot deliver. I can offer the Chief of the Defence Staff if she would like him, but I cannot offer the National Security Adviser. However, I will certainly pass on her request to Mr Sedwill.
There is danger, is there not, of an ever-diminishing spiral? Governments and political parties say they will have 82,000 or 80,000 in the Army, but fail to recruit that many and end up saying, “All right, there’ll be 75,000”, and then the figure will be 70,000, and so it will go on and on. If we fail to recruit enough and the Government fail to fulfil their promises, this country will in the end be left without sufficient defence.
Let us make it absolutely clear: the reason we are looking so clearly at how we go about our recruitment is to make sure we meet the target and fully recruit, and that is why we are changing our approach. As is often said, “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.” We are trying to look at how to do this differently, so that we hit our numbers and get the right people who want to serve our country, and that is why we are going to do things differently. We have already seen a 15% increase in applications, and I hope that that will continue to rise.
It is perfectly reasonable that the Secretary of State cannot say much until the national security capability review has been completed, so when will that be?
I hope very soon, so that I do not have to sound quite so evasive. I hope it will happen in the very near future, but I am not yet at liberty to name a date.
Pursuant to a point made earlier, I would say to the Secretary of State that the appearance in the newspapers of briefings, which I am certainly not suggesting hail from him, is something that greatly irritates Members of the House. It is therefore very much to be hoped that before the conclusion of the review, there are no further such briefings. If there are, I rather imagine that I will be confronted with further requests for urgent questions, and I will feel unable, and in any case disinclined, to resist those requests.
On that point, I stand here as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on the armed forces covenant. The reality is that the leaks to papers are undermining morale and the confidence of families, and sending completely the wrong message to our allies. We need answers and we need them now, if only for the people who are serving. They need to know whether they will be serving in Plymouth, or be moved to Colchester.
The hon. Lady makes a powerful point on morale in the armed forces. To read speculation in the newspapers is not good for anyone. That is why I hope we can conclude the national security capability review at the earliest possible moment; then, we can make clear some of the options and what we want to do to take our armed forces forward and to make sure that they have the right investment, so that they continue to be the successful, vibrant organisations in which so many people take great pleasure and pride in serving.
Does the Defence Secretary agree that the British Army headcount now is at an irreducible minimum? Does he also agree that the Sedwill review must deal principally with the threats that face this country—cyber and terrorism, and asymmetry—and will he reconcile the two?
We will continue to do everything we can to fulfil our commitment. I confess that, probably like all Defence Secretaries, I am a little greedy: I would always prefer to have larger numbers in our armed forces. In the coming months, we will do all we can to drive up the numbers through the new recruitment campaign. We hope that will attract significant uptake and an increase in the number of people joining our forces.
Had the Secretary of State been able to join us last Thursday, he would have heard across the House a cry for reassurance. Many of us here are also members of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and represent this House and this country across the NATO alliance. I have to tell the Secretary of State that that cry for reassurance, that demand to know that we are able and capable and have the people, the personnel and the equipment to defend the NATO alliance, is shared by our allies. They are also desperate to hear the results of the national security capability review. Are the Secretary of State and the Government aware of that and of the need to reassure our allies?
Yes. We need to reassure our allies that Britain will continue to play a pivotal role not only in the defence of Europe, but in actions in every part of the world, where we bring unique capabilities—the ability to make a difference, as we have done throughout our history. I am as keen as the hon. Lady to bring the national security capability review to a conclusion, so that we can set out our clear vision for our armed forces. They are the best in the world. We have to continue to invest in them. We are increasing the amount of money we spend on our armed forces, and we need to make sure that the whole world understands our commitment to delivering a global Britain.
The Secretary of State took over in a difficult situation, because there were a lot of vacancies in the armed forces. I was pleased to hear him say that he wishes to bring the totals back up and that that is mainly a recruitment problem, which he thinks he may be able to resolve. Does he have the money in the budget if all those people come forward?
With Russia on the rise, our allies under threat and our northern flank vulnerable from Russian naval power, the threat from the Russian great bear is clear. Does the Defence Secretary understand that there is no support from any part of this House for any further cuts to our Royal Navy and our Royal Marines or for mergers that reduce the capabilities of our armed forces?
The threat that the hon. Gentleman talks about is what prompted the security capability review, and that is why we are looking at how best we deal with that threat going forward.
I am proud that we are one of the few members of NATO to actually maintain the 2% of GDP and exceed it. What can we do to ensure that other NATO members actually pay their fair share?
That point has been echoed by not just myself but the US Administration. We need to make sure that everyone understands that every country in NATO has to contribute towards the collective security of Europe and that that is not something that can be outsourced to another nation.
Our Prime Minister is meeting President Macron later this week in Sandhurst. The French are our major defence partners. Will they be consulted as part of the review, particularly in terms of the implications post Brexit for our ability to co-operate with them and other EU partners?
It is a sovereign decision as to how we spend our money on our armed forces, and that decision should be made purely in this country. However, we have worked, and we continue to work, with the French, as we do with the United States, and they are important partners in ensuring we have the stability and security in Europe that benefits every European nation.
I am pleased the Secretary of State is focusing on recruitment. May I put a plea in for the cadets? Many of our cadets go on to serve in the forces they support. However, many cadet units have disappeared from our schools, which is a tragedy. May I put in a plea that the cadets are not left out when we are considering recruiting people into our armed forces?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right in her analysis of the important role that cadets play. Some 20% of our armed forces served in the cadets. That is why the Government are committed to opening 500 new cadet forces in schools right around this country. Cadets are so incredibly vital for our armed forces, but they also make sure, in communities right across the country, that our armed forces play such an important role in the life of those local communities.
The Secretary of State has referred at least twice to the manifesto commitments on numbers that he and all his colleagues were elected on. He has been slightly vague about this, so will he be absolutely specific that it is the Government’s policy, under the manifesto he stood on in 2017, that the British Army will not go below 82,000?
Our commitment was to maintain the size of the armed forces, and we absolutely stick by that commitment.
On Saturday, together with my hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant), the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (Ruth Smeeth) and several other colleagues, I had the honour to be at the laying-up of the colours of 3 Mercian, the Staffords, in Lichfield cathedral. It was a great privilege to be there and to recognise their service, but at the same time it was a reminder of the difficult decisions that had to be made. I agree with colleagues that 82,000 is an absolute minimum for the Army, and we must go higher—possibly to see the return of 3 Mercian—and certainly not lower.
I would very much like to reintroduce the Staffordshire Regiment as part of any changes, and that is something I would like to look at going forward—I may have some more battles to win before I get to that stage. However, I take on board my hon. Friend’s comments, and I am very conscious of the important role that the armed forces—especially the Royal Signals—play in Stafford, of how they are so involved in the local community and of how important the money we spend on our armed forces is to the economic prosperity of Stafford and Staffordshire.
The Secretary of State listed areas that would be protected, including aircraft carriers. Could the red line be extended to the amphibious assault ships—the Albion-class ships—and may I respectfully point out that a reduction in our amphibious capability would fundamentally diminish our ability to carry out humanitarian missions?
We need a broad range of capabilities, and I will certainly take on board the hon. Gentleman’s comments. We must maximise our capability, make sure it is affordable and give our armed forces the right training and equipment for them to do their job right around the globe.
Many of us are sympathetic with the Secretary of State in his battle royal with the Treasury—after all, we are down to our last 13 frigates and six destroyers—and think that we should be spending 3% of gross national product, not 2%, but how many of us will support the Treasury when, having achieved our aims and we do spend 3% of GNP on defence, we cut the budgets of other Departments?
I think that I will refer that question to Treasury questions as something the Chancellor might like to take up.
While we are talking about the Chancellor, will the Defence Secretary say what he thinks about the fact that early last month the Chancellor is understood to have told defence chiefs that an army only needs 50,000 full-time professional soldiers?
As already touched on, there is an awful lot of speculation, and I am sure that much of it is not based on fact. The Chancellor was a great defender of the armed forces when he was Defence Secretary and is passionate about what they do. I am sure that that passion still burns in his heart today.
The importance of amphibious capability is summed up by the famous quote: the British Army is a projectile to be fired by the British Navy. Will the Secretary of State reassure me that he will do everything in his power to make sure that at the end of the review that statement is still the case?
We have seen how British forces have been consistently able to deploy effectively around the world using land, sea and air. That requires a broad range of capabilities. We have to look at new ideas: how do we fight differently; how do we get different equipment; how do we get more efficient and capable equipment? That is why we are doing a national security and capability review—to see whether we can get answers to some of those questions—but I am afraid that I cannot be drawn on specifics.
What assessments are being undertaken as part of the review on the savings that could be made by home basing Welsh regiments in Wales, which would help with recruitment and post-service medical care?
The Principality of Wales plays an important role in all we do in defence—it would be great to see national Armed Forces Day taking place in Wales. We are always looking at how to ensure an even distribution of resources in terms of the Army, Navy and Air Force—RAF Valley is an important part of our training capability for the Royal Air Force based in Wales—but we will always look at how we can do more in Wales. It contributes so much to everything we do in our armed forces—the Royal Welsh Fusiliers are currently serving in Estonia—and I am sure that that important role will only increase going forward.
We all understand why the Secretary of State cannot comment publicly, but there is a human element to all this: good men and women up and down this country and their families want somebody to come out and publicly refuse the proposals that have come forward. Will the Secretary of State agree that now is a good opportunity to get a grip on this process and lay out a broad vision for UK defence post Brexit?
My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. We need to draw these matters to a conclusion as swiftly as possible and make sure that people have a clear idea of our intent—how we are going to develop our armed forces and make sure they have the right resources to deliver everything we ask of them. That is what we aim to do. We have the best armed forces in the world; and we have to maintain that. If we want to ensure that Britain remains a global nation that can project power in every part of the globe, we need an armed forces with the resources and manpower to do that. That is what I aim to deliver.
The House learned from the defence debate on Thursday that one of the cruxes of the issue of defence budget pressures is the fact that the defence rate of inflation is considerably higher than the national rate. Year on year, it erodes the purchasing power of defence. However, the Ministry of Defence and the Treasury stopped measuring the defence inflation rate last year. As part of the review, will the Secretary of State commit himself to reinstating measurement of defence inflation, and, in order to be truly fiscally neutral, will he ensure that the annual defence budget increases are pegged to the defence rate of inflation?
That is a very important comment. Foreign exchange rates have had an adverse effect on our ability to buy equipment such as the F-35 fighter. We will always be happy to look at suggestions such as the one made by the hon. Gentleman, and I will certainly raise it with the Treasury, but I cannot guarantee the response.
History, sadly, has shown us that politicians are all too easily tempted to cut our armed forces in order to spend money in other areas. May I urge my right hon. Friend not to do so? We are leaving the European Union, and I believe that our commitments and responsibilities will grow, not least because by the time 27 other countries have decided to do something, it will be too late.
That is why the Government are committed to growing our efficiency budget from £36 billion to £40 billion, increasing the amount of money that we spend on equipment by 0.5% above inflation every single year. These are important points. The first duty of every Government is the defence of the nation, and that is why this Government take it so incredibly seriously.
Much has been made of the Secretary of State’s relative youth in comparison with that of their predecessors. With that in mind, I was reminded of a quotation from Dante at the weekend, when I was reading about their predicament. “In the middle of the journey of our life, I came to myself in a dark wood where the direct way was lost.” Can the Secretary of State enlighten the House about the instructions on the map showing the way out of the “selva oscura” in which he and his Prime Minister now find themselves?
Probably not. I have not read much Dante. I am more of a Burns fan. I have felt a great deal older over the last two months, since starting this job: I think that it ages people an awful lot.
I believe that we are all simply committed to ensuring that we get the very best for our armed forces, and I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will be four-square behind our delivering it.
The hon. Member for West Dunbartonshire (Martin Docherty-Hughes) is of a notably literary turn, as is becoming increasingly apparent in the House. I expect that we will hear further expositions in due course.
On Friday I visited Nos. 10 and 101 squadrons at Brize Norton in my constituency, and I could see how hard they were working. This morning my constituents were out providing tanking support for the Typhoons that were investigating the latest Russian reconnaissance. Does my right hon. Friend agree that now is the time when we need to match spending with the size of the threat, rather than scaling down our response to that threat in order to fall into line with spending?
The review is very much about examining the threats and ensuring that we have the right resources, and that we deliver for the security of our country. Wherever we go, all around the globe, we so often see my hon. Friend’s constituents playing a vital role in ensuring that our armed forces are able to function in every part of the world.
Thank you, Mr Speaker. This must be like opening a box of chocolates and realising that all your favourites have gone and there is just a strawberry cream left. However, I am glad that my patience has won out.
Earlier, the Secretary of State mentioned the changing nature of our security challenges. Does he agree with the Minister for Security and Economic Crime that the big tech companies must do more, and that they may face a special tax levy if they do not do more to help with combating terrorism?
The hon. Gentleman really should not do himself down. I have every expectation that the people of his constituency have been listening to the entirety of these exchanges principally for the purpose of waiting to hear him.
My hon. Friend comes up with an innovative idea for hypothecation of tax in terms of the MOD, and I would be keen for him to expand that idea and push it with the Chancellor going forward.
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I am grateful to you for taking this point of order now, but the Secretary of State has a couple of times used the words “Islamic terrorists.” I think he meant “Islamist terrorists”; I am certain he did, and it is important that we make that distinction in this House, as I am sure he would want to, and I just want to give him the opportunity to correct the record on that.
I thank the hon. Gentleman for bringing that to the House’s attention, and he is absolutely correct.
The hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) has performed a notable public service; it will be recorded in the Official Report, and I am very grateful to the Secretary of State.
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. The Secretary of State, who is a very nice man, referred to Wales as a Principality during the exchanges. He knows, of course, that Wales is a proud nation; will he please correct the record?
I know of course that it is a very proud nation that contributes so much to our armed forces. I am not that great on my Welsh history, and I am sure the hon. Gentleman knows a lot more about it than me, but I think it has been referred to as a Principality for hundreds of years, but I could well be wrong. | 2019-04-18T20:42:02Z | https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2018-01-15/debates/963DB52D-C4CF-4C88-8461-05340E96DA6C/NationalSecurityCapabilityReview |
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A method of performing intra-frequency cell measurement by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system is disclosed. The method includes determining a measurement gap for the intra-frequency cell measurement based on downlink control information received from an eNB, and performing the intra-frequency cell measurement for a neighboring cell during the measurement gap. The measurement gap corresponds to one or more downlink subframes other than a downlink subframe having downlink data for the UE indicated by the downlink control information.
1. A method of performing intra-frequency cell measurement by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: determining a measurement gap for the intra-frequency cell measurement based on downlink control information received from an eNB; and performing the intra-frequency cell measurement for a neighboring cell during the measurement gap, wherein the measurement gap corresponds to one or more downlink subframes other than a downlink subframe having downlink data for the UE indicated by the downlink control information.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the length of the measurement gap is adjustable based on the downlink control information.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the measurement gap is present over one or more downlink subframes.
4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising transmitting data to the eNB in uplink during the measurement gap.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the performing intra-frequency cell measurement includes measuring a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) or a reference symbol received power (RSRP) from the neighboring cell.
6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving, from the eNB, information on whether uplink transmission is granted or whether the measurement gap is allowed to be used, wherein the information is received via a higher layer signal.
7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising reporting result of the intra-frequency cell measurement to the eNB, wherein the reporting is performed using a periodic method, an event triggering method or a combination thereof.
8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising setting a switching time before and after the measurement gap, wherein the switching time is a period, during which switching between channel estimation and intra-frequency cell measurement ouccurs.
9. A user equipment (UE) configured to perform intra-frequency cell measurement in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising: a radio frequency (RF) unit configured to transmit or receive a radio signal; and a processor configured to control the RF unit, wherein the processor is configured to determine a measurement gap for the intra-frequency cell measurement based on downlink control information received from an eNB and to perform the intra-frequency cell measurement for a neighboring cell during the measurement gap, and wherein the measurement gap corresponds to one or more downlink subframes other than a downlink subframe having downlink data for the UE indicated by the downlink control information.
10. The UE according to claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to adjust the length of the measurement gap based on the received downlink control information.
11. The UE according to claim 9, wherein the measurement gap is present over one or more downlink subframes.
12. The UE according to claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to transmit data to the eNB in uplink during the measurement gap.
13. The UE according to claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to measure a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) or a reference symbol received power (RSRP) from the neighboring cell during the measurement gap.
14. The UE according to claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to receive, from the eNB, information on whether uplink transmission is granted or whether the measurement gap is allowed to be used, wherein the information is received via a higher layer signal.
15. The UE according to claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to report result of the intra-frequency cell measurement to the eNB, wherein the reporting is performed using a periodic method, an event triggering method or a combination thereof.
16. The UE according to claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to set a switching time before and after the measurement gap, wherein the switching time is a period during which switching between channel estimation and intra-frequency cell measurement occurs.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/543,812, filed on Oct. 6, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
The present invention relates to channel estimation and physical layer measurement and, more particularly, to a method of adaptively using a single estimator over time resources according to an object to be estimated and measured when channel estimation and physical layer measurement are performed in downlink.
An LTE-Advanced system supports a machine type communication (MTC) terminal capable of transmitting information necessary for managing the system between apparatuses configuring the system, for applications such as smart metering, health care, security, transport and logistics, and environmental monitoring. The MTC terminal is characterized in that a low data transfer rate is supported for the purpose of management and monitoring and a large number of terminals may operate in one cell. Accordingly, the MTC terminal is preferably implemented in a low-level, low-cost terminal and, at this time, a method of simplifying an estimation and measurement operation performed by an MTC terminal may be considered.
In general, physical layer measurement of an LTE system is roughly divided into two methods: an intra-frequency measurement method and an inter-frequency measurement method. Information about the measurement method is determined by an eNB and may be sent to a user equipment (UE) via a broadcast control channel or a dedicated control channel. For example, the UE follows a measurement method defined for cell selection in a broadcast control signal in an RRC_IDLE state and follows a measurement method defined by an RRC signal which is a dedicated control signal transmitted from the eNB in an RRC_connected state.
Since an estimation or measurement element which may be included in a low-level low-cost terminal such as an MTC terminal is also restricted, there is a need for a method of adaptively performing estimation or measurement using the restricted estimation or measurement element.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a method for measuring a neighboring cell and an apparatus thereof that substantially obviate one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a method of performing intra-frequency cell measurement by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system includes determining a measurement gap for the intra-frequency cell measurement based on downlink control information received from an eNB; and performing the intra-frequency cell measurement for a neighboring cell during the measurement gap, wherein the measurement gap corresponds to one or more downlink subframes other than a downlink subframe having downlink data for the UE indicated by the downlink control information.
The length of the measurement gap may be adjustable based on the downlink control information.
The measurement gap may be present over one or more downlink subframes.
The method may further include transmitting data to the eNB in uplink during the measurement gap.
The performing intra-frequency cell measurement may include measuring a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) or a reference symbol received power (RSRP) from the neighboring cell.
The method may further include receiving, from the eNB, information on whether uplink transmission is granted or whether the measurement gap is allowed to be used, and the information may be received via a higher layer signal.
The method may further include reporting result of the intra-frequency cell measurement to the eNB, and the reporting is performed using a periodic method, an event triggering method or a combination thereof.
The method may further include setting a switching time before and after the measurement gap, and the switching time may be a period during which switching between channel estimation and intra-frequency cell measurement occurs.
In another aspect of the present invention, a user equipment (UE) configured to perform intra-frequency cell measurement in a wireless communication system includes a radio frequency (RF) unit configured to transmit or receive a radio signal; and a processor configured to control the RF unit, wherein the processor is configured to determine a measurement gap for the intra-frequency cell measurement based on downlink control information received from an eNB and to perform intra-frequency cell measurement for a neighboring cell during the measurement gap, and wherein the measurement gap corresponds to one or more downlink subframes other than a downlink subframe having downlink data for the UE indicated by the downlink control information.
The processor may be configured to adjust the length of the measurement gap based on the received downlink control information.
The processor may be configured to transmit data to the eNB in uplink during the measurement gap.
The processor may be configured to measure a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) or a reference symbol received power (RSRP) of a downlink signal from the neighboring cell during the measurement gap.
The processor may be configured to receive, from the eNB, information on whether uplink transmission is granted or whether the measurement gap is allowed to be used, and the information may be received via a higher layer signal.
The processor may be configured to report result of the intra-frequency cell measurement to the eNB, and reporting may be performed using a periodic method, an event triggering method or a combination thereof.
The processor may be configured to set a switching time before and after the measurement gap, and the switching time may be a period during which switching between channel estimation of the UE and intra-frequency cell measurement occurs.
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing measurement of a neighboring cell using a single channel estimator in case of that a change of the channel state is slow.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an apparatus for measuring a neighboring cell according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of exemplary embodiments and is not intended to represent the only embodiments in which the concepts explained in these embodiments can be practiced. The detailed description includes details for the purpose of providing an understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these teachings may be implemented and practiced without these specific details.
The following technique, apparatus and system is applicable to various wireless multiple access systems. For convenience of description, assume that the present invention is applied to 3GPP LTE(-A). However, the technical features of the present invention are not limited thereto. For example, although the following detailed description is made in detail on the assumption that a mobile communication system is a 3GPP LTE(-A) system, it is applicable to other prescribed mobile communication systems by excluding unique items of the 3GPP LTE(-A) system.
In some instances, well-known structures and devices are omitted in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of the present invention and the important functions of the structures and devices are shown in block diagram form. The same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.
In the present invention, a user equipment (UE) may be fixed or mobile and include various apparatuses which communicate with a base station (BS) and transmit and receive user data and/or a variety of control information. The UE may be referred to as a terminal Equipment, a mobile station (MS), a mobile terminal (MT), a user terminal (UT), a subscriber station (SS), a wireless device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a handheld device, a machine type communication (MTC) terminal, etc. In the present invention, a base station (BS) refers to a fixed station which communicates with a UE and/or another BS and exchanges a variety of data and control information. The BS is referred to as an advanced base station (ABS), a node-B (NB), an evolved-NodeB (eNB), a base transceiver system (BTS), an access point (AP), a processing server (PS), etc.
In the present invention, a PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control CHannel)/PCFICH (Physical Control Format Indicator CHannel)/PHICH (Physical Hybrid automatic retransmit request Indicator CHannel)/PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared CHannel) refers to a set of resource elements or a set of time-frequency resources carrying DCI (Downlink Control Information)/CFI (Control Format Indicator)/downlink ACK/NACK (ACKnowlegement/Negative ACK)/downlink data. In addition, a PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control CHannel)/PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared CHannel) refers to a set of resource elements or a set of time-frequency resources carrying UCI (Uplink Control Information)/uplink data. In the present invention, in particular, time-frequency resources or resource elements (REs) allocated to or belonging to PDCCH/PCFICH/PHICH/PDSCH/PUCCH/PUSCH are referred to as PDCCH/PCFICH/PHICH/PDSCH/PUCCH/PUSCH REs or PDCCH/PCFICH/PHICH/PDSCH/PUCCH/PUSCH resources. Accordingly, in the present invention, transmission of a PUCCH/PUSCH by a UE means that an uplink control information/uplink data/random access signal is transmitted on a PUCCH/PUSCH. In the present invention, transmission of a PDCCH/PCFICH/PHICH/PDSCH by a BS means that downlink data/control information is transmitted on a PDCCH/PCFICH/PHICH/PDSCH.
In addition, in the present invention, a CRS (Cell-specific Reference Signal)/DMRS (Demodulation Reference Signal)/CSI-RS (Channel State Information Reference Signal) time-frequency resources (or REs) refer to time-frequency resources (or REs) carrying CRS/DMRS/CSI-RS, REs allocated to CRS/DMRS/CSI-RS or available REs. A subcarrier including a CRS/DMRS/CSI-RS RE is referred to as a CRS/DMRS/CSI-RS subcarrier and an OFDM symbol including a CRS/DMRS/CSI-RS RE is referred to as a CRS/DMRS/CSI-RS symbol. In addition, in the present invention, SRS time-frequency resources (or REs) refer to time-frequency resources (or REs) transmitted from a UE to a BS to carry a sounding reference signal (SRS) used for measurement of an uplink channel state formed between the UE and the BS. A reference signal (RS) refers to a predefined signal known to a UE and a BS and having a special waveform and is referred to as a pilot signal.
Meanwhile, in the present invention, a cell refers to a predetermined geographical region in which a BS, node(s) or antenna port(s) provide a communication service. Accordingly, in the present invention, communication with a specific cell may refer to communication with a BS, node or antenna port for providing a communication service to the specific cell. In addition, a downlink/uplink signal of a specific cell refers to a downlink/uplink signal from/to a BS, node or antenna port for providing a communication service to the specific cell. In addition, channel state/quality of a specific cell refers to channel state/quality of a channel or communication link formed between a UE and a BS, node or antenna port for providing a communication service to the specific cell.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the structure of a radio frame used in a wireless communication system. In particular, FIG. 1(a) shows a radio frame structure used in frequency division duplex (FDD) in 3GPP LTE(-A) and FIG. 1(b) shows a radio frame structure used in time division duplex (TDD) in 3GPP LTE(-A).
Referring to FIG. 1, a radio frame used in 3GPP LTE(-A) has a length of 10 ms (307200Ts) and includes 10 subframes with the same size. The 10 subframes of the radio frame may be numbered. Ts denotes sampling time, and is represented by Ts=1/(2048*15 kHz). Each of the subframes has a length of 1 ms and includes two slots. The 20 slots of one radio frame may be sequentially numbered from 0 to 19. Each of the slots has a length of 0.5 ms. A time for transmitting one subframe is defined as a transmission time interval (TTI). Time resources may be divided by a radio frame number (or a radio frame index), a subframe number (or a subframe index), a slot number (or a slot index), etc.
The radio frame may be differently configured according to duplex mode. For example, in an FDD mode, since downlink (DL) transmission and uplink (UL) transmission are divided according to frequency, a radio frame includes only one of a DL subframe or a UL subframe in a predetermined frequency band of a predetermined carrier frequency. In a TDD mode, since downlink (DL) transmission and uplink (UL) transmission are divided according to time, a radio frame includes both a DL subframe and a UL subframe in a predetermined frequency band of a predetermined carrier frequency.
Table 1 shows a DL-UL configuration of subframes within a radio frame, in a TDD mode.
In Table 1, D denotes a DL subframe, U denotes a UL subframe and S denotes a special subframe. The special subframe includes three fields of DwPTS (Downlink Pilot TimeSlot), GP (Guard Period) and UpPTS (Uplink Pilot TimeSlot). DwPTS is a time slot reserved for DL transmission and UpPTS is a time slot reserved for UL transmission.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a downlink/uplink (DL/UL) slot structure in a wireless communication system. In particular, FIG. 2 shows the structure of a resource grid of a 3GPP LTE(-A) system. One resource grid exists per antenna port.
A slot includes a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in a time domain and includes a plurality of resource blocks (RBs) in a frequency domain. The OFDM symbol means one symbol slot. Referring to FIG. 2, a signal transmitted in each slot may be expressed by a resource grid including NDL/ULRB*NRBsc subcarriers and NDL/ULsymb OFDM symbols. NDLRB denotes the number of resource blocks (RBs) in a DL slot and NULRB denotes the number of RBs in a UL slot. NDLRB and NULRB depend on a DL transmission bandwidth and a UL transmission bandwidth. NDLsymb denotes the number of OFDM symbols in a DL slot, NULsymb denotes the number of OFDM symbols in a UL slot, and NRBsc denotes the number of subcarriers configuring one RB.
An OFDM symbol may be referred to as an OFDM symbol, an SC-FDM symbol, etc. according to multiple access scheme. The number of OFDM symbols included in one slot may be variously changed according to channel bandwidth and CP length. For example, in a normal cyclic prefix (CP) case, one slot includes seven OFDM symbols. In an extended CP case, one slot includes six OFDM symbols. Although one slot of a subframe including seven OFDM symbols is shown in FIG. 2 for convenience of description, the embodiments of the present invention are similarly applicable to subframes having a different number of OFDM symbols. Referring to FIG. 2, each OFDM symbol includes NDL/ULRB*NRBsc subcarriers in a frequency domain. The type of the subcarrier may be divided into a data subcarrier for data transmission, a reference signal subcarrier for reference signal transmission and a null subcarrier for a guard band and a DC component. The null subcarrier for the DC component is unused and is mapped to a carrier frequency f0 in a process of generating an OFDM signal or in a frequency up-conversion process. The carrier frequency is also called a center frequency.
One RB is defined as NDL/ULsymb (e.g., 7) consecutive OFDM symbols in a time domain and defined as NRBsc (e.g., 12) consecutive subcarriers in a frequency domain. For reference, resource including one OFDM symbol and one subcarrier is referred to a resource element (RE) or tone. Accordingly, one RB includes NDL/ULsymb*NRBsc REs. Each RE within a resource grid may be uniquely defined by an index pair (k, l) within one slot. k is an index applied from 0 to NDL/ULRB*NRBsc-1 in a frequency domain, and l is an index from 0 to NDL/ULsymb-1 in a time domain.
In one subframe, two RBs respectively located in two slots of the subframe while occupying the same NRBsc consecutive subcarriers is referred to as a physical resource block (PRB) pair. Two RBs configuring a PRB pair have the same PRB number (or the same PRB index). A VRB is a logical resource allocation unit introduced for resource allocation. The VRB has the same size as the PRB. The VRB is classified into a localized VRB and a distributed VRB according to the method of mapping the PRB to the VRB. Localized VRBs are directly mapped to PRBs and thus VRB number (VRB index) directly corresponds to PRB number. That is, nPRB=nVRB. The localized VRBs are numbered from 0 to NDLVRB-1 and NDLVRB=NDLRB. Accordingly, according to the localized mapping method, VRBs having the same VRB number are mapped to RRBs having the same PRB number in a first slot and a second slot. In contrast, the distributed VRB is mapped to the PRB through interleaving. Accordingly, the distributed VRBs having the same VRB number may be mapped to RRBs having different PRB numbers in a first slot and a second slot. Two PRBs which are respectively located in two slots of a subframe and have the same VRB number are referred to as a VRB pair.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a downlink subframe structure used in a 3GPP LTE(-A) system.
A DL subframe is divided into a control region and a data region in a time domain. Referring to FIG. 3, a maximum of 3 (or 4) OFDM symbols located in a front part of a first slot of a subframe correspond to the control region. Hereinafter, a resource region for PDCCH transmission in a DL subframe is referred to as a PDCCH region. OFDM symbols other than the OFDM symbols used in the control region correspond to the data region to which a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) is allocated. Hereinafter, a resource region available for PDSCH transmission in a DL subframe is referred to as a PDSCH region. Examples of a DL control channel used in 3GPP LTE include PCFICH (Physical Control Format Indicator Channel), PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel), PHICH (Physical hybrid ARQ indicator Channel), etc. The PCFICH is transmitted in a first OFDM symbol of a subframe and carries information about the number of OFDM symbols used for transmission of a control channel within a subframe. The PHICH carries a HARQ ACK/NACK (acknowledgment/negative-acknowledgment) as a response to UL transmission.
Control transmitted via a PDCCH is referred to as downlink control information (DCI). The DCI includes resource allocation information of a UE or a UE group and other control information. For example, the DCI includes transmission format and resource allocation information of a DL shared channel (DL-SCH), transmission format and resource allocation information of a UL shared channel (UL-SCH), paging information on a paging channel (PCH), system information on a DL-SCH, resource allocation information of a higher-layer control message such as a random access response transmitted on a PDSCH, a Tx power control command set of individual UEs in a UE group, a Tx power control command, activation indication information of voice over IP (VoIP), etc. The size and usage of the DCI carried by one PDCCH may be changed according to DCI format and the size of the DCI may be changed according to coding rate.
A plurality of PDCCHs may be transmitted in a PDCCH region of a DL subframe. A UE may monitor a plurality of PDCCHs. A BS decides a DCI format according to DCI to be transmitted to a UE and attaches a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) to the DCI. The CRC is masked with an identifier (e.g., a Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI)) according to an owner or usage of the PDCCH. If the PDCCH is for a specific terminal, a cell-RNTI (C-RNTI) of the terminal may be masked to the CRC. Alternatively, if the PDCCH is for a paging message, a paging indicator identifier (P-RNTI) may be masked to the CRC. If the PDCCH is for system information (more specifically, a system information block (SIB)), a system information identifier and a system information RNTI (SI-RNTI) may be masked to the CRC. If the PDCCH is for a random access response, a random access-RNTI (RA-RNTI) may be masked to the CRC. CRC masking (or scrambling) includes an XOR operation of a CRC and an RNTI at a bit level, for example.
A PDCCH is transmitted on one control channel element (CCE) or an aggregate of a plurality of consecutive CCEs. The CCE is a logical allocation unit used to provide a coding rate to a PDCCH based on a radio channel state. The CCE corresponds to a plurality of resource element groups (REGs). For example, one CCE corresponds to nine REGs and one REG corresponds to four REs. Four QPSK symbols are mapped to each REG. An RE occupied by an RS is not included in an REG. Accordingly, the number of REGs within a given OFDM symbol is changed according to presence/absence of an RS. The REG concept is also used for other DL control channels (that is, a PCFICH and a PHICH). A DCI format and the number of DCI bits are determined according to the number of CCEs.
CCEs are numbered and consecutively used and, in order to simplify decoding, a PDCCH having a format composed of n CCEs may start from only a CCE having a number corresponding to a multiple of n. The number of CCEs used to transmit a specific PDCCH, that is, a CCE aggregation level, is determined by a BS according to a channel state. For example, in case of a PDCCH for a UE having a good DL channel (e.g., a UE adjacent to a BS), one CCE may be sufficient. However, in case of a PDCCH for a UE having a bad channel (e.g., a UE located at a cell edge), 8 CCEs are required to obtain sufficient robustness.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an uplink subframe structure used in a 3GPP LTE(-A) system.
Referring to FIG. 4, a UL subframe may be divided into a control region and a data region in a frequency domain. One or several physical uplink control channels (PUCCHs) may be allocated to the control region in order to carry uplink control information (UCI). One or several physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs) may be allocated to the data region of the UL subframe in order to carry user data. The control region and the data region in the UL subframe are also referred to as a PUCCH region and a PUSCH region, respectively. A sounding reference signal (SRS) may be allocated to the data region. The SRS is transmitted on a last OFDM symbol of a UL subframe in a time domain and is transmitted on a data transmission band, that is, a data region, of the UL subframe. SRSs of several UEs, which are transmitted/received on the last OFDM symbol of the same subframe, are distinguished according to frequency location/sequence.
If a UE employs an SC-FDMA scheme in UL transmission, in order to maintain a single carrier property, in a 3GPP LTE release-8 or release-9 system, a PUCCH and a PUSCH may not be simultaneously transmitted on one carrier. In a 3GPP LTE release-10 system, support of simultaneous transmission of a PUCCH and a PUSCH may be indicated by a higher layer.
In a UL subframe, subcarriers distant from a direct current (DC) subcarrier are used as the control region. In other words, subcarriers located at both ends of a UL transmission bandwidth are used to transmit uplink control information. A DC subcarrier is a component which is not used to transmit a signal and is mapped to a carrier frequency f0 in a frequency up-conversion process. A PUCCH for one UE is allocated to an RB pair belonging to resources operating in one carrier frequency and RBs belonging to the RB pair occupy different subcarriers in two slots. The allocated PUCCH is expressed by frequency hopping of the RB pair allocated to the PUCCH at a slot boundary. If frequency hopping is not applied, the RB pair occupies the same subcarrier.
The size and usage of UCI carried by one PUCCH may be changed according to PUCCH format and the size of the UCI may be changed according to a coding rate. For example, the following PUCCH format may be defined.
Referring to Table 2, PUCCH format 1 series and PUCCH format 3 series are used to transmit ACK/NACK information and PUCCH format 2 series are mainly used to carry channel state information such as CQI (channel quality indicator)/PMI (precoding matrix index)/RI (rank index).
FIG. 5a and FIG. 5b are diagrams showing an example of intra-frequency measurement and inter-frequency measurement.
Intra-frequency measurement is applicable when a serving cell eNB1 for currently providing data and a neighboring cell eNB2 to be measured operate at the same carrier frequency f.sub.c,1 as shown in FIG. 5a. At this time, if a UE separately operates an estimator with respect to the serving cell and the neighboring cell, since data channel estimation and neighboring cell physical layer measurement may be simultaneously performed, a separate measurement gap is not required.
In contrast, inter-frequency measurement is applicable when a serving cell eNB1 for currently providing data and a neighboring cell eNB2 to be measured operate at different carrier frequencies f.sub.c,1 and f.sub.c,2, respectively as shown in FIG. 5b. In order to perform physical layer measurement for the neighboring cell, a carrier frequency of an oscillator should be changed. However, in general, a UE has a single oscillator due to cost constraints and the oscillator simultaneously controls carrier frequencies of uplink and downlink. Accordingly, when the carrier frequency of the oscillator is changed for physical layer measurement, downlink data reception and uplink data transmission may not be performed. This leads to time and frequency resource waste.
Accordingly, the present application proposes a method of adaptively using a single estimator as necessary by introducing a measurement gap in both intra-frequency measurement and inter-frequency measurement. Further, the present application proposes a method of setting a switching time at start and end points of the measurement gap when a UE performs a physical layer measurement operation. For example, if it is assumed that the UE has a single estimator, data channel estimation and neighboring cell physical layer measurement may not be simultaneously performed. At this time, the single estimator may be used to perform a selected operation (one of channel estimation of a serving cell and physical layer measurement of a neighboring cell). In addition, a data transmission method restricted by the measurement gap is changed according to measurement methods, thereby providing a flexible structure. Hereinafter, according to an embodiment of the present invention, an operation of adaptively using a single estimator via a measurement gap by an UE will be described.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing measurement of a neighboring cell within a measurement gap in which there is no data transmission/reception. FIG. 6 shows an embodiment in which a measurement gap in which there is no data transmission/reception is used to perform physical layer measurement of a neighboring cell. The operation described with reference to FIG. 6 may be used in both an intra-frequency measurement and an inter-frequency measurement.
At this time, the UE uses a single estimator for channel estimation of a data channel of a serving cell eNB1 outside the measurement gap and uses the single estimator for physical layer measurement of a neighboring cell eNB2 within the measurement gap. Within the measurement gap, the UE may measure a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) or a reference symbol received power (RSRP) from the neighboring cell so as to perform physical layer measurement.
Within the measurement gap, since the single estimator of the UE is used for physical layer measurement but is not used for channel estimation, the channel state in the measurement gap is not applied to data transmission/reception. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 6, no data transmission/reception is performed within the measurement gap. In the inter-frequency measurement method, it may be shown that the carrier frequency is changed using the single oscillator for physical layer measurement of the neighboring cell eNB2 within the measurement gap. Accordingly, in the inter-frequency measurement method, data transmission and reception of the UE, that is, uplink data transmission and downlink data reception, are impossible within the measurement gap. Even when the intra-frequency measurement method is applied, uplink data transmission and downlink data reception are impossible.
In addition, a switching time for switching basic settings such as a scrambling ID of a neighboring cell may be set at start and end points of a measurement gap. That is, the switching time is a time for enabling the UE to switch between channel estimation for the serving cell and intra-frequency measurement of the neighboring cell. The switching time may have an insignificant value or may be ignored according to circumstances under which the embodiment is complemented.
The measurement gap may be determined by the UE based on a PDCCH from a serving cell or an eNB1 which serves as a serving cell to the UE. The UE may confirm presence/absence of downlink data allocated thereto, that is, a PDSCH, via control information of the PDCCH. The UE may determine the measurement gap within the time period corresponding to one or more subframes other than the subframe of the PDSCH allocated thereto.
Under such an environment, since there is no PDSCH allocated to the UE within the measurement gap, the UE does not need to perform channel estimation for the serving cell. Accordingly, the UE may measure the physical layer of the cell (that is, the neighboring cell) other than the serving cell via the single estimator within the measurement gap.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an intra-frequency measurement of a neighboring cell within a measurement gap in which data transmission can be performed by a UE (User Equipment).
In the embodiment associated with FIG. 7, the operation of the intra-frequency measurement method in which the serving cell and the neighboring cell of the UE operate at the same carrier frequencies will be described. In other words, the embodiment associated with FIG. 7 describes the operation for performing physical layer measurement of the neighboring cell within the measurement gap in which data transmission is performed (that is, UL is available) but data reception is not performed (that is, DL is not available).
Unlike the intra-frequency measurement method, the inter-frequency measurement method should change the carrier frequency via the oscillator. This leads to change in the carrier frequency in both uplink and downlink and thus uplink and downlink may not allow to be used. However, in the intra-frequency measurement method, the serving cell and the neighboring cell of the UE operate at the same carrier frequencies, the UE may transmit data to the eNB via an uplink channel even when physical layer measurement of the neighboring cell is performed by the UE via a downlink channel within the measurement gap. Referring to an uplink part shown in the top of FIG. 7, it can be seen that uplink data transmission is possible (the channel is not disconnected along a time axis).
Within the measurement gap, the single estimator of the UE is used to measure the physical layer of the neighboring cell eNB2 and thus data reception may not be performed within the measurement gap. Within the measurement gap, the UE may measure a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) or a reference symbol received power (RSRP) of a downlink signal from the neighboring cell so as to perform physical layer measurement. At this time, the serving cell or the eNB which serves as the serving cell may inform the UE as to whether the measurement gap is available and whether data transmission is granted via a higher layer signal. The UE may report result of the measurement to the eNB1. The reporting may be performed using periodic method, event-triggered method, or a combination thereof.
For reference, in FIG. 7, data reception of the UE being not performed within the measurement gap means that data received by the UE is not recovered (by a series of processes performed by a data reception side, such as demodulation and decoding) and data which a data transmission side (that is, eNB1) desires to transmit to the UE is not acquired. However, it does not mean that data which is subjected to signal processing (a series of processes performed by the data transmission side, such as coding and modulation) at the data transmission side is not received. In other words, since the data transmitted by the data transmission side (eNB1) is received by the UE but channel estimation is not performed within the measurement gap, the received data is not subjected to demodulation, etc. Thus, the UE is not able to detect which data is received.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing measurement of a neighboring cell through a number of subframes within a measurement gap.
According to the embodiment associated with FIG. 8, described is An operation for adjusting the length of the measurement gap depending on whether data transmission and reception is available when physical layer measurement of the neighboring cell is performed using the measurement gap. A low-cost UE such as an MTC terminal supports a low data transmission rate and a data transmission period may be very long. Accordingly, the present application proposes an operation for performing physical layer measurement of the neighboring cell for a long time by the UE while there is no data transmission/reception.
For example, in an LTE system, when the UE confirms that there is no data allocated thereto in a subframe via a control signal such as a PDCCH, the UE may perform a physical layer measurement operation for a neighboring cell within the subframe. At this time, physical layer measurement of the neighboring cell may be performed over a plurality of downlink subframes a shown in FIG. 8. In other words, the measurement gap may be determined within the time resources corresponding to one or more downlink subframes and measurement of the neighboring cell may be performed within the measurement gap. For example, if a PDCCH detected in a downlink subframe carries a downlink control information (DCI) indicating downlink grant, the UE may confirm that a PDSCH associated with the PDCCH is present in the subframe. In contrast, if the UE fails to detect the PDCCH thereof in a downlink subframe or detects the PDCCH thereof but the DCI included in the PDCCH is a DCI other than downlink grant DCI (e.g., a DCI indicating uplink grant), the UE determines that there is no PDSCH for the UE in the subframe and uses the downlink subframe in which the PDSCH is not present as the measurement gap.
Within the measurement gap, the UE may measure a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) or a reference symbol received power (RSRP) of a downlink signal from the neighboring cell so as to perform physical layer measurement.
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing measurement of a neighboring cell using a single channel estimator in case that a change of the channel state is slow.
According to the embodiment associated with FIG. 9, described is an operation for simultaneously performing data reception and physical layer measurement of a neighboring cell using a single estimator in a communication environment in which a channel state is slowly changed. If a low-cost UE such as an MTC terminal is implemented in an apparatus having low mobility or a fixed apparatus, the channel state may be slowly changed. In such an environment, the single estimator is preferably used to measure a surrounding environment, rather than being used for channel estimation of the serving cell in every data reception time. In other words, since the channel state is slowly changed, the result of the previously estimated channel state is replaced with a channel state estimation value at a current data reception time and the single estimator may be used for physical layer measurement of the neighboring cell.
The speed (slow or fast) of the change in channel state may be calculated/determined by the serving cell or the eNB which serves as the serving cell via periodic or aperiodic reporting of the channel state information from the UE. For example, the serving cell or the eNB may detect a difference between (M-1)th received channel state information and Mth received channel state information so as to detect a change in channel state. The change in channel state may include a channel size difference according to CQI, a channel direction difference according to PMI, etc.
However, if physical layer measurement of the neighboring cell is performed regardless of the change in channel state, errors occur in a received data (e.g., a PDSCH) recovered by the UE if the channel state is significantly changed. Accordingly, in the operation according to the present embodiment, a threshold of the change speed of the channel state is set and the operation according to the present embodiment is preferably applied if the change speed of the channel state is less than the threshold. The threshold is preferably a value in which errors occurring in a process of recovering the received data may be ignorable and reliability of demodulation of the received data can be ensured.
Accordingly, in the embodiment associated with FIG. 9, the measurement gap is not required and the UE may measure a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) or a reference symbol received power (RSRP) of a downlink signal from the neighboring cell in a period using a previous channel estimation result so as to perform physical layer measurement. In other words, the UE may perform physical layer measurement of the neighboring cell while performing decoding and/or demodulation of the received data based on the previous channel estimation result in a predetermined period.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing components of a transmitter 10 and a receiver 20 for performing the present invention.
The transmitter 10 and the receiver 20 include radio frequency (RF) units 13 and 23 for transmitting or receiving a radio signal carrying information and/or data, a signal and a message, memories 12 and 22 for storing a variety of information associated with communication in a wireless communication system, and processors 11 and 21 connected to the components including the RF units 13 and 23 and the memories 12 and 22 and configured to control the memories 12 and 22 and/or the RF units 13 and 23 to perform at least one of the embodiments of the present invention, respectively.
The memories 12 and 22 may store programs for processing and controlling the processors 11 and 21 and may temporarily store input/output signal. The memories 12 and 22 may be used as a buffer.
The processors 11 and 21 generally control the overall operation of the various modules of the transmitter and the receiver. In particular, the processors 11 and 21 may perform a variety of control functions for performing the present invention. The processors 11 and 21 may be referred to as a controller, a microcontroller, a microprocessor, a microcomputer, etc. The processors 11 and 21 can be implemented by a variety of means, for example, hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. In the case of implementing the present invention by hardware, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), Digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc. configured to perform the present invention may be included in the processors 11 and 21. If operations or functions of the present invention are implemented by firmware or software, firmware or software may be configured to include modules, procedures, functions, etc. for performing the function or operations of the present invention. The firmware or software configured to perform the present invention may be included in the processors 11 and 21 or stored in the memories 12 and 22 so as to be operated by the processors 11 and 21.
The processor 11 of the transmitter 10 performs coding and modulation with respect to a signal and/or data which is scheduled by the processor 11 or a scheduler connected to the processor 11 to be transmitted to an external device and transmits the signal and/or data to the RF unit 13. For example, the processor 11 transforms a data stream to be transmitted to K layers via demultiplexing and channel coding, scrambling, modulation, etc. The coded data stream is also called a codeword and is equivalent to a transport block which is a data block provided by a medium access control (MAC) layer. One transport block (TB) is encoded into one codeword and each codeword is transmitted to the receiver in the form of one or more layers. For frequency up-conversion, the RF unit 13 may include an oscillator. The RF unit 13 may include Nt (Nt being a positive integer) transmit antennas.
Signal processing of the receiver 20 is the inverse of signal processing of the transmitter 10. Under control the processor 21, the RF unit 23 of the receiver 20 receives a radio signal transmitted by the transmitter 10. The RF unit 23 may include Nr (Nr being a positive integer) receive antennas and the RF unit 23 performs frequency down-conversion with respect to each signal received via each receive antenna and restores a baseband signal. The RF unit 23 may include an oscillator for frequency down-conversion. The processor 21 may perform decoding and demodulation with respect to the radio signal received via the receive antennas and restore original data transmitted by the transmitter 10.
The RF units 13 and 23 include one or more antennas. The antennas serve to transmit the signals processed by the RF units 13 and 23 to external devices or to receive radio signals from external devices and to send the radio signals to the RF units 13 and 23 under control of the processors 11 and 21 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The antennas are also called antenna ports. Each antenna may be composed of one physical antenna or a combination of more than one physical antenna elements. The signal transmitted by each antenna is not decomposed by the receiver 20. A reference signal (RS) transmitted in correspondence with the antenna defines the antenna viewed from the viewpoint of the receiver 20 and enables the receiver 20 to perform channel estimation of the antenna regardless of whether the channel is a single radio channel from a single physical antenna or a composite channel from a plurality of physical antennal elements including the above antennas. That is, the antenna is defined such that the channel for delivering a symbol over the antenna is derived from the channel for delivering another symbol over the same antenna. In case of the RF unit supporting a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) function for transmitting and receiving data using a plurality of antennas, two or more antennas may be connected.
In the embodiments of the present invention, a UE or a relay operate as the transmitter 10 in uplink and operates as the receiver 20 in downlink. In the embodiments of the present invention, a BS operates as the receiver 20 in uplink and operates as the transmitter 10 in downlink.
Hereinafter, the processor, the memory and the RF unit included in the BS are referred to as a BS processor, a BS memory and a BS RF unit and the processor, the memory and the RF unit included in the UE are referred to as a UE processor, a UE memory and a UE RF unit. In the present invention, the BS processor may be a processor located at a BS or may be a BS controller connected to a BS via a cable or a dedicated line and configured to control the BS.
Hereinafter, downlink will be described. Accordingly, the transmitter 10 corresponds to the BS and the receiver 20 corresponds to the UE. The receiver 20 may correspond to a UE configured to perform intra-frequency cell measurement in a wireless communication system. The receiver 20 may include a RF unit 23 configured to transmit or receive the radio signal and a processor 21 configured to control the RF unit. The receiver 20 may include a memory 22 configured to store a series of data including information necessary to perform communication with the BS.
The processor 21 may determine a measurement gap for intra-frequency cell measurement based on a PDCCH received from the BS. The measurement gap may correspond to time resources capable of performing intra-frequency cell measurement of a neighboring cell. In other words, the measurement gap corresponds to one or more downlink subframes other than a downlink subframe having downlink data for the UE indicated by downlink control information.
The measurement gap may be determined to be present over one or more downlink subframes or to include one or more downlink subframes.
The processor 21 may be configured to measure a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) or a reference symbol received power (RSRP) of a downlink signal from the neighboring cell during the measurement gap.
The length of the measurement gap may be adjusted based on control information transmitted via the received PDCCH. The processor 21 may determine at least part of the time resources, in which the PDSCH allocated to the UE is not present, as the measurement gap.
The processor 21 may be configured to transmit data to the BS in uplink during the measurement gap.
The processor 21 is configured to receive, from the BS, information on whether uplink transmission is granted or whether the measurement gap is allowed to be used. The information may be transmitted via a higher layer signal.
The processor 21 is configured to report the intra-frequency cell measurement result to the BS. The reporting may be performed a periodic method, an event triggering method or a combination thereof. Such a reporting method may be provided to the UE via a higher layer signal.
The processor 21 is configured to a switching time before and after the measurement gap and the switching time is a time period during which switching between channel estimation and intra-frequency cell measurement occurs.
Another embodiment described with reference to FIG. 10 will be described. The processor 21 may divide time resources allocated to the UE into a first time resource and a second time resource. The first time resource may be resource for estimation or measurement of the channel state of a serving cell to which the UE belongs and the second time resource may be resource for estimation or measurement of the channel state of a neighboring cell of the serving cell to which the UE belongs. The first time resource and the second time resource may be determined based on downlink control information (e.g., PDSCH) received from the BS. The first time resource and the second time resource may be contiguously located on a time axis and a constant time interval may be present between the first time resource and the second time resource.
More specifically, the processor 21 may determine a time resource corresponding to the PDSCH allocated to the UE as the first time resource and determine the time resource corresponding to the PDSCH which is not allocated to the UE (that is, a PDSCH for another UE) as the second time resource via the downlink control information. The processor 21 may select or determine at least part of the second time resource as the measurement gap for estimation or measurement of the channel state of the neighboring cells. The length of the measurement gap may be dynamically determined within the second time resource. The second time resource may correspond to a time resource corresponding to at least one downlink subframe and thus the measurement gap may correspond to a time resource corresponding to at least one downlink subframe. As described above, during the measurement gap, the process 21 may measure an RSRQ or RSRP of the neighboring cell and report the RSRQ or RSRP to the BS. The reporting method may be performed using a periodic method, an event triggering method or a combination thereof and the method may be configured by a higher layer signal.
Although the term "estimation" or "measurement" is used in the specification of the present invention, the term "estimation" or "measurement" indicates that the channel state or the physical layer state observed from one UE is estimated, calculated or measured. Although the term "estimator" is used in the specification of the present invention, the term "estimator" indicates a means for estimating, calculating or measuring the channel state or the physical layer state.
The detailed description of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention has been given to enable those skilled in the art to implement and practice the invention. Although the invention has been described with reference to the exemplary embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention described in the appended claims. For example, those skilled in the art may use each construction described in the above embodiments in combination with each other. Accordingly, the invention should not be limited to the specific embodiments described herein, but should be accorded the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
The embodiments of the present invention may be used in a user equipment or other equipments in a wireless communication system.
According to the embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to efficiently perform channel estimation and physical layer measurement given restricted time resources. | 2019-04-24T14:48:44Z | http://www.patentsencyclopedia.com/app/20130088985 |
Did you know that Lahaina actually was the capitol of the Kingdom of Hawaii prior to Honolulu? The name Lahaina translates to "cruel sun," in Hawaiian and was so named because there is so little rainfall in Lahaina in contrast with many other areas of Hawaii. Of course, this abundant sunshine is good news for couples planning Lahaina weddings.
Lahaina is a picture-perfect town filled with historic charm, and an ideal place for your nuptials. At Love Maui Weddings, we can plan any type of Lahaina wedding that you want. Your Lahaina wedding options include enjoying your nuptials right on the beach or perhaps you would prefer a ceremony is a historic chapel. There are also several resorts to consider for a larger, more lavish affair.
If you prefer the idea of enjoying a Lahaina wedding right on the beach, a few options to consider include Baby Beach and Ka'anapali Beach. Napili Beach and Kapalua are two other possibilities and both are north of the town of Lahaina.
You will need a permit to be married on the beach, and we can help secure this permit for you. Also, you aren't allowed to set up chairs directly on the beach and your guest list must be limited to no more than 20 people, and this includes not just the couple and friends and family, but also the minister and any other professionals at your ceremony. Still, Maui destination weddings tend to be small so this usually is not a problem.
If you do have a larger wedding party, it might be a good idea to marry on a bluff overlooking the ocean. There are resorts and restaurants that offer stunning views and can accommodate many guests for your Lahaina wedding. You also will be able to set up chairs, a canopy, music equipment and other gear, which might be prohibited at the beach. There are also beach parks that offer you more flexibility for your ceremony, but you are still just steps away from the beach where you can take plenty of wedding pictures.
We help couples plan Lahaina weddings as well as weddings throughout Maui. There are many fantastic wedding venues to consider. Whether you crave a ceremony right on the beach, you wish to marry in a quaint chapel or you wish to share your vows on a bluff with endless ocean views, we can make it happen for you.
One huge misconception about destination weddings is that they are simply not affordable. However, if the average American wedding costs more than $20,000, our Maui wedding packages are far more affordable.
Destination weddings tend to limit the guest lists to very close friends and immediate family. Typically, the reception costs are what drive up the price of a wedding. With a much smaller guest list, your costs will be substantially less than a wedding at home. While you do have to purchase plane tickets and book a hotel room, you probably would do that for you honeymoon anyway, so you can marry and honeymoon in one convenient (and amazing) location.
Our Simply In Love Maui wedding package is the ideal option for a couple on a budget. This package comes with a price tag of just $575 and includes a wedding right on the beach! With this Maui wedding package, we will secure a beach permit for up to 10 people, hire the minister and assist you with acquiring your marriage license.
Maui wedding packages also should include some romantic extras, and our Simply In Love package also includes two freshly made Hawaiian leis for your ceremony. We also present your with a keepsake wedding certificate and a beautifully printed copy of your special vows.
The So This Is Love package is another one of our most affordable Maui wedding packages and this includes the same amenities as the Simply In Love package, but also includes a bridal bouquet, groom boutonniere, hair and make-up service, sparkling cider, an on-site wedding coordinator and up to 30 4x6 photographs taken by a professional wedding photographer. At just $1,250 for the entire package, this is a huge bargain. If you've shopped around your area for wedding photography quotes, you probably have seen that it can cost more than $1,250 just for photography alone.
In addition to selecting one of our Maui wedding packages, another way to trim down the costs of the trip is schedule your wedding for a more off-season time. While travelers flock to the Hawaiian islands throughout the year, generally you will get a better deal on airfare and hotel stays from around mid-April to mid-June and then again from September to early December.
Of course, we have many more Maui wedding packages and we are always available to help you create a completely custom wedding from scratch. But we believe that every couple deserves a stunning Maui wedding. If you are on a tight budget, these two wedding packages can be great options that won't break the bank. Plus, your Maui wedding coordinators will handle all the details, leaving you free to enjoy a stress-free, romantic wedding and honeymoon.
For many brides, it is their dream to have a church wedding. Of course, you also might be intrigued by the idea of having a Maui destination wedding, as well. As Maui wedding coordinators, we easily can make both of these dreams come true.
Maui has no shortages of lovely churches and chapels to consider. In fact, several of the local churches are more than 100 years old, so you will enjoy some historic ambiance as well as the beauty of Maui and a church wedding all rolled into one.
Maui wedding coordinators can help you book a ceremony at a number of local churches. The key is to book in advance, so if you do want a Maui church wedding, as soon as you set the date, give us a call and we can make sure that a local church is available for that particular date and time.
Our Maui wedding coordinators have booked many ceremonies at Maria Lanakila Catholic Church. Located in Lahaina, this church was established in 1846 and officially dedicated in 1858. The current structure was completed in 1873, and is part of the Lahaina Historic District.
Another option to consider is Lahuiokalani Hawaiian Church, which is a small but picturesque chapel located across the street from Honokowai Beach Park. This church also is historic and although the building itself dates back only to 1929, the church was established in 1850. Because the congregation is quite small, you will need to hire your own minister for the ceremony. Of course, as Maui wedding coordinators, this is a service we handle for you.
Holy Innocents is yet another historic church that our Maui wedding coordinators often book for weddings. This is an Anglican Church that held its first services in 1862. The current church was built in 1872. Couples have the option of being married inside the church or perhaps on the oceanfront lawn. This church is unique in that it is open-sided, so even if you opt for an indoor wedding, you will enjoy island breezes and lovely island views during the ceremony.
These are just a few of the options to consider for a Maui church wedding. Give us a call today and we can help you begin planning your Maui destination wedding. Be sure to also take a look at the many wedding packages available as these make planning your destination wedding as simple as possible.
Too often it seems that planning a wedding isn’t all rainbows and sunshine, but at Love Maui Weddings, we believe the process of tying the knot should be romantic and fun. Certainly, there are details to settle, but the overall experience should be positive and we provide our couples with many Maui wedding packages to make planning a snap.
We offer many Maui wedding packages, but before you select one, it is wise to think about a few of these details.
Set a firm budget and be sure to include all of the details. In addition to our Maui wedding packages, you will need to pay for plane fare, accommodations and meals. You also will need to select wedding outfits for your big day. While the friends and family of the couple typically are expected to pay for their plane tickets and hotel accommodations, it’s nice to consider buying a few meals or paying for an excursion for your guests.
Generally, the guest list for a Maui destination wedding is small, and this really reduces your overall costs. Even with paying for the ceremony, a reception or dinner, plane tickets, hotel stays, meals and excursions, the total bill for a Maui wedding can end up being far less than a typical wedding you would plan near your home. Plus, your Maui wedding coordinator will handle most of the details, making it far easier for the bride and groom.
You also need to think about exactly where you wish to hold the ceremony. Our Maui wedding packages provide you with many options. You could opt for a sunset ceremony right on the beach or perhaps on a cliff, overlooking the ocean. Resorts, restaurants, historic chapels, plantations and a local botanical garden are just a few of the additional options to consider.
If you aren’t quite sure about the location, go to our home page and click on the tab marked, “Locations.” This will provide you with a few location options that our previous clients have enjoyed.
While selecting a Maui wedding package can make the process easier, it is important to note that you can use your Maui wedding package as a jumping off spot and add on many interesting features for a wedding that totally reflects your sentiments as a couple.
For instance, we can arrange to have traditional Hawaiian dancers and musicians present for your ceremony. Another option would be to have the bride arrive via an outrigger canoe. Still another option would be to have a private chef serve you dinner for two, right on the beach to celebrate your wedding night. These are just a few options that you can add on to your Maui wedding package.
At Love Maui Weddings, we’ve obviously planned thousands of weddings, ranging widely in size, budget and specifications. Over the years, we discovered a few helpful tips that can lessen the wedding planning mania and create a truly enjoyable experience. Here are a just a few of our helpful suggestions.
Perhaps you can wait more than 24 hours after the proposal, but the sooner you start to think about the big event, the better. You don’t have to hammer out all the details right away, just discuss what you want. Also, be sure to have this conversation alone. While family and friends are certainly going to chime in with suggestions and advice, it’s best for the two of you to discuss your wishes first.
As Maui wedding coordinators, we know that the process moves much more smoothly when couples have a pretty good idea of what they want and when both are on the same page. If you aren’t really sure what Maui destination weddings are all about, take a look around our website and you will get some ideas about your location options, flowers, wedding packages and much more.
Obviously, as Maui wedding coordinators, we are going to handle most of the heavy lifting, but it pays to know what needs to be accomplished and by what date. Sometimes, just having it all organized and written down brings great peace of mind. The best part about a Maui destination wedding is that you won’t have to handle many of the tasks on the list yourself, lightening up your load significantly.
Your list should include tasks such as when to send out invitations, when to buy plane tickets, booking accommodations and planning out any excursions or special meals during your stay. We can offer some helpful suggestions when it comes to making travel plans and finding interesting activities.
Everyone has a dream of their “perfect” wedding day, but the journey to that day and even the day itself can include a few bumps along the road. Often, the difficulties you face make for fantastic wedding stories in the years to come, so just keep it all in perspective. The most important part of the whole experience is the joining of two people in matrimony.
This can be another advantage of a Maui destination wedding. After all, destination weddings typically have fewer guests which usually means you end up with fewer problems and are surrounded by the most important people in your life. Plus, who could be unhappy in Maui? The whole experience will be like a vacation for your and your guests.
Aside from having children, getting married is about the most significant moment of our lives. Don’t forget to take a deep breath and really look around and take in the scene. Smile at your friends and family, listen to the waves crashing on the shore, and take a moment to really listen as you are being serenaded by a traditional Hawaiian musician. These are the memories that matter, so take them all in.
If a Maui destination wedding sounds too good to be true, we can assure that this is an attainable dream. As expert Maui wedding coordinators, we can help you with all of the details, no matter what size budget or wedding party you have. Give us a call today or email and get started planning the wedding of your dreams.
Mark Twain once said, “I went to Maui to stay a week and remained five. I have not once thought of business, or care or human toil or trouble or sorrow or weariness.” This sums up many travelers’ impressions of Maui, as well.
We believe this is actually one of the reasons why a Maui wedding is the perfect option for many couples. Traveling away from home allows you to truly bask in the moment. The bride, groom and guests all are removed from the day-to-day grind back home and everyone can truly relax and enjoy the experience.
At Love Maui Weddings, we also firmly believe that it is simply easier to plan a Maui wedding than a wedding at home. Your Maui wedding planner will handle just about all the details, reducing your stress level immensely. A wedding is meant to be a happy, romantic occasion and it is our goal that each of our wedding couples has a fantastic, memorable experience. Our Maui wedding planners can help you create a custom wedding or you can choose one of our Maui beach wedding packages.
All of our Maui beach wedding packages include basic services such as acquiring the services of a minister, assistance with your marriage license and obtaining a beach permit for the ceremony. We also tuck in a few romantic extras such as a keepsake wedding certificate and a beautifully printed copy of your vows.
These are just a few items included in our Maui beach wedding packages. Depending on which package you select, there is a myriad of romantic options. For instance, one of our Maui beach wedding packages includes not just the makings of a spectacular Maui wedding but also a sunset dinner cruise, Molokini snorkel adventure and a Haleakala zipline tour.
Yet another Maui beach wedding package includes a Hawaiian guitarist and vocalist as well as a conch shell sounding, a drummer or Hula dancer and even a torch bearing maiden for a ceremony that is truly Hawaiian. Still another Maui wedding package includes a helicopter tour prior to your ceremony, a Lanai beach ceremony and a speedboat ride back to Maui.
Of course, you can certainly have us create a special custom Maui wedding that fulfills all of your dreams. Whether you long for a Maui beach wedding or a romantic wedding at a historic Lahaina chapel or perhaps a ceremony at a luxurious Maui estate, we can make your dreams come true.
There are many details to handle when you plan a Maui destination wedding, While the staff at Love Maui Weddings can help you with the majority of the details, there is one area that you should handle personally - providing gifts for your attendants.
Your bridesmaids and groomsmen typically are expected to help you with a few wedding tasks and must also purchase or rent clothing for the occasion. Providing a gift is a great way to say thank you, especially if you are planning a Maui destination wedding. After all, your attendants also have the added expense of plane tickets and accommodations.
First of all, it is a great idea to have a bag of goodies awaiting them in their hotel rooms. Fill a small beach tote with sunscreen, water bottles, snacks, some information about local attractions and transportation and an itinerary listing all wedding-related events. This information will help keep people on schedule but also give them ideas for spending their free time when the wedding couple is busy with other tasks.
In addition to goodie bags, each person should receive a special gift. However, it isn't very easy to transport gifts when you are traveling by plane so it's best to keep it small and simple. For bridesmaids, a piece of jewelry can be easy to transport and also very personal and thoughtful. A pretty set of earrings featuring your wedding colors or perhaps a special necklace might be a perfect gift. Your bridesmaids also might enjoy a day of pampering at a local spa or perhaps at the spa at your resort.
For the guys, consider handy items such as personalized money clips or an engraved flask. You can transport the latter without alcohol and fill it up after your arrival in Maui. Leather toiletry bags are another option to consider. For the best man, a nice watch can be a great gift to consider.
However, your gift also could be the gift of an excursion or experience. This might include treating the whole wedding party to a traditional luau or perhaps taking them on a whale watching trip. You could also go snorkeling or even plan a hike with the wedding party, such as catching the sunrise at the top of Haleakala.
For a simple treat, you might just present your attendants with gift cards that they can use at your hotel. They can purchase food or drinks or whatever else they need and this lessens their expenses for the trip. Of course, don't feel too guilty about planning a Maui destination wedding. While it can be a pricey proposition for your guests, they are sure to enjoy this adventure and a destination wedding feels a lot more like a vacation than a stressful wedding event.
Thousands of couples plan and enjoy a Maui destination wedding every year, and if you wish to be among those couples, one of your tasks will be to obtain a Hawaii marriage license. Fortunately, the steps are pretty easy and straightforward and at Love Maui Weddings, we can assist you with this process.
Hawaii requires no waiting period and you don’t have to be a resident of the state (or even the United States) to be married legally in Maui. Blood tests also are not required in order to obtain a license.
However, you do have to find an officiate/minister prior to applying for your marriage license. At Love Maui Weddings, we can handle this task for you. The information must be written on your application form. The application form can be downloaded from Hawaii’s Department of Health marriage website. The cost of a wedding license in Hawaii is $60.
After filling out your application, which you can do prior to arriving in Hawaii, you will need to present the completed application and your $60 in person. In Maui, this means you will need to book an appointment with the local License Officiate. We can help you with this process, as well. If you are 19 or older, all you will need to bring with you are two valid forms of identification, such as a passport or a driver’s license or a military identification. For those aged 18, you will need to bring a certified copy of your birth certificate. This process takes just a few minutes, and before you know it, you will be ready for your wedding ceremony.
In addition to helping you with the wedding license process, we can help you with all of the other details pertaining to your wedding. We offer many interesting Maui wedding packages or you can create your own special event from scratch. Give us a call and begin planning your romantic Maui wedding today.
At Love Maui Weddings, we help hundreds of couples plan their Maui weddings each year. Most of our couples also spend their honeymoon in Maui and often ask our staff for recommendations for excursions. The Road to Hana is a fantastic adventure and a great way for a newly married couple to spend the day while in Maui.
The Road to Hana, in the grand scheme of things, is not very long, but it’s windy and full of one-lane bridges, so you will be driving slowly. In addition, there are so many places to stop and enjoy along the way that this journey easily can take up to ten hours. Here are a few tips that will help you make the most of the drive to Hana.
Be prepared to start your day early. It takes time to drive from your hotel or resort to Paia, which is the starting point of the drive to Hana. Once you reach Paia, it is a good idea to fill up on gas, as this will be the last place to do so until you reach the town of Hana.
You will need to pack for the trip. Bring along some towels and a bathing suit, as there are waterfalls and a few beaches where you can enjoy the water. Even if you don’t plan on swimming, it is wise to bring towels and dress casually. It usually rains off and on during the day, so a poncho or umbrella would be wise additions. Ziploc bags can be used to keep phones, cameras and wallets dry.
Bring bottled water, as there probably won’t be any available from Paia to Hana. You also need to bring along food as there are very few food options along the way. There might be a fruit stand or two along the way, where you might pick up a smoothie or delicious homemade banana bread, but it is wise to bring a good lunch along.
You can drive yourself or take a tour bus, but if you do drive, it is a good idea to pick up a CD tour of the trip. This will help you find the best stops along the way as well as providing you with some interesting history and information about the area.
If you are planning on enjoying a wedding and honeymoon on Maui, consider contacting our staff of expert Maui wedding planners. We have been helping couples plan Maui destination weddings and Lahaina weddings for more than 20 years, and can help you with all the details. We offer a variety of unique Maui wedding packages or we can help you plan a custom Maui resort wedding package, Maui hotel wedding package, a Maui beach wedding or any other type of wedding you desire.
A wedding is meant to be a time of romance and excitement, but for many couples this ends up being a difficult and stressful process. Instead of planning a typical at-home wedding, opt for something a bit more exciting and easier – a destination wedding in Maui. Your Maui wedding coordinator can handle most of the details, leaving you free to enjoy this special life-changing experience.
For more than 20 years, the staff at Love Maui Weddings has created dream Maui weddings for their clients. We offer a personal touch for our couples, whether they want only a simple elopement ceremony on a sun-kissed beach or they wish to have friends and family for a wedding and reception.
First, we will discuss your needs, your wedding date and your budget and then we will get to work planning your special day. One of the first items on our to-do list is to book the ceremony location, schedule the minister and, if you wish to be married on the beach, apply for a beach permit. We can offer many excellent suggestions for ceremony locations, as well as great locations for a wedding reception. The reception can be a lavish catered affair or a simple but sumptuous dinner for you and a few friends and family members.
Your wedding planners also can hire a photographer for your ceremony and reception, as well as planning out your flower options from bouquets to boutonnieres and all the floral decorations. Of course, this is a Hawaiian wedding after all, so you might wish to have fresh Hawaiian leis as well.
Music and dance are a big part of Hawaiian culture, and no wedding would be complete without one or the other or both. We can arrange for a variety of musical options, as well as traditional Hawaiian dancers or vocalists for your ceremony.
There are plenty of extras that you also might want to consider, and we can arrange for just about anything in your dreams. For instance, some of our brides arrive to their beach ceremony aboard an escorted outrigger canoe. We can help you plan activities for you and your guests, such as attending a traditional luau or taking a tour of the island by helicopter. We also can provide advice about travel and lodging arrangements as well as the best places to go on the island.
At Love Maui Weddings, we also offer some of the best Maui wedding packages. Our Maui destination wedding packages include simple vow renewal and elopement ceremonies right on the beach as well as large, formal weddings at historic plantations, luxurious resorts, a lush botanical garden or a renowned seaside restaurant.
If a Maui destination wedding sounds like a dream come true for you and your intended, you might be thinking about setting a date and working on your wedding plans. If you also intend to enjoy your honeymoon in Maui, you might want to plan the event during one the following island festivals or events.
Music lovers will enjoy annual events such as the Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Festival, which occurs each year near the end of June. The MayJah RayJah Music Festival is an ideal option for anyone who loves reggae music, and this event occurs each year around the end of July. The Lahaina Restoration Foundation also hosts a free concert each month at the Baldwin Home Museum featuring Hawaiian musicians.
If you and your beloved are foodies, there are some interesting choices to consider. The Kapalua Wine and Food Festival is an annual event that takes place in June and includes plenty of wine tastings, and a variety of local restaurants also provide samples of their cuisine. It might not seem overly romantic, but the Maui Onion Festival, which happens in May, offers all sorts of activities and has been a popular yearly event since 1990.
Lahaina Plantation Days is an annual two-day festival that celebrates the island's history of sugar and pineapple growing. The event, which takes place in mid-October, includes food booths, historical exhibits, a farmers market, coffee sampling and a beer and wine garden, as well as live music from local musicians.
The Maui Film Festival occurs every year in early June, and while it might not rival Cannes or Sundance, it's still a lot of fun for film buffs. A variety of independent films and documentaries are screened, there are panels that you can attend, and the five-day event also includes live music events and plenty of great local food is available. Some of the movies are even shown on huge screens right on the beach.
When it comes to planning a wedding far away from home, the services of a Maui wedding planner are essential. At Love Maui Weddings, we can handle just about every detail, small and large. From finding a stunning beach for the ceremony to planning a beautiful reception, we can make wedding planning easy and fun. We offer an assortment of Maui wedding packages, an elopement package, a vow renewal package or we can help you plan your custom dream wedding.
When it comes to Maui destination wedding articles, the focus typically is on the couple tying the knot. However, if you are to be a guest at a destination wedding, you might have a few questions and concerns about this big event. Here are some tips just for the guests that might prove helpful.
Hopefully, the wedding couple will provide you with plenty of advanced notice regarding the date of their wedding. In general, the couple should be planning this even a good six to nine months in advance, and once you know the date, start hunting around for airfare and hotel accommodations. Sometimes, the wedding couple will have secured a block of rooms at a hotel or resort with a special rate, and this might be a good option.
Before you book the hotel room or set up a flight to Maui, ask the couple about the events surrounding the wedding. Sometimes there is a special rehearsal dinner or an after-wedding brunch. Sometimes the couple is treating their guests to some interesting excursions, and you don't want to miss the fun. You need to know the date of the actual wedding as well as the dates of other important events.
If you have kids, it is also important that you ask about taking your children to the wedding. Many couples prefer a child-free ceremony and reception, so if you do not have someone to watch your children during the trip, this can be tricky. However, many resorts and large hotels in Maui have excellent children's programs that will keep your kids busy, happy and safe while you enjoy the wedding.
What to wear is always an important question, so be sure to ask about attire. Often at a Maui wedding, the attire will be upscale island casual, which translates to Hawaiian-style shirts for the men and pretty sundresses for the ladies. Sometimes the wedding invitation will address this issue, but if it doesn't, simply ask the bride or groom for advice.
When it comes to gifts, the couple might ask that no gifts be given since there is a large expense already associated with the cost of flying out to Maui and booking a hotel room. Still if you do wish to get a gift, consider looking at their gift registry and having the gift sent directly to the couple's home as you probably don't want to haul a crystal clock or a china place setting all the way to Maui.
If you are planning a Maui destination wedding, the staff at Love Maui Weddings is happy to answer any questions you might have about travel and accommodations for you and your guests. Our Maui wedding planners also are a great source of knowledge about the best places to enjoy a sumptuous meal, sip a cocktail at sunset or perhaps sunbathe at a local beach.
Maui is one of the best places on earth for a wedding, honeymoon or anniversary celebration. Just imagine the romantic walks along the beach and the cocktails at sunset and the days spent lazily poolside or soaking up the rays along the shore. It's the perfect spot for a romantic adventure, and there are accommodations aplenty with a little something for everyone and every budget.
You can opt for a full-service luxury resort with all the trimmings or perhaps something more rustic. Maui has a variety of offerings, and you just need to decide what you want and can afford.
There are actually quite a few resorts in Maui, and several have private beaches while others offer free shuttle service to private beaches or public beaches. All of them have swimming pools, and a few have adults-only swimming pools with swim-up bars. Golf courses and tennis courts are other amenities you might find at these resorts.
For unrepentant luxury, the Four Seasons Maui at Wailea is perhaps the most posh option, but there are certainly other excellent high-end luxury hotels and resorts to consider. The Honua Kai Resort and Spa, the Sheraton Maui and the Hyatt Resort and Spa are more affordable, while still providing many amenities and services. There are also smaller hotels that still offer amenities such as swimming pools and beach access, as well as cozy bed & breakfasts.
If you prefer a more rustic, natural setting, Maui also offers several interesting options. Within Haleakala National Park, visitors can camp or book one of three wilderness cabins. Each of the cabins is located in a different spot in the park, and you must hike to reach them. They do not have plumbing or electricity and the accommodations are quite rustic, but if you love hiking and camping, this can be an amazing experience for your honeymoon.
Another unique option would be to rent a cottage in or near Hana. This is an excellent idea for couples that would truly like to spend more than one day exploring the amazing road that leads to this sleepy beach town. Several private cottages are available for rent, and this can be a fun way to spend a night or two of your honeymoon trip.
When you begin planning your wedding or elopement with the staff at Love Maui Weddings, be sure to ask about honeymoon accommodations. We are happy to make suggestions about local lodging, as well as restaurant and activity suggestions. Our goal is to make your wedding and your stay in Maui as perfect and romantic as possible.
About 7,000 couples tie the knot in Maui every year, making it one of the hottest destination wedding spots on earth. It’s not surprising that the most popular spot for a Maui destination wedding is right on the beach. If you are thinking about choosing Maui for your wedding, the following information might be helpful.
Obtaining a marriage license in Hawaii is quite easy, and our Maui wedding planners can assist you with this process. The legal age to marry in Hawaii is 18 and no blood test is required, nor is there a waiting period. If you are 19 or older, your driver’s license will suffice as proof of age. The marriage license fee is $65 and you can pay this online or in person. While you can take care of a lot of the paperwork ahead of time, you will need to appear before a marriage license agent once you get to Maui.
If you wish to be married on the beach, a beach permit is required, but the staff at Love Maui Weddings will handle this task for you. We simply will need to discuss on which beach you wish to hold the ceremony and at what time of day. There are many beautiful options, such as Kapalua Bay, Napili Bay, Keawakapu Beach or perhaps the secluded Makena Cove.
Chairs, arches, chuppahs and other decorative features are not allowed on the beach, so if you do wish to have these adornments and still enjoy an ocean view, there are many wonderful bluff-top locations to consider. Many private estates also are available for wedding ceremonies and receptions, as well as several idyllic restaurants. Most of the island’s luxury resorts have locations for weddings and also can accommodate your reception. This can be a great option, because you and your guests can also stay at the resort and enjoy use of their private beaches, swimming pools and spa services.
There are also a few hidden gems to consider for your Maui Wedding. For instance, the Kula Botanical Garden is a lovely spot for a wedding. You can marry in a garden gazebo, on a lanai adjacent to a koi pond or perhaps on the lush green lawn surrounded by all the amazing flora of Maui. The Maui Tropical Plantation is another unique option to consider, and couples can marry in a gazebo overlooking a sparkling lagoon. There are also spots for indoor and outdoor receptions at this plantation.
These are just a few of the options to consider, and it all depends on what you want. The staff at Love Maui Weddings can make your wedding dreams come true. We offer an assortment of packages and also can create a custom wedding exactly the way you’ve always dreamed it would be.
With lush beaches and tranquil sea breezes, it’s no wonder why travelers flock to Maui each year. It’s also one of the most popular spots on the planet for wedding ceremonies and vow renewals. It’s an ideal spot for your upcoming nuptials, and here are a few reasons why.
Maui offers a wide variety of venues for your wedding ceremony and as well as for the reception. There are dozens of beach locations to consider, as well as historic chapels, a botanical garden and large plantations or estates. World-class resorts and restaurants with spectacular views also offer wedding services so you can easily find a venue that suits your needs, tastes and budget.
One big advantage that Maui has over destinations such as Mexico, Europe and the Caribbean is that we are a domestic location so our laws and regulations regarding obtaining a marriage license are probably quite similar to those in your home state. Did you know, for example, that if you wish to be legally married in Paris, you have to live in the city for at least 40 days? In Mexico, a blood test is required to obtain a marriage license and you still have to legalize your marriage back in the United States. In Maui, you don’t even need a passport, no blood tests are required and there is no waiting period.
This island is fantastic spot for tourists, so not only will your guests enjoy your wedding day, a Maui destination wedding is like a vacation for you and all of your guests. There are plenty of interesting activities for guests to consider or they can simply enjoy a relaxing day at the beach.
Too often we are caught up in the details of planning a wedding and we don’t really get to enjoy our wedding day. With a destination wedding, a Maui wedding planner is essential, and the best part about a wedding planner is that they handle all of the details. This allows you the freedom to truly enjoy this momentous occasion. You can relax and enjoy time with your spouse-to-be or spend time with friends and family. A destination wedding is relaxed and enjoyable, a truly special occasion that everyone will cherish.
At Love Maui Weddings, we can help you with all of the wedding details. We can help assist you with the marriage license, procure the services of a minister or officiant, secure beach permits for your ceremony and find flowers, photographers and musicians. We offer a wide variety of Maui wedding packages and plenty of amazing add-ons to personalize your special day.
The idea of a destination wedding might seem unattainable, but the reality is that these types of weddings actually have many advantages over planning a wedding near your home. There are many reasons why planning a Maui destination wedding can be one of the best decisions you ever make.
Your wedding day is undoubtedly one of the most significant days in your life, so you want it be as memorable as possible. What could be more memorable than exchanging your vows at sunset as the music of waves crashing on the shore serenade you and your partner? These will be memories that you truly will cherish forever.
There are few places on earth more beautiful than Maui, and with picture perfect beaches, spectacular resorts and lush private estates and plantations, your most difficult decision probably will be deciding on a location for your ceremony. Will you choose Kapalua Bay at sunset or the hidden lagoon of Makena Cove? Perhaps you would prefer the tranquil, tropical setting at the Kula Botanical Garden or the sweeping mountain views at the Maui Tropical Plantation. There are even many restaurants and resorts where you can hold both the ceremony and the reception that follows.
You might be worried about the cost, but a destination wedding can cost less than a typical at-home wedding simply because you tend to have fewer guests. The cost of the average American wedding is about $25,000 and many weddings are even more expensive. Much of this expense includes paying for the reception. Your Maui wedding probably will include only very close friends and immediate family, which makes it surprisingly affordable.
At Love Maui Weddings, we can take care of all of the details for you so that you can spend your time enjoying your special time with your partner as well as your wedding party. This is another big advantage of the destination wedding. You will need to hire a Maui wedding planner simply because we are the local experts and can secure the beach permit, contact the minister, arrange flower delivery and all the other details. All you have to do is enjoy yourself.
This is another reason why a destination is so wonderful. For a typical wedding, we are running around, attending to last minute details and it’s all a bit stressful and we spend little quality time with our wedding party. A Maui wedding is more like a vacation for you and your family and friends, and you can enjoy both your wedding and your honeymoon in the same idyllic location.
The Plantation House has become our little Sunday afternoon secret (well, I guess not now). It’s nestled at the top of the Kapalua Resort and is where the PGA holds the Hyundai tournament of Champions. Before you start thinking it’s only a place for golfers, though, think again. This restaurant has some of my favorite sweeping 180 degree views on the west side of Maui, not to mention an excellent menu. Just like most dining on Maui, it’s frequented by celebrities, but the food is actually reasonably priced. My favorite is the Crab Cake Benedict, with potatoes substituted for the rice. You can thank me later.
“May light always surround you; hope kindle and rebound you.
May wounds become wisdom; every kindness a prism.
May laughter infect you; your passion resurrect you.
Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for making my dream wedding a reality. My bouquet was so beautiful, that I did not want to leave it behind. Each of the venders, from Kay our travel agent was wonderful, she took great care of us. Cassandra did a wonderful job with my hair and make-up. The wedding photos were so beautiful, we received so many compliments. Elly's Bridal Boutique did a great job on my gown and the tux was perfect for him. The wedding video was beautiful and perfect.. everyone loved it. | 2019-04-21T13:01:15Z | https://www.lovemauiweddings.com/blog/?offset=1428328800000 |
A process for hydraulic fracturing of a subterranean reservoir formation penetrated by a wellbore includes pumping a fracturing fluid or other aqueous fluid which is an aqueous suspension of particles which each comprise an oilfield chemical distributed within an encapsulating matrix of water-insoluble carrier_material from the surface via the wellbore and into the reservoir. The encapsulating matrix is chosen so as to provide a delayed release of the oilfield chemical from the particles into surrounding fluid, such that oilfield chemical is liberated from the particles after they have entered the fracture. The encapsulating matrix may be a polymer which is at least partially amorphous, with a glass transition temperature below the reservoir temperature.
This invention relates to the delivery of an oilfield chemical to a subterranean hydrocarbon reservoir in the course of hydraulic fracturing. The subterranean reservoir may hold oil, gas or both.
It is well-known to deliver so-called oilfield chemicals (using this common term to include chemicals used in connection with either natural gas or oil and to include biochemicals such as nucleic acids and enzymes) to a subterranean hydrocarbon reservoir to bring about a variety of functions at various stages of hydrocarbon production. Methods for delivering oilfield chemicals to a reservoir include methods in which the chemical is made into the form of particles which are suspended in the fluid which is pumped down a wellbore to the reservoir. Common methods for forming particles are absorption into the pores of porous carrier particles and encapsulation as a core-shell structure in which a single quantity (the core) of the oilfield chemical is enclosed within a shell of carrier material.
Hydraulic fracturing is a well established technique for stimulating production from a hydrocarbon reservoir. In a conventional fracturing procedure a thickened aqueous fracturing fluid is pumped into the reservoir formation through a wellbore and opens a fracture in the formation. Thickened fluid is then also used to carry a particulate proppant into the fracture. Once the fracture has been made and packed with proppant, pumping is stopped. The formation closes onto the proppant pack and oil or gas can flow through the proppant pack to the wellbore. At least some of the aqueous fracturing fluid in the wellbore will be driven back to the surface by fluid produced from the reservoir. Thickener which increases the viscosity of the fracturing fluid may be a polysaccharide. Guar gum, often crosslinked with borate or a zirconium compound, is frequently used. Another category of thickeners which is used is viscoelastic surfactants. An oilfield chemical may be delivered to a reservoir during fracturing. If the fracturing fluid contains a viscosifying thickener, it is normal to supply a so-called breaker (which is usually a chemical or an enzyme) into the fracture to degrade the thickener and so reduce the viscosity of the fluid in the fracture after it has served its purpose. This facilitates the flow back to the surface and the flow of produced fluid through the proppant pack towards the wellbore.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,734 teaches the encapsulation of a breaker chemical, which may be an enzyme, within particles which are crushed by the fracture when pumping ceases and the fracture is allowed to close onto the proppant pack. This of course delays release of the breaker chemical until the fracture formation is complete.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,331 discloses an encapsulated enzyme breaker formed by a procedure in which porous beads of polymer are made and exposed to a solution of the enzyme which is absorbed into the open pores of the polymer beads. Examples in the document showed that this delayed release of the enzyme compared to incorporating enzyme solution directly into a model fracturing fluid.
Proposals for encapsulation of oilfield chemicals in contexts other than hydraulic fracturing include U.S. Pat. No. 6,818,594 which teaches the use of enzymes which are enclosed within a polymer capsule as a breaker for filtercake formed while drilling a well.
WO 03/106809 teaches particles in which an oilfield chemical (in the form of small droplets of aqueous solution) is enclosed in a matrix of an encapsulating polymer. This polymer is chosen so as to be soluble or otherwise degradable under conditions which are encountered within the reservoir after mixing with formation fluid found in the reservoir. The document teaches that these encapsulated particles should be made so small (mean particle diameter below 10 micron) that they can enter the pores of formation rock. Although delivery of particles to a reservoir via a production well is mentioned, an alternative possibility which is suggested is that particles can be delivered to the reservoir via an injection well and then flow through the formation to the vicinity of a production well to release the encapsulated chemical (a scale inhibitor) in the near wellbore region of the production well. This indicates that release of the encapsulated chemical will be sufficiently slow to allow time for travel through the formation from the injection well to the production well.
In the present invention, one or more oilfield chemicals are incorporated into particles in which the oilfield chemical(s) are distributed within a matrix of encapsulating material. The particles are delivered into a subterranean reservoir and are intended to delay release of the oilfield chemical(s) until they have arrived in the reservoir.
In a first aspect this invention provides a process for hydraulic fracturing of a subterranean reservoir formation penetrated by a wellbore, comprising pumping an aqueous suspension of particles which each comprise an oilfield chemical distributed within an encapsulating matrix of water-insoluble carrier material from the surface via the wellbore and into the reservoir, wherein the encapsulating matrix is chosen so as to provide a delayed release of the oilfield chemical from the particles into surrounding fluid such that oilfield chemical is liberated from the particles after they have entered the fracture. Although the term ‘oilfield’ is used for convenience, the hydrocarbon in the reservoir may be oil, gas or both.
Generally the process for hydraulic fracturing will include pumping a hydraulic fracturing fluid from the surface via the wellbore and into the reservoir so as to open a fracture of the reservoir formation, and subsequently allowing fluid flow back from the fracture to the wellbore and hence to the surface. This will be followed by producing hydrocarbon from the reservoir via the fracture and the wellbore.
The aqueous suspension of particles which is pumped into the well bore may be a fluid which is distinct from the fracturing fluids, but in many instances it will be convenient for it to be a suspension of the particles in a quantity of hydraulic fracturing fluid.
Normally the encapsulated oilfield chemical and carrier material will be different materials. The carrier matrix serves to retain the encapsulated oilfield chemical for a time and then allows it to be released into the surrounding fluid. It is desirable that this should enable most or all of the chemical to be retained within the particles during handling at the surface and during travel down the wellbore but subsequently allow the chemical to be liberated into the fracture. At least 75% and preferably at least 90% of the oilfield chemical may be retained within the particles until after they enter the fracture.
Having the encapsulated oilfield chemical distributed within the matrix of carrier material can avoid the possibility that particles which consist of a shell enclosing a core of oilfield chemical are ruptured accidentally and release their entire content of oilfield chemical prematurely.
It is possible, within the scope of this invention, that the oilfield chemical is dissolved in the material of the carrier matrix. However, in significant forms of this invention the oilfield chemical takes the form of a multiplicity of relatively small particles distributed within a relatively larger particle of the carrier matrix (an ‘islands in the sea’ model). Although such particles of the oilfield chemical are much smaller than the particles of carrier matrix enclosing them, they are large compared with molecular dimensions and hence different from dissolved material.
The relative dimensions and quantities may be such that the amount of oilfield chemical encapsulated within a particle is between 1 and 50 wt % of the overall particle, possibly between 1 and 25 wt %. The median size of the overall particles may lie between 10 and 10,000 times the median size of the relatively small particles of oilfield chemical encapsulated within the carrier matrix.
A suitable carrier matrix material may be an organic polymer chosen to enable the required retention and subsequent release of the oilfield chemical. However, it is possible that an inorganic material could be used as a carrier, one possibility being a matrix of precipitated silica.
Release of the encapsulated oilfield chemical may be brought about in a number of ways. One possibility is by exposure to the reservoir temperature. The encapsulating carrier matrix material may therefore be chosen so as to liberate the oilfield chemical from the particles into surrounding fluid at a rate which increases with temperature, such that oilfield chemical is liberated from the particles after they have entered the fracture. Reservoir temperatures are generally higher than ambient temperatures at the surface. A high percentage of all fracturing jobs take place with reservoir temperatures in a range from 40° C. to 175° C.
b) release of the encapsulated oilfield chemical at an acceptably rapidly rate when particles enter the formation and become heated to the reservoir temperature.
Thus it is possible to retain an oilfield chemical within an encapsulating matrix during formulation and transportation, deliver a high proportion of the chemical, still encapsulated, into a fracture, and then release the chemical where it is required.
Utilizing the temperature of the reservoir to cause release of the chemical is beneficial in the context of fracturing when a large volume of aqueous fracturing fluid is pumped into the reservoir and for the most part does not mixed with formation fluid previously present. An increase in temperature towards the natural temperature of the reservoir happens inevitably, even though there is little or no mixing with the formation fluid. It is possible to avoid the inconvenience and cost of pumping in an additional fluid merely to induce some other change (for example a change in pH).
We have found that temperature responsive release within a fracture can be obtained through choice of the encapsulating matrix material with reference to the subterranean reservoir temperature. This choice of matrix material can also regulate the rate of release at the reservoir temperature. For these purposes the encapsulating matrix material, which is generally an amorphous or partially amorphous polymer, is chosen so that the dry polymer has a glass transition temperature Tg which is above ambient but below the subterranean reservoir temperature.
Glass transition temperature Tg is a characteristic of amorphous materials, notably polymers. Many polymers have a solid appearance at ambient temperature, but are in fact wholly or partially in an amorphous glassy state. A glass is a liquid which is undercooled (sometimes termed supercooled) significantly below its true melting point and which has an extremely high viscosity. In a glass, diffusive processes other than the movement of some very small molecules, take place at extremely low rates, such as micron per year. Above a temperature known as the glass transition temperature Tg, the viscosity drops rapidly and the glass turns into a rubber, then as temperature increases further it turns into a deformable plastic which at even higher temperatures turns into a fluid. Tg is a parameter which is used in many areas of science and industry. Tg values can be determined using a differential scanning calorimeter and can be detected as a point at which a plot of heat input against temperature passes through an inflection point, thus giving a maximum of the first temperature derivative. When measuring Tg it is desirable to operate the differential scanning calorimeter at a temperature ramp rate between 5 and 10° C. per minute.
We have found that an encapsulating matrix becomes permeable when the particle is heated above Tg of the matrix. So if the particles are below Tg at the surface but become heated above Tg after they have been placed in the subterranean fracture, the matrix is effective to enclose the oilfield chemical while the particles are at the surface, but then within the fracture the particles become permeable and allow the encapsulated oilfield chemical to escape into to the surrounding fluid. The release of the encapsulated chemical will take place by a process of diffusion through the matrix of carrier material which may remain intact. In order to have a Tg above ambient surface temperature, the matrix may have a Tg above 30° C. and possibly above 35 or 40° C.
During transit to the reservoir, the fracturing fluid will pass through a wellbore exposed to subterranean temperatures and will begin to heat up, but flow rates during fracturing are generally sufficiently high that fluid is still well below the reservoir temperature when it enters the fracture.
If particles are exposed to a prevailing subterranean temperature which is not much above Tg of the matrix, such as between 5 and 20° C. above Tg, the encapsulated oilfield chemical diffuses slowly out of the particles providing controlled release of the chemical over a period of time. By contrast if the prevailing temperature is well above Tg, the encapsulated oilfield chemical is released much more quickly: for example, a high percentage of the chemical might be released over as short a time as two hours. Release of the encapsulated chemical may be at least 50% and possibly at least 95 or 99% complete before hydrocarbon production is resumed, which may be within a period of 5 days or less, possibly 24 hours or less, after the fracturing fluid(s) have been pumped into the wellbore. Alternatively, release of the oilfield chemical may be slower, so that at least 50% of the chemical is not released until at least 5 days have elapsed since the particles were pumped into the reservoir, possibly longer such as at least 10 days.
Whilst Tg is a useful parameter to explain and predict release rates at reservoir temperature, it should be appreciated that actual rates of release can be simulated and measured by using a laboratory oven to expose samples to the temperature of a reservoir.
Another possibility for the release of the oilfield chemical is that the carrier material is chosen so that it undergoes chemical degradation within a fracture. For example the carrier matrix may be a substance which undergoes hydrolysis, notably a polymer which is de-polymerised into fragments by hydrolysis, so that the oilfield chemical is liberated through progressive breakdown of the carrier matrix under conditions encountered in the reservoir.
A number of chemical groups have been proposed as providing bonds which can be broken, including ester, acetal, sulfide and amide groups. Polymers incorporating such groups include poly(hydroxyacids), polyesters, polypeptides, polyesteramides and polysulfides. Cleavable groups which are particularly envisaged are ester and amide groups both of which provide bonds which can be broken by a hydrolysis reaction. The rate of hydrolysis will be governed by the prevailing pH and temperature and by the chemical structure of the polymer. The hydrolysis rate of an ester group normally attains a maximum under high pH (alkaline) conditions. Conversely for an amide group, the decomposition rate is at a maximum under low pH (acidic) conditions. Low pH, that is to say acidic, conditions can also be used to cleave acetal groups.
A polymer containing hydrolytically cleavable bonds may be a homopolymer of a hydroxycarboxylic acid or an amino carboxylic acid, so that the polymer is a polyester or a polypeptide. Another possibility is that a polymer containing hydrolytically cleavable bonds may be a block copolymer with the blocks joined through ester or amide bonds. Copolymers which contain blocks joined by ester linkages can be prepared by reaction of a pre-polymer with hydroxy groups and a second pre-polymer containing groups which areable to react with hydroxy groups, notably carboxylic anhydride, acyl halide, ketene, ester, sulfonic acid, or sulfonyl halide.
One or both of the pre-polymers may itself be a polymer or oligomer. Prepolymers with reactive hydroxyl groups include oligosaccharides, synthetic polymers containing primary and secondary hydroxyl groups, such as poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(hydroxy alkyl(meth)acrylate) copolymers, poly(siloxanes), epoxy resins, dihydroxy-terminated poly(amides), dihydroxy-terminated poly(amines), and dihydroxy-terminated poly(carbonates).
Block copolymers in which the blocks are joined through amide linkages can be prepared from pre- polymers containing amino groups. Examples of such pre-polymers include synthetic polymers that contain reactable primary amine groups, such as aminated polyacrylamide and diamino-terminated poly(amines) and poly(amides).
Examples of monomers or polymers containing groups that can be used to react with the hydroxyl-containing materials listed above to yield degradable ester links between polymer blocks or to react with the amino-containing groups listed above to yield degradable amide links include: aliphatic or aromatic polybasic acids, amides, acid anhydrides such as poly(maleic anhydride) and copolymers; polybasic acid alkyl esters, polybasic acid halides, imides, bisimides; and polysulphonic acids such as poly(styrenesulphonic acid).
It is possible that a carrier matrix material might release encapsulated oilfield chemical by more than one mechanism. For instance an encapsulating matrix polymer may have a Tg above ambient but below the reservoir temperature and also will have a chemical structure which can undergo degradation at the reservoir temperature, eg depolymerisation by hydrolysis. If this is the case, it is possible that both of the above mechanisms of release will play a role so that encapsulated oilfield chemical is released in part by diffusion out of the particle concurrently with release as a result of degradation of the particle. However, it is also possible that one mechanism of release will be faster than the other. For instance it is possible that release in response to temperature will be quicker than any effect of hydrolytic degradation so that the encapsulated oilfield chemical is released by diffusion while the particles remain substantially intact.
Encapsulating matrix polymers which are particularly envisaged for use in this invention include homopolymers and copolymers of hydroxyacids. Examples of homopolymers are polylactic acid and polyglycolic acid. These two polymers have Tg above ambient temperature but below reservoir temperature and are also capable of undergoing hydrolysis back to their monomers, although release through diffusion in response to reservoir temperature may precede degradation through hydrolysis. If a higher Tg value than that of the homopolymer is required, a copolymer may be used. Alternatively one of these homopolymers may be used in a mixture with another polymer of higher Tg, thus giving a mixture with an intermediate Tg.
As mentioned above, the release profile of particles can be observed in laboratory experiments before the particles are used. Such experiments involve exposing a sample quantity of the particles to conditions of pH and temperature which match those found in the subterranean location and monitoring release of encapsulated oilfield chemical over time.
Another possibility is that the oilfield chemical is a tracer, that is a substance which is deliberately introduced into a reservoir so that its presence (or absence) in fluid produced from the reservoir will provide information. The use of tracers to obtain information about a hydrocarbon reservoir and/or about what is taking place therein has been practised for several decades and has been described in numerous documents. A tracer may be a dye, fluorescer or other chemical which can be detected using spectroscopic analytical methods such as UV-visible, fluorescence or phosphorescence. Compounds of lanthanide elements may be used as tracers because they have distinctive spectra. A tracer may be a chemical with distinctive features which enables it to be distinguished by another analytical technique such as GC-MS. Such chemicals include fluorocarbons and fluoro-substituted aromatic acids. Genetically coded material has been proposed for use as a tracer (and WO2007/132137 gives a method for detection of biological tags). Radio-isotopes have frequently been used as tracers. Society of Petroleum Engineers paper SPE109,969 discloses the use of materials which can be activated to become short lived radio-isotopes. Salts of ions which do not occur naturally in subterranean reservoirs, such as iodides and thiocyanates may also be used as tracers.
A further example of an oilfield chemical which may be introduced into a reservoir in the course of a fracturing job is an inhibitor to control scale formation or corrosion. Such an inhibitor may have no role in fracturing the reservoir but may be released slowly into the hydrocarbon flow when production is commenced or resumed.-It is envisaged that the oilfield chemical may be of lower molecular weight than the carrier matrix. The oilfield chemical may for instance have a molecular weight no higher than 1000, possibly no higher than 500, while the carrier matrix may be a polymer having molecular weight of least 105, possibly at least 106.
In some embodiments of this invention, the particles are characterised by their size, because this can determine where the particles are placed when they are pumped into a fracture. It may be preferred that the particles have a median particle size of at least 15 micron, possibly at least 25 micron.
While fluid is being pumped into the fracture in the course of fracturing, some fluid leaks off into the porous formation. As mentioned earlier, the hydraulic fluid used in many fracturing operations is an aqueous dispersion of a thickener and in consequence the fluid which leaks off into the formation deposits a filtercake of thickener on the surfaces of the formation which are exposed to the fracture.
In some embodiments of this invention, the particles have a particle size such that they are held by the filtercake and in consequence selectively release the oilfield chemical in the vicinity of the filtercake. The oilfield chemical may then be a breaker which is thus selectively released into the filtercake to degrade the thickener from which the filtercake has formed and thus enhance removal of the filtercake. Thus, in this arrangement the size of the particles provides a way to selectively target the breaker to the location where there is the greatest concentration of thickener (whose thickening property is no longer required). Another possibility is that the oilfield chemical may be a tracer which will be released into the filtercake if that filtercake is still present. Detection of the tracer in the fluid during backflow would be a confirmation of removal of the filtercake. Absence of the tracer from the produced fluid stream during subsequent hydrocarbon production would also be an indication that the filtercake had already been removed successfully.
Delivery of particles to the filtercake may be accomplished by using particles which are too large to pass through the filtercake into the formation pores. Such particles may be mixed into fracturing fluid which is pumped down the wellbore before proppant is placed in the fracture. An alternative is to deliver the particles into the fracture concurrently with, or even after, the proppant but choosing particles which are small enough to pass through the packed proppant whilst also being too large to pass through the filtercake into the formation pores.
In other embodiments of this invention the particles are made large enough that they are retained within the proppant which is packed into the fracture and thus are retained in the fracture during and after the backflow of fluid out of the fracture. This would be appropriate if it is desired to release the oilfield chemical (perhaps a tracer or a scale inhibitor) into fluid from the reservoir after the fracturing fluid has been made to flow out.
Significant size properties for particles are the particle size and the particle size distribution. Discussion of methods of measuring particle size and definitions of different averages of particle size can be found in a Technical paper entitled “Basic Principles of Particle Size Analysis” by Alan Rawle of Malvern Instruments Ltd, Malvern, United Kingdom.
A relevant textbook is “Particle Size Measurement” by Terence Allen (4th ed, published by Chapman and Hall, London, 1990). Instrumentation for determining particle size by the commonly used technique of low angle laser light scattering, more commonly known as laser diffraction, is available from a number of suppliers including Malvern Instruments Ltd. The Malvern Mastersizer is a well known instrument which determines the volumes of individual particles, from which average particle size can be calculated according to several definitions, using computer software which accompanies the instrument.
The size of an individual particle is taken as the diameter of a spherical particle of the same volume, the so-called “equivalent sphere”. The software associated with the instrument enables determination of volume median diameter denoted as D[v, 0.5] or d50. This is a value of particle size such that 50% (by volume) of the particles have a volume larger than the volume of a sphere of diameter d50 and 50% of the particles have a volume smaller than the volume of a sphere of diameter d50.
Particle size distribution is conveniently indicated by the values of d10 and d90 measured by the same instrument. 10% by volume of the particles in a sample have an equivalent diameter smaller than d10. 90% by volume are smaller than d90 and so 10% by volume are larger than d90. The closer together the values of d10 and d90, the narrower is the particle size distribution.
Although particle size may be used to achieve the selective placement of particles, it may not be essential that every particle reaches its intended target location. So, for particles to be held by the filtercake, the mean size of the particles should be too large to pass through the filtercake and enter pores of the formation, although it may not be essential to prevent the smallest particles from doing so. Thus such particles will have mean particle size d50 of at least 10, probably at least 15 or 20 micron but d10 may be as low as 3 micron, possibly 5 micron or above. If these particles are intended to be pumped into the fracture before the proppant d50 may be up to 250, 280 or 300 micron, possibly even more.
The shape of the particles may vary considerably. They may be approximately spherical, but it is also possible that they could be elongate and indeed could take the form of fibres of a carrier matrix material with the oilfield chemical distributed within such fibres.
The “architecture” of particles may be further elaborated in order to give the desired release profile for the encapsulated oilfield chemical. For example, particles which consist of small islands of the chemical within a continuous carrier matrix could be over-coated with a further material which is soluble in oil but not in water. This would prevent any of the chemical from release while the particles were suspended in an aqueous fracturing fluid but the coating would dissolve, allowing the release of the chemical to begin, at the start of oil production through the fracture.
(iii) stirring or otherwise agitating that emulsion while causing or allowing evaporation of the organic solvent, thereby forming particles in which the substance is distributed within a matrix of the polymer.
(v) stirring or otherwise agitating that emulsion while causing or allowing evaporation of the organic solvent, thereby forming particles in which small particles of the substance are distributed within a matrix of the polymer.
(iv) stirring or otherwise agitating that emulsion while causing or allowing evaporation of the organic solvent, thereby forming particles in which small particles of the original powder are distributed within a matrix of the polymer.
In each of these procedures the particle size is affected by the choice of encapsulating polymer and the initial concentration of polymer in organic solvent, because these factors affect the viscosity of the disperse phase, from which organic solvent evaporates. A higher viscosity of this disperse phase leads to larger disperse droplets which in turn leads to larger particles. However, for any chosen composition, the droplet size of the disperse phase and hence the size of the particles can be controlled through the amount of shear applied to stir or agitate the emulsion while solvent evaporates. So, for any chosen encapsulating polymer, the significant parameters influencing particle size are the mixing condition and speed.
All the above procedures lead to an aqueous suspension of particles comprising the oilfield chemical encapsulated with polymer. The particles can be recovered by filtration, washed, dried and stored until required for use.
Other manufacturing techniques are also available for the production of particles with an oilfield chemical encapsulated within a polymer matrix. One possibility is to mix the oilfield chemical into a melt of a polymeric carrier material and then form this melt into particles. This would be applicable in particular when the oilfield chemical was a solid powder. The powder would be mixed into a melt of the polymer matrix material which would then be extruded into fibres with the oilfield chemical distributed within those fibres. If less elongate particles were desired, the fibres could subsequently be chopped into short lengths. A related possibility would be to mix the oilfield chemical in powder form with the matrix polymer, also in powder form, and then heat the mixture until the matrix material melted to an extrudable condition.
Embodiments of this invention and features mentioned above will now be illustrated and exemplified by the examples below and by the drawings and description thereof.
FIG. 4 is a cross section through a composite particle.
The following Examples 1 to 8 illustrate the preparation and properties of particles with an oilfield chemical encapsulated within a carrier matrix.
Tracer particles were made using several encapsulating polymers and using a hydrophobic dye as the tracer substance. This dye was 2-[4-(diethylamino)phenylazo]benzoic acid, more usually known as ethyl red. The organic solvent which was used was dichloromethane (CH2Cl2). Polyvinyl alcohol (80% hydrolysed polyvinyl acetate) was used as an emulsifier.
Ethyl red (0.020 g) and encapsulating polymer (0.465 g ) were dissolved in 10 ml dichloromethane. Polyvinyl alcohol (0.750 g) was dissolved in de-ionised water (150 g) using a mechanical stirrer (Heidolph RZ2050 electronic, 320 rpm) for about 30 min and the solution of dye and polymer in dichloromethane was then added to it, dropwise, to form an emulsion of the dichloromethane solution in the water. This emulsion was stirred at 320 rpm for 2 hours, the time for the dichloromethane solvent to evaporate. The resulting suspension of particles was then poured into 600 ml of de-ionised water and stirred for another 2 hours. The particles were then recovered by vacuum filtration on a cellulose nitrate membrane filter of 0.45 micron pore size and washed thoroughly with water until no coloration of the filtrate water was observed. The particles were then dried under vacuum and stored in a refrigerator.
Three encapsulating polymers used were Poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA), Poly-L/D-lactic acid (PLDLA) and Poly-L/D-lactide-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) (85:15 ratio) purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Chemicals. These all have relatively high molecular weight of about 100,000, and have fairly low glass transition temperatures (Tg) PLLA shows the highest glass transition at 51° C. as compared to 46° C. and 45° C. for PLDLA and PLGA, respectively. A fourth encapsulating polymer was a Poly-L/D-lactic acid (designated PLDLA#2) having a higher molecular weight of about 300,000 and a Tg of 60° C.
It can be seen that similar particle sizes were obtained with all three polymers. Scanning electron microscopy showed the particles to be spherical with a smooth surface. Extraction of dye from a small sample of particles showed that the dye content was approximately 3.3-3.5% by weight.
A similar preparation using PLLA, in which the 320 rpm stirrer was replaced with a Silverson mixer running at 1500 rpm to give higher shear led to smaller particles, with d50 below 20 micron.
In order to study the release profiles of the particles at different temperatures, 10 mg sample quantities (made using the 320 rpm stirrer) were suspended in 10 ml de-ionised water (pH 7-8) and incubated in closed bottles at various temperatures. After a period of time the amount of dye released into solution was determined by cooling the bottle and its contents to ambient temperature or below, to stop the release of dye, extracting into organic solvent the dye already released and then examining the extract spectroscopically.
These results show a consistent pattern. For each polymer there was no observable release of the encapsulated dye at temperatures below Tg. Above Tg release begins. If the temperature is slightly above Tg the dye was released progressively over time, but if the temperature was further above Tg the release was much more rapid, with a substantial proportion taking place within the first hour. The temperatures were higher for PLLA than for PLDLA and PLGA. This was attributed to partial crystallinity of the PLLA polymer, whereas the others were wholly amorphous.
PLDLA#2 d50 = 149 micron.
Comparison with the results above for dye release at the same temperature shows that dye release by diffusion at temperatures above Tg proceeds faster than particle degradation.
The procedure of Example 1, using the 320 rpm stirrer, was repeated using polystyrene-co-maleic anhydride (PS-MA) and also using mixtures of PLLA and PS-MA in weight ratios of 95:5, 80:20, 50:50, 30:70. These polymer blends were made by simply dissolving both polymers, in chosen proportions, were both dissolved in the dichloromethane together with the ethyl red dye. The Tg values of these blends were not determined directly, but since PS-MA has a Tg of about 120° C. which is much higher than that of PLLA, the Tg of the blends would increase with increasing proportion of PS-MA.
It can be seen that the blends with 50% or more PLLA, which have lower Tg, display significant early release, whereas PS-MA alone and 30:70 PLLA:PS-MA give gradual release. It can also be seen that particles made from pure PS-MA showed a steady release at 120° C. after an initial delay: note that no release was observed after 1 hour. When release profiles were studied at 95° C. no release of ethyl red was observed after 15 hours for PS-MA microspheres, as well as PLLA microspheres containing 70 wt. % PSMA.
The particle preparation procedure of Example 1 was carried out using the 320 rpm stirrer and PLLA as the polymer. The dye was 2-[4-(dimethylamino)phenylazo]benzoic acid, more usually known as methyl red which is a homologue of ethyl red. The encapsulated particles were found to have d50 of 106 micron. As in Example 1, sample quantities were suspended in de-ionised water and stored in closed bottles. The storage times and temperatures were 2 days and 20 days at 50° C. and 60° C. The percentages of dye released are given in the table below. It can be seen that the release of dye took place over a number of days.
Tracer particles were made using either PLLA or PLDLA#2 as the encapsulating polymer and using a water soluble hydrophilic dye as the tracer substance. This dye was the sodium salt of 4-(4-diethylaminophenylazo)benzenesulfonic acid, more usually known as ethyl orange.
Polyvinyl alcohol (0.375 g) was dissolved in water (150 g) containing 3 wt % sodium chloride using a mechanical stirrer (Heidolph RZ2050 electronic, 320 rpm) for about 30 min. Encapsulating polymer (0.25 g ) was dissolved in 3.7 ml dichloromethane and added to a solution of ethyl orange in water (0.20 ml). Various concentrations of ethyl orange in the water were used. The resulting mixture was stirred using a magnetic stirrer at its maximum rate for 10 min to form a water-in-oil emulsion which was then added dropwise to the saline solution of polyvinyl alcohol over about 3 hours to form a water-in-oil-in-water double emulsion. This double emulsion was then poured into 600 ml of water containing 3 wt % sodium chloride and stirred at 320rpm for another hour. As the dichloromethane solvent evaporated, the dispersed droplets were converted to particles comprising ethyl orange encapsulated by polymer. The particles were recovered by vacuum filtration on a cellulose nitrate membrane filter of 0.45 micron pore size and washed three times with water. The particles were then dried under vacuum and stored in a refrigerator. Examination of particles under an optical microscope showed that each particle contained islands of the ethyl orange in a matrix of the encapsulating PLLA.
Particles made in this way using the 300 rpm mixer were examined under an optical microscope. Tiny particles of the orange dye could be seen within the particles of the matrix polymer. The diameter of these tiny particles of dye was estimated as approximately 5 micron.
It can be observed that, as with encapsulated ethyl red in Example 1, the rate of release from PLLA particles was temperature dependent. Also, particles with PLDLA#2 polymer released dye more quickly than PLLA particles, consistent with the partially crystalline nature of PLLA. Thirdly, comparison of, PLLA particles with approximately 4.8% dye content showed that dye release from the smaller particles made at higher shear was much faster than from larger particles.
Further particles were made as in the preceding Example, above, using PLLA polymer, 7.7 wt % dye and stirring with the 320 rpm stirrer. The median size d50 of these particles was found to be 317 microns. The release profiles from some of the above particles were studied in the same way as in previous Examples, with storage periods of 2 and 20 days The following results were obtained. It can be appreciated from these results that release of the encapsulated dye was taking place over a period of some days.
Calcium peroxide is known to function as a breaker for gels formed by thickening with guar gum. In this example the calcium peroxide which was used was the product “Breake-C”, supplied by TPC-Brinadd, a division of Texas United Chemical Co., LLC, Houston, Tex., USA. The product is a pale yellow powder composed of over 60 wt % CaO2, not more than 31 wt % Ca(OH)2 and not more than 12 wt % CaCO3. The bulk density of the product is 0.5±0.075 g/cm3 (the density of pure calcium peroxide is 2.9 g/cm3). The material has a median particle size around 15 micron. It has a low solubility in pure water; the solubility of the main component calcium peroxide is under 0.1 gm/litre at 20° C.
Polyvinyl alcohol (0.375 g) was dissolved in water (150 g) using a mechanical stirrer (Heidolph RZ2050 electronic, 320 rpm) for about 30 min. PLLA (0.25 g ) was dissolved in 7 ml dichloromethane to which calcium peroxide powder was then added. The resulting mixture was shaken vigorously to suspend the powder in the dichloromethane solution and added to the solution of polyvinyl alcohol. This was stirred for about 3 hours while dichloromethane solvent evaporated, after which the mixture was poured into a further 600 ml of water and stirred for another hour. The resulting PLLA particles containing encapsulated powder were recovered by vacuum filtration on a cellulose nitrate membrane filter of 0.45 micron pore size and washed three times with water. The particles were then dried under vacuum. This procedure was carried out using three different amounts of calcium peroxide powder. Particles sizes were determined and the results are given in the following table. Uniformity of particle size is apparent.
The procedure of the previous Example was repeated on a slightly larger scale using 9% sodium chloride solution in place of water. Polyvinyl alcohol (1.5 g) was dissolved in water (600 g) using a mechanical stirrer (Heidolph RZ2050 electronic, 320 rpm) for about 30 min.
PLLA (1.0 g) was dissolved in 28 ml dichloromethane to which calcium peroxide powder (0.1 g) was then added. The resulting mixture was shaken vigorously to suspend the powder in the dichloromethane solution and added to the solution of polyvinyl alcohol. This was stirred for about 3 hours while dichloromethane solvent evaporated, after which the mixture was poured into a further 600 ml of water and stirred for another hour after which the resulting PLLA particles containing encapsulated powder were recovered as before. The procedure was also carried out using half the quantities of PLLA and calcium peroxide in only 8 ml dichloromethane, thus providing a more viscous dichloromethane solution, which led to an increased particle size for the encapsulated particles.
Particle size measurements on the particles of encapsulated powder are given in the following table.
The procedure was similar to the encapsulation of a hydrophobic dye in Example 4. Polyvinyl alcohol (0.375 g) was dissolved in water (150 g) containing 3 wt % sodium chloride using a mechanical stirrer (Heidolph RZ2050 electronic, 320 rpm) for about 30 min. PLLA (0.26 g) was dissolved in 3.7 ml dichloromethane and added to a solution of hemicellulase enzyme (0.026 g) in water (0.40 ml). The resulting mixture was stirred using a magnetic stirrer at 1200 rpm to form a water-in-oil emulsion which was then added to the saline solution of polyvinyl alcohol to form a water-in-oil-in-water double emulsion. Mixing was continued for two hours. This double emulsion was then diluted to 600 ml with de-ionised water and stirred at 320rpm for another two hours. The particles were recovered by vacuum filtration on a cellulose nitrate membrane filter of 0.45 micron pore size and washed with de-ionised water. The particles were then dried under vacuum and stored in a refrigerator.
FIG. 1 shows diagrammatically the arrangement when a fracturing job is carried out. As is conventional for such a job, hydrocarbon production from an existing wellbore 10 is halted and the well head is coupled to pumps 12 supplied by a mixer 14. This mixer is supplied with guar gum as a thickening polymer T, water W and (when required) particulate proppant P as indicated by arrows W, P and T. Viscous fracturing fluid formed by mixing in the mixer 14 is pumped down the production tubing 16 within the wellbore 10 and exits into the reservoir formation 22 as indicated by the arrows 18 at the foot of the well, at a pressure which is sufficiently great to initiate and propagate a fracture 20 in the formation 22 In the early stages of the fracturing job, the fluid does not contain proppant and elongates the fracture, but later on solid, particulate proppant is suspended in the fracturing fluid which is being pumped in. A standard proppant is used: sand having particle size ranging from 425 to 840 micron (20 to 40 US sieve). The fluid leaks off into the formation around the fracture, depositing a filtercake 24 of the thickener on the formation's surfaces exposed to the fracture 20 and packing the fracture with proppant 26 represented by a dot pattern. Pumping of fluid is stopped when the fracture has been formed and packed with proppant. The pressure in the fracture drops as fluid leaks off into the formation and the fracture closes on the proppant pack which remains sufficiently porous to provide a flow path along the fracture and out into the wellbore.
When most of the proppant has been pumped in, device 30 is used to meter in particles containing calcium peroxide breaker encapsulated with PLLA, similar to those prepared in Example 7. Most of these particles pass through the proppant in the fracture but are retained by the filtercake 24 deposited on the surfaces of the formation. Pumping is then stopped and the well is left for a few days to allow the breaker to be released from the particles and react to destroy the filtercake and de-viscosify the fracturing fluid. The aqueous fracturing fluid is then allowed to flow out in preparation for resumed production from the well.
FIG. 2 illustrates the formation of multiple fractures, (three are shown and designated 40, 42, 44) in a sequence spaced along a wellbore 38 which extends horizontally through a reservoir formation 22. The fractures are formed one at a time by pumping from the surface through equipment which allows the fluid to reach only one fracture position. The present invention is implemented with such an arrangement by delivering encapsulated breaker particles as made in Example 7 into each fracture as it is packed with proppant.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of part of the edge region of the fracture 40. When proppant 26 is pumped into the fracture, two sets of encapsulated particles are metered into the fracturing fluid. One set of particles 34 contain breaker. These particles may be as made in Example 7. Most of those particles become trapped in the filtercake 24 although some remain in the pack of proppant 26. A second set of particles 36 has a larger particles size and these contain a hydrophobic tracer (tracer A). These particles are retained in the pack of proppant 26.
The fracture 42 is fractured similarly, except that the second set of particles delivered to this fracture contain a different hydrophobic tracer (tracer B). The fracture 44 is also fractured in the same way, but the second set of particles delivered to this fracture contain a third hydrophobic tracer (tracer C). After each fracture has been formed, the encapsulated breaker liberated from particles 34 serves to break down the filtercake 24. When hydrocarbon production begins, tracers A, B, and C, liberated within the respective fractures 40, 42, 44 are carried to the surface and detected in samples of the produced hydrocarbon, thus showing that there is hydrocarbon production through all three of the fractures 40, 42, 44.
FIG. 4 illustrates a possible further development to the “architecture” of particles. A particle made by the procedure used for Examples 1 to 8 provides a core 50, which contains an oilfield chemical distributed within an encansulating polymer matrix. This core 50 is overcoated with a shell 52 of an oil-soluble wax. When such a particle is suspended in an aqueous fracturing fluid no release of the oilfield chemical can occur because the shell 52 provides a barrier surrounding the core. When the particle eventually comes into contact with oil below ground, this is able to dissolve the shell 52, allowing the slow release of oilfield chemical from the core 50 to begin.
1. A process for hydraulic fracturing of a subterranean reservoir formation penetrated by a wellbore, comprising pumping an aqueous suspension of particles which each comprise an oilfield chemical distributed within an encapsulating matrix of water-insoluble carrier_material from the surface via the wellbore and into the reservoir, wherein the encapsulating matrix is chosen so as to provide a delayed release of the oilfield chemical from the particles into surrounding fluid, such that oilfield chemical is liberated from the particles after they have entered the fracture.
2. The process of claim 1 wherein the aqueous suspension of particles is a suspension of the particles in a hydraulic fracturing fluid pumped into the wellbore at sufficient pressure to fracture the formation.
4. The process of claim 3 wherein the encapsulating carrier material is an organic polymer which has Tg above 40° C. but below the temperature of the reservoir.
5. The process of claim 4 wherein the encapsulating polymer has Tg in a range from 40° C. to 175° C.
6. The process of claim 1 wherein the encapsulating polymer is a polymer of a hydroxycarboxylic acid.
7. The process of claim 1 wherein the encapsulating polymer comprises a mixture of polymers.
8. The process of claim 1 wherein at least 75% of the oilfield chemical is retained within the particles until after they enter the fracture.
9. The process of claim 1 wherein at least 50% of the oilfield chemical is liberated into the fracture before the production of hydrocarbon via the fracture.
10. The process of claim 1 wherein at least 95% of the oilfield chemical is liberated into the fracture within 5 days.
11. The process of claim 1 wherein at least 50% of the chemical is retained by the particles for a period of at least 5 days at the reservoir temperature and subsequently released.
12. The process of claim 1 wherein the particles have a median particle size of at least 15 micron.
13. The process of claim 1 wherein the particles have a median particle size in a range from 25 to 200 micron.
14. The process of claim 1 comprising a step of pumping a suspension of proppant into the fracture before or concurrently with said particles and said particles have a median particle size in a range from 25 to 200 micron.
15. The process of claim 1 comprising a step of pumping a suspension of proppant into the fracture concurrently with said particles and said particles have a median particle size of at least 250 micron.
16. The process of claim 1 wherein the particles are elongate fibres.
17. The process of claim 2 wherein the fracturing fluid comprises an aqueous dispersion of a thickener.
18. The process of claim 2 wherein the fracturing fluid comprises an aqueous dispersion of a thickener which forms a filtercake on surfaces of the formation exposed to the fracture and the oilfield chemical is a breaker, effective to degrade the thickener in the filtercake.
19. The process of claim 18 wherein the thickener comprises a polysaccharide and the breaker is a peroxide.
20. The process of claim 18 wherein the thickener comprises a polysaccharide and the breaker is an enzyme.
21. The process of claim 18 wherein the thickener in the fracturing fluid comprises a viscoelastic surfactant and the breaker is a compound comprising a hydrophobic chain of at least 12 carbon atoms.
22. The process of claim 1 wherein the oilfield chemical is a tracer and the process includes a subsequent step of analyzing fluid flowing out of the reservoir via the wellbore to detect the presence or absence of the tracer therein.
23. The process of claim 1 which comprises pumping hydraulic fracturing fluid from the surface via the wellbore and into the reservoir so as to open fractures of the reservoir formation at multiple locations along the length of a wellbore, and comprising pumping a said aqueous suspension of particles into each fracture.
MX2015016156A (en) 2013-05-24 2016-08-08 Tucc Tech Llc Treatment fluids with non-oxidizer class inorganic peroxide polymer breakers and methods of use thereof. | 2019-04-26T15:15:50Z | https://patents.google.com/patent/US20100307744A1/en |
Australia Day this year was marked by thousands of people marching against holding our national celebration on 26th January. It is a day that represents the start of invasion, pain and dispossession for First Nations peoples. The pain was compounded this year by the refusal of the Australian Government to embrace the ‘Uluru Statement from the Heart’ and its call for the establishment of a ‘First Nations Voice’ in the Australian Constitution.
So I believe it is important to share the stories of great creative work that celebrates partnerships with First Nations peoples. First Nation knowledge and creativity could be playing a vital role in helping educate our children and can help us achieve the productive futures we want, where innovation and creativity are basic to growing our national economy.
There are important stories to be told about how we can realise creative futures, where creative, technical and business skills combine, which can draw upon the most ancient of traditions of our First Nation peoples. These include approaches that value kinship and connections, and artforms that combine ancient stories and knowing with contemporary creative technologies and performance art.
Whether it be examples of Aboriginal dances adapted and created to tell the stories of first sightings of ships or white man, to a breakthrough musical theatre production like Bran Nue Dae that disrupted popular stereotypes of Indigenous peoples to recent new works such as ‘My name is Jimi’ featuring Torres Strait Islander stories from Jimi Bani, and Nakkiah Lui’s ‘Black is the new white’, First Nation theatre and performances serve as performative acts of protest and agency. Such actions and work demonstrate that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have always had to devise, adapt, create and remake to achieve equal rights and recognition, and arts and creative forms have been important vehicles for this.
Recently at our national capital our Arts Education, Practice and Research group along with the AARE community of educational researchers acknowledged this remarkable heritage. It was especially pertinent with 2017 being the 50-year anniversary of the 1967 Referendum, 25 years since the Mabo decision and the 20-year anniversary of the ‘Bringing them Home’ Report.
We heard from Traditional Owners such as Dr Matilda House and from Indigenous artists such as Dennis Golding and were inspired by First Nation voices, stories, resilience and creativity. Matilda House believes that “you must have stories of your country. If you don’t, you don’t belong, no matter where you come from’.
I am currently engaged in a new research project that reminds me of the power of story and voice for helping provide insight into the human experience, but also for enabling us to realise new visions and ‘New Dreamings’.
Working in partnership with JUTE Theatre in Cairns, our research with the ‘Dare to Dream’ project will seek to investigate the short and longer-term impacts of a participatory program whereby new theatre works are being created that tell Indigenous stories, that are also generated in collaboration with local Indigenous leaders and feature Indigenous artists as key creatives on the projects. Each year as well as the performance of the work in schools, a one week workshop program is conducted within 10 schools in far-North Queensland. During the week young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people (from grades 6-10) participate in drama and storytelling workshops and at the end of the week they are invited to share what they have created with the community. The theatre and workshop experience provides direct contact for the young Indigenous people to positive professional role models and positive stories about a range of possible futures.
The first work of the series was ‘Proppa Solid’ by Steven Oliver (of ABC Black Comedy fame). The play begins with a great creative premise: in 2044 Australia has its first Aboriginal president of the republic. He has moved the centre of power (the Black House) to Brisbane and unlike his wife, the President Paul Toppy has little knowledge and connection to his country or people. Throughout the course of the play he comes to understand who he is, where he comes from and the importance of his kinship with family and country.
This week a creative development process is being hosted in Cairns which profiles the life of Henrietta Marrie, a Traditional Owner whose great-grandfather was known as ‘King Ye-i-nie’ of the Yidinji. Henrietta has been a tireless advocate for Aboriginal culture and heritage. This includes Henrietta’s work as the first Aboriginal Australian to work for the United Nations and draws attention to Australia’s obligations to its Indigenous communities under various UN Articles of the Convention of Biological Diversity.
The 2018 work being developed for the ‘Dare to Dream’ project is known as ‘Bukal’, named for Henrietta and also the black lawyer vine which grows in the rainforest and is used for weaving and other purposes. The goal for this new show is that it will inspire and educate young people, particularly young Indigenous women.
‘One in ten First Nations people in remote Australia earn income from arts, “remote creative arts participation rates declined between 2008 and 2014-15 driven by declines in remote NT and Queensland – a concerning trend given the importance of First Nations arts to cultural and economic sustainability, and community wellbeing’.
Drama and theatre are often not regarded as particularly innovative art forms or crucial for realising ‘New Dreamings’ within digital worlds. However dramatic learning affirms the fact we still inhabit human bodies, which enable us to take action within the world. Through drama and performance players can learn. They are using dramatic forms of storytelling, but they are also bearing witness, inventing and affirming new voices and identities, and discovering new career pathways and life roles.
Through theatre we have seen the emergence of a strong body of work by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and writers. They have documented their experiences, perceptions and imaginings through embracing, adapting and innovating upon western theatre forms of performance and scriptwriting.
From the Kevin Gilbert in 1971 with the ‘Cherry Pickers’, Bob Maza, Robert Merritt’s ‘Cake Man’, Eva Johnson’s ‘Murras’, Jack Davis’ ‘The Dreamers’, to Enoch and Mailman’s ‘Seven Stages of Grieving”, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander playwrights have provided us with insights into what has often been hidden and not spoken about in the lives of Indigenous peoples.Women’s experiences have been shared through personal histories revealed in works by Lingali Lawford, Leah Purcell, Sally Morgan, and Jane Harrison. Different insights on major historical events have also been documented, including through works such as ‘Black Diggers’ which highlighted the experiences of Indigenous soldiers during WWI. These play texts contain great sources of insight that can be brought into any classroom, not only theatre or drama classes.
The contribution of the drama, theatre and arts education for cultivating the skills of communication and expression, of experimentation and innovation, reflection and creativity required for productive futures seems to be undervalued by the government bodies, even though in this past year they claimed to value the importance of creativity and innovation for our future national prosperity (see the 2017 House of Representatives Federal Parliamentary inquiry).
While it is early days for the program and research, so far students and teachers have all noted the positive outcomes of the program with reports of high levels of student engagement, increased levels of confidence and the young people having expanded notions of opportunities and life pathways. The actor/facilitators have spoken of how for many of the students, the experience has opened up their sense of what might be possible (beyond sport, teaching, nursing or in some communities the military). Plans for future work will also focus on ways to capitalise on the possible connections across the school and wider communities where the shows tour, and to firm up the strategies for building and extending learning through the kinship and connection networks.
It is time to recognise that creativity and innovation relies on people and very human forms of creativity and expression, it is also time to more fully recognise the contributions, strengths, creativity and innovations of our First Nations peoples, and that their ingenuity, resilience and creative endeavours are quite extraordinary and should be more explicitly celebrated in ways that are respectful and appropriate.
Susan Davis is Deputy Dean Research for the School of Education & the Arts at CQ University, Australia. Her research has focused on drama, arts-education, engagement and digital technologies. She is one of the Co-Convenors of the Arts Education Research SIG of AARE and a Board member for Drama Australia and the Sunshine Coast Creative Alliance. Sue was previously a drama teacher and performing arts Head of Department and has created and managed many arts-based projects in collaboration with various education, arts industry and community groups. Susan was one of the convenors of a Creative Education Summit held at ACMI in 2016, with summit outcomes contributing to an Arts Education, Practice and Research group submission to the “The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training Inquiry into innovation and creativity: workforce for the new economy”. She was also invited to present further evidence at a roundtable for the inquiry.
Millions of dollars have been spent on targeted programs to improve literacy and numeracy learning outcomes around Australia. However this year’s NAPLAN data shows stagnation in terms of data improvement, with a downward shift in performance levels for writing.
We don’t believe this lack of movement in data is matched by a lack of impact in the classroom. On the contrary, we believe the current focus on formal, regulated programs in reading and writing, including in early childhood education, is having an enormous negative impact. As we see it, there has been a narrowing of focus and a preoccupation with test results. The unfortunate flow on effect is increased anxiety and behavioural issues as children are labeled as ‘difficult’ or ‘slow learners’ and disenfranchised from their learning. There are huge increases in exclusions of children from the earliest ages. According to media reports more than 1,000 prep year students in Queensland were suspended for bad behaviour last year.
Adding to narrowing of what happens in the classroom is the current obsession with certain types of ‘evidence-based’ practice such as targeted programs in direct instruction, phonics, and atomised, decontextualized approaches to teaching writing as lists of grammatical features and structure. Schools are spending thousands of dollars on literacy and writing programs as well as systems to measure and monitor children weekly, even daily. However, these programs rarely translate to children becoming more confident communicators and ‘meaning makers’ who feel in control of the forms and means of their expression.
We are not claiming there are no literacy and writing programs out there making a difference. There would be many. But we are blogging to tell you about some we call arts-based approaches.
What is an arts-based approach?
Within education, the arts incorporate the five areas of Dance, Drama, Media, Music and Visual Arts. Each have specific processes, skill bases and disciplines that they draw on. These different arts areas have some similar elements and approaches, including knowing through doing and creating, with children learning to express ideas and emotions through voice, movement, actions and different expressive forms. The arts can be taught as discrete single discipline areas, or in combination with other learning areas or arts areas. So we can talk about arts learning but also ‘learning through the arts’. In primary schools, teachers may use arts processes and strategies to teach content in other learning areas and this often helps create more engaged and experiential learning.
Examples of arts-based approaches we have implemented include using drama to support learning in English, History, Geography and Science. In one example Sue Davis created a program where year 5 students were enrolled as ‘spacetroopers’ who have to research various planets to locate one where water might be found. They then had to prepare for a space trip to that chosen planet. Throughout the unit children were involved in writing in a diverse range of forms including written reports, letters and diary entries. At the end of drama sessions when children had ‘experienced’ the content and learning, they were sometimes running to their desks to pull out their books to write.
There is a range of research that consistently demonstrates the positive impact of arts-based approaches for improved academic and social outcomes for students in schools. The international research includes Critical Links, an important compendium of findings from numerous studies on student academic and social learning through the arts. There are consistent positive associations between dramatic enactment with reading comprehension, oral story understanding and written story understanding.
More recent research from the US includes meta-analysis work that found Drama and arts-based learning programs can have a significant impact on improving language arts and academic learning programs. Another study with students who had learning difficulties indicated the use of drama strategies improved student motivation, narrative cohesion and language acquisition. A growing body of Australian research supports the international work ranging from the impact of arts programs, including research for the Songroom through to classroom based work with a focus on literacy development in the early years. This and other work in secondary schools by University of Sydney researchers shows the impact of arts-based programs can be substantial.
An example of an arts-based approach with positive results for student literacy and writing is the Sydney Theatre Company’s School Drama™ project. This program was pioneered by Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton, who were Co-artistic Directors of the Sydney Theatre Company at the time, with Professor Robyn Ewing from the University of Sydney. School Drama™ teams teaching artists (with performance and/or applied theatre background with an acting background) with a classroom teacher. They work together with primary school classes to use drama strategies and children’s literature to make English and literacy learning come alive.
A key feature of the program is to help build the participating primary school teacher’s capacity to use arts-based strategies. Each school and teacher begins the program with a particular literacy area they want to improve and they engage in careful benchmarking of pre and post literacy data.
John Saunders, Education Manager at Sydney Theatre Company, was an experienced secondary drama teacher when he then took on managing the School Drama program. He believes something very special happens when children are having so much fun with drama they forget they are learning. As they are busy enjoying themselves they are increasing their ability to visualise, comprehend and write. He tells a story about how, after working with the children’s book about the Stolen Generation called The Burnt Stick by Anthony Hill, children said they felt like they didn’t do any writing at all because they had had been ‘learning in our way, a fun way’. In fact they had been writing every lesson, but it hadn’t felt like ‘work’. Such programs are successful across whatever area of literacy is in focus, however children who are behind usually show the biggest improvement.
In his research John found that while the program leads to improvements in academic areas including literacy it also impacts on so-called ‘soft skills’ or ‘non-academic’ areas such as empathy building, confidence, motivation and engagement. Research by independent evaluator Robyn Gibson supports these findings.
When learning approaches such as these focus on experience and active learning, children become confident in using language and literacies within real and imagined contexts. Data on impact is growing and is providing insight into more innovative, transferrable approaches to teaching literacy.
Unfortunately politicians and policy makers rarely recognise our projects, including professional learning models we have piloted and researched, or any other arts-based approach. Arts-based programs are simply not acknowledged as vehicles for improving valued academic outcomes.
We believe if governments invested just some of the millions they invest in improving NAPLAN scores into arts-based programs, such as School Drama and related professional learning, the results would be astounding.
John Nicholas Saunders is a former secondary school teacher and the current Education Manager at Sydney Theatre Company. He holds a Bachelor of Creative Industries (Drama), Bachelor of Education (Secondary), Masters of Research and is currently studying for a PhD. John’s classroom work together with his research has focused on Drama as pedagogy and its benefits for student literacy, engagement, motivation and empathy. John has extensive experience in Arts Education and has held positions as a senior curriculum writer, head of department; Board member of Playlab Press, President of Drama NSW and Drama QLD. He currently holds positions as: President, Drama Australia; Honorary Associate, The University of Sydney; Chair, Australian Major Performing Arts Group (AMPAG) Education Network; and Drama representative, National Advocates for Arts Education. In 2014 he was awarded the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Science (CHASS) prize for future leader in the field and in 2016 he published ‘The School Drama Book: Drama, Literature & Literacy In The Creative Classroom’ with is colleague, Professor Robyn Ewing.
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If you are a Harry Potter fan you probably celebrated last month, the twentieth anniversary of the first Harry Potter book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Millions of us did, all around the world, and for me it gave rise to reflecting upon the economic and imaginative impact possible through creative works. I also wondered about how such creative writing is supported through our curriculum programs as my son set out to write yet another ‘analysis of aesthetic elements and conventions’ essay on a novel for year 12 English. In 18 months of assessment in English he has not once been asked to complete a piece of creative writing.
The recent report from the Parliamentary Inquiry into Innovation and Creativity yet again reinforced the privileging of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) subjects as the key to prosperous economic futures. However while rare, it is clear that creative ‘inventions’ such as the Harry Potter series can have enormous economic impacts as well as social, creative and cultural.
The Harry Potter series is well and truly the biggest selling literary series of all time having sold over 500 millions copies. It is the second most popular film series as well (after The Marvel Cinematic Universe films). However this is a series that has also become part of the folk culture of a generation.
J.K Rowling didn’t just create a publishing phenomenon she created a cultural phenomenon. New readers then and now continue to connect with the familiarity of the characters, their trials and dilemmas but are also inspired by the fantasy and magic of the Harry Potter story world.
The creativity of the Harry Potter series has been both celebrated but also critiqued. Following in the league of such imaginative world creators as Tolkien with ‘Lord of the Rings’, George Lucas with ‘Star Wars’, Rowling drew upon ancient mythologies, character types and creatures with her creation. This highlights a key aspect of creative work and issues of using ‘originality’ as the mark of true creativity. We can see that in the Harry Potter books there is much that has been borrowed. There are familiar figures of warlocks, wizards and goblins but then there are the original creations. There are dementors – dark creatures that absorb the happiness of the creatures around them and the mysteries of the horcrux, hidden objects which contain the fragment of a split soul.
The series has borrowed, selected and combined many of the story tropes identified by those who’ve analysed the mythology of the eons, from Propp’s morphology of the folktale to Joseph Campbell analysis of the hero’s journey and Robert McKee’s principles of story in film. It’s a tale of good versus evil, the extraordinary existing within the ordinary, of jealousies, love and loss, of mythic searches and hard won triumphs.
Rowling’s gift was to combine all of this with her own inventiveness and creations to envision a new world of the imagination. This occurred at a time when young people were looking not for self identification in teen fiction that was just a reflection of their every day lives, but were ready for a new form of escape into the world of fantasy and magic. This is a world where a boy is bullied and confined to a bedroom under the stairs, but who is then able to defeat ‘Voldemort, the Lord of darkness’. The resonances for children and young people are not so hard to understand. This is a world where children are powerful, can take life and death risks and become masters of not only their own destiny but their entire universe.
What is always so amazing with these kinds of inventions is that they begin as works of the imagination, but become actual touchstones and reference points for people’s real life worlds and experiences. Muggles as a word has passed into the common lexicon, there are actual sporting teams that now play a game called ‘Quidditch’ and characters from the series have inspired scientific names of organisms, including the the crab Harryplax severus.
But beyond that the events, creatures, and characters become shortcuts, similes and metaphors in people’s lives. Harry Potter references can be the means to describe and give relevance and meaning, the mixed identity and sense of not belonging of the half-blood child, the threat of a Voldemort, the wisdom of a Dumbledore.
What is also significant about the Harry Potter series is its emergence and development during the age of the Internet and the rise of participatory cultures. In his work Henry Jenkins has described the phenomenon of the participatory communities that coalesce around certain book and movie series, such as Harry Potter and Star Wars. Creative agency and self-expression is realised by many within these communities as they draw on aspects of the invented narratives, characters and storylines but elaborate upon such to extend, write and rewrite their own. Reporting on the rise of a fan fiction community of children and young people, Jenkins shows how Rowling’s work enabled many entry points for creative imaginings, from imagining themselves as key characters such as Harry or Hermione to minor figures, distant relations or agents.
The sparks for new creations and creativity can begin through such character identification and involvement in creative fan fiction communities and narrative worlds. These can provide the pivots and imaginative and conceptual tools to help initiate children and young people’ creativity, using borrowed tales to imitate, but then extend upon to create new work.
That brings me back to thinking about how the opportunities for new and inventive creative writing might currently be cultivated in our schools, and the concern I have for my son (and thousands of other young people).
Academics such as Sawyer, and Frawley have researched the teaching of English in schools in Australia and have identified the difficulties many teachers now face in developing student creative writing and creativity. The rise of increasingly high-stakes assessment environments and ‘atomised’ approaches to teaching textual features, grammatical conventions, devices, structures and genres often leads to highly prescriptive writing curricula.
Concerns about such were highlighted to me when I interviewed students as part of my doctoral studies and asked them about the subjects where they could be creative in schools. I was somewhat surprised when many students said they did more creative work, and creative writing as well, in Drama rather than English. They also bemoaned the fact that English (for them) was always about analysing and deconstructing. I acknowledge this was by no means a broad sample and that, as Gannon argues, many schools and teachers continue to negotiate the mandates to engage in exemplary pedagogy to support student practice.
We need to ensure that the spaces for creative writing and creative learning are not squeezed out of formal education and that the inspiration of Harry Potter and friends can continue to provide the means for young (and not so young people) to become immersed in real/non-real, familiar/strange and magical worlds that can become the gateway to new forms of creating understanding, being and becoming.
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Once upon a time early childhood teachers used to learn singing and playing the piano, primary school teachers could study electives (and even majors) in areas such as drama and art, and universities could add new courses (such as ones in teacher as entrepreneur or global citizenship) through putting in a course variation form to a university committee.
Teaching was seen by many as a truly creative profession.
Not anymore. You would be hard pressed to find examples of any of the above anymore.
As a teacher educator this is distressing to me, not because I am longing for some ‘golden age’ past but because I am deeply worried about our future.
If we want creative futures, we need creative teachers, and we need systems that enable them to thrive and not be crushed by mountains of paper work and regulation.
Teacher education is a field which is absent from innovation discourses. However teachers are the ones working with children and young adults and helping to shape their perspectives and capacities. So I argue it is imperative that creativity and innovation be taught and supported as part of teacher preparation. This includes both creative teaching, but also teaching for creativity and cultivating critical and creative thinking for our students.
However teacher education, like schooling itself has been taken over by regulation and standardization requirements and instrumentalities, much of this through the rhetoric of raising teaching standards.
The increased levels of regulation and requirements for teacher education programs means there has been a reduction in the scope for approaches that cultivate creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation for pre-service teachers. Opportunities for elective studies or minors in areas such as the arts have also been reduced, with more mandated units having to be included in generalist teacher education programs, and new specialisations for primary teachers being targeted in Math/numeracy and Science.
Furthermore, there is no mention of creativity and innovation in our teaching standards, not teaching for it, or teachers themselves demonstrating it.
Teacher education standards were developed to articulate the key features of the profession. Their development and first phase of implementation proved useful for providing a common language for talking about teaching and to student teachers about what the profession entailed and how to get there.
However their initial conceptualization has now been turned into sets of regulations and checklists that are in danger of killing off rather than nurturing creativity and innovation.
While in the current version of national standards developed by AITLS (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership) used in Australia there are 7 professional standards, underneath that are 37 focus areas and teacher education students must demonstrate evidence collected across all of these.
To be able to offer teacher education courses, teacher education providers must likewise provide evidence across a set of similarly numbered program standards.
In fact the instructions of what needs to be included takes up 42 pages in a guidelines document, which also emphasises that once a program is accredited no changes can be made to that progam. This type of approach encourages a compliance and tick box mentality.
It also means enormous energies and person power are devoted towards generating mountains of paperwork and which other poor reviewers must then wade their way through. While a so-called ‘light touch’ regulatory model was to be used for the re-accreditation of programs, one university education faculty recently reported that their accreditation submission amounted to over 1000 pages of documentation.
While consistency and regulation are important it does tend to stifle the ability for educators to respond to changes in industry and the economy. Systems that are being built around certification and compliance make it impossible to be nimble and flexible and reduces the capacity of course designers and teachers to be creative and responsive.
Where is creativity, improvisation, flexibility, risk-taking, productive failure in such models and approaches?
Of further concern to me are some of the comments emerging from a senior member of the AITSL staff, who when asked at a forum about how she saw creativity and educating for the future being promoted through the professional standards, the audience was somewhat surprised to hear her say she did not believe in a futures oriented curriculum, that she has no problem with the existing curriculum but with how it is taught.
Furthermore when discussing projects on their horizon for assisting teachers, mention was made of more psychometrically calibrated assessment instruments developed to use across the curriculum. Audible gasps of horror could not be contained from teacher educators around the room. AITSL staff have since assured me that the intention is to create banks of formative assessment tools and the intention is that that teachers will find them helpful. This proves the point that terminology and language really matter, and psychometrically calibrated assessment instruments does not say formative assessment to most teachers.
I can understand that much of what AITSL may be tasked to do is driven by political agendas (with AITSL being entirely owned by the Australian government with the federal Education Minister its only member) but what teachers want is not more psychometrically calibrated assessments. What they want is to be trusted to make professional judgements and design learning and assessment strategies that support their students. As I see it, our current interest in certain types of ‘evidence’ is becoming an obsession, at great cost to the students we teach.
If we believe our future requires creative and critical thinkers, we need to cultivate the conditions where creativity can be nurtured by teachers and teacher educators. We need to make sure this is not drowned in regulation, distrust of teachers and lack of belief in their capacity to be professional as well as creative.
I have a dream that this nation will achieve its full creative and economic potential and that Arts education will rightfully be seen as central to making this happen. It worries me that current thinking and policymaking around national innovation concentrates on increasing participation in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects while the teaching of the Arts (dance, drama, music, media arts and visual arts,) is rarely even on the innovation agenda.
It is not that I begrudge the attention STEM is getting, it is just that I believe if we want to be a truly innovative and creative nation we need to put the Arts, very firmly, back in the mix. We should be talking about STEAM in schools and universities with the Arts very much in the centre of it all.
There exists a popular narrative, used to drive the STEM education agenda in Australia (and elsewhere), that says there are significantly declining enrolments in the Sciences and other STEM disciplines. However I question this narrative as justification for major initiatives. I will come back to that later.
First up what are we talking about, when we talk about innovation and creativity?
Creativity and innovation involves putting things together in new ways, it involves risk-taking, experimenting and refining, valuing the role of productive failure, it involves making and doing, and is often collaborative and co-creative. While creativity is about the capacity to putting things together in new, novel and different ways, innovation is often seen as putting them to work and out into the world so that they meet a need, want or interest.
However these capacities don’t get switched on when people hit the world of work, they need to be cultivated across the education lifespan in all subjects in as many ways as possible.
Unfortunately the nurturing of creativity and innovation often seems to be at odds with the direction of many current initiatives in education. I have concerns about mandated curriculum and standards and everyone doing the same thing, the same tests, meeting the same benchmarks. I am particularly concerned about certain subjects or areas of learning being valued as more essential or more important than others.
The focus on STEM, without similar focus being turned to the Arts and Humanities does not appear to be justified by recent research about the impact of technologies on our lives. It is hard to deny that all aspects of life and the world of work are undergoing rapid transformations, many brought about by developments in technologies across nearly all fields of endeavour. Recent research from Oxford University notes however, that while robots will assume the role of many people in many sectors, growth continues in those that rely on creative capacity and social interactions, people, services and experiences. They are not optional areas of focus for education, but essential for opening up future study and work opportunities.
The importance of valuing other areas of learning and related industry sectors is also evident when examining economic development within various industry sectors. Industry growth and projection reports identify that education itself is one of Australia’s major export industries. Other projected growth areas identified by the Reserve Bank include household and business services, food, arts and recreation.
A Deloitte report also identifies industry sectors such as agribusiness, tourism, international education and wealth management as ones that are growth sectors for the Australian economy.
To do well in these sectors may require knowledge and skills in some or all of the STEM areas, but also relies on understanding people, design, experience and communications: the Arts subjects.
Is there really a crisis in the uptake of STEM subjects?
A review of senior secondary enrolments in several states over the past 20 years reveals that in most cases all students have to/or tend to study an English and a Math subject. When it comes to the sciences, Biology is the top or near top elective subject and while there is some drop in the percentage of Physics and Chemistry enrolments it is not perhaps as extreme as we have been lead to believe, and in fact in recent times in Queensland, for example, there has been an increase in the numbers for Chemistry enrolments.
Enrolments in sciences have not been dropping more substantially than other subjects over the last 20 years using Queensland data as an example. While percentages of total year 12 enrolments might be 5-10% lower, this has to be considered in the context of increased subject choices including vocational training courses. It is clear that the pattern of enrolment of the Arts and Humanities also shows similar decreases in percentages too. When it comes to the most dramatic drop in enrolments over the past 20 years it is actually Accounting (20% to 7%) and Economics (19% to 5%) that have seen the most dramatic declines.
Similar trends can be identified in New South Wales and Victorian data, though the strength of Chemistry seen in Queensland is not necessarily reflected in other state data.
While there is no doubt that there are still issues with enrolments in STEM by different target groups, including girls and students from low SES backgrounds, regional areas and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, these are not new issues. However a focus on increased enrolments in STEM per se is not likely to change that. Other strategies that focus more on pedagogy, combining STEM and arts based approaches are more likely to have impact (and have been the basis for strategies in places such as Korea).
It is important that capacity building in creativity and innovation be supported across the years of formal education (including early childhood, primary and secondary education) and tertiary study, including teacher education. This requires a shift beyond STEM and the ongoing focus on ‘basic skills’ in major educational drives, and to look at the cultivation of ideas and passions, calculated risk taking, how to work through failure, problem-finding and problem-solving and resolution of ideas into products and forms.
This requires an approach that recognizes that creativity and innovation can be cultivated across diverse learning and industry fields. If the current obsession with STEM is to continue, as I said previously, it should be converted to STEAM, with the Arts at its centre, at the very least, or perhaps ESTEAM to recognize the importance of Entrepreneurship as well.
Here is my list of other key points and issues we need to tackle.
Reduce the focus in educational agendas on NAPLAN and standardized test instruments and reports. We can’t mandate that everyone learns the same things in the same ways for 10 years of schooling and then expect them to do things ‘differently’. We need room for people to develop interests and expertise in diverse areas, so room for electives, special projects and enterprises.
If our governments recognize the importance of creativity and innovation for our future national prosperity (as the current parliamentary inquiry would indicate), attention must be paid to learning that promotes problem-solving and inventiveness, social innovation and entrepreneurship, and multiple forms of communication and expression. To do this effectively Australia needs to give just as much attention to the Arts as it is currently to the teaching of and participation in STEM. These areas are all fundamental to cultivating innovation for the future of our economy and our world. | 2019-04-18T13:01:37Z | https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?tag=susan-davis |
Good morning, and welcome to the AngioDynamics Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2019 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. [Operator Instructions]. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.
The news release detailing the third quarter results crossed the wire earlier this morning and is available on the company’s website. This conference call is also being broadcast live over the Internet at the Investors section of the company’s website at www.angiodynamics.com. And the webcast replay of the call will be available at the same site approximately one hour after the end of today’s call.
Before we begin, I would like to caution listeners that during the course of this conference call, the company will make projections or forward-looking statements regarding future events, including statements about expected revenue, adjusted earnings and free cash flow for fiscal year 2019. Management encourages you to review the company’s past and future filings with the SEC, including without limitation, the company’s Forms 10-Q and 10-K, which identify specific factors that may cause the actual results or events to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.
A slide package offering insight into the company’s financial results is also available on the Investors section of the company’s website under events and presentations. This presentation should be read in conjunction with the press release discussing the company’s operating results and financial performance during this morning’s conference call.
I’d now like to turn the call over to Jim Clemmer, AngioDynamics’ President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Clemmer?
Thanks, Rob. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us today for AngioDynamics’ third quarter fiscal 2019 earnings call. Joining me today on the call will be Michael Greiner, AngioDynamics’ Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Stephen Trowbridge, Senior Vice President and General Counsel who is also the leader of our clinical team.
Michael is under the weather today and will not be doing the financial portion of the call, but is with us to answer any questions that you may have during the Q&A portion of our call. Today, I will provide a brief overview of our operating highlights and the financial performance for the quarter. Before I close our prepared remarks, we’ll have the discussion of the NanoKnife pancreatic cancer DIRECT study. Stephen has joined us to answer specific questions that you may have related to the approval of this study that we announced yesterday morning.
Overall, we are really pleased with our results for the third quarter. Despite some pockets of softness, we were encouraged by our solid results in a number of areas and we continue to generate profitable growth with a focus on operational excellence and building a market leading, cohesive product portfolio. As I will discuss later, our third quarter performance positions us to achieve our annual guidance for revenue, adjusted EPS, and free cash flow.
Our net sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 increased 3% to $86.3 million driven by growth in our oncology and vascular interventions and therapies businesses, including contributions from our recent acquisitions of BioSentry and RadiaDyne, which are in line with our expectations for the third quarter.
At the product level, our AngioVac dialysis catheters, fluid management, and Solero products exhibited solid growth during the quarter offsetting lower NanoKnife capital sales, which were primarily a result of timing and continued expected slowing of our RadioFrequency Ablation products as market adoption focuses on our Microwave Ablation technology.
With regard to the performance of each of our businesses, our VIT business grew 3.3% year-over-year as strong growth in the AngioVac and Fluid Management product lines along with continued strength in our core business were partially offset by an anticipated decline in the Venous Insufficiency business.
The pace of this decline continues to decelerate, and we continue working diligently to stabilize this business and anticipate better comps in fiscal year 2020. AngioVac procedural volume remained strong with procedures increasing 19% year-over-year representing our sixth consecutive quarter of double digit volume growth and further validating this unique technology.
As we’ve mentioned in detail at the JPMorgan Conference in early January, we are continuing to make targeted R&D investments in our thrombus management portfolio, while also identifying external growth opportunities. We believe there is a significant opportunity available to us in the moderately complex segment of the thrombus management market based upon the success of our Uni*Fuse and AngioVac platforms, which serve the simple and complex ends of this space respectively.
The middle of this market is a significantly larger addressable market than we currently serve with meaningful opportunities for growth and share gains. Our vascular access revenue declined 4% during the third quarter, as continued strong performance in sales of our dialysis products was offset by declines in sales of PICCs, Midlines, and Ports.
We experienced very strong growth in Port sales during the second quarter, which we believe impacted our ability to drive growth in the third quarter. We do anticipate returning to low-single-digit growth in the fourth quarter in both our Ports and our Midlines businesses.
Revenue from our oncology business increased 15.1%. Strong sales of our Solero Microwave product and revenue contributed by our BioSentry and RadiaDyne acquisitions helped to offset a decline in NanoKnife capital sales during the quarter.
We remain pleased with the early success of our oncology acquisitions, which are both progressing in line with our expectations as we continue to build out our oncology business around a continuum of care portfolio. We also recently received 510(k) approval for electron and cancer treatments related to our OARtrac real-time dosimetry device.
This approval both defines and supports the future growth profile of our OarTrac while positioning us to obtain additional indications in the future. Despite the softness in NanoKnife capital sales, we continue to see momentum and increasing global adoption of this groundbreaking technology. And we are thrilled to have received IDE approval from the FDA, which we announced yesterday morning for the use of our NanoKnife technology in the treatment of stage 3 pancreatic cancer, which I will discuss in more detail after we go through the financials.
In addition, another positive development in the quarter included our previously announced successful outcome in the Delaware intellectual property litigation with Bard. We were pleased with the court's decision to dismiss this case.
After reviewing the financials, I want to remind everyone that each quarter we post a presentation on our Investor Relations website, summarizing the key items associated with our quarterly results as well as our financial guidance.
Those slides are intended to complement our prepared remarks. Our net sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 were $86.3 million, representing a year-over-year growth of 3% when including our RadiaDyne and BioSentry acquisitions, and declining 0.8% on an organic basis.
Our gross margin for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 contracted by 10 basis points to 54.1% from 54.2% a year ago. We continue to see gains in gross margin related to operational and supply chain improvements, as well as positive impacts associated with our portfolio optimization strategy, specifically the RadiaDyne and BioSentry acquisitions. These gains were offset during the third quarter by headwinds related to FX, which were approximately 20 basis points compared to the prior year as well as a one-time benefit that we received in the prior year quarter related to our plant closures worth approximately 50 basis points.
We continue to anticipate our full year 2019 gross margin will finish in the range of 54% to 55%, with a fourth quarter exit gross margin exceeding 55%. Our research and development expenses during the third quarter of fiscal 2019 were $7.2 million or 8.4% of sales compared to $6.5 million or 7.7% of sales a year ago.
Consistent with our comments over the past several quarters, we are spending more in R&D and Clinical around some of our core technologies and we continue to anticipate R&D spend to be approximately 8% of net sales for this fiscal year. This already contemplates additional spending related to the rollout of our NanoKnife study, and also to support our recent acquisitions.
Moving down the income statement, SG&A expense for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 increased to $28.2 million or 32.7% of sales compared to $25.7 million or 30.7% of sales a year ago.
We anticipate SG&A expense as a percent of revenue to be approximately 32.5% for the full year inclusive of approximately $4 million in SG&A expenses as a result of the two acquisitions earlier in the year.
Our adjusted net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 was $7.4 million or $0.19 per share compared to an adjusted net income of $8.7 million or $0.23 per share in the third quarter of last year.
The 2018 Tax Reform Act went into effect for us during our third quarter last year. Adjusted net income for the third quarter of fiscal year 2018 was based upon the tax rate of 23%. We have updated our full year, prior year, post tax reform rate to 30.62% resulting in a $0.02 impact on last year's adjusted net income.
Our current statutory tax rate is 23% in fiscal year 2019. Adjusted EBITDAS in the third quarter of fiscal 2019, excluding the items shown in the reconciliation table in our presentation was $14.9 million compared to $16.8 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2018.
This 11.3% decline is attributed to the previously noted increase in R&D, in SG&A spending partially offset by our increase in revenue. In the third quarter of fiscal 2019, we generated $8.3 million of cash from operating activities and our free cash flow was $7.5 million.
Now turning to our balance sheet. As of February 28, 2019 we had $41.7 million in cash and cash equivalents and $133.8 million in debt. This excludes the impact of deferred financing costs recorded on the balance sheet.
As a result, our net debt to adjusted EBITDAS ratio is currently 1.55 providing us with sufficient access to capital, to execute against our investment and capital deployment strategies.
Finally, we are reaffirming our financial guidance for fiscal 2019. We continue to expect 2019 net sales in a range of $354 million to $359 million. We also continue to expect adjusted EPS between $0.82 and $0.86 as well as free cash flow between $26 million and $31 million.
Now I'd like to take a moment to continue our earlier discussion on the recently announced NanoKnife IDE approval and to provide more details on the DIRECT study. As noted in our press release yesterday, we are very excited to begin enrolling patients into our DIRECT study and improving the standard-of-care for pancreatic cancer.
This disease afflicts approximately 57,000 new patients every year in the United States alone, and approximately 25% of those patients present at Stage III making them good candidates for our DIRECT study with NanoKnife.
Our design anticipates each NanoKnife arm to consist of approximately 250 patients with an equal number of control patients. The primary endpoint of the study is overall survival. As a reminder, we also received a determination from the FDA that the DIRECT study will receive a Category B designation. This means that the FDA has determined that the information we provided demonstrates that their initial questions around safety and effectiveness for the NanoKnife system for the treatment of Stage III pancreatic cancer have been resolved. This is a significant positive as the device in the related treatment during the study will be eligible for reimbursement, significantly mitigating the overall costs of the study.
We are not updating our guidance at this point, but we intend to have a further readout on our three year strategic and financial plan to share with you by our fiscal year end call. We are looking forward to this comprehensive study that will demonstrate our technologies unique capabilities, and benefit pancreatic cancer patients.
We are thrilled to be able to start enrollment soon and in fact we've launched angiodirect.com as a website to facilitate enrollment and educate patients and their families. All of us at AngioDynamics are dedicated to the idea that the standard-of-care for this deadly disease can and should improve.
With that, I'll turn the call over to the operator for your questions.
Thank you. We’ll now be conducting a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Our first question is from the line of Matthew Hewitt with Craig-Hallum. Please proceed with your question.
Yes. This is Lucas Baranowski on for Matt Hewitt here at Craig-Hallum. Thanks for taking the questions. I guess, first off you know congrats on the IDE approval, and yes we've just got a couple of questions around that. It sounds like enrollment is going to be starting soon, so maybe you could just give us some color on how we should think -- be thinking about this trial from a time line perspective and when there might be a read out.
Lucas, good morning this is Jim. In a moment, I'll give Steve a chance to answer you in more detail, but first I want to talk about for a second how we got here. And again, AngioDynamics has invested heavily in resources to support this trial. We're very committed to having this opportunity to prove our technology to help these people in need of care.
What we've done Lucas in the past year and a half or so, internally we’ve invested very heavily in bringing really good people to our team led by Steve Trowbridge, I mentioned earlier, who will answer your question who runs our clinical group led by Warren Nighan who runs our regulatory and quality group, and led by Brent Boucher who's the General Manager of our Oncology business. These three people have brought really talented folks to our team that have helped us accomplish this goal of getting this IDE approved by the FDA.
So we're very excited by what can happen. Let me have Steve chime in with a bit more detail for you.
Thanks Jim. Good morning Lucas, and thanks for the question. With respect to enrollment, what we're stating is that we're targeting June as the time for the first enrollment of these patients. As you know, we've been working on this trial for a while. We've been working collaboratively with FDA for a very long time. We're very pleased to get the approval, and we're looking forward to starting.
As we've talked about before, this study comprises two parts. So there's an RCT aspect to it as well as a real world evidence registry aspect to it. We are hoping that enrollment in either of those will start by the June timeframe.
And then with your question to the readout, we do expect that we'll be giving periodic updates around enrollment as we go through this. But as we’ve talked about, we're expected to enroll this trial to the end. We have an interim analysis set up to test our statistical assumptions, not to try to have any early readouts, so our current expectation is to run through this trial.
Okay. Thank you. That's helpful. And then you've also talked in the past and on this call about how physicians in the trial will be getting reimbursed. I mean, is there any color you could give around kind of those reimbursement amounts and where they've been set at?
Sure. So as we've talked in the past, we did receive specific ICD-10 codes from CMS for the treatment for using NanoKnife to treat pancreatic cancer as well as specific codes to use NanoKnife to treat liver cancer. We do know that those ICD-10 codes have mapped into specific DRGs and again as we said before, we were pleased with the mapping. We think that they were the exact right mapping that went into the appropriate DRGs that carry the appropriate level of reimbursement for the physicians.
Now, the third leg of this stool for reimbursement is coverage. And that's where this trial comes in with FDA designating our IDE approval as category B, we will then be talking with CMS. And as we've talked before, we've had a lot of conversations with CMS going very well down that path.
Once CMS also agrees to approve this trial as Category B, anybody who treats patients under our IDE so that's either in the RCT or in the registry will be receiving coverage using those ICD-10 codes that will then map into what we think are the very appropriate high-paying DRGs.
Okay. Thanks very much. That's all I had.
The next question is coming from the line of Jayson Bedford with Raymond James. Please proceed with your question.
Good morning. This is Matt Wizman on for Jayson Bedford. Thanks for taking the questions. So my question is really on the NanoKnife trial. So could you walk us through the difference between the RCT and the real-world side? What are the physician and patient incentives for each of those and if you could just kind of walk through the differences there, that’d be great? Thanks.
Sure, Matt. I'll take that. Appreciate the question. So as we've talked about in the past AngioDynamics is very committed to this technology. We really feel that NanoKnife is a game changer for patients, and the trial design that we've been able to develop collaboratively with the FDA, I think is a very great illustration of how committed Angio is to this technology.
Any time that you're doing a trial, there's design elements that are going to be more important than others, and we think that our comprehensive design is aimed at trying to get to all of those very important elements. So if you think about a randomized controlled trial, what you're looking to do is to isolate as many variables as possible to prove out that whatever survival benefit that you're seeing is coming from your technology, but that comes at the expense of a very hyper-controlled environment.
So there's some very specific inclusion/exclusion criteria. Not every patient may qualify to meet either of those criteria to then show up into the RCT. And what you end up doing is you randomize the patient after they've gotten through the initial staging of having Stage III cancer to either the NanoKnife arm plus chemotherapy or the standard chemotherapy arm, but they are trying to isolate those variables. But as is also very well known in the clinical arena, not every treatment happens in a hyper-controlled environment. And so the real world registry that we have is looking to provide the flip side of the coin. What is the benefit of this technology in a real world setting?
So in that setting, patients are not randomized. And the inclusion, exclusion criteria is a little less severe and robust as it is in the RCT. So by putting these two things together, our comprehensive study design will give us great data on how it looks when you're controlling as many variables as possible, but also what you can expect when you use this technology in a real-world setting. And we feel that that's going to be most meaningful to patients, physicians, payers and all the other stakeholders.
Got it, thanks. And then I guess as a follow up to that, has the FDA stated or have you talked to the FDA about what specifically they're going to require for the approval, in other words, does the RCT need to be completed for approval or could it happen sooner, depending on the real-world evidence? And then obviously, I'm assuming the real-world evidence trial will enroll quicker due to the less inclusion criteria? Thanks.
So that is true, we do expect that the real-world evidence side will enroll quicker anytime that you're running an RCT, getting through that inclusion, exclusion criteria that I talked about sometimes does create a little bit more of a prolonged timeline than you would expect. I will say that the conversations that we've had with FDA, now we've been talking about this for a little while, and it took a little longer than we wanted to get to the approval, but the underlying reason for that is we engaged in very in-depth and very collaborative conversations with FDA about the overall design considerations for this trial. So we have a sense as we've gone through this, with the study design that we have now. If this technology proves out exactly the way that we think it will, it will get us to an ultimate approval.
So that was, I think what was very beneficial about the time that we spent working with FDA. Our current expectations right now are to enroll both of these things. We think that there's very valuable evidence that comes out of both the RCT and the real-world evidence arm. We think they complement each other and get us to that overall approval so our current expectation is that we are going to be enrolling both of these to get to the end of the trial.
I appreciate the questions. Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of Matthew Mishan with KeyBanc. Please proceed with your questions.
Great. And thank you for taking the questions. Hey Jim, the fourth quarter it seems like it's going to require a pretty strong quarter to hit your guidance and you seem, you seemed fairly confident in that. You know what's behind that -- what's behind that confidence in the fourth quarter?
Matt, good morning. If you take a look really Matt at our three quarters coming into this year combined, you know we're really right where we thought we'd be. You know it’s something's a little soft or something a little stronger, you know in a complex company like us with those diverse portfolio, you have those challenges.
But Matt, we have a pretty good view of our customers. We have really really great sales and marketing people that give us customer feedback and we really have a good sense of what's going on in our marketplace due to the connections and the relationships that our sales people have.
So we feel strong Matt about two things. You know the revenue associated with our base businesses, the revenue associated with our new acquisitions that are performing well. And then also the great operational excellence tools we have in the background. Although gross margin ticked back slightly this quarter, we showed you why, we feel really strongly by what our supply chain and our quality improvement teams are doing to enhance our gross margin. So we feel good about the quarter, Matt.
You also talked a little bit about timing around NanoKnife, so did some sales get pushed from 3Q to 4Q? And then also, can you talk about how you expect NanoKnife revenue to progress through the course of the clinical trial?
Sure. A couple of things, I’ll address just your first piece. We don't really push sales, you know especially capital sales. As you know in medical device business, I've been doing this 30 years, capital sales really are at the whim of our customers, you know who when they choose a technology like NanoKnife they have to go through the approvals necessary in their own healthcare networks to get the approval for capital spend. And sometimes those approvals and the spend things come at different pace. We can't control those.
So, I think we see sales that we expect through one quarter sometimes come a little earlier or a little late, but we don't actually push a direct that our customers do that. So yes, a little softer than we thought, but not at all an issue for us. And secondarily, as far as what we expect for NanoKnife due to the trial, I think what we'll do Matt is give you some updated guidance soon.
We roll out our 2020 plan that you'll have in full detail and even a three year look at our strategic plan. We'll give you then a really good thorough walkthrough of how we believe in NanoKnife trial impact ourselves. Steve?
The one thing I would add to that Matt is we will be coming out with that new three year plan and you'll get some color around revenue as we move forward there. You know the primary purpose of running this trial is not to generate revenue. Clearly, the primary purpose of running this trial is to generate the evidence to prove out to our stakeholders as well as the regulatory agencies that we should have an expanded indication that this technology plays a very important role in treating its very deadly disease.
That being said, because it is a product that we have on the market because we've gone through the process with the ICD-10 code that we talked about, and that we've been able to prove the initial questions, the safety and efficacy to end up with the category B, we do expect that there will be revenue that will help mitigate any of the costs of this trial so that wouldn't be seen in the typical cost and trial in a very linear fashion. So I would expect there will be more color to come up with that three year plan in that context.
And then onto OarTrac congratulations on getting that through the 510-K approval, can give us a sense of what the expectations for that is as you kind of -- as you as you ramp that over the next one or two years?
Yes. So Matt, what I'll do is, joining us on the call too is Brent Boucher, who the General Manager for Oncology business. I'll have Brent answer that question for you Matt.
Hey Matt. It's Brent. Nice to talk to you again. So the indication that we got just to clarify for those also listening in is an expanded indication that enables the OarTrac system, which was previously cleared for both full-time radiation and high dose -- high dose rate Reiki therapy during cancer treatments was expanded to include electron radiation, which is the most common radiotherapy treatment in the market today.
So certainly expands the capability of the OarTrac system to do real-time dosimetry in the three most common areas. So we expect this to expand our opportunity to position the product which again is the first of its kind to deliver real-time adaptive dosimetry reading in all three of these areas. So we expect it will impact the growth prospects for the technology going forward.
And just lastly Jim, can you give us an update on your efforts with the portfolio transformation and how you know conversations are going with the ability to maybe get some I guess get a couple more M&A deals through?
Sure, Matt. We've talked to our investor base, talked to our employees and our customers about AndioDynamics need to adapt our portfolio, to the changing clinical demands of our marketplace and the way our customers deliver care. So I wish I could announce things more quickly but as you know sometimes these ideas take a bit more time to get over the finish line than you'd want.
Again, I think we've shown the ability this current year with our acquisitions of BioSentry and RadiaDyne when we find unique differentiated technologies as both of these were. We're able to act quickly and to bring them into our portfolio and we'll look to do that again going forward.
And we also Matt may move some things out, that maybe don't work for us as well as they may work for somebody else. So we want to make sure our portfolio is more focused and defined, on giving caregivers exclusive technology and tools to deliver care. Matt, I can't wait to share news with you when we have it, about how our portfolio is defined more clearly in our future, but today this is all the news we have.
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Jason Mills with Canaccord Genuity. Please proceed with your questions.
Good morning. This is actually Cecilia Furlong on for Jason, and I just want to continue on the NanoKnife discussion. Beyond pancreas, what is your current outlook in terms of different organs or potential utilization of the technology?
Thank you, Cecilia. So NanoKnife has been on the market for a while. We've had our general soft tissue indication. We've been following where the market has been leading us in terms of where this technology has promised. Clearly, we feel that pancreas is the first place to go. There's a pressing unmet need. We understand that the mechanism of action of this technology has a role to play to treat this deadly disease.
That being said, we think that NanaoKnife is a platform and we are absolutely looking at the next areas to go into. Outside the United States, there’s been a lot of data that we’ve generated in areas like prostate. I would expect that at someplace that we would, we would look at as we move forward. We also have a short medium and long term roadmap for this technology that includes additional organs. It includes additional changes to the technology and next generation elements of this technology. So we can think of things like brain, lung and other areas where the mechanism of action could really have a great promise.
That being said, we're committed to pancreas. This is a lot of the work that we've done. This is the comprehensive trial that we're embarking on currently, but we do expect to be expanding out into those other areas as we continue to show the promise of NanoKnife.
Okay great. Thank you. And then just turning quickly to AngioVac, could you provide just a little more color around one, what you're seeing right now and from a competitive standpoint in the market? And then just two, more on updates around next-gen products, and further color on how you're thinking about building out kind of that middle portion of the treatment spectrum? Thank you.
It’s a good question, Cecilia. So if you look back, as we mentioned today, again, we're really excited with the procedural volume growth again. Six quarters of really, really important growth for us. Our clinical team and our sales team has done a really good job in the conversations with our customers explaining the value of our technology. We also mentioned back last June when we started this fiscal year, the General Manager of that business and the sales and marketing team split the salesforce out, so they can have a more direct touch and build those relationships with our customers.
So now that we laid that groundwork, what you just said is important for us. We're coming out with a new version of AngioVac later this summer, which will enable our physicians really to do what they ask. They really designed this product in concert with us, to help them navigate it through the channels they want they want to get it to, to help with care delivery. We have another product and design would be about a year later, giving again more physician treatment and control over how they use our product in more areas.
From there as identified earlier, we know the space really well. And as we said earlier, a grade on the lower end of acuity with our Uni-Fuse and the grade on the higher end of acuity with AngioVac which does what no other device can do on the markets, but there is that significant gap in between, and there's some other good devices out there that we see from competitors that do a good job. But we don't think anything has really solved the exact need to deliver what our physician partners are looking for.
So we're looking at using our own research and development to expand the scope of our two devices, and we’re also looking as well for unique technologies that are available outside that maybe we can bring in house. So we hope to talk to you in more detail soon, but that's really what we see in this space. We think it's a unique opportunity. We have a right to be there based upon the two unique technologies we have today, with Uni-Fuse and AngioVac.
Thank you for taking our questions.
Thank you. At this time I'll turn the floor back to management for closing remarks.
Thanks, Rob. So folks to close. I want to remind the listening audience today, how proud we are of the work that was done here by the AngioDynamics team to get the approval and the IDE that we were able to announce yesterday.
This took a lot of effort and work by a lot of really talented people in our company, who worked tirelessly, and were committed to getting this approval over the goal line. We've added to our team significantly in the past two years here, bringing in some really, really talented people who helped us to get this goal. Now all we want to do is help our physicians treat more people in this area, and while we've done this, we've also run our business in a really good fashion. We've come closer and closer to what we believe will be defined a company from a portfolio perspective, and we'll share with you news as that changes. And we also do what we do best every day, our really, really strong operations and manufacturing team, manufacturers and assembles devices every day at world class quality levels, to help physicians deliver care to patients.
We have really good people at AngioDynamics and we look forward to sharing our story with you during the course of this year. Thanks for joining us this morning.
Thank you. This will conclude today's conference. You may now disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.
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Learn more about Seeking Alpha transcripts here. | 2019-04-23T10:02:56Z | https://seekingalpha.com/article/4252380-angiodynamics-inc-ango-ceo-jim-clemmer-q3-2019-results-earnings-call-transcript |
Bangkok has innumerable attractions, including temples, markets, palaces, and museums, ensuring that visitors with any interest will find something to keep them entertained on their Bangkok holiday. The following are some of the most popular attractions in Bangkok.
Location : Na Phra Lan Rd., Phra Nakorn District The Grand Palace is the grandeur architectural style which the Grand Palace has been the major architectural symbol of The Thai Royal Family but now this place is used for ceremonial purposes. The main buildings within the Grand Palace compound were built for King Rama V, who was the first Thai King to travel to Europe. Phra Thinang Chakri Maha Prasat, built in 1877 by King Rama V as his Royal Residence, is the most highly recognized architectural landmark of the Nation. The central Throne Hall, which was formerly used for the reception of foreign envoys, is flanked by reception areas decorated with galleries of portraiture. The central room on the second floor is used as a shrine for the reliquary ashes of Kings Rama IV, Rama V, Rama VI, Rama VII and Rama VIII.Borom Phiman Mansion was also constructed during the reign of King Rama V. When his son, King Rama VI ascended to the throne, he had it improved for use as his residence. The three succeeding Kings also resided here at one time or another.The Siwalai Gardens, where the office of The Royal Household Bureau is located, were used for receptions as well as a recreation area for the royal women and children.Maha Monthien Prasat houses The Audience Hall of Amarin Winitchai where ceremonies of the Court usually take place in front of the throne surmounted by its canopy of nine tiers of white cloth.
Sandals (without ankle or heel straps) can not be worn.
By BTS Sky Train - Take the Silom Line and get off at Saphan Taksin Station (or S6 Station), and go out through Exit No. 2. Then, take Chao Phraya Express Boat to Ta Chang Pier and walk to the temple.
By Car - The most enjoyable route is to take the BTS Skytrain to Taksin Station. From here take a Chao Phraya River Express boat to Tha Chang Wang Luang Pier. It is a short walk from the pier to the entrance to The Grand Palace public entrance.
Daily from 08:30 am. - 03:30 pm.
Adult 400 Baht. The fee includes admission to Wat Phra Kaew, The Royal Thai Decorations & Coins Pavilion in the same compound and to Vimanmek Mansion Museum.
The mansion was originally his Summer Palace, the Munthaturaltanaroj Residence, on Sri Chang Island. It was dismantled and re-built at the present location under the supervision of HRH Prince Narissaranuwaddhiwongse. The three-storey Vimanmek Mansion is the largest golden teak building in the world, built in an architectural style that reflects European influences. There are two right-angled wings, each 60 metres long and 20 metres high.
Exhibits include a silverware room, ceramic display room, glassware and ivory display. Some of the rooms have been preserved to retain the atmosphere of the earlier era, particularly the bedrooms, bathrooms and the Audience Chamber. Other buildings in the compound also house displays of various artifacts and precious art objects.
By Bus - taking the bus no. 12, 18, 28,56,70, 108, 515 and get off on Ratchawithi Road. or Ratchasima Rd.
Daily from 09:30 am. – 03:30 pm.
Location : Sri Ayudhya Rd., Rajathevi District Suan Pakkad Palace is the exquisite collection of traditional Thai homes, set in beautiful gardens and combination of fine arts and ancient artifacts from the era of H.R.H. Prince Paribatra Sukhumbandhu, son of His Majesty King Chulalongkorn, Rama V and Her Majesty Queen Sukhumala Marasri.
The reception area of House 2 exhibits personal items such as ivory boxes and bowls inlaid with mother-of pearl. Lovers of Thai musical instruments will be impressed by the collection in House 3 which also has a palanquin, nielloware and ceramics. Princess Chumbhots extensive mineral collection is on show in House 4, while House 5 has examples of Ban Chiang pottery. The Sukhothai era is depicted with ceramics, earthenware utensils and figurines in House 6.
Location : Kasemsan Soi 2, Rama I Rd. Jim Thompson Museum is an exquisite collection of traditional Thai house stands as a museum to the man who revived the Thai silk industry after the Second World War. The story of James H.W. Thompson is one upon legends are made. After serving in the U.S.A. armed forces, Jim Thompson settled in Thailand and found the tremendous opportunity to re-establish the Thai silk industry. In recognition of his services to the country, he was bestowed the royal award of The Order of the White Elephant.
The company he founded, Jim Thompson Thai Silk, is recognized worldwide for its brilliant creations.He was an avid collector of Asian artifacts and antiques and The Jim Thompson’s House is possibly the epitome of his collection. Before his mysterious disappearance in the Cameron Highland in Malaysia in 1967, his house was the talk of the town where he entertained his friends and visitors including the like of Somerset Maugham. The house sits on approximately a half acre of land on Mahanak Canal. Ban Khrua village where his silk weavers lived and worked.
Is just on the other side of the canal to build the house he gathered 6 original traditional teak structure from different parts of the country and brought carpenter from Ayutthaya who completed the house in 1959.The gardens are equally impressive with a lush tropical jungle imitating nature’s haphazard beauty right in the center of the city.Jim Thompsons connoisseur collection of antiques and artifacts is on permanent exhibition, making this a magnificent museum of the lifestyle of the legend.
Location : Charoen Krung Rd., Phra Nakhon District In past Khon was originally limited to the royal court but now Khon is one of Thai Art culture that can see at Sala Chalermkrung Theatre. Khon is the classical masked dance that is regarded as one of the most refined of performing arts. Performances are extremely expensive to produce, requiring lavish costumes, elaborate masks and headgear, and stage accessories that require highly skilled craftsmen to create. The scenes performed in the traditional Khon are taken from the Ramakien, a series of significant episodes in Thai literature based on the Indian epic of classical mythology the Ramayana that greatly influenced the literature of almost all nations in Southeast Asia.
Fri - Sat 07:30 pm. – 12:00 am.
Location : Charoenkrung Rd., Bangkorlaem District Joe Louis or Traditional Thai Puppet Theater is the art of popertry and fine classical performing art, beautifully combined into a unique and inimatable Thai art form. Each show has been neatly and elaborately created as a cultural heritage that can be presented at various occasions with pride.
Daily from 08:00 pm. - 09:15 pm.
Location : Tiamruammit Rd., Huaykwang District Siam Niramit has spectacular show of Thai Arts and Culture which one of the largest stage productions in the world! Siam Niramit has 2000-seat theatre presenting an amazing special effects.
Featuring a gigantic stage and state-of-the-art special effects the 80-minute performance is staged in three acts: Journey Back into History, Journey Beyond Imagination, and Journey Through Joyous Festivals.
For access to the onsite restaurant plus pre-show attractions, which include a beautiful traditional Thai Village where you can experience the ambience of rural Thai life in bygone times, and to explore elephant rides & feeding, and enjoy outdoor performances of traditional Thai music and dance.
Siam Niramit operates a free round trip shuttle service from Thailand Cultural Centre MRT Station (Exit 1).
Daily from 05:30 pm. – 10:00 pm.
Location : Sanam Chai Rd., Phra Nakhon District Museum Siam (Discovery Museum) is a center learning to understanding of the Thai people in their history, nation, culture, and localities, as well as connect relative ties with neighbouring countries.
New methods of a display with modern media have been applied to enable participation of visitors in learning and understanding historical stories of the Thai nation. The contents on display in the form of the ‘Essays on Thailand’ have been divided into 16 rooms in the three-storey building.
The first floor exhibits rooms of Immersive Theater and Typically Thai.
Visitors will gain knowledge and enjoy themselves from visiting each exhibition room. In addition, learning activities are organised for youth and aficionados of museums.
Tue – Sun 10:00 am. - 06:00 pm.
Location : Phra Nakhon District Chao Phraya River is the most important waterway of Thailand. There are cross river ferries and the river express boats serving as water-born buses bringing commuters to the city from as far up-river as Nonthaburi.
Location : Phra Nakhon District Khao San Road is dream destination for teen backpacker around the world because this place is a favourite crossroads for the young travellers on a budget. It has evolved over the last two decades from just one small hostel providing low-budget accommodation become one of the worlds most well-known destinations. It has been featured in many movies and television documentaries.
Daily from 08:00 am. – 02:00 am.
Location : Yaowarat Rd., Samphanthawong District The largest outside of China Yaowarat Chinatown is a bustling, crowded area where you can buy just about anything day or night.
The main thoroughfare through Chinatown is Yaowarat Road, which is approximately 1.5 kilometres in length. It was built during the reign of King Rama V. On each side of the road, there is a network of streets and alleys lined with shops selling all sorts of things. In many of these streets, you’ll find shops side by side selling the same items.
A visit at night will take you to a food street where you sit on stools watching your meal being prepared, then enjoying the delicious cuisine washed down by tea or a cold beer which carry on until midnight.
Daily from 07:00 am. – 12:00 am.
Location : Rama 5 Rd., Dusit District Dusit Zoo is dream destination for children which has many kind of animals from around the world. The zoo covers the area of approximately 118 rais and it is the perfect zoo in the middle of the city. It takes care of over 1,000 birds and nearly 2,000 animals.
Location : Raminthra Rd., Min Buri District Safari World is the greatest open zoo and leisure park which located in Min Buri, via Km. 9 on Raminthra Road. The 300-acre complex comprises a Safari Park populated by African and Asian mammals, a Marine Park with amusing performances of well-trained dolphins and seals, a Bird Park and a Games Corner.
Daily from 09:00 am. - 05.00 pm.
Location : Siam Paragon Siam Ocean World is largest aquarium in Southeast Asia which located inside Siam Paragon shopping mall. Siam Ocean World is a new attractions in downtown Bangkok by open in December 2005. With world-standard exhibits and features, the aqaruim comprises a 270-degree acrylic under ocean tunnel, a panoramic oceanarium with a 360-degree view through a 10.5 metre diametre fishbowl, an 8-metre deep reef tank and a rainforest display. More than 400 species or 30,000 marine animals including Penguins, Blue Ring Octopus, Gray Nurse Sharks, Elephant Nose Sharks, Leafy Sea Dragons and Giant Spider Crab can be seen.
Daily from 09:00 am. - 10:00 pm.
Location : Na Phra That Rd., near the Grand Palace Bangkok National Museum located on the opposite side of Sanam Luang to The Grand Palace, was established in 1887 by King Rama V. A visit to the National Museum reveals the history of Thailand and how people lived during the different periods which it gives you a view through the windows of the past.
The foundation collection was previously stored at The Grand Palace. The original building was formerly the palace of a vice-ruler. King Rama VII placed it under the administration of the Royal Institute of Literature, Archeology and Fine Arts which has evolved to be the Fine Arts Department.New buildings were constructed in 1967 and other historical buildings relocated to the museum grounds. The Buddhaisawan Chapel was built in 1787 to enshrine a revered northern Buddha image called Phra Buddha Si Hing. The interior has exceptional murals, while the building itself is a fine example of Rattanakosin religious architecture.
Tamnak Daeng is another building that has been moved to the Museum. This Red House was originally the residence of an elder sister of King Rama I. Furniture and other items from early Bangkok times. The National Museum collection encompasses a wide range of religious and secular art found throughout the country. Items from pre-historic times, through the Srivijaya, Dvaravati, Khmer Kingdoms and the Sukhothai, Ayutthaya and Rattanakosin periods of Thai history. These include Neolithic tools, painted pots and bronze objects unearthed in the northeast. Thai Buddhist art exhibits feature images in stone, bronze and terracotta as well as illustrated scripture books manuscript cabinets and votive plaques. The Museum also has a large collection of miscellaneous items such as Thai and Chinese ceramics, theatrical costumes, palanquins, weapons and assorted items used in royal households. Guided tours are given free by volunteers in English and French starting at 9.30 a.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Tours are also given in German on Thursdays and in Japanese on Wednesdays of the first & the third week of each month. Guided tours in some other languages can be arranged.
By BTS Sky Train - the most enjoyable route is to take the BTS Skytrain to Taksin Station. From here take a Chao Phraya River Express boat to Tha Phrachan Pier. Walk straight from the pier to Sanam Luang Park and turn left past Thammasat University to the museum.
Wed - Sun 09:00 am. - 04:00 pm.
Location : Near the northern wall of the Grand Palace Sanam Luang or Thung Phra Men a vast open ground situated near the northern wall of the Grand Palace and the eastern wall of the former Viceroy Palace or Wang Na. At the time when Bangkok was first established, the ground was a rice field and was sometimes used as a location for a royal crematorium, Phra Men in Thai. The ground was, thus, otherwise called as Thung Phra Men which means the crematorium ground. In considering that the name was inauspicious, King Rama IV had the ground renamed as Thong Sanam Luang, or the Royal Ground, and the rice farming there cancelled. Later, King Rama V had the Wang Nas eastern wall demolished and the area of Sanam Luang enlarged to cover a total of 78 rai as it does nowadays. The place has been used as the crematorium ground for kings, members of the royal family and nobility, in addition, to being a royal sporting ground. The king also had 365 tamarind trees planted around it.
Location : U-Thong Nai Road, Dusit District It is situated on U-Thong Nai Road, or ending of Ratchadamnoen Nok Avenue, near Dusit Zoo. The Ananda Samakhom Throne Hall is the beautiful white building facing the Royal Plaza where the statue of H.M. King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) stands. It is designed in Italian Renaissance style and was supervised by Chao Phraya Yommaraj, with a team of Italian architects, engineers and painters. The exterior is decorated with marble imported from Carrara in Italy. As beautiful as the exterior is, it is the exquisite paintings painted by Italian artists inside the Dome of the Throne Hall which trace the history of the Chakri Dynasty from Kings Rama I to Rama VI.
At the present, it displays the exhibition "Arts of the Kingdom V" which consists of Masterpieces of Thai craftsmen created with utmost skill by Sirikit Institute at Chitralada Villa. All masterpieces were made in auspicious Occasions of the present reign.
Location : Rama 1 Rd., Pathumwan District The worldwide chain museum, Madame Tussauds brings the world famous and Thai important figures that you can meet in the lifelike sculptures such as Queen Elizabeth, Barack Obama, David Beckham, Michael Jackson, George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, Dr. Phonthip Rotchanasunan, Maj. Gen M.R. Kukrit Pramoj, teen super model Pancake-Khemanit Jamikorn, Television superstar Anne Thongprasom, Pop singer Tata Young, martial artist Tony Jaa and many more.
Daily from 10:00 am. – 09:00 pm.
Thai Cooking School caters to people with keen interests in food and culture. Learn to cook famous Thai dishes in a relaxed and friendly environment. Small classes are conducted in a traditional open kitchen, and led by certified Thai cooks, making for a highly personalized and rewarding experience. It’s also perfect for the serious home cook who wants to learn how to cook authentic Thai food For their next dinner party, For spouses accompanying husband or wife on a business trip, or the adventurous traveler wanting to explore more than just the sights of our great City.
The modern sport of Thai boxing, known as “the art of eight limbs” since fighters use eight points of contact – hands, feet, elbows, and knees – has evolved from the ancient form of close, hand-to-hand combat that was necessary to defend oneself in battle hundreds of years ago. With the constant threat of war from Thailand’s neighbors, training centers slowly began to appear throughout the kingdom, these being essentially the country’s first Muay Thai camps.
For many years, travelers seeking to enjoy Thai boxing matches had to go a bit native, and either catch fights in small villages upcountry, or at throw-down "stables" in larger towns.
Those seeking more excitement and adventure eventually made their way to the great stadium in Bangkok, the dream venue for thousands of hungry young fighters: Lumpini and Ratchadamnoen. These modern coliseums remain fascinating cultural experiences for tourists, far beyond the fighting itself, given the rambunctious atmosphere, the loud traditional music, and all the shouting and betting.
Location : Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok Hotel Erawan Shrine is one of the Thai capital’s most visited shrines, revered by local devotees and also one of the most popular tourist attractions in Bangkok. Thousands of the faithful congregate at the shrine to perform religious rites and attend prayers. Of particular interest to tourists are the vibrant dances performed at the site by accomplished dance troupes, which are hired by local devotees as a show of gratitude to the deities for granting their prayers.
Location : Silom Soi 23, Bang Rak District A place with a large collection of beautiful Shell around the world, selected and obtained to show their never-ending range of colors and forms. More than 3000 specimens of 600 selected species from the world are exhibited here!
Our legacy from many generation to show the visitors “Knowledge for little creatures” to understand the world and its background history through enormous fossils, cute vivid snails, colorful pectens, poisonous cones and much more.
This Museum will be another colorful experience for your Bangkok destination!
A place where knowledge and art are combined in harmony.
Buildings where huge outdoor Ammonite-like decorate are seen just a zoometer walk from Surasak sky train station, at the corner of Silom 23 Road, near Leardsin Hospital.
Daily from 10:00 am. – 07:00 pm.
Location : A-square Sukhumvit Soi 26 The FlowRider generates a thin sheet of water which flows over a hill like shape in the form of a flawless ocean wave. The resulting wavelike shape and fast running water gives athletes of all ages the thrill of surfing. The FlowRider is a unique innovation in water rides that is fun for everyone from kids to adults, but especially for that 13-29 age group; those who are so historically hard to impress, but who become addicted to the thrill and challenge of riding the FlowRider.
The FlowRider appeals to a variety of board-sports athletes-surfing, snowboarding, wakeboarding, skimboarding, skateboarding-and the learning curve takes time, but is steep as riders progress from riding in a prone position on bodyboards, to standing up on flowboards, to doing ollies and flip tricks. The first ride on a FlowRider can turn into a life-time addiction, as first-time riders become repeat riders, and repeat riders become lifetime loyalists.
Daily from 08:00 am. – 12:00 am.
Location : Suan Siam Rd., Kannayao District Siam Park is located on Sukhaphiban 2 Road. Siam Park is the biggest leisure park in Thailand, in 300 rai. It is equipped with world class rides, exciting adventures, variety of entertainment and the most refreshing water park. It contains a man-made sea with towering slide, Vortex : 1of 2 largest suspened looping coasters with 33 m. high and 765 m.long and speed at 80 km/h., Boomerang,; a roller coaster at speed 80 km/h before twisting upside down, Condor; which will fly you 50 meter above ground with soaring and dipping the sky, Aladdin; a great excitement of centrifugal spin, Si-Am Tower; viewing Bangkok at 100 m.high with Gian Drop; drop to the ground from 75 meter high.
From Ardnarong-Ramindra Expressway, take Ramindra exit heading Minburi. Go straight forward passing km.8 bridge. Fashion Island Department Store will be on your left, go straight. 1 km from Fashion Island, there will be Nopparat Rajadhani Hospital on the same side. Turn right to Siam Park Avenue at the traffic light opposite to the hospital, Amorini Mall is located at the junction.
From Eastern Outer Ring Rd. (from Bangna), take Serithai exit heading Minburi. Go straight forward for 1 km. Turn left to Siam Park Avenue.
From Srirach Express Way connecting to Motorway (Highway no.7) heading to Chonburi. Keep left to Eastern Outer Ring Rd. (Highway no.9) heading to Bang Pa-In. Take "Serithai" exit heading Minburi. Go straight forward for 1 km. Turn left to Siam Park Avenue.
Location : RCA Plaza Building, Rama 9 Rd. Nanta Show is the world best comedy musical show, which was successful story in Broadway in New York since 1999. Cookin' Nanta Show conveys the message through the body Acting, facial expression, and music rhythms. Then, no matter where in the world you are from, you can enjoy the show. Nanta story contain kitchen happening and performers make amazing live sound with kitchen utilities with power & comic performance.
Nanta Show is located at RCA Plaza Building. Free shuttle service from MRT Petchaburi must be required in advance.
Location : The Chao Phraya Riverside Wat Arun known as the temple of dawn located on the Chao Phraya riverside which the temple was built during the Ayutthaya period and was originally called Wat Makok after the name of the local village Tambol Bangmakok. It means "Village of Olives". Wat Arun gets its name from Aruna, the Indian god of the dawn, hence its common name The Temple of Dawn. The location of the temple is in the area that used to be occupied by the palace of King Taksin who re-established the Siamese Kingdom after the fall of Ayuttaya more than two hundred years ago. The main Buddha image is believed to have been designed by King Rama II. Wat Arun, often called The Temple of Dawn, is one of the most remarkable visual identities of Bangkok. The imposing Khmer-style prang or tower is 67 metres tall and decorated with bits of porcelain that was used as ballast by boats coming from China. It is surrounded by four smaller prangs.
Construction of the prangs were started by King Rama II and completed by King Rama II.The central balcony is an ideal spot for looking across the river to The Grand Palace and The Temple of The Emerald Buddha. Each year at the end of the three-month lent period for Buddhist monks, H. M. The King or his appointed representative travels down river in a Royal Barge Procession to present new robes to the monks. This ceremony is called Royal Tod Kathin.
Location : Na Phra Lan Rd., Phra Nakorn District Wat Phra Kaew or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha well known in Thai is Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram (the official name of Wat Phra Kaew), the royal monastery situated on the northwestern corner of the Grand Palace in Bangkok. It houses the statue of Phra Phuttha Maha Mani Rattana Patimakon (Emerald Buddha) and is the place where significant religious ceremonies are conducted. The construction of the temple was completed in 1784 and there have been constant renovations during every reign from King Rama I to IX. The interior of the Ubosoth and the entire compound walls are decorated with mural paintings. Apart from these, other highlights within the temple include the eight stupas, Phra Si Ratana Chedi, the model of Angor Wat, etc.
This royal monastery in the precincts of the Grand Palace was one of Thailand’s first attractions introduced to the world when the tourism promotion began 50 years ago. In addition to the importance as the home of the Emerald Buddha, the architecture of various different eras is an enchanting characteristic. One of the majestic embellishments here is the world’s longest mural painting portraying the enthralling epic of Ramayana on the compound walls.
According to the Bangkok poll conducted by Bangkok University in 2010, the highest vote from tourists for their most favorite destination in Thailand went to Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram. Both local Thais and foreigners are unanimous in their opinion. The temple truly deserves 'the best of the best' tourist attraction in Thailand.
The Royal Thai Decorations and Coins Pavilion is also located within the Grand Palace compound on the right hand side before entering the palace’s inner gate. This place displays a collection of coins and other monetary exchange units used in Thailand, as well as Royal regalia.
Location : Maharat Rd., Phra Nakorn District Wat Pho is most interesting and most famous temple in Bangkok for the golden reclining Buddha that measues 46 metres and has feet inlaid with mother-of pearl. The temple was combined history, medical science and is a center for meditation and traditional massage training. Wat Pho official name is Wat Phrachetuphon Vimon Mangkararam Ratchaworamahawihan. The temple was founded during the 16th century and in more modern times, Wat Pho has gained international recognition as a meditation centre and for the traditional Thai massage that is both practiced and taught here. Bas reliefs around one of the main buildings depict the story of the Ramakian. The walls have marble tablets describing basic anatomy and treatments. In the late afternoon, traditional medicine practitioners are there to dispense herbal mixtures. Nearby, there is a cloister where you can have a traditional Thai massage for a very small payment.
In 2008, the historic marble inscriptions in Wat Pho have been registered with UNESCO’s Memory of the World (MOW) as MOW documentary heritage for Asia and Pacific Region.
Daily from 08:30 am. - 06:00 pm.
Location : Bamrung Mueang Rd., Phra Nakorn District Wat Suthat or well-known as Wat Suthat Thep Wararam is one of the first-class Royal temples which you can see the beautiful of Giant Swing view. The temple situated almost in the center of old Bangkok and the surrounding area is also worth exploring as there are many shops selling religious items.
The building of the temple was commissioned by King Rama I, the founder of Bangkok, in 1807. Its location in the center of Rattanakosin Island. This was in keeping with the Buddhist belief that it is like Mount Phra Sumeru being the center of the universe. Phra Sri Sakayamunee, the principal Buddha image, was moved from Wat Mahathat in Sukhothai to be placed in Phra Wihan Luang in Wat Suthat in 1808. Wat Suthat is surrounded by an impressive wall 1.94 metres high and 0.85 metres thick. There are a total of 15 doorways leading into the temple compound. Within the temple grounds the most important building is the Phra Wihan Luang which is the Royal Temple. The mural paintings, covering all the interior walls are some of the finest to be seen anywhere. Each has stone inscriptions describing the pictures.
Surrounding the Royal Temple is Phra Wihan Khot terrace which is really impressive with 156 Buddha statues, mostly in the seated meditative attitude called Smathi. The chapel, Phra Ubosot at Wat Suthat is possibly the most beautiful in Thailand and is also the largest measuring 72.25 metres in length and 22.60 metres in width. There are four pavilions (sala) within the compound that are elevated to the height of the temples walls. These are used for various royal functions and for viewing the previous functions at the Giant Swing in front of the temple.The annual ceremony was held up until the 1930s but was discontinued to the high fatality rate as young men tried to swing high enough to grab a sack of gold on a pole about 25 metres in the air.
Daily from 08:30 am. - 09:00 pm.
Location : Ratchadamnoen Klang and Mahachai Rd. Wat Ratchanatdaram was built in the reign of King Rama III in 1846 and Loha Prasat standing 36 metres high with 37 surrounding spires, is the only one of its kind left in the world. Next to the temple is the area for welcoming an important foreign guest and a memorial statue of King Rama III.
Daily from 08:00 am.- 05:00 pm.
Location : Rama 5 Rd., Dusit District Wat Benchamabophit is known to foreigners as The Marble Temple as its exterior is clad in Carrara marble. Very talented The Prince Naris, a son of King Rama IV, designed the main building which was completed during the reign of King Rama V.
Daily from 06:00 am. - 05:00 pm.
Location : Chakkraphatdiphong Rd., Pom Prap Sattru Pha District Wat Saket and the Golden Mount located on the hill of Bangkok which is of great significance for all followers of The Lord Buddha. With 320 stairs take you up to the top for panoramic views of the Rattanakosin Island.
The Golden Mount is on a man-made hill with a diameter of 500 metres and soars 100 metres to the sky. There was a small chedi on this site and after it collapsed, King Rama III commissioned the constructed of a much larger one which was completed during the reign of King Rama V.
In 1877, King Rama V brought the Buddha relic in the custody of the Royal Chakri family from the Grand Palace to the Royal Pavilion at Wat Saket. It was then enshrined in the in the pagoda on top of the Golden Mount.
Two decades later, Marquis Curzon, the British Viceroy of India, presented more Buddha relics near the Nepalese border to King Rama V. These were enshrined in a bronze pagoda in 1899 and installed on the top of the Golden Mount.
The temple, Wat Saket, was built during the reign of King Rama I and is the location for a festival each November that includes a climb to the top of the Golden Mount.
Daily from 07:30 am. – 05:30 pm.
Location : Na Phrathat Rd., Phra Nakhon District This old temple was built in the reign of King Rama I. Located on Na Phrathat Road near Thammasat University, the temple houses Mahachulalongkorn Buddhist University, one of the two highest seats of Buddhist learning in Thailand and also offers meditation classes for foreigners.
Daily from 07:00 am. – 05:00 pm.
Location : Fuang Nakhon Rd. (near Wat Pho Fueang Nakhon Rd.), Phra Nakhon District The temple is located on Fuang Nakhon Road near Wat Pho. Built by King Rama V in 1869, it was in keeping with tradition that each monarch constructed a temple to mark his reign. The temple is a mixture of local and western styles, showing an awakening interest in new ideas and a desire to experiment with them. The exterior of the chapel is in the Thai style, but the interior is decorated in the European style.
Daily from 08:00 am. – 05:00 pm.
Location : Mahachai Rd., Phra Nakhon District The temple was built in the reign of King Rama III with a mixture of Chinese architectural styles. Sunthon Phu, one of Thailand's greatest poets, had resided in this temple during his monk hood from 1840-1842. His residence is now open to the public.
Location : Wisutkasat Rd., Bang Khun Phrom District This temple is well known for a huge standing Buddha image called Luang Pho To. The image, built in the reign of King Rama IV, is 32 meters tall and 11 meters wide. The topknot of the Buddha image contains a relic of Lord Buddha brought from Sri Lanka.
Daily from 08:30 am. – 08:00 pm.
Location : Phra Sumen Rd., Phra Nakhon District This temple is located on Phra Sumen Road in the Bang Lamphu area. Built in 1829, it is the shrine-hall of Phra Phutthachinnasi, a very beautiful Buddha image which was molded in about 1357. This is one of the most important temples of Bangkok, whose one-time chief abbot was King Rama IV before he ascended the throne. King Rama IV and King Rama VII, as well as His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej had resided here during their monkshood.
Location : Charoen Krung Rd., Samphanthawong District Have you ever seen five and a half tons of goldω Wat Trai Mit, near the Bangkok Railway Station at Hua Lamphong, is home to the famous Golden Buddha which is 3 metres high.
Location : Rama I Memorial Bridge, Chakkaphet Rd., Phra Nakhon District This temple is located at the foot of the Rama I Memorial Bridge on the Bangkok side. Built in the late Ayutthaya period by a Chinese merchant, it is otherwise known as Wat Liap and is one of the 3 principal temples of the capital which include Wat Ratchaburana, Wat Ratchapradit and Wat Mahathat. It had been regularly restored since the reign of King Rama I through to the reign of King Rama VII, except in the sixth reign. Some of the temples principal buildings, especially Phra Ubosot the ordination hall which houses mural paintings by Khrua In Khong, were badly damaged by bombing during World War II. The buildings were later restored to their good condition as they appear today.
Wat Ratchaburana is located just opposite to Wat Mahathat. After visiting Wat Mahathat, tourists simply cross Naresuan road to reach it.
Location : Saran Rom Park, Mahachai Rd., Phra Nakhon District Situated to the north of Saran Rom Park, the temple is relatively small and covers a total area of approximately 2 rai. It was built in the reign of King Rama IV who intended it to be a temple in the Dhammayutika Sect as well as to be one of the 3 major temples as required by an old tradition to be situated within the capital. The place was originally a royal coffee plantation in the reign of King Rama III. With his personal donation, King Rama IV bought the plantation and had a small temple constructed there, naming it Wat Ratchapradit Sathitthammayutikaram. Later, he had the name changed to Wat Ratchapradit Sathitmahasimaram. A place of interest in this temple is Phra Wihan Luang - the royal image hall - which houses mural paintings depicting The Royal Ceremonies over 12 Months and legend of the solar eclipse phenomenon.
Daily from 08:00 am. – 06:00 pm. | 2019-04-22T23:01:28Z | http://bangkok.sawadee.com/topattractions.html |
In any real country, with the level of intelligence of the population above average, the departure of Ross University School of Medicine, that is so critical to the national economy, should see the resignation of government ministers and possibly the resignation of the entire government due to gross negligence and incompetence.
There is no doubt that the government of Dominica has failed its citizens to secure the continuation of Ross University on the island. The evidence is there in plain sight and this follows a similar pattern with Colgate Palmolive in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Erika, in 2015, when the Government of Dominica gave them the perfect justification to close shop by ignoring the damage to the Colgate Palmolive facility and its existence.
It does not appear that the Government of Dominica appreciates or understands the importance of foreign investments to the national economy and what has to be done to maintain what we have and to pursue others. Sadly, the departure of Ross University has closed the door for any genuine foreign investment for Dominica. It must be noted that in the last nineteen years of the present administration, Dominica has not attracted any foreign investor of significance. Instead we have been giving away all our foreign exchange obtained from the Citizenship By Investment Program to foreign companies while denying locals the opportunity to offer their service.
The Prime Minister’s attitude towards the departure of Ross University raises the question as to whether he really cares or appreciates the impact the loss of Ross University will have on so many sectors of the economy. His decision to give the population “a heads-up on Ross” while his three other Ministers gazed in bewilderment, tells a story. The facial expressions of Reginald Austrie, Ian Douglas and Kenneth Darroux, said it all; they knew nothing about the matter. In a situation where testicular fortitude was present, all of these three ministers would have walked out and allow the Prime Minister to give his breaking news by himself. This one was really an embarrassment especially when they found out that the heads-up was a pre-emptive strike to cushion the impact of the press conference of the Prime Minister of Barbados and the CEO of Ross University later that day.
On Wednesday 25th July, 2018, the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica presented almost a billion dollar budget in a two hour and thirty five minutes address, no mention was made of the situation with Ross. The following day the Leader of the Opposition gave his response in the absence of the Prime Minister, who customarily absents himself for the opposition leader’s response to the budget presentation. The Leader of the Opposition raised pertinent questions on the absence of information on the status of Ross University in his response.
Then came the presentation of Honourable Ian Douglas, parliamentary representative for the Portsmouth constituency which includes Ross University, who started beating his chest on the accomplishments of the government and assuring the people of Portsmouth and the rest of the country that everything was alright with Ross University because he saw them repairing buildings and that means they will be back one day. It must be noted that Ian Douglas is the parliamentary representative for Portsmouth since after the death of his uncle Rosie Douglas in September 2000. In a one hour presentation in parliament he did not outline one attempt that he made to secure the reopening of Ross University in his constituency. This is for the people of Portsmouth to consider.
Minister of Health, Honourable Kenneth Darroux, under whose portfolio Ross University falls, concentrated his more-than-one-hour budget contribution on nurses who were leaving the island for greener pastures and failed to make any reference to the Ross University.
Minister of Agriculture, Reginald Austrie, is popularly known as the attack dog of the government, a self-imposed title since 2000 when he was given the responsibility for special projects by the late Rosie Douglas, he at that time referred to himself as the Rottweiler, he attacked the opposition with venom and was particularly vicious on Senator Isaac Baptiste, the member of parliament he takes pride in decapitating. Minister Austrie who is also the parliamentary representative of the Cottage constituency including the northern section of Portsmouth which benefits directly from Ross University, was also silent on the matter in parliament but subsequent to the conclusion of the budget debate, he accused the parliamentary opposition of writing a letter which encouraged Ross University to leave Dominica. Honourable Austrie is yet to present a copy of the phantom letter.
After a prolonged absence from parliament where he missed all the contributions from the opposition, the Prime Minister returned to close the 2018 – 2019 Budget Debate. No mention was made of the Ross University situation and the population was settling down to enjoy the fruits of the near billion dollar budget but alas, in less than seventy two hours, the Prime Minister addresses the nation on August 3rd 2018, with a heads-up on Ross University, informing the nation that within the next few hours Ross University will make an announcement on their departure from Dominica.
The Prime Minister has been a member of parliament since January 2000 when he won the seat in the Vielle Case constituency and is Prime Minister from January 2004 when he succeeded the late Pierre Charles. As early as March 2004, three months after he attained the Prime Minister position, he demonstrated a questionable behaviour, which was generally accepted by the population, when he severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan in Favour of the People’s Republic of China. On the night before he departed for China, the Prime Minister attended a dinner at the Taiwanese embassy and received a cheque from the Taiwanese government. A few days later the Taiwanese were kicked out of Dominica in the most undiplomatic way and the Chinese came in, the rest is history.
It is quite clear that the Government of Dominica underestimated or misunderstood Ross University and they should have consulted with the Prime Mister of Grenada, Keith Mitchel, on what he did to get St. Georges University operational after Hurricane Ivan in 2005. Grenada recognized the importance of SGU to its national economy and within weeks after the hurricane they had the students back on island. In Dominica it took months before the government even remembered that Ross University existed.
Hurricane Maria may have been the most devastating to hit the island but Dominica was not the first island to be devastated by a hurricane. There were lessons to be learnt from President Charles Savarin who was part of the Interim Government when Hurricane David struck in 1979, he could have advised the government on the processes to follow after Hurricane Maria, instead of the trial and error that was practiced with no coordination or sense of direction. The entire government machinery was involved in relief supply distribution, including ministers, permanent secretaries, ambassadors, all the way down the chain of command. The rampant looting in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria must have sent shock waves within the Ross University administration and the refusal of the Prime Minister to conduct an inquiry must have scared Ross University to the bone.
We could have learnt from the Jamaica experience with Hurricane Gilbert, from Antigua with Hurricane Luis, and all the other islands such as Cuba who have suffered devastating disasters from hurricanes in recent years. There is a false notion that Dominica has done a remarkable recovery from the effects of Hurricane Maria, yes the citizens and the private sector have done a remarkable job in the recovery process, but the government’s contribution leaves much to be desired. Without electricity and telecommunications the nakedness of Dominica’s recovery process would be exposed.
There are more than one hundred reasons why Ross University would have wanted to relocate from Dominica and only three tangible reasons why they should remain. The reasons for staying are simple; one) the island is beautiful, two) they have been here for forty years and three) they love the island, none of which make economic sense because the bottom-line for Ross University is their profitability and one did not have to go very far to realize that Dominica is not one of the most business friendly islands in the Caribbean and the myth that Dominica is the most beautiful is questionable because Dominica is very untidy and the people are becoming extremely unfriendly.
Something has happened in Dominica over the last few years that has made it very unattractive to visitors and even to our Dominicans in the diaspora who increasingly vacation in the neighbouring islands instead of Dominica; this has nothing to do with Erika or Maria.
One can imagine the frustration of the Ross University Students who are initially excited of going to the Caribbean to study and end up in Dominica after a frustrating travelling experience which involves possible overnight and a bumpy flight on a small aircraft. Arrival at Melville Hall is a unique experience and it is assumed that expectations are diminished as one proceeds to living accommodation. Dominicans must admit that Dominica is the most primitive among all the Caribbean islands and the unsuspecting students cope by accepting and justifying its nature island posture.
With a twenty five year agreement with Ross University, the government of Dominica thought it was a fete accompli, they could sit on their laurels and make all sorts of promises and outrageous statements and Ross would stay, because it was impossible for Ross University to leave their infrastructure on the ground to relocate to anywhere else. The Dominican authorities failed to understand that Ross University could simply abandon all the infrastructure and get it written off in their tax returns.
Hurricane Maria was the perfect excuse for Ross University to depart, and the government of Dominica allowed them to take full advantage of the situation. Since Ross University decided to move from the cruise ship off St. Kitts to Tennessee, the writing was on the wall but the government of Dominica did not read it. Whereas the Prime Minister made several trips to the Middle East to secure markets for the sale of Dominican passports, in his heads-up he could not reveal one single trip to meet the Board of Directors of Ross University, except a so-called discussion with the pretty CEO. Does the Prime Minister know that the final decision on Ross University was that of its BOD and not that of the CEO? It would be no surprise if he was bamboozled by her femininity and was totally outsmarted. His remarks about; Ross Loves Dominica and Dominica Loves Ross, is an admission that he thought it was a love affair, no wonder he is talking about alimony in the divorce. This is business and profit, nothing to do with Nature Island and loyalty to Dominica. If all investors who love Dominica had followed through on their love affair with the Nature Isle, Dominica would be overflowing with foreign investments.
So, after forty years Ross University students are still struggling to get to Dominica, while their counterparts in the other islands fly home for a weekend. In Dominica it takes them four days of travel to and from Dominica. The government of Dominica has told numerous untruths about the construction of an international airport while travel to Dominica becomes increasingly frustrating.
Ross University could have relocated to any of the OECS islands such as Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Antigua or St. Kitts and the students, their clientele, would be more satisfied than being in Dominica. This can simply be interpreted as Dominica was more attractive for foreign investors forty years ago than in 2018. Why? In spite of the government of Dominica’s utterances of progress within the last nineteen years, Dominica is last within the OECS as far as economic development is concerned. Ease of travel is one of the main requirements for economic development in this new world order, so overnighting to get to any destination is not part of any traveller’s millennium psyche. That’s why all the other OECS islands have international airports except Dominica.
The fact that the Prime Minister recently announced the construction of an international airport without a location, without a design and a secret feasibility study is an insult to the citizens and more so to foreign investors whose investments depend on air access to Dominica. Ross University must have been pissed off upon hearing the recent pronouncements of the international airport and must have considered it an insult to their intelligence.
The people of Portsmouth may be the most direct victims of the departure of Ross University from Dominica but the whole of Dominica will suffer the consequences. Mention is made of the apartment owners who provided housing for students and faculty, but other service providers such as electricity, telecommunications, water and others who supplied products such as food, household products, sanitary products, agricultural products and the list goes on. The local lecturers and other workers are affected.
The loss of Ross University has no comparison with the exit of Colgate Palmolive, DCP brought in all their raw and packaging material and then exported their products and employed about one hundred persons at the time of their departure. Ross brought in foreign exchange, procured most of their products and services locally and created direct employment for hundreds.
The full impact of the loss of Ross University must be quickly analysed by our economists in an objective manner, free from political tribal bias and then Heads Should Roll, if 10% of the effort placed in seeking markets for the passport pushers was given to facilitating of the return of Ross University to Dominica, the country would not be in the situation that it is now.
Ask Keith Mitchel about the contribution St. Georges University is making towards the development of Grenada and there will be a greater appreciation of the crime the Government of Dominica has committed against its citizens and for that Heads Must Roll, Ian Douglas, Reginald Austrie, Roosevelt Skerrit and Kenneth Darroux should immediately tender their resignation followed by the rest of the cabinet because it is a collective responsibility.
The people of Portsmouth should show their worth, forget their party colours and in the interest of themselves punish the Dominica Labour Party for the pain its government has inflicted on them. The opposition forces must come together to pick up the spoils because no single party in Dominica can repair the mess the Commonwealth of Dominica is in. A government of national unity, which incorporates the best of Dominica’s resources at home and abroad, is what is required at this time in our history.
The surrender of Ross University to the Government of Barbados is a betrayal of the Dominican people and is indicative that after nineteen years in office, the Dominica Labour Party under the leadership of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, has outlived its usefulness, lacks innovation, its tired and will only plunge the Commonwealth of Dominica into further economic peril.
In the final analysis the decision is left to Dominicans to determine whether they will allow themselves to be sentenced to economic death while they hold on to their tribal colours or will they finally take a stand and say “Enough is Enough, Time Up Pack Up!” heads must roll.
If you know that the people you voted for are giving you the SHAFT and you keep voting to get SHAFTED you have no one but yourself to blame for getting the SHAFT. Vote the same people in to office next election to get SHAFTED enjoy the SHAFT get on down the road with the SHAFT and enjoy.
Enough of this ROSS BUSINESS. I know it is going to be tough. But what about the rest of us. Are we supporting local to ease the nurse? . When is the last time you ate local food? . Run at ehe supermarket and buy cereal (GMO) when you should be contributing to the local market. Stop whining and contribute.
THe PM thought he was dealing with the numerous Dominicans who have been fooled election and election with empty premises;; of hospitals and airport. Ross was watching him trick us; they saw we would continue allowing him to fool us with all these empty promises. So they left us and our Government to play games. The citizens need to be blamed for all of this….not the PM, not Ross and not Mia.
We allowed one man to disrespect us with his empty promises.
If we open our mind and eyes to the truth and forget about party for a minute we will understand the truth of the matter. Everything written above is truth. Even if you are blue red or pink the truth is plain and simple. Dominica is already in and is heading for bigger economic struggles.
1. If Ross University’s departure broke any legal contract that it had with the Commonwealth of Dominca — e.g., agreements stating the university has to operate there for X number of years in exchange for certain concessions — then Dominica should sue for breach of contract in a court of law. Since the medical school is moving to Barbados, another CARICOM country, such a law suit would be the best way to receive damages.
2. CARICOM’s mandate to enact a Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) says that the free movement of capital, services, and labour from one CARICOM country to another is to be encouraged. This move helps fulfill this mandate.
Not sure what you’re trying to say! If the Commonwealth of Dominica was to sue Ross for breach of contract and it was to win, a judgement could not replace the longterm impact of Ross’ departure from the country and besides, we would never know what the judgement entailed because currently, there is no transparency in governance.
Secondly, while you make an argument for the spirit of capitalism, you fail to understand that Ross’ contribution to our fledgling economy was in excess of 30%, a significant contribution. With no tourism sector to speak of, an agricultural sector that is practically dead, an infrastructure that leaves a lot to be desired, a skilled workforce that is lacking and no transparent and sustainable FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), it was incumbent on government to protect their most consistent source of foreign exchange. That, my friend is the spirit of capitalism!
If only the people of Portsmouth would read.
So who is that idiot that wrote this senseless article .Imagine he can’t even identify himself.
Are you are propagandist….have you declared your name…..who on earth are You, that you have as that “idiot that wrote this senseless response. Imagine that you propagandist cant even identify our self and you there throwing stones.
Come better than that. Its like you calling a person a thief, caught in the act and you are thieving that same product.
Why write such commentary and pen your name as concerned. Did you really write this commentary because you are concerned, of course not. What you have done is exploit a crisis to advance your political partisan beliefs. You have done this by misrepresenting facts, ignoring evidence and making assumptions without you having first-hand information and knowledge. When the dust is settled and all the facts are in the people of Dominica will decide the fate of The Government.
Shut up Gary, you are an idiot, what difference does it make whether or not the author write under their name of a fictitious pen name!
That is what you all do in Dominica’ more than 99% of you writing on DNO dare not write anything and mention your names, for fear of Roosevelt and him victimizing you all by not giving you all a hand out when you beg him!
The person is collect heads should roll, but Dominicans are so stupid Roosevelt and his puppet government caused Ross university to leave Dominica after forty (40) years, and because you all are so dumb you blaming the departure of Ross on hurricane Maria.
So, did Maria cause Colgate Palmolive, a company with products selling all over the world, Kubuli hurricane cause Kubuli Beer the Gleden Paint, the tram company, Clare Harbor, and all those prior to the destruction of Maria to leave? If Dominicans were not dumb, they would be in the streets demanding Roosevelt resignation, along with his government!
The PM and government had no plan for the aftermath of a Hurricane. They had no plan for the evacuation of the Ross students or had a way for the students to contact their relatives, this is one of the factors in the Ross decision to close up shop in Dominica, the Dominican government is incompetent What has the Dominican PM and his buddies done with the millions collected in the CBI program? There needs to be an audit and investigation including a check of overseas bank accounts to find out if any people in the Dominican government have been making deposits in their personal bank accounts.
More rubbish. Just another UWP supporter repeating party talking points and propaganda.
A rubbish commentary, based solely on political bias. Just a whole load of useless political propaganda.
Geez. Are you that clueless? Didn’t you read and seriously processed any part of that commentary? Forget the party colors and think of your country. Dammit!
If it was Freedom that was in government and thus happened what would you be saying? What would your actions? Be honest…..
MAMA Mia, spitefully, cowardly, and willfully went behind closed doors and convinced ROSS to come to her island. Barbados’s economy is in shambles and in dire need of money. Wake up, wake up.
So are you telling yourself that ROSS preferred to go to a Country whose economy is in SHAMBLES than to remain in a Country where their Prime Minister says one thing,but conditions say otherwise ?
I will recommend that you become the Minister of Foreign Investments since you seem to know the importance. Apply for the position. It is well to speak and comment from the outside but when you are in the driver’s seat, it is a different thing. Reality stares you in the face.
On whose doorstep are you placing the blame for the departure of Ross, of Colgate Palmolive and others? Skerritt the little Hugo Chavez, is extremely happy to now be able to give more handouts to more people via his “red clinic” so he can be looked at as a “god”. The commentary, in my opinion, is correct and the writer has to have no fear of acolytes like you. You and your regime have led Dominica down a dark path.
You see you are not informed. Colgate Palmolive closed most in 2007. The small soap factory they continued but when Erica came, they left because they wanted to. Not Government that should fix there. They wanted to leave already. They were insured. They took all resources and brought the business to central America where the labour was cheaper. Back in 2007. You see again I must tell you and all the others, Colgate Palmolive is a Mega Entity whose budget runs into thousands of dollars. Futhermore back then they closed a lot of subsidiary world wide because operations were not showing the level of positive variance they wanted. Those people are about profits. Stop this and read more and make yourself a knowledge base before you comment and be objective like taking everything into account. Then commentors like yourself will be respected not playing politics and trying to campaign for a Political party. Now what Dominica needs is all hands working towards recovery.
Political Article …. Same folks … Different strokes….. Your job to be against the PM & the DLP. Nothing said here is objective but blaming. You commentators should look at all things and comment. Economics, Trends, What is happening around the world, business news etc: not subjective things like who caused Ross to go. Ross is not a baby and remember the founder has died. Other persons are on the board who do not care two hoots about Dominica. It is profit etc; The comfort of the students who brings in the money. It is attracting other students as well. Be objective … stop the political commentary and look at the outlook outside trends. Weather etc … World news .. what happened before – History. I am fed up of persons who believing they know it all; want things their way using their supposedly intelligence to woo person to vote for a particular party. Hey no wisdom here – self. Wisdom only comes from God (Jehovah) the one who created all. Hatred must stop!
NO one cannot and I mean No one could not prevent Ross from living. Their first duty is to Students. Stop the Blaming. Are there not always changes. ERI Shillingford not there again. Clock Shop not there again… So many things changed from when I was growing up. Great Ross survived here and stayed 40 years. Colgate stayed about 12 years and then continued with the soap manufacturing. Those Mega Entities look at their profits. I know Colgate Palmolive closed a lot of subsidiary over the world about the same time they shut down most of the operations here in Dominica. So rather misleading people and playing know it all … you need to increase you knowledge … for you should know that those Mega Institutions move here there and everywhere as long as the have a favourable variance ie. they make profits. Mischievous are many persons who want to speak on matters they have not researched and think they know it all. Most of you folks want to dictate people what to do.
Seems a nerve has been struck..Though I can’t comment on all points made in the initial written piece, it is factual that Dominica needs to modernize a great deal of it’s infrastructure to be competitive and of significance in these modern times. The departure of Ross university is sad and will definitely have adverse effects on the economy. If this occurred as a result of incompetence on the part of Dominica’s current administration, then someone or a collective should be held accountable. The well-being of Dominica’s citizens is directly dependent upon the decisions of government, hence every decision has to be carefully calculated.
The prime Minister of Barbados said that Barbados only came into the picture once Adtalem had decided that it would not be possible to get classes back up in Dominica by January 2019. In essence at that point they had already decided to leave Dominica.
She says that they were approached from the 31st of May. So that is over 2 months now since Adtalem and the government of Barbados at least knew that Ross would be leaving the island.
1) There was very little information coming from the government as to the state of negotiations with Adtalem or the future of Ross’s operations in Dominica. It was not even mentioned in the Prime Minister’s address in the budget.
2) The government, Rep. Ian Douglas in particular, gave the impression that Ross was getting ready to come back to the island and they were in negotiations with the government to get certain things in place.
The roads to Portsmouth was very dangerous. Only when hurricane season the government started fixing it. Ross people were afraid of the roads. That should have been one of the government’s main priority. Ross was was still interested in moving back to Dominica. Because they had there housing people every mouth or so checking to see if the apartments and houses were ready for Ross return. most of the home owners and business owners were ready for Ross return, some had insurance some had none. But they did what it takes to accommodate Ross back. Who’s going to compensate them for there lost. That ‘s a big lose for the Picard area.
I think a government should put it’s peoples first not themselves first. People of Dominica. You should know what to do come election time. Put yourself and your children first vote that government out. enough is enough.don’t let them fool you come election time with there little pocket change. There red umbrellas and all the little trinke.
Well written.When you put showmen and MISLEADERS to government your country,do not expect better from them.I complement Mia Motley for taking the interest of Barbados at heart..Skerrit prefers to juxtapose himself with God, and my true God is punishing all of us.
You will know who the true God will hold account for blasphemy. Keep calling wolf with you silly statement regarding Wicked rule. If this Country of Dominica was ruled by the wicked have you ever wondered if you would get a forum on DNO to express your political partisan beliefs so freely. When people are ruled by a wicked Government they do not mourn.
Huh ? When a people are rules by a wicked government they do not mourn? Seriously.
Gary if Skerrit and Tony could do away with internet access they would. But you know very well that it is impossible to do so- Dominica is way to dependent on external interventions. Skerrit has already stated that Dominicans are too free. The words of a serial dictator.
Gary you can sit from within and come in here in disguise but you all days are numbered.
Yes, heads must roll, but more importantly, the government must roll!
You could not make your point more concisely? This reminds me of the 3 hour Castro speeches.
I do agree with you 110% and also call on Skerrit, Austrie, Douglas and Darroux to resign immediately. Every democratically elected government in the world would have to do the honourable thing after such a show of incompetence. However, the reality is probably such that none of the mentioned individuals can afford to resign for fear of the new government discovering all their corruption and the consequence of that. Where on earth does that leave our country?? Even if the DLP would loose the next election I have a feeling that Skerrit and Co. would not leave without a fight and declare the election as invalid and bingo we have exactly the same situation as in Venezuela.
Can you not write a comment displaying facts instead of making silly assumptions.
Here is another fact, you for sure is the chief Skerrit apologist!
I wholeheartedly disagree with 90% of this commentary. Its narrative is vindictive and spiteful.
That more students passed their exams on Dominica than any other Caribbean island.
There have been similar articles published about the departure of Ross and all with the resounding message. There is a stink within the wheels of power in Dominica. There is a lot of hot air but very little action. There is one sure thing, the Government could have done something if they wished to. The power was within their hands to move mountains to keep Ross in Portsmouth. There were so many negotiating tools at their disposal and yet nothing was outlined. There will be so many persons out of work and livelihoods lost. Picard is becoming a ghost town. This situation could well have been avoided. One may possibly understand if Ross wished to move to America maybe, but Barbados? It is a criminal affair! All it takes is hard work and organisational skills, which are obviously lacking. Maybe, just maybe there is still time but the Government needs to act now and act like a real Government not just windy puppets! DO it!
Do you know how silly you are to make the statement quote “The power was within their hands to move mountains to keep Ross in Portsmouth”. Wow. What evidence do you have to support such statement, talk is cheap, especially when it has no value.
Gary, grow and understand the operations of a government. Every information is noted and needed of a foreign company in your country and intervene ASAP under circumstances and eventualities when they arise. This inept hopeless Labour Government and Prime Minister and their acolytes have been asleep for 18 years reducing our island to poverty and loss of business. they are hopeless, the leadership including the Pm is defunct and illiterate. Where were they sleeping all these years. ?Yes, they wasted their time on Hon Linton and travelling the world returning empty handed and possible drawing lot of overseas travel fees.
This labour government has failed us and they must Go. Real nincompoops…meaning idiots, hopeless senseless.
This is so stupid a ‘commentary’ that that will be my only comment. No doubt you’ll get plenty from like-minded people and defenders of the Labour Party.
Do you have a brain? “Blue” people will agree and “Red” people will defend their own. SMH. A_S. | 2019-04-22T18:24:56Z | http://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/features/commentary/commentary-ross-university-departsheads-should-roll/?replytocom=2876275 |
I found the paper as I was searching the internet for papers on banking regulation and property rights theory. If we fundamentally want to understand banking crisis we should understand incentives and property rights.
Who owns “profits” and “liability”? Who will be paying the bills? The banks’ owners, the clients, the employees, the bank management or the taxpayers? If property rights are badly defined or there are incentive conflicts we will get banking troubles.
In that sense banking crisis is a constitutional economics problem. Therefore, we cannot really understand banking crisis by just looking at specific issues such as how much capital or liquidity banks should hold. We need to understand the overall incentives facing all players in the “banking game” – owners, clients, employees, bank managements, regulators and politicians.
Inspired by Peter Boettke’s and Daniel Smith’s for a “Quest for Robust Political Economy” of monetary policy we could say we need a “Robust Political Economy of Financial Regulation”. I believe that Connor’s and O’Kelly’s paper contributes to this.
Hence, if we want to “design” good banking regulation we fundamentally need a property rights perspective or even in a broader sense a “Financial Constitution” in the spirit of James Buchanan’s “Monetary Constitution”.
Concluding, yes we might learn something about banking crisis and banking regulation by studying finance theory, but we will probably learn a lot more by studying Law and Economics and Public Choice Theory.
Studying Public Choice theory can be very depressing for would-be reformers as they learn about what we could call the Iron Law of Public Choice.
The students of Public Choice theory will learn from Bill Niskanen that bureaucrats has an informational advantage that they will use to maximizes budgets. They will learn that interest groups will lobby to increase government subsidies and special favours. Gordon Tulluck teaches us that groups will engage in wasteful rent-seeking. Mancur Olson will tell us that well-organized groups will highjack the political process. Voters will be rationally ignorant or even as Bryan Caplan claims rationally irrational.
Put all that together and you get the Iron Law of Public Choice – no matter how much would-be reformers try they will be up against a wall of resistance. Reforms are doomed to end in tears and reformers are doomed to end depressed and disappointed.
The problem according to Pete is that we (the reformers) assume that policy makers are benevolent dictators that without resistance will just implement reform proposals. Said in another way Pete argues that to evaluate reform proposals we need to analysis whether it is realistic the vote maximizing politicians, the ignorant voters and the budget maximizing bureaucrats will go along with reform proposals.
So Scott is suggesting – for the sake of the argument – to ignore the Iron Law of Public Choice, while Pete is arguing that you should never ignore Public Choice theory.
I must say that I think Pete’s criticism of Scott (and the rest of Market Monetarist crowd) misses the point in what Market Monetarists are indeed saying.
First of all, the suggestion for a rule-based monetary policy in the form of NGDP targeting exactly takes Public Choice considerations into account as being in stark contrast to a discretionary monetary policy. In that sense NGDP Targeting should be seen as essentially being a Monetary Constitution in exactly same way as for example a gold standard.
In fact I find it somewhat odd that Peter Boettke is always so eager to argue that NGDP targeting will fail because it as a rule will be manipulated – or in my wording would be crushed by the Iron Law of Public Choice. However, I have never heard Pete argue in the same forceful fashion against the gold standard. That is not to say that Pete has argued that the gold standard cannot be manipulated. Pete has certainly made that point, but why is it he is so eager to exactly to show that a “market driven” NGDP targeting regime would fail?
When it comes to comparing NGDP targeting with other regimes of central banking (and even free banking) what are the arguments that NGDP targeting should be more likely to fail because of the Iron Law of Public Choice than other regimes? After all should we criticize Larry White and George Selgin for ignoring Public Choice theory when they have advocated Free Banking? After all even the arguably most successful Free Banking regime the Scottish Free Banking experience before 1844 in the end “failed” – as central banking in the became the name of the game across Britain – including Scotland. Public Choice theory could certainly add to understanding why Free Banking died in Scotland, but that mean that Larry and George are wrong arguing in favour Free Banking? I don’t think so.
So yes, Scott is choosing to ignore the Iron Law of Public Choice, but so is Austrians (some of them) when they are arguing for a gold standard and so is George Selgin when he is advocate Free Banking. As Scott rightly says no monetary regime is “foolproof”. They can all be “attacked” by policy makers and bureaucrats. Any regime can be high-jacked and messed up.
Furthermore, Pete seems to fail to realize that Scott’s proposal is to let the market determine monetary conditions based on an NGDP futures set-up. Gone would be the discretion of policy makers. This is exactly taking into account Public Choice lessons for monetary policy rather than the opposite.
Here Hayek is basically making a Public Choice argument – the West is doomed. There will not be the political backing for the necessary measures to defeat inflation and instead will be on a Road to Serfdom. Interestingly enough this is nearly a Marxist argument. Capitalism will be defeated by the Iron Law of Public Choice. There is no way around it.
However, today we know that Hayek was wrong. Inflation was defeated. Price controls are not widespread in Western economies. Instead we have since the end of 1980s seen the collapse of Communism and free market capitalism – in more or less perfect forms – has spread across the globe. And during the Great Moderation we have had an unprecedented period of monetary stability around the world and you have to go to Sudan or Venezuela to find the kind of out of control inflation and price controls that Hayek so feared.
Something happened that beat the Iron Law of Public Choice. The strictest defeatist form of Public Choice theory was hence proven wrong. So why was that?
Hence, according to Mises ideas are more important than anything else. I disagree on that view, but I on the other clearly think that ideas – especially good and sound ideas – can beat the Iron Law of Public Choice. Reforms are possible. Otherwise Hayek would have been proven right, but he was not. Inflation was defeated and we saw widespread market reforms across the globe in 1980s and 1990s.
I believe that NGDP targeting is an idea that can change the way monetary policy is conducted and break the Iron Law of Public Choice and bring us closer to the ideal of a Monetary Constitution that both Peter Boettke and I share.
PS Don Boudreaux also comments on Pete’s blog post.
Is Market Monetarism just market socialism?
I very much apprecaite Pete’s kind words about my post and fundamentally think that we are moving towards common ground.
Update 2: Scott Sumner also comments on Pete’s post. Read also the comment section – George Selgin has some very insightful comments on the relationship between Free Banking and NGDP level targeting.
Nobel Prize winning economist and founding father of the Public Choice school James M. Buchanan has died at age 93. His friends and students have already offered many kind words in his memory. Here I quote two of my friends professors Steve Horwtiz and Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard.
James M. Buchanan, RIP. If making a difference is what matters, he was one of the five most influential thinkers of the last 50 years. Sharp as a knife into his 90s and always the scholar.
…No one who wishes to talk responsibly about politics can be ignorant of public choice theory. No one should ever invoke the language of market failure (including externalities) without having digested his work on government failure. And people who run around talking about the constitution better be able to understand something of constitutional political economy.
Beyond all of that, he was a role model of the old school scholar: widely read and properly skeptical of turning economics into an engineering discipline. He was, at bottom, a humanist and a liberal in the oldest and best senses of the terms. And best of all: he was utterly unimpressed by degrees from fancy schools.
Buchanan produced an enormous amount of scholarly works including numerous books in his long life. Best known is probably The Calculus of Consent which he co-authored with Gordon Tullock. However, the works that had the biggest influence on my own thinking undoubtedly was “What should economists do?” and “Cost and Choice”.
James Buchanan, sought to bring his extensive work on rule-making to bear in envisioning a monetary regime that could operate within a contemporary democratic setting. From the start, Buchanan (1999) eschewed the ‘presuppositions of Harvey road’ that held that economic policy would be crafted and implemented by a group of benevolent and enlightened elites. Buchanan set out to make the case for a monetary regime using comparative institutional analysis that compared monetary regimes in real, not ideal settings.
Buchanan (1999) believed that it was not so much the specific type of monetary regime adopted, but the set of rules that defined that regime. Buchanan argued that the brick standard, a labor standard, or a manager confined by well-defined rules, would all put a stop to the government growth let loose by the fiscal profligacy encouraged by the wide scale acceptance of Keynesian ideas in the political realm (see Buchanan and Wagner (2000). The brick standard, as defined by Buchanan, would be a monetary regime that allowed anyone to go to the mint with a standard building brick of a specified quality and exchange it for the monetary unit, and vice versa. As the general price level fluctuated, market forces would cause automatic adjustments as people would exchange money for bricks when the price level rose above the equilibrium level, and bricks for money when the price level fell below the equilibrium level. Under this regime, market actors, guided by profits and losses would be the mechanism that achieved price predictability, not a government-entity entrusted with the goal of achieving it. In addition, a brick standard would, most likely, divorce domestic monetary policy from international balance of payment and exchange rate policies due to the fact that a brick standard would be unsuitable for those purposes.
For Buchanan (1999, 417), it came down to a toss-up between a brick type standard and a limited manager. What mattered most for monetary predictability was that the rules that set up the monetary regime must be of the ‘constitutional’ variety. In other words, the rules must be set to be ‘relatively absolute absolutes’ in order to protect them from tampering.
The short answer to the question in the headline is no, but I can understand if somebody would suspect so. I will discuss this below.
If there had been an internet back in the 1920s then the leading Austrian economists Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek would have had their own blogs and so would the two leading “market socialists” Oskar Lange and Abba Lerner and in many ways the debate between the Austrians and the market socialists in the so-called Socialist Calculation Debate played out as debate do today in the blogosphere.
Recently I have given some attention to the need for Market Monetarists to stress the institutional context of monetary institutions and I think the critique by for example Daniel Smith and Peter Boettke in their recent paper “Monetary Policy and the Quest for Robust Political Economy” should be taken serious.
Smith’s and Boettke’s thesis is basically that monetary theorists – including – Market Monetarists tend to be overly focused on designing the optimal policy rules under the assumption that central bankers acts in a benevolent fashion to ensure a higher good. Smith and Boettke argue contrary to this that central bankers are unlikely to act in a benevolent fashion and we therefore instead of debating “optimal” policy rules we instead should debate how we could ultimately limit central banks discretionary powers by getting rid of them all together. Said in another way – you can not reform central banks so they should just be abolished.
I have written numerous posts arguing basically along the same lines as Boettke and Smith (See fore example here and here). I especially have argued that we certainly should not see central bankers as automatically acting in a benevolent fashion and that central bankers will act in their own self-interests as every other individual. That said, I also think that Smith and Boettke are too defeatist in their assessment and fail to acknowledge that NGDP level targeting could be seen as step toward abolishing central banks altogether.
From the Smith-Boettke perspective one might argue that Market Monetarism really is just the monetary equivalent of market socialism and I can understand why (Note Smith and Boettke are not arguing this). I have often argued that NGDP targeting is a way to emulate the outcome in a truly competitive Free Banking system (See for example here page 26) and that is certainly a common factor with the market socialists of the 1920s. What paretian market socialists like Lerner and Lange wanted was a socialist planned economy where the allocation would emulate the allocation under a Walrasian general equilibrium model.
So yes, on the surface there as some similarities between Market Monetarism and market socialism. However, note here the important difference of the use of “market” in the two names. In Market Monetarism the reference is about using the market in the conduct of monetary policy. In market socialism it is about using socialist instruments to “copy” the market. Hence, in Market Monetarism the purpose is to move towards market allocation and about monetary policy not distorting relative market prices, while the purpose of market socialism is about moving away from market allocation. Market Monetarism provides an privatisation strategy, while market socialism provides an nationalisation strategy. I am not sure that Boettke and Smith realise this. But they are not alone – I think many NGDP targeting proponents also fail to see these aspects .
George Selgin – who certainly is in favour of Free Banking – in a number of recent papers (see here and here) have discussed strategies for central bank reforms that could move us closer to Free Banking. I think that George fully demonstrates that just because you might be favouring Free Banking and wanting to get rid of central banks you don’t have to stop reforms of central banking that does not go all the way.
This debate is really similar to the critique some Austrians – particular Murray Rothbard – had of Milton Friedman’s proposal for the introduction of school vouchers. Rothbard would argue that Friedman’s ideas was just clever socialism and would preserve a socialist system rather than break it down.
However, even Rothbard acknowledged in For a New Liberty that Friedman’s school voucher proposal was “a great improvement over the present system in permitting a wider range of parental choice and enabling the abolition of the public school system” (I stole the quote from Bryan Caplan). Shouldn’t Free Banking advocates think about NGDP level targeting in the same way?
I’ve noticed that when I discuss economic policy with other free market types, it’s easier to get agreement on broad policy rules than day-to-day discretionary decisions.
I have noticed the same thing – or rather I find that when pro-market economists are presented with Market Monetarist ideas based on the fact that we want to limit the discretionary powers of central banks then it is much easier to sell our views than when we just argue for monetary “stimulus”. I don’t want central bank to ease monetary policy. I don’t want central banks to tighten monetary policy. I simply want to central banks to stop distorting relative prices. I believe the best way to ensure that is with futures based NGDP targeting as this is the closest we get to the outcome that would prevail under a truly free monetary system with competitive issuance of money.
I have often argued that NGDP level targeting is not about monetary stimulus (See here, here and here) and argued that NGDP level targeting is the truly free market alternative (see here).
This in my view is the uniting view for free market oriented economists. We can disagree about whether monetary policy was too loose in the US and Europe prior to 2008 or whether it became too tight in 2008/9. My personal view is that both US and European monetary policy likely was (a bit!) too loose prior to 2008, but then turned extremely tight in 2008/09. The Great Depression was not caused by too easy monetary policy, but too tight monetary policy. However, in terms of policy recommendations is that really important? Yes it is important in the sense of what we think that the Fed or the ECB should do right now in the absence of a clear framework of NGDP targeting (or any other clear nominal target). However, the really important thing is not whether the Fed or the ECB will ease a little bit more or a little less in the coming month or quarter, but how we ensure the right institutional framework to avoid a future repeat of the catastrophic policy response in 2008/9 (and 2011!). In fact I would be more than happy if we could convince the ECB and the Fed to implement NGDP level target at the present levels of NGDP in Europe and the US – that would mean a lot more to me than a little bit more easing from the major central banks of the world (even though I continue to think that would be highly desirable as well).
What can Scott Sumner, George Selgin, Pete Boettke, Steve Horwitz, Bob Murphy and John Taylor all agree about? They want to limit the discretionary powers of central banks. Some of them would like to get rid of central banks all together, but as long as that option is not on the table they they all want to tie the hands of central bankers as much as possible. Scott, Steve and George all would agree that a form of nominal income targeting would be the best rule. Taylor might be convinced about that I think if it was completely rule based (at least if he listens to Evan Koeing). Bob of course want something completely else, but I think that even he would agree that a futures based NGDP targeting regime would be preferable to the present discretionary policies.
So maybe it is about time that we take this step by step and instead of screaming for monetary stimulus in the US and Europe start build alliances with those economists who really should endorse Market Monetarist ideas in the first place.
1) Do you agree that in the absence of Free Banking that monetary policy should be rule based rather than based on discretion?
2) Do you agree that markets send useful and appropriate signals for the conduct of monetary policy?
3) Do you agree that the market should be used to do forecasting for central banks and to markets should be used to implement policies rather than to leave it to technocrats? For example through the use of prediction markets and futures markets. (See my comments on prediction markets and market based monetary policy here and here).
4) Do you agree that there is good and bad inflation and good and bad deflation?
5) Do you agree that central banks should not respond to non-monetary shocks to the price level?
7) Do you agree that the appropriate target for a central bank should be to the NGDP level?
I am pretty sure that most free market oriented monetary economists would answer “yes” to most of these questions. I would of course answer “yes” to them all.
So I suggest to my fellow Market Monetarists that these are the questions we should ask other free market economists instead of telling them that they are wrong about being against QE3 from the Fed. In fact would it really be strategically correct to argue for QE3 in the US right now? I am not sure. I would rather argue for strict NGDP level targeting and then I am pretty sure that the Chuck Norris effect and the market would do most of the lifting. We should basically stop arguing in favour of or against any discretionary policies.
PS I remain totally convinced that when economists in future discuss the causes of the Great Recession then the consensus among monetary historians will be that the Hetzelian-Sumnerian explanation of the crisis was correct. Bob Hetzel and Scott Sumner are the Hawtreys and Cassels of the day.
I am beginning to get a serious problem in keeping up with all the interesting papers, which are being published at the moment. The latest paper that I clearly have to read is a rather impressive paper (124 pages!) by Peter Boettke and Daniel Smith.
The topic of Pete’s and Daniel’s paper – which I still have not read – is basically a discussion of the public choice aspects of central banking. This is a topic I find extremely interesting and I look very much forward to reading the paper in the near future (I will be on vacation next week – so maybe…).
The economics profession not only failed to predict the recent financial crisis; it has been struggling in its aftermath to reach a consensus on the cause(s) of the crisis. While competing narratives are being offered and evaluated, the narrow scope of the debate on the strictly technical aspects of monetary policy that have contributed to and prolonged the crisis has precluded the a broader examination of questions of political economy that may prove to be of greater import. Attempting to find the technically optimal policy is futile when the Federal Reserve’s independence is undermined by the political influences of contemporary democracy. Nobel Laureates F.A. Hayek, Milton Friedman, and James Buchanan each sought ways to constrain and protect a monetary authority from political pressures in their research. Each one ended up rejecting the possibility of doing so without a fundamental restructuring of our monetary regime. Hayek turned to denationalization, Buchanan to constitutionalism, and Friedman to binding rules. We incorporate their experiences to make a case for applying the concepts of robust political economy to the Federal Reserve. Robust political economy calls for relaxing idealized assumptions in order to seek out institutional regimes that can overcome both the epistemic and motivational hurdles that characterize contemporary democratic settings.
Even though I have not read the paper yet I have a pretty good idea where Pete and Daniel are going – they are questioning whether we can convince central bankers to do the right thing. Market Monetarists want central banks to target the nominal GDP level. We want central banks to follow rules. However, we are up against the powers of public choice theory. One can easily argue that central bankers will never give up their discretionary powers and politicians will always interfere with the conduct of monetary policy. It is simply in their selfish interest to do so and therefore the project to convince central bankers to do the right thing – NGDP level targeting – is just a waste of time. We should rather focus on fundamental institutional reforms.
This is fundamentally the issue that any reformist in any area will have to struggle with – how can we expect those in power to give up that power? How can we implement reforms? A way to beat the logic of public choice theory is through the powers of ideas. Milton Friedman was in the business of ideas all his life. The powers of governments – and central banks – can be rolled back through the sheer power of strong arguments and good ideas. It is never going to be easing, but when Scott Sumner started to blog about NGDP targeting nobody listened. Now Federal Reserve scholars are serious talking about it and doing research about it and even the FOMC has debate NGDP targeting. There is therefore reason to be optimistic. But I will be the first to admit that I find it unlikely that the Federal Reserve or the ECB will start targeting the NGDP level anytime – neither do I find it likely that these institutions will give up their discretionary powers. That said I never had any illusions that they would and I do agree that we need to talk about the fundamental institutional issues of central banking.
PS Boettke and Smith does not explicitly mention Market Monetarists or NGDP targeting in paper, but a draft version of the paper was presented at the 2010 Southern Economic Association Annual Meeting Session “Are There Public Choice Problems with Nominal Income Targeting?” Pete has earlier written a blog post on this issue directly challenging the Market Monetarist position: “Political Economy Questions Which Even Market Monetarists Might Want to Think About”. Here is my response to that post.
PPS I have often argued that there is certainly no conflict between favouring NGDP level targeting for central bank and favouring Free Banking as NGDP level targeting in the same way as school vouchers can be seen as a privatization strategy.
My outburst over the weekend against the Rothbardian version of Austrian business cycle theory was not my normal style of blogging. I normally try to be non-confrontational in my blogging style. Krugman-style blogging is not really for me, but I must admit my outburst had some positive consequences. Most important it generated some good – friendly – exchanges with Steve Horwitz and other Austrians.
Steve’s blog post in response to my post gave some interesting insight. Most interesting for me was that Steve highlighted Robert Higgs’ “Regime Uncertainty” theory of the Great Depression.
Overall I think Higgs’ concept makes a lot of sense and there is no doubt that uncertainty about economic policy had negative impact on the performance of the US economy during the Great Depression. I would especially highlight that the so-called National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) and the Smoot-Hawley tariff act not only had directly negative impact on the US economy, but mostly likely also created uncertainty about core capitalist institutions such as property rights and the freedom of contract. This likely hampered investment growth in the way described by Higgs.
However, I am somewhat critical about the “transmission mechanism” of this regime uncertainty. From the Market Monetarist perspective recessions are always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon. Hence, in my view regime uncertainty can only impact nominal GDP if it in someway impact monetary policy – either through money demand or the money supply.
This is contrary to Higgs’ description of the “transmission mechanism”. Higgs’ description is – believe it or not – fundamentally Keynesian in its character (no offence meant Bob): An increase in regime uncertainty reduces investments and that directly reduces real GDP. This is exactly similar to how the fiscal multiplier works in a traditional Keynesian model.
In a Market Monetarist set-up this will only have impact if the monetary authorities allowed it – in the same way as the fiscal multiplier will only be higher than zero if monetary policy allow it. See my discussion of fiscal policy here.
Hence, from a Market Monetarist perspective the impact on investment will be only important from a supply side perspective rather than from a demand side perspective. That, however, does not mean that it is not important – rather the opposite. What makes us rich or poor in the long run is supply side factor and not demand side factors.
While a drop in investment surely has a negative impact on the long run on real GDP growth I would suggest that we should focus on a slightly different kind of regime uncertain than the uncertainty discussed by Higgs. Or rather we should also focus on the uncertainty about the monetary regime.
Let me illustrate this by looking at the present crisis. The Great Moderation lasted from around 1985 and until 2008. This period was characterised by a tremendously high degree of nominal stability. Said in another way there was little or no uncertainty about the monetary regime. Market participants could rightly expect the Federal Reserve to conduct monetary policy in such a way to ensure that nominal GDP grew around 5% year in and year out and if NGDP overshot or undershot the target level one year then the Fed would makes to bring back NGDP on the “agreed” path. This environment basically meant that monetary policy became endogenous and the markets were doing most of the lifting to keep NGDP on its “announced” path.
However, the well-known – even though not the official – monetary regime broke down in 2008. As a consequence uncertainty about the monetary regime increased dramatically – especially as a result of the Federal Reserve’s very odd unwillingness to state a clearly nominal target.
This increase in monetary regime uncertainty mean that market participants now have a much harder time forecasting nominal income flows (NGDP growth). As a result market participants will try to ensure themselves negative surprises in the development in nominal variables by keeping a large “cash buffer”. Remember in uncertain times cash is king! Hence, as a result money demand will remain elevated as long as there is a high degree of regime uncertainty.
As a consequence the Federal Reserve could very easily ease monetary conditions without printing a cent more by clearly announcing a nominal target (preferably a NGDP level target). Hence, if the Fed announced a clear nominal target the demand for cash would like drop significantly and for a given money supply a decrease in money demand is as we know monetary easing.
This is the direct impact of monetary regime uncertainty and in my view this is significantly more important for economic activity in the short to medium run than the supply effects described above. However, it should also be noted that in the present situation with extremely subdued economic activity in the US the calls for all kind of interventionist policies are on the rise. Calls for fiscal easing, call for an increase in minimum wages and worst of all calls for all kind of protectionist initiatives (the China bashing surely has gotten worse and worse since 2008). This is also regime uncertainty, which is likely to have an negative impact on US investment activity, but equally important if you are afraid about for example what kind of tax regime you will be facing in one or two years time it is also likely to increase the demand for money. I by the way regard uncertainty about banking regulation and taxation to a be part of the uncertainty regarding the monetary regime. Hence, uncertainty about non-monetary issues such as taxation can under certain circumstances have monetary effects.
Concluding at the moment – as was the case during the Great Depression – uncertainty about the monetary regime is the biggest single regime uncertain both in the US and Europe. This monetary regime uncertainty in my view has tremendously negative impact on the economic perform in both the US and Europe.
So while I am sceptical about the transmission mechanism of regime uncertainty in the Higgs model I do certainly agree that we need regime certain. We can only get that with sound monetary institutions that secure nominal stability. I am sure that Steve Horwitz and Peter Boettke would agree on that.
Peter Boettke over at Coordination Problem a post in which he challenge Market Monetarists to think about some political economy questions.
“Now I understand that much has changed since 1962 about the state of the art in central banking and the debate over rules versus discretion. But after 2008, can we really say that anymore?
So while I might agree with the technical theory point about monetary equilibrium, the question remains as to what institutional arrangement best fits. Central banking as a system simply might not be capable of operationalizing the lessons from monetary equilibrium theory. The ability of the system to pursue optimal policy rules may beyond its reach and not merely for reasons of interest group manipulation, but due to an epistemic constraint. That is actually how I read the critical aspects of Selgin’s The Theory of Free Banking.
I think Peter raises some very important issues. Basically Peter argue that it is more important that we discuss the institutional arrangement guiding the monetary regime rather than just the day-to-day conduct of monetary policy. I am happy that Peter is raising these issues. I have often argued that Market Monetarists should never argue in favour of “stimulus” in the keynesian discretionary fashion and rather stress that we are strongly in favour of rules. We are certainly intellectually indebted to Hayek and Friedman.
Selgin’s Monetary Credo – Please Dr. Taylor read it!
We favour Futarchy in monetary policy – we want markets rather than policy makers to determine monetary policy. Scott Sumner has argued in favour of using NGDP futures to directly determine monetary policy. I while endorse Scott’s proposal for NGDP futures I have further argued that central banks should use predictions markets to do macroeconomic forecasting and for implementation of monetary policy. “Market” in Market Monetarism is not just a buzzword – it is an integral part of our thinking. In fact I have earlier argued that futures based NGDP level targeting could be seen as privatisation strategy and a first step toward the total privatisation of the supply of money. Not all Market Monetarists bloggers are in favour of Free Banking, but there is no doubt that a number of us are highly sympathetic to the idea of privatisation of the monetary regime.
So I think we have both been thinking about and answered Peter’s question. Peter, there is no reason to worry – we are loyal disciples of Hayek and Friedman – also when it comes to institutional questions. | 2019-04-25T18:39:47Z | https://marketmonetarist.com/tag/peter-boettke/ |
Can your house really be at risk if you get into difficulties repaying something like a credit card bill?
You might think the answer is “no”, but there are some very rare situations where this can happen. It helps to know the facts, so you can make good decisions about how to deal with your debts.
go back to court again t0 ask for an Order for Sale.
This article looks at unsecured debts – credit cards, unsecured loans, catalogues, payday loans etc. It doesn’t apply to secured debts such as your mortgage, where the rules for repossession are very different.
Just because you have defaulted on a debt or it has been sold to a debt collector doesn’t mean you are going to be taken to court for a CCJ. And without a CCJ, there is no chance of a charging order or a visit from bailiffs.
If you don’t have a CCJ but a creditor is threatening this sort of thing then don’t panic, they are just trying to pressure you into paying them. But don’t panic doesn’t mean ignore them.
A debt collector is much more likely to go to court for a CCJ if you ignore them. So read Threats of CCJs – Is the Debt Collector Bluffing? which looks at what you should do.
You know a debt collector is getting serious about going to court if you get a Letter before Action/Claim. Read What to do if you get a Letter before Action to see how you should complete the Reply Form with the letter. There may be ways you can challenge this debt. or you could get the creditor to accept a payment arrangement.
If you don’t do that and get a Claim Form from the court, you need to take action, even if you can’t afford to clear the debt. See What to do if you get a Claim Form for details.
If you are at all unsure, phone National Debtline who can discuss the details of your case in confidence. National Debtline are excellent on everything on this page – CCJs, Charging orders and Orders for Sale.
I am assuming here that the CCJ was obtained after October 2012. If it was earlier, contact National Debtline for advice.
A creditor can apply for a Charging Order even if you are making the monthly payments set for the CCJ.
When a court grants a Charging Order, a legal charge is put on your house.
If you own the house with your partner, the Charging Order is only made against your share of the equity – your partner’s share will not be affected by it. This is sometimes called a “restriction”.
The order of charges matters. Say you already have a mortgage and a secured loan – this new charge will then be third in priority. If your house is sold your mortgage is paid off first, then the secured loan then (if there is enough equity left) this new charge.
It is not automatic that a Charging Order will be granted. You can defend this by arguing that it would be unfair to you, to other people that live in your house, to the joint owner of your house or to your other creditors.
You can also ask the court to add conditions – for example that the house cannot be sold until your children are over 18 say.
See this National Debtline factsheet for more information about the court process of a Charging Order and how you may be able to challenge it.
An Order For Sale is a court order which forces you to sell your property – the creditor will then be paid back because they have a Charge over the property, see above. If you don’t pay the debt or leave the property within 28 days, your creditor can apply for a warrant of possession to force you to leave the property.
An Order for Sale will only be granted if there is already a Charging Order that has been made final and if the debt is more than £1,000.
If the CCJ was after October 2012, the Order for Sale will not be granted if you are up to date with the CCJ payments.
As with a Charging Order, you can defend an application for an Order For Sale on various grounds.
It is worth doing this even if you tried and failed to prevent a Charging Order on similar grounds – the judge may well decide that the Order For Sale is unfair to someone else as they would lose their home.
You can also make an offer of monthly payments at this stage and ask the court to suspend the Order so it won’t apply if you make the payments. See this National Debtline factsheet for more details.
You might think creditors will rush to get to Stage Three, the Order for Sale, as fast as possible.
Creditors don’t want to go to court once, let alone three times. It costs them time, money and at any stage their court application may be refused, so it’s risky. And selling a house is even more hassle.
Creditors would much prefer to find an acceptable repayment solution and not bother with any of this court action!
Normal consumer creditors such as credit cards, banks, payday loans are very unlikely to go for a Charging Order.
The main exception here is guarantor loans, where lenders such as Amigo can be very fast to take a guarantor to court for a CCJ and then they often apply for a Charging Order. But Amigo don’t routinely apply for Orders for Sale.
Look at this chart showing how the number of CCJs in England and Wales has gone up since 2014. At the same time the number of Charging Orders has actually fallen.
In 2014 there was about one Charging Order for every twenty CCJs.
By 2018, this had dropped so there was only one Charging Order for every fifty CCJs. They are less common now than they were.
The number of Orders for Sale is so small they wouldn’t show on that chart at all. In 2013 there were only 220 Orders for Sale.
if you do get a Charging Order, the creditor cannot get an Order for Sale if you are making the monthly payments on the CCJ.
So don’t be an ostrich. Debt problems get worse if you ignore them, they don’t go away.
Where it’s the added interest that is causing problems, talk to the creditor about a payment plan or talk to a debt adviser about a Debt Management Plan.
With impossible debts, get good debt advice on your options. It’s good to do this as soon as possible but it is never too late!
If your creditor goes go to court, respond fast, do not ignore it. There may be ways of contesting CCJs, Charging Orders and Orders for Sale that will work for you. If you do nothing, the creditor will get what they are applying for.
So get help! National Debtline doesn’t just have a great set of factsheets, they can also give advice to individuals about their specific cases. Unless you are completely confident in what you are doing, give them a ring on 0808 808 4000 and talk things through with them.
I have been paying my creditors via Step Change for the past 5 years and recently my payments were lowered because of a reduction in income. One of my creditors (a debt recovery agent) has written to me stating ‘whilst they are happy to accept my payments they will be serving me with legal papers in order to obtain a CCJ against me as they want to obtain a charging order on my property. The debt owed is now around £3,000 and was for a credit card, if I fight it is there any hope that a Judge will not grant the CCJ in view of my making continuous payments via Step Change or does everything rule in their favour?
Hi Alice, you can’t defend the CCJ but it is likely the CCJ will be set with monthly payments that are the same as what StepChange is currently paying them.
it is possible to defend an application for a charging order. You could talk to StepChange about this, or National Debtline as I suggest in Stage 2 or this article. And it’s important to know that even if the creditor gets a charging order, they won’t be able to get an order for sale if you carry on making the CCJ payments.
I don’t know how long your DMP has to run now – it would also be good to discuss this with StepChange to see if you have any better options.
Hi Carolyn, no – if there is no debt, there can’t be a charging order.
Help I have lost in court over a maintenance charge so I have a CCJ. I have a freehold property but there is a TP1. I have offered payment plan but they have just ignored me I have allowed them to contact mortgage company – they have now said we have 14 days to pay or they repossess can they do this as we have only been to the county court to decide if we owe the money nothing else? I have 2 children aged 12 and 8 and am very scared.
I’m sorry but you need legal advice as to what your options are. You could go back to the solicitor you used when you bought the house, go to your local Citizens Advice or Law Centre or phone Shelter’s excellent housing advice helpline see https://england.shelter.org.uk/get_help/helpline. The Shelter line is open at weekends but it can take some time to get through – keep trying!
Hi Leslie, I think you can apply to the court for the charging order to be discharged. Before you make the F&F payment, I suggest that you ask the creditor to confirm in writing that they are accepting this amount as a full and final settlement of the debt and that they will not contest your application to the court for the discharge. As it says in this article, National Debtline are a great source of information on these matters so I suggest you phone them to discuss exactly how this should work.
I have a charging order as I thought I could argue my case at court but got told it was just to apply a CO. So is there anyway I can write to someone to remove it? The debt was bought by 1st credit and the debt is unlawful bank charges.
Hi Nicola, to get this removed, I think you would first have to get the original CCJ removed. I suggest you talk to National Debtline about whether you have good grounds for having the CCJ “set aside”, whether it might be better to complain to the Financial Ombudsman about the charges or if there is some other route open to you.
I have a charge order placed on my house and also a CCJ.
The charge order is for around £1,900.
The creditor is now threatening me with an order for sale.
Therefore today I had my house valued with a view to selling it to pay back the charge order. My house valuation was £250,000 and I own the house outright.
Sadly you will loose your house for a small debt even if you own your house outright with loads of equity.
It isn’t correct that you will lose your house for a small debt: charging orders are rare for small debts and orders for sale are even rarer as the statistics in this article show.
I think you need to take advice about what you can do about this debt – the creditor may not be able to get an order for sale. Talk to National Debtline about your options: 0808 808 4000.
Hi I need advice. I have a creditor seeking an outstanding debt from 2004. They went to court and acquired a charging order on my house. My house is joint mortgage with my wife and I’m the only one who has the debt. We have children and my wife his registered disabled. They did not contact me for years and now they have added interest on the debt. They are now threatening to enforce the charging order if I don’t pay. I’m not working and struggling to pay every day bills, so I can’t make them an offer. Will this mean my wife and children will loose their home?
Hi John, I think you need urgent advice on your whole situation, not just this particular charging order although obviously that is the most urgent. There may be other benefits your family could be claiming that could help, there needs to be a check on whether it is correct for interest to be being added to this debt and there needs to be a full consideration of what your debt options are. You could talk to National Debtline or visit your local Citizens Advice Bureau.
Hi. Over the past 8 years I’ve been making nominal payments to various creditors. Over time the debt(s) have been sold on to the different collection agencies but I’m still on a low income and unable to offer anything at a reduced settlement. There is however one bank who has retained the debt and have asked me to go through an I & E interview. My house now has substantial equity in it, and my aim is to sell the property and go down the route of offering settlements, but I’m not yet in the position to do this. If this one bank applies for a CCJ, would they be given priority over my other creditors ?
Hi Chris, if you are sent a Claim Form for a CCJ, you can admit the claim and make a monthly offer of payment, which should be one that you can afford. I suggest you talk to National Debtline as soon as a Claim Form arrives so they can help with this. The judge will then usually grant the CCJ but set a monthly payment which is very often what you have offered.
If the bank thinks this is insufficient, then they may apply for a Charging Order, as this article says. But they then won’t be able to get an Order For Sale provided you are making the CCJ payments.
But I think it might be good if you talk to National Debtline now 0808 808 4000 – they will be able to look at what your I&E should say which will help you in dealing with this bank.
HI CJ, I think you might find it useful to talk to a mortgage broker.
It isn’t possible to get a buy to let mortgage for a house that you currently live in. And if you are hoping to get an interest only mortgage, these are quite unusual these days and require LOT of equity. And buying a second house will incur a big stamp duty penalty from April 2016. The charging order will make it much harder to do anything though – you really need to pay this off as rapidly as possible.
My ex husband has been to court with regards to a charging order on the property we jointly own. I have no use whether a charging order was granted as I have been kept out of the loop completely and my ex won’t discuss it with me. He has lived elsewhere for several years now. How do I find out if a final order as granted ?
I am now selling the house so I no longer have to be financially linked to him. Will the estate agent and solicitor fees come out of the equity before the debt collectors take half of the remaining equity? Or will I have to pay the fees out of my share? There won’t be enough equity either way to pay his debts in full.
Hi Phillippa, you can check if there is a charge on the Land Registry site: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry. I suggest you talk to your solicitor about the order in which things are settled.
I took a loan with my husband then he died, this was 13 yrs ago, I was told I would have to pay it but after a while I stopped as I took ill health and only worked part time so could not afford to pay what they asked for, the bank were terrible and would not accept what I could only afford to pay. I have heard nothing for nearly 3 yrs now from them and I have sold my house, but the solicitor has told me the bank have a charging order. I was told after 6 yrs I no longer have to pay this debt and I have never had any proof of the charging order so do they have to lift this as well.
I don’t know who told you “after 6 years you no longer have to pay this debt” – if this was just what a friend said, then I am afraid this was probably bad advice. To have a charging order, there must first have been a CCJ, then the creditor would have had to apply to the court for a charging order. You could ask your solicitor to find out the date of the charging order and the date of the CCJ. Alternatively you could phone National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 and ask for advice from them about whether you have any options at this point.
Hi, I have a charge put on my property fraudently for £53,000 and this was done 15 years ago, i have never took any loans or anything accept a mortgage, but suddenly i have received court summons that the second chargee wants £187,000 from me, is this for real? can this things happen in real world? can someone help!!!
You may need to get legal advice, but I suggest your first call should be to National Debtline on 0808 808 4000.
My father has around 60k worth of debts split over 4 credit cards. He lost his job 6 months ago and has now run out of money to pay for the min payments. The letters have started and he is making token payments of around 120 pounds a card. I am paying all his s living expenses and mortgage.
His house that i also live in has a big mortgage but also around 600k in equity. Can the card companies force sale of the house.
I can’t afford to pay the card debts for him at the moment.
As this article says, a creditor can only force the sale of your house through an Order for Sale if they first get a CCJ, then a charging order AND you don’t keep up with the terms of the CCJ.
With such a lot of equity, there is also the possibility that a creditor will decide to make your dad bankrupt – that is very rare but can’t be completely ruled out. This would be very very unlikely to be one of the credit card lenders, but at some point they may sell the debt to a debt collector.
There is no need to panic or rush but in 6 months to a year you need to be considering the family’s options if dad or you can’t start making significant payments to the cards. Remortgaging or selling and downsizing May have to be looked at.
Hi Angie, you need to apply to the court for a Certificate of Satisfaction using this form https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-n443-application-for-a-certificate-of-satisfaction-or-cancellation. Ask your solicitor if you need help to complete this.
I think it’s ridiculous to make me sell for the sake of 2k,I can raise almost all of that if I had to,but do you think they will Accept some sort of payment plan instead?
If the CCJ was after 2012 and you have kept up with the payments, then it is unlikely they would be able to get an Order for Sale. I suggest you call National Debtline 0808 808 4000 to talk through the charging order and your concerns. You also need to talk about your other debts – council tax in particular is a priority debt and you should not get into arrears for it – and national Debtline can help with this.
The ccj was brought into action as of March 2013..
Of the order of sale was put in place,I’d have to just throw money at them and hope I’d clear it up,maybe miss a mortgage payment to do it,it can be a difficult ride when you live on your own..
Hi. I had a charge put on my property five years ago by a debt collection agency for a credit card debt that is now seven years old , I have heard nothing from them in that time and when I contacted them on two separate occasions recently to make a reduced offer of the original £5500 in full and final settlement they said they could not trace the co on their records. My wife and I are considering selling our house which is in joint names ( the debt is mine) but will need as much as possible left from equity to make a mortgage free move. What is the best way forward to a solution when the creditor cannot trace the debt history etc?? Ray.
I’m not sure who you have contacted, the debt collector or the original creditor? In whose name is the charging order?
It is however unlikely that a partial settlement will be accepted.
A debt company is saying they have secured a charging order on my property I have checked my credit file and there is none on it. Without a ccj they can’t get a CO can they. I have received no paperwork in relation to this from court and neither has my partner who i share the mortgage with.
You should check the Land Registry to be sure: https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry.
When you have that information, I suggest you contact national Debtline 0808 808 4000 and talk to them about how to reply to the debt collector.
Hi, there is a charging order of my wifes on our house from 2012 but this debt was then sold on to another debt collector in 2013 does the charging order still carry over to the new debtor as we have no contact from them for 3 years.
A charge will never become time barred through there being no contact.
i am just worrying myself through all scenarios at the moment as i cannot find the answer to my point.
CCJ obtained by creditor in maiden name, but sole owner of property in married name at land registry.
Can a creditor obtain a charging order if the CCJ name is different from the name listed as owner on the land registry?
Is the creditor threatening a charging order? Are you making the monthly CCJ payments?
No threat of CO at the moment. However best to be prepared.
you have answered the question, in that if maiden name on land register, and ccj in married name CO can still be obtained.
could you explain how the creditor would work this?
If you talk to National Debtline (0808 808 4000), they can explain the mechanics of charging order applications. They will also be able to talk about debt repayment. If you are keeping up with the court-ordered CCJ monthly payments, your creditor will be able to get a charging order but will not be able to get an order for Sale.
If your dad remembers the debts and the CCJs and just hasn’t kept the paperwork, try writing to HLCF , details here https://www.jerseyfsc.org/registry/documentsearch/NameDetail.aspx?Id=262957.
If he doesn’t know anything about this charge or the CCJs, contact National Debtline 0808 808 4000 and ask them for help.
Any charges should show up on a land registry search: https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry. If there was an agreement as part of the divorce/seperation about what should happen to the property, I suggest you should discuss this with her solicitor.
I have a credited who has a second charge on my property. I have been paying him through an attachment of earnings order. I have now had a letter threatening to force a sale of my property. I have : children & my partner living here. Can he force a sale?
Hi Stuart, Orders for Sale are very rare but you need to take advice on what you can do to challenge this one – call National Debtline on 0808 808 4000.
Many thanks for your prompt reply. I am up to date with my payments as they are taken at source. Is it usual for a person with a second charge to be able to force a sale, especially when there are 3 children living at the property?
As I said, Orders for Sale are rare, but that doesn’t mean you can just turn up in court and say it’s unfair and expect to win. You need to discus the details of your case with an expert – call National Debtline.
My wife made a charging order against 3 properties I own in my name and 1 jointly owned, when we separated in 1980. We divorced 1983 and she remarried. She never had any debt, and neither did I. Are the orders still standing, if so how do I remove them.
Sorry, this predates any electronic land registers. You will need to consult a solicitor about this.
Hi a second charge was placed on our property in 2012 for a debt owed by my husband, although i signed the papers under pressure the debt has nothing to do with myself. we have now received a letter from thier solicitor informing us that they are going to start proceedings to force the sale of our property, would i be able to contest the sale on the grounds that its not my debt?
Orders for Sale are very rare, but you can’t ignore these letters. I suggest you talk to National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 about the letter, the debt and your possible defences if it does come to court.
My wife was made bankrupt in Feb 2014. She has been making monthly payments towards the total owed since that date. We jointly own our home although i’m the one who pays the mortgage. We now have the official receivers asking for half the equity in the house, currently around £5000. We have no children or elderly people living with us.
I have been given the option of paying the whole lot off in one go, which I cannot afford, or a charge can be placed on the house for the amount (plus 8% interest per annum). As my wife has been paying the debt back monthly is there not a way for that arrangement to continue? 8% per annum doesn’t sound a lot but if I end up not moving for 10/20 years that interest soon turns an already worrying amount into something petrifying. Any advice would be very welcome!
I don’t know if your wife took advice about bankruptcy before hand – I am surprised she didn’t expect this to happen. The fact that she is making monthly payments to an IPA doesn’t affect the fact that she owns a property with some equity in it. The Official Receiver is right to be claiming the equity and the monthly payment.
Yes the 8% would add up, but you should be be able to start paying this charge off, you don’t have to wait until the debt is sold. If you can only pay say £50 a month, then that will cover all the interest and start chipping away at the debt. Then when your wife’s monthly payments finish after 3 years you should be able to increase the amount to pay to this debt? The sooner you clear it, the less interest will be paid.
Looking for advice on what to say on a N244 in regards to setting aside on “Charging Order” Apparently the order was done in Jan 2012 and I was only made aware of this charging order by my mortgage company, when I made a general inquiry.
So this leads me to believe that all the communication was sent to an old business address that I left over four years ago?
Any suggestions for a resolving?
I suggest you talk to National Debtline 0808 808 4000. obviously it’s annoying not having received the papers, but would you actually have had a defence if you had received them? That is what you need to establish.
I have numerous debts of over £35k which I have neglected for nearly a year. I have serious financial problems due to my failure to secure a meaningful job. I have in the past years made token payments of £1 to each of my 20 creditors. My problem is that I have just been served with a change order without ever receiving aCCJ.
You can check to see if you have a CCJ on Trust Online, https://debtcamel.co.uk/do-you-have-ccjs/. I suggest you talk to National Debtline 0808 808 4000 about what you should do about this charging order – and also your other debts as you don’t want to get more CCJs.
I now realize I should have responded to their threat to take legal action.
Doesn’t the Court have a legal obligation to inform a person when they put a CCJ in place?
Reading through the Charge Order paperwork revealed that a judgment (CCJ) was awarded on 5/10/16 and they moved quickly to get a Charging Order on 25/11/16.. Where do I get the full terms of the judgment (CCJ ). I need to know what the Court said regarding paying the debt. Who do I contact?
Yes, you will have received a Letter which said Judgment for Claimant at the top.
If you didn’t defend the case (and it sounds as though you didn’t) then the judgment would have been for the full amount to be payable “forthwith”, which means immediately. National Debtline can talk about the details of your case and who you should contact.
Help, I was made bankrupt in December 2012 when my business folded. Before the bankruptcy went through 5 companies put charges on my house totalling 27k this along with a mortgage of 180k and a second secured loan for 30k. I would like to know if I sell up and there is insufficient funds left when the mortgage and second secured loan are cleared , what would happen to the 5 charges on the house.
If you are increasing the amount you pay to the debts it is highly unlikely that any of them would bother to try get an Order for Sale.
I have recently paid off my CCJ and still have the charge on my house ( I have checked with the Land Registry). I have got a certificate of satisfaction from the court but am unsure of where to go from here. Can I send my certificate of satisfaction to the Land registry to have the order removed or do I send to the county court?
You should ask the creditor to inform the land registry and get the charge removed. If they refuse or say you still owe money, contact National Debtline on 0808 808 4000.
In 2006 I took out a loan to start a business that failed, the loan was for 5k I paid 2k off and then hit problems the company took out a ccj then charging order ( I was in a bad place couldn’t cope with the debt and didn’t open letters) I was paying them £10 a month then in May 2010 payments were returned to my bank account as the company went bust. I didn’t know where to send payments to and no one was answering the phone. 4 years later I have contact from the liquidation company demanding payment I asked for bank details and offered to pay £50 per month but none were forthcoming I then had a heart attack and being self employed didn’t earn anything so decided to sell my property I felt bullied by this liquidation company I did have a sale in 2015 but I pulled out as I couldn’t find anywhere to rent because of bad debt. They then threatened to force me to sell my house,I started to make payments in April 2016 of £100 per month ( more than Iam paying on my other charging orders) I was shocked to find out that they are charging interest and owe over 10k, I feel this is totally unfair by the time the charging order was in place it was about £6700 which was over double the amount I originally owed.
For 4 years I didn’t know where to send payments and even when they contacted me I ask for bank details and they were not forthcoming surely interest for this time shouldn’t be charged.
I am now getting back on my feet is it worth taking out a loan for 4K and offering this as full and final settlement (it’s around £5474 now plus interest but I dispute the interest) the payments on the loan would be less each month then I could increase the payments on the other charging orders.
I’m glad I stumbled on this site thank you in advance for your advice.
Hi Chris, you need someone to help you look at the details of this situation. National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 or go to your local Citizens Advice.
I’m half the owner of a house with my ex partner who is being threatened with a legal charge on our house together. I read that as I am not liable to that charge because it’s his debt but I wonder where I stand if in case he is issued a Order for Sale? It’s my house and I am the rightful half owner and paid cash for my half although my name is on the mortgage because it’s the only way the lender Nationwide will give him the mortgage when we bought the house. Please explain. Thank you kindly.
Hi Jay, technically this should be added as a restriction not a charge as it is a jointly owned property. I suggest you talk to National Debtline 0808 808 4000 about your options. It may be possible to argue that your ex has no equity in the property.
My name is Paul, I was made bankrupt in 2010 I separated from my partner in 2006 it took around 4 years to go through the court process, as part of my settlement I had to loan an amount of money so she could re-house her self and the children, i now have a legal charge for the amount of money i lent her, the sale of the house and the legal charge was settled before I was made bankrupt, I fully complied with the insolvency and declared the legal charge, I was discharged after the standard year, I am now at the point where I can enforce the charge as she has an obligation to myself to dismiss the debt. my question is do they have any claim to the charge and how do I find out if they have.
I think you should either talk to a solicitor (preferably the one you used at the time the loan and charge were set up) or talk to your Official Receiver’s office.
Is there anyway of fighting this grossly injust system?
How can people be at risk of losing their homes for an unsecured debt?
There must be somewhere we can all complain to about this?
I’m wondering if you can clarify something for me. I have recently applied (jointly) for a secured loan for home improvements. The lender has flagged up a “charge” on my property. I downloaded the title deeds and in the proprietor list there is a “restriction” in my name from a car finance company from 2011. This is not in the charges list and it says it’s an interim charging order. I did go to a hearing for this and argued against a final charging order as the house is in joint ownership. I never heard anything else whatsoever after this hearing and I don’t believe this charging order to be a final order. I’ve not heard anything else in the previous 6 years up to present day. How can I get this restriction removed please?
It sounds to me as though the charging order was made final – you should have followed up what happened at the time :( I suggest you contact the court and ask.
It’s not a final charge though as they couldn’t make it final due to the house being in joint ownership. In the charge list there is only our mortgage company and nothing else. It actually says interim charging order so could it be that the court has not informed land registry?
It is correct that a charge over a jointly owned property is entered as a restriction. But I am not clear why you think it should be removed – unless you have paid it?
I think it should be removed if the court hasn’t made the order. Surely that’s the law? If it’s a final order then surely it would be in the charges list, which it isn’t thus making it extremely difficult and quite unfair on my wife and her credit report. I’m asking for advice and clarity on a subject I don’t understand.
It’s hard for me to guess what has happened, that’s why I suggested you ask the Court. If you don’t understand what the Court says, I suggest you talk to National Debtline about the problem.
It is normal for a restriction to be added where there is a jointly owned property – you may feel this is unfair, but that is what happens.
I don’t think Restrictions – or indeed Charges – show on credit records at all.
Hello, we’ve put our house up for sale and realise a company called hlcf has a charging order on the property for a ccj I knew nothing about back in 2004.
It seems the hlcf company is no where to be found or is no more, and therefore there’s no company to pay.
The current HLCF Ltd https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10386494 is a recent company and has nothing to do with this old debt collector. Nothing else shows on the English Companies House website – you could contact them as it’s possible that very old information is held that isn’t searchable on the internet.
There was an Isle of Man company https://services.gov.im/ded/services/companiesregistry/viewcompany.iom?Id=146555 which then seems to have become a Jersey company https://www.jerseyfsc.org/registry/documentsearch/NameDetail.aspx?Id=262957 but is now dissolved. I suspect this may be the one that has the charge, it was a financial services company.
If this can’t happen, then you have the problem about how to pay this charge. If the charge did belong to a company which has been dissolved, it is possible that the ownership of the debt will have reverted to the Crown, see https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/bona-vacantia. Googling suggests that for Jersey companies there is an equivalent procedure.
I hope your conveyancing solicitor is good… the solicitor may find the Land Registry Customer Support helpline useful 0300 0060411.
Thank you very much for this, my solicitors contacted the Treasury in England but they objected to receiving the payment as they claim the judgement was made in 2004 and the first hlcf on records was formed in 2005 in the Isle of Man.
However the Isle of Man hlcf was dissolved in 2010 however according to court records another attempt to get me to court was in 2012 via their solicitors GPB which was subsequently closed down by the SLA. So perhaps an address for hlcf in 2012 would help. If it is the same one in Jersey can a payment be made to the Jersey receiver company.
The lawyers have decided to proceed to court to have the order removed as we’re unable to locate who to pay. How long do these normally take.
Thanks, but it does turn out that it is the Jersey HLCF they filed a discontinuance from Isle of Man and moved the business to Jersey. My legal team did not search because they told me they found no HLCF in all the companies house records including Jersey. They’re currently dissolved Oct 2016, so I’ve sent a request to the Receiver General for Jersey to receive the payment and that should satisfy the Land Registry and take the restriction off.
I’ll enquire what the CCJ was for after all this, it’s gone on since January.
many thanks you solved a great mystery for me. Lawyers were going to charge a fortune and not produce any results.
I am in a token payment plan a debt charity for credit card and loan creditors (all unsecured) totaling £50,000. These built up over the past 4 years when I lost my job and was unable to find work. I am self-employed now with a very small income and still unable to pay any increased installments. I run this as a limited company and my home address is my registered company address. My question is would my home, which is owned outright, be protected from any potential charging order in view of it being a registered company address?
Alternatively, would my home be similarly protected if I transfer ownership solely in my wife’s name? It has always been solely in my name and all the debts are solely in my name.
“My question is would my home, which is owned outright, be protected from any potential charging order in view of it being a registered company address?” I think that sounds completely irrelevant, no protection against a charging order.
“Alternatively, would my home be similarly protected if I transfer ownership solely in my wife’s name? It has always been solely in my name and all the debts are solely in my name.” That sounds like a good reason for your creditors to make you bankrupt! Because this “transfer” to your wife would be very likely to be overturned in bankruptcy.
I have been issued a notice to enforce a restriction on my property. The CCJ belongs to my husbands ex wife and I need urgent assistance if you can, to respond and stop the restriction at once.
The address I live in is the address she has lived in too, and in April 2017 I opened a claim form and acknowledged it!
You need to talk through all the details with a debt advisor. I suggest National Debtline on 0808 808 40000. Good luck!
The care home my partner’s Mum moved to a few years ago had a charge on her Mum’s property. The house has since been sold (without any claims or orders having to be made) but apparently the charge was not discharged. Should the solicitor dealing with the sale not have done this?
I would have thought so, is the care home now asking for the money?
Thanks Sara. No, all payments were made. It just doesn’t seem to have been discharged. It was hard to work out when it should have been done and by whom as my partner is steeling herself for another solicitor bill. The form provided by land registry is unfortunately incomprehensible.
I have a debt from car finance been managed by Mortimer clarke I currently pay £40 per month, i have had a ccj granted for this, I missed a payment due to a bereavement but have caught it up and put all payments on a standing order. Mortimer are hounding me threatening a charging order on property and asking me for income and expenditure forms to be filled in when I have already filled them in for the court and they agreed 40 a month. I am currently paying 40 every 4 weeks. Can they get a charging order and do I need to fill in more forms this has me worried sick.
This article https://debtcamel.co.uk/debt-collector-income-expenditure/ covers this situation.
Did you tell Mortimer Clark about your bereavement? If you did, it doesn’t change the fact that they can ask you for an I&E but it should mean that they are more considerate and your reference to ‘hounding’ is worrying.
You might consider putting in a formal written complaint to them… title of email “Complaint about treatment when vulnerable”, yiu could say that you aren’t trying to avoid paying them, you missed a payment due to a death in the family, you told them about this and have caught up, but you are still fining it difficult to concentrate on your financial affairs and their repeated contacts and threats ( you could list them) are making you more anxious at a difficult time.
Thankyou Sara will do that.
I’m asking on behalf of a friend who is worried. When she got divorced she had a lot of debt and decided to move away, she was granted by the judge in the divorce that she could have the equity in their matrimonial home and her ex was to give her an extra £75000 so altogether she had approx. £160000. She was to buy a house of £130000 minimum and pay off her debts. She bought a house for £153000 and then had a charging order put on the property for £75000 which she has to repay her ex when their son finishes full time education. Will she have to sell her home to repay the money or can she get out of it in some way? She doesn’t work and has been bankrupt in the past so is unlikely to get a mortgage.
how long ago was she bankrupt?
It was as least 10 years ago. She is 46 years old and hasn’t worked for the last 10 years.
Well it’s not being bankrupt that will stop her getting a mortgage, after 10 years that won’t be a problem, it’s not having a good enough income. Why can’t she get a job?
She has suffered with depression in the past that’s why she’s not worked.
If she is now over that, she needs to be finding a job. She has 20 years until she retires, what does she want to do with it? How long until he son is 18?
To be honest I don’t think she thinks that the order will be enforceable and she’ll be able to keep the house and not give the money back. Her son is 10 this year.
Why doesn’t she think the order will be enforceable? Apart from wishful thinking? With 8 years to go, she only has to be able to earn 15k a year and save 5k of it for her to be in a great position in 8 years tome to pay off half the charging order with her savings and get a small mortgage, only 12 years, for the rest. If she waits around and does nothing for 8 years, she is going to be in a much worse position.
I think she is burying her head in the sand and thinks because her ex is well off she won’t have to pay it back and he won’t see his son homeless. I have tried to tell her she needs to do something.
Sorry I can’t work out from this who owned the house, whether there was a mortgage and a second secured loan or what the interim charging order was for. I suggest she should talk to the solictor that did her coneyancing if she is concerned.
i think your husband muct have been on the deeds. And so he should have been involved in agreeing to the sale. Sorry he and his mother need to speak to the solicitor who did the conveyancing for them.
I have just received a charge order letter today that was apparently placed against me in 2011. however I do not think I ever got any paperwork and am almost certain I didn’t get a CCJ at the time. Can this still be enforced and also be the reason why we can not remortgage. What steps can I take to get this removed/resolved?
You need to find out if there was a CCJ – if there was and you were unaware of it you need to apply to have it set aside if you don’t think you owed the money.
If you did owe the money, I am afraid your best option may simply be to pay the CCJ which will remove the charge. National Debtline can help you look at your options, see https://www.nationaldebtline.org/.
Having a charge is very likely to be the reason you cannot remortgage.
HI , approx 10 years ago i had a charging order put on our house (due to an outstanding loan ) , myself and my partner parted company , and the house was sold, i didn’t want anything to do with the ex , and i was informed that my half of the equity would pay off the charging order , i am now receiving letters from the bank (now part of HSBC) where the loan was taken saying that i may be entitled to refund.
How does the outstanding debt get paid , also what i am worried out is are these letters a ploy to chase me for the money that may of not be paid ?
Is there anyway i can check that the loan was paid off , the loan was taken out in 2003.
That doesn’t sound alarming to me and there doesn’t seem to be any reason to suspect the debt was not repaid when the house was sold. It sounds as though the bank has found some computer error that it needs to correct. I suggest you get in contact with them about it – obviously, if they start demanding money, that is different!
Just read the above about charging orders not being possible without a ccj. I have what was originally an unsecured loan with Paragon, I got made redundant (never claimed on the insurance) and ended getting behind with them. Next thing I know I receive a court letter saying they are Have successfully obtained a charging order and were looking to sell the house and a letter form the land registry saying a change has been placed on my property. No I don’t have a ccj and never have had. The application and hearing for the charging order was held without me being notified or present. This all happened back in around 2012. The local council came in to court with me and prevented the house getting a sale order and tried to get some sense from the Paragon legal chap but nothing, they still have a charge on the house and I am paying back and additional £30 a month on the original monthly payment. Apparent from some letter s letting me I was not meeting the full payments back when it was bad I haven’t heard from them. I don’t get any statements unless I ring for one. When o get a something sent through it is a computer printout (i.e. Not a formal statement) the only way I know the debt is going down is through what is recorded on my credit file. The big point for me though is how could a charging order have been obtained of i never had a ccj and it was an unsecured loan.
I would be interested to know the answer! I think you should talk either to your local Citizens Advice or National Debtline about this. It may help if you send Paragon a Subject Access Request, then they have to send you all the information they have about you… see https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/your-right-of-access/, this doesn’t cost anything.
Thank-you, I will wait until June and ask for the SAR as I am in a much better position now I am back at work an able to pay them. I just don’t like the idea that they can choose to to go for a sale order when they feel like it. I have all the papers from the court charging order being made but nothing was ever issued following the agreement made outside in the court lobby to pay the extra amount despite going back into the court and the judge saying that was fine. I will speak to Nationdebtline once I have the SAR stuff.
Hello, I had an Interim Charging Order place on my property in 2009 which was never made final, by a debt company who had bought my debt from a bank. I subsequently went into an IVA in 2012 which was completed last year. This debt company had bought other debts of mine as well, but the charging order was for 1 particular debt, they were named on my IVA but looking at the creditor meetings they didn’t respond to any of them, I am now being told by the IVA company the charging order part of the debts would still be outstanding. Is this correct even though the charging order is interim? Could they have been applying interest on this debt for 9 years? I want to re-mortgage but fear this charging order will stop this? Any help would be appreciated.
My first thought is to wonder why the Interim Order was not made final and whether the creditor served the correct notices after the interim order was made within the time limits set out in the court rules.
A High Street Bank Credit Card Debt during Divorce Proceedings results in a CCJ – (approximately £14k) The Creditor then obtains a Legal Charge over the now-divorced single Debtor’s home.
The Creditor takes no action for ten years (except to write a routine letter which stated that if any successful PPI claim were made it would only reduce the Debt, – there would be no payment to the Claimant), then sells the debt to a Third Party Debt Company, which in the following three years take no action either, ( theirs is the third charge on the property with some £300k upstream of them) Does the Third Party Debt Recovery Company derive any benefit from the charge which is not in their name, – or putting it another way is the Legal Charge portable? Or will a new application need to be made to the County Court by the Third Party Debt Company for a charge in their own name? Are there any Statute Barring issues in the foregoing?
A CCJ which has resulted in a charge will never become statute barred. And yes a debt which is the subject of a CCJ can be sold. I can’t see any reason not to try to reclaim PPI on this. But I suggest you talk to National Debtline about this, and about whether interest is being added to this debt at the moment.
I have agreed a final settkement figure of £6,000 with a creditor that says they have restriction registered against my property. The loan was gor 25,000, i paid nearly £20,000 off but they say i still owe £21,500 still. They have agreed to remove the restriction once payment is received. I take it this is a charging order but I was never made aware of this. They obtained a Ccj nearly 6 years ago which drops off in October. I pay the settlement next week. How long does it take to remove the restriction off? I didn’t even know there was one on there.
No, I just assumed as they said they had a restriction that it would be a charging order, what else could it be?
1.(05.06.2006) REGISTERED CHARGE dated 12 May 2006.
Does this mean there is no charge by a company on my property?
What do they mean by they the appropriate steps will be taken to request the restriction registered against your property be removed? What restriction can they have?
that looks odd. I suggest you talk to National Debtline on 0808 808 4000. Of course making a partial settlement on this debt may still be a good idea, but it’s good to think about the whole situation.
My brother moved in with me a few years ago following his divorce. He was in a lot of debt at the time and this resulted in a CCJ. He was a homeowner when he took out the credit but is no longer. Recently he received notice of his creditors intent to apply for a charging order on his home. He does not own this property. I am the owner, although he lives with me rent free (he is my brother and is going through a difficult time). How can we prevent this? I have not co-signed any credit agreements with him.
Is this the house that he owned when he took out the debt?
Yes. I took over the mortgage and the deed was transferred fully to me.
Then I suggest you talk to National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 as you may have a problem if he has any beneficial equity in the property.
Thank you for your assistance. May I ask exactly what is beneficial equity? When I purchased the home it was because he could no longer afford it.
If you purchased the home for its full market value there probably won’t be a problem. But I am not a lawyer, that is why I am suggesting you talk to National Debtline.
I have adhered to all payments set out by the court, yet my creditors have placed a charging order on my property and have applied for a forced sale. Is there anything I can do to stop this?
If your CCJ was after October 2012 a charging order should not have been given if you were up-to-date with the court ordered payments. Talk to national Debtline on 0808 808 4000 about what you can do.
May 2018. All payments made on time and up to date.
“judge threw it out” judge threw what out?
Hi there. My partner is divorced from his ex wife and she is refusing to sell their house. He has 3 interim charging orders on the house, one of these is to the CSA. He’s missed a few payments this year due to having little or no work. The csa are now wanting to enforce the charging order and force the sale off the house, but..his ex wife now has custody of their 2 year old grandson. Will the judge agree to the sale? My partner wants it selling as he just wants rid of it.
That will depend on the facts of the case and I can’t reasonably make a guess at it.
I have a charging order against my property ….Will i be able to remortgage my property . ?
Do you also have a CCJ? Defaults on your credit record?
You shouldn’t have a problem with your current mortgage lender but may well do if you try a different lender. Best suggestion is to go through a broker and talk to the broker about remortgaging to repay the charge.
Not sure if anybody can help, a creditor is chasing a debt of £3500, which we believed was Statute Barred (Letter sent), they are saying that no acknowledgement or payment in last 6 years, but they had put a Voluntary restriction on our previous home back in 2008 ( this property was repossessed in 2012, the debt is not any mortgage shortfall). We have been renting for 7 years.
I know for a fact there was never any CCJ or interim Charging Order placed, do not trust the debt collection company.
Can they still enforce or can we find out for definite about any restriction ??
Was there a mortgage shortfall? Have you asked them to prove there was a CCJ? I suggest sending them a Subject Access Request asking for a copy of personal information they have about you.
I had a charging order on my house in 2010 for £16000, that has now risen to £23000 because interest been added. The question I have is the ccj was always paid on time never missed any payments. I was not in a good place when I got notice and just done what Link solicitor said. I have now found out the reason was they sent a letter and received no reply from my wife!!! She passed away 2 years before hand and I never opened any letters to her but, link were informed of her passing at the time. How can they get a CO on the basis of that? I have just learned about this recently, can I do anything about this.
– whether it is correct that interest can be charged on the CCJ. | 2019-04-21T00:09:14Z | https://debtcamel.co.uk/charging-order-sale/ |
A few weeks ago, a new photo browsing network link was introduced which is filling the gap left by the currently non-functional Flickr Photos network link for showing georeferenced photos in Google Earth. Panoramio not only provides a Google Earth network link for browsing photos all over the world, but also allows you to quickly and easily mark a location on a Google Maps mashup where you took a photo(s) and upload the photo(s) to their database with a description. The service is free to use and was created by two guys in Spain named Joaquín Cuenca Abela and Eduardo Manchón Aguilar.
My friend Valery Hronusov from Russia's Academy of Science in Perm, Russia (aka Valery35 at the Google Earth Community) continues his prolific output of cool Google Earth files. He has been converting a variety of data sources about our environment from NASA into cool Google Earth visualizations. Today Valery will share with you this collection of overlays showing the progression of day time land temperatures for the Earth for entire years starting with year 2000 until 2005. The data comes from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite project. These are not satellite/aerial photos, but are images of temperature data overlayed on top of GE's satellite photos.
Once you download the Day Land Temperatures file, you will see some sub-folders for each year. You should open these sub-folders and turn on each month to look at the data. On my system, if I just turn on an entire year, it kind of animates the overlays while loading them the first time. But, a better way to see the progression of the data is to use the movies Valery has created: small movie (1.2 Mbytes) or larger movie (3.7 Mbytes).
Great work Valery! I'll be sharing some other similar stuff Valery has done later this week.
Let's do a little fun sightseeing for the weekend. This collection of placemarks was done by "H21" from the Google Earth Community. H21 shows the highest points geographically in 177 countries. You can go to each location, checkout the satellite or aerial photo, and try tilting your view so you can see the height and shape of the 3D landscape at an angle. Turn on Google Earth Community layers to see other interesting information about the area.
The post for H21's collection is here in case you want to tell H21 about the locations for other countries, or have a correction to send him. H21 has done a number of interesting collections including those I've written about here: "Around the World in 80 Days", "Places Quoted in Shakespeare", and "Castles in Highres"
Speculation on Microsoft Plans for "Google Earth killer"
The first time I saw Google Earth and wondered about similar applications, I thought about Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS). As a pilot who frequently uses MSFS to maintain flight skills, I am quite familiar with the flight simulator. Even though MSFS uses a more programmatic approach for showing scenery detail, the views of the Earth can be amazingly realistic and, with some add-on satellite and aerial photography, MSFS can look more real than Google Earth's views. I worked for 20 years in the computer graphics field doing work for NASA and the DOD primarily doing simulation (space, robotics and flight simulations). The evolution of computer graphics technology and how flight simulation and gaming technology have advanced the field is fascinating to me. You see, my passion about Google Earth is not just because it looks cool. I've been watching for signs about what Microsoft would do to compete with Google's 3D application.
Well, an Alan Glennon from the University of California at Santa Barbara has just released his observations. Alan works at UCSB's Department of Geography and has his own blog called Geography 2.0: Virtual Globes. Alan has written an interesting article called "Will Microsoft have a Google Earth?". He points to a job post at Microsoft for a "program manager to lead a project integrating their flight simulator engine with Virtual Earth". Alan speculates how Google can compete with Microsoft when it combines its gaming development skills with its dominance in the operating system software domain. He speculates whether Google might buy its own gaming company. Alan also says he's watching the evolution of KML which is a crucial component of what makes Google Earth so valuable. Those of you interested in the strategic positioning of Google Earth verses future competition from Microsoft should definitely give this one a read. Alan gives some insightful thoughts about possible directions.
One of my favorite collections of placemarks for Google Earth is the World Wide Panorama which shows the locations of Quicktime viewable panorama photographs taken by photographers all over the world. You can view the satellite or aerial photos of the location, plus the 3D terrain in Google Earth. And, you can compare them to a "3D" photograph of the same location in much more detail. Earlier this month they updated the WWP collection and included a list of the Best of 2005 panoramas. After you downlaod the GE file, turn off the entire collection in the "Temporary Places" folder by clicking on "Worldwide Panorama". Then, turn on the "Best of 2005" subfolder to just see those panoramas first. Afterwards, you can turn on the other folders and continue to explore.
You must have Quicktime installed to view these pictures. The photos are not really 3D. They are more like pan/tilt panorama photographs than 3D. Some are just panoramas, but some show photos in a complete 360 degree sphere you can pan/tilt as if you are really there. I especially like the ones taken from airplanes or kites. Here is the official Worldwide Panorama web site.
Google has just announced new satellite/aerial imagery data for Google Local - data that has already been in Google Earth for a few weeks. Google Local now sees the more up to date data already in Google Earth, and they have added TWO EXTRA ZOOM LEVELS for Google Local! You can still zoom in farther in Google Earth, but it's nice to have the two applications come closer together.
Here's the blog entry at the official Google Blog.
In previous stories, I have mentioned one of my favorite applications for looking at GPS tracks is GPSVisualizer. It is a free web browser application with a simple form-based interface with many capabilities for showing GPS tracks with satellite/aerial photos, street maps, topographical maps, and more. In November, after I E-mailed him, Adam Schneider, the author, implemented a capability to generate Google Earth files from GPS tracks. However, one of my favorite capabilities in the pre-GE version of his application was the ability to colorize the tracks according to various parameters (such as altitude changes, speed, course, etc.). Unfortunately, his initial GE form didn't support this colorizing feature.
Well, Adam wrote me this weekend to let me know he had implemented colorization for his Google Earth form. I immediately tested it with flight, and other GPS data, and it works very well! By the way, GPSVisualizer supports a variety of input file types in addition to GPX. For example, I tried an IGC file format which is the format used by paragliders because it supports certified data for establishing records (longest flight, highest flight, etc.). I went to the Leonardo database of paragliding flights and downloaded an IGC file. Then, I used the new GPSVisualizer form, and uploaded my copy of the IGC file. I then selected "Absolute" for "Altitude Mode", and "Colorize by" -> "Altitude/elevation". Then I selected "Create KML File" which resulted in this Google Earth file . You need to select the absolute mode for altitude so it keeps the elevation data from your GPS track.
If you have GPS tracks of a hike, a drive, a flight, etc. I highly recommend you try converting your track to a supported format (GPX is probably the easiest). Then try out GPSVisualizer and its new "Colorize by:" feature. The "colorize by" feature supports: altitude/elevation, speed, course, slope, distance, and more.
Adam had to do something clever to make this work. His application breaks up the track into little peices and changes the color for each segment according to the parameter you chose to color it by. Great work Adam!
One of the Google Earth Community members who calls himself "Up_The_Spurs" has just completed an excellent collection of placemarks related to the Victoria Cross. The Victoria Cross is the highest award for gallantry, on the field of combat, for all British & Commonwealth Citizens. There have been 1351-1355 VC's awarded, and they are all included in this collection. The collection shows the placemark of the birthplace of each recipient and provides details on the recipient including when they lived, why they received the cross, and sometimes even pictures.
Much of the data came from the Wikipedia. But, he also used other sources. You can read details about what was done in his post here. This was quite a big task which took Up_The_Spurs at least 3 weeks to complete. Great work! See his Boxing Champions collection as well.
Someone at the Google Earth Community, who calls himself 'Sanga', recently posted the highest-fidelity 3D model of the Eiffel Tower yet. He used SketchUp (a 3D modelling program which has excellent conversion tools for Google Earth). He posted two versions of the Eiffel Tower - the larger one has a huge number of polygons, the smaller one still looks very good (and you may want the smaller one if you have less graphics memory). Turn off the "Terrain" Layer as this messes up the view of the base of the tower. Here they are: Eiffel Tower (1.8 Mbytes) and Eiffel Tower (1.04 MBytes) .
By the way, Sanga also developed a very detailed 3D model of the Taj Mahal (2 Mbytes) . Here's his post for this one.
For a couple of weeks a guy called Sven from the Netherlands has posted his attempts to add 3D planes to the FBOweb real-time flight tracking application written about here before. Well, Sven has succeeded in creating a new version of a network link which places 3D airliner models in the correct 3D position from the fboweb application. NOTE: when you download the 3D plane flight tracker , make sure you turn on only one airport in the Places folder (ORD, LAX, BOS, or ATL) at a time as these network links use a lot of bandwidth. Also, you can double click on a flight folder to position yourself over a plane, then open that folder to find "Points of View" which allow you to select other views including different angles from the pilot perspective, directly above, or directly toward the plane. The network link updates every few seconds, so you may have to change your views often.
The application doesn't actually know the orientation of the plane in flight, but I believe he takes the short track from the previous position report and computes an angle of orientation accordingly. The orientation does look correct most of the time, or just off by a few degrees. Sometimes the flighttracker position data looks messed up, I saw one position report with planes on obvious collision courses. So, please don't expect the position reports to represent actual real-life situations. Despite the anomalies, this is a really cool addition to the flight tracker. This is great work Sven! Thanks for telling me about it.
Three men in Brazil decided to sail across the Atlantic Ocean in a 40 foot long sailboat (monohull) named "Mussulo". The reason is apparently based on at least one of them having always dreamed of returning to Angola, a country he had left 30 years ago. They chose to take full advantage of Google Earth both to allow people to follow the trip, and to provide and anaylyze weather data. They have been using amateur radio for communication, and I presume GPS for navigation. Most significantly, Mussulo completed the journey to Angola and they have begun the trip back to Brazil.
The crew of Mussulo have been posting updates to the Google Earth Community (in both Portuguese and English translations). The Google Earth file they have posted not only provides the track and weather information, but also shows placemarks with "log" entries (also in both Portuguese and English - make sure you scroll down to see the English). The file is a network link so it automatically updates when they provide new entries.
The crew of Mussulo have a blog which shows lots of screenshots of how they have been using Google Earth to document the trip and analyze weather.
The name of their web site: "Abraço à Vela", loosely translates (according to Babelfish) to "I hug to the candle". From what I can gather from the posts their objective was to join hugs across the ocean. It is surprising, considering my passion for sailing, I have not noticed this interesting sailing adventure. My only excuse is that the posting was in Portuguese, which I don't speak. Anyway, my congratulations to this valiant crew for having made it across the oceans, and I wish them fair winds for their safe return!
This is the first book covering Google Earth I've seen announced (not yet available, but you can pre-order it at Amazon). The book is titled "Hacking Google Maps and Google Earth" by Martin C. Brown at Extreme Tech. From the description I don't think it has a lot of real new stuff on "hacking" Google Earth, most of the focus in the description seems to be focused on Google Maps. However, the listing says the book is 500 pages, so maybe there is more to it. Perhaps a listing of some of the best Google Earth KML files, with screenshots? Or, perhaps he covers how to use your GPS, do image overlays of your own satellite photos or weather radar images, or write your own KML and network links?
I expect this will be just the first of several new books we'll hear about covering Google Earth in the next few months. I'm curious how many of my readers here would be interested in a book about Google Earth?
Hoy, el Dr. Smith publicó un imagen estereoscópica (una foto que viéndola con anteojos rojo/azul se puede apreciar en 3D) de uno de sus edificios.
When Google Earth for Windows went out of beta last Tuesday, a new item was added to the features list of Google Earth Plus (GE+): Enhanced network access. That's right, if you buy the Google Earth Plus version ($20 per year subscription) you not only get the ability to draw paths and polygons, GPS integration support, greater printer resolution, and data import capability. But, also you get faster network access. Apparently this feature already existed for some months, but just wasn't documented. So, if you already have GE+, you have already been getting faster access.
According to the Google Earth development team, the feature enhances the download speed of the databases compared to the free version of GE. Here's a comment from one of the team members at the Google Earth Community: "Upgrading to Plus should improve network performance at least a little and in some cases a large amount (especially if you have a long latency to our servers). "
So, if you've been thinking about getting GE+, here's another reason to consider it. Those of you who are real addicts (like me) might want to give it some thought. :-) Anyway, if you want GE+, just select "Upgrade to Plus" in the Help Menu of Google Earth.
A few months ago I wrote a story on a collection of placemarks which provided all sorts of details on countries, their flag, and links to other sources of information on the countries. This collection does something quite similar except it uses the flags as the placemarks, and uses the CIA World Factbook as the basis of its information. The CIA World Factbook is a nice collection of public information on countries of the world made available by the US government on the Internet for many years now. When you click on the country flags, you will see an excerpt of the background information (usually a historical/political perspective) from the Factbook, a link to the complete information, and links to both Google and Wikipedia information on that country. I recommend you click on "Borders" on the left, in the navigation window of GE, to show country outlines.
This collection was put together by the GEC community member known as 'Herrminator' who also published the excellent collection of World Heritage Locations written about earlier. Nice work Herrminator!
Google Earth onf the Mac also won't be capable of running specialized applications like the Globe Glider which uses Windows-only IE scripts to perform its magic. But, almost all standard Google Earth files and network links reportedly work just fine. All other features seem to work quite well, and only a few people will miss the features not yet implemented.
Google has created a "Google Earth for Mac OSX" Support Forum at the Google Earth Community. If you want to see what current problems people are experiencing, or want to report your own, go to that forum.
The list of new airports includes: Boston (BOS ), Chicago (ORD ), Atlanta (ATL ), and New York (JFK ). I highly recommend you turn off one airport's network link in the Places folder before you turn on the other (otherwise there is too much information). You can view the fboweb.com web site for these Google Earth files here. Also, make sure you tilt your view so you can see the 3D view of the plane tracks.
For those of you with multiple mouse buttons: using a mousewheel is the easiest way to raise or lower your viewing point (or you can hold the right mouse button and slide forward and back). Alternatively, you can use the CTRL-UP ARROW or CTRL-DOWN ARROW keys on your keyboard. Finally, you can use the visual controls on the Nav panel with the + and - symbols. All of these methods adjust your altitude above the Earth's surface. You can see your height above sea level in the lower right of the GE viewing window. You can move the Earth to position it where you want to see by clicking a point with the left mouse button and slide the cursor to the middle of the viewing window. This way you can learn to zoom in and see the closest possible view of the aerial and satellite photo views of the Earth.
At first, many people don't realize Google Earth is much more than a map with aerial and satellite photos attached. GE uses data from NASA Space Shuttle missions which provides 3D terrain data for the entire land surface of the Earth. Let's demonstrate this.
Click on this link to go to GE and fly to Mount St. Helens. Beautiful view right? But, try this: hold your PAGE DOWN key on your keyboard and watch GE tilt your view so you can see Mount St. Helens as a 3D mountain. Very cool right? PAGE UP will tilt your view back up. You can also use the controls on the right side of the navigational control panel for tilting. You can hit the "u" key to tilt back straight up automatically. The "r" key will reset to north and tilt up.
An easier way to tilt and pan your view is to click and hold the middle mouse button or scroll wheel button (those of you who have a Mac with one mouse button have to use the above key or navigational control techniques). While you're holding the middle button if you move your mouse forward and backwards it will tilt the view. Side to side will pan your view around the point you are looking at. Holding the SHIFT key will constrain your tilt and allow you to rotate your view about a point.
Check out other tips for using GE in the Google Earth Blog tips category. If you haven't seen it, read Google's basic tour as well.
Google has finally made Google Earth official - it's not a beta product anymore. Now even more people will be able to use Google Earth for sightseeing, business applications, GIS applications, sports, planes and flying, and more. Welcome to all the new Google Earth users downloading GE for the first time. Read Google Earth tips as you learn more about the program.
The announcement was made at the Official Google Blog. Also part of the announcement, the Mac version of Google Earth is now available (see this story). Google Earth version 3.0.0762 for Windows XP, which was released in November, was deemed worthy enough for the announcement of official release.
The Google Earth team has worked very hard in the past 6 months, since GE first went into beta, with several public updates addressing problems and adding features to the program. For some time now I've been predicting they were about to make the product official, and after the announcement of the Google Pack at the CES Keynote last Friday, I knew it had to happen soon.
So, now, as an official product, maybe Google will put even more PR muscle behind this really awesome program. I expect the media will be writing more about Google Earth in the coming weeks and months. If you haven't downloaded Google Earth yet, you are missing out on one of the most amazing free programs ever made available on the Internet. Congratulations go to the hard-working Google Earth team (with a little help from a few million beta testers).
Google Earth announcing Mac version today!
This is the one many people have been waiting for! Today, in time for MacWorld, Google has announced the availability of a version of Google Earth for the Mac! There's a link off the home page for GE at http://earth.google.com/ to the Official Google Blog announcement. There's also a screenshot of the new release. Also, the word "Beta" is missing from the Google Earth logo! The version released is for Mac OSX 10.4 and up, so upgrade if you aren't there yet.
GeoTag Your Flickr Photos WITH Google Earth!
Last November a new web site called FlickrMap was announced by Mark Zeman which is an excellent tool for viewing geotagged (tying earth coordinates to a photo) Flickr photos in a Flash map (a small US$5 subscription is required to have your own map, but it is free to just geotag). FlickrMap was already cool in its interface for viewing geotagged photos on an interactive map, but you still had to use a variety of tools and steps to geotag your photos. Well, Mark just contacted me to say he has written an AJAX application which allows you to quickly and easily geotag your photos using Google Earth for the interface. This is the fastest and best method I've seen yet for geotagging. Not only that, but Mark produced a really excellent video tutorial showing you the steps for using his application with Google Earth to Geotag.
4. Click on the placemark and click on "Geotag Flickr Photos with this location"
5. You will then go to Flickr and select the photos you want for this location. The ones you select are now geotagged.
After the first time, all you do is turn on the Flickrmap network link and start geotagging. It's really that easy. A very nice capability! Thanks to Mark for both writing this excellent application, and letting me test it.
This is another example of integrating other applications with Google Earth creating whole new capabilities never expected by Google themselves. A few days ago I wrote about Globe Glider which lets you use Google Maps within Google Earth. When Google improves the API and KML with new capabilities we will see even more exciting integrations like this in the coming months and years.
An off road enthusiast from the Google Earth Community (who calls himself TommyAfrika) forwarded me some forum threads dedicated to off road races. The first is for the Dakar 2006 which is probably the most grueling off road race in the world from Lisbon, Portugal to Dakar in Senagal in western Africa. The Dakar race goes through some of the most inhospitable terrain on the planet. Unfortunately, the Dakar 2006 did not choose to publish GPS coordinates for the positions of its racers. So, all we have so far is an image overlay and waypoints of the course. Here's the forum thread which includes some good links to videos describing the course - here's a documentary video (English - other languages available in the forum) about the Dakar 2006. The Dakar 2006 is currently in day 9 out of the 16 days it is estimated it will take to complete the course.
Another off road race held in November, 2005 was the Tecate Baja 1000 rally. Here's an overlay showing the course of the Baja 1000 rally , and here is the GEC forum thread about it.
These races need to publish their GPS data so you can follow them in Google Earth like the current round-the-world sailing race called the Volvo Ocean Race.
Google announced during the CES Keynote last night that they have begun working with at least one car manufacturer (Volkswagen) to explore putting Google Earth/Local as an embedded application for car navigation. gpsreview.net has written some interesting thoughts about this announcement saying Google has all the makings of a good car navigation system now, except you would need $26,000 in equipment to store the entire Google Database in a car, since broadband connections to cars are not available yet. He was just speculating on what it would take to put the whole thing in the car of course.
Actually, you wouldn't need the entire database since cars rarely travel the entire surface of the Earth. In fact, existing car navigation systems usually get by with just a couple dozen Megabytes for maps and points of interest (POI - things like restaurants, addresses, hotels, etc.). You would need more space to store satellite/aerial photography though. I suspect a 200Gbyte hard drive could store all the data needed for Google Earth for an area covering several states in the US.
The other thing to consider is that with a WIFI connection in the car, the car could do literal "war driving" and pick up data as it moves from location to location from the Google database. A better solution would be legitimate WIFI connections placed in locations entering and leaving cities or states. Rest area WIFI maybe?
By the way, there are people already using Google Earth in cars today. You can read about people hooking up their GPSes to Google Earth if you go to the Dynamic Data Layers forum at the GEC and search for "+GPS +Navigation". And, someday a streamlined Google Earth for embedded car systems may be quite practical.
The CES Google Keynote just started 5 minutes ago. It started out with Google Earth being shown flying over the Eiffel tower, then to one of the Africa Megaflyover images, then to the Grand Canyon, and then to Las Vegas (where the CES is being held). Next, Larry Page (co-founder of Google) shows up in a lab coat on the stage on top of one of the robot SUVs which raced in the Darpa Robot challenge! (see live reports from the show at Engadget).
Larry said they are working with VW to put a live version of Google Earth in your car dashboard. They did a demo of it showing an aerial view of where you were driving. Very interesting!
Both the Google Video Store deal and the Google Pack mentioned earlier have been announced in press releases at Google (Video and Pack). The Google Pack includes Google Earth. You can download the Google Pack now at Pack.Google.com. As far as I can tell, it is the current beta version of Google Earth, nothing new.
Google Local Mobile was shown on a Blackberry earlier in the presentation. Here's a link to the new Google web page for downloading GLM. It reportedly works very well on the Blackberry.
They are doing the Q&A now, so it looks like there's no chance for any mention of new Google Earth stuff. From the comments being posted at Engadget it looks like Google's going to get a beating from a lot of analysts (especially Mac and Linux users). The Google Pack contains no real new products, and the Video Store won't really compete with the iTunes videos because they don't support the Mac. Apparently some people think the GLM thing is the biggest new product released at the keynote. I'll wait until I see the video of the presentation before I make any further observations.
Here's a link to a portion of the keynote on video from CNET. This part covers the Google Video Store announcement.
Just couple of hours from Google's big keynote address and I've just read a blog entry that a company is trying to have Google Earth shutdown due to patent infringement. Here's the article in the Arizona Republic newspaper (Arizona is where the case is being heard). Let's hope Google is able to settle this case before a shutdown is necessary. According to the story, Google has until January 18th to respond to the motion.
Google's Larry Page (co-founder of Google) will be presenting a Keynote address at CES today at 4PM PST. The rumors have been flying about what will be announced from a new Google PC to a software package called Google Pack. The Google PC rumor was shot down by Google themselves. The Google Pack, if this is true, will include a number of packages like Firefox, Norton AntiVirus, RealPlayer, and a number a Google packages like Google Toolbar and of course: Google Earth. You can read some interesting speculation about the Google Pack at the blog Inside Google.
It's my hope they will announce Google Earth is out of beta and/or even more forthcoming updates to the Google Earth databases. As soon as I find out what is announced, if it applies to Google Earth, you can read about it here at Google Earth Blog.
Leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race (an around the world sailing yacht race) began on January 2nd. You can get the details about the race and Google Earth network link in my earlier stories here and here. Or you can just download the network link now.
By the way, two of the boats have turned back to South Africa due to damage near the start of leg 2. Team Ericsson stopped racing and turned back with a failure of one keel actuating ram, and then Brasil 1 turned back with structural failure in the region of the cockpit. These boats are very powerful, but the southern ocean is very menacing. The boats have to be very careful in these dangerous seas, winds, and ice. In order to win, you have to finish! The two boats returning may be able to effect repairs and return to the race.
A few months ago Declan Butler, a Senior Reporter for Nature Magazine, began publishing work he was doing to provide data on the Avian Flu outbreak using Google Earth. Declan has continued to work on the data, and recently announced an update on his blog. The update includes a greatly improved look and even more recent data on the outbreak of avian flu. As you would expect from a Senior Reporter of a scientific magazine, Declan includes details on the data, how he compiled the data, and issues with presenting the data within the Google Earth file. He also provides details on how he implemented the Google Earth KML, and credits suggestions given to him which helped him improve the data presented.
Stefan Geens at OgleEarth wrote about this today and he points out some of the issues Declan (and others) encountered in the GE user interface presented by large datasets like this. In particular, Stefan mentioned the need for a time-based animation feature in GE and points out that Google's Michael Jones recently demonstrated an in-house capabiility to do exactly that type of feature (so, we can only hope that feature will be availiable in a future release). Being able to show the spread of the flu over time with an animation would be quite powerful.
Tropical Storm Zeta was one of the only Atlantic Tropical Storms in recorded history to cross over into a new year (since tropical storms are so rare in the winter in the north Atlantic). NASA occasionally releases high resolution enhanced satellite photos, and I've created an image overlay for Google Earth of one for Tropical Storm Zeta . The image is a 1km resolution photo courtesy of MODIS Rapid Response Project at NASA/GSFC.
You might want to try this automatic Hurricane Tracker to keep track of this and other storms around the world. Read this story for more information on this hurricane tracker.
Ever since Google Earth was first released, I've thought teachers of all sorts would find it an indespensible tool for teaching. In particular, I'm sure geography lessons are being transformed by Google Earth. It turns out there are some web sites to help teachers use Google Earth for Geography.
There is a site dedicated to tools on the Internet for enhancing geography called JuicyGeography (www.juicygeography.co.uk) which is written by a teacher in Somerset, England. The teacher has a growing resource for teachers for using Google Earth to teach geography. Included are suggestions for lessons and resources (GE Files and placemarks) to build lessons. One of the most interesting lessons is a decision making exercise letting students evaluate the hazards in an earthquake in San Francisco. Ideas also include doing image overlays, using GIS data, mapping, using GPS, and more.
Another useful geography site from the UK is called GeographyPages.co.uk. The teacher responsible for the site recently was awarded Royal Geographical Society - Institute of British Geographers Innovative Geography Teaching Grant. He has also developed an extensive collection of notes and references for using Google Earth to teach.
Looks like the UK educators are first to see the opportunities with Google Earth and start writing about it on the web. Are there other similar web sites for educators who want to use Google Earth? Leave me a comment here, and I'll write about them in future stories and add them to the Reference section.
Another entry for the sports category. One of the Google Earth Community members who calls himself 'Up_The_Spurs' recently posted a collection of placemarks for the birth places of all the heavy weight boxing World Champions. His collection goes from John L. Sullivan in 1882 to Nikolai Valuev on December 17, 2005.
The collection of placemarks shows not only the location of the boxing champions' birthplace, but also provides details on the boxer. Included are date of birth, reign, a photo, and background on most of the champions. I've included a screenshot of Muhammad Ali for example. Nice work 'Up_The_Spurs'. | 2019-04-24T02:45:48Z | http://es.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2006/01/ |
2013-06-28 Assigned to QUALCOMM INCORPORATED reassignment QUALCOMM INCORPORATED ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY, HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.
A method and apparatus is provided for presenting a user with a visual indication of the likely user-perceived location of sound sources in an audio field generated from left and right audio channel signals. To produce this visual indication, corresponding components in the left and right channel signals are detected by a correlation arrangement. These corresponding components are then used by a source-determination arrangement to infer the presence of at least one sound source and to determine the azimuth location of this source within the audio field. A display processing arrangement causes a visual indication of the sound source and its location to be presented to the user.
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing a visual indication of the likely user-perceived location of one or more sound sources in an audio field generated from left and right audio channel signals.
Methods of acoustically locating a real-world sound source are well known and usually involve the use of an array of microphones; U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,302 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,396 both describe sound source location detecting systems of this type. By determining the location of the sound source, it is then possible to adjust the processing parameters of the input from the individual microphones of the array so as to effectively ‘focus’ the microphone on the sound source, enabling the sounds emitted from the source to be picked out from surrounding sounds. However, this prior art is not concerned with the same problem as that addressed by the present invention where the starting point is left and right audio channel signals that have been conditioned to enable the generation of a spatialized sound field to a human user.
It is, of course, well known to process a sound-source signal to form left and right audio channel signals so conditioned that when supplied to a human user via (at least) left and right audio output devices, the sound source is perceived by the user as coming from a particular location; this location can be varied by varying the conditioning of the left and right channel signals.
More particularly, the human auditory system, including related brain functions, is capable of localizing sounds in three dimensions notwithstanding that only two sound inputs are received (left and right ear). Research over the years has shown that localization in azimuth, elevation and range is dependent on a number of cues derived from the received sound. The nature of these cues is outlined below.
Azimuth Cues—The main azimuth cues are Interaural Time Difference (ITD—sound on the right of a hearer arrives in the right ear first) and Interaural Intensity Difference (IID—sound on the right appears louder in the right ear). ITD and IIT cues are complementary inasmuch as the former works better at low frequencies and the latter better at high frequencies.
Elevation Cues—The primary cue for elevation depends on the acoustic properties of the outer ear or pinna. In particular, there is an elevation-dependent frequency notch in the response of the ear, the notch frequency usually being in the range 6-16 kHz depending on the shape of the hearer's pinna. The human brain can therefore derive elevation information based on the strength of the received sound at the pinna notch frequency, having regard to the expected signal strength relative to the other sound frequencies being received.
ratio of direct to reverberant sound (the fall-off in energy reaching the ear as range increases is less for reverberant sound than direct sound so that the ratio will be large for nearby sources and small for more distant sources).
It may also be noted that in order avoid source-localization errors arising from sound reflections, humans localize sound sources on the basis of sounds that reach the ears first (an exception is where the direct/reverberant ratio is used for range determination).
Getting a sound system (sound producing apparatus) to output sounds that will be localized by a hearer to desired locations, is not a straight-forward task and generally requires an understanding of the foregoing cues. Simple stereo sound systems with left and right speakers or headphones can readily simulate sound sources at different azimuth positions; however, adding variations in range and elevation is much more complex. One known approach to producing a 3D audio field that is often used in cinemas and theatres, is to use many loudspeakers situated around the listener (in practice, it is possible to use one large speaker for the low frequency content and many small speakers for the high-frequency content, as the auditory system will tend to localize on the basis of the high frequency component, this effect being known as the Franssen effect). Such many-speaker systems are not, however, practical for most situations.
For sound sources that have a fixed presentation (non-interactive), it is possible to produce convincing 3D audio through headphones simply by recording the sounds that would be heard at left and right eardrums were the hearer actually present. Such recordings, known as binaural recordings, have certain disadvantages including the need for headphones, the lack of interactive controllability of the source location, and unreliable elevation effects due to the variation in pinna shapes between different hearers.
To enable a sound source to be variably positioned in a 3D audio field, a number of systems have evolved that are based on a transfer function relating source sound pressures to ear drum sound pressures. This transfer function is known as the Head Related Transfer Function (HRTF) and the associated impulse response, as the Head Related Impulse Response (HRIR). If the HRTF is known for the left and right ears, binaural signals can be synthesized from a monaural source. By storing measured HRTF (or HRIR) values for various source locations, the location of a source can be interactively varied simply by choosing and applying the appropriate stored values to the sound source to produce left and right channel outputs. A number of commercial 3D audio systems exist utilizing this principle. Rather than storing values, the HRTF can be modeled but this requires considerably more processing power.
The generation of binaural signals as described above is directly applicable to headphone systems. However, the situation is more complex where stereo loudspeakers are used for sound output because sound from both speakers can reach both ears. In one solution, the transfer functions between each speaker and each ear are additionally derived and used to try to cancel out cross-talk from the left speaker to the right ear and from the right speaker to the left ear.
Other approaches to those outlined above for the generation of 3D audio fields are also possible as will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art. Regardless of the method of generation of the audio field, most 3D audio systems are, in practice, generally effective in achieving azimuth positioning but less effective for elevation and range. However, in many applications this is not a particular problem since azimuth positioning is normally the most important. As a result, systems for the generation of audio fields giving the perception of physically separated sound sources range from full 3D systems, through two dimensional systems (giving, for example, azimuth and elevation position variation), to one-dimensional systems typically giving only azimuth position variation (such as a standard stereo sound system). Clearly, 2D and particularly 1D systems are technically less complex than 3D systems as illustrated by the fact that stereo sound systems have been around for very many years.
As regards the purpose of the generated audio field, this is frequently used to provide a complete user experience either alone or in conjunction with other artificially-generated sensory inputs. For example, the audio field may be associated with a computer game or other artificial environment of varying degree of user immersion (including total sensory immersion). As another example, the audio field may be generated by an audio browser operative to represent page structure by spatial location.
However, in systems that provide a combined audio-visual experience, it the visual experience that takes the lead regarding the positioning of elements having both a visual and audio presence; in other words, the spatialisation conditioning of the audio sound signals is done so that the sound appears to emanate from the visually-perceivable location of the element rather than the other way around.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for providing a visual indication of the likely user-perceived location of one or more sound sources in an audio field generated from left and right audio channel signals.
(c) displaying a visual indication of at least one sound source inferred in step (b) such that the position at which this indication is displayed is indicative of the azimuth location of the sound source concerned.
a display processing arrangement for causing the display, on a display connected thereto, of a visual indication of at least one sound source inferred by the source-determination arrangement such that the position at which this indication is displayed is indicative of the azimuth location of the sound source concerned.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the visualization of a focus volume of a 3D audio field experienced by a user having portable audio equipment.
FIG. 1 shows the connection of visualization apparatus 15 embodying the present invention to a CD player 10. The CD player is a stereo player with left (L) and right (R) audio channel outputs feeding left and right audio output devices, here shown as loudspeakers 11 and 12 though the output devices could equally be stereo headphones.
The left and right audio channel signals are also fed to the visualisation apparatus either in the form of the same analogue electrical signals used to drive the loudspeakers 11 and 12, or in the form of the digital audio signals produced by the CD player for conversion into the aforesaid analogue signals.
The visualization apparatus 15 is operative to process the left and right audio channel signals it receives such as to cause the display on visual display 16 of visual indications of the likely user-perceived location of sound sources in the audio field generated from left and right audio channel signals by the loudspeakers 11 and 12. The display 16 may be any suitable form of display either connected directly to the apparatus 15 or remotely connected via a communications link such as a short-range wireless link.
a display processing stage 35 for causing the display, on display 16, of a visual indication of at least one of the detected sound sources and its location.
The present embodiment of the visualization apparatus 15 is arranged to carry out its processing in half-second processing cycles. In each cycle a half-second segment of the audio channel signals produced by the player 10 are analysed to determine the presence and location of sound sources represented in that segment; whilst this processing is repeated every half second for successive segments of the audio channel signals, detected sound sources are remembered across processing cycles and the display processing stage is arranged to cause the production of visual indications in respect of all sound sources detected during the course of a sound passage of interest.
Considering the apparatus 15 in more detail, in the present embodiment the input buffers 20 and 21 are digital in form with the left and right audio channel signals received by the apparatus 15 either being digital signals or, if of analogue form, being converted to digital signals by converters (not shown) before being fed to the buffers 20, 21. The buffers 20, 21 are each arranged to hold a half-second segment of the corresponding channel of the sound passage being output by the CD player with the buffers becoming full in correspondence to the end of a processing cycle of the apparatus. At the start of the next processing cycle, the contents of the buffers are transferred to the correlator 22 after which filling of the buffers from the left and right audio channel signals recommences.
The correlator 22 (which is, for example, a digital signal processor) is operative to detect corresponding components by pairing left and right audio-channel tones, potentially offset in time, that match in pitch and in amplitude variation profile. Thus, for example, the correlator 22 can be arranged to sweep through the frequency range of the audio-channel signals and for each tone signal detected in one channel signal, determine if there is a corresponding signal in the other channel signal, potentially offset in time. If a corresponding tone signal is found and it has a similar amplitude variation profile over the time segment being processed, then these left and right channel tone signals are taken as forming a matching pair originating from a common sound source. The matched tones do not, in fact, need to be of a fixed frequency but any frequency variation in one must be matched by the same frequency variation in the other (again, allowing for a possible time offset).
For each matching pair of tones detected by the correlator 22, it feeds an output to a block 24 of the source-determination arrangement 23 giving the characteristic tone frequency (pitch), the average amplitude (across both channels for periods when the tones are present) and the amplitude variation profile of the matched pair; if the pitch of the tone varies, then the initial detected pitch is used for the characteristic pitch. The correlator 22 also outputs to a block 25 of the source-determination arrangement 23, measures of the amplitudes of the matched left and right channel tone signals and/or of their timing offset relative to each other. The block 25 uses these measures to determine an azimuth (that is, a left/right) location for the source from which the matched tone signals are assumed to have come. The determined azimuth location is passed to the block 24.
The block 24, on receiving the characteristic pitch, average amplitude, and amplitude variation profile of a matched pair of left and right channel tone signals as well as the azimuth location of the sound source from which these tones are assumed to have come, is operative to generate a corresponding new “located elemental sound” (LES) record 27 in located-sound memory 26. This record 27 records, against an LES ID, the characteristic pitch, average amplitude, amplitude variation profile, and azimuth location of the “located elemental sound” as well as a timestamp for when the LES was last detected (this may simply be a timestamp indicative of the current processing cycle or a more accurate timestamp, provided by the correlator 22, indicating when the corresponding tone signals ceased either at the end of the audio-channel signal segment being processed or earlier).
Where the correlator 22 detects a tone signal in one channel signal but fails to detect a corresponding tone signal in the other channel signal, the correlator can either be arranged simply to ignore the unmatched tone signal or to assume that there a matching signal but of zero amplitude value; in this latter case, a LES record is created but with an azimuth location being set to one or other extreme as appropriate.
After the correlator has completed its scanning of the current audio signal segment and LES records have been stored by block 25, a compound-sound identification block 28 examines the newly-stored LES records 27 to associate those LES that have the same azimuth location (within preset tolerance limits), the same general amplitude variation profile and are harmonically related; LESs associated with each other in this way are assumed to originate from the same sound source (for example, one LES may correspond to the fundamental of a string played on a guitar and other LES may correspond harmonics of that string; additionally/alternatively, one LES may correspond to one string sounded upon a chord being played on a guitar and other LES may correspond to other strings sounded in the same chord). The block 28 is set to look for predetermined harmonic relationships between LESs.
a last detection timestamp corresponding to the most recent value of the last detection timestamps of the associated LESs.
The block 28 may be set to process the LESs created in one operating cycle of the correlator 22 and block 24, in the same operating cycle or in the next following operating cycle; in this latter case, appropriate measures are taken to ensure that block 28 does not try to process LES records being added by block 24 during its current operating cycle.
After the compound-sound identification block 28 has finished determining what LCS are present, a source identification block 30 is triggered to infer and record, for each LCS, a corresponding sound source in a sound source item record 34 stored in a source item memory 33. The block 30 is operative to determine the type of each sound source by matching the harmonic profile and/or amplitude variation profile of the LCS concerned with predetermined sound-source profiles (typically, but not necessarily limited to, musical instrument profiles). Each sound-source item record holds an item ID, the determined sound source type, and the azimuth position and last detection time stamp copied from the corresponding LCS.
Rather than the source identification block 30 carrying out its operation after the block 28 has finished LCS identification, the block can be arranged to create a new sound-source item record immediately following the identification of an LCS by the block 28.
If the source identification block 30 is unable to identify the type of a sound source inferred from an LCS, it nevertheless records a corresponding sound source item in memory 33 but without setting the type of the sound source.
The source identification block can also be arranged to infer sound sources in respect of any LESs recorded in memory 26 but which were not associated with an LCS by the block 28 (in order to identify these LESs, the LES records 27 can be provided with a flag field that is set when the corresponding LES is associated with other LES to form an LCS; in this case, any LES record that does not have its flag set, identifies an LES not associated with a LCS).
When the source identification block 30 has finished its processing, the corresponding LES and LCS records 27 and 29 are deleted from memory 26 (typically, this is at the end of the same or next operating cycle as when the correlator processed the audio-channel signal segment giving rise to the LES concerned).
Where sound-source items have been previously recorded from earlier processing cycles, the source identification block 30 is arranged to seek to match newly-determined LCS with the already-recorded sound sources and to only infer the presence of a new sound source if no such match is possible. Where an LCS is matched with an existing sound source item, the last detected timestamp of the sound-source item record 34 is updated to that of the LCS. Furthermore, in seeking to match an LCS with an existing sound source, a certain tolerance is preferably permitted in matching the azimuth locations of the LCS and sound source whereby to allow for the possibility that the sound source is moving; in this case, where a match is found, the azimuth location of the sound source is updated to that of the LCS.
The display processing stage 35 is operative to repeatedly scan the source item memory 33 (synchronously or asynchronously with respect to the processing cycles of the source-determination arrangement 23) to determine what sound source items have been identified and then to cause the display on display 16 of a visual indication of each such sound source item and its azimuth location in the audio field. This is preferably done by displaying representations of the sound source items in a spatial relation corresponding to that of the sources themselves. Advantageously, each sound-source representation is indicative of the type of the corresponding sound source, appropriate image data for each type of source item being stored in source item visualization data memory 32 and being retrieved by the display processing stage 35 as needed. The form of representation used can also be varied in dependence on whether the last-detected timestamp recorded for a source item is within a certain time window of the current time; if this is the case then the sound source is assumed to be currently active and a corresponding active image (which may be an animated image) is displayed whereas if the timestamp is older than the window, the sound source is taken to be currently inactive and a corresponding inactive image is displayed.
Rather than all the sound source items being represented at the same time, the display processing stage can be arranged to display only those sound sources that are currently active or that are located within a user-selected portion of the audio field (this portion being changeable by the user). Furthermore, rather than a sound source item having existence from its inception to the end of the sound passage of interest regardless of how long it has been inactive, a sound source item that remains inactive for more than a given period as judged by its last-detected timestamp, can be deleted from the memory 33.
In addition to determining the azimuth location of each detected sound source, the source-determination arrangement 23 can be arranged to determine the depth (radial distance from the user) and/or height location of each sound source. Thus, for example, the depth location of a sound source in the audio field can be determined in dependence on the relative loudness of this sound source as compared to other sound sources. This can conveniently be done by storing in each LCS record 29 the largest average amplitude value of the associated LES records 27, and then arranging for block 30 to use these LCS average amplitude values to allocate depth values to the sound sources.
As regards the height location of a sound source in the audio field, if the audio channel signals have been processed to simulate a pinna notch effect with a view to enabling a human listener to perceive sound source height, then the block 30 can also be arranged to determine the sound source height by assessing the variation with frequency of the relative amplitudes of different harmonic components of the compound sound associated with the sound source as compared with the variation expected for the type of the sound source. In this case, the association of LESs with a particular LCS are preferably explicitly stored, for example, by each LES record 27 storing the LCS ID of the LCS with which it is associated.
With regard to visually representing the depth and height of a sound source, height is readily represented whereas depth can be shown by scaling a displayed sound-source representing image in dependence on its depth (the greater the depth value of the sound source location, the smaller the image).
FIG. 3 illustrates the visualization of a focus volume 50 of a 3D audio field 44 experienced by a user 40 having portable audio equipment comprising a belt-carried unit 40 that sends left and right audio channel output signals wirelessly to headphones 42 (as indicated by arrow 43). The 3D audio field 44 presented to the user via the headphones 42 extends part way around the user 40 and has depth and height; the field 44 comprises user-perceived sound sources 46 and 47, the sound sources 46 (represented by small circles in FIG. 3) having a greater depth value than the sources 47 (represented by small squares).
In the FIG. 3 arrangement, visualization apparatus 15 and an associated display 16 are provided separately from the user-carried audio equipment; the apparatus 15 and display 16 are, for example, mounted in a fixed location. The left and right audio channel signals output by unit 40 to headphones 42 are also supplied (arrow 47) to the visualization apparatus 15 using the same or a different wireless communication technology. In the present example, the visualization apparatus is arranged to present on display 16 visual indications of the sound sources determined as present in the focus volume 50 of the audio volume 50. The position of the focus volume within the audio field 44 is adjustable by the user using a control input (not shown but which could be manual or any other suitable form, including one using speech recognition technology) provided either on the user-carried equipment or on the visualization apparatus 15.
As an alternative to the visualization apparatus 15 being associated with the fixed display in FIG. 3, the apparatus 15 could be provided as part of the user-carried equipment; in this case, the output of the display processing stage 35 would be passed by a wireless link to the display 16.
It will be appreciated that many variants are possible to the above described embodiments of the invention. In particular, the degree of processing effected by the correlator 22 and the source determination arrangement 23 in detecting sound sources can be tailored to the available processing power. For example, rather than every successive audio channel signal segment being processed, only certain segments can be processed, such as every other segment or every third segment. Another processing simplification would be only to consider tones having more than a certain amplitude thereby reducing the processing load concerned with harmonics. Identification of source type can be done simply on the basis of the pitch and amplitude profile and in this case it is possible to omit the identification of “located compound sounds” (LCS) though this is likely to lead to the detection of multiple co-located sources unless provision is made to consolidate such sources into a single source. Determining the type of a sound source item is not, of course, essential. The duration of each audio channel segment can be made greater or less than the half a second described above.
Where ample processing power is available, then the correlator and source determination arrangement can be arranged to operate on a continuous basis rather than on discrete segments.
The above-described functional blocks of the correlator 22 and source-determination arrangement 23 can be implemented in hardware and/or in software. Furthermore, analogue forms of these elements can also be implemented.
(c) displaying a visual indication of at least one sound source inferred in step (b) such that the position at which this indication is displayed is indicative of the azimuth location of the at least one sound source.
2. A method according to claim 1, wherein in step (b) each component pairing being recorded as representing an elemental sound located in azimuth in said audio field at a position determined by the relative amplitude of the left and right channel components and/or their timing offset relative to each other.
3. A method according to claim 2, wherein in step (b) elemental sounds that have the same azimuth location, the same general amplitude variation profile and are harmonically related, are associated into a compound sound.
4. A method according to claim 3, wherein in step (b) the or each compound sound is used to infer the presence of a corresponding sound source with the type of that sound source being determined according to the harmonic profile and/or amplitude variation profile of the compound sound concerned.
5. A method according to claim 4, wherein in the course of a sound passage represented by the left and right audio channel signals, step (b) is carried out repeatedly with the elemental and compound sounds being newly determined at each repetition but sound sources inferred as present during any repetition having a continuing existence across at least one subsequent repetition.
6. A method according to claim 4, wherein in the course of a sound passage represented by the left and right audio channel signals, step (b) is carried out repeatedly or on an on-going basis with sound sources inferred as present at any stage having a continuing existence, step (b) involving seeking to match newly-determined compound sounds with known sound sources and only inferring the presence of a new sound source if no such match is possible.
7. A method according to claim 6, wherein in seeking to match newly-determined compound sounds with known sound sources, limited differences in location are allowed between the newly-determined compound sound and a candidate matching sound source the location of which is taken to be that of a previous compound sound associated with the sound source; said limited differences in location serving to allow for movement of the sound source in the audio field.
8. A method according to claim 4, wherein in step (c) at least one sound source inferred as present in step (b) is visually indicated by a visual element representative of the type of sound source.
9. A method according to claim 8, wherein in the course of a sound passage represented by the left and right audio channel signals, step (b) is carried out repeatedly or on an on-going basis with sound sources inferred as present at any stage continuing to be visually represented in step (c) even after the corresponding compound sounds are no longer detected.
10. A method according to claim 9, wherein the visual representation of a said sound source is varied according to whether or not a compound sound corresponding to the sound source has been recently detected.
11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the depth location of a said sound source in the audio field is determined in dependence on the loudness of this sound source, the determined depth location being reflected in the displayed visual indication of the sound source.
12. A method according to claim 4, wherein the height location of a said sound source in the audio field is determined in dependence on the variation with frequency of the relative amplitudes of different harmonic components of the compound sound associated with the sound source as compared with the variation expected for the type of the sound source, the determined height location being reflected in the displayed visual indication of the sound source.
13. A method according to claim 1, wherein in step (c) visual indications are displayed for only those sound sources located within a portion of said audio field, the position of this portion within the audio field being selectable by the user.
a display processing arrangement for causing the display, on a display connected thereto, of a visual indication of at least one sound source inferred by the source-determination arrangement such that the position at which this indication is displayed, is indicative of the azimuth location of the at least one sound source.
15. Apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the source-determination arrangement is arranged to record each component by the correlation arrangement as representing an elemental sound located in azimuth in said audio field at a position determined by the relative amplitude of the left and right channel components and/or their timing offset relative to each other.
16. Apparatus according to claim 15, wherein source-determination arrangement is arranged to associate, into a compound sound, elemental sounds that have the same azimuth location, the same general amplitude variation profile and are harmonically related.
17. Apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the source-determination arrangement is arranged to use the or each compound sound to infer the presence of a corresponding sound source with the type of that sound source being determined according to the harmonic profile and/or amplitude variation profile of the compound sound concerned.
18. Apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the correlation arrangement and source-determination arrangement are arranged such that, in the course of a sound passage represented by the left and right audio channel signals, they carry out their respective functions repeatedly with the elemental and compound sounds being newly determined at each repetition but sound sources inferred as present during any repetition being remembered by the source-determination arrangement across at least one subsequent repetition.
19. Apparatus according to claim 17, the correlation arrangement and source-determination arrangement are arranged such that, in the course of a sound passage represented by the left and right audio channel signals, they carry out their respective functions repeatedly or on an on-going basis, the source-determination arrangement being further arranged to remember sound sources inferred as present at any stage and to seek to match newly-determined compound sounds with known sound sources and only infer the presence of a new sound source if no such match is possible.
20. Apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the source-determination arrangement is arranged to permit, in seeking to match newly-determined compound sounds with known sound sources, limited differences in location between the newly-determined compound sound and a candidate matching sound source the location of which is taken to be that of a previous compound sound associated with the sound source.
21. Apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the display processing arrangement is arranged to cause at least one sound source inferred as present by the source-determination arrangement to be visually indicated on said display by a visual element representative of the type of sound source.
22. Apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the correlation arrangement and source-determination arrangement are arranged such that, in the course of a sound passage represented by the left and right audio channel signals, they carry out their respective functions repeatedly or on an on-going basis, the display processing arrangement being arranged to cause sound sources inferred as present at any stage to continue to be visually indicated on said display even after the corresponding compound sounds are no longer detected.
23. Apparatus according to claim 22, wherein the display processing arrangement is arranged to cause the visual representation of a said sound source to be varied according to whether or not a compound sound corresponding to the sound source has been recently detected.
24. Apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the source-determination arrangement is further arranged to determine the depth location of a said sound source in the audio field in dependence on the loudness of this sound source, the display processing arrangement being arranged to cause the determined depth location to be reflected in the displayed visual indication of the sound source.
25. Apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the source-determination arrangement is further arranged to determine the height location of a said sound source in the audio field in dependence on the variation with frequency of the relative amplitudes of different harmonic components of the compound sound associated with the sound source as compared with the variation expected for the type of the sound source, the display processing arrangement being arranged to cause the determined depth location to be reflected in the displayed visual indication of the sound source.
26. Apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the display processing arrangement is arranged to cause visual indications to be displayed for only those sound sources located within a portion of said audio field, the display processing arrangement including a user-controllable input device for selecting the position of this portion within the audio field.
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Kashino, Kunio, et al., "Sound Source Identification for Ensemble Music Based on Music Stream Networks," Journal of Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence, vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 962-970 (Nov. 1998). | 2019-04-21T04:33:23Z | https://patents.google.com/patent/US7327848B2/en |
This week the river Seine in Paris is rising and flooding very dramatically. . .perhaps an antidote to the “drought” in the title of my newest book. . .or merely a very stark reminder of the world that engulfs us, in its drama and in its harsh beauty, yet and still.
From a recent journey to Naples, in Italy. . .I stood beside a sculpture by the South African artist, William Kentridge titled Il Cavalieri di Toledo, a reference to the colonialism of the Spanish invasion of Naples. . .But it made me think as well of Quixote and his fierce spirit as he traveled on his broken down steed. . .and the battling of the windmills, and how that is also a part of the poet’s life. Fighting the realities and the illusions, to stay alive, and to keep writing.
The upstairs room at Shakespeare and Company where I love to hide away and write.
Reading one of my own poems in my window facing the courtyard.
On a long train trip in India. I wrote for hours and hours on that train.
My writing desk in Paris.
My crowded writing desk at dawn by candlelight.
What is your most recent writing project or what is a piece you’ve had published recently?
My most recent book was published by Glass Lyre Press in September 2017: Before the Drought.
What’s your favorite thing someone else has said about your writing?
It’s been a very good year for wonderful things said. I’m grateful for all of these comments.
What is one craft or writing book you love?
I love to recommend this one: Writing For Your Life by Deena Metzger.
Who is one other writer you’re excited about right now?
Quintan Ana Wikswo. I’ve just recently discovered her. Her writing and photography are brilliant. We have recently interviewed one another [at Full Stop].
What’s the worst piece of writing advice you’ve ever gotten? What’s the best?
Worst: An editor who had signed a contract with me for a poetic novel then said I should cut the book by 50% and remove all of the philosophoical and meditative sections.
Result: I broke the contract.
Best: A poet (Faye Kicknowsway) once inscribed her book to me with these words: “The words sing all the time. Break open their disguises.” I’ve treasured that advice ever since.
Do you have a dedicated work space? Do you write in your home or do you prefer to write elsewhere? Can you write while traveling?
What are some of your writing habits?
I’m really not a creature of habit, but I do aim to write every day. At least in my spirit. It may be by candlelight with my first coffee (Light comes late in winter time where I live, and the candle helps me to believe in the light.) But it may also come while I am walking and stop to fill a notebook page.
I also am rather dyslexic, so often my work begins with lines that I think are the start. . .and realize eventually that they are to be the ending. For me it’s a matter of trusting process rather than habit. And also, being willing to begin again and again and again, and not to be frightened of the silent times, the empty times, because there are such times for me. But I trust that the words can and do return. Also, I have two creative modes; I’m also a photographer. So times when words desert me, I open my eyes to images and allow them—to speak to me, and for for me.
When you are sitting down to write, what is the first thing you do?
I need to get silent. I try sometimes to listen for my own heartbeat.
When in your life have you felt your work/life balance to be most in sync? When in your life have you felt the most out of sync?
I used to tell myself that I could write best when I was happy, whatever that means. (Happy.) But I know that to be an illusion. Both the notion that I write best when I’m at peace and content, and the notion that I can possibly control when such a time is, or will come. The truth is that much of my best work has come out of my inner sense of being lost, or too alone, or feeling that I had to speak out or choke, or when the need and hope of being a voice in my time makes any other thought seem selfish, and I just allow. Also, as I have matured as a human, I deceive myself less as to what I need to write—and I just do the work.
What are the most pressing demands for your time, energy, labor (including emotional labor)? What has worked best for you in terms of balancing those demands with writing?
When a book is published, I feel overwhelmed by the demands to do the dog and pony show for it, and the need to work for “it.” To get the word out for it. To help with publicizing it. To query. Too often, to plead for notice for the book. Something I don’t enjoy, to be honest, but the reality of publishing is that the poet must collaborate with her press in this, or the book will not reach the readers she and it most desire. Because once published, the book is a living thing and I feel I owe it my best shots. When I am in this mode, I find it nearly impossible to write new works. I surrender to this, but the emotional price is huge.
What are the ideal conditions for your creativity?
A small whisper somewhere inside that says “trust yourself. . .it will come.” And then, patience. Enormous patience and a humility that comes from having written well, sometimes, and having written pages that only deserve to be burned. . .but knowing that I have found my way in the dark before, and I will again. I don’t know where such faith comes from. But I have known it, and known it to disappear, and known it to return. So I must call it a faith in my own faith.
Do you have any writing rituals? Or any non-writing rituals that feed your writing life?
A very old friend, the science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon used to speak of the need for a writer to spend “window time.” I understood that he meant allowing oneself to stare into space, to stare out the windows. For me, sometimes I stare into the dawn—and wait for the light. And sometimes I need to sit very quietly in the dark. And allow. And wait.
What self-care practices do you have and what, if any, routines do you have surrounding them? How does self-care relate to your writing life?
Long showers. Making good coffee. Long walks. Forests. Making love.
When I would go on walks at my last place of employment, I often passed this garden. I called this my Alice Walker Garden.
Victor LaValle describing one of my characters as petty will remain with me for a long time, if not forever.
I’m going to give you three.
I've found some good guidance in Jewell Parker Rhodes’ Free Within Ourselves: Fiction Lessons For Black Authors and Stacey D’Erasmo’s Art of Intimacy. Rhodes’ book is a fundamentals book that I’ve learned a lot of craft language from. It also places writing within the context of living a life so it’s motivational in that way. D’Erasmo’s book is more like a philosophical exploration of how writers write intimacy. As someone who often writes familial relationships, it’s helpful to see the tropes we get caught up in.
I'm reading Dionne Brand and Edward P. Jones right now. Writers who I've previously read and excite me in different ways. I'm enjoying the experience of reading A Map to the Door of No Return and All Aunt Hagar’s Children at the same time because I can carry one idea from one book and try to explore it in the other. For instance. they are both working with ideas around how black people carry history with them but Edward P Jones’ style really gets into the everydayness of life so it’s especially interesting to consider how one carries history at this very intimate level.
I don't know if I've received very bad writing advice. I think everything produces a learning experience. I will say a recurring conversation that turns me off is the idea that fiction writers give a lot of time to projects and that investment doesn’t guarantee anything (read: publication, especially with fanfare). I understand it but it's discouraging. I think if we really pay attention to the process, we see there are all sorts of nourishment.
The best advice: read craft books.
Do you have a dedicated work space? Do you write in your home or do you prefer to write elsewhere?
I do write at home. It's not my favorite thing though, particularly because my home is very small: living space is dining space is sleeping space is study space, etc. It can feel cluttered and overwhelming. If I’m on a daytime writing schedule, I might go to the public library or, if I have money to spend, a coffee shop with good lighting.
I don't work on my writing projects daily but on writing days, I do set a time goal. So maybe two hours of writing or a combination of reading and writing over four consecutive hours. The exception is when I’m writing the first draft. I try to use momentum to get to the story's ending.
When I don’t have many daytime commitments, I write late at night and into the morning. I prefer dark and quiet, not just for writing but also for taking care of household things. It seems my body/mind wakes up around 9 p.m.
I almost always turn on Alice Coltrane. I always do a short breath focused meditation to shift out of whatever mindset I needed for my previous tasks and into one for writing.
How do you pay the bills/financially support yourself?
I have no income right now so my savings account plus familial support plus social services like Medicaid and the public library system are my support.
I think my life is my work so it’s really hard to balance resting/taking care of myself/enjoying life with doing my work. I do a lot of unpaid work (programming art events and discussions). I love the work but I’m on a hiatus because I wasn’t balancing things well but also because I think a retreat or hibernation phase of making is necessary. I don’t want to be producing just to keep up with some arbitrary standard or because it feels like everyone else is producing.
Maintaining my household, my wellbeing, my relationships with family and friends, and being present in community (especially for the sake of my work) are all demanding. I have a personality that swings from being overwhelmed to being exhausted by (too many) people. I’m over 30 and managing a chronic illness that causes fatigue. I play around a lot less with my time. It’s my main resource. It’s a practice to not give it away to just anything or anyone. In the same way, I set goals for how much time I give my writing, I set up plans for these other demands. Like, I’m going to invest some time in this particular relationship or I’m going to these three events this month, or I’m going to clean for 15 minutes, and I’m going to be okay with staying at home, resting and not working.
I think we all know the ways solitude is necessary for artmaking. What’s been interesting is how community has been critical for my creativity. It’s fairly easy to generate ideas but it’s easy to feel stuck when too isolated. I’ve had breakthroughs during workshop, while talking with other writers, and while listening to artists talk about their work.
I think having a meditation practice has helped many aspects of my life and since everything is interconnected, my writing practice has benefited from me having healthier relationships, improved self-esteem, etc.
My self-care practices include: journaling, detaching from my digital attachments, walking, meditating, and asking my body what it needs (and getting answer like: to pee, to eat some greens or some root veggies, etc.).
I hope that my writing, as I do with all of my work, contributes to resisting the dominant culture (white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism). What I’ve learned is this isn’t possible without some self-care and self-actualization. bell hooks’ Sisters of the Yam is one of my favorite reference materials for this but also the older women I’ve met who do community work or political organizing. Like witnessing the ways these women live their values and care for themselves and other people was critical in my transition to adulthood.
Nina N. Yeboah was born to Ghanaian parents in Alexandria, Louisiana and raised in Stone Mountain, GA. She is a reader, prose writer, and cultural worker. She was the 2016 Voices Rising Fellow at Vermont Studio Center, a 2016-2017 FIELD/WORK resident at the Chicago Artists Coalition and is an alum of the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop and the Hurston/Wright Writers Week. In 2017, she was a finalist for the Guild Literary Complex Leon Forrest Prose Awards in the category of nonfiction.
Research books on the study desk.
Writing in local coffee shop.
Typewriter and painting my father bought because it reminded him of me always hidden behind a book.
What is your most recent writing project, or what is a piece you’ve had published recently?
My third collection of poems, Sometimes We’re All Living in a Foreign Country, came out with Carnegie Mellon University Press in October of 2017.
These were inspiring words from a poet who I so deeply respect and admire, and they also meant so much to me at a time when I hadn’t yet had a book accepted and when I was having trouble believing that someday I would. Hacker’s words were the encouragement I needed then, and I turn to them now when I’m feeling discouraged about making this particular project about my family history the book I dream it can be.
I love Mary Ruefle’s Madness, Rack, and Honey, and also another one of my favorites for teaching graduate students is Natasha Sajé’s wonderful Windows and Doors from the University of Michigan Press’s Poets on Poetry Series.
There are so many, so I will focus on a poet whose book I’m looking forward to: I loved Sally Wen Mao’s Mad Honey Symposium, and I can’t wait to see what her new book from Graywolf will be like next year.
The worst: Being told I was too young to write about what I was writing about. My students, no matter where I teach, always remind me that young writers can amaze and surprise you. I try to never restrict what they can write about.
We just moved, last summer, into the downstairs apartment of an old house, and I’ve built a nice little writing spot in the corner of the dining room. When I was living in Mississippi, I came across a wooden desk that had been in the old Tennessee House of Representatives. I now have it tucked under a window next to some weird built-in bookshelves that block an old doorway out of the dining room. The upstairs neighbor’s stairwell is on the other side of the shelves, and his beautiful aging golden retriever sleeps on the steps and snores all day. It is soothing and hilarious to hear her snoring on the other side of the shelves while I’m writing.
The truth is, I am used to writing poems outside of the house because for most of my writing life I was only able to afford a tiny studio apartment or a room in a house and so I have always sought out clear and quiet places to work. My past favorite writing spots have included The Writers’ Room of Boston, where I was lucky enough to have two fellowships; a tiny white windowless carrel I rented for fifty bucks a semester at the University of Southern Mississippi’s library; and the beautiful reading room at Harvard’s main library. And many a coffee shop! I’m still searching for my next spot.
Academic jobs: For the last two years I was the Jacob Ziskind Poet-in-Residence at Brandeis University, and in the spring semester of 2019, I’ll be the Distinguished Visiting Writer at Bowling Green State University.
I often read through other recent drafts of new poems and begin to fiddle with them and then I either get lost in the revision or move on to starting something new.
What are the most pressing demands for your time, energy, labor (including emotional labor)?
One of the most pressing demands outside of my academic jobs has always been my literary magazine, Memorious.org, which I’ve been running, and selecting all of the poetry for, for nearly fifteen years since I co-founded it in 2004; it keeps me busy. (I also handle all of our social media, which is time consuming!) And being a good citizen and support person to fellow writers–-whether friends or students or former classmates or whoever else gets sent my way–-can take a lot of my time and energy. But one thing I know: we writers need one another.
I love residencies. I love having a space that is only for writing, and I get so much inspiration from the conversations with artists and composers and writers that residency communities offer. My last book, The Spokes of Venus, was born in part from those conversations. But having a space that’s just for writing, whether a space of my own or a really wonderful library to work in, does the trick as well.
This question makes me want to create some elaborate writing rituals! Someday, when I have the time.
Rebecca Morgan Frank is the author of three collections of poetry: Sometimes We’re All Living in a Foreign Country (Carnegie Mellon 2017); The Spokes of Venus (Carnegie Mellon 2016); and Little Murders Everywhere, shortlisted for the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. Her poems have appeared such places as the New Yorker, American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, Guernica, and the Harvard Review. She is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the online literary magazine Memorious.org. In Spring 2019 she will be the Distinguished Visiting Writer at Bowling Green State University.
The typical state of my desk, and representation of how external environment mirrors internal environment.
Plants at varying stages of decay (representative of recent emotional turbulence).
My book, Bridled, was published by Pleiades Press in February 2018.
Maybe nontraditional, but I love Ways of Seeing by John Berger.
Jenny Xie’s book, Eye Level published by Graywolf Press in April 2018 and Ben Purkert’s For the Love of Endings, published in March 2018 by Four Way Books.
During my MFA I went to a professor who almost exclusively wrote formal poetry. I wanted to have a gritty discussion with him about the craft of formal poetry. Instead of engaging me in discussion, he told me students should generally avoid writing formal poetry because it had to be much better quality than free verse or experimental poetry and was more difficult overall. I ultimately never shared any poetry with this instructor.
I think my problem is less with space than with time. Though I generally need to be somewhere other than my room to write, (I particularly recommend Paragraph: Workspace for Writers for NYC/Brooklyn writers) it doesn’t matter where I am if I haven’t done a good job setting aside time for writing. I need to schedule realistic amounts of time (e.g. not 8pm on Friday nights after a quick happy hour). I like to write at Paragraph for a few hours immediately after my 9 to 5 when I can.
I have no habits. I would benefit from habits. I write in little spurts and then don’t write for months — sometimes over a year—at a time. To be fair, I do nest-build during that time: I keep notes in my phone of ideas, lines, or images that come to me.
I turn on my computer. I almost always write on my laptop and feel great about it.
I divested from writing as a career, partly because I have a lot of financial anxiety and partly because writing while working in any career that depended on the goodwill of the literary community seemed like an enormous conflict of interest. Now, I work as a Project Manager at an education technology startup.
I’m bad at transitions. When I first begin a job, a relationship, a move, I take months and months to settle into a new routine. I’m bad at imposing structure and habit on my personal life, so when new elements are introduced I flounder indefinitely until I’ve broken enough things that I begin to triage my life and impose structure. That’s usually when I re-balance my work/life.
I divide most of my time between my 9 to 5 work, romantic relationship, and guilt. I think it’s useful to define what I want each of these relationships to look like: How important is work to me? What kind of relationship do I want with my partner? What else do I miss the most? Once I gain clarity on these boundaries, it’s much easier to know how to prioritize and say no to certain things. My therapist says guilt is usually an unhelpful tax I exact from myself, so I try to listen to her.
I like sound that I don’t have to listen to. Playing one song on repeat, or instrumental music (I like Max Richter), or noisli.com is great. Dim lighting and small spaces also help—basically whatever conditions are ideal for a snail are my ideal writing conditions. I also really like the Pomodoro technique and just purchased my second paid app ever: Forest. It’s an app that plants little digital trees whenever you go a stretch of time without breaking focus (with bonus of using your credits to plant real trees).
No, but I’m trying to develop this—I want to train myself to start writing whenever I hear smell burning sandalwood or something.
Self-care (or the lack of it) is a huge part of my writing life. When I’m in poor emotional or mental health, I don’t write. Usually when I stop writing it’s the first red flag that I’m about to drop into a depressive spiral. I’m looking into medication that’s compatible with existing meds I take for a chronic pain condition, but so far I don’t have a way to guarantee that I will be consistently well-adjusted and capable of writing / doing laundry / answering my emails on time.
Amy Meng holds degrees from Rutgers University and New York University. She is the author of Bridled (Pleiades Press, 2018) and a Kundiman Fellow. Her poetry has appeared in publications including: Gulf Coast, Indiana Review, New England Review, and Narrative Magazine. She currently lives in Brooklyn.
What is your most recent writing project, or, what is a piece you’ve had published recently?
Recently, the Nashwaak Review published a nonfiction story I wrote about my short stay in Wadi Rum, Jordan’s desert. Mostly I write fiction now, so this piece was unusual from that perspective but also because I travel a lot and almost never write about my trips for publication. And my first novella, The Finest Supermarket in Kabul, was launched January 31, 2018.
I always have writing projects on the go! My current list includes research for my next book, a novel with parallel narratives about a family separated in Germany’s WWII; a short story about a film camera in three distinct time periods, and another one set in Toronto’s art scene in the 1980s.
A good friend messaged me this comment: Holy f**k! I’m only on page 30 and I’m in love with your writing. . . sweet and human as well as smart and to-the-point!
At the moment, I’m reading Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. A few friends recommended it as a good writing tool. While it’s not exactly that, it is an amazing vote of confidence and pick-me-up for artists doubting the success or viability of their work in the public realm. I skirted Eat, Pray, Love after flipping through the first few chapters, but this book is lovely in its informality and enthusiasm for just putting it out there--like talking to a good friend or partner when belief in a new or on-going project is waning or dead. I’m about to get into two technical books, The Art of Description: World into Word and The Emotion Thesaurus.
I came across Lydia Davis when reading a New York Times article and loved Can’t and Won’t. I think micro stories don't get the love they deserve. I write flash fiction for an annual chapbook my writing group puts together, so I know how hard it is to “write short.” In fact, the shorter the story, the more difficult it is to satisfyingly cover all plot points. My blog stories are modeled after this style.
The worst piece of writing advice I ever received was to turn a short story with an experimental introduction into a screenplay. Instead, I standardized the first paragraph and liberally edited until I was happy with my narrative. The best advice was for characters to use all their senses when describing surroundings. Now when I write, I make a note: ‘see; smell; hear; touch; taste’ and lay it beside my laptop as a reminder for my characters to engage all or as many senses as possible.
No dedicated work space, I write mostly from my couch. There is a desk in my house, but my partner claimed dibs as soon as we bought it. And it’s become a mini man-cave covered in his film photography stuff. But that’s okay since writing is something I do at night and I prefer to be comfortable when being creative.
Other than short blog posts, I’ve found it impossible to produce substantive writing while on the road anywhere.
My biggest need while writing is WiFi because I like to see what a character or narrator is describing so it can be as accurate as possible. I google all kinds of images and flip back and forth as I’m writing.
I tend to write in the evenings, and sometimes on weekend afternoons. I would love to write every day, but it’s tricky with a full-time job and other time-consuming obligations. A friend wisely told me not to wait for inspiration to write, but to treat writing like any other job or task. I’m doing that more and more now and find I can write quick snippets here and there that will be ironed out in the editing anyway.
When you are sitting down to write what is the first thing you do?
Craft a title I like. Arguably this can take a while, and will often change as the story unfolds. But I can't write without one.
Before I became an author, I found an awesome partner (for that story see Single and dating in my 40s: It's no fairytale) and we both have full-time jobs. I also teach a college course, which is great because it means that money is plentiful. Yet, as I gain more writing successes, I’m craving more writing time even though I’m not ready to reinvent my work choices.
When I left my international development career and moved home to Toronto, I didn’t have a job. As I was exploring options, I joined Moosemeat Writing Group to feed my artistic side, but also to meet new people. Success on both counts and for the next few years there was more writing/life than work, which while stressful, but also gave me space to write the beginning chapters of The Finest Supermarket in Kabul. To transition to a new career, I opted to go back to school for a masters. During this year there was more work than writing/life and my manuscript did not get much love. I started working full-time directly afterwards and picked my draft back up once I’d settled in. Now I’m well balanced, although I do sometimes contemplate setting the alarm for 5 a.m. so I can increase my writing time. Mind you, that doesn’t work well since I'm not a morning person.
I find my most pressing demands are connected to activities I’m involved in beyond writing and work--I curl twice a week and help organize teams; I’m president of my condo board; I have a standing trivia game with friends; and I teach a course at a local college. More than a full plate. To get in some writing (beyond the highly unlikely 5 a.m. start), I give myself small word goals and focus on finishing scenes.
Ideal conditions for creativity are coffee, an image of the scene I’m creating, silence and perhaps a view outside of weather conditions that make me want to stay indoors.
I know an 85-year-old with boy trouble.
Nothing good ever starts with please.
No crazy people bothered me today because they think I’m one of them.
One very specific self-care practice is running, either at the gym or in High Park near my condo. I’ve always enjoyed the exhilaration of a good run, but will also use this time to work through sticky plot points. Sometimes I’ve found myself writing and quickly changing gears to head out for a run if I’m stuck in a story.
For more than a decade, Ele Paweleski has managed human rights projects in Kabul, Afghanistan and other danger-pay-locales. Now living in urban Toronto with her husband, she is always planning for her next travel adventure. Her stories have appeared in magazines, journals and newspapers. The Finest Supermarket in Kabul is her first novella.
My first book, California Calling: A Self-Interrogation, (Hawthorne Books) released on March 1, 2018.
Everything about writing a book is hard, but getting book blurbs was, for me, particularly fraught. When it came time to ask authors I admired and had learned from, my imposter syndrome kicked in. Like, who am I to ask for their time and attention, let alone their support? But you have to proceed. I was honored to get wonderful, perceptive blurbs, and it turned out that these were also some of the first outsiders (people beyond my inner circle) who saw my book. So their responses to it were hugely validating. In particular, a writer I have been in awe of for a long time, Abigail Thomas, said, “The delicate architecture of this book is stunning, and the originality of Ms. Singer’s voice and mind is as exciting as anything I’ve read in years.” Abigail’s memoir Safekeeping was literally by my side the entire time I worked on my book. Her formal tactics—telescoping point of view, breaking traditional prose rules, flip-flopping tenses, fragmented language that glints with awareness—have enabled me to push boundaries in my own work.
I can tell you a writer whose work I am most anticipating now (and always am): poet and essayist Lia Purpura. When I first read two of Lia’s essay collections—On Looking (2006) and Rough Likeness (2012), I felt the ground shift under me. Lia shows with her craft what is possible with the form. Her short, poetic vignettes thrum like self-contained worlds unto themselves. You read a Lia essay and time decelerates; it’s the literary version of a meditation. I haven’t ever met Lia but I’m kind of like a shameless teenage fangirl. She has a new essay collection, All the Fierce Tethers (Sarabande Books), coming out in early 2019, and I can’t wait for it.
Worst: Never start a sentence with ‘and.’ Never write fragments. Never use clichés (I feel like you get a once-every-five-years cliché allotment, but you’d better know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it). Best: My friend Theo Nestor, a writing teacher and author of the memoir-and-how-to book Writing Is My Drink, once talked to a writing class I took about special clubs. She said that we’re all members of certain special clubs—we all have inside knowledge of certain worlds, spaces, groups, and experiences. She told us, they’re all important—write about those. At the time, this gave me the confidence that I did in fact have the authority to write about some things.
I can write anywhere—this is a mother skill developed out of necessity—but as I’ve gotten older it’s gotten harder to get focus unless I’m in the right space (or maybe this is just procrastination!). I just recently created an office, which is really a third of a guest room and which I’m calling my writing cabin—that feels aspirational and Pinterest-y to me, which is strangely and sort of embarrassingly exciting. I painted the corner a foresty teal, put my desk in front of a window, and filled the space with items that are important to me and books that I feel I am in an ongoing conversation with. Before that, for the past eight years or so, I wrote everywhere—coffee shops, soccer practices, my bed, the car, the bathtub. When I finally made the writing cabin, I kept wandering into the space repeating the words, “I can’t believe I didn’t do this before,” over and over again. The cabin definitely makes me want to write.
I also find I’m very productive when I travel to write. A few times a year I do a writing retreat—either a getaway with writer friends or a writing conference out of town. The act of carving out a block of days just for writing really energizes me and is very freeing.
I’m not going to answer this because I feel like I should have a much more respectable, structured set of habits and, well. . .
I currently work as a managing editor for a corporate client; before that I was the managing editor of a magazine. On the upside, I have financial security and get to use some of my creative skills and journalism background in interesting ways. On the downside, it’s tricky to splice time and mental energy and to make sure I continue to push my art forward.
Ironically, I feel the most “balanced”—which for me means stimulated and engaged, but not necessarily at ease—when I am juggling the most. I entered an MFA program late, at 37. I went to night classes, worked on a thesis, parented my two young daughters, and worked full time at my day job. I was exhausted, but, creatively, it was one of the most fruitful periods of my life and I felt incredibly alert to the possibilities around my own art. I am still coasting off that energy.
My need to write and my commitment to my family are in constant tension. It’s not a negative tension, though it can sometimes cause frustration. For me, the more something becomes difficult to reach, the more I want it. And so when the demands of mothering cut into the space I want for writing, instead of allowing that tension to prevent me from creating, I try to use it to feed my work. Aside from my crazy MFA years, the other most productive period for me creatively was immediately after I gave birth, especially to my first daughter. Time for myself became the rarest currency, and so I learned to hustle for it like I had never hustled before. I wrote poems while my daughters breastfed endlessly; I plotted out stories at 3 a.m. when my hyper-aware mother clock wouldn’t allow me to sleep; later, I scribbled a sentence or two as a toddler struggled to pull on a rain boot. Time opened up in cracks, and I filled them. With motherhood, writer’s block evaporated—it’s a luxury I don’t have. Still, sometimes my own creative work loses out. Even now as I try to answer these questions with intelligent-seeming answers, there’s a 12-year-old repeatedly asking if I will watch her PowerPoint presentation on the güiña cat.
Not being asked to watch presentations on the güiña cat.
I’m not sure if it’s a ritual, but I’m a perpetual notetaker. I don’t journal, because I tend to recoil from rules and regulations, and the imperative to fill out your journal every day scares me. But I take a lot of notes, about questions that bother me, about obsessions that haunt me, about things I read and ideas I have for essays or stories.
I’m trying to become better about self-care now that I’m out of the fog of mothering very young children—there were years when I virtually ignored myself (mothers will understand this). I have a hard time clearing my mind, but I go to yoga and try to just be still a few times a week. Intellectually I know this is important for my health and because it brings new ideas into my awareness; emotionally, it’s hard because being alone with myself makes me feel lonely. My new commitment is to use nice face oil and try to get regular facials. How does that help my writing? I don’t know, but it seems important.
Natalie Singer is the author of the memoir California Calling: A Self-Interrogation (Hawthorne Books, March 2018). Her writing has been published or is forthcoming in journals, magazines, and newspapers including Proximity, Literary Mama, the Washington Post, the Seattle Times, ParentMap, Alligator Juniper, Brain, Child and Full Grown People. She has taught writing inside Washington State’s psychiatric facility for youth and Seattle’s juvenile detention center, and she has worked as a reporter at newspapers around the West. Natalie earned her MFA in Creative Writing and Poetics from the University of Washington. Originally from Montreal, she lives in Seattle. | 2019-04-22T01:03:32Z | https://www.habitandspace.com/ |
It’s very encouraging that the AFL–CIO (see “Workers Mobilizing to Get Fair Play for Music Artists“), the leading council of trade unions in America, has come out foursquare behind their members in the creative unions twice in the last 6 weeks or so. First, there was a resounding defense of the AFTRA–DGA–IATSE-SAG anti-theft position paper in the net neutrality hearings (as well as several other major unions who filed comments such as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers). These unions were also in line with the Songwriters Guild of America that had been the lone voice opposing the loopholes in the “net neutrality” stalking horse that would permit rampant stealing to continue.
But yesterday the AFL–CIO backed the professional creators in the quest for a performance right for sound recordings in the United States, and idea whose time has definitely come (and is about 30 years overdue if you ask me). Bear in mind, practically every other country in the world has a performance right for recording artists, vocalists and musicians when their recording is played on the air (including producers in some countries). Currently–these artists get zero. The purpose of the Performance Rights Act is to create an easy to use and easy to pay license for the recordings–bearing in mind that broadcasters already pay for the songs. The sound recording is just the flip side of the same accounting and tracking that is already being done. In fact, for larger stations, the typical software packages that the big stations use to track their playlists already accounts for the sound recording in a different part of the data.
We definitely welcome the support of the AFL–CIO and the Obama administration in taking an aggressive posture to support professional creators, not to mention the domestic political clout of trade unions. We need all the help we can get to fight the hundreds of millions that Google alone spends in trying to undermine our rights and our business (Michael Geist notwithstanding).
And PS for those from Mollywood: No reason why you would know this, but “unions” are like these like people who come together to do like “collective bargaining” and they don’t take their pay in free food. In Mollywood, “collective bargaining” is venture capitalists setting a valuation, but in the United States, it’s a process that’s protected by the First Amendment of like the Constitution and stuff! OMG! And also by the National Labor Relations Act! It’s like the law, dude! And it’s not code! They also like negotiate working conditions and stuff, so don’t mention it to the code monkey in the next cubicle who you found laying on the floor naked in a pile of Ring Ding wrappers and Snapple bottles chanting “Lessig is God” or Eric might take back his options.
Geist goes after Canadian labels group for "access"
Yet another example of two-timing by Michael Geist (aka “he who shall not be named,” according to a prominent Canadian artist). (Geist is advisor to the U.S.-backed Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, the Alcan of IP with its almost 100% American board). Geist, the non-lobbyist beneficiary of tens of thousands of public dollars in “consulting” contracts from Industry Canada (not to mention the receiving over $1 million in funding for his academic seat and projects from Industry Canada and other government bureaucracies–most charged with developing copyright laws for Canada), is criticizing the Canadian label trade association for too many meetings. And how do the people know how many meetings were had? Because the trade association is a registered lobbyist and has to disclose the meetings publicly.
Either Geist, or his minders at Industry Canada, seem very interested in what is being said to Heritage Minister James Moore. Two thoughts: Before Geist whines about a lack of transparency in others, he should clean his own house. I can’t believe that he could have obtained as much money and benefit from Industry Canada as he has without having many, many, many contacts of his own. And presumably he was talking about policy. But we don’t know what he said in these discussions. And the “we” in that sentence includes “we” in the global creative community because Geist is daily becoming less of Lessig’s understudy and is taking more of a lead in policies that affect our business.
And I’m so sure that he paid his own way to testify in Europe and New Zealand with no reimbursements. I’m so sure.
“Lizard People Drop ACTA Draft from Black Helicopter” says Andrew Orlowski in The Register, in a factually correct but hysterical send-up of the level of paranoia and vitriol that was whipped up into a hate smoothie by the anti-artist NGOs and their fellow travelers. Sensing their grip on WIPO was slipping, the “let artists eat cake” crowd spurred their pale nags out to the front of what we believe was a rather sparse parade. A parade that was likely financed by those who favor the weakest copyright enforcement regime they can get, and what they can’t weaken in the law they will weaken in enforcement.
I actually had a breathless young IP student come up to me after a panel to enquire about my views on “the hated ACTA” that was being backed by “The Cartel” (obviously someone who reads certain blogs). I am ashamed to say that I could not resist.
She nodded knowingly. A neo-Baptist moment. I thought for a moment about whether I should tell her it’s a joke.
I think a survey of the literature would lead anyone fairly to agree that no one is more responsible for the recent ACTA paranoia and vitriol that works against the world’s artists than the very well funded Michael Geist (aka “he who shall not be named,” according to a prominent Canadian artist). (Geist is advisor to the U.S.-backed Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, the Alcan of IP with its almost 100% American board, and the paid consultant to Industry Canada under the many, many contracts that may—may—skirt the line on Canadian transparency laws and regulations for “untendered” payouts by government entities. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands that Industry Canada pays for his research chair.) Having cast himself in the play, he should expect to be reviewed.
But his recent obstructionist moves on ACTA have to be seen in the larger context of his role in blocking copyright reform in Canada that goes back years, and it is in this context and his recent ascendancy to the firmament of demigods of the global anti-artist movement that he must be examined. Lessig The Younger may not quite capture it, but it seems safe to guess that Geist is to certain of the Industry Canada bureaucrats what Lessig is to certain Google executives. A word to the wise—that’s not advice that is working out too well for Google.
As one of our biggest trading partners is gearing up for another attempt at bringing its copyright laws in line with the rest of the world, one can expect Geist to be taking a leading role in rallying the Cassandra chorus against professional creators and the working people who collaborate with them. His vocal opposition to ACTRA was just the prologue. The first act is yet to come. Double double, toil and trouble.
How did he know what was not in a bill that presumably was still being drafted and would not be introduced until the following June? And isn’t a draft bill subject to some kind of confidential treatment? It seems like it should be at least as confidential as the terms of an untendered contract.
“Prentice has simply decided”; “the talk in Ottawa”; “word is”; “why is Prentice throwing them in”; “Prentice hopes”; “have already been made”; “that did not exist in the delayed December bill”; “troubled by what is not in the bill”; “none of this will be in the bill”. This is not the language of guesswork, supposition or extrapolation.
It is very definite and precise.
It is the language of access.
Not only is it the language of access, it is language designed to confront. But is it designed to let Minister Prentice know that the source of his attack is Geist himself armed with inside information? Or is the attacker someone else? Someone speaking through a mouthpiece, but whose shadow is only seen on the wall of the cave?
Time will tell. Stay tuned.
The problem with high level leaks is that there are only so many people who can have had that inside knowledge and leaked it to Geist, or as one politician put it, who can coil in the tall grass and leak. Now we all know that the science of hardball realpolitik is in part the science of leakage. We are not naïve. But spewing from someone who beats the drum about transparency and then dutifully leaks that which he is told by one of the “dedicated group of likeminded people” who are Inside? Tisk, tisk, naughty, naughty schoolboy.
For what is going on here appears to be that someone in the government is leaking to an attention-starved academic who in turn is using that information to attack the government’s own Ministers, as well as trying to influence the electorate. Partly due to a desire to appear “in the know,” perhaps, or partly due to something else, perhaps something else far more tangible and mundane. Geist’s sophomoric “What Can You Do” post was mostly a list of whom in government his followers could write to about their views. Yes, literally about as sophisticated as “write your Member of Parliament.” Except that he offered a long list of people that his followers could write from the Prime Minister to their dog catcher, including some online “petitions”.
As we saw with the questionable practices that Industry Canada bureaucrats apparently did nothing to discourage in the most recent Canadian copyright consultations, this business of online letter writing is now being perfected into a rather bizarre exercise in mustering a ghostly army of secret “voters”.
Pretty stinky. (This kind of thing is jumping the gene pool–now it’s happening in the UK as well, see “Web Politics: The honeymoon is over“).
And I almost forgot—included in Geist’s “What Can You Do” list was an invitation to his followers to join Geist’s Fair Copyright Facebook group. What is amazing to me is that the fact that this group had a lot of “friends” was evidently viewed in some circles as evidence of some political influence. Yet any form of “protest” that involved mobilizing bodies by the Fair Copyright group was by any yardstick an abject failure.
So the point isn’t how people choose to express themselves politically (if these speakers really exist). All’s fair.
The point is spin. The point is bluff. The point is bootstrapping. It’s fair to ask how much weight should be attributed to various inputs from the electorate and whether having Facebook friends or online casual voting actually mean anything tangible on which policy should be based.
This is the point of the Obama administration’s recent cautionary memo and it’s the point of several posts on MTP (see below). It’s also common sense good government.
Now it would not surprise me if Geist, like most academics, thought himself intellectually superior to music industry types. But I promise you this—if any A&R at a record company came in all breathless about a band because the group had a bunch of Facebook friends but couldn’t draw a crowd at their local, they’d be laughed out of the music business. All the “impressions” in the world, all the “eyeballs” online don’t mean anything if there are no butts in seats. We live in RR—real reality—not AR—augmented reality. This is the oldest trick in the online playbook. Not to mention the fact that Canada’s privacy minister blasted Facebook for its privacy policies.
If you examine the literature of online political campaigning, you will see a sophisticated niche developing that is directed at the only thing that really means anything in political campaigns—on election day, can you get butts to the polls to vote for your candidate. Period. If you can’t do that, then your activities are weighted accordingly. As in not at all.
Now this is a very interesting criticism. The legitimacy of the “thousands of responses, the majority of which called on the government” to adopt the Geist agenda have been at a minimum found wanting and I think really have been shown to be a shoddy example of what Internet luminaries like Cass Sunstein of the Obama administration’s Office of Management and Budget have warned against.
Mr. Sunstein is clearly trying to establish best practices for the U.S. government to allow the government to benefit from the good of using the Internet to further legitimate policy making goals while avoiding the bad. Avoiding the bad includes a prohibition on basing policy decisions on the use of information that is or could be gamed in the formation of public policy by “a dedicated group of like-minded people”—inside or outside of the government. Several Canadian writers have discussed these issues at length, including the shoddy CCER form letters (as have MTP in Secret Ballots, Not Secret Voters, 100,000 Voters Who Don’t Exist, and A Dedicated Group of Likeminded People).
For the gaming can be played from outside—or inside—the government. I would submit to you that you are watching the process unfold before your eyes. Someone wrote a form letter to be used in the online submission process. That letter just coincidentally hit all of Geist’s criticisms of C-61 and then some. The CCER form letter not only could have been gamed, it was in fact gamed. I know because I gamed it.
As we have seen in the disclosed documents discussed in another post, Industry Canada bureaucrats clearly knew that the overwhelming majority of these form letters came from the same source—from CCER.
Pause there. The consultation had two key components for open public comment: live town halls and anonymous online submissions. The plan at Industry Canada seems to have been to have many more online submissions by God knows who than there were real live people show up at the town halls. Geist then could use those online submissions as the basis for claiming that a “majority” of Canadians favored his platform as expressed in the CCER letter. And when you read that quotation above “[T]he national copyright consultation…generated thousands of responses, the majority of which called on the government to abandon the C-61 approach….” did you think he was talking about Canadians? He doesn’t say that. He just says the “majority of” the thousands of responses.
If you read the CCER form letter that comprises the “majority of responses”, it is hard to believe that the drafter of that letter could just have coincidentally zeroed in on all of the issues important to Geist and that he plans on opposing if copyright reform legislation is introduced. The CCER (some of whose leaders apparently were among the first to join Geist’s new Facebook group for what that’s worth) just happened to have an articulate rendering of Geist’s principle beefs with past copyright reform legislation and that letter just happens to make up the “majority” of online responses. At the core of this bootstrapping seems to be the belief that the unelected academic somehow has superior legitimacy to the purportedly “unpure” elected representative—why, because Geist has more Facebook “friends”? No, the ministers are just blindly doing the bidding of the Yanks Under The Bed.
This is truly, truly cynical. Like Lessig the Elder, Lessig the Younger has yet to stand for office. The people he slags have. The voters have spoken on this score. They put “butts in seats” as we say in the music business. But Geist doesn’t focus much on the real people.
Just the ghostly army that Richard Owens demonstrates he tried to gin up.
It is simply Court etiquette.
There is an excellent opinion piece in Forbes by Ronald Cass, former dean of the Boston University law school. In Google’s Blind Side, he makes many good points about the unacknowledged liability exposure that Google has to the many copyright infringement cases pending against the company, and makes an overarching point that cuts against the Veoh case.
He also gives a very well-articulated explanation of why the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s interpretation of the DMCA (and that of many other Google apologists) is entirely wrong as a matter of law.
As we have said on MTP many times, Google has some serious exposure in the Viacom case and the often overlooked class action case which includes many plaintiffs who in theory could individually be entitled to damages equal to Viacom (such as the Premier League and the NMPA). A billion here and a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money, even for Google.
And that’s just YouTube. This, combined with the litigation (perhaps brought by the United States, France, Germany or New Zealand for starters) that is inevitably going to arise out of the stunningly ill-advised Google Books debacle, is enough to put a significant dent in Google’s stock price.
And remember–the Google founders went way, way out of their way on the very edges of corporate law in the go-go years of the Dot Bomb boom to make sure that they and only they would have ultimate control of Google. (Does anyone doubt that the SEC would probably never allow another Google-type IPO in the current environment?) With control comes responsibility–and liability. And it all points back guess where? The smartest guys in the room.
There may be some companies that are “too big to fail,” in the popular mantra, but Google is not one of them. Neither are the artists who they are systematically destroying.
None of this should come as a surprise given the long, long line of cases where Google apolotists Lessig, Nesson, the EFF et al have done a brilliant job of making the losing argument.
See also: How Many DMCA Notices Are Too Many?
See also: Veoh: Is Continuous Monitoring Really the Law?
See also: Google to EMI: Stop Me Before I Infringe Again!
One of the unexpected highlights of the FCC’s request for public comments on its proposed “net neutrality” regulations was the coming together of many trade unions in the US. The American Federation of Radio and Television Artists, the Directors Guild of America, the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees and the Screen Actors Guild all filed a joint comment, the Songwriters Guild of America filed their own and the American Federation of Musicians filed separately. Several unions outside the professional creative unions also filed comments, as did the American Association of Independent Music.
It was encouraging to see this outpouring of union support for the speech-related aspects of the proposed regulations but resounding rejection of any gamesmanship with the “nondiscrimination” rules applied to the fundamental discrimination–between legal and illegal activity. This nuanced view is sadly lacking in these public discussions.
The far-ranging opposition of unions to the piracy that is ravaging their members was capped off by a statement by the primary association of unions in America, the AFL–CIO. The AFL–CIO clearly supported their member unions and should put to rest forever (although I know it won’t) the claims of “big media” opposing “the little guy” in discussions of piracy. As anyone who is even remotely close to our business can tell you, it is the independent artist who aspires to become a professional who is hurt the most by the consumer electronics industry and their many apologists masquerading as “consumer advocates”.
“Music Supported Here is a new movement from the Musicians’ Union.
It’s a campaign for all musicians.
not get ripped-off in the digital world.
and to remind fans that you want to control your rights.
their own stores and websites: a source of music controlled by the musicians.
And for music fans it’s a way to say that you don’t rip-off musicians.
Controlled Compositions: 10 x 3/4, 5 on EP, 2 on Single, bumps to 87.5 and full at gold and platinum, full on digital and club, 3/4 of 3/4 on mid and budget, protection for 2 outside, rate fixed on delivery, no crossing, paid on royalty bearing, US and Canada.
What did you just agree?
You just agreed to the following maximum mechanical rates, all based on 75% of the minimum statutory rate in effect at the date that you deliver your recordings to your record company. Each cap is multiplied times the minimum statutory rate. The current minimum statutory rate is $0.091 so we will use that rate for the example. 75% of that rate is $0.06825.
If the equivalent of 2 songs are written or co-written with songwriters who do not accept the controlled compositions clause, then those songs will be treated as controlled for purposes of calculating the maximum mechanical rate.
These rates only apply in the US and Canada (but note that the CMRRA sets special terms benefiting songwriters for sales in Canada under controlled composition clauses).
Mechanical royalties cannot be cross-collateralized to recoup advances under the artist agreement against mechanical royalties, except in specific circumstances (the “Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse”): Unexcused overbudget, union penalties, overpayments and indemnity claims.
Mr. Sunstein—who some might call something of an Internet evangelist—is clearly trying to establish best practices for the U.S. government to allow the government to benefit from the good of using the Internet to further legitimate policy making goals while avoiding the bad. Avoiding the bad includes a prohibition on basing policy decisions on the use of information that is or could be gamed in the formation of public policy by “a dedicated group of like-minded people.”And the gaming can be done before or after the fact, and the “like-minded people” can be outside—or inside—the government.
It is not a very large leap to imagine a truly Orwellian world where the government finds that the public supports its policies because it uses information that its anonymized supporters intentionally game or are encouraged to game to produce the desired result. As we noted in Fair Copyright Canada and 100,000 Voters Who Don’t Exist , the legitimate desire by governments to use the Internet to engage with the governed is to be admired. But if the process is selectively managed by bureaucrats with an agenda, it is to be greeted with considerable caution if not outright suspicion.
Neither Mr. Sunstein nor we are alone in focusing on these important issues–as reported in the Toronto Globe and Mail, fortunately for everyone Canadian lawyer Richard Owens has done some excellent research on the results of the failures of bureaucrats at Industry Canada in the copyright consultations (see “Noises Heard: Canada’s Recent Online Consultation Process–Teachings and Cautions” published on the IPOsgoode intellectual property blog at the prestigious Osgoode Hall law school in Toronto and “Re-doing the Math” by Canadian novelist John Degan). Remember—the consultations are conducted for the purpose of the government receiving testimony from Canadians to be used in the formulation of public policy regarding Canadian intellectual property laws. The total breakdown that followed during the Canadian experience is a lesson to us all. My references to the teaching moment in Mr. Sunstein’s memorandum is not by way of saying that the U.S. approach is the better one, but rather as an illustration of how one government is seeking to both embrace the Internet and insulate itself from the Internet at the same time.
“While the results of our study revealed a sharp gender, age and Anglophone bias in the submissions, of particular concern is the apparent lack of verification of identity, uniqueness, age (voting or otherwise) or citizenship of those making the submissions. For instance, 70% of the total submissions were “form letters” originating from a single little-known group of modchip distributors – the Canadian Coalition for Electronic Rights (CCER) – that had its form letter extensively circulated internationally on BitTorrent related sites. As a result, it appears that many of the submissions were not even made by Canadians. Our study raises serious issues regarding the design and results of the public consultations, and of the need to ensure that future online consultations are better designed to properly represent the views and interests of the Canadian body politic….
Mr. Sunstein’s admonition fits nicely with Mr. Owens’ conclusions. However, neither of them have the benefit of many, many leaked documents relating to the uncritical acceptance by Industry Canada bureaucrats of the overwhelming number of CCER form letters received by Industry Canada outside of their normal process.
I confess that the first time I saw this CCER letter writing wizard it seemed deeply, deeply flawed. So flawed, in fact, that it was hard to imagine anyone gullible enough to fall for it. But leave that to one side for now.
I would start by pointing out that we submitted our own version of the corrupted CCER form letter, clearly pointing out that if the Ministers received our letter, they had been gamed. Apparently they did, because we received a form response back over Minster Clement’s name (as described in detail in Fair Copyright Canada and 100,000 Voters Who Don’t Exist) that confirmed his receipt of our letter through the CCER wizard—which clearly stated that we were submitting it to test whether the system was being gamed. It appears that Mr. Sunstein’s worst fears materialized.
The entire process is so seamlessly designed to produce a particular result, it raises a serious question of who thought of what when and whether the CCER letter was all part of the plan hatched by Industry Canada bureaucrats with their fellow travelers to game the consultation process.
Malota’s response? “Thanks!” Pip, pip, cheerio.
Wasn’t it the responsibility of the more senior to temper the enthusiasm of the junior? Perhaps not for the “dedicated group of like-minded individuals”. Or said another way (with sincere apologies to Bay Area residents with long memories)—they drank the Koolaide.
At that point the die was cast, and appears to be how policy was to be made—a prime example of Mr. Sunstein’s concerns. It seems obvious that those who could have stopped using the CCER letters not only did not, but seem to have at least tacitly agreed among themselves that lack of probative value of the ubiquitous CCER form letters was to be downplayed and used by Industry Canada to further its own agenda.
If there were any form letters that were not CCER, I saw no mention of it in this exchange. The only place that there seems to be any doubt that the form letters were from CCER is in the way that the information was shaped that would flow up the chain of command.
Informally? What does that mean, informally? Since when does a bureaucrat do anything “informally”—so there is no paper trail? And what exactly does the passive voice “if that’s the best way to communicate it” trail off to mean? If you decide that’s the best way?
“We”, that is, Industry Canada, are about to tweet the good news to the general public that a shadowy association of dubious legality has created a nearly untraceable form letter. So this would seem to mean that Industry Canada is actively promoting the use of the CCER form letter by the general public.
Not once—not one time—in all of these emails does anyone say anything like, “Gee, we better be sure that only Canadians are responding” or even, “Gee, we better be sure we can distinguish Canadian from non-Canadian submissions”. The CCER letter writing wizard advocates a self-described “Canadian-to-the-core” solution—wouldn’t you want to be sure that the phrase had some meaning?
So—if you heard Mike Lake say these words, you would probably assume that he meant what he said—that Industry Canada was taking submissions through its website for lots of Canadians to participate. Sounds great, right? Very egalitarian and digital.
The only problem is that it was not true. I’m sure that Mike Lake thought that it was true, I’m sure Mike Lake had no reason to think it wasn’t because the “dedicated group of like minded people” who likely knew it wasn’t true didn’t tell him that the overwhelming majority of the submissions were form letters from a shadowy group that were not even coming into the government through its own processes. Form letters that were being sent to the government in a way that intentionally masked their origin. Form letters that were very, very likely not even coming from Canadians, yet were clearly being identified as contributing to making policy.
Let us ask a few questions about Derek Noon. Why would the copyright consultation “team” need to have someone in charge of reporting to them on the consultation website activity? Why wouldn’t the “team” just go look themselves? What was happening on the website that the experienced bureaucrat would want to insulate themselves from knowing? Why not just send an automated website analytics report? And even so, if they were going to pay special attention to what was being done on the web, why wasn’t that handled by the usual department PR hack or (digital) clipping service? Why did they need to burn up their headcount on one person in their group who was monitoring the web?
So on the eve of the Toronto town hall, certainly a significant, if not the most influential, audience the Minister is likely to have, what is Derek Noon’s report to the “team”?
Twitter, digital locks, “wary praise” and Geist. It actually sounds like a day in the life of Geist, doesn’t it?
And that’s it for the week of September 2? That’s all that happened online on a hot topic like copyright reform in Canada? Really? CCER, Howard Knopf and the Canadian Pirate Party. It is not entirely clear that the “Canadian Pirate Party” actually existed at the time, but the Pirate Party was important enough to Derek Noon to take up 1/3 of the internal reporting on the copyright consultation. CCER “Tweets”? Why in the world would Industry Canada be spending time on CCER tweets? I guess that would depend on who was tweeting, wouldn’t it.
Another bureaucrat provides the “stats” for the August 31 to September 4 period. 4,710 submissions, 3,585 from CCER as is duly noted. No one—no one—seems the least surprised at this gross disparity in the submissions.
Are you beginning to get the idea that Derek Noon has a very narrow view of what constitutes “online activity”? Or maybe he doesn’t.
Maybe he knows that his readers are not really interested in all online activity (because there was a lot more). Maybe he knows they are just interested in certain online activity.
Former Secretary of State George Schultz had a great line during the Iran-Contra hearings—“It all starts with a cigar.” If you are going to take the public’s money and with it the public’s trust, don’t take a lobbyist’s cigar.
The point of all this is that when you read the email threads from within Industry Canada, it becomes increasingly obvious that there was something unholy going on. If I’m wrong about that, believe I am all ears. Please show me the evidence. I haven’t found it, Richard Owens hasn’t found it, and I frankly doubt that anyone else will find it either–because it doesn’t exist.
There are strange redactions that don’t seem to be necessary. There are references to emails sent in response to voice mails, and the voicemail recipient saying “I hope you don’t mind” that they are responding to voicemail with email. There are requests that this matter be handled “informally”.
There are ambiguous edits of language that create clearly misleading inferences. But most of all, there seems to be a fixation on maintaining a letter writing process that was clearly being promoted by Michael Geist, Industry Canada bureaucrats and it’s anyone’s guess who else.
The only conclusion that can properly be deduced is that somebody wanted to game the online submission process during the consultations because they were unsure of the result from the town halls.
Meaning that they were unsure of how many real people would actually show up to town halls which was the one part of this process that was not easily gamed. Moreover, they were unsure what those real people would actually say, so they wanted to create a ghostly online army that would say what the “dedicated group of like minded people” wanted them to say to compensate for the lack of real Canadians showing up at town halls who might speak their minds. Hence the ubiquitous form letter.
Why did Derek Noon limit his reporting up the chain to the very few sources he used—like the Canadian Pirate Party, against copyright reform? Why didn’t he include the other online reporting on the consultations? Do you think that a bureaucrat at his level would go rogue and just decide that he would make up his own mind about what would be relevant to his immediate audience?
No. More likely—he was doing exactly what he was told to do, perhaps “informally” in line with the admonition from Colette Downey. He was providing “informal” reports on exactly the people and the kind of activity that he knew would interest his audience.
The direction of the Government is clear. Ministers, like cabinet secretaries, must rely on their staff. It seems obvious that Minster Clement was far too busy to reach down to the Derek Noon level, and he relied on his staff to provide him with accurate information, as did Mike Lake, I’m sure.
Little did they know that their staff was busily creating a ghostly “army” of voters who don’t exist. Or it sure looks that way.
Mr. Sunstein and Mr. Owens have put their fingers on an issue at the heart of incorporating the internet into the digital society–how can we preserve the confidence of the people in the democratic process in all its aspects while at the same time utilizing the tools that will enhance deliberation and responsiveness.
Ask yourself if the consultation is a shining example of government playing by the rules. I suggest to you that at least with respect to the online submission process, the opposite is true. However well-intentioned the minsters may have been in conducting the consultations, they got really, really bad advice and were ill-served by the bureaucracy.
Like the core principles of representative democracy, it’s not as important who wins as it is that they won fair and square and played by the rules. The artists, songwriters, actors, directors, screenwriters, authors, illustrators, photographers–the professional creative community–deserve–and expect–no less. Not only in Canada, but everywhere.
It now appears that Geist has offered some defense of the CCER letters that Owens’ criticizes, which should come as no surprise. You have to wonder if he’s being paid by Industry Canada to respond, as it seems he’s being paid by Industry Canada for so many other things, why should this topic be different?
As someone who played benefit concerts for René Lévesque when most English Canadians thought he was just a chain smoking whackjob (i.e., before his Parti Québécois swept into power in Quebec in 1976), I REALLY take issue with the idea that the carefree Québécois would rather go frolicking in Morin-Heights in the summer time than concern themselves with the weighty matters of state that concern Geist. This from a province that has produced a healthy professional creative class and international stars for decades when, frankly, their English countrymen were struggling for airplay on their own radio stations. But let’s let bygones be bygones on that score. | 2019-04-22T18:54:48Z | https://musictechpolicy.com/2010/04/ |
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This prospectus is part of a registration statement that we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, using a shelf registration process. Under this shelf registration statement, we may sell from time to time in one or more offerings of common stock and preferred stock, various series of debt securities and/or warrants to purchase any of such securities, either individually or as units comprised of a combination of one or more of the other securities in one or more offerings up to a total dollar amount of $100,000,000. This prospectus provides you with a general description of the securities we may offer. Each time we sell any type or series of securities under this prospectus, we will provide a prospectus supplement that will contain more specific information about the terms of that offering. We may also authorize one or more free writing prospectuses to be provided to you that may contain material information relating to these offerings. We may also add, update or change in a prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus any of the information contained in this prospectus or in the documents we have incorporated by reference into this prospectus. This prospectus, together with the applicable prospectus supplement, any related free writing prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement, will include all material information relating to the applicable offering. You should carefully read both this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, together with the additional information described under Where You Can Find More Information, before buying any of the securities being offered.
We have not authorized anyone to provide any information other than that contained in this prospectus or in any prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus prepared by or on behalf of us or to which we may have referred you. We take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with different or additional information. This prospectus, any applicable supplement to this prospectus or any related free writing prospectus do not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities other than the registered securities to which they relate, nor do this prospectus, any applicable supplement to this prospectus or any related free writing prospectus constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation in such jurisdiction.
We are a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Edison, New Jersey. We are focused on the development of targeted therapies for liver disease arising from chronic hepatitis B, C and D virus (HBV, HCV, HDV), non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, and liver cancer.
Cyclophilins are pleiotropic enzymes that play a role in injury and steatosis through mechanisms including cell death occurring through mitochondrial pore permeability (cyclophilin D). Inhibition of cyclophilin D, therefore, may play an important role in protection from cell death. Cyclophilin A binding to CD147 is known to play a role in inflammation, cyclophilin B plays a role in fibrosis through collagen production, and cyclophilins also play a role in cirrhosis and cancer (e.g., cell proliferation and metastasis).Cyclophilin inhibition with CRV431, therefore, may play an important role in reducing liver disease.
Important risk factors for development of liver disease include viral hepatitis (HBV, HCV, HDV), alcohol, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and the more aggressive form called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The life cycle of certain viruses, including for example, HBV, HIV, and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections is dependent on host proteins (cyclophilins) for the role they play in the virus life cycle and propagation of the virus. CRV431 has been developed to inhibit the role of host cyclophilins and therefore interfere in the propagation of these viruses. CRV431 does not directly target the virus and, as such, should be less susceptible to drug resistance, borne from viral mutations.
Thus far, in vitro testing of CRV431 has been conducted in-house and in collaboration with external groups including for example, the Scripps Research Institute (Scripps). Data in various cell lines of either transfected or infected HBV demonstrates nanomolar efficacy (EC50 values) and micromolar toxicity (CC50 values). The selective index (SI), therefore, is wide and suggests that CRV431 presents a viable clinical drug candidate for the treatment of viral infections, including HBV. Additional testing in a transgenic mouse model of HBV indicated that CRV431 reduced HBV DNA in the liver. CRV431 is orally active and appears to be well tolerated.
On May 10, 2018, we submitted an IND to the FDA to support initiation of our CRV431 HBV clinical development program in the United States and received approval in June 2018. We completed the first segment of our Phase 1 clinical activities for CRV431 in October 2018.
Ciclofilin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Ciclofilin) in June 2016. In October 2018, we also paid a related milestone payment of $1,000,000 to the Ciclofilin shareholders and issued 100,723 shares (approximately $55,000 value on the date of issuance) of our common stock, representing 2.5% of our issued and outstanding common stock as of June, 2016.
· important United States federal income tax considerations.
A prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you may also add, update or change information contained in this prospectus or in documents we have incorporated by reference. However, no prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus will offer a security that is not registered and described in this prospectus at the time of the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part.
We may sell the securities to or through underwriters, dealers or agents or directly to purchasers. We, as well as any agents acting on our behalf, reserve the sole right to accept and to reject in whole or in part any proposed purchase of securities. Each prospectus supplement will set forth the names of any underwriters, dealers or agents involved in the sale of securities described in that prospectus supplement and any applicable fee, commission or discount arrangements with them, details regarding any over-allotment option granted to them, and net proceeds to us. The following is a summary of the securities we may offer with this prospectus.
time out of legally available funds, subject to the preferential rights of the holders of any shares of our preferred stock that are outstanding or that we may issue in the future. Currently, we do not pay any dividends on our common stock. Each holder of our common stock is entitled to one vote per share. In this prospectus, we provide a general description of, among other things, the rights and restrictions that apply to holders of our common stock.
We currently have authorized 20,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001. 1,250,000 of such shares are designated as Series A convertible preferred stock and 11,000 of such shares are designated as Series C convertible preferred stock. As of December 31, 2018, there were 85,581 shares of Series A convertible preferred stock outstanding and 1,974 shares of Series C convertible preferred stock outstanding. Any authorized and undesignated shares of preferred stock may be issued from time to time in one or more additional series pursuant to a resolution or resolutions providing for such issue duly adopted by our Board of Directors (authority to do so being hereby expressly vested in the Board of Directors). The Board of Directors is further authorized, subject to limitations prescribed by law, to fix by resolution or resolutions the designations, powers, preferences and rights, and the qualifications, limitations or restrictions thereof, of any wholly unissued series of preferred stock, including without limitation authority to fix by resolution or resolutions the dividend rights, dividend rate, conversion rights, voting rights, rights and terms of redemption (including sinking fund provisions), redemption price or prices, and liquidation preferences of any such series, and the number of shares constituting any such series and the designation thereof, or any of the foregoing.
The rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions granted to or imposed upon any series of preferred stock that we offer and sell under this prospectus and applicable prospectus supplements will be set forth in a certificate of designation relating to the series. We will incorporate by reference into the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part the form of any certificate of designation that describes the terms of the series of preferred stock we are offering before the issuance of shares of that series of preferred stock. You should read any prospectus supplement and any free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you related to the series of preferred stock being offered, as well as the complete certificate of designation that contains the terms of the applicable series of preferred stock.
We may offer general debt obligations, which may be secured or unsecured, senior or subordinated and convertible into shares of our common stock. In this prospectus, we refer to the senior debt securities and the subordinated debt securities together as the debt securities. We may issue debt securities under a note purchase agreement or under an indenture to be entered between us and a trustee; forms of the senior and subordinated indentures are included as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. The indentures do not limit the amount of securities that may be issued under it and provides that debt securities may be issued in one or more series. The senior debt securities will have the same rank as all of our other indebtedness that is not subordinated. The subordinated debt securities will be subordinated to our senior debt on terms set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement. In addition, the subordinated debt securities will be effectively subordinated to creditors and preferred stockholders of our subsidiaries. Our Board of Directors will determine the terms of each series of debt securities being offered. This prospectus contains only general terms and provisions of the debt securities. The applicable prospectus supplement will describe the particular terms of the debt securities offered thereby. You should read any prospectus supplement and any free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you related to the series of debt securities being offered, as well as the complete note agreements and/or indentures that contain the terms of the debt securities. Forms of indentures have been filed as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, and supplemental indentures and forms of debt securities containing the terms of debt securities being offered will be incorporated by reference into the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part from reports we file with the SEC.
provided to you related to the series of warrants being offered, as well as the complete warrant agreements that contain the terms of the warrants. Specific warrant agreements will contain additional important terms and provisions and will be incorporated by reference into the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part from reports we file with the SEC.
We may offer units consisting of our common stock or preferred stock, debt securities and/or warrants to purchase any of these securities in one or more series. We may evidence each series of units by unit certificates that we will issue under a separate agreement. We may enter into unit agreements with a unit agent. Each unit agent will be a bank or trust company that we select. We will indicate the name and address of the unit agent in the applicable prospectus supplement relating to a particular series of units. This prospectus contains only a summary of certain general features of the units. The applicable prospectus supplement will describe the particular features of the units being offered thereby. You should read any prospectus supplement and any free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you related to the series of units being offered, as well as the complete unit agreements that contain the terms of the units. Specific unit agreements will contain additional important terms and provisions and will be incorporated by reference into the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part from reports we file with the SEC.
We were incorporated in Delaware on May 15, 2013 for the purpose of holding certain FV-100 assets of Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc., or Synergy. We were a majority-owned subsidiary of Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Synergy) until February 18, 2014, the date Synergy completed the spinout of our shares of common stock. Our principal executive offices are located at 399 Thornall Street, First Floor, Edison, New Jersey 08837. Our telephone number is (732) 902-4000 and our website address is www.contravir.com. The information on our website is not a part of, and should not be construed as being incorporated by reference into, this registration statement or the accompanying prospectus.
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. This prospectus contains, and the prospectus supplement applicable to each offering of our securities, will contain a discussion of the risks applicable to an investment in our securities. Prior to making a decision about investing in our securities, you should carefully consider the specific factors discussed under the heading Risk Factors in this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement, together with all of the other information contained or incorporated by reference in the prospectus supplement or appearing or incorporated by reference in this prospectus. You should also consider the risks, uncertainties and assumptions discussed under Item 1A, Risk Factors, in our Transition Report on Form 10-KT for the transition period from July 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017, filed with the SEC on March 26, 2018, and any updates described in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, all of which are incorporated herein by reference, and may be amended, supplemented or superseded from time to time by other reports we file with the SEC in the future and any prospectus supplement related to a particular offering. The risks and uncertainties we have described are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also affect our operations. The occurrence of any of these known or unknown risks might cause you to lose all or part of your investment in the offered securities.
This prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement, including the documents that we incorporate by reference, contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act). Any statements in this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement about our expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not historical facts and are forward-looking statements. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as believe, will, expect, anticipate, estimate, intend, plan and would. For example, statements concerning financial condition, possible or assumed future results of operations, growth opportunities, industry ranking, plans and objectives of management, markets for our common stock and future management and organizational structure are all forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from any results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by any forward-looking statement.
The foregoing list sets forth some, but not all, of the factors that could affect our ability to achieve results described in any forward-looking statements. You should read this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement and the documents that we reference herein and therein and have filed as exhibits to the registration statement, of which this prospectus is part, completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. You should assume that the information appearing in this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement is accurate as of the date on the front cover of this prospectus or such prospectus supplement only. Because the risk factors referred to on page 6 of this prospectus and incorporated herein by reference, could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by us or on our behalf, you should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which the statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict which factors will arise. In addition, we cannot assess the impact of each factor on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. We qualify all of the information presented in this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement, and particularly our forward-looking statements, by these cautionary statements.
Except as described in any prospectus supplement and any free writing prospectus in connection with a specific offering, we currently intend to use the net proceeds from the sale of the securities offered under this prospectus for general corporate purposes, including the development and commercialization of our products, research and development, general and administrative expenses, license or technology acquisitions, and working capital and capital expenditures. We may also use the net proceeds to repay any debts and/or invest in or acquire complementary businesses, products or technologies, although we have no current commitments or agreements with respect to any such investments or acquisitions as of the date of this prospectus. We have not determined the amount of net proceeds to be used specifically for the foregoing purposes. As a result, our management will have broad discretion in the allocation of the net proceeds and investors will be relying on the judgment of our management regarding the application of the proceeds of any sale of the securities. Pending use of the net proceeds, we intend to invest the proceeds in short-term, investment-grade, interest-bearing instruments.
Each time we offer securities under this prospectus, we will describe the intended use of the net proceeds from that offering in the applicable prospectus supplement. The actual amount of net proceeds we spend on a particular use will depend on many factors, including, our future capital expenditures, the amount of cash required by our operations, and our future revenue growth, if any. Therefore, we will retain broad discretion in the use of the net proceeds.
The following description of our capital stock, together with any additional information we include in any applicable prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus, summarizes the material terms and provisions of our common stock and the preferred stock that we may offer under this prospectus. While the terms we have summarized below will apply generally to any future common stock or preferred stock that we may offer, we will describe the particular terms of any class or series of these securities in more detail in the applicable prospectus supplement. For the complete terms of our common stock and preferred stock, please refer to our Certificate of Incorporation, as amended (the Certificate of Incorporation) and our bylaws, as amended (the Bylaws) that are incorporated by reference into the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part or may be incorporated by reference in this prospectus or any applicable prospectus supplement. The terms of these securities may also be affected by Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL). The summary below and that contained in any applicable prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus are qualified in their entirety by reference to our Certificate of Incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws.
As of the date of this prospectus, our authorized capital stock consisted of 120,000,000 shares of common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, and 20,000,000 shares of preferred stock. Our Board may establish the rights and preferences of the preferred stock from time to time. As of December 31, 2018, there were 16,608,512 shares of our common stock issued and outstanding, 85,581 shares of Series A convertible preferred stock outstanding and 1,974 shares of Series C convertible preferred stock outstanding.
Holders of our common stock are entitled to one vote per share. Our Certificate of Incorporation, does not provide for cumulative voting. Holders of our common stock are entitled to receive ratably such dividends, if any, as may be declared by our Board out of legally available funds. However, the current policy of our Board is to retain earnings, if any, for the operation and expansion of our company. Upon liquidation, dissolution or winding-up, the holders of our common stock are entitled to share ratably in all of our assets which are legally available for distribution, after payment of or provision for all liabilities.
· the preemptive or preferential rights, if any, of the holders of shares of such series to subscribe for, purchase, receive, or otherwise acquire any part of any new or additional issue of stock of any class, whether now or hereafter authorized, or of any bonds, debentures, notes, or other securities of the Company, whether or not convertible into shares of stock with the Company.
The issuance of preferred stock may delay, deter or prevent a change in control.
The description of preferred stock above and the description of the terms of a particular series of preferred stock in any applicable prospectus supplement are not complete. You should refer to any applicable certificate of designation for complete information.
The DGCL, the state of our incorporation, provides that the holders of preferred stock will have the right to vote separately as a class on any proposal involving fundamental changes in the rights of holders of that preferred stock. This right is in addition to any voting rights that may be provided for in the applicable certificate of designation.
All shares of preferred stock offered hereby will, when issued, be fully paid and nonassessable, including shares of preferred stock issued upon the exercise of preferred stock warrants or subscription rights, if any.
Although our Board has no intention at the present time of doing so, it could authorize the issuance of a series of preferred stock that could, depending on the terms of such series, impede the completion of a merger, tender offer or other takeover attempt.
Company shall not, without the affirmative vote of the Holders of the shares of the Series A Preferred Stock then outstanding, (a) alter or change adversely the powers, preferences or rights given to the Series A Preferred Stock or alter or amend the Certificate of Designation, (b) authorize or create any class of stock ranking as to dividends, redemption or distribution of assets upon a Series A Liquidation (as defined herein) senior to or otherwise pari passu with the Series A Preferred Stock, or (c) enter into any agreement with respect to the foregoing.
Registration Rights. In the event we close a Series A Subsequent Financing of common or preferred stock, which does not include any warrants or convertible securities, at an effective price per share that is lower than 160% (Series A Premium Price) of the then Series A Conversion Price (the Series A Registration Price) and the purchasers of the securities in the Series A Subsequent Financing are given registration rights for such securities or such securities are issued on a registered basis, the holders shall receive at such time (i) equivalent registration rights for the Series A Preferred Stock and the shares issuable upon conversion of the Series A Preferred Stock in the event purchasers of the securities in the Series A Subsequent Financing receive registration rights or (ii) demand registration rights in the event purchasers of the securities in the Series A Subsequent Financing receive registered shares. In the event, the Series A Subsequent Financing includes warrants or other convertible securities, the Series A Premium Price shall increase by 1% for every 1% of warrant or other convertible security coverage in the Subsequent Financing. The holders rights under this section shall terminate upon us completing a Series A Subsequent Financing at an effective price per share equal to or greater than the Series A Registration Price which results in minimum gross proceeds to us of $20 million.
holder of the Series C Convertible Preferred Stock does not have the right to convert any portion of the Series C Convertible Preferred Stock to the extent that, after giving effect to the conversion, the holder, together with its affiliates, would beneficially own in excess of 9.99% of the number of shares of our common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to its conversion.
· provide that vacancies on the board of directors may be filled by a majority of directors in office, although less than a quorum.
Blank Check Preferred. Our Board is authorized to create and issue from time to time, without stockholder approval, up to an aggregate of 20,000,000 shares of preferred stock in one or more series and to establish the number of shares of any series of preferred stock and to fix the designations, powers, preferences and rights of the shares of each series and any qualifications, limitations or restrictions of the shares of each series.
Advance Notice Bylaws. The Bylaws contain an advance notice procedure for stockholder proposals to be brought before any meeting of stockholders, including proposed nominations of persons for election to our Board of Directors. Stockholders at any meeting will only be able to consider proposals or nominations specified in the notice of meeting or brought before the meeting by or at the direction of our Board of Directors or by a stockholder who was a stockholder of record on the record date for the meeting, who is entitled to vote at the meeting and who has given our corporate secretary timely written notice, in proper form, of the stockholders intention to bring that business before the meeting. Although the Bylaws do not give our Board of Directors the power to approve or disapprove stockholder nominations of candidates or proposals regarding other business to be conducted at a special or annual meeting, the Bylaws may have the effect of precluding the conduct of certain business at a meeting if the proper procedures are not followed or may discourage or deter a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect its own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us.
Interested Stockholder Transactions. We are subject to Section 203 of the DGCL which, subject to certain exceptions, prohibits business combinations between a publicly-held Delaware corporation and an interested stockholder, which is generally defined as a stockholder who becomes a beneficial owner of 15% or more of a Delaware corporations voting stock for a three-year period following the date that such stockholder became an interested stockholder.
The DGCL authorizes corporations to limit or eliminate the personal liability of directors to corporations and their stockholders for monetary damages for breaches of directors fiduciary duties as directors and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will include such an exculpation provision. Our certificate of incorporation and by-laws will include provisions that indemnify, to the fullest extent allowable under the DGCL, the personal liability of directors or officers for monetary damages for actions taken as a director or officer of us, or for serving at our request as a director or officer or another position at another corporation or enterprise, as the case may be. Our certificate of incorporation and by-laws will also provide that we must indemnify and advance reasonable expenses to our directors and officers, subject to our receipt of an undertaking from the indemnified party as may be required under the DGCL. Our Certificate of Incorporation expressly authorizes us to carry directors and officers insurance to protect us, our directors, officers and certain employees for some liabilities. The limitation of liability and indemnification provisions in our Certificate of Incorporation and by-laws may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions may also have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our directors and officers, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. However, these provisions do not limit or eliminate our rights, or those of any stockholder, to seek non-monetary relief such as injunction or rescission in the event of a breach of a directors duty of care. The provisions will not alter the liability of directors under the federal securities laws. In addition, your investment may be adversely affected to the extent that, in a class action or direct suit, we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against directors and officers pursuant to these indemnification provisions. There is currently no pending material litigation or proceeding against any of our directors, officers or employees for which indemnification is sought.
The Transfer Agent and Registrar for our common stock is Philadelphia Stock Transfer, Inc.
The following description, together with the additional information we include in any applicable prospectus supplements or free writing prospectuses, summarizes the material terms and provisions of the debt securities that we may offer under this prospectus. We may issue debt securities, in one or more series, as either senior or subordinated debt or as senior or subordinated convertible debt. While the terms we have summarized below will apply generally to any future debt securities we may offer under this prospectus, we will describe the particular terms of any debt securities that we may offer in more detail in the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus. The terms of any debt securities we offer under a prospectus supplement may differ from the terms we describe below. However, no prospectus supplement shall fundamentally change the terms that are set forth in this prospectus or offer a security that is not registered and described in this prospectus at the time of its effectiveness. As of the date of this prospectus, we have no outstanding registered debt securities. Unless the context requires otherwise, whenever we refer to the indentures, we also are referring to any supplemental indentures that specify the terms of a particular series of debt securities.
· any other specific terms, preferences, rights or limitations of, or restrictions on, the debt securities, including any additional events of default or covenants provided with respect to the debt securities, and any terms that may be required by us or advisable under applicable laws or regulations.
· to change anything that does not adversely affect the interests of any holder of debt securities of any series in any material respect.
We will issue the debt securities of each series only in fully registered form without coupons and, unless we otherwise specify in the applicable prospectus supplement, in denominations of $1,000 and any integral multiple thereof. The indentures provide that we may issue debt securities of a series in temporary or permanent global form and as book-entry securities that will be deposited with, or on behalf of, The Depository Trust Company or another depositary named by us and identified in a prospectus supplement with respect to that series. See Legal Ownership of Securities below for a further description of the terms relating to any book-entry securities.
On May 8, 2018 we entered into a securities purchase agreement (the Securities Purchase Agreement) with Iliad Research and Trading, L.P. (IRT), pursuant to which we issued to IRT a secured convertible promissory note (the Note) in the aggregate principal amount of $3,325,000 for an aggregate purchase price of $2,000,000 cash and $1,000,000 aggregate principal amount of investor notes (the Investor Notes) payable to us in four tranches of $250,000 upon request by us. Closing occurred on May 9, 2018. The Note carries an original issue discount of $300,000, and the initial principal balance of $2,225,000 also includes original issue discount of $200,000 and $25,000 to cover IRTs transaction expenses. The Investor Notes have not been drawn as of January 31, 2019. The Note bears interest at the rate of 10% per annum and matures on November 8, 2019. Beginning on November 8, 2018, IRT has the right to redeem all or any portion of the Note up to the Maximum Monthly Redemption Amount which is $500,000. Payments of each redemption amount may be made in cash or shares of our common stock at our election (so long as the various conditions to paying stock set forth in the Note are satisfied) provided, however, that if our common stock is trading below $1.60 per share (as adjusted for the reverse stock split), the redemption(s) must be in cash. Common stock issued upon redemption will be issued at a price equal to 80% of the lowest trade price of the common stock for the 20 consecutive trading days prior to the date of redemption, subject to adjustments; provided, however, that in no event will the redemption price be less than $1.60. As of December 31, 2018, approximately $1.56 million aggregate principal amount of the Notes are outstanding.
We also entered into a security agreement with IRT, pursuant to which IRT received a security interest in substantially all of our assets, except for intellectual property. The Securities Purchase Agreement requires that we comply with certain non-financial covenants customary for financing of this nature which we complied with as of September 30, 2018.
We may issue the warrants under a warrant agreement that we will enter into with a warrant agent to be selected by us. If selected, the warrant agent will act solely as an agent of ours in connection with the warrants and will not act as an agent for the holders or beneficial owners of the warrants. If applicable, we will file as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, or will incorporate by reference from a current report on Form 8-K that we file with the SEC, the form of warrant agreement, including a form of warrant certificate, that describes the terms of the particular series of warrants we are offering before the issuance of the related series of warrants. The following summaries of material provisions of the warrants and the warrant agreements are subject to, and qualified in their entirety by reference to, all the provisions of the warrant agreement and warrant certificate applicable to a particular series of warrants. We urge you to read the applicable prospectus supplement and any applicable free writing prospectus related to the particular series of warrants that we sell under this prospectus, as well as the complete warrant agreements and warrant certificates that contain the terms of the warrants.
Holders of the warrants may exercise the warrants by delivering the warrant certificate representing the warrants to be exercised together with specified information, and paying the required amount to the warrant agent in immediately available funds, as provided in the applicable prospectus supplement. We will set forth on the reverse side of the warrant certificate and in the applicable prospectus supplement the information that the holder of the warrant will be required to deliver to us or the warrant agent as applicable.
If selected, each warrant agent will act solely as our agent under the applicable warrant agreement and will not assume any obligation or relationship of agency or trust with any holder of any warrant. A single bank or trust company may act as warrant agent for more than one issue of warrants. A warrant agent will have no duty or responsibility in case of any default by us under the applicable warrant agreement or warrant, including any duty or responsibility to initiate any proceedings at law or otherwise, or to make any demand upon us. Any holder of a warrant may, without the consent of the related warrant agent or the holder of any other warrant, enforce by appropriate legal action its right to exercise, and receive the securities purchasable upon exercise of, its warrants.
The following description, together with the additional information we may include in any applicable prospectus supplements and free writing prospectuses, summarizes the material terms and provisions of the units that we may offer under this prospectus.
While the terms we have summarized below will apply generally to any units that we may offer under this prospectus, we will describe the particular terms of any series of units in more detail in the applicable prospectus supplement. The terms of any units offered under a prospectus supplement may differ from the terms described below. However, no prospectus supplement will fundamentally change the terms that are set forth in this prospectus or offer a security that is not registered and described in this prospectus at the time of its effectiveness.
The provisions described in this section, as well as those described under Description of Capital Stock, Description of Debt Securities and Description of Warrants will apply to each unit and to any common stock, preferred stock, debt security or warrant included in each unit, respectively.
We can issue securities in registered form or in the form of one or more global securities. We describe global securities in greater detail below. We refer to those persons who have securities registered in their own names on the books that we or any applicable trustee or depositary or warrant agent maintain for this purpose as the holders of those securities. These persons are the legal holders of the securities. We refer to those persons who, indirectly through others, own beneficial interests in securities that are not registered in their own names, as indirect holders of those securities. As we discuss below, indirect holders are not legal holders, and investors in securities issued in book-entry form or in street name will be indirect holders.
A global security may not be transferred to or registered in the name of anyone other than the depositary, its nominee or a successor depositary, unless special termination situations arise. We describe those situations below under Special Situations When A Global Security Will Be Terminated. As a result of these arrangements, the depositary, or its nominee, will be the sole registered owner and legal holder of all securities represented by a global security, and investors will be permitted to own only beneficial interests in a global security. Beneficial interests must be held by means of an account with a broker, bank or other financial institution that in turn has an account with the depositary or with another institution that does. Thus, an investor whose security is represented by a global security will not be a legal holder of the security, but only an indirect holder of a beneficial interest in the global security.
in securities transferred to their own names, so that they will be direct holders. We have described the rights of holders and street name investors above.
The applicable prospectus supplement may also list additional situations for terminating a global security that would apply only to the particular series of securities covered by the prospectus supplement. When a global security terminates, the depositary, and neither we, nor any applicable trustee, is responsible for deciding the names of the institutions that will be the initial direct holders.
· any securities exchanges or markets on which such securities may be listed.
If underwriters are used in an offering, we will execute an underwriting agreement with such underwriters and will specify the name of each underwriter and the terms of the transaction (including any underwriting discounts and other terms constituting compensation of the underwriters and any dealers) in a prospectus supplement. The securities may be offered to the public either through underwriting syndicates represented by managing underwriters or directly by one or more investment banking firms or others, as designated. If an underwriting syndicate is used, the managing underwriter(s) will be specified on the cover of the prospectus supplement. If underwriters are used in the sale, the offered securities will be acquired by the underwriters for their own accounts and may be resold from time to time in one or more transactions, including negotiated transactions, at a fixed public offering price or at varying prices determined at the time of sale. Any public offering price and any discounts or concessions allowed or re-allowed or paid to dealers may be changed from time to time. Unless otherwise set forth in the prospectus supplement, the obligations of the underwriters to purchase the offered securities will be subject to conditions precedent and the underwriters will be obligated to purchase all of the offered securities if any are purchased.
We may grant to the underwriters options to purchase additional securities to cover over-allotments, if any, at the public offering price, with additional underwriting commissions or discounts, as may be set forth in a related prospectus supplement. The terms of any over-allotment option will be set forth in the prospectus supplement for those securities.
If we use a dealer in the sale of the securities being offered pursuant to this prospectus or any prospectus supplement, we will sell the securities to the dealer, as principal. The dealer may then resell the securities to the public at varying prices to be determined by the dealer at the time of resale. The names of the dealers and the terms of the transaction will be specified in a prospectus supplement.
We may sell the securities directly or through agents we designate from time to time. We will name any agent involved in the offering and sale of securities and we will describe any commissions we will pay the agent in the prospectus supplement. Unless the prospectus supplement states otherwise, any agent will act on a best-efforts basis for the period of its appointment.
In connection with the sale of the securities, underwriters, dealers or agents may receive compensation from us or from purchasers of the common stock for whom they act as agents in the form of discounts, concessions or commissions. Underwriters may sell the securities to or through dealers, and those dealers may receive compensation in the form of discounts, concessions or commissions from the underwriters or commissions from the purchasers for whom they may act as agents. Underwriters, dealers and agents that participate in the distribution of the securities, and any institutional investors or others that purchase common stock directly and then resell the securities, may be deemed to be underwriters, and any discounts or commissions received by them from us and any profit on the resale of the common stock by them may be deemed to be underwriting discounts and commissions under the Securities Act.
We may provide agents and underwriters with indemnification against particular civil liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act, or contribution with respect to payments that the agents or underwriters may make with respect to such liabilities. Agents and underwriters may engage in transactions with, or perform services for, us in the ordinary course of business.
In addition, we may enter into derivative transactions with third parties (including the writing of options), or sell securities not covered by this prospectus to third parties in privately negotiated transactions. If the applicable prospectus supplement indicates, in connection with such a transaction, the third parties may, pursuant to this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement, sell securities covered by this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement. If so, the third party may use securities borrowed from us or others to settle such sales and may use securities received from us to close out any related short positions. We may also loan or pledge securities covered by this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement to third parties, who may sell the loaned securities or, in an event of default in the case of a pledge, sell the pledged securities pursuant to this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement. The third party in such sale transactions will be an underwriter and will be identified in the applicable prospectus supplement or in a post-effective amendment.
To facilitate an offering of a series of securities, persons participating in the offering may engage in transactions that stabilize, maintain, or otherwise affect the market price of the securities. This may include over-allotments or short sales of the securities, which involves the sale by persons participating in the offering of more securities than have been sold to them by us. In those circumstances, such persons would cover such over-allotments or short positions by purchasing in the open market or by exercising the over-allotment option granted to those persons. In addition, those persons may stabilize or maintain the price of the securities by bidding for or purchasing securities in the open market or by imposing penalty bids, whereby selling concessions allowed to underwriters or dealers participating in any such offering may be reclaimed if securities sold by them are repurchased in connection with stabilization transactions. The effect of these transactions may be to stabilize or maintain the market price of the securities at a level above that which might otherwise prevail in the open market. Such transactions, if commenced, may be discontinued at any time. We make no representation or prediction as to the direction or magnitude of any effect that the transactions described above, if implemented, may have on the price of our securities.
one or more underwriters may make a market in a class or series of securities, but the underwriters will not be obligated to do so and may discontinue any market making at any time without notice. We cannot give any assurance as to the liquidity of the trading market for any of the securities.
In order to comply with the securities laws of some states, if applicable, the securities offered pursuant to this prospectus will be sold in those states only through registered or licensed brokers or dealers. In addition, in some states securities may not be sold unless they have been registered or qualified for sale in the applicable state or an exemption from the registration or qualification requirement is available and complied with.
Any underwriter may engage in overallotment, stabilizing transactions, short covering transactions and penalty bids in accordance with Regulation M under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. Overallotment involves sales in excess of the offering size, which create a short position. Stabilizing transactions permit bids to purchase the underlying security so long as the stabilizing bids do not exceed a specified maximum. Short covering transactions involve purchases of the securities in the open market after the distribution is completed to cover short positions. Penalty bids permit the underwriters to reclaim a selling concession from a dealer when the securities originally sold by the dealer are purchased in a covering transaction to cover short positions. Those activities may cause the price of the securities to be higher than it would otherwise be. If commenced, the underwriters may discontinue any of these activities at any time.
Any underwriters who are qualified market makers on The Nasdaq Capital Market may engage in passive market making transactions in the securities on The Nasdaq Capital Market in accordance with Rule 103 of Regulation M, during the business day prior to the pricing of the offering, before the commencement of offers or sales of the securities. Passive market makers must comply with applicable volume and price limitations and must be identified as passive market makers. In general, a passive market maker must display its bid at a price not in excess of the highest independent bid for such security. If all independent bids are lowered below the passive market makers bid, however, the passive market makers bid must then be lowered when certain purchase limits are exceeded.
The validity of the issuance of the securities offered hereby will be passed upon for us by Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP, New York, New York. Additional legal matters may be passed upon for us or any underwriters, dealers or agents, by counsel that we will name in the applicable prospectus supplement.
This prospectus constitutes a part of a registration statement on Form S-3 filed under the Securities Act. As permitted by the SECs rules, this prospectus and any prospectus supplement, which form a part of the registration statement, do not contain all the information that is included in the registration statement. You will find additional information about us in the registration statement. Any statements made in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement concerning legal documents are not necessarily complete and you should read the documents that are filed as exhibits to the registration statement or otherwise filed with the SEC for a more complete understanding of the document or matter.
We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. You may read, without charge, and copy the documents we file at the SECs public reference rooms in Washington, D.C. at 100 F Street, NE, Room 1580, Washington, DC 20549, or in New York, New York and Chicago, Illinois. You can request copies of these documents by writing to the SEC and paying a fee for the copying cost. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the public reference rooms. Our SEC filings are also available to the public at no cost from the SECs website at http://www.sec.gov. In addition, we make available on or through our Internet site copies of these reports as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file or furnish them to the SEC. Our Internet site can be found at http://www.contravir.com. The information on our website is not a part of, and should not be considered as being incorporated by reference into, this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus.
*These fees are calculated based on the securities offered and the number of issuances and accordingly cannot be estimated at this time. The applicable prospectus supplement will set forth the estimated amount of expenses of any offering of securities.
Section 145 (Section 145) of the DGCL, permits indemnification of directors, officers, agents and controlling persons of a corporation under certain conditions and subject to certain limitations. Section 145 empowers a corporation to indemnify any person who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative, by reason of the fact that he or she is or was a director, officer or agent of the corporation or another enterprise if serving at the request of the corporation. Depending on the character of the proceeding, a corporation may indemnify against expenses (including attorneys fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred in connection with such action, suit or proceeding if the person indemnified acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to, the best interests of the corporation, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe his or her conduct was unlawful. In the case of an action by or in the right of the corporation, no indemnification may be made with respect to any claim, issue or matter as to which such person shall have been adjudged to be liable to the corporation unless and only to the extent that the Court of Chancery or the court in which such action or suit was brought shall determine that despite the adjudication of liability such person is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnity for such expenses which the court shall deem proper. Section 145 further provides that to the extent a present or former director or officer of a corporation has been successful in the defense of any action, suit or proceeding referred to above or in the defense of any claim, issue or matter therein, such person shall be indemnified against expenses (including attorneys fees) actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection therewith. The foregoing is only a summary of the described sections of the Delaware General Corporation Law and is qualified in its entirety by reference to such sections.
Our Certificate of Incorporation and amended and restated bylaws provide that it shall indemnify each of its officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by Section 145.
Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that no current or former director shall be personally liable to it or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, except to the extent such exemption from liability or limitation thereof is not permitted under the DGCL as the same exists or may hereafter be amended.
a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.
Certificate of Designation, Preferences and Rights of the Series C Convertible Preferred Stock of ContraVir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. filed with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware on July 2, 2018 (filed as Exhibit 3.1 to the Companys Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 5, 2018 and incorporated herein by reference).
* To the extent applicable, to be filed by an amendment or as an exhibit to a document filed under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and incorporated by reference herein.
To be filed by amendment.
provided, however , that paragraphs (a)(1)(i), (a)(1)(ii), and (a)(1)(iii) above do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are incorporated by reference in the registration statement, or is contained in a form of prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) that is a part of the registration statement.
(B) Each prospectus required to be filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(2), (b)(5), or (b)(7) as part of a registration statement in reliance on Rule 430B relating to an offering made pursuant to Rule 415(a)(1)(i), (vii), or (x) for the purpose of providing the information required by Section 10(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 shall be deemed to be part of and included in the registration statement as of the earlier of the date such form of prospectus is first used after effectiveness or the date of the first contract of sale of securities in the offering described in the prospectus. As provided in Rule 430B, for liability purposes of the issuer and any person that is at that date an underwriter, such date shall be deemed to be a new effective date of the registration statement relating to the securities in the registration statement to which that prospectus relates, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof. Provided , however , that no statement made in a registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement or made in a document incorporated or deemed incorporated by reference into the registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement will, as to a purchaser with a time of contract of sale prior to such effective date, supersede or modify any statement that was made in the registration statement or prospectus that was part of the registration statement or made in any such document immediately prior to such effective date.
(b) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes to file an application for the purpose of determining the eligibility of the trustee to act under subsection (a) of Section 310 of the Trust Indenture Act in accordance with the rules and regulations prescribed by the Commission under Section 305(b)(2) of the Trust Indenture Act.
(c) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each filing of the registrants annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plans annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) that is incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.
(d) Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-3 and has duly caused this registration statement on Form S-3 to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in New York, New York, on the 6th day of February 2019.
· units consisting of Common Stock, Preferred Stock, Debt Securities or Warrants (the Units), which may be issued under unit agreements (each, a Unit Agreement), to be dated on or about the date of the first issuance of the applicable Units thereunder, by and between the Company and the other parties thereto (the Unit Parties).
We are delivering this opinion pursuant to the requirements of Item 601(b)(5) of Regulation S-K under the Securities Act.
In connection with this opinion, we have examined and relied upon originals, or copies certified to our satisfaction, of such records, documents, certificates, opinions, memoranda and other instruments as in our judgment are necessary or appropriate to enable us to render the opinion expressed below. As to certain factual matters, we have relied upon certificates of officers of the Company and have not independently sought to verify such matters.
In rendering this opinion, we have assumed (i) the genuineness and authenticity of all signatures on original documents; (ii) the authenticity of all documents submitted to us as originals; (iii) the conformity to originals of all documents submitted to us as copies; (iv) the accuracy, completeness and authenticity of certificates of public officials; (v) the due authorization, execution and delivery of all documents where authorization, execution and delivery are prerequisites to the effectiveness of such documents; (vi) that the Registration Statement and any required post-effective amendment thereto have all become effective under the Securities Act and the Base Prospectus, any and all Prospectus Supplement(s) required by applicable laws and any and all free-writing prospectus(es) related to the offer and sale of the Securities have been delivered and filed as required by such laws; (vii) that the issuance and sale of the Securities do not violate any applicable law, are in conformity with the Companys then operative certificate of incorporation and bylaws, do not result in a default under or breach of any agreement or instrument binding upon the Company and comply with any applicable requirement or restriction imposed by any court or governmental body having jurisdiction over the Company or its properties or assets; (viii) a prospectus supplement will have been prepared and filed with the Commission describing the Securities offered thereby; (ix) a definitive purchase, underwriting or similar agreement with respect to any Securities offered will have been duly authorized and validly executed and delivered by the Company and the other parties thereto, as applicable; and (x) if the holders of the Debt Securities are granted rights to inspect corporate books and records and to vote in the election of directors or any matters on which stockholders of the Company may vote, such rights will be set forth in the Certificate of Incorporation (as defined below) or the Certificate of Incorporation grants to the Companys Board of Directors the power to confer such voting or inspection rights and the Companys Board of Directors will have conferred such rights.
creditors rights, and subject to general equity principles and to limitations on availability of equitable relief, including specific performance. We have also assumed with respect to the Warrants offered under the Registration Statement, that (a) such Warrants will be issued pursuant to a Warrant Agreement, (b) the Warrant Agreement will be filed either as an exhibit to an amendment to the Registration Statement to be filed after the date of this opinion or as an exhibit to a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed after the Registration Statement has become effective, and (c) the particular terms of any series of Warrants will be set forth in a supplement to the prospectus forming a part of the Registration Statement. We have also assumed with respect to the Units offered under the Registration Statement, that (a) such Units will be issued pursuant to a Unit Agreement, (b) the Unit Agreement will be filed either as an exhibit to an amendment to the Registration Statement to be filed after the date of this opinion or as an exhibit to a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed after the Registration Statement has become effective, and (c) the particular terms of any series of Units will be set forth in a supplement to the prospectus forming a part of the Registration Statement.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, our opinion herein is expressed solely with respect to the federal laws of the United States, the Delaware General Corporation Law and, as to the Debt Securities constituting valid and legally binding obligations of the Company, solely with respect to the laws of the State of New York. We express no opinion as to any provision of the Debt Securities that: (a) relates to the subject matter jurisdiction of any federal court of the United States of America or any federal appellate court to adjudicate any controversy related to the Debt Securities or (b) contains a waiver of an inconvenient forum. We express no opinion as to whether the laws of any jurisdiction are applicable to the subject matter hereof. We are not rendering any opinion as to compliance with any federal or state law, rule or regulation relating to securities, or to the sale or issuance thereof. We express no opinions concerning (i) the validity or enforceability of any provisions contained in indentures that purport to waive or not give effect to rights to notices, defenses, subrogation or other rights or benefits that cannot be effectively waived under applicable law; or (ii) the validity or enforceability of any provisions contained in Warrant Agreements or Unit Agreements that purport to waive or not give effect to rights to notices, defenses, subrogation or other rights or benefits that cannot be effectively waived under applicable law.
1. With respect to the Common Stock offered under the Registration Statement, provided that (i) the issuance of the Common Stock has been duly authorized by all necessary corporate action on the part of the Company; and (ii) the certificates for the Common Stock have been duly executed by the Company, countersigned by the transfer agent therefor and duly delivered to the purchasers thereof against the requisite payment therefor, which the Company has received, the Common Stock, when issued and sold as contemplated in the Registration Statement, the Base Prospectus and the related Prospectus Supplement(s) and any related free-writing prospectus(es) and in accordance with any applicable duly authorized, executed and delivered purchase, underwriting or similar agreement, or upon conversion of any convertible Preferred Stock or convertible Debt Securities in accordance with their terms, or upon exercise of any Warrants in accordance with their terms, will be duly authorized, validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable.
2. With respect to the Preferred Stock offered under the Registration Statement, provided that (i) the terms and issuance of the Preferred Stock have been duly authorized by all necessary corporate action on the part of the Company; (ii) appropriate certificates of amendment to the then operative certificate of incorporation relating to the terms and issuance of Preferred Stock have been duly approved by the Companys Board of Directors and been filed with and accepted by the State of Delaware; and (iii) the certificates for the Preferred Stock have been duly executed by the Company, countersigned by the transfer agent therefor and duly delivered to the purchasers thereof against the requisite payment therefor, which the Company has received, then the Preferred Stock, when issued and sold as contemplated in the Registration Statement, the Base Prospectus and the related Prospectus Supplement(s) and any related free-writing prospectus(es) and in accordance with any applicable duly authorized, executed and delivered purchase, underwriting or similar agreement, or upon conversion of any convertible Debt Securities in accordance with their terms, or upon exercise of any Warrants in accordance with their terms, will be duly authorized, validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable.
3. With respect to any series of the Debt Securities issued under the Indenture and offered under the Registration Statement, provided that (i) the Indenture has been duly authorized by the Company and the Trustee by all necessary corporate action; (ii) the Indenture in substantially the form filed as an exhibit to the Registration Statement, has been duly executed and delivered by the Company and the Trustee; (iii) the terms of the Debt Securities and of their issuance and sale have been duly authorized by the Company by all necessary corporate action; (iv) the terms of the Debt Securities and of their issuance and sale have been duly established in conformity with the Indenture; and (v) the Debt Securities have been duly executed and delivered by the Company and authenticated by the Trustee pursuant to the Indenture and delivered against the requisite payment therefor, which the Company has received, then the Debt Securities, when issued and sold in accordance with the Indenture and as contemplated by the Registration Statement, the Prospectus and the related Prospectus Supplement(s), and a duly authorized, executed and delivered purchase, underwriting or similar agreement, will be valid and legally binding obligations of the Company, enforceable against the Company in accordance with their terms, or upon exercise of any Warrants in accordance with their terms, except as enforcement thereof may be limited by applicable bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, arrangement, moratorium or other similar laws affecting creditors rights, and subject to general equity principles and to limitations on availability of equitable relief, including specific performance.
4. With respect to the Warrants issued under a Warrant Agreement and offered under the Registration Statement, provided that (i) the Warrant Agreement has been duly authorized by the Company and the Warrant Agent by all necessary corporate action; (ii) the Warrant Agreement has been duly executed and delivered by the Company and the Warrant Agent as described in the Registration Statement, the Prospectus and the related Prospectus Supplement(s); (iii) the issuance and terms of the Warrants have been duly authorized by the Company by all necessary corporate action; and (iv) the Warrants have been duly executed and delivered by the Company and authenticated by the Warrant Agent pursuant to the Warrant Agreement and delivered against the requisite payment therefor, which the Company has received, and assuming that the Warrants are then issued and sold as contemplated in the Registration Statement, the Prospectus and the Prospectus Supplement(s), then the Warrants, when issued and sold in accordance with the Warrant Agreement and a duly authorized, executed and delivered purchase, underwriting or similar agreement, will be valid and legally binding obligations of the Company, enforceable against the Company in accordance with their terms, except as enforcement thereof may be limited by applicable bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, arrangement, moratorium or other similar laws affecting creditors rights, and subject to general equity principles and to limitations on availability of equitable relief, including specific performance.
5. With respect to the Units issued under a Unit Agreement and offered under the Registration Statement, provided that (i) the Unit Agreement has been duly authorized by the Company and the Unit Parties by all necessary corporate action; (ii) the Unit Agreement has been duly executed and delivered by the Company and the Unit Parties as described in the Registration Statement, the Prospectus and the related Prospectus Supplement(s); (iii) the issuance and terms of the Units have been duly authorized by the Company by all necessary corporate action; and (iv) the Units have been duly executed and delivered by the Company and authenticated by the Unit Parties pursuant to the Unit Agreement and delivered against the requisite payment therefor, which the Company has received, and assuming that the Units are then issued and sold as contemplated in the Registration Statement, the Prospectus and the Prospectus Supplement(s), then the Units, when issued and sold in accordance with the Unit Agreement and a duly authorized, executed and delivered purchase, underwriting or similar agreement, will constitute valid and legally binding obligations of the Company, enforceable against the Company in accordance with their terms, except as enforcement thereof may be limited by applicable bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, arrangement, moratorium or other similar laws affecting creditors rights, and subject to general equity principles and to limitations on availability of equitable relief, including specific performance.
moratorium or other similar laws relating to or affecting creditors rights generally, and general equitable or public policy principles.
We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion as an exhibit to the above-referenced Registration Statement and to the use of our name wherever it appears in the Registration Statement, the Base Prospectus and any Prospectus Supplement. In giving such consent, we do not believe that we are experts within the meaning of such term as used in the Securities Act or the rules and regulations of the Commission issued thereunder with respect to any part of the Registration Statement, including this opinion as an exhibit or otherwise.
We hereby consent to the incorporation by reference in the Prospectus constituting a part of this Registration Statement of our report dated March 23, 2018 and our report dated September 28, 2017, relating to the consolidated financial statements of ContraVir Pharmaceuticals, Inc., appearing in the Companys Transition Report on Form 10-KT for the transition period from July 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017 and Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2017, respectively. Our reports on the consolidated financial statements contain an explanatory paragraph regarding the Companys ability to continue as a going concern. | 2019-04-25T23:52:31Z | http://ir.contravir.com/node/8476/html |
Karen Witemeyer holds a master’s degree in psychology from Abilene Christian University and is a member of ACFW, RWA, and the Texas Coalition of Authors. She has published fiction in Focus on the Family’s children’s magazine, and has written several articles for online publications and anthologies. Tailor-Made Bride is her first novel. Karen lives in Abilene, Texas, with her husband and three children.
Hannah Richards bit back a laugh as Victoria Ashmont effectively put her nephews wife in her place with three little words. Trying hard to appear as if she wasnt listening to her clients conversation, Hannah pulled the last pin from between her lips and slid it into the hem of the controversial fabric.
Miss Victoria pivoted with impressive speed, the cane she used for balance nearly clobbering Hannah in the head as she spun.
You may have my nephew wrapped around your little finger, but dont think you can manipulate me with your theatrics. Like an angry goddess from the Greek myths, Victoria Ashmont held her chin at a regal angle and pointed her aged hand toward the woman who dared challenge her. Hannah almost expected a lightning bolt to shoot from her finger to disintegrate Nan where she stood.
Nans affronted gasp echoed through the room like the crack of a mule skinners whip.
The door slammed shut, and the resulting bang appeared to knock the starch right out of Miss Victoria. She wobbled, and Hannah lurched to her feet to steady the elderly lady.
Hannah nodded, not about to argue. She gathered her sewing box instead, collecting her shears, pins, and needle case from where they lay upon the thick tapestry carpet.
She had sewn for Miss Victoria for the last eighteen months, and it disturbed her to see the woman reduced to tremors and pallor so easily. The eccentric spinster never shied from a fight and always kept her razor-sharp tongue at the ready.
Hannah had felt the lash of that tongue herself on several occasions, but shed developed a thick skin over the years. A woman making her own way in the world had to toughen up quickly or get squashed. Perhaps that was why she respected Victoria Ashmont enough to brave her scathing comments time after time. The woman had been living life on her own terms for years and had done well for herself in the process. True, shed had money and the power of the Ashmont name to lend her support, but from all public reportsand a few overheard conversationsit was clear Victoria Ashmonts fortune had steadily grown during her tenure as head of the family, not dwindled, which was more than many men could say. Hannah liked to think that, given half a chance, shed be able to duplicate the womans success. At least to a modest degree.
Yes, maam. Hannahs forehead scrunched. She couldnt be sure, but she thought Victoria Ashmont might have just paid her a compliment.
Hannahs gaze flew to her clients face. Miss Victorias slate gray eyes assessed her, probing, drilling into her core, as if she meant to rip the truth from her with or without her consent.
Dizzy from the abrupt starts, stops, and turns of the strange conversation, Hannah kept her mouth closed and assisted Miss Victoria. She unfastened the brightly colored silk, careful not to snag the pins on either the delicate material of the gown or on Miss Victorias stockings. Once the dress had been safely removed, she set it aside and helped the woman don a loose-fitting wrapper.
Im anxious to have these details put in order, Miss Victoria said as she took a seat at the ladies writing desk along the east wall. I will pay you a bonus if you will stay here and finish the garment for me before you leave. You may use the chair in the corner. She gestured toward a small upholstered rocker that sat angled toward the desk.
Hannahs throat constricted. Her mind scrambled for a polite refusal, yet she found no excuse valid enough to withstand Miss Victorias scrutiny. Left with no choice, she swallowed her misgivings and forced the appropriate reply past her lips.
Masking her disappointment, Hannah set her box of supplies on the floor near the chair Miss Victoria had indicated and turned to fetch the dress.
She disliked sewing in front of clients. Though her tiny boardinghouse room was dim and lacked the comforts afforded in Miss Victorias mansion, the solitude saved her from suffering endless questions and suggestions while she worked.
Hannah drew in a deep breath. I might as well make the best of it. No use dwelling on what couldnt be changed. It was just a hem and few darts to compensate for her clients recent weight loss. She could finish the task in less than an hour.
Miss Victoria proved gracious. She busied herself with papers of some kind at her desk and didnt interfere with Hannahs work. She did keep up a healthy stream of chatter, though.
You probably think me morbid for finalizing all my funeral details in advance. Miss Victoria lifted the lid of a small silver case and extracted a pair of eyeglasses. She wedged them onto her nose and began leafing through a stack of documents in a large oak box.
Im sure your nephew will remember you. Hannah glanced up as she twisted the dress to allow her better access to the next section of hem.
Hannah poked her needle up and back through the red silk in rapid succession, focused on making each stitch even and straight. It wasnt her place to offer advice, but it burned on her tongue nonetheless. Any church or charitable organization in the city could do a great amount of good with even a fraction of the Ashmont estate. Miss Victoria could make several small donations without her nephew ever knowing the difference. Hannah pressed her lips together and continued weaving her needle in and out, keeping her unsolicited opinion to herself.
She was relieved when a soft tapping at the door saved her from having to come up with an appropriate response.
The sound of paper ripping echoed in the quiet room as Miss Victoria slid her letter opener through the upper edge of the flap.
Hannah turned the dress again and bent her head a little closer to her task, hoping to escape Miss Victorias notice. It was not to be. The older womans voice only grew louder and more pointed as she continued.
It seemed to be enough, and Miss Victoria turned back to her correspondence as she continued her ramblings.
An expectant pause hung in the air. Keeping her eyes on her work, Hannah voiced the first thought that came to mind.
Hannah tied off her thread and snipped the tail. She reached for her spool and unwound another long section, thankful that the discussion had finally moved in a more neutral direction. She clipped the end of the thread and held the needle up to gauge the position of the eye.
The needle slipped out of her hand.
If the woman was determined to have her speak her mind, Hannah would oblige. This was the last project shed ever sew for the woman anyway. It couldnt hurt. The only problem was, shed worked so hard not to form an opinion during this exchange, that now that she was asked for one, she had none to give. Trying not to let the silence rush her into saying something that would indeed prove her lacking in intellect, she scrambled to gather her thoughts while she searched for the dropped needle.
Victoria Ashmont considered her for several moments, her eyes piercing Hannah and bringing to mind the staring contests the school boys used to challenge her to when she was still in braids. The memory triggered her competitive nature, and a stubborn determination to win rose within her.
Exultation flashed through her for a brief second at her victory, but self-recrimination soon followed. This wasnt a schoolyard game. It was an aging womans search to create meaning in her death.
Feeling chastised and oddly encouraged at the same time, Hannah threaded her needle and returned to work. The scratching of pen against paper replaced the chatter of Miss Victorias voice as the woman gave her full attention to the documents spread across her desk. Time passed swiftly, and soon the alterations were complete.
After trying the gown on a second time to assure a proper fit and examining every seam for quality and durability, as was her custom, Victoria Ashmont ushered Hannah down to the front hall.
Thank you, maam. Hannah collected her bonnet from the butler and tied the ribbons beneath her chin.
I will settle my account with Mrs. Granbury by the end of the week, but here is the bonus I promised you. She held out a plain white envelope.
Hannah smiled as she stepped out the door, sure that not even the angels could drag Miss Victoria away until she was ready to go. Yet underneath the womans tough exterior beat a kind heart. Although Hannah didnt fully understand how kind until she arrived home and opened her bonus envelope.
Instead of the two or three greenbacks she had assumed were tucked inside, she found a gift that stole her breath and her balance. She slumped against the boardinghouse wall and slid down its blue-papered length into a trembling heap on the floor. She blinked several times, but the writing on the paper didnt change, only blurred as tears welled and distorted her vision.
She held in her hand the deed to her new dress shop in Coventry, Texas.
J.T.! J.T.! I got a customer for ya. Tom Packard lumbered down the street with his distinctive uneven gait, waving his arm in the air.
Jericho J.T. Tucker stepped out of the liverys office with a sigh and waited for his right-hand man to jog past the blacksmith and bootmaker shops. Hed lost count of how many times hed reminded Tom not to yell out his business for everyone to hear, but social niceties tended to slip the boys notice when he got excited.
It wasnt his fault, though. At eighteen, Tom had the body of a man, but his mind hadnt developed quite as far. He couldnt read a lick and could barely pen his own name, but he had a gentle way with horses, so J.T. let him hang around the stable and paid him to help out with the chores. In gratitude, the boy did everything in his power to prove himself worthy, including trying to drum up clientele from among the railroad passengers who unloaded at the station a mile south of town. After weeks without so much as a nibble, it seemed the kid had finally managed to hook himself a fish.
J.T. leaned a shoulder against the doorframe and slid a toothpick out of his shirt pocket. He clamped the wooden sliver between his teeth and kept his face void of expression save for a single raised brow as Tom stumbled to a halt in front of him. The kid grasped his knees and gulped air for a moment, then unfolded to his full height, which was nearly as tall as his employer. His cheeks, flushed from his exertions, darkened further when he met J.T.s eye.
I done forgot about the yelling again, huh? Sorry. Tom slumped, his chin bending toward his chest.
The General, huh? J.T. rubbed his jaw and used the motion to cover his grin.
Tom had names for all the wagons. Fancy Pants was the fringed surrey J.T. kept on hand for family outings or courting couples; the buggys name was Doc after the man who rented it out most frequently; the buckboard was just plain Buck; and his freight wagon was affectionately dubbed The General. The kids monikers inspired a heap of good-natured ribbing amongst the men who gathered at the livery to swap stories and escape their womenfolk, but over time the names stuck. Just last week, Alistair Smythe plopped down a silver dollar and demanded he be allowed to take Fancy Pants out for a drive. Hearing the pretentious bank clerk use Toms nickname for the surrey left the fellas guffawing for days.
Shop? J.T.s good humor shriveled. His arms fell to his sides as his gaze slid past Tom to the vacant building across the street. The only unoccupied shop in Coventry stood adjacent to Louisa Jamess laundrythe shop hed tried, and failed, to purchase. J.T.s jaw clenched so tight the toothpick started to splinter. Forcing himself to relax, he straightened away from the doorpost.
I think shes a dressmaker, Tom said. There were a bunch of them dummies with no heads or arms with her on the platform. Looked right peculiar, them all standin around her like theys gonna start a quiltin bee or something. The kid chuckled at his own joke, but J.T. didnt join in his amusement.
A dressmaker? A woman who made her living by exploiting the vanity of her customers? Thats who was moving into his shop?
A sick sensation oozed like molasses through his gut as memories clawed over the wall hed erected to keep them contained.
Toms question jerked him back to the present and allowed him to stuff the unpleasant thoughts back down where they belonged. He loosened his fingers from the fist he didnt remember making and adjusted his hat to sit lower on his forehead, covering his eyes. It wouldnt do for the kid to see the anger that surely lurked there. Hed probably go and make some fool assumption that hed done something wrong. Or worse, hed ask questions J.T. didnt want to answer.
Yes, sir! Tom bounded off to the corral to gather the horses, his chest so inflated with pride J.T. was amazed he could see where he was going.
Ducking back inside the livery, J.T. closed up his office and strode past the stalls to the oversized double doors that opened his wagon shed up to the street. He grasped the handle of the first and rolled it backward, using his body weight as leverage. As his muscles strained against the heavy wooden door, his mind struggled to control his rising frustration.
Hed finally accepted the fact that the owner of the shop across the street refused to sell to him. J.T. believed in Providence, that the Lord would direct his steps. He didnt like it, but hed worked his way to peace with the decision. Until a few minutes ago. The idea that God would allow it to go to a dressmaker really stuck in his craw.
It wasnt as if he wanted the shop for selfish reasons. He saw it as a chance to help out a widow and her orphans. Isnt that what the Bible defined as pure religion? What could be nobler than that? Louisa James supported three kids with her laundry business and barely eked out an existence. The building she worked in was crumbling around her ears even though the majority of her income went to pay the rent. Hed planned to buy the adjacent shop and rent it to her at half the price she was currently paying in exchange for storing some of his tack in the large back room.
J.T. squinted against the afternoon sunlight that streamed into the dim stable and strode to the opposite side of the entrance, his indignation growing with every step. Ignoring the handle, he slammed his shoulder into the second door and ground his teeth as he dug his boots into the packed dirt floor, forcing the wood to yield to his will.
How could a bunch of fripperies and ruffles do more to serve the community than a new roof for a family in need? Most of the women in and around Coventry sewed their own clothes, and those that didnt bought ready-made duds through the dry-goods store or mail order. Sensible clothes, durable clothes, not fashion-plate items that stroked their vanity or elicited covetous desires in their hearts for things they couldnt afford. A dressmaker had no place in Coventry.
This cant be Gods will. The world and its schemers had brought her to town, not God.
Horse hooves thudded and harness jangled as Tom led the grays toward the front of the livery.
J.T. blew out a breath and rubbed a hand along his jaw. No matter what had brought her to Coventry, the dressmaker was still a woman, and his father had drummed into him the truth that all women were to be treated with courtesy and respect. So hed smile and doff his hat and make polite conversation. Shoot, hed even lug her heavy junk around for her and unload all her falderal. But once she was out of his wagon, hed have nothing more to do with her.
Hannah sat atop one of her five trunks, waiting for young Tom to return. Most of the other passengers had left the depot already, making their way on foot or in wagons with family members who’d come to meet them. Hannah wasnt about to let her belongings out of her sight, thoughor trust them to a porter she didnt know. So she waited.
Thanks to Victoria Ashmonts generosity, shed been able to use the money shed saved for a shop to buy fabric and supplies. Not knowing what would be available in the small town of Coventry, she brought everything she needed with her. Including her prized possessiona Singer Improved Family Model 15 treadle machine with five-drawer walnut cabinet and extension leaf. The monster weighed nearly as much as the locomotive that brought her here, but it was a thing of beauty, and she intended to make certain it arrived at the shop without incident.
Her toes tapped against the wooden platform. Only a mile of dusty road stood between her and her dream. Yet the final minutes of waiting felt longer than the hours, even years, that preceded them. Could she really run her own business, or would Miss Ashmonts belief in her prove misplaced? A tingle of apprehension tiptoed over Hannahs spine. What if the women of Coventry had no need of a dressmaker? What if they didnt like her designs? What if . . .
Hannah surged to her feet and began to pace. Miss Ashmont had directed her to be bold. Bold and self-confident. Oh, and confident in God. Hannah paused. Her gaze slid to the bushy hills rising around her like ocean swells. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. The psalm seeped into her soul, bringing a measure of assurance with it. God had led her here. He would provide.
She resumed her pacing, anticipation building as fear receded. On her sixth lap around her mound of luggage, the creak of wagon wheels brought her to a halt.
A conveyance drew near, and Hannahs pulse vaulted into a new pace. Young Tom wasnt driving. Another man with a worn brown felt hat pulled low over his eyes sat on the bench. It must be that J.T. person Tom had rambled on about. Well, it didnt matter who was driving, as long as he had the strength to maneuver her sewing machine without dropping it.
A figure in the back of the wagon waved a cheerful greeting, and the movement caught Hannahs eye. She waved back, glad to see Tom had returned as well. Two men working together would have a much easier time of it.
The liveryman pulled the horses to a halt and set the brake. Masculine grace exuded from him as he climbed down and made his way to the platform. His long stride projected confidence, a vivid contrast to Toms childish gamboling behind him. Judging by the breadth of his shoulders and the way the blue cotton of his shirt stretched across the expanse of his chest and arms, this man would have no trouble moving her sewing cabinet.
Tom dashed ahead of the newcomer and swiped the gray slouch hat from his head. Tufts of his dark blond hair stuck out at odd angles, but his eyes sparkled with warmth. I got the General, maam. Well get you fixed up in a jiffy. Not wasting a minute, he slapped his hat back on and moved past her.
Hannahs gaze roamed to the man waiting a few steps away. He didnt look much like a general. No military uniform. Instead he sported scuffed boots and denims that were wearing thin at the knees. The tip of a toothpick protruded from his lips, wiggling a little as he gnawed on it. Perhaps General was a nickname of sorts. He hadnt spoken a word, yet there was something about his carriage and posture that gave him an air of authority.
She straightened her shoulders in response and closed the distance between them. Still giddy about starting up her shop, she couldnt resist the urge to tease the stoic man who held himself apart.
His right brow arced upward. Then a tiny twitch at the corner of his mouth told her hed caught on.
He dipped his chin in a small nod. Not a very demonstrative fellow. Nor very talkative.
Oh. Wait just a minute, please. There was no telling what foul things had been carted around in that wagon bed before today. It didnt matter so much for her trunks and sewing cabinet, but the linen covering her mannequins would be easily soiled.
Hannah sensed more than heard Mr. Tuckers sigh as she hurried to collect the quilt from the trunk she had been sitting on. Well, he could sigh all he liked. Her display dummies were going to be covered. She had one chance to make a first impression on the ladies of Coventry, and she vowed it would be a pristine one.
Making a point not to look at the liveryman as she scurried by, Hannah clutched the quilt to her chest and headed for the wagon. She draped it over the side, then climbed the spokes and hopped into the back, just as she had done as a child. Then she laid out the quilt along the back wall and gently piled the six dummies horizontally atop it, alternating the placement of the tripod pedestals to allow them to fit together in a more compact fashion. As she flipped the remaining fabric of the quilt over the pile, a loud thud sounded from behind, and the wagon jostled her. She gasped and teetered to the side. Glancing over her shoulder, she caught sight of Mr. Tucker as he shoved the first of her trunks into the wagon bed, its iron bottom scraping against the wooden floor.
The man could have warned her of his presence instead of scaring the wits out of her like that. But taking him to task would only make her look like a shrew, so she ignored him. When Tom arrived with the second trunk, she was ready. After he set it down, she moved to the end of the wagon.
Hannah set her hands on his shoulders as he clasped her waist and lifted her down. A tiny voice of regret chided her for not asking the favor of the rugged Mr. Tucker, but she squelched it. Tom was a safer choice. Besides, his affable manner put her at easeunlike his companion, who from one minute to the next alternated between sparking her interest and her ire.
She bit back her admonishments to take care as the men hefted her sewing machine. Thankfully, they managed to accomplish the task without her guidance. With the large cabinet secured in the wagon bed, it didnt take long for them to load the rest of her belongings. Once they finished, Tom handed her up to the bench seat, then scrambled into the back, leaving her alone with Mr. Tucker.
A cool autumn breeze caressed her cheeks and tugged lightly on her bonnet as the wagon rolled forward. She smoothed her skirts, not sure what to say to the reticent man beside her. However, he surprised her by starting the conversation on his own.
She twisted on the seat to look at him, but his eyes remained focused on the road.
That got a reaction. His chin swiveled toward her, and beneath his hat, his intense gaze speared her for a handful of seconds before he blinked and turned away.
She swallowed the moisture that had accumulated under her tongue as he stared at her, then continued.
Two years ago, I was hired by Mrs. Granbury of San Antonio to sew for her most particular clientele. One of these clients was an elderly spinster with a reputation for being impossible to work with. Well, I needed the job too badly to allow her to scare me away and was too stubborn to let her get the best of me, so I stuck it out and eventually the two of us found a way to coexist and even respect each other.
What kept her from selling it before then? His deep voice rumbled with something more pointed than simple curiosity.
A prickle of unease wiggled down Hannahs neck, but she couldnt quite pinpoint the cause.
A hard lump of dread formed in the back of Hannahs throat.
It was cold, wet and rainy! But the boys had alot of fun! It is fun to watch them find their friends and the ones they compete best with to team up with for competing. We came home with a couple ribbons for P. and H. in different categories!
H. got one in the three legged race….which was fun for him! It is so fun to watch them work together on things.
By the mid afternoon, I was freezing, in spite of two jackets and changing into dry shoes part way through! It is amazing what rain can do for you, as far as chilling you to the bone. I was ready for a cup of hot tea and a shower when i got home, but let the boys go first!
Later that night, we attended my niece’s concert. She plays the violin and did a beautiful job, she had a little dessert reception afterwards, which we stayed for and then I took them home to bed. She is growing up so fast, she is almost 12, already.
It was another late night though, so I am moving slowly again today, which is fine. But on to another busy weekend, with a wedding tomorrow. I just hope it is nice and we are not sitting in the rain again!
When a dressmaker who is smart, values beauty and has an eye on starting her own business is handed a gift that can fulfill her dreams, she is elated! What else could go wrong?
Her welcome to the new town is by someone who has reason to bear a grudge, through no fault of her own. He is too familiar with swallow women who seek only to indulge in fashion, instead of true beauty, or so he thinks. His whole has been effected by what he thinks dressmaking, ribbons and the like took from him and all joy has been taken from his life.
Hannah Richards tests those things he thought was true and by her winning smiles and kindness to others, puzzles him and makes him dig deeper into what he thought was true. Can Jericho Tucker find joy again?
This sweet, somewhat predictable love story, between these two characters was a fun read. This new author was someone I would for sure pick up again. Hannah was a fun character, smart and witty, which I found refreshing. She was not so stubborn, she was frustrating, but was genuinely sweet and warm hearted. She worked hard to help others, promote her business and did not really think about romance all the time. J.T. fights his feelings when he meets her, and is gruff, stern and even rude…..you start to just want to shake him to make him loosen up a bit and Hannah does a good job of it.
I was a bit frustrated by the many references to curves and moist pink lips and could have done without them, but mostly this was a pleasant historical fiction book.
You can buy this book from many book sellers, it retails for $14.99 and may be cheaper from other place like Amazon or Christianbook.com.
This book was provided for review from Bethany House Publishers.
Thursday: Roasted chicken in crockpot…..steamed frozen vegetables, sweet potatoes. I will be busy all day at Track and Field day, so hopefully this will be an easy dinner.
Sunday: Chicken, vegetable, potato soup….bread in bread machine.
Monday: Sweet and sour meatballs with rice and vegetables….
Tuesday: Fried rice and clean out the fridge dinner..
I had alot of apples to use up so i decided to make this easy apple cake recipe I had found awhile back. I changed a few things with it, and added more apples to it! It was great!
Cream sugar, eggs and butter. Add sour milk and mix well. Mix Flour, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add to mixture. Fold in chopped apples.
Spread in greased 9×13 pan. Mix in a bowl 1/2 c. brown sugar (you can cut this down, i used probably a 1/2 per pan….which was really sweet with some molasses added) 1/2 t. cinnamon and sprinkle over top of cake. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until done.
It really vanished very fast! My boys loved it and we scraped the pan clean!!! We had it for lunch (I know, I know, not the healthiest lunch) with cheese sticks, sweet peppers and whole wheat crackers.
I know, everyone has something that really irritates them, and i am sure what irritates me does not irritate you…..but I needed to write it down. Just like non-capitalized letters irritate me (which if you notice I have a keyboard that only sometimes works properly and refuses to capitalize) I get irritated at people who attempt to make others feel guilty for the activities they enjoy.
When I am online, on forums, groups etc. often you will see these long drawn out emails or posts about how they have decided to take care of their family instead of being online so they will not be posting much anymore. They have loved the encouragement they have gotten, but they are feeling bad and neglectful of their family.
So, at first glance, this is great. I am glad they care so much about their family, they see they have a problem and are fixing it. But to me it is a temporary solution, if they don’t have the self control or the strength to take care of their children then there are other issues at play here.
Of course, everyone would laugh and say you were crazy, give you ideas on how to organize your life better, work in the kitchen with your children and other things so you could still feed your family and not ruin your life.
For me, the internet and the computer is a tool. It is something I really appreciate. I was very lonely as a teen and so instead of getting very depressed, I got several pen-pals. To me, the internet, properly used is like that. it can be a time waster, but on rare occasions, who says there is something wrong about wasting a little time?
Now, instead of wasting money i do not have on stamps, i can connect with people, use my brain, and utilize my time all while teaching school. Yes, i do not own a laptop, I do not want a laptop to carry around because I think it can become an addiction, but i think in some ways like the Amish and cars…..sorry, but the internet is the new way to communicate and make friends.
I have lived without electricity, running water, telephones, showers. Yes, I heated my water to wash dishes and hauled all my water in and out of my house. I know what the “simple life” is. But I think sometimes if we want to leave a group or not use the computer anymore, just don’t use it. Please don’t write me a long email about it. Yes, it used to take all day to go twenty miles on a horse, I bet they spent alot of meaningful conversation during that time, but does that mean we should go back to driving on horses? Maybe instead of making excuses we should look at our days and see how we can change it and spend time with our families, fellowship with our friends and balance it with modern conveniences.
And this is not directed at any one person….just a general rant.
I hardly ever get sick…..i mean, but I think I may be…we will see tomorrow. But i feel miserable. My nose is all stuffed up and I am in pain, and of course the house falls to pieces the minute i do not feel good. i am not sure how that is. Maybe it is to show me how much work i do in the house or how when I am not on top of things, everything falls apart. Either way, I took a bath, i read a book and I think i will read another one and go to sleep after taking more GSE and vitamins.
Tuesday: Pepper, steak fajitas/tacos with avocado, tomato etc.
cornmeal crust (Make your favorite pie crust recipe but use 1/3 c. cornmeal for 1/4 c.
Sprinkle with one or all of toppings.
After her fatal choice… extraordinary hope.
Kristen Anderson thought she had the picture perfect life until strokes of gray dimmed her outlook on life. Once a happy child, Kristen’s world darkened after three friends and her grandmother died within two years. Still reeling from these losses, she was raped by a friend she thought she could trust. She soon spiraled into a depression that didn’t seem to have a bottom.
One January night, the seventeen-year-old made a decision: She no longer wanted to deal with the emotional pain that smothered her. She lay down on a set of cold railroad tracks and waited-for a freight train to send her to heaven…and peace.
Fear coursed through me. I squeezed my eyes tighter.
It’s going to be over now. The pain is going to end. I’ll be in heaven soon.
As the train whistle blew, the vibration of my body stilled.
The sound stopped. The wind stopped. The train stopped.
Amazingly, Kristen survived her suicide attempt… but the 33 freight cars that ran over her severed her legs. Now she not only had to deal with depression; she also had to face the physical pain and life without legs.
But Kristen’s story didn’t end there. After her darkest days Kristen discovered a real purpose for living. Now, in her compelling book Life, In Spite of Me, Kristen shares her journey from despair to hope.
Includes letters from Kristen that share messages she wishes someone would have told her-when she was depressed and struggling with loss, shame from sexual abuse, and suicidal thoughts.
You can find this book for sale in your local bookstores, Amazon, Christianbook.com etc.
There is also a contest if you would like to win a copy by doing one of these two thing!
For a chance to win a 5 book Tricia Goyer library any five books of your choice!
Leave a comment here http://triciagoyer.blogspot.com/2010/05/i-am-so-excited-to-announce-that-life.html for a chance to win 1 of 5 copies of Life, In Spite of Me. | 2019-04-20T13:12:05Z | https://homeschooling4boyz.wordpress.com/2010/05/ |
This invention describes hydrophobic and oleophobic fibers, films and molded articles comprising synthetic organic polymer wherein dispersed within the fiber, fabric or molded article and present at the surface of the fiber, fabric or molded article are fluorochemical compounds. Method of preparing such fibers, films and molded articles, as well as articles made therefrom also are disclosed.
This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 08/901,363 filed Jul. 28, 1997 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,127,485.
This invention relates to fiber, film and molded article compositions comprising hydrophobic and oleophobic synthetic organic polymer. In another aspect, the present invention relates to methods for preparing hydrophobic and oleophobic fiber, film and molded articles from synthetic organic polymer. In yet another aspect, the present invention relates to fabrics comprising hydrophobic and oleophobic synthetic organic fiber and to methods of making such fabrics.
Synthetic organic polymers, especially polyolefins, are employed widely to create a variety of products. Included among such varied products are: blown and cascade films, extruded sheets, foams, fibers, products made from foam and fibers, woven and knitted fabrics, non-woven fibrous webs and molded articles. Many polymers used in these products, such as polypropylene, exhibit some hydrophobicity (i.e., water resistance), but exhibit no oleophobicity (i.e., oil resistance).
The use of various fluorochemicals to treat topically a variety of fibers and fibrous substrates, such as textiles, carpet, leather, paper and non-woven webs, to impart to those materials desired properties not indigent to the virgin materials, is known. See, for example, Mason Hayek, Waterproofing and Water/Oil Repellency, 24, Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, pp. 448-455 (3rd ed. 1979) or Banks, Ed., Organofluorine Chemicals and Their Industrial Applications, Ellis Horwood Ltd., Chichester, England, pp. 226-234 (1979). Such fluorochemical compositions include fluorochemical urethane and urea-based oligomers as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,398,182 (Guenthner et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,001,305 (Dear et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,205 (Landucci), U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,737 (Stern), U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,406 (Chang), U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,354 (Matsuo et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,073 (Kirchner); compositions of cationic and non-cationic fluorochemicals as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,981 (Howells); and compositions containing fluorochemical carboxylic acid and epoxidic cationic resin as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,426,466 (Schwartz). Also known are fluorochemical esters as disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 3,923,715 (Dettre), U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,585 (Dettre), U.S. Pat. No. 4,264,484 (Patel); and, more specifically, fluorochemical esters derived from dimerized unsaturated fatty acids as disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,006 (Langford) and World Published Application WO 93/10085 (Coppens et al.). These fluorochemicals can be applied to various fibrous substrates by methods known in the art, including spraying, padding, and finish bath immersion, or can be applied directly to the fiber before the fiber is woven by incorporating the fluorochemical into the fiber spin finish.
Blending fluorochemicals with synthetic organic polymers and melt extruding fibers from the molten blend to produce fibers and fibrous substrates exhibiting hydrophilicity and oleophilicity also is known. U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,052 (Crater et al.) describes fibers, films and molded articles prepared by melt extruding a blend or mixture of (a) fiber- or film-forming synthetic organic polymers and (b) fluorochemical oxazolidinones to produce fibers, films and molded articles having low surface energy, repellency to oil and water, and resistance to soils. U.S. Pat.
No. 5,380,778 (Buckanin) describes fibers, films, and shaped articles made by melt extruding a blend of a fluorochemical aminoalcohol and a thermoplastic polymer, such as polypropylene. U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,622 (Boardman et al.) describes shaped articles, such as fibers and films, made by melt extruding mixtures of fluorochemical piperazine compound and thermoplastic synthetic polymer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,576 (Jones et al.) describes an oily mist resistant electret filter media comprising melt blown electret microfibers and a melt processable fluorochemical having a melting point of at least about 25° C. and a molecular weight of about 500 to 2500, the fluorochemical preferably being a fluorochemical oxazolidinone, fluorochemical piperazine or a perfluorinated alkane having from 15 to 50 carbon atoms. U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,587 (Mascia et al.) describes oil-repellent polymeric compositions made by blending a perfluoropolyether and optionally a radical starter with a thermoplastic polymer, intimately mixing the resulting composition at high temperature for sufficient time to form macroradicals from the polymer, and cooling the final composition to room temperature. U.S. Pat. No. 5,336,717 (Rolando et al.) discloses fluorochemical graft copolymers derived from reacting monomers having terminal olefinic double bonds with fluorochemical olefins having fluoroaliphatic groups and polymerizable double bonds.
While these various fluorochemical melt additives can in some circumstances impart satisfactory hydrophobicity and/or oleophobicity to thermoplastic resins, they typically suffer poor thermal stability above 300° C., a melt processing temperature often encountered in the industry, and they also can be prohibitively expensive, lending self-evident limitation to their commercial utility.
A′ is the residue of a mono- or polyfunctional alcohol or amine with the proviso that A or A′ contain at least 34, or alternatively at least 36, carbon atoms when Q is —CH2CH2—.
The above-depicted fluorochemicals and those compositions containing them impart hydrophobicity and oleophobicity to synthetic organic polymers when blended as melt additives with such polymers prior to their thermal extrusion. These fluorochemicals and fluorochemical compositions also offer the additional benefits of thermal stability above 300° C. and yield lower material cost compared to currently employed fluorochemical polymer additives.
In another aspect, the present invention relates to methods of preparing hydrophobic and oleophobic fibers, films, and molded articles from synthetic organic polymers containing the described fluorochemicals.
In yet another aspect, the present invention relates to fabrics comprising hydrophobic and oleophobic synthetic organic fiber, useful, for example, in medical fabrics and apparel, and filter media. Methods for making such fibers also is disclosed.
A′ is the residue of a mono- or polyfunctional alcohol or amine representing an aliphatic moiety containing from 30 to 170 carbon atoms with the proviso that A or A′ contain at least 34 carbon atoms when Q is —CH2CH2—.
It will be understood that, as the necessary result of the manner in which the above-depicted compounds are made, the fluorochemicals actually employed in the practice of the invention typically will be mixtures of compounds having varying numbers of fluorochemical tails. The compounds preferably are made such that the number of these fluorochemical tails (the bracketed groups of the above formulas) for each compound will nearly equal the valency of the mono- or polyfunctional acid or alcohol utilized in its preparation (i.e., more than about 75% of the available valencies of the acid or alcohol will be filled by the fluorochemical tails). Where a polyfunctional acid or alcohol is used, there can, however, be a residuum of unreacted sites on that acid or alcohol for at least a portion of the compounds. Such mixtures are useful in practice of the invention, and are considered within the scope hereof.
Structures for components of trimer acids are similar to those of dimer acids except that they contain an additional carboxylic acid group terminating from another hydrocarbon chain, they contain an additional non-functional hydrocarbon chain, and they contain a greater portion of bicyclic compounds.
Dimer and trimer acids typically are prepared by condensing unsaturated monofunctional carboxylic acids such as oleic, linoleic, soya or tall oil acid through their olefinically unsaturated groups, in the presence of catalysts such as acidic clays. The distribution of the various structures in dimer acids (nominally C36 dibasic acids) depends upon the unsaturated acid used in their manufacture. Typically, oleic acid gives a dimer acid containing about 38% acyclics, about 56% mono- and bicyclics, and about 6% aromatics. Soya acid gives a dimer acid containing about 24% acyclics, about 58% mono- and bicyclics and about 18% aromatics. Tall oil acid gives a dimer acid containing about 13% acyclics, about 75% mono- and bicyclics and about 12% aromatics.
Dimer/trimer acids are commercially available from a variety of vendors, including Henkel Corporation/Emery Group (as Empol™ 1008, 1061, 1040 and 1043) and Unichema North America (as Pripol™ 1004 and 1009). For further information concerning these acids, see (1) Leonard, Edward C., “The Dimer Acids,” Humko Sheffield Chemical, Memphis, Tenn., 1975, pp. 1, 4 and 5, and (2) the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, John Wiley & Sons, 3rd ed., Vol. 7, 1979, pp. 768-770. Different grades exist for the dimer and trimer acids. Some have been hydrogenated to remove olefinic double bonds and/or distilled for purification.
Dimer diols and diamines can be made from the dimer acid by methods well known in the art. Dimer diols are commercially available from Henkel Corp./Emery Group as Empol™ 1070 and 1075 diols. Dimer amines are commercially available from Witco Corp., for example, as Kemamine™ DP-3695 amine.
Ester compositions of Formula (I) are made conveniently by heating a fluorochemical alcohol with either a dimer acid or a trimer acid in the presence of a standard acid catalyst, such as p-toluenesulfonic acid, preferably in a suitable solvent such as toluene. They also can be prepared by first making an acid chloride of the dimer/trimer acid by reaction with thionyl chloride, and then reacting the acid chloride with a fluorochemical alcohol at a slightly elevated temperature (50-60° C.) in the presence of an acid scavenger, such as pyridine, and preferably in a low-boiling solvent such as chloroform. Suitable fluorochemical alcohols include sulfonamido alcohols such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,803,656 (Ahlbrecht et al.), for example, sulfonamido-based alcohols such as C8F17SO2N(CH3)CH2CH2OH and C8F17SO2N(C2H5)CH2CH2OH and telomer-based alcohols such as C8F17CH2CH2OH. Suitable dimer and trimer acids include Empol™ 1008, 1061, 1040, and 1043 acids and Pripol™ 1004, 1009 and 1048 acids.
“Reverse” ester compositions of Formula (II) can be prepared by reacting a fluorochemical carboxylic acid with a dimer diol, using the same synthetic procedure as described for the preparation of the ester compositions of Formula (I). Suitable fluorochemical carboxylic acids include sulfonamido carboxylic acids such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,809,990 (Brown et al.), for example, C8F17SO2N(C2H5)CH2COOH. Suitable dimer diols include Empol™ 1070 and 1075 diols.
Amide compositions of Formula (III) can be prepared by reacting a fluorochemical amine with a dimer or trimer acid by heating the components together neat at an elevated temperature (at least 220° C.). Alternatively, they can be prepared by first making an acid chloride of the dimer/trimer acid by reaction with thionyl chloride, and then reacting the acid chloride with a fluorochemical amine at a slightly elevated temperature (50-60° C.), and preferably in a low-boiling solvent such as chloroform. Suitable fluorochemical amines include C8F17SO2N(C2H5)CH2CH2NH2, C8F17SO2N(C2H5)CH2CH2NH(Ch3) and C8F17CH2CH2NH2. Suitable dimer and trimer acids include Empol™ 1008, 1061, 1040, and 1043 acids and Pripol™ 1004, 1009 and 1048 acids.
“Reverse” amide compositions of Formula (IV) can be prepared by reacting a fluorochemical carboxylic acid with a dimer amine, using the same synthetic procedure as described for the preparation of the ester compositions of Formula (I). Suitable fluorochemical carboxylic acids include sulfonamido carboxylic acids such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,809,990 (Brown et al.), for example, C8F17SO2N(C2H5)CH2COOH. Suitable dimer amines include Kemamine™ DP-3695 amine.
As used herein, the terms “fiber” and “fibrous” refer to particulate matter, generally thermoplastic resin, wherein the length to diameter ratio of the particulate matter is greater than or equal to about 10. Fiber diameters may range from about 0.5 micron up to at least 1,000 microns. Each fiber may have a variety of cross-sectional geometries, may be solid or hollow, and may be colored by, e.g., incorporating dye or pigment into the polymer melt prior to extrusion. The fluorochemicals and fluorochemical compositions of the invention modify both the surface and the bulk of each fiber in a uniform way. Thus, if some fluorochemical is washed from the surface of the fibers, the fluorochemical reservoir within the fiber supplies more of each surfactant to the surface of the fiber and thus replenishes the fiber's desired properties.
The described fluorochemicals and compositions comprising those fluorochemicals find particular utility as additives to synthetic organic polymers. Synthetic polymeric fibers, films, and molded articles to which the fluorochemicals of the invention have been incorporated, have low surface energy, excellent oil and water repellency, and exhibit a resistance to soiling. Such polymers can be thermoplastic or thermoset including synthetic linear polyamides, e.g., nylon-6 and nylon-66; polyesters, e.g., polyethylene terephthalate; polyolefins, e.g., polyethylene and polypropylene; polyolefin copolymers; epoxy resins; urethanes; acrylics; polystyrenes, etc. The described fluorochemicals also can be used as blends with other fluorochemicals, e.g., with fluorochemical poly(oxyalkylene) compounds oligomers or polymers.
Fibers, films, and molded articles containing the fluorochemicals can be made by preparing a blend of the solid fluorochemical or fluorochemical composition with a chosen solid synthetic polymer by intimately mixing the fluorochemical with pelletized or powdered polymer, and melt extruding the blend into fibers or films by known methods. The fluorochemicals or fluorochemical compositions can be mixed directly with the polymer or they can be mixed with the polymer in the form of a “master batch” (concentrate) of the fluorochemical in the polymer. An organic solution of the fluorochemical or fluorochemical composition may also be mixed with the powdered or pelletized polymer, the mixture dried to remove solvent, then melted and extruded. Alternatively, molten fluorochemicals can be injected into a molten polymer stream to form a blend immediately prior to extrusion into fibers or films.
The amount of fluorochemical used as an additive is that amount sufficient to achieve the desired properties of oil and water repellency and/or soiling resistance. Preferably, the amount of additive to be used will be that amount which provides from about 100 to 20,000 ppm fluorine, more preferably 200 to 10,000 ppm fluorine, based on weight of the fiber or film, in the fiber or film after extrusion.
After melt extrusion of the fiber or film an annealing step can be carried out to enhance surface energy lowering and to enhance oil and water repellency for a particular fluorochemical additive. In addition to or in lieu of such an annealing process, the film or fiber also may be embossed between two heated roll where one or both of the rolls may be patterned. An annealing process typically is conducted below the melt temperature of the synthetic polymer, for example, in the case of nylon, about 150° to 220° C. for a period of about 30 seconds to about 5 minutes. In some cases, the presence of moisture can improve the effectiveness of the fluorochemical.
The fluorochemicals of the invention also can be employed as aqueous suspensions or emulsions, or as organic solvent solutions, in the treatment of textile fibers (or filaments) during their manufacture, e.g., in combination with spin finishes, or in the treatment of porous or fibrous substrates such as textiles, carpets, paper, and leather to impart oil and water repellency and anti-soiling properties thereto. The fibers or filaments as such or in aggregated form, e.g., yarn, toe, web, or roving, or the fabricated textile, e.g., articles such as carpet and woven fabrics, can be treated with the fluorochemical. This treatment can be carried out by applying the fluorochemical or fluorochemical composition as organic solutions or as aqueous organic dispersions by known techniques customarily employed in applying fluorochemicals, e.g., fluorochemical acrylate copolymers, to fibers and fiber substrates. The fluorochemical treatment, for example, with the fluorochemical being in the form of an aqueous emulsion or organic solution, can be carried out by immersing the fiber substrates in a bath containing a cationic, anionic, or nonionic fluorochemical blend, padding the substrate or spraying the same with the fluorochemical emulsion or solution, or by foam, kiss-roll, or metering the applications, e.g., spin finishing, and then drying the treated substrates if solvent is still present. If desired, the fluorochemicals or blends of fluorochemicals can be co-applied with conventional fiber treating agents, e.g., anti-static agents or non-aqueous fiber lubricants.
In addition to the use of the fluorochemicals of this invention in modifying the properties of fibers, e.g., carpet fibers, as described above, they also find utility as blend additives and blown microfibers for use in making non-woven fabrics having low surface energy, oil and water repellency, and/or resistance to soils. Such non-woven webs or fabrics are readily prepared by processes used in the manufacture of either melt-blown or spunbonded webs. For example, a process similar to that described in Wente, Superfine Thermoplastic Fibers, 48 INDUS. ENG'G CHEM. 1342 (1956), or in WENTE ET AL., MANUFACTURE OF SUPERFINE ORGANIC FIBERS, (Naval Research Laboratories Report No. 4364, 1954) can be used for the preparation of the nonwoven webs of this invention. Multi-layer constructions made from non-woven fabrics enjoy wide industrial and commercial utility and include uses as medical fabrics. The makeup of the constituent layers of such multi-layer constructions can be varied according to the desired end-use characteristics and can comprise two or more layers of melt-blown and spunbond webs in many useful combinations such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,145,727 and 5,149,576, both of whose descriptions are incorporated herein by reference.
Any of a wide variety of constructions may be made from the above-described fibers and fabrics, and such constructions will find utility in any application where some level of hydrophobicity, alcohol repellency, or oleophobicity is required. The fibers and fabrics of the invention may, for example, be used in woven and non-woven medical fabrics and related apparel, industrial apparel, outdoor fabrics (e.g., umbrellas, awnings, tents, etc.), raincoats and other outdoor apparel, as well as in home furnishings such as table linens and shower curtains and in myriad other related uses.
Films of the invention can be made from blends of synthetic organic polymer and the described fluorochemicals by any of the film making methods commonly employed in the art. Such films may be non-porous or porous (the latter including films that are mechanically perforated) where the presence and degree of porosity is selected according to desired performance characteristics.
The fluorochemicals of the invention also can find utility as additives to polymer coatings and articles, e.g., to improve water resistance, lower surface energy, improved dielectric properties, etc.
The following examples are offered to aid in the understanding of the present invention and are not to be construed as limiting the scope thereof. Unless otherwise indicated, all parts and percentages are by weight.
Melt-Blown Extrusion Procedure—The melt-blown extrusion procedure is the same as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,357, column 10, which is herein incorporated by reference. The extruder used is a Brabender 42 mm conical twin screw extruder, with maximum extrusion temperature of 270-280° C. and distance to the collector of 12 inches (30 cm).
Fluorochemical and thermoplastic polymer mixtures are mixed by blending the fluorochemical and thermoplastic polymer in a paperboard container using a mixer head affixed to a hand drill for about one minute until a visually homogeneous mixture is obtained.
The process condition for each mixture is the same, including the melt blowing die construction used to blow the microfiber web, the basis weight of the web (50±5 g/m2) and the diameter of the microfibers (5-18 micrometers). Unless otherwise stated, the extrusion temperature is 270-280° C., the primary air temperature is 210° C., the pressure is 124 kPa (18 psi), with a 0.076 cm air gap width, and the polymer throughput rate is about 180 g/hr/cm.
Spunbond Extrusion Procedure—The extruder used is a Reifenhauser Extruder Model Number RT 381 (available from Reifenhauser Co., Troisdorf, Nordrhein Westfalen, Germany). The extruder is driven by an infinitely variable 3ø shunt wound DC motor, 37.3 kW & 2200 rev/min max. The maximum screw speed is reduced to 150 rev/min. The screw is 70 mm in diameter and 2100 mm in length. The entire extruder is 2.3 m in length by 1.3 m in width by 1.6 m in height, weighing 2200 kg. There are five 220 V heating zones at a total of 22.1 kW of heating power, giving a maximum heating zone temperature of 210° C.
The bonder is a Kusters Two-Bowl-Thermobonding-Calender (available from Kusters Corp., Nordrhein Westfalen, Germany). The effective bonding width is 1.2 m. The upper patterned metal roll has a 15% bonding area and a temperature of 270° F. (132° C.), while the lower rubber roll has a slick surface and a temperature of 265° F. (129° C.). The bonding nip pressure is 57-860 pounds force per linear inch (3000-46000 J/cm). The rolls are heated by convection from a continuously circulating furnace oil. The temperature range of the nips is 200-300° F. (93-149° C.). The bonder's speed is directly synchonized to the speed of the collection belt that has a range of 3.6 to 65 linear meters per minute.
The basis weight for the nonwoven web (g/m2) can be calculated by multiplying the speed of the spin pump (rev/m) times the constant 71.
Embossing Procedure—Nonwoven samples were embossed using a top roll with a 15% contact area diamond pattern metal top roll set at 98° C. and a rubber bottom roll set at 104° C., with a gap between the rolls of less than 2 mil (50μ), at a pressure of 30 psi (1550 torr) between the top and bottom rolls, and at a linear speed of 8.3 ft/min (2.5 m/min).
Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) Test—Unless otherwise stated, the sample is heated from room temperature at a rate of 10° C./min and the percent of the sample left when a given temperature is reached (usually 220° C., 280° C., 320° C. and 340° C.) is reported in most tables. It is desirable to have at least about 90% of the sample remaining after heating to 320° C. so that the fluorochemical is resistant to high temperature processing.
In running the Water Repellency Test, a nonwoven web sample is placed on a flat, horizontal surface. Five small drops of water or a water/IPA mixture are gently placed at points at least two inches apart on the sample. If, after observing for ten seconds at a 45° angle, four of the five drops are visible as a sphere or a hemisphere, the nonwoven web sample is deemed to pass the test. The reported water repellency rating corresponds to the highest numbered water or water/IPA mixture for which the nonwoven sample passes the described test.
It is desirable to have a water repellency rating of at least 4, preferably at least 6.
The Oil Repellency Test is run in the same manner as is the Water Repellency Test, with the reported oil repellency rating corresponding to the highest oil or oil mixture for which the nonwoven web sample passes the test.
It is desirable to have an oil repellency rating of at least 1, preferably at least 3.
Escorene™ PP3505 polypropylene—polypropylene, having a 400 melt flow rate, commercially available from Exxon Chemical Company, Baytown, Tex.
Escorene™ pp3445 polypropylene—polypropylene, having a 35 melt flow rate, commercially available from Exxon Chemical Company.
Escorene™ 3795 polypropylene—polypropylene, having an 800 melt flow rate, commercially available from Exxon Chemical Company.
Rexflex FPO™ D-100 polypropylene—polypropylene having a 15 melt flow rate, commercially available from Rexene Corp., Dallas, Tex.
Aspun™ 6806 polyethylene—polyethylene, having a melt index of 105 g/10 min (as measured by Test Method ASTM D-1238) and having a peak melting point of 124.8° C., commercially available from Dow Chemical Co., Midland, Mich.
Duraflex™ polybutylene 8510—polybutylene polymer, having a 45 melt index (as measured by ASTM D1238, Condition D) and having a Brookfield viscosity of 640,000 cps (measured at 177° C. using a #29 spindle), commercially available from Shell Chemical Co., Houston, Tex.
Engage™ 8400 poly(ethylene/octylene)—76/24 ethylene/octene copolymer, having a 30 melt flow rate, commercially available from DuPont/Dow Elastomers, Wilmington, Del.
Exact™ 4023 poly(ethylene/butylene)—ethylene/butylene copolymer, having a 35 melt flow rate, commercially available from Exxon Chemical Company.
Morthane™ PS 400 polyurethane—a thermoplastic polyurethane resin, having a Shore A Hardness (1 sec delay) of 89 and having a melting point range of 140-210° C., commercially available from Shell Chemical Co.
Morthane™ polyester-based polyurethane PS440-200—a polyurethane resin, commercially available from Morton Thiokol Corp., Chicago, Ill.
Celanex™ 2002 polybutylene terephthalate—unfilled polybutylene terephthalate thermoplastic resin, medium flow, commercially available from Hoechst Celanese Corp., Chatham, N.J.
PET 35 BASF polyethylene terephthalate—commercially available from BASF Corp., Mount Olive, N.J.
BASF Ultramid™ B3 nylon—nylon 6 polyamide resin, having a melting point of 220° C., having a number average molecular mass of 15000 and having a melt viscosity of 140 Pa.s at 250° C. (D=1000 s−1), commercially available from BASF Corp., Parsippany, N.J.
POSF sulfonyl fluoride—C8F17SO2F, perfluorooctanesulfonyl fluoride, commercially available as Fluorad™ FX-8 fluorochemical intermediate from 3M Company.
MeFOSE alcohol—C8F17SO2N(CH3)CH2CH2OH, having an equivalent weight of 540, made in two stages by reacting POSF with methylamine and ethylenechlorohydrin, using a procedure similar to that described in Example 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 2,803,656 (Ahlbrecht et al.).
EtFOSE alcohol—C8F17SO2N(C2H5)CH2CH2OH, commercially available as Fluorad™ FC-10 fluorochemical alcohol from 3M Company.
FC-129 Acid—C8F17SO2N(C2H5)CH2COOH—prepared from Fluorad™ FC-129 Fluorochemical Surfactant by acidification with sulfuric acid followed by extraction with isopropyl ether and removal of ether solvent.
Zonyl™ BA alcohol—F(CF2CF2)nCH2CH2OH, whose average molecular weight is 475, commercially available as from E. I du Pont de Nemours & Co., Wilmington, Del.
having an epoxy equivalent weight of 640, made in two stages by reacting POSF with methylamine and epichlorohydrin, using a procedure similar to that described in Example 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,380,778 (Buckanin).
MeFOS-NH2 amine—C8F17SO2N(CH3)CH2CH2NH2, made from MeFOSE, methanesulfonyl chloride and triethylamine to give the intermediate methanesulfonyl chloride ester, followed by treatment with ammonia, using a procedure similar to that described in Examples 1 and 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,458,571 (Tokoli).
EtFOS-NH2 amine—C8F17SO2N(C2H5)CH2CH2NH2, made from EtFOSE, methanesulfonyl chloride and triethylamine to give the intermediate methanesulfonyl chloride ester, followed by treatment with ammonia, using a procedure similar to that described in Examples 1 and 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,458,571 (Tokoli).
EtFOS-NHMe amine—C8F17SO2N(C2H5)CH2CH2NH(CH3), made in the same way as MeFOS-NH2, except that methylamine was substituted for ammonia.
EtFOS-NCO isocyanate—C8F17SO2N(C2H5)CH2CH2NCO, prepared using the following procedure. To a 3-necked 500 mL flask equipped with overhead stirrer, thermometer and reflux condenser (connected to an empty washing trap which was in turn connected to a gas washing trap containing 20% aqueous NaOH) was charged 100 g (0.169 eq, based on an amine equivalent weight of 590) of C8F17SO2(C2H5)HC2H4NH2 (EtFOS-NH2 amine) dissolved in 250 g of ethyl acetate. Through the resulting mixture was bubbled about 7 g (0.192 eq) of hydrogen chloride gas, which produced as slushy mass. Next about 50 g (0.505 eq) of phosgene gas (COCl2) was added over about a 10 minute period, after which the reaction mixture was heated to 55° C. After 3 hours, an additional 36 g (0.364 eq) of phosgene was added and, after reacting overnight, the reaction mixture turned a translucent brown color. An additional 35 g of phosgene was added, but there was no further evidence of reaction. The reaction temperature was raised to 70° C, and excess phosgene and ethyl acetate were removed by distillation. After 1 hour, the reaction mixture was placed under reduced pressure (˜90 torr) to remove completely any residual volatiles. The now tan-brown reaction mixture (104 g) was heated to 110° C., causing the mixture to clear up, and the now clear mixture was transferred to a 100 mL round-bottom flask equipped with a 14/20 standard taper joint. The mixture was distilled at 145° C. and 0.1 torr to yield 86.88 g of product which was identified as the desired compound using 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, having a molecular weight of 596.
Empol™ 1008 acid—a distilled and hydrogenated dimer acid based on oleic acid, having an acid equivalent weight of 305 as determined by titration, commercially available from Henkel Corp./Emery Group, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Empol™ 1061 acid—a distilled dimer acid based on oleic acid, commercially available from Henkel Corp./Emery Group.
EmPol™ 1040 acid—a trimer acid based on oleic acid, commercially available from Henkel Corp./Emery Group.
EmPol™ 1043 acid—a trimer acid based on oleic acid, commercially available from Henkel Corp./Emery Group.
Empol™ 1008 acid chloride—prepared using the following procedure. To a 1-L 3-necked round-bottom flask equipped with overhead stirrer, thermometer, addition funnel and reflux condenser (attached to an empty gas washing vessel which in turn was attached to a gas washing vessel containing 25% aqueous NaOH) and placed in an oil bath heated to 65° C. was charged 500 g (1.68 eq, based on an acid equivalent weight of 295) of Empol™ 1008, and 221.8 g (1.86 eq) of thionyl chloride (99% pure, commercially available from Sigma-Aldrich Chemical Co.) was added over a period of about one hour via the addition funnel. The contents in the flask were allowed to react for 72 hours at 65° C. Then the reaction mixture was heated to 100° C. at about 60 torr absolute pressure to remove volatiles. The product, a dark liquid, was characterized as containing the desired product by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy and was used without further purification.
Empol™ 1004 acid chloride—prepared using the same procedure as described for Empol™ 1008 dimer acid dichloride except that Empol™ 1004 dimer acid (commercially available from Henkel Corp./Emery Group) was substituted for Empol™ 1008 dimer acid.
Empol™ 1070 diol—a dimer diol based on oleic acid, commercially available from Henkel Corp./Emery Group.
Empol™ 1075 diol—a dimer diol based on oleic acid, having a hydroxyl equivalent weight of 303, commercially available from Henkel Corp./Emery Group.
Pripol™ 1004 acid—a hydrogenated distilled dimer acid based on a C22 unsaturated acid, commercially available from Unichema North America, Chicago, Ill.
Pripol™ 1009 acid—a hydrogenated distilled dimer acid based on oleic acid, commercially available from Unichema North America, Chicago, Ill.
Pripol™ 1048 acid—a hydrogenated distilled dimer/trimer acid based on oleic acid, commercially available from Unichema North America, Chicago, Ill.
Kemamine™ DP-3695 amine—a dimer amine based on oleic acid, having an amine equivalent weight of 290, commercially available from Witco Corp., Newark, N.J.
stearic acid—C17H35COOH, commercially available from Sigma/Aldrich Chemical Co., Milwaukee, Wis.
stearoyl chloride—C17H35COCl, prepared by reacting stearic acid with thionyl chloride, having an equivalent weight of 351 as determined by titration.
stearyl alcohol—C18H37OH, commercially available from Sigma/Aldrich Chemical Co.
stearyl amine—C18H37NH2, commercially available from Sigma/Aldrich Chemical Co.
stearyl isocyanate—C18H37NCO, commercially available from Sigma/Aldrich Chemical Co.
commercially available from Sigma/Aldrich Chemical Co.
commercially available from Sigma/Aldrich Co.
dodecanoic acid—HOOC(CH2)10COOH, commercially available from E. I. DuPont de Nemours, Wilmington, Del.
adipic acid—HOOC(CH2)4COOH, commercially available from Sigma/Aldrich Chemical Co.
commercially available from Union Carbide Corp., Danbury, Conn.
benzyltriethylammonium chloride—commercially available from Sigma/Aldrich Chemical Co.
butyltin oxide hydroxide hydrate—commercially available from Sigma/Aldrich Chemical Co.
thionyl chloride—commercially available from Sigma/Aldrich Chemical Co.
Fluorochemical Ester F-1 was prepared by esterifying MeFOSE alcohol with Empol™ 1008 dimer acid at a molar ratio of 2:1 using the following procedure. A 500 mL 2-necked round-bottom flask equipped with overhead condenser, thermometer and Dean-Stark trap wrapped with heat tape was charged with 57.8 g (0.190 eq) of Empol™ 1008 dimer acid, 100 g (0.185 eq) of MeFOSE, 1 g of p-toluenesulfonic acid and 50 g of toluene. The resulting mixture was placed in an oil bath heated to 150° C. The degree of esterification was monitored by measuring the amount of water collected in the Dean-Stark trap and also by using gas chromatography to determine the amount of unreacted fluorochemical alcohol. After 18 hours of reaction, about 2.8 mL of water was collected and a negligible amount of fluorochemical alcohol remained, indicating a complete reaction. The reaction mixture was then cooled to 100° C. and was twice washed with 120 g aliquots of deionized water to a water pH of 3. The final wash was removed from the flask by suction, and the reaction mixture was heated to 120° C. at an absolute pressure of about 90 torr to remove volatiles. The product, a brownish solid, was characterized as containing the desired product by 1 H and 13C NMR spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis.
Fluorochemical Esters F-2 through F-22 were prepared using essentially the same procedure as was used for preparing Fluorochemical Ester F-1, except that the fluorochemical alcohol and carboxylic acid were varied as were their molar ratios.
Fluorochemical Ester F-23, a “reverse” ester made from a fluorochemical carboxylic acid and a dimer alcohol, was prepared using the following procedure. To a 250 mL 3-necked round bottom flask equipped with overhead stirrer, nitrogen inlet adapter and open vertical tube was charged 60 g (0.115 eq) of C8F17SO2N(C2H5)CH2COOH, 34.1 g (0.118 eq) of Empol™ 1070 dimer diol and 0.1 g of butyltin oxide hydroxide hydrate. The reaction was then heated to 170° C. under a gentle nitrogen flow for 4 hours. After this time, analysis of the reaction mixture by 1H and 13C NMR showed about 15-17 mole percent unreacted hydroxyl groups, and analysis by gas chromatographic analysis showed some unreacted fluorochemical carboxylic acid. Next, 4 g (estimated 6.7 mole percent) of additional C8F17SO2N(C2H5)CH2COOH was added to the reaction mixture, which was heated to 170° C. for an additional 3 hours. GC analysis showed no unreacted fluorochemical carboxylic acid, but NMR analysis showed about 4 mole percent of dimer diol hydroxyl groups left. Then 4 mole percent of C8F17SO2N(C2H5)CH2COOH was added to the reaction mixture, which was heated to 170° C for an additional 4 hours. GC analysis showed no fluorochemical carboxylic acid remained, and NMR analysis showed about only a very small amount of dimer diol hydroxyl groups remaining.
Table 1 shows the various alcohols and acids used to make the esters and their approximate molar ratios.
Fluorochemical Ester F-24 was prepared by esterifying MeFOSE alcohol with Empol™ 1008 dimer acid dichloride at a molar ratio of 2:1 using the following procedure. A 1-L 3-necked round-bottom flask equipped with overhead stirrer, thermometer and oil bath heated to 55° C. was charged with 100 g (0.185 eq) of MeFOSE, 15.6 g (0.197 eq) of pyridine and 95.9 g of chloroform. To this was added 56.5 g (0.180 eq) of Empol™ 1008 dimer acid dichloride over a 20 minute period. After mixing for about one hour in the oil bath, the contents in the flask were allowed to react by heating to 80° C., then were washed first with 150 mL of 2% aqueous H2SO4, followed by washing with 150 mL of deionized water. The washed reaction mixture was stripped in a rotary evaporator set at 80° C. and about 90 torr to yield 142.5 g of a solid product, characterized by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis to be the desired product.
Fluorochemical Esters F-25 through F-27 were prepared using essentially the same procedure as was used for preparing Fluorochemical Ester F-24, except that the alcohol and acid chloride were varied as were their molar ratios.
Table 2 shows the various alcohols and acid chlorides used to make the esters and their approximate molar ratios.
Fluorochemical Ester Alcohol F-28 was prepared by MeFOSG epoxide with Empol™ 1008 dimer acid at a molar ratio of 2:1 using the following procedure. A 250 mL 3-necked round-bottom flask equipped with overhead stirrer, thermometer and oil bath was charged with 38.4 g (0.15 eq) of Empol™ 1008 dimer acid and 0.42 g of benzyltrimethylammonium chloride, and the contents were heated to a temperature of 96° C. Over a 5 minute period, 83.2 g (0.15 eq) of molten MeFOSG was added via a dropping funnel, lowering the reaction temperature to 80° C. After 16 minutes, the reaction temperature increased to 107° C., then fell to 100° after an additional hour. After 1 hour and 51 minutes, the reaction mixture was clear and homogeneous, and the reaction was allowed to continue for an additional 68 hours. After this time, analysis using gas chromatography showed no residual epoxide, and the product was characterized by 1H and 13C NMR and thermogravimetric analysis to be the desired product.
Fluorochemical Ester Alcohols F-29 through F-31 were prepared using essentially the same procedure as was used for preparing Fluorochemical Ester Alcohol F-28, except that the carboxylic acid was varied as was the molar ratio of epoxide to carboxylic acid.
Table 3 shows the various epoxides and carboxylic acids used to make the ester alcohols and their approximate molar ratios.
Fluorochemical Ether Alcohol F-32 was prepared by reacting MeFOSG epoxide with Empol™ 1075 dimer alcohol at a molar ratio of 2:1 using the following procedure. A 500 mL 2-necked round-bottom flask equipped with overhead stirrer and 70° C. oil bath was charged with 49.3 (0.163 eq) of Empol® 1075 dimer alcohol and 0.612 g (0.53 mL) of boron trifluoride etherate, and 100 g (0.156 eq) of molten MeFOSG was added dropwise via an addition funnel. The reaction mixture was allowed to react for a 5 hour period, after which time analysis using gas chromatography showed no residual epoxide. The resulting material, which solidified upon standing, was characterized by 1H and 13C NMR and thermogravimetric analysis to be the desired product.
Fluorochemical Ether Alcohol F-33 was prepared using essentially the same procedure as was used for preparing Fluorochemical Ether Alcohol F-32, except that stearyl alcohol was used instead of Empol™ 1075 dimer alcohol and the molar ratio of epoxide to alcohol was 1:1 rather than 2:1.
Table 4 shows the epoxides and alcohols used to make the ether alcohols and their approximate molar ratios.
Fluorochemical Amino Alcohol F-34 was prepared by reacting MeFOSG epoxide with Kemamine™ DP-3695 dimer amine at a molar ratio of 2:1 using the following procedure. A 250 mL 2-necked round-bottom flask equipped with overhead stirrer and 80° C. oil bath was charged with 45.0 (0.155 eq) of Kemamine® DP-3695 dimer amine and 0.42 g (0.37 mL) of boron trifluoride etherate, and 95 g (0.148 eq) of MeFOSG was added dropwise via an addition funnel over about a 20 minute period. After reacting for a 5 hour 20 minute period, the reaction mixture showed no residual epoxide from analysis using gas chromatography. 1H and 13C NMR and thermogravimetric analysis showed the resulting solid to be the desired product.
Fluorochemical Amino Alcohols F-35 and F-36 were prepared using essentially the same procedure as was used for preparing Fluorochemical Amino Alcohol F-34, except that stearyl amine was used instead of Kemamine™ DP-3695 dimer amine and the molar ratio of epoxide to amine was 2:1 and 1:1 respectively.
Table 5 shows the various epoxides and amines used to make the amino alcohols and their approximate molar ratios.
Fluorochemical Urethane F-37 was prepared by reacting EtFOS-NCO isocyanate with Empol™ 1075 dimer alcohol at a molar ratio of 2:1 using the following procedure. A 500 mL 3-necked round-bottom flask equipped with overhead stirrer and 65° C. oil bath was charged with 50.0 g (0.165 eq) of Empol™ 1075 dimer alcohol and 2 drops of dibutyltin dilaurate, and 98.3 g (0.165 eq) of molten EtFOS-NCO was added dropwise via an addition funnel. The reaction mixture, at first whitish in color, cleared and thickened after reacting for 1.5 hours. After 3.5 hours, infrared analysis at 2265 cm−1 showed no remaining isocyanate. The resulting solid was found to be the desired product by 1H and 13C NMR and thermogravimetric analysis.
Fluorochemical Urethane F-38 was prepared using essentially the same procedure as described for preparing Fluorochemical Urethane F-37, except that a 1:1 mole ratio of isocyanate to alcohol was used.
Fluorochemical Urethane F-39 was prepared using essentially the same procedure as described for preparing Fluorochemical Urethane F-38, except that stearyl alcohol was used instead of Empol™ 1075 dimer alcohol.
Fluorochemical Urethane F-40, a “reverse” urethane, was prepared by reacting EtFOSE alcohol with stearyl isocyanate at a molar ratio of 1:1 using essentially the same procedure as described for preparing Fluorochemical Urethane F-37.
Table 6 shows the various isocyanates and alcohols used to make the urethanes and their approximate molar ratios.
Fluorochemical Urea F-41 was prepared by reacting EtFOS-NCO isocyanate with Kemamine™ DP-3695 dimer amine at a molar ratio of 2:1 using the following procedure. A 250 mL 3-necked round-bottom flask equipped with overhead stirrer, thermometer and 100° C. oil bath was charged with 29.0 g (0.10 eq) of Kemamine DP-3695™ 1075 dimer amine, and 57.2 g (0.096 eq) of molten EtFOS-NCO was added in one portion. The reaction mixture was stirred overnight at 100° C., after which infrared analysis at 2265 cm−1 showed no remaining isocyanate. The resulting solid was found to be the desired product by 1H and 13C NMR and thermogravimetric analysis.
Fluorochemical Urea F-42 was prepared using essentially the same procedure as described for preparing Fluorochemical Urea F-41, except that stearyl amine was substituted for Kemamine™ DP-3695 dimer amine and the molar ratio of isocyanate to amine was 1:1.
Fluorochemical Urea F-43, a “reverse” urea, was prepared by reacting EtFOS-NHMe with stearyl isocyanate at a molar ratio of 1:1 using essentially the same procedure as described for preparing Fluorochemical Urea F-41.
Table 7 shows the various isocyanates and amines used to make the ureas and their approximate molar ratios.
Fluorochemical Amide F-44 was prepared by reacting EtFOS-NH2 amine with Empol™ 1008 dichloride at a molar ratio of 2:1 using the following procedure. A 500 mL 3-necked round-bottom flask equipped with overhead stirrer, thermometer and 65° C. oil bath was charged with 40.0 g (0.0642 eq) of EtFOS-NH2 amine, 40 g of chloroform (ethanol-free) and 5.59 g (0.0706 eq) of pyridine. Once the reaction mixture was homogeneous, 20.2 g (0.0642 eq) of Empol™ 1008 dimer acid chloride and 20 g additional chloroform were added via an addition funnel. After a total reaction time of 2.5 hours, the oil bath temperature was raised to 80° C., and the reaction mixture was washed with 126 g of 2% aqueous sulfuric acid. The reaction mixture was then poured into a separatory funnel and the layers were allowed to separate. The lower organic layer was saved, was washed with 126 g of hot water, was allowed to separate, and was concentrated by stripping on a rotary evaporator set at 90° C. to give a yield of 52.0 g of a dark solid which was found to be the desired product by 1H and 13C NMR and thermogravimetric analysis.
Fluorochemical Amide F-45 was prepared by reacting EtFOS-NH2 amine with stearoyl chloride at a 1:1 molar ratio using the following procedure. A 250 mL 3-necked round-bottom flask equipped with overhead stirrer and 120° C. oil bath was charged with 22.5 g (0.064 eq) of stearoyl chloride, followed by 40.0 g (0.64 eq) of molten EtFOS-NH2 amine. The reaction mixture was allowed to react for about 6 hours, after which 58.3 g of solid was isolated, which was found to be the desired product by 1H and 13C NMR and thermogravimetric analysis.
Fluorochemical Amide F-46 was prepared using essentially the same procedure as described for preparing Fluorochemical Amide F-44, except that EtFOS-NHMe amine was substituted for EtFOS-NH2 amine, and the molar ratio of amine to dichloride was 2:1.
Fluorochemical Amide F-47 was prepared using essentially the same procedure as described for preparing Fluorochemical Amide F-45, except that EtFOS-NHMe amine was substituted for EtFOS-NH2 amine.
Fluorochemical Amide F-48 was prepared by reacting POSF sulfonyl fluoride with piperazine in a 2:1 molar ratio, using the procedure described in Example 7 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,622.
Fluorochemical Amide F-49 was prepared by reacting POSF sulfonyl fluoride, stearoyl chloride and piperazine in a 1:1:1 molar ratio, using the procedure described in Example 6 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,622.
Table 8 shows the various acid derivatives and amines used to make the amides and their approximate molar ratios.
Amide Amine Acid Derivative Acid Der.
Fluorochemical Oxazolidinone F-50 was prepared by reacting fluorochemical chlorohydrin C8F17SO2N(Me)CH(OH)CH2Cl with stearyl isocyanate at a 1:1 molar ratio followed by ring closure using essentially the same procedure as described in Scheme I of U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,052 (Crater et al.).
Fluorochemical Oxazolidinone F-51 was prepared by reacting C8F17SO2N(Me)CH(OH)CH2Cl with hexamethylene diisocyanate at a 2:1 molar ratio followed by ring closure using essentially the same procedure as described in Scheme I of U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,052 (Crater et al.).
Table 9 shows the various isocyanates and amines used and their approximate molar ratios.
Fluorochemical amide urea F-52 was prepared by reacting POSF, piperazine and C18H37NCO in a 1:1:1 molar ratio, using the procedure described in Example 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,622.
Fluorochemical amic acid F-53 was prepared using the following procedure. A 250 mL 3-necked flask equipped with overhead stirrer and placed in a 120° C. oil bath was charged with 22.51 g (0.064 eq) of octadecen-1-ylsuccinic anhydride (ODSA) followed by 40.0 g (0.064 eq) of molten C8F17SO2N(C2H5)C2H4NH2 (EtFOS-NH2). After about 6 hours of reaction, 58.3 g of solid was isolated and was determined to be the desired amic acid product from 1H and 13C NMR analysis.
Fluorochemical amic acid F-54 was prepared using the following procedure. A 250 mL 3-necked flask equipped with overhead stirrer was charged with 62.49 g (0.107 eq) of C8F17SO2N(C2H5)C2H4NHCH3 (EtFOS-NHMe), 37.51 g (0.107 eq) of octadecen-1-ylsuccinic anhydride (ODSA) and 0.187g of benzyltriethylammonium chloride. The contents of the flask were heated 75° C. for 3 days, followed by heating to 100° C. for an additional day. The reaction product was determined to be the desired amic acid product from 1H and 13C NMR analysis.
In Examples 1-25 and Comparative Examples C1-C30, thermal stabilities of the various fluorochemicals listed in Table 1 through Table 10 (F-1 through F-54) were determined at 220° C., 280° C., 320° C. and 340° C. using the Thermogravimetric Analysis Test. The same fluorochemicals from Table 1 through Table 10 were then blended with Escorene™ PP3505 polypropylene chips at 1.00% (wt) solids, and the blends were thermally extruded into nonwoven webs using the Melt-Blown Extrusion Procedure. The nonwoven webs were evaluated for repellency using the Water Repellency Test and the Oil Repellency Test immediately, after 1-2 weeks at room temperature, and after the Embossing Procedure.
Results of these thermal resistance and repellency tests are shown in Table 11.
Ex. chem. 220 280 320 340 Init. 1-2 w Emb. Init. 1-2 w Emb.
The data in Table 11 show that the fluorochemical esters derived from fluorochemical sulfonamido alcohols or acids and all carboxylic acids or alcohols, respectively (Examples 1-4, 7-9, 11, 14, 16, 17, 19, 21 and 23-26), the fluorochemical esters derived from fluorochemical telomer alcohols and dimer/trimer acids (Examples 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, and 15) and fluorochemical amides derived from fluorochemical amines and dimer acids (Examples 24, 24A, 25, and 25A) each exhibited a balance of good to excellent thermal stability and good repellency when blended with the polypropylene resin. Among fluorochemical esters not based on dimer/trimer acids, those having sulfonamide groups (Examples 19, 21, 22, and 23) exhibit better thermal stability than those corresponding materials not containing sulfonamide groups (Comparative Examples C2, C3, C4, and C5).
Additionally, the data show that for the pairs of fluorochemical esters of Examples 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 12 and 13, which differ in that the first member of each pair contains statistically two fluorochemical esters per molecule while the second member contains statistically one fluorochemical ester per molecule, that the member containing two esters per molecule imparts better oil and water repellency than the member containing one ester per molecule.
In Examples 26-37, fluorochemical dimer acid ester F-1 was blended with various thermoplastic polymers at 1.00% (wt) solids, and the blends were thermally extruded into nonwoven webs using the Melt-Blown Extrusion Procedure. The nonwoven webs were evaluated for repellency using the Water Repellency Test and the Oil Repellency Test immediately, after 1-2 weeks at room temperature, and after embossing.
In Comparative Examples C31-C40, the same experiments were run as described in Examples 26-37 respectively except that no fluorochemical melt additive was blended with the thermoplastic resins.
Results from the evaluations of Examples 26-37 and Comparative Examples C31-C40 are presented in Table 12.
Ex. Name % (wt) Init. 1-2 w Emb. Init. 1-2 w Emb.
The data in Table 12 show that fluorochemical dimer acid ester F-1 improves the oil and water repellency of all the thermoplastic polymers evaluated as melt blown constructions, though the improvement for the PET 35 polyethylene terephthalate and the BASF Ultramid™ B-3 nylon were not as dramatic.
In Examples 38-46, fluorochemical dimer acid ester F-1 was blended with Escorene™ PP3505 polypropylene chips at weight percent solids varying from 0.50-1.25%, and the blends were thermally extruded into nonwoven webs at various basis weights using the Spunbond Extrusion Procedure. The nonwoven webs were evaluated for repellency using the Water Repellency Test and the Oil Repellency Test after time periods of 5 minutes, 2 hours (120 min) and 17-22 hours (reported as 1320 min) at ambient temperature after web formation.
In Comparative Examples C41-C42, the same experiment was run as described in Examples 38-46, except that no fluorochemical melt additive was blended with the polypropylene resin and two basis weights were run.
Results from the evaluations of Examples 37-45 and Comparative Examples C41-C42 are presented in Table 13.
The data in Table 13 show that fluorochemical dimer acid ester F-1 imparted excellent water repellency to all of the polypropylene spunbonded webs at all concentrations and basis weights evaluated. Good oil repellency was achieved at higher F-1 concentrations.
In Examples 47-50 and Comparative Examples C43-46, fluorochemical dimer acid ester F-1 was evaluated for weight loss using the Thermogravimetric Analysis Test as in Example 1, except this time the test was run under isothermal conditions (at 220, 250, 280 or 320° C.) and the amount of F-1 left was measured time periods of 5, 20 and 60 minutes.
In Comparative Examples C43-C46, the same experiments were run as in Examples 47-50 , except that fluorochemical oxazolidinone F-50 was substituted for Fluorochemical Ester F-1.
Results of these weight loss evaluations are presented in Table 14.
The data in Table 14 show that at every temperature run, fluorochemical ester F-1 exhibited superior thermal stability to fluorochemical oxazolidinone F-50.
Films were made from spunbond polypropylene nonwoven webs with and without fluorochemical dimer acid ester. These films were evaluated for oil and water repellency.
In Example 51, a film was pressed from spunbond Escorene™ PP3505 polypropylene containing 1.25% of fluorochemical dimer acid ester F-1 (from Example 45 of Table 13) using the following procedure. A sandwich construction was assembled consisting of a rectangular steel plate of 25.4 cm length and 15.3 cm width, a copper foil of dimensions similar to those of the steel plate, and a rectangular steel shim of 25.4 cm length, 15.3 cm width and 254μ thickness in which a centered rectangular cutout of 10.1 cm by 8.7 cm was made. Next, 2.5 g of spunbond polypropylene was folded into the center of the cutout area with approximate open margin border of approximately 1 cm on each side. The fabric was covered with more copper foil and another rectangular steel plate of the same dimensions used in the rest of the construction. Next, the sandwich construction was placed between the plates of a press, each plate being heated to 200° C., and the plates were brought together with a force of 5 tons for a 4 inch (10.2 cm) diameter circle (587,000 kg/m2) for 2 minutes. Afterwards, the sandwich construction was removed from the heated plates and was placed between two unheated plates on the press at a much lower pressure to cool for 1 minute. The construction was disassembled, the film was extracted. The film was then evaluated for repellency using the Water Repellency Test and the Oil Repellency Test; the same test liquids and rating scale were used as with the nonwoven web repellency test, with the reported value corresponding to the highest number test liquid for which a drop, when placed on the surface of the film, would not spread.
In Comparative Example C47, the same polypropylene film preparation and evaluation was run as described in Example 51, except that the fluorochemical dimer acid ester F-1 was omitted.
Results from Example 51 and Comparative Example C47 are presented in Table 15.
The data in Table 15 show that the film made from polypropylene having fluorochemical dimer acid ester F-1 added thereto exhibited improved water and oil repellency relative to the film made from polypropylene only.
Molded castings were made from a two-part, room temperature-curable, thermoset epoxy resin system (3M Scotch-Weld™ 2158 B/A Epoxy Adhesive Tube Kit) with and without fluorochemical dimer acid ester. After curing, the castings were evaluated for water and oil repellency.
In Example 52, 2.45 g of Part A, 2.45 g of Part B and 0.10 g of fluorochemical dimer acid ester F-1 were mixed together in an approximately 60 mm diameter aluminum weighing pan. The sample was cured for 1 hour at 80° C. and was left overnight at room temperature. The Water Repellency Test and the Oil Repellency Test were then run on the surface of the cured casting; the same test liquids and rating scale were used as with the nonwoven web repellency test, with the reported value corresponding to the highest number test liquid for which a drop, when placed on the surface of the film, would not spread.
In Comparative Example C48, the same epoxy resin preparation and evaluation was run as described in Example 52, except that the fluorochemical dimer acid ester F-1 was omitted.
Results are presented in Table 16.
The data in Table 16 show that the casting made from epoxy resin having fluorochemical dimer acid ester F-1 added thereto exhibited dramatically improved water and oil repellency relative to the casting made from epoxy resin only.
Molded castings were made from a one-part, moisture-curable, thermoset polyurethane resin system (found in 3M EC-5200 Marine Adhesive Sealant) with and without fluorochemical dimer acid ester. After curing, the castings were evaluated for water and oil repellency.
9.8 g of EC-5200 sealant and 0.2 g of fluorochemical dimer acid ester F-1 were mixed together in a vial, and the mixture was heated with a heat gun and stirred until a homogeneous mixture resulted. Equal portions were then poured into two approximately 60 mm diameter aluminum weighing pans. For Example 53, the resin system in the first pan was allowed to cure overnight under ambient conditions (roughly 50% relative humidity). For Example 54, the resin system in the second pan was baked for 15 hours at 50° C. above a pan of water. The Water Repellency Test and the Oil Repellency Test were then run on the surface of each cured resin; the same test liquids and rating scale were used as with the nonwoven web repellency test, with the reported value corresponding to the highest number test liquid for which a drop, when placed on the surface of the film, would not spread.
In Comparative Examples C49-C50, the same moisture-cured polyurethane resin preparation and evaluation was run as described in Example 53-54, respectively, except that the fluorochemical dimer acid ester F-1 was omitted.
Results are presented in Table 17.
The data in Table 17 show that the casting made from moisture-cured polyurethane resin having fluorochemical dimer acid ester F-1 added thereto exhibited dramatically improved water and oil repellency to the casting made from moisture-cured polyurethane resin only, cured either under ambient conditions or baked.
Various modifications and alterations of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention, and it should be understood that this invention is not limited to the illustrative embodiments set forth herein.
A′ is the residue of a dimer diol, a dimer diamine, a trimer triol, or a trimer triamine.
2. The film of claim 1 wherein said synthetic organic polymer is a thermoplastic polymer.
3. The film of claim 2 wherein said thermoplastic polymer is a polyamide, a polyester, or a polyolefin.
4. The film of claim 1 wherein said synthetic polymer is thermoset.
5. The film of claim 1 wherein said film is microporous.
6. The film of claim 1 wherein said film is a fibrillated film.
A′ is the residue of a dimer diol, a dimer diamine, a trimer triol, or a trimer triamine, said residue representing an aliphatic moiety containing from about 30 to 170 carbon atoms.
8. The film of claim 7 wherein said Q is selected from the group consisting of —SO2N(R′)(CH2)k—, —(CH2)k—, —CON(R′)(CH2)k— and —(CH2)kSO2N(R′)(CH2)k—, where R′ is hydrogen, a phenyl group or is a methyl or ethyl group and where each k is independently an integer from 1 to about 20.
9. The film of claim 7 wherein said p is nearly equal to the valency of A or A′.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein said synthetic organic polymer is thermoplastic and said fluorochemical or fluorochemicals are melt extruded.
12. The method of claim 10 wherein said synthetic organic polymer is a thermoplastic polymer.
13. The method of claim 12 wherein said thermoplastic polymer is a polyamide, a polyester, or a polyolefin.
14. The method of claim 10 wherein said synthetic polymer is thermoset.
16. The method of claim 15 wherein said Q is selected from the group consisting of —SO2N(R′)(CH2)k—, —(CH2)k—, —CON(R′)(CH2)k— and —(CH2)kSO2N(R′)(CH2)k—, where R′ is hydrogen, a phenyl group or is a methyl or ethyl group and where each k is independently an integer from 1 to about 20.
17. The method of claim 15 wherein said p is nearly equal to the valency of A or A′.
19. The molded article of claim 18 wherein said synthetic organic polymer is thermoplastic.
20. The molded article of claim 18 wherein said synthetic polymer is thermoset.
22. The molded article of claim 21 wherein said Q is selected from the group consisting of —SO2N(R′)(CH2)k—, —(CH2)k—, —CON(R′)(CH2)k— and —(CH2)kSO2N(R′)(CH2)k—, where R′ is hydrogen, a phenyl group or is a methyl or ethyl group and where each k is independently an integer from 1 to about 20.
23. The molded article of claim 21 wherein said p is nearly equal to the valency of A or A′. | 2019-04-19T09:43:53Z | https://patents.google.com/patent/US6262180B1/en |
While great theorems are arguably the end goal of mathematics, it is often a great conjecture that does the most to advance understanding and create new theories. For no field has this been truer than computational complexity, the study of which computational problems are within reach of a standard computer. The famous P versus NP conjecture, still unsolved after 40 years, has done more than perhaps any other single mathematical assertion in modern times to set the ground rules and the very language of its field.
Formulated in 1971, the conjecture focused the attention of computer scientists on the contrast between two classes of problems: P, the class of problems a computer can solve efficiently, and NP, the class of problems for which a computer can check efficiently whether a proposed solution is correct, even if it doesn’t have the capability to come up with that solution in the first place. Natural computation problems tend to fall into one of these two categories. The conjecture states—and most computer scientists believe—that these two classes are distinct, meaning that there are some problems in NP whose solutions are beyond the reach of any efficient computer algorithm.
Now, the field of computational complexity has been electrified by a new conjecture, which, while not as monumental as the P versus NP conjecture, in some sense picks up where that conjecture leaves off. If the ʻUnique Games Conjectureʼ is correct, then for many of the problems people would most like to solve, it’s hard not only to find an exact solution—finding even a good approximation of the solution is beyond the reach of a computer.
Over the four decades since the original P versus NP conjecture was formulated, it has stubbornly resisted proof. But at the same time, computer scientists have amassed a wealth of evidence suggesting that it is correct. They have shown that thousands of practical problems—for example, figuring out the best design for a chip, the best airplane schedule, or the lowest-energy configuration of a protein—are NP-hard, meaning that an efficient algorithm for any one of them would automatically produce an efficient solution to all the problems in NP (which would mean that P = NP). So far, no one has managed to produce an efficient algorithm for any one of these thousands of problems, and not for want of trying. If the conjecture is correct, no one ever will.
But suppose that instead of, say, a perfect chip design, you would be content with one that is simply pretty good. Over the past few decades, computer scientists have come up with good approximation algorithms for some such problems, and for other problems they have proved that good approximation algorithms do not exist. However, for many of the problems people are most interested in solving, computer scientists are in the dark about whether, and how well, they can be approximated.
Now, the Unique Games Conjecture (UGC) has given researchers a new hook on which to try to catch some of these slippery problems. Formulated in 2002 by Subhash Khot, currently at New York University, the UGC simply proposes that one particular problem about assigning colors to the nodes of a network is NP-hard to solve even approximately.
This conjecture may seem, on the face of it, like a pretty parochial statement (though possibly hard to prove, or even false). Over the past decade, however, computer scientists have found to their surprise that if the conjecture is true, then a host of problems—some of them seeming to bear little resemblance to the original Unique Games problem—are also hard to approximate. The findings have left researchers scratching their heads about just what is so special about this particular network-coloring problem.
Like many great conjectures, the UGC has led to findings in a wide range of fields seemingly far removed from computational complexity, including the structure of foams, the geometry of different ways to measure distance, and even the merits of different voting systems.
And also like many great conjectures, the UGC has the potential to advance the field of computational complexity regardless of whether it is eventually proved or disproved. If it is proved, it will give exact hardness results for a wide range of approximation problems, and in the case of a wide class of problems known as constraint satisfaction problems, it will show that the ‘obvious suspect’ method for solving these problems truly is the best one, bringing a satisfying closure to that research area. Disproving the UGC might be even more exciting, since it would require the creation of a powerful new approximation algorithm that would presumably be very different from the approximation algorithms known today.
To get a sense of the types of approximation problems on which the UGC has the potential to shed light, let’s turn our microscope on a classic problem known as Minimum Vertex Cover, which has applications in communications, civil and electrical engineering, and bioinformatics. Given a network—a collection of nodes (also called vertices) and edges connecting some of the vertices—a vertex cover is a subset of the vertices (called the cover) such that every edge in the network touches at least one vertex in the cover. The Minimum Vertex Cover problem asks for a vertex cover with the smallest possible number of vertices.
Vertex Cover: In the four networks above, the red vertices form a vertex cover, since every edge touches at least one red vertex.
One way to find the smallest possible vertex cover is simply to look at all subsets of the vertices, weed out the ones that aren’t vertex covers, and then see which of the remaining subsets are the smallest. However, for a network with n vertices, there are 2n subsets to check. Exponential functions such as 2n grow so quickly that even for fairly small values of n, this algorithm would take longer than the age of the universe for even the fastest computer to run.
The consensus among computer scientists is that for a computer algorithm to be efficient, its running time must be at most a polynomial function of the size of the input, n—that is, something like 2n2+1 or 4n3+n (this is, in fact, what it means for an algorithm to belong to the class P). In 1972, Richard Karp of the University of California, Berkeley famously showed that a polynomial-time algorithm for Minimum Vertex Cover does not exist unless P = NP: in other words, this problem is NP-hard.
Thus, short of a proof that P = NP, the best that researchers can hope for is an efficient approximation algorithm: one that is guaranteed to produce vertex covers that are pretty small, but maybe not the smallest.
Luckily, one very simple such algorithm exists: Start by choosing any one edge of your network, and put both its endpoints in your subset. Delete from the network those two vertices and all edges that touch either one of them, and then repeat the process by choosing any one edge from the new, smaller network and putting its two endpoints in your subset. Keep repeating this process until all the edges have been deleted. This will take at mostn⁄2 steps, so it is very efficient, unlike the previous algorithm. The resulting subset is a vertex cover, and although it may not be the smallest, it has at most twice as many vertices as it needs, since every vertex cover must have at least one of the two vertices chosen in each round. Computer scientists say this algorithm achieves a factor-of-2 approximation.
Since this algorithm is so simple, it might seem likely that a more ingenious algorithm could do better, coming closer to the smallest number of vertices needed. Indeed, in the first couple of decades after the P versus NP conjecture was formulated, many computer scientists believed that getting good approximations must be easier than finding the exact answer to an NP-hard question, says Sanjeev Arora, of Princeton University. “The intuition was that there are so many different things you could throw at a problem to get approximate solutions,” he says.
But no one has ever come up with an algorithm that approximates Minimum Vertex Cover to within any constant factor better than 2. Experiences such as this one made computer scientists start to wonder whether there are some problems for which finding a good approximation is every bit as hard as finding an exact solution—that is, NP-hard.
In 1992, computer scientists achieved a breakthrough: the famous PCP theorem, a powerful but very technical result that allowed researchers to prove that some problems are NP-hard even to approximate beyond some factor. Using the PCP theorem, for example, Irit Dinur, currently at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and Samuel Safra of Tel Aviv University showed in 2002 that assuming P is not equal to NP, there is no efficient algorithm for Minimum Vertex Cover with an approximation factor better than 10 √ 5 – 21, or about 1.36—that is, an algorithm guaranteed always to produce a vertex cover at most 36% larger than the minimum size.
Results like this one—in which there is a gap between the approximation factor of the best known algorithm and the approximation factor of the hardness result—create a tantalizing question for researchers. In the case of Minimum Vertex Cover, is the factor-of-2 approximation achieved by the simple algorithm we described indeed the best possible, and the PCP theorem is simply not powerful enough to prove that? Or is there a better algorithm out there, one perhaps that achieves a factor of 1.36?
Such questions are of interest not just to theoretical computer scientists. Improving a chip design algorithm from a factor-of-3 approximation to a factor-of-2 approximation might mean millions of dollars saved in improved efficiency, but it would be useful to know ahead of time if there is no point in searching for such an improvement because none exists.
In the late 1990s, in a landmark paper, Johan Håstad, of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, figured out how to get exact hardness results for a few specific problems. Some researchers managed to adapt his arguments to handle more problems, but for many problems, there were seemingly insurmountable technical obstacles to applying this paradigm.
“There were a lot of important problems we just couldn’t do,” says Wigderson.
And that’s where matters stood in 2001, when a young Princeton graduate student knocked on his advisor’s door to share a new approximation-hardness idea he had been playing around with.
The student, Subhash Khot, had noticed that a lot of the hard parts about an approximation problem he was working on seemed to be encapsulated in a conjecture about the hardness of assigning colors to the vertices of a network. A few days later, he told his advisor, Sanjeev Arora, that the conjecture was helpful in another problem as well. Arora thought the conjecture was worth writing up, but probably not important enough to submit to the best computer science conferences.
“We had no idea it would become so central,” Arora recalls.
Khot’s Unique Games Conjecture has its roots in the Network Coloring problem: Given a network and a set of colors, is it possible to color the vertices of the network in such a way that two vertices that share an edge always have different colors?
Vertex Coloring: Given a network, is there a way to color the vertices red, green and blue such that vertices that share an edge are always different colors? Figuring out which networks have this property is an NP-hard problem.
In the case of only two colors (say, red and green), it’s easy to answer this question efficiently for any given network: Simply start with a random vertex and color it (say) red. Now all the vertices connected to that one have to be colored green. Color those, and continue to color every vertex connected to an already colored vertex, until you’ve either reached a contradiction or successfully colored the whole network.
If you are working with more than two colors, choosing the color of one vertex does not force the color of any of the vertices connected to it, so it’s impossible to carry out an algorithm as simple as the one described above. In fact, for more than two colors, deciding which networks can be colored is an NP-hard problem.
Khot decided to bridge the gulf between the two-color algorithm and the situation with more than two colors by considering networks that come equipped with a set of coloring rules, or constraints, such that if two vertices are connected by an edge, then whenever one edge gets colored, the constraint specifies what the color of the other edge must be. For such networks, an algorithm similar to the one for two colors determines, easily enough, whether the network can be colored in a way that satisfies the constraints.
For theoretical computer scientists, the natural next question is the optimization version of this problem: For a network that can’t be colored in a way that satisfies all the constraints, which coloring satisfies the most constraints possible? We will call this the Unique Games problem (the name has its origin in a different form of the problem, which is more complicated to state).
Khot conjectured that this innocent-looking question is in some sense the ultimate in hard-to-approximate problems.
More precisely, Khot’s Unique Games Conjecture makes the following rather technical statement: For every value of ε > 0, no matter how small, there is a number of colors k (possibly very large) for which, looking at constraint networks with k colors, it is NP-hard to tell the difference between networks for which at least (100 – ε)% of the constraints can be satisfied and networks for which at most ε% of the constraints can be satisfied.
So for example, choosing ε = 1, there is some number of colors k for which it is NP-hard (that is, effectively impossible) to distinguish between networks in which it is possible to satisfy at least 99% of the constraints and networks in which it is possible to satisfy at most 1% of the constraints.
On the face of it, this seems like an improbable assertion. Intuition suggests that constraint networks in which almost all the coloring constraints can be satisfied should look fundamentally different from constraint networks in which almost none of the constraints can be satisfied, and it should be easy to spot the differences between them. Yet when the colors and size of the networks start to number in the billions or trillions, this intuition suddenly starts feeling a lot less obvious.
It follows from the conjecture that the Unique Games coloring problem cannot be approximated efficiently up to anyconstant factor (in contrast with, for example, Minimum Vertex Cover, which you may recall can easily be approximated to within a factor of 2). To see why this is so, we’ll show that the Unique Games problem can’t be approximated up to a factor of ½. A similar argument (with different numbers) works for any other factor you choose.
So suppose, for a moment, that we could approximate Unique Games up to a factor of ½—that is, we could produce an efficient algorithm that, for any number of colors k and any constraint network, would produce a coloring of that network that satisfied at least half as many constraints as the best possible coloring.
This algorithm would immediately give us an efficient way to distinguish between (for example) networks in which one can satisfy at least 99% of the constraints and networks in which one can satisfy at most 1%: For the former networks, the algorithm would produce a coloring that satisfied at least 99/2 or 44.5% of the constraints, whereas for the latter networks, by their very nature the algorithm could produce no coloring that satisfied more than 1%. Thus, the existence of such an algorithm would violate the UGC. In other words, assuming the UGC is true, approximating the Unique Games problem up to a factor of ½—or indeed any constant factor—is NP-hard.
This reasoning is called a reduction argument: we reduced one problem (distinguishing between the 99% and 1% cases) to another problem (approximating the Unique Games problem up to a factor of ½), and then we used the hardness of the former problem to argue about the hardness of the latter problem. Reductions are the standard approach to proving hardness results in computational complexity.
Perhaps because of the relative simplicity of the coloring problem Khot studied, in the years following his statement of the UGC, computer scientists started noticing that the problem seemed to lend itself to reduction arguments—much more so than the complicated PCP theorem. Thus, it gave researchers a way to make hardness arguments for problems that had previously been beyond their reach.
“The UGC seems to encapsulate and simplify some very hard technical stuff,” O’Donnell says.
The first glimmer of the importance of the UGC came in 2003, when Khot and Oded Regev, of Tel Aviv University and the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, proved that if UGC is true, then computer scientists’ intuition about the Minimum Vertex Cover problem is correct: the problem is NP-hard to approximate up to any constant better than 2.
Max Cut: Given a network, which division of the vertices into two clumps produces the most edges that go from one clump to the other? The above division “cuts” through the six red edges.
Two years later, the UGC generated a truly startling finding, one that made computer scientists sit up and take note. It concerned a problem called Max Cut, which asks, given a network, how to divide up the vertices into two subsets in such a way that this division cuts through as many edges as possible (that is, separates the two endpoints of the edge into opposite subsets).
In 1994, Michel Goemans of MIT and David Williamson of Cornell University used a geometric argument involving trigonometric identities to come up with an efficient approximation algorithm for Max Cut that comes within about 87% of the best possible cut. Most computer scientists, says Luca Trevisan of Stanford University, believed that this particular number was an artifact of the geometric arguments involved and that there was probably a better approximation algorithm out there, since Max Cut is not inherently a deeply geometric problem. Håstad had used the PCP theorem to show in 1999 that it is NP-hard to approximate Max Cut better than about 94%, but that left plenty of room to improve on the 87% algorithm.
In 2005, however, Khot, O’Donnell, Guy Kindler of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Elchanan Mossel of the Weizmann Institute showed that if UGC is true, then the 87% algorithm is the best possible efficient approximation to Max Cut.
Since that time, researchers have proved numerous results of the form ‘If the UGC is true, then problem X is NP-hard to approximate better than a factor of Y.’ And in 2008, while at the University of Washington, Prasad Raghavendra—now of the Georgia Institute of Technology—astonished computer scientists by proving that UGC gives exact hardness results for all constraint satisfaction problems—problems such as the Unique Games problem in which the goal is to fulfill as many of a given set of constraints as possible. “Almost all problems in all disciplines have versions that look like that,” Wigderson says.
What’s more, Raghavendra showed that the UGC implies that the best approximation for any such problem is achieved by a very simple algorithm that uses a paradigm known as semidefinite programming.
In a certain sense, the results we’ve just described are like a house of cards: If someone disproves the UGC, they will all collapse (although some weaker versions might survive). As computer scientists started making this observation to Khot, he became determined, O’Donnell says, to show that it is possible to use the ideas in the UGC to prove some unconditional theorems: statements whose conclusions do not depend on the UGC ultimately getting proved.
Taxicab Geometry: The effective distance between two buildings is different for a bird than for a taxicab confined to city streets. The distortion between different ways of measuring distance turns out to be intimately connected to the Unique Games Conjecture.
Khot zeroed in on something called the Goemans-Linial Conjecture, an assertion about the geometry of metric spaces: spaces that come equipped with a metric, that is, a definition of the distance between any two points. While we’re all familiar with everyday, ʻas the crow fliesʼ distance (which mathematicians call the L2 metric), many other metrics exist. For example, there’s the taxicab metric, also known as the L1 metric: it specifies that the distance between two points is the length of the shortest route that follows a combination of North-South and East-West streets. And for some subsets of an L2 space, the square of the L2 metric is another metric, called the L22metric.
A fundamental geometric question is how much distortion occurs if you take objects in a metric space and view them through the lens of a different metric. For example, if you take two buildings in Manhattan, how much distance would you save if you could fly instead of drive between them?
The Goemans-Linial Conjecture asserts, roughly, that the L22metric is a not-too-distorted version of the L1 metric. Specifically, it says that there is some universal distortion constant K such that if you take any finite collection of points in an L22metric space, there’s a way to embed them (or in unscientific terms, to plunk them down) in an L1space so that the distance between any pair of points has been distorted by at most a factor of K.
Computer scientists have known for years that this conjecture is related to the problem of finding a good approximation algorithm for a problem called Sparsest Cut. This problem asks how to divide the vertices of a network into two clusters of roughly equal size, in such a way that as few edges as possible go from one cluster to the other. Algorithms that divide networks into natural clusters are useful for problems in fields such as computer vision and data analysis, since they give a way to find collections of related objects in large data sets.
The Sparsest Cut problem is NP-hard to solve exactly, so the best computer scientists can hope for is a good approximation. One approach to creating such an algorithm is to try to embed the vertices of the network in an L1space in such a way that the vertices are far apart on average, but those vertices connected by an edge are fairly close together. Doing so would give a geometric way to ‘see’ the natural clusters in the network, and computer scientists have shown that this process would lead to a good approximation algorithm for Sparsest Cut. Unfortunately, no one has found an efficient way to create such an embedding.
What computer scientists can do quite well, however, is embed the vertices in an L22space. If the Goemans-Linial conjecture could be proven, then computer scientists would know that this embedding was just a distorted version of a similar embedding in an L1 space. Using this knowledge, they could prove that there was an algorithm that approximated Sparsest Cut up to a constant factor.
In the early years of the new millennium, computer scientists had proved various results that seemed to be leading towards a potential proof of the Goemans-Linial conjecture, and by 2005, excitement was running high. However, working with Nisheeth Vishnoi, currently at Microsoft Research India in Bangalore, Khot found that if UGC is true then Sparsest Cut cannot be approximated up to any constant factor. This would imply that the Goemans-Linial conjecture is in fact false.
Since the Goemans-Linial conjecture is a purely geometric statement, Khot and Vishnoi felt that it should be possible to disprove it without depending on the UGC, a statement that is, after all, about computational complexity. In 2005, they managed to do just that, using ideas from the UGC but not relying on the statement of the UGC itself.
This finding is not the only unconditional result to emerge from studying the UGC. The conjecture has led researchers to prove fundamental results about voting systems and the structure of foams (see, respectively, the sidebars Stable Elections and Spherical Cubes).
While the unconditional results that have emerged from the UGC have already proved its value to the mathematics and computer science community, it would nevertheless be nice (to put it mildly) to know whether it is in fact true.
What has emerged is a jumble of intriguing, halfway-there results. One finding, for example, says roughly that if the UGC is indeed true, it takes a very, very large number of colors to make a Unique Games network coloring hard to approximate, much more so than in corresponding problems involving the PCP theorem. Researchers have also shown that, unlike with many problems, randomly chosen networks are not hard to approximate and so will not be an avenue to proving the UGC.
And last year, Arora, together with Boaz Barak and David Steurer of Microsoft Research New England, proved that there is a sub-exponential algorithm for Unique Games—that is, one that is faster than an exponential algorithm, but still not as fast as a polynomial algorithm. That means that Unique Games joins a small and exclusive clique of problems for which the best known algorithm falls between exponential and polynomial time. “That was a surprise,” Arora says.
The assortment of findings about the UGC are reminiscent of the allegory in which a collection of blind people touch different parts of an elephant and each get a different impression of the elephant’s nature, says Dana Moshkovitz of MIT.
If someone does unveil the UGC’s inner elephant and comes up with a proof some day, it will be a cause for celebration, since that would mean (among many other things) that constraint-satisfaction problems have been thoroughly understood. “It would very much complete the theory,” O’Donnell says.
At the same time, if someone can disprove the UGC, it might give researchers even more to think about. “People suspect that to show the UGC is wrong, someone would have to come up with an amazing algorithm involving a lot of new ideas,” Arora says.
Unlike some other famous conjectures such as the Riemann Hypothesis and the P versus NP problem, for which most mathematicians agree about the expected answer, the UGC’s believers and disbelievers form two pretty even camps, O’Donnell says. “This may be an open problem for a very long time,” he says.
As anyone who has gone on a cross-country road trip will know, trying to fit a large assortment of objects into the trunk of a car may require many attempts, a very long time, and a bit of divine inspiration. By contrast, if someone else is kind enough to pack your trunk for you, checking whether he has accidentally left any items on the curb takes a matter of seconds.
The P versus NP conjecture concerns the difference between problems that can be solved efficiently and problems, such as trunk packing, that may be hard to solve, but for which it’s easy to check efficiently whether a proposed solution is correct.
Efficiency is an intuitively clear concept, but what precisely does it mean for a computational problem to have an efficient solution? One thing it does not mean is that every instance of the problem can be solved in a reasonable amount of time. For most computational problems, the length of time it takes to get an answer increases as the size of the ‘input’ — the lengths of some numbers we are trying to add, or the number of objects we are trying to fit in a suitcase—grows. For even a simple problem like adding two numbers, there are numbers long enough that adding them together would take longer than a year, or a million years, or any length of time we’d care to specify.
In practice, though, we never need to add numbers that large. To be practical, an algorithm does not have to solve every instance of a problem quickly—just those instances with reasonable input sizes (something that will vary from problem to problem). As long as the running time of the algorithm doesn’t grow too fast as the size of the input grows, the algorithm should be able to handle the practical examples we would actually want to throw at it. But how fast is too fast?
In the 1960s, computer scientists decided that the most reasonable definition of not-too-fast growth is what is called polynomial time. An algorithm is said to run in polynomial time if, for some constants C and k, the algorithm takes at most Cnk steps to solve any instance of the problem with inputs of size n.
It’s not hard to show that this concept is independent of which computational model we use: if a problem has a polynomial-time algorithm on one type of computer, that algorithm can be translated into a polynomial-time algorithm on any other type of computer. Computer scientists have named the class of problems that can be solved by polynomial-time algorithms class P.
Polynomial functions grow comparatively slowly—much, much more slowly than exponential functions such as 2n, which typically appear, for example, as the running time of brute-force search algorithms. Algorithms whose running times grow like exponential functions are so slow that they are impractical for all but the very smallest inputs. And while an algorithm whose running time is bounded by a large polynomial such as n100 may not be very practical to run either, such algorithms don’t seem to happen a whole lot, for some reason: for most of the problems known to be in P, computer scientists have found algorithms whose running time is bounded by a polynomial with a small exponent, such as n3 or n4. Thus, most computer scientists take the view that for a problem to belong to class P is equivalent to it being feasible to solve.
The problem of adding two numbers belongs to P, since the standard algorithm schoolchildren learn is efficient (though it may not seem so when being carried out by a seven-year-old): Its running time is proportional to the length of the two numbers. By contrast, computer scientists have not so far been able to find a polynomial-time algorithm to solve the trunk packing problem. Thus, this problem may not belong to class P; however, as we have seen, it does belong to another class, which computer scientists call NP: the class of problems for which there is a polynomial-time algorithm to verify whether a proposed solution is indeed correct.
Any problem in P is automatically in NP, but what about the reverse? In the early 1970s, Stephen Cook, currently at the University of Toronto, and Leonid Levin, currently at Boston University, independently formulated the famous P versus NP conjecture: that these two classes are not the same. In other words, there are problems in NP that can never be solved in polynomial time by any computer algorithm, no matter how clever.
In a sense, the conjecture asserts that creativity cannot be automated—that there is a fundamental gulf between the ability to solve a problem and the ability merely to appreciate someone else’s solution. If the conjecture is false, a proof of that fact would have profound implications for a wide range of disciplines.
For example, in mathematics, it is a simple matter to create an efficient algorithm that checks the correctness of any proposed mathematical proof. A proof that P = NP would allow mathematicians to transform this algorithm into an efficient algorithm to come up with a proof of any true mathematical statement. If this could be done, the field of mathematics would be transformed from its current form into something completely unrecognizable.
To many mathematicians, it seems unfathomable that mathematical insight could be automated in this way, and indeed the majority of mathematicians and theoretical computer scientists believe that P does not equal NP. Yet the conjecture has held out against all attempts to prove or disprove it over the last 40 years.
Sometimes, even a failed attempt to prove the UGC can bear fruit. When O’Donnell, Kindler and Uriel Feige of the Weizmann Institute tried to get at the UGC using a technique called parallel repetition, they found that the statement they wanted to prove reduced to a simple, elegant question about the structure of foams.
Spherical Cube: While studying the UGC, Kindler, O’Donnell, Rao and Wigderson discovered this three-dimensional shape, which tiles all of space when copies of the shape are placed along a cubical lattice. Of all known shapes with this property, the shape above has the lowest surface area..
The most basic question about foams, which has been studied for more than 200 years, asks, for each dimension d, for the shape with the smallest surface area that divides up d-dimensional space into bubbles of volume 1. This problem was solved for dimension 2 in 1999 by Thomas Hales of the University of Pittsburgh—the best shape is simply the regular hexagon, although proving that fact was no easy matter. In dimension 3, a candidate shape has been identified, but a proof has eluded researchers. In higher dimensions, even less is known.
The researchers’ attempt to prove the UGC boiled down to a question closely related to the basic foam problem, which we’ll call the integer lattice foam problem: If the allowable bubble shapes are limited to those that can tile space by shifting copies of the bubble whole numbers of steps along the coordinate axes, which shape has the lowest possible surface area?
So for example, in dimension 2, a square would be a viable candidate, since it tiles the plane by shifts to the left and right, up and down. The regular hexagon, however, would not be a candidate, since to fill space with regular hexagons involves some diagonal shifts of the hexagon, and some horizontal shifts that are not by whole numbers. It turns out, though, that the best integer lattice tiling is in fact a hexagon, though not a regular one: In 1989, Jaigyoung Choe of the Korea Institute of Advanced Study in Seoul proved that the best shape is an irregular hexagon whose perimeter is about 3.86, slightly edging out the square, whose perimeter is 4.
A d-dimensional cube has 2d sides, so the cube of volume 1 has surface area equal to 2d. Thus, the shape that solves the integer lattice foam problem in dimension d must have surface area at most 2d (since otherwise the cube would beat it out). And since the shape of volume 1 with the lowest surface area overall is the sphere, the solution to the problem must have surface area at least that of the sphere, which in large dimensions is roughly proportional to the square root of d.
The researchers expected—and needed for their attempted proof of the UGC—for the solution to the integer lattice problem to have surface area roughly proportional to that of a cube (that is, 2d) when d is a large number. To their surprise, however, O’Donnell and Kindler—together with Wigderson and Anup Rao, currently at the University of Washington in Seattle—found that for large dimensions d, there exist shapes that tile space by whole-number steps, and whose surface area is roughly proportional to the square root of d—in other words, their surface area behaves more like that of a sphere than that of a cube.
“There are shapes that are almost spherical but still tile space in a cubical pattern, which is rather counterintuitive,” O’Donnell says. The fact that the UGC led researchers to such an intrinsically interesting, natural question about foams “adds to its mystique,” he says.
In a typical election, there’s a reasonable chance that some votes will be misrecorded. How likely are misrecorded votes to alter the outcome, and how does that likelihood depend on which voting system is being used? This question is not just theoretical: In the 2000 Presidential Election, after all, the outcome hinged on whether a handful of votes in Florida had been counted correctly. Had plurality voting been the law of the land, instead of the Electoral College system, the outcome would not have been in dispute: Everyone agrees that in the national vote, Al Gore won by more than half a million votes.
The voting methods that are the most stable with respect to misrecorded votes—that is, the least likely to flip outcomes if a few votes are misrecorded—are rather unsavory ones. A system that always chooses the candidate selected by Voter A, or that always awards the win to Candidate 1, will seldom or never be affected by a misrecorded vote. Since no one presumably would choose such a system for a democratic election, it makes sense to ask which voting system is stablest among those systems that give all voters roughly equal weight and are not biased toward or against any particular candidate.
When there are two candidates, this problem is, in fact, related to the Sparsest Cut problem. Imagine a network in which each vertex stands for one possible combination of candidate choices by all the voters (so if there are n voters, this network will have 2n vertices). If your election is happening in a setting in which, say, about 1% of the votes are typically misrecorded, then connect two vertices by an edge if they are identical except for about 1% of the voters.
A voting system is simply a rule that assigns a winner to each vertex in the network. Thus, it divides the network into two subsets: the vertices that result in a win for Candidate 1, and the vertices that result in a win for Candidate 2. These two sets will be roughly equal in size, assuming we’ve left out the unfairly slanted voting systems discussed above.
For the voting system to be stable with regard to misrecorded votes, it should assign the same outcome to both the endpoints of each edge—in other words, it should not put vertices that are connected by an edge into opposite subsets. Thus, looking for the most stable voting system corresponds to looking for the sparsest cut of the network.
The researchers found that when they plugged Max Cut into the framework of the UGC, the statement about 87% being the best approximation for Max Cut boiled down to proving a simple statement about voting systems: namely, that if the two types of extremely unbalanced voting systems are excluded from consideration, then majority voting is the stablest system. The following year, O’Donnell, Mossel and Krzysztof Oleszkiewicz of Warsaw University were able to prove this “Majority is Stablest” theorem, vindicating the intuition from the 2000 Presidential Election.
“Other people had thought about voting stability before, but the UGC really narrowed us in on the exact statement and gave us a strong motivation for proving it,” O’Donnell says.
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L. Trevisan. On Khot’s Unique Games Conjecture. AMS Current Events Bulletin, 1-21, 2011. | 2019-04-18T18:51:13Z | https://www.simonsfoundation.org/2011/10/06/approximately-hard-the-unique-games-conjecture/ |
Nic van Arde is a WSET Level 3 graduate and winemaker at Oldenburg Vineyards. Nic shares with us how his wine journey started in tasting rooms and took him around the world, including India. He also shares how his WSET training has helped him in his career.
When did the wine bug bite?
I remember teasing my brother when he tried to be serious tasting wine. Little did I know that I would become the wine geek years later.
You’ve completed WSET training with The Wine Centre, what did you enjoy most about the course?
The interactive tastings and fun element to the course.
How has your WSET education helped you in your career?
I interact with international wine connoisseurs on a daily basis. WSET gave me the confidence to be able to talk world wine with them on a higher level.
Tell us a bit about your journey to becoming a winemaker.
I grew up in Paarl with my Mom working for Nederburg. I helped out over school holidays in tasting rooms in the area. When I was studying Business and Commerce at Stellenbosch University I joined the University wine appreciation society and would skip business class to interact with winemakers and spend many afternoons driving around the winelands exploring new winery’s. This ended up with me taking the leap and studying winemaking and viticulture after.
You made wine in India for a while, what was that like?
India is either a country that you love or hate, no in-between. I fell in love with it and all its colorful chaos. I was exposed to the third world elements of interrupted power, water pollution, child labor and corruption but never the less managed to make some very drinkable wines. In the humid Nashik area where I consulted you would get two harvest a year but only one of the harvests grapes could be used for winemaking.
Two years ago I worked a harvest at Harlan Estate in Napa Valley. In quite times at the winery I would spend time walking the vineyards and here I got a taste of precision organic viticulture.
What advice would you give to aspiring winemakers?
Read up as much as you can on wine and travel extensively making and tasting wine. I do a study trip to a different foreign destination every year and come back motivated and inspired.
How can you inspire to make the best wine in the world if you have not tasted and spent time with its maker.
My Level 3 course with The Wine Centre was held at Glen Carlou wine estate in Paarl 2015. It has been the foundation on which I have been building my knowledge of the world of wines. Passing my Level 3 propelled me into my career as a wine professional.
The WSET certificate course gave me the skill set and confidence to become a sommelier at Mosaic Restaurant one of South Africa's most reputable fine dining establishments.
I am extremely passionate about my studies and I enjoy sharing my knowledge with others. I believe that studying the wine regions of the world is like virtual traveling.
Mosaic Restaurant enrolled me as a WSET Level 4 Diploma student earlier this year. This investment in my knowledge and developing my skills as a sommelier is crucial not only to my interaction with guests and cellar management but is to the benefit of the South African wine industry as a whole.
There is an incredible support network for WSET students in South Africa, MW student and WSET APP Cathy Marston is my inspiration as I hope to teach future generations of WSET students and to one day become a Master of Wine.
Nicolò Pudel is a WSET Level 3 graduate and is currently finishing his WSET Level 4 Diploma. Nicolò shares with us how his WSET education has helped him with running online wine site Port2Port.
How has your WSET education helped you with running your own online wine business?
The WSET courses I took, especially Diploma which I am currently busy with, has given me a lot of insight in the international trade which is most certainly helping me as we plan to expand Port2Port abroad. The tastings and workshops we are organizing on the side are also a great opportunity to be exposed to wines that we usually are not able to find.
Next year Port2Port celebrates its 4th anniversary, what challenges have you faced during the past years and what are some milestone successes?
Port2Port was founded with the vision to build and establish South Africa’s (and beyond) biggest fine wine marketplace, connecting premium wineries, importers and retailers to a rapidly growing audience of discerning wine buyers.
Our mission has always been to consistently offer the most cutting edge digital platform, world-class service, the biggest selection at the best possible price, all presented through the eyes of the producers, the passionate writers and the critics, utilising our enticing wine stories as our main vehicle. My team and I soon discovered that we had been blessed with a very enthusiastic and loyal following. The interest and demand have been - frankly - beyond our expectation and the numbers speak for themselves. Today we are one of the fastest growing e-commerce platforms in the country. Wine-Searcher has awarded us with the Best Wine Catalogue in South Africa and Price Check nominated us in 5 categories at the 2018 E-Commerce Awards, including Best E-Commerce Service. Our revenue is growing at three digits yearly, we sell over 1600 wines from 12 countries, represent 500 brands and 10 specialised retailers to an audience of 200 000 wine lovers.
What advice would you give those interested in opening their own wine business?
Research and planning is important, spend a good amount of time on that before you are ready to release a minimum viable product. Don’t waste time on perfecting your concept, you will do that anyway as you go and get feedback from your audience and customers. Most importantly, plan your financials correctly, you don’t want your dream not to come true only because you run out of money. Flexibility is paramount, you need to be able to identify the opportunities along the way and be able to adjust your strategy. Avoid massive overheads, employ remote workers, save on fixed costs where you can. Invest in the team and in your company culture which ultimately reflects on your service.
Your site currently lists wines from 12 countries, are there any countries not listed that you’d like to represent?
We would love to represent every single wine that is out there and that meets our quality requirements. The goal for our marketplace to breach the 10 000 products mark within the next 3 years. We will achieve that by opening our European business and adding marketplace seller there.
What are the most popular searches on the site for?
The top of the list are brands, among them Kanonkop, Meerlust, Hamilton Russell, Sadie. Then, wine specific queries include Brunello di Montalcino, Pinot Noir and Chenin Blanc.
I have a TOP 3. My first Sassicaia with my wife in Bolgheri, a bottle of Harlan Estate with my wife and dear friend Francois in Napa and probably the first bottle of a wine we recently had where we are looking at getting involved directly in terms of ownership and management. But this is still a secret.
With a career steeped in broadcast journalism, Guy McDonald, Breakfast Host at Magic 828 AM radio and WSET Level 2 graduate, tells us what sparked his interest in wine and how he’s incorporated his passion into his career.
Tell us a bit about your journey to becoming a radio DJ.
It all began with performing Puppet shows behind the washing-line for my beautiful Grandmother and sitting in a tree house talking into the end of a skipping rope that was connected to a real car battery imagining I was the main announcer at an Agricultural show. After school, I got the Weekend “afternoon drive” on Mfm in Stellenbosch. After 5 years of Community radio I got my first paying gig on a retail radio station, The Sound of Ackermans before moving to Kfm 94.5, then Good Hope FM and now I find myself at Magic 828 AM.
When did you first develop an interest in wine?
From a very early age, my Mom always gave me a tiny glass with dinner “so that I wouldn’t feel left out”. My interest was really piqued though in Grade 10 when I travelled the winelands with my Dad during “work experience” week and realised I had a passion for the industry as a whole.
As a radio DJ, how would you say your WSET wine education has helped you with your wine feature on Magic 828 and your career in general?
Personally, I learned a lot about wines of the world. I had done other wine courses previously that focused on SA wine and always felt very ignorant because I haven’t travelled to other parts of the wine world. The WSET course gave me solid insight into other markets as well as into the world of Spirits. Hosting a Whisky feature and a Wine feature now, I feel more confident in my opinions. I am hoping it will lead to greater things career-wise.
Wow… So many! Having Ken Forrester pour me wine in his dining room was special as I had always held his wines in high regard and here he was, the man himself, pouring for me!!
Lunch with Danie De Wet of De Wetshof is another highlight! He kept disappearing into the cellar and returning with something “even more special for you, this time from Portugal”.
If you could own a winery anywhere in the world, where would it be, which wines would you make and why?
An American friend of mine spends time with her parents in the Napa Valley and from her Instagram shots, it looks amazing!! So it would be Napa because diverse soils, climate and topography mean I could also make a rich, full-bodied Chardonnay; silky, seductive Pinot Noir and ripe, velvety Merlot. They have also been smacked by floods, an earthquake and, last October, devastating fires. So maybe property prices are cheap!?
What is your favourite cultivar and why?
I have an enduring love affair with Chardonnay. As much as other varietals impress and tantalize my palate, and despite the ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) movement, when I read this question the first word to pop onto my tongue was Chardonnay. I think it’s because it can be adapted to many styles, from crisp, citrusy unoaked wine to creamy oaked wine. Being such a neutral grape, it offers a blank canvas for winemakers to paint in any style they choose. There’s a remarkable balance of richness and acidity that well-crafted Chardonnays can achieve.
Discounted rate of R165 to your members. Public pay R200 online and R220 at the door.
Bookings should be co-ordinated by the wine clubs and the number of tickets you require with the names sent to [email protected] by 8 May.
The tickets will be available at our Webtickets Festival reception under the Wine Club name.
The first offer on the tutored free class, before we announce it to the public.
Join the Institute of Cape Wine Master’s for tutored tastings to highlight the diversity and quality of wines giving you a glimpse into flavours, terroir and cellaring.
19:30 - 20h00 Shiraz or Syrah?
18:30 - 19.00 Cape White Blends.
The Oyster Lady will display her fresh West Coast oysters paired with elegant MCC's.
Gonedsa Award winning Gouda cheeses from cows in the Doornkraal, Cullinan District, made according to a traditional Dutch recipe.
Pierre Jourdan Cap Classique Brut; and Pierre Jourdan Tranquille Pinot Noir and Chardonnay blend.
Thank you for bringing your knowledge and experience to the show. Winemakers engaging with you and you inspire many new wine lovers.
We look forward to enjoying the wines with you.
May, autumn harvest of mist, mellow fruitfulness, and the feuillemorte, is also the month of the much-anticipated annual Juliet Cullinan Standard Bank Wine Festival at Summer Place on the 16th and 17th.
South Africa‘s longest running, most elite wine show has enjoyed Standard Bank sponsorship for the past 17 years. Together we have transformed a novel concept ‒ bringing top talent to the attention of connoisseurs ‒ into a desired annual event.
The key to our success is fourfold ‒ a small vitrine of the finest wines, a limited number of boutique wineries, an intimate showcase of the leading labels, and winemakers discussing with guests the best time to drink their old vintages, among other pressing viticultural questions.
The emphasis is on terroir, fruit-driven wines, world winemaking techniques, and upcoming winemakers. Distinguished guests come to taste ‒ and buy ‒ bespoke internationally-acclaimed wines at discounted show prices.
New wineries this year are Holden Manz, Kings Kloof, Epicurean, Lovane, and Pasarene. Rascallion, Broad Valley. Also debuting are Môreson, Mont Blois, Uva Mira, Benguela Cove, Paul Wallace, Perdeberg, Doolhof, Benguela Cove, Overhex, Mont Blois and so guests are in for a treat!
Traditional values continue to bolster the festival with Bouchard Finlayson, Bosman Family Vineyards, Creation, Dewetshof, Avondale, KWV, Ormonde, Raka, Thelema, Vrede en Lust, Avondale, Constantia Glen, Charles Fox, De Grendel, Doolhof, Drift Farm, Idiom, Mont du Toit, Journeys End, Alto, Stellenzicht, and Neethlingshof, La Motte, Hillcrest, Zevenwacht, and Vondeling, still party stalwarts.
Guests will have the enjoyment of unveiling the fruits of the vine and nuances of fruit and flavour in the wines by an array of attractively priced gastronomic options for the hungry from Jem Caterers, The Oyster Lady and Cullinan cheeses.
Speaking of tradition, I could not have done this without Standard Bank’s generous sponsorship for the past 17 years, so thank you, as always.
As we handpick our exhibiting wineries, the festival is today more about style preferences than quality as every label shows distinction.
As I write this in the wake of the American elections, I can think of no more fitting wine style to talk about than a Cape Blend. The world is still processing the implications of a Trump and Republican victory which has divided the US and polarised the rest of us. So it is with something of relief that I turn to wine, the beverage which unites and cheers, to Cape Blends which truly reflect the melting pot of society which is South Africa and to white Cape Blends in particular which are, like many other African ideas, leading the world in innovation, excitement and potential for the future.
So what is a white Cape Blend I hear you ask? We’ve all kind of got used to the idea of a red Cape Blend which involves a generous helping of our local grape, Pinotage, but the backbone of a white Cape Blend isn’t an indigenous African grape (I tried a new one from Stellenbosch Vineyards the other day called Therona – unusual and not bad at all so go and try it!), instead it’s Chenin Blanc. At the moment, there is no legislation as to what constitutes a Cape Blend of either colour but a goodly dollop of Chenin Blanc seems to be the way to go when it comes to these exciting white wines. Add in Chardonnay, Viognier, Semillon, Roussanne, Marsanne and more and you have something very special indeed.
I think by now most people have got over the idea that a blend is a way to hide inferior wines or unpopular grape varieties and are fairly cognisant of the fact that most top wines of the world are combinations of different grape varieties – as I say to my wine courses, the essence of a good blend is that 1 + 1 = 3 so the result is greater than the sum of its parts. And what makes white Cape Blends so exciting is that South Africa is able to combine grape varieties which no-one else can. Unhampered by restrictive European appellation laws, we can blend the grape varieties of the Loire Valley, the Rhône, Burgundy, Bordeaux and more into truly individual wines which are given even more distinction by containing our heritage grape of Chenin Blanc. Often using old, dry-farmed vines, giving incredibly low yields of ultra-concentrated and utterly-delicious fruit, a white Cape Blend is a celebration of the very best South Africa can make.
Well I think so anyway and I am pleased to see that I am not alone. Winemag.co.za is the only specialised South African wine magazine and editor Christian Eedes has been running a series of report-style competitions for the past few years. Generally focussing on single grape varieties – as do most competitions in SA – the reports now include a red blend one, a white Bordeaux blend one and finally, what I think will become the flagship category, the Cape White Blend report which was announced earlier this week. This is the first year of the competition and I would dearly love to see this grow and overtake all the others – by the way, they are looking for a sponsor for the next one so if your company wants to be associated with all that is innovative, exciting and proudly South African, you should drop Christian a line.
In the meantime, try the winning wines. The Lammershoek Terravinum Reserve White 2015 was overall winner with an excellent 95 points, closely followed by two personal favourites, the DeMorgenzon Maestro White 2014 and the Muratie Laurens Campher Blended White 2015, both on 94. Other favourites in the top winners include Thorne and Daughters Rocking Horse 2015, The Fledge & Co. Vagabond 2015 and Springfontein Limestone Rocks Dark Side of The Moon 2014, but overall, the standard of wines was incredibly high and there was nothing I wouldn’t have happily drunk a bottle (or more) of on any given occasion. As this is my last column for the Cape Times, I don’t think I could end up on a much higher note if I tried.
Is the glass half-empty or half-full? As we all know by now, the answer is ‘Who cares? There’s clearly room for more wine whichever way you look at it.’ Is the glass nothing more than a vessel for conveying a liquid into our mouths or is it so much more than a mere vessel, instead having the ability to actually change the taste and feel of a wine? Or is this yet another wine myth perpetuated by wine snobs intent on ridding us all of our Paris goblets and champagne coupes?
Weighing in on the ‘a glass doesn’t make any difference to the wine at all’ side would be every single beach trattoria, restaurant and bar the length and breadth of the Mediterranean. Here, wine is as likely to be drunk from a tumbler as a wine glass and I’ve had some memorable times sipping wine in sunny beach resorts, even if I can’t remember the quality of said wine! Here, I would argue, it is the occasion, the company and often the view which makes the difference to how the wine tastes.
In the other corner sits glassmakers such as Riedel, Spiegelau and Zalto who offer ranges of glasses supposedly perfectly-matched to certain varieties. I know of people whose palates I would trust implicitly, assuring me that the exact same wine tastes differently in different glasses and so when I was sent a bottle of Leopards Leap Culinaria Pinot Noir 2014 and two Riedel Pinot Noir glasses recently, I had to give this a go myself.
So much of me wanted this not to work, to be able to say to you ‘the wine was the same whichever glass I drank it from’ but the truth is, that this is simply not the truth. The wine WAS different – more perfumed and fragrant in the Riedel Pinot Noir, more earthy in my Riedel Brunello di Montalcino glass and much less fruity in a nondescript not-quite Paris goblet. Was it better in the correct Riedel? Yes, I guess it probably was as long as you appreciate perfume over power (which I do and the wine was delicious). It was a really interesting exercise and I commend it to you all to give it a go if you possibly can.
Someone who’s gone into this in a big way is Pieter Ferreira of Graham Beck Wines. The days of the coupe, allegedly-based on Marie Antoinette’s breast (not true, sorry guys), are long gone and now it would seem that the champagne flute is heading in that direction as well. The flute is a great glass to preserve bubbles because it has a small surface area from which they can escape but the narrow neck is not so good at encouraging flavour – which is a problem for Pieter and Graham Beck.
In a recent tasting, we tasted three wines, each in two different glasses – the normal flute and another version, striving to find the perfect combination of flavour, bubbles and (has to be considered) cost. Following extensive experimentation by both Pieter and a team of scientists at Reims University in France, the normal non vintage will now be served in an entry-level Riedel Champagne glass at the Graham Beck tasting room, whilst the company’s flagship wine, the Cuvée Clive, will come in a hand-blown Lehmann Jamesse Prestige tulip-shaped glass.
The difference between flavours and bubbles from the flutes to the speciality glasses was mindblowing, but the best example was to try the Blanc de Blancs (always my favourite GB wine) in the premium Riedel Veritas Champagne glass. Pronounced salty aromas, persistent bubbles courtesy of small indentations at the base of the glass and creamy, citrus lemon flavours which grew and developed over the course of almost an hour, this was a winning combination. As Graham Beck Wines bids to become the world’s leading MCC producer, it makes absolute sense that each wine is showcased appropriately. And on that note, watch out for a Graham Beck bubbly bar and tasting venue in Cape Town in the near future and in the meantime – drink your bubbles out of bigger, tulip-shaped glasses. So that there’s ALWAYS room for more wine!
After much debate on the best way to spend our last morning in Ningxia - to hedge bets & stay near the city, visiting Silver Height's original facility before our flight or get an early start & venture an hour toward the mountains to their new location built in 2014. We chose the latter & were well rewarded for our sense of adventure. From very little on the way to the next village to the sudden bustle around the local tourist attraction, a film studio used for many period movies; and back to almost nothing; right at the wooden watch tower & we were there. There being a large, low, red warehouse-like building, 8 times the size of the facility in the city.
We were met by a bubbly American, Alexa, who heads up marketing & communications. An interesting contrast to our previous experiences, with fast flowing English and outsider insights into the industry. Winemaker, Emma, shared extremely insightful anecdotes around the industry - both past & present. From government controls over varietals imported (explaining the high concentration of Bordeaux varietals), to terroir, pricing to recover costs of setting up wineries by the current generation & the Gold Rush for land in Ningxia.
Silver Heights began as a bit of a premonition on the part of winemaker, Emma's, father. He planted some of the first vines in the area, with the belief that there was potential for successful winemaking, and promptly shipped Emma off to Bordeaux to study winemaking in 1999 where she met husband, Thierry, who returned to China with her. Husband & wife team are now responsible for the increasingly well-reputed wines thanks to Emma's previous employer, a wine distributor, who told her to bugger off & make wine full time after tasting some of what she was making in her spare time.
From a floral yet fresh Chardonnay (the first vintage released), to beautifully structured & layered reds - The Summit (Cab Sauv, Shiraz, Merlot blend) being described by dear Jancis Robinson as "just the wine to confound prejudices".
And, overall, the wine we experienced in China did just that. Gan bei, Ningxia!
As the day drew to a close, we had one final stop ahead - the first our driver was actually certain of the location of.
Also, certainly the most beautiful we had visited to date. The chateau, the largest in the region, is a tribute to the owner's (who never drinks a drop of wine) love for rock & stone, showcased in a multitude of forms. From the buildings themselves, to intricate carvings & artworks tastefully dotted throughout; and soon to include a rock museum as well. Construction on the chateau began in 2008, to be completed in 2014. This seems an awfully long time on paper, but a walk through the winery & surrounds quickly reveals the extreme attention to detail, accounting for the time spent. From stone & rock collected throughout China, to ceilings lined with interwoven twigs to buffer sound & boundary walls constructed from rounded tiles to allow birds to nest.
Accompanied by winemaker, Sujie, we toured the production facility, comprising only machinery imported from Italy; the extensive cellar & private cellaring for clients who purchase whole barrels & bottle with their own labels; through a number of tasteful displays to the tasting room where the ceiling is crafted from the skeleton of the hull of an old ship, with the tables & chairs crafted from the same wood.
Here, we tasted through a lovely, bronze Decanter winning unoaked Chardonnay, of which very little was bottled due to limited demand for white wine in the local market (the rest of the harvest was used for brandy production); a 2013 Cab Sauv with a spot of 2014 added to perk it up; the estate's flagship red blend, Soul Mountain (Cab Sauv, Cab Franc & Merlot); and a very interesting private project of Sujie's - an unfiltered & unfined Cab Sauv 2014 of which only 800 bottles were produced. While we were delighted at the honour & impressed by each wine in turn, Sujie remained critical of her work.
We felt this was a fantastic end to a fascinating & highly rewarding day. We looked forward to day 3.
Spring has sprung and once again, springing along with it, comes competition time. A whole host of different awards have been judged and announced in the last few weeks from international commentators such as UK journalist Tim Atkin’s comprehensive and thorough SA Report to local affairs such as the RisCura White Hot Bordeaux-style White Blends Awards (one awards ceremony I was very sad to miss – such a delicious category and well done to top performers Iona, Strandveld and Tokara Wines). What to talk about, what to talk about? Well, space is limited so I have chosen just three competitions, all from entirely personal motives.
I couldn’t agree more. The past decade has seen a meteoric rise in the quality of Pinotage and it’s mainly because people are now feeling confident enough to express themselves, pay attention to the grapes they’ve got and showcase them with appropriate winemaking. There is quality at every level in the Top Ten from perennial stalwarts such as Kanonkop and Rijks (winning Top Ten places for an incredible 11 times each) to inexpensive and fun versions by Knorhoek and Perdeberg, entering the Top Ten for the first time. Let’s hope they can take this show on the road to Holland because there’s at least one chap there who needs to see the Pinotage-light.
Talking of taking wine to Europe, my second competition seems to be going the other way! The Blaauwklippen Blending Competition always gives me the warm-fuzzies – it’s a bit lighthearted and one of the very few competitions where the consumer is the star. Over 70 wine clubs competed to make the perfect, easy-drinking red blend this year and the winner – for an incredible second time – came from Germany! The club, Weinnasen from Rindchen's Weinkontor Uhlenhorst, flew in specially to join other finalists at Blaauwklippen last week to celebrate their winning blend of Malbec, Merlot, Shiraz and Zinfandel. If you want to try it, you can buy it from Blaauklippen’s tasting room where it’s bottled as a magnum with a glorious Frans Groenewald original label and selling for a mere R159.
My final competition is one in which I was personally-involved, judging the country’s finest MCC’s for the fourth year in a row. I love this competition – any excuse to taste bubbles is always fine by me – and it has been most heartening to see the increase in quality over the years with hardly any duffers amongst the entrants and a whole host of wines I would delight in sipping during a sunny summer’s eve. The overall winner is Anura whose Brut 2011 is a fantastically-constructed wine with loads of depth and character. Shout-outs to Blanc de Blanc winner, Colmant and rosé Trophy winner, JC Le Roux who also scooped the Museum Class with their Scintilla Vintage Reserve 2008. Year in, year out the Scintilla is one of my favourite fizzes and if you can get your hands on some of the 08, there’ll be a spring in your step this Spring, that’s for very sure.
Wine fundi, Leigh-Ann Luckett, continues with her travels around the world in search of wine…. China.
Named after a poem about 1 of the 8 revered landscapes of the Ming Dynasty (no, I'm not clear on the details of what that means), Helan Qingxue claims the best view of this landscape at the foot of the Helan Mountains.
Established in 2005 by a viticulturist, winemaker & business manager, the winery was the first in China to win an international accolade in 2011 in the form of a Decanter International Trophy. The wines, called Jia Bei Lan or "Little Feet" in honour of the birth of dynamic winemaker, Jing's daughter, have continued to grow from strength to strength since, with growing export opportunities & a stream of praise from international wine lovers. All of this we learned from the obligatory corporate video with a few tidbits from Jing herself.
Our host was happy to meet South Africans after playing host to a South African winemaker in 2012 during the inaugural Ningxia International Wine Challenge - a competition created & funded by the local government with a little help from the participating wineries; which allows a selection of winemakers from across the globe to produce a vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon over 2 years with a cash prize awarded to the wine judged as best. There are 3 South African participants in the current challenge.
We toured the, again, immaculate cellar, tasting the new vintage of entry-level Cab on its way to bottle as we made our way around; passing locally made bee-hive shaped tanks (which Jing was the first to use due the shape being ideal for red pump overs & press downs due to the shape) & barrels signed by the many notable international visitors while discussing the enthusiasm of Chinese wine-lovers to gain their WSET Level 4 qualifications, with over 20 Level 4 graduates to date.
This led us to the Cellardoor which is set to launch in the next year including a simple food offering. Lined up to taste, we had an unwooded Chardonnay in a Riesling bottle (tinned peas & lime on the nose with apricots & citrus on the palate); a Cab Franc Rosé (slightly sweet despite its savoury nose); a Cab Merlot blend (Moroccan spice & grippy tannins); & a Reserve Cab (eucalyptus & light violets). Again - all Bordeaux varietals. From Jing's perspective, these are the best varietals for the area which requires grapes with a short growing period to allow sufficient time for the vines to rest after harvest, before being buried for winter (an activity which accounts for 30% of the production cost of the wine). Thoroughly enamoured with the wines, the winery & the winemaker, it was unfortunately time for us to bid farewell. No time for us to rest; our next stop beckoned.
Legacy Peak, our next stop, could not be more of a contrast to Changyu. Simple & understated, the only show of pomp being a row of empty wine bottles from around the world which the director prized (including a Vilafonte Series C 2008) & a small plate of Iberian ham on the table laid out for our tasting. There was even shock at the idea of not being allowed to taste when we enquiries whether there would, indeed, be wine on the cards.
The first winery in the area to export their wines, Legacy Peak is also the oldest vineyard in the Ningxia province with vines planted in 1996, set amongst the 1000 year old Xixia King Tombs. This certainly adds to the scenery but puts the vines & expansion plans at risk should the government go ahead with plans to reclaim the land the farm occupies. Not that there isn't enough risk as is with the icy cold winters - every year approximately 20 - 30% of vines up to 6 years of age don't survive despite being bent over & buried up to the first trellis line. Sometimes all that survives are the cement posts - preferred to wood as they're cheaper, easily available & last longer than the traditional wooden posts. The 450 mu (approximately 3,75 ha) of organic vines sit at 1246m above sea level & consist mainly of - you guessed it - Bordeaux varietals Chardonnay, Merlot & Cabernet Sauvignon with a spot of a French hybrid grape, Marselan (a hybrid of Cab Sauv & Grenache). There's also a sense here that China is still finding its feet with which varietals are best suited to the land and what the defining characteristic of Chinese wine will be.
We dutifully set about exploring this. The Chardonnay beautifully floral on the nose with fresh litchi & elegant citrus on the palate; the rosé a little sweet (thanks, market) tinged with geraniums; the Cabernets - Estate & flagship, Kalavinka, both bold with slightly spicy red fruits & to be afraid of ageing.
We further explored the wines with many toasts, over a generous lunch of local lamb with the team. We were back in luck, twice over.
I can’t think of a more irritating phrase than “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” It’s complacent, it’s lazy and it and its partner phrase “but we’ve always done it like this” are words which have no place in today’s rapidly-changing society. I was thinking about this when I attended a presentation of a decade of Cape Winemakers Guild Protégé programme a week or so ago. When I first came across the CWG, it was a bit of an Old Boys Club with no female members at all – something guaranteed to raise anyone’s hackles this Women’s Month – but over the years, things have changed, the focus of the Guild has sharpened and it and its members have raised its game. Instead of being a monthly excuse to drink and chat, the Guild is a modern group of most of the best winemakers in SA, leading the wine industry to ever greater heights.
One of the newer – and better - initiatives in the CWG has been the development of the CWG Protégé programme in connection with Nedbank. In 2006 it was decided to form a mentorship programme with the aim of assisting with transformation within the wine industry. Winemaking students are selected post-graduation to complete a 3 year mentorship programme which sees them spending each year working alongside one of the Guild members. During this time, they also get the chance to make their own wine, participate in the monthly Guild tastings which exposes them to wines from around the world, judge at competitions and often travel to far-flung vinous destinations to further their studies and experience.
But it’s working alongside the SA winemaking legends which is the greatest opportunity all the protégés cited at the event last week. Louis Strydom, CWG member and chairman of the Nedbank CWG Development Trust explains it this way “We have over 940 years’ experience amongst the 47 winemakers in the Guild! It’s our responsibility to share that knowledge with the next generation.” For the protégés to be able to access this knowledge at such an early stage of their careers really gives them an edge. Considering that many of them come from backgrounds outside the wine industry and they can’t call on any connections or old boys’ network, it is this internship which sets them apart and makes them eminently employable.
And employable is what they are proving to be. Already the programme has produced 12 graduates now working in the wine industry and there are more coming through all the time. The programme has expanded to include a new viticulture protégé – we couldn’t meet him as he was on a visit to Australia at the time – and in addition a skills development programme for cellar workers is educating 1,500 workers every single year. If you want to taste how the protégés are faring, you can’t do better than try some of the wines made by the current second and third year students which will be sold at a silent auction during the main CWG Auction on 1st October. We tasted a delicately-fruity Pinot Noir made by Chandré Petersen, a savoury and complex Chenin from Heinrich Kulsen, a spicy and aromatic Shiraz from Rose Kruger and a beautifully-balanced Muscat from Thornton Pillay. All proceeds will go back into the Development Trust pot to continue funding even more protégés in the future. And hopefully, before too long, one of these protégés will eventually become a Guild member in their own right, giving back to generations of students to come.
Bellies full of noodles, we were ready for an 08:00 start at Changyu's Chateau Moser XIII. The Chateau was named in honour of Mr Moser XIII, the pioneer of trellising, and grandson Lenz Moser XV currently stands as chief winemaker. Moser is one of 6 chateaux in China, 2 in France & 1 each in Italy, Spain & New Zealand. And they're not kidding about the chateau part. Changyu's founder, who brought wine vines to China in 1892, went on to win a gold medal at the international exhibition held in San Francisco in 1915 at the opening of the Panama Canal. The flair for showmanship has lived on. Moser boasts an in house theatre; museum; an interactive wine education centre where you can test your smell recognition, learn about taste receptors & pair varietals with foods; and of course an imitation ship to celebrate that gold medal. You can custom label your own wine bottle, take wedding photos, grab a bite at the restaurant & stroll through the gardens while the endless staff of lovely young ladies in old fashioned green dresses with lace cuffs & collars flutter around. But you cannot taste more than 1 wine - an average medium-tier red blend. Not without a conversation with the director. We feared we were truly out of luck on our Chinese wine adventure.
Arriving in Yinchuan, Ningxia with a plan to visit wineries (which we had a loose idea of the location of) but no confirmed way of actually getting to them without paying the rather ridiculous amount quoted for a driver turned out to be no problem. A helpful tour guide, with a passable grip on English, at the train station offered to drive us to our hotel & was easily convinced to spend the next 3 days ferrying us around; starting with a local spot for a breakfast of hand-pulled noodles.
Next stop - Pernod Ricard's Helan Mountain. Kitted in our luminous orange safety vests, we toured the immaculately clean & well ordered production facility which is undergoing extensive expansion to include a visitor centre. One of the older wineries in Ningxia, the majority of the vines, which are spread across 3 sites in the area, were planted in 1997 with a strong focus on Cabernet Sauvignon accompanied by small pockets of Chardonnay & Merlot - typical Bordeaux varietals which seemed a little counter intuitive given the hot, dry conditions. Winemaker, Linda has been with the farm for 16 years with frequent exchanges to New Zealand & Australia. While Cab is the driving force at the winery based on consumer demand, she believes there is scope for experimentation - an idea strongly agreed with by Kiwi viticulturist, Mike Insley, whom we met with the next evening. Where Linda is most concerned with the balancing act of harvesting late enough to ensure phenolic ripeness (mostly the bit that makes your wine smell like lovely things) before the vines have to be buried for the winter (yup - we learned that's a thing in the area; more about that later), Mike is facing the challenge of a serious shortage of labour in the coming years thanks to repercussions of the one child policy & urbanisation. Never a dull moment, it seems.
But back to important matters - there was wine to be tasted. In the form of 3 barrel samples of the Helan Mountain Reserve range Chardonnay, Merlot & Cab. We were more than pleasantly surprised. The wines all had more time to spend in barrel before official bottling & release but each one was showing great potential. From the floral prettiness of the Chard to the already gentle profile of the Cab, we certainly were off to a great start in China!
Unfortunately, our luck seemed to have maxed out for the day. Our next stop would not deliver as we'd hoped. While extremely impressive, with architecture reflecting the vineyards in winter when they are little more than undulating ground with trellising posts poking out; not being able to taste any of the wines despite purchasing left much to be desired from our Chandon China experience.
Perhaps our luck would return tomorrow, we hoped over a late lunch of noodles.
Wine fundi, Leigh-Ann Luckett, continues with her travels around the world in search of wine…. next stop, China.
The fact that wine is produced in China seemed a bit of a shock to most people outside of China. And, seemingly, most people we encountered in China, even those in one of the most concentrated wine producing regions. At time, based on the hassle to arrange visits to the wineries, I was almost convinced it came as a shock to the wineries themselves.
Don't let that put you off though - I will say that the wine was worth the hassle in the end. Most of it, at least.
As I've subtly hinted, planning a trip is not quite as simple as doing a quick Google search. China is massively vast. Ridiculously so. Meaning wine regions are also ridiculously far apart. Where to start? We grabbed the Asian Wine Review & plotted which area had the highest concentration of award-winning wineries (will AWR become the Platter Guide of Asia?). This extremely scientific approach led us to the city of Yinchuan in the Ningxia province - a finger of desert sticking into Inner Mongolia alongside the Helan Mountain range. That part was easy. Finding contact details & planning an itinerary, however, was not. A 3-day itinerary eventually came to light through multiple emails; cold-calling wine writers; WeChats to winemakers, professors, tour guides; & endless map guesswork.
Wine fundi, Leigh-Ann Luckett, continues with her travels around the world in search of wine.... next stop, Vietnam.
With our wine consumption mainly limited to 6 winery visits over 2 months, with a few bottles which had made their way from South Africa in between (notably a bottle of Luddite Shiraz 2009 consumed at an altitude of 3900m in Nepal); Vietnam was a veritable playground of wine. Actually, more of an overpriced theme park due mainly to tax & transport costs - but there was decent wine & we were very happy to spend a little more than the quality deserved for the pleasure.
While not actually producing any wine that we could track down, the wine drinking culture was much stronger than we had encountered thus far. With a bit of searching, it was possible to find wine shops, wine bars & restaurants with actual wine lists. Some were, of course, a little off the mark & most quite limited in the options by the glass, which is not uncommon in most countries.
Our most valuable finds in both Hanoi & Ho Chi Min were boutique wine stores with fairly wide Bordeaux & Chilean wine selections with the odd bottle of South African here & there. Staff here were enthusiastic & happy for you to have a seat & drink the wine you purchased, saving restaurant mark ups & corkage fees. They also often had interesting tastings going on in the evenings. Chilean wine being a familiar sight to most wine drinkers here due to it apparently being the first country to target Vietnam in terms of wine once trading opened up & Bordeaux because, well, Bordeaux.
With a burgeoning restaurant & bar scene combined with enthusiastic & aspirational wine lovers, there certainly are pockets of great excitement around wine with plenty of scope to grow - pity, though, about the prices.
Wine fundi, Leigh-Ann Luckett, continues with her travels around the world in search of wine! An excellent plan, this time reporting from Myanmar.
But back to important matters - there was wine to be tasted. In the form of 3 barrel samples of the Helan Mountain Reserve range Chardonnay, Merlot & Cab. We were more than pleasantly surprised. The wines all had more time to spend in barrel but each one was showing great potential. From the floral prettiness of the Chard to the already gentle profile of the Cab, we certainly were off to a great start in China.
Okay, come on – ‘fess up. When was the last time you drank a Chenin Blanc?? Chances are that you’re either going to say “last night” (you hipster trendsetter you) or, more likely, “fifteen years ago at ‘varsity when I couldn’t afford anything else”. Despite so many people’s best efforts, it seems our best asset is still lagging behind the bucketloads of yawn-making Sauvignon Blanc when it comes to choosing our daily tipple. Should we just give up and resign ourselves to a lifetime of teeth-searing acidic Sauvvies? Hell no. Should I join the ranks of those putting the case for Chenin and explaining why we should drink more of it? Hell yeah, why not?
“You see, the problem with Chenin Blanc is its diversity” as all we wine experts will agree, nodding sagely into our beards - which is the biggest load of rubbish to start with, and yes, I am as guilty of saying this as the next person. Sure, Chenin is a versatile grape, capable of making lots of different styles of wines to suits lots of different tastes - but since when has the ability to offer customers exactly what they want been a problem?? Henry Ford made his millions offering his new car in only one shade of paint (“The customer can have any colour he likes, as long as its black”) – imagine what he could have done if he’d had a rainbow palette to choose from?
Because that is what Chenin is – a rainbow palette of flavour for the palates of this Rainbow Nation and beyond. At the recent Chenin Showcase, a regular event which brings the diversity of the grape to the attention of lucky journalists and retailers, I tasted a fabulous range of different wines and I promise you – there really is something to suit everyone here. If you can’t bear to abandon your Sauvignon Blancs – there are Chenins which taste almost identical in terms of lip-smacking freshness and vibrancy (try Stellenrust Chenin Blanc 2016 R50). If you like a wooded Chardonnay – there are Chenins which taste very similar with oodles of yellow stone fruit balanced by creamy, spicy oak (give the delicious De Morgenzon 2015 a whirl for R225 or the more affordable Delheim 2014 for R110).
If you like sparkling wines, then there are Chenins which do that too (Ken Forrester’s engagingly-named Sparklehorse for R200) and if you prefer off-dry or semi-sweet, there are plenty of Chenin options, balancing sweetness with lively fresh acidity to make a more complete wine. If you like it sweet and sticky, luscious or unctuous, there are noble late harvest Chenins of real richness, depth and complexity, coating your mouth with haunting flavours, tantalising your tastebuds with a cat’s tail whisk of acidity and freshness. And finally, Chenin is the King of Blending and my find of the day at the Chenin Showcase was the Riebeek Cellars Short Street CGV 2014. At a ridiculously-cheap R50 a bottle, this should be everyone’s fridge stalwart this summer.
So I don’t think there’s anything lacking in terms of the actual Chenin wines themselves. In fact, I think the problem lies not with the grape, but with us instead. We don’t drink more Chenin because we’re lazy and it’s easier to stick to our same-old, same-old wines with all their faults rather than find something new which may possibly suit us better. We allow ourselves to be confused by diversity and have our confidence dinted by differences in style, price, packaging and labelling terms, when in fact we should start every glass with the belief that it’s going to be amazing and simply take it from there. When it comes to Chenin Blanc, that’s almost certainly going to be a worthwhile journey to make. | 2019-04-21T08:11:13Z | http://thewinecentre.co.za/v2/category/wine/ |
So there is this big ‘debate’ coming up. Bill Nye is debating Ken Ham. Bill Nye the Science Guy I watched and loved as a kid, I even watched him on Stargate: Atlantis and The Big Bang Theory (yes, I am that big of a nerd). Ken Ham is a big Young Earth Creationist… from what the internet tells me. I haven’t watched anything with Ken Ham in it.
The two are going to debate evolution or something like that.
Now, I am a nerd, but no science whiz. If science tells me that I flip the switch and light turns on – great! If the science dudes say evolution is how it works – awesome! Well, okay, maybe I am not that unaware, but I trust the scientists to be the scientists.
There is a reason, however, that I know that Young Earth Creationism isn’t scientific. Nor is Day Age theory, nor Progressive Creation, nor Intelligent Design.
That reason is the Bible.
You see, the creation that the bible actually describes happens very differently than the Young Earth Creationist version.
First of all creation happens twice. Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 are different stories, they are not one unified entity. Read them again. Draw what you see. They will look different. Even more than that, the two accounts are written with different style and genre, they have different qualities and different ways of describing God, and most importantly they describe a 3-tiered universe (see picture).
They are poetic stories from the oral tradition. The ancient people who told them and then wrote them down never wanted them to be understood as science.
Genesis 1 uses Hebrew poetry to both help tell the story and help the teller remember the sequence of events. Days 1,2,3 the space for the stuff of creation is made. Days 4,5,6 the things that go in the space is created. You only need to remember the order to 3 things.
Now there is a lot of textual, literary, historical, aspects of the scholarship that I won’t get into, but I think you get the point: Genesis 1 and 2 are not science text books and nor were they ever meant to be.
When I was in university, I took classes on science and religion from Prof. Denis Lamoureux. He is an evolutionary biologist and a theologian. His courses were designed for science students and fundamentalists alike to better understand the “Science vs. Religion” debate. But the thing that most students didn’t know, he was actually using the science stuff to teach basic introductory hermeneutics and biblical scholarship.
I took two classes with Denis. The second was a seminar where we had guest speakers representing different views on creation. One class he invited the president of the Alberta Young Earth Creation society to speak to the class. She was a woman with a PhD in botany. She came and presented all kinds of the same kind of “scientific” ideas that Answers in Genesis does. Of the 15 of us in the class, I was the only humanities/theology student. My classmates were all science majors. During the Q&A time, they debated the science, they asked questions of genetic expression, geological record, quantum physics and offered smart evolutionary evidence. This woman had answers for all of it.
Then I asked my question. I asked her what she thought about canonical development, and how that affected divine inspiration. I wanted her to explain how those early church councils determined what they accepted or rejected as the canonical books of the bible. I wanted her to explain how divine inspiration worked with books written 300 to a 1000 years previously.
She was the president of the Alberta Young Earth Creation society and she couldn’t answer a basic question of biblical scholarship.
This is the Achilles heel of Young Earth Creationists and their kin. I am surprised that those who debate these folks don’t use biblical scholarship against them more often. I am surprised that atheists like Richard Dawkins don’t do some homework on real biblical scholarship to use against the fundamentalists he is so fond of debating.
Creation pseudo science will always sound convincing enough for fundamentalists. They aren’t looking for real answers, they are looking for evidence that will support their biblical claims. If I were to talk to a Young Earth Creationist I would deal only with what the bible actually says, in Greek and Hebrew, in context, and with an understanding of ancient cosmology. I would make them deal with what serious biblical scholars have been talking about for centuries.
If I was Bill Nye, I wouldn’t even bother talking science with Ken Ham. I wouldn’t legitimize his pseudo-science by making it seem debatable. Ham will have an answer for everything, and that is the only foothold he needs to sound plausible – to have Nye, a real scientist acting as if Ham is worth debating. Evolution is still a big puzzle being put together, even if we can now tell what the picture looks like. Creation science is a neat little set of pseudo theories and logical fallacies meant to prop up poor biblical understanding.
If I was Bill Nye I would ask questions like my canonical development question. I would ask why St. Augustine wouldn’t convert to Christianity until Bishop Gregory told him that much of the bible was allegorical. I would ask why Roman Catholic Priest and Physicist Georges Lemaitre could propose the Big Bang Theory and still be a faithful Christian. I would ask why Genesis and all of scripture is pretty clear about a 3-tired universe. I would ask about Hebrew poetry and oral tradition.
And then I would ask, why most biblical scholars, theologians and mainline denominations accept evolution with no problem at all.
Bill Nye could challenge Ken Ham with questions like these. Bill Nye could really make a statement about what Young Earth Creationism and biblical literalism is about. Bill Nye could pop Young Earth Creationism’s intellectual bubble and challenge the idea that the bible is a science text book.
Most christians who study the bible seriously figured out centuries ago that Genesis is not science. We figured out that Genesis is not making a scientific point, but a theological one. Genesis is not telling us how creation happened or what it happened with.
Genesis is telling something though. Genesis is telling us who created it all (God) and why (out of love). Genesis is reminding the faithful of the most important things to know about creation… about why we are here at all.
Many christians have known this truth about Genesis for a long time. Many christians have understood that an allegorical Genesis is not a threat to our faith, even though Young Earth Creationists are ready to stake their faith in Jesus on whether Adam (the mud creature) was a real dude 6000 years ago. And creationists do this because it is intellectually easier.
Understanding the truth about Genesis would mean doing a lot less pseudo science, and instead doing some scary biblical scholarship and asking some scary questions about God and Christian History. It would mean revising stances on gender issues, sexuality issues, economic issues, and theological ones. It is really inconvenient to revise one’s theology like that, and to be prepared to do it often. But the Church hasn’t crumbled with its greatest theological minds being totally okay with an allegorical Genesis, and we won’t be crumbling any time soon.
You can take the bible literally.
You can take the bible seriously.
So what would you say to Bill Nye or Ken Ham or me? Share in the comments, on twitter: @ParkerErik or on Facebook.
If you ever have a chance to see a play called “The Savannah Disputation” you really must go. A great dialogue much like what you propose for Bill Nye.
Thanks, Rev. I love this: ‘Most christians who study the bible seriously figured out centuries ago that Genesis is not science. We figured out that Genesis is not making a scientific point, but a theological one. Genesis is not telling us how creation happened or what it happened with… Genesis is telling us who created it all (God) and why (out of love). Genesis is reminding the faithful of the most important things to know about creation… about why we are here at all.’ Sharing now.
Reading this and the blog about how Christians have lost the argument before it had started has added a bit more of faith in something that I cannot touch or see. Would it be fair, I know that it has been suggested in the science community by religious scientists, to say that God had a hand in the big bang and so as you say that Genesis is just describing what the young earth looked like from a human perspective? I have had religion forced onto me when I was younger and thus turned me into a non-religious person. But if what you say is true about it all being an allegory then it is just a work of theologian art? I just can’t shake the thought that science and religion are just two little brothers bickering back and forth to their mother about who is right and who is wrong. Is it fair to think like this and have such an outlook as this? Who isn’t to say that there isn’t one huge field of study that can say “I had created both of you to be equal and important and that you are both right because each of you is just only one half of the whole picture?” I really am curious.
Racer 1898, you are definitely on the right track. I would point you to Denis Lamoureux’s view of creation (see link in post above) as an example of a more complementary view of science and religion. Fr. Georges Lamaitre who proposed The Big Bang theory definitely saw God behind it.
The important distinction to make is that science is about knowledge. It seeks to measure, calculate, observe and quantify physical universe. Theology is about meaning. It seeks to question and understand questions like “why are we here?”. Science cannot answer why questions and theology is not always the best and answering how. They need each other to fill in each other’s weaknesses.
So two sides of the same coin arguing as to who is right and who is wrong while even some who don’t want to see just one side and want to see both sides must look at the mold. But then why do people press the letter about both sides being wrong and the older Catholic Church preaching that science has no answers on some topics like how we originated. Granted I am going to express ignorance since I am not Catholic and from the films and of history records about long passed scientists that it seems like the Church was used to control? I’m just trying to sort it all out and not trying to offend anyone at all. Would it be to difficult to, I dunno, change what was taught and say that the Bible is an allegory and to actually understand what God wanted us to understand to look at the scientific side of the argument, the quantitative and the theories but always keeping in mind that he hid things for us to find to give us a purpose in life? I know it would be considered blasphemy in many circles but being from a scientific background and not very religious, I just want to see it all come together in a nice big picture.
Well, actually the Vatican currently accepts that Evolution is likely the process of our origins.
The bigger issue is that Genesis 1-11 are the battleground for the science vs. religion debate. And it is American Evangelicals in particular that seem to have the biggest issue. Genesis 1-11 contains the creations stories, the flood story and the tower of Babel story. After that, the bible becomes more historical reliable, but still cannot be consider a definitive history.
Jesus of Nazareth is a historical figure, for example. The New Testament can be considered as several different sources in the regard. As well has historians like Josephus and Tacitus.
That just doesn’t make any sense, the only thing connecting the movie the and newspaper is that they are in the same room. Like the bible, many of the books and sources are only connected because they are in the same book (as compiled by people).
From what I have heard about most history is that the flood is true, that I will agree with. It’s just the whole right wing sector that has been emphasized so much that the culture has put a stereotype on the whole religion sector as a whole. That by the way is from my perspective, blasted Labeling Theory. But I do agree that the Bible is composed of many books and many authors. I agree that Adam and Eve are allegorical but I hardly think that Jesus was since he is apart of different cultures.
So let’s say that passage 1-11 were just non existent, would that help to bring the world to harmony? To find the song that would unite them all and bring the world to harmony? I know it’s all wishful thinking, I just don’t want to see a complete power struggle between two things that had a hand in creating the other.
It might help for Christianity to re-think Genesis 1-11, but people are too invested. There is too much time, energy and money that has gone into fighting evolution, that I think it will take generations for Christianity to get over this one.
There’s nothing to rethink. Stating that Genesis accounts are different is like saying the multiple accounts of Jesus’ birth, death and life contained in the gospels makes Jesus all sorts of things. It doesn’t. It’s just another account, or restatement.
It’s just an everlasting cyclical debate–on both sides. If we do believe that God has the power to create, why would it be a stretch to believe that he could create in 6 days? I’m not saying I disagree with evolution or big bang, just curious to know why it would be “unreasonable” to believe in Creationism. Allegory is tricky especially since it uses true symbols to point to other truths. So for example, if I say “the grass is greener on the other side” it can be both literal and allegorical. The grass could nevertheless be literally green, and yet the statement can also be proverbial, pointing to something beyond the truthfulness of green vegetation.
So could it be possible that a 6 day creation be literal, but that that wasn’t the writer’s focus. Her focus was to portray the Creatorship of God and the createdness of humanity.
Again, I’m not saying that evolution or creationism is true or untrue, I’m just asking why it would be unreasonable to have a “both/and” on the creationism side versus the acceptance of the “both/and” on the evolution side in the form of theistic evolution.
I think you raise important points, EJ. I have no doubt that God could created in 6 days if God wanted to.
My bigger issue is with what Genesis actually says, which is not how Young Earth Creationists represent Biblical Creation. What makes it unreasonable, is that our world doesn’t look like the picture of the 3 tiered universe I used in my post. It is kind of like claiming that Batman is real because there is someone out there actually named Bruce Wayne. And because Bruce Wayne exists, Batman is real, and did the exact same stuff that is in the comics.
Genesis’ point is not how is happened, and when we see that, the only story of how that we have to rely on is the scientific one.
But like Batman comics which point us to deep truths about good and evil, about heroes and villains, about our need for someone to save us, Genesis points us to who created and why.
I think that the bridge between science and religion that we are looking for to between science and religion is important. However, 6 Day creationism is neither science nor biblical.
LOL… Bruce Wayne>Batman = Real Cosmology>YEC…I like it haha..
Very nice article, but it stops logically short of what it implies.
I agree that it is obvious that Genesis is a very old story likely written down after generations of oral tradition. And it is surely an allegory for the cosmos. But why stop there? Can’t we accept that the notion of God as creator is itself an allegory — a mere supposition or oversimplification produced by a primitive mind to explain that which he could not comprehend?
There is no logical reason to accept that the details of the story are allegorical while insisting that the subject is literal. To assume humans were intentionally created and not just a by-product of a universe in motion (sharing our aliveness with countless other entities across the universe most probably), makes sense for a provincial mind just entering the Bronze Age. But it makes no logical sense to assume any oversight by any deity was required for our development. Nor should we assume any deity would care enough to guide our growth. That someone must be in the sky moving all the levers and pulleys it takes to make the world go is a reasonable supposition for a primitive mind. It is not worthy of an intelligent being, however.
The concept of God is quite an intellectual achievement, but it remains just that, a concept. When we take the existence of God literally we do ourselves the same disservice that fundamentalists do by taking the story of Genesis literally. We limit our appreciation for the vast truth that lays beyond our understanding. Call this Truth “God” if you like, but just remember there is no logical reason to assume this Vastness has agency or cares one whit about humanity.
Some will argue that the Universe needs a Creator. This is debatable, but even if true, such a position would not support any reason this Creator would need to be (or want to be) involved with some moderately successful multi-cellular organisms orbiting some average star in the suburbs of a mundane galaxy. Our egos convince us we must be important. Our developing intelligence must someday realize it is simply not true.
Brother Hermes, I think you miss one point. Your intellectual nature seeks logic. Emotions often are not based in logic. Belief in a Creator, in an afterlife, comforts the lonely. It tells them they are not really alone and that they are loved by someone, that they are important enough to be looked after. Belief provides comfort to the dying that they do not end, that there is more, and provides comfort to those left behind that those who have passed might be watching over them, and that they will see their beloved again. I am neither arguing for or against truth, but merely answering the question you ask of why, and why this need is still relevant today.
I think a belief in a deity does not diminish or limit our appreciation for what we do not understand, for discovery, too, can stem from passion. Regardless of what religion, if any, I ascribe to, I have emotions, and when I say goodbye to a loved one, I want there to be more. I don’t want them gone. For my own comfort, I find solace in the selfish belief that there is something more.
Now if we could only get all the faiths to coexist peacefully, to work together to unravel the secrets of the Universe, and to care for others with kindness!
Great reply, Jaz. I enjoyed reading it and thank you for taking the time to write it. I apologize for the length of my response, but it is an area of some fascination for me lately.
But that’s not what my post was about. It was about pointing out that if many of the stories of the Bible are allegorical, it is hard to argue convincingly that the subject matter isn’t also an allegory.
There’s a Zen saying something like, “When I point at the moon, don’t mistake my finger for the moon”. And the meaning of course is that we can never really know external reality (or Truth), we can only point to it. And the description or story about the thing (or finger pointing at the thing) shouldn’t be mistaken for the actual thing.
And I think this is what happens a lot with the Bible. Some folks take it literally word for word. This is fraught with problems, not the least of which are internal contradictions and the fact that some of what is said is provably wrong (e.g. the “firmament”). So other, perhaps more reflective, folks accept that the stories are devices intended to talk about God. My argument is that we should go yet one step further and consider that our concept of God is itself just another finger pointing at the moon.
People can choose to believe that God actually plucked a rib from Adam and made him a helpmate. Or they can choose to think this is a story God’s relationship with humanity. Or they can choose to see the entire notion of God as a kind of rough draft composed by a creature with a developing intellect to describe the nature of the Cosmos. When puzzling out what to believe, logic, as you rightly express, does not dictate what must be true. But everything we learn about the world suggests the universe is painted on a logical canvas, and things that are logical outcomes of other things are in far greater abundance than things which run counter to logical currents.
It is possible that some greater being or even “THE” greater being took a personal interest in the development of humanity, in much the same way it is possible that I might take a person interest in a wounded bird I happen upon in the woods. But the more we learn about universe the more we must keep revising our self-centered viewpoint. The Earth was once the center of our universe. Then it was the Sun, then our Solar system Perhaps our Milky Way. As our understanding expands outward, so must our capacity to realize that whatever the universe is, we are but players in the band. This is not the one man show we assumed in ancient times. This kind of development is not coincidentally similar to how a child must learn that he is not the center of the world. In our own minds, we are, of course. That is part of the psychology of being human. Hence it is no surprise that an early pass at explaining our role in the universe suggests a personal God tending to us like a Gardner with his prized orchid. How much more likely it is that we are one of many wildflowers in a field.
You do propose an interesting thought, an allegory inside an allegory. While this is within the realm of possibility, it is not likely. Writing an allegorical story about an allegorical concept of God is a convoluted interoperation of Genesis and goes against all scholarly assumptions that the simplest explanation is a better one. It is also clear, that within the framework of the biblical canon, God is not an allegory.
To your point about logic: At issue are two metaphysical assumptions, for which there is no proof or evidence either way. God exists or God does not. In this case, it is in fact reasonable (and therefore logical) to make either assumption, when it comes to understanding our origins. Both assumptions lead to greater depth and meaning, and a deeper understanding of humanity.
This is your site and I respect what you are doing here, so I will not argue the point further. I appreciate having been able to share my perspective.
Hermes, your writing is brilliant. Is there somewhere I can go to read more?
Please help me understand what the contradiction between geneses 1 & 2 is; I would like to but cannot from this text. I see two graphs and references to “three-tiered” but cannot understand what that means.
Is it “three-tiered” on one hand versus “two-tiered” (days 123 plus days 456) on the other? I have turned on notification for replies, so I hope someone can enlighten me, thank you.
Thanks for the reply! Good questions, hopefully I can explain a bit.
The 3-tiered universe is in reference to the first diagram in the post. The ancients didn’t believe what we know about the earth (that it is a round sphere circling the sin). The biblical understanding of the universe was that the earth was a flat surface, with a hard dome for a sky. Think of a table with, glass dome sitting on top. The sun, the moon, the stars were all imbedded in the dome.
Beneath the earth, was water. Above the earth was water. Above that water was God’s dwelling place. So the 3 tiers are 1. water 2. flat earth / hard dome sky 3. water again. Thus, we call that understanding of the universe, the 3-tiered universe.
The contradiction of Genesis 1 and 2, is that they tell different versions of creation. They are written in different styles, they have different orders of creation, they ever refers to God differently (Genesis 1 says Yahweh, Genesis 2 Elohim). In Genesis 1 God’s speaks and creates. In Genesis 2 God creates with God’s hands. In Genesis 1 God waits until the end to created human kind (male and female), in Genesis 2 God creates the Adam (which is not a name but the Hebrew word for ‘mud-creature’), and the Adam is created first. Then God splits the mud-creature into male and female at the end of the story.
There are further differences, but hopefully that explains things somewhat.
Ok. I get where you are coming from here. And let me be clear, I dont think anyone’s interpretation of Genesis 1 or 2 is getting them in, or keeping them out of heaven. But holy cow. Are you really going to bring canonical development into an argument over the interpretation of Genesis?!? It IS a silly question. An allegorical Genesis? That makes zero sense because it is full of specific historical accounts, even specific “allegorical” genealogies. Maybe you are really suggesting Genesis shouldnt be included in the Bible at all. Fine. I choose to believe God is in control and gave us exactly the books he intended, exactly as he intended them, despite humankind’s best efforts to muck things up.
The real reason most people have no problem accepting evolution and discarding a historically accurate (not scientific) Genesis 1 is because they dont give God enough credit. Does the trinity or free will/predestination fit with western logic/science? Of course not.
1. You don’t know either.
2. Our God is able to do more than we can possible imagine or hope to comprehend.
3. It is entirely possible God created an earth with age. He created Adam and Eve with age. They likely had bellybuttons. Why couldnt he create the earth with age as well?
4. What makes Christianity special and different is that it is a free gift. Anyone who accepts Christ’s sacrifice and has faith is granted eternal life. No works required! God could paint a big purple neon sign in the sky that says “Jesus is God deal with it” every day from 5:30 to 7. But that wouldn’t require much faith from us now would it? It follows that He wouldnt make origins explicit.
5. Ham is actually right on when he says evolution might explain a process but it explains nothing about the origin of life. It literally cant. Nye said as much. No one knows where the matter came from. There are so many holes in evolutionary science concerning how life first started, not to mention the fact that if we evolved over billions of years and have this massive fossil record… why arent there conclusive intermediary fossils showing the slow progression from one cell organism to humans? Its just that. Inconclusive.
You can spend your time trying to discredit the Bible and other people’s beliefs to reconcile your desire to have things make sense scientifically… But when it comes down to inclusive science vs an all powerful God, Ill take God having a hand in things every time.
Also, If you think a “big” question for young earth Christians is how Lemaitre “could propose the Big Bang Theory and still be a faithful Christian” you are not understanding what it means to be a Christian – or more specifically – how to spend eternity in Heaven. It has ZERO to do with how someone interprets Genesis 1. I dont agree with everything Ham had to say, but at least he made that point clear.
Nate, thanks for taking the time to read and respond to my post. I know that what I am saying might be new to you, but trust me it nothing new to Christianity.
Let me be clear. Ken Ham is a joke of scientist, but he is 0% biblical scholar. This is not about science, I don’t really care what the science says. This is about what the Bible says, and it is clear that Ken Ham has not really read the bible or studied real Christian scholarship and theology.
I would agree that a Christian’s interpretation does not affect “salvation.” In fact, our salvation is wholly determined God (I would suggest reading some Martin Luther on this).
I would also agree that God could create in 6 days, but that is not even close to what Genesis is talking about. Genesis is oral tradition, it is Hebrew poetry, it is a theological treatise.
So yes, we CAN all know that Genesis is an allegory on the scientific points of creation. You and I also both know, that Genesis is theological truth when it comes to WHO did the creating and why.
My view on Genesis is in line with the historical and tradition interpretations and theologies of Christianity. Young Earth Creation is new development, only at most, 150 years old.
Thanks for responding. I think its fair to say that Ham and Young Earthers are less about “science” than about the historical accuracy of Genesis vs being allegorical. (Im still not sure how genealogies can be allegorical) Its also worth noting that Ham’s whole deal is that no one was there so both evolution and creation cant be proven by scientific methods. He main argument is that creation cant be dis-proven… and thus it deserves a place alongside other origin theories. Of course that is up for debate.
It seems like you are saying you agree that God was the creator.
If that is the case – why have an allegorical account at all? Why not just, well, an account? The rest of the Genesis accounts are rather… detailed. I understand the poetry side of the original Hebrew and can appreciate the factors that go into textual criticism with modern day versions and agree that some parts of the Bible are allegorical. I just disagree that the poetry and writing style (even wrapped in a theological treatise) should *definitively* taint our view of an otherwise detailed historical narrative.
Again, your interpretation is allegorical, and I can appreciate that, but you can not say with 100% surety that the original author meant it allegorically. Of course no one can!
You mentioned reading Martin Luther. Im sure you can appreciate then, my point that it shouldn’t matter whose view is in line with the historical and traditional interpretations and theologies of Christianity. Or that Young Earth Creation ideas are less than 150 years old. Or especially that they dont represent Christian Orthodoxy!
I just don’t think its fair to take such a critical and condemning tone over a theological difference that I think we both agree isn’t eternally significant. Whatever else, Ham did present the salvation message on a stage that has been viewed over 800,000 times on youtube and no doubt raised awareness and interest in Genesis and the Bible. Young Earth or not, that is commendable.
Let me be clear about where I am coming from. I am not a “liberal” Jesus seminar Christian, or Jesus as spiritual teacher and example Christian, or we are all part of the divine.
However, we are also required to obtain a Masters of Divinity from an accredited Association of Theological Schools seminary. That means not just studying text criticism, but also historical, literary, structural criticisms etc… That means Greek and Hebrew. That means graduate level theological and biblical studies.
I am not trying to boast in my credentials. I trying to highlight a key difference. This is the difference between professional, scholarly theology and pop theology. Ken Ham is a pop theologian, and Young Earth Creation is Pop Theology. Young Earth Creation does not really take Genesis seriously. I mean that in the kindest way possible. Ken Ham is trying to advocate Bishop Usshers addition of genealogies, not the scriptural witness. These genealogies are not historical lists. They are theological ones, they contain ages that multiplied by holy numbers like 7 and 12. The people in them are there for theological reasons.
Young Earth Creation is not Christian Orthodoxy. If you notice, none of the creeds mention how many days creation took. They are primarily concerned with the fact that God did the creating. St. Augustine, the author of the doctrine of original sin, wouldn’t become a Christian in the first place unless he was assured that the Bible could be understood allegorically in parts. Martin Luther called the bible, “the manger that holds the Christ.” Professional theologians understand that the Bible is not to be worshipped, that the Bible in an incarnational book. It is divine accommodation, God speaking to us in ways that we can understand, which means in a way that is time bound, language bound, and scientific advancement bound. It means time bound for the people the bible talks about, the people who wrote the bible, and we who read the bible.
For example, when Jesus says to the disciples that the mustard seed is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth, we know that is incorrect. Orchid seeds are much smaller, microscopic seeds. Does that mean none of what Jesus says is true? By heavens no. It means that it would have been absurd for Jesus to pull a microscope out from under his robe to show the disciples orchid seeds. Jesus/ God spoke to the disciples in terms they could understand. The science was not part of the message, the point about the Kingdom of God was the message.
Another example, when throughout all the bible women are the only ones who are considered to be barren, we know that is incorrect. Men can be infertile too. The ancient near eastern understanding of reproduction was that sperm, eggs and wombs were like seeds and fields. Seeds were like tiny containers for miniature versions of what they flowered into – plants, or people. If the seed didn’t grow, the field was barren. So when God made women like Sarah, Lean and Rachel conceive did God use ancient science? Or is the message that God is present is creative processes of life?
Here is my concern about Young Earth Creationism as an ordained Pastor with 8 years of university level theology. If my church members were eating pop-tarts for breakfast, hot dogs for lunch and kraft dinner for supper every single day, I would tell them to get some fruit and vegetables. YEC is pop-tarts, hot dogs and kraft dinner. It is a processed, unhealthy way to read the bible. Responsible biblical scholarship is the fresh foods, fruit and vegetables, fresh breads and meats, healthy wholesome food of Christianity.
It is my job, my responsibility, my call, to call out unhealthy biblical scholarship. Young Earth Creationism is just that.
I started confirmation in the early 90’s at a huge LCMS church in central Florida. Well by started I mean I went to the first week (where everyone is together in the fellowship hall and they explain what confirmation is) and about 15 minutes of the next week when we began genesis…Then I was asked to leave. Apparently LCMS ladies in their 60’s don’t appreciate 11-yr olds explaining evolution via basic common sense and Voyage of the MiMi. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvz1Ey2JipI).
I didn’t go back to church until after my first child was born and I felt the call to return. I found an ELCA church and the pastor decided I would be fine with a speedy self study of the Small Catechism and Affirmation of Faith before celebrating my first communion at the age of 24 and my infant’s baptism (took my entire catechism training period to find a boys gown).
We’ve moved to Tennessee since then and now we belong to an amazing ELCA church, which we to drive over an hour to at least once a week. I teach my nerd children that the story of creation was a way for a younger humanity who had not yet developed scientific thought to understand how we and our environment came to be. Essentially we are God’s children, and in the case of creation- it was akin to victorians and their stories of storks and cabbage patches. | 2019-04-25T04:24:51Z | https://millennialpastor.net/2014/01/17/bill-nye-and-ken-ham-why-the-bible-convinced-me-young-earth-creationism-isnt-science/ |
As the Allies were approaching the German frontier at the beginning of September 1944, the German Armed Forces responded with a variety of initiatives designed to regain the strategic initiative. While the "Wonder Weapons" such as the V-1 flying bomb, the V-2 missile and the Messerschmitt Me-262 jet fighter are widely recognized as being the most prominent of these initiatives upon which Germany pinned so much hope, the Volks-Grenadier Divisions (VGDs) are practically unknown. Often confused with the Volkssturm, the Home Guard militia, VGDs have suffered an undeserved reputation as second-rate formations, filled with young boys and old men suited to serve only as cannon fodder. This groundbreaking book, now reappearing as a new edition, shows that VGDs were actually conceived as a new, elite corps loyal to the National Socialist Party composed of men from all branches of Hitler's Wehrmacht and equipped with the finest ground combat weapons available.
Whether fighting from defensive positions or spearheading offensives such as the Battle of the Bulge, VGDs initially gave a good account of themselves in battle. Using previously unpublished unit records, Allied intelligence and interrogation reports and above all interviews with survivors, the author has crafted an in-depth look at a late-war German infantry company, including many photographs from the veterans themselves. In this book we follow along with the men of the 272nd VGD's Fusilier Company from their first battles in the Huertgen Forest to their final defeat in the Harz Mountains. Along the way we learn the enormous potential of VGDs . . . and feel their soldiers' heartbreak at their failure.
Among Douglas Nash’s previous works is Hell’s Gate: The Battle for the Cherkassy Pocket, January-February 1944, a work unsurpassed for insight into the other side of the hill in WWII.
This book is an attempt by an American historian to describe the experiences of one German Army combat unit during the Second World War and how they fought and died.
As a former commander of Füsilier Company 272, although only for a short period of time, I can say that these soldiers, despite the overwhelming odds against them and the technical superiority of the enemy, did as much as humanly possible to carry out their duty.
Like their brothers who served on the Eastern Front, they fought and died for their comrades and to protect their loved ones back home, and not for Hitler and National Socialism.
And like generations of Germans soldiers before them, they served their country honorably and bravely.
May they never be forgotten by younger generations.
May this book serve as a reminder of the horror of war and the suffering that both sides endured as they fought each other in that forest of death—the Hürtgenwald.
Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost. Ah me! How hard a thing it is to say what was this forest savage, rough and stern, which in the very thought renews the fear. So bitter is it, death is little more.
The Battle of the Hürtgen Forest—known by German veterans as die Hölle im Hürtgenwald (the Hell in the Hürtgen Forest), lasted from 12 September 1944, when a costly reconnaissance in force was carried out by the US 3rd Armored Division near the Siegfried Line at Roetgen, until 10 February 1945, when the US 78th Infantry Division secured the Schwammenauel Dam and reached the Roer River.¹ During this five-month period, the German armies defending the Siegfried Line (known to German troops as the Westwall), were practically destroyed as an effective fighting force and ended with Allied troops poised to cross the Rhine, the last natural barrier to the heart of Germany.
The fighting was slow and enormously costly in lives and materiel. Losses in the two Allied armies participating in the fighting along the Siegfried Line, the US First and Ninth Armies, were substantial (this does not include the Battle of the Bulge, a separate battle that delayed the outcome in the Hürtgen Forest for nearly two months). All told, during the fighting for the German frontier, First and Ninth Armies lost a combined total of 68,000 men killed, wounded, and missing.
Additionally, the Americans lost another 71,654 men as non-battle casualties, from diverse causes like trench foot, sickness, and battle fatigue, bringing the total number of US casualties in the campaign to nearly 140,000 men.² Exact numbers of Germans killed, wounded, and missing during the Siegfried Line campaign are unknown due to the loss of key records, though they were at least as high as those of the Allies. The US First and Ninth Armies reported capturing over 95,000 Germans during this period alone.
American battle casualties within the ten divisions (seven infantry, one airborne, two armored, plus elements of another) and supporting units that took part at one time or another in the Hürtgen Forest portion of the Siegfried Line campaign totaled 33,000 men, more than twenty-five percent of the troops engaged, an extremely high figure by US Army standards at the time. The U.S. suffered some 24,000 killed, wounded and missing. In addition, another 9,000 were classified as being evacuated under the Disease, Non-battle Injury (DNBI) category. German losses were at least equally as great. Since German units were fighting at reduced strengths to begin with, their percentage of casualties was correspondingly higher. Many German divisions were virtually wiped out, only to be hastily rebuilt and committed to battle in the forest and destroyed again.
In all, during this five-month period, some 140,000 U.S. troops faced off against 80,000 Germans in the Hürtgen Forest, on some of the most brutal battlefields ever faced by soldiers of any nation during that war. It was a struggle that measured ground gained in yards, not miles.³ Unlike the rapid Allied advance across France and the Low Countries in the late summer and fall of 1944, the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest became a slugfest. The fighting there had much more in common with trench warfare in World War I than the modern mechanized war, or Blitzkrieg, that evolved during World War II.
The Battle of the Hürtgen Forest witnessed dogged defensive fighting by the Germans and equally determined Allied assaults. It was characterized by battles for key towns such as Schmidt and Kesternich, and for objectives hidden in the seemingly endless forest, such as Dead Man’s Moor (the Todtenbruch) and the Raffelsbrand hunter’s lodge. Interrupted by Germany’s last-ditch offensive in the Ardennes, WACHT AM RHEIN, that became better known as the Battle of the Bulge, the large-scale fighting in the Hürtgen resumed again with added ferocity on 30 January 1945, when the US First and Ninth Armies were finally able to begin the long-delayed operation to capture the Roer River Dams, which finally fell on 10 February 1945.
During the course of this final phase of the Siegfried Line campaign, the Allies, operating from a position of strategic advantage and employing numerical superiority combined with overwhelming firepower, steadily ground down the weary German defenders. By March 1945, the entire portion of the Wehrmacht that fought on the Western Front had become reduced to nothing more than an enormous Alarmeinheit (emergency unit), composed of a polyglot of various Army, Air Force, Navy, Labor Service, Volkssturm, and Waffen-SS units, all invariably hastily thrown together, poorly trained, unfit, and increasingly unmotivated to fight to the last for their Führer.
The Allied success in the Hürtgen Forest and along the length of the Siegfried Line paved the way for the even more successful Rhineland campaign, which began at the end of February 1945. In the space of less than two weeks, both the 12th and 21st Army Groups were able to overwhelm the German defenses along the Roer and had closed up to the western bank of the Rhine by 10 March. Seizure of the bridge at Remagen by First Army on 7 March marked the beginning of the end of the Wehrmacht’s attempts to defend in the west. By the third week of April, the German war effort had almost entirely collapsed and American troops would shake hands with their Red Army counterparts on the bank of the Elbe.
Even the bravest efforts of the individual German soldier came to naught as it only served to prolong a war that Germany had already lost in a strategic sense by 1943. Thousands upon thousands of these men were senselessly sacrificed to hold meaningless towns, bunkers, and fortresses, dying alone or by the hundreds. While the steadfast defense of the Westwall initially slowed the Allies during the fall and winter of 1944/45, this temporary success ironically paved the way for the great Soviet advances in the East from January to April 1945.
Hitler gambled and lost when he diverted Germany’s dwindling military strength to the West, first to stop the Allies’ Normandy invasion, then to launch the ill-fated Ardennes Offensive. His focus on the Western Front made him squander his remaining reserves just when they were needed the most in the east. As a result, the Ostfront (Eastern Front) was thinly manned and unprepared to hold back the Soviet juggernaut that relentlessly swept into Berlin by the end of April 1945 and ended a war that Hitler had started five and a half years earlier.
Today, few people understand why the average German soldier did not simply quit and go home. Fewer still can understand what kept him in the line, facing catastrophic losses that reduced companies, battalions, and even regiments to burned-out remnants in the space of a few days. Was the German soldier merely a benumbed robot by this stage of the war or a die-hard fanatic driven by desperation? Was it blind loyalty to Hitler that made them willingly sacrifice themselves in order to prolong a war that they had no hope of winning?
While answering yes to these questions provides a convenient explanation that many military historians frequently use today to highlight the moral and martial superiority of Allied troops to those of the Third Reich, it simply does not stand up to close scrutiny. More useful to this debate is to just state that the average German soldier was far more complex and the reasons why he fought—and fought so well—still defy easy categorization.
Increasingly, historians, and students of World War II want to know more details and pose more questions about the German soldier and why he fought. They want to know more about his daily existence, such as what was it like to live and to fight under these clearly hopeless circumstances and how he felt about it. In this vein, it is also worth asking the question: what was it like for the ordinary Landser (German slang for an ordinary infantryman) to fight in the hell of the Hürtgen Forest, or survive in the whirlwind battles in the Rhineland? The Hürtgen Forest was a battle, after all, where soldiers of both sides fought over trench lines and bunkers like their fathers had in the First World War. That such curiosity exists today belies the fact that military historians, both young and old alike, do not have a good appreciation for what it was like for the average German soldier who fought there, or for his American opponent, for that matter.
The American experience in the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest and in the Rhineland is well documented by such works as the US Army’s Office of Military History’s The Siegfried Line Campaign, by Charles B. MacDonald, who was an actual participant in the fighting, having fought with the 2nd Infantry Division, and his follow-up study, The Last Offensive.⁴ Another seminal work, also by MacDonald, was Three Battles: Arnaville, Altuzzo, and Schmidt, which was commissioned by the US Army to determine why each of these particular World War Two battles was a success or failure and what timeless lessons could be drawn for tomorrow’s leaders.⁵ Added to these superb US Army official accounts are other recent works, quite detailed and informative, that are replete with first-hand accounts and situation reports from the archives. Works such as Edward G. Miller’s A Dark and Bloody Ground, Gerald Astor’s The Bloody Forest, and Cecil B. Currey’s Follow Me and Die contributed immensely to the body of literature about the fighting, relying heavily on memoirs and interviews with American participants.
In contrast, there have been few contemporary official German accounts to provide balance, with the notable exception of Wolfgang Trees and Adolf Hohenstein’s Die Hölle in Hürtgenwald and Gevert Haslob’s Ein Blick zurück in der Eifel.⁶ Kurt Kaeres, another eminent German author and participant in the battle, also published a fictional work describing some of his own experiences that received wide acclaim in Germany, Das Verstummte Hurra (The Muted Cheer). German popular accounts of the Rhineland campaign are even sparser, limited to Helmuth Euler’s Entscheidung an Rhein und Ruhr 1945 and Edgar Christoffel’s Krieg am Westwall 1944/45. A serious study of that campaign from a military perspective has yet to appear, though Heinz Günther Guderian’s Das Letzte Kriegsjahr im Western admirably covers that phase of the war from the perspective of the 116th Panzer Division.
Contributing to the lack of detailed knowledge of the German situation at the tactical level, many official German reports and unit daily journals were lost, destroyed, or misplaced after the war. The Bundeswehr, modern Germany’s successor to the Wehrmacht, has also yet to write the definitive official account of the Siegfried Line campaign, though it did commission a comprehensive study in the mid-1970s that was quietly shelved before it was scheduled to go to print.⁷ Perhaps the scars, even 60 years later, are still too fresh for most German veterans, whose generation is passing away without sharing its experiences with children or grandchildren. Accounts from those who took part in the fighting can still be found, but most of what they wrote has remained unpublished or was captured briefly in post-war veteran’s association newsletters. Most of these stories are not available to the general public and few have been translated. Locating these survivors’ accounts requires diligence akin to finding a needle in a haystack.
And while these few personnel accounts are useful, without official German studies or documents to guide their work, they are insufficient for historical purposes. They lack detail from a tactical or operational perspective, though do succeed in bringing to light the experiences of the average soldier. Thus, no study yet has attempted, from the German perspective, to marry the Alltagsgeschichte (the history of everyday life) of the battle with official records. Now, for the first time, such records have been uncovered that show the impact of the fighting on a certain German company-sized unit that fought for nearly five months in the Hürtgen Forest and the Rhineland, from both a human and tactical perspective. This book, then, is the story of that company.
When I first began work on this book in the summer of 2000 while stationed in Heidelberg, I thought it would practically write itself. The wealth of original company documents I obtained from Emilie C. Stewart in 1993 seemed like more than enough material for a book. That was true, up to a point. I thought that the records provided everything needed to tell the story of Füsilier Company 272, but the more work progressed, the more it became apparent that I could not write about this one company without writing the history of its parent division, the 272nd Volks-Grenadier Division. Once the decision was made to broaden the scope of the book, things began to get complicated. At first glance there was very little to work with except the division’s history put together after the war by one of its former artillery battalion commanders, the inestimable Martin Jenner. His book focused primarily the division’s predecessor, the 216th Infantry Division until it was disbanded in December 1943. Less than one twentieth of Jenner’s book dealt with the 272nd Volks-Grenadier Division and the last six months of the war. Therefore, I enlisted the voluntary cooperation of a number of historians, many of them recognized authorities on the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest and the German Army of WWII, to help fill in the gaps. The Internet, only now beginning to realize its full potential, also proved to be a boon, directing me to reliable sources that I would never have considered even ten years ago. Despite a break in work brought about by a tour of duty in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2002, I was able to resume work in earnest in 2004. So here, after many twists and turns, is the final product.
I would first like to acknowledge the contributions of Edward G. Miller and Klaus Schulz, who first convinced me to write the book and directed me towards a wealth of source materials or at least where I could find them. Following their advice, while still stationed in Heidelberg I contacted French MacLean, Colonel, US Army (Retired), Dr. Stephen L. Bowman, and Hans-Gerhard Sandmann, the President of the 216th/272nd Infantry/Volks-Grenadier Division Veterans’ Association. Their advice led to further contacts, and this put me in touch with the 78th Infantry Division Veterans’ Association, the 8th Infantry Division Association, and Ray Fleig of the 707th Tank Battalion Association.
The 78th Infantry Division Veterans’Association proved to be a gold mine, not only because it publicized my search for survivor interviews, but also provided me with more original source material than I could profitably use. To the following members of these Associations I am extremely grateful: from the 78th Infantry Division Veterans’ Association Edward Malouf, John Robbie Robinson, Hermann Red Gonzalez, William Bill Parsons (Editor of The Flash), Stan Polny, Frank Camm (Lieutenant General, US Army Retired), James L. Cooper, Melvie Gilbert, Robert L. Greivell, the late Gus E. Hank, B. C. Henderson, W. Merle Hill, Robert A. McChord, John K. Rains; from the 8th Infantry Division Association, Albert H. Clayton, Merrill B. Westy Westhoff, and Walt Landry; and Don Lavender from the 9th Infantry Division Association.
In the United States I would like to acknowledge the help and advice of a number of historians and researchers, including Richard Anderson; Robert Applegate; Jon Bocek; Robert D. Burgess; Greg Canellis; Frederick L. Clemens; Stephen Ehlers; Hugh Foster; Jeff Gowen; Mike Hamidy; Brad Hubbard; David P. Hunter, Jason Long; Michael Miller; Alex Moore, John Mulholland; Tom Peters; George Petersen; Jason Pipes; Justin Smith; Major Charles Smith, US Army; Barry Smith; Christian Stock; William A. Stofft, Major General, USA (Ret.); Eric Tobey; Richard L. Baker and the staff of the US Army Military History Institute, Carlisle, PA; the US National Archives; and the dedicated members of the reenacted 11th Panzer Division.
Special thanks are due to Thomas McKnight, whose forthcoming book about his father’s experience at Kesternich as a member of the 78th Infantry Division and the captivity that followed stimulated both of our research efforts. His hard work in translating documents, making maps, and chasing down leads has been a boon and I hope that my assistance to him has been of equal value. I would also like to thank Mrs. Marilee P. Meyer of the Association of Graduates, United States Military Academy, who performed research on several graduates of that noble institution whose paths crossed with that of the 272nd Volks-Grenadier Division.
In Europe, I would like to thank the following historians and researchers for their gracious assistance: Christoph Awender of Sweden; Piet Duits of Oudenbosch, The Netherlands; Veit Scherzer and Manfred von Freiesleben of Scherzer’s Militaire-Verlag of Ranis, Germany; Hubert Gees of the Veterans Association, 275th Infanterie-Division; Timm Haasler of Germany; Gevert Haslob of the 89th Infantry Division Veterans Association; Heinrich Heckner of Falkensee, Germany; Ralf Klodt of Germany; Volker Lossner of Aachen, Germany; Alex Moore of Leicestershire, UK; Dr. Leo Niehorster; Hans Peulen, Germany; Ron van Rijt of The Netherlands; Ingrid Roux of Heidelberg, Germany; Ralf Anton Schäfer of Germany; Christian Schwinghammer of Stockholm, Sweden; Brigitte Sebald of Heidelberg, Germany; Wolfgang Trees of Triangle Verlag, Germany; Andries Verspeeten of Ghent, Belgium; Hans H. Weber of Switzerland; Jakob Weiler of Hönningen, Germany; Marcus Wendel of Sweden; Annegret Wolfram of Wildbad in Schwartzwald, Germany; and Niklas Zetterling of Germany.
I also wish to acknowledge of the help of this men whom this book is about— the veterans of the 272nd Volks-Grenadier Division, most especially Friedrich Adrario of Vienna, Austria; Helmut Aretz of Krefeld; Erich Bernutz, of Wernigerode; Helmut Beyer of Göttingen; Erwin Buchwalder of Storkow; Günter Ecker of Herschweiler; Friedrich Fosselmann of Berg; Adolf Fuhrmeister, brother of Hermann Fuhrmeister of Süpplingen; Ernst Fuhrmeister, son of Hermann Fuhrmeister of Bremen; Hermann Gehle of Heilbronn; Erwin Gläsig of Berlin; Otto Gunkel of Bad Sooden; the late Kurt Hake of Düsseldorf; Hermann Heiermann of Dinslaken; Gerd Hörner, of Wuppertal; Frau Maria Horstkotte, widow of Heinrich Horstkotte of Kirchlengern; Rudolf Ips of Gifhorn; the late Fritz Johns of Stendahl; Herbert Kaiser of Schwanebeck; Frau Else Klein, widow of Kurt Klein of Solingen; Heinrich Misskampf of Nauheim; Erich Möckel of Mannichswalde; Peter Moog of Bonn; Frau Erna Ortloff, widow of Harald Ortloff of Rudolstadt; Günther Peukert of Gera; Ferdinand Post of Hamm; Günther Schmidt of Hameln; Josef Stefan of Baden, Austria; Frau Irene Thiele, widow of Friedrich Thiele of Zeimendorf; the late Adolf Thomae of Münich; Hans Wegener of Hilden, Frau Anna Winkler, widow of Karl Winkler of Trippstadt; Wilfried Wilts of Emden; and last, but certainly not least, Eduard Zacharuk of Taufkirchen.
No acknowledgment would be complete without mentioning the help and forbearance of my wife, Jill, and children, Douglas Jr., Drew, and Deanna. Their tolerance of the seemingly endless days and nights I spent in researching and writing this book is a constant source of wonder and for which I am extremely grateful. While they showed these same admirable qualities during the writing of my first book, Hell’s Gate: The Battle of the Cherkassy Pocket, the demands of this book took them above and beyond the call of duty. A move from Europe to the United States, a war, a move to Virginia, and another war all added to the normal stresses and strains a family goes through and they have once again proven that a military family can put up with almost anything! My love and thanks to you all.
Lastly, I would like to thank the late Keith E. Kit Bonn of The Aberjona Press. It was he who saw the value of my manuscript and urged me beyond my original goal of covering just Füsilier Company 272 and elevating it to a study of the Volks-Grenadier divisions as a tactical and historical concept. Kit, this one’s for you.
The origins of this book can be traced to the acquisition of a remarkable set of documents that illustrate, from a German perspective, what happened to the lowest tactical building block in any army—the infantry company—from the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest, through the Rhineland and into the heart of the Third Reich. From such building blocks, like the infantry company that serves as the focus of this book, battalions, then regiments, and finally entire divisions are made.
While operational records from hundreds of American companies, battalions, regiments, and even individual soldier post-combat interviews are still kept on file in the US National Archives and at the US Army Military History Institute at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, few comparable German records survived the war. Many were deliberately destroyed on orders, while many other documents were abandoned during the Wehrmacht’s long retreat or claimed by the elements. Locating any group of German company-level documents, therefore, is a rare find indeed.
The document grouping used in the writing of this book came into the author’s hands through a roundabout way. In late 1992, Emilie Caldwell Stewart, an American military relics dealer who specialized in German World War II identity documents, ran an advertisement to buy Wehrpässe (military identity books) and Soldbücher (paybooks) in Sammler Journal, a well-known German collectors publication.
Shortly thereafter, she received a letter from a gentleman living in what was the former communist German Democratic Republic, which had reunited with West Germany in 1989 at the end of the Cold War. He wrote that he lived in the village of Tanne, located to the south of the town of Wernigerode in the Harz Mountains of Thuringia. He stated that he had 163 identity documents as well as thousands of other related papers for sale. She immediately accepted and worked out the terms with the seller, agreeing to travel to Germany to complete the transaction.
In early February 1993, Ms. Stewart arrived at the seller’s tiny village consisting of about twenty houses with unpaved streets that was perched on the side of the mountain. A more rural setting in the former East Germany could not be imagined. The seller lived in a communal house with five other families, sharing the kitchen and living room with the others. The house had once been the home of the champion skier of that area, who had retired and moved away some years before.
The skier had apparently been a Gebirgsjäger, or mountain trooper. Ms. Stewart bought one of his beautifully carved chairs adorned with Edelweiss, his skis, and his photo album. The seller had apparently been using the dirt-floored basement of the house to store antiques he had bought at local auctions. When the original owner of the suitcase died (apparently he was a fellow resident of the same communal home), the seller discovered it in the basement and took ownership. The seller named his price for the suitcase and Ms. Stewart bought it.
The moldering suitcase, which had apparently contained the complete Kompanie Schreibstube, or company orderly room files and documents for a German infantry company, had been left behind in the farmhouse near the war’s end and forgotten when the company moved on. Ms. Stewart was amazed to discover the variety of its contents—identity papers, pay books, binders filled with casualty reports, mail logs, various correspondence, and even the reporting book or infamous Kohlenkasten ( coalbox ) of the company Spiess (first sergeant). In short, nearly every scrap of official paper this company had carried along with it since its creation in September 1944 until the middle of April 1945 was contained therein. While the suitcase itself was quickly discarded due to its rotten condition, she realized that its contents were of great historical significance.
For some obscure reason, the Kompanie Schreiber (company clerk) continued to carry the suitcase full of documents and office supplies to the war’s end, perhaps out of loyalty or a sense of duty, long past the point when it no longer mattered. As such, this was not only a great historical find, but an archeological find as well. In this moldy suitcase, figuratively frozen in amber, one could trace a single German infantry company’s path through virtually the entire Siegfried Line Campaign and beyond—from the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest to the crossing of the Rhine River to the surrender of the encircled German forces in the Harz Pocket—from early November 1944 to mid-April 1945.
By studying the suitcase’s contents, one could easily glean details such as daily losses, after-action reports, letters to next of kin, letters from hospitals describing the disposition of evacuated wounded, letters from anxious loved ones or next of kin inquiring about the fates of their sons, fathers, brothers, husbands, . . . it was all there. Unfortunately, the original owner of the suitcase was never named, though he undoubtedly had some connection with Füsilier Company 272.
The papers and documents she discovered all related to Füsilier Company 272, a special unit assigned to the 272nd Volks-Grenadier Division (VGD). Created in September 1944 from the remnants of Füsilier Battalion 272, which had been all but destroyed in Normandy the previous month, Füsilier Company 272 was to function as the division’s Aufklärungs (reconnaissance company). It actually served as the division’s Feuerwehr (fire brigade, or quick reaction force), used for emergency situations that demanded hard-hitting, mobile, and well-led units.
Füsilier Company 272 fought in the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest, the northern shoulder during the Battle of the Bulge, around the Roer River dams, the retreat across the Rhine, and was nearly trapped in the Ruhr Pocket. There, the bulk of the 272nd VGD was finally forced to capitulate, along with the rest of Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model’s Army Group B on 18 April 1945, but a small remnant was able to fight its way to the transitory safety of the Harz Mountains. All that lay in the uncertain future, however, when the cadre of Füsilier Company 272, survivors of the retreat across France and the Low Countries, boarded trains along the German-Dutch border in September 1944, bound for the interior of Germany.
As primary source documents, those found in the farmhouse were unsurpassed. Despite years of storage in a dank cellar in Northern Germany, all of the documents were completely undamaged and easily legible. Most of the papers were assembled in binders or folders, making it easy to catalog and sort their contents. While nearly a third of the individual soldier service records and pay books were quickly sold to collectors, the remainder, as well as thousands of pages of other documents relating to the Füsilier Company 272 were kept together as a set and acquired by the author in 1994.
In all, the document grouping included 163 individual service records and pay books, as well as partial documents for 319 other men, enough material to fill twelve large binders, in addition to eight bound volumes of records. Collating and recording this material required hundreds of hours, but were necessary in order to piece the unit history together again. Once organized, the documents began to paint a clear picture of the life and death of this company from its inception in September 1944 until the end of March 1945, when the official record ends.
The records were maintained by the company clerk, who was responsible for the various files and for processing various administrative actions, such as requests for furloughs, promotions, punishments, and awards. Füsilier Company 272 was fortunate in that its company clerk, Obergefreiter (senior corporal) Ulrich Lorenz, was not only efficient, but also able to write clearly and legibly, an advantage when studying documents written in a different language than one’s own. Additionally, Lorenz was assigned to the company from its inception until it was finally disbanded in April 1945.
The orderly room was the repository of all the relevant documents required for the efficient administration of a company-sized unit. The functions of the orderly room were replicated on a larger scale at the battalion, regiment, and division levels, with more personnel with greater specialization being found the further up the chain one went. At the company level, however, one clerk (sometimes a mail clerk was assigned as well) was sufficient to handle the workload. The clerk was directly supervised by the company’s Spiess (first sergeant), Hauptfeldwebel Hermann Fuhrmeister, though in practice, these duties were often delegated to the first sergeant’s assistant.
The company orderly room with its clerks normally was set up in the company Tross ( trains or administrative-logistics area), usually six to ten kilometers from the front line, where the unit’s combat troops were occupying defensive positions. The company trains also consisted of the supply section with its horse-drawn carts; several Hiwis (Hilfwilliger—Russian prisoners of war who volunteered to serve the Germans) to care for the horses and perform manual labor; the senior medical NCO and his Sanitäter (assistant aid men); and the unit cook along with his kitchen assistants. One of these kitchen assistants, Grenadier Herbert Pitsch from Berlin, had owned a butcher shop in his hometown before the war. Lorenz, the company clerk, and his other compatriots in the company’s administrative and logistics area were relatively safe from harm, with only the occasional air raid or American artillery interdiction barrage to worry about.
The documents that Lorenz used to track administrative actions in the company and the personnel records he maintained consisted of individual service records, pay books, identification disks, unit roster sheet, and the punishment book. In addition, he kept up the casualty reporting book, hospital report book, and the correspondence file for the company commander, Oberleutnant Heinz Kolb. Lorenz, equipped with his trusty typewriter, also prepared hundreds of letters to casualties’ next of kin for the commander’s signature, wrote letters for the Hauptfeldwebel to sergeants major of other units in the division, and compiled the unit daily strength report for the division IIb, the enlisted personnel management section of the division staff. All of these documents were essential for proper administration of the unit, and Lorenz appears to have done his job well.
In addition, the unit mail clerk, Füsilier Johann Anderka, maintained the record books for both incoming and outgoing mail, as well as official orders and administrative announcements from division headquarters. While there were no doubt interruptions at various times due to attacks on the German transportation network and the bombing of cities, mail appears to have been delivered to the company with a fair degree of regularity, with packages and mail reaching the company as late as 16 March 1945. For soldiers who had no writing paper or envelopes of their own, the mail clerk had a limited supply of writing materials and postcards to be distributed upon request. In all, enough writing paper; carbon paper; pencils; pens; blank casualty reports; postcards; and blank paybooks and identity tags remained on hand to serve the company’s needs for several more weeks, had the war not ended for Füsilier Company 272 when it did.
Equally as important was the discovery among the documents, of a fragment of the company’s Kriegstagebuch (daily combat journal, or KTB). This was an extremely important find, since it provided insight into the more mundane daily occurrences as well as combat. Apparently, Hauptfeldwebel Fuhrmeister dictated the bulk of the KTB to the company clerk, since the various papers are all in Obergefreiter Lorenz’s script throughout. Transcribing and deciphering the journal was a challenge, however, since the journal was written in pencil in old German shorthand script on scraps of notebook paper. While the translated combat journal proved to be a font of valuable information, it only covered the period from 28 December 1944 to 17 March 1945. Because the official records of the company began to deteriorate in quality beginning in early February 1945, however, this journal fills in many of the gaps and provides much information not available through the other documents.
While these documents provide insight as to what was occurring within the miniature world of Füsilier Company 272, they shed little light on the overall military situation developing around it. This is a common occurrence in any company- or battalion-sized unit whose perspective was limited to its own comparatively short range of action. All too often, information rarely filters down to the small unit level and this failing was even more pronounced in the German Army of 1944–45, whose leaders had good reasons not to reveal the true situation to the combat troops, lest they become demoralized. Consequently, one must resort to other primary source documents or official records in order to place the history of Füsilier Company 272 into its proper historical context.
Most of all, this grouping of documents also sheds light on a little-known and poorly understood type of combat division that the Wehrmacht created during the last year of the war—the Volks-Grenadier Division, or People’s Grenadier Division. Long confused with the Volkssturm, or People’s Assault Force, an organization created by the Nazi Party at roughly the same time, the VGD represented an attempt by the German Army to wring the last ounce of manpower and military capability out of Germany’s nearly spent military resources.
Though nearly all American and British combat divisions fought VGDs at one time or another during the last eight months of the war, there has been little effort until recently to understand how these divisions were organized, how they were equipped, and how they fought. What made them unique? Did they represent a departure from German military tradition? Were they part of the SS? Could they have affected the outcome of the war in Europe? These and other questions have been asked frequently, but little attempt has been made to answer them to the satisfaction of military scholars.
This, then, is the purpose of this book. Using the document grouping as a point of departure, Füsilier Company 272 will be seen as a microcosm of its larger parent organization, the 272nd VGD. In many ways, this division was typical of the rest of those created in September and October 1944, at a time when German victory was a forlorn hope and when the best that Germany could expect was a negotiated truce. Fighting exclusively on the Western Front from November 1944 until April 1945, this division experienced brief glimpses of success in battle against American and British troops before it finally succumbed during the Battle of the Ruhr Pocket, the largest battle of encirclement in the west during World War Two.
Designed to secure final victory, these divisions instead found it to be an ever-elusive goal that continued to recede before them. Despite the extraordinary exertions required to man and equip them, they never lived up to expectations and the men of these divisions were sacrificed senselessly in a vain attempt to overcome Allied supremacy. Hastily assembled and trained, Volks-Grenadier divisions were forced to use the bodies of their men as a substitute for firepower and mobility. The result was an enormous bloodletting that drained the German people, das Volk, of the last ounce of available manpower—the husbands, sons, and fathers who had so far been spared from the clutches of a total war. They now found that they had become little more than cannon fodder for a Führer who, in the end, thought them not worthy of his leadership.
Volks-Grenadier Divisions sprang into being in the aftermath of the 20 July 1944 attempt on Hitler’s life, when fanatical loyalty to the Nazi regime rather than skill or leadership ability increasingly became the paramount criteria for service and advancement in the Wehrmacht. Adolf Hitler, ever attuned to the latent nationalistic character of the German people, selected the Volks-Grenadier honorific "to appeal to the national and military pride of Das Volk."¹ It was to be the Wehrmacht’s last concerted effort to mobilize Germany’s remaining potential manpower to turn the tide of war.
Using the pretext of the assassination attempt to guarantee the Führer the Army’s future ideological loyalty, Heinrich Himmler, Reichsführer (national leader) of the SS, convinced Hitler to appoint him commander-in-chief of the Ersatzheer (the replacement army). Approved only hours after the attempt on his life, this appointment merely masked Himmler’s ambition to increase his own share of power at the Army’s expense. His path to this new command was made easier by the fact that many of the key conspirators, such as Generaloberst Erich Fromm and Oberst Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg, had held senior positions in the Ersatzheer.² Their elimination removed any remaining obstacle to the realization of Himmler’s goal.
Another reason advanced for use of the Volks designation was the belief that this title would distinguish such units from other infantry divisions of the German Army, perhaps in conscious imitation of the term Guards Division as used by the British and Soviet armies. The title Guards Division had been bestowed since the middle of the war upon Soviet divisions that had distinguished themselves in battle.⁵ Of course, the title "Volks" was bestowed on many divisions that had not even seen any fighting at all, much less having distinguished themselves. Left unspoken, of course, must have been the hope that they would do so at the first opportunity so that they might live up to their lofty title.
Nineteen Volks-Grenadier Divisions, which constituted the 32nd Welle (Mobilization Wave), were to be created on 31 August 1944 to serve as an operational reserve.⁶ The orders authorizing their creation, issued by the Oberkommando des Heeres (German Army High Command, or OKH) on 26 and 28 August 1944, stated that they were to be raised, trained, equipped, and ready for employment on either the Western or Eastern Fronts between 16 September and 26 November 1944. As it turned out, most of these new divisions were initially committed on the Western Front.⁷ This order did not affect other types of divisions, such as Panzer, Panzer-Grenadier, Mountain, or Light Infantry divisions. Nor did it apply to any Luftwaffe Parachute or Field divisions, though many airmen were eventually transferred into VGDs. In addition to creating VGDs, Himmler also authorized the creation of Volks-Artillerie Corps (for the command and control of corps-level artillery) and Volks-Werfer (Mortar) Brigades. Six more VGDs were formed on 16 September 1944.
The nineteen new Volks-Grenadier divisions being formed mentioned above, which had divisional numbers from 564 to 582, were merged with the remnants of older divisions that had been shattered during the summer and fall campaigns of 1944.⁹ So it came to be that new divisions, like the 575th Volks-Grenadier Division, were merged with veteran divisions like the 272nd Infantry Division before their establishment was ever completed. Many older Kriegsetat (Wartime Establishment, also known as Infantry Division 44 neuer Art) 1944 infantry divisions, whose pre-war organizational structures had been modified during late 1943 and early 1944, were never re-designated as VGDs and retained their old titles and structure until the end of the war. This was a function of insufficient time or opportunity to pull them out of the front line to undergo reorganization rather than a deliberate oversight.
In the case of the 272nd VGD, nearly all of the officers that had escaped from Normandy with the old division were retained in the same key leadership positions (for the names and positions of key leaders at this time, refer to Appendix A). Many of them met or exceeded the above-stated specifications for the desired types of individual decorations. A noteworthy omission from the officer positions authorized by the new structure, however, was that of divisional chaplain, which had been eliminated by order of Himmler himself.
That was the idea, at least in theory. Actually rounding up the manpower was another matter, although Himmler had ultimate control over the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS replacement pools. The bitter reality was that experienced manpower had become a scarce commodity by the early autumn of 1944. To fill the ranks of these new divisions, Himmler, as commander in chief of the Ersatzheer initiated a series of imaginative and ruthless measures. One such measure was his resort to the use of mobile drafting units, the so-called Heldenklaukommandos ( hero-snatcher units ).
Comparable to press gangs during the days of Frederick the Great, these roving teams, consisting of Nazi Party officials, military police, and Army recruitment personnel, scoured Germany and the remaining occupied areas for manpower. They resorted to re-activating convalescent soldiers discharged from hospitals as no longer fit for frontline service; culling the now-underemployed Luftwaffe for suitable personnel; converting Kriegsmarine personnel from sailors to infantrymen; conscripting boys of sixteen and seventeen years of age; and snatching able-bodied workers from German industry or the railways and replacing them with women and forced laborers who were from conquered territories.
Further guidelines were issued to generate additional manpower from the hospitals by shortening a soldier’s recuperation. On 21 September 1944, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (German Armed Forces High Command, or OKW) issued an order that specified that the terms ‘Limited Fitness for Field Service’ and ‘Limited Fitness for Duty in the Replacement Army’ have been so routinely abused that they are no longer meaningful. They are henceforth no longer to be used. ¹³ What then followed was a list of requirements that effectively forced military hospitals to discharge patients much earlier than in peacetime and to reclassify soldiers with infirmities or disabilities for front line service. It is doubtful whether these men contributed anything meaningful to a unit’s combat effectiveness, but at least it had the immediate effect of freeing up more manpower for the new Volks-Grenadier divisions. | 2019-04-18T18:35:07Z | https://ar.scribd.com/book/273102047/Victory-Was-Beyond-Their-Grasp-With-the-272nd-Volks-Grenadier-Division-from-the-Huertgen-Forest-to-the-Heart-of-the-Reich |
Samples represents that of an actual working technical professional found on the WEB and modified to protect the privacy of these professionals. Human names, company names, colleges, software product names are intentionally made up.
More than a dozen years in Call Center Manager/Director positions in Computer Hardware, Software and Services companies.
Successfully built integrated, expandable, self-maintaining, cost-effective support systems for four companies.
Responsible for annual budgets over 1,000,000. Anticipated expenditures and managed my team within budget every year.
Managed the RFP Request for Proposal process to define needs, identify likely solutions, evaluate, select, purchase and implement all third-party tools for my departments.
Negotiated purchase and support contracts for various third party products and services, and managed those relationships over time.
Developed appropriate metrics to measure performance and provide early indicators of areas to improve. Created processes and procedures aimed at constant improvement in all areas.
Built teams of greater than 40 employees in multiple locations and time zones.
Accurately forecasted support needs and proactively staffed and trained to meet future needs.
Consistently recognized for my outstanding Team Building and Employee Development skills.
Acted as Implementer and/or System Administrator for several CRM tools, including Seibel, Clarify Clear Support, Magic Solutions, Intellisystems VRU and Kana Email management products.
A team-player , I try to build consensus among my employees as well as my peers and superiors in my companies before committing to any large changes in tools, processes or procedures. I try to ensure that my solutions and improvements work well for me and do not cause any undue difficulties for my co-workers.
A hands-on Manager and Director, I keep my technical skills current. I recently attended Solaris System Administrator training, and am learning the basics of Java Programming. My PC skills are also current as both a power-user and as an administrator of most Windows OS es.
My role was to define and build a customer and technical support infrastructure. For NetSystems this included Customer Service, Technical Support, QA, Internal and Customer Training, Sales Engineering and Professional Services duties.
Wrote Service Level Agreements relevant to all anticipated products and services we intended to offer, including System Sales, A.S.P. and various Maintenance contracts.
Selected and installed/configured various tools to facilitate my job performance. These included a bug tracking system and a new phone system.
Hired and Trained employees to assist with my various responsibilities.
Acted as the Customer Advocate throughout the entire product development cycle to ensure all components were focused on the needs of our end-users.
Participated in all Engineering discussions on how to best implement our product goals.
Facilitated interdepartmental agreements on services to offer and ways to best serve our customers.
Fulfilled several roles, including System Administrator, Sales Engineer, Trainer and On-Site Installer in addition to my management duties.
Joined the company to create a support system and team for EasyBuy s newest business group, sMessaging.
My role was to select all necessary tools and products, and build a team capable of meeting a service level that I defined based on corporate goals established in discussion with my superiors.
Performed a cost analysis of all possible support vectors, including Toll Free and Fee based phone support, email support, web-based customer self-service and Chat as well as service package based approaches. Delivered options based on cost/subscriber for variable contact volumes.
Selected appropriate tools based on cost and presumed value. Negotiated purchase contracts, purchased tools and spearheaded the implementation processes.
When we chose Seibel as our CRM tool, I participated on the Implementation Team.
Determined a multi-level support system and created job descriptions for each level. These included pre-sales, customer service, implementation support, post-sales tech support and Domain Master activities for our group.
Hired senior and junior level agents to meet anticipated contact volumes for our new business group.
Using the skills of my team, we created a full set of internal training documents, Policy and Procedure statements, Domain Registration and Transfer processes appropriate to our business, and created all content for the support section of our website FAQ s tutorials, help files, etc .
Performed as a customer advocate at all times and to all levels of the company.
Re-built entire department. Examined all aspects of our service delivery systems in order to provide a consistent, cost-effective support system. Created an integrated framework for future department growth.
Implemented a consistent training program.
Began and maintained regular call center metrics reports.
Purchased and implemented a high end call tracking program Clarify s Clear Support .
Reduced headcount in my department by 15 while addressing 20 more customer contacts per week Actual productivity per tech rose over 40 .
Reduced turnover by 50 as a result of a more stable work environment and procedures.
Based on the results of a series of quarterly Customer Surveys, we improved our customer satisfaction rating from under 50 when I joined the company to where over 75 of our users said they had a "Better than expected" experience with my department and "would recommend Aqua.Net to others".
In the course of 8-1/2 years with KML I was responsible for creating and implementing every aspect of our end-user support system.
Developed and managed a 1 million dollar plus annual budget.
As an advocate of using appropriate technology to deliver higher service levels I saved an estimated 200,000 per year by avoiding unnecessary headcount and repeat contacts by our customers.
Integrated support for all Day-Timer software products after KML formed a joint venture company with Day-Timer, Inc.
Managed a group of 40+ techs delivering phone, fax, online and email support for multiple product lines Muller, Silicon Sports and Statx hardware and Day-Timer and Chronologic software in multiple locations.
Helped establish end-of-life-cycle guidelines for Day-Timer software products.
Worked with Day-Timer product development and QA to ensure that user feedback was respected in future feature and design creation.
Performed detailed request-for-proposal project to determine a suitable call tracking system for Muller and Day-Timer s future tech support needs.
Purchased, implemented and customized Intellisystem s interactive voice response system to deal with frequently asked questions.
Aggressively championed various automated systems to allow us to reduce the cost per contact in all support areas.
Developed and managed a group of 15 techs delivering phone, fax, online forum and email support for multiple Muller hardware product lines.
Provided senior level tech support to our customers.
Created a cost effective hardware repair depot to refurbish damaged products.
Provided cost justification for a lifetime warranty on certain products.
Drove the creation of various online support forums AOL, CompuServe, Apple Link and eventually our own website .
Designed and delivered various training sessions to my techs.
Negotiated and maintained various Service Level Agreements.
Participated in the budgeting process and controlled expenditures in my department.
Cleared backlog of end-user and dealer/distributor product return requests.
Created separate, consistent return procedures for end-users and dealer/distributor accounts.
Helped Muller gain an industry-wide reputation for top quality customer support.
Various Trade Seminars on Management topics such as Contract Negotiations, Training Methods, Effective Telephone Communication, Handling Harassment Claims, Legal Issues involving Managers in California, Support Services Conference and Expo and others.
Seeking a full time support and or operations management position within a growth industry providing opportunity to contribute to company expansion, increased market share, customer satisfaction, performance and profitability.
Interfacing with professionals, senior management and customer liaison.
Change Management & Team Building.
Staff supervision, recruiting, selection, evaluation, training and motivation.
Both centralized and decentralized field service, repair facilities, training, logistics, administration, marketing and telephone based technical assistance operations.
Creating and implementing policies and procedures.
Budgeting combined with Business unit management.
Customer satisfaction and quality control improvements.
Conducting industry analysis and benchmarking for continuous competitive advantage.
Help Desk & Call Center operations with CRM.
Knowledgeable in service marketing and sales channels, direct, distribution, reseller.
Knowledgeable in Windows 95, 98 & NT, IBM 3270 environments, data communications and LAN/WAN topologies, Lucent and Aspect ACD, CMS & IVR, Internet, Knowledgebase Applications, Customer Relationship Management, Microsoft Office Suite and Workforce Management programs.
Repositioned and restructured a service organization from a "fix the equipment" to a "fix the customer" team approach resulting in increased product sales and top ratings by end users in major industry surveys on customer satisfaction.
Improved productivity, utilization and customer satisfaction levels resulting in significant overhead cost reductions combined with increased sales and expanded market share.
A creative, articulate professional with excellent organizational, analytical and interpersonal skills who uses proactive, strategic planning as the foundation of winning teams and generating new business to ensure company growth along with improved customer service and satisfaction, loyalty, retention and repeat business.
Managed and directed multiple outsourced Help Desk operations for major pharmaceutical corporation client, supporting over 6000 campus and 800 remote users.
Established process and productivity improvements and assisted client with implementation of Knowledgebase applications.
Developed and implemented quantifiable departmental guidelines and procedures.
Improved recruitment efforts, employee retention and training.
Performed revisions and monitoring of service level agreements.
Instituted change management to enhance and improve customer satisfaction levels.
Resolved daily operational issues associated with help desk operations, people management along with introduction of new strategic client initiatives.
Developed client and vendor partnership relations.
Instituted best practices for continuous improvement.
Managed and directed product technical support involving inbound call center operations for direct marketing telecommunications company. Established quantifiable departmental guidelines, improved recruitment, revised service level agreements, performed change management, greatly improved customer satisfaction levels. Established process and productivity improvements, developed customer satisfaction, renewal and retention programs. Performed budgetary and strategic planning to help achieve corporate goals. Assisted in launching Primus Knowledgebase technology to supplement call center operations and allow for end user self help assistance.
Streamlined and reengineered workflow and processes resulting in support cost reductions of 21 .
Instituted Customer Relationship Management concepts improving repeat business by 8 .
Implemented Best Practices philosophy within operations reducing repeat calls by 13 .
Reduced overall corporation product return rate by 12 .
Revised technical and operational manuals for end user clarification and ease of use.
Responsible for call center, telephone based, inbound / outbound help desk operations designed to provide 24x7 life cycle technical support and customer service involving applications, pre / post sale support functions for 7000 products and 250 vendors. Short and long term operations, scheduling, planning, project management, system integration, competitive analysis, staffing, budget and customer satisfaction improvements for worldwide direct marketing data communications and networking solutions provider.
Reengineered departmental organization and operations to focus on core business objectives.
Maximized manpower planning reducing wait for live answer support time by 120 .
Developed new product launch strategies and support services for improved profit margins.
Elevated operation to World Class level industry leader in customer support.
Provided management and strategic direction to quality and customer service organizations. Responsibilities included: Profitable business unit operations, service marketing, receiving and final inspection, quality control and assurance, vendor quality and relationships, depot repair activities, field service operations, international service centers, metrology, technical assistance response centers, installation planning / coordination, systems integration, project scheduling and customer satisfaction improvement programs for leading light measurement instrumentation company.
Improved service profit margin and dollar revenue by 48 .
Increased productivity and throughput by 65 .
Decreased backlog by 100 while improving response time by 375 .
Conceptualized, developed, staffed and directed a customer service division consisting of over 200 technical service professionals responsible for all US pre and post sales activity, short term operations and long term strategies including profitable P&L and finished goods inventory. Responsibilities included technical assistance centers, field service remote offices, depot repair, P&L, training and administration management for data communications / telecommunications manufacturer.
Initiated innovative service strategies and offerings as competitive advantage for corporate growth.
Increased maintenance contract penetration by 23 along with a renewal rate of 95 .
Performed analysis and established criteria resulting in cost reductions of 27 per year.
Managed all aspects of regional field service post sales operations including budget, applications, installation scheduling, software and on-site service support functions.
Improved productivity and customer satisfaction levels by 33 .
Repositioned and restructured a service organization to a customer versus equipment focus.
Achieved top ratings by users in industry surveys along with increased company sales and profitability.
Seeking a Customer Service/Call Center/Tech Support type position which corresponds with my background experience.
Customer Service/Call Center type position directed at answering incoming calls relative to troubleshooting DSL service issues as well as follow-up on technical install/activation dates.
Scheduling of Technicians for Business or Residential installations and/or repairs.
Lots of Data Entry pertaining to detailed descriptions of technical information relative to DSL/Internet/Modem types involving problem solving-troubleshooting skills.
Accuracy and documentation of facts and dates, confirmation of services-products ordered through the SBC-Pacific Bell Business Office.
Handled ISP s such as Earthlink and AOL for end-user related problems.
Escalation handling to 1st. and 2nd levels, issuance of trouble tickets using handoff methods to various departments within the Northern and Southern California regions.
Knowledge of Windows NT software.
Customer Service Representative for wireless cell phones.
Answered incoming calls, Troubleshooted cell phone related service and equipment problems, resolved and directed customers to Customer Care Assistance line.
Placed cell phone activation orders, determined product repair or exchange within warranty policies, coordinated scheduling of technicians for onsite repairs.
Handled receiving of cell phones and parts, consulted and educated customers on equipment and value-added features based on the customer s needs.
Radiology File Clerk on call status to short hour position.
Responsibilities included working in a fast paced environment by filing and creating X-ray jackets.
File retrieval according to information via the X-ray printer.
Computer scanning of medical records.
Answered telephone-related requests from various departments within the hospital regarding patient files, processed incoming/outgoing mail on the weekend shift.
Temporarily performed Bank Teller duties handling transactions, posted checks and cash deposits to accounts, cross selling of credit union products, check encoding, check proofing, selling money orders, copying and faxing documents.
Central PBX Operator and Receptionist for the bank.
Responsible for screening and routing incoming telephone calls.
Accurate message taking, greeting and announcing clients.
Maintained records and the distribution of parking validations.
Worked as a General Clerk and Receptionist in the office of the president.
Maintained records and files of customers in alphabetic and numerical arrangement.
Light clerical duties consisting of typing short letters, envelopes and labels, faxing messages, sorting and distributing mail.
Receptionist reliefs during breaks and lunch time.
Knowledge of AT&T Systems #100 and #25 switchboard console.
Responsible for services organization including Technical Support, Pre-Sales Support, Consulting & Training at a company that develops testing tools for the performance and scalability of web applications.
Negotiated & implemented training & consulting agreements with strategic partners and system integrators.
Established certification program for partners.
Executive management responsibility for large benchmarking projects with key vendors.
Hired as a consultant to establish the customer service organization, which includes the technical support, implementation services, pre-sales support and operations groups, for this start-up ASP that develops, integrates and hosts PRM solutions.
Staffed the organization from two people to a team of nine people.
Implemented methodologies for ensuring our customers are successfully implemented, deployed and maintain system reliability.
Instituted infrastructure necessary to ensure ongoing high levels of customer satisfaction.
Instrumental in working with Concord management to help transition the Customer Service team into Concord s Customer Services team.
Established the customer service organization, which includes the technical support, consulting and training functions, for this dynamic start-up company that developed application measurement software.
Developed and implemented all policies and procedures for the services organizations.
Established methodologies for implementation and support of product offerings.
Increased staff from 1 person to 8 people to support the company s key customer satisfaction initiative.
Directed staff in development of training courses for the both implementation and on-going deployment of FirstSense products.
Responsible for direct interface with Sales Management to help close business and to generate services revenues.
Overall responsibility for customer service organization, including the successful maintenance and growth of the worldwide customer base for this developer of knowledge management/document management and workflow software.
Achieved 80 growth in service revenue during 1997.
Formalized all service departments, significantly improving customer satisfaction as measured independently while ensuring NSI employee adoption of/by-in to new policies and procedures.
Successfully implemented web based support services for technical support and training.
Implemented virtual consulting and innovative knowledge base support initiatives.
Instituted the Open Road Initiative , a first-of-its-type program pairing NSI senior executives with customers in specific high visibility accounts.
Success metrics include: increased customer satisfaction, improved feedback and development of customer advocates/spokespersons.
Responsible for worldwide services organization with annual budget in excess of 25 million and revenues in excess of 60 million.
Managed an organization of 200+ people consisting of software support in the Americas and Europe, Middle East & Africa, nationwide Sales Administration, Pre-Sales Support, Consulting, Education and Corporate Services.
Reorganized technical support to improve service levels.
Established multiple levels of service offerings.
Implemented 24/7 service, utilizing the Follow the Sun model.
Established company-wide internal training function.
Established a College & University Program.
Established World Wide Web service initiatives.
Corporate responsibility for establishing Customer Oriented Culture .
Established an expertise exchange program.
Managed Sales Support, Sales Administration and Corporate Sales Support. Increased customer satisfaction and responsiveness to the market.
Established the Corporate Sales Support function.
Built a sales training program consisting of technical and positioning information.
Regionalized sales support and sales administration functions to more effectively support field sales.
Developed and implemented a Corporate Visit Program.
Established the telephone hotline support for prospects.
Responsible for building the U.S. pre-sales support staff, as well as providing sales support assistance to the company s 11 international subsidiaries.
Developed and implemented company s first orientation program for sales organization.
Established a competitive compensation program for sales support.
Managed the Education and Technical Support departments with P&L responsibility for annual revenues in excess of 2 million. Developed standards and programs for employees and the client base.
Managed a technical support department with an annual budget in excess of 1 million. Established support strategies; developed formal orientation program and implemented yearly business plans.
Managed a team that developed and taught training curriculum for internal and customer classes. Established a formal training and evaluation program.
Worked in a variety of positions within the computer operations and programming and systems departments.
Over twenty years experience in a technical and sales office environment. Performed a variety of assignments including technical and customer support, inside sales, providing quotations and order entry.
Directly reported to the Regional Manager.
Responsible for providing inside sales support for outside sales, technical product support, quotations and order entry.
Responsible for providing first point of contact for customers supporting fourteen states and Canada.
Responsible for compiling sales forecast information for Regional Manager.
Responsible for managing daily operations of the office.
Responsible for providing customer training.
Responsible for providing formal electronics course design and development at the factory as well as offsite at the University of Oklahoma Technical Branch.
Participated in a variety of technical presentations for Amoco locations.
Responsible for providing inside sales support.
Responsible for providing technical customer support.
Assisted in maintaining the PC LAN/WAN serving 110 customers.
Responsible for supervising technical staff.
Responsible for developing formal testing procedures.
Consistently worked with the Engineering Department to ensure reliable and quality products.
Senior executive with management background in technology and computer support services. Extensive experience in multiple business unit management, senior sales, marketing and operations positions, new business start-ups, turn-arounds, and mergers. Results focused with proven ability in P&L management, strategic planning, reversing negative business trends, maximizing productivity and delivering multi-million dollar profits.
Led Customer Service Delivery organization to achieve revenue and profit targets. Directed merger activities between Sequent Customer Service and existing service delivery infrastructure.
Exceeded profit contributions with an additional 850,000 in profit.
Accelerated the integration activities between Sequent and Floria business units and completed effort 5 month ahead of schedule resulting in a savings of 610,000.
Provided organizational leadership to meet and achieve annual revenue growth goals of 5 .
Established business practices to re-skill workforce for new services while maintaining an attrition rate less that 2 .
Developed and implemented pro-active strategies to strengthened Floria s competitive edge with service renewal levels at 95 by streamlining business practices.
Senior executive will full responsibility to achieve the financial targets and client satisfaction objectives of the Western Region. Focused primarily on new revenue growth in Value Add Services to complement traditional service offerings. Directed line managers and organization in the major areas of business of Customer Service, Professional Services, Products Sales, Service Delivery, and Network Services.
Delivered continuous revenue growth of 4 quarter to quarter with annual services of 55M and a profit of 27M.
Managed sales quotas in three new services areas. Grew revenue from 200K to 2.7M in 6 quarters.
Services included: Computer Environmental Services, Remote Management Services, and Business Continuity Services.
Western Region grew from 45 to over 70 of the US corporate services revenues.
Provided leadership to the Alliance Sales Organization and Service Delivery Operations to win Original Equipment Manufacture business. Business goals were focused on revenue growth by delivering desktop and network support to the reseller and OEM channel.
Achieved annual revenue growth of 52M.
Won new service agreements from Compaq, Dell, Cisco, Gateway, Toshiba, and Lexmark totaling 260M.
Proposed and implemented Program Management Offices dedicated to service contract management and increasing service revenues.
Managed major business units of Customer Service, Network Solutions, PC Support Services, and tradition mainframe support. Organization consisted of 15 line managers and 215 people.
Generated annual services revenues of 60 million and 45 margin.
Acquired #1 ranking in overall client satisfaction and most improved among leading industry vendors in Western Region by the Gartner Group.
A self-motivated, competitive, trustworthy, and customer-oriented executive with a passion for success and "can-do" attitude. Creator of an international support and services operation for a start-up company. Instrumental in developing essential business service offerings and building customer/partner relationships to accelerate growth. Provides critical strategic planning with significant focus on the areas of support operations, business development, service administration, and call center management. Highly proficient in navigating cross-functional teams, directing process improvement, creating empowered work environments, exceeding operational goals, removing barriers to achieve success, and providing the highest level of customer satisfaction.
Leader of multiple call center operations with 160 people and 8 direct managers.
Established service strategy plan with quarterly operational performance objectives. Displayed and communicated ongoing results with updates posted weekly.
Improved customer satisfaction index gap 51 ...from 3.5 to 1.7.
Reduced problem resolution times from 28 days to 15...a 46 improvement.
Reduced case backlogs from 1840 to 768...a 58 improvement.
Succeeded in meeting revenue and expense control targets for 6 of 7 quarters.
Coordinated termination of outsourcing support contract and the merge of 220 customers, providing a 10-month ROI of 1.4 million...and still growing.
Directed global Enhanced Services program that netted 1.25 million in 1.5 years.
Developed quality assurance team that evaluated and modified business processes, established best practices, maintained ISO-9001 certification, implemented LEAN program that eliminated waste, and empowered personnel to generate improvement activity using Kaizen approach.
Established agreements with training alliances, indirect channels, and resellers to enhance support capabilities. Worked in partnership with these same groups to resolve customer issues.
Negotiated win-win billing and contract solutions with customers and finance team.
Developed employee satisfaction survey. Utilized quarterly and instantaneous customer survey metrics.
Assisted in successful implementation of ACD system enabling delivery of 7x24 global support.
Assisted in development of professional service offerings including go-live support, data archiving, system performance evaluations, customizations, data rebuild, standby support, and migrations.
Worked with Support Innovations team to incorporate network enhancements, system modifications, and support operations infrastructure.
Implemented quality program of visual management where teams posted charts and graphics in work areas displaying operational metrics, team achievements and progress towards strategic goals.
Assisted in development of global service marketing collateral i.e. - brochures, presentations, etc .
Leader of local Training and Human Capital Development team. Assisted in implementing technical and soft skills training, employee skills database, career development program, and leadership training.
Created lead generation and rewards program to stimulate opportunities for revenue.
Directed all facility changes and strategically planned for resource utilization and business growth. Negotiated vendor contracts and resolved all facility-based issues including security, lighting, cleaning, equipment, snack and beverage vendors, and supplies.
Contracted to project manage implementation of OS/2-to-NT conversion for the IVR system.
Negotiated and finalized Service Level Agreements, monitored order process and scheduling of equipment, customized and coordinated training program, and directed all activity relating to development, testing, installation, production, and support phases of IVR implementation.
Successfully completed conversion project "ON TIME" and 369,780 "UNDER" budget.
Created and directed global support operations for start-up telecommunications equipment company.
Established global support teams consisting of 24 contracted support entities, 2 subsidiary companies, and 6 direct managers based in the US, UK, Canada, Latin America, Mexico, and Asia Pacific.
Negotiated and developed Service Level Agreements, technology transfer agreements, and business relationship contracts with global repair facilities, OEM s, Distributors, and 3rd party support vendors.
Defined vision, mission, and goals for global service, training, quality, and export management teams.
Directed technical personnel to provide day-to-day telecom support in pre-sales activity, network design, application development, customer launch support, on-site product installs and de-installs, resolution of product design issues, remote diagnostics, on-site system troubleshooting, inventory control, and training as required.
Developed and implemented organizational policies, maintenance processes, product warranties, strategic operational objectives and goals, and personnel assignments and evaluations.
Directed call center and help desk management operations for domestic support and inside sales.
Developed customer satisfaction surveys to discover team strengths and weaknesses.
Assessed and responded to business proposals, product tenders, and pricing requests RFP s, RFQ s .
Constructed first "live" ADSL presentation system for trade shows and training seminars. Negotiated with Hollywood film companies for rights to show movie trailers.
Established global export management team responsible for sales order processing, inventory control, timely shipments, billing, logistics, resolution of sales order problems, and order status communications via the Internet. Developed all working policies and procedures in adherence to federal regulations.
Successfully project-managed LAN implementation, design and construction of interactive product demo and training room, selection and installation of CTI system with ACD and IVR structures, software downloads, web-site design with interactive solutions, and on-line incident tracking system.
Established revenue-producing training organization including seminars, train-the-trainer program, course development, product presentations, and Distributor, sales, end-user, and customer training.
Established quality programs including process improvement management with Key Performance Indicators KPI , ISO 9001 certification, and TQM initiatives.
Maintained global budget for Customer Service, Technical Support, Quality Improvement, Inside and Direct Sales, Export Management, Logistics, and Training with P&L accountability over 3 million.
Successful business and market development of advanced local access transmission systems and technologies DSL and Telco Access Products in Asia Pacific, Mexico, Central/Latin/South America.
Achieved major contract win of 7.2 million for the first exclusive fiber-loop backup system in Korea.
Achieved highest quarterly product sales revenue in the Asia Pacific region.
Member of SouthEast Officer and Leadership team.
Directed 7x24 call center operations in a union environment with a revenue base of over 4 million.
Managed support operations of troubleshooting digital data products, customer site preparation, system planning and design, installation coordination, account management, proactive networks monitoring, remote diagnostics, personnel assignments, coaching, and performance planning.
Developed and implemented organizational policies and maintenance processes relating to training requirements, operational objectives and goals, and manpower utilization models.
Developed maintenance philosophy on company support products and provided direction on support requirements. Advised company on technical decisions needed to bring new products to market.
Established quality programs including process improvement management, TQM initiatives, customer satisfaction metrics, ISO 9000 documentation and audit training. Developed quality and technical escalation programs to resolve support and product design issues.
Reviewed completeness and quality of material released to Field organizations such as Field Service Bulletins, Technical Tips, Engineering Change Orders, and Technical Modifications.
Assisted in ACD selection, installation and options programming. Certified in Northern Telecom ACD AC-2 Management.
Directed technical development and product support release plan for the first T1 multiplexer product line released from Parametric. Established cost factors for supporting all products affecting P&L.
Project-managed staging and installation of turnkey systems, multiple field retrofit programs, and Technical Support Lab implementation.
Developed employee satisfaction survey to discover managerial and operational strengths and weaknesses.
Three time winner of AT&T Parametric Customer Service Excellence award.
Received Service Sales award for contributions towards customer satisfaction, quality management results, and departmental revenue growth.
Managed Installation Coordination team ensuring sales order accuracy, technical compliance, timely product shipments, error-free installations, and expeditious repairs. Directed all aspects of installation planning such as site inspections, pre- and post-sale meetings, site inventories, and training.
Developed and implemented organizational policies and maintenance processes relating to operations, established strategic objectives and goals, and defined manpower utilization models. Created and improved working documentation, daily communication logs, and operational processes to increase installation coordination productivity and efficiency.
Project-managed all aspects of LINK/1 product retrofit program for entire customer base. Activity included communications, documentation, customer relations, training, logistics, project planning, scheduling, personnel assignments, installation, testing, and management updates.
Provided expertise level training on all aspects of T1 data/voice communication equipment, data concentrators, voice multiplexers, statistical multiplexers, and network management systems NMS . Created customized courses, flowcharts, diagrams, and lab exercises for internal and external training.
Created Customer Site Preparation manual and Site Survey document that was primarily designed to ensure proper site preparation and error-free Telecom product installations.
Managed electronics maintenance crew for an anti-submarine helicopter squadron.
Ensured maximum utilization of personnel and facilities in accomplishment of all assigned work.
Achieved role of Quality Insurance Inspector ensuring aircraft was safe and flight-worthy.
Ensured Maintenance Department training program was properly supported within work center.
Maintained Secret security clearance handling cryptographic equipment and messages.
Environments: CLEC, ILEC, LAN/WAN, TCP/IP, DSL, Ethernet, ATM, Frame Relay, SNA, X.25, 10BaseT, ACD, PBX, IVR, CTI, Call Centers, Internet utilization, Voice and T1/E1 Networks.
Hardware: Disk and Tape Drives, Concentrators, Multiplexors, Routers, Encryptors, Desktop/Laptop PC s, Modems, and CSU s.
Software: MS-Office suite, MS-Project, Visio, Lotus Notes, MS-Outlook, and Outlook Express.
Operating Systems: DOS, Windows NT, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and UNIX.
Extensive experience in customer service for sales, technical support, and customer care functions in a large, complex call center environment. Certified in Implementation of Aspect ACD System, Release 7.0 from ground up. Also worked with Remedy, RCAM, ACSR I, ASCR II, Commsoft, CSG, Zenith, RAMP, Aspect Release 6.0 ACD Systems. Coordinated with REM, managers, and Q.A. department in scheduling, training, coaching, and evaluating operational personnel. Concentrated on implementing ways to bring the customer service level to 100 . Skilled in productivity measurement analysis. Effective in developing processes, systems, and policies which increase productivity, minimize errors, and reduce costs. Clear and concise written and spoken communications in English, Punjabi and Hindi. Background reflects leadership, judgment, analytical, and organizational skills. Oriented in maximum productivity and superior customer service.
Understanding of DNS,LAN/WAN, ping, treaceroutes, routers, hubs, DSU/CSU switches, T!, T3, OC3, cabling, networking.
Responsible for screening, referring, and diagnosing customer inquiries and problems.
Perform troubleshooting to clearly understand the problem and ascertain if the problem is known or duplicate.
Resolve complex problems and assign more complex to second level support.
Responsible for professionally answering phone calls, support email, fax and web requests, initiating trouble tickets for all customer inquiries.
Effectively communicate ticket status with customer, coordinate timeframes for callback or resolution, and the assignment of priority and severity levels.
Focal point for customer inquiries, issues, concerns, and escalations.
Played major role in successfully launching and marketing out local phone service through cable lines in the Bay Area and Tri-Valley.
Key role in converting billing systems from Commsoft to ACSR.
Reported to project manager and marketing department with responsibility for process and procedures on how to make new launch successful.
Extensive knowledge of all products Cable, wireless, Internet, video, local and long distance communications and Systems Aspect, RCAM, Ramp, Acsr, Commsoft, Remedy, Outlook, Office.
Coordinated with the QA in training and coaching new hires.
Maintained high customer service levels.
Use of remedy to enter trouble tickets and send to NOC while troubleshooting with customer.
Used strong technical skills to walk customer through technical and care issues.
Duties included bi-monthly billing for children with speech, hearing & learning disabilities.
Handling and posting payments form patients and providing purchase orders for accounts payable.
Printing invoices for billing and checks for employees.
Maintained statistics for representative to insure low abandonment rate, calls being answered 90 of the time within 30 seconds.
Coordinated methods on how to improve customer service levels through extensive monitoring.
Responsible for customizing and marketing long distance and domestic plans according to the customer s requirements.
Fluent in four different languages including English.
Responsible for providing excellent customer service for both outbound and inbound customer calls.
General clerical duties; including filing, check auditing and matching of pay packages for both employees and vendors.
Responsible for collecting information for 1099 vendors including calling 1099 vendors and verifying remit to addresses.
Maintained updated revision of tax booklets and employment verification.
Various projects as assigned including researching contracts, timecards and W2 information for accuracy.
Results driven Services executive with over seventeen years experience in high technology. Proven background in staff leadership, revenue achievement, professional services, sales force support and training, budget control, competitive market positioning, and customer training/support for product and service offerings. Experienced in executive level strategic and operational decision making with established and start-up organizations.
A developer of wearable, wireless computer technology and Internet based services for the consumer and research market. A startup company with 30 employees .
Responsible for development and management of a customer services business unit, execution and management of corporate infrastructure, sales and marketing, corporate funding initiatives and customer satisfaction and retention. Report to President and CEO of RuthMedia, Inc.
Established product and service pricing for consumer and research markets.
Established product warranty and corporate quality polices and procedures.
Designed web based customer support infrastructure.
Assisted in corporate funding initiatives.
Designed, implemented and manage marketing, sales and service business plans.
Signed first co-marketing agreement with Cisco Systems.
Signed first marketing/sales channel with Highmark Blue Cross/Shield.
An 85 million engineering software development company. Over 10,000 customers worldwide, with a direct and indirect international sales force.
Responsible for development and management of a services P&L business unit, consisting of 26M in revenue and 4M in budget management. Key areas of responsibility include service revenue attainment, budget management, pre-sales support, technical support, consulting services, and customer training/retention. Report to President of OBERMANN, Inc.
Converted internal customer service organization into a successful P&L business unit.
Exceeded annual revenue quota each year.
Implemented 6 new service offerings.
Created sales incentive programs for direct and distributor sales force.
Developed marketing programs and re-branding of service offerings.
Maintained over 80 customer retention rate.
Achieved Above Average customer service ratings for 5 consecutive years by identifying and implementing new processes and software.
Reduced technical support response time by implementing a worldwide call tracking system.
A software development company for mainframe, client server, and PC based applications. Annual sales of 700 million with 2400 employees .
Responsible for an 8 million consulting and training business unit which also includes business development, revenue forecasting, budget control, remote management of four direct and eighteen indirect reports throughout North America, and direct sales to over 20,000 customers. Report to Vice President Professional Services.
Designed annual business plans for training and consulting services.
Improved pre-sales initiatives by developing program for utilization of professional service resources.
Developed market positioning and collateral for professional services.
Increased annual revenue 800 in three years by development of a services infrastructure, new service offerings and obtaining sales force commitment.
Managed proposal, contract and negotiation for 100,000 - 2 Million engagements.
Designed 4 training facilities in NA.
A 100 million computer outsourcing, facilities management company. Presently known as Affiliated Computer Services.
Responsible for pre-sales support, customer migrations and implementation of automated data center operations. Reported to Director of Operations.
Provided pre-sales assistance on ten customer migrations.
Designed and developed automated operations project utilizing AutoMate MVS and CA7.
Designed and implemented plan for automation of corporate help desk functions.
Developed and implemented internal services department, which led to the expansion of fee based, customer-training services.
A 1 billion computer outsourcing, facilities management company.
Responsible for daily operational activities, mainframe systems, production schedules and problem determination for hardware and tele-communications.
Reported to Manager Computer Operations.
Selected out of 400 employees to join the Operations Development program.
Promoted to shift supervisor in 6 months.
Made recommendations of process changes that resulted in departmental cost savings.
Strong leadership in customer service, employee training, and communication. Primary focus includes technical procedures, research/operations analysis, and quality methods. Appreciated for solving difficult problems efficiently and quickly. Cool-under-fire approach to achieving the work. Professional, easy-going team player committed to goals of the organization.
Educated customers on various SDP payroll services and human resource information processing procedures.
Established positive business relationships with clients and other departments by consistently providing courteous, prompt, and effective service.
Handled customer escalations in a professional and courteous manner.
Analyzed and interpreted a continuous stream of 250 - 300 Digital Subscriber Line DSL orders from initial order entry to loop/circuit completion in various proprietary order systems.
Monitored, troubleshooted, and resolved escalated orders to ensure critical dates were met.
Worked closely with testers and installation groups to ensure timely, successful outcomes.
Information Technology customer service support for VMS and IBM/SAP operation systems for live worldwide databases.
Directly trained five new employees for customer service, database and computer operations, which increased communication and improved customer satisfaction by 15 .
Identified operation system problems, performed backups, startups and shutdowns.
Provided problem escalation support for world-wide NEXRAD weather radar stations.
Implemented an error reporting/resolution process that improved project communication and error reduction by 30 .
Documented procedures and plans for military and civilian operations, resulting in reducing research time and streamlining data processing time.
Assisted in resolving hardware and software production problems that reduced service calls by 35 .
Organized and maintained classified data and computer tape library allowing clients to receive expedient and precise information and service.
Interfaced with network Engineering groups to ensure all maintenance issues within the region were handled appropriately.
Maintained Engineering backlog report structure Database, including additions, changes and deletions, improving accuracy and timeliness for all departments; reducing overhead charges by 32 .
Successfully completed several departmental assignments either on or before the due dates.
Updated system procedure manuals to insure standardization of methods.
Resolved client research project issues in an effective and efficient manner.
Performed multiple engineering project tasks under varying and often adverse conditions.
Organized and maintained classified data and computer tape library allowing clients to receive expedient and precise information and service; minimizing overhead costs by 20 .
Education University Workshops, the Summit Organization, Inc.
Strategic Interaction Skills Training, Automatic Data Processing, Inc.
Customer Service/Support Director role that applies customer satisfaction and service-marketing experience to enhance customer loyalty, satisfaction, and competitive advantage.
Customer service professional with 18+ years of progressive customer service experience particularly managing support departments for consumer and business-level client relationships. A-to-Z customer satisfaction expertise with strong, results-oriented functional experience, supported by a solid combination of technical and business background. Effective team builder with excellent customer/ employee/interdepartmental rapport and performance/project management skills. Strong record of exceeding expectations, improving customer satisfaction/product quality, managing cost-effective service/support operations, and increasing service revenues. Experienced with multi-tier support models, e-commerce, ACD phone systems, customer relationship management CRM systems, and contact-center management tools. Simultaneously started a computer consulting company and completed two degrees while growing a full-time career.
Started a video-tape-to-DVD video conversion/preservation service company from the ground up.
Created a complete business plan, secured the necessary funding, and executing the marketing plan.
Streamlined all operations of the service production process, enabling the company to properly position itself and become highly competetive in the market place.
Created all policies and procedures for pre- and post-sale services.
Created a niche and orchestrated all advertising and marketing efforts into an emerging market.
Reduced operational costs to help reach profitability faster.
Chartered to implement high-level objectives of increasing efficiency and reducing support costs for the market leader of personal video recording PVR service.
Streamlined operations of high-profile customer service, training, knowledge management, technical support, and program/partner management teams.
Successfully implemented strategic initiatives to reduced support costs by increasing front-line capability. This increased scalability and customer satisfaction while decreasing level-1 to level-2 call transfer rates by more than 55 .
Built strong rapport with own team and with other cross-functional groups, establishing credibility and enhancing performance.
Successfully leveraged a multi-tier call center while reducing support costs by more than 50 .
Strengthened the team s reputation by dramatically improving the recruitment/training process for new agents and increasing the accuracy of KDB content.
Helped "raise the bar" for service levels in an emerging industry.
Created a highly effective inbound/outbound customer service team for one of the top 150 busiest 5 million hits/month e-commerce web sites.
Increased team s efficiency 75 by successfully implementing the Kana Response e-mail system.
Boosted sales 30 by providing instant service capability using real-time text chat.
Created an automated FAQ system for "virtual 24x7" self-help option and implemented proactive-service programs to outreach and assist customers before they needed help.
Created a career-pathing program that synchronized employees and company s goals.
Recruited to define the strategic direction for the customer service/support department.
Increased customer satisfaction ratings by 32 , while reducing costs and generating revenue.
Reduced customer wait times and RA turnaround times by 70 and 55 respectively.
Initiated 24x7 self-service diagnostic support system via web and phone.
Created a profitable priority-access service program highest GM in the dept. within 2 months .
Increased department accessibility to customers and changed a bad reputation to a positive one.
Promoted to define the strategic direction for the customer response team.
Designed and implemented a successful fee-based support program.
Created multi-tiered call-centers that increased service levels while reducing costs.
Initiated an automated IVR system to assist customers 24x7.
Reorganized the daily operations of the technical support group and reduced phone wait times by more than 80 .
Increased solutions accuracy by implementing a support knowledgebase and a CRM system Clarify .
Launched a comprehensive fax-blast/retrieval system.
Recruited to manage the customer support and product management departments.
Positioned service programs for competitive differentiation.
Established, launched, and implemented AVR s first Authorized Field Service program and trained technicians throughout Europe.
Recruited to rebuild the customer service and technical support functions for a peripherals manufacturer Macintosh, PC, and SPARCstation .
Designed and implemented service policies, procedures, and support plans.
Initiated and designed RMA policy and customer feedback programs.
Created and implemented the use of TSBs and databases for front-line staff.
Promoted to plan and organize all aspects of product support/repair activities, including administrative/technical procedures, technical product training, and managing the QA group after being a technical support representative for 3 years.
Recognized twice for "above and beyond" performance, EXP.com.
Received MacUser Magazine s Award twice for Best Technical Support Dept., Radius.
Cash award and company-wide recognition for a new priority-access call process, Radius.
Twice recognized as the Employee of the Month, RasterOps.
International Customer Service Institute, American Management Association, Software Support Professionals Association, and the Technical Support Alliance Network TSANet . | 2019-04-23T04:19:15Z | https://www.portnov.com/free-sample-resumes/free-customer-support-resume-samples |
Build Neural Network With MS Excel ® Published by XLPert Enterprise Copyright © 2009 by XLPert Enterprise.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without written permission from the publisher.
Everyone try to forecast the future. Bankers need to predict credit worthiness of customers. Marketing analyst want to predict future sales. Economists want to predict economic cycles. And everybody wants to know whether the stock market will be up or down tomorrow. Over the years, many software have been developed for this purpose and one such software is the neural network based forecasting application. No, neural network is NOT a medical term. It is actually a branch of artificial intelligence which gains much prominence since the start of the millenium. NN or neural network is a computer software (and possibly hardware) that simulates a simple model of neural cells in humans. The purpose of this simulation is to acquire the intelligent features of these cells. In this book, when terms like neuron, neural network, learning, or experience are mentioned, it should be understood that we are using them only in the context of a NN as computer system. NN have the ability to learn by example, e.g. a NN can be trained to recognize the image of car by showing it many examples of a car or to predict future stock prices by feeding it historical stock prices. We can teach a neural network to perform these particular tasks by using the following procedure: I. We present the network with training examples, which consist of a pattern of activities for the input units together with the desired pattern of activities for the output units. II. We determine how closely the actual output of the network matches the desired output. III. We change the weight of each connection so that the network produces a better approximation of the desired output. I will show you later, on how to integrate the three steps described above with 5 MS Excel spreadsheet models. With these examples, you can easily understand NN as a non-linear forecasting tool. NO MORE complex C++ programming and complicated mathematic formula(s). I have spent much time and effort to simplify how to use NN as a forecasting tool for you. You only need to know how to use MS Excel, in modelling NN as a powerful forecasting method. THAT’S IT!.
Technical Stuff of neural network that you don't really have to know. Neural networks are very effective when lots of examples must be analyzed, or when a structure in these data must be analyzed but a single algorithmic solution is impossible to formulate. When these conditions are present, neural networks are use as computational tools for examining data and developing models that help to identify interesting patterns or structures in the data. The data used to develop these models is known as training data. Once a neural network has been trained, and has learned the patterns that exist in that data, it can be applied to new data thereby achieving a variety of outcomes. Neural networks can be used to learn to predict future events based on the patterns that have been observed in the historical training data; learn to classify unseen data into pre-defined groups based on characteristics observed in the training data; learn to cluster the training data into natural groups based on the similarity of characteristics in the training data.
the name: back-propagation. Step 5: Apply the first part of the training rule using the results of Step 4. Step 2: Hidden nodes calculate their outputs. classification. and steps 4 through 7 are often called the backward pass. In this book we will be developing a neural network model that has successfully found application across a broad range of business areas. the output unit error is used to alter weights on the output units. For both of these example applications. We call this model a multilayered feedforward neural network (MFNN) and is an example of a neural network trained with supervised learning. Steps 1 through 3 are often called the forward pass. This is repeated over and over again until the error is at a low enough level (or we give up). and the weights on the hidden nodes altered using these values. n. the desired response of each neuron will be either zero or one. and this response is compared to the known desired response of each neuron. II. Then the error at the hidden nodes is calculated (by back-propagating the error at the output units through the weights). calculate d(n). the network produces an output (or set of outputs). The main steps of the back propagation learning algorithm are summarized below: Step 1: Input training data.We have seen many different neural network models that have been developed over the last fifty years or so to achieve these tasks of prediction. Backward pass. Models can be developed that learn the relationship between these characteristics (inputs) and outcomes (outputs). Correction and changes are made to the weights of the network to reduce the errors before the next pattern is presented. We feed the neural network with the training data that contains complete information about the characteristics of the data and the observable outcomes in a supervised learning method. Process of a backpropagation I. For each data pair to be learned a forward pass and backwards pass is performed. where the outputs are calculated and the error at the output units calculated. while for prediction problems it tends to be continuous valued. we can develop a MFNN to model the relationship between money spent during last week’s advertising campaign and this week’s sales figures is a prediction application. For example. Step 3: Output nodes calculate their outputs on the basis of Step 2. Forward pass. Step 4: Calculate the differences between the results of Step 3 and targets. The MFNN is then repeatedly trained with this data until it learns to represent these relationships correctly. and clustering. For classification problems. Step 6: For each hidden node. The weights are continually updated in this manner until the total error across all training patterns is reduced below some pre-defined tolerance level. the training data must contain numeric information on both the inputs and the outputs in order for the MFNN to generate a model. For a given input pattern or data. (derivative) Step 7: Apply the second part of the training rule using the results of Step 6. We call this learning algorithm as the backpropagation. Hence. Another example of using a MFNN is to model and classify the relationship between a customer’s demographic characteristics and their status as a high-value or low-value customer. 4 .
1]. This function typically falls into one of three categories: linear threshold sigmoid For linear units. It should be noted that the sigmoid curve is widely used as a transfer function because it has the effect of "squashing" the inputs into the range [0.Figure 1. For threshold units. most commonly tanh which has an output range of [-1. depending on whether the total input is greater than or less than some threshold value. the output is set at one of two levels. the output activity is proportional to the total weighted output. The sigmoid function has the additional benefit of having an extremely simple derivative function for backpropagating errors through a feed-forward neural network. but all three must be considered rough approximations. For sigmoid units. the output varies continuously but not linearly as the input changes. Other functions with similar features can be used.1 Calculations and Transfer Function The behaviour of a NN (Neural Network) depends on both the weights and the input-output function (transfer function) that is specified for the units.1]. Sigmoid units bear a greater resemblance to real neurons than do linear or threshold units. This is how the transfer functions look like: 5 .
We change the weight of each connection so that the network produces a better approximation of the desired output. To summarize.p/g 6 not available for viewing x x x x x x x x x x x To make a neural network performs some specific task. As the training process proceeds. The weights specify the strength of the influence. II. 6 . this represents the network knowing nothing. we must choose how the units are connected to one another (see Figure 1. We present the network with training examples. and we must set the weights on the connections appropriately.1). which consist of a pattern of activities for the input units together with the desired pattern of activities for the output units. III. The connections determine whether it is possible for one unit to influence another. Thus it can be said that the neural network commences knowing nothing and moves on to gain some real knowledge. we can teach a three-layer network to perform a particular task by using the following procedure: I. Typically the weights in a neural network are initially set to small random values. these weights will converge to values allowing them to perform a useful computation. We determine how closely the actual output of the network matches the desired output.
They are very noise tolerant – so they can cope with situations where normal symbolic systems would have difficulty. They are particularly fault tolerant – this is equivalent to the ―graceful degradation‖ found in biological systems. V.The advantages of using Artificial Neural Networks software are: I. They are extremely powerful computational devices II. Massive parallelism makes them very efficient. IV. They can learn and generalize from training data – so there is no need for enormous feats of programming. In principle. Real life applications The applications of artificial neural networks are found to fall within the following broad categories: Manufacturing and industry: Beer flavor prediction Wine grading prediction For highway maintenance programs Government: Missile targeting Criminal behavior prediction Banking and finance: Loan underwriting Credit scoring Stock market prediction Credit card fraud detection Real-estate appraisal Science and medicine: Protein sequencing Tumor and tissue diagnosis Heart attack diagnosis 7 . and more. VI. they can do anything a symbolic/logic system can do. III.
and this explains why these networks are called feed-forward networks. Each perceptron in one layer is connected to every perceptron on the next layer. There is no connection among perceptrons in the same layer. this is just a general rule and need not be followed strictly. Sales Forecasting. c) simple mathematic operations inside the neural network model d) training the model and e) using the trained model for forecasting Neural Network Architecture Feed-forward networks have the following characteristics: 1. The middle layers have no connection with the external world. 4. Instructions on how to build neural network model with Excel will be explained step by step by looking at the 5 main sections shown below… a) Selecting and transforming data b) the neural network architecture. if you have 5 nodes in the input layer and 1 nodes in the output layer. and hence are called hidden layers. Hence information is constantly "fed forward" from one layer to the next. New drug effectiveness Prediction of air and sea currents In this book we will examine some detailed case studies with Excel spreadsheets demonstrating how the MFNN has been successfully applied to problems as diverse as Credit Approval. Predicting DJIA weekly prices. see the hierarchy or pyramid structure here) However. (5-4-1 or 5-3-1 or 5-2-1. 2. The number of nodes in the input. 3. Predicting Real Estate value Classify Type of Flowers This book contains 5 neural network models develop using Excel worksheets described above. Perceptrons are arranged in layers. then the hidden layer shall have 4 or 3 or 2 nodes.e. Let's start building: 8 . hidden and output layer follows a pyramidal rule -i.. with the first layer taking in inputs and the last layer producing outputs.
it contains exactly what has been transform from worksheet(Raw Data). There are 10 input factors and 1 desire output (end result). We have to do this one by one manually. Figure 1.1) The Credit Approval Model Credit scoring is a technique to predict the creditworthiness of a candidate applying for a loan. we will use neural network to forecast the risk level of granting a loan to the applicant. The ability to accurately predict the creditworthiness of an applicant is a significant determinant of success in the financial lending industry. Open the file Credit_Approval. the data are still in alphabet form. If you select the worksheet(Transform Data). Neural network (NN) can only be fed with numeric data for training. in column B (Input 2). It can be used to guide decisions for granting or denying new loan applications. Refusing credit to creditworthy applicants results in lost opportunity. we have the marital status. So we transform them to 1 for ―married‖ and 0 for ―single‖. NN cannot take or understand ―married or single‖. while heavy financial losses occur if credit is given indiscriminately to applicants who later default on their obligations.xls. a) Selecting and transforming data Open the workbook(Credit_Approval) and bring up worksheet (Raw Data). or mortgage. credit card. We can see that. So we need to transform these raw data into numeric form. For example. Here we have 400 inputs patterns and desire outputs. This worksheet is self explanatory.2 9 . In this example.
nn_Solve will automatically load the maximum (70) and the minimum (15. We need to transform all the 400 rows of data into range between the value 0 to 1.3) Figure 1. Thus we need to scale all the data into the value between 0 to 1. select Scale Data on the nn_Solve menu (see Figure 1. The last 2 rows will be used for testing our prediction later. (see Figure 1.2 above) Apart from this transformation. Press the Tab key on your keyboard to exit. The first 398 rows will be used as training data. we can see that Column A to column L in the worksheet (Transform Data) are all numerical. How do we do that? 1) Copy all data from Column A to L to Column N To Column Y 2) Then. When you press Tab. Click on the Scale Now button. we also need to ―massage‖ the numeric data a little bit. The raw data will be scaled.83) in the Raw Data frame Min and Max textbox. This is because NN will learn better if there is uniformity in the data. We scale Input 1 (Age) first.4 10 . Enter N12:N411 in the Data Range. Figure 1.Now.4 below) 3) Then specify the maximum (1) and minimum (0) scale range.3 Enter the reference that you want to scale in the Data Range. (see Figure 1.
5 The raw input data that need to be scale are Input 5 (Address Time).5 below) Figure 1. (see Figure 1.6 above show the data after they have been scaled.nn_Solve will also automatically store the minimum (in cell N414) and the maximum (cell N413) value of the raw data in the last row and first column of the raw data. Input 6 (Job Time) and Input 9 (Payment History). Figure 1. We need the raw minimum and maximum values later when we reverse the scale values back to raw value.4. We do not need to scale the desire output (Credit Risk) as the value is already within 0 to 1. 11 .6 Figure 1. We do not need to scale Input 2.6.10 as these value are within 0 to 1.3.7.
b) the neural network architecture A neural network is a group of neurons connected together. 6 neurons on the hidden layer and 1 neuron on the output layer. Those lines that connect the nodes are call weights. This worksheet. column N to column AK actually contain the NN architecture shown below: INPUT LAYER HIDDEN LAYER OUTPUT LAYER Figure 1.7 There are 10 nodes or neuron on the input layer. I only connect part of them. Connecting neurons to form a NN can be done in various ways. In reality all the 12 .
I only connect the weights between all the Input nodes to Hidden Node 1 we have 10 inputs node and 6 hidden nodes and 1 output nodes. Column AH = Hidden Node 5 (H5). Column AF = Hidden Node 3 (H3). Column S = Input 6 (I6). Column AG = Hidden Node 4 (H4). Column Q = Input 4 (I4) .1) = $AA$21 -> connecting I10 to H1 13 .1) = $AA$19 -> connecting I8 to H1 w(9. Column AE = Hidden Node 2 (H2).weights are connected layer by layer. this NN model consists of three layers: 1. Column U = Input 8 (I8). Column R = Input 5 (I5) . Hidden layer with 6 neurons. I have put the weights vector in one column AA.1) = $AA$14 -> connecting I3 to H1 w(4. Column AD = Hidden Node 1 (H1). Here the number of weights are (10 x 6) + (6 x 1) = 66 Each neuron has its own input weights.1) = $AA$12 -> connecting I1 to H1 w(2. passing the output of each neuron to the following layer as input.1) = $AA$15 -> connecting I4 to H1 w(5.1) = $AA$17 -> connecting I6 to H1 w(7. Here we have 400 input patterns map to 400 desired or target outputs. In Fig 1. Column V = Input 9 (I9).1) = $AA$13 -> connecting I2 to H1 w(3. Output layer with 1 neurons. Input layer with 10 neurons. Column AI = Hidden Node 6 (H6) 3. The output of the NN is reached by applying input values to the input layer. Column O = Input 2 (I2).1) = $AA$16 -> connecting I5 to H1 w(6.1) = $AA$18 -> connecting I7 to H1 w(8. like Figure 1. Column AK = Output Node 1 Now let's talk about the weights that connection all the neurons together Note that: The output of a neuron in a layer goes to all neurons in the following layer.7 above. Column T = Input 7 (I7). Column P = Input 3 (I3).7. So the weights are contain in cells: From Input Layer to Hidden Layer w(1. while the number of neurons in the output layer depends on the number of desired outputs.1) = $AA$20 -> connecting I9 to H1 w(10. Column W = Input 10 (I10) 2.1 above The number of neurons in the input layer depends on the number of possible inputs we have. We reserve 2 input patterns for testing later. Column N = Input 1 (I1). Like what you see from the Figure 1.
2) = $AA$31 -> connecting I10 to H2 ― and ― so ― on w(1. 6) = $AA$67 -> connecting I6 to H6 w(7. 6) = $AA$70 -> connecting I9 to H6 w(10. 14 .2) = $AA$28 -> connecting I7 to H2 w(8.6) = $AA$62 -> connecting I1 to H6 w(2.1) = $AA$72 -> connecting H1 to O1 w(h2. 1) = $AA$76 -> connecting H5 to O1 w(h6. 6) = $AA$66 -> connecting I5 to H6 w(6.2) = $AA$23 -> connecting I2 to H2 w(3. 6) = $AA$63 -> connecting I2 to H6 w(3.2) = $AA$30 -> connecting I9 to H2 w(10. 1) = $AA$77 -> connecting H6 to O1 After mapping the NN architecture to the worksheet and entering the input and desired output data. 6) = $AA$65 -> connecting I4 to H6 w(5. 1) = $AA$73 -> connecting H2 to O1 w(h3. 6) = $AA$71 -> connecting I10 to H6 From Hidden Layer to Output Layer w(h1. 6) = $AA$69 -> connecting I8 to H6 w(9.w(1. it is time to see what is happening inside those nodes. 1) = $AA$74 -> connecting H3 to O1 w(h4. 6) = $AA$68 -> connecting I7 to H6 w(8.2) = $AA$24 -> connecting I3 to H2 w(4.2) = $AA$25 -> connecting I4 to H2 w(5.. 6) = $AA$64 -> connecting I3 to H6 w(4. 1) = $AA$75 -> connecting H4 to O1 w(h5.2) = $AA$29 -> connecting I8 to H2 w(9.2) = $AA$27 -> connecting I6 to H2 w(7.2) = $AA$22 -> connecting I1 to H2 w(2.2) = $AA$26 -> connecting I5 to H2 w(6.
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This process requires that the neural network compute the error derivative of the weights (EW). In other words.p/g 16 is not available for viewing x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x a way that the error between the desired output and the actual output is reduced. it must calculate how the error changes as each weight is increased or decreased slightly. The back propagation 16 .
The weights specify the strength of the influence. (see Figure 1. moving from layer to layer in a direction opposite to the way activities propagate through the network. Bertsekas 1995. From the nn_Solve menu. Phew. Let’ fill out the weight vector. The back-propagation algorithm is easiest to understand if all the units in the network are linear. the EA is simply the difference between the actual and the desired output. Methods of nonlinear optimization have been studied for hundreds of years. we first identify all the weights between that hidden unit and the output units to which it is connected.11 below) 17 . For a medium size neural network model with moderate number of weights. AA12:AA77 will be filled out with values between -1 to 1. The algorithm computes each EW by first computing the EA. There is no single best method for nonlinear optimization. if you use MS Excel Solver to build and train a neural network model. and Wright 1981. These two optimization method are available with Excel Solver To make a neural network that performs some specific task. You need to choose a method based on the characteristics of the problem to be solved. For a large number of weights. operations research.. The connections determine whether it is possible for one unit to influence another. Murray. d) Training NN as an Optimization Task Using Excel Solver Training a neural network is. easy. and there is a huge literature on the subject in fields such as numerical analysis. e. what craps is this back propagation!!!. After calculating all the EAs in the hidden layer just before the output layer. We then multiply those weights by the EAs of those output units and add the products. For output units. This is what gives back propagation its name. and accurate. it is straight forward to compute the EW for each incoming connection of the unit. To compute the EA for a hidden unit in the layer just before the output layer. we must choose how the units are connected to one another.g. we can compute in like fashion the EAs for other layers. an exercise in numerical optimization of a usually nonlinear function. various conjugate-gradient algorithms are efficient. MS Excel's Solver is a numerical optimization add-in (an additional file that extends the capabilities of Excel). The EW is the product of the EA and the activity through the incoming connection. Once the EA has been computed for a unit. you don’t need to understand this. select Randomize Weights Figure 1. the rate at which the error changes as the activity level of a unit is changed. The weights are contain in AA12:AA77. in most cases. Values between -1 to 1 will be the best starting weights.10 Enter AA12:AA77 and click on the Randomize Weights button. and we must set the weights on the connections appropriately. various quasi-Newton algorithms are efficient. This sum equals the EA for the chosen hidden unit. and statistical computing. Gill. Fortunately.algorithm is the most widely used method for determining the EW. It can be fast.
. This tool has simplified neural network training so much. we have Excel Solver. this may be anywhere from ten to ten-thousand iterations. 18 . Each iteration makes the weights slightly more efficient at separating the target from the nontarget examples. click on the Tools heading on the menu bar and select the Solver . (see Figure 1. Accessing Excel’s Solver To use the Solver.11 The learning algorithm improves the performance of the network by gradually changing each weight in the proper direction. This is called an iterative procedure.12) Figure 1. The iteration loop is usually carried out until no further improvement is being made. item. . Fortunately. In typical neural networks.Figure 1.12 .
and open the Solver Add-In file. If you cannot find the Solver Add-In. What if you still cannot find it? Then it is likely your installation of Excel failed to include the Solver Add-In." item. Although Solver is proprietary. you can download a trial version from Frontline Systems. you will be presented with the Solver Parameters dialog box below: 19 . To do this. You should now be able to use the Solver by clicking on the Tools heading on the menu bar and selecting the Solver item. Search for ―solver. . return to the Add-Ins dialog box (by executing Tools: Add-Ins…).com.12) then you must manually include it in the algorithms that Excel has available. . try using the Mac’s Find File or Find in Windows to locate the file. In the Add-Ins dialog box.14 above: After selecting the Solver Add-In and clicking on the OK button. scroll down and click on the Solver Add-In so that the box is checked as shown Figure 1. Excel takes a moment to call in the Solver file and adds it to the Tools menu.frontsys. . at www. click on Select or Browse.Figure 1.14 If Solver is not listed (see Figure 1. . Run your Excel or Office Setup again from the original CD-ROM and install the Solver AddIn. the makers of Solver. select Tools from the menu bar and choose the "Add-Ins .‖ Note the location of the file. . After executing Tools: Solver .
See Figure 1.Figure 1. whereas Value is used if you want to reach a certain particular value of the Target Cell by choosing a particular value of the endogenous variable.16 below Figure 1.16 Equal to: gives you the option of treating the Target Cell in three alternative ways. You can either type in the cell address or click on the desired cell. the objective function is to minimize the Mean Squared Error.15 Let us review each part of this dialog box. Max (the default) tells Excel to maximize the Target Cell and Min. In our NN model. This cell must contain a formula that depends on one or more other cells (including at least one ―changing cell‖). Set Target Cell is where you indicate the objective function (or goal) to be optimized. to minimize it. 20 . one at a time. Here we enter cell AO1.
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This will allows you to adjust the way in which Solver approaches the solution.18 Figure 1.20 As you can see. (see Figure 1.20) Figure 1.Figure 1.. a series of choices are included in the Solver Options dialog box that direct Solver’s 22 .19 After that select the Options.
Tolerance.0001 Select Conjugate as the Search method. Lowering the Precision. Figure 1. These options may be changed if Solver is having difficulty finding the optimal solution. click Solve to start training. This is the last thing you do in the Solver Parameters dialog box. Clicking OK to return to the Solver Parameters dialog box. The Load and Save Model buttons enable you to recall and keep a complicated set of constraints or choices so that you do not have to reenter them every time. and Convergence values slows down the algorithm but may enable Solver to find a solution.21 Solve is obviously the button you click to get Excel's Solver to find a solution.22 When Solver start optimizing. For a neural network model. This prove to be very effective in minimizing the Mean Squared Error.000001 Tolerance: 5% Convergence: 0. See 23 . you can set : i) ii) iii) iv) v) Max Time: 1000 seconds Iterations: 10000 Precision: 0.search for the optimum solution and for how long it will search. So. Figure 1. you will see the Trial Solution at the bottom left of your spreadsheet.
Sensitivity. you elect whether to have Excel write the solution it has found into the Changing Cells (i. Here.23 A message will appears after Solver has converged (see Figure 1. All constraints are satisfied. the Mean Square Error is not satisfactory and Solver unable to find the solution at one go. Excel presents a series of reports. It is important to understand that a saved Excel workbook will remember the information included in the last Solver run. Excel reports that ―Solver has converged to the current solution. you must diagnose. Figure 1.Figure 1. (Note: value less than 0.0086. From the Solver Results dialog box. If this is the case then you. Save Scenario. Remember. and Limits reports are additional sheets inserted into the current workbook.In this case. its now time for us to predict.01 will be satisfactory) Bad news is a message like. we have save the last 2 rows for testing.. When Excel reports a successful run.01.e. They contain diagnostic and other information and should be selected if Solver is having trouble finding a solution.. I’ve train the model and the MSE is 0... The Answer. Keep Solver Solution) or whether to leave the spreadsheet alone and NOT write the value of the solution into the Changing Cells (i. usually you will need to run Solver a few times before Solver arrive at a satisfactory Mean Square Error.e. enables the user to save particular solutions for given configurations.‖ If this happens. ―Solver could not find a solution. From experience. row 410 and 411. debug.‖ This is good news! Sometime. e) using the trained model for forecasting After all the training and the MSE is below 0. you would usually want it to Keep the Solver Solution. Keep the Solver solution and run Solver again. On the right-hand side of the Solver Results dialog box. The two quickest fixes are to try different initial weights values and to add bigger or smaller constraints to the weights. and otherwise think about what went wrong and how it could be fixed. Follow the step discussed above.. Restore Original Values). 24 . Goto the row 409 of the Credit Approval spreadsheet.23).22 above. Or you may change the network architecture by adding more hidden nodes.
After that goto the hidden layer. When you compare to the actual result in L410 and L411. we are spot on. Thus. 25 . That’s is. Select AD409:AK409 (see Figure 1.26 below). AK410.25) Figure 1. the predicted value is 1 and AK411 is also 1 (see Figure 1. You have successfully use neural network to predict the risk involve when granting a loan to an applicant.25 On the Output cell i.24 below) Figure 1.e. both results we got are High Risk. (see Figure 1.24 Fill down the formula to row 410 to 411.
We have to do this one by one manually.1) This worksheet is self explanatory. we have the Season Influence. The last 2 rows will be used for testing our prediction later. For profitable retail operations. NN cannot take or understand ―Low. production.xls. a) Selecting and transforming data Open the workbook(Sales_Forecasting) and bring up worksheet (Raw Data). Accurate forecasts of consumer retail sales can help improve retail supply chain operation.2) The Sales Forecasting Model Forecasting future retail sales is one of the most important activities that form the basis for all strategic and planning decisions in effective operations of retail businesses as well as retail supply chains. and labor force. We need to transform all the 104 rows of data into range between the value 1 to 0. as well as after-sales services. Medium = 0. High = 0.1 27 .25.5. There are 7 input factors and 2 desire output (end result). (see Figure 2. We also have 104 rows of input patterns in this model. So we need to transform these raw data into numeric form. accurate demand forecasting is crucial in organizing and planning purchasing. Very High = 0. High. Open the file Sales_Forecasting. The first 102 rows will be used as training data. in column B (Input 2). Medium. Very High‖. NN can only be fed with numeric data for training. For example. So we transform them to Low = 0.9. Figure 2.75. we will use neural network to forecast the weekly and daily sales of a fashion store. A poor forecast would result in either too much or too little inventory. In this example. directly affecting the profitability of the supply chain and the competitive position of the organization. Here we can see that. transportation. especially for larger retailers who have a significant market share. the data are still in alphabet form.
Apart from this transformation. we can see that Column A to column J in the worksheet (Transform Data) are all numerical.2) Figure 2.2 Now.3) Figure 2.If you select the worksheet(Transform Data).3 28 . we also need to ―massage‖ the numeric data a little bit. This is because NN will learn better if there is uniformity in the data. (see Figure 2. Thus we need to scale all the data into the value between 0 to 1. How do we do that? Copy all data from Column A to J and paste them to Column L To U Select Scale Data on the nn_Solve menu (Figure 2. it contains exactly what has been transform from worksheet(Raw Data).
Press the Tab key on your keyboard to exit. Input 5 in column P. (see Figure 2.6 below. Of course you can change this.4) Enter the value 1 for maximum and 0 for minimum for the Scale Into frame.4 Enter the reference for Input 1 (L7:L110) in the Data Range.Figure 2.5 We also need to scale Input 4 in column O. I’ve scale all the input data for your convenience. Click on the Scale Now button. Input 7 in column R and the 2 Desire outputs in column T and U. nn_Solve will automatically load the maximum (104) and the minimum (1) in the Raw Data frame Min and Max textbox. See Figure 2. When you press Tab.5 below) Figure 2. Input 6 in column Q. (see Figure 2. The raw data will be scaled nn_Solve will also automatically store the minimum (in cell L113) and the maximum (L112) value of the raw data in the last row and first column of the raw data. 29 .
6 We don’t need to scale Input 2 and 3 as those values are already between 0 and 1.Figure 2. 30 .
Connecting neurons to form a NN can be done in various ways. while the number of neurons in the output layer depends on the number of desired outputs.7 There are 7 nodes or neuron on the input layer. In reality all the weights are connected layer by layer. 31 . column L to column AF actually contain the NN architecture shown below: INPUT LAYER HIDDEN LAYER OUTPUT LAYER Figure 2. Those lines that connect the nodes are call weights. This worksheet. Here we have 104 input patterns map to 104 desired or target outputs.b) the neural network architecture A neural network is a group of neurons connected together. I only connect part of them. like Figure 1.1 The number of neurons in the input layer depends on the number of possible inputs we have. 5 neurons on the hidden layer and 2 neurons on the output layer. We reserve 2 input patterns for testing later.
2) = $W$15 -> connecting I2 to H2 w(3. Column R = Input 7 (I7) Hidden layer with 5 neurons. Column AB = Hidden Node 4 (H4) Column AC = Hidden Node 5 (H5) Output layer with 2 neurons.2) = $W$17-> connecting I4 to H2 32 . Column P = Input 5 (I5) . In Figure 2. Column N = Input 3 (I3).1) = $W$13 -> connecting I7 to H1 w(1. The output of the NN is reached by applying input values to the input layer. Column Z = Hidden Node 2 (H2).2) = $W$16 -> connecting I3 to H2 w(4.1) = $W$10 -> connecting I4 to H1 w(5.Like what you see from the Figure 2.7 we have 7 inputs node and 5 hidden nodes and 2 output nodes. Column AA = Hidden Node 3 (H3).1) = $W$8 -> connecting I2 to H1 w(3.7 above. Column M = Input 2 (I2). Column Y = Hidden Node 1 (H1). Column O = Input 4 (I4) .1) = $W$9 -> connecting I3 to H1 w(4.2) = $W$14 -> connecting I1 to H2 w(2.1) = $W$11 -> connecting I5 to H1 w(6. So the weights are contain in cells: From Input Layer to Hidden Layer w(1.1) = $W$7 -> connecting I1 to H1 w(2. Column Q = Input 6 (I6). I have put the weights vector in one column W. Here the number of weights are (7 x 5) + (5 x 2) = 45 Each neuron has its own input weights. Column L = Input 1 (I1).1) = $W$12 -> connecting I6 to H1 w(7. passing the output of each neuron to the following layer as input. Column AE = Output Node 1 (O1) Column AF = Output Node 2 (O2) Now let's talk about the weights that connection all the neurons together Note that: The output of a neuron in a layer goes to all neurons in the following layer. this NN model consists of three layers: Input layer with 7 neurons.
. 1) = $ W$43 -> connecting H2 to O1 w(h3.w(5. 2) = $ W$49 -> connecting H3 to O2 w(h4. 5) = $W$37 -> connecting I3 to H5 w(4. and could change per network configuration and type of data. 5) = $W$38 -> connecting I4 to H5 w(5.2) = $W$20 -> connecting I7 to H2 ― and ― so ― on ― w(1.5) = $W$35 -> connecting I1 to H5 w(2. 1) = $ W$44 -> connecting H3 to O1 w(h4. c) simple mathematic operations inside the neural network model The number of hidden layers and how many neurons in each hidden layer cannot be well defined in advance.2) = $W$19 -> connecting I6 to H2 w(7.2) = $W$47 -> connecting H1 to O2 w(h2.2) = $W$18 -> connecting I5 to H2 w(6. 2) = $W$50 -> connecting H4 to O2 w(h5. it is time to see what is happening inside those nodes. 5) = $W$41 -> connecting I7 to H5 From Hidden Layer to Output Layer w(h1. 5) = $W$39 -> connecting I5 to H5 w(6. 1) = $W$45 -> connecting H4 to O1 w(h5. 5) = $W$36 -> connecting I2 to H5 w(3. 2) = $W$51 -> connecting H5 to O2 After mapping the NN architecture to the worksheet and entering the input and desired output data. 2) = $ W$48 -> connecting H2 to O2 w(h3. 1) = $W$46 -> connecting H5 to O1 w(h1. 5) = $W$40 -> connecting I6 to H5 w(7.1) = $W$42 -> connecting H1 to O1 w(h2. In general the addition of a 33 .
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we first identify all the weights between that hidden unit and the output units to which it is connected. in most cases. In other words. d) Training NN as an Optimization Task Using Excel Solver Training a neural network is. operations research. and we must set the weights on the connections appropriately. Fortunately. what craps is this back propagation!!!. moving from layer to layer in a direction opposite to the way activities propagate through the network. This process requires that the neural network compute the error derivative of the weights (EW). It can be fast. This is what gives back propagation its name. and there is a huge literature on the subject in fields such as numerical analysis. These two optimization method are available with Excel Solver To make a neural network that performs some specific task. you don’t need to understand this. and Wright 1981. To compute the EA for a hidden unit in the layer just before the output layer. There is no single best method for nonlinear optimization. easy. Gill. the rate at which the error changes as the activity level of a unit is changed. 36 . The EW is the product of the EA and the activity through the incoming connection. You need to choose a method based on the characteristics of the problem to be solved. For a medium size neural network model with moderate number of weights. it is straight forward to compute the EW for each incoming connection of the unit. After calculating all the EAs in the hidden layer just before the output layer. it must calculate how the error changes as each weight is increased or decreased slightly. Murray. the EA is simply the difference between the actual and the desired output. and statistical computing.Our objective is to minimize the MSE. and accurate. Once the EA has been computed for a unit. We need to change the weight of each connection so that the network produces a better approximation of the desired output. if you use MS Excel Solver to build and train a neural network model. This sum equals the EA for the chosen hidden unit. Bertsekas 1995. Methods of nonlinear optimization have been studied for hundreds of years. In NN technical term. We then multiply those weights by the EAs of those output units and add the products. For a large number of weights. e. The algorithm computes each EW by first computing the EA.. The connections determine whether it is possible for one unit to influence another. we can compute in like fashion the EAs for other layers. MS Excel's Solver is a numerical optimization add-in (an additional file that extends the capabilities of Excel). The weights specify the strength of the influence. we must adjust the weights of each unit in such a way that the error between the desired output and the actual output is reduced. Phew. an exercise in numerical optimization of a usually nonlinear function. In order to train a neural network to perform some task.g. various conjugate-gradient algorithms are efficient. The back-propagation algorithm is easiest to understand if all the units in the network are linear. The back propagation algorithm is the most widely used method for determining the EW. For output units. Values between -1 to 1 will be the best starting weights. various quasi-Newton algorithms are efficient. we must choose how the units are connected to one another. we call this step of changing the weights as TRAINING THE NEURAL NETWORK.
(see Figure 2. we have Excel Solver. Each iteration makes the weights slightly more efficient at separating the target from the nontarget examples. W7:W51 will be filled out with values between -1 to 1.12 below) Figure 2. (see Figure 2. item. . Accessing Excel’s Solver To use the Solver.11 below) Figure 2. Fortunately. click on the Tools heading on the menu bar and select the Solver .11 Enter W7:W51 and click on the Randomize Weights button.12 The learning algorithm improves the performance of the network by gradually changing each weight in the proper direction. The weights are contain in W7:W51. This tool has simplified neural network training so much …. This is called an iterative procedure. The iteration loop is usually carried out until no further improvement is being made. . select Randomize Weights (see Figure 2. this may be anywhere from ten to ten-thousand iterations. From the nn_Solve menu.13) 37 .Let’s fill out the weight vector. In typical neural networks.
13 Figure 2. . try using the Mac’s Find File or Find in Windows to locate the file. Search for ―solver.Figure 2. What if you still cannot find it? Then it is likely your installation of Excel failed to include the Solver Add-In. return to the Add-Ins dialog box (by executing Tools: Add-Ins…). and open the Solver Add-In file. select Tools from the menu bar and choose the "Add-Ins .15 above: After selecting the Solver Add-In and clicking on the OK button. Excel takes a moment to call in the Solver file and adds it to the Tools menu. 38 . In the Add-Ins dialog box. To do this.15 If Solver is not listed then you must manually include it in the algorithms that Excel has available.‖ Note the location of the file. Run your Excel or Office Setup again from the original CD-ROM and install the Solver AddIn. You should now be able to use the Solver by clicking on the Tools heading on the menu bar and selecting the Solver item. scroll down and click on the Solver Add-In so that the box is checked as shown by Figure 2. If you cannot find the Solver Add-In." item. . click on Select or Browse.
This cell must contain a formula that depends on one or more other cells (including at least one ―changing cell‖). You can either type in the cell address or click on the desired cell. at www. Here we enter cell AN1. one at a time. you will be presented with the Solver Parameters dialog box below: Figure 2.frontsys.17 39 . In our NN model. After executing Tools: Solver .17 below Figure 2. . It is imperative that you successfully load and install the Solver add-in because without it. . you can download a trial version from Frontline Systems.Although Solver is proprietary.com. See Figure 2. the makers of Solver. the objective function is to minimize the Mean Squared Error. neither Solver nor the Dummy Dependent Variable Analysis add-in will be available. Set Target Cell is where you indicate the objective function (or goal) to be optimized. .16 Let us review each part of this dialog box.
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. you would usually want it to Keep the Solver Solution.e. Follow the step discussed above.‖ If this happens. On the right-hand side of the Solver Results dialog box. Figure 2.e. If this is the case then you. (Note: value less than 0. debug. you will see the Trial Solution at the bottom left of your spreadsheet. and otherwise think about what went wrong and how it could be fixed. Or you may change the network architecture by adding more hidden nodes. and Limits reports are additional sheets inserted into the current workbook.‖ This is good news! Sometime. The Answer. ―Solver could not find a solution. usually you will need to run Solver a few times before Solver arrive at a satisfactory Mean Square Error. Restore Original Values).01 will be very good) Bad news is a message like. The two quickest fixes are to try different initial weights values and to add bigger or smaller constraints to the weights. 43 . Sensitivity.23 When Solver start optimizing.24). From experience. When Excel reports a successful run. All constraints are satisfied. Keep the Solver solution and run Solver again.24 A message will appears after Solver has converged (see Figure 2. Excel presents a series of reports. From the Solver Results dialog box.23 above. you must diagnose. See Figure 2. the Mean Square Error is not satisfactory and Solver unable to find the solution at one go. They contain diagnostic and other information and should be selected if Solver is having trouble finding a solution. Excel reports that ―Solver has converged to the current solution. you elect whether to have Excel write the solution it has found into the Changing Cells (i. Keep Solver Solution) or whether to leave the spreadsheet alone and NOT write the value of the solution into the Changing Cells (i.Figure 2. It is important to understand that a saved Excel workbook will remember the information included in the last Solver run. In this case..
(see Figue 2. (see Figure 2. Remember. Goto the row 109 of the Sales Forecasting spreadsheet. Figure 2.26 below). you fill down until row 110.25 Then goto Y108.01. row 109 and 110.e) using the trained model for forecasting After all the training and the MSE is below 0.27) Figure 2.e. Select Y108:AF108.27 44 . its now time for us to predict.26 After that. we have save 2 rows of data for testing i. Figure 2.
28 So.84799 for predicted Output 1 (AE110) and 0. Row 110 we have 0.Figure 2.28). We need to scale these number back to raw data before they have any meaning to us.29 below) Figure 2. Select Scale Data for the nn_Solve menu (see Figure 2.102692 for predicted Output 2 (AF109). (see Figure 2.29 45 .903441 for predicted Output 1 (AE109) and 0. for row 109 we have 0.080876 for predicted Output 2 (AF110).
now we use them as the maximum and minimum values to be scaled into (See above Figure 2.85714 (in cell AG113) as the minimum.66 as in 46 .Figure 2.30 Enter AE109:AF110 in the Data Range. Now the raw data maximum become 1 and minimum become 0.30). Figure 2. As we are reversing what we did just now when we scale the raw data to the range 0 to 1. As we have automatically save the maximum and minimum of the raw data initially when we scale them. Click on Scale Now. Enter 369400 (in cell AG112) as the Maximum and 16042.31 So our predicted first weekly sales is 335280 as in AE109 and first daily sales is 52329.
47 .95 as in AF110. And our predicted second weekly sales is 315686.00391.57 (see cell J110). you will get slightly different result because of the MSE error that you have derived.31 above) The desire weekly sales is 364000 (see I109) and 353000 (see I110) respectively. The results here are based on the MSE of 0.AF109.2 as in AE110 and second daily sales is 44620. Of course when you do the training on your own. So it is acceptable. There you go. Whereas desire daily sales is 52000 (see cell J109) and 50428. You have successfully use neural network to predict the weekly and daily sales. The predicted values that we have are within 10% error tolerance of these desire values. (see Figure 2.
. In this example. Consumer price index. (see Figure 3. There are 5 input factors and 1 desire output (end result). The desire output is the next week DJIA price.. 10-days Moving Average. relative strength indices. GDP. We need to ―massage‖ the numeric data a little bit. This is because NN will learn better if there is uniformity in the data. Copy all data from Column B to G and paste them to Column J to O. 60-days Moving Average and 120-days Moving Average. (see Figure 3. For technical methods. from the period from 22 April 2002 to 15 Oct 2007. a real life example is use. moving averages. Neural networks are an emerging and challenging computational technology and they offer a new avenue to explore the dynamics of a variety of financial applications. Thus we need to scale all the data into the value between 0 to 1.1a There are 287 rows of data. a) Selecting and transforming data Open the workbook(Dow_Weekly) and bring up worksheet (Raw Data). Select Scale Data on the nn_Solve menu. I have build a neural network to forecast the weekly prices of the DJIA by using the moving averages. Here. The last 1 row will be used for testing our prediction later. There are 287 rows of input patterns in this model. The first 286 rows will be used as training data. etc. How do we do that? Goto worksheet(Transform Data). 20-days Moving Average. They can simulate fundamental and technical analysis methods using fundamental and technical indicators as inputs. could be used as inputs of neural networks to mine profitable knowledge. etc. foreign reserve.xls. The input factors consist of 5-days Moving Average. Open the file Dow_Weekly. the delayed time series.1a) Figure 3.3) Predicting the DJIA weekly price.1) 48 . export and import volume. This data is taken from the DJIA weekly prices. could be used as inputs.
(see Figure 3. That is 6 columns times 287 rows in the worksheet(Transform Data). (see Figure 3.Figure 3.3 below).1 for minimum for the Scale Into.2 Click on the Scale Now button. 49 . Enter the value 1 for maximum and 0. nn_Solve will automatically load the maximum (14.2 ).08) and the minimum (7528.1 Thus we need to convert the data in the range J3:O289 (see Figure 3. Of course you can change this.2 below) Figure 3. I’ve convert all the values for you already in the worksheet (Transform Data). Enter J3:O289 into the Data Range edit box.4) in the Raw Data frame Min and Max textbox. When you press Tab.093. Press the Tab key on your keyboard to exit. nn_Solve will also automatically store the minimum (in cell J292) and the maximum (cell J291) value of the raw data in the last row and first column of the raw data. It is advisable not enter the value 0 as the minimum as it represent nothing. We may need these numbers later.
3 After converting the values. its now time to build the neural network infrastructure. 50 .Figure 3.
while the number of neurons in the output layer depends on the number of desired outputs. Like what you see from the Figure 3. Those lines that connect the nodes are call weights. 51 . Column L = Input 3 (I3). Column M = Input 4 (I4) . Column N = Input 5 (I5) Hidden layer with 3 neurons. I only connect part of them. We reserve 1 input pattern for testing later. Here we have 286 input patterns map to 286 desired or target outputs. like Figure 1. Connecting neurons to form a NN can be done in various ways. 3 neurons on the hidden layer and 1 neuron on the output layer.1 The number of neurons in the input layer depends on the number of possible inputs we have.4 There are 5 nodes or neuron on the input layer.4 above. This worksheet. this NN model consists of three layers: Input layer with 5 neurons. Column T = Hidden Node 1 (H1) Column U = Hidden Node 2 (H2) Column V = Hidden Node 3 (H3) Output layer with 1 neuron.b) the neural network architecture A neural network is a group of neurons connected together. In reality all the weights are connected layer by layer. column J to column X actually contain the NN architecture shown below: INPUT LAYER HIDDEN LAYER OUTPUT LAYER Figure 3. Column K = Input 2 (I2). Column J = Input 1 (I1).
2) = $Q$11-> connecting I4 to H2 w(5. So the weights are contain in cells: From Input Layer to Hidden Layer w(1.2) = $Q$9 -> connecting I2 to H2 w(3.1) = $Q$6 -> connecting I4 to H1 w(5. We have 5 inputs node and 3 hidden nodes and 1 output node. I have put the weights vector in one column Q. Here the number of weights are (5 x 3) + (3 x 1) = 18 Each neuron has its own input weights. The output of the NN is reached by applying input values to the input layer. passing the output of each neuron to the following layer as input. 5) = $Q$14 -> connecting I2 to H5 w(3. 5) = $Q$17 -> connecting I5 to H5 From Hidden Layer to Output Layer 52 . 5) = $Q$15 -> connecting I3 to H5 w(4.1) = $Q$4 -> connecting I2 to H1 w(3.1) = $Q$3 -> connecting I1 to H1 w(2. 5) = $Q$16 -> connecting I4 to H5 w(5.1) = $Q$5 -> connecting I3 to H1 w(4.2) = $Q$8 -> connecting I1 to H2 w(2.5) = $Q$13 -> connecting I1 to H5 w(2.2) = $Q$12 -> connecting I5 to H2 ― and ― so ― on ― w(1.2) = $Q$10 -> connecting I3 to H2 w(4.1) = $Q$7 -> connecting I5 to H1 w(1.Column X = Output Node 1 (O1) Now let's talk about the weights that connection all the neurons together Note that: The output of a neuron in a layer goes to all neurons in the following layer.
1) = $Q$20 -> connecting H3 to O1 After mapping the NN architecture to the worksheet and entering the input and desired output data.w(h1.1) = $Q$18 -> connecting H1 to O1 w(h2. it is time to see what is happening inside those nodes.. c) simple mathematic operations inside the neural network model p/g 52 is not available for viewing x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x p/g 53 is not available for viewing x 53 . 1) = $ Q$19 -> connecting H2 to O1 w(h3.
This is only one pattern error. Sum up 54 . we fill down the formula again from row 3 until row 288 in this spreadsheet.x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x The closer the actual output of the network matches the desired output. the better. we save the last 1 row for testing our model later. Since we have using 286 rows of patterns. Remember.
the rate at which the error changes as the activity level of a unit is changed. Fortunately. In order to train a neural network to perform some task.. an exercise in numerical optimization of a usually nonlinear function. the EA is simply the difference between the actual and the desired output. in most cases. You need to choose a method based on the characteristics of the problem to be solved. it is straight forward to compute the EW for each incoming connection of the unit. we can compute in like fashion the EAs for other layers.g. if you use MS Excel Solver to build and train a neural network model. To make a neural network that performs some specific task. The algorithm computes each EW by first computing the EA. Methods of nonlinear optimization have been studied for hundreds of years. These two optimization method are available with Excel Solver. It can be fast. and we must set the weights on the connections appropriately. what craps is this back propagation!!!. various conjugate-gradient algorithms are efficient. We then multiply those weights by the EAs of those output units and add the products. This process requires that the neural network compute the error derivative of the weights (EW). To compute the EA for a hidden unit in the layer just before the output layer. This is what gives back propagation its name. various quasi-Newton algorithms are efficient. and there is a huge literature on the subject in fields such as numerical analysis. Once the EA has been computed for a unit. we first identify all the weights between that hidden unit and the output units to which it is connected. Murray. operations research. Gill. The weights specify the 55 . After calculating all the EAs in the hidden layer just before the output layer. it must calculate how the error changes as each weight is increased or decreased slightly.all the error and take the average. Phew. For a large number of weights. The EW is the product of the EA and the activity through the incoming connection. The back-propagation algorithm is easiest to understand if all the units in the network are linear. and statistical computing. MS Excel's Solver is a numerical optimization add-in (an additional file that extends the capabilities of Excel). and Wright 1981. moving from layer to layer in a direction opposite to the way activities propagate through the network. we must adjust the weights of each unit in such a way that the error between the desired output and the actual output is reduced. For output units. and accurate. We need to change the weight of each connection so that the network produces a better approximation of the desired output. The back propagation algorithm is the most widely used method for determining the EW. we call this step of changing the weights as TRAINING THE NEURAL NETWORK. The connections determine whether it is possible for one unit to influence another. you don’t need to understand this. d) Training NN as an Optimization Task Using Excel Solver Training a neural network is. In NN technical term. we must choose how the units are connected to one another. For a medium size neural network model with moderate number of weights. Bertsekas 1995. easy. This sum equals the EA for the chosen hidden unit. In other words. e. There is no single best method for nonlinear optimization. MSE = (SUM(AA3:AA288)/286) Our objective is to minimize the MSE.
Let’ fill out the weight vector. This is called an iterative procedure. .8) 56 . Each iteration makes the weights slightly more efficient at separating the target from the nontarget examples.6) Figure 3. select Randomize Weights (see Figure 3. In typical neural networks. this may be anywhere from ten to ten-thousand iterations.6 Enter Q3:Q20 and click on the Randomize Weights button.7 The learning algorithm improves the performance of the network by gradually changing each weight in the proper direction. Fortunately. From the nn_Solve menu. The iteration loop is usually carried out until no further improvement is being made. This tool has simplified neural network training so much. .strength of the influence. we have Excel Solver. item. The weights are contain in Q3:Q20.7 below) Figure 3. click on the Tools heading on the menu bar and select the Solver . Values between -1 to 1 will be the best starting weights. (see Figure 3. (see Figure 3. Q3:Q20 will be filled out with values between -1 to 1. Accessing Excel’s Solver To use the Solver.
57 .8 above).Figure 3. .xla in Windows and Solver on the MacOS) and open it. When you click on the Tools menu. scroll down and click on the Solver Add-In so that the box is checked as shown by the Figure 3. To do this.10 above.10 If Solver is not listed (see Figure 3.8 ." item. . In the Add-Ins dialog box. click on the Select or Browse button and navigate to the Solver add-in (called solver. Figure 3. If the Solver add-in is not listed in the Add-Ins dialog box. After selecting the Solver Add-In and clicking on the OK button. select Tools from the menu bar and choose the "Add-Ins . Excel takes a moment to call in the Solver file and adds it to the Tools menu. it should be listed somewhere as shown above on the right. you must manually include it in the algorithms that Excel has available. It should be in the Library directory in the folders where Microsoft Office is installed.
.12 Equal to: gives you the option of treating the Target Cell in three alternative ways. Here we enter cell AD1. You should now be able to use the Solver by clicking on the Tools heading on the menu bar and selecting the Solver item. What if you still cannot find it? Then it is likely your installation of Excel failed to include the Solver Add-In. In our NN model. try using the Mac’s Find File or Find in Windows to locate the file. Search for ―solver. See Figure 3.13 below Figure 3. the objective function is to minimize the Mean Squared Error (AD1). This cell must contain a formula that depends on one or more other cells (including at least one ―changing cell‖). to minimize it.11 Let us review each part of this dialog box.If you cannot find the Solver Add-In. whereas Value is used if you want to 58 . Set Target Cell is where you indicate the objective function (or goal) to be optimized. Run your Excel or Office Setup again from the original CD-ROM and install the Solver AddIn. and open the Solver Add-In file. Max (the default) tells Excel to maximize the Target Cell and Min. You can either type in the cell address or click on the desired cell. you will be presented with the Solver Parameters dialog box below: Figure 3. After executing Tools: Solver . .12 and 3. . .‖ Note the location of the file. one at a time. return to the Add-Ins dialog box (by executing Tools: Add-Ins…). click on Select or Browse.
p/g 59 is not available for viewing x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x 59 .
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See Figure 3. This is the last thing you do in the Solver Parameters dialog box. click Solve to start training. 61 . This prove to be very effective in minimizing the Mean Squared Error.Select Conjugate as the Search method. Figure 3.19 above. you will see the Trial Solution at the bottom left of your spreadsheet.19 When Solver start optimizing. The Load and Save Model buttons enable you to recall and keep a complicated set of constraints or choices so that you do not have to reenter them every time. Figure 3.17 Solve is obviously the button you click to get Excel's Solver to find a solution. So. Clicking OK to return to the Solver Parameters dialog box.
―Solver could not find a solution. Keep the Solver solution and run Solver again.21 62 . (Note: value less than 0. you must diagnose. Follow the step discussed above. Or you may change the network architecture by adding more hidden nodes. and otherwise think about what went wrong and how it could be fixed..‖ If this happens. The Answer. All constraints are satisfied.Figure 3. Excel presents a series of reports.. They contain diagnostic and other information and should be selected if Solver is having trouble finding a solution. you elect whether to have Excel write the solution it has found into the Changing Cells (i.20). The two quickest fixes are to try different initial weights values and to add bigger or smaller constraints to the weights.01 will be satisfactory) Bad news is a message like. Keep Solver Solution) or whether to leave the spreadsheet alone and NOT write the value of the solution into the Changing Cells (i. usually you will need to run Solver a few times before Solver arrive at a satisfactory Mean Square Error. and Limits reports are additional sheets inserted into the current workbook. we have save 1 row of data for testing i. its now time for us to predict. e) using the trained model for forecasting After all the training and the MSE is below 0. When Excel reports a successful run. From the Solver Results dialog box.‖ This is good news! Sometime. Goto the row 288 of the Dow_Weekly spreadsheet.01.e. Excel reports that ―Solver has converged to the current solution. If this is the case then you. From experience. the Mean Square Error is not satisfactory and Solver unable to find the solution at one go. Remember. debug.e. you would usually want it to Keep the Solver Solution. Restore Original Values).20 A message appears when Solver converged (see Figure 3. In this case. On the right-hand side of the Solver Results dialog box.e. row 289 Figure 3. Sensitivity.
Figure 3.23 below) .Then goto T288. We need to scale this number back to raw data before they have any meaning to us.23 So. Select T288:X288. Select Scale Data from the nn_Solve menu. 63 . for row 109 we have 0. you fill down until row 289 (see Figure 3. See Figure 3.946003 for predicted Output 1 (X289). Figure 3.22 After that.22 below.
The results here are based on the MSE of 0. The sky is the limit and use your creativity.24 Enter X289 in the Data Range.001265 There you go. As we are reversing what we did just now when we scale the raw data to the range 0 to 1. Click on Scale Now. RSI.Figure 3.25). ADX and etc. You have successfully use neural network to predict the next week price of the DJIA.39 (cell G289). you will get slightly different result because of the MSE error that you have derived. 64 .05 as in X289 (see Figure 3.1 (see Figure 3. like Volume.080 and minimum (7528. now we use them as the maximum and minimum values to be scaled into.. Bollinger bands.4) of the raw data.24) As we have save the maximum (14093. The actual price is 13879. Now the raw data maximum become 1 and minimum become 0. For example. You can also use other factors as inputs data.25 So our predicted DJIA weekly price is 13860. Of course when you do the training on your own. Figure 3.
2) Figure 4. We need to ―massage‖ these numeric data a little bit. Our objective is to use neural network to forecast the value of a residential property in a suburban area. When you press Tab. The first column we need to scale is Column Q (Input 1) Select Scale Data on the nn_Solve menu Figure 4. (see Figure 4.1 Enter the reference for Input 1 (Q5:Q503) in the Data Range. nn_Solve will automatically load the maximum (88.xls. This is because NN will learn better if there is uniformity in the data.4) Predicting Real Estate Value Open the file Real_Estate. There are 13 input factors and 1 desire output (end result). Press the Tab key on your keyboard to exit. Goto the worksheet (Description) to see the explanation of each of the input factors.2 65 . How do we do that? Copy all data from Column A to O and paste them to Column Q To AE. a) Selecting and transforming data Open the workbook(Real_Estate) and bring up worksheet (Raw Data).9762) and the minimum (0. Goto the worksheet (Transform Data) Thus we need to scale all the data into the value between 0 to 1.00632) in the Raw Data frame Min and Max textbox. Here we have 499 inputs patterns and desire outputs.
Enter the value 1 for maximum and 0. The raw data will be scaled nn_Solve will also automatically store the minimum (in cell Q506) and the maximum (Q505) value of the raw data in the last row and first column of the raw data.4 below We don’t need to scale Input 4 in column T and Input 5 in column U as those values are already between 0 and 1. Input 11 in column AA. (see Figure 4. Input 10 in column Z. Input 6 in column V. Of course you can change this. It is advisable not to use the value 0 as the minimum as it represent nothing. 66 . Input 8 in column X. Input 7 in column W.1 for minimum for the Scale Into. (see Figure 3. I’ve scale all the input data for your convenience.3 We also need to scale Input 2 in column R. Input 13 in column AC and Desire Output in Column AE.3 below) Figure 4. below) Click on the Scale Now button. Input 9 in column Y. Input 12 in column AB. Input 3 in column S. See Figure 4.
This worksheet. Connecting neurons to form a NN can be done in various ways.5 There are 13 (column Q:AE) nodes or neuron on the input layer. column Q to column AR actually contain the NN architecture shown below: INPUT LAYER HIDDEN LAYER OUTPUT LAYER Figure 4. 7 neurons on the hidden layer (column AJ:AP) and 1 neuron on the output layer (column AR). 68 .b) the neural network architecture A neural network is a group of neurons connected together.
Those lines that connect the nodes are call weights. I only connect part of them. In reality all the weights are connected layer by layer, like Figure 1.1 The number of neurons in the input layer depends on the number of possible inputs we have, while the number of neurons in the output layer depends on the number of desired outputs. Here we have 499 input patterns map to 499 desired or target outputs. We reserve 1 input pattern for testing later. Like what you see from the Figure 4.5 above, this NN model consists of three layers: Input layer with 13 neurons. Column Q = Input 1 (I1); Column R = Input 2 (I2); Column S = Input 3 (I3); Column T = Input 4 (I4) ; Column U = Input 5 (I5) ; Column V = Input 6 (I6); Column W = Input 7 (I7); Column X = Input 8 (I8); Column Y = Input 9 (I9); Column Z = Input 10 (I10); Column AA = Input 11 (I11); Column AB = Input 12 (I12); Column AC = Input 13 (I13) Hidden layer with 7 neurons. Column AJ = Hidden Node 1 (H1); Column AK = Hidden Node 2 (H2); Column AL = Hidden Node 3 (H3); Column AM = Hidden Node 4 (H4) Column AN = Hidden Node 5 (H5); Column AO = Hidden Node 6 (H6) Column AP = Hidden Node 7 (H7) Output layer with 1 neuron. Column AR = Output Node 1 (O1) Now let's talk about the weights that connection all the neurons together Note that: i. ii. The output of a neuron in a layer goes to all neurons in the following layer. See Figure 4.5 we have 13 inputs node and 7 hidden nodes and 1 output node. Here the number of weights are (13 x 7) + (7 x 1) = 98 Each neuron has its own input weights. The output of the NN is reached by applying input values to the input layer, passing the output of each neuron to the following layer as input.
w(10,7) = $AG$92 -> connecting I10 to H7 w(11,7) = $AG$93-> connecting I11 to H7 w(12,7) = $AG$94 -> connecting I12 to H7 w(13,7) = $AG$95 -> connecting I13 to H7 From Hidden Layer to Output Layer w(h1,1) = $AG$96 -> connecting H1 to O1 w(h2, 1) = $AG$97 -> connecting H2 to O1 w(h3, 1) = $AG$98 -> connecting H3 to O1 w(h4, 1) = $AG$99 -> connecting H4 to O1 w(h5, 1) = $AG$100 -> connecting H5 to O1 w(h6, 1) = $AG$101 -> connecting H6 to O1 w(h7, 1) = $AG$102 -> connecting H7 to O1 After mapping the NN architecture to the worksheet and entering the input and desired output data., it is time to see what is happening inside those nodes.
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incoming connection.Phew, what craps is this back propagation!!!. Fortunately, you don’t need to understand this, if you use MS Excel Solver to build and train a neural network model.
Figure 4.9 Enter AG5:AG102 and click on the Randomize Weights button. AG5:AG102 will be filled out with values between -1 to 1. (see Figure 4.10 below) The learning algorithm improves the performance of the network by gradually changing each weight in the proper direction. This is called an iterative procedure. Each iteration makes the weights slightly more efficient at separating the target from the nontarget examples. The iteration loop is usually carried out until no further improvement is being made. In typical neural networks, this may be anywhere from ten to ten-thousand iterations. Fortunately, we have Excel Solver. This tool has simplified neural network training so much.
Figure 4.10 Accessing Excel’s Solver To use the Solver, click on the Tools heading on the menu bar and select the Solver . . . item.
click on Select or Browse.11). it should be listed somewhere as shown above on the right. . When you click on the Tools menu. It should be in the Library directory in the folders where Microsoft Office is installed.‖ Note the location of the file. . try using the Mac’s Find File or Find in Windows to locate the file. you will be presented with the Solver Parameters dialog box below: 76 .13 If Solver is not listed (like Figure 4. . select Tools from the menu bar and choose the "Add-Ins . Search for ―solver.Figure 4. and open the Solver Add-In file. . To do this. return to the Add-Ins dialog box (by executing Tools: Add-Ins…). Excel takes a moment to call in the Solver file and adds it to the Tools menu. click on the Select or Browse button and navigate to the Solver add-in (called solver. . If the Solver add-in is not listed in the Add-Ins dialog box. What if you still cannot find it? Then it is likely your installation of Excel failed to include the Solver Add-In. Run your Excel or Office Setup again from the original CD-ROM and install the Solver AddIn. You should now be able to use the Solver by clicking on the Tools heading on the menu bar and selecting the Solver item. scroll down and click on the Solver Add-In so that the box is checked as shown by the Figure 4.13 above: After selecting the Solver Add-In and clicking on the OK button." item. In the AddIns dialog box. you must manually include it in the algorithms that Excel has available. If you cannot find the Solver Add-In. After executing Tools: Solver .xla in Windows and Solver on the MacOS) and open it.
14 Let us review each part of this dialog box.15 below Figure 4. See Figure 4. Set Target Cell is where you indicate the objective function (or goal) to be optimized. whereas Value is used if you want to reach a certain particular value of the Target Cell by choosing a particular value of the endogenous 77 . the objective function is to minimize the Mean Squared Error. This cell must contain a formula that depends on one or more other cells (including at least one ―changing cell‖).15 Equal to: gives you the option of treating the Target Cell in three alternative ways. In our NN model. to minimize it. Here we enter cell AV1. You can either type in the cell address or click on the desired cell. Max (the default) tells Excel to maximize the Target Cell and Min. one at a time.Figure 4.
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.e.21 A message appears when Solver converged (see Figure 4. we have save 1 row of data for testing i. usually you will need to run Solver a few times before Solver arrive at a satisfactory Mean Square Error. Follow the step discussed above. Or you may change the network architecture by adding more hidden nodes. From the Solver Results dialog box. ―Solver could not find a solution.e. Keep Solver Solution) or whether to leave the spreadsheet alone and NOT write the value of the solution into the Changing Cells (i. the Mean Square Error is not satisfactory and Solver unable to find the solution at one go. (Note: value less than 0.01 will be satisfactory) Bad news is a message like. and Limits reports are additional sheets inserted into the current workbook. Goto the row 502 of the RealEstate spreadsheet. Restore Original Values). Remember. debug. Keep the Solver solution and run Solver again.21). It is important to understand that a saved Excel workbook will remember the information included in the last Solver run. e) using the trained model for forecasting After all the training and the MSE is below 0. From experience. Excel presents a series of reports. They contain diagnostic and other information and should be selected if Solver is having trouble finding a solution. The two quickest fixes are to try different initial weights values and to add bigger or smaller constraints to the weights. In this case.Figure 4.‖ If this happens. row 503 81 . and otherwise think about what went wrong and how it could be fixed.‖ This is good news! Sometime. you must diagnose. All constraints are satisfied. enables the user to save particular solutions for given configurations. When Excel reports a successful run. you would usually want it to Keep the Solver Solution... Sensitivity.e. Save Scenario. Excel reports that ―Solver has converged to the current solution.01. On the right-hand side of the Solver Results dialog box. you elect whether to have Excel write the solution it has found into the Changing Cells (i. its now time for us to predict.. If this is the case then you. The Answer.
24 82 . Select Scale Data for the nn_Solve menu.22 above) After that. you fill down until row 503 (see Figure 4. Figure 4. (see Figure 4.22 Select AJ502:AR502. (See Figure 4. for row 503 we have 0. Figure 4.23) We need to scale this number back to raw data before they have any meaning to us.23 below) .Figure 4.23 So.26748 for predicted Output 1 (AR503).
25 above). (See Figure 4. Of course when you do the training on your own.25 Enter AR503 in the Data Range.Figure 4. As we are reversing what we did just now when we scale the raw data to the range 0 to 1. Figure 4.26 So our predicted real estate price is 17. The actual price is 17. You have successfully use neural network to predict real estate price. 83 .2 (cell O503).0366 as in AR503 (see Figure 4. The results here are based on the MSE of 0.26 above). Now the raw data maximum become 1 and minimum become 0. Click on Scale Now.1 As we have automatically save the maximum (50) and minimum (5) of the raw data initially. now we use them as the maximum and minimum values to be scaled into.00178 There you go. you will get slightly different result because of the MSE error that you have derived.
we can use neural network to classify which class an Iris flower belongs to. NN can only be fed with numeric data for training. NN cannot take or understand ―setosa. After proper training the network is capable of classifying the flowers with a 100% accuracy.1 Now. This worksheet is self explanatory. The neural network is train with 146 examples of three species of Iris. a) Selecting and transforming data Open the workbook(Irises) and bring up worksheet (Raw Data). So we have 147 records altogether. This is one of the standard benchmark that can be used to show how neural networks (and other techniques) can be used for classification.1) Figure 5. in column F (Desire). it contains exactly what has been transform from worksheet(Raw Data). We reserve 1 example for testing our model later. we have the Flower Type. virginic‖. If you select the worksheet(Transform Data). Two of the species are not linearly separable. 147 inputs patterns and desire outputs. Using the petal and sepal sizes. the data are still in alphabet form. (see Figure 5.5) Classify Type Of Irises Open the file Irises.xls. we can see that Column A to column F in the worksheet (Transform Data) are all numerical. Here we can see that. 84 . For example. versicol.5 for ―versicol and 0 for ―virginic‖. So we need to transform these raw data into numeric form. so there is no simple rule for classification of flowers. We have to do this one by one manually. 0. So we transform them to 1 for ―setosa‖. Here we. There are 4 input factors and 1 desire output (end result).
3) in the Raw Data frame Min and Max textbox. This is because NN will learn better if there is uniformity in the data. Press the Tab key on your keyboard to exit.9) and the minimum (4.3 Enter the reference for Input 1 (H7:H153) in the Data Range. The first column we need to scale is Column H (Input 1) Select Scale Data on the nn_Solve menu (see Figure 5.2 Figure 5. How do we do that? Copy all data from Column A to F and paste them to Column H To M.2) Figure 5. When you press Tab. we also need to ―massage‖ the numeric data a little bit. nn_Solve will automatically load the maximum (7. (see Figure 5. Thus we need to scale all the data into the value between 0 to 1.Apart from this transformation.2) 85 .
See Figure 5.5 below. (see Figure 5. Figure 5. We may need these numbers later.4 We also need to scale Input 2 in column I. It is advisable not to use the value 0 as the minimum as it represent nothing. Input 3 in column J and Input 4 in column K. Figure 5. I’ve scale all the input data for your convenience.Enter the value 1 for maximum and 0. We don’t need to scale Desire column M as those values are already between 0 and 1. Of course you can change this. The raw data will be scaled nn_Solve will also automatically store the minimum (in cell H156) and the maximum (H155) value of the raw data in the last row and first column of the raw data.5 86 .1 for minimum for the Scale Into. Click on the Scale Now button.4 below).
b) the neural network architecture A neural network is a group of neurons connected together.1 The number of neurons in the input layer depends on the number of possible inputs we have. 2 neurons on the hidden layer 1 (columnR:S). this NN model consists of three layers: Input layer with 4 neurons. Like what you see from the Figure 1. Connecting neurons to form a NN can be done in various ways. Here we have 146 input patterns map to 146 desired or target outputs. column H to column X actually contain the NN architecture shown below: It is a 4 layer neural network which is very effective in classification problems. 87 . 2 neurons on the hidden layer 2 (column U:V) and 1 neuron on the output layer (column X). We reserve 1 input pattern for testing later. INPUT LAYER HIDDEN LAYER 1 HIDDEN LAYER 2 OUTPUT LAYER Figure 5.6 There are 4 (column H:K) nodes or neuron on the input layer. like Figure 1. while the number of neurons in the output layer depends on the number of desired outputs. Those lines that connect the nodes are call weights. This worksheet. I only connect part of them.2 above. In reality all the weights are connected layer by layer.
Column J = Input 3 (I3). Column K = Input 4 (I4) Hidden layer 1 with 2 neurons.Column H = Input 1 (I1). Here the number of weights are (4 x 2) + (2 x 2) + (2 x 1) = 14 o Each neuron has its own input weights. Column I = Input 2 (I2). I have put the weights vector in one column O. So the weights are contain in cells: From Input Layer to Hidden Layer 1 w(1. See Figure 5. Column U = Hidden Node 1 (H3) Column V = Hidden Node 2 (H4) Output layer with 1 neuron.2) = $O$12 -> connecting I2 to H2 w(3. 2 nodes for hidden layer 2 and 1 output node.2) = $O$13 -> connecting I3 to H2 w(4.2) = $O$14-> connecting I4 to H2 ― and ― so 88 . Column X = Output Node 1 (O1) Now let's talk about the weights that connection all the neurons together Note that: o The output of a neuron in a layer goes to all neurons in the following layer.1) = $O$7 -> connecting I1 to H1 w(2.2) = $O$11 -> connecting I1 to H2 w(2. o The output of the NN is reached by applying input values to the input layer.1) = $O$9 -> connecting I3 to H1 w(4.1) = $O$10 -> connecting I4 to H1 w(1. Column R = Hidden Node 1 (H1) Column S = Hidden Node 2 (H2) Hidden layer 2 with 2 neurons.1) = $O$8 -> connecting I2 to H1 w(3.6 o We have 4 inputs node and 2 nodes for hidden layer 1. passing the output of each neuron to the following layer as input.
h3) = $O$15 -> connecting H1 to H3 w(h2. and could change per network configuration and type of data.1) = $O$19 -> connecting H3 to O1 w(h4.1) = $O$20 -> connecting H4 to O1 After mapping the NN architecture to the worksheet and entering the input and desired output data. and add more hidden layers if you notice that the network is not learning as well as you like. it is time to see what is happening inside those nodes.h3) = $O$16 -> connecting H2 to H3 w(h1. but at the same time decreases its performance.h4) = $O$18-> connecting H2 to H4 From Hidden Layer 2 to Output Layer w(h3.― on ― ― From Hidden Layer 1 to Hidden Layer 2 w(h1. You could start a network configuration using a single hidden layer.h4) = $O$17 -> connecting H1 to H4 w(h2. In general the addition of a hidden layer could allow the network to learn more complex patterns. c) simple mathematic operations inside the neural network model The number of hidden layers and how many neurons in each hidden layer cannot be well defined in advance.. p/g 89 is not available for viewing x x x x x x x x x x x 89 .
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This sum equals the EA for the chosen hidden unit.7a above indicate that the desire Output is 1 i. it is straight forward to compute the EW for each incoming connection of the unit. Since we have using 146 rows of patterns. the EA is simply the difference between the actual and the desired output. we must adjust the weights of each unit in such a way that the error between the desired output and the actual output is reduced. The actual output is 0. This is what gives back propagation its name. This is only one pattern error. the better. For output units.394570671 is not what we want. We need to change the weight of each connection so that the network produces a better approximation of the desired output. The back-propagation algorithm is easiest to understand if all the units in the network are linear. you don’t need to understand this. This process requires that the neural network compute the error derivative of the weights (EW). what craps is this back propagation!!!. The back propagation algorithm is the most widely used method for determining the EW. d) Training NN as an Optimization Task Using Excel Solver 91 . moving from layer to layer in a direction opposite to the way activities propagate through the network. the rate at which the error changes as the activity level of a unit is changed. Fortunately. X7.e.x Remember we present the network with training examples. In other words. we minus this with the desire output. Remember.e. which consist of a pattern of activities for the input units together with the desired pattern of activities for the output units.7a) MSE = (SUM(Z7:Z152)/146) Our objective is to minimize the MSE. The EW is the product of the EA and the activity through the incoming connection. Sum up all the error and take the average. Since 0. we get 0.366545 (in Z7) The closer the actual output of the network matches the desired output. we first identify all the weights between that hidden unit and the output units to which it is connected. To compute the EA for a hidden unit in the layer just before the output layer. After that we square the error to get a positive value Error = (X7 – Y7) ^ 2 . For example in Figure 5. In NN technical term. we call this step of changing the weights as TRAINING THE NEURAL NETWORK. Once the EA has been computed for a unit. it must calculate how the error changes as each weight is increased or decreased slightly. After calculating all the EAs in the hidden layer just before the output layer. (see Figure 5. We then multiply those weights by the EAs of those output units and add the products.394570671 i. we fill down the formula again from row 7 until row 152 in this spreadsheet. we save the last 1 rows for testing our model later. In order to train a neural network to perform some task. The algorithm computes each EW by first computing the EA. we can compute in like fashion the EAs for other layers. Phew. if you use MS Excel Solver to build and train a neural network model. Y7.
There is no single best method for nonlinear optimization. and there is a huge literature on the subject in fields such as numerical analysis.g. O7:O20 will be filled out with values between -1 to 1. select Randomize Weights (see Figure 5. The connections determine whether it is possible for one unit to influence another. Values between -1 to 1 will be the best starting weights. an exercise in numerical optimization of a usually nonlinear function.8) Figure 5. Methods of nonlinear optimization have been studied for hundreds of years. and accurate. From the nn_Solve menu. and statistical computing. Gill.Training a neural network is. various conjugate-gradient algorithms are efficient.. in most cases. MS Excel's Solver is a numerical optimization add-in (an additional file that extends the capabilities of Excel). Murray. Let’ fill out the weight vector.8 Enter O7:O20 and click on the Randomize Weights button. These two optimization method are available with Excel Solver To make a neural network that performs some specific task. operations research. (see Figure 5. and Wright 1981. Bertsekas 1995. and we must set the weights on the connections appropriately. various quasi-Newton algorithms are efficient.9 below) 92 . The weights specify the strength of the influence. For a medium size neural network model with moderate number of weights. It can be fast. easy. You need to choose a method based on the characteristics of the problem to be solved. we must choose how the units are connected to one another . For a large number of weights. e. The weights are contain in O7:O20.
This tool has simplified neural network training so much.9 The learning algorithm improves the performance of the network by gradually changing each weight in the proper direction. Each iteration makes the weights slightly more efficient at separating the target from the nontarget examples. click on the Tools heading on the menu bar and select the Solver .10 . The iteration loop is usually carried out until no further improvement is being made. Accessing Excel’s Solver To use the Solver. item. . 93 . . This is called an iterative procedure.Figure 5. this may be anywhere from ten to ten-thousand iterations. Figure 5. Fortunately. we have Excel Solver. In typical neural networks.
click on Select or Browse. If you cannot find the Solver Add-In. scroll down and click on the Solver Add-In so that the box is checked as shown by the Figure 5.Figure 5. try using the Mac’s Find File or Find in Windows to locate the file." item. return to the Add-Ins dialog box (by executing Tools: Add-Ins…). . you must manually include it in the algorithms that Excel has available. When you click on the Tools menu. Excel takes a moment to call in the Solver file and adds it to the Tools menu.‖ Note the location of the file. select Tools from the menu bar and choose the "Add-Ins . . What if you still cannot find it? Then it is likely your installation of Excel failed to include the Solver Add-In.xla in Windows and Solver on the MacOS) and open it. Search for ―solver. and open the Solver Add-In file. it should be listed somewhere as shown above on the right. To do this.10). .12 above: After selecting the Solver Add-In and clicking on the OK button. Run your Excel or Office Setup again from the original CD-ROM and install the Solver AddIn. you will be presented with the Solver Parameters dialog box below: 94 . In the AddIns dialog box. It should be in the Library directory in the folders where Microsoft Office is installed. If the Solver add-in is not listed in the Add-Ins dialog box.12 If Solver is not listed (like Figure 5. click on the Select or Browse button and navigate to the Solver add-in (called solver. . After executing Tools: Solver . You should now be able to use the Solver by clicking on the Tools heading on the menu bar and selecting the Solver item. .
In our NN model.Figure 5.14 below p/g 95 is not available for viewing x x x x x x x x x x x x x x 95 . the objective function is to minimize the Mean Squared Error. You can either type in the cell address or click on the desired cell. Here we enter cell AB1. See Figure 5.13 Let us review each part of this dialog box. This cell must contain a formula that depends on one or more other cells (including at least one ―changing cell‖). Set Target Cell is where you indicate the objective function (or goal) to be optimized. one at a time.
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So.19 above. you will see the Trial Solution at the bottom left of your spreadsheet. This is the last thing you do in the Solver Parameters dialog box. click Solve to start training. See Figure 5.19 When Solver start optimizing. 98 .x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Solve is obviously the button you click to get Excel's Solver to find a solution. Figure 5.
‖ This is good news! Sometime. From experience. They contain diagnostic and other information and should be selected if Solver is having trouble finding a solution. Keep Solver Solution) or whether to leave the spreadsheet alone and NOT write the value of the solution into the Changing Cells (i. If this is the case then you. Restore Original Values).. Remember. debug. All constraints are satisfied. e) using the trained model for forecasting After all the training and the MSE is below 0. and Limits reports are additional sheets inserted into the current workbook.. On the right-hand side of the Solver Results dialog box.01 will be satisfactory) Bad news is a message like. When Excel reports a successful run. In this case. its now time for us to predict.e.20 A message appears when Solver converged (see Figure 5. From the Solver Results dialog box. Sensitivity.‖ If this happens. (Note: value less than 0. Or you may change the network architecture by adding more hidden nodes. Excel presents a series of reports. row 153 99 . the Mean Square Error is not satisfactory and Solver unable to find the solution at one go.e.Figure 5. you would usually want it to Keep the Solver Solution. Excel reports that ―Solver has converged to the current solution. Goto the row 152 of the Irises spreadsheet. Keep the Solver solution and run Solver again. and otherwise think about what went wrong and how it could be fixed. The Answer. we have save 1 row of data for testing i. Follow the step discussed above. usually you will need to run Solver a few times before Solver arrive at a satisfactory Mean Square Error.e.01.20). ―Solver could not find a solution. you elect whether to have Excel write the solution it has found into the Changing Cells (i. you must diagnose. The two quickest fixes are to try different initial weights values and to add bigger or smaller constraints to the weights.
08839486 is very near to 0.21 above).After that.08839486 for predicted Output 1 (X153). The results here are based on the MSE of 0. Of course when you do the training on your own.23 above).22 So.22 below) .23 below). we can take this result as 0. Figure 5. As the value 0. you will get slightly different result because of the MSE error that you have derived. (See Figure 5.00878 100 . you fill down until row 153 (see Figure 5. Figure 5.21 Select R152:X152. The desire output is 0 (cell M153). for row 153 we have 0. We have successfully predicted the exact outcome.Figure 5.23 So our predicted type of Irises price is Virginic which is represented by the value 0 as in X153 (see Figure 5. (see Figure 5.
And if you have a predicted value of more than 0. My suggestion is. this can be round up to the value of 0. There you go. You have successfully use neural network to predict the type of Irises. when you have a predicted value of less than 0.4.6. try to rebuild and retrain the NN model if you get borderline cases like this. then you can round up to the value of 1. 101 .The general rules for classification are.
Conclusion Neural networks’ tolerance to noise makes them an excellent choice for solving real-world pattern recognition problems in which perfect data is not always available. Depending on the domain. In addition. or propagated by hand. Each problem is unique. there are costs. 102 . regardless of the amount of training. and so too are the solutions. but there is one thing for certain. whether a neural network is computed by a computer. to production. With this book. through forecasting. can be challenging. in some cases. In these cases. the weights may not always "settle" at particular values. after the system is implemented it may not converge. neural networks do not cogitate. obtaining sufficient and suitable training data. you have learned the neural network method to enable direct quantitative studies to be carried out without the need for rocket-science expertise. they have already become the method of choice. For example. Training a network can be an arduous process. As with any solution. developing neural networks becomes more of an art than a science. such as fraud detection. This boom in applications covers a wide range of business interests — from finance management. implemented in hardware. There are no hard rules. sometimes called "truth". Their use for risk assessment is also growing and they have been employed to visualise complex databases for marketing segmentation. That is. Sometimes adding additional nodes or layers will stabilize a system. They are simply powerful computational tools and their sophisticated mathematical computation positions them to be used to solve a broad range of problems. speech transcription and natural language systems require large amounts of data to train. Neural networks are increasingly being used in real-world business applications and.
select Tools -> Options -> Security tab. Double click on it. The 5 workbooks that contain the neural network models are: a. Real_Estate e. Irises Installing the nn_Solve add-in : 1. (see below) 103 .This book comes with an Excel add in nn_Solve and 5 neural network models developed with Excel spreadsheets. Select Enable Macros (see below) 3. If you can’t open the addin nn_Solve. 2. Credit_Approval b. Sales_Forecasting c. Select Macro Security on the bottom right and Select Medium. You will see nn_Solve on the Excel menu bar like below: 4. then from the Excel menu bar. Open the folder nn_Solve.zip. You will see the addin nn_Solve. Dow_Weekly_Prices d. This will launch nn_Solve.
This will open nn_Solve Microsoft Excel is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation 104 .5. Double click on nn_Solve icon again. | 2019-04-25T01:50:50Z | https://www.scribd.com/document/82906787/Build-Neural-Network-With-MS-Excel-Sample |
Professor Dale Martin: The Gospel of Matthew, from the second century on, has been pretty much the most popular famous of the Gospels, that's probably why it's first in our Bible, simply because it was the most populous. It's certainly the Gospel that's most familiar to people nowadays and pretty much throughout history, if people were familiar with the text at all. Both for Christians and non-Christian often, so for example, you have the familiar birth story. Joseph has a dream, he's warned, the star appears in the east, the Magi, the wise men, come and they go to Herod first. This is Herod the Great, so they go to Herod the Great's palace in Jerusalem and they say, where do we find this new king that's been born because we want to go and worship him and bring him gifts. Herod gets all worried because he doesn't want to [lose] his own throne. Remember this story? He tells the wise men, well I think you have to go Bethlehem--his wise men, his own wise men, they looked it up in the scriptures, and they say go to Bethlehem. But he says, come back and tell me once you visit him because I want to go worship him too, and the wicked evil king does not want to go worship Jesus, the baby Jesus, he wants to kill the baby Jesus. The wise men are warned in a dream not to go back. You know the story, right? The whole thing about that, the Egyptian sojourn, the holy family goes to Egypt to escape the wicked king. The slaughter of the innocents.
The beatitudes: "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted, blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth." All these blessed, there are some in Luke, but if you start saying them and somebody starts picking it up after you, and repeats it and they--it shows at least they know it enough so they can kind of finish one every now and then. They almost always finish it in the Matthew form, not the Luke form. The beatitudes are slightly different in Matthew and Luke, and people are--they're famous in their Matthean form. Turn the other cheek, that's also in Luke 6:29, but most people know it from Matthew 5:39.
In Matthew, the Pharisees are called, over and over again, hypocrites, and in fact if you look up the word "Pharisee" in a dictionary, an English dictionary, "hypocrite" will be one of the definitions you'll find for it. Now this is all part of a long tradition of Christian anti-Semitism because of course the word Pharisee doesn't mean "hypocrite" to most Jews, but who traced back Rabbinic Judaism to the pre-seventy Pharisees themselves, Gamaliel in the Book of Acts is considered a Pharisee, and he's a famous rabbi in rabbinic materials. Jews don't think of the word Pharisee as being a bad term, but in a lot of English, and a lot of languages it is because Christians used it. They took it straight out of Matthew, where the Pharisees are called hypocrites over and over again, and they just take that into their own language.
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you and remember I am with you always to the end of the ages."
That's a very famous verse that's called "the Great Commission" because this is Jesus telling his disciples after his resurrection, go out and proclaim the Gospel throughout the earth, not just to the Jews.
All these things make Matthew look very familiar even to people who may not know much about Christianity because this is stuff that you see in our culture over again. Matthew, therefore, is at the same time unfamiliar to people if they start reading it carefully because it's the most Jewish of the Christian Gospels that are in the canon, that is. There are some other Gospels from the ancient period that are even more Jewish than Matthew, but they didn't make it into the New Testament. It's the most Jewish, and yet it's also at the same time, one of the most universal of the Gospels because you precisely have an ending with Jesus commanding the apostles to make disciples of all nations, that is all the Gentiles too. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus limits his ministry during his lifetime pretty much to Israel, he's going to Jews. He makes a point of this in the Gospel of Matthew. After his resurrection then the message is supposed to go out.
Look also at the way that Matthew begins. I talked about this the very first lecture of class. Matthew begins with, "The book of the genesis of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham." Notice he calls him son of David, as a descendant of the great king of Israel, son of Abraham as the father of the Jews. Even the Greek word there, "the book of the genesis;" "the genesis" means "the beginning", and of course it's the Greek term that was given for the first book of the Hebrew Bible when they translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek, genesis just means "the beginning." Of course in the Hebrew Bible it's the beginning of the world, the beginning of earth, the beginning of history. Matthew appropriates that term, and he begins his own text with that same word, probably meaning for his readers to recall the book of Genesis in a way.
Then you have what we call an Haggadah on Moses. The term Haggadah is used in rabbinic scholarship. Rabbinic work often divides up a lot of rabbinic materials into Halakah and Haggadah. Halakah refers to the teachings that are about how you should live. Haggadah, though, are stories that are about the patriarchs or great figures, and they're meant to make a moral lesson or something like that, but they don't give straightforward teachings. They tell stories and that's how Matthew starts out. All that stuff about the evil king wanting to kill the baby Jesus because he's afraid that it'll be a threat to him. Think of--who does that remind you of? Who does that sound like? The child that comes out of Egypt, who does that sound like? These are all meant to remind you of Moses and so Moses--Jesus is portrayed over and over again like Moses or like Joseph, also from the Hebrew Bible.
Then again you have the fulfillment-of-scripture motif. Now notice that in spite of the fact though that Matthew has throughout Christianity been interpreted as actually a rejection of the Law, the Jewish law, or it presents Jesus as a new Moses, but Christians they'll often taken that to say that Jesus is not only the new Moses who can--fulfills Moses, He displaces the old Moses. So Matthew's may have been put first in the canon because it was read by Christians as being sort of almost like the new Law, the new Torah. And so you have Jesus talking about the Law, the Jewish law Torah, and also getting new commandments. Christians have taken that to mean the displacement of the Jewish Torah with now a new Christian Torah, and that actually puts Matthew in a very odd position.
Of the different Gospels in our canon it's the most Jewish looking and sounding, and I'll emphasize later in the lecture today, but Matthew has also been the source of some of the worst Christian anti-Semitism. Precisely by portraying Jesus as rejecting the Law of Moses, in much of Christian interpretation, and substituting his own law that's Christian anti-Semitism. Notice it's from--as I said it's from Matthew that you get the idea that Pharisees are all hypocrites, and then that gets transferred to being that all Jews are hypocrites. You get the idea in Christianity traditionally that Jesus rejected the Law because that's legalism. The Jews are all legalistic and we Christians are all full of grace and truth. So this idea that the Old Testament represents a God of anger, and a God of strictness, and a God of judgment, and the New Testament represents a God who's a father, and loving, and full of grace. This dualism that's so much a part of European history, even common sense, even people who are not religious will often come up with this caricature that the Old Testament God is the God of anger and judgment, the New Testament God is a the God of grace and forgiveness. Well that's just not true. If you read either testament with any care at all. The Gospel of Matthew has been one of the texts that's been used in this way. Remember it's in the Gospel of Matthew that you get the most anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic line that's been used throughout Western history, when the Jew--when Pilate wants to release Jesus from being crucified the people, the Jews say, "His blood be upon us and our children." That became the Christian charge of deicide; the Jews were then accused of killing God, and especially in medieval Europe. So Matthew is in this very peculiar place when it comes to the history of the interpretation of the New Testament. It is at the same time the most Jewish of our canonical Gospels, in many ways, and yet it's been used in Christian anti-Semitism more than any other Gospel, possibly maybe with the Gospel of John being a rival for that.
Look at the structure of Matthew though. Some people have even suggested that Matthew is intentionally structuring his Gospel to make it look like the Torah, the Jewish law. There are five speeches by Jesus in Matthew. These same sayings--you learned about the synoptic problem last week. If you take a synoptic problem kind of analysis of a lot this stuff that are in some of these speeches in Matthew, a lot of these sayings might have occurred in another context in Luke or in Mark. Matthew seems to have taken tradition--materials that were traditional to him, that he found either in written sources or in oral sources, and he combines them into five separate speeches. Some people say maybe he meant to reflect the five books of Torah; the Pentateuch is the Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Pentateuch is just the Greek word meaning "the five," so the first five books of Jewish scripture are called the Pentateuch and maybe Matthew is imitating that and making five separate speeches for Jesus and his Gospel.
First, chapters 5-7 you have Jesus giving--with the famous Sermon on the Mount. Then chapter 10, you have him giving a speech to his disciples about the mission to Israel, so all of chapter 10 is here's how you're supposed to do your mission when you go out to preach to Israel. You'll be persecuted; this will happen, do this, do that. Chapter 13 in Matthew is all parables. The parables that you'd find in different places in Mark or Luke, Matthew kind of groups them into one chapter and has Jesus kind of give it as one sort of speech. He likes neatness like this. If you look at chapter 18, it's another speech by Jesus, again to His disciples, and this one is mainly about church rules. Jesus talks about when you're neighbor does something that you don't like, go to the neighbor first, try to settle it peaceably, if your neighbor won't receive you or won't settle, take it to the church and let the church handle it. That sort of thing. Jesus is giving instructions about how the church should behave itself and what the church will be like.
Then in chapters 23-25, you get a very long speech by Jesus which includes a big synoptic sermon. Remember last time I talked about Mark 13 and about Jesus' prophecies of all this happening when the end of time would come, and the Messiah would swoop down in the clouds. Matthew takes over that speech from Mark, where he finds it, he adds a lot of materials on his own, he also brings it up to date, because remember I talked about last time, Mark didn't explicitly tell us about the destruction of Jerusalem in his Gospel. You'll find that when we get to Matthew and Luke, they put more stuff in there that shows they were writing after the time of Mark, and using Mark as a source. That's all in that chapter, but then there's all these long woes to the scribes and Pharisees. Woe to the blah, blah, blah; woe to you who do this, there's a whole section of that speech. So five different speeches that some scholars have even suggested may be designed to imitate the five books of the Pentateuch.
Now in a lot of Christian doctrine what you're taught is that Jesus did fulfill the law in his own person. But that's not what he says here. Notice, "Until heaven and earth pass away," that's what he's talking about the fulfillment of it.
Jesus is not saying, okay I've come, now you don't have to keep the Jewish law. He's actually teaching his own disciples--remember if Matthew didn't want this as a message to the members of his church he wouldn't have put it in his Gospel.
One of the things that I'm trying to teach you in my lectures is: what does it mean to do an exegesis of this text? Because you're going to have to write exegesis of your own and this Friday your section leads will walk you through how to write an exegesis paper. There are a couple things that are not exegesis. It's not exegesis to try to figure out what actually happened. Did Jesus actually say this? Did Jesus actually believe that? That's part of the historical Jesus quest which we'll talk about later in the semester too, but exegesis doesn't do that. Exegesis doesn't assume you're trying to read the text to get behind the text for something that happened in history. Nor does exegesis try to figure out is this true or not. We don't care if it's true or not in an exegesis class. What we want to do is what did the writer--what was the writer trying to do with this text? You have to imagine yourself in an ancient context. What would he have been saying to members of his own Christian community in the first century?
This obviously means that we read this text as not Jesus necessarily teaching this. We don't know yet whether Jesus actually taught this. Matthew could have gotten it from some written source, from some oral source, or he could have just made it up. We'll talk about that problem later when we talk about the historical Jesus. Right now we're not going to concern ourselves, we're just going to say, Matthew could have written this but we're trying to figure out what did Matthew want to do with it. What was this testament to them? Obviously it means this writer believes that the proper Gospel and the proper church should be a Law abiding church. He's expecting people in his church not to do away with the Jewish law. Look at "the antitheses," we call these, the Matthean antithesis, 5:21: "'You have heard that it was said to those in ancient times you shall not murder, and whoever murders shall be liable to judgment. But I tell you that the time of the law is over and it's okay to murder.'" That's not what it says, right? What does it say? Just shout it out. What?
Professor Dale Martin: Don't even be angry. "'If you are angry with a brother or a sister you will be liable to judgment, and if you insult a brother or sister you'll be liable to the counsel. If you say, 'You fool,' you'll be liable to hell of fire.'" A lot of us are in trouble, a lot of us are in trouble. He's not saying I'm not--I'm getting rid of the law, murder's okay now. Keep going 5:27: "'You have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery, but I say that's okay, adultery is just fine.'" No! He says, "'But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.'" Wait, what? Well I'm gay so I'm okay about that, but a lot of guys are in a lot of trouble. He's basically saying not only is adultery not okay, even desiring her if she belongs to another man is not okay. That's not getting rid of the law.
"You have heard that it was said an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, but I say do not resist an evil doer. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek turn the other also, if anyone wants to sue you take your coat, give your cloak as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile go the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow anything from you."
These antitheses have been read throughout Christian history by many people as implying that Jesus is doing away with this bad, strict, legalism of the Jewish law, and he's teaching you a law of grace, instead, and forgiveness. That's not what's going on here, right? What Jesus has said, he's not doing away with the Law here, he's intensifying it. If it's hard not to commit adultery, and believe me for a lot of people it is hard not to commit adultery, it's even harder not to lust. If it's hard not to murder someone, and if you knew some of the people I have to work with around here you'd know that it is hard not to murder someone, it's even harder not to be angry with them. And if it's hard not to retaliate when someone knocks you down, it's even harder to let them knock you down again. Jesus is intensifying the Jewish Torah and making it almost impossible to keep. But he's still expecting His disciples to keep it. What Matthew presents Jesus is doing is not getting rid, at all, of the Torah, the Jewish law, he's intensifying it.
The Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat." He answered them, but why do you break the commandment . . .?
He called the crowd to him and said to them, "Listen and understand. It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles the person.
Now in Mark's version of this story, right around here, Mark adds a little sentence. Remember when I talked about Mark, he gives you little clues that you're really supposed to pay attention. Here Mark gives a little parenthetical comment he says, "By saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean." In other words, Mark does a good little Gentile Christianity move. He takes this saying of Jesus and he says, Jesus was declaring all foods clean so we don't have to keep kosher.
Matthew doesn't do that, he saw that sentence in Mark, but you read this whole chapter, that sentence which Matthew knew was in Mark is not in Matthew. Matthew took that out. Why? Because he didn't want Jesus to declare all foods clean; because in his Gospel Jesus teaches that Christians have to continue keeping the Law. Matthew has Jesus disagree with the scribes and Pharisees, but what he says here is that it's much more important--sure, keeping kosher may be important but it's much more important what's going on in your heart and your mind, it's much more important what you say. So Jesus spiritualizes in a way or he--again he intensifies the law and he's saying, yeah it's important to wash your hands perhaps but that's not a big deal. It's important to pay attention to the kosher but that's not a big deal. He makes it a moral lesson. That's not anti-Jewish, that's not at all--you have all kinds of Hebrew prophets in the Old Testament doing that kind of stuff all over the place saying things like, God doesn't want just your sacrifice he wants your heart. This is the way Jesus is presented in Matthew as--just like a Jewish prophet, an Israelite prophet who is intensifying the law, giving it a moral teaching, but he never teaches anything about giving it up.
Jesus, though, also besides being the one who teaches about Torah, and He's being presented as Moses, and Matthew presents Jesus more than any other Gospels as the founder of the church. In fact, if you look for the word "church" in some of the Gospels it's very hard to find it because it's anachronistic. Jesus didn't go around in his own life talking about the church, the church developed after His death; Matthew retrojects the conversation about the church, and even the foundation of the church, and sort of laws about the church into the mouth of Jesus.
Look at 16:17, and this is one we already read very carefully in Mark, the same story. Remember in Mark, Jesus says to the disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" Peter says, "Some of them say the Elijah, or some of them say one of the prophets, or John the Baptist." Jesus said, "But who do you say that I am?" and Peter says, "You're the Messiah." Jesus tells him, "Be quiet," and then Jesus rebukes him when Peter tells him that he's not supposed to be crucified. Matthew takes that story again from Mark, but notice how Matthew changes it. Verse 13, "When Jesus came from the district of Caesarea of Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" You get the story again. When Simon Peter says, "You're the Messiah, the Son of the Living God," look what Jesus says in verse 17, now in Matthew's version. Remember in Mark's version Jesus said, okay don't tell anybody.
Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth on will be loosed in heaven." Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Between the command to silence, which came right after the confession in Mark, Matthew puts all this foundation-of-the church stuff. Now this is a very famous text that has caused all kinds of disagreement between Roman Catholics and Protestants. Roman Catholics take this text as teaching that Jesus, particularly selected Peter as the first Pope, and that when he says, I'm giving you the keys to the kingdom, it means the Pope or the Bishop of Rome is the one who has the right to bind or loose that Jesus is talking about here. Protestants rejected that interpretation and they said well no he's talking--sure he's talking to Peter in one sense but he was really talking to all the apostles, and in fact, the issue of binding and loosing is not--is given to the apostles not just to Peter. So there's a debate among--between Protestants and Roman Catholics traditionally over this passage. I think the debate kind of misses the point because I think Matthew's point is basically just to have Jesus be the one who founds the church and puts it into the hands of his disciples.
That's definitely one of the things that Jesus does. And then in Chapter 18, as I've already pointed out, you have a whole chapter where Jesus gives rules to the disciples for how the church should be run, how it should be organized. The church is also this mixed group. Over and over again, Matthew--you'll have--you'll see a phrase that's only in Matthew where Jesus talks about "little ones." He also talks about people of little faith. Matthew also has a parable about a man goes out and throws a field with seed. And during the night his enemy comes and sows brambles and weeds seeds in and when it all comes up the wheat comes up but it's all mixed in with brambles and thorns, and weeds. And so the servants--the slaves of the man come to the master and they say, What should we do? Should we try to weed out all the weed stuff so we can gather the wheat? Should we try to trim it all out now? Matthew says, no don't worry about it now because if you try to pull up all the thorns and the brambles, you're bound to pull up some of the wheat too, we'll just wait until the end, until it's all ready, and then we'll harvest the whole thing and then we'll separate it out and the wheat we will keep in storehouses, and the brambles and thorns will burn in hell! You're getting the last little hellfire and brimstone sermon at the end.
The main part of the parable is that Matthew is saying is that the world, and possibly even the church, is a mixed bag. In other words, not everybody you see around you is truly who you think they are. There's good and there's evil mixed together but the--you're just going to have live with that. The church is an organization that has both people of little faith and people of greater faith. It has maybe even weeds and wheat in it, so these are all concerns of what kind of--there's a whole group of parables in chapter 13 that we call the "mixed group" parables of Matthew. They're particular to Matthew because Matthew seems to be making the point with these mixed group parables that the church itself is sort of a mixed group.
Another important theme of Matthew--I'm giving you several different major themes in Matthew because I'm going to ask in a moment, why are these things here? What is Matthew trying to do with these different things altogether? For example, why is Jesus the law giver and still Jewish and teaches the acceptance of the Jewish law, and yet this universalistic message at the end of the Gospel of going to all nations. Another thing that exegesis is, is finding problems in the text and then using the text itself to try to find answers to those problems. That's what exegesis does. Why I'm setting up some of themes of Matthew, because these are going to be the problems that then I, as the wonderful scholar and exegete that I am, am going to swoop in with my angels on the clouds of heaven at the end of the lecture and give you answers to all the problems of Matthew, and then you'll do that with your exegesis papers later.
One of the things that Jesus is, also in Matthew, is a teacher. Mark had told us in his Gospel that Jesus was a great teacher, and people said, Wow, he's a great teacher, He teaches not like the scribes and the Pharisees. He teaches as one with authority. Mark didn't really tell us much of what Jesus taught. There are a few parables, a few controversies, but Mark tells you that Jesus is a great teacher without presenting Jesus teaching a lot. Matthew not only tells you Jesus is a good teacher, he presents a lot of teaching of Jesus, and so you get a lot of that.
"Have you understood all this?" They answered, "Yes." And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of keaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old." When Jesus had finished these parables he left that place.
This is a parable that Matthew is putting in there, I think, to give a hint to his readers. This is what Jesus was, Jesus was a good scribe. That's why Jesus talks about things like, you have heard it said, but I say to you. Jesus is taking out of the Jewish scripture and taking out of the Jewish law the most important parts of it and emphasizing those, and then adding some of his own teachings. He's taking some of the old and some of the new, and that's what a good scribe is like. But Matthew also believes that he and his fellow disciples in his church should be that way too. He writes his Gospel to help people figure out how to imitate Jesus in being a good scribe. How do discern what of the old you should use and what of the new you should use.
On of the last problems that I want to give is this really big problem in Matthew because Jesus is also something--well just right on the surface Jesus comes across as a big like a coward in the Gospel of Matthew. Look at 4:12 in Matthew, in the first part of this chapter 4 you get Jesus going around preaching the gospel, doing some miracles and that sort of thing. He becomes very famous so that people hear about Him. But then you get to 12, "Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he got on his white charger and He rode to the prison and he sprang his friend John the Baptist out of prison." Indiana Jesus, no that's not what it says, right? "He withdrew to Galilee," the word "withdraw" here is the Greek word for "retreat." He retreated to Galilee because he had heard that John had gotten arrested. "He left Nazareth, make His home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulin and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken to the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled," and then he quotes that--verse 17 "From that time Jesus began to proclaim, 'Repent for the kingdom of keaven has come near.'" In other words, Jesus retreats in the face of danger, he doesn't go toward it, but instead of retreating and hiding, he goes to another place and then he starts giving the message out. This is when He really starts his own preaching ministry, after John the Baptist is arrested.
Notice what happens there, look again at--now look at 12:15, Matthew 12:15. Reading just a little bit above that, Jesus is disputing with the Pharisees and verse 14 says, "But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him how to destroy him," another threat this time from the Pharisees against Jesus. Verse 15, "When Jesus became aware of this he departed," again he withdrew, there's that word again, "Many crowds followed Him and He cured all them, and He ordered them not to make him known. This was to fulfill. . . ." Notice again Jesus withdraws in the face of danger but the withdrawing in a sense increases the ministry in an odd paradoxical way. Then look at 14:13--well I won't read that one, 14:13 if you can look it up, that's another case of danger and Jesus withdrawing.
Let's do spend a little more time looking at chapter 12 because, have you noticed that the Gospel of Matthew likes to foreshadow things and fulfill things? The Gospel of Matthew likes to have Jesus do something, and then he'll tell you something that was not in Mark. He'll say, This was to fulfill the scripture that said--for example when Jesus and the holy family run off to Egypt he then quotes to the fact when they come back he says, "Out of Egypt I will call my Son," the prophecy. Matthew takes an Old Testament reference, a Jewish scripture reference, because remember it's not the Old Testament yet, it's just Jewish scripture, and he takes a quotation in that and saying it's fulfilled by Jesus. In the same way in Matthew 2:13-14 "After they had left," this is after the wise men left, "An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said get up, take the child and His mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about." They flee, there's that word again, withdraw--even Joseph with Jesus retreats in the face of danger to Galilee. Then when he hears they come back in verse 22 of the same chapter.
Now why is all this--Jesus retreating? The other thing is if you look at 10:23, we again get this same word. When you're doing an exegesis you might want to use a concordance. You'll learn on Thursday or Friday in your sections what a concordance is, and you'll learn how to use it. Basically a concordance is a book that takes all the words of the Bible and shows you where they occur. If you looked up "withdraw" in an English concordance it would tell you every time in a certain English translation that the word "withdraw" occurred in Matthew, or Mark, or Luke; you can test them out. You'll also learn how to use an analytical concordance, even if you don't know Greek, which will kind of give you an idea, once you learn how to use it, what's the Greek word lying behind these English words. If you did that you could find out that these different English words that I've been reading from translate the same Greek word "withdraw" anakoresis. This word is here too, and in 10:23 you have Jesus and his instructions to the disciples telling them that they also should retreat in the face of danger.
What is all this going on? How do we take these different issues? Jesus is almost a new Moses, Jesus is teaching the disciples should keep the Torah, the Law, but then Jesus when he faces troubles he withdraws from trouble, and he goes off someplace. But when he withdraws he ends up preaching more. And the Gospel then is expanding, and then the disciples, Matthew believed, will be the next version of Jesus. They also will be threatened. They also will be taught to retreat. They also will then go preach, and they'll eventually go preach to the entire world in the form of the Gentiles. All of this is Jesus functions as a model for the disciples, the apostles, and the apostles function as a model for Matthew and the members of his own church. What is all this doing here and why is it--what's the context in which this kind of picture of Jesus would make sense?
We're going to spend a bit more time on one important passage, Matthew 14:22. This is the famous story called "The Stilling of the Storm." Now you will have--if you remember this you could look at Mark 6:45 and it has the same story. If you took your parallel columns, one from Mark and one from Matthew, and you did your little colored pencil exercises you did last week for your section, it's very interesting to see what does Matthew add to Mark's story? If you figure out what Matthew added to Mark's story you can really get an idea about what was Matthew's own editorial interests. Why did he take something out of Mark, tell it differently, add new stuff to it? That gives you a great clue for what Matthew wanted to say. Remember each of these writers is not just telling you stuff that happened because it happened, they each are writing a book intending to put across a theological message.
If you compare what Matthew says to what he gets from Mark, and see what he adds and what he takes out, you have a really good idea of what his editorial message is, what his editorial concerns are, and we call this Redaction Criticism. Redaction is just a fancy word for editing. Why did scholars not call it "editing criticism"? Because we like two-bit words when one-bit words would work just as well. So it's Redaction Criticism is what you'll see in the scholarship. It just means paying attention to how the Gospel writers edited their sources to get out their own message. So look at 14:22, and if you want to you can flip over to Mark 6:45 and see the change, or if you have Throckmorton you can look it up in Throckmorton sometime. I'll indicate some of it.
Notice for the wind was against them, the boat is battered, the wind is against them. Some of these details won't be in Mark, the basic story will be there, but this thing about the boat being battered by the wind, the wind is against them, I don't think that's in Mark if I remember right.
And early in the morning he came walking toward them out on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear. Immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, "Take heart, it is I; Do not be afraid.
Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord save me!"
"Lord save me!" Now the Greek word for "save me" can mean just "rescue me"--save me from illness, but it also can mean "save me" like I need salvation. The same Greek word means both.
Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith [that's a Matthian clue, see Matthew likes this little faith theme so that's one of the things you see he's added here] Why did you doubt?" When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
Now if you compare this what you've got is some important different changes. First, for example, I said the boat is beaten by the waves, that's not in Mark. Why did Matthew add that? Then you have this whole verses 28-31, the whole thing with Peter and all that sort of thing, that's not in Mark. Matthew added that whole little chunk. And then in verse 33 in says, "They worshipped him," and they have this confession, "Truly You are the Son of God," which is a Christian confession.
A famous German scholar, Günther Bornkamm, whom you don't need remember, and one of his students wrote a very famous article published in the 1950s in which they analyzed this story. And they said, if you read this carefully this story's not about Jesus walking on the water and stilling the storm and that sort of thing, this is a story Matthew intends for you to see the boat--it's almost--it's like an allegory, it's almost like an allegory. The boat represents the church, and Matthew sees the church as being persecuted, we've seen that theme throughout Matthew. Jesus prophesied the disciples would be persecuted. So the boat is persecuted and that's represented by the storm, and the winds, and the waves buffeting them, and they're afraid. Peter, who represents every Christian says, I want to be like you Jesus and I want walk on water. I want to overcome all these problems. He gets out of the boat, but he doesn't have enough faith, he has a little faith, and his doubt causes him to start sinking. When he does that, what should he do? He should cry out to Jesus and Jesus will save him. Then Jesus gets in the boat, calms the storm, and they worship him and confess him.
Bornkamm used this Redaction Criticism, he was one of the first pioneers of using this method and calling it by this term to say, compare Matthew with what he gets from Mark and what you do is you see that--what was just a miracle story, just a basic story about the power of Jesus, has now become a moral story about the church. And it's now become something that Matthew is writing to encourage his own church. They are small, lonely, people of little faith, they're a mixed group, remember, some people in the church seemed to have a lot more faith than other people in the church. Some people in the church may not even be true disciples after all. They're not yet perfect.
Matthew has a saying that is different from Luke; they seem to both get it from Q. Luke's version says, "You should be merciful as Your Father in Heaven is merciful." Does anybody happen to know what that comes out in Matthew, it's in the Sermon on the Mount? "You should be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect." Matthew has perfect and Luke has merciful. Again, we see little bitty clues of how they write this. But that's Matthew telling his church I know you're not perfect now, but God--Jesus calls you to perfection. They need more faith and according to Matthew's story they do it by focusing on Jesus and worshipping him as the Son of God as they should.
What I've done is walk through several different passages in Matthew. An exegesis wouldn't ask you to do all of those things together. You could write an exegesis paper on just one section of any of those things that I talked about. Notice what I've had to do. I've had to compare Matthew with Mark and Luke, I've tried to figure out why did Matthew include what he included, and why did he leave out stuff, why did he change things from Mark? I've also said he probably used Q, this hypothetical document because we find that by comparing Luke and Matthew. And I might guess at how--whether Matthew has the more original version of Q or whether Luke does, and I might try to imagine what was in Q and how Matthew may have changed that--edited that. That's all of course pure speculation because we don't have Q as a physical document to actually compare it with like we've got Mark as a physical document, but scholars still do that. But the purpose is to--all the way through to figure out what did this author want to do? It's not concerned with whether he's telling us the correct history; we'll leave that for another day. It's not to say whether it's true or not.
Notice this: it's also not to come up with sappy Sunday school kinds of readings. This is the hardest thing for people to learn, and, notice, it doesn't matter whether people have grown up in churches or not. Modern people have just come to think that when you read this book you're supposed to get Sunday school type sappy answers out of it. What is the meaning of this story? Well Jesus is teaching us to love one another. Well, okay yeah maybe so, but dig deeper. Try to figure out--try to imagine a historical context in which a human author is writing the story this way in order to do something socially in his own early community. We imagine an early Christian community, and we imagine what problems they had, by reading the text, and then we see the text as being written consciously by an author to address those problems. With Matthew what you get is this: Matthew teaches that a Torah observant form of discipleship to Jesus.
Now this will be very important because one of the themes of this whole course is that the diversity of different early Christianities. It's anachronistic in the first century to even talk about "Christianity" as one thing, because as we'll show, there were different views of Jesus, there were different views of the Jewish law. And what you'll see very quickly in this course is Matthew has one--has a very different view of what Christians should do with the Jewish law than does Paul, or Luke, or Mark, or John, or several of the other writers. One of the things that makes Matthew present a peculiar kind of Christianity when judged by the standards of Paul's kind of Christianity is that Matthew teaches Jesus as teaching a Christianity that observes Jewish Torah. Even if Gentiles come in, which the Gentiles do come in, Gentiles must be expected to keep the law also. Whereas Paul spent his whole career trying to get Gentiles to understand, no you don't, you're not supposed to keep the Jewish law if you're a Gentile, Jesus absolves you from keeping the Jewish law, Matthew's not that way. He sees Gentiles coming into the church but still being Torah observant. He has a Torah observant form of Christianity, with Jesus as the recognized Messiah. Gentiles are included in Israel, they're not included as a separate church, Gentiles are brought into Israel, it looks like for Matthew, and Matthew presents a church that is in conflict with other forms of Judaism.
I think Matthew was written after the year 70, certainly after the destruction of temple in Jerusalem, that seems pretty clear. Most of the scholars date it to somewhere in the 80s, maybe not earlier then the year 80, maybe not later than the year 90, we're guessing on this, but it seems to be--it has to be after 70, but he's in conflict with whoever is--there are still Pharisees around, there are still scribes, there are other who are offering a slightly different version of what it means to be Jewish, and that's the last thing that I'll say about this, is that Matthew is not presenting a new religion. He thinks what we would call Christianity is simply the right way to be a Jew. What Matthew is presenting is a different sect within Judaism from the form of Judaism that's represented by the Pharisees or the Sadducees perhaps. A lot of people think that the Sadducees may have become extinct after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem because the Sadducees were very--they're power base was the temple, but if the Sadducees are still around Matthew is presenting a different form of Judaism than they followed. He's presenting a different form of Judaism represented by the Jewish writer Josephus, or Philo, but he is presenting a form of Judaism. In fact, scholars nowadays say, Matthew does not represent a new religion with his Gospel; he actually represents a different Jewish sect. Any questions? Yes sir?
Professor Dale Martin: Does Matthew believe that Gentiles should be circumcised? I think so because I can't imagine him teaching a completely law observant--when he says not one dot or tiddle, or jot of the law will pass away until heaven and earth passes away. Well, any Jew at the time pretty much would have thought that circumcision was a very important part of Jewish law not just a dot or a tiddle. So I think so, you'll find lots of scholars who disagree with me, but of course they're all wrong. Any other questions? Okay, see you on Wednesday. | 2019-04-19T11:13:55Z | https://cosmolearning.org/video-lectures/the-gospel-of-matthew-6801/ |
Originally presented as a paper at the conference on “The Vitality of Reformed Theology”, the Netherlands (June 1994). The paper has been published in Veeling, K. ed. 1994. The Vitality of Reformed Theology. Kampen: Kok.
In die Skriflig, 29(3) 1995: 345–369.
Throughout the ages, the role of theology was understood to be that of serving the church to become what it should be, to become true to its own identity. In the theology of the Reformation, the identity of the congregation was sought in its being created and sustained by the Word of God. Consequently, theology was intended to serve the preaching, teaching and pastoral care of the congregation. However, since the Enlightenment, theology as a university discipline has been deeply influenced by the presuppositions of the modern spirit and has mostly lost its close relationship with the church. Because of its resultant critical approach to the Bible it often destroyed the very fabric of the gospel by which the church should live. It often became an impediment on the way of the congregation to remain true to its spiritual identity. The author contends that the time has now come to see the presuppositions of the Enlightenment for what they are: relative and one-sided, the biased assumptions of a positivistic era which is rapidly drawing to its end. He is of the opinion that theology should not aspire to operate within the limits of the modern world view, but accept the challenge to operate on the basis of the faith of the congregation as interpretative community, and to read the Bible as the Book of the church with the presuppositions of the Christian faith.
Without dealing with the interesting and vital problem of the relation between church and theology, one may state without hesitation that this relation is of a vital character. It is in fact so vital, that in the long run the character of the church is conditioned by its theology (Van ‘t Spijker, 1974:40).
We could easily prove this by looking at the history of the church from this perspective. For our purpose, however, it is enough to recall the way in which the theology of the Reformed branch of the Reformation shaped the character of the Christian congregation.
Throughout the ages, theology understood its role to be that of serving the church to become what it should be: to be true to its own identity. During the greater part of the history of the Christian church, theology was regarded as the attempt to understand the meaning of God’s revelation as it was given to Israel in the old covenant, as it found its fulfilment in Jesus Christ in the new covenant, as it is proclaimed in the Holy Scriptures, and as it is believed by the Christian church. Thus the purpose of theology was to study and interpret the Bible and the documents of the Christian faith in order to build up the congregation in its faith and to equip it to fulfil its calling in the world.
In the 11th century, Anselm of Canterbury expressed this characteristic of theology by defining it as fides quaerens intellectum: faith that seeks to understand (Barth, 1958:14ff). This means that the point of departure for theology is the reality of the faith of the church which is shared by the theologian. This faith is awakened by the Word of God and is a gift of God’s grace. The congregation lives by the knowledge of God as he reveals himself in the Scriptures. The proper task of theology is not only to enrich the theologian by helping him or her to grasp more fully how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ is, but more particularly it is also to assist the congregation to understand that love together with all the saints (Ephesians 3:18).
Reformed theology may be described as that modality of Christian theology that is practiced within the tradition of the Reformed branch of the Reformation. From the outset Reformed theology, which was shaped by the rediscovery of the gospel in the 16th century, had as its main objective the desire of building up the church of God in its knowledge and faith, its obedience and its hope, in order that the church might become what it should be. In essence, the theology of the Reformation was an affirmation of the primary authority of Scripture. It was a joyous discovery of the liberating power of the gospel of God’s grace in Jesus Christ. The new wine of the message of salvation by grace alone burst the old wineskins of the scholastic theology of the Middle Ages (cf. Matthew 9:17). Theology became an exceedingly practical reflection on the Word of salvation by which the congregation lives. In the theology of Luther, Calvin and the other main figures of the Reformation, we encounter a continuous preoccupation with Scripture itself. These Reformers probed into Scripture’s joyful message and tried to capture the meaning of the law and the gospel for the life of the Christian congregation (De Moor, 1980:47). Their theology was forged in the struggle to reform the church. This process is especially visible in the history of different local congregations like Zürich, Berne, Basle, St. Gallen, Strassbourg, Geneva and elsewhere. Zwingli, Oecolampadius, Farel, Bucer, Bullinger and Calvin all contributed to the restructuring of local congregations to enable them to, become churches of the Word. In this process of restructuring, Reformed theology was born and nourished.
The work of Calvin in Geneva is a unique demonstration of how closely the organisation of the congregation and its own theological program were linked together (Bouwsma, 1988). Calvin’s theology developed in the course of his pastoral duties. He had to preach, to instruct, to provide catechism for the children, to formulate a church order, and to write commentaries on the books of the Bible for the edification of preachers and members of the congregation alike. He was not inspired by academic interest alone, but by the spiritual needs of the congregation. Of course Calvin’s main aim, like Luther’s, was to understand more fully the gospel of grace. Like Luther, the soteriological question dominated his quest for the truth. From the outset, however, Calvin’s theology, and that of the whole Reformed branch of the Reformation, developed a broader scope than Luther’s: it included the life of the church and its calling in the world. Within the sphere of influence of Calvin and his close associates a specific Reformed view of the identity of the Christian congregation was born. This identity had to be served and protected.
We deliberately use the term identity here to emphasise the essential character of the Christian congregation. Lately, identity has frequently been used to describe the characteristics of the congregation. Hough and Cobb (1985:24) defined the identity of the congregation in general terms as the institution that in various ways keeps alive the memory of Israel’s life with God as perceived in and through Jesus and the apostolic witness to him. Alternatively, the identity of the church is constituted by its responsibility to make effective the memory and the resulting anticipation of God’s creative and redemptive activity in the world (Hough & Cobb, 1985:27). While such general descriptions of the identity of the congregation are plausible within a specific context, they are not specific enough for our purpose.
Even as each congregation has a distinctive identity, each is also a particular embodiment of the body of Christ. Thus, insofar as a congregation is faithful in its calling to be the church, its particular identity is also an expression of Christian identity.
When we speak about the theological identity of the congregation we mean nothing else than its ‘being the Christian church’, representing the body of Christ. This identity is given in Christ. Yet, this identity also contains an imperative to the church. Like the individual believer, the church should also constantly strive to be and to become what it already is in Christ. It should become true to its own spiritual identity.
The church is defined in soteriological rather than in institutional terms. Following the terminology of the Apostolic Confession, the church is spiritually defined as the one, holy and catholic church, the communion of the saints. The church is identified with the body of Christ, that is, with all people who are elected and saved in Christ, from the beginning of the world until its end (cf. Heidelberg Catechism 54 and Belgic Confession 27).
The church is defined as the fruit of the saving work of Christ himself through his Word and Spirit, as a creatura Verbi. Thus the marks of the true church are the purity of the gospel preached, the pure administration of the sacraments and the exercise of church discipline (Confessio Belgica:27).
The combination of these two aspects also brings with it the characteristic Reformed dialectical relation between the church universal and the local congregation. The church is that spiritual reality which is essentially universal but is also simultaneously visible and tangible in the local congregation, which is the church of God at a specific time and place. The term congregation therefore can be used interchangeably for the local church as well as for the church universal (Confessio Belgica: 27; Heidelberg Catechism:54). The universal church consists of the local congregations gathered around Word and sacrament. The local congregation is a church of Christ in its own right. As such, it is a complete manifestation of the universal congregation of Christ at a specific place, and not just a parish or part of a larger diocese within the church at large. Balke says that, while Calvin firmly believed in the unity of the universal church of Christ which in its essence is invisible, at the same time he also stressed that the church of Christ is visible in the local congregations (Balke, 1992:122–123). Together these congregations form the visible universal Church which is the Mother of the believers. For this reason it is necessary that the local congregations should foster their communion with one another (Balke, 1992:123).
We should not overlook the tremendous importance of this stance for the character and identity of the church. By identifying the church in the local congregation, the danger of large scale institutionalism was avoided. The locus of the church was primarily seen as the concrete gathering of the flock of God around the Word and the sacraments. This brings us to the second way in which theology should serve the congregation: it should foster the understanding, interpretation and application of the Scripture in such a way that the church may be built up and equipped for its service in the world.
The church is born from and constituted by the Word of God as it is preached and confirmed in the sacraments. This view inspired the way in which the Reformed branch of the Reformation organised the church.
Calvin energetically organised the congregation in Geneva and inspired the whole Reformed movement to do the same (Niesel, 1960:207f). One could describe the identity of the church in the Reformed sense by stating that it is the flock of Christ, gathered and protected by Him to live by faith in the promises of God. But it is also necessary to remember that the real identity of the congregation should not be sought in its own subjective religiosity, but in its being created and sustained by the Word of God. The Word, and not the subjective experience of the congregation, forms the heart of the Reformed idea of the identity of the church, and thus also of the Reformed spirituality. The Reformed congregation is intended to be a well-organised community of mature Christians. Gathered around the Word and the sacraments and leading an orderly and disciplined life as the flock of Christ, Christians are called to live in the fullness of the salvation offered by Christ, and to discern for themselves the signs of the times and the kind of witness which the Word of God demands of them.
Protestantism, and the Reformed type of Protestantism in particular, depended primarily upon preaching to accomplish what the sacramental system of medieval Catholicism was failing to do in the sixteenth century: namely, to communicate God’s grace to human beings.
He stresses that the Reformation can best be understood as a revival of preaching. He refers to the Tetrapolitan Confession of 1530 which started with a chapter called: “Of the Subject-Matter of Sermons”, as well as to the decisive statement of the Second Helvetic Confession (1566): Praedicatio Verbi divini est Verbum Dei (Leith, 1988:24–25. Cf. also Bakker, 1957:6f). Calvin insisted that it was the will of God that the church should be built up by preaching (Institutes, IV,1:5–6). The pulpit with the Bible open on it became the central position in the Reformed church building and church service. The preaching and hearing of the Word formed the heart of the church service. The participation of the congregation consisted mainly in its hearing of the Word of God. The significance of hearing as congregational participation in the service should not be minimised. Calvinists believe that hearing the Word of God is the crucial act in worship. The proper response to that hearing is prayer, singing, the affirmation of the faith and the receiving of the sacraments (Leith, 1988:27).
The strong accent on preaching had a decisive influence on the character of Reformed theology. It stimulated its practical character so that theology was not practiced for its own sake, but was practiced in order to build up the congregation. Although with Anselm, Reformed theology could understand itself as fides quaerens intellectum, its interest was not as speculative as Anselm’s. Reformed theology wanted to understand the message of the Bible in its relevance for the life of the congregation. It was geared to serve the preaching, teaching and pastoral care of the church. This meant that the type of exegesis that was practiced was far more than a literary or philological explanation of the text. It was an exposition of the text within the canon as a whole, and it was read against the backdrop of the confessional and salvation-historical interpretation of the Biblical message.
The accent on preaching also had a decisive impact on the identity of the Reformed congregation and the kind of spirituality that was fostered in it. Much has been written about that lately (Velema, 1990; Graafland, 1990; Van ‘t Spijker et al., 1993; Jonker, 1989). Reformed spirituality contains a marked combination of mystical depth and moral activity. This makes it difficult to contain all its aspects in a simple description. This difficulty is not strange when considered in the light of the Reformed respect for the sovereignty and holiness of God. Such respect brings with it not only a deep sense of awe, but also a profound commitment to obey God’s will. This sense of respect and awe is in keeping with the love of Reformed Christians for the whole Bible as Old and New Testaments. The result is that Christians’ spirituality is not only inspired by the gospel message of the New Testament, but also by the message of the Law and the prophets of the Old Testament.
In no other tradition within Christianity do the Old Testament play such an enormous theological role as in the Reformed churches. The Psalms and the Prophets especially feature in a way that has a marked influence on Reformed spirituality. The theology of Van Ruler, amongst others, has opened our eyes to the importance of the Old Testament in the Reformed understanding of the Christian faith (cf. Van Ruler, 1955). Of great importance also is the way in which the three-fold office of Christ features in Reformed theology as the complete fulfilment of the old covenant. Reformed theology inspired a deep sense of reverence for the priestly office of Christ as celebrated at the Lord’s Table; as well as a great respect for his office as Prophet as encountered in the preaching of the Word; and a clear vision of his office as King, as expressed in the well-known assertion of Kuyper that there may be no inch of this world that should not be brought under the dominion of Christ (Kuyper, 1930:32). Whereas Lutherans gloried in the message of justification by faith and tended to use one word to describe the redemption, Calvinists used two. They rejoiced with the Lutherans in the grace of justification, but were simultaneously fascinated by the Biblical call to sanctification.
Calvinists lived by the gospel of the sovereign grace of God in such a way that it could inspire the service and praise of God in all spheres of life. In accordance with the Lutherans Reformed Christians understood the Law as the mirror of sin, but in accordance with Calvin they regarded the Law in its moral sense as still valid for Christians – the so-called third use of the Law (Wendel, 1976:196-208). Their love for the Law was imbedded in their general appraisal of the Old Testament and especially in their love for the concept of the covenant. Whereas Luther rejoiced in the promissio of God, Reformed Christians rejoiced in the covenant of God with his people (Klappert, 1976). Reformed Christians praised God for the salvation of the individual, but at the same time they treasured the idea of the covenant constituted by believers and their households. They even dreamt about the reality of a Christian nation and a Christian commonwealth. They were taught not only to live for themselves and for their families, but also for the society to which they belonged. They felt that they had an obligation to Christianise the world, not only by bringing men and women to an acceptance of Christ, but also by ordering life in its totality according to the law of God. Politics, economics, science and jurisprudence – every sphere of life was to be brought under the sovereignty of God. This belief accounts for the fact that Reformed Christians were nearly always politically alert. Some of the valid elements of truth stressed by contemporary political theology were in reality already included, although within a quite different setting, in the Reformed concept of the kingship of Christ over all spheres of life (Jonker, 1987:86).
It is not strange that this type of spirituality led the Reformed branch of the Reformation to foster the idea of a congregation of well-informed Christians, Christians come of age, able to distinguish for themselves between right and wrong, truth and error. In her portrayal of cross-sections in the Christian community in the Netherlands, Liebje Kuylman-Hoekendijk described Reformed Christians as having a deep commitment to, and a love for the truth as formulated in their confessions of faith. The whole life of the congregation revolves around the truth of the doctrine, and much stress is placed on the covenant and a joyous reading of the Old Testament (Kuylman-Hoekendijk, 1969:50ff). This could be the case only, because Reformed Christians have often had a keen interest in theology. More than any other confessional grouping, the Reformed churches in their best periods cherished the services of theology. There were times in the history of the Netherlands, for instance, when ordinary members of the congregation were very well informed about theological matters. They felt that they could and should understand what theology was all about, so that they themselves could judge the Biblical character of the views expressed and advocated by theologians. Theological literature formed part of the home library, and serious theological problems could form the topic of discussion when friends visited. They obviously did not regard theology as an academic and esoteric science of interest to, theologians only, but as a form of self-reflection by the Church on the revelation. of God by which it lives.
The picture that I have been painting is idealistic of course. It represents a dream that is not easily realised. Even during its best periods, the church has always been accompanied by weakness and failure. Moreover, the extent to which this dream could be realised is dependent on specific factors. The main factor in this regard is the unqualified acceptance of the Scriptures as the Word of God and the willingness to obey that Word as the only norm for the life of the church. In the dynamic situation of the proclamation of that Word in the power of the Spirit, the congregation is built up in faith and obedience to be a living church of God.
Unfortunately, very soon the spirit of the Reformation was threatened by the emerging Orthodoxy. The rationalism of the scholastic methods used by the Protestant Orthodoxy threatened the relation between theology and pulpit. Rossouw told the fascinating story of how the lively and existential reading of the Bible by the Reformers in its clarity as Word of life, was lost as the emerging Protestant Orthodoxy started treating the Bible as source of proof-texts for the doctrinal system of the church (Rossouw, 1963:271-297). Theology, which should be nothing else than the endeavour to read, understand and interpret the Bible as the Word of God in order to serve the preaching, teaching and pastoral care of the congregation, developed instead into an uninspiring rational system of thought. When the Enlightenment hit the Church in the 18th century, the evangelical and theological momentum of the Reformation had been lost already.
The reaction of the Pietists and Methodists was understandable. In many respects they kept alive something of the tree intentions of the Reformation. The problem was, however, that they shifted the focus of attention: religious experience, rather than the Word of God and the gospel of grace, became central. Despite their enormous impact, especially in the English-speaking world, and their formidable missionary action which led to the expansion of Christianity in many parts of the world, they could not revitalise the spirit of the Reformation. The life of faith often withdrew itself into the inner sphere of personal religiosity and concentrated on personal feeling and subjective experience.
Nobody should underestimate the pressures the modern period exerted upon the church. The Enlightenment brought with it a radical change in the mindset of Western man (Heron, 1980:1–21; Berkhof, 1985:11–19). It represented a cultural shift based on new presuppositions that would henceforth dominate the modern mind and confront theology with its greatest challenge since the time of the apostles. The Church was faced with the rising tide of secularism.
To meet this challenge, a totally new approach to the Bible as the Word of God was introduced. This had an enormous impact on the relation between theology and the congregation (Van Genderen & Velema, 1992:81–82). The historical-critical method meant that positivistic presuppositions were applied in Biblical research, excluding faith in the truth of the Bible as a valid point of departure (Runia, 1972:12). Presuppositions play a decisive role in the process of understanding (Grant & Tracy, 1984:134f, 181f). The modem concept of science as an objective and unbiased search for the truth as rational knowledge simply ruled out the idea of theology as fides quaerens intellectum. Consequently, theology could only retain its status as a university discipline by adapting itself to the new rules of the game. It had to accept the ideal of being a purely objective and rational science that could no longer find its basis in the faith of the congregation and the truth of the revelation. To be acceptable, theology had to become a critical study of the documents and history of the Christian faith as part of the study of the phenomenon of religion (cf. Scholder, 1966; Pannenberg, 1973:255ff; Lindbeck, 1984:124). Theological faculties partly became faculties of literary and historical studies, and partly faculties of religion. Even when the term theology was retained, its character was nevertheless radically altered.
Basic to, this approach … was the shift from an ‘explanation’ (of the Bible) which took revelation as the starting point to an ‘explanation’ based on the observation and analysis of observable facts with a view to discovering their ‘laws’, that is their necessary relations. This ‘framework’ required that the text of scripture be examined on the same basis as any other text in the total corpus of ancient literature.
During the course of the last two centuries theology as a university discipline mostly lost its close relationship with the church. It was practiced outside the control of the church and within the orbit of the modern concept of science (Bosch, 1992:10). Its meaning for the life of the congregation became very limited. Theology as an university discipline did not really inspire authoritative preaching of the Word of God, because its ethos was not that of the church, but that of the scientific community. It did not help the preacher to speak with the power of a Verbi Divini Minister. That many preachers were still able to do that was in spite of, and not because of, the kind of theology that they had been taught. This development was extremely harmful to Protestant churches, precisely because of the specific relation between church and theology in the Protestant tradition. Since the 18th century the mainline churches progressively lost the power to inspire the congregation with a vision of the Kingdom of God. The 19th century tells the story of the struggle, the secession, the estrangement resulting from this development in the Reformed Churches (Schrotenboer, 1992). The influence of the church on its environment often became minimal, because it could not reflect any clear, let alone inspiring Christian identity. Many churches became bourgeois institutions supporting the civil religion of the political society. Reformed churches, like many others, suffered from complacency and uncertainty. This was caused presumably by an academic theology that could not really inspire the life of the congregation. We are reminded of Van ‘t Spijker’s statement that in the long run the character of the church is determined by its theology.
It is often said that the type of answers given by the Reformation in the 16th century simply do not fit the kind of questions asked by people in the 20th century. This statement also implies that the kind of answers that the Bible gives are no longer relevant for the present situation. Since the sixties, numerous new types of modernist theologies have succeeded one another, some more provocative than others. Common to them all was the fact that they were short-lived and soon forgotten. Their existence was symptomatic of the theological void into which the Christian community world-wide had been plunged.
In countries all over the world many churches find themselves in the predicament of having lost their confessional and theological identity. This is also true of the Reformed family of churches. It would be easy to cite examples of this situation from all countries. Alan Sell (1992) describes a typical situation when he writes about the doctrinal diversity among Reformed Christians and churches in America. It is well known that Reformed or Presbyterian theology has had a great impact in America, especially because of the influence of theologians and theological institutions of a very high standing (Wells, 1985; Bratt, 1984). Yet, according to Sell, modern developments have threatened the identity of these churches. He is especially disturbed by the negative attitude in many of these churches towards the classical Reformed confessions. He is not even sure if any consensus could be found on the matter of what it really means to be Reformed. Not only does it seem as if anything is acceptable within the tolerant climate of the churches, but the most typical persuasions of the Reformed tradition often seem the least acceptable (Sell, 1992:433ff). In the same vain, Boice (1985:307) complains about the pervasive Arminian slant in Protestant America, even in churches of Reformed origin. The same type of complaint could be heard about Reformed churches around the world.
While one cannot say that those churches which have been influenced by modernism have totally lost their Christian identity, it is nevertheless clear that their confessional identity is threatened. The deepest reason for this loss of identity must be sought in the lack of certainty that the Scriptures are indeed the Word of God, the lamp to our feet and the light for our path (Ps. 119:105). The modern spirit has undermined the ‘plausibility structures’ within which an appeal to the Scriptures could be meaningful. As a result of this undermining an atmosphere of uncertainty has been created which has a significant effect on the preaching, teaching and pastoral care of the church. Many pastors have lost their confidence in the traditional message of the church. Some try to make their preaching relevant by talking about morals or politics. Others try to revitalise the church services by borrowing liturgical elements from other ecclesiastical traditions or by introducing the style and spirituality of the Charismatic Movement. Quite often the pastoral ministry of the church is replaced by psychotherapy or by the stimulation of a kind of mystical meditation borrowed from the East. When the pastor has lost his trust in the proclamation of the saving and healing Word of God, he has to look for something else to replace it.
We are confronted by the challenge of finding a way back to the kind of theology that could serve the identity of the congregation in our present situation. The modernist quest for relevancy has brought many churches to the brink of theological bankruptcy. A mere return to the historical position of the Orthodoxy is hardly possible. If they want to fulfil their calling in the present situation, church and theology will have to revitalise the basic powers that were at work in the Reformation. Only then will they once again be able to protect and to strengthen the integrity of Reformed theology and the identity of the Christian congregation.
In this regard, we should take heed of the lessons that have been learnt since the 18th century. We must also be thankful that the faith of the Church has survived the cultural onslaught. This survival was due largely to the existence of Christians, churches and groups who had the courage to resist the general modernistic trend and to, remain faithful to the Biblical truth as expressed in the classical creeds of the Church. God in his mercy, kept alive the faith in the gospel. We need therefore to, be thankful to him for the many theologians who did not accept all the consequences of the modern presuppositions, despite the pressure exerted on them to do so by the theological faculties in which they served and which operated on these modern principles. We cannot ignore the work and testimony of many theologians who struggled to find some place to stand within the new intellectual climate, even though we may be critical of the way in which they chose to do it.
The challenge Reformed theology has today is to confront the reality of the secularised world in such a way that the Word of God will be heard, even by people who seem to have no frame of reference other than that presented by the secular age. We will have to trust the Spirit of God to guide us and to bless our testimony in a world in which we are confronted with the phenomenon of massive unbelief and a disregard for the Bible and the church. The congregation itself is the appropriate starting point. The congregation should be helped to attain a clear vision of its own identity and be encouraged to live unashamedly as Christians. It must learn to trust in the power of God who, even in this post-Christian era with its unbelief and syncretism, is strong enough to overcome the obstacles in the way of faith.
From the basis of the Christian faith we are able to make a proper assessment of the real meaning of the cultural shift that took place in the Enlightenment. Nobody should deny the positive side of the Enlightenment in our cultural history. The Enlightenment freed us from a lot of superstition and opened the door to the enormous scientific developments in the Western world. But at the same time it was dangerous because of its one-sidedness; its over-simplification of reality; its belief that scientific knowledge could encompass the whole truth; its ‘Promethean optimism’ (Hall, 1991:37); and its conviction that faith in a special revelation of God was childish in nature and therefore unacceptable to the modem mind. At the end of the traumatic twentieth century, we are in a better position to understand the shortsightedness, one-sidedness and therefore also the relative character of the Enlightenment and its presuppositions. The modern mind should be seen for what it really was: a biased and positivistic approach to reality that could in no way honour its fullness. It was not necessarily modern science per se that led to the unbelief that characterises the modern era (Torrance, 1982). There were also specific cultural factors in the Western intellectual development that led to this choice. Today there is a new realisation that the modem era, with its specific type of approach, is drawing to an end. The post-modern era, into which we have entered already, allows a more pluralistic approach to reality and new possibilities for theology (Brueggemann, 1993:1–8).
Since the time of Schleiermacher, theological modernism tried to reconcile theology and modern culture. The Biblical message was reduced to what could be fitted into the plausibility structures of the modem culture. Because of the limitations given with the presuppositions of the Enlightenment, this reduction led to a distortion of the message of the Bible. As long as the presuppositions of the Enlightenment are taken as valid, they will obstruct the way to the acceptance of the authority of the Bible. Once the one-sidedness and relative character of these presuppositions are exposed, the way is opened to listen to the Biblical message with new ears.
The question is of course, how people should be convinced of the deficiency of their presuppositions. The theological apologetics of the last two centuries has tried to do this in many ways, but with little success. The reason for this failure is that presuppositions cannot easily be changed on the intellectual level alone. More especially, those presuppositions that obstruct the decision of faith cannot be removed by logical argument. This is the valid point in Karl Barth’s rejection of Christian apologetics (Barth, 1947:25ff). This kind of obstruction can only be removed by the persuasion of the Spirit of God within the community of faith. That is why it is so important to have a living faith community in which the authority of the Bible is accepted. Such a community may be instrumental in helping the people of our day to read and understand the Bible as the Word of God in a new way.
At present there is a growing awareness of the interpretative role of the community in our understanding of reality and the reading of the Bible (McKnight, 1988:167ff; Watson, 1993:4). We never read the Bible on our own or in a disinterested way. As a rule, people read the Bible as members of an interpretative community with specific “interpretative interests” in its reading (Fowl & Jones, 1991:15). This is true of the congregation. It is also true of academics and, of those who read the Bible with a view to its relevancy for life in society (cf. the political theology of all ages). It is always relevant to ask why people read and interpret the Bible if one really wants to understand the way in which they go about it. The ‘context’ within which the Bible is read, always plays a role in its appropriation.
The concept of contextualisation refers to the way in which the message of the gospel is received and appropriated in a missionary situation. The world of the listener plays a very definite role in the reception of the gospel (Luzbetak, 1989; Conn, 1984). For the Bible to be understood and internalised, its message has to be interpreted and lived anew in each human culture (Bosch, 1991:452). Although the truth of God is supra-cultural, and can be communicated to many different cultures, it cannot be communicated to all cultures in the same way. It cannot be communicated supra-culturally (Carson, 1987:249–253). It needs to be ‘contextualised’ in each culture: it needs to be seen in its relevancy for its readers within their own context.
In an analogous way, every reader of the Bible comes to it with his or her own world and reads it influenced by his or her own interests. The reader who approaches the Bible with the presuppositions of the modern era and reads it within the context of the modem university, will have a totally different interest in reading the text from that of a reader from the community of faith who is in need of salvation or comfort (McKnight, 1988:73-76). Nobody should think that the first reader, with his or her scientific knowledge, necessarily has a better chance of understanding the message of the Bible than has the ordinary member of the congregation. The congregation needs not feel itself threatened by the fact that the Bible is also read in the university and is then interpreted in an historical-critical way. It should see this approach for what it is: one way to go about reading the Bible. The academic context of the university prides itself in its non-committal stance as far as the convictions of faith are concerned. While such a stance is possible, these academics must also realise that the correct way of reading the Bible is to read it within the context of the church.
The only proper ‘interest’ of the Church in the study of scripture is the glory of the one who speaks to the Church in scripture (Newbigin, 1985:46).
Any attempt to read the Bible in a neutral way, merely as an historical document, is to read it without a true understanding of its intentions. The church has always believed that the Holy Spirit alone can open our eyes to understand the Bible properly. The congregation is the community in which the Spirit works and lives. Therefore it is the proper locus for the interpretation of the Bible (Hall, 1991:289f; Wentsel, 1982:146). It is always a bad sign when theology ignores the contribution of the congregation in its attempt to understand the Bible (Van ‘t Spijker, 1974: 40). According to Rossouw, Calvin subscribed to the idea that the interpretation of the Bible as the Word of God can never be a private matter. Rather, the church, as the historical community of present and past believers, forms the hermeneutical continuum in which the interpretation of Scripture should be carried out (Rossouw, 1982:179- 180). Fowl and Jones (1991) argue that people can only become ‘wise readers’ of the Bible if they form part of a living community of disciples and have acquired the formation and transformation of character appropriate to disciples of Jesus. True understanding of the Scripture is part of the kind of life within the fellowship of believers. Similar positions, although from different angles and with different accents, are taken in by Bird (1982), Jodock (1989), Schneider (1991) and Hall (1991).
Reading the Bible as the book of the church means that it is read with specific presuppositions. It is read as a unity, not just as a collection of different documents. It is also read from a specific perspective and in a specific interpretational framework, supplied by the long history of the church’s reading and interpretation of it (Smit, 1991:167-168; Runia, 1988:94-95). To read it like that, is to read the Bible as Scripture and as the Word of God (Kelsey, 1975:198ff; Van Ruler, 1968:113). It is to interpret it according to the analogia fidei, the analogy of faith (Greijdanus, 1946:14-143; Runia, 1972:18). This way of reading the Bible may be unacceptable to the modernist academic scholarship with its aim of a detached and critical reading of the text. According to this approach, the way in which the church reads the Bible is dogmatic and biased. Ironically, Biblical scholarship, as it is conducted in the modernist tradition, is itself not neutral at all. The ‘neutrality’ of critical scholars is already a decision against the faith which the text intends to evoke (Newbigin, 1985:44).
Apart from that, the scholarly community often brings its own interests and interpretational framework to its reading of the Bible. Just as the interpretation of the text by the preacher is not disinterested because he/she intends to persuade the congregation of the truth of the Biblical message, also the interpretation of the scholar is not disinterested. Scholars are part of an institution which measures success in terms which are set by the existing culture. They themselves have a clear interest in achieving success in these terms (Newbigin, 1985:45). Their work is often of little use to the community of faith which should have heen served by theology in the first place. Biblical scholars should be challenged not just to read the Biblical writings separately and within the confines of their academic world, but to read them also (or even in the first place) as a collection, as the book of the church and as canon, in order to, serve the community of faith (Smit, 1992:303–325).
We must face the challenge to proclaim anew the message of the Word of God. We must do this in such a way that it will provide the people of our time with a frame of reference and a new set of presuppositions that will enable them to see the relevance of the Bible for their own life and for that of the world. Within a situation of great confusion in the spiritual orientation of the world, the church should rejoice in the reality of God’s revelation, the reality of the Scriptures as the Word of God, and the reality of reconciliation in Christ. These three pillars form the foundation of the church (Van’t Spijker, 1974:40-49). Theology should help the church to fulfil its calling in this turbulent time, and not add to the existing spiritual disarray. In order to be able to do this, theology should get clarity about its relation to the Holy Scriptures.
Strangely enough, we have arrived at a very interesting point in the discussion about the relation between theology and congregation. We started off by referring to the role that Reformed theology played, and still has to play, in the building up of the congregation and in the protection of its identity. But now it seems that in modern times the congregation may have the task of reminding theology of its own identity, an identity that has been threatened during the last two centuries. The congregation will have to remind theology of its proper nature as the scientific attempt to read, to understand and to interpret the message of the Bible in such a way that the church will be built up in faith and will be enabled to fulfil its proper task in the world. Essentially, theology is nothing else than the self-reflection of the faith community (Hall, 1991:58). It can best be done from within a community where faith is the source of knowledge (Bosch, 1992:14). This does not mean that theology should be practised in a spirit of dogmatic exclusivism that does not take heed of the world at large, but it does mean that theology should take the Bible seriously as the Word of God (Carson, 1987:253; Van ‘t Spijker, 1974:40–49).
This book is written, however, in the conviction that the primary source of the decline is to be found in the loss of the theological integrity and competence of the church’s witness, in particular in preaching, teaching and pastoral care … The renewal of the church will not come without the recovery of the authenticity and theological integrity of the church’s message and a renewed emphasis on preaching (Leith, 1988:13).
This rediscovery is only possible if the Bible as the book of the church is taken seriously both by theologians and by the congregation. Reformed theology can fulfil its calling only if it stays in close relation with the congregation whose identity it is called upon to protect and serve. We cannot avoid making a clear choice between a type of theology that takes revelation seriously and a type of theology that does not. If Reformed theology is to retain its vitality, it will have to take its place within the living faith of the congregation of Christ.
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Wentsel, B. 1982. De openbaring, het verbond en de apriori’s. Dogmatiek II. Kampen: Kok. | 2019-04-19T12:29:26Z | https://williejonker.co.za/19950601-2/ |
1998-09-04 Assigned to MICROSOFT CORPORATION reassignment MICROSOFT CORPORATION ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: ARCURI, MICHAEL P., MCBRIDE, CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL, VAN TILBURG, MARTIJN E.
Customizing a presentation of a set of control elements, such as toolbar, by using a graphical user interface element representing the toolbar control elements, such as a quick customize (QC) menu. This customization approach allows a user to access the QC menu to select which control elements are to be displayed on the toolbar. The controls presented by the QC menu are typically associated with the control items of a particular toolbar or a corresponding set of commands. For convenient user access, the QC menu can be exposed on the toolbar via a special control or an entry point and typically lists the control elements available for the toolbar in order of appearance on the toolbar. For example, the QC menu can present the toolbar's default commands or controls, controls that are "top" or frequently used candidates for the toolbar, and any controls currently on the toolbar. Each control presented by the QC menu has a corresponding selection indicator, such as a checkbox, for easily adding to or removing a control element from the associated toolbar.
The present invention relates to a system and method for customizing the presentation of control elements on a toolbar, and is more particularly directed to adding control elements to and removing control elements from a toolbar by using a graphical user interface (GUI) element presenting information related to the toolbar control elements.
Most modern computer software employs a GUI-type visual presentation to convey information to and receive commands from users. This interface relies on a variety of GUI elements or objects, including icons, text, drop-down menus, dialog boxes, toolbars, buttons, controls, and the like. A user typically interacts with a GUI presentation by using a pointing device (e.g., a mouse) to position a pointer or a cursor over an object and "clicking" on the object. Examples of operating systems that provide a graphical user interface are the "WINDOWS 95" and "WINDOWS 98" operating systems, which are manufactured and distributed by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.
In a GUI system, toolbars are common user interface elements that provide an effective way to display numerous computer commands or control elements. Toolbars are GUI elements associated with an application window, which is a window for a particular application program in which primary viewing and/or editing interaction occurs. Toolbars provide access to a set of commands that are usually represented by buttons, menu buttons, comboboxes, and other UI controls. A user can invoke any command in the toolbar by clicking on the associated button or UI control. Toolbars typically present groups of controls in rows or columns, which can be oriented horizontally or vertically. Although most toolbars are visually attached to an application window, some may float above, below, or to the side of an application window. The control elements or commands presented on a toolbar are quickly accessible by the user because these items are only one click away while the user is using the associated program.
In some programs that employ toolbars, the toolbars can be modified by adding or deleting controls, or by changing the function associated with a control. This allows the user to customize a toolbar so that the toolbar provides convenient access to the commands that are most frequently used by the user. In addition, these programs support multiple toolbars that can be turned on and off, thereby providing the user with the option of viewing two or more toolbars simultaneously. In some prior art systems, the process of customizing or manipulating toolbars requires use of a dialog box that displays a list of commands available for the toolbar. The dialog box also can display a list of available toolbars that can be displayed in the application window. The user can then customize the toolbar by selecting which controls the user wants displayed.
Unfortunately, in these prior dialog box-type systems, customizing toolbars can be difficult because discovering this type customization feature is difficult for the typical user and, once discovered, use of the dialog box for a customization task is not an intuitive operation. For example, performing a seemingly simple task such as "remove button A from toolbar X" may require the user to not only find the dialog box for customizing the toolbar, but also decipher how to modify the specific toolbar, and decipher how to delete button A. In addition, some prior systems support a drag and drop mouse operation where controls are dragged and dropped on or outside of the toolbar to add and remove controls, respectively. However, the user may be reluctant to experiment with customizing the toolbar using these prior systems for fear that the user will be unable to restore the toolbar to its previous state or original form.
Furthermore, some prior systems provide centralized access to multiple toolbars, thereby making customization of a specific toolbar less certain or precise. Specifically, in an attempt to customize a specific toolbar, the user can accidentally alter another toolbar. Moreover, in these prior systems, removing or deleting a control from a toolbar also may remove the control from the dialog box. Hence, a less sophisticated user may be unable to find the location of the control if ever needed in the future and may be unable to restore the toolbar to its original or default state. As a result, the user may be reluctant to utilize the toolbar customization features.
Therefore, there is a general need for a method for easily and conveniently customizing the presentation of a set of control elements or commands, such as a toolbar, in a GUI-type interface for a program module. In addition, there is a need for a method that allows direct access to each toolbar so that customization is easily available and focused on the active toolbar. Also, there is a need for a single mechanism for maintaining and presenting information related to a likely set of controls that are available for a specific toolbar. There is a further need for a method that allows control elements to be removed from the toolbar without deleting or "hiding" the control elements from future access by the user. There is also a need for a method that facilitates multiple changes to the set of control elements presented by a toolbar during a single exercise a GUI element containing selection indicators having an operational state that determines whether corresponding control elements are presented on the toolbar.
The present invention satisfies the above-described needs by providing a system and method for customizing the presentation of a set of control elements or commands, such as a toolbar, in a graphical user interface (GUI) of a program module. In general, the present invention provides a "discoverable" customization mechanism that allows a user to select which control elements should be displayed on a toolbar by accessing a GUI element presenting information and controls related to the presentation of these control elements. More particularly described, the present invention provide a user intuitive mechanism for accessing a drop-down menu, referred to herein as a quick customize menu ("QC menu"), for presenting selection indicators corresponding to available control elements of a toolbar. In response to accessing the QC menu and selecting a particular selection indicator, the presentation of a corresponding control element can be easily controlled by the user. For example, by enabling a selection indicator, the corresponding control element is presented for operation on the toolbar, whereas disabling this selection indicator results in no presentation of the corresponding control element on the toolbar.
For one aspect of the present invention, the presentation of a toolbar having a set of control elements within a GUI environment of a program module can be customized by controlling the state of selection indicators associated with the control elements and presented in a GUI element, such as a drop-down menu. The GUI element is displayed on a display device in response to receiving an access signal typically generated by accessing a special control or an entry point on the toolbar or by "clicking" a particular mouse button while the cursor is positioned over the toolbar. The GUI element can present information associated with the control elements of the toolbar, and typically provides selection indicators for determining whether corresponding control elements will be presented for operation on the toolbar. If a selection indicator enters a first state, then the corresponding control element is displayed on the toolbar and is available for operation by the user of the program module. In contrast, if the selection indicator enters a second state, the corresponding control element is not displayed on the toolbar and is unavailable for operation by the user. In this manner, a user can create a custom display of the control elements presented for operation on a toolbar by accessing the GUI element and manipulating the state of corresponding selection indicators presented by the GUI element.
For example, the GUI elements can be implemented as a quick customize menu ("QC menu"), typically a drop-down menu, for presenting information associated with and specific to a particular set of control elements or commands for operating features of the program module. The QC menu is readily discoverable by a user because this GUI element is typically exposed on the toolbar via a special control or an entry point, such as a button or a menu, or by "clicking" a particular mouse button while the cursor is positioned over the toolbar. The QC menu typically presents information related to the default commands or control elements for the toolbar, control elements that represent the most frequently used or "top" command candidates for the toolbar, and controls currently displayed on the toolbar. In particular, each control element for a toolbar has a corresponding selection indicator in the QC menu. The state of a selection indicator can be manipulated by a user for easily adding a control element to or removing a control element from the associated toolbar. In this manner, the QC menu provides a simple and straightforward mechanism for customizing the presentation of a set of control elements or commands, such as a toolbar.
For yet another aspect of the present invention, the QC menu contains a set of selection indicators represented by GUI control items, such as checkboxes, each capable of containing a checkmark, for each control element of the toolbar. The checkbox can enter the first state by placing a checkmark the checkbox, thereby resulting in the presentation of the corresponding control element on the tool bar. Alternatively, the checkbox can enter the second state by removing the checkmark, thereby preventing the corresponding control element from presentation on the toolbar. Consequently, as a result of selecting a checkbox in the QC menu, the presentation of control elements available for operation on the toolbar can be easily updated by a user. Alternatively, the selection indicators can be implemented by other modal control items, including radio buttons. Advantageously, the QC menu can remain open during customization operations, and need not be closed until an indication is given to do so--for example, a user may click outside the QC menu, a command may be selected, or some other function may be performed.
In view of the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the present invention provides direct access to a toolbar for easy and convenient customization of the toolbar. The present invention also provides the benefit of allowing a user to remove controls from a toolbar without losing subsequent access to these controls based on manipulation of selection indicators in a GUI element associated with these controls. The present invention also facilitates multiple changes to the presentation of controls on a toolbar during a single exercise by accessing a GUI element, such as the QC menu, and controlling the state of the selection indicators corresponding to the controls.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention may be more clearly understood and appreciated from a review of the following detailed description of the disclosed exemplary embodiments and by reference to the appended drawings and claims.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer system representing the operating environment for an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, and 2e, collectively described as FIG. 2, depict screen displays illustrating a toolbar and a quick customize menu displayed by an operating system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of customizing a toolbar in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, and 4e, collectively described as FIG. 4, are flow diagrams illustrating a process for creating a quick customize menu in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for checking a checkbox of a quick customize menu to control the presentation of a corresponding control element on a tool bar in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for unchecking a checkbox of a quick customize menu to control the presentation of a corresponding control element on a tool bar in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
The present invention provides a system and method for customizing the presentation of control elements on a toolbar by utilizing GUI element, such as a drop-down menu, having selection indicators that determine whether the corresponding control elements should be displayed for operation on the toolbar. The present invention may employ an object-oriented programming framework that supports consistent and reusable components. In an exemplary embodiment, the invention is incorporated into the "MICROSOFT OFFICE 9" application program, which is produced and distributed by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the "MICROSOFT OFFICE 9" application program runs on Microsoft Corporation's "WINDOWS 95", "WINDOWS 98" or "WINDOWS NT 4.0 and 5.0" operating systems and utilizes several features that are associated with these operating systems. These operating systems also support Microsoft Corporation's object linking and embedding (OLE) interface. Information about the operating systems, OLE, and other operating system components are available in associated documentation published by Microsoft Press and other publishers of computer-related information.
In the "MICROSOFT OFFICE 9" suite of application programs an architectural component known as a quick customize menu ("QC menu") provides sets of tool-type UI components or controls, referred herein as selection indicators, for customizing an associated toolbar. The QC menu typically is exposed for operation by the user via a special control or an entry point, such as a button or menu, on the toolbar or by "clicking" a selected mouse button while the cursor is located over the toolbar. The QC menu typically presents information related to the default commands or control elements for the toolbar, control elements that represent the most frequently used or "top" command candidates for the toolbar, and controls currently displayed on the toolbar. In particular, each control element for a toolbar has a corresponding selection indicator in the QC menu. The state of a selection indicator can be manipulated by a user for easily adding a control element to or removing a control element from the associated toolbar. In this manner, the QC menu provides a simple and straightforward mechanism for customizing the presentation of a set of control elements or commands on a toolbar.
Referring now to the drawings, in which like numerals represent like elements throughout the several figures, aspects of the present invention and an exemplary operating environment will be described. FIG. 1 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environment in which the invention may be implemented. While the invention will be described in the general context of an application program that runs on an operating system in conjunction with a personal computer, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention also may be implemented as another type of program module or in combination with other program modules. Generally, program modules include routines, operating systems, application programs, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.
A number of program modules may be stored in the drives and RAM 25, including an operating system 35, which may include an operating system shell, one or more application programs 36, such as the "MICROSOFT OFFICE 9" suite of application programs, a word processing program module 37, such as "MICROSOFT WORD" program module, which is a part of the "MICROSOFT OFFICE 9", and program data 38. A user may enter commands and information into the personal computer 20 through a keyboard 40 and pointing device, such as a mouse 42. Other input devices (not shown) may include a pen, touch-operated device, microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 21 through a serial port interface 46 that is coupled to the system bus, but may be connected by other interfaces, such as a game port or a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor 47 or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus 23 via an interface, such as a video adapter 48. In addition to the monitor, personal computers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers or printers.
When used in a LAN networking environment, the personal computer 20 is connected to the LAN 51 through a network interface 53. When used in a WAN networking environment, the personal computer 20 typically includes a modem 54 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN 52, such as the Internet. The modem 54, which may be internal or external, is connected to the system bus 23 via the serial port interface 46. In a networked environment, application programs depicted relative to the personal computer 20, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used.
With continuing reference to FIG. 1 and now turning to FIGS. 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d and 2e, the user's environment for an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described by utilizing screen displays generated by the exemplary program module 37. FIGS. 2a-2e, collectively described as FIG. 2, illustrate partial screen displays that depict a process by which a user can conveniently customize a toolbar using an associated drop-down menu, known as a quick customize menu. For purposes of this discussion, a quick customize menu is referred to herein as simply a "QC menu". Those skilled in art will appreciate that the QC menu is implemented in the form of a dropdown menu, which is a conventional GUI element, and that the present invention can be readily adapted to include other forms of GUI elements as a substitute for the QC menu, including a dialog box, a toolbar and the like.
In FIG. 2a, a display screen 200 displays a representative toolbar 202 associated with the "MICROSOFT WORD" program module 37 (FIG. 1), which is a word processing program module that is a part of the "MICROSOFT OFFICE 9" application program suite 36 (FIG. 1). It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the toolbar described herein, but encompasses any type of toolbar containing control elements or commands for controlling the features of a program module. The toolbar 202 includes controls 206-224 that are associated with the program module 37. Specifically, the toolbar 202 includes the following controls: New 206, Open 208, Save 210, Print 212, Preview 214, Format Painter 216, Undo 218, Insert Hyperlink 220, Insert Table 222, and Zoom 224. These controls 206-224 perform specific functions in association with the program module 37. For example, the New control 206 allows a user to create a new document when selected, and the Print control 212 allows the user to print the document to a printer (not shown) when it is selected. The toolbar 202 also includes an entry point 226 for accessing additional options in connection with the toolbar 202.
Specifically, the entry point 226, which is located on the right edge of the toolbar 202, provides access to a feature for customizing the toolbar 202. For example, a drop-down menu, such as a QC menu 240 (FIG. 2b) typically is exposed for operation by the user via the entry point 226. The entry point can be implemented by a conventional toolbar button or menu, or by a special control element. Although this exemplary embodiment includes a visible entry point, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the function of an entry point to the customization feature can also be implemented by "clicking" a selected mouse button while the cursor is located over a particular location of the toolbar. In response to accessing the QC menu via an entry point, such as the entry point 226, the user can customize the toolbar 202 by adding controls to and removing controls from the toolbar 202. The exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 provides a simplified way of performing these toolbar customization tasks by utilizing the QC menu 240 in connection with the toolbar 202, as shown in more detail below with reference to FIG. 2b.
Referring still to FIG. 2a, to gain access to the customization feature, the user can use the mouse 42 (or keyboard 40) to move a cursor to the entry point 226, and thereafter click on (or select) the entry point 226. When the user clicks on the entry point 226, a dropdown menu 242 is displayed on the display screen 200, as shown in FIG. 2b. The drop-down menu 242 contains an option, Show/Hide Buttons 243, which provides access to selection indicators or "buttons" corresponding to control elements on the toolbar 202. By selecting the option 243, the QC menu 240 (FIG. 2b) appears on the display screen 200.
Referring now to FIG. 2b, the QC menu 240 includes buttons 244-276 which represent controls that are available for display on the toolbar 202. These buttons, also known as selection indicators, represent controls that are determined by software developers of the program module 37 before shipping the program module. These buttons 244-276 include the following: New 244, Open 246, Save 248, Print 250, Preview 252, Cut 254, Copy 256, Paste 258, Format Painter 260, Undo 262, Redo 264, Insert Hyperlink 266, Insert Table 268, Insert Excel Spreadsheet 270, Document Map 272, Show All 274, and Zoom 276. Each button on the QC menu 240 has an associated checkbox 244a-276a for containing checkmarks. The QC menu 240 also includes a Reset Toolbar option 278 and a Customize option 280. The Reset Toolbar option 278 returns the toolbar to its original or default state, which preferably is determined before shipping the program module 37. Moreover, the Customize option 280 provides a full customization feature for the toolbar.
As used with respect to the QC menu 240, the term "button" is defined as a control in the QC menu for controlling the selection of a corresponding control element for presentation on a toolbar. A button, also described herein as a selection indicator, has a pair of operating states: the first state enables the presentation of the corresponding control element on the toolbar, whereas the second disables the presentation of the corresponding control element on the toolbar. This control function of the selection indicators in the QC menu 240 is distinguishable from their corresponding control elements on the toolbar 202. For this exemplary embodiment, a selection indicator can be represented within the QC menu 240 as an icon and associated text, which identifies a control element that may be displayed on the toolbar, and an associated checkbox for indicating whether the control will be displayed on the toolbar. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the selection indicator can be visually displayed within this drop-down menu as other forms of conventional GUI elements, including the combination of an icon and a checkbox, descriptive text and a checkbox, an icon and a radio button, etc.
This exemplary embodiment uses a drop-down menu having selection indicators, preferably implemented as a checkbox, to indicate whether corresponding controls for a toolbar should be presented on the toolbar for available operation by a user. A checkbox is a type of interactive control often found in a GUI and is used to enable or disable one or more features or options from a set of features or options. For example, when a selection indicator in the menu is selected, a checkmark appears in the checkbox for the button, thereby indicating that a corresponding control is displayed on the toolbar. Furthermore, when a checkbox containing a checkmark is selected, the checkmark disappears, and a corresponding control is removed from the toolbar. In other words, the selection indicator, in this embodiment shown as a checkbox, can operate as a control having a first state and a second state. The first state is indicative of the checkbox containing a checkmark, and the second state is indicative of the checkbox being empty. The process of selecting a checkbox causes the state to change from the first state to the second state, and alternatively from the second state to the first state.
It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the controls of the toolbar and the selection indicators of the QC menu are presented as a representative example and in no way serve as a limitation to the number or combination of controls and selection indicators that may be used to implement alternative embodiments of the present invention. Further, it will be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to the use of a checkbox for indicating the presentation of a corresponding control element on a toolbar. Alternative embodiments may use other mechanisms suitable for indicating selection of a control--for example, giving focus to or highlighting a selected button, changing the color of a selected button, displaying a different icon, such as a light bulb, for a selected button, or using radio buttons.
Continuing to refer to FIG. 2b, the buttons 244-276 in the QC menu 240 are preferably presented in the same order as their corresponding controls are to be displayed on the toolbar 202. Specifically, the QC menu 240 presents buttons in a top-down fashion, and the toolbar 202 presents controls in a left-right fashion, where the top button 244 of the QC menu 240 corresponds to the leftmost control 206 in the toolbar 202 and the bottom button 276 of the QC menu 240 corresponds to the rightmost control 224 in the toolbar 202 assuming all controls are visible on the toolbar 202. A control corresponding to a button is displayed on the toolbar 202 for each button having a checkmark, such as checkmark 239, in its checkbox. Specifically, buttons 244, 246, 248, 250, 252, 260, 262, 266, 268, and 276 contain checkmarks in their respective checkboxes 244a, 246a, 248a, 250a, 252a, 260a, 262a, 266a, 268a, and 276a. As a result, each associated control is displayed on the toolbar 202. Buttons 254, 256, 258, 264, 270, 272, and 274 do not contain checkmarks in their respective checkboxes 254a, 256a, 258a, 264a, 270a, 272a, and 274a. Therefore, the associated controls are not displayed in the toolbar 202.
Referring to FIG. 2c, if a user desires to add a control to the toolbar, the user simply moves the cursor to an empty checkbox for a desired button in the QC menu 240 and clicks on the checkbox using the mouse 42. Once the user clicks on the empty checkbox, a checkmark is placed in the checkbox and the control for the button appears on the toolbar 202. For purposes of this discussion, the term "checking" is indicative of the checkbox entering the first state, as previously described--that is, a checkmark is placed in a checkbox for a button, thereby also indicating that a corresponding control is displayed on the toolbar associated with the QC menu. In addition, the term "unchecking" is indicative of the checkbox entering the second state, as previously described--that is, a checkmark is removed from a checkbox for a button, thereby also indicating that a corresponding control is not displayed on the toolbar associated with the QC menu. Furthermore, an empty checkbox for a button or unchecked button is indicative of a checkbox without a checkmark, while a checked checkbox for a button or checked button is indicative of a checkbox having a checkmark.
In FIG. 2c, as an example of adding a control to the toolbar 202, the user desires to add a Redo control 219 to the toolbar 202. To do so, the user simply clicks on the checkbox 264a. As a result, a checkmark is placed in the checkbox 264a for the Redo button 264 in the QC menu. Moreover, the Redo control 219, which is associated with the Redo button 264, is displayed on the toolbar 202. The user can continue this process of adding controls to the toolbar 202 by clicking on or selecting empty checkboxes for buttons in the QC menu 240. Advantageously, the QC menu 240 remains open until an indication is received based on an action by the user to close the QC menu 240.
Turning to FIG. 2d, if a user desires to remove a control from a toolbar 202, the user simply clicks on or selects a checked checkbox for a button. By doing so, the checkmark in the checkbox for the button is removed. As a result of unchecking the checkbox for the button, the control corresponding to the button is instantly removed from the toolbar 202.
For example, the user desires to remove the Format Painter control 216 (FIG. 2a) from the toolbar 202. To do so, in FIG. 2d, the user simply clicks on the Format Painter checkbox 260a for the Format Painter button 260, thereby unchecking the format painter button in the QC menu 240. As a result, the Format Painter control 216 (FIG. 2a) associated with button 260 is removed from the toolbar 202. The user may continue the process of removing controls from the toolbar by simply clicking on checked checkboxes for buttons on the QC menu to remove the checkmarks from the checkboxes for the buttons. It will be understood that the user also can check (and uncheck) buttons via the keyboard. As previously stated, this exemplary embodiment provides the benefit of allowing the QC menu 240 to remain open during customization operations until an indication is received based on an action by the user to close the QC menu 240.
Once the user has finished customizing the toolbar 202, the user may then dismiss the QC menu 240 by simply clicking outside of the QC menu 240, by selecting the Reset Toolbar option 278 or the Customize option 280, by hitting escape (Esc) (not shown) on the keyboard 40 (FIG. 1), or by using some other suitable means of navigating off of the QC menu 240. Once the user dismisses the QC menu 240, the toolbar 202 continues to reflect the changes that were made to it when the QC menu was open, as shown in FIG. 2e.
In view of the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the present invention supports convenient customization of a toolbar by allowing a user to access a drop-down menu and to manipulate the menu's selection indicators corresponding to toolbar controls to determine the presentation of controls on the toolbar. Advantageously, the present invention allows a user to add controls to and remove controls from a toolbar as the user desires without facing the concern of whether the toolbar can be restored to its original or default state. Specifically, the present invention can provide the benefit of restoring deleted default controls without having to reset the toolbar, thereby losing other customizations made by the user.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention differ from prior systems in that every toolbar has its own QC menu so that customization is always easily available and focused on the active toolbar. This QC menu presents a logical group of commands available for display on its corresponding toolbar. For example, buttons having empty checkboxes, i.e., disabled selection indicators, remain displayed in the QC menu even when a control element is removed from the toolbar. Consequently, the user is able to view all available controls for a particular toolbar without facing the fear of "losing" a toolbar control should the user decide to remove it from the toolbar. The QC menu preferably remains open during successive mouse button clicks or keyboard selections to facilitate several changes during one customization exercise. For an alternative embodiment, however, the QC menu could be closed in response to these events during a single customization session.
With continuing reference to FIGS. 1 and 2a-2e, FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an overview of an exemplary method of operation of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that this exemplary method of operation can be carried out by the computer 20 running the application program 36 (FIG. 1), such as the "MICROSOFT OFFICE 9" suite of application programs. The process begins at the START step 300 by powering the computer 20 (FIG. 1) and selecting the exemplary program module 37 (FIG. 1) for supporting the computer-implemented program for customizing a toolbar. In turn, for step 302, a signal is received for accessing a QC menu associated with a toolbar. The signal is received as a result of an action taken by a user, such as using a mouse to click on an entry point of a toolbar. In step 304, the QC menu is displayed in association with the toolbar, as shown in FIG. 2b. The QC menu preferably contains selection indicators, also described as buttons, which represent controls that are available for display on the toolbar. For this exemplary embodiment, checkboxes preferably correspond to these buttons within the QC menu.
A determination is made, in step 306, as to whether there is a desire to add a control to the toolbar. If so, the "Yes" branch is followed to step 310; otherwise, the "No" branch is followed to step 308, in which case a second determination is made as to whether there is a desire to remove a control from the toolbar. In step 310, a signal is received to add a control to the toolbar. This signal is generated as a result of the user clicking on an empty checkbox for a button in the QC menu. Next, in step 312, a checkmark is placed in the checkbox for the button. In turn, in step 314, the control associated with the button having the checked checkbox is displayed on the toolbar.
If there is no desire to add a control to the toolbar, a determination is made as to whether there is a desire to remove a control from the toolbar, in step 308. If there is a desire to remove a control from the toolbar, the "Yes" branch is followed to step 316; otherwise, the "No" branch is followed to step 330. In step 316, a signal is received to remove a control from the toolbar. This signal is generated as a result of the user clicking on a checked checkbox for a button in the QC menu. When a signal is received to remove a control from the toolbar, in step 318, the checkmark in the checkbox for the button is removed. In turn, in step 320, the control that is associated with the button having an empty checkbox is removed from the toolbar.
Next, a central inquiry is made, in step 325, as to whether there is a desire to make additional changes to the toolbar. If so, the "Yes" branch is followed to step 306, in which case step 306 through step 325 are repeated for additional changes to the toolbar; otherwise, the "No" branch is followed to step 330. In step 330, a signal is received to close the QC menu. Generally, the signal is generated as a result of the user selecting a reset or customize option, hitting escape, clicking away from the QC menu, or using the keyboard to navigate off the QC menu, as previously described in connection with FIGS. 2a-2e. Once the signal is received to close the QC menu, the QC menu is closed in step 335. The customization process terminates at the END step 340.
With continuing reference to FIGS. 1-3, the tasks performed by a computer 20 (FIG. 1) to implement customizing a toolbar can be described in three segments, namely creating a quick customize menu, checking a checkbox for a button, and unchecking a checkbox for a button. Specifically, the process of creating a QC menu is described in connection with FIGS. 4a-4e. The process of checking a checkbox for a button of the QC menu, thereby adding a control to the toolbar, is described in connection with FIG. 5. Finally, the process of unchecking a checkbox for a button of the QC menu, thereby removing a control from the toolbar, is described in connection with FIG. 6.
FIGS. 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, and 4e, collectively described as FIG. 4, are flow diagrams illustrating an exemplary process for creating a quick customize menu. The process of creating a QC menu involves using the following toolbars: a toolbar (referred to herein as "current toolbar"), which is the toolbar displayed on the display screen; an original toolbar, which is a toolbar containing a list of default controls and is stored in a database (not shown) as a data source; and an extra toolbar, which is a toolbar containing a list of extra controls that are application specific and is stored in the database as a data source. Generally described, the QC menu is created by merging the current toolbar with the original toolbar and the extra toolbar. The extra toolbar can be used to house new controls created by the user for display on the current toolbar. The exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, however, is not limited to storing the controls of this extra toolbar in a database, but instead may store these extra controls in any suitable form known in the art. It will be further appreciated that alternative exemplary embodiments do not necessarily include a QC menu having selection indicators corresponding to extra controls.
Referring to FIG. 4a, the exemplary process begins at START step at 400, and in step 402, an indication is received to create a QC menu associated with a current toolbar. Next, in step 405, a button is created in the QC menu for each control on the current toolbar. Quick customize information (QCI) is then created for each button on the QC menu, in step 410. QCI is information, such as whether a control is a default control associated with the original or extra toolbar, whether a control is located on the current toolbar, and whether a control in the menu originated from the current, original, or extra toolbar. The specific QCI that is created for each button associated with a control on the current toolbar is described in connection with FIG. 4c herein.
In step 415, a set or list of controls from an original toolbar is obtained from a database. As previously mentioned, the list of controls are the default controls that are available for display on the current toolbar. Once the list of controls for the original toolbar is obtained, the first control in the list of controls for the original toolbar is selected, in step 416. Next, in step 420, the QC menu is searched for a button corresponding to the selected control from the original toolbar.
A determination is made, in step 425, as to whether one of the buttons in the QC menu corresponds to the selected control in the original toolbar. If so, the "Yes" branch is followed to step 430; otherwise, the "No" branch is followed to step 445. In step 430, a QCI.fBuiltin for the associated button is set to a true state.
The QCI.fBuiltin is a parameter that indicates whether a control is a default control or one of the original controls located in the original or extra toolbars stored in a database. The QCI.fBuiltin exists in two states, namely a true state and a false state. The true state is indicative of a control being one of the original controls--that is, the control is a part of either the original toolbar or the extra toolbar. In the true state, a button drawn on the menu has a selectable checkbox with an associated icon so that a corresponding control can be conveniently added to and removed from the current toolbar. The false state is indicative of a control associated with a button being from some other source. In the false state, a button drawn on the menu has an unselectable checkbox with an associated icon so that a corresponding control cannot be added to or removed from the current toolbar using the checkbox for the button. Specifically, in the false state, the button drawn on the menu is grayed so that it cannot be selected. Moreover, if the QCI.fBuiltin for a control is in a false state, the associated button in the menu is removed from the menu when the control is removed from the current toolbar. However, it will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the present invention can be implemented such that the a button having a source other than the original toolbar or the extra toolbar can be drawn having a selectable checkbox on the menu, as opposed to graying the button. In this case, the control is a part of the original toolbar based on step 430. Therefore, when the button is drawn in the menu, it has a selectable checkbox.
Next, in step 435, a LastFoundIndex is set to the current index of the associated button on the QC menu. The LastFoundIndex is an index that provides relative positioning so that buttons can be placed in their proper places in the QC menu. In other words, the index is repositioned so that when a button does not correspond to the selected control, the button can be created and entered in a position before or after the index. If the selected control originates from the original toolbar, the associated button is positioned after the index. If the selected control originates from the extra toolbar, the associated button is positioned before the index.
If a determination is made that none of the buttons in the QC menu correspond to the selected control in the original toolbar, a button is created on the QC menu for the selected control in the original toolbar, in step 445. Next, QCI for the button is created in step 450. The specific QCI that is created for the button associated with the selected control in the original toolbar is described in connection with FIG. 4c herein.
Once the QCI is created for the button, in step 455 (FIG. 4b), the button corresponding to the control in the original toolbar is inserted after the LastFoundIndex in the QC menu. Next, a determination is made as to whether there are more controls in the original toolbar, in step 460. If so, the "Yes" branch is followed to step 441; otherwise, the "No" branch is followed to step 465 (FIG. 4b). In step 441, the next control in the original toolbar is selected. Once the next control in the original toolbar is selected, steps 420 through 455 are repeated for each additional control in the original toolbar.
Referring to FIG. 4b, if there are no more controls in the original toolbar, a set or list of controls for an extra toolbar is obtained from the database, in step 465. As previously mentioned, the list of controls in the extra toolbar is application specific. In step 466, the last control in the list of controls for the extra toolbar is selected. Next, in step 470, the buttons in the QC menu are searched for a button that corresponds to the control in the extra toolbar.
A central inquiry is made, in step 475, as to whether one of the buttons in the QC menu corresponds to the selected control in the extra toolbar. If so, the "Yes" branch is followed to step 480; otherwise, the "No" branch is followed to step 490. In step 480, a QCI.fBuiltin for the associated button is set to a true state because it is a part of the extra toolbar. Next, in step 485, a LastFoundIndex is set to the current index of the associated button on the QC menu.
If a determination is made that none of the buttons in the QC menu corresponds to the selected control in the extra toolbar, a button is created on the QC menu for the control in the extra toolbar in step 490. In connection with the button, QCI for the button is created in step 495. The specific QCI that is created for the button associated with the selected control in the extra toolbar is described in connection with FIG. 4e herein. Once the QCI has been created, the button corresponding to the selected control in the extra toolbar is inserted before the LastFoundIndex in the QC menu, in step 497.
Next, in step 486, a determination is made as to whether there are more controls in the extra toolbar. If so, the "Yes" branch is followed to step 487; otherwise, the "No" branch is followed to step 488. In step 487, the next control in the extra toolbar is selected, and the process is repeated from steps 470 through 497. Once all of the controls in the extra toolbar have been compared to the buttons in the QC menu, in step 488, the Reset Toolbar option and Customize option are added to the QC menu. Next, the QC menu is displayed, in step 498. The process terminates at the END step 499.
It will be appreciated that the method for drawing the QC menu, controls, toolbar, icons, and checkboxes is known in the art and therefore, is not described herein.
FIG. 4c illustrates the process for creating quick customize information for buttons corresponding to controls from a current toolbar. Specifically, this process describes step 410 (FIG. 4a) in greater detail. Referring to FIG. 4c, in step 410a, a QCI.tcr pointer points to the associated control on the current toolbar. Next, a QCI.fOnToolbar is set to a true state. The QCI.fOnToolbar is a parameter that indicates whether a control is displayed on the toolbar. The QCI.fOnToolbar exists in two states, namely a true state and a false state. The true state for a button indicates that the associated control is displayed on the toolbar and that the checkbox for the button is checked. The false state for a button indicates that the associated control is not displayed on the current toolbar and that the checkbox for the button is not checked. Finally, a QCI.fBuiltin for the button is set to a false state, in step 410c. If the QCI.fBuiltin for the button remains in a false state, the button is displayed in the QC menu when merging is complete, but the checkbox for the button is grayed, and therefore, cannot be checked.
FIG. 4d illustrates the steps for creating quick customize information for a button created based on a control in the original toolbar. Specifically, this process describes step 450 (FIG. 4a) in greater detail. Referring to FIG. 4d, in step 450a, a QCI.tcr pointer points to an associated control on the original toolbar. Next, in step 450b, a QCI.fOnToolbar is set to a false state. Finally, a QCI.fBuiltin is set to a true state, in step 450c.
FIG. 4e illustrates a process for creating quick customize information for a button created based on a control in the extra toolbar. Specifically, this process describes step 495 (FIG. 4b) in greater detail. Referring to FIG. 4e, in step 495, a QCI.tcr pointer points to an associated control on the extra toolbar. Next, in step 495b, a QCI.fOnToolbar is set to a false state. Finally, a QCI.fBuiltin is set to a true state, in step 495c.
Based on the foregoing, it will be understood that a QC menu can be created by initiating a menu open event and, in turn, merging a current toolbar, an original toolbar, and extra toolbar to create a list of buttons or selection indicators directly corresponding to the controls for each toolbar. For the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, each button in the QC menu has either a checked or empty checkbox based on whether the button is displayed in the current toolbar. Moreover, each button is presented in an order corresponding to the order presented on the current toolbar. Although this exemplary embodiment presents buttons in the menu and controls on the toolbar in a relative sequential order, it will be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to this type of presentation. An alternative embodiment can instead present buttons and toolbar controls in any order so long as the buttons are displayed in the QC menu as a result of merging the toolbars "on the fly." Yet another embodiment can include a "static" QC menu, in which the default selection indicators corresponding to controls of a toolbar are implemented during development of the underlying program module, and the state of these selection indicators are maintained in memory to support the construction of the toolbar.
Once the QC menu is created for the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, the process of customizing the current toolbar can be readily performed by a user of the program module. For example, checking and unchecking checkboxes for buttons on the QC menu adds or removes the associated controls to or from the current toolbar. A button having a QCI.fOnToolbar set to true displays a checkmark in the checkbox for the button, thereby indicating that the corresponding control element should be displayed within the toolbar.
In an alternative embodiment, the process of creating a QC menu involves using only the current toolbar, which is displayed on the display screen, and the original toolbar, which contains a list of default controls and is stored in a database (not shown) as a data source. In this alternative embodiment, there is no extra toolbar. Hence, the QC menu is created by simply merging the current toolbar with the original toolbar in a manner similar to the process previously described.
Referring to FIG. 5, an exemplary method for checking a checkbox associated with a button X in a QC menu is illustrated in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. By checking a checkbox for a button X in the QC menu, which is associated with a toolbar, a control X corresponding to the button X is added to the toolbar. The method begins at the START step 500, and in step 505, an indication is received that an empty checkbox is selected for the button X in the QC menu. Once the indication is received, the correct index must be found for the control X corresponding to the button X so that the control X can be placed in the correct position on the toolbar.
To determine the correct index for the control X, in step 510, the QC menu is searched starting with the next button in the QC menu to find a button Y having a QCI.fOnToolbar set to a true state. The true state of a QCI.fOnToolbar for a button is indicative of the button having its corresponding control displayed on the toolbar and having its checkbox checked. A determination is made, in step 515, as to whether a button Y having its checkbox checked has been located. If so, the "Yes" branch is followed to step 520; otherwise, the "No" branch is followed to step 525, in which case the control X corresponding to the button X is placed at the end of the toolbar. In step 520, the index of a control Y, which corresponds to the button Y, is located on the toolbar. Next, in step 530, the control X corresponding to the button X in the QC menu is inserted on the toolbar before the index of the control Y.
A central inquiry is then made, in step 535, as to whether the control X begins a group of controls. Controls typically are grouped according to some related function and usually are demarcated by a separator or gap to distinguish groups. A separator or gap in a toolbar preferably is identified by a vertical line. For example, referring back to FIG. 2a, separators exist between buttons 210 and 212, buttons 216 and 218, buttons 218 and 220, and buttons 220 and 222 on the toolbar 202.
One example of a group of controls is the group of Bold, Italic, and Underline. In this example, the Bold control begins the group and is marked by a bit to indicate that the Bold control is the first control of the group. When the Bold control is displayed in the toolbar, it is accompanied by a separator based on the bit. If the Bold control is deleted or removed from the toolbar, the separator is moved to the next control in the group, namely the Italic control. When the Bold control is added back to the toolbar, the separator is removed from the Italic control so that the Bold and Italic controls are not displayed as separate groups.
If the control X begins a group, the "Yes" branch is followed to step 540; otherwise, the "No" branch is followed to step 545. In step 540, the control Y is located on the toolbar, and determination is made, in step 555, as to whether the control Y has a gap on the toolbar. If a determination is made that the control Y has a gap on the toolbar, the "Yes" branch is followed to step 560; otherwise, the "No" branch is followed to step 565. In step 560, the button Y corresponding to the control Y is located, and another determination is made, in step 570, as to whether the button Y has a gap in the QC menu. If so, the "Yes" branch is followed to step 565, in which case a gap is added to the control X in the toolbar; otherwise, the "No" branch is followed to step 575, in which case the gap for the control Y is removed in the toolbar, and a gap then is added to the control X in the toolbar, in step 565. Next, in step 580, the QCI.fOnToolbar for button X is set to a true state, thereby placing a checkmark in the checkbox for button X. The process terminates at the END step 585.
If a determination is made that the control X does not begin a group, the QC menu is searched backwards from the button X, which corresponds to the control X, to find a button Z having a QCI.fOnToolbar set to a true state or beginning a group, in step 545. Next, a central inquiry is made, in step 546, as to whether the button Z has been located. If so, the "Yes" branch is followed to step 550, where a determination is made as to whether the button Z has a checkmark; otherwise, the "No" branch is followed to step 580. If the determination is made that the button Z has a checkmark or if button Z is not located, the search ends, and in step 580, the QCI.fOnToolbar for button X is set to a true state, thereby placing a checkmark in the checkbox for button X in the QC menu. If a button Z having a checkmark in not located in the QC menu, a gap is added to the control X on the toolbar, thereby indicating that the control X is the first control on the toolbar. Next, in step 580, the QCI.fOnToolbar for button X is set to a true state, thereby placing a checkmark in the checkbox for button X in the QC menu. The process terminates at the END step 585.
With continuing reference to FIGS. 1∝5, FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for unchecking a button on a quick customize menu in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Unchecking a checkbox for a button removes the corresponding control from the toolbar. Referring to FIG. 6, the exemplary method starts with the START step 600, and in step 602, an indication is received that a checked checkbox for a button is selected. Next, in step 604, the QCI.fOnToolbar is set to a false state. In step 606, the index of the QCI.tcr is located on the toolbar. The QCI.tcr is a pointer that points to the control on the toolbar. Once the index of the QCI.tcr is located on the toolbar, the index is deleted, in step 608. As a result, in step 610, the toolbar is updated to reflect removal of the control, which is located at the index, from the toolbar, where the control is associated with the now empty checkbox for the button on the QC menu. The process ends at the END step 612.
In another alternative embodiment, when a checkbox for a button is unchecked, the corresponding control on the toolbar is simply hidden from view, instead of removed from the toolbar, as described above with respect to FIG. 6. Consequently, the process of merging toolbars to create the QC menu, as described in connection with FIGS. 4a-4e, is unnecessary.
In summary, it will be understood that the present invention provides supports customization of a toolbar by use of a quick customize menu. The present invention provides a "discoverable" customization mechanism that allows a user to select which control elements should be displayed on a toolbar by accessing a GUI element presenting information and controls related to the presentation of these control elements. For example, an exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a user intuitive mechanism for accessing a dropdown menu, namely the quick customize menu, for presenting selection indicators corresponding to available control elements of a toolbar. In response to accessing the quick customize menu and selecting a particular selection indicator, the presentation of a corresponding control element can be easily controlled by the user. For example, by enabling a selection indicator, the corresponding control element is presented for operation on the toolbar, whereas disabling this selection indicator results in no presentation of the corresponding control element on the toolbar.
The invention may conveniently be implemented in one or more program modules that are based upon an implementation of the features illustrated in FIGS. 2-6. No particular programming language has been described for carrying out the various procedures described above because it is considered that the operations, steps, and procedures described above and illustrated in the accompanying drawings are sufficiently disclosed to permit one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the present invention. Moreover, there are many computers and operating systems which may be used in practicing the present invention and therefore no detailed computer program could be provided which would be applicable to all of these many different systems. Each user of a particular computer will be aware of the language and tools which are most useful for that user's needs and purposes.
Although the present invention was described in the context of a word processing program module, which displays a standard toolbar, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention is applicable not only to word processing program module, but also to other types of GUI features and program modules. Similarly, the present invention may be applied regardless of whether the GUI elements and controls are implemented in program modules associated with an operating system or application program.
Although the present invention was described having a toolbar horizontally oriented at the top of and physically attached to an application window, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention is not limited to this arrangement, but may include a toolbar that can be positioned anywhere in the application window. Furthermore, the toolbar can be vertically oriented, floating, or any combination thereof.
if the QC menu does not include the default control matching selection indicator, placing on the QC menu a default control selection indicator corresponding to the first default control, the default control selection indicator being placed on the QC menu after the index so as to maintain the relative orders of the first sequence and the second sequence.
if the QC menu does not include the extra control matching selection indicator, placing on the QC menu an extra control selection indicator corresponding to the first extra control, the extra control selection indicator being placed on the QC menu before the index so as to maintain the relative orders of the first sequence and the third sequence.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein selecting the first extra control from the plurality of extra controls comprises selecting one of the plurality of extra controls located in a last position in the extra toolbar.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding to the QC menu a reset option for resetting the toolbar to a default state and a customize option for providing additional customization features.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein each selection indicator corresponding to one of the current controls comprises an icon having a corresponding checkbox.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein each selection indicator indicating that the corresponding current control is located on the current toolbar comprises a checkmark placed in each corresponding checkbox.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the first default control from the plurality of default controls comprises selecting one of the plurality of default controls located in a first position in the original toolbar.
wherein each selection indicator included in the QC menu is represented by a checkbox control item operating in a first state when a checkmark is placed in the checkbox control item and operating in a second state when the checkmark is removed from the checkbox control item.
in the event that the particular selection indicator is placed in the second state, disabling presentation on the current toolbar of one of the current controls corresponding to the particular selection indicator.
wherein each selection indicator included in the QC menu is represented by a radio button control item operating in a first state when the radio button control item is enabled and operating in a second state when the radio button control item is disabled.
wherein each selection indicator included in the QC menu is represented by a control item operating in a first state when enabled and operating in a second state when the control item is disabled.
14. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.
in response to determining that the next selection indicator has the second associated separator, adding a third separator to the selected control on the toolbar.
in response to determining that the previous control is not displayed on the toolbar, adding the third separator to the selected control on the toolbar.
in response to determining that the next control on the toolbar does not have the first associated separator, adding the third separator to the selected control on the toolbar.
adding the third separator to the selected control on the toolbar.
19. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 15.
"Intelligent Tool Tracker/Display IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin", vol. 37, No. 2A Feb. 1, 1999, p. 175.
"Suitable Icon" IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, vol. 39, No. 11, pp. 63-64, 1996.
Microsoft Word User's Guide, Version 5.0, ©Copyright 1991-1992 Microsoft Corporation, pp. 61-66.
Microsoft® Works Reference, Appendix E: Macros, ©Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1987, 1988, 1989, pp. 369-382.
Steve Harris, et al. "Inside WordPerfect 6 for Windows", New Riders Publishing, p. 1063, 1994. | 2019-04-22T13:27:33Z | https://patents.google.com/patent/US6133915A/en |
Have you ever wondered what consulting with Joe Sanok is like? Do you wonder whether or not it would be beneficial to your business? Are you feeling stuck in your phase of private practice?
In this episode, Joe Sanok speaks consults with Melissa Dohse live to give an example of what consulting with him is like.
I specialize with survivors of trauma, women in the postpartum period, and individuals parenting with PTSD.
Melissa is an LCSW that has been out of Grad School for five years doing counseling work for non- profits and a consulting job on a native American reservation. She decided in January that she wanted to commit to starting a private practice, a dream she had for many years. Melissa took the next six months (January-June) to wrap up her previous employment and get all her ducks in a row. She listened to so many of Practice of the Practice’s podcasts, followed the 28-step checklist and read many of our blogs in the lead up to her launch. Melissa officially launched four weeks ago and she’s completely full already and has a waitlist. She only wanted to do the private practice part-time, as she has two young children.
How many clients are you currently seeing?
How much are you charging per session?
What is your office set-up like?
Are you interested in adding clinicians to your practice?
Why do you want a thriving practice?
What’s preventing you from attaining a thriving private practice?
What low-hanging fruit could you look at outsourcing?
How is your website set up?
This is the Practice of the Practice Podcast with Joe Sanok, session #280.
[MUSIC] [INTRODUCTION] Joe Sanok: Well, welcome to the Practice of the Practice Podcast. I am Joe Sanok. You are live in the Radio Center Two Building in beautiful downtown Traverse City. I am so thrilled that you’re hanging out with me today. We are all about starting, growing, and scaling private practices in really innovative ways. On this podcast, we cover all sorts of things that I an curious about, and you know, it has been probably since 2012-2013, that I have been doing one-on-one consulting with people and in the last couple of years have launched some Mastermind groups and we also have our Next Level Practice which is for people just starting out at out supportive community over at www.practiceofthepractice.com/invite. But often if you haven’t had a chance to do one-on-one consulting with me or with anyone, you don’t necessarily know what it’s like. And so Melissa – today’s guest Melissa Dohse – she reached out to me and she has been a big listener. She has downloaded a bunch of stuff, follow the emails, really launched it, and said hey Joe, would you be off for doing a live consulting session to help me get to that next level of practice and I thought, you know, this would be a good chance to really kind of show what’s it’s like for someone that’s just at the beginning phases. Most of my consulting now is for people that are right there on the $100,000 ready to really scale up. And Alison Pidgeon is doing a bunch of one-on-one consulting and also running some Mastermind groups, and we are looking to maybe adding more consultants to Practice of the Practice so that we can really help everybody at every phase of practice.
But today on the show is super exciting for me because… we haven’t done much of this, where I have done the consulting on the podcast. So hopefully get some takeaways and Melissa has just rocked it out and grown so quickly and to learn from her, one of our five fierce females in February. She is rocking it out. So without any further ado, I give you Melissa Dohse.
Well, today on the Practice of the Practice Podcast, we have Melissa Dohse. She is an LCSW and and she is the owner and operator of Cultivate Counseling down in Flagstaff. Melissa has been in the social work for the last 10 years with a focus on Women on Trauma. Melissa, welcome to the Practice of the Practice Podcast.
Melissa Dohse: Thanks for having me. I am excited to be here.
[THE CONSULTING SESSION PODCAST – INITIAL DETAILS] Joe Sanok: Yeah, this is a unique kind of podcast for doing today. You dropped me an email, maybe a month or so ago, and tell the audience what you said in that email.
Joe Sanok: Yeah, so why don’t I sketch out – I [00:05:35.00] like this is like one of our first sessions. We haven’t talked about this before this moment. And so kind of the process of what it would be for people that are listening is they would usually go to www.practiceofthepractice.com/consulting. I have got some testimonials and videos, kind of sketches that sketch out what consulting is. So someone would then kind of have in their mind they have at least a basic framework going into the application. And so they know that we are probably going to do two sessions a month for the first couple months and then we will move to once a month. We use Trello to keep track of kind of all that we are working on and that really is meant to help you create a plan for me to walk through when you get stuck during that time. And so if you had already kind of applied for consulting, then I have Emily my Director of Details. She goes through all of those applications and she reaches out usually within 24 hours, usually faster than that, and then says, hey Melissa. Looks like, you are a great fit for consulting. I just have a couple follow up questions for Joe to prepare him for your pre-consulting call. And so then she would look through what your goals are. Make sure they align with what you get out of consulting. And then we have a pre-consulting call, which is kind of like where you and I are going to start while also may be getting a little into as if there was consulting today. Does that sound, Melissa?
Melissa Dohse: Yeah, that sounds awesome.
[QUESTIONS LOOKED INTO AS PART OF CONSULTING PROCESS] [Why Did You Decide To Go into Counseling] Joe Sanok: Cool. So for consulting phone call, I love to kind of hear your back story of why you went into counseling. Tell me a little bit. You started listening while you are driving to the Hopi Reservation. What was going on that made you want to start a practice?
Joe Sanok: How long it was that you had kids?
Melissa Dohse: Yeah, so I have a 3-1/2-year-old and then I have an almost 1-year-old.
Joe Sanok: That’s a busy age.
Joe Sanok: It really sounds like flexibility, be able to be there for your kids, that’s what really drew you into starting your practice?
[How Many Clients Are You Currently Seeing] Joe Sanok: And then how would you frame out how your practice is right now in regards to numbers, in regrds to how happy you are with where you are at. I mean a few minutes ago, you said that you were surprised that you were so full after just 9 weeks… nine weeks, six weeks?
Joe Sanok: You have 15 clients. How many sessions a week do you think you are doing right now?
Melissa Dohse: I say, 10-12 sessions a week.
[How Much Are You Charging Per Session] Joe Sanok: And what you’re charging per session?
Melissa Dohse: So right now I am paneled with one insurance company and that is the payoff for about $80, but then I have about probably 4-5 private pay clients who pay $120.
Joe Sanok: All right. So if we’re at 4-5 times 120, so that’s about $600 a week and then if we have 7 times 80 or so, that’s $560 a week. All right. So you’re just around like $1100-$1200 a week. Is that about right?
Melissa Dohse: Yeah, yeah. I was averaging, I was kind of estimating around a $1000 plus depending on if I have any cancellations or anything like that come up.
[What are Your Expenses?] Joe Sanok: Okay, and tell me about your expenses what you’re spending money on.
Joe Sanok: Who recommended that, that’s a great idea [LAUGH].
Joe Sanok: Now with that is there any sort of limit as to like could you upgrade to three days a week or four days a week if you wanted to?
Melissa Dohse: Ahm, it’s kind of a conversations I shared with one other therapist, and he is not using it a ton. So we talked about it a few weeks ago, and he is like, yeah, you know, you could probably make it work for a while. There is three of us putting in and so that person looks like they are going to back out. So I think there would be an option to go to a third day. I would probably go up to like $120 a month or something [00:12:44.03]. But, yeah, so there is an option for a third day. Probably not a fourth day because of the other therapists that I am sharing it with.
Joe Sanok: Mm-hmm. And how many offices? Would that just one office?
Melissa Dohse: You know, I don’t actually know. He just had sent me a message, but I think it’s probably one, maybe bigger office.
[Are You Interested in Adding Clinicians to Your Practice?] Joe Sanok: Okay. So, yeah. I think that’s something that when you’re at a point that you are starting to turn people away and you want to have that lifestyle, looking at, well, how do I continue to scale, how do I continue to grow – so looking at do you start raising your rates for private pay, do you start adding clinicians? When you think about scaling and growing since you have such a strong start, what are areas that you are like I definitely would like to do that versus I am not sure I want to do that versus I definitely don’t want to do that?
Joe Sanok: Yeah, I think when I work with people I always look for the low hanging fruit, like what do we do right away that’s going to help bring in money, but use of a ton of your time and so, yes, you want to have an optimized website, you want good marketing, you want all of that, but you’ve got a great flow of people already coming in and you really don’t want to get the reputation that you are hard to get into that takes for ever, that you are not seeing clients because to undo that it takes a lot of time.
Joe Sanok: So I am apt to keep running with the sprint, and if you are comfortable talking about how to add clinicians to your practice and kind of some those first steps and addressing some of that mindset, stuff around. Well, I might good enough. I just started. Like kind I really do this and some of that is genuinely, like yeah you should learn something. You need to learn how to be a manager. You need to learn how to organize people. Like, yes, maybe there are skills that we have built in you over kind of the long-term consulting whereas maybe there is other things that is like you are good enough. You launched a practice. You listen to hundreds of hours of podcast. You know a ton compared to other people and you probably are selling yourself short of the knowledge that you have. Because when you are around other high achievers or you are listening to people that I have interviewed or blogs you compare yourself to those people and feel like you always come up short. Whereas in reality, compared to the local counselors you are probably in the top one percent already in regards to mindset, in regards to knowledge, in regards to your ability to scale your practice.
[Why do You Want a Thriving Practice?] Joe Sanok: Well, I want to step back a little bit from kind of the advice side of your practice and here about your why’s – something I always do kind of on these consulting calls. Tell me why you want to have a thriving practice? I know part of that you said was your kids, but if you had a six figure or a multi six figure practice, how would your life be different?
Melissa Dohse: I think of this freedom to be with my family more. My husband works like 65 hours a week and we really want him to step away from that and it would be great if I could make enough in three days to support our family. So I think that’s been a conversation between us since like If I added a day and you quit this job where we don’t get to see you that much, like how could that change our family. So I think that is a huge piece of it.
Joe Sanok: And so have you looked at how much income would have to be replaced if you were to step back from that position or do a lateral move?
Joe Sanok: So really you are two-thirds of the way there, just another day could potentially change your life in regards to seeing your husband more, being around your kids all that.
Melissa Dohse: Yeah and I think [00:18:37.28] just a huge need. There is… you know, I get calls every week I got a call… actually, I was in Traverse City a few weeks ago and I got a call. I was there and this client was like, “Nobody has openings on this time. Like, everybody is full.” She is like I have called therapists after therapists. And she said you are supposed to be the one with opening. Someone told me you just opened and I was like, “I know and I did like two weeks ago,” so like it’s just a need that I am hearing so often. In fact [00:19:09.01] there’s actually only one group practice in town.
[What is Preventing you From Attaining a Thriving Private Practice?] Joe Sanok: So what’s standing in the way of opening up a third day?
Joe Sanok: Sure. So I wonder [00:20:05.12] if using something like www.care.com… and I know that it sounds like it’s less financial and more like [00:20:10.29] consistent care givers which totally makes sense, but defined even a nanny for that day in the short run so that you can keep that momentum going while you are adding clinicians. Then you won’t be turning people away. I mean you probably in hour or two hours make enough to cover that nanny for the day or to even look at other things you could outsource just even in your personal life like grocery shopping or cleaning or things so that you have that like quality time with the kids rather than just kind of short of time. I think that’s something that often times we underestimate. You know if we spend a Saturday mowing the lawn and trimming the bushes and getting food like, that’s not a day that we genuinely have with our family and I am a big proponent of designing the lifestyle you want. And when you are cash strapped that’s harder, but if it’s like okay, if I work one more day or week, I can then pay for two full days for the family replacement [00:21:06.07] income and have more of a lifestyle and I don’t have to be doing all the stuff that maybe I have done in the past. Does that makes sense?
Melissa Dohse: Right… Mm-hmm. Yeah.
[What Low-Hanging Fruit Could You Look at Outsourcing?] Joe Sanok: What kind of low-hanging fruit would you say there is in regards to potentially moving towards outsourcing certain things in your life that you don’t like doing, that would give you more time with your kids or more time with your husband?
Melissa Dohse: [LAUGH] And cooking. I have looked into, like… we have done the [00:21:40.27] services….
Joe Sanok: Yeah, blue [00:21:42.28] or something….
Melissa Dohse: Yeah, I wasn’t like [00:21:44.24] about them.
Joe Sanok: And it gets kind of expensive. I mean, like for that [00:21:48.16] pretty much like go out to eat at a decent restaurant.
Melissa Dohse: Yeah, so… I think, yeah, probably like food is not my thing, which is so [00:22:05.04] my husband is a restaurant manager and he loves cooking. Right… On his days off he likes to cook. So it’s like, all he does is cook, but… I end up doing most of the cooking. So I don’t really like cooking, and… I don’t mind cleaning and like [00:22:19.21]. So I don’t have much in my home to clean. But, yeah, I don’t know, it’s a hard question. The other piece is we just bought a house this summer. So there’s just a lot of like home projects to be done. So it would probably be more about stuff like hiring someone to put in our baseboards and hiring someone to, you know, like get our yard in place [00:22:39.13] it’s just a lot of house projects now that we’ve never had before.
Joe Sanok: And so I would really want to, if we are working together, over the long haul, I would want to make sure that we really evaluate are there things that are on your plate, the things that have to be on your plate or are there tools or people that could take that off of your plate? Does that make sense?
Melissa Dohse: Yeah, and my and I have talked about him kind of becoming that person, where he quits his job, like becoming kind of the assistant for me, you know, doing some of my dealing with… you know if I move into a good practice, doing some of the management piece, the billing piece, taxes, you know all that kind of stuff.
Joe Sanok: Now, would your husband take a job for 15 bucks an hour?
Melissa Dohse: It would actually be a lateral move for him… yeah.
Joe Sanok: So, it would be a lateral move for him… Okay. And that’s where I want to… For some people, it’s no. Absolutely not. For other people, it’s llike, yeah.
Joe Sanok: But usually as a rule of thumb, that isn’t recommended because it just adds extra stress to the couple than instead of just one of you thinking about your business all the time and having to learn to pull back on that. Now you both are. And so I would want to just make sure we looked at the pros and cons of that versus him finding a job that he can show up to, he can enjoy, he feels filled up with, and then he can come home and would be 100 percent there for you and you guys can kind of step back together. So I would want to make sure we evaluated that. So kind of the three big goals that I am hearing are first, to really just examine how your lifestyle fits in with your business and making sure that we’re outsourcing everything we can, that we are setting up systems that are sustainable for long-term multi-six-figure growth. Because to do this much in such a short period of time, I think it’s important that we really set up systems that aren’t just like this hotch-potch, but that they can take you up to 6k, but that they can also take you to a multi six figure practice without having to change and undo too much. I am also hearing that scaling it, there’s a lot of opportunity here. And so adding contractors to your practice and figuring out how to do that. And a really kind of clear way would be a big goal of our consulting. And then third, I am hearing kind of other streams of income such as supervision being a part of the equation as well. You know, there’s just some kind of logistical things in Flagstaff to get certifications to do supervision. But then how do you market yourself? How do you stand out to be a supervisor, and all of that? Do that sound like it captures kind of your three big goals for consulting?
Melissa Dohse: Yeah, definitely. I think that systems pieces, like, has been really hard for me because I expected to have the time to set up systems.
Melissa Dohse: And I haven’t. So that piece has been where I feel like I am really lacking.
Joe Sanok: Yeah. And so if we are working together over the next six months, the first month I would say we would spend the first two sessions really evaluating your systems – what’s working, what’s not working, what do you understand, what can your outsource. So even something as simple as “I know I should be blogging.” Well, should you be the one that’s blogging? Should we hire a copywriter that will write some blogs for you and then you kind of go and then add your essence to those blogs. So that you write 20 percent of them. Or if you’re more audio for you to just talk into something and have someone transcribe it while you are driving or while you are going for walk or something. So finding ways that we can kind of overlap parts of your life, so we can multiply your time. Because you are busy, you have kids, you have a practice that’s thriving already. So figuring out what really should you be doing, what shouldn’t you be doing. And then having even someone like an IT person that if your website breaks down they jump in there while you are in session rather than you doing it. Who do have your website through?
[How is Your Website Set Up?] [OPTIMIZING PRACTICE; SCALING PRACTICE] Joe Sanok: Squarespace. Okay. So good for SEO, but we may want to have somebody like Jaime Jay from Slapshot Studio at least go ahead and just make sure website is optimized for SEO and kind of outsource that to someone that knows what they are doing SEO wise. And the metaphor that I like is the idea of a ship. You know, I’m a sailor, and so we got to make sure that the hatches are battened down. We got to make sure that everything is kind of tight like it’s supposed to before we set the sail. Otherwise, we are going to take on water and if we add people to the boat that’s not going to help us optimize this. So making sure the practice is optimized, so I say that would be like phase I. And then phase II I would say would be, us really looking at how do we scale. And so what we would do is in Trello. We would create a board for you, where it has Melissa’s one thing, so the one thing that you need to do between now and her session. So that might be here’s the systems to evaluate. l want you to meet with these people and get quotes and see if that fits within your budget and then next let’s look at outsourcing as much of that as we can to free up your time and mental energy to work on bringing clinicians. Then we’ll have Melissa’s next things, which is another column. And so as we talked during consulting, I am talking notes in there, adding cards. I can drop videos and checklists and due dates into that. And so that could be what you need to do next step to your one thing. It could be something that’s six months or a year from now that I want to stay on your radar. Then next column would be questions for Joe. And so if between sessions you had questions or thoughts you wanted to work on, you drop those in there. Then in our next consulting session, we can be super organized and efficient rather than looking through emails and be like, “Didn’t you send me something you wanted to talk about or if kind of what that was?” Like, so it’s all just in that one spot.
Joe Sanok: Then the fourth column would be your KPIs, your key performance indicators. So we would say what are the key performance indicators of success in consulting with me. So that might be I want to be at $2000 a week, but I don’t want to work more than 25 hours a week. So we keep track of those very clear indicators, almost like a treatment plan where there are goals that are measurable outcomes, same sort of idea, but a fancy business term KPI. So we keep it really kind of structured within Trello, so that you know where you are at, I know where you are at. You don’t have this big list of 20 things to do and so you know this is the one next thing that I need to be working at. So then in regards to scaling and adding clinicians, tell me what you’ve thought about in regards to that already, so that we are not kind of repeating things you’ve already thought about.
[HOW TO KEEP COUNSELORS IN PRIVATE PRACTICE/ PROVIDING QUALITY SERVICES / MANAGING PRIVATE PRACTICE] Melissa Dohse: Ahm, I mean I think I have just thought like… I think my biggest hesitancy is like how do you do it well, so that there is an incentive to keep people around. I think the different people I have known in Denver and also have had good practices it seems like kind of revolving door of clinicians that come through. And so my biggest hesitancy is like how do you keep people incentivized to stay, how do you pay them enough and value them enough that they would rather work for you than go start their own things. So I think that’s probably the piece that’s been the biggest question for me. I think too just… yeah, like, how much do I have to check in with those people? How do I ensure they are providing quality services that would be, you know, prior to say yes they were critical to the counseling. Just some of that management piece. I think I have done a lot of supervision of clinicians in Denver, but I haven’t done a lot of managing. So I think looking at that piece. Yeah, those kind of… those are the big ones.
Joe Sanok: … there is a very clear line where I write a check to each one of their companies because the company can’t be a W-2 employee. So my local attorney kind of advised me on [00:34:34.20] how do we best make sure that it’s super clear that they are 1099s. And then they can also write off all their business expenses. So they can work with their accountant on what can I write off these dinners where I’m talking about my practice? Can I write off these expenses? There’s a lot of things that they can then write off that really helps out. So I think that’s kind of decision number one. It’s W-2 versus 1099, and then if you decide to do a percentage-based model which I would say whether you are doing W-2 or 1099 working with an accountant and an attorney on how to do a percentage-based model. I much prefer that. And so that means that they get a certain percentage of what comes in. And so my structure is that when someone first joins Mental Wellness Counseling, they are in what’s called the onboarding phase. And the onboarding phase they are in until they have their first month they bring in $2500. And so they are considered onboarding until then. And so I take 50 percent and then they get 50 percent until they have their first month that they bring in $2500. I picked that number because you know to hit that you have to have some relatively consistent clients. You have to have made some traction, connected in the community and all that takes time for me and for them, because I’m marketing the practice. I am trying to make us look good to the community and also introduce them to the community while they are doing kind of the same. They are out there marketing themselves, shaking hands, meeting people, blogging. And so there’s a lot of extra time on the front end. And so that kind of pays for my time when they are in their onboarding phase. After that, it switches over to that they are full clinicians. And so they get 50 percent of the first $1000 that comes in, then after that they get 65 percent upto $2500 for the month, then after that they get 75 percent. And so that really incentivizes the higher achievers if they are bringing in 8 or 10 grand a month for them to say, well, you know, the first $2500 Joe gets between 35 percent and 50 percent, but I get 75 percent after that. When you really look at most overhead for if they were to go on their own, they can expect 20 percent to 30 percent going towards their overhead. And so their incentive to leave isn’t really there.
Joe Sanok: Also, I look for people that they want to show up into counseling and do really awesome counseling and they are probably not as interested in going out and starting their own practice. And so if somebody says, yeah, I would love to have a practice, well, you are probably not the best person for me because I am going to get you going, and then you’re going to leave, right, when things get going well.
Joe Sanok: So then, that’s kind of how the structure is and then in regards to sticking around, I think that’s more the soft skill of management or of connecting. You know, to emotionally connect with people, help people get growing, giving them opportunities that go beyond just the finances. And so getting them on local radio. Helping them kind of be famous in your community through the press releases that you develop. Those are all things that a lot of people don’t know how to do, so the more that you can know how to market people, the easier that’s going to be to launch them, but also have them stick around.
Joe Sanok: Cool. So if we were in a consulting session, at this point we will talk about kind of your next steps for our next consulting session. And so if I was to say what your one thing is, I would say your one thing kind of moving forward between now and our next consulting session would be to really look at kind of those nuts and bolts of your practice, see where you need to firm things up. And really if you want to be working three days a week, then I would say even if you can fill that, get in the habit of working three days a week so that you can be working on the practice. Get everything kind of set up so that if you are working on your website for day three, then you can slowly start to insert people into that day. And you have the child care kind of all set up for you.
Joe Sanok: Oh no, fell off the conveyor belt. Yeah, and so then I usually end with where do you think you’re going to get stuck or what questions do you have?
[MANAGING WAIT LISTS] Melissa Dohse: Oh, yeah. So the question which is like you know I know you talk about never having a wait list. So what do you do if you… say I get to a third day and it’s like, “Oh, that day is filled up,” what do you say, okay, at the point you really got a push towards adding connections?
Joe Sanok: I would say you’re at the point of adding clinicians now.
Joe Sanok: I want you to tighten things up with the practice and really start to add clinicians now. That’s going to run into a space issue, but I mean you’re pretty close to October and so if you can upgrade your space so that you have one or two offices, that’s going to make it lot easier to scale. And really I would be more apt to say if you and your family don’t need the money right away, I would see if you can try to get a two-office space so that you can really start to scale on the next year rather than just jump up to your own office to only jump up to a two-office suite. I mean if you have a clinician that joins you [00:40:11.04] want to spend more time kind of going into that. But I would say if you can find a two-office space that’s in that $400 to $500 range, you can always sublet it for six months to make ends meet. And then maybe, you know, as you add clinicians in. I would also be apt to probably raise your rates – I mean you’re $120 now. If you are able to get five people that easily, I would say it’s probably time to jump to $135 and maybe have your intake be $150. That’s going to eliminate some people. You may not get as many people, but you will be making more money in a less amount of time, and I hope so. I would [00:40:50.19] on your next couple phone calls and just say my private pay rate is $150 for an intake and $135 per session. And I would be surprised if you didn’t keep getting just as many people.
Joe Sanok: And that’s why I take notes in Trello, and I can say all right, here’s all the stuff you need to do.
Joe Sanok: [00:41:21.12] [LAUGH] it was in the podcast.
Joe Sanok: Awesome. Well, Melissa, thanks so much for reaching out to me and asking if you could have this live consulting session. If people want to connect with you, what’s the best way for them to connect with you?
Melissa Dohse: Aah, probably my website. It’s www.cultivatecounselingflagstaff.com, and they can e-mail me on there. There’s a form they can fill out to connect with me.
Joe Sanok: Perfect. And if every counselor in the world were listening right now, what would you want them to know?
Joe Sanok: Yeah, I totally agree. Yeah, that’s the thing I heard over and over at Slow Down School from the participants like [00:42:17.10], taking care of themselves, like that’s the thing that helps them scale. So… well, Melissa, thank you so much for being on the Practice of the Practice Podcast.
Melissa Dohse: Thanks Joe. It was so fun.
Joe Sanok: All right. Bye.
Joe Sanok: Isn’t that great to see how much Melissa has grown in such a short period of time. You know, you can absolutely do that and if you are just starting out and you want my 28-step checklist on how to start a practice, a 5-minute video to know how easy is to rank in your area and paced-out e-mails to walk you through that process of starting your practice, if you are anywhere under that $40,000 a year and you’re just getting going, head on over to www.practiceofthepractice.com/start. And you know what, if you are growing and you want some extra help, we have tons of downloads over at www.practiceofthepractice.com/resources. That’s where we have books, we have walk-throughs and how to start a group practice, all of our different things that for you are totally free. We aren’t charging for these at all. We have created over 20 different resources and we would love you to head over there. So thanks for letting me into your ears and into your brain. Next week, we have Rachael Norman who has launched a really amazing app to help people get reimbursement from private pay or from their insurance, and it really automates a lot of it. And it’s fully free for you. You clients are… they pay a small percentage for that service and it’s super amazing, super helpful. So next week make sure you tune in, and I’ll see you next week for five fierce females in February. We’re twice a week this month. So tune in. Thanks for letting us into your ears and into your brain. Have an amazing day. See you.
This podcast is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It’s given with the understanding that neither the host, the publisher or the guests are rendering any legal, accounting, clinical or other professional information. If you need a professional, you should find one. | 2019-04-22T00:27:39Z | https://www.practiceofthepractice.com/live-consulting-joe-melissa-dohse-series-3-5-five-fierce-females-pop-280/ |
When it comes to energy technology, Westinghouse put Pittsburgh on the map. In addition to pioneering countless technologies, including the application of alternating currents, the first fully electric range, the television cameras that made it possible to watch men land on the moon and revolutionary research in batteries and materials, Westinghouse technology made our nuclear Navy possible. In fact, Westinghouse has been responsible for 40 percent of the world's nuclear technology.
After Westinghouse was broken up, many of its energy businesses have spun-off or been purchased by other companies, creating new opportunities in several technologies. At the same time, the use of clean, renewable energies has been growing.
In just the past few years, our country’s economy has faced enormous challenges, including a recession, the terrorist acts of 9/11, the ongoing war in Iraq, the devastating Gulf Coast hurricanes that impacted the nation’s oil and gas production and an unprecedented global energy demand.
One of the best solutions to our current energy crisis is to increase our energy efficiency. The comprehensive National Energy Policy Act of 2005 provided incentives for traditional energy production and, more importantly, it placed an emphasis on using science and technology to meet growing energy needs with an environmentally responsible approach. Next-generation nuclear power and hydrogen fuel cells are being developed, but the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) also is working towards the establishment of a diverse energy portfolio, which includes renewable energy sources like solar, wind and biomass, as well as traditional fossil fuels.
In addition to creating jobs and promoting economic growth, renewable energy development can help to counteract rising fuel prices. Following the example set by the private sector, which already is putting more of its money into alternative fuels, congress plans to increase funding next year for federal research in clean energy technologies, including biofuels, solar and wind power.
In an increasingly deregulated market, the cost and supply of electricity will become progressively more of concern to all Americans, and because Pennsylvania is a major exporter of electricity, Pittsburgh is poised to take advantage of the changes taking place in the national electricity market.
A 100 megawatt wind farm, over the course of its 20-year lifetime, has the capacity to generate an amount of electricity that would require approximately 2.9 million tons of coal or more than 62 billion cubic feet of natural gas to be generated by traditional U.S. grid sources.
The global utility-scale wind power market is expected to reach $130 billion by 2016, according to a recent study by WinterGreen research. By the fourth quarter of 2013, with 61,108 megawatts of installed wind capacity, enough to power 15.3 million typical American homes, the U.S. had become the world’s wind energy leader, representing more than 19 percent of the world's installed wind power. Concurrently, with 25 existing wind farms or wind power projects, including nine in the southwestern Pennsylvania, the state has gained prominence in the wind power industry, more than tripling its capacity to 1,340 megawatts since 2008. Pennsylvania ranks 15th nationally in total installed wind capacity, with 720 turbines creating electricity which powers approximately 300,000 homes and accounts for nearly 1.5 percent of the state’s power.
Late in 2011, Duquesne University began purchasing up to 20 percent of its electricity from wind power sources in Pennsylvania to supplement the power it generates from an on-campus natural gas-fired cogeneration plant, which produces about 80 percent of the campus' electricity. Duquesne previously purchased about 7 percent of its supplemental electricity from wind-power sources.
The wind power installed in Pennsylvania is equal to nearly 39 million tons of coal each year, and it avoids nearly 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, the equivalent of taking approximately 350,000 cars off the road. Meanwhile, thanks to technology advancements, the cost of wind-generated electricity has declined from 30 cents per kilowatt-hour since the early 1980s to an average of 6.5 cents today.
Versatile and adaptable, wind energy is the kinetic energy of large masses of air moving over the earth. A wind turbine converts this energy into mechanical energy and then into electric energy. As the blades of the turbine rotate, the energy in the shaft can be used to operate a mechanical device or produce electricity with a generator. Offering more competitive costs in commercial power markets, wind energy is fast becoming a viable, zero-emission, utility-scale energy source.
Some six million residential energy customers of First Energy now may opt in to a wind-generated power program. Carnegie Mellon University, for example currently uses wind to supply approximately 75 percent of its energy needs, which is a significant increase since 2001, when only five percent of its demands were provided by wind.
The 15-megawatt Mill Run Wind Farm is located in Fayette County and has 10 turbines, the nine- megawatt Somerset Wind Farm has six turbines, with more planned for delivery in that county. The two sites operate as a single wind power project, with all 16 turbines capable of producing an estimated 24 megawatts each year, enough energy to power approximately 6,300 average Pennsylvania homes. Owned by the nation's largest windmill owner-operator, Florida-based FPL Energy, these windmills are just the beginning. The company is actively scouting ridges and mountains throughout Pennsylvania, as they follow through on their plans to build more sites.
Greensburg, Pennsylvania-based US Wind Force LLC in 2010 executed two 20-year power purchase agreements for the energy, capacity and renewable attributes from its proposed Mineral County, West Virginia project. Under the terms of the agreements, the University of Maryland and the Department of General Services will purchase 33% and 67% respectively of the project’s output. The 23 turbine “Pinnacle Wind Farm at NewPage” is in operation for Green Mountain, near Keyser, WV. The turbines generate approximately 55 megawatts, which translates to 169 million-kilowatt hours of energy. This is enough power for more than 14,000 households annually. The cost to construct the project was estimated at $131 million.
Meanwhile, EverPower Wind Holdings, the leader in wind power development, has consolidated its offices from New York and Pittsburgh and expanded into 15,000 square feet of new space in Pittsburgh’s Strip District. With two operating wind farms in Pennsylvania and another two under construction, the company’s new facility anticipates room for up to 50 employees.
The expansion of these wind farms is bound to increase the visibility of southwestern Pennsylvania as a laboratory for wind power and other alternative energy technologies. But beyond the wind farms themselves, the industry’s supply chain has an anchor in Pittsburgh-based PPG industries. PPG provides the fiberglass, which is a critical reinforcement that enables wind blade technology. Although PPG’s initial involvement started in Europe with the development of the market, supplies of fiberglass from U.S. facilities increased as the market grew in the America. PPG also provides coatings to protect the composite blades, as well as the towers and other metal components.
Home to locally based operations for Westinghouse Nuclear Power Division, the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory and Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc. (BPMI), Pittsburgh always has been a player in the nuclear energy industry. The world’s first commercial nuclear reactor was built not more than 30 miles outside Pittsburgh city limits at Shippingport, PA.
The Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory is a U.S. government-owned, contractor-operated research and development facility located in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania. It solely focuses on the research, design, construction, operation and maintenance of nuclear equipment for the U.S. Navy, including nuclear-powered warships.
Bechtel’s BPMI-Pittsburgh and BPMI-Schenectady divisions initially were established in the 1950’s to procure submarine components. Over the years BPMI’s role as an NNPP prime contractor has continued to expand well beyond that initial procurement function. Bechtel personnel are now involved in all aspects of the design, development, procurement, and support of all submarines and surface ship (primarily carrier) construction work. Bechtel also is involved in field support activities, including refueling, defueling and overhauls.
Bechtel’s reactor equipment department provides non-fuel bearing reactor components including heavy equipment and electro-mechanical equipment. The company’s refueling equipment department provides equipment used to refuel and service nuclear plants, including containers for movement and shipment of new and used fuel. Bechtel won the contract to run the Bettis laboratory in 1999; prior to that the plant was operated by Westinghouse Electric Corporation. The laboratory developed the design of the pressurized water reactor (PWR) for naval use. It built the nuclear propulsion plants for the first U.S. nuclear submarines and surface ships including the USS Nautilus, the USS George Washington, the USS Long Beach and the USS Enterprise.
Westinghouse's nuclear division adapted the PWR design for commercial use and built the first commercial nuclear power plant in the United States, the Shippingport power plant, which was the first large-scale nuclear power plant in the world when it began operating on December 2, 1957, exactly 15 years after Enrico Fermi demonstrated the first sustained nuclear reaction.
The Duquesne Light Company of Pittsburgh constructed and operated the Shippingport plant on a site it owned on the Ohio River. The company also contributed to the cost of developing the government-owned reactor. The plant was retired in 1982. Congress assigned the decontamination and decommissioning of this commercial reactor to the DOE. This was the first complete decontamination and decommissioning of a reactor in the United States. The reactor vessel was shipped to a low-level waste disposal facility at the Hanford Site in Richland, Washington. The reactor site was cleaned and released for unrestricted use in November 1987. Government officials proclaimed the seven-acre site is suitable for picnicking or for a children's playground.
Previously limited by environmental and safety concerns, nuclear energy is coming back into vogue as an emissions-free, economical alternative to coal. Recent economic effects of this resurging interest in nuclear fuel include Bechtel closing most of its Schenectady, N.Y., plant and moving 260 engineering and business procurement jobs to the Pittsburgh area.
Also, in 2006, Westinghouse signed a $5.4 billion contract with Chinese officials to build four nuclear power plants in China, with the first coming on line in 2014. The country wants to increase its nuclear energy power to 40 to 50 percent by 2050, and it has been planning for 28 more nuclear plants in the short term.
Westinghouse won the contract thanks to its newest technology in nuclear reactors: the AP1000. This pressurized water reactor can generate more than 1,000 megawatts of electricity, which is comparable to existing nuclear plants, but the AP1000 is much safer and easier to build because of a simpler design that reduces construction time and cost. China is the first country to order the revolutionary reactor.
The China contract already has required the company to expand its research facilities in Pittsburgh, and to create or sustain more than 4,000 jobs. Westinghouse executives are optimistic that taking this technology forward in China also will help accelerate efforts in the United States. By the end of 2010, the U.S. was producing just 19.2 percent of its electrical power from nuclear plants, as compared to more than 40 percent in Ukraine, where Westinghouse was awarded a five-year contract to provide nuclear fuel supplies to three Ukrainian reactors starting in 2011. The French, also by contrast, gets 78.8 percent of its electrical power from nuclear sources.
U.S. utilities and consortia already have applied for licenses to build about 24 nuclear power plants over the next decade. In preparing for this anticipated surge in worldwide plant construction, Westinghouse recently acquired French engineering firm, Astare, as well as South Africa-based IST Nuclear, a nuclear service systems provider.
Westinghouse also built a $20 million nuclear power plant simulator in the Pittsburgh region that essentially is a full-scale nuclear reactor, but without the nuclear fuel, and that will serve as a maintenance and operations training facility that is unique to the world. The training facility and lab eventually will employ 1,000.
Today, Westinghouse builds and operates nearly one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants.
Other preparations for this industry’s expansion are of significant importance to the Pittsburgh region, as well. Currently, only 10 percent of all U.S. engineering universities are offering nuclear engineering degrees. And with one-quarter of all U.S. nuclear engineers beginning to retire, it is paramount to train the next generation nuclear workforce. The Pennsylvania State University founded a graduate nuclear engineering program in 1959 and is among the nation’s oldest. The university has seen its enrollment in then program grow in the double digits over the past several years. The University of Pittsburgh, meanwhile, also has seen increased interest in its nuclear certificate program, which certifies that a student has completed five courses in nuclear engineering.
The earth receives more energy from the sun in just one hour than worldwide human activity uses in a whole year. The future of solar power lies in innovative ideas in which the sun’s energy can be absorbed directly into roofing shingles or incorporated into fabrics, like tents. Traditionally, solar cells have been bulky. Cumulative solar energy installations in 2012 reached 31.5 gigawatts. The top 20 global solar producers had sought to raise production, and some estimates show supply will rise to nearly 100 gigawatts 2014.
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, the United States imported $3.1 billion worth of solar components in 2012. And despite imports from China, the U.S. market grew 34 percent in 2012 and shipped $11.5 billion worth of solar products overseas.
Pennsylvania, meanwhile, is the 11th largest solar power producing state in the nation, with 235 megawatts installed by 2013, enough to power 25,800 homes. A grant at the end of 2011 from the U.S. Department of Energy totaling more than $315,000 further helped spur more installations by creating financing to help defray costs of solar panel installation for businesses and individual homeowners.
The Solar Energy Industries Association currently counts more than 440 solar companies at work throughout the value chain in Pennsylvania, employing 2,900. These companies include manufacturers, contractor/installers, project developers, distributors and those engaged in other solar activities, such as financing, engineering and legal support.
Crystalline silicon cell technology forms about 86 percent of solar cell demand. The balance comes from thin film technologies. Historically, crystalline silicon (c-Si) has been used as the light-absorbing semiconductor in most solar cells, even though it is a relatively poor absorber of light and requires a considerable thickness (several hundred microns) of material.
The cost of solar power has lowered significantly over the years, but it continues to be more expensive than other sources of electricity. Bloomberg estimated that the U.S. capacity for solar energy will grow from one percent in 2010 to four percent or 14 gigawatts by 2020.
One problem for the solar industry is a shortage of silicon, the material now used for most photovoltaic cells. New technologies, including the next generation p-type semiconductor technology for commercial organic solar cells currently being developed at Pittsburgh-based Plextronics, could dramatically cut the cost of solar power.
Today’s silicon-based solar energy systems cost about 70 cents per watt in 2013. Plextronics has worked to supersede that benchmark using revolutionary thin film technologies designed to unlock the sun's potential. Created at Carnegie Mellon University, Plextronics’ signature product is Plexcore PV, a platform polymer technology that absorbs the sun's light and generates electricity by acting like a semiconductor. Ten times cheaper to manufacture than silicon-based modules, the polymers are turned into inks that can literally be printed onto thin layers of flexible plastic substrates or even fabric. Plexcore received a $1 million grant from the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority and a grant in excess of $300,00 from the Pennsylvania NanoMaterials Commercialization Center to fund their efforts.
In 2005, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection awarded an $88,000 Energy Harvest grant to Carnegie Mellon University and its School of Computer Science (SCS) for the renovation of 407 S. Craig Street. The building includes a photovoltaic (PV) energy system and now houses members of SCS' Interactive Systems Lab and the Institute for Software Research International. The PV energy system contains the silicon cells and feeds directly into the building's main power supply, providing approximately 10 percent of the building's electricity needs.
With 100 percent of CMU’s electricity coming from renewable power sources, the university is ranked as a green power leader by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This solar energy system supports Carnegie Mellon's university-wide effort to reshape the way society thinks and acts about environmental issues and to improve life in the region and the world.
In 2006, Conergy AG, a German-based maker of solar-power products, located its North American headquarters of its financial subsidiary and the East Coast operations of its solar-engineering and installation subsidiary in Pennsylvania. Conergy is a world leader in the development of renewable energy systems. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Conergy’s subsidiaries (called voltwerk and SunTechnics) expected to have created up to 50 engineering, financial and management jobs and originate up to $100 million in clean energy deals.
In a related initiative, about $200 million of the $850 million Energy Independence Fund proposed in January 2007 for the governor's Energy Independence Strategy is committed to have some 858 megawatts of electricity generated by the sun by 2021. One megawatt powers about 800 homes.
Under the governor's plan, homes and small businesses could receive rebates of up to half the cost of a solar power system, especially if the solar power panels are manufactured in Pennsylvania. That could amount to savings of up to $22,000. In addition, system manufacturers were eligible for a production grant of $5,000 per job created within a three-year period, as well as grants for up to $1 million for distribution projects and up to 50 percent of the cost of feasibility studies.
On average, a typical solar system today provides four kilowatts of power and ranges in price between $6,800 and $15,400, not including installation; this system would handle between 80 percent and 90 percent of an average home's energy needs. With Pennsylvania rebates, along with federal tax credit, costs of a four-kilowatt system could drop significantly.
In mid-2009, Community Networks LLC announced plans to build a solar power station that would be only the second such station in Pennsylvania and that would generate three megawatts of power a year, enough electricity to power 450 homes. With that announcement, United States Green Energy Corp. has stated its intention to build yet a third solar power station in the Pittsburgh region, which will employ up to 225 people.
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh-based Fortune 500 company, PPG Industries, has recognized the upside market potential and has established a new business unit that develops and markets glass and coatings technology for use in the solar power industry.
On the demand side of the solar equation, prominent Pittsburgh roofing company Burns & Scalo, spun off Scalo Solar Solutions LLC to focus on the installation and financing of panels on commercial buildings. The firm, anticipates growth to a $60 million business, with more than 50 employees.
As a result of high market activity, Pittsburgh was chosen to host the first Solar Cities Conference in October of 2009, when leaders from more than 20 cities from across the Northeast met for two days of seminars conducted by the Department of Energy and Sandia National Laboratories with the goal of advancing the integration of solar technology. Pittsburgh's program was used as a model.
In 1999, only around a half million gallons of biodiesel fuels was produced nationwide.
National sales of clean diesel vehicles grew more than 41 percent in 2013 and at that pace will represent eight and ten percent of the total vehicle market by 2018. The Diesel Technology Forum expects continued growth in the diesel market, with diesels accounting for more than 7.4 percent of new vehicle sales by 2017, up from approximately 2.3 percent in 2009.
A wide variety of alternative fuel sources for the automotive industry are currently under development. But in today’s market, there are few options available to the average American consumer. However, as we become more knowledgeable about options like ethanol, diesel and fuel cells and their ability to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, the demand eventually will boost production for various types transportation fuel alternatives currently being employed or explored.
Clean diesel vehicles combine diesel technology with cleaner burning fuels and emissions control systems, thereby running on 30 percent less fuel than gasoline-powered vehicles. Fifty percent of all cars sold in Western Europe run on diesel, and in France, that percentage is more than 70, but the American market is beginning to catch on fast.
Locally, the City of Pittsburgh is advancing the use of biofuels for its 1,000-vehicle fleet. The city announced plans to turn waste vegetable oil and grease from Heinz Field's refreshment stands and restaurants into cleaner-burning biodiesel fuel for the city's 300 public service, maintenance and first responder vehicles that run on traditional diesel fuel.
Prior to leaving office, Governor Ed Rendell committed $8 million in state grants for 21 projects that would promote biofuels and technologies to foster electric cars and vehicles that run on natural gas. More than $2.5 million of that was awarded to projects in southwestern Pennsylvania. Recipients include O'Hara-based Giant Eagle, which received $750,000 to buy 29 vehicles that run on electricity and compressed natural gas, and to install 10 electric vehicle-charging stations.
Another local recipient was Waste Management of Pennsylvania Inc., which is using $700,000 to build a compressed natural gas fueling station at its hauling facility in Washington, PA. The company plans to use natural gas to fuel its trash and recycling trucks. The station also will be available to other fleet operators.
In Westmoreland County, Western Pennsylvania Operating Engineers Joint Apprenticeship and Training Program will have used $486,000 to convert heavy equipment into construction vehicles that accept locally produced biofuels.
Recently, Pennsylvania Bio Diesel opened a $15 million manufacturing facility to produce an initial total of 12 million gallons of biodiesel, with a capacity for 40 to 50 million gallons each year.
Diamond Star Energy also announced plans to build a biodiesel plant on Neville Island that initially would produce about 35 million gallons a year, but that would expand to 100 million gallons, which would represent one percent of all biodiesel made in the U.S.
Meanwhile, Thar Technologies, Inc. has developed an environmentally friendly and cost-efficient technology in high pressure processing techniques, known as supercritical fluid technology. Extracting oil from oilseeds had its drawbacks, especially since the process required the use of hexane, which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classifies as a hazardous air pollutant.
Thar’s process replaces hexane with high-pressure carbon dioxide and eliminating many of the inefficiencies of current processes. Successful development of the technology will profitably produce biodiesel directly from both edible and inedible oilseed feedstock while reducing energy consumption and eliminating environmental hazards and the need for production subsidies.
Flex fuel vehicles run on a fuel blend called E85, which is a mix of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. This is in stark contrast to a fuel blend that includes only 10 percent ethanol, which virtually any existing make of car can use. Besides its obvious advantage as a replacement for gasoline, ethanol burns cleaner, producing less air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. It also lessens our dependency on foreign oil producers and supports American farmers and refiners.
Up until 2006, it had not been possible to purchase E85 in Pittsburgh, but the Sheetz convenient store chain became the first chain retailer in Pennsylvania to carry E85. This is an encouraging and exciting development in light of the fact that Pennsylvania’s goal is to replace 900 million gallons of gasoline with domestically produced renewable fuels within the next decade.
Commonwealth Renewable Energy Inc. purchased the former Sony-owned American Video Glass plant in New Stanton, PA. The company, a subsidiary of the Pittsburgh-based Anderson Group of Companies, originally planned to transform the 700,000-square-foot facility into the largest ethanol plant in the country. Investment in the plant called for upwards of $250 million, but financing difficulties during the recession have stalled the project.
When production begins, company officials expect to create hundreds of jobs and for the plant to consume about 75 million bushels of corn to produce about 110 million gallons of ethanol annually.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Energy Independence Strategy at one time included an $850 million Energy Independence Fund. In concert with available funding, enactment of new laws and regulatory policies, the initiative was projected to save consumers $10 billion in energy costs over 10 years. During the 2012 – 2013 fiscal year, the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority (PEDA) invested $4.7 million in 36 clean energy projects.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ranks among the top six of all U.S. states for the usage of alternative or renewable energy sources. With more than 2,100 companies involved in alternative or renewable energy sources, like wind, solar, biomass and geothermal, the Pittsburgh region boasts a heavy selection of those types of companies.
One such project involves Consol Energy, which recently received a state grant of $529,000 to assist in the development of a power generation project fueled by waste methane. The grant allowed Consol to demonstrate and deploy a microturbine generator to capture and use a waste stream from a coalbed methane processing plant in Fallowfield Township to produce electricity.
Another reclamation avenue is the potential production of 115-million gallons of biofuel. Energy recovery from biomass and waste, including sewage sludges, wood waste, landfill gas, waste coal, municipal and production waste and even manure are becoming attractive alternatives. Pennsylvania has taken the lead with many groundbreaking projects, and it hosted the first international exhibition and conference on Energy from Biomass and Waste Expo, held in Pittsburgh in 2007.
Energy production from biomass and waste is both environmentally and economically attractive. By utilizing resources available domestically like those waste resources that can be processed into biofuel, power can be generated and vehicle fuels can be produced without harmful greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, this creates jobs and growth opportunities for local business, instead of exporting money and employment to other countries. The EBW Expo created a marketplace and an educational forum for domestic vendors, international experts and users of the energy technology.
Also with respect to energy reclamation, one interesting technology invented by two University of Pittsburgh engineering professors is a new gelling agent for carbon dioxide. Eric Beckman’s and Robert Enick’s CO2 gelling technique is less expensive and more environmentally attractive than previous processes, and the potential applications for this unique development include enhanced tertiary recovery of petroleum from aging oil fields.
Because of the viscosity of natural CO2, the fluid dispersion in a reservoir is difficult to control. Increasing the viscosity of the CO2 offers the potential to significantly improve the well stimulation, thereby improving oil recovery. Also, since the CO2 is environmentally benign, thickened CO2 is very attractive for reducing the environmental impact of well stimulation procedures. A current focus is on the utilization of this technology for environmentally benign gas and oil well operations.
Another Pittsburgh area company in the energy reclamation space is Separation Design Group, which has invented a unique heat exchanger that uses solar thermal collectors to generate, not only heat, but primarily mechanical energy, which in turn will be able to run electrical appliances.
When Edwin Drake drilled the first successful commercial oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859, he had no idea that the largest natural gas deposit in North America was lodged in shale 6,000 feet below the surface of upstate New York, across most of Pennsylvania and into West Virginia, eastern Ohio and parts of Kentucky.
The Marcellus shale dwarfs the Barnett shale region of Texas, and it is widely considered to be the third-largest natural gas field in the world. It contains an estimated 141 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 3.4 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas liquids. The Marcellus Shale region eventually is expected to produce enough natural gas to sustain U.S. demand for a six years or more, with a value of recoverable gas estimated at least $2 trillion.
At the end of 2013, 65,536 of all types of gas-producing wells were operating in Pennsylvania, with permits issued for thousands more, and new filings of gas leases across the state are keeping county deed recorders very busy.
As of January, 2014, southwestern Pennsylvania had the lion’s share of Marcellus wells at more than 2,600. About 70 companies from places as far afield as Texas, Louisiana and other states have set up operations in southwestern Pennsylvania, creating thousands of jobs.
Texas-based Range Resources LLC was among the first to open an office in the region, currently employing about 450 and has drilled about 675 wells here since 2004. Current production is approximately 670 million cubic feet of shale gas per day. The company expects to employ up to 1,000 people.
Other gas producers with operations in the region include Chevron, EQT Production, Consol Gas Company and XTO, a division of ExxonMobil. Southwestern Pennsylvania–based Consol achieved an average production of 10.7 million cubic feet of gas a day in 2013. Rice Energy, also regionally based, had announced that it will complete 31 wells in 2014, thereby bringing the company’s total to 41.
Meanwhile, Shell Oil has been given an extension until 2014 to decide whether it want to purchase land in nearby Beaver County, in order to build a multi-billion-dollar cracker plant that would convert natural gas liquids into more profitable chemicals, such as ethylene, which in turn is used to make plastics and other products. If built, the plant would be the largest private investment in the region in 50 years, and it would employ up to 600 people.
About half of Pennsylvania's electricity generation comes from burning coal. Pennsylvania is the fourth largest coal-producing state, and southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia produce nearly 20 percent of the nation's coal and nearly half of the coal mined east of the Mississippi River. Consol, headquartered here, is the largest producer of high-BTU bituminous coal in the United States with 4.3 billion tons of proven and recoverable coal reserves throughout six states. Consol also operates the largest privately owned fossil fuel research facility in the world.
Augmenting Consol’s research capacity is the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), which is part of the DOE’s national laboratory system. With major research facilities in Pittsburgh and Morgantown, WV, the NETL is the only U.S. national laboratory devoted to fossil energy research. The NETL mission is to implement a research, development and demonstration program to resolve environmental, supply and reliability constraints of producing and using fossil resources.
The NETL implements a broad spectrum of energy and environmental research and development programs that will return benefits for generations to come. These programs enable the economical use of domestic coal, natural gas and oil to power our nation’s homes, industries, businesses and transportation, while protecting our environment and enhancing energy independence.
Targe Energy LLC is an Aspinwall-based energy company that operates surface coal mines, reclaims coarse waste coal, performs contract drilling services and acquires its own natural gas reserves. Targe Energy owns multiple waste coal mining operations in Northern Appalachia.
Targe and Carlyle/Riverstone Global Energy and Power Fund III, L.P. (C/R) invested $100 million in Targe to fuel the company's growth strategy. In addition to C/R's commitment, Targe also received $17.5 million from various minority investors and management. The $117.5 million in new capital has enabled Targe to advance its Appalachia-focused coiled tube drilling business, acquire additional coal reserves and roll in three existing surface and waste coal businesses that were being operated by Targe management.
Waste coal represents a major environmental hazard throughout the entire Northern Appalachian region; yet it also presents an opportunity. Historically, waste coal has been a byproduct of coal processing and cleaning that occurred at major mine facilities. It only recently has come to be viewed as a useable fuel source. Waste coal reserves represent two additional primary revenue streams: traditional and co-generation steam fuel and metallurgical coal.
Beyond reclaimed waste coal,Consol Energyand Utah-based Headwaters Inc. are jointly developing coal-based liquid fuel plants. Under the agreement, both companies are performing engineering and environmental activities related to potential development of several Consol coal sites. This joint venture also involves the construction of one or more coal-based facilities to produce clean liquid transportation fuels such as diesel, gasoline, liquefied petroleum gas, and jet fuel. The facilities also may produce certain petrochemical feedstocks.
While fuel cell technology was first discovered in 1839, commercialization is only now occurring.
In their simplest form fuel cells generate electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen, producing water as a result. Hydrogen is available from a variety of fuels, including methanol, natural gas, coal gas, gasoline and other existing fuels. Because fuel cells are based on electrochemical reactions and not combustion of fossil fuels, they are extremely clean. The fuel cell also is more energy efficient than current combustion technology, and the heat generated by the electrochemical reaction also can be captured for use, boosting overall efficiency. The federal government’s Departments of Energy and Defense fund considerable fuel cell R&D activity.
Fuel cells also benefit from expanded interest in distributed generation. Power generated on-site can be more reliable than grid-supplied power, virtually eliminating transmission costs and reducing demand for additional grid-based power generation and transmission improvements. In-turn, distributed power generators can sell excess capacity through the grid in a deregulated market.
Locally, rising energy costs often are blamed on the state's decade-old electricity deregulation, and the detrimental effects of rising costs (a 30 percent increase after deregulation) have big electricity users, including giant steelmakers Allegheny Technologies and U.S. Steel, very concerned. In fact, Allegheny Technologies says high power costs are the reason it has not committed $400 million to expand its Allegheny Ludlum subsidiary. U.S. Steel has said Pennsylvania’s electricity rates are much more costly than those in other states where the company operates.
But before the full benefits of distributed power can be realized, the process of connecting distributed units to the grid must be improved, and the adoption of regulatory mechanisms allowing generators to offset costs by capturing the benefits of distributed generation also can help the adoption of distributed technologies.
Alkaline fuel cells have been on space missions. They operate at low temperatures and start quickly, but reactions with carbon dioxide make use impractical for commercial transportation applications. Alkaline fuel cells also are extremely sensitive to impurities in fuel. Power efficiencies of approximately 70 percent have been achieved with alkaline fuel cells.
Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) operate at relatively low temperatures (50 degrees to 120 degrees Celsius). They have efficiencies of 40 percent and are well suited for use with mobile devices. Still in early development, costs must be lowered by reducing the amount of platinum used in the catalyst before commercialization can occur. The DMFC has the advantage of using liquid methanol fuel directly, without prior reforming.
Molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC) operate at high temperatures (650 degrees Celsius), and with efficiencies of 60 percent for electricity and 85 percent with cogeneration of waste heat, they are well suited to utility and large industrial applications. This type of fuel cell allows for the use of a wide variety of fuels, but its electrolyte causes corrosion of cell components. This technology competes in the same markets as solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs).
Phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFC) are one of the most commercially advanced technologies. They operate at low to moderate temperatures of 150 degrees to 200 degrees Celsius. They have efficiencies of 40 percent, and the primary application for PAFCs is in the stationary market.
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are the most promising technology for transportation and portable device applications, as they operate at low temperatures (80 degrees Celsius) and have high power density, allowing for a smaller size. They operate at high efficiency (40 to 50 percent), start quickly and are rapidly responsive to changes in power demand.
Protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFC) are a newly emerging technology that operates at high temperatures (700 degrees Celsius); they can use a variety of fuels, and they operate at high efficiencies. The electrolyte in the PCFC is solid and is not susceptible to leaking or drying out.
Regenerative fuel cells are a promising recent invention. Regenerative fuel cells are a closed-loop system that requires no external supply of fuel. Solar energy is used to separate the hydrogen and oxygen in the exhaust water, returning it to the fuel cell as a fuel supply. Considerable solar power research must occur before regenerative fuel cells are commercialized.
Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) operate at high temperatures (700 - 1,000 degrees Celsius) using a wide variety of fuels and is the fuel cell most tolerant to impurities and sulphur contamination. The solid-state ceramic electrolyte has enabled continuous unattended operation of demonstration systems for periods of two years. Solid oxide fuel cells also are highly efficient, operating at 50 percent efficiency for electric generation; 60 percent efficiency when pressurized and operated with a gas turbine and 85 percent efficiency, if the exhaust heat also is used. These fuel cells are very promising for stationary markets, such as electricity generation companies, large facilities (e.g. factories, shopping malls, hotels, hospitals, office buildings), and facilities needing a reliable, high quality off-grid power supply. These fuel cells also are projected for use in auxiliary automotive power systems.
Zinc air fuel cells use zinc as a fuel and can be operated as a “closed loop” system, where no additional external fuel is necessary. Zinc air fuel cells are a potential low-cost, high-power alternative to existing battery technology. Prospective applications for the technology include transportation and portable devices.
Solid oxide fuel cell technology was developed in Pittsburgh by Westinghouse beginning in the 1950’s, with R&D efforts continuing in the region with the acquisition of the division by Siemens. A search of patents issued clearly shows that Siemens is a prominent company in fuel cells and the industry leader in SOFC technology, even though the company’s marketing efforts have lain dormant, due to market conditions for fuel cells.
While Siemens Power Generation was a leader in solid oxide fuel cells, having successfully operated a 100 kW cogeneration SOFC in the Netherlands, and with 250kW and 1MW systems in various stages of development, other regional companies, like Genco ATC and Pittsburgh Electric Engines, are strengthening their position in SOFC technology.
Water-based electrolyte batteries are a new development by Pittsburgh-based Acquion Energy that uses a simple water-based electrolyte and abundant materials, such as sodium and manganese, to produce a kilowatt-hour of storage capacity for about $300, less than a third of what it would cost to use lithium-ion batteries. Third-party tests have shown that Aquion's battery can last for more than 5,000 charge-discharge cycles and has an efficiency of higher than 85 percent.
The company has now received upwards of $55 million in venture capital, including the participation of Bill Gates, to step up manufacturing of its sodium-ion batteries, making it perhaps the cheapest way to store large amounts of energy for the power grid using batteries.
Aquion's disruptive technology uses an activated carbon anode and a sodium- and manganese-based cathode. A water-based electrolyte carries sodium ions between the two electrodes while charging and discharging. The principle is similar to lithium-ion, but sodium ions are more abundant and hence cheaper to use. Compared to solvent-based electrolytes, the aqueous electrolyte is also easier to handle; it is nontoxic, and the battery is 100 percent recyclable.
With Eastern European industrial customers as a prime target, Acquion plans to begin commercial production by the third quarter of 2014 at the former Sony plant in Westmoreland County, where it has leased 350,00 square feet. With growth planned over an 18-month period thereafter, the company had planned to build a demonstration unit by turning the Westmoreland industrial facility into a microgrid.
In addition to these companies, the Pittsburgh region also has several research strengths in fuel cells. Besides comprehensive fossil fuels research, the NETL is a major source of federal funds and both conducts and manages internal and external research on other varieties of energy technologies, including stationary fuel cells. In addition to conducting cutting-edge research and technology development on site, NETL shapes, funds and manages contracted research throughout the United States and in more than 40 foreign countries. The NETL’s research portfolio includes more than 1,800 projects, with a total award value of more than $9 billion and private sector cost sharing of more than $5 billion. These projects are carried out through various contracting arrangements with corporations, small businesses, universities, non-profit organizations, and other national laboratories and government agencies.
The NETL manages the Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA), a group of corporate developers, universities, government agencies and national laboratories working to develop commercially viable SOFC technology. The SECA is the primary U.S. government stationary fuel cell program, and the association spearheaded six industry teams charged with developing cost competitive (less than $400 per kilowatt) fuel cells for commercial markets.
A full megawatt-scale SOFC system for coal plants that will capture more than 90 percent of greenhouse gases with near zero production of other environmental pollutants, all with electrical efficiencies exceeding 50 percent, compared to 35 percent today, and with virtually no increase in cost to the electricity consumer.
Concurrent Technologies Corporation operates the Fuel Cell Test and Evaluation Center from its Environmental Technology Facility in Johnstown, PA for the Department of Defense. The Center provides independent, unbiased testing and validation of fuel cell power plants for military and commercial applications. The primary goal of the Center is to accelerate the development and commercialization of fuel cell power plants.
Mechanical and chemical engineering are two disciplines closely related to fuel cells. Interdisciplinary relationships also exist between the distributed power industry, advanced materials (chiefly with regard to ceramics and advanced metals) and power electronics. Pittsburgh’s universities, especially Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, have worldwide reputations in all these engineering disciplines.
Carnegie Mellon’s Electricity Industry Center (CEIC) is supported by core funding from The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Electric Power Research Institute, with additional funding from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Energy, Tennessee Valley Authority, the U.S. Office of Naval Research, McDermott Technology the ABB Group, Alliant Energy, the National Rural Electrical Cooperative Association, the Pennsylvania Office of Energy and Technology Development and Customized Energy Solutions.
Most recently in the spring of 2013, Carnegie Mellon University received its largest private foundation grant of $30 million from the Richard King Mellon Foundation to increase the university's energy research projects. The grant will assist CMU’s Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, which was opened in September 2012, to focus on smart grid technology, reducing carbon emissions and storing of energy, among other things.
While the agenda for the RUA is still in its infancy, many of the research topics are expected to remain, but with an added emphasis on technology commercialization. One manifestation of this emphasis is a recent three-year, $1.7 million grant awarded to the University of Pittsburgh from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop new materials and processes for improving the efficiency of multicore transformers for energy conversion systems.
The research could help substantially reduce the size of a standard industrial grid transformer and also improve efficiencies of power electronics conversion systems. The project will assess complete systems engineering and turnkey installation aspects of the advanced converter technology for renewable energy applications, including economic impacts.
The project is under the aegis of the Power and Energy Initiative in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering, a major component of the University’s Center for Energy, which focuses on partnering to meet industry needs in workforce and technology development through innovative education and collaborative research. The initiative’s electric power research group is engaged in a wide range of activities in the areas of advanced electric power grid technologies and systems, including emerging technology development needs for grid-level power electronics technologies and supporting systems and components for both AC and DC system infrastructures. The group also conducts research in aspects of renewable energy integration, energy storage, and smart grid applications.
From a broader perspective, Pitt also is involved in a Pittsburgh-based consortium of companies and public entities devoted to promoting job opportunities in southwestern Pennsylvania's energy sector.
The group, the Energy Alliance of Greater Pittsburgh, composed of nearly 100 companies, universities, government agencies and nonprofits, is dedicated to enhancing the greater Pittsburgh region's position in American energy leadership.
According to the Alliance, the Pittsburgh region's energy sector now accounts for $13.7 billion or 10 percent of the area's economic activity. It found that the growing sector of about 1,000 companies is now employs more than 105,000 people with the potential for 7,000 employed by 2020. In addition, the energy sector is responsible for $1 billion in energy-related research and development annually. In addition, only two other regions in the country, Chicago and Detroit, are among the top 25 employers in energy industries. Of these, only Pittsburgh sits atop a base of natural resources that will be an essential part of the portfolio needed to address the world’s 21st century energy needs. That is why Pittsburgh is considered the new energy capital of the U.S.
When George Westinghouse founded his electric company in Pittsburgh in 1886, it was a catalyst for this country to tap into the alternating current electric power grid. Westinghouse also pioneered and patented the equipment needed in the measurement and distribution of natural gas, and it also was responsible for putting the region on the map with respect to atomic power.
Today with its centers of excellence in both academics and commercial ventures, and with its close geographical proximity to wind, coal and solar technology facilities, the southwestern Pennsylvania region represents a confluence of several energy technologies. | 2019-04-21T18:51:05Z | http://pghtech.org/news-publications/state-of-the-industry-report/energy-technology-in-the-pittsburgh-region.aspx |
The Offa's Dyke Castles Alternative is a route from Monmouth to Hay-on-Wye that follows a line further east than the Offa's Dyke Path. It gives an excellent alternative to Days 17 and 18 of the End to End Trail, particularly if you have walked Offa's Dyke before and would prefer to follow a different route. The Castles Alternative was originally published by the Offa's Dyke Association in 1980, revised in 1987 and 1994, and the description is given below with their permission, with a few updates of my own (including minor updates to the foreword). The maps are the original ones from the Offa's Dyke Association booklet, scanned in and then amended where necessary, so my apologies for their presentation. I hope to get time to re-draw them at some point, but don't hold your breath. The maps appear a bit small when viewed from a browser, but if I make them any bigger, Internet Explorer 6 can't print them. Firefox doesn't have the same problem: it's to do with JPEG files not having an "actual size" stored in them I think, so the browsers make their own mind up when printing, and IE6 isn't very good at it (in my view). To get bigger maps, save them as separate images and print them whatever size you want with a graphics package. Copyright of the original text, maps and diagrams remains with the Offa's Dyke Association, and it may not be copied without permission.
This name is used to describe an alternative (not waymarked) to the official Offa's Dyke Path route between Monmouth and Hay-on-Wye. Existing rights of way are used, but although there is evidence that these paths are receiving increasing usage, the route is seldom as clear as the official route: care must therefore be taken to keep exactly to the route, especially near farmyards and when crossing gates and stiles. Remember to act responsibly when crossing farmland so that others walking this route in the future may be welcomed. This route misses out White Castle and the Hatterall Ridge, but these exceptions are amply compensated for by the castles at Skenfrith, Grosmont and Longtown and the spectacular Cat's Back Ridge above Llanveynoe, and by the use of generally higher and more interesting terrain. We think many walkers will enjoy this route and we hope that these notes and maps will make its following more practicable. The maps are diagrammatic and should be used with the accompanying notes and the relevant OS maps. We recommend the use of sheets 161 and 162 of the 1:50,000 OS Landranger maps (and a compass to help you use them!): the relevant 1:25000 Explorer sheets are OL14 - Wye Valley the Forest of Dean, 149 - Hereford and Ross-on-Wye, and OL13 - Brecon Beacons Eastern Area.
A route between Hay and Monmouth via the Border Castles is briefly mentioned in Frank Noble's early Offa's Dyke guide, and this was followed by his initial YHA groups in the early 1960s. The route was surveyed in 1975 by a team under the direction of Ernie and Kathy Kay, and a set of notes were published following survey. Mark Richards' guide includes maps of the 1975 survey route, from whihc this route deviates but little. Our thanks are extended to these three sources of much aid and advice.
John Allder, Iain Liddell, April 1980.
The following notes are a rewrite, based on a complete re-survey of the route, of the description worked out in 1980 by J.A. and I.L. This new survey was carried out by the undersigned during April to June 1987. Part of the route was also checked by Eve Tovey and her colleagues and they have produced the wet weather alternative which avoids the Cat's Back and Black Hill.
Kathy and Ernie Kay, June 1987.
And one more for the online edition, 2007!
I walked most of the route in 2002, and have updated the description and maps to bring them up to date as at that time. I haven't rechecked most of the route since, but it should still be more or less correct - email me if you find anything needs changing. The sections I haven't checked are the final part of the route into Hay, from the road below Hay Bluff (both routes), and the wet weather alternative route. These sections remain unchecked since the 1994 revision to the Offa's Dyke Association booklet.
Start at GR508129. From Agincourt Square, turn up Castle Hill (the lane to the left of Woolworth's store) - this leads to Monmouth Castle. Turn right behind Woolworth's and down steps to cross the River Monnow on a new bridge to reach playing fields. (N.b. this bridge is M.O.D. property and isn't dedicated to the public, i.e. it can be closed.) Head right along the river bank to the end of the next bridge - to Vauxhall Training Camp. N.b. should the first bridge be closed, the alternative street route (see map) is via Priory Street, Monk Street and Osbaston Road.
GR508134. Go through railings and right (i.e. over the bridge) to the road at the entrance to Vauxhall Training Camp. Go left along the road. (The map shows the alternative route by road from Agincourt Square to this point.) Note the old mill with the remains of a weir and leat on the left.
GR507136. Fork left (Forge Road) beside the river at the old weir; follow the road past all the buildings. At the end of the road go into the field and keep straight on to reach the river bank at a large weir. Follow the riverbank, crossing a small footbridge. Beyond a field with a couple of fruit trees in it (below a house), cross a stile into an orchard and turn right up its edge on a clear path, through an iron gate in front of a barn and out to the road by another iron gate.
GR501141. Head slightly left and across the road to take Manson Lane (footpath sign). Go through the gateway ahead into the field, then keep the field boundary on your left, to turn left (gap) well before the end of the field.
GR502144. Cross a sunken lane on the left by a broad track and continue downhill. Cross a stream. Go up a holloway and along the right edge of a field to its top - cross a stile in the corner and continue with woodland on your left. At the top of the field cross a stile a few yards to the right. Aim just right of both the crest of the next field and the barn visible ahead, then cross a fence on the right, by an electricity pole. Aim across the corner of the field to reach the Great Manson farm track by means of a gate just right of all the main farm buildings. Turn right up a track and left along a minor road.
GR499156. Follow the road to Old Shop and Moyle's Cross. (A potential alternative route marked on the OS map leaving the road at Old Shop on a track left of the cottage - not through its garden - was still not followable in 2002. It would, after 100 yards, continue on a shelf in woods just above fields on the left. It would then go through a gate and continue on a shelf at the edge of the field, and through a further gate to meet a surfaced drive. The upper fork then leads to the road; turn right to the junction at Moyle's Cross).
GR496175. Go over an iron gate ahead into a field; proceed with a hedge on your right. After two fields, cross the remains of a gate in a holloway in the right corner of the field. Climb the field, with a hedge on your right, then cut across left to a stile 50 yards left of the field corner. Cross and continue in the same direction with the hedge now on your right. Cross another stile in the next field corner and keep straight on, passing well to the left of the farm (Parkside), to go through a gate at the top corner of the large field.
GR485190. Cross the field at right angles to the high-voltage power lines and go to a gap at the furthest corner. (To reach Pembridge Castle continue on right of next field to a road, turn right and follow the road for 400 yards). To continue route to Skenfrith: Do not go through the gap, but swing left and contour across the right side of a large field, under power lines, to a large barn, reached at the end by going through a gate in the fence on your right 80 yards before the barn. Do not go through the gate just beyond the barn, but swing right downhill with a fence on your left. Near the bottom of the slope pass a restored house on your left (over a fence) and join its drive to cross the stream. Continue on this drive for 2/3 mile to Llanrothal, at the end of the drive (gate) turning right along the last few yards of road into what used to be Llanrothal Court farmyard but was, in 2002, being converted to housing. (Llanrothal Church - mediaeval - is just to the left along the road at this turn).
GR469189. Go straight on past the buildings (on your left), down a slope and straight across the field ahead (no visible path) to a stile in the middle of the opposite side. Cross and go half right in the next field, now on a clear path, and through a gap in a hedge. Continue in the same direction (north, parallel to the river) in the third field, still on a clear path, to join the bank of the River Monnow as it bends to the right. Follow the river to enter Daren Wood over a stile by a gate. The path is soon by the river again. At a sharp lefthand bend in the river cross a tributary stream on a footbridge. Continue along the bank of the Monnow, at first by the edge of the lawns of Sand House to a footbridge and stiles, then through meadows by the river for 2/3 mile into Skenfrith; there are stiles and footbridges where necessary.
GR459203. Cross a stile to the road at a sign ("Tregate Bridge 6.5km"), cross the bridge and enter the village, the Bell Inn on your left.
GR457202. Turn right at the castle (which should be visited), passing the church on your right and continuing on the road to Drybridge House after crossing a small stream.
GR453205. Turn right in front of Drybridge House and follow a surfaced lane ("No Through Road") towards Birch Hill Farm, with views to the River Monnow down to the left.
GR454213. In just over 1/2 mile, just before the first farm buildings, go right over a stile, then keep left. Cross two stiles through the garden, between the rightmost building and a pond, to a track, and descend to a stile above the riverbank, continuing in the field above the river. This bit is waymarked for Skenfrith (Three Castles Walk). The path descends almost immediately to a "footbridge" across nothing on its way into trees and a stile. Over this, cross a muddy patch on a boardwalk and then a stream. Then, keeping a hedge on your right, make directly for Trevonny Farm, visible ahead, through three fields.
GR444219. In the fourth field go on to a stile in the field corner, then continue, hedge now on your left, turning left on a track through a gate. This avoids Trevonny farm by following a permissive path, with the farm to your right. Turn left along the farm access road, past Box Farm to the B4347.
GR433218. Head right along the road for 350 yards, then go left at a junction just before a postbox. Soon you will pass White House Farm on your left. 300 yards from the junction (at the summit of the road) fork right uphill on a track (stile and iron gate), doubling back right immediately after the stile (not through the second gate straight ahead). Follow the track for about 40 yards, then at the first opportunity turn left off the track into the field above (footpath sign). Climb the field (no visible path), gradually converging with the line of trees to the right (on a bank). At the top corner of the field cross a stile in the fence (at the edge of the trees), and climb up right immediately onto the bank to follow a clear track along the top of it, with a fence on your right. A stile takes you into the corner of the next field: continue straight on, now with the fence and line of trees on your left. Cross a stile in the field corner then continue straight on (no visible path), cutting across the bottom of the next field to join a fence. Follow it, now with a wood on your left. A clear (but sometimes muddy) track appears at the next field corner. Follow the track straight on when the fence on the left turns away. A modern barn on your right is all that remains of Upper Graig Farm. Continue through a gate on a track to the far side of the next field.
GR416224. Go through the righthand of two gates then diagonally up right to a stile visible at the opposite corner of the field (keep left of the bottom end of a tongue of woodland). Cross it and head left along a farm track (this is soon enclosed). At a sharp lefthand bend the track begins to become surfaced.
GR409225. Turn right through (gate and stile) and straight on down a steep track. After 600 yards, the track bears sharp left, then descends past Barns farm. Keep straight on to the left of the main buildings and farmyard and follow the surfaced drive down, through a gate to the road beside a stream.
GR406241. Go left over the stream on a footbridge and up a steep path to Grosmont village; turn left up the road to the Market Hall.
GR405244. Continue on the main road through the village to the school, then turn left along the road signposted "Abergavenny 11". Continue for about 600 yards, then immediately beyond a large corrugated iron building to the right, cross a stile on the right into a field. Cross diagonally and over a stile (above a gate) to reach a green track below an orchard to the left; follow this until it fades out, then continue to a stile into the road just left of a house. Turn right and proceed down the road for about 150 yards.
GR396253. A path enters the second field on the left over a stile; head down the field to a gate in the middle of the hedge and continue down with a fence and holloway, with a stream on your right, to a gate at the end of the next field. Continue down to a gate, turning left just before it to follow a track along the bottom of the field. Cross a stile in the corner. Go half-left here to cross two more stiles into the corner of another field (ignore all the gates). Climb left to the top of the field to the right of another holloway. Using a large solitary tree as an initial bearing, descend to a narrow stile in a fence to reach the A465 just south of Llangua church.
GR389255. Cross the A465, go over stile then the River Monnow on an iron footbridge. Take the path trending left from the bridge past a meander in the river to an old gateway near the river, and diagonally right across a field to cross a railway (it is not easy to cross the track formation - take care) by stiles at the end of field. Proceed at a right angle to the railway with a small stream/ditch on your left. At some times of year you could find this field and the next hard to cross due to crops, as the right of way isn't walked much. Before the end of the field, cross the ditch and circle the right edge of a large field. 100 yards before you'd reach the railway again, go over a stile on the right. Cross a field to reach a stile crossing a hedge beside the railway embankment on the left (do not cross the railway via the gate to the left). Follow the embankment to a stile in the left corner of the next field. Head diagonally right across two fields - gate between - to Llancillo farm and cross the stream and stile below and to the left of the farm buildings to reach and go right on the farm drive.
GR368254. Cross a stile to the left of a barn to the left of the farmhouse and go up the field to Llancillo church, passing to the left of the motte. Go through the churchyard, over a stile and immediately another one across a small orchard. Continue along the lower edge of a field on a high terrace above a stream on the right for two fields, with a stile between them. Cross a small stream and go through a gate. Head up the centre of the field, making for a barn and tall tree on the horizon. Cross a stile by a gate to the right of a barn and keep a hedge on your left for two fields. At the end of the second field go over stile and footbridge: head diagonally right across the field to a gate into a road below and left of Arcadia farm.
GR356262. Turn right along the road, forking left just beyond the Arcadia farm buildings onto the drive leading to Upper House farm. Just before the farm, bear right over a gate and follow a sunken lane, keeping the farm on your left. Continue at the end of the track (stile) and through a field with a hedge on your right. Go through the gate ahead into a young plantation, still with the hedge on your right, then at the top of the plantation turn left, then right in 20 yards through an iron gate. Cross a field, keeping the hedge on your right to reach Pen-yr-Heol farm drive. Go left along the drive to the road: there are fine views towards Hatterall ahead and Skirrid half-left.
GR350268. Turn left along the road, and, after 150 yards, turn right up Trelandon farm drive. Turn left opposite the farmhouse and then right through two gates to pass round the left side of a newish barn. Continue up a farm track with a stream below on your right to reach a stile in the hedge. Cross and go straight on with a dry "valley" and fence on your right to a stile at the top of the field. Go straight on across the next field (footpath sign) to a stile, then across the next as well to join a hedge at a corner. Keep straight on, now with the hedge on your left.
GR338272. Follow the hedge round to the left, passing through a gate and then immediately right through a gap. Keep the hedge on your left for a few metres to another gate. Go through and descend (no path), keeping to the right side of the field. (Hatterall ridge is ahead, Longtown and Cat's Back are half-right). At the bottom of the field, a track is well-defined to the right of an outcrop. Head down the righthand edge of the next two fields and then through Garngaled farmyard (no longer lived in). Continue downhill slightly to the right (aim for the church seen below), and follow the lefthand side of the fields as you descend (waymarks, stiles and gates) to reach a gate left of a bungalow. Go through and down the right side of field to reach a gate and stile in a holloway. Go through the gate (ignore the stile to the right) and follow the track down to the road by the bridge at Clodock. Turn right along the road.
GR327275. Cross the bridge and turn right along the riverside path. Enter the churchyard by a stone stile (the first of many in the area, several of which are recycled headstones!), and leave by another. Follow the river bank by a garden and through one field into another, leaving the second field through a gate one field away from the river. Keep to the left of the hedge for one field, then cross a wide stile and go across the next field. Cross a stone stile into an orchard and turn left, crossing two stone stiles to reach a road.
GR327281. Cross the road bridge and immediately turn left over a stone stile into a field. Make for the corner of the hedge, initially following the river. Cross to other side of the hedge by a stile just beyond the corner. Go through four fields with a hedge on your left to reach the Pen Rhewr farm road. (To visit Longtown village turn right along the road to a T-junction. Turn left here for the post office and shop, 300 yards away, or right for the pub).
GR324285. Cross the road and go through two iron gates. Pass a sewage works, cross a field in the same direction and cross a stile. Cross the centre of a field to the far corner above the river. Go through a gate, down a slope by the river and cross a stile in a hedge on a concrete slab. Turn right, at first with a hedge to your right, then across the corner of a field in the same direction, and down to a stile by a gate into a lane.
GR321288. Turn right uphill on a lane past a stone barn on your right, and, about 40 yards beyond this, turn left along a hedged track. At a farmhouse, turn right and follow a lane below the ramparts of Longtown Castle (on your left) to join a road just right of the church, shop and Outdoor Education Centre.
GR322291. Turn left along the road, with the castle to your left, through the "Roman" camp to leave Longtown with a new school on your left. Follow the road for 1/2 mile to Perthi-Pertion, with cottages on each side of the road.
GR318297. Beyond the house, and before a new bungalow on the left, turn left at the second footpath sign pointing left (through a gate into a field), and head away from the road at an angle of 60 degrees (bearing 290 degrees). Pass through the lower of two iron gates. Follow the top (right) side of a field to join a surfaced lane over a stile. After 20 yards, go through an iron gate ahead. Go forward on a roughly surfaced track through trees to another gate, then turn right before the gate, on a track with a fence on your left, parallel with the drive to Lower House Farm. Cross a stile in a fence and continue in the same direction in the edge of a deciduous wood, with a ditch and fence on your left. Leave the wood at a gate and continue along an old sunken grassy lane with a fence now on your right and the farmhouse now below you on the left. Descend to cross a stile near the farmhouse, and follow the path down the slope to reach a footbridge over the River Olchon.
GR309303. Cross the footbridge and turn right, keeping between the holloway and stream as far as a waterfall, where you bear slightly left and cross a wooden stile in a fence. Follow the left side of the field, cross a stile in a fence ahead, then swing right away from the farm, descending to recross the River Olchon by a footbridge. Cross the corner of the field to the left, heading upwards to cross a stile. Climb and cross the next field, aiming for the lower edge of a group of trees on the far side, where you cross a stile to reach a slightly sunken green track. Where this track bends right, cross the stile into the corner of a field and climb diagonally, heading to the right of Llanveynoe church. (Celtic crosses and other antiquities make St Beuno's worth a visit).
GR304313. Leave the field at a gate and turn L along the road. Take the right fork at Papillon Cottage and follow the minor road to its end at a farm.
GR295324. Go through the gate straight ahead; after 20 yards (wet) go through another gate on the left. Climb up through trees to cross a stile at the top of them, cross a small field to cross another stile by a gate into more woodland. Follow a rising track through the trees. Keep right at the top of the wood to cross a stile into a field corner. Follow a path along this narrow field to reach a minor road: follow this to the right for 150 yards to reach a car park and picnic site. (See below for the "bad weather" route).
GR288328. Cross the stile by the car park onto the hill. Aim half left upwards onto and over the rocky top of the Cat's Back Ridge, keeping to the right of the ridge as it broadens and eventually reaching the trig point on Black Hill.
GR275348. Bearing slightly left keep to the top of the ridge (Crib y Garth) until the head of the Olchon valley is reached on the left. (N.b. in wet conditions the path rising from the Olchon valley may be followed to here.) Trend right and make for the main north-south ridge (compass bearing 300 degrees), rising gradually all the time and keeping near the right edge, overlooking the valley to the east.
GR253359. Reach the main north-south ridge just north of a 100-foot drop bearing the route used by most Offa's Dyke Path walkers off Hatterall Ridge by Llech y Lladron (The Robber's Stone), a rock outcrop on the left. (Just before this you cross the official Offa's Dyke Path route - paved along this stretch - which makes it's way towards Hay to your right. It crosses the shoulder of Hatterall Ridge, passes the source of the River Monnow and descends the east face of Hay Bluff by a rhiw (a narrow grooved path), crossing two streams and traversing the heathland at the right edge of gorse bushes to meet the Gospel Pass road. This route is, however, little used as most ODP walkers proceed to Hay Bluff). You, on the other hand, should swing right and continue in as straight a line as the peaty morass will allow to reach the summit of Pen-y-Beacon (Hay Bluff).
GR244367. Swing right and then left down a rhiw descending the northwest edge of the bluff: at a group of rocks go sharp right and down a track leading to the Gospel Pass road adjacent to the car park. Turn right along the road for 400 yards to where the ODP rejoins from the right.
GR240377. This point marks the end of the Castles Alternative route - the Offa's Dyke Path via Cadwgan may now be followed into Hay-on-Wye. However, there is also the alternative former ODP route via Hay Common into Hay. Both of these are described below.
This is the former official ODP route via Hay Common.
GR240377. After going 400 yards along the road, 100 yards before a road junction, go down a track on the left to reach a T-junction of roads below. Go forward on the green track beside the road opposite (or on the road itself). Go forward on the road over the cattle grid and immediately take the right fork.
GR230397. In 1 1/4 miles (at a point with fine views to Hay) the road bends sharp left at Pen-yr-Henallt. In a further 1/4 mile, at a horseshoe bend in road, where it swings right for the second time, go over a stile to the left of a gate on the left and go forward by a line of old trees, soon passing a long barrow to your left (an exposed stone chamber). Near the end of the field swing right to a stile by a cattle trough in a dingle (beware of going too far down to the right). Over a stile, go up and immediately over another stile into the wood. This leads into a field: go straight across, contouring, through a small patch of wood, across an arm of a field, into another larger wood.
GR224403. Cross a boggy area and swing right downhill at a large tree. Head out into the field, pass a cottage (ruined) through a gate to the right, then go left then right round the field to a stile by a gate in the hedge on the left. Go down across the field heading for Hay Church seen in the valley ahead; down left of slope with bracken and gorse, then at the bottom this leads to an enclosed track. Follow the right side of the next field, soon swinging to the right with an iron fence to the right. Where the track swings left by a confluence of small streams, go through the gate below (not the kissing gate to the field above). This soon leads to a footbridge and down a dingle, crossing and recrossing the stream. Follow the track down to the B4350 and follow this right into Hay town centre.
GR240377. Continue down the road for a further 1/4 mile.
GR240382. Where a wall leaves the road to the left, fork left along an ill-marked track across grass midway between the wall and road.
GR238395. Nearly a mile further on, the track converges on a wood and goes through a gate into a sunken track. Ford a stream, then pass Cadwgan farm on your left.
GR237397. Beyond the farm, go down the lane and cross a stile on the right, heading diagonally across to the lower side of the field just R of an old incomplete hedge boundary. Take the track sloping down steeply to the right, then swing left and go down to cross a stile into a lane just right of Upper Dan y Fforest farm. Turn left, then immediately right over a stone stile. Continue straight down over three more stiles, with a stream to your right, then go right over a stile and footbridge. Turn left and continue with a stream on your left to a stile and road.
GR237409. Turn left along the road for about 400 yards, then cross a stile on the right. Go diagonally left across the field to a stile in the corner, and forward to Cusop Dingle, with Dulas Brook on the right. Go through a gate, over a footbridge, and continue with the main stream on your right. The path continues straight on through kissing gates, with the buildings of Hay visible ahead. The final kissing gate leads to a narrow alley right of a car park.
GR233423. Reach the B4348 opposite the castle at Hay-on-Wye.
GR288328. ...from the car park cross the stile and follow the well-defined track along the foothills.
GR278357. A track on the right soon leads down to reach Craswell road and the Bull's Head public house, but your route is ahead through a gate - the enclosed track can be very muddy. There are several streams and no bridges, but the track is easily negotiable. Continue in a north-westerly direction along the track through fields and wooden gates. After the 8th gate keep straight ahead at a crossing of tracks.
GR267364. Cross a stream, bear right along a wider path which swings left ot continue northwest (a lane on the right leads back to the Bull's Head). Keep right after passing through a gate near a sheep pen on the right.
GR262366. There is no footbridge, but the ford is easy to negotiate (as is another at GR258368). Cross open land keeping within a short distance of the wire fence on the right. When this fence turns sharply right keep straight ahead - there is no single clear path.
GR243375. A short distance after passing old some quarries on the right, the path is joined by the Offa's Dyke Path coming off Hatterall Ridge.
GR240377. In 1/4 mile the Gospel Pass road is reached and either of the two routes described above can be followed into Hay.
These notes describe briefly some of the buildings to be seen on the route. Many have their own guides or are described in more detail in standard guides to the area.
Pembridge Castle is an example of a small, private border castle. It was held by the Wake family up to the 14th century, and then by the Mortimers. The earliest feature is the northwest tower which is early 13th century. The gatehouse and curtain wall are late 13th century.
Llanrothal, now only a farm near the Monnow, was once a village and still has a church with a Norman nave and also 13th century features. Only the east end is in use.
The route includes two of the Castles of the Trilateral, held by the Duchy of Lancaster as a check to the growing power of the Lords Marcher. The third (White Castle) is on the Offa's Dyke Path north of Llantilio Crosseny.
Skenfrith Castle was probably built by the Justiciar, Hubert de Burgh, 1219-1232, and then passed to the Crown at his fall. The castle has a moat fed by the Monnow, a curtain wall with a simple gate and drum tower, and in the middle a round three-storey keep on an earlier motte, late 11th century or early 12th century.
Skenfrith Church is early English, has a perpendicular tower with a timbered belfry and contains some good woodwork inside.
Grosmont Castle is mentioned in 1182 but the earliest masonry is early 13th century, comprising the Great Hall and the curtain wall to the southwest of it. Hubert de Burgh built the gatehouse and three four-storey drum towers, 1220-1240. Further apartments were built c1330, including the elaborate chimney, and a drawbridge was added to the gatehouse, from which the pit survives.
Grosmont was a corporate borough until 1860, is the centre of a complex road network, and has a little town hall with an open market area at ground level. The church, which is large and much of which is now unused, is cruciform with a south chapel funded by Henry III's queen, and has an octagonal tower with a spire.
Llancillo has Norman work in the church, whose chancel has tufa quoins. The mound has traces of a shell keep.
Clodock has a church with Norman nave and chancel arch, and 17th century woodwork including a 3-decker pulpit. The watermill retains the large wheel of 1868 and other machinery.
Longtown, the ancient borough of Ewyas Lacy, was the centre of the de Lacies' territory until 1240. There are references to the borough in the 13th century. The church dates nowadays mostly from 1868, but has a Decorated E window and a timber chancel roof of 1640. It was built as a borough chapel because the parish church was too distant. The market place is in front.
Longtown Castle may be the earliest round keep in England, being late 12th or early 13th century. It stands on an earlier Norman motte, the whole occupying one side of a large rectangular area of uncertain date (Roman? Saxon?), part of which was adapted to form an inner and outer bailey, with a cross wall with gatehouse between.
Llanveynoe church is of predominantly recent building, but it contains carved panels, probably 11th century, of a crucifixion and a cross with inscriptions. | 2019-04-24T09:12:20Z | http://longwalks.org.uk/oldsite/castlesalternative.html |
Ten years ago I went on a quest to become an expert on coffee and to sample as many different ways of making it and as many different varieties that existed. I tried everything from the French Press to the Coffee Siphon, Hawaiian Kona to Jamaican Blue Mountain. But unsatisfied with mere coffee, I went on a quest to find out how to use chemicals to enhance my mind. It had its roots in old high-school days when I'd bring a sixpack of Jolt cola to a computer-programming marathon: cramming together study halls and lunch breaks in my senior year. The nootropics of that era were caffeine, sugar, cortisol, dopamine, epinephrine and norepineprhine, and the last four in that list were all natural hormones my body was making itself.
The first "smart drug" I heard about was Modafinil, which was described as a pill that could let you stay awake without fatigue for 48 hours, sleep for 8, and then repeat the experience again indefinitely. Modafinil can do that under the right circumstances, but it turns out that it was not a drug that would turn you into a superthinker overnight. "Moda" was to be just one of many substances I'd experience firsthand.
Take apart the word "Nootropic" and you get fragments of Greek words that mean "affecting the mind", but the word is used to label drugs that affect the brain in what we expect is a good way. Each of the drugs described below will have a physiological effect, and my list does not cover substances that bear no published or firsthand evidence of such.
Some of the drugs described below are dangerous and can kill you.
You must not take them until you have seen a doctor for a physical exam and a psychiatrist for a mental health exam. Both exams are important: one of the drugs below affects homeostasis and can kill someone who isn't in good physical condition. Others affect the production of neurotransmitters, and if you have a mental illness such as depression then they can exacerbate the disease or interfere with its treatment.
The first drugs on our list are commonly regarded as basic nutrients or dietary supplements and aren't harmful. The list will then progress to the stronger substances that I've tried.
I haven't been paid by any of the companies mentioned in this article, but the Amazon links do pay me a percentage. The advertising accompanying this site is Google's AdSense. Where I've listed a retailer to purchase from, it means I have bought that drug from them for personal use.
A critical nutrient, the lack of which leads to mental retardation. It isn't typically included in lists of smart drugs, but it needs to be for two good reasons. The first is that iodine deficiency is responsible for more unrealized intellect worldwide than any other nutritional factor, and populations with poor nutrition can be 10 or 15 IQ points behind the average. The second is that even in western nations you can have an iodine deficiency and not know it. Most westerners get their iodine from iodized salt and enriched flour, But if you prefer to use non-iodized flour or salt for cooking, and you live in an area with low soil iodine levels, then you may not be getting enough.
Iodine is part of the process of making thyroid hormones, and it's here that a deficiency leads not only to retardation but also to goiter. Iodine also acts as an antioxidant (one of the first in biological history--its presence in early blue-green algae made it possible for them to produce oxygen without poisoning themselves in the process, and led to Earth having an oxygen-rich atmosphere).
There are no subjective sensations from consuming recommended doses of iodine.
If you are not using iodized salt or enriched flour, then you and your children need to take iodine supplements. Most once-a-day multivitamin pills contain plenty, but check the label because some don't.
Every morning or with a meal.
Used to treat alcoholics and sleep-apnea patients with memory loss, as it helps to rebuild neurons--particularly those in the mamillary bodies of the hypothalamus in the brain.
Nope, but if you take an overdose you may feel nausea.
Pork and yeast have the highest natural concentrations, but most of us get it from cereals (wheat, corn, rice, etc.) In pill form, you can find it in any supermarket or drugstore's nutritional supplements aisle.
All are unregulated in the United States and sold over-the-counter as nutritional supplements. You're unlikely to find them in nutrition stores like GNC or Vitamin World, but all variants are easily found for sale on the Internet.
The differences between the varieties come down to whether they are fat soluble or not, which affects how easily they cross the blood-brain barrier. To you, the matter is not of effectiveness but of convenience. Piracetam is water soluble and extremely cheap ($20 buys a large tub of Piracetam powder, of about 500 doses worth, and which dissolves easily into any beverage), but Oxiracetam and Pramiracetam are fat soluble (add cream to your drink before you dissolve them, if you bought powered forms) and proportionately more effective. Whichever you chose you will get the same bang for the buck.
The racetams are also called cognitive enhancers, but this is a subjective term used when advertising them. Studies of the drug have only tested for, and revealed improvements to memory.
Recetams are currently considered to be risk free, hence their unregulated status. There are no immediate negative side effects, and--at the time of writing--no studies have exposed any long-term negative side-effects.
If you buy a tub of oxiracetam powder and take a teaspoonful, it'll probably have the taste and texture of sugar. But buy it from a reputable source and you won't have been ripped-off. There is a patented method for manufacturing drugs in a form that resembles and tastes like sugar. Piracetam in powdered form tastes like nasty sugar, so try mixing it with chocolate milk or a citrus drink.
You may experience a slight buzz 30 minutes to an hour after taking your first high dose (2,000mg of piracetam), but this will soon go away. If you take piracetam regularly then this sensation will rarely ever return, even with higher doses. The real effect of the racetams is on learning.
Some users experience headaches while taking racetams, which can be eliminated by supplementing with Choline (described below).
Users have recommended taking a quadruple-dose 30 minutes before a study session, then taking regular doses every 2-4 hours afterward. Piracetam's suggested regular dose is 800mg (one pill, but check). I have not experienced any side-effects after doses of 3,200mg at one time, but remember that Aniracetam and other formulations are more potent and require lower dosages. The 'racetam family haven't been proven effective as a daily supplement, so their usage ought to be restricted to study sessions specifically.
A memory enhancer, and the most basic of a class of substances called cholinergics. Choline is an essential nutrient that you get in your diet already, particularly from eggs, fish and chicken. Your body uses it in at least two places: cell membranes and the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. The first role has been found important for pregnant and post menopausal women, since pregnancy and low estrogen levels can drain the body's choline reserves. Its second role in neurotransmitters is what makes it a possible nootropic, since a 1975 study found that increased choline intake resulted in higher levels of acetylcholine in the brain, and acetylcholine is believed to be involved in the formation of memories.
Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter, it bridges the gap between synapses when they're ready to "fire"
Acetylcholinesterase is an enzyme that "cleans up" acetylcholine, removing it from the synapse to reset it. Ie: it's anti-acetylcholine.
Rosemary, sage and marijuana are acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. For that matter, so is nerve gas and some types of snake venom. Mild inhibitors such as Huperzine A are being used to treat Alzheimer's disease, as it's suspected that the inhibition of the neurotransmitter stimulates nerve growth--a little bit like how you need to tear down muscle with exercize in order to make the body grow it back stronger.
Some users of the racetam family of drugs experience headaches that can be relieved by taking a choline supplement, and there is also subjective reports that it potentiates racetams (makes them more effective).
If you chose to supplement with choline, don't take too much of it or you'll soon have an embarrassing body-odor problem. Choline is also a precursor to trimethylamine, the chemical produced by decomposing fish that give them their distinctive smell. Your body has the ability to break-down trimethylamine when you consume choline in normal quantities, but overdosing on choline can overwhelm this process.
No, although choline can eliminate headaches caused by other nootropics such as piracetam.
Choline is naturally found at high concentrations in eggs. It's also found in an emulsifier called lecithin, which can be derived from either soy or eggs. Many processed foods use lecithin to prevent the oils in emulsions like chocolate and peanut butter from separating. Another popular form of choline is Choline Bitartrate, which is cheap, or CDP Choline, which is more expensive but better quality.
No more than 500 milligrams, taken as either a daily supplement (watch out for fishy-BO), or at the same time as your first dose of Piracetam.
Is bunk. It's still marketed as a memory enhancing herbal supplement, but its banner test case--Alzheimer's--turned up squat. Other findings conducted on healthy adults and published in JAMA also concluded that the supplement has no effect on long-term memory.
An IQ booster. Creatine is already very popular with bodybuilders, and this makes it extremely easy and cheap to obtain. There are dozens of manufacturers and it's sold everywhere that dietary supplements are. It occurs naturally in your body and improves the supply of energy to your muscles. It has been found safe in doses of up to 20 grams per day, but there are known problems in those with kidney and liver disease, as well as those with diabetes or hypoglycemia. Add to that its tendency to increase the production of formaldehyde with long-term use. Its popularity with bodybuilders comes from giving them the ability to do more in a workout, leading to an increase of muscle tissue.
Its nootropic effects come from its effect on the production of Adinosine Triphosphate--the chemical energy that drives cellular activity. This makes it a type of stimulant, and in studies it was found to improve results in tests of fluid intelligence, which is the ability to find meaning in confusion, draw inferences, make symbolic connections, and solve problems. This is compared to crystalized intelligence, such as when you learn how to add, or tie your shoelaces. These studies were performed on vegetarians in order to isolate the effects of the supplement with natural creatine in meat.
Creatine supplements come in two chemical forms: Creatine monophosphate and Creatine ethyl ester. The latter, CEE, is supposed to have higher absorption rates and half-life, but there haven't been any studies that bear this as true. In fact, the addition of the ethyl group appears to hasten its breakdown and instability, meaning that you're better off with the monophosphate variety.
You may notice that you have more energy when you exercise 30 minutes after taking a dose of creatine. If you're taking creating for nootropic effect, you should combine it with exercise such as walking or running in order to experience the stimulant effect.
Creatine is a supplement that can be taken daily. Take two 750mg capsules two to three times per day.
Is a stimulant as well as a memory enhancer. It's a chemical variant of vitamin B1, and the crucial difference is that it can cross the blood-brain barrier better than conventional B1 (thiamine). The B-family of vitamins tend to be stimulants because of their role in the metabolism of stored energy, and the more sensitive you are to stimulants such as caffeine, the more sensitive you're likely to be to the B vitamins, including Sulbutiamine.
It's sold over-the-counter in powder form. It's better to get it in pill form, if you can, for it has a bitter taste and is hard to mix with drinks without making them taste nasty.
Note: The nutritional supplement company Fast 400 has been selling Sulbutiamine as Sublutiamine, apparently a typo that they haven't fixed. It is the same substance, however.
You might feel more energetic, especially if you combine it with light exercise. If you take a dose higher than 500mg you may experience nausea or upset stomach.
I've noticed an increasing trend to pull pure Sulbutiamine off the market and retail it as a cocktail instead. The following are where I've purchased pure Sulbutiamine in the past, and Your Results May Vary.
As needed for a stimulant.
A memory enhancer first used to treat Alzheimer's disease and senile dementia in the elderly. There's been a rush to raid the Alzheimer medicine cabinet, lately, in the hopes that what will make the senile keep their memory will make the healthy get even smarter, Centrophenoxine is the poster child of this movement. The chemical itself is a compound made from one naturally occurring substance--dimethylaminoethanol (DMAE)--and one synthetic, which is parachlorophenoxyacetate (pCPA). Exactly how it improves memory isn't known, but there are two leads: 1) it's a precursor to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine and may increase levels of it in the brain, and 2) it removes lipofuscin deposits in the brain and skin.
Lipofuscin on the skin lead to "liver spots", while its build-up in the brain is suspected to be behind the "plaques" that are observed in brain tissue samples taken from Alzheimer's patients. The theory for Alzheimers is that the lipofuscin clogs ion channels on the surface of nerve cells, preventing the movement of potassium through these channels and degrading memory and cognition in the process.
Centrophenoxine gave the author mild nausea when it was taken on an empty stomach, but not when taken with food. Avoid it completely if you suffer from high blood pressure or epilepsy. It's available over-the-counter from nutritional stores, but usually only those on the Internet. Like with the racetams and Sulbutiamine, I have not seen it in main-street nutrition stores.
Centrophenoxine's benefit comes from preventative maintenance. Take 250 to 500mg per day in the morning with breakfast.
Now we're cooking with gas. Modafinil was first prescribed to narcoleptics to help them stay awake during the day, and then used by the Navy and Air Force to help pilots stay alert on long missions. Modafinil keeps you awake and alert, has an effectiveness that spans up to 8 hours, increases the capacity of your working memory, and is the closest thing you can get to the fictional NZT-48 from the movie Limitless. It remains prescription-only in the United States, and any US resident would need to either obtain a prescription from a doctor, or purchase it from a foreign supplier.
Modafinil increases the level of dopamine in the brain, and is therefore potentially addictive. I will go out on a limb to say I've not developed an addiction to it, in spite of taking it frequently, but this is only my experience. Do not take Modafinil if you have cirrhosis of the liver or heart disease, and do not mix it with alcohol.
Because this list is given in order of increasing risk, I'll point out that Modafinil is our turning point between unregulated "nutritional supplements" and drugs that are powerful enough to stay behind the counter. From Modafinil and onwards in this list, you will not want to take these if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or have not received a physical exam from a doctor in the past year.
As yet, few side effects are known that would threaten your health. But since 1998, the FDA has seen several cases of dermatologic (skin) reactions to Modafinil, some severe enough to require hospitalization. I have only experienced mild headaches and stomach discomfort, however.
Modafinil is broken down by the liver enzyme CYP 3A4, and 3A4 itself is inhibited by the naturally occurring chemicals found in grapefruit juice. Doctors who prescribe Modafinil therefore warn their patients against drinking grapefruit juice while they're on the medication (and as it happens, many other drugs are broken down by 3A4 and are similarly affected). Given that Modafinil has low overdose potential, the author tried deliberately taking it with grapefruit juice but did not perceive a change in effect.
Modafinil can promote wakefulness without the jitters of caffeine, and under the right conditions can let you stay awake for 48-hours without feeling excessively sleepy. But taking it doesn't mean you'll suddenly be fatigue-free and spend the next two days wide awake; Modafinil--used as a nootropic--helps those who already have a good sleep pattern. The author was not able to dispatch sleep by popping a few pills, but he was able to perform and concentrate superbly under its influence for hours at a time.
Take about 100mg for every 100lbs of body weight, anything less and you won't feel much of a difference. If you take the right dose then in about an hour you'll start to feel a subtle buzz, like someone swapped the battery in your brain with one that has a higher voltage. Take the first dose in the morning, and--if necessary--a second dose in the afternoon. While some have used it to pull all-nighters, you can't use it to eliminate sleep--there's no drug which can do that. Nor should you take it every day for nootropic use, because your body will adjust and require higher doses to get the same effect. My practice is to use it no more than once a week on a day that I've set aside for an important project.
If you want to take it for nootropic effect then don't take it when you feel tired, because while it will lift you out of your stupor it will just be an expensive way to get the same effect as a nap and a cup of coffee.
Modafinil is far and away the superior alertness drug, but it is expensive. A 30x100mg package of Progivil will cost around US$175, while the licensed brand Alertec is at least $140. The author has recently tried a cheaper generic brand called Modalert with excellent results, at $130 for 80 x 200mg. This brand is manufactured in India and it does not use the exact same formulation as Provigil--a difference that affects the rate at which it's absorbed into the bloodstream. As such, slightly higher doses are required for the same effect.
Beware of firms that advertise prices significantly lower than the above, because you will probably not get the real thing. Since Modafinil is in extremely high demand, with would-be-superheroes willing to get it from almost anywhere, there are a lot of scam operations in business trying to take your money and sell you sugar. The author has purchased from the sources listed below and can vouch for them.
Domestic generic modafinil should become available in 2012, but this is only after generic drug makers contested Cephalon's patents that cover both modafinil itself and its formulation as a drug. It may not go truly generic until 2015.
Adrafinil is Modafinil lite, but specifically a prodrug that your body will metabolize into Modafinil in vivo. It's both cheaper than Modafinil and unregulated in the United States, but you have to take a much larger dosage to get the same effect. Being unregulated doesn't mean it's available over-the-counter at your local drugstore, though; you'll still need to order it over the Internet.
Adrafinil is also harder on your liver than Modafinil is, since your liver has to convert it into Modafinil before it can have an effect. In my experience, Adrafinil is disappointing: you can take a huge dose, feel little effect, and wonder if your eyes are going to turn yellow as a consequence.
Cephalon has also introduced a similar drug called Nuvigil (Armodafinil), which is the right-hand enantiomer of Modafinil--another way of saying it's Modafinil's sister, or what you get when the molecule is flipped back-to-front like a mirror image. Many drugs fit into this class called stereoisomers, where the drug molecule comes in "left hand" and "right hand" shapes. Sometimes the two enantiomers have the same physiological effect in the body, and when the patent is due to expire on the "left hand" version the Pharmacy company patents and begins selling the right-hand version. The popular heartburn medicine Prilosec (Omeprazole), for example, has an identically functioning twin sister called Nexium (Esomeprazole), but while you can now get generic Omeprazole OTC, Nexium is still a patented drug sold by prescription.
And this is what Armodafinil is. So far it seems to have the same effect as Modafinil, but the looming 2012 availability of generic Modafinil has spurred Cephalon to market Armodafinil (Nuvigil) as a "better" version for a broader range of ailments (including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia).
Yes, you will. Oh boy will you notice it. First time users will feel significantly more alert, like "my mind is a laser beam" alert. Some notice its effect in retrospect, after they realize they've just consumed a few books and papers in one afternoon.
About 2-3 hours after taking a dose of Modafinil you will also notice a change in the odor of your urine--somewhat like the odor after eating asparagus. This is normal and caused by the sulphur metabolites of the drug when your body breaks it down.
However, if you take it too frequently (every day), then the effect will diminish until you don't notice or benefit from it anymore.
Your doctor, by prescription. It's prescribed for Shift-Work Sleep Disorder, so you may qualify if you work nights.
MyModafinilDR.com - Probably the best place to obtain Modafinil without a prescription. The company is based in the US, but the product ships from Mumbai, India. The brand they carry is ModAlert, which is significantly cheaper than Alertec or Provigil. I received my order from this company 7 days after placing it and the product appears to be genuine. MyModafinil claim that they will re-ship any order that gets confiscated by Customs.
Biogenesis Antiaging - A South-African company that sells Provigil and Alertect brands without a prescription and will ship to the US, although it'll take a couple of weeks. So far, none of my shipments (4 and counting) have been stopped at the border, but Biogenesis claims that they will reship it at least once if it gets confiscated.
Not more than twice a week in doses of 200mg or less. I have tried taking big doses (400mg at once, and 200mg in the morning followed by 200mg at noon) without any substantial effect. If you want to march for 48 hours then you need to take a bodyweight-appropriate dosage every 18 hours.
Moda is for when you need it. It's not a supplement. Your body will get used to it and then the next "wake-me-up" dosage will just cost you more.
Windows and Linux were written by geeks chugging Pepsi and Mountain Dew, but the Saturn V and the Lunar Lander were designed by engineers puffing on cigarettes. Nicotine is a stimulant that can increase concentration. To insects it's a poison (the tobacco plant produced it because it killed herbivorous bugs). It can be absorbed through the lungs by smoking tobacco or it can be absorbed through the skin by chewing nicotine gum (most of the nicotine is absorbed through the cheeks and tongue, just as with chewing tobacco) or by wearing a nicotine patch.
The effects of smoking on your health are well discussed outside of this article, so I'll focus on its mental effects: Nicotine can cross the blood-brain barrier very easily--about seven seconds from the first puff--and binds to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors on nerve cells. One consequence of this is the increase of dopamine in the brain that brings about a sensation called a "buzz". It induces the liver into releasing glucose, providing a sense of increased energy, and it stimulates the adrenal gland into producing epinephrine (adrenaline). Then there is the major metabolite of nicotine called cotinine, which is being investigated under the speculation that it has an effect on cognition, too.
Acetylcholine is the neurotransmitter that activates skeletal muscle cells, making them flex. But because of a single amino-acid difference between brain-cell acetylcholine receptors and muscle-cell receptors, nicotine will activate brain cells without activating muscle cells. That's a difference between life and death, for if it did activate muscle-cell acetylcholine receptors then nicotine would kill with a mechanism similar to the way nerve gas works. Now you know how tobacco plants deploy their own insecticide: insects don't have this difference, and the nicotine in tobacco plants kills them.
With cigarettes you'll have a choice of regular or mentholated. The addition of menthol increases the half-life of nicotine in the bloodstream because it inhibits the oxidization and glucose breakdown of the drug by the enzyme CYP 2B6, similar to the way the components of grapefruit juice inhibit CYP 3A4 and extend the half-life of modafinil.
Besides cigarettes there are now chewing gums, patches, and battery-powered false cigarettes that deliver nicotine via steam, but these are not like a "Get Out Of Cancer Free" card.
My experience with cigarettes is that they do not contribute much towards mental powers, not enough to justify their use. I entertained the thought that the "buzz" could be beneficial for rare--once-a-year problems that require intense concentration to crack--but there doesn't seem to be any advantage over a good night's sleep followed by a fresh cup of coffee.
Yes, nicotine will give you a noticeable buzz and this is the primary reason for smoking cigarettes. This buzz will wane if you become a regular user, until you don't experience it anymore.
In general "never" is how often because of its addictiveness, additives, and nature as a carcinogen. Outside of that, nicotine's value as a stimulant appears to work best when you are working on a difficult problem that matters. This is strictly Your Judgement, Your Risk.
These drugs can also function as cognitive boosters, but have not been tried by the author.
Both are amphetamine stimulants--and Schedule II controlled drugs--that are prescribed for Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children and adults. It also has extensive use off-label as "focus in a pill", the "study drug", or a drug that makes it easier to concentrate and stay awake.
For nootropic use by students looking to ace their exams, it should be taken 30 minutes before a study session, and the study session should replicate the kind of environment they expect to be in when they take their exam. IE: At the same time of day, similar lighting conditions, sitting with the same posture, and with no distractions. On the day of the exam the student would need to take another dose of Adderall 30 minutes before the exam starts in order to settle into the same mood and state of attention they were in when studying. It's the matching of mood and environment that makes it easier to recall the material.
Addrall, being a stimulant, can cause heart attacks in people with a history of heart disease and seizures in people who have a history of seizures--sufficient that one should think twice about taking it recreationally, even if you don't think you have a medical problem. There are also a large number of adverse drug interactions with Adderall, particularly antidepressants.
If that wasn't enough, some of the effects of long-term use of Adderall are coming to bear. Scientific American has published an article citing evidence of cognitive decline. Heavy users of the stimulant who suddenly discontinue taking it will also find themselves "falling off a cliff" into extreme fatigue and depression.
This turns on the tape-recorder in your brain. It's also the most dangerous nootropic in the list because it interferes with homeostasis. Desmopressin is a synthetic analogue to the natural hormone vasopressin, which not only acts as a vasoconstrictor (shrinking the diameter of blood vessels) but also affects the hypothalamus and vastly improves memory formation. For nootropic use you need the nasal spray as to absorb the drug through the nasal membrane closest to the brain. Its effect is almost instantaneous and its users tend to take it immediately before lectures, conferences, and study periods. The effect can last for several hours and tends to leave one with a stronger recollection of the material studied while under its influence.
Having too much water in your bloodstream can lead to electrolyte imbalance, and in severe cases this is called hyponatremia, or "water poisoning"
Hyponatremia is difficult to treat. If your doctors cannot control the rebalancing of your electrolytes, you may experience central pontine myelinolysis--nerve damage to the central pons area of the brain stem, which regulates autonomic functions such as breathing. Heart failure is also possible.
Use Desmopressin irresponsibly and you'll enjoy the rest of your life in an iron lung, unless you die before they can hook you up to one. If you remember the "Hold your wee for a Wii" contest held by a radio station, where a woman held her bladder for so long she died, know that she died of hyponatremia--the same malady that can be caused by the wrongful use of this drug.
If you were to take Desmopressin then you must avoid heavy exercise and the excessive consumption of liquids for at least 6 hours afterwards. Do not drink sport drinks such as Gatorade or Powerade. Drink only when thirsty and only until you're no longer thirsty.
Desmopressin costs about $25 for a nasal spray bottle containing enough liquid for 6-7 doses, and is available over the Internet without a prescription from suppliers such as Biogenesis Antiaging. For nootropic use, hold your breath while you administer about 2 squirts per nostril, then breathe in through your nose. You may experience a runny nose and sneezing, but this is normal and will go away. The author has also experienced a mild buzz immediately after use that diminished after a few minutes.
Desmopressin should not be used more than once a week. It isn't a supplement and it won't make you smarter. It's what you would take before you have to study and memorize material that doesn't lend itself to memorization easily, such as a lecture.
In many ways, this drug is the opposite of alcohol. Booze makes you pee and forget things, while Desmopressin restricts urine production and makes you remember everything, and the mechanisms for each are strikingly similar. Alcohol is a vasodilator: it makes your blood vessels expand and encourages the kidneys to remove more water from your blood. But you would be a fool--perhaps a dead fool--if you were to mix the both in hopes to get the fuzz of alcohol without the side-effects.
Unlikely, its effect is on learning and memory retention. However, if you took it and then guzzled lots of sports drinks then you'll soon experience headache, nausea, confusion, lethargy and other symptoms. If you experience any of those symptoms then call an ambulance and hope they know how to treat water poisoning.
Immediately before studying or attending a lecture. Never more than once a week. Never before heavy exercise. Never before drinking alcohol or lots of fluids. This is not a nutritional supplement, it is a drug and it's dangerous.
Are these "Brains in a pill"?
None of these drugs, nor any other kind of drug, can make you smart on their own. They are just like the protein supplements and amino acids sold to bodybuilders: they can't make you strong, only exercise can do that, but the idea is that the right nutrition combined with the right exercise will make you stronger than the exercise alone.
Taking these drugs and then vegging-out in front of TV will only turn you into a dope who knows a lot about TV. They will only work to make you smarter, or remember more material, or hold your focus longer if you combine them with study and mental exercise.
A "stack" should be restricted to what's sensible to take on a daily basis, no matter what you plan to do each day. Never add stimulants and memory enhancers to a daily stack: your body will acclimatize to them too quickly so that their effect drops to zero. Adding caffeine, racetams and modafinil to a daily stack will erase their effectiveness after only a few days, making every pill after that a waste of money. Only take those substances on special occasions.
The responsible use of "smart drugs"
Sport drinks, dietary supplements and amino acids are safe and acceptable chemicals used by athletes and fitness enthusiasts every day with no ill effects or moral hazard. They improve health and physique, if simply because humans are animals of a chemical origin with chemistry at the heart of our basic functions. In the above I've covered everything that I've personally used myself, and all but cigarettes and Desmo should be considered on the same level as what you'll find in a GNC or Vitamin World store on any street in America.
Some substances that are otherwise safe are banned in sports competition because they confer an unfair advantage. Modafinil happens to be one of them because it can improve endurance. In competition we certainly should ban these substances if the point is to discover the natural excellence of man. But nootropics are different. If you are dying of a disease and the cure was invented by a doctor under the influence of any of the above substances, then it would be quite absurd to bring up fairness of competition. Life isn't a competition, and it isn't a zero-sum game. | 2019-04-19T18:54:51Z | http://www.thinkinginanutshell.com/nootropics |
Apr. 9 5:41 PM PT6:41 PM MT7:41 PM CT8:41 PM ET0:41 GMT8:41 5:41 PM MST6:41 PM CST7:41 PM EST4:41 UAE (+1)02:4120:41 ET7:41 PM CT23:41 - Jordan Clarkson scored 16 points Tuesday on 7-of-13 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Charlotte Hornets 124-97. Clarkson pulled down two rebounds and dished out three assists, tallying a plus-minus of -14 in his 23:01 of playing time. Clarkson went 2 of 4 from 3-point range.
Apr. 7 1:36 PM PT2:36 PM MT3:36 PM CT4:36 PM ET20:36 GMT4:36 1:36 PM MST2:36 PM CST3:36 PM EST0:36 UAE (+1)22:3616:36 ET3:36 PM CT19:36 - Jordan Clarkson scored two points Sunday on 1-of-8 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the San Antonio Spurs 112-90. Clarkson did not grab a rebound nor have an assist, tallying a plus-minus of -24 in his 25:18 of playing time.
Apr. 6 9:17 PM PT10:17 PM MT11:17 PM CT12:17 AM ET4:17 GMT12:17 9:17 PM MST10:17 PM CST11:17 PM EST8:17 UAE06:170:17 ET11:17 PM CT3:17 - Jordan Clarkson scored 10 points Friday on 4-of-15 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Golden State Warriors 120-114. Clarkson grabbed two rebounds and had four assists, tallying a plus-minus of 0 in his 32:24 of playing time. Clarkson went 2 of 6 from behind the arc.
Apr. 4 8:16 PM PT9:16 PM MT10:16 PM CT11:16 PM ET3:16 GMT11:16 8:16 PM MST9:16 PM CST10:16 PM EST7:16 UAE (+1)05:1623:16 ET10:16 PM CT2:16 - Jordan Clarkson scored 22 points Thursday, going 9 of 13 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Sacramento Kings 117-104. Clarkson pulled down two rebounds and had three assists, tallying a plus-minus of -13 in his 31:28 of playing time. He tacked on one steal. Clarkson went 2 of 5 from 3-point range.
Apr. 1 8:33 PM PT9:33 PM MT10:33 PM CT11:33 PM ET3:33 GMT11:33 8:33 PM MST9:33 PM CST10:33 PM EST7:33 UAE (+1)05:3323:33 ET10:33 PM CT2:33 - Jordan Clarkson scored 20 points Monday, going 8 of 16 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Phoenix Suns 122-113. Clarkson grabbed six rebounds and had three assists, accumulating a plus-minus of +4 in his 32:34 of playing time. He added one steal. Clarkson went 1 of 3 from 3-point range.
Mar. 30 2:08 PM PT3:08 PM MT4:08 PM CT5:08 PM ET21:08 GMT5:08 2:08 PM MST3:08 PM CST4:08 PM EST1:08 UAE (+1)22:0817:08 ET3:08 PM CT20:08 - Jordan Clarkson scored 26 points Saturday, going 11 of 16 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Los Angeles Clippers 132-108. Clarkson did not grab a rebound but had two assists, tallying a plus-minus of +6 in his 24:07 of playing time. He added two steals.
Mar. 28 6:58 PM PT7:58 PM MT8:58 PM CT9:58 PM ET1:58 GMT9:58 6:58 PM MST7:58 PM CST8:58 PM EST5:58 UAE (+1)02:5821:58 ET7:58 PM CT0:58 - Jordan Clarkson scored 10 points Thursday, going 4 of 15 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the San Antonio Spurs 116-110. Clarkson grabbed six rebounds and dished out three assists, tallying a plus-minus of +3 in his 21:00 of playing time. He added one steal. Clarkson went 1 of 4 from 3-point range.
Mar. 26 5:49 PM PT6:49 PM MT7:49 PM CT8:49 PM ET0:49 GMT8:49 5:49 PM MST6:49 PM CST7:49 PM EST4:49 UAE (+1)01:4920:49 ET6:49 PM CT23:49 - Jordan Clarkson scored 18 points Tuesday on 7-of-11 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Boston Celtics 116-106. Clarkson grabbed two rebounds and dished out five assists, tallying a plus-minus of +2 in his 29:54 on the floor. He tacked on one steal.
Mar. 24 3:07 PM PT4:07 PM MT5:07 PM CT6:07 PM ET22:07 GMT6:07 3:07 PM MST4:07 PM CST5:07 PM EST2:07 UAE (+1)23:0718:07 ET4:07 PM CT21:07 - Jordan Clarkson scored 19 points Sunday on 7-of-16 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Milwaukee Bucks 127-105. Clarkson grabbed three rebounds and dished out four assists, accumulating a plus-minus of -7 in his 34:31 of playing time. Clarkson went 1 of 4 from 3-point range.
Mar. 22 6:38 PM PT7:38 PM MT8:38 PM CT9:38 PM ET1:38 GMT9:38 6:38 PM MST7:38 PM CST8:38 PM EST5:38 UAE (+1)02:3821:38 ET7:38 PM CT0:38 - Jordan Clarkson scored 20 points Friday, going 9 of 19 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Los Angeles Clippers 110-108. Clarkson pulled down five rebounds and dished out two assists, accumulating a plus-minus of +5 in his 33:22 of playing time. He added one steal. Clarkson went 2 of 10 from 3-point range.
Mar. 20 5:40 PM PT6:40 PM MT7:40 PM CT8:40 PM ET0:40 GMT8:40 5:40 PM MST6:40 PM CST7:40 PM EST4:40 UAE (+1)01:4020:40 ET6:40 PM CT23:40 - Jordan Clarkson scored 23 points Wednesday on 9-of-17 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 107-102. Clarkson pulled down five rebounds and had two assists, tallying a plus-minus of +9 in his 32:03 on the floor. He added two steals. Clarkson went 1 of 4 from 3-point range.
Mar. 18 5:35 PM PT6:35 PM MT7:35 PM CT8:35 PM ET0:35 GMT8:35 5:35 PM MST6:35 PM CST7:35 PM EST4:35 UAE (+1)01:3520:35 ET6:35 PM CT23:35 - Jordan Clarkson scored 14 points Monday on 6-of-10 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Detroit Pistons 126-119. Clarkson grabbed two rebounds and added an assist, tallying a plus-minus of -14 in his 27:22 on the floor.
Mar. 16 7:02 PM PT8:02 PM MT9:02 PM CT10:02 PM ET2:02 GMT10:02 7:02 PM MST8:02 PM CST9:02 PM EST6:02 UAE (+1)03:0222:02 ET8:02 PM CT1:02 - Jordan Clarkson scored 17 points Saturday, going 6 of 12 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Dallas Mavericks 121-116. Clarkson pulled down two rebounds and had two assists, tallying a plus-minus of -6 in his 30:25 of playing time. Clarkson went 1 of 5 from 3-point range.
Mar. 14 5:29 PM PT6:29 PM MT7:29 PM CT8:29 PM ET0:29 GMT8:29 5:29 PM MST6:29 PM CST7:29 PM EST4:29 UAE (+1)01:2920:29 ET6:29 PM CT23:29 - Jordan Clarkson scored 15 points Thursday, going 6 of 18 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Orlando Magic 120-91. Clarkson grabbed four rebounds and had two assists, tallying a plus-minus of -6 in his 26:45 of playing time. He tacked on one steal. Clarkson went 1 of 6 from behind the arc.
Mar. 12 5:37 PM PT6:37 PM MT7:37 PM CT8:37 PM ET0:37 GMT8:37 5:37 PM MST6:37 PM CST7:37 PM EST4:37 UAE (+1)01:3720:37 ET6:37 PM CT23:37 - Jordan Clarkson scored 13 points Tuesday, going 5 of 20 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Philadelphia 76ers 106-99. Clarkson grabbed five rebounds and dished out two assists, tallying a plus-minus of +1 in his 30:14 on the floor. Clarkson struggled from 3-point range, missing all eight of his attempts.
Mar. 11 5:29 PM PT6:29 PM MT7:29 PM CT8:29 PM ET0:29 GMT8:29 5:29 PM MST6:29 PM CST7:29 PM EST4:29 UAE (+1)01:2920:29 ET6:29 PM CT23:29 - Jordan Clarkson scored 14 points Monday, going 5 of 11 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers topped the Toronto Raptors 126-101. Clarkson grabbed two rebounds and had three assists, tallying a plus-minus of +18 in his 30:46 on the floor. He tacked on one steal. Clarkson went 3 of 7 from 3-point range.
Mar. 8 7:25 PM PT8:25 PM MT9:25 PM CT10:25 PM ET3:25 GMT11:25 8:25 PM MST9:25 PM CST10:25 PM EST7:25 UAE (+1)04:2522:25 ET9:25 PM CT2:25 - Jordan Clarkson scored 21 points Friday on 6-of-10 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Miami Heat 126-110. Clarkson pulled down two rebounds and added an assist, accumulating a plus-minus of -11 in his 28:46 of playing time. Clarkson went 6 of 10 from 3-point range.
Mar. 6 6:14 PM PT7:14 PM MT8:14 PM CT9:14 PM ET2:14 GMT10:14 7:14 PM MST8:14 PM CST9:14 PM EST6:14 UAE (+1)03:1421:14 ET8:14 PM CT1:14 - Jordan Clarkson scored 14 points Wednesday, going 5 of 11 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Brooklyn Nets 113-107. Clarkson pulled down seven rebounds and added an assist, tallying a plus-minus of +6 in his 26:06 on the floor. He added one block. Clarkson went 3 of 5 from behind the arc.
Mar. 3 4:24 PM PT5:24 PM MT6:24 PM CT7:24 PM ET0:24 GMT8:24 5:24 PM MST6:24 PM CST7:24 PM EST4:24 UAE (+1)01:2419:24 ET6:24 PM CT23:24 - Jordan Clarkson scored 18 points Sunday on 5-of-9 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Orlando Magic 107-93. Clarkson grabbed one rebound and dished out two assists, accumulating a plus-minus of +20 in his 26:37 of playing time. Clarkson went 3 of 6 from 3-point range.
Mar. 2 3:34 PM PT4:34 PM MT5:34 PM CT6:34 PM ET23:34 GMT7:34 4:34 PM MST5:34 PM CST6:34 PM EST3:34 UAE (+1)00:3418:34 ET5:34 PM CT22:34 - Jordan Clarkson scored 11 points Saturday on 4-of-13 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Detroit Pistons 129-93. Clarkson grabbed three rebounds and dished out three assists, tallying a plus-minus of -16 in his 23:12 on the floor. He added two steals.
Feb. 28 6:24 PM PT7:24 PM MT8:24 PM CT9:24 PM ET2:24 GMT10:24 7:24 PM MST8:24 PM CST9:24 PM EST6:24 UAE (+1)03:2421:24 ET8:24 PM CT1:24 - Jordan Clarkson scored 22 points Thursday, going 7 of 13 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers topped the New York Knicks 125-118. Clarkson pulled down two rebounds and added an assist, tallying a plus-minus of +4 in his 28:57 of playing time. He tacked on one steal. Clarkson went 3 of 8 from behind the arc.
Feb. 25 5:32 PM PT6:32 PM MT7:32 PM CT8:32 PM ET1:32 GMT9:32 6:32 PM MST7:32 PM CST8:32 PM EST5:32 UAE (+1)02:3220:32 ET7:32 PM CT0:32 - Jordan Clarkson scored 19 points Monday, going 8 of 18 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Portland Trail Blazers 123-110. Clarkson grabbed five rebounds and had two assists, tallying a plus-minus of +1 in his 28:29 on the floor. He added one steal. Clarkson went 1 of 5 from 3-point range.
Feb. 23 5:41 PM PT6:41 PM MT7:41 PM CT8:41 PM ET1:41 GMT9:41 6:41 PM MST7:41 PM CST8:41 PM EST5:41 UAE (+1)02:4120:41 ET7:41 PM CT0:41 - Jordan Clarkson scored five points Saturday on 2-of-10 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 112-107. Clarkson grabbed one rebound and added an assist, accumulating a plus-minus of -7 in his 21:47 on the floor. He added one block. Clarkson went 1 of 6 from 3-point range.
Feb. 21 5:40 PM PT6:40 PM MT7:40 PM CT8:40 PM ET1:40 GMT9:40 6:40 PM MST7:40 PM CST8:40 PM EST5:40 UAE (+1)02:4020:40 ET7:40 PM CT0:40 - Jordan Clarkson scored 15 points Thursday, going 5 of 12 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers topped the Phoenix Suns 111-98. Clarkson pulled down four rebounds and had five assists, tallying a plus-minus of +2 in his 23:46 on the floor. Clarkson went 2 of 5 from 3-point range.
Feb. 13 6:30 PM PT7:30 PM MT8:30 PM CT9:30 PM ET2:30 GMT10:30 7:30 PM MST8:30 PM CST9:30 PM EST6:30 UAE (+1)03:3021:30 ET8:30 PM CT0:30 - Jordan Clarkson scored 42 points Wednesday on 16-of-34 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Brooklyn Nets 148-139 in triple overtime. Clarkson pulled down eight rebounds and had five assists, accumulating a plus-minus of -10 in his 47:32 on the floor. He added one block and one steal. Clarkson went 7 of 17 from behind the arc.
Feb. 11 5:40 PM PT6:40 PM MT7:40 PM CT8:40 PM ET1:40 GMT9:40 6:40 PM MST7:40 PM CST8:40 PM EST5:40 UAE (+1)02:4020:40 ET7:40 PM CT23:40 - Jordan Clarkson scored 15 points Monday on 6-of-17 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the New York Knicks 107-104. Clarkson pulled down six rebounds and added an assist, tallying a plus-minus of -2 in his 27:59 of playing time. He tacked on one steal. Clarkson went 2 of 8 from behind the arc.
Feb. 9 5:27 PM PT6:27 PM MT7:27 PM CT8:27 PM ET1:27 GMT9:27 6:27 PM MST7:27 PM CST8:27 PM EST5:27 UAE (+1)02:2720:27 ET7:27 PM CT23:27 - Jordan Clarkson scored 18 points Saturday, going 8 of 16 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Indiana Pacers 105-90. Clarkson pulled down two rebounds and had six assists, accumulating a plus-minus of -3 in his 31:16 on the floor. He tacked on one steal. Clarkson went 2 of 7 from behind the arc.
Feb. 8 5:31 PM PT6:31 PM MT7:31 PM CT8:31 PM ET1:31 GMT9:31 6:31 PM MST7:31 PM CST8:31 PM EST5:31 UAE (+1)02:3120:31 ET7:31 PM CT23:31 - Jordan Clarkson scored 24 points Friday, going 6 of 18 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Washington Wizards 119-106. Clarkson pulled down six rebounds and dished out three assists, accumulating a plus-minus of -5 in his 31:41 of playing time. He tacked on one steal. Clarkson went 2 of 7 from 3-point range.
Feb. 5 5:18 PM PT6:18 PM MT7:18 PM CT8:18 PM ET1:18 GMT9:18 6:18 PM MST7:18 PM CST8:18 PM EST5:18 UAE (+1)02:1820:18 ET7:18 PM CT23:18 - Jordan Clarkson scored seven points Tuesday on 2-of-13 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Boston Celtics 103-96. Clarkson pulled down four rebounds and had three assists, accumulating a plus-minus of -14 in his 26:38 of playing time. He tacked on one steal. Clarkson went 1 of 7 from 3-point range.
Feb. 2 6:15 PM PT7:15 PM MT8:15 PM CT9:15 PM ET2:15 GMT10:15 7:15 PM MST8:15 PM CST9:15 PM EST6:15 UAE (+1)03:1521:15 ET8:15 PM CT0:15 - Jordan Clarkson scored 19 points Saturday, going 7 of 16 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Dallas Mavericks 111-98. Clarkson pulled down three rebounds and dished out two assists, accumulating a plus-minus of -10 in his 30:41 on the floor. He added one block. Clarkson went 1 of 6 from 3-point range.
Jan. 29 5:40 PM PT6:40 PM MT7:40 PM CT8:40 PM ET1:40 GMT9:40 6:40 PM MST7:40 PM CST8:40 PM EST5:40 UAE (+1)02:4020:40 ET7:40 PM CT23:40 - Jordan Clarkson scored 28 points Tuesday on 10-of-15 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers topped the Washington Wizards 116-113. Clarkson grabbed five rebounds and had two assists, tallying a plus-minus of +8 in his 29:15 on the floor. Clarkson went 6 of 8 from 3-point range.
Jan. 27 10:12 AM PT11:12 AM MT12:12 PM CT1:12 PM ET18:12 GMT2:12 11:12 AM MST12:12 PM CST1:12 PM EST22:12 UAE19:1213:12 ET12:12 PM CT16:12 - Clarkson (illness) will play Sunday in Chicago.
Analysis: The Cavs' leading scorer with 16.5 points per game, Clarkson has averaged 11.6 points and shot 35.5 percent overall and 25.8 percent from 3-point range in his last five contests.
Jan. 27 2:07 PM PT3:07 PM MT4:07 PM CT5:07 PM ET22:07 GMT6:07 3:07 PM MST4:07 PM CST5:07 PM EST2:07 UAE (+1)23:0717:07 ET4:07 PM CT20:07 - Jordan Clarkson scored 18 points Sunday on 8-of-11 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Chicago Bulls 104-101. Clarkson grabbed seven rebounds and dished out six assists, tallying a plus-minus of +6 in his 21:55 of playing time. Clarkson went 1 of 3 from 3-point range.
Jan. 25 6:12 PM PT7:12 PM MT8:12 PM CT9:12 PM ET2:12 GMT10:12 7:12 PM MST8:12 PM CST9:12 PM EST6:12 UAE (+1)03:1221:12 ET8:12 PM CT0:12 - Jordan Clarkson scored six points Friday on 3-of-11 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Miami Heat 100-94. Clarkson grabbed five rebounds and had four assists, tallying a plus-minus of -12 in his 27:18 on the floor. He tacked on two steals.
Jan. 23 6:35 PM PT7:35 PM MT8:35 PM CT9:35 PM ET2:35 GMT10:35 7:35 PM MST8:35 PM CST9:35 PM EST6:35 UAE (+1)03:3521:35 ET8:35 PM CT0:35 - Jordan Clarkson scored 14 points Wednesday, going 6 of 14 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Boston Celtics 123-103. Clarkson did not grab a rebound but had an assist, accumulating a plus-minus of -7 in his 22:25 on the floor. Clarkson went 2 of 9 from 3-point range.
Jan. 21 11:36 AM PT12:36 PM MT1:36 PM CT2:36 PM ET19:36 GMT3:36 12:36 PM MST1:36 PM CST2:36 PM EST23:36 UAE20:3614:36 ET1:36 PM CT17:36 - Jordan Clarkson scored 12 points Monday, going 4 of 12 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Chicago Bulls 104-88. Clarkson grabbed five rebounds and had four assists, tallying a plus-minus of -5 in his 19:51 of playing time. He tacked on one steal. Clarkson struggled from behind the arc, missing all five of his attempts.
Jan. 19 8:27 PM PT9:27 PM MT10:27 PM CT11:27 PM ET4:27 GMT12:27 9:27 PM MST10:27 PM CST11:27 PM EST8:27 UAE05:2723:27 ET10:27 PM CT2:27 - Jordan Clarkson scored 13 points Saturday on 5-of-12 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Denver Nuggets 124-102. Clarkson grabbed four rebounds and added an assist, tallying a plus-minus of -21 in his 23:27 of playing time. Clarkson went 3 of 8 from behind the arc.
Jan. 18 7:38 PM PT8:38 PM MT9:38 PM CT10:38 PM ET3:38 GMT11:38 8:38 PM MST9:38 PM CST10:38 PM EST7:38 UAE (+1)04:3822:38 ET9:38 PM CT1:38 - Jordan Clarkson scored 13 points Friday, going 4 of 13 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Utah Jazz 115-99. Clarkson pulled down two rebounds and had two assists, tallying a plus-minus of -3 in his 31:19 on the floor. He tacked on one steal. Clarkson went 3 of 6 from 3-point range.
Jan. 16 8:21 PM PT9:21 PM MT10:21 PM CT11:21 PM ET4:21 GMT12:21 9:21 PM MST10:21 PM CST11:21 PM EST8:21 UAE05:2123:21 ET10:21 PM CT2:21 - Jordan Clarkson scored 22 points Wednesday on 9-of-17 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Portland Trail Blazers 129-112. Clarkson did not grab a rebound but had three assists, tallying a plus-minus of -4 in his 29:10 on the floor. Clarkson went 2 of 4 from 3-point range.
Jan. 13 8:06 PM PT9:06 PM MT10:06 PM CT11:06 PM ET4:06 GMT12:06 9:06 PM MST10:06 PM CST11:06 PM EST8:06 UAE05:0623:06 ET10:06 PM CT2:06 - Jordan Clarkson scored nine points Sunday, going 4 of 11 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 101-95. Clarkson pulled down two rebounds and had two assists, accumulating a plus-minus of +1 in his 27:33 of playing time. Clarkson went 1 of 2 from behind the arc.
Jan. 11 6:27 PM PT7:27 PM MT8:27 PM CT9:27 PM ET2:27 GMT10:27 7:27 PM MST8:27 PM CST9:27 PM EST6:27 UAE (+1)03:2721:27 ET8:27 PM CT0:27 - Jordan Clarkson scored 12 points Friday, going 5 of 15 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Houston Rockets 141-113. Clarkson grabbed three rebounds and added an assist, tallying a plus-minus of -32 in his 25:06 on the floor. He added one steal. Clarkson went 2 of 8 from 3-point range.
Jan. 9 6:55 PM PT7:55 PM MT8:55 PM CT9:55 PM ET2:55 GMT10:55 7:55 PM MST8:55 PM CST9:55 PM EST6:55 UAE (+1)03:5521:55 ET8:55 PM CT0:55 - Jordan Clarkson scored 21 points Wednesday on 9-of-16 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the New Orleans Pelicans 140-124. Clarkson pulled down four rebounds and had two assists, accumulating a plus-minus of -8 in his 29:51 on the floor. He added three blocks and three steals. Clarkson went 2 of 5 from 3-point range.
Jan. 8 5:45 PM PT6:45 PM MT7:45 PM CT8:45 PM ET1:45 GMT9:45 6:45 PM MST7:45 PM CST8:45 PM EST5:45 UAE (+1)02:4520:45 ET7:45 PM CT23:45 - Jordan Clarkson scored 26 points Tuesday on 11-of-20 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Indiana Pacers 123-115. Clarkson pulled down two rebounds and added an assist, tallying a plus-minus of -4 in his 32:09 of playing time. He added three steals. Clarkson went 2 of 5 from behind the arc.
Jan. 5 6:31 PM PT7:31 PM MT8:31 PM CT9:31 PM ET2:31 GMT10:31 7:31 PM MST8:31 PM CST9:31 PM EST6:31 UAE (+1)03:3121:31 ET8:31 PM CT0:31 - Jordan Clarkson scored 23 points Saturday, going 8 of 17 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the New Orleans Pelicans 133-98. Clarkson pulled down four rebounds and dished out three assists, tallying a plus-minus of -9 in his 24:10 on the floor. He added one block and one steal. Clarkson went 3 of 6 from behind the arc.
Jan. 4 6:02 PM PT7:02 PM MT8:02 PM CT9:02 PM ET2:02 GMT10:02 7:02 PM MST8:02 PM CST9:02 PM EST6:02 UAE (+1)03:0221:02 ET8:02 PM CT0:02 - Jordan Clarkson scored 12 points Friday on 6-of-12 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Utah Jazz 117-91. Clarkson did not grab a rebound but had an assist, tallying a plus-minus of -14 in his 19:09 of playing time. He added one steal.
Jan. 2 5:40 PM PT6:40 PM MT7:40 PM CT8:40 PM ET1:40 GMT9:40 6:40 PM MST7:40 PM CST8:40 PM EST5:40 UAE (+1)02:4020:40 ET7:40 PM CT23:40 - Jordan Clarkson scored 11 points Wednesday on 4-of-9 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Miami Heat 117-92. Clarkson did not grab a rebound but had five assists, tallying a plus-minus of -6 in his 24:41 of playing time. He added one block. Clarkson went 3 of 8 from 3-point range.
Dec. 29 6:16 PM PT7:16 PM MT8:16 PM CT9:16 PM ET2:16 GMT10:16 7:16 PM MST8:16 PM CST9:16 PM EST6:16 UAE (+1)03:1621:16 ET8:16 PM CT0:16 - Jordan Clarkson scored 15 points Saturday, going 6 of 14 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Atlanta Hawks 111-108. Clarkson grabbed three rebounds and had two assists, accumulating a plus-minus of -9 in his 28:50 of playing time. He added one steal. Clarkson went 1 of 4 from 3-point range.
Dec. 28 6:26 PM PT7:26 PM MT8:26 PM CT9:26 PM ET2:26 GMT10:26 7:26 PM MST8:26 PM CST9:26 PM EST6:26 UAE (+1)03:2621:26 ET8:26 PM CT0:26 - Jordan Clarkson scored 18 points Friday, going 6 of 11 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Miami Heat 118-94. Clarkson grabbed five rebounds and had four assists, accumulating a plus-minus of -16 in his 31:13 on the floor. Clarkson went 3 of 7 from behind the arc.
Dec. 26 6:36 PM PT7:36 PM MT8:36 PM CT9:36 PM ET2:36 GMT10:36 7:36 PM MST8:36 PM CST9:36 PM EST6:36 UAE (+1)03:3621:36 ET8:36 PM CT0:36 - Jordan Clarkson scored 24 points Wednesday on 10-of-20 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Memphis Grizzlies 95-87. Clarkson grabbed five rebounds and had two assists, accumulating a plus-minus of 0 in his 30:52 on the floor. He added three steals. Clarkson went 4 of 7 from behind the arc.
Dec. 23 4:27 PM PT5:27 PM MT6:27 PM CT7:27 PM ET0:27 GMT8:27 5:27 PM MST6:27 PM CST7:27 PM EST4:27 UAE (+1)01:2719:27 ET6:27 PM CT22:27 - Jordan Clarkson scored 17 points Sunday on 8-of-13 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Chicago Bulls 112-92. Clarkson pulled down one rebound and added an assist, tallying a plus-minus of -10 in his 30:52 on the floor. Clarkson went 1 of 3 from behind the arc.
Dec. 21 5:34 PM PT6:34 PM MT7:34 PM CT8:34 PM ET1:34 GMT9:34 6:34 PM MST7:34 PM CST8:34 PM EST5:34 UAE (+1)02:3420:34 ET7:34 PM CT23:34 - Jordan Clarkson scored 20 points Friday, going 6 of 14 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Toronto Raptors 126-110. Clarkson pulled down four rebounds and had four assists, accumulating a plus-minus of -12 in his 32:42 of playing time. He added one block. Clarkson went 4 of 9 from behind the arc.
Dec. 19 5:37 PM PT6:37 PM MT7:37 PM CT8:37 PM ET1:37 GMT9:37 6:37 PM MST7:37 PM CST8:37 PM EST5:37 UAE (+1)02:3720:37 ET7:37 PM CT23:37 - Jordan Clarkson scored 20 points Wednesday on 8-of-19 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Charlotte Hornets 110-99. Clarkson grabbed three rebounds and had two assists, accumulating a plus-minus of -8 in his 35:16 of playing time. He added one steal. Clarkson went 4 of 10 from behind the arc.
Dec. 18 1:45 PM PT2:45 PM MT3:45 PM CT4:45 PM ET21:45 GMT5:45 2:45 PM MST3:45 PM CST4:45 PM EST1:45 UAE (+1)22:4516:45 ET3:45 PM CT19:45 - Clarkson, who sat out Tuesday at Indiana with a sore back, is not on the Cavaliers' injury report for Wednesday's game at Charlotte.
Analysis: Clarkson should continue his high-volume role with the tanking Cavs and enters Wednesday's matchup averaging 23 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists over his last three games.
Dec. 16 2:03 PM PT3:03 PM MT4:03 PM CT5:03 PM ET22:03 GMT6:03 3:03 PM MST4:03 PM CST5:03 PM EST2:03 UAE (+1)23:0317:03 ET4:03 PM CT20:03 - Jordan Clarkson scored 18 points Sunday on 6-of-16 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Philadelphia 76ers 128-105. Clarkson grabbed six rebounds and had four assists, accumulating a plus-minus of -6 in his 27:37 of playing time. Clarkson went 2 of 6 from 3-point range.
Dec. 14 6:12 PM PT7:12 PM MT8:12 PM CT9:12 PM ET2:12 GMT10:12 7:12 PM MST8:12 PM CST9:12 PM EST6:12 UAE (+1)03:1221:12 ET8:12 PM CT0:12 - Jordan Clarkson scored 23 points Friday, going 8 of 19 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Milwaukee Bucks 114-102. Clarkson pulled down five rebounds and dished out four assists, accumulating a plus-minus of -1 in his 32:46 on the floor. He tacked on two steals. Clarkson went 2 of 8 from 3-point range.
Dec. 12 5:42 PM PT6:42 PM MT7:42 PM CT8:42 PM ET1:42 GMT9:42 6:42 PM MST7:42 PM CST8:42 PM EST5:42 UAE (+1)02:4220:42 ET7:42 PM CT23:42 - Jordan Clarkson scored 28 points Wednesday on 12-of-21 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers topped the New York Knicks 113-106. Clarkson pulled down five rebounds and had two assists, accumulating a plus-minus of +10 in his 34:02 of playing time. Clarkson went 2 of 7 from 3-point range.
Dec. 10 2:39 PM PT3:39 PM MT4:39 PM CT5:39 PM ET22:39 GMT6:39 3:39 PM MST4:39 PM CST5:39 PM EST2:39 UAE (+1)23:3917:39 ET4:39 PM CT20:39 - Clarkson will play Monday despite dealing with a tight back, according to The Athletic.
Analysis: Clarkson had to sit out the final stretch Saturday because of the injury.
Dec. 10 6:25 PM PT7:25 PM MT8:25 PM CT9:25 PM ET2:25 GMT10:25 7:25 PM MST8:25 PM CST9:25 PM EST6:25 UAE (+1)03:2521:25 ET8:25 PM CT0:25 - Jordan Clarkson scored nine points Monday on 4-of-13 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Milwaukee Bucks 108-92. Clarkson pulled down five rebounds and dished out three assists, tallying a plus-minus of -6 in his 20:16 on the floor.
Dec. 8 5:57 PM PT6:57 PM MT7:57 PM CT8:57 PM ET1:57 GMT9:57 6:57 PM MST7:57 PM CST8:57 PM EST5:57 UAE (+1)02:5720:57 ET7:57 PM CT23:57 - Jordan Clarkson scored seven points Saturday on 2-of-9 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers topped the Washington Wizards 116-101. Clarkson grabbed two rebounds and dished out two assists, tallying a plus-minus of +23 in his 22:39 of playing time. Clarkson went 1 of 5 from behind the arc.
Dec. 7 6:07 PM PT7:07 PM MT8:07 PM CT9:07 PM ET2:07 GMT10:07 7:07 PM MST8:07 PM CST9:07 PM EST6:07 UAE (+1)03:0721:07 ET8:07 PM CT0:07 - Jordan Clarkson scored 26 points Friday on 11-of-19 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Sacramento Kings 129-110. Clarkson pulled down four rebounds and added an assist, accumulating a plus-minus of +12 in his 29:53 of playing time. He tacked on one steal. Clarkson went 4 of 7 from behind the arc.
Dec. 5 5:40 PM PT6:40 PM MT7:40 PM CT8:40 PM ET1:40 GMT9:40 6:40 PM MST7:40 PM CST8:40 PM EST5:40 UAE (+1)02:4020:40 ET7:40 PM CT23:40 - Jordan Clarkson scored 17 points Wednesday on 7-of-17 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Golden State Warriors 129-105. Clarkson grabbed one rebound and dished out three assists, accumulating a plus-minus of -25 in his 30:02 on the floor. He added one steal. Clarkson went 2 of 7 from behind the arc.
Dec. 4 10:31 AM PT11:31 AM MT12:31 PM CT1:31 PM ET18:31 GMT2:31 11:31 AM MST12:31 PM CST1:31 PM EST22:31 UAE19:3113:31 ET12:31 PM CT16:31 - Jordan Clarkson scored 20 points Monday, going 9 of 22 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Brooklyn Nets 99-97. Clarkson grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out four assists, tallying a plus-minus of +10 in his 28:03 of playing time. He added one steal. Clarkson went 1 of 4 from behind the arc.
Dec. 1 6:37 PM PT7:37 PM MT8:37 PM CT9:37 PM ET2:37 GMT10:37 7:37 PM MST8:37 PM CST9:37 PM EST6:37 UAE (+1)03:3721:37 ET8:37 PM CT0:37 - Jordan Clarkson scored 18 points Saturday on 7-of-17 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Toronto Raptors 106-95. Clarkson pulled down two rebounds and had two assists, tallying a plus-minus of -5 in his 29:01 on the floor. He added one steal. Clarkson went 1 of 6 from 3-point range.
Nov. 30 5:31 PM PT6:31 PM MT7:31 PM CT8:31 PM ET1:31 GMT9:31 6:31 PM MST7:31 PM CST8:31 PM EST5:31 UAE (+1)02:3120:31 ET7:31 PM CT23:31 - Jordan Clarkson scored 16 points Friday on 5-of-14 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Boston Celtics 128-95. Clarkson grabbed one rebound and did not have an assist, tallying a plus-minus of -6 in his 21:44 on the floor. Clarkson went 3 of 5 from behind the arc.
Nov. 28 6:41 PM PT7:41 PM MT8:41 PM CT9:41 PM ET2:41 GMT10:41 7:41 PM MST8:41 PM CST9:41 PM EST6:41 UAE (+1)03:4121:41 ET8:41 PM CT0:41 - Jordan Clarkson scored 25 points Wednesday, going 10 of 22 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder 100-83. Clarkson pulled down three rebounds and had two assists, tallying a plus-minus of -10 in his 31:39 on the floor. He tacked on one steal. Clarkson went 4 of 8 from 3-point range.
Nov. 26 5:49 PM PT6:49 PM MT7:49 PM CT8:49 PM ET1:49 GMT9:49 6:49 PM MST7:49 PM CST8:49 PM EST5:49 UAE (+1)02:4920:49 ET7:49 PM CT23:49 - Jordan Clarkson scored four points Monday on 1-of-5 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves 102-95. Clarkson pulled down two rebounds and had two assists, accumulating a plus-minus of -11 in his 21:36 of playing time.
Nov. 24 6:12 PM PT7:12 PM MT8:12 PM CT9:12 PM ET2:12 GMT10:12 7:12 PM MST8:12 PM CST9:12 PM EST6:12 UAE (+1)03:1221:12 ET8:12 PM CT0:12 - Jordan Clarkson scored 20 points Saturday on 8-of-16 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers topped the Houston Rockets 117-108. Clarkson pulled down five rebounds and had four assists, tallying a plus-minus of -4 in his 27:54 of playing time. He tacked on one steal.
Nov. 23 6:12 PM PT7:12 PM MT8:12 PM CT9:12 PM ET2:12 GMT10:12 7:12 PM MST8:12 PM CST9:12 PM EST6:12 UAE (+1)03:1221:12 ET8:12 PM CT0:12 - Jordan Clarkson scored 19 points Friday, going 8 of 15 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 121-112. Clarkson grabbed three rebounds and did not have an assist, tallying a plus-minus of +1 in his 20:07 on the floor. Clarkson went 2 of 5 from 3-point range.
Nov. 21 6:59 PM PT7:59 PM MT8:59 PM CT9:59 PM ET2:59 GMT10:59 7:59 PM MST8:59 PM CST9:59 PM EST6:59 UAE (+1)03:5921:59 ET8:59 PM CT0:59 - Jordan Clarkson scored 20 points Wednesday, going 6 of 18 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Los Angeles Lakers 109-105. Clarkson grabbed two rebounds and dished out five assists, accumulating a plus-minus of +4 in his 26:30 of playing time. Clarkson went 4 of 8 from 3-point range.
Nov. 19 5:55 PM PT6:55 PM MT7:55 PM CT8:55 PM ET1:55 GMT9:55 6:55 PM MST7:55 PM CST8:55 PM EST5:55 UAE (+1)02:5520:55 ET7:55 PM CT23:55 - Jordan Clarkson scored 16 points Monday on 6-of-11 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Detroit Pistons 113-102. Clarkson pulled down four rebounds and dished out four assists, accumulating a plus-minus of +4 in his 25:28 on the floor. Clarkson went 1 of 2 from behind the arc.
Nov. 14 5:52 PM PT6:52 PM MT7:52 PM CT8:52 PM ET1:52 GMT9:52 6:52 PM MST7:52 PM CST8:52 PM EST5:52 UAE (+1)02:5220:52 ET7:52 PM CT23:52 - Jordan Clarkson scored nine points Wednesday, going 4 of 13 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Washington Wizards 119-95. Clarkson grabbed two rebounds and added an assist, tallying a plus-minus of -11 in his 27:21 on the floor. He tacked on one steal.
Nov. 13 5:36 PM PT6:36 PM MT7:36 PM CT8:36 PM ET1:36 GMT9:36 6:36 PM MST7:36 PM CST8:36 PM EST5:36 UAE (+1)02:3620:36 ET7:36 PM CT23:36 - Jordan Clarkson scored 24 points Tuesday, going 9 of 15 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Charlotte Hornets 113-89. Clarkson grabbed five rebounds and dished out two assists, accumulating a plus-minus of +18 in his 27:32 on the floor. He added one block. Clarkson went 1 of 4 from behind the arc.
Nov. 10 6:34 PM PT7:34 PM MT8:34 PM CT9:34 PM ET2:34 GMT10:34 7:34 PM MST8:34 PM CST9:34 PM EST6:34 UAE (+1)03:3421:34 ET8:34 PM CT0:34 - Jordan Clarkson scored 15 points Saturday, going 6 of 16 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Chicago Bulls 99-98. Clarkson grabbed five rebounds and had four assists, accumulating a plus-minus of -10 in his 24:59 on the floor. Clarkson went 2 of 4 from behind the arc.
Nov. 7 6:05 PM PT7:05 PM MT8:05 PM CT9:05 PM ET2:05 GMT10:05 7:05 PM MST8:05 PM CST9:05 PM EST6:05 UAE (+1)03:0521:05 ET8:05 PM CT0:05 - Jordan Clarkson scored 11 points Wednesday, going 5 of 17 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder 95-86. Clarkson pulled down nine rebounds and had eight assists, tallying a plus-minus of -5 in his 32:55 on the floor. He tacked on one steal. Clarkson went 1 of 7 from 3-point range.
Nov. 5 5:54 PM PT6:54 PM MT7:54 PM CT8:54 PM ET1:54 GMT9:54 6:54 PM MST7:54 PM CST8:54 PM EST5:54 UAE (+1)02:5420:54 ET7:54 PM CT23:54 - Jordan Clarkson scored 14 points Monday on 5-of-10 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Orlando Magic 102-100. Clarkson did not grab a rebound but had an assist, accumulating a plus-minus of -6 in his 25:34 on the floor. He added one steal. Clarkson went 3 of 6 from behind the arc.
Nov. 3 5:34 PM PT6:34 PM MT7:34 PM CT8:34 PM ET0:34 GMT8:34 5:34 PM MST6:34 PM CST7:34 PM EST4:34 UAE (+1)01:3420:34 ET6:34 PM CT23:34 - Jordan Clarkson scored 13 points Saturday on 6-of-13 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Charlotte Hornets 126-94. Clarkson did not grab a rebound nor have an assist, tallying a plus-minus of -29 in his 21:24 of playing time. He added one block and three steals. Clarkson went 1 of 4 from behind the arc.
Nov. 1 5:44 PM PT6:44 PM MT7:44 PM CT8:44 PM ET0:44 GMT8:44 5:44 PM MST6:44 PM CST7:44 PM EST4:44 UAE (+1)01:4420:44 ET6:44 PM CT23:44 - Jordan Clarkson scored 17 points Thursday on 7-of-14 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Denver Nuggets 110-91. Clarkson grabbed four rebounds and did not have an assist, tallying a plus-minus of -13 in his 19:43 on the floor. He added one block.
Oct. 30 5:36 PM PT6:36 PM MT7:36 PM CT8:36 PM ET0:36 GMT8:36 5:36 PM MST6:36 PM CST7:36 PM EST4:36 UAE (+1)01:3620:36 ET6:36 PM CT23:36 - Jordan Clarkson scored 15 points Tuesday, going 7 of 15 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers topped the Atlanta Hawks 136-114. Clarkson grabbed two rebounds and added an assist, accumulating a plus-minus of +4 in his 27:15 of playing time. He added one steal. Clarkson went 1 of 5 from behind the arc.
Oct. 27 5:59 PM PT6:59 PM MT7:59 PM CT8:59 PM ET0:59 GMT8:59 5:59 PM MST6:59 PM CST7:59 PM EST4:59 UAE (+1)02:5920:59 ET7:59 PM CT23:59 - Jordan Clarkson scored 12 points Saturday on 5-of-10 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Indiana Pacers 119-107. Clarkson grabbed one rebound and added an assist, tallying a plus-minus of -6 in his 19:34 on the floor. He added one steal. Clarkson went 2 of 4 from 3-point range.
Oct. 25 5:57 PM PT6:57 PM MT7:57 PM CT8:57 PM ET0:57 GMT8:57 5:57 PM MST6:57 PM CST7:57 PM EST4:57 UAE (+1)02:5720:57 ET7:57 PM CT23:57 - Jordan Clarkson scored 18 points Thursday, going 8 of 12 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Detroit Pistons 110-103. Clarkson pulled down one rebound and did not have an assist, accumulating a plus-minus of -2 in his 20:40 of playing time. He tacked on one steal. Clarkson went 2 of 4 from behind the arc.
Oct. 24 5:32 PM PT6:32 PM MT7:32 PM CT8:32 PM ET0:32 GMT8:32 5:32 PM MST6:32 PM CST7:32 PM EST4:32 UAE (+1)02:3220:32 ET7:32 PM CT23:32 - Jordan Clarkson scored 14 points Wednesday on 4-of-14 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Brooklyn Nets 102-86. Clarkson pulled down five rebounds and dished out three assists, accumulating a plus-minus of +7 in his 22:35 on the floor.
Oct. 21 4:41 PM PT5:41 PM MT6:41 PM CT7:41 PM ET23:41 GMT7:41 4:41 PM MST5:41 PM CST6:41 PM EST3:41 UAE (+1)01:4119:41 ET6:41 PM CT22:41 - Jordan Clarkson scored 19 points Sunday on 7-of-12 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Atlanta Hawks 133-111. Clarkson pulled down three rebounds and had two assists, accumulating a plus-minus of -25 in his 23:02 on the floor. Clarkson went 3 of 5 from 3-point range.
Oct. 19 7:02 PM PT8:02 PM MT9:02 PM CT10:02 PM ET2:02 GMT10:02 7:02 PM MST8:02 PM CST9:02 PM EST6:02 UAE (+1)04:0222:02 ET9:02 PM CT1:02 - Jordan Clarkson scored 19 points Friday on 8-of-14 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves 131-123. Clarkson grabbed four rebounds and added an assist, tallying a plus-minus of -8 in his 23:42 on the floor. He added one block and one steal.
Oct. 17 6:35 PM PT7:35 PM MT8:35 PM CT9:35 PM ET1:35 GMT9:35 6:35 PM MST7:35 PM CST8:35 PM EST5:35 UAE (+1)03:3521:35 ET8:35 PM CT0:35 - Jordan Clarkson scored 15 points Wednesday, going 7 of 15 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Toronto Raptors 116-104. Clarkson pulled down three rebounds and did not have an assist, tallying a plus-minus of -8 in his 23:09 on the floor. Clarkson went 1 of 4 from behind the arc.
Oct. 12 5:43 PM PT6:43 PM MT7:43 PM CT8:43 PM ET0:43 GMT8:43 5:43 PM MST6:43 PM CST7:43 PM EST4:43 UAE (+1)02:4320:43 ET7:43 PM CT23:43 - Jordan Clarkson scored eight points Friday, going 4 of 11 from the field, as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Detroit Pistons 129-110. Clarkson grabbed four rebounds and dished out two assists, accumulating a plus-minus of -17 in his 23:08 on the floor. He added one steal.
Oct. 6 6:30 PM PT7:30 PM MT8:30 PM CT9:30 PM ET1:30 GMT9:30 6:30 PM MST7:30 PM CST8:30 PM EST5:30 UAE (+1)03:3021:30 ET8:30 PM CT0:30 - Jordan Clarkson scored 12 points Saturday on 4-of-8 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers topped the Boston Celtics 113-102. Clarkson pulled down six rebounds and had three assists, tallying a plus-minus of +8 in his 14:12 of playing time. Clarkson went 2 of 6 from 3-point range.
Oct. 2 6:52 PM PT7:52 PM MT8:52 PM CT9:52 PM ET1:52 GMT9:52 6:52 PM MST7:52 PM CST8:52 PM EST5:52 UAE (+1)03:5221:52 ET8:52 PM CT0:52 - Jordan Clarkson scored 12 points Tuesday on 5-of-8 shooting as the Cleveland Cavaliers topped the Boston Celtics 102-95. Clarkson pulled down two rebounds and dished out three assists, tallying a plus-minus of +4 in his 16:01 on the floor. Clarkson went 1 of 1 from behind the arc. | 2019-04-26T16:57:03Z | http://scores.seattlepi.com/nba/players.asp?id=5357&fn=Jordan&ln=Clarkson |
Although the answers provided here specifically reference Kentucky Bankruptcy Law, the bankruptcy law of your state is almost always the same or very similar, since bankruptcy codes are ultimately the province of the federal government. However, the property that you keep is governed by your individual state’s exemptions law and in some cases we explain the range of the exceptions. In the bankruptcy manual, over half of the states in the US are covered in a chart explaining the exemptions for most states. We provide the exemptions for the other states by mailing an additional chart. Please e-mail us questions so we can add them to this ever-growing list of commonly asked questions. We hope that you will find that this information helpful. But a Bankruptcy FAQ – (Frequently Asked Questions) is not intended as a substitute for legal counselling.
This is not legal advice. Each individual case is different, but these are the “standard” answers to common questions. If you have a question about your case, you need to ask your attorney for an answer based on the facts and particular circumstances of your case.
Q1: We seem to be losing our home and car. We just don’t know whether or not to keep it or let it go.
Whether or not to keep a home should always be a financial decision, not an emotional one. A car can be replaced at a normal interest rate about a year after a Bankruptcy discharge and a home 3 years after the foreclosure sale or 2 years after discharge under FHA, HUD and VA rules. My wife Nancy often finances these loans. For 2 years she was President, and prior to that Treasurer, of the Mortgage Bankers Association. We often buy more home or car than we need. A 2-year-old hail-damaged Ford may not look as nice as a Lexus, but it may last the same miles, serve its purpose and cost thousands less.
It’s common to see someone paying $200,000 for a home that is only worth $150,000 or less. The $50,000 difference may fund a college degree or retirement. If you owe more than the home is worth, then you are probably better off letting a home go back. The average time it takes nationwide to foreclose is about 630 days. If a person answers a foreclosure and issues discovery, it will take much longer. During that time, people often live in the home without paying the mortgage, taxes or insurance and save thousands by staying in the property.
It is unlikely you will be able to find a lender that will refinance a home with negative equity. If your interest rate is much higher than normal, you may be much better off letting the home go back.
If the home has a second mortgage, a Chapter 13 may be a better option. A Chapter 13 can strip away a second mortgage, something a Chapter 7 cannot do. It isn’t unusual to see a person better off by filing a Chapter 13 than a Chapter 7 if he is stripping away the second mortgage in the Chapter 13. The Chapter 13 will discharge more debt than the Chapter 7 will, and may significantly lower your monthly payments.
If the home or auto does not meet your needs or if it is too expensive, it can be replaced. Cashing in your retirement or mortgaging a home often shifts the burden of retirement to your children or other taxpayers. The bank that made the predatory loan or car sale should bear the burden of the bad debt, not the public.
Q2: Should I file Bankruptcy?
A person should file a bankruptcy if, and only if, he or she can’t pay bills as they come due or is about to lose property, or have property attached by the Court. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy normally has less impact than a foreclosure or repossession on credit. A Chapter 13 will takes 3 years if your income is less than the average income, or 5 years if above average, but it has more powerful tools and may cost less in the long run if you are stripping a second mortgage than a Chapter 7.
Very few people lose property when they file bankruptcy. For 2011 in Kentucky, you are allowed to keep about $3,450 equity in a car, $10,775 in personal household goods, $21,625 in a home, and at least $1,000 in any property that you choose in a general exemption plus ½ of the unused portion of the home exemption. The exemptions are adjusted in April every year. For married couples filing jointly, these exemptions are doubled. See our website for the current amounts.
To stop a foreclosure in Kentucky with a Chapter 13, you only need to cure the arrearage within a reasonable time period, and you may take up to five years.
Q3: What does it cost to file Bankruptcy?
Court costs are about the same, $310 for a Chapter 7 and $285 for a Chapter 13, plus postage for sending the plan to the creditors ($25), so both filing fees are about $310. Uncontested Chapter 7 Attorney fees at our office will run about $1,000 for a single, $1,200 for a couple, plus any filing fees, but expect fees to increase. They have been the same for 8 years. About 5-10% of the cases may require additional work for a motion to redeem, strip a judicial lien, etc.
Chapter 13 attorney fees are set by the Court, and the Court is presently paying about $2,750 in Western Kentucky for Chapter 13 through confirmation and the schedule of allowed claims. This is paid to the attorney as you pay the Court and normally only decreases what is paid to unsecured creditors.
Q4: What happens when I file?
When you file a Bankruptcy, a Court order called a stay goes into effect immediately, stopping all collection activity. This includes stopping foreclosures, attachments, garnishments, and creditors from calling you. The sooner you come in to the law office, the sooner you can get relief—and the more you can save from creditors. You will have a 341 hearing within about 4 to 6 weeks after the Bankruptcy is filed. When the Bankruptcy is finally over, a discharge is issued. This is a final and permanent order that permanently stops all collection activity and declares the debts to be non-collectable. Bankruptcy does not normally get rid of a security interest that you gave to a creditor, such as a mortgage or a standard car lien, but it can destroy or modify some mortgages and liens. It makes you no longer liable for the debt if you successfully get the discharge.
Q5: I live in Pikeville (Eastern District). Can I file in another District (such as Louisville in the Western District)?
A lot of this answer depends on whether or not you have real property and if you are living in the Western District at the time of filing. Procedural rules vary from district to district making it more or less difficult, expensive or time consuming. It normally costs less to file Bankruptcy in the Western District, etc.
Jurisdiction and Residence are based on your intent to live in a place—so, if you say you live in the Western District and you have substantial contacts there such as you live with family, you vote there or have a driver’s license with a local address, you probably do reside there. Many people live in an area because of school or work but have their real contacts elsewhere. For instance, a serviceman or student in Alaska does not generally lose his right to file in Kentucky if they are from here. If you move to the Western District from another state, the other states exemptions may apply if they are lower.
1) Can I plan my Bankruptcy?
Of course! Good planning is why you want to read this manual. Planning allows you to save more money and property and gives you a workable budget for success. For instance, you may wish to delay filing your Bankruptcy to insure that your taxes are over 3 years old and dischargeable. This is just like taking proper tax exemptions when you file a return. There is nothing illegal or improper with properly taking exemptions. But you can become too greedy in converting assets. Always involve your attorney in planning your Bankruptcy. Waiting a few months until your tax debt becomes bankruptable is acceptable. However, converting large amounts of corporate assets into your retirement, or going on a spending spree with credit cards just prior to filing isn’t.
2) Which bankruptcy is right for me: Chapter 13 or Chapter 7?
A Chapter 13 is like a bill consolidation loan, and you normally file it to keep property, discharge or control certain debts, and stop foreclosures. A Chapter 13 will discharge a wider variety of debts. A Chapter 13 will require you to budget. Budgeting is a skill the court is trying to teach the Debtor in a Chapter 13, so problems do not reoccur. A Chapter 7 is generally used to wipe out unsecured debts and surrender property you don’t wish to keep. Both stop garnishments and creditor harassment. If you earn more than the average wage for your state and size of family, you will often be required to file a Chapter 13 due to the means test.
Chapter 13 cases are becoming more popular. Over 95% of all Chapter 13 cases used to fail because they became unaffordable in Kentucky. But now, 10% and lower repayment plans are often approved in Chapter 13 cases if that is all the Debtor can afford. Chapter 13 plans are now more successful, especially if you ensure you include often overlooked expenses in your budget. See our website for a list of commonly overlooked expenses. Often an attorney may want to file a Chapter 13 because he will earn more than he would in a Chapter 7. Usually, the only times you want to file a Chapter 13 are 1) when you have already filed a Chapter 7 and can’t yet file another Chapter 7; 2) you have so much property and equity that a Chapter 13 is necessary to keep property or 3) you have certain non-dischargeable debts that require repayment in a Chapter 13.
You may have to file a Chapter 13 if you have so much disposable income (after you pay normal monthly living expenses) that you can repay something to your debts. A Chapter 13 can no longer be used to discharge certain unusual debts such as trust taxes. But it has always been used to repay income taxes less than 3 years old, child support, student loans, or to protect cosigners.
The fortunate thing about virtually all Chapter 7 cases is that the Debtor’s assets are normally exempt, so there are rarely any assets to liquidate. Married couples with valuable assets, such as over $40,000 in equity for a home or over $7,000 equity in cars (these amounts are for Kentucky), may want to choose Chapter 13. Each state can have different rules for what property can be kept. Kentucky uses the Federal exemptions. Indiana allows far less property to be kept. Florida and Texas allow far more.
3) Why file a Chapter 7?
If you have substantial unsecured debts, little equity in property and an average or less disposable income, you may want to file a Chapter 7. You may also want to file a Chapter 7 if you want to surrender property and not owe for it. You can usually keep all your property in a Chapter 7, because most Debtors lack any substantial equity in any property that exceeds the exemptions allowed.
4) Why file a Chapter 13?
You may want to file Chapter 13 if you have secured debts, are threatened with foreclosure or repossession, if you filed Chapter 7 less than 8 years ago, if you wish to protect a cosigner, or if you have certain debts that are not dischargeable in a Chapter 7 but are payable or dischargeable in a Chapter 13. Taxes and child support (priority debts) can be paid first in a Chapter 13, before secured creditors. This gives you the advantage of not losing a car or property but having all of your payments go to the IRS or child support at the start of the case. If a debt has to be paid for a term longer than the plan (such as mortgages or student loans), the Debtor can pay full payments directly. This may allow the Debtor to bump up student loan payments and nearly pay off a student loan during a 13 at the expense of unsecured debt.
5) Can I convert from a Chapter 13 to a 7 or from a 7 to a 13?
Yes, a Chapter 7 or 13 can be converted. There is an absolute right to dismiss a Chapter 13. Conversion of a Chapter 13 to Chapter 7 has a lower level of scrutiny. Dismissal of a Chapter 7 or conversion of a Chapter 7 to Chapter 13 is only with permission. Very few people convert from a 7 to a 13 unless they have been audited by the Trustee and caught with improper transfers, excess property or excess disposable income. If you get caught, it is generally too late to convert because the panel Trustee earns a 25% fee from property he can locate, seize and sell for the benefit of creditors.
If you file a Chapter 13 you have a good chance that you will have to convert from a 13 to a 7. Over 3-5 years, you are likely to miss payments and have a Chapter 13 dismissed (or have to re-file). In a Chapter 13, you will have to file an annual budget in our district and lose your income tax refunds if the plan is less than 100%. Many Chapter 13 cases are never finished and are converted into Chapter 7 cases. If you are close to completing the plan, you may be granted an early hardship discharge, but there are 3 factors that the court considers in any application for an early discharge that must be proved. Primarily the Debtor must show that the disability to complete the plan was not his fault. Plans can also be later modified if incomes change.
6) What is a Chapter 20? What is a Chapter 26?
Some people file a Chapter 7 to wipe out unsecured debts and then file a Chapter 13 to keep a property from foreclosure. This is jokingly referred to as a “Chapter 20”. However, it saves the Debtor money by insuring that only the mortgage is repaid in the later Chapter 13. Since the Debtor just got a discharge in the Chapter 7, there is no need for a second discharge. Filing a “Chapter 20” can be the intelligent and affordable way to file a Chapter 13. Filing a Chapter 7 and then a Chapter 13 to obtain the benefits of both is very effective in stopping a foreclosure. Although you have the right to dismiss a 13 after you cure the arrears, you may not want to dismiss and then have to face unsecured creditors.
A “Chapter 26” refers to filing back-to-back Chapter 13 cases. You would do this to pay debts that can’t be paid in 5 years by just one Chapter 13. In a sense, you are “extending” your repayment time by filing two Chapter 13s to handle taxes or student loans. This may stop wages or property from being attached and allow you to obtain freedom from the debt by waiting for a disability discharge of a student loan or currently noncollectable status of an income tax debt.
7) How long will Bankruptcy take?
It will take about 3 to 4 months for a Chapter 7 to be final. (You will get a letter within 10 days of filing, telling you the time and date of the 341 hearing and that you are required to take the second class (Debtor education). A hearing will be held about 5 weeks after you file. Chapter 13 normally take 5 years, but if you earn less than the average income some districts will consider a 3 year plan.
8) What are the most common mistakes I can make when filing?
Not showing up for your hearing and not listing all of your debts. Fail to show up at the hearing, and your case may be dismissed. Fail to list a debt, and you may have to reopen your case after discharge to add it, with considerable cost and time spent. The best policy is to list all debts and assets. List every debt, even if you think it is non-dischargeable. It may be discharged anyway. You may wish to list large utilities, but you may be required to make a deposit equal to one month’s service if you do discharge a utility. Cable is not a utility.
9) How do I qualify for Bankruptcy? Can I not be approved?
You qualify for Bankruptcy if either your outgo exceeds your income or your liabilities exceed your assets. If you don’t qualify, we will tell you when we type up the Bankruptcy. It is very rare not to qualify. In my first 15 years of practice, I had one person not qualify for a Chapter 7. You only have to be a US citizen, reside in the state you file in, and not have filed within the designated time period (you can’t file two Chapter 7’s within 8 years of each other).
10) What if the Court does not approve my Chapter 13 or Chapter 7?
If there is anything wrong with your Chapter 13 or Chapter 7 bankruptcy, it can normally be easily corrected by amendment. Of course, it is less costly and time-consuming to do it right the first time. If you earn so much money that you can afford a Chapter 13, you will be forced to convert it from a Chapter 7 to a Chapter 13. Repayment plans are often modified. Occasionally a case will be dismissed because of fraud, but not being approved is very, very rare.
11) How often can I file?
You can file a Chapter 7 eight years after your prior Chapter 7 was discharged (prior to 10/2005, the time limit was six years). You can file a Chapter 13 two years after a prior Chapter 13 discharge. You can file a Chapter 7 four years after a Chapter 13 discharge. You can only have one Bankruptcy going on at a time.
12) If I file does it mean my old debts are erased from my credit report?
No! What is reported is that you had a debt and that a Bankruptcy was filed. Bankruptcy does not give you a good credit record or “repair” your credit record automatically. You repair your credit by paying your debts on time after the Bankruptcy and by deleting inaccurate information from your report.
13) Can I file without an Attorney?
Yes. You can file a Bankruptcy yourself. This is called “filing pro se”. You can also do dentistry on yourself, but we don’t recommend it. Doing your own case is a very bad idea. Remember in a Chapter 13, attorney fees are paid out of the money that the court deems is reasonable for you to pay to all creditors. If you try to save money by filing pro se, the amount of money paid to creditors simply increases. You have saved nothing, but you have caused yourself more work and lost the expertise of of a qualified attorney to help you plan and process the case. This book alone won’t give you the 20 years of experience and training you need to file. Use this manual to educate yourself, but find a good attorney to handle your case.
There are also other problems if you file pro se. If you file a reaffirmation and represent yourself, it must be approved in a hearing by the Judge, and that will mean extra hearings and time for you. Consider the time and risk involved. You often lose far more in Court than what the attorney would have cost—plus there is the extra time and effort on your part.
14) What about a Bankruptcy Mill?
Some firms have one experienced attorney that rarely meets clients. To give you quality representation the attorney has to have experience, knowledge and spend time meeting with you to analyze your needs. Some firms file thousands of cases by spending exorbitant amounts of money on advertising, and then hand your case to a paralegal or a junior attorney with little experience. However, if you do your research you will discover that these “bankruptcy mills” normally do not charge less for their services. You may be better served by hiring an experienced attorney who will personally handle your case.
15) Are you a real Attorney?
Yes. I have been filing Bankruptcy cases for over 20 years, and I have filed thousands. I have worked for banks and financial companies and as an assistant attorney general assigned to the tax department. I personally prepare every case. I never have a secretary or paralegal prepare the petition.
16) How much do you charge?
We charge a flat fee of $1,000 for doing a personal and $1,200 for a joint uncontested Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. Court costs are $310. Your total cost as an individual is about $1,400 including credit counseling, and $1,600 as a couple.
Chapter 13 Court costs are $285 plus $25 for mailing. In Kentucky and most states, the attorney fees are normally set as a flat fee. There is no shopping for a lower attorney fee in a Chapter 13. Attorney fees in a Chapter 13 mean less is paid to unsecured creditors.
17) Can I pay you in payments?
Filing fees must be paid before we file any petition. Filing fees can be paid to the court in installments, but our policy is to not do that. If you pay the filing fee in payments you are more likely to have the case dismissed. For a Chapter 13, you only need to pay the filing fee before we file the petition.
18) How do I get to your office? Do you have an office in Lexington?
No, we don’t have an office in Lexington, but we are only about an hour away from Lexington and Covington and only 2 hours from Bowling Green or Owensboro. Take I-64 to Louisville, and then north on the Hurstbourne Exit. We are at 800 Stone Creek Parkway, Suite 6, 40223 just behind the Barnes and Noble Bookstore on Hurstbourne Parkway in the office condos.
19) What paperwork do I need to bring to my attorney?
There is a list of required documents on our website you may download. Bring the names, amounts, account numbers, and the proper addresses of all of your creditors if you can’t input the debts on our website. Credit bureau reports have the addresses on them. We have the ability for you to input your information on our website, but we will still need your last two years of tax returns, last six months of paystubs and bank statements, and copies of your car titles, deed and mortgages. See our website for audios, PowerPoints, and manuals.
20) How can I get a copy of my credit report?
You can get a free copy of your report at www.annualcreditreport.com or at 1–877–322–8228. Please don’t pay for it unless you recently got one within the prior year. You can get a free credit report if you have been denied credit, are unemployed, are a victim of fraud, or are on welfare (or if you live in Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey or Vermont). To get one for a small fee without going through a “middle man” by contacting any of the 3 major reporting services below. They may charge between $3 and $8.50 depending on your state of residence.
1. Experian (TRW) at 1-888-EXPERIAN (1-888-397-3742) allows you to charge your credit report to your Visa or MasterCard over the phone.
3. Equifax at 1-800-685-1111 or write to: Equifax Information Service Center, P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241. For $8, you can get an immediate report online from Equifax.
If you decide to write to any of these services, be sure to include your: name, address, phone number, previous addresses for the past two years, social security number, birth date, employer, signature—and be sure to include your payment. (You’ll have to call to get the payment amount.) Proof of identity, such as a photo copy of your driver’s license, will also be required.
21) Can I file jointly with my spouse? Does my spouse have to file or sign if I want to file individually?
Yes, you can file jointly or separately. Sometimes a spouse may want to file separately to delay a foreclosure even longer. The first spouse files the first Bankruptcy and delays the foreclosure 6 months or more, and then the second files just prior to the sale and the second Bankruptcy delays the foreclosure an additional 6 months to a year or more.
Your spouse doesn’t have to file with you, but if most of your debts are joint debts, he or she may want to file with you. There are few reasons for a spouse to file if the debts are not in their name. If you are filing a Chapter 7 and the bills are also in your spouse’s name, he or she should generally file. (Cosigners are protected in a 13 with 100% plans, but are not in a Chapter 7.) There is often a minor additional charge for a spouse filing, but it is far less than being charged for a second case.
22) Will it affect my spouse’s credit? Is he/she responsible for my credit cards if he/she is an authorized user?
No, filing will not affect your spouse’s individual credit, but if he or she is jointly responsible on any debt that is not paid, that will affect him or her. The fact that you filed Bankruptcy does not appear on a spouse’s credit report unless he or she also files Bankruptcy.
Unless your spouse has signed to be legally responsible, they are not responsible. Many credit card companies will argue that he/she is responsible, but this is simply not the case. Collectors are often paid a commission, which can cause abuse. Often, collectors will submit “no pay” statements to credit agencies for the spouses of bankruptcy clients. This can easily be corrected by filing a dispute with the credit reporting agency demanding that the collector show proof of liability.
23) Will my cosigners be protected?
Cosigners are protected only if the Chapter 13 pays the full amount of the co-signed debt. If the plan pays the debt completely, the cosigner is protected, but it will be listed in his or her credit record as being paid late. The creditor may ask the cosigner for any remaining portion of the debt if it is not paid completely. In a Chapter 7, the cosigner will have some small protection regarding the collateral during the proceeding, but only because the creditor can’t go against the property of the estate. After a Chapter 7 is over, the creditor will proceed against the cosigner personally.
24) Can I file a personal Bankruptcy and not have it affect my business?
If you completely own the business, the business is merely your asset. If it has a substantial value, it may belong to the court like any other asset. If the business is co-owned, such as a partnership or corporation, then it becomes almost impossible for creditors to reach assets for your personal debt. You may want to file a Chapter 7 to officially terminate a business that is losing money, but normally you would merely dissolve a failed business without a corporate Bankruptcy. If your business files Bankruptcy, it generally doesn’t affect you unless you are personally responsible for the debts of the business.
25) Can Bankruptcy stop foreclosures, wage assignments, help me get my license back from an uninsured accident, stop evictions, a judgment, or remove a lien?
26) What will happen to my bills?
When you file a Bankruptcy, a Court order called a stay goes into effect that keeps creditors from legally collecting from you. At the end of the case, a permanent court order called a discharge is entered. The creditor “charges off” the debt and gets a tax deduction for the loss. The bill is not paid, and the debt shows up as a Bankruptcy charge-off on your credit report. Some creditors attempt to get around the law and will continue attempts to collect after the Bankruptcy is filed. They can be sued for this, but you need to prove they violated the order. One of the best methods is to record their call and then surprise them in Court with it when they deny ever making the call. Most creditors that ignore the law will never send you letters or put anything on paper after you file, but they may make phone calls hoping you pay or sell the account.
27) What if I keep getting bills?
You will continue to get some bills from bankrupted debts after you file. What happens is that the Bankruptcy Court sends out notices to the addresses that you give them (that is why correct addresses are so important), but some creditors never get these notices and continue to bill you. You should make copies of your hearing notice. If you get a bill from a creditor, send them a copy of the bill and the notice. Some creditors will continue to send bills even if they receive notice. It may be that their computer can’t stop sending out the bills, or they may simply be ignoring the stay hoping that you will pay anyway. We can file a motion for contempt with the Judge, and we may also be able to sue for a violation of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act.
28) Do I have to pay my bills during the Chapter 7 or 13?
No. Don’t pay any bill after you file a Chapter 7 until you have negotiated with the creditor to keep the property. Don’t pay any payment in a Chapter 13 unless it is the regular monthly mortgage payment or car payment, and the 13 was filed to retain that property and catch up the arrearage. A stay is a Federal Court order to stop. If the item is secured, your overdue payments will continue to add up while you don’t pay on the item. However, the creditor can’t take the collateral until the stay is terminated. If no reaffirmation is filed within 45 days after the Bankruptcy is filed, the stay automatically terminates and the bank can take the car. The creditor may also file a motion to terminate the stay after the Bankruptcy is filed. Bankruptcy stops your obligation to pay, but the creditor still has a lien and rights in the property. Bankruptcy can affect liens of some creditors.
You often quit paying for items when you file so that you have time to decide on repayment, redemption, or surrendering. I rarely have a bank refuse to agree to repayment, but you don’t want to make payments if they aren’t going to let you keep the property. Singing a reaffirmation will make you liable for any deficiency if you have it repossessed later. In rare cases, with people who are never going to repay, the bank may refuse to reaffirm. Some credit unions may refuse to reaffirm a car or mortgage unless you also repay their credit cards. In cases like this, you may want to redeem property instead. That is why you don’t want to make payments just before or after you file. You can take the time to negotiate your options. You don’t have to be caught up on your payments to reaffirm. A Chapter 13 can be filed to force creditors to allow you to keep property, so they will often negotiate to cure arrearages over time.
29) Who notifies the creditors and bill collectors?
After the Bankruptcy petition is filed, the Court mails a notice to all the creditors listed in the schedules. This usually takes a week.
30) Do I have to go to court?
You have to attend a hearing presided over by a bankruptcy trustee. This hearing is called the 341 Hearing (Meeting of creditors). At this hearing, the Trustee (who is an Attorney or CPA) will ask questions, under oath, regarding the content of your Bankruptcy papers, assets, debts, and other matters. It is very much like a deposition. It is not a trial. If you can’t attend (example: if you are disabled or in military service overseas), you can answer the questions by Affidavit. The Trustee is not the Judge. He is there to take any assets from you, if he can, check accuracy of paperwork and determine what Chapter your case should be. The Trustee represents the banks—not you.
31) Where is my 341 hearing?
Your 341 hearing is always at the Federal Court in your district. In Louisville, your hearing will be on the 5th floor of the Federal Gene Snyder Courthouse at 6th and Broadway. Use the elevator on the 6th street side, next to the Courier Journal newspaper building. If your paperwork is done correctly, your hearing will only last 5 minutes. Just bring yourself, proof of insurance on your car, a picture ID, and proof of your social security number (social security card, W-2, etc.) to the hearing. Dress appropriately.
In Lexington, the hearings are at 100 Vine St. Most Courts require your attorney to bring a second set of documents.
32) What do I wear to the hearing?
Don’t wear cut-offs, jeans with holes in them or sandals. Suits are not required, but dress properly for a hearing in Federal Court. Children are not supposed to be in the hearing room. Do not borrow and wear flashy jewelry. This is not the time to brag how rich you are or how much you own. The trustee is looking for assets to take from you. He is not your friend. He represents the persons you owe. You must report what you own and its value, but don’t brag about your income and how much your car is worth—especially if it is worthless.
33) Do you show up with me at the hearing?
Your attorney will personally appear! Well, unless he or she has 10 offices in 3 states with 12 attorneys. Large firms will send someone, often someone you never saw before. We take care of you, and assist through the process. We don’t just file paperwork. However, there is work you must do such as supply documentation. If you read this manual, you should be able to make the most of your bankruptcy.
34) When should I file tax returns if I am going to file bankruptcy?
If you are considering filing a Bankruptcy, you must file your tax returns (unless you didn’t have any income and were exempt). The court may dismiss your case if you don’t file returns and we normally won’t file the case until you supply them to us. The tax returns and other documents are due to the Trustee within 2 weeks after your Bankruptcy is filed.
If you can get your refund before you file, and spend it, you will keep your refund no matter how much it is. It is very rare for persons in Kentucky to lose a tax refund because the exemptions are so large. But in Indiana, they are commonly lost because the exemptions are so small.
If you get your refund after you file Bankruptcy, and the refund is over the exemption, you may lose part of your refund. File a quick refund if you have to. Some Indiana Trustees start claiming tax refunds in November or prorate them.
35) What will happen to my house and car?
Usually, you keep them. If your equity is less than or equal to your mortgage and exemption, you keep the property. You are allowed to keep a certain amount of property in Bankruptcy. When we prepare your Bankruptcy, we will tell you if you are at risk of losing property. At the time of filing, all property that is not exempt belongs to the Court. The idea is to exempt it all so that you keep it all. Of course, the law concerning what property you can keep varies from state-to-state. We provide you with the exemptions in the manual and on our website. If you are in another state, please beware that many of the websites have the amounts wrong, and the amounts may not be up to date. We keep the amounts for our state (Kentucky) up to date.
36) Do I have to keep up the insurance on my vehicle? Will my rates be affected or will I be dropped?
If you fail to keep full coverage insurance on your vehicle paid for three months, the creditor may automatically pick up your vehicle, according to the local rules in the Western District of Kentucky. Other jurisdictions have similar rules.
37) Can a creditor be forced into a reaffirmation or agreement to allow me to keep property in a Chapter 7? Can a creditor be forced into redemption?
No, a creditor can’t be forced into a reaffirmation, mortgage modification or workout. A creditor can be forced into redemption which allows you to purchase the vehicle or other personal property from him. Redemption is an agreement to pay the bank what the security is worth in one lump sum. They cannot refuse the redemption after the Judge orders it.
If they have started a foreclosure, the filing of the Bankruptcy stops the foreclosure, but in a Chapter 7, the bank may file a motion to terminate the stay with the Bankruptcy Court and ask to foreclose anyway. If the bank is adamant that it wants the house or car back, it may file a motion to terminate the stay in a Chapter 7 and take a loss.
38) Can I choose which creditors I repay?
Yes, you can pay one creditor, but not another. You can keep one car, but let the other car go back.
39) Can I revoke a reaffirmation?
Yes, but it must be revoked within 60 days of the 341 hearing or before discharge, whichever comes first. It should be revoked in writing and sent by certified mail so you have proof.
40) I want my house or car to go back. Will I lose it immediately?
No. You will normally have until at least the 341 hearing to return your car and owe nothing. Use that period of time to look for another vehicle you can afford.
If you choose to let your house go back, you will normally have at least a year to live in it after you stop making payments. The shortest period for a foreclosure is about six months, and we have seen it take up to 7 years. Consider filing an answer to a foreclosure to stay in the home longer and filing discovery to remain in it even longer. Remember, a foreclosure will normally do more damage to your credit than Bankruptcy. Filing a Chapter 13 to catch up on your payments is one way to keep your home. The only good reasons to let your house go back are 1) you have a large amount of negative equity in it, 2) a bad mortgage or 3) that it is an overwhelming burden.
41) Will I lose my 401(k) or retirement fund?
Your retirement is completely exempt and protected under Kentucky law. Other states have other exemptions to protect retirement plans. However, you should talk to a qualified Attorney to get his opinion. The United States Supreme Court has held that pension plans, 401(k) plans, and other “ERISA-qualified plans” are generally excluded from the Bankruptcy Estate under 11 U.S.C. sec. 541(c)(2). Unlike 401(k) plans, IRA accounts are not ERISA-qualified plans. However, in Kentucky and most other states, an IRA may be excluded from the Bankruptcy Estate or otherwise exempt because of a state statute. Some Bankruptcy Court Judges have held that an IRA may be partially exempt under 11 U.S.C. sec. 522(d)(10)(E).
42) I have a personal injury lawsuit—will I lose those funds?
In Kentucky, you can keep up to about $21,625 as an exempted amount of a personal injury lawsuit that you have pending. If both are injured you may keep $43,000. Other states have different rules.
43) The finance company took my household goods as collateral. Do I have to turn them over?
It is possible that you may be able to avoid such liens, if they are old enough and if you have not borrowed within a certain time before filing Bankruptcy. Also consider a redemption.
44) I was just sued and they have just attached my paycheck or bank account. What can I do?
If property was taken from you just before filing Bankruptcy, and it was over $600, it can normally be gotten back. Liens on property that were from a lawsuit can be removed. Garnishments and foreclosures can be stopped. The sooner you seek help, the sooner you can stop the procedure. It is important to seek help as quickly as possible.
45) Am I liable for income taxes on debts discharged or property taxes for items surrendered in bankruptcy?
People often give up cars and then the auto is sold in another state. The car property tax bill will continue to be sent to the Debtor, even though he surrendered property. To correct this in Kentucky, you can file an affidavit with the County Clerk’s office to correct the matter, proving the Debtor did not have the car after discharge. If you kept the auto then you are liable. Property taxes are statutory liens on property, and the new home or car owner will have to pay the property tax to obtain a clear title. There is no property tax if you discharge a debt in bankruptcy before the lender takes the write off for the debt. You must file bankruptcy before a foreclosure sale to prove you didn’t have the obligation when he writes off the debt.
46) If the trustee doesn’t want the property, can I have it?
Yes. But if you hide an asset, you cannot use the exemption on the property. You have committed fraud and you lose hidden assets and the right to claim any exemption to keep it. If you are on a title, claim it.
47) How long do I have to repay in a Chapter 13?
You can s-t-r-e-t-c-h out your payments and take up to 5 years, but no longer. Kentucky state rules require that you can take up to 5 years to catch up overdue payments to stop a foreclosure or repossession.
48) What happens if I quit making my payments in a Chapter 13?
Your Chapter 13 will be dismissed from Court, and you will go back to owing the original debt and being unprotected. If you refile a Chapter 13. you may not get the automatic stay and you may have to file a motion to obtain the stay or be denied if the case was dismissed for cause.
49) Can I reduce my monthly payments in a Chapter 13?
Yes, a Chapter 13 can reduce your monthly payments. It can also reduce your interest rates to 8%, or even 0% on priority debts such as taxes, secured, and unsecured debts.
50) Do I have to pay back 100% of what I owe in a Chapter 13?
No. You can repay as little as 0% to unsecured creditors in a Chapter 13. Your Chapter 13 must pay at least what a Chapter 7 would have paid. Certain plans may pay much less than 10%, if that is all you can afford. You must repay your disposable income.
51) Can I pay some creditors and not others in a Chapter 13?
You can’t (shouldn’t) discriminate and pay one unsecured creditor differently than other unsecured creditors in that class. However, different secured, unsecured and priority debts are often paid differently.
52) Should I try a debt settlement service instead of filing bankruptcy? How do debt settlement services work?
If you pay a debt counseling service $100 a month, what happens is that they often take $40 for themselves and then send your creditors $60. Your bills fall even farther behind. Very few of these “repayment plans” work, but over 90% fail, leaving you worse off. Another scam is that some companies will charge thousands of dollars by promising to find you a consolidation loan as a loan broker or mortgage broker. These loans end up being at a high-interest rate or they pocket your money and never give you the loan. Others strip the equity from your home in a home mortgage loan. Whatever method used, “Debt Counseling Services” are often scams meant to take your money when you are already in trouble. Also be wary of using services that claim to “repair” your credit file. You can easily find all the information you need to repair your credit for free at the library or from reputable online information sources. Remember, nothing repairs your credit better than paying your bills on time.
53) How long should I keep a copy of my bankruptcy?
You should keep a copy of your Bankruptcy, with your tax papers, for at least 7 years. You will need them for any mortgage application. but they are now filed electronically and available for download at any Bankruptcy attorney’s office if you filed after October 2002. You are only required to keep tax receipts 3 years—after 3 years they have the burden of proof—but keep tax and Bankruptcy records for 7 years anyway.
54) When will I be able to get credit again?
You should be able to get other credit within 6 months to a year. Your ability to get credit is based on your income and your history of repayment, as well as the security you offer. You should be able to purchase a car or house if you reaffirm one or two debts and pay for them on time after your discharge. You always have to be able to afford what you are buying on credit or meet credit standards. You will have to reestablish your credit by paying on time after your filing. In Kentucky, we will be happy to talk to you and recommend home mortgage bankers and other services that will assist you in cleaning up your credit file so that you can qualify for a home—or that work specifically with Bankrupt Debtors. There are also companies that lend to you while you are in Bankruptcy and just after Bankruptcy. 722 Redemption Funding will sell you a car at wholesale price (at about 21% interest), and they will also finance the redemption of some cars at the wholesale book value.
55) Will my employer and landlord find out about my bankruptcy?
Bankruptcy petitions are public records; however, under normal circumstances, no one will know you filed a bankruptcy petition unless you tell them. Chapter 13 debtors are often required to make payments through wage deduction, which means the employer will learn about the bankruptcy.
56) Will this affect my getting an apartment?
57) Can employers discriminate or fire me?
Generally, no. There is an anti-discrimination section of the Bankruptcy Code that prevents employers and the state of Kentucky from denying you licenses or discriminating against present employees, but they can discriminate in hiring. Do yourself a favor: Keep it to yourself. They generally won’t know unless you tell them. Series 7 securities license holders do lose their licenses if a Bankruptcy is filed.
58) Are there bankruptcy crimes?
Yes. Criminal statutes related to Bankruptcy can be found at 18 U.S.C. sections 151 to 157. Examples of Bankruptcy crimes are knowingly and fraudulently concealing assets, lying under oath or on Bankruptcy schedules, and knowingly and fraudulently filing a false proof of claim. Bankruptcy fraud can also be used to support a RICO claim. Bankruptcy crimes are often the result of claiming you don’t own property that you do own or that has been transferred to hide it from the Court.
59) Do I have to disclose all of my assets?
Yes. If you knowingly and fraudulently conceal an asset from the Court, you have committed a felony and you can be fined up to $5,000, imprisoned for up to five years, or both. However, conviction is very rare and normally comes up in only the worst cases. Normally, the Court will deny a discharge, take an asset or dismiss or convert your Bankruptcy proceeding.
60) Can I run up charges on my credit cards just before filing?
The official answer is “No”. Many people do make some minor charges on their charge cards just before filing. Spending sprees and charges of over $1,000 on any one card within 90 days before filing are presumed to be fraudulent and non-dischargeable. Luxury items of $500 within 90 days and cash advances of $750 within 70 days are non-dischargeable. Charges to an account more than 90 days before filing are presumed proper. The rule that you can’t charge within 90 days of filing isn’t written in stone. There are 12 factors Judges use to determine if it is fraudulent. The only penalty is that you will have to repay what you charged, not the entire debt. There isn’t really a “penalty” to these spending sprees. American Express monitors them the most, Lowe’s department stores the least.
61) Can I give property away just before filing?
Gifts of property over $600 just before filing are improper. Selling property for less than its value is also a fraudulent transfer, and the Court can go after that property and the person you gave items to. Gifts under $600 are not improper. For example, give one gift of $900 to your child, and that is improper. But, give two separate gifts of a $450 computer to one child and a $450 car to another child — even minutes apart — and that is proper.
62) Can student loans or taxes be bankrupted?
(YES, in some cases) If someone tells you it can’t be done, it often means that they doesn’t know how to do it—or that they don’t want to do it. Student loans over 7 years old were dischargeable until October 1998, but are no longer bankruptable in a Chapter 7 unless you get a discharge proving repayment is an undue hardship. This normally requires disability or retirement, but it is possible and requires an adversary proceeding.
63) Can I bankrupt a utility bill?
Yes, but they may make you pay a deposit equal to one month’s service to keep service with them. Cable TV is the exception because it is a luxury, not a utility. Cable TV can discontinue service if you bankrupt their bill. You won’t have to pay it, but they don’t have to turn it back on until you do.
If you include utilities in your bankruptcy, you need to immediately advise your utility, phone, water, gas and electric company that you have filed and tell them your case number and the date you filed. If you simply file a Chapter 7, don’t pay and don’t contact them, you may end up having your service turned off. It may be a month before the utility finds out that you have filed, so if you list a utility, advise them immediately.
64) Can bankruptcy stop a lawsuit?
Yes, but it will not stop criminal cases or criminal restitution. Criminal restitution cannot be bankrupted.
65) Can I get my driver’s license back?
66) Can bankruptcy help with tax matters or high rates and penalties?
The key is often to wait long enough for income taxes to be bankruptable. You can include taxes and student loans in a Chapter 13 repayment plan. The IRS lien is a statutory lien and cannot be avoided or stripped. However, it only lasts for 10 years after the tax is assessed. The tax is assessed when you file a proper return, so you must file your taxes on time so that it will dissolve 10 years later.
67) What are predatory lenders?
Certain lenders don’t care if you repay. They lend on the equity in your home, not on your ability to repay. They never intend or expect you to repay. They intend to steal your home. Others profit on overcharges and then selling very profitable loans to another lender. When you fail to pay, they repossess or foreclose to collect. They charge prepayment penalties, higher interest, and upfront loan costs to get you the loan. They often use unfair lending tactics, like flipping and packing, to increase income and then don’t keep the loan, but sell it to another company. They target the poor, the elderly, minorities, and the uneducated with false advertising, and overcharge heavily so that the loan can never be paid off. Home improvement companies will sometimes use these mortgage companies to process loans for home improvements that are poorly made (if they are made at all), and the result is that you have signed away your home for second-class home improvements. Predatory lenders often overcharge for filing fees, reporting costs, and closing fees, and then fail to report the charges. If you are lucky, you will be able to sue them for truth-in-lending violations and, perhaps, have a free home. The more they steal or overcharge you, the more proud they are of doing it to you.
68) I have a small retirement account. Is it exempt? My regular stock brokerage cash account on the day of filing will only have a minimal amount (if any) of cash and some shares of companies who are bankrupt. As of the moment, the stock is worthless.
Normally retirement accounts can’t be taken by creditors or the Bankruptcy court. The question is whether or not this is a retirement account. Just calling it a retirement account does not make it one. Real retirement accounts can’t be assigned or attached. If it can be easily spent by you, assigned, or attached, it isn’t a retirement account for purposes of the exemption. Of course, putting large amounts of money into an account just before filing (within 6 months) is wrong.
If the stock is worthless, you can list it and if the Trustee abandons it then it will belong to you. However, at the moment of filing your Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, all your property technically belongs to the Trustee.
69) Will I have a life after bankruptcy?
Absolutely. Most persons can purchase a car within a year after discharge and obtain a home mortgage within 2 years at reasonable rates. Some landlords may require a co-signer for a lease. Most clients report that bankruptcies drastically improve their circumstances.
70) What is the discharge?
When a Bankruptcy is filed a temporary court order called a discharge goes into effect stopping foreclosures, garnishments and collections. If the Debtor completes the Bankruptcy a permanent court order called a discharge is issued. After you file bankruptcy you must complete a debtor education course to obtain the discharge.
71) What if I forget a debt or asset?
If you forget to add a debt you may add it on later . . . at a cost. If you have to file an amendment to add the debt on after the case closes you will have to pay another (299) filing fee. If the creditor is not listed they may garnish and attach property later.If you forget an asset like a car you may have lost it. A judge may or may not allow you to add on an asset and protect it by filing an amendment. “Forgetting” an asset and failing to list it or transferring cars, boats, money and other assets to relatives just before filing is fraudulent and it may cause a person to lose property.
The means test is used to determine whether you can file as a Chapter 7 or 13. If your income is less than the average income for your size family that you automatically are presumed to be able to file a Chapter 7 in good faith. If your income is above the average income you may still be able to file if after deducting for reasonable expenses you are unable to repay a reasonable part of your debt. You can choose to file as a Chapter 13 even if you are poor and you may want to in order to strip a second mortgage or to stop IRS and student loan collections.
73) How is my retirement affected?
Only qualified retirement accounts are protected from creditors and the Bankruptcy court. Simply sticking money in a bank and calling it your retirement account won’t save it from attachment. Generally if you can reach it creditors and the bankruptcy court can take it. If you have contributed to your retirement account for the last 8 months to a year then you may generally continue to contribute at that level of contribution in a Chapter 13. Also if you have borrowed from a 401k those deductions continue as allowed expenses in your allowed budget in the means test and in your schedules. .
74) What if creditors continue to call?
If a creditor continues to call after the case has been filed you may file a contempt action against them for damages. The creditor is liable for damages plus attorney fees but you must keep records. If you can record the calls and keep any documentation and records. | 2019-04-22T15:13:15Z | https://www.bankruptcy-divorce.com/contact-us/bankruptcy-faq-frequently-asked-questions/ |
All of at RG 21 would like to wish our friends, subscribers and supporters a very Happy Chinese New Year 2019: Gong Xi Fa Cai.
We wish all of you health, happiness, and prosperityThis year promises to be a challenging and interesting year full of world-class events, breaking news and technological changes.
On January 1, 2019 the Supreme Leader of the DPRK, Kim Jong Un, sat down to deliver his annual address to the people of North Korea, and by extension to the world. Mr. Kim outlined the various achievements of his government during 2018, noting the 70th anniversary of the country, and then mentioning various sectors of the economy including steel, coal and munitions. He praised the efforts of the agriculture sector that had to deal with severe weather conditions during the year. He even mentioned the areas of art and culture and their work in supporting the idea of juche, or self-reliance.
Following this, like any good manager, Mr. Kim set out targets for 2019 in government and industry. He called for a better life for the people of the DPRK and stressed the need for defense.
He then turned to inter-Korean dialogue punctuated by three summit meetings. He called for making even greater strides in this dialogue with expanded relations.
Finally, Mr. Kim talked about the meetings between himself and the US president, Donald Trump and said he is willing to meet Mr. Trump any time. However he cautioned the US that if it did not keep its promises and tried to influence DPRK policy, then his country “we may be compelled to find a new way of defending the sovereignty of the country…” Mr. Kim closed by noting that great progress had been made in 2018, and that great challenges lie ahead.
Mr. Kim’s speech, despite being filled with rhetorical flourishes and jargon, gives us an insight into the state of his country and its economy. The areas to be improved give us a window into life in the DPRK, particularly in the area of basic infrastructure such as electric power generation and distribution. The real take-away seems to be Mr. Kim’s emphasis on the inter-Korean dialogue which he took time to cover, while giving limited attention to US-DPRK relations. Mr. Kim’s strategy seems to be two-pronged; i.e. improving his relations with the South, and at the same time positioning his country on the international stage.
Respected Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un made the New Year Address for 2019.
Having seen out the year 2018, in which we adorned the history of the motherland, the revolution and the nation with meaningful events leaving another indelible imprint in the history, we are seeing in the new year 2019 full of hope.
As we see in the new year, I extend heartfelt greetings to all the people and service personnel who devoted their all for the cause of socialist construction sharing the same mind and pace with our Party in the eventful days of last year, and wish that homes across the country will brim with affection, hope and happiness.
My warm new year greetings go also to the compatriots in the south and abroad, who shared our will in writing a new history of reconciliation, unity, peace and prosperity of the nation.
I wish success in the work of heads of state and other foreign friends who are making efforts for social progress and development and global peace and justice.
The year 2018 was a historic year, in which remarkable changes took place in the internal and external situations and our socialist construction entered a new stage thanks to our Party’s line of independence and strategic decision.
The Third Plenary Meeting of the Seventh Party Central Committee held in April last year constituted an occasion of pivotal significance in developing our revolution onto a new stage and continuing to speed up the advance of socialism on the basis of the great victory of the line of promoting the two fronts simultaneously. Following the road of arduous struggle with faith in certain victory of socialism, our people provided by their own efforts a sure guarantee for defending their sovereignty and achieving peace and prosperity, and became able to set out on a grand revolutionary advance to attain still higher goals for the construction of a prosperous country.
Thanks to our proactive and positive efforts, a peace-oriented current was created on the Korean peninsula and the international prestige of our Republic continued to be raised, and in the midst of this we celebrated the 70th anniversary of the founding of the glorious DPRK in splendour with great dignity and self-confidence.
Through the celebratory events held in September, the might of the DPRK, which achieved the ideological oneness of the whole society and the single-hearted unity of the Party and the people and which possesses a reliable self-supporting economy and self-reliant defence capabilities, and the ardent will of the heroic Korean people to fight to the end for the victory of the socialist cause were fully demonstrated in front of the eyes of the world.
Last year all the people further consolidated the foundations of the self-supporting economy by turning out in the struggle for carrying out the Party’s new strategic line of concentrating all efforts on economic construction.
Meaningful and valuable advances were made in the struggle for implementing the line of making the national economy Juche-oriented. The generation capacity of the Pukchang Thermal Power Complex was increased remarkably, the Kim Chaek and Hwanghae iron and steel complexes and other metallurgical works built on their successes in establishing the Juche orientation in production, and dynamic efforts were made to strengthen the independent foundations of the chemical industry. The quality of various vehicles and light-industry products that give us pleasure at sight as they were made by our efforts, technology and resources was raised to a higher level and their mass production was realized, bringing delight to our people.
The working class in the coal-mining industry, in defence of the lifeline of the self-supporting economy, conducted a do-or-die campaign for production when everything was in difficulty, and the agricultural sector waged an unremitting struggle for increased cereal production, thus producing a large number of high-yielding units and farmers even in adverse weather conditions.
The munitions industry, in hearty response to our Party’s militant call for concentrating all efforts on economic construction, produced a variety of farm machinery, construction equipment, cooperative products and consumer goods, thereby giving an impetus to economic development and the improvement of the people’s living standards.
Last year the gigantic construction projects, geared to adding glory to the era of the Workers’ Party according to the Party’s long-term plan and operations, proceeded in a three-dimensional way and on a grand scale. This demonstrated in reality the stout mettle of socialist Korea that never flinches in the face of any adversity but achieves victory after victory by surging forward more forcefully, as well as the inexhaustible potentials of our independent economy.
True to the decision of the April Plenary Meeting of the Party Central Committee on bringing about a revolutionary turn in science and education, the sector of science and technology presented valuable research findings conducive to accelerating the growth of hi-tech industries and revitalizing the national economy; the efforts to make education modern and scientific gained momentum, the teaching conditions and environment being updated at many universities, colleges, middle and primary schools across the country.
The sector of art and culture produced and staged a grand mass gymnastics and artistic performance, evoking positive response from at home and abroad and vividly showing the advanced level of Juche-oriented art and its peculiar features and advantages.
Through the struggle of last year, which added a new page of proud victory to the annals of our revolution, we have been convinced once again of the validity of our own cause and the invincible strength of our state. Thanks to our people’s indomitable fight against the challenge of injustice, our state’s might of self-development has increased on a steady basis and the cause of building a powerful socialist country is progressing at a faster pace.
Availing myself of this opportunity, I should like to extend my heartfelt thanks, once again, to all the people including the service personnel of the People’s Army for advancing non-stop along the road of victory indicated by the Party and thus performing feats that will shine brilliantly in the history of our country.
Having grown seasoned and powerful amid the struggle to glorify the new era of the Juche revolution, our Party and people are launching the new year march full of greater confidence and ambition.
This year we are faced with the task of expanding the country’s capability of independent development to open up bright prospects for taking a step forward towards socialist construction.
We have the strength and foundations to bring forward a brighter future of socialism by our own efforts, and we have also developed our own strategy and creative methods to this end. When we strive hard with an indefatigable spirit on the principle of self-reliance by adhering to the Party’s new strategic line, our country’s strength will redouble and our people’s dreams and ideals will come true.
“Let us open a new road of advance for socialist construction under the uplifted banner of self-reliance!”–this is the slogan we should uphold. We should bring about a revolutionary upsurge on all fronts of socialist construction by regarding self-reliance as a treasured sword for prosperity, a spirit which has always been a banner of struggle and driving force for a leap forward in the whole course of the Korean revolution.
The might of the independent socialist economy should be further strengthened.
We should rely on our own technical forces and resources and the high creative spirit and revolutionary enthusiasm of all the people so as to succeed in attaining the strategic goals of national economic development and enter a new stage of growth.
We should properly plan and thoroughly implement the national operations aimed at maintaining, reinforcing and reenergizing the national economy as a whole.
Strategic measures should be taken to give full play to the potentials of the self-supporting economy and utilize the new elements and driving force for economic development, and the manpower and material resources of the country should be enlisted in economic construction in a cost-effective way. We should focus on the main link in the national economic work, reenergize the other links of its whole chain and promote the long-term development of the economy, so as to push forward its revitalization.
The management method should be innovated to satisfactorily realize the unified guidance of the state over the overall economy and give fullest play to the voluntary enthusiasm and creative abilities of the working people. The Cabinet and other state and economic guidance organs should improve planning, pricing, and monetary and financial management in line with socialist economic law and make sure that economic levers have a positive effect on the revitalization of production and expanded reproduction in enterprises. They should adjust the structures and system of work to raise the efficiency of economic work and to make enterprises smoothly conduct their business activities.
Talented personnel, science and technology are our major strategic resources and weapons with which to bring about a great leap forward in socialist construction.
The state should promote talent training and sci-tech development purposefully and increase its investment in them.
It is necessary to improve the quality of training talented personnel, who will shoulder the socio-economic development, by improving the teaching contents and methods in conformity with the world trend of developing education and pedagogical requirements. We should set a high goal of developing new technologies and concentrate our efforts on the research into core technologies of great practical and economic significance, so as to secure the leading force of economic growth. We should also take institutional measures so that scientific research institutes and enterprises, in close cooperation, can boost production and technological development and enhance intellectual creativity.
Every sector in the national economy should give impetus to hitting the targets of the five-year strategy for national economic development.
We should direct primary efforts to relieving the shortage of electricity to make a breakthrough in revitalizing the national economy.
One of the most important and pressing tasks in socialist economic construction for this year is to radically increase the production of electricity.
By focusing state investment on the electric-power industry to maintain and reinforce its existing foundation and making maximum and effective use of it to renovate and modernize one by one badly needed sectors and projects, we can, for the present, raise power generation to the peak year level.
We should take the problem of easing the strain on electricity as an undertaking of the whole state, step up the construction of hydroelectric power stations including Orangchon and Tanchon power stations and create a capacity for generating tidal, wind and atomic power under a far-reaching plan. Provinces, cities and counties should develop and utilize in an effective way various energy sources available in their local areas.
The coal-mining industry is a primary front in developing the self-supporting economy.
Only when coal is mass-produced can we resolve the problem of electricity and satisfy the demand for fuel and power for different sectors of the national economy including the metallurgical industry.
The coal-mining industry should channel efforts, first and foremost, into supplying coal to thermal power stations so that they can normalize electricity generation without letup.
The whole country should render active ideological and spiritual, material and technical assistance to coal mines, and the state should take stringent steps to provide in a responsible manner facilities and materials needed for coal production and good living conditions for coal miners.
A greater development should be achieved in establishing the Juche orientation in the metallurgical and chemical industries, the two pillars in economic construction.
The metallurgical industry should lower production cost to the minimum by perfecting the scientific and technological aspects of the Juche-oriented iron- and steel-making processes and ensuring their normal operation, and work out and implement an operations plan for providing them with full amounts of iron ore, refractories and ferro-alloys to meet their increased production capacity.
The chemical industry should step up the building of the phosphatic fertilizer factory and the establishment of the C1 chemical industry, develop the glauberite and synthetic fibre industries and convert the existing equipment and technical processes into energy-saving and labour-saving ones. This year a nationwide effort should be made to run the chemical fertilizer factories at full capacity and boost production at the February 8 Vinalon Complex.
Rail and other transport sectors should launch an intensive campaign to strengthen discipline and increase their carriage and traffic capacities to ease the strain on transport. The machine-building industry should upgrade designing and processing techniques to develop and produce a variety of modern machinery and equipment in our own way to suit our actual conditions.
Improving the people’s standard of living radically is a matter of greatest importance for our Party and state.
The agricultural front, the major point of attack in socialist economic construction, should conduct a campaign for increased production.
The Cabinet and other relevant sectors should give effective scientific and technical guidance for each farming process and supply sufficient amounts of materials needed for this year’s farming, thus increasing cereal production decisively. They should respect the opinions and interests of farmers, masters of farming, and meet the demands of the socialist principle of distribution properly.
It is necessary to adhere to the four key factors set forth by the Party for the development of livestock farming, modernize and reenergize stockbreeding bases like chicken farms, and encourage the joint stockbreeding by cooperative farms and the sideline stockbreeding by individual farmers so as to supply the people with more meat and eggs.
The fishing sector should consolidate its material and technical foundations, put fishing and aquatic culture on a scientific basis and protect and increase aquatic resources, so as to open a new path for developing the fishing industry.
The sector of light industry, by consistently upholding the banner of modernizing production lines, obtaining at home everything needed for production and improving quality, should produce and supply various kinds of consumer goods that are favoured by the people, and ensure that provinces, cities and counties renovate the condiments factories and other locally-run plants and maintain their regular operation by relying on the locally available raw materials and other resources.
This year, too, we should push ahead, in a bold manner, with huge construction projects for national prosperity and the people’s wellbeing.
The whole Party, the entire army and all the people should turn out to transform Samjiyon County into a model of modern mountainous city, an ideal socialist village, and complete on the highest possible level the construction projects that would represent the present era, including the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist area and other new tourist areas. It is important to steadily improve architectural designing and construction methods, and ensure domestic production and better quality of finishing materials, so as to build all the architectural structures magnificently and in our own style and provide our people with a cultured, happy life. With the national-level construction projects underway on an extensive scale, we should build up the capacity of producing cement and other building materials as planned.
We should make proactive efforts to implement the tasks for the second stage of the forest restoration campaign, improve landscaping, urban management and road administration, and take every precaution against environmental pollution.
All sectors and all units should fulfil their quotas of the national economic plan in all its indices by identifying and enlisting every last reserve, possibility and potential and by increasing production and practising economy.
The politico-ideological strength of our socialist state should be increased in every way possible.
It is necessary to unite the broad sections of the masses solidly around the Party by thoroughly applying the Juche-oriented view on the people, a people-oriented philosophy, in Party and state activities.
Party and government organs and working people’s organizations should give top and absolute priority to the people’s interests whatever they plan and whatever they conduct; they should lend an ear to their sincere opinions, prioritize their wants and anything beneficial to them, and strive to translate them into reality without any conditions attached. Anywhere, anytime and under any circumstances, they should make selfless, devoted efforts for the good of the people, direct primary attention to their livelihood, and ensure that everybody benefits from the politics of affection and trust, the one of embracing and taking care of them all. They should intensify the struggle to eradicate both serious and trivial instances of abuse of power, bureaucratism and corruption, which would wreak havoc on the harmonious whole of the Party and the masses and undermine the socialist system.
However the situation and circumstances may change, Party members and all other working people should cherish the principle of our state first as an element of their faith and step up socialist economic construction in our own way. They should glorify the country’s great history by working with sincere devotion and a patriotic desire for developing their homeland by their own efforts before the eyes of the world, the precious land of socialism which they have defended from generation to generation.
We should accelerate the building of socialist civilization.
A revolutionary habit of studying and a way of cultural and emotional life should be established throughout society, so that all the people possess versatile knowledge and cultural attainments as required by the developing times. The sector of art and literature should create splendid works including films and songs that reflect the times and reality and touch the people’s heartstrings, thus enriching the spiritual and cultural wealth of the nation and giving a powerful impetus to today’s grand revolutionary march.
We should ensure that all the people realize the advantages of the socialist public health system by modernizing pharmaceutical and medical appliance factories, upgrading medical institutions and raising the level of medical service. Mass-based sporting activities should be conducted briskly and specialized sporting techniques developed to ensure that the whole country brims over with vigour and optimism and the sportspeople continue to demonstrate the wisdom and might of Koreans in international competitions.
We should launch a powerful drive to establish a socialist way of life and ennobling moral discipline, thus ensuring that no immoral and uncultured practices that run counter to our people’s emotions and aesthetic view are revealed. By doing so, we can turn the whole society into a large, harmonious family filled with moral excellence and tender feelings.
The national defence capability should be solidified.
The People’s Army should reliably defend the Party and revolution and the security of the country and the people and continuously perform miraculous feats at all sites of socialist construction as in the past by consistently holding fast to the four-point policy for developing it into a powerful army. By doing so, it should demonstrate to the full the might of the revolutionary army, the invincible might of the army of our Party.
The Korean People’s Internal Security Forces, as befitting the red shield of the revolution, should defend unto death our Party, system and people, and the Worker-Peasant Red Guards should effect a turn in strengthening its combat efficiency in this year of its 60th founding anniversary.
Powerful self-defence capacity is a cornerstone of the existence of a state and a guarantee for safeguarding peace.
The munitions industry should, on the one hand, steadily raise the national defence capacity to that of the world’s advanced countries by stepping up the effort for making the defence industry Juche-based and modern, therefore guaranteeing the peace on the Korean peninsula by force of arms, and, on the other, should actively support economic construction.
In order to successfully carry out the militant tasks facing us this year, officials, leading members of the revolution, should make redoubled efforts and struggle with determination and courage.
It is none other than the masses of the people that constitute the motive force and are responsible for carrying out Party policy, and they know actual conditions better than anybody else. Officials should always immerse themselves in the pulsating reality, seeing everything with their own eyes and conducting a comprehensive analysis of how matters stand; they should go deep among the masses, sharing board and lodging with them and motivating them to resolve bottlenecks if any. They should set their ideals and ambitions in keeping with the Party’s plans, and steadily improve their practical abilities and widen their horizon; in this way they should become competent organizers and hands-on workers who make persistent efforts to achieve everything perfectly at the standard demanded by the Party. They should throw themselves into doing any challenging task, burn the midnight oil pondering on how to bring benefit to the country and people, and find the worth of their work in the people’s happy laughter.
Today young people should play a large part in promoting socialist construction.
With the same spirit and mettle which they displayed in recent years to create legendary tales of the new era in response to the Party’s militant appeal, they should honour their title of vanguard at the revolutionary posts where the Party wants them to be. In the present stirring era they should become pioneers of new technology, creators of new culture and pathfinders for a great leap forward; they should make sure that youthful vigour and stamina are overflowing wherever they work.
It is needed to decisively increase the role of Party organizations.
Party organizations at all levels should conduct political and ideological work in a progressive manner in line with the requirements of the times and the developing revolution in order to make our people give full play to the strength of their indomitable spirit on all fronts of socialist construction. They should give a boost to administrative and economic officials so that they can map out plans and provide guidance for implementing Party policy in a responsible way, and fire a zeal for collective innovation and competition in their sectors and units. Provincial, city and county Party committees should wage a powerful struggle to bring about a turn in the development of farming, education and local industries.
With a determination to usher in an era of national reconciliation, peace and prosperity by putting an end to the abnormal state on the Korean peninsula which had suffered a constant war crisis, we took proactive and bold measures to effect a great turn in north-south relations from the outset of last year.
It is unprecedented that three rounds of inter-Korean summit meetings and talks were held in a year amid great expectations and interest of peoples at home and abroad, and this clearly showed that north-south relations entered a completely new stage.
The Panmunjom Declaration, the September Pyongyang Joint Declaration and the north-south agreement in the military field, which were adopted by reflecting the firm resolve and will to usher in an era of peace in which war exists no longer on the Korean peninsula, are of great significance as a virtual nonaggression declaration in which north and south have committed themselves to terminating fratricidal war based on force of arms.
While sportspersons of north and south displayed the wisdom and strength of the nation by jointly entering international competitions, artistes came and went to Pyongyang and Seoul to fire the enthusiasm for national reconciliation and reunification.
We took the significant first step towards common prosperity of the nation by promoting cooperation projects in various fields including railways, road, forestry and public health while resolutely overcoming manifold obstacles and difficulties.
The surprising changes which took place in inter-Korean relations last year convinced all the fellow countrymen that when they join minds and efforts, they can turn the Korean peninsula into the true home of the nation, which is the most peaceful and will prosper forever.
Though it was the initial step, north and south pooled intentions and wisdom to surely reverse inter-Korean relations in the utmost extremes of distrust and confrontation to those of trust and reconciliation and make in a short time eye-opening achievements which were unimaginable in the past. I am very satisfied with that.
In the New Year 2019 we should make greater strides in our efforts to boost inter-Korean relations, achieve peace and prosperity and reunify the country on the basis of the priceless achievements we made last year which was wonderfully adorned with unprecedented events.
It is our steadfast will to eradicate military hostility between north and south and make the Korean peninsula a durable and lasting peace zone.
North and south, as they agreed, should take practical measures proactively to remove military hostility on the whole of the Korean peninsula, including the ground, airspace and sea, as a follow-up to its ending in the areas of confrontation.
Given that north and south committed themselves to advancing along the road of peace and prosperity, we maintain that the joint military exercises with foreign forces, which constitute the source of aggravating the situation on the Korean peninsula, should no longer be permitted and the introduction of war equipment including strategic assets from outside should completely be suspended.
It is also needed to actively promote multi-party negotiations for replacing the current ceasefire on the Korean peninsula with a peace mechanism in close contact with the signatories to the armistice agreement so as to lay a lasting and substantial peace-keeping foundation.
All the fellow countrymen should unite as one, being conscious that the master of peace on the peninsula is our nation, in order to wage a powerful struggle to check and frustrate all the moves that wreck peace and incite military tension on this land.
Inter-Korean cooperation and exchanges should be expanded and developed in an all-round way so that national reconciliation and unity can be consolidated and all the fellow countrymen can practically benefit from improved north-south relations.
For the present, we are willing to resume the Kaesong Industrial Park and Mt Kumgang tourism without any precondition and in return for nothing, in consideration of the hard conditions of businesspersons of the south side who had advanced into the Kaesong Industrial Park and the desire of southern compatriots who are eager to visit the nation’s celebrated mountain.
When north and south join hands firmly and rely on the united strength of the fellow countrymen, no external sanctions and pressure, challenges and trials will be able to hinder us in our efforts to open a broad avenue to national prosperity.
We will never tolerate the interference and intervention of outside forces who stand in the way of national reconciliation, unity and reunification with the design to subordinate inter-Korean relations to their tastes and interests.
North and south should not pass up the favourable atmosphere of today when all the nationals’ interest in and aspiration for reunification are growing unprecedentedly, but actively try to find a peaceful reunification plan based on nationwide agreement and direct sincere efforts to this end.
All the fellow countrymen in north, south and abroad should further accelerate in high spirits the nationwide advance for implementing the north-south declarations, and thus glorify this year as a historic one when another radical change is brought about in the development of inter-Korean relations and implementation of the cause of national reunification.
Last year, our Party and the government of our Republic exerted responsible efforts to safeguard the peace and security of the world and expand and strengthen friendship with different countries.
The three rounds of our visit to the People’s Republic of China and the Cuban delegation’s visit to our country were remarkable events in boosting strategic communication and traditional ties of friendship and cooperation among the socialist countries.
Last year, frequent visits and exchanges were made on Party, state and government levels between the DPRK and many countries of the world, with the result that they deepened mutual understanding and confirmed the stand and will to promote sound development of the international community.
The historic, first-ever DPRK-US summit meeting and talks brought about a dramatic turn in the bilateral relationship which was the most hostile on the earth and made a great contribution to ensuring peace and security of the Korean peninsula and the region.
It is the invariable stand of our Party and the government of our Republic and my firm will to establish a new bilateral relationship that meets the demand of the new era as clarified in the June 12 DPRK-US Joint Statement, build a lasting and durable peace regime and advance towards complete denuclearization.
I am of the opinion that, while meeting and holding talks beneficial to both sides with the US president in June last year, we exchanged constructive views and reached a consensus of understanding for a shortcut to removing each other’s apprehensions and resolving the entangled problems.
The stabilized situation on the Korean peninsula and in the region is never something that has been created with ease, and the countries that are truly desirous of peace have the common responsibility for setting great store by the current situation. The neighbouring countries and international community have to support our sincere stand and efforts for promoting the positive development of the situation on the Korean peninsula and fight against all practices and challenges that wreck peace and run counter to justice.
Our Party and the government of our Republic will continue to bolster up unity and cooperation with the socialist countries and develop relations with all countries that are friendly to us under the ideals of independence, peace and friendship.
We are beginning the journey of the new year as we brace ourselves once again with the resolve to work devotedly for our country, our motherland, and the happier laughter of younger generations.
What we are convinced of once again as we proudly review the past year when we made rapid progress while paving our way by our own efforts with belief in our own strength in the face of harsh economic blockade and sanctions, is the truth that our state is fully capable of dynamically advancing along the road of development of socialism of our own style by dint of our people’s great strength and efforts, without any external assistance or any other’s help.
This year, too, we will face constant obstacles and challenges in our progress, but no one can change our determination and will and stop our vigorous advance and our people will successfully achieve their beautiful ideals and goals without fail.
Let us all work energetically and with one mind and will for the prosperity and development of the genuine people’s country, the socialist motherland.
The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland is the premier international forum for public-private cooperation. The 2019 meeting to be held from January 22-25 will be no exception. Leaders from all quarters will gather in Davos to not only talk about, but also to create our shared future in an increasingly complex world. Davos 2019 will host around 2500 participants.
Leaders from 100 governments and from 1,000 top companies as well as cultural and societal leaders and Young Global Leaders, Global Shapers and Technology Pioneers will meet in at an open and inclusive forum covered by TV, webcam broadcasts and social media.
The theme for 2019 is titled, “Globalization 4.0 Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The meeting will use the “spirit of Davos” to guide discussions on building a better world for this century and the centuries to follow.
These are truly perilous times, and it is important that solutions be found to address not only these problems, but also the challenges of immense and ongoing technological and social change.The Davos 2019 participants have their work cut out for them. Let us hope that they rise to the occasion. Our world depends on it.
In selecting John R. Bolton as his third National Security Advisor, it looks like Donald Trump has finally gotten what he both wants and needs: a political soul-mate with a world view so close to his own as to be almost indistinguishable. After going through two military men, Trump has finally found not just a conservative, but his kind of conservative, in Bolton.
Trump’s National Security Advisor is no “yes man” to Trump. He doesn’t have to be. Apparently the only thing that they would disagree on would be Bolton’s moustache, otherwise it seems that, on policy, they could finish each other’s sentences. And if Bolton harbors any resentment about being third choice, he hasn’t shown it.
Bolton has a fine resume; an impressive record of government service and private employment. Since he graduated from Yale University with a BA and JD in 1974, he has been on a slow but steady upward trajectory. His early career saw him hold a couple Assistant Secretary of State Jobs and a couple of Assistant Attorney General jobs. For a brief period in 2005-2006 he was ambassador to the United Nations on a temporary basis, but withdrew before being confirmed by congress. Bolton has also worked in the private sector in a law firm, worked as a commentator on Mr. Trump’s favorite conservative network, FOX, and been involved with the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think-tank.
Mr. Bolton, like his boss, is a unilateralist. For him, like Trump, “America First” is the rallying cry and fundamental proposition of his politics and worldview. Bolton has been a harsh critic of the JCPOA or “Iran Deal” signed by the US, Russia, China, the UK, Germany, France, and the EU. His language echoes Trump’s when he describes it as a monumental bad deal. Bolton is also a strong critic of North Korea, but has dialed back his rhetoric now that Mr. Trump has been engaging with DPRK Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. Mr. Bolton has also weighed in on Taiwan, suggesting that the US might even station troops there and, in the process, displaying an abysmal lack of understanding of both the PRC’s history and of its resolve regarding Taiwan.
And to cap off Bolton’s hard line (which is, of course, Trump’s hard line) he has, in effect, reset the tone of America’s Latin America policy by branding Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua a “Troika of Tyranny.” In the speech delivered at Miami Dade Freedom Tower November 1, 2018 he announced sanctions would be used to bring these countries into line with the current administration’s view of proper international behavior.
It is now the end of November 2018, and just over four weeks from now, in January 2019, a Democrat-controlled House of Representatives will be sworn in. Things will surely change, and in times to come, people may look back and consider this period the high-water mark of Trumpism and Trumpian politics. Donald Trump and John Bolton’s worldview of politics and human life will soon be consigned to the trash bin of history–where it belongs. | 2019-04-24T00:36:40Z | http://rg21.jp/?cat=3 |
This article is about the friar and patron saint. For other uses, see Francis of Assisi (disambiguation).
Saint Francis of Assisi, O.F.M.
Saint Francis of Assisi (Italian: San Francesco d'Assisi; born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, but nicknamed Francesco (a tribute to France) by his father; 1181/1182Template:Spaced ndash October 3, 1226) was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis for men and women not able to live the lives of itinerant preachers, followed by the early members of the Order of Friars Minor, or the monastic lives of the Poor Clares. Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.
Francis' father was Pietro di Bernardone, a prosperous silk merchant. Francis lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young man, even fighting as a soldier for Assisi. While going off to war in 1204, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, where he lost his taste for his worldly life. On a pilgrimage to Rome, he joined the poor in begging at St. Peter's Basilica. The experience moved him to live in poverty. Francis returned home, began preaching on the streets, and soon gathered followers. His Order was authorized by Pope Innocent III in 1210. He then founded the Order of Poor Clares, which became an enclosed religious order for women, as well as the Order of Brothers and Sisters of Penance (commonly called the Third Order).
In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the Sultan to put an end to the conflict of the Crusades. By this point, the Franciscan Order had grown to such an extent that its primitive organizational structure was no longer sufficient. He returned to Italy to organize the Order. Once his community was authorized by the Pope, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs. In 1223, Francis arranged for the first Christmas nativity scene. In 1224, he received the stigmata, making him the first recorded person to bear the wounds of Christ's Passion. He died during the evening hours of October 3, 1226, while listening to a reading he had requested of Psalm 142(141).
On July 16, 1228, he was proclaimed a saint by Pope Gregory IX. He is known as the patron saint of animals and the environment, and is one of the two patron saints of Italy (with Catherine of Siena). It is customary for Catholic and Anglican churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on his feast day of October 4. He is also known for his love of the Eucharist, his sorrow during the Stations of the Cross, and for the creation of the Christmas crèche or Nativity Scene.
Francis of Assisi was one of seven children born in late 1181 or early 1182 to Pietro and his wife Pica de Bourlemont, about whom little is known except that she was a noblewoman originally from Provence. Pietro was in France on business when Francis was born in Assisi, and Pica had him baptized as Giovanni. When his father returned to Assisi, he took to calling him Francesco ("the Frenchman"), possibly in honor of his commercial success and enthusiasm for all things French. Since the child was renamed in infancy, the change can hardly have had anything to do with his aptitude for learning French, as some have thought. As a youth, Francesco became a devotee of troubadours and was fascinated with all things Transalpine. Although many hagiographers remark about his bright clothing, rich friends, and love of pleasures, his displays of disillusionment toward the world that surrounded him came fairly early in his life, as is shown in the "story of the beggar." In this account, he was selling cloth and velvet in the marketplace on behalf of his father when a beggar came to him and asked for alms. At the conclusion of his business deal, Francis abandoned his wares and ran after the beggar. When he found him, Francis gave the man everything he had in his pockets. His friends quickly chided and mocked him for his act of charity. When he got home, his father scolded him in rage.
In 1201, he joined a military expedition against Perugia and was taken as a prisoner at Collestrada, spending a year as a captive. It is possible that his spiritual conversion was a gradual process rooted in this experience. Upon his return to Assisi in 1203, Francis returned to his carefree life. In 1204, a serious illness led him to a spiritual crisis. In 1205, Francis left for Apulia to enlist in the army of Walter III, Count of Brienne. A strange vision made him return to Assisi, deepening his ecclesiastical awakening.
According to the hagiographic legend, thereafter he began to avoid the sports and the feasts of his former companions. In response, they asked him laughingly whether he was thinking of marrying, to which he answered, "yes, a fairer bride than any of you have ever seen," meaning his "Lady Poverty". He spent much time in lonely places, asking God for enlightenment. By degrees he took to nursing lepers, the most repulsive victims in the lazar houses near Assisi. After a pilgrimage to Rome, where he joined the poor in begging at the doors of the churches, he said he had a mystical vision of Jesus Christ in the country chapel of San Damiano, just outside of Assisi, in which the Icon of Christ Crucified said to him, "Francis, Francis, go and repair My house which, as you can see, is falling into ruins." He took this to mean the ruined church in which he was presently praying, and so he sold some cloth from his father's store to assist the priest there for this purpose.
His father, Pietro, highly indignant, attempted to change his mind, first with threats and then with beatings. In the midst of legal proceedings before the Bishop of Assisi, Francis renounced his father and his patrimony, laying aside even the garments he had received from him in front of the public. For the next couple of months he lived as a beggar in the region of Assisi. Returning to the countryside around the town for two years, he embraced the life of a penitent, during which he restored several ruined chapels in the countryside around Assisi, among them the Porziuncola, the little chapel of St. Mary of the Angels just outside the town, which later became his favorite abode.
At the end of this period (on February 24, 1209, according to Jordan of Giano), Francis heard a sermon that changed his life forever. The sermon was about Matthew 10:9, in which Christ tells his followers they should go forth and proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven was upon them, that they should take no money with them, nor even a walking stick or shoes for the road. Francis was inspired to devote himself to a life of poverty.
Clad in a rough garment, barefoot, and, after the Gospel precept, without staff or scrip, he began to preach repentance. He was soon joined by his first follower, a prominent fellow townsman, the jurist Bernardo di Quintavalle, who contributed all that he had to the work. Within a year Francis had eleven followers. Francis chose never to be ordained a priest, and the community lived as "lesser brothers," fratres minores in Latin. The brothers lived a simple life in the deserted lazar house of Rivo Torto near Assisi; but they spent much of their time wandering through the mountainous districts of Umbria, always cheerful and full of songs, yet making a deep impression upon their hearers by their earnest exhortations.
Francis' preaching to ordinary people was unusual since he had no license to do so. In 1209 he composed a simple rule for his followers ("friars"), the Regula primitiva or “Primitive Rule”, which came from verses in the Bible.
The rule was “To follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and to walk in his footsteps.” In 1209, Francis led his first eleven followers to Rome to seek permission from Pope Innocent III to found a new religious Order. Upon entry to Rome, the brothers encountered Bishop Guido of Assisi, who had in his company Giovanni di San Paolo, the Cardinal Bishop of Sabina. The Cardinal, who was the confessor of Pope Innocent III, was immediately sympathetic to Francis and agreed to represent Francis to the pope. Reluctantly, Pope Innocent agreed to meet with Francis and the brothers the next day. After several days, the pope agreed to admit the group informally, adding that when God increased the group in grace and number, they could return for an official admittance. The group was tonsured. This was important in part because it recognized Church authority and prevented his following from possible accusations of heresy, as had happened to the Waldensians decades earlier. Though Pope Innocent initially had his doubts, following a dream in which he saw Francis holding up the Basilica of St. John Lateran (the cathedral of Rome, thus the 'home church' of all Christendom), he decided to endorse Francis' Order. This occurred, according to tradition, on April 16, 1210, and constituted the official founding of the Franciscan Order. The group, then the "Lesser Brothers" (Order of Friars Minor also known as the Franciscan Order), preached on the streets and had no possessions. They were centered in the Porziuncola and preached first in Umbria, before expanding throughout Italy.
From then on, the new Order grew quickly with new vocations. Hearing Francis preaching in the church of San Rufino in Assisi in 1211, the young noblewoman Clare of Assisi became deeply touched by his message and realized her calling. Her cousin Rufino, the only male member of the family in their generation, was also attracted to the new Order (which he joined). On the night of Palm Sunday, March 28, 1212, Clare clandestinely left her family's palace. Francis received her at the Porziuncola and thereby established the Order of Poor Ladies, later called Poor Clares. This was an Order for women, and he gave Clare a religious habit, or garment, similar to his own, before lodging her and a few female companions in a nearby monastery of Benedictine nuns. Later he transferred them to San Damiano. There they were joined by many other women of Assisi. For those who could not leave their homes, he later formed the Third Order of Brothers and Sisters of Penance, a fraternity composed of either laity or clergy whose members neither withdrew from the world nor took religious vows. Instead, they observed the principles of Franciscan life in their daily lives. Before long, this Third Order grew beyond Italy.
Determined to bring the Gospel to all God's creatures, Francis sought on several occasions to take his message out of Italy. In the late spring of 1212, he set out for Jerusalem, but he was shipwrecked by a storm on the Dalmatian coast, forcing him to return to Italy. On May 8, 1213, he was given the use of the mountain of La Verna (Alverna) as a gift from Count Orlando di Chiusi, who described it as “eminently suitable for whoever wishes to do penance in a place remote from mankind.” The mountain would become one of his favourite retreats for prayer.
Saint Francis Abandons His Father. Francis of Assisi breaking off his relationship with his father and renouncing his patrimony, laying aside publicly even the garments he had received from him.
In the same year, Francis sailed for Morocco, but this time an illness forced him to break off his journey in Spain. Back in Assisi, several noblemen (among them Tommaso da Celano, who would later write the biography of St. Francis) and some well-educated men joined his Order. In 1215, Francis went again to Rome for the Fourth Lateran Council. During this time, he probably met a canon, Dominic de Guzman (later to be Saint Dominic, the founder of the Friars Preachers, another Catholic religious order). In 1217, he offered to go to France. Cardinal Ugolino of Segni (the future Pope Gregory IX), an early and important supporter of Francis, advised him against this and said that he was still needed in Italy.
In 1219, accompanied by another friar and hoping to convert the Sultan of Egypt or win martyrdom in the attempt, Francis went to Egypt where a Crusader army had been encamped for over a year besieging the walled city of Damietta two miles (Script error: No such module "convert".) upstream from the mouth of one of the main channels of the Nile. The Sultan, al-Kamil, a nephew of Saladin, had succeeded his father as Sultan of Egypt in 1218 and was encamped upstream of Damietta, unable to relieve it. A bloody and futile attack on the city was launched by the Christians on August 29, 1219, following which both sides agreed to a ceasefire which lasted four weeks. It was most probably during this interlude that Francis and his companion crossed the Saracen lines and were brought before the Sultan, remaining in his camp for a few days. The visit is reported in contemporary Crusader sources and in the earliest biographies of Francis, but they give no information about what transpired during the encounter beyond noting that the Sultan received Francis graciously and that Francis preached to the Saracens without effect, returning unharmed to the Crusader camp. No contemporary Arab source mentions the visit. One detail, added by Bonaventure in the official life of Francis (written forty years after the event), has Francis offering to challenge the Sultan's "priests" to trial-by-fire in order to prove the veracity of the Christian Gospel.
Such an incident is alluded to in a scene in the late 13th-century fresco cycle, attributed to Giotto, in the upper basilica at Assisi (see accompanying illustration). It has been suggested that the winged figures atop the columns piercing the roof of the building on the left of the scene are not idols (as Erwin Panofsky had proposed) but are part of the secular iconography of the sultan, affirming his worldly power which, as the scene demonstrates, is limited even as regards his own "priests" who shun the challenge. Although Bonaventure asserts that the sultan refused to permit the challenge, subsequent biographies went further, claiming that a fire was actually kindled which Francis unhesitatingly entered without suffering burns. The scene in the fresco adopts a position mid-way between the two extremes.
According to some late sources, the Sultan gave Francis permission to visit the sacred places in the Holy Land and even to preach there. All that can safely be asserted is that Francis and his companion left the Crusader camp for Acre, from where they embarked for Italy in the latter half of 1220. Drawing on a 1267 sermon by Bonaventure, later sources report that the Sultan secretly converted or accepted a death-bed baptism as a result of the encounter with Francis. The Franciscan Order has been present in the Holy Land almost uninterruptedly since 1217 when Brother Elias arrived at Acre. It received concessions from the Mameluke Sultan in 1333 with regard to certain Holy Places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and (so far as concerns the Catholic Church) jurisdictional privileges from Pope Clement VI in 1342.
Oldest known portrait in existence of the saint, dating back to St. Francis' retreat to Subiaco (1223–1224): depicted without the stigmata.
By this time, the growing Order of friars was divided into provinces and groups were sent to France, Germany, Hungary, and Spain and to the East. Upon receiving a report of the martyrdom of five brothers in Morocco, Francis returned to Italy via Venice. Cardinal Ugolino di Conti was then nominated by the Pope as the protector of the Order. Another reason for Francis' return to Italy was that the friars in Italy were causing problems. The Franciscan Order had grown at an unprecedented rate compared to prior religious orders, but its organizational sophistication had not kept up with this growth and had little more to govern it than Francis' example and simple rule. To address this problem, Francis prepared a new and more detailed Rule, the "First Rule" or "Rule Without a Papal Bull" (Regula prima, Regula non bullata), which again asserted devotion to poverty and the apostolic life. However, it also introduced greater institutional structure though this was never officially endorsed by the pope.
On September 29, 1220, Francis handed over the governance of the Order to Brother Peter Catani at the Porziuncola, but Brother Peter died only five months later, on March 10, 1221, and was buried there. When numerous miracles were attributed to the deceased brother, people started to flock to the Porziuncola, disturbing the daily life of the Franciscans. Francis then prayed, asking Peter to stop the miracles and to obey in death as he had obeyed during his life.
The reports of miracles ceased. Brother Peter was succeeded by Brother Elias as Vicar of Francis. Two years later, Francis modified the "First Rule", creating the "Second Rule" or "Rule With a Bull", which was approved by Pope Honorius III on November 29, 1223. As the official Rule of the Order, it called on the friars "to observe the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, living in obedience without anything of our own and in chastity". In addition, it set regulations for discipline, preaching, and entry into the Order. Once the Rule was endorsed by the Pope, Francis withdrew increasingly from external affairs. During 1221 and 1222, Francis crossed Italy, first as far south as Catania in Sicily and afterwards as far north as Bologna.
While he was praying on the mountain of Verna, during a forty-day fast in preparation for Michaelmas (September 29), Francis is said to have had a vision on or about September 14, 1224, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, as a result of which he received the stigmata. Brother Leo, who had been with Francis at the time, left a clear and simple account of the event, the first definite account of the phenomenon of stigmata. "Suddenly he saw a vision of a seraph, a six-winged angel on a cross. This angel gave him the gift of the five wounds of Christ." Suffering from these stigmata and from trachoma, Francis received care in several cities (Siena, Cortona, Nocera) to no avail. In the end, he was brought back to a hut next to the Porziuncola. Here, in the place where it all began, feeling the end approaching, he spent the last days of his life dictating his spiritual Testament. He died on the evening of Saturday, October 3, 1226, singing Psalm 142 (141), "Voce mea ad Dominum". On July 16, 1228, he was pronounced a saint by Pope Gregory IX (the former cardinal Ugolino di Conti, friend of St. Francis and Cardinal Protector of the Order). The next day, the Pope laid the foundation stone for the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. Francis was buried on May 25, 1230, under the Lower Basilica, but his tomb was soon hidden on orders of Brother Elias to protect it from Saracen invaders. His exact burial place remained unknown until it was re-discovered in 1818. Pasquale Belli then constructed for the remains a crypt in neo-classical style in the Lower Basilica. It was refashioned between 1927 and 1930 into its present form by Ugo Tarchi, stripping the wall of its marble decorations. In 1978, the remains of St. Francis were examined and confirmed by a commission of scholars appointed by Pope Paul VI, and put into a glass urn in the ancient stone tomb.
It has been argued that no one else in history was as dedicated as Francis to imitate the life, and carry out the work of Christ, in Christ’s own way. This is important in understanding Francis' character and his affinity for the Eucharist and respect for the priests who carried out the sacrament.
He and his followers celebrated and even venerated poverty. Poverty was so central to his character that in his last written work, the Testament, he said that absolute personal and corporate poverty was the essential lifestyle for the members of his Order.
Francis' visit to Egypt and attempted rapprochement with the Muslim world had far-reaching consequences, long past his own death, since after the fall of the Crusader Kingdom, it would be the Franciscans, of all Catholics, who would be allowed to stay on in the Holy Land and be recognized as "Custodians of the Holy Land" on behalf of the Catholic Church.
At Greccio near Assisi, around 1220, Francis celebrated Christmas by setting up the first known presepio or crèche (Nativity scene). His nativity imagery reflected the scene in traditional paintings. He used real animals to create a living scene so that the worshipers could contemplate the birth of the child Jesus in a direct way, making use of the senses, especially sight. Thomas of Celano, a biographer of Francis and Saint Bonaventure both, tell how he used only a straw-filled manger (feeding trough) set between a real ox and donkey. According to Thomas, it was beautiful in its simplicity, with the manger acting as the altar for the Christmas Mass.
Francis preached the teaching of the Catholic Church, that the world was created good and beautiful by God but suffers a need for redemption because of the primordial sin of man. He preached to man and beast the universal ability and duty of all creatures to praise God (a common theme in the Psalms) and the duty of men to protect and enjoy nature as both the stewards of God's creation and as creatures ourselves. On November 29, 1979, Pope John Paul II declared St. Francis the Patron Saint of Ecology. Many of the stories that surround the life of St. Francis say that he had a great love for animals and the environment.
Perhaps the most famous incident that illustrates the Saint's humility towards nature is recounted in the "Fioretti" ("Little Flowers"), a collection of legends and folklore that sprang up after the Saint's death. It is said that, one day, while Francis was travelling with some companions, they happened upon a place in the road where birds filled the trees on either side. Francis told his companions to "wait for me while I go to preach to my sisters the birds." The birds surrounded him, intrigued by the power of his voice, and not one of them flew away. He is often portrayed with a bird, typically in his hand.
Another legend from the Fioretti tells that in the city of Gubbio, where Francis lived for some time, was a wolf "terrifying and ferocious, who devoured men as well as animals." Francis had compassion upon the townsfolk, and so he went up into the hills to find the wolf. Soon, fear of the animal had caused all his companions to flee, though the saint pressed on. When he found the wolf, he made the sign of the cross and commanded the wolf to come to him and hurt no one. Miraculously the wolf closed his jaws and lay down at the feet of St. Francis.
"Brother Wolf, you do much harm in these parts and you have done great evil," said Francis. "All these people accuse you and curse you...But brother wolf, I would like to make peace between you and the people." Then Francis led the wolf into the town, and surrounded by startled citizens made a pact between them and the wolf. Because the wolf had “done evil out of hunger, the townsfolk were to feed the wolf regularly. In return, the wolf would no longer prey upon them or their flocks. In this manner Gubbio was freed from the menace of the predator. Francis even made a pact on behalf of the town dogs, that they would not bother the wolf again. Finally, to show the townspeople that they would not be harmed, Francis blessed the wolf.
Then during the World Environment Day 1982, John Paul II said that St. Francis' love and care for creation was a challenge for contemporary Catholics and a reminder "not to behave like dissident predators where nature is concerned, but to assume responsibility for it, taking all care so that everything stays healthy and integrated, so as to offer a welcoming and friendly environment even to those who succeed us." The same Pope wrote on the occasion of the World Day of Peace, January 1, 1990, the saint of Assisi "offers Christians an example of genuine and deep respect for the integrity of creation..." He went on to make the point that: "As a friend of the poor who was loved by God's creatures, Saint Francis invited all of creation – animals, plants, natural forces, even Brother Sun and Sister Moon – to give honor and praise to the Lord. The poor man of Assisi gives us striking witness that when we are at peace with God we are better able to devote ourselves to building up that peace with all creation which is inseparable from peace among all peoples."
Pope John Paul II concluded that section of the document with these words, "It is my hope that the inspiration of Saint Francis will help us to keep ever alive a sense of 'fraternity' with all those good and beautiful things which Almighty God has created."
Francis of Assisi Francisco de Zurbarán. Saint Francis' feast day is observed on October 4. The Evangelical Church in Germany, however, commemorates St. Francis' feast day on his death day, October 3.
Saint Francis' feast day is observed on October 4. A secondary feast in honor of the stigmata received by St. Francis, celebrated on September 17, was inserted in the General Roman Calendar in 1585 (later than the Tridentine Calendar) and suppressed in 1604, but was restored in 1615. In the New Roman Missal of 1969, it was removed again from the General Calendar, as something of a duplication of the main feast on October 4, and left to the calendars of certain localities and of the Franciscan Order. Wherever the traditional Roman Missal is used, however, the feast of the Stigmata remains in the General Calendar.
On June 18, 1939, Pope Pius XII named Francis a joint Patron Saint of Italy along with Saint Catherine of Siena with the apostolic letter "Licet Commissa". Pope Pius also mentioned the two saints in the laudative discourse he pronounced on May 5, 1949, in the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.
St. Francis is honored in the Church of England, the Anglican Church of Canada, the Episcopal Church USA, the Old Catholic Churches, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and other churches and religious communities on October 4. The Evangelical Church in Germany, however, commemorates St. Francis' feast day on his death day, October 3.
On 13 March 2013, upon his election as Pope, Archbishop and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina chose Francis as his papal name in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi, becoming Pope Francis.
Canticum Fratris Solis or Laudes Creaturarum; Canticle of the Sun.
For a complete list, see The Franciscan Experience.
Saint Francis is considered the first Italian poet by literary critics. He believed commoners should be able to pray to God in their own language, and he wrote often in the dialect of Umbria instead of Latin. His writings are considered to have great literary and religious value.
The anonymous 20th-century prayer "Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace" is widely but erroneously attributed to St. Francis.
The Franciscan Order promoted devotion to the life of Saint Francis from his canonization onwards, and commissioned large numbers of works for Franciscan churches, either showing St Francis with sacred figures, or episodes from his life. There are large early fresco cycles in the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi, parts of which are shown above.
Statue of St. Francis in front of the Catholic church of Chania.
Sant Francesc (Saint Francis, 1895), a book of forty-three Saint Francis poems by Catalan poet-priest Jacint Verdaguer, three of which are included in English translation in Selected Poems of Jacint Verdaguer: A Bilingual Edition, edited and translated by Ronald Puppo, with an introduction by Ramon Pinyol i Torrents (University of Chicago, 2007). The three poems are "The Turtledoves", "Preaching to Birds" and "The Pilgrim".
Saint Francis of Assisi a Doubleday Image Book translated by T. O'Conor Sloane, Ph.D., LL.D. in 1955 from the Danish original researched and written by Johannes Jorgensen and published in 1912 by Longmans, Green and Company, Inc.
John Tolan, St. Francis and the Sultan: The Curious History of a Christian-Muslim Encounter. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Vita di un uomo: Francesco d'Assisi (1995) a book by Chiara Frugoni, preface by Jacques Le Goff, Torino: Einaudi.
Francis, Brother of the Universe (1982), a 48-page comic book by Marvel Comics on the life of Saint Francis of Assisi written by Father Roy Gasnik O.F.M. and Mary Jo Duffy, artwork by John Buscema and Marie Severin, lettering by Jim Novak and edited by Jim Shooter.
"Universal Man", an illumination from a 13th-century copy of Hildegard von Bingen's Liber Divinorum Operum ("Book of Divine Works", c. 1165).
In Rubén Darío's poem Los Motivos Del Lobo (The Reasons Of The Wolf) St. Francis tames a terrible wolf only to discover that the human heart harbors darker desires than those of the beast.
In Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, Ivan Karamazov invokes the name of 'Pater Seraphicus,' an epithet applied to St. Francis, to describe Alyosha's spiritual guide Zosima. The reference is found in Goethe's "Faust," Part 2, Act 5, lines 11918–25.
Rich Mullins co-wrote Canticle of the Plains, a musical, with Mitch McVicker. Released in 1997, it was based on the life of St. Francis of Assisi, but told as a western story.
Bernard Malamud's novel The Assistant (1957) features a protagonist, Frank Alpine, who exemplifies the life of St. Francis in mid-20th-century Brooklyn, New York City.
Canticle of the Sun is a prayer by St. Francis.
Prayer of Saint Francis is not a prayer by St. Francis.
^ On the day of his election, the Vatican clarified that his official papal name was "Francis", not "Francis I". A Vatican spokesman said that the name would become Francis I if and when there is a Francis II.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Brady, Ignatius Charles. "Saint Francis of Assisi." Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
^ a b c d e f g h i j 12px Paschal Robinson (1913). "St. Francis of Assisi". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^ a b c d e f Cross, F. L., ed. (2005). "Francis of Assisi". The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199566712.
^ Tolan, John (2009). St. Francis and the Sultan: The Curious History of a Christian-Muslim Encounter. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199239726.
^ Cross, F. L., ed. (2005). "Stigmatization". The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199566712.
^ a b "Blessing All Creatures, Great and Small". Duke Magazine. November 2006. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
^ "St. Francis of Assisi – Franciscan Friars of the Renewal". Franciscanfriars.com. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
^ under subheading "The Crib (Creche) or Nativity Scene"
^ a b Englebert, Omer (1951). The Lives of the Saints. New York: Barnes & Noble. p. 529. ISBN 978-1-56619-516-4.
^ Robinson, P. (2009). St. Francis of Assisi. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 2011-10-17 from New Advent.
^ a b Chesterton, Gilbert Keith (1924). "St. Francis of Assisi" (14 ed.). Garden City, New York: Image Books. p. 158.
^ Bonaventure; Cardinal Manning (1867). The Life of St. Francis of Assisi (from the Legenda Sancti Francisci) (1988 ed.). Rockford, Illinois: TAN Books & Publishers. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-89555-343-0.
^ Fioretti quoted in: St. Francis, The Little Flowers, Legends, and Lauds, trans. N. Wydenbruck, ed. Otto Karrer (London: Sheed and Ward, 1979) 244.
^ Steven Runciman, History of the Crusades, vol. 3: The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades, Cambridge University Press (1951, paperback 1987), pp. 151–161.
^ e.g., Jacques de Vitry, Letter 6 of February or March 1220 and Historia orientalis (c. 1223–1225) cap. XXII; Tommaso da Celano, Vita prima (1228), §57: the relevant passages are quoted in an English translation in Tolan, pp. 19f. and 54 respectively.
^ e.g., Chesterton, Saint Francis, Hodder & Stoughton (1924) chapter 8. Tolan (p.126) discusses the incident as recounted by Bonaventure which does not extend to a fire actually being lit.
^ Péter Bokody, "Idolatry or Power: St. Francis in Front of the Sultan," in: Promoting the Saints: Cults and Their Contexts from Late Antiquity until the Early Modern Period, ed. Ottó Gecser and others (Budapest: CEU Press, 2010), 69-81, esp. at pp. 74 and 76-78. The views of Panofsky (idols: see Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art, New York 1972, p.148, n.3) and Tolan (undecided: p.143) are cited at p.73.
^ Ugolino Brunforte (Brother Ugolino). The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi. Calvin College: CCEL. ISBN 1-61025212-8. ISBN 978-1-61025212-6. Quote.
^ Pope John Paul II (November 29, 1979). "Inter Sanctos (Apostolic Letter AAS 71)" (PDF). Retrieved August 7, 2014.
^ Pope John Paul II (December 8, 1989). "World Day of Peace 1990". Retrieved October 24, 2012.
^ Pope Francis (March 16, 2013). "Audience to Representatives of the Communications Media". Retrieved August 9, 2014.
^ "Pope Francis explains decision to take St Francis of Assisi's name". London: The Guardian. 16 March 2013. Archived from the original on 16 March 2013.
^ a b "New Pope Fra[n]cis visits St. Mary Major, collects suitcases and pays bill at hotel". NEWS.VA. 14 March 2013. Archived from the original on 16 March 2013.
^ Michael Martinez, CNN Vatican analyst: Pope Francis' name choice 'precedent shattering', CNN (13 March 2013). Retrieved 13 March 2013.
^ "Pope Francis wants 'poor Church for the poor'". BBC News (BBC). 16 March 2013. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
^ Alpert, Emily (13 March 2013). "Vatican: It's Pope Francis, not Pope Francis I". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 16 March 2013.
^ Brand, Peter; Pertile, Lino, eds. (1999). "2 - Poetry. Francis of Assisi (pp. 5ff.)". The Cambridge History of Italian Literature. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-52166622-8. ISBN 978-0-52166622-0.
^ Chesterton, G.K. (1987). St. Francis. Image. pp. 160 p. ISBN 0-385-02900-4.
^ Renoux, Christian (2001). La prière pour la paix attribuée à saint François: une énigme à résoudre. Paris: Editions franciscaines. ISBN 2-85020-096-4.
^ Renoux, Christian. "The Origin of the Peace Prayer of St. Francis". Retrieved August 9, 2014.
Englebert, Omer (1951). The Lives of the Saints. New York: Barnes & Noble.
Robinson, Paschal (1913). "St. Francis of Assisi". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 12px "St._Francis_of_Assisi". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
Tolan, John (2009). Saint Francis and the Sultan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Friar Elias, Epistola Encyclica de Transitu Sancti Francisci, 1226.
Pope Gregory IX, Bulla "Mira circa nos" for the canonization of St. Francis, July 19, 1228.
Friar Tommaso da Celano: Vita Prima Sancti Francisci, 1228; Vita Secunda Sancti Francisci, 1246–1247; Tractatus de Miraculis Sancti Francisci, 1252–1253.
Friar Julian of Speyer, Vita Sancti Francisci, 1232–1239.
St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, Legenda Maior Sancti Francisci, 1260–1263.
Ugolino da Montegiorgio, Actus Beati Francisci et sociorum eius, 1327–1342.
Fioretti di San Francesco, the "Little Flowers of St. Francis", end of the 14th century: an anonymous Italian version of the Actus; the most popular of the sources, but very late and therefore not the best authority by any means.
Acocella, Joan, "Rich Man, Poor Man: The Radical Visions of St. Francis", The Critics: Books, The New Yorker 88, no. 43 (January 14, 2013): 72-77 (accessed January 23, 2015).
St. Francis of Assisi at the Christian Iconography web site.
"All Creatures of Our God and King"
"Légende No. 1: St François d'Assise" | 2019-04-20T20:22:17Z | http://research.omicsgroup.org/index.php/Francis_of_Assisi |
Every March, top lawmakers and political advisors gather in the capital from all over the country to attend the "lianghui," or "two meetings" where they review the performance of the government over the past year and hear new policies and major economic targets.
The two parts of the "lianghui" are the National People's Congress (NPC), which is the country's top legislature, and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a body that advises the government on a range of issues. The meetings typically last about 10 days.
Premier Li Keqiang delivers a report on the government's work to the 3,000 delegates on the first day of the NPC conclave, which this year begins March 5. His press conference on the final day (March 15) is also closely watched because he fields questions from foreign journalists. The report Li delivers will announce China's targeted GDP growth for the year and other key figures, such as the national defense budget.
Compared to the Communist Party's big meetings, the "lianghui" is more visible, perhaps intended to provide the public with a bit of political theater.
Technically it is the highest organ of state power. Its roughly 3,000 delegates meet once a year to ratify or approve policies, laws, the budget and top government personnel changes, which are mostly placed before it by other official organs. A 175-member NPC Standing Committee runs the legislature and passes laws between the annual meetings. It is chaired by Zhang Dejiang, No. 3 in the Communist Party after Xi Jinping and Li.
Has the NPC ever rejected legislation?
It has never voted down a proposed law, which has raised questions as to its function. However, since the legislature held its first meeting in 1954, there have been increasing instances of a lack of consensus. In 1982, three delegates abstained from a vote for the first time. The first "no" vote was cast six year later when Taiwan delegate Huang Shunxing voted against a nomination for chairman of the NPC's Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee. Then in 1992, only two-thirds of the legislature voted for the Three Gorges Dam project. More recently, hundreds of delegates have voted against or abstained from voting on the work reports given by the head of top prosecutor's office and the chief judge of the Supreme People's Court.
Who can be an NPC member?
Delegates are elected to five-year terms mostly by provincial people's congresses, who themselves are elected by lower-level assemblies. Only delegates at the lowest level – the county level or equivalent – are directly elected by the public. The People's Liberation Army also picks some members. The NPC has 2,943 members this year, meaning each one represents about 670,000 people. Some 406 delegates represent China's 55 ethnic minorities.
Then what does the CPPCC do?
The CPPCC is a collection of advisors that give party and government bodies suggestions on economic, political, cultural and societal issues. The membership is more varied than the NPC, and not everyone is a party member. Many CPPCC members are leading figures in fields such as academics, the legal profession and the business world. The body also has some star power, with luminaries like former NBA star Yao Ming and Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan holding posts.
China’s cold chain logistics industry, which now enjoys special status under the Chinese government’s macro economic control policy, will continue to strengthen and improve, while maintaining rapid operational growth. The industry was chosen as a favored industry because of its importance in maintaining public health and food security. At the same time, disposable incomes in China are rising, and food safety is becoming more of a concern for individual consumers.
According to recent studies conducted by the International Cold Storage Association, only 15% of products requiring temperature control were handled correctly in China, and only 10% of vehicles that are used for perishable products are equipped with cold storage equipment, not just ice cubes or ice bricks. Most of the logistics systems do not have any temperature control at all. As a result, more than 30% of the agricultural products produced in China are wasted during transportation. Due to lack of proper handling, product quality of the remaining 70% is in question. Food safety is becoming more of a concern for consumers and a complete system for cold chain logistics is in demand.
In 2015, meat production in China exceeded 80 million tons, vegetable 700 million tons, fruit 260 million tons, dairy products 27 million tons and seafood 60 million tons. Besides, large amounts of meat and frozen food are produced every year in China too. Temperature fluctuation in cold storage and transport is one of the main reasons for food quality decline. To ensure those perishable foods' freshness and quality, cold chain logistics is needed.
At the end of 2014, China had a freezer capacity of about 120 million cubic meters and less than 60, 00 refrigerator vehicles, lagging far behind developed countries in per capital terms.
As a high-end sub-industry of logistics, cold chain logistics will become the focus of many investors in the next few years. As e-business develops in China, e-business enterprises operating fresh food are springing up and the supporting cold chain infrastructure. Many e-business companies in China have got into the field of fresh food, for example, large e-business enterprises like Tmall and JD have published their own fresh food strategy. Besides, logistics enterprises like SF Best of SF Express are conducting e-business and a bunch of professional fresh food e-business enterprises like Too Too Organic Farm are developing fast too. According to CRI's estimation, the market size of fresh food e-business was about CNY 100-120 billion and CAGR during the period of 2016-2020 will exceed 50%.
Currently fresh food e-busines companies hardly invest in cold chain equipment but they indirectly force the construction of cold chain distribution networks. Enterprises such as JD and Tmall are still weak in cold chain warehouse, logistics delivery system and door to door delivery where they mainly cooperate with a third party cold chain logistics companies.
The cold chain logistics network can be divided into two parts: cold chain home delivery and cold chain artery, the former belonging to express and less-than-carload logistics while the latter involving supply chain management and third party logistics. Cold chain logistics is a sub-industry of logistics, with the largest potential market despite its complex operation and high barrier to entry. Cold chain logistics will be one of the fastes growing sub-industries of logistics in China in the next few years.
With sustained consumer growth, a fast increase in demand for food, drugs and cosmetics: the cold chain logistics industry in China will undergo a transformation enableling investment opportunities in China for cold chain equipment manufacturers and cold chain logistics enterprises.
47 qualified companies currently vie in the competition for refrigerated trucks. Among the top players including CIMC (Shandong), Zhengzhou Hongyu, Henan Bingxiong, Henan Frestec, Zhenjiang Speed Auto and KF Mobile, CIMC (Shandong) occupies the Shandong market, and seizes market share in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Hubei and other places; Henan Bingxiong performs outstandingly in Northeast China, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia; Zhenjiang Speed Auto and KF Mobile focus on East China and dominate the East refrigerated truck market. Zhengzhou Hongyu not only takes a favorable position via giants such as Shuanghui, Yurun, Topin, Sanquan and Synear in Henan, but also makes some achievements in Beijing, Hebei, Ningxia, Jiangsu and other markets.
CPC Central Committee's Proposal on Formulating the Thirteenth Five-year Plan on National Economic and Social Development - sets out the goals, principles and targets for China’s development in the next five years, and will have significant business implications, not only for China, but also for the world, given the size and global influence of China’s economy.
Becoming the world’s second largest economy, the largest trading nation, the largest destination for foreign direct investment and the third largest global investor, together with the largest foreign exchange reserves.
Achieving average GDP growth of 7.8% over the past five years, 48.1% of which was contributed by the services sector of the GDP, exceeding manufacturing and construction.
Reaching an urbanisation rate of 55%, lifting over 100 million people have out of poverty in the past five years.
government over-regulation and poor quality services.
China’s economic growth has slowed down to 6.9% in the first three quarters of 2015.
In the words of CPC leadership, China’s economic growth model is “unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable”, and must be changed.
The 13th FYP is the first five-year plan formulated under President Xi Jinping's leadership and considered strategically important as the year 2020 will be the centennial anniversary of the founding of the CPC and the deadline for realising China's goal of becoming "a moderately prosperous society in all respects". In other words, China needs to double its 2010 GDP and per capita income of both urban and rural residents by 2020 – an enormous task given the current economic uncertainties.
strenuously promote environmental protection and low carbon growth.
President Xi Jinping later elaborated that, to achieve the goal, China would need to maintain an average annual GDP growth rate of 6.5% until 2020. This growth rate, coupled with a smooth transition to a growth model primarily driven by consumption and services, will hopefully guide the economy into its “new normal” period and help China avoid the “middle-income trap”.
The CPC proposed the following specific action points and targets for each aspect of the 13th FYP.
In declaring China’s future development “must rest on the basis of innovation”, the CPC has made clear the strategic importance of innovation in the 13th FYP.
Build a ubiquitous and fast mobile information network to balance improvements to the transportation and mail delivery networks.
Manufacturing remains the keystone of China’s economic growth and the basis for building an innovation-driven nation as well as for overseas expansion.
Establish a green development fund to promote clean production through clean energy, green transportation, control of carbon emissions in major industries and a circular economy.
Push for pilot projects on Near Zero Emission Zones.
Control and reduce agricultural pollution.
Ban commercial logging of natural forest and improve forest growing stock. The country will also strengthen protection of endangered species through breeding centres and gene banks, while improving management and control of wildlife imports and exports including ivory.
As stipulated in the new environmental law, the 13th FYP reconfirms that government officials will be audited upon leaving their posts on the balance sheets of natural resources.
Construct energy storage and smart grid and develop distributed power.
Raise the energy conservation standards for buildings and promote green building and green building materials.
Boost low-carbon public transportation with an improved rail transport system.
Promote cycling and new energy vehicles to encourage a "green" and sustainable lifestyle.
In line with its international commitments; According to official statistics, China is planning to invest US$6.6 trillion in the coming decade on low carbon technology, renewables, energy efficiency and emission reduction products, generating huge business opportunities for Chinese and foreign companies along the way.
Improve SOE vitality, controlling power, influence and resilience.
Strengthen its supervision over state assets by shifting its focus to capital management.
Encourage more state capital to be invested into the sectors and industries that are of significance to national security and the national economy.
Reduce government intervention in the operation of enterprises, reduce administrative approvals, break regional market segmentation and sectoral monopolies and create a fair competitive environment for all enterprises.
China is still at the early stage of urbanisation. The CPC anticipates over 100 million of farmers will become city dwellers, generating a market of US$6 trillion relating to their settlements and employment in the next five years.
Coordinate regional development to achieve balanced growth, by improving infrastructure development in the western region while rejuvenating the north-eastern industrial hub and facilitating the rise of the central region.
Enhance support to less developed regions, such as ethnic minority communities and border areas as well as resource-strained and ecologically degraded regions, and help shift excess industrial capacity from the affluent coastal cities to developing western regions.
Support the development of a series of city clusters across the country.
Call for proper and green city planning and industrial layout designs, and integrated growth of urban and rural areas.
Support the enhanced connectivity of inter-city transport and communications as well as the development of green cities, smart cities and forest cities.
Further reform the household registration systems (hukou system) to enable rural families to settle in cities and enjoy equal rights and the same treatment as city dwellers.
Draw up plans to open up the competitive businesses of power, banking, transport, telecommunications, oil and gas and public utilities.
Adopt a two-child policy so as to promote the balanced development of the Chinese population. It is estimated that under this new policy, 6 million more babies will be born each year, generating an infant-related goods and services consumption market worth US$16 billion.
Gradually postpone the statutory retirement age.
Make elderly care services a fully open market.
Encourage the private sector to invest and provide diversified education services.
Adjust the country’s income distribution system and narrow the income gap so as to "significantly" increase the wages of the low-income population, and increase the proportion of middle-income group.
Promote the mechanism of collective negotiations for wages and further increase the minimum wage levels.
Take a more positive approach by launching a free professional skills enhancement programme for the peasant workers and people from unprivileged backgrounds.
Remove barriers and restrictions for employment, and encourage more people to start their own businesses.
China has made remarkable progress in poverty relief. It was the first developing country to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target of reducing the population living in poverty by half ahead of the 2015 deadline. Despite this, China still has 70 million people in the countryside living below the country's poverty line of 2,300 yuan (US$376) annual income by 2010 price standards.
A distinctive feature of the 13th FYP is that it’s the first five-year plan that shifts from the traditionally domestic focus to a much wider international perspectives by including more cross-border issues, in line with China’s rising position in today’s global economy.
Promote the development of local industrial capabilities.
Collaborate with international financial institutions, such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the New Development Bank, together with China’s Silk Road Fund, to attract worldwide financial support.
Actively participate in the UN climate change negotiations and cut its emissions.
Expand the scale of foreign aid to developing countries and contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
These statements and plans, while demonstrating China’s commitments as a responsible player of the international community, reflect China’s confidence as a world power and its rising global perspectives and aspirations.
Fully implement a pre-establishment national treatment to foreign investors.
Support will be given to coastal areas to participate in global economic cooperation.
Establish advanced manufacturing bases and economic zones, and continue to improve border and cross-border economic cooperation zones.
Encourage Chinese companies to invest overseas and sell more Chinese equipment, technology, standards and services to foreign countries.
Encourage Chinese companies to further their cooperation with foreign peers to improve their equipment manufacturing capabilities, added value and technological competitiveness.
Further integrate into the world’s supply chains and value chains through establishing overseas production bases and financial services platforms.
Transform the banking system into a multi-level and diverse system, and provide more financial support to small and micro-sized businesses and rural regions and impoverished areas.
Relax restrictions and allow more private entities to establish banks.
Provide strong support to green finance, including the issuance of green bonds.
In October, the Agricultural Bank of China issued its landmark listing of Renminbi and dollar-denominated green bonds with a total value of $1billion at the London Stock Exchange. The issue was four times oversubscribed.
Establish a standard financing mechanism for local governments.
Continue to press ahead with capital account liberalisation and the internationalisation of the Renminbi, which is already the world’s second currency for global trade finance and became the fourth most-used world payment currency in August 2015.
Actively push for wider international support for the inclusion of the Renminbi in the IMF Special Drawing Right (SDR) basket.
Increase the exposure and wide usage of the currency in international markets.
The government has vowed to promote the administration of rule of law, innovate its ways of macroeconomic control and social governance, and continue to fight corruption.
Cement achievements made in the anti-corruption campaign and tighten supervision and checks over power, in addition to working out an effective mechanism to stem corruption.
According to China’s political process, the CPC is responsible for formulating a proposal document that maps out the goals, principle and targets for the next five-year plan. The State Council will then add flesh to the bones and work out a more detailed outline, which will then be submitted to the top legislature – the National People’s Congress - for review and ratification in March 2016.
Following that, each province and central government ministry will accordingly formulate its own five year plan and be responsible for implementations.
The Johannesburg Summit and the 6th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) were held in Johannesburg from 3 to 5 December 2015. Heads of State and Government, Heads of Delegation, the Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission and Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Ministers in charge of economic cooperation from China and 50 African countries (hereafter referred to as "the two sides") attended the Summit and Ministerial Conference respectively.
The two sides reviewed with satisfaction the development of relations between China and Africa and applauded the positive contribution FOCAC had made over the past 15 years since its inception in advancing the comprehensive and in-depth development of China-Africa relations, and agreed that FOCAC had become both a key platform for collective dialogue between China and African countries, and an effective mechanism for practical cooperation.
The two sides share the view that, as China works for the Two Centenary Goals and as Africa implements Agenda 2063 and its First 10-Year Implementation Plan, the current development strategies of China and Africa are highly compatible. The two sides shall make full use of their comparative advantages to transform and upgrade mutually beneficial cooperation focusing on better quality and higher efficiency to ensure the common prosperity of our peoples.
The two sides are satisfied with the effective implementation of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Action Plan (2013-2015) adopted at the 5th Ministerial Conference of FOCAC, and decide, in the spirit of the Johannesburg Declaration of the Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, to jointly establish and develop comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership between China and Africa featuring political equality and mutual trust, economic cooperation for win-win results, exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and African civilizations, mutual assistance in security affairs, as well as solidarity and cooperation in international affairs.
In order to implement the outcomes of the Summit and the Conference, and chart the course of China-Africa friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation in all fields in the next three years under the theme of "China-Africa Progressing Together: Win-Win Cooperation for Common Development", the two sides jointly formulate and adopt with consensus this Action Plan.
The two sides will continue to encourage high-level mutual visits and dialogue in order to consolidate traditional friendship, enhance political mutual trust and deepen strategic consensus and coordination.
2.2.1 So as to enhance the planning and implementation of relations and cooperation between China and African countries, the two sides agree to improve and encourage mechanisms such as bilateral joint commissions, strategic dialogues, foreign ministries' political consultations, and joint/mixed commissions on economic and trade cooperation.
2.3.1 The two sides will enhance exchanges and cooperation between the National People's Congress of China and African national parliaments, regional parliaments, the Pan-African Parliament and the African Parliamentary Union, to consolidate the traditional China-Africa friendship and promote mutually beneficial cooperation.
2.3.2 The two sides will expand and enhance exchanges and cooperation between the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and African national parliaments, regional parliaments, the Pan-African Parliament and the African Parliamentary Union.
2.3.3 The two sides will deepen exchanges between the China Economic and Social Council, the AU Economic, Social and Cultural Committee, and the economic and social councils and other relevant institutions in African countries.
2.3.4 The two sides will increase the frequency of high-level contacts between political parties, enhance cooperation on personnel training, deepen bilateral and multilateral political dialogues, and increase experience sharing on governance and national development.
2.3.5 The two sides will promote exchanges and cooperation between local governments, and support the establishment of more sister provinces/cities relationships, as well as the institutionalization of the China-Africa Forum on Cooperation between Local Governments.
2.4.1 The two sides recognize the important role of the African Union in safeguarding peace and stability in Africa, promoting the development of Africa, and advancing the integration process of Africa. The two sides, furthermore, acknowledge with appreciation the efforts and contributions made by China to support Africa's peaceful and stable development and integration.
2.4.2 The two sides appreciate the comprehensive development of relations between China, sub-regional and pan-african organizations and the African Union, agree to maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges, continue to improve the strategic dialogue mechanism, and enhance strategic mutual trust and practical cooperation.
2.4.3 China appreciates the adoption of Agenda 2063 and its First 10-Year Implementation Plan by the African Union, and will continue to support the African Union in its efforts to build a united, integrated and prosperous Africa that is at peace with itself and the world.
2.4.4 The Chinese side appreciates the positive role of the African Union Commission since it became a member of the FOCAC, and will also continue to strengthen cooperation with and support for the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
2.4.5 The two sides agree to actively implement the Memorandum of Understanding on the Promotion of China-Africa Cooperation in the Fields of Railway, Highway, Regional Aviation Networks and Industrialization, making good use of existing cooperation mechanisms such as the Joint Working Group of Transnational and Trans-regional Infrastructure Cooperation in Africa, and to promote practical cooperation between China and the African Union in priority fields.
2.4.6 The African Union appreciates the establishment of the Mission of China to the AU in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. China invites the African Union to establish a representative office in Beijing at an early date.
2.4.7 The Chinese side will further support the capacity building of the African Union and sub-regional organizations in Africa in various forms, such as through human resources development.
2.4.8 The Chinese side will establish and improve mechanisms of economic and trade cooperation with regional and sub-regional organizations in Africa, enhance economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa at regional and multilateral levels. The Chinese side welcomes and supports African initiatives regarding the creation of free trade zones and will study the possibility of establishing free trade zone cooperation.
3.1.1 The two sides agree that realizing agriculture modernization in Africa by strengthening China-Africa agricultural cooperation is an important way to contribute to food security in Africa, and should be given priority in the context of China-Africa cooperation projects. The cooperation will enhance agricultural transformation and upgrading, increase agricultural production, processing and income, and safeguard food security in Africa bearing in mind the prevailing regulatory requirements.
3.1.2 The two sides will continue to strengthen cooperation in the fields of agricultural policy consultation, planning and design, and support the implementation of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) through assisting to build agriculture technology demonstration centres, sending professionals for technical cooperation, and training agricultural technicians. In this regard, the African side appreciates the support already rendered by the Chinese government for African countries to implement the CAADP.
3.1.3 The Chinese side will carry out agricultural demonstration projects in Africa, build or upgrade agricultural technology demonstration centres, make effective use of such centres focusing on agricultural research, demonstration and training, expanding training, transferring breeding and plantation technologies and cooperate with African countries to increase agricultural unit productivity.
3.1.4 The Chinese side will continue to send 30 teams of senior agriculture experts and teachers to provide vocational education to African countries, as well as to increase the number of African personnel trained in agro-technology and administration in China, in order to improve overall agricultural technology and management.
3.1.5. The Chinese side will help African countries develop water conservancy and irrigation projects, implement the project of "Agriculture Leads to Prosperity" in 100 African villages, provide African countries with emergency food assistance.
3.1.6 The two sides will actively cooperate in agricultural project designing, financing and management under the framework of the CAADP, as implemented through the AU and NEPAD, and offer support to feasibility studies on agricultural infrastructure construction.
3.1.7 The Chinese side will continue to work with African countries to jointly implement high quality and high yield agricultural demonstration projects, encourage and guide China's agro-science research organizations and enterprises to work with their African counterparts to carry out experimental demonstrations for high-quality and high-yield agriculture, establish "10+10" cooperative mechanism among China-Africa agro-science research institutions, focus on facilitating joint research on breeding and the production of seeds as well as plant protection, specifically focusing on increasing outputs of grain, cotton and other key crops in African countries.
3.1.8 The Chinese side will encourage and support Chinese enterprises to invest in agriculture in Africa; implement cooperation projects focusing on technical support in grain planting, storage, sanitary and phytosanitary requirements, animal husbandry, agro-processing capacity, forestry, and fisheries to create a favourable environment for African countries to realize long-term food security supported by national agricultural production and processing.
3.1.9 The two sides will encourage the trade of agricultural products, improve trade policies, assess methods to promote agricultural trade, and continuously scale up the trade of agricultural products between China and Africa.
3.1.10 The Chinese side will continue to strengthen agricultural cooperation with Africa under the framework of the UNFAO "Special Programme for Food Security", and explore prospects of working with other institutions and countries to realise further agricultural cooperation with Africa.
3.1.11 The African side pledges to cooperate with the Chinese side in key fields such as exchanges on agricultural policies, agricultural infrastructure improvement, development of systems of agricultural support services, modern agricultural development capacity building, and investment in the complete value chain of agriculture to improve Africa's agricultural production and strengthen its capability to ensure food security. It will create an enabling environment for Chinese enterprises to invest and trade in agriculture in Africa, and offer support that includes preferential policies in agriculture, land, agricultural infrastructure, fiscal financing and insurance service, in accordance with local laws.
3.2.1 The two sides believe that industrialization is an imperative to ensure Africa's independent and sustainable development. There are mutual needs for industry partnering and industrial capacity cooperation between China and Africa. Both sides enjoy respective advantages and will bring opportunities to each other. The two sides are ready to combine China's competitive industries and high-quality industrial capacity with Africa's industrialization and economy diversification to promote bilateral cooperation aimed at comprehensive transformation and upgrading.
3.2.2 The two sides commit to following a balanced approach to interests and principles, win-win cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, market-based cooperation, and will actively carry out industry partnering and industrial capacity cooperation, while never pursuing development at the cost of the long-term interests and environments of their host countries.
3.2.3 The two sides will make full use of the existing multilateral and bilateral cooperation mechanisms, enhance planning, policy coordination and industry partnering, and promote the mutually beneficial development of industrial capacity.
3.2.4 The Chinese side is willing to give priority to Africa in industrial partnering and industrial capacity cooperation. The African side welcomes the transfer of labour-intensive competitive industrial capacities of China to Africa in an orderly way, assisting Africa to increase employment, taxation and foreign exchange, and achieving technology transfer and common development. The two sides agree to select several African countries to set up pilot and demonstration programmes, jointly establish or upgrade a number of industrial parks and support the development of infrastructure and public services facilities to accumulate experience, explore effective methods and offer a cooperation model for driving forward China-Africa industrial partnering and industrial capacity cooperation in a comprehensive and orderly fashion.
3.2.5 The Chinese side will set up a China-Africa production capacity cooperation fund, with an initial pledge of US$10 billion, to support China-Africa industry partnering and industrial capacity cooperation.
3.2.6 The Chinese side will send senior government experts and consultants to Africa countries to offer advice and assistance on industrialization layout, policy planning, operation and management.
3.2.7 African countries will continue to improve laws, regulations and infrastructure, introduce preferential policies and improve government services wherever possible, so as to create enabling conditions and an environment to attract investment by Chinese companies and support industries and industrial capacity from China, where mutually beneficial.
3.3.1 The two sides agree that underdeveloped infrastructure is one of the bottlenecks hindering independent and sustainable development of Africa. The two sides will take concrete measures and give priority to encourage Chinese businesses and financial institutions to expand investment through various means, such as Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT), to support African countries and the African flagship projects, in particular the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa and the Presidential Infrastructure Championing Initiative, in their efforts to build railroad, highway, regional aviation, ports, electricity, water supply, information and communication and other infrastructure projects, support African countries in establishing 5 transportation universities and facilitate infrastructure connectivity and economic integration in Africa.
3.3.2 According to the plan of building transnational and trans-regional infrastructure in Africa, the two sides will explore and cooperate on the planning and construction of projects to achieve sub-regional connectivity and integration. The two sides will combine the national development demands and the projects' economic benefits, and drive Africa's infrastructure construction in a balanced and orderly way.
3.3.3 The two sides will enhance planning and coordination on the construction and renovation of highway networks in Africa, in particular promoting construction of transnational highway networks in Africa.
3.3.4 The two sides will jointly formulate the China-Africa Railway Cooperation Action Plan (2016-2020), promoting the construction of railway networks in Africa.
3.3.5 The two sides will implement the China-Africa regional aviation cooperation programme, actively supporting the establishment of transnational regional aviation networks linking African countries, and enhancing coordination and cooperation in standards, planning consultation, special training, improving aviation infrastructure, operating joint venture airlines, and offering regional civil airlines, taking into consideration local employment, sourcing, human capacity building and the transfer of technology.
3.3.6 The two sides will support each other on aviation market access, encourage and support more flights and shipping links between China and Africa by their airlines and shipping companies. The two sides encourage and support investment by competitive Chinese enterprises in ports, airports, and airline companies in Africa.
3.3.7 The Chinese side will explore the possibility of establishing a China-Africa civil aviation school in Africa, build infrastructure for aviation ground services, and enhance training of African civil aviation professionals, including technology transfer.
3.3.8 The two sides encourage and support the participation of Chinese businesses in investment, construction and operation of power projects in Africa through multiple means, including expanded cooperation in water resources, coal-fired power, solar energy, nuclear energy, wind power, biomass power generation, power transmission and transformation, and grid construction and maintenance.
3.3.9 The two sides will enhance exchanges and cooperation between departments in charge of information, communications, radio and television, and will increase personnel training in the information field, share experiences of development in information and communication, and work together to safeguard information security.
3.3.10 The two sides encourage Chinese enterprises to assist African countries' efforts to put in place digital radio and TV broadcasting systems, to promote digitalization of radio and TV services, and to benefit more people in the rural areas in Africa.
3.3.11 The two sides encourage and support the participation of competitive Chinese enterprises of information, communication, radio and TV in building information infrastructure in Africa, such as cable networks and interconnection networks, and their involvement in mutually beneficial construction, operation and offering of services with African businesses in order to assist Africa to build information networks covering the whole continent.
3.3.12 The two sides will actively explore and push forward cooperation in information and communication technology, help African countries to build "Smart Cities", and enhance the roles of information and communication technology in safeguarding social security, and fighting against terrorism and crime.
3.3.13 The two sides will cooperate with international organizations such as International Telecommunication Union, narrow the digital divide in Africa, and promote the building of an information society in Africa.
3.4.1 In view of the strong complementarity and cooperation potential between China and Africa in energy and natural resources, the two sides will encourage cooperation in the exploitation of resources, and support joint development and proper use of the energy and natural resources of the two sides, including beneficiation at the source.
3.4.2 The two sides will enhance African countries' capacity for intensive processing of energy and natural resource products during their cooperation, ensuring increased local employment and value addition of primary products, while protecting the local eco-environment.
3.4.3 The two sides will encourage energy and resources cooperation, support Chinese and African enterprises and financial institutions to conduct mutually beneficial cooperation, in particular encouraging these enterprises to assist the African side with beneficiation technologies through technology transfer and capacity building, thus helping African countries to translate their energy and natural resources potential into real socio-economic development.
3.4.4 The two sides agree to establish a training programme for the capacitation of African energy practitioners through research and development exchanges.
3.4.5 The two sides will encourage the establishment of a forum on energy and natural resources under the framework of FOCAC.
3.5.1 The African side welcomes the Chinese side's championing "the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road", which includes the African continent, and the two sides will promote mutually beneficial cooperation in the blue economy.
3.5.2 The two sides will enhance experience sharing in offshore aquaculture, marine transportation, shipbuilding, construction of ports and port industrial parks, the surveying and exploitation of offshore oil and gas resources, marine environment management, marine disaster prevention and reduction, marine scientific research, blue economy development, and support mutually beneficial cooperation between Chinese and African enterprises, in order to assist Africa to cultivate new economic growth drivers.
3.5.3 The Chinese side will enhance marine exchanges and technology cooperation with African countries, launch capacity building, and actively explore the possibility of jointly building marine observation stations, laboratories, and cooperation centres.
3.5.4 The two sides will encourage the establishment of a Ministerial Forum on marine economy under the framework of FOCAC.
3.6.1 The two sides will expand cooperation in tourism to encourage opening more direct air routes and tourism investment, increase tourism safety and quality, expand personnel exchanges aimed at skills training, and cultivate new economic growth drivers for Africa.
3.6.2 The two sides will continue to facilitate travels by their nationals between China and Africa and support tourism promotion activities in each other's countries and regions.
3.6.3 The Chinese side welcomes more eligible African countries to apply for the Approved Destination Status for Chinese tourists.
3.6.4 The two sides encourage and support the establishment of tourist offices in China and Africa, encourage and support investment by Chinese enterprises in tourism infrastructure in Africa, such as hotels and construction of tourist attractions.
3.7.1 The Chinese side will scale up its investment in Africa, and plan to increase China's stock of direct investment in Africa to US$100 billion in 2020 from US$32.4 billion in 2014.
3.7.2 The two sides will continue to encourage and support mutual investment, urge for negotiations and implementation of measures on the Promotion and Protection of Investment, ensure a conducive environment for mutual investment, promote investment cooperation, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of investors.
3.7.3 The two sides will actively carry out tax cooperation, negotiate and implement agreements on the avoidance of double taxation, and agree to resolve cross-border tax disputes to promote a favourable tax environment for China-Africa investment, economic exchanges and trade. The Chinese side will actively advocate signing the memorandum of bilateral tax cooperation with African national tax authorities, and support African countries to improve tax collection and administration capacities through technology assistance and transfer, and human capacity development.
3.7.4 The Chinese side will continue to support the development and operation of overseas business cooperation zones, special economic zones and industrial parks by competitive Chinese enterprises, while respecting the host countries' market rules and industrialization processes. The two sides will continue to give support and offer necessary facilitation and services to those overseas business cooperation zones that are already built or operated, taking into consideration local procurement and employment, as well as technology transfer in the countries in which they invest.
3.7.5 The two sides agree to ensure a conducive environment for increased mutual investment and to foster enterprise cooperation. The Chinese side will support the African side in its efforts to build industrial park zones and special economic zones, help African countries to attract investment, encourage and support the involvement of Chinese enterprises in the planning, designing, construction, operation and management of such zones. Local procurement and employment as well as technology transfer in the countries of investment will be taken into consideration.
3.7.6 The two sides will encourage industrial partnering and industrial capacity building to assist Africa to industrialize. The two sides will also encourage and support China's labour-intensive industries to move to Africa, cooperate on import-substitution and export-orientation, increase local employment, technology transfer, human capacity development and enhance export earning capacity.
3.7.7 The two sides will cooperate with international financial institutions and support the holding of Investing in Africa Forum and the establishment of Investing in Africa Think Tank Union, to share China's development experience, promote investment cooperation in Africa, and realize common development.
3.8.1 The two sides will scale up trade and try to elevate the China-Africa trade volume to US$400 billion in 2020 from US$220 billion in 2014 ensuring that the rate of growth is maintained in overall trade figures and that balance in trade is the desired outcome.
3.8.2 The two sides encourage and support the establishment of logistics centres by Chinese enterprises in Africa, standardize and improve quality of commodities exported from China to Africa, promote China's trade with Africa and encourage Chinese enterprises to engage in processing and manufacturing in Africa, ensuring local employment, technology transfers and human capacity development.
3.8.3 The two sides will enhance cooperation in entry-and-exit inspections and quarantine of animals and plants, and food safety and phytosanitary supervision, and promote the entry of food and agricultural products into each other's markets.
3.8.4 The Chinese side will implement 50 trade-promotion assistant programmes, supports the trade liberalization process in Africa and will continue to help African countries to improve facilities for trade and transport, for the beneficiation of African countries' products at the source, and to promote exports of products from Africa to China.
3.8.5 The Chinese side will continue to help African countries to strengthen capacity building in the trade in services, cultivate more professionals in various sectors of the service outsourcing industry, and expand exchanges, cooperation and training in the service outsourcing industry.
3.8.6 The Chinese side will continue to actively fulfil its pledge of giving zero-tariff treatment to the least developed African countries for most of their commodities exported to China, and gradually give zero-tariff treatment to products under 97% of all tariff items from the Least Developing Countries in Africa having diplomatic relations with China, according to the respective bilateral exchanges of letters.
3.8.7 The Chinese side will establish with African countries cooperation mechanisms on customs, inspection and quarantine standards, as well as the verification, certification and administration of imports and exports, in order to promote bilateral trade facilitation, and enhance law-enforcement cooperation to combat smuggling and fraud and to improve the quality of goods exported from China to Africa.
3.8.8 The Chinese side will conduct e-commerce cooperation with Africa, continue to help improve the local management capability and capacity of exporting African countries, develop and construct an internet visa system, introduce electronic certificates of origin, and promote paperless customs clearance of certificates of origin.
3.9.1 The Chinese side will offer African countries US$35 billion of loans of concessional nature on more favorable terms and export credit line, create new financing models, optimize favorable credit terms and conditions, expand credit scales, and support China-Africa industrial capacity cooperation, infrastructure building, and development of energy resources, agriculture, and manufacturing in Africa.
3.9.2 The Chinese side will encourage Chinese financial institutions to provide financing and insurance support for China-Africa cooperation in energy, mining, agriculture, processing manufacturing, shipping, metallurgy, construction materials, information and communication technology, electricity, railways, highways, ports and airports.
3.9.3 The Chinese side will enhance cooperation in currency exchanges and financial services, and encourage both Chinese and African enterprises to invest and trade in local currencies. The Chinese side welcomes central banks of African countries to invest in China's inter-bank bond market and include RMB into their foreign exchange reserves.
3.9.4 The Chinese side will encourage and support Chinese and African financial institutions to strengthen cooperation, including opening more branches in respective countries and enhancing exchanges and cooperation ensuring mutual benefit, as well as encouraging and supporting cooperation among financial institutions primarily supporting development to further enhance China-Africa financial cooperation.
3.9.5 The Chinese side will gradually expand the China-Africa Development Fund from US$5 billion to US$10 billion.
3.9.6 The Chinese side will gradually expand the Special Loans to Support Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Africa from US$1 billion to US$6 billion.
3.9.7 The Chinese side will enhance cooperation with the African Development Bank and the sub-regional financial institutions, utilizing optimally the China-Africa Development Fund, Africa Growing Together Fund, and Special Loans to Support Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Africa, also exploring and innovating cooperation mechanisms, supporting the development of infrastructure, agriculture and industrialization processes in Africa.
4.1.1 The African side highly appreciates China's longstanding assistance for social development and humanitarian assistance, without any political conditions, in diverse forms that help Africa to eradicate poverty and improve people's livelihood under the framework of South-South cooperation. The African side applauds the establishment of the Assistance Fund for South-South Cooperation by China to support African countries in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
4.1.2 The Chinese side will continue to gradually scale up its assistance to African countries within its capacity, giving priority to enhanced cooperation with African countries in areas pertaining to people's livelihoods such as agriculture, health, infrastructure, education and human resources development, wildlife and environmental protection, while increasing the effectiveness of assistance, and supporting economic and social development of African countries.
4.1.3 The Chinese side will exempt the outstanding intergovernmental interest-free loans due by the end of 2015 owed by the least developed countries, land-locked countries and small island developing countries in Africa.
4.2.1 The African side expresses its appreciation for China's continued assistance to countries in need. In particular, the African side expresses its deep appreciation for China's rapid response to the Ebola Virus Disease crisis in West Africa and commends the latter for its selfless service and deployment of its expertise and resources to arrest and reverse the spread of this disease. The African side further appreciates China's continued support to reconstruct public health, economic and societal systems of affected countries during the Post-Ebola period.
4.2.2 The Chinese side will assist Africa to develop public health systems and policies, help African countries to improve the public health, surveillance, epidemiological and prevention systems, strengthen prevention and treatment of malaria and other common infectious and communicable diseases in Africa, enhance the assistance in maternal and child health, reproductive health and other major public health fields in Africa, support cooperation between 20 hospitals of China and Africa from each side on demonstration projects, upgrade hospital departments, and will continue to train doctors, nurses, public health workers and administrative personnel for African countries.
4.2.3 The Chinese side will support the building of an African Union Disease Control Centre and regional medical research centres, reinforce laboratory and diagnostic capacities and encourage the African Union Commission to play a leading role as the custodian of Africa's continental initiatives in the health sector.
4.2.4 The Chinese side will continue to send medical teams to Africa, including short-term medical teams consisted of clinical experts to African countries, and conduct the "Brightness Action" surgeries and other short-term free medical services in Africa, and provide Africa with doses of anti-malaria compound artemisinin.
4.2.5 The Chinese side will support the investment by Chinese medical and health care enterprises in Africa, encourage Chinese medical institutions and enterprises to jointly operate hospitals and produce medicines in Africa, improve health information systems, help Africa to improve the availability of health and diagnostic services and commodities, and improve Africa's capacity for independent and sustainable development in the field of medical care and health, support Africa's continental health initiatives.
4.2.6 The Chinese side will improve health infrastructure in Africa through the construction, renovation and equipping of medical facilities.
4.2.7 The Chinese side will continue to strengthen high-level exchanges in health, build an institutionalized high-level dialogue between China and Africa and agree to incorporate the Ministerial Forum on China-Africa Health Cooperation as an official sub-forum under the framework of FOCAC.
4.3.1 The two sides agree that the shortage of professional and skilled persons is another major bottleneck constraining Africa's independent and sustainable development. Both sides will further strengthen cooperation in education and human resources development.
4.3.2 The Chinese side will offer 2,000 degree education opportunities in China and 30,000 government scholarships to African countries, welcome more African youths to study in China, innovate and expand more ways for training, and train more African professionals on economic development and technical management.
4.3.3 The Chinese side will train for Africa senior professionals on government administration for national development through the South-South Cooperation and Development Institute.
4.3.4 The two sides will continue to implement the 20+20 Cooperation Plan for Chinese and African Institutions of Higher Education, improve the cooperation mechanism between Chinese and African institutions of higher education, encourage Chinese and African universities to carry out cooperation in regional and country studies, and support African universities in establishing China research centres and vice versa.
4.3.5 The Chinese side welcomes the inclusion by African countries of Chinese language teaching as part of their national education systems and will support more African countries in their efforts to establish Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms.
4.3.6 The Chinese side will assist African countries to renovate existing as well as build more vocational and technical training facilities, establish a number of regional vocational education centres and colleges for capacity building in Africa, train 200,000 local African vocational and technical personnel and provide Africa with 40,000 training opportunities in China; help the youth and women improve their employment skills to enhance the self-development ability of Africa.
4.3.7 Having noted the successful UNESCO-China Funds-In-Trust established in UNESCO by the Chinese side, the two sides support the continued implementation of funds-in-trust and its extension by two years (2016-2017).
4.4.1 The two sides will use the "Programme for Strengthening Cooperation on Poverty Reduction between the People's Republic of China and the African Union" jointly published in 2014, as a guide to further strengthen experience sharing in poverty eradication and practical cooperation.
4.4.2 The two-sides agree to continue to jointly organize the China-Africa Poverty Eradication and Development Conference and to endorse it as an official sub-forum under the framework of FOCAC, in order to explore in-depth poverty eradication strategies and policies, and to gradually establish a multi-level inter-governmental and inter-society dialogue mechanism for poverty eradication.
4.4.3 The Chinese side will continue to host the workshop on poverty eradication policies and practice tailored to the needs of African countries, offer educational programmes with degrees on poverty eradication and development for African countries, and help Africa to train specialized personnel in the field of poverty eradication and development.
4.4.4 The Chinese side will, in conjunction with African countries carry out village-community-level small-scale demonstration projects on poverty eradication and cooperate to implement village-community-level comprehensive development projects, help implement Satellite TV projects in 10,000 villages in Africa.
4.4.5 The Chinese side will work with African countries and relevant institutions to launch joint research projects, offer consultancy services on poverty eradication policies for African countries, and send experts and/or volunteers for technical support.
4.4.6 The two sides will mobilize resources including non-governmental organizations to implement in Africa 200 "Happy Life" projects and poverty reduction programmes focusing on women and children.
4.5.1 The two sides will continue to promote the implementation of the "China-Africa Science and Technology Partnership Plan", build joint laboratories / joint research centres in the priority fields of common interest, jointly build agriculture science and technology demonstration parks and assist outstanding African youths and technical personnel to participate in exchanges to and training in China.
4.5.2 The two sides attach importance to knowledge sharing and technology transfer, and will carry out exchanges in technological innovation policies and the building of science and technology parks and encourage research institutions and enterprises to have intensive cooperation.
4.5.3 The two sides will actively launch cooperation in the field of space sciences, and the Chinese side will train professional personnel and share development experience with African countries.
4.5.4 The parties will continue to implement joint research and technology demonstration projects. The two sides will also step-up cooperation in research exchanges through their institutions of higher learning.
4.5.5 China will continue its support of the Square Kilometre Array project, which is a flagship science and technology project of the African continent. The two sides will design joint research projects around the SKA and facilitate the participation of their scientists in the project.
4.6.1 The two sides are satisfied with the progress of cooperation in environmental protection and addressing climate change and will continue to strengthen dialogue on these areas of interest, as well as work closely together on the management of border facilities, search, seizure, and destruction of poached resources, and intelligence gathering to undermine the responsible syndicates, acknowledging their linkages to international organized crime.
4.6.2 To enhance China-Africa environmental cooperation and promote African countries' green development, the Chinese side will introduce the "China-Africa Green Envoys Programme", set up the China-Africa Environment Cooperation Centre, and launch the China-Africa Green Innovation Project under the framework of "China South-South Environmental Cooperation-Green Envoys Programme". China will cooperate with the African side to launch environmental friendly technology cooperation, redouble its efforts to provide training for Africa in the fields of eco-environment protection, environment management and pollution prevention and treatment, push forward dialogue and cooperation on China-Africa green finance, and explore a model of environmental cooperation between Chinese and African governments and non-governmental capital.
4.6.3 The two sides will work together to promote the development of the "China-Africa Joint Research Centre" project and cooperate in biodiversity protection, prevention and treatment of desertification, sustainable forest management and modern agriculture demonstration. The Chinese side will support Africa in implementing 100 clean energy and wild life protection projects, environment friendly agricultural projects and smart city construction projects.
4.6.4 The African side highly appreciates that the Chinese government supports Africa in its efforts to protect wildlife resources. The two sides will strengthen cooperation in the area of wildlife protection, help African countries to improve the protection capabilities, build the capacity of environmental rangers, provide African countries with training opportunities on environmental and ecological conservation, explore the possibility of cooperating on wildlife protection demonstration projects and jointly fight against the illegal trade of fauna and flora products, especially addressing endangered species poaching on the African continent, in particular elephants and rhinos.
4.6.5 The two sides agree to work together to improve management of water resources, and rehabilitate disused mines.
4.6.6 China will advance cooperation with African countries in environmental surveillance, continue to share with African countries the data from the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite and promote the application of the data in land use, weather monitoring and environmental protection in Africa, discuss the establishment of meteorological satellite data receiving and processing application system.
4.6.7 The two sides will strengthen the policy dialogue on climate change, deepen China-Africa cooperation in tackling climate change, in particular climate change monitoring, risk and vulnerabilities reduction, strengthening resilience, promoting adaptation, support for mitigation in terms of capacity building, technology transfer as well as financing for monitoring and implementation and improve the China-Africa consultation and collaboration mechanism on climate change.
4.6.8 The African side welcomes the announcement by the Chinese side that it will make available 20 billion Renminbi Yuan for setting up the China South-South Cooperation Fund to support other developing countries to combat climate change, including to enhance their capacity to access Green Climate Fund funds. The two sides agree to enhance China-Africa South-South cooperation on climate change, in order to strengthen and add greater content to the cooperation with African countries to enhance their capacity to implement climate change mitigation and adaptation actions.
4.6.9 The two sides will set up a multi-level disaster reduction and relief cooperation and dialogue mechanism, expand exchanges in post-disaster response and recovery, risk assessment, disaster preparedness and recovery education programmes.
4.6.10 In times of emergency disaster responses, the Chinese side will provide rapid mapping service for disaster emergencies based on space technology at African countries' request.
5.1.1 The two sides will promote dialogue between the Chinese and African civilizations and mutual learning between the cultures of the two sides, while respecting the cultural uniqueness of each, work together to uphold the diversity and progress of human civilization and contribute to the development and prosperity of world culture.
5.1.2 The two sides appreciate that events such as the China-Africa Forum on Cultural Heritage Protection and China-Africa Cultural Industry Round-table provide an effective platform for bilateral exchanges in cultural policies, and will continue to hold similar dialogues.
5.1.3 The two sides agree to maintain the momentum of high-level inter-governmental mutual visits and dialogue in the cultural field and will continue to follow through on the implementation plan of the China-Africa bilateral government cultural agreements.
5.1.4 The two sides will continue to build brand activities such as "Happy Spring Festival", "Chinese and African Cultures in Focus", "Experience China" and hold large-scale cultural exchange activities such as "Africa Arts Festival" at an appropriate time.
5.1.5 The two sides appreciate the hosting of a "Country Year" in their respective countries and encourage more eligible African countries to hold "Country Year" activities with China to deepen understanding of and exchanges between each other.
5.1.6 The two sides will continue to implement "the Programme of China-Africa Mutual Visits between Cultural Personnel" and "China-Africa Cultural Partnership Programme" and support the exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and African culture and art managers, artists and cultural institutions.
5.1.7 The two sides will encourage and support the participation by Chinese and African art and culture groups and artists in international culture and art activities.
5.1.8 The two sides will continue to advocate for the establishment of cultural centres in China and Africa. The Chinese side will help build 5 cultural centres for Africa, and to establish more permanent platforms for cultural exchanges and cultural cooperation.
5.1.9 The two sides will strengthen human resources training in the cultural field. The Chinese side will establish ten major "Culture Training Bases for Africa" and execute the "One Thousand People Programme" for culture training in Africa.
5.2.1 The Chinese side will continue to implement the China-Africa Press Exchange Centre programme, continue to hold training and capacity building seminars for African countries' news officials and reporters, promote more exchanges and mutual visits between Chinese and African journalists and press professionals, train 1,000 African media professionals each year and support exchanges of reporters by more media organizations.
5.2.2 The Chinese side will actively provide technology support and personnel training for the digitalization of radio and TV services and industrial development in Africa. The African side welcomes the involvement of Chinese enterprises in investment and cooperation in building and operating radio and TV transmission broadcasting networks and the marketing of programmes, while ensuring local human capacity building and employment.
5.2.3 The two sides will provide films and TV programmes to each other's respective national broadcasting agencies, explore a long-term cooperative model, continue to participate in film and TV festivals and exhibitions held in their countries, encourage activities of holding film and TV programme exhibitions, and actively launch joint production of documentaries, films and TV programmes. The Chinese side further encourages African countries to produce programmes, conduct exchanges and promote African films and programmes in China.
5.2.4 The Chinese side will continue to take an active part in international book fairs in Africa and carry out cooperation in English book publishing. The Chinese side will encourage Chinese publishing enterprises to donate books on Chinese language learning and other Chinese publications to prestigious African public libraries and the libraries of higher and secondary learning institutes that address fields such as health, agricultural technology, culture and education. The two sides will hold a Forum on China-Africa Publishing Cooperation at an appropriate time.
5.2.5 The Forum on China-Africa Media Cooperation serves as an important platform for China-Africa media cooperation and cultural exchanges. The two sides agree to institutionalize the Forum as an official sub-forum of FOCAC.
5.3.1 The two sides note with satisfaction that the "China-Africa Joint Research and Exchange Plan" has been successfully implemented, which has effectively strengthened cooperation and exchanges between scholars and think tanks of the two sides and provides strong academic support to China-Africa cooperation.
5.3.2 The two sides will continue to hold "FOCAC-Think Tank Forum" and support the building of long-term and stable cooperation between the Chinese and African academia. The two sides further encourage the Forum and research institutions to conduct joint research on themes such as China-Africa industry partnering and industrial capacity cooperation and African industrialization and agricultural modernization to provide strong intellectual support and innovation to China-Africa's win-win cooperation and common development.
5.3.3 The two sides will continue to implement the "China-Africa Think Tank 10+10 Partnership Plan" and encourage think tanks from both sides to expand cooperation, and invite 200 African scholars to visit China each year.
5.3.4 The two sides welcome and encourage support by Chinese and African enterprises, financial institutions and academic institutions for academic interactions and people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and Africa.
5.4.1 The two sides take note of the successful holding of the 3rd and 4th China-Africa People's Forum, and believe that the institutionalization of the Forum has played an active part in boosting friendship between the Chinese and African peoples.
5.4.2 The two sides appreciate that the "China-Africa People-to-People Friendship Action" and the "China-Africa People-to-People Friendship Partnership Plan" have yielded positive results. The two sides agree to continue small and micro social livelihood projects, promote mutual visits by non-governmental organizations, and encourage and support extensive people-to-people exchanges and cooperation between these organizations.
5.4.3 The two sides appreciate the institutionalization of the China-Africa Young Leaders Forum, which serves as an important platform for China-Africa youth dialogue and cooperation.
6.1.1 The Chinese side continues to support the African Union, its Regional Economic Communities and other African sub-regional institutions that play a leading role in coordinating and solving issues of peace and security in Africa and further continues to support and advocate for African solutions to African challenges without interference from outside the continent.
6.1.2 The Chinese side will provide the AU with US$60 million of free military assistance over the next three years, support the operationalization of the African Peace and Security Architecture, including the operationalization of the African Capacity for the Immediate Response to Crisis and the African Standby Force.
6.1.3 The two sides will maintain the momentum of mutual visits by defence and military leaders, continue to deepen exchanges on technologies and expand personnel training and joint trainings and exercises.
6.1.4 The two sides will strengthen information and intelligence exchanges and experience sharing on security, and will share this information timeously to support mutual efforts in the prevention and fight against terrorism, in particular its symptoms and underlying causes.
6.1.5 The two sides will enhance cooperation in preventing and combatting the illegal trafficking of humans, fauna and flora products, marine products, narcotics, psychotropic substances and precursor chemicals.
6.1.6 The two sides will continue to support the United Nations (UN) in its efforts to play a constructive role in helping resolve regional conflicts in Africa and will intensify communication and coordination with the UN Security Council. The Chinese side will continue to take an active part in UN peacekeeping missions in Africa, offer the African side support on peacekeeping training and intensify communication and coordination with Africa in the UN Security Council, in adherence to UN Security Council Resolution 2033 that recognizes the importance of an enhanced relationship between the United Nations and the African Union, as well as a strengthened capacity of regional and sub-regional organizations, in particular the African Union, in conflict prevention and crisis management, and in post-conflict stabilization.
6.1.7 The African side appreciates the efforts of the Chinese government's Special Representative for African Affairs to actively engage in mediation efforts in Africa, and welcomes his continued constructive role in Africa's peace and security endeavours.
6.1.8 The African side appreciates China's counter-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Guinea and in waters off the coast of Somalia in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council. The two sides will strengthen cooperation on safeguarding the security of shipping routes in the waters concerned and peace and stability in the region. In this regard, the two sides agree that emphasis should also be placed by the international community on addressing the root causes of piracy, namely poverty, underdevelopment and illegal fishing.
6.2.1 The two sides will strengthen consular cooperation and actively carry out consultations on consular matters.
6.2.2 The two sides will strengthen cooperation between immigration departments and jointly fight against illegal immigration and to protect environmental resources from illegal exploitation. The Chinese side will support African countries in enhancing anti-riot capacity.
6.2.3 The two sides will explore the signing of Criminal Judicial Assistance and Extradition Treaties and strengthen cooperation in the fields of combatting and preventing transnational crimes, human trafficking, corruption and the illegal trade in fauna, flora and associated products, while strengthening narcotics control, fugitive extradition, repatriation of illicit funds and asset recovery, cyber security, and law enforcement capacity building.
6.2.4 The two sides will promote exchanges and cooperation in the judicial, law enforcement and legislative fields, including preventing and fighting transnational organized crimes in accordance with bilateral treaties and multilateral conventions.
6.2.5 The two sides will improve exchanges and cooperation on the judiciary, obtain in-depth understanding of respective legal systems, and promote mutual recognition and application of laws and regulations, so as to provide legal support and a law-based environment for personnel exchanges and the protection of legitimate rights and interests.
6.2.6 The two sides will improve the institutionalization of the "FOCAC-Legal Forum", continue exchanges and training of legal professionals, work together to establish a "China-Africa Joint Arbitration Centre", develop the Professionals Legal Training Base and China-Africa Legal Research Sub-Centre in Africa, and facilitate lectures by law experts from China and Africa. The two sides will actively support the implementation of "China-AALCO Research and Exchange Programme on International Law".
At present, international relations and the global landscape are undergoing and will continue to undergo profound and complex changes, including in terms of globalization and the spread of information. It serves the common interests of China and Africa to strengthen international coordination and to establish a new model of global development that is based on equality, accountability, mutual respect and that is more balanced, stable, inclusive and harmonious.
The two sides are committed to supporting each other in international fora and further strengthen cooperation in areas of trade, finance, environmental protection, peace and security, cultural exchanges, economic and social development and the advancement of human rights, while maintaining the sovereignty to choose their developmental paths.
8.1 The two sides are satisfied that, since the 5th FOCAC Ministerial Conference, the political consultation between Chinese and African Foreign Ministers on the side-lines of the UNGA, the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM), and consultations between the Secretariat of the Chinese Follow-up Committee and African diplomatic missions in China have continued to operate in an efficient and smooth manner.
8.2 The two sides agree that the Co-chairs, in cooperation with the Chinese FOCAC Follow-up Mechanism and the Group of African Ambassadors in Beijing, should conduct a review of FOCAC and develop recommendations to further strengthen FOCAC, drawing on the experience of the last 15 years, including relating to the optimal follow-up mechanism, the functioning of the various agreed FOCAC Sub-Forums including the establishment of certain new sub-forums, and the promotion of the institutionalization of existing sub-forums.
8.3 Following the FOCAC follow-up mechanism procedures, the two sides decided to hold the 7th Ministerial Conference in Beijing in 2018 and, before that, the 12th and 13th SOMs in Beijing in 2017 and 2018 respectively. The 4th political consultations between Chinese and African Foreign Ministers on the side-lines of the UNGA will be held in New York in September 2016.
The slow down of Chinese economy has been making headlines around the world, however there are a number of Chinese emerging cities where the economy is not only growing, but by double digits and accelerating.
Guiyang is the capital of Guizhou province in Southwest China. Guizhou has traditionally been a poor province with an economy heavily relying on state owned enterprises. With the population of 2.8 million, it is now fast becoming a hub of operations for Chinese telecom companies and “Big Data”. Private companies are also following the lead with Alibaba setting up cloud-computing facilities in the city.
Guiyang also serves as an important transportation hub for South Western China: the Guiyang–Guangzhou High-Speed Railway began operations in December 2014. Three more high-speed rail lines to Chongqing, Kunming, and Changsha will commence operations within the next few years. Whilst disposable income per person is currently around USD 5,100/year, almost half of China’s average of USD 9,800/year, this is quickly rising..
The city of Guiyang is one of China's three largest phosphate ore bases, with phosphate ore reserves of 428 million tons and more than 70 percent of the country's phosphate ore. The ore reserves in Kaiyang county alone amount to 390 million tons, or a third of the nation’s high-grade ore. The high-grade phosphorus pentoxide ore accounts for 78 percent of China's total. It also has three chemical industry bases -- the Kaiyang Phosphorus and Coal Chemical Ecological Industrial Demonstration Base, Xifeng Phosphorus and Coal Chemical Ecological Industrial Demonstration Base, and Qingzhen Coal Chemical Base. Total output value of the phosphorus-coal-based chemical sectors in Guiyang, in 2011, was 26.3 billion yuan ($4.29 billion).
The phosphorus-coal-based chemical industry is focused on improving output and efficiency, combining its phosphorus, coal, water, and electricity resources.
With proven reserves of 424 million tons of bauxite resources the province is a major Aluminum producer. Leading enterprises and producers are: Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco), Guizhou Aluminum Industrial Base, Galuminium Group and R&D institutes such as the Guiyang Aluminum Magnesium Design and Research Institute and the Chalco Guizhou Branch. The industry can produce 3 million tons of bauxite annually, as well as 1.2 million tons of alumina, 450,000 tons of electrolytic aluminum, 300,000 tons of carbon for aluminum use, 50 million tons of refined aluminum, and 200,000 tons of high purity aluminum.
Developing the downstream aluminum industry is a current focus in the province. The start of the Chalco aluminium strips project in 2010, with total amount of 150,000 tons and a total investment of 700 million yuan, marked a significant breakthrough in the aluminum deep processing industry in Guiyang.
In 2015 Geely Holding Group Co began construction of its new-energy car manufacturing base in Guiyang. The 0.6-square-kilometer factory consists of a modernized production line of punching press, welding, painting and assembly, and will make methanol-powered automobiles. Geely has made a total investment of around 10.2 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) and expects the first car off the production line in 2017.
Guiyang's Cigarette Factory, a subsidiary of the China Tobacco Guizhou Industrial Co, is a leading provincial enterprise. In the food sector, Guiyang has 47 food companies, covering poultry, chili peppers, corn, soybeans, rapeseed, peanuts, ginger, onions, and garlic, and 10 other product categories, with hundreds of types of food.
The Nanming Food Industry Park and Wudang Food Industry Park are leaders in the food sector in Guiyang. Work on the Longdongbao Food and Light Industry Park, on a 903 hectare space, began in September 2010 and will be completed in 2017. It is expected to pull in 13.6 billion yuan in investment. Work continues on the Wudang Food Industry Park and is expected to bring in nine enterprises during Phase I, and have 1 billion yuan in output value.
Guiyang's equipment manufacturing sector is rapidly and becoming a pillar of industry. Guiyang has a comprehensive array of mid-sized to large equipment manufacturers. The Guizhou Jonyang Kinetics Co is a domestic leader in hydraulic excavators, Guizhou Xianfeng Industrial Co is one of the Top 10 producers of large slide grinders and forging equipment and the Guiyang Xintian Oetech Co. focuses on the production of high-tech optical instruments. With its abundance of skilled workforce R&D capacity and production strengths, Guiyang has been able to build an industrial capacity that covers seven equipment manufacturing industries. It has industrial clusters in construction machinery, automobiles and automobile parts and electronic components.
With the support of the municipal government, Guiyang's logistics sector has grown and is playing an important role in the local economy. Guiyang is headed to become a regional logistics center with it`s two logistics hubs -- the Guizhou Mengguan International Logistics Center and Longdongbao International Aviation Logistics Park (and three regional logistics parks: Zhazuo Logistics, Qingzhen Logistics, and Jinhua Logistics). It further expects to build: cargo logistics, more distribution centers, dry ports and a bonded zone.
Guizhou province is known for its herbal medicines and has turned its pharmaceutical sector into a pillar of industry over the past decade It now has 74 pharmaceutical companies and an industrial structure that covers a diverse range of biological products, Chinese patent medicines, pharmaceutical chemicals, medical consumables, and Chinese medicinal decoctions.
China Telecom will invest 4-billion yuan ($469 million) in optical network construction, cloud computing, and big data development over the next three years. The aim being to turn Guiyang into a major data center for China: the municipal government sees the big data industry as key to its future economic development and has already established preferential policies for big data entrepreneurs.
The China Telecom Cloud Computing Guizhou Information Park covers an area of (33.3 hectares) in the Gui'an near the city. The first phase of the park , already completed, comprises eight datacentres, one power centre and two support centres. It is expected to accommodate one million servers.
By the end of 2017, cities and towns in the province are expected to have 100-megabyte broadband coverage and a fourth generation network in rural and urban areas and, at the same time, the two will cooperate in a Guiyang cloud computing platform, a municipal data sharing platform, and a Guizhou Internet exchange center.
1. Encouraged industries located in West China are levied corporate income taxes at a discount of 15 percent. Resource taxes for those enterprises are levied via ad valorem instead of specific duties.
2. Qualified high-tech enterprises located in the high-tech industrial development zone approved by the State Council are levied corporate income taxes at a discount of 15 percent.
3. Enterprises established in the different districts and industrial development zones within Guiyang can enjoy local preferential policies.
As of last year, the Shanghai municipal government has revised its restricted industries list for foreign investors and updated it for the Free Trade Zone (FTZ). Amendments made to current list are not considered a major change but a revision to the 2014 initiatives. The list below outlines industries where foreign investors are treated differently to domestic companies. There are number of changes where we believe there are various opportunities for new investors in the three FTZs.
- Agriculture, crop seeds, fishery and animal husbandry is a critical subject and remains sensitive to Chinese citizens. Fishing in certain waters is due to approval from Chinese government.
-All initiatives needs to be approved by concerned government bodies.
-rare earths, radioactive materials, tungsten, molybdenum, tin, antimony and fluorite is prohibited. It is restricted for lithium, precious metals and graphite.
- Multiple restrictions in manufacturing industry is now lifted. These includes, the processing of rice, corn, edible oils, tea, alcohol, tobacco and chemicals, anesthesia and blood products are now allowed.
- Construction vehicles, motorcycles and new energy vehicle batteries is lifted.
- It is still prohibited to operate news websites, online publications, online audiovisual programs or broadcasting of information on the internet. Except for music and those sectors that have been lifted as China’s membership of the World Trade Organization.
- If a domestic enterprise cooperates with a foreign enterprise to create official online content and news, needs prior approval from National Security Review.
- Foreign investors can now set up e-commerce companies in Fujian, Guangdong, Tianjin as well as Shanghai.
- Foreign banks may not conduct the following activities, also included in the Commercial Banking Law: acting as an agent to issue, honor and underwrite government bonds, issuance of bank cards and the acting as an agent for receipt and payments of funds. Apart from taking time deposits for Chinese nationals of less than 1 million RMB, foreign banks in China may not engage in RMB activities for Chinese nationals.
- The parent company of a foreign invested bank in China must provide its operational funds free of charge. The foreign invested bank must operate with an eight percent RMB capital reserve. Banks providing RMB services must follow the minimum required business hours.
- Foreign law firms may only be present in China through a representative office, which is subject to approval. Foreign nationals may not advice on Chinese law or become partners of a Chinese law firm. Representative offices of foreign law firms may not hire Chinese legal professionals, and its support staff may not provide legal advice.
- Market research is restricted to contractual or joint ventures with Chinese controlling interest.
- Foreign entities may not independently establish schools and educational institutions mainly enrolling Chinese nationals. This does not include "non-academic vocational training"
- Medical institutions can be set up as an equity or contractual joint venture.
- Sino-foreign productions of television and film series are subject to a licensing.
- Foreign news agencies may set up a representative office in China and employ foreign reporters upon approval of the Chinese government.
- Foreign press agencies may provide news services in China upon approval of the Chinese government.
- The establishment of performing arts groups in China is prohibited, and performance agencies must have Chinese controlling.
Beijing`s satellite townships are now in the spotlight in view of the Governments aim for the integrated development of Beijing, Tianjing and Hebei provinces, know as Jing-Jin-Ji. Over the next 15 years it is planed to transfer non-essential functions out of Beijing to the new townships.
A 40 minute metro ride east of Beijing`s CBD area is Tongzhou (pop.1.3 million est.), where construction of a new CBD area and Universal studios theme park are well under way: built at the intersection of the Beijing & Hangzhou Grand Canals, the new town is expected to cover over 80 square kilometers. Tongzhou will also be home to the new Beijing city Municipal Governmental Offices at Lucheng town: some 6km east of the new CBD. Also expected to relocate are state-owned-enterprises, hospitals and universities. Planners hope the area will draw in a further million people, the first phase of the project due to be opened in 2017.
The local government has agreed to fund 86 key projects in the area, setting aside over 160 Billon RMB. Currently housing prices run in the 30,000-40,000 rmb/sqm range.
As part of a move to connect and integrate transport, Beijing is to build its third civil airport, Daxing International Airport, located adjacent to Daxing district in Beijing and Langfang in Hebei province. It is due to be completed by the end of 2017 and operational in 2018 it is expected to carry 120 million passengers by 2050.
The Biomedical base is 60 minutes, via metro, from Bejing`s CBD area with numerous office and residential complexes already completed. As part of the district's growth, a new 391,000 sq m above- and belowground mixed-use development—dubbed the Vanke-Shoukai Mixed-Use Development Daxing—is also under way, scheduled to be completed in 2017.
Beijing will remain the national center of political, cultural, and international exchange activities as well as a technological innovation center.
Tianjin municipality will be a national research and development base for advanced manufacturing industry, a shipping hub for north China, a demonstration area for financial innovation, and an experimental area for further reform and opening up.
Hebei province will be an important national base for trade and logistics, an experimental area for industrial transition and upgrading, a demonstration area of modern urbanization and coordinated development of urban and rural areas, and an ecological buffer zone.
A medium-term aim of the strategy is to control the permanent population of Beijing within 23 million and to relieve air pollution and congestion. Long term, the strategy aims to form an integrated region of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, with a better economic structure, a cleaner environment and improved public services.
Industrial Parks in the Jing-Jin-Ji area.
Established in 2006, Tongzhou Industrial Park covers two industrial bases: Opto-Mechatronics Industrial Park and Jinqiao Science and Technology Industrial Base. The park has a total planned area of 14.5 square kilometers of which 11.41 square kilometers have already been developed. 360 enterprises have accessed the park, including 30 high and new-tech enterprises at national level and 76 at Zhongguancun park level.
Tongzhou Park prioritizes world-class industries of optic-mechanical integration, environmental protection and new energy, high-end equipment manufacturing. The park features microelectronics, optoelectronics, automotive electronics, avionics, advanced equipment manufacturing, intellectual instruments, laser technology, numerical control machine, printing machinery, medical equipment, semiconductor material, environmental protection equipment and auto parts.
The park project has so far invested 2.2 billion yuan ($346.28 million) to construct essential infrastructure and thus creates a favorable environment for production and R&D,.
Daxing Biomedicine Industrial Base is a biotechnology industrialization base built by the Beijing Municipal Government to revitalize its modern manufacturing industry. Being a bio-industry cluster area for the Bohai Economic Zone and the entire northern region, the base holds industrial functions such as biotechnology indigenous innovation, product R&D, industrialization of technical achievements, R&D and producer services in Beijing.
Situated in Daxing New Town in Beijing, 20 kilometers away from the urban area, 50 minutes' drive to Beijing Capital International Airport. The base is not far from Subway Line No.4 and the new international second capital airport.
The base has four development and support priorities – biopharmaceutical projects centering on vaccine and protein drugs; the import of modernized and internationalized TCM enterprises to drive the growth of medicine, health care products; the introduction of medical instrument programs to consolidate the leading position of Beijing in the field of instrument and diagnosis; and last but not least is to bring in innovative drugs and high-end generic drug industrialization projects to form preparation products that meet international certification standards.
Fengtai Science and Technology Park was established in 1991. It was listed as a national high and new-tech zone in April 1994 and was one of the earliest three sub-parks of the Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park.
Fengtai S&T Park realized a total revenue of 195 billion yuan ($30.69) in 2010, and has obtained strong industrial agglomeration effects. The major industries in the park include: electronic information, biomedicine, new materials, new energy, as well as engineering services, rail transit, military aerospace, cultural and creative industries and producer service industry. With more than ten years of development, the park has gradually formed the headquarters of an economic zone and is playing an increasingly important role in the development of southern Beijing.
The Beijing Economic Technological Development Area (Yizhuang) is the only state-level economic and technological development zone in the city, a core region for high-tech and modern manufacturing industries. It will become a cluster for the high-tech manufacturing and strategic-emerging industries in southern Beijing.
In 2010, the administrative resources of Daxing District and the BDA were integrated to form an industrial development pattern of "one base and six parks" with the BDA as an industrial development main platform to stimulate the planning and construction of six special parks: Daxing Biological Medicine Base, New Media Industrial Park, New-Energy-Vehicle Industrial Park, Military-Civilian Combination Industrial Park, Manufacturing Services Industrial Park and New Airport Industrial Park.
By the end of 2011, more than 4,800 enterprises from more than 30 countries and regions had come to the BDA, along with more than 100 projects invested in by 77 of the global top 500 corporations, along with high quality, domestically funded projects.
The leading industries are electronic information, bio-medicine, equipment manufacturing and automobile production industries; a communications industry cluster led by Nokia, a display industry cluster led by BOE, a microelectronics industry cluster led by SMIC, a medical equipment industry cluster led by GE, a bio-pharmaceutical industry cluster led by Bayer and an automobile industry cluster led by Beijing Mercedes have also been established.
Yanqing Park, a sub-organization of Zhongguancun Science Park, was founded in October 2010. Located in the northwest of Beijing the park covers an area of 4.91 square kilometers.
Part of the Beijing new energy base, the park has founded a high-end service industry area with the development of high-end equipment manufacturing, general aviation and modern service industries, finance and insurance background services, and research and development training.
Fangshan Park is composed of Beijing Petrochemical New Materials High-Tech Industry Base, Beijing High-end Manufactureing Industry Base, Liangxiang Economic Development Area, Beijing Haiju Foundation and Higher Education Park. It has an area of 15.73 square kilometers.
(1) Beijing Petrochemical New Materials High-tech Tech Industry Base.
It is one of the first 62 new industrialization demonstration bases in China. It is an important carrier of strategic cooperation between the Beijing municipal government and Sinopec and one of five industry bases under planned construction in Fangshan district.
The East District focuses on fine chemistry, petrochemical new materials and crucial projects. The West District is the core area of Yanshan Petrochemical.
(2) Beijing High-End Manufacturing Industry Base.
Changan Automobile, BWI Group, China CNR Corporation Limited, National Energy and Jinpengpa Unmanned Aerial Vehicle have settled here.
Haiju Base is a new effort to adjust the industry structure in the district. It complies with the National Thousands of Talents Plan and Beijing Haiju Project and is a focal point for leaders in the city and district.
Currently, there are eight projects in the base, including Beijing Feihang Jida Aviation Technology, the Environmental Protection of Xishan district project, Ntong Technology Co, Beijing Grish Co and Beijing Dongfang Xupu Technology Co.
It is one of the two higher education parks approved by the Beijing municipal government. The park is divided into the college park, central landscape area, central device area and allocation area.
There are six colleges and universities in the park. The construction of the graduate school of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing Institute of Technology, Capital Normal University, and Beijing Technology and Business University in the first stage has been completed with over 27,000 students and teachers. Plans are underway to construct Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and Beijing Vocational College of Transportation.
Supply Chain Leaders: YTO Express.
Founded in 2000, China`s largest and fastest growing express delivery company, YTO now employs more than 180,000 workers in 20,000 delivery centers across China. YTO delivered 14 billion packages last year. It`s services cover warehousing, distribution and special transport. In 2014 it launched it`s 90% owned subsidiary YTO Cargo Airlines which initially began operations, out of its Hangzhou hub.
Shanghai Yuan Tong Express Co., Ltd. (YTO Express) is now the largest express delivery business, by market share, in China after taking advantage of the booming domestic e-commerce industry. Yu Weijiao, YTO chairman, has turned the company into a market leader in China. With 84 centers in Beijing alone and 20,000 country-wide, the group is taking advantage of the government's decision to realign the economy from cheap, mass-produced exports toward more sustainable consumer-fuelled domestic growth.
In 2015 the company's revenue reached 204 billion yuan ($37.79 billion), up 42% compared to the same period in 2013, during a time of slowing economic activity, up to 19 billion yuan of which was indirectly generated by express delivery services, and that figure is expected to reach 60 billion yuan by 2020.
During the 2015 Singles' Day on Nov. 11th, the company received a record-breaking 53.28 million orders across China. The group handled more than 30.59 million packages, or roughly 21 percent of the industry's total.
Key to YTO's success has been expansion: from YTO's humble beginnings in 2000 when it started with a meager investment of 50,000 yuan and employed 17 staff the group now employs 180,000 staff and operates a network that covers about 93 percent of the counties across the country. In 2014, YTO delivered 2.1 billion packages, generating revenue of 24.6 billion yuan. The maximum number of parcels handled in a single day last year hit 25 million.
With huge growth potential in the Express delivery sector amid strong competition from competing companies only the strongest companies are expected to survive, while smaller players are likely to link up with the leading companies such as YTO.
As the State Council approved a proposal to promote the development of the express delivery sector, which will be worth 800 billion yuan by 2020, the key is to increase international competitiveness and expanded air delivery capacity facilitating the rapid rise of cross boarder e-commerce.
YTO also plans to expand its air cargo operations as the company completed the maiden flight of its first aircraft in September 2014. It hopes to have a cargo fleet of 50 aircraft by 2020 and 100 in 2025.
Although YTO has plans to take the company public, a timetable has yet to be announced, as the company is aiming at building a highly competitive international network first: last year, the group set up an overseas business department and the company has registered its trademark in more than 100 countries.
They plan to establish about 20 overseas branches in countries including South Korea, Australia, the United States, Thailand, India, Russia and France.
Designed to provide financial support for infrastructure development and regional connectivity in Asia the bank is headquartered in Beijing, China. Its first President, Mr Jin Liqun was elected in January 2016. The purpose of the Bank is twofold: to foster sustainable economic development, create wealth and improve infrastructure connectivity in Asia by investing in infrastructure and other productive sectors; and secondly promote regional cooperation and partnership in addressing development challenges by working in close collaboration with other multilateral and bilateral development institutions.
Under its Articles of Agreement, the AIIB's functions include: (i) promoting public and private investment in the Asia region for development, in particular for infrastructure and other productive sectors; (ii) utilizing the resources at its disposal for financing such development in the region; and (iii) encouraging private investment that contributes to economic development in the Asia region, in particular in infrastructure and other productive sectors, and supplementing private investment when private capital is not available on reasonable terms and conditions.
As of January 2016 the founding members are: Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
The authorized capital stock of the AIIB will be US$100 billion, divided into 1 million shares having a par value of US$100,000 each. The original authorized capital stock will be divided into 20% paid-in shares and 80% callable shares.
The basic parameter for allocation of capital stock to members is the relative share of the global economy of members (based on GDP) within the regional and non-regional groupings, with the understanding that the GDP share is indicative only for non-regional members.
What are AIIB's key financial instruments?
The AIIB will focus principally on financing specific projects or specific investment programs, equity investments; and guarantees. It may: (i) make, co-finance or participate in direct loans; (ii) invest in the equity capital of an institution or enterprise; (iii) guarantee loans for economic development; (iv) deploy Special Funds resources in accordance with the agreements determining their use; or (vi) provide other types of financing as may be determined by the Board of Governors. Special Funds would be donor funds that are given to the Bank for use consistent with its purpose and functions.
In addition to the capital subscribed by members, the AIIB will raise funds primarily through the issuance of bonds in financial markets as well as through the inter-bank market transactions and other financial instruments. The AIIB may raise funds, through borrowing or other means, in member countries or elsewhere, in accordance with relevant legal provisions.
Hainan Airlines is the fourth largest carrier in China in terms of fleet size. However, it is the only airline based in the People’s Republic to earn a five star rating from Skytrax (not counting Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific).
Much of Hainan’s service is focused on its namesake island, which is becoming a major tourist destination for both domestic and international travelers. In addition to its main base in Hainan’s provincial capital, Haikou, the carrier has a hub in Beijing and a number of focus cities around China (including in economic hotspots like Chongqing and Shanghai).
Now, the upstart airline is trying to take its five-star reputation to the bank by continuing to expand its international route offerings. The carrier plans to launch service to both Tel Aviv and Manchester, England starting next year.
Hainan has adopted a strategy that has become rather popular amongst up-and-coming airlines. In Manchester, they have found a market that has yet to be tapped. London residents already have nonstop connections to Beijing, but Manchester does not yet have such a service. Hainan’s goal is to create a new “air bridge” between Northern England and China. This kind of service is often appreciated by people in “secondary” cities because it means they do not have to travel to another hub in order to fly overseas.
This is not the first long-haul route that the airline has added to Hainan’s map. In fact, the Manchester service, slated for takeoff in June of 2016, will be the sixth major transcontinental route launched in recent times. The airline’s Beijing-San Jose flight is another example of trying to develop service in a new, underserved marketplace. Today, most transpacific flights take off from SFO, requiring a train or taxi trip north for travelers from San Jose and other parts of the Southern Bay Area.
Hainan Airline’s other new long-haul routes are Chongqing-Rome, Shanghai-Boston, Shanghai-Seattle and Beijing-Prague.
According to the carrier, more intercontinental flights are in the works. Hainan is banking on its image as a premium airline to differentiate itself from others in the crowded Chinese marketplace. They claim to have better food, better service and more spacious seating than the competition. These claims are backed up to a certain extent by the Skytrax rating, which is based on flier survey results. Billing itself as a premium airline has always worked quite well for one of Hainan’s main competitors, Cathay Pacific.
Hainan has also become a major player on the domestic front. It has snapped up or launched a number of regional carriers including business-oriented Beijing Capital Airlines, Fuzhou Airlines and Kunming-based Lucky Air. They are also a minority stakeholder in Hong Kong Airlines.
Hainan Airlines is obviously focused on leaving its niche behind and becoming one of the major players in China’s long-haul and domestic marketplaces. The strategy of expanding into underserved destinations like Manchester could work in the airline’s favor. At the very least, it is a welcome trend both for Chinese travelers (and East Asian fans of Manchester’s two popular soccer franchises) and for English fliers who are heading to China and don’t want to have to connect through London or another European hub.
The business of selling airline tickets and resort vacations to China's holiday-happy middle class is now a battleground for Internet giants, following a deal that brings Ctrip.com International Ltd. to the fore.
Ctrip was already the country's biggest online travel agency before announcing a share-swap agreement on October 27th that gave it virtual control of traveler services provider Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd., a subsidiary of the Internet search giant Baidu Inc.
In the deal, Baidu transferred 45 percent of its stake in Qunar to Ctrip. In turn, Baidu got a 25 percent stake in Ctrip. The swap strengthened Ctrip's grip on what market research institution iResearch says is China's 270 billion yuan online travel agency market. Ctrip already owns 37 percent of eLong Inc. and 6 percent of Tuniu Corp.
The tie-up of the two Nasdaq-listed companies with a combined market value of US$ 18 billion set the stage for a three-way travel market battle pitting Baidu and its new partner Ctrip against the nation's dominant social media company Tencent Holdings Ltd. as well as e-commerce leader Alibaba Group.
Tencent has an online travel information section on its qq.com platform, an instant messenger. The company has also invested US$ 84 million in travel service provider eLong in 2011 and US$ 78 million in LY.com in 2014.
Alibaba, meanwhile, has had one foot in the travel agency door since 2010 by selling ticket and hotel booking services through its Tmall and Taobao websites. It's also invested millions of U.S. dollars in several online travel sites including qyer.com and baicheng.com. And in October 2014, Alibaba formally launched its own travel service division called Alitrip.
But through their new partnership, Ctrip and Qunar now account for nearly 70 percent of all revenues generated through the country's online travel market.
Alitrip's is pitching it`s service as an open platform through which travelers and qualified service providers can find each other. Future plans call for offering various traveler conveniences, such as hotel room deposit waivers based on a client's credit record with Alibaba. In its first year of operations the company signed up more than 100 million members and averaged more than 10 million daily webpage views. But it's still lags behind Ctrip and Qunar.
And although big brands rule the market, a number of new players have recently joined the online travel services game. One is the group-buying website company Meituan.com, which for the second half of this year reported 5.3 billion yuan worth of hotel bookings as well as 1.8 billion yuan worth of other travel-related deals. Meituan established a new division in July aimed at expanding its services.
China is also seeing traditional, storefront-based travel agencies increasing their online exposure opportunities through a growing number of new websites.
Nevertheless, the country's online travel giants have fortified their market positions in ways that should keep their new rivals at bay for a long time. For several years the market had anticipated a Ctrip-Qunar merger.
The main focus of the merger is as a way to streamline business and counteract competitive pressure since many domestic companies in this industry are running in the red.
For the second quarter, Qunar reported an 816 million yuan loss. Elong.com registered a 356 million yuan loss and Tuniu said it lost 292 million yuan in the same period.
Ctrip outperformed its rivals by posting a 143 million yuan net profit for the second quarter, a 5.9 percent increase from the same period last year.
Baidu, meanwhile, has been singled out by market analysts as the biggest winner in the deal between Ctrip and Qunar. The search engine had controlled Qunar since buying a 62 percent stake for US$ 306 million in July 2011, just a few months after expanding into what was then a fledgling market for online travel services.
Ctrip and Qunar will likely continue to operate separately yet complement one another. Ctrip will focus on the business traveler, hotel and ticketing operations, while Qunar will function mainly as a platform for a variety of travel services based on packages, search and price comparisons.
But the merger also presents challenges for the companies involved. Baidu, for example, must figure out how to integrate and distribute traffic and resources between Ctrip and Qunar. In the short term Ctrip and other travel booking sites are expected to continue relying on investments to keep their businesses growing whilst being forced by the competitive environment to offer services at discounted rates. | 2019-04-22T20:33:35Z | http://www.china-brain.com/resources.php?page=4 |
It is important to understand that a Divorce Settlement is not a Parenting Plan. We find daily that most disagreements between parents are directly related to grey areas or impractical arrangements regarding children or joint decision making. We can assist you with the creation of a new Plan or the maintenance of an existing plan.
to ensure the continued involvement of both parents or other person with the minor child(ren) after the parents’ divorce or after the separation of unmarried parents.
These aims are reached by both parents following a mediation process with a qualified mediator (in terms of the Act) who facilitates the process and draws up the parenting plan. This person may be a mediator, family advocate, psychologist, social worker or other suitably qualified person.
In July 2007, sections of the Children’s Act came into effect, and certain articles in the Act, such as those regarding the drawing up of a parenting plan, were promulgated on 1 April 2010.
In addition to the protection provided under the Bill of Human Rights, as described in Chapter 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, the best interests of the child are also paramount under the Children’s Act.
The Children’s Act stipulates that “if the co-holders of parental responsibilities and rights in respect of a child are experiencing difficulties in exercising their responsibilities and rights, those persons, before seeking the intervention of a court, must first seek to agree on a parenting plan determining the exercise of their respective responsibilities and rights in respect of the child”.
The parents may also, in the absence of a dispute, voluntarily decide to have a parenting plan drawn up in which both parents’ parental responsibilities and rights as well as the exercising of these responsibilities and rights are prescribed. With such a plan, possible future problems could be identified, discussed and resolved timeously.
In the event of divorce, the parenting plan could be attached as an addendum to the settlement agreement between the parties. The plan would first be registered with the Office of the Family Advocate, after which it would be made an order of court together with the settlement agreement. If the court has already granted a divorce, a parenting plan could still be compiled and the court requested to attach the plan as an addendum to the existing settlement agreement between the parties thus making it an order of court.
If parents who are not legally married decide to separate, and a settlement agreement is not applicable, they can still decide to have a parenting plan drawn up. In this plan both parents can feature as guardians as well as holders of full responsibilities and rights with regard to their minor child(ren). The responsibilities and rights and the exercising thereof are also described.
Where a parenting plan does not form part of a divorce process, it is registered with the Family Advocate’s Office and/or made an order of court. It is strongly advised that both steps should be taken. The same process is followed with regard to the drawing up and registration of the parenting plan as described in paragraph 2.1.
If an unmarried parent experiences difficulty with the description or exercising of his or her responsibilities and/or rights, and the other parent is requested to participate in the mediation in order to draw up a parenting plan, but refuses, such parent can approach the court. The court can then order both parents to participate in a mediation process so that a parenting plan can be drawn up. Such a parent should first contact the Family Advocate’s Office* for details regarding the correct procedure. It is, however, always in the best interests of the child(ren), as well as of the parents themselves, to voluntarily have a parenting plan compiled rather than for one of the parents to have no other option but to follow the court route.
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Epoxy is a term used to denote both the basic components and the cured end products of epoxy resins, as well as a colloquial name for the epoxide functional group. Epoxy resin are a class of thermoset materials used extensively in structural and specialty composite applications because they offer a unique combination of properties that are unattainable with other thermoset resins.
Epoxies are monomers or prepolymers that further reacts with curing agents to yield high performance thermosetting plastics. They have gained wide acceptance in protecting coatings, electrical and structural applications because of their exceptional combination of properties such as toughness, adhesion, chemical resistance and superior electrical properties. Epoxy resins are characterized by the presence of a three membered cycle ether group commonly referred to as an epoxy group 1,2-epoxide, or oxirane. The most widely used epoxy resins are diglycidyl ethers of bisphenol-A derived from bisphenol-A and epichlorohydrin.
The market of epoxy resins are growing day by day. Today the total business of this product is more than 100 crores. Epoxy resins are used for about 75% of wind blades currently produced worldwide, while polyester resins account for the remaining 25%. A standard 1.5-MW (megawatt) wind turbine has approximately 10 tonnes of epoxy in its blades. Traditionally, the markets for epoxy resins have been driven by demand generated primarily in areas of adhesives, building and civil construction, electrical insulation, printed circuit boards, and protective coatings for consumer durables, amongst others.
The major contents of the book are synthesis and characteristics of epoxy resin, manufacture of epoxy resins, epoxide curing reactions, the dynamic mechanical properties of epoxy resins, physical and chemical properties of epoxy resins, epoxy resin adhesives, epoxy resin coatings, epoxy coating give into water, electrical and electronic applications, analysis of epoxides and epoxy resins and the toxicology of epoxy resins.
It will be a standard reference book for professionals and entrepreneurs. Those who are interested in this field can find the complete information from manufacture to final uses of epoxy resin. This presentation will be very helpful to new entrepreneurs, technocrats, research scholars, libraries and existing units.
The term “epoxide” is a prefix referring to a bridge consisting of an oxygen atom bonded to two ther atoms already united in some way. This chapter deals only with the synthesis and characteristics of the a- or 1,2-epoxides wherein the other two atoms are carbon. The capability of this group to undergo a large variety of addition and polymerization reactions leads to the numerous thermoplastic and thermosetting forms of epoxy resins. We define an epoxy resin as any molecule containing one or more a-epoxide groups.
The nomenclature of epoxides is confusing. In addition to the 1,2-epoxide, there exist a large variety of heterocyclic compounds with similar sounding names. The reader can thus easily go astray in searching the literature. To avoid this pitfall we briefly point out some of the more misleading facets.
Monocyclic compounds containing more than one type of atom in a heterocyclic ring are named by combining a prefix that describes the additional element with a stem that describes the ring size and degree of unsaturation. Shown in Table 1 are the prefixes for the various elements in a heteroring system (the “a” is elided where necessary). Table 2 lists the stems for the various oxygen and nitrogen saturated and unsaturated heterocycles in 3- to 10-membered rings. Note the similarity between ethylene oxide, trimethylene oxide, and tetrahydrofuran, which are called oxirane, oxetane, and oxolane, respectively. A further point of confusion arises from the numerous epoxy prefixes. In this system ethylene oxide is called epoxyethane.
bCorresponding to the maximum number of noncumulative double bonds, the hetero elements having the normal valences shown in Table 1.
cThe syllables denoting the size of rings containing 3, 4, or 7 to 10 members are derived as follows: “ir” from tri, “et” from tetra, “ep” from hepta, “oc” from octa, “on” from nona, and “ec” from deca.
dFor phosphorus, arsenic and antimony, see footnote b of Table 1.
eExpressed by prefixing “perhydro” to the name of the corresponding unsaturated compound.
fNot applicable to silicon, germanium, tin, and lead, for which “perhydro” is prefixed to the name of the corresponding unsaturated compound.
There are additional names for 1,2-epoxides that add further to the confusion. Cyclohexene oxide is variously referred to as 1,2-epoxycyclo-hexane, 1,2-oxidocyclohexane, and 7-oxabicyclo [4.1.0] heptane. When epoxides are regarded as derivatives of a-glycols, the prefix “anhydro” is used. This term is prevalent in the naming of sugar epoxides. Furthermore, several of the simple epoxides have common names that tell little about their structure. l-Chloro-2,3-epoxypropane (1) is called epichloro-hydrin, l-hydroxy-2,3-epoxypropane (2) is called glycidol, and 2,3-epoxypropanoic acid (3) is called glycidic acid.
The terms “epoxy” and “epoxide” are most commonly used to describe the oxirane ring. The latter is doubtless more correct. The terms “epoxide” and “oxide” are used throughout the text in conjunction with the useful “glycidyl.” The term “glycidyl” is used to describe the terminal epoxide group, OCH2CHCH2-. The prefix is modified by “ether,”’ “ester,” “amine,” etc., according to the group attached to the third carbon atom.
Since this chapter is concerned with recent developments in the synthesis of epoxides, reference is made only to investigations that appear to throw light on the epoxidation reactions involved. This is sometimes arbitrary, but we have tried to present all of the important evidence. In addition, a section on structure is included, since it is desirable to have this clearly in mind in considering the characteristics of epoxides.
The bond lengths and angles in ethylene oxide have been determined by electron diffraction and by microwave spectroscopy. The bond angles of C-O-C, O-C-C, and H-C-H are 61°24', 59°18', and 116°15', respectively. The bond lengths are C-C = 1.47, O-C = 1.44, and C-H = 1.08 Å, respectively. Each CH2 group is in a plane at right angles to the plane of the ring, and the angle between each CH2 plane and the C-C bond is 159°25'.
The dipole moment of ethylene oxide is 1.82 D in benzene solution and 1.91 D in the gas phase. The heat of mixing with chloroform, the frequency shift of the OD band in the infrared specteum of CH3OD solutions and the chemical shifts in proton magnetic resonance show that the electron density on the oxygen atom is unusually low compared with that in acyclic and larger ring cyclic ethers. The calculated charge distributions for a series of epoxides are shown in Table 4. The electronic states of other epoxides are shown in Table 5. The strain energy, taken as the difference between the experimental and the calculated heats of formation, has been found to be 13 kcal/mole for ethylene oxide.
The viscous and elastic response of a polymer to a cyclic stress, or strain (varying sinusoidally with time) is termed the dynamic mechanical response. The gross apparent stiffness of a polymeric material at a particular temperature and frequency is measured by the dynamic (Young’s) modulus (ER). This gross stiffness factor may be resolved in terms of an elastic and a viscous contribution. The elastic or springlike contribution to total stiffness is termed the storage modulus (E1) and is a measure of the mechanical energy stored and recovered each dynamic cycle. The viscous contribution to total stiffness is called the loss modulus (E2) and is direct measure of the energy dissipated each dynamic cycle and lost primarily as heat.
It is well known that the gross stiffness of a polymer changes with both temperature and cyclic frequency. As the gross stiffness changes so does the elastic (storage) and viscous (loss) contributions to this total stiffness. Characterization of the total stiffness, in terms of these energy storage and loss contributions, and as a function of frequency and temperature, provides information useful to both the research chemist and product engineer.
Fig. 1. Curves show how stress and strain vary with time.
In general the strain wave (Curve C) lags the stress wave (Curve A) by some phase angle (d). Under these conditions we can divide the stress wave into two components (Curves B) an elastic stress (SE) which is in phase with the strain (g), and a viscous stress which is 90 degrees or p/2 radians out of phase with the strain (g). The ratio of the maximum elastic stress (oSE) to maximum strain (go) is termed the storage modulus (E1).
In a similar manner the ratio of the maximum viscous stress (oSv) to maximum strain (g0) is termed the loss modulus (E2).
where |ER| is the absolute value of the dynamic modulus.
The glassy transition temperature is dependent on the time scale or frequency of the measurement. This time dependency results from the fact that a diffusion rate controlled mechanism is normally associated with the “freezing in” of molecular mobilities in the transition region. A standard procedure for determining the glassy transition temperature is to measure some function of density with change in temperature. In phenol-formaldehyde resins the glassy transition temperature has been associated witii the heat distortion temperature and dynamic mechanical dispersion.
Fig. 2. Curves are illustrative of dynamic mechanical dispersion.
(a) over a narrow frequency region the dynamic moduli (E1) and (ER) drop from higher to lower values as the frequency decreases or temperature increases.
(b) the loss tangent (tan d) goes through a maximum at the frequency at which the dynamic modulus (ER) curve has its inflection point, and E2 goes through a maximum.
(c) the dispersion region shifts to lower frequencies as the temperature is lowered.
In the glassy state it has been shown experimentally that each dispersion region is associated with a specific molecular group. As the frequency is increased or temperature lowered this group is “frozen in” and thus contributes to an increase in stress and resulting modulus.
complex dynamic modulus (ER) through the dispersion region and maximum tan d value will be much larger than for a glassy state dispersion region. These properties of dynamic mechanical dispersion are illustrated in Figure 2.
where A is the activation energy of flow, R the gas constant and log aT the logarithmic frequency shift relating temperatures T and To.
The “reduced variables treatment” checks well for polymers having weak intermolecular binding forces in the region of the glass transition. In the glassy state it would appear that each mobility may have a discrete activation energy and that the shape of the dispersion curves depend on temperature.
The diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A was chosen as the common epoxy base for the several cure compositions. This epoxy was crosslinked catalytically with a boron trifluoride amine complex to produce the homopolymer and coreacted stoichiometrically with four diamine curatives, of varying structure and molecular weight. The chemical reactants and formulation and curing conditions are indicated in Table 1 and Table 2 respectively. Specimens for mechanical properties testing were cast in rectangular molds and machined to final shape. Specimens for dynamic property testing were either cast in glass tubes or machined from rectangular shape.
1-3 100 10.3 24 R.T.
1-4 100 13.5 24 R.T.
1-6 100 79 24 R.T.
The test fixture and specimen for the modified Vicat heat penetration test, as used in our laboratories, is iliustrated. The test is adapted for use with a standard neat distortion tester. The penetrator head, having a flat penetrator needle of square cross section and 1.0 mm2 area, attaches to the load shaft. The compression weight is adjusted to a total of 1.0 Kg. The rate of bath temperature rise remains at 2.0°C/min. The test permits semimicro testing of samples of simple geometry and provides a penetration depth versus temperature curve as shown in Figure 3. By convention, the intersection of the extrapolated linear portion of the penetration curve to zero penetration is termed the heat penetration temperature.
The glassy transition temperature is obtained from linear expansivity curves as shown in Figure 4. The curves are plotted with adjusted base values of DL to provide for convenient vertical displacement.
The outstanding adhesive-bonding properties of epoxy resins were first recognized by Preiswerk and Gams in 1944. At that time epoxy-resin adhesives were recognized as the first cast-in-place adhesives featuring a versatile chemical functionality and a remarkably low shrinkage on curing. This led to adhesive joints with low internal stress. Since the transition to the cured state takes place by a polyaddition reaction, no low-molecular-weight substances are evolved. These properties were then of unusual significance in that, for the first time, it was possible to obtain reliable adhesive joints with excellent cohesion, structural integrity, and outstanding adhesion to all kinds of substrates. For example, bonds could be made to metals and glass without resorting to the application of pressure during the bonding process and without any problem in bonding irregular surfaces. It was of technological significance that the manner in which these adhesives were used was reminiscent of well-known metal-soldering techniques. Therefore the discovery of the bonding function of epoxy resins introduced a new concept in adhesive materials and inaugurated the modern approach to the technology of adhesive bonding.
Since the commercial introduction of epoxy resins in 1946, adhesives have been one of the most valuable uses for such resins. Thus of the 161.7 million lb of epoxy resins (unmodified basis) sold in the United States in 1969, 19.4 million lb, or 12%, were used for bonding and adhesive purposes. Modern adhesives technology has led to the development of many types of epoxy-based adhesive systems. Adhesives have been formulated to meet various specifications and use criteria. The principal applications are in the field of structural metal bonding, particularly in the aerospace industry and in military equipment, as well as in miscellaneous small-part assembly of plastics and metals. To demonstrate the scope and versatility of epoxy-resin-based adhesives technology, Table 1 illustrates the storage, application conditions, service temperature, and joint-strength behavior of various formulated epoxy adhesives. Most of the information in this table was abstracted from an article by Carson on the specifications of structural adhesives. The variation of properties with formulation indicates the wide range of structural applications for which epoxy-resin adhesives can be designed. For example, phenolic-modified epoxy resins produce the best high-temperature adhesives, whereas nylon-epoxy combinations produce adhesives with the highest joint strengths.
The formulation of epoxy-based adhesives into serviceable adhesive-bonding systems is a broad field of technology. Epoxy-resin-based adhesives can be produced in various forms: one- and two-part liquids, film, or solvent based. This wide variety of formulations is indicative of the advanced state of the art of epoxy adhesives.
Generally the adhesion function and mechanism of adhesive-joint strength is poorly understood. However, a more systematic understanding of adhesion phenomena and adhesive-joint strengths is beginning to take form. This chapter treats the adhesive properties of epoxy resins from a scientific viewpoint. As a background, the most recent theories of adhesion and adhesive-joint strength will be presented, followed by an analysis of epoxy adhesive materials from a strength-of-materials viewpoint.
The chemical aspects of epoxy resins specific to the field of adhesion and adhesive applications will be presented. In particular the chemical background pertinent to the development of epoxy-resin-based adhesives of the type listed in Table 1 will be reviewed. This will be followed by a discussion of the technological aspects of adhesive joints concerned with the stress, environmental aging, and curing behavior of various practical epoxy-based adhesives.
bAluminum-to-aluminum lap joints tested acording to ASTM D1002.
Adhesion is a scientifically and technically diverse subject. In essence adhesion is an interfacial phenomenon. Physical and chemical driving forces are always operative when matter comes together to form an interface. Therefore, in its strictest sense, the adhesion strength of an interface is a measure of the degree to which the two surfaces are attracted. In practice the molecular basis of adhesion is rarely studied, and one must resort to secondary interpretations to determine the strength of adhesion. Hence the status of adhesion at an interface between two materials is presently reflected only by the test procedure used. Nevertheless, the process of adhesion can be systematically analyzed.
The mechanism of adhesion is manifested by two stages: wetting and setting. However, from a practical standpoint, the entire process of adhesion must include the performance behavior of the joint since in many ways, the type of wetting or setting mechanism markedly influences the environmental resistance of an adhesive. For example, adhesive joints may appear to be satisfactory at first, but they may fail drastically under common use conditions, such as a moist environment or mechanical impact. The key to this problem lies in the state of the interfacial contiguous layer that exists between the polymeric adhesive material and the substrate. Specifically, it will depend on what types of interaction prevail at the interface, whether the absorbed or bonded species are sensitive to moisture, and the presence or absence of voids due to improper wetting. A scientific approach to this problem is now beginning to take form, and it is believed that the answers should come from a deeper understanding of the absorption theory of adhesion; more specifically by probing the roles that chemisorption and diffusion play in the manifestation of adhesion effects.
A brief look into the background of the surface-coatings industry gives an understanding of the position epoxy resins hold in this field today. At the outset it should be noted that the formulation and manufacture of coatings are going through a period of transition from a craft type of endeavor to a scientifically regulated industry. For many years natural sources were the basis for the polymers and film-forming materials used in paints and varnishes. Paintmaking at that time was a typical craft, with artists and painters mixing their own paints from pigment and oil. The properties of the finished product depended to a great degree on their judgment and experience.
This period was followed by a transition that saw the establishment of paint and varnish factories whose products were controlled by the craftsmanship of the paint and varnish maker.
The development, in more recent years, of synthetic polymers, such as alkyd- and varnish-type phenolic resins, represents a significant step in the transition of the industry from an art to a science. Since this transition a steady flow of new synthetic polymers has become available. Procedures used in their production, control, evaluation, and application have formalized a technology based to a large degree on scientific principles and methods. This is substantiated by the increase in scientifically trained personnel and scientific technique being used in the laboratories of the coatings manufacturers. The transition is continuing, and the balance is shifting more and more from art to science.
The technical literature is abundant with references to the evaluation of the new synthetic polymers in coatings applications. Comparisons are shown of the new materials used both alone and in combination with established products. In many instances at least some advantage is claimed for the new materials. The number of new products finding practical applications indicates that many never leave the laboratory for commercialization. Quite a few of those that do leave the laboratory are found only in a limited number of low-volume, specialty applications.
On the other hand, epoxy resins based on epichlorohydrin and bisphenol A, introduced to industry a little over 20 years ago, are well-established coatings materials used in a wide variety of applications. Nearly 50% of the total epoxy-resin production finds its way into coatings formulations. The importance of epoxy resins to the coatings industry is shown by the consumption of 69 million lb in 1970 in coating applications.
2. Cold- or room-temperature-cured systems based on curing agents containing amine groups.
3. Baking systems, particularly those in which the epoxy resins are reacted with phenolic resins, amino resins, or thermosetting acrylic resins.
4. Thermoplastic epoxy-resin systems based on extremely-high-molecular-weight epoxy resins.
These types of system, with a further subdivision into solvent-borne and liquid epoxy-resin solventless and super-high- solids systems, powder coatings, epoxy-resin-ester emulsions, water-reducible epoxy-resin poly-amide-cured coatings, and water reducible epoxy-resin coating systems for electrodeposition, are covered in this chapter. Emphasis is placed on the more recent developments in epoxy-resin coatings technology.
The earliest and even the current epoxy-resin coatings technology revolves mainly around solid epoxy resins or their solutions. The commercially available types can be classified, as in Table 1, according to end use, average molecular weight, WPE range, viscosity, hydroxyl functionality, and weight per gallon.
Because of the decided trend in the coatings industry to utilize liquid epoxy resins, Table 2 is included to show the differences in the materials finding their way into coatings formulations.
The solid types of epoxy resin can be reacted with vegetable-oil fatty acids to form epoxy-resin esters. The most commonly used resin type for these products has an average molecular weight of about 1400. In this reaction the epoxy resin is regarded as a resinous polyol containing epoxide and hydroxyl groups, both esterifiable. The epoxide groups have a hydroxyl functionality of 2 since two ester groups can be formed with each epoxide. Normally esterification proceeds under typical alkyd- or polyester-processing conditions. Temperatures ranging from 425 to 550°F and typical esterification catalysts (sodium carbonate, lithium naphthenate, or calcium acetate—0.05 wt % based on total solids) can be used. Kettles used are of the fusion or azeotropic type, as in the production of alkyd resins. Better color and lower viscosity characteristics result from the use of azeotropic equipment.
aGrams of resin containing 1 gram equivalent of epoxide.
bGardner-Holdt viscosity of 40 wt% solids in butyl carbitol.
dIncludes hydroxyl functionality of two hydroxyl groups for each epoxy group.
eReadily pourable only when heated slightly above room temperature.
Esters produced from the higher-molecular-weight (2900 and 3750) resins have higher viscosity, greater impact and chemical resistance, and flexibility. Drying rate and application solids are lowered.
The choice and amount of fatty acids related to the amount of epoxy resin affect final properties. A variety of epoxy-resin esters, similar in scope to the various types of alkyd resins, can be made by use of these two variables. Long-, medium-, and short-oil-length esters are formulated in this manner.
Long-oil linseed or soya epoxy-resin esters are soluble in mineral spirits, and, by adding driers, an air-drying system for industrial maintenance applications can be formulated.
Short-drying-oil epoxy esters are not soluble in aliphatic solvents but are soluble in aromatic hydrocarbons. These products can be used by themselves. Specific improvements in properties can be obtained by cross-linking them with urea-formaldehyde resin (Beckamine 21-511, Reichhold Chemicals, Inc.; Beetle 227-8, American Cyanamid Co.; Uformite F-240, Rohm and Haas), or melamine-formaldehyde resins (Resimene 875, Monsanto Chemical Co.; Uformite MM-55, Rohm and Haas).
Overprint varnishes (short-oil dehydrated castor epoxy-resin esters) for metal containers, bottle caps, and screw-cap enclosures constitute a large-volume usage. A highly detergent-resistant appliance primer can be formulated by crosslinking a short-oil soya ester containing an epoxy resin (molecular weight 2900) with a melamine resin.
Epoxy-resin esters based on low-rosin-content tall oil crosslinked with an amino resin have attained significant importance in automotive primers.
There is an alternative procedure for producing epoxy-resin esters wherein a selectively precatalyzed liquid epoxy resin (Epon Resin 829, Shell Chemical Co.) with a narrow range of properties is reacted with varying amounts of bisphenol A to prepare a broad group of solid epoxy resins or their fatty-acid esters. Higher-molecular-weight-resin esters at shorter oil lengths than are feasible with commercial solid resins can be prepared. The composition listed in Table 3 is proving quite interesting in coating evaluations, as it shows noticeably improved through- drying, flexibility, impact strength, and chemical resistance properties.
aEpon Resin 829, Shell Chemical Co.
bWoburn’s Supra, Woburn Chemical Co.
cEsterification catalyst; 0.1 wt % based on resin components.
dApproximately 3 wt % as an azeotropic solvent.
The pollution elimination-motivated desire to limit solvent usage is the basis for a large amount of research on water-borne coatings. If the vehicle involved is hydrophylic or “water-loving” or if emulsifiers can be included which are complementary to whatever hydrophylic character the polymer itself may have, successful coatings result. The vehicle which started the “water revolution” in the coatings industry was, as is well-known, a styrene-butadiene copolymer. This material obviously is not very hydrophylic. On the other hand, it is compatible with emulsifying agents and the preparation of an emulsion is relatively simple. At least it is simple once you know how to do it. The technique for emulsifying styrene-butadiene copolymers was a major part of the rubber program during World War II and, accordingly, a great body of knowledge existed for preparing such emulsions.
Poly (vinyl acetate) was also readily emulsified. The acetate groups being polar are eager to be solvated by water molecules and dispersion can be helped along with the proper emulsifiers and stabilizers such as poly (vinyl alcohol). Similar comments apply to acrylic polymers and copolymers.
Protective coatings chemists soon found, however, that there are other polymers which do not emulsify readily. Heading the list are the epoxy resins. An epoxy resin had ether and hydroxyl groups in the chain and, of course, epoxy end groups. All of these groups are polar and one might think that they would assist in the emulsification of the epoxy resin. Not so, for a complex reason about which theoreticians like to debate. An epoxy resin has a very rigid structure because of the bisphenol A component. It is this rigidity, perhaps, which prevents the hydroxyl and ether groups from exhibiting polar character. On the other hand, epoxy resin compositions have relatively poor water resistance because of the polarity presented by the ether and hydroxyl groups. Thus there is an inconsistency that requires complex theoretical rationalization. The practical point, however, is that epoxy resins are difficult to emulsify.
The difficulty varies with the type of epoxy resin composition involved. An epoxy resin ester can be emulsified readily by esterifying some of the hydroxyl groups with one carboxyl of a dibasic acid or anhydride such as maleic anhydride. The unreacted carboxyl can be neutralized with sodium hydroxide or an amine to provide an intrinsic emulsifier. Correspondingly, the unsaturated fatty acid groups of the ester can be maleinized by heating with maleic anhydride and, again, carboxyl groups are present which, after neutralization, make emulsification possible. This type of composition is used for electrocoating.
On the other hand, a two-component epoxy composition comprising an epoxy resin and a coreactant such as an amine or a polyamide resin is much harder to convert from a solvent-based to a water-borne system. Persistent work on the part of coatings chemists, however, has produced such water-borne systems and these are in use today. Much of the success in emulsifying epoxy resins depends on the coreactant. Amino-containing polyamide resins are coreactants which are readily emulsifed by neutralizing some of the free amine groups with acids. Intrinsic emulsifiers result which make possible the emulsification or dispersion of the material in water. The amine-containing polyamide with its intrinsic emulsifying groups will emulsify not only itself but will also disperse the epoxy resin. To be sure, the dispersion must be assisted by extrinsic emulsifiers and when these are carefully chosen a water-borne vehicle results which can be pigmented and which has many of the properties of the corresponding solvent-based system.
Perusal of the patent literature provides interesting insight into the type of work underway to make epoxy compositions water-dispersible. If a baked coating is contemplated the problem is somewhat easier because the baking contributes to good properties. On the other hand, if a room temperature-curing system is desired the problem is complicated if only because the emulsifiers present tend to detract from properties such as water resistance.
Typical of the patents which have issued recently on water-borne epoxy coatings are the following.
German patent 2,627,697 issued to Ciba-Geigy AG describes technology in which an epoxy resin with a molecular weight varying from 340 to 5,000 is reacted with an aminoalcohol such as diethanolamine. Presumably the amine group of the diethanolamine reacts with the epoxy linkages to give a composition with primary hydroxyl groups. These are in turn ethoxylated to increase the hydrophylic properties of the polymer. When the ethoxylated composition is combined with a methylated urea-formaldehyde resin, a water-dispersible baking finish results.
Another baking finish which is intended primarily as a cathodic electrocoating vehicle is described in Dutch patent 11,958 assigned to BASF. Here the epoxy resin is made more hydrophylic by reacting it with an equivalent amount of mercaptan to provide a thiol ether. This in turn is quaternized with an epoxide and acid to provide a sulfonium compound. The free hydroxyl groups which were initially present in a the epoxy resin are partially masked by reaction with a polyisocyanate, although insufficient polyisocyanate is used so that gel formation is avoided. In a typical example, a bisphenol A-based epoxy resin with a molecular weight of 1,000 and an epoxy value of about 500 is reacted with mercaptoethanol in ethylene glycol. The thiol ether that results is in turn reacted with ethylene oxide and acetic acid. The water-dispersible composition that results is combined with a melamine resin.
Another patent for a baking coating which makes use of diethanolamine is British patent 1,469,495 assigned to M&T Chemicals. Here an epoxy resin derived from bisphenol A is reacted with mono- or diethanolamine in a ratio such that all of the epoxy functionality is consumed. An aqueous solution of this material is applied to a substrate which has been heated to 200 to 300°C. A coating is said to result which is durable, solvent- resistant, and flexible. It is not clear, however, from the description what kind of crosslinking, if any, takes place.
A heat-curable water-borne epoxy resin composition is described by Mobil Oil Corporation in U.S. patent 4,029,620. The coating comprises two parts, one of which is an emulsified epoxy resin in which the stabilizing agent is a nonionic surfactant. The second portion which cures the epoxy resin on heating is a solvent-soluble copolymer containing carboxyl functionality. This is dispersed in water by forming a salt of some of the carboxyl groups with a volatile amine or ammonia. If ammonia is used, up to 90% of the carboxyl groups may be neutralized. If an amine is used, there is a 30% maximum for neutralization. Also, when the two components are mixed there must be a 25% excess of epoxy functionality over carboxyl functionality.
A related baking coating is described in U.S. patent 4,021,396 assigned to duPont de Nemours Co. This, however, is a one-component system in which both the epoxy resin and the carboxyl-containing coreactant are dispersed in aqueous medium at a level of 25 to 50 weight percent. Five to forty percent of epoxy resin may be used with 60 to 95% of an acrylic polymer whose number average molecular weight is above 10,000. The copolymer is based on styrene, methylstyrene, methyl methacrylate, or acrylonitrile with an alkyl acrylate or methacrylate and up to 10% of an unsaturated carboxylic acid.
A number of patents describe epoxy resin emulsions. Thus one in which the epoxy resin is emulsified with a nonionic surfactant is claimed in Japanese patent 013530 assigned to the Dai-Nippon Toryo Co. The dispersed epoxy resin is combined with a suitable hardener and the mixture is said to be stable on storage which means that the coating must be baked in order to achieve curing.
1. Determination of the structure and physical properties of the cured and uncured resins.
2. Control of resin charges, analysis of hardeners, flexibilizers, fillers, etc.
3. Following the progress of the curing reactions and determining the extent of final cure.
4. Identification of unknown samples that are supposed to be epoxy resins.
Recently physical methods have become valuable tools in epoxy-resin analysis; however, the older, more classical chemical methods still remain important and accordingly cannot be disregarded.
Several classification tests for epoxy resins depend on the detection of free epoxy groups, but a series of reactions that are specific for the bisphenol A ether skeleton are used predominantly. The latter tests do not require the existence of free epoxy groups and therefore can also be used to detect cured or esterified bisphenol A epoxy resins. In all cases the solubility of the epoxy resin in the reaction medium has to be considered.
Qualitative identification of epoxides and epoxy resins by means of infrared spectroscopy will be discussed in Section I.D.
a. Addition of Chloride Ions. The addition of chloride ions to epoxides proceeds even in neutral solution, as was stated by BrOnstedt et al. .
According to Wurtz the hydroxyl ions formed can be detected by the precipitation of metallic hydroxides from the concentrated solutions of the corresponding chlorides (e.g., aluminum or magnesium chlorides). Lenher recommends a saturated neutral solution of manganous chloride as the best test; however, the halides of aluminum and the divalent halides of magnesium, iron, tin, and zinc are also useful reagents. For the determination of the hydroxyl ions formed Deckert used the color change of an acid-base indicator. Water-soluble epoxides can be treated with an aqueous solution of sodium chloride or potassium thiocyanate. A suitable indicator is phenolphthalein, used in a procedure described by Fisch to detect epoxy groups of substances that are insoluble in aqueous salt solutions.
Lithium chloride solution, 10%. Mix 85 ml of methyl Cellosolve and 5 ml of water and dissolve 10 g of lithium chloride.
Phenolphthalein indicator solution, 1% in ethanol.
and, if necessary neutralize the solution. After mixing with 2 ml of lithium chloride solution, heat the sample for 20 sec to boiling. An intense red color indicates free epoxy groups.
The various quantitative hydrochlorination analytical methods are also suitable classification reactions and can be used for this purpose with somewhat simplified procedures.
b. Selective Oxidation. A further test for the detection of epoxides and epoxy resins has been given by Fuchs, Waters, and Vanderwerf. The method employs hydration of the epoxide, followed by periodic acid oxidation of the corresponding glycol. The test is interfered with by a-glycols, a-oxyaldehydes, a-oxyketones, a-diketones, and a-dicarboxylic acids. Alcohols, aldehydes, and ketones do not interfere.
Periodic acid solution, 0.5% in water.
Silver nitrate solution, 1% in water.
Dioxane or glacial acetic acid.
Dissolve 1 to 2 drops of the substance to be tested in 2 ml of dioxane or glacial acetic acid, add 2 ml of the periodic acid solution, and shake for several minutes. Add 1 to 2 drops of silver nitrate solution. Precipitation of white silver iodate indicates that free epoxy groups were present.
c. Pyrolysis. A test described by Feigl employs the pyrolytic splitting off of acetaldehyde from epoxides when heated at 240 to 250°C. The acetaldehyde thus formed can be detected by the color reaction with sodium nitroprusside and piperidine. Other materials (e.g., cellulose) evolve acetaldehyde only when heated to much higher temperatures. The test is also positive for cured epoxy resins.
Sodium nitroprusside solution, 5% in water.
Piperidine or morpholine solution, S% in water.
Heat the substance to be tested in a tube immersed in a metal bath at 240 to 250°C. Place a filter paper moistened with a few drops of sodium nitroprusside and piperidine solutions in the tube. A blue color indicates free epoxy groups.
d. Color Reactions. Several epoxides, with tertiary amines like pyridine, â-picoline, quinoline, etc., give specific color-producing reactions, which sometimes allow a quantitative estimation, as in the case of ethylene oxide. An intensive study of these reactions was published by Lohmann. Gunther employed the reaction with lepidine (4-methylquinoline) for a microdetermination of ethylene oxide. Swann suggested the following procedure for a qualitative test, which is also suitable for epoxy resins.
Dissolve 1 drop of the sample in 3 ml of Cellosolve, add 5 drops of lepidine, and heat to 125°C in an oil bath. Development of a blue color indicates that free epoxy groups are present.
e. Preparation of Derivatives. Pure alkylene oxides can be characterized by the preparation of the readily crystallizing sulfides, which are formed by the addition of dinitrothiophenols.
or semicarbazone; however, quite often two isomeric compounds are obtained.
Ulbrich reported that bis (1-naphthyl-urethanes) are suitable derivatives for the identification of glycidyl ethers.
Besides the described procedures for the determination of epoxy groups there are a series of reactions that are characteristic tests for epoxy resins based on bisphenol A. These tests do not require the existence of free epoxy groups; that is, they are also positive for cured and esterified epoxy resins. Compounds of the phenyl glycidyl ether type give only a very weak positive reaction.
a. Mercuric Oxide and Nitric Acid Tests. These two reactions, which were first described by Foucry, are used to a large extent. Rudd and Zonsveld recognized the fact that these tests are specific reactions of epoxy resins based on bisphenol A. Other epoxides, lacquer solvents, phenol formaldehyde resins, phenol, bisphenol A, melamine resins, etc., do not interfere. It is customary to apply both tests and to carry out a blank test on an epoxy resin of the bisphenol A type.
Denigè’s reagent. Mix 10 ml of concentrated sulfuric acid and 50 ml of water, dissolve in the hot mixture 2.5 g of mercuric oxide, and filter the solution.
Sodium hydroxide solution, 5% in water.
1. Mix 1 ml of the sulfuric acid-resin solution with 5 ml of Denigè’s reagent and let stand for 30 min. An orange precipitate indicates an epoxy resin of the bisphenol A type.
2. Shake 1 ml of the sulfuric acid-resin solution with 1 ml of concentrated nitric acid. After 5 min pour the solution with stirring into 100 ml of sodium hydroxide solution. Epoxy resins of the bisphenol A type are indicated by an orange color. | 2019-04-23T04:15:49Z | https://www.niir.org/books/book/epoxy-resins-technology-handbook-manufacturing-process-synthesis-epoxy-resin-adhesives-epoxy-coatings/isbn-9788178331744/zb,,18bb1,a,16,6,a/index.html |
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Suggested Citation:"Part A: Background Papers." National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. 1993. Responsible Science, Volume II: Background Papers and Resource Documents. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2091.
Modern universities are commonly seen as serving three main functions. They educate students. They foster research. Through education, research, and other activities, they serve society.
As both the place where future researchers are trained and the place where much of the nation's research is conducted, universities are vital to science and engineering. A century or two ago, science and engineering were not dependent on universities and higher education. Today they are. Were universities to abdicate their roles in science and engineering, society would have to invent new institutions to train future scientists and engineers and to conduct much of the research that has become vital to the future of society.
The role that universities play in science and engineering encompasses both privileges and responsibilities. Much of the financial and social support that universities enjoy today is based on their capacity to contribute to science and engineering. The support for science and engineering is, in turn, accompanied by a great deal of autonomy, accepting the premise that as professionals, scientists and engineers should be given intellectual or academic freedom. These are the privileges. In return, society assumes that university scientists and engineers will act in ways that serve the best interests of society, however those interests are defined.
This paper describes and analyzes some of the actions universities are taking to foster responsible conduct in science and engineering research, beginning with the most passive steps, those that simply seek to establish normative rules, and progressing through three degrees of proactive policies: monitoring research, promoting discussion, and undertaking institutional reform. Throughout, the term ''responsibility"
Nicholas H. Steneck is professor of history and director of the Historical Center for the Health Sciences at the University of Michigan.
is taken in its most challenging sense. It is assumed, following the stated policies of many universities, that the sought after goal is setting high standards, not minimum standards. That is to say, "responsibility" is taken to imply more than simply following the letter of the law or not engaging in blatant misconduct (plagiarizing, falsifying data, conflicts of interest, and so on). Responsibility is taken to imply discharging the duties or meeting the obligations of a professional in an exemplary way. It is this broad understanding of responsibility, rather than the narrow sense of avoiding fraud or misconduct, that is the main focus of this report, as applied to science and engineering research at universities.
Although this report focuses on science and engineering, it is important to note that there is very little about science and engineering research that is truly unique, other than its subject matter and its particular research methods. Humanists engage in funded research projects; they collect, interpret, and publish data; and they train graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Accordingly, it is not possible when discussing university policies and actions designed to foster responsible conduct in science and engineering research to focus exclusively or even mostly on actions and policies directed to scientists and engineers. The context of university policy and action is much broader than this. However, broader policies, when combined with policies and actions that do focus more on science and engineering, can potentially do a great deal to foster responsible conduct in science and engineering research. Some of that potential is now being realized on university campuses across the country. The ways in which it is being realized form the subject of this report.
The least burdensome, but not necessarily the most effective, way to foster responsible conduct in science and engineering research is to establish and publicize responsible behavior. Most professional organizations, including those for science and engineering, have published materials relating to professional conduct, such as Sigma Xi's influential Honor in Science1 or the National Institutes of Health's widely used Guidelines for the Conduct of Research.2 These materials have bearing on science and engineering research on university campuses and are commonly used (formally and informally) by universities for establishing standards for responsible behavior.
conduct that apply broadly to faculty, administrators, staff, and/or students. However, their expectations for researchers are more commonly set out within the context of administrative policies dealing with specific problems, such as fraud or misconduct in research, conflict of interest, intellectual property rights, human and animal use in experimentation, computer use, and so on. Piece by piece, these polices provide normative rules that cover most of the major concerns regarding responsible conduct in science and engineering research.
In response to increasing concern over cases of research misconduct and spurred on by Public Health Service requirements in 1985,4 major research universities have adopted procedures for investigating allegations of misconduct. Although differing in detail, most follow a common format. First, the importance of integrity, the rarity of misconduct, and the need to maintain high standards are stressed. Then, definitions of misconduct, and the need to maintain high standards are stressed. Then, definitions of fraud or misconduct, reaching conclusions, and, when called for, meting out punishment are discussed.
Variations of these and other lists, along with explanations and examples, are found in most university policies for dealing with misconduct in research.
This statement could easily be rewritten as a set of normative rules for responsible behavior in research: researchers should properly assign credit to others for the work they have done; present original material in only one publication; include in publications only the names of those who have contributed to research; and include the names of coauthors in publications only after seeking permission to do so. In this way, the reactive misconduct policies in place in the major research universities can become proactive statements of expected or normative behavior in research.
Normative statements about research can also be found in conflict of interest policies. Again, as with the misconduct policies, the primary intent is to clarify what should not be done, but by inference or logical extension, proper conduct is also defined. The form of conflict of interest policies is not as uniform as that of misconduct policies, thus making it more difficult to identify the normative statements about research conduct. Nonetheless, these policies do provide another source of information that is applicable to scientific and engineering research.
If "university business" is construed as "government business," then researchers should understand that information given in confidence, such as information received when reviewing manuscripts for publication and grant requests for peer review, cannot be disclosed or used for personal gain. The State of Ohio statutes thus provide normative rules for handling manuscripts, shared data, student theses, and the like: researchers should honor confidences and not use or disclose information received in confidence without getting permission to do so.
Researchers at Pennsylvania State University can find normative rules for directing graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in their institution's conflict of interest policy, which states that it is wrong to direct students into research activities that are designed primarily to serve personal interests rather than to further their [the students'] scholarly achievement."10 While not easy to apply in difficult cases, i.e., when there is a genuine conflict between the obligations to a grantor and to those hired under the grant, one normative rule that applies to such situations is again made clear: researchers who serve as mentors to students assume obligations to those students and should not compromise these obligations for personal gain or career advancement.
Does the secondary commitment detract from the ability of a faculty member to discharge his primary obligations to The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine?
The normative rules inferred in these questions and the subsequent explanations help clarify for researchers how they should sort out their obligations when they have responsibilities to more than one constituency.
The latter refers to policies relating to human subjects research review, animal research, radiation safety, biological research review (recombinant DNA research), and occupational safety and environmental health.12 Subsequent forms and/or policy statements issued by the human- and animals-use committees, the radiation safety committee, and so on provide further guidance on responsible conduct in research, as, for example, questions and guidance on the humane use of animals (discussed below under monitoring).
The normative rules scattered throughout university policies and documents relating to science and engineering research are an important first step for promoting responsible conduct. In defining what is illegal, unethical, and irresponsible, they suggest what is legal, ethical, and responsible. They also provide guidance on fiscal responsibility, safety, the responsible use of human subjects, the humane treatment of animals, the use of computers, the handling of data, and other matters. Therefore, even those universities that do not have comprehensive codes of ethics for science and engineering research, which is the majority, do provide researchers with guidelines for responsible conduct. If these "guidelines" are combined with the various federal regulations and professional statements about professional conduct in research, the total package does provide fundamental rules for determining what is responsible and irresponsible in the conduct of research.
researchers who believe that they "own" not only the data generated in their laboratories but also the ideas. Practicing researchers do not always understand the basic normative rules that help to determine responsible conduct in research. Students and beginning researchers may have less understanding. Publications such as Sigma Xi's Honor in Science, the codes of conduct published by professional societies, and the research policies of universities are thus useful documents for raising consciousness and establishing a knowledge base for fostering responsibility in research.
The effectiveness of normative rules in fostering responsibility is, however, limited. First, as disjointed and piecemeal as they are on most campuses, they do not make it easy for researchers to comprehend and consider all the responsibilities raised by modern science and engineering. As conditions exist on many campuses, the burden for integrating rules and resolving contradictions is often left to the individual. Given all of the other pressures on modern-day researchers, it may not be reasonable to expect them to read through three, four, or more policies to find out what they should or should not be doing.
In addition, simply stating how researchers should act in no way guarantees that they will act in this way. This is particularly true if the normative rules aim at unrealistically high standards. Researchers today are rarely able to meet all of their obligations in an exemplary way. More commonly obligations exceed the time available to meet them. Increasing competition for research funds means that more hours must be spent writing and submitting grant applications. More time spent on applications means less time working in the laboratory, advising or teaching students, and reviewing manuscripts. Corners have to be cut. What are needed, therefore, in addition to normative rules for ideal behavior, are guidebooks for how to survive in the increasingly competitive world of academic science and engineering research.
Policy statements about normative or ideal conduct become useful when they are explained, elaborated upon, and illustrated with examples. They also become useful when they deal with the difficult rather than the obvious. There seems to be little doubt that most researchers do not, and know that they should not, manufacture data or forge experimental results. It may be less clear, however, how results should be presented in grant applications, when "enough data" are needed to give confidence that a project will succeed but "enough work" remains to be done to justify getting the grant. How "preliminary" should ''preliminary research" be?
provide important general rules. They also satisfy legal requirements and soothe consciences. But this approach to fostering responsible conduct in research may not be effective, particularly if the rules are not accompanied by other actions. Given the pressures on researchers today, they often are not only busy but also cynical. When their laboratory space and salaries depend on the research dollars generated and their promotions on the number of articles published, they can have a hard time believing the normative rules are anything more than guidelines for staying out of trouble. If this is the case, the sense of responsibility that researchers have will be minimal at best. Recognition of this fact has prompted universities to take additional steps to foster responsible conduct in research.
Universities today routinely monitor their research programs, among other reasons because they are required to do so. They must ensure fiscal responsibility. They must supervise the use and treatment of animals and human subjects. They must comply with environmental and workplace regulations. And they must enforce their own policies regulating such activities as classified and proprietary research. Monitoring is the second way universities foster responsible conduct in science and engineering research. It is an active rather than a passive way to foster responsibility.
At the University of Michigan, one monitoring process for research is triggered by an internal form that must be completed by all researchers prior to submitting projects for support (internal or external). The form lists 13 areas of concern that must be checked "yes" or "no."14 If "yes" is checked for an area, subsequent information or action is required. For the more important areas, such as the use of human subjects, vertebrate animals, and radioactive materials, the researcher is referred to a series of special peer-review committees for approval. These committees review the applications both for their compliance with specific laws and regulations and, in some cases, for problems that could raise questions about responsibility.
qualifications, and to indicate how the work will be supervised. The form on which this information is recorded contains explanations of each of the questions, which, in essence, provide brief lessons in the responsible use of animals in research. If the answers given on the forms are not satisfactory or if they raise questions about the use of animals, the researcher is asked to appear before the Use and Care Committee to discuss the project. In this way, researchers are encouraged to think about and justify their responsibilities when they use animals in research and, simultaneously, their use of animals is monitored.
The same procedure is followed for the use of human subjects at Michigan, with the university having a total of twelve peer committees to review grant requests prior to submission.
If they are, they must provide a "rationale for and justify their [each subject's] involvement."16 Providing the rationale again compels researchers to think about their responsibilities. If a rationale is unclear of unsatisfactory, then the researcher must discuss the research with colleagues on a review committee. The human subjects committees also require justifications for the use of human subjects, explanations of the likely benefits to the subjects from the research, and a description of the steps that have been taken to minimize risks—requirements that again compel researchers to think about their responsibilities and, in gray areas, to discuss their responsibilities with colleagues.
inherent in these requirements forces researchers to think about their responsibilities in ways that might not otherwise occur to them and to think about relationships and obligations that might otherwise be ignored.
Responsibility is also routinely monitored through peer review for promotions or annual reviews for salary increases. These reviews provide faculty with opportunities to monitor the work of their colleagues, looking, for example, for the possibility of duplicate publication of the same material, misattribution of authorship, or the sloppy use/misuse of data. Similarly, student evaluations are routinely used to determine how well faculty are discharging their duties as teachers. Such evaluations are not used, but could be adapted, to determine how well faculty discharge their duties as research mentors.
Asking researchers in advance how they will exercise responsibility is intrusive. It requires an investment of time to answer questions for no apparent reason. Moreover, in subtle ways it represents a shift in burden. Rather than presuming that researchers act responsibly and then raising questions when there is reason to believe someone has acted irresponsibly, asking researchers to discuss their research conduct in advance or to be subjected to constant scrutiny during research places a burden on them to demonstrate that they will act or are acting responsibly. In other words, monitoring presumes guilt rather than assuming innocence. It is also compulsory rather than voluntary. It requires that certain standards be met rather than making responsibility a matter of personal initiative. As such, monitoring does not find a comfortable home in professional communities that are accustomed to openness and trust.
Why, for example, should researchers be required to demonstrate in advance how they will comply with rules, regulations, and standards for responsible behavior, if those rules, regulations, and standards are clearly spelled out? We do not require the same researchers to file forms before leaving for work in the morning explaining that they will travel in a licensed car using seat belts and driving at safe, legal speeds. We presume that they know the laws and will obey them, intervening only when there is reason to believe that the law is not being obeyed. Similarly, for science and engineering to develop freely and in a collegial atmosphere, some degree of responsibility must be assumed. If every aspect of research were subject to monitoring, either in advance or in process, the burdens of time and cost could rapidly overwhelm the research enterprise.
when it is required, e.g., in the use of animals, human subjects, dangerous chemicals, conflict of interest, and so on. If used sparingly, primarily as a tool to get researchers to think about particular issues such as the use of animals in research, monitoring can be an effective device for fostering responsible conduct in science and engineering research. If overused, monitoring and the enforcement of compulsory rules of behavior will rapidly become a burden that can destroy the freedom and collegiality that are essential to the vitality of science and engineering research in particular and all academic life in general.
If reading and being informed are all that are required for ensuring responsibility, then this simple policy will go a long way toward fostering responsible conduct in science and engineering research.
Increasing numbers of research universities have chosen to be more aggressive in bringing the responsibilities of researchers to their attention. Their approaches vary, depending on where within administrative structures initiatives derive and how they are most conveniently implemented. However, the goal of each is basically the same: to foster discussion.
the medical faculty to revise their rules for research conduct and to join with others in sponsoring symposia on research ethics.20 The result will undoubtedly be an increased level of discussion of the importance of and special problems pertaining to research conduct. How much impact this will have on students and faculty remains to be seen.
In practice, the committee has adopted a much more ambitious role in fostering responsible conduct in research.
In evaluating the role of discussion in fostering responsibility, an important distinction needs to be made. "Responsibility" is both an academic subject and a matter of practical importance. As an academic subject, "responsibility" can be studied, researched, discussed, and written about in the same way as any other academic subject. There is more than enough that is controversial in the consideration of conflict of interest, the ownership of ideas, the responsible use of humans or animals for experimental purposes, or any other aspect of research to engage scholars who specialize in research ethics in discussion for years to come. However, "responsibility" is also a matter of practical importance. Every day, in small and large ways, individuals who engage in science and engineering research must decide for themselves what it means "to be responsible" and then act. For them, responsibility is not a matter of intellectual curiosity but of practical necessity.
social, ethical, and professional side of science and engineering publish articles on responsibility in research. Science educators discuss ways to foster responsibility through science education. The researcher who wants to become better educated on responsibility in science and engineering has no lack of material to consult. The problem that exists today, if there is a problem, is getting this material to researchers who barely have time to keep abreast of developments in their own fields.
It therefore seems logical to assume, for convenience if for no other reason, that the discussion of responsibility in science and engineering research should begin in the settings in which that research is undertaken, with mentors and their advisees talking about their work, the way it is being undertaken, and its consequences. It is in these settings that the norms of professional conduct are set and passed on. The discussions can be informal and personal. They can also be enriched by adding some organization and involving others, who bring different perspectives to bear on difficult problems. However they are planned or undertaken, the important point is that discussions of responsibility in research should begin in the laboratory and in the classroom. They should, however, not end there.
There are at least two problems that arise if the discussion of responsibility is left exclusively to research settings. First, relying on discussions in research settings to address problems of responsibility is not efficient. To get different points of view on difficult problems it is usually necessary to involve philosophers, social scientists, lawyers, theologians, and others who are removed from the problems and can bring special expertise to bear on them. Generally the number of "outsiders" who are prepared to discuss issues relating to responsibility in science and engineering research is limited. To ask them to come to every science and engineering laboratory or department on a campus is not realistic.
A second problem is that research settings may not be conducive to the discussion of some difficult problems that arise in these settings. Junior researchers or graduate students who feel their work is not being fairly cited in a publication may not feel comfortable discussing authorship with their mentors. Students who disagree with a mentor's way of interpreting data may have qualms about raising this issue in a laboratory meeting. Ideally, of course, discussions should be open to any questions or points of view, but settings in which there are problems associated with responsibility are not ideal.
responsibilities with colleagues in other fields. Lecture series are a useful device for raising consciousness. Orientation programs for new graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and even faculty can provide information and along with that the message that responsibility in research is taken seriously at the university. There are many ways to promote discussion of issues associated with responsible conduct in science and engineering research. The more ways a university tries to promote discussion, the stronger the message it sends about its commitment to responsibility.
It is impossible in this paper to discuss all of the different ways in which the professional responsibility of scientists and engineers is being addressed through institutional reform. Changes have been suggested for the entire spectrum of science education, from elementary schooling to postdoctoral studies, clinical training, and even continuing education. This section provides a few examples, focusing on advanced undergraduate education, graduate education, and two campuswide programs.
of professional life as scientists and engineers. For others, it may be not only their first but also their last formal contact with these issues.
Research, per se, is generally not a major component of undergraduate education. Some undergraduates have research experiences, but they usually do not start thinking seriously about research until graduate school and their first independent work as researchers. Nonetheless, attitudes and knowledge gained during the undergraduate years can play a major role in determining the future responsibility of scientists and engineers. Attitudes about personal and social responsibility gained during undergraduate years can be transferred to graduate work and the laboratory. Knowledge about professional life and its role in society can provide a framework for questioning and seeking solutions when potential problems arise in the research environment. Just as basic mathematics, chemistry, physics, or biology can be essential for careers in science and engineering, so too basic knowledge about the social and values dimensions of science and engineering can be essential ingredients for being a responsible scientist or engineer. For many scientists and engineers, the only opportunity they have to gain such knowledge comes during their undergraduate years. This is particularly true for engineers, who can more easily engage in research without pursuing graduate studies.
scientists and engineers begin to think seriously about research.33 It is also during these years that they have increasing opportunities to consider questions of responsibility. At the present time, most instruction on responsibility at the graduate level takes place informally through discussions in laboratory settings and between mentors and their students (see ''Promoting Discussion," above). A few schools have instituted special programs, recognizing that graduate education provides an ideal atmosphere for more formal instruction on responsibility.
Adding formal instruction on responsibility and related issues at the graduate level is problematic. It is at this level that educational paths start to diverge and specialize dramatically. For the most part students are no longer in large, common classes. Their programs are full, their time limited, and their needs more focused on particular problems. For these and other reasons, there has not been a parallel STS movement at the graduate level. Still, if the Texas experience is at all indicative, there clearly is room for some instruction in common about responsibility and related problems at the graduate level.
The promotion of the activities discussed in this section and previous sections can be accomplished more effectively if there is some coordination. It is for this reason that a few campuses have sought to establish campuswide programs aimed at one or more aspects of the problems and issues associated with professional responsibility.
The Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions at Indiana University has for a number of years taken an active campus and national role in promoting discussions of professional ethics. In line with similar centers, it has sponsored courses; encouraged curricular innovation, both on its own campus and other campuses; and organized a number of national symposia. Its director, David Smith, is also the prime organizer of the new Association for Practical and Professional Ethics. The Poynter Center has recently begun a major new initiative, "Catalyst: Indiana University's Program on Ethics in Research," which is seeking to "increase awareness about research ethics issues among students and faculty, through discussion and through the introduction of course units on research ethics. …"37 The impact is intended to be campuswide, introducing the discussion of research ethics issues into as many different forums and settings as possible, but with some direction and coordination from a single program.
opinion exists, all one has to do is raise the question of making more room for ethics in the curriculum at a meeting of science or engineering faculty on any university campus.
Those who favor minimal involvement tend to believe that responsibility is learned early in life and outside the classroom, not in university settings. Norms such as honesty, integrity, and reliability, it is argued, are applicable to life in general and are therefore fostered (or not fostered) well before individuals make decisions to become researchers. For those individuals who do eventually become researchers, their sense of responsibility (of morality) adopted early in life may be all that matters when they become scientists and engineers—an assessment that leads some to conclude that responsible researchers are "born," or at least trained early, if not "made."
While it may be true that early education can guide scientists or engineers through some sticky professional problems, it certainly will not help them resolve problems that involve genuine ethical dilemmas. What should a researcher do if she believes she can see a pattern in data being collected but is not sure? What should an engineer do if he is asked to work on a project that might be injurious to the environment or put large numbers of persons out of work? What should clinical researchers or physicians do if they are concerned about the dangers of AIDS research? How should priorities be sorted out when an unread thesis, an unreviewed journal article manuscript, and an unwritten research proposal are all sitting on a scientist's or engineer's desk demanding attention and the time for that attention is limited? Even those who honestly want to act responsibly to follow cherished principles are at times put in situations where principles and general attitudes about responsibility give no clear answers.
there is still much that universities can do to remind and clarify for researchers what it means to be "responsible."
How much universities will ultimately do to foster responsible conduct in science and engineering research will, no doubt, remain proportional to perceived needs. As long as the present public concern continues about fraud in science, conflicts of interest by researchers, the questionable "good" of some projects, the high cost of research, and other problems, it is likely that universities will seek to do more to foster responsibility. Moreover, whether universities believe so or not, there can be no doubt that the public believes that universities have obligations to foster responsibility, including in science and engineering research.
The stance universities take on their obligations to foster responsibility will, in turn, ultimately determine how much is done. This fact became apparent in talking with colleagues on different campuses, some of whom had active programs on their campuses to foster responsible conduct in research and others who had tried to develop such programs but failed. Where there was a supportive atmosphere, programs, courses, discussions, and so on flourished. Where supportive atmospheres have been lacking, some very well intentioned efforts have failed.
What are the ingredients of a supportive atmosphere? Ideally, an administration that is willing to devote some of its time, attention, and support to activities that will foster responsible conduct in science, engineering, and scholarship in general, plus a faculty that has the willingness to devote some of its time and energies to students, campus service, and discussion of the role of science and engineering in modern society. Where either one of these ingredients has been lacking, steps to foster responsibility have been slow in coming. The best-intentioned faculty have a difficult time making changes without administration support. Administrators cannot make changes without the support of faculty, unless they have been able to raise large amounts of money to make changes.
done to foster responsible conduct in science and engineering research is dependent on many factors, not all of which can be controlled or predicted with any certainty.
Granting that there is uncertainty, it is nonetheless instructive, encouraging, and exciting to learn of and think about the variety of actions that faculties and administrators on university campuses are taking to ensure that science and engineering research will remain responsible activities in the future. Their efforts surely will not be irrelevant to the role science and engineering play in American society in the decades that lie ahead.
Sigma Xi, 1986, Honor in Science, Second edition, Sigma Xi, New Haven, Conn.
National Institutes of Health (NIH), 1990, Guidelines for the Conduct of Research at the National Institutes of Health, NIH, Bethesda, Md.
There are exceptions to this generalization. For example, Harvard University has a general set of guidelines that gives brief normative rules under the headings "Supervision of Research Trainees"; "Data Gathering, Storage, Retention"; ''Authorship"; "Publication Practices"; and "Laboratory Guidelines." See Harvard University Faculty of Medicine, 1988, Guidelines for Investigators in Scientific Research, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Additional guidance can usually be found in handbooks on administrative procedures published by the offices that oversee research (for an example, see n. 12 below).
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1985, Interim Public Health Service Policies and Procedures for Dealing with Possible Misconduct in Science, PHS, Washington, D.C.; following directives in the Health Research Extension Act of 1985 (42 U.S.C. section 289B), which required that each entity receiving a grant submit with its application assurances that (1) it has established procedures for handling allegations of misconduct, and (2) it will report any allegation to PHS.
California Institute of Technology, 1989, Policy on Research Fraud, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.
University of Michigan, 1986, Interim Policy Statement on the Integrity of Scholarship and Investigating Allegations of Misconduct in the Pursuit of Scholarship and Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; based on the earlier report by the Task Force on the Integrity of Scholarship, 1984, Maintaining the Integrity of Scholarship, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
University of Maryland at Baltimore and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1989, Policies and Procedures Related to Allegations or Other Evidence of Academic Misconduct, University of Maryland, Baltimore, pp. 2-4. Variations of these lists and brief discussions of misconduct can be found in: University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine, 1988, Policy and Procedures for Review of Alleged Unethical Research Practices, UCLA, Los Angeles; University of Chicago, 1986, Report of the Provost's Committee on Academic Fraud, University of Chicago, Chicago; University of Colorado, 1988, Administrative Policy Statement: Misconduct in Research and Authorship, University of Colorado, Boulder; University of Minnesota, 1989, Policies and Procedures for Dealing with Fraud in Research, Interim Administrative Policy, University of Minnesota, Rochester; and University of North Carolina (UNC), 1989, Policy and Procedures on Ethics in Research, UNC, Chapel Hill.
University of Maryland, Policies and Procedures, 1989, p. 2.
State of Ohio, "The Ohio Revised Code, Chapter 102: Public Officers—Ethics," p. 7, as referred to in Scott, M. H., 1984, "Ethical Standards," a memorandum, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
Pennsylvania State University, 1989, Policy on Conflict of Interest, Pennsylvania State University, College Park.
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1984, Conflict of Commitment Guidelines for Full-Time Faculty, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, pp. 6, 8.
University of Michigan, 1990, Administration of Sponsored Projects, Division of Research Development and Administration, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (revised annually). Not mentioned on this list, but also relevant, would be rules on computer use and the treatment of employees. To one extent or another, all major research universities have similar sets of rules. See, for example, Stanford University, 1990, Research Policy Handbook, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif. The handbook is "comprised of selected policy statements and guidelines which support the research enterprise at Stanford."
It is interesting to note that some university policies on one or another aspect of responsible conduct are generously borrowed from the policies already adopted at other universities without giving attribution. The bounds between undisputed plagiarism and the "acceptable borrowing" of words, phrases, and introductory and descriptive materials are not as easily drawn as some imagine.
The 13 areas are use of human subjects; use of vertebrate animals; use of radioactive materials; carcinogens; recombinant DNA; biological hazards; proprietary materials; classified research; other restrictions on openness of research; subcontracting; potential conflict of interest; work off university property; and study of another country. See University of Michigan, n.d., Proposal Approval Form, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
University of Michigan Medical School, n.d., Application to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for Approval of Research Involving Human Subjects, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
University of Michigan, Application to the IRB, n.d.
University of Michigan Medical School, 1989, Program in Principles of Scientific Integrity for National Research Service Award (NRSA) Applicants, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and University of Michigan Medical School, 1989, Guidelines for the Responsible Conduct of Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Bok, D., 1982, Beyond the Ivory Tower: Social Responsibilities of the Modern Research University, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass; see especially chaps. 6 and 7.
Interview, Dennis Thompson, director, Program in Ethics and the Professions, Harvard University, November 1990.
Interview, Morton Litt, Office of Research Issues, Harvard University Medical School, November 1990.
University of Colorado, n.d., Administrative Policy Statement: Misconduct in Research and Authorship, University of Colorado, Boulder.
University of Colorado, Boulder, 1990, "Operating Rules and Procedures of the Standing Committee on Research Misconduct," October 1.
Interview, Alan Greenberg, Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, November 1990.
National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration (ADAMHA), 1989, "Requirement for programs on the responsible conduct of research in National Research Service Award institutional training programs," NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts 18(December 22):1. The requirement was effective July 1, 1990.
The deadline for the first applications affected by this rule was January 10, 1991. It will therefore be some months before the initial impact of the new requirement can be reviewed. For the NIH's initial thoughts on compliance, see Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), 1990, PHS Workshop: Education and Training of Scientists in the Responsible Conduct of Research, March 8-9, Public Health Service, Washington, D.C.
Based on presentation given by Floyd Bloom at the workshop described in DHHS, PHS Workshop, 1990, and on subsequent telephone conversations.
Universities have also taken action in response to the NIH requirements for dealing with misconduct in research (see n. 5 above). However, this requirement simply calls for rules to deal with misconduct and therefore does not emphasize fostering responsible conduct.
For example, programs such as the recent symposium titled "Ethical Issues in Research," sponsored by the FIDIA Research Foundation, Georgetown University, April 29-30, 1991.
The institutional reforms discussed below generally have foci that are much broader than science and engineering per se. However, fostering responsibility in sciences and engineering research certainly finds a home under the broader umbrellas of these reforms.
For a description of one such course recently developed at Florida State University, see Gilmer, P. J., and M. Rashotte, 1989/1990, "Marshalling the resources of a large state university for an interdisciplinary 'science, technology, and society' course," Journal of College Science Teaching (December/January):150-156.
For a summary of the development of STS studies, focusing particularly on research, see Hollander, R., and N. Steneck, 1990, "Science- and engineering-related ethics and values studies: characteristics of an emerging field of research," Science, Technology, and Human Values 15(January):84-104.
University of Minnesota College of Agriculture, 1990, Project Sunrise Third Annual Report: July 1989 - June 1990, University of Minnesota; and conversations with Mark L. Brenner, associate dean, University of Minnesota Graduate School.
It is recognized that there are differences between science and engineering. Generally, engineers get more deeply into their subjects during their undergraduate years than do scientists.
Presentation given by R. William Butcher at the workshop described in DHHS, PHS Workshop, 1990, and subsequent conversations with Stanley J. Reiser.
Other broad programs have been or are being established at Indiana University, Dartmouth College, Wayne State University, Harvard University, and Princeton University, to mention only a few. Special discipline- or profession-based programs (e.g., medical ethics or engineering ethics) exist on many campuses.
Interview, Robert DeHaan, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Emory University, November 1990, and a brief conversation with Billy E. Frye, vice president for academic affairs and provost, Emory University.
Conversations with David Smith, director, Poynter Center, Indiana University, and from descriptions of the Catalyst Program.
One influence that is not specifically related to science and engineering research but that may have a bearing on how much respect policies relating to responsibility in research receive is the gender bias that is found in many of these policies. Some still exclusively use male pronouns. Equally insensitive is the practice of noting in a footnote that "Masculine parts of speech are hereafter presumed to include the feminine" (Harvard University Faculty of Medicine, 1990, Policy on Conflicts of Interest and Commitment, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.; see also University of Michigan, 1989, Guidelines). The lack of sensitivity to inclusively is one more factor that bears on atmosphere and helps or undermines efforts to foster responsibility. | 2019-04-25T14:55:44Z | https://www.nap.edu/read/2091/chapter/2 |
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Shat is a small village in Lithuania, near the larger town of Keidan, more or less in the center of Lithuania.
It is a very primitive village. No roads nor electricity. In the evening lamps are the only illumination to houses. Neither is there any railway access to the village.
There are about 90 Jewish families living in the village, which number is increased from time to time by people from the surrounding villages. In Shat it is difficult to find a committee to consist of a president or a governor, but at time even little kaisers are found.
The cultural functions are very limited, no theaters, nor cinemas, and no theater groups ever visit the village. However there is a small library of 500 books.
Their gemilas khesed (interest-free loan society) at one time had 28,000 lita (Lithuanian currency) in its coffers, which was of great help. But at a later time stage financial problems cropped up, which naturally affected the villagers.
Shat was a poor village with very few skilled artisans. A number of villagers owned horses and carts, but there was very little means to earn a decent living, and most people existed from hand to mouth. They also eked out a living from their dairy cows. But despite all the hardships and poverty, the people of Shat never lost their sense of humor, their determination and their togetherness.
The Jewish community in Balbirishok is very old. The witnesses are the two large cemeteries, of which the newer one is 140 years old.
Balbirishok was once a rich trading town. Boats packed with a variety of goods would travel every day up and down the wide and deep waters of the Nieman. Many rich merchants in the shtetl made it even as far as the Leipzig Fair on only two axles [i.e. in a wagon]. Balbirishok was a trading center for many of the surrounding towns. Then with the arrival of a railway line and highways in the nearby towns of Alyta and Pren, all the commerce moved there.
Now great poverty reigns here. People wander around the shtetl without work and even the wisest sage cannot succeed in rescuing the majority of Jews here from what life brings. In the last three or four years, ten Jewish shops have closed in Balbirishok and those that remain are empty the entire week. There are very few artisans here and no one to help them, as there was before the war. Certain trades that once were monopolized by Jews are now free of Jews. In the shtetl there is not one Jewish blacksmith, brick mason, tinsmith or shoemaker. Consequently other trades have too many men. There are five bakers and four butchers. Three or four of them together slaughter one skinny animal. Meanwhile Lithuanian tailors, shoemakers, brickmasons, and carpenters in recent years have been springing up by the dozens.
The Balbirishok Jews have discovered a new business. They buy chickens at the market from the nearby towns and drive them to Kovno. The Balbirishkers call this new kind of businessman, with irony, Ministers of the Interior [a pun on inner for interior, and hinner, the plural of chickens in Yiddish]. They are also called vishtinenkes [chicken people]. No one can envy the living they earn.
The one thing that Balbirishok is not ashamed of compared to the surrounding towns is its factories. There is a distillery, leather factory, brick works, mill, furniture manufacturer, sawmill with a parquet factory, and also a small workshop, where mirrors are made, where the owner works on his own. All the industrial enterprises besides the furniture factory and one sawmill belong to Jews; however, they do not have a dominating role and do not play any part in the economics of the town. During the season there are seventy men working in all these enterprises, but of all those workers only three are Jews. The rest of the Jews have no real means of subsistence. Assistance from America used to be considerable, but is now reduced to a minimum.
During the summer about half a dozen Jews with orchards also trade in chickens. Since they are driving the chickens to Kovno they also take cases of apples or pears to sell at the Kovno market.
The Jewish folksbank has 100 members, of whom a dozen are Christians. The bank plays a large role in the shtetl's economy because there are hardly any Jews who don't need the bank's services.
The young people are barely employed. They wander around the streets with nothing to do and talk about politics. In the past a lot of young people left for Mexico, Argentina and Uruguay. Now the gates there are closed due to strict laws and the Great Depression. About 30 settlers left Balbirishok in the last 15 years for Palestine.
Cultural life here is abominable. The rich library with its eight hundred books is practically empty. The children who complete the Hebrew public school do not pursue further studies and forget the little that they learned.
The shtetl Tsaikishok is located in Kovno district not far from the Dubisa River. It is very small. Tsaikishok has over 60 Jewish families who are mostly shopkeepers, traders, and artisans. During the summer many of the residents are busy in the orchards.
The economic situation in the town is not good. There is a folksbank in Tsaikishok that was the first one founded in Lithuania. It has over 60 members.
The relationship between Jews and Lithuanian is not bad. If the two Lithuanian shops in Tsaikishok participate in bloyeh markelakh [blue coupons, anti-Semitic tactic that discounted prices in Lithuanian shops in order to discourage shopping in Jewish shops], it is due not to anti-Semitism but simply to make a living.
As for cultural institutions, there is a Jewish public school. The Jewish library has over 500 Yiddish books and over 20 readers. There is no theater or movie house in Tsaikishok and no lecturers come here. The young people are mainly Zionists and belong to the Zionist Socialist party. Among the parents there many Zionists of various persuasions.
Busses go through Tsaikishok daily on their way to Kovno, Raseyn and back. They bring some life to the town. We see new people and are not cut off from the world. Because it is small, Tsaikishok is clean enough with attractive painted houses. We still do not have electrical service. In the middle of a summer day it is quiet and calm as if everything is sunk in sleep.
Gelvan is located 20 kilometers from Vilkomir. It is an old shtetl. There are signs of its age in the cemetery. There are many old gravestones there. One of the gravestones from 5419 (1659) is still there. Not far from the shtetl is a meadow with gravestones scattered about, rubbed off through the generations. A Gelvaner informed me that there was once a cemetery there.
Not long ago Gelvan was considered a rich shtetl. All our business ties were with Vilna. Twice a week Jewish wagons would leave for Vilna with grain, eggs, poultry and the like, and would bring back merchandise for the shops. Shoemakers, tailors, carpenters, blacksmiths and other artisans were all Jewish. To have work done in the area one had to come to Jewish artisans. A few Jews earned money from the nearby landowners. Tenant farmers and brokers did business with the landowners and made a living. There were not many Jews in Gelvan who were poor. People lived quietly and happily. Now they are almost all shopkeepers and a few are village peddlers, but every one of them makes a living from relatives in America.
Before the war [WWI] Gelvan was a Jewish town with a population of about ninety Jewish families. Other than that there were about eight or nine families, laborers who made their living from the Jews. Now there are 70 Jewish families and more than 80 Christians families, with shops, two cooperatives, and a very rich Lithuanian folksbank. The Lithuanian are now the majority and soour shtetl is dying little by little.
From the earlier good times there is one thing left to us, that reminds one of a respected householder who has come down in the world and whose fine clothes hang loosely, too big for him. That is our besmedresh [synagogue], a very big one. Apparently the builders of the synagogue thought that Gelvan would one day be a large town and built the besmedresh accordingly. Now it is empty.
A brick bathhouse also remains from the good times. It is large and is heated only three times a year, as we cannot do more. It is too much of a luxury.
The relationship with the surrounding population at one time was very good, almost friendly. Now the intellectuals incite the population against Jews with invented stories. A short time ago there was a cooperative holiday and one of them went too far. He said in his speech that very soon all the Jews in Lithuania will be forced out and meanwhile demanded that no Christian should buy from Jewish shops.
The library of the Lovers of Knowledge has over 400 books, but the people of Gelvan are not great readers. The Zionist Socialists have a Garden of Edenthey are the only Zionist group here.
Just twoscore years ago 100 Jewish families lived in Pushelat, and now there are no more than 45. A small number of them remained in Russia after being expelled from Lithuania at the time of the World War I, and many more, after returning to their former homes, emigrated to South Africa, Palestine, and America.
The majority of Jews in the shtetl are engaged in small business in shops, but the living they make from this is scant. A small number of Jews have taken up crafts or agriculture. The working families are divided up as follows: one shoemaker, one tailor, three butchers, two wagon drivers, one watchmaker, one milliner, two dressmakers, and five who farm either on their own or rented property.
Relations with the Christian community are so-so. The cultural situation, thanks to the young people in the area, is not bad. They have a library of 200 books, which include some of the most recent publications. In addition there is a public school, a small credit bank, gemilas khesed [interest-free loan society] and linat hatzedek [volunteers who care for the sick], all of which are on a high level of excellence. In our shtetl we have taken steps to establish a Hebrew public school, but the teacher speaks Yiddish with the children.
In the local group of firefighters there are both Jews and Christians, who cooperate in a variety of joint undertakings. Among these we have had for a few years a firemen's soccer team that is mixed (made up of Jews and non-Jews).
Before the war [WWI], as older people tell the story, life in Vilyon was calm and peaceful. Today Vilyon is a town with eighty Jewish families, almost all of whom own their own house with a bit of land around it. But there is not enough land to make a living fromonly enough for raising some onions and radishes. Nevertheless Vilyon lives very well. If one has a little business, a little land, and above all a son in America, one can live like a prince. Of course it goes without saying that there are some people in Vilyon who do not have a brother or a beloved uncle in America or a garden or a business and they also live, but woe unto them.
Vilyon has a large number of artisans and unskilled laborers. They have a difficult life. There is no Jewish bank or gemilas khesed [interest-free loan society] in Vilyon.
The town has a large number of anti-Semites. The verslininkes [Lithuanian businessmen] distribute bloye markelakh [blue coupons, anti-Semitic tactic that discounted prices in Lithuanian shops in order to discourage shopping in Jewish shops] and make anti-Semitic proclamations. Yet among the poor peasants and the poor laborers there is no anti-Semitism.
There is a Jewish public school in the town and a Lithuanian public school with six grades. There are two Jewish study houses and one bathhouse, which this summer will be taken down and replaced with a new one.
Vilyon is divided into two parts, a mountain and a valley, and the residents are evenly divided between the two. The majority of the Jews live in the shtetl [in the valley?]. Vilyon has a church that was built by Vitautas the Great. Vilyon also has beautiful gedymin and pilies [Lithuanian: streets and roads].
In all, Vilyon is a town with great natural beauty, but the Vilyon Jews do not derive any pleasure from it. There is much unemployment, mainly among the young people. People wait for somethingthey want something and know that something must happen, so they wait: perhaps better times are coming.
The economic situation is bitter, but it is good that the Most High sent shchav [Russian: cabbage soup]. People eat shchav in the morning; for lunch, fleishik [meat] shchav; and in the evening, bread with milkhik [dairy] shchav. Mid-day, please have a cup of shchav! In the winter there is an abundance of crops and people dig up potatoes, carrots, and beets. They pickle cucumbers and tomatoes. And once in a while there is a hen or a goose and people have a little shmaltz [chicken fat]. Soon the winter ends and spring arrives with brand new shchav.
Shavlyan is a shtetl in Shavl District and just when the town was greatly esteemed, it was removed and moved to a place forty kilometers away. The town is 18 kilometers from Radvilishok.
Of the surrounding towns, Tsitovyan [Tytuvenai] is important because of its pine forest where several families go to dachas [Russian: summer houses] during the summer. The rest of the cities and towns that are around are Shidleve [Siluva], Kelm [Kelme] and Shakot [Saukotas]. As in many other towns in Lithuania, Shavlyan has a round market place with houses built around it. In every house there is a shop, in some even two. Streets radiate out from the market place. One on the right goes to Radvilishok; the one on the left to Shavel and Tsitovyan, a third one go to Shidleve, Shakot and others. The first two are very important. Once a year the Shidlev Road is repaired, and that is before the large annual fair that the famous Lithuanian writer Zhemaite wrote about in A Journey to Shidleve. Thousands make a pilgrimage through Shavlyan and they all use the Shidlev Road.
In the middle of the market place there used to be a highly visible memorial to Aleksander II, who freed the peasants; it was removed in 1930. The memorial is ten meters high and has a long iron point at the top. It looks like a large Chanukah dreidel that from turning so much rubbed off its feet and sits on its bottom. On all four sides on stone tablets is engraved Tsariu Osvoboditeliu [Russian: To the Czar-Liberator]. At the highest point, hundreds of birds make their nests and the lowest part serves as a shelter for the peasants who come to the market to sell butter, eggs and other products. In 1930 the valdiba [Lithuanian: town council] decide to take the memorial down.
Today there are about 250 families living in Shavlyan, of which 50 are Jewish. It is difficult to establish when the Jewish community arrived. It is known that in 1766 when counting the population of the area, there were 331 Jews in Shavlyan.
In Jewish history Shavlyon is know for a blood libel that happened at the beginning of the 18th century. Until recently mothers told their children about Lipke der meshumed [the rogue], who in those unsettled times brought so much trouble to the local Jews, and also about the important people who came from Petersburg in order to settle the affair.
In 1921 after the expulsion to Russia, almost all the Jews returned to Shavlyan. Everything was quickly restored, some better, some worse, but everyone was happy. And prosperity lasted about ten years. Due to the great economic crisis in the country, the Jewish artisans and some of the shopkeepers have become truck farmers and orchard keepers. If one counts the three-four families who were involved in agriculture before the war [WWI] the main occupation in the town would be fruit farming. Second place goes to the retail shops.
Returning from Russia, the young people of that time became busy with cultural work. In a short time a library was created with 300 books. From time to time there would be lectures, discussions, evenings. The older people read a lot and there was evening a reading room in the town. These were people devoted to cultural work. Here I would like to honor the memory of Yokhved Schapiro-Luntz, who died young and was the soul of the young people at that time.
Now there is no sign left of all that. The library is closed all year because nobody has the inclination to read a book now. There is no Jewish public school in Shavlyan. Some of the Jewish children attend the Lithuanian school, but the majority of boys study in kheder under the supervision of the rabbi.
Have you heard of shtetlakh named Onishkis or Anushishok? If you have, then you probably also know that in our country there are two such towns with the same name. One is at the Lithuanian-Polish border [54°29' / 24°36'] and the second at the Lithuanian-Latvian border. It is the latter town that I will describe here. An old gravestone found in the old cemetery prior to the Great War [WWI] tells us that it was erected 150 years ago. This means that our community is not a young one.
Several celebrities were born in our town. One of them is the famous revolutionary and martyr Hirsh Lekert, who was born and raised here. Several people in Anushishok remember well the lively, temperamental boy who at a young age moved to Vilna and whose shot [unsuccessful assassination attempt directed at the Governor of Vilna] later resounded like a thunderclap throughout Russia, especially in the Jewish Pale of Settlement.
A second celebrity of world renown, whose name is still remembered in Anushishok, is the late Mariampoler rabbi, the former Sejm [Polish Parliament] Deputy Rabbi Popl. Many people in Lithuania still remember his courageous stand in the Sejm concerning the proposed law to abolish capital punishment.
The picture after the war is very different. Many families did not return from Russia after the expulsion, and those who did come back were quickly disappointed by their old, abandoned homes. The partition of Lithuania from Latvia was fatal to the rebuilding of the town. The domestic farmers have no one to bring their produce to here, since they cannot go to the nearby regional capital to buy and sell the way they did before the partition.
Young people coming back after the war from the front and military service look around in despair. There are no prospects here and nowhere else to go. Only one small door is open: South Africa. Some tried to stick it out here and gave it their best effort, but then departed. Today a total of 25 Jewish families live here. They have opened a home for the aged, where the old people are maintained with American dollars and South African pounds. And the truth is, the people of Anushishok from Boston and New York, from Cape Town and Johannesburg, have strong feelings for their former homeand not only for their own loved ones but for the community institutions. Yet there is an outpouring of pain here. People wander around like ghosts and give the impression of doom, as if suffering their last punishment.
On summer evenings, in the ruins of the once important courtyard, we often have to endure the joyous sound of Lithuanian folk songs about a new life of happiness, labor and toilthe singers are Lithuanians newly enamoured of agriculture. Meanwhile just the faint sound of the trees from the cemetery is carried to our shtetl, while a rolling green field recently purchased [by a Lithuanian] secretly beckons. The Lithuanians will continue to prosper from year to year, while my shtetl will continue to decline.
Seven kilometers east of Lazdai [Lazdijai], on the road to Kalvarija, lies the tiny shtetl Rudamin. The town was built, about 200 years ago, by the famous Polish family of Princess Gawronski.
At first tailors and shoemakers settled here. A rabbi arrived later and made his living from an inn. They built a prayer house, They rented a place for the cemetery and began developing a Jewish life. The Gavronskis did not sell any land, only leased. Every five years the Jews renewed the lease agreements, paying the rent money promptly. Later the Gavronskis began to persecute the Jews, causing them trouble, made fun of their clothing, forbid them to use the water from the Rudaminelis River that flows through the town, invited the rabbi and complained to him about the Jews.
By the end of 18th century Rudamin had about fifty Jews. In 1899 one Jew bought the entire area. Then Rudamin began to flourish. True there was no rise in cultural life. Rudamin remained dark. But there were Jewish laborers in Rudamin. There were tailors, shoemakers, carpenters, shingle makers, roofers, harness-makers and the rest of them were peasants. Jewish peasants tilled the fruitful fields and their wives were in charge of the housekeeping and raising plants. In Rudamin lived a healthy, productive, independent Jewish element.
Today Rudamin is impoverished. There are about 15 Jews and 150 non-Jews. Today, half the Jews are shopkeepers and are doing tolerably well. The other half are peasants and are not doing well. Mother Nature has been cruel to her children. She does not give them a bountiful harvest, only just enough. A year ago several Rudaminer Jews left for Lazdai, some went to Kalvaria, others went further to other places. Now there is scarcely anything left of the Jewish community.
Kul has a population of three hundred people of which around one hundred are Jewish. The relationship between the Jewish and Christians populations was until not long ago very good. The Jews and Christians would do favors for each other.
The Jewish population grew smaller very quickly. There are very few weddings and when we are lucky to have a wedding, the couple leaves Kul. The economic situation for Kul's Jews is miserable. There is only one Jewish artisan in Kul, a shoemaker.
The children study at the Lithuanian public school and the young boys study Hebrew in the afternoon. In the previous better years the Kul children traveled to Plungian to study at the Hebrew high school. Now the economics conditions are worse so that no Jews are able to send their child to study elsewhere.
The young people who belong to the Peretz library in Plungian eagerly read Yiddish books.
The town of Kul consists of one long street. Also they do not have any large expenses. Not the Kul Jews. The Jew has besides aid from a relative in a foreign country, a little bit of land or a garden. Almost every Jew has a foolish cow that gives milk and since he already has a cow, he also has clay pots in which to ferment the milk. Now there is something fermented in the house, there is cottage cheese and there is also something to flavor the plain fish. Potatoes they get from their gardens that they sow and harvest themselves so eating it all up is their due. It is bitter to buy clothing. They lay a patch on a patch. Happiness is that one does not have to pay any tax. And the patches are not the same color. So here they are among their own.
The Ponevezh rabbi and Sejm [Polish parliament] deputy Kahanaman is from Kul, and people hope that he can save them.
From Vilkomir a broad road, or as it is called here a gostinetz [from Russian for inn], leads to Ponevezh and further, as far as Riga. Wagon caravans once used this road to travel to Riga and came back loaded with grain and other merchandise. The many hotels and inns along the road served as rest spots.
There were a lot of small settlements on the road and they have become smaller and smaller. Now some of them are in ruins. They tell of a life that no longer exists, of the genuine shtetl way of life, of good-natured, hospitable and honest Jews with long beards. They tell of peddlers with huge packs on their backs whose feet walked over village roads, fields and meadows. They tell of tenant farmers with broad shoulders, who drove over the small estate roads to the town with wagons full of fresh milk. They tell of kheder boys who were brought from the surrounding settlements to the town, to the rabbis. They tell of the settlement Jews who would descend on the town their with wives and children for the High Holy Days.
Before the Great War of 1914, Tovian had several tens of families with all the community necessities. After the war emigration scattered the large majority of the town youth to every part of the world. Those who remained live with the hope that they will be able to leave this futile place.
The town becomes smaller and smaller every year. Every corner of the Jewish community is ruled by the fear over making a living, since Jewish means of livelihood have been taken over by the Christians. Houses are sold to non-Jews very cheaply. The only Jews remaining are those who cannot leave. The besmedresh [synagogue] is locked during the week and open only on the Sabbath with barely a minyan [quorum of ten men for public prayer]. The men sit near the oven between afternoon and evening prayers and have a chat about the past. A question is raised with a groan and remains unansweredwhat will happen to the besmedresh?
Scores of well-planned and beautifully laid-out Jewish towns developed along the entire length of the German-Lithuanian border and the German-Russian border. With friendliness and good humor, these towns observed their German neighbors across the border. During the working day a lifelong competition went on between the towns. Jews, Germans, Lithuanians, Poles, and Russians conducted business alongside one another and occasionally even socialized.
The town of Vishtinetz was pretty and idyllic. One side of the town was bordered by a large lake that stretched for miles, from Lithuania deep into Germany. On the other side, Vishtinetz was bordered by small hills covered by a thick, almost inpenetrable forest. The hills, to our childish eyes, looked like tall mountains.
The lake was a good meeting place for the German and Lithuanian fishermen (mostly Jews) as well as providing the perfect opportunity, during the previous Czarist rule, to row illegal immigrants to Germany from the Russian side and to bring illegal literature from Germany into Russia.
Vishtinetz was once a town of substantial size with a large religious Jewish community of landowners. The famous gaon [sage] Rabbi Khayeml Filipover Brash was a resident of Vishtinetz and was well known for his charity and for his greatness equally as a Talmud scholar and as a mensch [a human being, in the highest sense].
Vishtinetz was one of the oldest settlements in Lithuania. Because of its proximity to the German border, it was obvious that Vishtinetz would become a center of small industry. There were a number of pig-hair factories and tanneries, which employed approximately 200 workers.
The brush-workers had a hard time then. They worked 16 or more hours a day, with the majority of them having their dinner brought to the factory and some of them staying there overnight, resting on a sack of pukh [down,i.e. the soft part of the pig-hair] and sleeping. Thursday, or as it was called, Green Thursday, they worked through the entire night to compensate for Friday, when they left early because of the approaching Shabbos. The work week began again Saturday evening, right after havdala [ceremony ending Shabbos].
And yet the brush-workers were the first to introduce a worldliness into the Jewish life of the shtetl and to revolutionize the masses. Regardless of how strange it may seem now, the first book that awakened the consciousness of the workers was Mendele [Moikher Sforim]'s story The Mare. The sole copy of The Mare was passed from one group to another in secret since it had been banned, after all, and anyone caught with it would be arrested. I remember to this day how they led away the brush-worker Tanakhke Bunes, an honest and guileless worker thirsting for knowledge, to Vilkovishk, the district capital, for just such a serious mistake. This was the first disturbing incident that led to changes in the idyllic life of Vishtinetz.
It was difficult and troublesome to reach Vishtinetz from the Russian side, although it was only 21 verst away from Verzhbalove. Twenty-one verst are about 15 American miles. To travel this distance, however, often took the better part of the day and sometimes part of the night as well. The road was partly sandy, strewn with rocks and, in many places, so muddy that sometimes Vishtinetz was cut off from the rest of the worldno coming, no goingunless you took a long detour through Germany in order to reach the station at Verzhbalove. The only connection with the surrounding area was Moyshe the Telegraph, a young, strong man and army veteran, always happy, always making a joke and meeting every difficult situation with a smile. He rode to the train station every day, regardless of the weather, to post the mail, to bring merchandise back, and to transport passengers back and forth. He was called Telegraph because neither cold nor mud stopped him.
As time passed, Vishtinetz, like many other small towns, shrank in size. A portion of the younger generation, having gotten a whiff of the malevolent wind that blew from the German side, gradually leftsome to South Africa and others to America where they established themselves in fine positions. Even Moyshe the Telegraph, in time, made his way to Canada where he died a couple of years ago. Several of the pig-hair factories (Itsele Sidorski's and Khaim Bertz's) relocated to Virbalin and Vilkovishk, and the tanneries closed. The large, beautiful synagogue became empty and nostalgia for its former worshippers enveloped the adjoining house of study.
Quiet and sad were the streets that had become overgrown with grass, and the hearty and resounding laughter of the children who had once played there so innocently was no longer heard. To make matters worse, Vishtinetz unexpectedly experienced a hellish fire at the end of a summer 49 years ago, which virtually decimated the greater portion of the town.
Photograph with caption: A solemn worship service in the Vishtinetz synagogue in honor of the coronation of Nikolai II (1895) with the participation of a town official and the police commissioner. From right to left can be seen among others: R' Nakhum Itseles (teacher); Aba Abelevitch; Moyshe Pavishanski, Cantor; Leyzer Volf, town-head (from Brody); Khana Lipman (teacher); Avraham-Motl Viklavishski, Rabbi; Fayvl the shokhet [Kosher slaughterer]; Mordekhay Pats; and Itsele Peretses (Rubinshteyn).
But an odd honor was visited upon Vishtinetz, an honor that memorialized the town in history, even though the fire had partially wiped it off the face of the earth. On the other side of the lake, which culminated deep in Germany, was the large and beautiful estate Rume (?), hidden in a deep, virtually pristine forest. A magnificent palace stood there, with the entire surrounding area beautifully landscaped. The dense forest, the large lakeall of this was perfect for the Kaiser's yacht.
Every autumn, the Kaiser and his entire retinue arrived for the hunt. Here he could show off his prowess as a sharpshooter, that regardless of what target he aimed at, he would hit it. During this period of several weeks of free-spirited living at the expense of innocent animals, he would destroy a number of bears, hungry wolves and sometimes even lured a fox. But most importantly, he was an expert at frightened and shy deer. Afterwards, these dead animals were brought to Berlin with great ceremony and exhibited in the very center of the capital. The idiotic Germans hastened to gaze upon the slaughtered animals, which to them appeared to be such a wonder, and could not praise their Kaiser's skill highly enough.
Kaiser Wilhelm arrived in Vishtinetz for the hunt in the same year that the fire occurred. Learning that the pretty town located on the other side of the lake opposite his yacht had burned, his heart filled with pity, or maybe eagerness at seeing a burned-out Jewish town. One day he arrived in Vishtinetz with his retinue. It was Yom Kippur and there was no prior warning announcing his visit.
Wilhelm delighted in making such surprise visits and was well known for his sudden and unannounced appearances among the populace. Noticing the dead silence and the streets empty of people, he became downcastwhat should he do?
Even when the head of the town informed him of the important and holy Jewish holiday, he remained perplexed, for after all, a Kaiser is not just any ordinary person, and certainly not Wilhelm, who had been anointed by G-d. He sent a messenger to the Jews in the synagogue and politely requested that they go to the market place as he had something important to discuss with them.
The Jews, upon hearing of this developmenteven those in a talis [prayer shawl] or kitl [white garment worn onYom Kippur] and bootsrushed to the market place. The Kaiser exhibited his majestic patience and waited until the very last elderly man arrived from the synagogue.
Then Wilhelm dismounted his horse, and in a friendly manner greeted the Jewish representativethe teacher of the kazioner elementary school, Dovid Robinson (father of Drs. Yaakov and Nehemiah Robinson, both of whom are in New York), greeted everyone with good wishes for the new year, apologized for disturbing their prayers and imposing upon them with his summons.
The Kaiser offered fine words of consolation to the frightened people and substantial aid for reviving the town. He offered 10,000 marks (at that time equal to 4,000 rubles). Later he convinced his friend Czar Nikolai II to contribute a similar amount (5,000 rubles). In addition, he promised to intercede with the Czar to forego the tax on all necessary building materials obtained from Germany.
Dr. Rabinov, who spoke German fluently, greeted Wilhelm and thanked him heartily in the name of the Jewish community. Wishing the Jews an easy fast and great restoration after the fire, Wilhelm bade a friendly goodbye to the startled and surprised Jews.
Their fast was certainly an easier one, and happy and enthusiastic after the unexpected event that they could hardly comprehend, they went to Neilah [closing service on Yom Kippur], praying with even more fervor and fire than usual, calling out lshana haba birushalayim [next year in Jerusalem].
This event was described in all the Russian and German newspapers, and the Gemans lauded the Kaiser for his fine and humane act.
As I tell you this story, it seems to me to be the product of fantasy, a wild dream containing within itself the terrible wrongs which the Jews suffered at the hands of the barbaric Hitler gangs, sons of the German people, descendants of Wilhelm, but it is a fact, and a fact filled with such sorrow. Kaiser Wilhelm should serve as a model of high morale and good deeds and yet, what a far cry from that time, that not-so-long ago past to the dark Hitler times.
Yet even the royal intervention of Kaiser Wilhelm could not help, although he did keep all of his promises. Missing was the strength and energy of the youth; there was not the needed impetus to rebuild the entire town. The mood of impoverishment was felt even more strongly.
After the Great War barely a minyan [ten men required for public prayer] of Jews remained in Vishtinetz and the town reverted entirely to the rule of the Lithuanians and the Lithuanian-Germans.
Now there is no one there who, at the very least, will remind the German Hitler-murderers of the scandalous and law-breaking act of their late Kaiser Wilhelm II. Certainly, they have noone who will listen, who will take this unbelievable story of their former leaderKaiser Wilhelmas an example.
the town of Vishtinetz and which piece by piece, destroyed the tattered and tortured Jewish community.
Our Jewish Lithuanian border towns found themselves, through two world wars, in an infernal fire that could only have been created in hell. The earliest and fiercest battles between the two strongest armies in Europethe German and the Russiantook place there, with fighting that lasted for months on this narrow strip of land. The first to fall victim were our Jewish towns. Especially horrible was the fate of our Jews in the towns on the East Prussian border during World War II, when Hitler's hordes, did not even wait for an encounter but suddenly attacked and murdered the peacefully unaware residents in the very first days of the occupation.
Verzhbalove was located at the center of all the little towns on the East Prussian border lying on a broad tract of land which stretched from Leningrad (formerly Petersburg) past Dvinsk, Vilna, and Kovno directly to Berlin.
Verzhbalove was, so to speak, the connecting point between eastern and western Europe and was recognized as a first-class border station through which the Czar's family often passed. Not only did high government officials pass through Verzhbalove, but also European merchants, manufacturers and learned men, as well as immigrants and political revolutionary activists with, you understand, falsified papers.
In speaking of Verzhbalove, we must mention, in the same breath, two more towns Kibart, which was two American miles from Verzhbalove, and the German border town of Eydkunen directly opposite. In a sense, they were like a spinal cord, as one could hardly separate each town from the next.
Practically half of the Verzhbalove populace interacted with that of Kibart and Eydkunen on an almost daily basis. It was there that business was conducted: the export of all kinds of goods to Russia, and later, Lithuania and Germany. Thousands of people were employed in this business, earning a fine living. Jewish-Russian and Lithuanian exporters and importers interacted with German buyers and sellers. And what didn't they export to Germany! Cattle, grain, flax, lumber, pig-hair, mushrooms, horses, crayfish, all kinds of fruitall shipped by train. Chickens were driven along the streets through the control-point. From early morning until late at night, the air was filled with the sounds of countless masses of geese, ducks, chickens and turkeys, urged on by hundreds of drivers to the Eydkunen goose-ramp so they could be transported further to Germany. Jews from neighboring towns, such as Vilkovishk, Pilvishok, Mariampole, Kalvariye and others, were also employed in this work. Millions of fowl were shipped to Germany through Virbalin at harvest-time and thousands of families in Lithuania enjoyed a prosperous income. In addition, there were two pig-hair factories in Virbalin that employed a couple hundred brush-workers. They also employed town residents, craftsmen and others. The Jews of Virbalin also earned a living through agriculture.
In addition, this small border export business supported hundreds of families. In accordance with a specific agreement, the residents of both sides of the border were permitted to import a certain quantity of products and finished goods for their own use from one country to the other duty-free. In this manner, a life-sustaining exchange of products and merchandise took place between the residents of Eydkunen on one side and Kibart and Virbalin on the other. The Germans, as well as the Jews and Lithuanians, were content and lived in peace. It would not have occurred to any of them that hatred of each other would soon develop.
Regardless of how strong the daily interaction was between these populations or how amicable the relationships were among these three towns, each remained different and individual unto itself, especially in the Jewish sense.
The magid [preacher] of Kelm, wanting to portray the character and essence of these three closely linked towns, shouted with passion in one of his musar-derashes [ethics teachings]: A fire burns in Eydkunen, sparks fly in Kibart, and smoke hangs over Verzhbalove. Let us put out the fire so that we can keep our towns from a conflagration. His purpose was to evoke a picture of the licentiousness, wantonness and heresy that ruled in Eydkunen and the influence of its poison on the nearby Jewish communities.
In a sense, it was a very effective comparison. In Eydkunen, a deep spirit of assimilation could be felt among the local Jews who viewed themselves as aristocrats, presumably because of the wealth they had accumulated at the expense of the poor Lithuanian Jews. They spoke German beautifully and sought to marry into the Eydkunen yekes [German Jews]. On the other hand, later in Kibart the unexpected installation of a tariff office, and the presence of exporters, brought in a spirit of Russification and just plain emptiness.
The result of this intermingling was the hanging of the wealthy Jew from Kibart, Freydberg, during World War I. He was on friendly terms with the gendarme-commander, Myasoyedov, who was accused of spying for Germany and sentenced to be hanged. The Czar's evil uncle, Nikolay Nikolayevitch, was eager to accuse a Jew and they accused Freydberg of being a co-conspirator, therefore, he too was executed.
Verzhbalove had become saturated with the new ideology and its new directions for a very long time, both in non-Jewish as well as Jewish life. The ethics teachings of the magid of Kelm were therefore of no help, because the smoke emanated from much more far-reaching and deep sources.
Should a Jew from Kibart wish to partake of a glass of beer or participate in a card game, he went to Eydkunen where he found what he wanted. If, however, he wished to hear a portion of mishna [foundation of the Talmud in Oral Law] or a page of gemora [the part of Talmud that deliberates on mishna] or even to spend an evening in a spiritual atmosphere, one of culture, Hebrew, Zionism, Bundism [bund: Yiddishist Zionist Socialist labor party] and other ideological pursuits, he had to go to Verzhbalove.
If Lithuania was, in the broadest sense of the word, the most Jewish land (except, of course, Eretz Yisroel), then Verzhbalove could be considered one of the most Jewish towns in Lithuania, because Verzhbalove was a town of Torah scholars, of maskilim [enlightened adherents of the haskalah movement], and of people who could speak and teach Hebrew. Verzhbalove had the reputation of a Hebrew town and as far back as 30-40 years ago, the children were spoken to in Hebrew.
The first elementary schools were formed in Verzhbalove. Their founder was my teacher, Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu Sandler, a maskil with both a Jewish and worldly education, a writer on the staff of hamelitz and hatsfira [Hebrew newspapers], and an educator of several generations of students, many of whom are now in America. His son, Gregori Sandler, a renowned Zionist activist and social activist, now resides in Montreal, Canada.
Among those who lived in Verzhbalove, exerted their influence, and began their literary careers there, were Shmuel Leyb Gordon and Ben-Avigdor, both of whom married two sisters of Yehoash [pseudonym of writer Solomon Bloomgarten, 18701927, born in Verzhbalove]. It was perhaps natural that in this Yiddish-Hebrew environment someone such as Yehoash would grow up a dreamer who, even in his very young years, created songs about love and about the meaning of life and who later became the famous poet, writer and translator [into Yiddish] of the tanakh [acronym based on the initial letters in Hebrew for Torah, Prophets, Writings]. His father, R' Keylev bar Ayvushes Bloomgarten, well versed in Torah, worked day and night, as was the custom, studying the tannaim [early teachers of mishna]. His mother was a pious woman. Here, in the home of his parents, Yehoash was infused with the traditional Jewish spirit and gained inspiration for his later creations. They truly thought and wrote in Hebrew and dreamed of Zion. More than one young Verzhbalove boy carried with him songs and romance stories written in the holy language, but Yiddish was the spoken language. The Yiddish element strengthened when the workers' movement arose, with the bund [Yiddishist Zionist Socialist labor party] at its head. The hundreds of brush-workers who lived in town brought in a new trend and revolutionized the youth. Nevertheless, there remained enough dreamers, such as my second teacher, Reuven Kaplan, who continued the thread of the Hebrew maskil culture and of building their own world.
Among these dreamers were to be found those young boys and men with Zionist leanings, and foremost among them were the poet Fayvl Gringard, the enthusiastic visionary Zionist Zelik Sudarski, the imaginative and musical Nekhemiah Volpianski, the quiet dreamer Dovid Hilenberg, the student-guest Nisn Sudarski, and the kalter baheme-mentsh [indifferent simpleton] Aharon Shoydinishski.
I remember as if it were today, their meeting practically daily in the quiet evenings and dreamlike nights in a small, partially dark room, sipping glasses of tea that their girl friends served them with loving smiles. They spent hours in friendly talk and long discussions which lasted late into the night. It was there that they solved all the problems of the world, and most especially, the Jewish problems. Forgotten were the large political clubsthe world was no match for the tiny half-lit room in Yudl Grinberg's house.
After World War I, Kibart and Verzhbalove, following a short-lived renaissance, once again shrank. During the first years of national autonomy, they thought that a new era was approaching and Verzhbalove and Kibart, with energy and fervor, began to rebuild all that had been destroyed while under the long German occupation.
the dying gasps of a once rich and solidly established Jewish town. Today, in the building near the border where once there were 15 stores whose doors never were locked, one can see only the signs above the now locked doors. Today only two stores are open. From a third floor window can be seen, on the opposite side, the Russian district, quiet, dead quiet, just like the cemetery at the entrance to the town.
And at this border proper, to the left of the highway, is the control-point and next to it stands the Lithuanian flag. All former activity has ceased here, no longer do the residents of both towns go back and forth. Even local Jewish children no longer attend German schools daily. Only two or three wagons a day deliver merchandise for all expeditors.
Through the windows of the control-point, the Lithuanian official peers out wearily towards the other side of the border and his German colleague responds with a phlegmatic look from the opposite side. Between them stands the wooden bridge. On its railings, a half-meter apart, hang forlorn emblems of both countries, Saint George on his horse on the east side and on the west, the Prussian eagle. Beneath, the Lipane River snakes its way through, separating both countries and encircling the east side of the town.
As a town which contained several hundred Jewish families, Verzhbalove decided to create its own gymnazye [high school]. Its first director was Dr. Yaakov Robinzon.
Among those rabbis who held a position of honor in Verzhbalove, mention must be made of Dovid Tevele Katzenelenboygn, who later became the head rabbi in Petersburg (now Leningrad). His successor, Rabbi Efrayim Lap, was one of the founders of a large group of talmidey khokh'mim [brilliant scholars].
Rabbi Tzvi HaKohen, elder of the Montreal rabbinate and of all Canada, and Archibald Fridman, renowned Zionist and leader of Canadian Jewry, are also products of Verzhbalove. The famous Jewish-Russian painter Isaac Levitan was born in Kibart, and from the town of Bakshe, not far from Verzhbalove, came the Jewish poet Morris Rosenfeld. After World War I, there were many talented persons from Kibart and Verzhbalove who rose to prominence in the world of Jewish art, such as the renowned painter Mesenblum, the talented Yiddish/Hebrew folk-singer Masha Benya, and the young poet and artist Rekhavye Magiluker. The latter two are now in New York.
Notwithstanding the smoke over Virbalin from the fire in Europe, according to the allegorical reference by the magid of Kelm, life there revolved in a patriarchal and traditional Jewish manner.
As in any family, all of its members are not always similar one to the other and so it was in Verzhbalove, where there were a number of interesting types, interesting exemplars and each one was unique.
Here comes Shmerl the porter, moving rapidly but assuredly, with quick footsteps, sturdily built, hard-muscled, giving the appearance of having been carved from stone. He has just now finished unloading and reloading heavy boxes of merchandise and he did all of this with a minimum of strain, and now he is going to the beysmedresh [synagogue] to recite his portion of mishnayes [lines from the mishna, part of the Talmud].
Now we see Feytshe's [husband] Yudl strolling along, a scholarly Jew with a well-developed high forehead, his hat set back on his head. Even during the coldest days of the year and the hottest summer months, he wears galoshes and a silk kerchief covering his face up to his ears. His wife, Feytshe, an eyshet khayil [woman of valor, from Proverbs 31:10-31, recited by a husband to his wife on Shabbos] has taken care of everything and freed him from any worries about earning a living, and he can live without cares.
but that is as far as it goes, since he never brings his ideas to fruition. His is a life of unending dreams and dismal actuality, a constant struggle from living with his head in the clouds while eternally attached to the narrow space of his own small town, which he has not left for the last 50 years.
And suddenly, someone is running, distracted and out of breath, deep in thoughtit is R' Itsik the frum [traditionally observant]. Seldom does anyone address him by his proper second name, for as his name is so is he. He is a truly religious man with plenty to be concerned abouthe has a family of girls, keyn ayin hora [expression to ward off the evil eye]a large family, and money must be earned to take care of one's own, in this life as in the hereafter. Therefore he truly worries about everyone. So many poor, sick people, G-d forbid. Wherever there is a yeshiva student who needs a meal, a guest who needs a bed for the night and something to eat, a poor husband and wife, or simply a Jew in need, he treats them all with benevolence. This is how he performs mitsvos [good deeds in accordance with G-d's commandments], reciting as many brokhes [prayers] as possible, hundreds every day. He always keeps a bit of kikhl [cookie or baked goods] in his pocket and every now and then takes a little bite in order to fulfill the mitsva of blessing food, or he shows up at a friend's or neighbor's house at any time and says to himself Sit, Itsele. Drink a glass of tea, R' Itsele... and he is welcomed with a blessing.
Friday is his busiest day of the work week. Quite early, before candle-lighting, he runs to all the shops, asking the owners to close so that, G-d forbid, they should not desecrate Shabbos. And when everyone finally is sitting at their splendidly appointed Sabbath tables, one can see a harried R' Itsele running from house to house to make sure that anyone in need has a place to go for Shabbos.
In addition to all of this, he is a merchant, full of kindness and worldly-wise, with a money-changing office tucked into the pockets of his overcoat. He shoves his hands into those deep pockets and entire piles of silver coins, all kinds of small change and paper money appear, and the transaction is completed right on the spot. And yet he still finds enough time for studying a page of gemore or mishnayes and for communal worship with fervor, as well as for raising his son, R' Simkhe, to become a rabbi and a highly ethical person. R' Simkhe was the head of one of the Kovno yeshivas and perished in the Kovno ghetto.
But apparently, if life is not entirely without purpose, there is always a mixture which makes life clearer, more certain, andmost importantlymore natural, closer to reality. Virbalin was no exception.
Allegedly an underground world existed there too, but this underworld functioned during the time of Czarist oppression and it was both necessary and important. It was during the period in Czarist Russia when Jews and even non-Jews were not able to vote and had no rights, had to serve Nikolayke [ironically affectionate reference to Czar Nikolay II] for four or five years, and faced imprisonment for political transgressions.
Naturally, anyone who did not want to serve in the army or end up in prison escaped to the border towns, and more specifically, to Virbalin, seeking help from the smugglers of those who wished to emigrate. At that time the smugglers were really redeemers or deliverers, helping people escape from all kinds of trouble. Most certainly, those associated with the underworld also had dealings with the smugglersone of whom, Avrom Droyshin, the Jewish Cossack, was surrounded by unbelievable and fantastic legends.
Yet as a general rule, all the smugglers accomplished a purpose and many of the men who escaped will never forget them. Even now, with a prayer on their lips, they will mention those bold and brave young men, forgiving them for the transgression of demanding more money for helping them to cross the small strip of land that separated the large and unending Russia from the little town of Eydkunen. Probably many Americanspolitical activists as well as immigrantsowe them a debt of gratitude for their future and for their good life in free America. | 2019-04-26T11:45:51Z | https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/lita/Lit1614.html |
You are here: Cyborg5 Home > CY's Eye on Life > The best $2.69 I’ve ever spent.
The best $2.69 I’ve ever spent.
This is the 11th in a series of articles about my recent quest to replace a broken VCR in this era of DVDs, DVRs, and other newfangled gadgets. Click here for the beginning of the series.
After all that complaining about tunerless VCRs, not only was I able to replace my broken Toshiba VCR in my bedroom with a really nice Sony SLV-D370P DVD/VCR combo, when my JVC VCR in the office failed as well, I was able to get another of those same Sony’s to replace it. I had to get it through a third-party reseller through Amazon.com which is a little bit scary. Since the guy had good feedback I went ahead and ordered it. It came in a couple of days and has worked fine.
However there was still a problem using the Sony in the bedroom. 95% of my viewing in the bedroom is while I’m in bed. Handling a remote control in bed is a bit difficult for me. I couldn’t get my very old programmable remote to work the new Sony VCR. Since I have two VCRs in the bedroom and I only need to watch one of them in bed, I decided to swap the new Sony with my older JVC VCR and make the JVC my primary recorder that I use while in bed. Unfortunately this old programmable remote wouldn’t work the JVC either. I was going to have to buy a new remote control.
That doesn’t seem like a very big deal. $20 at Best Buy gets you just about any kind of remote you want. However I have to specially adapt the remote so I can use it. I can’t really hold the remote in my hand in a way that it’s pointing at the cable box, VCR, and/or TV. Instead I set it on a shelf and I have some extra push buttons on the end of a long cable that I hold in my hand while in bed.
The image on the right shows the two remote controls and the mess of cables leading to a cluster of 11 little switches that I hold in my hand to control the TV, cable box, and VCR. The story of those little micro switches and various remotes and devices I’ve wired with them is a pretty interesting story. So let’s set the time machine for about 25 or so years ago and review my history with rewiring devices with remote buttons.
Many years ago the first remote control TV I had in my bedroom only had two buttons on it. The first button was a channel up button. The other button cycled through four different settings. The first click turned it on and set the volume and a fixed high level. Subsequent clicks reduced the volume to medium and low volume settings. A fourth click turned the television off. It was sort of like the settings when you pull the chain on a ceiling fan. There was no channel down or volume up buttons but this was pre-cable so the were only 5 TV channels to cycle through. It used radio control rather than infrared so it didn’t have to be pointed at the TV set. I still had enough strength in my hand in those days to hold the entire remote and push the button with my thumb.
Later I got a new TV with a traditional infrared remote with the usual volume up and down, channel up and down etc. buttons. Because it needed to be pointed at the set, I couldn’t find a way to hold it in my hand properly. That was only a minor problem for me. I would simply have my dad rewire the remote with a few small micro switches.
Of all the pieces of adaptive equipment I’ve ever used, the one piece of equipment that ounce-for-ounce and dollar-for-dollar has been the most useful gadget I’ve ever had is the “Radio Shack Model Number 275-016 SPDT Micro Switch without Roller” currently selling for $2.69 at Radio Shack’s everywhere. This handy little switch measures just 3/4″ x 1/4″ x 3/8″. The very first one that I used was probably the most important adaptation of a device I’ve ever made.
In the winter of 1978 I was working full-time at Indiana University Department of Medical Genetics as a computer programmer. There was a blizzard that winter and we were off work for several days as the city shut down. I had nothing to do for several days except read computer magazine about these new wonderful devices called “personal computers”. As soon as the weather cleared I went right out and bought my first kit to build my own personal computer.
It was a Cromemco Z-2 S100 bus computer with a 4 MHz 8-bit Zylog Z-80 processor and 16k bytes of RAM memory. It was my pride and joy. Initially I used an old 12 inch black-and-white TV as a monitor and audio cassette tape for storage. This photo shows it later upgraded with two 5.25 inch floppy drives and 48k of memory. Click on the images for larger versions.
At that time I had pretty good use of my hands. Although I couldn’t dress myself or go to the bathroom without help, I could feed myself and most importantly for my career I could type on a regular computer keyboard. I was able to do some of the construction on the kit computer. I soldered many of the circuit boards myself using a small lightweight rechargeable soldering iron. Dad did all of the mechanical assembly. The image below shows a close-up of the S-100 circuit boards some of which I built myself.
It wasn’t long after I completed my computer that my disability got worse. Congestive heart failure and deterioration of my muscles from Spinal Muscular Atrophy took its toll on me. I had to quit work and go on disability. The worst part however was as I slowly began to lose the use of my hands. That meant I couldn’t use my computer anymore.
The breakthrough came when I realized I could prop the keyboard up on an easel so that the keys were facing me. I discovered I could prop up my right arm, and poke at the keys using a very long pencil. The image below from 1984 shows me (with much more here than I have now) typing on a similarly adapted Radio Shack Model 100 Computer.
The real problem was what to do about the “control” and “shift” keys. You can’t hold down those keys and type another key when you’re just poking at the keyboard with a stick. Note that in those days computer keyboards did not have “Alt” keys on them. Some of keyboards I used had a “Shift Lock” key which not only converted to upper case but also turned a number keys into punctuation marks like a real typewriter. Computer keyboards today have only a “Caps Lock” which only affects letter keys so for modern keyboards so not only do I have to worry about “control” but also “shift” and “alt”.
e with the stick in my right hand. It worked beautifully!
Soon I had Dad wiring these little switches into all sorts of devices. The next one was a $75 electronics stopwatch that I had bought at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway so that I could time the race cars. It took four of the switches to make that work. The stopwatch had various split time and reset buttons in addition to start and stop. That was much more challenging to solder wires into a tiny circuit board in a watch than it was to solder it into a full-size computer keyboard. Dad managed to do it somehow.
If I had ruined my computer keyboards or the stopwatch they would’ve been easy enough to replace however my next project was very scary. I had spent $650 on a new video camera. I need to solder in three micro switches to toggle record off and on and to zoom in and out. We managed to take apart the handle of the camera where the switches were in find a place to solder in some wires for my handy micro switches. Fortunately it worked and we didn’t blow up a $650 camera. Various other computer keyboards and gadgets got similar treatment over the years. I can’t begin to remember all things we wired up that way.
Eventually they developed some software for MS-DOS that use a special keyboard driver that would turn your “shift”, “control”, and “alt” keys into toggle keys. When Windows was introduced it had this accessibility feature built into it as an option. So I haven’t had to wire a computer keyboard remote in a long time. Most of the rewiring we do these days has been for television remote controls.
In the next installment I will explain more about how we go about rewiring remote controls with the switches and the difficulties we encountered this time around.
This is the 10th in a series of articles about my recent quest to replace a broken VCR in this era of DVDs, DVRs, and other newfangled gadgets. Click here for the beginning of the series.
I think the thing that bothers me most about this tunerless VCR situation is that there wasn’t any warning about this change. On the contrary they said repeatedly “Satellite and cable users have nothing to worry about.” For satellite users that’s pretty much true because everything comes through a satellite box that is already converting your digital satellite signals into something your TV or VCR can use. You typically connect to a satellite box by a composite video cable using red, white, and yellow RCA-style cables. Note however that some satellite systems are setup so that you can share a single satellite box with two or more devices (and presumably one of those could be a VCR). Typically these secondary connections use an RF coaxial cable and analog channels 3 or 4 or sometimes even old-fashioned UHF channels. If you are relying on such a system to connect your satellite box to a VCR and that VCR breaks, you’re going to have a hard time replacing it.
However the situation is much more complicated for cable users. When they said “Cable users don’t worry” I always presumed that it also meant that cable services would continue to transmit at least some of their channels via analog cable. For example I get my cable TV from BrightHouse Cable. For example local channel WTHR which is the local NBC affiliate is currently broadcasting in standard definition signal on Channel 13 and its new high-definition signal on digital channel 13.1. Over my cable system the HD version can be received on Channel 713 and the standard definition version is on Channel 12. I presumed that after February 2009 when the station stopped transmitting its older standard definition signal, the cable company would down-convert the HD signal and continue transmitting it on cable Channel 12 so that “If you subscribe to cable or satellite, you have nothing to worry about.” Your old obsolete TV can still be used.
If indeed cable services are going to continue to provide analog cable for the foreseeable all future, then the elimination of cable ready VCRs is especially problematic.
However some of the people who replied to my question on the AVSForum said that some cable systems are already beginning to phase out analog cable completely! Although internet discussion boards aren’t really 100% reliable sources of information, one of the posters said that Comcast cable in Chicago is already planning to phase out analog cable this summer. That means that the sentence “Cable users have nothing to worry about” really means “analog cable users will have to begin renting digital cable boxes for all of their televisions and VCRs.” There has been a very slow migration of channels from analog to digital but most of them have been relatively unimportant channels. I wouldn’t be surprised if more of th of em moved because, as I said earlier, you can get many more digital channels in the same bandwidth as a single analog channel. However I had no idea that analog cable was on its way out entirely.
I have 6 televisions in my home. Two of them have dedicated cable boxes and the other 4 are connected to analog cable. I have 4 VCRs connected to analog cable. If analog cable goes away I don’t think renting 6-8 additional cable boxes is my idea of “cable users have nothing to worry about”. Okay so 6 televisions is extreme but one of those is a little 9 inch set on the kitchen counter that my mom watches while she’s fixing dinner and mom and dad both watch while eating breakfast at the counter. It’s going to be totally impractical to the cable box in the kitchen given all the other appliances and limited counter space there. If analog cable does disappear it’s going to be a real hardship for avid television watchers such as us.
I sent a lengthy e-mail to one of the local TV stations to suggest that they cover this issue and encouraged them to ask Comcast and Bright House win and if they were going to discontinue analog cable anytime soon. I’m not gotten any reply from that station. I may try writing to a different reporter or perhaps to the other local TV stations. If I get any response, I will report it here.
That basically concludes the story of the disappearing VCR and tuners for now but my struggle to replace my broken VCRs wasn’t over yet even though I had found in older VCR that still had a cable ready tuner. I discovered that my old remote control which I had specially adapted so that I could use it could not be reprogrammed for the new Sony VCR.
In my next installment I will begin a lengthy story about adapting my remote controls so I could use this new VCR.
This is the ninth in a series of articles about my recent quest to replace a broken VCR in this era of DVDs, DVRs, and other newfangled gadgets. Click here for the beginning of the series.
In our previous post, we noticed that the only VCRs or DVD recorders that had tuners were the top-end models which have newer ATSC digital tuners in addition to the older NTSC analog tuners.
NTSC stands for “National Television Standards Committee” and it is the standard for all analog television used in the United States and Japan as well as a few other countries. Wikipedia has an extensive article about NTSC. ATSC stands for “Advanced Television Standards Committee” and it is the standard for digital television including the new HDTV standards. Again Wikipdeia has an extensive article about ATSC. On February 19, 2009 all over the air broadcasts using NTSC analog signals will end and only the newer ATSC digital channels will be broadcast. Much of the hype about the conversion to digital has typically said something like “Only people who rely on over the air broadcasts through an antenna have anything to worry about. If you have cable or satellite you have nothing to worry about.” I was beginning to look like that statement wasn’t true at least when it comes to VCRs.
I logged into my favorite video support AVSForum.com and asked the question “Are VCRs with tuners ancient history?” Click here to read that thread. The people there confirmed my suspicions that our beloved federal government was to blame. A new ruling which took effect March 1, 2007 said that video equipment imported for sale in US that has an older NTSC TV tuner in it must have a new ATSC to capable of receiving a digital television signals.
Here’s a link to CNet.com which has an excellent guide to HDTV and explains the March 1 rule.
In general that’s a pretty good rule when it comes to televisions. You would hate to put hundreds of dollars into a television set that was going to be unable to receive broadcasts in less than two years. This is similar to a previous rule regarding UHF tuners that were mandated to become standard on TVs back in the early 1960s as I described in a previous blog entry.
The loophole in this regulation is that if a device has no tuner at all, then the regulation doesn’t apply. For several years now they’ve been selling HDTV’s that did not have the new ATSC tuners. The industry has been very good at warning consumers that these less expensive HDTV’s require some sort of external source of HD content such as a cable box, satellite boxes, or external tuner of some kind. Note however most of these so-called HD monitors have traditionally also had regular cable ready NTSC tuners for standard over-the-air television and analog cable reception. The fact that after March 1, 2007 these lesser expensive models would drop the NTSC tuner probably isn’t that big a deal assuming they keep doing a reasonable job of warning customers about the limitation. As I explained before, they are doing a really terrible job of warning of public that the VCRs are completely tunerless.
I did some more research on a couple of those models of VCR/DVD recorders which had newer ATSC tuners. They were about $100 more than a comparable unit without a tuner. One thing I could not determine in every case was if they still have older NTSC tuners. Just because you have a new digital tuner doesn’t mean you can still tune to the older channels.
In our next installment we will see that the situation may affect more than just your VCR use. Cable and satellite subscribers may have more to worry about than you think!
Where oh where did the tuners go?
This is the eighth in a series of articles about my recent quest to replace a broken VCR in this era of DVDs, DVRs, and other newfangled gadgets. Click here for the beginning of the series.
Just because I had difficulty finding a cable ready VCR that was the brand and style that I wanted, doesn’t mean that VCRs with tuners are really disappearing. So I decided to do a little survey of my own. On July 9, 2007 I visited web sites for the three major consumer-electronics retailer’s here in Indianapolis: HHGregg.com, BestBuy.com, and CircuitCity.com. The results can be seen in a table by clicking on this link.
H.H.Gregg did a pretty good job of being honest about which VCRs had tuners and which did not. On Best Buy’s web site they generally had images of the back of the VCR so you could tell whether or not it had coaxial RF cable inputs and outputs or just RCA jacks. CircuitCity.com generally has pretty good information with lots of really good user reviews but this time they had the least information of all. In some cases on particular models I had to go to the manufacturer’s web site and even then in a couple of cases I had to download and Adobe PDF file user manual to find out if it had a tuner or not.
One clever manual author suggested that if you needed a tuner for your VCR that you could hook your new VCR to an old VCR using AV cables and use your programmable tuner in the old VCR to record programs. Pretty clever idea and one that I may use myself someday but of course that resumes you still have an old VCR that works!
Although some of the models clearly were described as “tunerless”, one of the greatest bad euphemisms I’ve heard in a long time was one of the models which was described by the manufacturer as “tuner ready”. Apparently it meant that it was ready to be hooked up to in external tuner. That borders on deceptive advertising because it could be implied that it was ready to go with its own tuner. I laughed out loud when I read that one.
You will notice that the only VCRs that I found that had tuners in them had newer digital ATSC tuners. That was my clue that led me to discover the reason why the older tuners are being phased out.
In our next installment we will explain the difference between NTSC and ATSC and how the federal government is the culprit behind the disappearing tuners.
This is the seventh in a series of articles about my recent quest to replace a broken VCR in this era of DVDs, DVRs, and other newfangled gadgets. Click here for the beginning of the series.
For many, many years it’s been relatively easy to connect TVs and VCRs to cable systems. The cable simply comes in from the wall, goes into the VCR, comes out of the VCR, and goes into the television. If you wanted a slightly better picture quality out of your VCR you could also connect AV cables from the VCR to the television. These consist of a set of three red, white, and yellow RCA-style cables that transmit video on yellow and left and right audio on white and red cables respectively. In fact that you have a stereo VCR and a stereo television, these AV cables were the only way you can get to stereo sound out of your VCR. Although the cable signals coming from the cable company have stereo audio in most cases, and the VCR tuner is capable of decoding a stereo audio signal and recording in stereo. The Channel 3 or Channel 4 output of VCR does not output stereo audio to your television. Many people don’t realize that but they don’t seem to notice.
Over the years the number of cable channels increased dramatically. At one point Time Warner cable had channels all the way into the low 90s but in more recent years these analog cable channels only reach up to Channel 74 and then skip to 98, 99 on our system. As our cabin in Brown County, the cable system we use only goes up to about 48 and then skips to 98, 99.
Because the capabilities of analog cable had been maximized, the cable companies have come up with a new system to add more channels and more features such as pay-per-view and video on demand as well as onscreen channel guides. They achieve these additional channels and features using what is called “digital cable”. Again we now needed some sort of cable converter box. Fortunately a modern cable box has a remote-controlled electronic tuner and tons of features. The modern digital cable box is actually a small computer connected to the cable company on a computer network that runs through the cable lines. It’s sort of like a closed internet system. Each cable box has an IP address just like the computers on the internet. Information travels both ways along the network. The cable company sends information to your cable box and the cable box can send information back to the cable company. This facilitates such features as pay-per-view and on demand viewing. The cable company can even upgrade the software in the cable box to add new features in the future.
Channel numbers starting at 100 and upwards are not transmitted using traditional analog television signals. Rather they are transmitted as computer information stored in compressed digital form. They can transmit many more channels using the same amount of bandwidth if they are transmitted in this digital form. As many as six digital channels can be transmitted using the same bandwidth as a single analog channel. The real problem is that your so-called cable ready TVs and VCRs can no longer directly access these channels.
Most of your premium channels such as HBO, Showtime, Cinemax as well as some of the more obscure cable channels have all been moved into these digital channel numbers. But for the most part the most popular basic cable channels are still in the 2-99 range that are accessible from cable ready TVs and VCRs. These include all of your broadcast channels which are retransmitted through the cable, ESPN, ESPN2, all the cable news stations, history, discovery, TBS, TNT etc.
A typical hookup for one of the systems is as follows: the cable comes in from the wall and goes into a RF splitter. One of the outputs of the splitter goes to the cable box. The other output goes to your VCR. Your cable box is then connected to your television using red, white, yellow AV cables although some people use a short RF cable. Note that using an RF cable to connect your cable box to your TV means you do not get stereo audio. Also you connect the output of your VCR to another AV input on your TV. If you have a three-way cable splitter you can also connect a third RF connector directly to your TV which gives you even more capabilities.
Given this set up, you can simultaneously watch any cable channel through the cable box and record any analog cable channel to your VCR. Or alternatively you can use your VCR to record a digital channel through the cable box and watch and analog channel on your TV. The only thing you can not do is record one digital channel while watching a different digital channel.
For many years I had a cable box in the living room and in my bedroom. If I desperately needed to record two digital shows at the same time I could record one of them in the living room and one of them in the bedroom.
This limitation of satellite and the expanded capabilities of analog cable are the main reasons I’ve always had cable rather than satellite.
The consumer-electronics industry realized that it had innovated its way away from one of its greatest interventions: the cable ready tuner. They convinced the cable industry to come up with a new system called a “Cable Card”. Newer top-of-the-line HDTV’s have been made with a slot where you can insert small electronic card about the size of a credit card. You rent this card from your cable company for about $1 a month. It allows your television to receive all of the digital and analog channels that your cable system uses. With such a card, you would no longer need a cable box and your television would once again be cable ready.
Recall that I said cable boxes actually have two-way communication between you and the cable company. Such two-way communication is necessary for the onscreen guide, pay-per-view and on demand services. Unfortunately the cable card system is only a one-way system so the advantages of these features are not available if you have just a cable card. I never used pay-per-view and have rarely used on demand services but I would really miss the onscreen cable guide. My HDTV in the living room has a cable card slot but I still use my regular cable box anyway. I’ve never seen a VCR or DVD recorder that is cable card ready although I have read that some DVR/TiVo recorders may have cable card slots. In fact if your DVR needs to record two shows at once it actually needs two cable cards. The latest TiVo model HD DVR has two cable card slots.
The cable industry is still arguing over standards for a more useful two-way cable card system. So if we ever get full cable ready TVs with a second-generation cable card, it’s going to be a long way off. One of the problems is that the cable industry can charge you more for the rental of a cable box than they can charge for a cable card. They can also customize their features more easily in a cable box. Although they want happy customers who can easily use their service it is not completely in their best interest to adopt cable card technology.
Given that the cable card system really isn’t as functional as it could be and given the increased flexibility provided by cable ready tuners in TVs and VCRs, you would think that the consumer-electronics industry would want to keep cable ready tuners available in TVs and VCRs for the foreseeable future.
same thing holds true for DVD recorders and digital hard drive recorders such as TiVo and DVRs. Cable ready tuners are disappearing from these devices as well.
In our next installment we will try to determine if this absence of tuners is a limited thing overly widespread and we will try to discover the reasons why it is occurring.
This is the sixth in a series of articles about my recent quest to replace a broken VCR in this era of DVDs, DVRs, and other newfangled gadgets. Click here for the beginning of the series.
When cable TV systems first came along, they typically transmitted about 30 channels of television through the cable. In order to receive these stations, you needed a cable box. The first cable box we had was about the size of a book. It had a slider switch with about 30-some positions on it numbered 2 up to 40 I believe. The cable was a coaxial RF cable just like you would use to connect a roof antenna to your TV. It would come from the telephone pole at the back of your house into your home. From there it generally went through the attic, down the wall and exited out a small plate in your wall. You would connect that to the cable box and another coaxial RF cable would connect the cable box to the antenna connector on your TV set. You would set your TV on channel 3 or channel 4. Because Channel 4 was already occupied in this area we always used Channel 3 for connecting external devices such as cable boxes or VCRs. You would then position a slider lever on whatever channel you wanted to watch. There was also a small thumbwheel on one side that you would use as a fine-tuning wheel because the mechanical tuner did not accurately select the proper frequencies.
There was no remote-control capability. The slider box generally had a very long cord on it that you have to route behind some furniture or drape across your living room floor where you would trip over it.
You would think that if you already had a TV that could tune channels 2-83 that you wouldn’t need an external tuner to get channels 2-40. The problem is that cable TV systems use different frequencies than broadcast TV. Keep in mind when I said earlier that a channel number is NOT like the frequency on a radio dial. If you turn your FM dial to 93.1, that is an actual frequency in megahertz. The number of a TV channel has no mathematical relationship to the actual frequency used. They could have designed radio with channels and said that for example radio channel 17 would be assigned to specific frequency like 93.1 but that’s not how radio was designed. Television was indeed designed that way. The channel numbers are just arbitrary positions along a frequency spectrum.
It’s difficult to get UHF frequencies to travel along a cable. VHF frequencies travel much better. In cable TV systems, channels 2-13 are identical to the broadcast VHF channel frequencies. If all you wanted to watch on cable TV was channels 2-13, you could simply plug the cable directly into an older TV set and it worked just fine. Cable channels 14 and higher are a completely different set of VHF frequencies that are lower than UHF frequencies. Also I mentioned that there is a gap between channels 6 and 7. Some cable TV systems put as many as five different channels in frequencies in that gap.
One early alternative to the cable tuner box was a gadget called a “block converter”. It was a little electronic device you could buy at TV/video stores. It would convert VHF cable channels 14 and upwards into UHF frequencies. You can then use the UHF tuner on your TV or VCR to access all of the cable channels. The problem was the block converter was only good up to about channel 35 or 36. In the early days of cable, Comcast only had about that many channels but Time Warner cable (which is now called Bright House cable) had about 40 channels so the upper few channels with a block converter didn’t work very well with Time Warner systems.
Eventually they began producing TVs and VCRs which were advertised as “cable ready”. These were remote-control TVs and VCRs with electronic (non-mechanical) tuners that would precisely tune the proper frequencies for not only VHF and UHF broadcast channels but most if not all VHF cable channels. Initially they advertised them as “108 channels cable ready” or perhaps 109. Various cable systems throughout the country use different sets of channels and not all “cable ready” devices worked with all cable systems. Eventually TVs and VCRs which had 127 channel cable ready tuners were created and they worked with all cable systems in existence.
For those of us who struggled through the eras of clunky mechanical channel changers, fine-tuning dials, UHF tuner dials, mechanical slider cable boxes with no remote, block converters that barely worked and God knows what other hassles… the introduction of the truly cable ready tuner in TVs and VCRs was an absolute godsend!
In the next installment we will see how the introduction of digital cable messed things up for those of us who really love our cable ready devices.
This is the fifth in a series of articles about my recent quest to replace a broken VCR in this era of DVDs, DVRs, and other newfangled gadgets. Click here for the beginning of the series.
Before we go exploring the mystery of the disappearing tuners in VCRs let’s take a look back at how cable ready tuners came into being and why they were such an important development.
TV signals are just radio waves that travel through the air like regular radio. Such signals are often called RF signals (radio frequency). In television, the RF signals not only contain audio information, they also contain video information as well. The tuner on a television set could be a smooth turning dial with frequency numbers on it just like a radio receiver. However to simplify things they picked specific frequencies and assigned them channel numbers. Originally only numbers 2-13 were defined. These are known as VHF frequencies (very high frequencies). It wasn’t until 1952 that the FCC designated additional channels 14-83 called UHF (ultra high frequency) channels. In the early 1980s channels 70-83 were reassigned to wireless phones. Click here for a Wikipdeia article about UHF broadcasting.
Early televisions had only VHF tuners which were a clunky dial that snapped into place from one channel to the next. Because this mechanical dial didn’t always hit the frequency exactly, you usually had another dial that you could turn back and forth smoothly that was called “fine-tuning”. It would adjust the frequency of the RF receiver in your TV set. In order to get UHF channels, typically would turn your VHF dial to a position “U” and then turned a smooth turning UHF dial to tune a UHF channel. Some UHF dials actually had fixed positions for each channel that would click into place but most simply had a smooth turning dial like a radio dial.
In 1962 the federal government mandated that all new television sets have a UHF tuner by 1964. The argument was that it was unfair to license a television station to broadcasts on a frequency that no one was able to receive. There are those that argue that this saved UHF stations but there are others who argue that initially cost consumers millions of dollars for TV tuners but most of them did not really need. When I was growing up we only had four channels here in Indianapolis. Channel 13 was the ABC affiliate. Channel 8 was the local CBS channel. Channel 6 broadcast NBC and Channel 4 was an independent channel from Bloomington. (No that is not a typo… at one point Channel 13 and 6 swapped affiliations to the current state of affairs where 13 is NBC and 6 is ABC). Eventually a local PBS station began broadcasting on UHF Channel 20. It’s much more recently that religious broadcasting began using Channel 40 and a local Fox network affiliate was established on Channel 59.
As I explained in a previous post, my first VCR had about a dozen individual tiny tuner dials that you would tune to specific channels using a small thumbwheel. There was also a small three position toggle switch to select lower VHF, higher VHF, or UHF channel ranges. If you drew a frequency graph and plotted the channel numbers on it you would see there is a large gap of frequencies between VHF channels 6 and 7. That is why the VHF channels were split into low and high ranges.
Eventually mechanical tuners and dial tuners were replaced by more modern electronic tuners that were much more compatible with remote controls. Early remote control TVs actually had a motor which turned the TV dial for you. Electronic tuners had no moving parts and were able to select frequencies precisely so a fine-tuning dial wasn’t necessary. For this brief era, everything was just fine. That is until cable TV came along and missed everything up!
In our next installment, we will discuss the chaos that came with the introduction of cable TV.
Where do I put the cable?
This is the fourth in a series of articles about my recent quest to replace a broken VCR in this era of DVDs, DVRs, and other newfangled gadgets. Click here for the beginning of the series.
As I mentioned earlier, my Toshiba VCR is probably my favorite. I really wanted to replace it with another Toshiba model. I went to BestBuy.com and HHGregg.com and eventually picked out a Toshiba model SD-V295 DVD/VCR combo that looked a lot like my existing Toshiba VCR with a DVD stuck on the side (image on right). They generally don’t have VCRs on display in the store where you can play with them or checkout features, so I just sent my dad over to H.H.Gregg to pick it up and bring it home. We took it out of the box and I looked at the back of unit. Here’s what I saw… or rather what I didn’t see!
I did not see any coaxial RF connectors! It meant that this VCR had no tuner. It would only work if you connected it to a cable box or satellite box. I couldn’t believe it! I usually look at the online photos, especially the detailed photos of the back like the one I’ve shown here. I think that I may have actually looked at this image at BestBuy.com to verify that the component video outputs were for the DVD portion only which was as I expected. I just didn’t realize that there was no cable connector for connecting analog cable or antenna.
I did a lot of head scratching trying to figure out if I could make it work with my set up. Eventually I concluded that I would lose too much functionality by giving up the ability to record from analog cable. I searched around a little bit more and found a really nice Sony SLV-D 370P DVD/VCR combo. I very carefully looked at the images of the back side and verified it really did have an RF coax input and output. We packed up the Toshiba, returned it, and purchased the Sony. It’s a really nice looking model with good features and all of the right connectors.
All of this occurred in mid-April 2007. There’s more to this story but I want to jump in briefly to early July 2007. The JVC VCR in my office started acting flaky. It takes about four attempts to get a tape to insert properly. It keeps trying to eject it and the VCR or even turn on at all without a tape in it. When you turn it on, it tries to load the tape on the heads and when there is no tape in the machine something jams and the machine shuts itself off. Since I’ve been having pretty good luck with my new Sony I decided to get another one for the office. Much to my surprise it wasn’t available anymore. The Sony model 370 had been replaced by model 380 which was virtually identical except it had no RF inputs or outputs and no tuner.
To further my shock and dismay none of the VCRs that were available had a tuner! I thought that the tunerless Toshiba was just some cheap model that they were putting out there because more and more people are using satellite which does not have analog cable capabilities like regular digital cable does. Satellite users have to have a separate box for every TV and every VCR (although some satellite boxes are dual tuner). I was now discovering that VCRs with tuners had been completely withdrawn from the market!
I did finally find a Sony 370 at Amazon.com for sale through a third-party reseller. Amazon itself did not have it.
In our next installment we will take a nostalgic look back at early TV tuners before we discuss the invention of the cable ready TV and VCR. Only then can we fully appreciate the mystery of the missing tuners! | 2019-04-19T08:51:07Z | http://mylife.cyborg5.com/2007/07/ |
Disclaimer: This post was hard to write, and for some it will be hard to read. I prayed before I posted and I do believe that it is what the Lord would have me say. This is my blog, a place where I share my private thoughts and I invite you to remember before you comment that no one has forced you to read it.
She was eighteen years old and she had never been in love with anyone she could touch before. I mean, she had been in love with Jesus since she was little, but this was different, touchable love.
In her eyes he was perfect. He loved the Lord, not to mention he was pretty darn cute. He went to church with her and joined her on silly errands and at family dinners. He made her giggle by saying things that only she found funny. He made her heart flutter when he swept that one always-stray piece of hair out of her eyes.
They were the “perfect couple.” They were desperately in love; one lit up as the other entered the room. They could see their beautiful future together. After high school, they would go together to college, get married, work a bit, settle down and have children with his eyes and her big smile. They would grow old together, laughing at secrets and kissing each other goodnight.
And then God asked her to move to Uganda. At first it was just going to be a year. They could do a year. She would come back and they could still go to college together and all their dreams would still come true. When the Lord asked her to adopt her first children, it became a bit more complicated. She rationalized that her youngest was 7, so in 11 years, she could move back home and be with him. But her children kept getting younger and His call kept getting stronger. She would go back in 13 years, in 17 years, in 20 years. Finally she came to terms with the fact that God was just asking her to STAY. And that when He said He wanted ALL of her, He meant all. She would live in Uganda. But she held on to her love because remaining comfortable was so much easier than dealing with the hurt and the emptiness would be.
Her eyes were opened and her life was changed. She couldn’t pretend to be the same person. She couldn’t sit still in his would anymore, it made her head spin and her heart ache. And still she held on because she didn’t love him any less. She knew God could move mountains and she prayed He could change his heart. After all, such a love must have been God orchestrated.
He made her feel beautiful as she walked through life as a single mom covered in dust and spit up. He appreciated her even when everyone else forgot to say thank you. He believed in her when the rest of the world said raising eighty thousand dollars or adopting ten children was silly. Even from the other side of the world, he cheered her on and he picked her up when she just didn’t feel strong enough. His voice on the other end of the phone turned a rough day right around.
They were moving in opposite directions. They both new it, but they both refused to let go.
So she asked God for a very specific sign. For something that she thought very unlikely if not absolutely impossible. And then something devastating happened. God gave her the sign that she asked for. So she kissed him goodbye and drove away and cried so hard that she doubted she would ever breathe again. She tried not to wonder if anyone would ever love her like that again or how she would do this all alone.
And that’s when He reminded her that she wasn’t. That HE would make her feel beautiful as a single mom covered in dust and spit up. That He appreciated her even when everyone else forgot to say thank you. That He believed in her when the rest of the world thought everything she did was crazy. That He would cheer her on and pick her up when she just didn’t feel strong enough. That His voice whispering in her ear would turn those rough days right around. That He would ALWAYS be faithful. That His love would be unconditional. That He, her ONE TRUE LOVE would never leave or forsake her and would give her heart’s desires. That He would make all things new, ever her shattered heart.
A few days ago an American woman who had spent about three days of her life in a third world country looked at me and said, “I would SO love to do what you do. I would do it in a heartbeat. Oh, I would take 14 kids in a second!” It is a good thing that I was having a graceful day, because I said, “Aw that’s nice.” But my not so graceful heart was angry. And the not so graceful voice in my head wanted to say to her, “Ok then, do it. I can have you 14 orphaned, abandoned, uncared for children tomorrow. So here is what you have to do: Quit school. Quit your job. Sell your stuff. Disobey and disappoint your parents. Break your little brother’s heart. Lose all but about a handful of friends because the rest of them think you have gone off the deep end. Break up with the love of your life. Move to a country where you know one person and none of the language. And when you are finished, I will be here waiting with your 14 children!” I wanted to ask her what was stopping her, knowing that the answer would be her comfort. I wanted to look at her and tell her that my life was full and joyful and WONDERFUL, but I also wanted to tell her to COUNT THE COST. Because my life IS full and joyful and wonderful, but it is NOT easy. My life is NOT glamorous. I do not expect it to be. I do not think that anything about carrying a cross was easy or glamorous either.
Which brings me to my point. I am not actually that angry about what that woman said, it was just an offhanded comment. But it got me to thinking… How many times to we grieve our sweet Savior’s heart because we refuse to COUNT THE COST? How many times do we choose comfort instead of the cross?
In Luke, in the days of Jesus, He expected EVERYTHING of his disciples. Do we believe that He requires the same today? We sure don’t act like it. If you ever read my blog or have heard me speak then you have heard me reference Matthew 25, the parable of the sheep and the goats. Jesus basically looks straight at the crowd and tells them that when He comes back, those who have seen the needy and met their needs will come with Him to heaven. He also says that those who have seen the needy and done nothing will be sent away to “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Right, hell. This is heavy, I know, but I believe that it is TRUE. I believe that the words of Jesus are timeless and therefore still apply to anyone desiring to be His follower today. (Oh, and in case you think you can get away with saying that you have not seen Jesus naked or hungry or thirsty or in need and therefore you are off the hook, let me help you. 30,000 children will die today because of hunger or preventable disease. There. Now you know. Now you are responsible too.) Faith without good deads is DEAD, my friends. Yes, I believe fully in salvation by His grace alone. I do not believe that anything we do or work for will save us. I also believe that if we are indeed saved, meaning that He lives inside of us, we will desire to do what is pleasing to Him. That if we really love Him with all our hearts and all our strength, NOTHING will feel like sacrifice in light of the promise that one day we will get to be with Him forever. Automatically, we will help those in need, we will give our all, we will love our neighbor as our self, because our heart is aligned with His. But so many don’t. This then begs the question: If we are not walking in the words of Jesus, do we truly know Him? Do we really know and believe in the Jesus of the Bible. Because if we do, if we believe what He says is true, our lives will be powerfully, unimaginable, radically different than the lives of those around us. He requires EVERYTHING.
I wonder today if I had been one of the people listening to Jesus as He spoke in Luke 9 and 14, if Jesus would have convinced me to follow Him or if I would have walked away. I believe I would have really really wanted to say goodbye to my family. I wonder about “Christians” today. We wear Jesus on our T-shirts, we wear His cross around our neck and a bumper sticker with His name on it on our car. Have we just laid the foundation without being able to build the building? Does Jesus feel like I did when a woman I didn’t know told me she would love to do what I do but I knew that she never would? Do we claim the precious name of Jesus Christ without counting the cost? Without being willing to REALLY give it all? And does Jesus, in His infinite grace, look at us and say, “Aw, that’s nice,” but really with the furry that he flipped over the tables in the temple want to spit our lukewarm selves out of His mouth?
This is heavy on my heart. I have spent hours typing it to get the words out right and still I feel like I am rambling. If you would like more references on God’s heart for the poor, try Isaiah 56-58, Proverbs 14:31, 21:13, 28:27, Matthew 19:16- 30, Luke 6:20-25, 18:18, James 5:1… Please feel free to add more in your comments! If we believe that these words are true, the way we are living is not tolerable. How can we live in willful disobedience and claim to know Jesus Christ?
I do not claim to have the answers. I do not claim to be doing it right. I do claim to believe that the words of Jesus are absolutely true and apply to me, right now today. I want to give EVERYTHING, no matter the cost. NO MATTER THE COST. Because I believe that nothing is sacrifice in light of eternity with Christ.
WONDERFUL! You are so right, "we" have no idea what following Jesus has cost you. Beautifully written. I can truly feel your heart. Blessings!!!
I'm 15 years old I've been reading your blog for a while. my heart breaks for you right now. It must be really hard to say goodbye to someone you love that deeply, but I know God's love shines through the darkness that seems to overcome our hope.
My sister who we are adopting from Ethiopia is coming home tomorrow. I have a heart for people in Africa and am always drawn to your posts. Your girls are beautiful and so special.
Please know that I am praying for you.
your words are an encouragement to me Katie! Thank you for being open, honest and willing to say what needs to be said. I continue to pray for you and the ministry in Uganda that you have so faithfully begun.
I can honestly say that I beginning to realize this. I am getting on a plane tomorrow morning to go to Haiti to work with orphans. I don't know when I am coming back. I can honestly say with you that I have quit my life. And it has been harder than I ever imagined (and I haven't even gone yet). But Jesus is so SO worth it.
Thank you so much for being an inspiration to me, and being a true example that all things are possible with God.
Thank you so much for encouraging the lukewarm people of the world. God definitely gave you the power of words...and even though you felt like you were rambling His heart is shown through this post. Lifting you up.
Katie, the cost is high, and you are right, it must be counted first. This is my 13th year overseas. It has been awful and wonderful all at the same time. Thank you for sharing your heartbeat. Press on, dear sister. I know you know how many times/fold we will be rewarded in heaven. I claim that one.
This blog really touched me. Thank you so much for being so honest. Through your honesty, you shed light to the cross Christ wants us to bear.
I want you to know, though we may never meet, That I love you and your children.
I know you are not looking for thanks, but thank you. I wish you knew how much your blog has meant to me, personally. This post presents the truth. The truth is hard to swallow, but we need it.
You are in my prayers,always.
You took away the part at the bottom. That was what got me the most. I am responsible. Me, a 19 year old college student. I feel very confused and I don't know how I can help.
I know I can pray for you.
I pray every day for God to bless my husband and I with a child, and thus far it's not happened for us...but to think of doing what you do daily for your beautiful children truly humbles me. There's no doubt that you are walking God's path for you because no person seeking personal glory could have that kind of strength.
God Bless you, Katie, and your children as well. And the monkey!
Thank you for this post. May all who read it receive it in their hearts.
Thank you so much for you heart! I know that God is delighting in the way you show HIS love.
May God bless you as you continue to follow HIS way.
I just had a breakup as well. We love eachother dearly, still do and always will but we have different plans. I want to take in special needs kids one day. I want to love on many kids, want to give my everything. I know in a relationship you have to make sacrifices, but Heavenly Father told me, that this wasnt a sacrifice I was supposed to make. I wasnt supposed to quit dreaming of the orphans with special needs that I have been told to take in by Him. So breaking up was the only way to go. Now I have a new life right in front of me. Right now it's like a white piece of paper but I am going to fill it with many handprints, tears, spit up, dirt etc.
I look up to you. I really do. I dont know how you find the strength. When I was 16 all I ever wanted to do was volunteer in an AIDS orphanage in Africa. I still would love to go to Africa and work there and help but I dont know how. I hav eno idea how to get there, how to find a place to stay and who to help. Maybe I am just scared and not brave enough. I wish I was. I would love to come by your house and feel the love you have for your kids. You sure are a hero.
single life, saves the entire world." (Talmud) You are saving so many lives with the work you are doing, it's just amazing.
I am sending you and your kids snowy love from Germany. How I wish I could pack my bags and come by and help you.
I am halfway around the world in a meeting...this is powerful.
Katie...our Bible study leader actually mentioned David Platt today. Obviously there is something I need to hear that he has to say...I look forward to listening to this link tonight. I want you to know that you are an encouragement to me. I want to be radically different for Him! Thank you for sharing and for continuing to care for "the least of these".
The cost is high, indeed.
But we would be more comfortable with Jesus if He wasn't so demanding, wouldn't we? If He just let us be comfortable?
May God forgive us for our half-hearted, non-committal, lukewarm devotion. If we can call it "devotion" at all.
Thank you for your words - strong but true. And thank you for your testimony of a life well lived.
I "accidentally" stumbled upon your blog a couple of months ago. I've never met you...yet, God's using you to encourage and speak to me. That sounds cheesy...but I wish that I could explain. Anyway, Thank you for all that you are doing for the Lord. My family prays for you regularly. My 3 yr old prays every night for "all Katie's kids in Africa." She also told her Sunday School teacher that she wants to be a momma and have lots of babies like Miss Katie. May God strengthen you, guide you and smile upon you.
Wow. You are truly an inspiration to all of us "Christians." To give up EVERYTHING is truly an act of some kind of ridiculous faith. Thanks for setting a radical example for all us. Whether we do something similar to what you're doing or stay in the states and do something completely different, your words are definitely relatable and taken to heart.
Thank you for sharing Katie. Your love for the Lord continues to grow and challenge me. You are right. God wants everything.
Katie, I just right this moment posted to my blog.. and at the end noted how God had something so massive on my heart but I didn't quite have the words. And then your post. You see I WANT TO GO, I am ready to go.. I could care less about comfort. I live in an 800 sq ft box and want nothing more than to resign in my job as the Director of HR. And in October the Lord said GO. He didnt say where or when. So I had it all planned out- my lease was up March 1st and I would save $500 a month until then, sell my stuff, resign and GO. And then the Lord asked me to sew the $500 a month. BUT LORD, if I do that I can't make it happen. "I will" He says... So along comes plan number 2. I will move into a 400 sq ft box on March 1st, get rid of my vehicle and prepare to GO. Then came Sisay and her sibs in Ethiopia. Orpahns with names and faces; an immediate need. God says to me Thurs morning last week, would YOU be willing to forego GOING to bring them home? The answer is yes. Ouch Lord, I want to go, but yes Lord if that is your desire of me than YES!
I know that obeying is the only way to His Will and the only way to true happiness. I just want to say that for some, some like me, the words of David Platt and the works of Katie Davis have beautifully broken us into action. And while there are far too many that sit in their comfort, there is a movement of followers who have been forever changed by your willingness to follow God to Uganda and others willingness to speak the truth into the hearts of believers about what it truly means to follow Christ. My heart desires to GO to the nations somewhere among the orphans and the least of these. But if God is holding me and has another assignment than I obey. Because I love him first.
Just know, there are some who say they want to be where you are and it is not comfort holding, it is the Lord. I think God uses the very things we desire to test us in our faith... are we looking to him for comfort, like you mentioned, or are the desires of hearts bigger than our desire for him, the sovereign God. And even though our desires line up with his word, his commands and his ways, they themselves can never be bigger than our desire for him first. And I think he tests us with those very things to remind us and show himself yet again in our lives.
Praying for you always, sister.
Thank you for sharing Katie. Your love for the Lord continues to grow and challenge me. You are right, God wants everything.
To God be all the glory--He certainly lives in and through you. Thank you for sharing your sacrifices and your losses with us--you've got guts, girl!!
I LOVE reading your posts and seeing your pictures of your beautiful family. I'm 29 and the idea of doing what you have done is truly daunting and so inspiring. I think of the sacrifices that I have made in my life as an adoptive mother with a heart for Africa and know that it pales in comparison to what you have done as a warrior of Christ. You are my Joan of Arc. I can't tell you enough how much I love and support you all the way in Texas :) Know that you are loved and prayed for and appreciated greatly. I don't think you have any idea of how many people your life and actions impact around the world. I know you don't do what you do for any self gratification or praise and I really have no words but I just wanted to say... THANK YOU!
You dont know me... just found your blog... I'm sorry the pain you have gone through.... but the words you have wrote are for me. Thank you for being vulnerable, and obedient- as God those words to deal with my heart.
Wow! I have followed your blog for a short while now. I love your heart for God acted out.
what path would God have ME take? Are we all to go to a third-world country? What is the future plan, individualized beautiful bounderies His lot has thrown for each of us? And how do we find it.
I know it is not 'playing American church'. I do believe it is lived out in many many ways.
Blessings. thank you for being vulnerable, transparent and speaking the hard truth!
Thank you for sharing this. I have been so encouraged by you through your blog. My daughter loves the photo of your with your children. She tells me all the time that she wants to have 10 children - she's 5 now. Until she grows up and God blesses her with little ones, we continue to be inspired by you and your family, and keep you constantly in our prayers.
Precious! Glorious! Thank you for the GUT CHECK!
what a beautifully painful and wonderful post. I pray every 18-22 year old I work with will count the cost.
Katie, I appreciate this so much! I wrote something very similar to this on my blog (it was a little shorter though). It is the truth and it should scare us. If we claim to be followers of Christ and are not doing his work, it means nothing.
Katie, I have never met you and yet I feel that I know you now after reading this post written straight from your heart. God bless you for finding the courage to write it.
thanks for your vulnerability in sharing your heart. i've also learned from experience the painful lesson that we need Him alone more than any man. however, know that i have been praying for you the past few weeks - that God would provide a godly like-minded husband for you to partner with!
Katie girl you always challenge me. You rock me to my very core and today its just harder because I've been in Ethiopia and I'm still wrestling with what I saw a week ago despite the fact I've been there three times. It gets harder and harder to leave. My husband and I have just recently started listening to David Platt. Amazing and challenging man of God. Thank you for wrecking me yet again for the things that wreck my Saviors heart.
I wish that my faith could be so much more stronger than it is right now.
May God Bless you and your life 10 times what you do for others.
Awesome Katie! Thanks for sharing!
I think you have an amazing heart. Bless you, sweet Katie.
THANK YOU. Thank you for being someone to come right out and say the things that more and more of us need to! Thank you for letting Jesus use you to teach, grow, break and challenge me!
I am sorry for the end of your relationship with your boyfriend...again through this you display to all how you truly love Christ and want what He wants more than ANYTHING and more than even what you want. You can tell by your posts the love you and him share but what is more amazing is your love for Christ! Oh how He is and how He will use you Katie because of Your heart!
God is doing a work in me and slowly and slowly I can see it and I get sad realizing all the years I wasted on ME or my selfish wants and I am praying God would help my heart to break more and more everyday for what breaks His and that I would do or go wherever or whatever He asked me to. I think Him calling my husband and I to adopt our first child from Uganda is just the first step! Oh to be where you are in your faith/willingness/surrender...i am not there yet and only God knows if I will ever get there but my heart wants to be there...and I know I could NEVER get to where I have even gotten and I will never get any further without my Savior, my God leading me because I am awful, I am nothing on my own and any good in me is from Him!
katie, about the time we "found" you, we also "found" this exact same sermon series. we are never the same. thank you for stirring the fire in us and so many others. praying for you and your broken heart. my heart breaks for you because i know how hard this must be.
Your personal sacrifices are humbling. You are amazing!
I have no words. I wanted you to know that I read your post as if somehow that would be of comfort to you. Maybe it is, but I doubt it. Thank you for your brutal honesty. Thank you for pouring your heart out.
God continues to poke and push and sometimes drag many of us along in his plan for us. Yet we resist. We look at the life we have built for ourselves and at the comfort it brings and we know that surrender, while appealing in the heart of the moment, is so scary it sends us running for cover. And there we live uncomfortable amongst our 'stuff', occasionally peeking over the edge to see if it's ok to jump in like somehow this time will be less frigntening. The list of fears is HUGE. The potential for pain or rejection. Wondering how others will 'see' us. Wondering if God will really come through. Discomfort, fatigue, hunger, poverty, the list goes on and on. I know God is bigger than all of it, but my heart forgets and it betrays me and it betrays Him.
May God continue to bless you, Katie. We continue to pray for you. Please pray that God will bring each of us to that point of Surrender so He can use us to change the world.
Katie...you are truly an inspiration! Total surrender to Christ. Wow! I thank you for sharing this, and I will pass your blog along to my life groups at church. We are doing mission work at home, and I am a host site director at our church for Angel Food Ministries, but I wonder if there is more He is calling me to do. For now I will pray, and ask Him to show me the way... maybe I will be called to sacrifice, and I only hope I can be as obedient as you! Much love to you and all of yours from Florida! Lisa G.
my dear friend...I am sitting here crying. I grew up on the mission field and know this heart of yours that cries out, all too well.
I am serving here in my own city, and yesterday I was asking God...its this worth it, are we making a difference?... and of course my heart immediately heard him say "Yes". but only when it's done in his own power.
I am a stay at home mom, fullfilling my highest calling of all, but also serving whereever God would use me. I follow your blog to remind myself of the missionaries heart.
thank you for sharing it so well today.
if you get any negative feed back, I urge you to not answer it, but to simply leave it at the cross...I have a deep feeling that you will not.
my sister you are loved.
challenging post...causing reflection for sure. You are always so inspiring with the way you are living your life. Thanks for setting a good example for us to follow, and following the Lord in your own life.
Hey Katie, I sent a letter to you through a family friend that visited at the beginning of the year. I know how crazy life must get for you and taking five minutes to open and read a letter is five less minutes you have to love on your sweet girls. So if it got lost in the shuffle I completely understand. After reading your last post about how Christ didn't call us to be comfortable or to have all the things we think make us happy, I saw a lot of similarities to my letter and my heart. Thank you so much for speaking truth and not shying around the fact that our world is letting precious children die without food because they are continually striving for the next best material thing to bring them happiness, or so they think. I am honored to read about your life.
Thank you for being bold and speaking truth. Every command from God is an opportunity for God to fill us with His grace to be obedient. My husband and I pray for you often and thank God for the way your life challenges us to be radically devoted to our Savior.
Katie, thank you so much for boldly continuing to point us to Jesus. You have no idea how many people Jesus touches through your life and your words. To God be the glory.
You don't know me. We have never met. I ran across your blog a few months ago from somewhere, really can't remember now.
The reason so many may not like this post is because it is the real deal. It is honest and true. We are not that much different than those during Jesus' time. We are very uncomfortable with the truth, something Jesus also spoke to people. He cut through the stuff, the politeness, the society's way of doing things, the junk we cover ourselves with and spoke the cold, honest truth.
One line that I will ponder, preach on, and start putting into practice more in my own life -- "I wanted to ask her what was stopping her, knowing that the answer would be her comfort."
That more than anything -- more than money or time or lack of compassion -- stops us all. If we are being honest with ourselves.
your heart spilled and i love it! here's the thing...i don't want to read this and think "oh that's convicting", i want to be different! i keep saying that. makes me wonder if i am full of a lot of good intentions but not willing to fully follow GOD.
you amaze me. your love for the LORD amazes me. you inspire and push us. keep spilling your heart, it's a beautiful thing.
Katie, I am 45yo and a mom to 7 (4 adopted) and I want to be you when I grow up. God shines through you - your life. I want that for myself and for my children. I know that in Heaven you will have many crowns....and God will bless you richly for all that you gave up here on earth. Thank you for taking time out of your life to post and minister to others half way around the world. I will keep you, your daughters, your mission in my prayers. God bless you for doing what too many are unwilling. My prayer is that my children will love and serve God with the same kind of heart that you have.
I stop by when I truly have time to read and take in all you share. Your writing and your faith are amazing. I keep you in my prayers.
Katie...thank you for speaking truthfully..that is all you can do, because the Jesus of the bible says exactly what you have.
I did spend two weeks in Africa just a few days ago, and you are right, it would come with a cost...only two weeks came with a cost and almost a life.
My heart hurts with yours, I share your greif..I praise the Lord that you are willing to do anything and trust that our Father is able to far more than we can ask or imagine..Prasie the Lord that you are a voice to hundreds.
Love you sweet friend, always praying for you too.
Right on:) My pastor has been speaking of this alot recently. Doing someting uncomfortable, giving up the pleasures, and going in the name of Jesus is hard but the rewards in Him are unmeasureable.
I'm reminded of times when I've been told that adopting older children is not a good idea because they are already molded with bad behaviors and tragedy. But I also am confident in the fact that our God is bigger than anything the world has to offer.
Adopting in Uganda for us was very difficult, trials and emotional stress but the laughs we get from our son (presently wearing my shoes 12 sizes too big) is priceless.
God bless you and your sweet children!
Prayers from GA from a family of 5 and growing!
I've been wanting to tell you something. My husband and I have been reading your blog for some time now and several weeks ago, amazed again at another post, he asked me how you could be so fearless. I told him that infact, you were quite the opposite of fearless, but that you feared the Lord instead of man. That you were afraid not to obey God and that we should be too. I hope that I represented you correctly, but the wonderful conclusion is that my husband was baptized two weeks ago and your blog played a big part in that. Thank you for continuing to hold us accountable.
What a beautiful heart you have. Thanks for being real and honest, it is more that just encouraging.
In everyone's journey there are things other people do not understand...I will never understand the depth of your day to day...but I do understand the depth of your love for Christ...and I am grateful that as followers of Christ we can always come together there.
i'm reading richard stearns' book, the hole in our gospel, and wrestling with the COST of this knowledge and what i'm supposed to DO with what i am now responsible for.
thanks for being truthful. always. don't ever apologize for that. i had the same choice you did 20 years ago, but i chose differently, and i've wondered ever since if i'm not fit for service in the kingdom as a result. you will never have to wonder.
it took great courage and great trust to ask for the sign and then to act when you got it. i believe that will be rewarded.
I haven't listened to the sermon you linked yet, but I plan to. Your post inspired/challenged me so much that I did a post on my blog about you and "my heart spilled..." post. I hope you don't mind. I love reading your blog. You challenged me so much to surrender all to Jesus on a daily basis.
Thank you for speaking such truth into our hearts! I have to be honest, I know nothing of the sacrifices you have made and what it is like to do all that you do. It is evident that the Lord has called you and you are right to say that it is not glamorous nor easy! He HAS called you, He HAS equipped you.... ALL of us reading would agree but although we see little glimpses of your life and the genuineness of your faith, we do not really know what it is like to be there serving in Uganda. We all love you dearly and admire what God does through you and I am sure there are many who look on and hope to do the same wonderful things you are doing for Jesus. But like you said, we all must count the cost and lay EVERYTHING down. And this is where the true test comes.
You are a blessing to us because your testimony gives God the glory and shows how it is possible to serve Jesus with your whole heart and to leave families and lands and brothers and sisters for His name. It is possible for us all to live as Jesus wants us to if we surrender our will daily. You know of Christ's love so much more intimately than many of us and you are acquainted with His sorrows every day. But this is because you have chosen to lay down your life. You are His hands and feet and God will reward you abundantly in Heaven (even though I know you are not seeking such rewards).
I am praying about a trip there this summer and hope to meet you and the girls and serve in any way. I may have been serving the Lord in ministry for many years, but I know that God wants so much more of my heart and I want so much more of His!
Thank you for being so vulnerable and spilling out your heart to us. I will continue to pray for you.
hey..quick question...i saw there are 8 hourish long messages on that sermon series...i don't mind listening to all but was wondering if there was a particular one in mind you wanted us to listen to?
You don't know me! :) In fact, I have no idea how I even stumbled onto your blog. I just want to say that what you have written has inspired me, and you have given me much to think about.
Some of us, were in your shoes, only we didn't listen to God. We got married to a great Christian man, we had great children and then we realized that maybe growing up in church and attending church isn't enough for you anymore.
And so here you sit, struggling at the age of almost 35... SCARY!...and wondering how do you exist in the world you have chosen for yourself. And how do you exist in a place where you can follow God to such a degree that you are willing to give up everything!
That's my struggle! How do I give up everything to follow God and still be mom to my kids and a wife to a husband who himself is following God's call on his life. Where does that leave me and my life?
I wish when I was your age, somebody would have told me or encouraged me to dream the impossible, give up everything and follow God!
I look forward to seeing what else God will do with you and your children in the days and years ahead. Thank you for sharing from your heart, it has touched mine!
Amen and God bless you!
kate, you truly have a gift and an amazing heart. i appreciate your honesty and your conviction! your story is amazing and i look forward to reading your posts. i love your positive outlook and the unfathomable courage you have to be a mother of 14 at such a young age without the comforts of home. you and your family are in my prayers!
Thank you for your post. So true the words you have spoken.
you are an amazing girl, just amazing. may the lord bless you a thousand times over.
Amen is the only thing that I can think to say.
My life looks so different than yours but I feel as if I understand every word that you have written.
Know that I am praying for you. Not just, "say a prayer here or there" but down on my knees- seeking the face of our Redeemer, for you.
I wish that I had words to express all that this post evoked in me. Because my words wouldn't come close, let me just say thank you. You are doing a good work, & not all are deaf to your godly admonitions. My husband & I hear you, as do many others. There are some, hopefully many, who hear this Word & follow it with action. Thank you for sharing God's Word with us, undiluted & straightforward. You are always in our thoughts & prayers. We've never met you, but we love you dearly as our sister in Christ.
Thank you for spilling your heart. I do think Jesus is grieved by our failure to take hold of our God-given destinies. And I say it that way because I believe God has clearly laid out a CALLING, a DESTINY for us all. And just as He said "relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place..." if Esther chose not to take hold of HER destiny, I do believe that God's purpose and plan will still be carried out if we choose not to be a part of it...BUT WE WILL MISS OUT. Oh, will we miss out. I humbly pray for us all that we will not be one who "misses" our unique calling...How can we miss it? ..."Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it'" (Is. 30:21) For crying out loud! We have a voice IN OUR EAR (IN GOD'S WORD!) saying..."CARE FOR THE OPPRESSED." That is a call none of us can claim to be ignorant of. Thank you for your bold witness.
Seeking His voice with you TODAY--NOT TOMORROW.
You are an amazing young woman serving an even more amazing God. I, along with several of my friends, follow your blog. We live in middle TN. You are inspiring to us. We often need a reality check. I can't imagine how hard it is being away from your friends and family in the States. I know your work there is rewarding but that doesn't make it easy. You are and will continue to be in our prayers.
Our lives need to be called - CRAZY! Unthinkable! Unimaginable! Out there!!!
If we do truly believe then we NEED to accept this role, accept what we need to do for Christ & do it!!! Stop being comfortable. Stop living like we think we know the gospel or have heard it preached, but have NO IDEA what to do about it. The problem is we do know, but we are too worried, scared, of what? The World!
Praying my heart would be opened and changed & challenged. Thank you for this post! I pray many will read it, and accept Christ's Call to REALLY be a disciple and not pretend any more!
Thank you so much for sharing your heart honestly. You wrote your message beautifully.
I am on the other side of the world with everything America has to offer, and my heart aches that I'm so tied down and can't jump up and come live with you. My husband doesn't have this heart for those in so much need (not that he has NO heart for them, just isn't quite ready to move across the world to them), but this is the life I am in and I need to submit to him. Maybe there will be a time where I can freely give so much of myself across the world, but for now I have to choose to do as much as I possibly can in our spoiled country.
Bless you for your obedience to Him, for giving it all up. Had you gone to college and gotten married you quite possibly may have missed your chance. And that would have been a different kind of difficult.
Thank you for sharing your life with us in the internet world! While I struggle with envy, I love reading about your adventures, though I've not commented before, I don't think.
Oh sweet dear, I am praying for you and with you. At times it can be quite lonely when we choose to serve God. Just remember, even the "black sheeps" of the family are still sheeps of God. Blessings to you from another black sheep seeking to serve Him..
In my opinion, the guy who gave up the opportunity to spend the rest of his life with you has just made the biggest mistake of his life.
The Bible says to weep with those who weep. That is being done. I'm so sorry your heart is breaking.
You have shared the truth yet again beautifully and powerfully. I believe we are yearning to hear truth spoken, and we come here to read it.
I find it amazing that no one has commented yet. I do not know you personally and found your blog through a friend of mine who is also overseas (not in the States). I find myself in the predicament of waiting. My family is 3 boys and all 5 and under.
I think that your post is in no way offensive to me. . . no more than Christ is offensive. I did think while reading it of the body of Christ. That some are hands and feet and . . . legs and arms. I have yet to find out what my family's calling will be. Right now it is the unglamourous but comfortable position of waiting and being faithful in all investments and opportunities that I am given.
I don't feel comfortable though, I feel restless. I know that there is something for my family beyond what we now do but I have yet to know what that is.
As a side note I see the American Christian church being challenged in her apathy for her bridegroom. The economic climate here has taken away many things that the church has been trusting in. It is good and it is beginning to seperate us, sift us. So pray for us at home that we would see clearly what Jesus asks of us daily and learn to always say yes.
I am thankful for the vision that the Lord has given you and am enacouraged by how he is providing. Keep challenging us but we need grace.
Katie - I don't know how to write to you privately or if it is even necessary to be private about this. Here is my heart...poured out on paper without any extra thought or editing as I only have a moment to share.
Boy this is tough. I am so glad to walk the journey. I am so glad you shared your heart. Your hours of typing and wording your post just right were worth it in my life. Please keep it coming! This is what I've been inwardly praying for without even realizing it, Katie. This has been in my heart for so long but I didn't know how to bring it about when it is not in the heart of those around me. Please pray for me as I live this out in front of my children and my husband. Please pray that God will capture the hearts of my young sons and that they will see God's principles lived out through my life. Please pray that God will help me in my weakness to fully die to myself and live with Him wholly as my focus. Please pray that I will claim His faithfulness and His truths as I seek His face to see how I can tangibly lose it all for His ultimate goals - love Him more than anyone so much so that it looks like I hate everyone I love.
My boys and I have been privileged to listen to the first two messages. I am pondering all that I have heard in the past two hours. I am convicted on all accounts.
Oh please, Lord Jesus, may your Spirit make this come about in my heart no matter what it takes. Give me the strength to abandon everything to Him so that I might devote each moment...each day to whatever it is that He is calling me to for His glory!
Ah Katie. So very very few of us count the cost and still step up. So very few will carry the cross and find that joy. I want to. I do. But I fail EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. because you know....trying to offer yourself up, sacrifice, it HURTS. It's hard and it hurts. And in our comfy, my comfy selfish life, I can say it, but it's oh so very hard to DO it.
Brava for you. You stay in my prayers for strength and peace. We all see your faith in your works...just like we all should. Bless you.
Thanks for sharing Katie. I am deeply moved and will ask God to continue speaking to me about how to further empty myself and sacrifice for His agenda. Thank you, personally, for being faithful to what God has called you to. Some of us need to be reminded about just how seriously God's words should be impacting our lives. I pray that He would continue to bless you richly with joy, health, and abundance in your home.
Oh Katie, I just love your heart. Your pure heart. You do not even know. I want to first say (thank you) From the bottom of my heart for what you do.
I am reaching 50 here soon and the loss of sight in one eye and hearing in one ear. I'm no good to anyone. This is why I do what I can do from where I am. I give here in the U.S. to the rescue missions and I have just recently sponsored a child where you are just this January. I don't work and my husband is unemployed , But I have been giving to you and now a child which I feel great about.
We can do things like hand out gospel tracts, put up witnessing websites, do good to our neighbours and the like, but people like you are called higher to do so much more, God has truely blessed you with the ability that so many of us wish we had. God is using his best dear one. You. We love you and thank you for doing the Lord's bidding. God Bless you dear one. We love you. Big hugs to you. Keep that beautiful smile and that servants heart.
Thank you for the post! I so badly want to do what you are doing. Why? Because I would SERIOUSLY give up EVERYTHING I have and go to the ends of the earth. I am only 15, but God has placed in my heart a heart for the lost, the needy, the poor, and the orphan!!!
Thank you again for this post!
You don't know us, and we will probably never meet this side of Heaven, but we love you and are praying for you. You are inspiring many.
Well said!!! We are counting the cost right now. We (a family of 8) are moving March 4 to Livingstone Zambia to start an orphan work.
I pray that Jesus will be so close to you that His presence will be with you where ever you go.
I have been reading your blog now for a few months, spending hours and hours going through old posts and anxiously awaiting new ones. I don't even really know what to say to you now, miles and miles away in Birmingham, AL, really I just want to let you know that you are changing lives here in Alabama as well as in Uganda. God is so amazing in how he orchestrates his will - around the same time I started reading your blog, I started attending church at Brook Hills and am now taking part in the Radical Experiment! I pray expectantly that the Lord will allow an opportunity for me to someday serve in Africa too - it has been in my heart for many years and your blog helps to spur it on - I already see God opening doors for me. I pray for you and your girls, asking God to send blessing upon you and to place you all in the center of His will.
Thank you Katie for this word of Truth. You are right, Our Lord requires everything. I sit here now, contemplating how much of myself I still need to give. And how it will hurt. But, not as much as any distance between me and Jesus Christ. Your ministry is powerful . . . to your family and community in Uganda, and to your readers. Thank you for being bold and for reminding me to FOLLOW.
The Lord bless you, my sister.
Thank you very much for this challenging and convicting post. You have given me much to think on. I have studied those passages (Luke 14 especially) before, but I appreciated your take on things. Thank you for your encouragement. I have been reading your blog for a long time now, and even though I have never met you I feel like I know you. Thank you for sharing your heart and in doing so encouraging others! May God continue to bless you..
I love you Katie. May we all be obedient to what God has called us to because the truth that you so explained beautifully (by the way the radical series rocked my world a few months ago myself) is simply that faith alone saves but faith never exists alone and if it does then your God is your comfort and not Jesus Christ. Again, I love you and praying for you that the awesome strength of Christ may consume you every day.
I'm going to check out that sermon later tonight. Thank you for your open and honest heart. I yearn to have the same heart. I know what God's word says and I choose not to do it. I suppose maybe I use that excuse that Jesus didn't mean all of that stuff LITERALLY but I know I'm lying to myself.
Have you read, "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan? So convicting!
don't hesitate to step in and help.
If you say, "Hey, that's none of my business,"will that get you off the hook? Someone is watching you closely, you know—Someone not impressed with weak excuses.
Thank you for sharing your heart with us....My family will continue to pray for you...that God will wrap His arms around you and hold you tight during this tough time.
Thank you so much Katie. Thank you for what you do.
The Lord gave Isaiah 58 to me awhile back, and he said to live by it, and I've been finding out ever since what it costs to be a disciple.
Keep finding comfort in his love, fellowship with his spirit, and encouragement straight from him.
We serve an incredibly beautiful God.
You live dangerously alive in your faith. Well done my sister.
Beautiful. I just want to say, you're Catholic. You don't know it yet, but you're Catholic.
I just want to say thank you so much for posting this Katie. So much truth to it and it has also been on my heart. I shared my perspective of this too on my blog and referenced yours. Thanks again!
I have no words. You said it all. Thank you sister, you are His hands and His feet! Bless you!
Thanks for the sermon link. I will be listening!
Wow Katie, this is the first post I've seen with no comments. Maybe they're coming later. I want to say thanks for delivering a hard word. I appreciate it.
Thank you for sharing your heart with us. I pray with you, that more of us would be challanged by God's call to help in a sacrificial way, in Africa. May our hearts be soft towards God! I look forward to taking time out to listen to your sermons. I have often thought, "you cannot change the world, but you can make a world of differnce to a child one little person at a time!" May God bless you richly for making that world of differnce to all your chldren! I pray for your safety and peace! That God woud provide for your every need.
So I felt like I was throwing my dh under the bus with my comment. He loves the Lord, and he's not a big bad ogre who says no we can't help people, he just has a different heart for different things and now that we're married, we have to agree on major decisions like adopting more kids or going on mission trips. That's what I meant!
Your story is an amazing one. One that is full of God's amazing love and compassion, but at the same time amazing sadness for what you have given up. However, God has chosen you for a special purpose and would not make you give those things up without having something even more amazing waiting for you. Praise God that you realize that.
Thanks for sharing your heart, Katie!!! The Gospel does demand sacrifice, and it's not glamourous, but IS rewarding, amen?!
LOVE the radical series by Platt!!!! Anointed words!!
You are one of the most beautiful human beings I have ever heard words from on this earth.
I am incredibly encouraged today by these words, to see truth spoken so boldly in the face of so many lies about comfort constantly shouted by the world. We like to shove God into the context of those lies and today it is so so so refreshing to be reminded that it's not just ok for us to turn away from the things of this world and turn towards the things God says, but that it is actually what we are created for.
I'm in the process of learning how to disappoint my family and let the world define me as a failure so that I can do the things that God is asking me to do.
I am thankful that you exist.
I just wanted you to know that I understand your pain....I understand your frustrations with others not "getting it" and it seems that the laborers for the Lord have always been few. I will join you in praying for more workers...not just people who say that want to help but that they begin to pray...Lord how can you use me? Thank you for all that you do for those precious people Katie....you really are so inspiring to me.
You don't know me. I stumbled onto your blog because of a suggestion by Amanda Lehman, someone I suspect is more like you than most. Respectfully, you are wrong. You say you don't have the answers or you're not getting it right. Baloney. You have it exactly right. God bless you and keep you from doubting that what you are doing is precisely what He wants you to do. I pray you will feel Him wrap you in His everlasting arms RIGHT NOW.
Thank you for sharing your heart with us, some people who know and love you, and others, like me, who have found your blog and follow just because there's something different about you and what you're doing. We, I, needed this challenge.... to really see and care for the needy, instead of worrying about my own selfish little life. I can't really even begin to imagine what goes on in your heart, but I can tell you that you, in your heart of obedience on this, have touched me, and I will be praying for you and your kids. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing your heart!! Know that thousands of miles away you have touched my life and God has used you to get my attention. I pray daily for you, your family, and God's hand on your life.
I am so glad you shared this, Katie. You are a beautiful, inspiring write and I am always convicted to think less of myself and to keep on giving to others, even when I feel depleted. God ALWAYS fills us up!
Katie, to me this is just an amazingly beautiful post. I love it! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! What you said desperately needs to be said to the American church. Ever since I read Francis Chan's book "Crazy Love" in 12/2008, my understanding and burden for the things you're saying started and continues to grow. The more I read and meditate on God's Word, listen to sermons and read books pertaining to this area, the more my convictions have grown. This area is a huge "blind spot" in the American church as David Platt says, and in great need of reform. When my wife and I learned about you and your blog and then read through the whole thing last October in a couple of days, we have looked at you as a living illustration of the passages you've quoted from and many others. The way you live your life actually helps us to understand these passages because, like I said, you're such a clear illustration of what it means to follow Christ! These passages do not make much sense when we're in hot pursuit of the "good American life". There is a world of suffering out there that we as Christians are called to be burdened for and to put our faith to work for by going to, and by giving our resources to. We look at you as a model for what we would like to do in the future, possibly in Ethiopia. We have just got to get disconnected a little bit more from our "good American life" and the commitments we've made that must be honored. A huge part of our journey in understanding our big blind spot was the "Radical" series of sermons by David Platt you referred to. These sermons, along with his sermons from the book of James, and the "Radical Experiment" going on at the church he pastors, and where we are now members, has had a huge impact on us. I was excited to see your reference to these sermons and would also strongly encourage others to listen to them, for they are life-changing. I think these sermons along with others from men like John Piper would greatly encourage you in the work you're doing also. Again, thank you for the work you're doing and the example you are. My wife and I pray for you, and will be especially praying hard for you during what seems to be a tough time in your life right now.
I agree 100%!! awesome post Katie.
sweet, sweet Lord. Mighty one..fill us with your Spirit. Press down on us with your love and let us not be carried away with this dying world. Thank you for, Katie. Thank you for her voice...Your voice...in such a time as this. More of this, please! Go God, Beat Satan!! woohoo I love your boldness, K!
So good, Katie. So true.
I do not want the end of my life to look like the end of Schindler's List when he realizes that for all he did, he really could have done more.
Katie, you don't know me, nor do I know you any more than by your blog, which I stumbled across a month or so ago and now have made required reading for my daughters.
I want to encourage you... you can post this on or just keep it for you... but God has a great and glorious plan. Both for you and those beautiful daughters He has given you.
And although it seems like SO MUCH to give up right now, God is smiling and saying, "Well done." His plan is good. He has plans to prosper you.
I also was given a choice at age 21. To go with a young man I loved or to follow Christ in what He wanted me to do. When put like that (and through a series of events I knew it was what God wanted of me) I chose to follow Him and forsake the young man.
God's plan was so much better than mine!!! I am now married to a WONDERFUL man who loves God, and we have 10 children. You can look at our blog www.petersonclan. com .
I say this to encourage you. I do not know that God has marriage in your future. But I trust absolutely that He has something great for you.
Feel free not to post this. I really wanted to just write to you and encourage your splintered heart. I know it is hard. I know you are hurting. I know He has asked much of you. I also know that He is well pleased with your obedience.
Thank you for sharing your heart! It certainly has me thinking and reevaluating my own walk with the Lord. Have I given up everything? Am I willing to surrender it all to Him? I know He is worth it!
Katie- I know you don't really get to read comments much here, but just in case, I wanted you to know that I appreciate the time and effort you put into your words on this post. I am sorry for your heartache. I admire your bravery with your words. And I thank you for having the courage to put your convictions into action daily. As members of Brook Hills, we were completely altered by David's sermon. Between your blog and David's sermons, God has called us to adopt from Uganda. We're waiting on our referral (and all that legal stuff) now. Just wanted you to know that your voice is out there. You're being heard. And you're changing people. Hugs, girl. Hugs.
Katie, you are disappearing and we are seeing Jesus more and more in your life lived out before us. God has amazing things in store for your life, not merely in the blessed hope for eternity but here upon this earth, even upon the rugged red-earth clay of Uganda...Your heart spilled out before us is such a precious gift! In your true weakness, He is showing Himself strong. Keep pouring out your heart, dear sister, pouring out your life. Even in the midst of the pain, you are finding the blessed joy of being perfectly centered in His will for your life.
wow... this is powerful. thanks so much for the reminder. you are an inspiration and i am confident that God is and will continue to do wondrous things with your life!
my heart is spilling over now. i love how the Bible...God's words & promises...are real to you. the the Bible is living & breathing. i know you are not perfect but you are a standard bearer. thank you for your words. we are praying for you in the Simmons household & i make my daughters read your blog. God bless you.
Katie, you are inspiring. My wife, myself, and another family have been following your blog. We found it when we decided to follow the calling on our hearts. We are, Lord willing, moving to South Africa in the fall to work along side a church and orphanage. You are an inspiration to all. Our hearts go out to you. You will be in our prayers.
This is absolutely a beautifully authentic and truth-filled post. I love it. Thank you for sharing your heart.
Katie, your words have touched my heart. I have been blessed to adopt 5 children; many of them affected by drugs. What you say is so true! As Christians, we must be willing "to get our hands dirty." I am glad that we have adopted these children, but it is a sacrifice. It is not easy to have a baby addicted to drugs at birth. It is not easy to deal with brain damage from those same drugs. God does require us to lay down our lives. Bless you for having the courage to write this. May others be encouraged to seek the Lord for His will in their lives.
Oh, my heart hurts for you. I know that it is not easy to do what you do. However, I do so see you as one of the heroes of the faith. You have truly given all this world has to offer. Right now my family is having a rough time and I complain. Thank you for opening my eyes and showing me that even though it is "tough" I have nothing to complain about. Thank you for showing me that I need to be doing a lot more for Jesus and that my life is not near radical enough. Thank you Katie and keep up the good work!!!
Thanks for spilling it, girl! So proud of you for your reckless faith and abandon. You challenge me to the core. I don't wanna be a goat!
I do so appreciate what you are saying, but wanted to gently offer another perspective. I WOULD joyfully give up all in a heartbeat and adopt 30 kids and live in a third world country... if that was where God called me. God instead called me to marry young, practice midwifery during my barren years, now to have many young babes in very few years, one born with epilepsy, and to cry out and weep and long for and pray for children who suffer, all for His Glory. It is not comfort that prevents me from moving to Africa, it is doing the will of God as he calls me.
There is an analogy that Paul Washer uses for missionaries as ones who are lowered into a dark and dangerous well (I think to dig or repair it) and of on the other side, the ones who dig in their heels and burn their hands holding the rope. There is a cost to both. May we here share the scars of rope burned hands from the sacrifice of supporting those in the field, each as the Lord calls.
Wow. Thank you for sharing, Katie! The Lord has truly spoken through you and His words are very convicting. I read your blog often and think about the sacrifices you are making in order to follow Christ's will. Thank you for being so authentic and sharing the hard parts!
Oh Wow. Katie, I have followed your blog and your ministry. Shoot, I have had your button scrolling on the side of my own blog for the better part of a year. But I don't believe I have ever before left a comment.
Perhaps it's because what you are doing with this life you've been given is so big, and what I am doing...well, isn't.
I am compelled to write now. I admire you so (I realize that's not what you are looking for, but there you have it). You have been an inspiration to me.
I have often wondered what it is about some people that enables them to "leave it all behind" to follow God's call. An extra portion of courage? An adventurous spirit? No. Not in cases such as yours. Something all together different is at work.
I pray daily, "God, let it be with me as you say." And I mean it.
May God fill you up. May you in all ways be blessed. And may you know that though few of us are capable...make that WILLING in the way that you are, there are those of us out here that are lifting you up with love and in prayer that you never knew existed.
Katie, words cant describe how convicted, challenged, and encouraged ive been just by simply reading your posts! You are an inspiration to me, and I have grown spiritually by hearing about your relationship with the lord and your encouragement from the word. Know that I am praying for you and your family!
The passages you reference are ones which keep me up at night.
Thank you for being bold in speaking the truth.
I can tell you heart is broken. Prays to you.
Katie, Your life has captured my attention and caused me to ask these same questions of myself. You are truly a woman after God's own heart. Thank you for everything you do for your children and the children of Uganda.
I am so sorry for your heartbreak and you both are in my prayers.
I will be looking at my own life and the things God is calling me to and I will count the cost.
God bless you for sharing this.
thanks for putting this all out here. words i seriously needed to hear today. you are a miracle. may God continue to bless you and all you do.
Katie, we have 4 children, all adopted. The youngest are twins, one of whom has CP (non verbal, wheelchair, self abusive etc. Over and over before we made the decision to accept her, we felt God telling us that we weren't here for Disney cruises and ski vacations. But, it has been hard. On days when I have been bitten, repeatedly restrained her, or cleaned up played in feces yet again, I find myself almost angry with God. We have had "friends" basically abandon us, because we make them uncomfortable or perhaps even afraid, "what if God asks us to do something like that?" A family member even once said she didn't pray about things like that because she didn't want to know what God would say. Many people just seem to think we are crazy. And, then I feel guilty. I am still in my upper middle class house, with the privelege of fighting isurance which covers more therapy than most kids in other coutries could even dream of. I have plenty and yet I still wallow in my self pity. I would not change my decision. Every... EVERY child deserves a chance, a home, a parent, faith, hope. If I believe this, it is my calling to act. This is why you and I are here. Cry on sweet sister.
Wow katie...this is absolutely amazing. Convicting and inspiring at the same time. Thank you for sharing your heart and your passion. You are a woman after God's heart, and I know He is so proud of you.
I know you don't know me and I've never met you, but you are truly an inspiration to me. I got in touch with your blog through some friends of mine, and I absolutely love reading what you have to say. Especially this one. I feel God has put it on my heart to do something to an extent of what you are doing, but this message smacked me in the face. I am extremely comfortable in my life and wonder if I've just gotten comfortable with the idea of God's mission because I'm not actually doing it. Thank you, thank you, for what you wrote.
Thank you. Your words are appreciated. Really.
I came across your blog via Leslie Ludy's website, and I'm blown away by what I've seen. You are truly walking with the Lord, completely abandoned to Him. I'm not sure where God will lead me over the next few years, but I know that I desire to be like you being like Christ. I'm thankful for your example, and I will continue to pray for you and your children.
Thank you Katie ... thank you for counting the cost and choosing to give your all to the Lord. In your youth you have chosen to "do hard things" and exhibit "crazy love"(if i can borrow a few favorite titles to make a point) that blows most of us readers away. You are an inspiration to many of my girls in our youth group and proof that God can do BIG things through them right now as teens. But what I have been most impressed with is not your charity or even your great sacrifice but your tender heart, humility and love for our Most High God. You liken another young person God used in magnificent ways for His chosen ones... King Josiah. I encourage you to read about him and the "crazy" things he did in order to love the Lord his God with all his heart and all his soul(2 Kings 22-23 and 2 Chron. 32,I think : ) May you be encouraged to stand strong and physically feel the mighty arm of God, who secures the feet of His godly ones. May you find comfort in His refuge this very moment.
As I have followed your blog tears have spilled down my face when I think of the price you have paid to follow Jesus. I see the picture of you and your brother, your parents, the story of the ending of your relationship -- and you are right. The cost is high. Very, very high. You are also right that not very many of us are willing to pay that price. I'd like to add James 1:27, which says that, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
The words you share are truth -- straight from God's word. May we all heed them today!
You got it right...no rambling, just beauty.
Katie... this heart of mine spilled tonight too. Maybe not on a blog, but here in my dorm room I have been pressed for a year, the words of James 2 ringing in my head: "Faith without deeds is dead." He has me finishing my degree. My heart is for the taking. My heart is ready. Whether it's supposed to be back in my hometown or in another country. Life isn't easy. I was pondering the messy and hurtful things of life tonight, before reading this. Thank you. Thank you for reminding me that... even though we are pressed, we are not crushed. Even though we are persecuted for His sake, we are victorious. For, the heart that is set on His will and promises is the most blessed of all. Your testimony is incredible. Your life... is exemplary of Jesus Christ. all I can say is: thank you for being a mother of 14 with dust and dirt and spit up everywhere. For, in doing that, you are fulfilling God's ultimate calling on your life.
i'm praying and sending love.
The words you speak are truth -- straight from the Word. May we heed them TODAY.
I found your blog last month, and I have read your story from start to present since then. I am endlessly impressed with the courage you have to say yes to the person/task that is right in front of you, that God has given you to do. I think that is all that anyone need do really, is say yes to what God gives them today. Enough of that and our tomorrows will be radically different.
I just want to tell you that for some reason you have been on my heart all month, specifically about you and Ben, what you have shared about that relationship, and I have been praying for you.
I am really confident both from prayer and experiences in this, (I've been married 10 years now) that the husband you are given will be so much more what you need than anything you have been able to imagine before now. And I am certain that you are walking the right direction to find him as you are walking in true life with Jesus.
Your story has moved me. Thank You for sharing your beliefs and what has been on your heart. I read in the newspaper of a couple here in my town that just returned from Haiti with two children they adopted. I looked up their information and sent them a donation. Now that I have read your post, I feel that I need to do a little more than just sending in a check. I am not sure what that thing that I am supposed to do is yet but, I am resting assured that it will be revealed to me. I am here by way of Angie's blog and took a chance and clicked on your post. I am very happy that I did. Keep on doing what you're doing. You're an inspiration to many people!
What does it look like to loose it all living in california?
Thats not a clear question but I desire to give it all in fact i'm willing but like you were when you first lost it all I'm young 17 and I want to radically live yet I'm held back..
Yet my parents don't agree an so many of my friends.. I fear I will make feel guilty when I tell them I only like buying what I need.
I this a legalistic mindset?
Is there a balance to this?
so many people of faith in my life don't live this way and not having support in that way makes me question If this Is right or is it legalistic as some may call it.
Yet seeing Gods word I feel it makes sense.
I'm praying God shows me but If you get back to me I know your advice would be one I could trust.
Thank you for allowing Jesus to live through you he's moved in my life because of it.
Thank you Katie! I often, well more than often, need a little perspective. You are more than an inspiration...you are an answer to prayer. We recently joined the church at brook hills and we are on your heels and you are in our prayers! I am in my infancy and you are strong in Christ, man do you inspire me! Rock on Katie, Rock on!
I'm Emma, I;m from England and about the same age as you. It's nice to kind of 'meet' you in this strange bloggy world!
I have been following your blog for a while now. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, joys and struggles along the journey.
I think sometimes it seems to people that it they removed themselves from everything that reminds them of normal life - the town they grew up in, the friends they made since they were little, the general expectations of society - then they would find it much easier to give all away. A novel setting where all is unknown looks from the outside like a fresh life, a chance to start over, to live the way you always wanted to for Jesus but never got round to.
But maybe the point is that this thinking is really just similar to the idea that'the other side is greener'. Your life in Uganda is reality not a short term mission trip. I'm assuming you get bogged down in mundane work and that the things that once seemed exotic and new are now just part of your everyday life. I'm sure you have the same or similar struggles to just take it easy and to 'give up on giving up' that others experience in the comfortable West.
I guess my thought is this; you were called to Uganda, and as I am not called to Uganda at the moment I excuse myself by thinking the same sacrifices are not expected of me. BUT THEY ARE! right here in England, living in a seemingly wealthy city as a 21 year old student with my whole life ahead of me. Jesus calls all of us to carry his cross.
Where ever we are there are children in need of nurturing and love. There are blind grandmas alone and rejected by the community. There are women struggling with domestic violence and precious young babies.
(These examples are all real people in my life, not a generic idea of suffering people).
As readers of this blog we need to look for the stories Katie tells in our own lives, as well as supporting hers in Uganda.
Thank you so much for continuing to help me see that Katie.
Thank you for your voice and opening your heart. Thank you for loving our Saviour and challenging the Body of Christ! I love you! We support what you are doing in Uganda through prayer and cash. :) Our pastor has always said that we are all called to support building the Kingdom around the world -- some go and others send. Just a thought, but it seems that sometimes we think the ones who are called to "go" sacrifice more than the ones who are called to send. But maybe, just maybe the ones who send sacrifice just as much, because sometimes they sacrifice the strong desire, the willingness, and heartfelt dream to go so that they can be obedient and send. Just because not everyone goes doesn't mean they enjoy comforts more - maybe they've sacrificed their dreams so that others can go. So maybe this woman is sacrificing her desire to do what you do in order to be obedient to God and do what He has called her to do - even if she is surrounded by comfort doing it -- it doesn't mean she is comfortable. It takes the whole body to build the Kingdom! Thank you for doing what God has called you to do.
your words are a blessing. to GOD be the GLORY for great things he has done... is doing... and will contiue to do.
it is because of the Lord's mercies, that you are not consumed. his compassions do not fail. They are new EVERY morning. GREAT is HIS faithfulness.
You've inspired me today, Katie. God bless. You are in my prayers. HE IS FAITHFUL.
Thank you for your honesty about the not-so-glamorous life of following Jesus COMPLETELY. Thank you as much for sharing how LIFE-GIVING it is. I would call this a spurring on that Hebrews tells us to do for each other.
"Yes, Lord; now whats the question?"
I am sorry about your hurtful break up. I am glad you have God to give you love and comfort through this time, though.
I will also pray for the American lady who spoke about wishing she could do what you are doing. May God give her the strength and courage to do what He has put in her heart the desire to do.
Be encouraged, sweet child of God. Your heart is breathtaking. Prayers are with you. Thankful you are willing to pay the cost.
You were right... this post was *very hard* to read.
Thank you for righting it..
Please pray for me, a sinner.
if this post is hard for some to read, then that's just evidence that you were supposed to say it! Jesus' calling, his truth, and what he requires of us should not be comfortable, wherever we are at... if it is, then WE have become too comfortable. life with Him SHOULD be costly!
Your calling reminds me very much of Mother Teresa's. I pray that you will find sisters to join you and give you comfort and companionship in your vocation. God will not ask you to do it all by yourself. You can be part of a team. Love tends towards unity. The Church tends towards unity. One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is peace, and Mother Teresa surely had that. Pray about whether you should join the Daughters of Charity. You will become a nameless, faceless, blogless worker bee. But you will do the same work you do now, and have peace at the same time. What a light yoke our Savior offers us! Even when the work is hard.
Katie - thanks so much for this post.
I do believe goers and senders are necessary in the kingdom (I am so thankful for the OBEDIENCE of the believers who have NOT gone, but are financially supporting you and your family and all that you do!), and that sacrifice looks different for every believer depending on their desires, gifts, and where the Lord has called them.
I teach in an inner-city middle school, and this is where the Lord has called me - NOT to sell everything I own and quit my job, but to STAY and invest in the children and communities of severe need where I live and work.
So I would hope that if I said to you that I think I would love to do what you do (and I believe I would) that you would not assume that comfort holds me back, but understand that the Lord has instead called me to be HERE and that although we plan our path, He is directing our steps for his purpose and glory, whether in Uganda, inner-city America, or "comfortable" suburban communities.
Where are the comments from guys?
Women, make the guys in your life read this. And make them read it again. And tell them to do something, encourage us for we are so fearful.
I'm sorry, Katie. You shame me so I will do better for I have left the naked naked and the hungry hungry and the thirsty thirsty. Thank you for letting your holy fire break through your sweet humility. I am a goat no longer.
Thank you so much for sharing this! I live in the city and walk by hungry people everyday. I wish I gave more and I am encouraged to keep challenging myself! God bless you!
I love you. I love your heart. And I love the Jesus who reigns in your life. Thank you for those words of truth that ALL of us need to hear. I heard someone say yesterday "The need is the call". No more waiting...sitting around wondering if we should get up off our butts and help those in need in a way that is tangible and radically like our Savior. We have ALL been called. Thank you for that reminder. I want to be found doing what Jesus would be doing when He comes for me. God, give us all courage and faith to do so!
Just wanted you to know I pray every day to be more like YOU- because you are so much like HIM. Thanks for your example.
I needed to hear those words. You smacked me hard between the eyes. I will continue to pray for you, as you are touching so many!
Thank you Katie. Your radical faith inspires me. I love you. Don't ever stop writing. We need you.
mom to 10, waiting for our #11 and #12 in Liberia.
Thank you for sharing these truths, no matter how hard for you, or for those of us whose ears it will fall on. This is such a tough one.
A while back, I was planning a Bible study on finances, and was going to use the passage where Jesus talks about giving everything to the poor. I could not find ONE commentary that didn't simply say that it was just a call to see where your heart is, etc. etc. Not once did anyone say that he REALLY MEANT IT.
Thanks for bringing this truly prophetic word to us all today. I, for one, needed to hear this.
I sincerely hope that your boyfriend felt led in a different direction by the Holy Spirit and nothing else, because otherwise I would be feeling very sorry for him right about now, losing a woman like you. You're one in a million. -- On a separate note, THANK YOU for your refreshing honesty about the apathy of modern day Christians. I am convicted afresh and anew.
Wow, wow, wow! Straight from the Holy Spirit, that post is. Thanks for shaking us out of our boots. Oh, that we Christians would finally get it. Thank you, thank you, Katie. And I think God is going to bring the right man into your life one day, straight to Uganda with you.
I don't know you, and have no idea how I came across your blog, but have been following for a few months... This post especially touched me. Thank you for the rebuke, for the reminder, for the inspiriation. I was truly blessed.
Thank you for your honest and insightful post. This is something I've been struggling with lately- how do I explain to my children that there are other kids in the world who are starving to death when we live with such excess? I don't have the answers and I struggle with whether I'm doing things the way Jesus wants me to. I am one of those people who gives to the poor, volunteers for charities, etc. but for the most part I live a very comfortable life when I KNOW others are suffering. I'm wondering how I justify that I deserve so much when others have so little.
thanks though for opening our eyes to the rest of the world.
Katie, I know you probably have no time to read all these comments, but I just want to thank you for this post. You are so incredibly right and I honestly just hear God speaking through you. As a 17 year old facing a lot of decisions for the future, I'm truly encouraged by your blog to count the cost and live the life that God created me for. I wish I could be as courageous and faithful as you, but I know that with God all things are possible. Thank you for being such an amazing example to a teenage girl like me. You and your family are in my prayers.
I am a missionary living in Ukraine. God one night told me to go to a country I had never seen and leave everything behind. I can understand everything you have said. The thing is, even though you and I have walked through valleys and shed rivers of tears and know that we do not get to lead the glamorous lifstyles we thought we might one day, Jesus is being glorified through us and that thought alone is worth more than anything this world could give.
Some of these comments are telling you "Oh my heart is breaking for you" and yet you've clearly stated your life is full and wonderful and you have JOY. My heart breaks for people who refuse to count the cost. Who refuse to see the beauty in spit up and hugging orphans and standing by them even when they are screaming at you their hate because you are telling them "no". Beautiful feet according to Jesus, are dusty, dirty, calloused, blistered and seen lost of road. You have beautiful feet. You have a beautiful life. And in heaven the Reward that you will receive will be more than anything this world could give - face to face with our Creator. Hallelujah!
Not to mention that rooms of treasure and the crown God will give you!
You have such a popular blog. I would say "Hey we should be friends"....but I'm not sure you would have time for that. But nonetheless, I will lift you up in prayer and ask that you say a prayer for me and my ministry in Ukraine.
Katie, love this post - I feel the pain, and I feel comforted by your words. I am a single mom too, to foster children in Tennessee. When I tell people that, I often get the response, "Oh, I could never do that. I could never give up a baby." It is like a punch in the gut to me to hear that. I can't do it either!!! It is a higher cost than I can possibly bear!!!! But OI am not alone; my God goes with me, bears the cost with me. My Savior gave everything for me, my Father gave up His only Son for me, so I take in children, love children, and lose children. It is excruciating at times. But it is also full of joy and love and peace. I am sure there is no one on earth more blessed than I. Although I have never married, God is making me mother to a multitude. God is good.
The most purifying and lovely blog post I have read in a long time. Your blog is truly one of the very few worth keeping up with. Thank you! God bless you.
Tears flowed down my face as I read your blog, Katie, and even as I type now.. because everything you wrote is identical to everything God has been speaking to my heart, especially in the last several months.. How shall we..how can I, stand before His Presence and say I love Him if I have not ACTIVELY loved those HE loves?? And He says, "Obey. Deny self, take up the cross, and follow ME.."
Thank you so, SO much for sharing. You and your girls are very often in my prayers! May He continue to hold you and fill you as you seek His face: "Open your mouth wide and I will fill it," Psalms 81:10.
Thank you for this post. I didn't know I needed to hear it but I did.
I feel a huge push to do something. Stop being complacent in the "Christianity" that surrounds us.
While the story of the woman was brave and heartbreaking, and courageous, I realize that not everyone will be called to do this. But everyone WILL BE CALLED. And it's about listening to that call that God has placed on each individual heart and following it.
I am responsible to be Christ to people in need. To everyone.
Thank you again for the post.
I will be praying for you.
Incredible. Your reward is going to be amazing in Heaven.
I'm in Kampala right now trying to bring home (USA) a severely malnourished girl with failure to thrive, an undiagnosed throat injury that leaves her unable to speak, she cannot walk and she's hiv+ with a cd4 count of 87. I thought people would roll out the red carpet for us. I thought people would want to "save" her. Didn't work that way at all.
I think you may have heard that Americans trying to take home orphans from Uganda are stuck here right now while our embassy figures out the situation and starts issuing visas again.
My baby girl is starving and writhing in pain. I've tried to bring God glory and honor each day of this journey but I have to be honest and say that I've failed. I've grumbled, I've moaned, I've cried.
I'm out of money, patience, and energy. I'm on my 2nd round of bad food poisoning that is really...well... unpleasant.
I was corresponding with the sweet Palmer family the other day and God gave us this thought... No matter what happens here, it doesn't change the Cross. It doesn't change the Resurrection. And it doesn't change my salvation. He's just asking me to follow Him.
Oh, and it's not easy. I have 3 young children at home who miss me and I miss them deeply. I am living minute by minute. That's all I can handle. And our sweet Savior gives me what I need for that minute by minute.
I am so sorry to hear of love lost. I'm a romance-novel-type-of-gal and I feel so awful that you had to endure that. That is a searing pain and I pray that your heart heals quickly.
You touch many people with your life. You draw them to the Cross in a way that they can't turn from. You are a rock in the proverbial pond that causes many ripples. Many with come to eternal salvation through your life.
The enemy is never going to stop attacking you on this earth. You are a mighty warrior for Jesus and he wants to see you suffer. God will only allow what He knows you can withstand.
I don't pretend for one second to know your pain and your daily struggles. But I do know that there will be a grand party waiting for you one day in a place so wonderful our human minds can't even take it in. And there will be no sadness, no hunger, no dying, no crying.
I will continue to pray for you to be showered with blessings. | 2019-04-24T05:53:09Z | http://katiedavis.amazima.org/2010/02/she-was-eighteen-years-old-and-she-had.html?showComment=1265936362231 |
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