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Campaign Month Begins. Vote Conservative!
April 1, 2015 | Author: Steve Tierney
Posted in Campaigning, Conservatives, Election | Leave a Comment
|Thursday, 2 April 2015 - 4:07
A constituent of mine phoned me up the other day to tell me they had been called upon by what they described as a "looney Lefty" called Ken, representing the Labour party.
Now I rather like the NE Cambs Labour people that I've met, to be honest, and find them to be quite sensible Lefties even if we don't agree on much of anything. But I thought it interesting that they are out canvassing already. Clearly more organised than they've been in a while.
I put this down to Dean Reeves, who is an exceptionally bright and eloquent gentleman who I am very fond of. He's been a driving force behind local Labour for some time.
A little scouting and I turned up their "Campaign Launch" event. Here it is.
I guess the "Ken" in this video is the same Ken who was seen canvassing in Medworth. Hello Ken! Welcome to Medworth!
It has been edited to show the "highlights." I think they need to get somebody else to edit it. It looks like Dean Reeves, talking for about four hundred years, and some balloons. :) As parties go, i've seen some that were more kickin' than this, but I expect it was meant to be a very serious intellectual event, so that's to be expected.
Our local Labour folk have always been the most honourable and genuine opposition group, sticking to the issues and not getting into dirty tricks. So with that in mind, my red flagged friends, I'd like to wish you well with "break a leg" in the theatre tradition. May the best men and women win.
Jobs you want doing? Who ya gonna call?
I had to chuckle at the Bucknors attacking local Conservatives, and particularly Rob McLaren, for doing voluntary work in the community. They tried to make it look like he was going it "for the election" – while apparently missing the fact that he (and the rest of us) are involved in social action projects and volunteering all the time. Naturally, John Elworthy was out in support of them as ever. No longer making even the slightest effort to appear unbiased, it seems. So be it.
I think Bucknor made a mistake attacking Rob. She and Michael Bucknor can attack me all they like – I'm a Human Shield. :) But Rob is far more well-liked, probably because he's a much better man than I am. I suspect they may have bitten off more than they can chew. I did have some advice for Rob, though. In case he finds it helpful.
You know what you *should* have done, Rob? Held a consultation that nobody turned up to because you didn't advertise it, then blamed your residents for your own failings. Made a webpage listing all the "jobs" you've done which mostly features just a few phone calls. Driven your car without proper insurance cover. Benefits fraud. Used your elected role to promote your private business. Claimed to have received "hundreds of calls" while on holiday on the other side of the world. Claimed that local schools didn't have chairs. Run a petition and proposed a crossing only to completely fail to put a bid in for it. Run a petition to stop the Post Office moving, only to completely fail. Repeatedly reported your enemies to the Standards Board in the hope you would stop them pointing out the things you do. Failed to turn up for pretty much every civic event since the day you were elected. Swore blind that you were going to prevent the taxi rank from moving, then completely fail to do so. Publish your plans for a speed reduction, then go into hiding when it becomes apparent the public don't support you. Claim that things were going to get closed down which were not going to get closed down, in order to then pretend you had prevented them from closing down. Started an Infrastructure campaign with a website and fifty scrappy flyers and then spend years pretending it was more than a website and fifty scrappy flyers. Oppose and support the Wisbech Rail Project simultaneously. Vote for a rise in Council Tax even though you claim to be from a very deprived ward. Try and stop the Wisbech Adventure Playground from opening, then become Chairman of it and find that nobody wants to serve on the Committee with you. Try and get on the board of the Oasis Centre and be furious that they wont let you on there because they know what you are like. Call UKIP members "bigoted and racist" and then do a sleazy deal with them to protect yourself. Start a political "group" with only two people, which just happens to come with a generous group leaders Special Responsibility Allowance. Call Children in Care "Takers From Society" after they have given you a heartfelt presentation. Propose paid parking for all of Wisbech's free car parks. Spend every day of your life claiming everybody in the opposition party is "nasty" to you when you are, in fact, the nastiest political individual the Town has ever seen. That's what you *should* have done, Rob. But you wouldn't. Because you're not like that.
But I would like to thank Virginia Bucknor who said: "Wisbech Tories helping us sweep our streets and now painting a garage. If there's any odd jobs you want doing, who ya gonna call?" (or something very similar) – beautiful quote and headline for next election leaflet, and WHAT an endorsement!
Quiet Zone
I must apologise for the sparsity of blog posts of late. It is election time, and not just any old election time, but a General Election as well as District & Town Council elections. This is particularly significant for me because I am Chairman of Wisbech Conservatives, a key election planner and organiser, and because most of my friends are candidates or friends of candidates. It means that my office looks like a bomb has hit it and my "to do list" is more of a novel than a list.
So for most of April and early May I doubt I'll be posting a very great deal. I expect I'll pop on if something funny, strange or annoying crops up. But other than that this will be a quiet zone for a while, I'm afraid.
White Noise
Ah, Election Time in Wisbech.
That wonderful period where the Opposition call people lots of names and say mean things about them and then complain about name-calling and mean things being said, while the local newspaper editor laments at the "bile" he perceives and ignores the "bile" from his mates. Nothing changes.
I try to ignore the White Noise, primarily because I don't much care what propaganda their cabal puts out to their thirty-five Twitter followers, or whatever. But every once in a while something interesting is said that makes my (virtual) ears prick up.
There's this, for instance:
This is such a strange comment, since it appears to be suggesting that some or all Members of the Fenland District Council Overview & Scrutiny have "no expertise" to bring to that Committee.
Weird on several counts. But first you need to understand what an Overview & Scrutiny Committee does. The Committee's job is to look at existing Policy to make sure it is working well, to suggest improvements and the like (the Scrutiny part.) Also to look at forthcoming Policy to suggest potential issues, problems and improvements (the Overview part.) At Fenland there is only one O&S Committee, which covers all the Council business. Therefore the Committee needs to have a good spread of different knowledge and experience in order to properly do it's job. There is no requirement for "expertise" – this is provided by Officers. Expertise is useful in some instances, but the point of O&S is to get all different people to look at items in order to get a diverse set of viewpoints and opinions.
So which of the Members of Overview & Scrutiny is it that Virginia Bucknor is suggesting don't have "expertise" to be on a Committee covering all the business the Council does? The only Member of the Committee whose background she is really qualified to speak on is her own – so is she saying she doesn't have the expertise to be on it? If so, why not just resign from it? I think she'd be doing herself a disservice, since she surely has some useful experience to offer?
For my part, I have experience in all sorts of elements of what the Council does through my professional career in various areas. I've also Chaired O&S Committees at the highest level of local government on multiple occasions. But even if I had not – like every Councillor that is elected I'd still have something to add. That's why Overview & Scrutiny has diverse Members on the Committee. To make sure that experience and knowledge from all walks of life are included, to make the most of wisdom and intelligence of all sorts of different people coming at issues from all sorts of different angles.
What this shows, in my view, is a standard technocratic approach. Some folks think that only their experience and input is of value and that anything anybody else says must fall before the power of their experience. Even if they are as immensely clever as they think they are, this still displays a profound arrogance. It is just as well that Overview & Scrutiny has a mix of people on its Committee because there are a mix of people in the world and a wide spread of opinions and viewpoints is worth more than a narrow band of so-called "expertise."
I asked for the Chairman of FDC's O&S Committee's comments, after showing the tweet to her. This is what Cllr Jan French said:
This individual needs to remember that O/S this year carried out more reviews than any FDC committee ever. I also supported a call in for her. I also put extra Indies on the committee after she made the point that they "could not call anything in without Tory support."
It appears from this comment that Virginia Bucknor, who is so keen to claim support for the democratic will of the people, has demanded a greater representation for her "Independent Group" than was merited by election results. Curious.
Finally In The Open
Good to see John Elworthy on Facebook leaping to the defence of the Independents and UKIP. People shouldn't feel forced to hide their political views and pretend to be neutral and unbiased, even if they are the Editor of a newspaper.
There's no reason why he shouldn't hold political views and there's no reason why his newspaper shouldn't campaign for a particular group of political people and against another group. It's just nice if it's in the open and transparent so that people aren't fooled into thinking there's proper news there, rather than personal comment. That way, people can choose to read his paper or just bin it, and they can choose whether to advertise in it or in its less political rival – the Fenland Citizen.
Refreshing to finally see it so openly displayed. Several people have messaged me to say how "gobsmacked" they were by it. I wasn't gobsmacked. I've been pointing it out for years. Every day, more people see it, or admit it.
The truth is out there.
Making It Stop
I was going to think a little about Virginia's Bucknor's latest brainwave of an Anti-Litter Campaign as announced at FDC Full Council a few days ago and immediately picked up by the local press in the usual fashion. Now I know that sometimes I would just poke holes in the idea and point out what I perceived were the motives behind it, but I thought i'd do something different today. As regular readers will know I do occasionally like to muse on the way policy is made and consider options. Given that many people are concerned about the prevalence of litter in our town I thought this would be a more positive way to approach the idea, such as it is.
I have talked previously about the importance of knowing the actual problem you are trying to solve before proposing a remedy for it. But if you don't want to spend a lot of time deciding if the thing you want to stop is (1) People dropping litter, (2) Not enough people picking up litter, (3) There being too much litter, (4) Things being too disposable, (5) People not having enough respect for their community – all slightly different actually – then you can look at the problem in the round. In the case of an Anti-Litter Campaign you are usually trying to discourage people from dropping litter. Simple, right?
There are a limited number of ways of stopping a behaviour that you would like to curtail. You can; Educate, Persuade or Enforce. The middle one, persuade, breaks down into three more: Persuade by entreatment, Persuade by Incentives, Persuade by Threat. So our five methods are; Educate, Entreat, Incentivise, Threat and Enforcement. Although you can usually try all five, most things you are trying to stop have some that you immediately know will work less well than others.
Let's consider what those things mean:
This is where you try and explain to the people doing the thing you want to stop why it is that they would benefit from doing so. So if the thing were "driving without a seatbelt" you might show them photographs of people who died after an accident without a seatbelt on and point out that, but for the twist of fate, that was them. For education to work they have to be able to see why choosing what you think is a more altruistic action would be better for them, either directly, or indirectly (for instance, by protecting the people they love, or making their environment better.) For this to work, the person must not already know or fully understand all the things involved. If they already know the facts you reveal to them but have chosen to take the action anyway then education will not usually work. It isn't telling them anything new, so there cannot be a "eureka" moment which changes their mindset.
Entreatment is simply an attempt to charm somebody into agreeing to change their behaviour. You aren't suggesting that they will benefit in any way from the change – perhaps because there is no way to do so or perhaps because they have already rejected your attempts to educate – instead you talk to them directly on a person-to-person basis. Or perhaps you are doing the same thing with a reverse tactic and trying to shame them into changing their behaviour, usually through the way others perceive them. For entreatment to work, the person has to be open to your charm or your shame or whatever other interpersonal method you are using to try and persuade them. If they don't care what you think, or what others think, or if they value their old behaviour more than the one you are suggesting despite your entreatment, it wont work.
Changing somebody's behaviour by incentive is simply offering them some reward if they make a different choice. "I'll give you a pound every time you put your seatbelt on." Any economist will tell you that human beings are immensely susceptible to incentives – more than you might ever imagine. In fact, we often respond to incentives we'd laugh at if presented directly. But for an incentive to work well it has to have more value than what we perceive as the value of our original behaviour. So offering £10.00 for every day somebody does not smoke might be effective for a person to whom £70.00 a week was a lot of money but would be much less effective to a billionaire. You also have to have some way to check the reward has been earned. For instance, offering £1.00 each time a seatbelt is put on would be ineffective if there was no way to check they had really done it. They could just claim £500.00 for five hundred journeys and perhaps have not truly done so even once.
A threat can be anything from: "A bunch of big fellas will come around and beat you up" to "if you do this you will be arrested and locked up for ten years." So it can be a legal, or illegal threat. Either way, the purpose is to create a fear of the consequences of the action you wish to stop. When the person makes a (subconscious) cost/benefit analysis you want them to be thinking: "Nah, it's not worth it." As the severity of the threat grows, so the number of people who are prepared to change their behaviour does also. If stealing a loaf of bread has the punishment of a brief telling off, versus stealing a loaf of bread carrying the death penalty – you will get quite different numbers of prospective culprits willing to do so. How hungry the individual person is, or how many children's mouths they have to feed, or whether or not this threat is ever enforced, or how good they are at not getting caught, or how great the bread tastes – all these things play a smaller or larger part in the subconscious cost/benefit analysis. (Note: I am not suggesting there are not millions of people who would never steal – of course there are – this analysis is looking at how to stop some form of behaviour that some number of people are doing.)
Enforcement changes behaviour in two ways; firstly by physically preventing the culprit's behaviour happening, as it might by putting an electric fence around an apple field to stop scrumpers or posting security guards outside a trouble hotspot. Secondly, by leaving a memory of a punishment that the person does not wish to repeat and therefore works in a similar way to a threat, like D.N.A. testing dog poo compared to a Dog Database and then arriving at the owner's door to deliver a big fine (or posting the dog poo into their letterbox.) When you physically prevent, fine, arrest, reprimand, or otherwise catch and punish a culprit in some way, that is enforcement. It only works if the person is caught and if they perceive the punishment to be in some way worse than the value of continuing the behaviour you are trying to prevent.
Education only works if they don't already know the facts and consequences.
Entreatment only works if they care what you or others think.
Incentivisation only works if the incentive is greater than the perceived value of the behaviour to the culprit.
Threat only works if the perceived threat is greater than the perceived benefit of continuing the behaviour and if they believe the threat is real.
Enforcement only works if you can stop them, or catch them (if the personal cost of the punishment is greater than the perceived value of continuing the behaviour.)
There is a final consideration which must be made. Whether it "matters" or not depends on individual perceptions, but the issue is the cost of any action you choose to take. All five methods have a cost involved in time, resources, money etc. If the cost of preventing the behaviour is greater than the cost of allowing it to continue, then that must surely challenge the method of interaction chosen. So let's say you print 50,000 flyers saying: "Please do not throw stones at the windows" in order to prevent your windows getting broken about three times a year. Putting aside whether that method would actually work and just presuming it did – If the cost of the 50,000 flyers is greater than the cost of repairing the window three times, was it worth doing? Maybe you think it was because that behaviour change has knock-on effects. Or maybe you think it wasn't because you don't have much money and every penny counts. But it's got to be in your considerations either way if you want to be fully informed. Only an idiot or somebody with more money than sense (or somebody spending somebody else's money) makes suggestions without at least considering the cost.
So there we have it. My potted logic for Making It Stop – whatever "it" is.
With that in mind, how does a "Campaign" to prevent littering by using some colourful new signs and a new logo fit in? Particularly one which claims it will "save thousands?"
Education: Signs may be considered to educate, for sure. But do the people who are littering not know they are littering? Do they not realise they shouldn't do it? Do they not realise that it makes the environment look bad, encourages vermin, has health consequences? If they don't have a clue, then a new sign and logo might work. If they know and just don't care, it won't.
Entreatment: Signs with a colourful new logo and some press releases and the like might be considered entreatment. They might appeal to the culprit's sense of civic responsibility, or they might shame them into changing their behaviour. Do you think that prolific litter bugs are likely to have a strong sense of civic responsibility? Are they likely to be plagued with guilt when they see that sign after just dropping a chip carton on the floor? If you do think so, the campaign will probably work. If you don't, it probably won't.
Incentivisation: No incentive is offered as part of the campaign. It doesn't say: "Pick up a bag of litter and bring it to the One Stop Shop to get a £2.00 voucher for Tesco" or anything like that. So this doesn't apply.
Threat: The signs carry no additional threat beyond the ones which already exist. They don't say: "£10,000 Litter Fine in this Hot Zone" or something. So this doesn't apply.
Enforcement: The Campaign carries no additional enforcement that I'm aware of so far that doesn't already exist. So this doesn't apply.
Even if some degree of threat and additional enforcement were later added to the campaign there would be a cost involved.
So the final test – what is the cost compared to the result? A bit of free publicity in the paper doesn't have much cost. A few signs don't have an enormous cost, although if the Council is delivering them then they'll probably cost more than you would expect them to. How many people would change their behaviour based on these new signs?
There have been plenty of signs in the past, and there's no shortage of people trying to entreat and shame folks into putting their litter in the bin instead of dumping it on the floor or in a bush. So my strong suspicion is that the campaign – even if it were rolled out with new signs everywhere – would have a very limited success rate. But it might still have a marginally positive success rate by reminding people who are just careless (for instance) and with that in mind it could, possibly, have a greater benefit than cost. I doubt it. But it could. The idea that it will save "thousands" though? Seems desperately unlikely.
I can't see it doing any harm so I certainly won't be opposing it, as long as the costs of delivering it are kept in check. And even if I suspect that the timing – a few weeks before an election – is a mighty convenient way to get your picture in the paper again. I reckon just encouraging more people to join the excellent Street Pride folk would be a more effective solution, but what do I know?
I can't shake the feeling that "pick up some litter" would be a better campaign than "stop littering." Because I reckon the number of litterbugs is tiny compared to the decent folks who wouldn't drop their rubbish. If every person picked up just one thing each time they went out and put it in a bin – we'd have zero litter and it wouldn't cost the Council a penny. In fact, it might save the Council thousands. Have a think about it. Run it through my five methods above – and see if you don't agree.
Rambling Post
Hectic times right now as it's election season all over. We're also beginning to see – both locally and nationally – the campaigns begin to take shape from different areas. Labour and the Greens desperately trying to pretend the NHS is about to be sold off as they always do. UKIP still pretending they are Left-Wing to left-wingers and Right-Wing to right-wingers. Nobody really listening to the Lib Dems anymore.
Locally the Wisbech Conservatives have organised well. We have a good team out every Saturday in the market place, literature going out in most parts of Wisbech, candidates selected for every seat in every ward who are all champing at the bit to get out there. In my opinion we have some of the best teams we have ever had and I'm looking forward to following their efforts as the election season commences. They are certainly going to put the fear of God into lazy opposition Councillors who think they can just swan into re-election without doing anything.
I've had a really busy week with Overview & Scrutiny on Monday, Wisbech Conservatives Branch meeting on Wednesday, FDC Full Council today followed by a North-East Cambs Conservatives A.G.M. this evening. Tomorrow I'm meeting residents in the morning to try and help resolve a thorny issue and then in the afternoon I'm working with Waterlees Conservatives to get the message out that doom and gloom is no sort of solution and photo opportunities don't represent success.
On Saturday I'm out with the wider Conservative team in the morning and then on to my Councillor Surgery in the afternoon. For any Medworth residents who would like to come visit me, report problems, make suggestions or just have a natter I will be at The Angel Pub on Alexandra Road from Midday until 2PM in the lower bar area (suitable for families.) There will be coffee and cake.
I was pleased to be able to vote for a Council Tax Freeze again today. Which means that both the Councils I am involved with – Wisbech Town Council and Fenland District Council have delivered a freeze for the second year on the trot. I was the only person on the Scrutiny Committee to vote against a rise and at that time I was mocked by a number of individuals for that. It appears that my position, lonely though it was at the time, has won out, since FDC voted unanimously for a freeze today. I promised when I stood for election that I would fight for a freeze and I have kept my promise. I argued for it, I voted for it, and it was been delivered. It is thanks, once again, to good financial management and hard work by Officers and staff on this Conservative-run Council that it has been possible to protect and improve services for people, while keeping the cost of doing so down.
One interesting thing at Full Council today. Virginia Bucknor has become "Leader of the Biggest Opposition Group." Previously, the leader of the Biggest Opposition Group (three of them) was Cllr Gavin Booth, a Liberal Democrat who led the Liberal Democrat Alliance; himself, Cllr David Patrick (was Lib Dem then Independent) and Mark Archer (Independent.) But Dave "Taxi" Patrick went off to join UKIP and Mark Archer went off to find himself on the other side of the world, leaving poor Gavin Booth all alone. Which means that the new Biggest Opposition Group (two of them, married) is now the Bucknors' Really Really Really Truly Independents. I wonder what it's like being the leader of the Biggest Group which comprises of you and your husband? Group meetings must be a blast. I notice that the local press never really mentioned the way the people of Manea were left in the lurch with no representation for a year, nor the interesting idea of claiming a Special Responsibility Allowance for being the "leader" of a tiny little two-person group. Nice work if you can get it. :)
Having resigned from the Executive Officers Committee of North-East Cambridgeshire Conservative Association a couple of weeks ago on a point of principle, at the A.G.M. tonight I was nominated to stand for election in a more senior role. I was previously an "additional officer" but tonight I was nominated to stand as Deputy Chair Political. I accepted the nomination. I am proud that I was elected by N.E.C.C.A. members to take on that role. With many of the old Officers standing down there was a lot of competition for the empty posts – the most competition for those positions that I have ever seen. With only a limited number of positions available there was going to be some disappointment and that meant some really good people didn't manage to get elected this time. But it was great to see such interest and competition and I am looking forward to working with the brand new team going forwards. We have a lot of work to do helping the Association to grow and prosper in order that we can continue to carry the Conservative message far and wide in Fenland, to work hard for our communities across the area, and to help sound hard-working Conservatives get elected in as many places as possible.
As an aside, I nearly fell off my chair when I saw UKIP making claims that they "support the Wisbech Rail Link" in their newspaper advert last week. As far as I am aware, none of the local UKIP County Councillors have ever done so. I don't know what Lagoda thought, since he left UKIP under the cloud of being a benefits cheat before we could find out. But the others have long been vocal critics. Even at the most recent full Council meeting one of our Wisbech 'Kippers reportedly referred to the rail link as: "a train set for boys who have never grown up." I wonder, is there anything that UKIP wont suddenly do a U-Turn on and make dodgy claims about as they grubbily clutch for votes? Anything at all?
It is the local Conservatives who have worked hard to repair our dilapidated buildings. Local Conservatives who have overseen a period of expansion and growth in the Town. Local Conservatives who have worked hard with the Wisbech Society and others to secure grant funding to improve our Town Centre. Local Conservatives who have led on Festivals and events for our town. Local Conservatives who have helped deliver thousands of pounds of arts funding for the area. I know that not all readers of my blog are Conservatives. However, I hope you will appreciate that the Tories of Fenland want only the best for the people who live here. Difficult choices must be made and nothing is easy anymore, for sure. But you can count on your local Conservatives to fight for all the things the area needs, while making sure that you don't get stung with gigantic council tax rises. it is not by accident that the only Council to increase it's Council Taxes this year is the one which is not controlled by the Conservatives, but by a hotch-potch kind of unofficial Rainbow Alliance under the sclerotic, paralysed Committee System. I hate to say I Told You So. But I did.
Stop Hitting Yourself
I don't know if this is a common thing or not, but it certainly goes back a few generations in my family – the game that adults play with kids where you (very gently) pretend they are punching themselves in the face while you say: "Stop hitting yourself!" and they squeal with laughter*. Well, I think I saw the same game played with an adult today! I shall endeavor to explain.
For the last few Saturdays the local Conservatives have been visiting Wisbech Marketplace handing out leaflets, talking to local people and generally being "out and about" when the market is at its busiest. The first time we went we saw UKIP, briefly, promoting their End Of The World Is Nigh Message to a handful of angry-looking people. Another time we saw an Anti-UKIP group handing out leaflets to "Stop the fascist racist UKIP" or whatever, which was nothing to do with us, but which he heartily applauded.
Other than that it's just been us each week.
This week, guess what, the Bucknors (Independent Councillors for Waterlees) were there. Well, as you might imagine, we were gobsmacked. We rarely see them at anything they don't absolutely have to go to and it's become something of a running joke that any time they turn up it's usually just before the cameras arrive and then they tend to disappear just after the cameras leave. (It's not a joke they approve of, but then they don't seem to approve of many things.) To cap it all they seemed to be in a "team" with the local Green Party lady and Cllr Alan Lay (UKIP). What a strange collection of politicians! Well, we thought, if the Bucknors are going to be out campaigning on the Marketplace then this election is going to be a whole lot more interesting.
However, not too long after the Bucknors and their team arrived – a photographer from the Wisbech Standard appeared, as if by magic! Quelle surprise, as they say in the French. Some lovely photos were taken and then not an immensely long time after the press left … guess what happened? You'll never guess. Go on try. Yep, the Bucknors moved on too. Who'd a thunk it? Something of a sigh of relief. The sort of sigh that comes from realising that all is right with the world once more.
A couple of funny things did happen during the morning. The first was that the Wisbech Standard photographer noticed there were rather a lot of Conservatives in the Market and asked if he could take our picture also. Imagine how you'd feel if you'd planned a special photo shoot to make it look like you were really hard on the campaign trail, only to have your opposition also get the photo shoot. It was quite funny. Of course, this is the Wisbech Standard, so I doubt our picture will be used. Or maybe it'll be used under some misleading headline? I guess we'll have to wait and see.
The other funny thing was what happened to poor Cllr Alan Lay (UKIP). I rarely feel sorry for Alan, but today I did. He was out in a team with the Bucknors and the lady from the Green Party. Which is odd enough in itself, if you think about it. They were all handing out the same leaflet. Imagine our surprised when we were handed a copy of the leaflet and saw that it was the dramatic: "Save our NHS" and that it was an attack on both the Conservative Party … and UKIP! Alan Lay was handing out leaflets that damned his own party. Did he know? Did they say: "Look, Alan, this leaflet isn't very nice about UKIP I hope you don't mind?" Or did they just hand them to him and be like: "Give these out, no need to read what they say." No idea. I hope it was the latter though, because that would be a somewhat audacious con. Very much the adult equivalent of the "Stop Hitting Yourself!" game. Don't you think?
*Thank you Garry Tibbs for the metaphor suggestion
" ...Steve Tierney's blog, the most fun you'll get outside of prison. Catch it before THEY get to him!"
- John Elworthy, Cambs Times Editor
"Go for the crucifix"
- Honest Ron
"From one blogger to another, I do find myself regularly enjoying your blog."
- Mark Adams
"Trouble with a capital 'T'"
- Mrs. Beasley, Adeyfield School
"Bring back Barbara Woodhouse!"
- Chris Howes
"You know that fence I'm always on about? Well I don't see it any more, so be careful which way you fall"
- Samuel Breakespeare
"I can't go to bed happily these days without Steve!"
- Reg Kemp


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Editor's noteStunning and elegant this dazzling heart pendant speaks volumes with it's exotic enhanced black diamonds. Set in sterling silver and held with a beautiful 3 strand chain.
Ice style: PDY_120573
Item specifications
Metal/Material Type Black Sterling Silver Product Style Lobster Finish Rhodium Width 3/4 inch Length 1 inch Weight 8.4 grams
Chain Information
Chain Sterling Silver Finish Polished Length 18 inch
Clasp Information
Clasp Sterling Silver Finish Polished
Diamond Type Black Diamond Color Black Shape Round Total Number of Diamonds 58 Total Weight 0.5 carat TDW
Not sure what this all means? Check out Jewelry 101
Shipping policy
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|FREE on all orders
|5-6 Business Days
|USPS Priority Mail®
|3-5 Business Days
|FedEx 2Day®
|4-5 Business Days
|FedEx Standard Overnight®
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* Shipping cost includes shipping and handling. Taxes, Duties and Brokerage fees will be included during checkout
** All orders from ice.com to Canadian destinations are processed within two business days, and then are shipped to you via Canada Post.
All orders from ice.com are processed within one to two business days.
Canadian Orders
Standard shipments will be sent via FedEx Priority International™. We'll ship your order anywhere in Canada, including insurance for the full value of your jewelry. Check our Shipping Policy page for more details.
Return Policy
At ice.com, your complete satisfaction is important to us. If you're not completely satisfied with your jewelry purchase, please call customer service (Toll-Free 1-800-539-3580) within 30 days from the date of shipping, to arrange for an exchange or refund. Shipping charges will not be refunded. Some conditions applies. Visit our Return policy page.
Customer Reviews
Review Snapshot
- 5 star: 4
- 4 star: 5
- 3 star: 1
- 2 star: 4
- 1 star: 0
Average Customer Review
3.6 average rating from 14 customer reviews
- 1
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Items 1 to 10 of 14 total
I was disappointed to discover that the heart was "hollow" and appears and feels very cheap. The advertised "black diamonds" only resemble little chips and are not well represented in the setting. The 3 strand chain is very pretty. From a distance, the necklace looks pretty on, but up close it looks cheap :(
I actually loved the 3 strand chain and I wasnt sure if I would. Beautiful!
I have purchased many black diamond items through ice.com before but this one didn't impress me very much. I can't put my finger on it but it just doesn't have the pop or the excitement of black diamonds. The quality and workmanship are fine but it is not a stand out piece for me.
I bought this for my husband's mother. I havent seen it but she loves and he loves it...I'm a regular Ice customer and I havent been disappointed as yet. I have had a few discrepancies..but the customer reps have always been helpful and polite..
i loved the way it looked online but unfortunately when i received it, it didnt wow me like i believed it would. to top it off the chain piece broke after 3 days i know this will be replaced but this is the only piece that ive purchased from ice.com that hasnt really wowed me as it did online.
This pendant is absolutely gorgeous - I've never owned black diamonds before, so wasn't quite sure what to expect - but they are lovely! Not flashy, but very elegant and sophisticated. I love the 3 strand chain and wear it with other pendants, as well. You can wear this pendant & chain with just about anything - and I do!
This necklace was one of the best buys someone could find with a great price. It looks elegant and the 3 strand chain is an amazing look and the Heart Pendant is simply gorgeous. Great find.
Very nice piece of jewelry. It matches a lot of things works well for dress up or dress down!
It is exaclty what I expected. ICE.com has not let me down yet. It shows beautifully...looks like I paid four times what I actually paid. I love it.
Nice but not what I expected...
Customers That Viewed This Bought
1 Carat Black Diamond Heart Sterling Silver Pendant w/ Three Strand Chain$239.95


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Insight Sourcing Group ReviewsInsight Sourcing Group 4
"Small, entrepreneurial firm that drives big results for some of the best companies in the world "
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A fast-paced, collegial environment coupled with challenging and meaningful work makes ISG the best place I've worked period. There is an amazing amount of intelligence and passion in this boutique firm which make me excited to see where the journey takes us!Cons
Continue to be creative and innovative in finding ways to limit travel. The smart travel model works (~25% travel on average) but travel can get heavy at times.Advice to ManagementAdvice
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Mission: Insight Sourcing Group is committed to delivering big, impactful opportunities for our consultants and our clients. Typical consultants can expect an accelerated career... More


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The weariness was in Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn's voice as he went to board an airplane for the flight from Houston to Auburn on Wednesday night. There wouldn't be much time for sleep once he got home. Thursday morning would be time for recruiting.
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Poll: Americans mad debt deal didn't include taxes on rich
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The debt ceiling blame game — GOP leads
If the debt ceiling battle in Washington, D.C., leads to an economic crisis, Americans are more inclined to blame congressional Republicans than President Obama, according to a new national poll. Public Policy Polling posed the following question to 1,000 adult Americans: "If negotiations between President Obama and Congressional Republicans on the federal debt ceiling fail, […] [Read More]
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One of the best renovation decisions we made was adding two built-in bookshelves to our living room. It immediately brought a balance to the room and provided me with an open canvas to fill with my favorite keepsakes and books. I love interspersing the shelves with a unique collection of literature and decorative objects. Here are a couple of items that would add texture to any bookcase.
Framed picture ($7.64)1.
2. Bud vase ($9.95)
3. Figurines ($225)
4. Bookends ($49.95)
5. Weighted rocks/geodes ($22)
6. Small plants or succulents ($34)
7. Candle ($70)
8. Storage boxes ($78)
9. Vintage book ($5)
10. Basket ($84)
11. Bowls ($90)


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QoS Measurement Issues with DAML-QoS Ontology Chen Zhou, Liang-Tien Chia, Bu-Sung Lee Center for Multimedia & Network Technology School of Computer Engineering, Nanyang Technological University Email: {pg04878518, asltchia, firstname.lastname@example.com Abstract that data be not only machine readable, but also ma- chine understandable. With the help of Semantic Web, With the industry's efforts in promoting the use of Web unifying system among different partners can be real- services, a huge number of Web services are being developed ized with minimum misunderstanding. DAML-S On- for the web. In this paper we describe a framework for pro- tology [2] (now OWL-S) is one of the semantic re- viding QoS measurement for Web services through the use of search group's efforts for Web services. DAML-S aims DAML-QoS Ontology and measurement code generator. The to enable automated Web service discovery, invocation, framework comprises the DAML-QoS Ontology that specifies composition and monitoring. However, the specifica- QoS constraints for Web services and works as a complement to DAML-S; the measurement framework that checks the sys- tion has not provided a detailed set of classes, prop- tem's compliance with the service level agreement; code gener- erties and constraints to represent QoS descriptions[1]. ator that helps to generate the measurement code according to We have tried to develop a proper QoS Ontology design the DAML-QoS specification. Based on the Ontology level, se- pattern for the formal specification of QoS constraints mantics in the specification helps to achieve better interoper- and QoS metrics as a complement to the DAML-S. ability, automation and extensibility. This novel QoS Ontology is based on DAML+OIL and keywords: Ontology, Web Service, measurement, QoS named DAML-QoS. The metrics concepts in DAML-QoS provide a pow- erful solution for measurement organization to moni- tor and bill against the agreed upon SLAs. This paper 1. Introduction will focus on the metrics layer of the DAML-QoS On- tology and present the measurement architecture and The number of Web services grows continuously code generator of the system. when this technology becomes more and more popu- We organize the rest of this paper in the following lar. Service requesters are often presented with a choice way. In section 2 we introduce some background infor- of offers that provide similar services. Different offers mation which is helpful to understand the paper. In have quite different Quality of Service (QoS). section 3 the design principle of the QoS metrics layer For service selection and management purpose, it is is presented. After that, section 4 introduces the design necessary to precisely and flexibly specify constraints, of the metrics layer. Section 5 describes the measure- Quality of Service metrics, service level objectives, and ment system's architecture and the measurement code other contracts between Web services. The formal spec- generator. Section 6 presents the related work, and, fi- ification of constraints and Service Level Agreement nally, in section 7 we draw the conclusion. (SLA) of service have been researched extensively in computing and telecommunications. An SLA defines 2. Background the agreed level of performance for a particular service between a service provider and a service requester. Web 2.1. Ontology Languages services are XML-based protocol stacks and have their own specific features. Web service discovery, composi- Ontology plays a key role in the Semantic Web tion, and cooperation need to be more dynamic, auto- by providing machine readable vocabularies for ap- matic and across enterprise boundaries. This requires plications to understand the shared knowledge. domain specific knowledges. DAML+OIL [3] is an Ontology language that has The semantic web technology is a promising solu- been designed specifically to be used in the Seman- tion for automatic service discovery process. It requires tic Web and it is based on RDF and RDF Schema. Its well-defined semantics is similar to the descrip- designed for matchmaking purpose; the QoS property tion logic (DL) SHIQ(D) [8]. DAML+OIL describes definition layer for defining the property and elabo- the structure of a domain in terms of classes and prop- rating the property's domain and range constraints; erties. Like SHIQ(D), DAML+OIL (March 2001) the QOS Metrics layer for metrics definition and mea- also supports the use of datatypes in class descrip- surement. The main idea is to transfer the problem of tion. By defining the service descriptions upon the se- judging QoS constraints conformance to the problem mantics provided by DAML+OIL, we can utilize a of judging Ontology subsumption relationships. DL reasoner to make inference and classify descrip- Non-functional aspect of the system describes the tions written in DAML+OIL. The latest Seman- constraints such as the Quality of Service, management tic Web's Ontology language OWL [15] has evolved statements, security policies, pricing information, and to be a new promising Ontology language to substi- so forth. QoS specification is the major portion in the tute the current place of DAML+OIL, but we build up non-functional aspect of the system. During the design our Ontology based on DAML+OIL because of its bet- time, people normally focus more on the functional as- ter tool support. In future we will migrate the current pect of the system rather than the non-functional as- system to OWL. pect of the system. However, the best practice is to keep in mind the QoS issues during early design phase. 2.2. DAML-S This requires appropriate QoS specification support for describing Web services QoS. Web Services are XML- DAML-S [2] (now OWL-S) is a DAML+OIL On- based protocol stacks and have their own specific fea- tology for describing Web services. Through the tight tures. It is used in loosely coupled, platform indepen- connection with DAML+OIL, DAML-S aims to make dent environment. It requires to be more dynamic, au- Web services computer-interpretable and to enable au- tomatic and across enterprise boundaries. Some of our tomated Web service discovery, invocation, composi- design principles are listed as follows: tion and monitoring. It defines the notions of a Service Profile (what the service does), a Service Model (how • The specification should be easily understood and the service works) and a Service Grounding (how to used by developers. Considering QoS during de- use the service). As a DAML+OIL Ontology, DAML- sign is valuable, since it will directly impact the S retains all the benefits of Web content described in system's design pattern across all layers. Any ob- DAML+OIL. It enables the definition of a Web services stacles for learning and understanding the QoS vocabulary in terms of objects and the complex rela- specification should be eliminated. Through lay- tionships between them, including class, subclass rela- ered design and Object Oriented Style, the speci- tions, cardinality restrictions, etc. [3]. It also includes fication is relatively easy to be understood. the XML datatype information. Recently the DAML-S has evolved into OWL-S which is based on OWL On- • To allow value-added services for dynamic service tology language [15]. discovery, composition and integration in a more DAML-S provides a good representation of ser- automatic and customized manner, the QoS speci- vice's functional capability. However, Cardoso et. al. fication is required to be both precise and flexible. [1] point out that significant improvement for the QoS Precision means the QoS specification should an- model should be made to supply a realistic solution swer the question when, which, where, what and to DAML-S' users. One current limitation of DAML-S' how the specification should be evaluated against QoS model is that it does not provide a detailed set the Web Service[12]. Flexibility should allow the of classes and properties to represent quality of service specification to design customized metrics for di- metrics. The QoS model needs to be extended to al- verse Web Services to meet their varieties. These low a precise characterization of each dimension. This will be discussed further in section 4. is an important motivation of our current work for the • The QoS requirements should associate with the QoS Ontology. Web service as defined in the DAML-S' service profile. Since the Object Oriented Design prin- 3. Design Principle ciple is widely accepted in the software develop- ment community, Object Oriented QoS specifica- DAML-QoS[16] is designed as a compliment Ontol- tion is chosen for the specification. When the de- ogy to provide additional QoS information for DAML- velopers know the super interface's QoS require- S. It mainly deals with the non-functional aspect of the ments, a natural way is to add the specific QoS system. It contains three layers: the QoS profile layer constraints in the inherited interface and utilize all inherited QoS constraints described in the su- per interface. M etric • The automatic validation of the specification is AtomicM etric M etric important for large projects. Otherwise it is too ComplexM etric M etric costly to determine correctness of the specifica- tion manually. In our system, the syntax correct- The Metric class is a common superclass for all met- ness is check by the Ontology parser. The seman- rics. It defines some general properties for each metrics. tic correctness is checked by the reasoner accord- The Metric class has related properties hasUnit, value, ing to the specification's semantics. windowSize, and pushPoint. hasUnit property defines • Clear definition of the metrics is the premise for the unit information of the metric. value property is measurement. The number of different SLA met- used to initialize the measurement handler's data regis- rics that can be defined for a service is potentially ter when the measurement starts. windowSize describes large. Even simple metrics can be defined in many the amount of history data the metric should keep. ways. Take response time as example, the defini- pushPoint is the address to which the data should be tion concerns: measuring from the client, or from reported to. Some collector (corresponds to the Com- the server; average or percentile; the time inter- plexMetric) is deployed at the pushPoint to collect the val for measurement, the history data size, and pushed data. When new data are measured or calcu- so forth. The specification should provide detailed lated by the metric, a report is generated and pushed definition to calculate the metrics from first hand to the address described by pushPoint. Figure 1 shows data. the property definition for the Metric class. • Computing the SLA metrics and evaluating the compliance may involve third parties and agents. <daml:DatatypeProperty rdf:ID="value"> It is important that the measurement knowl- <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="#Metric"/> <rdfs:range rdf:resource="&xsd;#integer"/> edge can be shared and understood unambigu- </daml:DatatypeProperty> ously among parties. Furthermore, each party <daml:ObjectProperty rdf:ID="hasUnit"> <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="#Metric"/> should receive only the part of the specifica- <rdfs:range rdf:resource="#Unit"/> </daml:ObjectProperty> tion that it needs to carry on the measurement <daml:DatatypeProperty rdf:ID="pushPoint"> task. By representing the knowledges in con- <rdfs:comment> The push approach for the communication. The signature of the push web service is cepts and individuals, partial knowledge export- defined as "void setMetricValue(String metricName, String strUID, String value)" s/imports can be supported. </rdfs:comment> <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="#Metric"/> <rdfs:range rdf:resource="&xsd;#string"/> </daml:DatatypeProperty> 4. QoS Metrics Layer <daml:DatatypeProperty rdf:ID="windowSize"> <rdfs:comment> The window size of the collected data, which defines current metric's data containter's size. The data will be retrieved into current metric's data container and the metric will keep QoS Metrics Layer provides the QoS metrics concept windowSize number of data for usage. The invoker function will operate on this metric operand based on this size of data. definition for the QoS property's range constraints. It </rdfs:comment> <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="#Metric"/> also defines precise semantic meanings for service mea- <rdfs:range rdf:resource="&xsd;#integer"/> surement partner to measure the service and check the </daml:DatatypeProperty> compliance. The concept definition of the metrics pro- <daml:DatatypeProperty rdf:ID="measureAt"> <rdfs:comment> vides a brief guide for developers to understand the Measure at "Server", "Client", or some customer defined place, which will in turn help to generate the measurement code. system's non-functional requirements during the sys- </rdfs:comment> <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="#AtomicMetric"/> tem's design, while the individuals of metrics concept <rdfs:range rdf:resource="&xsd;#string"/> </daml:DatatypeProperty> are defined by measurement partner for measurement purpose by filling in the measurement details. A mea- <daml:ObjectProperty rdf:ID="hasFunction"> <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="#ComplexMetric"/> surement partner is the group that deploys the mea- <rdfs:range rdf:resource="#Function"/> </daml:ObjectProperty> surement handlers and performs the service measure- ment tasks. The service provider or requester can take on this role,or it can be outsourced to a third party. Figure 1. Metrics Property Definition The metric concepts are defined in the QoS Metrics Layer in DAML-QoS. The service QoS metrics are di- vided into AtomicMetrics and ComplexMetrics, which The Metric class has two subclasses: AtomicMetric are shown as follows: and ComplexMetric. AtomicMetric collects the first hand data from parser such as Jena parser[9]. As to the semantic cor- managed resources using measurement handlers. rectness, if the specification's SLO concept is equiva- The AtomicMetric's property measureAt answers lent to ⊥, there's some contradict in the specification the "where" question of the measurement. It may and it is deemed as semantic incorrect. This conflict is be "Server", "Client", and so forth. According to caused by conflicted QoS requirement. the AtomicMetric's individual definition, the mea- surement party can generate the measurement han- dler and push its measured data to the collector located at the pushPoint. The push interface's signa- ture is defined as void setMetricValue(String metric- MyQoS Name, String strUID, String value). In which strUID <= 1000 is the unique id for the service invocation. The ComplexMetric retrieves data from other (AtomicMetric or ComplexMetric) metrics and then generates its result value according to its function def- AverageResponseTimeMSMetric inition. It has properties hasFunction, operand, win- dowPos, and so on. The property operand points d1 ha sF an un to its consisted metrics from which it retrieves the o pe r ct io n data. The property hasFunction points to the func- ResponseTimeMSMetric Average tion used by the ComplexMetric to calculate its value according to the received data. The func- tions contain the Arithmetic function, Boolean func- Figure 2. Average Response Time Metric Exam- tion, and Aggregate function. The Aggregate function ple can be used to describe the statistical character- istics of the service, such as a percentile or mean. The property windowPos is the parameter off- set for the consisted metric's data series, from which the function will find its parameter. The negative win- On the other hand, the measurement partner fills in dowPos means the history data in the data series. the details of metric measurement information to an- These property definition and composition style pro- swer the "how" question. These data are declared as vides a detailed definition for high level metrics. The the individual instances of the metric concepts. Figure "what and how" question of the measurement is natu- 3 shows a sample individual instance definition for the rally answered when the Metrics are defined. metrics concept shown in figure 2. The measurement The specification for design and measurement have is related for the individual MyQoSSLO. MyQoSSLO different views. During design, the developers focus on individual is the SLO concept MyQoS' (see equation the essential question of what QoS metrics affect the (1) and (2)) individual instance. This instance answers design. The semantics of the metrics should be unam- the "which and when" question for the measurement. biguously understood, while its measurement details That is, which Web service profile the SLO deals with, is kept apart from the developers. This is achieved and when the service evaluation begins and ends. Its through defining the structure of the service level ob- ComplexMetric AverageResponseTimeMSMetric's in- jective and its metric concept in the terminology defini- dividual AverageResponseTimeMSMetric1 uses Func- tion (T-Box), while keeping the detailed measurement tion individual Average100 to calculate its operand1 information in the assertion definition (A-Box). Fig- ResponseTimeMSMetric1. The Average100 function ure 2 shows the example of AverageResponseTimeMS- operate on the 100 entries (window ) of history data Metric metric definition for developer during design. (from offset -1 to offset -100) to generate the average The SLO requires that the averageResponseTimeMS value. The ResponseTimeMSMetric1 measures the re- should be less than 1000 msec. The AverageResponse- sponse time at the server side, and its measurement TimeMSMetric is calculated by Average function using unit is msec. It stores 200 history data (windowSize). the data pushed by the ResponseTimeMSMetric. This When the measurement data are collected, they will metric concept definition guides developers to choose be pushed to the AverageResponseTimeMetric1's col- proper design, for example, some resource redundancy. lector web service. Section 5 will introduce the support- As to the specification validation, the syntax cor- ing architecture and the code generator for the run time rectness of the specification is checked by the Ontology measurement. which is described in the metric's pushPoint prop- <qosmetrics:TimeMSUnit rdf:ID="TimeMSUnit1"/> erty. Since all the measurement components are loosely <qosmetrics:Average rdf:ID="Average100"> coupled, third parties can join in the measurement <qosmetrics:functionName> easily. void setMetricValue(String metricName, String <xsd:string xsd:value="Average100"/> strUID, String value) is the push Web service's signa- </qosmetrics:functionName> <qosmetrics:window> ture. The metricName stands for the metric individ- <xsd:integer xsd:value="100"/> ual's full name. strUID is the unique id for the mea- </qosmetrics:window> sured service invocation. value is the measurement re- <qosmetrics:functionDefinition> <xsd:string xsd:value="Average"/> porting value. Each collector corresponds to one Com- </qosmetrics:functionDefinition> plexMetric and it stores the received data series for </qosmetrics:Average> function calculation. Partial of the specification knowl- <qosmetrics:ResponseTimeMSMetric rdf:ID="ResponseTimeMSMetric1"> edge can be shared by the measurement parties. The <qosmetrics:hasUnit rdf:resource="#TimeMSUnit1"/> partner uses its required concepts and metric individ- <qosmetrics:windowSize> <xsd:integer xsd:value="200"/> uals to build up their measurement codes. Since the </qosmetrics:windowSize> metricName uniquely represents the metric individual, <qosmetrics:value> third party can understand the received metric's mean- <xsd:integer xsd:value="1000"/> </qosmetrics:value> ing unambiguously according to the metric individual <qosmetrics:measureAt> definition and generate the measurement reports cor- <xsd:string xsd:value="Client"/> </qosmetrics:measureAt> rectly. <qosmetrics:pushPoint>http://126.96.36.199:9080/axis/urn:collector</qosmetrics:pushPoint> A summary collector collects all the SLO's prop- </qosmetrics:ResponseTimeMSMetric> erty metrics's pushed data and then generates a piece <qosmetrics:AverageResponseTimeMSMetric rdf:ID="AverageResponseTimeMSMetric1"> of summary report in the similar form as the SLO con- <qosmetrics:hasFunction rdf:resource="#Average100"/> cept. This report is used to check whether the Web ser- <qosmetrics:operand1 rdf:resource="#ResponseTimeMSMetric1"/> <qosmetrics:hasUnit rdf:resource="#TimeMSUnit1"/> vice is in compliance with the SLA specification. The <qosmetrics:windowSize> evaluation service is defined according to the confor- <xsd:integer xsd:value="15"/> mance definition of the DAML-QoS Ontology[16]. The </qosmetrics:windowSize> <qosmetrics:windowPos1> algorithm for the evaluator service are defined as be- <xsd:integer xsd:value="-1"/> low: Suppose the MeasureSLO is the summary collector </qosmetrics:windowPos1> generated SLO, and the MySLO is the agreed upon ser- <qosmetrics:value> <xsd:integer xsd:value="1000"/> vice level objective. The service conforms to the SLO </qosmetrics:value> iff M easureSLO M ySLO. Otherwise, a violation <qosmetrics:pushPoint>http://220.127.116.11:9080/axis/urn:collector</qosmetrics:pushPoint> </qosmetrics:AverageResponseTimeMSMetric> occurs in the service invocation. Take the Ontology MyQoS in section 4 as example, assume the calculated <myqos:MyQoS rdf:about="&myqosslo;#MyQoSSLO"> AverageResponseTimeMSMetric's value is 800. Equa- <qosmetrics:averageResponseTimeMS rdf:resource="#AverageResponseTimeMSMetric1"/> </myqos:MyQoS> tion (1) shows the definition of MyQoS class and Mea- sureSLO class. Reasoner can draw the conclusion that M easureSLO M yQoS. This means the measured Figure 3. Monitoring Party Definition for Metrics service QoS is more constrained than the MyQoS and no violation occurred in the service invocation. . MyQoS = QoSProfile 5. System Architecture and Code Gen- (≤ 1000averageResponseTimeMS. eration AverageResponseTimeMSMetric) . MeasureQoS = QoSProfile The measurement system has some requirements. (= 800averageResponseTimeMS. The service measurement should allow the involvement AverageResponseTimeMSMetric) of third parties. The measurement system itself should (1) be able to plug into the measured Web Service sys- tem with no or minimal influences on the original sys- tem. M yQoS(M yQoSSLO) Figure 4 shows a prototype example of the measure- hasServiceP rof ile(M yQoSSLO, "&provider service; #") ment system's architecture. Each measurement han- startT ime(M yQoSSLO, 2004-09-24T09:00:00) dler corresponds to one AtomicMetric individual. Its endT ime(M yQoSSLO, 2004-09-30T09:00:00) measured data are pushed to the collector service (2) Figure 4. Measurement Architecture Measurement handlers are selected as monitoring tainer, it is created as a circular list with default implementation to minimize the influence on the ser- value specified by the value property. A pointer tar- vice. Our handler implementation is based on the Axis gets at the last completed data. When the missing SOAP engine[13]. Multiple handlers form the handler data is reported to the complex data or the time- chain to perform the more complex measurement tasks. out reaches, the pointer will move foreword. Since the handler locates before or after the service in- The evaluator generates the measurement service terface pivot, the measurement code does not change level Ontology and compares it against the original ser- the service's implementation. To distinguish between vice level objective Ontology. Since the measurement different invocations, a UIDHandler is required in the Ontology is clear enough to be understood by different handler chain to assign unique identity in the SOAP partners, the outsourcing can be naturally achieved. message's head. DL Reasoning engine is used to judge whether the Some common metrics are reusable in many web ser- measurement data comply with the SLO. If the mea- vices. We have selected some common metrics as ba- surement Ontology subsumes the SLO Ontology, it is sic profile to speed up measurement handler's devel- deemed as a compliance. Otherwise there's a violation. opment, for example: response time, cost, invocation, A notification can be sent out to the service provider etc. Each AtomicMetric within the basic profile has a to indicate the violation. template handler for code generation and deployment. The code generating process is listed at the fol- If the AtomicMetric is supported in the code genera- lowing: after the Ontology is parsed into the mem- tor, according to the AtomicMetric's property values ory, the code generator starts from the SLO instance and its code template, the code generator generates and gets the top level metrics by the QoS properties. the metric handler automatically for the measurement After that the second level metrics contained in the party's deployment. The measureAt property will af- first level ComplexMetrics are traversed, and so on. fect the selection of the code template and the match- Until all the metric levels are visited, the code gen- ing code will be generated. eration process finishes. During the code generation, The ComplexMetric instance utilizes its func- each AtomicMetric instance generates one measure- tion to calculate its consisted metrics. The functions ment handler, while each ComplexMetric instance gen- are divided into the Arithmetic function, Boolean erates one collector. By deploying these measurement Function, and Aggregate functions. Some of the sup- services, measurement party can start the measure- porting function definitions are listed below: NOT, ment task now. Take the metrics in figure 3 as an exam- , ∗, /, M OD, +, −, >, <,, AND, XOR, OR, Condi- ple, the code generator will firstly generate the Aver- tion(IF, THEN, ELSE), LN, LOG, EXP, SQRT, AV- ageResponseTimeMSMetric1's collector, and then Re- ERAGE, MEAN, SUM, MAX, MIN, and so forth. sponseTimeMSMetric1's handler. Since there's no met- Since each consisted metric is treated in the same ric individuals any more, the generation process ends form as a data container, the code generator will cre- here. Since most of the measurement code has been ate all ComplexMetric individual's calculation code generated automatically, it reduces the measurement if it supports the function. As to the data con- party's burden significantly. 6. Related Works WS-Policy [7] is a general framework for the speci- fication of policies for Web services. The details of the There're many research works that target the de- specification for particular categories of policies will be scribing, advertising and signing up to Web services defined in specialized languages. It is flexible because at defined QoS levels. These are normally application policies are not limited in certain places and its speci- layer specifications which are hardware and platform fication is extensible through additional specifications. independent. They include aspect oriented approach However, when the new specification will appear and [10] such as QuO framework [18] and its QoS Descrip- how the polices are monitored and evaluated remain a tion Language (QDL); object oriented approach such as problem. HP's QoS Modeling Language (QML) [6]; XML based Our QoS Ontology is based on DAML+OIL layer in- QoS languages such as HP's Web services Management stead of pure XML layer. This has some special advan- Language (WSML) and its framework [12], IBM's Web tages gained by the semantic web's technology: service Level Agreement (WSLA) language [11] and its • Interoperability: In a complex scenario such as an supporting framework [4], the Web services Offer Lan- Enterprise application, there are a variety of man- guage (WSOL) [14] as well as approaches based on WS- agement systems and tools to assist the systems Policy [7]. discovery, design, and execution. Semantic web QDL consists of three sub-languages, the contract based specification provides a way for different sys- description language (CDL), the structure description tems to speak the same language. Integration be- language (SDL), and the resource description language tween different tools is simplified. Previous sup- (RDL). The CDL specifies a QoS contract and it con- porting system normally uses wrappers to solve tains: nested regions for a possible state of QoS; transi- the interoperability problems. The syntax wrap- tions for trigger behavior when region changes; system per is not necessary if semantics approach is cho- condition objects for measuring QoS information; and sen. Uniformed data definition also provides a bet- callbacks for notification. There is no special reusable ter view for decision-making and matchmakings. A construct for specification reuse. common Ontology should be established for each QML [6] is a non-XML based specification for defin- domain so that all partners in the cooperation ing multi-category QoS specifications for components speak and understand the same words[5]. in distributed object systems. Through object oriented • Automation: Higher level automation is achieved approach, it provides specification refinement and sim- through the logical view of the systems knowledge. ple contract types such as reliability and performance. The system can aggregates knowledge from vari- Complex QoS specification can also be expressed, for ous components. Matchmaking, validation, deci- example using percentiles, variance and frequency. Pro- sion making, and so forth, are based on the logic file refinement and conformance are defined for profile in the collected knowledge rather than the hard management. QML supports the specification reusabil- coded programs. Reasoner or rule engines help the ity through contract and profile refinement. system to achieve better automation. WSML [12] and WSLA [11] were developed for the XML-based specification of custom-made SLAs for • Extensibility: Different Web services have various Web services. They define SLAs which contain QoS requirements for their QoS descriptions. The new constraints, prices and management information. In requirements are relatively easy to be added into addition to the SLA definition, they're oriented to- the knowledge base. When the new definition for wards management applications in enterprise scenar- the QoS property is introduced, its related met- ios. Appropriate management infrastructures are ac- rics definition is needed to be introduced as well to companied with these specifications. In the definition solve the logical warnings. The openness of Ontol- of SLA aspect, these specifications try to provide a pre- ogy definition facilitates the share of experiences cise and flexible solution. Some support for templates and fastens the development cycle. is available in WSML and WSLA to provide the flexi- Similar to the QML specification, we use the ob- bility. ject oriented approach to define our specification. The WSOL [14] provides formal representation of vari- object oriented approach is implicitly inherited from ous constrains as well as management statements. Its DAML+OIL to enable the specification's reusability. major feature is its rich set of reusability constructs Any programmer who is familiar with the object ori- and lightweight management infrastructure. The defi- ented design principle will have a relative short learn- nition of QoS metrics about how they are measured or ing curve for the specification design and reuse. Dif- computed is done in external Ontologies. ferent from the QML's syntax, our approach is based on the XML syntax and its semantics is based on DL References logic. In this paper we mainly focus on using this On- tology as descriptive advertisement for the service de- [1] J. Cardoso, A. Sheth, and J. Miller. Workflow Quality of sign and measurement purpose. It does not address the Service. In Proceedings of the International Conf. on En- terprise Integration and Modeling Technology and Inter- problem of which actions to trigger at runtime if the national Enterprise Modeling, 2002. QoS requirements cannot be satisfied. Therefore some [2] DAML-S Coalition. DAML-S: Web Service Description specification, such as QDL, is more expressive than for the Semantic Web. In Proc. International Semantic DAML-QoS Ontology. WSLA and some other works Web Conference (ISWC 02), 2002. made good efforts on the SLA supporting framework [3] DAML+OIL. The DAML+OIL Language. 2001. [4] for Web services. The SLA supporting system based [4] A. Dan., D. Davis, R. Kearney, A. Keller, R. King, on Ontology layer is of better interoperability and au- D. Kuebler, H. Ludwig, M. Polan, M. Spreitzer, and tomaticity. Agents and third parties can share the do- A. Youssef. Web services on demand: WSLA-driven au- main knowledges and export/import partial informa- tomated management. IBM Systems Journal, Mar 2004. tion for the measurement task. [5] M. Fox and M. Gruninger. Ontologies for enterprise inte- gration. In 2nd International Conference on Cooperative By the efforts of semantic web research groups, the Information Systems (CoopIS)., pages 82–89, Toronto, well-established reasoning tools are a great help to Canada, 1994. check the validation of the SLO and to build up the [6] S. Frolund and J. Koistinen. QML: A Language for Qual- matchmaking algorithm for DAML-QoS. The syntax ity of Service Specification. Technical report, HPL-98- parsers for DAML+OIL (or later OWL) and the DL 10, Feb 1998. reasoners can ensure a quick development for the sys- [7] M. Hondo and C. Kaler. Web Services Policy Frame- tem frameworks. Furthermore, because these tools have work (WS- Policy) Version 1.0, December 2002. already been tested by many research groups, we are [8] I. Horrocks and U. Sattler. Ontology reasoning in the more confident about these tools' correct interpretation SHOQ(D) description logic. In Proceedings of the Sev- for the syntax and semantics of our DAML-QoS spec- enteenth International Joint Conference on Artificial In- ification. Design department can get the related tech- telligence, 2001. [9] HP Labs Semantic Web Programme. Jena - nical support easily as well. When more optimized rea- a semantic web framework for java. Available: soner is built up by logic experts, it can be used directly http://jena.sourceforge.net/index.html, 2002. rather than redeveloping all the tools from scratch. [10] J. Jin and K. Nahrstedt. QoS Specification Languages for Distributed Multimedia Applications: A Survey and Taxonomy. IEEE Multimedia Magazine, 11:74–87, July 7. Conclusion 2004. [11] H. Ludwig, A. Keller, A. Dan, R. P. King, and R. Franck. This paper describes the QoS Metrics Layer in the Web Service Level Agreement (WSLA) Language Spec- DAML-QoS[16] Ontology and presents the measure- ification, v1.0, Jan 2003. [12] A. Sahai, A. Durante, and V. Machiraju. Towards Auto- ment supporting system for the QoS Metrics Layer. mated SLA Management for Web Services. HPL-2001- As a compliment to the DAML-S, DAML-QoS helps to 310 (R.1), 2002. provide the detailed QoS constraint information for the [13] A. D. Team. Apache Axis 1.0 , service discovery purpose. Meanwhile it provides clear http://ws.apache.org/axis/. 2002. metric definition for the QoS measurement purpose. [14] V. Tosic, B. Pagurek, and K. Patel. WSOL - A Language During design time, the QoS specification guides the for the Formal Specification of Classes of Service for Web developer's design choice. The validation of the specifi- Service. In the Int. Conf. on Web Services (ICWS03), cation helps to check whether there's conflict or not in 2003. the QoS constraints. During run time, additional mea- [15] W3C Committee. OWL Web Ontology Language Refer- surement information is specified in the metrics indi- ence. Available: http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-ref/, Feb vidual instance by the measurement partner. Code gen- 2004. [16] C. Zhou, L.-T. Chia, and B.-S. Lee. DAML-QoS Ontol- erator helps to generate the codes for the measurement ogy for Web Services. In International Conference on system according to the metric individual definition. Web Services (ICWS04), pages 472–479, 2004. Based on the Ontology approach, better interoperabil- [17] C. Zhou, L.-T. Chia, and B.-S. Lee. QoS-Aware and Fed- ity, automation, and extensibility can be achieved. erated Enhancement for UDDI. International Journal In future we'd like to convert the current system of Web Services Research (JWSR), 2:58–85, 2004. from DAML+OIL to OWL. Furthermore, we would in- [18] J. A. Zinky, D. E. Bakken, and R. E. Schantz. Architec- corporate the QoS matchmaking system into our cur- tural support for quality of service for CORBA objects. rent QoS-Aware service discovery framework[17]. Theory and Practice of Object Systems, 1997.
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text: CCBot/2.0 (http://commoncrawl.org/faq/) British Columbia Geocaching Association » Forums » General Caching » General » GeomateJr? Home Newest Caches Forums Your Account About BCGA Search Blitz Lotusland Lotus: [?] . Butchart Gardens [M | C] Minter Gardens [M | C] Sun Yat-Sun [M | C] VanDusen [M | C] Register or Login Please Join our Association Our Sponsors Waypoints Home Home Login BCGA News BCGA Feedback/Contact Us Membership Info Coin Activation About BCGA Logos Recommend Us Statistics News Archive VT Memorial Project Geocaching Cache History Encyclopedia Links Policies & Guidelines Users options Your Account Forums Forums GC Canada Forums Search GC Cache BCGA Search Web BC Rankings Geocaching.com Navicache.com Terracaching.com waymarking.com Coming Events March 2015 SMTWTFS 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Sat Mar 28, 2015 TO BUILD A BETTER GEOCACHER - Surrey Passing of the pan...Again!! - Merritt Wed Apr 01, 2015 April Fool's Day Sat Apr 04, 2015 Vancouver Art Gallery Meet & Greet - Vancouver Sun Apr 05, 2015 Easter In memory of Nugget - Surrey Sat Apr 11, 2015 Safety in the Woods - East Sooke Sat Apr 18, 2015 Earth Day Fraser Valley - Yarrow 12th Official "Adopt a Highway" Clean Up - Courtenay Come celebrate 'National Animal Crackers Day - Ladner Wed Apr 22, 2015 Earth Day Sat Apr 25, 2015 A Cleaner Downtown Core - Victoria 5th East Stave Lake Clean UP CITO - Mill Creek at PRC - Kelowna Cache & Untrash in the Cache! - Cache Creek It came from Planet CITO! - Langford Post CITO Nutritional Replenishment Event: Take 2 - Langford Spring dinner meet and greet - Surrey Elk River Shoreline Cleanup - Fernie Sun Apr 26, 2015 Kanaka Creek - Invasive Species Removal - Maple Rdge Forums » General Caching » General » GeomateJr? LOG-IN DIFFICULTIES Please be advised that we are currently having problems with some of our users not being able to log into the site. We apologize for this, we are working to address the situation. Thank you for your patience Thank You BCGA Executive Forum FAQ Search Log in to check your private messages Login GeomateJr?If you have questions/comments about geocaching in general or anything that doesn't fit anywhere else, post them here. Forum Index » General View previous topic :: View next topic Author Message AerodoqJoined: Apr 01, 2007Posts: 66Location: Vancouver Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 10:45 am Post subject: GeomateJr? I'm putting on an unofficial Geocaching 101 for a small group of Twitter pals late in January in Vancouver. It's looking like a group of anywhere from 10-30 people. I was wondering if anyone has, or knows of, a GeomateJr that I could borrow for a few hours to demo to these folks. Thanks, Anthony. _________________ Cache stats and map Back to top Catapult JeffJoined: Aug 24, 2005Posts: 169Location: Surrey BC Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 7:44 pm Post subject: Re: GeomateJr? Hey it is nice to see that there is an update kit for the Geomate Jrs that has added Canada. _________________ Back to top Mrs_LandsharkzJoined: Dec 04, 2008Posts: 295Location: Victoria Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 12:24 am Post subject: Re: GeomateJr? Aerodog, We have one here that we demo. Would you like to borrow it loaded with the Canadian update? If you do, we'd ship it Express and like it back the same way please. You can use our packaging to return it to keep it simple. Back to top AerodoqJoined: Apr 01, 2007Posts: 66Location: Vancouver Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 7:14 am Post subject: Re: GeomateJr? Thanks Helen, that'd be awesome! I'll email you with details. _________________ Cache stats and map Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Forum Index » General Page 1 of 1 All times are GMT - 8 Hours Jump to: Select a forumTerms of Usage AgreementGeneral AnnouncementsPoliciesCALL BINGO WINBingo DiscussionGeneralRecommend a CacheHow To?SWAGMilestonesNews Article DiscussionsFraser ValleyKootenay - RockiesLower Mainland / Coast MountainsNorthern B.C.Thompson / OkanaganVancouver IslandWebsite Questions2012 Director Nominations & Discussions You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forumYou cannot attach files in this forumYou cannot download files in this forum Advertisement :: Copyright 2003 - 2009 BC Geocaching Association :: RSS Feed:Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BCGeocaching Interactive software released under GNU GPL, Code Credits, Privacy PolicyTheme by British Columbia Geocaching Association.


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NASA should cancel plans to send humans to the moon and then to Mars, according to a Washington Post editorial. The project is likely to run over budget, and NASA's needs are better served by continuing and expanding robotic exploration, the editorial says.
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Sol 360: Update On Curiosity From USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: Touch and Go9 August 2013
My SOWG Chair shift today was especially busy, as we planned MSL's first "touch and go. The plan is to deploy the arm on Sol 360 for MAHLI and APXS observations of a rock right in front of the rover, then the arm will be stowed for another drive on Sol 361. We are also planning to observe a… Read More
Sol 359: Update On Curiosity From USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: Simple Plan8 August 2013
The Sol 356 drive went well, so another drive was planned for Sol 358. We are still "restricted," as the post-drive data will not arrive until 10 PM PDT tonight. So the Sol 359 plan includes only untargeted observations. The plan is therefore pretty simple, which is making for an easy SOWG Chair… Read More
USGS Map Experts Kris and Tammy Becker Highlighted by the Mercury MESSENGER Mission8 August 2013
The MESSENGER mission featured two USGS Astrogeology Science Center map experts; computer scientist, Kris Becker and cartographer, Tammy Becker; on their mission web site. The profile includes background information and highlights of the Becker's accomplishments while working as team members on… Read More
Sol 356: Update On Curiosity From USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: First Earth Year!6 August 2013
The MSL team is celebrating the first Earth year of operations on the surface of Mars, at JPL, on NASA TV, and at participating institutions around the world. In addition, the New York Times launched their Curiosity Tracker, which makes it easy to review previous results of the mission and keep… Read More
Sol 355: Update On Curiosity From USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: Ripple5 August 2013
MSL landed on Mars one Earth year ago tonight, so there were cheers and applause during the SOWG meeting today. There are some nice products on the MSL web page celebrating the first of (hopefully) many anniversaries to come. Today the tactical operations team is planning targeted remote sensing… Read More
Sol 350 Update On Curiosity From USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: Multiprocessing1 August 2013
The latest drive covered over 80 meters, and we are planning another drive on the second sol of the 3-sol weekend plan. In addition, more of the Cumberland drill sample will be dropped into SAM on the first sol, for analysis overnight. This is the first time arm activities and a drive have been… Read More
Sol 349: Update On Curiosity From USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: Two Rovers31 July 2013
Curiosity continues to drive at every opportunity, typically 70 meters each. Planning these longer drives leaves less time for science observations, but the trade is worthwhile because more interesting geology lies ahead. Meanwhile, Opportunity (launched over 10 years ago) has paused at a rock… Read More
Sol 346 - 348: Update On Curiosity From USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: A Bit Hazy26 July 2013
The Sol 345 drive went well, totaling 60 meters. We've received some nice (although a bit hazy) images of the traverse goal at the base of Aeolis Mons. We still have a long way to go, but are making good progress. I'm MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead again, planning 3 sols to get the rover through the… Read More
Sol 345: Update On Curiosity From USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: Steady Progress25 July 2013
We were happy to see that the long drive planned for last weekend went well, but don't expect to drive so far every sol until more software capabilities are checked out and cleared for use. I'm MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead today, planning single images after each drive that are becoming standard… Read More
Sol 339: Update On Curiosity From USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: Visual Odometry19 July 2013
I'm SOWG Chair again, planning three sols to get the rover through the weekend. This typically means a long Friday shift, and today is no exception. The 3-sol plan is complex, with lots of science observations and a 100-meter drive. The use of visual odometry (VO) was approved, so this… Read More


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I'm to busy being homegrown to blog on more than one site but if I could post it here as well I would do so gladly :)
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