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The retirement of British Columbia's marketing slogan "The Best Place on Earth" late last year, raises the obvious question: If not the best, is it second best? Third? Dead last?
The answer depends on what's being measured, of course. B.C. scores high marks on environment, health outcomes and life expectancy, and has done so since the first report of the B.C. Progress Board, an independent panel established by the provincial government in 2001 to gauge B.C.'s performance against certain benchmarks.
But the economic record is not as consistent. "Not stagnant, not stellar," was the way one headline put it. A poll by the Economic Club of Canada released early this year found 73 per cent of British Columbians believe the country has slipped back into recession, although it has not. And 35 per cent said they were losing ground financially, with 51 per cent saying they were just holding their own. The poll revealed that British Columbians are gloomier than other Canadians about their economic prospects.
"It's the most pessimistic findings we've had in 16 years," said Michael Marzonlini, chairman of Pollara, the firm that conducted the survey.
At first, such negativity seems illogical given real personal disposable income growth of 24 per cent between 2000 and 2010. In absolute terms, B.C. made considerable progress in the last decade as PDI growth was double that of the 1990s.
In relative terms, however, incomes in B.C. have been only slightly above or slightly below the Canadian average. At the end of 2010, the province had yet to fully recover from the 2008 recession and ended the year with incomes $406 below the Canadian average while the income gap between top-ranked Alberta and B.C. widened to 22 per cent from 11 per cent in 2000. On the absolute level of personal disposable income per capita — just $26,166 in 2010 in B.C. — the final report of the B.C. Progress Board in December ranked the province 55th out of 61 North American jurisdictions.
No surprise then that B.C. has the highest proportion of the population deemed low-income, earning it a last-place ranking in Canada. It wasn't always that way. B.C. ranked fifth in 1990 with a low-income cutoff rate of 12.5 per cent, but in just eight years of government by the New Democratic Party the rate rose to 16.4 per cent by 1999. The rate has improved under the Liberals to half a point below the 1990 level, but B.C. still ranks last because other provinces have reduced their rates as well. It should be pointed out that B.C. has a higher proportion than other provinces of retired seniors, who tend to have lower than average incomes, and that this proportion will increase as the population ages.
On top of having relatively low incomes and a high poverty rate, the cost of almost everything in B.C. is higher than in the rest of the country — for housing, gasoline, groceries, wine, restaurant meals, private schools, children's transit fares, and movie admissions, to name a few. Clearly, the level of income compared with other Canadian provinces and other countries is a problem that must be addressed.
Wages, salaries and supplementary income per employee (as computed by the Business Council of B.C. using figures from Statistics Canada and the Provincial Economic Accounts) in 2010 amounted to $46,379 in B.C., $64,504 in Alberta and $51,109 in Ontario.
To raise incomes, B.C. needs to not only increase the number of jobs, and the overall employment rate, but elevate the quality of jobs. Moreover, it has to tackle the province's mediocre productivity record because achieving a higher value of gross domestic product for each hour worked (the standard definition of productivity) is how wealth is created.
All of this poses a daunting challenge that should drive policy-makers to take the necessary steps to support economic development and business growth. Besides the loss of $1.6 billion the federal government provided to assist in the HST transition, B.C. will incur costs of $30 million to set up a retail tax agency and $50 million to compensate vendors who are paid a commission to collect the retail sales tax, while businesses will face increased tax compliance costs estimated at $150 million a year.
Jon Kesselman, a professor in the school of public policy at Simon Fraser University and Canada research chairman in public finance, noted in a paper that the major cost to the province is the loss of investment and jobs that the HST would have generated, estimated in one study at $11.5 billion and 113,000 new jobs through 2020. Yet another study mentioned in his paper showed that harmonization in the Atlantic provinces in 1997 increased machinery and equipment investment, the forms that most improve productivity. Kesselman also cited a 2008 study by the Centre for the Study of Living Standards that concluded sales tax harmonization was "the most effective policy to deal with the B.C. economy's lagging investment and productivity performance."
The defeat of the HST compounds the difficulty of balancing the provincial budget and boosting the economy to achieve a real (that is, inflation-adjusted) growth rate sufficient to create jobs, which economists peg at a minimum of two per cent.
Forecasts of GDP growth for B.C. range from 1.7 per cent to 2.3 per cent this year, which does not augur well for robust job creation. Faced with a still sluggish U.S. economy and a slowdown in China, the B.C. economy, being more dependent on exports than other Canadian jurisdictions, will be under increasing stress. However, RBC Financial, among other forecasters, sees strengthening demand from the U.S. (it had nowhere to go but up) and good long-term prospects in Asian markets.
"We believe that external trade will no longer subtract from provincial growth but in fact contribute positively to it in 2012," RBC senior economist Robert Hogue said in his latest outlook.
In order to make economic growth the job generator it should be, many economists hope to see continued fiscal prudence, evidenced by a commitment to return to balanced budgets as quickly as possible, mainly through cost control. Steady, predictable economic stewardship will restore business confidence and promote investment.
They also want B.C. to maintain its tax competitiveness and continue reducing red tape and bureaucratic meddling. Streamlining the regulatory process should be a priority. And leaving more money in consumers' pockets will help them pay down household debt while bolstering retail sales. Many economists believe investment in education and skills training will pay dividends, although government has to carefully monitor spending. A large part of the employment problem is the mismatch between available jobs and workers' skills. Some would like to see a more aggressive approach to eliminating uncertainty over land use, specifically aboriginal land claims, logging rights and protected areas.
B.C. should keep a tighter rein on municipalities, which can and do undermine provincial policies intended to ease the burden on business and residents. The municipal auditor is a step in the right direction.
Investment in infrastructure can boost economic development but government needs to find creative ways to finance such projects so they don't increase public debt.
Sometimes just the right words can build enthusiasm. Premier Christy Clark's oft-stated support of mining, and her pledge to have eight new mines opened by 2015, has the industry talking about a boom.
Although the economic forecast through 2013 is for only modest growth, now is the time to prepare for a more prosperous future. Maybe one day B.C. will be worthy of its former slogan.


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Microsoft is looking to up the ante with its Windows Server HPC platform. The company released its third iteration yesterday and signaled it would like to see broader use of its high-performance computing platform.
"Think of this as one of the key shifts in our fleet for what we look at as this future of technical computing," said Bill Hilf, Microsoft's general manager for technical computing. Hilf made his remarks in his keynote address at the High Performance Computing Financial Markets conference in New York.
"It's a pretty wide initiative where we want to take the technical computing technologies and really make those available and accessible to a broader number of IT end users and developers," explained Bill Hamilton, Microsoft's director of technical computing.
In an interview right after his keynote address, Hilf said he believes HPC applications will drive usage of Windows Azure, thanks to Windows HPC Server's newfound support for Microsoft's cloud service.
"I believe the technical computing workload will be the killer Azure app because the nature of these workloads consume a ton of computer," he said. "We believe having an infrastructure with hundreds of thousands of servers is going to be very compelling."
Some notable facts about Windows HPC Server 2008 R2:
If you're among those that are testing it out, or intend to do so, share your thoughts with me at [email protected]
Posted by Jeffrey Schwartz on September 21, 2010 at 11:59 AM
Windows Autopilot, Microsoft's PC self-provisioning program, is now being tested for use with the company's mixed-reality headset, the HoloLens 2.
There are indications that Microsoft is mulling charging customers for software that uses its application programming interfaces.
From the next major update to Windows 10 to the next generations of .NET and PowerShell, here's what's on tap from Microsoft this year.
Microsoft has expanded its Azure Hybrid Benefit licensing program to include Linux servers, particularly Red Hat Enterprise Linux or SUSE Linux Enterprise servers.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Well Care Pharmacy [Old Airport]
Old Airport Road, opp Doha Bank, Doha, Qatar Get Directions Tel + 974 4467 1300 Email email@example.com
- Outpatient pharmacy
To find out if this facility is included in your cover, take a look at your plan's details by logging into your online area or contact your customer service centre using the number on your insurance card.
Our network of medical facilities offers cashless settlement for in hospital and day-case treatment. Please contact the number on your insurance card for pre-authorisation of in-patient and day-case treatment.


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Fight Night Round 4's next DLC delivers four fighters, rivalry matchups, and "old-school rules," which I assume means a brain-pulping 15 rounds. Its next patch release will tire the hell out of your boxer if you don't fight smart.
Continuous punching, weaving and haymakers all have higher endurance cost, spamming your block ruins your ability to perform a perfect block, and no nutshots can be thrown if one user is in a stun state, both eliminating cheap knockdowns (and cheaper recoveries).
You can see the full list at the end of this video. The patch (free) and the DLC (800 Microsoft points/$9.99) are out in early December.


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According to IMARC Group's recently published report titled "Caustic Potash Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2017-2022", the global caustic potash market has grown at a CAGR of 3% during 2009-2016, reaching a volume of around 2 Million Tons in 2016. Caustic potash, also called potassium hydroxide, is an inorganic alkaline compound with the chemical formula KOH. It is white in colour, odourless, deliquescent, corrosive, highly reactive in nature, non-flammable and non-volatile at room temperature.
Caustic potash is manufactured industrially by the electrolysis of potassium chloride and water solution. Being a strong alkali, caustic potash is an important ingredient in the manufacturing process of a number of industrial chemicals including potassium chloride, detergents, fertilizers, etc. The major growth-inducing factor which has influenced its market is the expanding use of caustic potash infertilizers and household products. The global caustic potash market is further expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.5% during 2017-2022, reaching a volume of more than 2.3 Million Tons by 2022.
Highlights of the Global Caustic Potash Market:
- Caustic potash is used in the manufacturing process of a number of industrial chemicals.
- The potassium carbonate manufacturing industry represents the biggest end-use segment.
- North America is the largest producer of caustic potash, accounting for more than one-third of the total market share.
Request a free sample copy of the report: http://www.imarcgroup.com/request?type=report&id=655&flag=B
The potassium carbonate manufacturing industry represents the biggest end-use segment, accounting for the majority of the total global consumption. Apart from this, caustic potash is also a powerful cleaning agent, found in variphate detergents, etc. It also acts as an anti-foaming agent in the manufacturing process of paper, besides being used in industrial fertilizers such as fungicides and herbicides. Some of the other applications of caustic potash include the manufacturing of potassium chemicals (acetates, cyanides, permanganates and citrates), neutralization agents, batteries, etc.
On the basis of regional segmentation, North America represents the largest producer of caustic potash, accounting for more than one-third of the total market share. Some of the other regions include Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and Middle East and Africa. The analysis of the competitive landscape finds the details of the key players operative in the market. Some of the major players include Unid Co., Occidental Chemical Corporation, Tessenderlo Chemie NV, Olin Chlor Alkali Products, Erco Worldwide (USA) Inc., Chengdu Huarong Chemical Company Limited.
Click here for summary of the report with TOC: http://www.imarcgroup.com/caustic-potash-technical-material-market-report
The report by IMARC Group has examined the global caustic potash market on the basis of:
End Use:
- Potassium Carbonate
- Potassium Phosphates
- Potassium Soaps and Detergents
- Liquid Fertilizers
- Agricultural Chemical
Key Regions:
- North America
- Asia Pacific
- Europe
- Latin America
- Middle East and Africa
Key Players:
- Unid Co.
- Occidental Chemical Corporation
- Tessenderlo Chemie NV
- Olin Chlor Alkali Products
- Erco Worldwide (USA) Inc.
- Chengdu Huarong Chemical Company Limited
Browse related reports:
Potassium Permanganate Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2017-2022
Acetic Acid Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2017-2022
About Us
IMARC Group is a leading market research company that offers management strategy and market research worldwide. We partner with clients in all sectors and regions to identify their highest-value opportunities, address their most critical challenges, and transform their businesses.
IMARC's information products include major market, scientific, economic and technological developments for business leaders in pharmaceutical, industrial, and high technology organizations. Market forecasts and industry analysis for biotechnology, advanced materials, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, travel and tourism, nanotechnology and novel processing methods are at the top of the company's expertise.
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Contact Person: Jim Clarke
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Hunger Task Force struggles to stock shelves
Begins holiday card sales to boost donations
Milwaukee's Hunger Task Force said Wednesday that it is scrambling to keep food on patrons' tables for the holidays.
"We've got a lot of empty barrels here is what we got," said Sherrie Tussler, executive director of the task force. She said the organization's drive to provide for needy families is running low on fuel.
"We've seen contributions down," she said. "We've seen donations at food drives down. The cost of food is super expensive, and people are very conservative."
The task force launched a holiday cards campaign this week to help give a boost to donations and funds.
"We sell the cards to our donors who are interested in memorializing someone that they know at the holidays," she said. "The cards are sold to businesses and individuals who are interested in saying 'happy holidays' to their friends."
A 20-pack of cards will sell for $16, and the artwork has been donated by local artists, including the well-known Marion Coffey, who passed away last year.
"The Hunger Task Force was near and dear to her, because they're helping people that need food," said Lisa Robins, Coffey's daughter.
Robins said while her mother's works are prominent around the country and enjoy artistic fame, Coffey never forgot her humble beginnings.
"Her little paintings -- besides helping people -- raise money," she said. "Helped people be happy."
You can order holiday cards from the Hunger Task Force by clicking here.


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- Article no.: 86114
- Manufacturer no.:
- Weight: 0,23 kg
3 ready for shipment, delivery time 1-3 days
Prices incl. VAT plus shipping costs
For our fans, regular customers, friends and all other watercooling enthusiasts we now have an Aquatuning Polo shirt in size M.
For us it was important that the printing on the shirt was durable and of high-quality. Hence we have chosen a print that is claimed to last over 100 washing cycles! With this Polo shirt you do not only receive a merchandising article from your watercooling and modding distributor, you also receive a high-quality piece of clothing!
The front has the Aquatuning printed onto it, the back has ''www.aquatuning.com'' and ''Watercooling and modding distributor'' printed onto it.
Technical specifications:
Colour: Blue
Size: M
Material: Cotton
Weight: 170g/m²
Extent of delivery:
1x Polo shirt


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Process IoT data instantly to help identify valuable insights related to device behavior and operations in the field. Spot trends before they impact the bottom line.
Reduce operational expense by understanding your IoT devices to operate them more effectively and efficiently. Visualize your IoT data to better plan your operations and increase productivity.
Use improved business insight and bidirectional communication with the end user to introduce innovative new products and services.
Enrich, augment and interact with your IoT data from the IoT Platform with analytics using simplified data ingestion and curation.
Increase trust and transparency by enabling IoT assets to validate provenance and events in a trusted, immutable ledger with the blockchain service add-on.
When using IBM Cloud offerings, your company can scale and adapt quickly to changing business needs without compromising security, privacy or risk levels. Learn more about IBM Cloud security
This offering meets the following industry and global compliance standards, depending on the edition you choose.
To learn about the compliance and certifications for a specific offering edition, consult the Cloud Services data security and privacy data sheets.


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It was the home stretch of the 2011 mayor's race in San Francisco, and state Sen. Leland Yee needed all the help he could get. An early favorite in the campaign, he would end up plummeting to a fifth-place finish.
But there was still some hope on Oct. 19, which is when the campaign for state Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Van Nuys, contributed $500, the most allowed by San Francisco law, to Yee's flagging campaign.
Two and a half years later, Padilla is the frontrunner in the 2014 race for California secretary of state. Yee was a strong candidate until the "Shrimp Boy" corruption scandal forced him to withdraw.
Given Yee's now-ironic record of promoting open government, the secretary of state position was long considered a logical landing spot once he was termed out of the Senate. Did Padilla simply think his fellow Democratic lawmaker was the best man for the job? Or was he rooting for a field-clearing Yee win in San Francisco? Continue Reading


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Full Movie 10 Things I Hate About You High QualityWatch Movie 10 Things I Hate About You Online Streaming with duration 97 Min and released on 1999-03-31 with MPAA rating is 310.
- Original Title : 10 Things I Hate About You
- Movie title in your country : 10 Things I Hate About You
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- Release date of movie : 1999-03-31
- Companies of movie : Touchstone Pictures, Mad Chance, Jaret Entertainment,
- Countries of movie : United States of America,
- Language of movie : English, Français,
- Durationof movie : 97 Min
- Average vote of movie : 6.6
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- Joseph Gordon-Levitt ( Cameron James )
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- Susan May Pratt ( Mandella )
- Gabrielle Union ( Chastity )
- Larry Miller ( Walter Stratford )
- Daryl Mitchell ( Mr. Morgan )
- Allison Janney ( Ms. Perky )
- David Leisure ( Mr. Chapin )
- Kyle Cease ( Bogie Lowenstien )
- Greg Jackson ( Scruvy )
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Director : Gil Junger, Screenplay : Karen McCullah Lutz, Screenplay : Kirsten Smith, Producer : Andrew Lazar, Executive Producer : Seth Jaret, Executive Producer : Jeffrey Chernov, Producer : Greg Silverman, Original Music Composer : Richard Gibbs, Director of Photography : Mark Irwin, Editor : O. Nicholas Brown, Production Design : Carol Winstead Wood, Art Direction : Gilbert Wong, Costume Design : Kimberly A. Tillman, Set Decoration : Charles Graffeo,
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Dec. 21, 2006: Technology Review—How Plug-In Hybrids Will Save the Grid
Summary: "Major automakers and the Department of Energy are pouring money into research on plug-in hybrid vehicles. These cars promise to cut petroleum consumption by allowing commuters to drive to work using primarily electricity–stored on board in batteries–rather than gas. Although critics have warned that the vehicles could put too much pressure on an already strained electrical grid, experts are now arguing that rather than being a strain on the grid, plug-in hybrids may actually help prevent brownouts, cut the cost of electricity, and increase the use of renewable energy.
Plug-in hybrids, like today's hybrid cars, can run on either an electric motor or an internal combustion engine. But plug-ins have much larger battery packs and can be recharged by being plugged into the wall, making it possible to rely much more on the electric motor. Although a handful of companies sell conversion kits to change conventional hybrids into plug-ins, the kits add thousands of dollars to the cost of the car (see "Plug-In Hybrids Are on the Way"). This additional cost, which is primarily from the batteries, is one of the reasons the major automakers haven't yet mass produced such vehicles, although they are now developing them. GM, for example, recently committed to making a plug-in version of a Saturn SUV (see "GM's Plug-In Hybrid")."
Would such a system be fair to owners and operators of plug-in hybrid vehicles? If the utilities rely on disparate cars to suck up excess power, then return power when demand is greatest, should owners of plug-ins get a break on their electricity rates? Or should they consider the excellent efficiency of their vehicles to be a bonus and simply feel good that they can contribute to society in such a way as well?


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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Mike Davis rushed 26 times for 167 yards and three touchdowns, as No. 12 South Carolina overcame an injury to its starting quarterback, four turnovers and a 10-0 halftime deficit to beat UCF 28-25 on Saturday.
Davis picked up the slack for a Gamecocks' offense that played the final three quarters without starting QB Connor Shaw. He left the game with a sprained right shoulder following a hard tackle during South Carolina's first offensive series of the contest.
The Knights were sharp early, but failed to convert all but one of the Gamecocks' miscues into points.
UCF rallied late, but had four turnovers of its own, two of which set up South Carolina scores.
Knights' quarterback Blake Bortles threw for 358 yards and two touchdown passes, but had two interceptions and a fumble.
(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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More and more millennials living with parents
More than a third of 20-somethings, even 30-year-olds are living at home with mom and dad.
WISN 12 News' Patrick Paolantonio explains why they're not leaving the nest and the thing parents should consider to protect their own financial future.
It's a team effort at the Zimmerman home. Nancy runs her flower business. Her husband is back in school, and with three kids in the house, it's all hands on deck. Even for the two in their 20s.
"So even though they're in college, there's no free ride?" Paolantonio asked.
"Oh, absolutely not," Nancy Zimmerman said.
It's the family's cars that fall into the hands of their 20-year-old son. In addition to owning a car-detailing business, Steffen is studying to be a firefighter. He pays weekly rent to live at home and helps out in other ways.
"I work on all the vehicles here. If they need any service, whether it's engine, transmission. I mow the lawn, take the trash out, things like that," Steffen Zimmerman said.
His older sister is also a college student. In between her full-time studies to be a nurse and her job, 23-year-old Amberly helps with chores and other responsibilities around the house.
"As a college student, it's so hard to, you know, financially afford paying rent and utilities, groceries. All these things that most people don't think about when they're in a hurry to leave home," Amberly Zimmerman said.
Home, with their parents, is where many young adults, in the 18-31 range are finding themselves.
The Pew Research Center said it appears to be driven by a number of factors, including declining employment, a rise in college enrollment and fewer millennials tying the knot.
Tony Drake is a certified financial planner, who is seeing more clients with kids who never moved out or ones who recently moved back home.
"You know, it's a lot of pressure on the parents, and I think the parents have to be open with the kids, talk about the financial situation. This can't be a long-term deal," Drake said.
Drake recommends coming up with a contract. He said to consider things such as rent and a timetable for how long they'll live at home.
"But when it comes to retirement or helping the kids, whether it's helping them with college expenses or bringing them in, you have to think of your retirement first. You know, these kids can take loans. They can incur some debt if they have to, but you can't take a loan for retirement. You have to put that first," Drake said.
At the Zimmerman's, it's understood that everyone contributes around the house.
"I'm giving them all the resources here at home, so some day they will be on their own, and they'll know what it's like to be a full-grown adult that has all the responsibilities of, you know, your bills and if you're married, children and a wife to provide for. So, I'm just happy to have them here," Nancy Zimmerman said.
The analysis by Pew found this to be the highest share of young adults in at least four decades living at home.
Amberly and Steffen Zimmerman choose to live at home, and both have a goal to move out after college.
For millennials trying to get out of their parents' house, Drake said come up with a budget and stick to it.