text: Natasha Kuilak Mellersh 2016-05-31T02:11:56-04:00 Natasha Kuilak Mellersh http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=natasha-kuilak-mellersh Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Natasha Kuilak Mellersh Good old fashioned elbow grease. German Courts Refuse to Bow to US Pressure in MegaUpload Case tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2122445 2012-11-13T12:20:50-05:00 2013-01-13T05:12:01-05:00 Natasha Kuilak Mellersh http://www.huffingtonpost.com/natasha-kuilak-mellersh/ Beschl. v. 14.05.2012 - Az.: 5/28 Qs 15/12) has ruled that a request for mutual legal assistance from the United States regarding stripping assets belonging to Kim Dotcom, has no basis for legal action in Germany. [caption id="attachment_1140" align="alignleft" width="500"] Mural of Kim Dotcom painted by Cart'1 courtesy of Thierry Ehrman - Abode of Chaos.[/caption] Kim Dotcom, the founder of the file-sharing MegaUpload site was arrested in Auckland, New Zealand in January of this year. He had been sought by the US authorities on copyright infringement charges relating to pirated content on his websites. As a part of the criminal investigation against the file-sharing service Megaupload, certain assets were supposed to be removed. This request was issued by the American FBI when they called for legal assistance from the German authorities. The Frankfurt judges have since rejected this request, because it contains insufficient evidence. The US legal team failed to demonstrate that a web hosting service for the illegal upload of copyrighted files, amounts to a criminal offence. According to the German 'Telemediengesetz' (communications legislation), a hosting service for foreign files will generally not be accountable unless the host had active knowledge of illegal activity. The judges also emphasised that the concept of knowledge is limited to positive knowledge. Therefore if the service provider believes that it is possible or likely that a specific piece of information is stored on their server, this is not sufficient evidence of knowledge of abuse. According to the court ruling, there is no legal obligation to monitor the transmitted data or stored information or to search for any illegal activity. Since the US legal team did not mention any other circumstances that could constitute a criminal offence in their request for mutual legal assistance, the German court concluded that their request for the recovery of assets is unfounded.]]> Judging Judges - Is There a Need for Greater Judicial Scrutiny? tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1620877 2012-06-23T09:03:15-04:00 2012-08-23T05:12:05-04:00 Natasha Kuilak Mellersh http://www.huffingtonpost.com/natasha-kuilak-mellersh/ Cheryl Thomas' inaugural lecture at the Judicial Institute at UCL last Wednesday where she talked about judicial studies and in particular, the study of judges and juries. I'd never really thought about judicial studies until I was trying to find empirical evidence of the behaviour of juries in criminal trials for a paper I was writing. All I found was a study from the early 1990s - The Crown Court Study, by Professor Michael Zander and Paul Henderson, so I used this slightly outdated evidence, feeling a little disheartened about my research skills. At the lecture I found out that this paper was in fact one of the few empirical studies of juries in the UK. Thomas described the study of juries in the UK as a "supermassive black hole" with academics remaining cautious about conducting research in the area, for fear of breaching Section 8 of the Contempt of Court Act. [caption id="attachment_1055" align="alignleft" width="500"] Royal Courts of Justice Photo courtesy of Gareth Davies[/caption] However it is not only the study of juries that is largely neglected in the UK, but perhaps more surprisingly, the study of judges is also neglected even though this wouldn't be limited by the Contempt of Court Act. This paucity of research could be due to a number of factors, most notably the commonly held belief that the judiciary should not be interfered with. In 1955 Lord Kilmuir famously claimed that there is a need for ignorance to "protect" the judiciary from scrutiny, establishing the so-called Kilmuir rules. This changed in the 1980s when these rules were revoked. In March, the current master of the rolls, Lord Neuberger, stated in a speech to the Student Law Society at Birmingham University: "it seems to me only proper that judges, with their wisdom and experience, should be free to comment extra-judicially on a wide range of issues. In doing so they play an educative role. In areas such as constitutional principles, the role and independence of the judiciary, the functioning of the legal system, and access to justice, and even important issues of law, this role cannot be underestimated." His assertion that members of the judiciary should be able to make extra-judicial comments as well as having a public profile also came with a warning that judges must be cautious about what they say publicly. In the US the area of judicial studies has greatly evolved since the 1950s with prominent academics such as Theodore L. Becker making it a well respected field of study. In the UK there has been little attempt to study the work of judges, the book by JAG Griffith on politics of the judiciary is based on very little empirical evidence and has failed to encourage further study. This also means that assertions made by those who write or comment on behaviour of the judiciary, as well as assumptions or sweeping statements, often go unchallenged regardless of their accuracy. Thomas claimed that the general public in England and Wales lack curiosity in relation to the judiciar, but she also stated that while academics and judges are not in opposition, they do not have a great deal of contact with one another. It appears to her that academics have lost touch and no longer have the appropriate skills to study the judiciary. The key problem in the judiciary of England and Wales lies with judicial appointments and the failure to improve diversity. While there is some progress being made in relation to the number of women appointed in the judiciary, the number of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) candidates remains very low. The current appointments to the judiciary of England and Wales are significantly unrepresentative of society, this is not only regarding gender and ethnicity but also taking into account socio-economic background. The judiciary of England and Wales is often cited as being one of "the best" legal systems in the world. Although there is no international study to confirm or reject such an assumption, there is evidence to suggest that it fares very well in comparison to other states in terms of corruption and speed. Nevertheless it's reputation is tainted by its poor diversity statistics, the public debate on the issue of diversity has become sterile and unproductive as a result of progress being so slow. Establishing judicial studies as a respectable and rigorous academic field could not only increase public understanding and interest in the judiciary, but it could also serve to improve the quality and openness of our legal system.]]> Bogeymen and Blanket Surveillance tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1601162 2012-06-18T19:00:00-04:00 2012-08-18T05:12:12-04:00 Natasha Kuilak Mellersh http://www.huffingtonpost.com/natasha-kuilak-mellersh/ The draft Communications Capabilities Development Programme (CCDP) bill published last week proposes that individuals' data is stored using so called 'black boxes' tracking their detailed internet use i.e. every website they visit, Google search terms, emails etc. A vast amount of data can be stored in these devices and using specialist software this data can be analysed using search functions and selection methods. Currently Government Central Head Quarters (GCHQ) can access a large amount of data and conduct surveillance of specific suspects, the difference in the CCDP bill is that this data would be accessible in relation to any member of the public. The idea behind this seems to be that by conducting blanket surveillance" the authorities could catch criminals who are not yet suspects. Throwing such a wide net however would also consequently entangle innocent people and breach their privacy, while most likely only finding those criminals who lack basic internet skills. The issue here is rather who the authorities actually wish to target and where they plan to concentrate their resources, than assuming everyone is a suspected criminal. Apart from a terrifying intrusion into people's private information this would be an arduous task for police, who currently are lacking the resources to analyse comparatively low levels of data already. This brings me on to the next issue - costs. The proposed cost for the implementation of the bill is over a billion pounds. Judging by experience on spending for the Olympics this figure is likely to rise by quite a lot. At a time when there are cuts to essential services in the NHS, legal aid and right across the public sector, where will the government manage to drum up the money for implementing a misguided and ludicrous piece of legislation - which looks to only benefit the security industry itself. While the security industry may prove lucrative for the government, the harm that this bill will cause to the public greatly overrides any government-business relations. Such an outright invasion of individuals' privacy and the breach of personal freedoms and basic human rights cannot be justified by the government in any way whether it is business-motivated or not. Analysing internet use can paint a very intimate picture of someone's private life such as their health, financial situation and their personal relationships. It is not only an extreme breach of a person's privacy but it is also completely unnecessary. Most of those affected will be innocent members of the public who may be unaware of the full extent of the bill and who do not know how to encrypt websites. Furthermore, the criminals that the government is referring to, can easily bypass the surveillance measures, thus making them even more difficult to catch. While the government insists it will not read the data, it claims that it must have access to it for the purpose of catching criminals. Charles Farr - the head of the Home Office's of security and counter-terrorism office, was extremely defensive when questioned about the bill and merely stated "trust us, we know". On the contrary, it appears that any sensible person with expertise in the field of internet security would know that the proposals in the bill make very little practical or financial sense. Therefore trusting the government to "know what it's doing" seems more and more naive on this issue. It appears that this is just one of several bills the government is putting forward which seeks to take away fundamental personal freedoms and infringe basic human rights. Only on Sunday, Theresa May criticised judges for "not qualifying" Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and being too lenient on criminals who use Art.8 to remain in the UK (even though only 2% of foreign nationals facing deportation after criminal proceedings successfully apply Art.8 to remain in the UK). These recent policies proposed by the government are particularly worrying as they may have severe consequences for basic human rights in the UK. The government has taken the line that this is an effective way of catching the usual bogeymen - terrorists and paedophiles. What they are still failing to consider, is that the system is relatively easy to bypass and simply requires the use of encrypted pages - in simple terms this means that websites using "https" rather than "http" cannot be tracked.]]> German Agency Wants to Snoop Social Networks to Analyze Creditworthiness tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1584536 2012-06-12T19:50:14-04:00 2012-08-12T05:12:06-04:00 Natasha Kuilak Mellersh http://www.huffingtonpost.com/natasha-kuilak-mellersh/ Schufa, Germany's largest credit agency intends to assess people's ability to make repayments by using "crawling techniques," such as those used by Google, for the purpose of "identifying and assessing the prospects and threats." A spokesman for Schufa told Spiegel Online that "everything is happening within the legal frameworks in Germany." Nevertheless, the proposal raises serious concerns over assessing a person's reputation from information found on the web. Schufa is planning to analyze automatically recorded information on the Internet such as on social networks, and this can then be linked to the stored data gathered by the credit agency. Although Facebook pointed out that according to its terms and conditions, automatic registration of members was actually not permissible. For a country with some of the strictest privacy laws in Europe, it is no surprise that the proposal has come under a strong criticism. Analyzing data related to personal relationships which can be found on Facebook and Twitter in order to judge a person's creditworthiness is a severe invasion of privacy. Since the German broadcaster NDR reported on the research project last Thursday there has been a public outcry. Numerous privacy advocates and politicians have strongly criticized the proposal. Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, the German Justice Minister, was quick to condemn the credit agency's plans. She told the Spiegel that Facebook "friends and preferences" should not prevent an individual from, for example, being able to obtain a mobile phone contract. Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger stated "Schufa and other credit agencies should disclose their full intentions of using Facebook data to check creditworthiness." She said that the data used to determine someone's credit report is already controversial and called for the process to be made "fully transparent." On Thursday, the Justice Minister was joined by Consumer Protection Minister Ilse Aigner in warning Schufa and HPI about tracing individuals on social networks, and requested further information on the research plans. Rainer Brüderle a parliamentary member of the Free Democrats (FDP) stated that "Schufa's plans go too far... social networks, like a circle of friends, are part of a person's private life, and should therefore not be tapped." However, the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) which was to be commissioned by Schufa to develop a proposal for the project, has now pulled out due to mounting criticism from politicians and privacy advocates. The privately-funded information technology institute was going to explore the extent to which information from the Internet can help in evaluating the creditworthiness of individuals. HPI announced that it has withdrawn from the contract with Schufa. In a statement, the institute claimed there had been some "misconceptions" by the general public about their research approach. HPI Director Christoph Meinel stated that the project could no longer be carried out with the ease and in the "unburdened" conditions necessary. The move by HPI, a clear blow for Schufa, has been welcomed by critics of the proposal, but it is unclear whether the credit agency intends to pursue the project regardless. The proposal could be hugely damaging to the privacy of individuals, linking their private relationships and their online reputation to their creditworthiness seems hugely invasive. Schufa's plans could have detrimental effects on a person's everyday life and further highlight the dangers of disclosing personal information on the internet. It is unclear whether Germany, a country with some of the most sophisticated privacy laws in the world would be able to justify such actions in accordance with its legal framework.]]> Access to Law Anyone? tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1591406 2012-06-12T17:37:24-04:00 2012-08-12T05:12:06-04:00 Natasha Kuilak Mellersh http://www.huffingtonpost.com/natasha-kuilak-mellersh/ In a recent public lecture, lawyers and law professors explained how law can be used as a tool by anyone. It can be applied in ways that can empower people and help them to solve complex problems, it can also be used to prevent disputes getting out of hand or to apply pressure for social change or to obtain justice. This doesn't seem entirely realistic: 'Anyone' can research the law if they are equipped with access to a case law database for a small fee, 'anyone' can decipher statute if they have the right education and familiarity with legalese. 'Anyone' could use the law as a tool provided they know how to access the law and have the time and expertise to do so. Although the law does not necessarily ensure fair and just outcomes, it can be used as a tool to challenge unfair circumstances. Decisions are not always black and white, and in some areas, law simply provides a starting point for relationships and transactions between people. The law is more of a scaffolding for our interactions, it helps us to lay down rules on how we behave and how we do business in society. If the general public aren't able to understand the law, we limit its use as a structural tool for society. Appointing a lawyer to decipher decisions or statute should not be prerequisite, it should be a choice. Of course looking up legal issues is very time-consuming, however it shouldn't be written and recorded in a way that intimidates and confuses those who have neither studied nor worked in a legal environment. Most important decisions are only available to read in full on legal databases for which you must pay and subscribe. Not only lay-people, but also foreign legal professionals are often on the wrong side of the paywall: a French law professor, writing an article on comparitive criminal law, was recently reduced to asking me to look up a legal decision in the database for her. It is not only the subscription based databases or the structure of the legal profession that are a barrier but also the language in which the law is written and the lack of support for the average person to help them to understand the law. Legal aid cuts are going to make this an even bigger problem, lawyer's fees being too high for many people seeking legal advice. Many are put off by the high fees and the unapproachable image of the stereotypical lawyer. The changes to legal aid which seem increasingly inevitable, will put pressure on the already overflowing law centres and citizens advice bureaus. Providing low-cost advice and guidance to the law could be hugely helpful in coming to terms with the changing legal climate - making the law more accessible. Will England and Wales become a two-tier society where those who can afford legal advice are able to intimidate those who cannot? The upcoming cuts to legal aid must not lead to a legal system that fails those who cannot pay.]]> Should the Government Intervene in the Judicial Process? tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1585177 2012-06-10T18:07:32-04:00 2012-08-10T05:12:07-04:00 Natasha Kuilak Mellersh http://www.huffingtonpost.com/natasha-kuilak-mellersh/ On the BBC's Andrew Marr show the Home Secretary revealed plans to tighten immigration laws and to prevent criminals using Article 8 to avoid deportation. The UK is introducing "financial independence" rules which will make it more difficult for tens of thousands of families to bring relatives into Britain. When the measures come into force next month, individuals must earn at least £18,600 to bring in a non-EU spouse into the UK and additional income for each child. May is emphasising that this will prevent foreign partners from "relying on benefits" for when they settle in the UK. She claims that these moves seek to largely reduce net migration as well as ensuring integration and economic independence of immigrants. She also referred to plans to introduce "Britishness tests" which will consist of English language as well as a "life in the UK" tests. Marr pointed out the challenges that may arise in relation to Article 8 ECHR, however May argued that states have the ability to "qualify" the right to family life i.e. apply their own interpretation. She argued that the courts have not been correctly qualifying that right "not even in the way stated by the Convention". Ultimately she is pressuring judges to enforce more stringent legal controls on the immigration of relatives of British residents as well as making it easier to deport foreign criminals. The Home Secretary stated that she will outline the rules and guidelines in qualifying the right in the courts. "[I am going to] set out the rules that say this is what parliament, this is what the public, believe is how you balance the public interest against the individual's interest" According to May the ECtHR has actually been tougher than some English courts in this area, she claimed that in many European cases judges differentiate between a foreign nationals who have been in the country illegally or legally. Her proposal for tighter rules emphasises the governments view that the right to family life doesn't necessarily take precendence over other factors. The government plans to introduce legislation if the judges do not follow the motion set out by the Commons. She warned: "I would expect that judges will look at what parliament will say and that they will take into account what parliament has said. If they don't then we will have to look at other measures and that could include primary legislation." It is unclear how exactly the government is to assess whether or not judges have taken on board the government's wishes. For May to publicly criticise the work of judges for not being in line with the governments policies seems a little worrying as surely judges should be expected to act within the framework of the law rather than according to the interests of the government. Lawyers have stated that implementing legislation to amend the human rights act or to change its proper application would most likely be contrary to the convention. Critics have argued that it is not the job of Parliament to interpret the law but that of the judges. May's comments on the Marr show could be seen to be labelling immigrants as benefit scroungers or criminals who are abusing human rights laws such as Article 8 in order to stay in the country. The governments intervention on the current approach taken by judges seems both unnecessary and inappropriate. While many judges inevitably reflect public opinion to a degree they should primarily base their judgments on the law. Government has no place to enforce their political agenda onto court decisions, and judges should act in the public interest to uphold a fair and legitimate legal system that upholds human rights.]]> U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Blackwater Appeal -- What Does This Mean for the Accountability of Private Military Firms? tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1580987 2012-06-08T17:53:32-04:00 2012-08-08T05:12:10-04:00 Natasha Kuilak Mellersh http://www.huffingtonpost.com/natasha-kuilak-mellersh/ The recent Supreme Court decision regarding Blackwater Worldwide, the U.S. private security firm that operated in Iraq, has left the door open to the possibility of holding these private firms accountable for unlawful violence in war zones. On September 16, 2007 heavy gunfire erupted at the busy Nisour Square junction, killing at least 14 civilians including a 9 year old boy and leaving dozens injured. The shots were fired from a convoy of four armoured vehicles manned by Blackwater guards, who maintain that they were acting in self-defence after being shot at by insurgents. Witnesses claim that the contractors were never in any danger and shot at civilians mercilessly and unprovoked. The chief prosecutor Kenneth Kohl disclosed that other Blackwater guards who had been on the convoy involved in the Nisour Square shootings reported the incident to Blackwater management, one guard describing it as "murder in cold blood". However it appears that the management failed to report these statements to the State Department. The case had previously been thrown out by federal judge Ricardo Urbina on December 31, 2009 who cited misuse of statements made by the defendants by investigators. The state department had ordered the guards to explain the details of the incident to investigators under the threat of losing their jobs. Their lawyer argued that using these statements to charge the four men amounted to a violation of their constitutional right against self-incrimination and were made under duress. However the charges were reinstated in April 2011 when a federal appeals court reopened the case and ordered the review of evidence against each individual defendant. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to dismiss the manslaughter and weapons charges against the four defendants Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, Dustin Heard and Donald Ball and has declined to comment. This is a small victory in holding private firms accountable for their actions in war zones. The privatization of war and the use of private military firms is becoming increasingly prevalent and raises serious concerns over accountability. While this is not an isolated incident and it is likely that many unlawful actions by such contractors can go unnoticed due to the nature of their work, it provides a step towards creating a framework in which these companies could be held responsible for their actions. Due to the transnational nature of many private military firms it is increasingly difficult to hold these companies responsible for the actions of their employees. The fact that these firms work in states in which the government has collapsed or is unable to enforce the necessary laws due to the condition of the state the operations of these firms often go unnoticed even if they are largely acting outside of the law. Blackwater later changed their name to Xe Services, and after being unable to shake their bad reputation decided on a further name change now calling themselves Academi.]]> Children in a Legal Vacuum: International Child Abduction tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1503624 2012-05-10T19:00:00-04:00 2012-07-10T05:12:16-04:00 Natasha Kuilak Mellersh http://www.huffingtonpost.com/natasha-kuilak-mellersh/ With the increase in transnational marriages, international parental child abduction has become a serious problem that affects both individual states and the international community. Parents who feel unfairly treated by the family courts may "forum shop" taking the kids into a new legal jurisdiction that will be more likely to rule in their favour, thus sparking a re-run of their custody case. The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction is designed specifically to prevent this border-hopping between nations; signatory countries agree to accept decisions already made in another jurisdiction and to promptly return abducted children to their place of habitual residence. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child also obliges states to ensure that national borders are not used to prevent children from having contact with their family. Signatory states commit to ensuring the continuity of a child's life when a substantial part of it resides in another country. Yet it is one thing to accept that is in the child's best interests to maintain contact with their family and promptly return home; it is another to actually carry this out. While international legal conventions are designed to regulate cross-border disputes and harmonise legal proceedings, these are not always enforced with appropriate urgency and are frequently evaded or blatantly disregarded. Although parental abduction has been defined as amounting to child abuse, the rights of the child are sadly often ignored in international abduction cases, with nationalistic posturing taking precedence. Families living abroad are away from the steadying influences of friends and extended family, and may also slip through society's safety nets of schools, doctors, social workers and counsellors. Who is going to follow up on a family that has moved abroad? Who will bother to find out the background of a family newly arrived in a country? If you don't speak the language, how can you seek advice and counselling? National laws governing family issues must be adapted to the changing international culture and to reflect the ease of international travel and the transnational nature of many modern families. US-Italy-Russia The recent case of the Grin/McIlwrath children highlights the numerous failings of the Russian authorities to work together with their Italian counterparts to protect the children involved. Grin, a Russian-born US citizen who was living in Italy, abducted her four children from their American custodial father in Florence. She travelled to Russia with the children despite Italian court rulings which removed her custody rights and indicated that the children were at risk if they remained with her. Her children have since been placed in Chabad-Lubavitch institutes/orphanages in St Petersburg at her request "for their own safety". The plight of the children, who are fluent in both English and Italian, has not even been acknowledged by the Russian authorities. It appears that the obligation of the state to ensure their safety and well being, and contact with their family and friends in Italy in the US, has been completely overlooked since they have been moved into a new jurisdiction, despite the fact that Italy, the US and Russia are all signatories to the Hague Convention. Russian authorities have similarly done nothing to end the children's isolation from family and friends, nor ensured they are safe from the risks identified in the Italian court proceedings. Canada-Poland In a parallel case two Canadian boys, Alexander and Christopher Watkins, were abducted by their Polish mother after her custody was revoked due to child-neglect. The boys were taken via the US and into Germany where the trail went cold. The Canadian authorities voiced serious concerns about the safety of the children and the ability of the mother to care for them, an Interpol red notice was issued and the mother was put on Canada's most wanted list. When the children were finally located in Poland, the father immediately applied to have the boys returned home. At the December hearing in Poland the judge ruled that the children are now settled in Poland and should not be returned to Canada. This is despite the boys' school in Poland independently suing the mother for child neglect. The appeal will be heard on 16 May 2012. Leaving the children in the care of a demonstrably neglectful and potentially abusive parent is a clear breach of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Refusing to return the children to the custodial parent is a violation of the Hague Convention. That Poland as an EU member state is not being held accountable for the misapplication of these laws and agreements as well as blatantly ignoring Interpol red and yellow notices raises concerns for the quality of European law. Although both cases have a non European element they both involve EU borders. The issues of cross-border problems arising from divorce or family problems should be tackled more effectively within the EU. While there is often talk of the unification of laws in the EU there is a clear lack of co-operation when it comes to family law. In a region in which members of EU states can move freely between and within numerous jurisdictions the legal tools must exist to deal with the resulting problems of this freedom of movement. It's not clear why the Hague Convention is largely ignored in many states, possibly it is perceived by the national judiciary as meddling from outside, maybe it's just a sign of the general distrust of and reluctance to co-operate with another country's legal systems, or it could just be plain nationalism: siding with the parent of the same nationality. If the unification of laws in the corporate sector is moving ahead, why are the laws governing our private lives being left behind? The creation of networks such as Interpol, Europol and various UN initiatives have offered little assistance in addressing problems arising from transnational familial relationships, especially those involving children. While numerous national and international legal measures have been created to uphold the rights of the child, their application has been limited. The enforcement of existing laws and international agreements has not been enough to protect children from the dangers of international child abduction. Immediate action is essential in cases of child abduction because of the age and vulnerability of the children compounded by the volatility of a parent who is putting their own child through the trauma of abduction. Yet both Poland and Russia have failed to act on these cases, posing a serious risk to the children involved. The person posing the greatest danger to an abducted child is the abductor.]]> Who Gets My Cycling Vote? tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1470468 2012-05-02T09:17:04-04:00 2012-07-02T05:12:13-04:00 Natasha Kuilak Mellersh http://www.huffingtonpost.com/natasha-kuilak-mellersh/ The mayoral election is taking place in London this week and many of my friends have asked me who I'm voting for. I tell them I'm voting for the most bike friendly candidate and they keep asking "so that'd be Boris then right?" - No! it is not Boris!! Despite his bike friendly photo opportunities and his frequent declarations of love towards his bike, his policies paint a very different picture. His bumbling and confused manner can be very charming and I even enjoyed his stint as the presenter of Have I got News for You, but these are not good reasons to vote for him as mayor. The Londoner's on Bikes campaign has put Jenny Jones first and Ken Livingstone second with Boris lagging in third place. The campaign is basing its recommendations on transport policy rather than their wider political views and the statistics prove how bad the streets have been for cyclists under Boris and how little he has done to improve road safety. What about the Barclays Bike scheme you may say, well yes that could be seen a good idea. However, as much as the scheme has improved bike use in London and made it more accessible for tourists or commuters it has not improved the roads for cyclists. Many Londoners don't dare cycle simply because the roads are too dangerous, the scheme has done a lot to improve Boris' image but very little for those who cycle regularly. Londoners on Bikes spokesman Julian Sayarer said: "Today confirmed what those who ride bikes in London already know: highly visible and very expensive projects such as cycle hire have given Boris Johnson good publicity on cycling, but he has shown no interest in taking the steps which would be needed to save cyclists' lives." At the Times cycle hustings Boris Johnson started a rant on cyclists describing them as "lycra clad or dreadlocked" accusing them of jumping traffic lights and feeling "morally superior". This wasn't particularly helpful in addressing the issue of road safety and was met with a great deal of hostility by the audience. The Liberal Democrat candidate, Brian Paddick pointed out that cyclists unlike motorists are not the main culprits in terms of causing road deaths. Sixteen Londoners were killed while cycling last year, and 457 were seriously injured compared to no cycling fatalities in Paris in 2011. Boris' response to families of those killed on their bikes has been largely disinterested and at times even offensive. So when people ask me who I am voting for, I have to explain to them that the most bike friendly candidate is not in fact Boris. All the evidence is out there, but the perception of him remains deeply inaccurate. This shows how we are taken in by spin regardless of the evidence or what his policies may show.]]>


text:
Fifth Avenue Famous: The Extraordinary Story of Music at St. Patrick's Cathedral
Smith, Rollin, The Tracker
BOOKS Fifth Avenue Famous: lht ? Extraordinary Story of Musk at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Salvatore Basile. NeW York: Fordham University Press, 2010. xvi, J 354 pp., ill. ISBN 978-0-8232-2187-4, $29.95.
ARGUABLY THL MOST FAMOUS CHURCH in America, and certainly one of New York City's great tourist attractions, is Saint Patrick's Cathedral at Fifth , Avenue and 50th Street. It has never been known for its music, being overshadowed by the many noteworthy music programs of Protestant churches in Manhattan., FoT most of St. Patrick's history, organ recitals and concerts were forbidden, the prohibition only being overridden on rare occasions, such as organ dedications, held in conjunction with the para-liturgical service of Benediction. Thus, the only time the music program could be assessed by the profession was at the same time everyone else was working in church. This situation, coupled with the unfamiliar, and generally mediocre Latin masses sung for decades by little more than competent singers, makes one wonder about the "Extraordinary Story of Music" title of this book.
The history of St. Patrick's Cathedral is traced in the first 75 or so pages. We travel from the original cathedral on Mulberry Street with its 1868 Erben organ (still extant and awarded the OHS Historical Citation No. 326 in 2004) to the building and dedication of the new cathedral on Fifth Avenue in 1879. Musical performance in Catholic churches of the era was generally operatic in nature. The momentous event that separated Catholic church music from that of Protestant churches was the Moto Proprio, issued by Pope Pius X in November 1903. In it, he made recommendations (read: directions) for the performance of church music, including the preference of Gregorian chant and classic polyphony over all other forms, the approval of the organ as the instrument of choice (pianos and percussion instruments were forbidifden), and, "since singers in church have a real liturgical office," women were banned from singing m choirs. (Archbishop Farley extended the proscription to Jews, infidels, and professed nonbelievers, p. 56.) The directive forbidding women was the most difficult to implement and, though the author writes that "no published account exists of a New York church's dismissing its female singers" (p. 58), the Last Page in the April 2004 issue of The American Organist quoted a 1904 article in the New York Times describing just that effect-at St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Unlike in many of the great cathedrals of the world, whose choirs sing in the front near the altar (England, France, Spain, and Italy, in particular), choirs in American Catholic churches traditionally sang in rear galleries. Such a location is usually considered ideal, but in St. Patrick's there was an acoustic phenomenon whereby the sound of the singers was deadened by the lathand-plaster ceiling vaults. Volume was paramount and singers were chosen as much for the strength of the voice as the quality; apparently, the problem was not solved until Pietro Yon formed a Male Soloist Ensemble made up of 22 very loud professional tenors and basses, aged remnants of which will be remembered by visitors to the cathedral in the early 1960s.
One of the great mysteries of the organ world is why the foremost Catholic church in America, not to mention Carnegie Hall, would buy a KiIgen organ, when there were first-tier builders to choose from. Do the cathedral's archives have proposals from other firms? Certainly Kilgen was not "a particular favorite of Pietro Yon" (p. 87); the New York region Kilgen representative, Ludwig Zentmaier, told me that he took Yon out to Brooklyn to hear the new 1925 Kilgen at St. Catharine of Alexandria- the first modern Kilgen in the area- and Yon was so impressed with the 36-rank instrument that he decided on one for both Carnegie Hall and St. …

subset: commoncrawl


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Posted :
Tuesday, July 24, 2012 11:07:59 AM(UTC)
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I'm not a fan of copying full articles, but this one was written well and merits as such.
Mike Florio
The last time a team went 15-1 and failed to win the Super Bowl, that team won the Super Bowl the next year.
Of course, by the time the 2005 Steelers navigated the AFC playoff field from a sixth-seed starting position, their one-loss regular season from the prior year had become a faded memory.
For the Packers, a season of unfulfilled postseason expectations came one year after the Packers pulled off a Super Bowl win starting from the last position in the NFC pecking order. And the sooner they can forget that one-loss regular season, the better off they'll be.
Considering what the team has and what the nucleus of the roster has accomplished, the Packers start the 2012 regular season in first place — despite exiting in the quarterfinal round last season.
If the Packers don't finish with at least a berth in the Super Bowl, it won't be because they lack the talent.
The Packers have the strongest strength of any team that has a strength of any kind. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the league's reigning MVP, had a season for the ages (then again, so did Drew Brees). Rodgers' full-season passer rating of 122.5 was the highest in league history, with 45 touchdowns passes against only six interceptions. Four seasons after spending three on the bench, Rodgers has become the best all-around quarterback in football.
He can run when he needs to, throw pretty much whenever he wants to. With a Super Bowl ring, a Super Bowl MVP trophy, and a league MVP award, Rodgers already has a greater variety of hardware than his predecessor, Brett Favre, who never was a Super Bowl MVP.
The only thing that could slow Rodgers down is injury. Concussion issues plagued him for part of the 2010 season. Though he emerged from 2011 unscathed, Rodgers is one solid hit to the noggin away from not being available, possibly for several weeks.
Making Rodgers' job easier is the fact that he has one of the best top-to-bottom corps of receivers in the league. From Greg Jennings to Jordy Nelson to Donald Driver to James Jones, Rodgers has plenty of options. Throw in tight end Jermichael Finley and up-and-coming wideout Randall Cobb, and the Packers have the ingredients to move the chains and score the points each and every week, against whatever the defense puts in their path.
Questions at left tackle overshadow the fact that, from 2008 through 2010, the Packers loaded up the offensive line, with players like right tackle Bryan Bulaga (first round in 2010), left tackle Marshall Newhouse (fifth round in 2010), guard T.J. Lang (fourth round in 2009), and guard Josh Sitton (fourth round in 2008). Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel believes that, if Newhouse can become a reliable option on the left side, the Packers could have their best offensive line since 2003. Of course, the Packers also will need center Jeff Saturday to play in Green Bay like he did in Indianapolis, where he went from undrafted free agent to anchor of Peyton Manning's wall of blockers.
Statistically, the Green Bay defense finished dead last in the league last season, a fact that makes it a little harder to install the Packers as the top team in the league entering 2012.
But the Packers were still 15-1 and the defense doesn't need to get much better to push the Packers over the top. Torched by big plays and limited to only 29 sacks for the season, the Packers need to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
They also need to work on their tackling.
The fact that the Packers devoted their first six draft picks to defensive players proves that the front office realizes the importance of fixing that side of the ball, with first-round linebacker Nick Perry and second-round defensive lineman Jerel Worthy leading the way.
"Obviously, when you have a No. 1 offense and your defense finishes last, there needs to be some improvement, and that's what we're trying to address," linebacker Clay Matthews recently told the Associated Press.
On offense, running back James Starks needs to play like he did during the 2010 postseason. Or they need to find someone who can. The fact that Ryan Grant is long gone shows that the Packers view the position as a revolving door of interchangeable parts. The Packers justify their lone weakness on offense by explaining that they want their running backs to support the passing game, in part by helping protect quarterback Aaron Rodgers. (Hell, even the running backs coach, Alex Van Pelt, is a former quarterback and former quarterbacks coach.) But if they could find someone who can become a real weapon, one of the top offenses in the league would become the very best.
The Packers will need their running backs to step up even more if starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffers an injury. With backup Matt Flynn gone to Seattle, former back-foot chuck-and-duck Air Raid specialist Graham Harrell will be counted on to finally become an NFL quarterback. And that could get even uglier than his back-foot chuck-and-duck Air Raid throwing motion.
For an elite team, the Packers are dealing with plenty of transition. Offensive coordinator Joe Philbin parlayed the Packers' excellence on offense into a head-coaching job, even though coach Mike McCarthy's influence and role likely diluted Philbin's responsibility for the team's success. Former quarterbacks coach Tom Clements slides into the job, and the thinking is the Packers won't miss a beat.
Veteran center Scott Wells jumped to the Rams in free agency; if Jeff Saturday still has gas in the tank, the Packers won't miss Wells.
The Packers decided to move on from long-time left tackle Chad Clifton. If Marshall Newhouse can't get it done, the Packers may wish they had done more to address the fairly important position during free agency or before round seven of the draft.
Running back Ryan Grant once appeared to be on track to have a long career with thousands of yards rushing. Injuries and ineffectiveness have prompted the Packers to move on; Grant is still looking for a new job.
An influx of defensive rookies could shake up the depth chart, and free agents Philip Merling and Anthony Hargrove (after his eight-game suspension) could provide some needed depth on the defensive line. Cornerback Charles Woodson will spend plenty of time at safety, something he did last year after Nick Collins suffered what turned out to be a career-ending neck injury.
Linebacker A.J. Hawk had a down year. Kind of. Maybe. And that could possibly open the door for others (like D.J. Smith) to cut into Hawk's reps.
Though Marshall Newhouse enters camp as the starting left tackle, 2011 first-rounder Derek Sherrod could go from Plan B to Plan A, if Sherrod gets healthy and Newhouse gets beaten repeatedly.
The running back position will be a revolving door, but the depth chart needs to be determined. James Starks is the likely starter; behind him, Du'ane Bennett, Alex Green, Brandon Saine, and Marc Tyler are jockey for positioning.
At receiver, Randall Cobb possibly could pick off James Jones for the fourth spot on the depth chart. The team's decision to keep using Cobb as the primary kickoff returner, however, suggests that Jones will stay in the last non-special-teams roster spot at receiver, and that Cobb will be No. 5.
If Aaron Rodgers suffers a serious injury, the Packers will be battling the Vikings for the basement of the NFC North. If Rodgers stays healthy and the defense improves only slightly, the Packers should once again run away with the division — and they'll have as good a chance as anyone to run the table to their fifth Super Bowl title and second in three years.
The Packers' path would be more clear if the team could address some of its more glaring weaknesses. The goal should be to improve in the trouble spots over the course of the season, and to be ready to go when the playoffs start.
In that regard, the Packers actually could benefit in a roundabout way from a two-to-three week injury absence by Rodgers, since it would force the rest of the team to get the job done without relying on him.
For now, the biggest problem with the Packers seems to be that they have too many eggs in the passing game. The fact that it powered them to a 15-1 record last year shows that it won't take much diversification to finish the job in 2012, and perhaps beyond.
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Tuesday, July 24, 2012 11:53:16 AM(UTC)
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It would suck of Arodge went down, but if anything, it would make it more interesting.
I have no doubts that Harrell can get it done, if unspectacularly.
"Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all the time thing. You don't do things right once in a while…you do them right all the time."
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Tuesday, July 24, 2012 12:19:06 PM(UTC)
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Your right as rain.
It is well written, and deserving of posting the whole article...
However... It is also worth going to the article... I cherish reading the comments section, it can be more fun than reading the actual article... : )
By the way.. Even if (God Forbid.) Aaron loses this season due to a concussion, there is no way the Packers are fighting the Vikes for last spot in the NFC north.
""People Will Probably Never Remember What You Said, And May Never Remember What You Did. However, People Will Always Remember How You Made Them Feel."
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Tuesday, July 24, 2012 1:03:13 PM(UTC)
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I really think he's obsessing about ARod getting injured too much, and unless ARod gets lost for the year by week 4, they're not going to be battling for second to last place.
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Tuesday, July 24, 2012 1:45:44 PM(UTC)
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RaiderPride said:
Your right as rain.
It is well written, and deserving of posting the whole article...
However... It is also worth going to the article... I cherish reading the comments section, it can be more fun than reading the actual article... : )
By the way.. Even if (God Forbid.) Aaron loses this season due to a concussion, there is no way the Packers are fighting the Vikes for last spot in the NFC north.
Depends on how late in the season
would get injured (knocking on wood as I'm typing this).
Early in the season, no way the Packers keep up with the Lions and da Bears. Our entire team is built around
and Harrell is no Matt Flynn. I expect our D to improve from last year, but not to be elite like it was in 2010 (when it was barely #2 behind the Steelers). The Lions and da Bears will both have winning records in 2012 (unless of course barring injury to their respective QBs).
As for RB, not too worried. There's a reason why the Packers see that position as a revolving door. It's because it doesn't really matter that much who is back there. The guy just needs to be decent. Bonus if he can pass block (which Grant couldn't do, thus he's gone. Contrary to popular opinion, it's not because of his injury history).
Interesting they have Driver ahead of Jones. Another thing they got wrong. Jones will be behind Driver in position only. In reality, Jones is ahead of Driver.
My two biggest worries for 2012:
1) D needs to get sacks. We had the #19 D with only 29 sacks in 2011. When we won the SB in 2010, we had the #2 D with 47 sacks. Yes, it IS that simple. Put the opposing QB on his back and the opposing O stops dead.
2) LT needs to step up. Hope Sherrod can win that position and prove his high draft pick worth.
My man Donald Driver
(thanks to Pack93z for the pic)
2010 will be seen as the beginning of the new Packers dynasty.
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Tuesday, July 24, 2012 2:35:15 PM(UTC)
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zombieslayer said:
1) D needs to get sacks. We had the #19 D with only 29 sacks in 2011. When we won the SB in 2010, we had the #2 D with 47 sacks. Yes, it IS that simple. Put the opposing QB on his back and the opposing O stops dead.
Bingo! In 2010, we got pressure on the QB. This means the O had to put more focus on the pass rush. This also meant less pressure on the Secondary, where any faults were covered by the rush. It works hand in hand, and Ted Thompson did the right thing in the way he drafted this year.
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Tuesday, July 24, 2012 3:47:07 PM(UTC)
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The defense will be fine. Remember, we had something like 31 INTs last year. I think we'll get more pressure this year.
As for losing Arodge, if we lost him for the season, it would hurt more if it happened early. But if he went down early, it would give him more chance to recover and be back in time for the playoffs.
Still, I like our protection.
I also think Harrell's gonna be just fine. If Arodge did get IR'd (knock on wood that he won't) early, that would give Harrell more time to get his rhythmn down with the guys. Dude's got plenty of talent around him. The only question in his arm strength. Can he make all the throws? McCarthy seems to think so.
Unlike just about every year of Ted's reign, I can't think of a single position at which we are completely bare.
"Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all the time thing. You don't do things right once in a while…you do them right all the time."
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Wednesday, July 25, 2012 10:39:58 AM(UTC)
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the_green_ninja said:
Bingo! In 2010, we got pressure on the QB. This means the O had to put more focus on the pass rush. This also meant less pressure on the Secondary, where any faults were covered by the rush. It works hand in hand, and Ted Thompson did the right thing in the way he drafted this year.
Yup. And kudos to
as he did the right thing in the draft. Funny thing is I predicted the positions of the first 4 picks (well, I had 3 and 4 switched).
The loss of Collins sucks, but elite QBs like Tom Brady won't be able to exploit that when he's on his back.
My man Donald Driver
(thanks to Pack93z for the pic)
2010 will be seen as the beginning of the new Packers dynasty.
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Friday, October 12, 2012 10:39:49 AM(UTC)
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Steelers went 15 - 1 and then were the 6th seed in the AFC the next year onward to winning the Super Bowl. Packers might be lucky to get the 6th seed this year.
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Rebuilding Your Business with the 504 Loan Program -- It is Possible!
Sometimes when you buy a business, you know it's going to be a "fixer-upper." That was definitely the case when Travis Schneider bought the RV park on Sixth Street in Eureka, and the 504 loan program helped him refinance to make it a sustainable change. Now called Schneider Shoreline RV Park (or simply Shoreline RV Park), the facility is ready to comfortably accommodate visitors to the North Coast.
With a $1 million construction loan, he began to create the site that tourists would be happy to retreat back to after a day of romping through the redwoods, hitting the beach and strolling through Old Town Eureka. Through Arcata Economic Development Corporation, Schneider said he was able to refinance.
AEDC worked with Schneider and his bank through the loan application process, and he said he enjoyed having their competent staff getting him through the process.
AEDC has worked with several businesses in the community, and it is not just restricted to those in the Arcata area. For more than 30 years, the AEDC has loaned over $47 million to local businesses and have helped entrepreneurs grow with the community.
SBA 504 Loan Applications and information are available online, and in the AEDC Small Business Lending Center.
"The rate for commercial property is phenomenal," Schneider said. "It was a no-brainer in terms of affordability."
The SBA 504 loan program is able to provide a 10-20 year term loan for a fixed rate that is currently lower-than-market. These loans are intended to help businesses purchase, improve or construct commercial or industrial real estate, such as Schneider did with the Shoreline RV Park.
AEDC works with each client's bank to ensure loan applications are submitted, and the bank-funded portion of the loan typically has competitive rates and terms due to minimal bank exposure on such projects.
But when he bought the site in 2007, "it wasn't in operable condition by any means," Schneider said. The location right off of U.S. Highway 101 was ideal, but there was a great deal of work to be done. The entire property has since been renovated, including improved water and sewer lines, new landscaping, regrading and new fencing. The buildings with showers and other amenities were also redone to better serve guests, and new cable and internet services and equipment were added.


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May 16, 2008
Indianapolis, Ind. - Starting pitcher Jeff Sinkiewicz and reliever Jared Wagoner combined to hold visiting Cleveland State to just three runs on six hits, but the Vikings received a strong complete-game effort from southpaw Josh Hungerman as CSU held off the Bulldogs, 3-1, at Bulldog Park on Friday (May 16) afternoon.
Butler gave Sinkiewicz an early 1-0 lead in the first. Nate Hart led off the game with a walk before taking second on a sac bunt by Colin Ziegel. Kyle Schultz then delivered a clutch two-out single through the left side to bring Hart around to score.
Cleveland State would get some two-out runs of their own to take the lead in the second, as Josh Geric and Tom Carter roped back-to-back RBI singles to give the Vikings a one run lead.
Geric would return to the plate with a runner on second and two down in the fourth and deliver another RBI hit to extend the Viking advantage to 3-1.
The offense would be all CSU would need, as Hungerman held the Butler bats to just four hits while striking out eight.
Sinkiewicz worked a solid seven innings, striking out one and walking one with only one of his six hits allowed going for extra bases. He finished his outing strong, setting down the final 10 batters he faced in the game.
Wagoner, meanwhile, was perfect in the eighth and ninth frames, needing just 23 pitches to record the last six outs.
Butler returns to action on Saturday (May 17) when it closes out the regular season with a double-header against Cleveland State beginning at 12:00 noon at Bulldog Park. The Bulldogs' seven seniors will be recognized in a ceremony between the two contests.


text:
Poverty headcount ratio at $1.25 a day (PPP) (% of population)
Definition: Population below $1.25 a day is the percentage of the population living on less than $1.25 a day at 2005 international prices. As a result of revisions in PPP exchange rates, poverty rates for individual countries cannot be compared with poverty rates reported in earlier editions.
Description: The map below shows how Poverty headcount ratio at $1.25 a day (PPP) (% of population) varies by country. The shade of the country corresponds to the magnitude of the indicator. The darker the shade, the higher the value. The country with the highest value in the world is Dem. Rep. Congo, with a value of 87.72. The country with the lowest value in the world is Ukraine, with a value of 0.00.
Source: World Bank, Development Research Group. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. Data for high-income economies are from the Luxembourg Income Study database. For more information and methodology, please see PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/index.htm).
See also: Country ranking, Time series comparison
More maps: Africa | Asia | Central America & the Caribbean | Europe | Middle East | North America | Oceania | South America | World |


text:
from Ashraf's article:
"Intel's dual core Silvermont-based chips apparently lay waste to the competition's quad core processors in smartphone power envelopes (1W). At the same performance, Intel uses on average 2.4x less power, and at the same power, two Silvermont cores are 1.6x the speed of the competition. This is not something that can be understated. This is much more dramatic of an advantage -- if true -- than Intel had on Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) when it finally put an end to AMD's leadership in the PC market.
In tablets, the picture looks even better for Intel and worse for the ARM guys, with Intel's quad core beauties either giving twice the performance at the same power level or 4.3x less power at the same performance"
going over $40 by end of year
Use silvermont, or be at a huge disadvantage


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Nineteen business groups from across the state issued this statement, urging the federal government to reform immigration processes:
The failure of the federal government to fix our broken immigration system has led to recent actions on immigration by Arizona's policy makers. What we have now is a divisive, emotionally charged environment that is tearing at the fabric of Arizona's sense of community and threatening the essence of our historically diverse culture. Regardless of how individuals feel about Arizona's immigration laws, the negative, unintended consequences such as damaging our relationship with our largest trading partner, creating tension in our communities and generating calls for inappropriate boycotts, are significant.
The people of Arizona, like the people in all states, have every reason to be frustrated that our elected officials in Washington haven't fixed our broken immigration system. It is a federal responsibility. Arizona cannot truly solve the set of complex issues that make up the immigration debate. The federal government must deal with border security, immigrants who are in the United States illegally and the economic realities that drive immigration.
The REAL solution is federal immigration reform.
The business community of Arizona believes that the time is NOW for a REAL solution and supports four specific reform components:
��First and foremost, strengthen border security.
��Create a secure system for all employers nationwide to verify the legal work eligibility for employees.
��Require immigrants already in the U.S. illegally with no criminal record to register for a federally established form of legal status, to learn English, and to pay appropriate penalties and taxes.
��Grow the economy by establishing a market-based immigration process that supports a range of workforce needs from seasonal to highly skilled workers and entrepreneurs.
We are a nation of immigrants that needs a working immigration system. We are a state of immigrants that deserves to enjoy the rich diversity that is our heritage. These are not new ideas, but we need to act now. Please join us in asking the president and Congress to act quickly to create a viable national immigration system.
Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Arizona General Contractors.
Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Arizona Latino Research Enterprise.
Arizona Minority Contractors Association.
East Valley Partnership.
Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce.
Flagstaff Forty.
Glendale Chamber of Commerce.
Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.
Greater Phoenix Economic Council.
Greater Phoenix Leadership.
Mesa Chamber of Commerce.
Prescott Chamber of Commerce.
Southern Arizona Leadership Council.
Tempe Chamber of Commerce.
Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Yuma Chamber of Commerce.
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Alex Radermacher
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2010 – today
- 2014
- [c7]Alex Radermacher, Gursimran S. Walia, Dean Knudson:
Investigating the skill gap between graduating students and industry expectations. ICSE Companion 2014: 291-300
- 2013
- [c6]Alex Radermacher, Gursimran S. Walia:
Gaps between industry expectations and the abilities of graduates. SIGCSE 2013: 525-530
- 2012
- [c5]Alex Radermacher, Gursimran S. Walia, Richard Rummelt:
Improving student learning outcomes with pair programming. ICER 2012: 87-92
- [c4]Alex Radermacher, Gursimran S. Walia, Richard Rummelt:
Assigning student programming pairs based on their mental model consistency: an initial investigation. SIGCSE 2012: 325-330
- 2011
- [c3]Alex Radermacher, Gursimran S. Walia:
Investigating student-instructor interactions when using pair programming: An empirical study. CSEE&T 2011: 41-50
- [c2]Dean Knudson, Alex Radermacher:
Updating CS capstone projects to incorporate new agile methodologies used in industry. CSEE&T 2011: 444-448
- [c1]Alex Radermacher, Gursimran S. Walia:
Investigating the effective implementation of pair programming: an empirical investigation. SIGCSE 2011: 655-660
Coauthor Index
data released under the ODC-BY 1.0 license; see also our legal information page
last updated on 2015-11-20 03:28 CET by the dblp team


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3 New Mashed Potato Recipes Get Pimped for Thanksgiving
By Abra Pappa for Nutritious America
There is one serious food rule in my family: if my Grandpa asks you to pass the mashed potatoes do not serve yourself on the way over to him. He called that a "mashed potato short stop" and proclaimed if you "short stopped" in the Army the penalty was a scoop of mashed potatoes in your face.
My family takes mashed potatoes very seriously, and even though my Grandpa passed years ago we still uphold his "no mashed potato short stop" rule and have a deep respect for the honorable dish at our Thanksgiving table.
I made a dedication to embark on this makeover with an equally serious devotion. You can remake a mash, but you better be sure it is delicious and worthy of its own set of beloved table rules.
As far as I'm concerned if you start a vegetable mash with extremely fresh ingredients you will end up with something delicious. It seemed only logical then to begin this makeover with a trip to my local farmers market.
Off I went without specific recipes in mind. I allowed the seasonal bounty to inspire. I came home with veggie loot to brag about and knew I was well on my way to a delicious party of mashes.
What resulted were three thanksgiving table-worthy mashes: a twist on the traditional, a Paleo mash, and a whizz-bang-boom masterpiece!
Read Full Post >


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I installed Zimbra 5.0 B3 on Mandriva 2007. This involved a bit of tinkering with get_plat_tag.sh to get Zimbra to install.
The reason I want to use at least Mandriva 2007, is because 2006 is not supported anymore by Mandriva (not even security updates!). May I ask why Zimbra being shipped for a number of EOL distributions? I mean Mandriva 2006, Fedora 4 and 5 are all EOL, so why support them?
So far I have 2 issues:
- postfix with tls authentication doesn't work.
- the server monitoring doesn't work
I think the postfix issue is caused by an incompatible openssl version on mandriva 2007 (0.9.8e). When I use openssl s_client to check the tls connection, I receive the certificates oke, but after the 220 response from postfix the connection is dropped. no error is reported.
The logger service says it starts, but obviously something is wrong.


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May 30, 2016
An exhibition of the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls opening Thursday in Mobile will include lectures from some of the world's leading religious scholars, bringing Bible history to the Bible Belt.
Officials at the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center expect at least 160,000 people to view the scrolls during a 95-day showing.
Exploreum spokeswoman Shannon Lipscomb said viewing hours will be expanded to accommodate any overflow crowds.
The scrolls were excavated from caves at Qumran, near the Dead Sea in the Judean Desert. They are the oldest texts of the Hebrew Bible in the original language.
They were discovered in the late 1940s and early 1950s, stored in pottery jars.
Lipscomb said at least 1,000 tickets have been sold for the lecture series, which has been relocated to nearby Christ Episcopal Church, because only 177 seats were available in the Exploreum's theater.
Click Here to access the online Public Inspection File
Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Friday, August 17, 2007
1 Comments | Copyright: Sampurn
Vedika is considered one of the boldest actresses in the Tamil film industry. She's not fussy at all about roles and doesn't hesitate to bare either. But recently, Vedika refused to do intimate scenes in a film saying that she was uncomfortable doing them. The producer was in a big dilemma and didn't know who to approach. That's when Kamna Jethmalani came to the rescue. She was more than happy to step into Vedika's shoes since she was very adjustable to the 'requirements' of the role.
But the producer didn't want to take any more chances. He instructed his director to re-shoot the intimate scenes to avoid censorship hurdles. Little did he know that Kamna is the grand-daughter of well-known criminal lawyer Ram Jethmalani. And if the film gets stuck at the censor board, the noted politician might be more than happy to fight it out in court.
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Check out who won the ' best act ever' as voted by the public.
Check out who won the ' best act ever' as voted by the public.
Survived JTT 08!!
Wow they all sucks what a suprise
Achiever 40.00%, Explorer 33.33%, Killer 93.33%, Socializer 33.33%
I think we should consider this a Rick'roll
There's still people who haven't heard of this yet?
Also, cancer.
They're called cave people
This was even on the news in the UK last night...
Not that I give a shit what MTV's viewers think are the best acts. I can make up my own mind.
Only problem is, Rick decided not to show up because MTV told him his award would be given like this:
The day before he would be given the award at a press conference. On the night he would be back stage with the award, and then the other artists would come back to him and sign his award, and it would then be auctioned for charity.
No surprise he didn't turn up!
Anyway, I think we should all do our part and vote him for sexiest male of 2008 in the Kerrang '08 awards.
seriously .. album of the year, britney spears .. of all the music created in 2008.. britney spears did the best ? MTV is retarded
On a serious note, when is the last time MTV actually had anything to do with....music?
Forumfall: Flames we can believe in...
It's a good thing I'm not watching TV anymore. Damn!
[TFK]Zugrush Dorfbane


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13 Unexpected Sources of Energy that Could Save the World
If humans are going to keep living in the style to which we're accustomed, we need to find alternatives for fossil fuels. Partly that's because we need to reduce pollution — and partly because those fossil fuels are going to run out. But alternative forms of energy may look a lot weirder than you think.


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Table of Contents1
Here is a sneak peek of the table of contents for our Fix-It and Forget-It New Cookbook hitting bookstores on October 1.
This is not your stereotypical slow cooker cookbook. It includes everything from breakfast casseroles to breads to desserts. But we haven't forgotten the classic recipes either. We have included ribs, roasts and other fantastic slow cooker favorites.


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Yoshinori Ono: We have developed everything including the graphics engine from scratch for SFIV. The reason being the fact it is important to be able to carry out trial & error and calibrate elements such as the graphics or the game system rapidly and internally by ourselves. We have spent a great deal of time on shaders and animation development. We did not want to be inhibited by the restrictions that might arise by using existing middleware or engines and although there usually is a solution to such problems, we wanted to spend our time in creative activity, rather than trying to get the best out of something we weren't involved in creating.
Yoshinori Ono: SFIV development started with the arcade version which was Windows PC based. We developed it on DX9 and designed the development environment such as the game editor and authoring tools to run on dev Windows PC. We also developed console version system simultaneously so the game code would run on other hardware such as the Xbox360. We started developing PS3 system when we shifted the focus onto consoles and we managed to produce the same quality as it was on Xbox360 in about 3 months. Technologically speaking it is very difficult to achieve pure cross-platform due to the hardware differences but I do believe it is possible to make it appear so because they are so similar. As for SFIV I am very proud that it has managed to reach this level of homogeny between different hardware.
Yoshinori Ono: The PC version is based on the console version so all the features are intact. The difficult part of developing a PC game is the fact the hardware within the platform varies - thus we need to take in consideration of all possibilities on specs and some specific functions some PCs may have. As a result, we have implemented a system to reduce the load on GPU so more PCs are able to run the game smoothly and added functions that control graphics features such as MSAA and post filters.
Yoshinori Ono: Shader Method We fundamentally pursued for the 'painted' look shader as we were aiming for a non-anime style yet non-realistic art style. We also had to make sure the game runs at 60fps on the arcade system too. This was achieved by a process of trial & error and thus the rendering path had become very complicated, almost unconventional. Allow me to explain how it differs to normal rendering paths commonly known for other titles. Cell Shading We didn't use cell-shade, that commonly uses 1D gradation texture, but we achieved the gradation levels that you would see with cell shade through real time calculations. This was because we feared, by increasing the number of textures cache errors would build up eventually affecting the performance. We also wanted to reduce the process time of designers having to create textures and adjusting them. In our system character shades can be changed dynamically, even while playing the game. I'm not sure if you have noticed but we have also enabled cell-shade like gradation on characters' rim light. The inky look of focus attacks are realized through rim light transition. These shades are affected by the normal map. The characters' normal map is created by ZBrush but we have added ink brush style noise. We call this shader that achieves cell-shading look without using gradation texture, 'brush shader'.
Street Fighter IV PC: Brush Shader [Source: view picture gallery]
Edge Detection We have extracted the outlines through post effect by adding RGB and frame buffer output alpha element of the character textures. We used alpha to soften the outline for translucent objects such as hair. This extraction of outlines smoothen the edges thus it works like anti-aliasing preventing the graphics to look stiff and unrendered. Also, because it is only the character outline that is emphasized it is easy to distinguish amongst the background graphics. The new filters implemented in the PC version in forms of alterations in parameters of 'Brush Shader' and 'Edge Detection'. Multiplex Hemisphere Lighting For environmental lighting we expanded the hemisphere lighting and enabled lower, middle and upper parameters. We have 3 parameters instead of 2 because we thought it would not be enough to accommodate for the paint style shading. We also considered other means of environmental lighting but current style was decided due to a good balance of performance and visually striking features.
Street Fighter IV PC [Source: view picture gallery]
Simple Skin Shader We didn't use anything like sub-surface scattering that would multi layer the character skin texture. However we wanted that reddish shade for character skins like you would in paintings so we have used a simple skin shader. Twinkling Eyes The eye highlight always faces the camera - otherwise the eyes will appear dead. We can tailor the size and position of the highlights for each character. Static Ambient Occulsion We use static ambient occlusion to the characters. The hidden data is not in the texture pixels but at the zenith of the geometry.
Yoshinori Ono: State-of-the-art Most of the technologies we utilize are of DX9. Sure they are not the cutting edge latest but have good value for money and are still incredibly good. Soft Shadow We use percentage closer filtering for the character soft shadows. The default sampling is 4. In the PC version the sampling number can be increased. The stage soft shadows are done all together at once according to model quality and type by separating the colours in to RGBA. HDR We don't use floating point buffer but implemented the A8R8G8B8 format multi render target to save the bright colours to the 2nd buffer. We use this to display glares in bright stages as well as Rose's glowing scarf. This way we can also glow places that usually doesn't due to low brightness such as Akuma's eyes.
Click to select intermediate step
  Colour Buffer
  Alpha Buffer
  Emission Colour
Depth of field This is used in the character appearance scenes as well as the result screen. We use the depth of the blurred graphics as a reference point and linearly extrapolate to synthesise the new image.
Street Fighter IV PC: Motion Blur [Source: view picture gallery]
Street Fighter IV PC: Stretch Motion Blur (2) [Source: view picture gallery]
Motion Blur We have 2 types of motion blurs, one for normal fight scenes and another for the zoomed in camera view. Both types record the 2D vector on screen to the buffer and then carry out the sampling process, but with different methods and for different purposes. In normal fight scene we adjust the animation speed so the rear geometry is stretched, so that the character movements are not too fast and clear to the eyes. You can see this, for example, in training mode with Cammy's back step. When the camera is zoomed in for theatrical purpose we do not stretch the geometry and fast moving parts are blurred proportionally to the speed of the movement. This is to reduce the amount of data of the fast moving part and thus making it look smoother. Both cases have been carefully adjusted not to go over the top. Colour Control Contrast of each colour of RGB can be adjusted. Soft Particle Mass particles such as the smoke are drawn on 25% size reduced frame buffer, blurred and then merged back to the original scene. At this point the particles are thickened or thinned depending on the depth of the field. The process load is quite light so we could even imply the shadows on it.
Street Fighter IV PC: Soft Smoke Particle [Source: view picture gallery]
Alpha to Coverage It may be a little difficult to spot but if your video card is compatible, alpha to coverage is applied. Objects that use Alpha test will look different when MSAA is in use. This is mainly applied to objects such as fences and leaves.
Yoshinori Ono: The PC version of SFIV is SLI/CrossFire compatible thus enabling these functions will improve performance. But obviously, dual graphics cards are not essential to run the game smoothly and it is more for the benchmarking purpose.
Yoshinori Ono: We do make use of multi-threading but haven't specifically calibrated for particular number of multi cores. This is because SFIV has been designed to run smoothly even on single core but if dual core or Hyper-Threading is enabled this certainly won't be an inhibiting factor on the performance.
Yoshinori Ono: I don't think we've done anything spectacularly different to other leading titles here but fundamental tasks such as rendering, audio and file I/O can be processed on separate threads. Also, the objects placed on the stages utilises 'job system' and can be updated over several threads in a scalable manner. We have also tuned SFIV so that CPU resources do not change depending on the combinations of characters/stages as well as the game experience being constant, unaffected by CPU and GPU specs. Because of this, increasing the number of cores to run SFIV will certainly increase the performance but won't bring a great deal of other benefits.
Yoshinori Ono: As this will essentially be a port of the console version to the PC format, there is no plan to have a new physics simulation in it. Since the SFIV game system is completely controlled by the game designer, the results of physics simulation will have no effect to the game whatsoever. It is also unfavourable for the visuals to change depending on the different results of the physics simulation thus we have avoided optimising for a specific calculation.
Yoshinori Ono: The character outfit are physics simulated and they were developed in-house. We did consider Havok or PhysX but since SFIV does not have many objects and the stages don't go through drastic changes, we concluded that we didn't really need them. All physics calculations are processed on the CPU because this is never going to upset the CPU in SFIV's case. As for whether GPU PhysX is the future or not, I'm not entirely sure to be honest. But I do think once triggered it will be explosively popular and will be utilised everywhere.
Yoshinori Ono: For example when tested on a PC with GTX280 with 1680x1050 (MSAA 4x), it was over 100fps. The arcade and the console versions were 1280 x 720 so at this resolution it is possible for a mid range PC of the older generation to maintain 60fps. The PC version has many other video options available other than the resolution so it is easy to adjust accordingly to each system to balance fps and quality. Depending on how it's adjusted even laptops and 'mobile' GPUs could run the game smoothly.
Yoshinori Ono: Unfortunately SFIV PC is not DX10 compatible. Our primary aim was to realise the same, high graphic quality for both Xbox360 and PS3 so we did not want to do anything these consoles found difficulty dealing with. For this reason, even if we did implement DX10 it wouldn't have had major impact visually. Instead, we implemented more visually striking features such as the 'Extra touch' and various graphics settings possible.


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10.33 AM Sunday 29 May 2016
Your Local Area
The incident happened in the Morrisons car
park on Chiltern Drive at approximately 7.25pm on Friday 4 January
A 59-year-old woman from Wimborne was getting
into her car when she was threatened by a man with a handgun
demanding money.
The victim did not comply with the demand and
screamed, causing the offender to leave the scene.
The offender is described as white, aged
between 30 and 40, of medium build and about 12 to 13 stones of
weight. He spoke with a northern accent and was clean shaven. He
was wearing a black woollen hat low over his eyebrows with the rim
turned up, a dark jumper with a black gillet over the top, which
was done up and black woollen gloves.
Detective Inspector Jock Mullen, of
Bournemouth CID, said: "This was
a very distressing incident for the victim but she bravely raised
the alarm and was uninjured.
"I urge anyone who witnessed this attack, and
anyone who saw someone matching this description near to the
Morrisons store or running away from it, to call police as soon as
"I am also appealing for anyone in the area
who has private CCTV from the time of the
incident or before or after to contact Dorset Police urgently."
Witnesses and anyone with information
should call Dorset Police in confidence on 101 quoting incident
number 04:404. Alternatively, call the free and anonymous
Crimestoppers line on 0800 555 111 where mobile phone tariffs may


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its social and academic suicide. With the groups for your subject, a lot of useful questions are posted by your peers, and answered well by other peers. Facebook chat is kind of good in terms of talking with people especially in the first few weeks, if not in the long run. The truth is you will not be able to talk to everyone in person consistently, its not that i don't have the skills to talk to people in person-i can talk to people extremely different from me , and i have been commended on this-but yeah see it as you wish. Jokes are made on facebook about tagged pics etc, that give you common ground to talk about in real life.
i know it may sound abit sad, but a lot of juicy stuff goes on within the realms of facebook too. If you have an admirer, you never know, they might randomly add you and start talking from there, because they're not bold enough/too shy t approach you in person.
Theres too many reasons to have a facebook imo, i don't see what you gain in NOT having one. If you're not an active user, you shouldn't have problems with addiction, i say you keep it, but the decision is ultimately down to you.
Going through uni without fb or twitter?
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Twitter isn't necessary, but some societies (including the one I'm involved with) organise themselves entirely through facebook - without it, you're not going to know about anything that's going on, including practices, socials, competitions, banter . . . essentially, you need facebook if you're going to be involved with that sort of uni society. Facebook also makes it a lot easier to keep up with friends from home.
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You'll be able to manage, but the majority of events are organised in some shape or form through facebook. Academically we also had a page for our course where quite often questions/worries about exams or lecture times or all sorts were discussed or answered which was a useful resource. To be honest it will make your life easier just to get it - it's not a massive issue, you don't even have to use it for any other purpose if you don't want to.
Twitter - meh. I've only just got it and don't really see the point still.
You can cope fine without it however if you don't use your phone either then probably! I knew someone who didn't have Facebook and didn't use her phone and well she never really came out..
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Im not too sure about this. Facebook I personally found it very useful,
- Societies tend to arrange events through facebook, so you're kept up to date
- keep in touch with the new people you have meet as not many numbers are exchanged straight away and people tend to lose their phones
- Plus pictures of your time at uni is always nice
Even though I have twitter its not for university usage more just general debating/stuff so dont worry there. It would have been for the benefit of keeping up to date with what has and will happen. Not as widely used as facebook which features are usually for that of groups.
Going through uni without twitter is fine - I barely use it.
Facebook however may be more difficult as societies send out almost all of their communication using it.
It is considered a bit odd to not have a Facebook account these days it raises the question of WHY they are so opposed to the social norm. I've never met anyone who I've wanted to add to my friends list who doesn't have an account.
Facebook is useful for organising events and things like that.
But Twitter? I can't see how a Twitter account would help your social life.
(Original post by eggy_nog)
Going through Uni - without TSR :O
This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App
OfflineReputationRep:(Original post by RowanO)
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You can cope fine without it however if you don't use your phone either then probably! I knew someone who didn't have Facebook and didn't use her phone and well she never really came out..
Rather than, 'she didn't use her phone or Facebook and therefore she never went out', it may have been, 'she never wanted to go out therefore she had no need to use her phone or Facebook'.
Do what feels comfortable for you. You will probably need a phone, but that's useful anyway for contacting home.
I think it's quite a strong and independant thing to go to Uni without these social networking sites. For all the good they do (actually quite little that we can't achieve without them IMO) I believe that they're not worth the hassle. They're addictive and annoying. I wish I had gone to Uni without them, as I really dislike myself being on them.
It won't affect University much though, especially if you have a phone and keep in contact with friends through that. Some might seem puzzled by that, but i've known nobody to think badly of anyone for it. Most find it quirky, the rest just aren't fussed either way!
(Original post by TheSownRose)
You may have that the wrong way around.
Rather than, 'she didn't use her phone or Facebook and therefore she never went out', it may have been, 'she never wanted to go out therefore she had no need to use her phone or Facebook'.
Honestly, I kinda loathe facebook, finally made it last year, I have to admit, while I hate the constant self important pics on there, the fact people add EVERYONE they meet, and the bitching, it is great for events. So many uni socs use fb groups, it's so easy to use for that. Plus there's a group for our course so that's helpful. And it's nice to talk to your 'old' school mates/general friends of course.
Hate to say it. But I'd recommend fb for uni.
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My flatmate didn't have facebook and got through the first year fine - she just texted people if she ever needed them.
It's nice to have facebook as it's good for sharing photos, getting course updates... even my department uses facebook. It's a definite must if you're planning to be a course rep or similar as you need to be able to communicate easily with lots of people at once (and no one reads their emails).
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