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by Gary Smalley and John Trent
Sixth grade hadn't been a banner year for Eric. Never very confident in school, he had a particular dread of mathematics. "A mental block," one of the school's counselors had told him.
Then, as if a mental math block wasn't enough for an eleven-year-old kid to deal with, he came down with measles in the fall and had to stay out of school for two weeks. By the time he got back, his classmates were multiplying fractions. Eric was still trying to figure out what you got when you put a half pie with three-quarters of a pie…besides a lot of pie.
Eric's teacher, Mrs. Gunther—loud, overweight, terrifying, and a year away from retirement—was unsympathetic. For the rest of the year she called him "Measly" in honor of his untimely spots and hounded him ceaselessly with makeup assignments. When his mental block prevented his progress in fractions, she would thunder at him in front of the class, "I don't give a Continental for your excuses! You'd better straighten up, Measly. Them ain't wings I hear flappin'!"
The mental block, once the size of a backyard fence, now loomed like the Great Wall of China. Eric despaired of ever catching up and even fell behind in subjects he'd been good at.
Then came a remarkable moment.
It happened in the middle of Mrs. Warwick's ninth grade English class. To this day, some twenty-five years later, Eric still lights up as he recalls The Moment.
The fifth period class had been yawning through Mrs. Warwick's attempts to spark discussion about a Mark Twain story. At some point in the lecture, something clicked in Eric's mind. It was probably crazy, but it suddenly seemed like he understood something Twain had been driving at—something a little below the surface. Despite his fear of sounding foolish, Eric raised his hand and ventured an observation.
That led to the moment when Mrs. Warwick looked straight into Eric's eyes, beamed with pleasure, and said, "Why, Eric…that was very perceptive of you!"
Perceptive. Perceptive? Perceptive!
The word echoed in Eric's thoughts for the rest of the day—and then for the rest of his life. Perceptive? Me? Well, yeah. I guess that was perceptive. Maybe I am perceptive.
One word, one little positive word dropped at the right moment somehow tipped the balance in a teenager's view of himself—and possibly changed the course of his life (even though he still can't multiply fractions).
Eric went on to pursue a career in journalism and eventually became a book editor, working successfully with some of the top authors in America. His newfound confidence placed him on a path he might otherwise have never discovered and enjoyed.
All it took was a kind word at the right moment—and a teacher who was a bit perceptive herself.
Looking ahead…
The world can be a forbidding place for children, especially if they feel that they somehow don't measure up. A relatively minor difficulty—such as Eric's "mental block" with math—can easily develop into a crisis of confidence, particularly when a child must listen to constant reminders of his or her deficiencies.
I still recall my own thirteenth and fourteenth years, which were the most painful of my life. I found myself in a social cross fire that gave rise to intense feelings of inferiority and doubt. Yet I survived this period, and even gained several positive qualities from the experience. I was sustained, though I wasn't fully conscious of it at the time, by the faith I had developed through my parents' teaching and example. I believed in a loving God who valued me for the person I was, who—even though I was unworthy—sent His Son to die for me (John 3:16).
If your children understand in their hearts that the Creator of the universe loves them personally and has sacrificed His own Son on their behalf, they will enjoy a much healthier self-concept and be far better equipped to take on the trials of adolescence. We'll talk more this week about the relationship between self-worth and your family's faith.
– James C Dobson
"Perceptive" by Gary Smalley and John Trent. From Leaving the Light On by Gary Smalley and John Trent (Sisters, Ore.: Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 1994). Used by permission.


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- It's that time of the fortnight again: The 11th Carnival of Feminists — Global Edition! is live. The next carnival is on January 20, and accepting submissions of new feminist posts.
- A Softer World: 518: the latest comic plays on gender identity, what do you think? (As with many webcomics, see the alt/mouseover text as well.)
- Kotaku has a list of The Ten Most Influential Women in Games of the Past Decade (Update: which they syndicated from Gaming Angels) (see also The Border House's take)
- Realms of Fantasy is doing a "Women in Fantasy" themed issue in August 2011 and is looking for fiction, non-fiction and art by women, especially but not exclusively on feminist and/or gender themes. (Via Jim C. Hines who has a discussion of it in his LJ.)
- Farah Mendlesohn, interviewed by Graham Sleight: Mendlesohn is the editor of On Joanna Russ, a book of critical essays on Russ's work.
- Dreamwidth's Diversity is its Strength – Openness, Mentoring, Diversity: Juliet Kemp talks about Dreamwidth and its development culture.
- Women & Technology 1999 — 2009: Sarah Blow reviews the tenor of news stories about women in technology over the last decade
- (trigger warning) So how does an awesome girl like me come to have an Eating Disorder?: references busygamer.com's "gamettes" as part of the problem.
If you have links of interest, please share them in comments here, or if you're a delicious user, tag them "geekfeminism†to bring them to our attention. Please note that we tend to stick to publishing recent links (from the last month or so).
Thanks to everyone who suggested links in comments and on delicious.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Saints and the Spiritual Tradition
Although they are not often studied from a literary perspective, the spiritual writings of these saints provide early examples of Catholic devotional poetry.
St. Francis of Assisi – Several poems praising God and nature are attributed to St. Francis, founder of the Franciscan Order.
St. Hildegard of Bingen – This Benedictine visionary's prolific writings include poetry, hymns, and theological treatises.
St. Teresa of Avila – A Spanish mystic and Camelite nun, St. Teresa documented her spiritual evolution through poetry and other theological works.
The Medieval and Renaissance Traditions
Francesco Petrarch – Petrarch, considered by many to be the father of Humanism, is also credited with the development and popularization of the Italian sonnet.
Geoffrey Chaucer – The undisputed father of English poetry, Chaucer is best known for his memorable portraits Canterbury pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales.
Dante Alighieri – Dante Alighieri's epic poem La Divina Commedia presents an allegorical vision of the afterlife and is among the most significant works of Western literature.
The Modern Tradition
Gerard Manley Hopkins – Hopkins was a Jesuit priest and is generally considered one of the greatest poets of the Victorian era.
Hilaire Belloc – Belloc was a controversial figure known for both his radical political views and his mastery of light poetry in the style of Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear.
Thomas Merton – A monk who lived in isolation for several years and one of the most well-known Catholic writers of the twentieth century, Thomas Merton was a prolific poet, religious writer, and essayist.


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Every bride needs the perfect accessories to complement her gown. Whether you are after a veil, a hairpiece or a bit of bling, you will find it here. To ensure a vendor's quality, read their customer reviews, view their portfolio and visit their boutique in-person to try on their range for yourself. Have fun with it!Accessories North Wales
Accessories Insights
There are 6 North Wales Accessory suppliers from which to choose. Overall, they have an average rating of 5.0 out of 5. Couples usually enquire with 6 vendors in this category and book 10 months out from their wedding date, typically after Lingerie. Engagement Venue suppliers range between $3,000 and $7,000, averaging at $5,000. Given UK weddings typically cost £471,795, this means UK couples spend % of their wedding budget on Accessory.
1 suppliers match your filters. Clear
Silk veiling, French veiling or bird cage veils can be added on request.
No suppliers match your filters. Please try a different search


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Buddy Wade, State Farm Insurance - Birmingham, AL
Listing Details
Buddy Wade
State Farm Insurance
If you notice an error or inaccuracy in the data, please click REPORT button. The above data are for informational purposes only and may have inaccuracies.
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How My Obsession Fed My Writing
Since it is October, I've got a confession to make. As a child I loved, loved, loved Halloween. All of it: the decorations, costumes, jack-o-lanterns, candy and the fun. And this obsession has not ceased in my adult life. I spend months coming up with my costume each year that I wear to work. I decorate my home with a different Halloween theme. This year it's witches. I actually have more Halloween decorations than I do Christmas decorations. And of course, I can't forget about the parties. I have a Halloween luncheon party for my co-workers and a costume party for my neighborhood.
What is it about Halloween that draws me to it? It's the idea that for one day we shed our own skin. That we take on a persona that is different than our own. And that persona has its own story to tell which is oftentimes whimsical or grim or fantastical or funny. Halloween is about imagination and anticipation and a little thrill thrown into the mix.
So it shouldn't come as a surprise to you that I write paranormal. Writing paranormal romance/urban fantasies allows me to celebrate Halloween all year round. There is something special about delving into a world of beings with powers. It makes the telling of the story that much more exciting and challenging. And there is a wonderful contrast when powerful beings struggle with their daily lives and relationships.
In the writing, like in the donning of my Halloween costumes, I create my characters. And I ask myself, what makes them different? Sure they have fangs, or fur, or glowing eyes, but why should the reader care about them? Because a good story has us rooting for the hero or heroine. We want them to defeat the bad guy, or fall in love even though they are blocked by circumstances and their own insecurities. No one is perfect. If they were, the story would be over quickly with little to no fanfare.
In my series, my heroine, Kyle, is far from perfect. She was born with the ability to manipulate memories. She struggles with her own insecurities and straddles the human and supernatural world she lives in, not truly fitting in to either. And this idea actually stems from the age old fish out of water trope. As readers, we may not understand what it's like to have fangs and live for hundreds of years, but we all understand what it feels like to not fit in. And that understanding grounds us in the story, even when the 'otherworldness' of it allows us to escape into a different reality.
And for me as a writer and a reader, the escape is what I yearn for. The escape to a world where I can empathize, befriend, cheer, and fall in love with the characters.
As it turns out, my obsession with Halloween now feeds my obsession with writing. Voices in my head that want to be heard. And this costume-wearing, pumpkin-carving, party-throwing, author is happy to share their stories. One supernatural word at a time.
About the author:
Growing up a TV junkie, award winning author AE Jones oftentimes rewrote endings of episodes in her head when she didn't like the outcome. She immersed herself in sci-fi and soap operas. But when Buffy hit the little screen she knew her true love was paranormal. Now she spends her nights weaving stories about all variation of supernatural—their angst and their humor. After all life is about both…whether you sport fangs or not.
AE lives in Ohio with her eclectic family and friends who in no way resembles any characters in her books. Honest. Now her two cats are another story altogether.
2013 RWA Golden Heart® Winner, Mind Sweeper
An angel, a demon and a vampire walk into a bar. Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but it's just another day in the life of Kyle McKinley.
Kyle was born with the ability to erase memories, and the inability to keep her opinions to herself. She and her teammates – a vampire who looks like a sexy pirate with fangs, and a Shamat demon with a penchant for Italian pastries – provide supernatural damage control when humans see too much. Today's problem? A sword-wielding angel and a demon had a supernatural smackdown during happy hour in a Cleveland bar, leaving behind a headless vampire and a dozen human witnesses.
This latest supernatural slip-up is attracting all kinds of attention. So much attention that the police step in, and Kyle has to deal with Joe Dalton, a know-it-all human with the sexiest turquoise eyes she has ever seen. Kyle has no room in her life for yet another human who will treat her like a freak. However, Dalton definitely makes her naughty parts sit up and take notice, and it's more than mutual. But before they can act on their attraction, they must join forces to solve a dangerous puzzle. And when they uncover the truth, the apocalyptic ripple effect forces Kyle to make a choice. Learn to trust again, or risk losing everyone she cares about, including Dalton.
Mind Sweeper is Book One in the Mind Sweeper Series.
Book Two – The Fledgling, A Mind Sweeper Novella (coming October 2014)
Book Two – The Fledgling, A Mind Sweeper Novella (coming October 2014)


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Max Bessone-Breaking Time Spatial Design and Communication
At Design Interviews
Interview with Max Bessone : Frank Scott: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?. Max Bessone : I wanted to transform a room of my house, which has a particular character, in a sanctuary away from the busyness of time and the external world. To me, that room is a place where I can retire and enjoy my myself. A place to relax, think and create. In that room, time is not important and almost it doesn't exist anymore. .Frank Scott: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?. Max Bessone : I focused mainly on the concept of "Breaking the Time". Because New Zealand is known for its various species of birds, I centered my attention on the iconography of a bird. Commonly, people says: "Time flies". Starting from this concept, I associated the 'Time' to a bird, which gets free from the constraint of the material time. I also expanded the design concept to the rest of the room using installations made of different materials. To satisfy the need of having a shelf for the internet router, I designed a shelf with the shape of a nest. It has been integrated into the design of the bird and it has been made of iron and brass. Then, to recreate the feeling of "being protected", I designed a wooden ceiling to represent the irregular shape of a ceiling in a cave. The origami structure of the composition has been inspired by the building on the Wellington waterfront, the Waka house. Moreover, because New Zealand has glow worms in most of the caves, I used LED strips on the ceiling, as representation of them. .Frank Scott: What are your future plans for this award winning design?. Max Bessone : I'm writing a book about New Zealand designers. It is titled, "Design from the bottom". When I arrived in New Zealand, I found out a society based on respect for people. I found a lot of persons who were focused on other people needs. They're trying everyday, to create a better cohabitation and a healthier society. I really believe the rest of the world should look at what New Zealand is doing and to learn, how better could be, to live in the respect of others. This book want to be a celebration of 50 designers, 50 New Zealanders. It's a book about people who design for people. People who don't only synthesize functionality and aesthetics, but understand a consumer's thought process and emotions in order to motivate behaviour change. They are drawn from diverse fields of design such interior, web, advertising, product, including both the very well known and the lesser known but equally talented. The interviewers respond with an openness, generosity and vulnerability which sometimes surprised even them. The result is a document of rare depth. These are people of sensibility, hearth and inspiration. They are great designers from the bottom of the world. They are New Zealanders. .Frank Scott: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?. Max Bessone : About a couple of months. I made few models and multiple design structures, before to get the right one. .Frank Scott: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?. Max Bessone : It has been just an intervention to improve and change the look and feel of my house. But, when I saw the result of the model, I understood it was more than just "changing colour to a room", it was going to be an important personal project. .Frank Scott: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?. Max Bessone : No, it is a unique piece of design. .Frank Scott: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?. Max Bessone : The main inspiration of the ceiling structure came from the Waka House on the waterfront of Wellington. I simply looked it, upside down. .Frank Scott: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?. Max Bessone : Breaking time, the name I gave to this project, has been inspired by the concept of "step away" from the busyness of time. Break it, to get more focus on what I love more. .Frank Scott: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?. Max Bessone : The wallpaper has been designed using Adobe Illustrator. .Frank Scott: What is the most unique aspect of your design?. Max Bessone : It has been made for people. It's not only an aesthetic piece of design. It creates different feelings in the people who step into it. I saw people being surprised, laughing or being unbelieving about it. They can read a story between the lines and the geometries of the structure and give their own interpretation about the design of the bird. .Frank Scott: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?. Max Bessone : I just shared my ideas and concepts with Cathy, my love and partner. .Frank Scott: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?. Max Bessone : I have been invited, by a friend of mine, to look at the advertising on line of the competition. I thought it was interesting to show that particular concept to others, and explain what the purpose of my design. .
Max Bessone-Breaking Time Spatial Design and Communication Images:
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Latest News
RedWolf sponsors: Fifth Tomaszowo Airsoft Meeting 2009 (2009-07-21)
Name: Fifth Tomaszowo Airsoft Meeting 2009
Type: game & side events
Date: 2009 21-24.05
Location: Tomaszowo (Lubuskie in Poland)
Organizer: Team Delta
Entry fee: 50 PLN (~15USD)
Number of participants: ~800
Here's a short extract from WMASG.pl
Tomaszowo is an invitation based airsoft meeting. It might seem that having such an event based on "elite factor" might be risky, but with all its growing popularity and participants number it is just how it should be. This time Team Delta invited almost 800 participants from literally each part of Poland, from which a large number arrived a couple of days earlier before game was planned. Some of them like "AWR" came before everybody to help (as they do each year) during preparations. Some other teams came a bit later but early enough (Thursday), to have an opportunity to meet some of the long time not seen friends from all over the country.
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening Team Delta, FST from Poznań, and WMASG (thanks to sponsors Capri ASG and Redwolf Airsoft), have organized number of events.
There were number of vehicles taking part in the game, including mentioned T-55 tank, though the last one in limited area in care for safety and due to land owner restrictions on tank movement in the area. Vehicles could be "destroyed" by hitting them with a plastic bag with water. Unfortunately this idea was not working perfectly, nevertheless after some time vehicles were being effectively eliminated. Solution of "armour-piercing" weapons seems to be a neverending problem during games. The most impressive and spectacular way was one we've seen on the old Twierdza Modlin meetings where pyrotechnics were used, but those unfortunately can't be used where fire hazard is high - like Tomaszowo. Pity.
When everybody came back to the camp, we have announced the results of "Tetratlon" and handed the rewards. Main prize was Classic Army SLR105A1 (Steel Version); for the second place: Tokyo Marui P226R Chrome Stainless; and for the third Airsoft Innovations Tornado Grenade - all rewards funded by Redwolf Airsoft.
Tomaszowo is organized for the fifth year in a row by Team Delta, each year setting a new better standards. They take conclusions from their own mistakes or shortcomings. What is most important, their intention is to make a meeting "made by Maniacs for Maniacs" and it just works. For as much as 50PLN (~15USD) you get a loads of fun in a great company. It is hard to explain the great atmosphere of Tomaszowo to someone who was not there. It is a very characteristic and exceptional event which thanks to its kick it would most probably stay for long as a leading event in Poland. Even though there are number of opinions on fight dynamics, nobody should argue with the fact that this event is just unique. It may be also granted by the fact, that even though we are experiencing the world financial crisis, it attracted foreign sponsor (Redwolf Airsoft) but as well Capri ASG already well known in Poland.


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The most shining heels in the closet
The strappy heels of Ashley Tisdale totally shows the glamour of her beatiful legs. Especially for the over ankle high strappy design.
For a classic dress, a distinctive design heels such as Avril Lavigne's can make a different feeling of look.
What heels can pair the patent top? Beyonce colorful heels gives the best answer. Combining red, yellow, green and blue for a heels is very rare and special.
Another strappy heels from Blake Lively is in because of the color. The metallic golden heels must be a sight catcher.


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The Frugal Tuesday Tip is a linky blog hop, dedicated to encouraging the frugal lifestyle. It is hosted by:
- Julia at Juliecache.com
- Julia S. at Confessions of a Frugal Mind
- Kimberely at Frugal Playground
- and me!
Anyone with a frugal tip can share. Just post a frugal tip on your own blog, then come here to add your post (the permalink) with the linky tool. Your post will appear on all of our blogs!
You can also share some internet love with our Frugal Tuesday Tip button. Just copy and paste the code below the button and add the button anywhere in your post. You could also put a "text" widget (WordPress) or an HTML gadget (Blogspot) in your sidebar. Thank you for spreading the word!
If you are going to link up please add a link to this post somewhere in your blog post stating that this is part of the Frugal Tuesday Tip.


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I received an email from Lyle Howry, the creator and owner of Ultimate Women's Challenge. Ultimate Women's challenge is a women's based reality show set to air on NBC.
It is important to note that while NBC will air the show, the show is not created by NBC. It is only being syndicated by the network. There will be more info regarding this show next week.


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1000 leila wa leila Lower Egyptian style
This photo looks like it´s taken from One Thousand and One Nights , but it´s actually taken in lower Egypt around 1885. It´s among a beautiful gallery of Egyptian photos from 1800-2013 collected by the Egyptian Streets website. Go , have a look and enjoy.
Labels: Egypt, Lower Egypt, One Thousand and One Nights, Photo


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The Chinese, naturally , blame the Dalai Lama for the violence.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Did Beijing orchestrate Tibetan riots? Is this the proof?
The Chinese, naturally , blame the Dalai Lama for the violence.
Such Wisdom From Afar
'The 'surge' hasn't worked, it was an illusion' is the common theme.
But then, what would you expect when the sources are regular writers for Al Independent, Al Guardian and Al Reuters? A more deluded and demented bunch of Bush haters would be hard to find, even in the souks of Teheran. These guys write as though they know the inner workings of all the parties and players and then some.
Don't be surprised, therefore, to find both this morning's articles simply are both plain wrong.
The lead story on this morning's 0300 Radio Left Wing News tells the world that Al Sadr has ordered his forces to withdraw from Bazra and Baghdad so that negotiations may ensue.
It does not seem to occur to these poor leftist buggers who are so desperate for Iraq to disintegrate that the people on the ground there might just know a bit more than a gaggle of worn out shills for the enemy. The giveaway is found at odd places in their text where you will find (if you look hard) grudging admission that 'maybe General Petraeus knows something we don't.'
"...Or maybe Petraeus and Maliki know something about the weaknesses of the Mehdi army that nobody else does.."
You bet he does, fellers. So does Prime Minister Malarkey. They are not siting on their arses in London, writing junk.
Silly Philly also was crowing yesterday at 'the mess in Iraq.' Well, it looks like a pretty successful mess to those without an agenda for defeat.
Maybe it's time for Al phil to change his blog name to 'The Harbour Bridge' where his traffic counter seems to be lodged. Millions of hits/cars through the place each day but only one a week stops - and then it's only to have a break down.
What Dear Leader should learn on her European Vacation?
Labour and the left were horrified as if such policies would mean the end of civilization as opposed to the end of a state dominated neo-monopoly, which poorly serves the consumer, us.
National's John Key seems equally appalled and vowed Sir Roger Douglas would never set foot in a National-led government.
But, as ever, life has its own little embarassments and ironies.
Now, as we know, Dear Leader likes copying policies from Britain's New Liarbour government.
That's where the Pledge Cards came from, from Tony Blair, and Liarbour's recent decision to raise the school leaving age to 18 came just a few weeks after UK PM Gordon Brown announced the same.
Now, guess what Liarbour UK has just announced ?- health vouchers!
Tens of thousands of patients needing a variety of treatments will be able to choose where they want to be treated- be it public or private.
UK Health Secretary Alan Johnson supports the move as bringing choice to patients and improving their outcomes.
Hail to Hickeyvision!
The former Fairfax business chief has for the past six months being working as managing editor for the http://www.interest.co.nz/ finance comparison website and producing a daily video podcast.
Obviously done on the cheap, nonetheless Bernard does a creditable job, which hopefully should stand him in good stead should any of the major channels decide to handle business properly with some weight and authority- an issue Poneke was complaining about last week.
Indeed, if Guyon Espiner can present a major political debate on TVNZ's new digital channel, then likewise there must be scope for a meaty business programme and Hickey could well be the man.
Indeed, I wonder if presenting could be in Hickey's blood. In one podcast presentation, his economic forecasting reminded me of weatherman Jim Hickey! By any chance are the pair related?
Either way, we wish Bernard well with his foray into podcasting.
At present, the progress of podcasting or online television has had a mixed experience in both Britain and New Zealand.
The UK once had 18 Doughty Street, an online tv station with daily programming featuring top blogger Iain Dale. The station ceased production late last year and Dale has now moved on to TelegraphTV, an online offshoot of the Daily Torygraph, as a commentator on its weekly Right On politics show.
The British papers like the Times and Telegraph are expanding from blogs to such podcasts and online tv.
Here, just the New Zealand Herald seems to be presenting video footage in addition to its printed news reports. However, Computerworld magazine has also experiemented with some podcasts on its website.
I look forward to the day when New Zealand has its own online tv station- Imagine an online version of No Minister, Kiwiblog, Whale Oil, etc. Picture Adolf, Whale Oil and Master Farrar interrogating Dear Leader or John Key. Wouldn't that be fun?
In the meantime, make do with the ever present, hilarious, excellent and long-running 'Anglosphere' podcast Shire Network News, which I enjoyed yesterday, and is updated weekly.
President Gore! The Dummicrats new solution!
The UK Sunday Telegraph takes up the theme that appears to have started late last week when Time columnist Joe Klein speculated on the role of the Superdelegates.
These seem to be unelected party grandees who will have the final say should the primaries produce no clear outcome.
They could well call in on Al Gore as a compromise candidate between the two warring factions.
An Gore-Obama ticket is being openly touted.
Either way, Al Gore seems the perfect compromise candidate for the Democrats.
Like Hillary Clinton, he is a proven liar, with his Inconvenient Truth shown to be full of lies.
And like Obama, he has connections to a dodgy religion: Gorebull Warming hysteria!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Look what happens when your police dog is a lap dog
The growing take home pay chasm
This has helped fuel the growing exodus of Kiwis over the ditch as the growing wealth gap proves too much. Our extra high interest rates fuelled by Liarbour's rampant growth in public spending hasn't helped matters either.
More "save the planet" buffoonery
The message I took from Earth Hour was the rather odd one that burning candles is better for the environment than using electric lights. I mean, how likely is it really that burning things will be better for the environment than using electricity which, in this country anyway, comes largely from renewable sources? What next? Send a message against global warming by switching off the heat pump and burning some coal in the good ole fireplace?
Here's some affordable housing for you!!!
The Herald on Sunday today continues with the raft of hard luck stories showing the struggle of young homeowners. A $375,000 house costs $900 a week in mortgage payments! No wonder the poor guy pictured looks like he needs a new singlet and a good feed.
But anyway, people should stop bleating.
There's affordable housing a plenty if you look hard enough for it.
Perusing through the property section of the Weekend Herald last night I came across a few veritable bargains.
A one bedroomed apartment in Zest in central Auckland can be had for a bargain $99,000! I've seen what the two-bedroomed places are like so don't expect any room and if you survive a week before jumping off the balcony, I commend your fortitude.
The collapse of Hannover Finance recently means there's a few bargains to be had in Vincent Street, central Auckland. Studios can be had for around $70,000 and a one bedroom from about $120,000. They don't come with parking mind you, but we are talking CBD here, you don't need a car.
Many such properties will be auctioned off this week, so I might pop along to see what's available. Even at today's depressed prices, I doubt anything decent might be affordable for me to live in, but an investment property might be affordable. Yes, good enough for someone else to live in , but me?, good Lord no!
Of course, rather than bleating, maybe we should look further afield. Take a look at Trade Me, which displays many, many properties to rent or buy.
The commute from Karapiro or Kaitaia is not too bad and there's always the removeable bungalows.
We can always economise too. Who needs kids anyway? We can import immigrants. But they may well be muslims, better known for terrorism, religious extremism, sucking welfare states dry, as opposed to being hardworking and delivering positive benefits to an economy.
But we should stop bleating. We are kiwis. The powers that be have determined that apartment living is the way of the future. We won't need cars as cars are evil and bad for the environment, we must be dependent on the state for transport as well as other things.
The Kiwi quarter acre pavlova paradise and our independence that comes with it is but a fond and distant memory.
Kiwis not breeding
Pathetic Drivel
This waste of newsprint tells us that Jenni McManus considers a person who plays golf once a month is living the high life. Good God, woman. Do you live in Invercargill? Most people I know play golf once a week and those with single figure handicaps play twice a week or more.
What about the man's cars, his favorite restaurants, his overseas holidays, his hand tailored suits, his viagra supplier, his art collection, his $100+ bottles of vintage wine, all the other brothels he visits or possibly owns?
Naaah. The real scandal is the thieving bastard plays golf once a month.
What a vapidly useless journalist. All she did was ring up the Remuera Golf Club and talk to some silly bastard (who now will lose his job) into blabbing about the dates on which a couple of members play golf.
If you want to get the real oil on Bryers there's only one place to go. The NZ Herald. I'm told their Anne Gibson has 'had it in for Bryers' for at least five years.
Compared with Gibson, as bitches go, McManus is an entry level Girl Guide.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Unmitigated Crap
For fuck's sake, what on earth is a ninety year old doing mortgaging her home in order to buy an investment property? No prudent or responsible lender would have advanced such a loan.
Did the stupid bitch think she was going to live to be one hundred and ten years old?
Adolf sincerely hopes that Mark Bryers and the rest of the duplicitous crooks who ran BlueChip go to jail but he has absolutely no sympathy for this family, whose members simply threw all normal prudence out the door in the face of insatiable greed.
Fitna withdrawal confirms the point
How government pushes up housing costs
Sub-standard Sub-contracted Sub-editors
"ASB Bank says Mr Chamberlin "escalated" the dispute to get a golden handshake, and tried to draw managing director Hugh Burrett into it as part of "cranking things up".
MugCaption1: Hugh Burrett
A former ASB Bank fraud investigator says he was forced to quit because managing director Hugh Burrett went easy on a customer who passed off a counterfeit US$70,000 ($87,000) bank draft."
Why No Comment?
The pieces mention that the poll was taken during and after Sir Roger Douglas's re-entry into politics which in itself gained ACT a week of wall to wall publicity. Yet these two experienced commentators make no reference at all to ACT's performance, or lack of performance, in this latest poll.
Wouldn't you think it a major news story if ACT had not improved or worse still, not registered, in spite of Sir Roger? An equally big story if they had improved?
Reading this stuff is a bit like eating a burger only to find afterwards there was no meat in it.
Islam v Islamism
Interesting to note yet another example of how lunatic leftists have allowed their obsession with George W Bush to screw up yet another opportunity for progress.
"..............tearing down the notion, so carefully constructed by George Bush after September 11 of separating terrorism from the "religion of peace.
By repeatedly invoking Islam as the cause or, alternatively, the justification, for violent behavior, both the Left and the Right have jointly undermined the strategy of forming political coalitions with certain elements in the Islamic world to prosecute other elements. This coalition strategy undergirds the actions in Iraq and Afghanistan; it is implicit in US cooperation with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey. In those places the US associates itself with certain elements of the "religion of peace" (such as Grand Ayatollah Sistani) against other elements........."
"..........If the Left had been smart they would have supported Bush's war on targeted elements of Islam. But by falling back on a reflexive pacifism, they gradually deligitimized this appoach without providing a viable warfighting strategy of their own. The Left's own rhetorical unconsciously painted them into the corner of inaction. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, for example, rely on the slogan of "getting troops out of harm's way" in place of any real program for resolving the current world crisis."
John Armstrong Does Subtle
"If Peters follows the pattern of the last election, when he could lay legitimate claim to be leading the "third" party, he will appear only in leaders debates that include Helen Clark, against whom he appears human, and John Key, against whom he appears experienced."
Friday, March 28, 2008
NZ kicks off mass stupidity
Mass stupidity starts in Christchurch tomorrow night.
What will Al Gore do? Will it affect his AlGoreRhythms into Climate Change aka mass hysteria/stupidity?
Fitna movie finally online
The 'dirt' on McCain
No qaurter acre paradise, then what is the point of New Zealand?
Government seeing its own green follies...well, just the one!
Remember Dear Leader touting biofuels as the saviour for the planet?
Well, it seems the government is having second thoughts.
As reported many times before, biofuels are bad for the planet.
They are driving up food prices as farmers choose not to grow food, and they lead to habitat being destroyed to grow the new biofuel crops.
They also emit as much carbon dioxide as traditionally made petroleums.
The Herald reports the latest developments here, while Whale Oil goes into great length debunking the green support for them.
AND IN OTHER GREEN NEWS, Labour rejects claims its energy policies will cause fuel prices to rise 50% as reported yesterday. Instead, the Greens talk of a maximum 15%.
Now, that makes us all feel better, doesn't it?
Thursday, March 27, 2008
So Have All Australians
All Australians are in the process of being f**cked by a wombat - one which speaks Mandarin.
You see, dear readers, Helen Clark is right. The trans Tasman traffic is not one way. We receive an inflow of quality people from across the ditch, doncha know?
Auckland Uni pays the price of political correctness
Liarbour: The party of poverty that makes us pay, pay and pay!
The Democrats: A Coalition of the Corrupt and Racist
Western wimpery before Chinese killers
UK publicans stand firm, but what about the sheeple!
Labour's Secret Tax Ripoff
Ali Baba
Well hello?????
These dividends were funded by our ever increasing power bills and they are in fact a defacto tax amounting to around $500 for every man woman and child in the land.
Is this the same Meridien Energy which has failed to build new generating capacity to meet our growing energy needs as we energetically claw our way further down the latter of OECD prosperity?
If these 'dividends' had been retained, as they should and used to fund capital borrowings then we could have had $3 billion dollars worth of clean green efficient north island nuclear power plants up and running since maybe 2003.
Then you would'nt need to pollute the Waikato with grotesque power pylons.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
CBS Takes Sides
With CBS indoctrinating the people, you'd have to wonder what their fate will be.
Clearly, the Democratic Party shills who infest CBS have decided that the game should go to uber leftist racist and America hater Obama Sin Laden.
CBS has sent a rocket propelled grenade into the delicate flanks of the Clinton campaign. They have high lighted her brazen lies concerning her visit to Bosnia in 1996.
The fireworks is only just starting.
Bryers Scalp Worth Gold to Labour
Adolf approves.
I thought right from the start this mess would get political and today it did. With over four thousand people involved in the biggest ripoff since petrol tax and an election in the offing this has to be the gift Labour have been looking for. They can be seen to be running down and punishing a genuine 'rich prick' who made his millions on the backs of innocent hard working greedy tax dodging kiwis.
This has got to be worth at least two points in the polls for Labour and if they can manipulate the police and the courts to have the bastard jailed in October, then they probably will win their coveted fourth term.
How Liarbour is engaged in mighty powerful rip-offs!
There's a few tales of doom and gloom out there, and Government, particularly our Liarbour government, can take its share of the blame.
First, high house prices means that an unaffordable deposit of $122,000 is now needed for that first home.
Such higher housing costs are now reflected in higher rentals too as landlords struggle with higher mortgages, rates and other bills.
Now, that will make it harder for people to save for their first home, won't it?
And then there's the higher food, fuel and mortage costs, making people feel incredibly poor.
Indeed, more kiwis feel poorer now than last year compared to those who feel better off.
Consumer confidence is slumping.
Now, where does government fit in?
Liarbour tax rises in 1999 helped fuel the housing boom as it became more tax efficient for landlords to invest in property. Higher government spending helped fuel higher interest rates- the highest in the developed world- which is now reinforcing the nasty effects from the global credit crunch. Yet higher government spending has not improved services.
Fuel prices are rising thanks in part to their tax policies, such as 5 cents or so on petrol, and this before planned Greenhouse taxes come in.
Food prices are also higher, thanks in part to the biofuels policies Liarbour supports.
But back to energy, where Fairfax columnist Bernard Hickey has some strong analysys of the power genration sector, pointing out a major rip-off of the consumer by state owned power companies, which in turn prevents the Reserve Bank of New Zealand from reducing interest rates ahead of an impending slump.
Commenting on power company profits, annnounced yesterday, Bernard says:
"these power generators are putting up prices much faster than the rest of the economy and are just another source of government-generated inflation that is keeping interest rates higher for longer than they need to be. These higher power charges, higher profits and higher dividends have simply become another tax on every household."
Bernard brands it 'state-owned profiteering', noting many produce and sell power in captive, monopolistic markets, and there is no need for marketing, etc.
But the general picture is clear. Inflation generated by local government, central government and government-owned corporates is high and rising.
There seems to be insufficient investment in new generation capacity and lines capacity to handle growth or the risk of some of our ageing infrastructure failing.
Noting how the government, as owner, then pockets the money, Hickey concludes:
We (1.6 million households) pay through higher electricity charges and then we pay again through higher interest rates. That's because the Reserve Bank has no choice but to keep rates high when inflation continues to bubble along above its 2-3% target range.
So how does Liarbour plan to spend it $175 million windfall?
I heard more talk on tv about john Key bringing forward taxcuts to help hardpressed householders, but Cullen wants to spend up large buying back the railways.
Considering how government operates the energy sector, I am sure that makes us all feel better doesn't it?
Damned lefty journos!
Comment of The Week
" Hillary went, because it was too dangerous to let Bill near an attractive eight year old girl…
Maquis on March 25, 2008 at 8:39 AM"
Where 2 + 2 = Infinity
The mathematically challenged Anthony Scott writes in this morning's Herald:-
"The real significance of the $700 million capital fund for innovation in the pastoral and food industries is in danger of being overlooked......"
The corrected version is:-
"The paltry insignificance of the $700 million capital fund for innovation in the pastoral and food industries is in danger of being overlooked....."
He goes on to say:-
"They are important issues and deserve close attention. But they miss the larger point of this announcement and attendant reactions.
The package does three things:"
After which he details not three but just two bullet points. Perhaps the missing 'thing' was the confusion sown by the package in the minds of those economic simpletons who who can't tell the difference between capital and income.
The best is kept for later however.
"With private sector contributions included, the fund may distribute up to $2 billion over the next 10-15 years."
Remember folks, the private sector is to contribute dollar for dollar. So, we have a $700 mil fund, earning interest at say 10%. Retain 3% for inflation proofing and you've got $49 mil to spend each year on scientific endeavour. (That's somewhere about the figure Jamdertin was talking.) Add the private contribution and there is about $100 mil per year, in real terms, each year, for 'the next ten to fifteen years.'
To use John key's immortal words, I'm buggered if I can see how that gets to two billion dollars.
One hundred million dollars per year is not really a hell of a lot when one puts it into perspective. Why, it's only 0.06% of Fonterra's turnover.
Maybe, Mr Scott has been taught to value investment by ANZ financial advisers or the good people from BlueChip.
Clearly he has been conned by the snake oil salesmen from Labour.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
You can come home Greenpeace: Global Warming is a myth too!
The 'offensive' movie that might not exist!
Rumours are sweeping the internet that Dutch filmaker and politician has NOT made an 'anti-Islamic' film called Fitna.
Apparantly , it's all a ruse just to prove his point that Islam is an evil barbaric religion.
Robert Spencer of Jihadwatch has made this interesting observation:
By now the idea is spreading all over the place that there is no movie Fitna, and never will be -- that Geert Wilders simply announced that there would be to expose Islamic intolerance.
I have no direct knowledge either way, but I'm inclined to credit this idea at this point, since the film has not appeared now on several dates on which it had been announced to appear. Maybe it will finally burst upon the world, but I won't be surprised if it never does.
And look what we have seen: for the mere announcement that he was making a film quoting the Qur'an and showing Muslims acting violently in accord with its words, we have seen threats from several Muslim countries, threats from Al-Qaeda, demonstrations in the Netherlands and around the world, and quailing dhimmitude from the august leaders of Europe, as they cringed before the anticipated Islamic wrath, and from Network Solutions, as they pulled Wilders's site while it was almost entirely devoid of content.
Note, meanwhile, that hardly a day goes by on which some Muslims somewhere do not commit an act of violence that they deem to be justified by the words of the Qur'an. Jihadist leaders routinely invoke Qur'anic passages to explain their actions and make recruits among peaceful Muslims. In other words, we see the announced theme of Wilders's Fitna played out every day, not by non-Muslims but by Muslims -- and there is nary a peep of protest from anyone. Muslims in the West issue vague denunciations of "terrorism," but never specifically explain whom they actually believe to be a terrorist, and there are no protests, no threats, no nothing against those who have supposedly "hijacked" their religion.
Maybe that was Wilders's point all along, and it is a point well made, made again and again and again.
I don't know either. I was quite looking forward to posting a link to the movie and watching it myself. Anyway, here's a story about muslim protest against that possibly non-existant movie.
The 'Shameless' Welfare State
Known as the "Shameless" family among horrified neighbours, the McFaddens "boast" three generations of adults who are not working. All ten members of the clan share a council house and live off benefits amounting to around £32,000 a year. And very happy they are, too. "The only problem is," she says without a hint of irony, "that we're living in a three-bedroom council house, which is ridiculous. "I'm asking the council for a ten-bedroom home for all of us. We need more space. It's awful sometimes when all the children are squabbling. Still, we do have a big TV with Sky, but we need some relaxation."
Jean Thompson, 66, hasn't worked for over 40 years. She lives in Neath, Swansea, with husband Glyn, 61, a retired plumber. They have three grown-up children, two of whom live on benefits, including son Steven Martin, 39. "I'm certainly not angry that Steven doesn't have a job. He's got children, that's his job. And I don't worry that he's setting a bad example to his children - that's up to him." Steven left school 23 years ago and has worked for only five years in that time. It's 12 years since he last had a job. Steven lives in Swansea with partner Donna, 24, who's never worked, and their daughter Celsea, three. His eldest daughter from a previous partner, 17-year-old Jessica, is also on benefits.That is around 60,000 Australian dollars a year, for doing nothing, just sitting on your ass and watching daytime television all day. I can't even fathom that, you suckers are out there busting your asses to earn the average earnings in Australia, which I think is less than 60 large. And when you're done busting your ass to earn that and you get home, there's the taxman waiting for his share of the pie before you can lay your tired ass down so you can do it all over again the next day. Your tax pounds at work folks, hard at work. The News of the World reinforced the point with this story about a "preacher of Hate" (no prizes for guessing his religion), who is also feeding off the state he aims to destroy, receiving 25,000 pounds a year in benefits ( about $65,000).
Certainly, Emma Sussock's life is a grim blueprint set out by the generations before her. Her mother Ann, a divorcee, hasn't worked for 30 years, and exists on benefits and daytime television. Meanwhile, her beloved step-grandfather Carl Davies, a former gas fitter, has survived on benefits since a heart attack 20 years ago. Ann, a divorcee, lives in a one-bedroom council flat in West Derby, Liverpool. She says: "When I left school at 16 with no qualifications I did a youth training type scheme for a year, serving up meals at the local YMCA for about £25 a week. Then I went on benefits and haven't come off them since. I didn't enjoy the work. "I wasn't encouraged to work hard by my parents and lots of my friends went straight onto benefits, so I did the same.
Six million Britons are living in homes where no one has a job and "benefits are a way of life", according to a report by MPs. Shock figures also revealed that 20,000 households in Britain are pocketing more than £30,000 a year in state benefits.
The story follows on from another Muslim bludger , No Minister reported in February, who couldn't be bothered working because the same state, he too aimed to destroy, was happy to pay him , his wife and 11 kids some 27,000 pounds a year for sitting on his arse, except when impregnating his wife.
No wonder soft touch Britain has become a beacon to bludgers of whatever colour, be they British or immigrants and refugees from afar. But is it alone?
Now, I am not suspecting there's taxpayer funded 'Preachers of Hate" sucking off the state tit in downtown Sandrabad and Mt Roskillistan but I am sure there must be some equally worthless bludging scum somewhere in New Zealand, South Auckland especially.
I am sure an enterprising newspaper must be capable of finding some, even if it does not fit in with their values or agendas. I mean, the Weekend Herald might run such an expose but I doubt the Sunday Star-Times would, but who knows?
However, if anyone out there knows of similar welfare abuse, do let us know at No Minister. I am sure we can find a media outlet to put such a story to good use.
Winston Defames Fiji?
The Herald needs to put a boot up the arse of it's headline writer because nowhere, in a well written and balanced article, did Winston Peters say any such thing. Indeed, in the second paragraph he reviewed the commitment made by Commodore Frank to the last Pacific Forum meeting; the good progress already made; and the prospects for the March 2009 date being met.
What Winston seems unable to get his head around is the fact that Fiji is not 'just like New Zealand' when he comments disparagingly about The Commodore's 'People's Charter' which in itself is the key to positive political change in Fiji.
"At times Commodore Bainimarama appears to be saying that elections will only take place if those who stand as candidates accept the results of his "People's Charter" initiative, which seeks radically to re-shape Fiji's political, economic and social structures.
Foreign governments invited to support this process, including ours, have declined, citing legal, constitutional and practical reservations.
There are very real questions about the level of public support for this initiative, which is closely controlled by the regime and not inclusive. Even well-designed and well-intentioned policies will not survive if citizens do not feel they own them.
The Commodore has also suggested that the army will intervene again if a future government does not adhere to the "People's Charter" outcomes.
That raises doubts about his commitment to foster an environment which respects and upholds open political dialogue and freedom of expression.
Without these, the international community would find it difficult to assess an election to be free and fair."
It is more than likely the only people who oppose the charter are Qarase, Balu Khan and all their venal mates whose snouts have been in the trough for decades while the poor people of all races languished in poverty.
Monday, March 24, 2008
So, how long might he live?
Iraq: A victory to celebrate
They couldn't be more wrong.
The U.S. war in Iraq — and by extension, President Bush — started coming under withering criticism not too long after it started in March 2003. Quickly forgotten were these salient quotes, made just the year before:
"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction." — Sen. Ted Kennedy, on Sept. 27, 2002.
"It is clear . . . that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons." — Sen. Hillary Clinton, Oct. 10, 2002.
"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." — Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002.
We could go on and on. Others said similar things. Suffice to say, support at the time for "doing something" about Iraq was wide and deep. They even egged Bush on, urging him to get tough. Then, in the fall of 2002, Congress authorized Bush to go to war.
Only later, in late 2003 and 2004, as polls showed public support waning, did many of those same prominent politicians who once enthusiastically stumped for war and even voted for it in Congress suddenly do an about-face. It stands as one of the most shameful political turnabouts in U.S. history.
Opponents suddenly claimed the war was a sham, that they were fooled into supporting it by cooked intelligence, that we should have never removed Saddam, that Iraqis were better off with him in power than with us as occupiers.
The war in Iraq, in short, simply wasn't worth it. But they were wrong on all counts.
The data on the war weren't cooked; virtually every major foreign intelligence service, including those of France, Germany and the U.K., among others, believed Saddam Hussein was pursuing nuclear and biological weapons — weapons of mass destruction.
Moreover, Saddam's ties to al-Qaida, despite recent news reports to the contrary, were clear. He openly tolerated Ansar al-Islam, an al-Qaida affiliate, in northern Iraq. He welcomed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi with open arms before the war began.
His intelligence service met with al-Qaida cell leader and 9/11 terrorist Mohammed Atta months before he attacked the Twin Towers. Osama bin Laden even wrote a now-infamous letter to Saddam in the 1990s, asking for help.
As 9/11 Committee co-chairman and former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean said, "There was no question in our minds that there was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaida."
We achieved many concrete benefits from taking Saddam out — none of them, by the way, related to "blood for oil," the libelous and patently false phrase used by the left to tarnish the U.S. war effort.
For instance, Libya's Muammar Qaddafi gave up his nuclear weapons just weeks after the U.S. deposed Saddam. Coincidence?
Syria pulled its troops out of Lebanon, a country it bullied for decades. Elections followed. Iraq and Afghanistan had free and fair elections, while Saudi Arabia, Egypt and even Syria recognized democratic movements. North Korea suddenly decided to talk.
Oh, but we didn't find WMDs?
On the contrary, U.S. troops found more than 500 weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. True, we didn't find an operational nuclear weapon, but U.N. inspectors found lots of equipment and plans clearly showing that Iraq had been working on one — and intended to do so again.
All of these are facts. And so are the following:
Iraq is today a growing economy again. From 2002 through 2006, the most recent year for which data are available, per capita GDP in dollars jumped 110%.
Before the war, there were some 833,000 people with telephones. Today, there's 9.8 million. Fewer than 5,000 people were on the Internet during Saddam's rein of terror; today, it's a quarter million.
There were no private TV stations under Saddam; today Iraq has more than 50. There are at least 260 independent newspapers and magazines in Iraq, vs. none under Saddam. Just 1.5 million cars were registered before the war; by 2005, that had hit 3.1 million.
In short, by almost any objective measure one might choose, Iraqis are today much better off than they were under Saddam. Those that deny this are, frankly, deluded.
Better still, Saddam's jackbooted minions no longer pull people screaming out of their homes for torture sessions and murder.
By some estimates, an average of 50,000 people died each year from Saddam's campaigns of genocide, ethnic cleansing and political murder. Last year, the peak of the surge, there were 18,000 civilian deaths — mostly by terrorists.
Today, Iraq's nascent democracy, though imperfect, seems solid. A recent look at the Index of Political Freedom shows Iraq ranking as the fourth-freest country in the Mideast, out of 20. Those who term the war a "failure" need to define that term.
Since the surge began a year ago, nearly every indicator of violence in the country is down, and down sharply: civilian fatalities, off 80% from the peak; enemy attacks, off 40%; bombings, off 81%.
Yes, U.S. fatalities are nearing 4,000. And every death of every brave soldier is a tragedy. But we lost more soldiers on D-Day.
In 2007 — widely reported by the media last summer as the "worst" yet during the war — 901 American troops lost their lives. By comparison, during the Clinton administration, an average of 938 American soldiers died each year in the military. The notion that we've suffered unconscionable troop losses is false and misleading. This is the most bloodless war in history.
So far, we've spent about $500 billion on the war — less than 1% of our GDP over the past five years. Yet with that money, we've perhaps recast the history of the Mideast, giving its people a chance to throw off the shackles of tyranny and to live in peaceful democracies. We've bashed al-Qaida severely, killing key leaders and demoralizing the terrorist group's followers.
We've not had a single major terrorist attack since 9/11 — no doubt, in part, because we showed our mettle when attacked. Just as important, we've helped make the threat of nuclear annihilation by rogue states a focus of international diplomacy — something that might end up saving the West.
Not bad for an unpopular war. Democrats may propose a total withdrawal of all our troops, as Barack Obama has done, but increasingly Americans look to be siding with President Bush. On Wednesday, he called for us to stay in Iraq until the war is completely won. We agree.
Sir Roger fights back
Sir Roger Douglas has hit back at a piece from the Herald's John Armstrong who branded the former finance minister's policies as 'hard right.'
As Sir Roger says in today's NZ Herald, his policies are not so much hard right, it is that Liarbour is so hard left, in want state-owned monopolists to provide services.
All Douglas is promoting is choice and diversity in provision, which even happens in socialist Sweden.
While John Key is playing it right in currently distancing himself from such ideas, I only hope that as Sir Roger does such a fine job in selling them, that they do not appear so radical and scary after all, but a common sense alternative to the failing status quo.
Then, National might have the courage to adopt much of Sir Roger's programme by itself.
But first the debate over state monopolist v private and competitive provision needs to be heard first.


text:
Controversy at Augusta! There was some debate about whether Luke Donald shot a 5 or a 3 at the par-4 fifth hole in today's opening round. Donald's scorecard showed a 3, but a bunch of eagle-eyed sportswriters no doubt watching on TV from the media tent looked up from their catered lunch to notice he had actually three-putted his way to a 5. Signing an incorrect scorecard is a cardinal sin in golf, so if the error was Donald's he would have been disqualified.
The mistake turned out to be one of transcription, however. A scorekeeper misread Donald's card while faxing it, and that's how the result got posted. Crisis averted. The Masters can hereby continue with its time-honored tradition of trying and failing to catch up with the 20th century.
Photo via AP.
[Devil Ball Golf]


text:
ajulvestad necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 35 diseños de 6 diseñadores freelance.
Polar Party 19: first contact
Polar Party is a Norwegian non-profit computer party for about 700 geeks each year. We have a focus on both gaming, creativity (graphics, music, etc) and simply fun (arcade, concerts, etc).
The event is organized by Polar Interesseorganisasjon, a non-profit youth organization in Norway.
We would like to put across pure geekiness and of course the scifi theme. In order to understand us, you should probably take a peek at our other designs:
* Polar Party 12 "where pigs fly" with a pig as a mascot.. but of course, our logo (the polar planet) in the immediate background http://polarparty.no/pp12/images/po…farger.pdf
* Polar Party 13 "pacman gone psycho", a pac man with a chainsaw and bloody font http://polarparty.no/pp13/
* Polar Party 14 "Polar Ninjas", with the Polar planet logo transformed to a japanese character http://polarparty.no/pp14/
* Polar Party 17 "the werewolves are coming" with the Polar planet as a moon with a werewolf silhouette http://polarparty.no/pp17/images/pp17plakat.png
* Polar Party 18 "thieves!" with the Polar planet as a spotlight http://polarparty.no/pp18/ (the design was a result of a 99designs contest: http://99designs.com/contests/19324)
We are very aware of the need to put across the logo, the playful theme and geekiness of the event. We are however also in increasing degree promoting the event for non-geeks.
PS: We DO have the logo already, look at the zip files attached.
PS2: You can, if you feel for it, make changes to the logo - it is not set in stone :-). The logo is made as a "mission patch" for space exploration.
We are geeks. Most of our participants are geeks. The target audience is mostly geeks but also parents and the press.
We have a well-known brand, and the aim is to build it even more. Our target audience is between 15 and 23, many gamers but some non-gamers. Geek is quite describing :-).
Some examples of the people that will visit the site:
* Male gamer from the local area, 15-19 years of age, going to the event as a casual gamer but also interested in other events.
* Male "pro" gamer traveling some distance, usually 19-24 years of age, going to the event in the pursuit of glory and prizes.
* Female or male casual gamer/chatter/newfound geek, 15-18 years of age, going to the event just to have a good time and meet some friends.
* Hardcore geeks, usually 18-26 years of age, going to the event for the social part.
* The press
* Parents of youths, going to the site because their kids are going to the event or because they've heard about it and checking out if this is something for their kids
Pictures from last year's event:
BTW, former logos: http://polarparty.no/logos/ (in addition to links given earlier)
The design must be focused on continuing the theme in the design and should be playful. We are NOT a commercial or professional organization, and the site can not be boring.
We want the website to be informational with clear links to different sections (with the possibility of submenu), a spot for latest headlines, etc.
We want the design to consist of:
* A splash screen
* A main page with newsstories (with the possibility of newsitems to have illustrational images.. one main story on top with other stories in two columns beneath, one column all the way etc is up to you
* A subpage (perhaps two/three different types depending if you're on a generic infopage, event page or gaming page?)
* Should contain newslisting with headlines
* Design elements available in vector (SVG/AI/EPS/PDF)
* Fonts should be available for use (we've used SF TransRobotics in the logo)
* Icons in tune with the design would be a great plus
* A quick-link to purchase tickets ("KJØP BILLETTER") on http://polarparty.no/pp18/
On the site itself we usually have a set of standard "top menu" items: Home/first page, Informasjon, Event, Compo (the two could be combined), Crew&Admins/organizers, Contact, Rules, Technical, Forum, etc. Usually we have 6-8 top-level menu items.
Ready-made HTML and CSS is a plus, but NOT required. It can be influential on the final choice of design if there is "a tie".


text:
bang(redirected from banging on about)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical.
Related to banging on about: Head banging
bhang, bang
a preparation of the leaves and flower tops of Indian hemp, which has psychoactive properties: much used in India
A common spoken name for "!" (ASCII 33), especially when used in pronouncing a bang path in spoken hackish. In elder days this was considered a CMUish usage, with MIT and Stanford hackers preferring excl or shriek; but the spread of Unix has carried "bang" with it (especially via the term bang path) and it is now certainly the most common spoken name for "!". Note that it is used exclusively for non-emphatic written "!"; one would not say "Congratulations bang" (except possibly for humorous purposes), but if one wanted to specify the exact characters "foo!" one would speak "Eff oh oh bang".
See pling, shriek, ASCII.
See pling, shriek, ASCII.
An exclamation signifying roughly "I have achieved enlightenment!", or "The dynamite has cleared out my brain!" Often used to acknowledge that one has perpetrated a thinko immediately after one has been called on it.


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Harriet Presser Award Statement
Harriet Presser (University
of Maryland) is the 2010
winner of the ASA Jessie Bernard award.She received her PhD in Sociology at the University of
California-Berkeley in 1969, and has spent much of her career at the University
of Maryland-College Park. Her work has helped transform the field of demography
by bringing a gender perspective to bear on the study of fertility. More
broadly, she has played a key role in integrating gender issues into the
sociological study of work and family.She achieved both objectives by consistently making acute empirical
observations of things that others had failed to notice. She noticed them where
others did not because she saw their social significance.
This started with her discovery in the late 1960s that a third of women in Puerto Rico were voluntarily sterilized, and her analysis of the social, economic, and political conditions that led to this widespread practice (Sterilization and Fertility Decline in Puerto Rico, 1973).In her mainland U.S. studies that followed, she was ahead of the curve in recognizing the importance of the age at which women begin childbearing, of child care availability, and of the varied time schedules demanded by jobs in our new 24/7 service economy.
In the 1970s, she conducted a longitudinal study showing that the age at which women have their first birth has as much or more of an impact on their life course outcomes as how many children they have.Her insights affected the later application of event history analysis to fertility behavior and the emerging interest in teen fertility.In the 1980s, she demonstrated how the cost or unavailability of child care was making it nearly impossible for many women to hold jobs, an issue neglected at the time by policy makers and social scientists. In the 1990s, she began path breaking work on time use, calling for a new view of the temporal nature of work and family life.She showed how common it was for two-earner couples to work different shifts, with fathers doing child care during mothers' work shifts. She found that poor single mothers were most apt to work nonstandard shifts. She documented how difficult this made it for them to find child care, and argued that welfare reform must take these constraints into account.Her work on time use culminated in publication of Working in a 24/7 Economy: Challenges for American Families in 2003. She then began comparative work on the feminization of nonstandard work schedules, examining the relevance of social policies in various countries.
She has been a catalyst for a number of institutional transformations that have brought women's concerns to the forefront.In the 1970s, she did behind-the-scenes work to get the U.S. Census Bureau to stop the sexist practice of automatically labeling men the "heads" of their households in datasets and government reports. Similarly, she played a key role in expanding the collection of national data on child care and work schedules.She was the founding director of the Center on Population, Gender, and Social Inequality at the University of Maryland, the first center on population studiesto have a focus on gender and inequality. Internationally, she was a leader among sociologists calling for rigorous research on the multi-dimensional meaning of women's empowerment, a concept that emerged at the United Nations' International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994) and the World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995).Her 2000 book, edited with Gita Sen, on Women's Empowerment: Moving Beyond Cairo advanced this agenda, as did her 1997 article, "Demography, Feminism, and the Science-Policy Nexus" (in Population and Development Review). She has worked tirelessly for gender to be taken more seriously by demographers as well as other sociologists, and has had substantial success.In recognition of this work, the Population Association of America (for which she served as President) named an award in her honor in 2008, to be given every two years to recognize career contributions to the study of gender in demography.


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An Intelligent learning extended organization (IntelLEO) constitutes a temporal alliance among different organisations (industrial, research, educational etc.) in order to share knowledge and competences through cross-border learning and knowledge building (LKB) activities. In one hand, the increasing specialization of useful knowledge for design, engineering, and manufacturing of products makes it difficult for industrial organizations to rely entirely on in-house learning processes. For the evolution of industry knowledge and product domains an alliance is needed across the organizational borders. Academic organizations, such as universities, on the other hand, work intensively with innovative ideas, but in general stay separated from the actual frontiers of production and have limited access to the dynamically developed work knowledge and competences. Both types of organizations arise to bring the process of education under socially standardized set of institutional categories, norms and visions. The mutual knowledge exchange between these organizations is needed for capturing emergent opportunities in research and development and meeting the changes in the economy and social sphere. Such knowledge exchange between different types of organizations is believed to create synergy, and make both organizations better adaptable to the challenging situations.
In the IntelLEO project the focus is on increasing organizational responsiveness, by supporting LKB processes in IntelLEO. It is hypothesized that IntelLEOs are more responsive that single organizations.
March (1981) assumes that organizational response to environmental events is broadly adaptive. The processes that guide response to the challenges in organization follow the models of selection (competition and survival aspects), experiental learning (trial and error, reusing best past experiences), politics (bargaining, confrontation, coalition aspects), contagion (spreading the knowledge), and regeneration (new competences may arise in organizations). The IntelLEO project focuses on technology enhanced learning issues, therefore, experiental learning, contagion and regeneration are these processes for adaptation that could be considered more relevant.
Daft and Weick (1984) developed a broad theoretical framework for understanding organizational adaptation to environmental change. They argued that organizational responsiveness to such changes is influenced by fundamental underlying processes involving the recognition and interpretation of those changes. Interpretation of environmental changes can play a more significant role than recognition in organizational responses to environmental demands (Goodstein, 1995). The process of recognition is specifically linked with the visibility and organizational exposure of issues. Milliken and colleagues noted that: "shared organizational values provide important reference points and lenses for interpreting the significance and interconnectedness of environmental changes (1990). In the IntelLEO type of organizations, the shared values may temporarily emerge across organizational borders, changing and influencing intra-organizational norms and visions According to Goodstein (1995), organizational responsiveness is not strictly determined by the nature of environmental changes, but rather is influenced by other organizational factors that can either foster or inhibit actions. To understand these factors, it is useful to analyze different definitions to organizational responsiveness.
Figure presents the conceptual relations of responsiveness in IntelLEO.
Conceptualizations of organizational responsiveness
Responsiveness is considered an ability of an organization to detect the extra-organizational changes and to take measures to adopt to the situation both by a) making changes internally at individual action and learning level or at organizational structures and policies, and b) developing active interferences to change something in the surroundings so that it was increasing this organization's adaptiveness.
Further, it is assumed that organizations must constantly keep themselves in the agile state, have the ability and flexibility to couple loosely with other organizations for knowledge exchanges.
Organizational responsiveness represents the ability of an organization to respond to its external environment in an appropriate manner (Clippinger, 1999). A more radical definition assumes that responsiveness is the aggressiveness of an organization's marketplace strategy (Gresov, Haveman, and Oliva, 1993).
Bray et al., 2007 examine organizational responsiveness in the context of inter individual knowledge exchanges that influence the ability of an organization to respond in an appropriate manner to a changing environment. They define organizational responsiveness as the ability of an organization to respond in an appropriate manner to mitigate negative threats or capitalize on positive opportunities generated by an organization's environment. For knowledge-intensive enterprises confronting challenges, organizational responsiveness represents their ability to respond to emergent opportunities or concerns (Bray et al., 2007). Bray et al. 2007 posit that the presence of knowledge exchanges represents one necessary and central enabler influencing whether an organization takes advantage of its organizational responsiveness ability. Individual employees comprise organizations, and the aggregation of individual actions contributes ultimately to organizational performance. Hence, insomuch that (1) individuals become more "fit" to their environment through knowledge exchanges, (2) and understanding one's environment enables knowledgeable interpretation of and response to environmental issues, it follows that an organization's cumulative ability to respond to environmental changes depends on the presence of knowledge exchanges among employees (Weick and Roberts 1993). Knowledge exchanges also allow humans to become more "fit" to their environment (Clippinger 1999). These knowledge exchanges enable adaptation to changing environmental conditions. The degree to which employees within an organization can use knowledge to adapt their actions to appropriately fit environmental conditions embodies an organization's cumulative responsiveness (Bray et al., 2007). In general, responsiveness is an element of corporate social performance. Organizational social responsiveness encourages employees' collaboration and knowledge creation. Bray et al., 2007 found that knowledge exploration and knowledge exploitation influence positively organizational responsiveness.
Jacobs (2003) proposes that responsiveness as a socially constructed attribute refers to the perceptual, reflective and adaptive dimension of an organization. Responsiveness refers to the ability of an organization to increase the chances for reflective conversation.
According to Jacobs (2003) organizational responsiveness provides a conceptual lens at the macro-level to reflect on strategy and organizational development. At the micro-level of responsive practices, dialogue as a reflective form of conversation allows for processes through which such responses can be collaboratively developed. Responsiveness at macro level is grounded in the communicative acts that drive and shape the individuals' perception of the organization.
From the experiments of Jacobs (2003), organizational stakeholders refer to the notion of responsiveness as a capacity that is attributed to both the local unit as well as the overall organization. They identified three areas related to the notion of responsiveness: the need to be listened to, the experience of being understood, and the experience of some satisfying response from the organization.
Kent et al (2003) use the term mediated responsiveness and explained that more dialogically oriented an organization "appears," the more likely an organization is to actually respond to its stakeholders.
Various terms may be considered as synonyms of responsiveness: adaptation capacity, sensibility, flexibility, elasticity and agility. The dynamical aspects of changes in organizational responsiveness may be explained using the agility and flexibility concepts.
Organizational responsiveness is based on the concept of flexibility. The literature on organizational change considers flexibility to be one of the dynamic capabilities through which firms confront change (Wright and Snell, 1998; Zajac et al., 2000). Organizational flexibility is the main capability that enables companies to face environmental fluctuations, as it makes the organization more responsive to change. Internal flexibility is the capacity of organizations to adapt to the environment, while external flexibility refers to their capacity to influence the environment and thus to reduce their vulnerability (Ansoff and Brandenburg, 1971).
The term organizational flexibility refers to the overall flexibility of an organization as a system (structure) defined by a set of resources (technology, personnel, financial resources, knowledge, . . .), processes (operations, tasks, routines, . . .) and managerial functions (strategizing, organizing, planning, leading, directing, . . .).
Organizational flexibility in the broad sense includes different kinds of flexibility:
For Aaker and Mascarenhas (1984) strategic flexibility is the ability to adapt to environmental changes. Organizations should not only adapt to a changing environment but, simultaneously, have the ability to change that environment. Being flexible also means changing the organizational environment through actions like innovation, communication and advertisement.
Structural flexibility as managerial practice, belongs to human resources management and some managerial practices can affect structural flexibility, e.g. the system of authority, job design, training, work teams, participation, personnel selection and the compensation system (Walton and Susman, 1987; Rowe and Wright, 1997; Adler et al., 1999). Flexible structures tend to be less formalized (Cohn and Turyn, 1984) and more decentralized (Overholt, 1996). Some studies have pointed out that organizational responsiveness rests less on the hierarchical command structures than on structures of self-organisation and lateral coordination. The adoption of labour flexible practices can increase organizational responsiveness.
Operational flexibility involves the activation of generally reversible short-term changes in the organization, based on the organization's structures, current objectives, and temporary changes in the activity level.
According to Verduę and Goęmez-Gras (2009) a gap between actual and required flexibility shows indirectly the organizational responsiveness. By analyzing this gap, the lacks and excesses that can be used to assess the changes needed inside the organization and the managerial direction required may be detected. When the gap is 0 or is close to 0, the firm is in a situation of fit and we can consider the organization to be relatively responsive to environmental evolution. This can be defined as organizational responsiveness.
Goldman & Nagel (1993) argue that organizations must be agile to survive in dynamically changing environments. Furthermore, they contend that these agile organizations actually "thrive" because they are proficient at predicting changes in demand, reconfiguring their processes, sharing information across organizational boundaries and, adopting new processes ahead of their competitors. Hoyt et al. (2007) have developed the enablers of organizational responsiveness for operationalizing responsiveness: (1) scanning; (2) formal planning; (3) informal planning; (4) dynamic manufacturing flexibility; (5) static manufacturing flexibility; (6) supply chain relationships for commodity products; (7) supply chain relationships for specialty products; and (8) multi-skilled employees.
For Hoyt and Troy (2002) the agile company is: one, which operates in a dynamically changing, uncertain environment and, is relatively more successful (in terms of financial performance) than its nonagile competitors. This dynamically changing environment exhibits: (1) a high level of collective exchange mechanisms between competitors, suppliers and customers; scarce re-sources and little opportunity for growth and a high demand for organizational responsiveness and product scope.
The process of continual technological change necessitates a responsiveness to change through openness in organizational form, adaptibility by employees, and in the most positive form of permanent beta, broad participation in design (Neff & Stark, 2003). Permanently beta is the state of responsiveness in organizational form and process that mirrors innovation in products and services. It is believed that responsiveness to users in the design of products has the power to change organizational form (ibid).
Brusoni et al (2001) assume that the basis of organizational response is distributed intelligence and dispersed learning processes carried out within different organizations. IntelLEO is a temporary and dynamically changing type of alliance between organizations with different LKB cultures. In IntelLEOs certain coupling has to take place between the organizations to perform LKB. Orton and Weick (1990: 205) used the interaction of specialization (i.e. distinctiveness) and integration (i.e. responsiveness) to determine the extent of coupling across organizational units and different organizations:
If there is neither responsiveness nor distinctiveness, the system is not really a system and it can be defined as a noncoupled system. If there is responsiveness without distinctiveness, the system is tightly coupled. If there is distinctiveness without responsiveness, the system is decoupled. If there is both distinctiveness and responsiveness, the system is loosely coupled. The IntelLEO project business cases represent those loosely coupled organizations.
The concept of loosely coupled organizations are led by systems integrators. Systems integration is based on loosely coupled networks and it includes the technological and organizational capabilities to integrate changes and improvements and maintaining knowledge and activities (Brusoni, Prencipe, & Pavitt, 2001).
Without sufficient motivation to exchange knowledge, organizational processes to exchange knowledge will fail to provide any benefit – no one will enact such processes (Bray et al., 2007). Bray et al. (2007) developed a model detailing how knowledge technologies, embodied in 5 intra-organizational information systems, provide opportunities that influence individual level human motivations to engage in knowledge exchange processes, thereby influencing organizational responsiveness. This model both explains and predicts the different contributions influencing organizational responsiveness, to include knowledge technologies, employee motivations, and processes to exchange knowledge.
They demonstrate in inter-organizational situation that the opportunities afforded by knowledge technologies, coupled with motivations and processes to exchange knowledge, impact organizational responsiveness. Specifically, improved collaboration opportunities, facilitated by knowledge technologies, improve individual perceptions of formal incentives to exchange knowledge, normative values to exchange knowledge, and competence-based trust among individuals. These improved individual perceptions regarding knowledge exchanges correlate to improved knowledge exploration and exploitation. Improved knowledge exploration and exploitation processes then correlate to improved organizational responsiveness (Bray et al., 2007).
For IntelLEO project the responsiveness of an IntelLEO is corporate performance in which individuals are motivated to proactively learn and construct knowledge across organizational borders.
What allows IntelLEOs to be responsive?
Analyzing the factors that may influence organizational reponsiveness IntelLEO project assumes that it is necessary to rationalize the LKB processes involved in IntelLEOs to maximize the chances that both organizations can better respond to the challenging situations. The responsiveness may be achieved by different means by effectively combining learning and knowledge management approaches and systems for supporting sharing across the organisations' borders, e.g. enabling cross border networking and collaboration with an extended offer of (high quality) learning content from different organizations, assuring better harmonisation of the individuals' (employees/members of the organisations) learning objectives with the different organization's LKB objectives, providing for individuals more intra- or interorganizational learning path descriptions directed to the organisations' strategic objectives which could be used by individuals for self-directed learning in workplaces. Such responsiveness is difficult to achieve without technological support to the processes.
Intelleo project assumes that IntelLEO responsiveness can be increased by creating synergy between technological services that support participating in collaborative LKB activities across vertical and horizontal boundaries of the IntelLEO, and the harmonization of personal objectives of learning and creativity with the organizational LKB objectives of different IntelLEO counterparts.
It is assumed that synergy of collaborative LKB and harmonisation services makes their application in IntelLEO more user-friendly and may considerably enhance the motivation of learners to do LKB activities and therefore responsiveness of the IntelLEO increases.
The main issue is to enable an effective measurement/observation of the synergistic effects between the services from the perspective of the IntelLEO responsiveness. Responsiveness in IntelLEO is defined through increased motivation to proactively learn and construct knowledge in an IntelLEO. We rely on the findings that in intra-organizational conditions opportunities afforded by knowledge technologies, coupled with motivations and processes to exchange knowledge, impacted organizational responsiveness (Bray et al., 2007).
From the literature review presented above, we have extracted the following aspects that might increase responsiveness:
1. The presence of knowledge exchanges among employees
a. Improved collaboration opportunities
b. Knowledge exploration and knowledge exploitation processes among employees
c. Possibility for socially and collaboratively constructing responsiveness in organizations
d. Increased chances for reflective conversation and dialogues
2. Distributed intelligence and dispersed learning processes carried out within loosely coupled different organizations
3. The opportunity for employees within an organization to use knowledge to adapt their actions to appropriately fit environmental conditions
The last aspect interrelates organizational learning with self-directed learning and self-reflections.


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Firefox 3.0.1 has been released and available for download. This update has been rated as having critical security impact by the Mozilla. Use the following instructions to upgrade Firefox.
Security Issues
An integer overflow flaw was found in the way Firefox displayed certain web content. A malicious web site could cause Firefox to crash, or execute arbitrary code with the permissions of the user running Firefox. (CVE-2008-2785)
A flaw was found in the way Firefox handled certain command line URLs. If another application passed Firefox a malformed URL, it could result in Firefox executing local malicious content with chrome privileges. (CVE-2008-2933)
Download Firefox 3.0.1
=> Visit offical site to grab Firefox 3.0.1
How do I upgrade Firefox to version 3.0.1?
See how to install firefox-3.0.1.tar.bz2 in Linux
How do I update Firefox under Redhat / Fedora / CentOS Linux?
Simply type the following command, enter:
# yum update
How do I update Firefox under Debian / Ubuntu Linux?
Open terminal and simply type the following commands, enter:
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade


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TUSCALOOSA | Because of Memorial Day, daily city garbage collections will take place a little earlier than usual.
TUSCALOOSA | Because of Memorial Day, daily city garbage collections will take place a little earlier than usual.
Starting today, all garbage, trash and recycling routes will begin at 6 a.m. in all four regions of the city's municipal waste collection area.
This start time will remain until the week of Labor Day, when it will revert back to 7 a.m.
"All garbage carts, trash piles and recycling bins must be placed at the curb before 6 a.m. to ensure collection," said Ashley Boudreaux, the city's environmental coordinator.
Additionally, the Memorial Day holiday will delay garbage collections by one day for all city municipal waste customers.
This means that:
Regular Monday routes will be collected on Tuesday.
Regular Tuesday routes will be collected on Wednesday.
Regular Wednesday routes will be collected on Thursday.
Regular Thursday routes will be collected on Friday.
Garbage routes will return to normal the following week.
The city of Northport's summer garbage and trash pickup schedule will begin Tuesday. All garbage and trash must be at the curb by no later than 6 a.m.
This schedule will remain in effect until Labor Day.
Also, because of Memorial Day, Northport's garbage collection is canceled today and will resume on the next regularly scheduled pick-up day. Trash collection will run a day behind the rest of the week.


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In a Computerworld (Australia) article entitled "Is there best practice for a server to system administrator ratio?" from July 9, 2010, the following was reported:
"We have observed that it can be, for example with a physical server, as low as 10 per admin, and for virtual servers as many as 500," Gartner analyst, Errol Rasit, said. "But it really depends on the type of application. We have seen as an example from a particular customer – from some of our larger customers – that they had their admins managing 15 physical servers and when that moves to virtualisation it moves to something like 75 virtual servers.
To give you a different order of magnitude in another example one admin was looking at 50 physical servers and then moving to 250 virtual servers. I will say that we have seen maybe 500 or 600 virtual servers being managed by a single admin.
IDC meanwhile notes that in Australia the ratio for an SMB would vary greatly from a hoster and again to a cloud provider like Amazon or Microsoft. The analyst house's statistics suggest anywhere from 10,000:1 at a dominant vendor like Google down to the SMB average of 30:1 for physical boxes and 80:1 for virtual machines.
One enterprise IT manager told us the ratio for physical servers was roughly 50:1, another working for a government organisation said 15-20:1, and an IT director at a research and development outfit noted that in a mid-size organisation a system administrator could maintain 10-14 servers per week or if their role was merely maintenance (i.e. no projects, no debugging, etc) then they could look after 25-35 servers per week. The IT director added a bigger organisation with larger economies of scale could potentially increase the ration to 10-14 servers to each admin per day with staff dedicated to just maintenance.
One of the key factors in increasing the ratio, however, is how much automation can be rolled into the maintenance / management of the server farm.
"A lot of what changes the ratio in the physical world is the types of tools being used to automate a lot of the processes; so run book automation and these sorts of things," Gartner's Rasit said. "That tends to be the main differentiator. The problem with virtualisation and virtualisation tools is there are a lot of them. It is very, very easy for a lot of customers to try and automate everything and that doesn't necessarily always bear fruit for the organisation because they are spending too much time doing that.
A complete copy of the article can be found: http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/352635/there_best_practice_server_system_administrator_ratio_/