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AfCFTA provides a bigger market for Ghanaian products— GFZA
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Source: GITFIConline.com
By Alexander Nyarko Yeboah
The Business Development Officer of the Ghana Free Zones Authority (GFZA) has informed of the impending expansion of the market for Ghanaian industries which were hitherto struggling to export their products to other markets.
Mr. Ernest Amoah says the coming into force of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement would enable Ghanaian industries to redirect their export initiatives to other African countries and gain a better export deal in the process.
Mr. Amoah said this in an interview with the gitficonline on the sidelines of the launch of the fourth Ghana International Trade and Finance Conference (GITFiC), AfCFTA edition, at the Naa Deide Omadro Conference Hall, Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA).
Mr. Amoah said the GFZA had a significant role to play in the implementation and success of the African Continental free trade agreement in Ghana, "Because the free zones regime promotes the processing and manufacturing of goods for export, and we offer general incentives to businesses licensed under the free zones program."
In that regard, Mr. Amoah observed that companies licensed under the free zones regime and processing local raw materials therefore had the opportunity to access the African market duty free.
The GFZA Development Officer said management of GFZA, over the past couple of years, decided to focus on encouraging Ghanaian industries to take advantage of the free zone incentives in Ghana to produce for export.
He however indicated that GFZA was aware of the difficulties Ghanaian businesses went through in exporting locally produced goods to the European Union (EU) and other advanced non-African markets which had been the focus of Ghanaian exports.
"As African countries, we believe that we can achieve trade among ourselves. That is why AfCFTA is offering this environment to do that and we ask Ghanaian industries to take advantage of this opportunity," Mr. Amoah stressed.
In explaining further some of the provisions of the continental free trade agreement which would impact on the African market, he informed that provision had been made for goods produced in special economic zones to be treated as originated from Africa provided they satisfied "the rules of origin."
"The GFZA is therefore well positioned to offer incentives to companies producing goods with local materials to enable them compete effectively within the African continent," Mr. Amoah informed.
He expressed joy for the fourth GITFiC conference by indicating the GFZA would be present to discuss its role in the implementation of AfCFTA, and invited all free zone enterprises to attend and learn more about the opportunities AfCFTA presented and how they could effectively trade in Africa.


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Entrepreneurs Club aiming the development of the region of the Great Lake of Alqueva.
Fight for the inclusion and civic participation of all people.
Through sport and cultural and recreational events we try to bring LIFE to a poor developing region with an aging population.
We want to promote education for citizenship and fight against racism and gender discrimination.
We want to promote volunteering and solidarity.
We want to promote collaboration between our NGO and investigative journalists to ensure transparency and fight corruption.
We want to promote awareness campaigns and initiatives to prevent and combat human rights violations, such as discrimination, racism, hate speech and all forms of violence.
Integration of Roma People
Competence and Expertise Offered
We have volunteers from various fields of knowledge, such as :
– economists,
– accountants,
– teachers,
– football coaches,
– beekeepers,
– rural workers,
– administrative workers,
– nurses.
Expertise sought
We look for help in organizing all the tasks that in the previous pont we put "We want".
We seek help in organizing tasks that lead us to help a true integration of Roma People.

subset: commoncrawl


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Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) 2023, the global initiative championed by the UAE and its clean energy powerhouse Masdar to accelerate sustainable development, will feature a series of high-level sessions focused on the key priorities for sustainable development ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), to be held in the UAE from 30th November to 12th December, 2023.
The fifteenth edition of the annual event will be held under the patronage of President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan who has championed sustainability as a key pillar of the UAE's economic and social progress and prosperity.
Taking place from 14th to 19th January under the theme of 'United on Climate Action Toward COP28′, ADSW will convene heads of state, policymakers, industry leaders, investors, youth, and entrepreneurs, for a series of impactful dialogues on the transition to a net-zero future. Key stakeholders will discuss key priorities for the global climate agenda at COP28, the need for all stakeholders across society to be engaged and included, and how to leverage the assessments from the first Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement to accelerate climate progress at COP28 and beyond.
Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change, and Chairman of Masdar, said, "For over 15 years, ADSW has reinforced the UAE's commitment to addressing global challenges as a responsible leader driving climate action and sustainable economic development. ADSW 2023 will help shape the sustainability agenda and drive momentum toward COP28 in the UAE by convening the global community and facilitating meaningful dialogue to foster consensus, groundbreaking partnerships and innovative solutions.
"The world needs a just and inclusive energy transition that supports the needs of developing nations while ensuring a more sustainable future for us all. ADSW can serve as an ideal platform to accelerate the adoption of clean technologies and put partnerships together that can take them to scale around the world, leaving no one behind."
ADSW 2023 will feature for the first time a Green Hydrogen Summit, hosted by Masdar's green hydrogen business on 18th January, highlighting its potential to decarbonise key industries – helping countries to achieve their net-zero objectives.
Earlier this month, Masdar formally announced a new shareholding structure and the launch of its green hydrogen business – forming a clean energy powerhouse that will spearhead global decarbonisation efforts. Masdar is now one of the largest clean energy companies of its kind and is well-positioned to lead the industry on a global scale, strengthening the UAE's role as an energy leader.
The first international sustainability gathering of the year, ADSW 2023 will drive discussion and debate around climate action in the run-up to COP28. The ADSW Summit, hosted by Masdar and taking place on16th January, will focus on a wide range of critical topics including Food and Water Security, Energy Access, Industrial Decarbonisation, Health, and Climate Adaptation.
Between 16th and 18th January, ADSW 2023 will seek to engage youth in climate action, with its Youth for Sustainability platform holding the Y4S Hub, which aims to attract 3,000 young people. ADSW 2023 will also feature the annual forum for Masdar's Women in Sustainability, Environment and Renewable Energy (WiSER) platform, giving women a greater voice in the sustainability debate.
As in previous years, ADSW 2023 will also feature partner-led events and opportunities for international engagement on sustainability-related topics, including the International Renewable Energy Agency's IRENA Assembly (14th – 15th January), the Atlantic Council Energy Forum (14th – 15th January), the Abu Dhabi Sustainable Finance Forum (18th January), and the World Future Energy Summit (16th – 18th January).
The 2023 ADSW will also mark the 15th anniversary of the Zayed Sustainability Prize – the UAE's pioneering global award for recognising excellence in sustainability, with the awards ceremony to be held on 16th January. With 96 winners across its categories of Health, Food, Energy, Water, and Global High Schools, the Prize has positively impacted the lives of over 378 million people around the world, including in Vietnam, Nepal, Sudan, Ethiopia, Maldives and Tuvalu.
Over the years, the Prize has provided communities across the world with access to quality education, clean food and water, quality healthcare, energy, jobs, and improved community safety.
With small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) making up roughly 90 percent of businesses worldwide, ADSW 2023 will welcome over 70 SMEs and start-ups across several sectors, including Masdar City's global initiative Innovate, which will showcase groundbreaking international technologies
Source: WAM: Amjad Saleh/ Muhammad Aamir


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In order to add Magento shop to Ship&co, you have to acquire an access token from Magento 2.1.x dashboard.
Acquire an access token from Magento
To acquire an access token from Magento, follow the steps below:
- Open the Magento2.1.x Dashboard.
(All versions from Magento 2.1 and onwards are supported.) - Click on System menu and select Integrations.
- Click Add New Integrations.
- In the Name field, input Ship&co. In the Your Password field, input the password you use to login to the Magento dashboard.
- Click API menu. Select the option: Sales, Products, Stores, and click Save.
- Now, Ship&co is registered on the Integrations page.
- Click Activate, and then when you switch to the page below, click Allow.
- The page displayed now is as per the following image. Copy the access token, and click Done.
After that, you can add Magento in Ship&co Shops page in order to start sync order and create shipping labels. See this link for more details.


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Macmillan Cancer Support Coffee Morning
Join us at our Bridlington office,
10-12 King Street Bridlington YO15 2DE
on Friday 29th September from 10am
for a coffee, tea and cakes all in aid of
Macmillan Cancer Support as no one should face cancer alone.
If you cannot make it on the day don't worry you can still donate either by popping into our reception or
using the Text 2 Donate system
Text JAM DAN8 to 70550 to donate £5.*
*Texts cost £5 + your standard network charge. Find out more information about Text to Donate
So now we have told you what we are doing and who we are doing it for, but do you know who
Macmillan Cancer Support are?
"At Macmillan, we know how a cancer diagnosis can affect everything. So we're here to support you and help you take back some control in your life. From help with money worries and advice about work, to someone who'll listen if you just want to talk, we're here."
"Right from the moment you're diagnosed, through your treatment and beyond, we're a source of support, giving you the energy and inspiration to help you feel more like yourself."
"We are millions of people affected by cancer, supporters, professionals, volunteers, and campaigners. Together we are all Macmillan."
Visit their website here for more information
If you need to talk to someone about Cancer call Macmillan Cancer Support for free*
Monday-Friday 9am-8pm
0808 808 00 00
*Calls to Macmillan's Support Line on 0808 808 00 00 are free on the following mobile networks:
EE, O2, Vodafone, T Mobile, Three, Orange, Virgin Mobile (from most of its accounts).
Some other mobile networks also offer free calls to numbers with the 0808 80xx prefix, however these are not guaranteed and users are recommended to check with their provider.
Helplines Partnership operates the Special Freephone Tariff scheme with the agreement of Ofcom. Please note that calls to these numbers are not free when made from outside the UK.


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Wait a minute, I was supposed to be done with both of those!
Yep, two months before my due date I am back to the grindstone. It's worked out that I can qualify for the lesser insurance premium if I take at least one credit this next semester. So the plan is to take two half credit classes that are during the first block of school only. That means that classes are done by October 20. So…..yeah…..lets just hope either the baby is a few days late (though I'd rather she not be) or that my teacher is super cool and not one of those "well, it's university policy…." types.
As for work, OK so I haven't quite made it to that point yet but I've been given the option. I've been asked to work on a project from home with the company I used to work for. I was supposed to start last week but we've just been so busy with packing, moving, unpacking, and endless to-do lists that I just haven't had the time or energy to get to it. Hopefully next week we'll have more of our lives together that I can sit down and focus for a few hours.


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Wall Street Cowboy (1939) - Roy Rogers DVD
Wall Street Cowboy (1939)
Molybdenum is a hard, gray metallic element used to toughen alloy steels and soften tungsten alloy. It is also used in fertilizers, dyes and enamels. Well, anyway, Roy's ranch is full of the stuff and an evil Wall Street syndicate wants to foreclose on the ranch when Roy has trouble making his mortgage payment.
Starring :
Roy Rogers, George Gabby Hayes, Raymond Hatton
Director :
Joseph Kane
Running time : 53 Minutes
Language : English


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In recent decades, advances made to fight HIV have been more than impressive, despite the fact that in the most recent years, the international community is more distant from ending the AIDS pandemic by 2030, as set out by the Sustainable Development Goals signed by the United Nations in 2015.
To the still many present challenges to achieve this goal, we can add the onset of Covid-19. The effects this pandemic could cause in low- and medium-income countries round the world could be devastating. The disruption to people having access to therapy and prevention programmes could entail a setback of years in the fight against HIV/AIDS and other pandemics, like tuberculosis and malaria.
Restrictions on movement have caused the provision of services to shrink and even stop completely, particularly for the most vulnerable populations. Nearly 20% of the countries where the Global Fund works are suffering from high or very high levels of interruptions to HIV-related services. Recent studies by the WHO and UNAIDS estimate that a complete six-month void in providing HIV treatment could cause over 500,000 additional deaths from AIDS-related diseases. In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, deaths could double in the next 12 months, reversing over a decade of progress.
Covid-19 could also have a catastrophic impact on HIV infections among children. UNAID estimates reveal that interruptions in treatments for pregnant women and new mothers could lead to a leap in new infections among children of 83% in Mozambique, 106% in Zimbabwe, 139% in Uganda and 162% in Malawi.
Due to the closure of schools and confinement measures, teenage girls and young women are coping with huge obstacles to access health services, and they are even more exposed to risks of being victims of gender violence, getting pregnant and becoming infected with HIV. There are cases like that of Melissa, 17 years old, forced to leave her studies and work to help her family. Like another five million girls who cannot go back to school due to closures related to COVID-19.
Before the onset of Covid-19, young women were already much more exposed to the virus: every week, some 5500 young women from 15 to 24 years old were infected with HIV. In Sub-Saharan Africa, concretely, five of every six new infections among 15-to-19-year-olds are girls. Young women have double the probability of living with HIV as men.
Diagnoses are also being affected by the pandemic: the results of the Global Fund's Covid-19 tracking tool suggest that there has been a 50% drop in the volume of HIV tests in some places, which could cause an increase in new infections.
Further, confinements and the closing of borders are affecting both the production and distribution of drugs, which could cause costs to rise and involve supply problems. Estimates deem that the end cost of drugs exported from India could increase by 10 to 25% of their normal price.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, created in 2002, during the harshest years of HIV, is the largest international organisation fighting pandemics. With a human rights focus, it works for gender equality, with programmes aimed at eliminating the enormous obstacles preventing women and teenage girls from accessing health services, which include inequality and gender violence. The Global Fund's strategy also aims to strengthen countries' healthcare systems and pave the way towards universal health coverage, both essential for being able to combat pandemics.
Today, it collects and invests some 4000 million dollars a year – 95% from governments and 5% from private donors – to support health programmes administered by local experts in the communities and in over 100 countries affected by AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. For HIV alone, it provides 21% of international funding, providing treatment to over 20 million people.
After the onset of Covid-19, it has taken decisive action, playing a fundamental role in the poorest and most vulnerable countries. In April, the Global Fund launched the COVID-19 Response Mechanism, with initial additional funding of 500 million dollars. Today, it has already spent 812.2 million dollars to support Covid-19 responses in 107 countries and in 14 multinational programmes.
The Fund's available resources ran out in September and it needs funds to keep supporting countries and their adaptation of programmes for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 and safeguard decades of progress. To this end, the Fund is working with donors and partners to urgently raise another 5000 million dollars. This is the only way to keep saving lives and protecting the teenage girls and young women who are most exposed to HIV.
With enough funding, the Global Fund can help reinforce healthcare systems so they don't collapse, supporting urgent improvements, including the supply chain, laboratory networks and community response systems. It also plans to protect health workers on the front line by supplying personal protective equipment (PPEs) and training them, including community health workers, and combating Covid-19 by supporting control and containment actions, including tests, contact-tracing and isolation support, communications and treatment (as therapeutics become available).
In September 2019, during the United Nations General Assembly, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced Spain's return to the Global Fund, to which it had not contributed financially since 2010. The commitment: 100 million euros over the next three years. A commitment that was made official during the 2019 Replenishment Conference, at which the Global Fund raised the most funds in its history for global health: 14,000 million dollars.
Despite its long absence, Spain was a historic partner of the Global Fund. Between 2003 and 2010 it invested 724 million dollars, positioning it among the 10 main donors, along with G7 countries. Today, it is the 12th largest public donor in accumulated terms and participates in decision-making as a Board member.
In April, Spain also joined the international alliance ACT-A for accelerating development, production and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatment and vaccines, via the contribution of 125 million euros: 50 for the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) and 75 for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). However, they are still short of funds: ACT-A needs 38,000 million dollars in the next 12 months, of which it has raised less than 5000 million.
You can expand the information on the current HIV situation and pending challenges in our new document 'The impact of Covid-19 in the fight against AIDS' (in Spanish).


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Media, Propaganda and East Timor
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This print version has been auto-generated from https://www.globalissues.org/article/406/media-propaganda-and-east-timor
Reporting by the mainstream media about the East Timor crisis has seen many root causes omitted. Those media groups in the nations (such as the US, UK and Australia) who have supported Indonesia (who backs the paramilitaries that went on a killing rampage since the vote at the end of August 1999 that overwhelmingly resulted in a vote for independence), have neglected to report about their country's long time support, to avoid accountability.
For more about the East Timor crisis and the media coverage, as well as background and current information, go to this web site's section on East Timor1.
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VANCOUVER, BC – Modern Plant-Based Foods Inc., (CSE: MEAT) (" Modern Plant Based Foods ") or (the "Company "), an award-winning plant-based food company, is pleased to announce that Modern Meat, its meat alternative division, has entered a wholesale distribution agreement with KeHE Distributors®, ("KeHE") to carry its line of Modern Meat plant-based meat alternatives. The initial listing will include Modern Crab-less Cakes and Tarragon Remoulade Sauce.
With nearly 70 years of experience, KeHE Distributors is one of the nation's top pure play wholesale food distributors with 16 distribution centers across North America. Based in Illinois, with over 5,500 employees, KeHE represents 8,500 brands and services more than 30,000 natural food stores, chain and independent grocery stores, ecommerce retailers and other specialty product retailers throughout North America including Independent Natural Food Retailers Association, Albertsons and Sprouts Farmers Market.
"This distribution partnership with KeHE is yet another landmark moment in Modern Meat's expansion strategy," said Tara Haddad, Founder and CEO of Modern Plant-Based Foods. "We are excited that our quality gourmet meat alternatives will now be available to KeHE accounts across the United States. With an increasing consumer appetite for plant-based meat alternatives we expect our products to see strong growth at this leading national specialty and all-natural foods distributer."
KeHE is a trusted name in the food industry and is well known for bringing new and emerging brands to market through their vast network.
"In KeHE we have found a partnership that aligns well with our mission of providing healthy and sustainable food to the masses. Inking this deal is significant to open distribution of our chef curated plant-based alternatives to retailers across the United States," explains Tara. "We look forward to exploring all the avenues available to increase our market penetration. KeHE is a well-respected industry distributor and we could not be more pleased."
About KeHE
KeHE Distributors®, LLC (KeHE) is the largest, pure-play distributor of natural & organic, specialty, and fresh products to more than 30,000 natural food stores, chain and independent grocery stores, e-commerce retailers, and other specialty products retailers throughout North America. With over 5,500 employee-owners, KeHE, a Certified B Corporation, drives its mission of serving to make lives better and bringing the next level of goodness, crazy GOOD™, throughout all aspects of its operation.
For more about KeHE, visit KeHE.com or check out our social media channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook,& Twitter.
About Modern Plant-Based Foods
Modern Plant-Based Foods is a Canadian food company based in Vancouver, British Columbia that offers a portfolio of plant-based products including meat and dairy-free alternatives, soups and vegan snacks. Our products are available at select restaurants and retailers across Canada including our own Modern Wellness Bars located in Vancouver. We take a holistic approach to plant-based living and understand the importance of providing nutritious and sustainable alternatives to consumers without sacrificing taste. We want people to feel good about the food they eat which is why we are deliberate in choosing ingredients free of soy, gluten, nuts and GMOs.
Our mission is to change the way food is produced and consumed for the benefit of people, animals and the environment by using natural plant-based ingredients.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian securities legislation that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to: the Company and the Company's business and prospects; the Company's objectives, goals or future plans; the Company's sales growth, planned expansion, awareness of the Company's brands, increased market penetration and distribution , and the business, operations, management and capitalization of the Company. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic and social uncertainties; local and global market and economic uncertainties arising in respect of the COVID-19 pandemic; litigation, availability of key product ingredients, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; the ability to effectively expand manufacturing and production capacity; the ability to obtain retail partners to distribute Company products, the success of market initiatives and the ability to grow brand awareness; the ability to attract, maintain and expand relationships with key strategic restaurant and food service partners; our ability to predict consumer taste preferences; delay or failure to receive regulatory approvals; the sufficiency of our cash to meet liquidity needs; those additional risks set out in the Company's public documents filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com; and other matters discussed in this news release. Accordingly, the forward-looking statements discussed in this release may not occur and could differ materially as a result of these known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting the Company. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Except where required by law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.


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Perhaps the most glaring aspect of The Curse is its ambition. Doom metal revels in long, slow, plodding riffs that allow the space between them to punctuate the intensity. As a two-piece band, one might think that Hellhookah would seize upon this minimalist feature to assist them in the creation of their long doomy soundscapes, but that's not the case.
This doesn't mean that The Curse is a long-form, riff-driven, rapid-fire display of gut punches. Not by a long shot. It's better described as the long ever-present background you'd be reluctant to admit you got used to after spending quality time in a post-apocalyptic world. Great riffs are used efficiently, pushing the listener along through a gorgeous sonic hellscape. If traditional "doom metal" is your thing, then this is a big chunk of gloomy fun from beginning to end. You know exactly what you're getting within the first 30 seconds of listening.
And it all sounds huge! Big, sprawling undertones saturate and push sonic spaces with nods to great influences. And while it might seem like they possibly crib a vibe from others, they've certainly done enough with it to make it feel like their own. It all feels familiar and foreign, like a journey you'd taken before and forgot that you knew how to get there….musically, of course. All the while, the vocals sit gently above it all, switching between confident and competent narrator to this nightmare, and voice of hopeless despondent manic pleading to come to grips with reality. It's definitely a treat.
The drumming gives a wonderful lo-fi nod to artists of the past, while providing a moving backbone to the big doomy riffs. While the performance is OK, it somehow feels stiff at times. The looseness you associate with classics of the genre isn't there. Regardless of whether this is by design or necessity, it feels like a missing element. As great as everything is, I find myself longing to see it all played live in hopes that the extra energy and spontaneity will be there.
The Curse is big ,ambitious, doomy, fuzzy, and rife with sounds you're likely to miss until you let it pass your ears a few times. It's worth getting to know this in advance, so that when you see it live, you'll get the full experience.


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from Amazon
* As an Amazon Associate, and partner with Google Adsense and Ezoic, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Hieronymus Bosch's paintings featured an innovative combination of nightmare and fantasy, with creatures produced from the very depths of his imagination.
Bosch's large-scale artworks, such as The Garden of Earthly Delights, provide a visual treat for the viewer in a way that no other artist has achieved. To consider his work against other famous names from the 15th and 16th centuries, he was truly unique in so many ways and his work continues to draw respect from art academics, designers and artists in the present day.
Indeed, a recent retrospective exhibition of his career in the Netherlands proved to be amongst the country's most visited art events in its history.
This artist's style does not fit with either the Flemish panel painters of this period, nor those who were influenced by the impact of the Italian Renaissance as it spread across the rest of the continent.
Albrecht Durer famously termed Bosch as a painter of dreams, pointing out how divergent this was from all others at that time. Even an artist as creative and ambitious as him was truly wowed by some of the output delivered by this North European colleague.
Long-lasting Legacy
Paintings by Hieronymus Bosch continue to fascinate art lovers and scholars 500 years after the artist's death. His work has been described as many things, from heretical to pornographic and fantastical, but in all of his work, the scenes are detailed and complex and the viewer can see more the longer they look.
As little was recorded about Bosch and his life, it is difficult to understand with some certainty what influenced the painter. What is known is that his grandfather, father and uncles were all painters, but no artwork seems to have survived from these family members.
Hieronymus's father, Anthonius van Aken, is recorded as being the artistic advisory to the Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Blessed Lady, a religious order in a nearby town. This family involvement with religion will have given Bosch a deep insight into the bible, which is the subject of most of his work.
Attributing his Work
There are few pieces of work that can be credited to Hieronymus Bosch with definite certainty. Only seven works were signed, and he did not date any of his art, so most of the information we have has been agreed through piecing together records surrounding the artist.
He produced triptychs, diptychs and polyptychs with some single panels, and nearly all were painted with oil on oak. The scenes depict religious stories, but with dreamlike and fantasy qualities that can be macabre and disturbing. As many of his paintings are made up of multiple parts, the scenes tell a story of warning.
The pieces often portray an ideal, followed by the reality, for example, or a before with an after scene. They have been described as a warning of what is to come if man gives into temptation.
Bosch seemed to clearly see the failings of mankind. He painted the temptations, sins and corruptness of people, including the inner feelings, fears and struggles that everyone fights with. The scenes demonstrate what might happen if people give in to those feelings and act upon them. The results are dark and hellish.
As he took these ideas further, he changed the images of people and gave them grotesque features, such as animal faces, tree-like limbs and contorted bodies. There are many images of heaven and hell, and man's struggle between the two during his time on Earth.
Bosch's Most Famous Paintings
In his most famous painting, The Garden Of Earthly Delights, we can see all of these factors come together. This is a triptych, oil on oak, with an outer case that has a further scene visible when the case is closed. The outer painting is of the third day of creation, and is painted with a limited palette of colours - a grisaille of grey and dull green.
Inside, the three panels are more colourful and show the Garden of Eden in different stages of inhabitance - 1. the biblical ideal scene of innocence, 2. the struggles and temptations of man as the population grew, and 3. the fall of man from grace. In this work, the paint has been applied to the oak in a method not commonly used in 15th-century Netherlands. The oil has been drawn with, and applied slightly roughly, giving the work a watercolour quality.
Oil paint at this time was generally applied to create a smooth finish, one where brushstrokes were not visible. Bosch used muted colours which was typical of the day. Also, Flemish work of the time showed scenes of real life, whereas Bosch painted images purely from his imagination and was quite controversial.
Three Stages of his Development
The work of Bosch has been separated into three eras. His early work has been categorised as those completed 1470 to 1485, and his middle work was dated around 1485 to 1500. From 1500 until his death in 1516, his late period is considered his finest. Throughout his career, he fine-tuned his style and created creatures that can be described a surrealist, although this is ahead of that period.
Rabbit heads, crow features, pig snouts and tree arms are used to depict the ugly traits of man, and alien plant life, heavy with fruit demonstrates gluttony and greed. Musical instruments are thought to show man's lust for more, and the dark landscapes are there to serve a warning.
Bosch's Triptychs
Hieronymus Bosch paintings came about in the 15th and 16th century and this Dutch artist developed a career which was to become highly influential across European art. The popularity around his work would continue right up to the present day, many centuries later.
This website covers the full career of Bosch and presents images of his best known paintings. The Garden of Earthly Delights is certainly Bosch's most respected art work and you can see that included within this website. It was a highly detailed landscape triptych which can now be found in El Prado Museum.
This tripych is separated into three different paintings for each of the three sections, covering Adam and Eve on the left, earthly delights in the middle and hell to the right Bosch paintings attracted interest from right across the country and abroad in neighbouring areas with the artist receiving many impressive commissions as his reputation grew stronger and stronger.
Bosch used a style somewhat different to the normal Flemish style which was used at that time and this helped him to stand out from others who were simply following on from what had gone before. Changing tastes across Europe in the centuries which have passed since the career of Bosch means that his popularity has fluctuated, but currently he is seen as separate to the Dutch Golden Age because of his period of prominence but his importance to the art world is almost on a par with their greatest components. The best to have come from the Dutch Golden Age included Vermeer and Jan Steen.
Hieronymus Bosch had a style which many found unusual because of the way that he would create strange and wonderful fantasies whilst other artists of this time preferred to concentrate on what they considered reality. Many found the images within his paintings to be gruesome and not easy on the eye, but despite this Bosch still managed to achieve considerable success within his career.
There has been certain amounts of controversy over the attribution of paintings to Bosch because in part to the great amount of time that has passed by since his work came about. Bosch also rarely signed any paintings which has further complicated the matter and currently there are only around 25 paintings definitely confirmed as being from his own studio, and that comes from a career which lasted 30 to 40 years, meaning many more must be out there somewhere.
Temptation of St Anthony
Philip II of Spain was known to be the biggest fan of Bosch going and passionately bought up as many of his paintings as he could. This may explain why so many of this artist's work now reside within major art museums and galleries of Spain, with all the artist's roots of course being across in an area now referred to as the Netherlands.
Bosch used many moral and spiritual messages within his paintings and this is part of the reason that his career is now much loved as some are not as keen on the actual technical abilities that he had, with some critics arguing that his style was overly aggressive, even barbaric.
Tondals Vision
Bosch prints and posters are still very popular in the modern era, with this artist's reputation well suited to current tastes making their way around the European art world. Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights is the most frequently reproduced of all his painting and typically his followers choose framed giclee art prints as they best match his original colour schemes and also a good frame is important for paintings of these styles.
All of the links within this website offer you the chance to buy high quality reproduction copies of original Bosch paintings from the Art.com gallery that covers his career in great detail, and has all of his attributed works available there at great prices. We regularly use their service ourselves so we are more than happy to recommend them to you.


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Comedians have been called "jesters" and "fools" and other things. Some nice, some, not so much. Eddie loves helping people to smile and is a natural on stage and on camera. We hope he helps you to smile too.
Eddie Whitehead Jr has no relationship to Eddie Whitehead and "Just Your Fool" is published by someone else. This is publicly available on YouTube here. All credit and rights belong to them, not us. We just wanted to share this with you.


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A study has found that newly engineered antiviral compounds can neutralize SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in human airway cells. The compounds also improved survival rates in mice infected with MERS.
Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses responsible for respiratory tract infections, ranging from the common cold to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and COVID-19.
Although coronaviruses are a familiar threat, currently no vaccines or antiviral drugs can prevent or treat the infections in people.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic emphasizes the need for effective treatments and drug development. Scientists are hard at work, trying to find an antiviral agent effective against SARS-CoV-2.
Stay informed with live updates on the current COVID-19 outbreak and visit our coronavirus hub for more advice on prevention and treatment.
Much hope has been placed in remdesivir, an antiviral drug that was originally developed as a treatment for Ebola.
However, recent
Amid the continued search for a COVID-19 treatment, new research has homed in on a group of antiviral compounds that target an essential enzyme in coronaviruses.
The study's authors report that the compounds drastically improved survival rates in a mouse model of MERS and neutralized SARS-CoV-2 in cells from people with COVID-19.
The findings appear in the journal
The research, led by scientists from Wichita State University, in Kansas, is based on the inhibition of a critical viral enzyme called 3C-like protease.
This enzyme is essential for the virus to replicate, and therefore survive, and given its crucial role, the enzyme is sometimes known simply as the "main protease."
The researchers behind the present study specialize in making inhibitors of this enzyme and had previously developed an inhibitor, called GC376, that targets coronavirus infections in animals.
They showed that the compound could reverse the progression of severe feline infectious peritonitis, a coronavirus disease in cats that is fatal in every case. All the cats who received the drug for more than 2 weeks made a full recovery.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team redirected its focus to the novel coronavirus in humans, SARS-CoV-2.
They synthesized a number of antiviral compounds with activity against a range of coronaviruses. In the first line of tests, the compounds were screened for antiviral activity against MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2.
They looked at the ability of the compounds to inhibit the 3C-like protease of these viruses, first in an isolated fashion, then inside cells. Since the protease has not been found in humans, it is a perfect target for an antiviral agent.
The researchers found that two of the 22 compounds that they started with were of interest.
In particular, compound 6e was the most potent against SARS-CoV-2. This means that less of the compound was needed to inhibit the viral protease, compared with the other compounds tested.
Compound 6j was active against SARS-CoV-2 but particularly effective against MERS-CoV, at very low concentrations.
The researchers went on to confirm their findings in cells from the airways of people who had developed SARS-CoV-2 infections. The team found that cells treated with the antiviral compounds had lower viral loads, indicating that the virus's ability to replicate had been suppressed.
In cells from two of the patients, the compounds reduced viral replication by 10 times. In the third patient, one of the compounds, 6j, was able to inhibit viral replication by 100 times.
At the time, a relevant mouse model of SARS-CoV-2 infection was still under development. There was, however, a mouse model for infection with MERS-CoV.
As well as finding a treatment candidate for SARS-CoV-2, the researchers describe a possible treatment for MERS, which continues to cause outbreaks and has a fatality rate of
The researchers found that the same compound that they used in human airway cells, 6j, was able to inhibit the so-called main protease of MERS-CoV.
They went on to test the compound in a mouse model of MERS, administering it to some of the mice 1 day after they had been infected. The researchers found that every mouse that had received the antiviral survived, while those who did not died.
The treated mice fared better internally, with lower viral loads and significantly less lung damage than the mice that did not receive treatment. While the untreated mice had inflammation and congestion in their lungs, and in some cases collapsed lungs, the treated mice experienced limited damage.
Although this preclinical research does not demonstrate efficacy in humans — and though there are very marked clinical differences between MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 infections in humans — it has established an exciting proof-of-concept for the team.
They plan to continue their research to see whether one of their compounds could treat both MERS and COVID-19 in people.


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Maintaining a Reputation for Consistently Beating Earnings Expectations and the Slippery Slope to Earnings Manipulation
56 Pages Posted: 19 May 2015 Last revised: 4 Dec 2018
Date Written: November 16, 2018
This paper investigates whether maintaining a reputation for consistently beating analysts' earnings expectations can motivate executives to move from "within GAAP" earnings management to "outside of GAAP" earnings manipulation. We analyze firms subject to SEC enforcement actions and find that these firms consistently beat analysts' quarterly earnings forecasts in the three years prior to the manipulation period and continue to do so by smaller "beats" during the manipulation period. We find that manipulating firms beat expectations around 86 percent of the time in the twelve quarters prior to the manipulation period (versus 75 percent for control firms) and that manipulation often ends with a miss in expectations. We document that executives of manipulating firms face strong stock market and CEO pressure to perform. Prior to the manipulation period, these firms have high analyst optimism, growing institutional interest, and high market valuations, along with powerful CEOs. Further, we find that maintaining a reputation for beating expectations is more important than CEO overconfidence and is incremental to CEO equity incentives for explaining manipulation. Our results suggest that pressure to maintain a reputation for beating analysts' expectations can encourage aggressive accounting and, ultimately, earnings manipulation.
Keywords: earnings manipulation; consecutively beating earnings expectations; market pressure; CEO overconfidence; CEO power; reputation; reference-dependent preferences; analysts' forecasts and recommendation; institutional investors; overvaluation
JEL Classification: G12, M41
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation


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The Past Comes Back
Written By: James Tynion IV
Art By: Jorge Jimenez, Tomeu Morey
Letters By: Clayton Cowles
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 4, 2020
Art By: Jorge Jimenez, Tomeu Morey
Letters By: Clayton Cowles
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 4, 2020
*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*
Tynion's run with Batman has been pretty good so far. However, we've arrived at a spot where the story seems to have stalled a little bit. That's not exactly what you want from your first story with this character but we will see how things change in the coming issues. For me personally though, I need to have some reveals in this issue. We've been introduced to everything that is happening and we've been given mystery upon mystery but we still don't have any concrete answers. So, from this issue going forward, no more leeway will be given. The deadline has been met and now I need something more from this book and I think most readers will agree with me on that point. However, I'm not too worried as I'm sure Tynion will bring the book back to a place we want it to be. Let's jump into this new issue and see if that is an accurate prediction.
We begin our issue by catching up with Deathstroke. He is currently being chased down by Batman's gadgets and he calls for backup but with his entire team taken out, there is no one to answer. No one except Harley Quinn that is who is controlling the drones that are chasing Deathstroke. She mocks and threatens Deathstroke before we cut away. We cut to Batman and Catwoman who are talking on the top of a roof. Selina remarks about how beautiful the view is but Bruce is all about business and Catwoman agrees to tell him everything. She begins her story by letting him know that it wasn't at the beginning of their careers but it wasn't long afterwards. She found a card on her pillow with The Designer's symbol on it. The Designer was pretty much just a myth in those days. She followed the instructions inside the letter and found that she wasn't alone. When she arrived at the meeting place she found that Joker, Riddler, and Penguin had all been extended an invitation as well. The group exchange "pleasantries" before a dead man pulls a boat up to the shore and invites them all to hop on. They are taken out into the sea and eventually arrive at a house in the middle of the sea.
When they come to the entrance, they are welcomed by The Designer himself who collects all of their weapons before allowing them to enter. As she tells the story, Selina reminds Bruce of how things were much different back then. Gotham had no hope. It was full of corruption and crime to the point that no one thought that it would ever change. However, once Batman came onto the scene properly, he began changing the culture. She talks about how he still had the intensity that he has now but during that time he was working to be a good role model for Robin. We cut back to the flashback as The Designer tells the group that he has been watching all of their careers and he offers some of his assistance. He tells them about his past and how he began creating elaborate crimes not for gain but to simply best the one trying to stop him. He would offer those expertise to each of them in order for them to best Batman and get everything that they ever wanted. He will take his cut and they will never see him again.
The Designer then met with each of them one by one and helped them think of their most ambitious crime of their wildest imaginations. With his help they were all able to create plans that would finally help them achieve their dreams. However, Joker is the final man to enter the room and he stays inside for a very long time. When The Designer finally exits the room, he orders his men to kill all four of them. However, before he is able to take them out, Joker reveals that he has a hidden gun and kills The Designer and his men. Without his financial support, all of their plans would be impossible to pull off. So they decide to burn the place down, pretend that they have never met them, and go about their lives. Selina tells Bruce that this was the moment that she first saw what Joker would eventually become. Bruce knows that she is still hiding something and she reveals that her target was him. If the Designer is successful with his plan, Bruce will lose everything. This is where the issue leaves us.
Well I can't say that I didn't ask for new revelations. Unfortunately they seem to be a little lackluster. We finally meet The Designer and his backstory seems to be a little by-the-numbers. Something tells me that is a red herring though. We finally know what Selina has been hiding this whole time but it was pretty easy to guess all of these revelations before this issue even came out. I would be lying if I said I wasn't hoping that things would have been a little more surprising. Ultimately, this issue stops our story in its tracks in order to tell this flashback which doesn't really give us anything surprising. That is, except the finale in which Joker kills The Designer and all of his lackeys. Now that is a new twist that I appreciated. So where does this issue fall? Well, I'm not thrilled by the answers that we got, but they aren't exactly bad. I did ask for answers and sometimes the simpliest answer is the best. However, the new question that they've given us is probably the best one in this story thus far. So how do I rate this book? Well, as with the previous issues, it falls somewhere near the upper-middle. Not great but a simple enjoyable issue. I'm hoping for more in the coming issues but I was able to enjoy this issue, even if it was a bit predictable at times.
Bits and Pieces
We finally get some answers to the questeions that we've been having but the answers are so simple that most of us have had them figured out for the past few issues. It's not the worst thing in the world but it was a very safe way to keep this story going. That being said there is a great twist near the end that gives us the most interesting plot point of the entire arc up to this point. So once again, Batman falls somewhere in the upper-middle, quality-wise.


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Course description
The course is for anyone wanting to teach people over the age of 16.
The qualification covers the knowledge and skills required by teachers and trainers in the further education and training skills sector. This includes:
- the roles, responsibilities and relationships in education and training
- inclusive teaching and learning approaches
- assessment of learners
- facilitating learning and development for individuals and groups
- understanding the principles and practices of assessment.
This is not a teaching qualification. To become a teacher or tutor you will need to continue to study to at least level 5. However, with this qualification, some employers will employ you as an unqualified teacher or tutor if you have industry experience and allow you to do your level 4 and 5 qualifications whilst you are teaching.
To teach in the post 16 sector, you will usually be expected to have at least a level 3 qualification in the subject you want to teach, level 2 qualifications in maths and English and good digital skills.
If you are studying this course online you will need to ensure you have the technology required to join the teams call with both voice and camera capabilities in order to meet the course requirements.
If you do not have your level 2 qualifications (Level 2 Functional Skills, GCSE grades C/4 and above), you can study for them here at Northern College in a flexible way for free.
On completion of this course, you will achieve:
- NCFE Level 3 Award in Education and Training
Course session dates
- Tuesday 07 May 2024 to Tuesday 07 May 2024
- Monday 13 May 2024 to Tuesday 14 May 2024
- Monday 20 May 2024 to Tuesday 21 May 2024
- Monday 10 Jun 2024 to Wednesday 12 Jun 2024


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Hola chicas!
It's that time again! The images below are of CN readers at their flyyest…at work, on the town, and with the fam. Showing us all that natural hair is not a fad, it's a way of life…an extension of our beauty!
#twistout – @milkandhoney71
FROHAWK!!! Preview for tonight's wedding look!! #naturalhairdontcare#teamnatural – @live_love_perfection
My braidout #day3 – @lexikib
fresh curls omw to work. Tucked in those bad boys!!! – @grai_c
#FierceFriday #CurlyNikki – @contessalouise
Wash and go 1 year and two days after Big Chop. #fiercefriday #curlynikki – @happysmilesgirl
I tried a braid out last night for the first time and even though I was walking around looking like Felicia for a minute, I like the results! #teamnatural#curlyhairdaily #curlbox #byefelicia #lol – @yjewmad
Diggin my eyes tonite… – @1facebygrace
#FierceFriday #curlynikki took a chance on a Bantu knot out chilling at home one weekend – @goldenladyp
**To submit**
If you want to be featured in the next #FierceFriday, all you have to do is upload your favorite pics to Instagram (@curlynikki) with the tags #FierceFriday and #CurlyNikki.
Be sure to share a brief description of the style, where you were headed, why you felt amazing!


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See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See 'Death of a Bookman' by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of 'Books and Bookmen' at the time of Dosse's suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. This item is 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and creased and folded twice for postage. Signed 'Stuart Hampshire'.
[12] + 158 + [8]pp, 12mo. In buff printed wraps. Advertisements at front and rear. Aged and worn, but tight and complete. Packed with revealing information under the main headings: Legal Study; Government Service; Agricultural; Forestry; Universities and Colleges; Teachers' Diplomas; Colleges for Women; Medical Study and Diplomas; Accountants; Engineering and Technology; Architecture; Art Schools; Commerce; Languages; Coaches and Private Tutors; Schools; Exemptions. Ownership signature at head of front cover: 'R. M. J. Knaster'. In addition to being listed under 'Educational Advisers.
This item appears to relate to the efforts of Sir William Parkhurst to raise money in order to pay fines and other demands made on him as a royalist by the Commonwealth. Parkhurst had served as Warden of the Royal Mint from 1623 until its seizure by Parliament in 1642, being deprived of his post the following year. By the time of the present letter his circumstances become so straitened that he was obliged to sell his family's Kent estates, to which he had retired after the fall of Oxford in 1646.
2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded twice. In a letter sadly lacking in spoonerisms, Spooner writes that he is sending the unnamed recipient 'a form of Entrance for our Scholarships', advising him 'to come up as early in the day as possible', as the examination is held in term time, and 'I fear you may have some difficulty in finding lodgings'. He continues, regarding lodgings: 'If we can hear of any we can recommend notice of they will be sent to the Porter's Lodge, and you should make enquiries there'.
For both Moore and Pierce see their entries in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to reverse of blank second leaf. The certificate is written by another party, with Moore signing and dating at the foot: 'Norman Moore | M.D. | Warden of the College | Oct. 5.
3pp., 4to. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and worn. Docketed: 'Application of the Revd. Robt. Whiston to make Dock & use Creek'. Written in a hurried hand.
On one side of a 9 x 11 cm piece of grey paper. In a minuscule hand, with the recipient's name has been scored through: 'Dear Mr. <?>, | Will you come to supper on Thursday? | Yours sincerely, | Florence James'.
15pp., folio, on 10 leaves of laid paper. In a number of hands, with marginal glosses. In good condition, on aged paper. The conclusion reads: 'Wee will also &c that ye aforesaid Sr. Jno Foster have &c these our Letters Patent under our great Seal of England &c without fine or Freedom because before mentiond & expressed &c in Witness &c Tested at Gothamburg ye 28th. of March'. On reverse of last leaf: '17. Eliz. [i.e. 1575]. The document begins: 'The Queen to all to whom &c.
4pp., folio. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly-aged. With facsimile signature of 'George Courthope'. The document begins: 'Dear Sir, | The last Report to the Livery was issued in Professor Hutton's Prime Wardenship at Christmas, 1942. I succeeded him in May, 1943, and this Report coincides with the end of my term of office and the declaration of Peace in the West.
On both sides of the 11 x 9 cm card. Very good, with light signs of age. He feels he must thank him for 'two numbers of the North American Review, both containing interesting articles'. despite 'their anti English spirit'. He was glad to read 'Bryce's article' to which he feels 'some injustice has been done'.
Both items in fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Letter One: 4pp., 12mo. Harvey begins: 'Of course I well remember the too short time when I had the pleasure of being your colleague at the British Museum.' He would like to see Aldrich's 'old Dutch masters' but may not be able to visit him at Bowes Park before 'returning to reconstruction work in France in which I am interested'. He suggests a meeting in the new year, before enquiring whether Aldrich has 'got Sir Sidney Colvin's opinion of your Old masters. He is very interested in these things.' Letter Two: 2pp., 4to.
Nineteen items, in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, arranged in the following description into seven sections: ONE. Nine Autograph Letters Signed (two more are in sections Two and Three below) from DJ to ASB. Totalling 3pp., 4to; 15pp., 12mo (12 of them landscape); 5pp., 16mo. Four dating from 1963, one from 2004, and the other four undated (but apparently also from 1963). One signed 'Douglas', another 'D. J.', and the other seven signed in full. All but one, which is addressed to 'Alan', addressed to 'Baxendale'. Eight on letterheads of the School of History, Birmingham University.
Each of the four items has text clear and complete. The four are in fair condition, on aged paper, with minor staining from the paperclip used to attach them, and a small closed tear at the foot of the first letter. Letter One to 'Dear Mrs Chapman'; the other three to 'Dear Ronnie'. Letter One (4to, 2 pp): 19 November 1938. Chapman (referred to throughout as 'Ronnie') has not been well, and Fisher makes a suggestion to his mother regarding his 'future': 'Cecil Rhodes spent seven years on this process and never regretted it.
Both items good, on lightly-aged paper. Letter One: 4to, 1 p. Begins 'The College today at its Special General Meeting did itself the honour of electing you to an Honorary Fellowship. We trust that it may not be unacceptable to you to be thus associated with our Society. There are no duties, save that of wearing a surplice in Chapel on Sundays and Feasts of the Church.' He thanks Gore for his 'generous words' of the previous day. Letter Two: 4to, 2 pp.
8vo: 12 pp (unpaginated). Wraps and stapled. Fair: on aged and lightly-creased paper. A few marks in pencil and red pencil (on two occasions 'my "Owner" ' in the text noted as 'Lord R.'). Stamped with limitation number 57. Printed in small type in double column. In his introductory note Warden explains that the text is 'made up of extracts from a diary, which I more or less kept, and letters sent home during a recent voyage of 20,000 miles.
On piece of laid paper (roughly 8.5 x 16 cm) cut from diary. On aged paper with wear and 1 cm closed tear at head. Clear and clean signature, beneath the heading 'July 17'.
Four pages, 12mo. Very good, with unobtrusive remains of stub along one edge. In interesting letter discussing the state of the English stage. Her tardy response is due to 'pressure of work". 'What you say about the present condition of the stage is only too true.
English jurist (1843-1914), Warden of All Souls college, Oxford. Two pages, 12mo. On discoloured, grubby, creased paper, with a small closed tear and some bleeding due to damp on the verso. Extensive damp damage to blank second leaf of bifoliate. Docketed as 'To Pinkham'. Before leaving Oxford the previous week he 'ordered a somewhat miscellaneous collection of books' to be sent to his correspondent's library. 'It was a small collection - a few biographies, some college histories and one or two books which chanced to be in the booksellers catalogue & which looked interesting.
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Kathmandu, March 6
Regular flights on the Pokhara-Jomsom route have started from Sunday.
Pokhara and Jomsom are among the major tourist attractions in the Annapurna region of Nepal. Pokhara, which is the entry point for all treks in the Annapurna region, has started operating local flights to Jomson after many years.
Tara Air has started flying on this route. The route has been closed since last December after the start of the third wave of Covid-19.
According to Tara Air, a total of five flights were operated on Sunday alone. According to the company, more Indian nationals and some foreign passengers flew in it. On this route, Tara will fly daily. Passengers traveling to Muktinath, in particular, will benefit from this route.


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Maggi Liquid Seasoning 100ml
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Maggi Liquid Seasoning is a strong aromatic liquid flavouring. Simply add Maggi Liquid Seasoning drop by drop to bring out the delicious flavours in your stir-fries, casseroles, soups and sauces! Suitable for vegetarians, it's great to add a delicious roasted flavour to vegetarian dishes.
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Maggi® was founded in 1872 by Swiss entrepreneur Julius Maggi, a pioneer of food production who was passionate about producing accessible, deliciously nutritious food. Today, this passion lives on in everything we do over at Maggi®.
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Use in cooking to bring out the flavours of any savoury dish
Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein (Water, Wheat Protein, Salt), Water, Flavourings (with Wheat), Flavour Enhancers (Monosodium Glutamate, Disodium Inosinate), Salt, Sugar
Allergy Information : Contains: Wheat


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Madagascar is in a political stalemate following the coup three years ago that led the elected president, Marc Ravalomanana, into exile in South Africa. The President of the Transitional Board, Andry Rajoelina, has not shown any real intention to relinquish power to an elected president. When the roadmap for a solution to the political crisis was signed in mid-September 2011, many saw a solution to the crisis. One year later, the flock looks just as difficult.
The roadmap was signed by ten political parties including the political groupings of former presidents Albert Zafy and Marc Ravalomanana. Only President Didier Ratsiraka failed to sign. The signing of the document, negotiated by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), triggered spontaneous applause from all those present, which saw the potential for a resolution of the political crisis following the March 17, 2009 coup.
The coup-maker Rajoelina in the UN
Immediately after the signing, Transition President Rajoelina was accepted as a head of state in the UN. In contrast to the embarrassing situation in 2009, when he was refused to climb the podium, this time he was given a speech at the 66th UN General Assembly.
In late October 2011, Rajoelina appointed historian Jean Omer Beriziky as new prime minister for a unifying government. In November, a government with ministers from various political groups was in place, including five from Ravalomanana's group. Some time later, the two chambers of the National Assembly, the Transitional Council and the Transitional Congress, were also supplemented by people from groups other than Rajoelina's group. However, President Zafy has stayed away from these transitional institutions because he believes that Rajoelina does not respect the road map's demands for balance between the groupings. Rajoelina will make a one-sided transition, with France's support, Zafy claims. The former colonial power is accused by many of supporting the coup maker Rajoelina, who is also a French citizen.
President Ratsiraka and Ravalomanana
After nine years in exile in Paris, President Ratsiraka returned to Madagascar. On arrival, he sang Edith Piaf's song: " Non, je ne regrette rien…" (No, I regret nothing…) before moving in with his companion to the five-star hotel Carlton. After a few weeks he returned to Paris, allegedly for health reasons.
Ravalomanana also wanted to take the wording of the road map seriously, and on Saturday, January 21, 2012, he made an attempt to fly in from South Africa. The Justice Minister had said he could come back, but that he would be arrested at the airport. Large crowds were gathered to welcome the deposed president back. The plane never came. Before it could land, Rajoelina had closed all international airports in Madagascar. The opposition claimed that this action showed that Rajoelina did not respect the road map he himself signed. Section 20 of the Road Map explicitly states that all gasmen, including Marc Ravalomanana, have the right to return to Madagascar "without conditions".
In autumn 2012, the amnesty laws have not yet come into force, and it is uncertain whether Ravalomanana can stand for new presidential election, which is now set for May 8, 2013. Another round of elections is scheduled for July 3, at the same time as the election of a new national assembly.. With all the delays that have happened in the past, it is still not certain that these choices will be made.
Democracy Square Without Democracy
On the three-year anniversary of the inauguration of the so-called Democracy Square in the capital, ex-President Zafy participated in a marquee outside the gate of the square. None of the attendants were allowed to enter the square, and they were quickly dispersed with tear gas. The television station TV-Plus sent a clip from Rajoelina's speech three years ago, in which he spoke with great words about the importance of democracy. The TV clip was accompanied by a report from today's tear gas campaign.
Madagascar is a divided nation. Investigation into what really happened on "Red Saturday", February 7, 2009, has never been initiated. Three years after the shooting of protesters in front of the presidential palace, a large crowd turned up to remember the victims. It is now claimed that 47 people were killed and 175 injured. President Ravalomanana was made responsible, but it was the leaders of the demonstrations who sent the crowd to the palace that they knew was guarded. The episode became a major factor leading to Ravalomanana's fall.
International embellishment?
When it commemorates the international community, there are signs of softening. It is the signature and implementation of the road map that underlies a somewhat softer attitude. The African Union (AU) and SADC have taken an active part in the mediation processes. The EU has appointed a new EU ambassador to Madagascar, and Rajoelina was given a speech at the UN. All international partners say they want to support a free and independent election process, but it seems Rajoelina will only support elections where he can secure power himself.
The EU provides assistance to Madagascar's population through non-governmental organizations, but has not yet resumed state-to-state cooperation. When half of the government's budget before the coup was secured by aid money, the cut in aid hits the country very hard. The United States continues to support humanitarian work by NGOs, although the possibility of duty-free importation of textile products manufactured in Madagascar has been stopped. As a result, more than 100,000 people were affected by unemployment. Norway closed the embassy in 2010 and now has only one embassy section that sort under the embassy in Pretoria.
Economic decline
In 2009, there was negative economic growth in Madagascar, with a decline of 3.7 percent. In 2010, growth was 0.3 percent. It may reach 2 percent in 2012, if nothing unexpected happens. See Countryaah.com for population and social condition of Madagascar. But this is far from the record year 2003, when growth was 9.8 percent. The World Bank reports that 77 percent of the population now lives in poverty, while in 2005 it was 68 percent. Many can no longer afford health care or schooling for their children. Cattle thieves rage in the south without the authorities being able to stop them. Corruption is flourishing like never before. Fundamental human rights are violated. There is no freedom of assembly, and political prisoners, journalists and others are still behind bars. The universities are on strike because employees are not paid wages.
Still, there are bright spots. The tourism industry is recovering. The mining industry generates increased revenues. The bureaucracy works, albeit slowly. It is possible to get things done in Madagascar through voluntary organizations. Many claim that if there is free elections and Ravalomanana gets a candidate as a candidate, he will win. Although he has made many mistakes, he is one of the country's presidents who has done the most for his own country, supporters say. But as long as the nation bumps and goes, Rajoelina can reign as a monarchical king without caring about democratic rules of the game. But people's impatience with Rajoelina's rule is increasing. Unless the road map is followed up, Madagascar is in a dead end.


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Free Visitors Guide from Big Bear Lake
Attractions: Snow Skiing (winter), Hiking (spring through fall), Mountain Activities
Publication(s) available: Big Bear Visitors Guide
How To Order:
- Go to the BBL Resort Association website
(click the link above to open a new window) - Fill out the form to request a Visitor Guide.
- From the navigation menu on the left side, click the button that says "Free Visitors Guide" (it's a little more than half-way down the menu).
- If space is provided, please let them know that you found their website at LAtourist.com!
BBL Resort Association
630 Bartlett Road
Big Bear Lake, CA 92315
Click here to return to the Free Publications page


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CEW Summer Newsletter
Please enjoy this latest issue of the CEW News: read an update on the CEW Victors for Michigan Campaign, read what we are learning about today's U-M nontraditional students, and meet the CEW Twink Frey Visiting Social Activists for 2015 and 2016.
Here Is the link to our newsletter in an online format:
If you prefer to download a copy of the newsletter, please click on this pdf link: CEW Summer 2015 NewsFinal.pdf
Pictured above are recipients of the CEW 2014-2015 Margaret Dow Towsley Scholarship.
The Towsley Scholarships were established nearly 25 years ago by Margaret Dow Towsley, a force for change in the lives of women and children. Margaret Towsley's legacy grows each year with almost 600 women having pursued degrees with scholarships from that original endowment. CEW is grateful for continued support with a $500,000 grant from the Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation.


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Users' Choice
Milwaukee woman reports burns after Fitbit explosion
Dina Mitchell said she suffered from second degree burns after wearing her Fitbit Flex 2 device for only two weeks.
A Milwaukee woman said she was burned when her fitbit exploded on her wrist.
Dina Mitchell said she suffered from second degree burns after wearing her Fitbit Flex 2 device for only two weeks. "The Fitbit itself is totally melted. The bracelet melted, and I got pieces of plastic burned into my arm," Mitchell said.
Mitchell said her doctor had to pick pieces of plastic out of her wound. According to Mitchell, her fitness tracker exploded while she was reading a book. She said there was no indication anything was wrong with the device prior to the explosion, and Aurora Health Care confirms Mitchell visited urgent care the very next day.
"This a product so many people use. My nephew, their whole class gets these from their teachers, and they wear them," said Mitchell.
The device, however, does come with a warning. The Fitbit website cautions consumers stating: "The device contains electrical equipment that could cause injury if not handled properly."
Mitchell said she was very careful when wearing the device, but that didn't prevent something from going wrong. "If they are exploding or if there's some type of malfunction with them, I mean, I'm going to have a scare from this probably, can you imagine what it would do to a child?" said Mitchell.


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What do you write in an essay conclusion?
What do you write in an essay conclusion?
The last section of an academic essay is the conclusion. The conclusion should reaffirm your answer to the question, and briefly summarise key arguments. It does not include any new points or new information.
What are the three types of conclusion?
In particular, embedded, retrospective, reflective, and projective forms are four main types of conclusions suitable for different academic papers.Embedded Conclusion Example. Retrospective Conclusion Paragraph Example. Reflective Conclusion Sample. Projective Concluding Paragraph.
What is a conclusion in logic?
Conclusion: Logical result of the relationship between the premises. Conclusions serve as the thesis of the argument. Argument: The assertion of a conclusion based on logical premises. Syllogism: The simplest sequence of logical premises and conclusions, devised by Aristotle.
What should Larry's conclusion be?
D) What should Larry's conclusion be? Patrick believes that fish that eat food exposed to microwaves will become smarter and would be able to swim through a maze faster. He has the fish swim through a maze and records the time it takes for each one to make it to the end.
How do you identify a conclusion?
Quite commonly, a conclusion is often preceded by words that describe a judgment, opinion, prediction or conclusion, such as: conclude that, contend that, believe that, hypothesize that or clearly. Such wording allows you to identify the conclusion in no time.


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Deriving a competitive advantage in the complex and rapidly changing business landscape requires a data foundation that can capture critical business data at the velocity at which it is created in its pristine form. Our big data solutions practice can deliver the data lake foundation and governance to capture the data for analytics and process data capability development.
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Interested in our Big Data Solutions?
Our big data solutions are ideal for businesses that are trying to create a robust big data platform to include data lakes, data lake governance and big data analytics solutions in order to support their data science and analytics needs. To learn more about our services and how we can help you create a governed big data platform and solutions, reach out to us today at 919-439-3163 or fill out our contact form to get started.


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If you come in search of a cute humidifier that will also kick butt, here it is. The Veva humidifier is as Apple-esque as you can get without actually being from the brand itself.
Standing only about 1 foot tall and 8 inches wide, the all-white, minimal-buttoned Veva is a cute humidifier that works really well. You don't have to take our word for it, just look at it and decide for yourself.
We've reviewed countless humidifiers in our days. We've handpicked the best humidifier for bedrooms, large rooms, plants, babies, allergies – you name it, we've seen it.
We know a great humidifier when we see one, but not all of the great humidifiers are necessarily a cute humidifier. The Veva humidifier is a stand-out to us to because it looks good and is really an exceptional humidifier.
Can a Cute Humidifier Have Strong Performance?
We've done a formal Veva humidifier review, but here's some fast facts for you.
The Veva model humidifies over 300 square feet of area (323 sq ft range), which is about two times larger than the average bedroom size.
It can run for almost 2 full days (45 hours) without being refilled and still humidifying your dry air.
Even better, the Veva humidifier doubles as a diffuser, too. You can add your favorite essential oil drops into the special aromatherapy box on the side of the model.
Last but not least, this cute humidifier is also super easy to clean. All you need is 5 minutes of your time, a wet towel and some water/detergent.
Are Cute Humidifiers Expensive?
If you're looking for a cute humidifier, you probably don't want the extra $50 that comes with most of them. Other aesthetically-pleasing models like the Miro humidifier cost well over $120. You don't need to spend over $100 on a humidifier just for it not to be an absolute eye sore. At the time of reviewing the Veva humidifier, it was selling for around $50, which for a humidifier-diffuser combination, is very reasonable.
Veva Cool Mist Humidifier
The Veva humidifier is the best of the best when it comes to a cute humidifier with excellent performance. For starters, it features a 4.5 liter water tank that allows for up to 45 hours of runtime.
We found that the Veva model has all of the special bells and whistles that people look for in a humidifier. You can adjust the fog level to your liking and it doubles as an essential oil diffuser, too.
Lastly, it's very safe with an auto-shut off feature and the ability to set a constant humidity level so your walls, floors and furniture stay intact.
Buy Now on AmazonMore Cute Humidifier Options To Choose From
If the Veva humidifier doesn't match your style, we found many more cute humidifier options for you to see. Our humidifier experts think we've seen just about every humidifier on the market, so we picked over other 4 cute humidifiers to complete our top 5 guide.
ASAKUKI 500ml Premium
The Asakuki Premium is a very cute humidifier at a very affordable price. At the time of this article, our review was accompanied by 38,000+ other happy customers, too.
We enjoyed the remote that was included as sometimes you're sitting on the couch and want to change the humidity level in your home or turn off the device altogether.
As with the Veva humidifier, the Asakuki also doubles as a diffuser.
Downside: With only a 1/2 liter tank, you'll need to refill this humidifier constantly.
Buy Now on AmazonFrida 3-in-1 Cute Humidifier
If you're afraid of the dark and enjoyed the Apple-esque appeal of the Veva humidifier, the Friday 3-in-1 humidifier might be your favorite cute humidifier.
The Frida is a great humidifier + diffuser combination. Unlike the two humidifiers above, it also acts as a nightlight.
Downside: For a decently priced humidifier, the Frida was the most difficult humidifier we tested to clean. It accrued mold very quickly as a result.
Buy Now on AmazonPure Enrichment PureSpa XL
The PureSpa XL was a great humidifier on most accounts. Its color-changing technology was a nice touch that allows it to match any room decor.
This device ran for almost 50 hours without requiring a refill. That stretch is tied with the Veva humidifier for the longest of any cute humidifier that we tested.
Downside: Our biggest complaint with this humidifier was that each time we cleaned it, the device wouldn't restart right away.
Buy Now on AmazonKelmar Ultrasonic Cute Humidifier
We laughed when we first received the Kelmar humidifier because it was shaped exactly like a water bottle by our humidifier expert. Jokes aside, this humidifier was a lot better than we expected.
This device has an auto-shut-off feature, which makes some folks super happy and others, not so much. Either way, it has the second-smallest water tank and runtime of any cute humidifier we examined.
It's easier to clean and refill water on the Kelmar, which is something that we found very important if you plan to use your humidifier year-round or for a full season.
Downside: Although performance was fine, we did drop the device and it immediately cracked, rendering it un-usable. We tried to get a replacement via the manufacturer and were unsuccessful.
Buy Now on Amazon


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People who give up (relinquish) their cats frequently state that they are allergic to their cat and therefore they have to give him/her up. In fact "owner allergies" is the second most frequent reason for giving up a domestic cat to a shelter. The number one reason by the way is "too many cats in home".
"A true cat person never lets anything get in the way of love. even a cat allergy is a minor inconvenience."
The fact of the matter is that a study discovered that "among the individuals relinquishing a cat for allergy reasons 11% nevertheless still own at least one other cat".
When they were queried about this, other reasons were given for abandoning their cats besides an allergy to cats. Often the true reasons were too many household pets and cat behavioural issues (but not cat aggression problems). In other words, the true reasons were very vague and/or really human orientated (personal reasons) by which I mean the owner had decided to give up their cat and that there is no true or good reason behind it.
The reason why people not infrequently cite an allergy to cats as a reason for giving a cat up is because it is less socially stigmatising. It is an excuse which absolves the owner of any wrongdoing. It sets them free of guilt provided they can convince themselves that it is true and it avoids any criticism – unless they are not believed and I'd that bet shelter staff (or vets) don't always believe them.
Citing "personal reasons" as the reason why an owner gives up their cat is most often given by individuals with extremely low incomes. In fact, 44% of the reasons by low income individuals for giving up a cat were due to personal reasons. Personal reasons is a very general, generic reason and one which is centred around the individual person and has next to nothing to do with the cat that they are giving up.
I think the "I'm allergic to cats" excuse for giving up a cat is a very convenient one but it should not necessarily be accepted as true.
Please comment on Facebook as well as it helps spread the word – thanks.
Source: USA – 1990 – Regional Shelter Relinquishment Survey Study. The study involved 12 shelters in 6 states for one year.


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Unmatched Honing Support
At Ohio Tool Works, our commitment to quality not only applies to our precision honing equipment, honing tooling and abrasive stones, but also for our customer support programs. From initial consultation through aftermarket supply, OTW offers an unparalleled combination of high-end expertise and hands-on support.
As an OTW customer, you can expect to speak to knowledgeable, dedicated personnel who will help you get the right answers to your honing issues quickly, whether they're product- or process-related.
Because our vertical honing and horizontal honing machines are so well built and simply designed, the answer to your issue oftentimes can be handled in a single phone call. For machinery repairs or more complicated application-related questions, we can offer you support through our remote-access capabilities or on-site technical support, providing you the assurance that regardless of the type of honing issue, the only call you need to make is to OTW.
The best example of our commitment to service is our 100% turnkey installation and operator training. Unlike other companies, we won't just deliver your honing equipment, we'll be right there to ensure proper installation and operation – so that you can get on with the business of honing customer parts.
At OTW, we view our customers' ability to maximize productivity, precision and profits as a measure of our success as your honing partner. Contact OTW to learn how we can assist you with your honing issues.
Technical Support
Monday-Friday – 7 am-4:30 pm EST
Tel. 419-281-3700


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Author: Ryan Deiss
Ryan Deiss has been called one of the world's leading digital marketers by Shark Tank star, Daymond John. A best selling author, founder of multiple companies collectively employing hundreds around the globe, and one of the most dynamic speakers on marketing in the United States today, he is undeniably a recognized expert on the digital era.
Conversion Summit Recordings 2019
Sale Page : digitalmarketer.com
This product is available
- A Plan
It is impossible to have a movement without a plan. Nobody wants to follow a leader without a map.
Do you have a plan people can tell others about?
Ask yourself, what is the step-by-step plan for success that you have created for your clients and customers?
- Answer Your Customers' Questions
You need to come down and meet your customers where they are by answering their specific questions.
So answer your customers' questions, no matter how many times you've said the same thing. New customers will have the same questions.
Use AnswerThePublic.com to find the questions your customers are asking and use Quora to answer those questions. Or create a FAQ section on your homepage like we do here…
Questions our customers frequently ask, placed on the DigitalMarketer homepage
So, ask yourself, what are 10-20 ultra-specific questions your customers are asking that you can answer?
- Speak in Absolutes
They speak in absolutes. Just like Gary does here.
Black and white photo of Gary Vaynerchuk speaking from stage with the quote "There has never been a better time, in the history of time, than right now to start a business."
Love 'em or hate 'em. Agree with them or not, they stand for something. Speaking in absolutes tells people what you stand for.
If you qualify everything you say, you may never be wrong, and you may never piss anyone off, but you will risk sounding like you don't stand for anything.
If you stand for everything, you stand for nothing, sort of thing.
So, use these words to convey your authority:
I promise
Going to happen
One thing
No one
When you start getting haters, this is when you know your absolutes are working. This also means you have to be prepared to support your absolutes and be prepared to be challenged.
Get Conversion Summit Recordings


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The Latest GTA High-Rise Land Insights Report from Bullpen Consulting and Batory Management was sent out last week to Bullpen subscribers. You can sign up for future reports via the link at the end of this blog post.
The chart above looks at the average per-buildable-sf land prices over the past 4.25 years in the GTA for the most active neighbourhoods. Summerhill and Yorkville are the most expensive markets.
To learn more, make sure to read the report. If you're not on the list, make sure you sign up! We review previous land sales where development applications have been recently submitted – this section is a must read!
Thank you to our generous sponsor Baker Real Estate
There is a great summary of the latest report in Storeys, click here to read: High-Density Land Sale Prices in the GTA Are Stagnating


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Tirelle Barron, Michael Munton, Paul Pangaro, Eryk Salvaggio, Fred Steier, and Mark Sullivan
The #NewMacy initiative was conceived in 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Collaborators produced a scholarly rationale grounded in cybernetics that invoked the transdisciplinary history of the original mid-20th century Macy Meetings. As a result of a series of #NewMacy Conversations still ongoing, the initiative has narrowed the focus to the social impact of Today's AI, the pernicious AI algorithms that are core to the large Internet platform companies and that thereby affect the daily lives of so much of the world's population.
Specifically, the call-to-action for #NewMacy is to produce exemplars of alternatives to Today's AI in the form of design patterns and prototypes that return interaction with digital algorithms back to the organic, analogue roots of our individual and social lives. By bringing forth replacements for the algorithms of Today's AI we can foster digital interactions with more humane values and positive outcomes at the level of the individual and the social. Novelty and choice, transparency and conversation can become new core principles for our online lives.
Thus, in a modest but powerful way, #NewMacy affords a new vision for the future of sociotechnical systems where cybernetics becomes a bilingual glue, bringing together the humane qualities of analogue experience and modelling with the effectiveness and efficiencies of digital technology.
Related: Responding the the Pandemic of "Today's AI"
#NewMacy Workshop
This interactive workshop engaged RSD10 participants as collaborators in the process of generating these #NewMacy outcomes. Participants will contribute to the ongoing definition, collection, creation, and critique of designs and implementations, for example by incorporating contemporary work from design, art, architecture, media, systems, and engineering as well as to expand the conversation to new communities.
Given the foundations described above (and in greater detail in the links provided) this interactive session advances the work of #NewMacy, consistent with the emergent and participatory nature of the initiative.
Between the time of this proposal (August 2021) and RSD10, two activities were held: [1] an interactive event hosted by the American Society for Cybernetics on September 19 as part of the related series (@NewMacyMeetings on Twitter), and [2] structured conversations in smaller, focused groups, each of which will develop a draft plan for a specific deliverable that presents an alternative to Today's AI algorithms.
Hence the interactive workshop at RSD10 was designed to engage with participants in expanding the variety of #NewMacy in the form of vetting, critique, and improvement. For the attendees of RSD10, it offered ways of reframing the qualities of AI that we want in our daily lives, exposing a strategy for developing tangible alternatives in the form of design patterns, media art, and prototypes, and offering an entry point to engage in #NewMacy activities.
This interactive workshop viewed RSD10 participants as collaborators in the process of generating these #NewMacy outcomes. Participants contributed to the ongoing definition, collection, creation, and critique of designs and implementations, for example by incorporating contemporary work from design, art, architecture, media, systems, and engineering as well as to expand the conversation to new communities.
Exploring RSD10 themes
Playing with tensions
Cybernetics offers a systemic, transdisciplinary view of purpose in interactions replete with uncertainty; AI offers a transactional, computational view for producing results intended to remove uncertainty. #NewMacy proposes cybernetics as a frame for modelling interactions and as glue for joining the analogue and digital faces (which also constitute tension). The oppositions of cybernetics and AI are many, and the activity of articulating the differences and benefits for each, and embracing them to the extent needed to deploy them both effectively, is a foundational challenge to #NewMacy.
Embracing new complexity, collaboration and contexts in systemic design
AI systems today, for all their internal complexity, rely on models that (over-)simplify the nature of human emotions and decision making, reducing problems to those that an AI can compute. In contrast, cybernetics widens the frame to embrace complex systems with socio-technical contexts and to integrate design within and through that complexity. This requires designers to acknowledge the complexity of the world that they embed new systems within, encompassing collaboration and contextual awareness.
Breaks in scale
Pandemics are of massive scale; no less so the pandemics generated by Today's AI. #NewMacy is specifically cast toward individuals forming expert groups that create exemplars to offer alternatives. The goal is not to trounce existing platform companies from top-down (for example, by attempting to gather forces toward government regulation) but rather by example to influence designers, teachers, students, entrepreneurs, and businesses to deploy alternatives that are in service of human values first, and revenue later. This is inherently a bottom-up effort working from the micro-level.
Clearly the issues with AI – its creation and its deployment – is a social issue as well as a technological one. By creating exemplars that offer technological alternatives that embody social values, the effort is squarely in the socio-technical realm.
Collaboration and transdisciplinary working
The #NewMacy is grounded in the history of transdisciplinary effort from cybernetics and the original Macy Meetings. Furthermore, we seek to design Conversations that are transglobal and transgenerational. The effort is fundamentally collaborative. See Design+Conversation.
Workshop format
120 minutes | maximum number of participants 50 | We are currently exploring collaborative platforms such as ohyay.co
Workshop Agenda: #NewMacy
The planned structure for the interaction session is:
- Capsulize the activities of #NewMacy to-date
- Icebreaker: Expose the issues that surfaced thus far about the terms 'analogue' and 'digital'
- Capture new feedback and insights about possible pitfalls and value in using the terms, and how
- Break into small groups, each to explore a specific proposal for producing an alternative to the algorithms of Today's AI
- Create a visual model for capturing insights
- Return to plenary to share each group's model and insights with everyone.
- Gather any unaddressed questions and seek gaps in prior thinking
Why "Today's AI" as a phrase? Not all AI is negative—yet so much of the artificial intelligence inside of today's tech is manipulating what we see and distorting the world we share. Fueled by massive increases in "big data" and compute power, the machine-learning algorithms behind "Today's AI" are tirelessly fomenting polarization, spreading social bias, pushing irrelevant products, co-opting our attention, addicting us to harmful activities, and surveilling our lives. A single, unregulated, global social-media platform, implicated in that litany of harm, has 2.8 billion active users. The Internet and its ubiquitous digital devices touch over 4.5 billion people. Surely "Today's AI" is a pandemic of technology at global scale. – pangaro.com/designconversation
Follow up (2021-11-04)
A number of new tensions emerged, too, for example, between the individual and collective — when we look at an individual through a "digital" framework, then we can optimize their pleasure in ways that harm the collective. Even solutions viewed through this lens become more complex: if we allowed data ownership, or paid people for data, then what about the social and collective harms of filter bubbles and optimized media delivery?
– Related Cybernetic Forests post by Eryk-Salvaggio
PDF version