text:
THE President, Computer Forensic Institute of Nigeria (CFIN), Dr. Peter Olayiwola, has urged the Federal Government to use computer forensic technology in its fight against menace of insurgency in the country.
Olawiyo who disclosed this during media briefing on the 2014 International Digital, Mobile and Computer Forensic conference in Abuja at the weekend, stated
that the field of forensic and cyber-crime investigation is the most important for national security.
that the field of forensic and cyber-crime investigation is the most important for national security.
According to him: "Developed nations are using it effectively and we also in the country must look up to use it. We do not have to reinvent any wheel, the wheel is already there. All we need to do is to open our eyeshadow to decide how to apply the technology.
"What we may not realize is that, in the planning of insurgency, technology is used and it is the field of computer forensic that can be used used to do some intelligence gathering," he said.
He said that there was a need for the law enforcement agencies in Nigeria to change the way in they conduct investigations.
"There must be change of paradigm. Our law enforcement agencies must change the way the conduct investigation. They cannot continue the way they conduct investigations before there is a need for a change.
Speaking further, Olayiwola explained that that the conference was organized to assist in the rapid development of capacity in digital mobile and computer forensics, and cyber security.
"This conference brings together practitioners from diverse fields of enforcement agencies in Nigeria discuss
the relevance of digital, mobile and computer forensics to counter terrorism and insurgency in Nigeria.
"They will learn how to use digital, mobile and computer forensics to tackle and prevent the menace of terrorism, insurgency and cyber attacks in West Africa sub-region.
"Our law-enforcement agents, investigators prosecutors, magistrates, lawyers, legislators, information communication technology and information security professionals, auditors/inspectors accountants and administrators, etc. will greatly benefit from the conference," he said.
Guardian Newspaper
Guardian Newspaper


text:
Writing a CV
The purpose of the CV is to get an interview. It should show that you have achieved things the employer is looking for. CVs need to remain flexible – you may send out slightly different CVs to every prospective employer. Each should be tailored to your specific skills and experiences in relation to the job for which you are applying. The information below is meant as a general guideline, but if you want more specific suggestions on writing CVs for artists, visit Artquest.
Your CV should be clean, concise and easy to read. It is an example of your written communication skills. There should be no errors, including spelling errors or grammatical errors. It should be easy to copy, email and print from PDF form.
If the design is too elaborate, it could be difficult to read or not to the taste of the employer and could prevent you from getting an interview. Balance white space with text. A standard layout is to have headings on the left:
- Name
- Address
- Email address
- Website
There is no need to put marital status or date of birth on the CV.
Add a brief statement - your 10 second pitch
This can be a career summary, a profile, an objective or an artistic statement. It should bring together your skills and experiences, qualifications and achievements. It should make the employer want to learn more. It should be factual and focused and maybe contain some highlights from your CV. Chose three to six skills or traits that tie in with what the employer is looking for. If you choose to write a cover letter instead - some jobs require one - you can leave out this statement as long as you incorporate the above into a business-format letter delivered simultaneously with your CV.
Follow with your work experience
Include what you did, not just what you were responsible for or what your title was:
- Company or job title
- Time in the position/with the company
- Skills used or responsibilities
Typically, your experience should be listed in reverse chronological order - this works best if your career has followed a logical progression:
|BBC Television, London, 2010
|Position: Freelance Motion Graphics Designer
|Responsibilities: Created 10 second stings for commercial idents
|Dazed & Confused, London, 2009
|Position: Freelance Graphic Designer
|Responsibilities: Designed editorial content, commissioned illustrators and photographers
|Pentagram, London, 2008 - 2007
|Position: Design intern
|Responsibilities: Assistant to Angus Hyland
Alternatively, your CV can be functional, organising your career by skills and experience, such as 'project management skills' or 'design skills'. You may find this useful if you are looking to change careers or if your job titles, companies or industries do not reflect the type of work you are looking for:
|Project Management Skills
|Studio Manager
|Hackney Artist-led studios with open access print room for public, London, 2010
|Responsibilities: organising artists and studio space; financial management; funding applications; liaising with general public; providing print assistance
|Curator/Project Manager and successful Arts Council applicant
|Nether/Land; Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2009
|Dutch/British group digital print show
|Responsibilities: writing proposals, catalogue and press releases; financial management; organising UK/overseas artists and transit; curating artwork; event management
|Curator/Project Manager
|RCA Printmaking Interim Show; London, 2008
|Responsibilities: writing press releases; organising artists; curating artwork; event management
Supplement by telling your story
The rest of your CV should support your application by showing relevant experience that supplements your job application. There should not be any time gaps, even if you did take time out to travel. Put this in – it all adds to your experience.
- It might be best to start with your college experience. State your degree(s) and awards and years in attendance
- List significant projects that would be relevant to the job you are applying for. It is important to state what you achieved. Sometimes the job itself might not appear to be that relevant - but your achievements demonstrate transferable skills. This is especially important if you have less than five years of experience
- Make the CV relevant to the job. Use your college experience as work experience. Aim to devise case studies that demonstrate what you have accomplished in ways that will be relevant for the job - you may have organised a seminar, participated in a public forum, won a competition, etc.
For less than 10 years of experience, your CV should be no more than two pages.
Key points
- The employer should be able to read your CV quickly
- After your personal details, give a concise profile or artist statement
- List your experience in reverse chronological order
- Quantify your achievements – state not only what you were responsible for, but also what you achieved
- Keep the layout simple and easy to email or print
- Find out what is required in the position you are applying for and make sure your CV addresses this
- There should be no mistakes on your CV, or in your covering letter. Get your spelling and grammar checked over by someone with good written English

subset: commoncrawl


text:
- Lighting
- Spotlight
- Lanterns
- Fresnel Pole Op
- Spotlight Combi Fresnel For 2000/2500W, Fitted With 3 Way Pole Operated Yoke
Spotlight Combi Fresnel For 2000/2500W, Fitted With 3 Way Pole Operated Yoke
|Product Code
Request more information or contact us now for purchasing information.
The Spotlight pole operated theatrical lighting range is ideal for safe and easy adjustment of static lighting fixtures without the need for any working at height equipment, making it ideal for educational establishments, amateur theatres, conference auditoriums, tradeshow stands and performance venues.
Most of the luminaries of "Spotlight" production can be supplied with Pole Operated Function with two or three movements according to the models.
All the pole operated yokes are equipped with a clutch system that prevents the damage of the gear boxes in case of manual focusing or when stocking the fixture on the shelf.
Key Features
- Adjust the pan, tilt & focusing of lighting fixtures from the ground
- Puts staff & students in control of the lighting
- Lower cost alternative to expensive moving lights
- Focus light without the need for ladders or scaffold towers
- Clutch system prevents damage to the gearboxes when manually focusing the fixtures or hanging them for storage
Equipment available to buy from this site is for professional use only. Please note in certain countries some products listed may not be available from A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd.
E&OE. Information is subject to change without notice. The rights and ownership of all trademarks are recognised.


text:
TASTE testing of fish from the area near the Elgin rig gas leak in the North Sea has shown they are "untainted", according to the Scottish Government.
A research vessel collected fish, water and sediment from the edge of the two-mile exclusion zone around Total's platform over the weekend.
The first stage of testing of the fish samples involved a panel of specially trained sensory testers at Marine Scotland Science in Aberdeen, who can detect the taint of hydrocarbon contamination.
They concluded that the samples contained no trace of hydrocarbons.
However, full chemical testing of all environmental samples is being carried out, with initial results expected by the end of this week.
Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said: "The environmental impact of this gas leak has been minimal so far. However, it's important we take precautions and analyse all available data. Therefore, it's reassuring that sensory testing of the fish samples gathered by the Alba na Mara (vessel) have found they are untainted by hydrocarbons.
"Full chemical analysis work, including water and sediment samples, is ongoing and will provide further clarification on any impact.
"We will continue our monitoring activities for the duration of this incident so we can assess any impact on the marine environment and respond as needed."
The platform, around 150 miles off Aberdeen, was evacuated when it began leaking gas over two weeks ago.
Oil and gas company Total is still working on plans to stop the leak. A team of specialists flew out to the platform last week to gather information.


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Payette Brewing Gelande Quaffing is back! Bigger and better than ever - come thirsty and ready to compete or watch one of the best drinking competitions ever... a Payette Brewing tradition!
New to Gelande Quaffing? Legend has it the sport of Gelande Quaffing began when skiers, bending an elbow, watched as a mug of beer sent sliding down the bar fell off the edge - where it was plucked out of mid-air and chugged by a drinking game pioneer. Right then and there, a new sport was born.
If you're new to this sport, check out this video from Powder Magazine!
Payette Brewing Tap Room
Saturday // February 17 // 1:00pm - 6:00pm
» 16 teams of four
» Double elimination
» $40 per team
» Fee includes: BEER, MUG, FUN
» RAD PRIZES for winning teams
» Theme: Board Shorts and Bikinis
» Teams arrive at 12:30pm ready to quaff!
733 S. Pioneer Street
Boise, ID 83702
First Place » $25 Gift Card, Ceramic Mug & Koozie from KEYSTONE Station
Second Place » One case of 22oz Eight Second Rye'd Imperial IPAs (12 bottles)
Third Place » Payette Brewing Wool Snapback Hat
Parrilla Grill
Saturday // March 3 // 1:00pm - 6:00pm
» 16 teams of four
» Double elimination
» $40 per team
» Fee includes: BEER, MUG, FUN
» RAD PRIZES for winning teams
» Theme: Après Ski
» Teams arrive at 12:30pm ready to quaff!
1512 N. 13th Street
Boise, ID 83702
PRIZES »»»»» (More prizes TBD)
First Place » Free frames from Proof Eyewear
Second Place » $50 Proof Eyewear Gift Card
Third Place » Wooden Proof Eyewear Wallet & Croakies
PreFunk Beer Bar
Saturday // March 10 // 1:00pm - 6:00pm
» 16 teams of four
» Double elimination
» $40 per team
» Fee includes: BEER, MUG, FUN
» RAD PRIZES for winning teams
» Theme: Rockstar
» Co-Host: Treefort Music Fest
» Teams arrive at 12:30pm ready to quaff!
Visit PreFunk Beer Bar's Website
1100 W. Front Street
Boise, ID 83702
First Place » 5 Day Treefort Music Fest Pass & $25 KEYSTONE Station Gift Card
Second Place » Single Day Treefort Pass & Ceramic mug from KEYSTONE
Third Place » Knitting Factory Tickets & Koozie from KEYSTONE
R Bar
Saturday // March 17 // 1:00pm - 6:00pm
» 16 teams of four
» Double elimination
» $40 per team
» Fee includes: BEER, MUG, FUN
» RAD PRIZES for winning teams (Prizes TBD)
» Theme: St. Patty's Day
» Teams arrive at 12:30pm ready to quaff!
1041 S. Broadway Avenue
Boise, ID 83706
Here's how the games go…
The first and most important rule, if you are watching or playing and you berate any of the judges, you will be asked to leave or disqualified.
The gist of the game: Two teams will play at the same time, side by side. Each game lasts for one minute.
Wants points? Here's how you get them! Once the round starts, teams must slide their mug down the table with mugs filled to the appropriate fill line. You are playing with your team the entire round next to an opposing team. Two players start out at each end of the table. Player one slides one mug down to his or her teammate who must catch the beer, drink the beer and the TAP THAT MUG ON THE TABLE before the next mug can be launched to player two. If the next mug is thrown before the previous mug has been tapped on the table, that mug slide does not count. Drop your mug? No points for you. Catch the mug by the glass itself? Your team gets one point. Grab the mug by the handle? Congratulations – you get two points. Get creative when catching those mugs, judges might praise you with some style points!
If you break your mug, you must purchase something from the establishment hosting the event to get another one.
Judges will add up points at the end of each round to let you know who won. Remember its double elimination so even if you lose, you might get another shot!
In the case of a tie…drumroll please…we go into a QUAFF OFF! The two teams who tied will have ONE throw to impress the crowd. Judges are invalid at this point. Your goal is to get the crowd hyped and cheering loudly for you – they decide who moves on to the next round. If your team gets sent to a Quaff Off, you and your teammates will have one minute to delegate amongst yourselves to create a game plan. Our advice? Come prepared. Bring props. Once that minute is up, send over your team captain. The winner of rock, paper, scissors will decide who goes first. There are no limitations to this round as long as you are being safe! Your entire team can participate in this one throw. You can throw one mug, two mugs, even a pitcher! Get creative! You only have one shot!
After both teams have gone, the crowd cheers and the judges pick a winner based on the crowd's liveliness. Again, no berating the judges.
And the game continues until we have a First, Second and Third place winner. One last note, during the championship round, games move from one minute to one minute and thirty seconds.
We can't wait to see what you and your team have in store!
Throw the beer. Catch the beer. Drink the beer.


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All this hoo-hah about Betjeman has thrown up some undesirable individuals. First there is AN Wilson, a Tory hack at the Evening Bastard, who has written an otiose biography of the former Poet Laureate. This biography features a recently discovered love letter from Betjeman which was supposed to disprove the notion that he was a sexually rather lethargic and disappointed man. It now turns out that the letter was a hoax, conjured up by Bevis Hillier, himself a former biographer of Betjeman (the first letters of each sentence read "A N W I L S O N I S A S H I T". Despite the good joke, Hillier seems like a bit of a prick too.
In fact, Betjeman himself comes across as something of a daisy, surrounded by a crowd of giant hogweeds, all leeching off of him. Only problem is, Betjeman was not much of a poet.
So, somewhat fed up with Dan Cruickshank and Rick Stein banging on about what John Betjeman means to them, I am going to introduce another villain onto the scene: a truly vile man who was, alas, the best British poet of the latter twentieth century. Larkin was a febrile racist, a misogynist, and a lover of pornography (which, personally, I don't think is so bad a trait); but the best of his poetry (and some of it is simply maudlin) deploys melodrama to great effect. He is no stranger to sentimentality, and his fixation with death is no more real or stoic than Betjeman's own flights of fancy. And I can't really say I buy any forecast of death - "the total emptiness of forever" - which denies the emptiness of the present.
But, whereas I find it difficult to read prose which I disagree with (Evelyn Waugh, for example, often makes me laugh, but I think he is a fairly lousy novelist, because he was so clearly a lousy man with lousy beliefs), the severance of form and content comes easier with poetry. I can read "Aubade" and refute its facile despondency, while still deeply appreciating its tone, which is grave, sombre and stately. Larkin reminds me of what Morrissey would be like if Moz was really miserable.
I work all day, and get half-drunk at night.
Waking at four to soundless dark, I stare.
In time the curtain-edges will grow light.
Till then I see what's really always there:
Unresting death, a whole day nearer now,
Making all thought impossible but how
And where and when I shall myself die.
Arid interrogation: yet the dread
Of dying, and being dead,
Flashes afresh to hold and horrify.
The mind blanks at the glare. Not in remorse -
- The good not done, the love not given, time
Torn off unused -- nor wretchedly because
An only life can take so long to climb
Clear of its wrong beginnings, and may never;
But at the total emptiness for ever,
The sure extinction that we travel to
And shall be lost in always. Not to be here,
Not to be anywhere,
And soon; nothing more terrible, nothing more true.
This is a special way of being afraid
No trick dispels. Religion used to try,
That vast moth-eaten musical brocade
Created to pretend we never die,
And specious stuff that says No rational being
Can fear a thing it will not feel, not seeing
That this is what we fear -- no sight, no sound,
No touch or taste or smell, nothing to think with,
Nothing to love or link with,
The anaesthetic from which none come round.
And so it stays just on the edge of vision,
A small unfocused blur, a standing chill
That slows each impulse down to indecision.
Most things may never happen: this one will,
And realisation of it rages out
In furnace-fear when we are caught without
People or drink. Courage is no good:
It means not scaring others. Being brave
Lets no one off the grave.
Death is no different whined at than withstood.
Slowly light strengthens, and the room takes shape.
It stands plain as a wardrobe, what we know,
Have always known, know that we can't escape,
Yet can't accept. One side will have to go.
Meanwhile telephones crouch, getting ready to ring
In locked-up offices, and all the uncaring
Intricate rented world begins to rouse.
The sky is white as clay, with no sun.
Work has to be done.
Postmen like doctors go from house to house.


text:
Obviously there are many ways to build web apps and many patterns to follow but the thing with scaling is that you have to design your app to scale before you try and scale it otherwise the chances are you will have to change a lot of code or even re-design your application from scratch.
Hopefully the following simple steps will spell out the basics of using Windows Azure Cloud Services (Platform as a Service) and .Net to design your app architecture to scale.
Step 1 - Databases are HARD to scale. Sure you can add more and more data to a database but the more throughput you need, the more memory will be used, the more network bandwidth will be required and generally the slower everything will run. Databases are relatively expensive and scaling them across servers with replication etc. is difficult, expensive, error-prone and is basically best avoided. So what? Keep your database as a database. Do not perform computationally expensive operations in the database. Sure you can crunch data in a stored procedure but you're just eating up valuable CPU cycles, get it out of the database and do the work in a web service or web application instead.
Step 2 - Share your session. Windows Azure does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to scaling. You don't need to worry at all about load balancing, you simply increase the numbers of instances of your web application and Azure load balances them for you. This does mean that the same user accessing the same application might not always hit the same physical web server and that means you cannot keep session in memory - it will not be present on the other machines. You could use a database but that tends to be slower (and see step 1). Azure provides a mechanism to create cache roles (you can have as many of these as you need) and I have taken their suggestion to use at least 3. This allows 1 to die while another might be rebooting and the data is still safe. These are configured in the Azure cloud project settings. You access session in your .Net code in exactly the same way but you configure your session state to use a class called DistributedCacheSessionStateStoreProvider (from Microsoft), which is designed to invisibly work with your cache roles to store your session data. This session has a timeout like any other session and it does pretty much just work.
Step 3 - Because your web application is shared across multiple web servers, you should consider whether this is a problem for your workflow. All of your data should be in the (shared) database or the session so you should not get any other problems as long as you avoid doing crazy stuff in code to store local copies of things. In most instances, you do not have to write your application code any differently just because it is load balanced. You should set a common machine key in your web.config though to ensure that the same value is used for encrypting viewstates and the like.
Step 4 - Do anything resource intensive in the web application. These are the parts that are multiplied when scaling up so it makes sense to do the hard stuff here, not in the database or anything other shared service.
Step 5 - Use shared storage. Whereas you might normally store files or objects in the local file system, this is obviously not usually possible in a scaled environment since only one instance of the web application can access its local file system. Most (all?) cloud providers, including Azure, provide storage services that are accessed via URL. You can upload/retrieve/delete these objects in the usual way and they can be accessed either from code using one of the Azure helper dlls or directly via URL (for instance, your web pages can directly embed the links to images so that the request can easily go via a CDN or directly to the storage service without needing to access your web application on the way). These services are usually pretty cheap and the CDN functionality that many provide can also improve the performance of your web application by serving content from locations close to the end-user.
Step 6 - Start simple and add functionality. Some bugs are hard to track down and fix so be sensible! Start with a small basic app and add the features, one at a time, and make sure they work before adding another one. This way, you can sort out issues as they arise rather than peeling through several layers of unknowns to find out what's wrong.
Be warned that there are different versions of Azure floating around, especially in online examples. Something that maybe used to work 3 years ago might not work any more because it is deprecated in a new library. Other class names were re-used but did different things just to add to the confusion. Stack Overflow should help you find the answers you need!


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For those of you not familiar with it, ABC's Wide World of Sports was a sports anthology series that ran on ABC. It began in 1961 and ran all the way until 1998.
Wide World Of Sports would feature coverage of sporting events from around the world. While all the usual popular sports were featued, Football, Baseball, Boxing and so forth, it also would feature a lot of sports and competitions not normally seen on television such as curling, rattlesnake hunting, badmitton, firefighter competitions... the list really does go on and on. I think I could spend all day mentioning the various events covered in their over 40 years on television.
But one of the things it is most remembered for is being the original home to the Harlem Globetrotters and Washington Generals long standing feud.
Starting in 1973 the Wide World of Sports began airing games on January taped somewhere in the world for most years until 1991. Most people know the Washington Generals games against the Globetrotters often use some of the same tricks, so if you were to watch them back to back these days they would look kind of repetitive at times. But in an age before VCR's when watching one of these games was truly a special occasion, once a year was just enough time to keep their signature tricks from ever getting old.
I still remember watching The Washington Generals take on the globetrotters on the Saturdays of my youth. It is some of my favorite memories of the Generals.
Wide World of Sports was cancelled in 1998, but not before becoming part of television Americana and helping launch the Generals and Globetrotters to that same level.
ESPN2 looks prime to once more continue the annual Generals vs Globetrotter games, from appropriately the Wide World of Sports complex. Here is hoping they can bring the same magic and nostalgia to a new generation.
Below are a list of the air dates for the Washington Generals/Harlem Globetrotters games.
- January 13, 1973 - The Washington Generals and Harlem Globetrotters debut on Wide World of Sports
- January 6, 1974 - The Generals take on the Globetrotters in London
- January 26, 1976 - The Washington Generals take on the Harlem Globetrotters in the Attica Correctional Facility
- January 14, 1979- The Generals take on the Globetrotters in the fifth highest rated episode in the shows history
- January 17, 1981 - An episode titles "The Harlem Globetrotters Go Hollywood" has the Generals take on the Trotters in Hollywood, CA
- January 16, 1982 - The Generals take on the Globetrotters at Walt Disney World
- January 22, 1983 - The Generals face off against the Globetrotters in New York, NY
- January 7, 1984 - The Generals and the Globetrotters play in Hong Kong
- February 16, 1985 - The teams face off in New Orleans, LA
- January 11, 1986 - The Generals and the Globetrotters square off in Kansas City, KS
- January 10, 1987 - The Washington Generals face the Harlem Globetrotters in one of their few live televised games once more from Kansas City, KS
- January 2, 1988 - The teams face off in West Beriln
- January 28, 1989 - The Generals and the Globetrotters go down under in Sydney, Australia
- January 13, 1990 - The Washington Generals face the Harlem Globetrotters in Paradise Island in the Bahamas.
- February 2, 1991 - The Generals face the Globetrotters for the last time on Wide World of Sports at Disney MGM Studios
- May 22, 1993 - The Harlem Globetrotters make an appearance in a retrospective episode.


text:
Issued to coincide with the band's official documentary, Westway to the World, this album of live recordings featured material from every phase of their career.
A re-vamped edition if the 1981 rarities album included all of the band's B-sides, many of which were unavailable on CD at the time.
Listen in now to exclusive 30-40 min documentary style podcasts recorded at Wise Buddah Studios in London in June 2013.
Featuring Mick, Topper and Paul in coversation with Johnny Green - their tour manager - on their cultural
influence and sharing their fabourite music. In the two chapters out now, the band reflect on the Notting
Hill Riots in 1979 and their unique reggae connection.
Follow to listen to more over the coming weeks, when we'll add more chapters on who they toured with
and what they were all listening to, their sold out shows, sneaking people into gigs, heading to America
and Jamacia and Joe's move to Paris.
Get listening here.
While Mick Jones's spirited garage rock tune Should I Stay Or Should I Go enjoyed significant radio play, the single was released as a 'double A-side'.
Developed from a piano riff that Topper Headon had written, the drummer's words were eventually replaced with Joe Strummer's lyrics about rock music being banned under fundamentalist religious regimes.
Recorded in New York, this album soaked up the atmosphere of the city's vibrant hip-hop and graffiti art scenes, mixing funk, rock, hip-hop and reggae.
With its Spaghetti Western feel, the tracks satirical lyrics were inspired by ska legend Prince Buster's listing of his directives of the Ten Commandments.
Paul's new paintings of all things Biker go on show this Wednesday 21st January at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts, home of so many memorable early Clash gigs.
Paul's been a painter for as long as he's been a musician - it's in the blood: his Dad's a painter and he studied at Byam Shaw School of Art as a teenager.
You can see all the work on his website here, where you'll also be able to buy limited edition prints and Paul's new book featuring the work.
Based on the idea of The Clash transmitting from their own pirate radio station, this track was written on return from their Bond's International Casino residency in New York.
Tune in to BBC Radio 6 on Wednesday April 18th as host Steve Lamacq is joined by The Clash's Mick Jones and Paul Simonon for an hour long special looking at the making of their seminal album London Calling.
Recalling the political climate in 1979, refusing to let record label bosses leave until they acknowledged the album's brilliance, dropping their equipment into the Thames and how the album's success was built on the "Three R's" -- Writing, Recording and Rehearsing.
Recorded in New York in April 1980, this single was one of the first ever rap records made by a British band and one of the earliest rap records full stop.
Released as a 10" vinyl, this rarities album included a version of Capital Radio, made available as a 7" EP in 1977 by the NME.
Celebrating the growth of the independent music scene in Britain, led by labels like Rough Trade and Factory, this track features Meat Loaf's backing singer Ellen Foley on guest vocals.
Controversially released as a 'triple' on three vinyl discs, the record shows the group on a creative roll, adding dub, rap and jazz to an already diverse musical palette
This song confronted the issue of conscription into the armed forces, a threat which remained in America following the Vietnam War.
Claiming that the song sounded like 'David Bowie backwards', the record company refused to release this track until six months later, when the Dutch import edition of the single started selling heavily.
The second US 7" coupled the last track on the London Calling LP (which was not listed on the album's sleeve) with the title track of the album.
Originally released as a double LP, London Calling was recorded with maverick producer Guy Stevens.
The US release came a month later, on January 10th 1980.
This song was written while Strummer was living beside the River Thames on the World's End estate in Chelsea, fuelling the lyrics' apocalyptic vision and the line 'London's drowning but I live by the River'.
The Clash's first US single coupled I Fought The Law with (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais.
This 4-track EP was released to coincide with the General Election in the UK, which put Margaret Thatcher in power.
A re-working of the traditional American Civil War-era song, 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home'.
Exploring the cult appeal of extremist groups like the Red Brigade and Baader-Meinhoff Gang, this single contains drummer Topper Headon's first major contribution to a Clash song- his signature machine-gun drum roll.
The first LP to feature drummer Topper Headon, this record was produced by Blue Oyster Cult's mentor Sandy Pearlman.
This single was the first original song to directly combine rock with reggae.
The 'rockers' of the title refers to a style of reggae, though the song is propelled by a variation on The Who's crashing I Can't Explain riff.
Written at Mick Jones's grandmother's flat on the 18th floor of a council tower block in west London, this track references the unauthorized release of Remote Control and the trouble the band encountered during the White Riot Tour.
This track, which rallies against the UK Establishment, local government, the House of Lords and the police, was released without the group's consent while they were away on tour.
Available by mail order only through the NME, this EP included Capital Radio, the first song to feature drummer Topper Headon.
The first major punk record to be released in the UK; later released in the US on July 23rd 1979.
This debut single was inspired by the Notting Hill riots that took place in August 1976, when Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon were caught up in the chaos.
A unique document of a full in-concert Clash set, the tapes of this recording were discovered by Strummer during a house move.
'Joe Strummer 001' is the first compilation to span Joe Strummer's career outside of his recordings with The Clash and includes fan favourites from his recordings with the 101ers and The Mescaleros, all of his solo albums, soundtrack work and an album of unreleased songs.


text:
Another Man, Issue 26 – SS 2018 (Cover E – Limited Edition)
Shipping Class 2 = 60 SEK
Shipping Class 3 = 90 SEK EUROPE SHIPPING Shipping Class 1 = 100 SEK (approx 10 EUR)
Shipping Class 2 = 150 SEK (approx 15 EUR)
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Another Man is a fashion and culture rich title that speaks directly to a large male audience currently being ignored by both the mainstream and the niche fashion magazines for men. Another Man mixes credible modern Icons with art, music, high impact fashion photography and strong opinionated writing by key cultural voices. A magazine for men who like their lifestyle rocked with passion and intelligence, luxury and a sense of adventure. Working with some of the most influential names in fashion and culture, its impressive cast of contributors includes not only iconic names in fashion photography and styling but also heavyweight international writers and exclusive celebrity contributors. Another Man is for intelligent men who want a definitive guide to fashion, luxury and culture, packaged with great writing and iconic design. Another Man was launched because we wanted an antidote to the lads magazines of the time.
In this issue:
Another Man slip into a netherworld of psychedelic horror…
This season, Another Man presents a series of six covers, each a unique and charged exploration of 'Psychodrama'. First, VINCENT GALLO stars on two covers, photographed by Collier Schorr and styled by Katy England. Inside, the provocative polymath and face of Saint Laurent pens a 5,000-word open letter on everything from narcissism and feminism to Weinstein and Trump, and why he never wants you to see his work.
Photographer Willy Vanderperre and Another Man's creative director Alister Mackie team up once again for a duo of dynamic covers alongside an inside 20-page portfolio. There are also two limited edition fashion covers featuring: the unhinged elegance of COMMES DES GARCONS HOMME PLUS, photographed by Paolo Roversi and styled by Katy England; and a spotlight on the sorceress of British design DILARA FINDIKOGLU, photographed by Luis Sanchis and styled by Ellie Grace Cumming.
Inside, THE CHAPMAN BROTHERS unleash a gallery of warped work made exclusively for this issue; editor-in-chief Ben Cobb meets the master of macabre cinema DARIO ARGENTO to dissect his 40-year-old masterpiece Suspiria, and Tim Blanks talks to Instagram sensation CHRISTOPHER SMITH about his fantastical character portraits and unveils six new eye-popping creations for your viewing pleasure.
Elsewhere, photographers Max von Gumppenberg & Patrick Bienert go on an enchanted trip into the dark heart of Transylvania to shoot the season's collections; surrealist collage-maker PENNY SLINGER presents a 12-page art project of new and remixed work; and there are delirious fashion specials on DIOR HOMME, COACH and FENDI.
Plus: notorious shock-rocker ALICE COOPER remembers his eccentric encounter with SALVADOR DALI; a private tour around the mountaintop museum of Alien-designer HR GIGER; a re-enactment of the evening psychobilly rockers THE CRAMPS took over the Napa State Mental Hospital; a sneak peek into the online world of NICOLAS WINDING REFN; and designer YANG LI possibly unearths a never-before-seen fanzine devoted to WILLIAM S BURROUGHS…
"Welcome to my nightmare, I think you're gonna like it…" Alice Cooper
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A Masterful Compromise on Contraception
I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with the compromise that Obama announced yesterday on religious-affiliated non-profits and birth control. You can read the full details here.
In particular, it hits dead center on the (not-very-convincing) aguments Snowe and Collins used when they recently reversed themselves on the issue, which I outlined at Down East. It's hard to see a rhetorically-consistent way for them to fail to support his plan.
Portland Mayoral Rundown
16(!) people are now signed up to run for mayor of the city of Portland, a new city-wide elected office created by the Charter Commission and approved by referendum. The vote will be conducted using "instant-runoff" or preferential balloting. As a student of political science, I find it all fascinating.
Over at Down East this week, I take a quick look at each of the 16 candidates.
At first blush, it seems that Democrats Michael Brennan, Nick Mavadones and Jill Duson have an early advantage in a city that leans towards their party. Each has run in city-wide (or larger) elections and all three have strong political histories at the city or state level.
I wouldn't count out Dave Marshall, though. As the only Green on the ballot, he'll have a united block of support and he's a dedicated grassroots campaigner. His colorful posters and stickers are already appearing all over the city.
With this many candidates, however, anything can happen.
False Testimony on DeCoster Bill
As I reported a few weeks ago in the Portland Phoenix, the infamous egg magnate Austin "Jack" DeCoster has some friends in the Maine state legislature, which has been considering a law to help out his companies. That initiative may get voted on as early as today.
I have a magazine piece about all this in the forthcoming issue of Down East, but readers won't see that until after the legislature votes on L.D. 1207, an act that will free Mr. DeCoster's companies from the worry that their workers might one day unionize. The Down East article sheds light on the question many have about Mr. DeCoster: how does he keep getting away with it? But there are a couple timely details to report straightaway. Read more »
Bliss Resigns, Prompting Special Election
At Down East today, I take a quick look at the resignation of Democratic State Senator Larry Bliss of South Portland and the special election that will take place after he leaves the Legislature on April 15th.
Bliss, who lost his job at the University of Southern Maine 16 months ago, is leaving for a position in California. He won a very close race in 2010 against local radio personality and small business owner Joe Palmieri.
Cynthia Dill, a Representative from Cape Elizabeth perhaps best known for blogging about herself in the third person, has already tweeted about her desire to seek the seat.
Video after the jump. Read more »
Chances of Snowe: An Early Forecast
In the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel this week, I take a look at some recent maneuvering concerning the 2012 Senate race.
Snowe's announced Republican primary challengers, Andrew Ian Dodge and Scott D'Amboise, may not have what it takes to deny the senior senator her re-election, but there's plenty of time for a more credible opponent to emerge and there seems to be lots of local and national support available for a challenger's campaign.
At Down East earlier this week, I discussed Snowe's responses to a tea party questionnaire, which seems to be another example of her tacking rightward in an attempt to overcome a primary.
If the unlikely came to pass and Snowe was defeated for the 2012 GOP nomination, she would not be able to gain ballot status for the general election as an independent or third party candidate, as Joe Lieberman did in Connecticut in 2006. I believe she would, however, still be able to contest the election as a write-in candidate as Lisa Murkowski did, successfully, in Alaska last year.
LePage Begins Assault on Environment
At Down East, I take a quick first look at the drastic changes to environmental protections proposed by governor LePage in his first list of recommendations to the Legislature's Joint Select Committee on Regulatory Fairness and Reform.
Basically, it's an unprecedented attack on virtually every aspect of Maine's system of environmental and consumer health protections.
The entire list is now available online thanks to the Kennebec Journal.
Election Pool Now Open!
Make your predictions here.
Waving the Bloody Hathaway Shirt
Today at Down East, a summary and some thoughts on LePage's claims of discrimination and other Crazy Train statements.
Reader John Kosinski writes in with some further questions about the episode:
Other questions remain of the whistle stop tour. For example, we learned through the PPH that the train ride was intended to be a fundraiser for LePage. Mainers willing to shuck out $750 were given special VIP access to the candidate. Who exactly paid $750 for this train ride? Last time I checked, one could ride from Brunswick to Rockland for a mere $42. Why would someone fork over $708 extra dollars for a train ride with Paul LePage? What kind of access were they given?
When the PPH called LePage's office seeking a comment, his chief of staff told the PPH reporter she needed to talk with Paul. But Paul wasn't available. He was out of town. Let me guess... was he on an out-of-town fundraising junket? Is he collecting checks from the Tea Party crowd in other states? Or is he hobnobbing with corporate leaders, cutting deals for some fresh campaign cash?
This may be a record for the fastest meltdown in Maine political history, but we're just getting started. It is only July, and the summer people are still hanging around. Once they leave, and Mainers are paying attention to this race again, I can't wait to see what Mr. LePage tells us then.
Down East: Blogrolling
I'm back from Prince Edward Island, where I've spent the past week away from the internet and cell phone reception, and back to blogging.
I'm not the only one with something to say online, as you can see over at my latest Down East column.
Speaking of blogs and ideological ties; as I note on the about page of this site and to the right of every Down East post, I work for the Maine People's Alliance, a decidedly un-conservative organization.
Down East: Election Pool Results
Full results here.


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It's over.
What is over??
Lots of things, actually. The last few days have been hectic. My quaint sleepy life was burdened with responsibilities, and I had to work for many more hours than I am comfortable. I missed reading the blogs I visit and I could not manage to write the one post I have been wanting to post for quite a few days.
A few days ago, I was chatting with a blogger friend.
A few more days ago I was chatting with the same blogger friend. It was after the Mumbai blasts. And my GOD, she was furious.
She was furious with the corruption in the government, she was furious about their vote bank politics, she was furious with the profit oriented media. She told me that she wanted to do something, perhaps take up matters in her own hands, perhaps join politics in her own way. She was hurt and so was I and so was the rest of India. It almost seemed that the great Indian middle class was on fire and the time was ripe to witness a historic change. Well, she was saying exactly what was on my mind.
I had almost forgotten everything until the chat a few days ago. In a flash, everything came back and I was tempted to ask her about her plans and what she had done with them. She replied that her normal life had taken over, she was busy with her projects and I saw that I was busy with mine. The great Indian middle class had moved on. And the Mumbai blasts were forgotten as another nightmare from a distant past.
How long has it been? Barely a fortnight. WOW!
Did we have another choice? Could we have done better? The blast has thrown unpleasant questions that we can't answer. How much more can we take before our fury actually spills over?
In time I will also forget these questions. And India would move on. Perhaps I'm getting too emotional. Perhaps it's a direct result of admiring the movie 'Hazaroon Khwahishein Aisi'. Perhaps.................
But what is also over is the extraordinarily long planned wait for me to update my blogroll. And I'm pleased to bring in Shweta, Richa and Divya. Oh yes, blogger friend, please don't mind. :D


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|Up a level
Yusop, Nor Iadah and Mohd Yusof, Shafiz Affendi and Mat Aji, Zahurin and Ibrahim, Huda and Kasiran, Mohd. Khairudin and Md Dahalin, Zulkhairi and Abdul Ghani, Nor Farzana and Abd Razak, Rafidah and Hassan, Syahida and Rahmat, Abdul Razak (2010) The influence of community characteristics towards telecentres success. Computer and Information Science, 3 (2). pp. 116-120. ISSN 1913-8997


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Gravity on Blu-ray Disc, Ultraviolet Digital Copy, Enhanced Widescreen only $4.88!
Hurry and grab this FANTASTIC DEAL on the movie Gravity on Blu-ray! Best Buy has it on sale from $15.99 to only $4.99! But, get the guaranteed highest cashback percentage available which is 2.25%, and grab it for only $4.88! Choose in store pickup to avoid any shipping charges.
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I have heard some users have had some issues with missing cashback from Topcashback. After contacting them, I have some tips to ensure your cashback is confirmed. First, before signing into Topcashback, make sure you delete your cookies and clear your history. This is extremely important, especially if you are like me and use various cashback sites. This has interfered with some merchants confirming cashback with them. Make sure you use Topcashback to access the website you are purchasing from, and do not hit the back button etc. Make sure you keep your invoice or confirmation email from the retailer you purchase from, until your cashback has been confirmed. If your cashback is not confirmed within the stated time (it will say next to the merchant on the site as each one can be different), make sure you send a support ticket with your information. Because I use so many, I keep a log on my computer with date, time, merchant, and purchase amount. It takes just a second and I can tell right away if anything is missing. You can also find the tracking of all of your website visits with info on date, time, etc, under your Topcashback account information.
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GREAT Legs in Church : ) - m4w - 38 - (My Pew)
"You might have caught me catching a gaze once, okay twice. Truth is, I couldn't concentrate and still have the visual of your legs burned into my synapses. If you believe I'm talking about you, please tell me which church and provide a picture for proof, please...."


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Amar Agha
Amar Agha is a tautogram (all words start with the same letter). View more tautograms!
On this page:
Who is Amar Agha?
Amar Agha is an actor and theater performer.
- also known as Face
- born on (40 years ago) in Montreal
- nationality: Canada
- profession: Actor, theater performer
- read more about Amar Agha (actor)
Online dictionaries and encyclopedias with entries for Amar Agha
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Anagrams of AMAR AGHA
What do you get if you rearrange the letters?
See also the blanagrams of Amar Agha!
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Go to the wordplay of Amar Agha for some fun with words!


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The Independent, 18 January 2013
Research by iCarhireinsurance.com found that a holidaymaker who booked a hire car in January 2013 for travel over the summer months saved on average £154 compared with those booking in April 2013. However, beware hidden extras, which can add hundreds to the original quoted cost. The additional costs of fuel, adding an extra driver (particularly one under 25), a car seat, and excess car hire insurance, alongside the age and quality of the car you get and the service you receive, will all make a huge difference to the true value of the deal.
The Observer, 19 January 2013
January is the best time of year to book your summer car hire, according to iCarhireinsurance.com. It says that in 2013 a traveller booking in January saved an average of £154, compared with those who booked in April 2013 – while some saved as much as £562 by booking early.


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A new study reveals that China's coal use peaked in 2014, marking a "real turning point" in the fight against climate change. Economists at China's Tsinghua University and the London School of Economics said this peak is likely a permanent trend – which is significant, as China produces more emissions than any other country in the world.
Between 2000 and 2013, China's coal consumption tripled. During those years, the country produced billions of metric tons of carbon dioxide. Since then, coal production and coal burning have fallen for several reasons. For starters, China's economy has moved from heavy industry towards technology, and there's been a greater emphasis on energy efficiency. Further, the Chinese government has turned its attention to dealing with water and air pollution.
Related: China on track to reach Paris climate goal way sooner than expected
Lord Nicholas Stern of the London School of Economics, co-author on the paper, told The Guardian "I think historians really will see [the coal peak of] 2014 as a very important even in the history of the climate and economy of the world."
The economists said the peak could be a breakthrough in the Anthropocene Era, or the geological period in which human influences alter the environment. Stern said other nations might be influenced by China's shift, bringing the world closer to goals set in the Paris agreement.
The New Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Patricia Espinosa described the peak as a "very positive development." She said, "It underlines how ambitious and deliberate policies to shift away from highly polluting fuels to cleaner energy sources can deliver global climate benefits and national improvements in health and indeed in people's lives."
Via The Guardian


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I've been on fire lately, so I decided to channel some of my physical feistiness into a more wholesome pursuit and see if Jesus would make out with me. I went to a building to adore him with other wholehearted lovers and music.
When I entered the room, I felt the pressure. The pressure in the room was the opposite of rest. It was a pressure to Do Something. I walked around for a while to see if I could find any pockets where God was hanging out. I enjoyed the space by a lady who was loving god with her dance. She was releasing ribbons of joy, swooshing around her, so I hung out there. She definitely had something.
God encouraged me by telling me I was shifting the room just by being there.
Then he told me to lie down under the table against the wall.
And I'm like Figures. I never get to go places and just go with the flow.
But lying on the floor was so nice. I entered rest immediately. The vibrations from the music traveled through the floor to my chest. I felt the table was symbolic, not to mention just obedience releasing good smells god enjoys, so it wasn't bad.
But as I was lying under the table, someone began talking into the microphone. They sensed a shift in the room. They wanted God to be happy with us. "Who wants God to be happy with them?" (cheers and clapping)
And I'm thinking, God's already happy with us because of Jesus.
Then he said our extravagant worship was what God wanted. And I know, the word "worship" is a tricky one. I'm lying on the ground, knowing the war I'm in, thinking of my extravagant worship. I let God cut my chest open and give me a new heart. I'm fucking burning alive and He Likes It. That's my extravagant worship.
But in this context, it means take it up a notch.
The people who were sitting stood.
The people who were standing raised their hands.
The people who were raising their hands danced.
The people who were dancing kneeled.
I didn't see this happen. I only saw the result. When I looked out at the room, I thought nothing of Extravagance. I thought of Sameness. I think a room full of people should have a room full of different expressions. Why only four choices? Why is the worship confined to this moment in this room? If he wants extravagant worship, let's find out what that looks like!
I also felt the burden of the weary around me. One family is in great need. They need hope and encouragement and money. They're dancing their asses off with hearts of gold, hoping to make God happy, and they need someone to care for them. They need someone to say, "What do you need?" And then send them home with some money and food and wine and bubbles for a bubble bath and phone numbers of some people to call when they're late paying their bills or need to talk.
I left and got distracted walking to the car by these bold and confident trees surrounding an open space. They were old. They wanted to give me something.
I walked out into the middle of the field, and the trees were supplying, and the breeze picked up, and the sky was enormous, light blue, no clouds.
I smiled deeply and said, "Oh, here you are."


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A Twinkle in Time Vintage Jewelry & Collectibles
Cindy & Ted Amirkhan, Upon Request OR
These Beautiful Trifari Earrings feature a stylized floral design, with (4) pink pear-shape stones alternating with open-worked highly polished gold plated metal accents and with secure clip-style backs.
Excellent condition – that includes the metal as well.
Measurements: 1-1/4" x 1-1/4".
Signature/Marks: Both earrings are signed twice - "TRIFARI" in an oval cartouche and "TRIFARI &tm;" on the clip.
Your Earrings will arrive in a custom purple Twinkle in Time gift box & matching ribbon. Thank you for visiting A Twinkle in Time Vintage Jewelry, Accessories & Collectibles.
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Layaway is Available "Life is too Short Not to Sparkle!"


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Hagerstown Community College's Mathematics and Science Division will host a Biotechnology Summer Institute Information Night on Tuesday, beginning at 6 p.m., in HCC's Career Programs Building, room 125.
It was originally scheduled for Feb. 1.
Participants will have an opportunity to tour the biotechnology labs, learn about the Biotechnology Summer Institute, and discover internship and job opportunities available to students in the biotechnology program.
HCC's biotechnology program began in 2007. The college held its first summer institute for high school students in 2009 and will hold the 2011 Biotechnology Summer Institute from June 10 to Aug. 4. Participating high school students can receive seven college credits. Tuition and fees are free for qualified ESSENCE students. The application deadline is March 18.
To RSVP for the biotechnology information night or learn more about the Biotechnology Summer Institute, contact Mylynh Nguyen at 301-790-2800, ext. 268, or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com. For more information about HCC's ESSENCE program, contact Kevin Crawford at 301-790-2800, ext. 412, or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com.


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To apply Flex Seal, shake the can, and spray the sealant in a sweeping motion at a 12- to 14-inch distance from the object. Apply several coats, shaking the can periodically throughout application.
Apply several even coats of the sealant until holes and cracks no longer remain visible, allowing the surface to dry completely between each coat. Flex Seal dries in two to three hours, but it requires 24 hours to cure completely. For best results, only use the sealant if the can remains above 60 degrees Fahrenheit, and invert the nozzle to spray a short burst when you are done. Always use Flex Seal in a ventilated area while wearing protective clothing, and open doors and windows to prevent vapor buildup. Do not apply the sealant near ignition sources such as pilot lights.
A large can of Flex Seal can cover 2 to 8 square feet, while a jumbo can covers 2 to 12 square feet. If sealing a large surface area, use no more than half of the can at once, waiting one hour before continuing to allow the sealant to dry and the vapors to dissipate. Flex Seal adheres to metal, plastic, glass, wood, cement, dry wall and a variety of other surfaces. The sealant works best when used on clean, dry surfaces.


text: EMU Student Veterans Honor Fallen Comrades By Robert Eccles • Nov 9, 2012 TweetShareGoogle+Email Credit Bob Eccles Listen Listening... / WEMU's Bob Eccles has the story. Michigan servicemembers who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan are being remembered in a special way on the Eastern Michigan University campus this Veterans Day. Tags: EMUVeteransTweetShareGoogle+EmailView the discussion thread.


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Enfocus Adds High-End Feature to Instant PDF 10
Monday, November 28, 2011
Press release from the issuing company
Enfocus today announces that it plans to release Enfocus Instant PDF 10, a major upgrade to the company's popular application for creating high quality, press- ready PDFs, in Q1 2012. The most frequently requested feature, annotated error reporting (or, easy problem identification), is the highlight of this major upgrade. Instant PDF 10 will also offer new support for OSX 10.7 Lion and Adobe CS 5.5 Illustrator, InDesign, and Acrobat X/Distiller. Instant PDF 10 additionally utilizes Enfocus PitStop Library 10, the latest version of the underlying technology supporting the entire PitStop line.
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I am researching a new book project at present. I plan with a (development economist) colleague to outline a new development agenda for low income countries. The imposition of neo-liberal policy agenda has artificially and immorally constrained development in the poorest nations. This paradigm is in denial of the opportunities forthcoming to a sovereign government to expand employment and national well-being. We intend to outline a modern monetary approach to economic development as a rival development paradigm. As part of this project, I was reading a research report released last week by the Centre of Economic Policy Research (Washington). The report shows that around 75 per cent of IMF agreements in the current downturn are pro-cyclical. That is we learn what we have always known – the IMF should not be allowed out without supervision.
The research paper:
… looks at IMF agreements with 41 countries. These include Stand-By Arrangements (SBA), Poverty Reduction and Growth Facilities (PRGF), and Exogenous Shocks Facilities (ESF) … [and] … finds that 31 of the 41 agreements contain pro-cyclical macroeconomic policies. These are either pro-cyclical fiscal or monetary policies – or in 15 cases, both – that, in the face of a significant slowdown in growth or in a recession, would be expected to exacerbate the downturn..
Pro-cyclical means going in the same direction as the business cycle. So in a recession, a procyclical policy is one which contracts the economy further – that is reinforces the recession.
Some of the problem arises from the fact that the IMF forecasts for these nations were overly optimistic. The forecasting errors arose because the IMF failed to see the crisis coming. Why?
Easy. Despite it having a huge research capacity the IMF employs economic theory and analytical frameworks which are inapplicable to fiat monetary systems and so the lens through which they attempt to understand the economy is blurred from the start.
Where I see a budget surplus squeezing non-government liquidity and forcing the latter into increased indebtedness to keep the level of spending up and growth going and conclude that a crash is imminent; the IMF sees a virtuous state of government saving and retiring public debt and the non-government sector building wealth. Every six months it releases its World Economic Outlook and we read this sort of analysis from them, as the asset bubble was inflating and it was only a matter of time before it burst.
Further, where I see a budget deficit underpinning social and economic development in a poor nation – providing education, health advances, public infrastructure, employment; the IMF sees a dangerous inflationary bias building up which will release a torrent of speculation on the nation's currency and social decay will follow.
And again, where I see ships loaded with trees for export and the devastation of a country's natural eco-system and subsistence agriculture as an anti-development strategy; the IMF encourages export-led growth strategy in every case. It is obsessed with ripping the natural resources from countries and turning sustainable subsistence farming activities into commercialised cash crops. When the world's supply becomes excessive and the nations start to falter, who else but the IMF steps in with loans. Meanwhile, the subsistence methods become lost because the farms have been turned into machine-laden cash crop centres.
So given the way they attempt to understand the world and tell us about that understanding is flawed at the most elemental level, it is no surprise that the IMF is incapable of foreseeing unsustainable situations emerging. It is also no surprise that they will always invoke policies that constrain and economy from achieving full employment and, instead, propose policies which will never generate sustainable development with high employment levels.
In this context, the Report makes an interesting point:
… the IMF has a history of over-optimistic projections in many countries. So it is not so easy to separate forecasting errors from an underlying bias toward overly restrictive fiscal and monetary policies.
However, we know that the IMF does have an underlying bias towards restrictive policy settings irrespective of their forecasts.
Part of the problem also relates to their obsession with inflation – or expelling it from the system. This obsession dates back to the dominance of monetarism and Milton Friedman in the 1970s and 190s. The IMF thus sees tight monetary policy (that is, high interest rate regimes) as being in some way a safeguard against inflation.
In the current recession this has been especially an issue given the IMF confused the oil price hikes with a permanent upward trend in inflation and pushed tight (procyclical) monetary policy onto nations.
This all might come as a surprise to you given that I have written about the IMF support from the expansionary fiscal policies (and relatively easy money policy) in the current recession – see this blog, as an example.
So what is going on? Well the IMF takes a different view to developing countries. The Report captures it in this way:
The economic argument for this double standard is that developing countries face a much more binding foreign exchange constraint. That is, if they stimulate their economies during a downturn they run the risk of expanding current account deficits and therefore running low on foreign exchange. Countries with hard currencies (the United States, Eurozone countries, Japan) do not face the same constraint, and of course the U.S. has the added advantage that the U.S. dollar is the world's key currency. However, developing countries that have sufficient reserves are in very much the same position as the high-income countries.
This is backwards reasoning. I should note at the outset that the CEPR, while sympathetic to a progressive policy agenda is still very much wedded to the deficit-dove approach, that old-style Keynesians follow. They see the need for deficits sometimes but worry about public debt issuance (fail to understand why it is issued) and have nonsensical rules that debt-GDP ratios should be stable. In turn, these rules limit the size of the deficit – or so they think.
So "deficit doves" think deficits are fine as long as you wind them back over the cycle (and offset them with surpluses to average out to zero) and keep the public debt-GDP ratio in line with the ratio of the real interest rate to output growth. Torturous formulas are provided to students on all of this under the presumption that the government faces a financing constraint and as long as it is cautious things will be fine.
The CEPR has in recent days proposed employment policies which clearly indicate it doesn't understand how the currency works. I intend to analyse these in a separate blog sometime soon.
But the point here is that under fixed exchange rates, a current account deficit was problematic and limited by the accumulation of foreign reserves (particularly US dollars) that a country had. Chronic CAD countries were always faced with domestic contraction to take the pressure of their currency and allow the central bank to maintain the fixed parity.
The political fallout that CAD nations had to deal with was one of the reasons the Bretton Woods system collapsed (finally) in 1971. For example, in the 1960s, Britain was faced with stagnation if it held its Sterling parity with the USD. A large nation like this carried clout and its subsequent "competitive devaluations" placed the fixed exchange rate system into jeopardy … and ultimate collapse.
Further, under flexible exchange rate system, any country which is running a CAD is according to modern monetary theory (MMT) "financing" the desires of foreigners to accumulate financial assets (or other assets) in the currency of issue. That is the reason that the foreigners are willing the ship more real goods and services to the country than the latter has to ship back to the foreigners.
So a CAD in any country with flexible exchange rates, are positive for welfare because exports impose costs and imports provide benefits to the nation in question.
It is true that the foreigners may reduce their desire to hold financial assets in the currency of that nation, in which case its trade account is forced to adjust. There is no doubt that a sharp and sudden adjustment can be hard on welfare levels.
It is also true that a lot of countries are bullied into contracting in foreign currencies which then cause it problems if their export revenue declines. The IMF in particular forces developing countries to contract in foreign currencies. This is madness and exposes the country to the risk of insolvency should it run short of foreign currency reserves. MMT tells us that a nation should never contract in foreign currencies if it wants to to preserve the zero risk of insolvency that a sovereign currency bestows on a government.
Finally, as Argentina has demonstrated – a nation that runs out of foreign reserves can default on its foreign currency obligations without long-term problems. Normally, a nation running a flexible exchange rate will not be forced into this position.
As an aside, Argentina's problems arose from the fact that it was running a currency board where the peso was pegged against the USD. It was madness to enter into such an agreement in the first place given it was sovereign in its own currency. As soon as it entered that agreement (in 1991) it lost sovereignty and was headed for the ultimate collapse that occurred in late 2001.
It is interesting to consider the case of Latvia which has entered an IMF loan agreement during the current crisis. The CEPR Report says:
In the case of Latvia, for example, the pro-cyclical policies have been part of an effort to preserve a pegged exchange rate. This is similar to IMF-supported policy in Argentina during their steep recession of 1998-2002, where a fixed, overvalued exchange rate was supported with tens of billions of dollars of loans until it inevitably collapsed. In cases such as Argentina and Latvia, maintaining the peg means that adjustment must take place through shrinking the economy and real wage declines. Latvia's GDP is projected to shrink by 18 percent this year.
So Latvia should first abandon the peg and then default on any loans that the government cannot pay or renegotiate them in the local currency – the Lat.
So this obsession of the IMF with stifling current account deficits in developing countries and forcing export-led growth is without a firm foundation in MMT. It reflects the inapplicable notions that mainstream economics uses to analyse economic behaviour. The same precepts that have led to this financial and real economic collapse.
The CEPR Report says:
The purpose of IMF lending during a world recession should be – as much as possible – to provide sufficient reserves so that borrowing countries can pursue the expansionary macroeconomic policies that high-income countries are capable of, in order to minimize the loss of employment and output, as well as more permanent or long-lasting damage that sometimes occurs in the most vulnerable countries.
Again, they are displaying their neo-liberal bias – that governments in developing countries like high-income countries have to borrow to spend in their own currency. Of-course, they do not. They can buy whatever is for offer in their own currency including all the idle labour. Not to many impoverished workers in developing countries will demand USD before they will offer an hour's work!
What is pro-cyclical policy?
The CEPR Report considered fiscal policy to be pro-cyclical if there was a "a programmed reduction in the fiscal deficit (or an increase in the fiscal surplus) during a recession or significant growth slowdown" and monetary policy to be pro-cyclical if there was "an increase in policy interest rates during a recession or significant growth slowdown" or an explicit "tightening of monetary policy" (via constrained "reserve money growth").
The following table is taken from Table 1 of the CEPR Report.
The IMF has a long-history of damaging the poorest nations. The so-called structural adjustment programs (SAPs) entered the scene in the late 1970s with the debt crisis that engulfed the world. This was constructed as a crisis for the developing nations but it was really a crisis for the first-world banks. The IMF made sure the poorest nations continued to transfer resources to the richest under these SAPs.
The overwhelming evidence is that these programs increase poverty and hardship rather than the other way around. The following graph comes from the World Development Indicators, provided by the World Bank. It shows Gross National Income per capita, which, in material terms is an indicator of increasing welfare.
Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa (which dominates the low income countries) were the regions that bore the brunt of the IMF SAPs since the 1980s.
While the high income countries enjoyed strong per capita income growth over the period shown (since 1980), Latin America (and the Caribbean) has experienced modest growth and the low income countries actually became poorer between 1980 and 2006.
The two trends are not unrelated. The SAPs are responsible for transferring income from resource wealth from low income to high income countries.
There are many mechanisms through which the SAPs have increased poverty. First, fiscal austerity is almost always targetted at cutting welfare services to the poor – which often means health and education (the IMF claims that educational and health cuts no longer happen). But moreover, the cuts prevent sovereign governments from building public infrastructure and directly creating public employment.
Second, public assets are typically privatised. Foreign investors often benefit signicantly by taking ownership of the valuable resources.
Third, contractionary monetary policy forces interest rates up which often discriminate against women who survive running small businesses.
Fourth, export-led growth strategies transform rural sectors which traditionally provided enough food for subsistance consumption. Smaller land holdings are concentrated into larger cash crop plantations or farms aimed at penetrating foreign markets. When international markets are over-supplied, the IMF then steps in with further loans. But the original fabric of the land use is lost and food poverty increases.
Fifth, user pays regimes are typically imposed which increases costs of health care, education, power, and in some notable cases, reticulated clean water. Many of the poorest cohorts are prevented from using resources once user pays is introduced.
Sixth, trade liberalisation involves reductions in tariffs and capital controls. Often the elimination of protection reduces employment levels in exporting industries. Further, in some parts of the world child labour becomes exploited so as to remain "competitive".
I could go on about this at length. I haven't touched on the way the IMF loans help private firms (often large multinationals like BP, ExxonMobil and others) undermine the natural environment in poor countries.
Anyway, next week I am off to Kazakhstan on an Asian Development Bank mission and I will be providing advice to various Central Asian governments. I will be telling them to float their exchange rates, cut their interest rates, and expand fiscal policy to provide employment guarantees and skills development.
I will report each day while away as to how things are going! The IMF have been visiting this region a lot in the last year or so and so I expect to meet a lot of resistance to different ideas. But things are not working out for these countries and they have tried 15 or more years of market liberalisation and IMF-style remedies to no avail. They realise it is time to do things better. MMT has the answers to help them do that.
Neo-liberal abuse of children
The Washington D.C.-based Employment Policies Institute (EPI) has launched what it calls a "high-profile, multi-million dollar ad campaign highlighting the threat posed by unsustainable borrowing and spending."
They have a television campaign where young children in a classroom recite the so-called Pledge of Allegiance
I pledge allegiance to America's debt and to the Chinese government that lends us money. And to the interest for which we pay compoundable with higher taxes and lower pay until the day we die.
Mike Norman (friend of MMT) has the video of the child abuse here. I would rather link to him rather than the original site so they don't get deluded that 10,000 more hits have come their way.
In the press release the EPI said:
… This campaign is all about getting people to understand the frightening reality of the massive federal debt … People do not realize just how much 12 trillion dollars is, and what it will take for our country to get out from under that level of debt. Americans also aren't aware of how much money we now owe to foreign governments and just how unsustainable our current level of spending is. We have to do something to defeat the debt now, or we will live to regret it.
You cannot get more manic than that. 12 trillion dollars = 12 trillion dollars. If that is the public debt so what? What is the unemployment rate? What is the GDP growth rate? What is the state of inner-city housing? The education system? The health system? These are the things that will determine America's future not the debt level.


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- This event has passed.
Riverside Summer Concert Series
August 15, 2018 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
An event every week that begins at 7:00pm on Wednesday, repeating until August 29, 2018
Event Navigation
For over six decades, music has entertained area residents and visitors during the Riverside Summer Concert Series, held at Findlay's historic Riverside Park in the Allen P. Dudley Memorial Band Shell. Volunteer musicians and guest performers have been rehearsing long hours due to this rich tradition. Still free for all to enjoy, your applause is their reward. Relax down by the Old Millstream and listen to the live sounds of popular tunes from then and now. Bring your friends and plan a picnic, come clap, hum, or sing along!
Performers this season will be:
June 6: Night Jazz
June 13: Fostoria Community Band
June 20: Nashville Crush (contemporary country)
June 27: Tapestry (Harp & Guitar)
July 4: Buddy Love & the Coconuts (oldies & today top 40)
July 11: Findlay Civic Band
July 18: Findlay Civic Band
July 25: Pantasia (steel drum band)
August 1: The Fossil Creek Band (bluegrass)
August 8: Civic Jazz
August 15: Ball in the House (A Capella)
August 22: Lake Plains Barbershop Chorus
August 29: Ted Yoder-hammered dulcimer


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If I take out a Marine Trade policy what could it cover me for?
Business premises and property both ashore and afloat
Vessels including builders' risks
Business interruption
Public and products liability including yacht yard indemnity, waterborne, height and heat work
Employers' liability
Cover while at shows and exhibitions
Cover for activities carried out abroad
Business and personal travel insurance cover
Loss of money
Goods in transit
Defective title and ownership
Professional indemnity
Directors & officers liability
Legal expenses
Marine Trade Insurance
A marine trade policy is essentially a commercial combined policy for businesses, clubs and associations who are connected to marine related activities.
A marine trade policy allows selected insurance covers, including those which are unique to the marine trade, to be consolidated under a single cost-effective umbrella policy.
This type of package policy is typically suited to the requirements of boat builders and shipwrights, boat traders, chandlers, marinas, boatyards, harbour authorities, yacht clubs, sail makers and the like.
Not all marine related risks require a marine trade combined policy and standalone policies are available for tailored needs of associated marine professions and trades such as surveyors, engineers, electricians, welders and fabricators.
Why do you need this insurance?
Can you answer yes to any of these statements?
You have valuable assets that need protection
You have customers' property in your care, custody or control
You need someone to cover your legal liabilities and defend you in any court action
You conduct activities while off-shore
You need to comply with contractual requirements
You need to comply with regulatory requirements – Employers' Liability is a compulsory insurance even if you only employ persons on a casual basis
You provide advice or designs for a separate fee
We have been using Glentworth Insurance for a number of years for all our office and marine insurance needs. Ben Davis has always provided a fantastic service, being very professional to deal with and quick to answer any queries. When we were unfortunate to have our offices badly flooded following the December 2013 tidal surge Ben handled the claim in a sympathetic and speedy manner and nothing was too much trouble. More importantly Ben ensures that renewals are competitive going out to market to ensure we are getting the best deal. I would not hesitate to recommend Ben or Glentworth Insurance to any prospective client.
Louise De Lisle, Wells Harbour Commissioners
Why use Glentworth for marine trade insurance?
Glentworth has access to all secure UK insurers who provide marine trade and associated insurance policies.
Our highly experienced and informed marine trade advisors can guide you through the appropriate covers to meet your insurance requirements. We will happily visit you at your premises to help you identify the risks you need to cover.
Glentworth provides clear and impartial advice, delivered in friendly manner. We will take time to explain clearly the benefits of your policy and any conditions or restrictions that apply.
Marine trade insurance requirements differ considerably from non-marine related risks and so it is important to receive guidance from an expert.
A major loss can cause significant strain on a business and some, without the appropriate cover and expert guidance, will never recover.
We also assist our clients in managing their risks, to help reduce the likelihood of a loss. However, if our clients need to make a claim, a familiar face from Glentworth will be there to help when you need it most.
Do I need Employers Liability Insurance?
It's not just about PAYE employees
If you have PAYE employees then it is highly likely that you will need Employers Liability cover. However, that is not the end of the story and there are other instances when you will need it – even for volunteers! Read on.
If you employ subcontractors, or workers on a casual basis you could need Employers Liability cover. The main exception is if you engage Bona Fide Subcontractors (BFSC). It is important for our clients to be able to distinguish for insurance purposes, between a labour only sub-contractor and a bona fide sub-contractor. Understanding the fundamental differences is important to ensure that correct cover and pricing is applied to your insurance policy.
Labour only Subcontractors.
A contractor employs a sub-contractor for their labour only. The labour only sub-contractor (LOSC) does not supply any materials, the LOSC is being supervised by the Contractor.
In this context there is a master and servant relationship. The contractor's liability towards the LOSC, and arising out of the LOSC's activity when working for them, is considered the same as if the LOSC was a direct employee.
Since this is regarded as a master and servant relationship an Employers Liability and Public Liability exposure exists. Even if the LOSC has their own insurance i.e. Public Liability. The contractor would not be able to subrogate against it. There is case law setting precedents to support this.
Bona Fide Subcontractor (BFSC).
A master and servant relationship would not be considered to be in existence.
The BFSC would be providing materials, labour and supervising their own work and invoicing accordingly. There is no Employers Liability risk but contingent Public Liability cover is required. It is likely that it will be warranted under your own insurance that you check that each BFSC holds adequate Public Liability insurance.


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Cozy up in knit.wear.
Ah, fall. It's a safe bet that if you're reading this, you already know the joy of curling up with your knitting on a chilly evening. In summer, I found myself reaching for small, challenging projects to keep my fingers busy on long afternoons. Now, I'm more interested in warm, wearable garments that fit easily into my closet. Since I find myself wearing the same cozy pieces day after day, I also want to knit up something that looks good with a variety of outfits.
Take the easy, clean lines of Eunny Jang's Exposed Seam Pullover in knit.wear. With its wide boatneck and slim waist shaping, I think this silhouette would be flattering with everything from crisp office slacks to a comfy pair of leggings. The yarn, a blend of linen, wool, and alpaca, promises a balanced drape to complement the pullover's modern shape. All pieces are knit in the round and joined seamlessly in a unique combination of vertical and side-to-side stockinette fabric.
The Selvedge Cardigan, by Amy Christoffers, is another versatile knit in knit.wear. The chunky gauge is quick to knit and practical for cold weather. I tend to reach for grandpa-style cardigans, and might lengthen the body and sleeves a bit for extra warmth.
What are the pieces you want in your wardrobe right this minute? Whether you answered a fitted, cropped cardigan or an elegant braided capelet, knit.wear has something for you.
Happy knitting!


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Six months ago, going on a trip to Taiwan this December was never on my plans. Six months ago, I already had a plan in mind for December but fate had something different in stored for me and I'm reminded again of how God works in His ways. God made sure that if my first plan doesn't work, I will have an alternative and it was Taiwan. Me and coworker friends have this annual trip during December and it was just usually around the Philippines but this time, we decided to do an out of the country for the first time.
Taiwan reminds me a lot of F4, the phenomenal boyband that rose to fame because of their hit drama, Meteor Garden. I can still remember how addicted I was to the drama series, I would do my best to go home early from school or find a nearby TV in school to watch the show. I collected a lot of Meteor Garden stuff, from magazines, to posters, to CDs and DVDs. My favorite F4 member was Vic Zhou.
Anyway, nostalgia aside, I'll share my experience before and during the trip. Once the tickets were booked last September, the next step was to acquire Taiwan visas. Fortunately for me, I still have my valid US visa which makes me visa-exempted. I only need to fill up a form online which will be printed and presented to the immigration. If you have an existing visa, please check in Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines website: http://www.roc-taiwan.org/ph/ if your visa qualifies for visa-exemption. For my other coworker friends who don't have any visa, they applied by following all instructions on the same website and we have a friend who processed the Taiwan visas in Manila on their behalf.
When the visas were ready, we planned our itinerary. We had five days to explore Taipei. Since there are spots that are far from the capital, we booked a van to take us to those spots for a day and a half. The rest of the days, it was all do-it-yourself traveling and exploring.
Our first two days in Taipei were chilly and cold but the rest of the days were surprisingly warm. We expected a very cold weather for December that we even have our many coats ready. Oh well, I was just glad that it didn't rain throughout our stay in Taipei.
There is definitely a language barrier. All we can say was "xiè xie". Some restaurants though can speak English. I really wished I learned some Mandarin before. My trip in Taiwan made me want to start learning Mandarin. And oh, thank God for Google translate, we were able to communicate a little with our driver!
So here are some of my photos during the trip:
|Taipei Main Station
|Longshan Temple
|Bopiliao Old Street
|Ximending Shopping District
|Presidential Office Building
|National Taiwan University
|Taipei Confucius Temple
|National Palace Museum
|Yehliu Geopark
|Golden Waterfalls
|Ying Yang Sea
|Jiufen Old Street
|Shifen Sky Lantern & Old Street
|Thousand Island Lake
|Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Park
|Taipei 101 Observatory
|Taipei 101 with the gang.
|Beitou Thermal Valley
|Elephant Mountain
The trip was truly a blast. I enjoyed it a lot especially because I was with my awesome coworker friends. Even though everything didn't go as planned and we kind of got lost one time and walked for over 2 km but it was still fun and worth it. I didn't expect that Taipei can be at par with Tokyo in terms of transportation convenience and tourist spots. By the way, I'd like to give a shout out to Sunny Hostel for the warm welcome and hospitable receptionists.
|Sunny Hostel
Before I end this post, I'm also sharing my co-traveler's video of our trip (I'm going to create my own video but I still need to find a good music.) See below video:
I highly recommend Taipei for your next travel adventure. If you have any questions, please feel free to post them on the comments section below. Until my next adventure! ;)