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welcome to our portal about home furniture! our web pages 187 repressents photo materials and notes, other materials and screenshots for themes: "furniture for kids office", "furniture at work executive chairs", "furniture unfinished il", "furniture row account information" and "furniture medic raleigh nc" for "used furniture dealers long island", the furniture upholsterers oklahoma city. and also you can find more top rated products and offers. scroll down!
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text: New Civilization News: One photo and the memory it contained. . .

lowercased: new civilization news: one photo and the memory it contained. . .


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You have waited for the game on PSVita for 3 months! And as promised, Ys Origin finally came out on the portable console of Sony on the 30th of May.
For those who missed the original game back in the days, DotEmu is delighted to present this brand-new version. The biggest changes we’ve brought to the game are mostly graphical upgrades : we’ve optimized the visuals and effects and improved the UI and the menus so players can enjoy a full HD widescreen experience.
The game is available in Japanese, English and, for the first time ever, in French, Italian, German and Spanish.

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you have waited for the game on psvita for 3 months! and as promised, ys origin finally came out on the portable console of sony on the 30th of may.
for those who missed the original game back in the days, dotemu is delighted to present this brand-new version. the biggest changes we’ve brought to the game are mostly graphical upgrades : we’ve optimized the visuals and effects and improved the ui and the menus so players can enjoy a full hd widescreen experience.
the game is available in japanese, english and, for the first time ever, in french, italian, german and spanish.


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SolarFlairLighting.com continues to add items to our selection of marine lighting.
Whether you manage a commercial marina or have private or community docks, piers or floating rafts, our solar marine and boating lights are sure to let you enhance your property's visual appeal and safety.
Some of these products are made to be submersible; others are waterproof and designed to work well in harsh wind, the hottest summer sun and frigid cold.
All products have high waterproof ratings and most are designed for use in either fresh or salt water environments.
As with all of our products, substantial discounts may be obtained if you contact us for large quantity orders, including a variety of different types of lights.

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solarflairlighting.com continues to add items to our selection of marine lighting.
whether you manage a commercial marina or have private or community docks, piers or floating rafts, our solar marine and boating lights are sure to let you enhance your property's visual appeal and safety.
some of these products are made to be submersible; others are waterproof and designed to work well in harsh wind, the hottest summer sun and frigid cold.
all products have high waterproof ratings and most are designed for use in either fresh or salt water environments.
as with all of our products, substantial discounts may be obtained if you contact us for large quantity orders, including a variety of different types of lights.


text: Bethe Correia Archives - MMA News. Fight Results. Videos. Interviews.

lowercased: bethe correia archives - mma news. fight results. videos. interviews.


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Humanitarian action always takes place in an environment that has been weakened and often in one that has been stretched beyond its capacity for resilience, that is, beyond its capacity to recover and develop normally after serious disruption. This can be the result of a chronic problem which takes place in a “hot spot” such as a desert or an overpopulated or highly industrialised zone. The threat of disaster is ever present in these areas and particular care is needed in dealing with them. It can also be the result of the same factors that have caused the humanitarian crisis. In addition to its direct and visible impact, a natural or technological disaster can have a large number of indirect consequences, such as the pollution of drinking water by floodwater which has gone through a chemical factory. War can have particularly serious and varied impacts on the environment. In combat zones, buildings and spaces are destroyed. Entire zones can be covered in mines, polluted with defoliants or irradiated with depleted uranium… The victims of a disaster can also develop predatory behaviour with regard to the environment. Collective and long term interest disappears from view when faced with the question of survival – resources are exploited intensively to be consumed or sold.
This is the kind of context in which humanitarian action takes place. Due to the pressure to bring relief urgently and the need to respond to vital needs, operations are designed without taking their long term consequences into account. It never appears to be the right time to implement environmental protection measures, especially as analysing risks and providing technical responses is not simple: environmental impacts are often diffuse, multifaceted and displaced in time and space.
Humanitarian operations also have a major environmental impact due to the logistical means that they deploy: air transportation, truck fleets, warehouses, office equipment and expats who sometimes live in fragile ecosystems for a number of years. Every programme implemented uses resources and produces pollution. Food aid and medical aid can cause pollution such as packaging, construction materials and hospital waste. Economic and agricultural recovery programmes can lead to the deterioration of natural resources by, for example, over-equipping fishermen which leads to overfishing or by introducing exogenous species which bring new diseases. Refugee or IDP camps are a well-known source of environmental deterioration. Grouping beneficiaries together makes the provision of aid easier, but this weighs heavily on the environment. Environmental resources such as water, timber, wildlife and edible plants are consumed in an unsustainable way and a considerable quantity of waste is generated, polluting soils and water tables. Demand for timber is particularly high as a construction material for shelters, a source of fuel for cooking and heating and as a source of revenue through the production and sale of charcoal. The establishment of a camp is often accompanied by massive deforestation, the most infamous example of this being the Virunga national park following the arrival of half a million refugees from Rwanda in DRC in 1994. Also, though they are initially intended to be temporary, camps often become established in the long term.
Integrating the environment into the design and implementation of humanitarian programmes prevents these negative impacts and improves the quality of aid delivered. It allows the mid- to long-term effects of the crisis to be anticipated (resource depletion, soil erosion, etc.) and therefore to reduce the risk of unsuitable programmes or of delayed implementation and thus extra costs (e.g. rebuilding fishing activities when the destruction of the mangrove means that the fish are not reproducing). It allows indirect victims of the crisis caused by the deterioration of the environment to be included in the number of beneficiaries (reduced means of subsistence, toxicity of sites, etc.). It contributes to disaster prevention and preparedness, which should be part of programmes, by identifying environmental risks. Preserving the environment during the provision of aid favours the resolution of crises by conserving an area where reconstruction and economic activity can take place. In the end, the damage done to the environment compromises the lives and future of those who survive the crisis. To rebuild their lives they need an environment that is reasonably unpolluted and which is rich in natural resources and biodiversity; in short, one that is capable of providing well-being and means of subsistence.
In addition, preserving the environment contributes to the prevention of conflicts. The deterioration of ecosystems leads to conflict over access to resources. In contrast, environmental governance can help to instigate initial dialogue between parties to a conflict (e.g. the Israel-Palestine Joint Water Committee).
Finally, taking environmental limits into account gives the example of a sustainable model. Managing resources sensibly and providing aid using sustainable materials, systems and behaviour (giving priority to what is local, natural, renewable, biodegradable…) favours sustainable reconstruction, or if need be, development. In contrast, not respecting the environment promotes bad habits regarding the management of resources, which is already under threat because of the crisis.

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humanitarian action always takes place in an environment that has been weakened and often in one that has been stretched beyond its capacity for resilience, that is, beyond its capacity to recover and develop normally after serious disruption. this can be the result of a chronic problem which takes place in a “hot spot” such as a desert or an overpopulated or highly industrialised zone. the threat of disaster is ever present in these areas and particular care is needed in dealing with them. it can also be the result of the same factors that have caused the humanitarian crisis. in addition to its direct and visible impact, a natural or technological disaster can have a large number of indirect consequences, such as the pollution of drinking water by floodwater which has gone through a chemical factory. war can have particularly serious and varied impacts on the environment. in combat zones, buildings and spaces are destroyed. entire zones can be covered in mines, polluted with defoliants or irradiated with depleted uranium… the victims of a disaster can also develop predatory behaviour with regard to the environment. collective and long term interest disappears from view when faced with the question of survival – resources are exploited intensively to be consumed or sold.
this is the kind of context in which humanitarian action takes place. due to the pressure to bring relief urgently and the need to respond to vital needs, operations are designed without taking their long term consequences into account. it never appears to be the right time to implement environmental protection measures, especially as analysing risks and providing technical responses is not simple: environmental impacts are often diffuse, multifaceted and displaced in time and space.
humanitarian operations also have a major environmental impact due to the logistical means that they deploy: air transportation, truck fleets, warehouses, office equipment and expats who sometimes live in fragile ecosystems for a number of years. every programme implemented uses resources and produces pollution. food aid and medical aid can cause pollution such as packaging, construction materials and hospital waste. economic and agricultural recovery programmes can lead to the deterioration of natural resources by, for example, over-equipping fishermen which leads to overfishing or by introducing exogenous species which bring new diseases. refugee or idp camps are a well-known source of environmental deterioration. grouping beneficiaries together makes the provision of aid easier, but this weighs heavily on the environment. environmental resources such as water, timber, wildlife and edible plants are consumed in an unsustainable way and a considerable quantity of waste is generated, polluting soils and water tables. demand for timber is particularly high as a construction material for shelters, a source of fuel for cooking and heating and as a source of revenue through the production and sale of charcoal. the establishment of a camp is often accompanied by massive deforestation, the most infamous example of this being the virunga national park following the arrival of half a million refugees from rwanda in drc in 1994. also, though they are initially intended to be temporary, camps often become established in the long term.
integrating the environment into the design and implementation of humanitarian programmes prevents these negative impacts and improves the quality of aid delivered. it allows the mid- to long-term effects of the crisis to be anticipated (resource depletion, soil erosion, etc.) and therefore to reduce the risk of unsuitable programmes or of delayed implementation and thus extra costs (e.g. rebuilding fishing activities when the destruction of the mangrove means that the fish are not reproducing). it allows indirect victims of the crisis caused by the deterioration of the environment to be included in the number of beneficiaries (reduced means of subsistence, toxicity of sites, etc.). it contributes to disaster prevention and preparedness, which should be part of programmes, by identifying environmental risks. preserving the environment during the provision of aid favours the resolution of crises by conserving an area where reconstruction and economic activity can take place. in the end, the damage done to the environment compromises the lives and future of those who survive the crisis. to rebuild their lives they need an environment that is reasonably unpolluted and which is rich in natural resources and biodiversity; in short, one that is capable of providing well-being and means of subsistence.
in addition, preserving the environment contributes to the prevention of conflicts. the deterioration of ecosystems leads to conflict over access to resources. in contrast, environmental governance can help to instigate initial dialogue between parties to a conflict (e.g. the israel-palestine joint water committee).
finally, taking environmental limits into account gives the example of a sustainable model. managing resources sensibly and providing aid using sustainable materials, systems and behaviour (giving priority to what is local, natural, renewable, biodegradable…) favours sustainable reconstruction, or if need be, development. in contrast, not respecting the environment promotes bad habits regarding the management of resources, which is already under threat because of the crisis.


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“The economy still isn’t strong enough to handle it.
“Fed officials sharply downgraded their economic forecast for this year. They projected the economy would grow between 1.8% and 2% this year, well below the range of 2.3% to 2.7% in its last forecast in March.
The economy is stagnating, the middle class hasn’t seen any wage increases adjusted for inflation for at least 10 years. He is priced out of the housing market, over loaded with debt, lives paycheck to paycheck, and doesn’t have the extra money to get the economy moving. I think the people in charge ought to be fired for incompetence; 92 million people out of work or looking for work; almost 50 million people on EBT.
If taxpayers suddenly stopped subsidizing Amtrak, what do you think would happen?
Before trying to answer that question, it is useful to review U.S. railroad history. The first railroads were built in the United States in the late 1820s, and by 1900, only 70 years later, almost every town in the country had rail access.
Railroads were high tech, the Internet of their time. The system was built and profitably operated by private companies.
Amtrak and the modern freight railroad companies use the infrastructure that was built long ago. The 180-year-old privately built Canton Viaduct (an incredible stone bridge – see link) in Canton, Massachusetts and the 100-year-old Hell Gate Bridge (the model for the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia) over the East River in New York are still used by Amtrak.
The investor-owned Pennsylvania Railroad built the hugely expensive North River Tunnels under the Hudson River in 1904-1908, which were technological wonders of the time. They are still used by all of those who ride Amtrak from New Jersey to New York.
Once the railroads were built, state and local governments began heavily taxing every mile of track and other railroad facilities, and the federal government imposed endless regulations, including regulating fares.
The predictable result was that expenses grew faster than revenues — causing deferred capital spending and maintenance. Eighty years ago, trucks, automobiles and airplanes began to lure away rail’s customers. As a result, the rail industry began a death march after World War II.
Railroad companies ripped up thousands of miles of track to save on expenses and tax levies. Today, the United States has a fraction of the number of miles of railroad tracks compared to what it had 100 years ago. Route mileage peaked at 254,251 miles in 1916 and fell to 139,679 miles in 2011.
By the late 1960s, most of the nation’s railroads were in deep trouble as a result of new forms of competition, disastrous tax and regulatory policies, and inflexible unions. In 1971, the federal government created Amtrak as a government corporation to operate intercity passenger rail service.
By contrast, freight rail was finally deregulated in 1980, now resulting in the most efficient and profitable freight railways in the world.
Amtrak has eaten through more than $45 billion in taxpayer subsidies in its 44-year history. The only line it has that it claims to be profitable is the Northeast corridor from Washington to Boston, which was shut down for six days following last week’s fatal train crash near Philadelphia.
It is widely acknowledged that Amtrak is poorly managed — as are most government enterprises — but nothing is done about it by either the administration or Congress. Amtrak even manages to lose money on its food service, which is hard to do when one has a captive market and serves only mediocre food at high prices.
Studies show the government could save money by giving away airline tickets to everyone who rides some of the long-distance Amtrak routes, because the subsidy per passenger exceeds the cost of an airline ticket over the same route.
It is no surprise that many of those who call for more taxpayer spending on Amtrak are the affluent media and political folks who frequently travel between New York and Washington. To pay for their subsidies, they seem to have no trouble taxing lower-income folks in much of America who have no access to Amtrak.
The rail tunnels under the Hudson River are now more than a hundred years old and will need to be rebuilt or replaced. Many members of Congress are calling for billions of taxpayer dollars to be spent to rebuild these tunnels.
Yet we have many examples of private companies that are willing to invest in transportation infrastructure, such as bridges, tunnels and roads, when they are allowed to charge market prices for use of the infrastructure. No taxpayer dollars need be spent.
Again, if the subsidies were eliminated, what would happen?
All of the trains now operated by Amtrak, other than the Northeast corridor, would cease operation. But then many private entrepreneurs would buy up some of the rail cars or buy new ones, and make contracts with the railroads to run trains over their tracks (Amtrak uses the private railroad companies’ tracks).
Private passenger rail companies might well successfully compete with airplanes, buses and cars on some routes by providing luxury services with great dining cars as an alternative transportation experience, as they do in other parts of the world.
We now know that a socialistic, government-regulated, -taxed and -operated passenger rail does not work. So let’s get rid of Amtrak and its taxpayer subsidies, and see what magic free-market rail entrepreneurs might create.
Amazing scenes from Baltimore: rioters throwing bricks at police, looting and burning down a CVS pharmacy and other stores, stomping on police cars and setting them on fire.
The rioting followed the funeral of Freddie Gray on Monday (4/27), a black man who died in police custody in uncertain circumstances. The next day (4/28), National Guard in camouflage patrolled the streets, and a curfew was imposed.
The rioters also burned down a housing project for seniors and a community centre, a $16million investment by the Southern Baptist Church that was due to open in six months. It was meant to be a sign of hope in a blighted area.
Reverend Donte Hickman, who worked for years on the project, said “My eyes have been filled with tears.” Of the arsonists, Hickman said “I can”t make sense out of nonsense”.
What is so sad about the degeneration of protesting over Gray’s suspicious death into rioting and arson is how self-destructive it all is. Rather than strike a blow against the police, the political authorities or “the system,” the rioters mainly hurt their own communities, making life worse for local people and even themselves.
And yet, despite the evident self-destructiveness, some were claiming that the rioters were “uprisers” that represented a “rebellion”. Morehouse College professor Mark Hill Lamont told CNN that the turmoil in Baltimore was “resistance to oppression” rather than rioting.
But there was nothing “political” in the rioting and looting. It wasn’t a continuation of protests by other means. In fact, in political terms, destroying one’s neighborhood is a big setback for those who want to have legitimate concerns about policing addressed and effect other changes.
As we know from The Wire and elsewhere, the people of Baltimore, like those in many of America’s inner cities, do face enormous obstacles to getting on in life. Unemployment in Baltimore is high, with more than 50 per cent out of work in certain areas of the city, and many people are poor. Violent crime is more than three times the national average, and black men are incarcerated at high levels. Relations between the population and the police are seriously strained – and that can’t be neatly blamed on race, as Baltimore has for many years had a black mayor and a black police commissioner, and 40 per cent of the police officers are black.
In other words, Freddie Gray’s death was seen by many as only the latest example of a deeply disturbing pattern.
These are facts. Yet it does not follow that current circumstances in Baltimore provide the “fuel” for rioting or otherwise explain it. Commentary that effectively says “black people in Baltimore live in poor conditions, they are justifiably angry, so of course they are going to smash things up” is patronizing.
But Obama and others then quickly move on to outline a litany of conditions that somehow are supposed to explain the rioting. This is a more subtle view, seemingly analytical and sympathetic, but it betrays low expectations of local people. And based on interviews in the aftermath of the rioting, it is not how the people of Baltimore see themselves.
Too many are claiming that the rioting was predictable and inevitable. But rioting is not inevitable. Saying “Well, what do you expect them to do?” is not progressive; it is insulting.
A minority of the Baltimore population rioted. Essentially some people in Baltimore opportunistically used legitimate concerns about policing as an excuse for destructive, illegitimate ends. This does not mean that it is not serious.
Attempts to downplay the rioting as no big deal, and to blame the media for covering it (like when City Council president Bernard Young says he is “disturbed by the way the media is focusing on the negativity of this city”), are an evasion. But it does mean that there is the potential for the majority to assert itself.
The rioting in Baltimore exposes a breakdown in social order and a vacuum of authority. Leaders, from politicians to the police, do not appear able to assert and obtain authority. They have all seemed to be caught off-guard and out of touch, especially with younger people.
The police in particular lack authority. They can’t command people simply with their presence in the way they once might have done, and they now have only two modes of operation: stand by, or go in with excessive force. And after authorities in Ferguson were widely criticized, both politicians and the police are not clear on what to do.
It is not just those at the top who lack authority. Parents, pastors and other community leaders do not seem capable of taking control, either. They are all appalled that this is happening, but seem one step behind.
In that regard, one mom, Toya Graham, has been rightly praised for stopping her son from rioting. In a video that went viral, Graham is seen pushing her masked son away from the crowd, slapping him on the head over and over, and screaming at him.
Not all support Graham – an Occupy activist said “the violent mother’s actions constitute second-degree child abuse” – but the popularity of the hashtag #momoftheyear shows that many do. That’s encouraging, even if moms on their own can’t solve all of the problems.
Those who have visited Baltimore will know that it is, despite its problems, a wonderful city. People are friendly and will call strangers “hon” (short for “honey”). Cuisine, culture and sports are all vibrant. The city is more than a poverty-stricken mess, and the people protesting, cleaning up afterwards and volunteering to help others are more representative than those who rioted.
The people of Baltimore have the potential to achieve their aspirations. But liberals do them no favors, nor show them true support, if they gloss over what happened, dismiss residents as inevitably prone to rioting, or try to glorify destructiveness and claim it is a form of political protest.
Sean Collins is a writer based in New York.
Why do very successful nations often adopt policies that lead to their undoing?
After a revolution or major reform, some countries allow a high degree of economic freedom, establish the rule of law, protect private property rights and establish low tax rates with strict limits on government spending and regulation.
The economy takes off, the citizens become far richer and then the government mucks it up, usually by attempting to redistribute income and expand state control.
Is Chile, which has been one of the bright spots in the world economy, falling into this pattern under socialist President Michelle Bachelet?
For the past three decades, Chile has outperformed the other South American countries and now has the highest per-capita income in South America, averaging approximately $22,000 per year on a purchasing power parity basis.
The World Bank lists Chile as a “developed economy,” and it was the first Latin American country to become a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The average Chilean has a per capita income about three times higher than in 1983.
And now the Chilean people seem poised to let Ms. Bachelet throw it all away.
Joel Gilbert’s new documentary film, “There’s No Place Like Utopia,” depicts Barack Obama as the wizard in an Oz-like story that offers some surprises.
Such as that Peggy Joseph – the Florida voter who became infamous during the 2008 presidential campaign for saying Barack Obama would “pay for my gas and my mortgage” – no longer supports the president.
“Obama has made promise after promise that have all turned out to be empty, all turned out to be lies,” said Gilbert. “The people I met who supported him were literally in dungeons in the witch’s castle, everything had changed for the worse – Detroit, South Side Chicago, Newark.
The movie takes viewers on a journey of discovery across America, emulating the highly successful style of progressive filmmaker Michael Moore.
In it, Gilbert depicts Barack Obama as “the Wizard” in the Land of Oz.
Order your copy of “There’s No Place Like Utopia” now.
Outlets such as Amazon Instant Video won’t have “There’s No Place Like Utopia” until Dec. 2.
I’m Appalled At Such Nonsense!
“Don’t let anybody tell you it’s corporations and businesses create jobs,” Clinton said.
The last thing this country needs is a person who believes this nonsense!
“If corporations and businesses don’t create jobs, then who or what does? Government? Governments don’t create jobs. All government jobs are “created” by taking money from businesses, corporations, and workers through taxes. If businesses and corporations didn’t exist, government wouldn’t have any money to tax, thus, there wouldn’t be any government jobs.
“Microsoft was founded in 1975. Prior to this date, Microsoft did not employ anybody. Today, Microsoft employs 126,000 people worldwide. Microsoft does not stand alone as a corporation. Millions of other people are employed indirectly from a company like Microsoft.

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“the economy still isn’t strong enough to handle it.
“fed officials sharply downgraded their economic forecast for this year. they projected the economy would grow between 1.8% and 2% this year, well below the range of 2.3% to 2.7% in its last forecast in march.
the economy is stagnating, the middle class hasn’t seen any wage increases adjusted for inflation for at least 10 years. he is priced out of the housing market, over loaded with debt, lives paycheck to paycheck, and doesn’t have the extra money to get the economy moving. i think the people in charge ought to be fired for incompetence; 92 million people out of work or looking for work; almost 50 million people on ebt.
if taxpayers suddenly stopped subsidizing amtrak, what do you think would happen?
before trying to answer that question, it is useful to review u.s. railroad history. the first railroads were built in the united states in the late 1820s, and by 1900, only 70 years later, almost every town in the country had rail access.
railroads were high tech, the internet of their time. the system was built and profitably operated by private companies.
amtrak and the modern freight railroad companies use the infrastructure that was built long ago. the 180-year-old privately built canton viaduct (an incredible stone bridge – see link) in canton, massachusetts and the 100-year-old hell gate bridge (the model for the sydney harbor bridge in australia) over the east river in new york are still used by amtrak.
the investor-owned pennsylvania railroad built the hugely expensive north river tunnels under the hudson river in 1904-1908, which were technological wonders of the time. they are still used by all of those who ride amtrak from new jersey to new york.
once the railroads were built, state and local governments began heavily taxing every mile of track and other railroad facilities, and the federal government imposed endless regulations, including regulating fares.
the predictable result was that expenses grew faster than revenues — causing deferred capital spending and maintenance. eighty years ago, trucks, automobiles and airplanes began to lure away rail’s customers. as a result, the rail industry began a death march after world war ii.
railroad companies ripped up thousands of miles of track to save on expenses and tax levies. today, the united states has a fraction of the number of miles of railroad tracks compared to what it had 100 years ago. route mileage peaked at 254,251 miles in 1916 and fell to 139,679 miles in 2011.
by the late 1960s, most of the nation’s railroads were in deep trouble as a result of new forms of competition, disastrous tax and regulatory policies, and inflexible unions. in 1971, the federal government created amtrak as a government corporation to operate intercity passenger rail service.
by contrast, freight rail was finally deregulated in 1980, now resulting in the most efficient and profitable freight railways in the world.
amtrak has eaten through more than $45 billion in taxpayer subsidies in its 44-year history. the only line it has that it claims to be profitable is the northeast corridor from washington to boston, which was shut down for six days following last week’s fatal train crash near philadelphia.
it is widely acknowledged that amtrak is poorly managed — as are most government enterprises — but nothing is done about it by either the administration or congress. amtrak even manages to lose money on its food service, which is hard to do when one has a captive market and serves only mediocre food at high prices.
studies show the government could save money by giving away airline tickets to everyone who rides some of the long-distance amtrak routes, because the subsidy per passenger exceeds the cost of an airline ticket over the same route.
it is no surprise that many of those who call for more taxpayer spending on amtrak are the affluent media and political folks who frequently travel between new york and washington. to pay for their subsidies, they seem to have no trouble taxing lower-income folks in much of america who have no access to amtrak.
the rail tunnels under the hudson river are now more than a hundred years old and will need to be rebuilt or replaced. many members of congress are calling for billions of taxpayer dollars to be spent to rebuild these tunnels.
yet we have many examples of private companies that are willing to invest in transportation infrastructure, such as bridges, tunnels and roads, when they are allowed to charge market prices for use of the infrastructure. no taxpayer dollars need be spent.
again, if the subsidies were eliminated, what would happen?
all of the trains now operated by amtrak, other than the northeast corridor, would cease operation. but then many private entrepreneurs would buy up some of the rail cars or buy new ones, and make contracts with the railroads to run trains over their tracks (amtrak uses the private railroad companies’ tracks).
private passenger rail companies might well successfully compete with airplanes, buses and cars on some routes by providing luxury services with great dining cars as an alternative transportation experience, as they do in other parts of the world.
we now know that a socialistic, government-regulated, -taxed and -operated passenger rail does not work. so let’s get rid of amtrak and its taxpayer subsidies, and see what magic free-market rail entrepreneurs might create.
amazing scenes from baltimore: rioters throwing bricks at police, looting and burning down a cvs pharmacy and other stores, stomping on police cars and setting them on fire.
the rioting followed the funeral of freddie gray on monday (4/27), a black man who died in police custody in uncertain circumstances. the next day (4/28), national guard in camouflage patrolled the streets, and a curfew was imposed.
the rioters also burned down a housing project for seniors and a community centre, a $16million investment by the southern baptist church that was due to open in six months. it was meant to be a sign of hope in a blighted area.
reverend donte hickman, who worked for years on the project, said “my eyes have been filled with tears.” of the arsonists, hickman said “i can”t make sense out of nonsense”.
what is so sad about the degeneration of protesting over gray’s suspicious death into rioting and arson is how self-destructive it all is. rather than strike a blow against the police, the political authorities or “the system,” the rioters mainly hurt their own communities, making life worse for local people and even themselves.
and yet, despite the evident self-destructiveness, some were claiming that the rioters were “uprisers” that represented a “rebellion”. morehouse college professor mark hill lamont told cnn that the turmoil in baltimore was “resistance to oppression” rather than rioting.
but there was nothing “political” in the rioting and looting. it wasn’t a continuation of protests by other means. in fact, in political terms, destroying one’s neighborhood is a big setback for those who want to have legitimate concerns about policing addressed and effect other changes.
as we know from the wire and elsewhere, the people of baltimore, like those in many of america’s inner cities, do face enormous obstacles to getting on in life. unemployment in baltimore is high, with more than 50 per cent out of work in certain areas of the city, and many people are poor. violent crime is more than three times the national average, and black men are incarcerated at high levels. relations between the population and the police are seriously strained – and that can’t be neatly blamed on race, as baltimore has for many years had a black mayor and a black police commissioner, and 40 per cent of the police officers are black.
in other words, freddie gray’s death was seen by many as only the latest example of a deeply disturbing pattern.
these are facts. yet it does not follow that current circumstances in baltimore provide the “fuel” for rioting or otherwise explain it. commentary that effectively says “black people in baltimore live in poor conditions, they are justifiably angry, so of course they are going to smash things up” is patronizing.
but obama and others then quickly move on to outline a litany of conditions that somehow are supposed to explain the rioting. this is a more subtle view, seemingly analytical and sympathetic, but it betrays low expectations of local people. and based on interviews in the aftermath of the rioting, it is not how the people of baltimore see themselves.
too many are claiming that the rioting was predictable and inevitable. but rioting is not inevitable. saying “well, what do you expect them to do?” is not progressive; it is insulting.
a minority of the baltimore population rioted. essentially some people in baltimore opportunistically used legitimate concerns about policing as an excuse for destructive, illegitimate ends. this does not mean that it is not serious.
attempts to downplay the rioting as no big deal, and to blame the media for covering it (like when city council president bernard young says he is “disturbed by the way the media is focusing on the negativity of this city”), are an evasion. but it does mean that there is the potential for the majority to assert itself.
the rioting in baltimore exposes a breakdown in social order and a vacuum of authority. leaders, from politicians to the police, do not appear able to assert and obtain authority. they have all seemed to be caught off-guard and out of touch, especially with younger people.
the police in particular lack authority. they can’t command people simply with their presence in the way they once might have done, and they now have only two modes of operation: stand by, or go in with excessive force. and after authorities in ferguson were widely criticized, both politicians and the police are not clear on what to do.
it is not just those at the top who lack authority. parents, pastors and other community leaders do not seem capable of taking control, either. they are all appalled that this is happening, but seem one step behind.
in that regard, one mom, toya graham, has been rightly praised for stopping her son from rioting. in a video that went viral, graham is seen pushing her masked son away from the crowd, slapping him on the head over and over, and screaming at him.
not all support graham – an occupy activist said “the violent mother’s actions constitute second-degree child abuse” – but the popularity of the hashtag #momoftheyear shows that many do. that’s encouraging, even if moms on their own can’t solve all of the problems.
those who have visited baltimore will know that it is, despite its problems, a wonderful city. people are friendly and will call strangers “hon” (short for “honey”). cuisine, culture and sports are all vibrant. the city is more than a poverty-stricken mess, and the people protesting, cleaning up afterwards and volunteering to help others are more representative than those who rioted.
the people of baltimore have the potential to achieve their aspirations. but liberals do them no favors, nor show them true support, if they gloss over what happened, dismiss residents as inevitably prone to rioting, or try to glorify destructiveness and claim it is a form of political protest.
sean collins is a writer based in new york.
why do very successful nations often adopt policies that lead to their undoing?
after a revolution or major reform, some countries allow a high degree of economic freedom, establish the rule of law, protect private property rights and establish low tax rates with strict limits on government spending and regulation.
the economy takes off, the citizens become far richer and then the government mucks it up, usually by attempting to redistribute income and expand state control.
is chile, which has been one of the bright spots in the world economy, falling into this pattern under socialist president michelle bachelet?
for the past three decades, chile has outperformed the other south american countries and now has the highest per-capita income in south america, averaging approximately $22,000 per year on a purchasing power parity basis.
the world bank lists chile as a “developed economy,” and it was the first latin american country to become a member of the organization for economic cooperation and development. the average chilean has a per capita income about three times higher than in 1983.
and now the chilean people seem poised to let ms. bachelet throw it all away.
joel gilbert’s new documentary film, “there’s no place like utopia,” depicts barack obama as the wizard in an oz-like story that offers some surprises.
such as that peggy joseph – the florida voter who became infamous during the 2008 presidential campaign for saying barack obama would “pay for my gas and my mortgage” – no longer supports the president.
“obama has made promise after promise that have all turned out to be empty, all turned out to be lies,” said gilbert. “the people i met who supported him were literally in dungeons in the witch’s castle, everything had changed for the worse – detroit, south side chicago, newark.
the movie takes viewers on a journey of discovery across america, emulating the highly successful style of progressive filmmaker michael moore.
in it, gilbert depicts barack obama as “the wizard” in the land of oz.
order your copy of “there’s no place like utopia” now.
outlets such as amazon instant video won’t have “there’s no place like utopia” until dec. 2.
i’m appalled at such nonsense!
“don’t let anybody tell you it’s corporations and businesses create jobs,” clinton said.
the last thing this country needs is a person who believes this nonsense!
“if corporations and businesses don’t create jobs, then who or what does? government? governments don’t create jobs. all government jobs are “created” by taking money from businesses, corporations, and workers through taxes. if businesses and corporations didn’t exist, government wouldn’t have any money to tax, thus, there wouldn’t be any government jobs.
“microsoft was founded in 1975. prior to this date, microsoft did not employ anybody. today, microsoft employs 126,000 people worldwide. microsoft does not stand alone as a corporation. millions of other people are employed indirectly from a company like microsoft.


text:
I’m about to get into the November 1979 science fiction magazines. Dive Deep. But, there is a fundamental difference between November 1969, and November 1979 — I was born in 1969, but by 1979 I was 10 years old. I remember 1979. Or pieces of it anyway.
Before I got into the magazines I thought I’d see what I could recall from my younger years. In short — Star Wars is what I remember.
It loomed large over almost everything in my life at the time. I think I went to see it like… 7 times? And back then, back in 1977, that took work, dude.
I remember disco, I remember “Disco Duck.” I had, by 1979, watched the entire run of Star Trek (and I have to say, when you are 8-10 years old, each Star Trek episode was almost as good as Star Wars).
Fans love Star Trek for different reasons, and when a fan moves into gaming within the Star Trek universe, those reasons usually inform the type of character they want to emphasize in their games. Do they want to be, like Spock or Data, the science officer who can coolly reason through any problem that comes up? Do they want to be the medical officer who saves lives while chaos erupts around them? The security officer who goes hand-to-hand with a Klingon warrior? The engineer who can make any technological miracle into reality? The hotshot pilot who can maneuver through any cluster of asteroids? Or the Captain of a starship, in charge of herding together all of these elements as they explore the distant unknown regions of space?
A handful of games have been versatile enough to cater to all of these types of fans. The video game Star Trek Online just celebrated its 8th anniversary, and it has a diverse style that allows easily for group or solo play, where players can create characters and take missions that interest them. There are missions that are mostly story-driven diplomatic missions, and some that are primarily about shooting the bad guys, either on ground away missions or in starship combat.
This week saw the first new Star Trek TV show debut in a long time. If you missed it, or because subscribing to CBS All-Access for a single show irks you, it was more than pretty good. In fact, I downright enjoyed myself in a way I haven’t since the Star Trek: Enterprise debuted in 2001. And it was my 12-year old son’s first real experience of Star Trek.
Science fiction themes were front and center at GenCon this year, in a way that surpasses what I have seen in previous years. Usually the science fiction games are almost entirely tied into existing property lines, like the various Star Wars miniature battle lines produced by Fantasy Flight Games. These were certainly present, but they were matched by new science fiction games that had an appeal independent of being tied to well-established and beloved properties.
I’ll dig into several of these games more deeply in future full reviews, but for now here are some high-level looks at some of the new science fiction-themed games and expansions from GenCon.
This week marked the -46th anniversary of First Contact Day, the date in 2063 when Zefram Cochrane was the first human to create and engage a warp drive (time travel situations excluded), as depicted in the film Star Trek: First Contact. As such, it seems appropriate to look at the state of affairs with the upcoming Star Trek Adventures roleplaying game, slated for a 2017 release from Modiphius Entertainment.
Modiphius has been playtesting the game since late last year as an open live playtest, using gamers from across the world as guinea pigs to find bugs in their design and crowdsourcing improvement suggestions. In addition to the Alpha set of rules for playtest, the Round 1 included a generic “starter” adventure that all of the playtesters could run through. I discussed my thoughts on this shortly after I playtested it, back in December, playing the group with a mix of Star Trek enthusiasts and their less-enthusiastic spouses, all of whom are relative novices at roleplaying games.
Earlier this year, based on feedback from the first round, Modiphius released a second round of playtest, as well as new adventures focused on the specific ship that you signed up to test for, allowing them to test science/exploration missions vs. combat-oriented missions vs. diplomacy missions, and so on. The new set of rules contained updates to earlier rules, but also a key new gaming system: starships. Once we provided feedback on the Round 2 playtest, playtesters were given access to the character creation system.
As a TOS fan who came to the other Star Trek series relatively recently, I have to admit that The Next Generation, although entertaining, didn’t grab me as much as its predecessor. Nor did the first entry in the TNG run of movies — Generations.
Fortunately, First Contact fares quite a bit better than that installment.
Part of the appeal this time around, in this the eighth of the Star Trek movies, is that it centers on the Borg. Who were the most effective of all Star Trek villains, in my opinion. They first appeared in Star Trek: Next Generation and then in each of the TV series after that. They turned up very frequently in Voyager, which featured Seven of Nine, a “recovering” Borg/human, as a regular member of the cast.
Though Star Trek is one of the most popular franchises in science fiction and fantasy, it’s been over a decade since there has been a tabletop roleplaying game in production set in the Star Trek universe. That’s about to change in 2017 with the release of Star Trek Adventures from Modiphius Games.
The game is currently in development, but if you’re interested in checking it out, you don’t have to wait until 2017. Modiphius has just begun an open alpha playtest, allowing people across the world to begin playing games set in the world, test out the rules system, and provide feedback in time for the final design of the game.
Last Friday, I was able to get together a group to do a trial run of the first open playtest adventure. Though there’s no telling exactly which mechanics will stay the same through the playtest process, what is clear at this very early stage is that Modiphius is putting together a game that captures the feel of Star Trek in a tabletop roleplaying game.
I’ve been celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek in my own way. Meaning I’ve been giving in to impulse buys, and snatching up those commemorative photo-books and magazines when I see them. Yeah, they’re sometimes a little lacking in depth, but it doesn’t matter. I buy them mostly for the marvelously nostalgic photos, for the way they manage to make Star Trek — one of our most venerable franchises — young again.
Titan Comics has been publishing the official Star Trek magazine since 1995, and they collected collected some of the best articles from that magazine in The Best of Star Trek: Volume 1 – The Movies (June 2016). This is the second volume in that set, covering the various broadcast series. It will be available at the end of the month.
The 50-year history of Star Trek, as told by the people who were there – every cast member interviewed.
From the vaults of Star Trek Magazine, we celebrate a half-century of Star Trek in a volume packed with classic archive interviews with every lead cast member, from William Shatner to Patrick Stewart, to Chris Pine and beyond. Featuring every incarnation of world’s favorite sci-fi saga, including the stars of the original series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, and the Trek movies, familiar faces reveal the true story behind the greatest moments in the fifty-year history of Star Trek.
Celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the world’s favorite sci-fi saga, this special collection of cast interviews tells the true story behind the making of Star Trek. Join us as we revisit classic interviews with the entire casts of every Star Trek series, including William Shatner (Captain Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Spock), Patrick Stewart (Jean Luc Picard), Brent Spiner (Data), Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway), Jolene Blaylock (T’Pol), and many more. We’ll also discover how actors Chris Pine (Kirk), Zachary Quinto (Spock), Zoe Saldana (Uhura), and the stars of the recent movies made the characters their own.
The Best of Star Trek: Volume 2 – Fifty Years of Star Trek will be published by Titan Comics on November 29, 2016. It is 176 pages in full color, priced at $19.99 for both the trade and digital editions.
I think the statute of limitations on spoilers has probably run out 22 years after this movie was released… but be advised that there’s a sort of big spoiler ahead.
I suppose I should also mention that I was a TOS guy back in the day and didn’t even get around to watching the other Star Trek series until about a decade ago. I ended up liking The Next Generation well enough, although oddly it always seemed to me that it might have been more dated than its predecessor. But that’s neither here nor there.
What I’m getting around to, perhaps awkwardly, is that even though I’m mostly a TOS fan, I thought that six TOS movies were enough and perhaps even a bit too much, and it was probably a good time to switch things up a bit. But not before some TOS crew members appear on the scene, early on in this movie.

lowercased:
i’m about to get into the november 1979 science fiction magazines. dive deep. but, there is a fundamental difference between november 1969, and november 1979 — i was born in 1969, but by 1979 i was 10 years old. i remember 1979. or pieces of it anyway.
before i got into the magazines i thought i’d see what i could recall from my younger years. in short — star wars is what i remember.
it loomed large over almost everything in my life at the time. i think i went to see it like… 7 times? and back then, back in 1977, that took work, dude.
i remember disco, i remember “disco duck.” i had, by 1979, watched the entire run of star trek (and i have to say, when you are 8-10 years old, each star trek episode was almost as good as star wars).
fans love star trek for different reasons, and when a fan moves into gaming within the star trek universe, those reasons usually inform the type of character they want to emphasize in their games. do they want to be, like spock or data, the science officer who can coolly reason through any problem that comes up? do they want to be the medical officer who saves lives while chaos erupts around them? the security officer who goes hand-to-hand with a klingon warrior? the engineer who can make any technological miracle into reality? the hotshot pilot who can maneuver through any cluster of asteroids? or the captain of a starship, in charge of herding together all of these elements as they explore the distant unknown regions of space?
a handful of games have been versatile enough to cater to all of these types of fans. the video game star trek online just celebrated its 8th anniversary, and it has a diverse style that allows easily for group or solo play, where players can create characters and take missions that interest them. there are missions that are mostly story-driven diplomatic missions, and some that are primarily about shooting the bad guys, either on ground away missions or in starship combat.
this week saw the first new star trek tv show debut in a long time. if you missed it, or because subscribing to cbs all-access for a single show irks you, it was more than pretty good. in fact, i downright enjoyed myself in a way i haven’t since the star trek: enterprise debuted in 2001. and it was my 12-year old son’s first real experience of star trek.
science fiction themes were front and center at gencon this year, in a way that surpasses what i have seen in previous years. usually the science fiction games are almost entirely tied into existing property lines, like the various star wars miniature battle lines produced by fantasy flight games. these were certainly present, but they were matched by new science fiction games that had an appeal independent of being tied to well-established and beloved properties.
i’ll dig into several of these games more deeply in future full reviews, but for now here are some high-level looks at some of the new science fiction-themed games and expansions from gencon.
this week marked the -46th anniversary of first contact day, the date in 2063 when zefram cochrane was the first human to create and engage a warp drive (time travel situations excluded), as depicted in the film star trek: first contact. as such, it seems appropriate to look at the state of affairs with the upcoming star trek adventures roleplaying game, slated for a 2017 release from modiphius entertainment.
modiphius has been playtesting the game since late last year as an open live playtest, using gamers from across the world as guinea pigs to find bugs in their design and crowdsourcing improvement suggestions. in addition to the alpha set of rules for playtest, the round 1 included a generic “starter” adventure that all of the playtesters could run through. i discussed my thoughts on this shortly after i playtested it, back in december, playing the group with a mix of star trek enthusiasts and their less-enthusiastic spouses, all of whom are relative novices at roleplaying games.
earlier this year, based on feedback from the first round, modiphius released a second round of playtest, as well as new adventures focused on the specific ship that you signed up to test for, allowing them to test science/exploration missions vs. combat-oriented missions vs. diplomacy missions, and so on. the new set of rules contained updates to earlier rules, but also a key new gaming system: starships. once we provided feedback on the round 2 playtest, playtesters were given access to the character creation system.
as a tos fan who came to the other star trek series relatively recently, i have to admit that the next generation, although entertaining, didn’t grab me as much as its predecessor. nor did the first entry in the tng run of movies — generations.
fortunately, first contact fares quite a bit better than that installment.
part of the appeal this time around, in this the eighth of the star trek movies, is that it centers on the borg. who were the most effective of all star trek villains, in my opinion. they first appeared in star trek: next generation and then in each of the tv series after that. they turned up very frequently in voyager, which featured seven of nine, a “recovering” borg/human, as a regular member of the cast.
though star trek is one of the most popular franchises in science fiction and fantasy, it’s been over a decade since there has been a tabletop roleplaying game in production set in the star trek universe. that’s about to change in 2017 with the release of star trek adventures from modiphius games.
the game is currently in development, but if you’re interested in checking it out, you don’t have to wait until 2017. modiphius has just begun an open alpha playtest, allowing people across the world to begin playing games set in the world, test out the rules system, and provide feedback in time for the final design of the game.
last friday, i was able to get together a group to do a trial run of the first open playtest adventure. though there’s no telling exactly which mechanics will stay the same through the playtest process, what is clear at this very early stage is that modiphius is putting together a game that captures the feel of star trek in a tabletop roleplaying game.
i’ve been celebrating the 50th anniversary of star trek in my own way. meaning i’ve been giving in to impulse buys, and snatching up those commemorative photo-books and magazines when i see them. yeah, they’re sometimes a little lacking in depth, but it doesn’t matter. i buy them mostly for the marvelously nostalgic photos, for the way they manage to make star trek — one of our most venerable franchises — young again.
titan comics has been publishing the official star trek magazine since 1995, and they collected collected some of the best articles from that magazine in the best of star trek: volume 1 – the movies (june 2016). this is the second volume in that set, covering the various broadcast series. it will be available at the end of the month.
the 50-year history of star trek, as told by the people who were there – every cast member interviewed.
from the vaults of star trek magazine, we celebrate a half-century of star trek in a volume packed with classic archive interviews with every lead cast member, from william shatner to patrick stewart, to chris pine and beyond. featuring every incarnation of world’s favorite sci-fi saga, including the stars of the original series, the next generation, deep space nine, voyager, enterprise, and the trek movies, familiar faces reveal the true story behind the greatest moments in the fifty-year history of star trek.
celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the world’s favorite sci-fi saga, this special collection of cast interviews tells the true story behind the making of star trek. join us as we revisit classic interviews with the entire casts of every star trek series, including william shatner (captain kirk), leonard nimoy (spock), patrick stewart (jean luc picard), brent spiner (data), kate mulgrew (captain janeway), jolene blaylock (t’pol), and many more. we’ll also discover how actors chris pine (kirk), zachary quinto (spock), zoe saldana (uhura), and the stars of the recent movies made the characters their own.
the best of star trek: volume 2 – fifty years of star trek will be published by titan comics on november 29, 2016. it is 176 pages in full color, priced at $19.99 for both the trade and digital editions.
i think the statute of limitations on spoilers has probably run out 22 years after this movie was released… but be advised that there’s a sort of big spoiler ahead.
i suppose i should also mention that i was a tos guy back in the day and didn’t even get around to watching the other star trek series until about a decade ago. i ended up liking the next generation well enough, although oddly it always seemed to me that it might have been more dated than its predecessor. but that’s neither here nor there.
what i’m getting around to, perhaps awkwardly, is that even though i’m mostly a tos fan, i thought that six tos movies were enough and perhaps even a bit too much, and it was probably a good time to switch things up a bit. but not before some tos crew members appear on the scene, early on in this movie.


text:
. -Note: Items in this color are minimum viable IAM system requirements.
Access Control The act of allowing access to facilities, programs, resources or services to authorized persons (or other valid subjects), and denying unauthorized access. Access Control requires that rules or policies be in place, that privileges be defined, so that they can be enforced.
Access Management That part of Identity Management comprising the processes and tools used to associate privileges with subjects in accord with the wishes of Authorities. A comprehensive set of tools and processes for assign and revoke access to resource to digital identities.
Access Rights The full set of resource permissions or entitlements that a Subject or group possesses.
Action Function, Action, and Verb are close synonyms within the privilege and access control domain. They are used interchangeably in the tuple data model where a privilege is defined by Subject + Function + Scope.
Assertion A declaration or claim. Typically, when the term assertion is used in conjection with privilege management it tends to connote a claim formatted with a particular formal syntax. For example the document or speaker may be talking about a claim formatted as an assertion conformant to the SAML specification.
Attribute A distinct characteristic of a subject. An object's attributes are said to describe it. Attributes are often represented as pairs of "attribute name" and "attribute value(s)", e.g. "foo" has the value 'bar', "count" has the value 1, "gizmo" has the values "frob" and "2", etc. Often, these are referred to as "attribute value pairs".
The term also refers to properties of objects or elements of assertions whether or not they represent subjects.
assertion issued by the Identity Provider at the time the Subject attempts to access the service.
Service Provider or Service Provider category.
username and password that is verified as correct or incorrect. Alternative definition: The process of confirming the identity of a principal. Since computer identification cannot be absolute (e.g., passwords can be stolen), authentication relies on a related concept of level of trust, in which an institution relies on good identity management practice (so that the institution believes they have correctly identified an individual) and secure mechanisms for sharing identity.
This is sometimes referred to as AuthN (authentication), in contrast to AuthZ (authorization).
Authority 1) A broad term than can cover most aspects of creating policies and rules governing who has rights and privileges for an organization. It includes the process or workflow used to attest or assign rights and privileges , the ability to control the dissemination of those rights, as well as an organization's responsibilities to enforce those rights. This is sometimes referred to as AuthZ (authorization), in contrast to AuthN (authentication.
2) It can also refer to a person or policy or rule that confers privileges to subjects, either directly by use of an access management system, or indirectly.
3) It can also be used more specifically in a singular authorization situation to say whether a principal has "authority" to take an action. In this sense, authority and privilege can be used interchangeably.
The process for determining a specific Subject's eligibility to gain access to a resource or service, a right or permission granted to access a system or information. The process of deciding if a subject (person, program, device, group, role,etc.) is allowed to have access to or take an action against a resource. Authorization relies on a trusted identity (authentication) and the ability to test the privileges held by the subject against the policies or rules governing that resource to determine if an action is permitted for a subject.
Claim A declaration, or assertion, made by an entity. Hopefully the entity is a reliable third party. Examples of claims include names, affiliations, group membership, or capabilities.
attainment of the company's objectives when properly used.
may be renewed or revoked.
Credential Syncing The propagation of the same credential to multiple repositories.
Delegation The process used, or task performed, by a grantor to assign privileges to other subjects within the limits of its authority. A subject with delegated privileges does not have to perform any type of impersonation in order to exercise the privileges.
- A privilege may be granted due to another granted privilege (e.g. if you are granted READ access to the Arts and Sciences school in the payroll system [immediate], then you also have READ access to the English department in that system [effective] ).
- A privilege may be granted via an assignment to a role, and the role or other role in a hierarchy is assigned the privilege.
- A group membership might exist due to a group being a member of another group.
An effective assignment generally cannot be directly unassigned.
Eligibility A concept closely related to authorization in that it can use the same mechanisms of authentication, policies, rules, and role evaluation. The differences are semantic - one is "eligible for something" as opposed to "authorized to do something" - so each is appropriate to use to describe different use cases. For instance, "all students are eligible for an email account", vs "students in this class are authorized to download course materials".
Eligibility is more akin to a "right", in legal terms, than a "privilege", but the technical differences in how they are accomplished in an online environment are generally negligible.
The term has sometimes been used in circumstances in which subjects must take a specific step in order to receive an authorization.
Entitlement Often used the same as Privilege, entitlement carries the feeling of something owed or of a right granted. We make limited use of the word here. An authority-related eduPerson attribute - eduPersonEntitlement - uses this term specifically as an attribute that conveys ownership of the named right or privilege, a token that can be used directly or in a rules evaluation in determining authorization.
It's noteworthy that privileges with qualifications, limits, scope, attributes, conditions, or prerequisites aren't called entitlements. It seems to be used only for simple, non-parameterized expressions.
Entity A collection of identifiers and attributes managed by an Identity Management System representing any real-world actor, such as a person, process, system, etc.
This is very similar to one definition of Subject below, with the possible distinction that a Subject can represent groups and roles in addition to real-world actors.
be hard to achieve due to the lack of a common Identity Provider.
access to their protected resources.
Function Function, Action, and Verb are close synonyms within the privilege and access control domain. They are used interchangeably in the tuple data model where a privilege is defined by Subject + Function + Scope.
Grantor A principal authorized to delegate some portion of its own authority and that has exercised that privilege.
of a group is its membership, i.e. the set of objects that belong to the group.
information from systems of record, or manually.
In an enterprise setting, there are likely to be needs for several types of identifiers.
Security Number, card ID, library ID.
nature, a persistent identifier is nonreassignable.
multiple Subjects may utilize/possess the identifier.
electronic transactions on behalf of the Subject.
memberships, roles and eligibility. Also referred to as Identity Attributes .
Identity Management Identity management is often used broadly to encompass not only activities to correctly identify and maintain attributes about subjects, but also the manifestations of that knowledge through infrastructure supplying access and security services - single sign-on, account/service provisioning, authentication and authorization. Here we focus on a narrower definition, principally the need to identify persons as one individual despite multiple associations and roles, proper identification of other entities and agents (organizations, applications, groups, services, resources, etc), and the management of that information over time and across the enterprise.
Sometimes the term "Identity and Access Management" is used to be explicitly inclusive of access management within this practice.
When the number of subjects that need to be given identifiers for use in Identity and Access Management systems is very large, the ability to name things may itself be controlled by access management. This requires an underlying identity management practice for namespaces.
Subject Digital Identities and Credentials.
amount of data used in the comparison.
about members of its community to other federation participants.
Immediate Direct. Opposite of effective. An assignment is "immediate" if there is an explicit assignment from the subject to the resource (and perhaps including qualifiers). An immediate assignment does not depend on other assignments to exist. An immediate assignment can be unassigned directly.
InCommon The InCommon Federation is the U.S. education and research identity federation.
multiple sources into a merged record.
Namespace A domain in which an identifier is unique in representing a single object.
Permission A closely related term to access control, a permission is the control specifically related to a resource and an action - a subject must have permission to take that action. Note - paccman is deprecating this term and suggest that privilege be used consistently.
Policy (2) A policy is used to describe general access control requirements. There are many existing proprietary and application-specific languages for creating policies, but XACML has several points in its favor: it's standard, it's generic, it's distributed, it's powerful.
A XACML policy has at least one, and possibly more rules. A policy may be written to have a single effect, meaning that each policy has a single rule that either permits or denies access. This style of policy writing results in many individual policies, but each policy is atomic and uncomplicated. An alternative is to have fewer policies, each with multiple rules within.
A XACML policy contains one or more RULEs, which may contain a TARGET and a CONDITION. A TARGET consists of a SUBJECT, an ACTION, a RESOURCE, and optionally an ENVIRONMENT. RULEs can be composited.
Principal A subject whose identity can be authenticated.
Privileges Etymologically speaking, a privilege is a "personal law", making privileges a set of personal rights. Privileges amount to the sum of what a subject may do, as granted to them or inherited.
In the context of a Privilege management system, Privilege is used to describe the combination of a subject or group, their current allowable actions, and any qualifications or scoping limitations that shall be imposed on those allowable actions.
a coordinated way to obtain benefits not available from managing them individually.
The process of managing attributes and accounts within the scope of a defined business process or interaction. Provisioning an account or service may involve the creation, modification, deletion, suspension, or restoration of a defined set of accounts or attributes in order to affect the subjects access rights.
The mapping of digital identities to accounts, credentials and access rights.
Qualifier In the context privilege manage and access control, Qualifier and Scope are close synonyms, often used interchangeably. A qualifier, or scope, mediates (or restricts) the applicability of a Verb or Function.
For example, within a financial system, we may have a verb or function called "can spend" and the scope will specify the cost objects or account numbers to which this verb can legitimately be applied.
In another example, library systems may have a verb or function named "can access" and the scope or qualifier may specify a particular database or resource such as "Oxford English Dictionary Online".
A slightly self-referential example, occurs when a privilege management system has a verb or function called "can create Functions" and the scope or qualifier might be "in the category of HR".
could be categorized as Research and Scholarship.
Resource Resource and Target are often used synonymously when discussing privilege management colloquially. As with Target, the term is context dependent when used informally. At times, Resource is another close synonym of Qualifier and Scope. However, people tend to use this term when speaking about more "tangible" scopes such as "Oxford English Dictionary Online" or "Ethnic Newswatch". There are other qualifiers and scopes that people don't typically think of as a resource, for example "the category of HR", "NULL", and depending how closely you work with the financial system, cost objects and account numbers.
Responsibility A responsibility is an action that a principal assigned to a role is expected to perform. Similar to a privilege except that the principal not only has the ability to perform the action, but is expected to perform the action. In the Kuali Enterprise Workflow system, an example of a responsibility is a step in a workflow where a subject needs to respond to a workflow action. Note that more than one person could have the same responsibility.
estimated with accuracy and precision.
In the context of privilege management and access control, a Role centric model presumes that given the precise position or title of a person within an organization, the privilege management system can draw conclusions about what privileges should be granted to the person. An identity data element that represents a collection of permissions or entitlements.
Roles may also be thought of as meta-privileges which are used a short hand for granting a wide range of finer grained privileges to someone that "has the role." It is also noted that a Role may imply one or more Roles. For example a Department Chair will also be presumed to be a Faculty member.
Modeling roles can be problematic. In some systems it may be appropriate to define a role of "Dean" while in other systems it may be important to create "Dean of Biology" , "Dean of School of Science", .... It is important to understand how the modeling will impact the finer grained privileges that will be conveyed to the individuals associated with specific roles, for a particular implementation.
In computer systems security, role based access control is an approach to restricting system access to authorized users. RBAC is sometimes referred to as role based security. Within an organization, roles are created for various job functions.
Rule A prescribed evaluation of data which is used to confer a privilege, to a subject or a collection of subjects.
to users based in part on information about them that it receives from an Identity Provider.
Subject A realworld entity. The term is usually taken to mean an individual human being.
electronic devices. Any entity whose identifiers and attributes are managed by an Identity and Access Management practice.
Target The term "Target" should be deprecated. Target is a matter of perspective and context. When people are discussing privilege and access control informally, a target is often the same as a Resource. However, at other times, the focus is on the Subject. In yet different contexts the target is actually the set of people that have a specific verb and scope applied to them, as in the "target group".
between participants according to a defined set of rules to achieve, or contribute to the authority assigning privileges.

lowercased:
. -note: items in this color are minimum viable iam system requirements.
access control the act of allowing access to facilities, programs, resources or services to authorized persons (or other valid subjects), and denying unauthorized access. access control requires that rules or policies be in place, that privileges be defined, so that they can be enforced.
access management that part of identity management comprising the processes and tools used to associate privileges with subjects in accord with the wishes of authorities. a comprehensive set of tools and processes for assign and revoke access to resource to digital identities.
access rights the full set of resource permissions or entitlements that a subject or group possesses.
action function, action, and verb are close synonyms within the privilege and access control domain. they are used interchangeably in the tuple data model where a privilege is defined by subject + function + scope.
assertion a declaration or claim. typically, when the term assertion is used in conjection with privilege management it tends to connote a claim formatted with a particular formal syntax. for example the document or speaker may be talking about a claim formatted as an assertion conformant to the saml specification.
attribute a distinct characteristic of a subject. an object's attributes are said to describe it. attributes are often represented as pairs of "attribute name" and "attribute value(s)", e.g. "foo" has the value 'bar', "count" has the value 1, "gizmo" has the values "frob" and "2", etc. often, these are referred to as "attribute value pairs".
the term also refers to properties of objects or elements of assertions whether or not they represent subjects.
assertion issued by the identity provider at the time the subject attempts to access the service.
service provider or service provider category.
username and password that is verified as correct or incorrect. alternative definition: the process of confirming the identity of a principal. since computer identification cannot be absolute (e.g., passwords can be stolen), authentication relies on a related concept of level of trust, in which an institution relies on good identity management practice (so that the institution believes they have correctly identified an individual) and secure mechanisms for sharing identity.
this is sometimes referred to as authn (authentication), in contrast to authz (authorization).
authority 1) a broad term than can cover most aspects of creating policies and rules governing who has rights and privileges for an organization. it includes the process or workflow used to attest or assign rights and privileges , the ability to control the dissemination of those rights, as well as an organization's responsibilities to enforce those rights. this is sometimes referred to as authz (authorization), in contrast to authn (authentication.
2) it can also refer to a person or policy or rule that confers privileges to subjects, either directly by use of an access management system, or indirectly.
3) it can also be used more specifically in a singular authorization situation to say whether a principal has "authority" to take an action. in this sense, authority and privilege can be used interchangeably.
the process for determining a specific subject's eligibility to gain access to a resource or service, a right or permission granted to access a system or information. the process of deciding if a subject (person, program, device, group, role,etc.) is allowed to have access to or take an action against a resource. authorization relies on a trusted identity (authentication) and the ability to test the privileges held by the subject against the policies or rules governing that resource to determine if an action is permitted for a subject.
claim a declaration, or assertion, made by an entity. hopefully the entity is a reliable third party. examples of claims include names, affiliations, group membership, or capabilities.
attainment of the company's objectives when properly used.
may be renewed or revoked.
credential syncing the propagation of the same credential to multiple repositories.
delegation the process used, or task performed, by a grantor to assign privileges to other subjects within the limits of its authority. a subject with delegated privileges does not have to perform any type of impersonation in order to exercise the privileges.
- a privilege may be granted due to another granted privilege (e.g. if you are granted read access to the arts and sciences school in the payroll system [immediate], then you also have read access to the english department in that system [effective] ).
- a privilege may be granted via an assignment to a role, and the role or other role in a hierarchy is assigned the privilege.
- a group membership might exist due to a group being a member of another group.
an effective assignment generally cannot be directly unassigned.
eligibility a concept closely related to authorization in that it can use the same mechanisms of authentication, policies, rules, and role evaluation. the differences are semantic - one is "eligible for something" as opposed to "authorized to do something" - so each is appropriate to use to describe different use cases. for instance, "all students are eligible for an email account", vs "students in this class are authorized to download course materials".
eligibility is more akin to a "right", in legal terms, than a "privilege", but the technical differences in how they are accomplished in an online environment are generally negligible.
the term has sometimes been used in circumstances in which subjects must take a specific step in order to receive an authorization.
entitlement often used the same as privilege, entitlement carries the feeling of something owed or of a right granted. we make limited use of the word here. an authority-related eduperson attribute - edupersonentitlement - uses this term specifically as an attribute that conveys ownership of the named right or privilege, a token that can be used directly or in a rules evaluation in determining authorization.
it's noteworthy that privileges with qualifications, limits, scope, attributes, conditions, or prerequisites aren't called entitlements. it seems to be used only for simple, non-parameterized expressions.
entity a collection of identifiers and attributes managed by an identity management system representing any real-world actor, such as a person, process, system, etc.
this is very similar to one definition of subject below, with the possible distinction that a subject can represent groups and roles in addition to real-world actors.
be hard to achieve due to the lack of a common identity provider.
access to their protected resources.
function function, action, and verb are close synonyms within the privilege and access control domain. they are used interchangeably in the tuple data model where a privilege is defined by subject + function + scope.
grantor a principal authorized to delegate some portion of its own authority and that has exercised that privilege.
of a group is its membership, i.e. the set of objects that belong to the group.
information from systems of record, or manually.
in an enterprise setting, there are likely to be needs for several types of identifiers.
security number, card id, library id.
nature, a persistent identifier is nonreassignable.
multiple subjects may utilize/possess the identifier.
electronic transactions on behalf of the subject.
memberships, roles and eligibility. also referred to as identity attributes .
identity management identity management is often used broadly to encompass not only activities to correctly identify and maintain attributes about subjects, but also the manifestations of that knowledge through infrastructure supplying access and security services - single sign-on, account/service provisioning, authentication and authorization. here we focus on a narrower definition, principally the need to identify persons as one individual despite multiple associations and roles, proper identification of other entities and agents (organizations, applications, groups, services, resources, etc), and the management of that information over time and across the enterprise.
sometimes the term "identity and access management" is used to be explicitly inclusive of access management within this practice.
when the number of subjects that need to be given identifiers for use in identity and access management systems is very large, the ability to name things may itself be controlled by access management. this requires an underlying identity management practice for namespaces.
subject digital identities and credentials.
amount of data used in the comparison.
about members of its community to other federation participants.
immediate direct. opposite of effective. an assignment is "immediate" if there is an explicit assignment from the subject to the resource (and perhaps including qualifiers). an immediate assignment does not depend on other assignments to exist. an immediate assignment can be unassigned directly.
incommon the incommon federation is the u.s. education and research identity federation.
multiple sources into a merged record.
namespace a domain in which an identifier is unique in representing a single object.
permission a closely related term to access control, a permission is the control specifically related to a resource and an action - a subject must have permission to take that action. note - paccman is deprecating this term and suggest that privilege be used consistently.
policy (2) a policy is used to describe general access control requirements. there are many existing proprietary and application-specific languages for creating policies, but xacml has several points in its favor: it's standard, it's generic, it's distributed, it's powerful.
a xacml policy has at least one, and possibly more rules. a policy may be written to have a single effect, meaning that each policy has a single rule that either permits or denies access. this style of policy writing results in many individual policies, but each policy is atomic and uncomplicated. an alternative is to have fewer policies, each with multiple rules within.
a xacml policy contains one or more rules, which may contain a target and a condition. a target consists of a subject, an action, a resource, and optionally an environment. rules can be composited.
principal a subject whose identity can be authenticated.
privileges etymologically speaking, a privilege is a "personal law", making privileges a set of personal rights. privileges amount to the sum of what a subject may do, as granted to them or inherited.
in the context of a privilege management system, privilege is used to describe the combination of a subject or group, their current allowable actions, and any qualifications or scoping limitations that shall be imposed on those allowable actions.
a coordinated way to obtain benefits not available from managing them individually.
the process of managing attributes and accounts within the scope of a defined business process or interaction. provisioning an account or service may involve the creation, modification, deletion, suspension, or restoration of a defined set of accounts or attributes in order to affect the subjects access rights.
the mapping of digital identities to accounts, credentials and access rights.
qualifier in the context privilege manage and access control, qualifier and scope are close synonyms, often used interchangeably. a qualifier, or scope, mediates (or restricts) the applicability of a verb or function.
for example, within a financial system, we may have a verb or function called "can spend" and the scope will specify the cost objects or account numbers to which this verb can legitimately be applied.
in another example, library systems may have a verb or function named "can access" and the scope or qualifier may specify a particular database or resource such as "oxford english dictionary online".
a slightly self-referential example, occurs when a privilege management system has a verb or function called "can create functions" and the scope or qualifier might be "in the category of hr".
could be categorized as research and scholarship.
resource resource and target are often used synonymously when discussing privilege management colloquially. as with target, the term is context dependent when used informally. at times, resource is another close synonym of qualifier and scope. however, people tend to use this term when speaking about more "tangible" scopes such as "oxford english dictionary online" or "ethnic newswatch". there are other qualifiers and scopes that people don't typically think of as a resource, for example "the category of hr", "null", and depending how closely you work with the financial system, cost objects and account numbers.
responsibility a responsibility is an action that a principal assigned to a role is expected to perform. similar to a privilege except that the principal not only has the ability to perform the action, but is expected to perform the action. in the kuali enterprise workflow system, an example of a responsibility is a step in a workflow where a subject needs to respond to a workflow action. note that more than one person could have the same responsibility.
estimated with accuracy and precision.
in the context of privilege management and access control, a role centric model presumes that given the precise position or title of a person within an organization, the privilege management system can draw conclusions about what privileges should be granted to the person. an identity data element that represents a collection of permissions or entitlements.
roles may also be thought of as meta-privileges which are used a short hand for granting a wide range of finer grained privileges to someone that "has the role." it is also noted that a role may imply one or more roles. for example a department chair will also be presumed to be a faculty member.
modeling roles can be problematic. in some systems it may be appropriate to define a role of "dean" while in other systems it may be important to create "dean of biology" , "dean of school of science", .... it is important to understand how the modeling will impact the finer grained privileges that will be conveyed to the individuals associated with specific roles, for a particular implementation.
in computer systems security, role based access control is an approach to restricting system access to authorized users. rbac is sometimes referred to as role based security. within an organization, roles are created for various job functions.
rule a prescribed evaluation of data which is used to confer a privilege, to a subject or a collection of subjects.
to users based in part on information about them that it receives from an identity provider.
subject a realworld entity. the term is usually taken to mean an individual human being.
electronic devices. any entity whose identifiers and attributes are managed by an identity and access management practice.
target the term "target" should be deprecated. target is a matter of perspective and context. when people are discussing privilege and access control informally, a target is often the same as a resource. however, at other times, the focus is on the subject. in yet different contexts the target is actually the set of people that have a specific verb and scope applied to them, as in the "target group".
between participants according to a defined set of rules to achieve, or contribute to the authority assigning privileges.