text:
- Author
- Year
- 2009
- Title
- Wikinomics and its discontents: a critical analysis of Web 2.0 business manifestos
- Journal
- New Media & Society
- Volume | Issue number
- 11 | 5
- Pages (from-to)
- 855-874
- Document type
- Article
- Faculty
- Faculty of Humanities (FGw)
- Institute
- Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA)
- Abstract
'Collaborative culture', 'mass creativity' and 'co-creation' appear to be contagious buzzwords that are rapidly infecting economic and cultural discourse on Web 2.0. Allegedly, peer production models will replace opaque, top-down business models, yielding to transparent, democratic structures where power is in the shared hands of responsible companies and skilled, qualified users. Manifestos such as Wikinomics (Tapscott and Williams, 2006) and 'We-Think' (Leadbeater, 2007) argue collective culture to be the basis for digital commerce. This article analyzes the assumptions behind this Web 2.0 newspeak and unravels how business gurus try to argue the universal benefits of a democratized and collectivist digital space. They implicitly endorse a notion of public collectivism that functions entirely inside commodity culture. The logic of Wikinomics and 'We-Think' urgently begs for deconstruction, especially since it is increasingly steering mainstream cultural theory on digital culture.
- go to publisher's site
- Language
- Undefined/Unknown
- Permalink
- http://hdl.handle.net/11245/1.311004
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text:
Study abroad with ERASMUS
With the EU's ERASMUS scheme, you can study for 3 to 12 months in one of more than 4,000 universities in over 30 European countries.
To help you cover travel and living costs, you can apply for an ERASMUS grant. Then won't have to pay any fees at your host university either.
Where can I go?
All the EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Turkey, Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Can I apply?
To apply, you must:
- be a registered student at an ERASMUS higher education institution
- have completed at least the first year of a university program leading to a degree.
Where do I start?
- Contact your university's international and/or ERASMUS office to get information on specific opportunities, the selection procedure and financial support.
- You can also go to the homepage of the Swedish Council for Higher Education to read more about the program. (The link is in Swedish.)
Before you go
- Check the ERASMUS student charter, which sets out your rights and obligations during your period abroad.
"It was easily the best year of my university life. The ERASMUS year gave me a new vision of the world that goes beyond my home country and even Europe."
Tomás Sánchez López's from Spain spent the final year of his Master's degree in Finland in 2002.
During your ERASMUS year
Going to classes and getting to know a different university system is a great part of your time abroad, but meeting other ERASMUS students and dipping into another culture is also part of the deal. The ERASMUS Student Network can help you with that, just find a local section close to you and see what activities they have planned or contact a representative.
At the end
At the end of your period abroad, your host institution must give you and your home institution a transcript confirming that you fulfilled the learning agreement. The transcript should state how many credits you fulfilled.
Your home institution must give you full academic recognition for completing the activities on your learning agreement using ECTS credits.
Gepubliceerd: Di, 21/05/2013 - 10:33
Gerelateerde links
Info for young people in the western balkans

subset: commoncrawl


text:
"Life without water is a nightmare; you cannot cook, you cannot wash yourself, you cannot drink…"Roman citizens face rising water costs and disconnections from service as 2011 pro-public management water referendum result continues to be ignored.Via Giolitti is located in the centre of Rome, Italy. It lies right next to Termini Central Railway Station and thousands of people cross it every day. What might not be obvious at first is that on it live 300 people that for the past three years have had their access to water appear and disappear without warning. In the last six months alone, ACEA, Rome's water service company, has cut the residents' water connection a total of five times.The issue first emerged when some of the inhabitants of Via Giolitti could not afford their water bill, which often amounted to up to a combined 100.000€/two years for the 90 flats that comprise the three affected apartment buildings. The price each apartment has to pay after the division has been made often amounts to over 1000€ per year, over twice the highest price of water in Italy—and that's just for water. Even though some of the tenants did pay their absurdly high share, many others could not afford it. After part of the payment was delayed, ACEA took the decision to cut water access to all three buildings, including neighbouring shops and a B&B.
Anna Mazzone was one of the residents that refused to pay. Her bill was 2400€ for two years. Living alone with her two cats, who, as she herself says, do not like water too much, she could not think of a reason why her water bill could be so high. When she made an inquiry with ACEA about it, their reply was that, because there is a single counter for the entire building, it was not practically possible to give her an accurate measurement of her own flat's water consumption.
Negotiating with the water company was not an easy affair, and the residents' questions were not answered. They threatened to close off the busy street in front of Termini Station if their connection was not resumed, and ACEA did allow their water back the same day. However, since then, water access to them has been an on/off affair, coming and going without warning. To illustrate, during the past Easter period, the buildings were without water for 8 days.
Grassroot Youth Democracy project
Workshop with the students
Vivekananda Wisdom Missic, Mankundu, Kolkata
SCI India & Human Wave, India
Grassroot Youth Democracy project
Workshop with the students
Vivekananda Wisdom Missic, Mankundu, Kolkata
SCI India & Human Wave, India
-Water from taps must be clean & drinkable
-Law against waste of water
- Water counters in homes to prevent water waste
-Raise awareness
-Indian students should raise awareness to those who are not educated
-Recycling water
-Our own behaviour has to change assmall steps create big changes
-Municipalities should supply drinkable water & water of other uses in separated channels
-Rain water harvesting
-Tell the companies to not sell water!
-Advertising against water waste in local areas
-Request the government to provide fresh water to all
-Help poor people who don't have fresh water
-Minimize water pollution
-Don't allow drain water to enter the rivers
-Don't allow companies to let water into the rivers before purification
-The installation of saline filtering plants
-Proper sanitation
-To clean the garbage from the places that are near the water bodies
-Not to use plastic, but biodegradable items
We thank each and every one of you for your participation and involvement!
It is a pleasure and an honour to meet the youth of the country and exchange our beliefs and thoughts.
The Story of Bottled Water, released on March 22, 2010 (World Water Day) employs the Story of Stuff style to tell the story of manufactured demand—how you get Americans to buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week when it already flows from the tap. Over five minutes, the film explores the bottled water industrys attacks on tap water and its use of seductive, environmental-themed advertising to cover up the mountains of plastic waste it produces. The film concludes with a call to take back the tap, not only by making a personal commitment to avoid bottled water, but by supporting investments in clean, available tap water for all.
"A documentary about the adventures of water in Greece."
Water privatisation is the most visible and imminent danger our lives face, in an era where all common goods become targets of private speculation. The direct sale of sources and water management networks is the case of obvious privatisation, where one could imagine the consequences. Of course there's also the less obvious case of indirect water privatisation. It is a process that has started decades ago and its consequences are so devastating for our health that harms our survival. These, both obvious and non-obvious sides of water privatisation will be the central theme of our new documentary.
Lynn Boylan (from Irleand) talks about the SOSTE TO NERO meeting in Thessaloniki/Greece. May, 2015
SOSTE TO NEPO (pronounced "soste to nero" in English -- "save the water") and water justice allies have organised the one-year anniversary of last year's referendum and the International conference on water privatization. It took place on May 17th and 18th 2015 at the city hall.
The President of the Greek Parliament, Zoi Konstantopoulou, has solemnly pledged her support for the implementation of the Human Right to Water as a just societal demand. On May 18th 2014, the people of Thessaloniki organized a popular consultation about the plans of the previous Greek government to privatize water. She made the announcement at a meeting of the Thessaloniki City Council and wants Greece to become the first country to recognize the right.
Her landmark declaration shows the European Commission that it was mistaken not to introduce legislation recognising this right, especially following the ECI (European Citizens' Initiative) which collected nearly 1.9 million signatures and shows that the issue is still very much alive for Europe's citizens.
Members of the European Parliament will be voting on a report on the ECI Right2Water in the forthcoming weeks. Today Greece sends a message of hope to millions of citizens in Europe that have fought and are fighting against liberalization and privatization of water: that water is a common good.
Due to the increasing neoliberal pressure, water is becoming a commodity, fulfilling private interests instead of the society's needs. Many governments are collaborating with private bodies in order to profit from water and sewage management through public-private partnerships (PPPs).
The Greek government, and its extension TAIPED - the body that carries out the sales of public companies - started a bidding process to sell EYATh, which is the water company that manages water supply and sewage in Thessaloniki. Initially, when this company was founded in 1998, it was being managed by the public sector. The process of privatization began when EYATh entered the stock market.
The first protest against privatization started in 2008 with a three-day hunger strike by EYATh employees. Lack of investment in infrastructure and the increase of sub-contracting network-related water works to private companies has led to rapid implementation of privitization plans .
The main initiatives among Greek water movements are SOSTE to NEPO, K136, and Water Warriors.
SOSTE to NEPO, which coordinates all water initiatives including K136, comprises social movements working for the same aim, namely that water should be public, it should be owned by the people, the municipality and/or the state. SOSTE to NEPO has put a lot of effort into informing the population of Thessaloniki on water issues. It prepared voting stations in eleven municipalities of the city of Thessaloniki before the referendum (which was not recognised by the Greek state). These efforts were rewarded: on May 18th 2014, the overwhelming majority of the 218,000 citizens who participated voted against privatization.
Members present an the conference were: Notis Marias, Member of European Parliament; Sinn Fein's Lynn Boylan, Member of European parliament from Ireland and Chair person of food and Safety;Despina Charalambidou, Deputy House Thessaloniki; Kalamaria M.Lamtsidis, the Vice President of the Municipal Council;Yiannis Pantis, the President of THPA.
Also present were international water movement representatives from Brazil, Italy, France, Ireland, Spain and Germany, who discussed the current situation of water management in their own counties, as well as in Thessaloniki. On the first day, the conference focused on international solidarity with an emphasis on water as a fundamental right and a common good. The Greek and European organizations requested that the citizens not stop their actions with the referendum and suggested that they continue their struggle to make water a common good and a fundamental human right for all citizens. One of the speakers in the conference, Stavros Ioakimidis from SOSTE to NEPO, argued that "water is utilitarian and has no exchange value, therefore it is not a commodity, it is a social good as there is no article in the Constitution that protects water from the sale and commercialization".
In turn, Dorothea Horlin from the Berlin Wassertisch stated: "When we found out what had happened, the water had already been sold in the name of PPP. We fought with the government and we won, so privatization has to be stopped before it becomes active. We will be supporting Greece in the fight on water privatization". On the other hand, Yiannis Papadimitriou from Arachthos Protection Association and the continent Ecological Organizations Network referred to another aspect of the issue: "we're used to talking about drinking water while neglecting the debate on the privatization of water resources from the bottling companies," he said. "Bottled water has become a way of life for broad sections of the population". He added that "we need to fight for a coordinated return to tap water combined with water-saving strategies".
David Sanchez, from Food and Water Europe, mentioned that "international solidarity is the key for stopping water privatization. Access to water is one of the most – if not the most – pivotal human rights, and it is one that is at risk, if and when water management is privatized". He requested a united fight against this global issue.
"SOSTE to NEPO" is a forum for Water activists from different parts of the world, policy makers, education administrators, advocates and local government representatives. They aim to get together and share their views, examine a wide spectrum of opportunities, identify challenges and make plan for future on water privatization.
Generally speaking, this incentive reveals the dawn of a new era for water as a common good and as a human right. Water is and should remain a free commodity to be used by each and every one of us.
"Remunicipalization" can be defined as the action of returning a previously privately managed water supply and sanitation service to public hands, thus putting an end to the transfer of management to the private sector on all levels (concessions, lease contracts and PPPs*). In this way, not only is access secured, but also the possibility for people to have access to water resources in a safe and sustainable way is increased. The current remunicipalization trend has marked a very important point in the water and sanitation management industry: since the beginning of the 21st century there has been a increase of relevant cases of over 200%, reaching 235 municipalities (counting the 2 French cases that started the trend), and serving more than 100 million globally who today have a secure source of water.
Cases of Remunucipalization of water management systems across the world
Source: "Our Public Water Future", 2015
For most municipalities around the world, private water management appeared during the 19th century. It was a "backup solution" for addressing the deficiencies the public water companies in developed and developing countries were facing at the time. One of the clearest examples took place in the U.S. Because of the great investment that came with the maintenance of the infrastructure and the replacement of damaged parts, as well as the Safe Drinking Water Act, which is a federal law passed by the US Congress in 1974 ensuring the quality of American drinking water, the public companies obligated the water companies to comply to increasingly stringent federal requirements for drinking water quality. These and other reasons forced many countries around the world to go through the privatization of their water and sanitation management in order to secure the people's quality of life and the quality of the service they receive.
But why remunicipalize? The answer can be summed up in a few words: private profit before common needs.
Remunicipalization often takes place when local governments terminate private contracts that were not satisfactory or do not renew contracts after once are finished. "In many cases, this is a response to the false promises given by private operators and their failure to put the needs of communities before profit"clarifies Emanuele Lobina, member of the PSIRU and co-author of the book "Our Public Water Future", a work that describes how the trend for remunicipalization has gone worldwide, and goes into some of the most relevant cases. "The false promises of water privatization in developed and developing countries include: poor performance (n Dar es Salaam, Accra, Maputo), under-investment (Berlin, Buenos Aires), disputes over operational costs and price increases (Almaty, Maputo, Indianapolis), soaring water bills (Berlin, Kuala Lumpur), monitoring difficulties (Atlanta), lack of financial transparency (Grenoble, Paris, Berlin) workforce cuts and poor service quality(Atlanta, Indianapolis)", Lobina specifies while trying to explain how private companies in charge of water have abandoned their goal and now only work for themselves.
At the SOSTE to NEPO one-year conference held in Thessaloniki on the 17th & 18th of May this year, organised to commemorate the one-year-anniversary of the referendum against water privatization in the city (view also SOSTE TO NEPO) Satoko Kishimoto, member of the Transnational Institute (TNI), expressed in greater detail how this remunicipalization trend s developing around the world, with France being the most representative of all the countries. "The reason why France is in the lead of this phenomenon is because they have the longest and deepest experience of private services. That is why many local authorities are much more aware of the failures. Promises from private authorities have not been realized". According to Kishimoto, among the main direct benefits of remunicipalization are: direct savings for most municipalities (e.g. 35 million € saved in Paris during the first year); competitive outsourcing rates achievable by contracting local providers; greater accountability and transparency, and a long-term vision for infrastructure development that reduces future cost burdens associated with health and environmental hazards that come with private management.
Thus the number of municipalities joining the trend keeps growing, while the percentage of private water companies is on the decline. If these past 15 years have proven anything, it is that remunicipalization is here to stay, and regardless of the actions taken by neo-liberal theorists, international financial institutes and their expectations of superior private sector performance, they will not avoid having management return to the citizens, and benefit only them.
Is June the month of the human right to water in Italy?
The 13th of June commemorates the anniversary of the referendum against water privatization in Italy. Four years back, ninety five percent of the citizens stated that they are in favour of this referendum and still their statements are not yet in force.
The three M's
Mercantilisation, a little history on privatization
In the mid-ninety's the natural resources that were administered by the governments of each country were globally turning into marketable resources. This was the case for water as well. Gradually, potable water and sanitation services were privatized. In Italy, in particular the "Ley Galli", meaning the Galli Law, of 1994 (adopted to overcome the crisis of the water system for drinking water) opened the door to greater involvement of the private sector in water management.
In 2002, the government approved an amendment to the law with the intention of privatizing the water sector, and in November 2009, the latter would have declared the full privatization of drinking water through the adoption of so-called "Ronchi decree."
As a result, several Italian regions have introduced a model of private water management which is known as "public-private partnership and while the promised improvements have not been met, rates have risen and the service has worsened.
Mobilization, some milestones
The involvement of the Italian civil society has been and is very strong concerning privatization of water, and it has even reached a peak in March 2006 with the creation of the Forum Italiano dei Movimenti per l'Acqua or the Italian Forum of Water Movements (here in after Forum). This forum brings together different social organizations which so far have militated individually on different issues but they all share one goal: to make water a common good.
During the first meeting of the Forum which was held on 12th and 13th of March (after five meetings during 2005 in different parts of Italy), more than 600 participants, representing social networks, movements, organizations, committees and unions, national and local, agreed to fight together in order to change the existing regulatory framework.
In 2007 the Forum presented for the first time in parliament, the bill: "Principi per la tutela, IL governo e la gestione pubblica delle acque e disposizioni per la ripubbliciazzazione del servizio idrico". This law, which seeks to safeguard water resources and quality, as well as the re-municipalization of integrated water services, which was meant to be governed through mechanisms of participatory democracy, was literally "kept in the drawer".
Moreover, after the above mentioned "Ronchi decree" in 2009, a wide social coalition presented three referendums (supported by 1,402,035 signatures collected in less than 3 months), in July 2010, to repeal the laws that promoted the privatization of water. Two of these referendums were authorized by the Constitutional Court calling a vote.
On the 12th and 13th of June 2011, ninety five percent of Italian voters (approximately 26 million), strongly expressed their willingness to include water as a common good again. This result only made it possible again to return the management of water services in public hands, and the expulsion of private companies that came to maximize profit out of water.
Meanwhile, the law project
Finally, in the course of this June of 2015, the "Comissione Ambiente, Territorio e Lavori Pubblici della Camera dei Deputati del Parlamento" (Commission Environment , Territory and Public Works of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament) will discuss the drafted law (updated), presented for the second time over a year ago, but this time by the Forum and the "Intergrupo dei Parlamento", which consists of more than 200 parliamentarians from different political groups (Movimento 5 Stelle, SEL, PD, SceltaCivica and GruppoMisto).
The law project "Principi per la tutela, il governo e la gestione pubblica delle acque e disposizioni per la ripubbliciazzazione del servizio idrico", dictates the principles that should be used, managed and governed the national hydric patrimony and decrees water as a universal human right, and not commodified public common good, and the right to the quality of drinking water and sanitation as a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.
Furthermore, there will be a convention on the 10th of June "L'acqua è un diritto umano", whereby several speakers will voice out their opinions on the subject. The venue will be in the Chamber of Deputies and Laura Boldrini, the president of the "Cámara de Diputados" will chair the convention.
Representatives of the Forum hope that this event will contribute positively to the success of the law. They have great expectations and they are relying on the deputy, Boldrini, who has proven to be sensitive to the issue of public water management so far.
Until a few decades ago, nobody would have thought that the natural resources essential to life were to be considered goods. "Today the water situation is complicated. In Italy, the government continues to pass laws that are indirectly in favor of privatization. Clearly the economic interest behind the water is very high and therefore there is a strong pressure to continue privatization... obviously private companies are quoted on the stock exchange" (excerpt from interview with Marco Bersani).
"After the referendum law enforcement is our goal"
[1] To note: the abrogative referendum only has the ability to partially or totally cancel a law.
Wednesday June 10, 2015, 9:30 to 12:30 pm.
Convention "L'acqua e un diritto umano".
Diputati Chamber, Sala Aldo Moro, Palazzo Montecitorio.
For more information: http://www.acquabenecomune.org/
"L'acqua è un diritto umano", whereby several speakers will voice out their opinions on the subject. The venue will be in the Chamber of Deputies and Laura Boldrini, the president of the "Cámara de Diputados" will chair the convention. Representatives of the Forum hope that this event will contribute positively to the success of the law. They have great expectations and they are relying on the deputy, Boldrini, who has proven to be sensitive to the issue of public water management so far.
The Convention on " L'acqua è un diritto umano - Water is a Human Right was held in the Italian Parliament on 10th June 2015. In this convention Forum Italiano dei Movimenti Per l'Acqua expected for the positive result of the referendum. Paolo Carsetti represented behalf of the Forum. He shared that the two achievements in this Convention firstly during the 4th Anniversary of the referendum the Italian President of the chamber of deputy Laura Boldrini's precious presence for the convention. She agreed to the theme of the referendum and has said the people made their opinion "public Management of Water the government will respond to it soon. Secondly Ermete Realacci, Parliament President of Environmental Commission gave assurance to the forum that the commission will start the discussion about law of Remunicipalization of water and bring decision making by next week on quick basis. In the upcoming meeting with the Italian Environment Commission, Forum Italiano dei Movementi Per I'Acqua decided to strongly recommend to the government to think and make the decision from the people's perspective. The referendum result is very important because one million 400 thousand Italians voted against privatization of water and strongly insisted "yes" to public water management. Hence the government decision against the public by making privatization again will be like attaining to insult the people and also people's will should be always respected by a good Government. Lets see the forthcoming result will a good one. With the good result there is a dual benefit , one is the good path to all those who struggled against Privatization of water and the other is fulfillment of the people's desire.
Mekorot is the national water utility for Israel established in 1936, even before the creation of the state of Israel and it has more than forty wells inside the occupied Palestinians territory. The company extracts water illegally from Palestinian water sources, in turn providing the stolen water to Israeli settlements built illegally in the occupied Palestinian territory, which could not exist without Mekorot.
On December 2, 2013, during the Italy-Israel summit, ACEA, Italy's leading water utility, and Israel's national water company Mekorot signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The agreement provides for cooperation through the exchange of experiences and expertise in the water sector. The experience that Mekorot has matured, however, is based on serious violations of international law and human rights.
As documented in the report by the Palestinian human rights organization Al Haq, Mekorot illegally extracts water from Palestinian aquifers, causing Palestinian water sources to dry up. International organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have documented how Israel exercises total control over Palestinian water resources and how Israeli water policies are a means for expulsion.
For the reasons above, Vitens, the main water supplier in the Netherlands, on advice from the Dutch Government, recently interrupted a cooperation agreement with Mekorot, citing its commitment to international law as motivation for the decision. On the other hand ACEA states that this is a technological collaboration agreement. Obviously, the reason behind this association is to be part of the business that Mekorot is creating all around the world as the latter is not only appropriating water sources in Palestine but it is also working all over the world in a view of earning profit on water.
"No ACEA Mekorot" is a campaign that has been launched in December 2013 when the Rome water authorities signed the above mentioned agreement. A committee was formed to work hands in hands with the movements that are against the privatization of water in Italy. Both the committee and the activists asked ACEA and the city of Rome which owns 51% of shares in the water management to interrupt the agreement with Mekorot.
On the 29th of May 2014, with 25 meters of signatures, the resounding NO to Italian cooperation with Israeli water company Mekorot was taken to Rome City Hall. The 7114 signatures on the petition against the agreement signed between Rome's water utility ACEA and Mekorot snaked their way through the public square where a delegation of the Committee against ACEA-Mekorot Cooperation and the Rome Coordination for Public Water delivered a copy to the office of Mayor Ignazio Marino. The petition calls on the city of Rome, the majority shareholder in ACEA, thus far silent on the issue, to take the necessary steps to block the agreement signed by the two companies. It is good to note that the signatures have reached up to 10,000 till date.
Currently the activists have a very strong call for ACEA to follow the example of Vitens and immediately terminate the agreement with Mekorot. Secondly, they urge the City of Rome, as the majority shareholder, to take all actions necessary so that ACEA ceases all cooperation with Mekorot. Furthermore, they also request all local authorities whose water service is provided by companies in the ACEA Group to take steps to ensure that ACEA ends the agreement. Last but not least, they request the Italian government to follow the example of the Dutch government and actively discourage commercial ties with those who violate international law.
"Our commitment is not only to public water, but also for water free of human rights abuses."
Extract from Committee against the ACEA-Mekorot Agreement
"No ACEA Mekorot" is a campaign that has been launched in December 2013 when the Rome water authorities ACEA, signed an agreement with Mekerot. On May 2014, there were 7114 signatures on the petition against the agreement. Currently we have reached 10.000 signatures
Greece is a land of rich culture and it has a great historical background. Geographically it's almost completely surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea with water resources that include mainly rivers and springs. Greece has faced major water problems in the recent past, with the main issues being privatization of water companies, island water distribution and agricultural water management. Greece has lot of islands like Milos, Nisyros, Amorgos, Koufonisia, Schinoussa, Folegandros, Tinos, Sikinos, Thirasia, Donoussa, Patmos, Symi, Halki and Palionissos. It takes lot of hard work to provide water to these islands, which is achieved by importing millions of cubic meters of water by ship. Furthermore, water privatization issues in Athens and Thessaloniki have led to recent changes in water management, which in turn has created a lot of confusion in the last two decades.
According to Greece legislation, water supply and sewage have to be treated as public services. The Water resource management law 1739/1987 and the environmental protection law 1650/1986 state that "water management should be in the hands of the state and water use under public control". Current Greek legislation on water management is mainly based on the European Union Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC, which was framed primarily to protect water resources in the member states. The main objective is to establish a Community framework for the protection of inland surface waters in order to control water pollution, promote sustainable aquatic eco-systems and reduce the effects of floods and droughts.
The main intention behind the European Union Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC can be clearly seen in the following quote taken straight from the Directive: "Water is not a commercial product like any other but, rather, a heritage which must be protected, defended and treated as such".
According to it, each of the member states should implement each of the following:
Identification and analysis of waters
By 2004 at the latest, each Member State shall produce:
This analysis must be revised by 2013 and every six years thereafter.
Management plans and measure programmes.
In 2009, nine years after the Framework-Directive went into force, management plans were produced for each river basin district, taking into account the results of the analyses and studies carried out. These plans cover the period 2009-2015. They shall be revised in 2015 and then every six years thereafter.
The management plans must be implemented by 2012. They aim to:
Starting in 2010, Member States must ensure that water pricing policies provide adequate incentives for users to use water resources efficiently and that the various economic sectors contribute to the recovery of the costs of water services, including those relating to the environment and resources.
Member States must introduce arrangements to ensure that effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties will be imposed in the event of breaches of the provisions of this Framework Directive.
However, the European Union Water Framework Directive does not set specific guidelines for European member countries about the administrational framework of water resources management, due to the differences between governmental schemes of the member countries. The implementation of the European Union Water Framework Directive in Greece is not showing great progress, especially when time restrictions and schedule are taken into consideration; the 'embodiment' of the European Union Water Framework Directive in water policy of Greece came after a long delay with Law 3199/2003.
Directive 2000/60/EC was transposed into Greek legislation through the Framework Law 3199/2003, in combination with the Presidential Decree 51/2007. These allow for full harmonization with Directive 2000/60/EC, and all provisions are fully and accurately transposed into national law.
Due to the financial crisis, the Greek government instituted a new regional administration scheme with Law 3852/2010, known as "Kallikrates Law", a reform of local and regional public administration. This process of public sector reform aimed to reduce local administration entities and generate fiscal savings in order to create the benefits of economies of scale. Thus, the Kallikrates reform created larger and stronger elected municipalities through mergers that ultimately amounted to one third of their previous number. They accordingly acquired additional responsibilities. Water policy implicates several actors and implies shared responsibilities, among them a multi-level governance approach, which transfers the sharing of policy making and responsibility to multiple government levels (local, regional, provincial/state, national, and international), where an inter-sectoral dialogue and coordination has to take place.
Today, the distribution of power among administrative structures concerning water protection and water resources management is divided into several levels (ministry, decentralized administration, regional administration, municipal administration, and others). However, the lack of cooperation and bureaucratic functions tend to impose barriers in water planning. Water governance should not be restricted to government action taken by public authorities only; it should include the stake holders (local villages leaders, NGO, Water Activist and scientists) --- any action is more effective if it is collective.
To conclude, the current strive for decentralization is ultimately imposed by the financial crisis and insecurity, rather than by the existence of any environmental and resource protection values. Therefore, the prospects of water governance in Greece are not very promising. On the whole, the aim of both Greek legislation and the European Union Water Framework Directive is to protect the water resources, but Greece today is facing an unprecedented financial crisis which affects governance across the board.
Maria Kadoglou, one of the main activists against the expansion of the mining activities in Chalkidiki - Greece, talks about the local situation regarding the open pit mining activities planned by El Dorado Gold, and what the consequences of these extraction activities might represent for the locals in the area.
Minery in Greece is as remote as its history; the data for mining activities go as far as 1000 B.C. continuing through time until becoming the second ranked producer of perlite after the United States in 2012.
The Kassandra Area has been a vast source of silver and gold since the Ancient times of Greece, source that has helped remarkable historical characters as Philip II and Alexander the Great during their conquests, with a recorded data of over 1 million tons of ore extracted from the Stratoni mine in the area during the Roman, Byzantine and Turkish periods, the nature of the activity has moved from bulk mining methods until more sophisticated selective cut & fill methods used nowadays.
By 2010 the Stratoni reserves of ore were as is specified in the table below:
of mineral
Gold (Ag)
Siver (Ag)
Lead (Pb)
Zinc (Zn)
1 Thousands of tons ; 2 Million of ounces
Mineral Resources in the Stratoni Mine in 2010 (Source: European Golfield Limited)
As shown, the area is specifically rich in silver and zinc, that have been exploited regularly during the last centuries, an activity that is very representative of the history of the area, and that also has had a not complete, but major consideration of the people in the villages around the Kassandra area and the Chalkidiki peninsula.
Then what is reason for people to stand against minery in the area these past years? Well, the several justifications for people to stand in the opposition lay in two single motivations: natural resources and human rights.
To be clearer in this aspect we need to go back a few years. By the end of 2003, the assets of the Kassandra mines, belonging to TVX Hellas S.A. were transferred to the Greek state for 11 million euros. Assets that the same day, were sold to the company Hellas Gold S.A. without any prior economic assessment, without any kind of open competition and most important, for the same price. This meant that 317 km2 of land including 310 homes and 11000 m2 of urban land among many other properties passed to hands to the Canadian company El Dorado Gold S.A., an international gold producer that nowadays owes 95% of Hellas Gold S.A., giving them full possession of the mining concessions and by this, exempting the company from any transfer of taxes and relieving the gold mining company from any financial obligations concerning environmental damage resulting from previous operation of mines.
The problem regarding mining activities in the area lies in the new expansion plans of El Dorado Gold S.A. that include among others an 8.8 km underground tunnel in Olimpias for transportation of ore, exploring activities of another 14 potential sites and a new open pit and underground mine in Skouries.
Total area affected by mining activities (Source: Fool's Gold, 2015)
Konstantinos Katsfarelis, Professor of the Civil Engineering department of the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, and also coordinator of the Environmental Council of the same establishment, warns that the effects in the fragile structure of the environment in the area will be catastrophic: "the carrying capacity of the environment will be exceeded by far, and the problem is that they are not going to stop there". Katsfarelis among other scientists from the Aristotle University were in charge of the research of the environmental effects that the activities could have in the area, and came to disagree completely with the results that were obtained in the Environmental Impacts Assessment, given by El Dorado. On this matter, it has been proven that, the expansion of the activities and the projection for exploration will affect 1/11 of the Chalkidiki peninsula, and that the enormous effects on fishery, tourism and specially agriculture (being this the main activity of the area), will significantly lower the activities and local income not related with minery.
Regarding water, the situation could not get any worse. The new projection for the activities include the use of an amount of water greater than the one that the local ecosystem can take. The extraction activities nowadays include gold, among other minerals, gold that with concentrations as low as 0.5 grams per ton of soils removed, this concentrations can be considered of such insignificance that even European Goldfield Limited, a consulting company in minery topics, on its technical report on 2010 on the reserves in the Stratoni project clasified the gold concentrations in the yield as "not considered to be of any economic value". Also the current activities in the area include an excavation of 700 m below the sea level, and the use of approximately 10 million m3 of water (between underground and surface water sources)that will be polluted at all in despite of what the Environmental Impact Assessment provided by El Dorado states. It is necessary to take in account as well, that the whole activity projected, will mean the smashing of tons rocks in both activities (underground and open pit mining), and an estimated production of highly polluted dust of approximately 2.2 tons per hour, this together with highly polluted waste water from the processes of gold extraction (the same that use perjudicial chemicals as cyanide) represent a threat and a constant risk not only for agriculture activities, but also for fishery in the area, two of the main economical incomes not related to minery.
On the left: Prof. Kostantinos Katsfarelis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. On the right: Maria Kadoglou, local activist from Chalkidiki
The international research group for the campaign Rights4Water in Greece, on their visit to the Chalkidiki area, also had the opportunity to talk to Maria Kadoglou, a local activist that has been involved in the struggle against the expansion of the mining activities since the beginning. Kadoglou talks about the main reasons why people don't support the new mining expansion, and also how the company has been taking advantage of the financial situation in the country to continue their extraction activities, even though there are no financial advantages for the Greek state. "The financial crisis that Greece is going through is their best ally…the worst the financial situation in Greece, the better for the mining company". Like this she also explains how El Dorado created a complex network of subsides, and based on an inconsistent Greek legislation, has been able to avoid tax payment to the local state, from a concession that is worth approximately 13 billion euros, being the company the only beneficiary. At the same time that interferes with local activities and causes sorts of rivalries between villages. (To know more about Maria Kadoglou's intervention, please visit Maria Kadoglou and gold mining in Chalkidiki)
After several analyses, Katsfarelis and Kadoglou come to the same solution, stop the mining expansion. They both state that the solution for this struggle is not to "kick out" the mining company, but to deal with the current situation in the area and this lies on hands of the Greek government, and its availability to act towards all the series of violations made by El Dorado Gold S.A.. The breach of contracts and the not well fulfilled environmental requests by the company, are the main weapons to fight in courts. A fair position towards the people is another goal to achieve, create a development plan that help people to find another economic activities apart from those connected to El Dorado, in an area with a well known minery background but also with a rich agricultural and touristic tradition and potential that need to be exploited, and that will ensure the quality of life of its population once the extraction of the resources come to an end.
The President of Worker's Union of EYATH explains the creation of the SOSte TO NEPO movement in response to the attempts of water privatization.
The journalist Maria Triantopoulou talks about the water issues that Aegina Island is facing.
Italian Water Movement Celebrated the 4th Anniversary of the Human Right to Water
2011 has been an important year for public water in Italy, in which the Italian citizens voiced out that water is a common good and therefore it should not be privatised. The hard work of Italian Forum of Water Movement increased citizen participation in the issues of water management and to take a serious step toward re-municipalisation – to bring back water under public control.
On 13th day of June 2015 to celebrate the 4th anniversary of the referendum - water is a human right , the Italian Forum of Water Movement gathered at Piazza dei Sanniti , San Lorenzo neighbourhood, Rome.
The anniversary had several speakers namely Simona Savini from the Coordinamento Romano Acqua Pubblica (CRAP), Oscar Olivera,a social leader from the water war from Cochabamba,Bolivia, DevikaThilak from India working for the Grassroot Youth Democracy Project, and Claudia Albanesi from SCI Italy (North –South Programme Co-ordinator).
Speaking on the occasion Oscar Olivera related the history of water privatization in Bolivia, which seeks to encourage people to continue to fight for the future generations.
In Bolivia this year too recalls the 15thyear water war where people were organized and managed to de-privatize water. Oscar Olivera made an exchange of Bolivian water to the water of Italy as a sign of brotherhood, meaning that, water is life, transparent and gives us joy. He said that water is a common good and does not depend on one person but depends on collective action. The power of the people's voice lies in their organization.
Then we had the participation of Claudia Albanesi at this event, she has shared her experience in Palestine and she talked about water management and its problems.
She spoked about the administration and water supply in the state of Israel and about MEKOROT that is the public enterprise that supply 90% of the water in Israel. Mekorot provides the infrastructure for water supply and sanitation, in Nagab, Israel refuses to recognize 45 Bedouin villages where 160,000 Palestinians live and construction of water networks is prohibited for villages.
Furthermore, we had the presence of DevikaThilak, who presented about Indian context on human right to water and sanitation. In her presentation she covered the topics like Health components, Water distribution, occurrence of water contamination, Main purposes of water used in India like Agriculture 69%, Industrial 23% and domestic 8 %. She also shared how the mismanagement of water resources brings too many deaths due to water related diseases mainly regarding to water quality and the prevention method.
Concluded the initiative Simona Savini, recounting the last 4 years in the defense of the referendum in Italy but, above all, the new privatization process wanted by the Renzi Government, in the last two years.
An address involving Italy and the City of Rome and against which the water movement is mobilizing, organizing and promoting initiatives in the streets and a resolution of the citizens to remunipalize water company in the city.
The battle of Italian Forum of Water Movements is for democracy with the aim to defend water as a common good and as a fundamental human right will definitely bring re-municipalisation of water in Italy.
We would like to wish Italian water movement forum the best of luck for their struggle until succeed.
Privatisation and Remunicipalisation of water services In the European context
Nowadays privatisation has become increasingly popular. Privatisation occurs when the control of public management is transferred to a private operator. In the water sector, there are different forms of privatisation and these different forms of privatization include the sale of the assets and the infrastructure to private companies. However, privatization is not only limited to the above definition but it also includes the establishment of public private partnerships (PPP) and contracts.
On the other hand, remunicipalisation is the return of water into public hands. There are two dimensions of water remunicipalisation. The first one is the transfer of ownership rights from the private sector to the public sector and the second one can be seen from social grassroots mobilization demanding an end to privatization. Remunicipalisation is a trend which has emerged from the year 2000 till 2015. According to a research made by the Public Service International Research Unit (PSIRU), remunicipalisation has grown from 2 cases in 2000 to a total of 235 cases in 2015.
In Europe, Paris, Berlin and another capital city like Budapest and Atlantic in the United States can be cited as examples of the cases mentioned above. On the other side, for the middle and low income countries, it is good to note that, cities that used to be flagships of privatization to other developing countries have failed and they are now remunicipalised. Bueno Aires, Jakarta or Dar-E-Salaam are very good example of these cases. Moreover, this clearly demonstrates the unsustainability of water privatisation.
Consequently, ABC Napoli in Italy is a clear illustration of a successful remunicipalisation process. One year after the national referendum in 2011, the municipality of Naples, under the proposal of the Municipal Department for commons, decided to create a new company for water services that was completely in public hands. This was called ABC (Acqua Bene Comune) Napoli. This very decision recognised water as a common good and was considered to be a historic change in the framework of water supply in Italy.
Furthermore, there is also another good example of Cambodia. The public water operator in Prompane in Cambodia managed to transform itself from a poor performer public operator until 1993 to one of the most efficient public operator in the world. This is very important because it shows that even poor performers can be reformed. Prompane has been impressive; it has increased service coverage from 20% in 1999 to 90% after 14 years and this is a testament for what Public Public Partnership (PPP) and public ownership can do. PPP were exchanging their services without privatising and without profit objective and this has been a very powerful tool for developing efficient and effective services in Prompane.
Moreover, according to a research made, it has been proved that most of the cases of water remunicipalisation have happened in the global North. In general, the local and national government of low or middle income countries are more exposed to the pressure of the multinationals and they have to keep privatization irrespective of the social cost. This pressure can be in the form of threat of suing the government if it decides to put an end to privatization; it can be sued for commercial damages.
To conclude, it can be said that lessons can be drawn out coming from all the concrete international experiences with all these types of reforms in the global north and global South, developed, developing and transition countries. The outcomes of reforms of public services around the world can be said to be a positive one.
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Alternative Licensure Program
NEW – Latest Licensing News from DPI
Licensing Requirement to begin January 2014:
Our mission is to provide our teacher candidates with the knowledge, skills and dispositions needed to effectively meet the diverse educational needs of all children and youth in our schools.
The CESA 7 Teacher Development Center (TDC) Program is a one-to-three year accelerated, performance based, intensive Alternative Licensure teacher preparation program for emergency licensed teachers and those wanting to add a license. The program is primarily designed for teachers hired in shortage areas. Teachers working in private programs can also apply. It is also a program for certified teachers who want to add English Language Learner (ESL), Bilingual or Special Education certification to their existing license.
The CESA 7 Teacher Development Center was created in direct response to school district needs for highly qualified teachers in specific fields.
© Jenna Gravitter, Freelance Web Designer


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It wasn't that long ago when families would crowd around one TV set, fighting for the remote and patiently waiting between advertisement breaks for favourite programs to return. It's a scene familiar to most of us, even if it's becoming increasingly less common.
The problem is that media consumption in traditional formats restrict you to one area of the house, engaged in a very laboured style of viewing, where broadcast scheduling and intermittent commercials dominate what – and how – you watch movies and TV.
Fast forward to now and the way of old is being turned on its head, with wireless architecture forming new shapes for home entertainment systems. From online and on-demand access to content, to cloud-based storage and integrated peripheral devices, networks are more capable and intelligent than ever before.
Here is an age where your computer and TV no longer have to lead separate lives and that's a good thing. Why? The two tecñologies allow you to get the best of both worlds. How? The Mac is a quick and efficient tool for discovering, downloading and managing digital media; the TV offers screen real-estate, clear imaging and a comfy environment to watch what you've sourced.
While there is a plethora of peripheral devices that enhance home-based entertainment, including media storage centres and high-end speaker systems, the development I'm most excited to see is the emergence of iOS integration with TVs, speakers, recording devices and online content providers like Netflix and iTunes.
The use of iPads and iPhones – in conjunction with various apps – acts as an adhesive that marries multiple devices and content in the home and beyond to create a multi-layer network that caters to everyone in the family.
I recently attended a Panasonic press event, where the company announced 39 new home entertainment products set for release this year.
Despite the huge range and variety of gadgets on show, they all shared iOS in common.
At the launch, Panasonic introduced The Smart VIErA Remote App Version 2.0 – a free download compatible with its VIErA TVs enabling remote control capabilities via a smartphone or tablet device to access mobile content on the TVs. Viewers can tap and flick through content like movies, images and music stored on their mobile device directly to their VIErA TV.
Also borrowing from the iOS language was the Pad Control – a remote for select VIErA TV models operated using a series of swipes and taps; gestures which have become second-nature thanks to the everyday use of touchscreen devices.
Many other companies are following suit, realising that iOS is a universal language that helps to compute otherwise complicated equipment.
Beyond remote devices and content- driven apps, iOS is also used as a vessel for media consumption. Whether it's watching a movie on your iPad while on business in the US accessed from your media storage centre back in Australia, or sharing a website from your smart TV in the lounge to an iPhone in a bedroom, the capabilities continue to grow.
The simplicity of iOS means that home entertainment set-ups are now less baffling and openly accessible to everyone in the family. Start with a quality Plasma or LCD TV, grab yourself a good speaker system and network attached storage device, throw in some peripherals like a Blu-ray player or PlayStation 3 and you have all the tools in the kit to network a sophisticated entertainment system, overseen by your iPad and iPhone.
The next game changer in home entertainment will be Apple's rumoured iTV – taking integration, mobile content and remote access up another notch. Be sure to tune in and watch this space!


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Bird & Co Solicitors are one of the foremost solicitors in Grantham, Lincolnshire.The firm's Head Office was established in Grantham over 30 years ago, and has expanded significantly since then.
Our Grantham Solicitors Office is at 12 to 15 Castlegate, Grantham, and therefore only a stone's throw from the town centre. The nearest parking is at the Grantham Conservative Club on Castlegate – see the map at the bottom of the page.


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Exploiting Bottom of the Zone Amplifies Phils' Dominant Curveballs
Last week I explored the Phillies' pitching staff's ability to make hitters chase pitches while keeping swing rates down on balls in the zone. The numbers are staggering, but how exactly are they doing it? The answer: their most potent weapon, the curveball, plays incredibly well off their location-based, non-overpowering fastballs.
Exploiting the bottom-most edge of the strike zone makes a lot of sense given the current make-up of the arms manager Pete Mackanin sends to the mound. The staff as a whole lacks the dominant velocity that allows some leeway when leaving balls up in the zone. Despite an average fastball velocity only better than the Angels and Astros, according to Statcast, opponents haven't punished the Phils' offerings up over the plate.
Opponents are slugging .494 (eleventh-lowest in the league) against Phillies' fastballs up in the zone with middle tier .224 isolated power. The teams with the three highest opposing batting averages against fastballs up in the zone all rank in the bottom five in average fastball velocity. But the Phillies are the outlier.
As conventional strategy would dictate, the Phillies do hone in on the lower third of the zone. Just fewer than 16% of all their offerings come low in the zone, sixth-highest in the majors thus far, as do 15.27% of their fastballs (fourth-most). The Phillies garner the second-highest overall strike rate on low fastballs in the league.
Living low, away from the barrels of major league hitters, is always important. Just ask the MLB competition committee. In each of the last nine consecutive seasons, they have witnessed a new league-wide record high strikeout rate. Just weeks ago, the committee responded by deciding to raise the bottom edge of the strike zone.
This unique profile—surprising success with fastballs left up in the zone and a propensity for throwing heaters low for strikes—unlocks their most valuable weapon and their signature calling card: the curveball.
Effective curves either begin in the meaty part of the plate and dive toward the bottom edge of the strike zone, or they begin lower, projecting toward the bottom third of the zone before torpedoing into the dirt with near impossible rates of success for overeager hitters. That elevated strike rate on low fastballs keeps opponents honest, both forcing them to expect the knee-high fastball, a prototypical pitcher's pitch, and priming them to swing at pitches down in the zone.
It is here that the 2016 Phillies have made their mark, striking out an MLB-leading 163 batters on benders, 65 more than the next highest mark, 98, posted by the Indians. That gap between the Phils and Cleveland is greater than the curveball-generated strikeouts of 21 major league clubs.
Sitting in second and third in the league, respectively, are Aaron Nola, 52 strikeouts punctuated by a curve, and Jerad Eickhoff with 44; that's 61% of Nola's punch-outs and 70% of Eickhoff's.
Much has been written about the starting rotation in particular and their use of the curveball as a primary weapon this season. The starters throw the pitch almost two percent more than any other rotation in the bigs (21%), the third-highest single-season mark for any rotation dating back 15 seasons, when FanGraphs began tracking this data. Four of Philadelphia's five starters (all but Adam Morgan, who rarely throws his curveball) rank in the league's top 35 in curveball usage. Nola tops the bunch at 33.51%, sixth-most in the majors.
The effectiveness of the curves is even more noteworthy than their historically high usage rate. To fully analyze all meaningful curveballs, we must examine the lowest third of the strike zone and zones 13 and 14. This low, extended portion of the zone will be referred to as "LowEx". Over 12% of all pitches from the entire staff are LowEx curves, 285 more than any other team.
Phillies' pitchers hold opponents to the sixth-lowest batting average against LowEx curves, .150, with a slugging percentage of .253, more than 45 points lower than the league average. One contributing factor is likely the increased spin rate exhibited on their LowEx curves. The Phillies average curveball has the fifth-most spin of any team, and on LowEx pitches, it ranks fourth-best (increased spin on curves helps generate drop).
Unsurprisingly, given the poor offensive performance against this pitch, LowEx curveballs courtesy of Phillies' pitchers generate the second-highest strike-rate of any team.
Nola's 26.54% LowEx curveball rate, out of 1149 total pitches, is the highest in the league among pitchers who have thrown 1000 pitches this season. Nearly four of every five deuces he throws fall in that ideal zone. Jerad Eickhoff (seventh) and Jeremy Hellickson (eleventh) sit just below him, with Vince Velasquez in shouting distance ranked 21 in the league. The list of the top 10 LowEx deuce rates reads like a list of modern-day yakker royalty: Jose Fernandez, Collin McHugh (whom the Astros acquired in 2014 solely due to his curve's supreme spin rate), Rich Hill, Jose Quintana, Adam Wainwright, Felix Hernandez.
No other team has two pitchers in the top 11 in LowEx curveball rate. The Phillies have three. No other team has more than two pitchers in the top 25. The Phillies have four.
Only six pitchers in the majors have had LowEx curveballs put in play 50 times or more; none have allowed a lower opposing batting average than Jerad Eickhoff. At .088 (5 for 57), less than one in ten LowEx curves put in play off Eickhoff go for hits. Not to be outdone, Nola ranks fourth with a .120 batting average against (11 for 92).
To see the full scope of the team's curveball dominance, we must focus on just zones 13 and 14, where pitchers are most likely to fool hitters. For simplicity's sake, I'll refer to these as the "putaway" zone. Just 11 pitchers have boasted curves devastating enough to elicit at least 25 balls in play on putaway curves, including Eickhoff, Nola and Hellickson. The Cubs were the only other team with multiple representatives. Here's the leaderboard:
- Jerad Eickhoff .000 (0-37)
- Jake Arietta .038 (1 for 26)
- Jose Fernandez .045 (3 for 67)
- Adam Wainwright .063 (2 for 32)
- Jon Lester .077 (2 for 26)
- Aaron Nola .085 (5 for 59)
- Rich Hill .088 (3 for 34)
- Corey Kluber .091 (3 for 33)
- Gio Gonzalez .129 (4 for 31)
- Jose Quintana .143 (4 for 28)
- Collin McHugh .160 (8 for 50)
- Jeremy Hellickson .242 (8 for 33)
No soul that dared to put one of Eickhoff's putaway curves in play reached safely. Just five of 59 against Nola reached base.
To put this off-speed dominance in perspective, I enlisted the help of FanGraphs' pitch value metric, wCB, which calculates the average runs saved using a curveball aggregated throughout the season. This means that a good curveball used often will result in a higher rating than a good curve used sparingly. Because it is cumulative, wCB is affected by increased usage.
The Phils' starters have posted a 20.7 wCB combined through 59 games in 2016. The next highest rotation wCB is Cleveland's 10.3. If the season were to end today, the Phils' rotation-wide wCB would rank 22nd-best since 2002 (when FanGraphs created the stat). Given that pace, their season-long wCB projection is 56.8. The best mark ever posted was 30.9 by the 2003 Cubs, headlined by Mark Prior, Kerry Wood and Carlos Zambrano.
As was the case in both of my previous two posts here at Crashburn Alley, and the majority of stories chronicling this young pitching staff, Nola separates himself from the pack. His 2016 wCB of 11.0 is by far the best in baseball (Eickhoff ranks third at 6.9). Such a gaudy figure, through just 59 games, puts the newly minted 23-year-old on pace for a season-long wCB of 30.2. That would be the highest single-season wCB posted in the 15-season history of the metric.
While the wCB pitch value metric isn't predictive, the prospect that through 12 starts, Nola's curve is projecting as the best in the majors over the last decade-and-a-half is perhaps the most stunning indicator of his early success. The gem of the rotation with an Uncle Charlie years beyond his age, Nola's maturity has helped establish the low-in-the-zone identity of this young rotation.


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How to Use NFC Technology
Near Field Communication is helping to change the wireless landscape, enabling tasks such as paying for goods, pairing with a speaker and exchanging contact info with a friend.
NFC uses radio communications to let you easily exchange information. Many new Verizon smartphones come with the technology, helping you to share photos and more between NFC-enabled devices with just a tap. It also allows you to interact with NFC tags, such as tapping a poster to download a song, and much more.
Pair with certain wireless accessories with just a tap
You can also easily connect your smartphone to some Bluetooth® accessories using NFC. The technology makes it simple to pair your device to the accessory by just tapping the two together—which eliminates searching for nearby devices and entering codes. Then you can quickly enjoy all that the accessory offers, such as streaming music wirelessly.
Verizon Wireless sells several Bluetooth and NFC-enabled wireless speakers. Features to look for include tap-to-pair capability for your smartphone, and using NFC to sync two speakers.
Many of these speakers boast great sound no matter what you play, from tunes off your hottest playlist to a work-related conference call. Don't limit your listening to music—hook your speaker up to a tablet or laptop to enjoy enhaned audio for a movie or TV show.
JABRA Stealth Bluetooth Headset
This sleek and streamlined headset provides superior comfort and boosted battery efficiency in a compact design, all while taking the benefits of NFC technology to new heights. With Advanced Noise Blackout technology, your calls with always be clear and noise-free. HD Voice brings high definition sound quality to both your end and your caller's end.
Access Siri or Google Now with the push of a button if you want to make a call, ask for directions or find out movie times. And it's compatible with all your devices - using NFC technology, you can pair it with up to eight devices in total and use two devices with the headset simultaneously.
JBL Pulse
This wireless portable speaker brings the party with a built-in LED light show. Enjoy optimal sound quality that's become synonymous with the JBL name, plus wireless Bluetooth stereo streaming with NFC.
Use your iOS device to access the pre-programmed and custom-programmed light themes and control brightness and color. Plus, the fun can go on thanks to the rechargeable Li-ion battery for 10 hours (music only) or 5 hours (music and light show).


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Community Engagement
JMU defines community engagement as fostering mutually beneficial and reciprocal partnerships, ranging from local to global, that connect learning to practice, address critical societal problems and improve quality of life.
From JMU's perspective a partnership is a relationship with an external party with which JMU has common interest and concerns, where both parties are working toward identified needs and outcomes. These partnerships may include relationships with individuals, organizations, coalitions, associations and/or communities.
It is our belief that partnerships will fall on a continuum that may be informal or formal and will reflect multiple modes of engagement that may evolve over time as partnerships grow and change. Click here to open the continuum.
You may often see community engagement and civic engagement understood as one in the same. And, while there is a connection of course, we make a distinction at JMU. We understand community engagement as fostering beneficial and reciprocal partnerships, from local to global. So, for instance, when a faculty member includes a course requirement that students mentor in the local schools, we understand that as community engagement. Civic engagement, on the other hand, gets at our connection to James Madison and our passion for advancing his legacy. That means our students learn through the practice of citizenship - invested in the affairs of government.
The Engagement Advisory Group is a key coordinating team for engagement at JMU. The leaders for community engagement on the group are Carol Fleming, Assistant Dean for Outreach and Engagement and Steve Grande, Director of Community Service-Learning.
Service-learning courses can positively impact post-graduate salaries
Service-learning is already known to have a positive impact in the classroom but a University of Georgia study shows it can help grow graduates' bank accounts as well. Read the article here.
Community Engagement at JMU
A few examples
- Annual Reel Change Film Festival http://reelchangefest.com/about/ This collaboration brings together SMAD faculty and students with people from the JMU campus and the local community. The goal of the festival is to educate and engage audiences on relevant issues of the day while celebrating the documentary as a tool for creating awareness, advocacy and change.
- The School of Strategic Leadership Studies participated in the development of the Alliance for Nonprofit Partnerships https://alliance-np-partnerships.org/ and continues to support its work through membership on the steering committee and provision of a PhD student serving as the program administrator.
- LTLE 625 video students developed a video-based application in support of marketing efforts by Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance (Demonstration of Augmented Reality to Support Tourism Marketing and Promotion in Historic Harrisonburg).
- Physical education and exercise science students played a huge role in initiating the Overcoming Barriers project, a new grant-funded mentoring program that partners students with community members who have disabilities. https://www.jmu.edu/kinesiology/features/overcomingbarriers.html
- Physics partnered with the Boys and Girls Club of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County to procure funding support for a weekly Space Explorers Afterschool program at Lucy Simms Center in downtown Harrisonburg.
- To date, the Center for International Stabilization and Recovery (CISR) https://www.jmu.edu/cisr/index.shtml has trained over 300 senior managers representing 48 conflict-affected countries through its various management training courses.
- Sophomores in Engineering design and build custom bicycles for a local client with mobility challenges.
- One day, one cause. Each April, The Big Event brings together students and alumni across the globe together for a day of volunteering.
- Every year, Marketing students dominate the Google Marketing Challenge while giving back to the community. Their targeted ad campaigns help bring attention and donations for non-profits like the Harrisonburg/Rockingham SPCA, Children's Science Center in Northern VA and Poricy Park Conservancy in NJ.


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Terry Lee Loewen, a 58-year-old airport avionics technician, was charged with planning a suicide bombing at the passenger terminal at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport in Kansas. He tried to gain access to the tarmac with his security pass while driving a vehicle he thought was loaded with explosives. Because the authorities had been watching him, however, the explosives were not real.
According to the Department of Justice, Loewen was "radicalized after reading extremist Islamic material on the internet." Loewen is white. He was caught after having online interchanges with an FBI employee masquerading as a radicalized American. He wrote, "Let me preface the bottom line by saying I have become 'radicalized' in the strongest sense of the word, and I don't feel Allah wants me any other way."
Loewen was reportedly inspired by Osama Bin Laden, according to the criminal complaint: "Brothers like Osama bin Laden and Anwar al Awlaki are a great inspiration to me, but I must be willing to give up everything (like they did) to truly feel like a obedient slave of Allah (swt).
He faces life in prison after being charged with one count of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, another count of attempting to damage property with an explosive, and a third count of attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization.


text: HI, Something I found quite funny and might be useful for someone buying microSDHC. I bought 8GB Genuine Sandisk MicroSDHC. I also bought 2GB (might fake) Sandisk MicroSD. Put about 1.7GB of games into both card, the transfer speed for HC is faster than the non-HC. I insert it in DSTT and turn on my NDSL, both work just fine. ONE thing I found funny is that when you first run a game, it create a game save then load the game. Guess what, the microSDHC card took longer to create the save than the MicroSD. It also took longer to create the .SYS file for DSTT as well. So the conclusion is MicroSDHC is faster than MicroSD when transfer via USB-PC but slower when writing on DSTT. I also notice, if you insert a MicroSDHC in DSTT, you'll see a small HC logo on the upper screen telling you its a MicroSDHC. From this experience, I think 4gb MicroSD is enough for games.


text:
An Uber Eats driver who police said shot and killed a customer turned himself in Monday afternoon.
According to WSB-TV, Robert Bivens, 37, arrived at the jail with his attorney. The Atlanta Police Department's Homicide Unit secured an arrest warrant for felony murder Monday.
The shooting happened Saturday night at a condominium on Pharr Road in Buckhead, Georgia.
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Police said Ryan Thornton ordered food from Uber Eats and the driver delivered the food around 11:30 p.m. At some point, authorities said words were exchanged between Thornton and the driver.
The Uber Eats driver then shot the 30-year-old, police said.
Thornton died at Grady Memorial Hospital.
Uber said in a statement on Monday, saying Bivens no longer has access to the app:
"We are shocked and saddened by this senseless act of violence and our hearts go out to Ryan's friends and family. We have been working with the Atlanta Police Department, and the driver can no longer access the app."
A spokesperson for Uber told WSB-TV Bivens passed a background check and had only been an Uber Eats driver for about a week. Bivens was an Uber Eats delivery partner only and did not drive passengers.
Uber is working closely with the Atlanta Police Department on this investigation.


text:
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat, K. 482; Piano Concerto No. 24 in c, K. 491 – Angela Hewitt, piano/ National Arts Center Orch. / Hannu Lintu – Hyperion CDA68049, 63:20 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] ****:
This is the third installment in Hewitt's ongoing Mozart Piano Concerto series, and it is shaping up to be a fine one. The orchestra is not large, and the sound is somewhat constricted (sounds like it was recorded under an outdoor shell) but this is not inappropriate for these concertos. No. 22 is one of the most noble, or at least most ebullient of all Mozart's piano concertos, composed in the Figaro year of 1785 which started the trilogy of Nos. 22-24. It was also the first to use clarinets instead of oboes, a sound the composer adored and which adds a delightful richness to the material in general. Hewitt captures the extraordinary and exceptional lyricism of the music to good effect, especially in the middle movement, which had to be encored at the premiere, and which was probably finished only hours before. She is Canadian, so is going back to her home area to make these recordings.
No. 24 is easily the most dramatic and definitely the most operatic of all the concertos. C-minor being reserved for special occasions (one only has to think of the Piano Sonata and the Wind Serenade as examples) Mozart lets loose with an introduction that is as pertinent to the stage as any vocal piece he ever wrote. One hears the dramatic exposition only to let the piano (soprano?) enter with a hushed succulence that almost invites one to ponder the tragedy. The second movement provides but a brief interlude with foreshadowing of the march-like yet highly extroverted dance variations that end the work, replete with the hint of menace throughout. You can't come away from any hearing of this work unscathed—it is that powerful, particularly when in the hands of someone like Hewitt, who has a sixth sense about the curves and straightaways of this formidably serious piece.
The orchestra plays with panache and a sense of fine Mozartian style, oblivious to China-doll delectations or overplayed histrionics. Hewitt maintains just the right timing and touch in both works, each a fine continuation of what should be a very desirable collection when completed.
—Steven Ritter
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Mrs. Isabella SCHATZ 18:40-19:00
Director, Key Account Manager CREDIT SUISSE AG
Credit Suisse as a leading financial services company, has a long term experience in Trade Finance.
Mrs Schatz is Key Account Manager and Director of the Commodity Trade Finance in Credit Suisse in Zurich since 2013. She has a long experience of Trade Finance. Before joining Credit Suisse, she was member of the Direction at BNP Paribas as Head of the Work-Out Trade Finance handling high risk situations, finding and implementing repayment solutions with customers pressed for solutions and who experience a difficult economic environment. Her previous experience in commodity finance in the BCV for more than ten years allowed her to construct a high level of trade finance understanding.
Mr. Nicolas SANCHEZ 19:00-19:15
Director, EUROFIN ASIA GROUP
EuroFin Asia Group Pte Ltd is a privately held and fully independent Merchant Finance and Wealth Management company. Founded in Singapore in 2003, EFA Merchant Finance, the Group's asset management arm, is an award-winning merchant finance specialist whose primary business is managing capital in a variety of financing strategies within the commodity and natural resource sectors.
29 years in International Trade and Commodity Finance
2012: EuroFin Asia, Partner & Board Member, 3 Trade Finance Funds with 120 clients in 25 countries
10 years CEO of oil and gas trading co., Fortune 500 group.
4 years Group Structured Finance Director, global grain trading house
4 years COO Bank in the Caribbean
6 years Managing Director of trading co.
3 years UBS international trade finance, Geneva.
In 2006-2010 among GTSA founding members and advisory Board
Mr. Nicolas CLAVEL 19:15-19:30
Scipion Capital is an investment manager specializing in self-liquidating short-term Commodity Trade Finance (CTF). Scorpion's senior team cumulatively has over 125 years of experience in banking and investing in frontier markets, particularly Africa.
Nicolas is Scipion Capital's Founder and CIO. He oversees the investment processes for all of the firm's strategies and is responsible for the development of all new products. In addition, he sits on Scipion Capital's Investment Committee.
Nicolas has over three decades of experience in trade finance. After beginning his career with Credit Suisse in Switzerland, he worked at Midland Bank Plc's Trade Finance subsidiary in Lausanne and London before joining Citicorp Investment Bank in London covering EMEA structured trade finance in 1984. He left Citibank in 1992 as CEO of their West Africa Head Office in Dakar having been headhunted to start DOC Finance, a merchant bank based in Geneva focused on trade finance in Emerging and Frontier Markets. He returned to Africa seven years later as CEO of Standard Bank's Congo-Kinshasa subsidiary, before joining Standard Chartered Grindlays in Switzerland two years later. Nicolas then spent 4 years with Barclays Private Bank in Switzerland managing a portfolio of African clients before setting up Scipion Capital. Nicolas holds an MBA from Instituto de Empresa in Madrid, is a non-exec director of AIM-listed Symphony Environmental Technologies Plc, and served as a Court Magistrate in Switzerland for many years. Nicolas is also a member of the Advisory Board to Global Trade Review, a leading Trade Finance industry publication.
Inoks Capital aims to provide their clients with the exclusive ability to capture the value of non-speculative investments from the real economic opportunities within the Commodity and Emerging Markets sectors. Mr, Agabekov holds a master of Law from the University of Geneva and several certificates in finance.
Ivan built his experience in law and audit firms. After finishing his studies, he started his career in 2002 in a law firm in the field of corporate and sport law. To widen up his knowledge of the corporate world; he worked as an auditor in a major Geneva firm. He had the opportunity to practice his advisory knowledge of law and corporate skills when he accepted a two-year mandate as the head of the financial department to restructure and modernize the structure of a family owned company. He holds a master of Law from the University of Geneva several certificates in finance, an EMBA and a Diploma in commodity trading. Due to his Ukrainian and Croatian origins and multicultural upbringing he speaks fluently French, English, Croatian and German. Since 2008 he works at Inoks Capital SA as the CFO, board member and sitting at the investment committee of the management company and at the funds level.
Head Trading & Freight, ALLSEEDS SWITZERLAND S.A
Allseeds is a company with a long-standing reputation of professionalism and reliability operating in the primary food processing market of Ukraine. The company has its roots in trading and is one of the largest independent sunflower oil exporter in Ukraine.
More than 30 years of experience in trading grains, oilseeds and oilseeds products; one of the founders of the previous Allseeds Group in 1998, and of the new Allseeds Company in 2010.
Member of the advisory board of the International Trading Program of the University of Geneva.
Director, LANTURNO MANAGEMENT S.A
The Lanturno Group of Companies started its activities mainly in crude oil trading. Lanturno built his name by supplying via pipeline Slovak, Czech and Hungarian refineries with Russian Export Blended Crude Oil between 2005 and 2008. Since a few years, the core activities were switched to coal trading, mainly Russian coal exported to the Black Sea area but also to China, Spain and North Africa. Lanturno consists in a small team of less than twenty people, each specialized in a given area and with the ability to quickly adapt its strategy depending on the market environment.
Samir Zreikat joined Lanturno in June 2012 as CFO and Director of the group, focusing on optimizing the trade reporting and accounting processes as well as managing and developing the Trade finance activities and needs.
Samir holds a Master of Science in Economics from the University of Geneva. His career started in 1986 when he joined Cargill ("Tradax"). A year later, he moved to Vitol where he started in the Operations department and quickly became a member of the crude trading team as junior trader. When Vitol branched out in the CIS in 1990, he took a position as internal controller and support for the teams based in various CIS countries. Samir left Vitol in 1998 to briefly work in the ERP software industry. A year later he joined the France Telecom group where he rapidly became the Regional Sales Director for wholesale telecom products and solutions for the EMEA region. In 2003, he decided to return to his favourite activity: commodity trading. Together with a partner, he opened M2S Sàrl, a service company providing outsourcing and consulting services to commodity trading actors. The 2008 financial crisis put an end to this adventure and in 2009 he took a management position in the Oxton Group of Companies, a Caspian based trading house specialized in refined oil products and LPG which he left in 2012 to further his career with Lanturno.
Samir simultaneously conducted other activities, always related to commodity trading. In 2007 he became one of the experts assisting the HEG Geneva in launching the first Bachelor program in this domain. From 2008 until today, he is a regular lecturer at the DAS and MAS program, teaching hedging and price risk related techniques.
Last but not least, through his company Dealigents Sàrl, Samir is also the Editor of a commodity trading software ("i-deal") targeting small and medium trading houses in need of better controlling systems for their trading data and processes (such as hedging, P&L and budgeting, payables and receivables, demurrage calculations, etc.).
Contact us: email@example.com


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Berlin Office Collection
The Amish Arlington 48" Desk is a slender, compact, solid wood desk for your office or bedroom. With fluted feet and an attractive simple style, this Amish desk is a joy to work at. The compact size of this office desk makes it a perfect candidate for a bedroom corner or even a student dorm room.
Enjoy the wide open workspace this Amish desk provides as well as a solid wood style that is durable enough to last for many years. The Arlington is shown here in brown maple wood which is a heavily streaked wood with pearly white, chestnut, and khaki brown shades.
Customize this Amish desk in the solid wood selection that you like best. Review our wood types and their unique features on our Furniture Woods page. Set up your laptop and writing pad on top of this desk. One slender drawer provides room for your writing utensils.
Learn more about desk styles and options on our popular blog, "Timber to Table." Call one of our Amish Furniture Specialists today, toll-free at 866-272-6773 with any questions. We are happy to help.
Thank you for your inquiry. We do our best to respond to all inquiries within 24 hours. If you do not receive a response it is likely an email problem. If this is the case, please call us toll free at 866-272-6773.
Please note that many emails are captured by anti-spam software.
Inputting your telephone number in the field on this page will insure that you get a response from us by telephone if email fails.
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Ron Rosenberg has presented numerous programs for the landscape and green industries.
Here are some of his clients:
Association of Horticulture Professionals
Florida Nursery Growers & Landscape Association
Garden Centers of Colorado
Landscape Ontario
National Ground Water Association
New Jersey Arborists
North Carolina Landscape Contractors Association
Nursery/Landscape Association Executives
Oregon Association of Nurseries
Piedmont Carolina Nursery
South Carolina Nursery & Landscape Association
Texas Nursery & Landscape Assoc.
Tree Care Industry Association
Water Quality Association
Washington Association of Landscape Professionals
Your market is experiencing radical change; your customers are expecting more than ever before, but your website struggles to stay relevant and doesn't do enough to help grow your business.
A highly effective website takes a lot more than pretty graphics, a content platform, and detailed descriptions of your services and related offerings. What you need is a lifeline that will help guide you to a comprehensive web strategy that actually gets results.
In this brand-new program, you'll go way beyond the basics and discover the seven components you must include in your web strategy to attract prospects, generate new business, and deliver a steady stream of revenue!
You'll discover:
Plus you'll have the opportunity for a "Website Makeover" where you'll discover everything you need to know to get immediate results! This program will open your eyes to what's possible, and give you the tools to make it happen!
People today are becoming more disconnected than ever before, despite the constant presence of "virtual communities" such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many others. This feeling of isolation is affecting their health, their personal relationships, and even their performance at work!
What we've found is that people are lacking a sense of community – both personally and professionally – that is so vital to living fulfilled and successful lives. In this enlightening program, based on his upcoming book, Quest for Community, Ron Rosenberg will help you discover why it's absolutely essential to identify, create, and actively promote communities with like-minded people who share similar passions, goals, and objectives.
This isn't some abstract collection of "psycho-babble" concepts. Instead, you'll discover a comprehensive, step-by-step approach to help you build the type of communities that will help your customers fuel their passion, nourish their spirit, and reenergize their lives with a sense of belonging they haven't felt in years.
You'll discover:
This is a "game-changing" program you simply can't afford to miss. Find out why Ron Rosenberg's programs are consistently among the highest-rated at events, and prepare to reconnect, reengage, and reenergize your life!
Tired of wasting time, money, and effort on marketing campaigns that just don't work anymore? Isn't it time for a change…with a wildly effective approach to marketing that will help you double or even triple the return on each marketing dollar you spend?
In this highly interactive and entertaining program, marketing and customer service expert Ron Rosenberg will share his proven strategies for unprecedented business growth, and he'll show you how to get more customers, increase revenue, and cut expenses in the process! In this unique session, you'll discover:
See for yourself why Ron Rosenberg's sessions are always filled to capacity and learn proven marketing strategies that can take your business to unprecedented levels of success.
Your customers are bombarded daily with every type of communication imaginable, and the sad truth is that most of these communications are ignored or trashed. What cuts through the clutter and resonates with them is information that is personal and targeted at their specific needs. These kinds of "personal touches" will help you create long-term relationships, build trust, and significantly increase your level of repeat and referral business.
In this highly interactive and entertaining session, discover proven, "in-the-trenches" marketing strategies to connect more personally with your prospects, customers, and vendors, develop relationships that are mutually rewarding, and significantly increase their loyalty over the long term.
Marketing and customer service expert Ron Rosenberg will help you discover:
Find out why Ron Rosenberg's conference sessions are always filled to capacity, and increase customer loyalty to levels you've only dreamed about!
There's simply more to do each day than you can possibly accomplish. But what if you could double your productivity? In this highly interactive and entertaining program, you'll discover seven proven strategies to help you focus on what you do best and how to eliminate, automate, and outsource everything else. You'll identify your greatest time challenges and how you can overcome them. Plus you'll discover the dirty little secret about schedules and "to-do" lists and proven strategies for managing phone calls, e-mail, and other distractions!
Marketing and customer service expert Ron Rosenberg will help you discover:
You work deliberately to identify strong candidates, take your time through the interview process, and run all the appropriate background checks. But sometimes your employees – both new and ones you inherited – simply don't perform up to expectations, and can actually destroy the cohesiveness of your team! Plus, there's usually one employee that just doesn't fit in and for one reason or another makes work extremely difficult for everyone involved. We'd like to help you change all that.
In this program, you'll discover:
Find out how to hire winners every time and take your business from adequate to exceptional.
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QualityTalk, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
These programs will help you and your group focus on areas that will help improve performance and effectiveness across many areas of work and life.
This is an exciting new program created by Ron Rosenberg that will keep your audience participants on the edge of their seats and coming back to your event again and again!
This is an exciting new program created by Ron Rosenberg that will keep your audience participants on the edge of their seats and coming back to your event again and again!
It's not enough to have a great product or service – you need to attract qualified prospects who will be willing to give them a try. These programs will show you how to do just that!
It's not enough to have a great product or service – you need to attract qualified prospects who will be willing to give them a try. These programs will show you how to do just that!
These programs will help you become more effective at leading and motivating teams, developing effective strategies, and creating a vision for the organization that will help keep people focused and productive.
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text: Esta BIEN! Because It's Okay is so appreciated we've translated it to Spanish. Here's a little booklet that truly reflects the survival instincts of those going through the grief process. Steve Mitchell, a licensed funeral director and facilitator of a grief support group, would say to participants as they shared their feelings, "It's OK." The participants suggested he write these thoughts down. This very helpful little booklet is packed with a great deal of wisdom and support.