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Canada's Music of Protest
Have you heard of the Maple Spring? If you're like most people living outside of French Canada, probably not. That's because the mainstream media has been mostly uninterested in what is likely the largest people's uprising in Quebec's history (possibly even Canada's history).
It all started with Jean Charest's government plan to raise post-secondary tuition by 75 percent over 5 years. Even though Quebecer students pay the lowest tuition in the country (as critics are eager to point out), it was enough to spark a massive outcry. Hundreds of thousands of students across the province took to the streets to make their voices heard.
Rather than address the issue, the Charest government decided to pass Bill-78 – effectively attempting to squash the dissent. In response, thousands more moderates poured into the streets, calling the bill an unprecedented attack on freedom of assembly.
And still, the rest of Canada and world heard very little. But suddenly, the tide turned with "An Open Letter to English Media"—a plea from Quebecer's to understand the seismic shift occurring on the streets.
If you do not live here, I wish I could properly convey to you what it feels like. It is magic. It starts quietly, a suggestion here and there, and it builds. Everybody on the street begins to smile. I get there, and we all—young and old, children and students and couples and retirees and workers and weird misfits and dogs and, well, neighbours—we all grin the widest grins you have ever seen while dancing around and making as much noise as possible. We are almost ecstatic with the joy of letting loose like this, of voicing our resistance to a government that seeks to silence us, and of being together like this.
On the heels came Quebec filmmaker Jeremie Battaglia's gorgeous black and white piece on the "Casseroles" evolution of the strike – whereby the marchers brought pots and pans out to make music together in the streets. The film went viral, inspiring solidarity marches across Canada and the world.
In Vancouver, we danced and banged in the rain. What struck me was the simple joy on our faces. And most of all wonder.
There is a beauty that emerges when we learn and inspire each other, just as Quebec has done for the rest of Canada; when we speak to each other instead of through governments or the mainstream media. Here in Vancouver, we discovered what it means to make music together in the streets, in the rain, and you can see it on our faces.
Ethan Cox, also writing on the revolution, speaks clearly that this movement is about much more than tuition:
As this movement goes on, and grows by leaps and bounds, it is increasingly clear that it is not a movement of anger, of rage or of hate. It is a movement of love, of community and of hope. People who would be alone in their houses watching TV take to the streets and march with neighbors they never knew they had. Back when we had real communities, they were driven by the coming together of neighbors each night. Instead of watching TV, we met in the street, we exchanged details of our day and we made plans for our future. Just as the "casseroles" cause us to do now.
Perhaps the most lasting effect of this movement will be to build stronger, more connected communities. Every day that it goes on, more of us meet in the street, build relationships and talk about what kind of a society we want.
For me, there is a clear relationship between the Quebec Spring, the Occupy Movements, and all the social uprisings around the globe. They arise from the same source—the deep knowing that we have lost our way. We have forgotten how to live. And most importantly, we are starting to remember.
Inside the biggest demonstration of civil disobedience in Canadian history.
What's love got to do with the Occupy movement?
We—not just the president—have to be the agents of change in our society. How do we extend our electoral organizing beyond the elections?


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Nation & World
Key Iraqi oil refinery shuts down as Islamists press to seize it
The oil refinery in the town of Baiji supplies at least 40 percent of Iraq's gasoline production, making it one of the most crucial facilities in a country that, despite its oil wealth, must import gasoline to feed the foreign-made automobiles that have flooded Iraq since U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
But on Tuesday, the Iraqi government shut down the refinery after insurgents allied with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, who've controlled access to it since last week, fired mortars at the remaining security forces in the area.
The shutdown of the country's largest refinery _ one of just three _ reinforced the now-widespread belief that the Shiite Muslim-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki has been unable to muster a response to the advance of ISIS and its Sunni Muslim allies, who include supporters of the late dictator Saddam Hussein.
Government officials have offered a series of public pronouncements that suggested the Iraqi army had been joined by Shiite militias and was now moving aggressively to block ISIS's approach to Baghdad.
Still, there were credible and detailed reports of ISIS hanging on to gains amid heavy fighting in Taji, just 20 miles from central Baghdad, and advancing in several neighborhoods of Baqouba, the capital of Diyala province, which is 40 miles from the capital _ less than an hour's drive.
The shutdown of the refinery may be worse news. While Baiji is farther away from the capital _ it's about 140 miles north _ the refinery's importance had made most knowledgeable analysts of Iraq's oil infrastructure think that neither side would take actions that would endanger it.
Speaking anonymously because of political sensitivities, a security official for the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government in Irbil confirmed that the central government in Baghdad had ordered the facility offline after a series of mortar attacks on the few government soldiers who remain in the area.
An Iraqi engineer reached at the facility told the Reuters news service that foreign workers at the refinery had been evacuated. The nationalities of the fleeing foreign workers couldn't be confirmed. A handful of Iraqi security forces remain at the facility.
The Baiji refinery recalls the situation that reigned in Libya during that country's civil war in 2011. The refinery at the town of Brega, on the Mediterranean coast, was among the last government-held positions to surrender to the rebels, who hadn't launched a direct attack to capture it because of fears that such an assault would cause tens of millions of dollars in difficult-to-repair damage _ or, even worse, set off an explosion and fire that would destroy the facility.
Generally, in times of such civil conflicts, refineries are treated like very large, delicate bombs.
With only three refineries, including a small one in Baghdad and one in Basra in the country's south, Iraq must import as much as 25 percent of its daily gasoline needs. The Baiji facility is so crucial that oil industry analysts think that even if it's lost to ISIS, the government probably would allow it to go back online. That's how key many think its output of 400,000 barrels of gasoline a day _ nearly 21 million gallons _ is to the country.
"You can't leave it offline for very long and can't risk it getting damaged or destroyed," said one expert who asked not to be named because of his dealings with the Baghdad government. "Even if ISIS controls it, the government will likely eventually have to allow it to go back online, because they need the gasoline for the economy despite ISIS making money off the output."
The government wouldn't have to deal directly with the rebels, the expert said, because "once the gas is in trucks and sent to a middleman, it's impossible to determine where it came from and, frankly, nobody cares anymore."
The collapse of much of Iraq's northern population centers has been an economic and military boon to ISIS and its allies that transcends easy estimation.
The groups reportedly have taken control of Mosul's banks _ including one of Iraq's three central bank branches _ and tons upon tons of military equipment and supplies, including dozens of armored vehicles, many of which were supplied by the United States. Mosul was the economic center of northern Iraq, and conservative estimates of the value of the Iraqi and foreign currency, as well as gold bullion, that's probably now in insurgent hands stretch to the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Getting the refinery online might represent additional tens of millions of dollars a day for the group, perhaps making it the wealthiest terrorist group in history.

subset: commoncrawl


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How Artists Are Changing The Debate On Pollution In China
Photographer Wu Di's studio, tucked away in a dusty corner of northeast Beijing, isn't easy to find, but the mannequin out front wearing a military-style gas mask and a Roots sweatshirt is a sign you're in the right place...
Photographer Wu Di's studio, tucked away in a dusty corner of northeast Beijing, isn't easy to find, but the mannequin out front wearing a military-style gas mask and a Roots sweatshirt is a sign you're in the right place.
Inside, Wu showed off some of his work, like the stylized shot of mannequins in brand-name clothes posed near a swirling cesspool of discharge from garment factories. Recently, he photographed a child wearing 445 paper face masks stretching out like an elephant's trunk.
"The government has promised the air quality will meet standards in 2030. So that means we'll have about 1,500 days of air below the standard between now and then. If you need one mask every three days, that's 445," he said, explaining his calculation using the number of "good days" and "bad days" in those 16 years.
The backbeat to life in China these days is a drone of statistics about the degraded environment: State media have reported that nearly 60% of China's groundwater is polluted and 19.4% of farmland is contaminated. Of 2,028 days between April 2008 and March 2014, Beijing had just 25 days of air quality considered "good" by U.S. standards, figures from the U.S. Embassy here showed.
The reports aim to inform and even shock citizens and officials into action, yet the effect can be the opposite — paralyzing.
Increasingly, though, artists are finding their muse in the ecological mire. With photos, paintings, conceptual pieces and performances, they're piercing through the din of data, seizing the attention and imagination of both the authorities and the public.
Beijing artist Liang Kegang grabbed headlines recently when he auctioned off some fresh air from France; the small glass jam jar with a hinged top, rubber seal and simple sticker — "Aix en Provence, FRANCE" — sold for about $860.
On a gloomy, bad-air day this winter, 20 artist friends wearing face masks convened at the capital's Temple of Heaven and lay down on the ground. Later, they posed for a tourist-like group shot, each clutching a typical postcard of the historic site that showed the cake-like tiers of the structure stretching out against a blue sky.
On another smoggy day, Wu composed a photo of a young girl with an oxygen tube running from her nose to a green, heart-shaped balloon. It made the pages of Chinese Newsweek and other publications.
Recently, Wu has been tramping through nearby Hebei province, home to seven of China's 10 most polluted cities. The factories and power plants that produce much of Beijing's haze are there; Wu has posed people "camping" in a bleak field in front of one complex, and doctors dancing in another.
"It's easier, in a way, to shoot documentary photos, but using an artistic way seems to make more of a difference," said Wu, who has taken journalistic pictures for Greenpeace. "The artistic way has more impact and lasts longer."
From afar, Yao Lu's works look like poetic scenes of mountains, rivers and waterfalls, with craggy trees and little pavilions. Examine them closely, though, and you'll see heaps of detritus and rubble.
Like Wu, Yao has found inspiration in China's blighted landscapes, though his computer-centric approach is less risky and his style less confrontational. Using software, Yao has taken his photos of Beijing garbage mounds and digitally layered them with elements from traditional Chinese landscape brush-and-ink paintings.
Yao said inspiration struck before the 2008 Summer Olympics, when seemingly every quarter of Beijing was under construction.
"There were just mountains of garbage, many covered with green cloths," he said. "These reminded me of paintings from the Song Dynasty."
Like in America, the arrogant leaders in China are eager for economic progress. They also refuse to create an economy with technologies more capable to the natural environment. Many environmental damage will occur before they implement changes in policies.
Yao's "New Landscapes" series evolved slowly; over the last seven years he has created about 35 pieces, exhibiting in Europe, New York, South Korea, Singapore and elsewhere. (You can view his works on a free iPad app as well.)
Though the reception has been strong, particularly overseas, the project has been a bit draining emotionally. In 2013, he decided to halt work on the pieces.
"I was not very excited when I did this series. Of course, I was excited about the composition and the elements, but I felt heavy," he recalled.
"In a way, it shows how we are sort of helpless — Chinese painting is a product of the spiritual high ground of Chinese intellectuals. Now, such high ground consists of piles of garbage."
When painter Ai Song embarked on his 16-piece series "Health Check," it was winter 2011, Beijing was blanketed in snow, and the air pollution was off the charts. Ai noticed that the snow looked very dirty, so he gathered up a bunch and put it in a cold room.
In the ensuing days, he sculpted the snow into shapes of human organs, including lungs. He placed the mounds on absorbent paper and let it melt, creating gray patterns.
"Air can't be seen, but you can feel it inside your body. Imagine all these particles and dirt entering your body every day," he said. "You're not in a good mood."
Ai's use of smoggy snow calls to mind the work of downtown L.A. artist Kim Abeles, who moved to Southern California in the late 1970s and was shocked by the haze.
"When I first moved here, I'd mention it to people all the time and they would try to convince me it was just fog," she recalled.
So she began making art about the topic; her series "The Smog Collectors" includes pieces such as a silk tablecloth that was "stenciled" by leaving it outside. Her "Presidential Commemorative Smog Plates" feature portraits of U.S. leaders and their quotes on the environment and business, made with smog residue.
"Art paves the way to open up dialogue where people don't want to talk about it," Abeles said. Eventually, the state of California began funding some of her pieces to raise public awareness about air pollution, automobile emissions testing and ride-share programs.
Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde is hoping Chinese officials will take a similar shine to his pollution-themed work. He has devised an ambitious project to hoover contaminants out of Beijing's dirty skies using a giant vacuum cleaner-type device. The pollution particles, he says, can be compressed into something resembling gemstones, and sales of the jewelry — he's thinking 1 million rings priced around $30 — can fund the purification technology.
In March, Roosegaarde was invited to a soiree at Amsterdam's Royal Palace, where the Dutch king was hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping. He had about eight minutes with the Chinese leader, so he decided to cut right to the chase.
"I told him: We are inspired by your smog," said Roosegaarde, who also chatted with Xi's wife, Peng Liyuan.
Xi "looked at me a bit weird. And the official people became a bit nervous, because … you know China, they don't like to be too confronted with it. But at the same time, it is there. You cannot ignore it," said Roosegaarde, who splits his time between Europe and Shanghai. "Then he saw the smog rings and he was like, 'Oh, you daring Dutch!' They really liked it."
In a few weeks, he'll be in Beijing meeting with city representatives about funding and the possibility of installing his vacuum cleaner in a public park.
The concept is akin to a huge ionic air purifier. If you create a large electrostatic field, pollutants in the air become positively charged and are attracted toward a collector plate.
"These kind of projects are not the solution for smog. It's clean industry, electric cars," he said. But the park and rings are experiences, he added, that move people "away from all the numbers and the fact sheets."
One problem, though, is that Roosegaarde's vacuum will yield only enough particles to create 15 or 16 smog rings a day. He wants to manufacture and sell rings even before the vacuum is installed in Beijing to increase public interest in the project — and raise funds.
So, he's planning to assign interns to visit schools, hospitals and other facilities that have air purifiers to gather up the particles to be processed into jewelry. "That's going to be a new job: smog collector," Roosegaarde said.
"Innovation does not just come from scientists and science but indeed from artists and the creative side of people. When you look at the history of art, artists like Michelangelo and Da Vinci always had a relationship with art and technology," Roosegaarde said. "It's great to have radical ideas combined with high-tech — then you get a new world, you get the possibility to update reality."
[Editor] 孙雯


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Eaton's Logical XV HMI Series
XV Series HMI incorporates programmable logic controller (PLC) functionality and integrates directly with the Eaton SmartWire-DT system. Designed for OEMs, the XV Series HMI-PLCs combine control, visualization and data management tasks in a single device. They enable remote intelligence, eliminate an entire device level, and make complex wiring unnecessary.


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Facebook metrics: Your guide to creating content your audience loves
Want to post content your audience will go crazy for? Just take a look at your analytics to see what people respond to the most.
I found a wonderful infographic that illustrates the social media strategy process: set goals, make them measurable, pick metrics, and make decisions based on your data.
What caught my eye was the last step of looking at your data to figure out if you met your goal. The infographic offers a yes/no decision tree that I think is an excellent way to improve your social media strategy.
Facebook analytics programs like Insights, EdgeRank Checker and Simply Measured give you a lot of data, but I only look at these items:
- The reach of the posts
- Whether or not something went viral
- The comments on the posts and shares
I look at these on a per post basis. I also pay attention to—and test—the best time of the day and week to post, and the type of content people like to see.
Here are some tips to help you provide powerful content on your Facebook page:
1. Post timely, relevant and high-quality content.
I've found that "news jacking"—putting your spin on breaking news that's relevant to your audience—inspires comments and shares.
For example, a cartoon about PR disasters that I shared during the Susan G. Komen PR crisis received a high number of shares and comments compared to other content I posted that month. I learned that I can spark interaction when I share relevant links with conversation starters.
2. Post pictures to spark shares and comments.
This is a great tip, as long as you make sure the visuals are relevant to your audience. My Facebook audience responds to easily digestible and practical information, especially visual tips and relevant humor.
For example, this post illustrating simple privacy tips received a high number of shares and comments. This post testing whether people share baby and cute animal photos more often received a high number of likes, but no shares.
3. Post a variety of content.
Want to claim a space in your fans' news feeds? Vary the content you post.
Facebook's EdgeRank, the score that determines what content makes it into users' news feeds, rewards variety. Don't post links all the time—post photos, videos, polls, status updates and questions.
When I sketch out my editorial plan for the month, I include a "type of post" column to make sure I don't get stuck in a content rut. I also look at my analytics to see how much engagement each type of post gets.
4. Be consistent.
Research shows that if you consistently post high-quality content your audience likes, people will come to you. Dan Zarrella's research suggests posting every other day. This is a general rule of thumb you should test and adapt for your audience.
Watch for signs in your metrics that you post too frequently. As a rule, I never post content for the sake of posting content. But, if there is breaking news I know my audience will love, I post more often.
It's useful to have a regular theme each week. I discovered this by doing a content analysis on comments. I posted a fun but practical link to social media icons on a Friday. In the comments, someone shared it as a "Fun Friday Geeky Share." I started a regular Fun Friday Geeky Share post that always gets a high number of shares, likes and comments.
5. Keep posts short and sweet.
Research shows that posts with 80 characters perform well. But, don't be a slave to this rule. As Mari Smith points out, Facebook increased the maximum update size from 420 characters to 5,000 characters. Experiment with this mini-blog post format as long as your content is timely, relevant and helpful.
6. Experiment with timing.
Several research studies suggest that weekends and evenings are optimal times to post, perhaps because there is less clutter in people's news feeds. I make sure I post when my audience is there to engage, not when it is convenient for me. You need to test out your own audience.
I tried posting on a Saturday once and got my largest amount of shares, but it's hard to say whether that was because of the timing or the content.
7. Include a call to action.
Tell your fans when you want them to share, like or comment on something. Many nonprofits know simply asking their fans to share content is enough to get their fans to do so. Of course, the content has to be timely, of high quality, and relevant.
8. Share good news.
Audiences love to celebrate victories. My Facebook page recently welcomed its 10,000th fan, so I posted an update to celebrate and thank everyone. It generated a higher number of likes than other posts.
9. Continuously comment.
I had the pleasure of hearing Guy Kawasaki speak about his book "Enchantment," and one of his tips was to continuously comment. This was a big takeaway for me, and I've consistently tested it. It works.
I always post content as my page's administrator, but comment in the thread as an individual. I don't have to respond to comments right away, but I do respond to comments in two, 10-minute spurts per day. I use Nutshell Mail to make it manageable.
10. Repeat successful posts.
I don't cut and paste old posts, but I do repeat popular themes. If I repeat content, I try to do it differently the second time, like posting a visual instead of just the link.
Beth Kanter is a visiting scholar at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and is a co-author of "The Networked Nonprofit." She also writes Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media, where a version of this article originally ran.
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Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English *throtel, diminutive of throte ("throat"), equivalent to throat + -le. Compare German Drossel ("throttle"). More at throat.
throttle (plural throttles)
- A valve that regulates the supply of fuel-air mixture to an internal combustion engine and thus controls its speed; a similar valve that controls the air supply to an engine.
- The lever or pedal that controls this valve.
- Synonyms: accelerator, gas pedal, gas
- The windpipe or trachea.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Walter Scott to this entry?)
the lever or pedal that controls this valve
Etymology 2Edit
From Middle English throtlen ("to choke, strangle, suffocate"), from the noun (see above). Compare German erdrosseln ("to strangle, choke, throttle").
throttle (third-person singular simple present throttles, present participle throttling, simple past and past participle throttled)
- (transitive) To cut back on the speed of (an engine, person, organization, network connection, etc.).
- (transitive) To strangle or choke someone.
- (Can we date this quote?) John Milton
- Grant him this, and the Parliament hath no more freedom than if it sat in his noose, which, when he pleases to draw together with one twitch of his negative, shall throttle a whole nation, to the wish of Caligula, in one neck.
- (Can we date this quote?) John Milton
- (intransitive) To have the throat obstructed so as to be in danger of suffocation; to choke; to suffocate.
- (intransitive) To breathe hard, as when nearly suffocated.
- (transitive) To utter with breaks and interruption, in the manner of a person half suffocated.
- (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
- I have seen them shiver and look pale,
Make periods in the midst of sentences,
Throttle their practised accent in their fears.
- I have seen them shiver and look pale,
- (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
Derived termsEdit
to cut back speed
to strangle someone
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked


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DIY Video 2010: Activist Media (Part Two)/
This is the first of an ongoing series of curated selections of DIY Video prepared in relation to the screening of DIY Video 2010 at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles and organized by Mimi Ito, Steve Anderson, and the good folks at the Institute for Multimedia Literacy. The following selection was curated and described by Sasha Constanza-Chock.
What follows is the full selection of videos that I sent to the DIY Video 2010 organizers, structured by the 10 social movement categories that I mentioned above. Short clips of many of them were remixed into the screening program, where they were placed in interesting juxtaposition with other kinds of DIY video by style, technique, and narrative and visual strategy. Here, you can watch the complete set of Activist Media videos, as well as some that didn't make it into the theatrical screening. Enjoy, and I hope that they inspire you to action!
DIY Video Activism Program
Meta: Video Activism
The opening selection is a compilation of key clips from the first two years of the human rights video Hub at witness.org. Witness is a widely respected video advocacy organization, based in New York City, that uses video as a tool to defend human rights. They've trained hundreds of video activists, and produced a number of good resource kits around the complex issues raised by video advocacy - representation, privacy, repression, agency, etc. They've also grappled with the tradeoffs between relying on YouTube and video hosted on corporate platforms vs. creating their own space online. I thought it appropriate to start with a retrospective they put together of recent human rights videos that have had an impact.
2 Years of the Hub - A Look Back (1:03), By Witness
2008 Election
The 2008 election was full of DIY video all over the spectrum, but I chose to highlight two works that emphasize the role of DIY video outside the formal political process, and that were connected to activity in the streets and at the polls.
Terrorizing Dissent (Trailer) (2:07), By the Glass Bead Collective
I was invited by a video journalism organization called iWitness Video (not to be confused with Witness, above) to help document protests against both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions during the 2008 campaign cycle. At the RNC in the twin cities, iWitness video was repeatedly raided by federal agents who, among other ludicrous claims, at one point insisted that they didn't need warrants because the DIY media outfit was holding 'hostages.' The raids proved to be totally baseless, but were effective in part at disrupting our video trainings and production schedule. There's at least a 40 year history of mass protest at the national conventions, and every year there seem to be more riot police, with more 'less lethal' weaponry, beating up more nonviolent protestors who oppose both parties of War and Empire. At the same time, every year there's also more and more DIY documentation of police abuse. This is great for legal teams, who in recent years have had a lot of success winning class action lawsuits in city after city over rampant first amendment violations (peacefully assemble!). Activists I was working with managed to pull together nearly a terabyte of video footage for the legal team in the Twin Cities. Over time, people have also found innovative new ways to remix protest footage in ways that can capture attention.
I contributed footage, editing, and coordination work to the feature length documentary Terrorizing Dissent. This trailer for the film (edited by the Glass Bead Collective) uses the giant American flag projected behind McCain's head as a bluescreen to show the police brutality taking place on the streets just outside the convention center.
Video the Vote 2008: Why Would Anyone Want to Stop You from Voting? (3:41), By Video the Vote
After the theft of the 2000 election, and widespread irregularities again in 2004, In 2006, Ian Inaba of Guerrilla News Network, John Ennis of Shoot First, Inc., and James Rucker of ColorOfChange.org launched a nationwide network of citizen videographers to try and document voting problems on election day. They ended up getting buy-in from major foundations, public media, and corporate partners, and thousands of people across the country volunteered to participate and help ensure that young people, low income people, and people of color wouldn't be systematically denied the right to vote again. It was all coordinated via web, email, and conference calls. It was inspiring to participate in and will hopefully keep growing during future elections.
It was obvious that this program would have to include the anonymous video of Neda Aghan-Soltan's death during the mass uprising against the theft of the Iranian election. This DIY video was seen worldwide, won the Polk award in a new 'videography' category, and did more than any other single media text to complicate Western publics' monolithic antipathy to Iran by compelling audiences to differentiate between Iranian leadership and the Iranian people. But I didn't want to just include the clip - I wanted to show it situated within a text that draws from a remix aesthetic familiar from daily cultural practices (slideshows mixed with music and short video clips), but applied to mass mobilization.
Neda Soltan [warning: graphic content] (2:22), By AliJahanii:
Iraq & Afghanistan
The massive, worldwide antiwar movement that generated the largest coordinated protest in human history on February 15th, 2003 (a date decided on via the World Social Forum process - see http://www.wsftv.net/) was unable to avert the US invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of dead soldiers and hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths later, increasing numbers of US veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are getting organized to end the wars - and they're using DIY video as part of their tactical arsenal. These short videos (by IVAW) highlight creative protest tactics and direct moral appeals by veterans against the war. The third clip is from Brave New Films, an activist documentary shop that is a little too big to be called DIY but not big enough to really be 'industry' either. I included it anyway since they often incorporate DIY footage into their projects.
Iraq War Veterans Raid Gas Station (1:09), By IVAW
Iraq Veterans Against the War: End the War Now (0:30), By IVAW
Veterans to Obama: Do Not Escalate in Afghanistan (1:53), By Brave New Films - Rethink Afghanistan
LGBTQ movement
The LGBTQ movement has made great strides over the last decade, but California's Proposition 8 dealt a cruel blow to proponents of full equality. Protests and creative actions against "PropH8" exploded into the streets, and it was all documented by protest participants, DIY videomakers, small online journalism startups, and LGBTQ movement organizations. For more background check out "Tactical Media and Prop H8".
National Equality March Madness (1:34), By NatlEQMarch:
The successful struggle to defeat the Sensenbrenner Bill in 2006 brought immigrant communities to the streets in the largest wave of mass marches in U.S. history. Hopes of legalization for over 11 million undocumented immigrants, fanned by Obama's election, which had heavy backing from Latino voters, have by now been largely derailed. The Obama administration has pursued detention and deportation even more aggressively than the Bush administration, with 370,000 deportations in 2008 and 390,000 in 2009. This DIY video from Detention Watch Network documents a nationwide grassroots effort to lobby Congress for a more just and humane immigration policy. If you're interested in the use of social media by the immigrant rights movement check out "The Immigrant Rights Movement on the Net". If you're _really_ interested, check out my diss, "Se Ve, Se Siente: Transmedia Mobilization in the Los Angeles Immigrant Rights Movement".
Making Our Voices Heard in DC (3:12), By Will Coley for Detention Watch Network:
Police Brutality
When BART officer Johannes Mehserle shot and killed Oscar Grant on the Fruitvale train platform on January 1st, 2009, it was recorded by multiple videographers who documented the event on camera phones and a handheld video camera. Soon, the footage was circulating on YouTube, seen millions of times and reposted across the web, then picked up by broadcast TV news. DIY video is one of the most powerful tools in the ongoing struggle against police brutality, and in response police departments across the country are attempting to enforce laws against filming police. To follow this battle more closely check out and for a gallery of creative memorials to Oscar Grant.
Oscar Grant Shooting (1:59), By ? (multiple reposts)
Economy & Gentrification
Many of the best DIY activist videos have always been music videos. Music videos are woefully underrepresented in this program, I'm not sure how it turned out that way. But this one, produced by an amazing crew of Detroit artists, makes up for it all. It begins with beats and rhymes that highlight issues of neoliberal globalization, deindustrialization, battles against gentrification, community led development, movement building, and more, all without feeling preachy and while keeping your head nodding to lyrics by the D's very own Invincible. Then it morphs into a minidocumentary about Detroit organizers who are taking back their city for the next generation, featuring civil rights legend Grace Lee Boggs . It won the Housing Rights award from Media that Matters.
Locusts (6:29) Directed By Iqaa The Olivetone, Produced By Invincible for Emergence Media, Joe Namy, and Rola Nashef
It was incredibly difficult to find DIY video produced by Haitians about what was going in Haiti in the wake of the earthquake. A youth film school called Cine Institute started putting out regular short video stories in the days and weeks after the quake. This compilation provides a taste of their work. It's not exactly social movement media but I felt it was important to include some DIY video from Haiti.
After the Earthquake: A Compilation of Cine Institute Coverage (3:45), By Cine Institute:
After the Earthquake: A Compilation of Ciné Institute Coverage from Ciné Institute on Vimeo.
Climate justice
To close the program, I chose two DIY video selections from the climate justice movement, both related to the Copenhagen COP15 climate summit that, unfortunately, failed to deliver a fair and binding agreement. The first is by the 350 movement , and weaves together stills and short clips from people all around the world who participated in a global day of action to demand a carbon target of 350 parts per million. The final clip is an interesting short by the Copenhagen Bike Bloc that provides a visual history of civil disobedience and serves as a a call to tactical innovation. I wanted to end with this because it's a direct commentary on the way that social movements constantly create new tactics - including new forms of tactical media - in order to push forward towards a more just and sustainable world.
The Day the World Came Together: October 29th, 2009 (2:10)
By The 350 Movement
Put the Fun Between Your Legs: Become the Bike Bloc (1:38), By the Copenhagen Bike Bloc
Sasha Costanza-Chock is a researcher and mediamaker who works on the critical political economy of communication and on the transnational movement for media justice and communication rights. He holds a Ph.D. from the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California, where he is currently a postdoctoral research associate. He's also a Knight Media Policy Fellow at the New America Foundation, a Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and a member of the community board of VozMob.net.


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Sent by - Makss 02.02.2009
Lieta tāda, ka sākumā rakstītās atsauksmes tika nosūtītas tikai uz mūsu epastu. Tad nu mēs administratoram lūdzām, lai visas atsūtītās un turpmākās atsauksmes ievieto mājas lapā!
Makss un Morics is a pizzeria that will deliver pizza to your home and also workplace. We have the tastiest, hottest pizzas and the delivery time is faster than police response to a call. We deliver pizzas all over Riga and also outside of its borders, for more information about the pizza delivery; please visit the section "Delivery". We also offer our own homemade ice cream.
We only use the best quality products and the freshest vegetables that we dice on the spot to make our pizzas. The pizza is handmade by the cook; the homemade dough is rolled out as the pizza base and covered with the products according to the recipe.
Makss un Morics is a "green thinking" company, we have signed a contract and are fully AGAINST genetically modified food. So we'll ensure that our customers don't get any genetically modified food through our products. We also clean our kitchen using harmless, professional cleaning supplies, which have been awarded the Nordic Swan eco-label.
The pizza can be ordered by calling 20003737 and we work from 11:00 to 22:00, Friday and Saturday from 11:00 to 24:00.
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NoWait Service Streamlines Archaic Restaurant Waiting Riturals
I'm pretty sure we all hate those awkwardly shaped, too uncomfortable to fit in your back pocket, buzzing 'thingys' restaurants give patrons to alert them of an available table when the wait to eat builds up. The NoWait mobile app has just received $2 million in series A funding to beef up its cloud-based mobile software that makes it easy for restaurant employees to manage and alert hungry guests when a available table is ready.
The NoWait mobile app takes an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch and converts it into a stand-alone queue manager that also sends text alerts to guest's cell-phones when it's their turn to be seated. The host enters the customer's name and phone number (who doesn't have a cell phone on their person) into the NoWait app on the restaurant's iDevice, and the guest receives a text alert on approximately how long their wait will be. For the more techie guests with smartphones and a data plan, the text message will also include a unique link that will display the guest's position in line. When a table is ready, the app will send the guest another message with instructions on how to how to claim their table.
The cool thing about receiving a text message is the restaurant no longer has to manage pager devices, and guests can wander farther away from the restaurant while they wait for their "name to be called". "NoWait solves an enormous problem busy restaurant management face every day: long queues that clog front of house and lead to potential lost sales," says CEO of NoWait, Robb Myer. "With NoWait, we are revolutionizing the way patrons wait and are seated at casual dining, no-reservation restaurants. NoWait also gives every restaurant instant, actionable analytics about wait times and diner turnover."
I'm pretty sure that if guest don't return in a set amount of time, they will lose their table. But i'm guessing that there are better places patrons choose to wait to be seated than a more than crowded (and tiny) seating area. NoWait may just be the answer to guests opting to go somewhere else if they can't wait where they want.


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Hello JPF,
I have just been introduced to trees, and for my assignment, I have to build an expression tree. I have the algorithm and idea down, but I'm not exactly sure where to start. So I have completed the code to change an infix notation to a postfix notation. I know that if I'll have to scan the postfix notation, token by token. If the token is an operand, I need to create a one-node tree and push it onto a stack. If the token is an operator, I have to pop off the two top trees from the stack and create a new tree with the operator as my root and the two operand trees as my children. I'm hoping that someone can look over my codes and help me start off. I have some codes that I have tried, but I'm getting a null error pointer. Anything would be greatly appreciated.
What I have so far:
public BinaryTree<String> buildExpressionTree() { String post=postfixx; StringTokenizer tokens = new StringTokenizer(post); while (tokens.hasMoreTokens()) { String nextToken = tokens.nextToken(); // Does it start with a digit? if (Character.isDigit(nextToken.charAt(0))) { // Get the integer value. BinaryTree<String> newTree = new BinaryTree<String>(nextToken,null,null); tree.push(newTree);[B] //I'm getting an error right here.[/B] } // Is it an operator? else if (isOperator(nextToken.charAt(0))) { BinaryTree<String> first=tree.pop(); BinaryTree<String> second=tree.pop(); BinaryTree<String> expression= new BinaryTree<String>(nextToken,first, second); eTree=expression; tree.push(expression); } } return eTree; }


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Street Address:
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NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican Gov. Bill Haslam said Monday that he's making it a priority to fund key education initiatives and care for the state's most vulnerable citizens despite a tight budget year.
Haslam was to unveil details of his annual state spending proposal and lay out some of his top legislative priorities for the year during his State of the State address Monday evening.
Earlier in the day, he met with reporters and reiterated what state financial officials have been reporting over the past several months, that revenue collections have failed to meet projections.
He noted the state has $260 million in new revenue for the budget year beginning in July. However, $180 million will go toward costs to TennCare - the state's expanded Medicaid program - and $120 million is proposed for education.
He also said health insurance costs for state workers are up $40 million.
"So, before putting anything toward anything else , we already have an $80 million deficit," which will require the state to make some cuts, he said.
Haslam had warned that a large part of TennCare's budget would be used to care for the thousands of people identified by the federal health care law's online exchanges as eligible for TennCare but not enrolled.
Officials had projected that the exchanges would identify nearly 47,000 people who fall into that group.
However, TennCare Director Darin Gordon told Gov. Bill Haslam during a budget hearing in November that the figure will more likely be about 52,000 for fiscal year 2015.
Gordon said that was concerning, "but at this point, we don't have anything to cause us to revise our numbers."
As for education, Haslam stressed the importance of Tennessean's earning a degree from a community college or university, which is why he's putting more money toward his so-called "Drive to 55" initiative.
Its goal is to improve Tennessee's graduate rates f rom colleges and universities from the current 32 percent to 55 percent by 2025.
"This isn't just about higher education; it's about better jobs for more Tennesseans and building a stronger economy," he said.
The governor plans to also put money into the state's school funding formula. Critics say the current Basic Education Program does not adequately fund districts statewide.
"When other states sacrificed education spending during tight budgets, we haven't," said Haslam, who has appointed a task force to study the formula. "Tennessee is one of only six states in the country that has consistently increased state funding on K-12 education as a percentage of our total budget over the past three years."
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Between a still-existent worldwide recession and nuclear saber-rattling from North Korea and Iran, it's pretty clear that the White House has a lot on its plate in terms of international relations.
A lot of serious stuff on the menu.
So, why does President Obama need to add "seconds" to the plate by getting personally involved in the U.S. bid to attract the 2016 Summer Olympics to Chicago? The president is now planning on traveling to Copenhagen this week.
Sure, it's the president's hometown, but that's no reason to put his own prestige at stake (if Chicago's bid is turned down, it becomes something of a personal slap at the president).
It's quite clear that Chicago's bid is important to the White House. The first lady has been working as something of a de facto lobbyist for the effort. In one rare case of bipartisan agreement, Obama actually has support for the visit from once and future GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, architect of the 2002 Winter Games. Yes, there's something to be said for the economic benefit that might accrue to the city (though exactly how much, once the cost of becoming the host city has been factored in, is open to debate).
But, in terms of priority, this is way down the level of importance in comparisons to the issues raised at the United Nations General Assembly, the G-20 -- and the ongoing deliberations over what to do with Iran. The president should be assembling a coalition to get Tehran to start jumping through hoops in order to prove that its nuclear intentions are solely peaceful (yeah, right). Instead the president wants to take time to grab the five rings that the Olympics represent. Romney is convinced that Obama's trip to Denmark will be all that is needed to seal the deal.
There's no guarantee of that.
Considering the apologetic supplicant role the president has presented to the world since entering the White House, he's got very little to show for it -- even from Western allies. Instead, while all the world seems entranced by the president and the first lady, few nations seem willing to step forward to sign on to any of his stated priorities:
European allies still refuse to send significantly more troops to Afghanistan. The Saudis basically ignored Mr. Obama's request for concessions to Israel, while Israel rebuffed his demand to stop settlement expansion. North Korea defied him by testing a nuclear weapon. Japan elected a party less friendly to the United States. Cuba has done little to liberalize in response to modest relaxation of sanctions. India and China are resisting a climate change deal. And Russia rejected new sanctions against Iran's nuclear program even as Mr. Obama heads into talks with Tehran.
And that was all before the recent developments related to Iran. Who knows? Perhaps the International Olympic Committee will see fit to toss the president a nice diplomatic crumb and accede to his request. Even if that occurs, presidential prestige should be put on the line for greater stakes than the opportunity to host a sports event.
New York writer Robert A. George blogs at Ragged Thots. Follow him on Twitter.


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Behind the scenes of the debt vote
Sen. Ted Cruz and the GOP rank and file ultimately backed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Whip John Cornyn into a corner on the debt ceiling increase.
The leaders had wanted to allow the toxic measure to pass with just 51 votes so all 45 Republicans could vote against it. But Cruz, the Texas tea party freshman, demanded approval by a 60-vote threshold.
Story Continued Below
So McConnell and Cornyn tried to persuade more than five Republicans in safe seats to support the effort, but they were met with stiff resistance. No Republican wanted to be vote No. 60 to advance a bill to raise the debt ceiling without spending cuts, forcing the GOP leaders to secure a comfortable margin of victory or risk being blamed for a historic debt default.
( POLITICO Podcast: Inside Republicans' surprising debt limit vote)
Miffed that they have long been asked to take tough votes when the GOP leaders voted "no," Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski, privately pressured McConnell and Cornyn to vote to break the filibuster, sources said. Murkowski resisted voting for the measure without the support of her leadership team.
As the drama grew in the chamber with the vote's prospects in doubt, McConnell turned to his colleagues and said: "We're not doing this again," according to a source familiar with his remarks.
So McConnell and Cornyn — both facing reelection this year and battling tea party-inspired challengers in their states — took the plunge and risked the political backlash by voting to break a filibuster, the type of vote the two wily leaders have long sought to avoid in this election season.
After hoping the measure passed without their fingerprints, McConnell and Cornyn were forced to own part of it by allowing it to move to a final vote with their consent, even persuading several of their colleagues to switch their votes. The leaders later voted against final passage. But McConnell decided not to block the measure because he concluded it wasn't worth repeating yet another crisis-like atmosphere similar to the government shutdown last fall.
( QUIZ: How well do you know Mitch McConnell?)
The end result: 12 Republicans voted to break a filibuster, advancing the measure on a 67-31 vote. On a party-line vote, the Senate passed the bill, 55-43, sending it to President Barack Obama's desk and ending three years of partisan brinkmanship and economic crises over debts and deficits.
The last-minute scramble shows just how rapidly debt politics have turned on the Republican Party. After winning big in the 2010 elections, a conservative House majority and emboldened Senate minority vowed to extract major concessions from the White House to raise the national debt ceiling and keep government agencies funded. The consequences of those demands, however, continually fell short of tea-party expectations and ultimately culminated in the 16-day government shutdown in October, a political black eye for the GOP.
"I must say that it was a very courageous act, especially Sen. McConnell, who — as you well know — is in a very tough race," said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who voted to advance the measure after initially saying he would oppose it.
Eager to avoid another crisis after the GOP-led House barely passed the clean debt ceiling increase Tuesday evening, Senate Republican leaders wanted a drama-free Wednesday.
But the vote proved to be anything but quick and easy.
( PHOTOS: Senators up for election in 2014)
The 45-member Senate Republican Conference met over lunch behind closed doors in the Senate's ornate Mansfield Room, debating how to proceed for more than 90 minutes but reaching no consensus.
Starting the vote more than 10 minutes late, the outcome was still unclear after the conference engaged in its first real debate about how to proceed in the aftermath of the House's decision to pass a "clean" debt ceiling bill Wednesday evening.
That internal debate spilled into open view on the Senate floor. A grim-faced McConnell stood next to the white-haired Cornyn, who quietly discussed a way forward with Murkowski, Collins, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and a handful of other senators. Tension filled the room as the vote was kept open for more than an hour. The clerks were informed not to announce the names of the senators who had voted, allowing the leaders to urge senators to switch their votes.


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5 Things To Know About Cognitive Systems and IBM Watson
MartinKeen 1200007VU3 Comment (1) Visits (27138)
Cognitive systems, such as IBM Watson, can transform how organizations think, act, and operate in the future. IBM CTO, Fellow, and Vice President Rob High is a key member of the IBM Watson Solution Leadership team. He's published an IBM Redbooks Solution Guide, Redpaper, and video that explains what cognitive systems are, and provides some fascinating behind the scenes information on how Watson works.
Here are some of the highlights:
1. There's more data to understand than ever before
The volume of data is exploding – 90 percent of all the data in the world was produced in the last two years alone. And 80 percent of all the information in the world is unstructured information, which includes text such as literature, reports, articles, research papers, theses, emails, blogs, tweets, forums, chats, and text messages. We need computers that can understand this flood of information so that we can get more out of it. That's where cognitive systems can help.
2. We have noses that run and feet that smell. Traditional computing systems don't understand why
Traditional computing systems have a hard time understanding types of information that humans can process easily. Our language is full of innuendos, idiosyncrasies, idioms, and ambiguity. How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, but a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? Why do we fill in a form by filling it out? Most natural language processing systems use a series of well formed rules to make sense of this information. When presented with a narrow focus these systems can be fairly precise, but do not perform well when the parameters are expanded.
3. IBM Watson is a cognitive system that can make sense of unstructured information
Cognitive systems mimic how humans reason and process information. IBM Watson is an example of a cognitive system. It offers deep natural language processing that focuses much more on context rather than following a set of pre-defined rules. It assesses as much context as possible from both the question posed and from its available knowledge base to form a response.
4. Watson knows all about Hannibal Lecter
In 2011, Watson famously appeared as a contestant on the US game show Jeopardy! where it handsomely beat two of the show's best ever contestants (it's winning total was more than three times that of second placed Ken Jennings). The show poses answers, and contestants must correctly identify the question being asked. For example, one puzzle Watson faced was "Jodie Foster took this home for her role in Silence of the Lambs". Watson correctly inferred that in this content "took this home" meant "winning an Oscar". Sometimes "took this home" infers a cold, groceries, or any number of things. Watson's cognitive system enabled it to behave with human-like characteristics and correctly understand the context.
5. Watson isn't just for game shows
Watson is already been used by many organizations to solve business problems by using statistical analytics, rules and business processing, collaboration, and reporting. Examples abound. In healthcare, Watson can analyze and combine a patient's conditions and history to help create treatments that are specific to this patient, resulting in better and faster care. In finance, Watson can help businesses improve risk and valuation processes. In customer service, Watson can help call centers provide correct answers quickly and accurately.
For much more, see Cognitive Systems and IBM Watson at the IBM Redbooks web site and learn from Rob High how Watson and cognitive systems are changing the world and giving computers human-like capabilities to understand information.
Martin Keen is an IBM Redbooks Project Leader. He works with technical experts to create books, guides, blogs, and videos. Follow @MartinRTP on Twitter.


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How Do I Apply for Human Subjects Review?
If your project requires human subjects review, you will need to download and complete the college's Human Subjects Review Application:
For help in determining whether your project requires review, see Who Must Apply for Human Subjects Review? and Activities that Frequently Do Not Require Human Subjects Review. Student researchers and faculty overseeing student research should also carefully review Guidelines for Student Work with Human Subjects. If you have questions after consulting these documents, contact the IRB administrator.
Application procedures
- Complete the form in the application packet as the cover sheet for your application. The form must be signed by the lead researcher (project director). If the lead researcher is a student, it must also be reviewed, approved and signed by a faculty sponsor.
- Answer the application's six questions (numbered and in order) on additional sheets of paper.
- Provide copies of materials (emails, posters, advertisements, etc.) that you will use to recruit subjects for your project
- Include the informational letter and a consent agreement to be provided to prospective subjects.
- Attach other materials if they are a part of the research protocol, such as interview scripts, surveys, etc.
- If you research requires cooperation from outside entities (tribes, schools, hospitals, and other organizations), provide a copy of the signed cooperative agreement permitting the work to go forward.
- These are public documents. Type or print your application and use complete sentences. Prior to submission, check your documents carefully for accuracy, clarity, and consistency. Documents with poor writing or significant errors will be returned without review.
- Submit your completed application to the human subjects review coordinator, Library 3809. If you have questions about submission, call the human subjects review coordinator at (360) 867-6670.
A member of Evergreen's Institutional Review Board will review all applications once each week. The human subjects review coordinator will then send an email notifying the project director of the results of that expedited review. Please allow at least ten working days for this notification. If your project requires review by the full Institutional Review Board, in accordance with federal requirements, we will notify you. Be advised that such reviews can take a month or more.
Special considerations
If you are a student, you must consult closely with your faculty sponsor on this application. Your sponsor will ensure that you have:
- a well-designed study;
- a project that presents no more than minimal risks to subjects; and
- a complete and adequate application.
Your sponsor must sign the application; you are the Project Director.
If you are doing an Individual Learning Contract that involves human subjects research, it is important that you fill out this application prior to registration. As long as your human subjects review application has been submitted to the Academic Deans Office prior to the Individual Learning Contract deadline, your contract can be reviewed and approved by the deans, and subsequently registered. You will not be allowed to register your contract without submitting this completed Human Subjects Review application to the Academic Deans.
If you are a faculty member whose class is conducting research, and the project meets the definition of human subjects research, please complete an application for the entire class if the work of individual students are sufficiently uniform to be addressed in a blanket application. Please consult with the human subject review coordinator before assigning multiple human subjects review applications for review.


text: India announces fundamental changes to the India-Mauritius double tax treaty Global Tax News Share this 23 MAY 2016 By: Marc Hein Johanne Hague The Government of India announced in a press release dated May 10, 2016 that Mauritius and India have signed a protocol amending the agreement for avoidance of double taxation with Mauritius. The text of the protocol is yet to be released, as is the official written announcement from the Government of Mauritius. Pursuant to the press release, the key announcements highlighted in the protocol are as follows: Shares in Indian companies acquired on or after 1 April 1, 2017: disposal of such shares will now be subject to tax in India. This change shifts the residence based test for capital gains under the Mauritius-India double tax treaty (DTAA) to a source-based test. Shares in Indian companies acquired before April 1, 2017: such shares will continue to benefit from the current capital gains exemption in Article 13(4) of the Mauritius-India DTAA. Shares acquired on or after April 1, 2017 but disposed of before March 31, 2019: limited transitional provisions will be applicable. Disposal of such shares will be subject to a reduced tax rate of 50 percent of the domestic rate in India. The application of the reduced rate is however subject to a Limitation of Benefits clause (LOB). Under the LOB clause, the reduced tax rate during the transitory period will be available if a Mauritius resident company passes the main purpose and bona fide business test and has total expenditure on operations in Mauritius of at least Rs1.5 million (approximately US$40,000) in the 12 months preceding the disposal. Shares acquired on or after 1 April 2017 and disposed of after March 31, 2019: gains on the disposal of such shares will be subject to tax in India at the prevailing tax rate. Interest arising in India on loans made after March 31, 2017: Such interest derived by Mauritian resident banks will be subject to withholding tax at the rate of 7.5 percent. Commentary Mauritius has for a long time been the main vehicle for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India. Mauritius accounted for 34 percent of foreign direct investments in the country between 2000 and 2015 (source: Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion – India). With the capital gains exemption no longer being available for shares acquired after 1 April 2017, questions will be raised on whether Mauritius will continue to be used as a vehicle for investments in India. The transitory provisions offer temporary comfort as they are limited both in scope and time. The protocol will have a knock-on effect on the Singapore-India DTAA because article 6 of the protocol to that treaty specifies that the benefits available under it only apply so long as the equivalent benefits apply under the Mauritius-India DTAA. Subject to the text of the protocol, the above changes should only be applicable to the disposal of shares in India companies. Arguably, investments made through instruments other than shares such as debt-like instruments or derivative contracts may still benefit from the capital gains exemption under the Mauritius-India double tax treaty. Conclusion The signature of this protocol is likely to have significant impact on inbound investment in India and raise major concerns among stakeholders across the global business industry. The text of the protocol is eagerly awaited for more clarity over the precise scope of transactions which will be affected. Find out more about this development by contacting Marc Hein or Johanne Hague of Jurisconsult Chambers, Port Louis, Mauritius. Jurisconsult is a member of DLA Piper Africa Group, an alliance of leading independent law firms working together in association with DLA Piper, both internationally and across Africa.


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Use the filters to the left or simply scroll down to begin viewing all pages.
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Agreement covers 1.5 million devices.
This story has been updated.
The Army awarded a $617.3 million contract to Insight Public Sector in Chantilly, Va., for a Microsoft enterprise license agreement covering 1.5 million devices through November 2015.
It's not clear what the licenses cover, but the contract, announced Tuesday, should provide an upgrade from the last Army enterprise software license contract awarded in 2009, which called for provision of the clunky Microsoft Vista operating system.
SoftArt Government Services, based in Downingtown, Pa., has provided the Army with Microsoft software under two previous contracts dating to 2003 and valued at slightly more than $1 billion. The service loaded its computers with the Vista operating system starting in 2009 and switched to Windows 7 in June.
The Army Microsoft enterprise contract is the third such agreement federal agencies inked this year. The Navy executed a $700 million deal with Microsoft for desktop and server software on July 5 and on July 12 the Veterans Affairs Department signed a five-year pact with Microsoft at an undisclosed cost for Windows 7 client-server software, database and collaboration software.
Neither the Army nor Insight Public Sector responded to a request for details on the enterprise license agreement.
NEXT STORY: Where E.R. doctors work entirely via Skype


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A Wisteria and Clover Garden Wedding at Weymouth Center in Southern Pines, North Carolina
Charles (Chris) Younger (27 and a sequencing specialist) proposed to Laurelin Cottingham (33 and a cytogenetics technologist) after they had been living together for a year. "He cooked me a romantic dinner and I was in the middle of eating my chocolate lava cake when my fork hit something hard," says Laurelin." I was a little creeped out at first until I realized that it was a ring and I excitedly told him it was about time!" The couple decided to plan a local affair for their relaxed spring wedding and invited guests to celebrate at the Weymouth Center in Southern Pines, North Carolina. The couple accented their lavender and lime color palette with a cheery array of spring colors and after the outdoor ceremony, guests were able to tour the historic house and gardens. "I envisioned a simple, outdoor, spring wedding I and didn't want the flowers to take away from the beauty of the surroundings," says Laurelin. For their overall decor, the couple wanted to incorporate both of their styles—Chris is country and Laurelin has a bohemian flare—so they compromised with horseshoe accents along with lush iris accents.


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An enchanting flick!
Big Eyes is in a way reflective of a feeling every artist goes through when someone else steals credit for their work. It is a crime that Walter Keane, played superbly by Christoph Waltz, commits without batting an eye and Margaret Keane, portrayed by Amy Adams, endures for the better half of her life. Screenplay coming from Walter Keane is very reassuring as he inspires Margaret to not underestimate herself, and drops soothing lines to make her believe she is gifted.
"You shouldn't sell yourself so cheap. Your heart's in your work."
Music is endearing and so is its editing. Has a constant charming pace that keeps everything strung well in place. Tim Burton's intelligent style of film-making can be read through his thoughtful frames that occasionally drop off humorous subtleties to make things alluring and delectable.
The paintings of Big Eyes have a telling veracity that is told my numerous stunningly drawn children with their beady eyes. As Margaret expounds:
"Eyes are windows to the soul."
Big Eyes beautifully captures the struggle one had to go through in order to be seen. Even though art was revered profusely, beginnings were still as relentless as baby steps of any creative profession.
Christoph Waltz does a fabulous job as he tries to convince the whole world of his lie. It is hard to see through him. He is that good! Hell, he convinces you in the very beginning that he is for real. It is kind of a slow reveal when you start guessing his ugly facade.
At times you can't help but feel sorry for Margaret and wonder why she doesn't revolt. Trying to look at things from her perspective you realize she was pretty meek and weak. Also, he had a smooth talker for a husband who would always bring her around, probably why she was always in a constant dubitation. Also, there was moolah being pressed out on a regular basis; one of the major reasons for her mum.
You might wonder, despite the conning, Margaret does fairly well for herself, with a lie that helps both parties entailed. But for an artist who is fond of one's work, money is always secondary. It is pride that matters the most, which Walter exploits profusely.
The fact Tim Burton doesn't toy with the flick to make the biopic darker will compel you to raise brows. Dramatic elements don't induce gut-wrenching feels which could be a downside to Big Eyes. But it does fairly well walking on its pleasant and bewitching theme to manifest eclipsed art and an engaging tale in its truest form.
Read more 2014 movie reviews here: 2014


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Use red...
Ya can't polish fertilizer...
After driving for a full 3s 5000Mah battery pack. Found that I only had three wheel drive. Broken right front axle stub. Sheared off the ears and lost, but then found axle shaft half on the ground. It is possible to have caused any damage to the diff since there was no load on one side?
1x spur gear in 10 minutes
I had MIPs in the rear for a while, just broke my second front stock axel. I got a set of front MIPs from eBay for $50 shipped. Crazy to spend $100 just upgrading the axels but the MIPs are top quality and a replacement stock axel is $10 each.
MIP's are awsome and I just wish I took more pics but I use a "modded' set of Rustler rears to fit the sock length a-arms which are the same ones used on the pro-trac kits.
I just think it has less axle slop this way but that that's jmo.
If you look at the left side you can see what it looks like in running condition.
Last edited by NITR0 newbie; 10-22-2012 at 07:29 PM.
O.S.21 Nitro Revo, Stampede 4x4, 2 Axial Honcho's
To date :
2x spur gear
1x wheel bearing
1x rear shaft (upgrade to Tekno)
1x Wheelie bar
Stripped the rear wheelie bar mount screw holes but bodged together with slightly longer screws and washers.
Not a thing yet again close to 20 packs now!
Last night my son broke a front stub axle and I thought I has stripped a sput gear. Turned out a rock got stuck netween the slipper adjustment nut and chassis. It completly loosened the slipper clutch to the point where it wouldnt move at all.
But we had a really good time until we couldnt drive anymore. As we were walking back home, carrying our Stampedes, we joked that we need to build an R/C tow truck for when this kind of thing happens.
Last edited by lowsaturn; 10-24-2012 at 03:23 PM.
Bumper screws snapped right in two (x 2). Thanks for cheap weak points
NOTHING, I'm still waiting for parts to come in to fix a MIP Xduty shaft. There for my P4de is just collecting dust on the shelf.
Playing at the local bike park, hit a 6 foot tall table top, got about 12 ft of air, traveled about 25 feet and came down front bumper first into the next ramp. Snapped the battery post off at the threads and tossed my 3's battery through the body..... So nothing major today.
Piston chipped and a small fragment got lodge inside the case on my 3.3 jato. Took it to LHS and he said he never saw that before. Called support and they said...send it in. Keep in mind that I always run a bit on the rich side with plenty of smoke. Well, here's the kick in the pants. Traxxas won't replace it, nor will they send my old engine back. So much for brand loyal !
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
uh oh.... that didn't sound good
I was driving my P4de down my street at full speed. My son was driving my P2de, he came across the street right into the path of my P4de. BAM!!!!!! My P4de survived. Must be the RPM A-Arms. The P2de suffered a broken right front tie rod. Totally fixable. Surprised the damage was not more than it was.
My rear bearing are getting cruchy so time for new ones...peace
Famous last words...watch this!!!!
lost all drive to the car, after inspection found out that I broke the pin that drives the slipper...
Found a new weak point in the drive line, seems after doing some 3s speed runs on the beach in damp sand with trenchers, mip's and slipper set to full tight I managed to rip the screws out of the diff carrier that attach the ring gear luckily all the gears were ok just had to replace the screws and carrier case.
O.S.21 Nitro Revo, Stampede 4x4, 2 Axial Honcho's
Learned that when the bearing inside the slipper goes bad it loosens up so no drive then
Nothing broke on my pede which is more than I can say for my buddy's rustler after some speed runs on the beach today lol
O.S.21 Nitro Revo, Stampede 4x4, 2 Axial Honcho's
Did some more beach running yesterday till I snapped another hpi screw/pin on one of my rear mip's, makes me wonder if ther is a better pin out there cause I been breaking these often on 3s.
Last edited by NITR0 newbie; 02-02-2013 at 12:28 PM.
O.S.21 Nitro Revo, Stampede 4x4, 2 Axial Honcho's
I broke 3 stock driveshafts within an hour of running
Broke both my steering blocks in the front!!!
Todays payday so i might just go break the bank at my LHS today. Hmmm... What do i want? I don't know...EVERYTHING!!!
But so far i haven't actually broke anything.
Rusty / EMBE / P4de / Teton / Vorza / SRD250P
Drove 45 min to a spot ran 3min and it totally shut down cause the mmp ground wire broke off right next to the solder. And I brought 4 charged lipos!
Noobie basher here with my first break after 5 packs
absolutely demolished my wheelie bar 4 breaks and the wheel broke off.. super glued the creap out of it and now it's a wheelie bar with no wheels...
Also lost a body pin and the back pin slots are getting pretty beat up
I smoked my esc ( started smoking ) 120 bucks down he drian i also snaped a stock bearing holder by runing my truck over with a golf cart only thing that broke tho O and i aslo siesed up a motor 70 bucks
Last edited by Donovan Meacham; 02-18-2013 at 05:13 PM.
Broke my first A-arm!
Nice crack in my p4de!
13$ fix! Lol


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Second Climate Thoughts
The latest U.N. report tones down the alarmism but ramps up the bad economics.
The U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its latest mammoth report last week, and the effort marks an improvement over the IPCC's last such effort in 2007. That may not be saying much, but on climate change intellectual progress of any sort is worth commending.
The IPCC's "Fifth Assessment Report," or AR5, is generating the usual alarmist headlines: "Impacts on All Continents, Worse to Come" was typical. That's partly a function of what the IPCC frontloads into the 28-page "summary...


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Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is a severe, sometimes disabling extension of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Although regular PMS and PMDD both have physical and emotional symptoms, PMDD causes extreme mood shifts that can disrupt your work and damage your relationships.
In both PMDD and PMS, symptoms usually begin seven to 10 days before your period starts and continue for the first few days that you have your period. Both PMDD and PMS may also cause bloating, breast tenderness, fatigue, and changes in sleep and eating habits. In PMDD, however, at least one of these emotional and behavioral symptoms stands out:
The cause of PMDD isn't clear. Underlying depression and anxiety are common in both PMS and PMDD, so it's possible that the hormonal changes that trigger a menstrual period worsen the symptoms of mood disorders.
Treatment of PMDD is directed at preventing or minimizing symptoms and may include:
Review your symptoms with your doctor. A thorough medical evaluation may determine if symptoms are due to PMDD or some other condition. If you're diagnosed with PMDD, your doctor can recommend specific treatments to help minimize symptoms.
Jacqueline M. Thielen, M.D.
Original article: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/premenstrual-syndrome/expert-answers/pmdd/FAQ-20058315
Any use of this site constitutes your agreement to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy linked below.
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization and proceeds from Web advertising help support our mission. Mayo Clinic does not endorse any of the third party products and services advertised.
A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only. "Mayo," "Mayo Clinic," "MayoClinic.org," "Mayo Clinic Healthy Living," and the triple-shield Mayo Clinic logo are trademarks of Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.


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At first glance, Barcelona seems to be getting by just fine. People crowd into cafes during the day and spill out of bars at night, following friends and lovers. Some linger late outside apartment buildings, waking residents with their revelry. Hordes of tourists roam the city's famous streets. Street traders hawk their wares, keeping an eye out for local police — the "Mossos" in Catalan.
But Catalonia's capital – like much of the region – is being split by the worst crisis since Spain returned to democracy some 40 years ago. In a first since the death of fascist dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, the Spanish government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dissolved Catalonia's semi-autonomous status, imposed direct rule over the regional government (Generalitat) and called for early regional elections on December 21. (See full report here).
Rajoy says he is enforcing Spain's constitution, which describes the country as "indivisible", after the Catalan parliament (Parlament) declared independence following a controversial referendum.
The question of Catalan independence has become the most divisive political and social crisis in Spain's post-Franco history. Sensationalist parallels with the lead-up to the country's civil war are almost certainly overblown but over the past decade – and especially the last year – the acrimonious politics of independence have seeped into, sometimes poisoned, personal relationships.
Many Catalonians fear theirs is becoming a "fractured society".
The October 1 referendum – deemed illegal by Spain's Constitutional Court – split Catalonia. 43 percent of the electorate took part but of those who did, 90 percent voted in favour of independence, according to the Generalitat (link to results in Catalan). Many didn't vote in order to boycott the referendum. Almost 900 people were injured that day in confrontations with Madrid's security forces, according to Catalonia's Health Department. October 1 gave separatist leader Carles Puigdemont the trigger to declare independence, ushering in a constitutional crisis that is now playing out across the dinner tables of many Catalonian families.
'Spain robs us'
Xavi Bosch Martí, 43, was born in Barcelona and is the fourth of five siblings. He no longer speaks to two of them, and asked WikiTribune not to interview his family because of their fallout over the issue of independence.
Bosch has a nuanced perspective on Catalan independence that he feels isn't reflected in the binary choice presented by the Generalitat. Although not opposed in principle to the idea of a sovereign Catalonian nation, Bosch strongly disagrees with how the regional government is pursuing independence. He also says Puigdemont and his associates pretend to speak for the whole Catalan nation while ignoring the views of pro-Spain Catalans.
His estrangement from his older brother and youngest sister over the issue of independence took place gradually. But Bosch recalls the incident that severed their relationship, three years ago, at a family dinner at his sister's house.
"My wife and I hadn't seen them for a while. We arrived, we opened the door, we sat down, and the first thing we heard was my sister's husband telling my brother: 'hombre, us Catalans feed the rest of Spain and thanks to us they live really well. They don't work, they spend the whole day in the bar.'"
Bosch says his brother agreed with his brother-in-law, adding his own invective.
"You're insulting my wife, my family."
The notion that Catalonia's prosperity, which accounts for about 20 percent of Spain's GDP, is being squandered on other Spanish regions – particularly in the country's historically poorer agrarian south – is a central complaint among separatists. "Spain robs us" has become a rallying cry for many pro-independence Catalans.
But for the couple the slight was personal. Margarita González González de Quevedo, Bosch's wife, is from Andalusia, in the south. "You know where my wife's family comes from," Bosch remembers telling his brother and his in-law. "You're insulting my wife, my family."
Both men said they didn't mean to include his wife in their generalisation.
This wouldn't be the first or last time that the couple heard this sort of disparaging comment from Catalans. But this incident was different. "It hurt me a lot, because it wasn't some stranger who said it, it was my family," Bosch says.
After Margarita became visibly agitated, the couple got up from the dinner table and left the house. Neither have received an apology since the incident. "No one even called to tell me: 'Maybe we went too far'," says Bosch.
Margarita is more candid. Although she remains civil toward her husband's family, she says: "They're screwing with my life."
Bosch speaks of a polarised society where "two identities increasingly seem condemned… to never understand one another. It's a feeling of utter failure at a time when Catalonia, and it has to be said, is more prosperous than ever."
Flight from Barcelona
Joan Rabasseda Gascón remembers the exact moment when the same feeling of intense despondency hit him. It was November 9, 2015, and he was taking the high-speed train from Madrid back to Barcelona, his home town. "Something in me snapped and I thought: 'Enough. This can't keep going on. I am returning to a place where I don't want to return. I am returning to a place where I am singled out.'"
Rabasseda and his husband – both staunchly anti-independence – resolved that day to sell their flat in Barcelona. On December 7, it went on the market, where it remains.
"I guess the glass goes filling up over time until it overflows," says Rabasseda. "And when it overflows, you don't know why – If it's the first drop, the third, or the last."
Rabasseda's parents quit Barcelona in July. They had lived all their lives in the Catalan capital but decided to move to Alicante, a southern Spanish city. They had grown weary of the acrimonious atmosphere generated by the issue of Catalan independence. "They were clear that they wanted to spend their remaining years in peace," he says.
"For me, Barcelona was the best city in the world," says Rabasseda. "Now I'm anxious to leave. I don't want to live in a fractured society. Because this [society] is going to remain fractured." As we speak, he pulls his smartphone out of his trouser pocket and shows it to me. It's protected by a plastic case with a Spanish flag design. "If they [pro-independence Catalans] see me with this phone, they call me facha," he says. Facha is short for "fascist" in Spanish.
Separatists accuse Madrid of using "fascist" methods – including police repression, propaganda, and economic warfare – to derail Catalan independence.
But every pro-Spain Catalan WikiTribune interviewed complained of being physically or virtually harassed, or both, due to their political views.
Some separatists deny this. Frederic Serret, 67, a retired advertising executive, is among them. "I've never experienced anything of the sort directly. On the other hand, it's possible that in conversation one person might express their thoughts, while another person expresses theirs, and there comes a point of marked estrangement," he says.
"But, for someone to receive an insult as they are laying out their position at the start of a conversation is, I think, either because they have faulty hearing or they have such thin skin that maybe they're hearing what they want to hear," Serret says.
Other separatists, like University of Barcelona student Robert Michelena, admit that political intolerance is common among their pro-independence friends.
"My best friends from Girona (the second city of Catalonia) can't discuss the [independence] topic with someone who doesn't think like them," says Michelena. "They don't respect people who don't share their position. For me this is a grave mistake because, in my opinion, in politics no one is ever right."
Joan Rabasseda lived this intolerance first-hand while volunteering for Sociedad Civil Catalana (SCC), an organisation founded by pro-Spain Catalans to promote unity between Catalonia and the rest of Spain.
"Who do you think you are?"
Two years ago, Rabasseda and a retired female friend were manning an SCC tent on a busy street in central Barcelona while other volunteers broke for lunch. A man walked up to them. "He came straight up to me and said in Spanish: 'Who do you think you are? What do you want?'" said Rabasseda.
In Catalan, Rabasseda said he was as Catalan as the man interrogating him, who then became aggressive.
"The gentleman started shaking the tent," he says. "He got so close to me his nose and mine were almost touching, calling me a 'Catalan son a of a bitch'." Rabasseda is 58 years old and has a slight build. "I stood completely still, just putting up with it."
The pro-Spain Catalans WikiTribune interviewed all cherish their culture and traditions. All of them are proud Catalan-speakers. Even adopted Catalans, like Javier Rodríguez, say they integrated well. Rodríguez, 63, is a native of Asturias, in northwest Spain, but moved to Barcelona 42 years ago to study. His wife was also born in Asturias but their daughter – Nadiesda – was born in Catalonia. The family all speak fluent Catalan. Rodríguez now spends most of his time in Madrid, where his daughter lives, but returns to Barcelona every month.
"When I got to Barcelona," he says, "I participated in demonstrations in favour of Catalan culture." These were the early days after Franco's death, when the central government had begun to relax its stranglehold on the country's regions and ease off some of the anti-Catalan curbs on language and cultural expression.
"Then I worked at a private institution that had 1,100 students. I was the school's headmaster for six years," says Rodríguez. "I promoted bilingual classes at a time when most classes in Catalonia were still taught in Spanish. I spent my life engaging with and spreading Catalan culture."
Now he – like most unionists – resents how separatists have tried to make independence into a cornerstone of Catalan identity. Anyone who isn't, he says, is made to feel less Catalan.
"It's a tremendous disappointment," Rodríguez says. "Disappointment because I helped people, helped a political idea based on reclaiming a culture, and it turns out that your curriculum means nothing if you're not in favour of the movement for independence".
Identity and the drive for independence
The concept of Catalonia as a distinct cultural space has existed for centuries. But the drive for its own nationhood is more recent, and became sharper after freedoms and powers that had been suppressed by Franco flourished once again under democracy.
The question is: Has independence always been a central characteristic of modern Catalan identity? Quite the opposite, according to Joan B. Culla i Clarà, professor of contemporary history at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), and former columnist for Spanish newspaper El País.
"Why, and this is a rhetorical question, why has Catalan nationalism, which has existed for 120 or 130 years, until seven years ago never been pro-independence?" Culla asks. "I insist: Catalan nationalism was practically the only form of European nationalism that didn't espouse, not even in a significant way, the objective of having a state."
Instead, Culla traces the roots of separatism to June 28, 2010. That day, Spain's Constitutional Court overruled an already watered-down autonomy statute that would have given Catalonia greater control, mainly over justice and finance regulations, as this report from Politico Europe described.
Culla believes this decision knitted together a Catalan grassroots movement that unfurled its separatist flags for the first time at a massive demonstration in Barcelona on July 10, 2010.
"It was an extraordinary historic novelty. I have witnessed important demonstrations in Catalonia since 1977," says Culla. "It was during the one on July 10, 2010, where I saw for the first time an enormous number of pro-independence flags, signs, and slogans. Until then, separatism was a marginal affair."
"What drives this pro-independence mobilisation in Catalonia is outrage"
Culla believes that separatism was fuelled by the 2008 global economic crisis, which hit Spain particularly hard. He says separatist instincts were compounded by a "catalogue of insults and slights" levelled at pro-independence Catalans over the years by the Spanish media and central government.
"What drives this pro-independence mobilisation in Catalonia is outrage," says Culla.
Some unionist, or pro-Spain, Catalans now feel that their voices are finally being heard. By forcing independence, separatist parties have spurred the Spanish government into action. Pro-Spain Catalans no longer feel isolated and alone.
"I think of what's happening now like a pus-filled boil that has burst. It had to burst. Because how things were before, I couldn't breathe," says María Juher Layret. "It was truly unbearable".
Juher, 52, says she had reluctantly made plans to leave Catalonia before the crisis hit. "But it'd be hard leaving Catalonia. It's my homeland. I love it. It's my roots. It's everything I have here." In the middle of the political crisis over independence she is now less afraid. "The Spanish state has realised what's happening and what Catalans free of nationalism are going through and for the first time, they are backing us. We didn't use to exist."
In Barcelona, subtle signs of a unionist awakening hang off walls and windows. The Estelada – the gold-and-red striped flag with a white star set against a blue triangle – has long been a symbol of Catalan separatism. It drapes balconies and buildings all over Catalonia's capital.
But now there are Spanish flags too. "You didn't see these before," says Xavi Bosch, pointing at two hanging off a balcony in Barcelona's Raval neighbourhood. "They started appearing half a year ago. Especially in the last two months."


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About J's Everyday Fashion
Imagine a fashion magazine full of women just like us – moms, college students, professionals, in all shapes and sizes, on a budget and dressing for the challenges of everyday life. There would be no models, no Photoshop, no fancy backdrops, just real women talking real fashion. I want that magazine to be a reality someday. For now, I bring you J's Everyday Fashion. Not a personal style blog, but the study of one girl's closet.
How far can you make a small (couple hundred dollars a month) budget stretch? Do the trends and outfits we see in magazines really hold up in real life? I share it all with you here – the failed attempts, the experiments, the successes, what I wear to events in my own life, but also what I might wear if I were in your shoes (working in an office, being a mom, etc.).
This website is all about empowering women – to give them fashion without the frills, that hopefully you can use and apply to your life in a very practical way. And someday… I'll bring you that magazine, too :-)
About J
In so many ways, I am an unlikely candidate to be the author of this website. I'm more Type A than creative, and I'm a tomboy who will always love watersports more than fashion. I used to see this as a weakness, but now I realize this is my strength. I can talk about fashion with all kinds of brains - athletes, engineers, accountants, etc. - and I love sharing the logic behind fashion and teaching others to fish, aka answer the unavoidable question of "what do I wear"? each morning.
Despite being a tomboy, I've always loved fashion magazines and in college I started experimenting with my personal style. I didn't have any real-life fashion role models growing up, and so magazines were it for me. I always felt that I was not creative enough, or pretty enough, or had enough money, to pull off what I was seeing though (which is what I want to change about fashion journalism).
Fast forward to May 2010. I had graduated from KU with degrees in Journalism and Communication Studies, and worked in corporate marketing for about 5 years in Boston and Orlando. I had more than my fair share of style disasters in those years, but I also studied the art of fashion and was enthralled with figuring out how to bridge the gap between what I was seeing in magazines, and real life. A friend at work encouraged me to start posting my outfits on Facebook. I came up with a name, took photos, posted them, and expected nothing. I remember thinking "there is a reason 'everyday' fashion doesn't exist in the media –no one will like this." But I was wrong! Within weeks, I was receiving notes and emails from women who were encouraged by my story. Something clicked, and I could feel that this is where I belonged.
Always a journalist at heart (I used to make fake magazines with paper and bind them together with string when I was 8), but also as someone who was just a girl, navigating personal style like everyone else, and wanting to encourage women everywhere that they were not alone in their personal style journey, and that fashion is not just for the rich and famous.
The economy being not-so-great, I lost my job in corporate marketing in fall 2010. It has been bumpy at times, but I feel beyond blessed to be experiencing great success with J's Everyday Fashion as my full-time job now (more here and here). There's nothing I am more passionate about than making women feel good about themselves.
I hope this website inspires you to try something new. I hope you feel welcome to enjoy fashion no matter who you are or where you are from, and embrace your "mistakes" right along side me. I hope you receive practical advice that you can put into action. And I hope at the end of the day, you feel great about yourself – because when you look great, you feel great too.
Thank you for joining me on this journey! Let's get started!
J's Fashion Commandments:
1. Style and creativity can be learned.
Exercise it like you would any other muscle!
2. You don't need tons of money to be stylish.
3. You don't need tons of time to be stylish.
If you hate what you are wearing, it distracts you from enjoying the good stuff in life (your family, your job, etc.), so you certainly should spend some time thinking about it. But sometimes all you need is to spend a little more time up front (whether that be in your closet or at the mall), and that will save you hours of angst later! Hopefully my shortcuts will help you be more efficient.
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" - Matthew 6:25
4. Following outfit recipes is a great time-saver and creativity exerciser, it's not "copying".
This is why I use inspiration photos, and also because I want to share the entire organic process I use for getting dressed. More here.
5. There are two halves to being more stylish: your shopping strategy and your styling skills.
My blog aims to help you with both.
6. At the end of the day, it's all about finding your own personal style.
Dressing like someone else is not a great idea, but trying a look you saw on someone else can actually help you define your own style better. So feel free to try out the looks I post.
7. It's not about how much new stuff you can cram into one closet.
It's about how many ways can you wear the same item over and over again.
8. Fashion mistakes are half the fun.
Don't be afraid to make them! Finding your personal style takes plenty of trial and error, so I will always encourage you to try new things along with me. More here.
9. At the end of the day, if you love it, then wear it!
I think we are often too concerned with telling other women what they are wearing is not "right" (exceptions: church and work dress codes, and nudity) or worrying about what others might think. Confidence is everything. If you like it, go for it no matter what anybody says. I know I do. :-)