text:
Beaumont Presbyterian Church
Thank you for checking out Beaumont Presbyterian Church, located in Lexington, Kentucky! We are passionate about serving God in our community, welcoming new people, and caring for our members. If you've been looking for a church family—a church where everyone knows your name—Beaumont might be the place for you!
We meet each Sunday for worship at 11:00 A.M.
Sunday School for all ages is at 10 AM
Nursery and Children's Worship available every Sunday
1070 Lane Allen Rd
Lexington, KY 40504
(859) 278-5062
Beaumont Presbyterian Church is a church family where diversity is celebrated and all are welcomed. Beaumont is attuned to the needs of congregational life as well as the local and worldwide community. Mission is expressed both within and beyond the walls of the church as we endeavor to worship and serve our Lord Jesus Christ.
"If you have questions, then this is a great place to come, because we're not afraid of questions!" Erica is one of our adult Sunday School teachers. Listen to her story about what brought her to Beaumont.
Two of our Beaumont kids tell us why they love Beaumont. They have a unique perspective, having attended both Beaumont Presbyterian Church and the Beaumont Learning Center (BLC), our preschool.
Watch and listen to a short excerpt from the Beaumont Faith Ringers, one of our talented musical groups!
One of the great things about Beaumont is that we are an intergenerational church. If you are a family with small children, joining Beaumont is like getting built-in aunts, uncles, grandmas and grandpas for your kids to grow up with! Adults of all ages are welcomed with open arms into the life of our congregation. Recognizing that each one of us is a beloved child of God, when you come to Beaumont you will be treasured for your unique gifts and invited to participate in the ministries and missions of our congregation.
There are so many ways you can get involved at Beaumont! Many of our members are engaged in two or more of their favorite service or spiritual growth ministries. Here are just a few of the activities you can get involved in at Beaumont:
- Adult Sunday School Class
- Men's Bible Study
- Women's Bible Study
- The Croft Community Garden
- Adult Chancel Choir
- Faith Ringers Bell Choir
- Prayer Group
- Home Bound Ministry
- Meal Team Ministry
- HOPE Center
- God's Pantry
- Glean Kentucky
- Volunteering with Youth and Children
Youth and children's' activities are a key part of our church! At Beaumont, we have a youth leader, a regular nursery attendant, and "safe church" policy that includes background screenings and regular safety trainings for all of our volunteers. We are dedicated to creating a safe, fun, faith-filled learning environment for all children from newborn infants through high school youth!
Here are some ways your child or teen can get involved:
- Youth Sunday School
- Youth Group
- Children's Sunday School
- Godly Play during worship (ages 4 to 2nd grade)
- Nursery (ages 0 to 4 years)
- Children's Choir
- Monthly Children's Event
- Youth Group mission trips
- Beaumont Learning Center (preschool)
Rev. Stephen M. Fearing – Pastor and Head of Staff
Stephen began serving as pastor of Beaumont Presbyterian Church in June 2018. Most recently, he had served as pastor and head of staff of Shelter Island Presbyterian Church in Long Island, NY. Raised in Northwest Georgia, Stephen is a life-long Presbyterian and graduated from Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC in 2010. He then attended Columbia Theological Seminary and graduated with his Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in Practical Theology in 2014. Stephen lives in Lexington with his wife, Tricia, who is a therapist. They share their house with a 70-pound Goldendoodle named Elsie and a Calico cat named Audrey.
Click here to visit Stephen's personal website where he shares his sermons, liturgy, and original hymns.
You can email Stephen at email@example.com.
Dr. Wayne Gebb – Minister of Music
Dr. Wayne W. Gebb joined the staff at Beaumont as Minister of Music in 2007, after more than 30 years in music ministry at churches in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Kentucky. He was a long-time faculty member at Midway College and has taught classes at the University of Kentucky. Wayne holds degrees in vocal and choral music from Westminster Choir College and Eastern Kentucky University. In 2008, he received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in voice from the University of Kentucky, where he was a student of Stephen King.
His conducting repertoire includes major works by such composers as Bach, Handel, Schutz, Haydn, Mozart, Rheinberger, Holst, and Distler. He has made numerous appearances in recital, specializing in 19th and 20th Century English song. Wayne's operatic appearances include such baritone roles as Count Almaviva in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor. In concert he has performed as soloist for numerous works, including Handel's Messiah, the St. John Passion of Bach and Hodie by Vaughan Williams.
Wayne is married to Billie Anne Gebb, director of Library Services for the Frontier Nursing University. They have three children, big sister Marianne and identical twins Charlie and Joey.
Jeff Shaver – Youth Leader
Before moving to Lexington, Jeff spent four years in Dallas, Texas earning his M. Div from Redeemer Theological Seminary. The following three years he raised money (like a missionary) to help revitalize a church ready to close its doors.
Though new to Beaumont Presbyterian Church, Jeff has been leading youth ministry for over 15 years. Experiencing the changes within youth ministry firsthand, he is passionate about connecting the story of the gospel to a growing "Post-Christian" world.
Upon completing the ordination process in the PC(USA), Jeff hopes to get a "big boy job" and pastor his very own church. However, given the fact that youth ministry is an absolute blast, he's really not in that big of a rush.
Robin Jenkins – Nursery Attendant
Robin Jenkins has been the regular nursery attendant at Beaumont Presbyterian since 2010. We are blessed to have such a faithful, loving person in the nursery with our littlest members and youngest visitors. Robin's consistent presence eases the most anxious infant or toddler! She loves reading books with our children—her talents for singing and playing with children make sense when you find out that she received her B.A. in Theater from the University of Kentucky then worked 10 years in pre-school and private childcare, earned her M.A. in Special Education from Eastern Kentucky University, and taught in the public schools for 10 years. Robin also led story time at Barnes and Nobles for many years! Robin is accompanied by a second volunteer person (the second volunteer position rotates) on Sunday mornings during Sunday School and Worship, as well as for special events such as church meetings and potlucks.
Jennifer Johnston – Administrative Associate
Elsie – Office Greeter
We would love for you to visit Beaumont and discover if we are the right church home for you. If you're looking for a church in the Lexington, KY, area, we'd be honored to have you as our guest this Sunday! You'll find a place with friendly people, a great children's ministry, a beautiful worship service, and a place to nurture your growth in the Christian faith.
If you have any questions or want to know more about anything at Beaumont, just fill out the contact form to the right and we will get back to you as soon as possible!
Sundays at 10 AM
1070 Lane Allen Rd
Lexington, KY 40504


text:
SC: Sir, would you tell me about your early training?
GS: The teacher, Mr. Newell, who himself was a blind man, would give me twelve bars of a piece of music to learn between one lesson and another - I had one lesson a week. I would learn four bars in the time that I was supposed to learn twelve. I'd take it to my teacher and play it and he'd say "You silly fool, it goes this way." And he'd play it, and then I could play it after him. So, my ear was always very acute. And he told my parents, when I was sixteen, "You know, further study of classical music for this young man would be a total waste of time. It is obvious to me that he's gonna become a jazz pianist."Well, of course, believing, as long as I can remember, in the old philosophy of "Why should any man work when he has the health and strength to lie in bed," I took him very seriously, and I started playing tunes of the day.
Now, if we - for the purpose of going all the way around the Horn for this - if we slip now to 1962, when I went back to that same school, the same teacher was still there And I said to him "Mr. Newell, let me ask you a question. Has it come to your attention that I've been playing concertos with some of the major symphony orchestras in the United States, mostly Mozart, and some Bach." He said "Yes, it has." I said "Do you remember the advise you gave my parents when I was sixteen?" He said "Yes, I do." I said "Armed with the knowledge that I have been playing concerti with some of the major symphony orchestras in the United States, if you had that advice to give today, what would it be?" He said "I suspect your main dollar still comes from playing jazz." I said "Yes, it does." He said "My advise would be the same." Very wise, you know... very, very wise.
Jazz, with me... pop tunes of the day started when I started working in a pub, when I was sixteen. I went from there to a semi-professional band, and then I started to get interested in jazz a little bit there. Then I went with an all-blind band, in 1937, and we played Duke Ellington arrangements and Jimmy Lanceford arrangements. And then I really became interested in jazz.
I still maintain today that you can acquire some of the tools necessary to play jazz technique - a good sense of harmony and all that stuff. But I don't think anybody is ever taught to play jazz. I think somebody's natural jazz feeling is honed by study and exposure to other people who are more proficient than they, and therefore I think that the amount of jazz that can be taught is limited. Generally, academia doesn't like this view. But academia still come into the picture in imparting a thorough knowledge of music and pianistic technique as it applies to classical music.
SC: So, you would recommend classical training?
GS: I recommend, if you have a feeling for jazz, that you never close classical music off, because it give you another dimension... because there are some ballads that are written that are never meant to be played in jazz. And if you get a particular ballad where perhaps the sounds of Debussy come into your mind, and you put those sounds to that tune, and then play jazz when you play the blues or some other tune that lends itself more to jazz, I think you are then showing a complete musical diversification. You are showing that you have an education. You don't play jazz with everything, whether it is appropriate or not, anymore than you would put a Chopin trill in a piece of Bach.
SC: Yes, I understand. Sir, in the past couple of decades, there's been a lot of fusion of jazz and Latin, jazz and rock. Do you admire that?
GS: No, not really. What I feel about it is that one listens and takes - either to remain in the mind or to be included - whatever rhythmic aspect that seems appropriate. I feel that for the most part there isn't an awful lot to be learned in terms of harmony from that stuff. I think we owe some rhythmic aspects to rock, unquestionably, but I don't think we owe any thanks to what rock has taught us in terms of harmony.
SC: Do you write very much, yourself?
GS: Basically, I'm a performer and not a composer. I was asked in 1985 to write something for a choir in Minneapolis, for the Dale Wallen singers. And I thought "Well, there's a guy around called William Shakespeare who's a better lyricist than I will ever know how to be." And I took three Shakespeare sonnets and two Shakespeare songs, set them to music, and my bass player and I played a concert with this choir which included the Shakespeare.
SC: How wonderful!
GS: And I did, of course, Lullaby in Birdland, 1952. I've written probably - perhaps three hundred compositions, and I would say that perhaps two hundred and ninety-five have gone from relative obscurity to total oblivion.
SC: I see... In terms of the development of your interpretive technique, what influences do you let in? What direction do you push yourself toward?
GS: Well, classically, I go towards Bach, Mozart, Debussy, Hindemitt, Stravinsky... and there's a great mass of historic period contained therein. I wouldn't take a tune like "I'm Old-fashioned", and play it in the style of Stravinsky. I may have some Mozart in it, or some Bach, or something that will sound - to illustrate the point - old-fashioned.
In the jazz world, Hank Jones has always been my mentor. I heard him first in 1948, when I played a club in New York called The Three Deuces. I was playing intermission piano opposite Ella Fitzgerald, who had Hank Jones on piano, Ray Brown on bass, and a left-handed drummer named Charlie Smith. And when it was Hank's night off, after I knew Ella's show, I would get somebody to take my intermission job, so I could play the show For Ella - just get my feet wet a little more in jazz. I had been paying jazz for a number of years in England. I came over to the states in 1947.
SC: Sir, how would you describe your jazz style? Would you describe it as a classical jazz style?
GS: No. People often ask me "Are you a jazz pianist?" I say "No, I'm a pianist. I happen to play jazz." I have a style that people have grown to call the Shearing Sound. When the quintet came out on 1949, it was a very placid and peaceful sound, coming on the end of a very frantic and frenetic era know as "be-bop". I used the vibraphone to play the melody on the top, the guitar to play the melody an octave below, and I played those two melodies an octave apart and three or four other notes in between, making a full block sound, which, if it was scored for saxophones, would sound like the Glenn Miller sound. And coming at the end of the frenetic be-bop era, the timing seemed to be right. I think that in this world, even outside of music, there are so many times when we just luck-up on something.
SC: Sir, do you still play for yourself, for your own pleasure?
GS: Not very much... not very much. I hear people who practice a number of hours a day. A few weeks ago, I came out from an operation, and normally, you'd go back to the piano and slog for a couple of hours, and put your fingers back into shape. I came here Wednesday and this is the first job I played since I came out of the operation. My bass player said "You been playing?" I said "No." He said "You're very lucky."
Now, I had Dick Hymen, who's this wonderful jazz pianist, on a disc jockey show that I hosted in '85, on WNFW in New York. I said "Dick, don't you feel that there is enough extant literature out there in the classical field, whereby piano students no longer need Hannon and Shurchurney and all the exercise jokers?" So he said "No, I couldn't disagree with you more." He said "I play them every day." And you can tell. I mean, he's Mr. Perfect - he never makes a mistake. He has a flawless technique.
SC: Sir, if you had to choose a highlight of your career, what would it be? Your favorite moment?
GS: I think it would be the idea of knowing that I can appear in Carnegie Hall with Dizzy in 1948... and knowing that I've played for three presidents... knowing I've played command performance for Queen Elizabeth... knowing that I played with a number of symphony orchestras throughout the country. And all this from a little blind kid born on the wrong side of the tracks - in Battersea, in Southwest London - whose parents were very quick to say "Oh, we don't get those kind of jobs, son. They're for the nobs, you know." I mean, they didn't discourage me, but they didn't encourage me. They read very little beyond the headlines of a newspaper. In fact, all this is going to come out in my biography, one day - I'm starting on it. I'm about sixteen, I guess, now, in my biography.
SC: Is there anything in particular you'd still like to do?
GS: I maintain that if some of the composers - like Bach, and, to some degree, Mozart - were they alive today, would be fine jazz musicians. I say that about Bach, in particular, because, if we look at his background, and his biography... he had two wives, twenty kids... he was kicked out of churches for being too harmonically radical... he was not only a devout Lutheran, but he was also a beer-drinking German. If they're not the characteristics of a jazz musician, you tell me... I'd like to take some of that stuff, and write some stuff of my own... put it with a rhythm section - and I don't mean a big, hulking, clumsy drum set, I mean little finger cymbals, little hand drums... and bass, and guitar, and piano... a little chamber group... a small contingent of woodwinds... add a small contingent of strings.
SC: How very interesting, yes. I'm sure it'll be very well received.
GS: I don't know if I'm ever going to get to it, but that is one of the things I really want to do.
SC: Sir, do you have any advice for young musicians, either in terms of developing their talent, or in terms of developing their career? Not always the same thing...
GS: The guitar player who played with Count Basie was named Freddie Green. He's passed on, now. And somebody once said to him "Freddie, do you have any advice for a guitar player playing with a big band?" And Freddie said "Yes. Put your tuxedo in the case last."
Seriously, I think the music business has reached such a stage of deterioration in most parts, particularly in jazz and popular music. There was a time when, if you could play and you had a bio, and you had a picture, you could get started. Somebody would give you a recording, and you made your way gradually.
Today, you've got to have a video for an audition. And, you know... "Who have you been? Who have you been recording with? We can't take anybody who doesn't have a name." And you've got to really put out a lot of effort. When I first came into the business, you would get a modest contract; you'd go into a studio. The recording company would pay all the expenses - for people working with you, and the studio, and the promotion. Now, you wouldn't collect royalties until those expenses had been reimbursed through sales. Now, people I work with are still doing that, but if someone wants to get started today, they almost have to take a finished product into recording company, and have it ready for them to merchandise.
So, if you're going into the business today expecting to make a fast buck, I think you better look for something else to do. I think that if you are content to live on hamburgers and beans, and money is your last worry in the world, and you don't mind long hours, being away from your family, suffering the indignity of playing with people talking, and you're purely background music... I think the privilege of music has been very seriously abused in this country. I think that if you are prepared for all that, and that kind of life, being away from your family and everything, and the only thing that really matters to you is music, then, by all means, go into it. If you're not, seek some other means of livelihood, and treat music as a hobby.
Dedication from the day you go into it until the day you die - including interviews, being on exemplary behavior in terms of public relations... I think these are the things that really matter, Steve.
SC: You just mentioned that the industry is deteriorating. What about musically?
GS: I think those of us who really believe in it will not permit it to deteriorate. But there are no Cole Porter's around today... no Jerome Kern's...
|Take me back to the Interviews page, s'il-vous-plait!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Sydney presented me with a gift she had made me. She had been working secretly on this back since about Christmas I think. Whenever we were at the cabin, she would hide away in her craft area. She ended up producing this running history deal where she took all my races with results and photos and combined them in chronological order. Sort of weird to see the thousands of hours of work boiled down to this book. But you can see a transformation through them. Plus, there are tons of memories to go with each.
We have it at Leadville for now as a coffee table book. So maybe at a running party over the summer, some folks will get to check it out be be jealous of how cool my daughter is to build something for me like this. Nobody had done anything like that for me before. So I was appreciative. Plus, its cool that somehow all my silly time spent doing this stuff means something to her.


text:
Sacred Self Gold Zodiac Necklace
Write a review
| Ask a question
Sold Out
Your spirit is sacred; your divine self is worthy of honor and praise. This 18k gold plate pendant necklace features the 12 signs of the zodiac that connect us through our shared traits, yet celebrate our uniqueness. A gleaming white topaz stone is the centerpiece of the pendant, symbolizing individuality, creativity and awareness.
- Zodiac
- White Topaz: individuality, creativity, awareness
- 32" Length
- 18KT Gold Plated Brass


text:
The largest model 4 bedroom home in the Meadows. Your new home is truly move in ready. This corner lot home with fenced yard and over sized property is centrally located to all shopping, restaurants and easy access to 95. Your new home boasts a complete update of the kitchen and all 3 bathrooms. Words don't describe the elegance of this home that features a 2 story entrance, Bamboo flooring, new appliances, exotic granite throughout home, built in master closet and more. The meadows has many amenities like Tennis, A pool and even a park with a lake This is a rare 4 bedroom 3 bathroom CBS move in ready home priced to be FHA eligible!!!
Cable, 3-Phase Electric, Public Sewer, Public Water
|Status Changed from New to Backup
All listings featuring the BMLS logo are provided by Beaches MLS Inc. Copyright 2020 Beaches MLS. This information is not verified for authenticity or accuracy and is not guaranteed.
© 2020 Beaches Multiple Listing Service, Inc. All rights reserved.
Listing information last updated on January 17th, 2020 at 11:30pm EST.


text:
Sep 23, 2015
Ward Village® Showcases Kid-Friendly Films with Keiki Courtyard Cinema
Caryn Kboudi, The Howard Hughes Corporation, firstname.lastname@example.com, (214) 741-7744
New Family-Focused Edition of Outdoor Movie Series to Commence Oct. 7
HONOLULU (Sept. 24, 2015) – Ward Village®, a neighborhood being development by The Howard Hughes Corporation® (NYSE: HHC), today introduced Keiki Courtyard Cinema, a special family-focused edition of the popular monthly event, Courtyard Cinema. Starting this October, Keiki Courtyard Cinema will screen kid-friendly films in partnership with the Honolulu International Film Festival. The outdoor event will pair family favorites with free educational activities by the Hawaii Children's Discovery Center, complimentary seating, and local food vendors.
"As Ward Village transitions from a shopping district into a thriving neighborhood, we are thrilled to offer events for families throughout the year, including our new Keiki Courtyard Cinema event," said Race Randle, Vice President of Development at Ward Village. "This event is part of our larger effort to further serve families in Ward Village, from bringing a neighborhood grocery store and drug store to the community to creating public venues for community events."
Keiki Courtyard Cinema will debut with "My Neighbor Totoro" on Oct. 7 and will feature free craft activities by the Children's Discovery Center in the theme of the Japanese film, including uchiwa (hand fans) and koinobori (carp streamers). Food vendors include Kimukatsu, Smokin Wings & Things and the Ward Village Shave Ice Cart.
"The Hawaii Children's Discovery Center is pleased to partner with Ward Village on this event, which will allow us to educate and engage keiki through the magical world of film," said Loretta Yajima, Chair of the Board of the Hawaii Children's Discovery Center. "We hope that families with children of all ages will join us each month for free, hands-on educational activities inspired by the movie's theme."
The Ward Village Keiki Courtyard Cinema is free and open to the public. Held at the Ward Village Information Center Courtyard at 1240 Ala Moana Boulevard (former IBM Building), doors open at 6 p.m. with the film begins at sunset. Tickets to this event are required and will be available at www.wardvillageshops.com/keikicinema by the morning following each screening at 8 a.m. HST.
The event joins a roster of recurring neighborhood events offered free at Ward Village, which also includes Courtyard Cinema, monthly foodie fare at Courtyard Brunch, live Hawaiian entertainment at Kona Nui Nights, the weekly Kaka'ako Farmers' Market, the Ward Village Yoga Series and more.
The following films will be screened at Keiki Courtyard Cinema:
- Oct. 7 - "My Neighbor Totoro": This classic Japanese children's anime film tells the story of two young sisters who move to a new home in rural Japan and discover Totoro, a mysterious forest spirit who can only be seen by children. The film, written and directed by famous animator Hayao Miyazaki, captures the imaginative beauty and simplicity of childhood and has won several awards, including the Mainichi Film Award for Best Film in 1988. The film will be shown in English, dubbed by celebrity siblings Dakota and Ellie Fanning.
Nov. 18 - "Paper Planes": This Australian children's film captures an 11-year old's passion for flight and his journey to compete in the World Paper Plane Championships in Japan. "Paper Planes," directed by Robert Connolly, follows an inspiring storyline that highlights the power of family, perseverance, and the imagination. Dec. 18 - "Frozen Sing-Along Edition": This Disney® fan favorite follows Princess Anna's epic journey to save her sister, Queen Elsa, and her kingdom from an eternal winter. Released in 2013, this animated feature is one of the highest-grossing Disney animations ever released. The film also features a top-selling soundtrack with the smash-hit song "Let it Go," by Idina Menzel.
About Ward Village®
Developed by The Howard Hughes Corporation, Ward Village is a new 60-acre coastal master planned community in the heart of Honolulu located between downtown and Waikīkī in the Kakaʻako district. Ward Village includes two mixed-use residential towers – Waiea and Anaha – that are now under construction and will transform the popular shopping and dining district into a vibrant neighborhood that offers exceptional residences with incredible island and ocean views and a carefully curated mix of retail experiences set among dynamic public open spaces and walkable streets.
This growing community will include three additional developments: Ae'o at 1001 Queen Street, Gateway Towers and Ke Kilohana at 988 Halekauwila Street. Aeʻo at 1001 Queen Street is a 466-unit mixed-use condominium tower anchored by a flagship Whole Foods Market. The extraordinary first building of Gateway Towers on Ala Moana Boulevard will bring the architecture of world-renowned architect Richard Meier to the Honolulu skyline. Ke Kilohana will bring housing targeted for local residents and a 23,000 square foot Long's Drugs to the neighborhood.
The vision for Ward Village is consistent with the master plan approved by the HCDA in 2009, which allows for up to 9.3 million square feet of mixed-use development and will include over 4,000 residences and over 1 million square feet of retail space.
Ward Village is Hawaiʻi's only LEED-ND Platinum-Certified project and the largest neighborhood development in the country to receive such a prestigious certification. The Information Center and Residential Sales Gallery is located at the iconic IBM Building. For more information, visit www.wardvillage.com.
About The Howard Hughes Corporation®
The Howard Hughes Corporation owns, manages and develops commercial, residential and mixed-use real estate throughout the U.S. Our properties include master planned communities, operating properties, development opportunities and other unique assets spanning 16 states from New York to Hawai'i. The Howard Hughes Corporation is traded on the New York Stock Exchange as HHC with major offices in New York, Columbia, MD, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas and Honolulu. For additional information about HHC, visit www.howardhughes.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
Statements made in this press release that are not historical facts, including statements accompanied by words such as "will," "believe," "expect," "enables," "realize", "plan," "intend," "assume," "transform" and other words of similar expression, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's expectations, estimates, assumptions, and projections as of the date of this release and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are set forth as risk factors in The Howard Hughes Corporation's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Quarterly and Annual Reports. The Howard Hughes Corporation cautions you not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this release. The Howard Hughes Corporation does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events, information or circumstances that arise after the date of this release.
Read the PDF version of this press release:
http://assets.wardvillage.com/PDFs/2015_09.24_Howard Hughes Keiki Courtyard Cinema News Release Final.pdf
share this article
drop by for a visitWard Village Courtyard
1240 Ala Moana Blvd
more stories to discover
Coming Soon: HIFF Readies the Red Carpet
Nov 02, 2017
HIFF's hotly anticipated 10-day festival is back.


text:
Less than a fortnight after it was rescued from administration, Genesis Crafty are recruiting 40 new staff.
The Magherafelt-based firm, which employed 260 staff, was purchased for an undisclosed sum by Tayto boss Paul Allen.
The family run bakery group got into financial difficulties during the past year and the administrators were called in last month.
Established 50 years ago, Genesis Crafty produces a range of bread and cakes for many of the UK's largest retailers including Marks & Spencer.
At the time of the takeover, Mr Allen said the McErlain family had built a great business, with excellent products which have national markets.
"I'm hoping that in my non-executive role with the company, I will be able to use my experience in the industry to help guide the growth of both the Genesis Crafty brand and the overall business," he said.
The company's human resources manager Grace Cahoon said it was "great to be looking for new staff to join us in this latest phase of the company's development."
She continued: "We have a wide range of posts from full-time permanent , to part-time temporary posts which might suit students or those just looking for some extra money in the run up to Christmas."
There are 40 full and part time positions, some of which are available for immediate start. Details can be found on the Genesis Crafty website or by contacting email@example.com


text:
He's one of them, a Sleeper. You can see it in his eyes, with that phosphorescent shine you only get from instant caffeine withdrawal and a whole bottle of Clear Eyes, coating them with a glossy glow. Big glassy red balls. The freaker, he probably gets up at 3am, resurrecting from the dead, pops some pills to keep awake but I bet he looses it, standing in the shower, falling back into dream. I bet he's got hops in his blood, trying to kill the bacteria that's been eating up all the sweetness in life. Sleepers, Dreamers, they're always awake.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
100 Word Challenge: Resurrect
Labels: 100 word challenge, Resurrect
4 comments:
- Angel said...
I wish I could get some sleep. I know how the guy in the story feels as far as wanting to fall asleep in the show goes.
- November 8, 2008 at 5:26 PM
- Captain Dumbass said...
I got the sleeping part down, it's those little people who wake me up so damn early.
- November 9, 2008 at 9:41 PM
- VV said...
Sleep has been far too elusive to me lately. I hope she returns soon cause I miss her.
- November 12, 2008 at 8:58 PM
- IdaR said...
"to sleep, perchance to dream...."
alas, it seems so elusive.
Nice piece, by the way.
- November 17, 2008 at 7:59 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
In this Wednesday, Oct. 17 2012 photo, a detail of a coat hanger is photographed at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York. Dozens of items were returned recently as part of the hotel's "Amnesty" program _ no questions asked, unless people volunteer some fascinating stories. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Your feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us their views and comments about this article.
Disclaimer: Comments submitted by third parties on this site are the sole responsibility of the individual(s) whose content is submitted. The Daily Star accepts no responsibility for the content of comment(s), including, without limitation, any error, omission or inaccuracy therein. Please note that your email address will NOT appear on the site.
Alert: If you are facing problems with posting comments, please note that you must verify your email with Disqus prior to posting a comment. follow this link to make sure your account meets the requirements. (http://bit.ly/vDisqus)


text:
We can either take advantage of the Clean Power Plan to bolster our job-creating clean energy economy while reducing climate disruption. Or we can allow dirty fuel industries and their friends in Harrisburg to keeps us stuck in the past with outdated energy technologies polluting our air, water, and climate.
The momentum for clean air and clean energy is growing -- in November, hundreds rallied in Pittsburgh to support the Clean Power Plan, and just last week nearly 100 people went to EPA headquarters in Philadelphia calling for stronger protections against upwind coal plant pollution -- let's keep the momentum going!
Environmental and clean energy groups and activists, and Pennsylvanians from throughout the Commonwealth are organizing a Climate Day of Action in Harrisburg on 6/14 that we expect to be one of the largest ever to focus on the need for climate action and the transition to clean energy, and you can help make it a success.
Please RSVP here for the Climate Day of Action and we'll follow-up to help plan your attendance.
501 N 3rd St
Harrisburg, PA 17120
United States
Google map and directions


text:
Here is a recipe my kids LOVE!
I got tired of fending off the barrage of candy in the store, including health food stores! My little's would always notice the colorful gummy candies…so alas, I made some and they are in gummy heaven. I am smiling as well, because with every bite of gummy, they are getting the powerful herbal healing of the plants I made them with. I like this recipe but there are so many to create, the herbal combinations and possibilities are endless. Another benefit is the rich source of collagen in the high quality gelatin. Healing to the tissues of the body and a potent cell food. Try one for healing GI complaints, soothing a sore throat, mineral/vitamin rich supplement and more!
Here is my High C, Immune boost gummy
Rose Hip and Elderberry (Or any)
In small pot combine;
1 cup (total) 3/4 c herbal syrup diluted with 1/4 c water. OR 1 cup herbal decoction and 1/4 c honey or maple syrup simmered to reach 1 cup total volume.
Add 4T grass fed gelatin, stir rapidly to dissolve gelatin.
Increase heat to low boil for 1 min. stirring constantly.
Cool slightly, while greasing pyrex or other pan with coconut oil.
Pour 1in deep in pan to set. put in fridge or cool area for 40 min. Store in fridge for up to two weeks.
Cut with serrated knife for worm effect, or any other shape that suites your fancy! Enjoy!


text:
Jeju Island is located in South Korea. Besides offering beautiful scenery, this island also has natural wealth that is useful for skin care.
"Jeju Island is an island with many benefits There are clean water, soil that rich in volcanic mineral," Innisfree General Manager of Indonesia Injae Mark Hwang said during Innisfree pre-launch celebration at Jakarta, Indonesia in last February.
Green tea, volcanic mineral and orchids found at Jeju Island are ideal for skin care. Jihan Rizkia, Innisfree Public Relation Assistant Manager explained that Jeju Island is the third largest green tea producers in the world. The quality of green tea inspired
Innisfree to use it as ingredient for its skin care product. The product is serum made from green tea seed that used green tea to moisten facial skin.
Then, Innisfree also offered Super Volcanic Pore Clay Mask that was made fromv olcanic scoria from Jeju Island. This product has benefit to reduce facial skin poresand normalizes oil production in skin. There is also Orchid Enriched Cream to fight aging. The cream also used orchids from Jeju as its basic ingredient. Its function tog ive nutrition, reduces wrinkles and smoothen the skin color.


text:
Organizations of all sizes around the world choose Apptix for their hosted communication, collaboration, and infrastructure needs. Apptix delivers Reliable, Easy-to-Manage services backed by 24/7 Customer Service – for Reduced TCO and Unbeatable Value.
Apptix Email Archiving protects the value of your business information.
What are you using email for? Do you send proposals, quotes, and contracts? Conduct negotiations? Share customer or patient information? All the valuable data in your Inbox and your Sent folder could be lost if you aren't using an Email Archiving solution. Whether you are archiving to understand business trends, prove compliance, or defend against a lawsuit, saving your email is a business best practice for every industry.
Apptix Email Archiving solution features blazing fast search capabilities to help you find whatever you're looking for. This reduces the burden on your IT department in case of litigation, audit, or compliance investigations. Between the efficient searching and streamlined legal hold features, eDiscovery and other regulatory activities are easier and less disruptive to your operations.
Using our cloud-based Email Archiving solution removes the data from your physical premises, so that it is protected in the event that your building suffers a natural or man-made disaster. Apptix archives reside in geographically redundant, SSAE 16 certified datacenters, with the highest level of physical and network security. And once an email is in the archive, it cannot be changed or removed by the end user – a security feature that is not available from other archiving providers.
Safeguard the email messages you really need without filling your inbox to its limits.
It makes sense to choose Apptix for affordable email archiving that will keep your business information and valuable data in your inbox protected.
Deploying Apptix Email Archiving to all your end users is the best way to achieve and manage archiving compliance. Apptix Email Archiving provides a secure, scalable, and searchable repository that helps to fulfill regulatory needs, including HIPAA, PCI, FRCP, and SOX requirements. For eDiscovery, it offers granular permissions, simplifies the review process, and dramatically reduces the amount of responsive data that needs to be sent to outside counsel. By enabling email archiving compliance, Discovery and Compliance Archiving helps to protect your important business assets.
What can you do with Email Archiving?
Thank you for choosing our cloud solution. In this video you'll discover how easy it is to set up and search your archive, navigate through the system to complete specific tasks, recover messages and much, much more. Learn how to:
Please contact a sales consultant to determine the right solutions for your business.
© 2020 Apptix, Inc.
Apptix Legal Terms & Conditions


text:
Lethal RPG Destiny - Rebirth
Among the gaming community, Lethal RPG Destiny - Rebirth has the reputation of being one´s of the best browser games in the field of role-playing games. Typical characteristics of a lot of RPGs and action will make for a lot of fun. Are you man enough to face the powers of Lethal RPG Destiny - Rebirth and enter the dark world of this game? We will be watching you! Thanks to a well-designed game introduction in a friendly graphic style of the 90s, you will receive a comprehensive introduction to the game features as well as lots of tips during the game as a newcomer. As such, the chances that you will be a winner in the struggle for survival on the battlefield are high. The complete control of the game is taken care of via your mouse and is rather easy thanks to the embedded RPG game mode. Lethal RPG Destiny - Rebirth does not use any unnecessary adjustments. Given the comprehensive tutorial for beginners and some options that enable you to adjust the design of your character, the game is completely self-explanatory with just a few clicks. In terms of graphics, even the last critic on the planet will be won over by this browser game. Somewhat exaggerated, yet always animated looking, you will be captivated by this game. If you are starting to cut it close in terms of time and cannot continue playing, you can use one of three memory slots to save your already begun game. You can therefore continue your game at any time and throw yourself into the battle again. After you have left all of the formalities behind you, you land on an island full of maps, each displaying the required level. Once you have landed on the island, you will be faced with your very first opponent. With your oversized sword, you can teach this ugly visage some manners. So you always remain in control, your life energy and your strength will be displayed during the battle mode. Good luck on your ways, soldier!


text:
We know that you want to provide the best online gaming experience to your customers and at the same time have an eye on the costs. You would also like to have the flexibility to provide everything at one go, or elevate your offerings in a scaled manner based on demand or other business criteria.
Salus brings you solutions that are perfect for your needs because you can mix and match the various offerings to build yourself a product that is perfectly in line with your need
Stand Alone Solution
When you want to be on your own, or have extreme customization needs, then this is the best product option for you. Salus will provide you with a customized product with your own custom design, business logic, own payment gateways, all hosted on your own private servers. Naturally, this is the most expensive option and also takes relatively longer to implement depending on your customization needs.
Network Hosted Solution
If you are just starting out and have a good player base but not enough capital to acquire a stand along solution, you can always opt for our hosted solution. In this option, you will get the same software but it will be a branded product without any customization. Of course it will be fully branded and labeled with your logo etc. so that it won't look any different to your members compared to the Stand Alone Solution.
In this solution, there are no software fees to be paid. Also, the whole solution is hosted on our servers and also we take care of the back end technical administration and server maintenance. You pay a license fee which is on a monthly basis and it in the form of a percentage of your revenue from your gaming.
Therefore you are able to invest all your time and money in getting players and offering them personalized service while we take care of the hassles of system management, updates and upgrades, backups and security.
Integrated Casino Solution
You can also add side games to your stand along poker site by offering Vegas style casino games such as BlackJack, Roulette, Video Poker, Slots and many other exciting casino games. There are a whole host of games on offer and new ones are being added each month so you will always have something new to offer your customers.
Stand Alone Vegas Casino
If you want only the Vegas Casino, this is also available as a stand-alone model and can be attached to your existing web site. This is not a hosted solution at this time and therefore will only be available as a standalone license.
Important Distinction
We would like to draw your attention to an important difference in our network software.
Your players are only playing amongst themselves. You have no fear of liquidity seepage to other sites' players. You retain full liquidity and this works to your advantage particularly if you have a committed player base.


text:
Playing the Politics and Press Game: Cdn Election Newspaper Endorsements Update
Okay, I've scoured the webpages of all of the major daily newspapers in Canada again this morning to see who has endorsed who.
Remember, the key elements in this little exercise that I embarked on in a post last night are five political parties, nine press groups with 61 daily newspapers under their belts and about 95 percent of the market as their own. The basic question: how well does 'editorial opinion' match up with 'popular opinion'.
As of yesterday, recall, there were just four endorsements in. One from the Globe & Mail and three from different papers belonging to Post Media — the reincarnated group that now owns the newspapers that used to belong to the defunct and bankrupt Canwest previously owned by the Asper family. All four of those editorials backed their man Harper for PM.
And today? The number of endorsements has risen considerably to twelve when counting the editorial endorsements for PM; 15 if we count three that urge citizens to "Just Vote", but which I think are probably just place-holders until these papers editors' show their hand.
Here's an updated simplified table showing the nine major newspaper ownership groups and where they've cast their favour.
|Parent Group & Titles
|Mrkt. Share
($ 2009)
|Dailies / Group
|Just Vote
|Post Media
|Sun Media
|Toronto Star
|Globe & Mail
|Power Corp/ Gesca
|Transcontl. Media
|Halifax Herald
|Brunswick News
|9 Groups Total Tally
|61 Titles
|94.2% Market Share
A couple of things stand out. First, the stable of Post Media papers from the Calgary Herald to the The Montreal Gazette appear to be taking their orders from "on high". All are lining up solidly behind the Conservatives/Harper.
Just like the Aspers before them, the bully-pulpit of the editorial page for the new owners is dedicated to backing Conservatives. If (when?) the Windsor Star in my home town falls into line, you'll get a feel for how impervious 'editorial opinion' is to the opinions of the people on the street.
Second, if we just count the 12 endorsements in so far from four different newspaper ownership groups, 11 are for the Conservatives. That is, 92 percent of editorial opinion favours one man for PM: Harper. If Canada were a 'banana republic', this would look suspiciously like acclamation for the despot holding office, you know, in one of those faux elections.
Remember, here was the breakdown for the federal elections in 2008: CPC 37.6%; Liberals 26.2%; NDP 18.2%; Bloc 10%; Green 6.8%. As of yesterday, pollster Ekos had public opinion is lining up this way : CPC 34.5; NDP 29.7; Liberals 20%; Green 6.9%; Bloc 6.3%.
Do you see the problem?
The Peladeau Sun Media Empire has yet to run things through its slate of eighteen papers, but in one where it did endorse a candidate today, The London Free Press, it backed, ahem: Stephen Harper. We can wait to see the rest fall into line over the next day or two, but I won't be holding my breath for much different results.
Besides, why rush to plunk down your editorial chips when you can just smear surging candidates? I won't shil for QMI in any way shape or form, so you can go look for yourself what that means.
If you're looking for the detailed breakdown, paper-by-paper of where things now stand, you can look at my super-duper updated Editorial endorsements list.
Politics and the Press: Counting Endorsements by Cdn. Press Group, 2011 Election
Well, you know what would be a lot of fun? Counting up the number of endorsements each newspaper in Canada gives to each of the Prime Ministerial candidates.
There are roughly 100 daily newspapers in Canada. So far, four newspapers have registered their endorsements for Prime Minister: the Globe and Mail, National Post, Times Colonist and the The Province. All have endorsed Harper.
On the one hand, one could say that there's 96 papers to go. That would be a mistake.
The Globe and Mail and National Post are national papers and agenda setters. Besides, the last three on the above list all belong to one group of newspapers: PostMedia, the reincarnated Canwest.
Post Media still has ten papers to go across the country. Will they all lean the same way, one city after another?
And how about Quebecor's Sun Media, with its eighteen newspapers scattered in major and minor cities across Canadas, to say nothing of its much vaster holdings across the media? Will they step on the scales in the same way, further proof that rather than a watchdog, Peladeau's Quebecor Media (QMI) is the populist mouthpiece of Harper and Gang?
I think building such a list of all the newspapers in the country might be a lot of fun. We can even work this stuff out together.
Here's a handy list of all the major newspaper ownership groups and all sixty-one of the daily titles held under their respective umbrellas, most with links direct to each title. Pick your newspaper from the list, watch for the endorsement, then send it to me: presto, a national snapshot of whether 'editorial opinion' in the press corresponds at all to 'public opinion' on the streets. No prizes, no gimmicks, just a 'crowd-sourced' creation.
For the time being, I've created a simplified list below. It brings us up to date as of the end of April 29th and identifies the 9 major newspaper ownership groups in Canada that account for 61 daily newspaper titles just mentioned and roughly 95 percent of newspaper industry revenues.
As individual papers within these groups announce their endorsements over the next 24 hours or so, I will tally up the results. Again, it'll really help if some people look at the 'handy list' above and send in a link to your local daily newspaper when it takes a stand. In the meantime, here's how things stand:
|Parent Group & Titles
|Mrkt. Share($ 2009)
|Dailies / Group
|Post Media (former Canwest)
|Sun Media (QMI)
|Toronto Star
|Globe & Mail
|Power Corp/ Gesca
|Halifax Herald
|Brunswick News
|9 Groups Total Tally
|61 Titles
|94.2% Market Share
Harper's standing at a perfect four for four.
My point is not to fetishize numbers and charts but rather to set up a question, and it is this:
If, in a representative democracy, a free press is suppose to reflect a plurality of a society's voices and political forces, shouldn't we hope that the range of editorial opinion in the press comes at least somewhat close to matching up with public opinion?
If so, the fact that Harper is currently standing four for four suggests that we're off to a bad start.
Voting's a pretty good proxy for popular opinion, so let's set out some standards using that measure to help us assess the relationship between 'editorial opinion' and 'popular opinion'. When Canadians went to the polls for federal elections in 2008, they voted as follows: CPC 37.6%; Liberals 26.2%; NDP 18.2%; Bloc 10%; Green 6.8%. National turn out was 58.6%
Now, three days before the 2011 election, the pollster Ekos says that public opinion is lining up this way : CPC 34.5; NDP 29.7; Liberals 20%; Green 6.9%; Bloc 6.3%. Quite significantly different, actually, on close inspection. Advance polls were up by a third over the last election. People are in, even if somewhat begrudgingly.
Harper's Conservatives have stayed remarkably steady since the last election and Ekos polling of the last few days. One third of the voters dig Harper. Four seasoned editorialists of four who have spoken, however, are ready to hand him the reigns of power despite their own acknowledged lengthy and, truth be told, tawdry list of abuses.
Anyway, the point is not to make the case against Harper but rather to suggest that there's room for dispute and it would be nice to see such divisions reflected in the range of editorial sentiment available. So far, it has not.
Moreover, the endorsements that are in are not just any endorsement, but from two of the major national agenda-setting papers — The Globe & Mail and the National Post (Post Media).
Only the Toronto Star, so far, has staked out an "anything but Harper" editorial on the 28th. It will announce its ultimate verdict tomorrow. Liberal, Layton or Coalition?
Now, to be sure, editorial opinion is not the opinion of the press as a whole. Nonetheless, it is one critically important indicator.
It is also an important questions about the free press and journalism in this country to know whether or not editors have to tow their respective owners' line. Will each pen something 'unique' for the city they serve or broadly endorse the same candidate for PM right across the chain of a dozen (PostMedia) to a dozen-and-a-half newspapers (QMI) in one city after another across the country?
Of course, there is more diversity across the rank and file journos that fill out the rest of the pages of the press, but it would be nice to know that there's some diversity in the editorial ranks, and a least a slice of clear blue sky between editors and the 9 entities that own the newspapers that they have been appointed to run.
Three Days 'til Canadian Election; Three Traditional Media Things to Ponder
Dateline: April, 28th, 2011. Ottawa.
I'm not usually crazy about jumping in and making judgements about media content, but three things in the context of the role of the press in the Canadian election today screamed out for some kind of observation and comment:
(1) the Globe & Mail's terrible editorial endorsement of Harper for the next acceptable PM;
(2) Conservative poster-boy, Andrew Coyne's conversion to Liberalism in Maclean's magazine.
(3) Sun TV/Quebecor media baron, Karl Pierre Peledeau's, defense of bad journalism at his new SunTV — or the so-called Fox News North — as somehow being proof that the Quebecor Media Group that he presides over is not the mouthpiece of the Harper Government, despite the fact that
(a) Harper's recent spin-doctor, Kory Teneycke is directing the operations of the newly relaunched Sun TV (aka Fox News North) and
(b) former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney sits on its board of directors.
In a 'drive-by smear campaign' on Michael Ignatieff gone bad, Peladeau's Sun Media empire got caught with its fingers in the Harper Admin's pockets this week. It's crime? Publishing photos supplied by someone close to Harper's Conservatives purporting to show Ignatieff at briefing sessions with military minions of the Bush Administration during events leading up to the invasion of Iraq.
Heads have rolled; Peledeau has tried to use this as an excuse to distract attention from the fact that the Quebecor Media Empire is a populist tool of the Harper Conservatives. The problem, however, is that while the photos were false, the story behind is basically true.
Michael Ignatieff was close to the Bush and Blair administrations. However, so caught up in contortions with its obvious political entanglements with the ruling political party, neither Peledau nor anyone else at QMG seems to know that, in its essential features, the story about Michael Ignatieff that the faked photo purports to tell was actually right.
As one of the main architects of the R2P (Right to Protect) Doctrine after the ravages of Rwanda and Bosnia, Ignatieff was an intellectual star at the early days of the 21st century with his new and improved version of 'just war': R2P, or humanitarian intervention. He was listened to in high places.
In a famous essay that he wrote in the New York Times Magazine, in January 2003 — before the U.S. invaded Iraq — Ignatieff endorsed the war not only according to the standards of the ancient 'just war' doctrine, but by a new and improved 'call of duty': humanitarian intervention.
The essay thrust him into the spotlight in 'international circles'. He was a former BBC presenter now kicked into the limelight with big ideas that he could very ably defend from his perch at Harvard.
Ignatieff argued strenuously why the Bush II Admin was right to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq. He called it Humanitarian Intervention, and so did the Bush and Blair administrations.
Turn-coat leftists like Christopher Hitchens espoused the ideas as well. Rwanda and the former Yugoslovia made the ideas seem commendable too. For conservative hard-liners, the velvety words provided excellent cover for an iron fist and dubious motives.
In 1899, Mark Twain, yes the author of Huckleberry Finn fame, told us to be wary of the likes of Ignatieff and the allures of forays into distant lands on the grounds that somehow you'd help poor 'brown' people out, and then leave them shortly thereafter much better off than they had, or would have been.
As Twain said, these are the noble robes of empire and militarism, and the initiatives they justify typically end in tears. They rot the institutions and moral fabric of republican democracy.
From Twain to twits, all of this is public record, and so it should be part of the Canadian national election agenda. In that sense, Sun Media, despite itself, gave us a wee glimpse of something important, then backed away, frightened of what it saw.
So yesterday, Peladeau did all that he could to back his QMI group away from the truth, caught between a Harper Government that has put military muscle behind R2P, on the one hand, and a strategy to besmirch Ignatieff, on the other. Without a moral compass, what's a poor media mogul to do?
There is good reason to be skeptical of Michael Ignatieff, but not for the banal stuff that the vast Quebecor Media Group typically peddles.
Perhaps, then, and when cast in this light, the Globe and Mail's editorial endorsement of Harper as PM today was the right choice? Actually, it is a travesty of observation and reasoning.
Surveying the scene, the editors announced:
"We are nearing the end of an unremarkable and disappointing election campaign, marked by petty scandals, policy convergences and a dearth of serious debate. Canadians deserved better".
Unremarkable? By what standards? Petty scandals? Only when you list them in the banal way the editors did.
A lack of serious debate? Isn't that what the press, and especially national agenda setting media like the Globe & Mail and the QMG are suppose to do? Is this really an indictment of the sad state of Canadian politics, or an admission of failure on the Globe's and the rest of the media's part?
The campaign is remarkable for both the reasons it was called — "a disrespect for Parliament, the abuse of prorogation, the repeated attempts . . .to stanch debate and free expression, as the Globe editors list but fail to elaborate on — and for just how f*%cking exciting it's actually been for anybody who cares to have a look. A Layton-led coalition anyone? I'm not advocating, just saying . . .
Advance polls are up 35 percent; neighbourhood by neighbourhood combat for voters, so some commentators say, is taking place, although the jury is still out on whether this is a 'good' or 'bad' thing; young people who are taking their first 'official' political steps are organizing vote mobs on campuses across the country and partying like it is 1999; local debates like the one my eighteen year old daughter attended tonight that have an airy sense of political community about them; Jack Layton storming Quebec, and perhaps on to taking Manhatten, I mean Moncton?
This is not boring stuff. The editors of the Globe & Mail are off by a mile. Perhaps we can be thankful that editorial opinion is typically so out of touch with 'popular', or public opinion.
While it is a 'power without responsibility', as James Curran states, it is the prerogative of newspaper editors to use the bully pulpit of the "free press" to espouse their views. It is fundamentally, and at a gut level, why people care about 'who owns the media', and whether those voices are concentrated and influential or dispersed and based on the 'just powers' of persuasion and 'right thinking'.
In a network media system, there are still 'primary' definers of 'reality' and 'public discussion', even when distilled and filtered through the blogosphere, twitters and watercooler conversation. Watch and listen each day as the key stories cascade from the Globe and Mail, CTV, CBC, Global and TVA throughout the 'media sphere' and the 'body politic', with interjections coming spasmodically from elsewhere as well to do their part.
The 'sluices of public life', as one of the great thinkers on these topics, Jurgen Habermas stated not so long ago, are coursing with the criss-crossing circuits of public conversation, from 'big media' to small conversations. While no longer citadels amidst the great sea of the unwashed, the 'mainstream media' are still at the centre of public conversation, especially when it comes to major events, from elections to tsunamis and earthquakes.
And caught up in these sluices and events people sometimes changes their mind. And for the best change of heart of the day award, I select Andrew Coyne, who announced in an essay published in Macleans (think, Rogers Media) and on his own blog today that he will be voting for Ignatieff.
For those in the know, Coyne is and has been one of the poster-boys of hardline conservativism for the past 25 years. Now he tells us that he is voting for Ignatieff because he cannot, in good conscience, vote for Harper. To do so, he asserts, would be a travesty for democracy.
He argues that Ignatieff might screw up the economy marginally more than Harper would by pandering to the little slices of the political universe that he wants to buy off. However, on the more important and fundamental question of democracy, he observes that Harper and Gang have already destroyed a lot. He worries that Canadian Parliamentary-style democracy might not survive another Harper term. The danger is not worth the gambit, Coyne frets.
I'm not sure if I smell a rat, you know, something along the lines of an attempt to split the Liberal/NDP vote by inflating Ignatieff and letting Layton wilt, while Harper runs up the middle. Maybe that's too clever by half?
I do think, however, that Coyne is right to worried about the 'machinery of democracy'. If he's seeing the wreckage from where he's at, just imagine how bad it must really be.
I'm also interested in the 'culture', or sensibility of democracy. If we wreck not just the machinery, as Coyne worries, but also the 'sensibility' of democracy, we're in deep shit.
Decision time is nigh; the right choice is ready-to-hand. Go, good fellow citizen, and vote it.
Telus Hearing Angels?
The other day I posted that Telus stands apart from the other dominant integrated telecom and media giants in Canada — Bell, Rogers, Shaw, Quebecor and Cogeco — on several grounds.
First, that while it has Usage Based Billing and bandwidth caps on the books, it has yet to implement them — although it has just announced plans to do so. If it does, it will be in the same league as the rest of the incumbents. Until then, there is still a chance that it will back down.
Second, unlike the other 'big 5', it is not a fully-integrated media conglomerate. It does not own broadcasting or other major 'content' services.
Third, it is opposed to vertical integration because companies that own the 'medium' and the 'message' lock up content in ways that are anti-competitive and against open networks. It is already encountering the difficulties that that entails in its attempts to gain programs for its IPTV, mobile tv services, etc.
Today, Telus filed documents for the upcoming CRTC hearings on vertical integration outlining that opposition. It is worthwhile to read. Here's a link and another.
The following quote from Telus press release announcing its position gets to the thrust of its position:
"The unprecedented concentration of market power in the broadcasting sector created by the common ownership of programming services and distribution platforms requires regulatory safeguards to protect consumers . . . . The potential for abuse of market power is real and the risk to consumers is significant. Without proper regulatory safeguards consumers could soon be facing increased costs and reduced choice in their TV viewing options." Michael Hennessy, senior vice-president Regulatory and Government Affairs at TELUS.
To be sure, unless it renounces plans for UBB, bandwidth caps and to stop throttling P2P services and OVP (online video providers), Telus is certainly nowhere being on the side of the Angels. However, it has gone part way down the right path, and in so doing, broken ranks with the others who simply see the Internet as a threat and merely an adjunct to their 'business models' when useful.
Angels to Telus: Don't be Evil
A reader, Sean, sent me an email yesterday, two actually and a couple of questions. They reminded me of something, and then inspired me to read and write. Thanks Sean.
The immediate point was that Shaw Media and Telus are about to ramp up bandwidth caps and UBB — the cornerstones of the the pay-per Internet model — in western Canada. To be sure, people in Alberta and BC have already had lots of this model already.
However, while both Shaw and Telus have had 'bandwidth caps' and UBB on the books, they have not used them. That looks set to change.
Shaw appears to be first off the mark in wanting to kick these into action, as it told, again, those pesky investment bankers who are now hovering around companies because it is the 'end of quarter' reporting season of its plans. As Shaw stated, it has the market power to impose the pay-per pricing model and supposedly the consent of its users. I don't doubt the former, but the latter claim is circumspect.
Shaw has come full circle in the past sixth months after acquiring Global TV and has begun to sing a new gospel from the top of its lungs in favour of regulating OVP (online video providers) such as Apple TV, Google, Netflix, etc..
Telus, too, has had pretty tough bandwidth caps and UBB on its books. It's cost per 'extra' GB when going over the cap is a punitive $2-5. Telus infamously shut down access over its ISP to the website "Voices of Change", a site run by the Telecommunication Workers Union, during a strike in 2005.
It has been no angel. However, I am also reminded that amongst the 'big six' — Bell, Shaw, Rogers, Quebecor, Telus and Cogeco — Telus is something of an exception, or at least has a few characteristics that distinguish it from the others and put it on, as my friend Marc-Andre put it, "the side of the angels". We should probably give credit where credit is due.
First, we must remember that in a situation where Canada stands unique, if not completely alone, in the universal coverage of 'bandwidth caps' and pay-per GB 'excess usage charges', Telus has not yet made the move to implement these measures and might yet be dissuaded. So, for what that's worth: Telus, please don't be evil.
Second, on some key 'structural issues' that go to the heart of the organization of the network media in Canada, Telus stands alone amongst the 'big six' for not following the path of 'empire' by becoming vertically-integrated with a dominant broadcaster. This means that its voice has been absent among all of the others who have called in unison for the CRTC to regulate online video providers.
Third, Telus recently told the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in no uncertain terms that it opposed the Shaw-Global TV and Bell-CTV amalgmations, respectively. In sum, Telus has not embraced the shangri-la of 'media convergence'.
That, however, does not mean that it is not in the TV business. It serves as distributor of Bell satellite TV in the west. It has its own IPTV service, mobile tv channels, and so forth. It needs programs and 'content' for its IPTV service, mobile tv channels, and so forth as well, and therein lies a problem.
Telus already claims to be having a lot of difficulty getting the programming that it wants on reasonable terms. This is more grounds for its opposition to vertical integration still. For that reason, Telus will stake out a unique stance at the upcoming CRTC hearings on vertical integration in being the only major incumbent likely to argue on behalf of some form of structural separation. This is a good thing and, again, Telus is on the side of the angel
Having just been blessed by the CRTC (and Competition Bureau) over the past six months, it is hardly likely that the CRTC will do much more than tinker around the edges with vertical integration. The fact that Industry Minister Tony Clement has already voiced his view that vertical integration is the way of the future and structural separation irresponsible only reinforces the impression.
All of this reminds me that the commitments to open networks is not about paying homage to abstract principles but to a concrete trilogy of real considerations: open networks, open sources and open societies. At the present conjuncture, each is under severe pressure, but yet to be bowed.
While no angel, Telus is on the side of the good with respect to open networks and should be applauded to the extent that it is. In terms of open source, the approach helps generate ideas, examination and conversation like Sean's email did yesterday. Several others have written lately too, so thanks, but I would also like to suggest that it is best to raise issues here. That way others can weigh in, and go off on their own, too.
These are also the things upon which an open society — the ultimate endpoint of the trilogy to begin with — depends. There are important questions about just how far Canada has fallen from that standard.
We have corporate disclosure rules that pale alongside those in the United States. Not just the major network media conglomerates, but publicly-traded corporations in Canada generally disgorge far less information to the CRTC and Competition Bureau than their counterparts in the US are required to do by the FCC and Department of Justice.
The Harper Government has clamped down on information flows and the general tenor it has set has simultaneously fortified and calcified the historical proclivity towards information secrecy in Canada relative to other capitalist democracies. Without a full-commitment to open societies and open sources and open networks, none of these elements can flourish on their own. It is a thought worth bearing in mind, I think.
Media Regulation, Public Memory and the WayBackMachine
The WayBackMachine is a colossal public digital archive of the Internet backed by the massive resources of the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress in Washington. There is nothing even close to it Canada and that is a problem because it means the many of our public records from the online world no longer reside in this country.
And so it is, for instance, that the oldest known digital copy of the CRTC's website – dating from May 1, 1997 — can only be obtained from the WayBackMachine. Not only is this an important document because it is the earliest record of the agency's activities online, but also because the 'snapshot' of the website taken on that day reveals a bold statement of principles that were supposed to guide all of the CRTC's activities: "Communication in the Public Interest" – as had been the case for more than twenty years before that.
The last known digital record of this statement is from December 20th, 2008. A visitor to the website on that day would have still seen the words "Communication in the Public Interest" right at the top of the page.
Moreover, the fact that the phrase had risen from the bottom of the page to the top over the years might have suggested that the public interest had become even more important as time passed in light of the momentous changes that have been sweeping the media and Internet. Indeed, no matter what it did, the CRTC's decisions would shape these developments for decades to come, and so it was wise to have a sturdy set of values close to hand as it navigated the turbulent waters ahead.
Such wishful thinking, however, would have been mistaken. Indeed, while many Canadians were celebrating holidays and ringing in the New Year, sometime between December 20th, 2008 and January 21st, 2009 when the WayBackMachine took its next snapshot of the CRTC's website, the "public interest" had vanished. Forever.
Ever since, the CRTC has recast itself in a decidedly different mold, as its new 'mission statement' asserts:
"An Independent Public Authority in charge of regulating and supervising Canadian broadcasting and telecommunications".
"Authority", "supervising", "regulating" – these are not words that reflect a democratic frame of mind that aims to inspire public participation in the processes that will shape the digital media landscape of the 21st Century. Instead, they are a brusque assertion of authority and part of the linguistic fortress put into place by a 'muscular state' under the Harper Government that seems designed more to keep the public at bay rather than to deepen its involvement in such affairs.
It is also a language that conceals major issues and values behind a thicket of techno-bureaucratic mumbo jumbo: User Based Billing, Internet Traffic Management Practices, Bandwidth Caps, etc. These are not words that aim to inspire people, but to make their eyes glaze over and to turn away. It is a language that only lawyers and lobbyists can love.
Remarkably, no record at all of this change from the "public interest" to "public authority" standard of regulation exists in Canada, either from the CRTC's own website or other Government websites. Library and Archives Canada maintains some records for all Government websites, but its records of the CRTC's digital online footprint are pitiful, covering two years from 2006 until 2007.
This extremely limited coverage not only applies to the CRTC, but appears to be the standard practice adopted for all Government websites in Canada. It is an incredibly weak standard in comparison to those in the U.S. and Britain, for example, where snapshots of all domains (not just government sites) of the "national Internet space" are routinely added to the national digital archives and extend much further back in time.
It is a sad indictment of the Harper Government that we, as a country, have to rely on the WayBackMachine to cobble together the bits and pieces that make up public memory as well as the evidence needed to illustrate the change from the public interest to the "public authority" model of regulation that has taken place. Indeed, it is an irony of the highest order that the effort to scrub the CRTC's historical record of its past commitments to the "public interest" can only be discovered on a website stored and run out of Washington.
If there was ever a way to kill off the notion of "the public", this is it. We must ask, why has the "public interest" been thrown under the bus on the Harper Government's watch? And why should we rely on digital archives set up and operated at public expense out of Washington to fill in the gaps left by our own public institutions – the Government and the CRTC – who have failed entirely to maintain a comprehensive, digitized public historical record of our own?
The WayBackMachine and other, publicly-supported, user-driven social media projects like it usefully create, store gather, organize and disseminate a wealth of ideas, memories, records, and knowledge. Some such sites, such as Wikipedia, are stunningly successful, consistently ranking among the top ten websites in the world — except in authoritarian countries such as China and Iran.
As records are scrubbed and left to vanish, we need the WayBackMachine and others of its kind more than ever. Nonetheless, such efforts are no substitute for an official digital record of where we have been in Canada, where we are going, or of the silent switch that has taken place between the principles of the past and the lost souls who govern in this country today.
Democratic societies demand nothing less than regulators – and a government, first and foremost — who are steered by an informed appreciation of who the public is and what they want. We also need a clear digital record of that commitment.
Shouting from the Rooftops: Blog Goes Big
I don't usually like to shout about my successes from the rooftops, but in the past week two fantastic opportunities have landed in my lap that I would like to share.
Starting today, I will be writing a regular column on the media, telecom and Internet industries in Canada for the online edition of the leading English-language, national newspaper in Canada, the Globe and Mail. The column will appear in the GlobeTech section every second Tuesday and can be found here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/digital-culture/dwayne-winseck/the-struggle-for-the-future-of-media-in-canada/article1989836/
I have also joined the Internet advocacy group, OpenMedia.ca, to be their 'Chief Policy Blogger'. Open Media's 'Stop-the-Meter' campaign has gained more than a half million signatures opposing efforts afoot to transform the Internet in Canada into a pay-per model ruled by 'bandwidth caps' and 'excess usage charges'. The group has put the politics of the Internet in the public spotlight in ways that few could have imagined. Their introduction to the role that I will play with them can be found here and my first post specially for them is here.
Thank you everyone for reading and, in some cases, subscribing to my blog. It's been a great help in bringing some very exciting and worthwhile things my way.


text:
This leads to delays, additional costs, potential penalties and strained relations with clients as well as partners. In addition, when you have time-definite or sequenced cargo flows you risk delays, performance penalties, and lost business when you can't deliver on time. This may compel you to resort to alternatives in order to prevent penalties—but the cost often outweighs those penalties.
You can reduce the impact that exceptions have on your shipments by securing your supply chain with the guarantee of the NYSHEX Forward™ contract. And through NYSHEX, you can lock in your space from 2 weeks to 6 months out.
When ocean rates fluctuate, you want the ability to look for better options. But, checking rates and getting quotes is time-consuming. Requesting RFQs from multiple providers can take from 4 to 7 days (maybe longer). Even after executing a contract, it still comes with a risk that the provider will not have the equipment or the cost might change before booking.
NYSHEX enables you to lock in rates which reflect the market and guarantee their space and equipment, too. NYSHEX saves you time and effort by letting you view offers from multiple carriers all at once and all in one place. These offers are "take it or leave it" so there's no wasted time negotiating with reps and finessing contracts.
How is Lansing Trade Group leveraging NYSHEX for success?
This is due to the complexity of the process used to move containers around the world, the number of players involved,
Apply in minutes and be viewing westbound carrier offers tomorrow


text: I started this for a demo for my class and then put it aside. Then the week before Open Studios, I thought I should finish it and put it in the bin. No such luck, but am working to finish it now as it was very popular and probably could have sold it 5 times over. Oil Pastels on green colorfix.


text:
The best window restrictors for health and social care settings
It's not just children that Jackloc window restrictors protect from window falls, they expertly safeguard a wide range of people and ages right around the globe. Falls from windows can occur due to a number of reasons in a diverse range of settings, with a great level of attention focused on the health and social care sector.
Window restrictors in health and social care
The Health and Safety Executive puts the nature of window falls in health and social care settings into 3 broad categories:
- Accidental falls
- Falls arising out of a confused mental state
- Deliberate self-harm
Health and social care providers have a duty of care to assess the risks of premises and take the adequate precautions necessary to fully protect the service users, staff and visitors in their care. The use of effective window restrictors plays a crucial role in safeguarding this broad range of individuals, so how can hospitals, care homes, nursing homes, etc proactively improve their window security?
Long lasting window restrictors
Durable and robust window restrictors, Jackloc, are designed and manufactured to a stringent ISO 9001-approved quality assurance, ISO 14001 Environmental Management and OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Management regimes, alongside rigorous testing to BS EN standards.
Easy to install window restrictors
Care providers should also ensure that window restrictors and the window frame they're fitted to are sufficiently robust. Suitable for every type of window (wooden, uPVC, steel and aluminium), watch how easy it is to install the Universal Jackloc Window Restrictor:
User-friendly window restrictors
Care providers must consider any impact on the comfort of service users from reduced natural ventilation, therefore effective window restrictors must allow for adequate ventilation through proactive user-friendly qualities. Jackloc's wide range of window restrictor products offer the highest possible level of performance, reliability and safety around.
One restrictor for every style of window or door
It's not hard to see why the Jackloc reputation has spread far and wide across Britain's healthcare sector over the past 15 years. For further information on how Jackloc window restrictors can secure your establishment and truly protect your service users, staff and visitors get in touch today.


text:
NEW ORLEANS, April 9 — In a city fond of its own self-portrait, Edward J. Blakely's opinions are a shot of cold water.
Dr. Blakely, New Orleans's belatedly appointed Hurricane Katrina recovery chief, refers to the city's racial factions as "a bit like the Shiites and Sunnis," calls the civic elite "insular," and says the newcomers he wants to draw here will be impatient with local "buffoons." But unlike other outsiders who come here dispersing critical thoughts, Dr. Blakely might see his bear fruit. For one thing, Dr. Blakely, a globe-trotting academic with a long résumé, has a mandate for renewal from Mayor C. Ray Nagin and a city desperate for leadership.
For another, a cool mix of realism and fatalism is, to all evidence, guiding him three months into his tenure as the executive director of this city's Office of Recovery Management. In a city government where hot speechmaking, unfulfilled promises and finger-pointing have reigned, the combination stands out. It was evident in the latest recovery plan, hatched by Dr. Blakely and unveiled last month, and widely praised as the most practicable yet.
Dr. Blakely, the former dean of the school of management and urban policy at the New School in New York, may prove to be what has been damagingly lacking here: a firm voice making difficult choices between neighborhoods. He is the latest incarnation of what has become a stock character in the New Orleans saga, the rescuer from afar — but one with an unusually candid streak.
Those who demand a "right to return" for former residents are merely "using people" for political ends, Dr. Blakely said sharply in an interview. The "lower-income population" now "trapped outside the city" may not be coming back. New Orleans "won't be the same" when the dust settles, he asserted calmly, suggesting that a new population with more "energy" may replace the old.
Out of these perceptions has come his plan, presented at City Hall late last month by Dr. Blakely, a soft-spoken but precise professor. It bows to political realities in New Orleans without indulging them, in contrast with its several forerunners. The plan focuses on rebuilding 17 compact areas a half-mile in diameter and proposes spending on a few symbolic areas of devastation, like the Lower Ninth Ward in the heavily damaged eastern section, pleasing activists who have strongly urged their redevelopment.
But 14 of the 17 areas Dr. Blakely singles out are in the more promising, less flooded western part of the city. A combination of incentives for developers and public infrastructure spending will be used to rebuild these spots, Dr. Blakely says, at a cost of $1.1 billion, money that is not yet in hand and that is dependent in part on an unusual plan to sell bonds based on the money the city might get from its acres of blighted properties.
"He has brought a level of realism to rebuilding New Orleans that hasn't been there," said Sean Reilly, a member of the Louisiana Recovery Authority. "He's got a real, concrete plan. At the end of the day, that's what's been missing: that clear prioritization, 'here's where we're going to invest.' "
The plan appears to have the support, provisionally at least, of the mutually suspicious political factions here. Above all, it is backed by Dr. Blakely's own appraisal of the pathologies that have so far stymied recovery in this city's wounded neighborhoods.
After he was appointed by the mayor, Dr. Blakely, 68, stepped into a planning vacuum in New Orleans. He quickly surprised state officials with a demand for control of recovery dollars, proclaimed his own indispensability and publicly chided New Orleans for what he termed its "mendicants" mentality.
Colleagues elsewhere say this egotism is at least partly justified: Dr. Blakely has held a series of prestigious university positions, has a track record of helping cities recover — notably Oakland, Calif., after the 1989 earthquake and fire — and has written well-received studies in urban planning, especially a critical look at gated communities in America. At the University of California, Berkeley, where he headed the urban planning department, he brought the university's resources to bear on Oakland's problems in an innovative way, colleagues say; he is chairman of urban and regional planning at the University of Sydney, Australia, and commutes between New Orleans and Sydney.
"Given a near-hopeless task, this is as good a choice as I could have come up with," said Lawrence J. Vale, head of the department of urban studies and planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Heavyweight credentials notwithstanding, state officials balked at Dr. Blakely's demand to control some of the recovery money, though they later came to an understanding with him. Dr. Blakely said he was undeterred by the obstacles.
"I'm like the doctor, going into surgery," he said. "I'm putting my best thing there. The patient, I hope, lives. But post-surgery, the patient, if they start eating hog maws again and not exercising, what can I do? I approach all my urban planning projects that way."
It is too early to say whether Dr. Blakely will succeed where others have failed, and he recently said he might leave his post in a year. But what is clear is that, perhaps for the first time, a ranking New Orleans official is looking out over the ruins and their complicated context with a clinical, outsider's eye.
That awareness of entrenched realities here, racial and economic, is reflected in Dr. Blakely's relatively modest plan: it is not an effort to make over the city all at once. Instead, it revolves around localized attention to promising zones that, if they take off, could have a transforming effect on the whole. "If I could pump life back in these places, you might pump life back into the entire city," he said.
The picture in its entirety is too daunting to be tackled completely. Most acutely, Dr. Blakely has found a polarized racial environment in New Orleans, very different from Oakland, that he says he must work around rather than try to change. Here, race is "the first thing in people's minds," said Dr. Blakely, who is black. "It's a culture of domination rather than participation. So whatever group gets something, they try to dominate the whole turf."
A second entrenched hurdle is the paper-thin economy. If it is not built up — essentially created wholesale, most promisingly on hopes of redeveloping a downtown medical and bioscience complex here — all of Dr. Blakely's exercises could be for naught.
"We have an economy entirely made up of T-shirts," he said in a speech at the University of Sydney this week. "That is our major import and export."
He sees the moribund economic infrastructure as the result, in part, of the city's provincialism.
"It's quite interesting how insular people are here," Dr. Blakely said. "They don't know people on Wall Street, they don't know the big development firms, they've not been associated with the kind of urban planning expertise that I take for granted."
The tone is clipped and California, different from the easygoing drawl of local officials. Dr. Blakely's skepticism about New Orleans caused a stir last week when he suggested that the city's prehurricane population levels might have been inflated. He later backed down and apologized after Mayor Nagin disagreed.
Still, the city has a few aces, and Dr. Blakely is banking on them, most notably a "very good" university network of five substantial institutions, and a way of life that cannot be replicated elsewhere.
Newcomers, pioneers willing to put up with the city's present difficulties, could be the salvation of New Orleans and its future, Dr. Blakely suggested. New Orleans now is "a third-world country," he said.
"If we get some people here, those 100 million new Americans, they're going to come here without the same attitudes of the locals," he said. "I think, if we create the right signals, they're going to come here, and they're going to say, 'Who are these buffoons?' I'm meeting some who are moving here, and they don't have time for this stuff."


text:
SHA1 encrypted password update - new password not recognised
I've set up a SecurityAssist login which I've done many times before, but for some reason my user update page isn't working as expected. The password is SHA1 encrypted and I can see that the password is changing in the database when the record is updated, but when I then try to login with the new password it's telling me it's an invalid password. I tried regenerating the login pages but the same thing happened again. Could you possibly take a look at the code for me? Login and user update pages are attached.


text:
deep in database image by .shock from Fotolia.com
FileMaker and Microsoft Access are common database software choices when a user is considering database creation without knowing or wishing to learn SQL. It's also helpful when creating a relatively low-traffic database for Internet use. While ostensibly reaching the same endpoint, both applications have different ways of getting there, and some functions are easier to perform on one program than the other. At the same time, the intended audiences differ slightly for both applications, meaning that their user interfaces are vastly different.
Support and Training
Microsoft (MS) Access is a popular choice for business settings, partly because there is a significant amount of business-directed training specifically intended to teach employees the basics of database creation. There is also an extensive tutorial system integrated into the Microsoft Access Online Support site. FileMaker has a support site based mostly on a collection of community forum questions and responses.
If a user is working from a Macintosh-based environment, where integration among Apple products is the norm, then FileMaker is the only option here, as Access does not have a Mac version.
User Interface
Depending on your attitude toward aesthetics, you may find MS Access too drab and dull with which to work. While there are some colour changes or styles that can be altered, Access is quite limited when it comes to appearance. FileMaker, on the other hand, makes aesthetics a top priority, and there are many colour, shape, style, font and other adjustments available. A new user might find FileMaker somewhat more difficult to navigate, as they have kept the button clutter to a minimum on the navigation bar. Access, however, squeezes nearly every possible function into its interface.
Reports and Queries
MS Access tends to pack most of its power in the versatility of reports that it can create, which include both simple and complex comparisons of tables, a query wizard that helps a user throughout the process, and the ability to tweak that report to an appropriate view for any given audience. However, in versions previous to Access 2007, it was somewhat difficult for a user to execute a report without a significant amount of knowledge or reference, as the report and query wizards were not very advanced.
FileMaker can, for the most part, produce the same basic reports and queries as MS Access, but the templates and wizards for this purpose are relatively rigid and sparse in comparison. With some SQL knowledge, a user can override the basic options in FileMaker and produce manual queries, but it requires more expertise than the average user possesses.
Portability and Sharing
Both FileMaker and Access advertise their capacities to publish your database online through some form of web publishing. FileMaker is not intended for high-capacity users in its most basic form (users can upgrade to FileMaker Pro), and supports a maximum of five simultaneous users. Microsoft's Sharepoint service is a bit more flexible, allowing you not only to upload the database to the Internet, but to send it via network or e-mail to other team members, which upon response can directly populate your network without ever having to go online. However, this depends on an environment having an ethernet or other network established that would allow for such sharing.
Most recent
- deep in database image by .shock from Fotolia.com