text:
Our friend Tony Larson who used to be a part of the Girl Art Dump has moved to other pastures and, in doing so, has created the apparel & accessories brand Super.
We got thier new lookbook/ catalog in the mail today and thought we'd share... Lookin' good. We want the "Fight till we Die" shirt. Whatda' say, Tony?


text:
Participating Organization(s) |
National Institutes of Health (NIH) |
National Institute on Aging (NIA) |
Funding Opportunity Title |
Aging Research Dissertation Awards to Increase Diversity (R36) |
Activity Code |
R36 Dissertation Award |
Announcement Type |
Reissue of PAR-08-250 |
Related Notices |
Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Number |
Companion FOA |
None |
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number(s) |
93.866 |
FOA Purpose |
The National Institute on Aging (NIA) announces the reissuance of Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) that provides dissertation awards in all areas of research within NIA's strategic priorities to increase diversity of the scientific research workforce engaged in research on aging and aging-related health conditions. |
Posted Date |
August 3, 2011 |
Open Date (Earliest Submission Date) |
October 16, 2011 |
Letter of Intent Due Date |
Not Applicable |
Application Due Date(s) |
AIDS Application Due Date(s) |
Scientific Merit Review |
Advisory Council Review |
Earliest Start Date(s) |
Expiration Date |
January 8, 2013 |
Due Dates for E.O. 12372 |
Not Applicable |
Required Application Instructions
It is critical that applicants follow the instructions in the SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide except where instructed to do otherwise (in this FOA or in a Notice from the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts). Conformance to all requirements (both in the Application Guide and the FOA) is required and strictly enforced. Applicants must read and follow all application instructions in the Application Guide as well as any program-specific instructions noted in Section IV. When the program-specific instructions deviate from those in the Application Guide, follow the program-specific instructions. Applications that do not comply with these instructions may be delayed or not accepted for review.
Part 1. Overview Information
Part 2. Full Text of the Announcement
Section I. Funding Opportunity Description
Section II. Award Information
Section III. Eligibility Information
Section IV. Application and Submission
Section V. Application Review Information
Section VI. Award Administration Information
Section VII. Agency Contacts
Section VIII. Other Information
Accordingly the NIH encourages institutions to diversify their student and faculty populations and thus to increase the participation of individuals currently underrepresented in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral, and social sciences such as: individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, and individuals from socially, culturally, economically, or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds that have inhibited their ability to pursue a career in health-related research. Institutions are encouraged to identify candidates who will increase diversity on a national or institutional basis.
NIA, as part of its Health Disparities Strategic Plan, has an area of emphasis on research capacity building with a particular focus on expanding opportunities in research training and career development for investigators from backgrounds underrepresented in biomedical science, including persons from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, persons with disabilities and persons who come from health disparity populations.
As part of NIA's Health Disparities Strategic Plan, this Funding
Opportunity Announcement announces the availability of dissertation awards
(R36) to support individuals whose advancement in research will help ensure
that a diverse pool of highly trained scientists is available in appropriate
scientific disciplines to address NIA's mission. That mission includes research
on the basic biology of aging, on chronic, disabling, and degenerative diseases
of aging, with a particular focus on Alzheimer's Disease, on multiple
morbidities, on individual behavioral and social changes with aging, on
caregiving, on longevity, and on the consequences for society of an aging
Substantial evidence indicates that biomedical research, including research on aging in particular, will benefit from broader representation of individuals from diverse ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Recent studies have supported the argument that diversity enhances the quality of education in multiple settings. Studies have also suggested that racially and culturally concordant scientific staff may be more successful in recruiting research participants from underrepresented groups into clinical trials. Recent preliminary evidence from a related NIA program indicates that graduates of the program preferentially conduct research on health disparities related to aging an important overall priority of the NIA and the NIH. Therefore, it is important to diversify the pool of doctoral candidates engaged in research on aging and aging-related health conditions to ensure such diversity later in the pipeline.
This FOA targets these individuals at a particularly critical juncture in their doctoral training, a period during which institutional support often declines or terminates altogether. Importantly, NIA's R36 Program provides funds for individuals from diverse backgrounds to conduct dissertation research on aging, with funds or support not readily or sufficiently available in NRSA predoctoral (F31) programs, which limit support to stipends, tuition and fees, and institutional allowance. These awards are available to predoctoral students from backgrounds underrepresented in research who are enrolled in good standing in accredited research doctoral programs in the United States (including Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories or possessions).
Specifically, this R36 announcement seeks to stimulate participation of individuals from the following groups:
A. Individuals from racial and ethnic groups that have been shown by the National Science Foundation to be underrepresented in health-related sciences on a national basis (see data at http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/showpub.cfm?TopID=2&SubID=27) and the report Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering, 2007, p. 262). The following racial and ethnic groups have been shown to be underrepresented in biomedical research: Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders.
B. Individuals with disabilities, who are defined as those with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.
C. Individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds who are defined as:
Special Note: Applicants are cautioned that only NIA participates in this program and that consultation with the listed NIA staff person (see Section VII, Scientific/Research Contact) prior to submission is strongly encouraged.
Programmatic Evaluation
This FOA targets the timely awarding of the doctoral degree in research on aging. The program wil be evaluated by NIA within five years. NIA will assess the success of this program by examining the time to doctorate and doctoral success of awardees relative to established norms. At its discretion NIA may continue, modify, or terminate the program at that time if it is determined that the need no longer exists or that the program is not making progress towards the goals of increasing the diversity of the research community in aging.
Funding Instrument |
Grant |
Application Types Allowed |
New The OER Glossary and the SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide provide details on these application types. |
Funds Available and Anticipated Number of Awards |
The number of awards is contingent upon NIA appropriations, and the submission of a sufficient number of meritorious applications. NIA intends to fund an estimate of up to 5 awards, corresponding to a total of $250,000-$300,000, for fiscal year 2012. Future year amounts will depend on annual appropriations. |
Award Budget |
Total allowable costs per year are the current Fiscal Year National Research Service Award (NRSA) predoctoral stipend level (http://grnats.nih.gov/training/nrsa.htm#policy) and up to $20,000 for additional expenses. No funds may be used to pay tuition or other fees associated with completion of doctoral studies. |
Award Project Period |
Support is provided for up to two (2) years. |
NIH grants policies as described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement will apply to the applications submitted and awards made in response to this FOA.
Institutions of higher education granting doctoral degrees
The following types of institutions of higher education are always encouraged to apply for NIH support as public or private institutions of higher education granting doctoral degrees:
Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Institutions) are eligible to apply.
Non-domestic (non-U.S.) components of U.S. Organizations are eligible to
Foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are allowed.
Before submitting an application, the applicant must identify a sponsoring institution. The sponsoring institution must have staff and facilities available on site to provide a suitable environment for performing high-quality research. The research-training should occur in a research-intensive environment that has appropriate human and technical resources and is demonstrably committed to research training in the particular program proposed by the R36 applicant. The sponsoring institution may be private (for-profit or not-for-profit) or public, and must be a doctoral-granting institution.
Applicant organizations must complete the following registrations
as described in the SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide to be eligible to apply
for or receive an award. Applicants must have a valid Dun and Bradstreet
Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number in order to begin each of the
following registrations.
All Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PD/PIs) must
also work with their institutional officials to register with the eRA Commons
or ensure their existing eRA Commons account is affiliated with the eRA Commons
account of the applicant organization.
All registrations must be completed by the application due date. Applicant
organizations are strongly encouraged to start the registration process at
least four (4) weeks prior to the application due date.
Any individual(s) with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research as the Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) is invited to work with his/her organization to develop an application for support.
Multiple PDs/PIs are not permitted.
By the time of the award, the individual must be a citizen or a non-citizen national of the United States or have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence (i.e., possess a valid Permanent Resident Card USCIS Form I-551 or other legal verification of such status).
For the purpose of this announcement, institutions are encouraged to identify applicants who will increase diversity on a nationalbasis. As indicated in Section I, the NIH is particularly interested in encouraging the recruitment and retention of the following classes of candidates:
A. Individuals from racial and ethnic groups that have been shown by the National Science Foundation to be underrepresented in health-related sciences on a national basis (see data at http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/showpub.cfm?TopID=2&SubID=27 and the report Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering, 2007, p. 262). The following racial and ethnic groups have been shown to be underrepresented in biomedical research: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders. In addition, it is recognized that under-representation can vary from setting to setting and individuals from racial or ethnic groups that can be convincingly demonstrated to be underrepresented by the grantee institution are eligible for support under this program.
B. Individuals with disabilities, who are defined as those with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.
C. Individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, who are defined as:
1. Individuals who come from a social, cultural, or educational environment such as that found in certain rural or inner-city environments that have demonstrably and recently directly inhibited the individual from obtaining the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to develop and participate in a research career.
Certification Letter
Applicants are required to furnish a letter from the sponsoring institution certifying eligibility of the applicant for the R36 program, which should include evidence that the applicant is in good standing as a student in a doctoral research program. The certification letter must be on institutional letterhead and scanned so that the signature of the signing institutional official is visible.
The applicant must have a baccalaureate degree and be enrolled in a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral-degree program (e.g., Dr. PH., D.NSC. and Sc.D.), a formally combined M.D./Ph.D. program or other combined professional/clinical and research doctoral program in the biomedical, behavioral and social, and clinical sciences at an accredited domestic or foreign institution.
This FOA does not require cost sharing as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
Applicant organizations may submit more than one application, provided that each application is scientifically distinct.
NIH will not accept any application in response to this FOA that is essentially the same as one currently pending initial peer review unless the applicant withdraws the pending application. NIH will not accept any application that is essentially the same as one already reviewed. Resubmission applications may be submitted, according to the NIH Policy on Resubmission Applications from the SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide.
Applicants must download the SF424 (R&R) application package associated with this funding opportunity using the Apply for Grant Electronically button in this FOA or following the directions provided at Grants.gov.
It is critical that applicants follow the instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide, except where instructed in this funding opportunity announcement to do otherwise. Conformance to the requirements in the Application Guide is required and strictly enforced. Applications that are out of compliance with these instructions may be delayed or not accepted for review.
For information on Application Submission and Receipt, visit Frequently Asked Questions Application Guide, Electronic Submission of Grant Applications.
The forms package associated with this FOA includes all applicable components, mandatory and optional. Please note that some components marked optional in the application package are required for submission of applications for this FOA. Follow all instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide to ensure you complete all appropriate optional components.
All page limitations described in the SF424 Application Guide and the Table of Page Limits must be followed.
Use the PHS 398 Cover Letter Component to attach the Certification Letter described in Section III. 1.
All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed, with the following additional instructions:
Resource Sharing Plan
Individuals are required to comply with the instructions for the Resource Sharing Plans (Data Sharing Plan, Sharing Model Organisms, and Genome Wide Association Studies; GWAS) as provided in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.
Do not use the appendix to circumvent page limits. Follow all instructions for the Appendix as described in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide, with the following modifications:
Foreign (non-US) institutions must follow policies described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, and procedures for foreign institutions described throughout the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.
Part I. Overview Information contains information about Key Dates. Applicants are encouraged to submit in advance of the deadline to ensure they have time to make any application corrections that might be necessary for successful submission.
Organizations must submit applications via Grants.gov, the online portal to find and apply for grants across all Federal agencies. Applicants must then complete the submission process by tracking the status of the application in the eRA Commons, NIH's electronic system for grants administration.
Applicants are responsible for viewing their application in the eRA Commons to ensure accurate and successful submission.
Information on the submission process and a definition of on-time submission are provided in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.
This initiative is not subject to intergovernmental review.
All NIH awards are subject to the terms and conditions, cost principles, and other considerations described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
Pre-award costs are allowable only as described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
Support is limited for up to two (2) years.
Applications must be submitted electronically following the instructions described in the SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide. Paper applications will not be accepted.
Applicants must complete all required registrations before the application due date. Section III. Eligibility Information contains information about registration.
For assistance with your electronic application or for more information on the electronic submission process, visit Applying Electronically.
All PD/PIs must include their eRA Commons ID in the Credential
field of the Senior/Key Person Profile Component of the SF 424(R&R)
Application Package. Failure to register in the Commons and to include a
valid PD/PI Commons ID in the credential field will prevent the successful
submission of an electronic application to NIH.
The applicant organization must ensure that the DUNS number it provides on the
application is the same number used in the organization's profile in the eRA
Commons and for the Central Contractor Registration (CCR). Additional
information may be found in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.
See more
tips for avoiding common errors.
Upon receipt, applications will be evaluated for completeness by the Center for Scientific Review, NIH. Applications that are incomplete will not be reviewed.
Applicants are required to follow the instructions for post-submission materials, as described in NOT-OD-10-115.
Only the review criteria described below will be considered in the review process. As part of the NIH mission, all applications submitted to the NIH in support of biomedical and behavioral research are evaluated for scientific and technical merit through the NIH peer review system.
Reviewers will provide an overall impact/priority score to reflect their assessment of the likelihood for the project to exert a sustained, powerful influence on the research field(s) involved, in consideration of the following review criteria and additional review criteria (as applicable for the project proposed).
Reviewers will consider each of the review criteria below in the determination of scientific merit, and give a separate score for each. An application does not need to be strong in all categories to be judged likely to have major scientific impact. For example, a project that by its nature is not innovative may be essential to advance a field.
Does the project address an important problem or a critical barrier to progress in the field of research on aging? If the aims of the project are achieved, how will scientific knowledge, technical capability, and/or clinical practice be improved? How will successful completion of the aims change the concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, services, or preventative interventions that drive this field?
Are the PD/PIs, collaborators, and other researchers well suited to the project? If Early Stage Investigators or New Investigators, or in the early stages of independent careers, do they have appropriate experience and training? If established, have they demonstrated an ongoing record of accomplishments that have advanced their field(s)? If the project is collaborative or multi-PD/PI, do the investigators have complementary and integrated expertise; are their leadership approach, governance and organizational structure appropriate for the project?
Does the application challenge and seek to shift current research or clinical practice paradigms by utilizing novel theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions? Are the concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions novel to one field of research or novel in a broad sense? Is a refinement, improvement, or new application of theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions proposed?
Are the overall strategy, methodology, and analyses
well-reasoned and appropriate to accomplish the specific aims of the project?
Are potential problems, alternative strategies, and benchmarks for success
presented? If the project is in the early stages of development, will the
strategy establish feasibility and will particularly risky aspects be
If the project involves clinical research, are the plans for 1) protection of
human subjects from research risks, and 2) inclusion of minorities and members
of both sexes/genders, as well as the inclusion of children, justified in terms
of the scientific goals and research strategy proposed?
Will the scientific environment in which the work will be done contribute to the probability of success? Are the institutional support, equipment and other physical resources available to the investigators adequate for the project proposed? Will the project benefit from unique features of the scientific environment, subject populations, or collaborative arrangements?
As applicable for the project proposed, reviewers will evaluate the following additional items while determining scientific and technical merit, and in providing an overall impact/priority score, but will not give separate scores for these items.
Protections for Human Subjects
For research that involves human subjects but does not
involve one of the six categories of research that are exempt under 45 CFR Part
46, the committee will evaluate the justification for involvement of human
subjects and the proposed protections from research risk relating to their
participation according to the following five review criteria: 1) risk to
subjects, 2) adequacy of protection against risks, 3) potential benefits to the
subjects and others, 4) importance of the knowledge to be gained, and 5) data
and safety monitoring for clinical trials.
For research that involves human subjects and meets the criteria for one or
more of the six categories of research that are exempt under 45 CFR Part 46,
the committee will evaluate: 1) the justification for the exemption, 2) human
subjects involvement and characteristics, and 3) sources of materials. For
additional information on review of the Human Subjects section, please refer to
the Human
Subjects Protection and Inclusion Guidelines.
Inclusion of Women, Minorities, and Children
When the proposed project involves clinical research, the committee will evaluate the proposed plans for inclusion of minorities and members of both genders, as well as the inclusion of children. For additional information on review of the Inclusion section, please refer to the Human Subjects Protection and Inclusion Guidelines.
Vertebrate Animals
The committee will evaluate the involvement of live vertebrate animals as part of the scientific assessment according to the following five points: 1) proposed use of the animals, and species, strains, ages, sex, and numbers to be used; 2) justifications for the use of animals and for the appropriateness of the species and numbers proposed; 3) adequacy of veterinary care; 4) procedures for limiting discomfort, distress, pain and injury to that which is unavoidable in the conduct of scientifically sound research including the use of analgesic, anesthetic, and tranquilizing drugs and/or comfortable restraining devices; and 5) methods of euthanasia and reason for selection if not consistent with the AVMA Guidelines on Euthanasia. For additional information on review of the Vertebrate Animals section, please refer to the Worksheet for Review of the Vertebrate Animal Section.
Reviewers will assess whether materials or procedures proposed are potentially hazardous to research personnel and/or the environment, and if needed, determine whether adequate protection is proposed.
For Resubmissions, the committee will evaluate the application as now presented, taking into consideration the responses to comments from the previous scientific review group and changes made to the project.
Not applicable
Not applicable
As applicable for the project proposed, reviewers will consider each of the following items, but will not give scores for these items, and should not consider them in providing an overall impact/priority score.
Applications from Foreign Organizations
Reviewers will assess whether the project presents special opportunities for furthering research programs through the use of unusual talent, resources, populations, or environmental conditions that exist in other countries and either are not readily available in the United States or augment existing U.S. resources.
Select Agent Research
Reviewers will assess the information provided in this section of the application, including 1) the Select Agent(s) to be used in the proposed research, 2) the registration status of all entities where Select Agent(s) will be used, 3) the procedures that will be used to monitor possession use and transfer of Select Agent(s), and 4) plans for appropriate biosafety, biocontainment, and security of the Select Agent(s).
Resource Sharing Plans
Not applicable
Budget and Period of Support
Reviewers will consider whether the budget and the requested period of support are fully justified and reasonable in relation to the proposed research.
Applications will be evaluated for scientific and technical
merit by (an) appropriate Scientific Review Group(s) convened by the NIA, in
accordance with NIH peer
review policy and procedures, using the stated review
criteria. Review assignments will be shown in the eRA Commons.
As part of the scientific peer review, all applications:
Applications will be assigned on the basis of established PHS referral guidelines to the appropriate NIH Institute or Center. Applications will compete for available funds with all other recommended applications submitted in response to this FOA. Following initial peer review, recommended applications will receive a second level of review by the appropriate national Advisory Council or Board. The following will be considered in making funding decisions:
After the peer review of the application is completed, the PD/PI will be able to access his or her Summary Statement (written critique) via the eRA Commons.
Information regarding the disposition of applications is available in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
If the application is under consideration for funding, NIH
will request "just-in-time" information from the applicant as
described in the NIH Grants
Policy Statement.
A formal notification in the form of a Notice of Award (NoA) will be provided
to the applicant organization for successful applications. The NoA signed by
the grants management officer is the authorizing document and will be sent via
email to the grantee's business official.
Awardees must comply with any funding restrictions described in Section IV.5. Funding Restrictions. Selection
of an application for award is not an authorization to begin performance. Any
costs incurred before receipt of the NoA are at the recipient's risk. These
costs may be reimbursed only to the extent considered allowable pre-award costs.
Any application awarded in response to this FOA will be subject to the DUNS,
CCR Registration, and Transparency Act requirements as noted on the Award
Conditions and Information for NIH Grants website.
All NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards include the NIH Grants Policy Statement as part of the NoA. For these terms of award, see the NIH Grants Policy Statement Part II: Terms and Conditions of NIH Grant Awards, Subpart A: General and Part II: Terms and Conditions of NIH Grant Awards, Subpart B: Terms and Conditions for Specific Types of Grants, Grantees, and Activities. More information is provided at Award Conditions and Information for NIH Grants.
Cooperative Agreement Terms and Conditions of Award
Not Applicable.
When multiple years are involved, awardees will be required to submit the Non-Competing Continuation Grant Progress Report (PHS 2590) annually and financial statements as required in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
A final progress report, invention statement, and the expenditure data portion of the Federal Financial Report are required for closeout of an award, as described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Transparency Act), includes a requirement for awardees of Federal grants to report information about first-tier sub-awards and executive compensation under Federal assistance awards issued in FY2011 or later. All awardees of applicable NIH grants and cooperative agreements are required to report to the Federal Sub-award Reporting System (FSRS) available at www.fsrs.gov on all sub-awards over $25,000. See the NIH Grants Policy Statement for additional information on this reporting requirement.
We encourage inquiries concerning this funding opportunity
and welcome the opportunity to answer questions from potential applicants.
Customer Support (Questions regarding Grants.gov registration and
submission, downloading or navigating forms)
Contact Center Phone: 800-518-4726
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
GrantsInfo (Questions regarding application instructions and
process, finding NIH grant resources)
Telephone 301-710-0267
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
eRA Commons Help Desk(Questions regarding eRA Commons
registration, tracking application status, post submission issues)
Phone: 301-402-7469 or 866-504-9552 (Toll Free)
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Chyren Hunter, Ph.D.
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Telephone: 301-402-4158
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Ramesh Vemuri, Ph.D.
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Telephone: 301-496-9666
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Linda Whipp
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Telephone: 301-496-1472
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Recently issued trans-NIH policy notices may affect your application submission. A full list of policy notices published by NIH is provided in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts. All awards are subject to the terms and conditions, cost principles, and other considerations described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
Awards are made under the authorization of Sections 301 and 405 of the Public Health Service Act as amended (42 USC 241 and 284) and under Federal Regulations 42 CFR Part 52 and 45 CFR Parts 74 and 92.
Weekly TOC for this Announcement
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Breitbart, Big Government's sensational claims about SEIU assault case fall flat
Written by Eric Boehlert
Local officials in St. Louis have charged six people in connection with a scuffle that broke out outside an August health care forum. Two of those charged are SEIU members who were hit with misdemeanor ordinance violations in connection with their altercation with Kenneth Gladney. They're accused on beating him up.
Problem for Breitbart and Big Government, as well as the rest of the over-excited right-wing blogosphere, is the low-key charges don't back up any of sensational allegations they've been making for months about the Gladney case. Namely that Gladney was savagely beaten within an inch of his life. (Note the "misdemeanor ordinance violations" that were filed.) That Gladney was the victim of a "hate crime." (No such charges were filed.) And that, most incredibly, the White House "directed" union members to beat up town hall protesters.
What's always been clear about the St. Louis event, since it was partially captured on video, was that a scuffle broke out the night of the town hall forum. Now six people face relatively minor charges and will have a chance to defend themselves. What remains a mystery is why the right-wing catapulted this minor event into the rhetorical stratosphere and concocted all sorts of wild claims about hate crimes, savage beatings, and (best of all) a White House connection. There's still no evidence any of that ever took place.
UPDATED: Not surprisingly, Breitbart's crowing about the Gladney "hate crime" case. And of course, there is no Gladney "hate crime" case. It doesn't exist. Period. It only exists within the fervent imaginations of right-wing bloggers. (Or do those "misdemeanor ordinance violations" somehow qualify as hate crime charges in the state of Missouri?) Then again, those community workers weren't actually "praying" to Obama, and that didn't stop Breitbart from spreading that lie. So there's a definite trend in play here.


text:
McLaren backs electric Grand Prix venture
McLaren is backing a new venture to produce grand prix cars powered exclusively by electric energy ahead of the launch of a Formula E world championship in 2014.
With an eye to the future, the British-based Formula One team has agreed to supply engines, transmissions and electronics for the cars being assembled by Spark Racing Technology (SRT), the newly created company announced in a statement on Monday.
SRT are the official supplier for cars competing in the Formula E championship which plans to stage races in the world's leading cities with a grid featuring 10 teams and 20 drivers.
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said in the statement that he hoped the project "would open up great opportunities for the racing cars of tomorrow".
Whitmarsh added: "I'm a passionate believer in the role that motorsport can play in showcasing and spearheading the development of future technologies, and regard the Formula E concept as an exciting innovation for global motorsport."
SRT chief executive Frederic Vasseur said: "Sport and society are evolving and Spark Racing Technology is proud to be the pioneer and leader in the new field of electric cars that will revolutionize the motor racing industry and attitude."
The Formula E championship has the full support of motor racing's governing body the FIA.
(c) 2012 AFP


text:
On that same day that saw the king
His gift of kine distributing,
The lord of Kekaya's son, by name
Yudhájit, Bharat's uncle, came,
Asked of the monarch's health, and then
Addressed the reverend king of men:
'The lord of Kekaya's realm by me
Sends greeting, noble King, to thee:
Asks if the friends thy prayers would bless
Uninterrupted health possess.
Right anxious, mighty King, is he
My sister's princely boy to see.
For this I sought Ayodhyá fair
The message of my sire to bear.
There learning, O my liege, that thou
With sons and noble kinsmen now
Wast resting here, I sought the place
Longing to see my nephew's face.'
The king with kind observance cheered
His friend by tender ties endeared,
And every choicest honour pressed
Upon his honourable guest.
That night with all his children spent,
At morn King Das'aratha went,
Behind Vas'ishtha and the rest,
To the fair ground for rites addressed.
Then when the lucky hour was nigh
Called Victory, of omen high,
Came Ráma, after vow and prayer
For nuptial bliss and fortune fair,
With the three youths in bright attire,
And stood beside his royal sire.
To Janak then Vas'ishtha sped,
And to Videha's monarch said:
'O King, Ayodhyá's ruler now
Has breathed the prayer and vowed the vow,
And with his sons expecting stands
The giver of the maidens' hands.
The giver and the taker both
Must ratify a mutual oath.
Perform the part for which we wait,
And rites of marriage celebrate.'
Skilled in the laws which Scriptures teach,
He answered thus Vas'ishtha's speech:
'O Saint, what warder bars the gate?
Whose bidding can the king await?
In one's own house what doubt is shown?
This kingdom, Sage, is all thine own.
E'en now the maidens may he found
Within the sacrificial ground:
Each vow is vowed and prayed each prayer,
And they, like fire, are shining there.
Here by the shrine my place I took
Expecting thee with eager look.
No bar the nuptial rites should stay:
What cause have we for more delay?'
When Janak's speech the monarch heard
To sons and saints he gave the word,
And set them in the holy ring.
Then to Vas'ishtha spoke the king
Of Mithilá: 'O mighty Sage,
Now let this task thy care engage,
And lend thine aid and counsel wise
The nuptial rites to solemnize.'
The saint Vas'ishtha gave assent,
And quickly to the task he went.
With Vis'vámitra, nothing both,
And S'atánanda aiding both.
Then, as the rules prescribe, they made
An altar in the midst, and laid
Fresh wreaths of fragrant flowers thereon.
The golden ladles round it shone;
And many a vase, which branches hid
Fixed in the perforated lid,
And sprays, and cups, and censers there
Stood filled with incense rich and rare;
Shell-bowls,and spoons, and salvers dressed
With gifts that greet the honoured guest;
Piles of parched rice some dishes bore,
Others with corn prepared ran o'er;
And holy grass was duly spread
In equal lengths, while prayers were said.
Next chief of saints, Vas'ishtha came
And laid the offering in the flame.
Then by the hand King Janak drew
His Sítá, beautiful to view,
And placed her, bright in rich attire,
Ráma to face, before the fire,
Thus speaking to the royal boy
Who filled Kaus'alyá's heart with joy:
'Here Sítá stands, my daughter fair,
The duties of thy life to share.
Take from her father, take thy bride,
Join hand to hand, and bliss betide!
A faithful wife, most blest is she,
And as thy shade will follow thee.'
Thus as he spoke the monarch threw
O'er her young limbs the holy dew,
While Gods and saints were heard to swell
The joyous cry, 'Tis well! 'Tis well!
His daughter Sítá thus bestowed,
O'er whom the sacred drops had flowed.
King Janak's heart with rapture glowed.
Then to Prince Lakshman thus he cried'.
'Take Urmilá thine offered bride,
And clasp her hand within thine own
Ere yet the lucky hour be flown.'
Then to Prince Bharat thus cried he;
'Come, take the hand of Mándavi.'
Then to S'atrughna: 'In thy grasp
The hand of S'rutakirti clasp.
Now, Raghu's sons, may all of you
Be gentle to your wives and true;
Keep well the vows you make to-day,
Nor let occasion slip away.'
King Janak's word the youths obeyed;
The maidens' hands in theirs they laid.
Then with their brides the princes went
With ordered steps and reverent
Bound both the tire and Janak, round
The sages and the sacred ground.
A flowery flood of lucid dyes
In rain descended from the skies,
While with celestial voices blent
Sweet strains from many an instrument,
And the nymphs danced in joyous throng
Responsive to the minstrel's song.
Such signs of exultation they
Saw on the princes' wedding day.
Still rang the heavenly music's sound
When Raghu's sons thrice circled round
The fire, each one with reverent head,
And homeward then their brides they led.
They to the sumptuous palace hied
That Janak's care had seen supplied.
The monarch girt with saint and peer
Still fondly gazing followed near.


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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
Yes, a permit can be renewed once, beyond that it is the decision of the Building Official. If a permit is renewed within 90 days of expiration, you will be assessed a fee of 50 percent of the original permit fee. If the permit is renewed after 90 days of expiration, you will be assessed 100 percent of the original permit fee.
Show All Answers
In simplest terms, you should obtain a permit to ensure that any work done on your home or business is done safely and correctly. Per Chapter 1 of the Florida Building Code Sec. 105.1 and section 553.79 (1), Florida Statutes: Any owner, authorized agent, or contractor who desires to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish, or change the occupancy or occupant content of a building or structure, or any outside area being used as part of the building's designated occupancy (single or mixed) or to erect, install, enlarge, alter, repair, remove, convert or replace any electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing system, the installation of which is regulated by the technical codes, or to cause any such work to be done, shall first make application to the building official and obtain the required permit for the work.
Please see Signing and Sealing Guidelines for information on digital signatures on plans.
Approval times vary based on complexity and work load but we generally attempt to review permit applications within 30 working days (per FBC 105.3.1).
Your permit status can be obtained from the permitting system Project-dox under "Status" tab, "View Report". Or you may use our E suite page, enter either permit number or address to search for your building permits.
If your permit card is lost or damaged, you may obtain a replacement at the Building Division for a fee of $28.00.
Walk-thru Permits will be accepted on Wednesdays 8am-11am. Please see here for requirements and permits accepted.
If you wish to cancel an inspection that is scheduled for the same day, you must reach the operator at 954-797-1111 or inspectors between 7:30-8:00am. Otherwise you may reach us throughout our hours of operation 7:30am-3:30pm. Contact Info.
The following credentials are needed for update/registration, you may email them to [email protected]
Yes, a building permit is required. All sheds must have any of the following to qualify for installation within the High Velocity Hurricane Zone (HVHZ):
As the owner of a one or two family dwelling you may act as your own contractor and do the work yourself, provided that the home is for your own use, and is not for sale or lease. You must also do the work yourself, or provide direct on site supervision. If you are the owner of a commercial property, you are required to hire a contractor for any work that requires a permit and inspection. You will need to complete and sign an Owner/Builder Disclosure Statement and acknowledge that you understand your legal responsibilities (per Sec. 9-28 of the Fort Lauderdale Code of Ordinances).
You are always welcomed to contact the Building Official, however, it may be quicker to contact the Chief Inspector of the discipline that you have questions about. Most times, you can receive a quicker response from the Chief of Structural, Electrical, Plumbing, or Mechanical. There are other disciplines that will also review your drawings, such as Landscaping, Zoning, and Engineering. Fire will also review the drawings for all buildings other than 1 and 2 family dwellings. Contact Info
Governmental Center West 1 N. University Drive Plantation, FL 33324
Broward County Records, Taxes and Treasury Division Broward County Governmental Center Room 114 115 S. Andrews Ave. Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
Governmental Center West 1 N. University Drive, Building A - Suite 102 Plantation, FL 33324
Power will not be released under most circumstances until the building has received all required inspections and all fees due are paid. We do issue what is known as a 30-day temporary power that is required prior to final electrical inspection.


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Dog training shouldn't wait until you're having behavior problems. If you get a new puppy, start from the beginning with professional training to give both you and your puppy the tools you need for a healthy relationship. Dog training is as much about teaching the owner how to interact with their new dog as it is about the dog learning to behave. Puppy training can start as early as eight weeks old. Trainers who offer puppy training programs may works specifically with dogs between the ages of 8 and 18 weeks old. Trainers can teach owners about potty training and how to deal with accidents, working with separation anxiety, and training your pooch out of destructive behaviors like chewing, biting and demand barking. Puppies will start to learn to walk on-leash and other basic skills.
In addition to behavior training, socializing your puppy is an important part of dog training. Socializing your dog means they become comfortable and confident in a variety of settings and have a great foundation for becoming a well-adjusted adult dog. After your puppy has had the proper vaccinations, you can start to introduce it to a variety of different dogs and people in safe settings.


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Name: Patrick Burnett
Title: Creative Director
How do you use Jotform in advertising?
We normally use it for our contact form but slowly, over the years, we've started doing more contests and giveaways for our readers and needed more submissions/forms. I was using Jotform & Wufoo, but lately with Jotform's site upgrades, I enjoy using Jotform so much more. Now with our last contest, "PartyPalooza Giveaway", our biggest ever with 24 days of prizes given away to our readers, we got a flood of submissions prompting my boss to authorize me to purchase a larger plan with Jotform. We can now receive over 10,000 submissions. Best bang for the buck!! I have discontinued using Wufoo and will only have to log in to one excellent service to for all our needs!
What would you suggest to people from the same industry?
I would first tell them how easy it is to set up and use. I would then tell them that Jotform seems to be a responsive company to growing needs by updating the site over the years. Plus I love how easy it is to download an Excel file for our office manager to handle all our submissions!
Name: Nick Drzayich
Title: Vendor Relations
How do you use Jotform in consulting?
We work in a small, focused niche of the financial industry and use multiple platforms to drive traffic to our site. Once we get a visitor we rely on Jotform forms to capture information (including name, phone, email) from our interested visitors. After using a slew of other form services we settled on Jotform because it did the best job in getting accurate information from our website visitors. As we received accurate data from the forms (specifically phone numbers) we had the ability to generate more sales. Other form builders could easily be filled out incorrectly and still submitted, but not Jotform! We've seen a good increase in conversions since we converted to Jotform!
What would you suggest to people from the same industry?
If you have a website and a need to capture your visitors information, Jotform is the easiest thing to use to accomplish that goal. Whether your capturing their name, phone and email or just their email address you can easily integrate Jotform and get more conversions.
Name: Vincent Calderon
Title: Mobile Eye Doctor
How do you use Jotform in ecommerce?
We provide mobile eye care and eye glasses to elderly and home bound patients. Our mobile eye doctors are now inputting eyeglasses information directly into a Jotform from their iPhones which is being sent directly to our lab for processing. This form is replacing our paper order form drastically saving time and reducing transcribing errors. Before Jotform we had to transcribe patient eyeglasses orders, wait for the orders to be hand delivered, and doctors frequently forgot to take measurements. Now we have eliminated transcribing errors, the required fields eliminates forgetful mistakes, and our orders are delivered in real time. The fabrication process has instantly become streamlined with a single software!
What would you suggest to people from the same industry?
Adding technology to your business doesn't always make your life easier. But any business where data needs to be collected will be made easier with Jotform. It's simple, quick, & effective. I recommend Jotform without reservation.
Name: Moe Bates
Title: Student Affairs Professional
How do you use Jotform in education?
We use Jotform to get applications, reservations, change logs, requests, & acceptances. Getting constant e-mails with random information for request to use various spaces that did not provide all of the information got me frustrated. Moreover, there were tons of wasted paper and having to manually input data from the paper documents was really tiring. I have impressed so many of my colleagues by being able to quickly and easily create a Jotform for our many needs. I'll be sitting in a meeting about a form needed and literally in minutes later, I'm able to e-mail them a sample, professional Jotform of exactly what we just discussed. Similarly, I am able to send out & analyze results with the click of a button because Jotform does the work for me. Also, while my colleagues are waiting for paper copy forms to be returned, I can tell instantenously when someone has responded or accepted a position with Jotform. It saves me so much time & headache! In the world of education with low salaries & pay cuts happening everyday, Jotform is the main place I look to help me work smarter not harder.
What would you suggest to people from the same industry?
I recommend Jotform at least 2-3 times per week. My colleagues now joke with me that I always say "And, there's a Jotform for that!" I can always find a reason or way to use Jotform to get us the data we need. I now have multiple colleagues who have Jotform accounts & swear by it. Once they use it, they immediately fall in love with it!!
Name: Taylor McCaslin
Title: IT Manager
How do you use Jotform in event organization?
We use Jotform to completely digitize our New Work Festival application process. We also use it to gather mailing list emails, signups, and for internal data gathering. Jotform helped our arts organization to move into the digital era with a completely digital application workflow. We were able to run reports on submissions, conditionally send email verifications, and view all the data in an easy to navigate interface!
What would you suggest to people from the same industry?
I'd say if you have a traditional paper form, get that thing translated into a digital Jotform! Stop printing out paper and have everything done online. Your users and your sanity will all thank you!
Name: Sammie George
Title: Entrepreneur
How do you use Jotform in marketing?
I have multiple websites, but the one I am using Jotform for, is my online business venture. I had been working on a registration form for new web hosting accounts since a long time. I tried numerous html/php templates, but customizing them was a real pain. Jotform allowed me to experiment with various formats/templates etc, so that I could concentrate on the user experience and not worry about the technical complexities.
What would you suggest to people from the same industry?
Jotform is an incredible tool to create web forms for your blogs and websites. Just try it once, and you will not look further!
Name: Phil Broyles
Title: Executive Director
How do you use Jotform in non-profit?
We just started and will be using this to give our clients access to the intake and enrollment process,client satisfaction surveys and outcome measures tracking. I am very excited about the ability to easily and efficiently design forms and surveys because our nonprofit uses volunteers or pays contractors and it's hard to find ones to pay that know how to integrate the applications and website products.I am experiencing encouragement, motivation and hope that streamlining our intake and workflow process to increase efficient access to services and bring in more revenue for continuing our mission in the community.
What would you suggest to people from the same industry?
Jotform is unlike any form building product you have ever seen! Easily and efficiently create an online intake, payment and outcome tracking system that virtually does the work of several paid employees for less than the price of a cup of coffee a day!
Name: Hattie Zwolinski
Title: Photographer
How do you use Jotform in photography?
I use Jotform for customer ordering, booking photo sessions, requesting more information, after photo shoot surveys, subscribing/unsubscribing to our monthly newsletter - I pretty much use it for everything! Jotform is very quick with responses. Some of my customers want more information right away and with their email notifications I get the responses within seconds. There are no added banners or advertisements on these forms so they all look very professional!
What would you suggest to people from the same industry?
I recommend Jotform to anyone who has a small business but I would also recommend Jotform for personal reasons. There are many options available for the forms and they would make great RSVP forms for weddings and/or parties or for the newest thing - Online Family Reunions.
Name: Peter Varitimos
Title: Referee Coordinator
How do you use Jotform in sports?
When I was losing track of all of my applications and had to ask my referees to send me a newly filled out form, I decided to use Jotform. I am the referee coordinator, and I use it for applications, referee availability schedule, contracts, information, and questionnaires. The biggest result I have achieved is being able to use these forms as a teaching tool for my referees, from age 11 to adults 60+ in age. I would have never been able to engage these young kids enough to actually enjoy learning. Now they go through the material and I continuously get responses how fun it was using the forms.
What would you suggest to people from the same industry?
Every time I see someone who has any type of information that they want to collect I immediately tell them about Jotform. I have told my friends on Facebook, I have told my colleagues at work and I have told the members on the soccer board of which I am also a member. And I'm positive I will continue to spread the word.
Name: Scott Irish
Title: Travel Consultant
How do you use Jotform in travel?
I use Jotform to create all types of forms for my travel agency from contacting us to paying a deposit on a cruise. In making booking forms for group cruises, sometimes you need a form to have as many as 4 passengers and all their pertinent data. This can't be done with only 20 fields.
What would you suggest to people from the same industry?
Web forms is one important part of any business and especially when they can be crisp and clear. Jotform helped me achieve this. I like the plain looking templates; I think they fit better with my website. But, if I wanted a colorful template for my form, I could do that too.
Name: Ivy Rockhead
Title: Web Designer
How do you use Jotform in web design?
I use Jotform for web design outlines, recurring bill payments, brand & identity evaluations, for logo and print marketing order forms as well as tiny subscriber forms integrated with my MailChimp and Zoho CRM accounts. Jotform has helped me to achieve results by gathering the necessary details for design projects I perform like web design outlines and SEO Forms. I am able to create 2-in-1 contract and order forms which reduces steps in the conversion funnel. By use of colorful tabs embedded on my pages, I have increased subscribers and page visits by setting conditions based on input provided. Jotform is simply necessary for business owners.
What would you suggest to people from the same industry?
I recommend clients to use Jotform and provide tutorials with screenshots as well as form management services. I design for friends as well and I tell them that Jotform has everything needed for creating unique forms for any data needed or orders taken.


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Jeff Vance| Cio
More than 10,500 people cast votes for their favorite cloud startups. But before we get on to our final rankings, a bit of background on the voting process: Unfortunately, a couple of frisky engineers decided to try to hijack the vote with a few automated bot ballot-box stuffers, so some votes had to be purged [more on this here].
When the startups who most likely scripted the bots were contacted, the management teams appeared genuinely shocked. The CEOs involved tracked down the script writers quickly, reprimanded them and threw their startups at the mercy of the court.
We kept them on the list, because iIn the grand scheme of things, trying to hijack online voting isn't a capital offense. It's a misdemeanor, but enough of one to get you dropped down the list significantly.
Also, the final rankings are based only partly on the online voting. Here's the procedure we used to determine the final ranking:
- Every startup was ordered based on vote tallies (legitimate vote tallies, that is).
- Each startup was then scrutinized for an area of weakness, such as a lack of named customers or a green management team.
- If there was a weakness, we looked at the competitors who finished close to them in the rankings to see if any should jump ahead.
To get a better sense of what factors that were weighted most heavily, check out the overview of selection criteria and weighting.
A big thanks to the 10,500+ humans who voted. As for our bot friends, sorry, you haven't earned the right to vote — yet.
1. Aryaka Networks
What they do: Provide cloud-based WAN optimization and application acceleration services.
Why they're No. 1: Aryaka finished first in the voting. With a strong management team (CEO Ajit Gupta previously sold Speedera to Akamai for $500 million), a hefty bundle of VC funding, and a long list of named customers, they're a solid No. 1.
Headquarters: Milpitas, CA
CEO: Ajit Gupta, who previously founded Speedera and served as its President and CEO until it was acquired by Akamai for approximately $500 million.
Founded: November 2008
Funding: The company has raised $45 million in three rounds of funding. The most recent round was a $25 million Series C led by InterWest Partners, with participation from Presidio Ventures, a Sumitomo Corporation Company, and existing investors Nexus Venture Partners, Trinity Ventures and Mohr Davidow Ventures.
Why they made this list in the first place: WAN optimization is typically too costly for the middle market. Aryaka zeroed in on this problem and determined that the best way to drive down costs and democratize the technology was to deliver WAN optimization as a service.
Aryaka first built a delivery network comprised of globally distributed POPs. Enterprise locations connect into the Aryaka network over existing Internet links (or using direct L2 connections) to one or more POPs. Provisioning can be accomplished in minutes — rather than days or weeks as with hardware-based solutions.
To boost application acceleration, Aryaka runs TCP optimization technology, as well as bandwidth scaling and application-specific proxies. Aryaka also provides access to Internet-based SaaS and cloud services, which help customers avoid middle-mile congestion problems that Internet-based connectivity solutions experience.
Market potential and competitive landscape: According to IDC, the WAN optimization market should have topped $1.3 billion by the end of 2012. There are some major incumbents in this market, though. Riverbed owns about 50 percent of the market, while Cisco, F5, Blue Coat and Silver Peak are all formidable foes.
That said, the IT market as a whole is slowly moving away from box-heavy infrastructures — the delivery model of the above providers — and to services. Moreover, the middle market is grossly underserved by existing solutions, and even many large enterprises are reluctant to deploy hardware at branch offices, which will greatly benefit from a service like this.
2. Nebula
What they do: Provide OpenStack-based appliances that let businesses deploy and manage private clouds.
Why they're No. 2: Nebula finished near the top of the voting, and it's impossible to ignore the pedigree of their management team. They're well-funded, and while there are plenty of OpenStack skeptics out there, I'm not one of them.
Headquarters: Palo Alto, CA
CEO: Chris Kemp, who was previously CTO for IT at NASA, where he also co-founded the OpenStack project
Founded: April 2011
Funding: In September 2012, the company raised a $25 million Series B round led by Comcast Ventures and Highland Capital Partners. Kleiner Perkins, William Hearts II, Maynard Webb, Scott McNealy, Innovation Endeavors participating and Google's first three investors (Andy Bechtolsheim, David Cheriton and Ram Shriram) also participated.
Why they made this list in the first place: OpenStack is shaking up the cloud infrastructure landscape, serving as the main open-source alternative (sorry CloudStack) to VMware. CEO Chris Kemp co-founded OpenStack while he was at NASA, and along with Rackspace, Nebula is a key driver helping to make OpenStack a viable alternative to closed cloud systems.
[How NASA Helped Open-Source Cloud Take Off]
NASA and several other government agencies use OpenStack for their own private clouds. Nebula delivers its private cloud solution as an appliance.
Market potential and competitive landscape: Cloud market predictions are all over the map (Forrester predicts that the global cloud computing market will grow from $40.7 billion in 2011 to more than $241 billion in 2020, while Deloitte predicts that cloud-based applications will only replace 2.34 percent of enterprise IT spending in 2014 rising to 14.49 percent in 2020, while also pushing down costs in the process). We do know, though, that the cloud deployment and management market will be large.
This sector is a land grab as of now, but there is a ton of competition already, including VMware, AWS, Citrix (CloudStack), dinCloud, AppZero, Eucalyptus, Rackspace, OnApp, Piston and many others.


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4 February 2016 21:00 | to | 5 February 2016 02:00 |
The Grand Ball of the Belle Époque
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Gala Dinner & live entertainment.
The Grand Ball of the Belle Époque takes place in the "piano nobile" of Palazzo Ca' Pesaro Papafava, an authentic XVth century palace with an exclusive water entrance. Gothic windows overlook the alluring Misericordia canal. During the gala dinner, only candlelight and classical music illuminate the ancient rooms, whisking guests back to a time of enchantment. Love, joy of life, carefreeness and gaiety characterize "The Belle Époque".
Ladies and gentlemen, join Venezia Segreta & Incentive Harmony for another magical Ball to celebrate old times with the songs of the "Gay Nineties"!
21.15 Welcome cocktail with gondoliers and traditional Venetian music
21.45 Seated candlelight gala dinner with Venetian cuisine, wine included
Chocolate fountain and traditional Carnival sweets
23.00 Show of the Belle Époque
24.00 At Midnight, live music and dancing with closed bar
Dress Code: costume and mask. Tuxedo or tail coat with night gown and masks accepted
Cost: 300€ per person
After dinner: 125€ per person – from 11.00 p.m. to 2.00 a.m.
N.B. The organizer reserves the right to make changes to the event program.
Our Atelier will be happy to assist you with costumes, masks and accessories.
Palazzo Ca'Pesaro Papafava – Calle Rachetta 3764 – Cannaregio, Venice.
The Palace is a 5-minute walk from Ca D'Oro vaporetto stop, or can be reached by its water door entrance which faces the Church of the Misericordia, allowing guests to arrive by gondola or taxi boat.
For further information, please contact Incentive Harmony:
Tel. +39 041.520.18.55 Tel. +39 348.359.18.18
Fax +39 126.96.36.199.42 – email@example.com
www.incentiveharmony.com – www.veneziasegreta.com – www.sobytiynyyturizmvenetsiya.ru


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Classic Soft Trim
Classic Soft Trim is dedicated to bringing you the finest in automotive upgrades with quality materials, distinctive designs, and great customer service
Houston's Leading shop for window tint and truck accessories. Classic Soft Trim Restyling Center has the widest offering of products from the best manufacturers in the industry! We offer everything you need, including custom tinting, custom wheels, tires, aftermarket sunroofs and customizable leather upholstery. We also have a full line of truck accessories, including tonneau covers, suspension lift kits toppers, spray in bedliners, trailer hitches, and tonneau covers. All of our accessories are installed by master technicians and backed with a 3-year warranty.
Houston ( (listen); HEW-stən) is the most populous city in Texas, fourth-most populous city in the United States, most populous city in the Southern United States, as well as the sixth-most populous in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in 2020. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the seat and largest city of Harris County and the principal city of the Greater Houston metropolitan area, which is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the second-most populous in Texas (Dallas–Fort Worth is larger). Houston is the southeast anchor of the greater megaregion known as the Texas Triangle.Comprising a total area of 637.4 square miles (1,651 km2), Houston is the ninth-most expansive city in the United States (including consolidated city-counties). It is the largest city in the United States by total area, whose government is not consolidated with a county, parish, or borough. Though primarily in Harris County, small portions of the city extend into Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, bordering other principal communities of Greater Houston such as Sugar Land and The Woodlands.
Acres Homes, Boulevard Oaks, Braeburn, Braeswood Place, Brentwood, Central Northwest, City Park, Cloverland, Crestwood/Glen Cove, East Downtown, Fort Bend Houston, Fourth Ward, Glenbrook Valley, Greater East End, Greater Eastwood


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This module allows interaction with existing PDF files directly. It includes various tools including:
pdfbklt - make booklets out of existing PDF files pdfrevert - remove edits from a PDF file pdfstamp - stamp text on each page of a PDF file
various example programs are also included
Martin Hosken [email protected]Copyright Martin Hosken 1999 and onwards
No warranty or expression of effectiveness, least of all regarding anyone's safety, is implied in this software or documentation.
This Perl Text::PDF module is licensed under the same terms as Perl itself.


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"Men often applaud an imitation and hiss the real thing"--Aesop
There are interesting developments being played out in the Rust Belt. Some cities, like Detroit, seem to be embarking whole hog down the creative class path. Others, like Pittsburgh, have their own thing going on, a thing Economic Geographer Jim Russell has delineated as the "Rust Belt Chic" model of economic development, with no modest amount of success. How a given Rust Belt city reinvests will have a large say in its future.
Part 1 of this series, below, examines the nascent creative classification of Detroit. Part 2 analyzes whether or not there is a new way forward for post-industrial cities, using the lessons from Pittsburgh and Cleveland as the building blocks to developing an alternative set of strategies for struggling cities.
Detroit Rock (Ventures) City
In Detroit, the scene is playing out as such: rampant disinvestment in the core and extreme poverty around it. To help fix this, ties between Rock Ventures head and real estate billionaire Dan Gilbert, urbanist Richard Florida, and the non-profit Project for Public Spaces have been initiated. The goal, laudable enough, is to reinvest in downtown. And while the renewal formula planned is not new, the extent that the milieu is a controlled environment for an urban experiment is perhaps ahistorical, if only because Detroit's level of disinvestment has created a vacuum that, naturally, power abhors.
To wit, a recent New York Time's article entitled "A Missionary's Quest to Remake Motor City" hints at the level Dan Gilbert—who has bought $1 billion in downtown property in what has been called a "skyscraper sale"—and his advisors have been handed the keys:
"My job," said Dave Bing, the Detroit mayor and former National Basketball Association star, "is to knock down as many barriers as possible and get out of the way."
"Mr. Gilbert met in a conference room for his twice-a-month Detroit real estate meeting, with about a dozen people who work for him, plus a lawyer and leasing agent. If Detroit 2.0, as this group often calls the effort, has a planning committee, this is it."
"[H]e and his staff will apparently have a largely free hand."
Now, the plan, and how the plan for Detroit's future came about.
A wealthy investor, Dan Gilbert, buys downtown properties. That investor goes on the record as to the importance of reinvesting into the urban core. That investor moves his mortgage company's employees from suburban office parks into his own downtown real estate. Then, the investor, taking cues from his consultants, throws in something about innovation, which, at its lowest common denominator, means designing your way to a "culture of innovation". Thus, the investor encourages that Romper Room-style office setting complete with what some would say is tacky décor wholly out of line with the soul of "the D", but yet which is said to fun-birth inspiration—i.e., "[A] karaoke machine sat in an aisle. Guys threw footballs to one another; one employee shot at colleagues with a Nerf gun"; and "A Quicken promotional video solidifies the company's attempts at over-the-top marketing, prominently featuring the space's inexplicable Pac-Man theme"—despite the fact that your primary product line, i.e., mortgages, needs far less innovation than it does a modicum of conventionality and ethics. Nonetheless, the sentiment of creative destruction is there.
This basic process, then, is multiplied out from the office setting into strategic urban space, particularly around Gilbert's real estate. The idea here is to design space so as to create vibrancy so as to galvanize commerce so as to ignite broad economic growth.
Enter the partnership with the Project for Public Spaces, who is working with Gilbert's group to do a set of "Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper" placemaking interventions, including pop-up shops. The conceptual girth behind the plan, according to a recent article "Detroit Leads the Way on Place-Centered Revitalization", is described as such:
"We proposed developing a Placemaking vision for the major public spaces, and refining the plan through the Power of 10 concept," says Meg Walker, a Vice President at PPS who worked on the project. "…A lot of developers aren't as enlightened as Dan Gilbert…they wouldn't necessarily think about the glue that's holding this all together."
"The Power of 10 framework suggests that a great city needs at least ten great districts, each with at least ten great places, which in turn each have at least ten things to do. Great public spaces produce an energy and enthusiasm that spills over into surrounding areas…
With the conceptual description as a guide, this is a classic case of the urbanists' version of trickled-down economics, in which an influx of capital into finite corridors is meant to attract wealth that "spills over" into surrounding areas. Unfortunately, there is little by way of evidence that this works, as was recently admitted by Richard Florida himself. What it may do, however, is fill real estate supply by pursuing a select target market, as placemaking can act as a grease to create pockets of creative class demand to support condos or retail and office space. And while one can certainly argue it beats rampant core disinvestment, it's not the path of a bold new way that will measurably change the trajectory of Detroit, so says U of M Professor Michael Gordon. In effect, it's simply shifting people from one set of real estate to another, with nothing undertaken on a systemic level to tackle Detroit's real problem: poverty and disenfranchisement in its neighborhoods. Worse, re-urbanization as such is likely to exacerbate class and race divides that have plagued Detroit for decades, thus worsening Detroit's real problem: poverty and disenfranchisement in its neighborhoods.
Besides, we have been here before. Michigan via its Cool Cities campaign had a plan based off the same Detroit 2.0 premise, switch out the window dressing. Design place, accrue vibrancy, growth wealth. Obviously, the multi-million dollar economic development initiative didn't work. Neither have similar initiatives across the whole of the Rust Belt.
So, where's the beef? What makes Detroit 2.0 different?
Naturally, this is where the economic development buzzwords "start-up" and "tech district" enter into the Detroit 2.0 lexicon; that is, creating dense city areas will nurture spontaneous interactions that will foster Detroit's innovation community, putting it firmly on the path to be the "Silicon Valley of the Midwest". But every city wants this (or at least they are informed they do)—e.g., "Miami Wants to Be the Next Big Start-Up City"—and so the effort ultimately comes off as anything but visionary, rather visionless, trying.
Cue the Onion. From an article entitled "St. Louis Mayor Has Sad Little Plan For Turning City Into High-Tech Hub":
In what appears to be a completely earnest attempt to revitalize a sluggish local economy, St. Louis mayor Francis G. Slay unveiled Thursday a detailed, ambitious, and truly depressing plan to turn his city into a major technology hub. "We're going to show America, and the rest of world, just how innovative and cutting-edge St. Louis can be," said the mayor, who displayed genuine optimism as he outlined a desperate strategy to woo major players in the high-tech sector with a sad little series of subsidies and tax incentives his city cannot afford… The mayor ended his presentation by pleading with reporters to dub the hopelessly untenable project "St. Louis 2.0."
In all, the current Detroit economic development approach is copycat urbanism at its finest, as there is nothing inherently "Detroit" about it. Nothing that intrinsically builds off its only true competitive advantage: itself.
For instance, Motor City is Motor City for a reason: it builds things. It designs things. Like, for instance, cars, which, by last count, are still being used, with over 254 million registered passenger vehicles in the US in 2009 alone. And while technology-based automation is increasing manufacturing output at the expense of jobs, production is still huge business in the Rust Belt, with automotive-related STEM jobs (i.e., science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related employment)—i.e., the creative class before the "creative class" became the "creative class")—aiding Detroit's regional resurgence, with its 10.5% STEM job growth leading the country from 2010 to 2012. And no, this is not to say Detroit will recoup manufacturing jobs lost from its heyday. But it's absurd for Detroit to neglect training and flexing its muscle—or its legacy of concept, design, and production—for a future with no middle between start-ups and baristas. I mean, advanced manufacturing isn't nostalgia. It exists.
So, why this path? Why pretty Detroit? Why make it culturally less distinct? Why embark on a plan of hyper-modern ephemerality when your distinction is resilience, making things, and hard work? Why? Where is the evidence that this even works? What in the hell is even going on here?
To get to the bottom of this you need to be aware of parallel events in Cleveland. There, Dan Gilbert has hands in that city's Downtown redevelopment as well. But it is not what you think. And therein lies the problem.
You see, if the Detroit Dan Gilbert is the urbanists' Dr. Jekyll than in Cleveland he becomes the anti-urban Mr. Hyde. In fact, the Cleveland Dan literally embarks on nearly all the urbanists' seven deadly sins, including owning and running a casino placed right beside the city's iconic Public Square, demolishing historic buildings for the creation of a VIP valet center, planning to ruin the iconic Terminal Tower by connecting an enclosed pedestrian tunnel from a parking garage into its face—the Plain Dealer architecture critic stated it was akin to "poking a straw in Mona Lisa's nose"—and, more generally, pissing off Millennials.
From a recent Atlantic Cities piece entitled "If Other Cities Are Demolishing Skywalks, Why Does Cleveland Want a New One?", the author, who omits Dan Gilbert's name, writes:
"In the last decades of the 20th century, many American cities built skywalks in a desperate attempt to seem modern, hoping to create a sanitized urban experience that would compete with the sanitized suburban experience of indoor malls.
For the most part, it didn't work, and now cities…are tearing down the skywalks…in an effort to return pedestrian life and vitality to the street.
Meanwhile, in Cleveland, the owners of the year-old Horseshoe Casino downtown are planning to build a brand-new skywalk…For many of the young people moving to Cleveland in search of a 21st-century urban experience – pedestrian-friendly, with lots of people out and about – it seems like a step backward in time."
Why is Gilbert going all anti-urban in Cleveland, then? In a word: money, as Moody's just issued a report saying a walkway would help the casino reach predicted income streams, as it has been underperforming. Obviously casino ownership is a no frills money-making operation, as is real estate. With each: immediate financial return trumps the nurturing of human and community capital to support a vision of long-term economic growth.
But Detroit Dan is different, right? He is a walkability guru's guru. One of the "enlightened developers" as was stated above.
Well, you be the judge. Here's a blog post excerpt covering the recent Placemaking Leadership Council hosted in Detroit, with Detroit 2.0 taking center stage.
Dan Gilbert, head of Rock Ventures and Quicken Loans, genuinely seemed to defer to Kent [the Project for Public Spaces head] when it came to his part of the presentation Thursday. Gilbert, who has millions of hours of public-speaking practice behind him, often turned to Kent to fill in the details on the upcoming renovations to Campus Martius, Cadillac Square, Capitol Park, Grand Circus Park and Paradise Valley.
"Genuinely seemed to defer" is right. Or just bored as hell.
And then there is this. This. Courtesy of a Curbed Detroit blog post called "Development In Downtown Detroit Is Playing Out Like A Huff Po Blog Post From 2009". The referenced Huffington Post piece is by Detroiter Toby Barlow that is called "How a Billionaire Can Make a Billion Dollars". The strategy? Buy Detroit, not "metaphorically" but "literally", yet do it "very quietly, so as not to inflate any prices". Then, according to Barlow, since a billionaire owns thing, he moves his employees to his buildings and gives them "incentives to live down near their work so that they'll buy your residential property". Barlow concludes:
So, I don't have to spell out the rest, do I? Real estate values will quickly soar as other companies, encouraged by your brazen move, make similar leaps into what will still be an incredibly affordable market. The momentum will build as the ever-frenzied media piles on.
Yes, Detroit's plan for the future pre-dated by a Huff Po blog entry from 2009.
The big revelation here?
Look, in the end, the Dan Gilbert's of the world are in their line of work for one reason and one reason only: to make money. They will don whatever mask they need to play the part, be it the urban-loving Jekyll or the anti-urban Hyde. That's the problem with creative class urbanism. It is dependent on developers who could care less. It is a means to an end for those who implement it.
Too bad this end is not the beginning of a true path forward for a real Rust Belt recovery.
Detroiters, like most Rust Belters, have been through enough. They deserve better.
Richey Piiparinen is a writer and policy researcher based in Cleveland. He is co-editor of Rust Belt Chic: The Cleveland Anthology. Read more from him at his blog and at Rust Belt Chic.


text: A repeating decimal is a decimal that has a digit, or a block of digits, that repeat over and over and over again without ever ending. Did you know that all repeating decimals can be rewritten as fractions? To make these kinds of decimals easier to write, there's a special notation you can use! Learn about repeating decimals in this tutorial.


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Crock Pot Curry with Coconut Milk
A delicious slow cooked curry simmered in the Crock Pot
Easy Does It - Curry Style
Certain individuals at Casa Allrich use their Crock Pot year round. Yes, even in the summer. It keeps the kitchen cool and uses no more energy than a humble light bulb. So when you crave a creamy spicy curry stirred with coconut milk and don't feel like sweating over a hot stove when the Kokopelli thermometer hanging under the portal reads 98 degrees F in the shade, consider the old school slow cooker.
Dust off the slow cooker early in the day and slow-simmer a gluten-free vegan curry brimming with healing ingredients- shredded cabbage, garlic, onion, apples, fennel and coconut milk. The kitchen - and you - stay cool. And dinner is done.
2 tablespoons light olive oil
5-6 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 red onion, diced
2-3 teaspoons gluten-free red curry paste, to taste
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1/2 head white or purple cabbage, shredded
2 large carrots, peeled, sliced or chopped
1 large sweet or gold potato, diced
2 apples, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 14-oz. can chick peas, rinsed and drained well
3 cups vegan broth, more if needed
To add in later:
1 cup coconut milk, more if needed
A drizzle of raw organic agave, to taste
Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
A squeeze of fresh lime
Chopped fresh cilantro, to taste
Pour the oil in the bottom of the Crock Pot or slow cooker. Add the garlic, onion and spices. Stir to coat. Add the rest of the ingredients in the first list. Stir briefly to combine. Cover and cook on low heat for six hours or until the vegetables and potato are tender. I stirred the curry once during the afternoon to make sure all the veggies were moist and mingled.
Before serving, add in the coconut milk, a touch of agave, seasoning and lime or vinegar. Add some chopped cilantro.
Taste test and adjust seasonings, balancing the sweet tartness with the fiery creaminess. If you need more liquid, add more coconut milk.
Cover and heat through an additional 15 minutes or so.
Serve spooned over fragrant hot cooked rice.
Makes 4 servings.
Full fat coconut milk provides the creamiest result. But if you prefer less rich, use light coconut milk.


text: Here are a few photos from yet another caricature gig (thanks, Mike!) in December 2007 with the fun and inspiring Ed Steckley. We were sketching at an auto dealer's holiday party. You wouldn't believe the 'giveaways' at this event! Playstation 3s, Caribbean cruises, iPhones and more. Anyway, the guests were more than gracious and had a great sense of humor. Working with Ed always brings out the best in my sketches and my attitude, helping the guests by entertaining them far more and putting them in the right mindset to let loose and have fun.


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Christian Cartoons by Randy Glasbergen.
On my website you'll find a huge searchable database of cartoons on a variety of topics, including many Christian Cartoons. Cartoons are a great way to liven up your print and electronic communications to help you sell your message with humor.
My Christian cartoons have appeared in a number of publications, such as Christianity Today, Catholic Digest, The Lutheran, Guideposts for Teens, The New Era, Group Magazine, Campus Life, Lutheran Digest, Leadership Journal, Parent Life, Children's Ministry, Standard Publishing, Scripture Press, and many other Christian publications. Many of my Christian cartoons about kids and teens were collected in book form a few years ago. Attack of the Zit Monster was published by InterVarsity Press, but has gone out of print. Copies can still be found in used book stores, Amazon.com and eBay.
For permission to use my Christian Cartoons in your next important project, please contact me for more information or a budget-friendly rate quote.
The Christian Cartoons on this website are copyrighted by Randy Glasbergen. Unauthorized usage of any kind is unlawful and prohibited.
Please visit my website to find thousands of affordable cartoons in a searchable database for your newsletters, presentations, training materials, books, magazines, advertising, professional communications, advertising or special project. On my website you'll find Christian cartoons for magazines, Christian cartoons for newsletters, Christian cartoons for presentations, cartoons for Christian education, cartoons for Christian textbooks, cartoons about Adam and Eve, cartoons for Christian family magazines, cartoons for Christian teen magazines, cartoons about Christian politics, Christian cartoons about church, Christian cartoons about praying, Christian cartoons about the Bible, cartoons about Bible characters, Christian cartoons about the Ten Commandments, Christian cartoons about sermons, cartoons for Christian children's magazines, Christian cartoons for church bulletins, Christian cartoons for sermon presentations, Christian cartoons about life after death, Christian cartoons about hymns, cartoons for Christian humor books, Christian cartoons about angels, Christian cartoons about Heaven, cartoons for Christian Sunday school materials, cartoons for Christian gift items, cartoons for Christian marriage workshops, cartoons for Christian greeting cards, and more.
Christian Cartoons by Randy Glasbergen. E-mail: email@example.com


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Dig into the inner workings of the Takamine PT-007S, one of the earliest—and most successfully integrated—amplified acoustic guitars.
Fig. 1. With its large ceramic elements and innovative carrier design, the Takamine Palathetic pickup installed in their PT-007S was the answer for touring guitarists in the late '70s looking for a hassle-free acoustic without feedback issues.
Fig. 2. Conventional undersaddle pickups have relatively small piezo-ceramic elements that are sandwiched between the bottom of the saddle slot and the bottom of the saddle.
In my last column ["Saddle Up, Amigo,"October 2012] we talked about some of the early pioneers in the development of amplified acoustic instruments. This month, let's dig into the inner workings of the Takamine PT-007S, one of the earliest—and most successfully integrated—amplified acoustic guitars.
Takamine first introduced the PT-007S in 1979, and the model was an instant success, especially among touring guitarists playing in the bigger country groups out of Nashville. Factory equipped with Takamine's new Palathetic pickup and an onboard, battery-powered preamp/EQ, the guitar was a no-hassle, plug-and-play acoustic that could perform onstage at high volumes without feedback.
Taking a closer look at the design of the pickup in Fig. 1 will help us understand why this guitar was able to perform so well onstage in a high-volume setting. Like conventional undersaddle designs, the Takamine pickup employs six individual piezo-ceramic elements. This, however, is where the similarity ends.
In more conventional undersaddle pickups used by most manufacturers (Fig. 2), the ceramic elements are quite small. Located directly under the saddle in a normal bridge slot that has been deepened to accommodate the height of the pickup, the ceramic elements are sandwiched between the bottom of the saddle slot and the bottom of the saddle. The saddle is not glued in or press fitted, but rather, allowed to slide in the slot. As the strings vibrate, the saddle acts like a piston and transfers the resulting change in force directly to the sensor.
With the Takamine design, one of the first things we notice is the very large size of the ceramic elements, compared to more conventional designs, as well as the large die-cast metal carrier that holds the elements. This carrier aligns the elements with the strings and is attached to the bridge plate with screws that engage a metal strap, which is located in the saddle slot directly under the saddle. The cylindrical elements are allowed to pass through holes that are drilled through the bridge plate, soundboard, and bridge, and they are sandwiched between the die-cast carrier and the metal strap. This larger design, according to Takamine, offers up to 12 times the element mass of a typical undersaddle pickup.
Before we continue, let's review some fundamental principles of operation for piezo ceramics. This will provide a better understanding of why these unique design elements play such a large role in the ability of Takamine's acoustic/electric guitars to perform at high volumes without feeding back.
Piezo transducers are like any normal capacitor where two conductive surfaces are separated by an insulating material. In the special case of piezoelectric materials, the insulating dielectric material will generate a charge when subjected to mechanical strain. This mechanical strain occurs when the piezo material is deformed by being in intimate contact with a vibrating material. And the efficiency of the transfer of these changes in force, created by the vibrating body, is greatly influenced by several factors.
In some designs, the sensor becomes an accelerometer when it is simply glued to the face of the vibrating surface and is loaded with a mass. Without the mass load, and if the piezo element is thin enough, the element becomes a bending mode sensor, such as a typical bridge-plate transducer.
With Takamine's pickup, however, the sensor is a compression-mode force sensor. This means that the sensor is excited by the compression forces created by the piston action of the saddle, which squeezes the sensor against the die-cast holder.
One factor that greatly determines the output character of a transducer is the nature of the material that directly contacts the sensor. Sound is a vibration of kinetic energy, passed from molecule to molecule within a material. And every material that transfers vibration is a mechanical filter. The unique, elastic properties and the density of these materials have a significant effect on the manner in which sound propagates through them.
In the course of my design work, I have found that the size of the sensor elements is influential in determining the sound factor as well. It's like a salad: Add a little onion and it brings some flavor to the other ingredients. Add a lot of onion and it becomes an onion salad. In pickup design, if the sensor is relatively small and is in direct contact with the wood itself, the resulting output of the sensor is dominated by the resonant characteristics of the wood. On the other hand, if the sensor is relatively large and is separated from the wood by non-wood materials, the resonant characteristics of the sensor and the other materials become dominant.
Let's put this all together: In the case of the Takamine design, the vibrating strings create a changing force on the saddle, which efficiently transfers this force through a thin, metal plate—directly at one end of the massive ceramic element that is supported on the other end by an equally massive die-cast support structure. Although the ceramic elements pass through holes in the bridge plate, top, and bridge, the coupling to the top (which is highly resonant and the source of feedback when interacting with a sound reinforcement system) is minimal. The downside of this design is that the amplified sound— though very stable and predictable—is somewhat less complex and acoustic than it would be if the sensor coupled more intimately with the wooden structure of the instrument.
Taken as a whole, this early example of a fully integrated, acoustic/electric instrument was a resounding success. The combination of a heavily braced top, a decoupled piezo-bridge pickup, and a fully integrated onboard preamp were exactly the right elements in making the PT-007S such a great working tool for high-volume stage environments.
Hats off to Takamine for their early innovation and a job well done!
Larry Fishman holds more than 30 patents in transducer and musical instrument design. He is president and founder of Fishman Transducers, which he began in his garage in 1981. In the early '90s, he also co-founded and managed Parker Guitars (which was later sold to U.S. Music Corp.) with his friend Ken Parker.


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Renewables – including solar power and wind energy – will become the world's second-largest source of power generation by 2015 and will close in on coal as the primary source by 2035, according to the recently released 2012 edition of the International Energy Agency's (IEA) World Energy Outlook (WEO).
However, this rapid increase hinges critically on continued subsidies, IEA stresses. In 2011, these subsidies (including for biofuels) amounted to $88 billion, but over the period to 2035 need to amount to $4.8 trillion. Over half of this has already been committed to existing projects or is needed to meet 2020 targets.
In its analysis, the IEA finds that the extraordinary growth in oil and natural-gas output in the U.S. will mean a sea change in global energy flows. In the 'New Policies Scenario,' the WEO's central scenario, the U.S. becomes a net exporter of natural gas by 2020 and is almost self-sufficient in energy, in net terms, by 2035.
In that scenario, North America emerges as a net oil exporter, accelerating the switch in direction of international oil trade, with almost 90% of Middle Eastern oil exports being drawn to Asia by 2035. Links between regional gas markets will strengthen as liquefied-natural-gas trade becomes more flexible and contract terms evolve, the IEA adds.
Fossil fuels will remain dominant in the global energy mix, supported by subsidies that, in 2011, jumped by almost 30% to $523 billion, due mainly to increases in the Middle East and North Africa. The IEA forecasts that global oil demand will grow by 7 mb/d to 2020 and will exceed 99 mb/d in 2035, by which time oil prices will reach $125/barrel in real terms (over $215/barrel in nominal terms).
The global outlook for natural gas over the coming decades predicts that demand will increase by 50% to 5 trillion cubic meters in 2035. Nearly half of the increase in production to 2035 will come from unconventional gas, with most of this coming from the U.S., Australia and China.
Whether demand for coal continues to rise will depend on the strength of policy decisions around lower-emissions energy sources and changes in the price of coal relative to natural gas, the report stresses. In the New Policies Scenario, global coal demand increases by 21% and is heavily focused in China and India.
Ambitions for nuclear power have been scaled back as countries have reviewed policies following the incident at Fukushima Daiichi, but capacity is still projected to rise, led by China, Korea, India and Russia.
Water is essential to the production of energy, and the energy sector already accounts for 15% of the world's total water use. Its needs are set to grow, making water an increasingly important criterion for assessing the viability of energy projects.
In some regions, water constraints are already affecting the reliability of existing operations, and they will introduce additional costs. Expanding power generation and biofuels output underpin an 85% increase in the amount consumed (the volume of water that is not returned to its source after use) through 2035.
The report can be downloaded here.