text:
Bartering is the key to success in all of whatever occurs. PURCHASE ITEMS AND FOOD NOW TO BARTER WHEN YOU NEED TO. Buy things specifically for those times when situations get rough as you will have living GOLD to exchange.
DO NOT HOARD (READ HERE!) as that creates its own problems, but be ready to barter whatever you think someone may value as an exchange during hard times. Have it ready for whatever situation may occur in your region in the near future, or after the 7 of 10.
How can one prepare for this financial situation if the grid stops working? What will be the expectations? It is likely most folks will hope the local community or government will provide for them. However, just take note of how the Asia Pacific flooding has been handled to get an idea of the kind of help one may get.
While the Financial Condition of the global economy is still spiraling, the Zetas mentioned before the PS there will be much bartering going on. With the 7 of 10 being expedited from the Christmas Hammer it is likely this will cause great havoc financially and socially. Just to add to that the world has absolutely NO IDEA what will be the new situation.
SOURCES: http://www.businessinsider.com/american-families-are-broke-2011-7?op=1 and
The crumbling U.S. economy is putting an extraordinary amount of financial stress on American families. For many Americans, "flat broke" has become a permanent condition. Today, over half of all American families live paycheck to paycheck. Unemployment is rampant and those that do actually have jobs are finding that their wages are rising much more slowly than prices are. The financial condition of average American families continues to decline and this is showing up in all of the recent surveys. For example, according to a new Gallup poll, "lack of money/low wages" is the number one financial concern for American families. To make ends meet, many American families are going into even more debt and more American families than ever are turning to government assistance. Right now, more Americans than at any other point since World War II are flat broke and have lost hope. Until this changes, the frustration level in this country is going to continue to grow.
The following are 10 facts about the financial condition of American families that will blow your mind.....
#1 Only 58 percent of Americans have a job right now.
#2 Only 56 percent of Americans are currently covered by employer-provided health insurance.
#3 The median yearly wage in the United States is $26,261.
#4 The average American household is carrying $75,600 in debt.
#5 Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
#6 At this point, American families are approximately 7.7 trillion dollars poorer than they were back in early 2007.
#7 The poorest 50% of all Americans now own just 2.5% of all the wealth in the United States.
#8 According to one study, approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States were living below the poverty line in 2010.
#9 Today, there are more than 44 million Americans on food stamps, and nearly half of them are children.
#10 According to Newsweek, close to 20 percent of all American men between the ages of 25 and 54 do not have a job at the moment.
So what is causing all of this?
Where in the world did all of the good jobs go?
Well, the truth is that millions of them have been shipped overseas.
Our politicians promised us that merging our economy with the economies of other nations where it is legal to pay slave labor wages to workers would not create more unemployment inside America.
They were dead wrong.
Now we are being told that we just need to accept a lower standard of living.
For example, billionaire Howard Marks says that it is time for all of us to just accept that the standard of living of American workers is inevitably going to decline to the level of the rest of the world....
"In addition to balancing the budget and growing the economy, I think we have to accept that the coming decades are likely to see U.S. standards of living decline relative to the rest of the world. Unless our goods offer a better cost/benefit bargain, there's no reason why American workers should continue to enjoy the same lifestyle advantage over workers in other countries. I just don't expect to hear many politicians own up to this reality on the stump."
Are you willing to accept that?
Meanwhile, the job losses continue to get worse. As I wrote about the other day, as the U.S. economy has started to slow down again we are starting to see another huge wave of layoffs all over America.
You can stop waiting for the "good jobs" to come back.
They aren't coming back.
That is one reason why I try to encourage everyone to become more independent of the system.
As our economic system continues to degenerate, Americans are going to become increasingly desperate.
Sadly, desperate people do desperate things. Already we are starting to see signs that the fabric of American society is starting to be ripped to shreds.
So what is going to happen if the economy gets even worse?
There is a limit to how many people we can actually put in prison. The reality is that the number of Americans in prison has nearly tripled since 1987.
Our prisons are already dangerously overcrowded. As society falls apart, many communities will simply not be able to shove more people behind bars.
Even with our prisons stuffed to the gills, many of our largest cities continue to be transformed into absolute hellholes.
Detroit is now the 3rd most dangerous city on the entire planet and New Orleans is now the 9th most dangerous city on the entire planet.
While we await the 7 to play out, mounting personal debt is having a slowing effect on preparation. How did it all start?? Here is an interesting video series on banks and debt (click the series).
With a slowing economy worldwide, little money is left to spend on preparing a Safe Location. But NOW is the time to do this. Unfortunately, anything which has not happened yet is trivial for some family members to face. Those who want to prepare are simply out of luck with assistance from those who don't see the need yet.
Are you able to afford moving to your Safe Location? Can you afford to buy land or a property AND build your own safe home? Got any extra money to help anyone else? Got just gas in the car and hoping for the best? Community building really should begin NOW before things get too difficult to prepare after the 7 of 10. Learn some basics of rugged living here if you can only just rough it.
http://www.youtube.com/user/councilonsper and you will be amazed!:
SOURCE: http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/the-mad-as-hell-generatio...
Millions upon millions of young Americans have completely lost faith in the U.S. economy and are mad as hell that their economic futures have been destroyed. The recent economic downturn has hit those under the age of 30 the hardest. Today, there are hordes of young people that should be entering their most productive years that are sitting home with nothing to do. Many of them have worked incredibly hard throughout high school and college. Many of them have stayed out of trouble and have done everything that "the system" asked them to do. But once they got finished with school, the promised "rewards" simply were not there. Instead, millions of young Americans are faced with crushing student loan debt loads in an economy where they can't find good jobs. When you are in your twenties, it can be absolutely soul-crushing to send out hundreds (or even thousands) of resumes and not get a single interview. Most of us grew up believing that we would "be something" when we got older, and millions of young Americans are having those dreams brutally crushed right now. Americans under the age of 30 voted for Barack Obama in droves back in 2008 because they believed that he would make things better. Instead, Barack Obama has made things even worse. Significant numbers of young Americans are starting to wake up and realize that neither political party is providing any real answers, and they are starting to get mad as hell about it.
Americans under the age of 30 don't want to hear that they are not going to be able to do better than their parents. They don't want to hear that they are going to have to "pay the price" because of the mistakes of previous generations. They don't want to hear that the "good jobs" that have been held out as a "carrot" for them all these years have disappeared and are not coming back.
Millions of young Americans want what was promised to them. They want good jobs that will enable them to enjoy the "American Dream". They want things to go back to the way that things used to work in America.
If you spend much time around those in their twenties, you know that many of them have a look of hopelessness in their eyes. Large numbers of them have moved back in with their parents. Large numbers of them are flipping burgers or working retail jobs part-time because that is all they can find. There are even a growing number of them that have given up entirely and have completely checked out.
So are we in the process of creating a "lost generation"?
The following are 20 reasons why millions of Americans under the age of 30 are giving up on the U.S. economy....
#1 Only 55.3% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 were employed last year. That was the lowest level that we have seen since World War II.
#2 Today, there are 5.9 million Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 that are living with their parents.
#3 The economic downturn has been particularly tough on men. According to Census data, men are twice as likely to live with their parents as women are.
#4 Amazingly, less than 30 percent of all U.S. teens had a job this summer.
#5 Approximately one out of every five Americans under the age of 30 is currently living in poverty.
#6 According to one recent survey, only 14 percent of all Americans that are 28 or 29 years old are optimistic about their financial futures.
#7 Since the year 2000, incomes for U.S. households led by someone between the ages of 25 and 34 have fallen by about 12 percent after you adjust for inflation.
#8 The cost of "getting an education" has become increasingly burdensome in recent years. Average yearly tuition at U.S. private universities is now up to $27,293. That figure has increased by 29% in just the past five years.
#9 In America today, approximately two-thirds of all college students graduate with student loans.
#10 Millions of young Americans are absolutely being financially strangled by horrific student loan debt loads. Sadly, the total amount of student loan debt in the United States now exceeds the total amount of credit card debt in the United States.
#11 In 2010, the average college graduate had accumulated approximately $25,000 in student loan debt by graduation day.
#12 One-third of all college graduates end up taking jobs that don't even require college degrees.
#13 In the United States today, there are more than 100,000 janitors that have college degrees.
#14 In the United States today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees.
#15 In the United States today, approximately 365,000 cashiers have college degrees.
#16 In the United States today, 24.5 percent of all retail salespersons have a college degree.
#17 As the economy has crumbled, fewer young Americans have been getting married. Today, an all-time low 44.2% of Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 are married.
#18 Young Americans are becoming increasingly frustrated as our politicians stand by and do nothing while our economy is being hollowed out. The sad truth is that United States has lost an average of 50,000 manufacturing jobs a month since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, and top politicians in both major political parties keep pushing for even more job-killing "free trade" agreements.
#19 Young Americans are becoming increasingly frustrated that pretty much the only jobs that seem to be available are low paying jobs. Back in 1980, less than 30% of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs. Today, more than 40% of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs.
#20 Young Americans are becoming increasingly frustrated that previous generations have saddled them with a 14 trillion dollar national debt that they are expected to make payments on for the rest of their lives.
A lot of young Americans swing back and forth between anger and despair. Many of them worked like crazy for years because of the promise of a better life, and now they are being bitterly disappointed. Just consider the following testimonial that was recently posted on The Atlantic....
I am in my mid-20s. I have a university education. I started working when I was 14. I have chemical burns and scars over my hands from dealing with caustic cleaning chemicals. I did not want that to be my life like my uncles. I had to get out. I worked very hard in high school and volunteered and was the member of clubs and all of that great stuff. I got into a good university and worked hard. I took a language course, took things that I loved. I worked through my degree - I was even a janitor in a building that I lived in, because I needed the cut in rent. I did that for no pay.
After these months of unemployment I have fallen into a pretty major depression. I live at home, I do chores, I look for work. As much as I want to get my life together, I have some great mental health issues to deal with - but have neither the money to purchase medication that may help me, nor the ability to pay for psychological or psychiatric help.
So what can be done?
Well, someone could wave a magic wand and fix the U.S. economy, but we all know that is not going to happen.
In fact, there is all kinds of evidence that the U.S. economy is about to get even worse.
So should we just tell our young people that they might as well just give up and start making rap videos about using food stamp cards like this one? (*Warning* The video contains some very strong language.)
The number of Americans on food stamps has increased by 74 percent since 2007. Millions of young people are learning that the only way to survive is to be dependent on the government.
It certainly does not help that our entire education system is deeply broken. For example, did you know that the verbal scores on the SAT for the class of 2011 were the lowest ever recorded?
Our students have become so "dumbed down" that large numbers of them can barely even function in society once they graduate.
That is not their fault.
That is our fault.
We have failed young Americans in so many ways that it would take a series of books to detail them all.
We can say that we are sorry, but that just isn't going to cut it.
Millions of young Americans want what was promised to them, but we no longer have it to give to them.
Anger in this nation is already starting to boil over in strange and unpredictable ways. If the economy gets even worse, we are going to have tens of millions of young Americans that are mad as hell and that are ready to riot in the streets.
What are we going to do then?
According to a recent Gallup poll, 81 percent of Americans are "dissatisfied with the way the nation is being governed".
That is not a sign of a healthy nation.
The sad truth is that the foundations of America are crumbling and we have millions upon millions of young people that are incredibly angry and incredibly frustrated.
It does not take a genius to figure out that is a recipe for disaster.
Wage pic source: http://cdn.front.moveon.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/MWoriginal.jpg
The new Barter System is emerging. Here is some Zeta Talk on it:
Dropping Dollar
Barter Systems: http://zetatalk.com/transfor/t109.htm
"In that one's skill sets can be considered a bartering item, one should examine their own skill set by the following exam. If you were in the middle of a wilderness, alone, what steps would you take to survive? What is the first skill that you would need, and not have? Whom do you know that you would wish about you, in such as circumstance? What is that skill that they possess, that you perhaps could develop? Imagine a group in such a setting, having arrivedat a land dump where various pieces of junk are about and could provide mechanical devices or shelter, if utilized creatively and resourcefully. How would you go about creating a comfortable home for yourself, and others, in such as situation? If you are clueless on how to use junk to structure a home, recycle and hook up, then perhaps you should work with a junk man, in his yard, and take lessons! What we are
telling you is that you should mentally put yourself in this setting, and you will have no difficulty determining what is useless or most worthwhile, in a skill set. If you are an accountant, and cannot translate this skill into
becoming a tailor or herdsman or cook, your skill is useless!"
Barter System to replace money in some regions: http://www.zetatalk.com/newsletr/issue119.htm
"We advise the common man, as we have in the past, to relieve
themselves of stock and jewels and paper money that will fall in value, perhaps suddenly and without warning. Better to stock up on things that will have value, candles and matches, school books and a guitar, than what the rich treasure."
Paper Promise: http://www.zetatalk.com/index/zeta156.htm
"During the Great Depression, the world was not beset with natural disaster after natural disaster, as is starting to occur today. Commerce, trade, was reduced due to lack of confidence but at the base, the economies were solid and recovery followed renewed confidence. Today, all countries are in a crisis affecting their base economies. We mentioned that Crop Failure would follow the irregular weather, and it did. But buildings collapsing in earthquakes, trains running off suddenly twisted tracks, factories exploding as gas lines breach, and storms tearing at coastlines without remorse do more than represent an opportunity to rebuild."
ZetaTalk Prediction 7/30/2011:
We have mentioned that the status quo is likely to be continued up to and even into the Last Weeks, as those who benefit from the status quo see no alternative for themselves. Bankrupt countries will continue to print money, devaluing their dollars, as the alternative is to declare bankruptcy, making their money virtually worthless. This attitude extends to corporations and the banking industry, where their failure is a specter too gruesome to contemplate, envisioned as making matters worse, so they are pumped up with loans or legislation to avoid failures and layoffs. It is the lack of alternatives that drives the process. This is a global issue. All are likely to stumble forward thus, maintaining the status quo, until the public has switched entirely to the barter system as the only medium of exchange that has any meaning.
In the Aftertime, the barter system will be the way of exchange as money will no longer exist. To make a gradual adjustment, it may be helpful to discuss it here if you like. Got any ideas on how to not get burned? How does one get the most out of the barter? Bartering is a skill that gets better with time. It is not our current system, so it must be understood so that it will work comfortably every time.
Got anything to share? What skills or trades work best in an Aftertime environment? How about what can be traded NOW before the 7 completes or before the PS?????
Showing the economic changes for better or worse may also be helpful to put things in perspective. Just as flooding of rain water is happening worldwide, economic statistics are SOARING for unemployment, bankruptcies, home foreclosures worldwide. Feel free to share input on that!
Rick Rickster
Views: 6111
Stockton CA on verge of bankruptcy. Wonder if this is a trend starting in other cities? Stockton is in the center of California, where CA is one of the largest single economies of the world.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/us/stockton-calif-moves-closer-to...
STOCKTON, Calif. — The signs of better times are easy to spot downtown: the picturesque marina on the San Joaquin Delta, the gleaming waterfront sports arena, and the handsome high-rise that was meant to house a new city hall. But those symbols are now bitter reminders of how bad things are here today: on Tuesday this city of almost 300,000 moved a step closer to becoming the nation's largest city to declare bankruptcy.
During a contentious meeting that stretched late into the night, the City Council decided, nearly unanimously, to begin mediation with public employee unions and major bond creditors in what is widely seen as the city's last-ditch attempt to restructure its finances outside of bankruptcy. Facing a budget deficit from $20 million to $38 million on a budget of roughly $165 million, the Council declared a fiscal emergency for the third year in a row.
"Right now we are a city that has frankly hit a wall," Mayor Ann Johnston told the Council and hundreds of city residents who attended the meeting. "If the players don't come together and agree to a fix, then we're all in big trouble."
Under a law passed by the California Legislature last year, cities must hire a third-party mediator to help negotiate with unions and debtors for a period of 90 days before declaring Chapter 9 bankruptcy. Stockton will be the first to test the new procedure. Nearby, Vallejo, Calif., declared bankruptcy in 2008, and Stockton has hired the same bankruptcy lawyer who represented that city.
Stockton officials say they hope mediation will allow them to avoid bankruptcy and indicated they might focus their push on reducing generous retiree health benefits. The city is also suspending $2 million in debt payments this year.
The city has already drastically cut back municipal staff, including the Police and Fire Departments. With nearly 100 fewer police officers than there were just four years ago, many residents fret about rising crime rates; there were 58 murders last year, an all-time high for the city.
City Manager Bob Deis blamed previous administrations for the city's troubles, saying that in his 32 years of municipal management he had "never seen such poor fiscal management practices."
Stockton, about an 80-mile drive east of San Francisco, boomed a decade ago, as eager buyers from Silicon Valley bought up homes in the area. But in the past several years, housing values have plummeted, and the city has steadily had one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country.
As pundits chatter about an economic recovery, 80 miles east of San Francisco you'll find a city (pop. 292,000) facing bankruptcy:
Stockton is on the verge of becoming the largest city in the United States to declare bankruptcy...
San Francisco Chronicle (3/4)
Bloomberg reports (2/25) that it costs the city $175,000 just to get a consulting firm's fiscal evaluation. Management Partners issued a report which said:
...the city took on a large amount of debt in anticipation of ongoing growth that now exceeds the city's ability to pay. Compensation packages exceeded sustainable levels and the city assumed a significant liability for improved retiree health coverage without sufficient recurring revenues to cover growing costs...
Stockton also has one of the nation's highest home foreclosure rates and has been called "Foreclosureville USA."
And Moody's just downgraded Stockton's rating to Ba2, which is two levels below investment grade.
In the same Bloomberg article, the California State Treasurer said "The reputational stain can bleed onto other local issuers and the state, and that can hurt taxpayers in the bond market."
Yet in recent months investors have been enamored with municipal bonds. Our December Financial Forecast said:
No matter how thick the storm clouds over state and city finances become, the belief in a bullet-proof municipal bond market just seems to grow. As the [chart below] shows, the ratio of AAA municipal bond yields to comparably-dated U.S. Treasury yields rose...in August.
...investors still believe munis are safe, but we'll stick with our bearish forecast...the evidence continues to mount that a change for the worse is underway. Deflation will only accentuate the impact of waning revenue streams, underfunded pension liabilities and bloated labor costs.
Financial Forecast, Dec. 2011
Other municipalities facing recent bankruptcy include:
Jefferson County, Alabama is the biggest U.S. municipality to face bankruptcy; Stockton is the biggest city.
In fact, as of December there were eleven municipal bankruptcies in 2011. Many other cities face extreme financial woes.
Economic recovery?
Look under the hood so you can see what kind of condition our economic engine is really in. Prepare for what's ahead.
In the last decade, financiers have speculated billions of pounds in food, helping to make prices dearer and more volatile
Sunday 01 April 2012
Speculation by large investment banks is driving up food prices for the world's poorest people, tipping millions into hunger and poverty. Investment in food commodities by banks and hedge funds has risen from $65bn to $126bn (£41bn to £79bn) in the past five years, helping to push prices to 30-year highs and causing sharp price fluctuations that have little to do with the actual supply of food, says the United Nations' leading expert on food.
Hedge funds, pension funds and investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Barclays Capital now dominate the food commodities markets, dwarfing the amount traded by actual food producers and buyers. Purely financial players, for example, account for 61 per cent of investment on the wheat futures market, according to the World Development Movement report Broken Markets.
Speculative investment in agricultural commodities in 2011 was 20 times the amount spent by all countries on agricultural aid. Goldman Sachs, the largest player in the agricultural commodities market, earned £600m from food speculation in 2009, and Barclays Capital, the world's third-largest player and largest British bank in this market, earned up to £340m in 2010, according to the report. Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital declined to comment.
Before it was deregulated in the year 2000, the agricultural commodities futures market was used mainly by farmers and food buyers seeking to insure themselves against changes in the prices of products such as wheat, maize and sugar. When George W Bush passed the Commodities Futures Modernization Act 12 years ago, there was an influx, led by Goldman Sachs, of purely financial players who had no interest in ever buying food, but who sought solely to profit from changes in food prices, says Olivier De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food.
He added: "What we are seeing now is that these financial markets have developed massively with the arrival of these new financial investors, who are purely interested in the short-term monetary gain and are not really interested in the physical thing – they never actually buy the ton of wheat or maize; they only buy a promise to buy or to sell. The result of this financialisation of the commodities market is that the prices of the products respond increasingly to a purely speculative logic. This explains why in very short periods of time we see prices spiking or bubbles exploding, because prices are less and less determined by the real match between supply and demand."
Food prices reached a 30-year high in 2008, sparking food riots from Mexico to Bangladesh. Prices rose even higher in September 2010 and, although they have dipped since, they remain above the 2008 crisis level. This has resulted in a "silent tsunami of hunger", according to the UN World Food Programme. High prices for basic foodstuffs, combined with the global economic slump, have pushed 115 million more people into hunger and poverty since 2008, bringing the total number of hungry people in the world today to 925 million.
High prices are "an absolute catastrophe" for poor consumers, says De Schutter, because they typically spend more than 60 per cent of their household budget on food.
03/25/2012 15:31 -0400
SOURCE: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/first-crack-270-billion-student-loans...
Back in late 2006 and early 2007 a few (soon to be very rich) people were warning anyone who cared to listen, about what cracks in the subprime facade meant for the housing sector and the credit bubble in general. They were largely ignored as none other than the Fed chairman promised that all is fine (see here). A few months later New Century collapsed and the rest is history: tens of trillions later we are still picking up the pieces and housing continues to collapse. Yet one bubble which the Federal Government managed to blow in the meantime to staggering proportions in virtually no time, for no other reason than to give the impression of consumer releveraging, was the student debt bubble, which at last check just surpassed $1 trillion, and is growing at $40-50 billion each month. However, just like subprime, the first cracks have now appeared. In a report set to convince borrowers that Student Loan ABS are still safe - of course they are - they are backed by all taxpayers after all in the form of the Family Federal Education Program - Fitch discloses something rather troubling, namely that of the $1 trillion + in student debt outstanding, "as many as 27% of all student loan borrowers are more than 30 days past due." In other words at least $270 billion in student loans are no longer current (extrapolating the delinquency rate into the total loans outstanding). That this is happening with interest rates at record lows is quite stunning and a loud wake up call that it is not rates that determine affordability and sustainability: it is general economic conditions, deplorable as they may be, which have made the popping of the student loan bubble inevitable. It also means that if the rise in interest rate continues, then the student loan bubble will pop that much faster, and bring another $1 trillion in unintended consequences on the shoulders of the US taxpayer who once again will be left footing the bill.
From Fitch:
Fitch believes most student loan asset-backed securities (ABS) transactions remain well protected due to the government guarantee on Family Federal Education Program (FFELP) loans. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York recently reported that as many as 27% of all student loan borrowers are more than 30 days past due. Recent estimates mark outstanding student loans at $900 billion- $1 trillion. Fitch believes that the recent increase in past-due and defaulted student loans presents a risk to investors in private student loan ABS, but not those in ABS trusts backed by FFELP loans.
Why is the bubble starting to pop now?
Several macroeconomic factors are putting pressure on student loan borrowers.......
.....Actually, no: the unemployment for 18-24 year olds is 46%. Yup: 46%.
Continued with Lots more info and detailed charts here.....!
If the grid goes down in Sweden, EVERYONE will be on the barter system immediately with this new development.
Vicar Johan Tyrberg in the Carl Gustaf Church in Karlshamn, southern Sweden, on Sept 7, 2011, stands next to a credit card machine enabling worshippers to donate money to the church collection without carrying money in their pockets. (AP Photo/Camilla Lindskog)
SOURCE: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57399610/sweden-moving-towards-...
(AP) STOCKHOLM - Sweden was the first European country to introduce bank notes in 1661. Now it's come farther than most on the path toward getting rid of them.
"I can't see why we should be printing bank notes at all anymore," says Bjoern Ulvaeus, former member of 1970's pop group ABBA, and a vocal proponent for a world without cash.
The contours of such a society are starting to take shape in this high-tech nation, frustrating those who prefer coins and bills over digital money.
In most Swedish cities, public buses don't accept cash; tickets are prepaid or purchased with a cell phone text message. A small but growing number of businesses only take cards, and some bank offices — which make money on electronic transactions — have stopped handling cash altogether.
"There are towns where it isn't at all possible anymore to enter a bank and use cash," complains Curt Persson, chairman of Sweden's National Pensioners' Organization.
He says that's a problem for elderly people in rural areas who don't have credit cards or don't know how to use them to withdraw cash.
The decline of cash is noticeable even in houses of worship, like the Carl Gustaf Church in Karlshamn, southern Sweden, where Vicar Johan Tyrberg recently installed a card reader to make it easier for worshippers to make offerings.
"People came up to me several times and said they didn't have cash but would still like to donate money," Tyrberg says.
Bills and coins represent only 3 percent of Sweden's economy, compared to an average of 9 percent in the eurozone and 7 percent in the U.S., according to the Bank for International Settlements, an umbrella organization for the world's central banks.
Three percent is still too much if you ask Ulvaeus. A cashless society may seem like an odd cause for someone who made a fortune on "Money, Money, Money" and other ABBA hits, but for Ulvaeus it's a matter of security.
After his son was robbed for the third time he started advocating a faster transition to a fully digital economy, if only to make life harder for thieves.
"If there were no cash, what would they do?" says Ulvaeus, 66.
The Swedish Bankers' Association says the shrinkage of the cash economy is already making an impact in crime statistics.
The number of bank robberies in Sweden plunged from 110 in 2008 to 16 in 2011 — the lowest level since it started keeping records 30 years ago. It says robberies of security transports are also down.
"Less cash in circulation makes things safer, both for the staff that handle cash, but also of course for the public," says Par Karlsson, a security expert at the organization.
more here....
Solidarity among crisis-hit Greeks is showing up in unexpected places these days.
At one end of Thessaloniki's long, cafe-lined seafront, behind the 15th-century White Tower that is the city's symbol, is the resplendent main stage of the National Theatre of Northern Greece (NTNG), as imposing a temple to high culture as anyone could wish for.
Here the curtain is about to go up on a six-week season of plays, including works by Edward Albee, Harold Pinter and Jean Genet, that will be performed by members of the theatre's 100-strong troupe of actors under the banner Social Theatreshop.
What's novel is that theatregoers coming to see the Social Theatreshop productions will pay for their tickets not with money but with food, which the theatre's staff will then distribute among half a dozen charities and welfare organisations in the city.
"We are, everyone knows it, in a very, very bad situation," said the deputy artistic director, Giannis Rigas, who like everyone else involved in the project is not being paid for it.
"We thought we, actors, technicians, directors, have to do something for people who now have so little money that they are going hungry.
"But this isn't charity, it's a fair exchange: food for theatre. And it's also a nice way to bring people back to the theatre: put it back where it belongs, in the middle of the community."
The opening play in the season, directed by Rigas, is a Greek repertoire classic from 1946 by Alekos Sakellarios. The NTNG is staging the piece, it says, to mark the 20th anniversary of the playwright's death.
The title suggests another motive may be lurking somewhere behind the scenes: it is called The Germans Strike Again.
"It's about a poor Greek guy who falls asleep after the war and dreams that the Germans have come back," said Rigas, straight-faced.
"It's about the way we Greeks respond when we are under pressure. We usually quarrel, of course. But this play says: be cool, find our own way – otherwise the Germans will just keep coming back."
In the present circumstances, he conceded, it was perhaps an apt message.
Choice of play aside, the goal of the Social Theatreshop, Rigas said, was "to say to absolutely everyone in our community that we too, in the theatre, have them in our minds".
Greek theatre, he said, is in dire straits: "Theatres are closing around the country. We have no money – well, we have a little, but it c
Let the Barter System Begin! This is a major development in Greece, likely to take the world by storm in economic hard times now and to come!
SOURCE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2012/mar/18/greece-breadline-p...
A scheme letting consumers buy food straight from producers is typical of the inventive ways Greeks are finding to get by.
There's some dispute about where and when it all started, but Christos Kamenides, genial professor of agricultural marketing at the University of Thessaloniki, is pretty confident he and his students have made sure it's not about to stop any time soon.
What's sure is that the so-called potato movement, through which thousands of tonnes of potatoes and other agricultural produce – including, hopefully, next month, Easter lamb – are being sold directly to consumers by their producers, is taking off across Greece.
"It's because everyone benefits," said Kamenides, standing in a clearing in the woods above Thessaloniki in front of one 25-tonne truck of potatoes, another of onions, and smaller vans of rice and olives. "Consumers gets good-quality food for a third of the price they would normally pay, and the producers get their money straight away."
As devised by Kamenides and his students, it's a simple system. Their brainwave was to involve Greece's local municipalities, lending the movement a degree of both organisation and official encouragement that it might otherwise have lacked.
So: a town hall announces a sale. Locals sign up for what they want to buy. The town hall then tells Kamenides the quantity required and he and his students call local farmers to see who can supply it. They show up with the requisite amount of produce at the appointed place and time, meet their consumers, and the deal is done.
The direct sales are immensely popular. One organised last month by volunteers in Katerini, south of Thessaloniki, last month saw an online offer of 24 tonnes of potatoes sell out within four days, with 534 families pre-ordering.
"Today," said Kamenides, "we have one truck here, and two in another municipality up the road. Tomorrow we have a sale with four trucks – that's 100 tonnes of potatoes, straight from the producer to the consumer, with nobody in the middle pushing up prices."
The movement, said Elisabet Tsitsopoulou, one of the women queuing up to buy, is "extremely important. Salaries here are so low now, and still falling, but the price of everything seems to stay just as high as it ever was. This is much cheaper, much less than half price."
Tsitsopoulou bought five 25kg bags of potatoes for her family and her neighbours. "The other advantage," she said, "is that you can see the quality and where the produce comes from. With supermarkets, you can never really be sure. It's just a brilliant system."
The producers are equally delighted. Apostolos Kasapis said the principal benefit for him was that "I get paid straight away. The profit is not very high, just a bit above the production cost, but
SOURCE: http://americankabuki.blogspot.com/p/131-resignations-from-world-ba...
More resignations continue....
SOURCE: http://stratrisks.com/geostrat/4494
Source: FT
Illinois' financial problems are forcing it to choose between its pensions and its teeth.
Governor Pat Quinn says the state needs to face its "rendezvous with reality" and tackle its dysfunctional budget habits. Top of the list, Mr Quinn says, is to slash spending on Medicaid, a federal programme that provides healthcare to poor Americans.
To save a system he says is "on the brink of collapse", Mr Quinn proposes cutting $2.7bn from Illinois' $11.5bn Medicaid bill. Few would dispute that the state needs to change its behaviour. Last year, Illinois underfunded Medicaid by $2bn as it struggled with debts totalling more than $280bn, an $86bn hole in its public pension funds and a $9bn backlog of unpaid bills.
The Medicaid tab has grown since the financial crisis, which pushed more people into poverty. In 2007, 2.1m Illinois residents were eligible for the low-income programme. Today, 2.7m qualify – 1.7m of them children, according to the state's department of healthcare and family services.
Milona Van Kanegan, a dentist at a clinic serving poor adults in Humboldt Park, a neighbourhood in West Chicago with a high population of Latin American immigrants, says cuts could have a devastating effect on her patients. She worries that thousands of people across Illinois could be excluded from the system.
"Now, people are getting care because they are insured," she says. "If they're pushed out, they'll ignore their problems and their teeth will just get worse and worse. Dental disease is cumulative. It builds up over years of neglect."
The risk that decades of financial mismanagement in Illinois could be paid for with the teeth of some of its poorer residents is a vivid demonstration of the ways average Americans' lives will be affected as the US tackles its local, state and federal debts. The irony is that because Medicaid is jointly funded by the state and the federal government, cuts at the state level also will help reduce the US deficit, since Washington matches state money.
To stem the growing shortfall in its public pension funds, Illinois pledged to pay its full pension obligations – $5.2bn next year – without borrowing, something budget watchdog groups have long urged it to do.
However, the state can only afford to do this by cutting sharply elsewhere. "This represents the 'crowding out' of spending as a result of the demands of the pension system," says Joshua Rauh of Northwestern University.
In that sense, Illinois – which has the most underfunded public pension system in the US – could be a leading indicator for a pension crunch that will hit other cash-strapped states. "We're going to see more and more states cutting spending to meet pension obligations mandated by the state's own statutes," says Prof Rauh.
In Illinois, the axe will not just fall on healthcare spending. Among other big cuts, Mr Quinn also proposes closing two state prisons and six halfway houses. Already, the system's 48,620 inmates are crammed into space designed to hold 33,704, according to the state's department of corrections.
The budget squeeze comes a year after Illinois hiked taxes, raising corporate tax rates from 7.3 per cent to 9.5 per cent and income tax from 3 per cent to 5 per cent. However, that has been undermined by tax cuts for companies – including Sears, truckmaker Navistar and futures exchange CME Group – designed to prevent them moving to lower-tax states.


text:
Official *What did you get in the mail today?* Thread!!!
Yesterday I went to the mailbox and low and behold…..Steep City Tea samples!!! I couldn't wait to so tried the citrus sunshine oolong. It was amazing and the sample size was probably enough for 2 samplings….but alas I used it all. I hope the other 3 samples from steep city are as good, because I loved the first one.
received my verdant reserve club box for march yesterday
Yesterday I got my swap from Sil. No one bothered to tell me it came though, I found it sitting on the chair by the door this morning. Kids I tell ya!
I joined Verdant's Tea Of The Month Club and got my 3 free trial samples today, Can't wait to get the full ounces next month :)
Awesome trade with Marcel Duchamp! Thank you Marcel!
And a surprise box from a much loved vendor of samples to share!
Will be organizing and sending some surprise goodies out to trade buddies soon!
AND my RLT Matcha Latte Samples! WOOT!
Red Leaf Tea Matcha latte testers!
Design-A-Tea samples. (And bonus samples). :)
I'm having banana rum rooibos.
I got my Nina's samples and my Swap Teas from Emilie. Thanks guys!!!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Power Authority Donates Computers to City Schools in Buffalo
May 6, 2004
The New York Power Authority, which has a policy of providing surplus computer equipment to New York's public schools, is sending 20 computers to Buffalo for use by students attending the Buffalo City Schools.
Louis P. Ciminelli, chairman of the Power Authority and a resident of Buffalo, said, "Governor Pataki has consistently provided strong support to public education. This program, developed at his urging, helps enhance that commitment by giving school children here in Buffalo, as well as elsewhere, access to technology that will help them prepare for productive lives and careers."
The 20 computers for the Buffalo Schools have been turned over to Computers for Children, Inc., a non-profit organization formed to accept computer donations and arrange delivery and set-up in area schools.
"Computers for Children looks for corporate partners like the Power Authority to help support local computer programs to underserved students and schools," said Christine Carr, managing director. "When a company decides to upgrade their computers and donate the gently used computers to Computers For Children--students win! This contribution helps us to put more computers into the hands that need them, and to minimize the disparity between the computer haves and have-nots."
The Power Authority uses about 1,700 computers in its normal operations and replaces about 400 to 500 computers each year.
The surplus equipment is thoroughly cleaned and provided with a minimum of 64 megabytes of memory. The computers have been tested with a new installation of the operating system and any missing or broken parts have been replaced.


text:
Topic: Having trouble sending email through my SMTP on SliceHost
I am currently trying to add in the traditional register confirmation email on an app I am building. I am currently developing it on my laptop, and testing it locally. Using postfix as my mail service on my vps (slicehost). When the create action is called for the user, it times out, and here is the error(s) I receive:
Timeout::Error in UsersController#create
execution expired
RAILS_ROOT: /home/aaron/Documents/rails/booklist
Application Trace | Framework Trace | Full Trace
/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/timeout.rb:60:in `open'
/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/net/smtp.rb:551:in `do_start'
/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/net/smtp.rb:551:in `do_start'
/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/net/smtp.rb:525:in `start'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionmailer-2.3.4/lib/action_mailer/base.rb:682:in `perform_delivery_smtp'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionmailer-2.3.4/lib/action_mailer/base.rb:523:in `__send__'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionmailer-2.3.4/lib/action_mailer/base.rb:523:in `deliver!'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionmailer-2.3.4/lib/action_mailer/base.rb:395:in `method_missing'
/home/aaron/Documents/rails/booklist/app/controllers/users_controller.rb:82:in `create'
Here's my bit of code that states the smtp info:
config.action_mailer.smtp_settings = {
:address => 'mail.agmprojects.com',
:port => 25,
:domain => 'agmprojects.com',
:authentication => :login,
:user_name => 'firstname.lastname@example.com',
:password => 'password'
In terms of the password being correct or not, I do not recall setting one up with postfix. Is their a default as part of it? (If so, I should seriously change it). Or is it the same as the shell access?
Another thought is how I have my iptables setup. I do allow port 25 to send email out and that, but I wonder if because I am using it externally, that it may cause trouble.


text:
Debates of March 13th, 1997
House of Commons Hansard #144 of the 35th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was copyright.
- Privilege
- Government Response To Petitions
- Customs Act
- Depository Bills And Notes Act
- Constitution Act, 1997 (Representation)
- Petitions
- Questions On The Order Paper
- Canada Labour Code
- Copyright Act
- Violence
- The Late Paul-Émile Robert
- Endangered Species
- Rural Development
- Chaplin Family Ymca
- John Craig
- Health
- Organized Crime
- Fibromyalgia
- Youth Internship Program
- Taxation
- Land Mines
- Status Of Women
- Member For Beaver River
- Cycling
- Liberal Party Of Canada
- Somalia Inquiry
- Haiti
- The Economy
- National Defence
- Taxation
- Israel
- Justice
- Government Programs
- Grand Rapids
- Somalia Inquiry
- Dubbing Industry
- Somalia Inquiry
- Burma
- Fisheries
- Business Of The House
- Copyright Act
- Points Of Order
- Copyright Act
- Motion To Extend Hours Of Sitting
- Copyright Act
- Private Members' Business
- Copyright Act
- Program Cost Declaration Act
- Copyright Act
Copyright Act
Government Orders
1:35 p.m.
Bill Gilmour Comox—Alberni, BC
Mr. Speaker, I would like to continue in the vein of my colleague on used books.
The government is proposing a penalty on used books. Used text books which are largely used by college students or universities could not be imported.
Copyright Act
Government Orders
1:35 p.m.
An hon. member
That is false.
Copyright Act
Government Orders
1:35 p.m.
Bill Gilmour Comox—Alberni, BC
A member across is saying it is false. We do not share that opinion. We feel this clause should be deleted. It is redundant.
Who does this penalize? It penalizes the students. I also address my comments to the nine pages in the House. These students spend time in the House learning about our parliamentary system and at the same time they attend university. These pages should not have to pay double for textbooks.
However, there is a deeper picture here. Why is the government penalizing students? Why is it not letting business take place? Business should operate on its own and should not be subsidized by government. If it cannot do that, it will go under.
On the one hand the government is saying it is going to charge students $5 million more for books. On the other hand there is an $87 million gift to Bombardier. What kind of picture does this paint of the Liberal idea of business? It is absolutely wrong.
This will be pushed forward. The Liberals will have loaded up the Senate. There will be no restriction in the Senate because the Liberals will push it through, another dysfunctional system.
I would like to go back to my university days. When I was in university books were a major cost. The fact that I was able to sell those books the next year either back to the university or to other students was part of my accounting for going into the next year. If I was not able to sell those books it would have been an additional cost, a cost I could not afford.
I again go back to where the Liberals are coming from. Why penalize students? Look at the pages here. Why should they be forced to pay another $5 million because the government wants to penalize them? It is absolutely wrong.
There is nothing wrong with recycled books. A book can be used many times. Why should it only be used once? It is because these people across the way are saying they will subsidize the publishing industry. That is basically wrong. This motion is redundant, wrong and should be deleted.
Copyright Act
Government Orders
1:40 p.m.
Jim Abbott Kootenay East, BC
Madam Speaker, I think it might be of value to take a look at part of the proposed act here that we are saying is redundant and wrong.
Clause 45 states that notwithstanding anything in this act, it is lawful for a person to important copies made with the consent of the owner of the copyright in the country where they were made of any used books. As far as that goes, that is fine, but the government is adding "except where textbooks of a scientific, technical or scholarly nature for use within an educational institution in a course instruction". How can the government say it is not relevant or not redundant?
It defies any logic to understand how even in a place like this where there is heckling from time to time, certainly not from our side, government members can possibly heckle and say that this clause does not have anything to do with textbooks. How can they say it does not have anything to do with the words I just read when those are the words they want to put into the act?
The result of this is going to be very detrimental not only to students but to businesses serving students who presently have a situation where there is a flow of textbooks back and forth. We have an open border situation that works very well. In fact, there are thousands of people who are either part time students or who are working on campus who are involved in this particular business. There is a business going back and forth. What the Liberals want to do, for whatever reason, is stop this business. The result is it will not only cost students many tens of thousands of dollars and perhaps millions of dollars additional to the cost of their being able to get themselves educated with the textbooks prescribed by their institutions, but it is also going to put in jeopardy literally thousands of jobs of either part time students or people working on the campus serving the students.
How in the world can government members turn around and say that it does not have anything to do with textbooks when the amendment states "textbooks"?
To give the House an idea of where some of these concerns are coming from I will read from a news bulletin put out by the CAUT entitled "Ambushed by the Heritage Committee": "Angst, combat, defeat and endurance, rather than terms describing warring nations or Olympic co-operation, have been the hallmarks of the proposed Canadian copyright legislation known as Bill C-32". For those who are just tuning in to the copyright saga, angst refers to the cumulative facts of the CAUT, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries, the Association of Canadian Community Colleges, the Canadian school boards and the Canadian Teachers Federation. These people are deeply concerned not only about this part of the copyright law but other parts of it. Let us just stay on this part.
What is the net result of the entire process? It is being held together with chewing gum and baling wire. As a matter of fact the scotch tape is starting to show. This entire process has been so flawed that the members cannot even read the bill where it says "except textbooks of a scientific, technical or scholarly nature".
These people who are after all educators or are involved in higher education in Canada state, as is pointed out in this article: "The manner in which the amendments were pushed through the committee in just a few hours, many without prior consent from representatives of the jointly responsible Industry Canada, left onlookers aghast".
We are involved in a process that the government does not seem to understand. I will admit to a degree of partisanship when I speak about the heritage minister and the way that she has handled this, but really this bill has nothing to do with partisanship. This bill has everything to do with attempting to create a balance between the creators and the users of material, whatever that material is, whatever those creations are.
To give the House an idea of what I am talking about, there was some discussion in committee about another section of the bill and the term "commercially available". This has a real impact as well on universities and teaching institutions.
For example, under educational institutions, section 29.4, because of the committee amendments to commercially available, would impact educational institutions if they were to photocopy a poem or any document created by Margaret Atwood for an
overhead projection in a high school class. That would be an infringement of copyright.
If an educational institution was to make a photographic slide of a painting by Alex Colville, a living Canadian artist, that could be projected on to the screen for purposes of teaching an art class, that would be an infringement of copyright.
If that institution was to photocopy a chapter from a very hard to find book and the class was asked to write a short literary criticism or an explanation of that document, that would be an infringement.
If, as part of an examination students were required to translate a poem into French, this invokes both reproduction and translation under section 29.4(2).
Libraries and archives or museums are being impacted if they make a cassette production for use by patrons of an original recording of a Canadian artist, now deceased, reading his own poetry in the early sixties, the condition of the original is such that it could not be handed directly to the patrons. This entire bill is patchwork and many of those patches, many of the holes do not even line up any more.
I return to my original thesis. I do not know the reasons why this clause was inserted into the bill. It is going to create a very serious situation for students. We will be increasing the costs to people getting an education as a result of the oversight or the accidental inclusion of this clause. There does not seem to be any particularly good reason for the inclusion of it.
The problem is that the entire bill from stem to gunnel is a patchwork that is falling apart and the scotch tape is not going to do the job.
Copyright Act
Government Orders
1:50 p.m.
Gaston Leroux Richmond—Wolfe, QC
Madam Speaker, I wish to intervene because what I am hearing is totally wrong, and people should not be allowed to say such utter nonsense.
First of all, this morning I took great pride in being in this House to consider Bill C-32 which concerns phase II of the copyright modernization process. For many years, the performing arts community has been waiting for this bill, and the government had to do something to update the existing legislation.
As I said this morning, in committee we worked long hours and heard more than 65 groups of witnesses from across Canada, people representing performers, radio, television and various educational institutions and museums. We did a very thorough job in committee because we felt that all the groups and associations that appeared before the committee had important things to say and some very specific recommendations to make.
We made a point of carefully listening to and considering what was said, bearing in mind the objective of Bill C-32 on copyright, which is to introduce new rights, including neighbouring rights, for performers, to add other mechanisms and forms of legal recourse for artists, and, as far as book distribution is concerned, to make some major changes to prevent parallel imports.
We also did a major job in committee when we considered this bill with all the amendments. The Bloc Quebecois alone proposed 75 amendments. The government also worked very hard on proposing amendments after hearing all these groups. However, I must say that while the committee worked very hard on this bill, the Reform Party members were conspicuous by their absence. They did not attend the discussions on the amendments, and were absent throughout the process of determining what was useful and what should be included in the bill. Today, they stand up and say that this bill was hastily cobbled together and that there were some last minute amendments.
I may recall that this bill goes beyond political considerations. This bill concerns performers and the very important cultural industry, and the official opposition will not tolerate members in this House criticizing the work of a committee and its approach, while they were conspicuous by their absence.
Today, people who worked with very specific objectives in mind are being accused of proceeding with undue haste and proposing amendments at the last minute. Speaking for the official opposition, I say no, that is not what happened.
I wanted today to be a memorable day in this House when, at last, the Copyright Act, which goes back to 1924, was revised the first time in 1988 and is aimed at serving the interests of creators and authors as well as the interests of those who use their works, will now follow the legislative process and move on to third reading.
I strongly urge the Reform Party to rise above its own partisan considerations and this attempt at obstruction, and work on this bill, instead of trying to make political mileage at the expense of creators, young people, students and our pages, no less. Talk about rhetoric!
Copyright Act
Government Orders
1:55 p.m.
Jim Abbott Kootenay East, BC
Madam Speaker, a point of order. I realize I am listening to the English translation, but I believe the member used an unparliamentary word which was translated as demagogues. I wish he would withdraw that word.
Copyright Act
Government Orders
1:55 p.m.
The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Ringuette-Maltais)
My understanding is that it was said in a general context and not directly at a member in particular.
Copyright Act
Government Orders
1:55 p.m.
Gaston Leroux Richmond—Wolfe, QC
Madam Speaker, I would like to point out that the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage held nearly 25 meetings, heard 68 witnesses, spent a total of85 hours on committee work, analyzed in excess of 190 briefs. It is unacceptable for Reform Party members to accuse committee members from the government and the official opposition alike of having done a poor job, of having botched this bill, especially when the hon. member saying so chose to absent himself from the committee and to practice empty-chair politics.
He has just voiced concerns about the amendment relating to photographers. I would remind him, since he had difficulty understanding that amendment, that I took my inspiration from the British copyright legislation. There has been much reference to copyrights in other countries. He ought to try to understand the amendment in the light of the British copyright legislation.
Today we must refuse any attempt to dispose of a major bill in its second review phase, which must be revised in five years.
This bill refers to collective societies, which represents authors and creators. We worked very hard on this major instrument, which is aimed at making it possible for these societies to speak with users and reach agreements with them. There is also a copyright board to govern the mechanisms.
I invite the Reform Party to rise above partisan politics and to give this bill a chance to survive, for the good of creators and users both.
This will be a great day if we manage to rise above political interests and to work strictly on behalf of authors and the cultural industry.
Copyright Act
Government Orders
1:55 p.m.
The Speaker
My colleagues, we will get back to this if necessary after Oral Question Period.
It being almost 2 p.m., the House will now proceed to Statements by Members.
Statements By Members
March 13th, 1997 / 1:55 p.m.
Paddy Torsney Burlington, ON
Mr. Speaker, this morning we all awoke to the horrifying news that six youngsters in Israel were murdered in an ambush today. Our hearts go out to the families, friends and those who were injured. So too our hearts are heavy with the knowledge that on this day one year ago 16 children and their teacher were massacred in Dunblane, Scotland.
While these incidents and others such as the massacres in Montreal and Tasmania are always heart wrenching, they are even more so when children are the targeted victims. Innocent children in Israel and in Scotland were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The world lost unrealized potential and some of its innocence.
We much each make a renewed commitment to ending violence in the world and in our own backyards.
The Late Paul-Émile Robert
Statements By Members
1:55 p.m.
Maurice Dumas Argenteuil—Papineau, QC
Mr. Speaker, Montreal has just lost one of its leading citizens, with the death at age 76 of Paul-Émile Robert, the "figurehead of the nationalist movement", as he was referred to in yesterday's Le Devoir .
I had the honour to know Paul-Émile Robert when he was president of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montréal in the early 1960s. I held the same position for Saint-Jérôme, so we had occasion to meet regularly.
In 1965, this ardent nationalist spearheaded the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montréal's commitment in favour of Quebec sovereignty.
His militancy in defence of the French fact led him to create a foundation for the defence of francophones outside Quebec, the Fondation J.-Donat Langelier. He was also involved in the Montreal municipal scene, where he was a municipal councillor for close to 15 years.
I extend my most sincere personal condolences, as well as those of the Bloc Quebecois, to those who mourn the passing ofMr. Robert.
Endangered Species
Statements By Members
2 p.m.
John Duncan North Island—Powell River, BC
Mr. Speaker, Canadians of all walks of life and persuasions agree on a vision which includes protecting endangered species.
When the government first proposed endangered species legislation last year it entered into consultations and a committee process. The consultative process excluded rural Canada and Canada east of Ontario.
The way the bill has been amended in the most recent version has changed the thrust of the legislation so significantly that original supporters are now in open revolt.
A grand coalition including business, workers and communities in British Columbia is appealing for the bill to be scrapped and replaced with responsible endangered species legislation. It feels strongly that species protection must be designed both by scientists and democratically accountable officials and not in the courts.
We do not want to obtain the same results that were obtained south of us where there has been massive social and economic hardship and 25 years of ongoing litigation.
I ask the minister to scrap the bill.
Rural Development
Statements By Members
2 p.m.
Len Taylor The Battlefords—Meadow Lake, SK
Mr. Speaker, I thank members of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources who participated in the preparation of the report on rural development tabled yesterday in the House.
The report identifies a fairly well defined road down which we can travel to restore economic health to rural communities. The problem is that the prescription is three years too late.
Even the Liberals understand that their own policies during the last three years have taken a lot out of rural communities. For us on the prairies the loss of the $720 million annual contribution known as the Crow benefit means that every rural elevator point on the prairies loses about $1 million in local farm income every year.
Liberal government decisions like that one have made it difficult for rural communities to maintain the jobs they currently have let alone work to create new ones. It is important to acknowledge how valuable rural Canada is to the overall well-being of our nation. We must work toward rebuilding it, but let us not forget that the Liberals created a lot of the obstacles we now have to jump over.
Chaplin Family Ymca
Statements By Members
2 p.m.
Janko Peric Cambridge, ON
Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the city of Cambridge, the Ontario government and the many individuals and businesses that worked together to complete the new $10 million Chaplin Family YMCA in Cambridge.
Citizens and local businesses generously contributed a total of $3.1 million toward the project. The Chaplin family of Cambridge alone contributed more than $500,000.
This co-operative effort shows the people of Cambridge are in touch with the concerns of the greater community and that notions of civic responsibility and giving back to the community are what make Cambridge a great place to live.
John Craig
Statements By Members
2 p.m.
John O'Reilly Victoria—Haliburton, ON
Mr. Speaker, I take this opportunity to congratulate John Craig, a student from Haliburton Highlands High School.
At the age of 16, John has started his own business. John's business is a fitness facility in the village of Haliburton, Ontario. Along with the business, John gets great grades, plays on the football and cross-country teams, participates in drama and works weekends at an electronics store.
The idea for the business came when the old fitness facility in Haliburton closed. John leased the facility, brought in weights from his house and purchased additional ones. All this cost him $5,500 and if he gets an aerobics class it will cost him another $700.
His brother, Dan, has helped him considerably, along with his friends. His rent is considerably less than that of the last tenant but the most important factor will be his client base. John is working on that by placing flyers around the community and placing ads in the local paper.
I wish John all the best with his small business endeavour.


text:
Xerox Office Copier 5009r/e Toner Cartridges
LD Products no longer carries the 6R359 laser toners for the Xerox Office Copier 5009r/e. We strive to carry the largest selection of ink and toner cartridges. Unfortunately, there are only a few Xerox Office Copier 5009r/e printers out there, and even fewer compatible or remanufactured supplies, therefore, we no longer stock these laser toners.
If you still have the Xerox Office Copier 5009r/e printer and need laser toner, you might want to consider upgrading to a new printer instead. More


text:
Lynn Cooley, PhD
Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; C. N. H. Long Professor of Genetics and Professor of Cell Biology and of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology; Dean, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Research Interests
Biology; Cell Biology; Drosophila; Genetics; Actin Cytoskeleton; Molecular Biology; Oogenesis
Research Organizations
Animal Organogenesis
Genomics, Genetics, and Epigenetics
Stem Cells and Tissue Repair
Research Summary
We are interested in the cellular mechanisms that underlie polarity and cell growth during development. Our research is focused on understanding how maternal components are made and delivered to oocytes during Drosophila oogenesis. Using mutants with incomplete oocyte growth, we have discovered key roles for the actin cytoskeleton. For example, the ring canals connecting growing oocytes with their nurse cells are stabilized by a special population of bundled actin filaments.
The dramatic growth of ring canals during oogenesis requires both actin polymerization and depolymerization, making ring canals a valuable model for in vivo actin dynamics. The polarized movement of maternal mRNA and protein through ring canals from nurse cells to the oocyte is highly regulated. We identified proteins specifically targeted to the oocyte by GFP protein trapping; we are determining the mechanism of targeting using both live imaging and molecular dissection of the proteins to identify localization signals.
Specialized Terms: Molecular Genetics of Drosophila Oogenesis; Actin Cytoskeleton Regulation; Drosophila; Oogenesis; Ring Canal; Ovarian Muscle Function
Extensive Research Description
Gametes are the ultimate stem cells with the capacity to produce entire
new organisms. We study cellular mechanisms of gamete development using
Drosophila as a model system. We are focused on the development of
female germline cells, from their early differentiation into oocytes or
nurse cells, through the control of oocyte growth during oogenesis. In
addition, we study the role of ovarian muscles in the progression of
developing egg chambers through the ovary.
Early germline development in animals, including flies, relies on a non-canonical form of mitosis. Daughters of germline stem cells undergo a tightly controlled number of mitotic cell divisions with incomplete cytokinesis so that bridges of cytoplasm remain to connect clusters of sister cells. These residual connections are transformed into stable intercellular junctions called ring canals, which are needed for oocyte growth.
In females, this transformation involves recruiting a highly dynamic actin cytoskeleton and many associated actin-binding proteins. Using a variety of genetic and molecular approaches, we have identified many ring canal proteins, and we are actively working toward characterizing their functions. We are also studying the role of ring canals in the polarized transport of maternal mRNAs, proteins and organelles from nurse cells and to the oocyte.
While ring canals are ubiquitous in germline cells, their presence and function in somatic cells are largely unexplored. In order to understand how these fascinating structures contribute to the biology of non-germline cells, we are characterizing somatic ring canals in epithelial cells of the Drosophila ovary and imaginal discs using cell biology and genetics.
Recently we discovered a novel muscle type in the Drosophila ovary that contains striated sarcomeres, but only a single nucleus. This indicates the muscles did not form by typical myoblast fusion. Importantly, the presence of one nucleus means we can use powerful genetic clonal analysis to analyze the effects of mutations affecting muscle proteins, including those associated with human musclular dystrophy. In addition, we can study proliferation of these muscles in adults and the pool of progenitor stem cells that supply new muscle cells in adults.
Selected Publications
- Hudson, A.M. and Cooley, L. (2014) Methods for studying oogenesis. In: Drosophila Developmental Biology Methods. Elsevier.
- Yan, D., Neumüller, R., Buckner, M., Ayers, K., Li, H., Hu, Y., Yang-Zhou, D., Pan, L., Wang, X., Kelley, C., Vinayagam, A., Binari, R., Randklev, S., Perkins, L.A., Xie, T., Cooley, L, and Perrimon, N. (2014) A regulatory network of Drosophila germline stem cell self-renewal. Dev. Cell 28, 459-473.
- McLean, P. and Cooley, L. (2013) Protein equilibration through somatic ring canals in Drosophila. Science 340: 1445-1447.
- Neelakanta, G., Hudson, A.M., Sultana, H., Cooley, L. and Fikrig, E. (2012) Expression of Ixodes scapularis antifreeze glycoprotein enhances cold tolerance in Drsosophila melanogaster. (2012) PLoS One 7: e33447.
- Airoldi, S.J., McLean, P., Shimada, Y and Cooley, L. (2011) Intercellular protein movement in syncytial Drosophila follicle cells. J. Cell Sci. 124:4077-4086.
- Shimada, Y., Burn, K.M., Niwa, R. and Cooley, L. (2011) Reversible response of polarized transport to nutrient stress during Drosophila early oogenesis. Devel. Biol., 355:250-262.
- Hudson, A. and Cooley, L. (2010) Drosophila Kelch functions with Cullin-3 to organize the ring canal cytoskeleton. J. Cell Biol. 188: 29-37.
- Hudson, A.H. and Cooley, L. (2008) Phylogenetic, Structural and Functional Relationships between WD- and Kelch-Repeat Proteins. In The Coronin Family of Proteins: Subcellular Biochemistry. Clemen, C., Eichinger, L. and Rybakin, V (eds.) Landes Bioscience and Springer Science+Business Media.
- Hudson, A.H., Petrella, L.N., Tanaka, A.J. and Cooley, L. (2008) Mononuclear muscle cells in Drosophila ovaries revealed by GFP protein traps. Devel. Biol. 314:329-340.
- Petrella, L., Smith-Leiker, T., and Cooley, L. (2007). The Ovhts polyprotein produces fusome and ring canal proteins required for Drosophila oogenesis. Dev. 134:703-712.


text: Ariat exclusive ATS Max technology supports and cushions as you move, promoting good posture and reducing fatigue. At the core of ATS Max technology is the Ariat ATS Max extra wide shank, plus forefoot and heel stabilizers for support and reduction of foot fatigue and injury. EVA mid-foot support reduces metatarsal stress. The ATS Max footbed has a low-friction surface to protect from heat build-up and blistering. Shock-absorbing gel cushion reduces skeletal impact stress on knees, hips, and lower back. Cupped footbed chassis offers torsional stability. Work at your peak in the Ariat WorkHog Trek waterproof lace-up work boots! These boots feature a brown, waterproof leather foot under a matching 5" lace-up shaft. Mesh lining and padded collar for comfort. Extra boot protection provided by TecTuff at toe and heel. 90 degree heel. Round, soft toe profile. Imported.


text:
"Cold Shivers Seem Spine": Are These Sketches of Sibelius's Eighth Symphony?Posted by Christian Hertzog in Composers, Orchestral, Premieres, Scores, Twentieth Century Composer, Video, tags: composers, Eighth Symphony, reconstructions, Sibelius
Big news from Finland: Sketches of what appear to be Sibelius's Eighth Symphony (long thought destroyed by Sibelius) have emerged. Here's a clunky Google translation of the Finnish web site announcing this incredible discovery, along with an orchestral reading of those sketches. At the original Finnish link, you can access a video and hear the realization of the sketches. Those of you who don't speak Finnish will want to jump ahead to ca. 2:00, where the music actually begins. Yes, it sounds like Sibelius, but a more chromatic and fragmented Sibelius than we're accustomed to.
A more comfortably written article on the discovery and the musicology supporting the claim can be found here.
And a great big Thank You to Sibelius booster Alex Ross, who hipped me to this at his web site.


text:
LINGUIST List 21.2368
Thu May 27 2010
Calls: Comp Ling, Text/Corpus Ling/Spain
Editor for this issue: Di Wdzenczny <di
LINGUIST is pleased to announce the launch of an exciting new feature: Easy Abstracts! Easy Abs is a free abstract submission and review facility designed to help conference organizers and reviewers accept and process abstracts online. Just go to: http://www.linguistlist.org/confcustom, and begin your conference customization process today! With Easy Abstracts, submission and review will be as easy as 1-2-3!
1. Marta Vila,
Corpus-Based Approaches to Paraphrasing & Nominalization
Message 1: Corpus-Based Approaches to Paraphrasing & Nominalization
Marta Vila <marta.vila
Corpus-Based Approaches to Paraphrasing & Nominalization
E-mail this message to a friend
Full Title: Corpus-Based Approaches to Paraphrasing & Nominalization
Short Title: CBA 2010
Date: 01-Dec-2010 - 02-Dec-2010
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Contact Person: M. Antònia Martí
Meeting Email: cba2010
Web Site:
Linguistic Field(s): Computational Linguistics; Text/Corpus Linguistics
Call Deadline: 20-Sep-2010
Meeting Description:
'Corpus-Based Approaches to Paraphrasing and Nominalization'
1-2 December 2010
CBA 2010 aims to bring together linguists and computer scientists working
on corpus-based approaches to paraphrasing and nominalization.
Call for Papers
Deadline for paper submission: Monday 20 September, 2010
Workshop location: Universitat de Barcelona
Workshop Email : cba2010
The goal of the "Corpus-based Approaches to Paraphrasing and
Nominalization" workshop is to discuss different corpus-based approaches
to the automatic processing of paraphrases and nominal structures. This
workshop also aims to evaluate to what extent the analysis of paraphrases
and nominal structures can improve the quality of NLP applications. Finally,
this workshop might constitute a platform for the exchange of resources and
tools derived from research projects. Although paraphrasing and
nominalization are established as independent research fields, there exists
a close connection between them: nominalizations can be understood as a
kind of paraphrase.We believe there is a need to bring together linguists
and computer scientists, and we invite unpublished contributions related to
issues in these fields with a special emphasis on -though not
limited to:
-Paraphrasing: scope and typology
-Methods for paraphrase extraction, recognition and generation
-Paraphrase corpora compilation
-Formalisms for paraphrase representation
-Multilingual paraphrasing
-Nominalization as a paraphrase subtype
-Nominalizations: analysis and classification
-Semantic Role Labelling for nominalization argument structure
-Recognition and interpretation of nominalizations
-Distribution of semantic selations among NPs, specially nominalized NPs
-Nominalizations in support verb constructions
Further information is available on the web
Registration is free.
Invited Speakers
Atsushi Fujita (Future University-Hakodate)
Olya Gurevich (Powerset/Microsoft)
Eduard Hovy (University of Southern California)
Ruth Reeves (Department of Veterans Affairs, Nashville)
Important Dates
Paper submission deadline: 20 September 2010
Notification of acceptance: 1 November 2010
Workshop: 1-2 December 2010
Camera ready full papers: 20 January 2011
Submission Guidelines
Papers should be 8 pages in length, including references, using a 12 pt.
font with 2,5 cm margins on all sides. All submissions must be in electronic
form of a PDF file. The heading should only include the title of presentation.
As reviewing will be double-blind, the paper should not include the authors'
names and affiliation. Furthermore, self references that reveal the author's
identity should be avoided. Papers should be submitted electronically using
the paper submission software available at
After the workshop, selected papers will be published in the SEPLN journal:
Procesamiento del Lenguaje Natural, 46 (April 2011).
Program Committee
Toni Badia (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain)
Anabela Barreiro (Universidade do Porto, Portugal)
Rahul Bhagat (University of Southern California, EE.UU)
Gemma Boleda (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain)
Carme Colominas (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain)
Atsushi Fujita (Future University-Hakodate, Japan)
Roxana Girju (University of Illinois, EEUU)
Olya Gurevich (Powerset/Microsoft, EEUU)
Ulrich Heid (Universität Stuttgart, Germany)
Eduard Hovy (University of Southern California, EEUU)
Rafael Marín (Université de Lille-3, France)
M. Antònia Martí (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain)
Adam Meyers (New York University, EEUU)
Aina Peris (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain)
Ruth Reeves (Department of Veterans Affairs, Nashville, EEUU)
Marta Recasens (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain)
Horacio Rodríguez (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain)
Teresa Suñol (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain)
Mariona Taulé (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain)
Glòria de Valdívia (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain)
Marta Vila (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain)
Organizing Committee
Carme Colominas
M. Antònia Martí
Aina Peris
Mariona Taulé
Glòria de Valdívia
Marta Vila
Read more issues
LINGUIST home page
Top of issue
Page Updated: 27-May-2010
About LINGUIST
Contact Us
While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.


text:
But, then I discovered these DIY fake moleskines that are both pretty easy and pretty impressive. Yes, they require a slight amount of sewing, but it's of the easy hand-sewing variety.
Trust me. You can make these. And, you likely have everything you need already in your house.
I think these would make for an amazing homemade gift idea. That is, if you can bear to part with them.
Now that I can make these, I can't quite stop daydreaming about the potential of it all! Perhaps I'll make stamps next, strictly to decorate my homemade books...
In other news, I have several new prints in the shop this weekend! Huzzah! If you feel so inclined, click here to visit them and perhaps find something lovely to take home for your walls!


text:
It's another new TeaDay ... I am looking forward to hearing what everyone is drinking today. Hopefully you will stop in often and share with us what is in your cup throughout the day.
Yesterday we discussed 'Did you ever think that some vendors are chasing customers away with bad product and/or service?' You can still post and discuss this topic.
Today, I would like to know what is the country of origin of your first tea of the day? And as a bonus, is this your usual first tea Country choice or do you just start with whatever 'floats your boat' at the moment?
Bottoms up and fill your cups often with tea throughout the day.


text:
CBS Television Studios
Redirected from CBS Paramount Network Television
this wiki
(written from a Production point of view)
CBS Television Studios (formerly Paramount Television, CBS Paramount Television and its production arm CBS Paramount Network Television) is a television broadcasting company owned by the CBS Corporation (formerly Viacom) that currently holds the production rights of any future Star Trek television series. It is producing Star Trek: Discovery set to be released on CBS All Access in January 2017. [1]
This company was formed as the result of a 2005 split between the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) and Viacom, the latter of which owned Paramount Television. It is a division of CBS Studios, which owns the trademarks for Star Trek and all related marks.
Re-incorporated from Desilu in 1967, Paramount Television laid claim to every episode of Star Trek: The Original Series and its subsequent spin-offs for nearly forty years before CBS Corporation acquired Paramount Television and merged it with CBS Productions. Paramount Television has never been a separate company within the holding group, but a dependent division of Paramount Pictures until 2006. In 2006, the former Viacom was split into two separate companies: CBS Corporation and a new Viacom and on 17 January 2006, Paramount Television was officially renamed CBS Paramount Television. In 2009, CBS Paramount Television and its Network Television unit changed its name to CBS Television Studios.
CBS Television Studios consists of its domestic distribution arm, CBS Television Distribution, and its global distribution arm, CBS Studios International.
See also Edit
External links Edit
- CBSTelevisionStudios.com - official site
- CBS Television Studios at Wikipedia


text:
Cellar Style
Basement design can be constraining due to lower ceiling heights and support poles seemingly placed at random. (My Engineer son would probably take offense to that statement!) For this basement project, we chose to embrace these limitations and design a space that needed low ceilings and cozy spaces. The design concept for this project was "Cellar Style." Because one would expect that a true wine cellar would be underground or in a cave, natural stone veneer was applied one wall to make this concrete dungeon into a continental cellar. Arched doorways added to the feel of a European space with the arch motif carried through to the cellar entrance, display niches and the passageways between the home theatre and arcade area. Creative space planning enclosed two metal support poles into the walls of the cellar while the remaining support pole was encased to make a stone pillar adding character and supporting the cellar theme.