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If you know someone for long enough, eventually you will be able to predict what they are going to do or say when a situation presents itself.
These mannerisms range from how they order their food to how they react when they see a small child in a Santa hat. I think you pretty much get the gist of what I'm saying: we are all creatures of habit, and our habits sometimes, whether we like it or not, end up defining us.
Our "me-isms", if you will, are our daily M.O's or schticks that people think of when our name comes up in conversation. There are certain women that wear Louis Vutton but cuss like a sailor, just like there are certain people that you can't talk to without smelling the intoxicating mixture of Grand Marnier and Old Spice.
Some people talk with their hands, others can't drive without a cell phone attached to their ear, and some people talk with their hands while on a cell phone, and driving a vehicle.
And they say that there are no such things as hidden talents.
This column is full of "me-isms" and I have been accused of spewing them into the public realm with little remorse and total disregard for the ever-popular "public opinion."
These people forget that it's an editorial and I can pretty much say what I want, but I get paid to make sure that I'm at least saying things that aren't libelous, are researched for facts, and are put together in a grammatically correct and hopefully enjoyable smorgasbord of written words.
I guess in the grand scheme of whatever this pithy little column exists in, the verbiage used is for me to get things off my chest so I'm not another walking time bomb that is grumbling under my breath every time someone doesn't wave when you let them merge into traffic. (This does enrage me for reasons unknown.)
So, I guess my therapist would tell me that some of my "me-isms" are that I'm easily bothered, I think way too much for my own good, and that thinking ends up leading to dangerous dancing on my weekly soapbox.
If you think about it, however, many of our "me-isms" are things that aren't necessarily ours. Certain facial expressions or hand gestures are either hereditary or were picked up from someone in our gene pool (family), and that oftentimes extends into religious beliefs, voting preference, and even which football team you support on Sundays.
Every once in awhile you catch yourself saying something, and you stop mid sentence and say "I sound like my mother, (or father, Uncle Leroy, Will Farrell, etc.)
I think that most people become parents and vow to do things differently the way they were raised, at least in a few areas. At the very least, you don't want to sound lame and cliché, as you probably remember thinking that your parents were at some point in your childhood.
Which leads me to my most recent "you've gotta be kidding me" moment. I caught myself starting to say something while reprimanding my son about something that he had done wrong, and the conversation went something like this.
Me: "Why did you do that, you know better?"
Him: "My friends were doing it, too."
Me: "If your friends jumped off a bridge…"
Suddenly, I stopped and wept for starting to say something that I vowed never to say.
My son was a bit taken aback and I fear that it will probably be a pivotal moment in therapy sometime down the road.
(Then I licked my thumb and wiped the chocolate off of his face, because I vowed I would never do that either, so I might as well get that out of the way, too.)
Anyway, the point is that no matter how hard we try to be original or unique, we are bombarded with outside influences that seep into our subconscious and shape what we are. My wife has always been amazed how I will consistently forget to get something at the store or neglect to check to make sure that the takeout order is correct, but I can pretty much remember 95% of the dialogue in the movie "Fletch" or most other comedic films from that era.
So much of male humor is deep-fried in movie quotes, TV commercials, and song lyrics. It's what we do, we are simple, but in that sense, not necessarily original except for our choices in which movies to quote.
Women do the same thing, but with home décor. Martha Stewart is a gazillionare because she tells women exactly how they should decorate their houses, and many of them listen. Just like every book that Oprah says is a good book becomes a best seller.
This is why the colors beige and off-white are colors of choice for 50-somethings.
If you start to ask people, (say your wife for instance), just how many "me-isms" that you have, it will become apparent that you are filled with them, and many of them drive most people (meaning her) mildly insane. These are things that you are probably unaware of, because they are just things that you do without thinking. It's not just making sure that the remote is by your side, and constantly tuned to ESPN that is a problem with managing your "me-isms." It is the inability to see how much we are trying so hard to protect the integrity of our own little worlds by doing the same things over and over again subconsciously.
We can be running late, and I have to have the perfect song playing on the Ipod before the car moves. I realize that I'm more concerned with kicking the volume up to 11 than I am with remembering to put on my seat belt.
I'm sure that when I met my wife, she found my idiosyncratic madness to be harmless and quirky, but after years of me waking up to Sportscenter or British Futbol, hearing me point out the artist singing in the background of crowded restaurants, or just ranting about how Dave Eggers is a genius writer that deserves to be as widely praised as that Grisham fella that always writes about lawyers, she probably just wishes that I would shut up every now and then.
It's funny how no one ever tells you that you will end up on the brink of total madness by the very things that attract you to one another. It is also funny that no one tells you that you will turn into your parents when you become parents.
My wife says she never wants to get rid of me, but I know that deep down, she would really like a day or two off from many of my "me-isms."
I promised her that this Christmas, I would oblige, or at the very least get some new material.
I'm just waiting for the next "Fletch" to come out.
Email me at [email protected].


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21043 LEGO® Architecture San Francisco
Recreate the magnificence of San Francisco's architecture with this awesome 21043 LEGO® Architecture Skyline Collection model. This LEGO brick collectible features iconic San Francisco attractions and landmarks, including the city's famous "painted ladies" buildings, 555 California Street, the Transamerica Pyramid, Salesforce Tower, Coit Tower, Fort Point, Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island. A blue-tiled baseplate representing the Golden Gate strait and a San Francisco nameplate add the finishing touch to this amazing model. LEGO Architecture Skyline Collection models are perfect for display in the home or office and have been developed for all with an interest in travel, architectural culture, history and design. Each skyline building set is scaled to give an accurate representation of the comparative size of the featured structures, with realistic color depiction.
- LEGO® Architecture interpretation of San Francisco.
- Features iconic San Francisco sights and famous landmarks, including the city's famous "painted ladies" buildings, 555 California Street, the Transamerica Pyramid, Salesforce Tower, Coit Tower, Fort Point, Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island.
- Also features a blue-tiled baseplate depicting the Golden Gate strait.
- The included booklet contains information about the designer, architecture and history of each attraction, as well as historical facts about San Francisco and its architectural heritage. (English language only. Other languages available for download at LEGO.com/architecture.)
- Includes a 4x34 tiled base with a decorative San Francisco nameplate.
- Recreate the world's most vibrant cities with the LEGO® Architecture Skyline Collection.
- LEGO® Architecture sets celebrate the world of architecture through the medium of the LEGO brick, and are developed for all with an interest in travel, design, architecture and history.
- This set includes over 565 pieces.
- Measures over 6" (16cm) high, 11" (28cm) wide and 2" (7cm) deep.
Product Classifications
Brand | LEGO® |
Theme | Architecture |
Model | 21043 |
Age Range | 12years and Up |
Product Piece Count | 565 |

subset: commoncrawl


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Fiction on a Small Canvas A new volume edited by Bret Lott (pictured above) celebrates the best in Christian short stories — and leads off with a creation of Mary Kenagy, managing editor of Image, and an SPU adjunct professor of writing. Short stories, says Kenagy, provide a unique and rewarding way to think things through.
New Christmas CD From SPU
Johnny Cash, Veteran Musicians Ponder the Almighty
In a new interview with The Nativity Story's screenwriter Mike Rich, Jeffrey Overstreet asks about the challenges of adapting the beloved Christmas story for the big screen.
Beyond Intellectual Mastery President Philip Eaton offers a more complete view of education: Learning is "a bigger story than our own little pieces of intellectual mastery."
Advising Future Physicians In 2006, SPU achieved a 100 percent medical school acceptance rate through its unique, longtime approach to "shepherding" premed students.
A "Determined Quiet" Alumna of the Year Lora Jones '43 proves one person can change the world. Her life exemplifies ardent faith through war, life on a prison farm, and faithfully preaching the gospel.
Goodwill Goalkeeping Star soccer player Marcus Hahnemann '93 wins fans in Europe, and represents America in the 2006 World Cup.
My ResponsePrincipal and SPU doctoral student Karol Pulliam considers the classroom implications of John Medina's 12 brain rules.
Back-Cover Art Class of 2000 alumna Anne Faith Nicholls gives Response readers a "Page One Examination."


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Scientists Create, Study Methane Hydrates in "Ocean Floor" Lab
Data may help develop strategies for mining natural gas locked up in seafloor sediments
March 13, 2005
SAN DIEGO, CA - Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have recreated the high-pressure, low-temperature conditions of the seafloor in a tabletop apparatus for the study of methane-hydrates, an abundant but currently out-of-reach source of natural gas trapped within sediments below the ocean floor. Michael Eaton, a Stony Brook University graduate student working for Brookhaven chemist Devinder Mahajan, will present a talk outlining the use of the apparatus for the creation and study of methane hydrates during a special two-day symposium co-organized by Mahajan at the 229th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Diego, California. The talk is scheduled for Sunday, March 13, at 3:05 p.m. in room Madeleine C-D of the Hyatt Regency.
"The amount of natural gas that is tied up in methane hydrates beneath the seafloor and in permafrost on Earth is several orders of magnitude higher than all other known conventional sources of natural gas - enough to meet our energy needs for several decades," Mahajan says. But extracting this resource poses several challenges.
For one thing, methane hydrates — which are ice-like cages made of water molecules surrounding individual methane molecules — are only stable at the very low temperatures and high pressures present at the ocean floor. "If you try to bring it up, these things fizzle and decompose, releasing the trapped methane," Mahajan says.
So a multi-agency team led by the Department of Energy — as part of its mission to secure America's future energy needs — is trying to learn about the conditions necessary for keeping hydrates locked up so they can be extracted safely and tapped for fuel.
Mahajan's group has built a vessel that mimics the seafloor temperature and pressure conditions, where they can study the kinetics of methane hydrate formation and decomposition. Unlike other high-pressure research vessels, the Brookhaven apparatus allows scientists to interchange vessels of different volumes, study even fine sediments, and visualize and record the entire hydrate-forming event through a 12-inch window along the vessel. In addition, mass-balance instrumentation allows the Brookhaven group to collect reproducible data in the bench-top unit. Even better, Mahajan says, they can study the kinetics in actual samples of sediment that once contained hydrates — as close to the natural conditions as you can get in a lab.
"You fill the vessel with water and sediment, put in methane gas, and cool it down under high pressure. After a few hours, the hydrates form. You can actually see it. They look like ice, but they are not. They are stable at 4 degrees Celsius," he explains.
One further advantage of doing this work at Brookhaven Lab is that the scientists can use the National Synchrotron Light Source — a source of intense x-rays, ultraviolet, and infrared light — to measure physical characteristics of the sediments under study. Using x-ray computed microtomography, the scientists gain information about the porosity and other physical characteristics that may affect the availability of nucleation sites where hydrates can form.
Such data about hydrate formation in natural host sediment samples are scarce. By studying different samples and learning what combinations of pressure and temperature keep the methane locked up, the scientists hope to identify ways to compensate for the changes the hydrates experience as they are brought to the ocean's surface so they can be extracted with a minimum loss. The comparisons of different sediment samples might also help pinpoint the most abundant sources of locked-up methane.
"It may be at least a decade before we can even think about mining these deposits, but answering these fundamental questions is certainly the place to start," says Mahajan, who holds a joint appointment as a Stony Brook University professor. "This is a very important issue tied to our future national energy security."
This research was initially funded by Brookhaven's Laboratory Directed Research and Development program and is now funded by the Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy. The symposium on Gas Hydrates and Clathrates is being co-sponsored by the Petroleum and Fuel Divisions of the American Chemical Society.
Note to local editors: Devinder Mahajan lives in South Setauket, New York; Michael Eaton lives in New Haven, Connecticut.
2005-10283 | INT/EXT | Newsroom


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How It Works & How We Do It
We are working in the format of an outsourcing project office. We assume operational coordination and control over the compliance with all project implementation parameters that ensures the execution of works on time.
Integrating of innovation and public benefit into your workflows; ensuring strategic and sustainable development of your organization from project.


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Do you make apps? Then read on. Otherwise this blog post is probably of no interest to you at all.
When making apps you often run into the problem that you want to have incrementing build numbers associated with your binaries. You can do it the old fashioned way and just increase it every time you make a release. Or you can simplify your life drastically with just one little script and some initial setup:


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Sponsored by
Like other outdoor activities, hiking has a direct relationship with current and upcoming weather conditions. From precipitation over the past 24-hours that may lead to muddy and slippery areas to RealFeel Temperatures and hours of sunlight, your adventure will be much safer and more enjoyable under good conditions.
Today's Weather Factors
RealFeel® High
Probability of Precipitation
Rain Amount
0.10 in
Max UV Index
11 Extreme
Average Wind
WNW 10 mph
Max Wind Gusts
31 mph
Safety Tips
Wear sunscreen or UV-protectant clothing to protect yourself from the sun. Stay hydrated and bring enough water to last your entire hike. Wear proper gear for current weather conditions, and watch for any slippery spots. Lastly, plan your route with enough time to finish before sundown, especially if you are hiking in an unfamiliar area.
- Wear sunscreen or UV-protective clothing.
- Stay hydrated and bring enough water.
- Hiking in the early morning can help you avoid high temperatures.
- Plan your route with enough time to finish before sundown.
- Wear the right gear for the current weather conditions.


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Talk To Us About Any Questions or Concerns
Children progress at different rates. They have different interests, abilities, and personalities. But there are some common milestones most children reach from ages 4 to 5.
As your child grows, you'll notice them developing new and exciting abilities.
A child age 4:
Serves their own food or pours water, with adult supervision
Catches a large ball
Holds crayon or pencil between fingers and thumb (not a fist)
Unbuttons some buttons
Understands the difference between fantasy and reality
Draws a person with three or more body parts
A child age 5:
Sings, dances, or acts
Hops on one foot
Buttons some buttons
Dresses themselves
Writes some letters in their name
Names some letters when you point to them
May start to learn to ride a bicycle with training wheels
Speech development in children is very exciting for parents. They can watch their children become social beings who can interact with others.
Most children at age 4:
May put 4 or more words together into a sentence
Says some words from a song, story, or nursery rhyme
Will answer simple questions like "What is a marker for?"
Knows a few colors
Talks about at least one thing that happened during the day, like "I played soccer."
May put 6 to 8 words together into a sentence
May know 4 or more colors
Counts to 10
Uses or recognizes simple rhymes (bat-cat, ball-tall)
Tells a story they heard or made up with at least 2 events. For example, a cat was stuck in a tree and a firefighter saved it.
Answers simple questions about a book or story after you read or tell it to them
Keeps a conversation going with more than 3 back-and-forth exchanges
As a child's vocabulary gets larger, so does their understanding of the world around them. Children at this age begin to understand concepts and can compare abstract ideas.
Begins to understand time
Begins to become more aware of people around them
May obey parent's rules, but doesn't understand right from wrong
Has more understanding of time. Uses words about time, like "yesterday," "tomorrow," "morning," or "night."
Is curious about real facts about the world
An important part of growing up is learning to interact and socialize with others. This can be a frustrating transition for the parent. Children go through different stages. Some of these are not always easy to handle.
Is very independent, wants to do things on their own
Doesn't like to share
Is moody. Mood swings are common.
May be aggressive during mood swings and become aggressive to family members
Has many fears
May have imaginary friends
Likes to explore the body and may play doctor
Might "run away" or threaten to do so
Fights with siblings
Will often play with others in groups
Is generally more cooperative than a 4-year-old
Is generally more responsible than a 4-year-old
Is eager to please others and make them happy
Has good manners
Dresses themselves completely without help
Gets along well with parents
Likes to cook and play sports
May become more attached to a parent as they start attending school
You can help boost your preschool child's social abilities by:
Offering compliments for good behavior and achievements
Encouraging your child to talk to you and be open with their feelings
Reading to your child, singing songs, and talking with them
Spending quality time with your child and showing them new experiences
Encouraging your child to ask questions and explore
Encouraging physical activity with supervision
Arranging times for your child to be with other children, such as in playgroups
Giving your child the chance to make choices, when appropriate
Using time-out for behavior that isn't acceptable
Encouraging your child to express their anger in an appropriate manner
Limiting TV time (or other screen time) to 1 to 2 hours a day. Encourage free time to be used for other activities.


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Collections — Last Chance Sale — Bourla 01 Earrings
€31.2 €52.00
Inspired by the opulence of the historic Bourla Theatre opposite Manuel's shop in Antwerp, this collection breathes glamour and poetry, deliciously light to wear.
24k gold matt plated. Faceted resin. Nickel free. Lead free. We design our jewellery for you to enjoy them durably. This also means they deserve the proper care while wearing or storing them. Please carefully read the following advice:
Avoid water, perfume & hairspray. They are not kind to your jewellery When stored, your jewellery likes a cosy dark & dry spot. Store them in the pouch or box you receive your jewellery in from us. Bathrooms are too humid, choose a nice dry spot. Clean your jewellery regularly with dedicated jewellery cleaning products.
If you have any problem with your jewellery, don't hesitate to contact us. Care for your jewellery, and we'll be happy to care for you.
DELIVERY Belgium: 3-4 working days (€4.99) Netherlands & Luxembourg: 3-4 working days (€8.00) Europe: 4-5 working days (€9.00) World: 6-10 working days (€14.00 - 20.00)
FREE SHIPPING BELGIUM ABOVE €100 Our shipping partner is DHL. We strive to respect the above delays and work faster if possible. You will be informed by mail about the status of your order & receive tracking info when shipped. Please note different conditions apply for B2B orders. These will be confirmed upon proforma.
RETURNS Returns or exchanges are possible within 14 days if the item is unworn and in saleable condition, in its original packaging (pouch or box). Please see the "Delivery & Return" Page for more information.


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International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee 17th Meeting
New York City, May 4, 2001
Relations between the Catholic Church and the Jewish People have improved significantly in the last half-century. The education of future clergy and lay leaders in both our communities is crucial if coming generations are to sustain and further this progress.
In particular, the curricula of Catholic seminaries and schools of theology should reflect the central importance of the church's new understanding of its relationship to Jews. To that end, we recommend:
Courses on Bible, patristics, early church history and liturgy should incorporate recent scholarship on Christian origins. Illumining the complex developments by which both the church and rabbinic Judaism emerged from early Judaism will establish a substantial foundation for ameliorating "the painful ignorance of the history and traditions of Judaism of which only negative aspects and often caricature seem to form part of the stock ideas of many Christians" (Notes on the Correct Way to Present Jews and Judaism in Catholic Preaching and Catechesis, #27, 1985). Opportunities for faculty to continue their own learning about Jewish-Christian relations should be available so that their courses will reflect the richness of contemporary scholarship.
Courses dealing with the biblical, historical and theological aspects of relations between Jews and Christians should be an integral part of the seminary and theologate curriculum, and not merely electives. All who graduate from Catholic seminaries and theology schools should have studied the revolution in Catholic teaching on Jews and Judaism from Nostra Aetate through to the prayer of Pope John Paul II at the Western Wall on March 26, 2000.
The Jewish community has yet to undertake a similar effort to promote a basic understanding of Christianity. For historic reasons, many Jews find it difficult to overcome generational memories of anti-Semitic oppression. Therefore:
- Lay and Religious Jewish leaders need to advocate and promote a program of education in our Jewish schools and seminaries - about the history of Catholic - Jewish relations and knowledge of Christianity and its relationship to Judaism. Such knowledge does not mean Jewish acceptance of Christianity's theological tenets. Encouragement of dialogue between the two faiths does involve recognition, understanding and respect for each other's beliefs, without having to accept them. It is particularly important that Jewish schools teach about the Second Vatican Council and subsequent documents and attitudinal changes which opened new perspectives and possibilities for both faiths.
Educational institutions in both our communities should make every effort as appropriate to their particular contexts to expose students to living Jewish or Christian communities through guest lecturers, field trips, involvement in local, national and international dialogue groups and conferences. The resources of the Internet should be utilized, especially sites such as www.jcrelations.net and the sites of various centers for Jewish-Christian understanding.


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Discussions about database management, insurance, coordination of shipping and couriers, condition reporting, and more.
Use this control to limit the display of threads to those newer than the specified time frame.
Allows you to choose the data by which the thread list will be sorted.
Order threads in...
Note: when sorting by date, 'descending order' will show the newest results first.
Forum Rules


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Interviews - Key speakers at Investors Forum 2020
Further to the Capital Markets annual, Investors Forum 2020 held in Brussels on January 16th; discover the podcast interviews from the three keynote speakers at this event.
1. Occupiers & Co-Working: what about the economics of Flex?
by Vincent Lottefier (President & Founder of Co-working Future)
The job of corporate real estate directors is tougher than ever. They have to balance cost optimization with great workspace to retain the best talent and maximize productivity. Not integrating any kind of flex solution into their portfolio will make their job next to impossible.
2. Looking at the decade ahead, what is the next "new normal"?
by Jacques Bughin (Business Strategy Lecturer @ULB)
New technologies have the potential to shift the innovation frontier of our economies and support the momentum of the real estate market as an asset class.
3. With the new investment heights reached in 2019, is the real estate market ready for the new normal?
by Rikke Lykke (European Head of Asset Management Patrizia)
To invest in the future, global and local thinking are both essential.


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Become what you've always imagined. At Hamline, you'll make your mark in the world and inspire others along the way.
Ranked as the best regional university in Minnesota and 10th in the Midwest region.
Start your own student group on campus, leap into a new sport, or get involved in the community. Pursue your passion.
From real-world job experience to service projects, you'll get the essential skills to succeed throughout your career.
Hamline was Minnesota's first university, and we're ranked #1 in the state.
Return to: College of Liberal Arts
The environmental studies minor consists of the following courses:


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Right to erasure in Confluence Server and Data Center
Under Article 17 of the GDPR, individuals have the right to have personal data erased. This is also known as the 'right to be forgotten'. The right is not absolute and only applies in certain circumstances. Whether or not you are required to honor an individual's request to have personal data deleted will vary on a case-by-case basis, and is determination you should always make with the assistance of legal counsel. Once you have determined you have an obligation to delete personal data, we have provided the following instructions on how to do so within certain Atlassian products.
Personal data stored within the product can be divided into one of two areas: 1) account-level personal data; and 2) free-form text. Account-level personal data are data fields that exist within the product for the sole purpose of identifying an individual throughout the product. Examples of account-level personal data include the user's display name, profile picture or avatar and email address. These data elements are generally visible from the user's profile and are used throughout the product to point back to the user's profile when the user is @mentioned or tagged on in certain spaces or content. Deleting account-level personal data elements will automatically remove those data elements throughout the product where the relevant account-level data elements appear and in the database (subject to some limitations discussed below).
If you have included personal data in free-form text, either typed into content spaces or as a custom field label, you will need to use the product's global search feature to surface this personal data and delete it on a case-by-case basis.
Version Compatibility
Confluence 5.10 and higher.
Personal data for a specific user can be spread across multiple components of Confluence.
User account-level personal data
We've documented all areas of a user's account-level personal data on Confluence: Right of access by the data subject. The account-level personal data may be used inside pages via a Confluence macro, can be searched, and is part of the user mentions feature.
Removing the user account-level personal data will prevent the user's account-level personal data (including avatar, display name, and any profile information) from being searched, the user's name will no longer be shown as an author of content, and the user's name will not be available to be mentioned.
How you remove account-level personal data depends on your Confluence version:
- In Confluence 6.13 and later, account-level personal data is automatically removed when you delete the user account. Learn how to delete a user account.
- In Confluence 6.12 and earlier, account-level personal data can be manually removed using the 'user account-level personal data' SQL workaround described below.
Search Index
Search indexes are files stored in the Confluence home directory (under /index
), and they are essential for the search features. These indexes store some information that are also stored in the database, for example, the display name, email address, and username.
In Confluence 6.13 and later, after a user account is deleted, all content the user had created, contributed to, or been @mentioned on is automatically reindexed.
In Confluence 6.12 and earlier, the 'user account-level personal data' SQL workaround will trigger an update to the index, which will remove the user's personal data from the index. The administrator may also opt to rebuild the index by following the instructions at How to Rebuild the Content Indexes From Scratch on Confluence Server. Rebuilding the index should not be necessary, if all the steps in the 'user account-level personal data' SQL workaround section are followed.
Location of Access Logs
Access logging is enabled by default from Confluence 7.11, and may have been manually enabled in earlier versions by following the instructions at Audit Confluence using the Tomcat valve component and How to enable user access logging. If access logging is enabled, the username of the user accessing a page, as well as some URLs, will remain in the access log files. These logs are not accessible directly via Confluence, but may be accessed by an administrator.
A non-exhaustive list of possible personal data that could be in the log files are:
- IP address
- Username/Display Name
- Email address
The location of the access logs is <confluence install>/logs/conf_access_log.log
(from Confluence 7.11 or if created by using the instructions at Audit Confluence using the Tomcat valve component). Access log data can also be written to the application logs at <confluence home>/logs/atlassian-confluence.log.
Please note that logging parameters (such as the log file location, and contents) may be different due to configuration options, and/or third-party add-ons. Administrators are advised to check the contents of the logs, and remove them if required.
Location of data pipeline export files
From Confluence 7.12, system administrators can use the data pipeline feature to export current state data from the Confluence database for analysis in an external business intelligence tool. The data is exported in CSV format, and stored in the <confluence home>/data-pipeline/
directory. This directory can be found in the local home directory for non-clustered installations, or in the shared home directory when Confluence is running in a cluster.
A non-exhaustive list of personal data that could be in the export files include:
- Username / display name
- Email address
- Free text including space titles, page titles, raw page content, and raw comment content.
Administrators are advised to check the contents of these exports and remove data if required.
Personal Spaces
Personal spaces are spaces created by a user, where the space key is their username. If any content is created in Confluence that links to this personal space, the link will contain, as part of its URL, the username of the user to which the personal space belongs. Deleting the user from Confluence does not remove their personal space or change the URLs. However, moving the pages being linked to, will update those URLs.
If the administrator wants the content in the personal space to be preserved, but still require the deletion of the username from the URLs, they should first move the content to a new space, then remove the personal space.
Moving pages to a new Space
Create a new space, then follow the instructions at Move and Reorder Pages. This should update all URLs linking to those moved pages, which should eliminate the username in those URLs from appearing in the future.
Deleting a Personal Space
An administrator can also delete the personal space by following the instructions at Delete a Space. An administrator may need to grant themselves delete permission on the space, by following the instructions at Assign space permissions.
Alternatively, use the REST API for space removal at Confluence REST API documentation.
The URLs that contain the username must be created using the "link to page" feature in Confluence. If those links are added as direct web links, then they will not be automatically updated.
Please read Links for details on links to specific types of content.
Free-form textual personal data in the database
Other potential sources of personal data which could be stored in Confluence's database include:
- Free-form text in Pages, Blogs, Comments, and other custom content that may be added by third party add-ons from the Atlassian Marketplace.
- Free-form text in mentions, where the user's name was been overtyped.
- Audit logs contain information about configuration changes made to Confluence. These audit logs store the username of the user who performed the change.
- Free-form text in customizations made to Confluence, such as custom site headers and footers, site title, and custom user macros and templates.
Free-form text personal data in content (pages, blogs, comments)
For free-form text in pages, blogs, comments, and other content, the search feature should be used to identify sources of personal data that a user requests to be deleted. Read Confluence Search Fields for a list of fields and syntax that can be used to locate any personal data.
When a page or comment is found to contain personal data which needs to be scrubbed, the administrator will need to edit the page and remove it. Confluence, however, stores historical versions of pages, which may also need to be deleted manually by clicking on the delete link in the page history. Please following the instructions at How to Remove all Previous Versions of a Page Manually in the Database Using SQL Commands, if bulk removal is required.
Free-form text personal data in mentions
If the mention name as it displays on the page is changed, for example to include just the first name or a preferred name, this is treated as free-form text. The free-form text will still display, even after the user account has been deleted.
Audit Logs
Audit logs can have a retention period defined (by default, 3 years). This can be changed, and Confluence will automatically remove older entries. Please read Auditing in Confluence for information about administering them.
Free-form text personal data in Confluence customizations and configuration
There are various free form text fields in which an administrator may be able to add personal data as part of configuring Confluence. The administrator is advised to look through any customizations made, and check that no deleted user's personal data remains.
Here is a non-exhaustive list:
Location | Please read |
Site theme and other layout customizations | Changing the Look and Feel of Confluence |
Administrator contact page | Configuring the Administrator Contact Page |
Custom site header and footer via Custom HTML | Styling Confluence with CSS |
Site Title | Changing the Site Title |
User Macros | Writing User Macros |
Page Templates and Blueprints | Administering Site Templates |
Shortcut Links | Configuring Shortcut Links |
PDF export customizations | Customize Exports to PDF |
Email template customizations | Customizing Email Templates |
Interface text customizations | Modify Confluence Interface Text |
Synchrony data
If you have collaborative editing enabled, every keystroke in the editor is stored by Synchrony in the Confluence database. This means that any references to a person's full name, user name, or other personal information typed in the editor will remain in the Synchrony tables in the database, seperately to where the page or comment content is stored. This data remains in the relevant Synchrony tables, even after the pages or comments themselves have been deleted.
In Confluence 7.0 and later two scheduled jobs are available to remove Synchrony data:
- The Synchrony data eviction (soft) job evicts all Synchrony data for any pages / blog posts that have not been modified in the last 3 days, and do not have an active editor session. This job runs every 10 minutes by default. This job helps keep your database tables small.
- The Synchrony data eviction (hard) job evicts all Synchrony data for any pages / blog posts that are 15 days or older, regardless of whether they've been modified more recently. This job is disabled by default, but can be scheduled to run on a regular basis. This job ensures there is no Synchrony data older than 15 days in your database.
See How to remove Synchrony data for more information.
In Confluence 6.x versions, there is a workaround to remove this data.
Browser Cache
The browser may cache a large amount of data for performance reasons. Confluence doesn't completely control the browser's behaviour regarding such caching. Therefore, there are some cases where removal of personal data automatically from the browser's cache is not feasible for Confluence, and must be done in each individual browser client.
For Chrome, local storage may be cleared by navigating to chrome://settings/siteData
, and finding the Confluence website url, clicking on the 'Local Storage' section, and then click remove all. For Firefox, this can be done in Settings, by following these instructions. However, with browsers constantly evolving, these instructions may change. Please see the browser vendor's documentation for clearing local storage for the most up-to-date instructions.
Browser local storage is used to cache a list of recently used mentions for the logged-in user, and is never persisted on the Confluence server database. However, being cached in the browser means that any users who have had previously mentioned a user which has since been deleted, would continue to see that user in their mentions list. This list can be cleared from the browser directly by following the browser's documentation on clearing local storage. This list also continuously updates as the logged-in user makes new mentions of other users, and the deleted users will eventually stop showing up as they are no longer mentioned.
The mentions list may also contain a URL of the avatar image for the deleted user. This URL is defunct after deleting the user or running the SQL workaround, but the browser may be caching the image located at this URL. Therefore, some users may still continue to see the avatar when the mentions feature is used. The avatar should expire from the browser's cache after some time, but the exact timing may differ based on the browser's configuration.
Avatars are images uploaded to Confluence by users into their profile, and they may be displayed when Confluence is listing users (such as in a mentions list).
In Confluence 6.13 and later, when you delete a user account their avatar is deleted.
In Confluence 6.12 and earlier, when you use the 'user account-level personal data' SQL workaround the user's avatar is deleted.
In all versions of Confluence these images are also cached by the browser, and as such, are not completely under the control of Confluence. The browser may periodically refresh/purge their cache, and so the avatars ought to eventually disappear, but exact timing depends on the browser's configuration.
User account-level personal data
This workaround only applies to Confluence 6.12 or earlier.
To delete a user's account-level personal data, use one of the following methods, depending on whether your Confluence instance is using an internal, delegated or external user directory.
Before attempting any of the workarounds below, please ensure that a backup of your instance is created first. If possible, test the workaround on a staging environment before attempting in your production environment.
Step 1 - Disabling or Removing the User
Internal user directory
- Disable the user by following the instructions at Delete or Disable Users.
- After the user is disabled, follow one of the methods in Step 2 below – auto generate the SQL query via a script, or manually create the SQL query.
External user directory - Connector
- Delete the user from the External Directory, and perform a resync by following the instructions at Synchronizing data from external directories.
- After the user is deleted, follow one of the methods in Step 2 below – auto generate the SQL query via a script, or manually create the SQL query.
External user directory - Delegated
- Delete the user from the delegated External Directory by following the instructions at Connecting to an Internal Directory with LDAP Authentication
- Disable the user by following the instructions at Delete or Disable Users.
- After the user is disabled, follow one of the methods in Step 2 below – auto generate the SQL query via a script, or manually create the SQL query.
Step 2 - Running the SQL workaround
Some parts of the process, such as removing account-level personal data from the search index, can have a performance impact on your site. You may want to run these scripts at a time that would have the least impact on your users. We found it took approximately 30 minutes to run the scripts on a site with about 10 million pages.
Python script to generate SQL queries per user
- Download or clone this repository: https://bitbucket.org/atlassian/gdpr/overview. There are some installation prerequisites before running the script, which is documented in the README file inside the repository.
Run the script, passing the username (the login name of the user) as the first parameter. If it contain spaces, quote it.
python3 parser4confluence.py -u '<USERNAME>' -f metadata/confluence_db.json -d oracle|postgresql|mysql|mssql
The above script will generate multiple SQL files under the folder
01_insert_journalentry.sql 02_delete_OS_PROPERTYENTRY.sql 03_delete_BODYCONTENT.sql 04_delete_CONTENTPROPERTIES.sql 05_delete_IMAGEDETAILS.sql 06_delete_CONTENT.sql 07_delete_NOTIFICATIONS.sql 09_delete_CONTENT.sql 10_delete_LIKES.sql 11_delete_CONTENT.sql 12_delete_cwd_membership.sql 13_delete_cwd_user_attribute.sql 14_delete_cwd_user.sql 15_update_user_mapping.sql
- Execute the SQL queries on your database, in the same order as the filenames.
- If you don't have autocommit enabled, make sure to commit your changes to persist on the database.
- Flush all caches to force UI to update by following the instructions at Cache Statistics.
- Flush the content index queue by going to the Content Indexing administration, and selecting Queue Contents > Flush Queue.
Manually construct SQL queries per user
- Go to this directory https://bitbucket.org/atlassian/gdpr/src/HEAD/confluence_db_queries/?at=master and download the pre-populated SQL scripts for your respective database.
- Open the SQL scripts in your preferred text editor.
- Replace the username that's already set __username__ with the required username.
- Run the SQL queries on the database, in the same order as the filenames.
- If you don't have autocommit enabled, make sure to commit your changes to persist on the database.
- Flush all caches to force UI to update by following the instructions at Cache statistics.
- Flush the content index queue by going to the Content Indexing administration, and selecting Queue Contents > Flush Queue.
Step 3 - Patching the Collaborative Editor
For Confluence instances running Confluence 6.0.x to Confluence 6.9.x that have enabled Collaborative Editing, you will need to download the appropriate version of the patched Collaborative Editor Plugin for your version of Confluence. See the table below:
Confluence Version | Download Link |
5.10.x or earlier | Not applicable - no collaborative editing |
6.0.x | confluence-collaborative-editor-plugin-1.3.24.jar |
6.1.x to 6.2.3 | confluence-collaborative-editor-plugin-1.4.18.jar |
6.2.4 to 6.3.x, 6.4.x, 6.5.x, 6.6.x | |
6.7.x, 6.8.x | |
6.9.x | |
6.10.x and later | Patching the collaborative editor is not required. |
- After downloading the add-on jar, install it by going to Cog menu > Add-ons.
- Choose Upload add-on, then upload the add-on jar.
This may take several minutes, during which time the Collaborative Editing feature may not be available. This patched version of the Collaborative Editor will replace the bundled version that came with your installation of Confluence.
Uninstalling the collaborative editor plugin
If you wish to uninstall the above patched version of the collaborative editor plugin and restore the bundled version, you must:
- Disable the collaborative editing feature (see Administering Collaborative Editing for a guide). Note that unpublished changes may be lost. Consider asking people to publish their pages first.
- Disable the plugin called 'Synchrony Interop Bootstrap Plugin', by going to the Manage Addons link in the administration console, and searching for the plugin, and click disable
- Uninstall the patched version of the collaborative editor plugin
- Restart Confluence (which will restore the bundled version of the collaborative editor plugin)
- Re-enable the 'Synchrony Interop Bootstrap Plugin'
- Re-enable the collaborative editing feature
If these steps are not performed when uninstalling the patched version of the collaborative editor plugin, then the collaborative editor plugin may not re-enable correctly when restarting.
Known Limitations and Issues
Mentions in Pages, Drafts and Comments
Any existing mentions of the deleted user will become "Unknown User (xxxxxxxxxxx)", (where xxxxxxxxxx is the user key stored in the database). In certain parts of Confluence (for example, Activity Stream macro), the deleted user will be displayed as "Anonymous" rather than "Unknown User".
Any mentions that exist in an unpublished draft (see Drafts) at the time the workaround is deployed will remain as they were before the workaround (showing the display name). Those mentions will turn into "Unknown User (xxxxxxxxxx)" when the draft is published. In Confluence version 6.6.x or earlier, the mention may be changed into a link to the current page, with the text being the old username of the deleted user, appended to the '~' (tilde) character, rather than 'Unknown User'.
There is currently no method to automatically force a publish of all drafts by the administrator, or see a list of all unpublished drafts. Each user can view their own unpublished drafts in their recently worked on list. They can also go to their user menu, and click on the draft item. An administrator may choose to turn off collaborative editing, which will remove the unpublished drafts. However, this method may cause data loss of the unpublished drafts, and is not advised unless all deleted user mentions must be removed at all costs (regardless of any content loss).
If a deleted user is mentioned on a page after performing the workarounds above, there may be an error when publishing the page. Refreshing the page, or removing the mention should fix the problem. However, if the Collaborative Editing feature is turned off, the user mention will need to be deleted from the page to fix the problem.
Similarly, if the deleted user is mentioned when adding or editing a comment, the save will fail with an error. The workaround is to remove the mention of the deleted user in the comment before saving. This issue affects both inline comments, as well as image attachment comments.
Clearing the browser local storage will remove the ability to mention the deleted user (see the Browser Cache section on this page for details), and thus preventing the publishing problem from occurring for both pages and comments.
Workbox Notifications
Workbox Notifications (see Workbox Notifications) will continue to have the display name of the user that created the notification. They are automatically cleared by Confluence regularly, and old entries will be removed after 28 days. These jobs are run once per day, starting from the time the server starts up.
Synchrony data
This workaround only applies to Confluence 6.x versions.
If you have collaborative editing enabled, every keystroke in the editor is stored by Synchrony in the Confluence database. This means that any references to a person's full name, user name, or other personal information typed in the editor will remain in the Synchrony tables in the database, separately to where the page or comment content is stored.
A workaround is to truncate the relevant Synchrony tables in the database. See How to reduce the size of Synchrony tables to find out how to truncate these tables.
Known issues
There are a few known issues that you should be aware of, where personally identifiable information remains after running the SQL workaround scripts or deleting the user in the UI.
Additional notes
There may be limitations based on your product version.
Note, the above-related GDPR workaround has been optimized for the latest version of this product. If you are running on a legacy version of the product, the efficacy of the workaround may be limited. Please consider upgrading to the latest product version to optimize the workarounds available under this article.
Third-party add-ons may store personal data in their own database tables or on the filesystem.
The above article in support of your GDPR compliance efforts applies only to personal data stored within the Atlassian server and data center products. To the extent you have installed third-party add-ons within your server or data center environment, you will need to contact that third-party add-on provider to understand what personal data from your server or data center environment they may access, transfer or otherwise process and how they will support your GDPR compliance efforts.
If you are a server or data center customer, Atlassian does not access, store, or otherwise process the personal data you choose to store within the products. For information about personal data Atlassian processes, see our Privacy Policy.


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Ancestry, Genealogy and Family Trees
When researching your family tree there is a great deal of semantics used to distinguish between many aspects of what you are doing. Thus, is it ancestry or genealogy you are carrying out? The answer to that is simple, but it indicates how semantics can cloak the real aspects of what you are trying to achieve – even though it might be necessary sometimes.
Genealogy is the name given to the study of ancestry just like criminology is the study of crime. Your ancestry is your origins in terms of those responsible for your existence down the ages, while genealogy is the study of these ancestors, or researching who they were.
Genealogy Research: Your Paternal and Maternal Ancestry
Genealogy definitions tend to come in twos, and two others are maternal and paternal ancestry – the former referring to your mother's side of your family and the latter to your father's side. Maternal ancestry works through analysis of Mitochondrial DNA whilst paternal lineage by analysis of the Y chromosome. When studying the genealogy of their family, most people will initially focus on their maternal or their paternal ancestry, but not both at the same time.
Then we come to the ancestors and relatives themselves. Direct ancestors are those ultimately responsible for your birth: had they not existed, then neither would you have existed. If your great-great grandfather had married another women your parents might still have had a child, but it wouldn't have been you – and they might not have been married to each other because either your mother or your father wouldn't have existed either, depending on whether your great-great-grandfather was maternal or paternal. Confused yet?
Those ancestors that are not direct could technically not be described as ancestors. Thus, while your aunt is a relative, she is not an ancestor. Therefore, those in your ancestor's family that were not responsible for your existence are referred to as 'collateral relatives'. They are related to you, but sideways, or laterally, and you would still be here even if they had not been born.
Then we have direct and indirect sources you can use to determine your ancestry in genealogy. Direct sources state where you were at a specific time and place, or state something definite, such as that you were born. Thus, a birth certificate is a direct source, indicating that you were definitely born and who your parents were. A death certificate is a direct source proving your death and an indirect source for your birth because you would have to have been born to have died! Indirect sources include driving licenses, marriage certificates and other documents proving your existence, though the marriage is a direct source for you being married. Still not confused? There are also ancestry tests available that help discover your ancient ancestors taking you back thousands of years.
Ancestry testing has been used in countless cases involving famous people, including the bodies of the Russian Imperial family, the Romanovs, Hitler, Jefferson and others. There are many terms specific to ancestry which you will encounter if you are considering doing a DNA testing and you might want to read more on ancestry DNA testing terminology.
Ancestry and Genealogy: Doing Offline Research
You can research your ancestry either online or offline – again two options. Among offline sources for ancestry research are registration offices holding records of births, marriages and deaths. Others include court records, parish records, electoral rolls and school records. Online sources are increasing steadily, and census records are now available online, going back to when they started in some countries (1790 in the case of the USA and 1841 for the UK). Most other records available offline are also available online.
Although semantics figure prominently in defining genealogy and semantics, and how you carry out your family research, most people don't bother about it – even if they are confused, all they are interested in is the fun they have doing it, and the end result when they have built their family tree – ancestry or genealogy, they don't care!


text:
This wiki has been archived and is now read-only.
eGovernment Interest Group Charter - Year 2
status: final draft; see final version
The mission of the eGovernment Interest Group, part of the eGovernment Activity, is to document, advocate, coordinate and communicate best practices, solutions and approaches to improve access to government through effective standards-based use of the Web.
Recognizing that different governments have varying levels of sophistication around web and technology standards and adoption, the Interest Group will focus on two major topic areas in its second phase: Open Government Data (OGD), and Education and Outreach.
Information about joining the Interest Group is available on the group's participation page and on the group's home page.
End date | 30 September 2011 |
Confidentiality |
Proceedings are public |
Initial Chairs | Kevin Novak (American Institute of Architects) John Sheridan (The [UK] National Archives) |
Initial Team Contacts (FTE %: 40) |
José M. Alonso (W3C/CTIC) |
Usual Meeting Schedule | Teleconferences: Every two weeks Chairs Teleconferences: Every two weeks Face-to-face: up to 2 per year |
The eGovernment Interest Group (eGov IG) is a forum to support researchers, developers, managers, solution providers and governments at all levels (local, state, national, and multi-national) to understand the complexities of electronic government, share best practices, and implement effective solutions. The IG is a bridge between policy and technology, acting as a connector, communicator, creator and collaborator. We will partner with related organizations and W3C groups to ensure our work is efficient and complete.
The eGov IG, in its second phase, will focus on two major topic areas: Open Government Data (OGD), and Education and Outreach.
Open Government Data: Publishing data using open standards can help people efficiently share, combine, and expose government data, and will improve government's transparency and accountability by providing useful information to citizens. The eGov IG will work with governments, end users, and other interested parties to develop best practices and approaches to successfully publish government data in open formats.
Education and Outreach: Reaching out to governments, end users, and other interested parties to educate them about the best practices and technical standards that can help them successfully implement all stages of electronic government. The eGov IG will bridge the gap between technologists and governments to communicate, in a non-technical way, the business value of implementing these technical standards and solutions.
Activity Plan and Tactics
The eGov Interest Group will use email discussion, scheduled IRC chats and other tools to enable broad collaboration and communication within the Group, to address the most common barriers to effective electronic government.
In this phase, the eGov IG will document and publish issues and best practices briefing papers (which have the potential to become Group Notes) to educate and communicate value to eGovernment practitioners.
We will champion the work of the group and evangelize the importance of open Web standards to help developed and developing countries achieve the promise of electronic government. Additionally (depending on funding and partnership opportunities), we may oversee the development, testing, validation, documentation and communication of prototype applications that represent the eGov IG's findings, and the community's needs.
Furthermore, the eGov IG will provide a venue for partner groups to organize and facilitate the goals and work of the Interest Group. Consistent with W3C Process requirements on Task Forces, the eGov IG may form task forces composed of eGov IG participants, or collaborate with other W3C task forces, to carry out assignments within the chartered scope of eGov IG. Any such task force must have a work statement (including objectives, communication, participation, and leadership) that has been announced on the eGov IG mailing list, approved by the eGov IG, and is available from the eGov IG home page. eGov IG task forces should produce requirements documents that outline the scope and expectations for work. Task forces may set up separate teleconferences and hold face-to-face meetings per the W3C process and with the approval of the eGov IG.
Strategies and Goals
The eGov IG will facilitate, educate, communicate and evangelize the importance of technological solutions to achieve the promise of electronic government, and champion for the W3C to become the authoritative source for information about open web standards.
Strategy 1: Build community.
The IG will build relationships with government agencies and other key stakeholders, to educate eGov practitioners and foster collaboration around open Web standards.
- Continue to lead, facilitate and engage the eGov community
- Create an eGov-focused W3C website, to communicate W3C best practices to a broader audience
- Publish regular email updates to subscription email list
- Consult with governments or groups interested in improving online government services
- Encourage the formation of task forces focused on Open Government Data and related topics, where they further the eGov IG mission
- Seek out and participate in partnerships, conferences, and other opportunities to further the work of the W3C and eGov IG
Strategy 2: Foster good practices.
The IG will gather and publish success stories that highlight solutions and good practices for opening and publishing government data.
- Collaborate with W3C Groups or other partners to gather and share validated examples and success stories that encourage open government, open government data, or data catalog utilities
- Gather and share references, papers, links, and related materials
Strategy 3: Publicize results.
The IG will publish its findings to illustrate how open web standards and technological solutions can help us achieve the promise of electronic government.
- Document and disseminate findings and approaches in issue briefs or other appropriate venues
- Reach out to the press and public on a regular basis and provide briefings and access to experts
- Actively participate in related eGov-related iniatives (such us US Open Government Initiative or the UK Power of Information Task Force)
- Blog about the work and progress of the IG (Chairs)
- Speak at conferences, meetings, events, or symposia
Major Focus Areas
To achieve its long term goal of improving citizen access to government information and services through effective use of the Web, the eGov IG will focus on the two major areas: Open Government Data, and Education and Outreach.
Open Government Data (OGD): The eGov IG is encouraged by the increase in electronic government initiatives, including Data.gov and Recovery.gov in the United States, and several initiatives of the European Commission. Online availability of government data increases accountability, contributes valuable information about the world, and enables governments and countries to function more efficiently. The eGov IG will serve as the W3C conduit to document, validate and communicate standards and best practices that relate to the presentation, availability and interoperability of open government data and data systems. The IG will identify various scenarios in which government data is generated and/or compiled, and will develop and recommend models for OGD management.
Education and Outreach: More government information and services are delivered via the Web every day, and adherence to Web standards can simplify this delivery. For example, the application of Web standards can help governments ensure their websites are accessible and usable. In addition, conformance to Web standards supports interoperability of data sets via Web-based interfaces and applications. The eGov IG will provide Web standards education that is specific to the needs of eGov stakeholders.
These two focus areas, while high priority, may not be the only areas of work. The IG will consider adopting additional areas of focus if specific issues of interest arise that are within the scope of this charter. To be considered, suggestions for new focus areas must include clear goals and strategies. A Task Force (TF) would be formed for each focus area. The eGov IG Chairs will monitor, guide, and facilitate the work of the TFs. Chairs will seek to engage the entire IG membership to collaborate in meeting the goals of the charter, and exploring the challenges posed in the original Group Note, Improving Access to Government through Better Use of the Web.
The eGov IG recognizes that open government issues are important to all citizens, even those who may not have broad technical expertise. To assure that the eGov IG work is communicated clearly to the widest possible audience, the IG has formed an Editorial TF, responsible for ensuring that Group Notes and other publications are clearly written.
Success Criteria
The eGovernment Interest Group provides global leadership and guidance in using the Web to facilitate more open, transparent and accessible government structures.
To be considered successful in this endeavor, the eGov IG will measure its completion of the following:
- Form Task Forces to target the work of the group around such topics as OGD, government Web standards, or Plain Language
- Establish a repeatable format to seamlessly establish and maintain additional TFs as needed
- Publish issue briefs that facilitate global consensus on OGD and related practices
- Research and gather validated examples of good practices, and publish issue briefs presenting solutions
- Host bi-weekly meetings of thought leaders, including W3C members and invited experts
- Increase discussion and build consensus on the group mailing list
- Create a schedule and process for press outreach
- Actively participate in related eGov activities (such us US Open Government Initiative, UK Power of Information Task Force, etc.)
The eGov IG facilitates discussions that may produce W3C process deliverables. The IG seek to build community and consensus around the need for open government data and processes that are delivered via a standards-compliant Web. In this Phase 2, deliverables will include the development and publication of a series of issue briefs that may become Interest Group Notes. The eGov IG will issue briefs, presentation templates and supporting documentation to communicate emerging best practice in open Web standards development and OGD platforms. The eGov IG will also share example-based solutions to the challenges identified in the previously published Group Note, Improving Access to Government through Better Use of the Web. The IG may also facilitate public workshops and meetings to explore new and emerging approaches.
- September 2009: Group formation - First teleconference
- October 2009 - September 2011: Publish Issue Briefs or Group Notes on regular basis
- September 2011: eGovernment IG ends
Building communities and consensus is a large part of the eGov IG's mission. To that end, the eGov IG will collaborate and share information with other W3C groups and with external stakeholder organizations. The IG success will depend on developing communication channels and regular interaction with such groups. The IG has identified these potential collaborators (listed below) and will expand this list as our work progresses and the community grows.
W3C Groups
- Mobile Web For Development Interest Group (MW4D)
- Deploying eGovernment services to citizens of developing countries is a major challenge due to the lack of infrastructure and computers. The current penetration rate of mobile phones makes them the most promising option for citizen communication with government. Therefore, close relationships between the eGovernment IG and the potential future MW4D IG are essential.
- Open Web Education Alliance Incubator Group
- The mission of the Open Web Education Alliance Incubator Group (OWEA XG) is to help enhance and standardize the architecture of the World Wide Web by facilitating the highest quality standards and best practice based education for future generations of Web professionals.
- Policy Languages Interest Group (PLING)
- Improving data annotation (for example, by means of a policy language) in government systems will improve information about the data collected by governments and will improve transparency. PLING is a forum for W3C Members and the public to discuss interoperability issues - along with related requirements and needs - that arise when using a variety of policy languages. Therefore coordination among both groups is needed.
- Security Activity
- eGovernment services are known to lead to specific security requirements. Communication about specific government requirements between W3C groups working on security issues and government entities will benefit both communities.
- Semantic Web Activity
- Facilities to put machine-understandable data on the Web are quickly becoming a high priority. Numerous organizations, individuals and communities including eGovernment advocates have begun to look into the Semantic Web as the next step towards interoperability and data integration.
- Social Web Incubator Group
- TheThe mission of the Social Web Incubator Group is to understand the systems and technologies that permit the description and identification of people, groups, organizations, and user-generated content in extensible and privacy-respecting ways. This is highly relevant for citizen interaction.
- Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
- WAI work has codified Best Practices and Guidelines to achieve universal access to the Web that have been broadly adopted by governments throughout the world. WAI could leverage the eGovernment IG activities and the eGov IG can learn from and build on the success of WAI to achive global acceptance.
- Web Services Activity
- Web services provide a standard means of interoperating between different software applications, running on a variety of platforms and are characterized by their interoperability and extensibility, as well as their use of XML for machine-processable descriptions. They can be combined in a loosely coupled way to achieve complex operations. Technologies developed by the Web Services Activity are usually found in the core of the eGovernment architectures and frameworks.
External Groups
To improve collective outreach and support government data integration and sharing, the eGovernment Interest Group should establish liaisons with international groups and standards bodies, including but not limited to:
- CEN has established eGovernment related activites in the past such as the eGovernment Focus Group and the Workshop on Discovery of and Access to eGovernment Resources (WS/eGov-Share). The eGov IG reviewed and commented on the WS/eGov-Share work. A liaison will be considered if other eGovernment initiatives start at CEN.
- European Commission
- IDABC Unit; issues recommendations, develops solutions and provides services that enable national and European administrations to communicate electronically while offering modern public services to businesses and citizens in Europe.
- Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS)
- The OASIS eGovernment Member Section (eGov MS) serves as a focal point for discussions of governmental and public administration requirements for e-business standardization.
- Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
- The OECD E-Government Project explores how governments can best exploit information and communication technologies (ICTs) to embed good governance principles and achieve public policy goals.
- Organization of American States (OAS)
- The OAS objective is to support, facilitate and promote the integral development of the Latin American and Caribbean countries.
- eGovernment Unit; implements eGovernment policy, good practice exchange and innovation in Europe.
- U.S. Global Architecture & Information Network Initiative (GAIN)
- The Global Architecture & Information Network (GAIN) is an initiative established by a group of individuals to enable more effective government, business opportunities, transparent government and job creation by building on and extending the U.S. leadership success in the internet combined with open source software and industry standards.
- U.S. Semantic Community
- A community established by a group of individuals for the purpose of achieving semantic interoperability and semantic data integration focused on the government sector. Its main purpose is to support its members in their efforts to make the Semantic Web operational in their agencies.
- The World Bank
- eDevelopment Thematic Group; promotes the efficient use of ICT in development and World Bank operations by facilitating knowledge sharing on good practices in eDevelopment and eGovernment, and an ongoing dialogue amongst a large and diverse community of practitioners.
- International Council for Information Technology in Government Administration (ICA)
- ICA promotes the information exchange of knowledge, ideas and experiences between central government IT authorities on all aspects of the initiation, development and implementation of computer-based systems in and by government.
The eGov IG will actively seek contacts with other groups and similar organizations worldwide and establish relationships to support the successful progress of its work.
Participation in the eGovernment Interest Group is open to the public. Any person interested in this topic is welcome to join. Individuals who wish to participate as Invited Experts (i.e., they do not represent a W3C Member) should refer to the policy for approval of Invited Experts. Invited Experts in this group are not granted access to Member-only information.
There are no minimum requirements for participation in the eGovernment Interest Group. Participants are strongly encouraged to attend the bi-weekly teleconferences and take advantage of frequent opportunities to review and comment on deliverables from other groups.
This group primarily conducts its work on the public mailing list email@example.com [archives].
Information about the group (deliverables, participants, face-to-face meetings, teleconferences, etc.) is available from the eGovernment Interest Group home page.
Decision Policy
As explained in the Process Document (section 3.3), this group will primarily make decisions through consensus. On occasion, when the group cannot come to consensus, after due consideration of different opinions the Chairs should record a decision (possibly after a formal vote) as well as any objections, and move on.
Patent Disclosures
The eGovernment Interest Group provides an opportunity for interested parties to share perspectives on the topics addressed by this charter. W3C reminds Interest Group participants of their obligation to comply with patent disclosure obligations as set out in Section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy. While the Interest Group does not produce Recommendation-track documents, patent disclosure obligations do apply when Interest Group participants review Recommendation-track specifications from Working Groups.
For more information about disclosure obligations for this group, please see the W3C Patent Policy Implementation.
About this Charter
The original, June 2008 charter for the W3C eGovernment Interest Group recognized that governments the world over need assistance and guidance in the use of technology and the Web to implement the full promise of electronic government.
The eGovernment Interest Group fills a void in the Web and technology standards community by focusing on the unique and diverse issues faced by governments throughout the developed and developing world. These include enabling electronic service & information delivery and providing opportunities for discovery, interaction and participation.
@@we might want to remove these areas from here and also pointer from "Major Focus Areas" section if we think s much context is not needed@@
@@I think this much detail isn't necessary, but I'll edit it anyway :) -AdamHarvey@@
The work in the first year of the Interest Group focused on the following areas:
- Web Standards Usage
- Gathering information about the areas in need of best practice guidelines.: Best practices were determined by examining the successes and failures of opening, sharing, and re-using knowledge through the use of standards and specifications by government applications. These best practices will assist the Interest Group in identifying productive technical paths toward better public services.
- Providing input on standards compliance: Previously successful experiences in terms of broad government use (such as the Web Accessibility Initiative work) were used to identify ways in which standard bodies can improve communication in terms of government needs. For example, additional efforts to package, promote, and train on best practices, existing material, and tools.
- Transparency and Participation
- Identifying ways to improve government transparency and openness: The eGovernment Interest Group identified gaps in knowledge that, when filled, will enable the creation of a complete standards suite for open government data and linkable public sector information.
- Identifying ways to increase citizenship participation: The Interest Group recognized new methods for delivering information to citizens where the citizens are looking for it. Better use of these tools will both acknowledge and help active citizens and public servants in participatory activities.
- Identifying ways to increase citizen and business use of eGovernment services: The Interest Group obtained information on the benefits of Web use for government services, identified important selling points to get people and businesses to use eGovernment services, and identified areas for improvement. These selling points include time savings, money savings, and simplicity.
- Seamless Data Integration
- Identifying how to advance the state-of-the-art in data integration strategies: The eGovernment Interest group identified methods for governments and computer science researchers to continue working together to advance the state-of-the-art in data integration. This continuing collaboration will assist in the construction of useful, deployable proof-of-concept demos that use government information and demonstrate real benefit from linked data integration. These proof-of-concept tools ought to be targeted to applications that will show real improvement in areas that elected officials, government officers and citizens actually need. These areas would include addressing the needs of business cases through the use of XML, SOA, and Semantic Web technologies.
The eGovernment Interest Group recently completed its first year charter. This culminated in the release of a comprehensive issues paper titled Improving Access to Government through Better Use of the Web on May 12, 2009. The group is now in the final phase of the charter and is actively communicating with the eGovernment community about the results of its first year of work.
This charter for the eGovernment Interest Group has been created according to section 6.2 of the Process Document. In the event of a conflict between this document or the provisions of any charter and the W3C Process, the W3C Process shall take precedence.
Copyright© 2009 W3C ® (MIT , ERCIM, Keio), All Rights Reserved.


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We are conveniently located in The Nut Tree Plaza in Vacaville. Your student will love it here—it's inviting, challenging, safe, and fun! We have a mascot (Sophie the Shih Tzu) and a vibrant team of innovative and caring educators. Our educational games in the lobby even make parents want to get in on the learning, and where else can you write on the walls and tables, all in the name of education? So how does this all come together? As our model, The Academy of 21st Century Learning uses a framework comprised of four key categories that prepare students for the complex demands of learning in the 21st century.
- Core Subjects in the 21st Century: All schools pay their respects to the core subjects –math, English, science, etc. –but we take our students to the next level by rigorously emphasizing critical thinking and analysis, creativity, and adaptability in all areas of their lives, whether it's AP English, basketball, or Yearbook Club.
- Learning and Innovation Skills: What does Google teach a child? In today's world, where there are many "right" answers, a search engine may be able to deliver the answer, but that does not mean it is actually capable of instilling the learning and innovation skills necessary for success.
- Information and Technology: Today's textbook is a tablet. Although many teens claim to be technologically savvy, we realize the necessary tools for the 21st Century go well beyond being able to install your grandmother's printer software. To this end, The Academy teaches advanced computing skills—we hold computer programming classes, and our tutors incorporate the use of advanced computational software in their instruction.
- Life and Career Skills: What happens when school ends and you're faced with a real-life problem? Can you add it? Format it in MLA? Boil it in a beaker to find a solution? We prepare students life beyond the classroom by pushing them to their limits with challenging problems. The Academy is a place where it's okay to be wrong. In fact, we embrace it, as no one has ever developed a strong character by solving easy math problems and being right all the time.
Successful tomorrows start at The Academy!


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Outlook Mobile is a powerful mobile version of Microsoft's popular Outlook application. Microsoft has provided users a standalone email app that's packed with a real depth of features. Today we're looking at how to quickly RSVP to meeting invites using Outlook Mobile. The best and quickest way to do this uses an Outlook Mobile feature called Quick Action, so we'll start by explaining what Quick Actions are and how to do them.
Understanding Quick Actions
In Outlook Mobile, Quick Actions are those actions you can take from the main email screen without taking the time to open the corresponding messages. Outlook Mobile intelligently understands the nature of certain types of messages (like calendar requests). The app will offer you a quick action that it thinks may be appropriate based on the context of the message. RSVP, Remove, and Modify are a few of the quick actions you may encounter.
In the current version of the Outlook Mobile app, Quick Actions appear as a lightly shaded bubble directly underneath an item. The lightly shaded bubble displays a summary, and on the right side, there is a blue button with the suggested Quick Action.
Using Quick Action to RSVP to Invites
To use Quick Action to RSVP to an Outlook invite, find an invite in your Outlook Mobile inbox that shows you a quick action as described above. Tap on the blue bubble that says "RSVP". Doing so pops up a window with quick-response actions.
In this window, you'll see a snapshot of your Outlook calendar, reminding you whether you're free. Add a message to the organizer if you like. This is especially useful if you need to explain why you're tentative or declining the meeting outright. Next, tap one of the three available options: "Accept", "Tentative", or "Decline".
Tapping this option will drop you suddenly back to the main app window, but don't fear. The meeting organizer received your notification, and the meeting is now on your calendar. Not sure if it worked? Navigate over to the calendar tab and double check. You should see the meeting listed there along with all attendees and their responses (if you have the rights to see them).
Other Quick Action Scenarios
There are two other Quick Actions worth mentioning. First, Remove: If someone cancels a meeting that you were scheduled to attend, that cancellation comes through as an email calendar update. Outlook Mobile recognizes this kind of message and offers a "Remove" quick action. Clicking this quick action removes the entry from your calendar without having to fully open the message.
The other Quick Action is Modify, which may show up on certain types of messages, such as dinner reservation confirmations.
Quick Actions are speedy, powerful ways to interact with certain messages in Outlook Mobile, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. Contact us today to learn more about maximizing your use of Outlook Mobile.


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Citizen scientists reveal a bubbly Milky Way
(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of volunteers has pored over observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and discovered more than 5,000 "bubbles" in the disk of our Milky Way galaxy. Young, hot stars blow these bubbles into surrounding gas and dust, indicating areas of brand new star formation.
Upwards of 35,000 "citizen scientists" sifted through the Spitzer infrared data as part of the online Milky Way Project to find these telltale bubbles. The volunteers have turned up 10 times as many bubbles as previous surveys so far.
"These findings make us suspect that the Milky Way is a much more active star-forming galaxy than previously thought," said Eli Bressert, an astrophysics doctoral student at the European Southern Observatory, based in Germany, and the University of Exeter, England, and co-author of a paper submitted to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
"The Milky Way's disk is like champagne with bubbles all over the place," he said.
Computer programs struggle at identifying the cosmic bubbles. But human eyes and minds do an excellent job of noticing the wispy arcs of partially broken rings and the circles-within-circles of overlapping bubbles. The Milky Way Project taps into the "wisdom of crowds" by requiring that at least five users flag a potential bubble before its inclusion in the new catalog. Volunteers mark any candidate bubbles in the infrared Spitzer images with a sophisticated drawing tool before proceeding to scour another image.
"The Milky Way Project is an attempt to take the vast and beautiful data from Spitzer and make extracting the information a fun, online, public endeavor," said Robert Simpson, a postdoctoral researcher in astronomy at Oxford University, England, principal investigator of the Milky Way Project and lead author of the paper.
The data come from the Spitzer Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) and Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer Galactic (MIPSGAL) surveys. These datasets cover a narrow, wide strip of the sky measuring 130 degrees wide and just two degrees tall. From a stargazer's perspective, a two-degree strip is about the width of your index finger held at arm's length, and your arms opened to the sky span about 130 degrees. The surveys peer through the Milky Way's disk and right into the galaxy's heart.
The bubbles tagged by the volunteers vary in size and shape, both with distance and due to local gas cloud variations. The results will help astronomers better identify star formation across the galaxy. One topic under investigation is triggered star formation, in which the bubble-blowing birth of massive stars compresses nearby gas that then collapses to create further fresh stars.
"The Milky Way Project has shown that nearly a third of the bubbles are part of 'hierarchies,' where smaller bubbles are found on or near the rims of larger bubbles," said Matthew Povich, a National Science Foundation Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow at Penn State, University Park, and co-author of the paper. "This suggests new generations of star formation are being spawned by the expanding bubbles."
Variations in the distribution pattern of the bubbles intriguingly hint at structure in the Milky Way. For example, a rise in the number of bubbles around a gap at one end of the survey could correlate with a spiral arm. Perhaps the biggest surprise is a drop-off in the bubble census on either side of the galactic center. "We would expect star formation to be peaking in the galactic center because that's where most of the dense gas is," said Bressert. "This project is bringing us way more questions than answers."
In addition, the Milky Way Project users have pinpointed many other phenomena, such as star clusters and dark nebulae, as well as gaseous "green knots" and "fuzzy red objects." Meanwhile, the work with the bubbles continues, with each drawing helping to refine and improve the catalog.
More information: For those interested in counting bubbles and contributing to the Milky Way Project, visit the following link: www.milkywayproject.org . To learn of other citizen science-based efforts, check out the Zooniverse: www.zooniverse.org/ .
Provided by JPL/NASA


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Speech held by Sant Kirpal Singh during the World Conference on Unity of Man, 5 February 1974
The inner feelings of heart cannot be expressed through words, for love is always dumb; the power of love works through radiation. I have love and goodwill in my heart for all of you sitting here. And the love and affection that I have for Indiraji cannot be expressed in words. She has devoted her whole life to the cause of Unity of Man. Before this we have been holding many conferences at the level of religion. These were instrumental in mitigating bigotry and narrow-mindedness to a very large extent. So far so good. But there was yet considerable work left to do for unity and for that we now have this conference at the man level, the first of its kind. I recently went to the West. The idea appealed to them greatly. Here in India, too, the need for it is being felt in all quarters. Man has first to become man, in the true sense of the word. Even God is searching for a man — a perfect man. The great Urdu poet Iabal says in a couplet that Moses went to Mount Sinai in search of God, did he not know that God Himself was searching for (a true) man?
Who is man? He who represents the ideal of manhood, who loves God and since God resides in all hearts he loves all creation: his body and soul should give out radiation of love, of humanity; he should have love and regard for everybody — his compeers, his superiors and those who are below him — for God is in all of them. Man is the roof and crown of all creation and so this conference is being convened on the level of man. Our dear Prime Minister has taken time from her busy hours for which I find no words to thank her. I thank her on my own behalf and on behalf of all of you for coming here to address us.


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Oriental Rug Of Houston
Regular price $ 20,997.00 $ 6,999.00 Sale
Story Behind the Art Hand-knotted rugs are Pakistan's second-largest cottage and small industry that began as early as the 11th century under the Mughal rule. The craftsmen have the capacity to produce any type of rug using all the popular motifs of guls, medallions, paisleys (botehs), traceries, and geometric designs in various combinations .But the Pak Persian rugs are a quality best defined by their 16 by 18 KPSI count yielding over 288 kpsi or the common 300 KPSI quality which makes them exceptionally dense and enduring for high traffic area. Initially produced to address the vacuum when the US stopped trading with Iran in the 1970s, these rugs have persisted and are quite popular due to their superior weaving and array of design choices.
We have been in business for more than 30 years serving customers from all over US, Canada and Europe. Our mission is to provide a superior quality rug at the most competitive price. If you find any shortcomings in your buying experience, please let us know and we will do whatever it takes to make it right. Your satisfaction is our ultimate goal.