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Executive Summary
- Attempts to digitalize documentary trade finance have fallen short because each project has focused only on a narrow slice of the entire process.
- Blockchain-powered platforms, by contrast, hold promise to provide trade participants an end-to-end digital process and an easier, faster, less-expensive proposition.
- To realize the potential of blockchain, industry participants will need to agree on networks with common standards and business rules.
- Certain institutions also need to play a role as "superconnectors"—large banks, government agencies or other trusted parties that will serve as a bridge among networks to share critical information.
Banks and technology firms have tried for a couple of decades to digitalize the documentary trade finance process, but most transactions today still rely on paper. Now they are trying again—but this time, armed with better technology. Blockchain (a type of distributed ledger technology) promises to deliver scalable global networks that enable easier, faster and more efficient digital transactions for all parties involved in an international trade transaction.
Written in collaboration with
Written in collaboration with
In May, the banks HSBC and ING carried out the first commercially viable trade finance transaction via blockchain, for a Cargill shipment of soybeans from Argentina to Malaysia. The transaction, on a single shared platform, took less than 24 hours to complete after details were shared with the banks, compared with 5 to 10 days for conventional paper-based, letter-of-credit transactions (see the sidebar "Behind the first fully digitized letter-of-credit transaction").
Letters of credit, also known as documentary credits, are among the most popular instruments in international trade. They represent a written liability in which a bank, on behalf of a buyer, assures a seller the payment will be made according to the agreement in place. The added risk mitigation can stimulate more trade, especially if improvements underpinned by blockchain make the products more attractive. Bain & Company estimates that blockchain could increase global trade volumes by $1.1 trillion by 2026, from the current base of $16 trillion.
But in this next stage, it is essential to heed the lessons of why previous attempts to digitalize documentary trade have had limited impact.
Lost on digital islands
Consider two of the more prominent solutions introduced about five years ago. A bank payment obligation, or BPO, is a digital alternative provided by Swift, the global cooperative relied on for secure communication between banks. BPO uses automated data checking of standardized data sets, rather than stacks of paper. Likewise, MT 798, an authenticated message service to exchange trade data between companies and member banks of Swift, has been in place for eight years. While these efforts have successfully digitalized a slice of the trade process, their reach has been limited. These standards have been too bank-focused, and asked for too many changes by companies to understand and accept a new risk playbook. And they did not come together into a single platform that could be scaled up. As a result, our conversations with many of the relevant bankers indicate that relatively few corporate clients have adopted these methods. The same pattern has applied to various electronic bills of lading and e-airway bills by e-trading systems.
Banks have invested in digitalization mainly in their specific parts of the process, such as digital channels; integration with internal systems so that corporate clients no longer need to sign paper application forms or provide wet ink signatures on loan repayment instructions; or in optical character recognition to digitize paper documents for processing by internal operations. The common thread running through these procedures is their narrow appeal. But the end-to-end trade process is broader than an application or instruction. It requires the digitalization of all parties in the trade life cycle, including customs agents, shippers and port authorities.
Banks find it challenging to invest in external systems on top of their existing investments in digital trade channels and back-office systems. Other vendors have also been trying for decades to provide digital platforms to connect these parties, but banks are hesitant to offer a private solution they do not own or control, as these solutions could pose risks to their reputation or operations and have limited appeal to their clients. Logistics providers have offered platforms to digitalize the logistics process, but the platforms do not link to the financial side of the transaction.
The array of processes to date, in short, do not communicate well with each other. They are digital islands, with paper often serving as a bridge to each island.
Bringing Trade Finance Into the Digital Age
How blockchain can help revitalize documentary trade.
Meanwhile, the proportion of global trade using documentary credit has declined from about 50% in the 1970s to about 15% today. Much of that volume moved into open account trading, in which goods are shipped and delivered before payment is due, usually in 30 to 90 days. Several factors account for the shift:
• Cost. Current forms of documentary trade have higher costs, with fees ranging from 0.125% to 1% of a transaction's total cost. That is significant for the biggest users of documentary trade, commodity trading companies, whose profit margins are thin.
• Risk. Once an exporter and importer have established a relationship, they have less need for risk mitigation from banks. And the development of global supply chains and trade between large global multinationals with high levels of trust naturally leads to increased use of open account trade products and the ability to access financing.
• Inconvenience. The need to submit multiple documents and wait for them to be checked and processed fosters inconvenience, long turnaround times and the need for cooperation of trade service providers, government bodies, logistics companies and internal departments. One error, and the process must restart to find a new agreement or accept the error. In fact, errors are the norm, with roughly two-thirds of transactions requiring rework or acceptance of a documentation error.
Diego Santamaria: Rebooting a Digital Solution to Trade Finance
Companies that can effectively use blockchain technology to digitalize their operations can come out ahead of the pack.
How blockchain would revive documentary trade
Nevertheless, documentary trade continues to play a critical role, particularly as trade expands in less mature regions of Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin America (see Figure 1). These markets have greater perceived risk and uncertainty about payment from a buyer or delivery from a seller. While most companies using letters of credit trade commodities such as energy products, chemicals, grains and flowers—all high-volume shipments that require bank intermediation—major corporations also use letters of credit in these regions for shipments to business customers.
The Asia-Pacific region will show the strongest growth of trade
For banks, moreover, fees and financing from documentary trade still constitute a major source of revenues. The top 10 global trade banks had $5.8 billion in trade finance-product revenues for 2017, according to the analytics company Coalition. Bain estimates that blockchain-based solutions could increase the global banking industry's annual revenue from documentary trade financing by $2 billion by 2026, on top of about $8 billion in annual revenue without blockchain. That lift would reflect banks financing more documentary trade transactions, attracting business not currently participating in cross-border trade, and companies selectively shifting from open account to documentary transactions for greater risk mitigation.
Blockchain promises to address the current bottlenecks in trade finance and thereby radically redefine global trade processes, through these potential benefits (see Figure 2):
Blockchain documentary trade offers several advantages to traditional processes
Automation through blockchain could reduce processing time by 80%
• better service, including faster turnaround times, extended cut-off times and longer servicing hours (see Figure 3);
• lower processing costs for banks and other ecosystems participants;
• more trade financing made available by bridging the gap between perceived and actual risk;
• faster financing decisions;
• a way for each participant to see all the steps involved from purchase order to payment, which improves how businesses manage their risks and cash flow;
• an accurate representation of each record, which can be validated instantly;
• freed-up working capital through reduced friction, whose benefits will need to be shared by both buyer and seller; and
• speeded up supply chain decisions for clients.
A number of potentially scalable blockchain platforms are becoming available (see "Many banks are adopting major, scalable blockchain platforms"). They range from the Voltron project, in which at least 10 banks are assessing the formation of a trade business network using R3's Corda platform, to logistics firms collaborating with IBM.
While each of these networks uses different technical standards and business rules, they all will have an operator that runs the network on behalf of the members. Business blockchain networks will need an operator because they will be permissioned, with each member having a verified identity, unlike a public network such as Bitcoin. In some cases, the operator will be the primary member, such as an agricultural commodities firm running the network for all the participants in its supply chain. In other cases, members such as banks will set up an entity to run it for them. Business networks may also use services from third parties, such as e-presentation services from Bolero, essDOCS or eTitle, to facilitate the trade process.
Building a network of networks
The danger for these developing platforms is that with each trying to do something different, they repeat the pattern of forming digital islands as they move toward production versions. To realize the potential of blockchain, platform developers and participants should learn from the past, avoiding the fragmentation that limits benefits for the trade ecosystem and thus prevents widespread adoption. Instead, real progress will hinge on taking a different approach built on three principles.
Think big. Widespread adoption will require collaboration and significant investment from all of the ecosystem participants, including trading companies, logistics and shipping firms, banks and customs authorities. Consortiums should halt their silo development and instead form a larger, more valuable network, consolidating the initiatives that fail to gain broad support and making those initiatives that do gain support interoperable with each other. The decentralized nature of the technology offers the promise of collaboration among competitors and other situations where there is less than full trust. Banks in a network, for instance, will need to agree on a set of technology standards and business rules.
Since the platform is essentially a utility that provides end-to-end digitalization from procurement to payments, each will need to develop common standards for the technology and for business processes. Governance should be structured to encourage adoption and use by all participants in the ecosystem. And it will require significant investment to build out the utility and integrate it with existing IT systems.
Start small. An aspiring platform should start with a small set of innovators and early adopters that are heavy users of documentary trade, and should focus on one corridor with meaningful trade volumes, such as India to Europe. The best early adopters will know they have problems and actively try to fix them.
Then add a legally binding transfer of goods or title to those goods. That's typically done today through paper bills of lading from ship owners, although legal standards now exist for electronic bills of lading. The platform can expand with other select companies that are heavy users of letters of credit, such as commodities traders, focused on specific trade corridors.
Grow fast. While one global trade network might be ideal, it is not likely to materialize, at least in the medium term. The more likely outcome is a network of networks, some for mainly banks, some for shippers, some serving individual industries or countries (see the sidebar "What trade finance networks will look like"). Each of those individual networks will need sufficient scale and market participation in order to create value. And different networks may have different rules and shared data, so it will be difficult for them to connect together. While it will be much easier if they use the same underlying platform, rather than different technologies, we also see the need for other types of network interoperability.
Enter the superconnector
We see a need for certain institutions to play a role as "superconnectors"—trusted parties that will serve as a bridge among networks (see Figure 4). Large banks, with their historical function as trusted intermediaries and with sufficient scale to invest in the technology, could be well placed to play this role, especially banks that belong to more than one network. Superconnectors will share information between, say, a shipping network and an oil and gas network. The shipping network tracks the flow of goods and deals with customs documents, while the oil and gas network tracks data pertinent to the producer sending the oil and the refiner receiving it. These business networks, which are private permissioned networks, will use blockchain for several tasks such as know-your-customer compliance and cross-border payments.
Superconnectors, consisting of large banks and other trusted parties, will serve as bridges between networks
A bank that is a member of multiple networks can also add information on financing and collateral. It would be a natural superconnector, in part because accessing more networks provides the bank with more information that helps it reduce risk. Banks also are trusted, regulated entities. Other entities might also serve as superconnectors, such as customs or other government agencies, business network operators or major technology firms. Superconnectors would need to develop rules on how to operate across networks. Fortunately, there are emerging efforts to establish those rules, such as the standards recommended by the Universal Trade Network.
The business case for adopting blockchain in documentary trade is clear cut: increase trade efficiency, mitigate risk and expand trade to smaller companies and regions with less robust trade mechanisms. Past efforts to introduce transformative digital technologies have faltered because they have produced narrow, uncoordinated solutions that each benefits only a small set of participants. Only a more collaborative effort, with networks that can connect seamlessly on a single technology platform, will meet the demand for trade finance and allow global trade to reach its full potential.
Behind the first fully digitized letter-of-credit transaction
For years, banks and technology firms have tried in fits and starts to digitalize the documentary trade finance process. Now they are trying again, armed with blockchain, a type of distributed ledger technology.
Cargill's soybean shipment in May 2018 was the first live end-to-end trade finance transaction on a scalable application for a fully digitized letter of credit, using blockchain. HSBC Singapore acted as the issuing bank for Cargill Singapore, and ING Geneva acted as the nominated bank for Cargill Switzerland.
The entire flow mirrors the existing letter-of-credit process. That process involved a number of steps: agreement on terms of a letter of credit, the application, the issuance, the advising, the amendment request and its approval, the document presentation, the discrepancy resolution and the bill-settlement instructions. The actual documents included a charter bill of lading, a packing list and an invoice. Remarkably, documentation exchange and checking time took place in less than 24 hours, compared with the typical period of 5 to 10 days for a conventional, paper-based process. Both banks hope that using blockchain will minimize fraud risks in letters of credit, and reduce steps in the process by automating procedures.
"We took a highly manual, complex transaction and made it more secure and efficient," said Rani Misra, regional treasurer at Cargill. "We see the exciting potential of extending this technology into other areas of our financial ecosystem."
What trade finance networks will look like
In the evolution of blockchain for trade finance, having a single global trade network might be ideal, but that probably will not occur anytime soon. The more likely outcome is a network of networks. As these digital business networks develop, they will share some common traits (see Figure). Each will have technology standards and business rules to govern member interactions. They typically are tied to a single blockchain platform, such as R3 Corda or Hyperledger Fabric. And they may offer apps providing bespoke services such as e-presentation of trade documents or services that transcend multiple networks, such as know-your-customer utilities.
These networks are not likely to replace existing trade systems that provide other capabilities required by banks, including workflow management, or client and bank user reporting. However, the networks will do what current back-office trade systems cannot: enable participants to share data and documents between participants in real time and a secure fashion, creating a true and valid digital record.
There are different options for how the networks will integrate with existing banks systems. Some banks will run parallel to the existing systems with limited integration, others might get embedded into back-office systems to simplify connectivity and minimize the investment required.
The conceptual stack of a network
Written in collaboration with HSBC
HSBC Holdings plc, the parent company of HSBC Group, is headquartered in London. HSBC serves customers worldwide from approximately 3,900 offices in 67 countries and territories in our geographical regions: Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America, and Middle East and North Africa. With assets of $2,607 billion at 30 June 2018, HSBC is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organizations.
In Australia, this document is for distribution by HSBC BANK AUSTRALIA LIMITED ABN 48 006 434 162 AFSL 232595 (for retail and wholesale clients, as defined under the Corporations Act) and/or THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION LIMITED, SYDNEY BRANCH ABN 65 117 925 970 AFSL 301737 (for wholesale clients only), (individually and together "HSBC"), and is intended for reference and illustrative purposes only. It does not constitute an offer or advice for you to purchase from or otherwise enter into a transaction with HSBC or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates.
Sen Ganesh and Thomas Olsen are partners with Bain & Company's Financial Services practice. Joshua Kroeker is Director and Blockchain Lead at HSBC Commercial Banking. Venkatraman P is Director and Global Head of Documentary Trade at HSBC. They are based, respectively, in Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong and Hong Kong.


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Torino is a project designed by VESO. The refined elegance of the customer meets the most contemporary design, in a play of spaces that celebrates every moment of the day, as in a theatrical script.
Beginning as an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright, Ledner went on to have his own successful career designing buildings mainly in New York and New Orleans, where he completed more than 40 projects. He also completed a series of futuristic buildings and meeting halls around the country for the National Maritime Union, including what were perhaps his most famous buildings, the wavy O'Toole Building and the porthole-dotted National Maritime Building (renovated into a hotel by Handel Architects in 2011) in New York.
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subset: commoncrawl


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No, that's not the new Bruce Willis movie. That's the spectacle we're witnessing now of general strikes in Greece in response to proposed austerity measures designed to keep the country from the fiscal abyss — and maybe dragging down other European Union members with it. But Americans shouldn't be too smug. Despite some very substantial differences in political culture and economic vitality, the United States is showing early signs of the mass hysteria, the widespread delirium tremens that sets in when the omni-competent welfare state begins to renege on its promises. If the root problems underlying the Greek debacle include reckless spending, a bloated and self serving bureaucracy, a heavy tax burden, and a complete political failure to face up to reality, then how is California any different in this respect?
Writing in the February issue of Reason magazine, Steven Greenhut offers a lengthy and detailed account of the rapid expansion of the California state payroll and how elected officials and public employee unions work hand in glove to make themselves very comfortable at the expense of taxpayers:
People who are supposed to serve the public have become a privileged elite that exploits political power for financial gain and special perks. Because of its political power, this interest group has rigged the game so there are few meaningful checks on its demands. Government employees now receive far higher pay, benefits, and pensions than the vast majority of Americans working in the private sector. Even when they are incompetent or abusive, they can be fired only after a long process and only for the most grievous offenses.
Too strong? Well, look at where it's led the Golden State. Here's California Attorney General Jerry Brown earlier this month: "California is deeply in debt. You could say that it's bankrupt." Is it one step closer to insolvency with this week's postponement of a bond sale?
And this from Victor David Hanson:
Here in California we see the symptoms of the same Greek malady as we go from one budget shortfall to the next — dream-like borrowing, raising taxes, and furloughing, in lieu of the tough medicine of cutting government payrolls, changing pension payouts, and freezing the pay of state-workers until their compensation mirror images those in the private sector.
The really difficult task ahead — here and abroad — doesn't involve anything to do with fiscal discipline, although essential to the solution, but changing a political culture that has raised generations of people to view the state as its primary source of personal security and social cohesion. The Wall Street Journal reports from Spain:
Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero has drawn criticism from economists for saying he will deal with the crisis without hurting the country's social programs. "That's not a plan, but an announcement," said Lorenzo Bernaldo de Quirós, president of Freemarket International Consulting in Madrid. As a result, he said, Spaniards don't yet understand that their comfortable way of life, cushioned by the state, is about to change. Spaniards still "think like Cubans and live like Yankees," he said.
Greece has a socialist head of state, too, the American-born and educated George Papandreou, who also serves as president of something called the Socialist International. In that role, Papandreou has been issuing in the recent past rather bland 21st Century socialist platitudes such as, "There can be no real democracy when multinational corporations challenge the power of democratically elected representatives of the people" and, "We must reconfigure globalisation from the bottom-up, in order to bring in the two thirds of the human race currently excluded from the globalisation process, on terms that reflect the socialist principles of inclusion, cultural diversity, and sustainable development." It's not exactly Bolshevist in temper but, still, is this the guy who's going to rein in the vast network of entitlements that undergirds modern Greek society?
Where were the "Socialist principles" when Greek governments, on both the left and the right, were engaging in fiscal chicanery and deception to keep the Mother's milk of EU subsidies and support flowing for so many years? Why are the EU bureaucrats now joking about "lies, damned lies and Greek statistics"? And you wonder about the ability of Papandreou's team to grasp reality when it resorts to playing the Nazi card in response to German demands for reform.
But Greece's problems have little to do really with the multinational neo-liberal Anglo-Saxon hegemon. In an interview with The Economist newspaper this week, Papandreou located the real source of the dysfunction. "Greece has certain structural problems," he said. "We have had a high level of corruption, a lot of clientilistic politics. That was sapping a lot of the money and bloating public deficit. When you have clientilism you end up bringing in many more public servants to bring in your voters, to give them appointments." Greeks, who have eyes to see and ears to hear, watched this corruption and concluded: Why should contribute to this? Papandreou owned up to it, finally. "One of the reasons I believe that we have had higher tax evasion over the last few years is the fact that governance have lacked credibility and people were saying: "Well if that guy up there in government is doing what he is doing, putting his money in tax savings outside of Greece, and he is a Minister, then why should I pay my taxes?" This has gone on for decades, not just the "last few years."
Add to this a demographic downward spiral (linked to high abortion rates) that brings in fewer and fewer young people to pay into the front end of the welfare state ponzi scheme. Steven Malanga shows that the global financial crisis merely exposed the underlying problem:
… Greece has exactly the wrong labor and retirement policies in place. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Greece has among the most liberal pension systems, with generous payouts to encourage workers to retire early, including whole categories of workers in jobs deemed "arduous." Incentives matter, of course, so that even while Greece needs to be encouraging more of its citizens to work longer, they are doing the opposite: Only 42 percent of Greece's population aged 55-to-65 are employed, compared to 52 percent of the OECD on average and 62 percent in the United States.
Greece suffers not only from the lost national productivity of a shrinking workforce, but from the cost of high retirement payouts. Greece spends nearly 12 percent of its gross domestic product on pensions-compared to 6 percent in the United States. To support that burden Greece has among the highest rate of taxes on the average worker in Europe, 42 percent of income earned, compared to 37 percent in the OECD on average and 30 percent in the United States. No wonder so many Greek workers find it more profitable to retire or to evade taxes, another of Greece's problems.
Europe's other most troubled countries share many of Greece's characteristics. Italy and Spain have birth rates that have slipped as low as Greece's and shrinking labor working age populations. Yet early retirement is the norm. In Italy the average retirement age is 59, among the lowest in industrialized nations, and Spain is ranked only slightly higher. Only one-third of Italy's population aged 55-to-64 is in the workforce, and the average male worker in Italy will spend more than 25 years in retirement. In fact, with life expectancy increasing, a growing chunk of European adults spend more of their [adult] life retired than working. But the costs are staggering. Italy now spends 15 percent of its GDP on pensions, the highest in the Europe.
Can America resist the same temptations that have now pushed Greece and other tottering entitlement states in Europe into such peril? That is, in part, what the debate over health care is about. What are the upside limits to the American welfare system, what is its proper scope, and how will that impinge on our liberties and affect the moral health of the culture? How will the Obama administration's nationalization of health care, a plan that would extend insurance to about 30 million Americans at a cost of $950 billion over 10 years, affect our long term fiscal health at a time when budget deficits are soaring? Well, there's another summit coming up, this one on the deficit. Let's invite the Chinese.
At the same time, we have a growing constituency of Americans who pay no taxes but receive state benefits:
An astonishing 43.4 percent of Americans now pay zero or negative federal income taxes. The number of single or jointly-filing "taxpayers" – the word must be applied sparingly – who pay no taxes or receive government handouts has reached 65.6 million, out of a total of 151 million. [ … ] "You've got a larger and larger share of people paying less and less for the services provided by the federal government," says Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center. "The concern is that the majority can say, 'Let's have more benefits, spend more,' if they're not paying for it. It's 'free.' That's not a good thing to have."
And let's not forget, as Steven Greenhut has demonstrated, that we have a growing public sector to serve this 43.4 percent of Americans who pay no taxes. It all sounds very Greek.
Still, there's much to be hopeful about. Compared to the sclerotic European welfare state, the United States has a growing population, a more stable and transparent political system — with lots of room for push back — respect for the rule of law, and an economy inviting to entrepreneurship and innovation. And relatively low levels of public corruption. Americans have developed a true culture of grassroots democracy that encourages participation and oversight into a hyper-local political life that ranges from school boards, township zoning decisions, election of judges, and state house races. Along with this comes a vibrant civil society sector involving churches, charities, foundations and other groups that have a strong voice in the public square.
The question then: Will we follow, as St. Irenaeus of Lyons put it, "the ancient law of human liberty" to master our own lives and hold ourselves accountable to God, family and neighbor, or will we surrender that priceless gift for the hollow promise of a fatter state benefit package?


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Privacy Policy
Updated September 10th, 2018
Introduction:Wine and Beyond, including its affiliates of SNDL INC. is committed to safeguarding the personal information entrusted to us by our customers. We manage your personal information in accordance with Alberta's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and other applicable laws. Our Personal Information Protection Policy outlines the principles and practices Wine and Beyond follows in protecting our customers' personal information. The policy also applies to any person providing services on our behalf. A copy of this policy is available on our website http://wineandbeyond.ca and a copy is available via email at firstname.lastname@example.com.
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Our Sites may also use Google Analytics which is a web analytics tool utilizing first-party cookies to track visitor interactions with our Sites. Google Analytics customers can view a variety of reports about how visitors interact with their website that helps website owners better engage its visitors and improve its website. Google Analytics collects information anonymously. It reports website trends without identifying individual visitors. You can also opt out of Google Analytics without affecting how you visit our Sites – for more information on opting out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites you use, visit this Google page https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. Our Sites may also use a technology called "tracer tags". These may also be referred to as "Clear GIFs" or "Web Beacons". This technology allows us to understand which pages you visit on our Sites. These tracer tags are used to help us optimize and tailor our Sites for you and other future.
Our Sites or Apps may include links to the websites of our business partners, vendors and advertisers. Except as provided herein, we will not provide any of your personal information to these third parties without your prior consent.
SNDL INC. provides links to third party websites as a convenience to the user. The inclusion of any link does not imply SNDL INC.' endorsement of any other company, its websites, or its products and/or services. These linked websites have separate and independent privacy policies, which we recommend you read carefully. We have no control over such websites and therefore have no responsibility or liability for the manner in which the organizations that operate such linked websites may collect, use or disclose and otherwise treat your personal information.
Updating Personal Information:
We make every reasonable effort to ensure that customer information is accurate and complete. We rely on our customers to notify us if there is a change to their personal information that may affect their relationship with our organization. If customers are aware of an error in our information about them, we request that they please notify us and we will correct it on request wherever possible. In some cases we may ask for a written request for correction.
Safeguarding Personal Information:
We protect customer personal information in a manner appropriate for the sensitivity of the information. We make every reasonable effort to prevent any loss, misuse, disclosure or modification of personal information, as well as any unauthorized access to personal information. For example, we have employees sign confidentiality agreements to protect customer information and use up-to-date technological protections such as firewalls and passwords.
We will notify the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, without delay, of a security breach affecting personal information if it creates a real risk of significant harm to individuals.
We retain customer personal information only as long as is reasonable to fulfill the purposes for which the information was collected or for legal or business purposes.
We render customer personal information non-identifying, or destroy records containing personal information once the information is no longer needed. We use appropriate security measures when destroying customer personal information, including shredding paper records and permanently deleting electronic records.
Access to Records Containing Personal Information:
Customers of Wine and Beyond have a right of access to their own personal information in a record that is in our custody or under our control, subject to some exceptions. For example, under PIPA, organizations are required to refuse to provide access to information that would reveal personal information about another individual. Organizations are authorized under PIPA to refuse access to personal information if disclosure would reveal confidential business information. Access may also be refused if the information is privileged or contained in mediation records.
If we refuse a request in whole or in part, we will provide the reasons for the refusal. In some cases where exceptions to access apply, we may withhold that information and provide you with the remainder of the record.
Making A Request for Personal Information:
You may make a request for access to your personal information by writing to our Privacy Officer, at Suite 101, 17220 Stony Plain Road, Edmonton, Alberta, T5S 1K6, or email email@example.com. Our Privacy Officer is designated to ensure compliance with PIPA. You must provide sufficient information in your request to allow us to identify the information you are seeking.
You may also request information about our use of your personal information and any disclosure of that information to persons outside our organization.
You may also request a correction of an error or omission in your personal information.
We will respond to your request within 45 calendar days, unless an extension is granted. We may charge a reasonable fee to provide information, but not to make a correction. We will advise you of any fees that may apply before beginning to process your request.
Questions or Concerns:
If you have a question or concern about any collection, use or disclosure of personal information by Wine and Beyond or about a request for access to your own personal information, please contact
Privacy Officer at:
Wine and Beyond
c/o SNDL INC.
101, 17220 Stony Plain Road
Edmonton, AB T5S 1K6
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you should contact the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, at:
Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta
Suite 2460, 801 - 6 Avenue, SW
Calgary, Alberta T2P 3W2
Toll Free:


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Kevin Oleszewski, CFP®, Senior Wealth Planner
It's hard to fathom, but there are a lot of employee benefits that people aren't using correctly — or aren't using at all.
Why? I blame it largely on the failure of employers to educate in a coherent and easy-to-understand fashion. The employee benefits business has its own language and most workers — even if they read all of their onboarding documents — won't necessarily understand the content. It doesn't help that most high schools and colleges choose not to include personal finance in their curriculum.
Here's an example, out of my own experience, of how a workplace benefit can be overlooked. I have two friends, both in education, who literally threw away their 403(b) enrollment forms because they didn't understand what the tax-sheltered retirement plan was. I helped sort them out and they've been taking advantage of the benefit ever since.
5 Employee Benefits You Might Be Missing Out On
Here are five of the most often misunderstood workplace benefits that employees should take a hard look at.
1. Employer match on 401(k) plans. There's not a lot of mystery surrounding the 401(k) retirement and savings investment plan. It's been around for a long time. But things can go sideways when employees auto-enroll in the program at a contribution rate that's lower than the company match. If you are contributing 3% and the company match is 6%, the employer is only required to match at your level. That's missed opportunity. It's a good idea to revisit your rationale behind the amount of your contribution on a routine basis.
2. Health savings accounts. The health savings account, or HSA, can be a great tool to boost retirement savings. Typically, an HSA is used by people with high-deductible health insurance plans to pay out-of-pocket expenses. When you contribute to an HSA, you get a tax deduction for the money you put in and it grows tax-free. If you don't need to use the money early on, you can use it in retirement to reimburse for all medical expenses.
3. Employee stock purchase plans. Typically offered by a public company, these plans allow employees to buy stock at a discount. Discount rates tend to range from 10 to 15 percent. If used correctly, these plans can be a great investment, but you should consider your contributions to an ESPP in the context of your overall financial plan, as all investments have risk and the taxation rules on these plans can be complex.
4. Group disability and group life insurance. The plans offered by employers are generally the cheapest in the marketplace that you can buy. These low-cost plans can give financial stability to a family — yet they are often left on the table. On the insurance side, companies sometimes provide a certain amount of coverage— maybe two to three times your salary — with no physical exam required. It comes back to a lack of education. Also, there are a ton of insurance agencies that want you as customers and it's their loud, loud marketing voice that you are going to hear first.
5. Commuter benefits. More and more companies are offering commuter benefits to help with expenses like train tickets, parking costs, tolls and ride-share programs. You don't pay a tax on the benefit. The problem is there's a tremendous lack of awareness about a perk that could save you hundreds of dollars over the course of a year.
Use It or Lose It
The bottom line? It's important to maximize workplace benefits that are relevant and impactful to you. Ideally, set up a one-on-one consultation with your human resources contact when you start a new job. If you're working at a big company, there should be some sort of power point presentation that's offered during the onboarding process that outlines every benefit and how it works. Sometimes, the really large corporations will offer employee benefits workshops on routine basis.
This is a textbook case of "Use it or lose it." Ask questions. Read the small print. And talk to your colleagues who have worked at the company for a while. Get educated.
Have Questions About Workplace Benefits?
Talk to a qualified financial advisor today to get professional advice today. Need help finding a financial advisor in your area? Give us a call today so we can match you with an advisor who will put your needs first.
Kevin Oleszewski is not registered or affiliated with Cetera Advisor Networks, LLC.


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Brand new replacement white Beats Solo 3rd gen wireless headphone ear pad cushions are made up of quality and soft foam, which will give you the original comfort. These Solo3 wireless white ear pad cushions are soft, durable and of high elasticity to provide the same original feel again and very easy to install. With our quick processing on the replacement white Solo 3.0 ear cushions, you can get back to enjoying your music and podcasts quickly and comfortably.
Solo3 White Ear Pads
Beats Model Number: A1796


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I just went through a frankly hellish transition of ending my Midwest trip, saying goodbye to my family yet again, coming back to New York, and moving into my new apartment in Brooklyn. Predictably, all this led to an inordinate amount of emotional turmoil, but I somehow managed to write this piece for Friendly Atheist about some polyamory tropes.
Polyamory — the practice of having multiple sexual/romantic relationships with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved — is currently going through that stage that all "alternative" lifestyle practices must go through: the one where journalists discover their existence and have a field day.
Luckily for them, more and more people are willing to openly talk about their open relationships as the stigma of being non-monogamous diminishes. Journalist Olga Khazan interviewed quite a few of them in this article for The Atlantic. While the article is well-researched, balanced, and accurate overall, it (probably unintentionally) repeats and propagates a few tropes about polyamory that aren't always accurate.
Note that I said "not always"; tropes are tropes for a reason. There are plenty of people whose polyamorous lives resemble them, and I mean it when I say that there's nothing wrong with that (as long as it's all consensual!). But I think that the (presumably non-poly) audience these articles are aimed at might benefit from seeing a wider variety of poly experiences and opinions, so I wanted to add my own voice.
With that in mind, here are a few dominant narratives about polyamory that aren't always true, but that crop up very often in articles about polyamory.
1. Polyamorous people don't feel jealousy.
It's right there in the title, "Multiple Lovers, Without Jealousy." Although the article does later go more in-depth about the ways some poly couples experience and manage jealousy, the headline perpetuates the common myth that polyamory is for a special breed of human (or superhuman, perhaps) who just "doesn't do" jealousy.
Some do, some don't. For some poly folks, jealousy is a non-issue. For others, it's an annoyance to be ignored as much as possible. For still others, it's a normal, natural emotion to be worked through and shared with one's partners. There are as many ways to deal with jealousy as there are to be polyamorous — and there are many.
The reason this matters is because framing jealousy as a thing poly people just don't experience drastically reduces the number of people who think they could ever be poly. I've had lots of people say to me, "Oh, polyamory sounds cool, but can't do it because I'd be jealous." Of course, dealing with jealousy isn't worth it for everyone, so I completely respect anyone's decision to stick with monogamy because of that. But I think it's important to let people know that you can experience jealousy — even strong and painful jealousy — and still find polyamory fulfilling and completely worthwhile.
Read the rest here.


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November 16, 2018
McKinney, Texas
Torchmark Corporation (NYSE: TMK) announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of $.16 per share on all of the outstanding common stock of the Company held of record as of the close of business of the Company's transfer agent on January 4, 2019. The dividend will be paid on February 1, 2019.
Torchmark Corporation is a holding company specializing in life and supplemental health insurance for "middle income" Americans marketed through multiple distribution channels including direct response, and exclusive and independent agencies. Torchmark has several nationally recognized insurance subsidiaries. Globe Life And Accident is a direct-response provider of life insurance known for its administrative efficiencies. American Income Life provides individual life insurance to working families. Liberty National Life is one of the oldest traditional life insurers in the Southeast. United American is a consumer-oriented provider of supplemental life and health insurance. Family Heritage Life provides individual supplemental health insurance.


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Tea enjoyment for lovers – with an innovative thermo tea glass
With the thermo tea glass stylish tea drinking at home and on the way
With the thermo-tea glass, you can enjoy this aromatic drink anywhere and at any time – even on the go. The innovative tea maker consists of a special double-walled glass and a two-piece sieving device, which makes it possible to prepare and enjoy the tea in just one container. The construction, which you can easily order in our shop, is rounded off by a high-quality natural bamboo stopper. This closure keeps the liquid warm for about two hours. In this way you can enjoy your favourite tea whenever and wherever you want and benefit from a consistently good aroma!
Easy preparation with the thermo tea glass
With the innovative tea maker you can easily prepare your favourite tea. The tea leaves are filled into the larger of the two sieves, which acts as a classic filter. After preparation, you can enjoy the tea directly, while the taste gradually increases. Alternatively, you can fill the tea leaves directly into the Thermo Tea Glass using the smaller sieve – and then watch the drink gradually unfold as you change colour. But no matter which method you choose: At the end you will always find an aromatic tea drink of the best quality!
Thermo Tea Glass – made from high quality raw materials
When you use the tea maker, you benefit from the particularly high quality of the raw materials used to make the construction. The tea glass is made of double-walled borosilicate glass, which protects against burns when the tea is still very hot. You can close your tea maker with a stopper made of natural bamboo. The material keeps the liquid in the glass warm for two hours. The two-piece sieve is located directly below the closure and is made of high-quality stainless steel. Of course, no health-damaging BPA´s is used in the manufacture of the tea glasses. And particularly passionate frequent drinkers get their money's worth when buying a thermo tea glass: the container holds more than the usual amount of a normal tea glass. The Thermoteeglas guarantees such an extensive tea pleasure!
Innovative, practical and suitable for every occasion: the Thermo-Tea-Glass enables tea enjoyment at the highest level – at any time and any place!
Thermo Tea Glass Instructions: Step 1
Pour the tea directly into the bottle or tea strainer. The amount depends on the type of tea and the desired strength of the tea. We recommend 2 to 8 grams.
Thermo Tea Glass Instructions: Step 2
Fill the hot water directly into the bottle and close the lid. Let the tea brew for 1 to 3 minutes. Depending on the tea, you can infuse your tea up to four times.
Thermo Tea Glass Instructions: Step 3
The tea is drunk directly from the bottle. The bottle is designed for drinking directly from the bottle. A transfer into a cup is not necessary.
- double-walled borosilicate glass
- Hot up to 1h hot
- Cold up to 2h cold
- 100% tight / BPA free
- easy cleaning
- Tea filter and tea strainer


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Tinley Park Sign Company
VIEW GALLERYAre you a business looking for a trustworthy Tinley Park sign company that can help you promote your brand more efficiently and bring in more traffic? If yes, Mark Your Space should be the company you should contact today.
We are a highly-rated and trusted sign company that offers personalized sign services to all our clients, even if they are on a budget. With us as your sign partner, you will not stress about anything because we can make the signs in-house and get them installed without requiring a third party to sort out any aspect of the project. We also take our time to get to know your brand better so we can deliver the sign you want.
We guarantee that your investment will not be wasted once you get your signs and graphics from us. Working on a budget? We can still provide you with high-quality signs that will surely give people more reasons to try your brand out before checking your competition.
Call Mark Your Space at (708) 518-3634 for your Free Consultation with a Tinley Park Sign & Graphics expert!
Signs That Work for You
Do you want to help your business catch the attention of your target market? Do you want to help your employees be more productive and work safely in your facility? Do you want to share your business story?
Mark Your Space is the Tinley Park sign company you can trust to help you get signs that will match your business targets very well. We are a full-service sign company, which allows us to provide affordable personalized services to all our clients and provide high-quality signs every time. It is our goal to provide you with signs and graphics that will help you with your business goals and transform your business into something much more than what you originally envisioned.
With the right design and placement, business signs can help people remember your brand well and see it in a positive light. It will also give them more reasons to try your offerings than your competitors.
The Right Signage for Your Business
Every business is different, and it is crucial that you make this distinction visible in the way you frame and promote your brand and offerings so people do not confuse you with another company or business. But how do you get people excited and inform them that you have something special in the things you are offering them?
The best way to achieve this is by utilizing custom commercial signage made by a trusted signage company like Mark Your Space. With us as your partner, you will be able to get the perfect sign for your business needs, whether it is a storefront sign or an informational sign, and achieve the purpose you have with them. Whether you are a startup, small business, public institution, or a large corporation, we will guide you through all the business sign options available, which ones work perfectly for your goals, and how they can be designed to achieve your marketing and brand goals.
When people see professionally made business signs and graphics, it informs them that you are a legitimate business they can trust, and you are ready to provide them with the products and services they need. These signs and graphics can also show that you care about quality and customer satisfaction, giving them more reasons to check your brand out. Our team can get you started and show you the potential of having personalized business signs tailored specifically to your brand.
Outdoor & Exterior Signs
Outdoor signs are crucial in a business's success because it is one of the first things people see when it comes to your business. Mark Your Space creates all varieties of outdoor signs, from storefront signs to pylon signs. We can work with new and existing designs and guarantee that the outdoor sign you will get will boost your business further and it will last for a long time.
Your outdoor signs can be designed to match whatever business target you may have. We can design your outdoor signs to promote your brand's story, share information about your products and services or even let people know where you are located. Our team can recommend the best outdoor sign styles and designs that we believe will help you achieve your business goals.
Indoor & Interior Signs
If you have outdoor signs, you must have indoor signs that will improve your customer's experience when they browse around your facility while still reinforcing and promoting your brand. Mark Your Space can make effective and attractive indoor signs which are installed in key areas of your business's interior.
For your indoor signs, we will look into various factors to get them perfectly to your needs. From your business space, branding, content to accessibility, our team will include it in the final design and make sure that your brand is visible no matter what kind of indoor sign you request. We can also provide recommendations for other indoor signs you may not have considered to help with your current indoor sign setup.
Vinyl Signs & Graphics
Out of all the materials used for signs and graphics, vinyl is the most popular.
Vinyl comes in a variety of finishes and colors that will match any sign or graphic design. It is also very durable, so even if you install it outdoors, it won't fade that easily.
For your vinyl signs and graphics, Mark Your Space can design and manufacture it to your specifications and match the location where you will install it. Our vinyl experts will take your requests into consideration and deliver the right vinyl sign for your brand.
Custom Signs
Every business is different, and if you want to show your target market that you are different, you can do it with the help of custom signs and graphics.
Custom signs and graphics allow businesses to showcase their personality without worrying about legal standards followed in traditional business signs and graphics. You can request it in any style, size, and design while still ensuring it delivers the message you want to convey effectively without going over budget. Whether you will use it as a storefront sign, directional signs, informational signs, or you will request custom signs for your entire signage campaign, we can deliver.
When you get your custom signs and graphics, you will notice how well it will improve people's perspectives about your brand. It will also help you stand out further from your competition, especially if your signs come with elements like lighting, embossed messages, and message centers.
Complete Commercial Signage Company
If you want to work with a Tinley Park sign company that can match your requests to the letter and keep everything within your budget, you won't go wrong with Mark Your Space's highly rated services. Many clients love our top-notch customer service and our attention to detail when it comes to the signs and graphics we create. Our team will be with you from start to finish, and you will be involved throughout the entire process. This system makes sure that you know what you are getting and how it will work once it is installed.
Our sign experts will be with you immediately when you reach out to us through our free consultation. During this period, we will speak with you to learn more about your business, your business targets, your design requirements, and your budget. Getting this information is crucial because this will allow us to create a draft design that we can use for your business sign. We will also design the signs with your industry's design standards and the government's requirements, especially for large outdoor signs.
Should any elements be missing or wrong in the draft design, let us know, and we will edit it for you. We want you to be happy with your signs and graphics and to ensure it is the design you want. We will also provide you with our quotation so you can decide whether you wish to avail of our service.
If the design and the quotation are perfect for you, you don't need to wait long for your request. We can immediately create your signs and graphics because we have the equipment and sign materials ready to use. We use high-quality materials for your signs, so they don't require regular maintenance and replacement once they are installed. We also do quality checks before the signs and graphics are given to our team of installers to make sure that all of your requests are present in them.
We also offer additional sign and graphics services, such as maintenance, repair, and removal of your existing signs and graphics. You can contact us to learn more about our services, and we are also open to doing custom and bulk orders.
Our Commitment to You
Whenever you need signs and graphics for your business, don't settle for sign companies that cannot match your vision and your budget.
Mark Your Space is your Tinley Park, IL sign company that can deliver the best signs and graphics for your business whenever you need it and in any specification you want it to be. We will make the process stress-free by handling every aspect of the sign-making process to keep our prices low and sign high-quality from the design, manufacturing, and installation to maintenance. We guarantee you won't be disappointed with the results.
Call Mark Your Space at (708) 518-3634 for your Free Consultation with a Tinley Park Sign & Graphics expert!


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Planning, Research, Innovation and Effectiveness (PRIE)
The Office of Planning, Research, Innovation and Effectiveness (PRIE) at Skyline College provides leadership in planning, research and assessment to help better understand our students, programs, and community. PRIE carries out a rigorous institutional effectiveness agenda that focuses on student equity, success, and achievement. Guided by the Mission – Vision – Values of Skyline College, PRIE works collaboratively with the college community to support continuous institutional improvement through innovation and data-informed decision-making.
Service Area Outcomes
- Faculty, staff, students, and administrators will be able to participate in an integrated planning process focused on improving student equity, success, and achievement.
- Faculty, staff, students, and administrators will be able to access research conducted by the PRIE Office focused on improving student outcomes through robust program evaluation.
- In support of institutional effectiveness, faculty and staff will receive guidance and support in the development and implementation of assessment strategies dedicated to better understand the impact of current practice on student learning.


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This has been a revealing week for President Obama's two appointees to the Supreme Court, who are becoming two of the strongest voices on the Court. On Monday, Justice Sotomayor made national headlines with her opinion regarding a denial of cert. (beginning at page 13 of this Order List) — though agreeing on procedural grounds with the decision to deny review, she rightly excoriated a prosecutor who argued in a criminal case that the presence of African-Americans, Hispanics, and money in a room should give rise to an inference that a drug deal was taking place. On Tuesday, Justices Sotomayor and Kagan were the only votes for the FDCPA plaintiff's position in Marx v. GRC (which we discussed here); the dissent included this forceful criticism of the majority's self-serving legislative history analysis:
Some Members of the majority have expressed doubt about the relevance of legislative history, claiming that relying upon it is analogous to "entering a crowded cocktail party and looking . . .for one's friends." Conroy v. Aniskoff, 507 U. S. 511, 519 (1993) (SCALIA, J., concurring in judgment). But speculating whole cloth about congressional intent, as the majority does, is surely more problematic. The majority is saved the trouble of having to look for its friends at the party; it simply invites them.
And yesterday, both Justices were quite active — and willing to challenge their more conservative colleagues directly — in the oral argument over the Voting Rights Act; for a good description of some of the courtroom exchanges and a discussion of the two new Justices' evolving role on the Court, check out this Washington Post op-ed.


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Better cholesterol drugs may follow Saint Louis University researcher's breakthrough
Thanks to a discovery by a Saint Louis University researcher, scientists have identified an important microRNA that may allow us to better control cholesterol levels in blood.
Led by Ángel Baldán, Ph.D., assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Saint Louis University and published in a recent issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, the study found that the microRNA miR-33, may be key to controlling HDL, or "good" cholesterol levels.
In the U.S., heart attack, stroke, and peripheral artery disease collectively account for more than 30 percent of all deaths in the last decade. Atherosclerosis, the fatty build-up in arteries that causes these illnesses, is tied to cholesterol levels, a waxy substance found in the blood.
Statins, drugs frequently prescribed by doctors to manage cholesterol levels, work by lowering LDL, or "bad" cholesterol levels; however, their role in HDL cholesterol is still obscure. Importantly, HDL has been found to have a protective benefit against cardiovascular disease.
"Atherosclerosis costs lives and takes an enormous toll on our health," said Baldán. "If the discovery that miR-33 can be used to raise HDL levels leads to better medications, it will have an enormous impact on our ability to treat heart disease."
The study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, Saint Louis University Center for Cardiovascular Research and the Doisy Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Saint Louis University, examined SREBP-2, an important gene in the body, and zeroed in on the microRNA miR-33, which is expressed within SREBP-2.
Increasing the levels of miR-33 in the liver, scientists discovered, resulted in lower HDL cholesterol levels in an animal model; conversely, turning off miR-33, researchers found, had the effect of raising HDL levels.
Paralleling these results, four separate studies reported similar findings, adding to investigators' hope that better medications may be on the horizon for managing atherosclerosis. Scientists hope that future medications may prove to be more effective than statins alone by not only lowering LDL-cholesterol levels, but also increasing HDL levels.
Established in 1836, Saint Louis University School of Medicine has the distinction of awarding the first medical degree west of the Mississippi River. The school educates physicians and biomedical scientists, conducts medical research, and provides health care on a local, national and international level. Research at the school seeks new cures and treatments in five key areas: cancer, liver disease, heart/lung disease, aging and brain disease, and infectious disease.


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India's Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed a landmark lower court ruling that decriminalized homosexual acts, in a decision that is being called a major setback to gay rights in the country.
At issue was an 1861 British colonial-era law that forbids "intercourse against the order of nature." Prosecutions under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code are rare, but are often used by police to harass gays and lesbians.
The Delhi High Court in 2009 ruled that the law violated the fundamental rights guaranteed by India's Constitution. But that decision was challenged by Hindu, Muslim and Christian organizations, which welcomed the decision.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that only Parliament can change the law. The decision was criticized by gay rights groups and their supporters.
"We see this as a betrayal of the very people the court is meant to defend and protect," said Arvind Narayan, one of the lawyers representing a consortium of gay rights groups. "In our understanding, the Supreme Court has always sided with those who have no rights."
His comments were reported by the privately owned NDTV.
"There is a barbarism in treating choices of consenting adults as a crime," author Vikram Seth told NDTV. "I wasn't a criminal yesterday. Today I am. I intend to continue being a criminal."
But Supreme Court Justice G.S. Singhvi, who headed the bench that restored the ban, defended the decision.
"To all those criticizing my judgment on homosexuality, I'll say read my judgment," he said.
Singhvi retired after delivering the verdict.
There's little political consensus in India toward taking up the issue, especially ahead of national elections scheduled for next year. "It is not possible to legislate anything now," Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said. "It needs political consensus."
Naz Foundation, an NGO that brought the original case, said it would seek a review of the decision.
The decision to leave the matter in the hands of Parliament is a rare departure for India's Supreme Court, which has been accused by lawmakers of judicial activism. The New York Times notes:
"India's judges have a long history of judicial activism that would be all but unimaginable in the United States. In recent years, judges required Delhi's auto-rickshaws to convert to natural gas to help cut down on pollution, shuttered much of the country's iron ore mining industry to cut down on corruption, and ruled that politicians facing criminal charges cannot seek re-election. Indeed, India's Supreme Court and Parliament have openly battled for decades, with Parliament passing multiple constitutional amendments to respond to various Supreme Court rulings.
"But legalizing gay sex was one step too far for India's top judges, and in a rare instance of judicial modesty they deferred the matter to India's legislators."
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Kalyan Enterprises supplies the maximum number of sports nets in the city and also stands as the top manufacturer of the sports net. Sports is now the heart best of the city, with several players ruling the national front, Minister-road has stood as successful hub for all kind of sports and the playgrounds are becoming far more equipped and professional in design to help the players to perform their best in international sports.
Whatever be the game, cricket, food ball or volley ball, a requirement of sports net is basic and we make that available for you. Our nets range from different sizes, shapes, colour texture and arrangement. We can successfully provide sports nets for small, medium and large play grounds. We also manufacture nets for the indoor and outdoor sports. Sports nets are manufactured from a material called as garware, for complete stability. Sports nets are very important and play a very profound role in all kind of sports.
Playing games is the best thing that one can do, as it not only relaxed our body, but gives the maximum strength to mind and brings in team work spirit for us. If you are owning a lovely playground or require sports net for any other cause, please do enquire with us for quality solutions….
Copyrights © 2023 All Rights Reserved by KALYAN ENTERPRISES


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Home > New For 2024
Sku: BMAR008FRDBar Code: 886741011778Product Family Synth King Marabou 40mmProduct Delivery Package BagSPS-EDI-Vendor-Color Fl Hot RedSPS-EDI-Qty-Carton 12SPS-EDI-Category Synthetic MarabouSPS-EDI-Size-Desc BagMarketing Family Synthetic Marabou
Semperfli has taken natural marabou bloods to the next level with our amazing synthetic marabou chenille. Synthetic King Marabou 40mm Fl Hot Red is a single sided chenille this can simply be wrapped around the hook to create streamer tails or bodies. Simply wrap Synthetic King Marabou 40mm Fl Hot Red around the hook and brush.
We have looked at one of the staples of fly tying, marabou! Used in many streamers and fly patterns and of course the humble woolly bugger, found in almost every fly fishermens fly box. More and more fly tying companies are importing low quality feathers and we have seen a marked degradation in quality over the last decade. Without doubt a synthetic marabou offers consistent quality and performance. Add to the quality issues natural marabou can be a pain in the a*** to sink, how often have you seen a fly fisherman cast a woolly bugger or streamer that sits on the surface because sinkant has not been added to the fly. As a result the Semperfli team decided to make a synthetic marabou which can be used as a tail for humble woolly buggers as winging and tails of streamers. Highly mobile unlike sinkant applied natural marabou Semperfli Synthetic Marabou is made from a very fine core around which the Synthetic Marabou fibres are extruded. To use tie in and simply wind directly around the hook, for a tail or wing it is simple. Our Synthetic Marabou comes in a stunning range of colors to match natural marabou colors in the market but we then developed the range further, adding Crystal Marabou, a 20cm synthetic, semi transparent, crinkled marabou to our range of marabou alternatives
Our Synthetic King Marabou 40mm Fl Hot Red that has amazing color and movement like natural marabou. High mobility with extremely fine fibres and with our amazing dying using our astounding computerised dying machines which produce a wonderful dyed synthetic marabou and provides great movement.
Put it in the water and the see colour come alive. No need to apply sinkant to get the fibres to submerge and leaving your flies messed with sinkant.
With long fibres these are guaranteed quality every time unlike natural marabou which due to its nature varies in quality
Synthetic King Marabou 40mm Fl Atomic Yellow
Synthetic King Marabou 40mm Fl Hot Candy Pink
Synthetic King Marabou 40mm Fl Nuclear Green
Synthetic King Marabou 40mm Fl Orange Tobiko
Synthetic King Marabou 40mm Fl Shrimp Pink


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It's another gloomy Monday here in San Diego. We've been having some bi-polar weather but with the off and on drizzle, one can't help but want to curl up in bed with a book instead of venturing out for anything other than a hot beverage. Thankfully, San Diego is flooded with bands this week due to the week between Coachella shows. Get up and get out!
Monday: Mona, The Neighbourhood @ Porters Pub at Noon-FREE!
AND: The Foals and The Neighbourhood @ Porter Pub at 7pm- Sold Out!
AND: Wild Nothing, Little Green Cars, Island Boy @ Casbah at 9pm
AND: Franz Ferdinand @ Humphrey's By The Bay at 7:30pm
Tuesday: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds @ Balboa Theater at 7:30pm
AND: Youth Lagoon @ The Irenic @ 7:30pm
AND: Alt- J @ Belly Up at 9pm- Sold Out
AND: Dirty Sirens, Mrs. Henry @ Griffin at 8:45pm
Wednesday: The Cerny Brothers @ Ruby Room at 8:30pm
AND: Alex Clare @ House of Blues at 8pm
AND: The Faint @ Fluxx at 9pm
AND: Crash and The Burns @ Casbah at 9pm
AND: Tegan and Sara @ Humphrey's By The Bay at 7:30pm
AND: The Loons @ Soda Bar at 8:30pm
AND: Josh Damigo @ Lestats at 9pm
Thursday: Polica @ Casbah at 9pm
AND: Aaron Bowen, The Peripherals @ Lestats at 9pm
AND: John Meeks @ Tin Can Alehouse at 9pm
Friday: Tyrone Wells, Wakey! Wakey!, Brett Young @ House of Blues at 8pm
AND: The Zeros @ Soda Bar at 9pm
AND: The New Kinetics @ Ruby Room at 9pm
AND: The Styletones @ Bar Pink at 9pm
AND: Coachella
Saturday: Mrs. Magician, The New Kinetics @ Casbah at 9pm
AND: Coachella
Sunday: Leftover Cuties @ Soda Bar at 8:30pm
AND: Coachella
Keep in Mind:
April 21st- The Revival Tour
April 22nd- The Gaslight Anthem @ Belly Up
April 23rd- Black Rebel Motorcycle Club @ House of Blues
April 24th- Chappo @ Soda Bar
April 26th- Transfer, Dead Feather Moon, Grand Tarantula @ Belly Up
April 26th- Alkaline Trio @ House of Blues
April 26th- Big Bag Voodoo Daddy @ Syucan Casino
April 27th- Neveready @ Griffin
May 1st- The Killers @ Honda Center
May 4th- Crash Kings, Chris Wilson and Planet Earth @ Griffin
May 6th- The Parlotones @ The Griffin
May 7th- Sara Watkins, Kris Orlowski @ Griffin
May 10th/11th- Mayday Parade, You Me At Six @ Soma
May 12th- The Milk Carton Kids @ Belly Up
May 17th- Jimmy Eat World @ House of Blues
May 22nd- Bloc Party @ House of Blues
May 25th- Cold War Kids @ Belly Up
May 27th- Cold War Kids @ Belly Up
May 29th- !!! @ Casbah
June 1st- Imagine Dragons @ SDSU Open Air Theater
June 3rd- Mumford and Sons @ Sleep Train Amphitheater
June 16th- They Might Be Giants @ Belly Up
June 21st- She and Him @ SDSU Open Air Theater
September 6th- Dave Matthews Band @ Cricket Wireless
September 20th- X-Fest feat: Blink 182, 30 Seconds to Mars, The Offspring Silversun Pickups, Fitz and the Tantrums, Atlas Genius, Capital Cities, New Politics
September 22nd- Depeche Mode @ Sleep Train Amiptheatre
September 22nd- Fall Out Boy @ Valley View Casino Center
October 4th- Phillip Phillips @ Sleep Train Amiptheatre


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Are You Raising Lazy Kids?
- Jenefer Igarashi Contributing Writer
- Published Jul 23, 2015
Working hard is one of the trickier things to teach children. At least it is for me. But I am lucky to be married to a man who has high expectations. He has always looked at himself and our family and believed we could do more, no matter what the task!
When our kids were very little, Geoff and I would have days where we would be out and about, and we'd end up getting home very late at night. I used to get mad when we got home because he would not carry all of our little tired sweeties into the house. He would wake them up and not only expect them to walk inside without being carried, but he would also expect them to carry in groceries or bring their food wrappers and empty water bottles into the house with them. I used to whine at him and romanticize, "Honey, they are so tired, they just need a big strong daddy who will scoop them up and take them to their cozy beds." But as a general rule, my husband would not do that. He told me that the small act of walking, all by themselves, to the house was teaching them good lessons. It was showing them that they could do things that were uncomfortable; that even when they were tired they could go the extra mile by bringing in groceries; that it was not somebody else's job to ensure a constant stream of comfort. The small act of taking themselves into the house was one of many lessons that showed them they were stronger than they thought they were.
There were times Geoff would carry the kids in, but he let me know—and this always stuck with me—that he would not make it a general habit because he never wanted our kids to "expect it."
Anyone who knows my husband knows that he is very kind and patient and tolerates a lot (he's still married to me, isn't he?). But one thing that he cannot help noticing is lazy, good-for-nothing children. These are kids who never help, and when they do help they offer only sloppy, careless, hurried work. It makes him crazy. He cannot understand why parents don't train their kids to be useful.
I've heard parents state that they want life to be easy and fun for their kids because "they learn soon enough that the world is full of hardship and woe and childhood is the only time they will ever have to just be kids and have fun." I reject this nonsense wholeheartedly. These parents have it dead wrong. We only have a very short time to train our children while they are young. What they learn in these formative years is what will stick with them later in life. It will shape their worldview as adults. If they are used to being catered to, playing excessively, and not being expected to do anything useful, do you think that when they hit 22 all of a sudden an instinctual hard-worker gene will kick in? No, on the contrary, they will spend the rest of their lives longing for the "good old days" and trying to manipulate their situation so as to always do as little as possible.
This was a lesson that my dad was also good at teaching. I remember he expected my best, not just words like "I tried my hardest." He once drew a large pumpkin on a huge piece of white paper. I must have been about 5 or 6, and he told me to color the entire thing orange. I scribbled about half of it orange and then went running to my dad to show him I had completed the task. But he turned me around and said, "Go back to the table with it; you didn't finish your job, make the whole thing orange." I must have come back to him ten times before I finally figured out that he really expected me to do exactly what he said. By this time, I didn't want to color the pumpkin. It wasn't fun anymore, it had become a chore. But when I was done, my dad taped that pumpkin to the window for everybody to see. It was a job well done and a job worthy to be praised.
That was a good feeling that lasted. A job well done is very satisfying. Dad would not accept a lazy job for anything. Did I like that? No, not a bit—but nonetheless, he persisted in teaching me to do things that were hard. I spent hours pulling rocks out of our yard and hauling them to a ditch, I spent hours watering trees because we didn't have a sprinkler system, I spent hours practicing my guitar "because he said so" and helping to carry heavy furniture up and down the stairs when we moved. I realized later that there was something more important than me "liking" to do something, and that was learning that I was capable of doing more than I thought possible, of doing a job thoroughly and of doing a job right.
As parents, it is hard for us to see our kids unhappy, but we are unwise if we let this dictate how we raise them. A trait that I see too often in parents is they underestimate how much their children are capable of doing in terms of work (cleaning their rooms, doing dishes, scrubbing toilets, making beds, cleaning out cupboards, taking care of animals, etc). They imagine that they see "the strain in their little one's face" and they "just know little Hannah could not manage any more," and so they clean up the toys for her. It always makes me cringe, because it is obvious that the kids are learning a lesson on how to get somebody else to do stuff that they don't feel like doing. Parents also seem to overestimate their child's virtue: "My child would never steal, lie, treat other children badly, look at pornography, act out inappropriately, etc." But that is another subject for another day.
So are your children learning to be hard workers? Or are they learning to live an easy life? There is an easy test to see where your kids land on the Lazy Meter. You can gauge an awful lot by what they expect and whether or not they are thankful for what they have. If you told your sleepy children to walk up the stairs and put their own selves to bed, would they cry and whine? Why do they cry? It is because they expect you to do it for them. Do they cry when you tell them to clean their room? It's because they don't expect they should have to. Do they whine when you tell them they can't play on the slide? Then they have a worldview that expects to get what they want when they want it. Do they complain when you give them green beans? An unthankful child expects something better. Train them now, while they are young. I know you've met ungrateful, complainey, whiney, expectant adults, and they are never pretty. They expect you to go out of your way to make their life easier somehow. These adults were probably children of parents who "just wanted a sweet easy life" for their little pookie-pie-honey-melon. It's an easy trap to fall in to, but it is the child who suffers. May we teach our children wisely while we have the time.
Jenefer Igarashi is married to Geoff the Great and homeschools her six children (ages 4–19) near the Smoky Mountains in East TN. Visit Jen at her blog, http://jeneralities.com/
This article was originally published in the Sep/Oct '08 issue of Home School Enrichment Magazine. For more great homeschool help, download our FREE report—The Secret to Homeschooling Freedom! Click here to download: http://HomeSchoolEnrichment.com/resources/report.htm


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In Pakistan, US airstrike kills at least 8, but misses target
US military drones again fired at targets on Pakistani soil Thursday, in an apparent attempt to take out a prominent Taliban leader, while violence rippled across Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Thursday's strike comes just as Parliament, in a "landmark achievement on Wednesday ... finally approved a 14-point resolution....that sought an urgent review of the country's national security strategy and a revisit of the strategy to combat terrorism in order to restore peace and stability in Pakistan as well as in the region." Pakistan's The News reports.
The nation stands united against any incursions and invasions of the homeland, and calls upon the government to deal with it effectively," the resolution said.
Reports of casualties from Thursday's attack varied between news outlets. The New York Times said the missiles killed eight people in North Waziristan, a Taliban enclave, but missed their apparent target.
The dead were all militant fighters, according to residents of the village of Dande Darpakhel. But the missiles did not strike a compound in the village owned by Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani, an associate of Osama bin Laden. Mr. Haqqani was the presumed target of the attack....
According to American officials, the Haqqani family protects forces from Al Qaeda in their enclaves in North and South Waziristan, provides logistics and intelligence for Al Qaeda operatives, and acts as a link between the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, who share the common mission of driving American and NATO troops from Afghanistan.
Pakistani newspaper Dawn, reports that 11 were killed, according to a security official.
Locals are still looking for more people in the rubble,' he said. ...
Residents said that all of the victims were local tribesmen, adding that locals had fired at two suspected US drones hovering above.
US attacks on Pakistani soil, which are seen "as a sign of US frustration at Pakistan's approach to counter-terrorism," according to Britain's Guardian newspaper, have grown more frequent in recent months.
There have been about a dozen such attacks in the past two months, Reuters reports.
U.S. forces in Afghanistan, frustrated over growing cross-border attacks from the Pakistani side of the border, have carried out about a dozen missile strikes and a commando raid in Pakistan since the beginning of September.
Violence also erupted in the tribal area of Bajaur, where the Pakistani government is waging a full-scale military operation against militants, Reuters adds.
Separately, Pakistani artillery, backed by helicopter gunships, pounded militant positions in the Bajaur region overnight and early on Thursday, and residents and officials said nine militants were killed.
And in Swat, in North West Frontier Province, police on Wednesday found the bodies of several government paramilitaries that had gone missing, The Daily Times, an English-language newspaper in Pakistan, reported.
At least 15 paramilitary soldiers and five Taliban were found dead in Kabal tehsil of Swat on Wednesday.
The Frontier Constabulary troops had gone missing after a fight with Taliban that broke out on Tuesday after a roadside bomb targeted a paramilitary convoy in the Sarsenai area.
There was also bad news across the border in Afghanistan, where US troops accidentally killed members of the Afghan nation Army, the Washington Post reports.
Nine Afghan soldiers were killed and four others injured by a U.S. airstrike on an Afghan army checkpoint Wednesday in an apparent friendly-fire incident in eastern Afghanistan, according to Afghan and U.S. military officials.
The Post adds that this was not the first such controversial incident in recent months.
The apparent mistaken strike comes after a series of errant air operations that have stirred controversy in Afghanistan in recent months. On Monday, NATO officials said a joint investigation with the Defense Ministry determined that an airstrike on a Taliban compound in southern Helmand province last week killed a number of civilians, including several women and children. NATO officials said coalition troops called for air support after they came under heavy fire near the town of Nad Ali. NATO officials did not release the number of civilians killed, but Afghan government officials said shortly after the Oct. 16 airstrike that they believed at least 18 civilians were killed.
As Taliban violence has spiraled, Pakistan's new parliament, which formed in March, has urged the controversial tack of negotiating with the Taliban. During Thursday's closed-door parliamentary session, members of Parliament called "making talks with militants the top priority," the Guardian reports, adding
While saying dialogue "must now be the highest priority," it stipulates that talks should be pursued with those elements willing to follow the constitution and the rule of law.
On Wednesday, however, government members in both Afghanistan and Pakistan jointly announced that no such negotiations would take place, Pakistan's Daily Times reports.
The Pakistani and Afghan foreign ministers told a press conference on Wednesday the two countries agree on not holding talks with armed Taliban.
"Talks will be held with only those who are willing to lay down arms and those who live within the constitution," Afghan Foreign Minister Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta said. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said other nations were coming around to Pakistan's multi-pronged counterterrorism strategy that said "no talks with militants but political dialogue with those who agree to live as peaceful citizens".


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Maths Recovery
Mata, the Maths Recovery Programme is one of the key actions to improve numeracy outcomes.
Maths Recovery offers a unique approach to extending children's number knowledge, understanding, and strategies. The programme offers an extremely detailed profiles-based assessment of pupils in respect of these areas and provides a framework for individual, group, or class-based instruction which is suitable not only for pupils who are experiencing difficulties but also for average and more able children.
Mata, the Maths Recovery Programme, is being rolled out extensively as part of the Department of Education & Science DEIS initiatives (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) as one of the key actions to improve numeracy outcomes. Maths Recovery specialists and classroom teachers in the relevant schools will be trained in the principles and practices of Maths Recovery.
The Programme is based in Clare Education Centre.


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LAS VEGAS, Nev. (February 16, 2021) – GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame member, CARMAN, passed away Tuesday, February 16, 2021, at a Las Vegas, Nevada hospital, after fighting a series of complications resulting from surgery to repair a hiatal hernia.
Carman Dominic Licciardello, known to fans worldwide as "Carman," was 65.
Born January 19, 1956 in Trenton, New Jersey, Carman began his musical career playing drums in his mother's band at the age of 15. Carman holds the world record for having the largest audience to see a single Christian artist. He set the record for the largest concert at Texas Stadium with more than 71,000 fans and led more than 80,000 fans in worship in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Among his many awards, Carman received the House of Hope of Humanitarian Award for his positive influence in the lives of American youth in 2006, other noted recipients of this award include Ronald & Nancy Reagan and Billy Graham.
The Gospel Music Association honored Carman with induction into the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2018. Billboard named Carman "Contemporary Christian Artist of the Year" in 1992 and 1995, and in 1993, his album, Addicted to Jesus, earned the distinction of Contemporary Christian Album of the Year. Carman was Grammy-nominated multiple times as the Best Pop Contemporary Gospel Artist. His recording, A Long Time Ago in a Land Called Bethlehem, was nominated for Album of the Year by the Recording Academy in 1986.
In 1985, the release of his first #1 song, "The Champion," solidified his place in music history and defined his soul-winning career as one of endurance, grit, dedication, and pure talent. Anyone who knew Carman knows that he counted only this as his greatest lifetime achievement – winning millions of souls to Christ.
Matt Felts, Carman's manager, states: "When Carman resumed touring again a few years ago, he was concerned that no one would care that he was back. He was wrong. Every night fans packed out venues and his ministry was as powerful as it ever was. This world has lost a light in the darkness but today Carman saw first hand the fruit of his labors."
Carman was planning to embark on a 60-city tour later this month.
For more information, go to CarmanOnTour.com.
2 Comments
Thank God for your internet gospel music ministry. It has been a blessing. It's a blessing to hear
your singing. I love the traditional music that you all sing. I hear about this site by way of the
Erna French appreciation.
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Written by : Bob Marovich
Bob Marovich is a gospel music historian, author, and radio host. Founder of Journal of Gospel Music blog (formally The Black Gospel Blog) and producer of the Gospel Memories Radio Show.