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Can someone else drive my car?
Discover what happens if someone else drives your car and gets into an accident.
There are times in life when we need to let someone borrow our car, but we hesitate allowing them to use it because we don't know if we can, or if we should. We wonder:
- Can my babysitter use my car to drive my kids to the swimming pool?
- Can my friend drive my car?
- Can my brother-in-law or other family member borrow my car for the weekend?
- Can I drive someone else's car?
- Will my friend's insurance cover any damages I cause while driving their vehicle?
- Do irregular drivers need to be added to my policy?
At the heart of it, we want to know, "If we give them permission and they get into an accident, is it covered by my insurance? Is it legal for someone to drive my car who is not on my insurance policy?"
"Generally, it's not a problem if they're driving with your consent," says Jeanne Salvatore, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and consumer spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute. "If it's an occasional use, say I borrow your car to go pick up milk, and as long as permission has been verbally granted, you'll typically be covered."
But, borrowing a car under other circumstances may not be as clear-cut. It depends on your insurer and your particular policy. For example, coverage rules and regulations may be different if the driver lives in your household and could, or should, be listed as a named insured on your policy, but is not; or, if the driver is listed on your policy as excluded. Those more complicated situations would need to be discussed with your agent and claim representative.
Get an auto insurance quote
Want to protect your car?
Typically, even if the person driving your car has his or her own insurance, your insurance will be the primary payer for damages caused by your vehicle; but, the person driving your car has to be found legally at fault before your insurance will pay. The driver's insurance is secondary and may cover some personal injury or medical expenses. It may also provide coverage in excess of your insurance coverage, if the cost of damages caused by your vehicle is higher than your policy limits.
"When you have someone you employ, such as a nanny or a nurse, who will be a regular, additional driver in your household, contact your insurance agent about your policy," Salvatore recommends. "He or she may need to be added to it."
Because the policy terms and state laws can vary widely, always contact your insurance agent before loaning out your car, or other motor vehicle, such as: a motorcycle, boat, personal watercraft, snowmobile, ATV or RV.
"Anytime you have a question about your policy, call your insurance agent first," says Salvatore. "You always want to let the insurance company know the circumstances. Get their advice."
As with anything else, use good judgment and common sense. Make sure you are fully aware of the liability you may be opening yourself, and your auto policy, up to before handing over your keys. "Don't be cavalier about lending your car," adds Salvatore. "If you know someone isn't a good driver, think twice about giving your permission. Any crash they're in could go on your insurance record."


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Fine Furniture
We carry exceptional furniture of all styles. Whether you are looking for contemporary, traditional, antiques or the ornate, you're sure to find something you'll love. Stop in and check back often as our inventory changes daily.
Fine Art & Accessories
Come in and check out our entire collection of original paintings and unique art. We have all your decorative items, collectibles, fine china and crystal.
Estate Jewelry
Rings, Earrings, Diamonds, Emeralds, Necklaces and more. Our jewelry expert is on hand to answer any questions you may have.
Patio Furniture & Outdoor Ornamental Art
We carry all your outdoor decorating items, fountains, statues, table and chairs to art and much more. Don't forget to come check out our courtyard.

subset: commoncrawl


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'Red October' Attacks: The New Face Of Cyberespionage
New cyberspying attacks discovered siphoning terabytes of information from computers, smartphones, routers, and even VoIP phones
January 14, 2013
A newly uncovered and especially sophisticated cyberespionage initiative against government, diplomatic, and scientific research organizations spanning multiple regions worldwide that has stolen terabytes of information for at least five years could provide a clearer picture of what advanced forms of these attacks really look like.
The so-called "Red October" attacks targeting diplomatic entities mainly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia -- but spanning the U.S. as well -- is more widespread and massive than the infamous Flame cyberspying campaign, according to researchers at Kaspersky Lab, who published a report today on the attacks. They stopped short of labeling Red October as a nation-state effort, but given the custom malware, massive command-and-control infrastructure, and the sheer amount of data stolen, some researchers say a nation-state has to be behind it.
[An oft-overlooked detail about Stuxnet, Duqu, and Flame is that the attacks all targeted Windows machines in Iran even though Windows isn't allowed to be sold there under U.S. export restriction laws. See Stuxnet, Duqu, Flame Targeted Illegal Windows Systems In Iran. ]
Red October goes after governments, diplomatic offices/embassies, and research, trade/commerce, nuclear/energy, oil and gas, aerospace, and military targets. Kaspersky Lab has tallied several hundred infected organizations from these sectors, mostly in Eastern Europe. Among the infected organizations: 35 in the Russian Federation, 21 in Kazakhstan, 12 in Azerbaijan and Belgium, 14 in India, and six in the U.S.
The attacks even steal data from Windows Mobile, iPhone, and Nokia smartphones at the targeted organizations.
Roel Schouwenberg, senior researcher for global research and analysis at Kaspersky Lab, says Red October is more sophisticated than the average cyberspionage campaign. "It basically goes after everything ... on the desktop, your smartphone, your Cisco router, and your SIP [Session Initiation Protocol] phone ... Absolutely anything that could potentially be interesting and exfiltrated," he says. "So from this point of view, this is what advanced or sophisticated cyberespionage really looks like."
He says the "end customer" of the stolen information is likely a nation-state. It's just not clear based on the technical information Kaspersky has gathered thus far who is actually behind it: The exploits used in the attacks are ones used by Chinese advanced persistent threat (APT) actors, but the malware writers appear to be native Russian-speakers, according to Kaspersky's findings.
"You look at the malware first and foremost versus the exploit to see where it comes from. Exploits can come from anywhere," he says. "You always figure so much stuff is coming from China ... and people like to piggyback on that. But other than there are Russian-speaking people" involved, we don't know who is behind it, he says.
"I do think the end customer is a nation-state, especially with the strong emphasis on diplomatic organizations," Schouwenberg says.
But Dmitri Alperovitch, CTO at CrowdStrike, says the attacks have all the earmarks of a nation-state sponsored initiative. "It seemed very clear that it's a nation-state sponsored operation," Alperovitch says.
With the malware that hasn't been seen before in other cybercrime operations, contractors could be doing the work on behalf of the nation-state actors, he notes. He says it's unlikely a Chinese operation. Even so, attribution is difficult, as always. "It's hard to say: It could be Russia or other Russian-speaking countries, [including] the Ukraine or [Bellarus]. I doubt it's China," he says.
Alperovitch adds that Kaspersky Lab's name for the operation, "Red October," seems to hint of a Russian connection.
Red October doesn't appear to be a single campaign, but, rather, a series of campaigns that may have been launched at various times and targets since 2007. Kaspersky has sinkholed more than 60 domains being used by the malware, and found victims in 39 different countries. Around 250 different IP addresses connected to the sinkhole, which it ran from last Nov. 2 to Jan. 10 of this year. Most of the IPs were from Switzerland, Kazakhstan, and Greece.
"I don't think it was one operator or campaign like Aurora" and other similar APTs, Alperovitch says. "What you are dealing with here is a toolkit framework connected to a number of campaigns over a five- to six-year period.
"It's clear that significant effort went into this tool over time, so it makes sense it was used for more than one operation," he says.
Kaspersky's Schouwenberg says he thinks this is probably only a snapshot of the operation. "Overall, I do think that they probably moved from vertical [industry] to vertical [industry] ... this has been something that has been ongoing, and there might be some things we haven't seen yet," he says.
The attacks started with classic cyberspying spear-phishing emails, loaded with a custom Trojan dropper. The payload includes known exploits for Microsoft Word (CVE-2010-3333 and CVE-2012-0158) and Excel (CVE-2009-3129). The earliest attacks Kaspersky was able to trace used the Excel attack in 2010 and 2011, and attacks in the summer of 2012 employed the Word exploits. "The exploits from the documents used in the spear-phishing emails were created by other attackers and employed during different cyberattacks, including Tibetan activists as well as military and energy sector targets in Asia," according to Kaspersky's findings.
The attackers created custom versions of the so-called "Rocra" malware using the exploits. Among the capabilities of the custom malware used in the attacks: a module that lets the attackers regain a foothold into a targeted machine if it has been cleaned up or patched. The module is embedded inside Adobe Reader and Microsoft Office.
Another unique feature of the malware is that it searches for files that are encrypted with Acide Cryptofiler, an obscure encryption package used by NATO and the European Union for protecting sensitive information. Rocra also targets smartphones, routers, and switches, and can access deleted files from removable disk drives.
"They knew exactly what they were targeting," CrowdStrike's Alperovitch says of the Cryptofiler-finding feature. "This is not a global operation trying to get everything off of those infected machines. Whoever was receiving those files has to understand what they contain, how to decrypt them, and has other intelligence collected through other means," he says, all of which indicates that it's a nation-state actor, he says.
The attackers also have some serious big-data capabilities given the volume of information -- terabytes -- they are stealing. "There must be a very serious back end," Kaspersky's Schouwenberg says.
The sheer size of the command-and-control infrastructure, with some 60 domains, shows how "these guys know how to scale," he says.
Kaspersky Lab is working with law enforcement and CERT teams around the globe in the investigation into Red October. Kaspersky Lab's report on Red October is available here, and the firm is promising to publish a second part of the report later this week with more technical details.
Have a comment on this story? Please click "Add Your Comment" below. If you'd like to contact Dark Reading's editors directly, send us a message.
About the Author(s)
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Showing Collections: 1 - 1 of 1
Freytag Family Papers
Identifier: CSWS-0037
This collection gives a glimpse into the life of the Freytag family, a miltary family from Wartburg, TN. The collection includes correspondence, press clippings, photographs, and certificates regarding the Freytag children, Albert Jr., Fred, and Maxwell. Albert Jr. was enlisted in the U.S. Marines, Fred was enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and Maxwell was enlisted in the U.S. Army. All materials are photocopies, donated by the family matriarch, Ethel H. Freytag.
1936-1944, undated


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1.10 Floor
Minimum order quantity: 5 Four-by-Four unit module components. These are the largest module pieces in the ARCKIT system used to represent the dimensions of 4.8m x 4.8m or 16ft x 16ft at a 1:48 / 1:50 metric or ¼ imperial scale. These pieces are especially useful and quick for creating larger plates to use as building foundations or roofing. The modules can be laid out horizontally together and connected with "Links" on any side or stacked upon one another to create topographical steps of varying heights and lengths. When placed into position, these components contain holes and squared indentations that line up with each other and allowing other components to directly pin and snap to the created grid. Product size: 100x100x5mm |
At Arckit we care about our customers and we want to ensure that you are completely satisfied with every online purchase you make. From the date goods are received, we offer a 14 day return period from the date that you receive your item(s). |
1. We offer a 14 day return period from the date that you receive your item(s). 2. Returns must have original packaging, be in perfect condition and in a sellable condition (unused and unmarked) and be accompanied by your order number and RMA number issued by the Customer Service Team. 3. If an item is deemed to have been used, damaged or not in re-sellable condition, Arckit retains the right to refuse refund or exchange. Personalized or items made to your specification are not returnable. 4. If sending via a courier, please ensure that your packaging is sealed and secure. Arckit cannot accept responsibility for item(s) lost in transit to our Head Office [Dublin] and will not issue a refund or exchange without receiving the item back. We recommend that you obtain proof of delivery and use a 'signed for' service. 5. You must contact Arckit at email@example.com and obtain a Returns number. Parcels received without an RMA number will be refused. Our Online Order Management Team will let you know once your return has been processed via the email address you have provided. We aim to process returns within 5 working days of receipt [for a full refund or exchange] using the same means of payment used for the initial transaction |
1. Contact Customer Service at firstname.lastname@example.com 2. Please tell us: -Your name -Address -Online order number -Date of purchase -Reason for return -Whether you would like an Exchange or a Refund 3. We will reply with a Returns (RMA) number via email 4. Write your Returns number on the parcel and send it to: Arckit.com Returns department C/O Polar Express Logistics 5 S Main St, Englishtown, NJ 07726, RMA number: (Insert your number) You must have an RMA number from us in advance. Please do not ship without an RMA number, your parcel will be refused by the warehouse. |
If you have any questions or experience any difficulties with returning goods, please contact us at email@example.com and we will do our best to help. |


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About this Product
This listing is for a Made-to-Order (You Pick Size and Style) Cloth Diaper or Diaper cover in the "Counting Sheep" cotton/lycra jersey knit print. The pictures are representative of the print (made into a size Small/Medium Hidden-PUL AI2), but your specific diaper may look slightly different.
Little Boppers™ handmade cloth diapers are plush, stylish and stashworthy. Add one to your baby's cloth diaper stash today!
First, select the Size you need from the Size drop-down menu near the Add to Cart button:
- Newborn (6-15 lbs),
- Big Newborn (8-18 lbs),
- Small/Medium (10-25 lbs),
- Medium/Long (15-30 lbs) (MOST POPULAR),
- Large (20-40+ lbs),
- X-Large (30-55+ lbs),
- or choose One Size (10-35+ lbs) that has a fold-down belly panel to reduce the rise for use on smaller babies (OS diapers have an adjustable insert).
Next, select the Style of diapering product you need from the second dropdown menu:
- HIDDEN-PUL AI2 DIAPER (needs no separate cover, and has PUL as the waterproof layer, and includes a snap-in absorbent insert) (MOST POPULAR),
- WIND PRO AI2 DIAPER (needs no separate cover, and has breathable high quality Wind Pro fleece by Polartec as the waterproof layer, and includes a snap-in absorbent insert),
- TRADITIONAL FITTED DIAPER (an absorbent diaper that requires a cover [not included] over it, and includes a snap-in absorbent insert),
- HYBRID FITTED DIAPER (like a Fitted, it's an absorbent diaper that requires a cover and includes a snap-in absorbent insert, but it has a hidden body layer of polar fleece to help distribute the urine throughout the diaper),
- HIDDEN-PUL COVER (a waterproof diaper Cover with PUL that does NOT include an insert), or
- WIND PRO COVER (a waterproof diaper Cover with breathable Wind Pro fleece that does NOT include an insert).
Little Boppers diapers and covers are all made by me, in my smoke-free, pet-friendly home in Central Texas, USA. Made-To-Order items are currently averaging 2-3 weeks to ship. Ships FREE!
Meet the Maker
Hi, I'm Anne! I specialize in super fun Cloth Diapers and Covers in stylish prints, since April 2003! I'm a member of the Real Diaper Industry Association, and a three-time winner of Diaper Pin's Customer Choice Award. 4% of the revenue from this shop is donated to help children in need! When you shop here (and any of the other shops hosted by GoImagine) you're participating in the Caring Economy! ♥
When I first became a parent, there were a lot of decisions to make. One of those was which kind of diapers to use. After seeing a friend enjoying cloth diapering her baby, I decided on the cloth diaper route too. Back then (1996), cloth diapers mostly meant prefolds and velcro wraps. I felt good about my decision to use cloth for environmental and health reasons and for cost savings, but those early cloth diapers tended to leak a lot. When my second child was born, the internet was beginning to flourish and I went online to connect with other moms like me. I learned some of them were making their own cloth diapers, and since I loved to sew that really excited me. I began making diapers for our own use and eventually started selling and trading them with other moms. I discovered I could make really adorable diapers that worked so much better than the old prefolds and wraps that I had started out with. This made me feel great! I didn't want to give up the fun of making these diapers when the last of my four little ones finally potty learned, so I decided I would continue...and now I've been a cloth diaper artisan-manufacturer for almost 19 years.
During those years I've perfected this line of great-fitting diapers that work so well, and best of all...they're so cute you will really ENJOY diapering! That's what makes my job worthwhile. Knowing that your sweet babies are out there wearing these adorable diapers and feeling comfy in them and making you happy about your diapering choices makes me want to keep doing this forever! It has become my personal mission to make your child's diapering experience happy and comfortable and to make you feel great about this part of parenting. Cloth diapering can and should be FUN!
What Type of cloth diapering product are you looking for? Little Boppers products are available in two kinds of AI2 (Hidden-PUL or Wind Pro), two kinds of Fitteds (Hybrid or Traditional), and in two kinds of Covers (Hidden-PUL or Wind Pro).
What are AI2s? All-in-Two diapers (aka AI2) are "All" you need, in "2" pieces: the shell and the soaker/insert. The outer shell is waterproof and it functions like a diaper cover. The soaker (also called insert) is the absorbent part that snaps into the inside of the shell. If only the insert becomes wet, you can simply switch out a fresh insert and re-use the shell. Little Boppers AI2s are available in two different styles: Hidden-PUL and Wind Pro. They are basically the same, except for what makes up the water-resistant layer. In the Hidden-PUL version, that layer is polyurethane coated polyester knit (PUL), a commonly used diaper fabric. In the Wind Pro version, that layer is a top-quality technical fleece produced by Polartec that is both breathable and water-resistant. The Hidden-PUL is trimmer fitting. The Wind Pro version is more breathable. Both versions of AI2s have a three-petal bamboo and cotton soaker topped with velour. The One Size option includes a snap-in booster that can function as a small newborn soaker on its own, a belly snap cover, and a fold-down rise. The Sized versions have hidden-belly snaps, so baby feels nothing but smooth fabric against the skin.
What are Fitteds? Fitted diapers look similar to AI2s from the outside, and include two parts (a shell and a snap-in soaker) but they are not waterproof on their own. Normally, a Fitted is used with a separate waterproof Diaper Cover over it. Little Boppers Fitteds are available in two styles: Traditional Fitted and Hybrid Fitted. They are the same, except for what material makes up the hidden body layer between the outer print and the interior velour. In the Traditional Fitted, that hidden body layer is bamboo interlock, an absorbent layer. In the Hybrid Fitted, that hidden body layer is anti-pill polar fleece, a non-absorbent layer that can improve absorbency by helping the pee be distributed throughout the rest of the diaper rather than soaking through the crotch. Both versions of the Fitteds have two-petal bamboo and cotton soakers, topped with velour. The One Size version includes a small snap-in booster than can function as a newborn soaker on its own, a belly snap cover, and a fold-down rise. The Sized versions have hidden-belly snaps, so baby feels nothing but smooth fabric against the skin.
What are Diaper Covers? Diaper Covers are not absorbent on their own. They are water-resistant and intended to be worn over an absorbent diaper of some sort (such as a Fitted, Prefold, or Flat, or an Insert). Little Boppers Diaper Covers are available in two versions: (Hidden-PUL and Wind Pro). They look like the AI2 shells, except there are no snaps on the back (unless you request them) because they do not come with any kind of insert. The only difference between the two styles is what makes the water-resistant layer. In the Hidden-PUL version, that layer is polyurethane coated polyester knit (PUL), a commonly used diaper fabric. In the Wind Pro version, that layer is a top-quality technical fleece produced by Polartec that is both breathable and water-resistant. The Hidden-PUL is trimmer fitting. The Wind Pro version is more breathable. Little Boppers Diaper Covers are a great choice if you already have a stash of prefolds, flats, or fitteds, or inserts from other diapers.
How it's Made
All items featured here are handmade by me, Anne Martin, in my smoke-free, pet-friendly home in Central Texas, USA. These diapers and covers are made from my own patterns I drafted and put through extensive testing with many different sized babies and toddlers. I make each diaper individually, with great attention to detail. Your baby is wearing something special when he/she has on Little Boppers.
Shop Policies
I gladly accept exchanges
Contact me within: 7 days of delivery
Ship items back within: 14 days of delivery
I don't accept returns or cancellations
But please contact me if you have any problems with your order.
Conditions of return
Buyers are responsible for return shipping costs. If the item is not returned in its original condition, the buyer is responsible for any loss in value.
Sizing details
Little Boppers Diaper Sizes (Covers have 1 additional inch of rise measurement & fit slightly bigger than same size diapers):
NEWBORN fits approx. 6 - 15 lbs (2.7 - 6.8 kg) with a 15 inch (38cm) rise measurement.
BIG NEWBORN fits approx. 8 - 18 lbs (3.6 - 8 kg) with a 16 inch (40.6cm) rise measurement.
SMALL/MEDIUM fits approx. 10 - 25 lbs (4.5-11.3 kg) with a 17 inch (43cm) rise measurement
MEDIUM/LONG fits approx. 15 - 30 lbs (6.8 - 13.6 kg) with an 18 inch (45.7cm) rise measurement.
LARGE fits approx. 20 - 40+ lbs (9 - 18 kg) with a 20 inch (51cm) rise measurement.
X-LARGE fits approx 30 - 55+ lbs (13.6-25kg) with a 21 inch (53cm) rise measurement.
ONE SIZE fits approx 10 - 35 lbs (4.5-16kg) with a 19 inch (48cm) rise measurement.
Care instructions
1. DUMP: Dump solid material into toilet.
Put diapers in (dry) pail until wash time.
2. RINSE: Optimally run your load once you can mostly fill, but not overstuff, your washer. Rinse diapers in warm water.
3. WASH: Wash diapers with detergent in hot water. I recommend Tide powder. Use additional detergent if you have hard water. Use enough detergent to clean a load of dirty laundry but not too much.
4. RINSE: Rinse diapers in warm water. Then one more rinse again in warm water.
5. DRY: Thoroughly dry diapers in sun or in your automatic dryer. The sun will save energy and bleach out stains. If you use a dryer, use the lowest temperature that successfully dries your diapers.
More info: http://realdiapers.org/wash
A note regarding COUPON CODES
Any coupon codes must be applied at the time of purchase. They cannot be applied retroactively. Also you cannot combine more than one coupon code.
A note about possible Returns and/or Exchanges
If you receive an item that you'd prefer to Return or Exchange please contact me as soon as possible (it must be within 7 days of receiving your item). I want you to be happy with your purchase so I'm open to returns and exchanges, however there will be a restocking fee of $3 per item. You will need to return the item(s) to me, and once I receive it I will refund you for the price you paid minus the restocking fee.
Sizing details
That's a lot of size choices! Will I need EVERY size for my baby?
Most people only use 3 sizes to cover birth through potty learning. If you're expecting an average size newborn, start with Newborn diapers, then size up to Small/Med, & then size Large will cover most babies until potty learning. Or, if you're expecting a bigger newborn, start with Big Nb, then size up to Med/Long, then up to Large (or X-Large if you have a very big toddler) until potty learning. Alternatively, you can opt for One Size diapers and they will cover most babies from 10-35 lbs and may be the only size you ever need. When your baby outgrows a size, you can hang onto them for future babies, or resell them on For Sale or Trade boards online.
Can these Diaper Covers (or AI2 shells) be used more than once before laundering?
If baby only pees (or if he/she poops but it stays on the insert/prefold/diaper and doesn't get onto the inside of the cover) then you can re-use the Cover or AI2 Shell, with a fresh insert/diaper. Usually you'll want to let it air dry a bit in between uses, so alternating two or three covers works well. In this scenario you could theoretically use them all day as long as they don't get soiled. But after a few uses even if they don't get poo on them, you'll want to wash them. The interior lining of the Cover or AI2 shell is soft fleece, for comfort against baby's sensitive skin. Fleece is not considered especially "wipeable", but I find this is much softer for baby versus exposed PUL.


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If you have any queries, feel free to contact us. We are here to help you. We will be glad to assist you. We will contact you shortly.
Handling on our years of practice, Best Cargo Logistics Packers and Movers Ahmadnagar holds capability in offering Car Transportation Services in Ahmadnagar. Either it serving at small or big levels, our team of professionals is well equipped to hold each transaction of Car Shifting Services in Ahmadnagar with equal passion and eagerness. To accomplish the various difficulty and necessities of our fortunate patrons, Best Cargo Logistics Packers and Movers Ahmadnagar is engaged in rendering Car Moving Services in Ahmadnagar.
You need to open google and search with above any keyword, you will find the www.carbikemove.in . You just fill the inquiry box given and relax. Team of Best Cargo Logistics Packers and Movers Ahmadnagar will contact you to complete your task.
We Best Cargo Logistics Packers and Movers in Ahmadnagar give you indemnity about the trouble-free shipment of your Car. Car Transportation Services in Ahmadnagar is rendered in conformity with the distinct strategy to protect our reputation in the industry. www.carbikemove.in pronounces prompt and peaceful delivery of your Car Carrier Services in Ahmadnagar from and to any place. Available at economic cost, Car Moving Services in Ahmadnagar can also be tailored as per the client's insist. Visit www.carbikemove.in or call our customer care at moment of time:
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The project's purpose is to gather and record information and photographs on named or embellished planes of all types which served with the USAAF in all theatres of operation and to detail the work done by those men (and women) who painted nose art - including civilian personnel.
More than simply recording the basic information of aircraft serial numbers and codes, details are gathered from veterans' recollections, diary notes, official archive records, photographs, press releases, photo albums, scrap books, news clippings and documents to build up as comprehensive a record as possible of the history and fate of each aircraft, its mission list, crews and casualties, ground crew, modifications, etc. Veterans who flew or maintained the aircraft are sought and their information on missions, modifications, battle damage, ultimate fate and any other stories about their planes are gathered. Information relating to the naming of the plane, its origin, when, where, why and by whom is also sought as is any information on the men and women who painted the art works on the aircraft and crew jackets. Over the past years correspondence has been maintained with many hundreds of veterans and their familes. If you have any information or photographs relating to any named plane I would like to hear from you and to be able to record and incorporate your material into the project's files.
So far, the project has resulted in the publication of four printed books based upon some of the material gathered.
The first, "Plane Names & Fancy Noses - The 91st Bomb Group (Heavy)" is a detailed study of 300+ named B17 Flying Fortresses which served with 91st Bomb Group (Heavy) flying from Bassingbourn in England.
The second, Tales to Noses over Berlin is devoted of the twenty daylight raids made by the 8th Air Force on Berlin during 1944 and 1945, supplementing official US and German archives records with the stories of some of the named planes which flew to or were lost over that target.
The third title is a detailed study of the named planes of the 100BG(H)"Plane Names & Bloody Noses"
The fourth publication is a book devoted to the daylight missions flown against the huge and important Leuna synthetic oil plant: "Merseburg : Blood, Flak & Oil. "
Released in December 2012 is the first ebook produced for KINDLE and other ebook formats: "The Flight Of Eagles - USAAF Evasion in Occupied Europe, December 1943"A study of the 121 airmen who successfully evaded capture and returned to England based on their details and secret interrogations made only days after their return.
On-going research involves the gathering of information, photos and crew/mission/damage data to provide individual airplane profiles as well as information relating to artists or any person (military or civilian) responsible for naming or painting aircraft. Information on the origin of specific nose arts or themes is also being gathered.
A signed Limited Edition full colour print of the cover painting by Ray Bowden for "Plane Names & Fancy Noses - 91BG" is also available for purchase.
If you have information regarding WWII Nose Art which you can share, please get in touch using the Contact Us link above. Many thanks.


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Ivan Lewis – 2011 Speech to Labour Party Conference
Below is the text of the speech made by Ivan Lewis to the Labour Conference on 27th September 2011.
I want to begin my speech today with some thank yous.
To my brilliant team Gloria de Piero, Ian Lucas, Ian Austin and Ian Murray for their commitment and support during the past year. To Sophie, David and my constituency team for their endless patience and sound advice. But most of all to you.
Those of us who sit at the top table of the Labour Party in Parliament should never forget the debt of gratitude we owe to the party activists, trade unionists and party staff who in every community in every part of this country are the heart and soul of this great movement.
Conference, the history of the relationship between this Party and the Murdoch press is a complex and tortuous one. But what can never be complex or tortuous is the responsibility of politicians to stand up for the public interest without fear or favour. That is why today please join me once again in paying tribute to the courage and tenacity of Tom Watson, Chris Bryant and John Prescott for the service they have done to our country in exposing the phone hacking scandal. And let us also recognise that when the country reacted with revulsion to the news that Milly Dowler's phone had been hacked while the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister dithered, it was our leader Ed Miliband who day after day provided the leadership which was needed and spoke for the nation when he said, enough is enough.
Of course, we must wait for the police to do their work and the Leveson inquiry to report. But there are some lessons we should learn now.
Firstly, never again can one commercial organisation have so much power and control over our media. In the period ahead, Labour will bring forward proposals for new tougher cross media ownership laws.
Secondly, in Britain a free press is non-negotiable. It was brilliant investigative journalism primarily by the Guardian which forced a reopening of the police investigation when too many vested interests simply hoped it would go away. But with freedom also comes responsibility. Neither the current broken system of self regulation or state oversight will achieve the right balance. We need a new system of independent regulation including proper like for like redress which means mistakes and falsehoods on the front page receive apologies and retraction on the front page. And as in other professions the industry should consider whether people guilty of gross malpractice should be struck off.
Thirdly, a message for Mr Murdoch. Your newspapers and Sky TV are popular with millions of British people. Some people in our Movement might find that uncomfortable but it's true. However, and yes Conference, we should have said this a long time ago. Mr Murdoch, never again think you can assert political power in the pursuit of your commercial interests or ideological beliefs. This is Britain, Mr Murdoch. The integrity of our media and our politics is not for sale.
And Mr Cameron, I believe in second chances too. So, let me give you another chance to level with the British people. Isn't it time you and George Osborne came clean about why you appointed Andy Coulson in the first place and despite numerous warnings took him to the heart of our democracy at No 10 Downing Street?
Conference, in just over a year Jeremy Hunt, has gone from rising star to the long list of wannabe former potential Prime Ministers. This Tory-led Government have decimated our world-leading school sports system, launched a concerted attack on public investment in the arts, threatened many libraries and are marginalising creativity in our education system. At a time when jobs and growth should be a top priority their VAT increase is bad for tourism, and delayed broadband roll out, bad for business.
The height of their ambition for London 2012 is to deliver a successful event. In stark contrast to Labour's Olympic legacy vision to deliver the biggest expansion of sports participation in our history.
But Conference, criticising them is not enough. As Ed has said this week, we have to give people a sense of how we would do things differently. So let me give you some examples.
The success of our creative industries is at serious risk due to global competition, the impact of the new digital economy and the policies of this Government. If these industries are to provide the British jobs of the future we need a government committed not to a helpline but an active, industrial strategy. Earlier this month, Ed and I launched Labour's new creative industry network. The network will pilot a fairness pledge to encourage these historically closed industries to open up their internships, apprenticeships and jobs to people based on talent, not social background or family networks
I am delighted to announce today that Channel 4, Virgin Media, UK Music, The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Advertising Association and the Sharp Project have agreed to sign up to this pledge. We hope many other businesses and organisations will follow suit and break down barriers which have no place in a 21st Century Britain.
Conference, we should be proud of Labour's ground-breaking free admissions to museums and galleries. And proud of our great local, national and global arts institutions. This party should celebrate, not be embarrassed by cultural excellence. But we should be concerned that in whole swathes of our country north, east, south and west there are still too many communities which don't have fair access to great theatre, live music, art, opera, history or heritage.
Conference, cultural inequality offends Labour values. In the same way that every community expects fair access to education, the NHS and policing. We should ask how do we harness the excellence of our great cultural institutions to enrich the lives of all our citizens from the great metropolitan centres to the inner cities and rural communities. I am not arguing in these difficult times for more spending. But even after the cuts £542million is being spent via the Arts Council and National Lottery. As we shape new cultural policy for the future let us lead a national debate about what fair access to the arts and heritage should mean.
Conference, in future I also want us to be radical in putting sport at the heart of our policy agenda. Sport is a health policy, an education policy, an economic policy and a community cohesion policy.
Equally, it is time to ask some fundamental questions about the relationship between grassroots and high level professional sport. To use football as an example. The Premier League is a tremendous commercial success and in many ways has rejuvenated our national game. But can it be right that last year they turned over 2 billion pounds and top flight players are earning an average of 72 thousand pounds per week. While the Football Foundation's funding which supports improvements to local pitches and changing facilities can only scratch the surface of need and is now being cut. Surely, not only the kids but the thousands of soccer and hockey mums and dads, volunteer coaches and organisers who are the hidden heroes of our grassroots sport have a right to ask how this can be fair. They have a right to expect our Party to ask those questions. We will not let them down. And can I also be clear, as we meet today in this great city of Liverpool, when Parliament resumes Labour wi ll stand shoulder to shoulder with the Hillsborough families in demanding the full disclosure of all government documents relating to that horrific tragedy.
Conference, let me end by saying this. The first Labour Conference I attended was not as a special advisor but a steward. I was told to look out for any dodgy looking delegates. Believe me it was a full time job!
I would never have dreamt that I would have the chance to serve nine years as a minister in a Labour Government and become a member of the Shadow Cabinet.
But I didn't join the Labour Party in order to join the establishment. I did so because I had a burning desire to help build a more just society. I didn't want to explain the world as it is, I wanted to change the world. Twenty-two years on that burning desire is as strong as ever. We should oppose this Conservative-led Government when they are wrong with all the strength we can muster. But we must also be the party of change offering a different vision for a better future. That is what I intend to do.


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On a warm, sticky winter morning, I waited nervously in a parking lot in Foshan, a city in southeastern China's smog-choked Pearl River delta, for a man I'd never met. His name was Mr. Ou, and he ran the sprawling factory in front of me, a jumble of offices, low-slung buildings, and warehouses. Though the factory was teeming with workers, a Subaru SUV and BMW coupe were the only cars in the lot. Drab, gray worker dormitories loomed nearby, and between them ran a dusty road that led to the factory. At last a young man emerged from an office building. He motioned for me to follow him in.
I settled onto a plush leather couch and absorbed the decor. Framed awards and certificates covered the walls. A shopping-cart-size wooden frog stood sentry in the center of the room. Ping golf clubs leaned against one wall; a Rolling Stones commemorative electric guitar gathered dust behind a chair. And there were grills: a small kettle grill on a desk, a brushed-steel gas grill on the far side of the room, grills stacked atop other grills. This was Mr. Ou's trade: supplying Western retailers with the cooking apparatus of patio parties and Fourth of July bashes.
The young man closed the door. He took the chair to my right, lit a cigarette, and met my stare as if to say, Let's get on with it. Only then did I realize I was not talking to an assistant.
Mr. Ou had the good looks of a judge on one of those breathless Chinese talent shows. He wore a tailored blazer, an expensive-looking watch, polished leather shoes, and colorful striped socks. He asked why I'd come to China, why I cared about his factory. An American consultant, I said, had suggested I tour his operation, Foshan Juniu Metal Manufacturing, because Mr. Ou was part of a hallmark sustainability program launched by the company I had come to China to investigate—Walmart.
In October 2005, Walmart announced plans to transform itself into one of the greenest corporations in the world. Then-CEO Lee Scott called sustainability "essential to our future success as a retailer." The company has been especially vocal about shrinking its environmental footprint in China, its manufacturing hub. But do the facts on the ground match Walmart's rhetoric? This was the question that had brought me to Mr. Ou.
Mr. Ou dragged on his cigarette, mulling my questions. "Okay," he finally said. "I will tell you what you want to know."
He was 33 years old and came from a manufacturing family. His parents ran a factory making packaging for barbecue grills and then, in 1994, began producing the grills themselves. By 2004, when Mr. Ou took over from his parents, Walmart was a major customer. In 2008, Mr. Ou signed his operation up as one of 200 plants whose energy efficiency Walmart would seek to increase by 20 percent.
Mr. Ou said all this in a smoky rattle of a voice, but he perked up when he talked about this program. "As the biggest retailer in the world," he told me, "Walmart has a responsibility to do this." For the energy efficiency program, he submitted monthly reports to Walmart and met with a Walmart consultant about energy-saving equipment. But he had his doubts. While Walmart executives preached sustainability, its buyers pushed him to lower prices by 3 or 5 percent each year. Operating on the thinnest of margins and scrambling to keep up with Walmart's demands, he said, factories just don't have the time or capital to invest in green projects. "They will work the suppliers to death," he told me.
After our meeting, Mr. Ou's assistant, who looked slightly older than Mr. Ou, took me around the factory grounds, 25 acres in all. One- and two-story buildings lined the road, and a bilious-looking river cut through the property. When I asked, the assistant said its pollution came from other factories. We passed through a dark, ear-splittingly loud packaging facility where, amid stacks of Styrofoam blocks and plastic-wrapped metal parts, workers eyed us warily before turning back to the production line. Kingsford grill boxes reached high toward the ceiling, WAL-MART printed on the side.
Near the end of the tour, the assistant led me inside a hangarlike plant filled with the whine of heavy machinery. Workers in jeans and T-shirts operated heavy presses, stamping metal sheets into grill lids. We sidled up to an unoccupied machine. Bits of metal glittered at its base like coins in a fountain. The assistant motioned for me to look closer, then pointed to a shoebox-size metal box affixed to one side that read "Mascot." When turned on, he proudly explained, this box slashed electricity usage. I had asked to see the factory's energy efficiency investments, and this was it.
Soon after, the assistant led me back to the parking lot. The tour was over. Mr. Ou gave me his card and told me to stay in touch.
It was never made clear to me how those energy-saving boxes exactly worked. What I did know was that Mr. Ou had welcomed me into his factory, served me tea, answered my questions, and let me snoop around. He seemed like a forward-thinking businessman with a strong belief in sustainability—exactly the right type to carry forward Walmart's vision for a leaner, greener supply chain in a country smothered by pollution.
Except, as far as Mr. Ou was concerned, that vision never came to life. And no one, he later told me, ever explained why.
Walmart's campaign to green everything from its break rooms to its global supply chain is one of the most publicized, and controversial, experiments in American retail. The company had made a halfhearted attempt in the '80s and '90s, with a few green products and ecofriendly stores. But this latest effort was different. It was sweeping, embracing every part of the company's business. It emanated directly from the CEO's office. And, perhaps most remarkably, some of Walmart's erstwhile critics in the environmental movement—the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and World Wildlife Fund, among others—got on board. Former Sierra Club president Adam Werbach was hired to spread the green message among Walmart's 1.4 million US employees.
Almost seven years into the program, many environmentalists remain convinced that Walmart is serious about sustainability—and that its actions can have a major impact on the world economy because of the gravitational pull of its vast network of suppliers, customers, and employees. Walmart's environmental initiatives in China have been heralded—most recently by Orville Schell in The Atlantic—as a key force in spurring other corporations to embrace sound environmental practices. My reporting—more than a year of research that took me from Arkansas to China—suggests a more complex, less flattering story: Walmart has made laudable though modest progress on many of its goals. But with the global economic slowdown tugging at the company's profit margins, people involved with the environmental campaign say the momentum seems to be stalling or vanishing entirely.
Since launching its sustainability program, Walmart has pledged to eliminate waste, use only renewable energy, sell more organic produce, support small farmers, and slash its energy footprint. That's no easy task: Each second, 330 people buy something from one of Walmart's 8,970 stores worldwide. With 2.1 million workers, it is the world's largest private employer. Its carbon footprint—from its stores, distribution centers, company offices, corporate jets, and so on—totaled 21.4 million metric tons in 2010, more than that of half the world's countries, according to data Walmart provided to the Carbon Disclosure Project.
But that figure doesn't include Walmart's supply chain, a web of more than 100,000 suppliers from Tennessee to Turkey, Cambodia to Mexico. These companies fall largely into two categories: Some make house-brand products to Walmart specifications: Great Value (food), George (clothing), Mainstays (furniture). Then there are name-brand products, like Del Monte pineapples, Coleman tents, and Bic pens. Sometimes, a brand will make a Walmart-specific product; General Electric, for instance, sells kitchen appliances exclusive to Walmart and is subject to Walmart's factory regulations. But neither the house-brand nor name-brand suppliers necessarily produce the jeans, tents, or toothbrushes they sell to Walmart. That work is done by contractors and subcontractors, which include many unregulated "shadow" factories—and that's where some of the most carbon-heavy, polluting parts of the manufacturing process happen.
Counting all the suppliers, factories, mills, farms, and so on in its supply chain, Walmart estimates its total carbon footprint is closer to at least 200 million metric tons. And even that estimate doesn't include all of the companies Walmart does business with, such as its distribution trucking firms.
In the past, Walmart's outsize carbon footprint had made the company a favorite target of environmentalists. But in 2009, as hope for a congressional cap-and-trade deal evaporated and the Copenhagen climate talks ended in a stalemate, they began to see Walmart in a different light: If they could make the world's largest retailer greener, other businesses might follow suit. EDF had opened its own office near Walmart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, embedding its employees in the "belly of the beast," as one staffer put it. "Even though they're a party of last resort, they're our only hope at the moment," said Linda Greer, an NRDC scientist who works with Walmart. "They have the potential to change the world."
Key word: potential. So far the company has made strides on only some of its goals. It says it has boosted its truck fleet's efficiency by 60 percent, eliminated hazardous materials from most electronics it sells, cut plastic bag use by more than 20 percent since 2007, and sold 466 million compact fluorescent lightbulbs in four years.
But interviews with key insiders and the company's own reports reveal that on some of its biggest promises, Walmart's results are underwhelming:
At a glitzy Beijing confab in 2008, Walmart pledged to make Chinese suppliers agree to comply with labor and environmental laws and standards starting in January 2009. (All other suppliers were to comply by 2011.) As of its 2011 Global Responsibility Report, Walmart had no updates except to say that the compliance agreement "is being strengthened."
Walmart committed to eliminate 25 percent of solid waste from its US stores by October 2008. In its 2011 responsibility report, Walmart said it had no data for 2005, 2006, and 2007. Instead, it touted a "waste-redirection" rate of 64 percent in the 2010 fiscal year.
In 2008, Walmart pledged to boost energy efficiency by 20 percent per unit produced at 200 Chinese factories, including Mr. Ou's, by this year. In April 2011, it announced 119 factories had hit the target. Yet later that month, EDF, a crucial partner in China, left the program over Walmart's lack of cooperation, several sources told me. By year's end, the program was dormant.
Walmart's goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent at its stores and distribution centers worldwide by 2012 was half met by the time of the 2011 responsibility report.
And even where Walmart has made its goals, questions linger. The retailer says every supplier making private-label and non-name-brand goods has provided the name and location of every factory involved in making those products. Yet Walmart concedes that the use of murky subcontractors is widespread in China, Africa, the Middle East, and Bangladesh. Walmart also won't provide details about how it achieved its goal, whether suppliers were asked or compelled to share factory information, and whether any suppliers lost orders or were fired for unsatisfactory responses. My repeated attempts to get Walmart to answer specific questions yielded little in the way of hard data but plenty of PR speak. "We believe the sheer volume and ambition of our goals—and our annually reported progress—speak for themselves," a spokeswoman wrote me in one typical exchange.
That's why I decided to go see for myself.
Walmart began buying Chinese-made goods in 1993. The country's first supercenter opened three years later in Shenzhen. Today, the company directly employs 96,800 people in China and operates 357 Chinese stores. Walmart's supply chain includes some 30,000 Chinese factories, which produce an estimated 70 percent of all of the goods it sells. Walmart's global sourcing headquarters, the nerve center for its international operations, is also located in Shenzhen, a booming city on the southeastern coast.
In December 2010 I arrived in Foshan, a city in the heart of Guangdong province. Known as the "workshop of the world" and bordering Hong Kong, Guangdong is packed with factories that churn out Barbies and bras, tube socks and toilet brushes, iPhones and plasma TVs. The province's gross domestic product in 2010 was $690 billion, more than the GDP of Argentina, Saudi Arabia, or South Africa.
Walmart has connected other journalists with its suppliers and corporate officials in China in the past two years, but it had declined a half-dozen requests from me. And locating these sources on my own proved no easy task. The company closely guards all information about who makes its products. Aside from Mr. Ou, almost everyone connected to Walmart I met in China insisted I not use their real names for fear of being blackballed by Walmart and other employers.
Which is why I'll call the former Walmart factory auditor I met one Saturday night Michael Chao. Chao was in his mid-30s and spoke good English. We couldn't talk in public, he said, so we relocated to a friend's office a few blocks away.
Chao joined Walmart as an auditor in 2004 after two years at an independent auditing firm. He spent four years at Walmart, which, combined with his previous gig, was plenty long enough to understand how auditing in China really works.
Walmart helped spawn the supplier auditing industry. After a scathing NBC Dateline report in 1992 uncovered child labor at a Walmart supplier in Bangladesh, the company denied the allegations but then created a supplier code of conduct that, among other things, outlawed child and prison labor. Other big-name companies followed suit, and soon there was a market for companies that could police those firms. Today, Walmart's auditors inspect factories, meet with managers, scrutinize wage records, and interview individual workers to look for labor, health, and safety violations.
They have recently tried to keep an eye out for environmental issues as well, but it hasn't been easy, since the inspectors are already overtaxed. Auditing is a demanding job, Chao told me. Burnout is common. Factories often cook their books, keeping two sets of records—the real ones, and a clean version for the auditors. Managers coach employees to lie. And a passel of companies help suppliers fudge their numbers and pass compliance audits.
Sometimes the auditors themselves are corrupt, Chao said, willing to overlook violations in exchange for a hongbao—a bribe. (Hongbao means "red envelope," usually a bill-shaped sleeve filled with cash given as a gift at family celebrations.) Walmart, which has publicly acknowledged firing auditors for taking bribes, says it investigates all reports of corruption. But Chao told me that they can't catch all the crooked auditors.
Walmart hired a crop of young college graduates to replace auditors who were inured to corruption, but challenges remained. Like off-the-books subcontracting. In China, auditors typically see only "five-star" factories, so named for China's rating system for hotels and restaurants. These companies, he explained, obey the law, treat their workers fairly, pay decent wages, and ensure safe working conditions, by local standards. But Walmart and others often demand more than their five-star suppliers can produce, so a company scrambling to fill a massive order for, say, action figures will outsource to a shadow factory.
A shadow factory can be a mom-and-pop operation in someone's house, or it can be a full-fledged factory hidden on the same property as a five-star. Regulations don't apply inside a shadow factory, Chao said. Consultants and experts who've worked in China for decades say there are tens of thousands of shadow factories, and that up to 70 or even 80 percent of five-stars will outsource more than half of a given production order to shadow factories. At Walmart, Chao said, "We would look in the system which shows the [five-star] factory has only 300 people to handle an operation receiving massive production orders worth millions of dollars. How does it add up?"
Good auditors aren't blind to this, he noted. But they don't have time to hunt down all the shadow factories, and they feel pressure not to cause trouble or stop orders from being filled.
Chao recalled one case at Walmart when his boss received a confidential tip about a toy supplier outsourcing production to a strange location. Chao and a colleague staked out the supplier. When a truck emerged, they jumped into a waiting taxi and tailed it until the truck pulled into a prison. Upon further investigation, Chao confirmed that the factory was using inmate labor and got Walmart to pull its orders from the supplier.
He told me that story not to trumpet his or Walmart's detective skills—he said the auditors likely missed many more shadow factories than they caught—but to stress the slippery nature of the supply chain. Walmart's American brass, Chao said, doesn't have a complete enough understanding of Chinese manufacturing. "They have the basic concept, but the top management knows nothing about how to make it work" at the ground level, he said. "So they can say, 'Oh, a sustainability program,' but they can do nothing."
Chao isn't the only one to question Walmart's auditing. In 2009, the advocacy group China Labor Watch obtained documents from a Walmart packaging supplier on how to hide or adjust safety and environmental records; how workers should lie to auditors about wages, benefits, and working hours; and how to conceal a shadow factory. Another investigation by the group uncovered forced overtime, phony pay stubs, poor living conditions, and the use of hazardous chemicals at a Walmart shoe factory. Walmart-hired auditors had previously raised no concerns with either plant.
Li Qiang, China Labor Watch's executive director, told me that Walmart's auditing process has been plagued with fraud for years. In 2007, Li, who says he's met with Walmart officials numerous times, urged the retailer to scrap its corruption-riddled internal auditing program. Walmart followed his advice, but Li discovered that the problems hadn't disappeared. In November 2011, a lawsuit filed by Li's group against Intertek, an international third-party auditing company, describes how in December 2009 an Intertek auditor took a bribe from a Dongguan toy factory while overlooking "extensive fraud" in pay and hours records. (An Intertek spokeswoman said the suit "has no merit" but declined to comment on specific allegations.) In its 2011 Global Responsibility Report, Walmart briefly hinted at this problem: "Lack of complete transparency to production practices [in China] has hindered our ability to implement meaningful change at the factory level."
Li said these problems were systemic. "If the fraud in the auditing system isn't solved," he told me, "I'm far from optimistic about Walmart's environmental programs."
Thirty years ago, Shenzhen was a drab fishing village on the South China Sea, a place so remote it didn't have a single traffic light. Then, as part of his economic reforms, Communist Party leader Deng Xiaopeng named Shenzhen the country's first "special economic zone," with laissez-faire trade policies and favorable manufacturing laws put in place to lure foreign investment. Shenzhen's economy exploded, its GDP climbing from $31 million in 1979 to $107.8 billion in 2007. Today Shenzhen is China's third-largest port city, packed with skyscrapers, nightclubs, and fancy hotels. Among the most luxurious is the Shangri-La, where, on any given morning, buyers for American retailers mill around the marble-floored lobby waiting for rides to factories. I sat down in the bar one Friday and ordered a cappuccino that arrived with the letters "S-L" spelled in froth.
I was there to meet Terry Foecke (pronounced FAKE-ee), a consultant spearheading Walmart's factory energy efficiency program in China. In a lobby full of Westerners, Foecke cut an unmistakable figure—thickly bearded, 6-foot-3, with a broad belly and hip square-framed glasses. He was an unlikely Walmart ally: a soft-spoken, almost professorial progressive who quoted George Bernard Shaw and told me he spoke out against runaway consumerism at his Unitarian church back home in Minnesota.
Foecke's actual employer was the Environmental Defense Fund, which in 2008 partnered with Walmart on the campaign to make factories more energy efficient. That degree of separation gave him the freedom to talk openly about implementing one of the retailer's most ambitious efforts: shrinking energy usage by 20 percent at 200 Chinese suppliers by 2012, the same program Mr. Ou had participated in. Foecke spent many days on the road, visiting factories and performing "rapid assessments"—two- or three-hour sweeps through a factory to pick out quick and easy ways to save energy and money. Foecke and his crack team of sleuths could find up to 60 percent in energy savings in a single visit, pulling down banks of lights that illuminated empty space or plugging leaky equipment.
Foecke wanted me to ride along on one of his assessments. But Walmart officials denied multiple requests to do so, and so I had to settle for Foecke's colorful written accounts. Here he is walking through an aging factory that makes plastic Christmas trees and other fake flora:
"Then it was on to the plastic injection molders. Wow, I thought I had stumbled into Mr. Wizard's Wayback Machine and somebody dialed in '1960.' Wide-open hoppers (hard to keep the polymer dry that way; causes lot of rejects), leaking hydraulics bandaged up with rags; filthy motors everywhere, and more compressed air than I believe I have yet seen used. They have 50-60 smaller molders crammed into the space someone in [Minnesota] would use for a 3-car garage, all actuated with compressed air instead of hydraulics, making bark and twigs and stems and such, sometimes even co-molding a stem onto a previously-made flower. P admitted later that the place made him jumpy, certified safety engineer that he is. The lack of safety guards and [emergency fail-safe] switches and doors and just plain space WAS impressive in a how-do-they-do-it? way. I got speared in the belly by an actuator, but in my defense the darn thing traveled a good foot into the manway."
But there were flaws with Foecke's program. Walmart said the participants in it were "top" suppliers, suggesting they had been chosen for their size. In fact, most of the 200 participating factories were simply those whose forward-thinking owners, like Mr. Ou, had volunteered, Foecke said. (And, of course, none of the 200 were shadow factories.) Also, the data in Foecke's program were self-reported. Foecke said he'd accepted Walmart's "inspire, not require" philosophy at the outset. Once Walmart expanded the program, he hoped it'd make energy metering mandatory. Otherwise, he explained, "the factories can say whatever they want, and when you have self-reported data it's built on sand. I said [to Walmart], 'You can do this for a while, but eventually cut the crap.'"
Yet two years into the program, well past the point where Foecke had expected it to be expanded dramatically, it was still stuck in the pilot phase. He'd seen similar hesitance on environmental issues at other companies, and that had usually spelled doom for energy efficiency programs. "It happens all the time," he said. "You go into big organizations, you get atomic decay, and unless there's something else there that drags it to the next level and starts integrating it, it becomes the flavor of the month."
A casual reader of the business pages could pinpoint the source of Walmart's hesitation. From 2009 to 2011, Walmart suffered seven straight quarters of declining sales in its US stores, a historic slump blamed on anemic job growth, weak demand, and high gas prices. Walmart responded by unveiling "It's Back," a plan to reclaim its original, bargain-seeking customer base by restocking 8,500 down-home products it had axed in an effort to declutter its shelves and class up its image. It also revived the popular "Action Alley," steeply discounted pallets of merchandise stacked up in the middle of the aisles. "It's Back" left suppliers and environmental partners wondering if this doubling-down on its crusade to be the cheapest retailer around might come at the expense of sustainability.
One insider who watched this unfold was Michelle Mauthe Harvey, an expert and EDF staffer. In 2007, Harvey opened EDF's office in Bentonville, the Ozark country town that is home to Walmart's headquarters. Bentonville was the site of Sam Walton's first store, a five-and-dime that opened in 1951. In the decades that followed, Walmart transformed the town into a thriving international business hub. At least 750 companies that do business with Walmart have offices in the area, from Procter & Gamble to Levi Strauss to DreamWorks. Cushy subdivisions ring the town, and both the median household income and average home value easily outpace the state average.
On a blisteringly hot summer day last June, I met Harvey over brisket and sweet tea at Whole Hog Café, a barbecue joint near the Walmart headquarters. Harvey is embedded inside Walmart, attending internal meetings and interacting with key players. She lauded Walmart for its ambitious goals but winced when I brought up "It's Back" and what it meant for sustainability. She said this roll-back initiative led some suppliers to think Walmart was stalling on sustainability as it grappled with slumping sales. "What's been concerning to us is the number of people who contact us and say, 'Is Walmart still interested in sustainability?'" She added, "There are still those [inside Walmart] who fall into the annoyed camp, who aren't entirely sure it's really necessary."
Consider Walmart's buyers, Harvey said, the people who negotiate with suppliers and help decide what makes it onto Walmart's shelves. If Walmart's sustainability ideal was to become reality, it needed to become part of buyers' day-to-day decision making, a criterion on which they were evaluated. For instance, would the buyers be encouraged to choose a T-shirt that costs a half cent more apiece because it used safer chemicals or was dyed at an environmentally friendly mill? When Walmart embraces that notion, Harvey said, "that's when sustainability is really embedded."
"Is it there yet?" I asked.
"It's not there yet."
After nearly a year of my asking for an interview with a company official in Bentonville about the sustainability program, Walmart finally put me in touch with Jim Stanway, a rumpled-looking Brit who worked in the energy sector before joining Walmart in the late '90s to help trim its energy bills. We met in a small conference room at the Sam Walton Development Center, accompanied by a Walmart flack who took notes throughout the interview.
A man who admits he's "morbidly attracted by complexity," Stanway was Walmart's point man in working with the Carbon Disclosure Project to calculate that Walmart's carbon footprint was greater than that of many industrialized countries. Stanway is now leading the campaign to cut 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from Walmart's supply chain by 2015.
Stanway rattled off his success stories, including uniting the fractious dairy industry behind using low-carbon cattle feed and methane digesters and selling Hollywood on the virtues of slimmer DVD packaging. A little plastic here, some cardboard there, and you're talking millions of dollars in savings. Not only did suppliers see their costs shrink, so did customers. "We want to show things where we can deliver customer value on price and quality, and lower costs for suppliers," Stanway said.
I'd hoped to ask Stanway about China, but the flack, who insisted on vetting all interview questions days beforehand, ruled out those questions, routing them to Walmart China. Despite four more requests, I never heard back.
Linda Greer is a sharp-witted, veteran scientist and director of the public health program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. She spoke to me about a program she started in 2007 called "Clean by Design," which has brought together companies like Walmart, Gap, Nike, and H&M to develop a set of best practices for Chinese dye and finishing mills, one of the most energy-intensive sectors in the apparel industry.
Greer told me in 2010 that she'd turned to Walmart and other private companies for lack of other options. "We really couldn't count on the Chinese environmental department to even come close to catching up on this in my lifetime," she said. "The private sector stands alone, being the only functioning additional party over there." She was no Walmart cheerleader but believed the company was making a sincere effort. "They've made a lot of ambitious promises, many of which were maybe naive in terms of how hard they are to implement."
But when I checked in with her again last fall, her guarded optimism had given way to discouragement. She and her team had spent a year and a half assembling 10 best practices to reduce water, chemical, and energy use at the mills; their suggested repairs and upgrades paid for themselves in eight months' time and, in some cases, saved energy use by 25 to 30 percent. The next step was putting the guidelines into practice, showcasing their benefits to lure other mills into the program. She asked the corporate partners for the names of four or five mills. Nike, Gap, and the others came through. Walmart gave her only one viable factory.
Greer was bitterly disappointed. "They're not even up at the plate swinging at those balls," she told me. (Walmart says it "continues to believe in—and promote" Greer's program but gave no specifics as to how.)
An energy efficiency consultant who also works with Walmart (and requested anonymity; I'll call him Martin) echoed those observations. He said there was overwhelming support for Walmart to succeed in China, given the ripple effect that would have in Chinese commerce. Yet 2011, he told me, was widely seen as a disappointing year. "The word on the street in China is: 'Where is Walmart?'" he said. "Because we haven't seen them continue to move forward in 2011."
Martin brought up a major Walmart supplier, a network of factories making name-brand products. (He asked that I not reveal the brand, but it's a household name.) Like Mr. Ou once did, this supplier submitted scorecards on energy and water use to Walmart. The retailer's response: silence. Martin said the supplier admitted to him that the data was "total crap," but it never heard from Walmart one way or another. Martin summed up the supplier's attitude toward Walmart scorecards like this: "Walmart sets a new target, everybody gets all excited, runs around for six months, and then everything kind of slows down and the wheels fall off."
Eight months after my first conversation with Terry Foecke, I caught up with him again in Minnesota. Seeing little appetite from Walmart to expand the factory efficiency program, he'd ditched it to start his own energy consulting business. Foecke sounded more befuddled than bitter—he'd always seen Walmart's factory project as a small but important first step. "It was key that they expand the program—that's what we put on the table" in the beginning, he said. "Until they're willing to do that, it's not quite greenwashing, but it's very close."
Mr. Ou witnessed the demise of Foecke's program firsthand. When I reconnected with him last winter, he said Walmart had stopped asking him for reports on Juniu's energy usage. No one told him why. As far as he could tell, Walmart had canceled the program. Mr. Ou said he'd not lost his appetite for energy efficiency but admitted it was more difficult to make progress without Walmart's pressure and expertise. "I spent a lot of time and energy," he said. "It really is a pity that Walmart stopped the program." (Walmart says it's still finishing the pilot phase of the program.)
If there is any silver lining to Walmart's wavering on sustainability in China, it's that other major retailers have made significant progress. Foecke's current clients include IKEA and Levi's, companies that he said took a different approach to suppliers, building more durable relationships. It wasn't a perfect model—IKEA has issues with shadow factories, too—but he was allowed to walk into factories, suggest changes, and speed up the sustainability process.
Foecke still credits Walmart for nudging other companies, and he told me he would work with them again. But he remained somewhat discouraged by what he'd seen. "I really do think they're very distracted by the weakening economy, and they don't want to spend any money on anything right now," he told me.
The NRDC's Greer said Walmart's partners had every right to be critical of the company. "I would say we, the environmental community, have been enormously patient…We've not only been patiently waiting, we've been actively helping." She went on, "At this point, we don't see that they're trying." When Walmart fell short on her Chinese mill program as part of its goal to cut 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its supply chain, she says, "I thought, 'There they go again.' It breeds cynicism. Is this just a PR effort, or is this something they're serious about?"


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Harrie bomber jacket | French Connection
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Harrie bomber jacket | French Connection
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Excl. VAT and advertising tax (advertising tax only applies to Swedish customers).
Number 21 on the general map.
On a staircase, there's not much to look at except for the walls. Make sure you're the one that catches visitors' attention in posters on the walls of the stairs. A lot of people pass through here during the fair – make sure it's you they're thinking about as they leave the stairs and enter the exhibition hall!
No. of ad spaces | Dimensions | |
Poster | 10 | 700 x 1 000 mm |
Technical information
Size: Snap frame for 700 x 1 000 mm, visible area 655 x 955 mm
Format: Print-ready PDF, without register marks, frame or bleed. Fonts in paths. Specify colours in CMYK or PMS. Artwork must be in scale 1:1 With as little compression as possible and with simplified transparency.
Material deadline: No later than two weeks before the fair opens you upload your advertising material via My Pages. When logged in, go to "Submit material for print". Your material must be titled with the name, space and measurements of your advertisement space (for example "Steps_HallBtoA_4990x150mm). For further information, please contact your salesperson at Elmia.
All prices refer to material that is ready for publication/print. There is an additional cost for unfinished material. If you are unable to produce material ready for publication/print yourself, Elmia can help.
Excl. VAT and advertising tax (advertising tax only applies to Swedish customers).


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Some Cumming homeowners think that trim carpentry is all style and no substance but the fact of the matter is that this couldn't be further from the truth. Yes, trim and other types of finish carpentry are focused on adding the final touches to your carpentry work but this doesn't mean that they have any less substance than a framing or joinery piece of work. By adding customized touches to a wooden door or cabinet, a trim carpenter can turn a house into a home. Creating this sense of warmness is a crucial part of any carpentry experience and is what we strive to achieve with all our work at Master Craftsman.
Why Choose a Professional Trim Carpenter for Your Home?
When most people think of carpentry, they generally picture varnished wood floors, customized kitchen cabinets and big wooden doors. However, there is a lot more to carpentry than just that. Trim carpentry is a perfect example of this. Our trim carpenters are experts at adding unique and customized finishing touches to a whole host of interior and exterior wooden furnishings and fittings. Given the time, effort and skill that we devote to this task, it is easy to see why our service remains so popular among our many Cumming clients.
As well as designing kitchen door panels and cabinets, our team of trim carpenters also fulfill the task of bringing our clients' wildest dreams to reality. So, if you want your kitchen to include customized bespoke furniture that will not be replicated anywhere else, then our team can make that happen. Similarly, if you want to renovate an old floor or set of railings to incorporate a design that you old dear, then we can also see that through.
Benefits of Our Trim Installation Experience
If you are a Cumming homeowner who wants to remodel a kitchen, dining room or other part of your house then you need to select an experience trim carpentry team that you can rely on. With decades of combined experience, Master Craftsman has all the trim installation experience necessary. Our trim carpenters and joiners use their vast bank of knowledge and experience to meet your unique specifications so as to ensure that the remodeling project is as thorough as possible, and that you, the customer, are ultimately satisfied.
Call Our Team Today
Trim carpentry is like anything in life, if it is worth doing then it is worth doing right. At Master Craftsman we are firm believers in this mantra. That is why when you choose us for your carpentry needs, you can rest assured that you will receive the best service possible. This is one that is time efficient and cost effective but, most importantly, as thorough as possible. We work hard every day to maintain these high standards. So, if you want the best for your home or business, then call the team you can trust today.


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#LGBT+ Rights
#LGBT+ Rights
LGBT+ rights are gaining in recognition and support, even as there are strong attempts to criminalize the LGBTI community in a number of countries around the world.
In 2015, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) reported 75 countries that criminalize same-sex relationships, though others also have introduced laws against 'homosexual propaganda' aimed at targeting the LGBTI community. Nonetheless, LGBTI rights defenders are active in virtually every country seeking to improve conditions and respect for the human rights of the LGBTI community.
Click the image to the right to read more about Front Line Defenders work in support of LGBTI HRDs:


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Monogram V Sweatshirt Norwegian Rosemaling Letter V Monogram Sweatshirt
Monogram V Sweatshirt Norwegian Rosemaling Letter V Monogram Sweatshirt
Wrap yourself in cozy comfort and Nordic charm with our Rosemaling Monogram Sweatshirt featuring the exquisite monogram of the letter V in the traditional Norwegian rosemaling style! Crafted to perfection, this unisex heavy blend crewneck sweatshirt is the epitome of comfort and style, making it the ideal choice for any occasion.
🎨 A Unique Work of Art
Our Rosemaling Monogram Sweatshirt showcases the intricate beauty of Norwegian rosemaling, with the elegant monogram of the letter V serving as the centerpiece of this timeless design. Each sweatshirt is a testament to the rich heritage and cultural significance of Norwegian design, making this sweatshirt a true work of art.
🎁 The Perfect Gift for Norway Enthusiasts
Whether you're planning a trip to Norway, attending a May 17th party, or simply looking for a thoughtful gift, our Rosemaling Monogram Sweatshirt is sure to impress. The personalized touch of the letter V adds a special significance to this garment, making it a cherished keepsake for yourself or a loved one.
🌟 Unmatched Comfort and Quality
Indulge in luxurious comfort with our heavy blend crewneck sweatshirt, made from a medium-heavy fabric blend of 50% cotton and 50% polyester. The classic fit and crew neckline ensure a comfortable wearing experience, while the double-needle stitching provides durability that lasts for years to come.
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Click here to discover other letters and a wide range of products featuring the same stunning rosemaling print. Whether you're searching for your own initial or looking for the perfect gift, you'll find an array of options to suit every taste and occasion.
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Kindly note that our Rosemaling Monogram Sweatshirts are made to order and cannot be returned. Each sweatshirt is meticulously crafted to ensure the highest quality and satisfaction, so you can wear it with pride and confidence.
Elevate your style and celebrate your love for Norway with our Rosemaling Monogram Sweatshirt - Initial V. Order yours today and experience the timeless beauty of Norwegian design! 🌹👕🇳🇴
.: 50% cotton, 50% polyester
.: Medium-heavy fabric (8.0 oz/yd² (271.25 g/m²))
.: Loose fit
.: Sewn-in label
.: Runs true to size
Width, in | 20.00 | 22.01 | 24.00 | 26.00 | 28.00 | 30.00 |
Length, in | 27.00 | 28.00 | 29.00 | 30.00 | 31.00 | 32.00 |
Sleeve length (from center back), in | 33.50 | 34.50 | 35.50 | 36.50 | 37.50 | 38.50 |


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Aggie Stadium is a multi-use sports facility home to football and women's lacrosse. It is located on 20 acres west of La Rue Road, just north of the Health Sciences Complex.
The stadium seats 10,743 and was designed to be able to expand to a capacity 30,000. It features a modern press box, the Bob Foster Team Center, a synthetic turf field, concessions, and restroom facilities. The scoreboard draws a whopping 61 kW of power, including 47 kW for a Daktronics ProStar VideoPlus LED video display, which Mediaworks Video sometimes operates during games.
For the 2007 season, all games were held during the day, as there were no stadium lights. Stadium lights were installed on May 29, 2008 and all 2008 home football games are scheduled as evening games (except the Causeway Classic, an afternoon game). According to a Dateline UC Davis article, there are a total of 172 light fixtures rated at 1500 watts each and 8 rated at 2000 watts (which can operate by generator in the event of a power outage). Forty-five lights are mounted on each of four 120 ft poles. Total, the lighting system uses 274 kW of power. The stadium's sound system is driven by a rack filled with 3 kW and 1.8 kW audio amplifiers.
The stadium is also notable because the Scooter Cop has been sighted there on multiple occasions.
Naming rights for the stadium itself are priced at $10 million and have not been sold yet.
Construction began in 2005. The first game played in the stadium was a women's lacrosse game in early 2007. It officially opened on September 1, 2007 with the 2007 Aggie football season against Western Washington University. The stadium was formally dedicated October 13, 2007.
Funding for the $31 million stadium was provided in part by the the Facilities and Campus Enhancement Initiative, a fee increase passed by students in 1999. This covered roughly two-thirds of the cost, with the rest coming from private donations and campus funds.
Aggie Pack, tired of squeezing their staff into the Athletics Annex, decided to take over the press box for some extra office space sometime in 2008. Yes, they really plan on moving out before each game and moving back in afterwards.
Night Time
In reverse order, newest to oldest:
By Fall of 2005, ravenous construction equipment had dug a giant hole at the stadium site, presumably the size of one (1) Multi-Use Stadium. It would be a sweet place to take a dirt bike.
On 2005-01-24, the California Aggie reported that the UC Regents had voted to approve the construction of the stadium.
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Does anyone know what the university is going to do about the cows over here? I can't imagine they're going to be happy with all the added noise and traffic the stadium will bring... -TonyMagagna
I can't imagine spectators in the stadium are going to be too happy smelling cowdung wafting in from tercero either -JamesDawe
Maybe the cow smell is supposed to add to the intimidation during football games. -GiladGurantz
Brings new meaning to home-town advantage. Our Aggies are used to it, whereas the visiting team will be busy holding their breath. We could station cows and pigs around the stadium during football games. This could be a significant advantage...
"Supposing you don't want to live down the 'cow town' designation..." - JustinCummins
2006-06-24 15:35:32 the cows don't smell that much —RohiniJasavala
2007-07-21 19:31:44 Wait, i thought this stadium WAS for the cows. There was a big descrimination lawsuit going on not too long ago, where cows complained as residents of Davis, they dont get anything near what students get. Then, they settled for a stadium. and it is taking longer than expected because cows cant come into agreement about what kind of grass to use. Some like the africa (sweeter) kind, and some like the asian (a little bitter). —KevinW
2007-08-21 12:25:57 As big and great as the stadium is supposed to be, they didn't build the press box big enough to allow KDVS sportscasters space inside... Good planning. —ElisaHough
2007-08-21 12:31:35 Have they found money for lights yet? —JamesSchwab
2007-08-21 14:50:58 I heard the stadium is going to be totally eco-friendly, everything sold there compostable or recyclable with receptacles for both. No trashcans. —AllisonEriksen
2007-08-21 18:28:14 The money for lights has arrived, but it came in a little to late. With only a limited number of companies that build lights and the fact they they have to be custom made and ordered, don't expect them to be up for the 2007 season. —ChrisPerry
2007-08-22 10:42:06 Does anyone know why they keep watering the big field on the corner of Hutch & LaRue to encourage the weeds to grow? I vaguely remember hearing about a "fun zone" but I don't know what that would be. —ScottWeintraub
2007-10-27 12:22:50 do they serve beer at the games? —JackkiCox
If you're a VIP, there is a lounge you can go to downstairs from the press box where you can booze it up. I don't know what kinds of booze are served nor am I certain of the cost.
2008-01-18 03:05:42 Is there something wrong with the lights from Toomey Field that they can't be used here? —NickSchmalenberger
There are two issues with using the lights from Toomey. The first is that Toomey isn't being retired. It's still used for field and track events, among other things. Toomey still needs the lights because some events still happen at night there. The second is that each one of those lights is a custom job. Sure, they'd work, but their configuration would probably be suboptimal. —WilliamLewis
2008-02-18 13:45:15 Does anyone know why a track was not included with the stadium? —JeremyOgul
$$ -JamesSchwab
While money may have been a serious motivation, it was also advertised that without a track the seats could be much closer to the field. Recall that at Toomey Field the temporary endzone grandstands were actually within the track oval on top of the areas used for high jump, etc during track season. —RyanCoates
2008-10-05 14:28:39 My husband and I just attended a game - it was great fun and very easy to get to. —AcMach
2011-09-18 18:49:19 We sat in the grassy end zone area at last night's game. It's a fairly steep incline, but a good place to the kids to run and roll around. I know it's "stadium food," but it was awful. The soft pretzels tasted like they had been frozen for years and barely reheated. Same for the popcorn. We decided against the severely burned hotdogs and the cheez-in-a-can nachos. Never mind the prices. I wish a university that prides itself on food, nutrition, and sustainability could provide decent fare at the game. —NoelBruening
2011-11-11 14:16:13 I love the grass seats by the endzones. We need another scoreboard though. —BryceH
2012-05-26 11:15:07 There's a certain emptiness about this place every time I've been to an event here. The football games just haven't been as lively as they were back at Toomey. Everything just feels a bit... spaced out at this place. —CecilioPadilla


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HP 746, P2V81A Chromatic Red Ink Cartridge 300ml
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Kesha Accused Dr. Luke of Raping Katy Perry in Text Message to Lady Gaga: Report
In January 2017, E! News reported that Katy Perry and Lady Gaga had mysteriously been dragged into the court battle between Kesha and Dr. Luke (the "Praying" singer sued Dr. Luke in 2014, claiming he had sexually assaulted her). The details were scant at the time — save for the vague fact that a text message was involved — but now, we know why the pop stars were deposed.
In new documents from Luke's team published by The Blast, Kesha had also accused Luke — in a text message to Lady Gaga — of raping Perry. The site notes: "On February 26, 2016 [Kesha] sent a text message to Stefani Germanotta p/k/a/ Lady Gaga which repeated [Kesha's] false claim that [Luke] had raped her."
The site adds: "[Kesha] also falsely asserted that [Luke] had also raped Kathryn Hudson p/k/a/ Katy Perry," and that, "Following this text message conversation, and with [Kesha's] encouragement, [Lady Gaga] spread negative messages about [Luke] in the press and on social media."
The documents even includes Luke's allegations that Gaga had created "graphics" to assist Kesha in her case to share with millions of followers.
Perry has never publicly accused Luke of any type of misconduct — she's also mostly stayed silent on Kesha's and Luke's court case. Gaga, on the other hand, has been vocal about her support for Kesha. "There are people all over the world who love you @KeshaRose. And I can say truly I am in awe of your bravery," she tweeted in 2016.
Celebrities Involved in Career-Ending Scandals


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I am a time Millionaire with no future, but what an awesome gift- that's why they call it The Present. You can get anywhere from here as long as you are HERE, which is what there is and all there is.
I was an early adaptor, embracing tech and the ipod in all its iterations...and here is an analogy-we spend a lot of time in fast forward worrying about the future, and in rewind cogitating on the past, but we rarely hit *PLAY and live in the present.
As I approached today's habit, a 17 mile trek along the English Channel coastline, i am reminded of John Muir, "Father of the America's National Parks", who said make sure some of the roads you go down are dirt, well in England you can add MUD, made sure of that.
The 3 P's Practice Practice Practice
Practicing mindfulness. What? Yep. Mindfulness can actually strengthen our muscle of attention and help us make better decisions. It also decreases the amount of time we spend mind wandering or judging ourselves, and setting unrealistic expectations. In other words, everyday you have to go "out" of your mind to come to your senses. If you are in your head, you're dead.As a distance athlete Back in the '80s, if I were to tell the "uninformed " I wanted to go running, they would have said 'Why? Is someone chasing you?..same with mindfulness and hiking in the English mud in December. Why? Why not!
*Alan Watts (who-get this-described himself as a spiritual entertainer) understood the concept of stepping back from all of the drama we create in life; he understood the cosmic humor of it all. He was devoted to PLAY. He would appreciate me being a "mudder" today just for the fun of it.
"This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play." -Watts (1977)
The smaller the boat,the bigger the Captain |
The grass is greener where you water it |
There is more to life than increasing its speed |
I don't set goals. I have habits. Walking is part of my daily routine. |
Gotta draw the line somewhere-God your beauty is unparalleled...even with the quixotic windmills. |
Love these sunrises(12 26 18) |


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Latviešu valodas versija nav pieejama
Pedro Tedde
- 5 July 2013
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 1561Details
- Abstract
- We document the twin crisis that affected Spain in the mid-1860s. First, we trace back its origins to the international crisis of 1864-66. Next, we describe the particular banking sector of Spain, characterized by the coexistence of the Bank of Spain with multiple local banks of issue. We analyze the microeconomic behavior of each bank in response to the crisis and find that, overall, the banks of issue performed well during the crisis. The Bank of Spain resulted as the most destabilizing institute due to its involvement with a Government on the brink of default.
- JEL Code
- N13 : Economic History→Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics, Industrial Structure, Growth, Fluctuations→Europe: Pre-1913
N23 : Economic History→Financial Markets and Institutions→Europe: Pre-1913
E31 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→Price Level, Inflation, Deflation
E5 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit