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subset: commoncrawl


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Before 2013 begins, catch up on the best of 2012. From now until the New Year, we will be re-posting some of The New Republic's most thought-provoking pieces of the year. Enjoy.
MAL TIEMPO, BUENA CARA. Those words were attributed, in a wrenching story in The New York Times last winter, to Isabella Rivera, who is 86 years old and lives in Washington Heights. She exists on $688 a month in Social Security and $148 in Supplemental Security Income. When her apartment was destroyed in a fire, she had to continue paying her share of the maintenance fee during the long period of its repair, $153 a month, and another $150 a month for a room that some friends, also indigent, offered her in their home for the duration of her exile. Before the fire, Mrs. Rivera was attacked by a man with a knife. ("He twisted the knife inside my neck.") After the fire, her son died of cancer. Another of her sons had died of a heart attack decades ago. And what Mrs. Rivera took away from her catastrophes was a kindly stoicism: mal tiempo, buena cara. In hard times, show a good face.
But perhaps it is inaccurate to say that her response to her tribulations, her gentle perdurability, was what Mrs. Rivera took away from them. Perhaps her particular inner preparedness, her precise manner of resilience, was what she brought to them. The notion of suffering as transfiguration is religious propaganda. People generally suffer, and respond to suffering, as themselves, as who they are. It is rare that they are transformed by devastation and loss. They are instead intensified by it, italicized by it: they become more like themselves, because their prior resources, their psychology and (for those who have one) their philosophy, are what they have when misfortune strikes, and all that they have to see them through. The remarkable fact about survival is the continuity of the self that is revealed in adversity, not the discontinuity: indeed, the preservation of the self is one of the measures of survival.
There are diverse methods for "coping," and diverse interpretations that may be made of crisis and sorrow. In the aftermath of suffering, one's understanding of the world may seem to have been altered or usurped by it, but that is a romantic mistake: most believers are not robbed of their belief, I mean their religious belief, by pain, even if some thinkers insist that their pain should count as a metaphysical (or anti-metaphysical) argument against it, and very few doubters have found God in the absence of pain, or in pleasure. This is as it should be: conviction is not the mere child of circumstance. One's own experience is not all one needs to know for formulating a view of the world. Those who did not share our experience certainly cannot adopt it as a validation of our view. Even survivors can be solipsists. There are many ways to meet, and to think about, misfortune.
According to the canonical version of his life, the death of his father when Paul Ryan was 16 taught him to despise "dependency" and to extol "self-reliance." "It was just a big punch in the gut," he told Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker. "I concluded I've got to either sink or swim in life." He added that "I was, like, 'What is the meaning?' I just did lots of reading, lots of introspection. I read everything I could get my hands on." One of the writers he got his hands on was Ayn Rand, and he fell under her foul spell. Her novels are certainly fit for adolescents; and ideology may be regarded as the intellectual equivalent of arrested adolescence. Atlas Shrugged might have been a sin of youth, like Siddhartha and Thus Spake Zarathustra, except that Ryan never repented the sin. He learned from Rand that the road to morality led through economics. (Earlier Marx had performed the same erroneous service for other young Americans, but for an antithetical end.) "The meaning" was to be found in capitalism. The market was an allegory for life. "The moral symbol of respect for human beings is the trader," as John Galt instructs. Self-reliance, which Ryan falsely construed as the trader's most essential characteristic, became Ryan's supreme ideal. In one of the strident moralistic passages, called "Erosion of American Character," in A Roadmap for America's Future: Version 2.0, the budget plan that Ryan issued in 2010, and that established his prominence, he assails the "safety net" (the sardonic quotation marks are his) this way: "Dependency drains individual character, which in turn weakens American society. The process suffocates individual initiative and transforms self-reliance into a vice and government dependency into a virtue."
THERE ARE A NUMBER of things that need to be said about this mental trajectory, before turning to its central concept of self-reliance. The first is that an immersion in Ayn Rand is a distinctly peculiar form of mourning. Selfishness does not follow from grief, and neither does egotism, or contempt for the weak, or a celebration of the harshness of existence. It is just as plausible—according to the religious traditions, it is imperative—for the mourner to return to the world with a vivified sense of the fragility of life, and with compassion, generosity, patience, and a determination to assist, and to find assistance for people who require assistance. Bereavement can lead in many directions: there is "mal tiempo, buena cara" and there is "sink or swim."
It is understandable, perhaps, that the spectacle of human powerlessness—and there is no more shattering spectacle of it than the death of a loved one—would provoke, especially in a young person, a fantasy of power, but a fantasy of power is all that Randism is. "A being who does not hold his own life as the motive and goal of his actions, is acting on the motive and standard of death," John Galt proclaims in his interminable credo at the end of Atlas Shrugged, a speech that Paul Ryan reads often (as he assured the Atlas Society in 2005) "to make sure that I can check my premises." But the witness of mortality has been wasted on anybody who comes away from it with such a self-absorbed attitude about life and death. The loss of his parent hardened Ryan, as no doubt it has hardened other orphaned children; but in the aftermath of his loss he did not rely upon other people less, he relied on other people more. Anyway, his hardening is his problem, and must not be allowed to become our problem. I do not mean to deny Ryan his pathos, but it is he who comes to belittle the pathos of others.
Then there is the matter of Ryan's intellectualism. His promoters have made much of it. "He's a guy who, unlike 98 percent of members of Congress, can sit in a conference or around the dinner table with six or ten people from think tanks and magazines and more than hold his own in a discussion," said William Kristol, thereby establishing the definition of the intellectual as a person who knows how to talk to William Kristol. A close look at Ryan's writings, however, shows an intellectual style that is amateurish and parochial. His thought is just a package. The distinction between an analysis and a manifesto is lost on him. He gets his big ideas second-hand, from ideological feeders: when he cites John Locke, it is John Locke that he found in Michael Novak (who erroneously believes that strawberries appear in the philosopher's account of the creation of property by the mixing of labor with nature). Irving Kristol and Charles Murray are Ryan's other authorities; and of course Rand, who was a graphomaniacal demagogue with the answers to all of life's questions. His picture of the New Deal and the Depression is taken from—where else?—Amity Shlaes. When Ryan cites Tocqueville, it is as "Alexis-Charles-Henri Clerel de Tocqueville," and when he cites Sorel it is as "Georges Eugene Sorèl," which is the Wikipedia usage (except for the misplaced accent, which is Ryan's contribution). When he cites Sorel, he seems unaware that he is appealing to a thinker who admired Lenin and Mussolini and advocated the use of violence by striking unions. (Scott Walker has no greater enemy than Georges Sorel.) Similarly, Ryan cites an encomium to the United States by "Alexandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn" without any apparent awareness that three years later the Russian writer issued a virulent denunciation of America and its "decadence."
Ryan's mind is inadequately aerated. His intellectual universe is a conformist, like-minded universe; he gives no indication of any familiarity with, or curiosity about, thoughts and traditions that differ from his own. I am not competent to evaluate his numbers, but no budgetary expertise is required to see that his moral and political concepts are crude and sometimes weird. The passage about "the safety net ... transform[ing] self-reliance into a vice" continues: "The Nation becomes a vast Potemkin Village in which the most important elements—its people—are depleted by a government that increasingly 'takes care' of them, and makes ever more of their decisions for them. They take more from society than they provide for themselves, which corrodes society itself, from the inside out. The environment also becomes ripe for exploitation and control by the few who remain 'ambitious.'" Is Ryan one of the "ambitious"? It is hard to say. The meaning of that sentence, with its Galt-like ominousness, eludes me. It is pretty clear that Ryan does not know what a Potemkin Village is: the entitlements against which he rails are neither artificial nor ornamental.
Ryan throws around "individualism" and "collectivism" as if they are utterly transparent and self-evident terms, and as if it is 1950. The poor guy was born too late for the intellectual excitements of the cold war, so he insists upon finding them in his own lifetime by apocalyptically transposing the old antinomies onto the contemporary debate about government and entitlement. Yet the analogy between the totalitarian collectivism of the Soviet Union and the role of government in Obamacare is talk-radio stupid. "With the demise of the Soviet Marxist experiment 20 years ago," Ryan writes in his Roadmap, "the appeal has shifted to European-style socialism, with its redistribution of resources." What on earth is he talking about? The redistribution of resources is a common activity of government, socialist or otherwise; and the Soviet Marxist experiment was not about the redistribution of resources. It was evil in a way that "European-style socialism" will never be. Is Dodd-Frank Lenin's ghost? The staggeringly obvious fact is that we are not, in the United States in 2012, on a road to serfdom. Free enterprise in the United States is not remotely threatened. It is merely not universally taken to be the whole of American reality, or the paramount consideration in every American discussion of every American policy. We are living in an age of paranoid capitalism.
WHAT, THEN, is so terrible about self-reliance? Nothing, unless it is promoted into an absolutism, into a cult of sacred egotism, into an "Invictus"-like illusion. (That is another classic of ego-swelling adolescent literature.) The more people do for themselves, the better. The more they assume responsibility for the course of their lives, the better. Who denies these noble banalities? Our agency is the clearest expression of our freedom. We possess extraordinary powers. It is miraculous what the works of human hands have accomplished, except that it is the opposite of miracle, because we are not supernatural beings.
But Ryan's concept of self-reliance, the gospel of John Galt ("you are your own highest value ... as man is a being of self-made wealth, so he is a being of self-made soul ..."), is devoid of all humility—it is the very vainglory against which the Bible, Ryan's ultimate book, warned. My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth! Ryan may have disavowed Rand's atheism, but he has not quite escaped her revolt against human finitude, her deification of the individual. This radical individualism is a delusion of impotence made over into a delusion of omnipotence.
It is also, analytically, a colossal mistake. The splendid isolation of the trader, the builder, the innovator, the entrepreneur, the superman, does not exist. It is one of the many flattering legends that successful people in this country devise about themselves. (Like the legend that success is a proof of personal virtue.) The individual—even the individualist individual—is always situated densely in the customs and the conventions of society. Where is Burke when you need him? And where are the otherwise ubiquitous metaphors of the network and the web? If, for conservatives, the market can serve as a model for society, surely it is because the market is web-like, society-wide, a social entity, a thicket of bonds and connections and influences in which creativity flourishes not least because it is enabled and implemented by others who, gratefully or opportunistically, recognize it. Competition is itself a kind of social compact, and in this sense a kind of cooperation.
It is no wonder that Ryan, and of course Romney, set out immediately to distort the president's "you didn't build that speech" in Roanoke, because in complicating the causes of economic achievement, and in giving a more correct picture of the conditions of entrepreneurial activity, Obama punctured the radical individualist mythology, the wild self-worship, at the heart of the conservative idea of capitalism. An honest reading of the speech shows that Romney and Ryan and their apologists are simply lying about it. The businessman builds his business, but he does not build the bridge without which he could not build his business. That is all. Is it everything? Surely it takes nothing away from the businessman, who retains his reason for his pride in his business. But it is not capitalist pride that Romney and Ryan are defending, it is capitalist pridefulness.
THE IDEAL of self-reliance in America has always been attended by a corollary of indifference to others, of nastiness. Even Emerson in his sublimity, or as a consequence of his sublimity, was not immune to this high strain of selfishness. "Do not tell me, as a good man did today, of my obligation to put all poor men in good situations," he declared in "Self-Reliance" in 1841. "Are they my poor? I tell thee, thou foolish philanthropist, that I grudge the dollar, the dime, the cent, I give to such men as do not belong to me and to whom I do not belong. ... Your miscellaneous popular charities; the education at college of fools; the building of meeting-houses to the vain end to which many now stand; alms to sots; and the thousandfold Relief Societies;—though I confess with shame I sometimes succumb and give the dollar, it is a wicked dollar which by and by I shall have the manhood to withhold." A direct line runs from this tantrum to John Galt's proclamation in his ethical will (or rather his unethical will) that "the first precondition of self-esteem is ... radiant selfishness of soul," and to his admonition against adopting "the role of a sacrificial animal seeking slaughter on the altars of others." "You have sacrificed justice to mercy," Galt pseudo-prophetically thunders. "You have sacrificed wealth to need."
Ryan, too, is moved more by wealth than by need. "They take more from society than they provide for themselves": Who? The jobless? The aged? The sick? The desperately poor? Of course they take more, financially. They do not do so recreationally, or because they are nefarious wastrels cunningly exploiting a gullible government. They would rather be employed and young and healthy and secure. But have they, in their infirmities and their disadvantages, no legitimate claim on our conscience that justifies a sacrifice of wealth to need? Ryan's philosophy represents the demonization of need and the diabolization of weakness. To require assistance, to ask for assistance, to receive assistance: it is, in Ryan's world of winners, a disgrace.
The problem for Ryan's steely vision, of course, is that many people do need help, and they are usually not responsible for the circumstances that have driven them to seek help. They suffer through no fault of their own. Sometimes they suffer through the fault of people who have more money and more power than they do. And even if they suffer through some fault of their own, are we to let them sink? We may have extraordinary powers, as the fit and fiscal Ryan believes we do, but none of us—not even in private equity—are gods. We are all vulnerable. We are never sufficient unto ourselves. Who is more self-reliant, indeed, than a poor man, or a man without a job? Truly he has only himself on whom to rely. But a rich man has so many things done for him, because he pays for them to be done. Is that self-reliance, or is it expensive helplessness? And why is it not a stain of shame, or a "culture of dependency," for a rich man, or his bank, to ask for help, and to be given it?
Like Emerson's awkward confession that he sometimes gives the dollar, Ryan admits in his Roadmap that government "must also ensure a safety net, maintained by government if necessary, for those facing financial or other hardships," and like Emerson's dollar, Ryan's safety net (no scare quotes this time) is an anomaly in his analysis. It is a pander, not a scruple. Ryan would rather continue to swoon over John Galt and exaggerate the impact of our will on our destiny. Confronted with the ineluctable role of contingency in human affairs, he prefers to respond with a hallucination of human control: with an AEI Prometheanism. His dogma of self-reliance is an utter misdescription of reality. He does not agree—this is a dissent not only from the religious traditions, but also from a good deal of secular moral theory—that the fact of our vulnerability is as primary for our conception of the moral life as the fact of our individuation, and that the natural and historical evils that visit us all—the egalitarian character of calamity—have any implications for our duties to others. Ryan regularly denounces the shirking of individual responsibility, but it is he who shirks one of the most basic responsibilities of the individual, which is the responsibility to others.
"I swear—by my life and my love of it—that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine." That is how John Galt concludes his testament, which Paul Ryan demands that his staffers in Congress read. What a frail sense of self it is that feels so imperiled by the existence of others! This monadic ideal is not heroic, it is cowardly. It is also dangerous, because it honors only itself. In his Roadmap, the intellectual on the Republican ticket lectures that "the Founders saw [Adam] Smith not only as an economic thinker, but as a moral philosopher whose other great work was The Theory of Moral Sentiments." Never mind that everybody else also saw Smith that way, because he really was a moral philosopher and he really did write The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Has Ryan ever opened The Theory of Moral Sentiments? Has he ever read its very first sentence on its very first page? "How selfish soever man may be supposed," Smith begins, "there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it." That is the least Galt-like, least Rand-like, least Ryan-like sentence ever written. And from there the conservatives' deity launches into a profound analysis of "mutual sympathy." So much for Ryan's fiction of the isolato with a platinum card! If there is anything that Adam Smith stands for, it is the reconcilability of capitalism with fellow feeling, of market economics with social decency. But Ryan is a dismal student of Smith, because he likes his capitalism cruel.
Ryan is animated as much by a theory of government as by a theory of life; but his theory of government is erected in part on his theory of life. For government, limits; for the individual, no limits. A terrible fear of dependence has led him to a terrible exaggeration of independence. The self in Ryan's self-reliance is a monster. I would not raise a child, let alone design a budget, on this stunted ideal. In a new book on child-rearing, I recently read this: "We tend to encourage self-reliance (a good trait), but resourcefulness is even better. Why? Because resourcefulness is the ability to both independently and optimally solve daily problems and to seek help from others when we can't problem-solve independently." It does not exactly sing, but it is exactly wise. We are not only a self-reliant nation, we are also a resourceful nation. But Paul Ryan's plan for America would undo its magnificent inclination toward community, and leave us not only economically insolvent but also morally insolvent.
This article appeared in the September 13, 2012 issue of the magazine.


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Day Of Reckoning For U.S. Shale Will Have To Wait
October has been billed as a pivotal month in which indebted shale companies would see their credit lines cut, precipitating a faster consolidation in the industry that would sow the seeds of a rebound.
But banks appear to be taking a more lenient approach than expected. A new Jeffries report says that only $450 million in borrowing bases have been cut, across more than 20 companies. That amounts to just 2 percent of available credit lines, much lower than the 15 percent reduction expected by analysts. In other words, banks are allowing drillers to continue to borrow, which could delay the inevitable balancing needed in the market.
The possibility of a wave of bankruptcies could be put on hold, after banks have been "surprisingly gentle," as Jeffries put it in their report.
That doesn't necessarily mean that indebted shale companies can right the ship. It may just delay the adjustment for oil markets. "It looks generally to me like it's sort of kick the can down the road approach that's being taken at this point but that really just pushes the day of reckoning into sort of the first quarter of next year," Dave Lesar, Halliburton Chairman and CEO, told investors on October 19 when reporting quarterly earnings.
In fact, Jeffries sees the spring of 2016 as a more critical deadline for struggling drillers hoping to keep their credit lines open. "We think that banks are generally giving producers more time to improve financial health and that spring '16 redeterminations could be much tougher without significant commodity price improvement," said Jonathan Wolff, an analyst with Jeffries, according to SNL.
It is not a total win for the companies that are trying to hang on. Maintaining access to finance can come at a price. Jeffries expects that companies will have to offer up more collateral or agree to more restrictive covenants.
Furthermore, Jeffries says that a large volume of high-yield bonds will mature in the coming years, raising the likelihood that refinancing will be needed. Bond markets have essentially been ruled out as a new source of finance for high-yield producers. That means that credit lines with lending institutions become the last resort. E&P companies could resort to loans in order to pay off maturing debt, not unlike charging one credit card to wipe clean the debt on another.
Still, in the short-term, the leniency from lending institutions could delay what many had hoped would be the start of a rebound. Kicking the can means that production may not fall as fast as expected, which will mean oil prices may not begin to stage a rally as quickly as some had hoped.
Moody's Investors Service sees the contraction as too little to make a significant dent in the global supply gut. The ratings agency cut its forecasted oil price for 2016 to just $48 per barrel. "Although capital spending has dropped substantially and the U.S. rig count has declined by more than half, U.S. production has only recently begun to decline," Moody's concluded in a recent report. "Moreover, Saudi Arabia and Russia have both increased production to their highest levels since the early 1990s." Moody's sees global oil production rising by 1 million barrels per day in both 2015 and 2016.
Not only are Russia and Saudi Arabia keeping production elevated, new gains in oil production from the Middle East could offset any declines in the United States. Iraq has steadily increased output this year despite low oil prices and security issues related to ISIS. Also, although there was a lot of speculation about Iran's ability to return some capacity to the market, such an outcome appears more and more likely. Iran's oil minister insists that his country has secured buyers for 500,000 barrels per day of oil, the amount that Iran believes it can add pretty much immediately after sanctions are lifted.
That will keep the pressure on U.S. shale. But for now, banks are helping to keep the most indebted companies alive.
Article Source: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/Day-Of-Reckoning-For-US- Shale -Will-Have-To-Wait.html


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Our Work Is Everywhere | Syan Rose
An Illustrated Oral History of Queer and Trans Resistance
72 pages | Arsenal Pulp Press
Over the past ten years, we have witnessed the rise of queer and trans communities that have defied and challenged those who have historically opposed them. Through bold, symbolic imagery and surrealist, overlapping landscapes, queer illustrator and curator Syan Rose shines a light on the faces and voices of these diverse, amorphous, messy, real and imagined queer and trans communities.
In their own words, queer and trans organizers, artists, healers, comrades, and leaders speak honestly and authentically about their own experiences with power, love, pain, and magic to create a textured and nuanced portrait of queer and trans realities in America. The many themes include Black femme mental health, Pacific Islander authorship, fat queer performance art, disability and healthcare practice, sex worker activism, and much more. Accompanying the narratives are Rose's startling and sinuous images that brings these leaders' words to visual life.
Our Work Is Everywhere is a graphic nonfiction book that underscores the brilliance and passion of queer and trans resistance.
Includes a foreword by Lambda Literary Award-winning author and activist Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, author of Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice.


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Eddie Vine Boat Ramp
Eddie Vine is Seattle's northernmost saltwater boat ramp lying between Golden Gardens park and the Shilshole Marina. Located in Ballard on the north end of Marine Area 10, Eddie Vine is the closest water access to the northern Marine Areas and Marine Area 12. Eddie Vine is a favorite ramp for many northwest anglers because it is protected by the continuation of Shilshole Marina's breakwater and it is close to popular fishing locations.
Eddie Vine Boat Ramp was named in honor of Edward J. Vine (1892-1957), a sportsman and state leader in salmon conservation. Mr. Vine, owner of Vine's Pen and Card Shop, was the chairman of the Washington State Sportsman Council and was a secretary of the King County Outdoor Sports Council. Eddie Vine was also notable for his participation in many charity events. He also taught saltwater fishing at the Y.M.C.A.'s hobby school.


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political commentator * author * publisher * bookseller * radio presenter * blogger * Conservative candidate * former lobbyist * Jack Russell owner * West Ham United fanatic * Email iain AT iaindale DOT com
Friday, June 19, 2009
Binley Gives the Telegraph a Piece of His Mind
26 comments:
- Swiss Bob said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- June 19, 2009 5:18 pm
- Swiss Bob said...
Start again.
Iain, the Telegraph says June 19th is the happiest day of the year.
It's hard to argue: Metropolitan Police to investigate MP's. - June 19, 2009 5:20 pm
It doesn't really get away from the fact that he rent a property from a company he is Chairman of though does it? It may well have been better for the taxpayer that the company subsidised his living arrangements. On the other hand it is no where near being whiter than white.
- June 19, 2009 5:24 pm
"Oh, and the company was about £38k down on the deal over the three year period. So much for implying that I had diverted taxpayers money for my own personal benefit!"
If Mr Binley MP's accomodation was subsidised to the tune of £38k by BCC marketing, a company of which he was chairman, what were BCC getting in return? - June 19, 2009 5:34 pm
I don't think Binley has sinned particularly badly.
The Telegraph has stitched him up just for the sake of a story that they know the public won't consider in the cold light of day.
Hope he fights it all the way. - June 19, 2009 5:34 pm
- JuliaM said...
"t doesn't really get away from the fact that he rent a property from a company he is Chairman of though does it? "
Nope, it's just misdirection, stunning hyperbole and whinging justification.
"Hope he fights it all the way."
Fights it how...?
It's out in the open now, and we can all see how he reacts to any questions about his behaviour - with overly-dramatic accusations and no action at all. If he thinks he's been hard done by, he can sue, can't he? - June 19, 2009 5:41 pm
erm......he paid OUR money to a company both he and his wife were directors of.....that owned the flat he was renting.....so as a director, presumably owning shares in the company, he was in effect, paying taxpayer's cash to himself......if you think this is reason for HIM to feel aggrieved then you must have hit the night nurse with a little too much enthusiasm Iain. he should beanother on the downbound train asap
- June 19, 2009 5:50 pm
Poor Brian. I just posted this on his blog.
Now you know what it is like to be a citizen of the UK these days. You are suspected of expenses fiddling. We are suspected of being terrorists
Poor you. - June 19, 2009 5:52 pm
- Doug said...
I think he was caught bang to rights. His defence is that he arranged his accommodation in such a way that his company made a loss (if that is true). That is no way to arrange his expenses and is completely opaque as to whether the company in question is taking advantage or not. Any other MP who used the same arrangements could have just as easily made a profit and benefited the company and the MP. Then again neither is it right for MPs to sustain losses, directly or indirectly, that can make them susceptible to corruption. It raises the possibility of MPs being beholden to a company if preferential rates are being applied. Suggesting his board of directors makes it legit also opens the possibility that the board can exert undue influence on the MP.
- June 19, 2009 5:59 pm
- Bill Quango MP said...
Iain if you had heard him defending himself on the radio you would have no sympathy.
"I have done nothing wrong.. justification..within the rules.. It was allowed. ..not sorry.. not consider paying any money back.."
To get the full self justification/just don't get it mentality he need only have added
"I was only obeying orders.. it was the war.. everyone did it!" and "They were only Jews" - June 19, 2009 6:17 pm
Whatever the rights and wrongs of what Binley did, surely he was at no point fleecing the taxpayer, and surely that is what the expenses mullarky is all about, isn't it. It seems to me that Binley was actually trying to SAVE money, and whether the rent goes to a company that he's a director of, or a grateful private landlord is irrespective. Or maybe I'm just naive! By the way, I understand the Telegraph didn't like it up 'em. If they can't take a robust defence, then they shouldn't dish it out. Good on Binley for sticking up for himself.
- June 19, 2009 6:18 pm
What`s the difference between his rental from his own Company and the Wintertons (Mr and Mrs Expenses ) renting a flat owned by their childrens` trust fund ? Nothing, methinks.
It all stinks. - June 19, 2009 6:24 pm
- Gareth said...
If the firm truly is about £38k down has the donation in kind been declared to the Electoral Commission?
- June 19, 2009 6:52 pm
His argument is very weak - they have him bang to rights.
- June 19, 2009 7:27 pm
- Duncan Cookson said...
He's my MP and I contacted him about it. I got a couple of set letters which didn't answer any points I made. The problems are as follows...
1. It was against the rules but instead of accepting it he strung out an appeal for 3 years, an appeal he was always going to lose and did. Maybe that's the Speaker's fault too but he should have stopped claiming the money while the appeal was pending. His claim that "I had cleared my living arrangements with the Fees Office at Parliament, and then the rules changed, so I had to move out, though I appealed against the changes before I did so", doesn't give any sense of the time it took for the appeal.
2. As I understand it the arrangement meant he claimed full rent which nearly covered the mortgage payments whereas if the flat had been in his own name he would have only been entitled to the interest on the mortgage.
3. The flat was £1500 a month in swanky Pimlico. Northampton is an easy commute to London and cheaper options were available.
4. He made a big play to me and the press about how he'd always been against expenses and how honourable he'd been and so on and yet voted against his own party and with Labour members on external audits of claims and no money for furniture last year. You can see this here. He was joined by Mackay, the Wintertons and Kirkbride amongst others.
5. His hysterical comparison of an email from the Telegraph to living under the Stasi and KGB is pretty insulting to the poor people who actually did.
6. He says that the purchase of the house was a commercial decision which is a little misleading. In his email to me he wrote "I might tell you that I was a late entrant into Parliament and didn't want to lumber my wife who is 18 years younger than me with a sizeable mortgage, recognising that at my age things could go wrong. Because of this, my fellow directors were willing to take out a mortgage that was perfectly legal at the time and I pursued that as an objective and as an ideal solution". In other words the flat was only ever for him.
7. His defense to me that he could have taken the mickey much more isn't a particularly comforting one. - June 19, 2009 10:46 pm
If Brian Binley's company were receiving less from him that it was costing to own & maintain the flat it would affect their profits (to the tune of £38K?)
This would reduce the tax liability of his company, benefiting the directors & shareholders.
In his own words the flat was bought, by the company, for his use. Surely a "benefit in kind" and hence taxable. Was any paid? - June 20, 2009 11:49 am
"Binley Gives the Telegraph a Piece of His Mind".....
Judging by that load of santimonious self-serving rubbish he came out with, he needs to get that piece of his mind back sharpish, he doesn't have any to spare. - June 20, 2009 11:56 am
i see the Telegraph had another, this time gratuitous, go at Binley today. Hell hath no fury than a Telegraph journalist scorned. There was no story, so they got at him through is media guy, who I feel genuinely sorry for. I know him a little, and he's a top guy, integrity beyond reproach, and a top quality operator. I have spoken to him about it and he is still shell-shocked at the experience. He was, he admitted to me, very evasive at first call because he suspected mischief making of some kind, and wanted to check it out. But once Binley's office had told him the Telegraph had been on to them, and the reporter had left a number for him to call, he rang and was totally transparent and honest. There was no story, so they decided to turn him over. How charming of them. Whatever the rights of Binley's accommodation arrangements, I do think he has a point that sensationalism and vindictiveness has taken over from honest reporting.
- June 20, 2009 5:06 pm
Duncan, I have spoken to Binley, and mentioned his KGB reference. He said he certainly didn't mean to be offensive, but he was genuinely shocked at the aggressive nature of his conversation with the journalist, who, he says, was grilling him as if he was a common criminal. And "could have taken the micky more" I think is his clumsy way of saying that lots of MPs made an appalling abuse of the system, which he never did. I am not a Binley apologist, but I have met the man, and I do think, overall, he means well. I also accept the reasoning that MPs do need to stay in London at least 3, possibly 4, nights a week - it is up to the Fees Commission to work out how best to make this best value for the taxpayer. Anyway, there are lots worse than Binley. The most important thing is that from now on, the system is overhauled, and today's nonsense about council tax far overshadows Binley's rent, and to who he pays it.
- June 20, 2009 6:57 pm
Presumably there are receipts to prove today's allegations are false; and, tax has been paid on all income?
- June 20, 2009 10:29 pm
- Duncan Cookson said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- June 20, 2009 11:26 pm
- Duncan Cookson said...
Well anonymous I think that claiming more than £50K that he wasn't entitled to and then refusing to pay it back is serious enough for it to be a major news story. The reasons for the rules are to stop people doing what he did. Buying a house through a company so they can claim rent instead of mortgage interest. I don't think too many people will be convinced by your character reference. You're entitled to your opinion. I disagree.
Why do they leave a comment deleted reference when you delete a comment? Does anyone know the reason? I just did it to tidy up a grammatical mistake and now I've made the thread look messy... - June 20, 2009 11:32 pm
We'll beg to differ, Duncan, though taking the issue of expenses all in all we're there or thereabouts! I wish you, and everyone, a happy Sunday.
- June 21, 2009 8:23 am
He rented a flat from himself, and used expenses to pay himself the rent, we're not happy about that.
His defence is almost as bad as waving a cheque around.
He claims he wasnt confident about the future to buy, fair enough, so why not rent privatly, rather than purchase through intermediaries? - June 22, 2009 11:46 am
I'd like to know why my perfectly reasonable comment of 20/6/09 @11.42 a.m. is still awaiting moderation and has yet to appear on the Cornerstone blog, although later comments have been posted, in some cases in edited form, in some cases not posted with an explanation, for example about foul language.
In it, I said I was not satisfied with the diversionary "witch-hunt" defence, pointed out Brian Binley denied none of the facts stated by the Telegraph, and asked him further questions about why it was in his company's commercial interest to buy accommodation which according to him as I understand it, it rented to him at a loss. - June 22, 2009 12:52 pm
This is very odd. The comment I added over at Cornerstone has been awaiting moderation for days. One posted after mine, containing nasty sweary words has already been ruled out of order, and quite right too. All I did was ask what gives MPs the right to £100 a week of free food, more than the old age pension and four times more than the daily messing rate for a soldier in Iraq. They seem to be having some trouble with that.
- June 23, 2009 12:53 pm


text:
Mfg Part Number: 0841003-2
Alternate P/N: 08410032
Manufacturer: Mcfarlane Aviation
Description: Bushing: Link,Torque,
Thank you for your interest in our inventory of aircraft airframe part 0841003-2 on NSN Target. Bushing: Link,Torque, is a component manufactured by Mcfarlane Aviation, and it is listed under the part number 0841003-2. If you are interested in this particular item, or anything else that we currently have listed on our website, you may begin the purchasing process today by filling out and submitting an Instant RFQ form as provided on this page. By submitting to us such information, we can craft a personalized quote that caters towards your individual needs. Our team of industry experts can also be reached by email and phone for purchasing related questions, as they are readily available 24/7x365 to assist customers.
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We Hope that You Will Visit Us Again the Next Time You Need NSN Parts and Make Us Your Strategic Purchasing Partner.
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text:
Link-a-Pix puzzles consist of a grid with clues scattered in various places. All clues, except the 1's, appear as same-number pairs. The object is to reveal a hidden picture by painting paths between same-number pairs where the length of the path (measured by the number of squares it passes through including the end-squares containing the clues) is equal to the value of the clues being connected. In other words, for every clue except 1 it is necessary to find another clue of the same value and join them together with a path of the corresponding length. The only exceptions are 1's, which represent paths that are 1-square long. Paths may follow horizontal or vertical directions and are not allowed to cross other paths.
The best way to learn how to solve B&W Link-a-Pix puzzles is to see a puzzle solved step by step from beginning to end.
Solving B&W Link-a-Pix always starts with links of 1 since they don't require pairing. Just find and paint (or draw a line across) all squares containing 1. Continue with links of 2, 3, and higher which clearly have a unique path. Note that longer links, such as the 4 and 5 on the bottom-left corner below, may have more than one path at this stage and must not be solved yet.
Completed links may be painted after each step or left to the end after the whole puzzle has been solved. The next step is to link the two pairs of 5's and the pair of 6's which have unique paths as shown below.
Sometimes Link-a-Pix puzzles contain more than two clues with the same value in the same area and it may not always be obvious which clue is paired with which. To get a clearer view, the red lines in the example below show the only way 8's can be linked and approximately where the link of 9 should be located. As a result we see the link of 4 on the bottom-left corner must go downwards to make space for the links of 5 and 14 on its right.
Looking carefully at the bottom-left area we see that the link of 14 must go to the right. Otherwise there won't be enough space for all 14 squares under the link of 9. This means the link of 5, as well as the links of 8, 9 and 14 can be completed since there is no longer any ambiguity regarding their paths.
The next step is linking the 8's in the center, which have only one path possible. It is now clear the link of 5 must go towards the right, which leaves only one possibility for the link of 10 at the top.
The puzzle is finished revealing the picture of a dog.
Color Link-a-Pix puzzles are solved the same way as B&W with the additional rule that the color of the paths must be the same as the color of the clues being linked together.
Solving Color Link-a-Pix always starts with links of 1 since they don't require pairing. Just find and paint (or draw a line across) all squares containing 1 using the appropriate color. Continue with links of 2, 3, and higher which clearly have a unique path. Note that sometimes even short links, such as the 3 on the left edge of the grid below, may have more than one path at this stage and must not be solved yet.
Completed links may be painted with the appropriate color after each step or left to the end after the whole puzzle has been solved. We can now link several longer pairs of 6, 7, 9 and 10 which we easily see have a unique path.
The next step is linking the red 6's, the red 10's and the black 10's. We can now also link the pair of 3's on the left which we couldn't solve in step 1.
We now come across a more complex situation in the bottom area of the puzzle. The blue link of10 in the bottom area has more than one path. However, the first six squares on the left of this path are unique so we will draw them now. This kind of partial path technique is often essential for some puzzles. Similarly, we can draw the first three squares of the black link of 9 which will help us in the next step.
We now see completing the partial blue link of 10 is easy. There is only one way the path can go after drawing the partial path from the black 9. In this step we can also link the pairs of 3 and 5 in the center.
Finishing the puzzle is now straight forward by linking the remaining red pairs of 4, 8 and 9, and the two black pairs of 9.
The puzzle is finished revealing the picture of an exotic island at sunset.


text:
People who spend lots of time on their smartphones may be scrolling, tapping and swiping their way to carpal tunnel syndrome, a painful wrist and hand disorder.
A small study found a link between extended use of smartphones and other hand-held electronic devices and a greater likelihood for experiencing the telltale wrist and hand pain of the syndrome.
But the researchers did not prove that heavy smartphone use caused carpal tunnel syndrome, and one hand surgeon said very few people in the real world use their smartphones as much as the heavy users in the study did.
Study author Peter White said the findings suggest "caution may be warranted when using hand-held electronic devices, in order to minimize the chance of developing carpal tunnel syndrome."
White is an assistant professor in the department of health technology and informatics at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
The carpal tunnel is a narrow and hard pathway of bone and ligament found at the base of the hand, according to the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. It contains tendons, which enable finger-bending, as well as the so-called "median nerve," which runs from the forearm to the palm and provides feeling to some fingers.
Carpal tunnel syndrome can gradually develop following repeated pressure to the point where the median nerve passes into the hand and meets the wrist.
A common cause, said White, are work conditions that call for "repetitive, forceful or awkward hand movements, for example, when typing." And the result is often pain (sometimes extending up the arm), numbness, finger tingling and weakened grip strength.
To explore whether smartphone use might up the carpal tunnel syndrome risk, White and his associates followed up on their prior investigation involving 500 Hong Kong University students.
Those students fell into two camps: intensive users of hand-held electronic devices (meaning five or more hours of use per day) and non-intensive users (less than five hours per day). Hand-held devices included mobile phones, tablet computers and game consoles.
More than half (54 percent) of the intensive group reported musculoskeletal pain and/or discomfort, compared with 12 percent among the less intensive group.
The new study looked at 48 students from the first study. Half were intensive users who spent (on average) more than nine hours a day using their devices. Those in the other group spent just under three hours a day on their devices.
The participants answered questionnaires on electronic device habits and any pain or discomfort in their neck, shoulder, back, elbow or wrist/hand region.
Ultrasounds and physical exams on the wrist region were also done.
Muscle pain was found to be more common among intensive users.
The researchers also found that intensive electronics users had "significantly" more discomfort, and more severe discomfort, in their wrist and hand.
The more time a person spent using a hand-held electronic device, the more intense and long-lasting their wrist and hand pain was.
To explain why, the researchers pointed to device design, which requires the repeated use of fingers to click, swipe, scroll, tap and press. The result is an enlargement and flattening of the median nerve, alongside bulging of a key ligament.
To minimize risk, White advises keeping the wrist as straight as possible when using devices.
He added, "One should try to minimize repetitive movements of one's fingers and thumb when using hand-held electronic devices, especially for single-hand use. It is also important to take regular rest periods, so as to avoid continuous intensive use, so as to allow recovery time and to prevent prolonged stress."
But hand surgeon Dr. Dori Cage questioned how much of a risk smartphone use really poses.
"The strong correlation of carpal tunnel syndrome with smartphone use is surprising, as I have not seen that in my practice," said Cage, an American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons spokesperson.
Cage, who's with San Diego Hand Specialists, also suggested that "it is unlikely that the general population would have [the] degree of phone use" seen among the intensive users in the study.
"This is likely an issue affecting only a small percentage of cellphone users," she said.
The study was published June 21 in the journal Muscle and Nerve.
More information
There's more information on carpal tunnel syndrome at U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Source: HealthDay
Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.


text:
Indiana, Illinois move forward on expressway
LOWELL, Ind. — The Indiana and Illinois departments of transportation say they'll ask potential private developers of the Illiana Expressway to submit their qualifications this fall.
The two agencies said Tuesday they've reached an agreement on how to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the proposed 47-mile expressway linking Interstate 65 in northwestern Indiana with I-55 in south suburban Chicago. It includes the upcoming requests seeking information from possible private partners.
The agencies say each state will procure the land for their individual sections of the highway.
The two states say they plan to begin construction in the spring of 2015, but environmental groups have filed a federal lawsuit claiming the Federal Highway Administration didn't adequately assess the project's potential impacts to endangered wildlife, critical habitat and other sensitive areas.


text:
Terms and Conditions
By using our Public WiFi internet service, you hereby expressly acknowledge and agree that there are significant security, privacy and confidentiality risks inherent in accessing or transmitting information through the internet, whether the connection is facilitated through wired or wireless technology. Security issues include, without limitation, interception of transmissions, loss of data, and the introduction or viruses and other programs that can corrupt or damage your device.
Accordingly, you agree that City of Sunny Isles Beach is NOT liable for any interception or transmissions, computer worms or viruses, loss of data, file corruption, hacking or damage to your computer or other devices that result from the transmission or download of information or materials through the internet service provided.
Use of the wireless network is subject to the general restrictions outlined below. If abnormal, illegal, or unauthorized behavior is detected, including heavy consumption of bandwidth, the City of Sunny Isles Beach reserves the right to permanently disconnect the offending device from the wireless network.
Examples of Illegal Uses
The following are representative examples only and do not comprise a comprehensive list of illegal uses:
- Spamming and invasion of privacy – Sending of unsolicited bulk and/or commercial messages over the Internet using the Service or using the Service for activities that invade another's privacy.
- Intellectual property right violations – Engaging in any activity that infringes or misappropriates the intellectual property rights of others, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade secrets, or any other proprietary right of any third party.
- Accessing illegally or without authorization computers, accounts, equipment or networks belonging to another party, or attempting to penetrate/circumvent security measures of another system. This includes any activity that may be used as a precursor to an attempted system penetration, including, but not limited to, port scans, stealth scans, or other information gathering activity.
- The transfer of technology, software, or other materials in violation of applicable export laws and regulations.
- Export Control Violations
- Using the Service in violation of applicable law and regulation, including, but not limited to, advertising, transmitting, or otherwise making available ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, fraudulently charging credit cards, pirating software, or making fraudulent offers to sell or buy products, items, or services.
- Uttering threats;
- Distribution of pornographic materials to minors;
- and Child pornography.
Examples of Unacceptable Uses
The following are representative examples only and do not comprise a comprehensive list of unacceptable uses:
- High bandwidth operations, such as large file transfers and media sharing with peer-to-peer programs (i.e.torrents)
- Obscene or indecent speech or materials
- Defamatory or abusive language
- Using the Service to transmit, post, upload, or otherwise making available defamatory, harassing, abusive, or threatening material or language that encourages bodily harm, destruction of property or harasses another.
- Forging or misrepresenting message headers, whether in whole or in part, to mask the originator of the message.
- Facilitating a Violation of these Terms of Use
- Hacking
- Distribution of Internet viruses, Trojan horses, or other destructive activities
- Distributing information regarding the creation of and sending Internet viruses, worms, Trojan horses, pinging, flooding, mail-bombing, or denial of service attacks. Also, activities that disrupt the use of or interfere with the ability of others to effectively use the node or any connected network, system, service, or equipment.
- Advertising, transmitting, or otherwise making available any software product, product, or service that is designed to violate these Terms of Use, which includes the facilitation of the means to spam, initiation of pinging, flooding, mail-bombing, denial of service attacks, and piracy of software.
- The sale, transfer, or rental of the Service to customers, clients or other third parties, either directly or as part of a service or product created for resale.
- Seeking information on passwords or data belonging to another user.
- Making unauthorized copies of proprietary software, or offering unauthorized copies of proprietary software to others.
- Intercepting or examining the content of messages, files or communications in transit on a data network.


text:
Generation Skipping
Glen Reynolds linked this a while ago, but I was fascinated that two of President Tylers grandsons are still alive. President Tyler was born in 1790 and died before the Civil War was over. The younger of the two is profiled here. The key seems to be that his father was conceived when President Tyler was in his 60's, and he was conceived when his father was about 75.


text:
Keeping New Year's Resolutions
New Year's Eve has always been a time to reflect on the changes we want (or need) to make and to resolve to follow through on those changes. Every year clients of mine tell me their lofty plans for New Year's resolutions- find a boyfriend, lose weight, get healthy, quit smoking- and inevitably, like most people weeks later when I ask about the progress of their resolutions, they confess that they have abandoned their goals. Striving for positive change is important; by following some basic steps, you can improve your chances to achieve your goals.
Set reasonable expectations. Too often we set the bar too high. If you set unrealistic goals you will be doomed from the start. You will find yourself discouraged, lacking motivation and eventually facing failure. Be reasonable with your expectations of yourself- instead of a goal to lose fifty pounds, try to lose 10 and then reassess from there. If you believe your goal is attainable, then you will be driven to meet it.
Don't be overly ambitious.It is hard enough to focus on making one positive change at a time, yet many people overload themselves with several resolutions.Trying to quit smoking, to better manage your finances and to start exercising regularly is a lot of responsibility to take on all at once. Tackling goals one by one will be far less overwhelming and will improve your chances of success.Remember, January isn't the only time of year we can resolve to improve our lives; once you meet your goal, then plan to tackle another.
Determine an action plan and the steps you will take to meet your goal. If your goal is to be healthier, define the steps you will take to get there- eat 4 fruits and vegetables a day, get at least 8 hours sleep, schedule a physical, etc. Make sure these steps are reasonable for you, as discussed above, and don't make your action plan more than you can handle. A resolution without a plan of action is merely wishful thinking.
Develop a support system. If you are committed to making change, share your plan with your family and friends. They can help push you and encourage you along the way. Some goals may be too big to face alone, such as losing weight or quitting smoking. Consider seeking out a support group in the area or online if you need it. Talking to people who are struggling with the same changes as you can help you move forward and meet your goal; it helps to know you are not alone.
Reward yourself. Recognize the positive changes you've made and reward yourself along the way. Take pride in your accomplishments and share your progress with others. Once you pass certain milestones, plan a treat for yourself, for example- once you hit your weight lose goal treat yourself to a night out. By setting rewards for yourself you have something to look forward to in addition to the self satisfaction you will feel.
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.Be flexible and don't lose sight of your goals.If you fall off track, don't wait until next year to try again.Evaluate your progress and think about where you failed and adjust your goal and action plan to something that is more attainable.
We could all benefit from some changes in our lives, so take advantage of the tradition of New Year's resolutions to look back on the past year and evaluate something about yourself to improve upon in the year ahead.
Michael Oberschneider, Psy.D
Clinical Psychologist


text:
Water/Wastewater courses are now on the web and can be applied to an Associate in Applied Science Degree with a Water/Wastewater Specialization. Website information is totally free, except for quizzes and assignments, but you will not receive credit for a course unless you are enrolled. If you already hold the highest operator class license in your state you can receive credit through your occupational experience. Labs may be taken at a plant in your area under approved supervision.
MECC also offers two Career Studies Certificates: Water Plant Operator and Wastewater Plant Operator. Click the link to the left to learn more about these programs.
If you are in need of CPE/CEU credit to renew your license (both water and wastewater), MECC offers that as well! You can take one class and obtain all the CPE/CEU credit needed for renewal without having to travel from one workshop to another.
We look forward to either helping you further your career in this field or begin brand new. Contact us today!
This site has been awarded the following:
A First Place VCCS Technology in Education Award
A Second Place Governor's Environmental VA Award for Innovation in Education
Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Technology from the International Conference on Teaching and Learning
The International Teaching and Learning Award
The 2002 Governor's Technology Gold Award
This website has been created and is maintained by Rosa-lee Cooke


text:
Next: PKG_ADD and PKG_DEL Directives, Previous: The DESCRIPTION File, Up: Creating Packages [Contents][Index]
The optional INDEX file provides a categorical view of the functions in the package. This file has a very simple format
toolbox >> Toolbox name
The format can be summarized with the following example:
# A comment toolbox >> Toolbox name Category Name 1 function1 function2 function3 function4 Category Name 2 function2 function5
If you wish to refer to a function that users might expect to find in your package but is not there, providing a work around or pointing out that the function is available elsewhere, you can use:
fn = workaround description
This workaround description will not appear when listing functions in the
package with pkg describe
but they will be published
in the HTML documentation online.
Workaround descriptions can use any HTML markup, but
keep in mind that it will be enclosed in a bold-italic environment.
For the special case of:
fn = use alternate expression
the bold-italic is automatically suppressed. You will need
to use
even in references:
fn = use fn
Sometimes functions are only partially compatible, in which
case you can list the non-compatible cases separately. To
refer to another function in the package, use <f>fn</f>
For example:
eig (a, b) = use <f>qz</f>
Since sites may have many missing functions, you can define a macro rather than typing the same link over and again.
$id = expansion
defines the macro id. You can use $id
anywhere in the
description and it will be expanded. For example:
$TSA = see SPC Tools arcov = $TSA armcv
id is any string of letters, numbers and _
Next: PKG_ADD and PKG_DEL Directives, Previous: The DESCRIPTION File, Up: Creating Packages [Contents][Index]


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How healthy are your finances? Isn't it time you put your own financial wellbeing front and centre? You can take control of your financial future quickly and easily, with a simple financial health check.
Just like your physical health, it's worth giving your finances a checkup once in a while. Over time, unhealthy spending habits can creep in, threatening to derail your progress. Here's how to give your finances a health check and find out where you can make some healthy gains.
Step 1: Take your financial pulse
Understanding where you stand with your finances is the first and most important step. It's also the one many people struggle with! Taking a close look at your financial situation can be uncomfortable, but it's a lot easier than you might think, and, essential, if you want to achieve your goals.
Here's how to analyse your spending and put a budget in place:
- Use a spreadsheet or online budgeting tool to record all of your essential and non-essential expenses.
- Fill out each category using figures collected from your invoices and bills. Using real figures will give you a more accurate idea of your spending.
- Check how your expenses add up against your income. Are you overspending? Look for areas where you can cut back. Underspending? Great, you'll have some wiggle room to put towards your financial goals.
Step 2: Get the basics working for you
Once you've got your spending into shape, take a look at these financial fundamentals. Do you need to work off any debt or gain some healthy savings?
- Debt – Like carrying a few extra kilos, debt can creep up and become a burden before you know it. Put a repayment plan in place and stick to it. Be specific about the amounts and timeframes.
- Emergency fund – Like health insurance for your finances, an emergency fund gives you a buffer against the unexpected. Aim to build up enough funds in a separate account to cover six months' worth of living expenses.
- Superannuation – If you want to stay financially fit and healthy into old age, you need to lay the groundwork now. You can use the Moneysmart retirement planner to work out how much super you'll have when you retire. If you need to top up your super, you can do so by salary sacrificing or making after-tax payments to your super.
- Insurance – It's important to protect your earning ability and assets in case of the unexpected. Make sure you have enough total and permanent disability, income protection and life insurance cover to protect you and your family.
Step 3: Set yourself some healthy goals
Once your finances are on the path to good health, you can set yourself some bigger goals. This is the fun part, where you get to dream about all the things you'd like to do, have or experience.
Your financial goals could range from the more practical, like buying a house, setting up an investment portfolio or paying off debt, to the enjoyable, like taking a holiday or moving to the beach. Whatever it is you want to do, this is your opportunity to envision it.
Try brainstorming as many goals as you can. Write down each one of your ideas on a post-it note. Give yourself a set amount of time to generate a stack of ideas, then prioritise them using the post-it notes. Select the top two or three to work towards and use them to motivate you.
Step 4: Put your financial fitness plan in place
The best goals are ones that are supported by a plan. Now that you've detoxed your finances and identified your goals, you need to work out how to get there. Depending on your goals and your timeframe, saving alone may not be enough. You might need to consider other ways, like investing, to grow your income. This is where a financial planning professional can help. A financial expert can advise you on strategies to achieve your financial goals.
Source: Money & Life


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Do you remember the moment you fell in love with languages?
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Then you need a Afrikaans tutor.
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As an active Premium PLUS member of JapanesePod101.com and KoreanClass101.com myself, I have an enjoyable experience learning at an accelerated pace with at least thirty minutes of study daily. The following Premium PLUS features contribute to my success:
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As someone who decided to make Japanese her second language one year ago, I am extremely grateful for Premium PLUS.
Allow me to emphasize on how these Premium PLUS features strengthen my language studies.
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As a Premium PLUS member, I have full access to the lesson library and other Premium features. Best of all, I'm not limited to one level; I can learn to my heart's content with upper-level courses.
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Because of the abundance of lessons, I've found pathways in the lesson library to help me prepare for certain events. Thanks to the "Speaking Perfect Japanese at a Restaurant" pathway, I spoke fully in Japanese while dining in Japan. Additionally, I participated in conversations at language exchange meetups in South Korea after completing the "Top 25 Korean Questions You Need to Know" pathway.
Each lesson has lesson notes, which I read while simultaneously listening to the audio lesson. This strategy enables me to follow along on key points. Lesson notes generally contain the following:
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As someone who's constantly on-the-go, I heavily benefit from mobile access to lessons. Podcasts and lesson notes are available on the Innovative Language app and/or Podcasts app for iOS.
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Practice Speaking with the Voice Recording Tool!
Pronunciation is an essential ingredient in language-learning. Proper pronunciation prompts clear understanding during conversations with native speakers.
Prior to learning full Korean sentences, my online Korean language tutor assigned the "Hana Hana Hangul" pathway to me. It demonstrated the writing and pronunciation of Hangul, the Korean alphabet. Throughout this pathway, I submitted recordings of my Hangul character pronunciations to my language teacher for review.
I was given a similar task on JapanesePod101.com with the "Ultimate Japanese Pronunciation Guide" pathway. My Japanese language teacher tested my pronunciation of the Japanese characters kana. My completion of the two pathways boosted my confidence in speaking.
Speaking is one of the more challenging components of learning a language. The voice recording tool in particular was a great way for me to improve my speaking skills. Further, because the lesson dialogues are spoken by native speakers, I'm able to practice speaking naturally.
This feature is also available for vocabulary words and sample sentences. Being able to hear these recordings improves my pronunciation skills for languages like Japanese, where intonation can change the meaning of a word entirely. The voice recorder examines my speed and tone. I also follow up by sending a recording to my online language tutor for feedback.
A great way to boost one's speaking confidence is to shadow native speakers. During the vocabulary reviews, it's helpful for me to hear the breakdown of each word; doing so makes a word that was originally difficult to even read a breeze to say!
Some lessons create opportunities to speak your own sentences. For example, the "Top 25 Korean Questions You Need to Know" pathway presents opportunities to answer questions personally. This helps you gain the ability to give answers as the unique individual you are.
Example Scenario:
The host asks the following question:
어디에 살고 있습니까?
eodieseo salgo isseumnikka
"Where do you live?"
If you live in Tokyo, you would readily say the following:
도쿄에 살고 있습니다.
Tokyo-e salgo isseumnida.
"I live in Tokyo."
Increase Your Vocab with Spaced-Repetition Flashcards and More!
Imagine having a conversation with a native speaker and hesitating because you lack a solid vocabulary base.
Premium PLUS offers various features to expand learners' vocabulary, including Free Gifts of the Month. AfrikaansPod101's free gifts for April 2020 included an e-book with "400 Everyday Phrases for Beginners," and the content is updated every month. When I download free resources like this, I find opportunities to use them with co-teachers, friends, or my language tutors.
An effective way to learn vocabulary is with SRS flashcards. SRS is a system designed for learning a new word and reviewing it in varying time intervals.
You can create and study flashcard decks, whether it's your Word Bank or a certain vocabulary list. For example, if you need to visit a post office, the "Post Office" vocabulary list for your target language would be beneficial to study prior to your visit.
In addition to the SRS flashcards, each lesson has a vocabulary slideshow and quiz to review the lesson's vocabulary.
There's also the 2000 Core Word List, which includes the most commonly used words in your target language. Starting from the 100 Core Word List, you'll gradually build up your knowledge of useful vocabulary. These lists can be studied with SRS flashcards, too.
With the SRS flashcards, you can change the settings to your liking. The settings range from different card types to number of new cards per deck. Personally, I give myself vocabulary tests by changing the settings.
After studying a number of flashcards, I change the card types to listening comprehension and/or production. Then I test myself by writing the translation of the word or the spoken word or phrase.
The change in settings allow me to remember vocabulary and learn how to identify the words. This is especially helpful with Japanese kanji!
Complete Homework Assignments!
Homework assignments are advantageous to my language studies. There are homework assignments auto-generated weekly. They range from multiple-choice quizzes to writing assignments.
Language tutors are readily available for homework help. Some writing assignments, for instance, require use of unfamiliar vocabulary. In such cases, my language teachers assist me by forwarding related lessons or vocabulary lists.
In addition to these auto-generated homework tasks, language tutors customize daily assignments. My daily homework assignments include submitting three written sentences that apply the target grammar point of that lesson, and then blindly audio-recording those sentences. My personal language tutor follows up with feedback and corrections, if needed.
Your language tutors also provide assignments upon requests. When I wanted to review grammar, my Korean teacher sent related quizzes and assignments. Thus, you are not only limited to the auto-generated assignments.
Every weekend, I review by re-reading those written sentences. It helps me remember sentence structures, grammar points, and vocabulary to apply in real-world contexts.
Furthermore, I can track my progress with language portfolios every trimester. It's like a midterm exam that tests my listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.
Get Your Own Personal Language Teacher!
My language teachers cater to my goals with personalized and achievable learning programs. The tangible support of my online language teachers makes it evident that we share common goals.
Once I share a short-term or long-term goal with my teacher, we establish a plan or pathway that will ultimately result in success. I coordinate with my teachers regularly to ensure the personalized learning programs are prosperous. For example, during my JLPT studies, my Japanese language tutor assigned me practice tests.
Your language tutor is available for outside help as well. When I bought drama CDs in Japan, I had difficulty transliterating the dialogue. My Japanese teacher forwarded me the script to read along as I listened.
Additionally, I often practice Korean and Japanese with music. I memorize one line of the lyrics daily. Every time, I learn a new grammar point and new vocabulary. I add the vocabulary to my SRS flashcards, locate the grammar in the Grammar Bank, and study the associated lessons online.
I send my teachers the name of the songs, making them aware of my new goal. One time, my song for Korean was "If You Do" by GOT7. My Korean teacher revealed that she was a huge fan of GOT7 like me! For Japanese, it was "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA," also known as the Dragonball Z theme song. My Japanese teacher excitedly told me that she sang the song a lot as a kid!
A remarkable thing happened to me in South Korea. I was stressed about opening a bank account with limited Korean. I sought help from my Korean teacher. She forwarded me a script of a bank conversation.
After two days, I visited the local bank. It all started with my opening sentence:
은행 계좌를 만들고 싶어요
eunhaeng gyejwaleul mandeulgo sip-eoyo.
I want to open a bank account.
Everything went smoothly, and I exited the bank with a new account!
The MyTeacher Messenger allows me to share visuals with my teachers for regular interaction, including videos to critique my pronunciation mechanisms. I improve my listening and speaking skills by exchanging audio with my teachers. In addition to my written homework assignments, I exchange messages with my language teachers in my target language. This connection with my teachers enables me to experience the culture as well as the language.
Why You Should Subscribe to Premium PLUS
It's impossible for me to imagine my continuous progress with Japanese and Korean without Premium PLUS. Everything—from the SRS flashcards to my language teachers—makes learning languages enjoyable and clear-cut.
You're assured to undergo the same experience with Premium PLUS. You'll gain access to the aforementioned features as well as all of the Premium features.
Complete lessons and assignments to advance in your target language. Increase your vocabulary with the "2000 Core Word List" for that language and SRS flashcards. Learn on-the-go with the Innovative Language app and/or Podcasts app for iOS users.
Learning a new language takes dedication and commitment. The Premium PLUS features make learning irresistibly exciting. You'll look forward to learning daily with your language tutor.
As of right now, your challenge is to subscribe to Premium PLUS! Complete your assessment, and meet your new Afrikaans teacher.
Have fun learning your target language in the fastest and easiest way!
Subscribe to Posted by AfrikaansPod101.com in Afrikaans Language, Afrikaans Online, Feature Spotlight, Learn Afrikaans, Site Features, Team AfrikaansPod101 Comment


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Introducing our French Terry Acid Wash Boat Neck Pullover - the epitome of casual chic. This pullover combines the comfort of French terry fabric with a fashion-forward acid wash finish. The boat neck adds a touch of elegance to your relaxed style, making it versatile enough for both lounging and casual outings. With its laid-back vibes and trendy design, this pullover is a must-have addition to your wardrobe, offering a cozy and effortlessly stylish look that stands out from the crowd.
*Each item is unique, expect variations in color and finishing
*Color may vary slightly due to monitor resolution
Made in Cambodia
Model is wearing a Small
Model Specs
Height: 5'8"
Bust: 34D
Waist: 24"
Hips: 37"
Style: Cozy
Print / Pattern: Acid Wash
Silhouette: Pullover
Fit: Relaxed
Embellishment: Raw Hem
Neck Line: Boat Neck
Sleeve: Long Sleeve
Length: Up to 22"
Closure: Pullover
Lining: No
Made In: IMPORTED
Fabric Contents: 100% Cotton
Stretch fabric
Non-sheer fabric
Care Instructions: Machine wash cold, gentle cycle, tumble dry low.
Size Measurement (inch):
S: 24.0 (Bust), null (Waist), null (Hips), 21.0 (Length)
M: 24.5 (Bust), null (Waist), null (Hips), 21.5 (Length)
L: 25.0 (Bust), null (Waist), null (Hips), 22.0 (Length)


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Thu, May 24
|Yayo's Latin Cuisine
Tumbao @ Yayo's 5/24/18
This event is held each and every Thursday right in the heart of Brooklyn (2 blocks from the Barclay Center). The venue is held in both party rooms located in the lower level and consist of two bars (upstairs/downstairs), two separate spacious dance rooms (Salsa & Bachata). DJ John John (Salsa Roo
Time & Location
May 24, 2018, 9:00 PM – May 25, 2018, 1:00 AM
Yayo's Latin Cuisine, 36 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217, USA
About The Event
DJ John John & Salsa Salsa Dance Studio would like to cordially invite you to TUMBAO Thursdays 4 Year Anniversary.
This event is held each and every Thursday right in the heart of Brooklyn (2 blocks from the Barclay Center).
The venue consists of two two separate spacious dance rooms (Salsa & Bachata) located in the lower level with two bars (upstairs/downstairs). Full dinning also available.
DJ John John (Salsa Room) Spins the best of salsa classics, dura, romantica, guaguanco, mambo and cha-cha-cha.
DJ Jun (Bachata Room) Spins the best of bachata yesterday and today.
Mc'd and co-hosted by MC Jose Rivera & DJ John John
* Doors open at 9 till 1 AM
* $7 Cover All Night
* Food and Drinks available
* Birthday & Anniversary Specials Avaiable
* Live Afro-Cuban Percussion by Ronnie Roc & Joseph Medina
* FREE Valet Parking across the street for customers
Note: All NYPD, FDNY & Military service men and woman that can show a valid ID of their past or present service will be given Free Admission. Thank you.
B, D, N, R, Q, 2, 3, 4, 5 & LIRR to Atlantic Avenue/Barclay Center
G Train to Fulton St
C to Lafayette


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It seems like a fun little sideshow, doesn't it? The grizzled veteran coach, waxing basketball philosophic and occasionally using his razor-sharp wit to jab at other players and the officials. A basketball legend using the media to gain as much leverage over the calls as he can get. It's a charming story.
And it's got to stop.
Yesterday, we clued you in to Phil Jackson's latest dig at officiating related to Steve Nash and his penchant for "carrying." It's yet another in a long history of Jackson swinging out in officiating-related matters.
There's been a lot of talk about increasing the punishment for coaches that complain about officiating. David Stern spoke about possibly suspensions, a notion Jackson laughed off while calling the commissioner by his first name. And yesterday's little dig shows that he doesn't actually think Stern will go far enough to lean on him. It's a small, careful, and quiet comment that Stern can't really punish him beyond fines which amount to asking someone for whatever they've got in their pockets.
If Stern's serious about this, if he wants to make the point that coaches cannot, under any circumstances, attempt to influence officiating in any way, the next time Jackson speaks out, he's got to suspend him. Especially if it happens in the next two weeks.
Bear in mind that this is a crucial time for the league's public officiating situation. Tim Donaghy is still flitting around like a hobo trying to ask anyone outside the league's office for money in exchange for his windshield wipers of allegations. But there have been no officiating disasters in the playoffs this year, unlike the Mavericks no-call among others last year. The league has a real chance to get past the lingering outside perception that certain officiating wrinkles are influenced by league folds.
But a mess in a series against the Suns from the most winningest franchise in NBA history?
That would be unfortunate timing.
The league already flinches every time the Robert Horry hipcheck and subsequent suspensions are shown. They flinch whenever discussion of the 2002 Game 6 are brought up. They flinch whenever Tim Donaghy's involvement in both of those series are brought up. They don't waver, but they flinch.
Ensuring that we don't end up in a situation where the Lakers look like the favored son, where there's no chance of Jackson successfully bending the officials knees to his liking, that's a sound strategy to end the controversy. Allowing Jackson to flaunt whatever influence he wants is a flawed approach. The carrying issue is nothing, it's a blip on the radar. But the league needs to be ready to suspend Phil Jackson, in a playoff series, if he seeks to influence the officiating again, even if he's right.
The Lakers are more than capable of dismantling the Suns based solely on their basketball ability and length. Making sure there's no funny business is a win-win for the league.
The questions about the league's officiating history are on the ropes, dazed, and stunned. Phil Jackson is unknowingly, or unconcernedly slipping them Gatorade. It's time for the Commissioner's office to knock them out.


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Diadochos of Photiki
Our venerable and God-bearing father Diadochos of Photiki was a fifth century ascetic whose work is included in the Philokalia.
Scholars have acknowledged his great influence on later Byzantine saints such as Maximos the Confessor, John Climacus, Symeon the New Theologian, and in general the Hesychast movement of the 14th century. He has also had great influence in the West via the "De vita contemplativa" of Julian Pomerius (+ 498).
His feast day is commemorated on March 29.
Saint Diadochos was born c. 400 and died sometime before 486. He became bishop of Photiki (Photicé), a small town in the province of Old Epira, in the Northwest part of present Greece. In 451, he took part in the Council of Chalcedon as Bishop of Photiki.
He was most likely part of a group of Epiran notables who were captured by a Vandal raid between 467 and 474. The group was then released in North Africa, somewhere around Carthage, where all vanished. His exact date and place of death are thus unknown.
Diadochos' writing and ascetic practice were greatly influenced by Evagrius the Solitary (Pontique) and Saint Macarios of Egypt (the Great), incorporating their ideas of hesychia (Greek ησυχία, "stillness, rest, quiet"), sensible spiritual experience, and the fierceness of the fight against the demons.
In all his work Diadochos appears as a true champion of the Orthodox doctrine of Chalcedon. In fact, his best known work, the 100 Chapters on Spiritual Perfection, was written for his monks in reaction to strange doctrines coming from the heretical Messalian sect in Mesopotamia (or Euchists).
Some authors have misunderstood the role of Saint Macarius in Mesopotamia and concluded that Diadochos wrote this main work against him. This, however, is not the case, as St. Macarius' role was merely to salvage from within the Messalian heresy those who were there by chance or just mislead by the ambiguous discourses of the heresy.
In the 100 Chapters, Diadochos shows himself as bishop worried about the orthodoxy of his flock and as a clear actor in the spiritual fights of his time. Also, Chapters 13 & 91 of his work show us a real Christian man of prayer, united to God, discovering the "life in Christ" and wanting to share its goodness with his readers.
100 Chapters Quote
From Chapters 11 & 12:
"Spiritual discourse always keeps the soul free from self-esteem, for it gives every part of the soul a sense of light, so that it no longer needs the praise of men. In the same way, such discourse keeps the mind free from fantasy, infusing it completely with the Love of God. Discourse deriving from the wisdom of this world, on the other hand, always provokes self-esteem; because it is incapable of granting us the experience of spiritual perception, it inspires its practitioners with a longing for praise, it being nothing but the fabrication of conceited men. It follows, therefore, that we can know with certainty when we are in the proper state to speak about God if during the hours when we do not speak we maintain a fervent remembrance of God in untroubled silence.
Whoever loves himself cannot love God; but if, because of 'the overflowing richness' of God's love, a man does not love himself, then he truly loves God (Ephes. 2,7). Such a man never seeks his own glory, but seeks the glory of God. The man who loves himself seeks his own glory, whereas he who loves God loves the glory of his Creator. It is characteristic of the soul which consciously senses the Love of God always to seek God's glory in every Commandment it performs and to be happy in its low estate. For glory befits God because of His majesty, while lowliness befits man because it unites us with God. If we realize this, rejoicing in the glory of the Lord, we too, like Saint John the Baptist, will begin to say unceasingly, 'He must increase, but we must decrease.'"
History : Adaptation & translation of the preface of the French edition "Migne"
External links
- Quote : On silence (ROCA)
- Some quotes (non-Orthodox website?)
- Quote : On the perception of God's Love (GOA)
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