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As soon as those financial disclosure forms came in last month, in which candidates revealed how much money they'd raked in so far from supporters, our suspicions were confirmed: The Assessor's race was hands down the most scintillating race in town.
OK, maybe that's overstating things a bit. But at least one of the candidates' forms made our hearts go thumpety thump with the promise of weeks to come of heady speculation, of genuine political spark, in what should be a sleepy race with a predictable outcome. (The historical record shows that if there's an incumbent, the incumbent wins; otherwise, the job is the assistant assessor's for the taking, with blessings from a usually bored electorate.)
There was nothing too exciting about candidate Mari Wilson's disclosure form: Wilson, of Eureka, who has worked in the assessor's office for 23 years and has been the assistant assessor for the past seven, had raised $6,315, most of it her own money. Jon Brooks of Blue Lake, a long-time business owner and a real estate appraiser, had raised a pinch more -- $6,595 (including two-thou from the Blue Lake Rancheria). But Johanna Rodoni, a long-time Fortuna rancher, who served over half a year as a county supervisor after her husband, the rascally and charismatic supervisor Roger Rodoni, died in office, had hauled cash: $21,473 from 78 donors, mostly in $500 or smaller increments. Her donor base had a decided flavor. There were lots of Southern Humboldtians, of course. Lots of retirees. And many, many prominent members of the local ranching, development and timber communities, names like Kramer, Russ, Schmidbauer, Zanzi, Wendt, Satterlee and Barnum.
What was up? Were the land people ready to riot?
Maybe. There are some hot-button issues related to timber, ag and rural land use that are directly or indirectly associated with the Assessor's office.
For example, there's a plethora of illegal parcels -- created by subdivisions not authorized by the planning department -- for which the Assessor's office has issued assessor parcel numbers for taxation purposes. Owners of these illegal parcels, however, can't get permits from county planning to legally build on them, nor can they borrow against them. So there they are paying taxes, while being called illegit. The 2008-2009 Grand Jury report noted the "continuing confusion" and frustration this state of affairs has created -- the 2006 Grand Jury had also tsk-tsked over it -- and urged the Assessor's office to help sort it out. The Assessor's office, in response, agreed it should help, but made clear that it was not the Assessor's job to determine a parcel's legality. A memo dated June 2, 2009, written by Community Development Services Director Kirk Girard and attached to the Assessor's response to the Grand Jury report, offered more hope: "The Planning Division and the Assessor's office have implemented a referral system to close the gap between the Taxation Code and the Map Act. Newly issued Assessor Parcel numbers are now cross-checked against subdivision records. The Planning Division pro-actively contacts the property owner if the initial cross-check indicates there may be a problem." Girard noted they were also pecking away at the backlog of questionable parcels, starting with ag and timber preserves "where illegal subdivisions can have the most impact on tax revenues, economic productivity and the environment."
Then there's the other big backlog: possibly thousands of "substandard" timber protection zone (TPZ) parcels sitting in limbo in the Assessor's office. Humboldt County has a million acres of TPZ land, whose owners enjoy significant reduced property tax rates in exchange for keeping the land in timber production, among other requirements, although the owner in time does pay a timber yield tax -- like a sales tax -- as the timber is harvested.
One requirement of the program is that, if a TPZ property gets divided into parcels less than 160 acres, the new owners have to file a joint timber management plan for those properties -- a measure ensuring the yield tax as well as preventing premature urbanization. But for years now some people have divided their TPZ lands into less than 160 acres and sold them to new owners, who did not file JTMPs. Belatedly, the Assessor's office discovered this and stopped processing changes in ownership involving substandard parcels lacking JTMPs. So the new owners, though they paid for their property, aren't recognized as the legal owners and can neither sell, trade or borrow against their land. Or even pay their taxes -- the tax bills are going to the old owners.
And then there is the ever-ongoing General Plan Update, which has stirred interest in rural land use overall.
But rioting landies aside, there are yet more reasons for sudden hawkeyes on this race.
A 2008 Assessment Practices Survey conducted by the state admonished the Assessor's office to improve its decline-in-value program by "annually reviewing and assessing all properties experiencing a decline in value ... and updating the decline-in-value notice to meet statutory requirements."
Under the 1978 Prop. 8, if a property's current market value falls below its current assessed value, it can be allowed a temporary reduction in its assessed value, and hence in property taxes. A property owner has to apply for the decline-in-value reassessment, which is free. And while some counties, like Los Angeles County, heavily publicize this program, others, like Humboldt, do not.
Also, the 2008-2009 Grand Jury report rattled off a host of concerns in the Assessor's office, including inadequate scheduling of employee performance evaluations; declining efficiency in the office because of inequal attention to computer training for all employees; irregular staff and management meetings; a poor Web-based system with no way for people to access property information or other pertinent public records; and "a practice of grooming a current employee in the Assessor's Office to ultimately run for election to the Assessor position," leading to bruised morale among other employees.
All of the candidates have touched on some or more of these issues in their campaigns, and in interviews. Actually, the three seem quite aligned in their desire to improve public service, efficiency and accessibility.
Where they differ is in their proposed ideological and practical approach to the task, and their fervor.
MARI WILSON: Normally she'd be a shoe-in. Eureka-raised and schooled, with a bachelor's from Chico State and accounting training from Humboldt State University, Wilson steadily climbed her way to the top in the Assessor's office, starting as an assessment clerk in 1987, then moving up to appraisal tech, real property appraiser, auditor-appraiser and supervising auditor-appraiser before finally becoming assistant to assessor in 2003.
If "Assessor" weren't an elected position, she'd be getting her final promotion in that office when Assessor Linda Hill retires this year. Instead, she must rely on voters to boost her to that final rung -- which, as we said, normally would be a mere formality. After Ray Flynn, Assessor from 1973 to 1994, retired, his assistant, Ray Jerland, won the seat. When Jerland, the Assessor from 1995 to 2002, retired, his assistant, Hill, won the seat. And so, by tradition, it should go for Wilson. It's her turn. And she rather expects it.
"I've had increasing responsibility over the years, and the opportunity to be Assessor seems like a natural progression for me and my career," Wilson said in a recent interview at Ramone's in Eureka. "I feel that I have done my work and learned my profession and now I am ready to assume that role of leader in the office."
She doesn't say this arrogantly, or presumptuously. Wilson is unassuming. She projects a no-nonsense, unflashy, worker-bee air. In the interview at Ramone's, and at a candidates forum held by the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee, she came across as pleasant but slightly wary, and even a little weary, as if she were enduring this bothersome politicking but would much rather be back at the office, thank you very much, getting some real work done.
Indeed, according to inside sources, Wilson works her butt off in the Assessor's office. She oversees the budget, personnel and the day-to-day operations. She also handles assessment appeals.
Aside from the day-to-day stuff, Wilson says she's been innovative: She implemented barcoding and imaging, which speeds up document processing. She was part of a team made up of several counties that put together an online system for filing business property statements.
Wilson takes issue with some of the complaints about her department. She said the TPZ thing "is certainly an issue," but it's more the planning department's problem. She says budget constraints are the only reason her office has lagged in technology, and the reason the office is four people shy of its intended workforce.
Additionally, she says her office has, in fact, sent out decline-in-value notications recently. State Board of Equalization records seem to support this, showing a jump in the number of reduced assessments in Humboldt County under the Prop. 8 program, from 172 in 2007-08 to 623 in 2008-09.
She seems irritated by the "grooming" accusation: "Upper management needs to have the knowledge necessary to be ready to run the office in the Assessor's absence. And it was a county policy, actually, to have a succession in place."
Wilson's main goal, as Assessor, would be to improve public service and accessibility. She says she'd be on call full time. And there'd be more information available in print and on the Web. "It's always been a goal to update the Web site," she said. "But during these lean years there was only so much we could do. I would like people to know more about what our office does. I'd have links [on the Web site] to information on homeowners exemptions, on reappraisal exclusions on parent-child transfers, grandparent-grandchild transfers, and more. I would like to have a 'frequently asked questions' page, and links to forms and to the state Board of Equalization's Web site, which already has a wealth of information available. And I'd like to make print copies of this available too."
But, she cautioned, she'd make these improvements gradually, as budget allows.
As for her personal life, Wilson and her husband, Craig, have a grown daughter and four dogs, they live within blocks of her childhood home, and they like to walk in Sequoia Park. She belongs to several charitable and professional organizations.
She points to her long slog up the governments ranks as her main qualification.
"While there are transferable skills [from the private sector] to the Assessor's office, how we do what we do is something you can only learn here," she said. "And I'm a lead-by-example person. I work hard, I challenge the office staff to work hard. And I will go the extra mile to resolve the issues -- or give an explanation of why they're not resolved yet."
Aside from a couple of realtors and assorted other folks, Wilson's backers include key insider government types: current Assessor Hill and former Assessors Flynn and Jerland, several former and current Assessor's office appraisers and technicians, and the current county Auditor-Controller.
JOHANNA RODONI: You can see why the land people love Rodoni. A Long Beach native who dreamed as a child of owning lots of horses, she got out of the city as soon as she could and moved to Southern Humboldt where she bought a small ranch and met and married Roger. They each had kids already. Rodoni has been president of the Humboldt CattleWomen's Association and a member of numerous committees and boards. But her main gig, aside from ranching, was executive director of The Buckeye Conservancy, a nonprofit group of family farmers, ranchers and timber owners working on economic and ecological sustainability, from 2001 to 2008. In 2008, she was appointed by Gov. Schwarzenegger to serve the rest of her late husband's term as 2nd District Supervisor. And, she has actively worked on the county's General Plan Update.
Rodoni says she got an inkling she wanted to run for Assessor during her seven-month stint as a supervisor.
"While I was in office, constituents contacted me with problems several times, and some of these were problems with the Assessor's office," she said in a recent interview at Adel's in Eureka.
In one case, two sisters had inherited a ranch. Now they were getting elderly, and they wanted to subdivide and pass it on to their heirs. They needed to do a lot-line adjustment, but because of complications with the assessor parcel numbers they were stuck. "And they'd applied years ago to do this," Rodoni said. "But they were getting no response from the Assessor's office. They called me up and asked if I could find out what's going on."
Now, a supervisor can't tell an assessor what to do -- both are independent, elected officials, and the Assessor answers only to the voters and to the state, which sets the guidelines the Assessor follows to make assessments and so on. But Rodoni tried to get some information.
"So I called the Assessor's office and left a message and waited for an answer," she said. "And I kept doing this, for weeks. And I started to feel those women's frustration."
Eventually she ran into Hill, presented her with the question, and over time the problem was resolved. "So that was what finally opened up my eyes and told me that something was wrong with that department," said Rodoni. "I realized the Assessor's office was not very forthcoming and freeflowing with the information."
Rodoni has made decline-in-value notification a particular issue in her campaign. She even wrote a My Word piece about it in the Times-Standard. "You wouldn't believe how many phonecalls I got from people saying, 'How come I didn't know about that?'" she said. "The assessors in some counties are actively watching the markets, and they're proactively letting people know about being reassessed. I had to call our Assessor's office to find out about it, but they should have been contacting people."
Rodoni scoffs at the notion that the county can't afford a better Web site than the current half-pager that offers the names of the top three managers, the office hours, address and phone number, a brief sentence about what the Assessor does, and (aside from links to other county pages) one lonesome link to the e-File system for filing a Business Property Statement. (There is a more thorough site, actually, but it's available only by paid subscription.)
"No budget for it -- I find that argument weak," she said. "They could probably get a student to do it."
As for the confusion over illegal parcels, and the TPZ parcels in limbo, Rodoni says she would like to "open up the line of communication between the Assessor's Office and the Planning Department."
"I talked with a woman in real estate who lost a sale because of this sort of thing," she said. "And just because the Assessor's office has no enforcement powers doesn't mean it should say, 'Oh well, that's the way it is.'"
She said if elected, she would be strong on leadership, forming teams to handle some of the big issues. She cites her background in running a conservancy, her experience running a ranch for 15 years, and her inherent tendency to want to take charge as her major qualifications. "I think people in business recognize a need for a change in leadership," she said. "And I'm a very practical, thorough person. It's going to take someone with strong leadership, and gumption, to push through to solutions."
Like Wilson, she said she would be available full time to the public.
Aside from the land folks, Rodoni, too, has insider government-type backers, including former County CAO Loretta Nickolaus, County Supervisor Jill Duffy, retired County Chief Appraiser Roy Curless, Sheriff Gary Philp, Humboldt County Senior Planner Martha Spencer, County Planning Commissioner Mel Kreb, a harbor commissioner, and an assortment of councilmembers and mayors from Fortuna, Rio Dell, Ferndale, Arcata and Eureka.
JON BROOKS: In many ways, Brooks and Rodoni should appeal to the same kind of voter. They're both from the private sector and run their own businesses -- Brooks, a professional real estate appraiser, has had Brooks Appraisal Service for more than 20 years. And both candidates talk about the same things: Enough with the long line of insiders running the Assessor's office. Enough with the tangled up parcels, the poor public service, the crappy Web site -- the same old, same old.
The soft-spoken Brooks might be more roll-up-the-sleeves, perhaps, than the commanding Rodoni -- he's a friendly natterer, who loves to explain how things work.
"I've seen the office in action since the 1980s, and I've watched public service go downhill," said Brooks in an interview at his office out off West End Road in Arcata. "The last 40-some years, the Assistant Assessor has moved up to Assessor. ... At some point, without new blood in a leadership role, they just can't see how this is affecting public service. Bill Thomas [an appraiser who ran unsuccessfully against Hill in 2002], called it 'governmentalism,' where they forget they work for the people."
A chief concern of Brooks' is the sad Web site. Look at Los Angeles' County's site, he says -- the cadillac of splendid Web sites, walking you through every last tiny thing you might want to know about what an assessor does, and how, and what resources are available to the public, and forms, maps, pictures, market info and more. For a closer comparison, he says, look at Placer County's site, also excellent.
Brooks says a comprehensive, easy-to-use Web site could particularly help out rural people who have to drive long distances to Eureka to do much of their business. "We're talking about people driving in from Shelter Cove, Orleans, Blocksburg."
A good Web site would let people know about decline-in-value reassessment procedures as well, or about TPZ and ag preserves, or how to deal with an illegal parcel. And Brooks isn't just talking. His own campaign Web site shows an eagerness to explain things and to dissect the issues.
"You can find out more about Humboldt County's Assessor's office on my campaign site than you can on the official site," he said.
But if someone does come into the office in person, Brooks says -- as does Rodoni, and Wilson -- they should be greeted with friendliness and competence. "The first time I went into the Assessor's Office, back in the '80s, Ray Flynn was the Assessor," he said. "The office was on the first floor, and he was right there -- black tie, white shirt, and you could see him working in his office. I've never seen the current Assessor working -- there's a wall." He says the Assessor and Chief Appraiser took time to talk to people back then, and even ask their advice about the market -- these days, he's been told, they're not supposed to talk with the customers.
In addition to his zeal for better public service, Brooks says he is the most professionally qualified candidate. "Ninety-five percent of the tax revenue comes from real property taxes," he said. "Five percent comes from business and unsecured personal property taxes. You need someone with an understanding of real estate appraisal -- and that's what I do."
He says the current leadership in the office, on the other hand, has more expertise in the personal property side of things. "And you know, when you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail," he said.
Like Rodoni, Brooks also says the disconnect between Planning and the Assessor's Office needs to fixed. He suggests implementing an early noticing system of when parcels are subdivided, for instance, and making a tally of all the parcels and their status. He didn't know that county planning had begun a new program to deal with identifying illegal parcels -- but he said he was glad to hear of it.
Brooks also has public service experience: 10 years as the City of Eureka's property manager and as manager for the redevelopment agency's housing and redevelopment programs; and on several boards and committees, including the Williamson Act Committee.
Perhaps Brooks' other main distinction from Rodoni, aside from his more concrete ideas on solutions to certain problems, and his direct experience as an appraiser, is personal. He grew up in Napa, although his grandfather took him fishing in King Salmon and on the Klamath River. While at U.C. Davis, he had a student job sorting mail at the post office. And that's where he met his wife, Mary Jane Risling, a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe. They moved to Humboldt in 1979, and raised their kids here, and Brooks has become intimately involved in supporting indigenous cultural practices.
So it's no surprise, then, that he has the backing of several tribes. And the endorsement of the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee.
Brooks also has some insider government backers: retired Humboldt County Administrative Officers Bruce Rupp and John Murray; Assessor's office retirees Tim Kilburn, John Butts and Tom Oliphant; the retiring director of the Humboldt County Association of Governments, Spencer Clifton; former Supervisor Julie Fulkerson; and an assortment of mayors and councilmembers from Eureka, Blue Lake and Arcata.
The Assessor's Office
The Assessor's office, following guidelines set by the state Board of Equalization, decides whether your property is taxable -- nonprofits, schools, churches and such are tax-exempt -- and appraises it to determine its value, then sends it along with all of the other taxable property assessments to the Auditor-Controller, who assigns a tax rate and determines your tax. The Tax Collector bills you and collects the tax, and then the Auditor-Controller divvies the money up among the public entities funded by you and me.
Prop. 13 of 1978 limits the real property tax rate -- in general, it can't exceed 1 percent of the property's assessed value, and increases in that assessed value can't rise more than 2 percent annually. The only time a re-appraisal on a property can occur, in which the rate could possibly jump higher, is after a change in ownership (excluding exemption for certain familial transfers) or new construction. A re-appraisal can also be triggered by an overall market value decline, in which case the rate could temporarily drop.
The Assessor also determines the taxable values of unsecured business and personal property, which includes business equipment and boats and airplanes.
• • •
Humboldt County Assessor's Office, 2008-2009, in numbers:
$2.4 million: gross budget
$1.7 million: net budget
$1.5 million: base salary and wages
$103,000-plus: Assessor's salary
32: Employees
75,183: total secured real property assessments, nearly half of them single-family houses
8,154: unsecured business and personal property assessments
$10.8 billion: total tax roll value
288: property splits and combinations mapped
896: new subdivision lots recorded
1,700: real property roll corrections
623: reduced-value assessments
884: new construction assessments
193: real property transfers
500: claims for tax exclusions (due to calamity, disability, family property transfers, etc)
2,699: vessels recorded
147: aircraft recorded
1,453: unsecured personal property field visits
1: racehorse tax return completed
4,275: business property statements processed
785: roll corrections
147: assessment appeals (47 invalid, 20 withdrawn, two no-shows, 16 resolved by stipulation, and five before the appeals board, four of which got reduced assessements).
From the State Board of Equalization's January 2010 report.


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Well, September is upon as and on Monday (September 8, 2008), Wilmington, North Carolina (DMA #135 for 2008, #134 for 2009) will be the first market in the country to "switch" off their analog transmitters. I will be monitoring information about the results of this switch and posting updates here. I would appreciate it if anyone in the market (or elsewhere) who hears of any issues or successes would post information in this thread as well; I will copy any information to this post so that it is easily read without having to dig through discussion.
Wilmington will still go through with the switch even with Tropical Storm Hanna in proximity (AP): FCC plans to go through with DTV test in NC
Welcome /.ers, feel free to register and post your thoughts, or join us in ##video on freenode.
All times Eastern (UTC-0400 EDT, UTC-0500 EST)
All the news so far is about "plans to switch". Noon is the time to watch for (8-Sep-2008 07:50).
More details on the press conference are available here (pdf). (8-Sep-2008 07:58).
At the FCC's website, you can watch a streaming press conference (prerecorded 10:30am - 12:15pm, not yet available at the time of this posting). (8-Sep-2008 12:30pm)
According to this LA Times article, "Andrea Good, fire and life safety educator for the city of Wilmington, said she had received about 15 calls [before 2pm] [from/about people unable to watch TV]." (8-Sep-2008 5:12pm)
Also note (same article) that "the FCC contracted with fire departments and other organizations in the Wilmington area to assist people who have difficulty obtaining or installing digital-to-analog converter boxes." I doubt this will be done for the rest of the country, and with the extra special treatment that Wilmington got, there were still issues. (8-Sep-2008 6:31pm)
According to this ars technica article, the biggest problem thus far is consumers not realizing that they need to set their sets to a certain channel and use the converter box to tune, with the second-biggest problem being not putting batteries in the remote control. Other sources are citing not having the right antenna or having poor antenna positioning as being the largest problem. WECT, where Dan Ullmer, a key engineer in the switch, is Chief Engineer, is running a story post-transition in an attempt to help more viewers.

subset: commoncrawl


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Authored by Joe Lauria via ConsortiumNews.com,
An attempted break-in at Julian Assange's residence inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on Oct. 29, and the absence of a security detail, have increased fears about the safety of the WikiLeak's publisher.
Lawyers for Assange have confirmed to activist and journalist Suzie Dawson that Assange was awoken in the early morning hours by the break-in attempt. They confirmed to Dawson that the attempt was to enter a front window of the embassy. A booby-trap Assange had set up woke him, the lawyers said.
Scaffolding has appeared against the embassy building in the Knightsbridge section in London which "obscures the embassy's security cameras," the lawyers said.
Scaffolding near balcony where Assange has appeared.(Sean O'Brien)
On the scaffolding electronic devices, presumably to conduct surveillance, can be seen, just feet from the embassy windows.
Later on the day of the break-in, Sean O'Brien, a lecturer at Yale University Law School and a cyber-security expert, was able to enter the embassy through the front door, which was left open. Inside he found no security present. Someone from the embassy emerged to tell him to send an email to set up an appointment with Assange. After emailing the embassy, personnel inside refused to check whether it had been received or not.
One of the apparent surveillance devices. (Sean O'Brien.)
O'Brien then noticed more scaffolding being erected and observed the devices, which he photographed. Though a cyber-security expert, O'Brien said he could not identify what the devices are.
"I've never seen devices quite like this, and I take photos of surveillance equipment often," O'Brien said.
"There were curious plastic tubes with yellow-orange caps, zip-tied to the front. I have no idea what these are but they seem to have equipment inside them."
The devices are pointed towards the embassy, where all the blinds were open, and not the street, he said. "The surveillance devices in the photos reveals no manufacturer branding, serial numbers or visible device information," Dawson said.
"The combination of the obscuring of the street-facing surveillance cameras and the installation of surveillance equipment pointed into instead of away from the Embassy, is alarming."
Another device. (Sean O'Brien)
The Ecuadorean government had to have given permission for the devices to be installed as they are flush up against the embassy walls on government sovereign territory, Dawson said.
O'Brien said that previous visitors had described to him "closed and locked doors. Security guards manning the desk at all times. Privacy drapes, dark rooms with shuttered blinds. For such a reversal of position to have occurred, there is only one conclusion: the Ecuadorian Embassy is open for business. Wide open."
In May the Ecuadorian government of President Lenin Moreno shut off Assange's electronic communications and denied him all visitors except his mother and his lawyers. Last month the government offered Assange a deal: his access to the world could be restored if he agreed not to comment on politics. Assange reportedly refused.
On Thursday the government suddenly barred all access to Assange visitors, including his legal team until next Monday, raising fears that no witnesses could be present should there be an attempt to abduct Assange over the weekend.
The break-in attempt occurred on the morning that Assange was due to testify via video-link to a court in Quito regarding Assange's conditions of asylum. Technical problems interrupted Assange's testimony. The court ruled against his lawyer's petition for protections for Assange.
The new Ecuadorian government indicated in the Spring that Assange would eventually have to leave the embassy. Assange fears that if he leaves the British government will arrest him on a minor charge of skipping bail when he legally sought asylum inside the embassy in June of 2012.
Assange and his lawyers fear that if he is detained by British authorities he would be extradited to the United States where they believe there is a sealed indictment against him possibly on espionage charges for simply publishing classified documents that he has not been accused of stealing.
The post Break-in Reportedly Attempted At Assange's Residence In Ecuador Embassy appeared first on crude-oil.news.


text:
Last modified: 2023-07-03 by
Keywords: dortmund |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors
Description of flag:
The flags ratio is 3:5. It is a red over white horizontal bicolour.
According to Veddeler 2003, p.117 the origin of the colours is not clear, because they don't appear in the coat of arms. There is however some speculation, that the city, which had been the most important city of Hansa league in the region, uses the colours of the league.
Sources: Veddeler 2003, p.371 and Stadler 1972, p.34
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 7 Jul 2007 / 9 Jun 2010
3:5 image by Stefan Schwoon, 23 Feb 2001
Description of flag:
Red and white are the the colours of the Hansa which Dortmund was a member of - Freie Reichs- und Hansestadt Dortmund, as it was used to be called. The arms come from its time as a free town within the Empire (freie Reichsstadt), which explains the black eagle on gold, and is also heraldically the same as the present arms of Germany (Bundeswappen), but is usually displayed in another design. The flag is displayed e.g. in the town hall of Dortmund. I have also seen it as a jack on a yacht in Stockholm harbour. I just already know this about Dortmund, since I used to spend time there some years ago, when I had a girlfriend there.
Elias Granqvist, 21 Oct 2000/13 Jul 2007
Red-white with the arms. Red and white are the colours of the Hansa, the arms shows the imperial eagle, owing to Dortmund's former status as an imperial city. Sources: flag from the city website, arms from Stadler 1972.
Stefan Schwoon, 23 Feb 2001
From Ralf Hartemink's International Civic Arms website:
Dortmund is an old city and received city rights in the early 13th century. The city was a free Imperial City and was thus entitled to use the Imperial Eagle in its arms and seals. (...) Contrary to the Imperial arms, the field was generally shown as silver. In 1871 the arms were granted with two lions as supporters and a mural crown. The supporters were again removed in 1888, the crown in 1908. In 1946 the silver field was finally changed to gold, the imperial (but not historical) colour.
Literature: Stadler 1972
Santiago Dotor, 19 Dec 2001


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It's hard to imagine the pleasure Steve Jobs must receive from singlehandedly upstaging the entire Consumer Electronics Show. There was just one moment during his two-hour presentation yesterday when he went off script, but it was a telling one. His clicker failed, and while he waited for his backstage minions to fix the glitch he launched into a reminiscence about how, back in the day, he and Woz hacked together a little device that could jam television signals. They took it over to Berkeley and used it to mess with the minds of the privileged college kids by interrupting their viewing of Star Trek. Jobs hasn't changed at all. He's still jamming signals, and getting a huge kick out of it.
It was interesting to contrast Jobs's presentation with the one Bill Gates gave at CES a day earlier. Thematically, Gates's was a replay of his keynote at last year's CES. He's still pitching a "digital lifestyle" that nobody wants. Last year, it involved having computer screens all over your kitchen so you'd be able to track the movements of your family members and watch a bunch of different video feeds simultaneously while sipping your morning joe. It was a vision of the homeowner as Captain Kirk manning the bridge. This year's was stranger yet. Not only did he suggest that people want nothing more than to be network administrators – the homeowner as Scotty – but he led the audience into a mockup of the bedroom of the future, the walls of which were covered entirely in computer screens. For some perverse reason, I couldn't help but think of that episode from the old Garry Shandling Show when Garry has the big mirror installed on the ceiling over his bed. He's had a sentence etched into the corner of it: "Objects in mirror are larger than they appear."
Gates wants to sell platforms. Jobs just wants to make tools.
Jobs, in fact, couldn't possibly be more out of touch with today's Web 2.0 ethos, which is all about grand platforms, open systems, egalitarianism, and the erasing of the boundary between producer and consumer. Like the iPod, the iPhone is a little fortress ruled over by King Steve. It's as self-contained as a hammer. It's a happening staged for an elite of one. The rest of us are free to gain admission by purchasing a ticket for $500, but we're required to remain in our seats at all times while the show is in progress. User-generated content? Hah! We're not even allowed to change the damn battery. In Jobs's world, users are users, creators are creators, and never the twain shall meet.
Which is, of course, why the iPhone, like the iPod, is such an exquisite device. Steve Jobs is not interested in amateur productions.


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An acquisition can provide a successful avenue for growth and obtaining competitive advantage. But many acquisitions end up as failures for the buyer. Why do acquisitions fail? Start with the price.
Acquisitions represent a way for a company to quickly buy its way into a new market, or to stay competitive in an existing market. Such a "quick-fix" approach, however, can cause a management team to overvalue an acquisition target, driven by emotions instead of business logic. The idea of growing your empire can be too enticing to walk away from an overpriced deal. It's easy to fall in love with a target and overestimate the benefits while ignoring the risks. In an auction situation, some companies may bid up the price to avoid losing out to a competitor.
Overpaying for a company is not always immediately clear, nor does it always mean the acquisition will fail. But the more you pay for a company, obviously, the longer it takes to realize the economic benefits. If you consistently overpay for a series of acquisitions, you will systemically destroy shareholder value.
How can you avoid the pitfalls of overpaying? Begin by developing a thorough understanding of the true worth of the business you're targeting. The value of a business is theoretically the sum of the net present value of all the future expected free cash flows generated. While it's impossible to truly predict future cash flows, acquirers can do a more thorough job of understanding the target's plans for achieving growth and what really drives value for the business.
A robust analysis of which factors have the greatest impact on cash flow, as well as additional investments that will be required to grow the business, can help management identify potential high-risk areas. Ignoring even simple questions on areas such as customer concentration, supplier relationships, or even additional management needs, can lead you to overvalue the target. Sellers will always offer the rosiest of hockey stick projections, so it's up to the acquirer to make sure they are asking the right questions to hone in on a fair price that reflects the true costs and benefits of a deal.
Material price decisions should be met with questions like:
- How will we achieve a reasonable payback on the acquisition price?
- What is the most we are willing to pay before we walk away?
- What investments will we need to make beyond pure purchase price?
- How dependent are we on "synergies" to make the acquisition work?
- Can we structure the deal more creatively to reduce our risk of overpaying?
There's no way to determine the "perfect" price for an acquisition. Various valuation methodologies can provide some guidance, but in the end, price is a negotiation. By thoroughly understanding the risks to achieving projected financial results, and testing price against the costs and benefits, management teams can exercise proper restraint during these negotiations to ensure that the price is right.


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Germany's first representative castleIt seems somewhat ironic that Meissen is named for the smallest river that flows through the town, the Meisa. The mighty Elbe is just as important to the town, as is the smaller, but still bigger Triebisch. Since in the course of its history Meissen has never been destroyed, it still offers visitors unadulterated romanticism. In the beginning a small castle stood on the imposing castle hill. It was from here that the German colonization of present-day Saxony began. For many centuries the Margraves and later Electors ruled Saxony from Meissen, until Dresden was able to establish itself as the new capital. With Albrechtsburg Castle, a museum today, they built the first "Schloss" in Germany: a castle that served only as a residence and not as a military fortress.
Europe's first and finestAfter the European porcelain had been invented in Dresden in 1708, a suitable and safe production site had to be found. For 150 years, Albrechtsburg Castle served this purpose and the name of the town of Meissen became synonymous with the world's finest porcelain. Since the latter half of the 19th century, the distinctive products with the Crossed Blue Swords, the longest-serving trademark in the world, have been made in a new manufactory on the Triebisch River. Every year, visitors from all over the world visit the workshops, the museum and the outlet store and the town which gave the porcelain its good name.
Good spiritsMeissen is the centre of the Saxon wine-growing region along the Elbe River. Around Meissen, wine has been made for 850 years. With a view of Meissen, Prince zur Lippe makes the best wine in Saxony. Smaller vineyards are spread out around the little villages nearby. And Vincenz Richter's wine restaurant on Meissen's town square is one of the most romantic places in Germany. In September, the wine festivals in Meissen and Radebeul attract large numbers of visitors.
Father of homeopathyNot only Meissen Porcelain, but also the ideas of the most famous son of the city have conquered the world: Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, was born in Meissen on April 10, 1755, the third child of a porcelain painter. A plaque commemorates the site of the house where he was born and there is a Hahnemann centre in the ruins of the former Holy Cross Convent. Hahnemann's house in Torgau is also a centre for homeopathy and can be visited as part of the Torgau Museum Path. Hahnemann also left traces in Leipzig, Dresden and other Saxon towns.


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Vintage Computer Museum Opens in Poland
There is no place for iPads and laptops in Katowice's new museum dedicated to vintage computers, which with a collection featuring old designs such as Commodore 64 and Atari, is deemed to bring on a sentimental journey those who owned one in Communist-ruled Poland.
Boasting over 900 computers, the museum presents a variety of working and interactive machines, which entered the market from the late 50s onwards.
Those, who owned computers during Communist rule, risked persecution from the regime, which banned citizens from high-end technology.
"In our collection we have a computer made by a 16-year old. It's a clone of the ZX Spectrum (computer) where most of the elements were acquired from electronics factory workers, where in exchange for the so called "bottle of vodka", people would smuggle components out for him and only the processor would be bought abroad," explained museum worker and computer enthusiast Krzysztof Chwalowski, referring to the common joke in communist times that a bottle of vodka could get you anything in those days.
"There was also a possibility of smuggling a computer from abroad, if you had family there who could hide it in the trunk of their car from the customs officers," Chwalowski added.
Some of the exhibits are the size of a room, such as the Odra computer designed in the sixties presented in a large blue-lit space and weighing almost 1,5 tonnes. The Odra's hard drive has a capacity of 30 Megabytes, rarely found in any modern day device.
The machine had RAM (Random Access Memory) modules hand-made by female factory workers from wire and Ferrite pebbles, museum guide Bartlomiej Prucia explained.
"Every user has their favorite computer, which they grew up with. Some have the Atari, others have the Commodore, and others the Amiga. Every computer had something attractive in it, some had music, some had graphics and some others had games or programming. And everyone liked to create something with their computer," added computer enthusiast Mariusz Rozwadowski.


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Advanced Search
Android is being attacked not so much by competing mobile operating systems, but mostly by intellectual property lawyers at Microsoft, Apple and Oracle.
That message comes from David Drummond, Google's senior vice president and chief legal officer, who accused those three companies in a blog post today of initiating "a hostile, organized campaign against Android." Google, which shepherded the open source, Linux-based Android mobile OS, recently lost out in two bidding auctions over Novell's and Nortel's intellectual property. In each case, the patents at stake could be used to encumber Android and other mobile technologies, or just lead to an accumulation of patents for legal attack purposes.
Mobile device makers are currently being sued by Microsoft and Apple for intellectual property associated with Android. They are either fighting it out in the courts, as with Motorola's and Barnes and Noble's lawsuits with Microsoft, or they are striking royalty agreements, such as HTC's deal with Microsoft, among many others. In addition, Oracle is suing Google directly over the alleged use of patented Java technology in Android.
Google doesn't charge royalty fees for the use of Android, but it also doesn't appear to offer much in the way of an indemnity defense for the companies using Android in their products. Moreover, even though Android is open source code, it's not rated as being much of an open project, according to a study noted by patent expert and blogger Florian Müller.
Drummond noted that the winning bidder for the Novell patents included a coalition of companies, called "CPTN Holdings LLC." The CPTN members consisted of Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and EMC that collectively paid about $450 million in cash for 882 Novell patents. He claimed that Microsoft and Apple had banded together under this coalition to ensure that Google didn't get hold of those Novell patents.
The U.S. Department of Justice has already gotten involved in overseeing the Novell patents sale because of concerns that the intellectual property might be used to curb Linux competition in the marketplace. To meet regulatory concerns, Microsoft was compelled to sell back the Novell licenses it bought as part of the CPTN coalition to The Attachmate Group, although Microsoft will continue to have access to that licensing. Attachmate bought Novell Inc. in November for $2.2 billion.
Similarly, Nortel sold its 6,000-plus patents this month for $4.5 billion to a consortium of companies that included Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, Research In Motion and Sony. Drummond noted in the blog post that the Department of Justice is "looking into whether Microsoft and Apple acquired the Nortel patents for anti-competitive means."
The Department of Justice hasn't publicly announced the Nortel patents investigation that was noted by Drummond. However, a recently published article in The Wall Street Journal confirmed the investigation, citing "people familiar with the matter." Microsoft had licenses to use some of the Nortel patents it was bidding on, and that fact has led to speculation about why Microsoft would need to purchase them.
Google has "encouraged the Department of Justice" to investigate the competition aspects of both the Novell and Nortel patent sales, according to Drummond. He added that Google is bolstering its patent portfolio to defend Android. It's not clear if Drummond meant Google's recent purchase of 1,030 patents from IBM for an undisclosed amount. No definitive reason was given by Google for the purchase.
Despite its IBM patent purchase, Google may only be able to use those patents as part of a defensive legal negotiating stance when being directly sued for patent infringement. The company still may not be capable of providing indemnity to the many mobile smartphone makers that have been sued for using Android, according to Müller's analysis.
Suing over Android use is big business. It's thought that Microsoft now makes more money off the companies it has sued over Android use than it does from Windows Phone 7 royalties.
Other legal scuffles are on the horizon. In June, Google acknowledged that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating Google's search and advertising business practices. Complaints that may have sparked this investigation were spearheaded by companies that are part of a FairSearch.org pressure group. The group includes Microsoft, Tripadvisor, Travelocity and Kayak, among others.
About the Author
Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.
Microsoft has improved the remediation process when users authenticating via on-premises methods are deemed to be at risk by the Microsoft Entra ID Protection service, per a Thursday announcement.
As Microsoft's new AI assistant gets into more hands this week, let's break down some of my impressions.
Microsoft on Wednesday gave notice that its Exchange Online e-mail tamper protections are planned for completion in 2024, which may entail some backend changes by IT departments.
Azure Automation provide IT with the ways to make their jobs more interesting. Got a task you're sick of doing? Automate it away!
The new update, rolling out for some, includes a preview of Microsoft's AI-powered Windows Copilot.
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Shipping & Delivery
Dawn Wing handles all our South African shipping.
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Once your item(s) have shipped you will receive a confirmation email where you will find a link to track your order. In order to check the status of your shipment just click on the link, here you will also have the option of opting in for text updates. You will receive an email confirmation once your order has been delivered.
Is a signature required upon delivery of my order?
For security reasons, an adult signature is required upon delivery. If you will be unavailable to sign for your package, Contact Us.
Dawn Wing will make a total of three delivery attempts on three consecutive business days. After the third attempt, your order will be returned to our warehouse.
Are there any delivery restrictions? Can I ship internationally?
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- Purchases may not be shipped to P.O. boxes, hotels, freight forwarders or to any address outside of the South Africa.
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- Due to shipping restrictions from the S.A Department of Transportation, fragrances may not be shipped by air. Please allow for additional time for delivery of these items.


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Zurich Google Office, Swiss Project, Picture, EMEA Engineering Hub Design
Google Offices Zurich : EMEA Engineering Hub
Zoogle Building, Switzerland – design by Camenzind Evolution Architects
28 Nov 2018
Google EMEA Engineering Hub in Zurich celebrates 10 years!
Design: Camenzind Evolution Architects
Google EMEA Engineering Hub in Zurich
26 May 2008
Google Offices Zurich
Google's new EMEA Engineering Hub in Zurich, Switzerland
Design: Camenzind Evolution Architects
Google is not a conventional company, and does not intend to become one. This is readily apparent in their new offices for Google's EMEA Engineering Hub in Zurich, Switzerland, where the design cultivates an energized and inspiring work environment that is relaxed but focused, and buzzing with activities.
The new EMEA Engineering Hub is located within the 'Hurlimann Areal' within easy walking distance of Zurich city centre. The site was originally a local brewery that has been regenerated into a vibrant mixed-use development of apartments, shops, offices and a spa hotel. The Google building is a contemporary seven storey shell and core office block offering 12'000 m2 floor area for up to 800 staff.
Google is in the process of rapid expansion in Zurich where the headcount has doubled in the last 12 months. The challenge for the architects was therefore to set up a tailor-made design and construction process, which would meet the tight time and budget constraints whilst endorsing a very broad participatory design methodology. Based on their method statements, Camenzind Evolution was selected in a competitive tender-interview process to become the lead architect and project manager for the interior design and fit-out of the new Google Engineering Hub.
Google celebrates individuality, creativity and innovative business practice within a high-energy environment and emphasises the importance of the individual and maintaining a small-company ambience throughout company growth.
A key element in the design approach was that the Googlers in Zurich (fondly referred to as Zooglers) should participate in the design process to create their own local identity. Under the guidance of the Director of International Real Estate at Google in Mountain View, an interactive and transparent approach to the architectural process was implemented from the beginning. A diverse team of local Zooglers were formed as the steering committee to represent the entire office. This committee reviewed, challenged and approved the design throughout the project. This unique method of engagement provided open collaboration, unique perspectives and ideas, and supplied a direct sense of ownership throughout the Zurich office. To this end Camenzind Evolution was neither given a specific brief nor a corporate identity manual and was explicitly asked not to research the organisation and design of other Google offices.
The architects began with a rapid process of research and analysis to map out the opportunities and challenges posed by the building as well as the emotional and practical requirements of the Zooglers. The latter was achieved by conducting a survey of all the Zooglers, complemented by a series of workshops and interviews. This research, guided by a psychologist, extended beyond purely functional aspects, and provided information about the Zooglers personality types, representational systems, values and motivational factors.
Although the details of the survey outcomes remain confidential, the process revealed that the optimal working environment for Zooglers needed to be diverse and at the same time harmonious whilst making it a fun and an enjoyable place to work in. The survey also showed that while personal workspace needed to be functional and more neutral, communal areas had to offer strong visual and more aesthetically enjoyable and entertaining qualities to stimulate creativity, innovation and collaboration.
Based on the survey, concept options were developed and presented. The Zooglers decided early on that they preferred to reduce their personal net area of workspace in order to gain more communal and meeting areas. The working areas were therefore designed with a high degree of space efficiency. Additionally, they had to be able to accommodate frequent staff rotation and growth. On average a Googler moves twice a year within the building, consequently the office layout was designed for maximum adaptability so that all groups and departments can use any part of the office space. The office areas are organised along a central core and are a mixture of open-plan workspaces for 6-10 people and enclosed offices for 4-6 people.
All office enclosures are constructed using a glass partition system, which maintains transparency and optimises daylight while reducing noise and achieving the required degree of privacy for working teams. Each office floor is colour-coded and themed for easy orientation, for example on the blue floor large photographs and graphics on the themes of water and snow enhance the colour concept and make it an integral part of the interior design.
The Zoogler engineers tackle some of the most interesting challenges in computing today. As many of the teams in Zurich work together with Google teams all over the world, meeting rooms fitted with video-conferencing equipment are very important. Consequently there are a large number of small to medium-size meeting rooms situated throughout the office space. Apart from the standard meeting rooms, there are also many informal meeting areas, which have a more relaxed atmosphere for teams to have creative discussion around white-boards. Some of them also incorporate the theme of the floor, like the Igloo Satellite Cabins with penguins and the original ski-gondolas in a snow-scape on the blue floor.
The concept of the communal areas relates directly to the project research conclusions and wider research that indicates relaxation to be crucial to innovation and stimulating original thought. Work and play are not mutually exclusive, or as Google puts it "it is possible to code and pass the puck at the same time". Based on this concept Camenzind Evolution developed themed communal areas associated with sport and leisure, for example, an aquarium water lounge for relaxation and a games room to play billiards, table football and interactive video games. There is also an antiquethemed library and a massage spa to soothe any tight shoulder muscles. Most of these spaces also contain 'micro kitchens' offering the Zooglers a variety of drinks and snacks throughout the day.
The diversity of the communal areas provides a great choice of distinctive emotional and visual experiences and activities. These ensure that there is a suitably relaxing or inspiring environment for the individual needs of the more than 50 nationalities represented in the Zurich office. The communal areas are intentionally dispersed throughout the building to encourage Zooglers to circulate throughout the seven floors to enhance communication between the different working groups and teams. In this way the building has evolved into a Google city with easy reference points for Zooglers and visitors to navigate the building. To allow speedy movement with fun between floors, "quick connections" comprising fire poles to slide down, link some of the communal areas with the floor above – making sure the Zooglers can reach their coffee that bit faster. And for the really hungry Zooglers, a steep and fast slide spirals down from the offices on the first floor directly into the centre of the Milliways cafeteria on the ground floor.
Food is very important to Google and the Zurich office is no exception. The Milliways cafeteria serves free breakfast, lunch and dinner and the chefs use only fresh, high quality ingredients and local produce to make healthy delicious food. Coming together for eating is also a great opportunity for the Zooglers to meet and talk to people they don't work directly with. To balance the good food, a staffed gym offers yoga, Pilates and fitness classes and encourages the Zooglers to keep fit and healthy.
There are also a large number of technical talks at Google. Google 'Tech Talks' are designed to disseminate a wide spectrum of views on topics ranging from Current Affairs, Science and Engineering to Entertainment and the Arts. For these talks and many other events, conference facilities for up to 200 people have been designed on the ground floor.
Summary: The new Google EMEA Engineering Hub in Zurich is about functionality and flexibility in the personal workspace and choice and diversity in the community areas, creating an environment that holistically supports the Zooglers in their work and well-being. The research undertaken by the architects ensured their efforts were sharply focused on aspects of the environment that mattered most to the Zooglers in their working lives. The completed Google building is a true reflection of a forward-thinking company that was prepared to adopt innovative approaches proposed by the architectural team to determine the optimal design concept to nurture the talent and creativity of their Zurich employees.
Camenzind Evolution
Google Zurich – Building Information
PROJECT: Google EMEA Engineering Hub Zurich, Switzerland
Interior Design and Fit-Out
LOCATION: Google Switzerland GmbH, Brandschenkenstrasse 110, 8002 Zürich
DATES: Start of Planning Mar 2007 / Start of Construction Jul 2007 / Completion Mar 2008
FIGURES: Net lettable floor area 12'000 m2 NLA
Net lettable floor area per person 15 m2 NLA/PP
Number of Workstations 800
CLIENT: Google Inc.
ARCHITECTURE + PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Camenzind Evolution Ltd.
Stefan Camenzind – Executive Director / Tanya Ruegg – Creative Director
SITE MANAGEMENT + QUANTITY SURVEYOR: Quadras Baumanagement Ltd.
BUILDING ENGINEERING: Amstein + Walthert Ltd.
OFFICE FURNITURE CONSULTANT: Büronauten Ltd.
CATERING CONSULTANT: Planbar Ltd.
Zurich Google Offices : information from Camenzind Evolution Architecture
Google Zurich architects : Camenzind Evolution
Location: Brandschenkenstrasse 110, 8002 Zürich, Switzerland
Architecture in Switzerland
Swiss Architecture Designs – chronological list
Architecture Walking Tours by e-architect
Zurich Architecture Walking Tours
Swiss Architect : Camenzind Evolution – Contact details
Zurich Apartmenthouse : Siewerdtstrasse
Google Architecture
Google EMEA Engineering Hub in Zurich
Google Office Tel Aviv Interior
Google Complex in Mountain View, California
Swiss Buildings – Selection
Dolder Grand Hotel, Lake Zurich
Foster + Partners with Itten + Brechbühl
Dolder Grand Hotel Building
westside Shopping and Leisure Center, Bern-Brünnen
Studio Daniel Libeskind
Swiss retail building
The Murezzan, St Moritz
Foster + Partners
The Murezzan St Moritz
Comments / photos for this Zurich Google Office Building page welcome
Zurich Google Offices Building – page


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Slideshow: Cloud Security Pros And Cons
|(click for larger image and for full photo gallery)
"We've been using a commonly available graphics processor to test the integrity of typical passwords of the kind in use here at Georgia Tech and many other places," said Richard Boyd, a senior research scientist at the university's research institute, in a statement. "Right now we can confidently say that a seven-character password is hopelessly inadequate."
Today's top graphics processors offer about two teraflops of parallel processing power. For comparison, "in the year 2000, the world's fastest supercomputer, a cluster of linked machines costing $110 million, operated at slightly more than 7 teraflops," he said.
The barrier to using multi-core graphics processors -- available from Nvidia or AMD's ATI division -- for compute-intensive processes other than graphics processing, said Boyd, first fell in 2007, when Nvidia released a C-based software development kit. "Once Nvidia did that, interest in GPUs really started taking off," he said. "If you can write a C program, you can program a GPU now." Or use it to crack a password.
Furthermore, thanks to Moore's Law, graphics processors continue to increase in power, which means that GPUs will get better, not worse, at cracking passwords.
But who needs a graphics processor? People often create and rely on simple passwords, and many websites use passwords more for psychological than security purposes.
But the Georgia Tech research underscores the importance of getting people to adopt longer, non-simple passwords to make them safer against attack. "Length is a major factor in protecting against 'brute forcing' a password," according to one research scientist involved in the project, Joshua Davis. "A computer keyboard contains 95 characters, and every time you add another character, your protection goes up exponentially, by 95 times."
For the record, to defend against GPU attacks, the password researchers recommend using sentence-length passwords that mix letters with numbers or symbols, and which are at least 12 characters long.


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After months of presentations and deliberations, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano selected Bruce Ratner's Nassau Events Center on Thursday to redevelop the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale.
Mangano, a Republican from Bethpage, narrowed down the field of developers to two in July — the Madison Square Garden Company and Nassau Events Center, an affiliate of Forest City Ratner Companies.
Mangano identified the two proposals as "excellent" and "compelling," adding that both companies "had the financial and managerial capacity and expertise to successfully execute a meaningful development of the Coliseum." Regardless, he said, the decision was an unanimous one among his RFP committee.
Ratner's company has agreed to pay Nassau County 8 percent of its gross revenue during the initial 34-year lease term, and 12.75 percent from parking fees, according to Mangano.
Nassau County will receive a minimum guaranteed payment of $4 million per year. The payments will escalate by 10 percent every five years, amounting to a minimum lease payment of $195 million for the county, Mangano said. With options, the payment can grow to $334 million.
Nassau will also receive either $400,000 per year from the entertainment outside the Coliseum, or 8 percent of the gross revenue, whichever is greater.
According to the lease, Nassau County will also maintain the rights for future development at the site.
The contract is now in the hands the Nassau County Legislature. Approval requires a simple majority, and the Legislature currently holds 10 Republicans and nine Democrats.
Mangano said the lease is signed, contains all negotiated terms and conditions, "and is immediately ready for consideration and approval."
Forest City Ratner has agreed to accept all costs and responsibilities for operating, insuring, maintaining and providing utilities for the Coliseum beginning on Aug. 1, 2015, which is the expiration date of the county's lease with the arena's current operator, SMG.
Utilities alone, Mangano said, cost the county more than $2 million per year.
Beginning Aug. 1, 2015, the county will receive rent from Forest City Ratner, whether construction has begun or not.


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A Primer for Researchers Working with Education Data
Predictive modeling estimates individuals' probabilities of future outcomes by building and testing a model using data on similar individuals whose outcomes are already known. The method offers benefits for continuous improvement efforts and efficient allocation of resources. This paper explains MDRC's framework for using predictive modeling in education.


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List of Fish Free and Mushroom Free Restaurant Food in New Orleans
Find the most suitable Fish Free and Mushroom Free food items at restaurants in New Orleans for delivery & pickup! We are doing our best to improve the system daily, however you may find a few items unsuitable for this particular selection. We hope you enjoy some great new dishes!
Explore More Diets
Menu items at these restaurants have not been verified with the restaurant staff unless they show a Verified tag above the restaurants name. Unverified Menu item recommendations are automated and are subject to inaccuracies in content, pricing and availability. Always confirm menu item ingredients and preparation methods with restaurant staff upon ordering.
Sorted By :
Ruby Slipper Cafe (Burgundy)
2001 Burgundy St, New Orleans, LA 70116
Krystal Tavern
116 Bourbon Street, New Orleans, LA 38583
123 Baronne St, New Orleans, LA 70112
The Munch Factory
6514 Congress Dr, New Orleans, LA 70126
Pupuseria La Macarena
8120 Hampson St, New Orleans, LA 70118
Fattoush Restaurant
1561 Tulane Ave, New Orleans, LA 70112
Purple Moon Cafe
7625 Maple St, New Orleans, LA 70118
Magasin Kitchen
611 Okeefe Ave, New Orleans, LA 70113


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Why Teach Fine Motor?
Why Teach Fine Motor?
Children explore the environment by moving and interacting with it. By manipulating objects and gathering valuable information about the physical characteristics, this eventually provides perceptual information necessary to make future judgments without the need for physical contact. Through a matching of perceptual and motor information, a child can interpret the characteristics of the environment more efficiently.
Young children at school spend approximately 60%-70% of their time completing fine-motor work or activities. Approximately 12% of children experience difficulties in this area.Proficiency in fine-motor control allows the child to develop skills that will have consequences immediately and in later life.
- Social Consequences. You cannot hide the way you move. Simple tasks such as tying laces or handling any utensils or objects can cause frustration and embarrassment. The child who has poor coordination begins to wonder why something that is natural and taken for granted is so difficult to perform.
- Vocational Consequences. Because a number of vocations--including dentistry, secretarial work, cabinet making, and many others--have a large fine-motor component, the choices for the individual with fine-motor difficulties begin to diminish.
- Academic Consequences. Quick and precise handling of concrete objects in mathematics and science becomes difficult. Precision and speed in handwriting and drawing tasks are minimized, affecting the amount of work being completed. When actions are not automatic, the available working memory and attentional space in the brain is taken up with concentrating on the movement rather than the concept being learned and practiced.
- Psychological (Emotional) Consequences. Children with poor coordination often have unsuccessful experiences in physical activities. As a consequence they can develop frustration, a fear of failure, and rejection which in turn can lead to the development of a negative self-concept and avoidance behaviors. This can dramatically affect classroom performance not only in the fine-motor area but in other areas as well. Research tells us that a child's attitude toward learning in a particular area is at least as important as a child's ability in that area.
Excepted from Ready-to-Use Fine Motor Skills & Handwriting Activities for Young Children / Joanne M. Landy and Keith R. Burridge / The Center for Applied Research and Education / 1999
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I love the vibrant colors of these fun fabrics and cannot wait to make a quilt - definitely one for the couch - from these quirky prints.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Sunday Stash #59
I love the vibrant colors of these fun fabrics and cannot wait to make a quilt - definitely one for the couch - from these quirky prints.
13 comments:
Goodness Rita...these are fabulous...I am definitely going to go buy some. One of those chairs on the green fabric reminds me of the Ghost Chairs! Thanks for the eye candy!!:)ReplyDelete
I am loving these fabrics, the more I see them, the more I want to use them in a quilt.ReplyDelete
You always have the most gorgeous fabrics. I love thoes tufted tweets!ReplyDelete
What oh what will you do with these? Should be interesting!ReplyDelete
I love Tufted Tweets, such vibrant colours and fabulous fun designs.ReplyDelete
Yummy! I can't wait to get mine!ReplyDelete
Mine should be arriving this week.ReplyDelete
Can't wait!!
Beautiful fabrics and colors!!ReplyDelete
I just finished a quilt working with these; you can't imagine how much fun it was. *S*ReplyDelete
You almost forget there are "tweets" until you begin cutting, but then you hear birdsong.
I have loved this line since I first saw it. I just cannot figure out what I would do with it :(ReplyDelete
I've had my eye on that print! Love it!ReplyDelete
I was so pleased for Laurie when she was picked up by a big fabric house. She started just printing her own fabrics thru Spoonflower and selling them online - and now look at her!ReplyDelete
I am trying not to buy any more fabric but your stash photos are swaying me to the dark side!!!ReplyDelete
Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment! I really appreciate it.
Comments are published after review.
Feel free to ask questions and I will answer either here or by email, as is appropriate.


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Introduction to American Literature: Or, The Origin and Development of the English Language, with Gems of Poetry
Derby, Bradley, 1846 - 420 "‰ «·'ðÕ«
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⁄»«—« Ê"'ÿ·Õ« "√·Êð…
appear beauty become breath bright cause century character charm Chaucer combined comes common dark deep delight display distinction doth earth effect elements English equal exist expression fair fall fancy feeling flowers gave genius give grace hand harmony hath head heart heaven hope human ideas imagination immortal improvement kind king knowledge lady language laws learning leaves less light literature live look Lord meaning melody mind native nature never night object once origin pass passion perfect play poem poet poetic poetry possessed present productions pure reason rich rise rose Saxon says seems seen sense sing single SONG soul sound spirit spring stand stars sweet taste Tell thee things thou thought tion tongue true truth variety verse
"Þ«ÿ⁄ "'ÂÊ—…
«·'ðÕ… 354 - Hermes, or unsphere The spirit of Plato, to unfold What worlds or what vast regions hold The immortal mind that hath forsook Her mansion in this fleshly nook...˛
«·'ðÕ… 355 - Or call up him that left half told The story of Cambuscan bold, Of Camball, and of Algarsife, And who had Canace to wife, That owned the virtuous ring and glass, And of the wond'rous horse of brass, On which the Tartar king did ride; And if aught else, great bards beside, In sage and solemn tunes have sung, Of tourneys and of trophies hung; Of forests, and enchantments drear, Where more is meant than meets the ear.˛
«·'ðÕ… 355 - And when the sun begins to fling His flaring beams, me, Goddess, bring To arched walks of twilight groves And shadows brown that Sylvan loves, Of pine or monumental oak, Where the rude axe, with heaved stroke, Was never heard the nymphs to daunt, Or fright them from their hallowed haunt.˛
«·'ðÕ… 357 - Hence, loathed Melancholy, Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born In Stygian cave forlorn 'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy ! Find out some uncouth cell, Where brooding Darkness spreads his jealous wings, And the night-raven sings ; There, under ebon shades and low-browed rocks, As ragged as thy locks, In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell.˛
«·'ðÕ… 272 - How does my royal lord ? How fares your majesty ? Lear. You do me wrong to take me out o' the grave : Thou art a soul in bliss ; but I am bound Upon a wheel of fire, that mine own tears Do scald like molten lead.˛
«·'ðÕ… 353 - There, held in holy passion still, Forget thyself to marble, till With a sad leaden downward cast Thou fix them on the earth as fast. And join with thee calm Peace and Quiet, Spare Fast, that oft with gods doth diet, And hears the Muses in a ring Aye round about Jove's altar sing...˛
«·'ðÕ… 354 - Swinging slow with sullen roar ; Or if the air will not permit, Some still removed place will fit, Where glowing embers through the room Teach light to counterfeit a gloom, Far from all resort of mirth, Save the cricket on the hearth, Or the bellman's drowsy charm, To bless the doors from nightly harm.˛
«·'ðÕ… 352 - He met her, and in secret shades Of woody Ida's inmost grove, While yet there was no fear of Jove. 30 Come, pensive Nun, devout and pure, Sober, steadfast, and demure, All in a robe of darkest grain Flowing with majestic train, And sable stole of cypress lawn, 35 Over thy decent shoulders drawn.˛
«·'ðÕ… 264 - Who, in their greatest cost, Seek nothing but commending: And if they make reply, Then give them all the lie. Tell zeal it wants devotion; Tell love it is but lust; Tell time it is but motion; Tell flesh it is but dust: And wish them not reply, For thou must give the lie.˛
«·'ðÕ… 289 - But you like none, none you, for constant heart. LIV O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem By that sweet ornament which truth doth give! The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem For that sweet odour which doth in it live. The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye As the perfumed tincture of the roses, Hang on such thorns and play as wantonly When summer's breath their masked buds discloses; But, for their virtue only is their show, They live unwoo'd and unrespected fade, Die to themselves....˛


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Amitabh Kant
Mr. Amitabh Kant is presently CEO of National Institution for Transforming India (NITI), which was formed on January 1, 2015. NITI is the premier policy 'Think Tank' of the Government of India, providing both directional and policy inputs. While designing strategic and long term policies and programs for the Government of India, NITI Aayog also provides relevant technical advice to the Centre and States.
He is a member of the Indian Administrative Service, IAS (Kerala Cadre: 1980 batch). He is the author of Branding India - An Incredible Story. Mr. Kant has been a key driver of the "Make in India", Startup India, "Incredible India" and God's Own Country" initiatives that positioned India and Kerala State as leading manufacturing and tourism destinations. These campaigns have won several international awards and embraced a host of activities – infrastructure development, product enhancement, private-public partnership and positioning and branding based on extensive market research. Mr. Kant also conceptualized the "Atithi Devo Bhavah" – "Guest is God" campaign to train Taxi Drivers, Guides, immigration officials and make them stake holders in the tourism development process. Mr. Amitabh Kant was also the National Project Director of the Rural Tourism Project of UNDP which made a paradigm shift in spreading tourism to Indian villages which had core-competency in handicrafts, handloom and culture.
In his capacity as Secretary (Industries) Govt. of India, Mr. Kant drove the Ease of Doing Business initiative and ranking of States on outcome parameters. He is the Chairman of the Committee to implement Digital Payment in India.
Mr. Kant has been the recipient of Economic Time Policy Change Agent of the Year Award, the Bloomberg TV Personality of the year Award, the NDTV Administrator of the year Award and the Distinguished Fellowship of the Institute of Directors. He is the recipient of One Globe Award-2016 for leadership in Transforming Governance for the 21st Century. He is a Member of the Steering Board of "Shaping the Future of Production Systems" of World Economic Forum. He is also the recipient of Sir Edmund Hillary Fellowship award by the Prime Minister of New Zealand. He is also the recipient of Golden Peacock Award for leadership in Economic Transformation - 2017.
Mr. Amitabh Kant has worked as CMD – ITDC, Joint Secretary – Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Secretary – Tourism, Government of Kerala, Managing Director, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, District Collector, Kozikhode and Managing Director, Matsyafed. During his tenure in Kerala, he structured the Calicut Airport as a private sector project based on User's Free and developed the BSES Power Project and Mattanchery Bridge under Private Public Partnership. He was also responsible for introducing new technology (fiberglass crafts and outboard motor) in the fisheries sector and launching beach level auctions which substantially enhanced returns to traditional fishermen.
Mr. Amitabh Kant did his schooling from Modern School, Delhi, graduation in Economics (Hons) from St. Stephens, Delhi University and M.A from Jawaharlal Nehru University. He is a Chevening Scholar.


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The United Nations voted Christmas Eve to reconsider a global arms trade treaty, which the United States failed to ratify in July but was supported by U.S. officials shortly after President Barack Obama's reelection.
According to the Associated Press, the resolution to renegotiate the treaty in March was approved by a vote of 133-0 with 17 abstentions.
A Nigerian U.N. soldier stands guard next to a cache of weapons at the house of a former dictator in Paynesville near the Liberian capital Monrovia, Oct. 16, 2003. Britain, Japan, Australia and others are pushing for a treaty regulating the arms trade worldwide, in a campaign that pit them against the National Rifle Association. (Photo: AP/Ben Curtis)
Although some might think support for the treaty improved in light of the recent Sandy Hook Elementary School mass murder in Newtown, Conn., proponents of the treaty have argued in the past that it would not impact domestic gun regulation.
The draft treaty does not control the domestic use of weapons in any country, but it would require all countries to establish national regulations to control the transfer of conventional arms and to regulate arms brokers. It would prohibit states that ratify the treaty from transferring conventional weapons if they would violate arms embargoes or if they would promote acts of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes.
In considering whether to authorize the export of arms, the draft says a country must evaluate whether the weapon would be used to violate international human rights or humanitarian laws or be used by terrorists, organized crime or for corrupt practices.
Opponents of the treaty have argued that the wording was too vague and could open up the door to domestic regulation and infringement on Second Amendment rights in America.
The National Rifle Association and other gun lobbying groups fought against the treaty in July. Press TV reported NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre saying before the summer conference that it would not "stand idly by while international organizations, whether state-based or stateless, attempt to undermine the fundamental liberties… on which our entire American system of government is based."
"Any treaty that includes civilian firearms ownership in its scope will be met with the NRA's greatest force of opposition," LaPierre continued, according to Press TV.
After the Obama Administration endorsed the treaty in November, the NRA wrote about some of the worrying provisions in the ATT on its website:
Among the draft's most onerous requirements are those intending to burden and keep records on "end users," or gun owners. The draft states that "Each State Party shall maintain national records… Such records may contain… end users" and that "Records shall be kept for a minimum of ten years." If this obligation were to be enacted and followed, it could result in registration for any American that purchases an imported firearms.
Despite the insistence of a U.S. State Department official this summer that ammunition controls are not feasible and would have "significant administrative and financial costs," ammunition remains within the scope of the working draft. The draft states, "Each State Party shall establish and maintain a national control system to regulate the export of ammunition for conventional arms." In the explanation of its vote in favor of the resolution, Mexico made clear that it will continue to pursue its goal of including ammunition within the scope of the treaty.
LaPierre said in July the NRA's position "will remain the same on any treaty that could adversely affect the rights of American gun owners."
The negotiations will be held March 18-28 in New York.
- Following Obama Victory, U.S. Backs New U.N. Arms Treaty Talks
- United Nations Votes for Iran to Police Arms Control
(H/T: Think Progress)
The Associated Press contributed to this report.


text:
Last updated on July 20, 2021.
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Saveur (March 2010)
Dear Saveur Magazine:
Okay, okay -- we give up! We'll begin planning a trip to Los Angeles ASAP.
It's almost as if you knew, in planning your special Los Angeles issue, that L.A. has been on our "long weekend trip" list for well over a year and that we're overdue to visit friends, see the sights, and eat at that magical Kogi truck.
Plus, a recipe from Good Food's Evan Kleiman? You had us at roast chicken. See you in L.A.!
-- Zach & Clay
Seriously -- we need to get ourselves to Los Angeles.
If we needed any convincing at all, it was taken care of by Saveur's excellent issue on the city (with its stunningly gorgeous cover photo), chronicling what seems to be just about every aspect of eating and food culture in the City of Angels.
And as if we needed any more convincing, we nearly ran to the kitchen to start cooking when we saw a recipe from Evan Kleiman, chef/owner of Angeli Cafe and host of KCRW's Good Food, which we podcast each week. We've sung the praises of Kleiman and her show before. If you're not listening, get to it.
Now, she's not only the host of one of our favorite podcasts, but she's also the author of what may be our new favorite roast chicken recipe.
We've written extensively about our experiments with different roast chicken recipes. Really, we don't mind the experimentation. Roast chicken is just about our favorite meal. In fact, when our friend Ken invited us over for dinner a few weeks ago in the middle of a snowstorm, he had barely gotten out the words "roast chicken" before we were suited up and bounding out the door.
Kleiman's roast chicken, called Pollo Arrosto, is a simple preparation, and we think that's one reason it's so successful. Chicken pieces are marinated for an hour in a mixture of olive oil, rosemary, lemon juice, garlic, along with a peeled, chopped lemon. The chicken, along with the marinade, is then placed in a serving dish and roasted. The hardest part? Flipping the chicken pieces once during the roasting.
Yeah, it's that simple.
When we made this chicken, we did a mix of thighs, legs and breasts. We found that although the breasts were good, the thighs and legs were more flavorful and really showed off the delicious marinade. Plus, due to the size of our chicken breasts, they took longer to cook than the other pieces. Next time, we'll likely skip the breasts.
We could rhapsodize all day about the interplay of the lemon with the rosemary and garlic or the delicious tangy skin.
But really, you need to experience this for yourself. Immediately.
If you're a roast chicken fanatic, make this for dinner tonight. We think you'll be blown away.
Lemon and Rosemary Chicken (Pollo Arrosto)
Saveur (March 2010)
Subscribe to Saveur
(This photo: Andre Baranowski/Saveur)
1 3 1⁄2-lb. chicken, cut into 8 pieces
1⁄2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1⁄2 cup fresh rosemary leaves
1⁄4 cup fresh lemon juice
10 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 lemon, peel removed, pith and pulp chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1. Toss chicken with oil, rosemary, lemon juice, garlic, lemon, and salt and pepper in bowl. Marinate for 1 hour.
2. Heat oven to 475°. Arrange chicken in a 9" x 13" baking dish; add remaining marinade. Roast, flipping once, until cooked through, 30–40 minutes.