text:
You can't pay them enough to leave
A plan in Youngstown aims to move residents out of the city's most deserted areas. The hitch: Home owners won't budge - even for $50,000.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (CNNMoney.com) -- When the city of Youngstown, Ohio, proposed incentives to move people out of declining neighborhoods, it sounded like a good idea - in theory.
The city hoped to lure holdouts living on nearly empty blocks and relocate them to more lively areas, as part of its plan to remake itself in the wake of the steel industry's departure and the foreclosure crisis. It's already cleared some lots for things like playgrounds.
Now Youngstown wants to close entire streets and bulldoze abandoned properties so it can shut down city services like street lighting, police patrols and garbage pick-ups that it can no longer afford to maintain.
To do this on a large scale, the city needs to get about 100 residents to relocate. Each is eligible for $50,000 in incentives - plenty, in this town, to buy a new home and move. The hitch: Youngstowners don't seem to want to leave their homes, no matter how blighted or abandoned the neighborhood may be.
"I'm East Side born and East Side bred and when I die, I'll be East Side dead," said Rufus Hudson, a director of work force development at Youngstown State University. "We love our side of town. The same people who watched me grow are watching my children grow."
Only one of the half dozen residents who have been contacted by the program since June agreed to relocate, according to Bill D'Avignon, the city's community development director. And in interviews with CNNMoney.com, another seven residents vowed that they too would stay on their deserted blocks.
The woman who did agree to move lived on a block filled with burned out homes, and a street that could easily be closed without disturbing traffic patterns. But she fell ill, and the move is now on hold.
D'Avignon, who has been surprised by the resistance, said the city may have to up the ante to overcome the resistance, which seems to stem, in part, from community loyalty.
Marie Rodriguez lives on the city's gritty South Side, next to a big empty lot on her right and vacant houses behind her. "That bothers me a little," she admitted.
There are only eight occupied homes left on her street, but she still likes living there. "It's pretty good, nice and quiet," said the retired cook. "I wouldn't move even if I was the last one on the block."
People are understandably attached to homes that they've cared for, and which hold fond memories.
"I put a lot of money in the house, and I raised seven kids here," said Rodriguez.
Another South Sider, Anna Maria Gay, has lived in Youngstown for 47 years and also won't be persuaded to move from her block. "I like the people here; I would never move away," she said. "It's very homey, not high class but not quaint either."
Youngstown's East Side was slated for development back in the 1950's, when the city's population was about 200,000.
But the neighborhood withered as Youngstown's population dwindled to about 80,000. Many of the houses that were built have been demolished, roads have gone un-repaired and others have been closed. Large wooded areas and fields - and even a 10-acre farm - lie within a 10-minute drive of downtown.
Arlette Gatewood, an 80-year-old retired steelworker and union official, has lived on the East Side since its heyday, and he too intends to stay in his home.
"Turning these mostly empty blocks into green spaces would be better for the neighborhood and cheaper for the city," he said. "But it's not my intention to ever move."
The area has too many memories for him to give up.
"I worked in the steel mills for 32 years, five months and 28 days," said Gatewood. "I came up at a time, graduating from high school in 1947, when the opportunities for young black men were limited."
But the mills were hiring. "We made good money," he said. "The work was hard; it was dirty."
Going home to the East Side after a tough day was pleasant, though. He remembers beer gardens, grocery stores and other retailers. These are gone. Now Youngstowners drive to the suburbs to shop.
The desire to stay put leads to some odd juxtapositions.
Take Meadow Street, which is near downtown. It's just a block long and the southern half of it will soon close when Fireline Inc., a ceramic molding manufacturer, takes possession. The company already owns most of the block.
But there's one holdout - a modest, wood-frame house a third of the way down the street. The Fireline plant, which employs 102 people, nearly surrounds this sliver of land where Nathaniel and Lulu Byrd live.
The company would like to take over the entire street, but for the Byrds.
According to Fireline, the couple has no intention of moving. "We've offered [the Byrds] ten times their home's valuation," said Gloria Jones, who founded the company with her husband.
But Nathaniel Byrd's mother gave him this house as a wedding gift. "They have a great deal of affection for the house," said Jones. "They want to stay."
So far city planners have been patient. Relocations are strictly voluntary, and the city intends to keep it that way - there are no plans to invoke eminent domain.
Meanwhile, the city has crafted plans for over 170 neighborhoods. In the Idora Park area, for example, near where an amusement park once stood, there are just a few occupied houses where the "entire swath of land should be open greenery," said community development director D'Avignon.
To make that happen, city planners may sweeten the deal - possibly offering to pay off small mortgage balances of $20,00 or $30,000.
They may have to, if they want any Youngstowners to move.
Issue #1 - America's Money: All this week at noon ET, CNN explains how the weakening economy affects you. Full coverage.
Under the government's economic stimulus plan, 130 million people will receive tax rebate checks for $300 and up, starting April 28. What do you plan to do with your check? How do you think the stimulus plan will affect the economy? Send us your photos and videos, or email us and tell us what you think.


text:
Your account has been temporary locked because we received e-mail bounces from your registered email address when sending notifications or update messages to your email address. Members whose account has been locked for this purpose will only have limited access to content on this site.
The most common reasons why we would receive e-mail bounces from your registered e-email address are:

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Discover your Devon ancestor by searching over 2.6 million records of baptisms spanning 400 years. Find out if your family come from this historic English county.
Each record contains an image or a transcript of the original record or both. The amount of information contained can vary but you could find out the following about your ancestor:
Year of birth
Year of baptism
Date of baptism
Mother's first name
Father's first name
Father's occupation
Residence of parents
These records cover over 2.6 million baptisms for most of the Anglican parishes in the English county of Devon and are published as a result of Findmypast's partnership with Plymouth & West Devon Record Office, and with the South West Heritage Trust. Before 1837 there was no civil registration so all births were registered in the local parish. The registers of these baptism records date back to 1538.
Devon is a maritime county in the south west of England. It is bordered on the west by Cornwall, with Dorset and Somerset to the east. There is evidence that the county has been inhabited since Stone Age times.
We would also like to acknowledge the assistance of volunteers of the Devon Family History Society who have transcribed many of the original registers, housed at the record offices in Barnstaple and Exeter. Further records are available in Plymouth and West Devon Record Office.


text:
Passports, visas and ID cards
You must be able to show your identification when you are travelling. Consider that sometimes a visa may be required.
When you travel abroad, you need to show your identification, either with a passport or national ID card.
If you have a Swedish passport, you can get more information from the police, or alternatively contact your embassy.
Swedish Police website (new window).
Some countries require that your passport is valid for a given period of time after your entry. You should find out what requirements apply in the country you are travelling to. Consult the embassy or consulate of the country in question.
Temporary passports
Temporary passports for Swedish citizens can be issued by the police at Stockholm Arlanda Airport. It is about a 10-minute walk from the terminals to the police station. Follow the signs from SkyCity towards the police.
When you apply for a temporary passport, your permanent passport will be cancelled, which means that the processing period is longer. You must therefore expect it to take a little longer to receive your temporary passport.
From November 7 it is no longer possible to apply for a temporary passport at the police station at Arlanda. Instead, they refer to the Norrmalm and Farsta police stations. From November 13, the service will also be offered by the Sollentuna police station. Read more here (in Swedish).
A visa is required for travel to certain countries. Contact your travel agency or the country's embassy for more information about visas and their application process.
Passenger security checkpoints
When you travel to countries within the the Schengen cooperation area, there will be no border check in conjunction with your arrival. However, some airlines still require a valid passport or national ID in conjunction with the flight. You will also need to verify your identity with a passport or national ID during your stay in the country you are visiting. We therefore recommend that passengers always bring a valid passport and ID. Read more on the Swedish Police website.
For trips to countries outside the EU, border checks are carried out, and you must be able to provide a valid passport, as before.


text:
1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2003
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 24/01/2003
|Page tools: Print Page
There were 4,768,294 visitors in 2001-02, a 2.5% increase in visitor arrivals from 1999-2000 (table 22.7). In the decade beginning 1991-92, international inbound visitors to Australia increased by 2,248,582 (89%).
In 2001-02, New Zealand was Australia's largest source of international visitors, accounting for 17% of total inbound visitors, followed by Japan (14%) and the United Kingdom (13%).
Almost two-thirds (66%) of all international visitors who arrived during 2001-02 came to Australia for a holiday. Another 12% arrived for business purposes (table 22.8).
Visitors from Japan, New Zealand and the United Kingdom constituted almost half (46%) of all international visitors who came to Australia for a holiday. New Zealand was the main source of visitors for business purposes (27%), while the United Kingdom accounted for most visitors arriving for employment (23%).
Asian countries accounted for nearly two-thirds (62%) of all visitors arriving in Australia for 'education' purposes.
The long travelling distances to Australia contribute to long stays for international visitors. In 2001-02, 43% of visitors stayed a minimum of two weeks, while 22% stayed for at least a month (table 22.9). Visitors arriving for 'education' purposes tended to stay for long periods (82% of these visitors stayed for a minimum of two weeks and 43% for six months or more), but their absolute numbers were relatively small.
In 2001-02 most arrivals were in December (11% of total arrivals), while the fewest arrivals (7%) were in May. December was the month in which the highest number of 'holiday' visitors arrived and the fewest visitors came for business purposes. April had the highest number of business visitors and May the fewest visitors arriving for a holiday (table 22.10).
A number of factors contribute to the relative lack of seasonality, primarily the attractive climate experienced in different parts of Australia throughout the whole year and the wide diversity of source countries.
New South Wales is by far the most popular state for all categories of international visitors. In 1999-2000 (the most recent data available), 38% of all nights spent by international visitors were spent in New South Wales. Queensland was the next most popular state, accounting for 22% of all international visitor nights. Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory were the least popular destinations, each accounting for less than 2% of international visitor nights in 1999-2000 (table 22.11).


text:
The Diamond
Once forbidden, the Diamond has offered two generations of climbers a vertical rock wilderness only a short distance from urban America. Roger Briggs details the history of his 900-foot, high-altitude home crag, while David Rearick, Royal Robbins, John Bachar, Charlie Fowler and Tommy Caldwell recount their days on the greatest little big wall in the lower forty-eight.
climbing notes
editors note
In which we present the talent.
Epistles from Bethlehem are just the start of it.
Mark David Wilford
Mark Wilford's first climb, at age eleven, was an alpine free solo that nearly killed him. Indeed: the first one's always free.
climbing life
The Climbing Life
Observations from the field.
first ascent
Mt. Slesse
The only obstacles between Fred Beckey and the first ascent of Mt. Sleese's 2,700-foot northeast buttress were miles of dense underbrush, exposed slabs, hanging seracs and the wreckage from a horrific plane crash. Problem? No problem. He's Fred Beckey.
sharp end
Tanja Grmovsek
Fresh off the first female ascent of Trango Tower, Slovenia's top female alpinist reflects on ballet lessons, role models and the future of women in the mountains.
off belay
features content
At either end of the world lie peaks you've never heard of, vistas you've never seen and lines to stir your imagination. All you need to find them is a high-latitude approach vehicle and 5.14 sailing skills.
In A Push
No one had ever done a free ascent or a single-push ascent on the north face of Mt. Alberta before. Would a new line go, free and in a day? Of course it would. Welcome to the Canadian Rockies, where it's not all 5.9 A2 anymore.
The Walls, The Walls
For someone raised in the rigid confines of Soviet Communism, the mountains represented an escape. When communism collapsed, they became something more: an opportunity to travel, and to live.
The Wall of Hate
When two young guides open a new route in Patagonia, they discover the most dangerous part of alpinism may be thinking about it.
Little Man, Big Mountain
Photographing climbers on some of the planet's biggest objectives convinced this Swiss photographer of one thing: it's a big world out there. A photographic tribute to the vastness, and to our attempts to find a place within.


text:
This is the basic text view. SWITCH NOW to the new, more interactive format.
Portugal, including the Azores and Madeira islands, has a population of approximately 10.7 million and is a constitutional democracy with a president, a prime minister, and a parliament elected in multiparty elections. National parliamentary elections in 2005 were free and fair. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Police and prison guards occasionally beat or otherwise abused detainees, and prison conditions remained poor. Violence against women and children was a problem. There was discrimination against women as well as trafficking for forced labor and for sexual exploitation.
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life
There were no reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings; however, on April 25, an off-duty police officer shot and killed a 53-year-old man. The victim allegedly had approached the officer and his female companion on a deserted beach in the municipality of Leiria at 2:00 a.m. The officer turned himself in, and at year's end the case was being investigated by the Judicial Police.
b. Disappearance
There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, there were credible reports of excessive use of force by police and of mistreatment and other forms of abuse of detainees by prison guards.
During the year the Inspectorate General of Internal Administration (IGAI) investigated reports of mistreatment and abuse by police and prison guards. Complaints included physical abuse, threatening use of firearms, excessive use of force, illegal detention, and abuse of power. The majority of complaints were against the Public Security Police (PSP) and the Republican National Guard (GNR)--118 and 76, respectively, in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics were available. Each complaint is investigated by the IGAI, and punishments for officers found to have committed abuses ranged from temporary suspension to prison sentences.
There were also media reports that members of the security forces committed human rights abuses.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions
Prison conditions remained poor, and there were reports that guards mistreated prisoners. Other problems included overcrowding, inadequate facilities, poor health conditions, and violence among inmates.
Most of the guidelines and legislative proposals the government adopted in 2004 to reform the prison system had not been applied in practice. However, some improvements were made during the year, including a decrease in prison overcrowding and continued personnel training.
According to a 2007 university study, "Drugs and Portuguese Prisons," approximately 10 percent of the total prison population was infected with HIV/AIDS and approximately 15 percent was infected with hepatitis C.
There was a youth prison in Leiria, but elsewhere in the prison system juveniles were sometimes held with adults. Pretrial detainees were held with convicted criminals.
The government started construction of a new prison in the Azores as part of a five-year prison reform plan. The goal of the reform is to increase security, improve detainee conditions, rationalize financial and human resources, and improve working conditions of prison staff.
The government permitted visits by independent human rights observers, and prisons were visited during the year by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture, the Human Rights Committee of the Portuguese Bar Association, and news media.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention
The constitution and law prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the government generally observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus
There were approximately 50,000 law enforcement officials, including police and prison guards. The Ministries of Justice and Internal Administration are primarily responsible for internal security. The GNR has jurisdiction outside cities, and the PSP has jurisdiction in cities. The Judicial Police are responsible for criminal investigations. The Aliens and Borders Service has jurisdiction over immigration and border issues.
An independent ombudsman chosen by the parliament and the IGAI investigates complaints of abuse or mistreatment by police; however, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) criticized the slow pace of investigations and the lack of an independent oversight agency to monitor the IGAI and Ministry of Interior. Police corruption was an isolated problem.
Arrest and Detention
The constitution and law provide detailed guidelines covering all aspects of arrest and custody, and the authorities generally followed the guidelines. Persons can be arrested only based on a judicial warrant, except that law enforcement officials and citizens may make warrantless arrests where there is probable cause that a crime has been or is being committed or that the person to be arrested is an escaped convict or a suspect who escaped from police custody.
Under the law an investigating judge determines whether an arrested person should be detained, released on bail, or released outright. A suspect may not be held for more than 48 hours without appearing before an investigating judge. Changes in the penal code went into effect in September 2007, under which investigative detention for most crimes is limited to a maximum of four months; if a formal charge is not filed within that period, the detainee must be released. In cases of serious crimes, such as murder, armed robbery, terrorism, and violent or organized crime, or crimes involving more than one suspect, investigative detention may last up to 18 months and may be extended by a judge to three years in extraordinary circumstances. A suspect in investigative detention must be brought to trial within 14 months of being charged formally. If a suspect is not in detention, there is no specified deadline for going to trial. Detainees have access to lawyers from time of arrest, and the government assumes legal costs for indigent detainees.
Lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem, although the authorities made some progress reducing the length of time persons were detained before trial. At year's end 1,164 individuals (16 percent of the prison population) were in preventive detention, a decrease from the previous year. The average detention time was eight months; approximately 20 percent of preventive detainees spent more than one year in incarceration.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The constitution and law provide for an independent judiciary, and the government generally respected judicial independence in practice.
Critics, including the media, business corporations, and legal observers, estimated that the backlog of cases awaiting trial was at least a year.
Trial Procedures
Jury trials can be requested in criminal cases but were rare. Civil cases do not have jury trials. Defendants are presumed innocent and have the right to consult with an attorney in a timely manner, at government expense if necessary. They have the right of appeal. They can confront and question witnesses against them, present evidence on their own behalf, and have access to government-held evidence. These rights were generally respected in practice.
Political Prisoners and Detainees
There were no reports of political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies
There is an independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters. Citizens have access to a court to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human rights violation. There are administrative as well as judicial remedies for alleged wrongs.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and the government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and of the press, and the government generally respected these rights. An independent press and judiciary and a functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of speech and of the press. In September 2007 the parliament enacted a law known as the Journalist Statute. According to the European Federation of Journalists, the law will require journalists to hand over confidential information and disclose sources in criminal cases. Thus far, the Journalist Statute has not been invoked.
Internet Freedom
There were no government restrictions on access to the Internet or reports that the government monitored e-mail or Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including e-mail. According to the National Statistics Institute, 41.9 percent of the population between the ages of 16 and 74 used the Internet; the rate increased to 86.9 and 90.5 percent for high school and university graduates, respectively.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events
There were no government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the government generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion
The constitution and law provide for freedom of religion, and the government generally respected this right.
The law provides a legislative framework for religious groups either established in the country for at least 30 years or recognized internationally for at least 60 years. Qualifying religious groups receive benefits including full tax-exempt status, legal recognition to perform marriages and other rites, permission for chaplain visits to prisons and hospitals, and recognition of their traditional holidays.
The Roman Catholic Church maintains an agreement with the government that recognizes the legal status of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference and allows citizens to donate 0.5 percent of their annual income taxes to the Roman Catholic Church.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The Jewish community was estimated at 3,000. The youths who were arrested in September 2007 after allegedly vandalizing tombstones in Lisbon's Jewish cemetery were still awaiting trial at year's end.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2008 International Religious Freedom Report at 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/irf/rpt.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of Refugees, and Stateless Persons
The constitution and law provide for freedom of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in practice. The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in providing protection and assistance to refugees, returning refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and other persons of concern.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the government did not employ it.
Protection of Refugees
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol, and the government has established a system for providing protection to refugees. In practice the government provided protection against the expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened. The government granted refugee status or asylum.
The country's system for granting refugee status was active and accessible. In addition to refugees and applicants for political asylum, the government also provides temporary protection to individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 convention and its 1967 protocol. In 2007 the country granted humanitarian protection to 25 persons and asylum to two persons.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation
Free and fair national parliamentary elections were held in 2005. Political parties could operate without restriction or outside interference.
There were 66 women in the 230-member parliament and two women in the 17-seat cabinet. There was one member of a minority group in the parliament; there were none in the cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, and the government generally implemented these laws effectively. There were no reports of corruption in the executive or legislative branches of the central government during the year; however, there were media reports of corruption involving local government officials. The highest profile corruption cases involved mayors Fatima Felgueiras, Valentim Loureiro, and Isaltino Morais. Felgueiras (Socialist Party), who went abroad from 2003 to 2005 to escape arrest, was accused of embezzlement and abuse of power. On November 7, she was sentenced to a three-year-and-three-month suspended prison sentence and lost her mandate as mayor of Felgueiras (name of mayor and city are, coincidentally, the same). Loureiro, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) mayor of Gondomar and chairman of the board of the country's professional soccer league, was accused of corruption and influencing soccer referees. On July 18, he was sentenced to a suspended prison term of three years and two months. His appeal of the decision was pending at year's end. Morais (PSD), mayor of Oeiras, was accused of tax evasion, corruption, and money laundering, and was awaiting trial at year's end.
Public officials were subject to financial disclosure laws. The Central Directorate for Combating Corruption, Fraud, and Economic and Financial Crime is the government agency responsible for combating corruption.
The constitution and law provide for public access to government information, and the government provided access in practice for citizens and noncitizens, including foreign media.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were generally cooperative and responsive to their views.
The country has an independent human rights ombudsman who is responsible for defending human rights, freedom, and the legitimate rights of all citizens. The ombudsman had adequate resources and published mandatory annual reports as well as special reports on such issues as women's rights, prisons, health, and the rights of children and senior citizens.
The parliament's First Committee for Constitutional Issues, Rights, and Liberties and Privileges exercises oversight over human rights issues. It drafts and submits bills and petitions for parliamentary approval. During the year new legislation went into effect in such areas as protection of data privacy and intellectual property, increased protection of trial witnesses, and establishment of the Corruption Prevention Council.
Section 5 Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race, gender, disability, language, and social status; however, discrimination against women persisted.
The law makes rape, including spousal rape, illegal, and the government generally enforced these laws. In the first six months of the year, 103 cases of rape were reported to the Association for Victim Support (APAV); 68 of the cases were linked to domestic violence. (APAV is a nonprofit organization that provides confidential and free services nationwide to victims of any type of crime.) In 2007, 212 such cases were reported (160 linked to domestic violence). According to the Justice Ministry, of the 80 cases of rape tried in court in 2006, 57 defendants were convicted.
Violence against women, including domestic violence, continued to be a problem. Penalties for violence against women range up to 10 years' imprisonment. Similarly, penalties for sexual harassment in the workplace range up to eight years. The government-sponsored Mission against Domestic Violence conducted an awareness campaign against domestic violence, trained health professionals, proposed legislation to improve legal assistance to victims, increased the number of safe houses for victims of domestic violence, and signed protocols with local authorities to assist victims. The government encouraged abused women to file complaints with the appropriate authorities and offered the victim protection against the abuser. In addition, recent legislation allows third parties to file domestic violence reports.
During the first six months of the year, 7,391 cases of violence against women were reported to APAV; more than 89 percent of these cases involved domestic violence.
The law provides for criminal penalties in cases of violence by a spouse, and the judicial system prosecuted persons accused of abusing women; however, traditional societal attitudes effectively discouraged many abused women from using the judicial system. According to the head of the Mission Against Domestic Violence, approximately 10 percent of cases were brought to trial, while the vast majority were resolved outside the court system by lawyers who mediated between the parties. In 2006, according to the Ministry of Justice, there were 1,033 court cases related to domestic violence and 525 convictions.
The government's Commission for Equality and Women's Rights operated 14 safe houses for victims of domestic violence and maintained an around-the-clock telephone service. Safe-house services included food, shelter, and health and legal assistance.
Prostitution was legal and common; there were reports of violence against prostitutes. Pimping and running brothels are punishable offenses. The penalty for sex with minors between the ages of 14 and 18 is up to three years' imprisonment.
Sexual harassment is a crime if perpetrated by a superior in the workplace. The penalty is two to three years in prison.
The Commission on Equality in the Workplace and in Employment, composed of representatives of the government, employers' organizations, and labor unions, is empowered to examine, but not adjudicate, complaints of sexual harassment. Reporting of sexual harassment was on the rise. During 2007 more than 300 cases of sexual harassment were reported to the Inspectorate General for Labor; three of these resulted in the dismissal of the perpetrator.
The civil code provides women full legal equality with men; however, in practice women experienced economic and other forms of discrimination. Of the 376,917 students enrolled in higher education in the 2007-08 school year, 53.5 percent were women. According to the National Statistics Institute, women made up 47 percent of the working population and were increasingly represented in business, science, academia, and the professions, but their average salaries were about 23 percent lower than men's.
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination by employers against pregnant workers and new mothers; nevertheless, it was generally regarded as a problem.
The government was strongly committed to children's rights and welfare.
Child abuse was a problem. APAV reported 291 crimes against children under the age of 18 during the first six months of the year. Approximately 85 percent of the cases involved domestic violence.
The high-profile trial that began in 2004 of persons accused of involvement in a pedophilia operation at the Casa Pia children's home in Lisbon was drawing to a close at year's end, with final rulings expected early in 2009. The eight accused reportedly abused 46 children and faced charges that included procurement, rape, sexual acts with adolescents, and sexual abuse of minors.
There were reports that Romani parents often used minor children for street begging.
Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits all forms of trafficking in persons; however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, and within the country.
The country is primarily a destination and transit country for women, men, and children trafficked from Brazil, Eastern Europe, and, to a lesser extent, Africa. Some victims were trafficked to the country for forced labor. The majority of victims from Brazil were trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. These latter victims were typically women with a low educational level, between the ages of 18 and 24; the majority were legal immigrants, with their documents in order and valid visas. Traffickers of these women often used the country as a springboard to other European Union destinations. Many of the trafficked minors were the abovementioned children of Romani parents who were used for street begging.
Many trafficked persons lived in hiding and in poor conditions. Some trafficked workers were domiciled within a factory or construction site, and some were not paid. Moldovan, Russian, and Ukrainian organized crime groups reportedly conducted most of the trafficking of East Europeans. The traffickers frequently demanded additional payments and a share of earnings following their victims' arrival in the country, usually under threat of physical harm. They often withheld the identification documents of the trafficked persons and threatened to harm family members who remained in the country of origin.
The government increased its antitrafficking efforts and reported that it actively dismantled trafficking networks during the year and reduced their overall presence in the country. The government continued to cooperate with other European law enforcement agencies in trafficking investigations.
All forms of trafficking are illegal. The revised penal code in effect since September 2007 explicitly criminalizes labor and sex trafficking and increases penalties for both types of trafficking offenses. The penalty for trafficking is up to 12 years in prison, but during the year the majority of traffickers' sentences were suspended.
The government provided subsidies for victims to obtain shelter, employment, education, access to medical services, and assistance in family reunification. The government also provided legal residency to many trafficking victims, although most victims were repatriated. Some NGOs assisted the government in tracking and providing legal, economic, and social assistance to trafficking victims. Victims who initially were detained were later transferred to NGOs for protection and assistance. Trafficking victims had access to government-operated national immigrant support centers in Lisbon and Oporto and 78 local centers throughout the country where they could obtain multilingual information and assistance.
The government sponsored antitrafficking information campaigns and public service announcements throughout the year. It broadcast various programs on state-run channels to educate and inform the general public, including potential trafficking victims and consumers. A statistics-gathering unit within the Ministry of Interior was established in January 2007 to assist the government's antitrafficking efforts by monitoring trafficking more effectively.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be found at 2009-2017.state.gov/j/tip.
Persons with Disabilities
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, or the provision of other state services, and the government effectively enforced the law. The law also mandates access to public buildings for such persons, and the government enforced these provisions in practice; however, no such legislation covers private businesses or other facilities.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity oversees the National Bureau for the Rehabilitation and Integration of Persons with Disabilities, which is responsible for the protection, professional training, rehabilitation, and integration of persons with disabilities, and for enforcement of related legislation.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
On October 3, a Lisbon court convicted 31 of 36 defendants of racism and crimes of a racist nature. The court sentenced six defendants to prison terms of up to seven years; the others received suspended prison sentences, were charged fines, or were ordered to provide community service. The defendants had been active in the right-wing Hammerskin Nation organization. Charges against them included threats, harassment, physical attacks, kidnapping, illegal possession of weapons, and incitement to crime through the circulation of racist, xenophobic, and anti-Semitic messages. This was the first time that the country's courts handed down mandatory prison sentences for hate crimes.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination
There were no reports of societal violence or discrimination based on sexual orientation.
There were no reports of societal violence or discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The law gives workers the right to form and join independent unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive requirements, and they exercised this right in practice. Approximately 35 percent of the workforce was unionized. The law allows unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised this right in practice. If a long strike occurs in an essential sector such as justice, health, energy, or transportation, the government may order strikers back to work for a specific period. The government has rarely invoked this power. Police officers and members of the armed forces have unions and recourse within the legal system, but they may not strike.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The constitution and the labor code recognize and protect the right to bargain collectively. The International Trade Union Confederation stated in its annual survey of violations of trade union rights that in practice collective bargaining and trade union meetings in the public sector were "often hampered" and that private employers "often try to sabotage collective bargaining." There were no reports of antiunion discrimination.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The law prohibits forced and compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were reports that women, men, and children were trafficked to the country for labor, and women were trafficked for sexual exploitation.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment
The government effectively implemented laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in the workplace. The minimum working age is 16 years. Instances of child labor were concentrated geographically and by sector; the greatest problems were reported in Braga, Porto, and Faro, and tended to occur in the clothing, footwear, construction, and hotel industries.
There were reports that Romani parents often used minor children for street begging.
The government's principal program to investigate and respond to reports of illegal child labor is the Plan for the Elimination of Exploitation of Child Labor. The Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity is responsible for enforcing child labor laws, and generally did so effectively.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The monthly minimum wage, which covers full-time workers, rural workers, and domestic employees ages 18 and older, was 426 euros (almost $600) and did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. However, widespread rent controls and basic food and utility subsidies raised the standard of living. Most workers received higher wages; the Ministry of Labor calculated the average monthly salary of workers, excluding public servants, to be 1,063.38 euros (almost $1,500).
The legal workday may not exceed 10 hours, and the maximum workweek is 40 hours. There is a maximum of two hours of paid overtime per day and 200 hours of overtime per year, with a minimum of 12 hours between workdays. The Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity effectively monitored compliance through its regional inspectors.
Employers are legally responsible for accidents at work and are required by law to carry accident insurance. The General Directorate of Hygiene and Labor Security develops safety standards in line with European Union standards, and the general labor inspectorate is responsible for their enforcement. According to the Inspectorate General for Labor, there were 114 deaths from work-related accidents during the year. Workers injured on the job rarely initiated lawsuits. Workers have the right to remove themselves from situations that endanger health or safety without jeopardy to their employment, and the authorities effectively enforced this right.


text:
Herb Calderon stood on the campus of Hillcrest High School, staring at a wall that cost $10 million to build.
The mile-long barrier was constructed to prevent the hillside above from sliding into the new school during a heavy storm. The state-of-the-art campus with its extravagant sculpted concrete wall, he said, has helped upgrade the image of the downtrodden district.
"They wanted a beautiful high school, and we gave them a beautiful high school," said Calderon, assistant superintendent for business services of the Alvord Unified School District in Riverside. "If people knew how much it cost, I'm sure we'd get some flak."
The school, including the wall, cost $110 million to build, but by 2046, when it is finally paid for, it will have cost taxpayers at least $485 million.
Alvord is one of at least 1,350 school districts and government agencies across the nation that have turned to a controversial form of borrowing called capital appreciation bonds to finance major projects, a California Watch analysis of bond financing data in the U.S. shows. Relying on these bonds has allowed districts to borrow billions of dollars while postponing payments in some cases for decades.
This form of borrowing has created billions of dollars in debt for taxpayers and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for financial advisers and underwriters. Voters are usually unaware of the bonds' high interest. At least one state, Michigan, has banned their use.
In California, where rules governing the loans are among the loosest, more than 400 school districts and other agencies have racked up greater capital appreciation bond debt in the past six years than in any other state.
They have borrowed $9 billion that will cost taxpayers $36 billion to repay over the next 40 years, according to data compiled by California Treasurer Bill Lockyer. He called it "debt for the next generation."
"The average tenure of a school superintendent is about three and a half years, so they aren't going to be around in most instances to worry about paying that off," Lockyer said in an interview. "Nor will the voters, probably, that enacted it in the first place."
The capital appreciation bond business in California has been lucrative for dozens of private financial advisers, banks and credit rating firms that have charged government entities nearly $400 million for financial services since 2007, state data show.
The bonds are unusual in public finance because they postpone debt far into the future. Typical school bonds require borrowers to begin making payments immediately and cost two to three times the principal amount to repay. But with deferred payments, districts have ended up paying as much as 23 times the amount borrowed.
The decision to issue these bonds instead of traditional bonds typically is made by district officials after voters have approved bond measures, and the public usually has no knowledge of how much they will cost to repay.
Earlier this month, Lockyer and Tom Torlakson, the state superintendent of public instruction, called for a statewide moratorium on capital appreciation bonds until new legislation limiting their use is in place.
The issue first came to light last year after the Voice of San Diego and a Michigan blogger reported on a questionable capital appreciation bond issued by the Poway Unified School District.
But a California Watch analysis shows that the issue is not unique to California.
Since 2007, school districts and government agencies in at least 27 states and Puerto Rico have financed projects with capital appreciation bonds.
In Texas, 590 districts and other government entities have issued these bonds over the past six years – more than any other state, according to a California Watch review of a database maintained by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, a federal regulatory agency that oversees the municipal bond market. California was second, with 404, followed by Ohio, with 202.
Nationally, the total amount of debt generated by these bonds is unclear. States rely on varying methods for reporting, and in some cases the data is incomplete. Many capital appreciation bonds were issued in packages with other types of bonds, and national databases do not tally their independent values.
In California, some of the most dubious deals occurred in San Diego County, where the Poway Unified School District in 2011 used the bonds to borrow $105 million that will cost $982 million to pay back, a repayment rate of about 9.4 to 1. The same year, the Santee School District borrowed $3.5 million that must be repaid at $58.6 million, or 16.6 times the principal.
Besides school districts, four agencies that receive tobacco-company payments from a court settlement have issued these bonds to construct health care facilities and operate programs. The largest was issued by the Inland Empire Tobacco Securitization Authority – a $206.4 million bond that will cost $3.8 billion to pay back, or more than 18 times the principal.
To finish building Hillcrest High School, the Alvord district issued a $57 million bond in 2011. By 2046, when the loan is paid off, Calderon said, it will have cost taxpayers $375 million – 6.6 times the principal.
Calderon, who joined the Alvord district as chief business officer in July, called the deal "a necessary evil" and said falling property tax revenue and dwindling state funding had left districts with no choice but to engage in risky borrowing.
"If this was a mortgage, you would run," he said. "But this type of creative financing is what we're forced to do."
Bypassing state tax cap
Some California districts, including Alvord, have used the bonds to get around a state limit on property taxes. To pay off bonds, unified school districts are allowed to tax residents no more than $60 per $100,000 of their assessed property value each year. By issuing capital appreciation bonds, districts that have reached that limit can push the tax burdens of new bonds far into the future.
When districts issue these bonds, they are betting that property values will increase enough over time to pay their debts. They often hire private firms to calculate property value projections and structure the deals.
The private firms are paid to determine how much money is safe for districts to borrow, but Lockyer said some financial advisers appear to have exaggerated property value growth projections to get the deals approved.
Although private firms are not obligated to report their fees to state regulators, the state treasurer's office has compiled some fee information found in official bond statements. At least 42 financial firms have charged school districts and other agencies in California a total of $389 million since 2007, Lockyer's office reported.
According to data available to the treasurer, Caldwell Flores Winters, a California-based company specializing in public finance, made the most money advising on California's capital appreciation bonds – $6.8 million on 84 deals. Second was Dale Scott & Co. in San Francisco, with 55 deals worth $4.6 million. California Financial Services, a financial planning firm, was third with $3.5 million on 28 deals.
Financial advisers have been meeting with Lockyer and state legislators to discuss a measure that would limit repayment rates to as little as four times the amount borrowed with capital appreciation bonds, also known as CABs.
"Even though CABs can be a useful tool in managing a district's debt, it appears there have been a number of abuses," said Dale Scott, whose firm was hired by Alvord last year to help manage the district's debt. "That's why we strongly support the proposed legislation that would provide significant taxpayer protections."
While financial advisers help districts structure the bonds, underwriters – typically large banks and investment firms – broker the deals for a commission, selling the bonds whole or breaking them into smaller pieces and selling them to multiple investors.
According to state records, Piper Jaffray was the busiest underwriter since 2007, brokering 165 capital appreciation bonds for a price of $638,045. Goldman Sachs made the most money as an underwriter during the same time period – $1.6 million on a single deal with the San Diego Unified School District.
Both firms declined to comment for this story.
Highly leveraged deals
Nationwide, falling property values have hurt districts' tax revenues, prompting some to turn to long-term bonds. Outside California, however, tighter regulations helped curb their use.
Ohio, for instance, prohibits the type of ballooning debt structures found in many California deals by requiring bonds to maintain a flat debt service. That means the annual payment must remain roughly the same each year.
California removed its flat debt service requirement on long-term bonds in 2009 with the passage of AB 1388. The bill was sponsored by the California Public Securities Association, which lobbies state lawmakers on behalf of financial consultants and underwriters. An association official declined to comment.
While districts have been relying on capital appreciation bonds for more than a decade, there was a slight increase in their use after the bill took effect, state data shows.
"Looking back, the Legislature's decision to eliminate the flat debt service requirement in 2009 is what led to a lot of these highly leveraged deals," said Scott, the financial adviser.
School districts that issued these bonds fall into two categories: those that could not issue standard bonds because they had reached the $60 state tax cap, like Alvord, and others, like the Napa Valley Unified School District, that simply promised voters they would keep their tax rates low.
Napa issued its bonds in 2009 and 2010, in part, because officials had pledged to keep the tax rate well below the state limit.
"Our promise to the voters of Napa was to keep their tax bill at or below $36, and we were able to accomplish that," said Jose Hurtado, a Napa school board member.
In 2006, Napa voters authorized $183 million to repair old school buildings and build a new high school in American Canyon, a rapidly growing area in southern Napa County.
By 2009, when the high school was nearly completed, property values had dropped and the district suddenly found itself short of cash.
On the advice of KNN Public Finance, an Oakland firm, Napa issued a nearly $22 million capital appreciation bond. The loan will cost $154 million – seven times the principal – when it is paid off in 2049.
Three months later, the district issued another bond for $7 million that will have cost $28 million by 2033.
Hurtado said the board did not explain to voters the high cost of repaying the bonds, as far as he knows.
"I don't recall any of those conversations going on," he said. "It doesn't mean they didn't happen, I just don't recall."
KNN charged the district $156,000 for advising on the deals, according to state records. Advisers at KNN declined to be interviewed, but Dave Olson, a managing director for the firm, said in a statement to California Watch that, ultimately, districts set their own fiscal policies.
"The role of the financial advisor is to present the full range of reasonable alternatives to implement that policy," the statement said. "We hope that the district feels we did so in this case."
Some officials have criticized districts like Napa for shifting debt to future taxpayers instead of asking voters to pay now.
"If they're trying to stay under a tax rate promised to the voters, that's completely egregious," said Glenn Byers, assistant treasurer of Los Angeles County, who has been critical of capital appreciation bonds that take longer than 25 years to repay."If they're not at the tax rate's legal limit, it's a slam dunk: They shouldn't be doing (it)."
Complex finance plans
Whether Napa's school board understood the long-term implications when it approved the deal remains unclear. When California Watch first asked school board member Joe Schunk about the deal in November, he said Napa had not issued any capital appreciation bonds.
A week later, he called back and said he had been mistaken.
Fellow board member Hurtado said that KNN had explained the deal but that "it was hard to understand."
"When you're trying to have discussions about CABs versus traditional (bonds) and tax rates, occasionally it all runs together," he said.
Lockyer said the inability of district leaders to grasp complex municipal finance is a problem around the state.
"I've seen materials that went to a school board when they authorized the original issuance and there were blanks where the interest rate amount was to be determined someday," he said. "But that's what they saw when they agreed to a deal."
Ben Johnson, a longtime school board member in Alvord, said he could not remember how the district's $57 million deal was explained to the board when members approved it 2011.
"I think the thought process was that housing prices would increase," he said. "If you're asking me if I would do it in the future, I would not, but you can't go back in time."
Piper Jaffray charged the district $569,416 to underwrite the bond, according to state data.
Calderon, Alvord's chief business officer, lamented the lack of financial expertise that leaves many districts unqualified to navigate complex bond deals – or to do business with high-powered financial advisers and Wall Street investors.
"They're swimming with the big sharks," said Calderon, who likened running a school district to heading up a large corporation. "These are principals and assistant superintendents of curriculum, and they're being promoted in the role of a chief business officer."
Unlike Napa, Alvord had reached the $60 tax cap at the time it decided to issue its capital appreciation bond.
Before Hillcrest High School opened in 2012, Calderon said, Alvord's other two high schools were bursting at the seams. Postponing construction on the new school would have meant holding classes in portable structures, "like a tent city."
With the district unable to borrow more money with traditional bonds and voters demanding a new school, district leaders began to feel the political heat.
"It's one of those situations that people are forced into when there's a lot of pressure put on by either boards or superintendents, that they want this building finished and they want it today," Calderon said.
Cycle of borrowing
Alvord's financial troubles date back at least five years, when the district got stuck in a cycle of borrowing money to pay off previous loans.
"Our whole issue is that, technically, the district is bankrupt," said Scott Andrews, an Alvord district resident who has led opposition to the district's borrowing practices, which according to district officials have left taxpayers $500 million in debt. "No one has been able to explain to me how they're going to pay this back in the future."
Johnson brushed off criticism that the district had dug a hole for itself by spending more than it could afford.
"Alvord at times has been secondary in some people's minds in the county of Riverside," Johnson said. "We want to make sure our students don't go without any opportunities, not just educational but in terms of facilities."
Hence the extravagant design of Hillcrest High School.
Built into the side of a hill, the campus features state-of-the-art facilities, including a stadium, aquatic center and air-conditioned gym. But even after issuing the $57 million bond to complete the school's construction, parts of the campus remain unfinished because the district ran out of money.
For starters, the stadium has no seats. The district could not afford them, so families bring lawn chairs to watch the school's football games.
What was supposed to be an Olympic-size swimming pool was scaled down by half to 25 meters when construction money ran out, leaving a large concrete deck where the rest of the pool was meant to be.
When Calderon first toured the aquatic center after joining the district last summer, he was shocked. "The first words out of my mouth were, 'Where is the rest of the pool?' " he recalled.
Although Hillcrest originally was designed to serve 2,500 students, the district had to scratch an entire wing of classrooms from the building plans due to budget shortages. The school now has space for 1,600 students.
Each classroom cost $10,000 to furnish with hardware and technology, including digital blackboards that likely will be obsolete when the district's first bond payment comes due in 2026.
The school sat empty for a year after it was built because the district did not have enough money to operate it.
Still, Calderon insists that Alvord didn't overreach. Although the district is $500 million in debt, he said, it's "good debt" put toward facilities that will enhance learning for generations of students.
"Maybe one of these years or one of these decades," he said, "if we ever get to sell another bond or do fundraising, maybe we can break open that concrete and build ourselves a true 50-meter, Olympic-size pool."
This story appears courtesy California Watch. Reproduction is not permitted.


text:
Behind The Smoke: 5 Questions with Victor Gallegos of Sea Smoke Cellars
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
I found an excellent 10-question interview Victor did for another online publication a few years back. To get to know Victor and Sea Smoke a little better, and to build a foundation for these remaining questions I'd recommend reading that first and then continuing with the interview below. Click HERE to open that other interview in a new window. Go ahead- I'll wait for you.
Okay, on with the show...
Q: What characteristics of Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir differentiate it from Pinot Noirs from Northern California or Oregon?
Victor Gallegos: The character of Pinot Noir from the Sta. Rita Hills AVA depends quite a bit on location, soil type and winemaking style, but as a generalization…we find a dusty, dark fruit character in many of the wines.
Q: How do you differentiate your 3 Pinot Noirs (Botella, Southing, and Ten) stylistically?
Victor: Our three Pinot Noir bottlings are not from specific locations in the vineyard, but are distinct styles or expressions of Pinot Noir. Botella is light bodied, fruit forward and immediately drinkable. The style objective for Southing is complexity with elegance. Ten is a richer expression of Pinot Noir….big and brooding. Both Southing and Ten have the tannin structure and acidity necessary for them to age well.
Q: How has the economic downturn affected sales at Sea Smoke? Is the wait to get wines via your mailing list a little shorter than it may have been in the past?
Victor: We have been very fortunate and are thankful every day for having such amazingly loyal List members. The economic downturn has in some ways been a positive for Sea Smoke, as those accounts and List members who did not buy their full allocations in 2009 allowed us to offer allocations to folks who had been patiently biding their time on our waitlist (which is still about 3 years). As a result, in 2009, our direct-to-consumer sales increased from 52% to 76% of total sales.
Q: A bottle of Sea Smoke Botella appears in the movie "Sideways". Given how successful and influential that movie has been, I'd love to hear the story of how your wine wound up in the movie. Would you mind sharing?
Q: Any tips for someone wanting to try your wines who can't find them locally and is waiting to receive an allocation on your mailing list?
Victor: Unfortunately, we are not able to match production to the demand for our wines: we do not buy grapes, we always farm meticulously for vine balance, and there is no more plantable land at Sea Smoke. So the supply is not likely to change except in years when mother nature is kind to us (like 2009)…..and even then, not very much. That said, our wines are in many restaurants and fine wines shops just after general market release each year in October, so are easier to find around that time. We also do our best to get an allocation to some of our waitlist each year…..and in the meantime, we offer thanks to everyone for being so patient.
I'd like to thank Victor for taking the time to share this insight with us.
Further Reading:
- Visit the Sea Smoke Cellars website and get on their List
- Why the 2004 Southing was my Wine of the Year
- An interview with last year's winner- Ryan Zepaltas of Zepaltas Wines
Upper Falls Liquors
150 Needham Street
Newton, MA 02464-1506
(617) 969-9200
Question of the Day: Any questions for Victor about Sea Smoke?


text:
Hey remember Windows 8? How could you forget? It was the biggest upheaval in desktop computing in recent memory, and even if you're not a user, its big colorful tiles are on your radar. Now, with Windows 8.1, Microsoft is giving its flashy new OS a first facelift. The changes are minor, but they're more than the sum of their parts.
What Is It?
The first major update to Windows 8. A free upgrade for existing Windows 8 owners. A $120 (or $200 for the Professional Edition) purchase for everyone else. A collection of tweaks to tighten up some of the wonkier bits of Windows 8. A resurrector of start buttons.
Who Is It For?
Everybody who's got Windows 8 already. Everybody who's been on the fence about a Windows 8 upgrade. Anyone who buys a new PC in the foreseeable future.
Why It Matters
Windows 8 was more than just a new way about thinking about the desktop interface for Microsoft; it was a major bet that touch was/is the future of computing. A bet that it could flesh out its meager Windows App store. A bet that people would come around to Metro's dramatic changes and not run screaming in the other direction.
It seems that Microsoft may have underestimated the intensity of some of that running and screaming though, particularly in regard to the lack of a start button, and the lack of an option to boot right to desktop. The moaning has been load enough, it seems, that Microsoft has seen fit to acquiesce just a little bit, and just there.
Windows 8.1 matters because it represents dual opportunities for Microsoft: A chance to double down, and a chance to backtrack before it's too late. And it manages to do just enough of both to keep converts happy, and to lure its share of skeptics over to the tile side.
When you first boot up Windows 8.1, you aren't going to notice many differences slapping you across the face; the user interface is pretty much exactly the same. Metro is still your colorful little landing page by default, and the traditional desktop still lives behind it. You've still got your Charms off to the right, your app drawer hiding away at the bottom. Live tiles can be smaller now, little one-by-one squares that remind you of Windows Phone, but other than that things look pretty much the same. At a glance, anyway.
Which frankly they'd damn well better. After an upheaval like the transition to Windows 8, the last thing anyone needs is more wild design changes. Windows 8 was/is Microsoft's future. The tiles are canon. There will not be any retcons. Not now, anyway.
What's New
That doesn't mean Windows 8.1 is just some Windows 8 rebrand. Tucked away beneath the now-familiar veneer of the desktop and Metro screen are pockets of beautiful new functionality. You just have to dig a little. Here's what you'll find.
Start Button!
Hey, you want a start button? Fine, here's a start button. But if you're pining for start-menu-days-gone-by this is only half of what you're looking for. Windows 8.1's new desktop start button launches you right to your Metro screen, and really, it's just another way to accomplish something you could already do with the Charms bar and the Windows key. But if your muscle memory still has you gravitating towards that lower lefthand corner, it's a nice addition.
Boot to Desktop
Boot to desktop just barely edges out the start button as the biggest concession in Windows 8. It does exactly what you'd expect; boots you right to desktop with no Metro screen in the way. And unlike the start button—which still involves Metro—boot to desktop is a pure bypass.
Bing-powered omnisearch
Search has been elevated from a keyboard-centric way to select one of your apps to a place where you can interface with a firehose of internet. Instead of simply searching your computer, it now includes web search results as well (via Bing, naturally). The result is that the Metro desktop now doubles as your search engine, and a nice one at that.
If your search returns an installed app, it'll boot up on hitting enter, but for your average query (e.g. "puppies" or "when will sweet death come?"), you'll be shunted not to a traditional page of Bing results, but rather a carousel of screenshots from the web pages that were returned in the search, and some images if applicable. It's a more touchy, splashy, swipey way to search and it's lovely. Bing still doesn't have the best results, but this somehow makes them seem more palatable.
But if you search for a city, or a band, or any other number of things Bing has the ability to recognize as things (e.g. New York City, Pavement, or Street Sharks), you get a different sort of result. Windows 8.1 will serve up a dashboard showing you the current weather and a list of attractions in said city. A list of popular songs from said band, linked right into Xbox Music. A list of YouTube clips of said show that was totally not a rip-off of some other cartoon about turtles. And if that info isn't relevant for whatever reason, traditional results are a just one swipe away.
It's certainly a fancy update, and one that's nice to look at. But most importantly it does a good job masking that fact that you're using—and are stuck using—Bing. Likewise you're stuck using Microsoft apps for the quick-links the search returns. For instance, even if you change your default music app, the links open in Xbox Music.
If you genuinely just want to know more about a person, place, or thing, this pretty little Bing spread is useful. But there are only so many times you need to know the population of New York. More likely you just hammered a query into the search without half a thought, looking for the path of least resistance to a Wikipedia page. And in that case, Bing's little "look what I can do!" spread is all but useless, despite being both pretty and ostensible a good search result, even though none of that's what you were actually looking for. Fortunately it's not hard to ignore.
More options for split Metro apps
Metro apps are no longer restricted to a 30:70 split when you're using two at once. How many option you have depends on the apps—some splits are scalable virtually to the pixel, others scale in larger "clicks"—but you're now free to do a 50:50, or a 60:40. That doesn't mean everything is perfect; Sometimes apps will load up more horizontal real estate than you can see in their sliver. Sometimes they won't resize to fit the block you make for them, and you get disgusting gray space.
The issue here seems to be that some apps just aren't ready for the increased number of split options. And in the meantime they'll stick to their 30 or 70 sizes. It should theoretically get better with time, but it's probably going to require updates from the app makers.
But still, the option to resize here is a big improvement. It's particularly helpful for multitasking where both halves of the equation are equally important, like half-watching YouTube and surfing the web, or paraphrasing something from a Wikipedia article. Stuff where relegating one app to a lesser sliver just doesn't cut it.
The ability to maybe split three apps at once would have been even better, but we'll take what we can get.
A Metro background to match your desktop
A small change that makes all the difference in the world is the ability to make your Metro background match your desktop background. The effect is that Metro feels like it's popping up in front of your desktop, not replacing it. That does a lot to anchor you to a sense of place.
Single best update in Windows 8.1? Probably not, but god it's close. Easily the most underrated.
A new way to move Metro tiles around
It's easier to tweak your Metro screen now. Where changing the location and sizing of tiles in Windows 8 could be a little non-indicative, 8.1 pushes you into a more traditional—and mobile OS-feeling—"movin' stuff around" mode. And once you've activated it by holding down a tile, you can drag them all around the screen and resize them through the option bar at the bottom. But most importantly you can't actually engage any apps from here, so no worries of accidentally lunching into "Stocks" while you're just trying to remove it.
Being able to shrink live tiles all the way down to tiny squares gives you more freedom to pack stuff in if that's your bag. You also get to name app groupings. But you still can't change tile colors, and can make the control freak inside you sad.
App updates
Most of the Windows app suite is getting updated along with the new version of the OS, but a few in particular are worth noting.
Xbox Music has a brand new face. The framework behind the scenes appears to be pretty much identical to the original app, but the interface is much prettier this time around. Also, when you pull off a Bing omnisearch for a musician, the links it pops up will open (and play) in Xbox Music if you click 'em.
But perhaps Xbox Music's fanciest new trick is that it can parse text-based lists of songs and turn them into playlists. Just share an "OMG the 100 best songs of 2003" webpage to the Music app with the Charms menu and the app does the rest.
Windows Store has a brand new look. There's not much in the way of functional differences, but the layout's less dense this time around. There are more, bigger images, and it's overall more swipey, like a lot of things in 8.1. Hope you've got a touchscreen, or at least a good touchpad.
There are new apps too. Our favorite is Reading List. It's basically a Metro-style, read-it-later kind of app, and you can share webpages directly to it from your Charms menu. Handy, and all the moreso for being built right in. The only downside is that you can't share things to it from the desktop; you've gotta be in Metro for that.
There are also two new Bing apps, Bing Food and Drink and Bing Health and Fitness. The first has some hand-wavy controls that could theoretically be useful in the kitchen when your hands are covered in god-knows-what, the second has health, diet, and exercise information. Theoretically useful but basically bloatware.
More settings options in Metro
Last and probably least, settings get a nice revamp in Metro. You can now see and change things like the display resolution and mouse settings from inside the Metro settings app. You probably won't have to do that often, but the way Windows 8 shoved you to desktop to mess with a traditional Control Panel window was jarring and disorienting. This is better.
There are also a couple new options tucked away in the new Settings app. If you don't like hot corners, for example, you can now turn them off without the aid of any third-party software. Also you can finally give your apps permission to auto-update instead of always waiting for your go-ahead. You'll also find options to change your default apps for almost anything, maps, mail, music, etc.
Using It
Using Windows 8.1 is pretty much the same as using Windows 8. Pretty much. There are no huge overhauls. No changes to the logic of Windows 8. The small changes there are, though, add up to great additions for the kind of people inclined to use them.
People inclined to hide from the Metro interface as much as possible, for instance, will be incredibly relieved to have boot to desktop options, and to a lesser extent, a start button. These folks are the ones who will fight the Windows 8 future tooth and nail. Microsoft has heard your anguished cries, and it's thrown you as big of a bone as you can hope to get.
But on the other hand, Windows 8.1 seems more intent than ever to pull users into the Metro interface, and into its suite of built in apps. Things like a shared desktop-Metro background and increased control over your own personal live tile layout make Metro seem less inhospitable. As does the increased multi-app support, and the Metro-only omnisearch option. If you haven't sworn off Metro yet, 8.1 is Microsoft's newest attempt to lure you in, and it's a more tempting offer than last time.
Windows 8.1 is also designed to pull you deeper into Microsoft's suite of apps. Metro searches for music will provide links that pull you right into the Xbox Music app before you can say "Spotify." SkyDrive is now integrated directly into the traditional File Browser like any other drive. Reading List might win converts from Instapaper or Pocket out of sheer convenience. There's a lot to be gained by diving right into all that, which is exactly what Microsoft is imploring you to do.
Windows 8.1 is Windows 8, but better. For everyone.
It's better if you want your Windows to behave like its forebears. Boot to desktop, use that start button, and you'll hardly have to notice the rest. You will still notice it, but it's easier than ever to shove it out of the way.
It's also better if you're down to embrace Metro. Using two Metro apps at once is now practical in virtually all scenarios, instead of just ones that lend themselves to a 30:70 split like browsing the web and looking at Twitter. Or watching a movie and looking at Twitter. You know, doing anything and looking at Twitter. Specialized search results for cities and people and bands and TV shows are striking, beautiful even, but they also don't get in the way of finding more traditional results. Even more gimmicky features—like being able to share websites that feature a text-based list of songs to Xbox Music and have it generate an actual playlist—are undeniably cool, and all the better for being built-in. Literally at your fingertips.
So many of these improvements, though welcome, do feel a bit like they're late to the party. Like this is the rest of Windows 8, rather than additional features. Why couldn't you just have your Metro and desktop backgrounds match in the first place? Or search the web from the desktop? It feels mostly like Microsoft is addressing its oversights instead of staking new ground.
But that's all said and done. The fact of the matter is that Windows 8.1 is a better Windows 8 in nearly every way.
No Like
Nearly every way. There are still gripes to be had. Windows 8.1 is noteworthy for not explicitly introducing many changes, but there are still things it hasn't fixed. Of course, as Windows 8.x progresses and Microsoft refines its vision more and more, there are fewer "problems" in a strict sense and more just "things you might not like." But here, with Windows 8.1, there are still both.
Windows 8.1 still has a problem with scaling, like Windows 8 before it. And in an update that seems so keen on giving users more options, it's a bummer to see this missing. Essentially, if you have one small but high-res screen, you will run into trouble because Windows 8 (and 8.1) will default to rendering things as tiny on these pixel-dense displays. You can blow everything up in settings to fix it, and embiggen your OS on the whole. That's fine, but it becomes a problem if you're rocking two displays, like a very small but pixel-dense one (like a laptop), paired with a larger, less-dense display. Instead of a good choice (which scaling option do you want on each display?), you're left with a bad choice (do I want my big display to look normal and my laptop tiny, or my laptop normal and my big display like a Fischer Price toy?). It's a problem that's only going to affect a subset of users, but it's a noisy subset that cares a lot about this sort of thing.
So it turns out there is display-centric DPI scaling, but the option is buried and rather non-indicative. It's possible to actually change the scaling of one display and then another by dragging a dialog box around and then adjusting its slider inside the different displays while the option "Let me choose one scaling option for all my displays" is unchecked or selecting a monitor in the display menu, clicking through to the scaling menu, going back to display to select the other monitor, and clicking through to scaling again.
It's unintuitive, but it works! The only downside is that windows will issue a glitched-out flicker for a second as they're rescaling from one screen to the other, but it's better than nothing. We just wish it was a little clearer that this was actually an option somewhere in the window with all the scaling options.
And then there's Metro in general. It's more viable than ever—especially for tablets, where it feels downright wonderful—but it's still just uncanny as an interface for a desktop PC, where it feels like you should be able to do more things at once. Splitting two apps however you want is a step in the right direction, but the whole Metro thing is such a step back multitasking-wise that it hardly even matters.
No, you don't have to use Metro if you don't want to. But it's clear that this is where Microsoft is devoting the lion's share of its energy. The start button and boot to desktop are two big wins for hardcore revisionists, but they're probably the last we'll see. Metro is clearly intended to be the future not only for mobile but for desktop—to whatever extent "desktop" continues to exist into the future—and it's still not clear how well it reconciles both of those worlds.
Test Notes
- We did our testing on Windows 8.1 Preview Build 9431. So basically this is the meat of Windows 8.1, but not the absolutely final totally finished version that showed up in the Windows Store. Some features—specifically ones that involved Microsoft services, like sharing music lists to Xbox Music—didn't work on the preview build because Microsoft hadn't hooked up the pipes yet. We'd seen them in action though, and we're taking another quick sweep now that the final version is live.
- We tested Windows 8.1 on a couple of different devices, including touchscreen laptops, a tablet, and a more traditional non-touch desktop set-up. Windows 8 was always at its best when a touchscreen was involved, and 8.1 is no different. There's now a Help and Tips app that will explain some of the more arcane hot-corner tricks for mouse and keyboard navigation, but no matter how serviceable that option is (very serviceable!) it just never feels right.
- It's worth mentioning most of these changes are also coming to Windows 8.1 RT, the ARM-based version of Windows that's been all but abandoned by anyone who's not Microsoft. 8.1 RT will get all the same Metro-centric upgrades, but probably not boot to desktop because, well, duh. Still, you can expect most of these updates to roll out to your Surface RT if you have one, and Surfaces 2s will come with 8.1 out of the box.
Should You Buy It?
If you've already got Windows 8 then there's no buying involved. You can go download your 8.1 update from the Windows Store right now for free. And you should! Windows 8.1 isn't any sort of revolution, but its collection of little annoyance fixes are all well worth having, especially for free.
If you've been hiding from Windows 8 entirely and ignoring the possibility of an upgrade just because of Metro, now is a better time than ever to stop doing that. With the start button and the introduction of a boot-to-desktop mode, it's never been more easy to pretend that Windows 8 doesn't have a whole bunch of tiles.
Moreover, Windows 8.1 shows that while Microsoft is willing to make a few concessions to ornery users—like that start button—the basic premise of Windows 8 is here to stay. There's no avoiding it. So you may as well get on the upgrade train now, or find another ride.


text: Any government that wants to set priorities for cybersecurity should probably put its energy infrastructure close to the top.If your electricity or fuel supplies are down, it's tough to provide just about anything else. Heat, refrigeration, water, factories, financial services, power equipment, groceries, retail, and entertainment \u2014 they all depend on the power grid.So it is no surprise that the energy sector ranks close to the top of targets for cyber attackers. If you really want to cripple anything, from an enterprise to a nation state, take down its power infrastructure.Another reason energy is an increasingly high-risk industry is the variety of attackers interested in it. Candid Wueest, a researcher for security firm Symantec, said in a recent report titled, "Targeted Attacks Against the Energy Sector," that miscreants ranging from so-called script kiddies to rival corporations, hacktivists with a political agenda, hostile insiders, cyber criminals out to make money through sabotage or blackmail and nation states or those acting under their sponsorship are all looking to steal proprietary information or damage the grid.Wueest reported that there were an average of 74 targeted cyberattacks per day between July 2012 and June 2013, with the energy sector accounting for 16.3% of them, which put it in second place behind government\/public sector at 25.4%.The U.S. government's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported last year that its Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) responded to more than 200 incidents between Oct. 2012 and May 2013 \u2014 with 53% aimed at the energy sector.There have, so far, not been any successful catastrophic attacks on the grid, and there is ongoing debate about how high the risk is for what both former Defense secretary Leon Panetta and former Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano called a "cyber Pearl Harbor" attack.Some experts contend that while the risks are real and should cause concern, they are unlikely to cause catastrophic, long-term damage. Others say the nation's economy could be paralyzed for a number of months to more than a year while critical infrastructure (CI) systems are rebuilt.Whatever the present danger, Wueest wrote that, "the increasing number of connected systems and centralized control for ICS (Industrial Control Systems) means that the risk of attacks in the future will increase. Energy and utility companies need to be aware of these risks and plan accordingly to protect their valuable information as well as their ICS or SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) networks."Indeed, ICS experts like Joe Weiss, managing partner at Applied Control Solutions, have been warning for years about the risk of having not only centralized control systems, but that also having virtually all of them made by the same company \u2013 Siemens \u2013 adds to the vulnerability.Add to that the explosion in the number of devices that connect to the power grid \u2013 whether through small power generation units like wind and solar collectors or the number of "smart" devices in individual homes \u2013 and the potential attack surface is increasing exponentially.Edith Ramirez, chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), said at a conference last fall on the Internet of Things that the 3.5 billion "smart" sensors now on the network are expected to grow to trillions within the next decade.The catastrophic breach of retailer Target between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a stark example of how protection of a central system is not enough; hackers didn't break directly into the company's POS (Point of Sale) terminals. Reportedly, they gained access through an email phishing attack on a Pennsylvania HVAC firm that did business with Target.And in the face of all this, too many control systems are woefully unprepared to withstand the threat. ICS-CERT reported about a year ago on a series of brute force attacks on gas compressor station operators, which means those systems were Internet facing, even though there are numerous recommendations from ICS-CERT that advise against it.Security guru Bruce Schneier, CTO at Co3 Systems, declared in a blog post this past August, that everything from consumer devices to massive industrial control systems have, "long been hackable."Craig Heffner, a vulnerability researcher with Tactical Network Solutions, said last fall at the FTC conference that, "consumer devices typically don't have any security, at least not by today's standards."Earlier this month, at the Kaspersky Security Analyst Summit in the Dominican Republic, Jonathan Pollet, founder of Red Tiger Security and a consultant who specializes in ICS systems told of being able to debug the control system of an amusement park ride in Texas, simply using his laptop, because a Siemens PLC was part of the control system. He needed no credentials to reconfigure the control system.Terry McCorkle, an ICS and automation security researcher, told of being able to break into a building's automation system over the Internet, which eventually let him control everything from the building's energy system to its door locks and security cameras.To make things even worse, ICS-CERT reported that it was difficult to analyze the attacks because logging and forensics data from the ICS network was limited or entirely non-existent.Experts say the obvious thing to do is to take those systems off the Internet. But until that happens, there are some intermediate measures available. Eric Knapp, Director of Strategic Alliances for Wurldtech Security Technologies, said last year that if a system is incapable of producing its own log data, there are commercial security tools designed to monitor networks, systems, and behavior and have built in logging functions.TK Keanini, CTO of Lancope said if a control system must face the Internet, "There is a concept of 'least privilege' that should be practiced. Any system or subsystem should only be granted the minimal access needed for the tasks performed."Keanini said a lack of log data is inexcusable. "This is a design flaw and must be corrected immediately," he said. "Any and all networked devices must provide a ledger of their activity such that prior, during, and after any security related incident, there are records of the activities. The ICS ISAC (Industrial Control System Information Sharing and Analysis Center) is painfully aware of this and is trying to put together a reference architecture called SARA (Situational Awareness Reference Architecture)."This is not rocket science and it is embarrassing that we need to argue for this functionality after the fact," he said.But he said it may take that catastrophic attack to prompt the kind of security improvements that are needed. "As with all human behavior, it only changes when things go wrong. In fact, they have to go very wrong before system-wide change is put in place and I'm afraid we have not seen 'very wrong' yet in the energy sector."More on critical infrastructure protectionCritical infrastructure: Off the web, out of danger?Cybersecurity, critical infrastructure, and the federal governmentU.S. critical infrastructure under Cyber-AttackHow much at risk is the U.S.'s critical infrastructure?Choose preparation over fear to protect critical infrastructure Critical infrastructure risks still high


text:
Webster Bible Translation
Warnings against False Teachers
1Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons; 2Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving by them who believe and know the truth. 4For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if received with thanksgiving: 5For it is sanctified by the word of God, and prayer.
A Good Minister of Jesus Christ
6If thou shalt put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou wilt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished by the words of faith and of good doctrine, to which thou hast attained. 7But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather to godliness. 8For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable to all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. 9This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation. 10For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe.
11These things command and teach. 12Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in deportment, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 13Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. 14Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. 15Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. 16Take heed to thyself and to thy doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou wilt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
Webster Bible Translation
Section Headings Courtesy BereanBible.com
© 2013, 2014 Used by Permission
Bible Hub


text:
|Don't ask to ask, just ask
comment on
|( #3333=superdoc: print w/replies, xml )
|Need Help??
<Samuel Jackson Voice>
This code is brilliant++ and I am humbled. Since this is listed as a follow-up to my post, I suppose it's only fitting that I post the spoiler :)
To understand what the program is supposed to do, try man wc.
Note, to write this spoiler, I used this this snippet:
When figuring out the code, I cleaned up the formatting and removed the "useless" code, so your output will be different from mine.
To get the C code, I used this:
Highlight the following section to see the code.
Join the Perlmonks Setiathome Group or just click on the the link and check out our stats.
In reply to (Ovid - Spoiler) Re: C is Perl
by Ovid


text:
Hey there! I'm the midday news anchor for the Dennis and Judi Show on NJ 101.5. You may have heard my name before as I have co-hosted a number of morning shows on rock radio stations up and down the Jersey Shore as well as New York City. I also dabbled in business for a while at The Wall Street Journal Radio Network. While I am a Staten Island girl, I've been living in the Garden State (near the beach) for almost 20 years. I have a teenage son (yikes!). I'm a die-hard Bruce Springsteen fan. I love the New York Mets (my dad was a lefty relief pitcher for the Mets in the 1960s). I love animals, (especially my cat Gingerbread, my rabbit, Shadow and an adorable bloodhound named Esther). I enjoy going to concerts (I love live music). I'm a beach girl through and through (you will find me there a lot). I enjoy watching The Brick Memorial Marching Mustangs in action and doing the announcing for their home shows. I love the color purple, anything coconut-scented and a good red wine. Italian food (my heritage) and seafood are my faves. I'll travel anywhere. Just don't ever ask me to attend a Yankees game or go camping...the answer will always be no. LOL. That's me in a nutshell! Talk to you on the radio!
Jen Ursillo
How to Disinfect Your Homes Against COVID-19
Your kitchen cabinet may already be stocked with cleaning supplies that can kill novel coronavirus.