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Standing Funeral Sprays
Janousek Florist specializes in providing exqusite funeral sprays in a variety of colors, sizes and prices. We offer a full range of color themes including mixed pastels, bright and colorful, masculine and feminine shades in addition to all rose standing sprays in a variety of solid or mixed colors. We carry the largest variety of seasonal flowers too. Feel free to call our floral designers at 402-556-5652 today to discuss your needs or simply pick from our selection of funeral arrangements. We guarantee your flowers will be fresh and delivered on-time.
The Janousek family has been delivering exquisite funeral flowers for over 100 years.
Blessed Heart
Blessings of the Earth Easel
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Divine Light
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Multi-Color Standing Sympathy Wreath
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subset: commoncrawl


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Feeling a little bit disengaged at work is not only common; it's normal. Whether we're experiencing pressure from a looming deadline, tension from a strained work relationship, or compounding stress from a myriad of work issues, a lack of engagement is inevitable.
When those feelings of stress become debilitating, however, we often automatically jump to labeling our experience as burnout. But not all feelings associated with work stress are consistent with this condition. In one of our (Kandi's) ongoing, unpublished research studies of highly stressed leaders, there is strong evidence to suggest that prolonged exposure to extreme work stressors does not always correlate with the full psychological syndrome of burnout.
So how can you learn to tell the difference?
Examining and characterizing your stress-related feelings are the first and most important steps to connecting to the support that will be most helpful given your unique experience. To help you determine whether the feelings you have are consistent with burnout, or if they're something less serious that could lead to burnout if left unchecked, consider the following question: Are you experiencing a migraine, or is this just a headache?
When we interview or coach leaders who are burned out, they often say the experience is like the difference between these two conditions. Like migraines, burnout isn't just a little pain or irritation that interrupts your day — it often results in significant functional impairment. It may feel excruciating and debilitating, and it causes feelings of intense emotional exhaustion, extreme cynicism, and minimal professional efficacy. Determining whether you're experiencing burnout is extremely important, since it's associated with increased long-term risk of serious medical problems like atrial fibrillation, type 2 diabetes, and high cholesterol that can lead to coronary artery disease.
Further, since burnout is really an organizational issue and is not simply the result of a deficiency in self-care, the interventions to address it are more complex and require strategies beyond the commonly prescribed "get more exercise" or "get better sleep." Discerning whether you're experiencing burnout doesn't just provide insight into your personal work experience, but it can also help you advocate for meaningful change at the organizational level to support the well-being of your colleagues and your organizational culture as a whole.
If It's Not Burnout, What Is It?
While some of the highly stressed leaders in Kandi's studies have expressed a lack of full engagement, the vast majority of them are not burned out. Instead, they're experiencing strong feelings associated with just one of the symptoms of burnout, resulting in an experience of ineffectiveness, disengagement, or overextension.
Consistent with Kandi's research, perhaps you're experiencing one of these feelings, and not the full syndrome of burnout. To help you clarify, consider the following questions.
Do you feel you deserve more?
If you feel underappreciated, undervalued, or taken for granted, you may not feel as effective at work as you know you can be. Few things are more demoralizing in a professional setting than working hard and going unnoticed. These feelings are typically the result of an absence of extrinsic reinforcement — feeling worthy of more recognition and/or respect from others.
If you feel generally engaged and are not emotionally drained or pessimistic, you're most likely experiencing feelings of ineffectiveness rather than burnout. Researchers say that feelings of ineffectiveness have less to do with stressors and more to do with a lack of positive qualities of work, such as appreciation, meaning, autonomy, and helpful feedback, to name a few. To increase your sense of effectiveness, consider asking your boss for more challenging or meaningful work, more independence, and feedback that shows they care about your development.
Do you frequently think, "This isn't what I signed up for"?
If you often feel disappointed at work or question whether you're in the right place, it's likely that you're experiencing feelings of disengagement. For example, one of our coaching clients, Casey,* loved working for a small startup. She felt challenged, had the flexibility she needed to care for her two young children, and saw a direct connection between her work and a positive impact on the organization's clients. But when she learned that they were being acquired by a much larger firm, she began to feel overwhelmingly disconnected with the direction she believed the organization was going.
Organizational psychologists refer to this as a break in the psychological contract. People like Casey who feel disengaged at work are generally able to handle the demands of the job and usually feel confident in their abilities. Instead, their stress stems from feeling misaligned with the organization's values, culture, other employees, or the profession itself. If this is you, consider giving the situation a bit more time before you decide to look for another job. And don't forget to use your emotional intelligence to embrace changes associated with psychological contract breaks.
Do you work to keep up or do you work to escape?
If you're feeling emotionally exhausted, but generally have a positive attitude toward work, you're likely experiencing feelings of overextension caused by overworking. One of our coaching clients, Lance,* is a physician who is dedicated to his job and derives a strong sense of meaning from his work, but he feels exhausted due to long hours and inadequate time to recover. People like Lance tend to feel fulfilled and involved in their work, but they're also incredibly tired. Lance's psychological experience is one of overextension, and this is distinct from the feeling of being both exhausted and cynical, two core symptoms of burnout.
It's no secret that overwork can lead to burnout. The difficult part is determining what, or really who, is driving the work demands. Burnout is caused by workplace-imposed overexertion, where the demands of the job overwhelm the resources available.
Self-imposed work demands lead to a different phenomenon. Work addiction, commonly called workaholism, isn't always bad, especially if you love your work. If you're not careful, however, you may become addicted to compulsively overworking, often in an effort to escape emotional distress. If left unchecked, workaholism can be associated with a number of serious health consequences, including increased risk for heart disease and diabetes. If you find yourself overworking, try setting a specific goal for how many hours a day you will work, find a hobby or an enjoyable non-work activity, or learn a new skill.
Workplace stressors are an inevitable part of the professional experience, and heightening our awareness to our feelings will keep us from being snowed under by work demands. By examining our internal experiences, we can accurately label our feelings and seek the help and support we need to remain resilient, resolved, and engaged in the pursuit of our professional passions.
* Real names have been changed.


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On my Youtube channel I asked for some tips on content to make and one request was to do a video my favorite face makeup products. That is why I decided to sit down and film just that but with a twist. In this video I try to give you different options so that depending on your skin tone, skin type and budget, you will have some options to choose from. I hope you enjoy!
Face makeup favorites
I first cover the base products and then talk about some color products. With some of these products I have more experience than with others, but some I just had to tell you about as I definitely have my favorites in each of the categories I feature. For some picks, I only have drugstore options as there is just no denying how good some drugstore products can be.
Products mentioned:
- Urban Decay Naked Skin foundation
- L'Oreal Infallible 24 Hr Fresh Wear foundation
- YSL All Hours foundation
- Catrice Liquid Camouflage concealer
- Make Up Revolution Conceal & Define concealer
- NYX HD Powder Banana
- MAC Mineralized Skin Finish Natural
- Too Faced Primed & Poreless pressed powder
- H&M Beauty bronzer Sheer Tan
- Hourglass Ambient Lighting Bronzer Nude Bronze Light
- H&M Beauty Blush Tawny Peach
- Kiko Shade Fusion Trio blush
- Kiko Glow Fusion powder highlighter
- Becca Prismatic Amethyst highlighter
- Urban Decay All Nighter setting spray
- Catrice Prime and Fine fixing spray
What are your face makeup products?


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Lisbon is a city built on seven hills, which means that it's never hard to find a spectacular view. And with a cocktail in hand, such panoramas can be even more alluring. From exclusive hangouts like Silk Club to converted spaces like Park Bar and Lost in Esplanada, the best rooftop bars in Lisbon serve their photogenic vistas alongside expertly made drinks. Join us as we discover the best places to drink, dance and watch the sun go down over Lisbon.
Silk Club is one of the hottest and most exclusive bars in Lisbon. Located on top of the highest building in the Chiado district, the contemporary venue is impressive both on the inside and out. With panoramic vistas over River Tagus, its sizeable terrace is one of the capital's best spots for a sundowner. Even at night when the city is swathed in darkness, the twinkling lights of the buildings and 25 de Abril Bridge make for a stunning sight. Stop by for Japanese bites and craft cocktails as a DJ spins tunes into the early hours of the morning.
A prime example of Lisbon's innovative urban design, Park Bar has taken a bland parking garage in Bairro Alto and transformed it into an uber-trendy garden terrace. Perched on top of the car park, the bar isn't the easiest to find, but it's worth the effort for its quirky ambiance and striking city views. Come here in the early afternoon to relax on wooden furniture in the makeshift pot plant garden, while enjoying cocktails, burgers and eclectic tunes as the sun goes down over the city.
You don't have to meditate to find your happy place in Lisbon, all you need to do is pop by Lost In bar. One of the most unique rooftop bars in Lisbon, the Indian-inspired restaurant and drinking den in Príncipe Real is packed with positivity and tranquillity. Soothe your soul, and your stomach, with food and drinks in the fresh air of the hilltop terrace and let the colourful décor and stunning views boost your mood faster than you can say "Namaste".
Located on top of the Martim Moniz shopping centre, Topo is a relaxed spot and the perfect break from sightseeing (or shopping) at any time of the day. The multi-level terrace has unbeatable views of the historic St George's Castle, while the kitchen and bar serve up Portuguese tapas and craft cocktails.
While it's not on a roof per say, the hilltop Le Chat is worth a mention for its stunning riverside terrace and intriguing glass cube façade. The restaurant/bar/lounge is located next to the Ancient Art Museum and is a great place to go for light bites, coffee and original cocktails. Le Chat is open from noon to midnight so stop by for a sun break during the day or pull up a chair for a front row seat to an unforgettable sunset.
A prime location atop a former train station that's set just back from the Tagus means Ferroviário Bar Terraço is blessed with sublime river vistas. It's laidback and cool in keeping with its Lisbon setting, with the occasional live music set adding extra ambiance. Arrive early to secure a table on the FROW, settle back with a spritz and enjoy the view.
Draw away from the dancefloor at LuxFrágil for a moment to head out to its roof terrace. It's a refreshing breather from the high-octane DJ sets storming the dancefloors of Lisbon's most popular nightclub, and it offers spectacular views across the city, the glitter of lights and the Tagus sparkling beyond. Enjoy a martini beneath the moon before heading back into the thumping fray to party until dawn.
Celebrate and toast to new beginnings with Corinthia Lisbon on New Year's Eve. Enjoy an immersive experience as we transport our guests back to the French Bohemian era, capturing the spirit of the iconic Moulin Rouge musical. Expect an unforgettable evening filled with glamour, fine dining, and live entertainment.


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Malala Yousafzai (18), Nobel Peace Prize Winner 2014, told Channel 4 in the UK about Hate-Trump:
"The more you speak about Islam and against all Muslims, the more terrorists we create.
It's important that whatever politicians say, whatever the media say, they should be really, really careful about it.
If your intention is to stop terrorism, do not try to blame the whole population of Muslims for it because it cannot stop terrorism. It will radicalize more terrorists."
In an interview with AFP, Yousafzai called Trump's comments "tragic" and "full of hatred, full of this ideology of being discriminative towards others."
"If we want to end terrorism we need to bring quality education so we defeat the mindset of terrorism mentality and of hatred."
Watch her answer to Globalo founder Hubertus Hoffmann on how to promote tolerance and respect here.


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A few folks emailed me yesterday asking whether the little flags I posted on Instagram yesterday would be for sale in the shop...the answer is no.
While they are super cute...I think they are so simple and fun to make. Some things are way better shared than sold:) I do forsee them popping up in Bananafishstudio digital products though...
starting right now.
For free. Happy NSD! By the way, they are free everyday...not just today.
If you were wondering where I got the idea well...I kinda sorta got it from these lovely little bows I saw on the Silhouette blog a few weeks ago that prompted a search to actually purchase paper clip flags.
But I couldn't find any.
I found a lot of things with epoxy bits at the top and ribbon and such, but nothing quite like what I was looking for. I dug through my own stash and came up with some ribbon clips which I like, but I'm not much of a ribbon user. So I decided to make some with paper. After tweaking the design to make them easier to cut, I turned them into a PDF and there you go. I decided to forgo the Silhouette in favor of scissors. I like keeping things basic. Most of us have a pack of clips, a pair of scissors, and some paper right? While messing around I stumbled on the fact that by cutting a slit in my diecuts and using my craft knife, I can use those with paper clips too. See below.


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If you need money for any repair, construction, renovation or improvement work of your home, then you can borrow a home loan from any of the public sector or private bank. Besides, you can borrow the home loan from any of the non-banking financial firms as well. If you are working in an organised private sector or in any government job with a regular source of income, then you are eligible to borrow the loan from these financial entities. However, the process of loan application is more or less similar in most of these financial entities. You can borrow the loan based on your eligibility and repayment capacity. Indian Overseas bank offers you home renovation loan for meeting all your financial requirement of renovating your home or carrying out improvement work in your home. The bank offers the loan for maximum of 15 years. But, before you apply for the loan and follow the other process of the loan, let's take a close look at the loan features and benefits to understand it better.
Features and Benefits of Home Improvement loan
Objective of the home loan:
You can borrow the home loan for repair, renovation, up-gradation, modifications or any similar type of work such as conducting routine repairs, painting of home, rewiring, changing the tiles, fixing the flooring, making addition in cupboards, doing wooden work,etc., to the existing house or flat.
Loan eligibility:
All the salaried individuals in service with a take home pay of not less than 50% of gross salary or a business man or a professional with at least 3 years standing in the line of activity. He/she is eligibile to borrow the loan. To increase your loan eligibility you can apply for joint loan as well.
Maximum loan amount
The bank offers maximum loan amount of upto Rs. 15 lakh for undertaking the renovation and improvement work of the home. However, the maximum loan amount varies from customer to customer depending upon the repayment capacity and monthly income of the customer. The minimum loan amount is Rs. 25,000.
Interest rate for home improvement loan
The rate of interest offered by the bank for home improvement loan is 9.70% p.a. floating.
Repayment of loan
You can repay the loan in maximum 144 equated monthly installments. The maximum repayment period also depends upon the number of years left in services in case of the person is salaried.
Loan holiday period
the loan holiday period is maximum 3 months. You can start repaying the loan only after the 3 months from the date of loan borrowed.


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Tonight I am sitting here thinking about all that I am thankful for. GOD has surely blessed me throughout my life. Sometimes I think we don't really take the time to really see what we have and I don't mean just the things. I am looking at all the pieces of my life. Even in the tough times there has always been much positive to see.
GOD has given me many moments in my life to learn and grow from and they were all perfect. I am in awe sometimes with how perfect everything is laid out in this life we have. From my early years as a child, through my teens, and then into and through my adult life and it continues. What great experiences have been given to me. I always have had everything I need and for sure I am thankful for that.
I have been given the awesome opportunity to raise three beautiful children. They are grown now and beginning to go off on their own journeys which is way cool to watch. This I am very thankful for. I have a granddaughter now too. I am very thankful for her. She is such a joy to watch her develop and grow. I also have been given the most awesome family and friends.
These are only a few things that I am thankful for, I could go on but my post might get awfully long so I will end it with the question to you. What are you thankful for?


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Maroon 5 has been one of the most celebrated and lauded rock bands of the aughts. Despite all of the time they have spent in the spotlight, there are still some things that many people do not know about them. With that in mind, here we present our list of 15 things you probably didn't know about Lionel Richie. Check out part one below, and stay tuned for part two, coming soon!
Number Fifteen: Two of the Members Met as Children. Adam Levine and Ryan Dusick met when Levin was just seven years old. He was introduced to Dusick – who would become Maroon 5's drummer – by a mutual friend.
Number Fourteen: They Were Not Always Called Maroon 5. Before they became Maroon 5, the quintet called themselves Kara's Flowers. They named themselves this after one of their most hardcore groupies. The group had this name from 1994 to 2001.
Number Thirteen: They Played Their First Gig in 1995. Maroon 5 played their first official gig at a venue called Whisky a Go Go. They performed as Kara's Flowers, and their performance was on September 16, 1995.
Number Twelve: Their First Album Was a Major Flop. Maroon 5 released their first album as Kara's Flowers in 1997 when they were associated with Reprise Records. However, the album was received so poorly that they were dropped from Reprise Records shortly after its release. The album was called The Fourth World.
Number Eleven: They Were Not Maroon 5 Until 2001. When the band was dropped from Reprise Records, they took a hiatus. However, in 2001, James Valentine joined as the lead guitarist. It was then that they started calling themselves Maroon 5.
Number Ten: Adam Levine Named an Album After His High School Sweetheart. Maroon 5's 2002 album, Songs About Jane, was actually named after Adam Levine's high school sweetheart, Jane Herman. The album features songs such as "Harder to Breathe" and "She Will Be Loved."
Number Nine: One of Their Members Went to College With John Mayer. Maroon 5 lead guitarist James Valentine went to the same college as world famous singer and musician John Mayer! They both attended Berklee College of Music. Maroon 5 opened for John Mayer during Mayer's 2003 tour.


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Among the many awards season updates throughout the end of the year, the SAG awards carry more authority than most of the others leading up to them. Unlike the various critics awards and the Golden Globes, many SAG voters are also Academy members, which means that the nominations actually provide some clear indications of which Oscar contenders have real momentum.
While "A Star Is Born" continues its popularity streak, the 2019 SAG nominees have plenty of intriguing surprises in them — including significant support for "BlacKkKlansman." But it's not the only major title worth digging into from these results. In this week's episode of Screen Talk, Eric Kohn and Anne Thompson talk through this year's SAG nominations and what they mean for the weeks ahead.
Screen Talk is available on iTunes.
You can subscribe here or via RSS. Share your feedback with Thompson and Kohn on Twitter or sound off in the comments. Browse previous installments here, review the show on and be sure to let us know if you'd like to hear the hosts address specific issues in upcoming editions of Screen Talk. Check out the rest of IndieWire's podcasts on iTunes right here.
Source: Read Full Article


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While busy at work with the latest Chronicles of Eden book I got to wondering about the many character types the series has for the various monstergirls of the story (and the ones that will be revealed with the newest book). Aiming to have a diverse selection of attractive and unique girls in the series is something that I've tried to keep on top of and I'm always curious to hear how the current roster of female heroes/anti-heroes/villains/side characters stacks up for readers. So I got to thinking about the types I currently have, the ones that have yet to make an appearance in the story, and which ones readers want to see more of. There are many different classifications out there of these tried and true personality archetypes from various manga/anime series so I found a pretty extensive list of the different kinds there are to compare.
So this is the challenge I ask upon everyone if you would be so kind to help. With the chart provided what characters from Chronicles of Eden do you think belong in what category, and what character types are your favorites, ones you want to see more of, or ones you want to see appear in the story at all? I want there to be a monstergirl to fit every reader's ideal match and interest in the story, and even more of them if they're that popular among readers. Let me know if I'm covering enough of the bases so far or if we need a more diverse cast of sexy monstergirls to appeal to a wider range of fans of the genre. Besides, if this story has taught us anything, you can never have too many monstergirls by your side


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TORONTO—A confrontation is brewing at the upcoming G20 summit in Toronto, pitting Canada against European countries who are promoting a global "Robin Hood" bank tax that could raise hundreds of billions of dollars for social programs, food security or debt-payment.
A number of European nations, led by Britain, are calling for the adoption of taxes that would discourage speculative trading. Canada, however, is opposed to the taxes, and the US, while still uncommitted, is leaning towards Canada's position. Opposition from one country would undermine the consensus required for the adoption of the multinational bank tax.
In early February, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown suggested that a deal on a potential tax levy could be reached at the Toronto G20 Summit. A few days later the Canadian government publicly opposed any such agreement.
"We're not going to impose capital taxes on our financial institutions," Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told journalists. "We're against raising taxes and I hope to be able to convince my colleagues that these are unwise moves." The Conservative government has also argued that as the only G8 country whose banks did not require bailouts it should not have to enter into a bank taxation plan.
The Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens (ATTAC) has criticized the Conservative government for rejecting financial regulation, accusing it of being beholden to financial interests.
"The Conservative government is opposed in principle to any new form of tax," said Claude Vaillancourt, co-president of ATTAC-Quebec. "The Conservatives are blinded by the non-interventionist principles of neo-liberal economics, to which they adhere with ideological fervency."
Britain has been at the forefront of the push for various tax and levy schemes to curtail bank risk. Prior to the economic crisis, London was a preeminent banking centre and over the past 20 years has been steadfastly opposed to most regulation of financial services.
The crisis changed all that. After the insolvency of several British banks and a $1.38 trillion bank bailout, and with an election looming, Prime Minister Brown is suddenly talking tough about banks "giving back to society," telling the media he is "interested in how support is building up for international action."
Britain's proposals include a tax on bank transactions and a levy-style tax on assets. The transaction tax, often called the "Robin Hood tax" or the "Tobin tax" (after the US economist James Tobin, who first proposed it in 1972), is the more ambitious. It would focus on the trillions of transactions that take place in financial markets every day, including speculative ones such such as derivatives, which were a key part of the financial crash.
Precipitating the crash, these assets, including bundles of sub-prime mortgages, became overvalued due to speculation. When their values fell rapidly in 2008 the collapse began.
The transaction tax would put a very small tax (from 0.05 per cent to one per cent) on each of these transactions. Critics of unregulated banking argue that had such a tax been in place a few years ago investment banks would have thought twice about performing these transactions, thus lessening the likelihood of the crash.
"A low transactions tax...has little or no impact upon useful, longer term transactions, but limits 'noise trading' and very short-term 'in and out' speculation," said Canadian Labour Congress economist Andrew Jackson. "Progressive economists who have advocated a financial transaction tax...believe that it would reduce speculation and volatility, without interfering with normal and useful activities including stock and currency trading and even hedging for legitimate purposes."
A 2009 study by the Austrian government showed that a 0.05 per cent tax on UK financial trades could raise about £100 billion per year, paying for the expansion of social programs, paying down debt and providing insurance funds against future bailouts.
Grassroots organizations like ATTAC-Quebec take a stronger position, suggesting that any new funds from a tax should not go to banks, which might only encourage them to take more risks, potentially leading to new crises.
"The tax should simply be a fee for assisting citizens across the world," said Vaillancourt. "This tax could, for example, give all citizens basic services—quality health care or free education."
Despite its current opposition Canada was one of the first G20 countries to consider adopting the Tobin tax. In 1999 the Liberal government passed a resolution to "enact a Tobin tax in concert with the international community." However, the Reform Party (later the Conservative Party) opposed the resolution and it did not gain enough international support to be enacted.
The other proposal promoted by European countries is a tax or levy on the assets of banks. It would not bring in sums on the scale of a Tobin tax, though some financial analysts believe it would restrain banks and raise some bailout money. As it stands now the levy has gained support from Britain's key European counterparts, France and Germany, both of whom are strongly promoting it. From the perspective of the banks this is a more acceptable proposal than the Tobin tax as it would be either a one-off or infrequent fee based on a bank's worth rather than a tax on its every transaction.
A great deal of Canada's authority on these bank tax issues within the G20 is based on the perception that the country's traditional banking sector was able to withstand the financial crisis. The historical record is murkier. While it is true that Canada did not have to bail out its banks there is much more to the story than mainstream media accolades of bank prudence and wise Conservative government policy.
In the late 1990s, and again in the early part of the new millennium, the five Canadian banks aimed to merge into three institutions to obtain the capital base to compete internationally with banks such as Citigroup, UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland. They hoped to enter the "major leagues" of investment banking and non-traditional speculative banking: the very markets that were at the heart of the crash.
Critics argue these merger attempts were not prevented because of a prudent fear of systemic risk, or the Liberal government's foresight. News of the banks' ambitions and public outcry about layoffs, branch closures and increased service charges forced the Canadian government to block the mergers. Canadian financial elites and the business class harshly criticized the government. Yet it may have been fortunate for them, and the current government, that the Canadian public was not swayed. Otherwise, Canadian banks might have been bailed out as well in 2008.
The International Monetary Fund has also weighed in, with Managing Director Dominic Strauss-Kahn saying countries opposing bank levies only because they escaped the current crisis unscathed are being "shortsighted."
The US position leading up to the June G20 meetings is likely to be a major determinant of the success or failure of the G20 bank tax talks. The US bank bailouts have made it difficult for the US government, unlike Canada, to point to their strong financial sector as a reason to oppose bank taxes. Nevertheless, the US has also come out strongly against the Tobin tax and has reacted ambiguously to the idea of an international bank levy.
On the other hand, the Obama administration has made public statements over the last few months about an internal bank levy proposal. This may lead the US to be more open to an international levy given that it would shield them from capital flight if all nations bought in.
Because consensus is required for G20 policy decisions the growing Atlantic divide leaves any tax or levy plans up in the air. Meanwhile, the positions of the other 15 G20 countries are still being developed and do not seem to be getting much attention from the major players.
Though tax-watching might seem like a dull sport it is worth observing the developments this month. The European powers backing these taxes have been shaken by the crisis and pressured by their electorate. Regardless of motivations the taxes could have real-world effects that should not be minimized. The taxes are not radical but at least they point in the right direction: towards the banks.
Darren Puscas is a researcher on a project on women and unionization at McMaster University, and is the editor of the blog www.g20breakdown.com.
This story was published in The Dominion's special issue on the G8 and G20 summits in Ontario. We will continue to publish independent, investigative news about the G8 and G20 throughout the month of June.
For up-to-the-minute G8/G20 news from the streets of Toronto, visit the Toronto Media Co-op.
Thanks for the interesting article.
The corporate media ceaselessly quoted Conservative officials saying that the reason Canadian banks didn't need bailouts was Canada's strict regulation of the financial sector. I'd love to hear your assessment and response, either here in the comments section or in a future article.
This transaction tax would not have prevented the financial crisis as it did not prevent the crisis in the countries that have this tax. The IMF's past and recent studies show that this tax will not and cannot work. Studies show the tax revenue will be net negative. This tax is being used in place of real financial reform so they can continue getting away with future crisis.
please give us links, i'm very curious how the transaction tax can be net negative. if it's something they can't get around, and was taxed at 0% before, it seems to be it must be net positive.
The Dominion is a monthly paper published by an incipient network of independent journalists in Canada. It aims to provide accurate, critical coverage that is accountable to its readers and the subjects it tackles. Taking its name from Canada's official status as both a colony and a colonial force, the Dominion examines politics, culture and daily life with a view to understanding the exercise of power.


text:
I would like to draw the following diagram in LaTeX.
The image is:
I was looking at the TikZ package and it seems to be what I need. However, I need to automate somehow the task of drawing this diagram, because I need to draw hundreds of them. I was wondering if it is possible to create a LaTeX command, probably based on TikZ, doing something like:
\QOC{{How wide?}, {Narrow, Wide}, {Screen compactness, Ease of hiting with a mouse}, 2, {1}, {2}}
which corresponds to the first diagram of the figure.
The first group contains the questions, the second one the options, the third one criteria, the first number (
2) is the selected option, the group of numbers
{1} indicates the positive assessments for option 1 (i.e., it has a positive assessment to the criterion number ONE) and the second group of numbers contains the positive assessments for the second option, which in this case is
2, i.e., the second criteria.
For the question How to display?, the command would be:
\QOC{{How to display?}, {Permanent, Appearing}, {Low user effort, Screen compactness, Continuous feedback to user}, 2, {1,3}, {2}}


text:
Looking for the easiest way of how to make a photo book that you customers will like? Check out our beginners' guide for photographers who is going to create a photo book that is stylish, modern, and pop!
Something missing from the digital age is the photo album. Social media platforms have attempted to replace the photo album, but there is something special about flipping through your photo memories, and it makes a nice conversation starter on the coffee table. You could print your photos individually and create your own scrapbook, but these days photographers are solving this issue by choosing to make a photo book for printing.
Since the inception of on demand printing, it's easy to create and print your own photo books at a low price. With so many programs to get started with (InDesign, Lightroom, Apple Pages, Smart Albums) and so many printing options, it's hard to know where to start. In this guide, we're going to go over steps you want to take before making your photo book, and then information about some of the programs you can create a photo book with.
Before using photo album software, you should compile your photos. If you have been organizing your photos up until now, this step should be easy. Here are a few tips to help you get started if you haven't.
Photo management software can make organizing and looking through your photos quick and easy. It's a lot easier than looking at small thumbnails or file names to figure out what the images are. If you happen to use a Mac computer, you have access to Apple Photos, which is an extremely competent piece of software for managing your photos. Apple Photos automatically organizes your photos by date, and allows for easy pre-viewing of your images. Create a photo book and collect the photos you want to include for your photo book project. It also allows for simple and easy photo edits directly in the program without using a third party tool like Photoshop for Chromebook or other programs.
Another option is Adobe Bridge. It's free and available for both Windows PC and Mac computers. Bridge offers photo management, as well as photo editing with it's Camera Raw editor. If you have Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop, it will also allow you to edit your photos in those programs, and either save a new version or replace the original photo with your edited photo. Adobe Lightroom is another good tool to use, but it does cost money to use ($9.99 a month ), and has a more professional bend. One extra advantage for Adobe Lightroom is that it offers a photo book creation option directly in the software, which we'll touch on a bit more later.
Last, Windows now has a beefier photo management app for Windows 10, called Microsoft Photos. It allows for much of the same features available in the other tools mentioned, like minor photo editing capabilities, organization, and the ability to preview your photos.
Do you have some old photos that you want to include, but they were taken with a *gasp* film camera? It's not hard to scan in your photos these days. Scanners are incredibly cheap (~$60, can go up drastically for more professional grade scanners), and if necessary the one you have on your all-in-one photo printer for photographers can get the job done in a pinch. All in one printers with scanners generally are a lower quality: color fidelity is lower, can't scan at higher DPI's (Dots Per Inch), and if the image isn't completely flat on the scanner bed, image distortion and fuzziness can occur (I.E. your photo is stored inside of a book).
Another option is to take digital photos of your printed photos. You just need your digital camera or smartphone, good lighting, and a tripod. If you don't have a good light setup for photography, taking photos outside or in a room with lots of natural light works wonderfully. Do not leave these old photos outside or in sunlight for any longer than needed, as these photos could easily be damaged by sunlight.
You've got your photos, you've got them organized, it's time to start thinking about the content of your book. A lot of the photo books we print have a central theme that connect them together, like travel photography, or printing a book for each year of photographs you have.
We now have to make some concrete decisions on how to proceed: what size is this book? What orientation is it? What making a photobook tool will you use? This part can really cause analysis paralysis for some creators. Here's a few basic concepts to keep in mind while creating a photo book.
Photo Book Size, Orientation, and Binding
What size is this photo book going to be? This determines a lot of issues right off the bat, like what program you should use, what service you can use to print, and how big your photos would have to be for your project. Another thing that size determines is orientation. A 8.5"x11" book would be portrait, where as a 11"x8.5" book would be landscape. This is a huge distinction and greatly changes the layout of the book.
Most photo books today are printed in a landscape orientation. Predominantly, a lot of photos are taken in a landscape format, so a landscape orientation for your book makes sense for layout options. You can print a single image across the page with minimal cropping, and place multiple types of image orientations (portrait or square as well) quite easily with minimal compromise.
Square is the second most popular option for Photo books, and rising quickly with the rise of more photos taken in a square format (the Instagram effect). Portrait is a rarity for a photo book. Most books we get in portrait orientations are more geared towards text, not to say it's never been done. Personally, I would stick away from portrait as an option unless you have a specific design in mind (IE most or all of the photos in the book are in portrait orientation).
Now you need to pick a size. Some book printing companies can print the same book in many different sizes from the same file, but most do not. The most popular sizes we see for landscape are 11"x8.5", 13"x10" (these two happen to be the sizes of Apple's landscape hardcover photo books), and 9"x7". For square orientations we see a lot of 8"x8" or 10"x10" sizes (also the sizes of Apple photo book square hardcovers).
The last decision about the physical book itself is the way you want it bound. You've got some standard options, which would be either hardcover (the book is bound with a hard book board wrapped in a printed cover) or softcover (a thicker stock paper is used on the exterior binding of the book block). For most people the decision here comes down to cost, as nearly every softcover book will be cheaper than a hardcover version of the same book. Most book printing services allow for you to change your mind on this part later if necessary, so it shouldn't be as set in stone as the previous choices you made.
There are also options to choose for the interior binding, primarily layflat options. A layflat photo book has the pages in the book block bound to lay flat while open, sometimes referred to as a seamless layflat. Books with standard binding exhibit a page curl when open, which makes certain elements hard to see where the pages meet in the middle of the book. The main advantage of a layflat book besides looking more prestigious in presentation is 2 page spreads (layout where two open pages side by side have content that span across both pages, like a panoramic photo). A more cost effective approach is a hinged layflat, which uses a slightly different binding process (pages are cut and a small plastic hinge is attached allowing the pages lay flat). The trade off here is the plastic hinge, you will see a line in the middle of your spreads the same color as the plastic hinge. If you don't mind this side effect, it's a great option at a more affordable price than a seamless layflat.
The concept of cropping is a hard one to grasp for beginners. Photo books interior pages are trimmed to achieve the look of an image printed to the edge of the paper. Pages are printed on paper larger than the actual size of the final printed page (this size will vary depending on the printer), and a machine will trim the paper to the actual size. Here is a video to help visualize how paper cutters work. There are three areas on the printed page in the design process to help visualize this.
Hydraulic Paper Cutter:
The first is what is commonly called the safe area (in the diagram, everything inside the purple area). Anything in this area is safe from getting trimmed off. All text and important information should be here. Outside of this safe area is the trim area (the area between the purple and the yellow line), and this is where things could be cropped. If everything goes perfect, it will crop right at the yellow line in the diagram. Due to the nature of printing, elements may not crop exactly on this line, as the paper can shift slightly during the cutting process (normally machines are cutting hundreds of pages at the same time with a large cleaving knife, not each individual page). Because of this, you really don't want to put anything important in this area.
Between the yellow line and the red line is what's known as the bleed area, and all of this is going to be cropped off. Nothing important should ever, ever be put in this area (ever). This area should be used for the outer part of images that are intended to print to the edge of the pages (you don't want faces anywhere near here most likely), or certain design elements should go out to here (background colors of pages).
Another thing to think about for cropping of the cover of the book is how certain hard covers are made. Softcover photo books follow the same process as the one above, so you can just follow that as a design rule. Most hardcovers are handled a little differently: the image is printed on a separate piece of paper, then that paper is wrapped around book board (a hard chipboard material). Follow your chosen printers specifications when designing the cover.
Last, hardcover photo books tend to begin and end with end leaves (piece of paper, normally colored black, white, or gray). This covers up structural parts of the book (how the interior book is connected to the outer cover). Sometimes you can pick the color of the end leaf, but you'll rarely be able to print anything on these sheets.
Designing Photo Books Apps and Softwares
So now we're at designing the photo book. This tutorial is going to focus on options that yield a PDF file at the end of the project, as this is the most versatile way to make a Photo Book. You can take a PDF file to different printing providers with no fear of getting locked in to a specific provider. If you use a photo book creation tool from a making photobook company, it will generally save in a proprietary format, which prevents you from moving to another printing company. Let's look at some options:
1. Adobe Indesign
Adobe InDesign is the best option to make a photography book for its freedom in design and layout, because you choose every single option yourself. You can create a photo book any size you want. Put one image or 100 on a page if you like, text anywhere you like with any font you own, do it all. That's where the first caveat comes in: it's an advanced tool. If you've never used InDesign before, there is a lot to learn. If you have used some of Adobe's software before (Photoshop or Illustrator), you'll find your way around a little quicker. InDesign is available for both Windows and Mac computers.
Also using this photo book design software, remember you are in control of the Safe area, trim, and bleed. If you do not set these up according to the photo book printers specifications (which vary from printer to printer), printing issues could occur. Some making a photobook companies provide starting templates that include safe areas, crops, and bleeds, but most likely no templates you can drag and drop images into.
To use InDesign you need to subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud. Just for InDesign, you're looking at $20.99 a month. If you're planning on making a lot of photo books, and want the best of the best, then you should buy InDesign, but if you're just looking to make one or two, you might want to look at some alternatives.
2. Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Lightroom is good option for making a photo album and as a piece of photo management software, and it's a little cheaper and easier to use for first time designers. You can get Lightroom for $9.99 a month with a subscription (you can bundle Photoshop with this plan as well, which is super handy). There isn't the same amount of freedom when designing your photo book that you would have with InDesign (limited photo book sizes and layout options) but there should be plenty to satisfy most photo book creators. The sizes they have available for photo book PDF files include:
Layout options include single or multiple photos, text, and two page spread layouts as well. If you already have Lightroom, I would definitely try this option out first, as it may be the one that works best for photo book beginners.
3. Pixellu Smart Albums
Another professional creating photo books option that's easy to use is Pixellu Smart Albums. You drag your photos to the photo book spread displayed and it will lay out your photos automatically. You can switch between different design options per page easily, and the layout always looks clean and professional. Choose background colors, add custom text with fonts installed on your computer, choose how far apart they are spaced, and create custom layout designs if the generated designs doesn't suit your design needs. It also allows you to input the exact dimensions of your book, so you can design a book of any size.
The largest flaw in this program is that it doesn't take into account covers in book interior file design. Most printing companies have different cropping requirements for covers versus interior page designs, and most people who use this software will generally design their cover in a more design centric program (Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop), which it makes sense why it wouldn't be in the layout. You can opt to make a separate file in the program to design the cover if you need to.
The last thing to take into account is the price: the program itself can be purchased for a flat rate of $299 generally (with sale prices I've seen it at $179), or you can go with their subscription plan which includes Cloud Proofing (easy proofing for clients to give comments and critiques online) for $32 dollars a month (I've also seen this price as low as $19 a month). In the long run this can come out to be a cheaper option for some if you buy the program outright versus an InDesign subscription, but you'll have to decide which option is right for you.
4. Apple Pages
This might seem like a dark horse in the photo book design race. Within Apple Pages you can create multi page documents, any size and layout you like, and then export a PDF file to print with any provider you like. Not just word documents either, fully designed photo books. Import photos from your Apple Photos library or drag and drop from folders, create custom designs and layouts with ease, and have total control over your book design. Most people have just used Apple Pages as a word processor, but it can be a full desktop publishing suite.
Apple Pages is similar to InDesign in that you will start from scratch design wise. If you search for Apple Pages templates online or Mixbook photo book templates, you'll find a few resources to get you started, but if you want a specific custom size you will have to make them yourself.
There's also one extra benefit: Apple Pages is free. Well, almost free: You have to have a Apple device (Mac computer, iPad, or even an iPhone). If you are on a Windows PC, Chromebook, Linux, or Android device, this will not be an option for you. For designing a book outright, you'll want to use a macOS device (desktop or laptop) versus an iOS device (iPad or iPhone), but Apple does give the option of updating design files on the fly. If you save your project in iCloud, you can add a photo from your iPhone, fix a typo with your iPad, and it updates across all devices automatically. If you already have a macOS or iOS device I would give this option a shot first, as it's free and intuitive to use.
5. Bookemon
Bookemon is a convenient online service for those who want to create high-quality photo books and photo albums with little to no effort. You can create a photo book from scratch, use one of the available layouts or import a file created in other software. Here, you will find a range of design tools, cliparts, frames, and backgrounds that will help you make your photo book more unique.
After creating a photo book, you can view it online, share it on Facebook, send a link to it via email and download it to your phone. Bookemon also allows you to print an unlimited number of copies in high quality.
You can create a photo book for free, however, you will need to pay to print it. After selecting a format, indicate the number of pages and copies. For instance, it will cost you $11.99 to print a softcover photo book with laminated, white pages and perfect bound. A softcover Color Trade photo book costs only $7.99.
You've designed and created a beautiful photo book, and now you want to bring it to life. Pause for just a moment and proof your book. There's nothing worse than ordering 10 copies of a photo book with a typo on the cover. Take a moment and look over your photo book, especially anywhere with text. Typo's are an easy problem to solve before printing, and one that most printers will never catch before they send it to print.
Another issue could be text outside of the safe area or past the trim line. This text has an extremely good chance of getting chopped off, so just be safe with any text anywhere near the edges of the pages and make sure it falls in the save area. This goes with any important design elements or important parts of photos too. If you have someone who is kind enough to look over your book and has a good eye for detail, see if they can look over your book and see anything you've missed. A fresh pair of eyes on a project can easily identify design issues you are missing.
One last thing to think about before making a major order is ordering a proof. Some companies will send a PDF proof or a online preview of the book, which is a decent approximation of how it will print and should work in a pinch. You can't beat getting a copy of the actual final product, as it lays down concretely what works and what doesn't. Maybe a font is too small on the page but is legible when you were designing it, or maybe there is a page that was improperly formatted and has text cut off, it's much easier to tell these things with a physical book. Most print on demand services offer the ability to print just one book, so take advantage and proof your book.
Printing Options
When choosing a printing provider, you want to look for a few key things. The first distinction is that they print from PDF, since we've made a PDF file to be printed. The second is if they are print on demand versus an offset printing provider. Print on demand allows you to print one copy or thousands of copies of a book, whenever you want. This has been a boon for most, as you can order the copies you need as you need them. Offset printing offers more custom options, with a cheaper price per book, at the requirement of a order minimum. Most offset printing requires at least 250 copies ordered due to the cost of setup of offset printing, which is overkill for most creators projects and a large financial burden. At the beginning for smaller projects, you definitely want to go with a print on demand service. If you move on to larger projects, you can start looking at companies that offer offset printing lines.
Once that distinction is made, you want to make a list of possible options. If you designed the book without a printer in mind, they might not be able to print the size you designed, obviously. They also might not offer certain options you designed around, like a layflat photo book designed with two page spreads and they have no layflat options. Paper stock options is another thing to look into, and most companies provide samples free if you request online or send in an email to their customer service representatives.
From here, you can decide between price, quality, specific printing options available to that large format photo printer, or location. Just choose what works right for you, and if you have the time and money you can even order proofs from multiple providers to see what's right for you. There are reviewers online that are a great resource to help decide who to choose, so investigate and make a decision. Since you make your photo book yourself instead of with a proprietary photo book software that locks you into their service, you have options.
Author: Tim Weaver
Tim is a North Carolina native, extreme book geek, and sometimes thinks he's an artist. When he's not whipping up amazing graphics and designs for Presto Photo, he's probably sipping a coffee with his cat and organizing his art book collection.


text:
Illustration by Jeffrey Fisher
My paddle slips into water like a necktie through its knot, propelling us forward. I paddle from the bow and my husband Sean paddles from the stern, and our two children sit beside each other — framed between us and each side of the canoe — munching Ritz crackers.
The beach we launched from is at least a mile behind us, its beachgoers barely visible. With only water around us, Henry and Magnolia start asking if we can head back. Each time they ask, I try to remind them we're wayfinding, like Moana. We have to be brave, to follow the voice in our hearts, to push past the proverbial reef.
The last time I was in a canoe, I was a preteen. I was in Wisconsin with my family. One night on that trip we stood in the dark outside of our cottage, mosquitoes and woods surrounding us and a river running nearby. We looked up. Behind a few tree branches, meteors blazed across the night sky. The phenomenon seemed to last an hour, and being there beneath the stars and sky with my family made me feel perfectly safe and perfectly fine.
It was joy I felt. I was happy to be there, happy to be alive. All I had to do was pay attention to what was in front of me.
From the bow of the boat, no longer the child but the mom, things look and feel different, and I have a harder time paying attention to what's in front of me. My mind instead races with scenarios of how I'd save my kids if the canoe were to capsize. Even as I know how unlikely that is, I'm aware of how vulnerable we are anyway, how little control I have over my kids' lives and my own. I'm scared of all of the water around us and of the way the sky to the south is darkening with rainclouds. I'm scared, despite the life vests we don, because Sean is not a strong swimmer and my babies can't swim and the nearest shore is a hundred yards away. I'm scared because my marriage is wobbly, like the boat every time the kids lean over to try to see the surface of the bay. Even on this trip, even in this canoe, Sean and I can't seem to sync: One of us is always paddling too hard or not hard enough. I'm scared because my kids are growing. Our lives are changing. My career is transitioning. Vacation will be over in a few days and I'll have to return to the unknown.
"Look, Henry," I exclaim. "Eagle Power!"
A bald eagle flies above us from behind a cliff, pulling my attention back where it belongs.
Since about the time he turned 4, Henry has possessed Eagle Power, which helps him fly. Along the way, he's also picked up Gecko Power, which helps him climb, and Cheetah Power, which helps him run so fast he can catch all the bad guys. We recently learned that 3-year-old Magnolia possesses Unicorn Power. The night before, as we drove around trying to find a dark spot from which to view the Perseids, she declared from her car seat that she was going to use her Unicorn Power that very night to "jump up the sky and swipe the stars up!"
The eagle disappears behind the trees. The bay opens around us like a tarp. The farther Sean and I paddle, the more my fear and anxiety fall from me. I begin to open to the sky, to being safe and alive on this large body of water. I begin to return to the child I was, believing I have all the powers I need to swipe up my stars. Solid footing suddenly doesn't seem like the solution I need. Instead, I find my bearings in the perspective open water affords: I'm mutable and small, and being there — alive and healthy and with people I love — warrants still more, always more, of my undivided attention and gratitude. What's right in front of me is suddenly (and again) enough.
"What do you think?" I ask Henry and Magnolia.
I turn to look at them. They are peaked, white-knuckling their respective sides of the canoe.
"I want to go back," Henry says.
"It's fun," Magnolia says. Immediately, she adds, "Let's go back. I'm kinda scared I will fall in."
Sean and I turn the canoe around. As we head back toward the beach, rain starts to fall, so we paddle harder. The beachgoers begin to grow from beans to toys to people. Raindrops are pummeling us now, and I'm again the anxious mom, the thought of lightning gnawing my nerves. I don't want my kids to see how frightened I am by the prospect of lightning and more broadly of slipping into a permanent milieu where fear defines me. I want to head toward the unknown, to dare and risk what scares me. I want to be a wayfinder, to follow the voice in my heart, and a lot of my wanting those things stems from my deeply desiring them for my kids. They're watching me. I have to be brave if I want them to be brave.
"Look!" I say, gesturing.
A fish as big as two footballs flicks its body six feet down. Eight feet. Ten? Like a tongue curling its tip, its back fin propels it along the sand. An optical illusion. A magic trick. A superpower.
None of my fellow canoeists see it. The fish — a trout, a bass, a whitefish, I don't know what, other than a gorgeous flash of silver-green — swims off.
The rain abates.
Only water beneath us again, water all around us, the sky open above us, and the four of us, for the moment, anchored in between.
Emily Dagostino is a writer and owner of Dagostino Communications, LLC. Her writing has appeared in The Sunlight Press, The University of Chicago Magazine, Sojourners and America. Read more at emilydagostino.com.


text:
2018 marks PetWORKs' 20th anniversary.
And to celebrate the occasion, they're releasing CSSgirl 18SS Ruruko Tokiro Hime & CSSgirl 18SS Ruruko Karasuba Hime.
You can expect her arrival: August – September, 2018.
Tokiro Hime Ruruko's outfit is similar to the June 2018, CCSgirl 18SS Ruruko.
Product Info:
- Body: Pure Neemo Flection XS
- Hair Color: Bleach Blonde
- Eye Color: Turquoise Blue
- Skin Tone: Fair
- Furisode Top
- Obi-Ribbon Tiered Skirt
- Headdress
- Tights
- Round Toe Mary Jane (STOC)
Where to Buy:
- PetWORKs Global Shop (will be announced later)
- Ami Ami (more maybe available once released)
- Hobby Search (more maybe available once released)
- A Peach of a Doll-momoko & ruruko (accepting orders now)
- eBay
Release Date: August – Septermber 2018
Price: ¥22,680 about $199
Over to You:
Do you like CSSgirl 18SS Ruruko Tokiro Hime as PetWORKs' 20th anniversary doll?
Are you making plans to add her to your collection or will you skip this release?
Leave a comment in the box below.
I look forward to chatting with you.
See what PetWORKs will have on display at their 20th Anniversary exhibition, click here (hint: 28 cm & 29 cm male dolls).
via PetWORKs


text:
An Orange County toll road agency's board of directors Thursday stripped its chair of a unique contracting authority — allowing contracts to be approved in secret and without the full board's knowledge – after county Supervisor Todd Spitzer harshly criticized the power and detailed examples of abuse in public session.
Typically, contracts with the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency exceeding $25,000 must be approved at a public meeting of the agency's board. A board resolution in 2008, however, gave the board chair authority to sign contracts higher than that amount, as long as they have a legislative purpose.
That power had been renewed annually as part of the budget adoption, with the most recent time being June 2013. Spitzer said he was absent from that meeting.
According to Spitzer, the real intent of that resolution was to shield contracts from the full board and public at large. He said he and others were "taken aback" by the volume and scope of contracts approved under the chair and CEO's signing authority.
In one case, a $27,000 three-month consulting contract with former Governor Gray Davis' firm, Loeb & Loeb, was secretly approved even though it had nothing to do with legislation, Spitzer said. The contract states that it is to deal with regulatory issues, he said.
In another example, a contract with San Diego-based Gable PR started at $20,000 in 2008 but was repeatedly increased with approvals by the chair until it reached $517,793 by 2014. None of the contract approvals went to the board, Spitzer said.
"This was an incredibly abused resolution," Spitzer said. "It is clear to me that resolution was passed for one reason and one reason only. … It was to increase contacts and hire people so no one would know."
The agency's chairwoman, Dana Point Mayor Lisa Bartlett, who is also a candidate for the supervisorial seat being vacated by Pat Bates in 2015, defended the contracting power, saying that it was required to quickly react to legislative moves in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., that could hurt the agency.
Bartlett repeatedly attempted to move the discussion to an ad hoc committee, a type of body that is allowed to meet behind closed doors and out of public view. She said that ad hoc committees had also signed off on many of the contracts, a power they aren't supposed to have.
"We're not letting out a numerous amount of these contracts," Bartlett said. "They're one here, one there."
Bartlett's defense wasn't enough to persuade her colleagues not to rescind the power. The 10 members of the Foothill/Eastern agency board present voted unanimously to do so.
The agency is one of two that form a joint powers authority known as the Transportation Corridor Agencies or TCA, which manages the county's toll roads. The other in the partnership is the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency.
The boards of both agencies meet together regularly once a month.
TCA faced other criticism in December over its refinancing of the near junk-status bonds that paid for construction of the 241 toll road, which provides a shortcut between the 5 and 91 freeways and snakes into Rancho Santa Margarita.
Agency officials said the refinancing was necessary to lower annual payments. But the refinancing added $1.8 billion to the debt and postponed the retirement date from 2040 to 2053. That is important, because drivers will be able to use the roads for free when the debt is paid off.
A deep level of frustration and mistrust of the agency from Spitzer and Supervisor Shawn Nelson — a member of the Foothill/Eastern agency board — was apparent at the meeting.
At one point, Spitzer commented that the fine print on agency documents had to be scrutinized closely. And Nelson described an agency that operates in secrecy and withholds information from some board members.
"I don't know what happened in this little bubble called the TCA," Nelson said. "There's a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff. I regularly feel like I'm not apprised of what's going on.
"It's offensive. It's probably illegal. We need to knock it off. … I've reached my limit. I'm tired of the secrecy."
Agency spokeswoman Lisa Telles refused to provide Voice of OC with a spreadsheet of contracts that is the source of Spitzer's criticism, calling it a "working document."
Instead, she wrote in an email that only five contracts have been approved under the special authority since Jan. 1, 2013, and they represent a tiny portion of the total dollar amount in approved contracts.
"They total $183,278.88 and represent 1.5 percent of the total volume and 0.2 percent of the total value of all contracts awarded during this time period per the agencies' policies. Total value of contracts awarded during this time period is $76,054,900.39," Telles wrote.
It's not just contracts entered into under the chair's authority that have drawn Spitzer's criticism.
Agency CEO Neil Peterson last year approved a $25,000 contract with the firm California Strategies while it was under investigation by the California Fair Political Practices Commission for failing to register as a lobbying firm.
Within weeks of signing the contract, the FPPC found the company to be guilty of the violation.
Spitzer was especially angry about that, because, he said, Peterson told him about the lobbying contract in a meeting with the supervisor but never told the supervisor about the FPPC issues. Spitzer interrogated Peterson from the dais about the omission.
Bartlett downplayed the FPPC determination, saying that a lobbyist was in a room he shouldn't have been in but wasn't actually lobbying.
Peterson said that the firm was more than reputable and has performed very well for the agency over the years and that he only regretted not telling the board about the FPPC investigation.
"If I had to do it all over again, I would have communicated more with the board. I apologize for that," Peterson said.
The mistrust is so high that there weren't enough directors willing to pass a $15.9-million budget amendment because it contained a provision that allows the CEO to transfer money between different line items in the administrative budget.
Instead the amendment will return to the board in 30 days.
Please contact Adam Elmahrek directly at firstname.lastname@example.com and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/adamelmahrek
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So, I make comics for the love of doing it, but part of what keeps me going is knowing that people are reading it. I cherish every conversation that people strike up with me about it, so there's no better way to keep me going than by participating in the dialog!
Well, okay, you can also buy my stuff, but that's ancillary.


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Half Yearly Report
Unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2015
Chairman's Statement
I am pleased to bring investors up to date with the results and developments at Hermes Pacific Investments plc ("HPAC" or the "Company") in this Chairman's statement. In my view, the Company's strong cash balance places us in a position to prosper when investment prospects improve. The results of HPAC for the six-month period ended 30 September 2015 show a loss for the period of £44,000 which is marginally less than a loss of £53,000 for the corresponding period in the previous year. During the period the Company had no revenues as it does not have any operating business. The Company continues to carefully control its costs. At the period end the Company had net assets of £4,028,000 of which cash was £3,954,000.
Review of the Company's activities
The Company has made some investments in line with its investing policy in companies involved in trade finance for emerging countries and other financial activities operating from the Far East region. These investments have performed as expected. No further investments were made in the period.
Emerging countries have seen exponential growth in recent years, but whilst there are clearly challenges, we do believe many of these markets still have over time far to go before reaching their peak. Countries such as China and India are still in the midst of an expanding urban population, which will inevitably expand consumption rates.
It is also fair to say that emerging-markets do face a number of macroeconomic challenges including a stronger U.S. dollar, weaker commodity prices, and slowing growth in China. Historically, emerging-markets have generally benefited from a declining USD and strengthening commodity prices. But non-U.S. currencies have depreciated significantly relative to the USD in recent times.
Reduced global demand and increased supply from energy and other commodity producers have caused oil and commodity prices to plummet, resulting in a global disinflationary environment and a significant headwind for emerging-market commodity producers. China's once strong demand for commodities has moderated, as the medium-term growth trend in China continues to slow due to the elevated levels of outstanding credit and housing prices after an extended boom. Government policymakers continue to try to inject enough incremental stimulus into the economy to stabilise growth in the near term without reinflating property and credit bubbles, to mixed effect. Many of these countries, however, continue to face late-cycle pressures, including weak currencies that have spurred rising inflation despite deteriorating growth.
In the light of the above factors the Company may now have to look at investment opportunities in developed countries such as those in mainland Europe as well as in emerging countries in the Far East although no such investments will be made unless shareholders' approval to a change of investing policy is obtained.
I would like to thank shareholders for their continued support.
Haresh Kanabar
21 December 2015
To view the full report, please click
For further information please contact:
Hermes Pacific Investments Plc www.hermespacificinvestments.com
Haresh Kanabar, Chairman Tel: +44 (0) 207 290 3340
WH Ireland Limited (Nominated Adviser & Broker) www.wh-ireland.co.uk
Mike Coe/Ed Allsopp Tel: +44 (0) 117 945 3470


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There's a growing epidemic of church leaders confused by culture. I see it on every platform, evidenced in responses like this…
instead of like this…
Reality check
The reality is that we must figure out how to exist in this post-denominational, megachurch, tribal environment. Your tribe follows your message and praxis. They are influenced by how you think about and model the church.
Which begs that we grapple with the important questions:
- Are we operating as a united church?
- How does the world view us?
- Are we known for being polarized and infighting?
- Or are we easily identified by our extravagant love?
Shape-shifting theology
There is a radical cultural shift happening in America. The Church must continually reassess how best to present the message of the Gospel. We are charged with presenting the truth no matter our context.
Cycle of church reinvention
European theologian Lesslie Newbigin presents the Church as being charged with moving people from a place of searching to the truth that gives life.
It's impossible to go directly from doubt to doctrine. Spiritual maturity takes place in this cycle of mystery to mastery with the additional catalyst of movement from revelation to reason. We will never fully "arrive." However, we need to keep moving forward, experiencing constant reformation and refinement — both individually and corporately.
Truth be told
In the Church's current context and in the cyclical nature of discipleship, how do we go about faithfully presenting truth? While it can't be sacrificed, it must be rediscovered. A church that abandons truth abandons itself.[Tweet "A church that abandons truth abandons itself."]
We don't just repeat truth. It cannot simply be handed down to the next generation like bricks or stone…petrified by time. Truth must be rediscovered and conquered in every generation. Each generation must learn to prize truth, within the historical context, for itself. Every truth needs translation.
How do we hold, teach, and present truth in a way that keeps the the ever-spinning circle of story, revelation–> mystery–> doubt, cycling? Take, for example, Easter. This is not a reasonable proposition—it's absurd. You can't scientifically prove it, it's revelation. We are all doubters like Thomas and teachers like Peter at different stages of our lives. The Church must create space that embraces the doubters through the wonder and revelation as they experience the story, all the while firmly holding to truth.
21st century Church reimagined
Seth Godin describes culture as a gravitational force that resists your effort to make things better. Your response must be to persist in one of two ways:
- You can dumb down your message and your expectations, and meet your audience where they stand. You can coarsen your lyrics, offer simpler solutions, ask for less effort, demand less work, promise bigger results…
- Or you can smarten it up, and lead despite your goal of mass, not chase it. Practically speaking, this looks like starting a journey of thoughtful reflection that results in smarter people who are able to build better programs that refuse to sacrifice truth.
Acts 4:13 serves as a prime example of the importance of living in such a way that our faith is undeniable. We must live in our communities, meet people where they are, and present them with the truth.
The Church–as polarized and flawed as it is currently–is still the Church and is still holy—Christ makes us so. We must reimagine, reform, and renew how to communicate truth effectively and properly to this generation.
Doubting Thomas gets assurance
Things are changing fast and you might feel like Thomas right now…but Jesus says I am the way. Maybe you think you have it all figured out–like Peter–but you don't. Unless you're mystical and wonder-full and relevant enough to reach the real people "out there" searching, you're still on a journey.
I love how Hans Küng describes the Church on its journey:
It will always remain the bride of Christ. It may wander through the world poor, hungry and helpless, but the Father will always run to embrace and kiss it on its return. It may lose its way in the desert, but the shepherd will always go out after it. It may roam through the town, but the Bridegroom will always find it. It may desert him, but he will never desert it. The Church goes on its pilgrim way through the ages, along a road not of its own choosing, along the way to which it is irrevocably called. It may lose the way, make detours, take wrong turnings it may stumble and fall, it may fall among thieves and lie half-dead by the roadside. But God the Lord will not pass by on the other side; he will pour oil on its wounds, lift it up, give it a lodging and provide for its healing even that which could have have been foreseen. The Church will always remain the holy Church. This we know in faith.
The Church has, is, and will constantly be reworked and formed in question, uncertainty, and wonder. We are constantly on our way, discovering truth at deeper levels, and what life in Jesus looks like. In John 14:5-6… Thomas asks, "How do we know the way?" Jesus responds with words that still guide us today. No matter what the world throws at us, we can always get our bearings with His response:
"I am the way."


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Over the years, I've met quite a few friends and relatives who need regular income but are afraid of the stock market, especially when it plunges from time to time (like it did on Monday). They prefer to invest in income-producing real estate.
Several years ago, one of my relatives sold his business for several million dollars and attended FreedomFest to decide what to do with his cash. He and his wife attended several sessions led by investment experts on a variety of choices — income and growth stocks, offshore investing, venture capital (pre-initial public offering private placements) and real estate.
They told me that they had never owned bonds or stocks (other than their own company) and felt uncomfortable investing in them. They decided to stick with "what we know best" — commercial and residential real estate. They had invested in various rental properties over the decades and decided to stick with this strategy. They kept the properties they owned, paid off their mortgages and lived off the income stream (earning tax advantages to boot). They used the remaining funds to acquire more properties — a strip mall, a car wash, an event center, storage units, resort condos, luxury homes, mountain cabins and lodges. The husband manages the properties and the wife does the paperwork, which keeps them plenty busy.
He told me, "Most properties are paid for, producing income and growing in value — partly because we improve, upgrade and maintain our properties impeccably."
Real Estate Investment Trusts — the Stock Market's Alternative
Like any investment, there is a downside to investing in rental properties directly — the paperwork, repairs and upkeep, bad tenants who suddenly stop paying their rent, choosing the wrong location, changing trends, dealing with government regulations and taxes, potential lawsuits and an illiquid market. You may have to wait months if not years to sell your property in a down market.
The stock market provides a clear alternative — real estate investment trusts (REITs). All you do is invest in these publicly-traded trusts and sit back and receive rental income, usually paid every quarter, from a diversified portfolio of commercial or residential properties. No paperwork, no worries about repairs, upkeep, phone calls in the middle of the night, lawsuits, or dealing with government agents.
There are dozens of income-producing REITs to choose from, many of which pay an above-average yield of 5% or more and have adopted a rising dividend policy. We recommend one of them in Forecasts & Strategies. That one invests in assisted-living facilities, a growth industry. It currently pays a dividend of 55 cents per share every three months for an average yield of 6.1%. It has increased its dividend 10 times in a row.
Moreover, if the properties rise in value, you benefit from a rising stock price and capital gains over time. Sometimes there are tax advantages — part of the quarterly distributions may be treated as long-term capital gains. And you have liquidity. You can sell your investment at any time.
What's not to like? Well, there are some downsides — if the REIT is mismanaged, the trust may cut or even suspend its dividend and the stock price can drop accordingly. REITs also are subject to the ups and downs of the marketplace. If you can hold on and collect your dividend checks until the market recovers, you are okay. But if you have to sell during a bear market, you could lose money.
You also can diversify into other income-producing stocks, such as energy firms, private equity, muni bonds, utilities and business development companies — see the latest issue of Forecasts & Strategies. The key is to find quality investment companies that pay high and rising dividends.
The choice is yours — be an active investor in your own rental properties, or a passive investor in REITs and other dividend-paying stocks. Both have their pros and cons.
In case you missed it, I encourage you to read my e-letter column from last week about how stocks can tumble despite strong consumer spending. I also invite you to comment in the space provided below my Eagle Daily Investor commentary.
You Blew It! Sen. Rubio Defends U.S. Sugar Subsidy as Nabisco Ships 600 Jobs to Mexico
After Sen. Marco Rubio spoke before 2,500 enthusiastic attendees at FreedomFest in early July, he flew to California to speak at the Koch Brothers conclave and immediately got into trouble defending his own home-state boondoggle — federal price supports for sugar that double its cost to domestic users like cookie makers.
Apparently, local Florida sugar cane farmers, along with Hawaii sugar producers, benefit from higher sugar prices to the tune of $1.4 billion a year through subsidies. Rubio is backing the subsidies to support his state's sugar cane farmers, despite higher prices to Florida consumers. Meanwhile, Flo-Sun, Florida's top sugar cane producer, makes regular campaign donations to Sen. Rubio and other politicians, totaling more than $500,000 last year. It is paying off for the sugar cane farmers when the farm subsidy bill comes up every year in Congress.
Politicians often spout the benefits of free trade and free enterprise but make exceptions when it fits their own self-interest.
According to the Cato Institute, sugar is perhaps America's least efficient welfare program, costing consumers vastly more than it benefits farmers. Despite subsidies, the number of sugar growers has fallen by about half in the past three decades. The General Accounting Office estimated in 1995 that 1% of sugar growers captured almost half of all the benefits from the program.
As a result of the high sugar prices, candy and other food manufacturers are shifting production to foreign nations, especially Canada and Mexico. A study by Agralytica, an economic consulting firm, estimated the sugar program has cost the United States more than 120,000 jobs since 1997.
And America just lost 600 jobs in Chicago as Nabisco, the manufacturer of Oreo cookies, announced plans to move production of Oreos from that plant to Mexico. The leading ingredient in Oreos is sugar, and U.S. trade barriers currently require Americans to pay twice the average world prices for sugar.
Hotel magnate and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is turning the loss of American manufacturing jobs into a campaign issue. He vowed on Aug. 25 not to eat Oreos again in protest unless the cookies are made in the United States.
Good investing, AEIOU,
Mark Skousen
Presidential Fellow, Chapman University
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What is AutoPost or Autopublicador for social networks?
An autopost or autopublicador is a new way of publishing on social networks characterized by being automated and programmable, saving time for the administrator of the social network.
Nowadays there are Online platforms that are responsible for self-publishing on social networks such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, the only thing that the user administrator of a social network should perform is to generate content and the self-publisher performs the work of the publication.
The good thing is that you can schedule the publication in hours, days or months. If you have a company or Fans it is very important to have a presence in social networks, but being aware of these platforms consumes valuable time.
Once you could see Facebook pages with thousands and thousands of likes and with new content every hour, all this is thanks to the self-advertisers, in this way you interact with the user through news, discounts and memes on the theme of the Fan Page.
Table of Contents
Advantages of a autopost
- Publications are programmable
- Post cars are present in the most popular social networks.
- They save the administrator time
- You attract more fans to the Fan Page
- Customers or followers are informed about your brand or status
Disadvantages of an autopost
- If you post very often or repetitively, you can be penalized for spam
- The prices of some platforms that offer this service are very high
- Self-advertisers do not respond in publications
If you are looking for a self-advertiser for Facebook, Instagram or Twitter you may be interested in this platform, new users publish for free and prices are very cheap.


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Needle-Trap – making safety a snap
Needlestick injuries after injections expose healthcare professionals to a high risk of infection. This could frequently be avoided by using modern safety systems. Increasing legal requirements for workplace safety in various countries obligate employers in the healthcare sector to protect their employees against needlestick injuries. Schreiner MediPharm offers a cost-efficient and reliable solution for needle protection.


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My kids LOVE peanut butter and we go through a lot of it in this house! That leaves us with lots of empty plastic peanut butter jars. They aren't really fond of the fresh stuff and I haven't found a brand in glass that I like.
My 3 yr old has a few dollars that daddy gave her last week after their shopping trip and it's just been sitting on her dresser. She plays with it but doesn't really understand that you should keep it safe.
Directions to make: I simply cut a slit in the lid (be careful because plastic lids can crack), remove the label, and place a label or sticker on the front. We used our brand new Mabel's Labels from our Back to School Combo kit (more on that later) to personalize the piggy bank with her name.
You could fill plastic jars like this with lots of goodies. Can you imagine how organized my sons Lego collection could be with several of these?
This post is part of the Upcycled Crafting Challenge (#freefromtrash) that I'm hosting this month. It's part of a one month challenge to create from trash. This challenge will hopefully open your eyes to the number of items that we still end up trashing every day that could be used by ourselves or our kids to create fun and useful items.
Note: I'm still playing catch up on the rest of this month's projects. More on the way soon.


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A big challenge in today's world of far-flung, complex supply chains is the limited understanding of the impact on your operations of unexpected disruption at one supplier's site. To address this issue, my colleagues William Schmidt of Cornell, Yehua Wei of Duke, and I developed a method to help prioritize the financial or operational impact of risk that lets companies focus their mitigation efforts on the most important suppliers and risk areas. The method was implemented successfully at Ford Motor Company — an effort we described in this HBR article. But since then, we encountered an important problem: Suppliers tend to be optimistic about the information that they provide. In response, we have developed a remedy.
A central feature of the original model was time to recovery (TTR): the time it would take for a particular node — a supplier facility, a distribution center, or a transportation hub — to be restored to full functionality after a disruption. By combining suppliers' TTR information with the details of Ford's supply chain, product bill-of-material, volume, and profit margins by product line and pipeline inventory, our method identifies the risk exposure associated with a disruption in each site of Ford's network. This is done by simulating the firm's response to a disruption at a specific site for the duration of TTR.
The TTR values are determined by examining historical experience and surveying the firm's buyers or suppliers. But we then discovered that suppliers tend to be optimistic about their TTR since they know that a long TTR is not going to be accepted by the manufacturer. Therefore, we realized that we needed a way to identify bottleneck suppliers for which it's critical to obtain accurate TTR information and distinguish them from other suppliers where even plus or minus 30% error in TTR information will have very little impact on the supply chain.
Insight Center
The Future of OperationsSponsored by GE CorporateThe technologies and trends shaping tomorrow's businesses.
For this purpose, we created a new metric that we call "time to survive" (TTS). It is the maximum duration that the supply chain can match supply with demand after a node disruption. To determine TTS associated with a specific node, we remove the node from the supply chain and calculate how long — using inventory in the pipeline and other available supply sources — we can serve customer demand without that node. If the TTS of a specific site is greater than its TTR, this site does not expose the firm to any risk since during the time the site is recovering from a disruption, the firm can still match supply with demand. On the other hand, if the TTS of a specific facility is smaller than its TTR, its disruption will expose the firm to financial and operational problems.
As you can see from the chart below (whose data is slightly modified or disguised to protect proprietary information), when the new metric was applied to Ford's supply chain, it revealed that some supplier sites had a TTS equal to just a few days. These are critical suppliers and a careful review of their TTR is necessary. By contrast, there were other suppliers with a very long TTS (greater than 50 weeks). This is an opportunity to cut costs since, in many cases, a long TTS is achieved by building a lot of strategic inventory. Cutting inventory for these suppliers by 50%, for example, will have very little impact on its ability to respond to a disruption.
The new metric motivated the development of a model to assess the level of strategic inventory: inventory used to respond to a disruption anywhere in the supply chain. That is, TTS and TTR metrics can be combined to determine how much strategic inventory the firms needs and where to position this inventory so each site's TTS is greater than its TTR. This leads to a robust supply chain, one in which each node has a TTS greater than its TTR and thus a disrupted node will always recover before it exceeds its ability to apply the mitigation strategies the firm has in place.
Ford is monitoring risk exposure using our technology on an ongoing basis and making adjustments based on changes in the environment. For example, as inventory levels change in the supply chain, the risk exposure changes. When risk exposure is above a certain level, perhaps due to low inventory levels or delayed supply, our technology triggers an alert that requires procurement managers to review the drivers of the increase in risk.
Ford executives recently told us that they are using our method and technology for three levels of decisions:
Strategic: To identify exposure to risk associated with parts and suppliers, prioritize and allocate resources effectively, develop mitigation strategies, and identify opportunities to reduce risk mitigation cost
Tactical: To monitor changes in risk exposure on a daily or weekly basis
Operational: To identify an effective way to allocate resources after a disruption.
As Ford has discovered, time to survive complements the time-to-recovery metric and makes it possible to develop a deeper understanding of how to manage supply-chain risks effectively. Together, they have allowed Ford to work with its suppliers on mitigation strategies and create a more robust supply chain.