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Dual ISS and Venus transit viewed from Slovakia
On 8 June 2004, like many others around the world, Tomáš Maruška from Bratislava in Slovakia, captured images of the Venus transit. Few of the images of this unusual astronomical event will have been as unique as those taken by Tomáš – his images also show the International Space Station (ISS) passing in front of the Sun.
Astrophotography enthusiast Tomáš, patiently assisted by his wife, Gitka, and Zuzka their 7-year-old daughter, captured the dual ISS/Venus transit pictures from his uncle's garden in Stupava, a small village to the north of Bratislava.
ISS transit
A few weeks ago, looking at predictions on Thomas Fly's ISS transit website, Tomáš was interested to read that ISS would also pass across the Sun at the time of the Venus transit. Not reading the website carefully, he believed that the ISS transit would only be visible from neighbouring countries and put it out of his mind.
However, just one day before the event, alerted by Fly's email notification service, Tomáš got a big surprise upon discovering that the ISS transit would in fact be visible from a site just a few kilometres to the north of his home in Bratislava. This was a chance not to be missed.
Narrow corridor
Using Earth path predictions made by Arnold Barmettler and published on CalSKY.com, Tomáš discovered that the centreline of the narrow 4.5 kilometre-wide corridor, from where the dual transit could be viewed, passed right through the village of Stupava.
On the morning of 8 June, after checking and re-checking his equipment that he had set up the evening before in his uncle Marian's garden, he began taking pictures of the Venus transit. All the time thinking forward to the ISS transit, "Will it fly exactly as predicted? Will something go wrong with my equipment? Will I see this extremely short event?"
Small black dot
Just after 12:09 CEST, Tomáš started recording a video sequence. "My wife held a shield over me and the display. Just 12 seconds later I saw a small black dot pass across the display. I realised right then that I had obtained a unique picture and video of the event."
John Locker an ISS transit enthusiast from England, also played his part by trying to alert as many people as possible to the fact that there would be a dual transit, in the hope that someone somewhere would be able to capture an image. "This is an amazing success for Tomáš, and also a testament to the precision of the calculations done by Thomas Fly and Arnold Barmettler. It is fantastic that someone managed to catch the event."
See the ISS
Thanks to its large solar wings the International Space Station is one of the brightest 'stars' in our night sky. Under the right conditions the ISS can be seen with the naked eye - providing you know in which direction to look. The best time for ISS-gazing is just before dawn or just after sunset, when the observer is in the dark but the ISS is in the Sun.
To find out whether the ISS is visible from where you live, visit http://www.esa.int/seeiss and fill in the name of your town.


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Australia 6-9 Scotland, Newcastle
Ford hails Scottish defence
ESPN Staff
June 5, 2012
Scotland captain Ross Ford collected the Hopetoun Cup after the 9-6 win over Australia © Getty Images
Scotland captain Ross Ford paid tribute to Scotland's defence in their 9-6 win over Australia in Newcastle that brings their seven-match losing streak to an end.
Ford and his team-mates spent most of the second half camped on their tryline keeping the Wallabies at bay. It proved to be vital to the win as the Australians could only add a second Mike Harris penalty to their total after half-time. Harris then missed the chance to put the hosts in front and fly-half Berrick Barnes sliced a drop-goal wide.
In the dying seconds Ford was then part of the Scotland scrum that won the penalty that Greig Laidlaw kicked to win the match.
"The boys are over the moon and they put in a big shift in defence," Ford told Fox Sports. "The conditions weren't good for running rugby, but the boys dug in well in defence, put their bodies on the line and scrapped for a win there. The weather evened things out a little bit and credit to the Aussies they really tested us in defence. They had some big ball carriers, but our boys stuck in there and stuck to the task."
The win provided welcome relief for a side who's most recent victory was a 15-6 win over Georgia in the World Cup last year. Since then they lost to Argentina and England to signal their exit from the World Cup at the pool stage, before coach Andy Robinson and the entire team can under fire for losing five from five in the Six Nations.
Robinson's team now travel to Fiji for a Test on June 16 before completing their tour with a Test against Samoa in Apia on June 23.
"We put ourselves under a lot of pressure but when we finally got the ball we made the most of it," Ford said. "We knew if we could keep them under 20 we could make a game of it. "It is phenomenal; to beat a team like Australia away from home is a great morale booster. They are a great team and to come away from home and to win on their own patch it's a great morale booster for the boys."
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Bowtrol Colon Cleanser Sale
The welfares of the cleanse diet has sufficient stages of internal secretions and antibiotic drugs which shoot down enteric plants. Natural Body Detox extends helpful info and reports feature got demonstrated that a colon cleanse you postulate to have got got lost a lot of hoi pollois will mislay unwanted pounds. So after one last … [Read more...]


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The Gerber Myth Series is a new line of hunting knives and gear designed for hard use out in the field. The line incorporates a grippy rubberized handle, well made plastic sheath, and a number of different blade designs to tackle any task a hunter requires of their edged tool. The sheath for each knife comes with its own built-in carbide sharpener to touch up the edge when necessary. The Myth Series also features a hands free 28 lumen headlamp for low light hunts and a folding ceramic/carbide sharpener with a diamond coated area for sharpening serrations. These good looking and functional tools will not break the bank and can be found at www.knifecenter.com.
More about Gerber:


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Change of time for LCHS Grand March
Send a link to a friend
[April 30, 2014]
Main Street Lincoln and the city
of Lincoln will present the 25th annual Lincoln Community High
School Prom Red Carpet Runway and Royal Grand March for the LCHS
students and community. The events will be on Saturday at the Logan
County Courthouse.
The grand march, which will take place on Broadway Street, at the
north entrance of the courthouse, was originally set to take place
at 6 p.m. That has now been changed to 5:30 p.m.
The public is invited to enjoy this silver anniversary
celebration weekend, as many downtown businesses will be open and
offering "Red Carpet" special sales and discounts.
In the event of inclement weather, the festivities will be moved
to Lincoln High School.
[Text from file received from
Bill Hoagland, Main Street Lincoln]
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I love really simple desserts - especially when we're entertaining... or is it that I always make really simple desserts when we're entertaining because I run out of time? One of my favorite easy desserts to serve is ice cream and cookies. I make the dough ahead of time, put them in balls on baking sheets and then put them in the oven just as we're finishing dinner. I serve the warm cookies with cold ice cream and everyone goes crazy. In the Fall, I make ginger cookies and serve them with caramel ice cream, during the holidays I make chocolate cookies paired with butter pecan... endless options.
When we lived in Concord, we spent most of our summer nights at a local creamery that made the best peach ice cream. Nothing that I have found is even close. So, any time I walk in the grocery store and smell fresh peaches, I make my own non-homemade homemade peach ice cream. I put our favorite (Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla) ice cream in the food processor with some peach slices (skin and all) and give it a whirl. If we're not going to eat it right away, I put it back in the freezer to harden.
I love how this little dessert looks in the Enamelware Mini Dessert Pots from my store. I have lots of great desserts planned for them (individual blackberry cobblers!), but they also work great as ramekins on a buffet to hold dips and spreads.
Mini Snickerdoodles
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1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or regular vanilla)
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Cream together butter, shortening and sugar. Add eggs one at a time until combined. Add vanilla. Add flower, salt and baking powder, stirring until just combined.
Chill mixture for 15-30 minutes. Roll in very small 3/4-inch balls. Roll them in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 5-6 minutes at 350 degrees. Should be taken out of the oven just before cooked through so they stay soft.


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In my work with advisory practices, I've found that the best way to deal with unhappy employees is to build a firm that creates happy—and great—employees. With that said, even the best, most employee-oriented firms, will occasionally have to deal with employees who just aren't happy. For most advisory firms, the issue of unhappy employees is a lot more common.
After years of experience, I can usually tell when an employee is unhappy just by walking through an office door or in the first few minutes on the phone. Unhappy employees seem to present themselves differently from happy employees or even from employees who are sad. In fact, they aren't that hard to spot if you make an effort to look for them, especially when you work with people day after day: Unhappy employees have an underlying anger or frustration that permeates their posture, their expressions and even their movements.
Consequently, I've come to the conclusion that the problem isn't that firm owners don't know when they have an unhappy employee; it's that they often choose to ignore it, either because they don't want to believe one of their employees is unhappy or because they don't know what do about it. What I know for sure is that an employee can be unhappy for a very long time, but sooner or later they will blow their steam and it will be an emotional mess. I also know that unhappiness in the workplace, like enthusiasm, is contagious: While one enthusiastic employee can make everyone else enthusiastic, one unhappy employee can bring the whole firm down. It's far better to address the situation before it becomes a crisis.
In addition to body language, unhappy employees usually exhibit one or more changes in their behavior that often are easier to spot. Here are some of the most common:
Low productivity. While a drop in work output may be difficult to measure, it's not usually difficult to notice. Employees generally know they're unhappy and quite often they fear that others will see it. So, rather than leaving early or coming in late, they tend to stay at work, but don't really work. When the quality or quantity of an employee's work starts to drop off, it's important to determine the cause as soon as possible and affect a workable solution to mitigate the damage to the employee themselves and to the morale of the entire office.
Making lame excuses. Another way unhappy employees cover their declining productivity is to find dumb excuses for their poor performance.
Frequently calling in sick. A noticeable increase in sick days for minor ailments is a red flag that something's up. This kind of behavior, of course, can also signal deeper psychological issues, so it's important to determine whether an employee has recently begun to find ways to excuse their performance, or if they've acted this way throughout their tenure with the firm. If it's the latter, it's extremely unlikely that a business owner will be able to uncover the problem, let alone find a workable solution.
Becoming argumentative, snippy or impatient. Again, if this is simply part of an employee's personality, then a workable solution is probably not in the cards. The owner and the other employees will have to decide whether this behavior can fit into a happy and productive working environment.
Becoming critical of other employees. This, too, can merely be the result of an unpleasant personality trait. But when a formerly happy, supportive employee makes a dramatic 180 and can't seem to get along with his or her co-workers, it's time to find out why.
Complaints by other employees. Finally, if an employee's behavior doesn't signal to you that there's a problem (or if you just miss the signs), your other employees often will. Changes in working behavior, especially negative ones, are usually not overlooked by co-workers. In these situations, it's important not to jump to conclusions: When two employees complain about each other, it's not always obvious who's at fault. Instead, reserve judgment and talk to other employees.
Now for the big question: What should firm owners do once they've identified an unhappy employee? In some cases, particularly when managers have been in denial about the unhappiness of an employee, they already know why the employee is unhappy. However, in the majority of cases where the cause isn't obvious, the only real option is to confront the person about how they feel. It's important to do it in a supportive, concerned way, rather than critical or accusative.
What you do next is critical. No matter how the employee responds, it's essential that you don't take it personally—it's not about you. Firm owners don't usually react well to crying in the workplace: They often feel it's unprofessional and, well, annoying. Try to get past that by remembering that it's not about you or your comfort level. At this point, your job is to find the source of the employee's unhappiness.
When confronted with an emotional employee, the question you need to ask is: What do those tears mean? What's this all about? Often, simply asking these questions will go a long way to alleviating an employee's unhappiness. When you get to the source of the emotions, you'll know what the problem is. Here are some common sources of workplace unhappiness:
A change in position or business structure. This is a very common issue as advisory firms grow. Over time, a firm's first employees can find themselves in a business and in jobs that are very different from those they started with. While they're happy for the owner's increased success and their role in it, it's not unusual for them to have preferred things the way they used to be and secretly harbor resentment for a loss of personal connection to the owner or decline in their stature.
Favoritism. In small businesses, a large part of employee motivation can come from their respect and connection to the owner. If that owner appears to treat some employees better than others, or more fairly than others, it can have a major impact on the motivation and happiness of the rest of the employees.
Personality clashes. Being forced to work closely with someone that you just don't like can have a major effect on how you feel about your job. Some people work better in groups than others, and a team that likes and respects each other is usually far more productive.
False accusation or blame. When problems inevitably arise in an office, it's very important the owner or manager take the time to identify the real cause. Few actions are more demotivating than blaming a conscientious worker for someone else's deficiencies, especially if it happens more than once. This problem is often connected to the favoritism issue.
Lack of growth or unfair loss of a promotion. One of the key elements to employee happiness is feeling that they are getting somewhere or making progress toward some goal. Understanding where your employees want to go and helping them get there is part of good management. So is letting employees know that you are helping them. When you make a promotion, it's important to talk to the employees who might have been promoted but weren't, to explain why and let them know how and when they'll be able to move up.
Uncertainty. Feeling as if their working world is about to change can be very stressful for many employees. This is a growing problem in the advisory world today, with many owner/advisors approaching retirement age. Sometimes an owner won't have all the answers, but simply talking about the issue often goes a long way to helping employees feel better.
Once an owner has determined the source of unhappiness, the solution is usually pretty obvious. Unfortunately, at this point, many owners will go into advice mode rather than service mode. If the employee could deal with it, they would have done so already. Acknowledge the problem and explain how you're going to solve it. Of course, sometimes it's not a problem you care to solve or even can solve. In that case, you need to decide if the employee can be happy in your firm—if not, it's far better for your firm, and for them, to find a job in which they will be happy.


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Shadow Copy Volume forensics will enable an investigator to examine data at many different time snapshots during a forensic examination. While XP Restore Point snapshots only gather key files including the registry, the shadow copy volume will allow access to them all. Investigating shadow copy volumes in organizations might become a key investigative tool for both e-Discovery and traditional forensics. First off, a hats off to Troy Larson, Senior Forensic Investigator from Microsoft, who just put this information out into the forensic community. In addition to his own research, Troy was able to query the Microsoft development team of the Volume Shadow Copy for additional capabilities. As a result, I have been a happy forensic investigator all day long playing with the capability.
Shadow Copy Volume Background
Shadow copy is an exciting new possibility for forensic investigators looking for an additional edge in computer forensics. Restore point data, similar to what is found in Windows XP, does not exist in the same format in Windows 2003, VISTA, or Server 2008. 2003, VISTA, and Server 2008 now log changes to the entire volume and keep track of the specific clusters that are changed between each snapshot in the new Volume Shadow Copy Service or VSS.
Volume Shadow Copy Service (or Shadow Copy) is very similar to the "Time Machine" service for Macs. It performs a cluster by cluster diffing/backup and stores that information. In a nutshell, you can rewind a file, a directory, or even an entire volume to a previous state. This is wonderful for incident response and forensic investigators.
All versions of VISTA have Shadow Copy enabled by default, however, only Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate have a way to access it easily. In a way, it is very similar in concept to VMware snapshot where it backs up differential changes in the volume into a snapshot file. Note: the following techniques have only been tested on VISTA Business version. Further testing would need to be accomplished on other versions of Microsoft products with Shadow Copy enabled.
This is a snapshot of the of the restoration points created by VSS. If you notice the entire volume of C can be backed up to earlier dates. This would mean that if a user wiped a file today it could be recoverable at an earlier point in time that was where a shadow copy snapshot took place. If an investigator examined the shadow volume created from the previous day's snapshot, the file is recoverable from that volume. The shadow volume that can be examined is an exact duplicate backup of the entire volume including unallocated space.
How many shadow volumes will an investigator have access to? It depends on disk size. Generally 15% of disk space is allocated for the volume shadow, however, upwards of 30% of disk space could be utilized.
Which versions of VISTA are VSS enabled? For all versions, system restore will utilize the VSS in order to back the computer up to a previous snapshot. For Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate versions, "Previous Versions" is enabled that will allow a user to "rewind" a file, a directory, or an entire volume. However, the VSS service is up and running on the basic and home versions of VISTA, but the previous versions option is not displayed.
Important: Currently, you can only examine shadow copy volumes if you have the original device the shadow copy volumes are on. You cannot examine or recover shadow copy volumes from a disk image file mounted on your workstation via ntfs-3g, Encase, vdk, or mount image pro. However, you can examine a volume image duplicated from the Shadow Copy Volume. More on this shortly...
You have to mount, in read-only mode, your original hard drive that contains the shadow copy volumes on an VISTA machine. This might change as more capability is developed, but it is important to note that the best way to analyze/examine shadow copy volumes is by having access to the original drive or machine where they were created from.
List the Shadow Copy Volumes
How many Volumes are stored on the system you are examining? You can obtain a list of existing shadow volumes in the Volume Shadow copy Service by executing the tool, vssadmin.
To obtain a list of the shadows execute: C:\> vssadmin list shadows /for=C:
Things to notice.
The Shadow Copy Volume is the name of the volume that we will use to examine the contents of that specific volume. You might want to write the exact name down.
The originating machine would be noteworthy if you have plugged in an NTFS drive from another shadow copy enabled machine.
The system time at the moment the volume was created. This time is important as it may indicate which shadow copy volume may contain your data.
From the output of vssadmin, note the total number of shadow copy volumes from the machine. In this example, it only shows three. But there were 15 total shadow copy volumes that were listed as a result of running the "vssadmin list shadows" command. This particular machine had a 700 GB partition volume allocated for the C drive. If you decide to image the shadow copy volumes, you could theoretically have over 16 separate 700 GB logical images created from this one machine, each one from a different point in time.
Live Shadow Volume Examination
On a live machine it might be useful to manually browse or scan a directory that contains a shadow copy volume. It is relatively easy to do this from an administrator enabled command prompt using the tool mklink. mklink creates symbolic links, which are new to VISTA, from the command line. You can create a symbolic link from a shadow copy volume to your desktop easily by executing the following command.
From your previous output of vssadmin, select one of the "Shadow Copy Volume" names based off of the date in time you would like to examine. Then create the symbolic link using mklink pointing it at a directory followed by the device name of the shadow copy volume you wish to parse.
C:\> mklink /d C:\shadow_copy21 \?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy21\
Very important! It is important you do NOT forget the trailing slash at the end of the mklink command!!! Without it you will receive a permission error.
This capability would be incredibly useful in situations where a bad guy might have wiped a file. You could recover it by going back a day or two in the shadow copy volume to retrieve the file from allocated space.
Imaging a Shadow Volume
It is also rather simple to image the full volume of a specific shadow by utilizing one of the latest versions of the dd.exe command by George Garner and the output from the vssadmin list shadows command.
Using the "vssadmin list shadows" output, identify the shadow copy volume number you wish to image. In this situation, you would utilize the part of the device name that includes "HarddiskVolumeShadowcopy#" The # (number) is the number of the shadow copy volume you wish to acquire a full disk image from.
All the regular options in dd apply, but to image execute a command similar to the following on your machine that contains the volume shadow copy or the read-only original drive containing the volume shadow copy.
In this command F: is a USB drive plugged into bn.;'the machine. The - -localwrt option allows the dd.exe tool write to a local mounted drive.
dd.exe if=\.\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy4 of=F:\snapshot4.img -localwrt
Shadow Forensics
Mounting your collected shadow copy volume image is easy using the ntfs-3g command from your SIFT workstation.
Commands typed:
# ntfs-3g —o ro,loop,show_sys_files snapshot4.img /mnt/hack/snapshot4
In addition, you can examine the image utilizing any of the sleuthkit tools, perform unallocated space analysis, and perform file carves as you would a normal image. Remember we had 15 shadow copy volumes and the original volume. We could theoretically examine 16 total images from a single machine. Each one a full disk volume from that moment in time.


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Get Office 365 for free
It's not a trial! Students and teachers are eligible for Office 365 Education, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and now Microsoft Teams, plus additional classroom tools.
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Save time and be successful with your free Office
Built for teachers and students, full of powerful tools, and accessible from your favorite devices.
Organize in one place
Capture and organize all your class materials in OneNote, your digital notebook.
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Create interactive lessons and spark student creativity using Sway.
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Bring students together in a collaborative space or giving them individual support in private notebooks within Class Notebook.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Office 365 Education?
Office 365 Education is a collection of services that allows you to collaborate and share your schoolwork. It's available for free to teachers who are currently working at an academic institution and to students who are currently attending an academic institution. The service includes Office Online (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote), unlimited personal cloud storage , Yammer, and SharePoint sites. Some schools allow teachers and students to install the full Office applications on up to 5 PCs or Macs for free. If your school provides this additional benefit, you'll see the Install Office button on your Office 365 home page after you complete sign-up.
What are the eligibility requirements?
You must be a full-time or part-time faculty or staff member or student at an academic institution and:
- Have a school-specific email address provided by the school (for example, contoso.edu) that can receive external email.
- Be of legal age to sign up for an online offer individually.
- Have Internet access.
How do I get Office 365 Education?
To see what's included in Office 365 Education, visit the Office 365 Education plan page. You can enroll your school from there.
How long can I use this plan?
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With the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con going down next week, studios are trying to make a big media impact with their geek genre tentpole flicks - and one of the bigger films to be featured at this year's 'Con will be Sony's The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
The sequel to director Marc Webb's successful reboot of the Spider-Man movie franchise has been teasing fans for months with images that hint at big potential developments for both ASM2 and the larger Spidey movie universe, but now it's time to get official. Today we have an... er, official image from Amazing Spider-Man 2 to share, and it features none other than Jamie Foxx as Spidey's new superpowered foe, Electro.
EW debuted the image as one of the variant covers for their Comic-Con 2013 preview issue. If you want to check the rest of their covers - which features horror movie remake Carrie, the long-awaited adaptation of the classic sci-fi novel Ender's Game or the BBC hit series Orphan Black - then check out the full gallery HERE.
We've previously seen unofficial images of Jamie foxx on set in his blue Electro makeup - which is clearly drawn from the more modern Ultimate Spider-Man version of the villain (blue sparky), rather than the original green-on-yellow costume from the original comics. Despite all the debate about casting Foxx in the role, it's easy to say that makeup and effects team behind the film have done a suitable job of creating a believable version of a man whose body is overflowing with electric current. Fans of old-school Electro: there's even a few nice homages to your version, what with the lighting bolt images included with his Prometheus-style space suit (kidding... sort of).
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is still something of a mystery in terms of story. We know Spidey will be battling Electro and The Rhino (Paul Giamatti); a prison full of super villains will be involved; gene-splicing (as seen in the first film) will likely result in several big plot developments; Mary Jane Watson WON'T be in the film; Harry and Norman Osborn's appearance could spell big doom to come; and more...
Stay tuned next week as we attend Sony's Amazing Spider-Man 2 Comic-Con panel; we expect to see some great footage and learn new mysteries and hints that could keep fans buzzing until release day. You don't want to miss it.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will be in theaters on May 2, 2014.
The 2013 San Diego Comic-Con International will take place from Thursday July 18 - Sunday July 21st - and we'll have breaking news and coverage coming to you well before/after those dates, as well.


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A program begun five years ago to monitor PFC levels in east metro residents will end in June under Gov. Mark Dayton's budget plan, despite a recommendation to expand and continue it by a state agency's panel of health experts.
Levels of PFCs -- perfluorochemicals, a group of compounds used in an array of products and once manufactured by 3M Co. -- have steadily declined in people since a huge and costly effort to clean up four sites in Washington County where they were once legally dumped.
But PFC levels measured since 2008 in dozens of volunteer residents of Cottage Grove, Oakdale and Lake Elmo since that cleanup began are still above the U.S. average. For that reason, an advisory panel to the Minnesota Department of Health recommended to the Legislature that the biomonitoring program not only be extended to see if that downward trend continues, but also that the sampling size be enlarged to get a clearer picture of how PFC levels compare among people and what steps reduce PFC exposure.
Funding for the PFC biomonitoring program, however, was not included in the governor's budget plan.
Instead, two other initiatives, at a total cost of $1.2 million, were included: a new biomonitoring program to gauge mercury levels in children and newborns statewide after levels deemed unsafe were detected in the Lake Superior basin along the shores of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan; and determining how air quality in inner cities affects people with asthma and other chronic respiratory diseases.
The decision to exclude the PFC biomonitoring does not reflect how valuable the program has been, said Jean Johnson, director of the health department's biomonitoring program. "It came down to a choice of how to best use our limited resources."
It also doesn't reflect a lack of concern by the agency over PFCs, she said, which will continue to be monitored in groundwater. The recommendations of the 13-member advisory panel are carefully considered, but do not automatically get passed on into the budget plan.
Still, Bruce Alexander, a panel member and a professor at the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health, called the decision to end PFC biomonitoring a "disappointment." He said following up on the PFC analysis work is definitely warranted.
State Sen. Katie Sieben, DFL-Newport, also said she was concerned that PFC biomonitoring funds are targeted for elimination. "I would think we could come up with some additional funding for this, given the importance of the PFC issue in the east metro," she said.
New science is emerging all the time on the effects PFCs have on human health and, like Alexander, Sieben said having hard data is essential in guiding policies to protect public health.
"To have the levels known is one thing -- and it's good to see those levels are dropping -- but it's only helpful when you can explain what effect those levels have on the population," Sieben said.
At least one environmental advocacy group, Clean Water Action, also will press to restore funding for PFC biomonitoring. "It's a public health issue," said Deanna White, the group's state director.
Study results
In 2008, when monitoring began, the health department identified three types of PFCs in the blood of study participants (PFOA, PFOS and PFHxS). Highest levels were found in older people, long-term residents and men. By 2010, levels of all three types of PFCs had fallen between 13 and 26 percent. Analysis of more data collected since then will be released in June.
The results coincide with a similar report earlier this year by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency showing that PFOS levels in the upper Mississippi River between Hastings and St. Paul had fallen significantly, except for near 3M's Cottage Grove plant.
The effects of PFCs on people are a matter of intense debate, and are at the center of the state's two-year-old lawsuit against 3M, which maintains the compounds have no effect on human health. Johnson said the decision to drop the PFC biomonitoring is unrelated to the suit and, in fact, Geary Olsen, an advisory panel member who is a scientist in 3M's Medical Department, supported continuing the program, meeting minutes show.
The challenge
The panel's recommendation to the Legislature acknowledges the challenge. "Currently, scientists can't say definitively whether PFCs do or do not harm health," the reports says, "and this makes the explanation of what study results mean and providing health advice difficult."
That statement, and the decision to refocus biomonitoring programs in other areas, "underscores what 3M has been saying it believes all along -- the presence of certain PFCs, such as PFOS, is not a problem in the east metro area," said William Brewer III, partner at Bickel & Brewer and lead legal counsel for 3M. "The fact is, these chemicals have never been shown to cause adverse health effects at levels they are typically found in the environment."
Yet there is an apprehension factor. Comments from volunteers in the health department's PFC biomonitoring program, whose names are held in strict confidence, are included in the report.
"Follow-up needs to be done ... on myself and family members," said one.
Adds another: "I wish more was known on this for long-term health effects."
Jim Anderson • 651-925-5039 Twitter: @StribJAnderson


text: Rustic squares, wood patterns, and classic Christmas songs. Makes you think of comfy chairs and a crackling fire.* 12 sheets: 2 each of 6 double-sided designs* 12" x 12" (30.5 x 30.5 cm)* Acid free* Lignin freeCoordinating colours: Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, Gray Granite, Mossy Meadow, Very Vanilla, Whisper White


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Aluminium foil isolation blanket. Packaged in a polybag. Measurements: 130 x 210 cm.
Emergency foil space/heat blanket. An essential car or motorbike item.
Polar fleece (170-180 gr/m2) blanket with a nylon carry strap. Unfolded size 160 x 125 cm.
Fleece blanket with a grey carrying strap to secure the item. Ideal for travel and is the branding area. Great for Summer picnics or keeping warm in the Winter months.
Huggy blanket and pouch. Blanket with handy pouch and drawstring closure. Blanket size is 150 x 120 cm. Fleece 200 g/m².
Keep yourself warm on cold nights with this fleece blanket that can also be used as a picnic blanket on a family day out. Fitted with handy carry strap.
Fleece (190 gr/m2) travel blanket with nylon carrying handle, unfolded size +/- 115 cm x 135 cm.
Anti-pilling winter fleece blanket with a carry case that doubles as a pillow case and a blow up cushion. The zipped carry case contains an inflatable PVC cushion which can then be inserted back into the carry case and used as a comfortable pillow. This cosy cushion and blanket set is ideal for taking on planes and in cars to keep warm and comfortable while travelling. To save space, simply let the air out of the cushion and fold the blanket and cushion back up into the handy carry bag.
Fleece blanket (180 g/m2) packed in a polyester carry bag with zipper and front pocket.
Anti-pilling polar fleece blanket. 180g/m2. Ideal for keeping cosy and comfortable while travelling, at home and in winter. Perfect home accessory.
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It's that time again. Time to blab about HG to your pals and have a chance to win stuff! Do you remember the 100,000th subscriber contest we had back in April? Well, guess what? 200,000 is right around the corner! To help celebrate, and also to encourage YOU, our faithful HG subscribers, to spread the word about Hungry Girl, we're giving away AWESOME prizes. Our 200,000th subscriber AND the person who tells them about Hungry Girl will EACH win a year's supply of Vitalicious VitaTops. All you need to do is have your friends sign up for our daily emails and enter YOUR email address in the "How did you hear about Hungry Girl?" section. If one of your pals is our 200,000th subscriber, you'll both win free VitaTops for 12 months! In addition, we're giving HG goodies (like T-shirts, floaty pens, charm bracelets, and keychains) to 20 more people at random. So HURRY -- start telling everyone you know to sign up...and good luck!
Need a weight loss buddy? No need to beg a pal to start a diet and exercise plan with you (or listen to their endless complaints!). Just work out with your pooch! Findings from a recent 12-month study show that people and their pets are both more successful in sticking with a weight loss program when they exercise together. It's also a great way to strengthen the bond you have with your pet. Read more about the study here. And, if you don't currently own a dog, but are thinking about finding a furry friend to hang out with or help you get in shape, check out Petfinder.com to learn how you can adopt one in your area.
See this awesomely cool Hungry Girl van? It'll be used to deliver thousands of nutritious meals (at no cost) to seriously ill, homebound folks in the Los Angeles area for our very close, personal pals at Project Angel Food. These guys have been doing amazing work since 1989. In their 17 years of service, they've delivered over 4.5 million meals. How do they raise money, you ask? They have lots of cool LA-based events throughout the year. Their next one is the highly anticipated Divine Design -- a star-studded shopping fundraiser that'll take place in Los Angeles from November 30th - December 4th. If you'd like to learn more about Project Angel Food or make a donation, click here. BTW, if you see this insanely cute van driving around Los Angeles, send us an email -- we'll be VERY excited!
A few months back, we reviewed the entire line of Kashi's frozen entrees (we loved them; click here for details). Looks like we're not the only fans. The meals are so popular that Kashi will release THREE new varieties in January. Keep an eye out for Pesto Pasta Primavera, Chicken Florentine and Lemongrass Chicken. We know it's early -- just gettin' excited over here... ***According to new research, wine extract keeps fat mice healthy. In a recent study, overweight mice that were given high doses of the red wine extract resveratrol had fewer instances of diabetes, liver illness and other weight-related problems than other chubby mice. Experts are hopeful that the same may apply to people, calling the findings "spectacular." ***Wanna know what we're diggin' these days? We've got the hots for All-Bran Snack Bites, 35-calorie packets of miso soup from Mishima, and Trader Joe's Pineapple Salsa. And, no, we don't eat these things all together. We're not insane. That's all we've got. HG out!
Yesterday was National Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day. Check out our guilt-free pizza Chew & Tell and celebrate one day late!
Share this email with EVERYONE, and remember to tell them to sign up and mention your email address -- you can win cool stuff!
Having mail issues? Click here for a printable, text-only version of this email. And click here for an HTML version.


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The Facilities
Management Unit provides building maintenance and management
services for the buildings that house the Division. It is also responsible
for managing and maintaining the Division's property, equipment inventory,
and distribution of supplies.
Services provides mail pickup and delivery service for the
Personnel and Labor Relations works in conjunction with the
Department of the Treasury's Fiscal Office and Human Resources Office.
The objectives are to coordinate, control, and maintain all request for
personnel, equipment, and budgetary needs, and to maintain control over
all personnel matters.


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A carbon monoxide blood test is used to detect
poisoning from breathing carbon monoxide (CO), a
colorless, odorless, poisonous gas. The test measures the amount of hemoglobin
that has bonded with carbon monoxide. This amount is also called the
carboxyhemoglobin level. See a picture of
what happens during carbon monoxide poisoning.
When a person inhales carbon monoxide,
it combines with the red blood cells that normally carry oxygen to the body's
tissues and replaces the oxygen that is normally carried in the blood. As a
result, less oxygen is carried to the brain and other body tissues. Carbon
monoxide can cause severe poisoning and death.
Carbon monoxide is
made during burning when there is not enough oxygen present for complete
combustion. The main sources of carbon monoxide are engine fumes (such as from cars or boats),
fires burning with poor ventilation (such as gas heaters and indoor cooking
fires), factories, and smoking tobacco.
A carbon monoxide blood test is used to
detect poisoning from breathing carbon monoxide. You might have this test if
you have been exposed to the gas or if you have unexplained symptoms, such
Do not smoke before you have this
Talk to your doctor about any concerns you have regarding
the need for the test, its risks, how it will be done, or what the results may
mean. To help you understand the importance of this test, fill out the
medical test information form(What is a PDF document?).
The health professional drawing blood
The blood sample is taken from a vein in
your arm. An elastic band is wrapped around your upper arm. It may feel tight.
You may feel nothing at all from the needle, or you may feel a quick sting or
There is very little chance of a
problem from having blood sample taken from a vein.
A carbon monoxide blood test is used to
poisoning from breathing carbon monoxide (CO), a
colorless, odorless, poisonous gas. The test measures the amount of hemoglobin
that has bonded with carbon monoxide. This is also called the
carboxyhemoglobin level.
Carbon monoxide results are reported as
a percentage: The amount of carbon monoxide bound to hemoglobin is divided by
the total amount of hemoglobin (and then multiplied by 100). The higher the
percentage, the greater the risk of having symptoms of carbon monoxide
poisoning. With values below 10%, a person may not have any symptoms of
The normal values listed here—called a reference range—are just a guide. These ranges vary from lab to lab, and your lab may have a different range for what's normal. Your lab report should contain the range your lab uses. Also, your doctor will evaluate your results based on your health and other factors. This means that a value that falls outside the normal values listed here may still be normal for you or your lab.
Results are usually available right away.
Less than 2% of total hemoglobin
4%–8% of total hemoglobin
High values
High blood
carbon monoxide values are caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. Symptoms of
carbon monoxide poisoning become more severe as the carbon monoxide levels
Headache, nausea, vomiting, and trouble
making decisions
Dizziness, muscle weakness, vision
problems, confusion, and increased heart rate and breathing rate
Loss of consciousness
Over 60%
Seizures, coma, death
Women and children may have more severe symptoms of carbon
monoxide poisoning at lower carbon monoxide levels than men because women and
children usually have fewer red blood cells.
CitationsFischbach FT, Dunning MB III, eds. (2009).
Manual of Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests, 8th ed.
Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.Other Works ConsultedChernecky CC, Berger BJ (2008). Laboratory Tests and Diagnostic Procedures, 5th ed. St. Louis:
Saunders.Fischbach FT, Dunning MB III, eds. (2009).
Manual of Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests, 8th ed.
Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.Pagana KD, Pagana TJ (2010). Mosby's Manual of Diagnostic and Laboratory Tests, 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby.
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Last Revised:
March 1, 2012
Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
Anne C. Poinier, MD - Internal Medicine & R. Steven Tharratt, MD, MPVM, FACP, FCCP - Pulmonology, Critical Care Medicine, Medical Toxicology
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
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Quick Links
Volume 1
Volume 2
- Budget Development
- Financial Statements
- Capital Budget
- Appropriation Recommendations
- Appropriations - Chrome Users
- Agency Information
- Operating Transfers
- Local Aid - Section 3
- Outside Sections
- Tax Expenditure Budget
- Resources - PDF Files
While taxes are an essential source of revenue for all state governments, the manner in which they are imposed varies widely from state to state. In its simplest form, a tax is an across-the-board levy on a base, such as income, to which a specific rate applies and for which no modifications exist. Taxes are rarely levied in this manner, however. Instead, most state tax codes incorporate a number of exemptions, deductions, credits, and deferrals designed to encourage certain taxpayer activities or to limit the tax burden on certain types of individuals or endeavors. Known as "tax expenditures", these provisions can have a significant impact on state tax revenues.
This document offers a summary of the tax expenditures affecting the taxes from which Massachusetts derives the bulk of its revenues: the personal income tax, the corporate excise and other business excises, and the sales and use tax. It also provides revenue estimates for each tax expenditure, as mandated by Massachusetts state law. Organized into five separate sections, this study analyzes all aspects of Massachusetts tax expenditures. Part I contains a detailed explanation of how we identify and estimate the costs of tax expenditure provisions in the tax code. In the next sections (Parts II - IV), we have provided detailed information about each of the three major tax types, including an explanation of how each tax is calculated and the ways in which that tax's basic structure is modified to produce the various types of tax expenditures. The tax expenditures for each tax are listed after the description of the tax.
Following the expenditure listings, Part V provides four appendices. The first lists recent law changes which affect this year's tax expenditure budget; the second is a glossary that defines terms used throughout the text; the third gives five-year tax expenditure estimates that are consistent with our most recent estimation methodology; and the fourth appendix is used for items that no longer qualify as tax expenditures due to legislative changes but are estimated for the purpose of comparisons to prior reports. In reviewing this document it is important to remember that although a tax expenditure represents a deviation from the generally agreed-upon, or basic, structure of a given tax, determining whether a provision is a tax expenditure is not the same as making a judgment about its desirability. An element of the basic structure of a tax can be inequitable or have undesirable economic effects, just as a tax expenditure can. If so, it can be changed by legislative action just as a tax expenditure can.
The estimates of the costs of tax expenditures included in this volume are revised annually. As improved methodologies and data become available over the course of the year, some estimates may be reexamined and occasionally revised.
What Are Tax Expenditures?
Tax expenditures are provisions in the tax code, such as exclusions, deductions, credits, and deferrals, which are designed to encourage certain kinds of activities or to aid taxpayers in special circumstances. When such provisions are enacted into the tax code, they reduce the amount of tax revenues that may be collected. Massachusetts General Laws (MGL), Ch 29, Sec 1 as modified by the Ch. 165 of the Acts of 2012 (section 112) defines tax expenditures as
"state tax revenue foregone as a direct result of any general or special law which allows exemptions, deferrals, deductions from or credits against taxes imposed on income, businesses and corporations, financial institutions, insurance and sales but excluding revenue foregone as a direct result of any general or special law which allows a personal income tax exemption. Sales that do not involve tangible personal property shall not result in tax expenditures under this definition."
In this sense, the fiscal effects of a tax expenditure are just like those of a direct government expenditure. Some tax expenditures involve a permanent loss of revenue, and thus are comparable to a payment by the government; others cause a deferral of revenue to the future, and thus are comparable to an interest-free loan to the taxpayer. Since tax expenditures are designed to accomplish certain public goals that otherwise might be met through direct expenditures, it seems reasonable to apply to tax expenditures the same kind of analysis and review that the appropriations budget receives.
It is essential to distinguish between those provisions of the tax code that represent tax expenditures and those that are part of the "basic structure" of a given tax. The basic structure is the set of rules that defines the tax; a tax expenditure is an exception to those rules. In general, most taxes have a series of features that define their basic structure. These features are:
- A base, on which the tax is levied, such as net income, or a particular class of transactions;
- A taxable unit, such as a person or a corporation;
- A rate, to be applied to the base;
- A definition of the geographic limits of the state's exercise of its tax jurisdiction; and
- Provisions for the administration of the tax.
Defining the Basic Tax Structure
A tax expenditure is a deviation from the generally agreed-upon, or basic, structure of a given tax. For example, the base of the sales tax includes all retail sales to final consumers. The exemption for sales of energy conservation equipment is an exception, created to encourage purchases of such equipment. The sales tax that is not collected because of the existence of this exemption is a tax expenditure.
While this general definition seems straightforward enough, the task of compiling a comprehensive list of tax expenditures presents many conceptual problems. For example, some of the deductions and exemptions allowed under the tax statutes are not tax expenditures. The broad category of income tax deductions allowed for business expenses is not listed as a tax expenditure. Since the income tax is generally considered to be a tax on income net of the costs of producing that income, deductions for business expenses are taken against gross income and therefore occur prior to calculation of the tax base. In addition, tax provisions reflecting constitutional prohibitions, such as the prohibition on taxation of sales to the federal government, are considered parts of the basic tax structure and therefore are not properly considered tax expenditures. These distinctions are fairly simple, but more complex analytical questions quickly arise.
For example, deductions for the depreciation of property and equipment used in a trade or business are considered part of the basic tax structure because the use of productive assets is a legitimate cost of doing business. However, federal depreciation rules allow larger depreciation deductions in the early years of a property's useful life. These accelerated depreciation rules could be viewed as properly reflecting changing notions of obsolescence and thus as part of the basic tax structure; or the faster rates of depreciation could be considered a special adjustment in the tax base designed to provide an incentive for investment, and therefore a tax expenditure. Past federal tax expenditure budgets prepared by the Congressional Budget Office and versions prepared by the Treasury Department have disagreed on exactly this issue.
We have adopted the point of view that accelerated depreciation is a tax expenditure. Although accelerated depreciation still allows the same total deduction for a piece of property; the rate of depreciation allowed in the early years is faster than would be permitted under traditional accounting principles. Generally, revenue cost estimates in this document for tax expenditures associated with accelerated depreciation rely on assumptions used in congressional federal tax expenditure analysis concerning ordinary depreciation rates.
We have chosen to view the rules for personal exemptions and for no tax status in the Commonwealth's personal income tax as provisions which help to define the income tax base, and thus as a part of the basic structure of the tax (much as the progressive rate structure of the federal income tax, which similarly reduces the tax burden on low-income people, is a part of its basic structure). The base of the tax is defined as net income above what is required for subsistence. Since personal exemptions help define the amount of income needed for subsistence, and therefore the base, they should not be classified as tax expenditures. According to this reasoning, exemptions allowed for dependents would also be considered part of the basic tax structure, since subsistence requirements increase with the size of the taxpayer's household. However, we note that this view of the tax structure does not always lead to easy conclusions. First, taxpayers are allowed exemptions for dependents even if those dependents have their own income and take personal exemptions for themselves. We have treated the use of the dependents' exemption as a tax expenditure. Second, the fact that the no tax status amount is greater than the personal exemption suggests that the intent behind the no tax status and personal exemptions goes beyond simple definition of an income base. Although personal exemptions and the no tax status are not listed in this document as tax expenditures, estimates for the revenue losses associated with these provisions are provided in an endnote.
Many Massachusetts tax expenditures in the personal income tax and corporate tax derive from federal income tax rules and thus piggy back on many but not all, federal tax expenditures. We have chosen to include such tax expenditures in this tax expenditure budget, as Massachusetts generally has the ability legally to "decouple" from piggybacking on federal tax expenditures, and has done so in certain cases (e.g., bonus depreciation) from time to time. However, one can question whether federal tax expenditures should generally be included in the Massachusetts tax expenditure budget, because for the most part they simply reflect the fact that Massachusetts has generally chosen to incorporate much of the federal tax laws into the determination of Massachusetts taxable income for personal and corporate income tax purposes.
The sales tax presents the most difficult case. The sales tax statute and its legislative history indicate that the established base of the tax is all "retail" sales. At a minimum, the sales tax exemptions for business purchases of component parts and of products to be resold appear to be provisions that help define which sales are considered non-retail sales, and therefore should not be classified as tax expenditures. However, it is difficult if not impossible to decide which other sales tax exemptions might also cover non-retail sales. For example, manufacturing companies are allowed an exemption from the sales tax for purchases of machinery used in the production process. Since this machinery is not a direct component part of any product being manufactured and is not purchased simply to be resold, it could be argued that the machinery purchase is a retail sale and that the machinery exemption is a tax expenditure. Others would argue that because these purchases are not purchases by the final consumers of an end product, and because they represent legitimate business expenses, these sales tax exemptions should not be considered tax expenditures.
The largest proportion of Massachusetts tax expenditure dollars used to be sales and use tax expenditures. This was largely because of the exclusion (or non-taxation) of certain property and services (other than telecom) from sales and use taxation. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' tax expenditure survey report indicates that items such as non-taxation of services, which are so-called "implicit tax expenditures", should be included in the tax expenditure budget. They also report that about 16 states have such items in their annual tax expenditure reports (http://www.cbpp.org/files/4-9-09sfp.pdf). This provides a means of quantifying the cost of not taxing most services, and allows for comparison with other states that do apply their sales and use tax to various types of specified services. However, in July 2012 legislation was enacted stating explicitly that "sales that do not involve tangible personal property shall not result in tax expenditures". See St 2012, c.165, �112. Pursuant to this legislation, from fiscal year 2014 on, we remove some items, including non-taxation of services, from our tax expenditure estimates, which we regularly reported in prior years. But to facilitate comparison to tax expenditure estimates in prior years, we list these items in Appendix D.
As stated in the introduction, the most important thing to remember is that making a judgment about whether a provision is a tax expenditure is not the same as making a judgment about its desirability. With this in mind, we have attempted to provide more rather than fewer tax expenditure estimates, so that necessary information is available for those charged with making policy judgments.
Description of the Data
This budget should be considered part of an ongoing effort to list tax expenditures, describe their characteristics, and estimate their revenue costs. Each year, we attempt to improve upon the analysis presented in the prior year's tax expenditure budget. For purposes of comparison, we have provided an appendix containing updated tax expenditure estimates for the past four years as well as for Fiscal Year 2015.
Information collected by the Department of Revenue (DOR) from Massachusetts tax returns was an important source of data in this budget. Estimates made from these data tend to be the most reliable. Unfortunately, many tax expenditures cannot be estimated from DOR records. When a particular category of income is excluded from taxation, amounts often do not appear on tax records. This is especially likely to be the case for those tax expenditures brought about by "coupling" the state tax code to the federal code, since exclusions and some deductions are not reported explicitly, but are simply carried over to state tax calculations as part of the reporting of federal income. In such cases we have had to estimate a Massachusetts figure using national tax data, census information, sales statistics, and other information.
You will note that in several cases, this year's tax expenditure estimates are very different from last year's. Revisions to the estimates occur for four reasons: we have new data sources; federal tax expenditure estimates on which we rely have changed; we have refined our estimation methodologies; or changes in Massachusetts tax law have modified existing estimates. In a few instances, more than one of these factors operates to explain the difference. All estimates are projections forward from a base year (which varies depending on the availability of data) to Fiscal Year 2015.
Data Limitations
There are some additional caveats that the reader should keep in mind when reading this budget. First, most revenue loss estimates have been made without taking into account how repeal of a provision might change taxpayer behavior. For example, if the sales tax exemption for a particular item were repealed, the item would become more expensive to consumers, so one would expect sales of that item to decline. The revenue gain from repealing the provision would be, therefore, somewhat less than if the level of sales for the affected items remained the same. On the other hand, some of the income not spent on that item might be spent on other taxable items. To the extent that consumers and businesses pay more taxes and have less income available for other purposes, the repeal of a tax expenditure might have much broader economic and revenue effects. Clearly, the full estimation of these effects demands extensive data which are not easily available.
Second, interactions among different taxes and tax expenditures may be quite complex. Repealing some tax expenditures may increase or decrease the value of others. For example, increasing the no tax status amount would mean that fewer people would pay taxes, and thus fewer people would claim other exemptions. This would reduce the revenues lost through other exemptions. Therefore the combined cost of several tax expenditure items may be different from the total of the cost of the separate tax expenditure items.
Third, the revenue cost estimates do not generally reflect compliance factors that may significantly reduce revenues available from a tax expenditure repeal. In particular, where Massachusetts tax provisions are "coupled" with federal tax rules, audits of Massachusetts taxpayers generally compare state and federal returns. If Massachusetts tax provisions were "decoupled", taxpayers would have to make separate calculations for Massachusetts tax purposes, and these provisions would require special audit procedures. Compliance difficulties would certainly result.
And fourth, particular caution is appropriate with respect to the tax expenditure budget's totals for expenditures for particular taxes. Not only do these totals reflect the imprecision of the specific estimates, but they also omit those items for which no estimates were available. In consequence, particular totals may be substantially understated. At the same time, included in the totals, particularly with regard to the sales tax, are a number of substantial items that many analysts would not regard as tax expenditures, but rather as features of the underlying tax itself. The general approach in preparing the tax expenditure budget has been to count questionable items as tax expenditures, so that information concerning them would be available for analysis. The result is that the totals are higher than they would be under a more restrained analytic approach.
Reading the Budget
In this document, tax expenditures and cost estimates are listed according to the taxes to which they pertain: personal income, corporate excise, and sales and use. Note that the corporate section of the Tax Expenditure Budget includes other business excises along with the corporate excise. These additional business excise taxes are the financial institution excise, the public utility excise, which was repealed effective January 1, 2014, the excises on insurance companies, and the excise on security corporations. Each of the three major taxes includes an introductory section with a description of the tax, followed by a listing of the tax expenditures for that tax. Each tax expenditure item includes a brief description, the cost estimate, a statutory citation, and an indication of the tax expenditure's type. The various special excises on motor fuels, cigarettes, and alcoholic beverages are not covered in this budget.
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NetBSD Community
Get in contact with other NetBSD users. Ask for help or share your experience and technical knowledge. Explore the activities and resources of the NetBSD community.
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Wikipedia Edit Wars: 10 Most Edited Entries
Wikipedia is often a go-to site for quick information on random topics, but the community nature of the network means that edits can result in some dubious – and often constant – additions and edits.
A group of researchers from the U.K., Hungary, and the U.S. sought to take stock of the most edited entries on Wikipedia and not surprisingly, they cover some pretty controversial topics. These so-called Wikipedia "edit wars" can see a particular entry updated at a rapid-fire rate, with some people swooping in almost as soon as the previous editor has made a change.
Researchers examined some of the most controversial topics across Wikipedia, in English, German, French, Spanish, Persian, Czech, Hungarian, Arabic, Roman, and Hebrew, with articles that boast a dizzying number of edits. Discussion of some topics, like sports, literature, or entertainment, tend to be more localized, while others, such as those related to religion, generally cover more widespread areas of the world.
The English Wikipedia, though, occupies a unique role, according to the researchers. The universal language ends up being edited by a broad community of people — about 19 million — resulting in more globally disputed themes than most other countries. "The data presented here … offers a window into not just the topics and places that different language communities are interested in, but also the topics that seem worth fighting about," the research paper said.
A full list of the top 10 most controversial topics for each language is listed in the research paper. We focused on the English-language entries with the most edits to date. Take a look; maybe you've made an edit or two yourself?
1 Race and intelligence
2 Circumcision
3 Anarchism
4 Christianity
5 Muhammad
6 Global warming
7 Jesus
8 United States
9 List of WWE personnel
10 George W. Bush


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I'm sorry to announce, that Rick Estano, has recently passed.
For many years, he was a roadie for Crosby, Stills & Nash. He was almost a complete look alike to David Crosby. After many years of working in the industry, he left.
Today, December 13, he passes away of a major heart attack.
If anyone has means of passing this information to the people he worked with, as well as Mr.Crosby & his current crew, please due so.
He was a man of great heart & those that knew him, will miss him dearly.
thank you!


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November 24, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope everyone has a bountiful Thanksgiving - We have so much to be thankful for!
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…. It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow."
Labels: My Life, Thanksgiving
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Join us on irc.railfan.ca in #railfan - the world's best 24/7 railfan chat (alternate client)
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Toccoa, Georgia
(map) Toccoa is the western limit of the historic Hartland Railway, which has existed as a shortline since its creation in the 19th century.
January 10th, 2018
We stopped to visit a friend in Lavonia, Georgia, and followed the HRT before lunch from Toccoa to a year-old wreck site in Eastanollee, before doing a bit more exploring on our way to Atlanta.This image viewed 3 times, as of last night.


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The NARS summer 2013 collection is set to be launched soon. While the NARS makeup products of this year were fairly bold and colorful, the new collection goes a step further in terms of boldness bringing a distinguishable edgy flair. Created by Founder & Creative Director Francois NARS has taken inspiration from the eclectic '70s which were filled with color and edginess. The glorious decade is viewed through modern lenses and the new options are sure to steal the spotlight. From eyeshadow to nail polish, vivid tones are the ke... Read More


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THE wisest man, our Teacher Moses, asked two things of God, and received a reply respecting both. The one thing he asked was, that God should let him know His true essence; the other, which in fact he asked first, that God should let him know His attributes. In answer to both these petitions God promised that He would let him know all His attributes, and that these were nothing but His actions. He also told him that His true essence could not be perceived, and pointed out a method by which he could obtain the utmost knowledge of God possible for man to acquire. The knowledge obtained by Moses has not been possessed by any human being before him or after him. His petition to know the attributes of God is contained in the following words: "Show me now thy way, that 1 may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight" (Exod. xxxiii. 13). Consider how many excellent ideas found expression in the words. "Show me thy way, that I may know thee." We learn from them that God is known by His attributes, for Moses believed that he knew Him, when he was shown the way of God. The words "That I may find grace in thy sight," imply that he who knows God finds grace in His eyes. Not only is he acceptable and welcome to God who fasts and prays, but everyone who knows Him. He who has no knowledge of God is the object of His wrath and displeasure. The pleasure and the displeasure of God, the approach to Him and the withdrawal from Him are proportional to the amount of man's knowledge or ignorance concerning the Creator. We have already gone too far away from our subject, let us now return to it.
Moses prayed to God to grant him knowledge of His attributes, and also pardon for His people; when the latter had been granted, he continued to pray for the knowledge of God's essence in the words, "Show me thy glory" (ib. 18), and then received, respecting his first request, "Show me thy way," the following favourable reply, "I will make all my goodness to pass before thee" (ib. 19); as regards the second request, however, he was told, "Thou canst not see my face" (ib. 20). The words "all my goodness" imply that God promised to show him the whole creation, concerning which it has been stated, "And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (Gen. i. 31); when I say "to show him the whole creation," I mean to imply that God promised to make him comprehend the nature of all things, their relation to each other, and the way they are governed by God both in reference to the universe as a whole and to each creature in particular. This knowledge is referred to when we are told of Moses, "he is firmly established in all mine house" (Num. xii. 7); that is, "his knowledge of all the creatures in My universe is correct and firmly established"; for false opinions are not firmly established. Consequently the knowledge of the works of God is the knowledge of His attributes, by which He can be known. The fact that God promised Moses to give him a knowledge of His works, may be inferred from the circumstance that God taught him such attributes as refer exclusively to His works, viz., "merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness," etc., (Exod. xxxiv. 6). It is therefore clear that the ways which Moses wished to know, and which God taught him, are the actions emanating from God. Our Sages call them middot (qualities), and speak of the thirteen middoth of God (Talm. B. Rosh ha-shanah, p. 17b); they used the term also in reference to man; comp. "there are four different middoth (characters) among those who go to the house of learning"; "There are four different middoth (characters) among those who give charity" (Mishnah Abot, v. 13, 14). They do not mean to say that God really possesses middot (qualities), but that He performs actions similar to such of our actions as originate in certain qualities, i.e., in certain psychical dispositions not that God has really such dispositions. Although Moses was shown "all His goodness," i.e., all His works, only the thirteen middot are mentioned, because they include those acts of God which refer to the creation and the government of mankind, and to know these acts was the principal object of the prayer of Moses. This is shown by the conclusion of his prayer, "that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation is thy people" (Exod. xxxiii. 16), that is to say, the people whom I have to rule by certain acts in the performance of which I must be guided by Thy own acts in governing them. We have thus shown that "the ways" used in the Bible, and "middot" used in the Mishnah, are identical, denoting the acts emanating from God in reference to the universe.
Whenever any one of His actions is perceived by us, we ascribe to God that emotion which is the source of the act when performed by ourselves, and call Him by an epithet which is formed from the verb expressing that emotion. We see, e.g., how well He provides for the life of the embryo of living beings; how He endows with certain faculties both the embryo itself and those who have to rear it after its birth, in order that it may be protected from death and destruction, guarded against all harm, and assisted in the performance of all that is required [for its development]. Similar acts, when performed by us, are due to a certain emotion and tenderness called mercy and pity. God is, therefore, said to be merciful; e.g., "Like as a father is merciful to his children, so the Lord is merciful to them that fear Him" (Ps. ciii. 13); "And I will spare them, as a man spareth (yahamol) his own son that serveth him" (Mal. iii. 17). Such instances do not imply that God is influenced by a feeling of mercy, but that acts similar to those which a father performs for his son, out of pity, mercy and real affection, emanate from God solely for the benefit of His pious men, and are by no means the result of any impression or change — [produced in God]. — When we give something to a person who has no claim upon us, we perform an act of grace; e.g., "Grant them graciously unto us" (Judges xxi. 22). [The same term is used in reference to God, e.g.] "which God hath graciously given" (Gen. xxxiii. 5); "Because God hath dealt graciously with me" (ib. 11). Instances of this kind are numerous. God creates and guides beings who have no claim upon Him to be created and guided by Him; He is therefore called gracious (ḥannun) — His actions towards mankind also include great calamities, which overtake individuals and bring death to them, or affect whole families and even entire regions, spread death, destroy generation after generation, and spare nothing whatsoever. Hence there occur inundations, earthquakes, destructive storms, expeditions of one nation against the other for the sake of destroying it with the sword and blotting out its memory, and many other evils of the same kind. Whenever such evils are caused by us to any person, they originate in great anger, violent jealousy, or a desire for revenge. God is therefore called, because of these acts, "jealous," "revengeful," "wrathful," and "keeping anger" (Nah. i. 2) that is to say, He performs acts similar to those which, when performed by us, originate in certain psychical dispositions, in jealousy, desire for retaliation, revenge, or anger: they are in accordance with the guilt of those who are to be punished, and not the result of any emotion: for He is above all defect! The same is the case with all divine acts: though resembling those acts which emanate from our passions and psychical dispositions, they are not due to anything superadded to His essence. — The governor of a country, if he is a prophet, should conform to these attributes. Acts [of punishment] must be performed by him moderately and in accordance with justice, not merely as an outlet of his passion. He must not let loose his anger, nor allow his passion to overcome him: for all passions are bad, and they must be guarded against as far as it lies in man's power. At times and towards some persons he must be merciful and gracious, not only from motives of mercy and compassion, but according to their merits: at other times and towards other persons he must evince anger, revenge, and wrath in proportion to their guilt, but not from motives of passion. He must be able to condemn a person to death by fire without anger, passion, or loathing against him, and must exclusively be guided by what he perceives of the guilt of the person, and by a sense of the great benefit which a large number will derive from such a sentence. You have, no doubt, noticed in the Torah how the commandment to annihilate the seven nations, and "to save alive nothing that breatheth" (Deut. xx. 16) is followed immediately by the words, "That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should you sin against the Lord your God" (ib. 18); that is to say, you shall not think that this commandment implies an act of cruelty or of retaliation; it is an act demanded by the tendency of man to remove everything that might turn him away from the right path, and to clear away all obstacles in the road to perfection, that is, to the knowledge of God. Nevertheless, acts of mercy, pardon, pity, and grace should more frequently be performed by the governor of a country than acts of punishment: seeing that all the thirteen middoth of God are attributes of mercy with only one exception, namely, "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children" (Exod. xxxiv. 7); for the meaning of the preceding attribute (in the original ve-nakkeh lo yenakkeh) is "and he will not utterly destroy"; (and not "He will by no means clear the guilty"); comp. "And she will be utterly destroyed (ve-nikketah), she shall sit upon the ground" (Isa. iii. 26). When it is said that God is visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, this refers exclusively to the sin of idolatry, and to no other sin. That this is the case may be inferred from what is said in the ten commandments, "upon the third and fourth generation of my enemies" (Exod. xx. 5), none except idolaters being called "enemy"; comp. also "every abomination to the Lord, which he hateth" (Deut. xii. 31). It was, however, considered sufficient to extend the punishment to the fourth generation, because the fourth generation is the utmost a man can see of his posterity; and when, therefore, the idolaters of a place are destroyed, the old man worshipping idols is killed, his son, his grandson, and his great-grandson, that is, the fourth generation. By the mention of this attribute we are, as it were, told that His commandments, undoubtedly in harmony with His acts, include the death even of the little children of idolaters because of the sin of their fathers and grandfathers. This principle we find frequently applied in the Law, as, e.g., we read concerning the city that has been led astray to idolatry, "destroy it utterly, and all that is therein" (Deut. xiii. 15). All this has been ordained in order that every vestige of that which would lead to great injury should he blotted out, as we have explained.
We have gone too far away from the subject of this chapter, but we have shown why it has been considered sufficient to mention only these (thirteen) out of all His acts: namely, because they are required for the good government of a country; for the chief aim of man should be to make himself, as far as possible, similar to God: that is to say, to make his acts similar to the acts of God, or as our Sages expressed it in explaining the verse, "Ye shall be holy" (Lev. xxi. 2); "He is gracious, so be you also gracious: He is merciful, so be you also merciful."
The principal object of this chapter was to show that all attributes ascribed to God are attributes of His acts, and do not imply that God has any qualities.
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