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Is Waterfall Methodology Really Outdated?
by Nick Kolakowski May 21, 2015 4 min read
AgileBest PracticesIT ManagementSoftware DevelopmentWaterfall
Although many hardware and software companies rely on some variation of Agile to build new products, the methodology has received its share of criticism over the years. This month, Andy Hunt, one of the developers who co-created the Agile Manifesto, argued that development teams' implementation of Agile often failed to live up to the promise.
But what are the alternatives? Waterfall Methodology—which some old-school folks sometimes call the "traditional" method of development—requires its teams march through a preset series of steps, each of which must be completed before the next can commence. While those steps sometimes differ from company to company, in broad strokes they go something like this:
Establish Requirements
Test (and Test Again)
Fix Bugs and Issues
Integrate With Other Platforms/Technology Stack
In theory, Waterfall works because it establishes the parameters and design of the project from the very beginning, and allows for careful and methodical progress. But according to Waterfall's critics, anyone relying on the methodology needs the following things to occur:
A (Reasonably) Well-Defined Set of Requirements
Having a set of requirements from the outset is an important factor in Waterfall. However, people have ideas—and sometimes those ideas occur midway through a project, and force a radical change in the project's goals. It happens in both the hardware and software worlds. And when those ideas occur in midstream, it can prove devastating for the project's budget and timeline.
Any Changes to Requirements and Goals to Be Small
As anyone who's ever worked in tech can tell you, sometimes the changes to a project are radical. When Apple released the iPhone, for example, it forced Google's Android team to chuck its existing work on smartphones and start from the very beginning.
Testing and Integration to Go Smoothly
Virtually all software projects involve lots and lots of code, and not a lot of time to review said code if the team wants to make its release date. With hardware, it's a similar conundrum: Lots of things work very well in controlled conditions, only to break once they hit the real world. And then there's the small matter of integrating the project with the other elements of the company's technology stack: If the amazing smartphone you produced doesn't play well with your cloud service, you have a problem. Waterfall depends on everything related to testing and integration proceeding as smoothly as possible—and oftentimes, that just doesn't happen.
With Waterfall, if things go very wrong, the team not only fails to deliver the project on time, but the project itself is a hash of elements that don't play very well with other software and systems.
Still other companies have tried for a hybrid approach, one that relies on Waterfall methodology to set requirements and goals, but then reverts to Agile's flexibility in order to get the job done. Such innovations can fail, however, without a solid manager at the helm.
All of which culminates in the ultimate point: Whether a company opts for Agile, Waterfall, or some other development methodology, the most important element is a manager or stakeholder who can keep the project on the rails. No process is a silver bullet; without the right people at the helm, any effort can implode.
Agile Beating Out Waterfall Methodology
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7 Responses to "Is Waterfall Methodology Really Outdated?"
Jim Hillhouse May 21, 2015
I think you're imagining development under Waterfall as too rigid.
I worked on a project a flight modeling and control application for a large NASA non-commercial subcontractor. We worked as an Agile team; every so often on a Monday I'd find that my previous code wasn't working because the lead architect had decided to change the base classes over the weekend. Now that's Agile! Weekly we fell farther behind schedule and over budget. Eventually, the team was massively reorganized and under a less "responsive" and "creative" development paradigm, the code was completed and worked great.
I think when people think of requirements, they believe that such requirements should be detailed. Certainly, there are times in which that is appropriate. But generally, you start at the high-altitude view, use those to build a prototype, which then connects the application with the harsh realities, and forces the team to reevaluate the requirements before beginning on the final app. There is no reason why requirements should not allow a team to adapt to the changing world around it.
Brian May 21, 2015
Unfortunately the real problem is putting handles on the processes and concepts. something we see throughout many walks of life usually resulting in bad performance and wasted money. Although Agile and other training organisation tend to do well! out of the con.
Richard Lerner May 21, 2015
The most important thing that waterfall requires is control and scope management, which is usually the domain of a project manager. Typically, projects are that of as "all other things being equal".
In Banking systems (where I work) changes are made in consultation with other teams as small changes in a back end system can cripple other downstream systems.
Agile is good when you don't know what it is that you want to produce and the market is fluid, there's no point in investing too much effort on something that is going to be replaced by something newer and shinier in six months.
Waterfall is much better if you have to deal with people's money and the cost of a bad implementation is having auditors show up at your desk
Rob S May 21, 2015
Waterfall works great in well-defined projects like building a skyscraper. It's less effective when there are a lot of unknowns like in the ever-changing software industry. Agile is supposed to help with that but as you said u need a good manager type prrson at the helm to keep it focused in the right direction (which is likely to change weekly )
Huh Son May 28, 2015
No, the most important element are good programmers that do not have to deal with ignorant managers and/or impossible language barriers with offshore resources.
Curt Newell May 28, 2015
Nick, Waterfall can work better and be more nimble by taking on requirements or changes in smaller chunks, e.g. 1-2 month's work, and by not arbitrarily increasing project scope while underway. The basic steps you listed are accurate for most IT projects, even when working in Agile on a 2-week sprint. I've seen Waterfall project struggle or fail when taking on too many requirements for a 8-12 month project and then taking on extra work, or parallel sub-projects, because the customer needed a solution earlier than the Waterfall project's increasingly distant and vague future conclusion. This is a self-inflicted wound for waterfall practitioners which has lead to Agile-like approaches.
Constantine G. Ganas September 11, 2015
We used the Waterfall Methodology for the Software Development
Life Cycle at Blue Cross Blue Cross of South Carolina's TRICARE
IT Department and it worked very well. We had a process in place
where if someone wanted to change the direction of the project
during the system test phase you could not do this. You would have
to go through the process of creating a Change Control where
these changes would be looked at after the main project's Production implementation. This way production timelines were met 96% of the time.
Nick Kolakowski
Nick Kolakowski has written for The Washington Post, Slashdot, eWeek, McSweeney's, Thrillist, WebMD, Trader Monthly, and other venues. He's also the author of "A Brutal Bunch of Heartbroken Saps" and "Maxine Unleashes Doomsday," a pair of noir thrillers.


Encircle yourself with one of the most classic styles of necklaces — the rivière. Elegance personified with a series of one hundred twenty-five (125) brilliant cut diamonds of 10.28 carats (G-H color; SI1-3 clarity for clear inclusions).
Graduated in size from the center, the gems range from .40 carats to .06 carats. All prong set in cool as ice platinum, a tongue and groove clasp with safety catch completes the luxurious necklace.
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A perfect scale, many necklaces of its sort are too large and showy, placing them in the category of "wear it once a year". Not this necklace! It is an ideal size to impart pure dazzle, yet can be worn to dinner with friends, soirées, rides is Lear jets or catching an art opening. Tuck it under a collared silk blouse and it can go most anywhere.
The rivière necklace has been a classic of the jewelry world for centuries and view many a portrait of the 18th century (as well as many other eras), and there the necklace will be.
Named for the word river in French, it is as if wearing a meandering personal river of moving light. Go with tradition, but break the mold where and how you choose to wear it.
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December 2016 Christmas Party Katy Bradley – Christmas Music With A Difference!
The committee arrived early and set the hall up, ready for our party games and Christmas meal.
We had the usual opening meeting messages and everyone commented on how lovely the hall looked ready for the day. We are also working hard as a group at the moment, preparing all our pieces of work for our exhibition in February and Ann Reading has kindly been ensuring that all members have their names down for the pieces they will be displaying….. and then the games began.
We had 'feely' bags where you had to guess the contents of 20 items, card matching and lots of other games with prizes along the way. Rosie had taken over organising our monthly raffle and there were lots of prizes won.
We finished our games round, by all sitting in a circle to play 'pass the parcel' kindly organised by Zena, whilst Kath played the music.
This year Dee had given us all a Chair's Christmas challenge of creating a Christmas Angel. There are some lovely pieces as you can see below. All members had a vote on the piece they thought should win.
And the Winning Christmas Angel was Mel Charters - well done Mel.
As you can see, Mel was awarded our annual trophy and a scissor keeper made by Barbara.
Before long it was time for us to enjoy our Christmas Lunch and everyone took their place. Glasses of wine and soft drinks were served, Christmas crackers were pulled and Christmas hats put on.
Irene had kindly made us all centre pieces with leaves and flowers from her garden.
The caterers had also made rose shaped butter pats for us, which were really nice. The food was to its usual high standard and here is a picture of Rosie enjoying hers.
Before dessert was served, a raffle ticket had been put under one of the chairs and Brenda Monkhouse won a book about modern Sashiko by Silke Bosbach.
After we had finished our meal, the hall was cleared ready for our afternoon entertainment.
Katy began to sing some Christmas songs. She had a beautiful voice. Some of the songs were played in a humorous way, giving us all a laugh, and others were traditional where we could all join in and sing along. It certainly lightened our afternoon.
During the day, we had played a word game provided by Liz Holden, where the second lines from certain Christmas songs were given and we had to guess each title. One of the titles could not be guessed by anyone. The line was ' Walking home from our house on Christmas Eve.' The song was ' Grandma got run over by a Reindeer!' As no-one knew the song, Katy looked in her music books, and actually had it with her and sang it for us. We were amazed!
The day was a nice break from all the rushing around that December brings. Merry Christmas everyone!


A hearing held Tuesday by several House subcommittees was meant to be an examination of the methods used to calculate an oft-contested metric known as the social cost of carbon, a way of quantifying the costs — environmental, health-related or otherwise — of emitting on additional ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Yet by its close, the conversation had disintegrated into yet another debate about the extent to which man-made climate change exists.
It's not the first time such an incident has occurred under the new Congress. Just a few weeks ago, the House Science Committee held a hearing intended to focus on the future of the Environmental Protection Agency and how it may incorporate the best available scientific evidence in its regulatory processes. At that hearing, multiple attendees took the opportunity to express doubt about the seriousness of human-caused climate change and the effectiveness of the EPA's climate policies — many of which were developed with the social cost of carbon in mind.
The social cost of carbon is set at about $36 per ton of carbon dioxide. The calculations, developed by a federal working group in 2009, rely on a set of models that determine how carbon emissions may affect the climate in the future. They then calculate the monetary costs of any damages associated with those climatic changes, and have been used in dozens of federal environmental rules in the years since.
Tuesday's hearing, convened by the environment and oversight subcommittees of the House Science Committee, was intended to "examine the methods and parameters used to establish the social cost of carbon" with input from witnesses on how the calculation process could be improved. And indeed, the hearing did begin with a discussion of some of the common issues Republicans have raised about the calculation.
At Tuesday's hearing, many of these complaints were raised again by Republican members of the subcommittees and the witnesses they called to testify, including climatologist Patrick Michaels of the Cato Institute, statistician Kevin Dayaratna of the Heritage Foundation and economist Ted Gayer of the Brookings Institution.
However, such criticisms were contested during the hearing by Democratic attendees and witness Michael Greenstone, an economist at the University of Chicago and former chief economist for President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, who helped convene the first federal working group to begin developing the social cost of carbon in 2009. In fact, many experts have suggested that the current value of the social cost of carbon has been underestimated.
Methodological debates aside, any discussion about how to calculate the social cost of carbon necessarily relies on the assumption that putting carbon into the atmosphere has an effect in the first place — in other words, that carbon dioxide emissions affect the climate in ways that can be quantified. And it soon became clear that not everyone at the hearing strongly felt this to be true.
A number of committee members, as well as several of the majority witnesses, eventually began to express views suggesting that human-caused emissions are not the primary driver of climate change, or that natural climate variations may play a larger role.
"Since the release of CO2, it has been changing more rapidly," Greenstone responded, to which Posey responded, "That's speculative," while an unidentified voice among the committee members added, "That's not true." Witnesses Dayaratna and Michaels both responded that they thought the climate has been changing since the planet was formed.
Later asked to clarify his stance on the primary driver of current climate change, Michaels responded: "The fact that we live on a fluid, discontinuous earth with long-period oscillations. The biggest climate change that you and I know of is an ice age oscillation, and I don't think CO2 is going to be capable of doing that — and those occurred without human influence." He noted that he does think that human activity is a "component" of modern climate change.
Others questioned whether an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations might lead to net benefits for the planet, causing an increase in plant growth and agricultural production. At various points during the hearing, Michaels pointed to the fact that certain parts of the planet are becoming greener, presumably thanks to an increase in carbon dioxide levels. And Dayaratna suggested the possibility that factoring in increased agricultural yields — an issue he says has been mostly "unexplored" in calculations of the social cost of carbon — could produce a negative value, or a net monetary benefit associated with the emission of a ton of carbon.
But although greening is indeed occurring in some places, and increased carbon dioxide concentrations may benefit plants up to a point, research overwhelmingly suggests that the overall impact of climate change — which will have effects far beyond the agricultural sphere — will be resoundingly negative. And even when it comes to agriculture, the benefits brought by increased carbon dioxide will likely be offset by the stress of rising temperatures in many places, especially parts of the world that have warm climates today.
The surfacing of these kinds of climate doubts at Tuesday's hearing only raise more questions about the future of the social cost of carbon, which — until now — has mostly been used to inform policies intended to combat climate change. It was an integral component of the Clean Power Plan, for instance, which is one of many environmental regulations the Trump administration has expressed an interest in dissolving.
Up to this point, experts have been skeptical about the Trump administration's ability to eliminate the social cost of carbon altogether, or even significantly reduce its value, without being struck down in court. But with members of both the Trump administration and Congress increasingly questioning its very purpose — to help account for the dangers of climate change — its future is looking ever more uncertain.


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(DV) Blum: Full Spectrum Dominance
LETTERS ABOUT DV CONTACT SUBMISSIONS
Full Spectrum Dominance
by William Blum
www.dissidentvoice.org
It is not often that the empire is put in the position of one its victims, in fear of the military and technical prowess of another country, forced to talk of peace and cooperation, just as Iraq and others, hoping to put off an American attack, were forced to do over the years -- just as Iran now. No, China is not about to attack the United States, but the Chinese shootdown of a satellite (an old weather satellite of theirs) in space on January 11, has made a US attack on China much more dangerous and much less likely; it's made the empire's leaders realize that they don't have total power to make any and all other nations do their bidding.
Here's how the gentlemen of the Pentagon have sounded in the recent past on the subject of space.
"We will engage terrestrial targets someday -- ships, airplanes, land targets -- from space. ... We're going to fight in space. We're going to fight from space and we're going to fight into space." -- General Joseph Ashy, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Space Command, 1996 [1]
"With regard to space dominance, we have it, we like it, and we're going to keep it." -- Keith R. Hall, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space and Director of the National Reconnaissance Office, 1997 [2]
"US Space Command -- dominating the space dimension of military operations to protect US interests and investment. Integrating Space Forces into warfighting capabilities across the full spectrum of conflict. ... During the early portion of the 21st century, space power will also evolve into a separate and equal medium of warfare. ... The emerging synergy of space superiority with land, sea, and air superiority will lead to Full Spectrum Dominance. ... Development of ballistic missile defenses using space systems and planning for precision strikes from space offers a counter to the worldwide proliferation of WMD [weapons of mass destruction]. ... Space is a region with increasing commercial, civil, international, and military interests and investments. The threat to these vital systems is also increasing. ... Control of Space is the ability to assure access to space, freedom of operations within the space medium, and an ability to deny others the use of space, if required." -- "United States Space Command: Vision for 2020", 1997 [3]
"Space represents a fundamentally new and better way to apply military force"
-- U.S. Strategic Command, 2004 [4]
And now along comes China, with the ability to make all this proud talk look somewhat foolish. At a State Department press briefing a week after the shootdown, the department's deputy spokesman Tom Casey stated, presumably without chuckling: "We certainly are concerned by any effort, by any nation that would be geared towards developing weapons or other military activities in space. ... We don't want to see a situation where there is any militarization of space." He spoke of the "peaceful use of space", and was concerned about the threat to "modern life as we know it", because "countries throughout the world are dependant on space based technologies, weather satellites, communications satellites and other devices."
A reporter asked: "Has the United States conducted such a test destroying a satellite in space?"
Yes, said Casey, in 1985. But that was different because "there was a Cold War that was being engaged in between the United States and the Soviet Union" and there were much fewer satellites moving about space. [5]
Cong. Terry Everett, senior Republican on the House armed services subcommittee on strategic forces, said China's test "raises serious concerns about the vulnerability of our space-based assets. ... We depend on satellites for a host of military and commercial uses, from navigation to ATM transactions." [6]
Even prior to the Chinese test, the Washington Post pointed out: "For a U.S. military increasingly dependent on sophisticated satellites for communicating, gathering intelligence and guiding missiles, the possibility that those space-based systems could come under attack has become a growing worry. ... The administration insists that there is no arms race in space, although the United States is the only nation that opposed a recent United Nations call for talks on keeping weapons out of space. ... Although the 1967 U.N. Outer Space Treaty, signed by the United States, allows only peaceful uses of space, some believe that the United States is moving toward some level of weaponization, especially related to a missile defense system." [7]
Tom Casey, the State Department spokesperson, tried his best to give the impression that the United States has no idea why China would do such a thing: "We would like to see and understand and know more about what they're really trying to accomplish here" ... "exactly what their intentions are" ... "questions that arise about what Chinese intentions are" ... "not only the nature of what they've done, but the purpose and intent." [8]
But the United States can well imagine what China's intention was. The Chinese were responding to the efforts of the Bush administration, and the Clinton administration before them, to establish and maintain US military supremacy in space and to use that supremacy as a threatening, or actual, weapon. Beijing wished to put Washington on notice that in any future conflict with China the United States will not be dealing with Iraq or Afghanistan, or Yugoslavia, Panama or Grenada.
"But what did anyone expect?" asks Lawrence Martin, columnist for The Globe and Mail of Canada. "For several years, China, Canada, and virtually every country in the world have been urging the United States to enter into an arms-control treaty for outer space. Leave the heavens in peace, for god's sake. Come together and work something out. It's called collective security. ... Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney showed no interest in a space treaty. Their national space policy is essentially hegemony in the heavens. They oppose the development of new legal regimes or other measures that restrict their designs. A UN resolution to prevent an arms race in space was supported by 151 countries with zero opposed. The U.S. abstained. It wants strategic control." [9]
The ideology of the ruling class in any society is one that tries to depict the existing social order as "natural."
In 1972, I traveled by land from San Francisco to Chile, to observe and report on Salvador Allende's "socialist experiment." One of the lasting impressions of my journey through Latin America is of the strict class order of the societies I visited. There are probably very few places in the world where the dividing lines between the upper and middle classes on the one hand and the lower class on the other are more distinct and emotionally clung to, including Great Britain. In the Chilean capital of Santiago I went to look at a room in a house advertised by a woman. Because I was American she assumed that I was anti-Allende, the same assumption she'd have made if I had been European, for she wanted to believe that only "Indians," only poor dumb indigenas and their ilk, supported the government. She was pleased by the prospect of an American living in her home and was concerned that he might be getting the wrong impression about her country. "All this chaos," she assured me, "it's not normal, it's not Chile". When I relieved her of her misconception about me, she was visibly confused and hurt, and I was a little uncomfortable as well, like I had betrayed her trust. I made my departure quickly.
There's the classic Latin American story of the servant of a family of the oligarchy. He bought steak for his patrón's dog, but his own family ate scraps. He took the dog to the vet, but couldn't take his own children to a doctor. And complained not. In Chile, under Allende, there was a terribly nagging fear amongst the privileged classes that servants no longer knew their place. (In Sweden, for some years now, they have been able to examine children of a certain age -- their height, weight, and various health measurements -- and are then not able to tell which social class the child is from; they have ended class warfare against children.)
In the 1980s, in Central America, servants rose up in much of the region against their betters, the latter of course being unconditionally supported with Yankee money, Yankee arms, even Yankee lives. At the end of that decade the New York Times offered some snapshots of El Salvador:
Over canapés served by hovering waiters at a party, a guest said she was convinced that God had created two distinct classes of people: the rich and people to serve them. She described herself as charitable for allowing the poor to work as her servants. "It's the best you can do," she said. The woman's outspokenness was unusual, but her attitude is shared by a large segment of the Salvadoran upper class.
The separation between classes is so rigid that even small expressions of kindness across the divide are viewed with suspicion. When an American, visiting an ice cream store, remarked that he was shopping for a birthday party for his maid's child, other store patrons immediately stopped talking and began staring at the American. Finally, an astonished woman in the check-out line spoke out. "You must be kidding," she said. [10]
The same polarization is taking place now in Venezuela as Hugo Chávez attempts to build a more egalitarian society. The Associated Press (January 29, 2007) recently presented some snapshots from Caracas: A man of European parents says that at his son's private Jewish school, some parents are talking about how and when to leave the country. The man wants a passport for his 10-year-old son in case they need to leave for good. "I think we're headed toward totalitarianism." A middle-class retiree grimaces at what she sees coming: "Within one year, complete communism. ... What he's forming is a dictatorship." The fact that Chávez is himself part indigena and part black, and looks it, can well add to their animosity towards the man.
I wonder what such people think of George "I am the decider" Bush and his repeated use of "signing statements", which effectively means a law is what he says it is, no more, no less; his Patriot Act, and his various assaults on the principle of habeas corpus, to name but a few of the scary practices of his authoritarian rule.
Chuck Kaufman, National Co-Coordinator of the Washington-based Nicaragua Network, was part of a group which visited Venezuela last fall. Following is part of his report:
Venezuela is politically polarized. We witnessed the extremes of this during a dinner with lawyer and author Eva Golinger. Some very drunk opposition supporters recognized Golinger as author of The Chávez Code and a strong Chavez partisan. Some of them surrounded our table and began screaming at Golinger and the delegation, calling us "assassins" "Cubans," and "Argentines." The verbal abuse went on for long minutes until waiters ejected the most out-of-control anti-Chávez woman. We were later told that she worked in the Attorney General's office, highlighting one of the many contradictions arising from the fact that Chávez' Bolivarian revolution came into power democratically through the ballot box rather than by force of arms. Armed revolutions generally sweep opponents out of government jobs and places of influence such as the media, but in Venezuela many in the opposition are still in the civil service and most of the media is virulently anti-Chávez. [11]
I admire Hugo Chávez and what he's trying to do in Venezuela, but I wish he wouldn't go out of his way to taunt the Bush administration, as he does so frequently. Doesn't he know that he's dealing with a bunch of homicidal maniacs? Literally. Someone please tell him to cool it or he will endanger his social revolution.
Liberalism's best and brightest
A report in the Washington Post, headlined "Soldier's Death Strengthens Senators' Antiwar Resolve", informs us that Senators Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) have been rather upset upon learning of the death in Iraq of an Army Captain whom they met on a visit to the country in December, and who made a strong impression upon them. Dodd has been "radicalized", the story says, and Kerry has been "energized" in his opposition to the war.
Why, it must be asked, does it take the death of someone they met by chance to fire up their anti-war sentiments? Many millions of Americans, and many millions more around the world, have protested the war vehemently and passionately without having met any of the war's victims. What do these protestors have inside of them that so many members of Congress seem to lack?
"This was the kind of person you don't forget," said Dodd. "You mention the number dead, 3,000, the 22,000 wounded, and you almost see the eyes glaze over. But you talk about an individual like this, who was doing his job, a hell of a job, but was also willing to talk about what was wrong, it's a way to really bring it to life, to connect." [12]
Dear reader, is it the same for you? Do your eyes glaze over when you read or hear about the dead and wounded of Iraq?
Neither senator has apparently been "energized" enough to call for the immediate withdrawal of American forces from Iraq. That would be too "radical."
This gap -- emotionally and intellectually -- between members of Congress and normal human beings has been with us for ages of course. The anti-Vietnam War movement burst out of the starting gate back in August 1964, with hundreds of people demonstrating in New York. Many of these early dissenters took apart and critically examined the administration's statements about the war's origin, its current situation, and its rosy picture of the future. They found continuous omission, contradiction, and duplicity, became quickly and wholly cynical, and called for immediate and unconditional withdrawal. This was a state of intellect and principle it took members of Congress -- and then only a minority -- until the 1970s to reach. The same can be said of the mass media. And even then -- even today -- our political and media elite viewed Vietnam only as a "mistake"; i.e., it was "the wrong way" to fight communism, not that the United States should not be traveling all over the globe to spew violence against anything labeled "communism" in the first place. Essentially, the only thing these best and brightest have learned from Vietnam is that we should not have fought in Vietnam.
In the land where happiness is guaranteed in the Declaration of Independence
"Think raising the minimum wage is a good idea?"
"Think again."
That was the message of a full-page advertisement that appeared in major newspapers in January. It was accompanied by statements of approval from the usual eminent suspects:
"The reason I object to the minimum wage is I think it destroys jobs, and I think the evidence on that, in my judgment, is overwhelming." -- Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve Chairman
"The high rate of unemployment among teenagers, and especially black teenagers, is both a scandal and a serious source of social unrest. Yet it is largely a result of minimum wage laws." -- Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize-winning economist. [13]
Well, if raising the minimum wage can produce such negative consequences, then surely it is clear what we as an enlightened and humane people must do. We must lower the minimum wage. And thus enjoy less unemployment, less social unrest. Indeed, if we lower the minimum wage to zero, particularly for poor blacks ... think of it! ... No unemployment at all! Hardly any social unrest! In fact -- dare I say it? -- What if we did away with wages altogether?
"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy: that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." -- John Kenneth Galbraith
Some little-known items from my old files
Here is US General Thomas Power speaking in December 1960 about things like nuclear war and a first strike by the United States: "The whole idea is to kill the bastards! At the end of the war, if there are two Americans and one Russian, we win!" The response from one of those present was: "Well, you'd better make sure that they're a man and a woman." [14]
Edward R. Murrow is of course a much-honored newsman and "legendary broadcaster." There's the annual Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Public Diplomacy, with nominations made by the State Department, and there's the recent acclaimed film about Murrow, "Good Night, and Good Luck," amongst many other tributes. In 1960, CBS aired Harvest of Shame, a documentary made by Murrow, which was lauded for exposing the terrible abuses endured by migratory farm workers in the United States. The following year, Murrow left broadcasting to become the director of the United States Information Agency, whose raison d'étre was to make the United States look as good to the world as it does in American high school textbooks. Thus it was that when the BBC planned on showing Harvest of Shame in the UK, Murrow called them in an effort to suppress the broadcast, saying it was for US domestic use only. But the film was shown in the UK. [15]
One could wax cynical about Jimmy Carter as well; for example, while in the White House, he tried hard to sabotage the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua; even worse, Carter supported the Islamic opposition to the leftist Afghanistan government in 1979, which led to a decade of very bloody civil war, the Taliban, and anti-American terrorism in the United States and elsewhere. However, I think that overall Carter was closer to a decent human being than any post-World War Two president. In 1978, he invited 1960s anti-war activist and leader of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Tom Hayden, to the White House. (Think George W inviting Michael Moore.) As recounted by Hayden, in their private conversation he said to Carter: "You are the elected President of the United States, yet I'm concerned that you have less power than the chairmen of the boards of the large multinational corporations -- men we don't elect or even know."
"After looking pensively out the Oval Office window, President Carter nodded and said, 'I believe that's right. I've learned that these last 12 months'." [16]
William Blum is the author of: Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2, Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower, Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire, and West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir. Visit his website: www.killinghope.org. He can be reached at: bblum6@aol.com.
March 9 -- Venice, CA
March 10 -- Irvine, CA
March 17 or 18 -- Columbus, OH
See www.killinghope.org for the details
Other Articles by William Blum
* Johnny Got His Gun
* Designer Monsters
* Would Jesus Get Out of Iraq?
* The Jingo Bells are Ringing
* "Thank You For Not Putting a Bomb in Your Luggage"
* Saved Again, Thank the Lord, Saved Again
* The End Is Near, But First, This Commercial
* Great Moments in the History of Imperialism
* "Come Out of the White House with Your Hands Up!"
* Appealing to the United States is Not Very Appealing
* All War, All the Time
* How to Be (Duh) Happy
* My Warhol Moment
* Of Plunder and Yankee Karma
* The Climax of Civilization
* Bringing Orwell's Nightmare to Fruition
* Empire is Harmful to Your Health
* More Things You Need to Know Before the World Ends
* Some Things You Need to Know Before the World Ends
* "Revolution", Imperial Arrogance, and Questions for God
* What Do the Imperial Mafia Really Want?
* Imperial Wonderland
* Empire of Frivolity
* Some Thoughts On That Election Thing
* The Faces of Fear
* Coke or Pepsi in 2004?
* If John Kerry is the Answer, What is the Question?
[1] Aviation Week and Space Technology (New York), August 5, 1996, p.51.
[2] Speaking to the National Space Club (Washington, DC), September 15, 1997
[3] Excerpts are in the same sequence as found in the August 1997 brochure beginning on page 1.
[4] March 2004, www.stratcom.mil/fact_sheets/fact_sm.html. In 2002, the U.S. Space Command was merged with the U.S. Strategic Command.
[5] State Department Press Briefing, January 19, 2007.
[6] Associated Press, January 19, 2007.
[7] Washington Post, December 17, 2006, p.12.
[8] See note 5.
[9] January 25, 2007, p.A19.
[10] New York Times, October 7, 1990, p.10
[11] For the full report of October 28, 2006, see www.vensolidarity.org.
[12] Washington Post, January 30, 2007, p.3.
[13] To see the advertisement -- www.MinimumWage.org.
[14] Fred Kaplan, The Wizards of Armageddon (1983), p.246.
[15] Google <murrow "harvest of shame" bbc>
[16] San Francisco Chronicle, March 4, 1978.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Change Realm file without restarting application I'm currently using dropbox to backup the Realm database file and when i need to restore, i just delete the old file and than put the new one from dropbox in its place, but to work i need to restart the application.
So, i'm looking a way to avoid the app restart.

A: You could delete the current files the way Realm suggests in the docs: https://realm.io/docs/swift/latest/#deleting-realm-files
Then nil your current Realm, write the new file to the right location in your file system and create a new Realm instance. Then reload your UI to show the new data.
You'll also have to be careful that your code is not holding references to objects in the previous Realm before it gets deleted.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
RackedWire: Hayden-Harnett Takes Us Out to the Ball Game; Stuart Weitzman's UWS Trickery
By Izzy Grinspan Aug 14, 2009, 6:38pm EDT
Share All sharing options for: RackedWire: Hayden-Harnett Takes Us Out to the Ball Game; Stuart Weitzman's UWS Trickery
NOLITA—Last night at Hayden Harnett's party for Brooklyn artist Hugh Hayden, we were not asked to sit facing a wall with our hands bound and sip pureed dinner through a snorkel with a funnel attached. OK, so the same can be said of every party we've ever been to, but we mention it because yesterday Hayden told W Magazine that he threw a funnel-snorkel-dinner-sipping party in college, making us extremely grateful that last night's snacks (cookies and champagne) were a little less conceptual. Hayden-Harnett hosted the event to celebrate an installation of work by Hayden (no relation) in their Elizabeth Street store. The pieces are made of either tennis balls or those plastic balls you find in play-pits at McDonalds, and they range from a recognizable and presumably functional chair to an abstract ball formation emerging from above the storefront. They're all pretty fun to look at, and none of them require a snorkel to appreciate. [Editor's Blog]
UPPER WEST SIDE—Usually when stores get sneaky about their opening dates, it's because they're embarrassed about running late. Stuart Weitzman's UWS boutique, on the other hand, is moving in the other direction. Per blog My Upper West: "Check out the stealth move the upcoming Stuart Weitzman store pulled. A few weeks ago, we posted that the UWS is getting a new Stuart Weitzman store, located on Broadway between 75th and 76th, with an opening set for November 2009. It seems that those involved in getting the store ready to open were moving fast, as the opening is now advertised to occur in September 2009. Stuart Weitzman fans can now get their fix a couple of months earlier!" [MUW]


Need suggestions on how to go about applying wave load.
Hi, i am very new to solidworks. Over the past 2 months i have been working on a very important project. In this project i design and model a offshore jacket in solidworks which i have done. Problem now is even though i have the wave loadings calculated by hand, i do not know the best way of applying them. The wave loads will act from the sea water line all the way down to the sea bed on every submerged tubular member. I have the global load magnitude of every member at interval depth, expressed in x y and z components. Really appreciate any pointers. Thank you.
Re: Need suggestions on how to go about applying wave load.
Since this is a Simulation question, you are more likely to get good answers if you move it to the Simulation/Simulation forum.
Hi qi, I think you asked this previously. What is your current limitation? Solidworks simulation is very what you see is what you get. It sounds like you need to creat a bunch of forces or pressures for all the different components. This will be time consuming, you could look at API to help automate it. Or turn your data into an equation and use a Nonuniform pressure. If this is a dynamic load, same thing applies except that you add the time component.
I figured with what I have my best bet would be using table driven loads. From there can I specify the direction of the loads applied?
What do you mean by travel driven loads?
If you create a force you can put in the components of force.
Table driven loads. Distributed load where the magnitude at each point is taken from a self created table.
Ok. Sounds like you've come to the conclusion that the loads will be manually input. Let us kno how it goes.


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Thanksgiving is easily one of the best holidays! What is not to love, good food, family, football and then crazy sales for holiday shopping? However, with the fun and food of Thanksgiving there are some potential hazards for our pets.
To help maintain the holiday happiness I would like to share a few tips to avoid unexpected trips to the hospital or emergency hospital for you and your pets. Afterall, nothing dampens the holiday spirit like a late-night foreign body surgery or a bout of pancreatitis.
With a little awareness you can prevent some holiday hazards from stealing the holiday joy.
Most pet hazards during the Thanksgiving Holiday all revolve around food; lots and lots of delicious food. Let's face it–what dog does not want to share in some potatoes and gravy, or a turkey leg, especially with that crispy brown skin, smothered in gravy? Any dog would lust after these meals, otherwise they would be forced to turn in their dog union card! Just show a cat some turkey and you'll watch them start to salivate. Heck, I would too!
Just like us, our pets love these delicious foods, but they cannot always tolerate these meals. Many foods can lead to severe medical issues. Some of these foods can include poultry skin, ham, yeast dough rising, or an entire bowl of mashed potatoes. Also, some holiday foods include ingredients that may be delicious but often contain toxic ingredients for pets. Grapes, raisins, garlic, onions, and chocolate are all delicious but all pose serious health risks to our pets.
Have I mentioned alcohol? There is often quite an abundance of alcohol around the holidays, and none of it is good for our pets. I am sure my Golden Retriever, Lady Bird, would love a glass of wine, but not only would I have her stumbling around the house stealing turkey, I would also run the risk of severe renal damage or potentially fatal pancreatitis.
In short here are some items / foods to avoid this Thanksgiving season.


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Challenges Facing the Liberal Democracies: From Globalization to Disaggregation
As we face the new year, the liberal democracies are facing significant internal challenges and global challenges from the authoritarian states.
The main stream press has been focused on Donald Trump and the US turmoil, and have often highlighted the "globalism" of a leader like President Macron as a solid antidote.
But enter the Yellow Jackets and various other players within France and beyond.
And the leveling effect of domestic turmoil redefines the global landscape.
We have really not grasped how fundamental the turmoil is or what its global impact might be.
It is clear that the legacy of the last 20 years of globalism and collaboration is not the defining one for the period ahead.
But what is?
What will be the next phase of European development?
How significant will impact of the authoritarian states be in shaping that new phase of development?
And how will the Trump dynamic factor in?
Is Trump a moment of disruption, a force resetting how US foreign and defense policy for the longer term, or setting in motion a reaction returning the US towards a more traditional path?
And if the latter were to happen what actually does that mean given the dynamics of change generated by turmoil in Europe and the evolving engagements and strategies of the authoritarian states within the process of change DOMESTICALLY in the liberal democracies themselves?
How will crises generated by the authoritarian states interact with dynamics WITHIN a divided liberal democratic world?
Let us review the bidding with regard to change.
First, there is the British political crisis and Brexit.
At the current moment there is seems no way to avoid a British exit without an agreement with the European Union.
If this were to happen the British would have to deal with the internal repercussions as well as spend a great deal of time renegotiating agreements with the EU and the world.
Good for lawyers, not so good for Britain.
The Brexit Briefing by Oliver Wright and Henry Zeffman published by the London Times had this to say in their column published on December 13, 2018.
After last night's narrow victory Theresa May joined her staff for what was described as a "small" drink to celebrate – if that's the right word – the result.
But small is the apt word for the victory and the impact that it is likely to have on her unenviable political position.
First the good news. The prime minister now knows that there is not an easy mechanism to unseat her from the Tory party leadership no matter how grim things get in the months ahead. Conservative election rules dictate that she cannot be challenged again for another year.
On top of this the prime minister may have lost the support of 117 of her colleagues but unlike Thatcher there will be no men in grey suits knocking on the door of No 10.
That is because those cabinet ministers who would do the knocking know that, given the views of the Tory grassroots, her replacement would be a hardline Brexiteer and not one of them.
But the challenges she faces look just as – if not more – insurmountable than they did at the start of the week.
And off she went to Brussels to meet with the EU to get some help.
Short trip and quick result; the EU response was swift and short: Kick sand and go away.
The EU-Brexit negotiations have highlighted a couple of stark realities.
The first is that the EU per se is not simply only the EU bureaucracy; it is the European member states per se.
Could the member states even find a common ground with Brexit given that several of these states are closer to Brexit positions than to that being propagated by the Brussels negotiators?
This underscores an even starker point — what would be a consensus on the way ahead with regard to the European Union versus the way ahead with regard to the European states?
The point here is that the two are NOT synonymous at all.
And given the upheaval in the continent, even if there was a second referendum in the UK, would the voters support remaining?
If Britain would hold such a referendum and vote to stay, there is little doubt that the UK government would lead the charge with regard to European reform and rally the neo-Brexit states in Europe against core Franco-German positions.
Many European leaders and commentators also seem to miss the point of the IMPACT on Europe of the UK leaving without an agreement.
Leaving aside the loss the revenue to the EU from Britain, there is the overarching impact of the central impact on the integration agenda.
Put bluntly, the integration envisaged by Macron in his various speeches since becoming President will not happen.
The disruption of UK exit without an agreement which can be laid at the feet of Brussels as much as London will hardly enhance the reputation of the Commission and its leadership.
Not surprisingly
In an article highlighting the "results" of PM May's visit to the EU meeting in Brussels on December 14, 2018. Eszter Zalan provided this perspective.
EU council chief Donald Tusk said he had no mandate to reopen Brexit talks with Britain.
"I have no mandate to organise any further negotiations. We have to exclude any further opening of the withdrawal agreement," Tusk said.
"But of course, we are staying here in Brussels and I'm always at the PM's disposal," he added.
This comment by Tusk is priceless.
Let me translate from EU language.
You need to come to Brussels because we are the center of Europe.
And I do not need to deal with your problems and certainly do not need to travel to any of the secondary capitals in Europe to deal with the Brexit crisis, because I am already where all the "key" decisions will be taken.
All we need next is some reference to the road to Canossa and getting Mrs. May lined up for her next trip to Brussels a la the example of Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV's trek to Canossa Castle, Italy, where Pope Gregory VII was staying as a guest at the height of the investiture controversy in January 1077 to seek absolution of his excommunication!
Henry IV and his entourage at the gate, 19th century depiction
Top EU officials were keen to offer personal support for May after some press reports spoke of her "humiliation" in Brussels.
"We have to bring down the temperature," European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said.
Thanks for that advice, mate.
And here is a good example of how Juncker is doing that.
Earlier in the day, Juncker had been caught on camera in a heated conversation with May.
He told press he did not mean to offend May and that his comment, which described the UK position as "nebulous", had referred to the broader state of affairs in the UK and to not May's presentation.
"I have the highest respect for the British prime minister," Juncker said.
So something is "nebulous" in Juncker's view of the UK and much better to just push it off his plate and get on with business as usual.
But not to worry, we can explain that one in EU talk as well or when "nebulous" is really about the speaker rather than the subject.
And on the continent, the challenge to EU financial rules by Italy have now been joined by President Macron who has been a harsh critic of what the Italian government wishes to do to bail itself out of crisis.
Becoming a bit like, folks who live in glass houses….
The recent article by Marcus Walker of the Wall Street Journal underscored how "Europe's Division Post a Rising Threat to Governments."
The U.K. government's pratfalls over Brexit show one thing still unites London with the continent: the growing difficulty of governing Western European nations in which new schisms have made it hard to find a majority for any way forward.
British Prime Minister Theresa May's decision to delay a parliamentary vote on her withdrawal deal with the European Union, and avoid a humiliating defeat on Tuesday that could have brought her down, sets up the tensest weeks for Brexit since Britons voted to leave the EU in 2016.
Meanwhile, political dramas are also simmering in France, Italy, Germany and Spain. Issues and plot lines differ by country….
Yet the underlying drivers share some resemblance. Divisions over economics, culture and geography are challenging governments' longevity or their ability to pursue their agenda.
A final source which provides a nice strategic stamp on the situation in Europe was provided by The Australian's Greg Sheridan in an article published on December 11, 2018.
Though he won the presidency in May last year with waves of celebrity-like goodwill from the public, he now has an approval rating with his people way below that which Donald Trump enjoys in the US.
Macron was cast not only as the reformer of France but also the new hero of Europe. A passionate advocate of action on climate change, he also wanted deeper political integration for Europe, a European army, a new vision of a Brussels-centric future for his troubled continent, a new model of government for the world. The French people couldn't care less.
For four weeks now not only Paris but cities around France have burned as the "yellow-vests" movement has protested against all Macron's reforms. They want lower petrol prices much more than they want climate change activism. The yellow vests the protesters wear symbolise their commitment to their cars. And the yellow-vest movement, despite spasmodic violence and vandalism, is supported by a staggering 75 per cent of the population.
Macron, who had conducted himself with the hauteur of a Hollywood-style hero of the elites, could not make the grand climate summit in Poland. Instead, he had to go home and surrender. Political action now in France doesn't occur in the National Assembly or the ballot box — it happens in violent encounters on the streets.
Macron's surrender to the streets was abject. And comprehensive. First, he promised to postpone the fuel tax increases. Then, quickly, he promised to scrap them altogether. France's budget deficit is at 3 per cent, the EU limit, although most member nations merrily ignore such EU rules. France's unemployment rate is officially still nudging 10 per cent, although in reality it is much higher.
Macron, in the face of this persistent budget deficit, will now abandon plans to reform France's pension system. He will introduce an increase in the minimum wage, remove income tax from overtime, introduce untaxed bonuses and increase welfare benefits.
Why should public spending in France stop at a paltry 57 per cent of GDP?
And back in the United States the President faces a new Congress, one in which the Democrats control the House but the Republicans in the Senate are not likely to sheepishly follow his lead.
Confrontation and redefinition will rule the day as Trump sorts through the future for his Administration and the country and faces the question of what 2020 might bring.
Recently, Harald Malmgren highlighted what the new political situation might mean for the country.
President Trump lost full control of Congress in November midterm elections, as Democrats took majority control of the House of Representatives. However, GOP Senators elected or reelected in 2018 do not face another election until 2024—after Trump. They can be expected to have their own priorities and ambitions….
Malmgren then addressed the specific area of tariff and trade policy, an area where the Congress has the clear dominate constitutional power.
Just read the Constitution!
In 2018 there was much concern in the Senate among members of both parties about Trump's aggressive use of unilaterally imposed tariffs, but the House Ways and Means Committee remained passive.
In both House and Senate there was concern that the President was abusing Section 232 of trade law, which delegates authority to the President to act to limit imports if he determined that there was national security need for extraordinary measures.
This specific delegation of authority to the President was never meant by Congress to be a broad pass to ignore Constitution Art 1 provision that Congress shall regulate foreign commerce.
Under Democratic majority, the House Ways and Means Committee will likely seek to rein in Trump's use of trade policy without Congressional involvement and approval at each stage of engagement with other governments.
Notably, Senator Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over trade policy, just announced time had come to seek limits on Trump's discretion in use of tariffs.
In short, domestic dynamics and politics within the liberal democracies and the engagement of the authoritarian states in influencing them within and without will be a major challenge for 2019 and beyond.
What is clear is that the older period of globalization is over and a period of disaggregation is upon us.
The cartoon was taken from the Brexit brief mentioned above from the London Times.
Posted in Global Dynamics


text:
Chris Illuminati
Writer, editor, copywriter and published author
How do I Write…?
How To Write A Check And Why Balancing Your Checkbook Is Still Important
I've Been Making A Huge Resume Mistake – Here's How To Avoid Doing The Same
The Outdoor Distractions And The Indoor Writer
How To Disconnect From Work, Especially If Your Office Is In Your Living Room
The Song That Hit Like A 'Wrecking Ball'
by Chris Illuminati
Sometimes it takes a long time for a song to hit home. It might take 10, 50, even 500 listens before the words take hold and bury deep inside the soul.
Wrecking Ball was just another late-era Bruce Springsteen song. It's catchy, plays well live and rarely skipped when popping up during any marathon Bruce-listening session.
In early Spring 2017, my life spiraled out of control. I'd been unemployed for over seven months, my marriage was on life support, the career stalled and bleak isn't a strong enough word. I'd have killed for bleak because at least there was a chance.
Wrecking Ball hit the headphones during a morning run, and the words finally penetrated the brain. By the time Bruce hit the chorus for the second time, I had bent over and sobbed uncontrollably in the middle of the street. I walked home.
The song came on again today in the middle of a run because sometimes life just plays out like a movie.
My world is finally spinning at the right speed. The marriage came to a mutual resolution, and we remain friends. I have enough freelance work to make a steady income. My parenting notes are being turned into a daily calendar and I have another book in the works. Bleak disappeared before the holidays.
Wrecking Ball felt completely different today. The lyrics took on an entirely different meaning, and I belted with the chorus as loud as possible without alarming passing motorists.
"And all our youth and beauty has been given to the dust
When the game has been decided, and we're burning down the clock
And all our little victories and glories, have turned into parking lots
When your best hopes and desires, are scattered to the wind
And hard times come, and hard times go
And hard times come, hard times go
Yeah just to come again."
If you're struggling, keep the faith. Stay the course. Nothing lasts forever. Not even wrecking balls.
What song hit you the hardest after the longest period of time? Tell me in the comments below.
FOLLOW CHRIS ON: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | TUMBLR
Tagsinspiration • songs
About Chris Illuminati
Chris Illuminati is a freelance writer and published author. Follow him on Twitter (@chrisilluminati), Instagram (@messagewithabottle) or email him at chris@brobible.com.
www.chrisilluminati.com
4 comments on "The Song That Hit Like A 'Wrecking Ball'"
Kim Ferullo
Chris, my best to you but get out of my head. I'm dealing with a divorce and my heart hurts. This song brought me to tears and so did some others.
I'm just trying to make it one day at a time.
One day at a time, Kim. Stay strong.
Lynn McMullen
The song that has hit me particularly hard after my initial hearing is a cover of Big Star's Nighttime by Tommy Keene. When I first heard it, I thought it was a good cover of a good song. However, since then I've had some major anxiety and depression episodes and the words take on even more meaning to me. To me nothing rings truer than the last lines of "Get me out of here, I hate it here, Get me out of here". There are days when I just listen to the song and cry because everything feels so hopeless.
I'm trying though and I'm taking steps to not let things blow out of proportion in my head. It's a slow process, but one day at a time.
Sometimes it's theraputic, but yes, one day at a time.


OSAM is the "association for associations"
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Become part of the unique association community who understands these issues!
OSAM provides valuable resource for associations -- programs and networking/social opportunities for professional development.
We help you (and your members)!
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Why become a Phlebotomist ?
How to become a Phlebotomist ?
Phlebotomy is an excellent way to get into the medical arena. Many people who have zero medical experience learn phlebotomy as a step ladder into a new career in healthcare.
Phlebotomy is a sector in healthcare that is under skilled. There are not enough good quality phlebotomists out there and to date, there is a shortage of phlebotomists in the industry.
You could be qualified in phlebotomy in less than one month! It takes ONE TRAINING COURSE plus, maybe at least one month's experience to get a starting job in the sector. there are very few healthcare sectors you can get into so quickly and easily.
If you're already in healthcare, then by learning phlebotomy you will become more valuable to your employer. Your employer will be able to use your phlebotomy skills to provide an in-house phlebotomy service to his patients.
If you like interacting with a wide variety of people from all walks of life then guess what. As a phlebotomist you get to do this every day.
Job security. If you're looking for job security in a time when companies are going bust every day, well, I have to tell you, the NHS has never bounced a pay cheque.
Did I mention that it's fun!
Thank you for all your support. The course is totally excellent. The course tutors are excellent. I will recommend the course to other personal fitness trainers who want to become Phlebotomists.
I hope you are well. I was impressed with the course that you organize, the both location are very clean and tidy, the staff is very helpful and specially Jasmine.She is very professional although I have many years of experience from Colombia but I have learnt a lot of new techniques with Jasmine.I am very glad that I have met you and your stuff who are extremely focus in details, as Jasmine was with me yesterday. This course, I will recommended to any one in health department and also to people who already are phlebotomist, come for the refresher. Now definitely I will use the new technique.
Hello I hope you are well and you don't mind if I provide you with some feedback, and I would also like to make a request. I really enjoyed the live blood sessions and found that although both of the trainers were very nice, Dr Hannah definitely instilled me with much more confidence. Rupal was very nice but I didn't get the same amount of information and direction that Dr Hannah delivered. After my session on Friday with Dr Hannah I felt really confident and trained as I should have been. I would have preferred to have Dr Hannah for both sessions and feel I would have benefited much more from her training style. I feel like I have reached a competent level but would definitely feel happier if you could let me spend one more session with her to bring me forward to where I feel I should be? I hope you don't mind me requesting this, I feel like I learnt my technique only on the second day so I would like to build on this and also build my confidence.I look forward to hearing back from you.
I am finding your E lessons quite interesting and informative. Looking forward to my course in July and will be contacting the office sometime next week on how to pay my fees.
When you attend this course you will not just have phlebotomy knowledge but you will also have actual experience drawing live bloods at NHS settings.Experience that will push you to the top of the list when applying for a phlebotomy related position!
Even With ' Zero ' Medical Experience, In 5 Days Or Less You Can Get Your Phlebotomy Certificate of Competency - We Have a 99.6% Pass Rate And Our Courses Carry a 100% Iron-Clad Satisfaction Guarantee.
© 2019 Maxis Healthcare UK Limited All Rights Reserved.


A driver restore disk works with a windows disk to return your Toshiba Satellite A35-S209 Windows 7 back to the original factory setup.
Once windows has installed you put this disk into the drive as soon as windows gives you a found new hardware dialog box. Once inserted the Toshiba Satellite A35-S209 Windows 7 will automatically find all the drivers and also install most of the original factory software. BEWARE OF GENERIC DISKS ! All Drivers and factory software are operating system specific so you must have the correct software and drivers for your Toshiba Satellite A35-S209Windows 7. Some of the drivers you would find on this Toshiba Satellite A35-S209 Windows 7 Restore Disk are listed below. Not all will be applicable to your system as this list is for information only for Toshiba Satellite A35-S209 Windows 7 Restore Disk.
Professional hard disk data retrieval program rescues inaccessible office files, salvages undetected documents and undeletes deleted data. Windows partition recovery software recovers text, images, music erased using Shift+Del or emptied recycle bin.


text:
Entomobrya clitellaria är en urinsektsart som beskrevs av Louise Guthrie 1903. Entomobrya clitellaria ingår i släktet Entomobrya och familjen brokhoppstjärtar. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Brokhoppstjärtar
clitellaria

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Have you recently completed an SEO competitor analysis as part of your website optimization strategy? There's a good chance your competitors did.
When you're eager to boost traffic and earn greater ROI from your content, it's tempting to dive straight into optimizing your website without considering the strategies of other top players in their field. So long as your strategy works, who cares what everyone else is doing, right?
Unfortunately ignoring your competition can be a critical mistake. Because while you may currently outperform many of your rivals, it's only a matter of time before your clever adversaries figure out what you're doing and model their strategies after yours — and maybe even do it better.
In other words, when it comes to SEO, it's crucial you stay a step ahead of other companies by regularly performing a competitor analysis.
An SEO competitor analysis is a process marketers use to evaluate websites that rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs) for search queries related to their products or services.
This analysis helps you uncover which keywords are driving the most traffic to your competitors' sites, the strategy they're using to outrank you for those keywords, the backlinks they've earned and how they communicate their value to their audience. Once you've identified what your competitors are doing to get ahead, you can optimize your site and tweak your content strategy to climb higher in the SERPs.
Here's how you can perform an SEO analysis of your competitors in five simple steps.
SEMrush: This site offers a competitive research tool that allows you to examine your competitors' strategies in categories such as SEO, advertising, content and PR and social media.
Screaming Frog: This tool crawls any site on the web and provides you with a real-time analysis you can export for easy side-by-side comparison.
SpyFu: This service allows you to enter the web address of any site and see where they show up on Google, as well as keywords they've purchased on Google Ads, organic ranking and ad variations going back 12 years.
SimilarWeb: This site also allows you to analyze any site on the web, and gives you insight into your competitor's customer base, top performing content, channel acquisition strategy, top keywords and more.
While services vary in terms of data granularity and visibility, nearly all of these tools offer the ability to benchmark your competitors, observe trends and identify which keywords drive the most traffic to other sites.
Next, determine which websites or organizations you consider your direct competitors. It's important to keep in mind not every site that outranks you on SERPs for a relevant term is a competitor.
A keyword competitor may not always be a business competitor. For example, if you have a cybersecurity consulting company and you're attempting to rank for the term "business security," you may notice you're competing for keyword ranking with companies that sell building security systems. While you may both attempt to rank for the same word, the audience looking for locks and cameras to secure their office may not be the same audience looking for assistance protecting their company against cybercriminals.
Additionally, some websites that outrank you may be in the same vertical but may be much larger and likely service customers of an entirely different company size. For example, if your cybersecurity company is a small operation that services other small businesses in northern California, you may find you're outranked by massive, global organizations like Oracle and Cisco for commonly searched terms like "cybersecurity." And it's unlikely you'll ever outrank these companies for this term.
Instead, look for companies that outrank you for localized search phrases like "cybersecurity consulting in Redding, California," or long-tail keywords like, "How to protect customer data during a wildfire." Focus on competitors that offer a similar product to the same audience for a similar price range, and choose three to five competitors for your analysis.
Next, carefully consider which keywords are driving the most traffic to each of your competitor's sites. Then work backward to determine exactly how they're able to achieve this ranking.
Does this competitor regularly publish high-quality blogs and videos addressing this keyword?
Do they include the keyword multiple times throughout the body copy?
Are they including the keyword in the title, meta description and image alt-tags of relevant pages?
Do other high-quality websites consistently link back to your competitor's site?
Identify their keyword strategy and use this to expose the gaps within your own.
Earning links from high-quality sites helps increase your domain authority and, in turn, your search ranking. Some competitor analysis tools allow you to perform a backlink gap analysis. This type of analysis will provide you with a list of all the websites that link to your competitor's website, but do not link to your website. Your competitors likely earn these backlinks by contributing guest blog posts or by submitting their website to be included in roundup lists. Once you've identified which sites link to your competitors, you can close the gap by earning links from those sites, too.
For example, if you find several of your competitors are included in a "best of" list in a well-known publication, you may consider contacting this publication and asking them to consider including your solution in future lists.
Lastly, take a moment to locate and review your competitors' value propositions. This should be clearly displayed on their homepages and outline precisely why customers should choose their solutions over anyone else. Consider which keywords competitors include within their value propositions, as well as the features and benefits they list and how well they've addressed their audience's pain points and challenges.
After you've reviewed your competitors' sites and combed through their SEO strategies, it's time to begin applying your learnings to strengthen your content, increase your SERP ranking and boost organic traffic.
1. Create or update your keyword list.
If you haven't already, it's a good idea to create a master keyword list for your website, including all the keywords you want to rank for. This list will act as the basis of your content strategy, and you should strive to weave these words and topics into relevant content published on your site.
Also be sure to include words related to that keyword for LSI purposes. For example, if your primary keyword is "flu vaccine" you'd likely want to include the terms "flu shot," "flu inoculation" and "flu prevention" on the page as well.
If you already have a keyword list, be sure to review its contents regularly and ensure the keywords you're targeting are still relevant to your audience and your products or services.
2. Make a plan to earn more credible backlinks.
It's helpful to think of backlinks as a "shoutout" or vote of approval for your company from another credible organization. Backlinks signal to search engines that other highly ranked websites can vouch for your content and should reward your site with a more favorable ranking.
The best and most authentic way to earn backlinks is through developing relationships with other sites through guest blogging. For example, the founder of a B2B software company may write articles for relevant niche publications as well as popular publications like Entrepreneur, Inc. or Forbes. Each blog post provides a backlink to the founder's company website, thereby increasing its domain authority and improving its search engine ranking.
Use the backlink gap analysis from your competitor analysis to identify where competitors earn backlinks, and strive to build relationships with those organizations, too.
3. Remember you're creating content for humans, too.
With so much focus on SEO, it can be easy to forget search engines aren't the only ones crawling your content. While it's essential to use these best practices to outrank your competitors, keep your audience in mind. After all, quality is one of the most important factors search engines use when calculating your page rank. Bottom line: If you're not creating useful and educational content that's relevant to your audience, then it'll be nearly impossible to rank anywhere near the top of search engine results.
SEO is critical to your website's success, and performing an SEO competitor analysis will only serve to strengthen your optimization efforts. Once you know how similar organizations achieve their high rank, you can use this knowledge to inform your strategy and quickly boost your website's ranking.


The development programme is part of an agreement to build 40 new homes per year.
Four Lochaber communities are to benefit from 20 new "affordable" homes.
Kilchoan, Lochyside, Mallaig and Strontian are the latest areas to gain from a collaboration between Lochaber Housing Association (LHA) and the Highlands Small Communities Housing Trust.
The respective organisations have pledged to offer a diverse range of homes.
The LHA provides social rented homes and low-cost home ownership properties to complement the trust's rent-to-buy scheme and self-build options.
Association chief executive Blair Allan said: "Scottish Government financial support for increasing the number of new affordable homes throughout Scotland is at unprecedentedly high levels.
The association previously halted developing new-build properties because grant levels and borrowing terms in the financial markets were disadvantageous.
Revised grant levels and better market conditions have changed that.
Trust chief executive Ronnie MacRae said: "We're delighted to be working again with a range of experienced local contractors to provide energy efficient, lower cost homes throughout Lochaber in various housing tenures.
The rent-to-buy scheme is a low-cost home ownership scheme which provides households with the opportunity to rent and then purchase their homes with the aid of a loyalty cash-back amount for their mortgage deposit.
The scheme has Scottish Government loan funding secured for about 60 homes, spread throughout various communities over three years.