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Amber Valley Borough Council
Dog owners warned to keep their pets away from Derbyshire park after sewage leak
Reports suggest some dogs have been taken ill after visiting Alfreton Park
Robbie Gordon
Updated 11:47, 8 AUG 2017
Dog owners have been warned to stay away from part of a Derbyshire park following a sewage leak.
A blocked drain in Alfreton Park has caused a manhole cover to lift, resulting in human waste pouring into the popular green spot.
Amber Valley Borough Council has fenced off the infected area but people are urged to avoid the park until the leak can be fixed.
Reports on social media suggest some dogs have been taken ill after visiting the park.
Derbyshire man left dogs in 'prison cells' for days without food or water
A spokesman for Derbyshire County Council said: "We're currently repairing a drain which has become blocked causing a manhole cover to lift and leak in Alfreton Park.
"Amber Valley Borough Council owns the land and has fenced off the area affected by the leak.
"We're liaising closely with the borough council while work continues and would meanwhile urge visitors to avoid the fenced-off area until the work is completed."

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Galion, Crestview, Wynford players make All-Ohio
MANSFIELD - The Associated Press released its All-Ohio high school football teams for Division V and VI on Wednesday, and a number of local players made the cut.
Galion kicker Connor Moreton represented the Tigers with pride as he was named to the D-V first team. Moreton went 11-14 on field goals and 17-20 in extra point attempts and finishes his high school career with the school records for longest field goal (52 yards), most field goals in a game (five) and most kicking points in a game (19). Moreton's other honors included earning first team Northwest District, Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference and NCOFCA and eight appearances on the state record board.
Following its 11-1 season and Northern 10 Athletic Conference Championship, the Wynford Royals had three players named to the D-VI list: offensive lineman Caleb Stone (third team), quarterback Zach Hoffman (third team) and defensive back Cole Heinlen (special mention).
All-Ohio Division V and VI football teams released
Other players named to the All-Ohio list included Crestview offensive lineman Dakota Slocum (D-VI special mention), Colonel Crawford running back Blake Treisch (D-VI second team), Cardington wide receiver Devin Pearl (D-VI first team), quarterback Luke McCarrell (D-VI second team) and Daniel Kill (D-VI special mention), Hillsdale defensive lineman Ben Rogers (D-VI first team), Andrew Wolf (D-VI special mention), Trey Williams (D-VI special mention) and Craig Cline (D-VI special mention) and Mount Gilead's Jonah Barnett (D-V first team), Danny Williamson (D-V second team) and Tyler Bland (D-V special mention).
Division VII teams and Mr. Football will be announced Thursday. Teams were based on coaches' nominations, voted on by district media groups and compiled by the Associated Press.


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Police Arrest At Least 35 Workers, 2 Reporters In May Day Protest In Tehran
Workers in Tehran gather to start their protest at the Iranian parliament before security forces attacked the protesters. May 1, 2019
Reports from Tehran say police have violently dispersed a Labor Day demonstration in front of the Iranian Parliament (Majles) in Tehran on Wednesday May 1, arresting tens of workers.
Eyewitnesses on the ground told Radio Farda that over 35 May Day demonstrators, mainly members of Tehran Bus Drivers' Union, have been arrested. The demonstrators have been beaten and wounded and at times dragged on the ground before being taken into custody, eyewitnesses said.
They told Radio Farda that all the male demonstrators arrested have been transferred to the security police headquarters in Gisha, in the western part of Tehran.
The demonstrators, who appear in videos to number a few thousand, chanted slogans against high prices and rising inflation while also voicing the unions' usual concerns.
Eyewitnesses on social media say demonstrators carried banners and posters that showed their affiliation with labor unions.
According to human rights activist Mohammad Mozaffari, labor union activists Reza Shahabi, Hassan Saeedi, Vahid Fereidouni, Asadollah Soleimani and Nasser Moharramzadeh are among those who have been arrested in the May Day demonstrations in front of the Majles on Wednesday.
Another activist, Mohammad Javad Akbarein observed in a tweet that, "Yesterday President Hassan Rouhani said workers were in the frontline of struggle against the United States, but today his administration's representative called for arresting the same workers."
Amir Yaghoubali wrote that security forces confronted the workers "violently."
Meanwhile, Tehran bus divers' union announced on its Telegram social media channel that several workers including some of the union's members have been arrested in front of the Majles.
Other reports say at least two reporters, Kayvan Samimi and Marzieh Amiri have also been arrested.
The Iranian Human Rights News Agency also published a video of demonstrations near the state-run Workers' House.
The Iranian government does not recognize labor unions established by workers and has been regularly cracking down of protest gatherings arranged by "illegal" unions. Instead, the government has set up a " Workers' House" that supports the government's positions against workers and has not been observed defending workers' right although it has always been represented at the Parliament during the past decades.
An official at the local governor's office in Tehran told semi-official news agency ISNA that the demonstration was "illegal" as he had not received any request for a gathering in front of the Majles. This comes while hundreds of pro-regime, hardline demonstrators gathered in front of the Majles in February in protest to bills the Majles had ratified to meet conditions set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in order to facilitate Tehran's international trade and banking operations. No one attacked those demonstrations or called them illegal although they had not sought a permit from the local governor's office.
The Iranian Constitution stipulates that "people may take art in gatherings and rallies on the condition that they are not armed and that their demonstration is not against the fundamentals of Islam."
The May Day demonstration in Tehran was called for by independent labor unions.


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The Knowledge Group > Webcasts > How to Develop Ethical Competence: Key Considerations and Effective Strategies
How to Develop Ethical Competence: Key Considerations and Effective Strategies
Live Date: Thursday, March 25, 2021 from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm (ET)
Recording Available: Friday, March 26, 2021
Ethics/Professional Responsibility (CLE), Legal (CLE), Live Webcast
Overview & Agenda
Materials and Instructions
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Lawyers' ethical competence and professionalism are crucial for client representation. They are expected to always uphold ethical standards and be guided by the Rules of Professional Conduct in all aspects of their work. However, it is inevitable for them to be confronted with such challenges and dilemmas. Thus, reinforcing the need to develop a sound ethical competence that will help them maintain their good reputation in the legal profession.
Join a panel of key thought leaders and distinguished professionals assembled by The Knowledge Group as they provide a comprehensive discussion of ethical competence. Speakers will also share risk mitigation techniques and best practices to ensure competency in the legal landscape.
Key issues include:
Ethical Policies in the Legal Profession
Common Ethical Risks and Challenges
Developing Effective Ethical Competence
Thomas Sansone, Partner
Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey LLP
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Thomas Sansone Partner Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey LLP
Tom Sansone concentrates his practice in civil litigation, particularly commercial, utility and insolvency litigation. He has tried more than 90 cases in Connecticut's state and federal courts, as well as the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Connecticut, and has argued before both the State Supreme and Appellate Courts. Much of his work involves complex banking issues, lender liability cases, contested foreclosure/collection matters and representation of creditors in bankruptcy proceedings.
From 2012 – 2018, Tom served on the Connecticut Judicial Branch's Statewide Grievance Committee. He is also the immediate past Chairman of the Connecticut Bar Association's Commercial Law & Bankruptcy Section, and has served on its Executive Committee for 26 years. Mr. Sansone received his B.A., magna cum laude, from the Boston University College of Arts and Sciences, and his J.D. from the Boston University School of Law.
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Add to Calendar 03/25/2021 3:00 pm 03/25/2021 5:00 pm America/New_York The Knowledge Group Webinar: How to Develop Ethical Competence: Key Considerations and Effective Strategies If you haven't registered for this event please click here:https://www.theknowledgegroup.org/cart/?add-to-cart=212293\r\n Lawyers' ethical competence and professionalism are crucial for client representation. They are expected to always uphold ethical standards and be guided by the Rules of Professional Conduct in all aspects of their work. However, it is inevitable for them to be confronted with such challenges and dilemmas. Thus, reinforcing the need to develop a sound ethical competence that will help them maintain their good reputation in the legal profession. \n \nJoin a panel of key thought leaders and distinguished professionals assembled by The Knowledge Group as they provide a comprehensive discussion of ethical competence. Speakers will also share risk mitigation techniques and best practices to ensure competency in the legal landscape. \n \nKey issues include: \n \n \n	Ethical Policies in the Legal Profession \n	Common Ethical Risks and Challenges \n	Developing Effective Ethical Competence \n	Best Practices \n	Outlook \n https://www.theknowledgegroup.org/webcasts/ethical-competence/
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Q: Trying to automate a right-click and choose the first option "Open the link in a new tab" public void openNewEbay() throws InterruptedException {
    // to click on open link on new tab
    Actions rightclick = new Actions(driver);
    WebElement elementlocator = driver
            .findElement(By.xpath("//li[@class='hl-cat-nav__js-tab']//a[contains(text(),'Electronics')]"));

    //rightclick.contextClick(elementlocator).sendKeys(Keys.ARROW_DOWN).sendKeys(Keys.ARROW_DOWN).sendKeys(Keys.RETURN).build().perform();
    Thread.sleep(3000);
    rightclick.contextClick(elementlocator).build().perform();
    Thread.sleep(5000);
    rightclick.sendKeys(Keys.ARROW_DOWN).sendKeys(Keys.RETURN).build().perform();

    rightclick.sendKeys(Keys.RETURN).build().perform();

    /*ArrayList tab = new ArrayList(driver.getWindowHandles());
    System.out.println(tab.size());*/
}

public void openNewEbay() throws InterruptedException {
    // to click on open link on new tab
    Actions rightclick = new Actions(driver);
    WebElement elementlocator = driver
            .findElement(By.xpath("//li[@class='hl-cat-nav__js-tab']//a[contains(text(),'Electronics')]"));

    //rightclick.contextClick(elementlocator).sendKeys(Keys.ARROW_DOWN).sendKeys(Keys.ARROW_DOWN).sendKeys(Keys.RETURN).build().perform();
    Thread.sleep(3000);
    rightclick.contextClick(elementlocator).build().perform();
    Thread.sleep(5000);
    rightclick.sendKeys(Keys.ARROW_DOWN).sendKeys(Keys.RETURN).build().perform();

    rightclick.sendKeys(Keys.RETURN).build().perform();

    /*ArrayList tab = new ArrayList(driver.getWindowHandles());
    System.out.println(tab.size());*/
}

Selenium-code issue: trying to automate right click but when I right click, it  does not move to right-click options instead it clicks on elements. I want to select the option "Open the link on new tab"

A: Try below code:
public void openNewEbay() throws InterruptedException {
    // to click on open link on new tab
    Actions rightclick = new Actions(driver);
    WebElement elementlocator = driver
            .findElement(By.xpath("//li[@class='hl-cat-nav__js-tab']//a[contains(text(),'Electronics')]"));

    //rightclick.contextClick(elementlocator).sendKeys(Keys.ARROW_DOWN).sendKeys(Keys.ARROW_DOWN).sendKeys(Keys.RETURN).build().perform();
    Thread.sleep(3000);
    rightclick.contextClick(elementlocator).build().perform();
    Thread.sleep(5000);
    rightclick.sendKeys("t").build().perform();

// here "t" performs new tab operation. If you use Keys.ARROW_DOWN of actions class will
// not move mouse on to the context menu and also, we can't inspect options available on // context menu
}

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Miata Turbo Forum - Boost cars, acquire cats. > General Discussion > Insert BS here > Current Events, News, Politics
A whole 'nother pragmatic look at gun-related violence
Current Events, News, Politics Keep the politics here.
Joe Perez
Boost Pope
Location: Chicago. (The non-murder part.)
This is not a thread about gun-control laws.
1: I do not have a strong opinion either for or against "gun control" laws in the US.
2: As a child, my father was an avid target shooter and gun collector (mostly handguns, few rifles), and we often went to the range together. I owned my first rifle (a pump-action .22 rimfire) at the age of 6, and had a Junior NRA membership card and magazine subscription. I was able to handle a .44 Magnum revolver (barely) by the age of 10 or 11. My brother-in-law is a Sherrifs officer in Florida, and owns a large collection of both handguns and rifles, and when I'm down in FL for the holidays I occasionally go out shooting with him. I am reasonably competent at the range with both semiautomatic pistols and long-guns. My sister has a concealed-carry permit.
3: Despite this, I do not currently own any firearms, nor have I in a number of years; it's an expensive hobby as compared to the enjoyment I derive from it. I do not participate in firearm-related recreational activities outside the context of occasional family outings.
4: The above is disclosed for the purpose of establishing that I am not strongly biased in either direction with regard to firearm ownership or use.
As compared to many other western nations, the US is a relatively violent country. With an annual murder rate of 4.7 per 100k, a chart of murder rates by country places us in company with nations such as Kenya, Yemen, Albania, Niger and Thailand. Our murder rate is slightly higher than that of Iran, Uzbekistan, Kosovo and Egypt, and nearly 5x the average for most western European nations.
Illustrated graphically:
In the US, handguns are used to commit more murders than every method of killing combined:
Within the US, the homicide rate varies dramatically across geographical boundaries. In the southern states, the homicide rate is considerably higher than average, while in the Northeast, the rate is considerably lower:
Interestingly, the distribution of firearms within the US roughly correlates with the distribution of homicide in the US, such that geographic regions in which there is a higher rate of gun-ownership also experience a higher rate of murder:
Correlation, of course, is not causation. It is, however, suggestive.
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deezums
Sadfab Union President
I'm not saying anything by it, but does it have anything to do with the distribution of the population?
Blacks Suffer Disproportionate Share of Firearm Homicide Deaths | Pew Research Center
The racial divide in America?s gun deaths - The Washington Post
Is it possible that this lifestyle is idealized for some dumb reason, and because of economic and social conditions these people think this is all they've got?
Or are all these stats I'm listing just the police homicide numbers?
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rleete
And how many of these killings are committed by those with no permit, using illegal firearms?
If a gangbanger kills another gangbanger, the murder/shooting is recorded, but the number of gun owners doesn't change, because they are not legally allowed to have firearms, and thus not listed as a "gun owner" Yet they still have them. Making them illegal has not stopped drugs. Much less cheating on your taxes or even jaywalking. So how is it supposed to stop those already predisposed to criminal activity?
ALL attempts to change this are just hoops for the legal gun owners to jump through. Like the SAFE act in NY. Does anyone truly believe that limiting the number of rounds in a magazine curbs crime in any way?
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gjsmith66
Location: Columbia, MD
Suggests that in areas with more gun murders people are more likely to own a gun for protection?
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nitrodann
Joe, as a commie leftist poofter from a place that has banned gunz I propose to you to not look at this, but look at total VIOLENT CRIME, over time, and with the dates for major gun legislation changes in another tab. I assure you that you will see that no matter the country or state, there is a strong trend toward lower crime with more gun freedom and significantly higher gun crime following the tightening of gun legislation.
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Originally Posted by deezums
I'm sure that is a factor.
The geographic distribution of blacks (as a percentage of population) in the US does broadly mirror the geographic distribution of homicide:
Unrelated to the point, but interesting, I happened to come across this map while doing research for this post:
If you compare the distribution of the slave population in 1860 to the distribution of blacks in the US in 2010, you find that they are virtually identical.
Historically, the rate of immigration of free black into the US has been a tiny minority of the rate of immigration of caucasians and Asians. This is true both prior to and after abolition. The majority of blacks coming into the US during the period of slavery were, of course imported involuntarily as slaves and therefore had little say in the location in which they settled. Today, roughly 85-90% of all blacks in America are descended from these original imported slaves (source), and their patterns of residence are virtually indistinguishable from those of their slave ancestors 150 years ago.
My own family have lived in four different countries in that time. I lived in five states before turning 18, and have added seven more since (though two were duplicates from my youth.)
For some reason, blacks in the US have extremely low mobility. This broadly parallels the immobility of certain sub-groups of caucasian Americans; I think everyone can picture the family in Tennessee or West Virginia who have lived in the same home for many generations, and from which no family member had ever departed the homestead except by military service or incarceration, or of Jewish or Italian families who came to the US during the early part of the 20th century and settled into neighborhoods in the New England region in which their grandchildren still reside today... I wonder if any reliable demographic information exists which illustrates some common thread amongst the families who traversed the great plains to settle the American west during the frontier era.
Last edited by Joe Perez; 06-20-2015 at 01:41 AM.
Originally Posted by rleete
If a gangbanger kills another gangbanger, the murder/shooting is recorded, but the number of gun owners doesn't change, because they are not legally allowed to have firearms, and thus not listed as a "gun owner" Yet they still have them.
Data here is hard to come by, in part because many homicides remain unsolved.
One source indicates that for all gun homicides committed in 2009 for which an arrest was made and the murder weapon identified, 88% were committed with a stolen gun. Another source indicates that in 2013, 1.6% of all firearm-involved crimes (all crimes, not just homicide) involved a gun which was legally purchased by the perpetrator.
This, however, ignores an important fact: Stolen guns had to be stolen from someone, and in the overwhelming majority of cases, they tend to be obtained by burglarizing the home or car of an individual who legally purchased the firearm.
I've oft stated here on the forum that it makes utterly no sense to me to buy a new car, and that I find it much more fiscally responsible to purchase used cars in good condition. On a few occasions, people have pointed out to me that if nobody were buying new cars that there would then be no supply of used cars for me to purchase later.
The same holds true here. If the vast majority of firearm-involved murders are committed with guns stolen from their legal owners, then removing the supply of legally-owned guns would, over time, have the effect of eliminating the supply of stolen guns.
I used to work for a guy who owned a small armory. He'd leave rifles, handguns and shotguns in a steel building on his property, in his many trucks, in desks and file cabinets. He was certainly a man with the means to protect all his property, but he had so much property he could give two ***** about half of it. I remember one time the steel building did get hit, wonder whatever happened to those?
Lots of people are happy, and lots of "hippies" are pissed about this here in Kansas...
Kansas to allow concealed carry without permit or training ? RT USA
I honestly don't know how I feel about it, a good percentage of the people I know are super responsible, then there's a few like the old boss. I'm pretty sure with it being so easy to walk around with a gun a lot more go missing.
Originally Posted by nitrodann
Joe, as a commie leftist poofter from a place that has banned gunz I propose to you to not look at this, but look at total VIOLENT CRIME, over time, and with the dates for major gun legislation changes in another tab.
While it will be extremely time-consuming to gather this data for the US (due to the large number of states each with its own laws), it is a fascinating idea.
I assure you that you will see that no matter the country or state, there is a strong trend toward lower crime with more gun freedom and significantly higher gun crime following the tightening of gun legislation.
While I realize that static data is not precisely what you are looking for, a present-day snapshot of homicide vs. gun laws in the US demonstrates precisely the opposite.
In the chart I posted originally, Those states which have higher-than-average levels of homicide are, for the most part, the states which have the most permissive laws concerning gun ownership. This encompasses much of the southern US, obviously, but also extends to states such as Alaska, Delaware and Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, those states which have the most restrictive laws concerning gun ownership, like New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Hawaii, all tend to have average to lower-than-average rates of gun violence, despite the fact that these states also have a high level of racial, ethnic, religious and economic diversity, which are typically indicators for high rates of crime.
Of course, the US is an anomaly amongst first-world nations concerning both gun ownership and violent crime. So let's look at Canada, which has a homicide rate roughly midway between the US and the more restrictive nations of Europe, and just very slightly higher than Australia. (I also found a convenient source of data for gun-laws-vs-murder-rate for Canada over time.)
In 1977, Canada introduced fairly strict regulations (Bill C-51) on the purchase of firearms as well as ammunition, expanded search and seizure powers, and prohibited the carrying of legal weapons for the purpose of protecting property.
Between 1992 and 1994, they further implemented regulations (Bill C-17) requiring anyone wishing to purchase a firearm to undergo a background check and pass a training course, implemented strong regulations for the safe storage, handling and transportation of firearms, prohibited military-style rifles, and limited magazine capacity to 10 rounds for handguns and 5 rounds for rifles.
In 1995, Bill C-68 implements a national licensing system for firearms, expands licensing to include rifles and shotguns, prohibits the sale of short-barreled and small caliber handguns, and requires a license to purchase all ammunition.
Here's a chart of the overall homicide rate in Canada (all murders regardless of weapon) for the period of 1961 to 2010:
(the footnote next to 1985 indicates that the chart does not count the 329 victims of the 1985 Air India bombing, the country's largest ever mass-murder.)
The rate had just begun to decline prior to the passage of the 1977 act, and continued that decline afterwards. There are a few bumps, then a sharp uptick around 1990-91, and then immediately after the 1992 passage of C-17, the rate starts to sharply decline again, and continues a pattern of overall decline to the end of the dataset in 2010. There's a very tiny uptick around 1995 which then immediately settles back into another sustained period of decline
So, quite to the contrary of what you posit, I see that in Canada, major implementations of gun-control legislation are not followed by "significant increases" in the overall homicide rate, but rather by significant decreases.
Last edited by Joe Perez; 06-18-2015 at 10:23 PM. Reason: mis-attributed source, and mixed up homicide with gun-violence in one place.
Jason, I deleted your post because:
A: I'm tired of you just posting completely and utterly irrelevant links without adding a single word of original thought, and
B: This thread is specifically NOT about President Obama fast-tracking the Trans-Pacific Partnership or the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. I have no idea why you thought that was relevant conjecture here. Please limit your conspiracy theories to relevant topics.
You are banned from this thread.
That is indeed a problem.
It's been my personal experience that people who own large numbers of firearms tend to be more lax than average about securing them, and also tend to advertise the fact that they possess them. Think about pickup trucks with rifle racks, and signs in front of homes informing would-be trespassers that the owner of the home is armed and will shoot on sight.
I mentioned earlier how my father was an avid gun collector. There was one room in our house which was a combination study and gun-room. I would conservatively estimate that there were at least 100 handguns (ranging from historical arms to contemporary pistols of all calibers) stored there, in addition to 10 or 15 rifles. There was no alarm system on the house, no gun safes, no trigger locks, no real security of any kind. They were just stored in a pair of ordinary closets alongside their corresponding boxes of ammunition in the way that a Beverly Hills housewife might store her shoe-and-dress collection. We were never robbed, however it would have been exceedingly easy to do so.
I'm honestly not sure whether decreases in firearms regulation necessarily lead to an increase in firearm possession. It might in the most restrictive states, though in the majority of states, people who posses a strong desire to legally own a firearm will deal with the regulatory hurdles and costs involved in obtaining one. They'll complain about it, but it won't prevent them from doing it.
Aimed at joe, I said violent crime, not homicide only. And I said over time, against the legislation. It proves nothing to say the a city with strict laws has high crime, or vice versa because cause/correlation.
You have used canada only. Look all over the world. Ill get on tonight with charts for individual US states, the UK and Australia.
A quick example is the gunbuyback and major tightening of laws in australia after the port arthur massacre. That happened in 1996.
You have to go looking for the numbers because the graphs you always see are gun crime vs time in regard to legislation. And gun crime is irrelevant. The point of banning guns for safety isnt to lower gun crime its to lower violent crime. If lowering the amount of guns people can have legally decreases gun assault but increases total assault you have gone backwards.
Also interestingly Americas homicide rate is actually lower than australias when you control for gang violence.
You have to go looking for the numbers because the graphs you always see are gun crime vs time in regard to legislation. And gun crime is irrelevant. The point of banning guns for safety isnt to lower gun crime its to lower violent crime.
I certainly understand what you are saying, and I agree with the underlying premise that disarming non-criminals may, in theory, lead to an increase in violent crime under the presumption that the likelihood of lethal retaliation is decreased.
I would point out two things:
The first is that many violent criminals, particularly those who engage in common, low-level "street crime," are not especially intelligent. They have gotten to where they are in life largely due to a lack of cognitive ability, which includes the capacity to weigh the potential consequences of violent crime against the potential rewards.
Remember, there is significant overlap between this group and the group of people who respond to perceived social injustices by rioting and burning down their own neighborhoods. In particular, the perpetrator of Port Arthur had previously been assessed to have an IQ of 66, had been declared unable to function in society, and was granted a disability pension on these grounds.
source and source.
The second is that a single datapoint from one piece of legislation in one country immediately following a horrific mass-murder is by no means evidence of a trend. As a counterpoint, I found a chart detailing all major crimes in Canada from the period of 1962 to 2012, which encompasses all of the regulations which I listed a few posts ago:
What we see here is that from 1962 to 1990, the rate of all crimes followed a steadily increasing trend, with no observable reaction to the 1977 legislation. Then, around 1991, the crime rate began to decline and continued to do so steadily, ignoring both the 1992 and 1995 legislation.
Based on this data, we can state confidently that, in Canada, increased regulation of firearms correlates strongly to a decrease in the homicide rate, and does not appear to strongly correlate to the overall crime rate.
Cool. We are in the same mindset regarding how one needs to consider the effects as a whole. Carry on.
codrus
Location: Santa Clara, CA
Originally Posted by Joe Perez
While that's true in principle, as a practical matter it would take hundreds of years. The number of currently-legal, privately owned firearms is quite high (something like 250 million, I think), and most of them don't get fired all that often so they don't really wear out. The attrition rate is going to be very low, so if you wanted to see European kinds of levels in a person's lifetime, you'd need active confiscation.
I suspect what you'll see if you look more closely at the data is a correlation between homicide rate and poverty. In particular, if you go a city level (instead of state) and look at dense urban areas with low rates of legal gun ownership (NYC, Chicago, DC), you'll find a high crime rate, a high murder rate, and a high poverty rate.
And yes, the south has a much higher poverty level:
--Ian
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z31maniac
This also ignores how countries define "violent crime." If I remember correctly, and please correct me if I'm not, the UK, for instance, has a far more lax definition of violent crime than the US.
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Braineack
Boost Czar
Location: Chantilly, VA
You wanna know where else the US hangs out with third world countries?
related charts that illustrate impact:
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NiklasFalk
Interesting defaulted correlation between unmarried and single (father unknown and single poor mother forever)...
A developed (depraved) society relies less on mass cults/religion/culture for the norms.
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Quick Reply: A whole 'nother pragmatic look at gun-related violence


Success in music is damn near impossible without determination—a trait that singer-songwriter Snoh Aalegra has plenty of. The Swede turned Los Angeleno already boasts an impressive resume, and this is only the beginning. With the release of her project titled Don't Explain, this is a whole new era for this rising star. Snoh will never fall. Aalegra was born and raised in Sweden, the product of Persian parents and a multi-lingual household. Sweden's backdrop surrounded Snoh on train rides to Stockholm, as she slowly gather fodder for her budding music career. "I have a song called "Paradise" on my first EP that kind of describes those train trips every day going to school, dreaming a way of pursuing music. Her warm Persian upbringing was the ideal contrast, as Snoh had a rich culture at home, while accenting her palate with Soul music from the States including Lauryn Hill, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Nina Simone, and James Brown. Through family, Snoh was introduced to well-known producer No I.D., who immediately recognized her talent. She moved to the states and signed to his ARTium Music while working on her craft. She would ultimately ink a deal with Sony in 2014 that would bring awareness to the wunderkind , but it simply wasn't the right fit. Talent that big can neither be defined nor confined. The following year, Snoh released her breakout single, a track titled "Emotional," produced by Wu-Tang Clan legend the RZA and the greatest shape of what was to come from Snoh and her sound. After time to reflect (and plenty of soul searching), Snoh regrouped with a new blueprint for her sound and musical direction. After time to reflect on the stories she wanted to tell and musical direction she felt was in her DNA, she created Don't Explain, a project that truly epitomizes her. Don't call it a comeback. Don't Explain is best described as a "mini album," full of deep cuts that define one pivotal moment in Snoh Aalegra's life. "It's really all about one romance," she says of the work, punctuated with the highest of highs and lowest of lows that we can only endure when we're in love." I would call this cinematic soul," she says, since the most memorable love stories play out like a movie. Tracks like "Under The Influence" and "In Your River" are definitive moments on the work, while "Charlieville 9200" is purely autobiographical down to the moment. The Boi-1da produced track includes a smooth cameo from James Fauntleroy and is about one particular night in Snoh's life. "It's just a little cute story of a night that happened. It's all real," she explains. "I just remember it so strongly." While the brunt of the songs are very heartfelt and personal, theyre relatable on a number of levels, particularly "Home" in its ability to break down how the concept of home can be a number of things. Yet everybody needs one. About the inspiration for the song, she muses, "I was experiencing all these emotions that you were enhanced, and I just felt so much love and passion."While Don't Explain will surely lure in Snoh Aalegra fans of past and present, this is only the beginning, as studio sessions with the likes of John Mayer and of course No I.D. are merely an inkling of what the future may hold. When passion and purpose are in tune, there is no stopping true talent and Snoh has defied all odds to continue making her mark." What I really want is for people to just press play on my music and need no explanation of who I am," she says. Don't explain; just listen.


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General Information and Travelling
General Information and TravellingCOAR2013-04-17T10:00:01+01:00
About İstanbul
"The god and human, nature and art are together in there, they have created such a perfect place that it is valuable to see." Lamartine's famous poetic line reveals his love for İstanbul, describing the embracement of two continents, with one arm reaching out to Asia and the other to Europe.
İstanbul, once known as the capital of capital cities, has many unique features. It is the only city in the world to straddle two continents, and the only one to have been a capital during two consecutive empires – Christian and Islamic. Once the capital of the Ottoman Empire, İstanbul still remains the commercial, historical and cultural pulse of Turkey, and its beauty lies in its ability to embrace its contradictions. Ancient and modern, religious and secular, Asia and Europe, mystical and earthly, all coexist here.
Its variety is one of İstanbul's greatest attractions: The ancient mosques, palaces, museums and bazaars reflect its diverse history. The thriving shopping area of Taksim buzzes with life and entertainment. And the serene beauty of the İstanbul strait, Princes Islands and parks bring a touch of peace to the otherwise chaotic metropolis.
(Source of text and picture: Ministry of Culture and Tourism)
Click to read more, if you want to learn more or see Roughguide and Lonelyplanet to get more travelling information.
See some pictures at Fotopedia.com.
Özyeğin University
Özyeğin University was officially founded on May 18, 2007 with the mission of contributing to social development by producing creative, original and applicable knowledge through its modern education system, its innovative structure integrated with life and its academic programs focused on the service sector.
Özyeğin University, thus, welcomed its first students on its Altunizade Campus in September 2008 and opened the doors of its Çekmeköy Campus in September 2011. Thus the university has increased the total area of its campuses to 136 thousand m2. Özyeğin University also built a strong faculty with distinguished faculty members. 60% of the OzU faculty came from top 100 universities around the world, while 85% came from global top 200 universities. For more detail please click here.
(Source of text and picture: Özyeğin University).
Travel to İstanbul
The city is easily accessible from destinations worldwide. Istanbul has two international airports; Istanbul Ataturk Airport and Sabiha Gökçen International Airport , and mostly the former one is used by major airlines as it is in the European side of Istanbul. Turkish Airlines has direct flights from most European countries to Istanbul.
Please see the city maps at İstanbul City Guide or Google Map.
(source of picture: http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-2044225760, license: CC BY 2.0)
Inner city transportation
The most common means of transportation are taxis, ferry boats, mini buses, sea buses and dolmuş (the shared taxi) as well as public buses, trains and trams and metro.
By Taxi: Depending on the airport you will arrive at, the travelling time from Sabiha Gökçen to Altunizade (recommended hotel district) is approximately 25 min. (60 to 70 TL) and from Atatürk Airport to Altunizade approximately 35 min. (60 to 70 TL).
By Shuttles Buses: Havataş serves a shuttle service between the airports and main districts of Istanbul, please visit Havataş web site for the shuttle bus schedule. They are in service every 30 minutes. It takes approximately 45 and 60 minutes depending on stream of traffic. The ticket costs 10 TL.
By Public Buses: The Bus 96T travels between Ataturk Airport and Taksim Square every 50 minutes. It takes approximately 60 and 75 minutes depending on the traffic. The e-ticket price depends on the number of passes from 4,00 TL for 1 pass, to 28,00 TL for 10 passes. Please note that the public buses are available between 07:00am – 09:00pm
Please click here for Bus Lines and Ferry Boats.
Özyeğin University located in two campuses and the conference will be held in its Çekmeköy Campus. Here is the map for the main campus in Çekmeköy. There are shuttle buses on every hour to the Altunizade campus, which is located in the recommended hotel district. Please check the bus timetable at the web site.
Please see the map with all important locations here:
COAR Annual Meeting 2013 – show on a bigger map
Visas and official invitations
Visa for the citizens of some countries can be obtained upon arrival. Information about Turkish entry requirements can be found on the website of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs or visit the e-consulate web site.
Turkey is GMT+2, that is to say one hour ahead of Central Europe, 7 hours ahead of EST (New York) and 8 hours behind Japan.
The local currency in Turkey is the Turkish Lira (TL) available in the following denominations: banknotes: 5, 10, 20, 50 &100 TL; coins: 10, 25 & 50 kuruş and 1 TL. Cash can usually be exchanged without commission at bureau de change (döviz), banks and hotels. Exchange rates are published daily in Turkish newspapers and can also be found in web site of Turkish Central Bank. Cash machines of all international banks are widely available in the city.
The mains voltage for electricity is 220V and 50Hz. Central European type wall socket (two-pin plugs) is standard in Turkey.
Emergency Numbers in Turkey
Emergency services: There is no guarantee that any English will be spoken on any of these emergency and helpline telephone numbers. Calls to the following emergency numbers are free of charge; the lines are available 24 hours a day.
Health Emergency: 110
Police: 155
Fire: 110
Registration for International calls: 115
Tourism Police: (0212) 527 45 03
Tourism Info (all over Turkey):170


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Yesterday evening, the Twitter accounts for Tinder went on a tear against theVanity Fairjournalist Nancy Jo Sales, who recently asserted, in her attribute Tinder as well as the 'Dating Apocalypse ,'" that dating programs are causing changes in human mating rituals of a magnitude comparable to those that happened following the establishment of marriage. Cheap prostitutes nearby Eureka River Alberta. As the polar ice caps melt and also the world churns through the Sixth Extinction, another unprecedented occurrence is happening, in the realm of sex," Sales writes. Hookup culture, which has been percolating for about a hundred years, has collided with dating apps, which have behaved like a wayward meteor on the now dinosaur-like rituals ofcourtship."
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The traditional approaches of dating and courtship are out; ceaselessly bound from fling to fling is in. Cheap Prostitutes Near Me Evansburg Alberta. And women, despite the supposed benefits of sexual liberation, are coming out losers in this hurried new sexual landscape --- used, then lost in a heap of dick pics. For the article, Sales ran interviews with more than 50 young women in New York, Indiana, and Delaware, aged 19 to 29," as well as many men, and it adds up to a number of sleazy, depressing storylines. And she's hardly the very first journalist to raise this alarm: Over the previous couple of years, reports on hookup culture" --- some focusing on alcohol and campus culture, some on technology, and some on both ---have become a thriving genre Cheap prostitutes in Eureka River.
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Sales' account is loaded with anecdotes: There is the finance guy who claims to have slept with 30 to 40 women off Tinder in the past year; the 23-year old male model who insists that women want guys to send them cock pics (awesome storyline, bro); the sorority sisters bemoaning the fact that college men, drenched with easy access to sex, are so lousy at it; and also the 26-year old man --- think of him as a Tinder-age Walter Sobchak --- who guarantees Sales that if he desired to, he could find someone to have sex with bymidnight.
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The issue is the fact that while Sales definitely spins a great yarn, it doesn't really add up to evidence that something ground-breaking is afoot. It's one thing to write an ethnographic piece about Tinder-maters in their natural habitat; it's another to extrapolate this to make far-reaching claims about the epochal manners dating and sex are changing. This goes back to that anecdote/data thing. Roaming about and speaking to folks is significant --- is, in fact, a basis of journalism --- but there are constitutional limits to it. There will necessarily be some prejudice in who you speak to, or in who is willing to speak with you; in Sales' case, we hear almost exclusively from young, single individuals who are active (sometimes overactive) Tinder users, and virtually fully from guys that are always looking for casual sex. In other words, Sales is speaking to precisely the sorts of people you'd expect to utilize dating apps in a manner which will help them find more folks to sleep with, and then, having discovered that these promiscuous individuals make use of a promiscuity-empowering app to find other promiscuous individuals to have promiscuous sex with, reporting back to us that we're in the midst of a promiscuity-fueled dating revolution" in how folks deal with romance and sex. This really is known as confirmationbias.
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Tinder superusers are an essential slice of the people to study, yes, but they can not be used as a stand-in for millennials" or society" or any other such extensive classes. Where are the 20-somethings in committed relationships in Sales' article? Where are the cumbersome, lonely young men who feel like they can't find anyone to have sex with, let alone date them. Cheap prostitutes nearest Eureka River? Where are the women who stay off Tinder because they do not enjoy the meat-market feel of it? Where are the men as well as women who locate life partners from these apps? (Just off the very top of my head, I can think of one man I know who met his husband on Grindr and also a woman who met her fianc on Tinder, along with innumerable long term relationships that began on OKCupid.) Where are the many, many millennials who get married within their early or mid-20s? Reading Sales' post, you'd think Tinder had wiped out all these millennials like, well, that aforementioned asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs. However there continue to be millions of young people muddling through relatively conventional" experiences of dating (and romanticdeprivation).
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If anyone is equipped to answer these questions about dating and sexual mores in a more rigorous manner, it's the social scientists using national surveys to study attitudes and behavior change with time. In her piece, Sales mentions the research of Jean Twenge, a professor at San Diego State University and also the author of Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled --- and More Miserable Than Ever Before Twenge is the coauthor, with Ryne Sherman of Florida Atlantic University, of a study released earlier this year in which the pair assessed the consequences of the General Social Survey, a (largely) annual, nationally representative survey that is been administered for decades, between 1972 and 2012. The data, culled from between about 27,000 and 33,000 Americans (there were different numbers of answers available for different questions and years), revealed that millennials seem to be having sex with fewer partners than the last couple generations were --- particularly, Number of sexual partners rose steadily between the G.I.s and 1960s-born Gen X'ers and then dipped among Millennials to return to Boomerlevels."
Cheap Prostitutes Near Me Etzikom Alberta. If dating culture were in fact imploding into a sticky morass of one-night-stands in any purposeful manner, it'd likely appear in this kind of data. But Sales addressed this study only to brush it away in a parenthetical paragraph noting the writers told her their evaluation was based partly on projections derived from a statistical model, not entirely from direct side-by-side comparisons of numbers of sex partners reported by respondents." Well, no --- there are plenty of side by side comparisons in Twenge and Sherman's research, since the study is based on a survey in which the same question is asked in the same manner over the years. When it comes to projections," that just indicates the fact that the writers can't provide life amounts of sexual partners for millennials who are still very much living, so they projected that one group. It does not bear on the complete finding that there is no indication of an explosion in promiscuity. (To be fair, the paper's data ends in 2012, which was pre-Tinder, but well into the age of OKCupid and other online dating services that opened up a whole new universe of sex and datingpartners.)
But it does not matter whether the judgments of the study make sense" to Sales. The whole point of a large, nationally representative sample is the fact that it captures a larger cut of the picture than more piecemeal efforts like conventional journalism. Later in her email to me, Sales referenced Twenge's argument in her paper that the fear of AIDS could describe the truth that while approval of casual sex is going up, there hasn't quite been a commensurate rise in the amount of people's sexual partners. This really didn't look right to me, either, since fear of AIDS has been considerably reduced by the advancement of AIDS drugs and other social factors." But, again --- it does not matter whether or not given findings appear correct" unless you can explain why the data'swrong.
Taking a moral-panic approach to something like mobile online dating makes for a great storyline, but nonetheless, additionally, it drowns out the chance for a richer dialog, and hardens certain false notions about millennial culture. Online dating definitely is altering how many people meet other individuals and date and have sex. But it is likely changing their behavior in all sorts of different, sometimes contradictory ways. Sometimes, it is probably helping folks locate husbands and wives sooner, leading them to have fewer sex partners. In others, it likely does lead to some decision paralysis and frustration with dating. In many instances, it likely merely reinforces the user's preexisting preferences --- pro- or anti-promiscuity, pro- or anti-finding someone to settle downwith.
Dan Slater thinks you need to attribute the Internet. His article in this month'sAtlantic, "A Million First Dates," argues that on-line matchmaking services like OKCupid and eHarmony are so strong that they are obligated to infect us all with a collective case of intimate ADHD - or, as he puts it, that "the rise of online dating will mean an overall reduction in commitment." The impulse to search for "an ever-more-compatible mate with the tap of a mouse" will prove so intoxicating over the long term, he writes, that it might sabotage the very notions of marriage and monogamy.
Needless to say, online dating has existed for a while now. But Slater does not offer up much hard evidence that monogamy is truly becoming passe in this state, other than to point out that divorce rates have grown - an oversimplification of what is happened in the past few decades. Eureka River, Alberta cheap prostitutes. Instead, he presents us to Jacob, the pseudonymous thirty something schlub I alluded to above. Jacob is a devoted Green Bay Packer's fan who is less than enthused about the concept of a 40-hour workweek. He is also convinced the persistent temptations of online dating have kept him from settling down. And other than quotations from the executives of a couple various matchmaking websites, whose penetrations boil down to admissions that their products are not designed to nurture long term relationships, his story makes up the majority of the piece.
Take, for example, the enormous shortage of college educated men in Portland, Jacob's hometown. Across the United States today, young women are far more likely to graduate from school than their male peers, a trend that's been compounding itself for a few decades now. And because school grads overwhelmingly have a tendency to date other college grads, that's created an enormous imbalance in the national dating pool. In Portland, the specific situation is particularly dire. According to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey , there are 33 percent more women in Portland who are under the age of 35 and have at least a bachelor's degree in than there are guys. That's on par with New York, which is notorious for its lopsided sex ratio.
But could the simple fact that Portland has thousands upon thousands of surplus, school educated women be enough to keep guys like Jacob from settling down? It is not intended to be a daft question-after all, much of this probably only comes down to personality. Cheap Prostitutes near me Eureka River Alberta, Canada. But in fact, social scientists have been studying the society-wide effect of sex ratios on marriages and relationships since the early 20th century, and some of the evidence indicates that when there are extra women around, young men are not as likely to commit.


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Home Editor's Pick Expert committee maintains cremation of Covid victims only option
Expert committee maintains cremation of Covid victims only option
By Indika Sri Aravinda
An expert committee has maintained that the cremation of coronavirus victims is the only option at the moment.
The expert committee which met and discussed the matter, had maintained that burial of coronavirus victims cannot be approved in Sri Lanka as yet.
"The committee met and discussed the matter and their position at the moment is that cremation is the only solution," Director General of Health Services Dr. Asela Gunawardena told Colombo Gazette.
The expert committee is to study the matter further before reaching a final conclusion.
Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi had appointed the expert committee to make recommendations after concerns were raised by Muslims over the refusal by the Government to allow the burial of coronavirus victims.
Thalaimannar had later been proposed as a solution to bury Muslim coronavirus victims.
When the matter was discussed by the cabinet recently most of the cabinet Ministers had agreed to the proposal.
The committee of health experts had later been advised to study the matter and revert.
The UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka Ms Hanaa Singer had earlier written to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa reiterating concerns with the existing Ministry of Health guidelines, which stipulate cremation as the only method for the disposal of bodies suspected of COVID-19 infection.
She had said that the common assumption that people who died of a communicable disease should be cremated to prevent spread is not supported by evidence. Instead, cremation is a matter of cultural choice and available resources. (Colombo Gazette)
Gabriella 22 November 2020 At 14:25
Given what could be about to transpire, there may not be enough land in Sri Lanka to bury the dead.
People must also ask the question: Is it possible for the virus to enter the food-chain through untreated sewage entering the ocean ?


1.The exam is of objective type , so the emphasis is more on being able to recognize the answer and not recalling it verbatim.
2.The key to clearing prelims is being really good with your Optional subject and an above average score in GS.For example, I had psychology as my optional and having no background in the subject I had to focus much more on psychology than GS to get comfortable with the subject.
3.Eliminating wrong choices is as important as knowing the correct answer.With every elimination of a wrong option your chance of hitting the right answer increases exponentially.
4.Testing yourself on UPSC question papers of previous years will build your confidence as well as allow you to revise the subject. This should be done once you are comfortable with the subject sometimes around March.
5.Keeping cool in pressure situation is critical to success. Everyone gets anxious before exam but good preparation will help you to keep your nerves under control.
6.You are not required to answer all the questions ,but you should not miss out on easy questions and should also be able to answer few difficult questions which a large majority would not answer correctly.This would give you the edge.
You might be thinking all this is common sense ,but believe me common sense is not so common and I have seen people making common mistakes and suffering. So be open to ideas and make use of experience of others and do not learn only by trial and error.


text:
Prime farmland continues to be lost to urban expansion
UAlberta report recommends neighbouring municipalities work together to co-ordinate better land use planning.
March 08, 2018 By Bev Betkowski
Alberta's municipal governments need to be more careful about allowing prime farmland to be gobbled up for residential and industrial use, according to a new report out of the University of Alberta.
The report shows that high-quality agricultural land in the province's most populated areas continues to be lost through rezoning, and calls for land-use policies that consider longer-term impact.
"Municipal governments have to come to grips with what they want their communities to look like in the future," said Brent Swallow, one of the report's co-authors and a professor in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences. "Just having cheap services financed through extra tax revenue is not enough of a goal. It's short-term gain with long-term costs."
The research, compiled by Swallow and fellow researchers at the U of A-based Alberta Land Institute, shows that between 1984 and 2013, the amount of land with urban or industrial uses in the corridor between Edmonton and Calgary jumped by 52 per cent, increasing by more than 1,600 square kilometres. Between 2000 and 2012, about 35 per cent of the converted land was classified as rich, top-rated cropland, with another 34 per cent rated second highest in quality in Alberta.
The loss of the prime agricultural land was driven by several factors including population growth, rising prices for agricultural land driven by urban demand, expanded road networks to service rural subdivisions, and fragmentation of the rural landscape as more acreages were built.
That loss will have long-term economic, environmental and visual impacts on the land, Swallow said.
Neighbouring municipalities need to work together to develop co-ordinated land-use plans and taxation formulas instead of competing with one another, to avoid the creeping development of unattractive pockets of light industry plopped next to residential estates, Swallow said.
"There are rural municipalities in Alberta that want to maintain their rural character, but they're so heavily developed, it doesn't look like it. If they'd worked with their neighbours, it could have been different.
"We forgo opportunities for the landscape to remain beautiful for future generations," he said.
Decisions based on revenues
Municipal governments tend to still base their land-use philosophy on policies developed in the 1980s and 1990s, Swallow added.
"There's been this ethic of growth, that it's good, it means more tax revenue, more services for the population. They see that growth in terms of impacts on public finance," he explained.
The downside, though, is the costs that come with increased expansion.
"If you have scattered rural residences, that means you need expanded school bus services and more road maintenance. That's a burden for the future taxpayer," said Swallow.
Councils are starting to realize they face these related issues, but the temptation is still there to make rezoning decisions that can be inconsistent with their own growth plans for allowable land uses, Swallow noted. Under the Alberta Land Stewardship Act and the Municipal Government Act, local governments are responsible for developing land-use plans and designating allowable land use-agricultural, light industrial or country residential, for instance-but don't always stick to them, Swallow said.
"They want to keep it for these uses, and then a proposal comes along for a use outside that zoning and they'll approve it."
Citizens willing to pay to preserve farmland
Loss of farmland is an issue that's also gaining ground with the general public, Swallow said. A survey of 320 urban and rural residents in the Alberta Capital Region showed it was important to preserve agricultural land for air quality, clean water and scenic beauty, and for food production for both local and global markets. About 80 per cent of respondents said they'd be willing to pay a $20 one-time fee towards farmland conservation, and more than 50 per cent said they'd pay $300. They were willing to contribute most to conserving land for growing vegetables, then for rolling grasslands used for livestock grazing, followed by use as cropland and hayland.
"That could build a pool of funds for conservation efforts, and it indicates that municipalities should take steps to preserve prime farmland."
Developing better planning tools
Swallow and other researchers at the Alberta Land Institute are now working with municipalities to develop better planning tools, such as land-use and boundary mapping that illustrates how past land designations played out, to inform their decisions about land-use planning and redesignation.
"They can use and share these tools with their tax assessment, agricultural and environmental staff to think through the bigger challenges and consequences of land-use change. Right now we are finding that they operate in separate spheres, often using different planning tools," Swallow noted.
He's optimistic that change will come. In 2008, the provincial government passed the Alberta Land Stewardship Act to encourage planning around main watershed areas. More recently, the Municipal Government Act was updated to push communities to take steps toward preserving prime agricultural land and require them to develop plans with their municipal neighbours.
"It's helping generate more shared discussion about land use."


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February's Book of the Month was Jane Hardy Miller's French Braid Transformation. I enjoyed this book, as there were clear instructions for each quilt, and for each size.
I chose "Stacks", using up fabrics from my stash.
Here's a picture of the quilting. Love the feathers!
I was in a bit of a hurry to get Stacks done, so I did a fold over binding, instructions for which can be found here.
And because I had leftover blocks, I made a second one, Stacks II, with a slight variation: no side sashing, three columns of blocks, , and a top border piece.
Hope to get another done from the book, but it is almost time for the March Book of the Month!
very pretty, I adore the quilting!
Ps. Please consider not using word verification, it makes it so very difficult to post a comment.
Oh, the fabrics are great. Love the dots and brights. The quilting choice really worked on these two.


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Rimbey Spartans
Rimbey Renegades
The Bellows family on vacation last year in Mexico. L-R: Angel, Ryan, Darrel, Grace and Michael. (Photo submitted)
Rimbey community rallying behind family after cancer diagnosis
Michael Bellows, 12, a 'strong, resilient kid' says father
Emily Jaycox
For one Rimbey family, September brought more than the start of a new school year in an uncertain time due to the ongoing pandemic.
Michael Bellows, who will be turning 13 next month, had a little bit of a cough for a couple of weeks, had lost some weight and just didn't look well, says his father Darell Bellows.
On Sept. 13, his stepmother Angel Reck decided it was time to have him checked out and took him to emergency at the Rimbey hospital.
Although COVID-19 had to be ruled out first, it was soon discovered that his white blood cell count wasn't what it should be.
He was sent to the Stollery Children's Hospital that day where he was placed in isolation until a second COVID-19 test was done.
After several tests, the diagnosis was every family's worst nightmare: cancer. Michael has stage 4b Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
Although Hodgkin's Lymphoma is one of the most curable types of cancer, the '4b' denotes that the cancer has spread to other organs that are further away from the original cancer.
Darell says it was likely a "blessing in disguise" that Angel had been working from home more lately, as it likely made it possible for her to notice the subtle symptoms, as he had been trucking away from home at the time and wouldn't have known.
Now, just a month later, Michael has completed two of five rounds of chemotherapy, though more chemo may be necessary beyond that, depending on how the cancer responds.
At the beginning of each chemo cycle, Michael stays at the Stollery, then he can be home for 13 days, and does a day trip back to the hospital near the end of the cycle, before the next round begins.
It's been difficult for the whole family, including Michael's twin brother Ryan and their older sister Grace.
The days that Michael is home, his family and doctors want him to maintain as normal of a life as possible, says Darell.
which means, despite going through chemo, Michael has been attending school in Grade 7.
He's been "gung ho" to go to class, and see his friends, which he had just started reconnecting with, as he hadn't seen them since March.
He's missed a couple of days of school when he just wasn't feeling well enough, but "tries to stay strong," says Darell.
"He's a pretty strong, resilient kid that way."
About a week ago, Michael's hair began to fall out and his dad shaved his head with him in solidarity for what he's going through.
"I told him, 'Nobody goes through this alone,' and that he didn't have to feel awkward, which he doesn't at all."
The Bellows have had times were they were unemployed or underemployed during COVID-19, and all the while cost of living is going up, and there are costs associated with Michael's treatment, such as travel and accommodations when Ronald MacDonald House or Papa Ken's Cancer Society is full, says Darell.
Bellows says the government assistance provided for caregivers "doesn't add up" too much, either.
Both Darell and Angel have taken time off of work to help care for Michael as well, leaving them with little income.
While it's hard to ask for help, Bellows says he's glad he lives in a community that's supported his family through it all — through losing his first wife, and his children's mother in 2016, to Michael's recent diagnosis.
The support from the community has been felt, then and now.
A GoFundMe set up by Darell's cousin Amanda Mercredi has reached nearly $10,000. The Rimbey A&W where Grace works is holding a fundraiser, and friends are putting on a Halloween event and silent auction.
"It's overwhelming, to put it bluntly," said Darell.
"Once again, here we are needing help and everyone is helping out again."
The initial GoFundMe goal was $10,000, but Mercredi says she's raising that, as the treatment may be a long road.
"The community response has been great, the generosity of our small community never ceases to amaze me," she said.
"I hope we can continue to rally around Michael and his family as they've already been through so much."
To donate, visit www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-mikey-and-bellows-family.
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