text:
Interview with David Silverman
November 25, 2015 by Michael A. Ventrella
Interview with American Atheists President David Silverman
David "Mr. Atheist Pants" Silverman's new book is provocatively called FIGHTING GOD: AN ATHEIST MANIFESTO FOR A RELIGIOUS WORLD.
He is the President of American Atheists, and under his leadership, the organization has become quite prominent, with its "You Know It's a Scam" billboards, the well-attended Reason Rally, and his interview with Bill O'Reilly that produced the "WTF" meme with his face.
David and I have been friends for years, and we've been discussing this book and how it changed and progressed over those years, so it's great to finally see it come to fruition.
It will be released next week, but he provided me with an advance copy, which I enjoyed tremendously. We sat down in front of an attentive audience at a convention last weekend where I interviewed him.
MICHAEL A. VENTRELLA: Tell us about FIGHTING GOD.
DAVID SILVERMAN: This book has three years in the making. The book was written because after I did the Reason Rally in 2012, a small publisher came to me and said he wanted me to write a book. I said yes, and it was called 'I, Atheist' and it was 50% atheism and 50% autobiographical. Right at the very last moment, my agreement with him fell through. It was a completed book, but the publisher and I parted ways amicably.
So I had a book and no publisher. I sent an email to Barack Obama's agent. And she knew who I was, and signed me right away. Then she sent out the initial treatment to her top line of people and one was a guy from MacMillan, who was a fan of mine! And he signed me right away.
So now I've got this great contract with a major publisher. And he says, "Oh, three things. We're changing the cover, we're changing the title, and we're taking out every part about you."
So now I've not half a book and six months to fill it.
And so — is Keith DeCandido here? (audience says no)
So, what I did was structure the "Atheist Art of War" after his book THE KLINGON ART OF WAR. I added a lot of data. I added a lot of research. So what used to be my opinion is now backed up with independent quantifiable data from multiple sources.
What I've got now is a manifesto that puts forth the idea that firebrand atheism is more effective on a macro level, more effective on a micro level, and, more importantly, it's the nicer thing to do.
Recognizing that religion is a poison — recognizing that religion is a scam — and not saying something is a selfish act. It's an act you're doing to preserve yourself and not to help your fellow human. If your friend is being scammed, you would have a moral responsibility to at least mention it.
So in FIGHTING GOD, I put forward this proposal that "Live and let live" may not be the ethical choice at all.
VENTRELLA: You talk about not respecting other beliefs. What do you mean by that?
SILVERMAN: There's a difference between respecting a belief and respecting someone's right to believe. If you're talking about Constitutional rights, we as Americans all have the exact same rights. If you want to believe in a Man in the Sky, you have the right to do that.
I do not respect that.
You don't need my respect. And I don't need your respect to believe what I believe. What is wrong is when you go to somebody who says they believe in something you don't respect and you lie. And you say, "Oh, I respect it." You're respecting a scam not worthy of respect. You are lying when you do that.
I submit that is morally wrong. That is a selfish act. That is something you are doing to make yourself feel better at the expense of somebody else.
VENTRELLA: But are we under an obligation to say something as opposed to just remaining silent?
SILVERMAN: That's up to you. In FIGHTING GOD, I don't say that we should attack. We definitely should not say we respect things we don't respect.
VENTRELLA: At the same time, you are proud to be "Mr. Atheist Pants", and somewhat of a dick.
SILVERMAN: I am not a dick! (laughs)
VENTRELLA: But you write that sometimes someone needs to be. You discuss the Overton Window — which is the first time I had ever heard that expression — Can you explain that to us?
SILVERMAN: The Overton Window is a business term that talks about the amount of stuff that is politically correct to say. In the 2002 election, when Mitt Romney was running for the first time, he was a Mormon and on the fringe. And then, a couple of elections later, he's the mainstream candidate. That's the Overton Window shifting, with Mormonism coming into the norm.
What I have been doing, and what firebrand atheism does, is shifting the window in the same way.
If you look back at when I first came into the Presidency of American Atheists, the first thing I did was put up a billboard at the New York tunnel that called religion a myth. This billboard was on the national news in nine different countries because no one had ever called religion a myth with such grandeur.
After I called it a myth, I called it a scam, I called it nonsense, I called it this, I called it that — and I moved the Overton Window and now, if I put that same billboard up, nobody would care. Calling religion a myth is now inside that window.
That's what firebrand atheism does. Just like Mitt Romney put Mormonism into the mainstream, we're trying to bring atheism into the mainstream and it's succeeding. And I can quantify that with multiple data from independent sources!
VENTRELLA: Tell us about some examples where you've been surprised where it's been accepted when it wasn't before…
SILVERMAN: When I first started in American Atheists, back in '97, we had a convention in New Jersey. We had to look to find a hotel that would allow us to come. That hotel, that we found, would not put us up on the marquee outside. On the one inside, we were listed as "AA" (audience laughter) and if somebody called the hotel and asked if the American Atheists were there, the hotel staff would say no. That was twenty years ago.
This past year, we had our national convention in Memphis. The city of Memphis flew us out and took us on a grand tour of the city. They bought us food. Bought us booze. Showed us all the hotels. The one we stayed at was a Hilton. When we went in, they had "Welcome American Atheists" plastered on the wall.
So this is serious movement.
People get so frustrated when they look at today. They see the inequality that atheists obviously have. There are ten times as many atheists in this country as there are Jews, but we have no representation in Congress.
This is a still a lot better than it was just twenty years ago. We're making tremendous progress. We're not there yet but we will be there in our lifetime.
VENTRELLA: So when we see studies showing that younger people believe now, it's major change. Most of our fights are with the old crowd. And I'm thinking of the Hobby Lobby case, which was such a step backwards. You've been fighting those battles. Let's talk about the Ten Commandment monuments and what you've done in those regards.
SILVERMAN: The Ten Commandment monuments are just a statement of religious privilege. It's not about their right to do anything, it's about them having superiority over everybody else. They put a Ten Commandments monument on the public lawn, and that's illegal — you can't. When we say "Take it off," they say it's an attack on their religious rights. When we go into a public place, there is only one choice: There must be equality.
Equality can be done in many ways: You can take the Ten Commandments off, and we have equality, or you can let other people put theirs in and we have equality.
VENTRELLA: And that's a winnable argument that has won in the Supreme Court.
SILVERMAN: What happened was there a place in Florida where they had a Ten Commandments monument on public land, alone. We went in there and sued, and we won, and we put up an atheist monument on public land. The outcry was that this was "an attack on Christianity." They said we were attacking them and that they weren't attacking us when they put theirs in!
VENTRELLA: One of the book's themes is that every single battle you have fought has been in defense. You've never fought to keep someone else from practicing their religion.
SILVERMAN: Everything we do is defensive. Everything is about equality. Nothing is about privileging atheism over religion. Nothing is about pushing religion away from the churches or persons. Everything is about defending the separation of church and state, which is a synonym for "religious equality." The more separate church and state is the more free we are.
VENTRELLA: There's a section of your book about the "War on Christmas."
SILVERMAN: It's starting! 'Tis the season!
VENTRELLA: Happy War on Christmas, Everybody! (audience laughs) This is mostly an invention by Fox News, if I'm not mistaken. It never existed before they started bringing it up…
SILVERMAN: It's all an invention by Fox News.
VENTRELLA: But it gets you lots of interviews and publicity…
SILVERMAN: And every year, I knowingly feed it. Yes, every year I attack Christians everywhere, reaching into their homes and weeding out their Christmas trees, grabbing their presents, and I do all of this by putting up a billboard or two. (audience laughs) And I say "Happy holidays!" Oh, how evil I am.
We're putting up billboards this year. We have them going up in two major cities that I can't announce yet. They're going to be fun billboards that will speak to people.
VENTRELLA: One of the things you criticize other atheists for is their refusal to call themselves that. They want to call themselves humanists or agnostics… Why do you think it's important for atheists to come out of the closet?
SILVERMAN: We've got polls and we know that the entire political process is based on polls. And if you look at the religious markup of the polls, you see that atheists are about 3% of the population and Christians are about 70%. So they look at those polls, and they say, "Oh, look, it's 70% Christian, 3% atheists. Those atheists don't matter."
What they don't realize is that really, this country is closer to 30% atheist. It's just that 90% of the atheists in this country don't call themselves atheists. They call themselves agnostics, secular humanists, none, they call themselves Christians, Muslims, Jews. They call themselves anything but atheists.
Now, if you look at Christians — you look at Methodists, and Baptists, and Presbyterians and all the different denominations, they all call themselves Christian. So they unite, despite real differences, and we divide despite no differences at all. We just don't like the words.
So the major push of my effort is not to convert believers. Why would we? If we looked at that that 70 to 30 chart and really crunched the numbers, we'd end up with about 55% Christian. Think about how that changes everything. We don't have to convert anybody — we just have to do is get people to tell the truth about what they are.
If you don't have an active belief in a god, you're an atheist. If you don't have an active belief in a god and you don't like the word "atheist," you're an atheist. This is simply a fact, it's a matter of definition, it's not a matter of self-identification.
The important point is that how you identify affects your neighbor. When 90% of the atheists in this country call themselves something totally different, like "secular" or something that nobody knows what it is, the politicians lose interest in us. We, as a force, diminish. We lose rights because people aren't using the right word.
VENTRELLA: We've used the metaphor of coming out of the closet to compare this with the gay rights movement to show how quickly that changed. When people started coming out and everyone said "Oh my neighbor is gay? I have no problem with that person." Do you think that is the atheist goal, to say "Look, we're just like you except we don't believe"?
SILVERMAN: That's it. We will win once we make this change. We don't have to convert anybody or change anybody's mind about God. All we have to do is take atheists who are already atheists and make them know that they're atheists. They can call themselves atheists and be loud and proud about it, and when we can get a poll that shows that we're at least a quarter of the population, we will be able to single-handedly influence the way the political situation works.
VENTRELLA: Do you see that as the main theme or goal of this book?
SILVERMAN: Yeah.
VENTRELLA: So why'd you call it FIGHTING GOD?
SILVERMAN: I didn't! (audience laughs) The publisher did. But I am fighting the concept of God by telling people that they don't have to pretend they believe any more. This is the big fight. Our lowest hanging fruit is just to get atheists to call themselves atheists.
VENTRELLA: And that's different from the other atheist books we've seen from Dawkins or even Penn Jillette. You're trying to start a movement.
SILVERMAN: The movement exists. It was started by my predecessor, Madalyn Murray O'Hair. American Atheists was founded in 1963 by her. She led the fight to take prayer out of schools. That's the organization I run now and I'm very proud to stand on her shoulders.
VENTRELLA: You and her are the only names anyone knows from the organization. Why do you think that is?
SILVERMAN: I think Madalyn and I had a lot in common! I take a lot from her and I dismiss a lot from her as well, because she's a person from a different time. I think the reason we are both well known is because we are both firebrands. Maybe the interim Presidents weren't as firebrandy as I am or she was.
I think what we have here is a specific situation where a firebrand atheist movement can beat the Republican party. I think we can fix this country. And I'm not shooting pie in the sky — I write about this in the book — this war is winnable. Everything we see from the religious right is weak. I think the base is seeing it. I think when we talk to Republicans, they see it — not the leaders, the followers.
VENTRELLA: You went to a conservative convention and got a surprising response.
SILVERMAN: Tremendous response! I went to CPAC, this huge, conservative Jesus thing for Jesus. It's all about Jesus Jesus Jesus except it's not. I went to CPAC to try and just drive a little wedge between Christianity and conservatism and what I found was a bunch of people on top who were all Jesus People For Jesus and a whole bunch of atheists underneath.
Not tens, not twenties — hundreds and hundreds. At CPAC! Ayn Randians, libertarians, fiscal conservatives — they are tired of the religious crap.
We got five pages of membership sign-ups — at CPAC! I went there with two one-gallon bags full of buttons that said "Conservative Atheist" and we gave them away free on the condition that you wear it. And we gave away every single button! They were all young. Everyone under thirty at CPAC was wearing a "Conservative Atheist" button. What does that do to the candidates when they see conservative atheists walking around CPAC? I'll tell you what — Tony Perkins of the American Family Association got up on stage and acknowledged that atheists were there and part of the conservative movement. That's an amazing thing, but I want to make it clear — I'm not all giddy that Tony Perkins likes us. (audience laughs) I am however thrilled beyond measure that he felt the need to say that. He needed to say that because of the presence of so many atheists out and proud.
Look at us single-handedly affecting how the Republican party works. Only because we went in there and used the word "atheist" — the word that everybody understands. The word that shifts the Overton Window.
VENTRELLA: Do you have any optimism about the upcoming election?
SILVERMAN: Yeah! (big smile) One of the things we're doing at American Atheists right now is that we're running the atheist voter campaign. It's a grass-roots campaign that organizes people to go and see the candidate while wearing "atheist voter" t-shirts, and ask the candidates specific questions about atheists. The questions can be very broad. "I'm an atheist and I want to know if, in your cabinet, you'd have an atheist?" Things like that, just to bring out the bigotry, just to get them to address us. We've gotten statements now on atheism from Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorino, Mike Huckabee, and I think Santorum as well. We're going to be publishing them soon. This is going to be something we're going to be able to show the atheists of this country what they're saying about us but at the same time, it's going to show the candidates that we exist and we have to be addressed.
It's no coincidence in my mind that Trump is the number one person in the Republican party. And everybody knows his religion is bullshit. He says, "Yeah, I read the Bible. I can't remember anything about it." (audience laughs) Everybody knows his religion is bullshit. He's the only non-religious candidate on the Republican ticket and he's number one by double digits. Why? Republican atheists. There are so many Republican atheists who are sick and tired of the religious right.
I don't think we're going to see a religious right candidate. I think what we're seeing now is the beginning of the end of the religious right's hold on Republicanism. We're going into CPAC again this year and we're going to push that wedge open.
I don't know if you all know this, but there was a time when Republicanism was not the same as Christianity. Back in the olden days of Barry Goldwater, who was a staunch supporter of the separation of church and state — those days can come back. And we're pushing that very hard with Republicans.
VENTRELLA: On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders has refused to say much about religion …
SILVERMAN: I know! He calls himself a "non-religious Jew." Sounds like a synonym for "atheist" to me! (audience laughs) I don't know if you all watched the last Democratic debate, but the only person there who didn't invoke God or prayer was Bernie Sanders. The other two snuck it in, and it was really artificial. "They have their right — I mean, their God-given right…" Bernie Sanders was the only person who didn't do that. I think he's an atheist. I hope he's an atheist. And I hope he wins. If he comes out as an atheist, I will definitely vote for him, but I'm probably going to vote for him anyway. American Atheists is a 501C3 organization, we do not endorse candidates!
We see the progress. We've got a person on a major ticket who is an atheist. He has not professed a belief in God. When he talks about his faith, he talks about how "we're all in this together." This is an atheist talking and he's a major candidate now. He's going to be like Romney in 2002.
VENTRELLA: He's going to move the Overton Window.
SILVERMAN: Exactly!
VENTRELLA: The new Prime Minister of Canada has something like four atheists in his cabinet.
SILVERMAN: And what would it be if the Prime Minister of Canada had a secular humanist, an agnostic, a "bright" and a "none" in his cabinet? Same four people. Think about the difference in the impact. Think of what that could do at the local level. This is what we could do simply by using the right words.
VENTRELLA: Let me ask one last question. Tell us about the "What the Fuck" face.
SILVERMAN: I'm a meme, too! That's the more famous part of me. I did a "Mr. Deity" episode a while ago. I love Brian, if you haven't looked it up, look up Mr. Diety. We were filming this little webisode in his house. And his daughter comes out and she's maybe sixteen years old. And he says "Honey, this is David Silverman! He's the President of American Atheists!" And she says, "Oh, that's nice." And then he says, "He's also the 'What the Fuck' face guy." She says "No WAY! Let me take a picture! Do the face!" (audience laughs)
Basically what happens is that I go to O'Reilly. I've been on a couple times now, but this was the first time we actually had a chance to talk before the show. And he is, by the way, intelligent. He's knowledgeable. He knows what he's saying, knows what he's doing. We had a really good conversation. And then the cameras go on.
If you watch the video, you'll see — I was manoeuvering him into a corner. "You're a skeptical person and you don't really believe this shit." And he went defensive, and he said, "I'll tell you why God exists. The tide goes in, the tide goes out, there's never a miscommunication, you can't explain that." And I made this face. What?
A lot of people think it was about the question. It was about the question after we had this whole intelligent conversation beforehand. So I have this look on my face of a complete disconnect. What the hell am I listening to?
And the young people at Reddit seized on it, and they created this meme. And now this face, which is public domain — I don't get any money from it — is on pajamas, on stickers at the dollar store. I love it!
It's good marketing, right? Because if people look it up, they will watch that video of Bill O'Reilly saying something really damned stupid.
VENTRELLA: Stephen Colbert called you "Mr. Atheist Pants" after that incident.
SILVERMAN: That's now my Twitter handle.
Posted in Religion	| Tagged American Atheists, Atheism, Atheists, Bernie Sanders, David Silverman, Fighting God, Interview with David Silverman, Mr. Atheist Pants, Reason Rally, Republican, Republican atheists, WTF face | 5 Comments
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If you have an annuity which pays you 100 per year and you have a 25 year life expectancy the Treasury will have to wait a quarter of a century to take all its income tax rake from that 2,500. If, on the other hand, you sell the annuity today you accelerate when Treasury gets the tax (moving it from years one-twenty five to year one); but you reduce the amount of income subject to tax (you get considerably less than 2,500 because of the time value of money). The real scandal, though, is that Treasury will treat all of the money in year one as new income available to fund tax cuts. Of course it isn't; it's tomorrow's income which we're spending today.
I wrote here about how the sleight of hand works. And this will be the fourth huge sleight of hand – giving the impression of more tax receipts without there actually being more tax receipts – in this Parliament. I wrote about a £3.5bn trick around bank losses here. I wrote about the same £4bn trick around accelerated payment notices here. I wrote about the same £3bn trick around pensions 'freedom' here.
Selling your annuity will be a bigger sleight of hand than any of those.
The Tories will use it to give the impression that they have delivered a country in rude fiscal health. And that we can afford tax cuts. But neither of those things is true.
The media is ignoring this story: I guess they figure it's too complicated for the likes of us. The Labour Party is ignoring it too: I can only assume they think the same. But it could hardly be more important; please spread the news.
I doubt there are many people for whom it will make sense to swap the certainty of a retirement income for the rest of their life, for a much smaller up-front lump sum, particularly after the sum is taxed. I guess we will see the misselling claims in 5 to 10 years.
But what is the tax treatment of the person who buys the annuity? Presumably they are taxed on receipt of the annuity payments? They should get a deduction for the amount they pay to buy it. Does the price have to be capitalised and spread? Is the annuity fair valued each period? Or do we wait for tax until the receipts exceed the price paid?
Entirely a fair point. My gripe isn't so much that we're accelerating money to today; it's more that we're ignoring that we won't have it tomorrow..
Where the lump sums are spent on deposits for children/grandchildren to get an unfair leap onto the housing ladder, presumably those children/grandchildren will ensure the retiree's financial needs (absent an annuity) are thereafter taken care of?
It's true that allowing withdrawal of a capital sum from the pension pot now will result in less income from it later. Whether this results in government taking tax today and foregoing it tomorrow is true only up to the point that tax WOULD have been payable tomorrow.
It is precisely where pensions are small that it might be most attractive to take the money as a lump sum up front, or likely that it will be. If you would never be able to afford a retirement cruise on an occupational pension of £100 a week, it might well seem rational to forego £5 a week of it so that you can have that once-in-a-lifetime experience. After all, from an income point of view what difference is a fiver going to make in the long run?
From a taxing point of view this fiver a week as income over years would probably not generate any tax at all, as the total pension income would be below the personal allowance. So a real rabbit has in fact been pulled out of the hat as tax is paid on this part of the pot that otherwise would not have been paid, and government creates income for itself now that it would not have got in the future.
This might have informed the policy thinking and also provide a superficial reply to criticisms that sleight of hand is creating only the illusion of more tax, or obscuring that we will have less tax tomorrow. As actually it might be demonstrable that we will have more tax today and no less tomorrow.
A full cost/benefit analysis and indeed an accurate presentation of the fiscal consequences of the policy would have to take this into account too.
All true; but no more true of selling an annuity as deciding to forego choosing one in the first place, which HMT calculated as yielding £3bn.
Oh indeed, the moot point being the extent to which calculations fully model the likely impact on both tax and spending or whether they simply establish differences in gross tax yield which as you rightly point out will largely comprise mere time-shifting.
What I am worried about is who is going to pay for this in 20 years when the money has been spent? There is a real intergenerational issue here and it cannot always be a case that the younger generation will pay. Lots has been said elsewhere about their falling opportunities compared to earlier generations. Is this not skewing things further?
The baby boomers have had it good, only mildly impacted by the recession and profited greatly from the housing market. Now George wants them to have their Lamborghini too in return for voting Tory, paid for in 5+ years time by today's youngsters.
I was thinking you could change the name of this blog to "no more waiting for tax" in honour of the new vogue for advancing tax receipts and calling it new Revenue. Am really excited to see today's "policies". Go budget day. Wooo.
Exactly. This use of what are actually a form of savings means that more reliance on debt must surely fuel whatever economy exists in the future. Also, we may have to see inreased state spending on pensions as a result. No doubt state provision will 'take the strain'.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
package exceptions;

import com.marvin.exceptions.MarvinError;
import com.marvin.exceptions.MarvinException;
import org.junit.Test;

import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;

public class MarvinExceptionTest {

    @Test
    public void reportError() {
        {
            MarvinException e = new MarvinException(MarvinError.TASK_ERROR, "Some error");
            assertTrue(e.toString().contains("TASK_ERROR"));
        }

        {
            MarvinException e = new MarvinException(MarvinError.TASK_ERROR, new Throwable("Cause"), "Some error");
            assertTrue(e.toString().contains("TASK_ERROR"));
        }
    }

    @Test
    public void reportCause() {
        MarvinException e = new MarvinException(MarvinError.TASK_ERROR, new Throwable("Some Cause"), "Some error");
        assertTrue(e.toString().contains("Some Cause"));
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Women's Basketball Shoots Past Vassar, 74-55, in NCAA Tournament First Round
Vassar
Geneseo (24-4) 23 14 17 20 74
Vassar (21-7) 19 15 16 5 55
Pts: Natalie Alfieri - 16
Reb: McKenna Brooks - 8
Ast: Natalie Alfieri - 5
Pts: Ryan DeOrio - 16
Reb: Sophie Nick - 6
Ast: Maddie Leong - 4
AMHERST, Mass. - SUNY Geneseo sophomore guard Natalie Alfieri scored 16 points, including a pair of late three-pointers, to lead the Knights to a victory over Vassar, 74-55, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at LeFrak Gymnasium Friday night.
Geneseo jumped out to an early lead as sophomore guard Lindsay Halpin drilled a three to put the Knights ahead, 12-2, just 3:09 into the contest. Later in the period, senior forward Nicole Kaczmarczyk hit a three to put the Knights ahead, 19-8, but Vassar responded with an 11-2 run to pull within two points. Halpin hit a pull-up jumper as time expired in the first quarter, giving the Knights a 23-19 lead at the break.
In the second quarter, Geneseo led by as many as eight points, but Vassar cut the lead to two points with 2:38 to play. Junior guard Madison McCulley drained a three on the Knights final possession, but Vassar answered with a bucket before time expired and the Knights entered the locker room with a 37-34 lead at the halftime break.
Halpin and Alfieri opened the third quarter with back-to-back threes, giving the Knights a 43-34 advantage, but the Brewers battled back once again, cutting the lead to two. Vassar hit a long two-point jumper at the buzzer to cut the Geneseo lead to 54-50 entering the final frame.
In the fourth quarter, the Knights shot 7-for-17 from the floor, including 5-for-7 from three while holding Vassar to 2-for-11 shooting. Alfieri and junior guard Sara Ciotti combined for three-straight triples to advance the Geneseo lead to 64-53 with 5:35 remaining. With 26 seconds remaining, Alfieri drilled another three-pointer, putting the Knights ahead, 74-55, and sealing the game.
The Knights shot 10-for-14 from the floor in the first quarter, and 27-for-52 (51.9%) for the game. Alfieri finished 4-for-4 from beyond the arc while Halpin hit three triples.
Halpin finished with 13 points while senior forwards McKenna Brooks and Nicole Kaczmarczyk each scored 10.
Geneseo improves to 8-2 in NCAA Tournament First Round games and gives the team four NCAA Tournament wins in the past four seasons.
The Knights outscored Vassar, 20-5, in the fourth quarter.
Geneseo will face Amherst on Saturday at 6:00 p.m.


The word Richer is the 66.341th most common word of the English lanuguage and appears 444 times within reference text. The part of speech is proper noun, singular. These are instances of the term in full sentences: "Richer and more entrepreneurial clubs ..."¹ "Richer people placed these wooden ..."² "Richer grave goods mark the ..."³ Backwards its written rehciR. It rhymes on Danaher, Kelleher und Gallaher. The MD5 sum is b8ad7f43849a47f9b592a56cc341e711 and the SHA1 sum is b4ed26565da4e5feafd51e71e450575841dc7411. The vanity number 742437 corresponds this term.
Source Wikipedia CC-BY-SA 3.0: ¹ Geelong Football Club ² Mummy ³ Mycenae. All registered trademarks are the property of their respective originators.


text:
You are here: Home / All posts / Euratom and leaving the European Union
Euratom and leaving the European Union
By Francis Livens, Juan Matthews and Tim Abram Filed Under: All posts, Brexit, Energy and Environment Posted: February 20, 2017
The pending withdrawal of the United Kingdom from Euratom (the European nuclear regulator) has caused controversy, as membership is neither related to nor dependent upon membership of the European Union. Here, The University of Manchester's Professor Juan Matthews, Professor Francis Livens, and Professor Tim Abram explain what this move will mean for the British nuclear industry and how the government can take immediate policy steps to mitigate the disruption that such a move is likely to cause.
Withdrawal from Euratom appears to have been decided without consulting either the scientific community or the nuclear industry
Whilst most effects of withdrawal are manageable, the disruption to the transport of nuclear materials in and out of the UK is likely to be significant
Research funding and nuclear industry investment need to be protected to maintain our position
When the Bill for Notification of Withdrawal from the EU was published on 26 of January, lurking in the explanatory notes was a statement that caused a flutter of indignation from the scientific community, even prompting a petition against withdrawal on Parliament's website. Why was that? The statement simply said that withdrawal from the European Union also meant leaving the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom for short). In this blog entry, we will try to explain what the fuss was about and, with a couple of weeks to consider it, put the issues into perspective.
The move to leave Euratom was anticipated right from the start, but no dialogue with the nuclear community seems to have taken place. There is clearly no need to include leaving Euratom in the Brexit Bill – you don't have to be a member of the EU or even the Single Market to join. Switzerland, for instance, is a member of Euratom. However, the following quote from the Prime Minister' speech on 17 January raised wider fears in the scientific community on how research relations with the EU are going to be handled: "Not partial membership of the European Union, associate membership of the European Union, or anything that leaves us half-in, half-out. We do not seek to adopt a model already enjoyed by other countries. We do not seek to hold on to bits of membership as we leave."
The Euratom complexities are very well described in two articles from World Nuclear News on 20 January and 8 February, so we can just focus here on discussion of the impact of leaving as it will affect the nuclear industry and the research community. There are three main areas that need to be addressed: the safeguards and movement of nuclear materials; investment in new nuclear power generation and the funding of research.
The UK's responsibilities in respect of the safeguarding of nuclear materials flow originally from our signature on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, first signed in 1968.The UK has been working through Euratom since 1973, but if we leave Euratom then we would continue the same activities but report into the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the United Nations.
Strictly, as a weapons state, the UK is exempt from safeguards inspections but, in common with all weapons states, the UK voluntarily subjects its civil nuclear facilities to IAEA or equivalent Euratom safeguards. At present, all UK facilities that are subject to Euratom safeguards (over 100) provide reports to the Office of Nuclear Regulation (ONR), which are subsequently submitted to Euratom, who in turn submit this information to the IAEA. In the event of the UK withdrawing from Euratom, the collection of information and the process of submitting this to the ONR would not change – the only difference would be that this information would be submitted directly to the IAEA, cutting out the Euratom "middle man".
The one area that will be subject to more impactful change is on movement of nuclear materials in and out of the UK. The issue of nuclear export controls for the UK is presently handled through Euratom. We will urgently need to negotiate separate bilateral export control arrangements, with the EU and other countries, for our substantial nuclear fuel cycle business to continue. This includes uranium enrichment by URENCO at Capenhurst in Cheshire, nuclear fuel manufacture at Springfields near Preston and spent fuel management at Sellafield in Cumbria. There will also be issues associated with our holding stocks of plutonium belonging to other Euratom members at Sellafield.
The approval of the investment in the Hinkley Point C reactor by the European Commission involved regulation from the Euratom Treaty and competition rules from the EU. Leaving the EU will make investment rules more flexible, but this must be balanced against increased difficulties for the European nuclear supply chain working in the UK and decreased mobility of qualified staff needed from the EU. The UK's ambitious nuclear power construction programme will rely on academics, engineers, and technicians from across Europe and the rest of the world. The current focus on reducing immigration will lead to the slowing of projects. Overall, getting future investment for future nuclear power plant is likely to get more difficult.
Euratom is responsible for the nuclear part of the EU collaborative research fund, currently called Horizon 2020. Looking at research funding across all areas, and not just nuclear, researchers are uneasy about losing our links with Horizon 2020. For a fuller discussion see the Blog entry on 9 February, Brexit and Science: All risk and no benefit. Non-EU countries can participate in Horizon 2020 by making a substantial up-front contribution for association. For example, Israel in the past has contributed €530 million to the EU, but has received €780 million in competitive research funding. Non-associated countries can provide funding for specific projects on a pay-as-you-go basis, but there is no seat at the table for planning. Historically the UK has received more funding than its contribution to EU research. The EU is valued not just for the funding but for the enrichment of programmes through links with other research centres. The UK ranks poorly on R&D expenditure per unit GDP, compared to most developed countries – only 22nd in the world! Both the Government and industry fail to invest sufficiently in R&D. So, it is not surprising that researchers fear that the funding currently going into the EU research pot will not be restored after Brexit.
The issue of funding of nuclear fusion research is of particular concern. The JET (Joint European Torus) facility at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE) receives £48 million/year from the Euratom research fund. The UK also is involved in the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) project through Euratom. Quite a few UK scientists and engineers are involved in the construction and planning of the ITER experimental programmes. Participation of companies in construction is also related to being a member. On leaving the EU and Euratom, UK fusion research and related business are likely to collapse unless a substantial payment is made into the £17 billion project.
In the event of our withdrawal from Euratom, the Government will need to take some positive steps to secure our nuclear research and wider industry. Four ways they can do this immediately would be by ensuring that:
the 'lost' European research funding is compensated;
there is no hiatus between leaving Euratom and the establishment of new arrangements for research funding, nuclear materials safeguards and export controls;
a simple mechanism is in place to allow movement and employment of specialist staff from Europe; and
the arrangements are put in place early enough and over a long enough time that projects can include UK partners and business can continue with confidence.
Tagged With: Dalton Nuclear Institute, nuclear, nuclear power
About Francis Livens
Francis Livens is Director of The University of Manchester's Dalton Nuclear Institute and Professor of Radiochemistry. He has acted as an advisor to the nuclear industry both in the UK and overseas and holds a range of external roles, including Chair of the Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board (NIRAB) and a member of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Board.
About Tim Abram
Tim Abram is Professor in Nuclear Fuel Technology at The University of Manchester. He also holds the post of Euratom representative and Co-Chair of the VHTR Project Management Board for Fuel and Fuel Cycle research.
The Energy Security Strategy: Going nuclear
Building nuclear for a greener future
Advanced nuclear energy for Net Zero: A strategy for action


St. Clair Software Blog » Blog Archive » Hey folks, I'm not out to get you!
« Finally! Default Folder X 5.0 Released!
This entry was posted on Thursday, January 21st, 2016 at 4:54 am	and is filed under Default Folder X, Random Ramblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Yea, I was a bit surprised to see a charge for the upgrade but that's only because, as you say, it been so long since you charged and, now that a lot of apps are being sold through the Apple app store and they don't get to charge for upgrades, I guess I kinda lulled into the free upgrade cycle and expected a free upgrade as well. But there are still a lot of Mac apps that charge for major upgrades which is totally reasonable! Some companies (Adobe) make you subscribe to a monthly or yearly fee. I don't use a lot of features of Default Folder X but the ones I do make it well worth the $15 upgrade fee. I'm winding down my computer needs as I transition out of business and into retirement and I am not upgrading a lot of my software any more any more. Default Folder X is one app that I will continue to upgrade as long as I see the value for me. Thanks for writing a great piece of code, making it a reasonable price, and trying to serve your users. Thank you!!
$15 for an upgrade is perfectly fine. I wouldn't be able to write my own code to do what DFX does for $15. I buy software and upgrades I like and use because I want those developers to stay in business. So, thank you for writing and maintaining a great app.
I totally understand your frustration. I love Default Folder X and it's a pleasure to support your hard work. Keep it up.
I can't believe that this needs to be said. After 8 years of free upgrades, damn straight it was time for a paid new version, especially with all the rewriting of the code for El Capitan. My Macs are now fully functional again. Thanks so much!
Perhaps this is a sign of the broadening user base – you get more people to use DFX who are not power users and who have limited understanding of the software business and perhaps also limited understanding of a lot of other things.
I suppose, the more people use your software, some such reactions are to be expected. Unfounded criticism happens in every larger group of people. It's not pleasant but probably unavoidable.
Thanks for making great software!
I don't have any complaints with a $15 upgrade price. I've been using Default Folder for as long as I can remember and was disappointed when it no longer worked with El Capitan. I was happy to use the DF betas that brought me El Capitan compatibility and was happy to pay the $15 for the new version. Nothing sneaky about it. Thank you for a great product.
I'll ditto the comments. $15 for something that makes my life easier every day is a no-brainer. Ignore the trolls that don't understand the value of what you do.
Thanks for your hard work and keep it up.
First of all THANK YOU for making Default Folder X. I couldn't live without it. My biggest complaint had nothing to do with your product or the price. It was that I had to wait so long for DFX5, but I am SO glad it's finally here! I'm buying it NOW!! I'm sure the majority of users really don't mind paying $15/upgrade. I mean that's just like one meal eating out.
Great job Jon and thank you for the work putting into this awesome product!!
I'll be buying DF 5 shortly. Not sure I have to have it but I am positive that I want support a developer who is willing to stand up and say this.
It's hard not to let stuff like this rankle you. As a software developer, I understand exactly how much blood, sweat, and tears go into something like this. Believe me, the effort is appreciated, and the value is fantastic.
If anything, St. Clair Software is one of the most open and transparent companies out there; your clarity and communication during the (public) beta cycles was highly appreciated, and it showed that you were taking a careful, methodical approach to getting it right (which is reassuring in an age where most companies don't even publicly respond to bugs, much less acknowledge what they're working on).
Don't let the self-entitlement of some users negatively impact the pride you should rightly feel in successfully keeping such useful yet affordable software going.
If it's any consolation, I feel exactly the same as you do, and get similar emails despite all the efforts made to ensure customers no when it's a paid upgrade. No, the app didn't "auto install the update", yes, the app explicitly says it is a paid upgrade, yes, we did email you with the full details when it was released, yes, you can revert to the previous version as described in the documentation, and no, I'm not in the least interested in anyone updating if they don't feel the upgrade is worthwhile.
But similarly, yes, I do make it easy for people to update to the latest version, and yes, its a paid upgrade and clearly marked as such.
Anyone who does not want paid upgrades shouldn't expect upgrades at all – just like all the endless abandoned Mac App Store software.
Why would anyone want the developer working only to expand their market and not for the existing users – that just leads to dumbed down or abandonded software.
Good on you Jon, I've been meaning to write exactly the same article, so you saved me time writing it!
Briefly: I have used Default Folder since classic Mac OS times, since I first heard about it. I think it's worth every penny! I sorely missed it when it wasn't quite ready after Mac OS X updates, and I gladly paid the upgrade fee.
Different users may have different budgets, and everyone needs to decide for themselves. No-brainer for me!
Keep up the great work, Jon, and don't let them get to you!
I agree. I think Jony Ive has had the mopes since Steve Jobs got sick. The gray Finder Window sidebars arrived with OS X 10.7, Lion, long before Steve passed away. It's been a goth world at Apple ever since.
Its strange, I got the Default Folder with a MacHeist promo… and didn't find much use to it –in fact non of the programs included in the promo got much rotation in my computer. But now I've decided to give DF a new spin… I'm upgrading!!!
I've been happily using DFX since january 2015 (MacHeist bundle).
I have been waiting the new version since upgrading to El Cap, since I didn't want to mess with the system integrity settings, hoping for a good upgrade pricing. Which is totally what happened.
A certain amount of people is either greedy or stupid, or maybe a combination of the above. Don't mind about them.
Some people would complain if you kicked 'em with a new boot!
This is a fantastic update, and worth it at twice the price. And considering it's a license for the person I'm able to put it on my five Macs at no additional charge! That's $3 per Mac. If you think that's sneaky or excessive, then it's high time you sell your Mac and buy a Dell.
I appreciate the work that you do, Jon.
Thank you for giving us Default Folder 5 and supporting Default Folder all these years.
Another very-long-time user here. 15 $ for an update after 8 years of free updates is VERY CHEAP, especially for software such as Default Folder, which is not just some regular app, but actually has to dig pretty deep into the guts of Mac OS X.
Thank you Jon, for your work, efforts and support. Default Folder X is (still) the first thing I always install into any brand new Mac I get.
I've not used Default Folder X before, but I'm thinking about buying it just on the basis of this post: I write software too and it really galls me that anyone is affronted at the prospect of paying for an upgrade after 8 years of free updates. The sense of entitlement is frustrating, especially when s/w developers also need to put bread on the table.
I don't actually mind if people have a different valuation for software and choose not to buy it. That's a choice, and everyone values things (like their time) differently. It's more about the concept that I'm somehow trying to be deceptive about it – that's the part that gets me. Yes, we as software developers need to make a living – but no, we don't do it by trying to screw our customers (talk to drug companies, insurers and cable providers if you want to yell at someone).
If I sum up all the time I saved since all the years, this upgrade should cost me $1000 easy. So don't focus on such stupid hater mails, we love Default Folder since it's available!
Some people are cheap. Businesses won't survive if they don't charge for major updated software.
BTW – the upgrade price is well worth it.
When I encounter software that I find indispensable, I never hesitate upgrading. And, for that matter, the upgrade price bears even less consideration. In the three decades plus of Mac ownership I've seen a lot of great software come and go. Supporting developers' whom consistently place effort into their product is just as rewarding to me as it is using their products.
Thank you for the many years of exceptional software!


Marc Prosser 3 years, 1 month ago.
We are starting a home based graphic design business in Spokane, Wa., pop 210,000.
We are considering a 1/4 page (color) print ad in the local business paper which claims a circ of between 12-14k in their bi-weekly publication. Our rate is $4,500 to run the ad in 4 consecutive issues.
This seems pricey but business minded people are our targeted audience.
Your thoughts on the potential value versus the cost of this approach?
Good luck on starting your business. There is an assumption embedded in your question. That your customers will be local. That may or may not be true. There are a number of sites where you can compete for business globally like 99Designs, DesignCrowd, Upwork to name a few. The benefits of being on these sites is that you will be competing for work from people actually in the market for design services.
Here is my question for you. Why do you think graphic design services is something that potential clients want to buy locally?
Marc, We are focusing primarily but not solely on the local market. Many clients still like to meet in person, especially if it is an expensive project.
Would you offer an opinion on my question re the ad cost?
Hi Art, I do not know what they are charging is in line with prevailing market rates. However, I think it will be hard to get a good ROI on your investment.
Lets say your average project is a $1,500 job. To generate revenue equal to $4,500. You would need to do 3 projects. However, once you include your time as an expense, my guess is that you would need to get 6 project to break even.
Well, you would be getting around 50,000 ad impressions (maybe – assumes everyone reads the full paper and doesn't just skim or look at the front page) to a general audience. The people reading your the journal are not specifically looking for your service. If you got 1/20% response rate (people calling or emailing), I think that would be good. That would be 25 people. Most people will be early in the process and not read to proceed with the purchase. So, I think you might get 10% of to eventually move forward with a purchase. That would be 3 sales.
The numbers that I just put in are guesswork, however, this is the thinking that you should do.


text:
That Certain Feeling is an album by American organist John Patton recorded in 1968 and released on the Blue Note label.

Reception

The AllMusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album 3½ stars and stated "there are moments when everything comes together and it just cooks. And those are the moments that make That Certain Feeling worth a search".

Track listing
All compositions by John Patton except where noted
 "String Bean" - 5:42
 "I Want to Go Home" - 8:36
 "Early A.M." - 7:17
 "Dirty Fingers" - 6:09
 "Minor Swing" - 6:38
 "Daddy James" (Jimmy Watson) - 6:47
Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on March 8, 1968.

Personnel
Big John Patton - organ
Junior Cook - tenor saxophone
Jimmy Ponder - guitar
Clifford Jarvis - drums

References

Blue Note Records albums
John Patton (musician) albums
1968 albums
Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio
Albums produced by Alfred Lion

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Lessons in Applied Data Archaeology
By drorzel on May 24, 2011.
I'm teaching our upper-level lab course this term, where I do a two-part experiment on laser spectroscopy. The first part is to calibrate the free spectral range of a homemade Fabry-Perot interferometer, and the second part is to use that Fabry-Perot as a frequency marker to calibrate a diode laser scan across the rubidium hyperfine spectrum, allowing a measurement of the Rb ground-state hyperfine splitting.
That's a bunch of jargon, the details of which don't really matter. What matters is that this is a lab that involves scanning the frequency of a particular laser through some range of frequencies, and on Sunday, I blew up that laser. I forgot that the current supply had been used for something else since last spring when I did the lab, and thus the current limit was raised above the maximum safe level for that diode. When I started turning the current up, I expected the limit circuit to stop me from blowing up the diode, and it didn't. When that happens, *poof*, a laser becomes an LED.
Which leaves me in a tough spot, because that laser was the only one that hit the right wavelength for this lab. And I have so much other stuff going on that I don't have time to track down another working diode.
Which means that the students in this year's lab will be learning another useful experimental skill: data archaeology.
We use the same Fabry-Perots every year, so the FSR should be about the same, and we use the same computer for data analysis purposes, so there are several past classes' worth of data files on the machine. Accordingly, I just copied an old data set into the folders for this year's class, and they'll use that to do the analysis. I'll still have them come down and see the apparatus, and talk about how they would've acquired the data, and then they'll be turned loose on the old dataset to do the usual analysis.
Of course, the fact that this is old data from another class means that it's incredibly poorly documented. Any notes about the settings used for the data files were presumably kept in the notebooks of the lab students, and taken with them after graduation. Which means that the students get to figure out what the files are by opening them up and looking at the data directly.
This is a surprisingly common occurrence, even for professional scientists. I don't think I've ever written a paper without needing to do a little data archaeology-- there are always a couple of files that didn't get written down, or some parameters that need to be reconstructed from sketchy notes in the lab notebook, or some exceptions that need to be figured out from odd little shorthand in the margins. Real experimental data is taken over a period of weeks or months, and writing it up often involves some reconstruction of the experimental situation from incomplete information.
So, while this is sub-optimal in lots of ways, there's a sense in which it's providing a useful lesson. At least, that's what I'm telling myself between self-administered boots to the head for frying the stupid diode.
Course Reports
Essential Skills and Experiences?
Like a lot of physics departments, we offer an upper-level lab class, aimed at juniors and seniors. There are a lot of ways to approach this sort of course, but one sensible way to think about it is in terms of giving students essential skills and experiences. That is, i's a course in which they…
What Do You Need to Make Cold Atoms? Part 3: Test and Measurement
The third category in our look at lab apparatus, after vacuum hardware and lasers and optics is the huge collection of electronic gear that we use to control the experiments. I'll borrow the sales term "test and measurement" as a catch-all description, though this is really broader than what you'll…
The Evil Professor Magic Trick
Back when I was an undergrad, we did a lab in the junior-level quantum class that involved making a dye laser. We had a small pulsed nitrogen laser in the lab, and were given a glass cell of dye and some optics and asked to make it lase in the visible range of the spectrum. My partner and I worked…
Finding Extrasolar Planets with Lasers
On Twitter Sunday morning, the National Society of Black Physicsts account retweeted this: Using Lasers to Lock Down #Exoplanet Hunting #Space http://t.co/0TN4DDo7LF — ✨The Solar System✨ (@The_SolarSystem) September 28, 2014 I recognized the title as a likely reference to the use of optical…
I forsee a lab where students measure the wavelength of a baggie of diodes to find ones that are Rb friendly
By Perry (not verified) on 24 May 2011 #permalink
And when you have multiple people working on an experiment doing things differently, that's tough. Or when the data file numbering system or even the data format in the file changes during the experiment. You kluge an extra line the computer code for the analysis to find those funny files. if(filenum>=1002) then...
And physical data format -- I once had to hack together several 8 mm digital tape drives to automate a read of 200 tapes because the tape robot that used to be used for that purpose had gone to the great robot factory in the sky.
And what do you do with a bunch of data you've taken when you only later discover that you really need to make a notation of the (current, voltage, temperature, knob setting, etc.), and you hadn't recorded it at all?
It can be hard to convince young students to write things down. Everybody learns the hard way.
By Dr. Pablito (not verified) on 24 May 2011 #permalink
When that happens, *poof*, a laser becomes an LED.
well, at least it didn't become an SED.
By Nomen Nescio (not verified) on 25 May 2011 #permalink
I'd never pass that lab. I'd be too tempted to use the data to prove proton decay or some such. With an undocumented data set, you can prove anything.
By Kaleberg (not verified) on 25 May 2011 #permalink
Go On Till You Come to the End; Then Stop
ScienceBlogs is coming to an end. I don't know that there was ever a really official announcement of this, but the bloggers got email a while back letting us know that the site will be closing down. I've been absolutely getting crushed between work and the book-in-progress and getting Charlie the…
Meet Charlie
It's been a couple of years since we lost the Queen of Niskayuna, and we've held off getting a dog until now because we were planning a big home renovation-- adding on to the mud room, creating a new bedroom on the second floor, and gutting and replacing the kitchen. This was quite the undertaking…
Physics Blogging Round-Up: August
Another month, another set of blog posts. This one includes the highest traffic I think I've ever seen for a post, including the one that started me on the path to a book deal: -- The ALPHA Experiment Records Another First In Measuring Antihydrogen: The good folks trapping antimatter at CERN have…
The Age Math Game
I keep falling down on my duty to provide cute-kid content, here; I also keep forgetting to post something about a nerdy bit of our morning routine. So, let's maximize the bird-to-stone ratio, and do them at the same time. The Pip can be a Morning Dude at times, but SteelyKid is never very happy to…
Kid Art Update
Our big home renovation has added a level of chaos to everything that's gotten in the way of my doing more regular cute-kid updates. And even more routine tasks, like photographing the giant pile of kid art that we had to move out of the dining room. Clearing stuff up for the next big stage of the…


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Sabine Benoit
Collaborative Consumption
Convenience Retailing
About Sabine Benoit
Professor of Marketing at Surrey Business School. Service Researcher, interested in Access Based Service, Sustainability and Convenience.
Beginning of 2016 Sabine Benoit (née Moeller) joined Surrey Business School, Guildford, UK as a Professor of Marketing. She is member of the Department of Marketing and Retail Management. Since February 2017 she is Director of External Business Engagement at Surrey Business School. Beyond this, and since 2008, she is Director of the Competence Center for On-The-Go Consumption funded by Lekkerland GmbH & Co. KG, a European Wholesale company.
From 2013 until 2016 Sabine Benoit was Professor of Marketing at Roehampton Business School, London,	UK. She	became Director of Research at Roehampton Business School in 2014. Before and starting in 2008 she was holder of the Lekkerland Endowed Chair for Convenience & Marketing at the EBS Business School, Wiesbaden, Germany. At EBS she was Academic Director of the EBS Summer Schools and Chairmen of the doctoral committee.
From 2003 to 2008 Sabine Benoit was Assistant Professor at the Chair of Marketing and Commerce at the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Vallendar, Germany. Before Sabine Benoit was research assistant and doctoral candidate at the Douglas Endowed Chair of Service Management at the University of Hagen, Germany. She earned her doctoral degree in February 2004.
Her main research fields are Service and Retail Marketing. Her work has been published in leading international Journals e.g. the Journal of Service Research, Journal of Operations Management or Psychology & Marketing. In 2017 she received a best paper award (2nd) from the Journal of Service Research. She is in the Editorial Board of Journal of Service Research (JSR), Journal of Service Management (JoSM), Journal of Services Marketing (JSM) and Journal of Business Research (JBR). From JoSM she received the best reviewer award in 2013. She has taught and teaches courses in Marketing, Services & Retail Marketing and Research Methods on Bachelor, Master, MBA and Ph.D. Level.
Contact Sabine »
Service Marketing, in particular
Customer participation
Access based services
Customer perception
Supply chain liability
On-the-go consumption
Health orientation
Prof. Dr. Zelal Ates, HEC Liege, Management School, Belgium
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Prof. Dr. Jay Kandampully, Ohio State University, US
Prof. Dr. Timothy Keiningham, St. John's University
Dr. Stephan Ludwig, University of Surrey
Prof. Dr. Christina Sichtmann, University of Vienna, Austria
Prof. Dr. Martin Wetzels, Maastricht University
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Aldi UK joins Amazon and Tesco in checkout free stores race — Retail Technology Innovation Hub … @twitter community— anybody here who knows which @AldiUK store in London?!? https://retailtechinnovationhub.com/home/2021/9/20/aldi-uk-joins-amazon-and-tesco-in-checkout-free-stores-race
Sabine Benoit Videos
Bridging The Data Gap
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Showcasing the diversity of service research: theories, methods and success of service articles
Benoit S, Scherschel K, Ates Z, Nasr L, Kandampully J. (2017)Wittkowski K, Moeller S, Wirtz J. (2013)
Emerald Journal of Service Management
[ Status: Accepted ]
Repository URL: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/id/eprint/842167
A triadic framework for collaborative consumption (CC): Motives, activities and resources and capabilities of actors
Benoit S, Baker T, Bolton R, Gruber T, Kandampully J. (2017)Wittkowski K, Moeller S, Wirtz J. (2013)
Elsevier Journal of Business Research, 79, pp. 219-227.
doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.05.004
Read Abstract
Collaborative consumption (CC) is an increasingly prevalent form of exchange. CC occurs within a triangle of actors: a platform provider (e.g., Uber), a peer service provider (e.g., an Uber driver) and a customer. The platform provider's main role is matchmaking, so that a customer can access assets of a peer service provider. This paper has three objectives. First, this article identifies three criteria to delineate CC from related constructs such as access-based consumption, sharing or renting. Second, it introduces a literature-based framework explicating the roles of the actors in the CC triangle along three dimensions: motives, activities and resources and capabilities. Third, it highlights areas for further research, such as the dynamics of CC, context-dependent motives and the emergence of professional (peer) service providers.
Linking service convenience to satisfaction: Dimensions and key moderators
Benoit S, Klose S, Ettinger A. (2017)Wittkowski K, Moeller S, Wirtz J. (2013)
Emerald Journal of Services Marketing, 31 (6), pp. 527-538.
doi: 10.1108/JSM-10-2016-0353
Purpose: Demand for service convenience, defined as a consumer's perception of minimized time and effort spent to obtain a service, has increased in conjunction with certain sociocultural and demographic changes. Prior research notes the significance of service convenience, but the importance of different dimensions of service convenience as well as the role of key moderators affecting the link between convenience and satisfaction (like customer psychographic and sociodemographic characteristics) remain unaddressed. Design/methodology/approach: Two models are developed and tested: 1) a multidimensional model of service convenience with a formative measure of five service convenience dimensions: decision, access, search, transaction, and after-sales convenience; and 2) a moderator model hypothesizing different customer psychographic and sociodemographic characteristics (time pressure, shopping enjoyment, age, household size, income) that affect the link between service convenience and satisfaction. Findings: This study reveals that search convenience, followed by transaction and decision convenience, exerts the greatest influence on the perception of overall service convenience. In addition, those who value service convenience most are high-income, time-pressed consumers in smaller households who experience low shopping enjoyment. Originality/value: Providers have limited budgets for enhancing their services. Thus it is important to identify which dimension has the greatest influence on the perception of service convenience as well as the customer segments for which service convenience is most critical.
The Interplay of Customer Experience and Commitment
Keiningham T, Ball J, Benoit S, Bruce H, Buoye A, Dzenkovska J, Nasr L, Our Y, Zaki M. (2017)Wittkowski K, Moeller S, Wirtz J. (2013)
Emerald Journal of Services Marketing, 31 (2)
This research aims to better understand customer experience, as it relates to customer commitment and provides a framework for future research into the intersection of these emerging streams of research.
This research contributes to theoretical and practical perspectives on customer experience and its measurement by integrating extant literature with customer commitment and customer satisfaction literature.
The breadth of the domains that encompass customer experience – cognitive, emotional, physical, sensorial and social – makes simplistic metrics impossible for gauging the entirety of customers' experiences. These findings provide strong support of the need for new research into customer experience and customer commitment.
Given the complexity of customer experience, managers are unlikely to track and manage all relevant elements of the concept. This research provides a framework identifying empirically the most salient attributes of customer experience with particular emphasis on those elements that enhance commitment. This offers insight into service design to correspond with specific commitment and experience dimensions.
This research is the first to examine the customer experience as it relates to customer commitment – a key factor in customer loyalty, positive word of mouth and other desired outcomes for managers and marketers. This paper provides a framework for future research into these emerging topics.
Understanding on-the-go consumption: Identifying and quantifying its determinants
Benoit S, Schaefers T, Heider R. (2016)Wittkowski K, Moeller S, Wirtz J. (2013)
Elsevier Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 31, pp. 32-42.
doi: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2016.03.003
Contagious Effects of Customer Misbehavior in Access-Based Services
Schaefers T, Wittkowski K, Benoit S, Ferraro R. (2016)Wittkowski K, Moeller S, Wirtz J. (2013)
SAGE Journals Journal of Service Research, 19 (1) Article number 1 , pp. 3-21.
Repository URL: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/810027/
Customer misbehavior in service settings is problematic for two reasons: (1) because of the direct damage it causes and (2) because of additional negative effects that arise from the contagion of such misbehavior. The authors extend existing theory of customer misbehavior by studying its contagious effect. The investigation focuses on access-based services, defined as transactions in which multiple consumers successively gain temporal, short-term access to a good, while legal ownership remains with the service provider (e.g., car sharing and fashion rentals). Due to the nature of these services, they are especially prone to indirect customer misbehaviour, which is directed at the accessed product and occurs in the absence of others. Two online experiments provide the first empirical evidence for a contagiousness of misbehavior and reveal that this effect is driven by customers' perceptions of the social norms among the customer group. Moreover, they indicate that greater strength of the accessed product's brand as well as lower anonymity of the accessed product's owner attenuate contagion. A field experiment shows that an increase in the communal identification among access-based service customers reverses the contagious effect, with customers more likely to remove signs of previous users' misbehavior. The results suggest that access-based service providers should address customer misbehavior by (a) investing in the products they offer access to, (b) establishing more personal relationships with customers, and, foremost, (c) increasing communal identification among customers.
Does Service Employees' Appearance Affect the Healthiness of Food Choice
Huneke T, Benoit S, Shams P, Gustafsson A. (2015)Wittkowski K, Moeller S, Wirtz J. (2013)
Wiley Psychology and Marketing, 32 (1), pp. 96-106.
Derived from previous research on social influence on food consumption and social comparison theory, this article examines the effect of service employees' appearance on consumers' food choice using an experimental study, involving a video manipulation and eye-tracking technique. The video shows a menu being proffered by a waitress whose degree of apparent healthiness varies (healthy, overweight, unhealthy lifestyle). The menu contains both healthy and unhealthy meal alternatives. The analysis of participants' eye movements demonstrated that exposure to the overweight employee did not stimulate greater (i.e., earlier or longer) attention to unhealthy meal alternatives, whereas exposure to the employee who displayed an unhealthy lifestyle did. These findings have social and managerial implications: The postulated stigma according to which the presence of overweight others encourages unhealthy eating appears questionable. Service providers that might secretly hire according to body weight have no grounds to do so. In contrast, employees signaling an unhealthy lifestyle through their style choices prompt patrons to pay more attention to unhealthy meal alternatives. Food service providers might want to take this factor into consideration and actively manage the aspects that can be altered by simple measures.
Creating Value in Retail Buyer-Vendor Relationships: A Service-Centered Model
Wagner J, Benoit S. (2015)Wittkowski K, Moeller S, Wirtz J. (2013)
Elsevier Industrial Marketing Management, 44 (1), pp. 166-179.
doi: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2014.10.013
We present a "service-centered" model of retail buyer–vendor relationships, in which retail buyers' perceptions of a vendor's economic and social resources affect their assessments of relationship value and relationship outcomes. Economic resources offered at the organizational level of the vendor include brand equity and customer support activities (e.g., merchandising support and margin maintenance). Social resources offered at the individual level of the salesperson include special treatment and customer advocacy. Relationship outcomes include the buyer' intention to grow the business, and in the event of business termination, maintain the interpersonal relationship with the sales representative. Survey data from 532 retail buyers were collected and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that relationship value mediates the effects of economic and social resources on relationship outcomes. However, the process by which this occurs varies.
Uncovering Collaborative Value Creation Patterns and establishing corresponding Customer Roles
Moeller S, Ciuchita R, Mahr D, Oderkerken-Schroeder G, Fassnacht M. (2013)Wittkowski K, Moeller S, Wirtz J. (2013)
SAGE Journal of Service Research, 16 (4), pp. 471-487.
Understanding Firms' Intentions to Use Non-ownership Services
Wittkowski K, Moeller S, Wirtz J. (2013)Wittkowski K, Moeller S, Wirtz J. (2013)
Supplier Relationship Management: Create Sustainable Supplier Relationships Competition imposes growing expectations concerning the impact of the purchasing function and the suppliers on overall value creation of a firm. Purchasing is the gateway between the external suppliers and the internal functions creating and delivering value for customers.
How do we collaborate with customers in value creation? Research on value creation traditionally has focused on value created by the company, though customers increasingly serve as active partners, able to create value with firms in a collaborative manner. Despite interest by both scholars and managers, existing research has not yet clarified the interdependencies of service offerings and customer role patterns.
Latest Research Questions
Supplier Relationship Management: Create Sustainable Supplier Relationships
Which dimensions of convenience create the satisfaction and for whom?
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CTD .csv and netCDF files have now been created for the following PR15 and PR16 cruises.
PR16's fall into the missing-bottle-parameters category in the .csv or netcdf bottle files (just fyi).
pr15_2005a (33KM200507) only netcdf ctd needed to be made.
pr15_2005b (33KM200511) only netcdf ctd needed to be made.
changed expocode from 33KMGP104_1 to 33KM200403 to correspond to data files.
I went to NOAA and grabbed the 2004 PR15 and PR16 data again and put it in my area on ushydro, butI can't seem to find where the data should reside to be linked into the web.
CTD and sample salinity data were collected during two cruises along PR15 (33KMGP404_1 and 33KMGP804_1), and during two cruises along PR16 (33KMGP104_1 and 33RBGP604_1) in the year 2004.  There are WOCE formatted CTD data listings, .SUM, .SEA, and an in-house documentation file for each cruise.  All data should be considered public.


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For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and m1any sleep.
Have you ever wondered why some Christians are weak and sick, and die young? I thank God that the Holy Spirit gives us the reason as well as the solution. In 1 Corinthians 11:29–30, He tells us clearly that the one reason some Christians are weak and sick, and die prematurely, is that they don't discern the Lord's body when they partake of the Holy Communion.
Many believers don't understand that the pierced, striped and slightly burnt bread, which represents the Lord's body, is for their health and healing. And when they partake without discerning this truth, they partake in an unworthy manner. The reverse is true: If they discern accurately the Lord's body, then they will be strong and healthy, and live long.
My friend, there is no such thing as a worthy person! The best of us still miss it and fail. So unworthy people are the only people who partake of the Lord's Supper. But because Jesus died for unworthy people, He has qualified those of us who take Him as our righteousness to partake of every benefit that He died to give us.
So it is not a matter of whether you are worthy or unworthy to partake, but how you partake. Come to the Lord's table with boldness and partake because Jesus has qualified you with His precious blood. Don't treat it as a ritual, but release your faith for health and healing as you discern that Jesus' body was broken so that yours can be healthy and whole today. When you partake like this, you are partaking in a worthy manner, and you will not be weak or sickly, or die prematurely!
Good morning. What a glorious day; be bold and take your portion!
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