text:
Q: git | move old commit to the past of another branch I incorrectly branched in the past and one commit was left in the start of another branch:
* 03431cb (HEAD -> bar) a2
| * d332e4d (foo) b2
| * 9b29ae3 b1
| * 4656a98 a1
|/
* 6ebca20 (master) root

How can I move a1 out of foo into bar, so that bar's history is root -> a1 -> a2 and a1 is not in foo? Is it possible to do it with one single git commit?
This is not pushed so no need to worry about breaking others' local repos.
I first thought about doing a cherry pick of a1 and then correcting the order between a2 and a1. The issue with this is that those two commits conflicts in my real case scenario and I would have to correct the conflict both when doing the cherry pick and when switching their order.

mwe in bash:
#!/bin/bash
set -e

rm -rf .git

git init -b master
echo content > my-file
git add my-file
git commit -m root

git checkout -B foo
echo asd >> my-file
git add my-file
git commit -m a1
echo qwe >> my-file
git add my-file
git commit -m b1
echo zxc >> my-file
git add my-file
git commit -m b2

git checkout master
git checkout -B bar
echo jkl >> my-file
git add my-file
git commit -m a2

A: I'm a big fan of the syntax git rebase --onto x y z, which means:

Starting at z, look back thru the parent chain until you are about to come to y and stop. Now rebase those commits, ie everything after y up to and including z, onto x.

In other words, using this syntax, you get to say clearly where to snip the chain. Plus you don't have to switch branches before rebasing. The syntax takes some getting used to, but once you get fluent at it, you'll find yourself using it all the time.
So:

*

*Create a temporary branch at a1 just to give it a name: git branch temp 4656a98

*Now rebase b1 and b2 onto root: git rebase --onto master temp foo

*Finally rebase a2 onto a1: git rebase --onto temp master bar

*Now you can delete temp if you like: git branch -D temp
Sure, we could save two steps and just do 2 and 3 using SHA number 4656a98 instead of the name temp, but names are nicer.

Proof.
Starting position:
* 9a97622 (HEAD -> bar) a2
| * 83638ec (foo) b2
| * 7e7cbd0 b1
| * 931632a a1
|/
* 6976e30 (master) root

Now:
% git branch temp 931632a
% git rebase --onto master temp foo
% git rebase --onto temp master bar
% git branch -D temp

Result:
* 3a87b61 (HEAD -> bar) a2
* 931632a a1
| * bbb83d0 (foo) b2
| * 5fa70af b1
|/
* 6976e30 (master) root

I believe that's what you said you wanted.

A:
Is it possible to do [what I want] with one single git commit?

I assume here you mean one Git command and not one Git commit.  The answer is: no, it's not possible to do that.

How can I move a1 out of foo into bar, so that bar's history is root -> a1 -> a2 and a1 is not in foo?

See matt's answer for a way to do this with git rebase --onto.
It may, however, help to draw this the way Git sees it.  It's not root -> a1 -> a2.  It's root <-a1 <-a2.  The name foo itself can be moved, but the three existing commits here are carved in stone: no parts of them can be changed.  That's OK since, as you said, none of those commits have been sent anywhere else.
No matter what you do, you must copy some commit(s) to new-and-improved commits, with different hash IDs.  You can leave the existing carved-in-stone commits alone provided you're changing nothing about them, including the backwards-pointing arrows that are part of the commits.
The root commit (really: 6ebca20) has no backwards-pointing arrow.  That's what makes it a root commit.  As long as you don't dislike anything about this commit, you can leave it alone—which is good since root commits are a pain to copy.  Both git cherry-pick and git rebase can do that, but it's all a little weird and special-case-y, since the cherry-pick or rebase operation works by comparing a commit's snapshot to its parent's snapshot.  The fact that there is no parent of a root commit is what makes it a little weird.1
Commit a1 (really: 4656a98) points backwards to the root commit.  That too seems OK.
Commit b1, however—which is really 9b29ae3—points backwards to commit 4656a98.  That's set in stone.  It cannot be changed.  You can make a new and different commit, that you also call b1, that instead points backwards to the root commit, and that's what you want to do.
Having done this with b1, you now need to copy commit b2 to a new-and-improved commit, because the existing b2 (d332e4d) points back to 9b29ae3.  You need a copy that makes the same changes—something cherry-pick will do for you—but that has the new b1, whatever its hash ID becomes, as its parent.
Once you've copied b1 and b2, you can point the name foo at the copy of b2.  Branch names, in Git, simply point to some actual, existing commit.  You can change which commit they point to, at any time; whatever commit they point to is the last commit in the branch.  Earlier commits are also in the branch by virtue of working backwards through the parent linkage in the last commit, then working backwards another step to the parent's parent (or parents' parents or whatever).
Since you must copy b1 to a new-and-improved version, this forces you to copy b2 as well.  The git rebase command runs git cherry-pick repeatedly to achieve said copying, then—once all the copying is done—moves the branch name to point to the last copied commit.  So one git rebase, with the right options (--onto included), will do the trick for the foo branch.
Separately, you must copy the existing a2 to a new-and-improved version.  Having made the copy, you must then move the name bar to point to the copied a2.  One git rebase command suffices to do all of these operations as well.
Because git rebase can run git checkout for you, the minimum number of Git commands needed is, at this point, two.  That leads to the set of commands that matt used: the two extra ones were for convenience.

1The cherry-pick code itself handles this by using a faked-up "has no files" parent, temporarily, so that as far as the cherry-pick operation is concerned, the "change" made by the commit is add all the files.  The rebase code requires the --root option, at least in older versions of Git; I'm not sure what has happened here since the sequencer has now learned to do the interactive stuff that used to be in shell scripts.


NEW YORK CITY -- The lifespan of a typical Berndnaut Smilde sculpture is 10 seconds -- just long enough to be photographed. And his sculptures are as unusual as they are ethereal: Smilde makes perfect miniature clouds in a diverse array of indoor locations, from coal mines to cathedrals.
Art collectors of ArtKabinett social media network can collect the photographs of his creations, but never the clouds themselves.
He has been at the process for several years now, and calls the ever-expanding series Nimbus.
Last month, he brought his weather wizardry to Frieze New York. There, the Dutch artist allowed onlookers to sit in on two days of his work inside NeueHouse, an upscale co-working space.
His materials are little more than smoke and water vapor, and the results vary with the size and temperature of the location.
The space must be cold and damp, with no air circulation. Smilde creates a wall of water vapor with the type of spritzer you might use on houseplants.
A smoke machine then sends a puff of faux fog on a collision course. He likes to keep the clouds no bigger than six feet so they don't fall apart too quickly. "I really like my clouds concentrated, with a lot of texture," he says.
The result is stunning, an ephemeral artwork caught just before it vanishes. The bare, often austere locations heighten the drama. While Smilde makes his clouds, he has a photographer right there to capture the moment.
He prefers to work with photographers with experience shooting architecture, so the wood, metal and other elements are in sharp focus, a contrast to the soft, fluffy clouds. Smilde likes that his creations last but a moment.


Sometimes I experience beingness such a food-lover makes my cookery additional hard than it has to be. I volition forever suppose those cookies would bring somewhat additional depth if I tanned the butter, or those tacos would last fifty-fifty higher if I preserved the onions. typically I experience regarding creating lasagna, on the other hand, i mightiness involve to create recent food, homemade sauce, a bechamel ... ack, nevermind.
But if at that spot is i dish I've unbroken easy, it's roast chicken. I forgot most of the recommendation normally passed roughly on the topic as well as ne'er wishing I am missing an issue. It's i amidst the few dinners that foursquare mensurate fifty-fifty as overnice for what I did non exercise what I did do.
This is i amidst those (sometimes wine-fueled) disagreements my identify unit of measurement is consider to interact in. My provider relative-in-law is merely close the pinnacle counsellor at Camp Brine, whereas my easier as well as tastier tent is pitched inwards Camp No-Brine. on the far side, it's associate release step, I notice brined chicken less fascinating because it volition obscure the manner as well as makes the meat slightly spongy.
2. Bring it to temperature earlier cookery.
The consider behind this recommendation is that a room-temperature aeroplane tin laid upwards additional equally, as well as maybe that's true, withal since my chickens forever embark damp � from the pare to a os � I've ne'er felt the necessity for the additional weight. grooming a chicken on a black is already a decent squeeze, as well as adding this footstep would create the method prohibitively long, thus i similar to recommend skipping it.
3. Use a prepared pan.
I don't fifty-fifty ain one. The chickens I roast foursquare mensurate sometimes 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 pounds as well as move absolutely inwards my 10-inch forged atomic number 26 frying pan. The caveat hither is that if you lot exercise non conjointly follow #4, you lot would maybe larn off the smoke detector.
op for whatsoever starch or vegetable I volition laid upwards aboard the chicken. Even higher, I forever roast the aeroplane over cutting potatoes or root vegetables, tossed alongside tabular array salt as well as a larn of vegetable oil. I experience crisp Yukon gilded potatoes that bring soaked upwards chicken drippings would create my listing of prime number five favourite foods.
5. Add butter or oil.
Totally gratuitous. spell non either, the meat stays damp as well as hence the chicken's pare soundless gets jubilantly crisp.
This is some other footstep that produces sense, however, I soundless exercise non mess alongside it. I buy that the chicken ought to laid upwards additional as i time properly tied, however, I truly bring ne'er had my untrussed chicken embark dry, thus I exercise non hassle alongside it.
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Copyright © 2017 Xuefei Zhao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
S. A. Ashour, Elastic Seismic Response of Buildings with Supplemental Damping, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich, USA, 1987.
E. Kausel and J. M. Roesset, Soil Structure Interaction Problems for Nuclear Containment Structures, Electric Power and the Civil Engineer, 1973.
Y. Hu and X. Zhou, "Response of the elastic system to stationary and non-stationary ground motion," Earthquake Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Research Report, Science Press, Beijing, China, 1962 (Chinese).
T. Harada and H. Tajimi, "The Japanese Society of Earthquake Engineering Committee· Seismic design and seismic dynamic analysis," Tokyo Technical Report Hall, 1989 (Japanese).
J. H. Holland, Adaption in Natural and Artificial Systems, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, Mich, USA, 1975.


text:
Kulistenen (signum N 449) är en runsten från Kuløy i Smøla kommun i Møre og Romsdal.

På den flata sidan är ett kors inhugget, och på kantsidan en runinskrift i två linjer. Toppen av stenen är avslagen, och det är sannolikt att något av inskriften saknas efter brottet. Stenen finns nu i Vitenskapsmuseet i Trondheim.

Inskrift
Inskriften lyder i translitterering:
þurir : auk : hal(u)arþr : rai(s)(t)(u) * stain : þins(i) * aft u(l)f(l)iu(t) ... ¶ tualf * uintr * ha(f)(þ)i : (k)r(i)(s)(t)(i)(n)*(t)umr : (u)iri(t) * (i) n(u)riki ...

Normaliserat till fornnordiska:
Þórir ok Hallvarðr reistu stein þenna ept Ulfljót(?) ... Tolf vetr hafði kristindómr verit í Nóregi ...

Översatt till svenska:
"Tore och Hallvard reste denna sten efter Ulfljot(?) [...] Tolv vintrar hade kristendomen varit i Norge [...]"

Det är osäkert vad inskriften syftar på, om det rör sig om Olav Tryggvasons mission eller kanske Håkon den godes. Olav Haraldssons (Olav den helige) insats är för sen att döma av språk och runformer, och dessutom skulle uttrycken ha valts annorlunda. Inskriften är hur som helst den äldsta norska källan som nämner kristendomen och landets namn.

Källor

Runinskrifter i Norge
Smøla kommun

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


GoodData is, along with Birst, one of the original multi-tenant, cloud analytics offerings in market. The platform is an end-to-end solution with ETL, big data staging, and massively scalable data warehousing capabilities. It also includes predictive capabilities along with visualization.
Their deployment architecture is less compelling for departmental use cases such as sales and marketing, and the company is now focused on the "Powered-By" delivery model for ISVs needing embedded analytics and for enterprises looking for ways to commercialize analytics by building data products and packaged analytics.
It also includes tools to measure engagement and user adoption to help inform the ongoing roadmap.
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Powerful customizable dashboards, KPIs and reports based on multiple data sources, both internal and external datasets.
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If you'd like to know more about online safety, have a look at the links below. They've been recommended to us by online safety experts.


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text:
Review of SDGs implementation: SDG 7 – Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
Conference Room 4, UNHQ
Official meeting
Background Note
H.E. Mr. Siri Jirapongphan, Minister of Energy, Thailand
Mr. Adnan Z. Amin, Director-General, the International Renewable Energy Agency
Mr. Hans Olav Ibrekk, Policy Director, Energy and Climate Change, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Co-Facilitator of SDG 7 Technical Advisory Group
Ms. Laurence Tubiana, CEO, the European Climate Foundation
Ms. Heather Page, Sustainable Development Goal Monitoring Section, Statistics Division of UN DESA
Ms. Mengrong Cheng, President of State Grid US Representative Office, GEIDCO US Representative ad interim
6th meeting - 2018 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (2018 HLPF)
Achieving SDG 7 will catalyse actions to meet the Paris Agreement on climate change and reach the other SDGs including poverty eradication, gender equality, mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, food security, health, education, sustainable cities and communities, clean water and sanitation, jobs, innovation, and transport. However, without urgent action, the world will fall short of achievement of SDG 7 and consequently other SDGs.
The discussion is expected to assess progress, identify challenges at the national and international levels towards achieving SDG 7 including its targets on energy access, renewables, energy efficiency and means of implementation, and it will promote integrated policy solutions.
Proposed guiding questions:
What is the current rate of progress on the various targets of SDG 7 including targets related to the means of implementation?
At the country level, what policies and practices have been proven to be the most successful?
What is the investment gap for financing SDG 7 and what are the key financial tools that can be leveraged for scaling up investments?
What are the priority actions for the coming years that can be implemented to accelerate progress towards achieving SDG 7 globally?
Who are the furthest behind and who is at risk of being left behind for this SDG?
H.E. Mr. Marc Pecsteen, Vice-President of ECOSOC
Panellists:
Ms. Sheila Oparaocha, Executive Director, ENERGIA, Zambia
Mr. Riccardo Puliti, Senior Director of Energy and Extractive Industries Global Practice, World Bank Group
Lead discussants:
Ms. Joan Carling, TEBTEBBA (Indigenous Peoples Major Group)
Followed by interactive discussion
Dr. Siri Jirapongphan
Minister of Energy, Thailand
Education : - S.B. (Honor) degree in Chemical Engineering,
- Sc.D. degree in Chemical Engineering,
Former Positions - Executive Director, Petroleum Institute of Thailand
- Member of the National Reform Council (NRC)
Secretary of the Energy Reform Committee of NRC
- Board of Commissioner and Acting Director General,
Port Authority of Thailand
- Member, Board of Commissioners, State Railway of Thailand
- Business Rehabilitation Plan Administrator,
Thai Petrochemical Industry Public Co., Ltd.
- Managing Director, LPN Plate Mill Public Co., Ltd.
- Senior Vice President and Senior Director,
Merchant Banking Department, Bangkok Bank Public Co., Ltd.
- Manager of Planning and Information Department,
National Petrochemical Public Co., Ltd.
- Head of Systems Planning Division,
Petroleum Authority of Thailand
(Academic Institution) - Lecturer, Chemical Engineering Department,
Chulalongkorn University
Mr. Adnan Z. Amin
Director-General, the International Renewable Energy Agency
Adnan Z. Amin is the Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), currently serving his second term. He was elected as the Agency's first Director-General in 2011. During his tenure, IRENA has achieved near universal membership with 158 Members sand has become the global authority on renewable energy. The agency today provides the world community with a strong international cooperation framework to accelerate the sustainable energy transformation, as a major pathway to fostering sustainable development and one of the most important solutions to climate change.
Mr. Amin has over 25 years of experience in international environment, sustainable development and energy policy. Mr. Amin has held senior positions in the United Nations (UN), including as Head of the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination Secretariat, Executive Director of the Secretariat of the Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on UN System-wide Coherence and Director of the New York Office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Mr. Amin is a development economist specializing in sustainable development. He is a national of Kenya
Mr. Hans Olav Ibrekk
Policy Director, Energy and Climate Change, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Co-Facilitator of SDG 7 Technical Advisory Group
Mr. Hans Olav Ibrekk is Policy Director, Section for Energy, Climate and Food Security, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has more than thirty years of experience from government, international organizations, research and consulting in development cooperation, climate change, energy, water resources management, environmental financing, and capacity building, among other areas. He is a member of the Board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and served on the Board of the Adaptation Fund 2007-2017, including serving as Chair in 2013 and 2015. Mr. Ibrekk is also the co-facilitator of the UNDESA-appointed SDG7 Technical Advisory Group. He is the focal point for water and sanitation in the Ministry. Mr. Ibrekk previously worked at the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). He holds a Master's degree in Environmental Engineering from University of Washington and a Master's in Civil Engineering from the Norwegian Institute of Technology.
Mr. Riccardo Puliti
Senior Director of Energy, World Bank Group
Riccardo Puliti joined the World Bank Group as Senior Director, Head of the Energy and Extractives Global Practice in November 2016. In his role, Riccardo leads a team of 400 professionals in their work developing policies and financing in the global energy and extractive industries. The Energy and Extractives practice has a portfolio of approximately USD 52 billion.
Prior to joining the World Bank Group, Riccardo was the Managing Director in charge of Energy and Extractive Industries at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, leading a group of 100 professionals with a portfolio of approximately EUR 11 billion.
Riccardo started his career at Istituto Mobiliare Italiano in 1987 before moving to Banque Indosuez and NM Rothschild where he worked in equity capital markets, always in the energy and infrastructure sectors. During his career, Riccardo has been a nominee or independent member of the board of several energy and extractive companies, including OMV Petrom (where he chaired its Risk and Audit Committee), Irkutsk Oil and Iberdrola Poland. He holds an MBA from Instituto Superior de Estudios de la Empresa (IESE) and postgraduate studies at the Kennedy School of Government (Harvard University) and Imperial College.
Ms. Joan Carling
Secretary General of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact
Joan Carling is an indigenous activist from the Cordillera, Philippines. She has been working on indigenous issues at the grassroots to international levels for more than 20 years. Her field of expertise includes human rights, sustainable development, environment, and climate change. She has been also been actively engaging in international bodies, processes and mechanisms such as the Agenda 203 on sustainable development, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), UN mechanisms relating to human rights among others in advancing the issues and concerns of indigenous peoples in Asia. Joan Carling is the Secretary General of Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) representing its 47 member-organisations in 13 countries. She is also an expert member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
Ms. Laurence Tubiana
CEO of the European Climate Foundation
Laurence Tubiana is CEO of the European Climate Foundation (ECF). In addition, she is the Chair of the Board of Governors at the French Development Agency (AFD), and a Professor at Sciences Po, Paris. Before joining ECF, Laurence was France's Climate Change Ambassador and Special Representative for COP21, and as such a key architect of the landmark Paris Agreement. Following COP21, she was appointed High Level Champion for climate action.
Laurence brings decades of expertise and experience in climate change, energy, agriculture and sustainable development, working across government, think tanks, NGOs and academia. From 1997 to 2002, she served as Senior Adviser on the Environment to the French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. From 2009 to 2010, she created and then led the newly established Directorate for Global Public Goods at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE). In 2013, she chaired the French National Debate on the Energy Transition. She founded in 2002 and directed until 2014 the Paris-based Institute of Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI). In the 80's and early 90's she founded and then led Solagral, an NGO working on food security and the global environment. She started her career as a Research Director for the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA).
Throughout the years, Laurence has held several academic positions, including as a Professor and Scientific Director for the International Development and Environmental Studies Master degrees at Sciences Po, Paris; and Professor of International Affairs at Columbia University, New York. She has been a member of numerous boards and scientific committees, including the Chinese Committee on the Environment and International Development (CCICED).
Ms. Mengrong Cheng
President of State Grid US Representative Office, GEIDCO US Representative ad interim
Ms. Cheng is the Deputy Director General of Dept. of International Cooperation of State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), President of SGCC U.S. Office and Acting Chief of GEIDCO North America Office.
Ms. Cheng started her career in 1991 in Dept. of International Cooperation of China Electricity Council. Since then, she has been intensively involved in international cooperation business in major projects and events between China's power sector and international community. She worked in the then China's Ministry of Power Industry since 1993, and later held major positions in charge of international affairs in China State Power Corporation (1996-2003) and State Grid Corporation of China (2003 till now). She is also a member of IEC Market Strategy Board (MSB), Director of Board of REN, a national energy network company of Portugal, Sherpa on Management Committee of Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership(G-SEP) Ms.Cheng received a Master Degree of Business Management from Tsinghua University.
Ms. Sheila Oparaocha
Executive Director of ENERGIA International Network on Gender and Sustainable Energy
Sheila Oparaocha has twenty-one years of working experience in the gender and energy sector, a Bachelor's Degree in Veterinary Medicine and a Master's Degree in Gender and Development Planning.
Sheila is the Executive Director of the ENERGIA International Network on Gender and Sustainable Energy. ENERGIA is an International Network of like-minded organisations and professionals that was established in 1996 to create an institutional base for galvanising action aimed at integrating gender into the energy access agenda of developing countries. Currently, ENERGIA has a programme of work with 31 partner organizations in 18 countries in Africa and Asia. Sheila has over has twenty one years of experience working at the intersectionality of gender equality, women empowerment and energy access, specifically in the areas of women entrepreneurship development, gender mainstreaming in energy programmes, international policy advocacy, research and evidence development, network building and knowledge management. Sheila is the co-chair of the Technical Advisory Group for the Sustainable Development Goal 7 and a permeantent member of the Steering Committee of the Health and Energy Platform for Action.
In the gender and energy sector. Sheila has the overall and primary responsibility for managing ENERGIA's international programmes, planning, monitoring, reporting and liaising with ENERGIA's donors. Sheila also provides technical support to ENERGIA's activities on

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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SEO News - Are there some dead penguins and pandas rotting inside Google?
Are there some dead penguins and pandas rotting inside Google?
This is never a normal mail. It shows the frustration and agony of the one (innocent/culprit) hit by the recent Google updates. It's just a sample among many that we received recently.
Following the announcement of the 20% drop in Google's quarterly earnings well before the trading closed; traders without a second thought sold their shares leading the stock get tumbled by 9%.
Page also apologized for their action transferred liability towards R.R. Donnelley (Google's financial documents printing company).
One among the reasons being attributed to this epic fall, are Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility leading to litigation wars between them and Apple. The second one would be the dependence it had on search-based advertising for its revenue, and that advertisers have slashed payments to the Google as consumers turn towards mobile devices, dumping a whole lot of its core business, SEARCH. Though the total number of clicks on ads for Google is up 33 percent, the cost per click has dropped 15 percent. This should be due to advertisers not finding enough conversions from mobile phones that they are able to see from their desktop PCs.
Analysts guess that it will surely take quite a long for Google to recover from this fall, due to its investment in high budget ventures like Google Glass and Driverless cars. This should be sort of refreshing news to Apple, Microsoft and Yahoo. But since Google remains a search king for quite a long period, it will know the way out of this not-so-welcoming fall as early as possible.
In short Google is f-cked, they rigged search, filled it with fraudulent ads and there's very little else they can do now.
it very easy, it not genuine clicks. Google cheat peoples to click on adwords ads. Advertisers find out what conversions from adwords going down dramatically. This is result of 'google above the fold' ads. I am sure more such news coming soon.
I´d fire right away from Google the person that thought that by penalizing web sites for havine too much ads, and not showing them on first positions, internet users would clik on AdWords ads instead.. there you have google.
This news means it's about time for another algorithm to combat "webspam" and push more organic listings beneath the fold. At least that will be Google's official public response as was the case with the other recent algorithm changes that placed more paid ads on the first page of many search queries. Coincidence? I think not.
It seems that their aquisition of Motorola is dragging them back considerably. They have a golden touch with search but just about everything else they touch turns to dust.
Are you one amongst those who rejoice Google's fall this quarter?


It is 73 AD in Ancient Rome and inimitable sleuth Marcus Didius Falco is back with a vengeance. In one night, a man is killed and Rome's Chief of Spies left for dead. Naturally there is no one except Falco to conduct the investigation. Soon he is plunged into the fiercely competitive world of olive oil production. Political intrigue, an exotic Spanish dancer and impending fatherhood, all add to Falco's troubles.
©1996 Lindsey Davis (P)2014 Audible, Inc.
The narator was good , The story was very good, you really need to read all the books from the beginning to understand the story line though.
I have read this series for many years and it is interesting to see how the fortunes (and character) of Marcus Didius Falco progresses. The narrator gets the sometimes world-weary Falco's moods over extremely well. The everyday life of Romans is painted well and the inclusion of Roman notables is handled well. Will continue to get as many of this series as I can.
This is part of a brilliant, witty and engaging series of stories about a private eye set in Ancient Rome. I have listened to all the available Falco books which are read with great wit and conviction by Christian Rodska. He brings the books to life with beautifully timed humour and creates the characters with wonderful voices. Unfortunately he doesn't read book nor The Accusers, which is a real shame. No disrespect for the other two narrators, but it really doesn't work in the same way. I will have to buy the actual book instead as I find the lack of Mr Rodska very irritating and can't listen.
Why, why, oh WHY do the powers-that-be change narrators midstream? Having established Falco's voice in Christian Rhodska, why change to someone else, who, no matter how competent, or even good, he may be in other roles, just isn't Falco? And having changed, why were there no guidelines given to the narrator - such as, the chief spy is called An-a-cry-teas, not An-ak-ra-teas? And she's Hell-en-er, not Hel-leaner?
As well as the unfamiliar pronunciation of familiar names, the narrator seemed in a hurry to get the job done, and set a cracking pace that rode roughshod over the humour of the writing and sacrificed any expression at all.
Sadly disappointing. If I could give this no stars I would.
A couple of reviewers have complained about Richard Mitchley taking over from Christian Rodska. It is extremely difficult to step in to a character as well established and distinctive as Rodska's Marcus Didius Falco. I presume Rodska was on a film or something when this needed to be done. But I thought Mitchley (whom I haven't heard before) did an excellent job. He followed in Rodska's general presentation - bluff, rough but purposeful - and kept the story moving and captivating. A few mispronunciations can get under one's skin, but I could only admire his reading which would have stood well on its own. I will look for other things he has done.
At last, they've used a good narrator! Excellent story and well read.
Great trip around Roman Spain. I prefer this reader to the others used for the Falco audio books.
I didn't like this narrator at all. I thought it sounded like it was set in Scotland rather than Spain.
Story moved slowly, it made you feel like you were suffering the pregnancy with Helena. I think the action is slowing up. Plenty of period details though, if you enjoy them.
Yet another wonderful tale of Falco and his family. The narration was very good and certainly was given the right atmosphere.
Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Richard Mitchley?
i would have cast Christian Rodska who is a perfect Falco and sounds just like a man who might be a Roman Informer.
Would you listen to A Dying Light in Corduba again? Why?
No. Plot twists and "whodunnit?" known so no surprises or novelty.
What other book might you compare A Dying Light in Corduba to, and why?
Any of the preceding ones featuring Didius Marco Falco by Lyndsey Davis, but in the correct order which is:1 Silver Pigs; 2 Shadows in Bronze; 3 Venus in Copper; 4 Iron Hand of Mars; 5 Poseidon's Gold; 6 Last Action in Palmyra; 7 Time to depart. They develop the main character and his relationships with other protagonists so you would have abetter understanding of the relationships and their significance by reading in correct order.
The class whine and intonation of the pretentious twits contrasting with the earthy and practical accents of the hero and his ilk.
Only just feasible, but did want to hear how story develops. Was slow in places and took some natural breaks.
Falco seems to function better in Rome as the city takes on being a character in the story too. Set in Spain mainly this lacks that aspect. Falco's wife's pregnancy was meant to add some further drama and suspense, but this did not come across well for me.


The Van Buren Boys return right before the international break to give their thoughts on the Premier League season thus far. Resident Championship expert drops by to give a Championship Update, and the Van B Boys riff on former USA manager turned Swansea gaffer Bob Bradley.
Joey, Stephen, and Jeff review the win over Swansea City at Liberty Stadium (including fan reactions from the Irish American), give their Seat Index ratings, address the set piece defending issues, discuss Karius' debut, and mention Klopp and Lallana both up for awards.
Jimmy Torrejon is the host to contestants, Nick Davies v Jeff Hallett v CJ Morales, who chat about Game Week 7 of the Premier League. Tune in to see who wins and makes it to the "Stoppage Time" and who falls short.
The lads talk about Arsenal's late 0-1 win at Burnley, answer fans questions and talk about Arsene Wenger's 20 years at the club!!
Joey, Stephen, and Bryan review the LFC vs Hull City match, give their seat index ratings, discuss squad depth, address the Sakho situation, and preview the Swansea City match.
Follow Stoppage time on the Football Purists Network, A football game show podcast that will be released every Tuesday after a Premier League Gameweek.
In this episode: Jimmy is the host to contestants, Amir v Jeff v Quinn, who chat about Game Week 6 of the Premier League. Tune in to see who wins and makes it to the "Stoppage Time" and who falls short.
The lads talk about Arsenal's 3-0 smashing of Chelsea at the Emirates, look ahead to Basel / Burnley and answer all the Fans questions.
This week Jack and Nick interview one of their own and true hero amongst West Ham fans, Jack Collison.
Joey, Stephen, and Bryan review the Chelsea and Derby matches, give their seat index ratings, have a Mignolet vs Karius debate, and preview the Hull match.
In this episode: Jimmy is the host to contestants, Mark v Joey v CJ , who chat about Game Week 5 of the Premier League. Tune in to see who wins and makes it to the "Stoppage Time" and who falls short.
The lads talk about Arsenal's CL draw at PSG, and review the 4-1 thrashing away to Hull. The team also discuss all the fans questions and look ahead to the league cup game against Nottingham Forest, as well as the big clash against Chelsea at the weekend.
The Van Buren Boys discuss Match Day 5 of the Premier League, previewing Liverpool vs Chelsea, Middlesbrough vs Everton, and more.
On this episode Joey is joined by Stephen and Bryan as they review the first home game of the season against Leicester City.
They give their 'seat index' ratings, find out where a former LFC man is nowadays, and look forward to the Chelsea game at Stamford Bridge.
The Team also answers the question if Coutinho, Can, and Karius immediately come back into the squad.
In this special head to head episode: Jimmy is the host to contestants, Jeff v Nick, who chat about Game Week 4 of the Premier League. Tune in to see who wins and makes it to the "Stoppage Time" and who falls short.
Jack Sessions hosts (@SessionsJack) the latest @purelyarsenalFP podcast in association with @FootballPurists, with regular star special guests Neil Shah (@Neilby70) and Michael Harris (@ChopperH5791).
The lads talk about Arsenal's last-gasp win against Southampton at the Emirates Stadium, Santi the magician, new signings, head injuries and more. The team also discuss the upcoming game vs PSG and answer lots of fans questions!!
Joey Vishny hosts Bryan Painter and Jeff Hallett on this episode of the Talk On Podcast on the Football Purists network. The boys grade the transfer window and preview the first home game of the season: LFC v LCFC.
The first ever Cafe Football episode on the Football Purists Network. In this Episode Jeff Hallett hosts Nick Davies and Jimmy Torrejon to pick apart the famous Soccernomics book.
About this book: Using insights and analogies from economics, statistics, psychology, and business to cast a new and entertaining light on how the game works, Soccernomics reveals the often surprisingly counter-intuitive truths about soccer.
Jack and Nick Davies talk about the Premier League transfer window, all of West Ham's recent matches and hopes for the future.
Jack Sessions hosts (@SessionsJack) the latest @purelyarsenalFP podcast in association with @FootballPurists, with regular star special guest Mark Harrison (@ArsenesGlasses_) and our very own Gooner girl Samantha Silverman (@samiam_21).
The team discuss all the ins and outs from the transfer window, focusing on the conundrum that is Jack Wilshere and talking up our new signings in Perez and Mustafi! We also look ahead to the Southampton game and answer all the fans questions!
The international break hasn't dampened the mood of the Van Buren Boys, who return for Episode 9 to assess transfer deadline day. They also receive a Championship Update from the one and only Matt Hintze. Finally, they hand out roses to teams who have over performed so far in the Premier League.
The Van Buren Boys reach the climax of their EPL fanhood rankings, discussing Elton John, Skilly Williams, and their favorite movies of the past ten years. A little football discussion ensues..
The Van Buren Boys continue their EPL fanhood rankings with teams 10-6, including Arsenal, Manchester City, and the Swans.
The Van Buren Boys do Part 2 of their EPL rankings. This week's teams include an Everton, Manchester United, Bournemouth, Hull City, and Stoke City.
Three Van Buren Boys Discuss the Euro 2016 Final and deliver part one of their fanhood rankings, discussing Chelsea, Crystal Palace, and others.


Today, Austria presented their acts for the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. She will compete with the song "Limits". PAENDA has been looking for the right opportunity to use Eurovision as the next step in her career – and now it appeared.
"When I was watching the Eurovision Song Contest on ORF in the past few years, I knew that if the opportunity presented itself, I would very much like to become part of it and compete for Austria. Music becomes a universal language, boundaries dissolve and it is shown that love is colorful, diverse and can not be classified in any drawer. The contest is a bridge builder that manages to unite different cultures and religions for a while. Now I'm allowed to sing for Austria and I am overwhelmed. It really means a lot to me to be part of this message to the world".
With the words above, PAENDA describes how she has wanted to be a part of Eurovision if the right situation came up. It did now, as today she was presented as the one who will represent Austria at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest.
PAENDA has been studying jazz, released her first album in the beginning of 2018, and now, her second album is on the way. The album simply titled EVOLUTION II will be released in April this year, just before this year's Eurovision Song Contest.


text:
Month / October 2013
October 31, 2013 November 1, 2013 by hereandsphere
TRULY A CLASSIC : RED SOX WIN WORLD SERIES 2013
baseball, Detroit Tigers, Red Sox, St Louis Cardinals, World Series
^ champagne and pitch counts : the Red Sox go from bottom to top
Baseball is not my beat, not at all. But today it has to be. Here in my City, the "olde Towne Team," i.e, the Red Sox, a team that finished in last place in 2012, this year won their division, league, World. and did so at home, for the first time since 1918, when Babe Ruth was still pitching for the Sox (and setting pitching records long unbroken). In six games they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, a team dubbed pretty darn good but which proved highly flawed. The Sox had some flaws, too, and these were hung out to dry; but their flaws were fewer, their hitting devastatingly opportunistic, their pitching good enough — especially Jon Lester and John Lackey.
Lackey ! There's a story. Written off a couple years ago, labeled a head case by folks who had forgotten, or never knew, just how strong a pitcher Lackey used to be, he became his strong self once again. He pitched just long enough in last night's deciding game — two outs of the seventh inning — to get the game into the hands of the Sox's proven late relievers : Tazawa, Workman, Uehara. And this they proved to be. When Lackey finally did get pulled — after giving up four straight hits and one run — the bases were loaded, the score 6 to 1. The Cardinals needed just one big hit to make things interesting. Tazawa got that last out. The Cardinals never threatened again.
What can you not say about a series that had not one but TWO game decided on fluke plays ? Never before had a World series game been decided by an obstruction call or a runner being picked off. But that's exactly how Games 3 and 4 ended. Home runs boomed out of nowhere. Johnny Gomes had one in Game 5; it won an otherwise low-scoring pitchers' duel. Mike Napoli had one. So did Stephen Drew, in last night's clincher. The real story of this Series, actually, may be that both teams weren't all that great. Other than the Sox's David Ortiz, it's pretty hard to find among either roster a potential Hall of Famer. Great teams do the expected. they roll over the opposition, inexorably : think 1975 Cincinnati Reds, a team with two Hall of Famers (Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan) and one other, Pete Rose, who would have been Hall'ed had he not been Pete Rose. The Cardinals weren't a great team, and neither were the Red Sox.
The red Sox were just better at devouring the other team's mistakes. For that, one man deserves all credit : John Farrell. Never, ever say that the manager doesn't matter. He does matter. Anybody who watched spastic Bobby Valentine do a Three Stooges job last year and then watched Farrell create a team from last year's leftovers, give them a method, and see them use that method all the way to victory, you know that the manager makes a huge difference. All the more is that the case when the team he is managing isn't that great.
And then the beards. It's a silly thing, but sometimes a shattered team looking for a ring to bind them needs a talisman that looks silly in every other context. And so beards it was.
Farrell's greatest series was not, in fact, the World one. It was the ALCS, in which his Sox found ways to beat the Detroit Tigers. Here was a team as close to great as I have seen in a long time. it has Miguel Cabrera, the only triple crown winner since Carl Yastrzemski did it 46 years ago. He's a sure Hall of Famer. It also has baseball's two best pitchers, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, and a third, Doug Fister, nearly as good. yet the Sox beat Verlander 1 to 0, as John Lackey out-dueled him. This was John Lackey's finest hour. Verlander made just one mistake pitch : result ? A Mike Napoli home run. Ball game. The Sox also beat Max Scherzer (season record 21 – 2) not once but twice. The method ? Run up his pitch count, get Detroit's less than great bullpen into the game, and pounce.
Thus a team that suffered 35 strike outs and was overmatched 99 % of the time used that wayward one percent to beat a team that had greatness in its sights. After that achievement, the World Series was theirs for the wrapping up.
—- Michael Freedberg / Here and Sphere
October 30, 2013 October 30, 2013 by hereandsphere
BOSTON MAYOR : NEGATIVES DOMINATE 3RD DEBATE
Boston, News, Politics
3rd debate, John Connolly, Marty Walsh, Mayoral Election
^ gulping down face to face the nectar of Negative Punch : Marty Walsh vs. John Connolly
A month ago I wrote that the Final campaign had to go negative. 65 % of those who voted on Primary day did not vote for either Walsh or Connolly; each, and certainly the winner, would get the big majority of his votes from people who did not want him.
Last night at Debate Number three we saw that negative, at the beginning and at the end. It bookmarked the debate. Clearly both men were determined to assure that, of two men not liked by most voters, his opponent would be liked less.
Walsh attacked Connolly as a "corporate lawyer" and for not doing anything as a City Councillor. "Name one thing you have done," Walsh challenged. "Did you as a Councillor bring any jobs at all to Boston ?" Connolly had a strong answer to that. Three strong ones, in fact.
Connolly attacked Walsh far more cogently, or at least I thought so. He cited Walsh's now infamous House Bill 2467, which would take away City Councils' power to approve or turn down labor arbitrators' awards, and, at the end of the debate, he noted that Walsh, as chairman of the House Ethics Committee, "took no action" – Walsh's own words, when asked — despite "one legislator going to jail," as Connolly noted.
Listening to this attack, Walsh's face grew grim, his eyes grimmer. If looks could kill…but he did not lose his temper, did Walsh, although at the grimmest point he seemed about to. He is said to have a terrifying temper. We almost saw it.
His record is open to substantial question; but so far the voters do not seem to care about what he has been and done. They want to know what he is going to DO. And during the middle of the debate — really more a Forum, with questions being asked by the moderator, than an actual debate — Walsh talked on and on about his policy proposals, numerous proposals — almost a policy wonk. It was very effective, because what newly watching voter expected "the union guy" to talk in detail about parks, young violence, the BRA, enterprise, budgets, etc etc ? Walsh talked abut them all. He sounded like a Mayor.
Connolly sounded like an insurgent; a challenger; the underdog. It was a shrewd role for him to adopt, as he did the day before the debate on the wings of his internal poll showing the race tied 43 to 43. It was also shrewd because the Walsh campaign's attacks on Connolly, fueled by huge money, mailings, and an army of union door-knockers, had succeeded in getting voters to care a lot about what, said Walsh, Connolly has been and not much at all about what he would DO as Mayor. At the debate, Connolly time and again had to reassert that he is a City Councillor with a strong record of accomplishment.
It is never good when, at a campaign's final debate, the man who looks like the challenger has to fend off accusations from the man who looks like the incumbent. But in this case, the man who talks like the incumbent isn't. He doesn't have a record to defend. Thus Connolly was punching not a bag but a might-have-been.
Today we found out, at 1:00 PM, exactly what the debate portended : a new UMass Poll finds Walsh now leading Connolly 47 to 40; that people really do believe that Connolly is a corporate lawyer, not a City Councillor; and that Walsh represents the poor and middle class.
Connolly's hope is knowing that that poll did not take into accoungt the strong questions that he raised at the third debate about Walsh's record and connections. Unhappily for Connolly, the poll does take in Walsh's very weak performance at the second debate. If voters watching that debate did not decide for Connolly,. how will they decide for him now, after Walsh's best debate performance of the three ?
Connolly has six days to change voters' perception, to get them thinking about Walsh's status quo attitude, his army of one interest group, his base in the city's most unreconstructed communities — hardly a home plate whence to hit a home run for the future city. Can Connolly do it ? It';s all up to him at this point.
TO RID OURSELVES OF THE OLD POLITICS, WE REPEAT : JOHN CONNOLLY FOR MAYOR
John Connolly, Marty Walsh, Mayoral Election
^ a fighting reformer, a transformer even : John Connolly addresses supporters at last night's Debate watch party at Merengue on Blue Hill Avenue
As this year's race for mayor of Boston approaches voting day, it has become ever clearer that we are beset by the grip of old politics. We must shake off this dead hand, and do it now. Old politics thrives in old institutions set up long ago to address long-ago challenges. unhappily, the institutional drag survives long after those challenges have been met, its vested interests a grievous obstacle to progress. Such is the case in Boston's mayor race. It's why the Marty Walsh campaign looms large as we head to voting day.
Old politics are a curse. We have seen how old, reactionary politics of the Tea party have almost devoured the GOP, rendered it practically useless to most Americans. In the same way, as we wrote over a month ago, the campaign for Mayor has split the Democratic party between Obama Democrats and the Left. That split has now become as clear as the hulk of Godzilla stalking a japanese movie.
We like President Obama because he speaks for the innovation society that is already here and for the rise of new leadership from it, leadership that now takes on the task of transforming our schools, careers, social connections, lifestyles.
This innovation politics has, however,m divided the Democratic party, just as the rise, a decade ago, of pragmatic conservatism split the GOP.
In Boston, the Marty Walsh campaign has made its pact with the Left and its money. Granted that it had no choice. Facing John Connolly, a quintessential Obama Democrat, Walsh by himself had the votes only of union households and the City's oldest political community (and not even all of that). Thus his move, after the Primary, using his leadership position in Boston Organized labor to bring to his side politicians with large numbers of Union households in their Districts, and, at the same time, union money and door-knockers from everywhere.
Walsh's army is motivated by people who dare not risk what they already have. But people cannot just cling to what they have or know, because the economic and social world is changing faster than a speeding bullet. It is upon us all, and all of us must begin to move even faster.
This entails some risk; but the risk of not innovating, re-imagining, everything — schools, work, careers, connections, entrepreneurship — is far far greater.
The new economy is much, much bigger than the Democratic Left's constituencies. Union households comprise about 14 % of all workers. Most work coming into being today is not union-appropriate. The careers of today and tomorrow come in small business units, laboratories of innovation, connected by co-operative competition. They aren't assembly line. They aren't low-skill.
We agree that low skill work needs enactment of a living wage, so that people who work such jobs can participate fully in the economy — and so that we the public aren't forced to subsidize slave wage employers who need EBT and welfare in order to survive because hey aren't paid enough. But the minimum wage is a State Legislature matter, not a mayor's.
The mayor of Boston has a different mission : to guide the innovation economy into being, including innovated schools, policing, health care, social connectedness and an end to social segregation.
This is John Connolly's message. It's why today we proudly confirm the endorsement we gave to Connolly on October 7th.
John Connolly's open door message means innovation supporters as well. One of the features we most applaud about the John Connolly campaign is the newness of his following, Few of Connolly's people have any history at all in Boston politics. Some come from the Obama campaign, some too from Senator Warren's, and, yes, some from (Republican) Paul Cellucci's years. But by far the most are brand new to political combat, and most of these come from communities themselves new to the arena. this we like. Like it a Lot. The newer the better, in fact. Because that's what America is, at its finest : new, new, tomorrow, a future goal. Morning in America, as Ronald Reagan put it.
Morning means change and the unexpected, even the unpredictable. Into this morning, the politics of the Left needs to step, together with the Obama Democrats whose agenda the Left now recoils from, ominously.
And finally, as a coda to our endorsement, let us add this : the Democratic party cannot be split. Today it's the only feasible party of national government. It needs to hold together, in Boston and nationally, to direct the new economy, the new society. Until such time as the GOP returns to the field of common sense and forward, splitting the Democratic party, as the Left seems now intent on doing, really is playing with fire.
— Michael Freedberg, editor in chief / Here and Sphere
October 29, 2013 by hereandsphere
BOSTON ELECTION : DIFFERENCES APLENTY AT ROX-VOTE'S DISTRICT 7 COUNCIL FORUM
^ insurgent (and endorsed by Doris Bunte) : Jamahrl Crawford acts out at RoxVote Forum
Last night the RoxVote Coalition hosted a Forum for District 7's three Council candidates, followed by a Forum for the at-Large Council candidates. This report focuses on the District 7 Race, one of three District contests that we are paying close attention to.
The Forum gathered at Hibernian Hall on Dudley Street, and differences aplenty displayed themselves. One saw Tito Jackson, the incumbent, well dressed, well informed, almost professorial as he articulated his council service in detail; Jamahrl Crawford, his main challenger, passionate, a classic insurgent with a long, long history of activism; and Roy Owens, a quiet slender man who has run for office numerous times and whose issue is that City hall should work its Roxbury agenda through faith-based communities.
Time and again Crawford insurged his campaign demands : for housing afforability; that the Roxbury innovation Initiative needs all kinds of enterprises; that city services should revive the RISE movement; that gentrification of the District should mean economic development. Crawford spoke rapidly and intensely, a preacher inspiring. His presentation harked back to an earlier time, when oratory glowed hot onto the faces of listeners; yet it also elicited more applause from the 100 or so voters on hand than either Jackson or Owens. He talked at length about his grandmother, living on the third floor of their Ruthven street house even at her age and being feisty, not one to pander to (as Crawford said politicians do too often when addressing seniors); and this, too, drew applause from many.
^ detailed answers to all questions but one : Councillor Tito Jackson at RoxVote Forum
Jackson, by contrast, answered every question by narrating the actions he has taken to address the problem or advance the initiative. His housing plan is a three on three : one-third low income housing, one third affordable, and one third market rate. Jackson proposed communication and coffee hours as his constituent outreach proposal. He opined at length about the Boston Police's Safe Streets task force and the need for the City's Public Health Commission to rate crime a health problem.
About the Roxbury Innovation Center, Jackson noted that Tim Rowe of Cambridge innovation has committed to run it; but he did not give any answer as to why he was not present when his Council colleague John Connolly, with several prominent Roxbury business leaders at his side, announced his support for said Center. It was at that point that Crawford responded, "we should have had one years ago !"
As for Roy Owens, I mean no disrespect in reporting that his answers were hard to hear, seemed to ramble or disconnect from the question when one could hear them, and often included banter with his two rivals, inaudible except to them. Many in the audience chortled. His was obviously a presence well known to them and long since dismissed. Owens's one serious point was that all City services should be funneled through "faith based communities." In a District whose people are so well and diversely led by pastors and church congregations, his call did not seem to me an isolated gasp or readily dismissable. But a generational gulf separated it from Crawford's protest speeches and Jackson's managerial steadiness.
BOSTON MAYOR : CONNOLLY SAYS "I'M THE UNDERDOG"
innovation, John Connolly, Marty Walsh, Mayoral Election
^ the underdog in South Boston with St rep Nick Collins and, on the left, a man whom you may recognize — and his son.
After weeks of leading in the polls for Mayor of Boston, John Connolly today anointed himself the underdog. He even had a poll to prove it. This morning he allowed the Globe to observe as he gave a talk to his finance committee in which he revealed that his campaign's internal poll shows the race now tied, 43 to 43. This, after a Globe poll last week found Connolly leading 47 to 38 (with leaners assigned). Connolly declared that poll "an outlier' and said that in fact another poll last week, showing him ahead only 41 to 39, was more accurate.
The release, by Connolly himself, of a poll so bad for him puzzled many. Walsh people gloated that he, the "candidate of working families," as his spin doctors put it, "had huge momentum." And doubtless the news of said poll invigorated the already vigorous Walsh door-knockers. So why, then, did Connolly make such a move ?
The answer should be obvious.
By assuming the position of underdog, Connolly gave himself three huge advantages :
1.People who had simply assumed that Connolly would be the next Mayor now had to think again; to contemplate — envision — confront — Walsh as Mayor, with all of its implications, many of them not good for the fisc. This is why Connolly has been gradually stressing — and is now emphasizing — his mastery of the City budget, ahead of his original stance as "the education Mayor."
2.Given the mountain of big-pol endorsements given to Walsh in the past 16 days, and reports of a tidal wave of Labor Union money from all over, Connolly said something like, "OK, Marty, you ant to be the overdog ? Go right head, be the overdog. by all means — be my guest !"
3.People like underdogs. They want the small guy to beat the big guy. If not, Sylvester Stallone would not be a multi millionaire today. (As I mention a lot, it is 1959 all over again; John F. Collins with few endorsers against John E. Powers with all of them. Collins won.)
Lastly, with their man now drawing the underdog card, Connolly's workers can no longer be complacent. Their man is NOT going to coast to a ten-point victory. They will have to work for it — work hard and long and with the foul winds of desperation at their backs. Connolly's voters too. They know they can't stay home on election day.
This is the mindset you want your organization to have going into the last week before election day. You want your people committed to aee you win. Connolly as underdog is putting his people to that test. As well he should.
As for Walsh's people, they need to know this, and I am sure that the smartest of them already knows it : Walsh has bet the farm on his winning.
If he does not do so, likely it is that there will never be another significant Mayor campaign from a base tribally Irish and Union labor. Walsh's city is receding into history. Indeed, even if Connolly does not win, the society whence Walsh's core support arises will dwindle and calcify as stony as the statue of Paul Revere in the North End. There already IS a new Boston. entirely new. It is fresh and exciting, open and flush with innovation. It can only grow, and pollenate and bloom, because there is no other way forward. This the Walsh people sense. They're in a race against time. It's why they have felt such heat, all campaign long, as Connolly seeks to apply to his people, now, with all the marbles anted in.
— Michael Freedberg / Here and Sphere
MEEK AT THE MOVIES : THE COUNSELLOR ( 2.5 stars )
Meek at the Movies, News
Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, Michael Fassbinder, Penelope Cruz, Ridley Scott
^ mixed up shook up bad gals and bad guys : including Brad Pitt and Cameron Diaz in Ridley Scott's "The Counsellor"
Not so long ago the Coen Brothers deviated from their usually quirky fare and wove a hard-boiled yarn about lawmen and criminals playing it loose and lethal as they pursued an elusive satchel of money back and forth across the Southwest border. The basis for that masterpiece came from the laconic and acerbic prose of Cormac McCarthy's similarly titled novel, "No Country for Old Men." And in an odd and intriguing, first time move, the scribe, for iconic director Ridley Scott ("Alien" and "Blade Runner"), has delivered his first original screenplay. The result is full of pointed soliloquies, diatribes imbued with philosophy and poetry and even daubs of philosophy regarding poetry; but the mainstays, of course, are protracted dissertations on death and destiny, followed invariably by death.
Just as in "No Country" the plot is driven by an accidental anti-hero ensnared in a macabre web of underworld misdoings. In short, McCathy has cooked up an assured rearrangement of "No Country." It's not on par by any means, but it is entertaining. And, if you haven't gotten enough of him lately, Michael Fassbender tackles the eponymous role (that's all he's ever called), as a square-jawed, fashionably stoic defender, who, while very dapper and upper crust, has a litany of unsavory clients. One, an imprisoned mama kingpin (Rosie Perez put a lot of pizzazz into the brief role), asks him to pay a fine for her son who's in jail for a traffic violation (going over 200 mph). He reluctantly complies, but doesn't know that the kid is involved in a scheme to hi-jack a 20 million dollar drug shipment. Which doesn't matter, because by sheer association he's now considered one of the brains behind the ever expanding plot.
Zanies and assassins from every corner of the muted desert town start to drift up. And, if the similarities to "No Country" haven't hit you over the head at this point, Javier Bardem drops in for good measure as the shady club operator who has a few nascent business dealings with the Counsellor. Bardem's real life wife, Penelope Cruz, shows up too, as the Councilor's betrothed, but she's mostly just garnish and a bargaining chip. The real feminine fire power comes from the gams of Cameron Diaz as the high priestess of the Southwest gangland. She's flip, enjoys Gucci and Prada and doesn't value life too much, and, if she so desires it, she'll fuck a Ferrari (no joke).
Brad Pitt's in the mix too as another shady sort who advises the Counsellor on how to get his neck out of the noose, but his role, like Cruz's, feels more ornamental than substantive and perhaps somewhere out there, there's a studio exec who thought it would be devilish fun to release Pitt and Fassbender in this western noir the same week the pair appeared in the more serious, "12 Years a Slave"–celluloid buddies to save the day at the box office?
The problem with "The Counsellor" isn't so much the every twisting and inward folding machinations that keep the engine humming. That works quite well, the problem is that none of these people are likable and Fassbender's Counsellor is such a stiff, you never really give a rat's ass if he gets offed or not. But the film looks great. Scott has always been a visual stylist and really summons up the dusty milieu with artistic elan. McCarthy too packs it with some rich treasures and a potpourri of indelible underlings. Heads roll (literally) and the stash of drugs is carted around a septic truck that from time to time gets shot up and re-patched so that the shit don't stink. That's the wicked type of fun "Counsellor" has. It's not much, but it clicks along just enough.
— Tom Meek / Meek at the Movies
BOSTON MAYOR : ADDITION, NOT SUBTRACTION
Dan Winslolw, John Connolly, Marty Walsh, Mayoral Election
^ addition versus subtraction ? Politics at its most basic lesson
My friend Dan Winslow, an insurgent, civil rights Republican to whose US Senate campaign I consulted before gearing up Here and Sphere, liked to say to me, "addition, not subtraction." Every time I groused about our campaign finding favor with this or that constituency whose agenda or outlook I disagreed with, he would say it to me : "Addition, not subtraction."
Winslow has since left the State Legislature — a huge loss for imaginative politics in Massachusetts and for a constructive GOP — but his observation remains so true. In our democracy of many, many communities, interests, and individuals, the successful campaign draws from many people different. More singly defined campaigns tend otherwise. There are so, so many voters; hardly any single interest can compass more than a small portion. It's a losing situation in almost all cases. And once the "everybody else" begin to not see themselves within that single interest, the single interest campaign is cooked.
In this election, there is a single interest campaign almost feral in its singularity. Martin Walsh is a fine, fine man, and a hero of civil rights and personal struggle. By no means should any one disparage him. His friends follow him passionately : that says a whole lot. But as a candidate — on the large picture — he has defined single interest politics. He is a labor leader, labor unions are his career, his expertise, his theme, his following. Articulate he is — though not in debate — and, on many issues, extremely well informed. But everywhere he goes it is palpable that his goals are labor union goals. Labor union's goals are not, however, everybody's. Union labor comprises about 14 % of Boston voters. That is a mighty small minority. And the City's wisest labor leaders know it. They know that if union labor is to advance it must join with other constituencies, other interests, and add to a coalition, not stand alone.
Marty Walsh has worked tirelessly in his campaign to attract other interests. He addresses arts issues, school issues, diversity, interfaith, even innovation; has commissioned 40 position papers, 37 of which his campaign reports are now written; has won to his side many politicians from Boston's communities of color plus some State Legislators and two Boston Congressmen. Clearly he knows that without allies, his labor union following cannot win.
Walsh has bet the farm, that his outreach will not expose labor's numerical weakness. This is to risk a lot.
He has allowed labor unions to become a major issue in this campaign; and that is bad for labor unions ; because labor unions aren't exactly popular with most of the public, even in Massachusetts. Strikes send an unpleasant message of intimidation and intransigence. Take the school bus drivers' walkout, for example. Yes, Walsh condemned it. But the impression made was not an untrue one. Everyone also remembers the Verizon strike, with its images of angry picketers and stories of vandalism. Nor have Boston's public worker unions exactly made friends and influenced people. Arbitrators' awards that risk the City's finances and portend cuts in other City services make City unions look militantly selfish. Same too for the Boston Teachers' Union (BTU), which so far refuses to accept that school transformation will happen and that it would be better to help forge it rather than doggedly resist it.
Walsh rejects none of it. How can he ?
Thus his campaign has put labor unions under public scrutiny, in all their stubbornness, their resistance to change, their adversary attitude to everybody else. The passion, the heavy-handedness, the rush of politicians to get with Walsh because they don't want to break with labor — all of it has been a disaster for labor because it has engendered criticism of labor unions from people who would not have gone down that road, and because those criticisms have now become the common perception.
Labor actually emerges weaker from this campaign than had Walsh not become a candidate. As the respected leader of a powerful force in the city, Walsh had enormous influence. As a candidate, he has risked that influence upon a pitiless test : the judgment of the voters.
ALL the voters.
Meanwhile, John Connolly keeps on adding to his following the "everybody else" who are not members of City labor unions or followers of Walsh's labor-allied office holders.
OUR 5 YEAR OLD's GETTING MANDATORY SEX-ED?
Advice, Boston, coffeeorvodkaparenting911aparentsguide, Here and Sphere, living, News, Politics
5 year olds, advice, Boston, kindergarten, mandatory, parents, sex-ed, sexual education
Passed in Chicago Mandated Sexual Education for Kindergartners is like a cold case file. It was a heated debate at the start of the school year, only to make NO headlines since. Outraged as a parent vs my abstract — usually unbiased journalism side, I decided to ask around our area — the south coast, for input on the matter. Here is the result of the things combined above……..
Background 150 people were polled at random, 125 men 125 women from all social, financial, sexual, and political — as well as age brackets. With such diversity in our surveyed pool — for sure there would be a fairly decent ratio of No vs Pro Sex-Ed for 5 yr old's, RIGHT? WRONG, instead we found that actually only 2% agreed with the idea. When it was revealed that this law had already been passed — AND — became effective in Chicago IL. Public School Systems THIS YEAR……Our polled parties were beside themselves, some angry, others terrified — but ALL posing the question –"But HOW could parents ANYWHERE allow schools to take over like that?" THE QUESTION and ANSWERS posed later in this article seemed to silence all. If only for a few minutes of self-reflection, and deep thought. As the school year approached, and parents began to hustle for last-minute needs and supplies — parents of kindergartners were preparing in a whole different way. For many,this would be your first year with your baby/ babies in the "trusted hands" of the public school system. This year would begin your journey into uncharted territory — full of unknowns, unthinkable's,proud moments, and those Kodak Captured milestones — as parents you knew were going to come eventually. Yet the moment that matters is the moments you were living. The moments where you as a parent were in complete control of the outcome. Then you find yourself at that pivotal moment in time — where it stands still — and you realize THIS IS WHAT ALL THE FUSS IS ABOUT… Letting go……Handing the reigns, even if only for 6 hours a day –over to someone else. This was the time you loosen your tight grasp, slowly disengaging your entangled hands — and allowing your child to go into the world and BEGIN to learn……Begin to grow into their own….Begin the next chapter of their life's storybook. BUT DID YOU CONSIDER FOR ONE MOMENT — THAT YOUR BARELY SELF-SUFFICIENT, AUTONOMOUS, FREEWHEELING 5 YR OLD WOULD BE ((MANDATED)) TO HAVE SEXUAL EDUCATION TAUGHT TO HIM OR HER?? Didn't think so….. Well parent's of Chicago IL. kindergartners got just that. A reworked, updated curriculum — with a mandated sex-ed course starting in kindergarten. Chicago Public School or CPS officials say that the "sex ed curriculum will use age-appropriate language to teach children the correct names of body parts" ———-Are they serious? " Okay yes CPS, that's just a brilliant idea — I mean screw the part where what "we as a family unit and PARENTS of said children think or feel — HELL, as long as they are not calling their "thingy" a D**k, and she doesn't really think the name of her "bubbles" are boobs BY ALL MEANS GO AHEAD……." In the same statement CPS says it's curriculum will teach the kids about "bullying, and the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching." — ????????????????????? (Okay maybe were way off base here but I'm pretty sure any GOOD PARENT, has had the basic what is okay and what's not conversation as soon as possible with their child/children. The one's who haven't either felt no need "yet" or — at the other end of the spectrum should not be parent's at all, perhaps more focus on that end would be better than telling "OUR" children things that cross lines. Lines put in place to separate what the public see's and feels is RIGHT or OKAY — versus how ANY other household may view these subjects. After looking through comments and quotes made to the press, and even general statements and press releases — made by everyone from the CPS to (SIECUS) better known as Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States — a reoccurring barely noticeable trend was emerging. In EVERY statement about the curriculum — there always seemed to be loosely used terms poignant enough as to redirect the reader's attention. We will demonstrate as we move on. Right now we will redirect you ourselves back to our polled people. After confronting them with the question — and the rebuttal they gave (see top for refreshing.) The question was then posed…… Who did you vote for in the last 2 elections? Our polled group made up of 47% republican(only 23% of which conservative republicans) — 45% Democrat (30% of which considering themselves liberal democrats) — and the other 8% being an undisclosed or chose not to identify with either party. When revealed that they had ALL except 11% voted for President Obama — it was actually quite startling. Ages 18-65 — married, single, divorced, separated — poverty-stricken to wealthy — childless to hands full, and /or expecting — ONE COMMON DENOMINATOR — ALL VOTED OBAMA! Now what does Obama have to do with any of this you may wonder? Well our participant's did too. The answer is not at all black and white, cut and dry, with very little grey area — actually the more we researched the more we discovered how very deeply into "the grey" this subject is. Yet Obama does factor in and here is how, In 2003 Barack Obama supported even "pushed" for the proposal of mandated sex-ed for kindergartners — he went on to continue defending his stand on this matter, when running for president in 2008's election cycle. In 2003 Obama who was the then chairperson for the SIECUS committee, voted in favor of a bill (SB99) or Senate Bill 99 — that suggested making changes to the existing Illinois sex-ed law which at the time required instruction for grades 6-12 that included topics like AIDS how it is transmitted, spread, and how to prevent it. Illinois law also said "schools must teach honor and respect for monogamous heterosexual marriage." SB99 would have eliminated all mention of marriage in the Illinois sex-ed code. It would have REQUIRED that all material used in classrooms be "age and developmentally appropriate, and medically accurate". AND PAUSE — here is one example of A.) SPIN, and B.) Redirection from the main point. The main point here is that because heterosexual monogamous marriage is not the only kind of relationship it was discarded and no longer worthy of respect and honor. Also the fact that "age and developmentally appropriate, and medically accurate."materials be REQUIRED well (sigh of relief) for a second we thought by trying to veer away from the point of teaching our 5 year old's sex-ed — AND, taking away ALL mention of marriage, and attempting to redirect our focus — whereby putting us at ease with words like age-appropriate, and medically correct — just might have been the goal. (PHEW glad we cleared that up)……. Age-appropriate….Developmentally-appropriate….Medically-Correct — Here is where it gets sticky…. Who decides what age is appropriate? Is it the same age for everyone? (Especially since males supposedly mature slower than females.) What about the special education students? Or how the term medically correct actually means anatomically correct and human body accuracy. Who is the deciding voice? Who has come into OUR homes and asked OUR "opinion" on what our children are taught? Who asked the parents of these little ones what their beliefs — religious, or otherwise are? ((CRICKETS))??? Thought so. The SB99 bill — even with Obama's support and push as he called it, DID NOT PASS in 2003. However here are some highlights to keep in mind. Here is a video from a Planned Parenthood convention on July 17th, 2007 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in D.C. A "peer educator" in the D.C. public school system asked the then U.S. Senator Obama what his intentions where regarding the continued pushing forth with the teaching of "medically accurate, age-appropriate, and responsible sex-ed"? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zQryISazAc Obama proclaims with much conviction that "SEX-ED FOR KINDERGARTNERS IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO!" Obama is seen in this video joking about Alan Keys a running mate using the truth that "Obama had worked with Planned Parenthood to pass a bill on the topic mentioned above about sex-ed for our 5 year old's — during the time he served in the Illinois state legislature. Again the terms "science-based, fact-based, age-appropriate etc, are tossed around so freely. But as our polls indicate in (Many if not the majority of households here in the south coast and across the U.S. — sex-ed is NOT something that is taken so lightly. Not every household whether by dynamic or religion, or other variable sees this as a topic to be discussed or even touched upon at such a young and possibly detriment causing age. In many households sex-ed is a "FAMILY MATTER"and should not be left in the hands of teachers unfamiliar with each family the curriculum may affect. Key wording would be Family Matter." Sex-ed at ANY level at this age is usually discussed at an age and time frame a family / parent's have deemed appropriate" says one Chicago mother of three. Megan Morrow: " I am pissed the hell off she tells Here and Sphere. I am a mother happily married — my husband of 9 years is in the military, active duty at the moment. Our youngest child is adopted, he is 5. We adopted him when my sister passed away when he was 1 month old. We have not told him ALL of his story yet! ((she sobs)) ……. The new curriculum teaches them all about the different family dynamics and "types of families" including adoption…… "Why some kids look nothing like their "parents"etc. Our son adopted or not has bright red hair — his fathers genes were clearly dominant — the rest of our family are dark-haired, olive complected, dark-eyed….((more sobs)) — he is a very bright child he will know." she exclaimed…. "I don't want to play beat the clock to tell him first, unprepared with my husband lands away — ITS JUST NOT FAIR…… There are so many similar stories it is heart breaking. Delving deeper into the curriculum we dug up a "teacher's memo" showing things no media outlet has even touched on. Such as our 5 year old's spongy little brains may be just test subjects in a 7 year implementation of curriculum — developed to assess if it has low-mid-high or no impact on Chicago's nationally higher documented STD and underage, unwed pregnancy rate among K-12 graders. The "teacher's memo" consists of these sentences:
Part of the National multi-year Evaluation of Adolescent pregnancy prevention approaches funded by the office of Adolescent Health U.S. Department of Health and Human services.
Conducted by Mathematica Policy RESEARCH.
Here is the link you be the judge — http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/oah-initiatives/assets/ppa_chicago_implementation_report.pdf When researching for a broader opinion and/ or more facts regarding the curriculum — we also happened upon Thinkprogress.org — they seemed to have a very non-surprising, conservative bashing, liberal take on the matter. A quote from the article found on their site reads: "So what's at the root of all this concern? What kind of salacious details will Chicago's youngest student's be receiving, thanks to the new sex-ed guidelines? What does Obama want to force kindergartners to sit through?" Well for starters now that the bill has passed this year, it reads much like the SIECUS curriculum. Mandating instruction to our Kindergarten classes on things such as same-sex relationships, appropriate touching, correct terminology for anatomy. "Students will take a look at the different types of family structures that exist in today's society" and "When discussing same-sex relationships — we will use non-graphic terms" —— AGAIN let me point out the sugar-coating "non-graphic terms" (OH I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER)……Not remotely….. Using these what may be age-appropriate or non-graphic terminology to some — may be a whole other overwhelming, mind-blowing, and startling thing to a 5-year-old who has already had to endure the harsh truth of war, drug overdoses by parents, or family members and the list goes on………BUT WHERE DOES THIS ALL STOP? ENOUGH with the diversion tactics the smoke and mirrors, street magician bullshit –(bring your attention HERE……….and if we are lucky enough you won't see what we are up to over…………..HERE, HELL we might even get you on board the very train you wanted to derail…..Right? After all is said and done the fact remains that it is only a matter of time before Massachusetts and Rhode Island legislature attempt this in our homes , Cities, Towns, States, are you in the know? Where do you stand we want to hear from you? Comment, share, ask around these ARE OUR CHILDREN AFTER ALL………. Written by: Heather Cornell of Here and Sphere
OUR 5 yr OLD'S MANDATED TO HAVE SEX ED?
The Local Vocal
150 people were polled at random, 125 men 125 women from all social, financial, sexual, and political — as well as age brackets. With such diversity in our surveyed pool — for sure there would be a fairly decent ratio of No vs Pro Sex-Ed for 5 yr old's, RIGHT?
WRONG, instead we found that actually only 2% agreed with the idea. When it was revealed that this law had already been passed — AND — became effective in Chicago IL. Public…
BOSTON MAYOR : PAY PARITY, PAR, PAY EQUITY ? WHO KNEW
John Connolly, Labor law, Marty Walsh, Mayoral Election, Pay equity, Pay Parity
^ The Budget Master versus the Union Master : who will do a better job of untangling City union contracts ? (photo by Chris Lovett of BNN, posted at FB)
Who knew that the labor contract concept of "pay parity" would become a defining issue in this year's mayor campaign ? I doubt if many voters know even what "pay parity" is. I sure didn't, and I've spent half a lifetime swimming in Boston city politics. Yet we DO know that negotiating contracts with the City's public employee unions — some 33 of them, I think — is one of the Mayor's top responsibilities; and the two finalists both come well equipped to master such negotiations. Marty Walsh is himself a labor leader, and John Connolly a master of the city's budgets and finance. Thus the "can he negotiate a city worker contract ?" question would seem to be easily answered "Yes." But it isn't.
The question became hard to answer on the day, about three weeks ago, when the arbitrator deciding the new Boston Police Patrolmens' Association contract announced a raise of 25.4% over six years. The City heard the news and went into emotional hemmhorage. $ 80,000,000 this award would cost ? And what now when the Fire Fighters Local 718 came to the table next year ? how much would they want ? After all, their last contract negotiation had gone past arbitration to rejection by the City Council and, finally, a raise that just barely missed forcing the City to close its libraries.
Dropping this bomb into the middle of a heavily populated Mayor campaign looked sure to affect the outcome. Suddenly everyone wanted to read Arbitrator Buckalew's 1-page decision. In it we meet the concept of 'pay parity.'
The decision does not explain how Buckalew applied the concept, but — I beg you bear with me — it goes like this : ( 1 ) most agree that Boston's Police and Fire fighters should get something like pay parity ( 2 ) but do we apply parity to their base pay, or do we factor in their second job income ( 3 ) if we factor in the extra income of both groups, the award achieves pay parity : each union's members earn 107,900 to 109,000 a year in total ( 4 ) but wait : the Fire fighters' extra income isn't from public employment, it's from second jobs; whereas the Police extra income comes from overtime and details, most of it public payroll work ( 5 therefore it's unfair to include the Fire Fighters' second job income in calculating pay parity ( 6 ) but if you don't, then the Police pay is almost 60% higher than what the Fire Fighters earn from public work.
You got that ? Read it again. Then cough.
A link to the Arbitrator's Decision follows. i know that you cannot WAIT to read it, but just in case you do want to read it, here it is :
Click to access Scanned%20BPPA%20Award.pdf
Unhappily, the only mention of pay parity in the entire 11-page award is found on page one, in which the arbitrator awards a "one time parity adjustment" of $ 2000 payable on January 1, 2014. Other than that, he does not talk of parity, but simple math says that he based his parity award on base pay, not total pay. The 25.4% six-years of pay raises, too, build upon base pay. This seems fair enough — were it not that both the Fire fighters and the Police earn an average annual pay about 40,000.00 higher than base. By what justification do these two work groups merit pay raises much more generous than those granted the City's other 30 unions (Boston Teachers Union not included) ? Given the outsize award, the certainty that the Fire fighters will next year demand their own base-pay parity adjustment, and the high degree of union activism in this year's campaign, what avails the City's voters but to expect a large attack upon City budgets and solvency ?
After all, Tom Menino, even with his 83 % approval rating assuring re-election every four years, could not halt the growth of Police and Fire fighter pay awards. How will a Mayor who depends utterly on union support do so ?
Still, why need it come to this ? There is another scale for determining workers' pay ; pay equity. We apply it when measuring how workers in approximately equal jobs are to be equally paid. Can we not find a way to apply pay equity to the contract negotiations of Boston's police and Fire fighters ? (not to mention the City's other unions.) Fire fighting isn't police work, and vice versa, but the two careers share much ; on duty, off duty; life-threatening work; calls upon a moment's notice; working from district stations. Both careers require passing an exam. Both require skill in emergency response. It would be so much easier to settle both unions' contracts in one negotiation applying pay equity. And more : the pay equity principle would, eventually, once the City's tax revenue can fund it, bestow a needed raise upon workers in the unions not blessed as are the Police and Fire fighters.
But that would mean change — reform — thinking outside the box : a concept just about as foreign to Boston City governance as scientific evidence is to a Creationist.
This must change. City governance needs to be re-thought, and soon, because as the society it governs is changing rapidly, if city governance does not change, it will be an obstacle rather than an empowerment. Much of Boston governance already is an obstacle. That much has been made clear by at least half of the 12 Mayor hopefuls who competed in the Primary.
Which leads us to the question ; who can better untangle the City's labor conundrums : the Union Master, Marty Walsh, or the Budget master, John Connolly ? Guess we will soon find out.


text:
Prop 400: Convenience vs. congestion is at issue
Originally Published: March 11, 2007 5 a.m.
Tuesday is Election Day for Proposition 400 in Prescott Valley. Actually, it's more of a vote-count day, because it's a mail-in election. Ballots have been out since mid- February. Many if not most voters have already decided.
The issue is whether the people want to ratify a town council vote to rezone 19.5 acres across Florentine north of the Fry's Shopping Center and west of Glassford Hill Road to allow construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter.
Probably no one in Prescott Valley can say they haven't heard the arguments in favor of the rezoning. Wal-Mart has spent a large (yet unknown) amount of money to bombard everyone with signs, advertisements and direct-mail fliers to extol the benefits of a Wal-Mart here, even if the campaign committee appears to have violated campaign reporting laws.
The pro faction cites the convenience of having Wal-Mart with its wide array of groceries and merchandise at excellent prices, as well as jobs and sales tax revenue to enable the city to offer more and better services to a growing population.
The anti-faction comprises Local 99 of the United Food and Commercial Workers and no-growthers who don't want commercial development and others who want the Wal-Mart everywhere but at the proposed sight.
Let's say the opponents get their way. The union may get a tenant on the site more friendly to unions, but for sure the Fain Signature Group will go back before the council to seek rezoning for another store. The 19.5 acres in question are part of a 50-acre commercial site that has reservations for three large stores, including a Kohl's. The no-growthers may get a 19.5-acre riparian tract in the highly unlikely best case, but other big box retailers will surround it.
The common-sense voters will vote "yes," but we all know common sense often plays no role in referenda.
Voter turnout adds credibility
PV voters approve Wal-Mart measure
Committees neglect to file campaign statements on time
Top 10 Stories of 2007: #7 - Wal-Mart in PV


According to sellers, these marketplaces have added credit on delivery options but that hasn't compensated for the loss incurred over undelivered COD orders.
The current cash crisis is palpable yet India is shopping. But it hasn't been a smooth ride for e-commerce platforms which have been reeling under pressure over undelivered orders as a lot of customers have opted for cash on delivery or COD, but are offering only the old currency notes. On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a ban on the use of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes and asked the citizens to get their old cash exchanged for the new Rs 2,000 notes. While this led to a rise in use of cashless services, e-commerce platforms such as Flipkart, Amazon, and Snapdeal are finding it difficult to fulfill orders that have been marked for COD.
On one hand, digital payments have shot up over demonetization of the old currency notes. However, on the other hand, undelivered online purchases too have gone up by over 50 percent. Online sellers who list their products on these portals say that consumers who place online orders and opt for COD mode for payments, ask the delivery people to accept the banned notes or take back the order. This has resulted in a surge in returns, ET Tech reports.
"This is a further loss to us as Snapdeal and Amazon charge us shipping fees on such orders," said a spokesperson of All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA) that represents 1,500 online sellers. Following the announcement on demonetization, e-commerce platforms had stopped COD mode which accounted for close to 60 percent of online shopping in the country. However, with the introduction of new Rs 2,000 currency notes, the COD payment option had been resumed. According to the AIOVA spokesperson, high rate of undelivered returns is more concerning as overall e-commerce sales are down by up to 70 percent since the demonetization.
COD has been one of the popular payment options for a significant section of the Indian consumers which shops online. This is due to the sheer convenience it offers to consumers who prefer to receive their orders first and pay later. It is also preferred because there are times the orders are delayed or cancelled over unavailability, for which refund is not possible in cash. Also, given that people now have to get their old currency notes exchanged by December 31, 2016, the rise in returns is bound to be steady for a while. Online marketplaces have also tightened their return policies in the last two years which has helped them to bring down the return rate from 25 percent to 10 percent.