text:
module ActiveRecord
  module ConnectionAdapters
    module SQLite3
      module Quoting # :nodoc:
        def quote_string(s)
          @connection.class.quote(s)
        end

        def quote_table_name_for_assignment(table, attr)
          quote_column_name(attr)
        end

        def quote_table_name(name)
          @quoted_table_names[name] ||= super.gsub(".", "\".\"").freeze
        end

        def quote_column_name(name)
          @quoted_column_names[name] ||= %Q("#{super.gsub('"', '""')}")
        end

        def quoted_time(value)
          value = value.change(year: 2000, month: 1, day: 1)
          quoted_date(value).sub(/\A\d\d\d\d-\d\d-\d\d /, "2000-01-01 ")
        end

        def quoted_binary(value)
          "x'#{value.hex}'"
        end

        def quoted_true
          "1"
        end

        def unquoted_true
          1
        end

        def quoted_false
          "0"
        end

        def unquoted_false
          0
        end

        private

          def _type_cast(value)
            case value
            when BigDecimal
              value.to_f
            when String
              if value.encoding == Encoding::ASCII_8BIT
                super(value.encode(Encoding::UTF_8))
              else
                super
              end
            else
              super
            end
          end
      end
    end
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


How could I refuse such a beautiful fantasy?
Dare you to split the sky with this fornicated fantasia?
And drink full the wisdom of a single breath, quietly freezing in the temple of the night.
And will I be able to behold the fury of this pain?
Who would touch my deepest fears with a thorn of understanding?
I will drink the dew from thy chalice, and eternal, mourn for misery's tender embrace.
For all that I have known, I do not know who stares behind these eyes.
I no longer belong in this place of scowling faces.
For it was painted as the shadow in which I roam.
And I find this is most beloved of my mournful soul–to find understanding.
For they know the structure of the intricate dreams that I dream.
But within, still, remains the ponderings of a suffocating struggle to be free.
I question each sound which reverberates within this mind of illusory departure.
To find emotion once more; to find the dreamer which lurks inside these dying halls.
My labrynth is filled with deadly passages, consumed with madness and fear.
For these ancient monoliths have fallen, and I wish not to set foot upon that dread place.
But this is a place that I no longer know, and I am the stranger here.
All eyes are upon my transparent form, and I am become one of the ghosts in this place.
But it is my true companions which have held me fast in the sweat of my disease.
Will you touch the stars with me?
And beckon the raging river which flows faster with every wish?
Will you dare to hear the silent whisper of the teardrop I now hold?
All the while, I reach for your hand and ask — will you dream?
My son's poetry blog here on wordpress!
Thirsty for more dark poetry?
Pour me a glass and sign me up!


text:
Q: google +1 function in iphone app without UIWebView? I know I can add google +1 in the app via UIWebView + JavaScript
But does google +1 have a REST api? I won't use UIWebView in my app and wish to keep consistence in this way. So I would like to create my own UIButton and use +1 as I wish
Anyone knows how?
Thanks

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The position is with the Go-to-Market function and you would be responsible for supporting our global sales force worldwide by assisting and undertaking a broad range of tasks including but not limited to sales reporting, sales business intelligence, and analytics across Wipro Technologies. Through these functions, the team provides visibility into the company's sales pipeline, integrating information from sales, customer and financial sources for a complete and detailed overview of the organization's sales performance. In addition to formulating go-to-market strategies that assist in increasing pipeline and sales. Confident and persuasive interaction with senior / sales leaders. Confident and persuasive interaction with senior / sales leaders. Ability to develop and maintain strong internal and external relationships. Ability to navigate internet sources, collect/assimilate strategy-supporting data & insights. Design , Execute and Manage Sales Analytics and Reporting for large enterprise for sales insights. Provide actionable insights from huge volume of data (Both Structured and Unstructured) using Data Mining, Data Cleansing techniques. Analyze results and set up reports, design dashboards containing relevant KPI,measures that would enable senior management and sales force towards decision making. Business analysis, decision support and working within various reporting systems for enhanced sales execution. Communicate and provide relevant recommendations to key leadership stakeholders - Sales/Pre-sales/Leadership through analytics while addressing real business problems/issues/challenges.


text:
The Forgotten Life of Arthur Pettinger: absolutely heartbreaking World War 2 historical fiction by Suzanne Fortin
'This story has great depths of emotion, highs and lows, and I found it utterly gripping!' Christina Courtenay
'A deeply moving story of love in all its forms – I adored it' Mandy Baggot
The secrets of the past won't remain hidden forever...
Arthur Pettinger's memory isn't what it used to be. He can't always remember the names of his grandchildren, where he lives or which way round his slippers go. He does remember Maryse though, a woman he hasn't seen for decades, but whose face he will never forget.
When Arthur's granddaughter, Maddy, moves in along with her daughter Esther, it's her first step towards pulling her life back together. But when Esther makes a video with Arthur, the hunt for the mysterious Maryse goes viral.
There's only one person who can help Maddy track down this woman – the one that got away, Joe. Their quest takes them to France, and into the heart of the French Resistance.
When the only way to move forwards is to look back, will this family finally be able to?
Perfect for fans of Kate Morton, Lucinda Riley, Karen Swan and Lorna Cook
What readers are saying about The Forgotten Life of Arthur Pettinger:
'Five stars' Poppy Alexander
'Fantastic read. I have been completely unable to put this one down. I cannot wait to read more by this author' NetGalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'This is a beautiful account that stops you dead in your tracks' NetGalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'This book is the love story to end all love stories... I was hooked by the end of the first chapter and I didn't want to put this book down' NetGalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'This book broke my heart in all the right places. OMG masterfully written... I could not put this down. Loved everything about this book. Happiness, tears, it had it all' NetGalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'What a read... Beautifully written with the depth and warmth of true love. I could not put this book down. Exceptionally intriguing' NetGalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Head of Zeus, an Aria book * Historical Fiction
04 Mar 2021 * 464pp * £0.99 * 9781800243750
'A charming read'
Imaginative and moving, Fortin's time-slip novel digs into the realities of living with Alzheimer's disease... Ageing, hope, loss, love and self-discovery are all here in this very special story'
Woman's Weekly
'A special story'
'This is such a heart-warming and gentle story'
National Federation of Occupational Pensioners Members' Magazine
Suzanne Fortin
Suzanne Fortin also writes as Sue Fortin, a USA Today and Amazon UK & USA bestselling author, with The Girl Who Lied and Sister Sister both reaching #1 in the Amazon UK Kindle chart in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Her books have sold over a million copies and translation rights for her novels have been sold worldwide. She was born in Hertfordshire but had a nomadic childhood, moving often with her family, before eventually settling in West Sussex where she now lives with her husband and family.
ALSO BY Suzanne Fortin

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I am a recent college grad, moving to Edgewater NJ and trying to get a job in NYC. I love going on adventures, trying new activities, and meeting new people!
I am looking for people to go on adventures with. I want to travel and hike around the Adirondacks and Catskills more often.


Originally published in The Intercept on Feb. 28, 2019.
Deciding whether to sign onto the Green New Deal resolution is not an easy call for many members of Congress. They have to contend with the usual opponents: coal, utilities, oil companies, and other big-pocketed interests who like today's economic order just fine. But even on the left, coalition-building can be complicated.
After signing onto the Green New Deal as an original sponsor, one House Democrat felt that acutely when he traveled back to his district and met with two top local labor leaders. The congressperson, who asked not to be named, said he faced harsh criticism from building trade representatives who worried the plan would put their members out of work. He pushed back, arguing that their members will actually fare better with a green infrastructure plan that can drive up wages for blue collar work, pointing to jobs like retrofitting buildings and constructing renewable energy infrastructure.
Recent polling has found strong bipartisan support for a Green New Deal, but unions, a key constituency, have been less than enthused by — and in some cases, downright hostile to — the ambitious proposal to tackle climate change.
For many observers, the construction union's opposition was not too surprising. LIUNA had ardently supported the Dakota Access pipeline and said in 2016 that the labor organizations who opposed the project were "self-righteous" and "display[ing] a truly amazing level of hypocrisy and ignorance." In January 2017, shortly after Donald Trump's inauguration, LIUNA was one of several building trade unions to meet with the president, later praising Trump's "remarkable courtesy" and affirmed that LIUNA "look[s] forward" to partnering with the White House on infrastructure.
As advocates of the Green New Deal work to gin up more support for the resolution, they face the challenge of parsing out bad-faith criticisms from legitimate critiques by those whose livelihoods would be impacted by a transition to green jobs. The way they straddle that line and respond to those concerns could make all the difference in getting the critical mass of support needed for the Green New Deal to pass.
Ocasio-Cortez and Markey's nonbinding resolution includes explicit language backing union jobs that pay prevailing wages and a commitment for "wage and benefit parity for workers" affected by the energy transition. The Green New Deal also calls for "strengthening and protecting" the right of workers to organize and collectively bargain, and for "enacting and enforcing trade rules, procurement standards, and border adjustments" with strong labor protections.
Despite those promises, only one big union, 32BJ SEIU, has come out swinging in support of the Green New Deal. The majority of labor organizations have so far stayed quiet or voiced skepticism or criticism. The opposition, particularly for those in the building industry, is rooted in concerns about jobs and wages, as well as the approaches favored in the resolution for decreasing carbon emissions. There is also a political thread, with Trump-voting Republican coal miners, for example, hesitant to embrace a policy that has been sponsored only by members of the Democratic caucus.
Two weeks ago, seven unions representing workers in the building industry sent a letter to the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and its ranking member, Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., saying they "have grave concerns about unrealistic solutions such as those advocated in the 'Green New Deal.'" The unions have also used the letter — which outlines their climate legislative priorities — in meetings with House members and senators since January, according to Phil Smith, spokesperson for the United Mine Workers of America.
Despite advocating their position in Congress, the signatories have not yet made public statements on the Green New Deal. Mark Brueggenjohann, spokesperson for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which signed the letter, told The Intercept that his union is not commenting now on the resolution, but "will be better prepared to do so" when actual legislation is available.
One climate strategy that many unions have said is important is investing in carbon capture technology and storage — a conceivable, if yet to be realized, way to prevent most of the carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuel plants from entering the atmosphere. This method has already generated a bit of controversy in the rollout of the Green New Deal.
Carbon capture technology is somewhat polarizing. Critics say it's risky to bank on pricey technology that does not really exist yet, and they say that the fossil fuel industry uses the prospect of carbon capture as an excuse to avoid reining in their environmentally harmful businesses.
The Green New Deal resolution doesn't explicitly rule out carbon capture technology, but in a section that deals with removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, the authors endorse "proven low-tech solutions that increase soil carbon storage," like protecting land and planting new trees. Other vaguely written sections of the resolution, however, could open the door for carbon-capture technology. The resolution endorses "creating solutions to remove" emissions, and endorses the international exchange of technology, products, and services to address climate change.
The resolution is nonbinding, so the inclusion or exclusion of a provision does not dictate how future legislation will be written, but it does suggest some hesitancy to embrace carbon capture technology and storage.
The Sunrise Movement does not see "a heavy role for carbon capture and storage," said Weber, the group's political director, though he said it could be worth investing in some research and development for so-called heavy industry like steelmaking and shipbuilding. He noted that carbon capture technology is "pretty expensive compared to just reducing emissions by moving toward alternative forms of energy." Ocasio-Cortez's and Markey's offices did not return requests for comment.
Saikat Chakrabati, Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff, responded to early criticisms of the Green New Deal by saying that they envision future legislation that would provide economic security to miners who would find a switch to a new career challenging.
When asked if his members see an urgency to address climate change, Smith said they haven't done formal polling, but that "anecdotally, our membership is very split on that issue." He noted that plenty of miners voted for Trump and tend to agree with his perspective on climate change.
Sean McGarvey, president of the North America's Building Trades Unions, or NABTU, told Reuters that his members were skeptical of promises of "green jobs" and noted that "renewable energy firms have been less generous" than the oil and gas sector when it comes to paying their workers. Renewable jobs, notably, are generally safer than fossil fuel jobs and can be done anywhere in the country, unlike jobs that are dependent on the location of a mine or an oil rig.
Like the mine workers, when it comes to NABTU and other critics of the Green New Deal, members' political orientations are relevant.
In 2016, NABTU, along with LIUNA and a handful of other unions, sent a letter to the AFL-CIO, calling on the federation to cut ties with Democratic billionaire donor Tom Steyer, a vocal critic of the Keystone oil pipeline. (Since Trump's election, Steyer has also frequently called for the president's impeachment.) Despite their agreement over Keystone, the groups' partisan leanings are a bit divergent. In the 2018 cycle, NABTU gave 41 percent of its political action committee contributions to Democratic candidates and 59 percent to Republicans. More than 75 percent of LIUNA's contributions, by contrast, went to Democrats in the last election.
NABTU and LIUNA did not return multiple requests for comment.
Weber, the Sunrise Movement's political director, said some of the concerns unions have raised about needing more specificity are "completely valid," though he accused LIUNA of lying about what the resolution contains and misrepresenting climate science. "It's always kind of disappointing to see potential allies resort to tactics that we see the right wing and our common enemies using," he said.
With respect to labor issues, Weber said, the Green New Deal is "leaps and bounds ahead of previous climate proposals." From his group's perspective, if energy workers cannot find new jobs that pay them equal to what they're currently earning, then "the government should step in and make up that difference," he said.
In an interview with The Intercept, 32BJ's New York City-based president, Héctor Figueroa, proudly noted that his union was the first to come out in support of the Green New Deal. "We can build unity in labor if we can recognize the urgency of the climate crisis" and effectively link the fight for climate justice to economic justice, he said.
32BJ's February resolution on the Green New Deal "marked a new phase" in the union's engagement on climate change, as for the past two decades, they've focused primarily on advocating for green jobs and energy efficiency standards, Figueroa said. "Now we're taking another step, which is to very clearly and categorically say we need to build a future without fossil fuel," he explained.
Their next task will be to pressure their national union, SEIU, to support the Green New Deal. "We are very passionate about it, and we believe it's the right place for labor," he said.
Other locals may also play a role in pressing their parent unions for support. Out in California, the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, of which an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local is a member, issued a resolution in support of the Green New Deal.
Aside from that, most unions have stayed silent — even those that have contributed to the discourse around climate change in the past. The AFL-CIO, for example, passed a resolution in October 2017 on "Climate Change, Energy, and Union Jobs." The resolution affirmed the labor federation's commitment to passing "energy and environmental policies with a focus on ensuring high labor standards, the creation of union jobs and environmental sustainability," and also affirmed its support for enacting "comprehensive energy and climate legislation that creates good jobs and addresses the threat of climate change." In 2009, the AFL-CIO worked to shape the House's cap-and-trade bill. The American Clean Energy and Security Act — the name of which is conspicuously missing the term "climate change" — died in the Senate without a vote.
David Foster, the former executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, wrote an op-ed in The Hill earlier this month, urging the public to study the lessons from a decade ago, the last time leaders called for a global Green New Deal. "Unless the transition to a clean energy economy is based on unifying politics, this next iteration will also prove another adventure in pyrrhic rhetoric," Foster warned. A decade ago, unemployment was high and the price of oil was also skyrocketing. While neither are true today, he noted, inequality remains terrible and working conditions throughout the entire economy feel even more precarious.
Originally published in The Intercept on July 5, 2018.
The annual meeting of the National Education Association, the country's largest public-sector union, held in Minnesota this week was much more high stakes than in years past. Typically, the convention is a chance for educators to vote on bread-and-butter issues like budget priorities and advocacy target areas. But the 8,000 or so students, retired teachers, and NEA delegates who descended on the Minneapolis Convention Center had more existential questions on their minds. In the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that dealt a crippling blow to public-sector unions, they debated strategies to expand their membership, keep union members apprised of their rights, and recover from the impending financial loss that is sure to happen in a post-Janus world.
In Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, a 5-4 Supreme Court majority ruled last week that despite laws requiring public-sector unions to represent all workers in a workplace, fees charged to non-members to support the costs of collective bargaining violate the First Amendment. For more than four decades, the Court has held it constitutional for unions to collect money from non-members to support the costs of negotiating contracts on their behalf. Janus overturned that precedent, meaning that employees can now enjoy the benefits of collective bargaining without having to pay for it. Labor unions are bracing for substantial revenue loss.
Now, the choice before teachers is paying either hundreds of dollars in annual membership dues, or nothing at all. The NEA, which represents a little over 3 million members, is forecasting a loss of 370,000 members over the next two years. Approximately 88,000 educators have been non-members paying NEA agency fees, and the union anticipates at least several hundred thousand current members will also rescind their union cards.
"Janus was nothing more than a pretext for the Koch brothers and all their funded-friends to push for union members to drop out," NEA President Lily Eskelsen García told The Intercept. "With Janus, they don't care about the [agency] fee payers, they care about reducing our resources and our actual members." She pointed to the multi-million dollar effort recently launched by a Koch-backed group to persuade dues-paying members to opt-out.
While some states where NEA wields the most influence, like California, New York, and New Jersey, have required non-members to pay agency fees, the recent wave of teacher strikes that exploded across the nation in states like West Virginia, Arizona, and Oklahoma occurred in right-to-work states — which purport to protect workers from being required to join unions, but make collective bargaining more challenging and don't require agency fees. Conservatives point to the walkouts as proof that agency fees aren't really necessary. But workers in right-to-work states say they understand their efforts are aided by the national unions, which will certainly take a financial hit from Janus.
Back in the 1980s, when Eskelsen García was a 6th grade teacher, she served as bargaining chair for her union in Utah, a non-collective bargaining state. "There's still a lot you can do without anyone's permission," she said. Just as superintendents and school board members largely supported the teachers who went on strike in red states this year, Eskelsen García said many administrators have shown willingness to bargain with unions even when not compelled to by state statute.
Indeed, at the NEA convention, despite the looming financial threats, the thousands of attendees were palpably emboldened by the teacher walkouts, collective actions that gave them a renewed and clearer sense of their own power. Though the protests were not union-initiated — beginning spontaneously with the grassroots — Testerman, of the NEA's Center for Organizing, said his union is working to marry "the organic and the organized" as actions erupt. "It's something we got better with over time, and Arizona was a good example," he told The Intercept. "You don't want the union to take it over, but having some organized entity who can get you permits and porta-potties and things like that can help you get even more done." According to Testerman, Arizona's NEA affiliate has seen an 8 percent increase in its membership since last year. "I don't think the walkouts are over," he added, noting that the future of the movement will depend on what happens in upcoming legislative sessions.
NEA leadership defended the proposal, explaining that four other major unions, including AFCSME, have a similar membership category for the public, and all but 14 of the NEA's state affiliates do too. For example, the Pennsylvania NEA affiliate has a "Partners for Public Education" membership category. Plus, NEA leaders added, community allies would have the same $5,000 political contribution limits to the PAC as do regular members. Tripp Jeffers, a delegate from North Carolina, spoke in favor of the amendment, saying a version of it already works well in his state. "We get by with a little help from our friends," he quipped. Joe Thomas, the president of the Arizona Education Association, also defended the amendment, reminding the audience that the parents and community members who walked alongside educators during Arizona's six-day teacher strike were instrumental in helping the union rebut the political narrative that their action was solely about teacher wages.
That was not enough to convince the 8,000 delegates, though. The measure was narrowly defeated on Wednesday, with just over 60 percent of delegates voting in favor. Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority to pass.
Janus has also sparked a legal and political debate over whether dues-paying members need to proactively reauthorize their union membership. The majority opinion, authored by Justice Samuel Alito, states that "neither an agency fee nor any other form of payment to a public-sector union may be deducted from an employee, nor may any other attempt be made to collect such a payment, unless the employee affirmatively consents to pay." Conservatives have latched onto this "affirmative consent" idea to say that all those represented by a union, members and agency-fee payers alike, should have to affirmatively opt-in.
The question over re-commitments first arose three years ago, when the Supreme Court heard the case of Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, an anti-public sector union case considered to be the predecessor of Janus. (Friedrichs also challenged public-sector agency fees, but Justice Antonin Scalia's unexpected death in 2016 resulted in a 4-4 decision that left the fees alive until Janus was brought before the court.) Despite the teacher union's position that re-commitments are not legally necessary, both the NEA and the American Federation of Teachers have been working since then on getting re-commitments from all their members. The AFT reports that out of 800,000 members in 18 states with agency fees, more than 500,000 members have pledged membership renewals since January.
"The re-commit campaigns have really been an organizing strategy to go out and talk to our members about what these Supreme Court cases mean, and the value of belonging and acting collectively," Testerman told The Intercept. "If members don't know who the union is and what the union stands for, they are not likely to remain a member and we're not taking anything for granted." He said the NEA has seen a growth in membership for the last three years in a row, at an average of 0.5 percent per year.
But the tactics some union affiliates have taken to secure member re-commitments have stirred controversy, and they may be legally vulnerable in the post-Janus world.
Los Angeles teachers took a similar approach. In its recommitment campaign, the United Teachers of Los Angeles asked members to sign membership forms with fine print that said, "This agreement shall be automatically renewed from year to year unless I revoke it in writing during the window period, irrespective of my membership in UTLA." The legal language was first reported by Mike Antonucci, who runs the Education Intelligence Agency, a union watchdog site. "So a teacher who takes an administrative position, or leaves teaching altogether, and is then ineligible to be a UTLA member, will still be on the hook for dues payments until the next window comes around," Antonucci surmised.
Some conservative-backed litigation is already coming down the pipe.
Eight NEA state affiliates, including some in New York, Maryland, California, and Washington, are currently targets of class action lawsuits seeking to recover agency fees previously paid to the teacher unions before Janus. "The lawsuit we filed is a refund of the fees that were illegally retracted," said John Bursch, the lawyer who filed the class action on behalf of California teachers. Alice O'Brien, the NEA's general counsel, reminded delegates at the convention that whomever replaces Justice Anthony Kennedy, who announced his retirement just hours after siding with the majority in Janus, could help decide whether unions must pay back agency fees or not.
Another case, filed in February 2017, takes square aim at union opt-out rules. In Yohn v. California Teachers Association, Ryan Yohn and seven other California educators objected not only to paying agency fees but also to bureaucratic hurdles employees must go through if they want to opt-out of union membership. The teachers argue workers should have to affirmatively opt-in to a union, not opt-out. "We're not free-riders, we're forced riders,"one plaintiff told Education Week in February. The case is being brought by the Center for Individual Rights, the same libertarian law firm that brought the Friedrichs suit.
In anticipation of a Supreme Court decision striking down agency fees, unions have been lobbying state legislators for the last few years to support new bills that could help labor strengthen its position. Specifically, labor organizations have pushed for new measures that would more easily allow union representatives to make the case for membership to new public-sector employees and to limit the services unions have to provide to non-members.
Last year in California, the legislature passed two such bills: one that allows public-sector unions to give presentations to new employees during their job orientations, and another that restricts what government employers can say to their staff about the pros and cons of joining a union. Two bills are pending now that would give labor groups an opportunity to weigh in on a worker's intent to cancel their union dues.
Maryland legislators passed a bill this spring requiring new teachers to meet with a union representative within 30 days of their hiring or by their first pay period. It became law in April without the signature of Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, signed a more expansive bill in May that gives unions a number of new protections, including the right to meet with new employees for at least a half hour within 30 days of being hired and a guarantee that public employers will provide the union with exclusive representation contact information for all new employees.
In New York, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo in April signed what he called "the Janus bill," which in addition to providing unions with contact information for all new public-sector workers, also makes clear that unions are not required to provide non-members with the full range of union services. For example, non-members facing disciplinary charges will now have to obtain their own attorneys, whereas the union covers legal representation for dues-paying members. Last week, immediately following the Janus decision, Cuomo issued an executive order to protect public employee contact information from those who may try to target them in union opt-out campaigns. It was mostly a symbolic gesture, since the state already has similar privacy protections on the books.
Originally published in The New Republic on September 28, 2017.
Originally published in the The American Prospect on July 6, 2016.
On Tuesday morning, as the FBI issued a recommendation to not indict Hillary Clinton for her use of a personal email server while secretary of state, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee came before more than 7,500 delegates at the National Education Association's Representative Assembly in Washington, D.C., and praised public charter schools—to the audible dismay of some of the delegates—while condemning for-profit ones.
The moment of tension emerged when Clinton started to discuss replicating the success of "great schools"—including public charter schools. She noted there had been too much focus on so-called "failing" schools.
Though Clinton has been a long-time supporter of school choice, and her husband helped to catapult charters to the national stage when he was president, she took heat from charter school advocates in November when she remarked that "most charter schools … don't take the hardest-to-teach kids, or, if they do, they don't keep them." Although an adviser emphasized shortly thereafter that Clinton remains a "strong supporter" of public charter schools, many reformers remained leery of her commitment.
The Representative Assembly is the annual conference for the NEA, the nation's largest labor union, which gathers each summer to set its political agenda for the coming year. The union, with its nearly three million members, endorsed Clinton in October, following the American Federation of Teachers, which endorsed her last July. Throughout the campaign, Clinton's ideas around public education have been much debated, with self-proclaimed reformers worried she would be hostile to their policies, while many rank-and-file teachers remained skeptical that Clinton would stand up for unions and fight efforts to privatize public schools.
Despite these concerns, the mood in the plenary hall on Tuesday was overwhelmingly enthusiastic; members wore "Educators for Hillary" T-shirts, waved signs in support, and cheered with excitement.
Clinton framed her education policy proposals around the slogan of "TLC," or teaching, learning, and community. She threw out a lot of ideas that met eager applause, from raising teacher salaries to reducing the role of standardized testing, to creating universal preschool for every child. She discussed "repairing crumbling schools" and making general investments in school facilities and technology.
According to the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools (NAPCS), a charter advocacy group, just under 13 percent of charters are run by for-profit companies, though in cities like Detroit, more than 80 percent of charter schools are run by for-profits. However, the distinction between for-profit and nonprofit is often messier than groups like NAPCS readily admit: Nonprofit charters can still hire for-profit management companies to run their schools.
Some states have begun banning for-profit charter schools, or passing laws that make opening them more difficult. Last year, California legislators tried to ban for-profit charter schools from operating in their state, but Democratic Governor Jerry Brown vetoed the bill, saying he did not "believe the case has been made to eliminate for-profit charter schools in California." The momentum against for-profit schools has clearly grown more pronounced since then, and also reflects growing divisions within the education reform coalition, between those who champion market-based reforms, and those who push for greater accountability.
The NEA carries formidable political weight. According to the union, its members represent one out of every 58 general election voters. Rallying those teachers who preferred Senator Bernie Sanders for president to not only vote for Clinton in November but also help campaign for her will be a pressing priority for the union's leadership.
The National Labor Relations Board finalized a settlement agreement this week between Urban Prep Academies, an all-male charter network in Chicago, and more than a dozen Urban Prep teachers who were fired abruptly back in June. The firings came less than a month after a majority of teachers at Urban Prep voted to unionize with the Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff (ChiACTS). Urban Prep will pay over $250,000 in back wages and severance to 13 fired teachers, and two of the fired teachers were able to return to work on Monday. The others, who already had taken new jobs elsewhere, waived their right to reinstatement and settled for back pay.
Back in June, the union responded to the firings by filing two unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB. One alleged that Urban Prep fired three teachers for their union activism; the second charged Urban Prep with failing to bargain with the union over all the teachers' terminations. Educators, parents, and community members organized protests, urging Urban Prep to rehire the teachers.
However, the NLRB launched an investigation into the situation, and on November 20, the board issued a complaint, finding that one teacher was fired for union activity and that Urban Prep failed to meet their legal obligations by not bargaining over the teachers' firings. The NLRB scheduled a hearing for January 13, which has now been cancelled since Urban Prep decided to settle.
The teachers at Urban Prep have been meeting regularly with their employer since September to work out the terms of their first contract; the union says they've made "significant progress."There are currently 29 other unionized charter schools in Chicago, and a growing number nationwide.
The total amount that Urban Prep has agreed to pay—$261,346—marks the largest unfair labor practice settlement for charter teachers to date. Back in June, the I Can charter network, based in Ohio, had to rehire four teachers and give seven teachers back pay for firing them during their 2013-2014 union drive. That settlement totaled $69,000.
Originally published in The American Prospect's Tapped blog on July 24, 2015.
Teachers at the Ohio-based I CAN charter network decided to organize a union during the 2013-2014 school year. Yet when the school year ended, the administration did not renew contracts for seven teachers leading the union drive—resulting in a cancellation of the scheduled union vote. While about 40 charter schools in Ohio are already unionized, those are mostly conversion schools, meaning teachers had already worked for the district before going to work for a school-district sponsored charter. These I CAN schools would have represented the first start-up charters to go union in the state.
After the firing, I CAN educators and the Ohio Federation of Teachers filed a federal complaint, which accused I CAN of making teachers feel like they were under surveillance and for pressuring employees to reveal the identities of union leaders. The complaint also alleged that I CAN increased staff salary and benefits just before the scheduled vote in order to dissuade teachers from joining a union.
This past October, the NLRB regional director sided with the teachers and accused I CAN of "interfering with, restraining and coercing employees." The founders of the charter network, Marshall Emerson and Jason Stragand, denied the allegations, insisting that nobody was fired specifically for union organizing. (They pointed out that most involved in the union effort did have their contract renewed.) But Emerson and Stragand also made it clear they want to keep their schools union-free. "It would really cripple our principals and administrative staff. It could dramatically change the model. It could drastically change what we do," said Emerson.
While the I CAN schools would have been the first Ohio start-up charters to organize, other charters in the Buckeye State have since moved ahead with their own successful campaigns. This past March teachers at the Columbus-based Franklinton Preparatory Academy voted to join a union. Since then three more charter schools in Youngstown have also voted to unionize.
As for I CAN, this week the NLRB finally reached a settlement with the charter network and imposed penalties for interference. I CAN will have to re-hire four of the fired teachers and give all seven teachers back pay. School officials will also have to post a statement in their school buildings that says they cannot interfere with union organizing efforts. However, the NLRB settlement did not include any finding of wrongdoing and I CAN only needs to pay $69,000 to be split among the seven teachers.
I CAN teachers are reportedly planning to schedule a union vote this coming fall. They will join a growing number of charter teachers around the country who are also organizing their own union drives.


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Ten money-no-object holidays
From the worth-saving-for to the absolutely unaffordable, 10 extravagant trips worth dreaming about
Sat, Jan 3, 2015, 01:00 Updated: Sat, Jan 3, 2015, 07:37
Fionn Davenport
Visit the Taktshang (Tiger's Nest) mountain monastery at Paro Bhutan in Bhutan
Aboard the VSOE
There's an argument to be made that no 24-hour train journey is worth €2,200, but the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is no ordinary train. The sine qua non of luxury train journeys transports you between Paris and Venice (there's the option to travel from London for €2,600) in five-star luxury aboard a train carriage that's been refitted to its 1920s' grandeur. The food and service are unparalleled and the journey is over far too quickly. The train runs weekly from March to November. belmond.com
Malaysia and Borneo
A luxury itinerary that combines five-star beach resorts and exclusive jungle lodges, relaxing on private beaches and clambering through some of the world's oldest rainforests to meet orangutans, rare Sumatran rhinos and endangered pygmy elephants. The 17-day trip includes two nights in Kuala Lumpur and a final four days in a luxury hideaway resort on the island of Tioman. From £3,690 (€4,670) including flights from London. exsus.com
Bhutan may be the world's only Buddhist nation and measure its success in terms of "Gross National Happiness", but the Dragon Kingdom jealously guards itself by limiting the number of visas issued and requiring visitors to have fully planned itineraries before arriving. This itinerary, which begins and ends in Kathmandu, includes all of the main highlights, such as the sacred Kurje Lhakhang in the Bumthang Valley, the Taktshang (Tiger's Nest) mountain monastery and the markets of the capital, Thimpu. From £3,495 (€4,425). coxandkings.co.uk
Taj palace tour
A 17-day itinerary where every night you sleep in a restored historical palace, including three nights each in the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai and the Rambagh Palace in Jaipur, the former residence of the Maharajah. In between you'll get a five-star India highlights tour, before ending your trip with an overnight at arguably India's finest hotel, the Taj Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad, the former home of the kingdom's ruling Nizam family. From £6,370 (€8,065) including flights from London. ampersandtravel.com
Go with the floe
Nowhere on earth is more deserving of the 'trip of a lifetime' tag than Antarctica. The White Continent is a memorable collection of superlatives that has been witnessed by relatively few adventurers. Project Travel's Silversea Expedition is a 10-day luxury cruise from Ushuaia that takes in the Falkland, South Georgia, Elephant and South Shetland islands on its way to the continent itself. Prices from €8,150, including flights from Dublin. project-travel.ie
Your own private opera
A private performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the neoclassical Estates Theatre in Prague (where the opera debuted in 1787) followed by a lift in a chauffeur-driven Rolls to the Four Seasons, where you will dine on the rooftop terrace whilst being serenaded by members of the Estates Theatre Opera . . . before tucking into a bed in the Presidential Suite, your home for two nights. Available for up to eight people from May to September; six months' advance notice required. Total cost is €60,000. fourseasons.com/extraordinary experiences
Ultimate safari
How about your own 350,000-acre game reserve? The Singita Serengeti House on Sasakwa Hill in northern Tanzania has four beautiful suites and is available on an exclusive-use-only basis, so you'll have the place to yourself. The lodge is on the migratory route of the wildebeest, so you'll get to see plenty of wildlife when you're not relaxing in the infinity pool, getting a spa treatment or dining on what the chef has cooked, all included in the weekly €66,000 price. singita.com
The world's most expensive chalet
High in the Austrian Alps near Lech is Chalet N, where the pillows are embroidered with your initials and the water in the basement pool changes colour according to your mood. Your skis are made by Porsche, the cutlery is titanium and you can access a fully stocked wine cellar. There are 11 bedrooms that sleep up to 24 people – just two shy of the complement of staff. But all this luxury has a price: a week at the chalet comes in at about €250,000. chalet-n.com
Your own slice of paradise
If you've got a spare €380,000 or so you can rent the Caribbean island of Calivigny, just off the coast of Grenada. The 50-acre island's main accommodation is the Beach House, a mix of French Colonial and Balinese style that sleeps up to 20 people in extravagant, Oscar de la Renta-designed opulence. It's a full-service kind of place, and the price includes absolutely everything, including private plane transfer from Grenada. calivigny-island.com
A pricey hangover
To treat yourself to the world's most expensive hangover, take a €415,000 bottle of Armand de Brignac Dynastie, add a glass of Penfolds Ampoule (only 12 bottles made, retailing for €138,000 each) and throw in a €500 tequila chaser. It's all part of the Ultimate Drink Connoisseurs' Holiday, which takes two people to 10 different countries to sample the world's most exclusive drinks – flying business class all the way and staying only in five-star hotels, of course. The trip – for two – costs a cool €1 million. holidaysplease.co.uk
Oscar De La Renta Designed
Taj Falaknuma Palace
Taj Mahal Palace
Yotam Ottolenghi's genius fish pie
Iris Murdoch's deep but twisted Irish roots
Why is this Zara polka-dot dress such a hit? 'It's horrendous on me'
Ten get-fit, stay-fit breaks
Ten great golfing breaks
Ten family adventure holidays
Ten trips for art lovers
Ten spiritual, yoga holidays
Ten trips for food-lovers
Ten great equestrian holidays
Ten top cycling holidays
Ten "must-see" destinations
Ten weird places to wake up
Ten great walking weekends
Ten wonderful music holidays
Ten great train journeys


Haskolinn Am Bifrost, was founded in Reykjavik Iceland in 1918 on the model of Ruskin College, Oxford. From the start, its role was to educate leaders for business and society at large. The school was moved to Borgarfjóróur in 1955. Bifróst is the only Liberal Arts campus school in the country, and also offering degrees in Law since, and in Social Science. One of the most important basic policies of the University is close collaboration with the services sectors.


What traits will make a great home health SLP, what tools will you need for treatment, and what tricks will you need to get a copy of that instrumental from the hospital? Tiffani also gives the final word on where our scope of practice begins and ends in the home health setting, and the upsides of home health, like effortful Starbucks swallows!
Download Ep. 065 Show Notes!


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Palatul Societății Funcționarilor Publici este un edificiu din București, sector 2, construit între anii 1932-1934 după planurile arhitecților Radu Culcer, Ion C. Roșu. Palatul este construit într-un stil Art Deco. Aflat pe str. Batiștei nr. 14, palatul se găsește în imediată apropiere de Hotelul Intercontinental din București.

După 1945, clădirea a devenit sediu central al Asociației Române pentru Strângerea Legăturilor de Prietenie cu Uniunea Sovietică (ARLUS).

În anii recenți a devenit cunoscută ca sediu al ArCuB - Centrul de Proiecte Culturale al Primăriei Municipiului București, până în 2014, când instituția s-a mutat pe strada Lipscani, în Hanul Gabroveni, proaspăt restaurat..

Palatul este declarat monument istoric ().

Note

Societății Funcționarilor Publici

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Loch Tummel Sailing club (LTSC) is friendly, family oriented sailing club offering dinghy and small keelboat sailing in beautiful surroundings from early April to late September. A full program of activities is organised including Sunday racing, family sailing days, training, coaching and open events.
The Club's main event of the year is Tummel Week, where normally we host around 50 to 60 boats for a week long, 2 races a day event. A lively social and off water series of events is also well attended.
Many classes are raced (and a variety of cruisers), the main fleets focus around RS 200/400, Toppers, Optimists, Flying Fifteens, Lasers and Yeomans.A typical Sundays race sees around 15-20 boats, with ages from 8 to 90+. In between races there is a very active cadet race series.


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Baron Wilhelm von Biela
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Austrian astronomer
Intro Austrian astronomer
Known for Biela's Comet
A.K.A. Wilhelm Freiherr von Biela
Was Astronomer Military personnel
From Germany Austria
Field Military Science
Birth 19 March 1782, Roßla, Germany
Death 18 February 1856, Venice, Italy (aged 73 years)
Star sign Pisces
The details (from wikipedia)
Baron Wilhelm von Biela (German: Wilhelm Freiherr von Biela; March 19, 1782 – February 18, 1856) was a German-Austrian military officer and amateur astronomer.
Wilhelm von Biela was born in Roßla, Harz (Northern Germany). He was a descendant of a prominent Protestant noble family originally from what is now the Czech Republic, the family having been exiled to Saxony after its head, Friedrich von Biela, was executed in Prague in 1621 during the religious wars of the period. Biela was the last member of his branch of the family.
After study at military college in Dresden, Biela joined the Austrian army in 1802, serving as a cadet in the Infantry Regiment 'Graf Stuart' Nr. 18. He rose to the rank of a captain of Grenadiers and participated in a number of military campaigns against Napoleon between 1805, 1809 and later on. In 1813 he was an Adjutant to General Merveldt at the Battle of Leipzig, where he was wounded.
In 1815 Biela went to Prague, where he commenced study of astronomy under Martin Alois David. He later served in Italy and was appointed the commandant of the town of Rovigo.
In the field of astronomy, he specialized in observing and calculating the orbits of comets. He also did some sunspot observations and published a series of articles, mostly in the Astronomische Nachrichten, on subjects such as comets, the theoretical considerations of comets "falling into the Sun", Tycho Brahe, and occultations of stars by the Moon. He also published a longer work on planetary rotation, Die zweite grosse Weltenkraft, nebst Ideen über einige Geheimnisse der physischen Astronomie, oder Andeutungen zu einer Theorie der Tangentialkraft (Prague, 1836). In its preface he stated that although the work was the fruit of many years of study, it could be read through in half an hour.
Biela independently discovered two comets that others had already found (notably the Great Comet of 1823, C/1823 Y1) and made one independent discovery of his own: the periodic Biela's Comet, which subsequently split in two and disintegrated. The lunar crater Biela is named after him.
Relatively little seems to be recorded of Biela's personal life: he was married to Anna (Edle von Wallenstern) and they had a daughter Emilie Freiin von Biela, born in 1820 and married in Rovigo to Moritz, Graf Forgách, another Austrian infantry officer, by whom she had two children.
In the 1840s Biela retired to Venice, where he died in 1856.
The minor planet 2281 Biela is named in his honor.
The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article on 08 Mar 2020. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
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RUGOSA is Herreshoff Manufacturing Company #983. Constructed in 1926.
A classic NY40, RUGOSA provided 30 years of extreme cruising and racing pleasure for Halsey C. Herreshoff and friends.
NY 40 yachts earned the accolade "Fighting Forties." RUGOSA has emulated that competitive spirit by winning the 1928 Bermuda Race and scores of conquests since. Trophies show wins in Nantucket, Newport, New York, Cannes, St.Tropez, Antiqua and at Cowes. RUGOSA, fleet of speed, strong of structure, comely of style, has also served admirably for world-wide cruising: Transatlantic, Baltic, Mediterranean and Caribbean. Whether in exotic ports, crossing Loch Ness, or sailing the Greek Islands. RUGOSA has been universally admired. It could all continue under new ownership of RUGOSA!
RUGOSA was built yawl rigged in 1926, and is the most original preserved of all NY 40s with original spars, deck houses and below arrangement. She enjoys a remarkable chain of racing success and very outstanding extensive cruising of the entire East Coast of the USA, Caribbean, Sweden and much of the Baltic, western European coast, Mediterranean and many transatlantic crossings.
I have owned and sailed RUGOSA for 30 years, deriving incredible pleasure in cruising and sharing distinct satisfaction along with my entirely amateur crew for racing successes. Most significant was the victory of RUGOSA over 57 other classic yachts, largely from Europe, in the 2001 America's Cub Jubilee week-long regatta at Cowes, Isle of Wight, England.
For the buyers of this special yacht (now in storage at Portsmouth RI, USA) I will provide full commissioning to the standards of perfection that I have continuously sought for all of my many great sailing seasons with this yacht. Thus, the yacht could be available for dock side departure from Rhode Island or available for shipping to another port of the purchaser's selection.
I am available for telephone conversation or electronic sharing of information.
Captain Nat earned the accolade "Wizard of Bristol" for six consecutive wins of the America's Cup by yachts of his design and construction. His early thrust into boat construction plus education at the famed Massachusetts Institute of Technology prepared him for signal accomplishments including the earliest U.S. Navy Torpedo Boats and numerous New York Yacht Club one-design classes such as the NY 40's including RUGOSA.
The eldest of Capt Nat's five sons, "Mr. Sid," as the loyal employees of the Herreshoff Shops addressed him, had a distinguished career in design and construction supervision at the family boat company. With talents similar to those of his father, Sidney was also educated at M.I.T. He was fascinated with steam and gas engines and with catamarans as well as engineering elements of yachts such as RUGOSA.
Halsey Chase Herreshoff follows in the footsteps of his famous ancestors. Educated at Webb Institute of Naval Architecture and at M.I.T. Halsey prepared designs of many stock classes of boats from which about 10,000 units were built. He was Bow Man or Navigator aboard America's Cup yachts in 1958, 1974, 1980, and 1983. His greatest sailing pleasures have been adventures on his NY 40 RUGOSA.
RUGOSA won the 1928 Bermuda Race under the ownership of her first of many owners, Russell Grinnell of Providence, Rhode Island. That triumph was followed by notable successful racing under a succession of owners. Then, for the past thirty years RUGOSA has raced under the skipper Halsey Herreshoff and his entirely amateur crew of sailing friends. RUGOSA has won the famous Hyannis Mass. FIGAWI race and the Classic Yacht races of the Newport RI Museum of Yachting and of the Herreshoff Marine Museum. That plus victories in USA classic races or New York Yacht Club Cruise competitions has achieved considerable satisfaction. In the summer of 2001, Halsey and mates sailed RUGOSA across the Atlantic to Great Britian. There RUGOSA competed in the magnificent America's Cub Jubilee at Cowes, the Isle of Wight coming out first of 58 classic yachts competing from Britian, Europe and the USA. Then, racing in the Mediterranean particularly off the south coast of France produced some notable victories for RUGOSA. Thus the yacht RUGOSA fulfill ever so well the traditional intention for combined purposed of cruising pleasure together with racing prowess. What a pleasure it is to happily cruise with family and friends interspersing with competitive racing on the same crew! Isn't that really what our pleasures on the water are all about?
Prior to Halsey Herreshoff's ownership of RUGOSA, the yacht had much sea time. Original owners, the Grinnell family, cruised the Maine Coast extensively as did some subsequent owners. One notable captain lived in Sweden, and for many years, sailed between Stockholm and the Caribbean Islands.
Halsey Herreshoff has sailed RUGOSA nearly 30 seasons covering the waterways from Maine to Florida on the USA East Coast. Of particular note is his 26,000 mile cruise of RUGOSA, principally in European waters from 2001 to 2005. RUGOSA encountered three heavy gales on her 18-day crossing from Rhode Island to Falmouth England with no trouble. Sailing the south Britain coast and winning the Classic Division of the America's Cup Jubilee engendered fantastic experiences for Halsey and the all-volunteer crew of friends. In 2002, RUGOSA sailed the Baltic during a particularly fine summer there, visiting Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland plus St. Petersburg Russia and Talon Estonia. Wintering over in Finland was followed by marvelous cruising (and some racing) in 2003 to Norway including the full length of the Songia Fjord. The RUGOSA sailed the North Sea on the way to visit the Orkney Islands, Scotland, Ireland, England, France, Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and Mediterranean ports. Perhaps best was the sailing in 2004 to the famous Greek Islands and visiting Athens to view the Olympic Games. Then proceeding westward by Gibraltar, RUGOSA experienced a great November crossing from Canary Islands to Antigua in the Caribbean, followed by a memorable winter of racing and cruising in those waters.
Halsey has stated the obvious: "There is no greater water-bourne experience than sailing a great yacht like RUGOSA along with friends to anyplace in the world of interest and pleasure.
RUGOSA enjoys standard NGH developed plank on frame construction, strong but weight efficent. Frames are steam bent white oak. Hull planking is husky yellow pine below the waterling and double planked cypress and yellow pine above the water line. Oak floors join frames together and to the inside white oak keel, stem, and horn timber, elements largely replaced by very cabable contemporary craftsmen. To augment those features for very safe ocean sailing. Halsey has placed additional metal connectors. Herreshoff construction includes diagonal metal strapping to resist racking of the hull when underway. Halsey has augmented that by replacing inside ceiling with marine plywood attached to the frames, another very efficient way to prevent racking of the hull. The original white oak varnished deck beams and white pine deck planking are augmented by a thin fiberglass surface, non-skid painted a traditional Herreshoff "buff color.
RUGOSA's spars are mostly original 1926 Herreshoff yawl elements kept well varnished in good condition. The rig has been modified to a double spreader arrangement on the main to improve support with a narrower sheeting impediment to sail trim. Halsey has also replaced all standing rigging with 1x19 stainless steel, and the running rigging is generally modern standard low stretch rope. Many sails exist for the yacht, mostly by North Sail Company for optimal racing shapes.
Well-constructed Classic Yachts can serve indefinitely given the right circumstances. A great example is the three yachts MARY ROSE, MARILEE and RUGOSA built simultaneously at the Herreshoff Shop in 1926. Each of these, with some reconstruction elements are in great condition structurally and cosmetically, racing and cruising each season. Essential are good owners, good preventive maintenance, and , only when necessary, reconstruction work well done by superior craftsmen.
Halsey Herreshoff reports the record of RUGOSA over three decades: "Thirty years ago, I only bought RUGOSA after thoroughly surveying her to prove basic good strength for the long term. I recognized that details needed attention: spars, engine, sails and systems. I was extremely fortunate to be able to purchase identical Herreshoff original spars from another NY 40 that had been abandoned. With the changes I made in spreaders and standing rigging, these spars continue to serve admirable. The engine and its systems were bad; replacement a few years ago with a new Yanmar four-cylinder diesel has totally satisfied that important need for cruising. The interior was intact, but I removed all bulkheads to rework them for stronger installation.
Of particular importance is that over two periods of restoration work, we have replaced the keel bolts, stem, horn timber, garboard planks, and first boards (planks next up from the garboard planks). And to further guard against any future trouble, we installed some rugged metal connectors to the floors which enhance strength even beyond that . of the original construction. As far as the rest, an experience doubly reassuring to me was that when I cut out a hockey-puck sized-piece of wood for hull instrument installation, that piece of original yellow pine wood exuded sap and was just perfect. Aside from all that, I have only needed to accomplish normal routine Spring fitting out regarding fittings, lines, sails instruments and sails. In that way, we generally sail during every week of the summer with little to do but some varnish touch up and having diver friends clean the bottom for speed racing"
RUGOSA is a New York Yacht Club 40 (Waterline Length). The 40's are the most revered of a distinguished string of Herreshoff NYYC One-Design classes. This is because they have the strongest racing record and best acceptance for family cruising. They were dubbed "The Fighting 40's" during years of fierce competition. That sterling record continues among the Classics today, given the success of RUGOSA and sisterships such as the winning MARILEE and ROWDY, named "Boat of the Year" three times at St. Tropez.
The NY 40's were designed by Captain Nathanael Greene Herreshoff. Those built in 1926, including RUGOSA, were fitted with Marconi yawl rigs designed by A. Sidney DeWolf Herreshoff. Over his thirty years of ownership, Halsey C. Herreshoff has managed extensive improvements including structural elements, rig enhancements, modern winches, navigational gear, and sails.
The deck arrangement of RUGOSA has proven ideal for either racing or cruising. Wide open area's fore and aft provide easy crew access. Considerable thought evolved particularly sensible halyard and sheet placements for winches and belaying. Thus, the yacht exhibits easy sailing with large crews or small number of weekend sailors. RUGOSA has ample vertical hull dimensions for full head-room below under the deck without benefit of the two deck houses that contain hatchs. There are nine bunks in the efficient open-arrangement design. Two additional bunks exist under the cockpit which happy crew have named "The Cave" The galley is forward as originally designed but is fitted with modern stove and reefer. There is a handsome gimbled dining table amidships and aft a spacious table for charts, instruments and double seating for planning and navigation.


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This is all the information you require about the October 2018 Calendar PDF, in the event that the following complete celestial body overhead arrives and well guided predators prior to the toned winter weather. That will street to redemption on Oct 5 — and become in the brightest in 7. 40pm. The Crop Moon typically falls in The Free of charge Request meant for Federal government Pupil Help, even more commonly introduced to seeing that FAFSA, can be bought for the 2018-2019 college year starting point today, March 1 the first calendar year went prior to altering the particular calendars—so yes and no even more institutions definitely will send.
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In 2009, Master Minded Ministries came into being with the main goal and purpose of really helping the Christian community understand the need to learn about our Jewish roots and to love and support Israel and the Jewish people. It has appeared that once again the world is turning on Israel and the threats of another potential holocaust are in the air. It is time for Christians to take a stand and remember that God made an everlasting covenant with His people that Christians need to also honor. We stand with Israel and with God's chosen people – the Israelis. Our heart is not to proselyte, but to love as Jesus loved us. We are not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but our intent is to love as He loved and let Him work out the details!
Dave and Jerri have been active in full-time ministry for over 40 years. They have led over 20 trips to Israel sharing the Israel experience with all those who would like to go. They have never once had a person tell them that they regretted going and Dave and Jerri love having front row seats as they watch many lives be changed through their experiences in Israel.
"To say that "we've been smitten" by Israel is an understatement. We've jumped in with both feet and been transformed by the journey. We've met incredible people, been to places that we would never have dreamed of going to, and been captured by the intensity of our times. We are watching scripture being fulfilled as we speak. We open "the Book" and with new eyes and ears are seeing the many treasures that have been hidden because we have been so culturized by our traditions. When some preachers are telling their people that the Bible is really out of date and has places that don't exist, we are finding a richness that let's us know that God does not miss one dot or letter. He is intentional and He has so much for us that we have yet to uncover. How can that not be exciting!
Dave and Jerri reside in Caldwell, Idaho and currently serve as Senior Pastors of Deer Flat Free Methodist Church. They are parents to three wonderful boys and have welcomed in three amazing daughter-in-laws who have helped grow the McGarrah clan by blessing Dave and Jerri with 8 energetic grandchildren (4 girls and 4 boys)!
Corinne Stanley is not only a great friend and supporter, but she leads her own ministry known as Revealing Journey where she teaches on subjects that she has studied for years. Corinne is available for seminars and retreats on topics like "Coming into the Holy of Holies" where she teaches on the Tabernacle and the mysteries revealing Jesus as Messiah. She also teaches on "The Bride and Bridegroom," "The Festivals" and other exciting topics. Corinne and her late husband Jerry have served as advisers and co-teachers along side Dave and Jerri for many years.
Micah Davenport has been a dear friend of ours for years and is quite like another son to them. He currently lives in southern California and works as a firefighter. He has traveled with Dave and Jerri for many years and has become known as the official photographer for the Biblical Journey Tours. His love for the Lord and the land of Israel has been a rich source of blessing and encouragement to us as we really seek the heart of God for the future.
David & Megan Orias - Teachers and educators, David and Megan bring a heart and love for Israel to our team. They live in Nampa Idaho and have 3 of the cutest boys you could ever find. They have traveled with us to Israel and to the Washington DC summit with CUFI. They are a great inspiration to us and help us with outreach to our students and millennial generation.
How we support the work of this ministry.
All contributions support the ongoing education for the Body of Christ, the work of "The Teacher and the Preacher" and the newsletter. We have raised funds to take students to Israel with us.
We support CUFI with our attendance and also with leadership to our state.
We are so thankful for everyone who assists with these efforts and seek to be a blessing to everyone wants to hear.
We would simply ask you to be prayerful and obedient for MMM. We really do seek the heart of our Father.


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I had just walked from the Puberty pub to this, another modern brew-pub, and as I took a photograph of its strangely anonymous exterior, I finally clicked in to what its name was about. It was another play on words like Puberty which is two English words combined. Well, this was a Russian / English titular collaboration. Although the name sounds a bit biblical its source is the Russian word Naberezhnaya meaning embankment, one of which it is to be found upon. Stick an extra e into the word and you get to spell beer. It's all so obvious, not!
The brew-pub restaurant is to be found on the ground floor of an office block. Everything around here is brand new and squeaky clean. There are other restaurants and a bank, which I had to visit to get a 5,000 Ruble note changed down to something smaller. At the moment you can say the pub is a little devoid of atmosphere but I am sure that will change.
Once inside I went left to the bar; there were other drinking and dining areas straight on. I settled and looked around and noticed the large gleaming brewery was behind the stage. Now, that is a first! As this was late afternoon the pub was fairly quiet.
There were a number of beers on offer. The menu was entirely in Russian so, to play safe, I ordered the Premium; it sounded like a good lager beer and it was. See below for the full list. Regretfully I did not realise at the time that the last entry was a seasonal beer, I should have looked more closely and asked about it.
I don't know what to make of this place, the beer was good but the pub was a bit lifeless and sterile, yet you have to go there if you are in St Petersburg, as you won't get the beers anywhere else!
I walked from Puberty and it took me 40 minutes. I would estimate it would take a fully fit person about 25 minutes for the same journey. The metro station mentioned above would be about 25 minutes away.
I walked from the pub to the Pesochnaya Nabeerezhnaya/Пессочная Наbeerежная tram stop and it took about 15 minutes, slowly.


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By NBC News
Published December 6, 2022 4:18 PM
President Biden tours an Arizona semiconductor factory
PHOENIX (NBC) - President Biden tours an Arizona semiconductor factory to highlight major foreign investment in American chip manufacturing.
President Biden traveled to Arizona today for a first-hand look at a massive semiconductor facility that is under construction.
The Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company, or TSMC, is expanding its investment in Arizona to produce state-of-the-art semiconductors.
More than 40 billion dollars worth of investment is planned by the company.
President Biden insists the investment is a direct result of the "chips act."
"These are the most advanced semi conductor chips on the planet. The chips will power iphones and mac books as Tim Cook can attest. Apple had to buy all the advanced chips from overseas and now they are going to bring more of their supply chain here at home. All told TSMC is investing 40 billion dollars here in Arizona. The largest foreign investment in the history of this state. Over ten thousand construction jobs and ten thousand high tech jobs will be created and I want to thank everyone in this company for making this happen," says President Biden.
"Over 30 years ago America had more than 30 percent of the global chip production. Then something happened. American manufacturing the backbone of our economy began to move jobs overseas. Today we're down to producing only 10 percent of the world's chips despite leading the world in research and technology. But folks, where is it written that American can't lead the world once again in manufacturing I don't know where that's written and we're proving it can," Biden mentions.


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About MWBC
Over 50 years ago, a program was established by Montana wheat producers to promote their product for sale in foreign lands, and to pursue research work which would aid crop quality and production.
In 1967, the legislature responded to state wheat farmers' request for the self-help market development program by establishing the Montana Wheat Committee, an organization which served as the prototype for other state checkoff groups. The Committee is producer-funded and producer-run and operating expenses are provided by a self-imposed, refundable assessment on wheat and barley grown and sold in Montana.
Use of these funds are determined by a seven-director board, appointed by the governor. Directors must be actively involved in farming, and in addition to serving on the MWBC board, they serve as representatives in many of the programs the assessment directly funds. In addition to the seven voting, farmer-directors, there are three non-voting members: the Director of the State Department of Agriculture, the College of Agriculture Dean at Montana State University, and a representative of the Montana grain trade. The Committee is attached to the Montana Department of Agriculture for administrative purposes.
A refundable barley check-off was added in 1973 and, eventually, the original name, the Montana Wheat Research and Marketing Committee, was changed to the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee (MWBC), reflecting this additional commodity responsibility. The Committee office is headquartered in Great Falls at 300 Park Dr. S, Suite 104, and is managed by a five-person staff.
The program has evolved over the years, but the goal of benefiting Montana wheat and barley producers remains constant. Research funding and the scope of projects, including variety breeding, work on disease resistance, winter hardiness, fertilizer use, storage conditions, insects, and tillage practices has expanded considerably. As always, the MWBC serves as a communication channel between producers and the research community.
Marketing efforts have also been enhanced. Montana wheat and barley is directly represented in foreign markets through organizations such as U.S. Wheat Associates, U.S. Grains Council, Northern Crops Institute, and the Wheat Marketing Center. Buyers come to Montana each year to learn about the quality of our crop, and this marketing system provides the Montana producers with a direct and constant presence to markets overseas. Domestic marketing efforts have grown to include representation on the National Barley and Wheat Foods Councils, with the intent to increase consumption of both commodities here at home.
The Committee also provides other education and information services, such as disseminating educational brochures, posters, and videos, an active web and social media presence, and supplying speakers to interested groups.


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Play educates students about electrical safety
By CATHERINE SHEN, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
A crowd of Hope School elementary students were treated Friday morning to a live theater performance about electrical safety.
Agents of Safety, sponsored by Edison International, was performed by two professional actors from the National Theatre for Children. The company is currently touring 40 elementary schools across Southern California Edison's service area.
The National Theatre for Children has delivered free programs to schools across the country since 1978. More than 30 million children have attended the shows that are performed to teach, entertain and inspire future generations to make the world a better place, according to the organization.
Through colorful sets and lively costumes, the 25-minute live show teaches students how electricity is made, the uses of electricity, how to identify dangerous electrical situations, and ways to stay safe around electricity, according to event organizers.
Spokeswoman Rondi Guthrie said Edison International, parent company of Southern California Edison, partnered with the National Theatre for Children in 2012 as part of a $20 million program that was invested in local communities. Edison provided a $100,000 grant to the theater group to produce the play to educate children in Southern California.
"The kids were excited to see the show and the two actors really got the students involved with asking questions and responding to the performance," said Ms. Guthrie, who was at the event. "It was really great to see the level of excitement and involvement. It was a very valuable lesson for the kids."
Educators are encouraged to visit the company's website to download bilingual student playbooks, teacher guides, e-books, and digital activities to continue the education beyond the show.
"We feel it's important for teachers to have resources available," said Ms. Guthrie. "Safety is a top priority for us and a constant in everything that we do."
Hope School Principal Barbara LaCorte said the educational play is a new concept and she was grateful for the opportunity to experience it.
"We are really appreciative of Edison International for giving us this free program to educate our kids in electrical safety," she said. "It was great to show the kids that while electricity is essential in our lives, it can also be dangerous. So to show how to be safe in this fun and educational play was a really great way to do it. The students thoroughly enjoyed it, the teachers were entertained, and I would recommend all schools to give it a try."
For more information, please visit: www.nationaltheatre.com


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James McAvoy Teases a Bald Professor X in 'X-Men: Days of Future Past'
James McAvoy Teases a Bald Professor X in X-Men: Days of Future Past
— December 27, 2012
James McAvoy will return as Professor Xavier in X-Men: Days of Future Past, reprising his role from last year's X-Men: First Class. The actor recently spoke about when Professor X will go bald, although it isn't clear if that will happen in this upcoming sequel.
"[Screenwriter] Simon Kinbergand I had a chat about it and we came up with a whole bunch of ideas about how, why and where he might go bald. It's got to be linked to the plot though. In the comics, he lost his hair as soon as his powers awakened, and we clearly didn't follow the source material. It can't just be that he looks in the mirror at the end of the film and goes 'Oh [frick], I'm losing my hair'. Although that could be quite funny with all this shit going on... he goes 'Arge, I'm really stressed...'"
He also spoke about the humor in X-Men: First Class, and how he hopes the levity returns in X-Men: Days of Future Past.
"I thought the biggest thing that X-Men: First Class gave the franchise was a real palpable sense of humor that wasn't just for a couple of moments. It was running through the thing. And I hope that continues. I don't know how easy it will be for me to be a part of that as my character's going to be in a pretty [frick]ed up place. It's a shame because I like the fact that Charles Xavier was witty and funny and a bit of a lecherous old guy trapped in a 30-year-old's body."
Bryan Singer is directing the sequel from Simon Kinberg's screenplay. It isn't exactly known when production will begin.
Topics: X-Men, X-Men: Days of Future Past
Patrick Stewart Had X-Men and Professor X Talks with Marvel's Kevin Feige Recently
The New Mutants Is Rated PG-13, Director Says R-Rating Was Never an Option
Keanu Reeves Is the MCU's Mister Sinister in BossLogic's X-Men Fan Art
Danny DeVito as Wolverine in MCU's X-Men Petition Reaches 50K Signatures
Why Hugo Weaving Didn't Return as Red Skull in Infinity War or Avengers: Endgame


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*We ask that you please read and review our clinic policies to prevent any misunderstandings. Please contact us anytime should you have any questions. Thank you.
We will do our best to treat your concern/condition, if deemed urgent – you will be referred to the nearest Emergency Department.
On your first visit to FCO – Foot Clinic & Orthotics for any new service – it is required that you fill out an intake form.
Please note payment is expected in full when service/product is rendered. The services provided are not covered by OHIP, but may be covered by your extended health insurance provider.
In order to provide efficient services to all patients, FCO – Foot Clinic & Orthotics enforces a fee for any missed appointments (fee is variable depending on appointment type $30+). This ensures that we can provide quality, timely services to all patients as efficiently as possible. If it is your first time utilizing a service, please arrive early to fill out any necessary forms.
We require 24-hour noticefor all cancelled or re-scheduled appointments to avoid incurring a no-show fee.
If you book an appointment within the 24-hour time frame, the policy is in effect immediately.
Due to the high volume of demand, late comers may have to wait until the practitioner has time to see them between the patients booked after their appointment time.
Please note any fees cannot be waived by any of the staff members, including the front desk. Patients are to email the management should any questions of concerns arise.
The Length of each health service can range from 10 minutes to 30 minutes, or you may ask your practitioner for any further details in regards to visit length.
If patients have several concerns, please inform the receptionist upon booking the appointment, to ensure you have enough time to express your concerns during your visit.
Initial visits with Custom Made Orthotics interest require a longer visit. When booking this appointment please let the receptionist know so appropriate time is allocated towards the appointment.
Due to College of Chiropodist of Ontario (COCOO) regulations and privacy concerns, administrative staff are unable to offer any medical advice or management over the phone, fax or via email.Patients are advised to book an appointment or have administrative staff inform the practitioner to call them back at their earliest convenience.
Communication with administrative staff about your health or investigations is also against provincial privacy regulationsand you will be instructed to communicate all medical concerns with your health provider at your appointment. Our staff will be happy to help with all other concerns.
We are unable to offer phone repeats on any prescriptions due to privacy and confidentiality reasons. Any prescription refills will need to be approved by the ordering practitioner prior to being re-issued.
Noservices are insured by OHIP.Services may be covered by your employer's extended health insurance plans or other 3rdparty insurance plans. All charges for uninsured services must be settled at point of service.
It is the patient's responsibility to confirm his/her coverage by their insurance provider prior to any visit/procedure. It is not the clinic's responsibility to cover any expenses in excess to the fees that are covered by the patient's insurance.
We provide direct billing to limited insurance companies. Please inquire with the administration staff to see if your insurance company is eligible for direct billing. However, appropriate information and receipts will be provided so that you may submit your claim for reimbursement from your insurance provider.
We do not have any age restrictions at our clinic.
We regret to inform you that our clinic does not offer any refunds for any Custom Made Orthotics, Compression Stockings, Custom Braces, Etc.
Product returns have 30 days, and must be returned unopened and unused.
The Foot Clinic & Orthotics services are covered by most health care plans. If you have an insurance plan, we advise you to call and inquire about your coverage for the services and products we offer here at Foot Clinic & Orthotics (Caledon & Kleinburg). We also accept Workplace Safety Insurance Board cases (WSIB), Veterans Affairs – Medavie Blue Cross, along with Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP).
Any information and statements contained within this website is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical or podiatric advice. The information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, condition, or symptom.
* late appointments available by request.


It's worth noting that the switch version is adding the ability to change jobs, so there's less pressure to get it right first time. Or just aesthetics, I plan to make Ashe a Red Mage like I did on PS4 purely because she looks great with a mace and shield.
And thank you @CaptainMorton for mentioning that. I missed that the Switch version has even more changes to make the game more casual and easy and fun and forgiving.
So PAX East has given us footage now of the game running on Switch and it looks really good which is kind of expected (but also a huge relief).
In addition, and I am typically very bad at noticing any differences, but Direct-Feed Games has uploaded a comparison of the PS4 and Switch versions and differences between the two look minimal.


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SaaS and Security: Is Your Data Safe?
by Drew Robb
Software-as-a-Service applications offer big benefits to small businesses, but is it safe to place your company data in someone else's hands? Here's what you need to know.
Software as a Service (SaaS) has become quite the buzzword in these days, and the category covers a wide variety of applications that you can access and use over the Internet – without having to invest in any servers or install any software on your premises.
A few examples include office applications from Google Apps and Adobe Buzzword and e-mail and instant messaging services by LiveOffice and Hotmail. And you'll find plenty of online backup and data protection services from companies such as Iron Mountain and AmeriVault.
As well as providing the software, companies that offer SaaS either host your data on their servers or, at the very least, gain access to your computer systems. So just how safe is it to use such services?
"Small and medium-size businesses should be very careful in picking a vendor to store all that valuable data," said Laura DuBois, an analyst at International Data Corp. (IDC).
Obviously, it is advisable to learn all you can about the company that provides SaaS. How safe will your information be? If you need to recover data, how long will it take to receive it? Is this company stable enough to survive the current market downturn? These are some of the crucial questions that you should ask – and have answered – before making any decisions about SaaS providers.
SaaS Basics
SaaS provides access to software and its functions remotely as a Web-based service. It allows businesses to access these applications at a cost that is typically less than paying for licensed applications, since pricing is based on a monthly fee.
As the software is hosted remotely, you don't need to invest in additional hardware. Further, it eliminates the need for small businesses to have to deal with installation, set-up, daily upkeep and maintenance. For companies without any IT resources, this is certainly an attractive proposition.
But that doesn't mean SaaS is for everyone. The last thing you want is to discover that your data is in disreputable hands. And these days, that's a real threat. When picking a SaaS vendor, therefore, you should dig deep to find out just how much substance the provider provides.
Obvious giveaways include unwillingness to provide customer references or a reputation for having a low client-retention rate.
"In the SaaS world, customer retention is a very telling number," said Matt Smith, president of LiveOffice, a provider of e-mail, instant messaging (IM) and other SaaS products. "A dependable company should have a customer-retention rate of at least 98 percent."
If it's a start-up company that nobody has heard of, you'll need to perform even more thorough due diligence to verify some kind of track record of successful delivery.
Another angle is customer support. The pipsqueak outfits might look flashy (or not), but they are typically weak in after-sale support. In some cases, though, veteran help desk staff and top-notch support may not be worth the premium.
"It really depends on what companies want," said Tom Meyer, general manager of Boston-based Iron Mountain's Digital Record Center for Images. "Some don't need highly secure content management systems, so cheap and simple online storage might be fine."
It May Be SaaS-y, But Is It Secure?
Clearly, security should be front and center among vendor selection criteria for SaaS. A vital facet of online services is how vendors keep their data secure and the care they take to ensure it's safeguarded against disaster.
"Small business owners should ask how the vendor stores their data," said Smith. "A good vendor will have multiple, mirrored data centers, which means that client data is backed up in multiple locations and always available."
SaaS vendors use a variety of ways to secure their data. Some prefer a collection of disk arrays with encrypted data. Others like the muscle approach, with the data being locked up in a large vault in an isolated and safe location. Here are a few examples of the type of information that you should glean from SaaS vendors during vendor selection:
Iron Mountain's Digital Record Center for Images, for instance, provides encrypted data transmission, user-access control and secure storage in a data center that's 200 feet below ground.
Backup-and-storage Saas provider Elephant Drive secures data by replicating it among multiple hard disk-based pools of storage. Data replication protection is built into production systems, i.e., all data is available on at least two geographically independent sites.
Online backup service provider AmeriVault, stores customer backups in three places – one each in two separate disk-based systems, and they send the third copy to a business-continuity site more than 1,000 miles away.
Online backup provider DS3 DataVaulting uses EMC Clarion for primary storage and keeps a backup copy on a completely different high-end disk system for ease of recovery. It operates three data centers, including one for replication of customer information.
"Any reputable SaaS vendor should take appropriate measures to secure their servers and be able to thoroughly outline this process for each client," said Smith.
SaaS Satisfaction
An excellent tool for achieving SaaS satisfaction is a Service Level Agreement (SLA). An SLA is a contractual obligation for a company to provide a certain level of system reliability. Smith recommends that you don't accept an SLA that's less than 99 percent.
Further, an SLA should include information on what will happen to the client's data if the contract is terminated. In such a case, you want to be very certain that the information remains your property, and that you are legally protected.
Prince Street Capital Management, for instance, uses backup services (software by Asigra Inc.) delivered by Data Storage Corp. (DSC). This primarily protects the company's e-mail system. DSC also provides an offsite data storage vault that ensures safe remote storage and rapid recovery of information. An acceptable SLA was an essential part of the deal.
"In our quest to implement an appropriate backup and recovery solution, fast recovery of Microsoft Exchange data was a key determinant in our decision-making process," said Peter McKown, CFO at Prince Street Capital Management. "With the selection of DSC as our managed backup and recovery services partner, our business requirements are met and service levels are beyond expectations."
SaaS – In your Future
Worries over SaaS are certainly legitimate. But in many ways, they resemble the arguments about doing business on the Internet from a decade ago. Back then, many small businesses were concerned about guess what – data security, whether they could trust start-ups and whether e-commerce was a viable business model. Ten years later, just about everyone has some kind of online commerce avenue. But it took a few years for the business world to come to terms with this new concept.
Similarly, SaaS must go through the same cycle, earn people's trust and ultimately become part of the fabric of the workaday world. But for SMBs with small (or no) IT department, SaaS makes sense – provided it's implemented with due care.
And as in the case of Prince Street above, you may have multiple suppliers to deal with. DuBois of IDC points out that there are three components to the question of who to trust in SaaS. Who is the technology supplier? Who is the vendor managing their data? Who is responsible for the data center and the infrastructure?
"In some cases, this can be three different entities, and there are potential risks at each level," she said. "But in all cases, find out about privacy, encryption, availability, time to restore, SLAs, cost and terms of contract expiration."
Drew Robb is a Los Angeles-based freelancer specializing in technology and engineering. Originally from Scotland, he graduated with a degree in geology from Glasgow's Strathclyde University. In recent years he has authored hundreds of articles as well as the book, Server Disk Management by CRC Press.
This article was originally published on Tuesday Apr 22nd 2008


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Following the resignation of the founding Chairman after three years in office, Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership is now seeking a new Chairman to lead its business-led board in shaping and driving the formation of its strategies and work.
The Coast-to-Capital LEP are seeking a high calibre, strategic thinker with proven business success and previous board experience.
The successful candidate will continue the development and progress of Coast to Capital LEP as the strategic force in economic development and will help forge positive and collaborative relationships with our partners in the public and private sectors at a European, national and local level.