text:
'I'm' and 'Good' not welcome here
Ok, so now, after a really bad battle this morning with a whole bunch of spammer dicks who left unsavory crap in my pings, I got a whole bunch of new things blacklisted. Those things also, however, apparently include my friends Headcase and Og, because they weren't able to comment.
Fuck a duck, man.
I THINK I found and fixed the problem, but if I haven't, shoot me some mail and I'll continue to look.
I fuckin' HATE spammers. Haaaaaaaaate.
No cracks about my weight, por favor
You are Buck Russell (from Uncle Buck)! Your
relationships aren't the greatest (mostly by
your own accord), but if anyone has a huge
heart, it's you.
Which John Hughes Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
[Horked off my Fab Five homies]
BOOOOring
Well, Greta and I got my tax shit together for Friday. Other than that? Notta lotta going on up in here.
See this little meatball?
TIMMY! (Say it like South Park),
originally uploaded by Region Broad.
This is one of my cousins, and he's in the hospital with a bronchial infection (not RSV or rotovirus, but something pretty darn nasty nonetheless). If y'all could give him whatever healing thoughts or prayers you got, we'd greatly appreciate it.
[UPDATE: Mother called -- seems that Timmy's doing a bit better today, but the infection has now crept into his ear. Still running a bit of a fever, too. Therefore, keep the good thoughts coming.]
She wants your cash …
For those of you who love (and can afford) good quality antiques, Crazy Aunt is selling an antique china cabinet on eBay. (Lookit) If anyone's interested, lemeno, and I'll give you the details.
And my eyelashes all in curl …
Ever have one of those days when you curl your eyelashes with the curler and they're, like, perfect -- not all bent and weird -- but you can't sleep with mascara on, and even if you did, if wouldn't matter because you'd end up looking like Lon Cheney when you woke up, anyway? Hate when that happens.
Not a lot to report up in Chez Broad. I'm nervous about a story I wrote today about an issue that involves a lot of numbers; one of the copy editors buzzed me with questions that made it clear that either a) I didn't write the story clear enough in the first place, or b) someone screwed around with it before she saw it. Either way, it was reconstructed, and that scares me. Otherwise, Easter was pretty cool -- ate a ton -- and I'll be spending a good portion of my week getting my stuff ready for the accountant on Friday (yes, on April Fool's aGAIN). And yes, it's likely that I'll owe -- as a free-lancer, I don't pay during the year -- but with this site, my other site and a new car, I may get to not owe a ton. Gee, I guess that means the car was good for something after all ... Of course, if I don't get butt-raped in taxes, I DO plan on getting me some new skin ... Christina, you game?
Would a turd by any other name smell as bad?
I've spent the better part of the last 45 minutes perusing this site (lookit) of which the author trolls baby name BBSes and just SKEWERS her findings. It's fucking HILARIOUS. To wit:
The following list was written, literally, with no spaces. I've divided it up so each name gets the special attention it deserves.
Beautiful Welsh names (girls) Aelwen(fair brow)
Arwen(Fair)
Briallen(primrose)
Drudwen(precious)
Ceindrych(Elegant, fair)
Ceiros(Cherries)
Cerian (to love ) Ce pronouced as KEE
Crisiant( crystal)
Faleiry (welsh form of valerie)
Fflur( flower)
Eiddwen Eira, Eiry (snow)
Enfys (rainbow)
Eswen(strength)
Eurwen(fair and golden)
Gwennant(fair stream)
Gwennog(smiling)
Gwylan(seagull)
Gwyneira (white snow)
Haf(summer)
Heulwen(sunshine)
Iorwen(lord, beautiful)
Llio Meinir(maiden)
Meinwen(slender n fair)
Melangell(sweet angel)
Saeran( an irish saint)
Tegan(beautiful)
Wynne(fair, blessed)
BOMB WALES NOW! Seriously, take any one of these words, put "Marie Johnson" behind it and try not to laugh. Now imagine the kindergarten teacher trying to say Fflur on the first day of school. That's right. ...
"Put Marie Johnson behind it"!?!? Comedy TITANIUM, y'all.
This reminds me of when my pal Laura, before she had her darling chitlins, would call me when she got her class rosters before the first day of school. Fast forward one year to Open House, and she encountered a parent who inSISTED her daughter's name is pronounced, "Tatiana." But how is it spelled? "Titania." And she wasn't kidding, folks.
If I, someone who most days can barely afford the lifestyle to which she's accustomed, can afford my own blog with pretty skins, shouldn't fuckin' Rosie O'Donnell be able to, too!?? I mean, come ON.
A word about the Schiavo case
Now that the guvmint boneheads have gotten it this far, I hope every family that's in this situation -- whether it's gone on as long Terri's or not -- implores Congress to afford them the exact same privilege over and over and over again so that they'll be soooooo tied up with this, they won't be able to focus on anything else ever again. Qu'est-ce que cela va dire, You reap what you sow!?!?
I take issue with the word "coquette"
But I s'pose it's pretty apt.
Your Seduction Style: The Coquette
You are a pro at playing the age old game of hard to get. Your flirting style runs hot and cold, giving just enough to keep them chasing you. Independent and self-sufficient, you don't need any one person to make you complete. And that independence is exactly what makes people pursue you.
What Is Your Seduction Style?
[Again, from the lovely Snidge]
Fuckety fuck fuck fuck, pt. 32
So, who wants to take up a collection for me? Because I just checked my checking account, and I have a current balance of $480 something and some change but an available balance of $182 and some change. I sure hope that $300 equals out to my phone bill (past due a bit, I know) and the car insurance payment I jut made, because if not? I'm totally fucked. AGAIN. I mean, my car payment is due next week, so I can take a bit of a hit on that if I need to fill up my tank, which I will tomorrow (at $2+ a gallon -- oh, wait: Speedway has it for $2 at Speedway, according to garygasprices.com, and I'm headed that way), but if not? I don't know what I'm going to do. And then as I'm headed toward an assignment this morning, facken Mother starts handing out orders: "I need to drop off my pants to get them hemmed. Did you make reservations for Easter yet?" Now, the pants thing is cool, because she doesn't drive. But the reservations? She may not drive, but she CAN pick up the Goddamned phone; after all, she calls ME three to five times a day on average some days. I mean, people get paid $40K a year as a personal assistant, while I pay hell getting the $60 $50 (it started as $60) she gives me toward my car payment (you know, the one I didn't want in the first place?) each month because she's POOR, you know, even though she makes more than ME most months, and I'M the one working.
Gah.
Yeah, I know, I really have nothing to complain about when you consider that the government is on the precipice of setting a filthy, rotten precedent for human rights, but as the one guy says, "You might be an amputee, but that doesn't make my broken leg hurt any less." Or some such thing.
With that, I'll lighten the mood a bit with photos of my two boyfriends.
[UPDATE: Better news, everyone: Just checked my Bill Pay, and the $182? Is that phone bill plus my car payment. So now, when the insurance hits? I'll still have money left to get me through to next check. Still, thank God I stocked up on the Ramen and tomato sauce while I still had the chance. Sheesh.]
Ruben giving bedroom eyes as he's snug as a bug in my bed
Full frontal Teddy Bear (aka the elusive Elliott, aka "Weenie Been.")
Domo origato
My japanese name is 中村 Nakamura (center of the village) 弓美 Yumi (beautiful bow, as in bow and arrow).
Take your real japanese name generator! today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.
[Horked from the always fetching Snidge]
Tonight's the night …
I see my college boyfriend for the first time in, oh, at least 10 years!?!?
Except for passing references and a coded in-joke to Wad, I haven't mentioned him much here because, well, he has no effect whatsoever on my world now and hasn't in the 10 or so years I haven't seen him. (Luckily for me, once I'm over it, it's, like, totally wiped from the annals. Getting to that point, however, is an entirely different critter that usually takes much longer than humanly necessary, but I digress.) Anyway, I'll be seeing him at an assignment -- a formal gig that the not-for-profit for which he works puts on for its clients each year -- which means I'll be putting on makeup, the industrial strength support thing-y and my fancy Ralph Lauren pants. Am I going to go out of my way to talk to him? Not at all. I have no reason to. Plus, I'm sure his wife's* going to be there, and that would be awkward considering he was doing us at the same time.
[UPDATE: Welp, there's nothing TO report, because if he was there, I didn't see him, and I certainly wasn't going to ask any of the employees if he was there. There WAS, however, this blonde chick that kept giving me the eyeball, and I wonder if that might have been his fucking bitch ol' lady wife, because although she knew me? I didn't know who SHE was. Of course, it could've also been that I was looking reasonably hot, and she was jealous of the hottness.]
*But if you think I won't be interested in seeing what SHE looks like, especially now after she's popped out at least one of his spawn after having one of her own with that kid's drug-addict daddy, you would be sadly mistaken. I might be over it, but I'm as catty and bitchy as they come.
Days when the job is not so fun
Got an e-mail from one of my editors yesterday with a story tip: A woman called in to tell us her daughter had been assaulted, can we do a story on it? My first reaction was, "Ooooof, that's rough," and my editor said that if there was a police report, of course it's a story.
Well, there's a story, all right. Yes, it most definitely did happen ... in another state several years ago. And therein lies the rub.
I always hate doing the dead stories or the people-got-really-fucked-up-at-the-hands-of-others stories -- not because they're not worthy, but it's monumentally tough to talk to people when their emotions are so raw and exposed. You're convinced they don't really want to talk, and you're worried about saying the wrong thing. But I do them when asked, and I do an all right job of it, I think. But what do you do when there's a family in immense pain, but the story isn't germain to the readership? On one hand, it's not "news," at least as far as the public's concerned. And yet ...
Like I told the editor, "I'm really kinda glad I'm not the one making the decision."
Another ecosystem bites the dust
From the time I was a wee broad, Mother told me the story of how the summer before she and Dad got engaged, he hightailed it to Alaska. Apparently, the pressure from both sets of parents -- "But he's not Catholic, Anka!" "I want you to marry a college girl, Lee!" -- was bumming him out, so he split. Obviously, they got back together (after Mother gave him 10 kinds of hell for a month or two), but he always talked about the amazing beauty of Alaska: the wildlife, the mountains, the tranquility, but especially the wildlife.
Don't know whether he ever got up to the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge, but in February I covered a talk about it. Below, the article:
Peter Solomon is not what anyone would call a political activist.
A widower with three sons living in Northeastern Alaska as part of the Gwich�in Indian tribe, Solomon feeds his family by hunting and fishing off the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a giant piece of wilderness shared between Alaska and Canada. But their lifeblood could soon be decimated by oil drills if the federal government has anything to say about it, he told members of the Izaak Walton League of America Monday night.
If oil development is allowed on the plain, the 8,000-member Gwich�in tribe stands to its way of life for the past 20,000 years. For example, caribou, which return to the plain on Prudhoe Bay each summer to give birth, would likely suffer decreased herds because of displacement from drilling, thereby cutting off the tribe�s food supply. Plus, the nature of drilling would destroy acres upon acres of an untouched ecosystem.
�There�s a 65 percent unemployment rate in most of Alaska,� Solomon said, �But as long as we have the right to hunt and fish on our land, that doesn�t hurt us in any way.�
Lenny Kohm, a wildlife conservationist and photographer who spent more than 15 years lecturing about the Gwich�ins� plight and spends most summers among the tribe, said that the amount of oil that the government hopes to harvest from the plain is about 3.2 billion gallons, or a six-month supply based on normal American usage. And that number can�t be proven.
�There�s a 20 percent chance of (the oil) actually being there,� Kohm said. �When (Spanish explorers) came through Mexico, they destroyed the Aztecs and Mayans, because they needed the gold. Then 150 years ago, we ran the Native Americans out, because we wanted the land. Now, we�re getting ready to do it again, because we need the oil.�
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, considered a prime piece of land for drilling since 1925, was declared as such in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act by former President Jimmy Carter, Kohm explained. Because the Coastal Plain has always been a target for drilling, however, Carter classified it as a study area until such time that it would be used for other things.
In order for the plains to receive refuge status, a bill before the House of Representatives, H.R. 567 will have to pass. It may not have a shot, however, since President George Bush in his budget for 2006 has earmarked money for the Open Up Arctic Refuge.
�It�s not even a budget item, but he knows that as a budget bill in the Senate, it can�t be filibustered,� Kohm said.
Kohm, along with Kim Novick, Great Lakes Organizer for the Alaska Coalition, pleaded with League members to contact Sen. Richard Lugar to vote against the budget. For his Alaskan Indian �family,� he prays the efforts will work.
�If it passes, that first drill is going to have to come right through here,� Kohm said, pointing to his heart.
Well, now I find out from Rude that it passed 51-49 to drill up the ANWR for oil they can't say for sure is even down there. Big oil (and the Republicans who support it) say that it can be drilled with minimal effect to the environment. Do you buy that? Do you really think that bringing heavy equipment to an area that;s never been exposed to it is going to survive and multiply? Do you think the birds and animals are going to want to come back to that shit every year? And once again, for oil that may not even be there.
Look at those pictures of the ANWR and tell me if you think that's right.
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07/06/2018 In Dance, DJ/Dance Party, Festival, Film event, Jazz, Musical performance, New Media, Other Music, Pop, Rock & Indie By Giselle
Sydney Revellers Weekly Top 10 10/06/18
Welcome, revellers, to the launch of the beginning of the end feat. the beginning.
10) Happy Mag Issue 8 Launch
Bid farewell to Sydney Vivid, it's time for these birds to shine. Happy Mag's celebrating the launch of their inaugural photo issue between the legs of The Lady Hamphire. Dance into a pop-up exhibition designed by the Australian Centre for Photography featuring live projections and experimental light and be immersed in the sounds of Shining Bird's first concert of 2018.
http://on.com.au/search/events/Vivid-2018-Music-Day-23/514cfeb0-2e72-11e8-a8dd-e3a56d3eda89
9) Vibe Positive: 4th Birthday – Day/Night Party
A 12 hour aural delight. They have stamina, these kids. But why wouldn't they? They're just 4 years old. Inside one of the grand dames of Sydney venues – 100-year old warehouse near Central Station – Vibe Positive will be holding their fourth annual famous day/night party. Welcome to the womb; they gestate for you.
8) Funk Engine Plays 'Lettuce' with Arcing Wires
Feeling a little too mature this year to celebrate a 4 year olds birthday? Spend the evening with these guys. They're turning five. And their taste in music is undoubtedly ageing alongside them. Funk Engine brings the music of 'lettuce' in a live tribute to groove itself. Come on down to the ol' 505. It's almost 14 now.
http://on.com.au/search/events/Vivid-2018-Music-Day-22/f349ead0-2e71-11e8-a8dd-e3a56d3eda89
7) HARDCORE SUPERSTAR w/ Bad Moon Born + Kvlts of Vice + Dept. of Gloom
Speaking of too mature, street metal rockers Hardcore Superstar are back and decadently hacking and slashing their way into the Oxford Art Factory for a night of sleaze and glam to tickle your ears and vibrate your extremities.
http://on.com.au/search/events/Vivid-2018-Music-Day-21/94632db0-2e71-11e8-a8dd-e3a56d3eda89
6) Live&Loud at The Burdekin
да. It's about time. Druggist of Drum & Bass Enei returns with his own farewell to Vivid, alive with all the pulsations your inner ear can handle. Don't let your other parts be jealous. Prouwl Studios' spectacular visuals will attend lovingly to the pulsatory desires of your eyeballs too.
5) Live On The Golden Stage
A most elegant end. CLEWS takes to the stage for the Golden Age's intimate, dreamy and undoubtedly cinematic adieu to the Vivid light festival. Brush aside the velvet curtains and move into a timeless world of dark shadows and secret mirrors.
4) St. Vincent
St. Vincent is coming to Sydney Vivid with a one-night-only performance at Carriageworks, sure to contemplate the cracks between us. This may be the only context in which it's acceptable to do the robot, look at tightly spandexed ass and feel not in the least like a perverted relic. David Byrne was willing. Who are you to disagree?
http://on.com.au/search/events/St.-Vincent-2018/318a6470-3217-11e8-a8dd-e3a56d3eda89
3) Spike's Juke Joint
Y'all take a chill. Now. Cause this'll be a stone gas, honey. Celebrating Spike Lee's latest thriller BlacKkKlansman, the SFF Hub's "fir[ing] up the dancefloor with the funk, soul, disco and Blaxploitation music for a post-film boogie". (Definition: Joint informal: An establishment of a specified kind, especially one where people meet for eating, drinking, or entertainment. Also can refer to a piece of creative work, especially a musical recording.)
http://on.com.au/search/events/Sydney-Film-Festival-Day-11/5910ecf0-5a38-11e8-93ea-bfdb9889e3bf
2) A Vivid End
11th-16th June
It's lights out at the end of this week. This is the last chance for you to wander the technicolour dreamscape for another year before the great darkness returns. The great…comparative…darkness. Hell. We're only half way through this year.
http://on.com.au/search/events/Vivid-2018-Light/749554e0-2e5d-11e8-a8dd-e3a56d3eda89
1) Mazzy Star
A riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a mystery. Celebrating 25 years since the release of their album So Tonight That I Might See, Mazzy Star is manifesting at last in Sydney as part of Vivid Live. Haunting, beautiful and unlikely to ever return.
http://on.com.au/search/events/Vivid-2018-Music-Day-18/30635070-2e70-11e8-a8dd-e3a56d3eda89

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Political party donations and loans published for Q4 2020
You are in the Media centre section
Posted: 4 March 2021
In 2020, political parties registered in Great Britain and Northern Ireland reported accepting a total of £41,627,063 in donations and public funds, according to new figures published by the Electoral Commission. This compares to over £117m accepted in 2019, and £49m in 2018.
In the fourth quarter of 2020 (October to December), 20 political parties registered in Great Britain and Northern Ireland accepted £10,937,856 in donations and public funds.
Commenting on the information published today, Louise Edwards, Director of Regulation, said:
"Publishing this data gives voters important information on how parties in the United Kingdom are being funded, in order to enhance public confidence and trust in our democratic processes.
"We welcome the fact that most parties continue to deliver their donation reports to us on time despite the challenging circumstances caused by Covid-19."
Political parties are required to submit quarterly donation and loan returns to the Electoral Commission, and include:
donations accepted above the £7,500 threshold (£1,500 for accounting units) smaller donations from a single donor which add together to exceed the reporting threshold
donations which ought to have been reported in previous quarters
impermissible donations they have received and the action taken in relation to these.
Donation and loan reports from this quarter also include furlough payments from HM Treasury which are included in the public funds category.
The 20 political parties that reported donations in quarter four of 2020, including public funds, were:
Total reported
Donations accepted (excl. public funds)
Public funds accepted
Total accepted in this quarter
Alliance - Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
£31,759 £17,500 £14,259 £31,759
Conservative and Unionist Party
£5,104,363 £4,992,834 £63,930 £5,056,764
Co-operative Party
£57,340 £57,340 £0 £57,340
Democratic Unionist Party - D.U.P.
£81,383 £0 £81,383 £81,383
Green Party (Great Britain)
£148,479 £102,538 £45,941 £148,479
Green Party (Northern Ireland)
£4,116,436 £2,293,589 £1,814,143 £4,107,732
£872,000 £420,773 £362,329 £783,102
People Before Profit Alliance
£21,820 £5,900 £4,520 £10,420
Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales
£33,595 £8,300 £25,295 £33,595
Reform UK
£100,000 £100,000 £0 £100,000
£10,500 £5,500 £0 £5,500
Scottish Green Party
£53,366 £48,786 £4,580 £53,366
Scottish Libertarian Party
£8,620 £7,150 £0 £7,150
Scottish National Party (SNP)
£293,063 £2,080 £270,983 £273,063
SDLP (Social Democratic & Labour Party)
Traditional Unionist Voice - TUV
£6,874 £0 £6,874 £6,874
Ulster Unionist Party
£11,128,177 £8,089,665 £2,848,191 £10,937,856
The amount that a political party reports to the Commission may be different to the amount it accepts in a quarter. This is because the amount that a party reports can include donations that were returned because they were impermissible and / or donations reported as part of the wrong quarter. As a result, this total can sometimes be more than the total donations that a party accepted in a quarter.
Parties will likely have received other donations, from different individuals or bodies, that are below the thresholds for reporting to the Commission. Taken as a total sum these can amount to substantial sources of income for parties.
Seven parties failed to meet the reporting deadline for this quarter. The Commission will consider each of these matters, as well as donations reported late, in line with its Enforcement Policy, if appropriate, and publish any sanctions applied at a later date.
Loans with a value of £24,109 were paid off in the fourth quarter of 2020. £78,914 in loans have been fully converted to donations in this quarter.
Donations accepted by regulated donees in Q4 2020
The Commission also publishes details of donations accepted by regulated donees. Regulated donees are members of registered political parties, holders of relevant elective office and members associations.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, £325,458 in donations were accepted by 17 donees. The total includes cash and non-cash donations, as well as donations towards overseas visits. Full details are available on our website.
Type of regulated donee
Value of cash and non-cash donations accepted
Value of donations accepted towards overseas visits
Total value of donations accepted
GLA - Assembly Member
£201,179 £0 £201,179
Member of Registered Political Party
£7,500 £0 £7,500
MP - Member of Parliament
£100,627 £4,000 £104,627
Senedd Member
A summary of donations reported by parties in the fourth quarter of 2020, including the highest donors and details of late reports, is available on the Commission's website.
Full details of donations and loans are available on our registers.
For more information contact the Electoral Commission press office on 020 7271 0704, out of office hours 07789 920 414 or press@electoralcommission.org.uk
The Electoral Commission is the independent body which oversees elections and regulates political finance in the UK. We work to promote public confidence in the democratic process and ensure its integrity by:
enabling the delivery of free and fair elections and referendums, focussing on the needs of electors and addressing the changing environment to ensure every vote remains secure and accessible
regulating political finance – taking proactive steps to increase transparency, ensure compliance and pursue breaches
using our expertise to make and advocate for changes to our democracy, aiming to improve fairness, transparency and efficiency.
The Commission was set up in 2000 and reports to the UK, Scottish and Welsh parliaments.
The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA) requires registered parties to report cash and non-cash donations and borrowing to the Electoral Commission on a quarterly basis. Political parties must report all donations and borrowing over £7,500 relating to the central party, or over £1,500 relating to an accounting unit. This includes aggregates of donations and loans from the same source during the calendar year.
As the parties only report donations and loans over these thresholds, the figures do not include all donations and loans to political parties. Donations and loans under these thresholds are recorded in political parties' annual Statements of Accounts.
Public funds are donations from the House of Commons, the House of Lords, the Scottish Parliament and the Electoral Commission. 'Short' and 'Cranborne' grants are available to parties in opposition in the House of Commons or House of Lords respectively.
Some donations appear on the register as being from the Electoral Commission. These are Policy Development Grants, which were established by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 for parties represented in the Commons by two or more sitting members. The grants are intended to assist parties in developing the policies that they will present in an election manifesto. The legislation provides the total sum of £2 million annually for this purpose. Policy Development Grants became reportable as donations for the first time in quarter three of 2006 as a result of the Electoral Administration Act 2006.
There were 357 registered political parties in Great Britain and Northern Ireland during quarter four 2020. 55 were required to submit a quarterly donation report and 45 to submit borrowing information within the deadline. The remaining political parties were exempt (unless they received donations) because they have previously submitted four consecutive nil returns.
More information on what constitutes a regulated donee and their legal reporting requirements is available on our website.
Members of Parliament report their accepted donations to the Register of Members' Financial Interests.
Members of Scottish Parliament report their accepted donations to the Register of Interests for the Scottish Parliament.
All other regulated donees report their donations directly to us. We then publish this information monthly as part of our role in providing greater transparency in political finance in the UK.
Due to lockdown restrictions, we have not been able to check all of our offices for any returns that may have been sent to us by post.
All you need to register to vote is 5 minutes and your National Insurance number.
Donations and loans
Find out about donations and loans to a political party, individual or other organisation
Registers of unincorporated associations
Download and view the registers of unincorporated associations
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WASHINGTON – For 32 years, Chicago has welcomed undocumented immigrants. The policy began with Mayor Harold Washington, who forbade local authorities from asking immigrants their legal status.
Now, the city vows to continue his legacy and keep its "sanctuary city" title in the face of President Donald Trump's executive order to cut funding to the 360 jurisdictions that have laws limiting their cooperation with federal immigration agencies. Illinois immigrant advocates say they will join the fight.
Trump issued an executive order on Wednesday directing so-called "sanctuary cities" to cooperate with federal immigration authorities or lose federal grant money. The funding in jeopardy is federal grants related to law enforcement.
"Sanctuary cities" are home to around 53 percent of the immigrant population living in the U.S. without legal permission, according to the Migration Policy Institute – a think tank that tracks the movement of populations worldwide. The cities include the five top destinations for all immigrants in the U.S. – New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago and San Francisco, which accounted for just over 40 percent of the nation's foreign-born population in 2010, according to a report by the U.N. International Organization for Migration.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel vowed to defy the executive order even if the city loses the federal money. He declined to comment on the amount of funds Chicago stands to lose.
Sheriff Mark Curran of Lake County, a wealthy suburban area north of Chicago that is not a sanctuary, criticized the funding cut for Chicago.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other immigration rights groups likely will challenge the order in court, according to Illinois ACLU spokesman Ed Yohnka. He predicted that members of Congress also will try to overturn the order.
For Yohnka, the idea of cutting off federal funding for law enforcement from major cities is simply unrealistic. "This is something that's being done for showmanship," he said.
Fred Tsao, senior policy counsel at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, agreed with Yohnka. For Tsao, a stumbling block in implementing the order is the lack of a definition of a sanctuary city. He also questioned the feasibility of withdrawing federal funds, saying that the cities stand a good chance of winning a legal battle over the issue. New York Mayor Bill De Blasio has said his city will sue.
Trump's order is at odds with Chicago's long history of attracting immigrants of all backgrounds, Tsao said.
"This city has seen the wisdom of welcoming immigrants not just as residents of the city but also welcoming them to participate in city programs, including cooperating with local law enforcement," he said.


text:
Announcement: Touchstorm to Unveil VideoAmigo Marketing Suite at VidCon
by Kristin Forte, on Jul 1, 2015 3:44:00 PM
NEW YORK, July 1, 2015 – Touchstorm, a technology-based services company that builds YouTube audiences for the world's largest brands, is unveiling VideoAmigo, their new suite of marketing tools and services, in time for the 6th annual VidCon in Anaheim, California. Since its inception in 2010, the convention that celebrates, discusses and informs online video has drawn a rapidly growing crowd of creators, fans, industry and brands worldwide. More than 300 influential YouTube Creators will be there this year, as well as an expected 20,000+ attendees.
Touchstorm plans to connect with hundreds of YouTube creators at this event, revealing their VideoAmigo stats and allowing fans to see if their favorite stars really walk the walk.
Alison Provost, Touchstorm CEO, said "We've been building these tools and technologies behind the scenes for years while we've helped some of the largest brands in the world with content strategy, production, and YouTube channel management. Now we're excited to open these tools up to the market, and VidCon is the perfect place to do so."
The VideoAmigo Marketing Suite allows brands and creators to stop guessing at their strategy and start winning on YouTube, with data and insights needed to run successful video campaigns. With VideoAmigo, brands can find searchable, popular video topics to own, as well as the right creators and channels to partner with. Creators can grow revenue, build audience, engage fans, and attract killer sponsors.
Touchstorm's proprietary data taxonomy, the Touchstorm Video Index (TVi), narrows the world of video topics to provide more marketing and performance metrics on channels, videos and searches than has ever been possible. VideoAmigo, which runs on the TVi classification system, uncovers unique insights that allow brands to compete and win in social conversations.
About Touchstorm
Touchstorm (www.touchstorm.com) is a technology-based services company that builds video audiences for the world's largest brands. To accomplish its vision of helping brands and audiences fall in love again, the company grows YouTube channels organically, building engaged audiences for brand channels. Touchstorm uses a suite of software technologies to build these brand audiences at scale, including VideoAmigo™ the Video Marketing Suite powered by the Touchstorm Video Index™ (TVi™). Headquartered in New York City, Touchstorm is an independent, woman-owned company.
Topics: YouTube Video Analytics YouTube YouTube for Business
New Year Resolutions – For Your YouTube Channel!
by Kristin Forte, on Dec 19, 2014 10:55:03 AM
Start the New Year Off Right!
Now that 2014 is coming to a close, it's time to start reflecting on the past year and making resolutions. If you run a YouTube channel, your goal might/should be how to make it even better in the coming months. If you've made the resolution to have a stronger, healthier, more successful channel in 2015, the most important place to start is analyzing how well your channel did this year and where you stand in the rankings of other channels. The best way to do this is to run a free Touchstorm Video Index Channel Report! It gives you your TVi score and tells you how you've been performing on the "metrics that matter." Here's a recap of what you will find in your channel report:
It's obvious that views are important when it comes to the success of a YouTube channel. But views can tell you a lot more than your general popularity. You'll also see your View Rank among your competition… This can help inform content strategy… Learn more
View Density
View Density is a measure of a channel's health. It's the ratio of the channel's top 3 most popular video's Views to the channel's Total Views. The lower the percentage, the better. Finding out your View Density can inform you how your content is performing with viewers, and help you create an even more focused content strategy… Learn more
3. Subscribers
This may seem like another obvious one. Everyone wants a million subscribers on their YouTube channel. Your Channel Report will tell you tell you how many subscribers your channel currently has, as well as your rank in subscribers within your category, or conversation. This is a good way to keep up on your competition, or to find potential collaborators... Learn more
Subscriber Conversion
Conversion is how successful a channel is at converting viewers to subscribers. The TVi expresses this idea as Subscribers per Million Views, or Subs/MMV. Building audience is different than building views. You should be monitoring how many people view your content, but also how they respond to it… Learn more
Likeability
Some videos, channels and topics generate a much higher Like rate than others. For each Topic, Conversation, and Theme in the Touchstorm Video Index, we determine the average Like rate and normalize it to an Index of 100, so that videos and channels in that competitive set can be judged onrelative Likeability. The highest indices indicate very strong Likeability for the content… Learn more
Best Channel Practices
"Best channel practices" means many things, but current TVi scoring is primarily concerned with the frequency of video uploading, and whether or not videos have been taken down. The healthiest channels upload content constantly and at a cadence — once a week or even more, and usually on the same day every week…Learn more
TVi Score
All of the metrics we have studied so far combine to produce a Touchstorm Video Index Score – TVi score for short. So, what is a TVi score? Touchstorm is categorizing the entire YouTube platform, profiling millions of YouTube channels and has created the Touchstorm Video Index Score -- TVi for short. A TVi score is the single measure of the overall health of a YouTube channel on a scale of one to a thousand… Learn more
Here's to a happy and healthy channel in the New Year!
Topics: YouTube Channel Analytics YouTube YouTube Content Strategy
Breaking Down the TVi Channel Report: TVi Score
by Kristin Forte, on Nov 28, 2014 11:00:00 AM
What is a TVi score?
We've reached the last installation in the Breaking Down the TVi Channel Report series! All of the metrics we have studied so far combine to produce a Touchstorm Video Index Score – TVi score for short.
So, what is a TVi score? Touchstorm is categorizing the entire YouTube platform, profiling millions of YouTube channels and has created the Touchstorm Video Index Score -- TVi for short.
A TVi score is the single measure of the overall health of a YouTube channel on a scale of one to a thousand. It rolls up a myriad of qualitative data points. You can think of it like a FICO score, only for YouTube.
The TVi Score balances the "metrics that matter" to produce one number that represents the healthiest and best performing YouTube channels. To recap, these key metrics are Views, View Density, Subscribers, Subscriber Conversion, Likeability and Best Channel Practices.
The TVi Score shows how well a YouTube channel is producing engaging content and using it to generate a following. This neutralizes anomalies such as "the-biggest-budget-wins" and one-hit wonders, and recognizes good channel management and audience impact.
It also enables comparisons between any channel in a "conversation" with others in the same "conversation," or across the board. This shows brands and channel owners how to compete, and shows advertisers where to put ad dollars.
Here's a screenshot from a report we ran on YouTube star Pewdiepie. He's doing exceptionally well, with a TVi score of 823.
So how is your channel doing on YouTube? To find out, get your own TVi score at tvi.touchstorm.com.
Topics: YouTube Channel Analytics YouTube YouTube Ratings
Breaking Down the TVi Channel Report: Best Channel Practices
Welcome to Part 7 of the Breaking Down the Channel Report Series
We're breaking down the "metrics that matter" in your customized Channel Report, which you can run at tvi.touchstorm.com. We've already talked about Views, View Density, Subscribers, Subscriber Conversion and Likeability. Now let's take a look at Best Channel Practices – and what that really means.
"Best channel practices" means many things, but current TVi scoring is primarily concerned with the frequency of video uploading, and whether or not videos have been taken down.
The healthiest channels upload content constantly and at a cadence — once a week or even more, and usually on the same day every week.
On the other hand, taking videos down (which can't always be helped) is damaging to channel health in more ways than one. Not only does YouTube deduct the view counts attributed to those videos, but our testing shows that velocity (a key factor driving the visibility that attracts audience) decreases.
If you look at our Live Ratings, www.tvi.touchstorm.com/liveratings, you can run a real-time report of YouTube channels based on category. Here's a screenshot of Live Ratings we ran on Vlogs & Rants:
YouTube star Jenna Marbles is doing extremely well, and definitely carrying out Best Channel Practices. She has removed 0 videos in the history of her channel. This also means she has never had views subtracted from her total. She also publishes regularly according to a schedule so her subscribers know when to expect content. Content regularity is one of the best ways to strengthen the connection with your subscriber base.
Next week we'll take a look at how all of these "metrics that matter" roll up into a TVi score, which is the quickest way to determine the health of a YouTube channel.
Topics: YouTube Channel Analytics YouTube
Condé and Kandee: A Match Made in YouTube Heaven?
by Stacy A. Sarna, on Nov 20, 2014 2:51:00 PM
Just hours after we released our Special Report on the Consumer Magazine category on YouTube, comes this article from Advertising Age.
In the article, Ad Age admires Condé Nast's announcement of a deepening relationship with YouTube stars starting with makeup artist Kandee Johnson. The objective of the deals is of course to reach a younger (millennial) audience and to sell the high-priced ad space that will accompany a handful of new, original series.
The Ad Age article made us wonder: How does this strategy
fit with what we just learned about Condé Nast in our
Special Report on the Consumer Magazine industry?
If you're not yet familiar with our latest Special Report, we looked at 1,547 Consumer Magazine pubs on YouTube and discovered that surprisingly few are producing a meaningful audience (defined as 10 million views or more). Using our Touchstorm Video Index™ (TVi), we examined the metrics that matter for each of the 30 Channels in the Condé Nast YouTube universe. The resulting TVi score — a Ratings System, like a FICO or SAT score for YouTube Channels — reveals the overall health of a Channel beyond simply the traditional Views and Subscribers rankings.
Was it smart for Condé Nast to choose someone like Kandee Johnson over a better-known YouTube star (like the #1 most viewed in the makeup category, Michelle Phan, for example)? Would your magazine know how to even start to create a list of who to pursue as a potential partner?
The Touchstorm Video Index confirms that Kandee and Condé fit.
Let's examine just two of our many metrics that reveal why Kandee is a better choice than Michelle to add value in a growth strategy for Condé Nast.
With a Likeability Index of only 106 — meaning that their content is 6% more apt to get a "Like" than the average Consumer Magazine content on YouTube — Condé Nast has plenty of room for improvement. And that's a perfect way for Kandee to quickly help. Within her topic of makeup, Kandee has a Likeability Index of 175. Her fans actively "Like" her content! In contrast, Michelle's Likeability score is only 93 — 7% lower than average. (The hidden peril of so many views.)
Condé Nast is smart in partnering with Kandee (and presumably the yet-to-be-announced others) because she quantitatively appears to have a clear understanding of what resonates with her fans. This new video series with Condé Nast will bring her already engaged fans to the new content, increasing their own Likeability Index scores along the way.
Another important and unique metric from the TVi shows how successful a channel is at converting its Viewers into Subscribers. Channels that do this well have figured out how to make content that their audience wants and how to market that content to draw a loyal following. Someone who subscribes to a Channel is opting in, essentially. They're agreeing to accept email messages and accept alterations to their YouTube Home Page, all to see what new content is published. YouTube's algorithms drive from a number of things that Subscribers impact. So ultimately, the better you Convert, the more Subscribers you have, and the more Subscribers you have, the better your visibility on YouTube becomes. That's why Conversion is a critical albeit oft-overlooked statistic.
As a whole, Consumer Magazines are performing worse in Conversion than the average for all of YouTube… which is disappointing given that the magazines are professional content producers and most of YouTube is not. And this is a metric that Condé Nast needs even more help in than they do in Likeability. In fact, Condé Nast doesn't even show up in our top 18 Converters chart of magazine publishing groups. At first glance at Kandee's conversion ranking, she doesn't look like the strongest choice, but here is where the evaluation of a partner gets a little tricky… Within her category, Kandee Johnson ranks:
• #7 in Views
• #10 in Subscribers
• #234 in Conversion
That doesn't sound so great. But then let's look again at the queen of the category, Michelle Phan:
• #3 in Subscribers
If Conversion is turning Views into Subs, how does that happen to Michelle who ranks higher than Kandee in both? It's because Michelle has exponentially more times the number of Subscribers and Views than Kandee. That's why it is so vital to evaluate a potential YouTube star partner on metrics that go deeper than just Views and Subscribers.
It's time for magazines to live up to their content potential and start looking great on YouTube.
Those are just two of many ways for magazines to evaluate potential partners on YouTube. We've got many more factors to share.
To study any channel — and potential partner(s) — get a Channel Report with in depth performance metrics and competitive insights.
Are YOU a YouTube star wondering how suitors will evaluate your channel health? Get your TVi Score and your channel's TVi Score badge to instantly let people know how great you are!
Topics: YouTube YouTube Content Strategy YouTube Video Marketing
We Studied Consumer Magazines on YouTube... The Insights Might Surprise You
by Kristin Forte, on Nov 18, 2014 1:10:00 PM
Last week we released our Touchstorm Special Report on Consumer Magazines on YouTube. While it produced a multitude of insights on the Magazine Industry and their status on YouTube, one thing was glaringly obvious…
Only a handful of magazines are succeeding on YouTube! We studied 1,547 magazines and fewer than 8% produce a meaningful audience of 10 million viewers or more.
This slideshare is a preview of our Magazine Report. In the full report, you'll see who is winning on YouTube, who can do better, and what they can do to get there. Download the full report here.
YouTube is an untapped or underutilized resource by many magazines, and it's often neglected as one of the most effective forms of social media. As a magazine publisher, they have a distinct advantage over other YouTube channels. They already have credibility as an expert, and brand recognition, yet they don't have to push a specific product.
So, who is doing well?
National Geographic is winning the magazine game on YouTube as far as views are concerned, with over 1 billion. They also are #3 by TVi score. They're an established brand with universal appeal – because everyone loves animals, especially on YouTube. People might not subscribe to Nat Geo's print magazine, but most everyone will click on a link that says "Cobra vs. Mongoose" (69 million views).
There's never been a better time to connect with viewers – whether they are print subscribers or not. On YouTube, a publisher is able to cast a much wider net – and experiment with their content in a way they've never been able to before. It's a great place to branch out a bit and reach people who might never have seen their content otherwise.
For more information, visit www.touchstorm.com.
Breaking Down the TVi Channel Report: Subscriber Conversion
by Kristin Forte, on Oct 31, 2014 11:02:00 AM
Welcome to Part 5 of the Breaking Down the Channel Report Series!
We're breaking down the "metrics that matter" in your customized Channel Report, which you can run at tvi.touchstorm.com. We've already talked about Views, View Density and Subscribers. Now let's take a look at a real marker of a successful YouTube channel – Subscriber Conversion.
Conversion is how successful a channel is at converting viewers to subscribers. The TVi expresses this idea as Subscribers per Million Views, or Subs/MMV.
Building audience is different than building views. The goal isn't only to inform or entertain viewers, but to keep them coming back for more. You should be monitoring how many people view your content, but also how they respond to it.
Conversion is something the YouTube Stars have mastered – their Conversion Rates are almost always the highest in any analysis. Let's take a look at vlogger Jenna Marbles. Her channel is performing really well. Not only is she #1 in her category for Views and Subscribers, but she's also #3 in the Top Performing Channels by Subscribers per MM Views. The average Subs/MMV in her category is 4,592 while Jenna's average is an impressive 8,937.
The channels that are succeeding in Subscriber Conversion have figured out how to make the content their audience wants, and how to market that content to draw a loyal following. Once a channel is doing really well and starts to pick up steam, it's hard to slow it down.
What's your Conversion Rate? Head over to tvi.touchstorm.com to find out. See how many people are subscribing to your content per million views. Your conversion rate can help you decide whether or not it's time to tweak your content strategy.
Join us next time when we look at Likeability, or viewers' passion for your content.
Topics: YouTube YouTube Subscribers YouTube Content Strategy
Breaking Down the TVi Channel Report: A New Series!
by Kristin Forte, on Oct 3, 2014 11:56:00 AM
Welcome, YouTube creators, to a comprehensive 8-part series on how to get your Touchstorm Video Index Channel Report, how to understand the "metrics that matter," and how to utilize them.
On the homepage of the Touchstorm Video Index, tvi.touchstorm.com, one of your options is to "Study a channel."
After typing in a channel name and clicking the "Channel Report" button you'll get a customized 40-page report with in-depth data and analytics on your channel of choice. To get data on your own channel, log in with the same Google+ account that you use to manage your channel.
The report provides a deep analysis on the health of your YouTube channel, focusing on the 7 "metrics that matter." These metrics include:
Views, Subscribers, View Density, Subscriber Conversion, Likeability, Best Channel Practices, TVi Score
Over the course of the next seven weeks, this series for YouTube creators will unpack the Channel Report on a metric-by-metric basis to help you get the most out of your report.
If you look up your channel and see it hasn't been profiled yet, don't panic. It's very easy to go in there and do it yourself! The TVi is built on the back of the YouTube Genome Project, our project to classify all 10 million YouTube channels into 3,000 topics, 100 conversations and 11 Themes. This takes a lot of time, so we're asking for your help. It's yet another way for you to get involved in the YouTube community. "We're all in this together," "Rome wasn't built in a day," "It takes a village…" you get the point.
Simply go to tvi.touchstorm.com/channelprofiler, log in with your Google+ account and select the Theme, Category, and Topic that you feel best encapsulates your channel. Answer the prompts on the page and you'll be entered in the system. If you log in and see something is incorrectly profiled regarding your channel, simply change it and save it.
If your channel is profiled but your category or topic hasn't been profiled yet, you can take matters into your own hands and enter channels you think are related to yours. The more channels you profile, the more data you'll be able to view – this will allow you to draw new insights, see who your real competition is, and possibly find other YouTubers to collaborate with.
Once you run your Channel Report, you'll see the page populate with colorful graphs, charts and other statistics. We made the report easy to navigate, with little "i" icons to help you out if you need further explanation on anything.
For a more comprehensive handle on the report and all of the insights it has to offer, stay tuned every Friday to learn more about the Channel Report metrics and how to make your channel soar on YouTube.
How to use the TVi (and what the #@$% is it?)
by Kristin Forte, on Sep 22, 2014 9:28:00 AM
Touchstorm Video Index – or TVi for short – is like the Nielsen of YouTube. It rates and ranks channels into 3,000 unique topic areas and then monitors and measures everything. It'll give you a whole new view on YouTube.
We've created this simple tutorial to walk you through it all. You'll learn how you can:
See how your channel is really performing
Discover who your real competition is
Find new people to collaborate with on videos
Get your channel's TVi Score (like a FICO Score, only for YouTube)
Join our YouTube Genome Project
Get the insights you need to grow your channel
…and so much more. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Except this time. Promise.
First, log on to tvi.touchstorm.com. This is the TVi homepage. Here are three important things that I should point out:
There's one caveat to all of this that I need to address right up front.
There are 10 million channels on YouTube, but only 20 searchable categories on YouTube. That means each of you have 500,000 channels you are competing against, which is a lot.
We thought so too. So we decided to do something about it. But we really, really, reeeeallly need your help.
Join the YouTube Genome Project.
What is the YouTube Genome Project? It's our project to classify all 10 million channels into 3,000 Topics, 100 Conversations and 11 Themes --- plus we're adding all kinds of metadata to that. It's easy to profile your channel and it only takes about 30 seconds. Doing this gets you access to the world of data and insights you need to make your channel rock.
We've already profiled tens of thousands of channels ourselves, and we profile more and more every day. But 10 million is a lot for our team, so we're asking for your help.
Go to tvi.touchstorm.com/channelprofiler and follow the steps there. The easiest way is to sign-in with the Google+ account that you use to manage your channel.
Then simply answer the prompts on the page. And voila! You are in the system.
If you get in there and see that something is incorrectly profiled, then just change it and save it. It's that easy.
Let's quickly walk through what you can do at the TVi…
1. Click on Get Badge.
It takes you to this page:
To get your own unique badge and badge page, you just need to sign in with Google using your G+ account that you use to manage your channel. It's as simple as that. When you sign in, you will be taken to this page:
2. Click on Channel Report.
This lets you get a report on ANY channel you choose. Simply follow the instructions on screen and you will get your customized report. To get your own report, sign in with Google.
The YouTube Genome Project (YGP) isn't finished, so some topics and conversations have not been fully profiled. This means that all of the channels are not in the database. Without the YGP database completed, the TVi has nothing to rank.
This is why we need you and all your YT Creator peers to profile their channels. So if your channel hasn't been profiled, go enter it in the system!
If your topic area hasn't been profiled either, you can enter the channels that you think are in your area. Then you can see all of the topic data.
The channel report tells you details about key metrics for your channel. It's NOT just about views and subscribers—we provide a deep level of insight on seven different "metrics that matter" by running our proprietary algorithms built to measure best channel practices.
This means you'll see where you're doing well, where you can improve, and get some ideas on how to do it.
Here's a sample report for you to peruse. It's YouTube star Bethany Mota's. Check it out:
http://tvi.touchstorm.com/channelreport/Macbarbie07
Pretty cool, huh?
3. Click on Topic Report.
I mentioned before that this is our Live Ratings.
What you see is the entire structure of the YGP. The three columns are the 11 Themes, 100+ Conversations, and the nearly 3,000 topics. If something is grey and italicized, then the YGP hasn't profiled it yet.
If you want to see a really cool example, then click on the following:
Welcome Home > Food & Wine > Wine
Now, click Generate Report. See anything interesting there? Social media guru Gary V is getting clobbered by BrownBagWineTasting. Surprising, huh?
Spend some time looking around at everything. You can click on those little "i" icons to get more info about elements on the site or in the reports.
Sign up to get emails about your channel, your scores, and other channels you want to follow. It's free for now, so share it with your friends. And be sure to get everyone in on thisYouTube Genome Project. The more of us that use it, the better it gets.
And finally, as always…
Let us know what you think in the comments below. Ask questions, share ideas for making it better, etc. We made the TVi with you in mind, so share away.
How to Win Fans and Influence People: The Top 30 YouTube Channels and What They're Doing Right
by Sean Womack, on Aug 9, 2014 9:00:00 AM
Touchstorm evaluated every video in the Outdoor Activities & Adventure Sports conversation on YouTube to determine how often viewers push the "Like" button when watching a video.
When we look at the top channels and brands with the most "Positive Passion," we can see some trends emerge, which are useful for companies working to create branded content people will actually…Like!
Here's how we did it: We set the average Likeability for each video to 100*, which allows us to index all videos and channels against each other. Channels that index higher than 100 have content that people like so much they say so with the "Like" button, and the result is better-than-average "Positive Passion" for the channel.
Props to the top 10 channels for landing scores of 300 or higher in Likeability for their videos:
The Bug Out Channel – Bushcraft
Diver Sur – Longboarding
Valhalla Longboards – Longboarding
Metro Skateboarding – Skateboarding
Petan Bikes – BMX Riding
Blackhawk Paramotor – BMX Riding
Welcome Skateboards – Skateboarding
Krooked Skateboards – Skateboarding
Simple Longboards – Longboarding
LZ BMX – BMX Riding
What are they doing right?
Tricks and motion rule – keep the action coming (especially if it's on a skateboard)
Give them tips that help fans master the sport – YouTube is hot for How-tos
Talk to them directly – make them feel a part of your inner circle
Don't aim for perfection – show off the bloopers and crashes
Get behind the scenes – take video of your video, let them see how you created it
Channels with the Best Liked Content
Take a look at the full report on the Outdoor Activities & Adventure Sports conversation on YouTube – including the top 10 channels in all 38 topics, from Bushcraft to Camping, Skateboarding to Surfing.
* The average "Like" score in this conversation is .049, a little less than half of one percent, which is a similar rate to the average CTR of a banner ad.
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YouTube for Business (9)
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Renowned For Sound
For the latest music reviews and interviews
In The Spotlight Interviews
Q&A Interviews
Record Rewind
Live Review: Belinda Carlisle – 13th October 2017 – IndigO2, London, UK
With the help of one of the eighties most successful and defining acts, London IndigO2 was taken back in time last night with hits that shaped a generation of music fans and sweetened the landscape of pop music. Belinda Carlisle touched down in the capital; the final UK performance and the very last date of the singers celebratory tour which marks the 30th anniversary of her international breakthrough record, Heaven on Earth and fans were quick at getting tickets to the show when they went on sale earlier in the year, rewarding Carlisle with a sold out red carpet welcome back to the city.
The night was filled with nostalgia right from the get-go; the track listing of Heaven on Earth dominating the set list as fans were promised ahead of the tour a show that would include each and every track from the 1987 collection as Carlisle unleashed each hit dressed casually in shiny black pants and matching black top and flat shoes. That promise was fulfilled tenfold with the likes of some of the stars most noteworthy and recognizable hits enjoying the spotlight including flawless performances of I Get Weak and Circle In The Sand dished up nice and early to the crowd and performed perfectly in line with the original recordings' arrangements.
The show was perfectly balanced between the uptempo hits and some of Carlisle's most celebrated ballads. As fans enjoyed dancing along with a pitch-perfect and vocally charged rendition of Live Your Life Be Free, they were equally thirsty for the career defining ballads that made Carlisle such a shining star of her era; Runaway Horses, Vision Of You and Mad About You – Carlisle's first solo hit after leaving her former band The Go-Gos – all receiving worthy applause from every fan in every corner of or the IndigO2.
While the event was a seated affair, Carlisle's hits had everyone up on their feet and dancing with the superstar who, while advised by her doctor that dancing was off limits due to medical reasons as Carlisle addressed near the end of the show and pointed to the many reminders taped to the stage floor, it didn't stop her from pacing the stage with stamina and thumping her tambourine on her hip as her fans made up for her slightly fragile demeanor with their own sweaty dance moves to uptempo inclusions like the hand-clap driven (We Want) The Same Thing from the stars 1989 Heaven On Earth follow up, Runaway Horses.
With Heaven On Earth being the focus for the night, the singer was generous with throwing in several numbers from the albums follow up with the infectious Summer Rain being the first of a handful of tracks from the record performed with precision and vocal finesse while latter inclusion Leave A Light On prompted every member of the pack venue to get up on their feet and let loose with Carlisle and sing along to the red-headed beauty before signature hit Heaven Is A Place On Earth – the musicians most successful solo hit – emerged to a deafening applause; starting out as a sweetly sung acoustic number before being reignited by the singers 5-piece band and performed in its original arrangement.
While the eighties may well and truly be over, Carlisle brought the decade back to London in full force last night. The IndigO2 proved a perfect spot for the superstar to lay down a set list of career spanning hits in pitch-perfect, true-to-the-original form. So much fun and so much nostalgia from the leading lady of eighties pop music wrapped up in a night that fans will remember for many years to come.
I Feel Free (Cream cover)
Nobody Owns Me
World Without You
I Get Weak
Circle in the Sand
Should I Let You In?
Vision of You
We Can Change
(We Want) The Same Thing
Leave a Light On
Big Scary Animal
Live Your Life Be Free
Encore 2:
Runaway Horses
Brendon Veevers
::: RenownedForSound.com's Editor and Founder –
Interviewing and reviewing the best in new music and globally recognized artists is his passion.
Over the years he has been lucky enough to review thousands of music releases and concerts and interview artists ranging from top selling superstars like 27-time Grammy Award winner Alison Krauss, Boyz II Men, Roxette, Cyndi Lauper, Lisa Loeb and iconic Eagles front man/songwriter, Glenn Frey through to more recent successes including Newton Faulkner, Janelle Monae and Caro Emerald.
Brendon manages and coordinates the amazing team of writers on RenownedForSound.com who are based in the UK, the U.S and Australia.
Tags: Belinda Carlisle
Previous Album Review: P!nk – Beautiful Trauma
Next Album Review: Kele Okereke – Fatherland
Live Review: Little Mix- 31 October 2019- London O2 Arena
Live Review: The Cardigans – 7th December 2018 – Eventim Apollo, London, UK
Live Review: Claire Richards – 6th December 2018 – Union Chapel, London, UK
Tweets by @Renowned4Sound
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© Renownedforsound.com All rights reserved. | Newsphere by AF themes.


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            style="@style/MyCustomTabLayout"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            app:tabMode="fixed"
            app:tabGravity="fill"/>
    </android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

<android.support.v4.view.ViewPager
    android:id="@+id/pager_booking_mng"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior"/>

In this current code toolbar is not scrolling. when I scroll the list.
But when I set  app:layout_scrollFlags="scroll|enterAlways" in Tablayout tag then both the tablaout and toolbar are scrolling and both are getting outside of the screen.
I want only toolbar to scroll and tablayout should get pinned at top(just like whatsapp).

A: Give scroll flag for the Tablayout as
app:layout_scrollFlags="scroll|enterAlwaysCollapsed"
Hope this wil work.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


this collaboration. The previous events were Indonesian: Where It Can Take You, a student day held in 2012 and attended by 220 students, and Indonesian Teachers' Conference in 2013, attended by over 90 teachers from New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Queensland, and South Australia.
Do you teach Indonesian in Years 9-12?
A reminder for NSW schools that a day for students of Indonesian and their teachers will be held at the University of Sydney on Friday 12 June.
A joint initiative between the Association of Independent Schools, the Catholic Education Commission, the NSW Department of Education and Communities and the Indonesian Department at the University of Sydney, the day aims to inspire students to continue their study of Indonesian to Year 12 and beyond.
Students will have the opportunity to hear from guest speakers, see performances and to participate in language and cultural activities. There is no cost to students for this event.To register your interest, please complete the form below.
I have just received pre-approval to take my year 9 Indo students to Indonesia. Sangat menyenangkan!!!
I have started the epic overseas excursion application but have quite a way to go with the risk assessment. Are there some kind souls out there willing to share their applications or advice? Any help would be very much appreciated as I'm feeling quite overwhelmed (aduh! sakit kepala).


Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe began shortly after destruction of productive capacity inZimbabwe's civil war and confiscation of private farms. During the height of inflation from 2008 to 2009, it was difficult to measure Zimbabwe's hyperinflation because the government of Zimbabwe stopped filing official inflation statistics. However, Zimbabwe's peak month of inflation is estimated at 6.5 sextillion percent in mid-November 2008.
In 2009, Zimbabwe abandoned its currency. As of 2013, Zimbabwe still has no national currency; currencies from other countries are used.
On 18 April 1980, the Republic of Zimbabwe was born from the former British colony of Southern Rhodesia. The Rhodesian Dollar was replaced by the Zimbabwe dollar at par value. When Zimbabwe gained independence, the Zimbabwean dollar was more valuable than the US dollar. In its early years, Zimbabwe experienced strong growth and development. Wheat production for non-drought years was proportionally higher than in the past. The tobacco industry was thriving as well. Economic indicators for the country were strong.
From 1991–1996, the Zimbabwean Zanu-PF government of president Robert Mugabe embarked on an Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP), designed by the IMF and the World Bank, that had serious negative effects on Zimbabwe's economy. In the late 1990s, the government instituted land reforms intended to redistribute land from white landowners to black farmers to correct the injustices of colonialism. However, many of these farmers had no experience or training in farming. From 1999 to 2009, the country experienced a sharp drop in food production and in all other sectors. The banking sector also collapsed, with farmers unable to obtain loans for capital development. Food output capacity fell 45%, manufacturing output 29% in 2005, 26% in 2006 and 28% in 2007, and unemployment rose to 80%. Life expectancy dropped.
The government blames most of Zimbabwe's economic woes on economic sanctions imposed by the United States of America and theEuropean Union. These sanctions affect the government of Zimbabwe, and asset freezes and visa denials targeted at 200 specific Zimbabweans closely tied to the Mugabe regime. There are also restrictions placed on trade with Zimbabwe, by both individual businesses and the USTreasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control.
ONE BEER… YOU WOULD NEED THIS….
Objectively, that the money has no firm basis to give it a value.
Subjectively, that the people holding the money lack confidence in its ability to retain its value.
Crucial to both components is discipline over the creation of additional money. However, the Mugabe government was printing money to finance involvement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and, in 2000, in the Second Congo War, including higher salaries for army and government officials. Zimbabwe was under-reporting its war spending to the International Monetary Fund by perhaps $22 million a month.
Another motive for excessive money creation has been self-dealing. Transparency International ranks Zimbabwe's government 134th of 176 in terms of institutionalised corruption. The resulting lack of confidence in government undermines confidence in the future and faith in the currency.
Economic mis-steps by government can create shortages and occupy people with workarounds rather than productivity. Though this harms the economy, it does not necessarily undermine the value of the currency, but may harm confidence in the future. Widespread poverty and violence, including government violence to stifle political opposition, also undermines confidence in the future. Land reform lowered agricultural output, especially in tobacco, which accounted for one-third of Zimbabwe's foreign-exchange earnings. Manufacturing and mining also declined. An objective reason was, again, that farms were put in the hands of inexperienced people; and subjectively, that the move undermined the security of property.
Government instability and civic unrest were evident in other areas. Zimbabwean troops, trained by North Korean soldiers, conducteda massacre in the 1980s in the southern provinces of Matabeleland and Midlands, though Mugabe's government cites guerrilla attacks on civilian and state targets. Conflicts between the Ndebele ethnic minority and Mugabe's majority Shona people have led to many clashes, and there is also unrest between blacks and whites, in which the land reform was a factor. An aspect of this reform that seeks to bar whites from business ownership induced many to leave the country.
Lack of confidence in government to practice fiscal restraint feeds on itself. In Zimbabwe, neither the issuance of banknotes of higher denominations nor proclamation of new currency regimes led holders of the currency to expect that the new money would be more stable than the old. Remedies announced by the government never included a believable basis for monetary stability. Thus, one reason the currency continued to lose value, causing hyperinflation, is that so many people expected it to.
In 2007, the government declared inflation illegal. Anyone who raised the prices for goods and services was subject to arrest. This amounted to a price freeze, which is usually ineffective in halting inflation. Officials arrested numerous corporate executives for changing their prices.
In December 2008, the Central Bank of Zimbabwe licensed around 1,000 shops to deal in foreign currency. Citizens had increasingly been using foreign currency in daily exchanges, as local shops stated fewer prices in Zimbabwe dollars because they needed foreign currency to import foreign goods. Many businesses and street vendors continued to do so without getting the license.
In January 2009, acting Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa lifted the restriction to use only Zimbabwean dollars. This too acknowledged what many were already doing. Citizens were allowed to use the US dollar, the euro, and the South African rand. However, teachers and civil servants were still being paid in Zimbabwean dollars. Even though their salaries were in the trillions per month, this amounted to around US$1, or half the daily bus fare. The government also used a restriction on bank withdrawals to try to limit the amount of money that was in circulation. It limited cash withdrawals to $Z500,000, which was around US$0.25.
Living with hyperinflation was a challenge for Zimbabweans. Prices in shops and restaurants were still quoted in Zimbabwean dollars, but were adjusted several times a day. Any Zimbabwean dollars acquired needed to be exchanged for foreign currency on the parallel market immediately, or the holder would suffer a significant loss of value. For example, a mini-bus driver charged riders in Zimbabwean dollars, but different rates throughout the day: The evening commute was highest-priced. He sometimes exchanged money three times a day, not in banks but in back office rooms and parking lots.
Such business venues constituted a black market, an arena explicitly outside the law. Transactors could evade the price freezes and the mandate to use Zimbabwean dollars. But black-market transactions are not enforceable under law; moreover, transactors are free to flout any other Zimbabwean law.
The black market served the demand for daily goods such as soap and bread, as grocery stores operating within the law no longer sold items whose prices were strictly controlled, or charged customers more if they were paying in Zimbabwean dollars. At one point, a loaf of bread was $Z550 million in the regular market, when bread was even available; apart from a trip to another country, the black market was the only option for almost all goods, and bread might cost $Z10 billion.
At independence in 1980, the Zimbabwe dollar became the common currency. Originally, the paper notes were Z$20, 10, 5, and 2, and the coins were Z$1, and 50, 20, 10, 5, and 1 cents. As larger bills were needed to pay for menial amounts, the Central Bank of Zimbabwe planned to print and circulate denominations of up to Z$10, 20, 50, and 100 trillion. Announcements of new denominations were increasingly frequent; the Z$200,000,000 bill was announced just days after the printing of the Z$100,000,000 bill.
The government did not attempt to fight inflation with fiscal and monetary policy. In 2006, before hyperinflation reached its peak, the bank announced it would print larger bills to buy foreign currencies. The Reserve Bank printed a Z$21 trillion bill to pay off debts owed to theInternational Monetary Fund.
On three occasions, the Central Bank of Zimbabwe redenominated the currency. First, in August 2006, the Central Bank recalled notes in exchange for new notes with three zeros slashed from the currency. In July 2008, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe,Gideon Gono, announced a new Zimbabwean dollar, this time with 10 zeros removed. The Z$10 billion would be redenominated to be Z$1. This move was not just to slow inflation but also to make computations more manageable.
A third redenomination, producing the "fourth Zimbabwe dollar," occurred in February 2009, and dropped 12 more zeros from the currency. It was thus worth 10 trillion trillion original dollars, as the three redenominations together reduced the value of an original dollar by 103 * 1010 * 1012 = 1025.
Hyperinflation has been halted within months when government takes the necessary steps. In the meantime, people patronise the black market and informal market for currencies in which they have more confidence.
The most direct solution is a credible promise to stop printing unlimited amounts of money. However, Zimbabwean inflation has lasted for five years and the credibility of any promise is problematic.
Alternatively, the government could declare some foreign currency to be the nation's official currency. To facilitate commerce, it is less important which currency is adopted than that the government standardise on a single currency. The US dollar, the euro, and the South African rand are candidates; the US dollar has the most credibility and is the most widely traded within Zimbabwe; or Zimbabwe could join the nearby nations of Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland, which constitute the Common Monetary Area, or "Rand Zone" by formally deciding to use the rand to promote trade and stability.
Short of abandoning the Zimbabwean dollar, Zimbabwe could enact a strict monetary policy. For example, the government would allow the exchange rate to float for a period of perhaps 30 days, so that the market would decide its true value, then declare a fixed exchange rate with the rand and declare the rand a currency simultaneous with the Zimbabwean dollar. The supply of Zimbabwean dollars would be limited, perhaps by a currency board such as in Hong Kong, which has no other constraint than to maintain the fixed exchange rate.
Currently Zimbabwe uses a combination of foreign currencies, but mostly US dollars. A solution has not been decided on as of 2012, and the economy is still in a slump.