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How tall is Paolo Ballesteros?
Here are some information about the height of Paolo Ballesteros.
Paolo Ballesteros is a Filipino actor, TV host and model. The height of Paolo Ballesteros is 5ft 9in, that makes him 175cm tall.
Paolo Ballesteros's height is 5ft 9in or 175cm while I am 5ft 10in or 177cm. I am taller compared to him. To find out how much taller I am, we would have to subtract Paolo Ballesteros's height from mine. Therefore I am taller to him for about 2cm.
And see your physical height difference with Paolo Ballesteros.
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Copa Village: Carol Saboya, Antonio Adolfo & Hendrik Meurkens
Carol Saboya, Antonia Adolfo & Hendrik Meurkens
AAM Music 2015
Listen to Excerpts from Each Track
The Girl From Ipanema/Garota De Ipanema 4:57
Copa Village (Adolfo/Meurkens) 4:22
Show De Bola (Meurkens/Valle) 4:09
O Boto 5:04
Como Se Fosse (Meurkens/Terra) 4:10
Agua De Beber 4:37
Pois E 5:03
Pretty World 3:27
Two Kites 4:55
Nosso Mundo (Meurkens/Terra) 4:18
Visao 5:36
Production/Arrangements – Antonio Adolfo
Assistant Production – Carol Saboya/Hendrik Meurkens
Recording Engineer – Michael Brody, Acoustic Recording, Brooklyn, NY
Carol Saboya: vocals
Hendrik Meurkens: harmonica, vibraphone
Antonio Adolfo: piano
Claudio Spiewak: acoustic guitars, electric guitars
Itaiguara Brandao: bass
Adriano Santos: drums
Andre Siquera: percussion
It was in Stockholm, Sweden, during the winter of 1969, when everything started: Antonio Adolfo was the pianist in legendary Brazilian singer Elis Regina's band. There she met the great Toots Thielemans, who was introduced to her by a record Company. And from that magic meeting resulted the immediate recording of the classic album "Elis & Toots – Aquarela do Brasil".
Several years later Antonio met Hendrik Meurkens, another incredible harmonica (and vibes) player, and they became close friends. After working together in Florida and New York the idea was born to record together and invite the very talented Carol Saboya from Rio de Janeiro to create an album of original compositions and the most famous song combined with lesser-known masterworks of Antonio Carlos Jobim. For two weeks in June of 2014 they met in New York, rehearsed, played several shows, and then, just as the Elis & Toots meeting in 1969 came about, they recorded this album, a celebration of authentic Brazilian Jazz.
As stated by vocalist Carol Saboya, "this meeting with her father Antonio and Hendrik was magical, with great energy, beautiful music and wonderful musicians being part of it! The album features, besides Antonio Adolfo (piano and musical arrangements) and Hendrik Meurkens (harmonica and vibraphone), a Brazilian All Star rhythm section featuring Itaiguara Brandão (bass), Adriano Santos (drums), Claudio Spiewak (guitars) and André Siqueira (percussion), each of them a first call master of Brazilian music."
And according to Hendrik Meurkens, " the music Brazilian MPB (música popular brasileira) mixed with jazz, and all this performed and recorded in two of the most cosmopolitan places of them all, New York City and Rio de Janeiro."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Municipal Bankruptcy? Why Not! And so The Floodgates Open
by Wolf Richter • Nov 16, 2013 • Comments Off on Municipal Bankruptcy? Why Not! And so The Floodgates Open
Today and Monday, individual investors have a unique opportunity to "benefit" from the greatest bond bubble in history, even before institutional investors get to jump in, and buy sewer bonds – yup, that's where they belong – issued by a county that landed in bankruptcy court because it defaulted on its prior sewer bonds. The money will go to the existing bondholders who'll get a fashionable haircut as part of the deal – a deal made in bond-bubble heaven.
Jefferson County, which includes Alabama's largest city, Birmingham, filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in 2011 when it defaulted on $3.1 billion in sewer bonds. At the time, it was the largest municipal bankruptcy. That record was crushed when Detroit filed in July.
In the olden days before the Fed repressed interest rates to near zero, back when it was a little harder for banks to fleece depositors on a daily basis, and when risk still had a price – a steep price – and when yield investors were less desperate, this deal would have been DOA.
No conservative investor – and that's what muni buyers are – would have lent to a municipality that had just ripped off its existing bondholders. There would have been a penalty for its reckless financial behavior. And it would have been exacted by the market: no more new debt, not for a long time, or only at a prohibitive cost, with yields deeply into the double digits.
But now yield investors are desperate, driven to the edge of sanity by the Fed, their patience wrung out of them by years of QE, and in their search for yield, they're turning over stones, and whatever squiggly toxic malodorous thing they see there, it entices them, and they hold their nose and take the risk, any kind of risk, and pick it up, hoping for a little bit of income above the rate of inflation, and they're so desperate that they even buy this Jefferson County sewer debt.
$1.8 billion! It matures in 40 years, a horizon beyond investor imagination. All sorts of things are likely to happen before 2053, including major bouts of inflation which would wipe out much of the value of the bonds, or more problems in the county leading to another bankruptcy, and another haircut. How likely is that? Just ask the current bondholders.
This debt will be sold in two tranches, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources because the pricing won't be final until next week: $500 million in senior debt at a yield of 5.75%, insured by Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp., and $1.3 billion in subordinated debt at a yield of 6.5%. That $1.8 billion would pay off in part the $3.1 billion in defaulted bonds. Existing bondholders would eat about $1.4 billion. They'd bought these sewer bonds as a safe tax-advantaged if low-yield investment. Now they're losing 46% of their principal.
As part of the deal, sewer rates are going to rise, every year for the next four years, by 7.9%! And from then on by 3.5% a year through 2053. These rate increases are supposed to help pay for these bonds.
Alas, efforts to raise sewer rates to keep the county from defaulting on the bonds triggered a series of lawsuits before, two of which are now included in the bankruptcy and may be discharged as part of the adjustment. Sewer-rate increases to pay bondholders are not welcome in Jefferson County. And there are no guarantees that it will welcome them in the future.
Nevertheless, in a fit of drunken enthusiasm, or stupor, Standard & Poor's slapped a rating of AA on the insured bonds, with an underlying rating of BBB. And it honored the junior bonds with a rating of BBB-. Investment grade! Nothing can go wrong. Your conservative bond mutual fund that insists on at least one investment-grade rating will be standing in line to load up to catch some yield.
Moody's Investors Service mercifully refrained from the temptation to kick these sewer bonds with a rating, but still warned that they had "noninvestment grade characteristics."
Fitch considered them junk. It doused them with a rating of BB+ and BB respectively due to a "significant concern" that the projected cash-flow shortfall starting in 2024 would hit the sewer system's capital needs. It fretted about high debt levels, back-loaded debt payments, and other issues, such as the sharply rising sewer rates, that "could spark increased political concerns, litigation, and elasticity in usage, any of which might erode actual financial results."
But the success of the bond sale would teach the county and other troubled municipalities across the country something important: there is no longer a penalty for bankruptcy.
There used to be a fear that once a municipality had stiffed bondholders in bankruptcy court, it would have trouble accessing the credit market again for a while, that it would be frozen out by investors who recognized the risk of reckless behavior and wanted to be compensated for it. But now, instead of forcing the municipality to get its financial house in order, bankruptcy offers an efficient method to live beyond your means and do dubious deals, then slough off that debt and get more money from new bondholders without even a pause. And start all over again.
Other cities are already trying it. Vallejo, a Bay Area city of 115,000, emerged from bankruptcy two years ago and is still struggling with soaring pension costs that had been left untouched. Yet, about a month ago, it was able to sell some bonds that will keep it afloat a while longer. And Stockton, another California city that went bankrupt, was able to borrow $55 million in new money to pay off some old water debt.
These pale in comparison to Jefferson County's $1.8 billion in bonds, sold while still in bankruptcy. And then of course, there will be Detroit…. The discipline of the market has been squashed. One of the Fed's most admirable accomplishments. And one of the many hallmarks of the greatest bond bubble in history.
But what will it do to the many deeply troubled municipalities? The lack of penalty and the availability of new money will encourage them to file for bankruptcy to wipe off in one fell swoop the sins of the past – only to commit more sins with new money, even more freely! More and more muni investors will be sacrificed on the altar of the Fed's policies. And the Jefferson County bond deal might just be what it takes to open the floodgates.
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Hárs József (Sopron, 1925. október 17. – Sopron, 2016. december 3.) helytörténész.

Apja, Hárs György építészmérnökként az Esterházy-hitbizomány központjában dolgozott az akkori Eszterházán (ma Fertőd). 1927-ben elköltöztek Sopronba, ahol haláláig élt és dolgozott.

Élete
1943-ban érettségizett a Széchenyi István Gimnáziumban.

1956-ban nősült meg, felesége 1994-ben meghalt.

A II. világháború utolsó hónapjaiban a soproni építőiparosok munkaközösségében dolgozott. 1948-tól a tervezőirodában kapott munkalehetőséget. Innen 35 évi szolgálat után 1985-ben ment nyugdíjba.

A helytörténettel akkor került kapcsolatba, amikor 1955-ben a levéltárban megszervezték a város 1848-tól 1948-ig terjedő történetét feldolgozni hivatott bizottságot. Az Építőbank működésével és 1901-ben történt csődjével foglalkozó munkája volt az első, amely a Soproni Szemlében megjelent (1961). Több tanulmánya vagy rövidebb írása közül fontosabbak: az idegenforgalom történetével foglalkozó (négy részben, 1966—1967), a Sopront ért bombatámadások leírása eredeti amerikai források felhasználásával (1994 és 1995), a Soproni Ünnepi Hetek előzményeit tárgyaló dolgozatai (1984, 1985).

1974-től olvasószerkesztője a Soproni Szemlének, majd technikai szerkesztője, s az Alapítvány és a folyóirat titkára 1998-ig.

A nyolcvanas évektől kezdve részt vett különböző pályázatokon. Évről évre rendszeresen beadta pályamunkáit a Győr-Moson-Sopron megyei Szülőföldünk pályázatra, ahol többször kapott első díjat. A Fotóművészek Szövetségének megírta Sopron, illetve Sopron megye fotótörténetét, majd országos pályázaton a Fabricius család krónikájával (1980), Egy építészmérnök pályakezdését feldolgozó családtörténetével kapott elismerést.

Összesen 32 pályamunkája készült el főként Sopron helytörténete témában 1984-2016 között.

Az Irodalomtörténeti Társaság felvette tagjai sorába, és második díjjal jutalmazta a Magyar irodalmi művek fordításai a két világháború közötti Oedenburger Zeitungban c. munkájáért (megjelent a Soproni Szemlében 1988-ban).

A Néprajzi Múzeum pályázatán IV. díjat kapott a dr. Nagy Emilnek, Bethlen igazságügy-miniszterének deportálásából 1951—1953 között Kőtelekről írott leveleit tartalmazó munkájáért. Nagy Emil anyai nagyapja volt.

1993-ban megkapta a Sopron Kultúrájáért c. kitüntetést, 2002-ben pedig a Pro Urbe Sopron-díjat.

Alapító tagja volt a Soproni Helytörténészek Baráti Körének.

2001-től több könyvet is írt, illetve társszerzőként működött közre. Ezek közül fontosabbak a Fertőrákos - Száz magyar falu könyvesháza és a Soproni Olvasókönyv (válogatás a soproni német nyelvű sajtóból 1856–1921).

Az írásai nagy részét tartalmazza a Hárs József emlékére létrehozott honlap.

Jegyzetek

További információk

1925-ben született személyek
2016-ban elhunyt személyek
Soproniak
Magyar helytörténészek

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


We are all familiar with Jesus' meeting with Martha and Mary and his telling them that he is the resurrection and the life. The promise of eternal life is given to those who believe in him. Martha acknowledges Jesus as the Messiah, the One who is to come into the world. The raising of Lazarus from the dead brought many people to the faith and, on the other side of the ledger, it threw more fuel on the fire of hatred that burned in the Pharisees as they looked for a way to kill him. From this time on Jesus was a hunted man, kind of like public enemy number one. The tension now begins to build for the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. Will Jesus come to Jerusalem or not?
Is there a lesson for us in this story? Jesus' raising Lazarus from the dead surely attracted many people to Jesus, as we see in the words of the Pharisees in the following chapter of John's Gospel: "If we leave him alone, all will believe in him." The people admired Jesus because he stuck to his guns no matter what the cost. How about us? Are we "fair-weather followers" of Christ who follow him when everything is going well for us? Or do we also hang in there with him when things get tough – when I lose a loved one to death, when I lose my job when I am 55 years old, when the disease of cancer is discovered in my lymph glands, when I can no longer walk? How willing am I in these and other tough situations to follow Jesus?
Jesus, grant us your grace and strength to follow you no matter what.
Today's Gospel selection gives us the meaningful story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. We read it here in the Gospel of St. John, although it is not found in the earliest manuscripts of John's Gospel. Some later manuscripts place it in the Gospel of St. Luke. My Scripture Commentary labels it as a "free-floating tradition" about Jesus.
The Pharisees hit a new low in this story. A helpless woman is used as a scapegoat in order to trap Jesus into obeying the law of Moses which allows the stoning to death of a woman adulteress. Jesus responds to this trap by writing in the sand and inviting those who are without sin to throw the first stone at the woman. The Pharisees tuck their tails between their legs and slink off one by one. We will never know what Jesus wrote in the sand but whatever it was it reminded the Pharisees that they too were sinners. Jesus forgives the woman and simply admonishes her to go and sin no more.
Jesus has a magnificent understanding of the weaknesses of human nature. We all fail in so many ways every day of our lives and it is somewhat reassuring that we have such an understanding judge as Jesus. Let us take his advice to the woman into our own hearts and try to go and sin no more.
I believe that just about all of us are aware of the teaching of the Catholic Church concerning the person of Jesus that tells us Jesus is a combination of the divine and human natures in the one Divine Person. Jesus never ceases to be God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity and at the same time he is completely human in all things but sin. Jesus is indeed unique. Today's Gospel selection for this Tuesday of Lent shows us the human side of Jesus. He tells us he only says what the Father has instructed him to say, that he always does what pleases the Father. It is evident from this place in Scripture as well as in many other places that Jesus has taken his human will and life and turned them over to the Father. This should ring a few bells for those of you who read these homilies regularly and are familiar with the great number of times I quote the 3rd Step of the 12 Steps of Spirituality where it says: We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
In our Gospel today we see Jesus practicing the 3rd Step. He has turned his human will and life over to the care of the Father. And we are, of course, encouraged once again to do the same. In doing so we experience a richness of life we would never have otherwise, a life that always enjoys the presence of the Father, a life of happiness and peace and fulfillment. We see this in Jesus, of course, and we will see it also in ourselves if we but follow suit.
Today's Gospel certainly reinforces what we said in yesterday's homily: If you turn your will and life over to me, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. We also see very clearly the truth of these words exemplified by the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the first reading for today's Liturgy from the Book of Daniel (3: 14-20, 91-92, 95) where King Neb. threw them into the fiery furnace heated seven times more than usual because they would not worship his statue. When King Neb. looked into the furnace he saw the three boys dancing around and having a ball instead of being burnt to a crisp. Their belief in God, their turning their lives over to God, had indeed set them free from King Neb's power over them.
If we turn our will and lives over to the care of God as we understand Him, we too shall be free from the temptations and wiles of Satan. Turning things over to God frees us from our fears and whatever can harm us. This is another one of God's guarantees to us. Let's take advantage of it.
Once again in today's Gospel reading we see the 3rd Step of the 12 Steps as a part of Jesus' human life: "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing; but it is my Father who glorifies me." The word "glory, glorify" has many different nuances of meaning in the Scriptures. The word occurs some 170 times in the New Testament. It can mean wealth, power, prestige, honor. God is said to give glory to Christ in the sense of glory meaning the privileged state of a heavenly intimate relationship with God in Christ. Jesus turns his will and life over to the Father and because of this the Father gives Christ's human nature the privileged state of an intimate relationship with the Father. And, amazingly enough, so it also is with us. This only stands to reason; if we turn our will and life over to God a certain intimacy will certainly be the result. One of the ways we become intimate with God is through communication with him and what could possibly be a better form of communication than turning our will and lives over to his care?
Father, all this week in the Scriptures you have been showing us the privileged life we will have if we identify with you and your way, truth, and life. Give us the strength, please, to be able to accomplish this.
Today's Gospel reading precedes Jesus' raising Lazarus from the dead in chapter 11 of John's Gospel. The Pharisees see Jesus as trying to make himself God and take this as blasphemy, for which they tried to stone him. Jesus, however, escaped and returned to Galilee where he was safe.
Jesus, in danger of being stoned, prays knowing that God is with him and he will not be harmed; his prosecutors will not triumph over him. Have we gotten into the habit of saying a prayer to the Lord when some difficulty threatens us with harm? I have numerous instances in my life day in and day out when I whisper a prayer to keep me going when I feel frustrated and begin to drift toward negative thoughts and feelings. Negativity is a harm as far as I am concerned. It just leads to worse things. And I can't remember when these prayers are not answered and I return to a positive way of thinking and acting.
Jesus, I thank you again and again for being there for me when I am in need of your help.
Today's Gospel reading immediately follows the raising of Lazarus from the dead by Jesus in Bethany of Judea. We noted before how just previous to Jesus' going to the aid of his friend Lazarus, he had been in Bethany and the Pharisees had tried to stone him to death. Jesus, as we saw, escaped and returned to Galilee. Then only a couple of days later, he received word of Lazarus being ill and despite the death threat in Bethany, he returned to help his friend. We remember that his disciples returned with him and were ready to die with him. Jesus did not let the fear of the Pharisees detain him from doing what he had to do.
How about us in this same picture? Do we allow fears or people-pleasing or an exaggerated feeling of our own ego to prevent us from following the values of Jesus when we know we should? Do we sometimes look the other way and just let things slide past that should be confronted and corrected?
Jesus, give us the strength to do your will even in scary and inconvenient circumstances.


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CONDO 2020: Sofia Mitsola & Sedrick Chisom
Installation view: Sofia Mitsola, Darladiladada, Pilar Corrias, London, 8 January - 11 February 2020. Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London. Photo: Damian Griffiths.
Installation view: Sedrick Chisom, Westward Shrinking Hours, Pilar Corrias, London, 8 January - 11 February 2020. Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London. Photo: Damian Griffiths.
Pilar Corrias is pleased to announce:
Condo 2020
Sofia Mitsola: Darladiladada
Sedrick Chisom: Westward Shrinking Hours
Matthew Brown Gallery, Los Angeles
Sofia Mitsola – Darladiladada
Sofia Mitsola is working primarily with paintings in which she investigates the female form. Her invented characters are informed by ancient Greek and Egyptian sculptures, usually depictions of goddesses or mythical creatures. These, are set in simple geometric backgrounds with intensely bright and almost flat colours and are depicted naked and larger than human scale. Through them, she is playing with ideas about voyeurism, confrontation, and power. For Condo, she will present a new body of large scale paintings to explore the place her protagonists inhabit, an island of pleasures and desire, partly formed from her own experience of the islands in Greece and partly by her writing.
Sofia Mitsola (b. 1992 Thessaloniki, Greece) currently lives and works in London. She graduated from Slade School of Fine Art, UCL in 2018. Recent solo exhibitions include: Banistiri, Pilar Corrias, London (2019); Jerwood Solo Presentations 2019, Jerwood Space, London (2019). Her recent group exhibitions include: dreamtigers, 125 Charing Cross, London (2019). Mitsola was awarded the Tiffany & Co x outset Studiomakers Prize (2018) and the British Institution Student Award by the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2018).
Sedrick Chisom – Westward Shrinking Hours
Westward Shrinking Hours presents a new series of large-scale mixed media canvases which hang unstretched in the style of tapestries, and two large scale charcoal drawings.
This body of work continues Chisom's sci-fi epic in which People of Color have abandoned a dying Earth to explore the universe. Westward Shrinking Hours specifically illustrates Monument Valley on Earth, where Confederate and Union soldiers have traveled to investigate reports of 'monstrous' people in the territory. What they find is a population in various states of evolution—these so-called monstrous or grotesque physicalities are in fact mutations developed to assist in their survival post environmental fallout. Overt conflict erupts across the narrative, and envelops the viewer in an explosive palette of warm tones.
Chisom's work is conceptually-based on a paradigm shift for the future. The artist's compositions reference the radicalised idioms of Victorian fantasy illustration, and use the romantic landscape as a site where the apocalyptic narratives of white supremacy, Christianity, and climate change intersect—a scenario in which most of the built environment has been obliterated and transformed into a toxic, hallucinatory wasteland.
Chisom states, "I am concerned with the historical construction of whiteness in fiction as an antagonism between notions of civility and barbarism, the built environment versus the "natural" landscape—the civic human subject in relation to the monstrous absolute Other. I position the romantic landscape as disturbed by the traces of Western imperialism and structural violence through a process that involves layering, spraying, or scraping away. For me, painting is a process of agitating a sealed-away past as a means to reconstitute itself in the present. I reference contemporary Black Lives Matter imagery, medieval Christian iconography, figures from Western mythology/history, as well as details from my own idiosyncratic life story." Fascinated with thermal vision imagery, in its ability to highlight connections between seeing and violence, and preoccupied by Christian iconography, Chisom conjures images that are both warm and chilling, akin to a pietà surveilled by a U.S. Army drone.
Sedrick Chisom (b. 1989, Philadelphia, PA) lives and works in Bloomington, IN and New York, NY. The artist received a full scholarship to study at Cooper Union. While at Cooper Union, Chisom received the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation Award for Exceptional Ability. After completing his BFA, he received his MFA from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. His work has been displayed at numerous group shows, including at JTT Gallery, Signal Gallery, and Abrons Art Center. He has been featured in New American Painters (Issue 134), Forbes Magazine, Artnet, and Artsy. He was recently awarded The 2018-2019 VCU Fountainhead Fellowship in Painting and Drawing and is was in residence at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.
When the Night Air Stirs, (2019) marked the artist's first solo show at Matthew Brown Los Angeles. Chisom's work is currently on view in Great Force at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Richmond.
Sofia Mitsola
Sedrick Chisom


text:
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What motivates us as students, employees, and individuals? If you reward your children for doing their homework, they will usually respond by getting it done. But is this the most effective method of motivation? No, says psychologist Edward L. Deci, who challenges traditional thinking and shows that this method actually works against performance. The best way to motivate people—at school, at work, or at home—is to support their sense of autonomy. Explaining the reasons why a task is important and then allowing as much personal freedom as possible in carrying out the task will stimulate interest and commitment, and is a much more effective approach than the standard system of reward and punishment. We are all inherently interested in the world, argues Deci, so why not nurture that interest in each other? Instead of asking, "How can I motivate people?" we should be asking, "How can I create the conditions within which people will motivate themselves?"
Motivation is all we need !!!


text:
Eyes on the Fed
Bernanke 'prepared' to do more
By Annalyn Censky @CNNMoney June 20, 2012: 4:12 PM ET
0:00 /2:26Bernanke: 'The outlook has changed'
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Could more stimulus be on the way?
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke certainly left the option on the table Wednesday, making perfectly clear that he stands ready to do more should the U.S. economy take a turn for the worse.
"In case things get worse, we are prepared to protect the U.S. economy and financial system," Bernanke told reporters at a press conference.
It was a point he reiterated several times and a sign that many outsiders took to mean the Fed has left the door open on a third round of asset purchases known as quantitative easing, or QE.
"Mr. Bernanke's press conference surely left few doubts that the Fed will take more aggressive action and renew QE if the economy fails to perform as they expect," Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics, said in a note to clients.
Meanwhile, University of Pennsylvania Economist Justin Wolfers tweeted: "I read the Fed as saying: One more bad jobs report, and we'll do more."
Check the unemployment rate in your state
Indeed, the job market remains one of Bernanke's top concerns. The unemployment rate is still uncomfortably high at 8.2%, and the government's latest jobs report showed employers added only 69,000 jobs in May-- the weakest hiring in a year.
Bernanke also warned of Europe's financial crisis and uncertainty surrounding the "fiscal cliff" putting a dent in U.S. growth. (Read: Fiscal cliff: What you need to know)
0:00 /1:43Bernanke: Middle class decline is old news
Amid those concerns, the Fed extended its existing policy known as Operation Twist, and lowered its expectations for the job market and the broader U.S. economy this year.
The central bank predicts the unemployment rate will end the year between 8% and 8.2%. Just two months ago, it was more optimistic, predicting the jobless rate could fall as low as 7.8%.
"Growth in employment has slowed in recent months, and the unemployment rate remains elevated," the Fed said in an official statement.
The Fed also sees broader weakness ahead, predicting the economy will grow between 1.9% and 2.4% this year. When the Fed met back in April, it had forecasted that the economy would grow as much as 2.9%.
Federal Reserve acts to revive ailing recovery
That weaker outlook prompted the Fed to extend Operation Twist by $267 billion.
The program swaps short-term bonds for ones with longer durations, thereby pushing interest rates lower on mortgages and business loans. The hope is that cheaper credit will reach consumers and business, who will then boost the economy by spending more.
The effect on Main Street has been questionable though. Mortgage rates are at record lows, but even so, new home sales have been choppy and banks are still unwilling to lend to anyone with less-than-perfect credit. Small business owners are also struggling to get loans.
First Published: June 20, 2012: 2:08 PM ET
Home prices Aug 28
Consumer confidence Aug 28
GDP Aug 29
Manufacturing (ISM) Sept 4
Jobs Sept 7
Inflation (CPI) Sept 14
Retail sales Sept 14


text:
Saving the ghost
A big cat with chatoyant grey-green eyes, thick spotted fur and a long curling tail is a vulnerable species that inhabits the majestic mountain ecosystems of the Himalayas, Hindu Kush, Pamirs, the Tibetan Plateau, and the Mongolian steppes.
Tsewang Nuru Sherpa
Published at : November 28, 2017
Updated at : November 28, 2017 08:17
A big cat with chatoyant grey-green eyes, thick spotted fur and a long curling tail is a vulnerable species that inhabits the majestic mountain ecosystems of the Himalayas, Hindu Kush, Pamirs, the Tibetan Plateau, and the Mongolian steppes. The snow leopard (Panthera uncia), a rarely sighted creature, represents the immaculate beauty of nature. With its innate ability to hide and thrive in the seemingly inhospitable terrain and craggy peaks of high mountains, the snow leopard has been listed as one of the world's most elusive animals, garnering the title of "Mountain Ghost". The idiosyncratic aptitude of the snow leopard to live in the harshest conditions in the remote mountains also epitomises the potential and the ability of the humans that reside in such areas. This cat blends in with the surroundings of the mountain people and lives with them in harmony. The majority of people in the mountains follow Buddhism: a religion that preaches that nature is the ultimate power, and that the existence of humanity is only possible when there is a peaceful consonance with nature. They see the snow leopard as an integral part of this nature that they so wholeheartedly worship. And it is this nature that has helped the mysterious cat survive and thrive in a most draconian domain.
Rarefied due to human actions
Despite the rise of global interest in these cats, poaching, the continuous pace of retaliatory killings due to snow leopards attacking livestock, and climate change have impaired their natural habitat, pushing them to the verge of extinction. Vanishing habitats and the reduction of the cat's mammal prey have also contributed to the decline of the snow leopard. Data collated between 2008 and 2016 paints a worrisome picture, indicating 220 to 450 snow leopards are killed and traded annually. In Nepal, around six to 23 snow leopards fall victim to unabated poaching, as per Traffic, a wildlife trade monitoring network, in 2016. According to the WWF (World Wildlife Fund), the number of snow leopards has decreased by 20 percent worldwide. Despite this, in the context of Nepal, conservationists and government officials are optimistic about the increasing population of this endangered cat in the country, as numerous initiatives have been taken to protect the snow leopard. Therefore, the conservatory strides that are being taken to safeguard these magnificent species shouldn't be overlooked.
Nepal at the top
Nepal, one of the 12 countries to host the snow leopard, has made historic strides by leading initiatives for snow leopard conservation. Nepal successfully launched its first-ever, climate-smart snow leopard landscape management plan during the International Snow Leopard Summit and Ecosystem Forum held in August, in Bishkek of Kyrgyzstan. This plan addresses the key elements of today's emerging threats faced by the snow leopard, including the increasing risk of climate change. The model will be followed by the 11 other countries. In addition, Nepal has collared four snow leopards successfully in the last four years, which makes Nepal one of the few countries in the world to achieve this feat. These snow leopards are fitted with satellite-GPS collars and through satellite telemetry, the fitted snow leopards are monitored regularly. Furthermore, Man Bahadur Khadka, Director General of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) added, "Nepal's snow leopard conservation action plan is committed to ensuring 100 breeding snow leopards by 2020 and the collaring of snow leopards with satellite-GPS, a cutting-edge technology, will play a significant role in future snow leopard monitoring which is a key objective of this five-year plan." The data collated from these snow leopards have aided conservationists in Nepal by identifying the movement pattern of snow leopards, their core habitat and preferences. According to the report published by the WWF, information attained from the previously collared snow leopards unveiled movements of the snow leopards between Nepal, India, and China, with one of them traversing up to 5,858m—the highest documented height so far for snow leopards. Mr Anil Manandhar, Country Representative of WWF Nepal has expressed his optimism, "The success of the collaring expedition opens up new frontiers in snow leopard conservation as well as new avenues to profile Nepal as a laboratory to help build on international collaboration in the conservation sector." In addition, the involvement of local citizens and communities in snow leopard monitoring and conservation have helped in the establishment of local based awareness campaigns, livestock insurance schemes and improved the corral and herding system.
Nepal has been instrumental in bringing the plight of this elusive species into the spotlight. A core member in snow leopard conservation, Mr Ghana Shyam Gurung, Conservation Director, WWF Nepal said, "With the launch of the first ever snow leopard landscape management plan, Nepal has once again made conservation history by establishing itself as a leader in conservation, showing much-needed ambition despite facing some of the toughest environmental, economic and political conditions." This clearly shows the commitment of Nepal in safeguarding this endangered species and its habitat. The community-based conservation program in Nepal promotes and encourages local villagers to be involved in the expedition team. Thus, today, locals are trained in setting up camera traps, collecting scat samples, and monitoring the snow leopard's population, their habitat and local ecology. "This helps to create employment and develop essential skills," Gurung explained, "and it allows locals to have a sense of ownership and makes the conservation process more reliable, transparent and accountable."
This accomplishment should be applauded. It clearly exemplifies the commitment and diligence of conservationists in Nepal towards ameliorating snow leopard conservation efforts. The existence of the snow leopard has been identified as an indicator of a healthy ecosystem, therefore more research and study should be thoroughly conducted towards this end.
Sherpa is pursuing a Bachelor's in Environmental Science from Nami College, Kathmandu
Sherpa is pursuing a master's in environmental management in New Zealand.
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Awesome instructor training at Gasworks Park on Saturday! It takes a special Ma'am (like Kru Kathy) to pick a day with perfect weather. Great training with RJ and Marcus. Looking forward to more training soon!
We had a great time learning from eachother, sharing ideas and different points of view. It's important for practitioners of any level (especially instructors) to listen to others... That's called learning!


Coming up with a data migration checklist for your data migration project is one of the most challenging tasks, particularly for the uninitiated.
To help, I've compiled a list of 'must-do' activities that I've found to be essential to successful migrations.
Please critique it, extend it using the comments below, share it, but above all use it to ensure that you are fully prepared for the challenging road ahead.
TIP: Data Quality plays a pivotal role to this checklist so be sure to check out Data Quality Pro, our sister site with the largest collection of hands-on tutorials, data quality guides and expert support for Data Quality on the internet.
Serious about delivering a successful data migration?
Download the same checklist kit I use on client engagements and learn advanced tactics for data migration planning.
Have you assessed the viability of your migration with a pre-migration impact assessment?
Most data migration projects go barreling headlong into the main project without considering whether the migration is viable, how long it will take, what technology it will require and what dangers lie ahead.
It is advisable to perform a pre-migration impact assessment to verify the cost and likely outcome of the migration. The later you plan on doing this the greater the risk so score accordingly.
Have you based project estimates on guesswork or a more accurate assessment?
Don't worry, you're not alone, most projects are based on previous project estimates at best or optimistic guesswork at worst.
Once again, your pre-migration impact assessment should provide far more accurate analysis of cost and resource requirements so if you have tight deadlines, a complex migration and limited resources make sure you perform a migration impact assessment asap.
Have you made the business and IT communities aware of their involvement?
It makes perfect sense to inform the relevant data stakeholders and technical teams of their forthcoming commitments before the migration kicks off.
It can be very difficult to drag a subject matter expert out of their day job for a 2-3 hours analysis session once a week if their seniors are not onboard, plus by identifying what resources are required in advance you will eliminate the risk of having gaps in your legacy or target skillset.
In addition, there are numerous aspects of the migration that require business sign-off and commitment.Get in front of sponsors and stakeholders well in advance and ensure they understand AND agree to what their involvement will be.
Have you formally agreed the security restrictions for your project?
I have wonderful memories of one migration where we thought everything was in place so we kicked off the project and then was promptly shut down on the very first day.
We had assumed that the security measures we had agreed with the client project manager were sufficient, however we did not reckon on the corporate security team getting in on the action and demanding a far more stringent set of controls that caused 8 weeks of project delay.
Don't make the same mistake, obtain a formal agreement from the relevant security governance teams in advance. Simply putting your head in the sand and hoping you won't get caught out is unprofessional and highly risky given the recent loss of data in many organisations.
Have you identified your key data migration project resources and when they are required?
Don't start your project hoping that Jobserve.com will magically provision those missing resources you need.
I met a company several months ago who decided they did not require a lead data migration analyst because the "project plan was so well defined". Suffice to say they're now heading for trouble as the project spins out of control so make sure you understand precisely what roles are required on a data migration.
Also ensure you have a plan for bringing those roles into the project at the right time.
For example, there is a tendency to launch a project with a full contingent of developers armed with tools and raring to go. This is both costly and unnecessary. A small bunch of data migration, data quality and business analysts can perform the bulk of the migration discovery and mapping well before the developers get involved, often creating a far more successful migration.
So the lesson is to understand the key migration activities and dependencies then plan to have the right resources available when required.
Have you determined the optimal project delivery structure?
Data migrations do not suit a waterfall approach yet the vast majority of data migration plans I have witnessed nearly always resemble a classic waterfall design.
Agile, iterative project planning with highly focused delivery drops are far more effective so ensure that your overall plan is flexible enough to cope with the likely change events that will occur.
In addition, does your project plan have sufficient contingency? 84% of migrations fail or experience delay, are you confident that yours won't suffer the same consequences?
Ensure you have sufficient capacity in your plan to cope with the highly likely occurrence of delay.
Do you have a well defined set of job descriptions so each member will understand their roles?
Project initiation will be coming at you like a freight train soon so ensure that all your resources know what is expected of them.
If you don't have an accurate set of tasks and responsibilities already defined it means that you don't know what your team is expected to deliver and in what order. Clearly not an ideal situation.
Map out the sequence of tasks, deliverables and dependencies you expect to be required and then assign roles to each activity. Check your resource list, do you have the right resources to complete those tasks?
This is an area that most projects struggle with so by clearly understanding what your resources need to accomplish will help you be fully prepared for the project initiation phase.
Have you created a structured task workflow so each member will understand what tasks are expected and in which sequence?
This is an extension of the previous point but is extremely important.
Most project plans will have some vague drop dates or timelines indicating when the business or technical teams require a specific release or activity to be completed.
What this will not show you is the precise workflow that will get you to those points. This needs to be ideally defined before project inception so that there is no confusion as you move into the initiation phase.
It will also help you identify gaps in your resourcing model where the necessary skills or budgets are lacking.
Have you created the appropriate training documentation and designed a training plan?
Data migration projects typically require a lot of additional tools and project support platforms to function smoothly.
Ensure that all your training materials and education tools are tested and in place prior to project inception.
Ideally you would want all the resources to be fully trained in advance of the project but if this isn't possible at least ensure that training and education is factored into the plan.
Do you have a configuration management policy and software in place?
Data migration projects create a lot of resource materials. Profiling results, data quality issues, mapping specifications, interface specifications – the list is endless.
Ensure that you have a well defined and tested configuration management approach in place before project inception, you don't want to be stumbling through project initiation trying to make things work, test them in advance first and create the necessary training materials.
Have you planned for a secure, collaborative working environment to be in place?
If your project is likely to involve 3rd parties and cross-organisational support it pays to use a dedicated product for managing all the communications, materials, planning and coordination on the project.
It will also make your project run smoother if this is configured and ready prior to project initiation.
Have you created an agreed set of data migration policy documents?
How will project staff be expected to handle data securely? Who will be responsible for signing off data quality rules? What escalation procedures will be in place?
There are a multitude of different policies required for a typical migration to run smoothly, it pays to agree these in advance of the migration so that the project initiation phase runs effortlessly.
Have you created a stakeholder communication plan and stakeholder register?
During this phase you need to formalise how each stakeholder will be informed. We may well have created an overall policy beforehand but now we need to instantiate it with each individual stakeholder.
Don't create an anxiety gap in your project, determine what level of reporting you will deliver for each type of stakeholder and get agreement with them on the format and frequency. Dropping them an email six months into the project that you're headed for a 8 week delay will not win you any favours.
To communicate with stakeholders obviously assumes you know who they are and how to contact them! Record all the stakeholder types and individuals who will require contact throughout the project.
Have you tweaked and published your project policies?
Now is the time to get your policies completed and circulated across the team and new recruits.
Any policies that define how the business will be involved during the project also need to be circulated and signed off.
Don't assume that everyone knows what is expected of them so get people used to learning about and signing off project policies early in the lifecycle.
Have you created a high-level first-cut project plan?
If you have followed best-practice and implemented a pre-migration impact assessment you should have a reasonable level of detail for your project plan. If not then simply complete as much as possible with an agreed caveat that the data will drive the project. I would still recommend carrying out a migration impact assessment during the initiation phase irrespective of the analysis activities which will take place in the next phase.
You cannot create accurate timelines for your project plan until you have analysed the data.
For example, simply creating an arbitrary 8 week window for "data cleansing activities" is meaningless if the data is found to be truly abysmal. It is also vital that you understand the dependencies in a data migration project, you can't code the mappings until you have discovered the relationships and you can't do that until the analysis and discovery phase has completed.
Also, don't simply rely on a carbon copy of a previous data migration project plan, your plan will be dictated by the conditions found on the ground and the wider programme commitments that your particular project dictates.
Have you set up your project collaboration platform?
This should ideally have been created before project initiation but if it hasn't now is the time to get it in place.
Have you created your standard project documents?
During this phase you must create your typical project documentation such as risk register, issue register, acceptance criteria, project controls, job descriptions, project progress report, change management report, RACI etc.
They do not need to be complete but they do need to be formalised with a process that everyone is aware of.
Have you defined and formalised your 3rd Party supplier agreements and requirements?
Project initiation is a great starting point to determine what additional expertise is required.
Don't leave assumptions when engaging with external resources, there should be clear instructions on what exactly needs to be delivered, don't leave this too late.
Have you scheduled your next phase tasks adequately?
At this phase you should be meticulously planning your next phase activities so ensure that the business and IT communities are aware of the workshops they will be involved in.
Have you resolved any security issues and gained approved access to the legacy datasets?
Don't assume that because your project has been signed off you will automatically be granted access to the data.
Get approvals from security representatives (before this phase if possible) and consult with IT on how you will be able to analyse the legacy and source systems without impacting the business. Full extracts of data on a secure, independent analysis platform is the best option but you may have to compromise.
It is advisable to create a security policy for the project so that everyone is aware of their responsibilities and the professional approach you will be taking on the project.
Have you defined the hardware and software requirements for the later phases?
What machines will the team run on? What software will they need? What licenses will you require at each phase? Sounds obvious, not for one recent project manager who completely forgot to put the order in and had to watch 7 members of his team sitting idly by as the purchase order crawled through procurement. Don't make the same mistake, look at each phase of the project and determine what will be required.
Model re-engineering tools? Data quality profiling tools? Data cleansing tools? Project management software? Presentation software? Reporting software? Issue tracking software? ETL tools?
You will also need to determine what operating systems, hardware and licensing is required to build your analysis, test, QA and production servers. It can often take weeks to procure this kind of equipment so you ideally need to have done this even before project initiation.
Have you created a detailed data dictionary?
A data dictionary can mean many things to many people but it is advisable to create a simple catalogue of all the information you have retrieved on the data under assessment. Make this tool easy to search, accessible but with role-based security in place where required. A project wiki is a useful tool in this respect.
Have you created a high-level source to target mapping specification?
At this stage you will not have a complete source-to-target specification but you should have identified the high-level objects and relationships that will be linked during the migration. These will be further analysed in the later design phase.
Have you determined high-level volumetrics and created a high-level scoping report?
It is important that you do not fall foul of the load-rate bottleneck problem so to prevent this situation ensure that you fully assess the scope and volume of data to be migrated.
Focus on pruning data that is historical or surplus to requirements (see here for advice). Create a final scoping report detailing what will be in scope for the migration and get the business to sign this off.
Has the risk management process been shared with the team and have they updated the risk register?
There will be many risks discovered during this phase so make it easy for risks to be recorded. Create a simple online form where anyone can add risks during their analysis, you can also filter them out later but for now we need to gather as many as possible and see where any major issues are coming from.
Have you created a data quality management process and impact report?
If you've been following our online coaching calls you will know that without a robust data quality rules management process your project will almost certainly fail or experience delays.
Understand the concept of data quality rules discovery, management and resolution so you deliver a migration that is fit for purpose.
The data quality process is not a one-stop effort, it will continue throughout the project but at this phase we are concerned with discovering the impact of the data so decisions can be made that could affect project timescales, deliverables, budget, resourcing etc.
Have you created and shared a first-cut system retirement strategy?
Now is the time to begin warming up the business to the fact that their beloved systems will be decommissioned post-migration. Ensure that they are briefed on the aims of the project and start the process of discovering what is required to terminate the legacy systems. Better to approach this now than to leave it until later in the project when politics may prevent progress.
Have you created conceptual/logical/physical and common models?
These models are incredibly important for communicating and defining the structure of the legacy and target environments.
The reason we have so many modelling layers is so that we understand all aspects of the migration from the deeply technical through to how the business community run operations today and how they wish to run operations in the future. We will be discussing the project with various business and IT groups so the different models help us to convey meaning for the appropriate community.
Creating conceptual and logical models also help us to identify gaps in thinking or design between the source and target environments far earlier in the project so we can make corrections to the solution design.
Have you refined your project estimates?
Most projects start with some vague notion of how long each phase will take. Use your landscape analysis phase to determine the likely timescales based on data quality, complexity, resources available, technology constraints and a host of other factors that will help you determine how to estimate the project timelines.
Have you created a detailed mapping design specification?
By the end of this phase you should have a thorough specification of how the source and target objects will be mapped, down to attribute level. This needs to be at a sufficient level to be passed to a developer for implementation in a data migration tool.
Note that we do not progress immediately into build following landscape analysis. It is far more cost-effective to map out the migration using specifications as opposed to coding which can prove expensive and more complex to re-design if issues are discovered.
Have you created an interface design specification?
At the end of this stage you should have a firm design for any interface designs that are required to extract the data from your legacy systems or to load the data into the target systems. For example, some migrations require change data capture functionality so this needs to be designed and prototyped during this phase.
Have you created a data quality management specification?
The following article by John Platten of Vivamex gives a better understanding on how to manage cleansing requirements: Cleanse Prioritisation for Data Migration Projects – Easy as ABC?
Have you defined your production hardware requirements?
At this stage you should have a much firmer idea of what technology will be required in the production environment.
The volumetrics and interface throughput performance should be known so you should be able to specify the appropriate equipment, RAID configurations, operating system etc.
Have you agreed the service level agreements for the migration?
At this phase it is advisable to agree with the business sponsors what your migration will deliver, by when and to what quality.
Quality, cost and time are variables that need to be agreed upon prior to the build phase so ensure that your sponsors are aware of the design limitations of the migration and exactly what that will mean to the business services they plan to launch on the target platform.
Has your build team documented the migration logic?
The team managing the migration execution may not be the team responsible for coding the migration logic.
It is therefore essential that the transformations and rules that were used to map the legacy and target environments are accurately published. This will allow the execution team to analyse the root-cause of any subsequent issues discovered.
Have you tested the migration with a mirror of the live environment?
It is advisable to test the migration with data from the production environment, not a smaller sample set. By limiting your test data sample you will almost certainly run into conditions within the live data that cause a defect in your migration at runtime.
Have you developed an independent migration validation engine?
Many projects base the success of migration on how many "fall-outs" they witness during the process. This is typically where an item of data cannot be migrated due to some constraint or rule violation in the target or transformation data stores. They then go on to resolve these fall-outs and when no more loading issues are found carry out some basic volumetric testing.
"We had 10,000 customers in our legacy system and we now have 10,000 customers in our target, job done".
We recently took a call community member based in Oman. Their hospital had subcontracted a data migration to a company who had since completed the project. Several months after the migration project they discovered that many thousands of patients now had incomplete records, missing attributes and generally sub-standard data quality.
It is advisable to devise a solution that will independently assess the success of the execution phase. Do not rely on the reports and stats coming back from your migration tool as a basis for how successful the migration was.
I advise clients to vet the migration independently, using a completely different supplier where budgets permit. Once the migration project has officially terminated and those specialist resources have left for new projects it can be incredibly difficult to resolve serious issues so start to build a method of validating the migration during this phase, don't leave it until project execution, it will be too late.
Have you defined your reporting strategy and associated technology?
Following on from the previous point, you need to create a robust reporting strategy so that the various roles involved in the project execution can see progress in a format that suits them.
For example, a migration manager may wish to see daily statistics, a migration operator will need to see runtime statistics and a business sponsor may wish to see weekly performance etc.
If you have created service level agreements for migration success these need to be incorporated into the reporting strategy so that you can track and verify progress against each SLA.
Have you defined an ongoing data quality monitoring solution?
Data quality is continuous and it should certainly not cease when the migration has been delivered as there can be a range of insidious data defects lurking in the migrated data previously undetected.
In addition, the new users of the system may well introduce errors through inexperience so plan for this now by building an ongoing data quality monitoring environment for the target platform.
A useful tool here is any data quality product that can allow you to create specific data quality rules, possesses matching functionality and also has a dashboard element.
Have you created a migration fallback policy?
What if the migration fails? How will you rollback? What needs to be done to facilitate this?
Hope for the best but plan for the worst case scenario which is an failed migration. This can often be incredibly complex and require cross-organisation support so plan well in advance of execution.
Have you confirmed your legacy decommission strategy?
By now you should have a clear approach, with full agreement, of how you will decommission the legacy environment following the migration execution.
Have you completed any relevant execution training?
The team running the execution phase may differ to those on the build phase, it goes without saying that the migration execution can be complex so ensure that the relevant training materials are planned for and delivered by the end of this phase.
Have you obtained sign-off for anticipated data quality levels in the target?
It is rare that all data defects can be resolved but at this stage you should certainly know what they are and what impact they will cause.
The data is not your responsibility however, it belongs to the business so ensure they sign off any anticipated issues so that they are fully aware of the limitations the data presents.
Have you defined the data migration execution strategy?
Some migrations can take a few hours, some can run into years.
You will need to create a very detailed plan for how the migration execution will take place. This will include sections such as what data will be moved, who will sign-off each phase, what tests will be carried out, what data quality levels are anticipated, when will the business be able to use the data, what transition measures need to be taken.
This can become quite a considerable activity so as ever, plan well in advance.
Have you created a gap-analysis process for measuring actual vs current progress?
This is particularly appropriate on larger scale migrations.
If you have indicated to the business that you will be executing the migration over an 8 week period and that specific deliverables will be created you can then map that out in an excel chart with time points and anticipated volumetrics.
As your migration executes you can then chart actual vs estimated so you can identify any gaps.
Have you kept an accurate log of SLA progress?
You will need to demonstrate to the business sponsors and independent auditors that your migration has been compliant. How you will do this varies but if you have agreed SLA's in advance these need to be reported against.
Have you independently validated the migration?
Already covered this but worth stressing again that you cannot rely on your migration architecture to validate the migration. An independent process must be taken to ensure that the migration process has delivered the data to a sufficient quality level to support the target services.
Have you completed your system retirement validation?
There will typically be a number of pre-conditions that need to be met before a system can be terminated.
Ensure that these are fully documented and agreed (this should have been done earlier) so you can begin confirming that the migration has met these conditions.
Have you handed over ownership of the data quality monitoring environment?
Close down your project by passing over the process and technology adopted to measure data quality during the project.
Please note that this list is not exhaustive, there are many more activities that could be added here but it should provide you with a reasonable starting point.
You may also find that many of these activities are not required for your type of migration but are included for clarity, as ever, your migration is unique so will require specific actions to be taken that are not on this list.


Fans of classic science fiction often complain that while the technology of today is impressive, it pales in comparison with where previous generations thought we would be at this point. Sure, tablets and mobile Wi-Fi are great, but where is teleportation? What about time travel? Or at the very least, how about a flying car? Well, on that final front at least engineers are making a striking amount of progress. In fact, flying cars already exist and have for years, although probably not in the form you would expect. International aeronautics firm Terrafugia has an entire line of what they call 'roadable' airplanes. And they've got a prototype for an aircraft the size of a car almost ready for consumer use.
The prototype is called the Transition, and the goal is less 'flying car' and more accessible aircraft. It's defined as a Light Sport Aircraft, which has only existed as a designation for the past eight years. The Terrafugia team has been working hard to challenge all preconceived notions of these small aircrafts, as far as who could afford them and where they can go. It can be driven on a regular road, so in that sense it matches up with the basic definitely of a flying car. But it is still an airplane for all intents and purposes. It will be required to land and take off from an airport, so forget any thoughts of easily switching from one form of transport to the other in the middle of a trip.
Competing companies are looking at the issue from the other side, attempting to make vehicles that are cars first and planes second. A company called Maverick has their own Light Sport Aircraft that looks much more like a car. And you do need both a driver's license and pilot's license to get behind the wheel. But the federal government looks at it as a kit car, so it may not be street legal everywhere. And the cost of such limited usage could also keep you away. As of now the Maverick sells for around $95,000. The Transition, as a fully-functioning airplane is geared towards people who want to fly for fun and not for serious commuting purposes. That vehicle will come to market towards the end of next year with a $279,000 sticker price. That's actually very affordable for an aircraft, and Terrafugia already has around 100 deposits for their 'flying car'.
So what sort of engineering marvels go into these futuristic vehicles? The primary issue facing the manufacturers is meeting the needs of a car and a plane all in the same package. For example, a car needs to be aerodynamic on the sides and the top, while an airplane needs to be streamlined around the entire body. A car should carry its weight low, while an airplane needs to spread its weight around evenly. The key has been lighter construction materials, which just weren't available a decade or two ago. Terrafugia's MIT-trained engineers have spent more than six years working those new materials in, while using next-generation computer technology to run tests that were impossible before. All told, it is a great step in the right direction.
Although it seems the Transition will begin the process of really bringing flying cars into the mainstream, there's still the whole issue of infrastructure and regulations to contend with. If these were ever going to become prevalent, how would owners use them? Would there be two different sets of roads, or would consumers have to continue using airports? There's also the ongoing issue of two different license requirements, and which government organization would be responsible for managing all of that data and testing. Would car insurance companies just open up additional departments for flight? Would those CheapAutoInsurance websites just tack on another subsection to your premium? The bottom line is that the technology is slowly becoming a reality, but the flying car may never resemble what we've seen in our favorite books and movies.
Flying Cars: Closer Than We Think?
The Bad News about Petrol costs in the UK and What You Can do about it!
Satellite TV In Your Car? You Bet!


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Our work to upload Information Governance Toolkit submissions for our clients has commenced
This month we began working with our clients helping them to create and assess their documentation and evidence so that it can be submitted to the latest version of the Information Governance Toolkit.
In order to demonstrate on-going compliance with the IGT, we work with organisations while they undertake audits of Information Governance compliance throughout the year. This enables organisations to retain a Level 2 compliance (where performance is considered satisfactory), and, for some indicators, will allow movement up to a Level 3 rating.
Words Worth Reading Ltd has a wealth of experience in supporting companies to meet the Information Governance requirements. As part of our work to upload submissions we can:
Provide a writing, editing and consultation service.
Undertake the Information Governance Toolkit assessment on your behalf.
Map your current evidence against the Information Governance standards or offer a more detailed data mapping service for organisations that deal with a large volume of patient identifiable data.
Link with your team to understand the processes, structures and policies currently in place to manage Information Governance.
Undertake an IG audit and identify any gaps, working with you to fill them.
Assemble the required documentary evidence to support your submission compliance.
Manage your on – line submission.
For full information on the Words Worth Reading Ltd Information Governance services, visit our website by clicking here.
Image: Fletcher Prince, Flickr
Get your manuscripts ready for open submissions to Blackfriars Publishing
Publisher Blackfriars, part of the Little Brown Group, is holding a week of open submissions for literary novels from 1st-7th December.
Since it's launch last year Blackfriars has published both fiction and non-fiction books. Next month will see the group offering an open submissions week, aimed at helping people anywhere in the world who want their work published.
To enter, authors must be previously unpublished and should submit the first chapter of their book along with an author biography and a one-page synopsis of their novel.
Blackfriars are not the first to offer open submissions, other companies who have done this include, Penguin Random House and HarperCollins.
If you are a writer and would like help getting your manuscript ready to send to a publisher, check out our publisher packs for writers.
Image: Horia Varlan, Flickr
Helen Oyeyemi joins the judging panel for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
Helen Oyeyemi won a Somerset Maugham award for her novel White is for Witching and was named one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists last year, joins a prestigious panel of judges for the £10,000 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2015.
The Prize, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2015, honours an exceptional work of fiction by a living author which has been translated into English from any other language and published in the United Kingdom in 2014.
The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize is unique as it gives the winning author and translator equal status, they each receive £5,000, recognising the importance of the translator in their ability to maintain the integrity of the story between languages and cultures.
The judges for this year's Prize include:
• Rosie Goldsmith - journalist specialising in arts and current affairs
• Antonia Lloyd Jones - full-time translator of Polish literature
• Dr Richard Mansell - Senior Lecturer in Translation at the University of Exeter
• Helen Oyeyemi - author of five novels, including Boy, Snow, Bird
• Boyd Tonkin - senior writer and columnist at The Independent
It should be an exciting competition, the shortlist will be announced in April 2015 and the award ceremony will be held in May 2015.
If you have a manuscript but would like feedback on your work, visit Words Worth Reading Ltd to find out about our editorial service.
You could win a hamper full of goodies from Harper Collins
Harper Collins are offering you the chance to win a hamper to celebrate the publication of Josephine Cox's 50th novel The Runaway Woman.
The luxury hamper, from Bothams of Whitby, is worth £129 and contains chocolates, gingerbread loaf, teabreads, fruitbreads, biscuits, jams, toffee, cheese, tea, beer and prosecco, as well as two mugs. With Christmas around the corner, these goodies would be great to share....or keep all to yourself!
The winner of the prize draw will also receive a signed copy of The Runaway Woman. It is Josephine Cox's latest novel and 50th book.
The closing date for the competition is 1 December 2014.
Source: Writers Online
Image: Wicker Paradise, Flickr (The image used is not the competition prize)
If you are an aspiring writer looking to get published, the Words Worth Reading Ltd team can help. Visit our website to find out about our publisher packs.
NHS England's latest Information Governance Bulletin
The latest version of NHS England's Information Governance bulletin is now available to download from their website
The bulletin provides important information about:
- Information governance issues caused by the implication of the GMS contract
- Using applications to share data
- The offshoring of data
Words Worth Reading Ltd also provides routine updates on what's happening in the world of information governance on our website.
Guidelines for doctors and nurses call for more openess
A consultation is underway on how doctors, nurses and midwifes can be more open and honest when things go wrong.
Draft guidance for a 'duty of candour' has been produced by the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council – the regulators for individual health professionals. It will support doctors, nurses and midwives in fulfilling their professional duty to be open and honest about mistakes.
This follows on from work being carried out by the Care Quality Commission to help NHS trusts understand how they can meet the upcoming duty of candour and fit and proper persons regulations. This will help providers have robust systems in place to be open and honest when things go wrong and to hold directors to account when care fails people.
The legislation underpinning these is currently subject to Parliamentary approval.
Professor Sir Mike Richards, Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said: "The draft guidance for health professionals is a welcome move to make the NHS more open and honest when things go wrong, and to move away from a blame culture.
"This supports our wider work on helping organisations to meet the Government's new regulations so that those who provide health services in the NHS are more accountable."
Chief inspector of hospitals wins lifetime achievement award
The Chief Inspector of Hospitals Professor Sir Mike Richards has been awarded a lifetime achievement award for services to cancer during a career spanning more than 30 years.
Sir Mike was presented with his award at the National Cancer Research Institute cancer conference in Liverpool this morning by Cancer Research UK.
In July 2013, Sir Mike joined the Care Quality Commission as Chief Inspector of Hospitals.
In 1999, he was appointed as the first National Cancer Director at the Department of Health. In this role he led the development of the NHS cancer plan (2000) – the first comprehensive strategy to tackle cancer in England and was then responsible for overseeing its implementation.
In 2001, he helped to establish the National Cancer Research Institute and was Chair of the Board between 2006 and 2008. He also helped to establish the National Cancer Intelligence Network (2008) and has also chaired the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership.
Sir Mike was previously a consultant medical oncologist at Guy's Hospital specialising in breast cancer (1986 – 1995) and Sainsbury Professor of Palliative Medicine at St Thomas' Hospital (1995-1999).
Source: CQC website, news section
Publication of new fundamental standards
The government has today published the fundamental standards regulations. They include two regulations – the duty of candour and the fit and proper person requirement for directors – which will come into force on 27 November for NHS trusts, Foundation Trusts and some special health authorities that provide care and treatment to people that is regulated by CQC.
The remaining fundamental standards will come into force from April 2015. The duty of candour and the fit and proper requirement for directors will also be extended to all other providers from April via additional regulations, still subject to Parliament.
The duty of candour and the fit and proper requirement regulations will help to ensure that providers have robust systems in place to be open and honest when things go wrong and to hold directors to account when care fails people.
The final debate to agree all of the fundamental standards regulations was held in the House of Lords last week. The published regulations replace the previous 16 essential standards.
The CQC will shortly be issuing guidance to NHS providers on how they can meet the duty of candour and the fit and proper person requirement regulations.
The fundamental standards are:
care and treatment must be appropriate and reflect service users' needs and preferences.
service users must be treated with dignity and respect.
care and treatment must only be provided with consent.
care and treatment must be provided in a safe way.
service users must be protected from abuse and improper treatment.
service users' nutritional and hydration needs must be met.
all premises and equipment used must be clean, secure, suitable and used properly.
complaints must be appropriately investigated and appropriate action taken in response.
systems and processes must be established to ensure compliance with the fundamental standards.
sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced staff must be deployed.
persons employed must be of good character, have the necessary qualifications, skills and experience, and be able to perform the work for which they are employed (fit and proper persons requirement).
registered persons must be open and transparent with service users about their care and treatment (the duty of candour).
For more information on ensure CQC compliance, please visit the Words Worth Reading Ltd website
Source, CQC website
Words Worth Reading Ltd Charity Report 2014
The Words Worth Reading Ltd Charity Report for 2014 is now available to read via the team's website.
The report outlines the fundraising that the team have completed this year, and also provides details of the donations that have been made to charities that the team feel particularly passionate about.
Charities that have benefited from the funds raised or donated by the Words Worth Reading Ltd team include; Little Haven's Hospice, SMA Support UK, Harrison's Fund, Lily's Trust, The British Heart Foundation, Oxfam and Children in Need.
In total, the team have raised over £2,000 for charity this year.
For more information, please visit the Words Worth Reading Ltd's website.
Tips on contributing to a Football Magazine
We have recently added an article to our library of free downloadable articles that focuses on how best to contribute to Football Magazines.
The article is aimed at those individuals wishing to write articles for Football Magazines, or indeed for individuals who are hoping to create their own, new, football publication.
The article includes hints and tips relating to; photography, writing style and tone, product reviews, ideas on news articles, and information on how to tailor the magazine to meet the needs of the assumed audience.
All writing-related articles can be found in the 'Extras' section of our website.
First report published on The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust
England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, has published his first report on the quality of services provided by The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.
The Care Quality Commission has found that the trust provided services that were caring, however, improvements were needed in the safety, effectiveness, responsiveness and leadership of some services.
The inspection took place in July, the CQC used its new inspection regime.
Pinderfields Hospital, Pontefract Hospital and Dewsbury District Hospital were each rated as Requires Improvement, although critical care at both Pinderfields Hospital and Dewsbury District Hospital was rated as Good. The trust's Community Health services were also rated as Good, however Safety across the trust was rated as Inadequate.
Inspectors found that most patients were positive about the care they received and staff were thought to be polite, patient and caring. Inspectors also found some examples of outstanding practice, particularly within the children's community end of life team who demonstrated compassion and commitment to families.
Inspectors identified some areas of outstanding practice, including:
The multidisciplinary team approach in community services for adults with complex needs.
The implementation of a link health visitor role in community services.
The compassion and commitment demonstrated by the staff within the children's community end of life care team (Jigsaw).
The support provided to patients following discharge from the critical care unit by the set-up of monthly outpatient clinics.
There were also a number of areas of poor practice where the trust needed to make improvements, including:
The trust must ensure there are always sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, skilled and experienced staff to deliver safe care in a timely manner.
The trust must take action to address the backlog of outpatient appointments, including follow-ups, to ensure patients are not waiting considerable amounts of time for their appointment.
The skills and experience of staff working with children in the A&E departments, special care baby unit and children's outpatients' clinics must be reviewed to ensure the trust is meeting national and best practice recommendations.
The trust must ensure the procedures for documenting the involvement of patients and relatives in 'Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNA CPR) are in accordance with best practice at all times.
The trust must ensure staff are trained and competent with medication storage, handling and administration, and that controlled drugs are administered, stored and disposed of in accordance with trust policy, national guidance and legislation.
The trust must review the arrangements over the oversight of Gate 20 acute respiratory care unit to ensure there is appropriate critical care medical oversight in accordance with the Critical Care Core Standards (2013).
The trust must ensure ambulance handover target times are achieved to lessen the detrimental impact on patients.
The trust must ensure the high prevalence of pressure ulcers is reviewed and understood and appropriate actions are implemented to address the issue.
The full reports are available on the CQC website here.
If you are a healthcare professional and would like help with CQC documentation, visit the Words Worth Reading Ltd team to find out how we can help you.
Source: www.cqc.org.uk
Image: Ricardodiaz11, Flickr
Concerns about Care Home in Wirral
In a report published on the 29th October 2014, CQC inspectors highlight repeated concerns following an inspection of Highground Care Home based in Wirral. The inspection was carried out in August 2014 as part of CQC's scheduled inspection programme for 2014/2015.
Visiting inspectors found that the nursing home was failing to provide care which was safe, effective, caring, responsive or well led; and all nine of the national standards reviewed by the inspection team were not being met.
A full report detailing the findings from the inspection has been published on the CQC website this week.
Inspectors found that improvements identified on their previous visit in April 2014 had not been sustained and raised a number of concerns, including:
Care and treatment was not planned in the best interests of the residents' health and wellbeing.
Residents were not protected from the risks of unsafe care as inspectors found that safeguarding policies were not being followed or updated accordingly.
Several areas of the home were dirty and in a poor state of repair.
Records showed that the temperature of the medicines room and fridge was not being monitored regularly and inspectors could not be sure that medicines requiring cold storage had been kept within the correct temperature range. Medicines can become ineffective if they are kept at the wrong temperature.
People living at the home told inspectors there was a lack of staff and that they often had to wait for care or assistance A review of the homes staffing rota confirmed that there had been insufficient staffing levels on a number of occasions.
Staff were not being supported to deliver care and treatment safely. Not all staff had received an appraisal and a review of the home's training records revealed that several staff had received little training in areas such as safeguarding and promoting dignity.
The home did not have an effective quality assurance system in place and identified shortfalls were not addressed.
The records kept by the service were of a poor standard, contained incomplete information, lack of clarity on audits and care plans not updated frequently in line with the person's needs.
As a result of these findings CQC is currently considering the need for further regulatory action against Irvine Care Limited and will report in due course on any action they do decide to take.
Debbie Westhead, CQC's Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care in the North said:
"Highground Care Home has an inconsistent history where standards of care are concerned; the ongoing variation in quality of care cannot be allowed to continue.
"We have shared our findings with the Local Authority Safeguarding Team, and we have told Irvine Care Limited very clearly where they must take action to address our concerns.
"The residents receiving care from Highground Care Home are entitled to receive services which are safe, effective, compassionate, well led, and responsive to their needs.
"We are monitoring Highground Care Home very closely in liaison with the local authority to ensure that people receiving care are not at risk of immediate harm, and we will report further on any further action we intend to take in due course."
Any regulatory decision that CQC takes is open to challenge by a registered person through a variety of internal and external appeal processes.
Article source; press release via the cqc.org.uk website
Our work to upload Information Governance Toolkit ...
Get your manuscripts ready for open submissions to...
Helen Oyeyemi joins the judging panel for the Inde...
You could win a hamper full of goodies from Harper...
NHS England's latest Information Governance Bullet...
Guidelines for doctors and nurses call for more op...
Chief inspector of hospitals wins lifetime achieve...
First report published on The Mid Yorkshire Hospit...
English social care services to be rated as 'Good'...
Inadequate rating for Bradford Care Home


Although the book is slight, it reads like a stargazing hors d-oeuvres, just enough to both curb and whet your appetite, satisfying you and leaving you wanting more.
The Structure – The book is organized as the most stunning, comprehensive night you'll ever spend under Yosemite's heavens, spanning from sunset to sunrise.
The Scope – I'm no expert, but I'd guess Yosemite ranks as one of (the most?) photographed places on earth. How could it possibly be presented in a fresh way? Kristal uses her artistic instincts, creativity, patience and a little stardust to present the familiar features of Yosemite as almost an entirely new landscape.
The Vision – Kristal's work addresses a major concern effecting not only Yosemite, but the environment everywhere: the impact of light pollution on nature. However, instead of gloom and doom and guilt and finger-pointing, Kristal transforms light pollution into art, showing the impact of this major concern in a digestible way.


This vintage chest of drawers was manufactured mid-century by Pacemaker. This is a design we find ourselves reusing because it has been so well-received by Blue Lamb fans. We hand-painted the body with two coats of Benjamin Moore Advance over primer. Then after we stripped, stained, and polyed the drawer fronts, we hand-painted the white stripes . We just love the contrast in finishes on this simple, clean lined piece. The colors we used are Kendall Charcoal and White Dove. This dresser measures: 36"W x 18"D x 41 1/2"H.