The last country where we were in project mode before our long drive home through Europe, Turkey was a place we knew little about and we were excited to explore.
We were also slightly preoccupied. Massive problems with our brakes in Lebanon – at one point we'd lost them completely on a mountain pass – had caused us to miss our ferry so on arrival we were four days behind schedule.
Friends and family had planned summer holidays in France to coincide with the dates that we'd given them which were now looking extremely ambitious: at the end of our time in Turkey we'd have about 4000km to cover before this reunion, we were absolutely exhausted and our brakes still weren't working properly.
We were definitely feeling the pressure.
Our fortnight in Turkey was split in two, the first couple of days spent in the port town Taşucu where we'd arrived from Cyprus before catching our onward ferry to Lebanon. Obviously this was before failing to catch the boat back again so we'd been quite relaxed and our time in Taşucu had been spent mainly on administration. Notable highlights had been fragrant Turkish coffee, fantastic fish and the first drops of rain we'd felt since Tunisia.
Returning to Taşucu post-Lebanon we are slightly less relaxed and on a mission to experience Turkey more thoroughly.
Getting in is a time consuming process, especially for Lucy with her British passport, who has to drive to another nearby port to buy a visa, while Anne-Laure – travelling on a French passport at this point – doesn't need a visa at all. Waiting for customs and immigration is time consuming and tedious, with lots of queue barging going on around us.
Finally clear of the port, we start by adjusting our brakes – something we've become quite practised at – then head towards Konya, a painfully slow journey with Landy progressing even more slowly than the queue for immigration. We stop several times to feel the brakes, disconnect the air filter, tighten the master cylinder, reconnect the air filter and to let Landy cool down.
By afternoon we're making better progress although the erratic behaviour of our brakes makes for a rather uncomfortable ride: sometimes they work perfectly, other times barely at all, and occasionally when it seems that everything is fine they unexpectedly lose grip mid pedal depression. The memory of the Lebanese mountain pass hovers over us and is an event we're anxious not to repeat.
We make it to Konya, a traditional town home to beautiful mosques and whirling dervishes, in time for supper, coming across an odd-looking couple in full bridal-wear posing for pictures: he's holding a broken violin with no bow while she pretends to sing into a microphone. Apparently they're a real husband and wife but it seems a bit nonchalant for a wedding day – more like a marketing shoot. In other shots they're holding hands and it occurs to us that perhaps – in this conservative town – it's only acceptable to take pictures like this with models who are really are married to one another.
Our supper – whilst delicious – turns into a bizarre sort of dance with waiters obsessively clearing the table before we've finished with things. A full plate of sauce, half drunk cup of tea, full glass of mineral water and a glass of Ayran yoghurt – the Turkish national drink – disappear before we become savvy enough to physically hold on to anything we want to keep and even then we spend half the meal fighting off the restaurant staff before giving up and trudging back to our hotel.
After a night spent dreaming of brake master cylinders, Lucy wakes with a new strategy for adjusting ours and rushes out to enact her plan.
Some guys sitting outside a nearby shop find the whole thing very interesting. One of them helps by holding the cylinder while Lucy tightens the bolts. Predictably, he offers to tighten the bolts himself, and – equally predictably – the response is a civil 'No thank you'. Refreshingly he accepts this immediately and asks if she's a mechanic – a question we've been asked on many occasions since leaving the UK.
At the beginning of the trip our answer to this would have been something along the lines of 'Well a bit…sort of a bush mechanic really' but – five months on the road and numerous breakdowns later – it's now a resounding 'Yes'. The main reason for this – we've learnt the hard way – is that any perceived weakness is likely to have him jumping in with a spanner regardless of our view on the matter, but also the sheer number of 'mechanics' we've met along the way (most of whom know very little) is unbelievable. And besides…having removed, stripped and replaced it about 12 times in the last two weeks we feel that there is nobody else in the world who knows more about our brake master cylinder than we do at this point.
We already know that the seal inside the cylinder is the wrong size and that the cylinder itself is a hybrid of the two faulty ones we had with us in Lebanon so this constant adjustment is about limiting the extent of the problem rather than curing it.
Gorgeous carpets and kilims are on display all over town and – with a future exhibition in mind – we decide to try and buy one. We're looking for a large carpet – about six metres by four – but our budget is just £120 so this may be easier said than done.
Our shopping experience starts with an over-sweet cup of apple flavoured tea and a stilted conversation accompanied by diagrams that don't get us very far. Thankfully, the proprietor recognises this and enlists the help of a friend called Lucky who speaks good English and tells us that he owns a house in London – although on closer interrogation he can't remember where.
We find four smaller carpets that – put together – suit our brief nicely with the additional bonus of fitting into Landy for transportation home. But the price is £3000. The four potential carpets are laid out in the road and measured and a discussion ensues. Lucky is clearly used to dealing with a different calibre of tourist and initially the price creeps down frustratingly slowly. It helps our cause enormously when a passing car drives straight over the carpets and we just shrug and carry on bargaining. Our point has been made – it's become clear that we have no interest in buying carpets of any value and have no particular attachment to these ones. We finally reach an agreement.
It hasn't been entirely painless: after the tea we were given horrible fizzy orange soda and had to listen to Lucky rant about politics. But at £30 a carpet we're satisfied with our bargaining skills, carefully honed over the duration of our trip. We celebrate with a massive supper plus creamy rice pudding – a decision we immediately regret when we find ourselves too full of food to sleep.
Leaving Konya at 6.30am we drive and drive. Landy is still sluggish but we're no longer having to make regular pit stops. We see lightning in the distance and shortly afterwards the heavens open in a torrential downpour. We discover that navigating heavy traffic in the rain with puny windscreen wipers and brakes that can best be described as 'intermittent' requires quite some concentration.
We make Istanbul in a day – a distance of 687km – which gives us hope for our long mad dash across Europe. The city is spectacularly stunning at night with floodlights illuminating thousands of mosques and other buildings, bridges and boats. The city feels exotic and exciting.
Stopping in Üsküdar on the Asian side of Istanbul we leave Landy in the road for the night, getting up early in the morning to move her to a municipal Otopark. She refuses to start and we find that a fuse has blown, probably from having got so wet the day before.
Doing what – with no power steering – feels like a million point turn in the multi-storey car park a guy offers to park the car for us. With no brakes and a sticky accelerator too at this point we decline politely but what we're actually thinking is 'We'd like to see you try'.
Üsküdar has many magnificent ancient buildings and an even more impressive number of cats and enormously fat dogs that everybody seems to feed. We see signs on the street enticing people to donate to the 'Tip box for street cats'.
Later that day we visit a hammam – long overdue as we hadn't been able to find one in Lebanon or Israel, Palestine and the Golan Heights – and shed impressive quantities of dirt, chatting to a woman who's daughter is studying to be a maritime captain. It's raining again when we come out – having seen no rain at all for months we are interested to note how quickly we have now become bored of it.
We notice that people in Turkey who don't speak English are not that open to trying to communicate which, having recently travelled through so many other non-English speaking countries where this has never been a problem, we find odd. The words 'No speak English' are generally accompanied by turning away or refusing to make eye contact which makes acting and body language almost redundant. We try and pick up a few words of Turkish but people don't seem to respond to this either. Even salesmen show a natural reluctance to talk to us – sometimes to the point of losing a sale as a consequence. Every so often – as with the carpets – somebody is summoned to translate and on one occasion a waiter runs down three flights of stairs into the street to find an English speaker when all we're trying to ask for is another cup of coffee.
Thankfully there are many people who speak perfect English – and a few others who are happy to try – so we're able to make friends.
There's a CouchSurfing meeting this evening so we hop across the Bosphorus on a ferry to meet people and check out the town centre. Travelling across the city by boat is a joyful experience and being in the middle of a sizeable body of water really opens up the views.
We find Istanbul a wonderfully animated city and Taksim on the European side especially bright and buzzing with the walls and staircases covered in colourful graffiti.
The CouchSurfing night is loads of fun with well over 100 people here from all over the world and it makes our lives easier – well Lucy's anyway – that the lingua franca is English. When we describe our project everyone is enthusiastic although some have slightly strange questions, for example, asking how we will manage to cross the Istanbul toll bridge when we don't have a Turkish number plate. Somebody earnestly warns us that it's extremely dangerous to drive with the steering wheel on the wrong (i.e. right hand) side, dismissing our five months on the road as insufficient evidence of this not being the case. We subsequently discover that she doesn't have a driving licence.
We meet lots of Syrians, all young men, and hear they are the demographic most at risk in Syria at the moment as they face the danger of being kidnapped – by all sides – to become soldiers. We're told that families are sending their sons away but generally not their daughters as this is much less of a threat for them.
Lots of chat and a few beers later and we realise it's 2.30am and we've missed the last boat home. A shared minibus taxi takes us most of the way back but we have to get a cab for the last bit. The taxi driver tries to insist on calling our hostel for specific instructions rather than trust our directions but we pretend we've forgotten the number. It doesn't seem fair to phone the proprietor at 3.30am – we feel bad enough knocking on the door. It's a slightly frustrating end to an otherwise upbeat night.
We explore the Old City which also lies in Europe but on the other side of the Golden Horn. There are more tourists than we've seen since Marrakech – five months ago – which is quite a culture shock. We find they walk irritatingly slowly, in direct contrast to the locals who all seem to be going in a specific direction and have no problem pushing in order to get there. There is a long wait to get into the well known sites so, unwilling to queue in the sun for several hours, we miss going into Hagia Sophia or the Blue Mosque.
We walk towards the Grand Bazaar enjoying the architecture and marvelling at the price of the Turkish baths on this side of the Bosphorus – more than 10 times more expensive than our hammam had been. The Grand Bazaar is beautifully housed but, again, demands crazy prices for often fairly generic looking tat that's the same all over the region and it's hard to see beyond the myriad explanatory notices. The vendors here are a notable exception to their countrymen in terms of communication – everybody here is more than willing to talk to you and it's actually quite hard to escape.
It occurs to us that perhaps we are in the wrong frame of mind. This is our last big city before we go home and we're tired from months on the road. Whilst we can't fail to be enchanted by Istanbul, it's possible that we're a bit less tolerant than we'd otherwise be. Had we done our journey the other way round – if Turkey was the first country we were exploring rather than the last – we would probably have loved everything we have just complained about.
We do discover a plus side to the Grand Bazaar in that almost unlimited free samples of Turkish Delight make a scrumptious breakfast. Two really good lattes later (another undeniable advantage of tourism) and we feel differently about the whole thing – it's amazing how a good cup of coffee can lift your spirits.
We go for a walk visiting a less popular mosque lined with exquisite tiles. Down by the coast we see men relaxing in various states of undress sunbathing, fishing, cooking over small fires and swimming in the strong current that flows into Mediterranean. There are few women here and the ones we see are all fully clothed. We walk up the west bank of the Golden Horn to Fener, a colourful neighbourhood of old churches and synagogues, passing boats moored along the waterfront before mounting a hill to check out the view from the immense red brick Phanar Greek Orthodox College.
On our last night in Üsküdar there's a presidential election. Despite marking a significant step towards changing the Turkish constitution – new legislation proposes to empower the presidential role, currently largely symbolic – it's an event that has mostly passed us by, and only really noticeable today due to an absence of beer being served in restaurants. There are lots of posters about, nearly all of Erdoğan's face, but this is a wholly different experience to our last presidential election in Egypt when the country had gone mad with election fever.
We meet up with Sertaj from the CouchSurfing evening and his friend Fatih near the Galata Tower north of the Bosphorus. They have just cast their votes: Fatih for Erdoğan on religious grounds and Sertaj against him, referring to him as 'our little dictator'. Both work as bank auditors, Sertaj in a mainstream bank and Fatih in an Islamic bank where they have to use another term for 'interest' – also for religious reasons – although even Fatih admits that the banks operate in exactly the same way.
No one on the European side looks particularly interested as Erdoğan's victory is announced on the internet but it's a different story when we get back to Üsküdar: people are celebrating in the street, flags waving and cars sounding their horns – everyone seems over the moon.
Sertaj tells us an amazing story about friends who decided to paint their local staircase multicoloured. The next day an official body repainted it grey and then the following day people went out all over Istanbul and other Turkish towns painting all public staircases multicoloured.
We also hear about other – more serious – demonstrations.
In the early summer of 2013 environmentalists gathered in Taksim Gezi Park by Taksim Square in response to urban development plans by the government that included building huge shopping malls over the green public spaces in the city. The demonstrators were forcibly evicted by the authorities, an event sparking subsequent strikes and protest in towns all over Turkey, while the original protesters in Taksim Gezi Park returned in increased numbers.
The protests expanded to encompass a broad range of concerns: Prime Minister Erdoğan's authoritarian behaviour; threats to freedoms of assembly, expression and the press; the war in Syria; the government undermining Turkey's secularism; recent controversy about kissing in public and the ban of alcohol on university campuses.
There was no clear central leadership and the demonstrations attracted people from all walks of life: women, men and children; old and young; secular and religious; left and right wing activists and people with no political affiliation at all. The riot police used water cannon and tear gas in a bid to disperse them but everyone worked together, supporting one other against the police with numbers increasing in the evenings as office workers joined in.
Not wanting to undermine the legitimacy of their cause nor ruin the park they were trying to protect, the demonstrators were careful to behave well. Nobody got drunk or dropped litter and everyone rallied round: hotels allowed protesters to use their toilets, local people brought food and drink – as well as swimming goggles and surgical masks for protection against tear gas. Well known entertainers came to perform for the protesters, a yoga teacher gave classes, and a library, movie screen and medical centre were set up.
Erdoğan and the Turkish media played down the significance of what was going on – the Prime Minister famously referring to the protesters as 'çapulcu' (looters), a badge that they subsequently adopted with pride. Information was primarily disseminated via social media with the word 'çapulcu' being used by the demonstrators in order to get people engaged. Many people updated their Twitter tags to include this title.
Graffiti played a large part in the protests with good humoured slogans appearing such as 'I ♥ tear gas'; 'Enough! I'm calling the police'; and 'Everyday I'm çapuling'.
In the end the protesters won: the parks were saved, but over 8000 people were injured – some critically – and at least nine people died in the process, including a 15 year old boy who spent two months in a coma when a tear gas cannister hit him in the head as he went to buy bread. We were told that at his death he weighed just 18kg.
Sertaj says that he spent all his non working hours at the demonstrations and he – and others we talk to – say that in their experience it was the first time the Turkish people had felt that sort of camaraderie. They all speak of their summer of protest with great affection.
Gulner, mother of Anne-Laure's London friend Serra, has offered us her apartment while she's away – an act of incredible generosity and trust, especially as we've never met her before – so we decide to move over to the European side for our final few days in Istanbul.
So – disturbing a cat sleeping on the spare wheel – we collect Landy from the Otopark and cross over the mighty Bosphorus Bridge from Asia to Europe (which – despite the concerns of our friend from the other night – we manage without incident and without having to pay the toll). We drive up a steep hill to the flat in Ulus, grateful for Landy's low ratio gearbox and pleased to note that for future comings and goings on foot there is a bus from Ortaköy, the boat-station at the bottom of the hill that has a quirky villagey atmosphere and a great selection of restaurants.
It's lovely to be in a house again and we enjoy home brewed coffee with hot milk and put on a load of washing which feels like utter luxury. We spend the rest of the morning attempting to befriend our new flatmate, a belligerent cat called Husman, and fixing Landy's headlights that have gone on strike.
We come to the conclusion that we should get Landy graffitied, partly because we're keen to look less military but also in keeping with what we've seen of Turkey. But we're leaving Istanbul in four days which doesn't give us long to make the relevant contacts and complete the work and we don't really know where to start.
Networking has never been our strong point – it was by far the least enjoyable aspect of planning our journey – but meeting and staying in the homes of so many positive people along our route has forced us to confront our inhibitions and by Istanbul we've learnt to let go of these fears. Having decided to graffiti Landy we spend the rest of our time shamelessly asking everyone we meet how we can go about this, starting with the two artists who run the bar we're sitting in.
After a couple of phone calls they tell us it's possible but will cost TL1500 – nearly £375 – and we'd have to buy a compressor as well. Knowing this is way out of our price bracket – and not wanting our own compressor – we put a shout out for an Istanbul-based graffiti artist on Facebook and hope for a positive response.
Serhat, a friend of Serra's, replies and we arrange to meet him and his friend Delaria in Nişantaşi, where we chat over iced chai lattes. Serhat lives in Berlin where he works as an interior designer. Delaria runs her own advertising agency in Istanbul.
They're really good fun, but the best news of all is that they're also friends with somebody called Natasha who is an artists' agent with several Istanbul graffiti artists on her books. They tell us about a guy called Leo, one of the best known of these artists, whose signature panda we've already seen on more than one wall in Taksim. We hear that Leo is well paid for his work and it's clear that in Istanbul graffiti has 'graduated' from being considered vandalism to being thought of as art.
Delaria leaves the three of us to wander in the direction of Taksim exploring funky bars, cafés and restaurants. We try locally brewed beer and unfamiliar Turkish food that we discover we love: meat and spinach ravioli in a yoghurt sauce, spicy lamb on a bed of aubergine. Less popular is a weird spicy vegetable drink that tastes healthy but horrible.
Serhat tells us that he was heavily involved in the Taksim Square protests and that he and some others had just spent the previous day going around polling stations monitoring the presidential election, an initiative set up by Delaria.
We also hear about military service in Turkey, which only applies to men. If they live in Turkey they are obliged to complete five months' service – or just four weeks if they are studying abroad.
It's another late night so we take a cab home dropping off Serhat en route.
In the morning he texts us so say that he's got us onto the guest list for the private view of a graffiti exhibition that evening. We're really excited: this is our chance to meet a graffiti artist – and hopefully get them interested in painting Landy.
The exhibition makes us think about the immediacy of graffiti over more traditional paintings. An artist who paints on canvas can carry their work with them – or send it – and curators can pick and choose what they want from the artist's portfolio. A graffiti artist almost always has to come to the exhibition space beforehand and create their work on the spot. Another artist could take months to finish a painting – the graffiti artist doesn't have that luxury, and it's also quite a leap of faith for the curator.
We meet some incredible people, including a graffiti artist who expresses an interest in our Land Rover, but the following morning he emails to say that it's bad for his reputation to give his work away too cheaply – and our minimal budget comes nowhere near his price.
But then Natasha calls with the fantastic news that Leo is happy to meet and discuss the possibility of doing some work on Landy. He brings his Moldovan friend Alexandra, a 21 year old model in long socks and hot-pants, to translate. We're under the impression that this is just a preliminary discussion but Leo falls in love with our gorgeous car and in no time at all gets out his spray cans and goes to work.
He tells us he's been a graffiti artist since 2000 – about half his lifetime – and he's clearly successful. He doesn't even suggest we pay him for materials, let alone for his time or work. His real name is Ibrahim but he uses 'Leo Lunatic' professionally as 'Ibrahim is not very street'.
We end up with his trademark panda on our car – it looks awesome and we're absolutely thrilled. Despite his achievements in Istanbul we discover that when we leave Turkey in a couple of days Landy will be Leo's only piece of international art. We celebrate with beer and an iced tea for Leo who's teetotal.
An advantage of graffiti is that if Leo doesn't like the line he has drawn he can respray over it immediately regardless of the colours used or whether it's still wet. Anne-Laure shows him her book of drawings – where working in permanent ink she has nothing to hide behind – and he nods his approval 'One line? Wow…respect' he says, bowing slightly and bringing his hands together in front of him.
It's time to get moving so we pack up and leave our lovely apartment – Husman seems pleased to see the back of us. We leave Istanbul in gruelling traffic and are constantly cut up by innumerable aggressive trucks. We're concentrating so hard on not being run off the road that we never have the chance to use our loud Egyptian horn in retaliation.
The traffic clears as the day progresses and we're able to speed up. Lucy – the driver at this point – notices with interest that when the accelerator pedal is jammed hard into the cork foot well we move fractionally faster. This gives us the inspired idea of removing a piece of the floor to allow us to depress it a bit further.
Keşan, 35km from Greek border, is our last stop before our long drive home and we find a pension without difficulty. The family who run it are friendly and welcoming and insist on escorting us in person to a restaurant when we ask where we can get some supper. We have a fabulous final lamb dinner and head to bed early for once, wanting to get some sleep before our journey, but a disco and the call to prayer compete for attention outside our bedroom window so we're out of luck.
The next day we refuel, check our tyre pressures, experimentally cut out the two layers of cork flooring beneath the accelerator pedal, stock up on food and water, and head off. We're particularly pleased to note that the hole in the floor is speeding up our progress by a good 10km/h and in less than an hour we've crossed the border into Greece.
We found life in Turkey to be varied, vibrant and fun.
From the audacious truck drivers and the general good-natured shoving in the streets to the politics and demonstrations, we found that people don't always agree but they do seem to know what they want.
The ever-evolving graffiti seems intertwined with the emerging culture of protest – harnessing art and humour to express serious political and social concerns.
Before leaving England we'd been looking forward to travelling through Eastern Turkey, exploring Trabzon and the Black Sea region, and seeing the rock formations of Cappadocia…but by the time we got there reality had hit. Turkey is a vast country and we knew we'd only see a fraction of it. Along the way, the trip had taught us that it takes at least a week to get under the skin of a town but two weeks barely scratches the surface of a country. Trying to cover more ground would make our interactions superficial and we would be exhausted. We'd grudgingly learnt to accept that we couldn't do everything.
Our journey to this point – and Turkey as much as anywhere – had been an extraordinary experience but we had pushed ourselves to our limits. We were almost out of money, almost out of energy, and almost entirely out of brakes. Fuelled only by coffee, Turkish Delight and adrenaline, we realised that the time had come to drive our Landy home.
The 4000km we'd been so anxious about ended up taking just 94 hours to drive and we barely stopped for anything but diesel and coffee. We roared along the highways of Europe, touching the brake pedal only after dark to notify the fast-approaching trucks of our presence. Our brake master cylinder wasn't fully fixed until the day of our MOT back in England but this wasn't an issue.
Having a beautiful car had not only inspired Leo, it made our journey through the border crossings of Europe almost effortless: the officials who stopped us immediately bonded with Landy and waved us through their checkpoints without delay.
It turned out that graffiti was actually more useful than brakes.


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Your soul mate will be your number one critic. He will be the person who makes you realize that you've made a bad decision or you did something that will potentially ruin your life. He isn't afraid to be honest with you, simply because he truly cares and want you to get all the best in your life.
He motivates you to dream and to achieve more goals in your life. He knows exactly your true potential and he will help you to reach your highest dreams. When you doubt yourself, he will be the one who restores your faith. He does not always be your crying shoulder; he doesn't save you from drowning, but he teaches you how to swim.
You don't feel your heart beats faster or butterflies in your stomach when you meet him; you feel calm instead. Meeting your soul mate is not the same as meeting your crush, simply because you're very comfortable when you're with him. You know exactly that you can be yourself when he's around and he makes you feel good about yourself.
You don't know your relationship label with him and you're totally okay with that. You enjoy each other's company and that's enough. You and he really understand that a label is not important since both of you are grown-ups. Both of you realize to take things slow because it feels like the friendship is too precious to be broken by a label.
Seeing him is like seeing your own reflection. Being with him makes you realize your strengths and weaknesses; he makes you improve your own self-awareness. He will be the one who makes you realize that you need to be the better version of yourself. But, you know exactly that he accepts you for who you are and he never asked you to change either.
Your soul mate doesn't have to be with you 24/7, simply because he has his own personal life. He is one of the people who inspire you to achieve your life goals and you acknowledge that he has dreams as big as yours. But, despite the fact that he's busy, both of you always find sometimes to catching up with each other's lives.
Your soul mate is someone who wants to know and understand your thoughts, ideas, fears, and insecurities. He doesn't want to talk about the weather outside, he wants a true connection with you and he makes you involved in deep conversations. He makes you think about your life purpose and makes your life more meaningful than it used to.
He always has reasons behind his opinions and you realize that you have to lower down your ego, simply because his arguments were mostly made sense. Thus, you always ask his opinion before you make some important decisions in your life. But, he also respects your own principles and values; he knows when to interfere your life or vice versa.
Your soul mate will be the one who makes you brave enough to leave your comfort zone. He will make you feel many new things and adventures. He will be your partner in crime for exploring the world. He makes you realize that you don't belong to just one place and you should live your life to the fullest.
Deep down inside, you know exactly that you can't make him stay. You acknowledge that soul mate doesn't have to be together; it will be awesome if he stays, but you're ready if he doesn't. Knowing him in your life is a blessing and he makes you learn to love someone without having an obsession.


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Martin's 1999 Budget
"I wasn't sure if he was running for leader of the party or president of Cuba," one Liberal backbencher whispered as Finance Minister Paul Martin wrapped up his one-hour, 20-minute budget speech to Parliament last week.
Royal Commission on Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada
The Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada (Macdonald Commission) was appointed in 1982 to examine the future economic prospects of the country and the effectiveness of its political institutions.
Canada Savings Bonds differ from other government bonds in that they can be cashed at any bank for the face value plus accrued interest. They cannot be sold by the original buyer but must be held until cashed or until they mature (usually in 7 years) from the time they were bought.
White Paper on Employment and Income
The White Paper on Employment and Income of 1945 described the Canadian government's immediate postwar fiscal and economic policies. Presented to Parliament by the Honourable C.D.
Equalization Payments
Equalization payments are payments that the federal government makes to the poorer provinces. The monies come from Ottawa's general revenues and are unconditional transfers that can be spent as the recipient provinces please (see also TRANSFER PAYMENT).
Consumer and Corporate Affairs
The Department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs was established in 1967 to bring together under one minister the administering of federal policies regulating the marketplace.
Consumer Standards
Consumer standards are documents describing acceptable characteristics or usage for products, materials and services used by individual consumers. They may specify dimensional, performance or safety requirements for household products.
Crop Insurance An all-risk crop-insurance program is available to Canadian farmers under the authority of the federal Crop Insurance Act (of 1959) and through concurrent and complementary legislation enacted by each province.
Royal Commission on Corporate Concentration
The Royal Commission on Corporate Concentration (Bryce Commission) was appointed in April 1975 under R.B. BRYCE, and reported 1978.
Competition policy refers to legislation used by the federal government to eliminate privately imposed restraints on trade and to encourage competition.
Budgetary Process
Canada's federal and provincial governments follow a budgetary process, designed to ensure control, accountability and planning in the spending of public money.
Royal Commission on Canada's Economic Prospects
The idea for this royal commission was based on a draft article by Walter GORDON in 1955 questioning the validity of a number of the government's economic policies, particularly the question of selling control of Canada's natural resources and business enterprises to foreigners.
Canada Corn Act
Canada Corn Act, passed in 1843 by the British Parliament and applying to all grains, allowed Canadian wheat to enter the British market at a nominal duty, and flour manufactured in Canada at a proportionate rate.
Canada-US Auto Pact
The Automotive Products Trade Agreement of 1965, better known as the Canada-US Auto Pact, led to the integration of the Canadian and US auto industries in a shared North American market. While it brought great benefits to Canada, it was eventually found to be contrary to international trade rules and was cancelled in 2001. By then it had accomplished its biggest goal — an integrated North American industry with a much stronger Canadian presence.
Nationalization is the takeover of ownership and control of a privately owned enterprise by the STATE.
Mutual Aid is the principal economic means by which Canada assisted its allies with food, raw materials and munitions from May 1943 until the end of WORLD WAR II. The Mutual Aid Board, chaired by C.D.
Bailouts in Canada
A bailout consists of providing financial help to a business or to the wider economy during times of trouble.
Income Distribution refers to the share of total income in society that goes to each fifth of the population, or, more generally, to the distribution of income among Canadian households.
Intergovernmental Finance
The term "intergovernmental finance" refers to the web of financial flows linking governments in a constantly evolving federal system (see FEDERALISM).
Car Fuel Efficiency Toughened
It has been a long time since a Canadian government tried to force the auto industry to improve fuel efficiency. The energy crisis scares of the 1970s were still fresh memories when Pierre Trudeau's Liberals passed the Motor Vehicle Fuel Consumption Standards Act in 1982.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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UltraPath = Ultra-Simple...Except that it's Not
While talking to John Atwood the other day, the fellow behind the Clarisonus website, the topic of the Ultrapath circuit came up. I was surprised at my instant expression of exasperation with the Ultrapath circuit and its ardent supporters. (Do not misunderstand me, John Atwood isn't one of them.) What surprised me most about my emotion-laden response was that the Ultrapath storm has long passed. For a period of about four years, starting around eight years ago, I was asked often was "Is the Ultrapath the ne plus ultra?" (Never, however, in those exact words...sadly.)
I never liked the question. Why? To start with, the question was always asked in the same manner: excitedly and wide-eyed, an energized agitation worthy of a diehard Star-Wars fan recounting his favorite scenes in the latest installment from George Lucas. Second, the question, when examined closely, reveals itself to be incomplete, empty of a referent or even a context that would make the question answerable. Imagine that you are a chef who is asked, "What do you think about using oregano?" How can your answer make any sense without more context? You might imagine making pancakes, which would provoke a repulsion-filled negative answer; or you might imagine making a Greek salad, which would compel a tongue-salivating positive reply.
Since the question, "What do you think about the Ultrapath circuit?" can (like the question about oregano) receive many answers all of which are correct, but conflicting if taken out of context, my standard reply has always been to ask, "What do you think about it?" The answer is usually something along the following lines, "I have never heard it, but I have read that it is a brilliant design and only way to go. I would like to Ultrapath my line stage amplifier, my power amplifier, my phono preamp…but I am afraid that I might blow something up."
What follows is an attempt to provide an overview of the Ultrapath circuit and a context that allows us to understand circuit's advantages and failings.
What is the Ultrapath? It is simplicity itself. In the grounded-cathode amplifier above, on the left, we see the Ultrapath circuit; on the right, we see the plain-Jane grounded-cathode amplifier. The "Ultra" comes from having the cathode resistor's bypass capacitor terminating into the B+ connection, rather than ground, as used by the conventional version on the right. Before examining what shifting the capacitor's termination yields in electronic terms, just survey the brilliance of Ultrapath. It is breathtakingly simple and it has a mega, supra, ultra-cool name. Very few solder slingers could not master memorizing the Ultrapath's schematic in five minutes and just as few would not be swayed by its name. Imagine if the circuit had been named the "B-plus-referenced-grounded-cathode amplifier." Straddled with such a stolid, although accurate name, the circuit would enjoy as much popularity (and sales) as a lite beer labeled "Cheap Beer Diluted with Water." See Subject: Article Request "UltraPath" for more on this circuit and its ultra name.
How the Ultrapath Works
Okay, after much throat clearing, let's look into the Ultrapath circuit. Picture a perfect power supply, differing from ground by only a large DC offset, but otherwise offering just as a perfect "ground" connection. In other words, such an ideal power supply would be free from the real-world liabilities that actual power supplies suffer from, such as frequency-dependent output resistance, rectification and signal-induced noise.
In fact, so perfectly would the B+ connection mimic ground that the Ultrapath circuit would perform identically to an equivalent grounded-cathode amplifier, yielding no sonic difference whatsoever. In this fantasy world, the Ultrapath would not be so ultra, being jinxed by its requiring a high-voltage cathode-bypass capacitor, rather than the low-voltage capacitor the conventional grounded-cathode amplifier can get away with.
In contrast, when using an imperfect power supply, the Ultrapath is also not ultra, but for an additional reason: noise.
Terminating the cathode resistor's bypass capacitor to the B+ connection allows the nasty power-supply noise to infect the cathode, which in turn acts as a non-inverting signal input and the triode's plate sees the power-supply noise amplified and in phase with the B+ connection's noise phase. The conventional grounded-cathode amplifier, on the other hand, offers a much better PSRR, as the triode's plate resistance serves to greatly attenuate the power-supply noise at the plate, not amplify it as the Ultrapath does. What? This cannot be right; the Ultrapath is ultra cool and this circuit setup sounds ultra dumb. Besides, a friend of mine Ultrapathed his 12B4 line stage amplifier and it sounds awesome now… So, is the Ultrapath ultra cool or not?
I can readily think of three reasons why an Ultrapath-modified line stage amplifier might sound much better than the conventional grounded-cathode amplifier. First the high-voltage capacitor may perform better than its low-voltage brother, just as high-voltage film capacitors sound better than low-voltage film capacitors. A simple test would be to use same high-voltage capacitor in both positions and listen.
Second, the power supply may benefit by the added capacitance the Ultrapath cathode capacitor brings, even with the cathode resistor in series with it (and maybe because of the series resistance). For example, if a 10µF main power-supply decoupling capacitor is used, the capacitor's impedance at 20Hz is about 800 ohms; and the impedance of a 100µF cathode-bypass capacitor at 20Hz is ten times lower at 80 ohms, which even after including the cathode resistor's added resistance, say 200 ohms, would still be lower than 800 ohms presented by the single 10µF power-supply decoupling capacitor.
Third, the Ultrapath cathode-bypass capacitor may do more than just inject power-supply noise; it may also inject some positive feedback. Real-world power supplies present some effective series resistance (ESR), which against the triode's current variations creates an in-phase signal imposition at the B+ connection, which the cathode bypass capacitor will relay down to the cathode. In other words, the line stage amplifier might develop a bit more gain and exhibit a less flat frequency response—all of which may sound cool. (I have seen grown men titter and giggle with gleeful excitement upon hearing a preamp with a ringing power supply, which imparted a live sound to the music—when the preamp was not howling with high-frequency oscillation.)
Ultrapath Single-Ended Amplifiers
What about using the Ultrapath technique with a single-ended amplifier, as many audiophiles do?
Once again, the same egregious amplification of the power-supply noise pollutes the output signal, as the output transformer's primary presents an impedance that is fairly flat across the audio band and against which the triode develops a signal gain. Unlike the plate resistor, the output transformer's primary only transfers the differential across its leads, so a small portion of the power-supply noise gets rejected. Still, the single-ended amplifier below will be ultra noisy.
Now, let's look into the Ultrapath's advantages. Advantages? Am I being sarcastic? No, just methodical and comprehensive. Let's start with the single-ended amplifier shown above. The big omission in the above circuit is the input/driver stage, as few can drive a 300B or 845 triode to full power with just their line stage amplifier's output. Adding an additional gain stage alters many of the power-supply noise relationships with the amplifier. The following examples will use a cascode-based input stage, because the cascode circuit's vanishingly weak PSRR make the power-supply noise relationships more apparent than a grounded-cathode amplifier would in its stead.
The amplifier shown above consists of two stages, an input and an output stage. The input stage uses two triodes to define a cascode topology, wherein the gain is high, the PSRR nil, and the output impedance close the plate resistor's value. The "Ultrapath+" in the circuit's label denotes a slight improvement to the original Ultrapath topology—namely, the addition of the 100µFollower/100v capacitor that couples the power-supply noise to the 200k grid resistor. Why? We want the full power-supply noise to appear not only at the output tube's cathode, but also at its grid. If this added capacitor were left out, the cascode's high output impedance would work to voltage divide some of that power-supply noise away with a completely grounded grid resistor.
And we do want all the power-supply noise present at the triode's plate, grid, and cathode. Once again, an output transformer's primary only reflects delta, differences across its leads. If the voltage across the primary and the current through the primary remain constant, the secondary cannot "see" the power-supply noise. So what had been the cascode and Ultrapath's main liability, poor PSRR, has now become an asset. A grounded-cathode amplifier's better PSRR figure would work against us in this amplifier, as would a grounded-grid amplifier. On the other hand, a pentode-based grounded-cathode amplifier would work as well as the cascode circuit, as the pentode's super-high plate resistance also results in a truly poor PSRR.
Now, what would happen if we gave the amplifier shown above to a tube guru, with a check for $1,000 plus the price of the parts, so that he could make substantial modifications to the amplifier? Well, he would likely flip when he realized that no RC filter had been employed to provide a cleaner B+ voltage for the input stage. Twelve hundred dollars later ($200 in parts), we would get something like the following.
Interestingly enough, the now-fixed single-ended amplifier has much worse PSRR. What should be done? Well, while the tube guru might recommend using Duelund graphite resistors and Mundorf (or Aura-T Teflon) capacitors instead, a better plan would be to remove the added RC filter or to use a conventional cathode resistor bypassing arrangement, as shown below.
Mind you, this amplifier would still be noisier than the original Ultrapath+ single-ended amplifier, as the output transformer's primary would still see a differential power-supply noise signal across its leads. The Aikido-like fix is the one I recommended back in the second issue of the Tube CAD Journal: add an additional capacitor to the circuit.
The added capacitor bridges the output tube's cathode to the B+ connection, thereby injecting only a small amount of power-supply noise to the cathode. (In contrast, the Ultrapath injects all of the power-supply noise.) Once again, less is more. The small amount of power-supply noise is just enough to counter the power-supply noise at the plate. As the plate voltage increases, so does the current through the triode; but as the cathode voltage increases, the current decreases. So by setting the correct ratio in place, we can ensure that the triode draws a constant-current at idle, ignoring the power-supply noise as a result, as output transformer's primary will see a fixed voltage across and constant current through its leads. Now the only question is, How do we find the right ratio?
The math is quite simple. A triode's plate current is set by the following formula:
Ip = (Vp – muVg) / rp
Solving for ΔVg is not hard, as we have postulated that ΔIp = 0; thus,
ΔVg = -ΔVp / mu
So for example, a power triode with a mu of 4 would require a change in grid voltage equal to 1/4 the change in plate voltage to keep the triode draw a constant current. the problem here is that we are injecting the power-supply noise into the cathode, not the grid, so a new formula is needed.
ΔVk = ΔVp / (mu + 1)
The above formula takes into account that a change in cathode voltage is also a change in cathode-to-plate voltage. Using the triode with a mu of 4, the cathode needs to see 1/5 as much of the power-supply noise as the plate does. In other words, the added capacitor's value must be 1/4 as large as the cathode bypass capacitor's value. For example, a 100µF high-voltage capacitor and a 400µF low-voltage capacitor would work.
As a practical matter, expect electrolytic capacitors to hold more capacitance than marked and film capacitors to hold less. (The sad secret is that with modern high-tech capacitor winding machines, it is extremely easy to get tight tolerance capacitors, which combined with a tradition of 20% tolerance for large film capacitors, makes for a subtle ripoff: capacitor manufacturers can make all their film capacitor consistently low in value, but still well within the 20% tolerance. For example, let's say that the capacitor winding machine intrinsically delivers 3% tolerance capacitors, so when 10µF capacitors are being made, the machine can be set to 8.5µF and all of the resulting caps will be within 20% of 10µF, saving the company 15% of the materials used. Villains.) In other words, be sure to measure the capacitors and expect to tweak the values to get the deepest noise null.
Ultrapath Meta-View*
Is "metaview" a word found in dictionaries? If not, it will be soon enough. It refers to the "big-picture" viewpoint that comes from pulling back and taking a more transcending, more comprehensive view of the subject matter. So what is the metaview of Ultrapath circuit? Or more specifically, what is the metaview of the cascode-Ultrapath single-ended amplifier, as it is a purer example of coherent Ultrapath application? The big-picture viewpoint is that the amplifier shown below holds two frames of reference, ground and B+. Most power amplifiers, in contrast, hold only one, namely ground.
The input signal is ground referenced, as is the signal source. But once the signal become amplified by the input cascode stage, the signal effectively becomes B+ referenced (because of the cascode's negligible PSRR). The output stage is entirely B+ referenced, as the output tube's cathode, grid, and plate see all of the B+ noise and voltage drifts. This dual-reference arrangement can work quite well, as long as we strive to maintain the purity of the two reference territories. In other words, we must mentally block out the two reference domains and work to keep each isolated from the other. For example, if an input stage with much better PSRR were used or if the output tube's cathode were replaced by a zener diode, the overlap would be huge and amplifier's performance severely compromised.
Now, if a cathode resistor is good in the output stage but a zener is bad, is there a best component for this position? Ideally, a high-impedance device is needed, as it would couple least. A med-DCR choke or constant-current source would be close to ideal.
The choke takes the place of the cathode resistor and wonderfully isolates the B+ from the ground.
Note how the choke's DCR must equal that of the cathode resistor it replaces and note how well the choke breaks the AC connection to ground. The choke, however, does suffer from being large and heavy and expensive; and it, like all reactive devices, does exhibit a frequency-dependent impedance. For example, at 20Hz the choke's impedance is only 1/1000 its value at 20kHz. Then there is the issue of inter-winding capacitance and core non-linearity. All of which compels looking into using a constant-current source in place of the cathode resistor.
In the above schematic, we see a three-pin low-voltage regulator configured as a constant-current source. The smaller in value the resistor connected to the regulator output is, the greater the current flow. The zener diode should be selected to provide a safety net for the solid-state regulator. In other words, under normal operation, the zener never breaks into conduction; but should the output tube's cathode voltage try to climb above the regulator's differential voltage limit, the zener will save the day by clamping the cathode down to a safe voltage.
Before leaving this topic, I should mention that the choke-biased single-ended amplifier is an interesting rearrangement of a more-conventional single-ended amplifier. Chokes are often used in tube power amplifier power supplies as a filter element. In the choke-biased Ultrapath+ amplifier, the choke also functions as power supply filter. In other words, the choke does double duty, working as cathode resistor and as power supply choke.
Parafeed and Ultrapath
I know that many solder slingers will try anything; God bless them. However, applying the Ultrapath technique to a parafeed line stage amplifier or power amplifier can be a stunningly bad idea.
Note how the power-supply noise becomes amplified in the parafeed/Ultrapath amplifier shown above. And do not think that the following amplifier is much of an improvement.
Fixing the amplifier shown above will require disentangling the two implicit signal references, as shown below. (Yes, the output tube's cathode resistor can be replaced by another choke.)
First, I highly reccommend that you read Ultrapath Line Stage by Dmitry Nizhegorodov.
Second, no doubt many will shake their heads in disbelief at this blog entry. How could have JRB gotten it so wrong? First it was the SRPP, then the Circlotron, and now the Ultrapath. The Ultrapath is not about PSRR or anything so banal, they will counter; it is a mega ingenious solution to boring tube amplifier sound. And it requires greater metaphysical acumen than JRB posses to grasp its transcendent subtleties, such as drive and short power-supply loops… Well maybe, but the onus is on my opponents to provide some rational explanation of what is going on in a Ultrapath circuit. Surely, it cannot be ultra difficult.
// JRB
*Meta- is a prefix that denotes transcending, as in words like metalinguistics and metamathematics, and it gets its mojo from the word "metaphysics," which in Acient Greek means "after the physics." In the arrangement of Aristotle's works by scholars in the first century, "Metaphysics" was the given title of Aristotle's treatise on first principles only because it, in the pile, followed his work on physics. Had it, instead, proceeded his Physics in the stack, we would have had "prophysics" and "proview." Hmm.
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Harpolithobius oltenicus är en mångfotingart som beskrevs av Negrea 1962. Harpolithobius oltenicus ingår i släktet Harpolithobius och familjen stenkrypare.

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oltenicus

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We bred our ewes to Baw Blue (or Blue as he's commonly called) last year. Reese, our matriarch, "threw" Penny this past Spring.
Penny was born jet-black except for a little patch of white on her nose, crown, and very faint white "tears" (which I didn't even notice until it came time to note her markings).
As Penny's coat grew over the summer, she exhibited signs of black and brown in her wool. The color of churro wool will do that. It can change with age and bleach out with exposure to sunlight. Yet, when the shearer came last week??? What a lovely surprise! As her outer coat fell to the floor, her inner coat was a shimmering light gray-blue against her black legs and under-belly…matched with her distinct "tears" means she's BLUE. English Blue to be precise.
Blue is the genetic color designation (which does not change) and will be noted on her registry paperwork. Her wool color will change with age and will also be noted on the paperwork — which will accompany a fleece sample from her shearing at one year of age.
Blue – Born black but in first year develop silver/charcoal inner coat while outer remains brownish/black. May develop white on eyes and muzzle but keep dark points, legs, body and belly are dark. Hips, sides are greyed.
English Blue – Must have white tears, may have white in ears or on muzzle. This is a pattern on Black or Brown.
Texel Blue – Resembles Badgerface. There is a dark bar over each eye, dark top of nose, dark under jaw on light face.
Why is this so special? It's special because of the rarity of this particular color. The table shows, historically, less than one percent of the population of registered Churro possess this genetic color.
I'm so thrilled to have this color combination in our flock—and to know it's the matriarch's ewe-lamb that has it. I can't wait until Penny's of "breed-able" age to see how her very special traits are passed on!


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Sneak peek: South Point Grocery opening in downtown Memphis
By Joyce Peterson
Published: Jan. 13, 2022 at 10:21 PM CST
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Action News 5 got a sneak peek inside the new, downtown Memphis grocery store this week and learned the much-anticipated space should be ready to open in less than 60 days.
South Point Grocery is located at 136 Webster between South Main and 2nd Street. Castle Retail Group, the parent company of Cash Saver and High Point Grocery, is building the store. It will have high-end items, fresh produce, a deli, bakery, and butcher shop.
Supply chain issues have delayed the opening for months. One week, they were waiting on conveyor belts. This week, it's floor tiles.
Owner Rick James sees light at the end of the construction tunnel.
"We started that construction in May," he told Action News 5. "We should have been done in November. We should be open at this point. We will absolutely be, I'll give you a scoop, absolutely be open by March 1. I'll have it open one way or another."
Downtowners have waited a long time to get a grocery store. This one is modeled after High Point Grocery in High Point Terrace, which James bought in 2020. It was his company's first venture in a small-format food store and has proved very successful, something he hopes to repeat at the downtown location.
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Indigenous peoples in Chad
Two peoples are considered indigenous to Chad: the Mbororo sub-group of the Fulani people and the Toubou. The Mbororo Fulani live primarily from pastoralism and subsistence farming.
Indigenous World 2019: Chad
Written on 24 April 2019 . Posted in Chad
Chad is one of the six member states of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC). Its population is estimated at 14 million inhabitants living across an area covering 1,284,000 km2. The country is divided into three broad ecosystems: desert in the north, savannah in the centre and forest in the south.
Two peoples are considered indigenous to Chad: the Mbororo sub-group of the Fulani people and the Toubou. The Mbororo Fulani live primarily from pastoralism and subsistence farming. According to the 1993 census, they number some 250,000 clustered in the dry centre and tropical south where there is pasture for their livestock. It is estimated that they make up some 10% of the Chadian population. Many of the Fulani have emigrated to neighbouring Cameroon, the Central African Republic or Niger. They can be recognised by their way of life, culture, language, and by the discrimination they suffer. The Fulani are often poor, the majority of them are illiterate and they have no political representation at the national level.
The Toubous are considered one of the oldest groups currently living in the Sahara. Their origin remains a mystery and they have always been an enigma in the eyes of others. Warriors and pastoralists like many other Saharan peoples, these nomads are feared by their neighbours, and owe their reputation to their legendary capacity for adaptation and survival in the particularly arid environment of the Tibesti mountains. They rear camels and cattle and live largely in northern Chad, with the exception of small communities settled in Niger, Libya and Egypt.
Chad was absent on the day of the vote on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in the UN General Assembly.
Due to a lack of available information on the Toubou, this article will limit itself to the situation of the Mbororo.
General situation of the Mbororo Fulani people in Chad
The Fulani are a large group living throughout the whole Sudano-Sahelian belt, largely in West and Central Africa. They can be divided into several sub-groups, including the Mbororo, who now live in five countries: Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Central African Republic. In Chad, they are represented by several dozen communities, including the Wodaabé, Dya-dyaé, Bibbé Woila, Fukarabé etc., and are also commonly known as "Fulbé Laddé". When nomadic, their communities practise cross-border transhumance, following the rhythm of the seasons in search of water and pasture for their cattle. Primarily pastoralists, some communities are 100% nomadic while others are semi-nomadic, practicing subsistence farming. These latter are generally nomads who have lost their cattle due to land grabbing, the closure of transhumance corridors and climate change.
Increasing but still insufficient recognition
The Mbororo people are not officially recognised by the Chadian government in law. Despite the lack of official recognition, the UNDRIP ensures recognition through self-identification: a people must recognise itself as indigenous and meet all the criteria as specified in the Report of the African Commission's Working Group of Experts on Indigenous Populations/Communities.1
An International Forum on Indigenous Peoples of Central Africa (FIPAC)2 was held in Impfondo in the Republic of Congo in 2014. President Idriss Deby Itno of Chad opened the Forum alongside President Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo, and Boni Yayi, then Head of State of Benin. This conference also resulted in a further conference of Central African ministers, which culminated in the creation of an indigenous peoples' structure in the sub-region. Although recognition of indigenous peoples remains a challenge in Chad, the cause is becoming increasingly understood and recognised. At the same time, the conditions and way of life of these peoples are being increasingly threatened by environmental phenomena and climate change. This makes them more vulnerable and their most fundamental rights are not yet recognised and/or applied.
Land issues
Given the absence of any legal clarifications on land, there are still many ongoing problems in this regard. Nomadic land issues are regulated by Law 004 of 1959 (enacted during colonisation), which governs "pastoral lands". This was updated by a Pastoral Code in 2014,3 some parts of which were adopted or rejected by parliament and the government. The lack of legal clarity disadvantages not only Chad's Fulani but its nomadic communities as a whole.
The closure of transhumance corridors, privatisation of water sources and land grabbing remain a major obstacle, preventing indigenous peoples' access to land and natural resources.
A planned decision by the Ministry of Livestock in 2012 on whether or not to re-open 60,000 km of transhumance corridors would have returned the indigenous peoples' right to land and prevented conflicts between farmers and cattle herders. However, after six years, at the end of 2018, it remains at the draft stage.
The administrative division of Chad means that nomadic indigenous peoples are reliant on decisions from several different administrative districts which do not communicate. When moving from one area to another, they often have to pay the same taxes several times. In addition, this division acts to marginalise indigenous peoples, preventing their access to political processes. In 2018, very few Fulani were able to participate in decision-making circles and even fewer could access the arenas in which the implementation of these decisions are planned.
Consequences of climate change on the living conditions of Chad's Fulani
Climate change and continued desertification exacerbated land and natural resource difficulties throughout the Sahel in 2018. Workshops with indigenous communities raised numerous land-related problems, often highlighting abuses by the local authorities which include: payment of illegal taxes and fines; improper sale of land; and abnormal increases in farmland titles across the country.4 These sales and re-allocations of land contribute to the destruction of Chad's indigenous peoples' way of life and culture. They reduce and, at worst, completely close off the transhumance corridors. Although nomadic and semi-nomadic indigenous groups in 2018 helped maintain the Sahel's fragile natural ecosystems, the closure of transhumance corridors and conflicts over land, as well as changes in their way of life (including government attempts to settle them) are increasing the environment's vulnerability and reducing its resilience to climate change. This has been demonstrated in several studies, including efforts by the UN Environment Program (UNEP) to highlight sustainable pastoralism.5
In 2010, the indigenous organisation Women's Association of Indigenous Fulani in Chad (AFPAT) participated in a study organised by the Ministry of Education and Livestock Rearing on the education of isolated and remote nomadic children. This resulted in the creation of a Department for Nomadic Children's Education (DNCE) in 2012. Despite the implied progress, however, the real impact for indigenous communities is minimal. The rare schools that do exist, and serve these indigenous groups, often have charitable origins, independent of the government. AFPAT has run workshops with these communities, and reports that a lack of resources devoted to the DNCE has resulted in a failure to achieve satisfactory results. Average school registration rates among nomadic children remained very low in 2018, at less than 1% for boys and virtually zero for girls.
In 2014, AFPAT participated in a study on nomadic health which resulted in the creation of a Health Programme for Nomadic Peoples, another step in the right direction. Four years on, however, there are no health centres along any of the transhumance corridors nor in many indigenous villages. These groups remain unable to benefit from primary healthcare. Women, children and the elderly suffer the highest rates of mortality among certain sectors of the population due to childbirth and numerous preventable diseases. The lack of facilities means that they are forced to travel long distances to reach health centres and, once there, they face discrimination, for instance being referred to as dirty, poor people.
Civil registry
In 2018, entire nomadic communities lack birth certificates. Often there are just a handful of men with identity cards in any settlement or village, largely because they are required to travel for the cattle trade. Despite a lack of documentation, most community members have voting cards, meaning that the state sets more store on distributing polling cards for electoral purposes than on providing identity cards. Without an identity card it is impossible to access most government services, including schools and medical centres.
Access to drinking water is improving for semi-nomads as they themselves are paying for new pumps or water towers. The religious departments of Arab countries that build mosques in the country also provide water points. The nomads, however, to this very day drink the same water as their cattle, be it from a river, pond or lake. This basic right to clean water thus remains a great challenge and a source of conflict, particularly around Lake Chad.
Lack of progress in adopting a Pastoral Code
Worthy of note is Law No 4 of 31 October 1959 "On regulating nomadism over the territory of the Republic of Chad".6 Since its enactment, this law has been invoked by indigenous peoples to obtain respect for their traditional areas of transhumance. Social harmony thus up until recently was maintained between the indigenous and the majority non-indigenous population. Poverty and the impacts of climate change have broken this understanding. The heads of non-indigenous communities are selling land to generals, ministers and others with more resources.
Given that the draft Pastoral Code regularising transhumance and other rural activities was largely rejected by the government, the 1959 law remains the only valid legal text.
In 1987, a new law, the Law on Protected Areas, placed restrictions on pastoral areas. These protected areas continued in 2018 to create problems and legal disputes between nomadic Fulani and sedentary farmers; security issues caused by forest guards who abuse the pastoralists; and problems of limited access to pasture because these areas are now closed.
Since the climate change conference COP21 in 2015, however, the Ministry of Environment and the Metrology Department have involved increasing numbers of indigenous people in their work in order to better understand their needs.
Indigenous women and climate change
Indigenous women are disproportionately vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. In traditional Mbororo society in Chad, women are responsible for most day-to-day tasks: preparing meals, fetching water and firewood, and the education and health of their children. Their activities further include the sale of milk and other livestock products.
According to different studies by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the main impacts of climate change on the Sahel are:
Lower rainfall, which is affecting pastoral communities by reducing their milk production, forcing them to change their transhumance routes and reducing the productivity of their farming activities;
Flash flooding, which can destroy crops and threaten herds;
Increased heatwaves, which threaten human and animal
AFPAT's work with the communities has noted the following consequences of climate change on the indigenous peoples of the Sahel:
Declining incomes linked to milk and agricultural production;
Shortage or disappearance of some plant varieties used for traditional medicine or animal pasturing;
Increasing conflicts with settled farmers over land and natural resources, linked to changing transhumance corridors due to climate change;
Conflicts over the use of water, linked to a depletion of
AFPAT has developed a project to face up to the consequences of climate change. It is supported by the French Embassy in Chad and the Swiss Cooperation and is enabling women from nomadic and semi-nomadic communities to obtain additional incomes with which to offset the decline in milk production related to the change in seasons.
Two communities have thus far benefited from a series of training workshops aimed at understanding the challenges of climate change and fundamental rights and they have also been provided with investment to establish women's income-generating cooperatives:
In the communities of Mayo Kebbi – Est, at Gournoida, the women have set up a cooperative to transform groundnuts, which are plentiful in the region, into paste and oil for
In the communities of the Centre – Chari Bagrimi, at Wouro Biridgi, a cooperative has been established to transform millet, thus enabling women not only to lighten their daily workload but also to obtain additional
See ACHPR, "Expert Report on Indigenous Communities," available at: http://bit.ly/2T55zSk
MEFDD, "FIPAC 3 Impfondo Capitale De La Promotion De L'economie Des Savior Faire Traditionnels Des Popu," available at: https://bit.ly/2VsRKK1
See the Pastoral Platform of Chad, available at: http://bit.ly/2N6dxEt
These issues were raised in the context of workshops run by AFPAT, who can provide reports if so required. Available at: afpat.net
See UNEP's article, "Putting sustainable pastoralism global agenda," available at: http://bit.ly/2N6wo2b
See Law No 4 of 31 October 1959, "On regulating nomadism over the territory of the Republic of Chad," available at: http://bit.ly/2T3q8yt
Hindou OUMAROU IBRAHIM is President of the Women's Association of Indigenous Fulani in Chad (AFPAT). Her organisation joined the African Indigenous Women's Organisation (AIWO) in 1999. She has regularly participated in meetings of indigenous women's organisations since 2001, ensuring that the voices of Chad's indigenous Fulani women are heard, particularly at the Beijing+10 Conference, at meetings of indigenous women on the Convention on Biodiversity (CDG) and at COP21 in Paris.
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By now you should realize that a strong real estate blog is critical for your business. It is a cost effective option to attract leads, build your client base, and convert those leads into bona-fide buyers and sellers.
A frequent and timely blog will help you to build your clientele organically and cut down your cost of advertising, too. The topics you blog about should relate to your local market, client interests and provide helpful, valuable information to the clients you wish to reach, so that they choose to read more. Some trial and analysis will help you to fine tune what topics work best in your local market. Once you identify what resonates in your market, create more content on that subject matter. Increasingly, video is becoming one of the most important content forms and many of the items below can also be used as topics for videos, as well.
1.What are the events scheduled in your community for the next month?
2. Attend an event and write a blog about it. Video and pictures will provide additional content that will help your blog post to be more likely to be shared on social media (don't forget to be posting your blog posts to your social media accounts).
3. Video an interview of an important person at the event.
4. Profile a business leader or politician and highlight what is special about your local community.
5. Has a celebrity recently purchased or sold a property in your area?
6. Create a luxury property list showing the most expensive homes in the area.
7. Create a least expensive or best value list of properties.
8. School news or reports: highlight any special achievements or recognition of schools or individuals in your area.
9. Are there any homes with unique features that you can spotlight; killer pools, fabulous views, or a secret passageway or a unique history, perhaps?
10. What are the different architecture styles in your area and what does each neighborhood lifestyle or demographic look like?
11. Are there historic sites in the area? If show, share a fun fact or two!
12. What is the local market trend? What personal insight can you provide in addition to the analysis and numbers?
13. Profile the top house sold in the past year.
14. Create an infographic for the quarter and annual statistics for your area.
15. How does your local market compare to the national market and to the nearest city?
16. What are the best restaurants? Visit your favorite and interview the owner.
17. Where can you get the best burger, steak or pizza?
18. Who has the best coffee shop and why?
19. Where are all the parks in your area and what amenities or events are held at each.
20. Which golf course is best in the area? Are there private clubs and public courses? Write about the advantages of each.
21. Where is the nightlife in your area and what is the local entertainment like?
22. What are the weekend get-away destinations for your area?
23. Are there other attractions, like amusement parks, nearby?
24. Common buyer questions and answers.
25. Common seller questions and answers.
26. Threats and opportunities for the area – is a new company relocating to the town, are taxes going up, are new roads being constructed?
27. Highlight the professionals in your network – do you have a mortgage broker who performs above and beyond or an inspector who identified a potential structural issue or a special title company who has solved a problem?
28. Have you worked with decorators or home re-modelers and had a great experience? Show the before and after pictures in a blog post about it.
29. What are the home remodeling trends in your area and which projects have the best ROI?
30. Are new communities being built in the area – what are the advantage and features of each?
31. What activities for kids are available for different types of interests – sports, music, scouting etc.
32. Pets – advice for moving with pets, best dog parks, groomers and vets.
33. Moving with children and adjusting to new area, friends, schools.
34. Moving checklist with local contact numbers.
35. How to improve your credit to qualify for a loan.
36. What are the steps required to qualify for a loan.
37. Testimonials from buyers and sellers.
38. What do you love about your local area?
39. What are other agents in the area talking about?
40. Things that can go wrong with a real estate deal.
41. Homeowners' insurance and other insurance required in your area.
42. Home automation and energy conservation.
43. Home appraisal process. What happens when the appraisal is low?
These are just a few ideas. Really, the possibilities are endless. The only limit is your imagination. Your blog should build trust and allow your personality to show through so that potential clients feel you are approachable. Also, your blog should capture the interest of your clients' long term not just while they are contemplating the purchase or sale of real estate. This will put you top-of-mind when it is time for repeat business.
For more information on blogging, other content marketing ideas, or tips on attracting strangers and converting them into leads and then into customers, visit Paveya's Real Estate Marketing blog.
This entry was posted in Blog, Blogging, Inbound Marketing, Internet Marketing, Real Estate Marketing. Bookmark the permalink.


We are on the move to the UN at 10:08am in the motorcade, still with no sighting of POTUS.
White House press office says we should not expect to receive any speech excerpts ahead of the presidents address.
White House and administration staffers we spotted outside of Trump Tower include: Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Lindsay Walters, Stephen Miller, Jared Kushner, Jordan Karem, Eli Miller (COS at Treasury), many of them holding black umbrellas from the nearby Palace Hotel.


text:
<?php

namespace common\models;

use Yii;

/**
 * This is the model class for table "account".
 *
 * @property integer $id
 * @property string $username
 * @property string $user_json
 * @property string $photo_profile
 * @property string $bio
 *
 * @property Tweet[] $tweets
 * @property UserEvAccount[] $userEvAccounts
 * @property User[] $users
 */
class Account extends \yii\db\ActiveRecord
{
    /**
     * @inheritdoc
     */
    public static function tableName()
    {
        return 'account';
    }

    /**
     * @inheritdoc
     */
    public function rules()
    {
        return [
            [['username'], 'required'],
            [['user_json'], 'string'],
            [['username'], 'string', 'max' => 45],
        ];
    }

    /**
     * @inheritdoc
     */
    public function attributeLabels()
    {
        return [
            'id' => 'ID',
            'username' => 'Username',
            'user_json' => 'User Json',
        ];
    }

    /**
     * @return \yii\db\ActiveQuery
     */
    public function getTweets()
    {
        return $this->hasMany(Tweet::className(), ['account_id1' => 'id']);
    }

    /**
     * @return \yii\db\ActiveQuery
     */
    public function getUserEvAccounts()
    {
        return $this->hasMany(UserEvAccount::className(), ['account_id' => 'id']);
    }

    /**
     * @return \yii\db\ActiveQuery
     */
    public function getUsers()
    {
        return $this->hasMany(User::className(), ['id' => 'user_id'])->viaTable('user_ev_account', ['account_id' => 'id']);
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Migration Alert: Great Lakes States Boasting Solid Goose Numbers
Jan. 5, 2020 – Mississippi Flyway – Indiana & Illinois
© Avery Outdoors
By Jay Anglin
WF360 Great Lakes Region Migration Editor
Jay Anglin is an avid hunter, fisherman, and guide from LaPorte, Indiana. A veteran writer, Anglin, holds a biology degree from Northern Michigan University. He will be providing migration updates from the Great Lakes Region throughout the 2019-2020 waterfowl season.
While several Great Lakes states' South Zones are still open for ducks, savvy waterfowlers may want to consider focusing on geese, as their numbers remain strong throughout the region. Goose seasons extend into January in Illinois and into the first weekend of February in Indiana and Ohio. Michigan also offers a late goose season in early February, while Wisconsin's final goose season closed this weekend.
"Canada goose numbers in the North Zone seem to be average or better despite fairly mild conditions, and hunters have found success in various areas," says Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Wetland Wildlife Program Manager Randy Smith. "Specklebellies seem to have moved back into parts of the Central Zone in good numbers recently and goose hunters appear to be targeting them successfully. Canada geese are concentrated in a few areas but relatively sparse in others as most migrant Canada geese remain north of the Central Zone."
Recent unseasonably warm weather in the central part of the country has prompted birds that were driven south earlier this season to migrate back north. In Indiana, good numbers of mallards as well as Canadas and white-fronted geese appeared virtually overnight in the North Zone as the warm weather arrived. Some light geese have pushed into Illinois and Indiana from the south as well.
Hoosier State hunters reported good-to-excellent success during the final week of the North Zone duck season and the adjacent Central Zone, with pockets of mallards and black ducks in some areas providing fast action.
The hot hunting came to a grinding halt in many areas last weekend, however, when south winds prevailed and temperatures broke the 60-degree mark, sending large concentrations of birds packing. Some Michigan hunters were able to capitalize on this good fortune during the late, two-day split season, as migrants pushed northward.
In Indiana's Southern Zone, hunters are reporting difficult conditions and very few birds. Weekly counts for key properties indicate unusually low bird numbers overall.
"Over the past few weeks, waterfowl counts at Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area (FWA) have been all over the board," says Indiana DNR property manager Travis Stoelting. "Early to mid-December yielded solid numbers of dabbling ducks on the property. However, the recent warm front followed by significant rains has caused birds to spread out considerably for the past two weeks. Despite this, hunter success has been good and hunter turnout has been high. Goose traffic continues to be very good on the property and in the surrounding area. Hunters visiting Goose Pond FWA can expect to see steady flights of greater white-fronted geese and snow geese daily, with small groups of Canada geese using the marsh as well."
The long-range forecast indicates temperatures well above freezing and the potential for more rain in the southern portions of Indiana and Illinois. As more birds work their way up the large river systems of both states, they will find ample food and water in the bottoms. In addition, marshes, ponds, and lakes will remain open.
"Illinois's South Central Zone hunters may pick up ducks from the south prior to the season closing on January 7," adds Smith. "Large concentrations of snow geese and specks have staged around some of the large reservoirs. South Zone hunters are about midway through their duck season (which closes January 26). With some decent duck numbers reported in a few locations, there is plenty of time for new arrivals prior to the end of the season."
Migration Alert: Good Conditions, Habitat Bode Well for South Texas Waterfowlers
Jalapeño Lime Jerky
The Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever
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Health insurance claims executive is responsible to review accuracy and validity of insurance claims.
Evaluating insurance policy to verify coverage for the health insurance.
Arranging and assessing health insurance claim forms.
Collecting related documents for fulfillment.
Managing and maintaining detail office records.
Performing research by making use of computer.
Performing duties of health, life and accident claims.
Establishing and maintaining good rapport with insurer and clients.
Providing claims in timely manner.
Managing and handling claims projects.
Performing as a liaison between insurance company and clients.
Dealing with clients in order to provide exceptional customer service.
Reviewing and ensuring updates of claim.
Health insurance claims executive have to gain followings job skills.
Proficient in MS-Office suite and Internet application.
Strong team player with practical thinking.
Capability to work in fast paced work environment.
Experienced in insurance related activities.
Excellent organization and management skills.
Ability to provide claim advice.
Capability to work under tight schedule in order to meet tight deadlines.
High standards of professional behavior.
Capable to maintain good rapport with clients.
Ability to manage various claim projects.
Able to provide detail information to clients.
It is very important to write resume objective carefully.
Looking for the job position of Health Insurance Claims Executive in customer service oriented work environment where I can make use of my public communication ability and management skills for the benefits for insurance company. I have sufficient computer knowledge which will help you to perform my duties.
I aim for a full time job position of a Health Insurance Claims Executive in an energetic insurance company where I can utilize my 6 years experience in insurance company budgeting and business administration support for the development of insurance company. I would like to mention that I have done bachelor's degree in finance from the university of XYZ as well as special certification in General Insurance.
Seeking for the responsible and challenging job position with well established insurance company where I can get further chance to make my career in field of insurance and finance. I have completed graduation in field of commerce which can be helpful for my job and performance.
To work with well known associate of insurance to develop my job skills and other abilities. A job that gives me opportunity to supports me to apply my business management skills and computer knowledge in order to develop profit level of insurance company.
I am searching for the chance to work with your reputed work environment that will demonstrate the way to continuing rapport with insurance company. I have many years of experience in field of insurance firm and daily activities of health insurance claims which should help me to put my effort for the improvement of your insurance company.


text:
Home/News/Opinion/Governor's Letter: Evaluating plans to develop Phuket Bay
Governor's Letter: Evaluating plans to develop Phuket Bay
Legacy Phuket GazetteMonday, June 27, 2016
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada has held his current position since September 30, 2015. He is a Phuket native with a master's degree in political and administrative science from the National Institute of Development Administration.
Here, he shares his perspective on plans for the 63-billion-baht Phuket Bay project – a 3,000 rai artificial island proposed as a host venue for international conferences.
Proposals to build an artificial island off Phuket have been on the table for almost 10 years. The plans for a Phuket Bay marina-style island were conceived as a venue for international meetings, but such an undertaking requires immense planning and is not as straight forward as it may seem.
Most importantly, we must thoroughly consider the kind of impact such a project would have on the local community.
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The Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, for example, was built at a cost of about 200 billion baht. It has a casino aimed at entertaining foreign visitors, but locals, especially children, are restricted from entering the area so that they are not exposed to these vices. This means that the area becomes an exclusively private zone.
Moreover, the province would have to provide water and electricity utilities for the project, which is not an option. Also, construction of such a large project would mean hundreds of heavy vehicles trucking in sand and cement to create the artificial island.
Interestingly, although Singapore is a tiny state, expansion was made possible by enlarging the island to cover a total of 700 square kilometers. Penang, as well, has managed to extend its land by about 1,000 rai.
As for deciding on the best way to develop Phuket Bay, that very much depends on how the private sector proposes to manage this project. However, the priority is to ensure that the demands of the local community are met, and that there is no damage to the environment.
If locals do agree to the project, I believe there will be private investors willing to participate, which would be essential, as the billion-baht price tag is simply too much for the public sector to foot.
Even the proposed Patong Tunnel, which would be just 3.5km long and cost about 10bn baht, is still a long way from becoming a reality, whereas Switzerland has just completed the 57km-long Gotthard Base Tunnel under the Alps. If they can do it, why can't we?
Ultimately, the project would bring many long-term benefits to Phuket. The area could also fit in with plans for Phuket to become a 'smart city'.
Forming public-private partnerships (PPPs) is the ideal way to bring such mega projects to fruition, which will allow us to better compete with other emerging countries and tourist destinations. If the Phuket Bay initiative had actually taken off ten years ago, we would be at a great advantage over our neighbors by now.
However, the priority is to ensure the satisfaction of the local community. Whether a go-ahead is given for any of the proposed mega projects depends on the voice of the Phuket people.
Nonetheless, Phuket cannot continue to rely on the island's natural beauty as a tourist attraction forever. We need to be able to offer man-made landmarks and attractions for tourists, otherwise we will end up being ineffective against global competition.
— Sukawin Tanthavanich
109-year-old grandma oldest person in Krabi
Smart Life: Foundations of the next technological age
Phuket Opinion: Samsung's new gilt trip
Ministry of Farang Affairs: Being an alien in Thailand
Ministry of Farang Affairs: Magic buffalo
Opinion: Medical Certificates – Who's Fooling Whom?
Banking on a Shinawatra revival – Pheu Thai kicks off their 2023 election campaign
What to do with Thailand's elephants?
Phuket Opinion: Fuelling the tyranny of greed
Ministry of Farang Affairs: Overenthusiasm at Songkran


text:
Nationalmuseum är en svensk statlig förvaltningsmyndighet, som sorterar under Kulturdepartementet.

Myndigheten omfattade fram till 1 juli 2017 de två museerna Nationalmuseum och Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde. Myndigheten har till uppgift att främja konsten, konstintresset och konstvetenskapen. Den ska särskilt levandegöra de äldre konstformerna och deras samband med den nutida konsten och samhällets utveckling samt verka för konstnärlig och kulturell förnyelse. Myndighetens ansvars- och samlingsområde omfattar äldre måleri, skulptur, teckning och grafik, företrädesvis från tiden före år 1900, samt porträtt och konsthantverk från äldre tid till nutid.

Se även
Nationalmuseum (institution)
Nationalmuseum (byggnad)
Waldemarsudde

Källor
Förordningen 2007:1175 med instruktion för Nationalmuseum med Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde

Externa länkar
Nationalmuseums webbplats

Centralmuseer i Sverige
Myndigheter under Kulturdepartementet
Myndigheter i Stockholm
Nationalmuseum