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Semi-Finals are upon us for the 2018/19 Women's Futsal Premier League season, with two Grand Final spots up for grabs for tonight's victors.
Next week, be sure to head to the AIS Training Halls at 6:30pm for the Grand Final or catch it LIVE thanks to BarTV Sports.
Canberra FC will be up against it in the first semi-final tonight as they take on competition heavyweights Boomerangs at the AIS. The three contests between the two sides have ended heavily in Boomerangs' favour with a 20-0 advantage across them, and fourth placed CFC finished the season with a big goal difference of -31. They fell 8-2 to NCU Navy in their final group game, hardly ideal preparation for the semi-final so they will need to be on the ball against a dangerous and damaging Boomerangs outfit with threats all across the court.
Outside the round eight forfeit by Wanderers, the ledger is split evenly between NCU and Wanderers this season. Navy have the momentum heading into this one courtesy of a big win over Canberra FC last week, but Wanderers grabbed a victory over tonight's opponents in the penultimate round. Wanderers were beaten well by Boomerangs last week despite a goal from Sarah Whitfield and a brace from Mikayla Van Deyk, while Bec Kiting and Alice Churchill both score hat-trick's in NCU's big victory.
NCU have strength across the court and will be hard to stop, but if Wanderers can contain them going forward then they will have the chance to make an impact down the other end and out themselves in a strong position for the win.
Stay tuned for the results of both matches, and the makeup of the Grand Final which you can watch live on Facebook and Youtube.


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text:
Sci Fi President Dave Howe Talks "Syfy" Rebranding, Responds to Criticism
Many viewers have been either skeptical or outwardly critical of Sci Fi Channel's recent announcement that it would rebrand itself as Syfy, with a new logo and tagline, beginning in July.
I had the opportunity to speak with Sci Fi President Dave Howe, who took the opportunity earlier this week to talk to journalists about the rationale behind the name change, what he hopes to accomplish under the new rebrand as Syfy, what the future holds for the channel, and an alternative rebrand name that they looked into.
Howe responded to the comments made by Syfy Portal's Michael Hinman, who sold the rights to the Syfy trademark last year to NBC Universal and rebranded his site as Airlock Alpha, stating that the company wasn't being totally honest about the origins of the Syfy name.
"I don't think [...] we're not acknowledging it," said Howe. "We've been actively working on this brand evolution for the last two years. And we've explored a lot of name options. And I think at the point at which there are any short list of names the first thing we do obviously is look at the URLs and look at whether any of the names are trademark protectable. I think once we looked at alternative names and we also looked at whether there was a way of taking ownership of our existing name through, you know, an addition of extra letters or changing the order of the letters I think once we settled on Syfy it became apparent to us that the Syfy Portal existed."
One thing that many skeptical viewers are wondering is why Sci Fi would opt to go with name change based around a spelling change (or misspelling, as some have pointed out), rather than a whole new identity, given how far Sci Fi has expanded on its original brand identity.
"I think the honest answer to that actually is that we didn't come up with a name that we liked any better than what we've gone with which was Syfy," explained Howe. "Naming is an incredibly incredibly tough exercise. I've been at SciFi for eight years, I've been in the TV business, a marketing head for about 20 years. And, trust me, the hardest and toughest thing to ever get to is a name that everybody likes; it's incredibly subjective. It's never going to solve all of life's problems for you. There will always be things that it does communicate, things that it doesn't communicate. But at the end of the day, people watch content, people watch shows. And they're not going to be drawn to something or alienated from something necessarily just because of the name. So, we didn't come up with a short listed name that we liked."
Still, said Howe, much of the impetus to secure the name came from URL availability. "We were able to secure syfy.com before we even entered into a conversation with Syfy Portal," he said. "So although that name was taken in relation to Syfy Portal, syfy.com was available and we secured that very early on this process."
Howe is the first to admit that there has been a "feeding frenzy" from the online community as a result of the rebrand announcement but is quick to point out that it's likely far less than if the channel announced an entirely new name rather than a mere spelling change.
"The feeding frenzy in the chat rooms and online, etc., would probably be considerably greater if we changed the name completely, if I'm honest," admitted Howe. "But naming is incredibly difficult. And if you look at [new] brands that launch [...] they have to have a name which is completely made up so it will be a word that you've never seen before. You see this particularly with drugs; you look at a name like Celebrex or Viagra or Cialis, any of these drugs you have to invent a word that doesn't exist and you have to do that because clearly it's incredibly critical for you to secure the URL. So any real word is going to be completely ruled out from the trademark perspective not just in the US but probably anywhere in the world and from a URL perspective. So straight away you're confined by having to invent a word."
"That's the first challenge and then once you've invented a bunch of words, what you have to look at is the pros and cons of that word," explained Howe. "So, the word may communicate something which you think is good but then it may communicate something which is kind of less good or is misleading or takes you in a direction that you don't want to go in or ultimately takes you back to where you were. And in lots of respects some of the short listed names that we came up with actually didn't really move us any further forward than where we are now with Syfy."
As for the new name and logo, Howe believes there's something beneficial to be gained from the mere presentation of this new name format.
"There's something about the letter form in particular [of the new logo] that we believe--and we've had this confirmed in our testing--makes the logo very accessible and relatable, the symmetry of it, the letter forms of the two Ys together with the S and F which are very rounded. We actually see that yes, there is a word; yes, you could argue it's a misspelled SciFi but actually it's a new word. It's a new word and actually it's a logo in itself. Part of the exercise that we went through is we wanted obviously to let go of the Saturn logo but actually to do that we needed to have a letter form which in and of itself from a design perspective was unique and brandable and trademark ownable."
Regarding the moniker itself, Howe said, "It's a word that no one's seen before. I think, you know, smart people who know sci-fi get it; people who don't just look at it and think actually it's kind of interesting, it's cool and contemporary" and he reiterated his earlier point that "a lot of people in the testing kind of said well if I was going to text sci-fi that's how I'd spell it.So it delivers quite a lot of things that we like and we think will be quite powerful in the future."
"Just actually to give you an example of a name that actually we did test--and I can tell you what this name is because this was a name that is not trademarkable and there's no way we would have got the URL or even been able to trademark it I think in any territory--the other name that we put into testing was Beyond," said Howe (funnily enough, referring to a rebranding name that I actually suggested when the news broke). "We tested SFC, which is the obvious contraction from SciFi Channel which has been knocking around for probably 10 years. And that's what a lot of other networks have done, TNN, TNT, CNN, TLC; all of those are contractions of longer names. We tested that. We tested where we are now. We tested Syfy and we tested Beyond. And what was interesting about Beyond is to the point I was making earlier, it solved some of the problems; it doesn't solve all of them. So Beyond did create a sense of, well, it's about the future, it's about something which is, you know, far and away beyond me and over my head. And maybe not something that I could relate to that, you know, connected with my life as it is now."
Responding to a question about whether the late science fiction writer Isaac Asimov would have approved of the name change, Howe said: "I honestly suspect not. [...] I suspect if we took [the writers of a article critical of the name change] through the rationale as to why we were changing they would probably get it because if you read that piece it kind of says that when [Sci Fi] launched it was launched as the Science Fiction Channel exclusively. And that it was primarily about space about technology and the future and essentially Star Trek. And I think that is something that we're in no shape or form want to get away from but I think what we want to do is move to a position where we can earn the broad sci-fi fantasy landscape and include in there fantasy and paranormal and supernatural and super hero and some speculative action and adventure. I think that's absolutely the object of this exercise so it's about how do we embrace the broader sci-fi fantasy landscape as opposed to how do we escape from our past? That isn't the object of this exercise."
Howe also pointed out to the broad range of programming offerings on Sci Fi at the moment.
"If you look at the range and diversity of our programming on air," said Howe, "we still have Star Trek on air, we have still have Battlestar Galactica and Stargate Atlantis, soon to become Stargate Universe. But alongside that there's Eureka, we're launching Warehouse 13, [we have] Chase, Estate of Panic, Who Wants to be a Superhero. We have a very broad range of content and the challenge that we have is if you talk to consumers who don't watch our channel the expectation and the anticipation around when they do surf up the dials to Sci Fi is that all they'll find there is Star Trek. And clearly that isn't something from a branding perspective and from a future perspective that enables us to do what we want to do which is becoming inclusive and bring more people in who we know will enjoy a broader range of shows and hopefully we can kind of cross sell and cross promote and cross convert to other shows once they come to us. But the challenge for us is if they don't think that space opera is for them then they're not going to come."
But don't think that Howe and the other executives at Sci Fi are unaware of the mostly negative reaction to the new name and rebrand.
"Yes, we are tracking it," said Howe of the online reaction. "And we're reading all of the message boards and Twitter and we've got people basically monitoring it all. I get like a summary of what people are saying. I'm not surprised at all by the comments that we're hearing. I mean I think the points I would make is that none of us particularly like change; none of us like the idea of a new name. I mean, a lot of new names out there were not particularly well received when they were announced. Nintendo Wii was not exactly great and Tivo and all the rest of those names."
"The thing that disturbs me most about some of the comments, but if I'm honest didn't really surprise me, is that this is not about abandoning our past, this is not about alienating our existing core viewers because frankly we are still the sci-fi fantasy channel and we'll continue to be so," continued Howe. "And this is absolutely about embracing our heritage and embracing our future and figuring out how we can bring even more people into the camp. And the thing that I think disturbs us most was people as we expected saying, well, this is just another opportunity to put more [ECW] on our air or this is another opportunity to do even more reality. That isn't true. [...] We picked up Caprica, we're bringing in Caprica and it'll launch in the New Year. We picked up Stargate Universe, the next exciting chapter of the longest running space opera I think in TV history. This isn't about retrenching, this is about absolutely embracing the totality of not just our core audience but actually a new audience in the future."
So what does Howe believe the channel will be able to accomplish via the rebranding with Syfy as the new name?
"I think what it does do and actually in all that testing we were sort of surprised and actually it confirmed what we wanted to do here [is that] this new name makes more sense of our existing range of programming," he explained. "It makes more sense if you put this brand on a Ghost Hunters or a Destination Truth or Eureka because it doesn't scream so loudly the science fiction genre it makes more sense for me [from] a program range perspective. So we were very excited to hear that. We do think it sort of gives us the best of both worlds. It keeps our heritage and it enables us to broaden and become more inclusive and create a sense that this is a unique brand name that you can expect a broader range of what we're calling imagination-based entertainment which is going to be everything from Caprica and Stargate Universe to Warehouse 13 to Eureka to the kind of broad fun human relatable aspect of the genre that we really want to embrace."
As for the future of the channel, whether it might be called Sci Fi or Syfy, Howe says that they want to reimagine the boundaries between linear television and new media.
"What we want to get to in the future and that's part of this rebrand is how do we become more platform-agnostic because to us the TV screen is clearly important but in this day and age a screen is a screen is a screen," explained Howe. "And I think certainly with convergence and with the fact that you can watch TV series on Xbox and Playstation and all the rest of it the notion of a TV show is somewhat anachronistic. I think we need to get to a point where we create things, stories and characters and intellectual property that can start on any platform and migrate to another."
One step towards that direction is the experiment that the network is undertaking next month with the launch of the two-hour pilot episode of Capricafor sale on DVD and digital download. (Editor's note: You can read my advance review of two-hour pilot here.)
"I think it to some extent is an experiment for us; we haven't done this before and I actually don't believe any other cable network has done this before," said Howe. "I think our audience in particular will get this. [...] We have a very techno-savvy pre-early adopter audience that is going to be streaming shows, that is going to be downloading shows, that really is locked into that kind of 24/7 on demand digital world. And it seemed like a valid experiment for us knowing that we're not going to actually launch the weekly series until the New Year because obviously we have to go into production and write the thirteen episode scripts and shoot it and post-produce it, etc. It seemed like an opportunity for us to get the DVD out there early and also get it up on iTunes so that people can kind of watch it, think about it, you know, pass it onto the friends, tell their family."
"There's the potential if we get this right for there to be nine months of early momentum leading up to the launch of the series in early next year," he continued. "And that's kind of a pre-marketing window for us. So it's a grand experiment but we're very optimistic that it'll do what we want it to do which is actually introduce a bigger and broader audience to Caprica when it launches."
Sci Fi's relaunch as Syfy will take place on July 7th.
Interviews Syfy
Labels: Interviews Syfy
That was a very long-winded explanation of a really lame branding decision. Yeah, okay, you're in a tight spot because you can't own the term "Sci Fi." That's understandable. But your site is the top result for a search of "sci fi" already and you already own the scifi.com URL. So why the need for something new?
But most egregiously, didn't you realize somewhere in your testing that the channel appeals to an intelligent demographic that would be insulted by this attempt to create a "new word?"
Basically, the PR damage caused here is far greater than the network gains by owning the SyFy brand. It's a simple equation that Hinman seems unwilling to accept.
I think people are being too harsh on the network. Who gives a flying eff what they're called?! They're obviously going to still mainly be programming the same type of things as they have been.
The only thing that bugs me is the logo, I think it could look better, but I'm sure they'll be changing it in a few years anyway.
@Anon1
Um, I think you mean Howe instead of Hinman.
I really don't like the name at all. Yes it's the same basic name but misspelling? Really? That seems stupid to me.
Why would an "intelligent demographic" be insulted by the creation of a "new word" for a television channel's name? If you ask me, the new Syfy name is actually pretty clever. It maintains a strong connection with the channel's sci fi origins, and yet creates a new word that is abstract enough to go beyond the limitations of that niche. I think it is at once respectful of its roots and its sci fi audience while also being open to future growth and expansion in creative new ways. By abstracting the term "sci fi" and creating "syfy", they have cleverly opened up their options without jettisoning their SciFi heritage. That seems pretty smart to me.
The real identity problem if there is one that keeps a better demographic away from the present Scifi Channel is the identify the channel has received with the crazy big snakes and other mindless "D" grade critter movies that so much air time is given to showing every weekend. Real Science Fiction shows have much less of their air times than the Ghost Hunters, Wrestling and etc. If the folks at NBCU want a better audience put more hours of Science Fiction shows and you will find a loyal audience return and grow for your GOOD programing. All the name changes in the world will not change the reputation the channel has for the poor programing chooses you have made to populate your air.
The TRUTH is if NBCU had actually went after every quality Science Fiction movie, series and documentary when they became available to cable and continued to do this year after year they would be the dominant provider for the genre and the channel would consistently be within the top five rated cable channels. There is about 35 million folks that admit they enjoy Science Fiction programs or about 10 percent of the population of the country. If The channel could get the loyalty of just 10 percent of these folks the ratings would be about double what it is now. No one is saying not to use ECW wrestling to draw the young men to the channel, nor is Ghost Hunters a problem for anyone if the quality Science Fiction shows were also being provided, but do not blame us for your programing failures, nor does press releases that claim the channel needs too change the name to disassociate the channel from antisocial GEEKS that live in a basement some where and watch Science Fiction while playing video games. IMO the technology that allows NBCU to exist would not be available if not for these science interested GEEKS of past generations and the future would be very dim if not for the present science interested GEEKS and those of tomorrow.
Mark Strachan said…
Now that the scifi.com name will be up for grabs, I suggest that a channel come along that is half discovery channel, and half actual sci-fi. It should take the sci-fi name.
You could take the content that the discovery channel plays four times a day on planetary and space science, and play it once a day, add shows like "Universe," and anything else about modern physics. Hell, even take some of the material from the research channel on Dish network.
Then you add your battlestar galacticas, and your farscapes, high quality sci-fi written by REAL sci-fi writers like Larry Niven or Orson Scott Card, and you have a SCIENCE/FICTION channel. Awesome! Thats what we really want.
Dump out the totally lame monster snake movies, and volcano reruns and boring "reality" shows. Kill embarrassingly bad lame ideas like "War of the Worlds 2." That stuff is stupid and insulting to everyone's intelligence--kind of like half the decisions at NBC Universal.
I don't know if you guys have noticed, but people are really crying out for developed ideas that are only possible in long running series. People want to be challenged. A decent amount of time for something to run and develop momentum, makes people care about what happens with it. Roll with that. 2 hour cheapo crap films with bad writing are the worst. Please stop wasting your money on them.
I think you could add in your UFOlogy material as well to the Sci-Fi channel, but don't let it get any more mystic than that, or you're back in the realm of total crap, again.
I think if you tried these ideas, you'd have a winner. Let SyFy play fake wrestling and ghost busters and snake movies and let it die. Who cares. Fuck em. Let darwinism rule, and stupid, ignorant, myopic network execs who sold their sole to misguided marketing theory deserve to lose in the game of life.
Can anyone say "New Coke"???
chiefincharge said…
Dave Howe and his cronies have officially proven their dinosaur status. SyFy? So clearly a bad idea that it bears practically no discussion. The brief trend of cute, misspelled texting is dead...maybe they missed the memo? News Flash? It was a trend, and now its over...you're way behind if you still think texting things like "kewl" or "latez" is clever or cool. Not that it wasn't cute two years ago. And no amount of wordy, television execu-speak drivel will convince me (or anyone else that doesn't have a stake in ladder-climbing at the SciFi channel or the network) that a blue sky is really red. Blue is Blue, Red is Red, and SciFi is SciFi. Open an aligned channel called SyFy if you must, and watch it launch, crash, and burn. SciFi is a more narrow focus and it is intended to be. I wanna watch Stargate and XFiles, not wrestling and wide-ranging teen dramas. Don't make the channel something it is not. Better to develop one narrow focus densely and well then try to become too many things to too many people. My friends and I are already planning a "goodbye to SciFi" channel party. We will watch XFiles or Battlestar Galactica one last time, then buy the series on DVD and relegate "SyFy" to the lower eschelons of channel surfing. Watching the SciFi channel slowly disintegrate over the past several years has been a slow, painful process, especially with the latest unrelated introductions. The upper executive layer at the channel have nearly diluted the brand to the point at which there will soon be no real focus at all. Keep your Caprica. I'm not about to expend energy watching a channel where Im actually embarrassed to see such a weak logo floating conspicuously at the bottom of my tv screen. Simply said, I lose all respect for the brand. That logo alone actually motivates me to change the channel. Even the choice of fonts is weak. Its constant presence speaks only of a loss in confidence. To me, it is a constant reminder that those in charge of the channel want to make poor decisions unrelated to its own viewership. And this is communicated by a poor attempt at corporate branding and increasingly weak programming. Speaking for my own core group, and we've discussed this at length, that despite the old adage that "there is never any bad publicity", we want the message forwarded that we dont want to watch unstimulated and mind-numbing programming produced for every audience. That's why we all started a loyal following to watch SciFi to begin with. NatGeo barely got away with its neutering of the National Geographic brand. SyFy? The only thing it brings to mind to me and my group of friends is the acquisition of a newly deflowered virgin's first STD. Additionally, for the record, the SciFi viewership doesn't just sit around in basements working on reclocking computer chips, (not that there's anything wrong with that, we all know technerds are, umm, the new Fabio)--we run profitable companies and are savvy and structured businesspeople. We all get that you have intellectual and legal hurdles. But as so often has been called to the attention of those who have travelled in your footsteps before, when the process of your mission...say, Selling begins to trod on the toes of the actual Sale itself, it's time to take a step back and reevaluate the goals of the impeding process. We appreciate you want to increase your base market in order to expand your advertising revenue. Really, we get that. This is 2009 and we all know how television ultimately works. But if you do it at the pleasured expense of the actual viewers themselves, and you meddle with their loyalties, the only new road you will be paving is a shortcut to shoot yourself in the foot. Now retire gracefully, Mr. Television Executive, from your perhaps too-long extended background in television, and leave the reigns of clever concept programming to the new generation. Just thought, from a real woman's point of view. And, here's a final tip: if you want to romance a woman's attention...don't let her know you are doing it.
Well they cancelled SGU. and they want a cooking show and wrestling.. not trying to change their fan base WTFE.. BYE CABLE Dave Howe was probably molested by an EWOK.
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Link Tank: TV Blog Coalition Roundup for March 6-8
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The new mediawiki supports external editors, this is about the same as the hack I posted a few days ago. The nice thing about it is, is that you can edit about any file or page that's uploaded or written.
The page edit part of the program very much like the program I created. The only problem is that it uses regexe instead of a more stable solution like WWW::Mechanize. The support for editing files is really good.
A more elaborate system would let you edit spreadsheets on the wiki (with an external program like Gnumeric). The problem with this is that not everyone can edit all types of files.
The editing of pages with external editors is a nice addition to mediawiki.


text:
Nynehead
Not to be confused with Minehead.
Location within Somerset
OS grid reference
ST135225
Somerset West and Taunton
Shire county
Post town
Avon and Somerset
Devon and Somerset
EU Parliament
List of places
50°59′43″N 3°14′02″W / 50.9953°N 3.2339°W / 50.9953; -3.2339Coordinates: 50°59′43″N 3°14′02″W / 50.9953°N 3.2339°W / 50.9953; -3.2339
Nynehead is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the River Tone, 7 miles (11 km) south-west of Taunton and 1.5 miles (2 km) north-west of Wellington, in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 415.[1]
2 Governance
3 Landmarks
4 Religious sites
5 Sandford family
The first documentary evidence comes from 737 when the manor was granted to the Bishop of Winchester. In 890 the land was granted to a Wulfhere Gidding.[2] The parish of Nynehead was part of the Taunton Deane Hundred.[3]
The remains of Nynehead boat lift
The village was the site of a boat lift on the Grand Western Canal,[4][5] and the remains of two aqueducts are still standing.[6][7]
Governance[edit]
The parish council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council's operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also the responsibility of the council.
The village falls within the non-metropolitan district of Somerset West and Taunton, which was established on 1 April 2019. It was previously in the district of Taunton Deane, which was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, and part of Wellington Rural District before that.[8] The district council is responsible for local planning and building control, local roads, council housing, environmental health, markets and fairs, refuse collection and recycling, cemeteries and crematoria, leisure services, parks, and tourism.
Somerset County Council is responsible for running the largest and most expensive local services such as education, social services, libraries, main roads, public transport, policing and fire services, trading standards, waste disposal and strategic planning.
It is also part of the Taunton Deane county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election, and part of the South West England constituency of the European Parliament which elects seven MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.
Nynehead Court dates from the late 14th century with major additions in 1675 and the 18th century.[9] The Nynehead Hollow is another prominent landmark in the village. It is believed that the "Hollow" was dug out by the Sandford family in the hope of making Nynehead Court quicker to get to from the servant houses which were situated in east Nynehead.
Religious sites[edit]
The church, dedicated to All Saints, is a small structure built of mostly of local red Permo-Triassic rock,[2] probably on the site of an earlier church, with a square tower containing five bells. The interior of the church contains some monuments to the Sandford family of Nynehead Court.[10]
Sandford family[edit]
The best known member of the Sandford family is probably the Reverend John Sandford, who was vicar of Nynehead from 1811 to 1834. From 1819 he was largely an absentee clergyman living in Italy, where he made a controversial marriage to Elizabeth Georgiana Morgan, who had been divorced in scandalous circumstances by her first husband, Valentine Lawless, 2nd Baron Cloncurry, after admitting to adultery with a neighbour. They had one daughter, Anna, Lady Methuen.[11]
^ a b "Statistics for Wards, LSOAs and Parishes — SUMMARY Profiles" (Excel). Somerset Intelligence. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
^ a b "Origins and Foundation of All Saints' Church, Nynehead". Nynehead parish website. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
^ "Somerset Hundreds". GENUKI. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
^ "The boat lift on the Grand Western at Nynehead". Nynehead parish website. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
^ "Remains of vertical lift on former Grand Western Canal". Images of England. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
^ "Aqueduct, formerly carrying Grand Western Canal over driveway to Nynehead Court". Images of England. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
^ "Aqueduct formerly carrying the Grand Western Canal over the River Tone, now disused". Images of England. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
^ "Wellington RD". A vision of Britain Through Time. University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
^ "Nynehead Court and wall adjoining on north side of forecourt". Images of England. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
^ "Notes on the history of Nynehead Court" (PDF). Nynehead parish website. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
^ Cokayne Complete Peerage Reprinted Gloucester in 6 Volumes 2000 Vol. 3 p. 330
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nynehead.
Nynehead parish website
Towns, villages and hamlets in the Taunton Deane borough of Somerset, England
Ashbrittle
Ash Priors
Bathealton
Bickenhall
Bishop's Hull
Bishops Lydeard
Bradford-on-Tone
Chipstable
Churchstanton
Combe Florey
Comeytrowe
Cotford St Luke
Cothelstone
Creech St Michael
Durston
Fitzhead
Halse
Hatch Beauchamp
Kingston St Mary
Langford Budville
Lydeard St Lawrence
North Curry
Norton Fitzwarren
Oake
Orchard Portman
Otterford
Pitminster
Ruishton
Sampford Arundel
Stawley
Stoke St Gregory
Stoke St Mary
Thornfalcon
Trull
Wellington Without
West Bagborough
West Buckland
West Hatch
West Monkton
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nynehead&oldid=906818415"
Villages in Taunton Deane
Civil parishes in Somerset
Grand Western Canal


text:
package fixtures.requiredoptional.models;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;

/**
 * The ClassOptionalWrapper model.
 */
public class ClassOptionalWrapper {
    /**
     * The value property.
     */
    @JsonProperty(value = "value")
    private Product value;

    /**
     * Get the value value.
     *
     * @return the value value
     */
    public Product value() {
        return this.value;
    }

    /**
     * Set the value value.
     *
     * @param value the value value to set
     * @return the ClassOptionalWrapper object itself.
     */
    public ClassOptionalWrapper withValue(Product value) {
        this.value = value;
        return this;
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Banking News Savings Protection To Be Reformed In The Wake Of US Banking Crisis 2225
Savings protection to be reformed in the wake of US banking crisis
16 September 2008 / by Rebecca Sargent
A number of reforms have been proposed for a nervous UK banking system following the collapse of US investment banking giant Lehman Brothers yesterday.
As shares in the leading UK banks fall in reaction to US banks going under or narrowly escaping disaster, the UK is in need of reassurance that deposits are safe, and according to the Treasury, more needs to be done in order to ensure such financial stability.
As the UK system stands, a Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is in place to protect depositors' money in savings accounts to the maximum amount of £35,000.
However, according to reports in the Financial Times today, shadow chancellor George Osborne is calling on the Government to increase this limit to £50,000 in order to protect more people.
But, according to a Treasury report released today 'Banking Reform', the most important things to consider, including the speed that compensation can be claimed in the event that a bank collapses.
Speaking of the report, which was originally drafted up after the Northern Rock crisis, Treasury Committee chairman, John McFall said: "There has been much focus on whether the appropriate compensation limit should be £35,000, £50,000 or £100,000. This is irrelevant if we do not possess a deposit protection scheme that actually works.
"It is far more important that banks be able to identify who their insured depositors are, and that the FSCS be able to process compensation claims quickly. The overarching priority for the FSCS must be to design a simple and confidence-boosting scheme, which does not rely on consumers having an unrealistic knowledge of banking licences, European directives and foreign compensation schemes."
Commenting on the report, head of banking at moneysupermarket.com Kevin Mountford, said: "From having little profile, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and the role it plays has gained greater prominence since the run on Northern Rock just over a year ago. Suddenly the average saver is taking notice."
Touching on the fact that the report is in favour of contributions to the scheme varying depending on the bank's position, Mr Mountford added: "This seems a dangerous route to go down – we saw earlier this year how ill-founded rumours almost brought HBOS to its knees. So tarring a bank with the 'risky' brush could destroy consumer confidence in it, rather than going some way to repairing it."
City experts are expected to welcome these measures, as the future of UK banks once again comes into question while shares fall.
Investment adviser at The Share Centre, Graham Spooner commented: "Investors holding UK banking shares have had a torrid time of late and there's still no sign of any immediate improvement. Those considering buying into weakness at present should probably remain on the sidelines until the picture is a little clearer."


John Clark talking about another kind of writing that's important to both authors and readers-the review. I started reviewing in 2003 when Beth and I became part of the Wolf Moon Journal family. Not long after, I was accepted as a reviewer for a Canadian website that has since closed. The books I reviewed for Wolf Moon were ones I had picked to read without any consideration as to whether I'd review them. They were by authors I really liked, or books whose plots intrigued me.
At first, reviewing was intimidating. After, all who was I to presume whether my opinions about a work of fiction might be of interest to others. What got me over that hump were the long and animated gatherings we had with other Wolf Moon contributors, usually at Clif and Laurie Graves' home. Conversations sparkled with energy and enthusiasm and I found myself sharing thoughts about books I was reading, or had recently finished. I realized that a good review was similar to one of those conversations. Once that light went on, reviewing became much more comfortable.
When I began reviewing for the Canadian site, the process was different. The site manager would collect a batch of requests submitted by authors, add a brief description of each and send the list to her cadre of reviewers. The longer you had been part of the process, the more likely you were to get what you wanted to review. My first book to review was sent all the way from Australia. It was painful to read and even more painful to write a review. The thing that sticks with me about it, were the suddenly shifting emotions and behavior of the protagonist. Three sentences (and in the same paragraph) after crooning his love for the heroine, he would be batshit crazy, hammering the desert or the side of the tent with his fists. In short, there was no continuity. I wasn't anywhere near having a comfort level with writing a review of something so bad, but sucked it up and did my best to balance the weaknesses by noting what I could that was positive.
That was an extremely helpful experience because many of the books I reviewed for that website were self-published, or from small presses. I became a much better reviewer, focusing on balancing strengths with what needed improvement as I went along. An unexpected benefit of reviewing numerous books was getting to know and become friends with authors. I was pleasantly surprised when I got to read and review Tim Hallinan's first Poke Rafferty book, A Nail Through The Heart. I ended up reviewing three in that series and we're Facebook friends now. Bonnie Rozanski was another author who became a friend, as was Holly Schindler. In fact, I'm a regular reviewer of Holly's new stuff and look forward to each one.
Being a public librarian was a natural foundation for a book reviewer as we were responsible for buying a lot of books. Knowing authors, genres and how to interpret other people's reviews came in handy in Boothbay Harbor and at the Hartland Public Library. In fact, an important offshoot of reviewing has been the ability to remember plots/ characters and then use that knowledge to steer patrons to books they wouldn't otherwise discover. There's no more satisfying feeling than having a patron come through the door, waving a book you suggested and asking for another that's as good.
The Central Maine Library District (CMLD) has had a great opportunity in place for years. Publishers send books for readers ranging in age from toddler through young adult. Librarians can select from them at no cost. In return, they review each one and return a print copy of said review to Cheryl Ramsay at the Maine State Library, who forwards them on to the publishers. The book goes into the library collection. I've been a reviewer for that program since I worked at the Maine State Library. Beth and both of our daughters have reviewed them and I taught two volunteers at the Hartland Public Library how to do so as well. Our combined efforts have added several hundred books to the collection over the years. In retirement, Beth and I continue to review and pass them on to the Hartland Public Library.
For a period of a year or more, the CMLD had its own website where several librarians posted reviews regularly. It became a place where other librarians went to get a sense of what was worth buying. In the course of reviewing there, I was alerted to the importance (for some Maine librarians) of noting levels of profanity, violence and sexual content in books as these were deal breakers in certain instances. Sadly, that site is no longer.
These days, I'm reviewing educational DVDs and audio books on CD for School Library Journal and young adult fiction for the Buried Under Books Website. However, I try to leave at least a brief review of any book I read on both Amazon.com and Goodreads, because authors appreciate the effort and people who share my taste in books often discover unknown treasures.
What are your thoughts on reviewing?
This entry was posted in John Clark, Uncategorized and tagged Bonnie Rozanski, book reviews, Buried Under Books, Hartland Public Library, Holly Schindler, John R. Clark, Maine State Library, School Library Journal, Tim Hallinan. Bookmark the permalink.
Keep up the good work, John. Writers need the kind of reviews you write to balance out the trolls.
You are a fabulous reviewer. I've developed a deep hatred of reviewers because they don't take your balanced approach. Tried it briefly myself, but I am too much of a prig. Glad you are helping people find the right books.
Thank you, Lea. If authors are going to keep me entertained and create new worlds for me, I should pay them back, methinks.
I know how good your reviews are and they often lead you to give me spot on recommendation for books I'd like to read.
I review almost everything I read.If I dislike a book strongly, I don't finish it, and don't review. I used to do reviews on request for a review group, but that was too stressful when I struggled to find the positives in some poorly written books. As an author, I know reviews matter. I put time and effort into reviews, but I now stick to books I read by choice. My reviews go on Goodreads and Booklikes, and if they belong on one of my blogs, I post them there. Indies Who Publish Everywhere is a blog dedicated to reviewing exactly what the name says, though it's limited to the genres I read. It's my way of thanking indie authors I enjoy who make their e-books easily available to those of us who don't read on Kindles. I also have a New Mexico Mystery Review feature on my main blog (htp://amberfoxxmysteries.com), and interview the authors when possible. It's been the most enjoyable project I've undertaken as a reviewer, and it's led to friendships with some of my fellow New Mexico mystery writers.
Wonderful. I'm sure authors appreciate you taking the time. Life is too short to read bad books.
Until I read your post, I'd never really thought about the reviewing process.
You give food for thought here!
Also, reminding folks to leave reviews on sites like Amazon and Goodreads is important as many fans neglect to do this and it does help writers immensely.


This NEW PROGRAM is for youth/adults who want to learn more about the fundamentals of volleyball. Develop your volleyball skills, and learn proper technique through participating in this program through GAMES. This is a great opportunity to sharpen your agility, strength, and conditioning.
You will be contacted by the YMCA before the session starts.


text:
The ICT Group (), also spelt IST Group, is an investment venture based in Russia.

The ICT ('Investments, Construction, Technologies') Group, founded by Alexander Nesis and his partners in the early 1990s, for years used to be one of the largest privately owned investment and industrial companies in Russia. It is headquartered in Moscow and in St. Petersburg. It invested in, developed and managed assets in wide range of industries, including the banking and financial industry, metals and mining, precious metal production, heavy engineering, logistics, construction and development.

The portfolio of assets under the Group's management included NOMOS-BANK, Khanty-Mansi Bank, Polymetal and United Wagon Company. From 2010 till 2013 the Group also held large equity stakes in the potash producer Uralkali and Baltic Leasing. The group's assets are located primarily in Russia, but it also had interests in Kazakhstan. In 2013 following the restructuring of assets a new private investment company  ICT Holding Ltd (Cyprus) was founded.

Key shareholder of the ICT Holding Ltd is  Alexander Nesis.

Overview
ICT was founded as group of private investors by Alexander Nesis and five other colleagues. Nesis is president and major shareholder of the group.

Finance
The group established NOMOS-BANK in 1993, a 49.99% stake was sold to PPF Group and the Slovakian J&T in 2007/8. Khanty–Mansi Bank, an investment bank operating in the Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Area came under the groups control in 2009. In 2011 ICT Group completed an IPO at MICEX and LSE having offered 22% in NOMOS BANK's share capital In 2013 a controlling stake of NOMOS BANK Group was sold to Otkritie Financial Corporation.

The company acquired a stake in road vehicle and industrial equipment leasing company Balting Leasing Company in 2010, and sold  it in 2012, a rail wagon leasing company "Rail1520" (ООО «Рейл1520») was formed in 2011 which received financial backing by Sberbank, a rail leasing joint venture with Mitsui was formed in 2012. Both companies were operating under the management of United Wagon Company.

Mining and extraction
Precious metal extraction company Polymetal was founded by the group in 1998, sold in 2005, and a controlling stake reacquired by ICT group together with Alexander Mamut and PPF Group in 2008. The ICT group increased its shareholding to 40% in 2009. In 2011 Polymetal completed IPO at LSE, as a result, free-float exceeded 50%. ICT Holding Ltd currently holds a 23,9% stake in Polymetal International Plc

In 2010 ICT group acquired a 13.2% stake in potash mining company Uralkali. In 2013 ICT Group sold its stake in  Uralkali to a strategic investor.

Engineering
In 2001 the group acquired an engineering plant specialising in rail vehicle component and tank track manufacture based in Tikhvin, Leningrad Oblast, Russia. The ICT owned Titran-Express Assembly Plant (Титран-Экспресс) was formed.

ICM (Инвестиции Строительство Менеджмент Investment Construction Management) was founded as a joint venture in 2006 with Israeli civil and manufacturing engineering company Baran Group (in which ICT also acquired a 22% stake, 2006) to provide engineering services to the group.

In 2008 the group began construction of a rail wagon manufacturing plant Tikhvin Railway Car Building Plant (Тихвинский вагоностроительный завод TVSZ), at its Tikhvin manufacturing site, the plant, representing an investment of over $1billion (36billion rubles),  became operational in 2012. TVSZ was managed by one of the assets of the ICT Group - United Wagon Company. In 2015 United Wagon Company has completed an IPO at Moscow Exchange, the free-float exceeded  12%. By 2019 ICT completely exited from the asset by selling stakes of shares to the financial and strategic investors.

Other
The company were also involved in real-estate development in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as at the former Transmash site in Tikhvin.

In 2011 The group became majority shareholder in Italian national wireless communication company ARIA S.p.A. which later merged with Tiscali S.p.A..

ICT Group also owned 22.35% stake of a private equity fund EMMA Delta, which acquired 33% stake of OPAP. In 2015 the stake held by ICT Group was sold to KKCG, another investor of EMMA Delta.

Former investments
ICT acquired shares in Alexander Nesis's former employer "Baltic shipyards" (Baltiyskiy Zavod) in 1999 (15%) and 2000 (raised to 50%+1). (Nesis was also director of the plant from 1993-7). ICT's stake in Baltic Shipyards was sold for ~$1billion by 2005.

In 2001 the group acquired a majority stake in the development company for the Tikhvin Ferroalloy Plant. The company was merged into vertically integrated ferroalloy producer Oriel Resources in 2006, and was sold to the Mechel Group in 2008 (re-sold to Yildirim Group in 2013).

References

External links

, company website

Privately held companies of Russia
Private equity firms of Russia
Companies based in Moscow

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Meltemia are called the local winds that blow annually in the Greek seas and especially in the Aegean. In the southern Aegean and specifically in Santorini, the strong wind has NW direction and mainly occurs during the summer. The ancient Greeks called it "Etesio" which means Yearly.
The meltemia pleasantly cool our summer days and nights. The general weather conditions accompanying the annual winds are cloudless sky and rippled sea. The meltemia make the sky look deep blue and improve visibility. According to the phrase "If you can't beat them, join them", let's enjoy this beneficial summer breeze that reminds us we are on an island!


A power of attorney is a document granting an attorney-in-fact — who may be any competent adult, not necessarily a lawyer — the power to make certain decisions on behalf of the person giving that power (the principal). The attorney-in-fact acts as the principal's agent, and the document authorizes his or her actions over whatever activities the principal specifies. Most commonly, a power of attorney grants authority to manage the principal's financial dealings. The principal may remove the power by revoking it or by setting a time limit. Otherwise, the power ends when the principal dies or, in some cases, when the principal becomes incapacitated.
Example: Natalie must go out of town on business, but she is in the process of selling her house and expects she may receive a bid during her absence. She grants a power of attorney to her brother only for the purpose of reviewing bids and acting for her to accept the first one that meets Natalie's criteria. She puts a time limit on the power so it will end on the day she returns from her trip.
A problem with the general power of attorney is that the agent loses authority when the principal becomes incompetent, and this is often when the power is needed most. A durable power of attorney differs from other powers of attorney in that it remains effective even when the principal becomes mentally incapacitated. It can also be used to make decisions about a person's medical treatment. All fifty states have adopted the durable power of attorney by statute, but the statutory provisions vary. Since variations exist from state to state, it is imperative to examine the laws of your state.
Generally, a durable power of attorney either becomes or remains effective when the principal becomes incapacitated. A durable power of attorney for healthcare decisions grants the attorney-in-fact the power to make decisions about the principal's health care whenever he or she is unable to communicate on the subject. A durable power of attorney also can maintain the attorney-in-fact's power to manage all or some of the principal's financial relationships should the principal become incapacitated.
Choose wisely when naming your attorney-in-fact. Under your durable power of attorney document, your attorney-in-fact will have the authority to access and manage your bank accounts and other assets. Therefore, that person must be someone who is trustworthy and who is either qualified to handle financial matters or knowledgeable enough to hire a qualified individual to assist in financial matters.


text:
Category: National Governance
29th Sep 2019 Leave a comment
What is the best administrative structure for public transport?
31st Aug 2019 Leave a comment
In New Zealand, since 1989, public transport around the country is governed by regional councils, whilst territorial councils are responsible for funding road-based infrastructure for PT that uses roads, such as buses. Where rail is a form of PT, the local infrastructure, however, is generally under the ownership of the regional council, the rail line and corridor being owned by the Government. Unitary authorities work in a similar way to a territorial council that has taken over regional functions. Auckland is in a unique position of being a unitary authority with all of its transport and roading functions placed under the control of a CCO, a company owned by Auckland Council which it only has governance oversight of, not direct operational control. This essentially means the board of Auckland Transport is not elected directly by ratepayers and therefore not accountable to them.
There is no perfect system for administering public transport because the sticking point is the source of funding for local infrastructure. Ratepayers in local government areas are very reluctant to see their rates being spent on public transport infrastructure, or road space being prioritised for public transport ahead of cars. So in Christchurch, bus priority takes forever to implement, and bus shelters and interchanges tend to be scarce. Residents opposing the operation of a bus down their street is also an ongoing issue.
Rail has a relatively easy ride compared to road transport because the rail network is a central government asset, and they are not directly accountable to local ratepayers. The operation of trains has to be contracted out, but the regional council governs the service just as they do with bus services. The crucial difference is that local ratepayers cannot hobble the operation of the train services. Train services are also different in that local infrastructure such as stations is owned by the regional council rather than by a territorial council.
Public transport therefore works best when it is governed by a non-territorial authority. This is precisely the reason for the system we have now. The problem is that as a long as roads are under the control of a territorial council, which is guaranteed to kowtow to the owners of private motor vehicles, public transport will always remain second priority and second rate because the money will never be found from rates to fund the infrastructure that is needed to improve the services.
The solution for road based public transport is probably to keep the governance of the services themselves at regional council level as is the case now. The second step that is needed is for central Government to fund public transport infrastructure directly, through either the regional or territorial council, preferably the former. Therefore for example, giving the regional councils the powers necessary to designate and manage a public transport network and the necessary infrastructure, is probably the improvement necessary to ensure that road based PT systems operate much better than is possible now. This essentially would mean giving the regional councils the power to override local councils in the matter of bus routes and corridors, and the funding to build the supporting infrastructure themselves. At that point, the operation of a road-based public transport system is similar to that of a rail network.
There are those who argue that the answer is to give full governance control to the territorial authority. This will result in the services being subsumed to the all-dominant motor vehicle interests. In short it is not going to improve on the current system as funding will still be at the whim of ratepayers.
"Planning For Successful Cities": NPS on urban development out for consultation [1]: Background
22nd Aug 2019 Leave a comment
Earlier this week the Government (HUDA and MFE) released a discussion document on its proposed National Policy Statement on urban development. Consultation is now being undertaken in relation to the issues raised in the document, until 10 October 2019 at 5 pm.
The key issue raised in the DD is that significant problems exist in current urban planning and growth that are producing negative outcomes such as severe housing unaffordability, falling home ownership, increased hardship and homelessness, increased household debt, intergenerational inequality, congestion, poor transport choice and urban pollution. The Government therefore proposes its Urban Growth Agenda to provide the improvements needed to address issues such as these. It suggests some important issues that it aims to address are reducing car dependency, fixing the present broken system for funding and financing infrastructure, and ensuring central government works more closely with local government, the private sector and communities.
The following is a summary of the chapters in the DD and my responses to it. These responses will form the basis of my submission that I intend to produce for this proposal. Christchurch is one of the key growth areas identified in the government's press release and public transport forms a key part of the solutions needed in the city. At the same time there is existing and substantial concern that the last government's pro-developer agenda expressed through the combined impacts of the replacement District Plan and the Resource Management Act amendments pushed through in 2009 have gone too far in their impact on neighbourhoods.
As we already know, recent governments have attempted to fund ways to promote increased housing development in the major centres to increase the housing supply but this has produced quite a mixed bag of results with concerns particularly identified over National's policy shift promoted as "reducing red tape" that has given developers greatly increased rights to develop without considering the impact on the environment such as through increased vehicle traffic in existing streets, removing trees, lack of carparking on site, etc. There have been numerous higher density housing developments recently in Christchurch that have created these concerns, but a much bigger one currently occurring in Merivale is the expansion of a local shopping mall which is likely to end up in court because the impacts are far from being "less than minor".
The newspaper reporting on this NPS release has suggested this is "a government plan to sideline nimbys" and this could be a problem if it is an accurate statement. I am certainly hoping this proposal is a reasonably balanced one. Whilst it is undeniable that intensification of housing is always going to create challenges for some residents, the worst cases in Christchurch to date have resulted from the District Plan requirements being regularly flouted and concerns over streets becoming clogged with traffic and parked vehicles. Since the release refers to "high quality streets, neighbourhoods and communities" I certainly hope this is adequately addressed. Another issue that is important to be addressed is social housing development. Housing New Zealand is a key concern with their post-earthquake trend of pushing through many new complexes in parts of the City and changes in their tenant case management since the change of government, but CCC's SH developments are also capable of creating similar challenges.
This NPS is expected to replace National's NPS-UDC from 2016, by broadening its focus and adding significant new content. The key relevance for Christchurch is the existing Urban Development Strategy which has in turn resulted in some key initiatives taken by the preceding National government. The key ones which were relevant are:
Changes in the District Plan to produce increased intensification in various areas of the city.
Developing the Southern Motorway to enable faster road transport to/from Selwyn District.
Developing the Christchurch Northern Corridor motorway to speed up road transport to/from Waimakariri District.
These have all raised their own issues. Intensification has already been mentioned above. The key issues with the motorway developments have varying impacts. The Southern motorway project has been largely focused in recent years on bringing the existing SH76 through to join SH1 at Weedons, creating a bypass of the main urban areas of the south-west of Christchurch, so that freight and passenger vehicles can reach the city more quickly and conveniently from Selwyn District. SH76 joins onto Brougham Street, the main arterial route for freight to and from Port of Lyttelton. As this area has been intensively developed along these lines for decades, there has not been too much of an issue with the motorway expansion, which on SH76 itself has seen widening to four lanes completed just after the earthquakes, west of Barrington. However, the last National Government put forward an election campaign proposal to four lane SH1 from Rolleston to Ashburton which was dropped by the incoming Labour administration and has raised some local controversy. West of the city, SH1 which has run on that route for many years via Russley Road and Johns Road, was widened to four lanes and a bypass was built to go around Belfast at the northern end, the roundabout at the Memorial Avenue intersection was replaced by an overbridge and on/off ramps, the bridge with its large arches being a prominent landmark in the area. The Christchurch Northern Corridor, currently nearing completion has been the most controversial proposal. Although it runs mostly through greenfield land and the designations have been in place for decades, it will funnel a large volume of traffic into the existing roading network through Cranford Street and St Albans Residents Association has been highly active in campaigning against it and this is ongoing at the time of writing.
A key part of the counter proposals to address the impact of the CNC has been the proposals to develop a rail passenger service between the City and Rangiora and this has been well addressed by this blog and the campaign will continue. I will share some thoughts about the upcoming elections and the possible impacts in my next post. The NPS discussion will continue in part [2] of this series/
Protests needed against NZTA/Government buck passing on public transport funding
4th Aug 2019 4th Aug 2019 Leave a comment
The Labour government came to office promising improvements in public transport funding which have so far amounted to very little. All that seems to keep happening in this sector (or for that matter in many sectors) is the government announces another time wasting review. All they have to do is ask people in the sector what is needed instead of more reviews and delays.
In Canterbury we have a new regional land transport plan developed by Ecan in partnership with CCC, Selwyn District and Waimakariri District, but no means of implementing it without additional government funding. Consequently Ecan is limited to doing reviews to try and squeeze more efficiency out of the current level of funding, so there have been a few services cut and changed but no new ones introduced as proposed in the plan. A look around the country shows that things aren't different anywhere else except in Queenstown where the local council has stumped up additional funding for their improved bus service, or in Hamilton where a hugely expensive train service is being planned. In Wellington where they are trying to fix up the mess of the new services they introduced there, the governnment is refusing to help, but without repealing the PTOM or increasing funding there is a limit to what can be achieved there, too.
It is simply not credible for the government to have left public transport funding improvements in abeyance for so long with no relief in sight and it becomes necessary therefore to consider protest action from across a range of different organisations with the objective of getting the government to stop passing the buck, especially in Canterbury where we have a much lower level of government funding for public transport than in Auckland and Wellington.
Another time wasting Government review announced
25th Jul 2019 Leave a comment
We're still waiting for the repeal of National's cuts to public transport funding through the PTOM and farebox recovery target. Without those improvements there is no more money available to improve public transport in Canterbury.
We're also waiting for the repeal of legislation in the resource management area like National's Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Act 2009 which essentially made most consents non notified, thus removing the requirement for public consultation. In Christchurch this was followed up by a new District Plan which has been highly controversial for allowing housing developments such as intensification in certain areas of the city.
But the Government has only made limited changes so far to the Resource Management Act and has just announced a complete review of the legislation. Whilst this review takes place there is no change happening.
One is left with the impression that this government is overly focused on political correctness and its own web of red tape stymying just about everything. As you can see, when Nick Smith passed through that piece of legislation, it was the year after his government was elected. They didn't waste time getting their changes implemented.
Here we are faced with not only another time wasting review of the RMA, we also have the situation that a new Housing and Urban Development Authority is being established which itself will take time to set up. Another waste of resources. It seems the focus of Labour is to spend oodles of time and resources trying to reinvent everything under the sun. This is a complete waste of time and taxpayers money. Labour needs to get some perspective. They only get three years in office between elections. Whilst some policies have been implemented, everything slowed down a whole lot after the first 100 days in office. It has just seemed that was a publicity stunt. Labour may not actually be able to stay in office long enough to get anything completed.
We don't believe we will see any improvements to public transport funding and management before the 2020 election. This means the creaking inadequate public transport system in Christchurch (and in other centres) will not be able to be improved in a reasonable timeframe.


text:
EDDIE 'Cleanhead' VINSON
Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson's alto sax graced many great jazz, jump-Blues and R&B records, and his distinctive, playful singing voice got him some hit records as a front man in his own band. Equally at home taking solos in The Count Basie Orchestra or rocking the room with The Johnny Otis Revue, Cleanhead's shining dome reflected the spotlights on stages all over the world.
Born in Houston Texas in 1917, Eddie took up saxophone while he was still at school. He joined Chester Boone's band, where he played with the young T-Bone Walker, before switching to Milt Larkin's Orchestra alongside Arnett Cobb and Illinois Jaquet, in what was one of the leading touring bands of the 30s.
After touring in the backing groups of Big Bill Broonzy and Lil Green, Eddie had a brief spell in Jay McShann's band alongside another talented kid who also blew alto sax, called Charlie Parker. Eddie moved to New York in 1941 to join Cootie Williams' Orchestra and contributed sax solos and frenetic vocals to the band's hits 'Cherry Red' and 'Somebody's Got to Go'. By this time Eddie had suffered an accident with a lye-based hair straightening product which left him totally bald several decades before skull-shaving became fashionable among young men, and got him the performing name of 'Cleanhead'.
Eddie takes a vocal lead, then backs up the Lindy Hoppers in this great 1943 film;
Eddie formed his own band in 1945 and recorded some romping jump-blues, including a double-sided smash hit, 'Old Maid Boogie' and 'Kidney Stew Blues', which became Cleanhead's signature tune. He might have had more hits but material like 'Some Women Do' and 'Ever Ready Blues' were too raunchy to get radio airplay. By the early 50s, Cleanhead was playing more jazz, alongside the young John Coltrane on baritone sax, and he wrote two songs for Miles Davis, 'Tune Up' and 'Four'. He kept a foot in both camps by recording R&B for Mercury while cutting jazz for the Riverside label, and his album with Cannonball Adderley in 1961 is superb. Cleanhead toured with The Count Basie Orchestra from the mid 50s until the 70s, and his Blues-drenched sax solos fitted brilliantly into The Johnny Otis Revue too. He toured Europe several times with The Count and Johnny, and re-united with Jay McShann on piano, he cut the 'Wee Baby Blues' album in Paris, where he re-visited his work as a Blues Shouter.
Eddie shows great style in 'Alimony Blues';
Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson Discography
This excellent 1969 offering has Eddie playing and singing with T-Bone Walker and Jay McShann on the album that marked his comeback. What a great voice!
KIDNEY STEW IS FINE
Cleanhead was a big favourite in Europe and he played the Montreux Festival several times. A series of live albums at Sandy's Club in Beverly MA, a superb Blues album, 'I Want a Little Girl' with Art Hillery and Cal Green, and a storming set with The Roomful of Blues (including Ronnie Earl) showed that Cleanhead had lost none of his exuberance in his later years. He was undergoing chemotherapy treatment in 1988 when he died from a heart attack in LA.
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