Cost of Building a Quad How much does it cost to make a Quadcopter? Making Quadcopter's can become an addictive hobby very quickly. You can build it from various parts from scratch or build from reputable sites like I have, the costs can be from about $90 (56) the sky is the limit. I am here to help you build a Quad within your cost budget. Trying to balance all of the specifications between parts to make a stable and agile Quadcoptor , can be quite a arduous task. In this post I will be covering some of the costs for making a Quadcopter, and some of my experiences in my venture into building a Quadcopter, in the hope that this post might help you save some time and money. General Estimated Parts Cost for a kit. RTF ! Frame $10 -$300 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 6 ish -- -190 4 Motors $40 -$100 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -25 -- -- 63 4 ESCs $40-$100 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 25 -- -- -65 4 Props $5-$50 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3 -- -- -- 30 top price is for carbon props. 1 Flight Controller $15-$250 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 10 -- -- -150 1 Lipo Battery $10-$50 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 6 -- -- -- 30 + depending on if you choose to have more than one. Transmitter and Receiver $25-$450 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 80 -- -- -300 Miscellaneous Parts (Wire, connectors, etc) $20-$50 -- -- 15 -- -- -- 25 Battery Charger $5-$100 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -4 -- -- -- 65 * Keep in mind that these estimates include a transmitter, receiver, battery and battery charger. Many kits will not include all these items. Estimated cost for the complete system I made do not! include the Transmitter and Receiver. As you can see there is a massive range that you can spend on a Quadcopter (Not including the cost of FPV. That will be another post ). My Quadcoptor cost, so far $233 -- 150 (Excluding postage and import duty cost, The radio equipment I already own) Please keep in mind that there was a lot of work in building this, there is soldering and some other work involved! I can help you with this, it is not difficult. The frame is the main part of a Quadcopter, and there is a massive choice of materials, designs and layouts to pick from. You can even build your own very cheaply you can make the frame out of wood if you wish to keep cost down. Leave a Reply Disclamer Point to mention. This site is not!!!! a selling site! Please read the total disclaimer at the bottom of the main page. I want to help you guys. But if you do buy anything from my website, This will go into keeping this website live. New Posts This web site is not affiliated in any way with the manufacturer of the product or products featured on this web site. This site only provides marketing information for the products featured here.We acknowledge that products,company names and logos mentioned on this site are trademarks of their respective owners. FTC Affiliate Disclosure.Some links on this site may lead directly or indirectly to affiliate offers. The owner of this site may receive compensation if a purchase is made using a affiliate link from this site. The owner of this site does not make any guarantee concerning these offers and all offers should be viewed as recommendations only


Obama to announce that there was no war in Afghanistan In an advance copy of tonight's TV speech about Afghanistan, Tom has learned that Commander-In-Disbelief and Constitutional Lawyer extraordinaire Barack Obama will announce that there will be no need to withdraw troops from Afghanistan because in 10 years there has not been a war in Afghanistan. The clear-cut facts on the ground are that there has never been hostilities in Afghanistan. What we had was friendly banter or aggressive bullying between the Taliban and US troops. There are no "boots on the ground" as the Pentagon has retroactively renamed boots military walking/toner shoes. Moammar Gadhafi, military fashionista, has endorsed the Obama principle as consistent with the Libyan findings. Slick Willie Clinton said "Man. this guy is good" 3 Responses to Obama to announce that there was no war in Afghanistan And here, I thought it was an environmental campaign. Didn't we go to Afghanistan so we wouldn't tear up the California desert with our tanks and bombs? Besides, military vehicles are notorious fuel hogs, so better to have them near their sources of fuel, no? And military weaponry DOES have expiration dates, and need to be replaced, so where better to get rid of old explosives than a country that already LOOKS like it was bombed to the Stone Age before we arrived? Then there is the obvious option of wanting a base on the border of your TRUE enemy. Imagine how boring it would have been, had the SEALs been forced to fly into Pakistan from, say, Saudi Arabia? Keeps the commute short! Oh, my friend, if only I could take credit for such cunning. Blame WordPress -- if they'd keep their formats the same for more than 2 days in a row, I could settle on SOMETHING! Besides, this way, every time I comment, you get to see a dashing, handsome, debonair young gent! And the idiot in the hat is me, by the by.


Deliberation, single-peakedness, and the possibility of meaningful democracy: evidence from deliberative polls List, Christian and Luskin, Robert C. and Fishkin, James S. and McLean, Iain (2006) Deliberation, single-peakedness, and the possibility of meaningful democracy: evidence from deliberative polls. PSPE working papers, 01-2006. Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK. Abstract Majority cycling and related social choice paradoxes are often thought to threaten the meaningfulness of democracy. But deliberation can prevent majority cycles -- not by inducing unanimity, which is unrealistic, but by bringing preferences closer to single-peakedness. We present the first empirical test of this hypothesis, using data from Deliberative Polls. Comparing preferences before and after deliberation, we find increases in proximity to single-peakedness. The increases are greater for lower versus higher salience issues and for individuals who seem to have deliberated more versus less effectively. They are not merely a byproduct of increased substantive agreement (which in fact does not generally increase). Our results both refine and support the idea that deliberation, by increasing proximity to single-peakedness, provides an escape from the problem of majority cycling.


Any profitable Internet marketer will tell you that email marketing is the best way to make money online. Although not just any type of email marketing, but email marketing that is sending your offers to a targeted list of prospective customers. Now with regards to certain types of email marketing programs I am certain you will realize that safelists and credit based mailers simply don't work. If you really want to be successful you need your own list of individuals who want what you are selling. This is why we're going to be looking at the, "Email Your Way To Wealth Program". Each profitable Internet marketer will tell you that if you want to become successful online you need to develop your own list. This actually makes a lot of sense, mainly because when you have a list of people you can email your offers to, and these people are enthusiastic about the types of products your promoting they are more likely to purchase your product. And that is exactly what this system shows you how to do. The great thing concerning this system is that you will be able to learn how to construct and grow your list each day. You will understand where you should stop wasting your time and energy and where you should be putting all of your attention. Keeping your communications open together with your prospective customers is what you will find out about in the second step. Then you'll move on to step 3, which teaches you ways to get other folks to consider you an expert. As you move on to step 4 you will find out the best and easiest method to get new people to join up for your list constantly. How to correctly use affiliate programs for your list is what you are going to find out in step 5. You will even find out other ways you can make money and monetize your mailings in step 6. And additionally there are also 3 more steps they reveal to you only after you become a member of their program. There are a few additional bonuses that you'll receive for free if you choose to sign up for this program. The "Passive Income Through Email" is the 1st bonus you will get. "20 Million Dollar Subject Lines" is the subsequent bonus you will get and it teaches you how to compose subject lines that get opened. You will in addition get interviews from Website marketing geniuses, Eben Pagan, Yanik Silver and also Steven Pierce. This really is a whole email marketing system that virtually anybody can benefit from. Something else you may like about this system is that it only costs $37. Also the 100% money back guarantee should also allow you to feel a little better about this program. You can get a refund for a full SIXTY days after you purchase the system, which means that you have sufficient time to try the system and see if it's for you.


Americans Speaking Out in Favor of Mortgage Relief We've been talking about President Obama's proposal to cut through the red tape that is preventing many homeowners from refinancing their mortgages and saving hundreds of dollars each month. And we've been listening as people from around the country share their thoughts about why mortgage relief is such a big deal. Here's what one group of homeowners had to say: Leah from New York : My husband and I bought our house, our family first home, with our savings and with help from our family to make the down payment, on February 18th, 2008. By September 2008, we were underwater for nearly $25,000 at a 5.75% interest rate on a fixed 30 year mortgage. We paid our mortgage every month, we've never missed a payment, and our taxes are paid in full. Our income has gone down, our mortgage on a once $215,000 home has stayed the same and our credit card debt continues to grow. There must be a way out. Gene from Oregon : With so many people unemployed or in low paying jobs, and with this poor economic climate, it just makes good sense to let folks keep a little more money in their pockets through affordable refinancing plans instead of paying out every nickel in exorbitant monthly mortgage payments. A two or three hundred dollar monthly savings on such payments could make an incredible difference in boosting people's sense of self-worth, their self-confidence, confidence in the American way of life, as well as increasing the diversification of their spending. Barbara from Connecticut : We are among the many who work and pay their mortgage, we are involved members of our community. We are so close to walking away from our underwater situation. It will be a loss for us, the investors in our mortgage loan and our neighborhood. Multiply this throughout the country and it's a major contributing factor to a stalled economy in the U.S.A. Jody from Ohio : I bought a fixer-upper in 2008, one I could afford until I got laid off in 2011 and have not found my feet yet. I have to say I didn't have the best credit at the time so I did not get a great rate. I also fell down a few times trying to find my feet (no luck and a lot of bills). I still have my house and I'm up to date on the payments. But not on all of my bills. I cannot find a job, I'm older and everyone I know is saying the same thing. A few more dollars a month saved on my house payment would only help me pay all the other things I owe, on my way to learning how to live on a lot less.


Cancer News Bowel cancer screening test 'may be less accurate in summer' Wednesday 7 July 2010 A new study suggests that the test used in the Italian national bowel cancer screening programme may be less likely to spot cancerous changes in summer than it is in winter. The study looked at the 'immunochemical' faecal occult blood test (iFOBT). The test detects traces of blood in participants' stool samples, which may be a sign that an individual has bowel cancer or precancerous changes in their gut. In the UK the national bowel screening programmes use a different, older version of the test, called gFOBT (guaiac faecal occult blood test). Samples taken using gFOBT deteriorate less quickly than those taken using iFOBT. Scientists at the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute in Florence, Italy, analysed how ambient temperatures affected the performance of the iFOBT in the Italian national screening programme in Florence. They studied temperature variations during the time between sampling and the return of test samples to the lab - estimated to be around seven days - and the time spent in a refrigerator in the lab - about four days - for just under 200,000 iFOBT results. Analysis revealed that levels of haemoglobin - the protein that gives blood its red colour - were significantly lower in the summer months. This is thought to be because haemoglobin degrades more quickly at higher temperatures. The likelihood of a test being positive for signs of blood was 17 per cent lower in the summer than in the winter, dropping by 0.7 per cent for every one degree rise in temperature. The chances of the test picking up an established cancer or precancerous changes were estimated to be about 13 per cent lower in summer than in winter. Writing in the journal Gut, the study authors claimed that the findings could have implications for 'interval cancers' - tumours that develop between screenings. "During the summer, significant neoplasia [cancerous changes] will be missed, which will increase the number of interval cancers," they warned. "Our observations have important implications for the organisation of iFOBT-based screening programmes. [These] are greatest for those countries with wide seasonally related temperature variations." Sarah Woolnough, head of policy at Cancer Research UK, said: "While this study looks at the Italian bowel screening programme, the recommendations may help improve the accuracy of the current bowel cancer screening programme. "Earlier this year a new screening test called 'Flexi-scope' was shown to reduce the risk of developing bowel cancer by a third. We are calling on the government to add this to the current screening programme which could save thousands of lives a year." " Earlier this year a new screening test called 'Flexi-scope' was shown to reduce the risk of developing bowel cancer by a third. We are calling on the government to add this to the current screening programme which could save thousands of lives a year. " - Sarah Woolnough, Cancer Research UK Find out more Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666) and the Isle of Man (1103). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: Angel Building, 407 St John Street, London EC1V 4AD.


21 Dec 2010 Best Of The Best When she was a child, her parents would dress her up in branded clothing from the university where they had met. They would take her along to football games, on pilgrimages back to the campus that she began to think of as a holy land of sorts, littered as it was with beer cups and demonstration flyers, and filled with erudite people carrying large books and highlighters in colors they did not carry in the stationers back home. Here is the Kappa house , they would say, there is the student union . This is the lecture hall that had hosted the zoology course for which he would always need to borrow her mother's notes. Her mother had always taken excellent notes. At some point, her brother came along and another set of branded clothing was procured, and they became a family wandering the hallowed halls of lives long past. She was a child, and she did not understand how the world worked. But she had determined that whatever college was, it must be very important. And she thought that, when the time came, whatever college she chose, would have to be the best. So much depended on it. One day she heard about Harvard, and she announced to them her intention to go there because she had heard on good authority that it was the best of the best. Her mother told her how expensive it would be to attend a school like Harvard. Her father laughed. He told her that people did not just decide to go to Harvard -- it was difficult to go to Harvard. Everybody wanted to go to Harvard. He told her that for her whole life, everywhere she went, there would always be somebody better than she was, smarter than she was, and that if she only wanted the best of the best, she would only always be disappointed, and she would never get what she wanted. She thought long and hard about what her father had told her, not wanting to believe what he said, but feeling she had no choice. He was her father. As far as her experience had taught her, he was the smartest person in the world. She looked around for somebody to tell her that, in this case, her perception was right, and his perception was wrong. But that person was not there. In moments of uncertainty, she would continue to look for that person, in one form or another, for the rest of her life. She looked at the branded university clothing piled up in her closets, collected years before she understood the promise she was implicitly giving by agreeing to wear it on the annual trips to the university where her parents had met. She thought about what she could do, if she couldn't go to Harvard -- if she wasn't going to be good enough for Harvard, what could she do, she wondered? And she started ripping up all of the clothes she could find, shredding them into tiny pieces, vowing then and there, that if she did nothing else, she would never go to that school, even if it meant that she would end up being the worst of the worst. After they divorced, she found out that her parents had never even dated while at the university. As it turns out, they had only been distantly acquainted while in school; to her mother, her father had only been the kind of person you know well enough to lend your zoology notes to, and then when you meet again it is like you are meeting for the first time. They married after graduation. The campus trips had been constructions, but if there had been any castles built, it had been the little girl as the architect, for the two of them did have fond memories of college life that they wanted desperately to share with their children, even if history dictated that it could never be one in which they spent that college life together. As for the little girl, she never did go to Harvard. Instead, she went to the school across the bay from the school where her parents had (not) met. And though she never became the best of the best, she never could quite get herself to stop trying. The effort was long and frustrating, with many pitfalls. Along the way, she learned to parcel herself out in pieces, only giving parts of herself to people whom she felt deserved them, withholding herself from people when she could not bear to give any more. There were those times when she felt like she wanted to take things away from people, when she wanted to rip up the metaphorical sweatshirts and stuff them in people's faces. But even on those hard days she would try to remind herself that this was not the worst she had seen, not by far. Comments How I wish parents would not plant the seed of that thought in a child's head -- that the only thing to be is The Best. So many people I know with the same taped message playing in their brains, and I'd like to go in, tear that tape out of its cassette and put in a new one that says "You are the best YOU there ever was. No on else will ever be you but you." I like this post, and not just because I suspect that picture up there is from my alma mater. Seriously, I can completely identify with that "must be the best of the best" mentality, whether it comes from without (where it usually starts) or within (where it's even worse). I had my first existential gotta-be-the-best-no-wait-do-I crisis in grad school, and (if I'm being honest) relived it about ten years later, too. It can be hard to escape. For the five years after I graduated from (a different) college, I worked as a staff assistant in an academic department at Harvard (referred to with heavy sarcasm by a Boston Globe columnist as World's Greatest University). In my time there, the pink collar workers -- the secretaries and clerks -- unionized. One of my favorite pro-union button sayings was "You Can't Eat Prestige." Once you see what goes on behind the scenes at a place like that, you get better at separating myth from reality. "But that person was not there." And that knowledge can be ever so hard to bear. The entire body of my parenting philosophy rests on ONE conviction I have , that is, as long as I'm always there, with my kids, they'll grow up with confidence in their self worth. So far, I have been correct in that assumption. Unfortunately seeing a lot of collateral damage among my kid's classmates who have had "that person who was not there." And I had almost the exact opposite upbringing. My mom wanted me to stay with her on a goat farm in Alaska and NEVER leave. Which meant that I felt the need to flee to L.A. alomst the minute I was able. No worries about being "the best of the best," simple survival was enough. Though we have really different stories, I identify with this post so much. I had the same relationship to the idea of Harvard as a kid, though neither of my parents went to college. Possibly because of that, they also told me that I wasn't Harvard material and one of them gave me a brochure for the Army Reserves while the other took me to tour the local community college. While I never made it to Harvard, I did graduate at 16, leave their house, and start self-funded at a local but nice public university, and later went on to grad school (something else they were discourage-y about). Now they have complete amnesia about being unsupportive and suggesting I attend a dental hygienist program instead of university. Instead, they think they were with me all the way, and have actually said wondered why I didn't go to Harvard instead of the public university I'm now getting my PhD at. So I got both "it's too hard!" and "well, if you were going to graduate school, I don't see why it's not Harvard" as if it would have been easy. (And, it wasn't. I got rejected from every Ivy and accepted to every public. So, I guess I'm NOT Harvard material, but whatever). My name is Anna. I like to blog. ABDPBT is a creative effort at understanding my experience as a wife, mother, recovering academic, popular culture enthusiast, satirist, and unrepentant fake American. You can read more about me on my about page .


Don't lead us back to the dark age of strife Here we go again. Adopting the ugly language of class warfare, Labour's union paymasters seek to drag Britain back into the dark ages of industrial strife, proving they've learned nothing since they brought the country to its knees more than 30 years ago. Unveiling their boneheaded masterplan to get the economy moving, they propose... wait for it... another Winter of Discontent, with a campaign of  co-ordinated stoppages and civil disobedience over the coming months. 'If you spit on your own, you can't do anything,' declares militant RMT leader Bob Crow. 'But if you all spit together, you can drown the b*****ds.' Declaration: Outgoing TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said the unions' aim was to force the Coalition to abandon austerity Could there be any more disturbing insight into the unions' bullying mentality and the standard of debate at the TUC? Leave aside that nothing could be better guaranteed to destroy Britain's hopes of recovery than a winter of strikes, which would cause incalculable damage to ordinary union members' interests. What is so contemptible is that the threat comes at a time when employees of private firms have made huge sacrifices to keep the economy turning over. Indeed, it is thanks to them that unemployment remains well below the European average, and hasn't risen for months. Yet now the state sector unions -- whose members already enjoy superior pay, pensions and working conditions -- are prepared to sabotage other people's jobs (and, indeed, our children's schooling) in pursuit of selfish demands that no reasonable government could accede to. This is a fight by the haves against the have-nots. And it's a battle they know they cannot win --   although they can do a great deal of harm in trying. In his final speech to the Congress, outgoing General Secretary Brendan Barber said the unions' aim was to force the Coalition to abandon austerity and learn from the triumph of public spending on the Olympics (which, incidentally, Mr Crow's RMT threatened to disrupt). In other words, the TUC's leaders' economic policy is to carry on spending as if the deficit doesn't exist. How many of their members are really blinkered and irresponsible enough to follow them? Bumptious Boris Going wildly over the top, even by his own standards, Boris Johnson shamelessly upstages the Prime Minister at the Olympic victory parade, whipping the crowd into frenzies of enthusiasm and chants of: 'Boris! Boris!' The Mail joins the London Mayor in heartily applauding the tens of  thousands of volunteers, athletes and spectators who made the Games such a spectacular success. Share this article: Comments ( 46 ) >>>Private sector workers have faced zero percent payrises for five years now, they can't afford pension contributions, have to live off statutory sick pay when they're ill and get by on 21 days holiday per year not that they can afford holidays. Not that any of us would complain though. Because while our income shrinks and the cost of living goes up massively we all have a song in our hearts knowing that we're doing it all for the good of the country. Or at least for the good of the "wealth creators" who are reducing our standard of living while paying themselves bonuses and share dividends just like nothing has changed. Given the choice, I'm on the side of the people in the same situation as I am, just trying to get by. Best of luck to the unions I say. Teacher bashing again? Maybe this should become an Olympic sport, the DM does so well at it. - Saryne, Hereford, 11/09/2012 00:16 Do you really not get it? There's less money to around and we are ALL taking our fair share of the pain. That's the end of the matter. Your defiance will be defeated by the general public. There on no winners when industrial disbutes lead to strikes, Bob Crow will still pick up his pay packet a considerable one at that they should take a leaf out of Churchills saying jaw jaw not war war i live in a former mining village stikes shut down the entire mining industry Scargil is still in his job after the strikes all of our industries were shifted abroad we need these back and more investments industrial action will kill it dead. The Government should immediately announce a minimum 70 per cent turnout requIred for strike action. Additionally, anyone tasking action should be sacked on the spot and job filled by unemployed person. I have some sympathy with Public sector workers, I'm not one myself but my wife is and her pay is very low for what she does. However, the Unions need to explain what the alternative is because we can't carry on spending money we don't have. I don't like this Government's solutions either but the Labour/Union way is No way. Go on follow the unions just like the 70s they ruined more industries than anyone they ruined the mining industry, they ruined the car industry, they ruined the steel industry and many more so just how many jobs did they save for their members but the champagne communist leaders kept their jobs so tell me when you go on strike and they find out they can manage without you or you have put the country in a bigger financial crisis than Labour left and even bigger cuts are needed who will suffer the not the likes of Brendan Barber just the union members. We are not being led in to the dark ages by the Unions we were brought in by this austerity Government by the scuff of our necks the unions are going to amass the workers of this land into getting rid of these Tory ministers who have no idea and do not listen to any one this country although we area very wealthy country in turmoil by this bunch of rich boy's who will put the Conservative into yesterday beside the liberals and we certainly do not want New Labour, "So" DM get this country to elect UKIP as a new and truthful Government for Britain.


An angry Mark Cavendish bowed out as world race champion in style, despite a whack on the head by a fan wielding a clapping stick in a lively World Championship road race won by Belgium's Philippe Gilbert on Sunday. I was hit by some ----head with a full-on wooden sign and I've got a sore head from it. Cavendish, who won the world title 12 months ago in Copenhagen, who set the race alight with a premeditated decision to ride aggressively at the front of the peloton for most of the first three hours, including the first four climbs on the famous Valkenburg circuit. Shaking his head, in astonishment and some pain, Cavendish continued uninterrupted but on the next lap made a play to the cameras of looking for the spectator as he passed the same spot. Not surprisingly, the fan made himself scarce. On the next lap, having expended every last ounce of energy for the team, Cavendish dropped off the back of the race and received rapturous applause all the way up the Cauberg before he pulled over and headed for the team coach, his race and season done. Philippe Gilbert of Belgium breaks away from the pack. Photo: AFP "I was hit by some ----head with a full-on wooden sign and I've got a sore head from it," Cavendish said. "It was a proper whack. I was looking for him next time." Cavendish, who wore the No.1 jersey denoting last year's champion, was delighted with his abbreviated ride in support of other GB colleagues and confirmed it was always his intention to climb off just after halfway. Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome, both running out of steam at the end of a long season, did likewise a couple of laps later. "I went well but I was more tired after 140km today than I was when I won the championship over 250km last summer," Cavendish said. "It was nice going up the Cauberg at the end, the fans' reception meant a lot and it was the perfect way to end the year. It's been a good year as world champion with 15 wins but I don't think, for whatever reason, I have got the maximum out of myself." For the first time in three years, Australia failed to have a rider on the podium with Allan Davis finishing sixth, five seconds behind Gilbert, while Simon Gerrans finished in 21st place.


It has been a while hasn't it Well well.. it's been a some time since I hit the blog with an update. Being a lazy Saturday morning and I can't sleep in I thought I might give you an update. Katherine and I are well, we've been to Ireland and Krakow over the past couple of months. Both places are fantastic. Dublin is mighty expensive given the state of Sterling, but the west coast of Galway is just magnificent. Krakow is in another class. After going to Prague last year -- which was a really pretty city, I found Krakow to be similar yet have a more down-to-earth feel. After I got back to London I put a Facebook update wishing for the 'vibe' to be imported. Thinking back I still wish this was the case. Coming up this northern summer we are off Italy for a two week trip, through Roma, Napoli, Amalfi, Sicillia then back to London town. Before that though a weekend in Bath should be a nice getaway from the London life. In other news it's been hectic at work, which is a good thing. Keeping busy is all important. I find that I get bored if I'm not working. The problem I have is keeping focused on one thing. The all important list to write the to-do is my life line to staying on top of it all. Katherine is well as am I (touching wood). I'm in the gym and making great use of Hyde Park up the road. Trying to stay fit in a country that loves a drink to socialise. A mate of mine from Melbourne who has moved over is looking into a couple of hockey clubs that we could join. We played hockey together in Melbourne so we are both keen to get back into it this September. Anyway please keep in touch. I do enjoy hearing from you all. Love to all. Chris About Golds Originally from Perth, Australia I now live in Melbourne after spending 3 years in London. I'm interested in everything from AFL Football and also the world game (Soccer), Photography, to the regulatory environment surrounding Telecommunications.


Skyrim's Dragonborn DLC Will Sort Of Bring Players Back To Morrowind Thanks to last week's trailer, we already know that the next DLC for Bethesda's hit action/RPG will be pitting players against the first humanoid to wield dragon powers. And now we know where Dragonborn 's battles will be happening. New screenshots and details from the publisher reveal that your Dovahkiin will indeed be making a rumoured return to Morrowind , site of the third Elder Scrolls game. From Bethesda: journey off the coast of Morrowind, to the island of Solstheim. Encounter new towns, dungeons, and quests, as you traverse the ash wastes and glacial valleys of this new land. Become more powerful with shouts that bend the will of your enemies and even tame dragons. Your fate, and the fate of Solstheim, hangs in the balance as you face off against your deadliest adversary -- the first Dragonborn. So, in two weeks, you'll return to the shores of a Skyrim prdecessor. Hope they've spruced up the place since you've been away. uge fan of all Elder Scrolls games, now the fanboys would say Morrowind was the best.. but yeah i personally think that is a overstatement much like the people who say Halo was the best Halo game when in fact it was more likely Reach, people tend to get overly nostalgic about games Fuck I hate photoshoped marketing screenshots. These are from the xbox reveal, there is 0 fucking way that the textures look that good on xbox. Fuck they look better than custom modded high res textures on pc. Just for being lying fucks, I'm going to pirate it.


The Nature of Nature THE INNER WORLD Human "Faculties" SUNSHINE SPIRIT SUN SOUL "Earth-Moon" "Consciousness" MOON MIND EARTH HEART by PRF Brown, BCSLS (FreshWater) Mountain Man Graphics, Australia A Model of the Inner World of Living Beings The EcoSystem of the Soul ABSTRACT As the description of a journey may note certain landmarks, may relate the relative positions of mountains to the mountainous horizon and may introduce new concepts of life and customs to the traveller, so then too does this series of articles take the form of a journey through different conceptions of nature. In doing just this, if it supplies answers to some then well and good. And if it provides questions to others, then so be it. In any event, I have tried to make the account interesting and informative for all folk. For I have walked the mountains of the earth, I have surfed in the foothills and peaceful valleys of the seas, through the canyons of the city and the manifold suburbia of existence I drove a taxi cab for 17 years, and in the last decade have been the mechanic on the running board of the informational machine. I have studied the sciences of the west and the east, and I have learnt of love and of life. And I have learnt of the journey which every living being on the planet must sometime make ..... the journey to the stars. And I have a story for the telling ... Each man and each woman must walk their journey, and establish their path .... I have found that this is without question. If, in the publishing this wild and romantic account of the nature of nature, I assist another being in the discovery of the nature of nature, then this will be my greatest reward. I have chosen to approach this matter by way of an ancient and far-flung path. It is not an autobahn of informational conventioniality, neither is it one of the more elitist expositions of any of the contemporary educational disciplines of western science. While it may alude in places to the age old sciences of the east and, at times where the mountain ranges plunge to deep ravines, cross and re-cross the bridges between these to the western concepts of religion and science, the journey itself in the following articles will be established in the overall simplicity and beauty of nature. Both the east and the west have their secrets and their mysteries, but in following the path which leads through the nature of nature we visit the lands which lie east of the sun and west of the moon. And from this vantage point, we observe a unique aspect of nature, and one which both unifies the world of the individual, and the world of the global community of life. OUTSIDE: The sun and it's sunshine, the earth and the moon. These four entities weave a dominant background tapestry in which "Outer World" life on earth is established. This view is established from a cosmic perpective. In surfing, "outside" is the call given when a big set of waves is sighted rolling in amidst the smaller sets. One must heed the call of the outside, for it may impact upon your survival. The nature of the "Outer World" shared by terrestrial beings is observed from some unique vantage points on the journey. When it is dark, and their is no light on the trail, unless it is in the time of the larger moon and the need is pressing, one cannot travel without stumbling, and the time is used to rest from the rigours of the journey. And upon the earth we huddle around the fire beneath the stars, and we experience "a rest" while the system of life continues to breathe. INSIDE: The self and it's spirit, the heart and mind. These four entities weave a dominant background tapestry in which "Inner World" life is established. This view is established from a cosmic perpective. In surfing, "inside the break" is where you DONT want to be when a big set of waves is sighted rolling in amidst the smaller sets. It is therefore completely undertandable simply to paddle outside the break and feel the planet shake behind you as the set waves break. This is also entirely obvious to a non-surfer. However, the whole spirit of surfing is to catch that wave in which you are "INSIDE THE WAVE", where the walls of water tube and barrel overhead, and surfer is tested for his or her skills in survival. The nature of the "Inner World" shared by terrestrial beings is observed from some unique vantage points on the journey. When it is day, and there is light on the trail, unless it is in the time of the terrestrial storms and the need is not pressing, one must continue to pursue the path of the journey that is being made from the placement of the soul of your feet. Daily on the journey through the days of our lives, our instincts drive us to avoid the cosmic surf. The outer world demands us all to work with constant attention and the fullness of resources, and so we dont go surfing and so we go about our days. And if we need a break, we might visit the mountains, or the park, or just take a peak at the open sky above us. We might even visit the beach. An still, if we decide to gather a cosmic wave or two, we must first paddle out into it, and remain outside the break until such time we feel comfortable enough in the environment to actually "go for a wave". The inner world is rarely an important consideration in our daily journeys, yet all would agree it is fundamental to our welfare, our survival and to our greater journey through the nature of nature. It is also fundamental in our relationships with other people on other journeys, and this includes our ancestors and our children's children. I imagine that this article really takes the plunge at a few points. The journey through "The Nature of Nature" will make correlations between the cosmic outer world "system" described by the sun and it's sunshine, and the earth and the moon, and compare these to those inherent in the cosmic inner world "system" described by the self and it's spirit, and the heart and the mind. The observations drawn from this activity establish direction towards an awareness and an understanding of an inner nature which is shared with every living being on this planet we call earth. The key item that links all these entities is the nature of the outer world sunshine and the inner world spirit. What is undefinable or unprovable by the mind, is often times more easily understood by the heart. The two faculties share common ground, yet have different perspectives and different natures. On this journey through the nature of nature, we are guided on the path by one another - our selves. The mind is a fundamental guide, and so is the heart, but there is a fundamental principle of the journey to be understood by each soul. And this is the principle of the pioneer. It is the pioneering spirit which commands life. In the evolution of our footsteps, while we may be cognisant of the ideas and thoughts presented by our minds (or others to us), and of the emotions and feelings presented by our hearts (or others to us). the spirit of the pioneer demands no such contraints, and is free to explore the deeper trails within the nature of nature. There is pioneering spirit within us all, and its expression is as manifold as there are living beings on this planet we call earth - in reality a dual bodied part of the terrestrial earth/moon system, which orbits (on each of our birthdays) an ancient and cosmic central fire - the ecosystemic engine of nature.


There is something in trade I can't say that I've ever really understood this idea that we must all eat only the things that have been grown in our own region. "Region" of course is a variable thing. It seems to depend on how deep the green of the fool recommending it is. Something from "the nation" to "your back yard" is the spectrum. But as I say, I've never really understood the point. For we know what happens when food supplies are indeed restricted to just the region one is actually in. We've been there before, back before we had decent roads. And what used to happen is that when the local crops failed then everyone died of starvation: even if 30 miles away there was a bumper crop. Quite why anyone wants to recreate the bad parts of the Middle Ages I'm really not quite sure. . . Localists and proponents of yokelnomics -- the policies which would take us back to peasant economies of the distant past -- pose the greatest danger to food security. There are good points about buying local but not at the expense of free trade which is an essential part of addressing world hunger. Rate this: Share this: Like this: This entry was posted on Monday, November 12th, 2012 at 9:00 am and is filed under politics , trade . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response , or trackback from your own site. Post navigation 7 Responses to There is something in trade Tim Worstall says that he can't say that he's ever really understood this idea that we must all eat only the things that have been grown in our own region. He's right. He hasn't been able to understand it and nor it seems, Ele, have you. You extrapolate the concept out, as is your habit, to the extreme end, so that you can dismiss it as 'yokelnomics' and mock what you clearly don't 'get'. You do say though, that there are good points about buying local food, but spoil your moment of rationality by invoking the 'threat it poses' to free trade and food security, and through your reproduction of Worstall's extremist comments, the image of the Middle Ages, starvation and 'green fools'. I think you are being very silly here, Ele. It's not the buying of local food in itself that is a threat to trade. It's the regulation required to force it upon people that is where the real threat lies. How else would you make it happen when not everyone is of a green mind? No one I know is talking about 'forcing it on people', Tracey. Perhaps you and Ele and Mr Worstall are just jumping the gun, making a mountain out of a mole-hill, over-egging the pudding. I think you are. As for 'making it happen' -- I'm one for the 'show the way by your own behaviour' and 'promote the ideas in a way that makes them attractive' kind of guy. It's annoying to have to try to counter the kind of fear-mongery over green-proposals I find here, but I do it because someone has to Good on you Robert, but when you get sick of waiting for the sheep to follow, and if you have some power, what then? We've been growing our own food (about 60% by weight) for years. People are interested, and if you give food to them for free; very interested, but most want all the benefits of the supermarket model as well. Convenience and variety in particular. Change will be a long time coming. I don't believe it will happen to any great degree without innovation from industry, including the farming industry. Another point to keep in mind is that restricting trade to a "region" means you limit the size of the market and thus you are limited in you ability to take advantage of specialisation and the division of labour. As George Stigler put it "The Division of Labor is Limited by the Extent of the Market". In short you make yourself poorer than you would otherwise be.


Skype, social media and news relayed via journalists are good mediums. But there's nothing like being in a room with employers and agency owners from around the world to share opinions and ask questions about employment outside Australia. It's now Sunday night in Beijing and most of the 46 attendees and speakers are on a plane heading home. I'm staying an extra day before heading to Shanghai tomorrow to visit some of our recruitment partners there. This was a successful NPA Global Owners Meeting: 15 attendees from China, 12 from Australia, 9 from the US & Canada, 3 from Singapore, 2 from Indonesia, 2 from the Philippines, and 1 each from Korea, Taiwan and Ireland. Everyone contributed and left richer for the experience together. Asian members represent only 17% of NPA Worldwide but are responsible for 33% of successful cross-border recruitment projects. This outward perspective is important to China's desired transition from an industrial economy to knowledge economy. And it was highlighted in our meeting in a presentation by CAIEP -- the China Association for the International Exchange of Personnel. This speech, via a translator, was a rare window into the strategic thinking on China's labour costs, manufacturing efficiencies and balanced development across primary, secondary and tertiary industries. The need for high-level creative talent from foreigners was a point emphasised on more than one occasion. A Q&A session with Chinese HR Managers -- one from a marketing/event management agency and the other a very large complex manufacturing company -- reiterated the need for global thinking in recruiting key staff. As in-house recruitment professionals, these representatives discussed the balance between competition and cooperation with agency recruiters on junior and middle level recruitment projects. But they emphasised the need to partner with recruitment experts capable of accessing an international candidate pool for leadership and strategic staff requirements. The time together included a Country Presentation from ten of the attendees. From basic GDP, population and employment figures to the personal experiences of each in sourcing and screening candidates in a range of classifications, industries and cultures. Countries like China, Korea, Singapore, the US and Australia reported softer employment activity in some sectors and a cautious outlook. Other regions like Indonesia and the Philippines outlined a national sentiment of confidence and growth. I am an employer. My expertise includes thinking like a job seeker. Whichever way I look at it, I believe our exposure to these neighbouring Asian markets is important and I am grateful for this time I have spent with old friends and new this past few days.


Marginal note: Maximum amount ALTERNATIVE PAYMENTS Marginal note: Alternative payment 14. (1) Where the government of a province has, at least twelve months before the beginning of a loan year, notified the Minister in writing that a provincial student financial assistance plan will be in operation in that province in that loan year and that it does not wish, or no longer wishes, to participate in the plan established by this Act and the regulations, the Minister shall pay to the province, not later than six months after the end of that loan year and each following loan year in which it does not participate in the plan, an alternative amount for the loan year, calculated as provided in this section. Marginal note: Non-participating provinces (2) The government of a province that, on the coming into force of this section, is not participating in the student loan plan established by the Canada Student Loans Act is deemed to have notified the Minister as described in subsection (1) in respect of the loan year in which this section comes into force. Marginal note: Opting in, or opting back in (3) The government of a province that is not participating in the plan established by this Act and the regulations but later wishes to participate may do so by so notifying the Minister in writing at least six months, or such shorter period as the Minister may fix, before the beginning of the loan year in which it wishes to participate. Marginal note: Calculation of alternative amount (4) The alternative amount for a province for a loan year (in this subsection referred to as the "current loan year") is the amount, as determined by the Minister after consultation with the Chief Statistician of Canada, obtained by ( a ) multiplying (i) the net per capita costs for participating provinces for the loan year beginning on August 1, 1990, by (ii) the product obtained by multiplying the estimated number of persons in that province who, on the first day of the current loan year, have attained eighteen years of age and have not attained twenty-five years of age by the escalator determined under subsection (5), for each loan year in the period beginning on August 1, 1991 and ending on July 31 of the current loan year; and ( b ) subtracting from the product obtained under paragraph ( a ) the net costs for that province for the current loan year. Marginal note: Escalator (5) For the purposes of subparagraph (4)( a )(ii), ( a ) subject to paragraph ( b ), the escalator for a loan year is a fraction of which (i) the numerator is the net per capita costs for participating provinces for that loan year, and (ii) the denominator is the net per capita costs for participating provinces for the previous loan year; and ( b ) the escalator for the first loan year in which a provincial student financial assistance plan will be in operation in the province, as stated in the notice under subsection (1), is a fraction of which (i) the numerator is the net per capita costs for participating provinces for that first loan year, and (ii) the denominator is the net per capita costs for the previous loan year for provinces that are participating provinces in that first loan year. Marginal note: Definitions (6) In this section, "net costs" cot net  "net costs" , for a province for a loan year, means the amount determined by the formula (A + B) - (C + D) where A is the estimated aggregate of all amounts paid by the Minister in that loan year ( a ) to lenders, service providers or financial institutions under this Act, the regulations or an agreement entered into under section 5, 6.2 or 6.3, to lenders under the Canada Student Loans Act or the regulations made under that Act, and to collection agencies, in respect of student loans or guaranteed student loans made pursuant to certificates of eligibility issued or caused to be issued in any loan year by the appropriate authority for that province, and ( c ) any amounts paid pursuant to paragraph 5( e ) or pursuant to regulations made under paragraph 15(1)( o ) that provide for the repayment of student loans by borrowers on an income-contingent basis, and ( d ) any provincial share paid pursuant to an agreement or arrangement made under subparagraph 18( b )(ii), B is the estimated aggregate of ( a ) the amount of interest calculated in that loan year in respect of outstanding loans referred to in the description of A made under an agreement entered into under section 6.1, at the rate of interest fixed or determined in accordance with subsection 20(2), ( b ) the amount by which the outstanding principal in respect of all loans referred to in paragraph ( a ) has been reduced in that loan year in accordance with the regulations, ( c ) the amount of the outstanding principal and interest in respect of all loans referred to in paragraph ( a ) for which the borrower's obligations have terminated in that loan year as a result of the death or disability of the borrower, and ( d ) the amount of the outstanding principal and interest in respect of all loans referred to in paragraph ( a ) for which the Minister has commenced collection action in that loan year, minus the amount of the outstanding principal and interest in respect of loans referred to in that paragraph for which the Minister has ended collection action in that loan year due to the occurrence of an event set out in the regulations that resulted in the removal of restrictions to financial assistance, C is the estimated aggregate of all amounts received by or on behalf of Her Majesty in right of Canada in that loan year, including any amount received pursuant to the Financial Administration Act , in respect of loans referred to in the description of A, other than loans made under an agreement entered into under section 6.1, excluding ( a ) any amounts received pursuant to paragraph 5( e ) or pursuant to regulations made under paragraph 15(1)( o ) that provide for the repayment of student loans by borrowers on an income-contingent basis, and ( b ) any amounts received by or on behalf of Her Majesty in right of Canada in respect of a provincial share paid pursuant to an agreement or arrangement made under subparagraph 18( b )(ii), and D is the estimated aggregate of ( a ) the amount of interest received by or on behalf of Her Majesty in right of Canada in that loan year in respect of loans referred to in the description of A that were made under an agreement entered into under section 6.1, and ( b ) any amounts received in that loan year pursuant to collection action taken by the Minister in respect of loans referred to in paragraph ( a ). "net per capita costs" cot net par tte  "net per capita costs" , for participating provinces for a loan year, means a fraction of which ( a ) the numerator is the amount by which the total program net costs for that loan year exceed the aggregate of the net costs for that loan year for all provinces that are not participating provinces in that loan year, and ( b ) the denominator is the estimated number of persons in the participating provinces who, on the first day of the loan year, have attained eighteen years of age and have not attained twenty-five years of age; "total program net costs" cot net total du programme  "total program net costs" , for a loan year, means the amount determined by the formula (A + B) - (C + D) where A is the aggregate of all amounts paid by the Minister in that loan year ( a ) to lenders, service providers or financial institutions under this Act, the regulations or an agreement entered into under section 5, 6.2 or 6.3, to lenders under the Canada Student Loans Act or the regulations made under that Act, and to collection agencies, in respect of student loans or guaranteed student loans made pursuant to certificates of eligibility issued or caused to be issued in any loan year by the appropriate authorities for participating provinces, and ( c ) any amounts paid pursuant to paragraph 5( e ) or pursuant to regulations made under paragraph 15(1)( o ) that provide for the repayment of student loans by borrowers on an income-contingent basis, and ( d ) any provincial share paid pursuant to an agreement or arrangement made under subparagraph 18( b )(ii), B is the aggregate of ( a ) the estimated amount of interest calculated in that loan year in respect of outstanding loans referred to in the description of A made under an agreement entered into under section 6.1, at the rate of interest fixed or determined in accordance with subsection 20(2), ( b ) the amount by which the outstanding principal in respect of all loans referred to in paragraph ( a ) has been reduced in that loan year in accordance with the regulations, ( c ) the amount of the outstanding principal and interest in respect of all loans referred to in paragraph ( a ) for which the borrower's obligations have terminated in that loan year as a result of the death or disability of the borrower, and ( d ) the amount of the outstanding principal and interest in respect of all loans referred to in paragraph ( a ) for which the Minister has commenced collection action in that loan year, minus the amount of the outstanding principal and interest in respect of loans referred to in that paragraph for which the Minister has ended collection action in that loan year due to the occurrence of an event set out in the regulations that resulted in the removal of restrictions to financial assistance, C is the aggregate of all amounts received by or on behalf of Her Majesty in right of Canada in that loan year, including any amount received pursuant to the Financial Administration Act , in respect of loans referred to in the description of A, other than loans made under an agreement entered into under section 6.1, excluding ( a ) any amounts received pursuant to paragraph 5( e ) or pursuant to regulations made under paragraph 15(1)( o ) that provide for the repayment of student loans by borrowers on an income-contingent basis, and ( b ) any amounts received by or on behalf of Her Majesty in right of Canada in respect of a provincial share paid pursuant to an agreement or arrangement made under subparagraph 18( b )(ii), and D is the aggregate of ( a ) the amount of interest received by or on behalf of Her Majesty in right of Canada in that loan year in respect of loans referred to in the description of A that were made under an agreement entered into under section 6.1, and ( b ) any amounts received in that loan year pursuant to collection action taken by the Minister in respect of loans referred to in paragraph ( a ). Marginal note: Exception (7) The following amounts shall be included in the calculations described in the definitions "net costs" and "total program net costs" in subsection (6) only if the government of the province satisfies the Minister, by written notice received by the Minister before the beginning of the loan year in question, that, in relation to the matter in question, the provincial student financial assistance plan has substantially the same effect as the plan established by this Act and the regulations: ( a ) amounts that are determined as a result of the application of subparagraph 5( a )(viii) or section 7, 10 or 11; ( c ) in respect of loans made under an agreement entered into under section 6.1, amounts in relation to a termination of a borrower's obligations under section 10.1 or 11.1 or to a reduction in the outstanding principal resulting from the operation of regulations made under paragraph 15(1)( o ), other than regulations that provide for the repayment of student loans by borrowers on an income-contingent basis; and ( d ) amounts in relation to programs established by regulations made under section 11 of the Canada Student Loans Act . Marginal note: Negative amounts (8) If the amount determined by the formula "(A + B) - (C + D)" in subsection (6) would, but for this subsection, be a negative amount, it is deemed to be zero.


The man, whose name hasn't been released to the public, had been working at the Sleaford-based Waterloo Farm, picking up some casual work during the potato harvest. However, due to the rocky soil of the farm the potato crusher fitted to the farm's harvesting equipment became blocked with stones repeatedly, which resulted in farm workers having to signal the driver of the harvester stop the machine and deactivate it before reaching inside the crusher to clear the blockage. However, the incident that led to the personal injury at work occurred when the driver missed the worker's signal yet stopped for an unrelated reason. The worker, incorrectly believing that the driver had stopped and isolated the power to the crusher, reached inside, only to have three tendons in his right hand severed by the mechanism, resulting in the HSE investigating and then prosecuting the farmer for neglecting to set a safe work system up or undertaking a proper risk assesment -- resulting in a 20,000 fine for the farmer. Another food-related accident the following year also made it into magistrates' court recently as well, though this one didn't involve a mechanical mangling. Instead, one snack manufacturing company employee broke his leg when he was trapped under an avalanche of falling waste after a forklift truck to turn transport solidified production waste. Another unnamed man, who had been working for Walkers Snack Foods Ltd at the manufacturing firm's Lincoln plant, had been attempting to move the waste with the help of a colleague after it had been filled to the brim with production line waste run-off. The men had been moving the block of solidified waste with the forklift to place it into a bin, only to have the block come tumbling down because the fork lift became stuck at the top. The 400kg block crushed the man's leg, causing severe enough injury to require a 15 week recovery period where he was unable to work. The company, which had been found to have not undertaken safe planning, supervision, or execution of the work that caused the man's injury, was fined -- again for 20,000, much like the farm company. Accident Claims Blog Sitemap Personal Injury Online Limited is regulated by the Ministry of Justice in respect of regulated claims management activities. No. CRM25737. This registration is recorded on the Claims Regulation website.


That's because Seven was so short on money (the network were saving up for a likely bid for the 2007-11 AFL rights, which they got), they couldn't afford to send all of their commentators to Athens back in 2004, so they sent only Bruce McAvaney, Raelene Boyle, Phil Liggett to call the games from Athens, while the majority of their commentary team called the Olympics from a studio booth in Melbourne.It'll be interesting to see what will happen when Nine/Fox Sports takes over the Olympics TV rights from Seven in time for the 2012 Olympics from London. In fact Nine's likely Olympic team could be like this: Channel 7 is sending a lot more commentators and production team to Beijing that the rubbish they did in 2004 and had them calling from a studio in Melbourne. The fact that China is in our time zone and that most finals will be on in peak ratings time means they will do it. Also as of a couple of months ago 7 still had $2bil in the bank after selling off half their equity to KKR at the end of 2006.And supposedly their new studios wont be finished in time to co-ordinate such a big event. This was reported last October. Because of the Olympic coverage he will have to miss out on calling three rounds of AFL, however the talk around Seven seems to be heading in the direction of Dennis Cometti hosting the coverage on his own of those three rounds with the assistance of the special comments team. A few weeks ago it was announced Bruce will be doing the swimming with Duncan Armstrong and Daniel Kowalski , so like Athens, he will double up with swimming and athletics and call 79 of the 302 finals at the Olympics. Dennis called the swimming for 7 at the Atlanta and Sydney games and in between that he did the 98 World championships in Perth for 7. I wondered if 7 would handball their footy coverage over to Ch 10 for 3 weeks, but looks as if the will try to do both. The footy coverage will be interrupted during the Olympics if an Aussie is the chance to win a medal. Shouldn't happen on a Sunday arvo but a chance on a Friday night. These are the AFL games that will be on Seven while the Olympics is in progress: AUGUST 8: Melbourne v Geelong AUGUST 10: Adelaide v Richmond AUGUST 15: Port Adelaide v Collingwood AUGUST 17: Carlton v Kangaroos AUGUST 22: Western Bulldogs v Essendon AUGUST 24: St Kilda v Adelaide So it'll be interesting to see what Seven will do re AFL coverage. Will they decide to bring these matches I've highlighted from delay to live in case of a clash with their Olympics commitments? Also interesting to see that SEN (who hold the commercial radio rights) will stick with the footy ahead of the Olympics. What will happen if Jana Pittman is a gold medal chance at the athletics and is getting ready to run in the Olympic final, and at the same time Port and Collingwood are dead level at 3 qtr time? Would you stick with the footy, or cross over to Beijing? Most of the Olympics stuff is going to be held in the morning (the finals). The heats would held in the evening (almost in the afternoon here) so would lead into the news. The footy will be okay - and I think Dennis is not going because of his work on the footy with 3aw as well. Wrong, the only thing that has changed for TV is swimming. There are 302 finals. Close to half of the finals are at night time. Maybe Aussie sports fans aren't interested but apart from the road events all other track and field events are at night, as is track cycling, gymnastics, boxing, all the team sport finals, taekwondo, judo etc Some events will be early morning China time ie 7am to 10am so add 2 hours for EST, ie road athletics events, rowing, canoe/kayak events and the swimming finals will start at 10am Beijing time. I can't remember what Seven did last time, and of course the time difference was greater so there were less clashes. But I think footy kept priority in footy markets. Seven will be glad to show no footy in NSW and Qld; but what the contractual obligations? They might just put the footy on 7HD and Olympics on the main channel - that would cover any contract regarding "free to air", even if a large portion of the population don't have the equipment to access it. Seven also are the only commercial network that wanted multi-channelling and have 3 or 4 different versions of their main channel. It is possible this might be used during the Olympics to broadcast different events on each "view"; or to have one interrupted by AFL coverage to meet contracts. (That will only be an issue for Sundays, Friday nights can be safely shown after the Olympics have finished their night sessions; even at 3am if need be. or they could be like Nine were in NSW and Qld during Wimbledon or any other event and not show games at all.) In 1988 when the Olympics were in Korea and therefore in our time zone, ch 10 had the Olympics so there was no clash. But as the Olympics started in mid September they would have only clashed with the PF and GF if ch 7 had the rights. In 1992, ch 7 didn't cover all 7 games (ie 15 teams), so the night games were midday to early afternoon in Barcelona and a minor clash, and for the arvo games it was early am in Barcelona. Similar in 1996 at Atlanta. No clash for night games and some minor clashes for afternoon games. Also ch 7 still weren't covering all 8 games. In 2000, the footy season was finished, and in 2004 ch 7 didn't have the footy. But more important than Dennis not going has anyone heard definitely whether or not Roy and HG are going?? Might be hard to schedule, as in Oz they come on between 11 and 12 at night depending on when the coverage finished. But 11pm Beijing time when the sessions finish is 1am EST. Hopefully they get say, the 6.30pm to 7.30pm gigs when there might be a lull in the afternoon schedule. But more important than Dennis not going has anyone heard definitely whether or not Roy and HG are going?? That is the real question. From what i've heard there won't be another Dream unless something is worked out very soon. Also, how could they not show the footy live? IIRC, it'll almost be 24/7 olypmics on seven with a few exceptions ie news and afl. This means no better homes and gardens so it makes sense to push it forward. These are the AFL games that will be on Seven while the Olympics is in progress: AUGUST 8: Melbourne v Geelong AUGUST 10: Adelaide v Richmond AUGUST 15: Port Adelaide v Collingwood AUGUST 17: Carlton v Kangaroos AUGUST 22: Western Bulldogs v Essendon AUGUST 24: St Kilda v Adelaide So it'll be interesting to see what Seven will do re AFL coverage. Will they decide to bring these matches I've highlighted from delay to live in case of a clash with their Olympics commitments? Also interesting to see that SEN (who hold the commercial radio rights) will stick with the footy ahead of the Olympics. What will happen if Jana Pittman is a gold medal chance at the athletics and is getting ready to run in the Olympic final, and at the same time Port and Collingwood are dead level at 3 qtr time? Would you stick with the footy, or cross over to Beijing ? I cant stand Jana Whatsername, but her event only lasts a minute, like most Olympic Athletic events. Id probably only miss a quarter of footy for the 1500m


Something To Think About Lyrics Willie Nelson You're wondering just what I'll do now that it's over and done Well that's something to think about and I've already begun I suppose that I'll find a way people usually do But it's something to think about I'll be lost without you One thing I would have you do please consider the dawn The dawn of your lonely years when youth and beauty are gone And when you can no longer have any sweetheart you choose Here is something to think about I'll still be thinking of you One thing I would have you do


Insolvencies -- a sign of the times Company insolvencies are a sign of a healthy economy and preventing companies from failing may be stifling the innovation the country needs to grow. John Alexander explains While insolvency statistics for companies show a continued decline in 2012 (Q2 liquidations are down 3.6% on the previous quarter), the economy remains effectively stagnant and businesses are generally therefore not growing, despite last week's announcement that the UK economy has grown 1%. Insolvencies, together with mergers and acquisitions, new company registrations, recruitment, and redundancies are, strange though it may seem, a sign of a healthy economy. We need growth even if it results in further company failures. Analysis of the number of new companies created and the number of company insolvencies over the last 10 years shows a pattern. In the two years ended 31 March 2002, the number of new companies registered in England and Wales at Companies House as a percentage of the total registered were relatively low, at 15% and 14%. In the following two years company insolvencies fell by 13% and 11%. However, in 2003 and 2004 new company registrations ran at 18% and 19% and in the following two years company insolvencies increased by 7% and 8%. Similarly, in 2006 and 2007 new company registrations increased by 17% and 18% and two years later, company insolvencies jumped by 28% and 14%. In 2009 new registrations dropped to 12% and insolvencies in 2010 dropped by 21% and continued at much the same rate in 2011. The rate of growth, if indeed there has been any real growth, in UK GDP followed the same pattern as new company registrations. A period of relatively high growth in GDP (and in these times of stagnation "high" is definitely relative) was accompanied by a surge in new company registrations followed by an increase in the number of corporate insolvencies. Equally telling is that in 2010 and 2011 -- a period of virtually no net growth in GDP -- there was initially a drop of 21% in company insolvencies, followed by a period of virtually no change in the number of corporate insolvencies. Fundamental problems There are, of course, some major corporate insolvencies that indicate fundamental problems in the economy and in particular a lack of consumer confidence, as can be seen in the recent spate of large High Street retailers going to the wall. This may be simply a natural result of the increase in online retailing, making it less necessary for national brands to have outlets in every High Street. However, all is not as bad as it may seem, as most are sold on, in whole or in part, enabling businesses and jobs to be preserved. Administrations, with or without a 'pre-pack' sale, are clearly doing what the legislation intended -- enabling businesses to be rescued out of insolvent companies. For many years it has been evident that the single biggest cause of business failure is bad management. Of course, the knock-on effect of falling demand or the failure of a key supplier or, even worse, a major customer, can be the final nail in the coffin. However, good managers will, as far as possible, have plans in place to deal with such occurrences. In a stagnant or declining economy some companies continue to do well. They may have a niche product that appears insulated from recession (eg Rolls Royce's 30% increase in sales in the UK over the past year) but, more probably, they have effective management that have learnt how to manage their resources in a difficult trading period and ensured they have financing in place to deal with the inevitable "unexpected" events. However the current economic situation is masking a peculiar phenomenon, which is far from healthy. When growth returns Low interest rates for corporate loans or overdrafts enable poorly performing companies to struggle on, covering their relatively low financing charges, whie not creating reserves that will be required when business picks up again and they will need to finance growth. We will see, therefore, when the rate of growth in GDP really starts to rise again, an increasing number of company insolvencies, not resulting from a recent increase in new company registrations, but from a lack of the resources needed to fund an increase in demand for their products. Similarly, the lack of resources available now to fund research, development and innovation will restrict growth when the opportunities to develop come around again. Also the fact that banks are allowing poorly performing managers to remain in business so long as they are merely servicing their debts, is failing to drive those managers that are innovative and imaginative. Even good managers, in these circumstances, have to spend too long fire-fighting, micro-managing costs or simply treading water. This is curbing their entrepreneurial tendencies. Companies that take risks grow and, sometimes, fail. In the current environment there is no real growth, no risk-taking and no innovation, thus relatively few companies are going bust. By propping up companies that may be in difficulty, we may actually be stifling the innovation the country needs for us to grow and trade out of the current mire. John Alexander is an insolvency practitioner and partner at accountancy firm, Carter Backer Winter This week economia is guest-edited by entrepreneur Natalie Campbell . Follow more coverage from Global Entrepreneurship week at #GEW2012


LORD McAlpine reached a 125,000 settlement with ITV and Phillip Schofield yesterday as his lawyers confirmed they will continue to pursue damages from people who wrongly named him as a paedophile on Twitter. In a joint statement with This Morning presenter Mr Schofield, ITV said it had agreed to settle the peer's libel claim in relation to the programme's broadcast on November 8. The broadcaster sparked controversy after Mr Schofield brandished a list of names of alleged abusers that he had found on the internet and handed it to British prime minister David Cameron during a live interview, asking if he would investigate them. "ITV and Phillip Schofield apologise unreservedly to Lord McAlpine, have agreed the terms of a statement to be made in open court, and have agreed to pay him damages of 125,000 and his legal costs," the statement said. It is not known whether Mr Schofield will have to foot any of the bill himself. The agreement with ITV comes a week after the former Tory politician reached a 185,000 settlement with the BBC after it broadcast a botched Newsnight investigation into child abuse at a north Wales care home. Lord McAlpine was mistakenly implicated by Newsnight's November 2 broadcast in a paedophile ring that targeted children at the care home in Wrexham. His name was then widely mentioned on the internet, including social networking site Twitter. Lord McAlpine said yester-day that he was pleased to have reached a "pragmatic settlement with ITV". A statement from his lawyers said: "The settlement reflects the fact that this defamatory incident was aired on ITV post publication of the BBC Newsnight programme, which originally brought this matter into the public domain." Solicitor Andrew Reid told BBC Radio 4's The World At One that the Newsnight programme had effectively "set the pot boiling" and "the Schofield stunt added fuel to the fire that was already there". He said that now they had dealt with the BBC and ITV, they would move to "large-scale tweeters", including Sally Bercow, wife of John Bercow, the speaker of the House of Commons, whose solicitors Mr Reid said had now replied to them. Mrs Bercow posted on November 4, "Why is Lord McAlpine trending? *innocent face*." She appears to have since deactivated her account and quit the site. Mr Reid also confirmed that he has spoken to Scotland Yard about the possibility of a police investigation into people who "maliciously" retweeted the peer's name. Asked whether Lord McAlpine would be ready to accept an apology from those who named him online, he said: "No. There will be damages paid, and costs." Lord McAlpine has asked those who linked him to child abuse allegations to apologise formally and pay a "sensible and modest amount", which he plans to donate to BBC Children In Need. Mr Reid said they had already received "a huge amount of emails" from Twitter users, which have now been processed. "We have got a website up where people can get on, fill in the form and then we will come back to them once we have set the amount of money we are going to ask them to pay us for us to forward on to BBC Children In Need." He said software they are using allows them to look at all social media, not just Twitter, and urged people to come forward. Asked what explanation tweeters were giving for naming Lord McAlpine online, Mr Reid said, "Most of them seemed to have this idea that Twitter was like their kitchen table or a coffee morning. They just didn't think that the ordinary laws that apply to defamation applied to Twitter. "All of them said 'We are re-ally sorry, we just didn't realise what we were doing and we didn't realise the effect of the proliferation of tweets." Mr Reid also confirmed that he had met senior officers from Scotland Yard to discuss a "hardcore of people" who were acting maliciously by "retweeting" about the peer. "No doubt in due course they will investigate that, or not. That's up to the police, not up to ourselves," he said.


Historians do not, as too many of my colleagues keep mindlessly repeating, "reconstruct" the past. What historians do is produce knowledge about the past, or, with respect to each individual, fallible historian, produce contributions to knowledge about the past. Thus the best and most concise definition of history is: The bodies of knowledge about the past produced by historians, together with everything that is involved in the production, communication of, and teaching about that knowledge. 2. The Necessity for History All developed countries have their National Archives (called the Public Record Office in Britain) and a historical profession, both paid for out of taxpayers' money. This is in recognition of the simple fact that knowledge of the past is essential to society. What happens in the present, and what will happen in the future, is very much governed by what happened in the past. It is obvious that knowledge of the past has not brought easy solutions to problems in, say, Northern Ireland, the Balkans, or Palestine. But without a thorough knowledge of past events and circumstances, we could not even attempt to grapple with these problems. Without knowledge of the past we would be without identity, we would be lost on an endless sea of time. The simplest answer to the questions "Why do history?" or "What is the use of history?" is: "Try to imagine what it would be like to live in a society where there was absolutely no knowledge of the past." The mind boggles. Of course, if history has this vital importance for society, then it must be as accurate as possible, it must be based on evidence and logical thought, not on specious theory or political ideology. 3. Other Justifications for History Those who study history, for career purposes, or just for personal enjoyment, have other reasons apart from this all-embracing justification for national resources being channelled into the study of history. Many of us feel the almost poetic appeal of the past, have a passionate interest in finding out what really did happen in the past - practically all of the world's major tourist traps relate to the appeal of the past (the Tower of London, San Gimignano in Tuscany, Ephesus in Turkey). It is historians who provide the contextual knowledge that eventually works its way into the guide books, and again the need is for accuracy not specious theory. Historians also provide the contextual knowledge for great works of art and literature, thus enhancing our enjoyment of these. In addition, the study of history offers to individuals major utilitarian learning outcomes. Training in history is training in analysing, evaluating, and interpreting both secondary and primary sources. It develops an understanding that everything written pertaining to history, secondary or primary, must be approached with scepticism and caution. It develops the ability to distinguish between pieces of writing which are well-substantiated and logical, and those which simply express theory, hypothesis, or opinion. The skills and learning outcomes rising from historical study are invaluable in a contemporary world which is dominated by information and communications. The methods and skills required of the historian, and, more important, the attitudes of mind transmitted in the teaching of history, are of vital importance in assessing and filtering the messages constantly battering against us. History also provides a training in the writing up of the results of one's researches, in the form of essays, reports, dissertations. What is essential in history is clear and effective communication, well structured, and written in precise and explicit language. 4. The Subjectivity Question Many who call themselves "historians" do, indeed, use "history" as a vehicle for expressing their own political commitment. That is sheer is self-indulgence. History is a scholarly, not a political, activity, and while, as citizens, we certainly should act upon our political views, in writing history we have an absolute obligation to try to exclude them. Most historians, like, most scientists, are motivated by the urge to find out . Much nonsense is talked about historians inevitably being "subjective"; the real point is that, being mere human beings, they are "fallible", and subject to many kinds of career and social pressures, or indeed common incompetence. Historians do disagree with each other in their interpretations, as do scientists. But history deals with human values, in a way the sciences do not, so there is more scope for differences in evaluation. Historical evidence is fragmentary, intractable, and imperfect. Individual books and articles may clash with each other; there will always be areas where uncertainty persists, but steadily agreed knowledge emerges in the form of works of synthesis and high-quality textbooks. History, like the sciences, is a co-operative enterprise. Some historians today still seem to perceive historians (usually themselves) as great literary and media figures, as individual intellectual and moral giants giving leadership to ordinary readers. Such historians - subscribers to what I call the " auteur theory" - tend to glory in their own subjectivity. By all means enjoy their literary flourishes, but always remember that the aims of a work of history are very different from those of a work of literature. 5. History and the Past The existence of the (mistaken) notion that historians "reconstruct" the past does indicate that there is an awareness of the distinction between "history" and "the past", though this distinction is often obfuscated. Particularly is this the case with the metahistorians - A.J. Toynbee, right-wing political scientists like Francis Fukuyama, Marxists, and postmodernists - who, apart from any other uses, apply the term "history" to some great process (invented by themselves) whereby the past unfolds in a series of stages into the present and on into the future. In their own studies this process is taken as a given, and they test the history of historians against this given. No, to keep clear of all the misconceptions which abound in historical epistemology we have to make a firm distinction between history as "the bodies of knowledge about the past produced by historians", and "the past" as "everything which actually happened, whether known, or written, about by historians or not". 6. Periodization It follows from all of this that periodization, the dividing of the past up into the eras or periods, has no a priori existence. It is simply an analytical tool of historians. A periodization which makes sense for the West, will not make sense for Africa or Asia. A periodization which makes sense for economic history, may well not make sense for social or political history. 7. Primary and Secondary Sources The only way we can have knowledge of the past is through studying the relics and traces left by past societies, the primary sources. Primary sources, as it were, form the basic "raw material" of history; they are sources which came into existence within the period being investigated. The articles and books written up later by historians, drawing upon these primary sources, converting the raw material into history, are secondary sources (pedants insist on pointing out that secondary sources may become primary sources for still later historians, but this is a matter of such triviality as scarcely to be worth bothering about). The distinction between primary and secondary sources is a critical one, though no historian has ever pretended that it offers a magic key to the nature of historical study, or that primary sources have a necromantic potency denied to secondary ones. There is always some excitement about being in contact with a genuine primary source, but one will not learn very much from a single source. Reading through an edited selection of excerpts from primary sources will have the salutary effect of bringing one in contact with the thinking and language of past generations, but it will not amount to research. If the ordinary reader, or history student, wants to learn quickly about the role and status of women during the Renaissance, or about the causes of the First World War, they will be well advised to go to the secondary authorities, a knowledge of the principles of history being useful in separating out the more reliable from the less. But if you are planning to make an original contribution to historical knowledge, you are unlikely to make much of a stir if you stick strictly to other people's work, that is, the secondary sources - to which, it should be stressed the research historian will frequently return throughout all stages of research and writing. The difference is critical in that strategy which all historians, in one way or another, devise in embarking on a new research project. It is through the secondary sources that one becomes beware of the gaps in knowledge, problems unsolved, suspect explanations. It is with the aid of the secondary sources, and all the other resources of the profession, that one begins to identify the archives in which one will commence one's researches. Primary sources, numbingly copious in some areas, are scarce and fragmentary in others. Much has to be garnered indirectly and by inference. Historians do not rely on single sources, but are always seeking corroboration, qualification, correction; the production of history is very much a matter of accumulating details, refining nuances. The technical skills of the historian lie in sorting these matters out, in understanding how and why a particular source came into existence, how relevant it is to the topic under investigation, and, obviously, the particular codes or language in accordance with which the particular source came into being as a concrete artefact. Philosophers, and others ignorant of history, get confused because they think "primary" means "more truthful", and "secondary" means "less truthful". That is not the distinction at all. A good secondary source will be as reliable as the historian can possibly make it. Primary sources are full of prejudices and errors. They were not written to serve the interests of historians coming along later: they were written to serve the interests of those who created them, going about their own business. We need to understand not just the distinction between primary and secondary sources, but also that there are different types and levels of secondary source. These range from the most highly specialised research-based work, through high-quality textbooks which incorporate some personal research as well as summarise the work of others, to the simple textbooks, and then on to the many types of popular and non-academic history. 8. Witting and Unwitting Testimony In their work, historians have always recognised that primary sources, as well as containing many kinds of imperfection, also contain many types and many layers of evidence, even if they have tended not to make explicit statements about this. The crucial, though never absolutely rigid, distinction is between the "witting" testimony and the "unwitting". "Witting" means "deliberate" or " intentional"; " unwitting" means "unaware" or "unintentional". "Testimony" means "evidence". Thus, "witting testimony" is the deliberate or intentional message of a document or other source; the "unwitting testimony" is the unintentional evidence (about, for example, the attitudes and values of the author, or about the "culture" to which he/she belongs) that it also contains. Actually, it is the writer, creator, or creators of the document or source who is, or are, intentional or unintentional, not the testimony itself, so these phrases are examples of a figure of speech, the transferred epithet, where the adjective, which strictly speaking should be applied to a person, is transferred to what the person produced - the phrase is all the more effective for that. An understanding of the nature of unwitting testimony, often the most valuable evidence for a historian, might have guarded against the fashion for invoking anthropology and postmodernist theory: from at least the time of Frederick Maitland (1850-1896), historians have been using unwitting testimony to establish the beliefs and customs of past societies. No one is more familiar than the historian with the problems of language to be encountered in primary sources, which abound in obscure technical terms, words and phrases which have changed their meanings over the centuries, attitudes and concepts which no longer exist today, and may be scarcely expressible in the language of today. 9. The Arts as Sources It is fun, and it is becoming fashionable, for historians to work with novels, films, paintings, and even music. Doing this is not evidence of some superior virtue, or sensibility; in fact, most of what we know about most periods in the past will continue to come from the more conventional sources. Historians have had a habit of quoting odd lines from novels, as if these, in themselves, somehow provided some extra illumination. Worse, historians refer to characters in novels (or even films) as if they were real people. If cultural artefacts are to be used at all in serious historical writing (and I believe they should - they can be invaluable for attitudes, values, and quality of cultural life), they have to be used seriously. If one is going to refer to a novel or a film, one must provide the essential contextual information about the artefact, and its production and reception, to make the reference a genuine contribution to knowledge: one must provide a "Quintessential Summary" (nature of the artefact, authorial intentions, and so on). When the temptation comes to make use of some cultural artefact the crucial questions to ask are "Does it tell us anything we didn't know already?", and, more probingly, "Does it tell us anything we couldn't discover more readily from another source?" Novels have sometimes been used as sources for living conditions and standards, as paintings of domestic scenes have sometimes been used as sources for what people ate. But it is far better to go directly to the actual statistics of wage rates and to social investigations for the first topic, and to household accounts, statistics of retail sales and so on for the latter one. A painting of eighteenth-century French peasants consuming bread, garlic and wine may be evidence of their regular diet, but there is always the quite strong possibility that the artist might have been more concerned with infusing his painting with the religious symbolism of the Last Supper than with accurate sociological observation. It is perfectly legitimate for editors and publishers to wish to brighten up articles and books by including reproductions of various works of art. But, with rare exceptions, such art works will, at best, be no more than illustrations; at worst they may have little real relevance to what is being said in the article or book. Serious historians should only use such reproductions as genuine primary sources, explicating them in exactly the same way as they would explicate an extract from a written primary source. 10. Strategy and Structure I have already mentioned the need for identifying a research strategy , using the secondary sources to identify the topics to be addressed and the archives to be used. The writing of history is an iterative process: frequently in writing up one's researches, one will encounter problems necessitating further research in the primary sources, or perhaps the consultation of more secondary sources. The writing of history imposes demands on historians which are very different from those of writing a novel, or, say, literary criticism or sociology. In producing an account which presents a sense of chronological change, and, perhaps, of the movement from one period to another, incorporates explanation, analysis and description, explains causes and consequences, discusses different topics and themes and different aspects of the past (economic, cultural, and so on), and which best conveys to the reader what actually was happening, what interactions there were, what changed, and what did not, it is essential to develop a structure (that is, the sequence of chapters and sections within chapters, and the way in which these are related to each other). 11. Writing History We expect novelists, poets, and playwrights to exploit the ambiguities and resonances of language, even, perhaps, to express directly the dictates of the unconscious, not always logical in its choice of words. Historians, on the other hand, should convey their findings as clearly and explicitly as possible. Some metaphors may be an aid to communication, others will simply contribute to confusion and obfuscation. With all the temptations to indulge in metaphor and rhetoric, clich, sloppy phrasing and slang, getting it right is fiendishly difficult. Two essential injunctions are: "reflect" and "revise". What is it you really want to say? Is precise explication really assisted by phrases like, "webs of meaning", "cultural scripts", "discursive domains"? Revise, not to achieve elaborate literary effect, but to convey precisely what you mean to the reader. An exact, uncluttered style is essential to historical communication, it is not an extra; and if the style can be elegant (which is very different from being elaborate or rhetorical) so much the better. Sentiment is not enough in historical writing, what is needed is thought . 12. Nothing Ruled Out All human activities, including history, are culturally (or socially, the meanings in this instance are the same) influenced, but history is not "culturally constructed" or "culturally determined". Too many nave statements have been made along the lines of "each age rewrites its history". History is not a formation dance in which everybody in one period marches in one direction, and then, in the next, marches off in a different direction. What has happened in the history of historical writing is that the scope, and the sophistication, of history have steadily extended. In the twentieth century there was some development away from political history, but political history is still very important. In fact, no one type of history is intrinsically better than another: provided the fundamental, but ever-expanding methodologies are adhered to, it all depends upon which topics and questions are being addressed. In the recent study of history greater emphasis has been given to comparative history and to cultural history: but one of the greatest strengths of history today is that nothing is ruled out. Conclusion At its very core history must be a scholarly discipline, based on thorough analysis of the evidence, and in the writing up of which language is deployed with the utmost precision. There must be constant awareness of the methods and principles of that discipline, constant attention to how it is taught, and how, at different levels, it is communicated to wider audiences.