As we approach the end of the first year of The Rich Life, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the ten posts that have received the most hits. Here they are, in order, according to the WordPress hit counter:

• From the sublime to the ridiculous, get ready for the Michael Jackson auction

• Let’s dissect Bernard Madoff’s American Express bill

• The difference between good art and bad art

• The upcoming election in Palm Beach

• Fine, I apologize

• Bernard Madoff’s Palm Beach mansion has been redecorated

• A modest proposal

• A typical day in Paris

• Get ready to bid, the Yves Saint Laurent auction at the Grand Palais begins today!

• It is prudent to adhere to the speed limit while driving your Bentley in Palm Beach

Consistent with my intentions for this blog, the most popular posts are divided among current events, with the Michael Jackson auction far in the lead (in fact, there was such a spike in hits on the day of his death that I thought that the WordPress hit counter was broken) and Bernard Madoff’s American Express card also attracting a great deal of attention, and miscellany related to Palm Beach and Paris.

If you are a new or inconsistent reader of The Rich Life, I encourage you to click on the links shown above and read each of these posts. Consider them to be a “greatest hits” of The Rich Life.

David Desmond

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

One year ago on November 26, India had to face bloody terrorists from Pakistan at Mumbai. In different parts of the country different persons and organizations are observing the first anniversary of this nasty day in lighting candles in honor of victims of the terror strike and in organizing human catenae to symbolize their solidarity with the people against terrorism. Members in the Parliament have, at commencement of the day, paid homage to victims of 26/11 by standing up in silence for two minutes.

It would be wrong to describe this “anniversary” observance as an instance of how much we Indians are capable of making a farce of our patriotism.

But why are we as a nation so passive in our reaction?

We have Governments that have confused us in the matter of terrorist threats by concentrating more on projecting the opponents of exploitation as the terrorist and pressing military might to extinguish them in a style that has the mischief to dilute the definition of terrorism. The active leftists, whom the usurpers of political power have been branding as terrorists, are the persons that the exploited, wretchedly poor and helpless population, forming the majority in our country, look at as their redeemers. Instead of preserving the word “terrorist” for perpetrators of cross border terrorism, the right-wingers in power have consistently used the term for the left ultras. As left ultras enjoy political credibility because of being the strongest opponents of exploitation, the word “terrorist” as their official epithet has gained such credentials that it has lost the reason to be looked upon as a word to be despised. Most of India’s socio-political thinkers have not yet cogitated upon this point. Unless we drop the word “terrorist” from use against the left ultras, the cross-border terrorists may also be mistaken as opponents of exploitation.

November 26 calls for application of alert collective mind to this aspect. We shall have to stop use of the word “terrorist” and use of uniformed forces of the country against left-ultras if we are serious on concentration against real terrorists such as those that shocked our nation on this day last year.

But this would not be enough. We are to find out who provided the Pak terrorists the environment they needed to strike like they did in Mumbai.

It is well on records that the USA was funding and instigating Pakistan to mount terrorist attacks on India. Their Home Department Documents bear rampant evidences. But our Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh is a strong ally of USA. And, when he was the Chief of our Reserve Bank, an USA pampered Pakistani Bank called BCCI, known as the Bank of Pakistani terror-funding, had bagged RBI cooperation to spread its tentacles in India in stark disregard to warnings from our country’s international intelligence wing RAW. Even as this Bank was unmasked by USA Congressional investigations and was banned in different countries, its activities went on uninterrupted in India and then as the Union Finance Minister Dr. Singh had tried to shield it from public knowledge. Even the parliament of India was hoodwinked.

Our attempt to initiate a study in this respect calls for attention afresh at the links given part-wise below if we are serious in looking at 26/11.

The first part:

The second part:

The Borders bookshop chain in the UK, which owns 45 stores across the country, goes into administration…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: shopping store. The blog is also related to: stop shopping.

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

The provincial Congress demand for CBI inquiry into illegal mining in Orissa is absolutely unacceptable, because the said organization has no spine to work honestly, as has already been established in the case against Quattrocchi. On the other hand, the Vigilance Police of Orissa has shown its ability to work as allegation of illegal mining in the State has been corroborated on the basis of its investigations, even though the mines it has made a cursory inquiry into, are quite marginal in number. Because of Orissa Vigilance, a group of officers including the Director of Mines is suspended under charges of involvement with the offense. So, it would be wrong not to rely upon Orissa Vigilance in the instant matter.

But instead of telling who is looting Orissa mines, the Vigilance Police would do better by telling if Chief Minister Navin Patnaik is not involved with the loot. Motherland is more important than the ruler, the sleuths and officers should remember.

Ores worth how many thousand crores of Rupees are looted according to Vigilance is not important at the moment. Important is, revelation of the details of the facilitator(s) of the loot. This revelation is needed for better management of democracy and the Orissa Vigilance Police is capable of fulfilling this need.

The Vigilance wing knows and we also know that it has raided a very small number of mines for an instant assessment of the loot. But the State Government has suspended operations in 128 mines and cancelled 482 trading licenses.

Why the Government has suspended operations in 128 mines and cancelled 482 trading licenses? The answer is very simple. To the knowledge of the State Government they are involved with illegal mining.

When the Vigilance has not spotted them all, how the Government could know that they are involved with illegal mining?

This question prompts us to assume that the State Government does not need to know of the looters through Vigilance Police, because it knows who the illegal operators are.

So, suspension of operations in 128 mines and cancellation of 482 trading licenses are based on the Government’s own knowledge of illegal mining activities of these operators.

How could illegal mining operators mushroomed to such high dimension so swiftly and so safely and why had the Government not taken any earlier action against them?

We need the answer to this question from the Vigilance. We expect that Chief Minister Navin Patnaik should come forward with the answer if he is not involved with this loot. If he does not come out with the answer, it should be the duty of the Vigilance Police to tell the people the truth.

It is not inappropriate to recall how Navin had figured in then Union Minister of State for Environment Dilip Singh Judeo’s bribe taking picture, when, before a spy cam, in the mouth of his personal assistant Natwar Rateria, a mines-monger from a foreign land was assured of smooth grabbing of mines in Orissa. “Orissa mein tasalli banayon. Jo chahenge voh hoga” (Celebrate your scope in Orissa. Whatever we want will happen there). How could Judeo be so sure? As Rateria hinted to, that was because of mutual cooperation between Judeo and Navin, which had helped the latter to bag 9000 crores of Rupees out of environmental clearance granted to mines operators. The dialogue delivered through Rateria, embarrassing to Orissa but relevant to the issue at hand, is, “Orissa mein bhi ………… apna kafi command hai… Nau hazaar (9,000) crore ki relief Naveen Patnaik ko apne mantralay ke project se… us se kuch bhi karva sekte hain”. (We have sufficient influence over Orissa as by granting environmental clearance to mining projects we have helped Navin Patnaik pocket 9000 crores of Rupees. We can make him do anything.) “… Naveen Patnaik ka jab bhi koi baat padegi, ek minute mein karva denge. Apne pehle aahsaan hain uske upar hai. Aur relationship bhi badi purani hai”. (Whenever you need work done from Naveen Patnaik, we can get it done in a minute. He is already indebted to us and our relationship is quite old.)

These were the dialogues on records that had shaken the country in August 2006 so much that Judeo was forced to resign from the Vajpayee ministry. But neither the Central Government under Vajpayee whose Ministry of Environment was misused for benefit of illegal mines operators nor the State Government of Orissa whose Chief Minister was thus named to have gained Rs.9000 crores from mines operators with the help of Judeo, took any step to establish that the assertions caught by spy cam were baseless and incorrect. This has kept the allegation alive and erect, though under layers of the dusts of time.

But time has exposed the enormity of illegality and corruption in management of mines in Orissa.

Therefore it is time, the Vigilance Police, if they are true to their salt, should investigate truthfully into every aspect of the mining scam and say if the Chief Minister Navin Patnaik is not involved with this. As we have watched, his henchmen have held the portfolio of mines in all these years and such enormous illegal activities by the mines mafia could not have run so safely for such a long period sans cooperation of the ministers concerned and the Chief Minister.

Modus operandi of Ministers, specifically the Chief Minister in helping mines mafia for payola or bribe, call it as you like, is a long experienced reality in Orissa.

As far back as on 14th July 1963, when Navin’s father Biju Patnaik was the Chief Minister of Orissa, an ever revered leader of matchless patriotism, late Nabakrishna Chowdhury had exposed the nexus between the political boss of the State and the mine owners.

Speaking at Gandhi Tattwa Prachar Kendra, Balasore, he had shown how huge money was being collected from mine owners / operators in the name of election funds by providing them with official support to fetch more profit by exploiting Orissa mines even as most of the funds so collected in name of the party was being misappropriated by the top leader and his close associates.

Taking the cue, journalist G.S.Bhargava had enumerated Biju’s unholy connection with the mines mafia and his other corruptions in the Indian Express in July 1964.

As Biju had tried to hoodwink the people by instituting a damage case against Bhargava, the people of Orissa had raised such a sharp and severe mass movement demanding his resignation that ultimately he had to be thwarted out of power. His case against Bhargava did not retain focus and was abandoned.

Like Biju, his mentor Harekrishna Mahtab was also marked for having personally gained by granting favor to exploiters of Orissa mines.

Justice Mudholkar in his fact-finding report had noted that Mahtab’s role in grant of lease of chromite mines to Md. Serajuddin in 1957 vis-à-vis his rapid acquisition of wealth between 1956 and 1960 read with his orders for withdrawal of criminal prosecution against ten iron and steel dealers were suggestive of corrupt practices.

When on Mudholkar’s recommendations, a judicial commission of inquiry was instituted with Justice Saraju Prasad in the Chair, Mahtab tried to obstruct its proceedings. The report of Prasad is full of evidences of evasive tactics used by Mahtab. Had a subsequent State Government not preferred not to press on prosecution against him in view of his old age, judiciary could have punished him for his grave offences against the State that he had committed in order to please the mines mafia.

So, Chief Ministers of Orissa serving the underworld in mining sector for personal monetary gains is not new and Navin Patnaik is a Chief Minister.

By suspending operations in 128 mines and canceling 482 licenses granted for trading and storage of minerals, the State Government has conversely confessed that till it decided to take this step, these illegal activities were going on without obstruction within its full knowledge. In fact, this step would never have been taken had Navin not been alarmed by the exposure spearheaded by BJP, his ally of yesterday, who are supposed to have known much more of mining corruption as the partners in previous two consecutive ministries. To save his skin, he may take further such steps and press vigilance to inquire into more mines. That does not and should not indicate that he is not personally involved.

To Navin, Congress is not a problem. Because the Congress is the breeder and protector of the environment of corruption in this country.

This party of Quattrocchi protectors has planted Dr.Man Mohan Singh, the father of India’s decadence into the Augean Stables of loot and treachery that has helped emergence of not only Harshad Mehtas and Ambanis but also has served the Pakistani Bank of Terror funding, BCCI with official support and even after it collapsed, has kept its role in ruining India shielded from public eyes as the Prime Minister of India. Inheriting by default the party of the founders of Indian democracy, the present Congress party has already been transformed by Sonia-Singh combine into a lunching pad of American interest and therefore, Navin in who POSCO and the likes see their staunch supporter, has nothing to fear from this party. Its role in the Assembly over the mining issue in the preceding couple of days confirms this aspect..

This is why there is no possibility of knowing the political components of the mines loot unless the Vigilance unveils who of the politicians in power has or have helped the mafia in this matter so far. Wrongs in democracy cannot be corrected if the real culprit is not dragged out of its political cocoon into public gaze.

Vigilance officers are our beloved countrymen with no less patriotism than what their political bosses claim to be having. They should, therefore, act honestly and help our democracy survive the onslaught by telling us through truthful investigation, if Navin is not involved in facilitating the mines loot.

When the principal opposition party’s role is dubious, the Vigilance wing, in the instant case, will be viewed as the last hope or the lost hope.

The Borders bookshop chain in the UK – which contains 45 stores – is on the verge of going into administration…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: international shopping. The blog is also related to: shopping ideas.

Instead of the lot of encrypting hack found browsing around the internet, I’ve found a real elegant solution here. It is not negligible, that this solution can be done very easy because of the nature of GEOM, the disk handling layer of FreeBSD.

If we want to take this serious, here is an other solution, where the whole thing is done with the root filesystem, and the needed boot record and keys are stored on a USB stick.

Here is a quick and dirty test on a virtual machine according to the tutorials mentioned. I’ve created two ZFS pools, one is based on a “normal” disk device, and another GEOM-ELI encrypted one (ad3.eli here).

freebsd# zpool status
  pool: crypted
 state: ONLINE
 scrub: none requested
config:

        NAME        STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
        crypted     ONLINE       0     0     0
          ad3.eli   ONLINE       0     0     0

errors: No known data errors

  pool: plain
 state: ONLINE
 scrub: none requested
config:

        NAME        STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
        plain       ONLINE       0     0     0
          ad1       ONLINE       0     0     0

errors: No known data errors

After a reboot the encrypted device isn’t initialized yet, that’s why the crypted pool doesn’t come up.

freebsd# zpool list
NAME                    SIZE    USED   AVAIL    CAP  HEALTH     ALTROOT
crypted                    -       -       -      -  FAULTED    -
plain                   123M    322K    123M     0%  ONLINE     -

In real life this is what an unauthorized person would see when trying to use the disk.

freebsd# zpool status crypted
  pool: crypted
 state: FAULTED
status: One or more devices could not be used because the label is missing
        or invalid.  There are insufficient replicas for the pool to continue
        functioning.
action: Destroy and re-create the pool from a backup source.
   see: http://www.sun.com/msg/ZFS-8000-5E
 scrub: none requested
config:

        NAME        STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
        crypted     FAULTED      0     0     0  corrupted data
          ad3       UNAVAIL      0     0     0  corrupted data

Dekriptáljuk a kulccsal és a jelszóval, létrejön egy .eli device. Természetesen beállítható, hogy bootoláskor bekérje a jelszót.

freebsd# ls /dev/ad3*
/dev/ad3

freebsd# geli attach -k /root/AD3.KEY /dev/ad3
Enter passphrase:
GEOM_ELI: Device ad3.eli created.
GEOM_ELI: Encryption: AES-CBC 128
GEOM_ELI: Crypto: software

freebsd# ls /dev/ad3*
/dev/ad3        /dev/ad3.eli

The two device (which has basicly the same physical disk behind) contains different data. (I’m not sure that is safe enouugh, but we should trust the developers.)

freebsd# od -N 64 /dev/ad3
0000000    013656  063203  126627  124130  123623  172041  031633  017602
0000020    031074  161743  066227  176053  134323  043301  014373  107567
0000040    115637  060745  175115  106175  044662  041262  044142  065625
0000060    021002  160304  045367  047763  065401  063457  026315  073572
0000100
freebsd# od -N 64 /dev/ad3.eli
0000000    050742  113732  071701  074476  135444  055035  170031  155754
0000020    150122  143035  154627  104534  121114  101434  167634  110345
0000040    013172  113341  001635  133547  022354  035751  072373  144310
0000060    122771  156712  175330  033173  164006  177125  061412  166472
0000100

Let’s see if the pool is alive! If yes we can use it.

freebsd# zpool list
NAME                    SIZE    USED   AVAIL    CAP  HEALTH     ALTROOT
crypted                 123M   86.7M   36.3M    70%  ONLINE     -
plain                   123M    322K    123M     0%  ONLINE     -

freebsd#  zpool status crypted
  pool: crypted
 state: ONLINE
 scrub: none requested
config:

        NAME        STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
        crypted     ONLINE       0     0     0
          ad3.eli   ONLINE       0     0     0

errors: No known data errors

So we are happy now, let’s take some test. We are using dd to put some random data to the pools. The bad IO speed is because the test is running on VirtualBox over a poor old portable. Actually we do not care the speed, but the comparison of the speed of the pools.

Writing speed on unencrypted device:

freebsd# dd if=/dev/random of=/plain/testfile bs=1M count=85 & zpool iostat plain 1 100
[1] 1030
               capacity     operations    bandwidth
pool         used  avail   read  write   read  write
----------  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----
plain        451K   123M      0      3  1.66K   180K
plain        451K   123M      0     73      0  9.21M
plain       15.4M   108M      0    132      0  10.5M
plain       27.9M  95.1M      0    143      0  12.3M
plain       38.4M  84.6M      0    134      0  11.6M
plain       54.4M  68.6M      0    183      0  13.3M
plain       65.4M  57.6M      0    159      0  9.28M
plain       76.0M  47.0M      0    232  63.8K  13.4M
plain       83.5M  39.5M      0    251      0  7.42M
85+0 records in
85+0 records out
89128960 bytes transferred in 8.286649 secs (10755730 bytes/sec)
^C
[1]  + Done                          dd if=/dev/random of=/plain/testfile bs=1M count=85

The same on the encrypted device:

freebsd# dd if=/dev/random of=/crypted/testfile bs=1M count=85 & zpool iostat crypted 1 100
[1] 1034
               capacity     operations    bandwidth
pool         used  avail   read  write   read  write
----------  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----
crypted     1.72M   121M      0      0  2.73K  51.0K
crypted     1.72M   121M      1     43   125K  5.48M
crypted     16.7M   106M      0    114  63.5K  9.76M
crypted     16.7M   106M      0     71  63.9K  8.87M
crypted     29.1M  93.9M      0     86  62.0K  5.91M
crypted     39.4M  83.6M      0    105      0  8.85M
crypted     48.0M  75.0M      0    129  63.9K  9.29M
crypted     48.0M  75.0M      0     45      0  5.62M
crypted     55.1M  67.9M      0     78      0  4.30M
crypted     66.0M  57.0M      0    157      0  9.49M
crypted     70.1M  52.9M      0     95      0  4.60M
crypted     76.5M  46.5M      0    151  63.9K  7.53M
crypted     80.8M  42.2M      0    128      0  5.51M
crypted     83.8M  39.2M      0    204  63.2K  5.71M
85+0 records in
85+0 records out
89128960 bytes transferred in 13.812837 secs (6452618 bytes/sec)
^C
[1]  + Done                          dd if=/dev/random of=/crypted/testfile bs=1M count=85

Of course this test above can not simulate a real life environment, I was only curious, how much resource does need the GELI layer in the middle. So I can not decide from this test wheter this values are tolerable or not. We were not getting clever, we know what we already knew, the encryption slows down the system, and needs more resources.

The benefit of the solution is the transparency. The created .eli device can be used for any filesystem which is supported by the operating system itself. Without the key and the password, the data on the disk is unusable.

On security side, I like the key/pass system. We can put the key on a safe place, and if somehow it is stolen, a password is still there to protect or privacy.

Last year the administrations were coming thick and fast, and were covered comprehensively here.

Let’s hope that the news that Borders, the book chain, is going into administration is one of few this festive season.

But it’s not clear that that’s the case. Because Labour is (mis)handling the economy and it’s time for them to call an election to ask who Governs Britain?

It’s certainly not the government, which long ago lost its grip on the economy. Borders and some of its staff are the victims of this economic shambles.

Most of this post credit goes to this source:

http://www.arsgeek.com/2008/01/15/how-to-fix-your-windows-mbr-with-an-ubuntu-livecd/

Boot from your favorite Linux Live CD and install ms-sys

ms-sys is a program is capable of fixing windows master boot records including Windows 7 of which I just got done fixing with the latest PcLinuxOS Cd 2009.2.

Become root in a terminal/command line and type fdisk -l  That is an L for list.
Or use the disk manager in to see the disk partitions. My Win 7 was on /dev/sda2

So I need to repair /dev/sda

To do that I type: ms-sys -m /dev/sda
There was some output of which I do not recall, So simply reboot and the windows MBR will be repaired.

Your earliest memory, from the cot dreams

toys hoofing in a ring of light, to the tune

it’s a small world, after all that is poetry in itself

apropos of such unfolding, in nonage, in infancy

marriage at twenty-five, offspring by thirty

was never yours, nor office administration

not even the longest term mortgage, to settle you

into the long haul, the long yards,

the back yards, and cats and dogs

none of them yours. It was written in a villanelle

it was ordained by Auden, it killed your chances

you slid by the cornfields, under Van Gough’s sill

you fell into a lustful fate, a pond of muddy water

you swam with the eels, your electric adult

on the blink, powering down and dreamless.

Enabling quota for users may be useful to limit the use of space disk.
This works on ext3 and ext4 filesystems. With journaled quota, you do not need to issue a quotacheck command even if your server has been unproperly halted.

Install the appropriate Debian packages :

root@localhost:~# apt-get install quota quotatool

Once installed, please modify your /etc/fstab to enable journaled quota on your selected partition :
Add the following line to the appropriate partition :

usrjquota=aquota.user,grpjquota=aquota.group,jqfmt=vfsv0

Once added, please run the following commands :

root@localhost:~# touch /aquota.user /aquota.group
root@localhost:~# chmod 600 /aquota.*
root@localhost:~# mount -o remount /

If you remount your filesystem, it prevents you from rebooting the server.

Please verify that journaled quota is enabled :

root@localhost:~# quotaon -vug /your_partition
root@localhost:~# quotacheck -vugm /your_partition

To all HC users:

I 'cleaned up' the boards by removing old threads that were no longer relevant, threads that I felt didn't belong on the forums (some of them were mine), merged threads into more relevant topics, removed slight grammatical errors, and deleted unnecessary HikiCulture-related links at the bottom of the main page.

The only HikiCulture-related links I kept are the following:

HikiCulture Blog (Posterous)
HikiCulture FaceBook Group
HikiCulture Last.FM Group
PsychForums Asperger's Board
Wikipedia Hikikomori Page

I'm glad to have spent the past while 'cleaning' the boards up; everything is now fine and dandy.

Posted via email from HikiCulture – A Forum For Reclusive People (and Hikikomori) {HikiCulture.Com Site Blog}

An advancement VP at a college asked an interesting question:   “Why are nonprofits reluctant to hire experienced development officers from higher education for mid-level, senior, and executive positions?”

I don’t think he was fishing for help with a job search!  I had a ‘Johnny-Depp-as-Willy-Wonka’ flashback to the time when I was leaving university fundraising and was dealing with this question up close.  I asked some friends and clients about their answer to the question and got these replies (with a qualification that the candidate described has worked only in higher education fundraising):

1.  The candidate is too skill- or task-specialized and doesn’t have experience with the wider range of responsibilities that he would need in a smaller npo or an npo with a different structure.  OR, the candidate does not have a realistic understanding about the amount of time or resources needed to complete tasks because there were support staff and units in place to complete project components at the university.  For example, there may have been another office that created publications or processed gifts or managed all the data, or completed some other critical task, and the candidate has not actually had to understand those processes.  So, in a smaller organization, or one run in a more vertical non-hierarchical style, these understandings are more important.

2.  The candidate will need more support to develop prospect and donor constituencies that are not automatically generated, unlike alumni or parents.  Or, the candidate will need more time and training to develop case-making statements and content promotion that aren’t education-specific.

I can see the truth and error in both of these rationales. It all comes down to individual competencies and fit.  I’d hate to think a good higher ed fundraiser wasn’t considered based on these assumptions.  I can attest that a competent someone who loves to raise money, instead of running program, and understands the role of fundraising within the mission is a valuable person and can be taught technical steps.  But I think higher education fundraisers who consider working outside the university should be mindful to understand the breadth of their experience with attention to the context outside of the university — it wouldn’t hurt anyone to develop professional curiosity about the functions and administration of other advancement departments and units.

Buried in the VP’s question was a funny subcontext – is money a factor for the smaller organization, or is agism?  No one I spoke to even mentioned the possible income drop and related retention fear. No one flinched at hiring an older staffer either.

En glad SIMAB-administratör.

Administrationen har nu genomgått en utbildning i hur den nya bokningsportalen för besiktning av eldstäder, värmepannor och råd och anvisningar fungerar. Att kunna boka denna typ av tjänster dygnet runt kommer att erbjudas våra kunder inom kort.

 - Även om  kunderna kan boka själva måste så klart vi på administrationen via telefon kunna hjälpa och vägleda de kunder som saknar Internet eller har specifika krav och önskemål, säger Margareta, som ansvarar för kundservice i Helsingborg, Landskrona, Svalöv och Bjuv.

Vi räknar med att 95 % av denna typ av bokningarna fortsättningsvis ska kunna göras via Internet. Övriga kommer självklart fortfarande kunna göra sina beställningar under ordinarie öppettider: måndag – torsdag 07.30-17.00 och fredag 07.30-15.00.

Service är vår grej! Och ge oss gärna tips om det är något ni vill vi ska förändra eller lägga till i vårt service- eller tjänsteutbud.

Det var Cristoffer Crusell, från Pyramid Communications, som höll i utbildningen för SIMABs administration.

Mer om bokningsportalen: Bokningsportalen

Thankful at This Thanksgiving – No Government Cooking of the Turkey, But They Have Cooked our Goose

I have just started my Christmas baking and preparing my Thanksgiving meal fixings for tomorrow… and of course the family comes in periodically and takes various turns, taste testing. It’s good, for this is the record of what is working, and what won’t make it to the table for dinner. I listen and I respond appropriately. When you don’t get the truth, you could present a fiasco of a meal. Why have the majority in attendance, suffer for the one? I am thankful for this family of mine, who tells it like it is. I’ve noticed also, that too many goodies, can spoil the appetite and send someone to bed with a sore tummy.

I find this is much like how the current administration operates, although – with edicts there is no testing via surveys or allowable input(truth is never shouted from the thuggery pulpit), with mistakes in judgments there is never corrective action or modifications, and the failings continue without abate. Monies are porked about and forked over to various branches of the government and all they can do is whine that they are full up with too many problems. The government is not the majority but a micro representation laced with their own opinions paid for by lobbyists, pork, and taxpayer dollars. The majority is the people “We the People”.

The trouble with this analogy is that the family member might have indulged in excess that only affected that one member, but the government is creating havoc in a Definite “Trickle-Down” Effect upon all the citizenry of these United States of America. I would be thankful just to see the administration adhere to the U.S. Constitution, remove the bizarre czars, support the military, stop the spending, create jobs, cut taxes, display transparency, deal with immigration, stop kowtowing to every other government, keep the Terrorists in Gitmo, see Conservatism in action, know that Tiger Woods is a golfing legend and no matter how many times you play(way too much) that he will always be above the Usurper’s score, stop using the MSM to support “slight of hand” information, speak the truth, allow companies or businesses to sink or float on their own, disband ACORN, SEIU and their affiliate ilk, deal with one thing at a time and do it right, give up on the Climategate scam(nobody was that stupid except for Al Gore and just a tip – that medal doesn’t go to heaven or hell with you), free Lt. Behenna, leave the US Navy Seals alone, understand that road trips are for roadies – not an Usurper on the taxpayers’ dollars, realize that parties at the White House are a staggering and frivolous waste of taxpayers’ money and a poor example of leadership, perception is everything and it is poor, and I could continue endlessly but the point is made. No one likes a back seat driver who tells you where to go but doesn’t have the license, car, gas or knowledge of how to get there!

Thank goodness the government doesn’t cook our turkey! But it sure wants to cook our goose!

***Also forwarded to The 912 Project Fan Site for use.

Checking with Companies House does not say that Argos Sports Uk Limited is in liquidation yet, but the news from the web is that they are certainly in massive trouble, and we expect it in hours or days.

Compare Store Prices Website has a long feature on Argos Sports, and its all bad. There are many customers here who have had money taken and now will not get goods. Apparently the notice on the company’s office is that the building has been repossessed, but there are suggestions that the company has been sold to another company in Pakistan, but that still will not mean anyone gets paid or refunds.

See:

http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/answer.asp?q=has+anyone+had+a+bad+review+with+argos+sports+uk+limited%3F

http://www.complaintsboard.com/bycompany/argos-sports-uk-ltd-a187075.html

http://www.bradfordonline.co.uk/reviews/693/

We are sorry but it’s not looking good for customers or suppliers. We know many suppliers who are owed money, and these customers are best off contacting their banks rather than continuing to chase Argos Sports.

Argos Sports was a massive retailer of Trampolines, and Fitness Equipment, yet this is the second time that the company has gone out of business. Hopefully the last too.

To reassure potential purchasers, we can assure you that there is ample stock of Trampolines, Climbing frames and other outdoor equipment, ready for fast delivery from reliable and secure outdoor toy retailers.

Lets hope, that they do not become another Phoenix Administration, because the last one did not help the customers and suppliers who have lost out this time. Asif Nazir, the director of Argos Sports UK Ltd should step up and give his customers some real information, even if its bad news.

Last night students at UC Davis went back to Mrak Hall, where 52 people were arrested last Thursday, and launched the week’s eighth UC building occupation.

This takeover was shorter than several of its predecessors, but dramatic — it was the first in this wave of occupations to end with a written commitment by the administration to honor a set of protest demands.

The students began the occupation with a lengthy list of demands, but negotiated a suspension of the occupation on the basis of five: the university committed to conducting a review of one previous campus arrest, to urging the district attorney to “strongly consider … not filing charges” against the 52 Thursday arrestees, to dropping any disciplinary action against those students, to pursuing “further discussion” about co-op housing on campus based on “a mutual desire to promote sustainable, affordable cooperative living facilities,” and to holding “further discussions on all other demands with a representative group, as early as Monday, November 30.”

There’s nothing earth-shattering here, of course, but it’s still significant in at least three ways.

First, it gives students throughout the UC system a precedent for negotiated settlement of an occupation. There has been some resistance to that approach from both sides in the last week — from students who conducted “demandless” occupations, and from administrators who refused to enter into dialogue. Last night’s agreement affirms that negotiation is a live option in this series of actions.

Second, it provides a template for such negotiations. The Davis administration’s biggest concession was its agreement to forego disciplinary action against the Thursday demonstrators (and, implicitly, against last night’s demonstrators as well). That concession sets up amnesty as an achievable demand in future occupations.

Third, it opens up ongoing negotiations on local campus issues. A single university’s administrators have no direct power to roll back fees or reform the UC board of regents — such demands are aimed at off campus targets, and winning full victories on them is not a project for a single day. But local concessions can be won in a single action, and ongoing negotiations are a mechanism for refining and sharpening such demands to the point that more substantive victories become more likely.

In the NYU and New School occupations of 2008-09, those universities’ administrations shifted away from negotiation and toward punitive legal action as the students’ campaigns developed. The resolution of yesterday’s Mrak Hall occupation is the strongest evidence yet that the University of California is now moving in the opposite direction.

Update | Here is the UC Davis administration’s official statement on the occupation. Note that it describes the takeover as beginning with a study-in at eight o’clock yesterday morning, that it says that 150 demonstrators were present in Mrak at the end of the night, and that it strikes a conciliatory, respectful tone throughout. Note also that it binds the university to a new commitment beyond the five agreed to last night — the presence of Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi at a meeting with students next Monday.

Second Update | Commenter Cynthia D. notes that the Monday student meeting with the chancellor is actually a long-planned, regularly scheduled event. She also has a perspective on the administration’s behavior during the occupation that’s worth reading, so click through and read it.

It’s our way of saying Merry Christmas! to our valued customers.

Here’s how it works:

• Purchase a $25 Gift Certificate and receive a $10 Gift Certificate FREE
• Purchase a $50 Gift Certificate and receive a $20 Gift Certificate FREE
• Purchase a $100 Gift Certificate and receive a $40 Gift Certificate FREE

Our HOLIDAY GIVING offer runs from November 23 – December 23, 2009.

Call today! (Ask for Andrew at extension 13….)

In Winnipeg: 786-6758 
Toll Free: 800-665-8995

Merry Christmas from all of us at Canadian Choral Centre;
=Judy, Andrew, Morlyne, Liz, Janelle and Betty=

The inside of our lovely gift certificate...

Advance assassination of character is not becoming of Free Press

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

In what a media major has found a front page material today is an allegation against a top executive under the department of culture raised by a self-proclaimed victim of his deviance. In some other dailies, the matter has found inner-page posting.

The alleged victim has reportedly filed a complaint with the Baragarh Police Station, Bhubaneswar on November 24 which the latter has taken into cognizance. But the allegation, as reported by the media, does not speak of any current offence.

It is alleged by the victim that he has been working in Orissa Sahitya Academy since eight years and the officer concerned had been forcing him to serve at his residence in the night and subjecting him to sexual exploitation. As he had in resentment stopped going to his residence, he was threatened with dire consequences on October 24. This much the media that has preferred to circulate the news has reported.

Dependable sources in the Sahitya Academy say, the alleger is a hesitant worker and the officer concerned is too strict to accommodate any attempt to take office for granted. As confessed by the alleger, he was not a regular employee and hence recommendation of the officer concerned for regularization of his service was necessary. To the alleger’s apprehension, his regularization was impossible because it was not possible to hoodwink the officer on the steering. Therefore, Academy sources say, the mischief has been contrived.

Whether or not this aspect is correct, the fact is that an allegation of sexual exploitation is raised before the police and no investigation to find out the truth has yet begun. But the way the media has acted, the victim has become the officer against whom the allegation has been raised, that too, after lapse of every conceivable limits of time.

Had media acted responsibly, it should have preferred to wait till the Police find out if at all there was any prima-facie truth in the allegation. But without waiting, the Fourth Estate should have dug out as to how the alleger got his first assignment in the Academy and why for so many years preceding posting of the officer under question he was not regularized.

I regret to note, the media has acted most irresponsibly in the instant case.

The officer named in the media is a man who has given discipline and decorum to practice of administration in the Academy. His additional posting in the Utkal University of Culture has brought a total change to its academic environment. Had the Government been doing documentation of office management or were the media ever tried to keep eyes on such offices of cultural importance, this Officer should have come to be looked as an instance of dedication to work that changes offices from worst to best. But, because of rashness in media, this man having been named, has been thrashed into ignominy even before the allegation against him is investigated into.

In these pages, we have earlier stressed on the need of using medico-legal equipments such as lie-detectors to determine if the alleger is not telling the lie for settling scores with any disadvantageous one, specifically the boss.

In the instant case, we therefore stress, the Police should proceed from putting the alleger to polygraph. And the media should wait till lie-detector says that there is no lie in the allegation. Advance assassination of character is not becoming of Free Press.

Les informations contenues sur les réseaux sociaux sont de plus en plus utilisées par les administrations.

PCI simple communications controller driver can be figured out by 7vr109ww.exe.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-70313 

This is the Management Engine Interface (Intel AMT 4.0) driver for Windows Vista, XP – ThinkPad R400, R500, T400, T400s, T500, W500, W700, W700ds, X200, X200s, X200 Tablet, X301 .