1. something
between ice and frost
crunching
whitely
under bike tires
8am

2. all day
underwater
swimming and surfacing
swimming and surfacing
the world
a thick place

3. johnny and paul and i
again
with the wave
one arm at a time
to gain maximum effect
and the hilarity
of throwing the word
coward
at the end of a statement/request
for example:
can you grab some more sliced mushrooms,
coward!

4. the keeper of the night
and the keeper of the morning
meet at the gate
scribbling into the ex-rolodex
with a fervor
draping dragon-proof capes
dreaming sing alongs

5. send me off to sleep
with a glitter song

6. macon and i
observing 20 minutes
with a severity
passing photos
from the card catalogue
and taken apart pocket watches
between us

7. today
you were buried
so deep into the earth
there was no risk
of accidental
exhumation

Haha, no that kind of ‘working girl’. But yes, I have a job now (my first job, may I kindly remind you I am still 15, even i forget that sometimes), it’s totally weird because I’ve always been the kind of spoilt only child with the ‘I’ll-work-when-my-parents-chose-to-stop-financially-support-me’ mentality but this job sort of found me! I don’t yet know exactly what I’ll be doing but it closely resembles the kind of work a second assistant would do; typing, filing, etc. I am so excited, I am so glad my first job isn’t working at some greasy fast food outlet or as a check out girl. Anyway, lately I’ve been doing some work experience with my friend’s mother Lisa Vuillermin, one half of  Tender Vuillermin, a brand that sells beautifully made children’s wear, toys and everything adorable . I just love their store at 98 Auburn Road, Hawthorn, I suggest you all go check it out!

Here are outfits as promised!

The weather’s been crazy, it was super hot today and yesterday it was cold enough to wear a cape and tights, that’s Melbourne for you!

Cape and belt : Banuer

Star pattern blouse: Bardot

Flower print skirt: My own design

Tights: Target

Booties: China

Bag: Guess

Blouse: My own designs

Cardigan: MNG

Striped skirt: My own design

Button bracelets: My own design

Velvet headband: My own design

To save me from typing the same thing over and over again, I always wear my mum’s necklace usually with my locket charm, my Gucci watch and a black hair tie(haha).

XXASAB

It’s SUPER-TODDLER!!!

Five of them, in fact. No real post today. I am in the throes of creating FIVE little super-hero capes, each made of red satin (40% off at FabricLand this week!). No pictures yet. Have yet to download photo-handling software onto my new laptop. Sorry.

Each cape will be emblazoned with the child’s initial on the back (in blue satin), shot through with a shiny gold lightning bolt. It’s the initial/bolt combination that makes me the most nervous: in order to avoid all that nit-picky edge-stitching, I’m glueing them in place with double-sided fusible interfacing. I’ve never used that stuff before, and I have moments of anxiety in which I imaging totally ruining an otherwise perfect cape in the very last step…

Eep.

But for now, it’s a great idea! I can’t find the website where I got the initial-lightning bolt idea (though a quick google showed me this is far from an original idea). I got the pattern for the cape from The Little Red Hen, though mine won’t have hoods.

Now I need an idea for the baby, who, though nine months old, is not yet crawling. A cape would be cute, I guess, but pointless apart from the cute factor, and, when she starts crawling, it’d just be cruel. (Like dresses on crawling babies. Their little knees get as far up the inside of the skirt as the bodice, and then they’re trapped, poor mites. Who puts dresses on crawling babies, except for that adorable red velvet number for the requisite Santa picture? Which, if you’re sane, is whipped on seconds before the picture, and whipped off immediately after.)

Sorry. Tangent. Still seeking gift idea for non-crawling nine-month-old. But the capes? So far? AMAZING!!

Despite possible delays, the legislation will be passed by April 2010, says the Department of Labour.

Parliament is set to hold more public hearings on labour broking, but the Department of Labour (DOL) is confident new amendments will be introduced by April 2010.

The DOL is proposing amendments to several Acts, which all fall under the Labour Relations Act. The new amendments would either effectively abolish labour broking, or increase regulation of all temporary employment services.

In September, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Labour conducted heated two-day public hearings where stakeholders, including trade unions, civil society and labour brokers, presented their views on labour broking. In October, the committee visited four provinces – Free State, North West, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal – to hold hearings on labour broking. Most recently, hearings were held in the Eastern Cape.

“This is all in line with Parliament’s role of facilitating debate on key national issues, and its continuous effort to involve everybody in that process,” says Parliament.

The final changes to legislation are expected within the next two months, with labour minister Membathisi Mdladlana pushing to have the Bills passed by April 2010. The department says that, while it welcomes input from stakeholders, the process “will no longer be delayed and amendments will be passed on time”.

No consensus

While industry organisation, the Information Technology Association, stated the industry should not anticipate a widespread ban, the Congress of South African Trade Unions has threatened a mass strike in 2010 if regulations don’t ban labour broking.

The Confederation of Associations in the Private Employment Sector and Business Unity SA have also proposed a co-regulation model for the temporary employment services industry.

While the department’s proposed amendments indicate a move towards greater regulation, only the final draft amendments will reveal the fate of temporary employment services. The department has also made a distinction between labour broking and outsourcing – indicating that provisions would be made for outsourcing.

The DOL says its intention is to have the labour brokering Bill approved by Parliament in either January or February 2010.

I’m way backlogged on posts right now. Here’s a pipsqueak peek of my capulet. (Photo by MTT)

HERE COMES A NEW BLOG POST FROM FFW! I had to write that because around ten o clock this evening, I came to terms with my implacable desire to listen to every single Busta Rhymes (pre-Genesis) album on constant rotation. I know he’s far from the first to do this, but I like whenever Busta starts a song with with, “It’s the new Busta Rhymes single!” I feel the need to declare myself too, maybe because blogging about my daily outfits and pictures of myself and clothes I want to wear and own and have feels just as declarative and self-promoting and narcissistic, if not more so, as when pop stars (don’t worry Busta, you aren’t a pop star, you’ll always be my guilty love) market themselves.

Now that I’ve got that out of my system. There have been so many inspiring blog posts lately that I want to write about so so much, but there’s no time! Like some vintage photographs of Asian-Americans that Catherine recently posted about (which definitely deserves a bigger shout out than I have time for now, not to mention the photographs and accompanying words moved me tremendously and I plan to explain why in a future post,) Gina’s amazing list (her brain is practically my brain’s doppelganger, or vice versa) and a brilliant post over at The Sunday Best that I found to be a savagely funny, completely astute and so-true-it-bruises critique of the rotten egg crud movies targeted at men and why they don’t get as a bad of a rap as ‘chick flicks.’

There’s more, but how can I get anything done when all I do is party & bullshit? My heart will always be soft for Biggie (and his Coogi sweaters) but still, I know I shouldn’t be promulgating his take on ‘party & bullshit’ when the original moment this phrase belongs to is far more beautiful and strange and inspiring.

I’m usually the biggest downer, but how can I not be happy when in the past 24 hours I’ve received:

+ a three sentence email from my oldest best friend friend–who I once wrote, directed, filmed and acted with in a variety show called ‘We’re Just Girls,’ featuring “tragically stupid but beautiful girls” and their “butt ugly but smart” friends–reminding me of the bizarro things we used to love doing together
+ a three sentence email from my friend Sam inviting me to go to Guam with him for five days and take photos for the Tourism Board of Guam
+ a completely out of the blue email from friend with good news about a writing contest I don’t even remember entering & subsequently, I ran around town with the biggest dork grin, even after witnessing this little kid fall down in front of the pizza place downtown, I still couldn’t stop smiling (sorry kid!)
+ an email from my mom with the question, “Guess who [mom or dad] was eating which piece”and this picture:

There’s too much and there’s still my trip to Chicago, and there’s also how lucky I felt to be able to spend Thanksgiving with my cousin (it was her first.) We ate Chinese food and some standard Thanksgiving stuff too. There are over 500 photos to sort out from the visit, and my brain is living in brine slush right now, so here’s my 1920’s inspired beaded dress.

And here’s my cousin, about to have her very first mashed potatoes and turkey.

Does she or does she not look like an adorable kitten about her to have her first sip of milk? She does. Time to dance to Bonde do Role and pretend I’m one of the Supremes before bed.

Love, Jenny

Once more I have decided to revise my old chibi of a super character I’ll most assuredly never get to play or get round to writing anything for: The Shroud.

For the earlier versions, see here. Why do I make these? Dunno.

This isn’t happiness.™ Peter Nidzgorski

Apes, capes, and marriage: the truth of it all.

Found on ffffound.com

Olá!

Este é o meu primeiro post nesse “blog”. Na verdade eu gostaria de fazer um web site mais elaborado, mas como o meu acesso a recursos tecnológicos é pouco, acabei optando por esse blog WordPress. Acho que ele possui ferramentas suficientes para o tipo de informação que eu pretendo disponibilizar.

Bom, neste post vou deixar aqui pra vocês o que o Portal de Periódicos da Capes define como Qualis.

Achei importante postar essa explicação aqui, pois a maioria dos periódicos da área de Agronomia que divulgarei, eu busquei no Qualis, para poder oferecer sempre o melhor conteúdo.

É claro que também buscarei outras fontes periódicas em outras bases de dados, como Ulrich’s, Scielo, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, entre outras, mas com o tempo eu vou explicando a vocês do que se trata.

Espero realmente que este blog seja utilizado por profissionais da área de agronomia, além dos cientistas da informação (bibliotecários e afins).

Então vamos lá.

 SOBRE O PROGRAMA QUALIS

 O Qualis é uma classificação feita pela CAPES dos veículos utilizados pelos programas de pós-graduação para a divulgação da produção intelectual de seus docentes e alunos, cujo objetivo é atender às necessidades específicas da avaliação da pós-graduação realizada por esta agência.

Os periódicos que compõem o Qualis são constituídos por publicações mencionadas anualmente pelos programas de pós-graduação por ocasião do Coleta de Dados da Capes. Quando os dados chegam à Coordenação, são reunidos em uma base de dados os títulos de todos os periódicos e eventos mencionados pelos Programas naquele ano. Portanto, o Qualis é o processo de classificação dos periódicos mencionados pelos próprios programas e não do universo de periódicos ou de eventos de cada área.

A classificação é feita ou coordenada por uma comissão de consultores de cada área e passa por processo anual de atualização. Os veículos de divulgação citados pelos programas de pós-graduação são enquadrados em categorias indicativas da qualidade do veículo utilizado, e, por inferência, do próprio trabalho divulgado.

Conforme deliberação do Conselho Técnico Científico – CTC em 16 e 17/04/2008, a classificação dos periódicos divulgados no Qualis das áreas passou a ser composta de oito estratos, a saber:

• A1,
  o mais elevado.
• A2
• B1
• B2
• B3
• B4
• B5
• C,
  com peso zero.

A atualização do Qualis acontece quando há inclusão de novos veículos, abrangendo: a) novos veículos citados no Coleta de Dados e ainda não classificados; b) veículos outros não citados no Coleta de Dados, mas que a área deseja incluir para compor um cenário mais amplo de publicações de seu campo; c) classificação nos estratos correspondentes de veículos já citados em Coletas anteriores, mas que ainda não foram classificados pela comissão de área.

A reclassificação de periódico no Qualis acontece quando há mudança na categoria em que o veículo foi enquadrado. Deve ser efetuada no primeiro ano de cada triênio de avaliação, exceto nos casos considerados imprescindíveis pela área para a efetivação de correção ou ajuste na classificação por ela anteriormente realizada.

Um mesmo veículo pode ter, para diferentes áreas, diferentes classificações. O princípio utilizado é o de que cada área deve expressar a relevância potencial da divulgação de trabalhos nos veículos incluídos no seu Qualis.

Outras informações, procure a Coordenação de Gestão da Informação (CGI) no e-mail: qualis@capes.gov.br ou pelo telefone: (61) 2022-6454

Fonte: http://www.periodicos.capes.gov.br/

O Portal de Periódicos da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Capes) completou nove anos de existência nesta semana. Responsável por fornecer aos pesquisadores brasileiros acesso às publicações científicas mais recentes, o portal comemora a data com uma nova versão, já disponível para todas as instituições de ensino superior federais. A cerimônia de lançamento aconteceu no dia 11, no edifício-sede da Capes. Durante a solenidade, o presidente da Capes, Jorge Almeida Guimarães, comparou a história da Capes com a produção científica e o Portal de Periódicos como uma importante quebra de paradigma. “Na ciência temos um grande mural, as pessoas vão contribuindo, mas algumas fazem breakthrough. Foi o que Anísio Teixeira realizou com a fundação da Capes, ou o que esta coordenação conseguiu com a criação do portal brasileiro da informação científica”, afirmou.

Guimarães também destacou a parceria da Capes com a Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa (RNP) para a confecção da ferramenta e do novo layout de acesso personalizado que o portal possibilita. “Saltamos para mais de 21 mil títulos e 150 mil livros. Temos coisas extraordinárias, como a enciclopédia britânica que permite ao usuário entrar em museus de todo mundo”, afirmou. Para o presidente, o novo portal não é uma conquista e um desafio somente da Capes. “Não estamos sós nesta empreitada. Estamos com reitores, pesquisadores e toda a comunidade acadêmica e científica”, concluiu.

O diretor de Programas e Bolsas no país, Emídio Cantídio, apresentou algumas das novas ferramentas do portal. Para ele, a reformulação do portal era uma necessidade advinda do enorme crescimento das bases de dados que o portal dá acesso. “Ao crescer tanto o número de revistas e bases, o simples uso como era feito não estava mais conveniente. Foi determinado que buscássemos a modernidade para o portal e agora temos isso em forma de uma nova ferramenta de busca”, afirmou Cantídio, em referência à novidade de se realizar buscas integradas no acervo assinado pela Capes, por meio de uma pesquisa por autor, assunto ou palavra-chave.

A nova versão do Portal de Periódicos já estava disponível para 12 instituições em caráter experimental desde o último mês. A partir do próximo ano, o novo portal estará disponível para outras universidades e institutos que já possuem acesso ao portal. Entre elas, instituições privadas com pós-graduação consolidada e institutos de ciência e tecnologia. Criado em 2000, o Portal de Periódicos da Capes oferece a professores, pesquisadores, funcionários e alunos de 308 instituições de ensino e pesquisa de todo o Brasil o acesso à informação científica atualizada. Estão disponíveis no Portal mais de 21,5 mil títulos com artigos em texto completo, cerca de 150 mil livros, 126 bases referenciais, seis bases de patentes, estatísticas, enciclopédias e normas técnicas.

November 2, 2009

Halloween 2009

First, let me recap a little bit.

As long as I can remember, I always wanted to dress up for Halloween. As a kid, it was pretty easy. This was back in the Ben Cooper era.

A few weeks before the holiday, the candy store down the block would suddenly be filled with stacks and stacks of boxes about the size of cake boxes from the bakery. They were flimsy and had a plastic hole in the front where masks peered out at you. Inside were Ben Cooper Halloween costumes. This is long before anyone realized that if you put a costume in a bag instead of a box you could maximize shelf space and increase sales. (That’s the business spin on Halloween. Any wonder why Bernie Madoff masks were so popular this year?)

Ben Cooper made amazing costumes. One year I dressed up as Frankenstein and I looked just like Frankenstein would have looked had he been wearing a thin plastic overall that tied in the back and had a picture of himself on the front. The Darth Vader costume could have been awesome had it not had the words “Star Wars” plastered across Vader’s chest. And the Ben Cooper Batman costume? Let’s just say that it totally failed to inspire fear in Gotham City’s underworld. I still remember the Mr. Spock costume that had a colorful picture of a hand giving the Vulcan salute on the front of his Starfleet uniform. All these wonderful memories, all those crappy costumes, no wonder Ben Cooper is out of business.

As I got older, all I really needed for a costume was a cape. A black one, with a high collar. Who was I dressing as? Didn’t matter. I was Guy With A Cape. That’s all you ever need. Walk down the street, cape flowing out behind you, that’s cool. More people should wear capes. All year ‘round. I’d wear capes all the time except I have a low tolerance for getting the shit kicked out of me.

Capes were very versatile when I was a kid. Batman wore a cape. Dracula wore a cape. Elvis wore a cape. Captain Kirk wore a cape. He didn’t, you say? He did when I dressed up like him in 1981.

Eventually I got older (at the rate of about a year every 365 days or so) and learned how to drive. This opened up a whole new Halloween era, the Era of Not Getting Invited to Parties. Well, technically I had been living in that era for many years, but now with a car I could find something else to do instead of sitting at home and watching Fat Albert teach Mudfoot Brown to lighten up and come to his Halloween party in the junkyard.

My buddy Marc and I would get in my car on Halloween and drive around listening to Halloween music on the radio. Were we driving to a party? No. Were we picking up other friends? No. We were driving around Brooklyn and Manhattan to see what we could see.

So what did we see?

One year we followed a blimp over the bridge into Manhattan, just bored enough to think it was a UFO.

Another year we solved an age-old dilemma, the building with the big “R” on top, visible from the BQE before the Battery Tunnel. We found the building, but it took a lot of research to discover that the “R” is the only letter left of the old E.J. Trum Playing Cards and Paper Company sign. A lot of research? OK, we asked my Dad. He knew all along.

Then there was The Suicide Dog.

We were driving around Red Hook. Why Red Hook? It was rundown, it was scary, and I was dumb enough not to consider the fact that driving around Red Hook at night was a really stupid thing to do. I drove through an open gate and found myself in the middle of some sort of sanitation complex where it seemed that the city’s definition of sanitation was “dumping brown water into the creek under the Gowanus.” You know, they probably use the same definition today.

Nothing much to see, and of course we were trespassing, so I turned around to get out when the guard dog came rushing out at us. Sure, didn’t make a peep when we rolled in, but trying to get out he came at us. What security. Anyway, the dog rushed out of a building on my right, snarling and snapping, and this is where he got his name, literally jumping under my front driver side tire. The dog, for all intents and purposes, was ready to commit suicide under my front wheel.

I stopped.
The dog stopped.
I creeped ahead.
The dog threw its head under my wheel. What kind of a dog was this? Cujo made more sense.

We eventually got out of there, never moving ahead more than 2 or 3 miles per hour. I was drenched with sweat by the time I got out of the complex.

One year we were driving around Coney Island (always the best on Halloween for me) when we found a beach right outside the Sea Gate fence where the local residents had made a fake graveyard. You know, the kind with tombstones for Frank N. Stein and bad rhymes like “here lies the body of Mary Jones, who was buried with most of her bones” etc. This was OK, but we got out of the car and climbed over the scrub grass and dunes to the actual beach. It wasn’t a beach you’d go sunning on. It was old and dirty, and by that I mean even by Coney Island standards it was dirty. It did have some really cool stuff lying around. There was a broken-down pier that marched into the water. Huge chains, like from ships, were tethered to concrete slabs in the ground. Big rusty metal hatches led into the earth. Wooden planks were half buried in the sand and led off into the scrub. There were broken anchor parts. Once upon a time there must have been some kind of nautical industry there, but now only decaying relics were left.

At low tide we were able to skirt the Sea Gate fence and follow Sea Gate Beach all the way to the lighthouse on the tip of the peninsula.

And that was Halloween. Eventually things changed and no longer did I go on those Halloween drives.

Now flash ahead to 2009. See? I wasn’t lying when I titled this blog Halloween 2009.

All I wanted to do this year was capture just a bit of bygone Halloween with my camera. I wanted to drive up to Dyker Heights and snap the decorated houses there, then I’d get back to that beach after all these years and get pictures of all the cool relics (Marc having deserted me years back by getting married and having a couple of kids. Thanks “pal.”) and have a really nice time of it

It didn’t happen that way. I didn’t even get to wear a cape.

First, Thursday was open school night. That was a bad time to ask another teacher to go with me so I went alone. It was a legitimate excuse for Michelle not to have to give me a phoney excuse not to go, so she really dodged a bullett there.

Secondly, what happened to the Halloween spirit? Almost no houses were decorated. It was really pathetic. I remember when the expensive houses would be filled with carved pumpkins, witches hung out of the trees, vampires peered out of orange-lit windows. Rows and rows of houses, each spookier than the last.

This year sure, a couple of houses had skeletons in the window, but Dyker is also a big Mafia area so who knows if they were decorations or just victims? I bet come December all those houses will suddenly be strewn with tinsel, decorated with bright lights, snowmen, Rudolph, Petey the big-nose elf, and all those other religious icons that celebrate Santa’s birthday on December 25^th. But what about the haunted houses? Witches?  Those inflatable pumpkins that Casper pops out of? Not a single one. OK, maybe one or two. But you just know there’ll be tons of tinsel and sleds soon.

Determined to see some Halloween houses, I drove out to Long Island, which really is a very long island, very aptly if not creatively named. Check it on a map. Staten Island is flaccid compared to Long Island. It is Staten Island after Viagra. But do they decorate anymore than we do here in Brooklyn?

No they do not.

At least the Freeport Haunted Firehouse had clowns out front. Clowns? OK, not mummies, but it was something, and clowns are scary- just ask John Wayne Gacy.

By this point I gave up on the houses. It was getting late and so I figured I’d go back to the beach by Sea Gate. I hadn’t been there since the 90’s. It was about time I got back and took pictures of all the ancient stuff there.

The ancient stuff was not there.

Oh sure, it was there, but it was all buried under ten feet of sand provided by the Army corps of Engineers. Nice.

Back in the 1990’s Coney Island was hit by a series of storms that washed most of the sand into the sea. They eventually replaced all the lost sand and they should have stopped there, but no, this is the government. Remember the old song by the Drifters, “Under the Boardwalk”? It was about some guys who hung out under the boardwalk on Coney Island. It was actually possible, until the mid 90’s, to walk under the boardwalk. Not anymore. The boardwalk used to be elevated high above the beach, now the sand comes right up to the planks. The army just poured sand right up to the top. Too bad for the Drifters. Three of them were still hanging out under the boardwalk and only one made it out alive, the other two being buried under all that sand.

They did the same job to the other side of the peninsula, and all the cool stuff I was dying to photograph after all these years are now under tons of sand. I’ll have to go back with a metal detector and an excavator if I want any shots.

They also seriously compromised the security of Sea Gate.

Sea Gate is a gated community, meaning “hey you, keep out.” (More truthfully, it means, “hey you poor black people, keep out. We are a wealthy white community.”) The fence once extended right out and down the beach and at high tide it was in the water. You could skirt it at low tide, but if you weren’t out when the water came back you’d have to wade around it. Anyway, the fence is nearly buried for most of its length. At its new highest point it rises a majestic sixteen inches out of the sand, a formidable hop for the most brazen of crickets but not any security against the normal burglar. Unless he trips over it or something. And then he might have a lawsuit.

So what did I take out of Halloween 2009?

Nobody plays Halloween music on the radio anymore, though I did hear Godzilla by Blue Oyster Cult. That probably doesn’t count since Q104 plays it all year ‘round.

I still have sand in my car.

With or without a cape, a Ben Cooper costume could not have helped me this year. Alhough the cape could have kept me warm on the beach.

 Appeared in Business Report – November 13, 2009      By SAMANTHA ENSLIN-PAYNE

Big business had not grasped the implications of the debate on labour brokers, which could increase labour costs and legal obligations, Peter Le Roux, an honorary professor in mercantile law at Unisa, warned yesterday.

For business big changes are coming. Le Roux, who will speak on this issue at the LexisNexis labour law seminars this week and next, said: “Many employers do not realise it will impact on them. They think it is an issue just for labour brokers. “But it is in fact a further proposed tightening of labour laws dealing with atypical workers.

” Proposed regulations on labour brokers, that have been discussed at the Nedlac negotiating forum and which might form the basis for amended legislation, mean that firms that use labour brokers could become jointly and severally liable for breaches of contract, unfair dismissals and unfair labour practices relating to employees of labour brokers.

Another proposal is to amend the Employment Equity Act to provide that it can constitute unfair discrimination to pay an employee of a temporary employment service less than employees of a client who do the same work.

Draft legislation is expected to be published early next year. Currently companies that employ staff through labour brokers are not recognised as the employer. Rather, the labour broker is seen as the employer and is primarily responsible for complying with labour legislation.

The Department of Labour does not have the resources to monitor the compliance of many small operators and it expects that enforcement will be easier if client companies are held liable. These companies would also have to ensure that the labour brokers were registered and complying with legislation, such as UIF payments.

The issue has become particularly contentious since Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana called for the banning of labour brokers. Trade union federation Cosatu has been campaigning against the casualisation of labour for several years.

Le Roux said there was a good argument for revisiting the legal regulation of labour brokers as there had been exploitation. Greater regulation was also necessary as there was little doubt that brokers were now used a lot more. Previously a labour broker would be used to employ staff on a strictly temporary basis when a permanent staff member was on maternity or sick leave. But the use of labour brokers is becoming a permanent feature of the labour market. “Its now becoming a cost-cutting measure,” Le Roux said.

This development has been viewed with suspicion on the part of labour. Temporary employment services are seen as contributing to the increase in low-paid jobs, where job security is tenuous at best. “In short, the use of labour brokers is sometimes regarded as a mechanism for exploitation and an obstacle to the goal of the creation of decent jobs,” said le Roux.

The prospect of banning the industry outright is still being thrown about. John Botha, the chief operating officer of the Confederation of Associations in the Private Employment Sector, said the department had given the industry a commitment on the record at Nedlac that it would not be banned. Instead labour broking might be banned in certain sectors, for example farming and domestic work, which were difficult to monitor.

Neren Rau, the chief executive of the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “We will entertain proposals on regulation and equal pay for equal work, but we are completely against a ban on the industry. ” Rau said banning the industry would increase the average cost of employment. The higher cost and the greater difficulty in accessing jobs would increase the number of unemployed people.

Patrick Craven, the Cosatu spokesman, said banning of the industry would not make it more difficult to find work as agencies could still match employers and employees. The difference would be that labour brokers would not be able to employ workers, rather they would be employed directly by the companies where they worked.

I. Love. It.

Via The Fugdams Family.

To tell you about Seth’s Halloween costume I have to take a step back to July for Seth’s birthday party. Which is good because I’ve been having mommy guilt over the fact that I never posted about it. He wanted a superhero birthday party and that’s just what he got. There were only 3 activities, one of which I completely forgot until 2 days later. The thank you gift was part of the 1st activity – superhero dress up. The 2nd activity was a water gun fight, which I have conflicting feelings about. I don’t allow play guns in the house, but somehow can’t say no to water guns on a hot summer day. The 3rd activity, which I forgot to get out, was decorate your own super hero mask. Unfortunately, I had gotten the masks so far in advance I had to hide them because Seth wouldn’t leave them alone. I apparently hid them from myself too. Out of sight, out of mind. The kids didn’t seem to mind. And although it was unseasonably cool and therefore the water guns weren’t used much, they didn’t seem to mind that either. Besides there was cake.

So why did I need to tell you this in order to tell you about Seth’s halloween costume? Well, the dress up portion, of course! Steve and I freezer paper stenciled each child’s first initial onto t-shirts. Honestly, Steve did most of the work with this one. I found cheap t-shirts on sale, each a different color and size. Would have been easier to do all the same color, but the huge size differences in the kids made that impossible.

While Steve was stenciling I was making play silk capes. I kool-aid dyed more silk scarves as before only in a slightly smaller size. Then I made 2 folds on one of the edges and sewed a longer strip of  bias tape to make the collar edge. Love pre-packaged bias tape, all folded and ready for you. I was nervous about the sewing as I always am with sewing but it was a breeze and no-one could tell or would even mind that I can’t sew a straight line. Finally I added a little strip of iron on velcro to the ends of the bias tape. Easy on, easy off and no potential strangulation possibilities – just how I like it. They turned out great, if I do say so myself. And as a bonus they pack down really small for putting away at the end of the day. Or shoving in a corner as the case may be.

This all made for a very colorful backyard of kids.

Seth had no problem picking out his halloween costume this year – a superhero. He was set at least a month if not 2 before and never wavered in his choice. Whenever he was asked what he wanted to be, they always followed with the question “which superhero?” To which Seth gave them an odd look and either ran away or stated defiantly “Super Seth!!” He doesn’t really know a lot of the traditional superheroes, so to him this was a ridiculous question.

I finished off the outfit by dying one of those masks I had set aside to match his cape. And since t-shirts don’t fly in Minnesota at Halloween we added plenty of warmth with long johns, sweats and gloves. Unfortunately, although Seth liked the mask I made him it and wore it on several occasions, he couldn’t bring himself to wear it trick-or-treating. He found his swimming goggles much more appropriate.

Of course, even those didn’t make it the whole evening.

from January 3, 2008

I wore my trench coat the other day. Which was a pretty stupid idea because it was one of the coldest days of the year. (But I’m full of stupid ideas. Remind me to tell you ’bout the time that I thought it would be a good idea to become a teacher.) [HEY! See the parenthesis, apostrophe, brackets, and caps? It's going to be one of THOSE blogs. Stop reading now.] [Don't say I didn't warn you.]

I wore my trench coat the other day. Which was a pretty stupid idea (you may have read somewhere) because it was one of the coldest days of the year. And to make it worse I took out the lining so it was a THIN trench coat on one of the coldest days of the year, which you may have heard was a pretty stupid thing to wear on such a day, i.e.: the coldest day of the year so far. Or “thus far.” Will one of the present and/or (heh heh) past English teachers who allegedly read this blog help me out here? “So” far or “thus” far. I got it: It was one of the coldest days of the year up to that point. (Italics.) That’s how I’ll roll.

I wore my trench coat the other day. Which was a pretty stupid idea (and I am solidly ignoring this sentence fragment which I am typing for the third time) because it was one of the coldest days of the year up to that point. But today was colder. SHIT!

I wore my trench coat the other day. Which was a pretty stupid idea (and I am still solidly ignoring this sentence fragment which I am typing for the fourth time) because it was one of the coldest days of the year up to that point, until today, which was colder.

Where was I? I am confusing myself. And I haven’t even gotten to the point yet. And what are the chances of that happening before my laptop spontaneously bursts into flame to save itself from having to save this crap on its hard drive?

To  recap:

1- I wore my trench coat.

2- I took out the lining.

3- It was cold.

4- But today was colder.

Yada yada trench coat yada I wore the aforementioned black trench coat (and no, I did not afforemention that it was black. And no, “afforemention” is not a verb. I’m trying to start a trend. Remember how “blog slinging” caught on?)  I also wore black (albeit faded) jeans (albeit?) and black (albeit gray) sneakers (albeit again?) and a black t-shirt (no albeit here) and a nice black shirt (albeit it was blue) and carried a black backpack and it occurred to me that I looked just like one of those “trench coat mafia” guys that shoot up schools, and here I was walking into a school, and all I could think of was “damn it is cold. Why did I wear a trench coat (without the lining) on the coldest day of the year? Up to this point. Although it may be colder on another day soon.” 

But I entered the school without a glance toward me and took out my shotgun and it turned out I really was one of those trench coat mafia guys and- [Hold on a sec, I know the government reads everyone's blogs and thermostats. DO NOT send the FBI around to break my legs, I'm kidding. I am a merry funster.]

It was warmer in the building, so it turned out I was glad I took out the lining (on such a cold day, coldest of the year, up to that point, etc etc) so I could walk around for a while with the coat billowing out behind me.

I’ve gone on record about capes. Love ‘em! (Apostrophe again.) But as I’ve said before, unless you are the late Godfather of Soul James Brown or in drag as Supergirl there is no excuse for wearing a cape. And I am not the late Mr. Brown come back to life, and white, nor am I going to risk an assault by dressing as Supergirl (though I do have the legs for it) so wearing a long trench coat is the closest I can come to legally wearing a cape and pretending to be a superhero.

So, as I said, and if I didn’t repeat myself this blog would have been finished last week, I walked around for a while with the coat billowing out behind me. It was sooooo cool. Unless you were not me and just one of the people in the halls who saw me and thought I was sooooo uncool.  (I was told I looked very gothic, which just proves that people still dig Goths, but who cares she’s cute.) 

In fact, I wanted to keep the black trench coat on all day. Which would have looked silly (but soooo cool) but for the annoying fact that it was actually warm in my room. Who expected a warm room in Lafayette? So, take a guess, what do you think I did? Think carefully now! What did I do? What did I do? Hmmmm?

I took it off, that’s what I did. I was warm. And what fool (me?) wouldn’t take off his coat when it is warm? Even a very cool black gothic-looking trench coat (which had picked up some dust on the bottom, it being so long) without the lining? On the coldest day of the year so far up to that point, etc, in a warm room, though today was both colder outside and warmer inside my room.

This blog is why I get headaches so often.

So I took the coat off, but when I went outside my room, guess what I did? What did I do? What did I do? Hmmmm? I didn’t put it on. Why would you guess that? That would just be silly. And I may be stupid (often) [Hey!] but I am not silly. But it would have been cool, striding the halls, casting a fearsome shadow, cutting a dashing figure, using more descriptive phrases than usual, looking for all the world like a member of the trench coat mafia [Just kidding, FBI! Merry funster and all that.] and just generally being cool as Hell. (A- I am capitalizing Hell, even though I often don’t. B- Why is Hell cool? Shouldn’t Hell be hot? Is this a mixed metaphor thingy? Nah, I am using cool in a totally different sense than temperature. You should have known that. Why do I have to tell you these things?)

But when I left the building I put it on again and damn if it wasn’t still sooooo cool. But it was the coldest [shut up!] and I was freezing my coolness off, not to mention my ass, and I got in the car and pulled out of the laundry bag a big heavy sweater which I wrapped around my trench coat while I sat and shivered until the car warmed up. (Yes, I was going to do the laundry, and damn if I wasn’t the coolest cat in the place.) (“Coolest cat?” Who am I, Sammy Davis Jr. here?)

Well, I love my trench coat. I wonder if it loves me? (Oh my God. That is so lame. ) [So why didn't I just delete it?] Anywho, or how, anyhow, I put my trench coat away, after brushing the dust off the bottom, and there it awaits until the temperature rises and I once again decide the need to feel pretty. I mean cool. Cool. Until I feel the need to be cool.

Info à destination des étudiants en CAPES espagnol :

Grâce à Canal-U, la vidéothèque numérique de l’enseignement supérieur, vous pouvez découvrir en ligne une conférence de Frédéric Bonnaud, journaliste et critique de cinéma, sur l’œuvre et la vie de Luis Buñuel (repères biographiques, films clés, contexte de production, thèmes et motifs privilégiés, extraits de films…).

Cette conférence s’est tenue le 10 juin dernier à la Cinémathèque française.

CLIQUEZ ICI.

from January 3, 2007

It is very interesting to me, and I’m the one who counts, that I can carry on epic email conversations with people that I see every day. If I’m not doing anything else and I’m on the computer, which is always, I can send umpteen bamillion emails, and I never let anything end because, let’s face it, I’m fascinating on the email, in person not so much. The real interesting part is that these massive electronic communiqués (HA! Take that!) are not, at all, ever referred to in any real, verbal, conversations that I may have in person, face to face, with the person to whom (proper use of “whom”- 5 points!) I am speaking. [And this is where I take a 90-degree turn and shift topic. Sit back and enjoy.] Go back and reread that last sentence. I’ll wait..………… Done? OK. I don’t talk like that. Yet I write like that.  I’m writing this more or less on the fly, composed in my head as I type, unedited. I wonder what an editor would do to this? First, the parenthetical asides (See? I am a writer. “Parenthetical asides” indeed. Sometimes I make myself sick with my smug intelligence.) would go. (Don’t you hate it when the aforementioned “parenthetical asides” are longer than the sentences they are interrupting? Here is the same sentence sans parentheses: First, (and should that be “firstly”? Ah crap, now I have to start over.) First, the parenthetical asides would go. Second(ly?) there are six(!) commas and about a thousand or so clauses in there. (Yet not one sanity clause. (“You can’t fool me. There’s no such thing as Santy Claus,” My first Chico Marx reference!)) Go back and check- that double parentheses is not a typo, though technically I should have used brackets inside the parenthesis. But who gives a fuck? Oh- I need to close the original parentheses here.) Done. This is like the second time I’ve had fun with parentheses in a blog. Go back and check. And yes, this is fun to me. And no, I refuse to break paragraphs here. This is a stream-of-consciousness deal here, so live with it. You only read this, but this ACTUALLY GOES ON IN MY HEAD. [And this is where I return to the original topic. You may need to reread the first few lines. It is all very confusing.] As I was saying, my conversations at work with real people are totally separate from the email conversations I have with the same people. Frankly, this is all I have to say about that. Let’s change topics again. Let’s talk about the death of James Brown. This was a very sad event. It was the end of an era. James Brown was, you see, perhaps the last man who could legitimately wear a cape. No one wears capes anymore. I don’t mean like superheroes. I mean real people. The fat Elvis wore capes; silly sequined ones, but capes nonetheless. Old British nannies wore capes, as did old British cops. Frank Costanza’s lawyer wore one. (And there I go violating the “real people rule,” but I love that episode and it was Larry David in the cape, and it ended with the line “Who are you?” “I’m Frank Costanza’s lawyer” so I’ll break the damn rule.) The movie star to whom all others are compared, and all others fall short, Bela Lugosi, wore a cape. He was buried in a cape! Tell me that’s not cool. So when James Brown died a certain era, a certain way of life, died with him. Like Frank Sinatra (Senior, not Junior- and who else laughed at my “Frank Sinatras Junior and Senior” joke in my last bulletin? Oh, only me.) Like Frank Sinatra before him (ignore the sentence fragment) Like Frank Sinatra before him, James Brown was the epitome of a certain, not just style, but way of living. Sinatra had that tough guy, macho, beat-up-the-commies swagger of the 1950’s and James Brown had something similar I’m sure but he had a cape too, damn it. Who else today can wear a cape? (I would have said Gerald Ford, had he not died. And now I’m using him as a mediocre joke in a James Brown gag. How sad. For me, not him.) Think about it. Would Tom Hanks wear a cape? Would Sir Ian McKellan wear a cape? Would Ludacris wear a cape? I think not, sir. (Say that in an offended upper class British accent for the full effect. Perhaps something out of Python.) So with James Brown goes the end of the cape era. But one question remains- what the hell should I do with all my capes? I have like a closet full of them and I don’t want to look like an idiot. I’m not going to wear them in public. People will think I’m mocking James Brown.

Today when heading into Harper Library I saw what was undoubtedly the best outfit cruising campus this week.  A combination of a fur cape, uber-skinny jeans, and lace-up boots gave Emma a super-chic but sort of gritty look that distinctly separated her from the other women around her.  Here Emma is New York model cool (a somewhat unusual quality on the UofC campus) thanks to the way she blends a variety of styles- vintage, thrift, high end, retro, hipster, boho- and retailers- Phillip Lim, Unique Thrift Store, NYC street vendor, H&M- to create something layered and intriguing.

Emma: fur cape (Unique Thrift Store), leather jacket (vintage), belt (taken off a Phillip Lim dress), black skinny jeans (Cheap Monday), lace up booties (E-Bay), black fingerless gloves, Gothic ring (NYC street vendor), bag (Foley & Corinna, not visible).

Emma's intricate Indian hair piece, which she found on E-Bay

Erin, Kelli, and I recently reprised our roles as hostesses and held our first major party of the new school year.  This, however, was not just any party, but was in fact the greatest shindig we’ve pulled off to date.  We called it “the Fonduesquerade,” a melding of the words “fondue” and “masquerade.”  We appropriately served chocolate and cheese fondue to our guests, who were dressed, as requested, in masks of various kinds.  It was entirely awesome and confirmed that our friends (both old and new) are more than willing to play along with silly themes and the hope of mystery.

Although masks were the only requirement to attend the party, not a single person showed up in clothing that wasn’t seriously elegant and creative.  While Gareth, Topher, and Katie China might win the “I Look Too Cool for School (and Thus Have Come to the Fonduesquerade)” Contest, Erin, Kelli, and I are seriously proud of how dashing and beautiful all our friends looked!

Here you have some photos of our particularly well-dressed guests.  Unfortunately, I got so caught up in the style of all our visitors that I failed to get any good shots of the three of us.  Just know that we were ravishing!  I wore my bridesmaid’s dress from my brother’s wedding (his wife had the enviable good sense to choose hot dresses that we can actually wear again) and the jewelry that the bridesmaids were given.  Kelli and Erin each rocked their own LBD’s, Erin’s with a lacy top underneath and Kelli’s with some majorly sexy tights.

Our friend Phil, a badass Sri Lanka expert, traded out his hoodie and jeans and rocked a suit and tie for the Fondeusquerade. Who wouldn't want this guy to be her professor?!

Josh's awesome sister, Hannah, in her super cute bubble hem coat and black dress holding a swank black clutch. If Hannah didn't live in Philly she'd be a sartoriography regular!

Josh Milstein borrowed Elsa's rhinestoned cloche and went way glam

Tragedy, Comedy, and Creepy Bird: Sean, Erin, and Gareth make use of our extra masks.

Brett looks creepy and awesome in his homemade mask and pinstripe suit. I look very strange and (hopefully) old school with my red lipstick.

First year MA Topher in his black tie get-up: black vest, white button up, black tie, top hat, and dapper fake 'stache.

Gareth may have won the contest for best Fonduesquerade costume. He wore black pants, a white button up, and a black cape (which he MADE!) and carried a black staff. Anyone else in love with Gareth? The ladies of the 656 sure are!

Katie China in her elegant pose and elegant clothes: black satin sheath dress, black wrap, vintage black leather gloves, (not visible but) extremely sexy shoes, and a glass of delicious red wine. Who could be more Fonduesquerade appropriate than this lovely lady?

Erin, Kelli, Emily, and Katie China looking black tie hot.

Here we are, the 656 gals in our masks.

More than 80 business leaders gathered at Swan Rest in Centurion to learn more about the current events in the recruitment industry at a breakfast seminar hosted by Charisma Health Care Solutions.  The aim of this highly informative session was to provide members of hospital management teams with more clarity on the important of temporary employment services and its potential impact on agency nursing staff.

John Botha, the COO of the Confederation of Associations in the Private Employment Sector (CAPES) provided delegates with a detailed overview of the current status of the industry.  During his presentation he outlined the considerable contribution the industry makes to the economy of South Africa as well as the path to decent work.

The second speaker, Natalie Fraser who is the operations executive for the Association of Personnel Service Organisations (APSO) addressed the group on the importance and benefits of partnering with recruitment companies who are members of an association.  She highlighted the importance of working with credible approved suppliers.

As the final speaker of the day, Henriette van Twisk, general manager for the newly established Employment Services Certification Institute (ESCI), guided the group through the proposed activities to set up a professional body for the recruitment industry to allow members to achieve professional designations and maintain their knowledge with continuous professional development opportunities.

She pointed out that the benefits for business of working with a licensed labour recruitment professional  provided business with the assurance that the advice, products and services a practitioner offers are compliant and current.

“This means that the rights of all stakeholders are protected, costly errors that could result in legal proceedings are avoided and expert knowledge is a value-add in the business relationship”, she said.