Well said Mr Griffin, give the man a round of applause.  No doubt the papers have more important things to write about than this though, things like Katie “Jordan” Price and the Jedward saga.

Many thanks to xrw5000x for uploading.

Also found this little snippet from Mr Andrew Brons.  It isn’t what he said that is important but the reactions to it.  The European Council looks more like the Cosa Nostra everyday.

Many thanks to simonben for uploading.

Nationalistic MEPs are the bravest of the brave, heading into an organisation whose only ambition is Total European Domination.  And one last thing, do the European Council answer any of the questions put to them?  I only ask as I’ve yet to see one.

Dear Mr Mowshowitz,

Thank you for taking the time to write to Mary Honeyball MEP.
The issue of Peak Oil is one which rightly will affect the future of the
developed and industrialised nations of the world.
It is part of the debate on the climate changes that are increasingly seen
to be the result of usage of fossil fuels.
We are seeing a series of engagements at national and international level
and increasing commitments to deal with the results of expanding
industrialisation.
Your MEP will be alert to the proposals and developments in this area and
thanks you again for sharing your views with her.

Yours truly

Colin Ellar
Casework assistant

C’est ici et c’est en anglais mais c’est gratuit. Peut-être qu’un jour la MEP fera aussi correctement son travail que l’ICP aux États-Unis et aura un site web digne de ce nom avec du vrai contenu.

Following the news that Nick Griffin will be standing against culture minister Margaret Hodge to be MP for Barking, the BNP have kicked off their General Election campaign. The typically grandiose and self-important annocement that “BNP raises the battle standard” invites several observations.

First, and most glaring, is the fact that the party (and Griffin) don’t stand for who they claim to. On the party website, the link to Griffin’s constituency website has disappeared, with it the claim that the party leader was ever “standing up for the North West.” The occasional story about the plight of a bird sanctuary or a wind farm having long given way to a much broader level of propaganda which marginalises those he is claiming to represent.

The use of Honduran sweatshops to produce BNP merchandise, when the North West has 38,000 textile workers, has also yet to be addressed by the MEP claiming to stand for “British jobs for British workers.”

Nick Griffin's claims to represent the working people of the North West, or anywhere else, have been exposed as a cash-grabbing lie

Thus, the fact that Griffin is abandoning his constituency in an attempt to become the party’s first Westminster MP should come as no surprise. No doubt “standing up for Great Britain,” the slogan of the party’s Obama-lite website revamp, will turn out to be equally fatuous. Indeed, there are already hints that a BNP MP will be as expenses-hungry as any other, with Griffin having already used members’ money to extend his home in 2001 and his expenses as an MEP being used to pay the salaries of almost the entire national party.

The cash-grabbing shows no signs of letting up, either, with yet another BNP begging letter accompanying the announcement of the election campaign. The format is the familiar one of glory-invoking language intertwined with constant pleas for more money;

The establishment are so terrified of a BNP victory they have tried to finish us off through membership freezes, huge legal costs and constant media attacks. That’s why your financial support is not only appreciated, IT IS ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL TO OUR ELECTION CAMPAIGN AND OUR SUCCESS!

WE MUST, FOR OUR CHILDREN’S SAKE, SEIZE THIS GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY WITH BOTH HANDS AND SHOW THE WORLD WHAT REAL BRITS CAN ACHIEVE AGAINST THE ODDS. WE HAVE DONE THIS TIME AND TIME AGAIN THROUGH OUR PROUD HISTORY – ITS TIME WE DID IT AGAIN!

For the last couple of days, the media has been awash with publicity over my decision to stand in the constituency of Barking in the forthcoming General Election. This has terrified the opposition, because Barking was our best result in 2005. The BNP, once again, is not fighting this election to gain decent votes in certain areas – WE ARE FIGHTING TO WIN, AND I WANT YOU BY MY SIDE!

The BNP claim to stand up for the working class of Britain, but are clearly only interested in feathering their own nests and clutching for power. The BNP’s puppet union, Solidarity*, campaigns for the right of workers to be BNP members and little else. Industrial disputes which cannot be linked back to race and immigration are ignored entirely by the party. And the BNP, of course, views all workers willing to stand up for their rights (unless against foreigners) as “anti-British Communists.”

As Andrew Gilligan points out in the Telegraph, “the BNP will be hindered in both Barking and in Dagenham by the general expectation that the Tories will win nationally, which usually tends to depress the far Right vote.” Indeed, it was Thatcher’s call for a “clear end to immigration” that siphoned support to the Tories from the National Front.

But antifascists should not be complacent for this kind of “victory.” Rather than let one anti-worker party draw support from a more fascist anti-worker party, we need to be active on the streets, campaigning for working class unity against fascism. Indeed, what Gilligan calls “the BNP’s legendary capacity for unforced error” has aleady offered us plenty of ammunition.

This months RUG meeting proved to be a long awaited discussion that even more familiar users learned something from.  The topics covered a wide range of information starting with System Requirements/CPU specifications, Design Options, and Demolition processes.  Of course next month is also the RUGDM’s one year anniversary.  Nothing is planned at this moment to celebrate the annual accomplishment, but if you have any ideas feel free to contact us.  So lets highlight some of the discussions of the evening.

Design Options is a handy tool provided in Revit that many users feel intimidated about and never take the necessary time to fully understand.  Sometimes even a forgotten tool, Design Options is exactly as it states – a tool to provide options during the design process.  This is important to keep in mind as many users go above and beyond the intentions of what the tool was meant for, even treading into areas that other Revit tools cover.  Here are highlights covered in the meeting:

• To best utilize Design Options in Worksets, use various Design Option Sets.  This will allow multiple users to work on the same project areas utilizing Design Options.
• Annotation and Tags cannot be added to Design Options, only the components.  But this doesn’t mean you can’t tag within a Design Option.
• Duplicate views for each option and set it’s visibility graphics to always display the corresponding option.
• Use Pick to Edit to quickly modify a Design Option.

Demolition graphic representation ended our conversations for the evening.  As noticed by many users, truly showing the demolition and new construction building process requires a workaround within the Revit program.  Unfortunately Revit does not display wall demolition of components placed in New Construction, so how does one display such a thing since this information would need communicated in a set of plans?  Many possibilities were discussed, and this is of course based on what makes sense to you and effective for your practice.

• Create a Wall Opening family containing information about demolition processes.
• Place this opening in the Demolition phase of a project displaying the appropriate demolition of a particular wall to match that of a New Construction component.
• Go to the Demolition family properties and  indicate it to be demolished in the New Construction phase.
• Now place whatever component in the New Construction phase.

Also, feel free to send any suggestions to RUGDM about how to improve our meetings for the future.  We’re dedicated to trying to bring the latest and most important information to our members to ensure everyone can benefit from these meetings.  With coming up on a year next month, we would like to reflect back to past meetings and identify what has worked, what hasn’t, is there something else you would like to see or continue to see.  Thanks again for all who continue to attend, and look forward to seeing you all next month.

Speaking of next month, this will be a meeting you don’t want to miss.  Not only are we covering one of the most talked about technologytopics in our industry, but we’ll have one of the most coveted, proven speakers to bring you this information.  I’m sure you’ve all heard about the AIA E202-2008 documentation.  This document lays the framework for project development BIM management expectations.  So if this sparks your interest make sure you stop by on December 10th for our one year RUGDM meeting.

Since it’s been a week without news I decided to give you a brief update of what is going on in my life and what happened in the last seven days. Amit, a friend from the UK came to visit us and spent 5 days in Paris. I didn’t get much time to work or carry on my artistic study but nevertheless I have been inspired by an exhibition I saw at the MEP; Delpire & Cie.

I would strongly recommend to go and see it since it obviously covers a lot of the photography history and masters of it as well as children illustration. Unsurprisingly there were also a few pieces of Sarah Moon (her Cacharel work as well as some of her work based on children tales), I discovered her a while ago, but like for Francesca Woodman it stroke me differently this time…

© Sarah Moon

Now Amit left this afternoon, so tomorrow I will get out the five books we have of her and start studying in more depth her work… I also got an excellent book from the Merle Moqueur (the art bookshop of the 104) about art and feminism that I intend to dig in the next few days… I don’t know where these searches will lead me, if anywhere, I will keep updating this space so it might turn into an artistic approach/process/search/quest diary.

Roger Helmer looking every bit the svelte English warrior (left)

David Cameron has been urged to sack MEP for the East Midlands Roger Helmer after he resigned his position as the party’s spokesman for Employment in the European Parliament, after criticising the current Conservative policy on Europe as ‘confused’ and ‘cosmetic’.Inteesting, dear Rog has got himself in a right pickle over Monsieur Cameron’s refusal to call a referendum on the Lisbon treaty. What does this tell us? For one Roger is clearly about as Euro-sceptic as they come and was planning on taking the EU down from the inside and secondly he puts his values above those of the party, something which (although I don’t agree with his stance on th issue) I have to give him respect for.

At least it’s not just me that Roger Helmer MEP is annoying, the whole of the Conservative party (bar a few other rebels) seem to be fairly cheesed off and where he goes from here (probably back home to Blighty!)who knows but I will certainly keep my eyes and ears open and strangely I would like to meet him even more now.

Are we losing the art of medicine as science advances? That is an interesting question. One of the challenges we constantly face in delivering clinically compassionate care is to continue to insure that appropriately skilled people are performing critical jobs. Just as important is to continue remove the non – essential tasks from those critical individuals so they may focus on the patients we serve. Some people use different business processes such as Six Sigma or LEAN to constantly evaluate job functions and make them more efficient. Reducing wasted effort and steps is hailed as the key to making the difference in efficiently (and profitably) delivering a product or service in the marketplace.

I am part of a CEO group thorough my membership in Vistage. It is a group of business CEOs from disparate industries who meet once a month to discuss business challenges and share ideas on how to improve our businesses and live more productive lives. My group is always amused when I tell them the more technology we add to medicine, in the form of EMRs (electronic medical records), the more Inefficient I have become as the provider. I am reduced to a computer data entry operator as I input clinical information or search for patient results from lab and x-ray so I can make decisions on patient dispositions. This occurs while patients continue to stack up and wait for me, and my fellow providers, to continue to receive care. The same can be said for the nursing staff as they have become computer “slaves” tied to the COWS (computers on wheels) to input more and more data, which takes them further and further away from direct patient care.

Of course the march of technology will continue and it has led to stunning advancements in medicine as well as hospital productivity. Numerous examples exist such as digitized radiology systems and electronic medical records available at the touch of a button. The ability for me to perform a simple bedside exam with a portable sonogram machine to diagnose a rupturing abdominal aortic aneurysm was unheard of 10 years ago and does dramatically impact patient care. There is a constant balancing of the “art” and “science” of medicine.

The solution in this high tech world – add more people to the equation! I know it makes no sense that the more technology we infuse the more people we need to carry out some tasks but for our group it does makes sense. Over the last several months we have begun the use of medical “scribes” at Washington County Hospital in Hagerstown, MD. Scribes are individuals who are attached to the doctor’s hip and record the patient encounter, enter the information into the computer, search and track results and alert me when all the information has returned so that I may make a final disposition on a patient.

In my personal experience it has made me 20-25% more efficient (as measure by patients I treat per hour) then before I had a scribe. This is also the typical increase (20%) in productivity that has been seen by Scribe America. (MEP has engaged Scribe America to provide service in all of our locations.) Scribes are not for everyone and I can’t help but think that they will be a viable solution to groups that are searching to improve provider productivity. This is especially true when you are faced with the additional challenges of being unable to add more staffing due to recruitment challenges or financial considerations.

One of the most unexpected benefits of a scribe, for me, has been the ability to be completely focused on the patient during my history and physical exam. I do not need to constantly change the focus from the patient to the piece of paper on my lap to furiously write down all the essential documentation elements so the chart can be appropriately coded, and I can be appropriately paid, for the work I do. I can sit next to the patient and just talk for an uninterrupted few minutes while we have a conversation about why they are here. Perhaps some of the art of medicine may be re-found because of the person sitting over my shoulder or across the bed capturing the critical elements of the patient – doctor exchange.

The art versus science is an interesting contrast. Sometimes it is at odds and often competing for resources in our world of health care. I don’t know the answer but what I do know is that we are going to have to explore new efficient ways to provide care while simultaneously finding way to improve the human component of how that care is delivered. As the use of technology expands and becomes yet more integrated into the patient experience those most successful will be the individuals and organizations who learn how to elevate the human element while the march of new technology continues in the background of the care we provide.

Tory MEP resigns frontbench
Conservative East Midlands MEP Roger Helmer has resigned from the frontbench of the European Parliament after David Cameron ruled out a referendum. The Tory leader said a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty was now pointless but promised a sovereignty law in an attempt to limit EU influence if he wins power. Mr Helmer, who being an MEP knows Cameron’s words are meaningless, criticised the move as “cosmetic” and said he could not support the policy. Mr Helmer has been an outspoken critic of the EU since being elected in 1999 said: “What we have is an essentially cosmetic policy. We are installing a largely ineffective burglar alarm when the family silver has already been stolen. I can neither justify nor support our new EU policy. In these circumstances, I have concluded that I can no longer continue to serve as a spokesman for the delegation. I have accordingly resigned both my spokesmanships with immediate effect.” It is a wonder why Mr Helmer has stuck with a party whose policy on the EU is so at odds with his own. 

Ghost Town
A housing estate of more than 100 homes in Northampton is standing empty because of a dispute between developers and a housing association. Some families claim they have been set to move into the Bridleways development near Rectory Farm since the summer of 2008. A sizeable proportion of the estate is earmarked for social housing. But a row, thought to centre on who is liable for the roads on the estate, means the Genesis Homes Housing Association will not let residents set up home. Most roads are ‘adopted’ by Northamptonshire County Council, which assumes responsibility for repairs, however, the majority of the roads at Bridleways are in such a poor state that neither the local authority nor Genesis will take ownership. Roger Kingston, leader of Northants Residents’ Alliance, which has fought plans to build 62,000 more houses across Northampton, said: “It’s a disgrace. Planners would have you believe there’s a great shortage of housing in Northampton. But there are plenty of developments like these, and at the old Princess Marina Hospital site, that are empty. I hope they think about those before they allow the digging up of more greenfield sites. Between greed and speed we keep getting ourselves in a terrible mess.”

Snouts in the Trough
MPs in North Northamptonshire could find themselves thousands of pounds worse off if all of Sir Christopher Kelly’s recommendations on expenses are implemented. He has called for an end to mortgage claims on second homes, limiting expense claims to utility bills and phone bills and ending the practice of employing members’ families among a range of far-reaching proposals. The proposals will now go before the newly created Independent Standards Authority for ratification. Wellingborough and Rushden MP Peter Bone claimed £15,600 in mortgage payments on his second home in London, he also employs his wife, Jennie, as part of his administrative support team, for which he claimed a total of £13,714. It was not clear how much he paid his wife. Under Sir Christopher’s recommendations, he would no also longer be able to claim the £5,100 in food and other allowances, submitted without receipts, amounting to around £400 every month of the year. Corby and East Northants MP Phil Hope, who hit the national headlines after he had claimed £41,000 over five years, would also not be eligible to claim back significant amounts of money. His mortgage claims on his second home in 2007-8 amounted to £1,784.40. He also claimed £3,400 for food and other items, which would now be subject to needing full receipts. And he claimed £1,060 for cleaning, which would now be banned, as would the £10,653 claimed for his furniture and redecoration costs. Kettering MP Philip Hollobone claimed £21,954 on his second home mortgage, but he made no other claims that would now be inappropriate.

Yes, you read that right. Today saw the final ratification in the Czech Republic for the Lisbon treaty. It came after the Czech Constitutional Court ruled that it was in accordance with their laws. This was the final step needed, and now all 27 countries have ratified it. So, as of December 1st (the first of the month after the final ratification), it becomes law.

For the Pirate Party, this is a good thing. It means that the number of MEPs Sweden can send is increased from 18 to 20, and one of the recipients is the Piratpartiet, in the shape of Amelia Andersdotter.

Amelia is a 22yo student from Lund, and a hardworking and conscientious individual. I’ve had the pleasure of working and talking with her a lot over the last year or so, and her enthusiasm is second to none. She also focuses more on the ‘forgotten’ platforms of the Pirate Party, including privacy and surveillance.

As a side note, she will also be the youngest MEP ever. No old-boy networks, or pre-existing cronies to compromise her in that respect. Personally, I wish her well, and all the success she can hope for. And, in keeping with the misogyny of politics, let just say, that neither Cameron’s Cuties, or Blairs Babes have anything on the Pirate Princesses.

La Société française de photographie vient de publier son programme des conférences de  2009-2010 (ici) :

Par Julie Jones, mardi 3 novembre 2009 à 15:27

Chaque année, la Société française de photographie organise des entretiens publics les premiers mercredis du mois dans l’auditorium de la Maison européenne de la photographie, à 18h. (5-7 rue de Fourcy 75004 Paris, entrée libre et gratuite, sans réservation.)

via Programme des conférences de la Société française de photographie 2009-2010 – ViteVu.

C’est entendu, Robert Delpire est un grand monsieur de la photographie et de l’édition, nous l’avions compris à Arles cet été (billets ici et là).

L’exposition de la MEP (ici et 5/7 rue de Fourcy), récemment inaugurée, consacrée à cet éditeur et ancien directeur du centre national de la photographie qu’il contribua à fonder est une extension de celle d’Arles. En clair, si vous avez déjà vu Arles, il n’est vraiment pas indispensable d’aller à la MEP: en ce qui concerne, j’ai visité au pas de course. Pour les autres, l’exposition n’est peut-être pas totalement inutile, et je pense notamment au public adulte peu familier de la photographie mais aussi aux ados et aux enfants.

Au sous-sol, vous avez droit essentiellement au volet publicitaire, sponsorisé par Cacharel et Citröen, comme à Arles avec des illustrations vidéos. Pour le reste, l’essentiel de l’accrochage est consacré aux livres, complété de photographies mais sans réel fil conducteur: si les salles sont bien axées sur des thématiques, les photographies forment plutôt un pot-pourri. Néanmoins, parmi les auteurs les mieux représentés, on citera Cartier-Bresson et Koudelka ainsi que Sarah Moon.

Ce sera pour les moins connaisseurs l’occasion d’apprécier quelques tirages hyper connus comme le saut au-dessus de la flaque de Cartier-Bresson (billet ici) ou la fameuse voiture déformée de Lartigue (billet ici).

C’est jusqu’au 24 janvier 2010.

L’agence Magnum dispose depuis 2007 d’une galerie, au 19 rue Hégésippe-Moreau, à Montmartre, au sein même de l’agence mais son accès, voire son existence, reste assez confidentiel.

A priori, ParisPhoto 2009 sera l’occasion de lancer, le 20 novembre 2009,  un nouvel espace au 13 rue de l’Abbaye dans le quartier Saint Germain des Prés. L’opération est bien montée puisque non seulement cela coïncide quasiment avec l’anniversaire de la première galerie mais que de plus le lieu n’est autre que celui investi auparavant par Robert Delpire, invité d’honneur à Arles il y a trois mois et à nouveau à l’honneur à la MEP dans quelques jours (vernissage mardi prochain, dans deux jours).

La galerie sera plus visible que l’ancienne qui continuera toutefois son activité autour de deux expositions annuelles: du 12 novembre 2009 au 29 janvier 2010 elle exposera ainsi des photographies de Inge Morath.

La nouvelle galerie offrira plusieurs programmes simultanés d’exposition en renouvellement permanent s’adressant à tous les budgets (de 1 000 à 10 000 euros) en provenance tant du fond historique que de la production récente des auteurs de Magnum. Le programme d’inauguration, “Demain / Hier” mettra en avant les nouveaux venus chez Magnum.

Cet article s’appuie en partie sur l’article de Artknowledgenews.