MULAN, WESTERN AUSTRALIA — Under a draft plan of the Australian Federal Government’s “mutual obligation” agreements, members of the Aboriginal community Mulan in Western Australia will be obliged to ensure that homes and yards are clean, students attend school, rubbish bins are emptied twice a week and that children undertake frequent facewashing.
As a “quid pro quo” the community will receive $172,000 AUD in federal funding for petrol bowsers and fuel stations, while the Western Australian Government will provide regular testing for skin infections, worm infestations and the eye condition trachoma, which is widespread in Mulan.
Community administrator Mark Sewell approached Wayne Gibbons, a former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission chief executive, to initate an agreement four months, once it became clear that the face-washing program at the Mulan Catholic school was having a positive effect. The program, which has been running for eighteen months, has reduced the levels of trachoma among students from 80% to 16%.
Presently, the residents of Mulan must drive 44km to the nearby community of Balgo for fuel.
Acting race discrimination commissioner, Tom Calma, has approved the deal, despite concerns from members of the Mulan community. Aboriginal lawyer and land rights activist Michael Mansell claimed that placing conditions on funding is unlawful and unenforceable. The government proposal has been widely labelled as ‘humiliating’ to the community.
This article mentions the Wikimedia Foundation, one of its projects, or people related to it. Wikinews is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Senator Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas
Sam Brownback is perplexed. The U.S. Senator from Kansas and Presidential candidate is a Republican whose politics—he is against marriage for gay people, he is against abortion, and he has a clean image in a party tainted by scandal—should speak favorably to the party’s base. But it has not. “I’m baffled by that myself,” Senator Brownback told Wikinews reporter David Shankbone. “We haven’t been able to raise money.”
A recent poll in Iowa has put him in eighth place, with 2% supporting his campaign. “If we don’t finish fourth or better in Iowa…we’ll pull out.”
Senator Brownback’s relationship with God infuses almost every answer you find below. Although he doesn’t feel “competent” to explain why God would dislike gays, he does feel strongly that allowing two men or two women to enter into the union of marriage will destroy it for heterosexuals. Pointing to the research of Stanley Kurtz at the Hoover Institution, Brownback asserts that Northern Europeans have “taken the sacredness out of the institution.”
In the interview, Senator Brownback discusses the tug-and-pull that befalls him when his constituents show up at his office and say, “Look, I’m a conservative, but we need this bridge, we need this subsidy, we need this hospital.” Brownback feels this spending system needs to be changed; however, when it comes to energy policy, Brownback is there for his constituents. David Shankbone asked the Kansas Senator, a supporter of cellulosic ethanol, why he doesn’t support the lowering of tariffs on sugar since sugar ethanol delivers 8 times the energy output of cellulosic ethanol. Brazil, in particular, has become energy independent because of its sugar ethanol program. It’s cheaper to produce, and there is vastly more bang for the buck in sugar fuel than in corn fuel; an entire country no longer needs to import oil because of it. Federal tariffs currently make sugar ethanol too expensive in the United States. “You’re going to kill the ethanol industry here just as it gets going,” was Senator Brownback’s response. However, there is a debate over whether the process to make corn ethanol uses more energy than the ethanol itself produces.
Below is David Shankbone’s interview with Senator Sam Brownback.
Contents
1 On running in and possibly leaving the Presidential race
2 On the role of religion in the Presidential race
7 Highly Effective Habits that Make a Successful CEO
by
Tom Bordon
1.Learn and implement the art of differentiation
Differentiation or positioning has emerged as one of the most important aspects of an entrepreneurs marketing strategy. According to some business experts, differentiation can make or break the success of your product or service in the market, especially for small business owners, start-ups and entrepreneurs. If you can get the differentiation strategy right, you can set your business apart from the crowd. According to business experts, the parameters on which you can develop your differentiation strategy are the following: — Quality — Service — Price — Perceived Value — Durability — Convenience — Warranty — Financing — Range of Products/Services Offered — Accessibility — Production Method(s) — Reliability — Familiarity — Credentialing Make sure to communicate to your customer your differentiation and positioning so that your customer can find the answer to the crucial question any customer will ask before investing – ‘What is special about this product/service?’ Differentiation helps increase gross margins and as the CEO, this area needs your utmost attention. 2.Emphasize personal interaction Take the initiative to keep an open and interactive communication channel with your clients. Thank them for their business and the relationship the week before Thanksgiving and associate with them in areas outside the business as well. Participate in the charities your large customers support, be a step ahead of others in admitting or identifying mistakes and taking corrective action without delay. When you enable your customers to discover how much you care, they will see you in a differentiated light. 3.Better communication For a small and medium scale business, communication holds the key to greater visibility. Put more emphasis on verbal communication with your clients and customers rather than the impersonal voice mail and email. When emailing, make sure your email message is clear and concise in its message, the tone is polite and the grammar is correct. Read your email carefully before clicking the send button, because once that’s done you can’t take it back. 4.Never stop learning and improving The way to success is through constant learning and improvement. There is no escalator to success. You have to take the stairs. And the most important steps are those of time management, prioritizing tasks, handling multiple tasks at the same time, following organized schedules and employing technology for faster execution. Build these habits into your daily routine and you will find your desk clean at the end of the day. 5.Identify the low performers Identify the complainers, the gossipers and the low performers. Complaining and gossiping is a cancer inside the company and should not be tolerated. Low performing people drag the whole company down, especially if your people see that you will tolerate this. If you do not take corrective action, everyone will see that they can keep their job by just putting in their time, and productivity will suffer immensely. Upgrade your people on a regular basis. 6.Keep your vision firmly set on future targets Take a reality check on what the future holds for your business. Develop a 5 year strategic plan, and don’t let it just sit on the shelf. Consider Exit Planning as a strategy to cause your company to be more valuable both now and into the future. Work toward the goals you have set with a clear vision of how you will methodically go about taking the steps necessary to achieve them. 7.Get practical insights from other CEOs Confer with other CEOs and business leaders to get some practical and proven insights into problems you are facing in your business. The best way to do this is by becoming a member of an established CEO Group in Atlanta or anywhere else. In a CEO Coaching association ; CEOs, general managers and executive coaching experts get together to discuss and deliberate on issues and problems of business management, leadership and corporate strategies.
Tom Bordon is a freelance writer who has extensively written about
A Japanese player reaches for the shot Image: LauraHale.thumbTeam introductions for Australia and Japan Image: LauraHale.First half commentary on the game Image: LauraHale.Last half commentary on the game Image: LauraHale.
Homebush Bay, New South Wales —Last night, the Australia men’s national wheelchair basketball team beat Japan 80–49 in their final game of pool play at the Rollers & Gliders World Challenge taking place at at the Sport Centre at the Sydney Olympic Park and are through to the first place match.
The contrast between the two teams was seen in their wheels: almost every Australian player had a four wheeled chair that gave them increased stability while every single Japanese player had three wheels, which gave them great maneuverability. Japan played the aggressor throughout the match, with several players aggressively blocking with wheelchair on wheelchair contact. Both sides were loud, chanting defense, defense, defense when their side was on that side of the court.
The first quarter was closely fought, with Japan racking up 5 by 5:54 left in the first. They successfully took a lead of 17–16 by the end of the first quarter. They were unable to hold the lead, with Australia holding a 40–24 lead at the end of the first half. Australia’s lead at the end of the third was 61–34. While Japan increased their total points in the fourth quarter, they failed to defend against Australia who continued to answer back basket for basket for the game to end 80–49.
Australia plays in the first place match later today. Their London Paralympic campaign starts on August 30 against South Africa.
Portrait of Dr Naomi Martisius. (Image: acagastya)
Last month, a study conducted by archæologist Dr. Naomi Martisius and other researchers concluded Neanderthals living in Europe tens of thousands of years ago were more sophisticated than previously thought. The now-extinct species used to carefully select bones from a particular animal species to manufacture their bone tools, the research showed. The research was published on May 8 in Nature’s Scientific Reports journal.
Bone tools used by Neanderthals. (Image: Naomi L. Martisius, Frido Welker, Tamara Dogandži?, Mark N. Grote, William Rendu, Virginie Sinet-Mathiot, Arndt Wilcke, Shannon J. P. McPherron, Marie Soressi & Teresa E. Steele)
Dr Martisius and her team used five bone tools discovered from Neanderthals’ sites in southwest France for this research. Four of these bone tools were found in a site called Abri Peyrony and the other one was from Pech-de-l’Azé I. These tools were just a few centimetres in size and were about 50 thousand years old, Dr Martisius told Wikinews. Microscopy analysis of these bone tools called lissoirs (smoothers) suggested Neanderthals used these tools for working animal skin to leathers.
The study stated the fauna of the sites were primarily medium-sized ungulates such as reindeer, in one layer nearly 90%. Despite the overabundance of medium-sized ungulates, Neanderthals used ribs of large bovids for making lissoirs. Dr Martisius told Wikinews this was likely due to the physical characteristics of the bovid ribs, which were “thicker” and “stronger” as compared to the “thin and flimsy ribs” of reindeers. In order to check the origins of the bone tools, the researchers used a technology called non-destructive Zooarchæology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS).
Video description of how ZooMS analysis is conducted. (Image: Archaeology, University of York)
Instead of damaging the bone artefacts in order to discover its origins, the researchers collected collagen from the plastic containers in which these artefacts were kept. Collagen is a type of protein. These bone artefacts were kept in plastic containers: some were kept for about five years, some for just a few months. During this time, the collagen proteins from bone tools were stuck to the walls of its plastic containers. The collagen samples collected from the walls of the containers are broken into smaller molecules called peptides by using a chemical enzyme called trypsin.
Example of a MALDI-ToF spectra. (Image: Krista McGrath, Keri Rowsell, Christian Gates St-Pierre, Andrew Tedder, George Foody, Carolynne Roberts, Camilla Speller & Matthew Collins)
After the trypsin has broken collagen fibres into peptides, it is analysed using a technology called Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) Time-of-Flight mass spectrometer (ToF MS). The assisting matrix is a coloured compound. The acidic peptide is combined with the matrix, vapourised, and peptides are released. Some of them are positively-charged particles which travel across a vacuum tube in an electric field. Depending on the weight of the peptides, these molecules reach the end of the vacuum tube at different instances of time, forming a spectrum. These graphs are like unique fingerprints of a species: they are different for different species of animals. Looking at the database of such graphs, taxonomic identifications of the collagen proteins came be made.
Watch the entire interview with Dr Naomi Martisius.
All four bone tools from Abri Peyrony gave positive results and showed that the bones were made from large bovids, even though reindeer were more abundant during that time. One of the advantages of using bovid ribs over reindeer’s thin ribs was the bovid ribs would be more resistant to breaking during flexion, Dr Martisius said.
Dr Martisius said such non-destructive ZooMS analysis was previously conducted, but for tools no older than a few centuries. She said such an analysis had never been previously conducted for artefacts so ancient.
Wikinews caught up with Dr Martisius to discuss this research in-depth.
A recently developed residential neighborhood in Chula Vista, California. Image: Catalan.
The San Diego, California suburb of Chula Vista has responded to the recent housing crisis with an aggressive blight control ordinance that compels lenders to maintain the appearance of vacant homes. As foreclosures increase both locally and throughout the United States, the one year old ordinance has become a model for other cities overwhelmed by the problem of abandoned homes that decay into neighborhood eyesores.
Chula Vista city code enforcement manager Doug Leeper told the San Diego Union Tribune that over 300 jurisdictions have contacted his office during the past year with inquiries about the city’s tough local ordinance. Coral Springs, Florida, and California towns Stockton, Santee, Riverside County, and Murietta have all modeled recently enacted anti-blight measures after Chula Vista’s. On Wednesday, 8 October, the Escondido City Council also voted to tighten local measures making lenders more accountable for maintenance of empty homes.
Lenders will respond when it costs them less to maintain the property than to ignore local agency requirements.
Under the Chula Vista ordinance lenders become legally responsible for upkeep as soon as a notice of mortgage default gets filed on a vacant dwelling, before actual ownership of the dwelling returns to the lender. Leeper regards that as “the cutting-edge part of our ordinance”. Chula Vista also requires prompt registration of vacant homes and applies stiff fines as high as US$1000 per day for failure to maintain a property. Since foreclosed properties are subject to frequent resale between mortgage brokers, city officials enforce the fines by sending notices to every name on title documents and placing a lien on the property, which prevents further resale until outstanding fines have been paid. In the year since the ordinance went into effect the city has applied $850,000 in fines and penalties, of which it has collected $200,000 to date. The city has collected an additional $77,000 in registration fees on vacant homes.
Jolie Houston, an attorney in San Jose, believes “Lenders will respond when it costs them less to maintain the property than to ignore local agency requirements.” Traditionally, local governments have resorted to addressing blight problems on abandoned properties with public funds, mowing overgrown lawns and performing other vital functions, then seeking repayment afterward. Chula Vista has moved that responsibility to an upfront obligation upon lenders.
That kind of measure will add additional costs to banks that have been hit really hard already and ultimately the cost will be transferred down to consumers and investors.
As one of the fastest growing cities in the United States during recent years, Chula Vista saw 22.6% growth between 2000 and 2006, which brought the city’s population from 173,556 in the 2000 census to an estimated 212,756, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Chula Vista placed among the nation’s 20 fastest growing cities in 2004. A large proportion of local homes were purchased during the recent housing boom using creative financing options that purchasers did not understand were beyond their means. Average home prices in San Diego County declined by 25% in the last year, which is the steepest drop on record. Many homeowners in the region currently owe more than their homes are worth and confront rising balloon payment mortgages that they had expected to afford by refinancing new equity that either vanished or never materialized. In August 2008, Chula Vista’s eastern 91913 zip code had the highest home mortgage default rate in the county with 154 filings and 94 foreclosures, an increase of 154% over one year previously. Regionally, the county saw 1,979 foreclosures in August.
Professionals from the real estate and mortgage industries object to Chula Vista’s response to the crisis for the additional burdens it places on their struggling finances. Said San Diego real estate agent Marc Carpenter, “that kind of measure will add additional costs to banks that have been hit really hard already and ultimately the cost will be transferred down to consumers and investors.” Yet city councils in many communities have been under pressure to do something about increasing numbers of vacant properties. Concentrations of abandoned and neglected homes can attract vandals who hasten the decline of struggling neighborhoods. Jolie Houston explained that city officials “can’t fix the lending problem, but they can try to prevent neighborhoods from becoming blighted.”
HAVE YOUR SAY
Does Chula Vista’s solution save neighborhoods or worsen the financial crisis?
Add or view comments
CEO Robert Klein of Safeguard, a property management firm, told the Union Tribune that his industry is having difficulty adapting to the rapidly changing local ordinances. “Every day we discover a new ordinance coming out of somewhere”, he complained. Dustin Hobbs, a spokesman from the California Association of Mortgage Bankers agreed that uneven local ordinances are likely to increase the costs of lending. Hobbs advised that local legislation is unnecessary due to California State Senate Bill 1137, which was recently approved to address blight. Yet according to Houston, the statewide measure falls short because it fails to address upkeep needs during the months between the time when foreclosure begins and when the lender takes title.
A lot of us worry about getting old and becoming dependent. Some of us worry about our parents as they get older and we get busier in our lives. All of us want to spend our retirement days peacefully and luxuriously. High-quality assisted Nursing care services can ensure a good lifestyle and peaceful retirement. These facilities have multiple options to suit different budgets and are fully stocked with all the requirements. At home, we might not have advanced equipment, medical professionals, and other essentials. Assisted living facilities stay well prepared for such scenarios.
Here is a list of facilities you can expect at some of the best nursing care services in Bhopal.
Supervision & Personal Care
Due to mobility issues, many people need assistance to maintain their daily lifestyle. Elderly home care service providers have trained and skilled personnel to help people with day-to-day activities. It can be anything from taking them on a walk to assisting them with baths. A reputed organization will have experienced staff to help its residents with day-to-day activities.
Nutritional Home Cooked Meal
Food impacts not only our health but also our mind. As we grow older, take out gets lower and lower on our preferred meal list. A good assisted living facility should provide nutritional and well-balanced home-cooked meals to the residents. It is essential to have options for people with different preferences, allergies, and health issues. Many people have allergies since childhood, and many of us develop intolerance to different food types as we age. It is crucial to be able to find suitable and nutritional meals to stay healthy and happy.
Help with Medications
With growing age, it is essential to monitor our health regularly and stay vigilant. Trained professionals at elderly home care services can ensure that residents follow the suitable prescription and are up to date with all the medical requirements.
Medical and Dental Needs
These organizations also have an in-house certified medical professional present at all times. Some of them even have dentists for oral care of the residents. People with heart conditions,
Alzheimer’s, Dementia, and others critical ailment find it extremely useful and assuring.
Housekeeping and Laundry Services
This is one of the essential services that is provided in most of the nursing care service centers. Some of them might have an extra charge for some specific service, while some options might be all-inclusive.
It is essential to create a list of services you expect from an elderly best home nursing services in Jabalpur. This way, it becomes easier to compare the offered facilities and needed facilities. You can finalize the center once you find the best match.
Gregory Kurtzer announced Rocky Linux to take the place of CentOS.Image: Gregory Kurtzer.
Last week, on December 8, US-based software company Red Hat announced plans to shift their focus away from CentOS in favour of CentOS stream.
Started in 2004, CentOS has been a free-of-cost free/libre open source software which provided binary-code compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) — Red Hat’s GNU General Public Licensed paid operating system. Gregory Kurtzer told Wikinews he started CAOS Linux around the time when Red Hat announced End of Life for their Red Hat Linux in favour of subscription-based Red Hat Enterprise Linux. CAOS was succeeded by CentOS when Rocky McGaugh, a developer of CAOS rebuilt the source code of RHEL to provide a monetarily free alternative. CentOS was absorbed into Red Hat in 2014, with Red Hat gaining the trademark rights of “CentOS”.
Red Hat also sponsors the development of the Fedora operating system. Until now, software development took place on Fedora, which was later adopted in RHEL, which the Red Hat maintained and provided support for, for those customers who had RHEL subscription. CentOS would then follow RHEL’s release cycle to provide the same features free of cost, but without the support.
Stream was announced in September 2019, just two months after Red Hat was acquired by IBM. CentOS Stream’s development cycle had new features added to it before the features became a part of RHEL. Stream receives more frequent updates, however, it does not follow RHEL’s release cycle.
With CentOS Stream, developments from the community and the Red Hat employees would take place beforehand on both Fedora, and Stream as a rolling release, before those features are absorbed into RHEL. CentOS followed the release cycle of RHEL and therefore it was a stable distribution. Features available in CentOS were tried and tested by Fedora, and then RHEL maintainers.
Red Hat’s Chief Technical Officer Chris Wright wrote in the announcement “CentOS Stream isn’t a replacement for CentOS Linux; rather, it’s a natural, inevitable next step intended to fulfill the project’s goal of furthering enterprise Linux innovation.” Since the announcement was made, many people expressed their anger on Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Reddit and CentOS project’s mailing list. CentOS 8’s End of Life (EOL) has been moved up from May 2029 to December 31, 2021, while CentOS 7 is expected to receive maintenance updates through June 2024, outliving CentOS 8.
Logo of Rocky LinuxImage: Josh Urbain and Hayden Young.
Soon after Red Hat’s announcement, Kurtzer announced his intentions to develop Rocky Linux, to fill the role CentOS had been playing for so long. Kurtzer said Rocky Linux was named after Rocky McGaugh. “Thinking back to early CentOS days… My cofounder was Rocky McGaugh. He is no longer with us, so as a H/T [hat tip] to him, who never got to see the success that CentOS came to be, I introduce to you…Rocky Linux”, Kurtzer wrote. Wikinews discussed with Kurtzer the beginning of CentOS, and future of Rocky Linux.
While no formal date of release has been announced for Rocky Linux, Kurtzer said they are planning to release the CentOS replacement before the end of life of CentOS 8. Kurtzer also said Rocky Linux will run on both x86-64 and ARM-based processors, and CentOS users would be able to convert their OS to Rocky Linux just by running a single command.
Saying Rocky Linux is for the community, Kurtzer said he “take[s] the responsibility of ensuring that all decisions are in favor of the community and the project and free from corporate control” including his own company. Talking about the attention from the userbase Rocky Linux has received, Kurtzer said, “I have never seen an open community come together this fast and be this passionate about working together towards a common goal.”
A court in England, UK has jailed a policeman for ten months after he was convicted of defrauding his car insurance company.
Police Constable Simon Hood, 43, arranged for a friend who dealt in scrap metal to dispose of his Audi TT, then claimed it had been stolen.
Hood had been disappointed with the car’s value when he tried to sell it two years after its purchase in 2008. He arranged for friend Peter Marsh, 41, to drive the vehicle to his scrapyard in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Marsh then dismantled the vehicle with the intent of disposing of it, but parts were later found wrapped in bubblewrap at Ace Tyre and Exhaust Centre.
Audi TT Image: IFCAR.
Marsh picked up the TT from outside nearby Gorleston police station. Records show mobile phone conversations between the conspirators that day in March, both before and after the vehicle was reported stolen. The pair denied wrongdoing but were convicted of conspiring to commit insurance fraud after trial.
The fraud was uncovered after Hood told former girlfriend Suzanne Coates of the scheme. It was alleged before Norwich Crown Court that he had confessed to her in an effort to resume their relationship. Coates said that after the pseudotheft, Hood told her “he didn’t want to look for it. He said it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, which I thought was a bit strange.”
You knew throughout your career that policemen that get involved in serious dishonesty get sent to prison
Shortly afterwards Hood suggested they should become a couple once more, she said; she challenged his version of events regarding the car: “He said he did it but I couldn’t tell anyone. He said he did it with Peter. Peter had a key and took the car away and it was going to be taken to bits and got rid of so it was never found.”
Hood was defended by Michael Clare and Marsh by Richard Potts. Both lawyers told the court that their clients had already suffered as a result of the action in mitigation before sentencing. Clare said Hood had resigned from the police after fifteen years of otherwise good service and risked losing his pension. “It is not a case where his position as a police officer was used in order to facilitate the fraud,” he pointed out. “His career is in ruins.” Hood is now pursuing a career in plumbing.
Potts defended Marsh by saying that he, too, had already suffered from his actions. His own insurers are refusing to renew their contract with him when it expires and his bank withdrew its overdraft facility. His business employs 21 people and Potts cited Marsh’s sponsorship of Great Yarmouth In Bloom as amongst evidence he supported his local community.
Judge Alasdair Darroch told Marsh that he did accept the man was attempting to help his friend. He sentenced Marsh to six months imprisonment, suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 250 hours of community service. He was more critical of Hood:
“As a police officer you know the highest possible standards are demanded by the public. You have let down the force. You knew throughout your career that policemen that get involved in serious dishonesty get sent to prison.”
One of the fastest growing employment industries in the US is the medical field. If you are tired of dead end jobs and are ready to take control of your future and get an education that can help you find a rewarding career, make sure you consider attending one of the many CNA Schools in New York. They will provide you with the training needed to qualify to take state exams and pass them successfully. Don’t think you can’t increase your ability to find a quality job, when you can get an education that will propel you towards a successful future in as little as 6 months. Make sure you research the following three items before you choose a school for you to attend to get your education.
Passing Ratio:- Ask the school how many students who enroll in their classes successfully complete the program. If a large number of students drop out toward the beginning of their studies, it could be an indicator that they do not give their students the skills to feel comfortable about the material they are learning. Don’t trust a school with a low passing ratio.
Exam Preparation:- You will be required to take a state exam in order to get your license. Make sure the school you attend gives you the knowledge you need to master the state test and pass it successfully the first time. They should provide reviews during your studies, and the ability to take mach tests to help you better prepare for what lies ahead.
Job Placement Assistance:- There is nothing more frustrating than getting an education and not being able to find a job afterwards. The CNA Schools in New York that you consider should offer their graduates job placement assistance, so you know you will be able to take your education and get a quality job right away. Schools that don’t offer this may not be committed to your long term success.
If you are looking for a school to help you, consider New Age Training. New Age Training is the CNA School in New York that will best help you prepare for the state exam and the work that lies ahead of you. Contact them today so you can take the first step in getting a good job that you can feel good about. You have nothing to lose, and only a brighter and more lucrative future to gain.
