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When Courtney Sale Ross, the widow of Steve Ross, the former C.E.O. of Time Warner, and the founder of the Ross Global Academy, a charter school in the East Village, was told, last month, to expect a 9 A.M. phone call from the outgoing New York City schools chancellor, Joel Klein, she feared that it would not bring good news. Her academy, which was founded five years ago amid considerable fanfare—it promised a so-called spiral curriculum, encompassing the history of civilization across all cultures, and also offered instruction in eating organically and yoga—recently had the distinction of getting the worst progress report of any charter school in the city, with seventy-five per cent of its students failing English and seventy per cent of them failing math. The school, into which Ross and members of her board have poured eight million dollars of their own money, has had six principals, has occupied three locations, and lost three-quarters of its teachers last year; its charter is up for renewal this month. At eight-thirty on the appointed morning, Ross's phone rang; on the line was Marc Sternberg, a deputy chancellor. "He said the most extraordinary thing," Ross recalled last week. "He said, 'I am informing you that the Department of Education is going to recommend a non-renewal.' He said, 'I want you to know, Courtney, that everybody here respects you, and we really need people like you.' I said, 'You've got to be kidding me—you're going to close the school, and you need people like me?' "
Among people like Ross—wealthy, connected professionals, whose own children are invariably privately educated—a passion for public education has lately become a favored cause. One has even just been appointed chancellor. (Despite being neighbors on the Upper East Side, Ross says that she's never met Cathie Black, the new head of New York's schools.) As an educator, Ross is self-taught—she founded the private Ross School, in East Hampton, twenty years ago, as an alternative to homeschooling her daughter, Nicole—and the Ross Global Academy, whose students are overwhelmingly black or Hispanic, and the majority of whom are poor, is her first venture in the U.S. public system. "I did build a school, so I know how hard it is," she said. "I didn't go into this thinking that it was going to be a cakewalk."
After requesting a meeting with Klein, at which Ross and her board proved unpersuasive, Ross and her attorneys last week filed a legal petition calling the Department of Education's recommendation "arbitrary and capricious" and alleging that it has violated its own procedures in its haste to announce the school's closure. Late last week, Ross was hoping that the State Board of Regents, which meets this week, would grant her school a reprieve. But if the closure is approved, Ross said, "We will fight it in the courts. We will fight it as far as we can fight it."
Speaking at the Ross Institute, her private foundation, Ross, who wore a gray pants suit and had her blond hair pinned on top of her head, acknowledged that her academy had not achieved all that she had hoped. But she also suggested—as the legal petition does—that the decision to close the school was a political move, made to appease the teachers' union. "I can only surmise, but regular public schools are unionized, and charter schools don't have to be unionized," she said. She also implied that the Department of Education, which aims to open two dozen new charter schools this year, might have its eye on the Ross Global Academy's space, which she and other donors recently renovated, at a cost of more than three million dollars, transforming the cafeteria into the Spiral Café, complete with batik-covered banquettes and noise-abating ceiling tiles; decorating the walls with art posters; and furnishing the classrooms with blond-wood tables.
The school, on East Eleventh Street, is home to more than four hundred students, and when Ross visited last week she walked from classroom to classroom, fondly patting heads. She looked in on the library, which was hung with reproductions of Klimt, Picasso, and Rousseau, and had a copy of Michelangelo's "Bound Slave" statue. There—in an apparent detour from studying the spiral of cultural progress in strict chronological order—third graders watched a Knuffle Bunny video. Ross saw an art teacher preparing a fourth-grade class for a field trip to the National Museum of the American Indian by showing them images of richly beaded costumes. One girl raised her hand: "How did they get their beads? Because I know that they didn't go to a ninety-nine-cent store." Ross interjected, "They had shells, and also the white man brought beads." In another classroom, one youngster beamed with recognition—"You're Mrs. Ross!"—while a boy who had been intently coloring a picture of the sun looked confused when the visitor was introduced as the founder of the school. "You found the school?" he asked. "Yes, I founded it," Ross said, recognizing an opening for an on-the-spot vocabulary lesson. "That means I started it." ♦


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Story by
Josh Ong
Josh Ong is the US Editor at The Next Web. He previously worked as TNW's China Editor and LA Reporter. Follow him on Twitter or email him a Josh Ong is the US Editor at The Next Web. He previously worked as TNW's China Editor and LA Reporter. Follow him on Twitter or email him at [email protected].
Apple on Saturday opened the doors to its Wangfujing Apple Store in Beijing with the usual fanfare and a large crowd of eager customers and TNW was there to check it out.
The store employees had an energetic opening, with some pop-and-locking and a group rendition of PSY's "Gangnam Style" horse dance. Some Apple fans also had a bit of K-pop influence, as one customer had a Gangnam-themed sign to commemorate the opening of the store. The line was a mix of post-80s young folk, foreigners and middle-class adults.
The third Apple store in the city of approximately 20 million, the new store is located along a storied pedestrian street that is a popular tourist destination for both Chinese and foreign visitors. It claims the title of the largest Apple Store in Asia, beating out flagship locations in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Notable aspects of the store include its three-level glass staircase, which Apple says is one of only three in the world, and its dual 360-degree Genius Bar counters.
For more photos, check out The Next Web's gallery from a media tour of the store led by Apple Senior Vice President of Retail John Browett, who touted the location as the best that Apple has built in Asia.
Apple now has 390 brick-and-mortar stores around the globe, including six in China and two in Hong Kong. Next up for its retail operations in China, the company will soon open a store in the southern city of Shenzhen, which is known more for manufacturing Apple products than for buying them.
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subset: commoncrawl


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The operation of our websites, our team, web servers, and especially the licensing of the high-definition and in part exclusive weather data, that you can find on our sites are very expensive. Because we want to make sure, that everybody could use our website for free, one way for financing our service is to show display advertisement.
However, we are aware that these ads can sometimes be annoying, and might impair usability at times, which is why we have introduced a paywall with two subscription packages that enable you to use our website via a personal login without any display ads.
Our ad free package enables you to use meteologix.com without any display ads. Thus, meteologix.com loads much quicker, is easier to use on your smartphone, saves data volume, and map animations load twice as fast.
The facts:
Our Ad Free Plus package enables you to use meteologix.com without any display ads, the animations load twice as fast, and furthermore you get exclusive weather content, extra features like a model map player, a player for observation, lightning, stormtracking, flash floods and precipitation totals charts (only in available areas) and a GIF tool to export your animations.
Additionally, you'll get more model parameters as well as the expanded medium range and long range ECMWF model forecasts.
The facts:
With the commercially usable business subscription, like in the other packages, we hide all advertising banners and you have full access to our parameters in the Plus subscription.
You are also permitted to use our offers within your company.
Again in brief:


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U.S. pensions' funding gap closes, driving corporate profits
January 25, 2014 Leave a comment
U.S. pensions' funding gap closes, driving corporate profits
Fri, Jan 24 2014
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Corporate America is rapidly healing one of the last wounds suffered in the 2008 financial crisis.
Large companies' pension plans are reporting among their best returns on record in 2013, dramatically closing funding gaps that had opened up because of losses in the 2008-2009 stock market collapse, and as government bond yields sank.
All told, companies in the S&P 500 saw an aggregate improvement of more than $300 billion in their pension plans, a gain that brought assets to around 93 percent of expected obligations, according to International Strategy & Investment, a New York research firm. That is a robust recovery from 2008, when they hit an all-time low of only 70.5 percent.
For investors, the performance of corporate pension plans is a small but under-appreciated side effect of the bull market that has now lasted for nearly five years. It will free up corporate cash for dividends, stock buybacks, and new investments, while helping to drive earnings growth, which could give a further nudge up to stock prices, analysts say.
Some companies may also see upgrades to their bond ratings, lowering their future borrowing costs.
David Zion, an analyst at ISI who co-authored the report, estimates that the strong performance of pension plans will save companies in the S&P 500 a total of $26 billion in the current fiscal year, resulting in a 1.6 percent boost for the 2014 earnings per share of the index. Analysts tracked by Thomson Reuters currently expect earnings per share to rise 10.7 percent this year.
The benefits mostly accrue to older industrial companies, or those who were traditionally unionized, as some of their workers and many of their retirees tend to have the more generous defined-benefit plans that are directly funded by the companies. The newer technology and service companies, who tend to rely on 401K plans that are largely the responsibility of workers to fund, are mostly not affected.
Some companies reporting their fourth-quarter earnings in the past few days have already said their results are benefiting from reduced pension costs.
Business jet manufacturer Textron Inc, for instance, saw its shares jump to a five-year high Wednesday after its earnings beat analyst estimates. Along with a rebound in the business jet market, the company is riding the performance of its pension plan. In 2010, it contributed about $417 million to the plan as its funding ratio fell to 77 percent, while in 2014, it expects to contribute just $80 million – a decline of nearly 81 percent. And now its pension plan is funded at an estimated 101 percent level, according to ISI.
The same day, AT&T Inc said it expects to record a pre-tax gain of about $7.6 billion in the fourth quarter from its pensions and post-employment benefit plans. A day earlier, Verizon Communications Inc reported fourth-quarter 2013 earnings of $5.07 billion, $3.7 billion of which was due to increases in the value of its pension and other benefit plans.
"These kind of cost-savings over a three-to-four year span don't happen often," said Eugene Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Asset Management, referring to the decline in pension costs at companies since the end of 2009. "This is going to provide a tailwind to earnings for 2014 that hasn't been there lately," he said.
The gains have largely come from the stock market. The S&P 500 soared 32.4 percent, including dividends, last year, and has
climbed nearly 170 percent since its low in 2009.
In addition, the so-called discount rate – which serves as a proxy for the interest rate a company could expect on a bond today to fund its future obligations – increased as the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose off of historic lows in the second half of last year. A higher discount rate means that companies do not have to contribute as much to pension plans.
Gains in defined benefit plans had an impact on many S&P 500 companies in 2013, ISI analyst Zion said. Only 58 companies in the S&P 500 now have pensions that are less than 80 percent funded, compared with 197 a year ago, and some recorded pension gains that totaled more than 10 percent of their market caps.
United States Steel Corp, for instance, saw its pension assets rise more than $1 billion (not including the company's contributions), an improvement that brought its pension plan to a 92 percent funded level. The gain was the equivalent of almost 31 percent of its market value at the end of 2012 of $3.4 billion. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co, Northrop Grumman Corp and Owens-Illinois Corp saw gains of 15 percent or more of their end-2012 market caps.
Because most Wall Street analysts typically focus more on a company's ongoing business than its pension obligations, those cost savings could result in earnings surprises, Zion said.
US Steel, for example, should see a benefit of 74 cents in earnings per share directly from the improvement in its pension funding, a level that amounts to 65 percent of consensus estimates of $1.15 per share for 2013, Zion said. Alcoa Inc, meanwhile, should get a pension benefit of 16 cents per share, a level that equates to 40 percent of consensus estimates of 41 cents per share. It is unclear how much of the benefit has already been factored into those earnings estimates by analysts.
To be sure, few investors say they would invest in a company simply because its pension costs are falling.
For example, Matthew Kaufler, a co-manager of the $1 billion Federated Clover Value Fund, has held a position in Macy's Inc for several years. He was pleased to see the department store chain announced on January 8 that it had decided to forgo a $150 million contribution to its pension plan in the fourth quarter because of better-than-expected returns.
The pension plan savings "was a positive but in the list of positives it was not at the top," Kaufler said. "People fundamentally want Macy's to sell lots of clothes and home goods. That's what drives the business, not the pension plan performance."
But higher funding levels do make these companies seem safer bets over the long run because it means their balance sheets look better, portfolio managers say.
"For so many of these companies, the magnitude of the downturn was so great that they were kicked in the shins," said Scott Lawson, an analyst who works on the $178 million Westwood LargeCap Value Fund. "Now, with the plans back to their prior funding levels, it lowers the risk profile."
Several companies are heading into 2014 with pensions plans that are in dramatically better shape than a year ago. Harley Davidson Inc, for example, saw a 36 percentage point gain, to 118 percent of obligations, in its funding levels over the past twelve months, according to ISI estimates.
Yet despite the gains in pension assets, companies may still face some risk in the long-term, analysts say. Any sudden reversal in the stock market is one concern. Workers living longer is another.
A 60-year old worker who retires today is expected to live 26.7 years longer on average, a 1.8-year improvement over previous lifespan estimates released by the Society of Actuaries in 2000. That nearly two year increase will result in a 6 percent increase in pension obligations, said Karin Franceries, an executive director at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
In the past, companies often cited overfunding as a reason to terminate their pension plans. More recently, companies such as General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co, cut their pension risks by offloading their plans onto insurance companies, which then offer annuities to plan participants.
Now, though, many companies may find it more attractive to keep their own plans, said Zorast Wadia, a principal at actuarial consulting firm Milliman, which produces an annual study of pension funding. Insurance companies typically want plans to have a funding rate of 115 percent or more before they will take on their risks, Wadia said.
"A lot of these companies are going to find it's cheaper to keep (it)," Wadia said, referring to the pension plans.
Equities now typically make up about 40 percent of plan assets, though some companies, such as Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, had as much as 72 percent of pension plan assets in stocks as recently as 2012.
"These plan sponsors are coming off the best year in their careers, and I expect many of them are going to be happy to take some risk off the table," Wadia said.
It may be the final paradox of a 2013 market rally that few saw coming: stocks have helped pension plans so much that they decide to sell them and buy bonds instead.


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A Good Luck Talisman Lucky Turtle Light Green Jade Keychain
- Gemstone Charm SIZE: 2 X 1 1/2 inches
These are Absolute SUPER Finders. So POPULAR, LUCKY and Eye Catching. These Keychains are Made from Genuine and Natural JADE Gemstone, which brings this piece of Accessory to Life and creates Natural Good Luck Powers for its owner. This Keychain comes with Stainless Steel Key ring.
TAKE YOUR OWN GOOD LUCK POWERS with YOU anywhere YOU GO!
This KEYCHAIN is made from Genuine and Natural LIGHT GREEN JADE Gemstone and comes as VERY Cute and POPULAR LUCKY TURTLE Gemstone Charm. SO HOT!!! And Very SPECIAL Outlook.
TURTLE is Symbol of Longevity and Heaven's Blessings. Turtles seem to possess an enviable and god-like resistance to aging and Represents Long Life. The Turtle is a Symbol of Good Fortune and is an positive omen bringing 10,000 years of happiness. The turtle carries the world on its back. This is a symbol of fertility, vitality, and great patience. The Chinese believed these animals foretold future events. The Turtle protects by teaching the family to protect themselves. She brings the blessings of heaven to the home. Turtle symbolizes both the stability of earth energy, and the magical mysteries of heaven. It is a Symbol of Good Luck, LOVE and Health.
GOOD LUCK POWERS and NATURAL FORCES of JADE GEMSTONE
MONEY and WEALTH Jade is the Stone of Wealth. Know as a good luck and prosperity charm for centuries. It was widely used as a talisman to attract good fortune and also known to bring good luck and prosperity. Provides wisdom when evaluating issues or problems; and brings needed energy, which is so important in managing the Business or Just making Money in general. LOVE Jade has been treasured in China since 2950 BC, where it was considered a Symbol of Love. Jade is a stone of the heart. So, of course, it can attract and enhance love. Jade increase a persons capacity for giving and receiving love. It manages passionate feelings. Jade is given by lovers as a statement of their love and devotion to each other. Jade is also a stone of fidelity.EVIL EYE Protection Unfortunately there are many people out there who does not get happy for you, when you are the winner. This makes them to have Evil Eye or even Evil Magic against you. Protect your Self for Good. Jade was considered to be the Stone of Magic to the ancient Mayans and Aztecs. Dispels negativity and thought to provide protection from one's enemies. Helps the wearer to sense the truth in all situations. Jade is said to bless the one, who touched it. It helps bring serenity to the mind by releasing negative thoughts. Jade will protect you and also will mirror back the Evil Eye. KIDS Jade of all kinds is a very protective stone and is particularly good protection for children. Jade is a Good Rock for Parents to carry as it helps to calm one down even when many kids running through the house. It also protects the child from illness, because many crystal healers associate Jade with the immune system
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Snuggle up in this ultra soft duvet cover. Fits full or Queen size beding.
100% Polyester, 86"(L) x 70"(W), One-Side Printing, All-over-print
- 30.65 Oz. 100% Polyester, super soft, silky touch.
- Durable and long lasting fade, stain, shrink and wrinkle resistant.
- Hypoallergenic and resistant to dust mites.
- Both functional and decorative.
- Insert are NOT included.
Shipping & Handling Times
As a general rule, please allow 15 – 25 business days for creation and shipping. Whether you're purchasing a T-shirt, hand bag, jewelry, or a custom one of a kind original art, it is ALL made to order for you! Each different product may have a different production & shipping time. While we strive to get your orders out quickly, we ask for your patience due to the high demand for made to order items.
Original Art:
A custom portrait or commissioned sculpture vase, or original sculpture jewelry may take as much as 4-10 weeks or more depending on the complexity of the sculpt and how many other commissions are ahead of your project. Projects are worked on in the order they're received.


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Tesla Model 3 exclusive leaked specs: 300kW+ inverter architecture putting its power capacity near Model S
Tesla manufactures its drive inverter for the Model S/X in-house at its Fremont factory, but the automaker is using proven off-the-shelf products — primarily TO-247 transistor packages. The company used this approach from the start when working on the Roadster. Like what it has been doing with battery cell technology, the automaker saw an opportunity to attach its product to improvements in transistor systems to gradually allow more powerful and efficient powertrains.
While the strategy served it well so far, Tesla is moving away from it with its third generation platform and consequently, with the Tesla Model 3. The company will be using new battery cells manufactured at its Gigafactory in Nevada and as it turns out, it also started from a blank sheet for its new inverter architecture. Electrek has learned new information about the system which has some interesting implications for the upcoming $35,000 all-electric sedan. Expand


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Johnson, Thomas
Johnson, Thomas, 1732–1819, American political leader, b. Calvert co., Md. A lawyer, he served (1762–73) in the Maryland colonial assembly, where he became prominent in the fight against the Stamp Act (1765). He was a member (1774–77) of the Continental Congress, and he nominated (1775) George Washington as commander in chief of the Continental army. Johnson served as governor of Maryland (1777–79) and helped bring about Maryland's adoption of the Constitution. He served briefly (1791–93) as associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
See biography by E. S. Delaplane (1927).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. History: Biographies


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Pack Your Presents Like a Pro
- Pick the right-size box. The more a piece can move, the more likely it is to break. And don't overstuff; if you do, the contents are likely to bust out before reaching their destination. Check the box's bottom flap for the maker's certificate, which tells you the maximum weight the container can bear.
- When you're mailing multiple items, Bubble-Wrap each separately, then tape them together, advises Lynn Dralle, an eBay power seller who ships hundreds of items a week. "That way, they won't clank against each other," she says.
- Before sealing a package, give it a gentle shake, says Jonathan Gariss, executive director of the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance. If you hear anything moving, add padding — newspaper or shredded documents do the trick.
- To make sure your box is fully reinforced, use the "H" method: "Tape along all the seams — it will look like there's an H on both the top and bottom of your box," says Larry Rutledge, manager of packaging design and development at FedEx. And always use real packing tape; the other stuff won't hold up in transit.
Smart Gift-Shipping Tips
- Reusing a box? Strip off old labels, especially the bar codes, so the package doesn't get misrouted by the carrier.
- Remove batteries from toys and electronics, if possible. All the jostling can turn them on in transit, and they may burn out before arrival.
- To make a package waterproof, line it with a garbage bag.
- The wrong zip code can land a package back on your doorstep (weeks later), so check accuracy with the U.S. Postal Service's Zip Code Lookup tool at zip4.usps.com/zip4.
- Stick an extra mailing label inside the box in case the exterior one becomes illegible. (Yes, according to UPS, workers will open the box to look for this backup label.)
Be Dot Calm
- Click on carriers' sites to schedule pickups. UPS and FedEx charge for the perk; the U.S. Postal Service doesn't. To weigh a package at home: Stand on your scale with the box, then without, and subtract to get the difference.
- Worried about weight? The U.S. Postal Service has flat-rate boxes that you can fill with your heaviest items, then send to any state — all for one fixed price. The boxes are free (though shipping isn't, ranging from $4.95 to $14, depending on the parcel size) on shop.usps.com.
- Compare postage online at shippingsidekick.com. Simply enter the weight of your package and its destination; the site will give you the rates for all the major carriers, including UPS, DHL, and FedEx.


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Yardsmart: Choose tomatoes for your local climate
Year's end is when we gardeners contemplate our greatest successes and the most dismal failures of the previous growing season. Here in the desert, we have a great deal of trouble with tomatoes. They grow and ripen just fine, but the high UV or heat causes them to skin crack horribly. Most of the time a cracked tomato is still edible and delicious if I catch it early enough, but it has lost most of its natural beauty.
This year I scoured the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog for potential candidates for my desert garden. In picking through the descriptions of where each variety originated, I was amazed to find so many from northern Europe. This was probably due to the problem of cool northern climates making it difficult for this heat-loving fruit to ripen properly.
We see similar problems on California's foggy north coast where Mark Twain once said, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." Because tomatoes are such a no-brainer in warm summer climates, naturally a lot of the varietal development would occur among farmers who live in the more difficult cooler regions.
I passed over all these varieties looking for arid points of origin. I discovered that the Middle East had been growing tomatoes far longer than parts of Europe. These desert nations had to deal with the same problems I do, which are prolonged extreme heat, desiccating dry winds and sandy fast-draining soils. Finding landrace seeds from this part of the world isn't easy, so it takes research that's perfect for long winter evenings.
Among my final selections was Abu Rawan, a tomato that originates in Iraq. I grew seedlings in the greenhouse, then planted them outside in May on the sunniest side of my garden. As a control group I picked up some other varieties from the Bonnie Plants display to go in at the same time.
The desert tomatoes were a bit slow to start and lanky, but when temperatures began to soar they held their own, refusing to wilt even in hot winds. As fruit formed on all plants, it wasn't until the ripening began that I learned just how different they are. Not a single Abu Rawan tomato cracked while every one of the other heirlooms were riddled with them. They also thrived with less water than the leafier controls. This wasn't a scientific experiment, but for home gardeners, it's a good example of how to use heirlooms to best advantage.
If you live in a problem climate, there are probably heirlooms that will make gardening easier and more productive for you. Don't be swayed by the photos and glowing descriptions in catalogs. Instead give special attention to each variety's point of origin. Knowing this tells you what the original farmer was after with that variety, and if he had similar weather, soil or disease condition as yours. Not all heirloom catalogs have extensive backgrounders for each variety, so those that do should be your first choice for seed source research.
Whether you're trying to overcome this past year's failures or are just getting started with food gardening come spring, heirlooms add incredible diversity to our home garden selections.
Maureen Gilmer is an author, horticulturist and landscape designer. Learn more at www.MoPlants.com. Contact her at firstname.lastname@example.com or P.O. Box 891, Morongo Valley, CA 92256.


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The multilateral trading systempast, present and future
The World Trade Organization came into being in 1995. One of the youngest of the international organizations, the WTO is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established in the wake of the Second World War.
See also:
The past 50 years have seen an exceptional growth in world trade. Merchandise exports grew on average by 6% annually. Total trade in 2000 was 22-times the level of 1950. GATT and the WTO have helped to create a strong and prosperous trading system contributing to unprecedented growth.
The system was developed through a series of trade negotiations, or rounds, held under GATT. The first rounds dealt mainly with tariff reductions but later negotiations included other areas such as anti-dumping and non-tariff measures. The last round the 1986-94 Uruguay Round led to the WTOs creation.
The negotiations did not end there. Some continued after the end of the Uruguay Round. In February 1997 agreement was reached on telecommunications services, with 69 governments agreeing to wide-ranging liberalization measures that went beyond those agreed in the Uruguay Round.
In the same year 40 governments successfully concluded negotiations for tariff-free trade in information technology products, and 70 members concluded a financial services deal covering more than 95% of trade in banking, insurance, securities and financial information.
In 2000, new talks started on agriculture and services. These have now been incorporated into a broader agenda launched at the fourth WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001.
The work programme, the Doha Development Agenda (DDA), adds negotiations and other work on non-agricultural tariffs, trade and environment, WTO rules such as anti-dumping and subsidies, investment, competition policy, trade facilitation, transparency in government procurement, intellectual property, and a range of issues raised by developing countries as difficulties they face in implementing the present WTO agreements.
The deadline for the negotiations is 1 January 2005.


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I want to put more effort into the post with my thoughts on classes this semester, so I'll be saving that for tomorrow.
However, today I'm going to sort of ruin that by spoiling my thoughts on the class I'm looking forward to most.
All in service of discussing an existential crisis it has delivered unto me.
While most of my classes are wrapping up my Comm major, Psych minor and Honors distinction, one in particular stands out as being taken purely for myself.
An American Studies class: Gaming in American Society.
I'm no stranger to the American Studies department, as I did take an AMST course on American Character during sophomore year. Yet that was mainly to fill a general education requirement.
I took Gaming in American Society simply because I adore gaming. Plus I have 21 years of experience in American society, I suppose.
After one class I'm already convinced taking it (as per the recommendation of my friend Mimi) was one of the better decisions I've made in my college career. Especially as a final semester swan song.
It's a 400-level course with a good amount of "dumb fun" elements to the curriculum given its subject matter.
Our novel selection includes Ernest Cline's Ready Player One and Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. We're also watching a whole host of movies including 1983's WarGames and 2012's Indie Game the Movie, all about the development of titles like Super Meat Boy and Fez.
In other words I've already consumed a large chunk of the required materials.
The stuff I haven't yet consumed seems plenty interesting in its own right, even outside of the bias that comes from knowing they stand in a pantheon of enjoyable media.
Hell there's even a day where we're just going to spend our three-hour class just playing Dungeons and Dragons. How sweet is that?
Another objectively cool element of the class is that essays are replaced by a long-form research project where we get to choose a game to analyze. Then the three papers we write will be pulled into one mega-paper as our final.
As someone who writes pseudo-game reviews on this blog and actual reviews for papers like the Daily Titan (big Nintendo hitters like Mario and Kirby at that), I should arguably be the most excited for this portion.
Yet I've hit a conundrum.
How the hell do I pick just ONE video game to analyze when I could arguably do it for any of my favorites?
Should I analyze one of my favorite nostalgic games of all time, like Pokémon Crystal?
Or for that matter one of the objectively better Pokémon games, given it is my favorite video game series. Perhaps Heartgold and Soulsilver or Black and White 2?
Maybe I should pick a game with more of a cultural impact considering I'll need to write about its wider historical context. I could potentially use Ocarina of Time (or its 3DS remake), as much as games of that caliber have been analyzed to death in the past.
The Nintendo fanboy in me could downplay itself as well, leading me to analyze a game I enjoy but haven't spent quite as much time with. Kingdom Hearts 2 or Simpson's Hit and Run on the Playstation or even something like Don't Starve or FTL as indie representation out of Steam.
That said, I could pick a game I straight up haven't played before just to get a fresh take. Final Fantasy 7 has been gathering dust in my Steam library for a long time, and I do want an excuse to finally play it.
Even with all those options in the abstract, my mind did immediately wander in a particular direction when I found out about the assignment.
Recently, especially with the advent of the third Choose your Legends event in Fire Emblem Heroes, I've had the desire to go back and play Sacred Stones. My first and favorite Fire Emblem game.
Part of me couldn't help but think about an interesting analysis coming out of Sacred Stones due to it being the first title released after Fire Emblem's western debut.
… I was admittedly primed to go in that direction from watching The Geek Critique's assertion that Smash Bros. Melee was a "kingmaker" for their series the other day.
That's my most developed idea at the moment, but frankly I'm more than open to coming up with more in the weeks to come.
There are simply too many good games out there in need of analysis.
So I suppose that brings me to a call to arms of sorts. If any of you have ideas for a game I should try to analyze for my research paper (assuming it's within my means), let me know somewhere on the Internet.
It'll definitely be taking an unreasonable amount of my brain power for a good long time.


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Article from
Dog Human Years Guide.
This is an on going collection of odd information I pick up from the trimedia (news papers, TV and the net) which I want to share to the world. Oddities are something unusual -- perhaps worthy of collecting; an eccentricity that is not easily explained or perhaps a strange attitude or habit- anything that caught my attention browsing the news which are funny (at least to me) unusual, strange or thought provoking which I want to share…urbi-et-orbi.


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As of: 3/27/2023 1:12:11 PM
Created: 11/22/2021 2:11 PM
2:00 PM - Zoom / YouTube
Briefing on discrepancies in home appraisals in Prince George's County.
Presentations by:
•Maryland Department of Labor;
•Department of Housing and Community Development (invited);
•Maryland Association of Realtors; and
•Prince George's County Association of Realtors.
Created: 12/2/2021 5:18 AM
12:30 PM - Zoom / YouTube
Joint Hearing with Senate Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee (SB0001, SB0002, SB0003, SB0004)This Joint Hearing will be Immediately Followed by a Voting Session
The Spkr (Legislative Redistricting Advis
Congressional Districting Plan
The Spkr (Admin)
Congressional Districting Plan
Montgomery County Delegation
Montgomery County - Board of Education Residence Districts - Redistricting Plan MC 01-21SS
Carroll County Delegation
Carroll County - County Commissioner Districts - Redistricting Plan
Created: 12/2/2021 12:53 PM
10:00 AM - Zoom Meeting
Discussion of legislation and other business relevant to Montgomery County.
Created: 12/5/2021 7:55 PM
10:00 AM - State House Caucus Room, 100 State Circle, Annapolis, MD 21401
Immediately following Session
Voting Session: Montgomery County-Board of Education Residence Districts-MC 01-21SS


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DOJ, Arizona officials meet over immigration law
Huff Post- PAUL DAVENPORT and PETE YOST | May 29, 2010 02:08 AM EST |
PHOENIX — Justice Department officials told Arizona's attorney general and aides to the governor Friday that the federal government has serious reservations about the state's new immigration law. They responded that a lawsuit against the state isn't the answer.
"I told them we need solutions from Washington, not more lawsuits," said Attorney General Terry Goddard, a Democrat.
The Justice Department initiated separate meetings by phone and face-to-face in Phoenix with Goddard and aides to Republican Gov. Jan Brewer to reach out to Arizona's leaders and elicit information from state officials regarding the Obama administration's concerns about the new law.
The strong message that the Justice Department representatives delivered at the private meetings – first with Goddard, then with Brewer's staff – left little doubt that the Obama administration is prepared to go to court if necessary in a bid to block the new law, which takes effect July 29.
Goddard said he noted that five privately filed lawsuits already are pending in federal court to challenge the law.
"Every possible argument is being briefed," said Goddard, who is running unopposed for his party's nomination for the governor's race.
Brewer, who is seeking re-election, later said in a statement that her legal team told the Justice Department officials that the law would be "vigorously defended all the way to the United States Supreme Court if necessary."


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Yes, he is wearing a shirt. More important: He is smiling, which is a smart choice (and/or a side effect). He almost looks sweet — until you remember that he blockaded a street in Miami to go drag-racing in his yellow Lamborghini while drunk and stoned.
And here is the crucial side angle, in which Justin realizes how much trouble he's gonna be in once Scooter wakes up.


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The pump that drives the McLaren MP4-12C's hydraulic suspension system powers up a little too loudly for a few seconds every time you come to a stop.
That's the only thing wrong with this car. At least, that was our initial impression.
Here are our perhaps overly gushing notes, scribbled down immediately after our first of several short drives in a long day of hauling buns: "Best and greatest supercar ever! So easy and fun to drive. Easy and very progressive oversteer when you hammer the throttle or lift off a little sideways into a turn. Not much understeer, unless you really push it. Superb! Fun!"
We know, too many exclamation points. A little while later, after some contemplation, we could debate the styling, maybe the steering (though not really) and a few other points, but you'd be hard-pressed to find any big, obvious areas that need improvement on the McLaren MP4-12C. Unless you owned a 458, because the Ferrari 458 is really the only thing that comes close to the McLaren MP4-12C.
This is almost exactly the same car that we drove a year ago ("Slide-Rule Sexy," Autoweek, March 7, 2011), but McLarens have been on sale since December, and anyone with $231,400 can go into any of the 34 dealers in 18 countries and buy one.
When you see the MP4-12C in all its carbon-fiber, composite glory, it looks even nicer than it does in photographs. However, it doesn't look as nice as, say, a 458. That's because the 12C's exterior was shaped almost entirely by function. Designer Frank Stephenson said he was allowed to work "wherever the air doesn't touch it, which is pretty much everywhere." So we don't see the same taut lines that appear on his earlier work, the Maserati MC12 and Quattroporte or the Ferrari F430.
Inside, there were no aerodynamic considerations. The climate controls are on the door, for instance, and everything else is on the center console. You see the tops of the front fenders very clearly, which hide the tops of the front Pirellis. ("Great visibility is better than another 100 hp," Stephenson said.) Ahead of that, the road or the track spills out in front of you.
Buttons select forward or reverse, and the paddles—which we're told give "the exact same feel Lewis Hamilton gets when he shifts"—direct the dual-clutch seven-speed transmission.
When you push the start button, the 3.8-liter twin-turbo roars to life, ready to dispense its 592 hp and 443 lb-ft of torque. It is a sound that is not unpleasant. "It's very purposeful but not obnoxious," Stephenson said.
"The rumble of an elephant," said McLaren managing director Anthony Sheriff. Make that a 205-mph carbon-fiber elephant capable of 0 to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds.
Select the normal mode for the suspension, click into gear, and you're off. The first thing you notice is that this car is very easy to drive. We could imagine driving it every day. It is easy to sit in, handles low-speed traffic slogging gracefully and doesn't wear you out. The dual-clutch transmission doesn't hesitate or clunk around town between traffic lights. A manual transmission was never really considered for two reasons. "Nobody'd want it," said Sheriff. "And the car is tightly packaged around two pedals."
Once we got a little more room to maneuver, we stepped on the right one, which instantly returned sonorous music and blinding speed in equal measure. We didn't clock our 0-to-60-mph time to see whether it matched McLaren's claimed 3.2 seconds, but it certainly felt that fast. There aren't many cars that will give you a 3.2, and fewer still can do it with so little work. A separate launch control does most of the complicated stuff for you. All you have to do is set it, launch, and keep steering.
Next, we moved the suspension to sport and headed up into the mountains on a four-lane twisting thoroughfare. The ProActive Chassis Control immediately went to work keeping the car flat in turns to maximize grip. McLaren's take on automatic suspension allows for a more livable amount of feedback to the driver than the Porsche system, which seems to filter out too much. With a little bit of traffic in the hills, we didn't push it very hard. At half throttle, it was still a joy to drive.
We did push it on the track, though. Driving on the road course inside the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., requires not much more than a series of double-lane-change maneuvers that lack any artistry or rhythm. Nonetheless, the McLaren made the most of it. The Pirelli P Zeros—235/35 front and 305/30 rear, wrapped around 19-inch wheels in front and 20s in the rear—gave way easily and predictably. For more serious drivers, Pirelli Corsa rubber is available (which McLaren says improves 0-to-60-mph time to 3.0 seconds). As it was, we enjoyed sliding around a little in the turns. This would make a terrific drift car, we thought; just don't hit anything.
The difference between sport and track modes was less noticeable than between normal and sport, but it kept the car going and going fast. The short straights on the road course got us up into fourth gear and called for some heavy braking at each end. When you step on the brake at speed, the rear wing flips up to 90 degrees in a quarter of a second, not to slow the car but to stabilize it, moving the center of aerodynamic pressure rearward, like deploying feathers on an arrow.
Does any of this help you make the choice between the 458 and the 12C? Or the Lexus LF-A or even the Nissan GT-R? Maybe not. The 458 has slightly better steering, sending just a little more feedback to the wheel. And it's better-looking, making concessions to style over efficiency. The McLaren is highly efficient, easy and fun to drive, even if it lacks the cachet of a Ferrari. The LFA is stable, fast and fun. The GT-R costs a lot less.
Buy them all, and then decide.


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Relics of Christ's Cross, Crown of Thorns Presented at Nev. Exhibition
Authenticity Should Not Be Focus, Official Tells CP, Relics 'Bring You Closer to God'
An "extraordinary exhibition" of holy relics including what is claimed to be the crown of thorns placed on Jesus Christ's head and a piece of the cross on which he was crucified opens this month in Nevada. The items may or may not be authentic, but nonetheless offer believers a "tangible link between heaven and earth," an official tells The Christian Post.
"The Relics of the Passion" is an exhibition organized and presented by La Virgen de Guadalupe Church in the Diocese of Las Vegas with the sponsorship of the Nevada Knights of Columbus and the Apostolate for Holy Relics. Proof of the authenticity of the relics is presented in documents signed by the Vatican itself.
"Each relic for public veneration has to have a document attesting to its authenticity. Relics that don't have documents can be used privately but not publicly. I have those documents in my custody," explained Thomas Serafin, Photographic Arts Manager at the Knights of Columbus, in a phone call with CP.
He noted that despite these documents, signed by the Vatican, it is hard to be absolutely certain if the relics are real or not – however, that uncertainty should not stop one from appreciating their value.
The relics, mostly small pieces embedded behind glass in the center of elaborate crosses of various sizes, are said to be from the cross on which Christ was crucified, the crown of thorns that was placed on his head, the column where he was tortured and beaten, and the table where he held the Last Supper before the Crucifixion. Other relics include what is said to be a piece of Christ's burial shroud and an effigy of the Veil of Veronica, which is believed to be imprinted with the likeness of Jesus' face.
"You can always question – 'Well, how do you know it's the true cross, how do you know it's from the crown of thrones?'" Serafin said, speaking of the relics' authenticity.
He explained, "What's required of me is to have these documents that say that the Vatican church say they are real. When you go some place and visit the Relics of the Passion for instance, you can never prove without a shadow of a doubt that something is exactly what it appears to be or what it claims to be – it depends on the intentions of the person going to see them.
"Maybe their intentions are to thank God for things in the past, or maybe their intentions are to offer a prayer of petition for things in the future – for others, it may be that they are not so much interested in the relics, but they love statuary, or they love choir music. These things bring you closer to God based on the fact that you are meditating on the mysteries of the Passion of Christ. It's kind of a tangible link between heaven and earth. It gives the people an opportunity to go and think and pray."
The relics will be on display first on Friday, March 16 at La Virgen de Guadalupe in Mesquite beginning at 3:00 pm. On March 17, the relics will remain at La Virgen de Guadalupe church and will be available for veneration from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. and after the 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. masses. On Sunday, the items will be transferred over to St. John the Evangelist church in Logandale after the noon Mass.
The Knights of Columbus, which is part sponsor of the event, is the world's largest Catholic fraternal organization with over 1.8 million members and 14,000 councils in more than a dozen countries worldwide, while the Apostolate for Holy Relics is an official Catholic Apostolate established in the Los Angeles Archdiocese.


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I was biking up to campus today in order to buy season tickets for Shakespeare Santa Cruz (I meant to do it months ago, but I could never figure out exactly what our summer schedule was).
On the way up the bike path I noticed a fire truck and police car on Hagar, on the other side of the Lower Quarry. I stopped on the quarry overlook to chat with another bicyclist who was there. She reported that the accident involved a bicyclist, but that she had not seen it and did not know whether a car was involved or not.
It is somewhat unusual to have bike accidents on Hagar, as it has a pretty good wide bike lane (much safer than the bike path downhill). Indeed, the first responders had shown up first on the bike path, since that is by far the more common spot when they get a 911 call for a bicyclist injured on the Great Meadow.
While we were there, and ambulance arrived and transported the bicyclist to the hospital. I hope that whoever it is turns out to be ok. The other bicyclist thought it was a good sign that they were using an ambulance rather than a helicopter—if the paramedics had thought the injuries were severe, they were more likely to call for a helicopter to get the injured person to a trauma center over the hill.


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We hope you're not asking for office-appropriate mandals. Then again, the average June high in Phoenix is 104, so who are we to judge? Look for a pair by Geox. The company suffers from a combination of bad marketing and a confusing product, but they're worth a look. In short, these lightweight shoes have a comfortable, breathable rubber sole that (though patented technology) allows air to escape while blocking out water and debris. They've recently stepped up their design game and have a few suitable options, including this low-profile penny loafer. Or you could go for the Generic Man's classic oxford lace-ups, cut in an espresso canvas. Both, you'll be happy to hear, should be sported sockless.
$170, at Zappos
The number of sweat glands on each foot.
What should I pack for my first business trip?
- Matt, OH
With nearly every airline imposing a baggage fee nowadays, if you can get away with flying with just a carry-on, do it.
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Academy Awards behind-the-scenes chatter: Will 'Argo' or 'Lincoln' win?
The talk in Hollywood has gone beyond the single efforts of 'Argo' and 'Lincoln' to an evaluation of the careers of their directors, Ben Affleck and Steven Spielberg.
| Los Angeles
During the countdown to the Oscars, the behind-the-scenes narratives arising about the nominees and earlier winners in the awards season are watched closely. And sometimes, they have as much impact on who takes home statuettes as the films themselves.
Nearly every year, there are "the snubbed," the "comeback kids," the "dark horses," and sentimental favorites, among other familiar archetypes.
"This is an industry of storytellers," points out Matt McDaniel, the Los Angeles-based managing editor of Yahoo! Movies. Spinning stories "is what everyone here does."
This year, much of the talk has centered on the "Lincoln"-"Argo" face-off – which most critics think are the top two contenders for Best Picture. As is often the case, the discussions have gone beyond the single efforts to an evaluation of entire careers.
2013's most passionately pitied "snub" – in case you have been reading about Oscar Pistorius in South Africa instead of the Oscars – is "Argo" director Ben Affleck. After he collected Golden Globes for both director and best film, the town issued a collective gasp when he was passed over for directing in the Academy Award nominations.
Everyone assumed Mr. Affleck would be a shoo-in for Best Director, says Stephen Brown, a marketing professional in Atlanta. "He made an outstanding movie, plus he overcame a challenging decade of paparazzi and bad-movie-fueled malaise," he says via e-mail. Hollywood generally loves to reward talent it discovered when young, he says, pointing to Affleck's 1998 Oscar for "Good Will Hunting."
The industry particularly likes the comeback story, Mr. Brown says, adding that in this case, because of the shoo-in assumption and the subsequent snub, many academy voters are seeing a Best Picture Oscar for "Argo."
But voters do not like to be told what to do, says University of Nebraska film professor Wheeler Winston Dixon, who has many former students in Hollywood. Efforts to sway votes have become particularly aggressive – a phenomenon that seriously ratcheted up in 1999 when producer Harvey Weinstein reportedly shelled out more than $15 million in support of "Shakespeare in Love."
The academy has since cracked down on splashy spending, banning swanky screening soirees for the roughly 5,800 academy members who vote.
Voting for this year's Oscars closed Tuesday night. Steven Spielberg, director of "Lincoln," was reported to have sent handwritten notes to voters, while a commemorative DVD of "Argo" was delivered to academy members.
Although he leans toward "Argo" winning Best Picture, Professor Dixon says "Lincoln" has a good chance, "because of this pushback" against influence peddling.
Mr. Spielberg himself has been in Affleck's position, notes Dixon, pointing to the "Jaws" Best Picture nod in 1976, when the director was not nominated. "A lot of people said, who do they think directed the film, the shark?" Dixon quips.
Spielberg's own narrative can work for and against him, points out Lester Friedman, film professor and chair of the media and society department at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y. His work redefined filmmaking. After "Jaws," studios began to focus on the "blockbuster," films costing $100 million and more. This has significantly reduced the money left for smaller, more-independent projects, Professor Friedman notes.
Yet Spielberg has also made a career of serious, historical pictures such as "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan." He received Oscars for both films.
While some may feel that "Lincoln" belongs in that pantheon, Friedman suggests that the tale of the 16th president's struggle to pass the 13th Amendment "should be remembered as one of his good, but not great films."


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Leasing a Vehicle For Your Business. You Find It, We Lease It. Source From Dealer, Auction or Private Sale.
Prefer to by-pass the dealership business office? Need to keep your information confidential and salesmen out of your business affairs? Found a great deal on a trailer through a private seller on Kijiji or AutoTrader? Have you picked up a … Continue reading
Posted in Equipment Leasing Tagged auto financing, auto leasing canada, business lease cars, business vehicle leasing, canada car lease, commercial car leasing, commercial vehicle leasing, lease a used vehicle, leasing a car for business tax deduction, leasing a used car, leasing a used vehicle, leasing for private sales, leasing vehicles for business, Motor vehicle leasing costs, private sale lease, truck lease financing, used auto leasing, used car leasing canada, used vehicle leasing, vehicle leasing companies Comments Off on Leasing a Vehicle For Your Business. You Find It, We Lease It. Source From Dealer, Auction or Private Sale.


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Scientists, with the help of public-health workers, have managed to wipe just two diseases from the face of the earth: smallpox and rinderpest (otherwise known as cattle plague). This year, it had begun to look as if we would soon add another name to that list, a virus that has been a paralytic threat for millennia: polio.
The effort took a devastating step backward yesterday, with the news that six public-health workers were killed in Pakistan; all had been administering polio vaccines. Earlier this year, the World Health Organization declared the eradication of polio to be a world-wide health emergency (a designation which makes it easier to release funds). It did so primarily because the end seemed in sight. Just three countries continue to report infections: Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria. As soon as the news of the murders spread, however, the health minister for Pakistan's southern Sindh Province put a halt to the vaccination program, which had employed more than twenty-four thousand aid workers. The risks of this detour, which will leave tens of thousands of people vulnerable to new infections, cannot be overstated.
Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for the coördinated attacks, but the Taliban has opposed polio vaccination vigorously. Taliban leaders have issued several religious edicts saying that the U.S. runs a spy network under the guise of a vaccine program. Now, there is no question that this is a depraved, heartless, and sickening act. But, as I wrote in a post here more than a year ago, the claim about the C.I.A. is not entirely untrue. In 2011, American intelligence, in a stunning display of arrogance, stupidity, or both, faked a vaccination drive as a cover for its attempt to pin down the location of Osama bin Laden. (The idea was to get DNA samples from the children in the Abbottabad compound while injecting them with a dummy vaccine, and then compare them to those of bin Laden's relatives.) There is a history here, and somebody in the American intelligence community should have known it. The world was close to eradication in 2004 as well. Then several mullahs in northern Nigeria campaigned against polio vaccinations—claiming they were part of a Western plot. The result was that people who were infected went to Mecca on the hajj and spread their disease to people from many countries.
Pakistan's attitude toward those who are associated with the C.I.A. has not exactly been a secret. After the raid on bin Laden's compound, the doctor who tried to obtain the DNA was arrested and sentenced to thirty-three years in prison. I don't mean to lay these crimes on anyone other than the murderers. But the sickness and death caused by a renewed polio epidemic in South Asia would make today's tragedy seem small. Again, we should hold the killers responsible for this terrible reversal. But at least some of blame lies in the swamplands of Langley, Virginia.
Photograph by Fareed Khan/AP.


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You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'hope in the storms of life' tag.
For a little while, you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials (1Peter 1:6)
It is hard to understand the ways of God when the battle is raging and you are surrounded by the enemy. Going through a painful trial or heartache can bring you down lower than you have ever been. It can seem unbearable and crushing especially when you don't understand why God would allow this struggle in your life. How can the torment that you are experiencing be part of God's perfect plan for you? It just doesn't make sense.
We read in James 1:12, "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him". Each struggle brings an opportunity for God to manifest more of his power in you. It is his strength to take us through to the end and our training for the royalty that awaits us in heaven. Yet, there are still times when the answer to our prayers for help seems so far away.
Even knowing God has a purpose for our trials, the things that come against us in this world will never make sense to us. However, the divine purpose for all we endure must complete its work in us. Even Jesus knew that he had to endure great pain that we might be redeemed. In Luke 22:43-44 we read that Jesus went to the Mount of Olives to pray before he was to be crucified. With great anguish over what he was to suffer, his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. Yet as he obeyed his Father's will, an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. Jesus understood that there were eternal implications in all that he had to endure. He willingly gave his life that we might be saved.
As a believer, you should understand that God will also send his angels to strengthen and comfort you as you grow weary from the battles of this world. He will never let you stand alone and carry burdens that are much too heavy for you. The Lord knows how to rescue godly men from their trials. His purpose in allowing pain in your life is to develop you into the image of Christ and to actually make you stronger for the journey set for you. In 2 Corinthians, God's word says that you may be hard pressed on all sides but never crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but never abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. The storms of this life can rock your boat but Jesus has promised that you will get to the destination that he planned for you before you were born. When you can trust God despite your broken heart, you defeat the father of lies who wants you to forget that Jesus paid the price for your victory. All the troubles that we must face are obtaining for us an eternal reward that will last forever. You must keep your eyes on Jesus who is able to keep you in his peace even when you don't understand the purpose for your pain.
Scripture says that after losing his children, his wealth and his health, Job cried out, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust him" (Job 13:13). God had a purpose in allowing Job to go through such a trial. Ultimately, Satan was defeated and Job received a great reward. He was given beautiful children, greater wealth and a longer life because he trusted God when even when all was taken.
God's purpose and plan will forever stand though the earth may be shaken. God's ways are much higher than the logic of this world so you must trust him even when you don't understand. There is nothing you are suffering that God didn't plan in advance to take you through. May it help you to know that there are believers praying for you right now and that God's love for you will never fail!
Dear Lord, I am praying now for those who are enduring great hardship and pain in their lives. Although they are struggling to stand in their faith, they have become weary and need a touch from you. I pray that you will give them a very real sense of your presence in all that they are going through. I pray that you will fill them with your peace and will open their eyes to know that you are with them despite the fierce storm that is all around them. Help them to continue to walk in trust knowing that you will never fail them and that your divine purpose in their lives cannot be stopped by the enemy of this world. Amen
( Picture by Francesco Cosi)


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David Smith loses appeal, US extradition looms, attorney says onto a new round in London
#UnitedKingdom, November 16, 2017 – London – There was grave disappointment for the David Smith team after a loss of their appeal at the Appellate Court sitting on Wednesday. Smith, held for a string of financial crimes continues a near three year battle against a US extradition order which among other things could land him in a Federal prison for up to 30 years.
His attorney, Oliver Smith said the fight is not over though and admitted to #MagneticMedia, it continues to be an uphill battle but they will take their case to the Privy Council in London. #DavidSmith, of Olint is accused of creating and managing a Ponzi scheme; he completed a jail sentence at HMP in Grand Turk and was rearrested less than 24 hours later in a move to cart him off to the United States to complete a Federal sentence in Orlando.
Smith is originally from Jamaica, but is also a Turks and Caicos Islander.
Caribbean News
Millions to come from FSC
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, March 17, 2023 – Revenue from the Turks and Caicos' Financial Services Sector will more than double in the next few years, if E Jay Saunders, Deputy Premier and Finance Minister gets his way. It 's one of the reasons the country is investing so much capital into getting off of the EU blacklist and becoming a secure trustworthy financial destination.
"The FSC's revenues for 2020/21 was $10.5M— the figures for 2021/22, would be about similar," he said. He further explained that $10.5 million from the FSC represented about 2.6 percent of the country's 408.5-million-dollar revenue. Though it increased to $14 million in the 2021/22 financial year, finance is still a small fry compared to tourism or even stamp duties but that will change, says Saunders.
"My revenue goal for the Government by the year 2029 [or] the election after the next election – is $500M. By that time, I want the financial sector (FSC) revenues to represent at least 5% ($25M). So that's my goal for the financial sector by 2029."
This goal, should it be met, would increase the Government's revenue by 100 million dollars, a significant increase in spending power for local upgrades and improvements for Turks and Caicos residents and visitors.
Saunders says it's time for the TCI to diversify its sources of revenue to make sure that what happened in the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw residents out of a job for months, will not happen again. Tourism now makes up around 80 percent of the country's GDP. The Minister of Finance wants to push that down to 60 or even 50 percent.
Caribbean News
Debrief on Haiti Caribbean heads visit
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#Haiti, March 17, 2023 – When a CARICOM delegation visited Haiti earlier this month, conspicuously absent was the Turks and Caicos Islands despite being one of the nations most directly affected by the multi-dimensional crisis there. There is no comment, as yet from the Premier, to say why this was the case.
Still, from the expedition, CARICOM heads of Government have informed that there will be lobbying in Africa for assistance in Haiti. They say they have decided that the best course of action for the Caribbean country is to bolster the Haitian National Police and act as intermediaries with Africa and the world. The decision follows a one day visit on February 27th, and a March 5th meeting chaired by the Bahamas.
CARICOM says during the trip delegates 'met with a broad range of Haitian stakeholders to hear their views on the way forward to a Haitian-led solution'. With that in mind it has made a decision on how to proceed.
"The Heads of Government agreed to support the Haitian National Police in their efforts to address the security situation. The focus of the Community will be the provision of training for the HNP and the provision of humanitarian assistance to HNP and the wider Haitian society, taking into account the challenging humanitarian and security situation"
It's not clear yet where and how this training will take place. Also distinctly absent from the report, no more mention of boots on the ground from other countries despite CARICOM Member States indicating they were ready and willing should it come to that.
In addition, recognizing 'the common historical experiences and the strong African-Caribbean relationship' CARICOM says,
"Heads of Government also agreed to seek support from African countries for Haiti. They also agreed to work with the Governments of Canada and the United States as well as the UNDP"
Magnetic Media has reached out to the Premier's Office to get a full debrief of the February 27th visit (led by Jamaica; including The Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago) to learn of Turks and Caicos' posture following the critical sessions.
Caribbean News
New ASHLEY'S LEARNING CENTRE CONCERT
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, March 17, 2023 – Musicians from the New World Symphony will be in the Turks and Caicos in concert next month and residents are invited to attend in support of the future of Ashley's Learning Center.
A fairly young orchestral academy based in Miami, the New World Symphony was launched in the 1980s by 1987, Michael Tilson Thomas and Ted Arison,Carnival Cruises founder. From the 1500 applicants who vie for a spot each year, the symphony accepts around 35 music graduates annually for training fellowships.
A select few of those graduates will be in country on April 8th headlining at the Ashley's Learning Center concert 'We're all in this together'. The concert which also feature local artistes will be held at Brayton Hall on Venetian Road from 6 pm to 8:30 pm
Tickets are available ON ISLEHELP $75 PER GENERAL SEAT $125 PER PREMIUM SEAT $195 PER GALLERY SEAT – with /FREFRESHMENTS.
For TICKET RESERVATIONs you can call: 649-341-2304 or email firstname.lastname@example.com
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Today is the 35th anniversary of the Blizzard of 1978 which evidently I got to see. It dumped 19.3 inches of snow on Lansing, Michigan in two days after the region had already been hit by snow earlier in the week. The end result looked like this on our block.
Happy hunting,


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Werfel's IRS discipline wins praise
Acting IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel is placing two officials — including a top staffer implementing the health care law — on administrative leave for violating government ethics rules at a 2010 conference.
"When I came to IRS, part of my job was to hold people accountable," Werfel said in a statement Wednesday. "There was clearly inappropriate behavior in this situation and immediate action is needed."
Werfel didn't specify which staff members he disciplined but congressional sources tell POLITICO one official is Fred Schindler, the director of implementation oversight at the IRS Affordable Care Act office. The other is Donald Toda, a California-based employee.
( PHOTOS: 8 key players in IRS scandal story)
The staffers received $1,100 in free food and other items at the conference, the sources said.
The disciplinary move comes ahead of a hearing House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) will hold Thursday on a report that the IRS spent about $49 million on conferences between 2010 and 2012. Werfel is slated to testify at that hearing.
Louisiana Rep. Charles Boustany, a senior Republican on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, said he saw the discipline as a sign that Werfel could shake up the IRS. He was pleased that the IRS alerted GOP members of the committee about the move late Tuesday.
"He's promised us to be forthright and free-flowing with information and keeping us informed about what he's doing at the IRS to clean that up," Boustany said. "The fact that he provided the information to us last night is … a good sign."
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Oversight committee, said Werfel is taking "aggressive action."
"If you had some bad apples in the barrel, you have to remove them," Cummings said.
President Barack Obama installed Werfel as the agency's acting director last month after the administration asked his predecessor, Steven Miller, to step down.
Administrative leave can be the first step to firing a government worker, which is difficult due to federal employee protections. Suspended employees are often paid during suspension while supervisors decide how to proceed.
Fired employees can appeal their dismissal to the Merit Systems Protection Board, a process that can take longer than a year. During the appeals process, however, they are not on payroll.
The development adds to the scandal that has engulfed the IRS since the agency acknowledged last month that employees wrongly targeted tea party groups applying for a tax exemption. Those problems have only deepened in the wake of reports of big spending on IRS conferences.
Meanwhile, Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia's attorney general and GOP candidate for governor, accused the agency on Wednesday of blocking $125 billion owed to the state stemming from a Medicaid fraud settlement, according to the Associated Press.
Schindler is a deputy to Sarah Hall Ingram, another staffer who has come under fire from Republican lawmakers for leading the IRS division that oversees nonprofits before moving into a different position to lead the agency's implementation of the health care law. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has said Ingram wasn't involved in the targeting program.
A source close to the IRS told POLITICO Schindler is responsible for overseeing audits on the health care law conducted by the Government Accountability Office, among other tasks.
Previous roles for Schindler include stints in the agency's collection policy division and work as a deputy assistant chief counsel.
Lois Lerner, a senior official in the division overseeing nonprofits, is the only staffer that has been placed on leave since the IRS scandal broke last week. Werfel put her on leave last month after she refused his request to resign.
The Obama administration asked Steven Miller, Werfel's predecessor as acting commissioner, to step down last month.
The congressional probe of the IRS shows no sign of slowing soon. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said the agency began responding to his panel's requests for documents late Tuesday.
Camp said the agency has collected 64 million pages of documents in response to requests from lawmakers.
"The sheer volume of documents and the work that must be done to finish interviews and review the information provided by the IRS will require both time and patience," Camp said in a statement.
Paige Winfield Cunningham contributed to this report.


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Griner leads Baylor to blowout victory
Waco, TX – Brittney Griner tallied 33 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks as the top-seeded Baylor Lady Bears made easy work of the 16th- seeded Prairie View A&M Panthers, 82-40, in first-round action of the NCAA Tournament at the Ferrell Center.
Griner shot 12-of-17 from the field, 9-of-12 from the free-throw line, and recorded her 15th-career dunk for Baylor (33-1), which has advanced to the second round on Tuesday to tangle with Florida State. Odyssey Sims also registered a double-double for the Lady Bears with 12 points and 10 assists.
For Prairie View (17-15), Gabrielle Scott came off the bench to net 14 points, while Latia Williams had 10 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
While Baylor led by just seven, 22-15, midway through the first half, it got its act together and eventually went into the halftime locker room with a 42-22 lead.
The Lady Bears' advantage never dipped below 18 points in the second half as they cruised to victory.
Baylor shot 56.6 percent from the field and 20-of-29 from foul line on the night, while Prairie View made less than 26 percent of its field goal tries and went without a free-throw attempt.


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Keychain lights
The sort of flashlights that fit right onto a key ring, though some might surprise you for being a little bigger than others. However, others are so small that conventional batteries are not able to fit in them.
This is where a majority of the button cell flashlights go, as those are compact enough to fit, and power, these items. Having one of these is a sure way to not be without a light source, no matter how long you need it.


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Toyota Motor has agreed to spend $1.1 billion to settle sweepingU.S. class-action litigation over claims that millions of its vehicles accelerate unintentionally, as the Japanese automaker seeks to move past the biggest safety crisis in its history.
Shares of Toyota rose nearly 3 percent in Tokyo following the news, with some investors saying the settlement removed one uncertainty for the company and looked manageable given its improving sales outlook and a weaker yen.
The proposed settlement will compensate customers for economic losses related to possible safety defects in Toyota vehicles, covering most of the litigation involving unintended acceleration, although it does not cover claims for wrongful death or injuries.
About 16 million Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles sold in the United States spanning the model years 1998 to 2010 are covered by the action, according to court filings made public on Wednesday. Thirty nameplates are affected, including the top-selling Toyota Camry midsize sedan and Corolla compact car.
Toyota,the No. 3 automaker in the U.S. market, admitted no fault in proposing the settlement, one of the largest of U.S. mass class-action
litigation in the automotive sector. "This was a difficult decision, especially since reliable scientific evidence and multiple independent evaluations have confirmed the safety of Toyota's electronic throttle control systems," Christopher Reynolds, general counsel for Toyota Motor Sales, USA, said in a statement.
"However,we concluded that turning the page on this legacy legal issue through the positive steps we are taking is in the best interests of the company,our employees, our dealers and, most of all, our customers."
The figure eclipses other settlements in the auto industry including Bridgestone $240 million payout to Ford Motor in 2005 over Ford's massive Firestone tire safety recall in 2001. Ford replaced 13 million Firestone tires, installed mostly as original equipment on the company's popular Explorer SUV, in one of the biggest recalls in U.S. history.
HagensBerman, the law firm representing Toyota owners who brought the lawsuit in 2010,issued a statement saying that the settlement was valued between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion. In a memo filed in court, the lawyers said the settlement was "a landmark, if not a record, settlement in automobile defect class action litigation in the United States."
Toyota said it would take a one-time pretax charge of $1.1 billion to cover the costs.The company said it planned to book the charge as operating expenses in its October-December third quarter.
"This is positive, as it removes the factor that was the biggest concern when it came to lawsuits ... Because Toyota's absolute numbers are very big when it comes to profits, it's hardly going to have an impact," said Koji Endo, an autos analyst at Advanced Research in Tokyo.
Toyota may be able to offset costs with a rise in its profits as the yen weakens, headded. Toyota's operating profit increases by 35 billion yen for everyone-yen rise in the value of the dollar. The automaker has forecast an operating profit of 1.05 trillion yen ($12.3 billion) for the financial year ending in March 2013.
Toyota shares rose 2.7 percent, compared with a 1 percent rise in Japan's benchmark Nikkei index.
Lingering Effects
Toyota's recall of more than 10 million vehicles between 2009 and 2011 hurt the company's reputation for reliability and safety. The effect of the recalls on sales and loyalty remains "difficult to isolate,"IHS Automotive analyst Rebecca Lindland said.
"A lot of their growth through the early 2000s were first-time Toyota buyers,"she said. "Those are the people that were most vulnerable to saying,
'I'll never own a Toyota again.' The long term effects won't fully be realized until all of the cars that have been impacted by the recall have been retired."
(Read More: Toyota Sees Japan Sales Dropping 20% in 2013)
The biggest safety crisis in Toyota's history began to get public notice in August 2009 when an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer Mark Saylor and three members of his family were killed in a Lexus ES 350 that crashed at a high speed.
A separate lawsuit over the death of the Saylor family was settled out of court. A handful of wrongful death and personal injury cases are still pending, but the vast majority of the litigation over unintended acceleration will be finished if the proposed settlement is approved, said a person with knowledge of the remaining lawsuits who wished to remain anonymous.
Within a half year of the Saylor family crash, Toyota President Akio Toyoda and other company executives were questioned in a high-profile U.S.
Congressional hearing, and Toyoda made a public apology. Toyota maintained all along that its electronic throttle control system was not at fault, and reiterated that on Wednesday. It has blamed ill-fitting floor mats and sticky gas pedals for the problem.
A study by U.S. safety regulator the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and NASA found no link between the reports of unintended
acceleration and Toyota's electronic throttle control system.
Increasingly Common
The settlement, which must be approved by a California federal judge, includes direct payments to customers as well as the installation of a brake override system in more than 2.7 million vehicles, according to the settlement agreement filed in court.
The terms include a $250 million fund for former Toyota owners who sold vehicles at reduced prices and a separate $250 million fund for owners not eligible for the brake override system.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs are slated to receive up to $200 million in fees and$27 million in costs, according to court documents.Richard Cupp, a professor at Pepperdine University School of Law, said the settlement was large for the automotive sector but was dwarfed by other litigation involving economic loss claims. State cases against the tobacco industry,for instance, amounted to more than $200 billion.
"That could mean that lawsuits like these could become increasingly common, even where there is not provable physical injury on large scale," Cupp said.
The case is In re: Toyota Motor Corp. Unintended Acceleration Marketing, SalesPractices and Products Liability Litigation, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 10-ml-02151.


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Man charged with operating snowmobile drunk
A downstate man has been arraigned on drunk driving charges in connection with a Feb. 1 incident when he was rescued from Mullett Lake after falling through the ice on his snowmobile.
Patrick Marvin Ross, 63, was charged in 89th District Court April 3 with operating a snowmobile while under the influence of liquor and/or unlawful blood-alcohol content.
The offense is punishable as a 93-day misdemeanor, but Michigan State Police troopers say the incident cost plenty in terms of time, manpower and potential danger to the rescuers.
A report alleges Ross, of Waterford, Mich., had been drinking at a Mackinaw City establishment the afternoon of Feb. 1 and drove his snowmobile on the North Central State Recreational Trail to Cheboygan and continued south where he attempted to cross Mullett Lake to a residence near the mouth of the Cheboygan River.
After breaking through the ice, Michigan State Police responded and called out the Cheboygan County Search and Rescue Team, who used the county's Hovercraft unit to reach Ross and pull him from the lake.
Ross was taken to McLaren Cheboygan Campus and later transferred to McLaren Petoskey. A blood-alcohol assessment of .294 — more than three times the legal limit — was recorded by a doctor, police said.
Fire department and rescue responders from Inverness Township, Alverno and Tuscarora Township were on scene to assist.
Ross, who posted a bond of $2,000/10 percent, is being counseled by a downstate attorney as to his legal options. His bond conditions include no use or possession of alcohol or controlled substances and random testing. A pre-trial has been scheduled for April 24.


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Ruby on Rails 3.0, a major upgrade to the popular open source Web development framework, is due in a final release this week, the founder of the framework David Heinemeier Hansson said on Tuesday.
[ Rails founder Hansson criticized a survey that ranked Rails low in user satisfaction. | Keep up with app dev issues and trends with InfoWorld's Fatal Exception blog and Developer World newsletter. ]
Hansson in a blog entry Tuesday touted a second release candidate for Rails 3.0.
"This second candidate has very few changes over the first, which means that unless any blockers are discovered with this release, we're targeting the final release of Rails 3.0 for this week," Hansson said in the blog entry.
A first release candidate, initially set for early June, did not arrive until last month.
Reader comments about Rails 3.0 attached to Tuesday's Rails blog entry were mostly positive, although one person said Hansson needed the Merb team "to fix his code."
This article, "Ruby on Rails 3.0 due this week," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in business technology news and get a digest of the key stories each day in the InfoWorld Daily newsletter and on your mobile device at infoworldmobile.com.


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The United Nations Security Council unanimously called on Syria Thursday to "urgently and visibly" halt all violence by an April 10 deadline in what UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said was the "last chance" to save the country from civil war.
Meanwhile, a UN team was in Damascus Thursday to negotiate the deployment of a mission to monitor the potential cease-fire.
After months of failed attempts to act on Syria, the Security Council approved a nonbinding presidential statement that threatens "further steps" if the regime of President Bashar al-Assad fails to implement the peace plan that Mr. Ban's special envoy, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, concluded with President Assad last week.
The statement, sponsored by the United States, the council's rotating president, also calls on all other parties to cease "all forms" of armed action within 48 hours of the government pulling back from cities and ceasing its attacks.
The council's action marked a modest unblocking of the diplomatic logjam that has stymied for more than six months Western attempts to secure international action against Assad. Russia and China have twice vetoed more consequential council resolutions on Syria, with Russia vowing to block any resolution the council's three other permanent members — the US, Britain, and France — might use to intervene in the Syrian crisis.
Russia accuses the Western powers of going beyond the mandate of last year's UN resolution on Libya — which Russia supported — to launch the NATO air campaign against the forces of Muammar Qaddafi. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has repeatedly said that Russia would not leave any doors open to armed intervention in Syria by the West.
Again on Thursday, Mr. Lavrov warned that Russia would not approve any council action that contains "any ultimatums or threats" aimed at the Assad government. And there was some indication that Russia was getting its way in a council anxious to weigh in on the Syria crisis. The statement approved Thursday "urges" Assad to comply with the Annan plan, whereas an earlier draft said the council "demands" compliance.
That left unclear just what the council might be able to approve in the way of "further steps" in the event of a breakdown in implementation of the Annan plan.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé, speaking to reporters in Paris, said that if the Assad government does not open the country to the 200-observer monitoring mission called for in the Annan plan, or if it acts to block the mission's work, then Syria will quickly return to the council's agenda.
Mr. Juppé expressed little confidence that the plan will work, insisting that Assad is "deceiving" the international community. The Arab League already had a team of observers in Syria last year that was pulled out over accusations that Assad was actively undermining the observers' work.
Speaking to the UN General Assembly by videoconference Thursday, Mr. Annan said violence had yet to cease in Syria, and he called on all sides to silence their guns now. Ban said that violence was "getting worse" in the days before the planned cease-fire.
Some regional experts are concerned that the Annan cease-fire plan allows Assad to buy time and to eventually blame the opposition for a return to violence.
To ensure some accountability from Assad, some UN diplomats are calling for a quick assessment of whether or not Assad is implementing the plan. They want Annan to brief the Security Council as of April 11 on whether or not Assad had complied with the April 10 deadline for ceasing government violence.


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What is Master in Medicine & Health?
Medicine and Health is a broad field of study that deals with acquiring knowledge which will help the treatment and prevention of illnesses and diseases of human beings and animals. Laughter may be the best medicine, but during a Medicine & Health degree, you will discover many interesting things like the fact that your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room for your heart.
Medicine and Health degrees cover sub-disciplines such as Biomedicine, Public Health, Human Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Health Management, and Nutrition.
First-year medical students will focus on introductory knowledge about how the human or animal body works. Degrees then continue with advanced knowledge about internal medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry and surgery. Those are followed by a specialization you've decided to pursue as a career.
Medicine and Health students will attend supervised medical practice or internship, followed by a residency in a health care facility, where they experience medical events and first-hand practice.
You will learn how to cure illnesses and help people recover. It will also be your job to teach people how to take better care of themselves in order to prevent diseases from occurring. Being a health professional is a difficult but rewarding career. You will need soft skills like empathy, communication, and cooperation to deal with patients efficiently and work well with your peers.
Medicine and Health graduates enter the following careers: surgeon, medical technician, psychiatrist, nurse, nutritionist, veterinary doctor, and others.


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My Problem
I'm currently displaying a layer image above a Google Maps base layer. I would like, when the user check/uncheck some checkboxes, that some parts of this image layer disappear, and the base layer appears instead these parts.
But I want the other parts still visible with the same opacity.
The image parts to hide are polygons. Those polygons are already generated as layers and are above my image layer. I could put a black background color to hide the wanted image parts, but it wouldn't display the base layer instead...
I'm stuck.
Solutions I thought about
I would like you to say me if that's possible and, if you can, how to do it.
I'm not asking for some code, I can do it myself, I'm just kind of a newbie at OpenLayers and I'd like someone to help me to understand how it works. Plus, I have to add functionnalities to an already written code so it's not very easy.
Here are data I have, I removed the ones which are not useful (this is only an example, empty data are usually filled with correct values).
The images :
images[id] = {
name: "Image",
image_date: '2012/08/25',
image_path : 'static/path/to/image',
width : '250',
height : '250',
georef_north : '',
georef_south : '',
georef_east : '',
georef_west : ''
And the polygons :
polygons[id] = {
I'm getting them like that via WFS protocol like this :
layers['blockLayer'][i] = new OpenLayers.Layer.Vector("Block", {
strategies: [new OpenLayers.Strategy.BBOX()],
filter: VMMS.GIS.GetBlockFilter(i),
protocol: new OpenLayers.Protocol.WFS({
url: "../vine/jsGeoserver",
version: "1.1.0",
featureType: "block",
featureNS : urlGeoserver + dataStore ,
featurePrefix : dataStore ,
srsName: "EPSG:900913",
//srsName: "EPSG:4326",
geometryName: "block_geom",
schema : urlGeoserver +"wfs/DescribeFeatureType?version=1.1.0&typename=" + dataStore +":block"
projection : proj_spherMerc,
//projection : proj_WGS84,
styleMap : StyleBlockWithOpacity
First Solution
Why wouldn't we put the image layer in each polygon layer, and display only the layers we want to display ?
Would that work ? I'm not actually sure about that and I don't want to get into it if it's not realizable. Because I don't know if I can display an image IN a layer and not entire, and it has to be well placed in the map and in the layer... Though it seems to me it's doable.
Second Solution
Why wouldn't we display the base layer again above the image to hide some parts ? The image would still be here, but as the base layer would be on top of it, we wouldn't see it.
This solution seems to me even less doable, or, at least, very heavy.
An example image, it's what I'm currently displaying : There's the google maps base layer, then the image blue and green, and all forms are polygons layers above the image.
Thank you all for your answers !