Bhoomiyude Avakashikal

Bhoomiyude Avakashikal (English: "The Inheritors of the Earth") is a 2012 Malayalam feature film written and directed by T. V. Chandran based on a novel of the same name by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer. The film stars Kailash in the lead role along with Sreenivasan and Mythili who play pivotal supporting roles. The film was produced by Anand Kumar under the banner of Yes Cinema and it was mainly shot in Nelliyampathi, Ottappalam and Shoranur in Kerala.
"Bhoomiyude Avakashikal" is the third and last installment of T. V. Chandran's trilogy on 2002 Gujarat riots. The first one was, "Kathavasheshan" (2004), it was followed by "Vilapangalkkappuram" (2008). The narratives of all these films begin on the same day, 28 February 2002, that is, on the day after the Godhra train burning in Gujarat. "Bhoomiyude Avakashikal" tells the story of Mohanachandran Nair, who is driven away from Ahmadabad following the Gujarat riots and who eventually loses his job and even his identity and ultimately lands up in a secluded house in Kerala, in the company of insects and animals with whom he shares his thoughts, concerns, doubts and frustrations. The film was shot digitally to reduce costs as it was required to film several insects and animals in their natural habitat.
The film premiered at the 43rd International Film Festival of India on 27 November 2012. It was also an official selection for the International Film Festival of Kerala.
Plot.
Mohanachandran Nair (Kailash) is a Malayali youth working in Ahmadabad, Gujarat. On 28 February 2002, a day after the Godhra train burning, he is driven away from the city, after he makes a futile attempt to save a Muslim woman hunted by a group of Hindu fanatics. He reappears in Kerala but without any marks of identity. He has lost his job, ID cards and name. In the new place, he is helped by a man called Beeran Ikka (Sreenivasan), who is a warm and gentle human being, whose only passion in life is music.
But, eventually, Ikka too is killed during a communal clash. Mohanachandran Nair is forced to move away from that place. Finally, he goes back to a secluded house that was bequeathed to him by chance (even his lineages are doubtful). He starts living a peaceful life there by sharing his thoughts, concerns, doubts and frustrations with various kinds of animals around him. He eventually discovers that he is not the only owner of the land. Even the animals and insects that live on that patch of land are inheritors too, he discovers. He also maintains a warm relationship with his neighbour, a school teacher (Mythili).
But, again, another altruistic act of his attracts hatred from society. In the end, he feels that his being there would only bring trouble to those creatures living in that space. And he decides to walk out, one doesn't know where to.
Themes.
In an interview with noted film critic C. S. Venkiteswaran of "The Hindu" newspaper, T. V. Chandran said,
Venkiteswaran notes that "Bhoomiyude Avakashikal" is "perhaps the first Malayalam film that leaves the human and the anthropocentric narration behind, and explores the realm of the non-human." In his reply, Chandran said,
Production.
Pre-production.
The film's title is adapted from the famous short story "Bhoomiyude Avakashikal" by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer although the film is not based on the story. Also the film is done as a tribute to Basheer and his ideologies. Chandran says, "No, the film is not based on the Basheer story, but it is a film that is dedicated to him. In fact, the title draws not only from Basheer but also from the Red Indian Chief who told the American President that they are the real inheritors of the earth. The film is actually dedicated to Basheer, the great musical genius M. S. Baburaj, and the vanishing habitats of Kerala."
Noted scenarist and actor Sreenivasan is associating with Chandran nearly after two decades. Sreenivasan had donned a key role in the 1995 film "Ormakal Undayirikkanam". Through this film, Kailash makes his comeback to Malayalam cinema after a certain gap. Meghna Raj was originally cast for the lead female role. She opted out citing busy schedules and the role was later given to Mythili, while veteran actor Shankar played a cameo. "Bhoomiyude Avakashikal" will also see music director Shahabaz Aman make his acting debut.
Filming.
"Bhoomiyude Avakashikal" commenced its production in June 2012 and the film was shot mainly from Nelliyampathi, Ottappalam and Shoranur in Kerala. Chandran says, "To shoot this film, I really had to search all over Kerala to find a vast and bio-diverse compound with all our common flora and fauna. Though it was very common a few decades ago, it has totally vanished with human habitation taking over our earth, driving out all other organisms and life forms." Veteran cinematographer Ramachandra Babu associates with Chandran for the first time through this film although their friendship, according to Chandran, dates back to the time of "Agraharathil Kazhutai" (1977), in which Chandran assisted the famed filmmaker John Abraham and Babu wielded the camera. Filming lasted for more than a month from June 2012 and the shoot was wrapped up by August.
Chandran ensured that the crew was bare minimum so as not to disturb the animals in their natural settings. Kailash recounts how the shooting of the flick was also different. "We've shot animals — including frogs, chameleons and millipedes — in their natural setting. One morning, when Chandran and cameraman Ramachandra Babu returned from their morning walk in Nelliyampathi, they brought with them a rare breed of millipede, which they found on their way. If earlier, I was bothered about how comfortable my co-stars are, this time around, all of us on the sets ensured that the animals and insects around had no hassles because of us," he says. Kailash recalls the filming of once scene to describe how difficult it was to film various sequences involving the insects and others creatures. The film has a scene wherein the hero keenly observes an ant climbing up his hand. "Of course, the ant didn't come up my hand like we wanted it to. But the entire crew waited patiently for it do its 'act' and a long wait later, it finally rose to our expectations!"
The film was shot digitally to reduce costs as it was required to film several insects and animals in their natural habitat. "You can make Mammootty or Mohanlal act, but not a tortoise. That will be a costly affair and one reason why we have to depend on digital film-making," says Chandran. Replying to a query during the 'Meet the Directors' programme at the 17th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), Chandran described how difficult it was to get a tortoise look right or left as the script required. "It took more than a day for that particular shot and if the movie was made on reel film, it would have cost a bomb," said Chandran. However, pointing out the pitfalls in digital cinematography, Chandran says he would have preferred the conventional mode if he need not have to worry about the costs.
Release.
"Bhoomiyude Avakashikal" premiered at the International Film Festival of India on 27 November 2012. The film was screened in the Indian Panorama section of the 43rd edition of the festival. It was one of the two Malayalam films screened in the International Competition section of the 17th International Film Festival of Kerala.
The film was an official selection for the following festivals:


Nine Entertainment


Rasigar Mandram

Rasigar Mandram (English: Fan Club) is a 2007 Tamil drama film directed and written Pugazhendhi Thangaraj. The film features Uma, newcomer Ganesh and newcomer Gokul Krishna in lead roles, with Bhanu, Mansoor Ali Khan, Babu Ganesh, Jaguar Thangam, Madhan Bob and Bose Venkat playing supporting roles. The film had musical score by S. P. Boopathy and was released on 25 May 2007.
Plot.
Rameshkanth (Mansoor Ali Khan) and Sathya (Babu Ganesh) are the most famous hero of Tamil cinema. Kathiravan alias Kathir (Ganesh) is a fan of Rameshkanth while Pandian (Gokul Krishna) is a fan of Sathya. They are head of their respective fan clubs in their village and they have a go at each other at every opportunity. Bharathi (Uma) is the new music teacher of the village school, she is surprised to see that the village young men are all members of a cinema actor's fan club.
When a foreign water company took water with the government permission from the village, Annachi (Jaguar Thangam) with few villagers demonstrate in the street. Bharathi then explains to the villagers that the water plant would make the village a desert. Kathir's fan clubs members and Pandian's fan clubs members decide to protest on their respective sides. Bharathi wanted the ardent fans to make peace and Annachi reveals that they were all friends a few years back. In the past, Kathir and Pandian were friends, and Kathir's sister Kavitha (Bhanu) was about to marry Pandian. But one day, Pandian made fun of Kathir's favourite actor Rameshkanth, they fought and the wedding was cancelled.
The local politician Peethamparam (Mansoor Ali Khan) is getting money from the water company to support the project. Peethambaram resorts to the divide and rule policy in the village, therefore he creates a conflict between the two fan clubs. Pandian's group burns Kathir's fan club made with coconut leaves, thereafter Peethamparam offers Kathir a small ground to construct a fan club. Rameshkanth then donates a huge amount for constructing a solid-silver statue of him and the fan club. In the meantime, Kathir and Bharathi fall in love with each other. Bharathi then advice Kathir to build a school in place of a fan club. One day, Pandian leaves his sick mother to attend Sathya's new film Pooja. His mother then died and Kathir did all the funeral rites. After his return to the village, Pandian is heartbroken. Pandian and Kathir patch up a quarrel, and the fan clubs are dissolved. Bharathi gathered more than 3000 signatures on a petition to stop the project and send it to Delhi. Finally, a collector visits the village and cancels the company's license, the company was allowed to bore to 300 ft but the company bored to 2000 ft.
Soundtrack.
The film score and the soundtrack were composed by film composer S. P. Boopathy. The soundtrack, released in 2007, features 5 tracks with lyrics written by Kabilan, P. Krishnan, Kathirmozhi and Bharathan.
Reception.
A reviewer from Sulekha said, "Director Pugazhendi has made a daring attempt bringing out the flaws in his own industry. Though a bold attempt, Pugazhendi has failed to capture the attention of the audience". Another reviewer wrote, "The director has tried to convey a message but failed at many places. Had the screenplay be stronger the film would have definitely been a hit. But still it is a good attempt". "Chennai Online" wrote "The film could have been a light-hearted satire, or an in-depth assessment of the negative impact on young minds of obsessive star worship. But it turns out to be neither. The scripting is lacklustre and the takes amateurish."


Waldo Salt

Waldo Miller Salt (October 18, 1914 – March 7, 1987) was an American screenwriter who won Academy Awards for both "Midnight Cowboy" and "Coming Home".
Early life and career.
Salt was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Winifred (née Porter) and William Haslem Salt, an artist and business executive. He graduated from Stanford University in 1934. The first of the nineteen films he wrote (or participated in writing) was released in 1937 with the title "The Bride Wore Red".
Salt's career in Hollywood was interrupted when he was blacklisted after refusing to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1951. Like many other blacklisted writers, while he was unable to work in Hollywood, Salt wrote pseudonymously for the British television series "The Adventures of Robin Hood". After the collapse of the blacklist, Salt won Academy Awards for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium for his work on "Midnight Cowboy" and "Coming Home", and a nomination for "Serpico".
Salt is featured in the extras for the Criterion Collection's "Midnight Cowboy" blu-ray release, specifically in an audio interview with Michael Childers; many photos of Waldo Salt can be seen here as he was a collaborator for the screenplay. The documentary listed below, ", is also featured on the disc.
Personal life and death.
Salt was married four times, first to Amber Dana, then to actress Mary Davenport with whom he had two children, actress/writer/producer Jennifer, and Deborah. After his divorce from Davenport, he married Gladys Schwartz and later playwright Eve Merriam. He remained married to Merriam until his death in Los Angeles, aged 72, on March 7, 1987.
Documentary.
Waldo Salt was the subject of a 1990 documentary ", which featured interviews with Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jon Voight, John Schlesinger and other collaborators and friends.
The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award.
The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, first presented in 1992, is awarded at the Sundance Film Festival annually. It is determined by the dramatic jury, and recognizes outstanding screenwriting in a film screened at the festival that year. See List of Sundance Film Festival award winners for a list of winners.


Flint (film)

Flint is a 2017 television drama film based on the Flint water crisis in Flint, Michigan. Directed by Bruce Beresford, it premiered on Lifetime on October 28, 2017. The film stars Queen Latifah, Betsy Brandt, Jill Scott, and Marin Ireland. The film or its cast have been nominated for three Image Awards, a Critics' Choice Television Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Production.
In January 2017, the singer and actress Cher announced plans to produce and star in a film about a fictional Flint woman dealing with the water crisis and how it affects her family. Cher dropped out of the project in March, citing a "serious family issue" as the cause. Queen Latifah and Jill Scott were later cast in the film. Latifah's production company Flavor Unit Entertainment and her partner Shakim Compere also produced the film. Lyndie Greenwood later joined the cast. It is based on the "Time Magazine" cover story "The Poisoning of an American City". It premiered on October 28, 2017. Primary filming took place on location in Toronto, Ontario and Hamilton, Ontario. Hamilton City Hall stood in as the city hall for Flint.


Eco Eye

Eco Eye is an Irish television series broadcast on RTÉ One. Presented by Duncan Stewart, it is about environmental issues. It has a reputation for beautiful scenic filming and aerial photography.
"Eco Eye" is a presenter-led advocacy documentary series that makes an economic case for solving environmental issues.
It airs every Tuesday at 7pm.


Forms processing

Forms processing is a process by which one can capture information entered into data fields and convert it into an electronic format. This can be done manually or automatically, but the general process is that hard copy data is filled out by humans and then "captured" from their respective fields and entered into a database or other electronic format.
Overview.
In the broadest sense, forms processing systems can range from the processing of small application forms to large scale survey forms with multiple pages. There are several common issues involved in forms processing when done manually. These are a lot of tedious human efforts put in, the data keyed in by the user may result in typos, and many hours of labor result from this lengthy process. If the forms are processed using computer software driven applications these common issues can be resolved and minimized to great extent. Most methods for forms processing address the following areas.
Manual data entry.
This method of data processing involves human operators keying in data found on the form. The manual process of data entry has many disadvantages in speed, accuracy and cost. Based on average professional typist speeds of 50 to 80 wpm, one could generously estimate about two hundred pages per hour for forms with fifteen one-word fields (not counting the time for reading and sorting pages). In contrast, modern commercial scanners can scan and digitize up to 200 pages per "minute". The second major disadvantage to manual data entry is the likelihood of typographical errors. When factoring in the cost of labor and working space, manual data entry is a very inefficient process.
Automated forms processing.
This method can automate data processing by using pre-defined templates and configurations. A template in this case, would be a "map" of the document, detailing where the data fields are located within the form or document. As compared to the manual data entry process, automatic form input systems are preferable, since they help reduce the problems faced during manual data processing.
Automatic form input systems use different types of recognition methods such as optical character recognition (OCR) for machine print, optical mark reading (OMR) for check/mark sense boxes, bar code recognition (BCR) for barcodes, and intelligent character recognition (ICR) for hand print.
With automated form processing system technology users are able to process documents from their scanned images into a computer readable format such as ANSI, XML, CSV, PDF or input directly into a database.
Forms Processing has developed beyond basic capture of the data. Forms processing not only encompasses a recognition process but also helps manage the complete life cycle of documents which starts from scanning of the document to the extraction of the data, and often to delivery into a back-end system. In some cases it may also include processing or generating well formatted results through calculations and analysis. An automated forms processing system can be valuable if there is a need to process hundreds or thousands of images every day.
First Step: Assessment of the form structure.
The first step in understanding automated forms processing is to analyze the type of form from which the extraction of data is desired. Forms can be classified as one of two high level categories for the purpose of extracting data. Four categories have been proposed however the document capture industry has settled up these two:
Although the components (described below) used for the extraction of data from either type of form is the same the way in which these are applied varies considerably based upon the type of document.
Components.
Various components included in data processing using automatic form-input system include
OCR recognizes machine-printed uppercase/lowercase alphabetic, numeric, accented characters, many currency symbols, digits, arithmetic symbols, expanded punctuation characters and more.
ICR recognizes hand-printed American and European English characters using pre-defined character sets: uppercase, lowercase, mixed case alphabetic, digits, currency (including $ (dollar), ¢ (cent) € (Euro) £ (pound), ¥ (Yen)), arithmetic and punctuation characters (including period, comma, single quote, double quote, ! & ( ) ? @ { } \ # % * + – / : ; < = >)
MICR is recognition technology to facilitate the processing of the MICR fonts of cheques. This minimizes chances of errors in clearing of cheques. It is also useful for easier and faster transfer of funds. MICR provides a secure, high-speed method of scanning and processing information.
Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) identifies bubbles filled in by hand or check boxes on printed forms. Usually OMR supports single and multiple mark recognition. The fields to be recognized can be specified as grids (rows by columns) or single bubbles.
Barcode Recognition can read more than 20 industry 1D and 2D barcodes including Code39, CODABAR, Interleaved 2 of 5, Code93 and more. It automatically detects all barcodes in an image or specified area within the image.
Process.
The process of automated forms processing typically includes the following steps:
Prerequisites.
Though automated forms processing has many great advantages over manual data entry, it still comes with some limitations. To achieve the best accuracy, some prerequisites should be followed.
One very important consideration is indexing, determining the metadata that will be used to describe the data contained within the documents. This attribute perhaps drives the forms processing solution more than any other.


Golden retriever egg challenge

The Golden retriever egg challenge is a viral video phenomenon where people put a raw egg in a dog's mouth to see if it can hold it without cracking it. #eggchallenge
History.
It began after the veterinarian Carrie DuComb read that golden retrievers had soft mouths and were thus bred to be able to retrieve things killed by hunters. She then decided to see if her dog, Sookie, would hold a raw egg in its mouth. Her 17 year old niece Haley Bowers posted a video of the dog doing this on Twitter, resulting in millions of views. Since then others have tried this with their dogs with various degrees of success.
Challenge.
Whether a dog will do it or not depends on their breed and their temperament.
Health concerns.
The president of the Australian Veterinary Association, Dr. Paula Parker, has warned people that putting an egg in a dog's mouth could be a choking hazard and that salmonella and other harmful bacteria could be on the outside of the egg as well as the inside.


ITU-T

The ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) coordinates standards for telecommunications and Information Communication Technology such as X.509 for cybersecurity, Y.3172 and Y.3173 for machine learning, and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC for video compression, between its Member States, Private Sector Members, and Academia Members. ITU-T is one of the three Sectors (divisions or units) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
The standardization efforts of ITU started in 1865 with the formation of the International Telegraph Union (ITU). ITU became a Specialized agency of the United Nations in 1947. The International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (, CCITT) was created in 1956, and was renamed ITU-T in 1993.
ITU-T has a permanent secretariat, the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB), based at the ITU headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The current Director of the Bureau is Chaesub Lee, whose first 4-year term commenced on 1 January 2015, and whose second 4-year term commenced on 1 January 2019. Chaesub Lee succeeded Malcolm Johnson of the United Kingdom, who was director from 1 January 2007 until 31 December 2014.
Primary function.
The ITU-T mission is to ensure the efficient and timely production of standards covering all fields of telecommunications and Information Communication Technology (ICTs) on a worldwide basis, as well as defining tariff and accounting principles for international telecommunication services.
The international standards that are produced by the ITU-T are referred to as "Recommendations" (with the word capitalized to distinguish its meaning from the common parlance sense of the word "recommendation"), as they become mandatory only when adopted as part of a national law.
Since the ITU-T is part of the ITU, which is a United Nations specialized agency, its standards carry more formal international weight than those of most other standards development organizations that publish technical specifications of a similar form.
History.
At the initiative of Napoleon III, the French government invited international participants to a conference in Paris in 1865 to facilitate and regulate international telegraph services. A result of the conference was the founding of the forerunner of the modern ITU.
At the 1925 Paris conference, the ITU created two consultative committees to deal with the complexities of the international telephone services, known as CCIF, as the French acronym, and with long-distance telegraphy (CCIT).
In view of the basic similarity of many of the technical problems faced by the CCIF and CCIT, a decision was taken in 1956 to merge them into a single entity, the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (CCITT, in the French acronym). The first Plenary Assembly of the new organization was held in Geneva, Switzerland in December 1956.
In 1992, the Plenipotentiary Conference (the top policy-making conference of ITU) saw a reform of ITU, giving the Union greater flexibility to adapt to an increasingly complex, interactive and competitive environment. The CCITT was renamed the Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), as one of three Sectors of the Union alongside the Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) and the Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D).
Historically, the Recommendations of the CCITT were presented at plenary assemblies for endorsement, held every four years, and the full set of Recommendations were published after each plenary assembly. However, the delays in producing texts, and translating them into other working languages, did not suit the fast pace of change in the telecommunications industry.
"Real time" standardization.
The rise of the personal computer industry in the early 1980s created a new common practice among both consumers and businesses of adopting "bleeding edge" communications technology even if it was not yet standardized. Thus, standards organizations had to put forth standards much faster, or find themselves ratifying de facto standards after the fact. One of the most prominent examples of this was the Open Document Architecture project, which began in 1985 when a profusion of software firms around the world were still furiously competing to shape the future of the electronic office, and was completed in 1999 long after Microsoft Office's then-secret binary file formats had become established as the global de facto standard.
The ITU-T now operates under much more streamlined processes. The time between an initial proposal of a draft document by a member company and the final approval of a full-status ITU-T Recommendation can now be as short as a few months (or less in some cases). This makes the standardization approval process in the ITU-T much more responsive to the needs of rapid technology development than in the ITU's historical past. New and updated Recommendations are published on an almost daily basis, and much of the library of over 3,270 Recommendations is now free of charge online. (Specifications jointly maintained by the ITU-T and ISO/IEC are not free.)
ITU-T has moreover tried to facilitate cooperation between the various forums and standard-developing organizations (SDOs). This collaboration is necessary to avoid duplication of work and the consequent risk of conflicting standards in the market place.
In the work of standardization, ITU-T cooperates with other SDOs, e.g., the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
Development of Recommendations.
Most of the work of ITU-T is carried out by its Sector Members and Associates, while the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) is the executive arm of ITU-T and coordinator for a number of workshops and seminars to progress existing work areas and explore new ones. The events cover a wide array of topics in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) and attract high-ranking experts as speakers, and attendees from engineers to high-level management from all industry sectors.
The technical work, the development of Recommendations, of ITU-T is managed by Study Groups (SGs), such as Study Group 13 for network standards, Study Group 16 for multimedia standards, and Study Group 17 for security standards, which are created by the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) which is held every four years. The people involved in these SGs are experts in telecommunications from all over the world. There are currently 11 SGs. Study groups meet face to face according to a calendar issued by the TSB. SGs are augmented by Focus Groups (FGs), an instrument created by ITU-T, providing a way to quickly react to ICT standardization needs and allowing great flexibility in terms of participation and working methods. The key difference between SGs and FGs is that the latter have greater freedom to organize and finance themselves, and to involve non-members in their work. Focus Groups can be created very quickly, are usually short-lived and can choose their own working methods, leadership, financing, and types of deliverables. Current Focus Groups include the ITU-WHO Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence for Health (FG-AI4H) as well as Machine Learning for 5G (which developed Y.3172), Quantum Information Technologies for Networks, and Artificial Intelligence for Assisted and Autonomous Driving.
Approval of recommendations.
The Alternative Approval Process (AAP) is a fast-track approval procedure that was developed to allow standards to be brought to market in the timeframe that industry now demands.
This dramatic overhaul of standards-making by streamlining approval procedures was implemented in 2001 and is estimated to have cut the time involved in this critical aspect of the standardization process by 80 to 90 percent. This means that an average standard that took around four years to approve and publish until the mid nineties, and two years until 1997, can now be approved in an average of two months, or as little as five weeks.
Besides streamlining the underlying procedures involved in the approval process, an important contributory factor to the use of AAP is electronic document handling. Once the approval process has begun the rest of the process can be completed electronically, in the vast majority of cases, with no further physical meetings.
The introduction of AAP also formalizes public/private partnership in the approval process by providing equal opportunities for both sector members and member states in the approval of technical standards.
A panel of SG experts drafts a proposal that is then forwarded at an SG meeting to the appropriate body which decides if it is sufficiently ready to be designated a draft text and thus gives its consent for further review at the next level.
After this Consent has been given, TSB announces the start of the AAP procedure by posting the draft text to the ITU-T website and calling for comments. This gives the opportunity for all members to review the text. This phase, called "last call", is a four-week period in which comments can be submitted by member states and sector members.
If no comments other than editorial corrections are received, the recommendation is considered approved since no issues were identified that might need any further work. However, if there are any comments, the SG chairman, in consultation with TSB, sets up a comment resolution process by the concerned experts. The revised text is then posted on the web for an "additional review" period of three weeks.
Similar to the last call phase, in "additional review" the recommendation is considered as approved if no comments are received. If comments are received, it is apparent that there are some issues that still need more work, and the draft text and all comments are sent to the next Study Group meeting for further discussion and possible approval.
Those recommendations considered as having policy or regulatory implications are approved through what is known as the Traditional Approval Process (TAP), which allows a longer period for reflection and commenting by member states. TAP Recommendations are also translated into the six working languages of ITU (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish).
Series and recommendations.
ITU-T Recommendations are the names given to telecommunications and computer protocol specification documents published by ITU-T.
Series of ITU recommendations.
ITU-T issues Recommendations that have names like X.500, where X is the series and 500 is an identifying number. When a Recommendation is updated, it will (mostly) keep the same number, so the year of issue may be necessary to identify a specific version of a Recommendation. The term "X.500" is used both to refer to the specific X.500 Recommendation, and to the entire family of Recommendations named X.5xx, where the specific X.500 Recommendation forms the introduction and overview of the set.
The vast majority of all finalized Recommendations are available in electronic (PDF) form free of charge to all. Texts that are not free of charge include common ITU-T | ISO / IEC texts for which special arrangements exist.
International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs).
In addition to the ITU-T Recommendations, which have non-mandatory status until they are adopted in national laws, ITU-T is also the custodian of a binding international treaty, the International Telecommunication Regulations. The ITRs go back to the earliest days of the ITU when there were two separate treaties, dealing with telegraph and telephone. The ITRs were adopted, as a single treaty, at the World Administrative Telegraphy and Telephone Conference held in Melbourne, 1988 (WATTC-88).
The ITRs comprise ten articles which deal, inter alia, with the definition of international telecommunication services, cooperation between countries and national administrations, safety of life and priority of telecommunications and charging and accounting principles. The adoption of the ITRs in 1988 is often taken as the start of the wider liberalization process in international telecommunications, though a few countries, including United States and United Kingdom, had made steps to liberalize their markets before 1988.
The Constitution and Convention of ITU provides for the amendment of ITRs through a World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT). Accordingly, in 1998 there began a process of review of the ITRs; and in 2009 extensive preparations began for such a conference, WCIT-12. In addition to "regional preparatory meetings," the ITU Secretariat developed 13 "Background Briefs on key issues" that were expected to be discussed at the conference. Convened by former ITU secretary-general Hamadoun Touré, the Conference, WCIT-12, was then held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, during the period 3–14 December 2014.
AI for Good.
The Standardization Sector of ITU also organizes AI for Good, the United Nations platform for the sustainable development of Artificial Intelligence.


List of XML markup languages

This is a list of notable XML markup languages.


Tim Dog

Timothy Blair (January 3, 1967 – February 14, 2013), better known by his stage name Tim Dog, was an American rapper from the Bronx, New York, who rose to notoriety during the early 1990s with his debut LP "Penicillin on Wax" and the celebrated diss track "Fuck Compton". Tim had already appeared on songs with the Ultramagnetic MCs and went on to form a duo, Ultra, with member Kool Keith. "Fuck Compton" appeared in "XXL" magazine's "Top 25 Diss Tracks of All Time" and earned Tim Dog critical acclaim from progressive hip-hop producer Blockhead, who said Tim Dog's "The Dog's Gonna Getcha" (off "Penicillin on Wax") is "quite possibly the hardest song ever made."
Nas references Tim Dog on his track "Where Are They Now?" from his 2006 album "Hip Hop Is Dead", and despite Tim Dog's feud with Dr. Dre, Eminem (whom Dre had discovered) name-checked him on the track "Ricky Ticky Toc".
On February 14, 2013, the media reported that Tim Dog died of complications from diabetes. By May 2013, he was under investigation for allegedly faking his death to avoid charges of grand larceny, and a warrant was issued in Mississippi for his arrest. However, on September 15, 2014, it was finally confirmed by NBC News that Tim Dog had indeed died on February 14, 2013, as had been initially reported, but then disputed. A death certificate was filed in DeKalb County, Georgia, putting an end to speculation that he was still alive and trying to avoid his court-mandated debts.
Biography.
During the early 1990s, seminal rap group N.W.A and several other West Coast rap artists were becoming popular within the hip hop community and magazines such as "Word Up!" and "The Source" provided significant coverage to artists from Los Angeles. The success of N.W.A and their focus on the South Central L.A. suburb of Compton via their platinum album "Straight Outta Compton" had spawned a number of imitators and other groups who also claimed to represent the suburb. The success of artists such as Compton's Most Wanted and DJ Quik led to a period in hip hop where so-called "gangsta rap" and its trademark dress of black Los Angeles Raiders and Los Angeles Kings gear were "de rigueur."
Some New York hip hop artists resented the exposure and success of their West Coast counterparts, an animosity which Tim Dog would tap into via the release of his groundbreaking first single. Frustrated at the apparent lack of interest in East Coast artists from record companies, Tim recorded "Fuck Compton", a scathing diss track from his debut album "Penicillin on Wax". "Fuck Compton" attacked the city's style of dress and musical output and made threatening gestures to several Compton rappers including Eazy-E, MC Ren, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Michel'le. Tim Dog would later exclude Ice Cube on "Step to Me", another diss track attacking N.W.A.
The lyrics also made reference to an infamous incident involving N.W.A's Dr. Dre and "Pump It Up" host Dee Barnes. Barnes had accused Dre (real name Andre Young) of assaulting her after "Pump It Up" had edited an N.W.A interview to include disparaging comments made by Ice Cube, who was embroiled in a feud with his former group at the time. The single was released by Ruffhouse Records, home to other artists such as Cypress Hill and Kris Kross, and became a worldwide underground hit in the clubs and hip hop circles. Two versions of a music video were released—the original version and a censored edition.
"Penicillin on Wax" included several additional "disses" aimed at both Compton artists and commercially successful artists such as Kid 'n Play and Kwamé. The intro used the same beat as N.W.A's "Efil4zaggin" album intro. Tim taunted, "I stole your beat and made it better, to show the whole world that you ain't nothing but a bunch of pussies," before a number of disparaging answering machine messages supported Tim's position as he rapped, "Wearing all that black, driving them cars, but you still look wack!" In another skit, "DJ Quik Beat Down," Tim Dog "physically assaulted" DJ Quik. Since the release, incoming responses came the following years from west coast artists Snoop Dogg, DJ Quik, Compton's Most Wanted, Penthouse Players Clique, Rodney O & Joe Cooley, and Tweedy Bird Loc.
Tim followed up with his second album "Do or Die" in 1993. The album represented Tim's shift of focus away from confrontation with the West Coast and instead concentrated on hardcore East Coast rap. The album contained a shout-out to Tupac Shakur whom Tim thanked for assisting him when involved in a potentially violent situation when touring in California.
In 1994, Tim Dog released the EP "Bitch with a Perm". The second track, "Dog Baby", was another diss to Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.
Tim Dog moved to the UK in 1995 and worked with UK artist Apache Indian, producing the hit single "Make Way for the Indian". Tim then toured with Kool Keith and recorded several other tracks, including his August 2005 collaboration with Percee P, "NY to the UK."
Tim Dog had been the head of "Rap Legends Recordings" and previously co-founded Our Turn Records in Los Angeles with Eddie Pugh, President of Black Music Sony Records. Previously, he was the CEO President of Big Xity Entertainment based in New York and BMC Management based in Atlanta.
Legal issues and death.
In 2011, Tim Dog pleaded guilty to grand larceny for conning a woman, Esther Pilgrim, out of $32,000 in an online dating scam. He was sentenced to five years' probation and ordered to pay restitution of $19,000 to Pilgrim. The case was featured on the June 15, 2012, episode of "Dateline NBC", which clarified that it was a best interest plea (Alford plea) to theft.
Tim Dog reportedly died of complications from diabetes on February 14, 2013. However, the funeral was canceled and no death certificate or autopsy existed. His family also stayed away from the media claiming religious reasons as a justification for their shunning of the press and wanting to mourn in private. After Pilgrim alleged in May 2013 that Tim Dog's "reported death" may have been a scheme by Tim Dog to avoid payments to her, she came public demanding further investigation about his death. A warrant was issued in Mississippi for his arrest in case he was still alive.
On September 15, 2014, it was finally confirmed by NBC News that Tim Dog had indeed died on February 14, 2013, as had been initially reported, but then disputed. A death certificate was filed in Dekalb County, Georgia, putting an end to speculation that he was still alive and trying to avoid his court-mandated debts.


Bruce Barcott

Bruce Barcott is an American editor, environmental journalist and author. He is a contributing editor of "Outside" and has written articles for "The New York Times Magazine", "National Geographic", "Mother Jones", "Sports Illustrated", "Harper's Magazine", "Legal Affairs", "Utne Reader" and others. He has also written a number of books, including "The Measure of a Mountain: Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainier" (1997) and "The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman's Fight to Save the World's Most Beautiful Bird" (2008). In 2009 he was named a Guggenheim Fellow in nonfiction.
Barcott was born in Everett, Washington, and raised in Alaska, California and Washington. After graduating from the University of Washington, he worked for "Seattle Weekly" for ten years as a writer and editor. He lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington, with his wife and fellow writer Claire Dederer; they have two children.
He was a Ted Scripps Fellow in Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 2004 his cover story about the Bush Administration's changes to the Clean Air Act for "The New York Times Magazine" was judged the year's best piece of explanatory reporting by the Society of Environmental Journalists.
He is also a co-host of Leafly's news podcast "The Roll-Up"


Richard Melo

Richard Melo (born August 10, 1968) is an American author and book reviewer. He is the author of the novels "Happy Talk" and "Jokerman 8".
Biography.
Richard Melo was born in San Francisco, California and attended San Francisco State University. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon.
As a book critic since 2004, Melo has reviewed books by Thomas Pynchon, William Vollmann, Colson Whitehead, and Tom Robbins, among others. Melo is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and has written about Tom Wolfe for the NBCC blog.
His fiction has appeared in Willamette Week and "Gobshite Quarterly". He began his career as a playwright with two productions appearing on the Mt. Hood Community College stage in the early 1990s. He is a graduate of the Creative Writing program at San Francisco State University.


David Drumm

David Kenneth Drumm (born November 1966) is an Irish chartered accountant, former banker and convicted criminal, best known for the crimes he committed as head of Anglo Irish Bank from 2005 to December 2008, when he resigned, amid mounting revelations over hidden loans. The scandal precipitated a collapse of the bank's share price, which in turn led to its nationalisation on 21 January 2009.
Early life.
Drumm was born in November 1966, in the seaside suburb town of Skerries in north County Dublin.
Career.
He joined McQuillan Kelly & Company from school to train as a chartered accountant.
In 1988 he moved to the venture capital wing of the International Fund for Ireland, from which he obtained a position of assistant manager with Anglo Irish Bank. After rising through the ranks, he was made Chief Executive from 2005. Drumm resigned his position following the resignation of chairman Seán FitzPatrick in December 2008, amid mounting revelations over hidden loans. The scandal precipitated a collapse of the bank's share price which in turn led to the bank's nationalisation on 21 January 2009.
Post Anglo-Irish.
Drumm subsequently moved with his family to Massachusetts, US, where in 2010 he filed for bankruptcy under US law. The hearing at the Boston-based court heard from the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, which fought Drumm's claims for bankruptcy, as he owed it €9 million. It was alleged during the case that Drumm had transferred money and assets to his wife, so they could not be seized during the bankruptcy proceedings. In early 2015, the court ruled the application inadmissible, ruling that he could be held liable for debts of €10.5m in Ireland. In a 122-page ruling, the judge found Drumm was "not remotely credible", his conduct "both knowing and fraudulent", and accused Drumm of telling "outright lies".
Subsequently, the Irish Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) recommended a number of charges be brought against Drumm, following investigation into Anglo Irish Bank by the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation and the Director of Corporate Enforcement. In January 2015, it was reported that the DPP was seeking the extradition of Drumm, and had filed papers with the US authorities. Drumm was arrested by US Marshals based in Boston on Sunday 11 October 2015, and expected to face extradition proceedings.
It was announced on 13 March 2016 that Drumm would be extradited back to Ireland from Boston to Dublin, to face 33 charges in the Irish Criminal Courts on 14 March. On 14 March, he was arrested by the Garda Síochána at Dublin Airport on arrival from Boston and taken to Ballymun Garda Station, where he was charged with 33 counts including forgery, counterfeiting documents, conspiracy to defraud, the unlawful giving of financial assistance in association with the purchase of shares, and disclosing false or misleading information in a management report.
Conviction.
On 6 June 2018, he was convicted of two charges of false accounting and conspiracy to defraud. His former colleagues John Bowe and Willie McAteer, along with the former chief executive of Irish Life & Permanent Denis Casey, were convicted of conspiracy to defraud in June 2016 and jailed for 6 years. He was released from prison on February 15th 2021.


Royal Mail Case

The Royal Mail Case or R v Kylsant & Otrs was a noted English criminal case in 1931. The director of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, Lord Kylsant, had falsified a trading prospectus with the aid of the company accountant to make it look as if the company was profitable and to entice potential investors. Following an independent audit instigated by HM Treasury, Kylsant and John Moreland, the company auditor, were arrested and charged with falsifying both the trading prospectus and company records and accounts. Although they were acquitted of falsifying records and accounts, Kylsant was found guilty of falsifying the trading prospectus and sentenced to twelve months in prison. The company was then liquidated, and reconstituted as The Royal Mail Lines Ltd with the backing of the British government.
As well as its immediate impact, the case instigated massive changes in the way companies were audited. The case highlighted flaws in the way company accounts were reviewed, and "probably had a greater impact on the quality of published data than all the Companies Acts passed up to that date". The case "fell like an atomic bomb and profoundly disturbed both the industrial and the accountancy worlds", and has also been linked to reduced public trust of big businesses. The case is also seen as the reason for the demise of accounting with the aid of secret reserves.
Background.
The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was a British shipping company founded in London in 1839 by James MacQueen. It became the largest shipping group in the world when it took over the White Star Line in 1927. Lord Kylsant had been chairman of the company since 1902. He had expanded the company rapidly: aside from the White Star Line, he bought the Pacific Steam Navigation Company in 1910 for £1.5 million, the Union-Castle Line in 1912, and assumed control of the Harland and Wolff shipyards in 1924.
The company had prospered during the First World War as the government paid to requisition its ships as military supply vessels and troop transports. The company had saved the profits, predicting that it would need them to cover income tax and excess profits tax. After these taxes had been paid there was approximately £1 million left, which they again saved, hoping to use this to cover any financial difficulties that might arise. The reserves were again boosted with government money paid under the Trade Facilities Act 1921, but between 1921 and 1925 the profits of the company rapidly dropped and, beginning from 1926, the directors supplemented the company income by taking money from the reserves.
In 1929 the company asked HM Treasury for an extension of the period in which government loans to the company could be paid. The Treasury first demanded an audit of the company accounts, and sent Sir William McClintock to write a report on the financial state of the company. McClintock's report revealed that the company had not earned any trading profits since 1925, but was still paying dividends by taking money from the reserves. The company had reported £439,000 profits for 1926, but had drawn £750,000 out of the reserves and falsified accounts to make it appear that the money came from trading. In 1927 the company made a trading loss of £507,000, but money was again drawn from the reserves to make it appear that the company had made a profit of £478,000. As a result of this, and a report that in 1928 the company had issued a fraudulent prospectus inviting customers to buy shares in the company and saying that it had earned an average £500,000 a year in the last decade, arrest warrants were issued for Lord Kylsant and John Moreland, the company auditor. At the time the ruse was discovered the company had a trading deficit of £300,000 a year, the reserves were completely exhausted, and the company owed £10 million.
Trial.
The trial began at the Old Bailey on 20 July 1931 before Mr Justice Wright, with Sir William Jowitt, D.N. Pritt and Eustace Fulton for the prosecution, Sir John Simon, J.E. Singleton and Wilfred Lewis for Lord Kylsant and Sir Patrick Hastings, Stuart Bevan, Frederick Tucker and C.J. Conway for John Moreland. The indictment contained 3 counts. On count 1 Kylsant was charged with issuing a document, namely the annual report for 1926 with intent to deceive the shareholders about the true state of the company, Morland was charged with aiding and abetting this offence. Count 2 was an identical count relating to the annual report for 1927 against both defendants and on count 3 Kylsant alone was charged with issuing a document—the debenture stock prospectus of 1928 with intent to induce people to advance property to the company. All counts were contrary to section 84 of the Larceny Act 1861. Both defendants pleaded not guilty to all counts.
The main defence on the use of secret reserve accounting came with the help of Lord Plender. Plender was one of the most important and reliable accountants in Britain, and under cross-examination stated that it was routine for firms "of the very highest repute" to use secret reserves in calculating profit without declaring it. Patrick Hastings said that "if my client ... was guilty of a criminal offence, there is not a single accountant in the City of London or in the world who is not in the same position." Both Kylsant and Moreland were acquitted of counts 1 and 2, but Kylsant was found guilty on count 3 and was sentenced to 12 months in prison.
Kylsart appealed his conviction on count 3 and was bailed pending the appeal. The appeal was heard in November 1931 where the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction, ruling that although the statements within the prospectus were all true, the document as a whole was false because of what it concealed, omitted or implied.
Aftermath.
Following Kylsant's conviction the company was liquidated, and reconstituted as The Royal Mail Lines Ltd with the backing of the British government. The case led to several changes in the way companies were audited. Because many accountants shared Plender's view that secret reserve accounting was a regular and respectable practice, and because the pair had not been found guilty of publishing false information as a result of this, the professional response was disjointed and half-hearted. There were major changes, however: although the practice of secret reserve accounting remained acceptable, companies disclosed their use of this in their audit reports. The Companies Act 1947 made it clear that failing to disclose the use of this process was unacceptable, and undermined the "true and fair view" companies were required to give in their financial statements.
A second major change was in the approach accountants took to their job. Previously the attitude was that accountants were only required to do their legal duty, but after the Royal Mail Case accountants were more and more expected to use their ethical and moral judgement in making decisions. Contemporaries said that the case "probably had a greater impact on the quality of published data than all the Companies Acts passed up to that date". The case "fell like an atomic bomb and profoundly disturbed both the industrial and the accountancy worlds", and has been linked to reduced public trust of big businesses.
Following his release in 1932, Kylsant stayed mainly out of the public eye despite a brief return in 1933.
Influence on contract law.
The case also affected misrepresentation in the English law of contract. A misrepresentation is an untrue statement of fact that induces a contract, and a victim may rescind and perhaps be awarded damages. In the "Kylsant" case, the court held that the prospectus, though "strictly true", was fraudulently intended to give a misleading impression and was thereby an "untrue statement", allowing investors to sue. Kylsant's statement was deemed fraudulent on the basis of the "3-part test in "Derry v Peek" " which held that a person who (i) intentionally told lies, or (ii) was reckless with the truth, or (iii) did not believe in what he was saying, was liable in fraudulent misrepresentation.
In the later case of "Doyle v Olby", Lord Denning MR declared that a person making a fraudulent misrepresentation was liable in damages for "all direct consequences", whether loss was foreseeable or not; whereas the general rule for the award of damages in contract is that the loss caused by the breach must be foreseeable either to the parties or to the "reasonable man", as in "Hadley v Baxendale".
Notes.
UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Measuring Worth: UK CPI


Wairarapa FM

Wairarapa FM was a radio station in Wairarapa, New Zealand broadcasting from studios in Masterton.
The station was started by Radio New Zealand (which at the time was known as the National Broadcasting Service) in 1958 on 840AM with the callsign 2XB. The station was originally branded as its callsign 2XB. In 1968 2XB changed became known as 2ZD when the station changed callsigns.
In 1978 the station moved to 846AM when AM frequency spacing in New Zealand was adjusted from 10 kHz to 9 kHz.
During the 1980s the station became known on air as Radio Wairarapa.
In July 1996 the New Zealand Government sold off the commercial arm of Radio New Zealand, the sale included Radio Wairarapa. The new owner was The Radio Network, a subsidiary of APN News & Media and Clear Channel Communications, which operated as a division of the Australian Radio Network.
In 1998 The Radio Network grouped all their local stations in smaller markets together to form the Community Radio Network. The station continued to run a local breakfast show between 6am and 10am but outside breakfast all stations part of the Community Radio Network took network programming from a central studio based in Taupo. Coinciding with the change Radio Wairarapa began broadcasting on 90.1FM and renamed to 90.1 Wairarapa FM.
In 2001 the Community Radio Network was discontinued and all stations become part of the Classic Hits FM network, as a result Wairarapa FM was rebranded as "Classic Hits Wairarapa FM". The station continued to run a local breakfast but now outside breakfast all programming originated from the Classic Hits studios in Auckland.
In 2010 the station moved to 90.3FM are part of a government alignment of frequencies around New Zealand, at this point the station became known as "Classic Hits 90.3"
In 2013 the local breakfast show was dropped and Wairarapa listeners began hearing the Classic Hits Wellington breakfast show instead.
On April 28, 2014 all stations part of the Classic Hits network were rebranded as The Hits. A networked breakfast presented by Pauline Gillespie and Grant Kareama was introduced to almost all The Hits stations with the former breakfast announcer moved to present a 6-hour show between 9am and 3pm. As the Wairarapa station already previously ran the local Wellington breakfast, and contained no local Waiarapa programming, the change was to run both the network breakfast and daytime show creating a complete networked station.


Legislature broadcasters in New Zealand

Legislature broadcasters in New Zealand are broadcasters of the New Zealand Parliament House of Representatives. Television channel Parliament TV and radio network AM Network are funded by the New Zealand House of Representatives to broadcast full and unedited coverage of its proceedings. The Office of the Clerk also funds a fully independent written, audio and video political reporting service of Parliamentary proceedings called Parliament Today.
Sitting hours are seasonal and are generally within five weekly sessions. Normal sittings are 14:00 and 18:00 Tuesdays; 19:30 and 22:00 Tuesday nights; 14:00 and 18:00 Wednesdays; 19:30 and 22:00 Wednesday nights; and 14:00 and 18:00 Thursdays. Special circumstances can allow Parliament to sit under urgency, usually between 09:00 Tuesday morning and 24:00 Saturday evening.
History.
Prior to the AM Network, Parliamentary broadcasts were carried on the Concert programme, with New Zealand becoming the first country in the world to broadcast Parliament regularly on 25 March 1936.
Veteran press gallery journalist and political commentator Charles Wheeler introduced the broadcast of the opening of the 25th Parliament, with Speaker-elect Barnard. Wheeler told listeners on the first broadcast that "for the first time in the history of New Zealand broadcasting, the microphone has been introduced into Parliament itself so that even the most distant elector may gain some first-hand knowledge of the more important happenings". He said New Zealand was blazing the trail in allowing parliamentary broadcasts.
Since the 1980s, the AM Network has used to broadcast all live Parliamentary proceedings in full. In 2007, Parliamentary coverage was expanded to television.
Services.
Parliament TV.
Parliament TV is managed by Kordia under a long-term contract to the House of Representatives. and is made freely available to media companies. It broadcasts though media such as TVNZ and MediaWorks New Zealand, as streaming video on the Internet, and, since 9 October 2007, on Freeview channel 31 and Sky Channel 086.
Programming on Parliament TV is limited to live coverage of Parliament and scheduled repeats of Question Time on Parliamentary sitting days. It closes down outside non-sitting hours.
In The House.
Christchurch-based Tandem Studios is contracted to the Clerk of the House to live stream Parliament TV's broadcasts, and record, re-format and re-purpose the coverage as small highlight package videos on their In The House website and YouTube account. More than 22,000 videos have been uploaded, and the company claims the videos have received more than 3 million views.
Several videos from the final reading of the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act 2013 were redistributed by "The New Zealand Herald" and other media. A video of one speech in favour of the Act, by National Party MP Maurice Williamson, went viral on YouTube, Huffington Post, Gawker, New York Times and Pink News. It was broadcast on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, with Williamson later declining an invitation to appear on the show.
AM Network.
The AM Network is operated by Radio New Zealand under a similar contract, and uses a nationwide set of AM broadcasting transmitters that were previously used by The Concert Programme before it switched to FM broadcasting. The broadcasts are also available online, via live-streaming and through on-demand podcasts. The AM Network's Parliamentary broadcasts do not include continuity announcers or news bulletins, unlike other Radio New Zealand networks.
In total, Radio New Zealand produces an estimated 17 hours of live Parliamentary broadcasting and just over an hour of packaged extracts. The Radio New Zealand smartphone app allows listeners to follow individual Parliamentary sittings on Apple and Android mobile devices. The broadcaster claims its iPhone App has been downloaded more than 50,000 times since it was first introduced in 2011.
The AM Network's closedown hours were originally used by Sports Roundup. Since 1997, Christian broadcaster Rhema Media has consistently leased this time to broadcast the low-budget easy listening Star radio network. Despite AM Network being technically owned by Radio New Zealand, Star broadcasts Newstalk ZB Affiliates Unit hourly news bulletins during the air time it leases. AM Network's North Island frequencies are Auckland 882 AM, Waikato 1494 AM, Hawke's Bay 909 AM and Wellington & Tauranga 657 AM. In the South Island, it broadcasts on Canterbury 963 AM, Dunedin 900 AM and Invercargill 1314 AM.
Parliament Today.
The Office of the Clerk also fully funds a political reporting service, providing written, audio and video summaries from the debating chamber and committee rooms of the House of Representatives completely independently from Radio New Zealand. It is the country's only consistent source of regular reports of parliamentary proceedings, with live reports of debates and decisions in the chamber from independent press gallery journalists Tom Frewen and Rheesh Lyon.
Clerk of the House David McGee established the service in 1994, hoping to replicate the success BBC Radio 4 show Today in Parliament has had since 1945. Parliament Today programmes summarise the most significant events and highlights from Question Time, debates and select committees, utilising audio from the AM Network for rebroadcast on other stations. Kiwi FM, the community access stations, the student radio stations and other stations broadcast the programmes around the country, and Radio New Zealand International broadcasts the programmes around the Pacific.
Each sitting week the service produces three daily programmes on sitting days, a weekly five-minute programme, a weekly ten minute programme, weekly 15 minute programme, a weekly 28 minute programme and a weekly 5 minute Select Committee report.
The service ceased in 2016.


Olga Rutterschmidt


R v Grillo

R v Grillo and Grillo was the trial of two sisters, at Isleworth Crown Court.
The defendants, former personal assistants to Nigella Lawson and her ex-husband Charles Saatchi, were accused of specifically without special authorisation, using their credit cards on the account of Saatchi's private company between January 2008 and December 2012.
In 2013, the sisters plead not guilty to the charges. The jury found them not guilty.
Background.
Charles Saatchi and Nigella Lawson married in 2003. Lawson was married to the journalist John Diamond until his death in 2001; Lawson and Diamond had two children together. In June 2013, photographs emerged of Saatchi grasping Lawson around the throat at a dinner table outside a Mayfair restaurant. Saatchi accepted a conditional caution for assault from the police over the incident. He announced his intention to divorce Lawson, stating that the couple had "become estranged and drifted apart". Lawson made no public comment; however, Lawson filed for divorce citing ongoing unreasonable behaviour. On 31 July 2013, Saatchi and Lawson were granted a decree nisi effectively ending their 10-year marriage with court documents suggesting that the two had already arrived at a private financial settlement.
One of the sisters was hired by Lawson as her personal assistant and nanny in 1999, during her marriage to Diamond. Four years later, after Lawson married Saatchi, the couple hired her sister, to serve as an additional personal assistant to a team of four other assistants. As part of their duties, the sisters were expected to make certain purchases on behalf of their employers; they were therefore given Coutts credit cards in their own names on Saatchi's Conarco Partnership company account. The Grillos were accused of misusing the credit cards to make personal purchases worth thousands of pounds.
Pre-trial hearings.
In an unusual move, on 26 November 2013 in a pre-trial hearing the presiding judge, Robin Johnson, lifted an order that had prevented publication of claims made in pre-trial proceedings on 15 November. In a "bad character" defence relating to Lawson, enabling her to be cross-examined during the trial, the Grillo sisters alleged that Lawson permitted their personal use of the private company credit card resulting in spending the next day of £300,000 between them, in return for their non-disclosure to Saatchi of Lawson's believed use, for at least ten years, of cocaine and cannabis (Class A and B drugs respectively) nor her unauthorised use of prescription drugs. The defence counsel for, Anthony Metzer, QC, instructed through Janes Solicitors, said that while the arrangement was not verbalised, it amounted to a "tacit understanding".
An email sent by Saatchi to Lawson which was read out in court indicated that he believed the Grillos' assertions and later he said that he was "completely astonished by the alleged scale of the drug use set out in the statements". Saatchi has stated that he was unaware of this reported situation until a late stage of the couple's marriage. The prosecuting counsel Jane Carpenter described the Grillos' claims about Lawson's drug use as "totally scurrilous" and Lawson's spokesman declined to comment, "as the proceedings are still live". Carpenter said that although the sisters had been interviewed on 2 August 2012, and charged in March, they had only made allegations against Lawson in October 2013.
On 27 November, the defence Anthony Metzer, QC, attempted to have the case thrown out as an abuse of process on the grounds that the two prosecution witnesses, Lawson and Saatchi, could not be "witnesses of truth". This application was rejected by the judge.
The trial.
On 27 November 2013, the trial began.
Saatchi testified that it had been Lawson's idea to give the Grillos credit cards. He stated that he had not authorized the Grillos' purchases himself, but was unable to say whether Lawson had approved them. He testified that he had never seen Lawson take illegal drugs, but added that the drug accusations against Lawson were "pretty compelling". Lawson had been "very cross" when he told her that he had confronted the Grillos over their credit card use, Saatchi stated. Although Saatchi wanted to deal with the matter privately, Lawson suggested involving the police. Saatchi also testified that he was "bereft" that his email about the drug allegations had been made public. Lawson admitted to taking cocaine and cannabis but denied she was or is addicted, she stated, "I found it made an intolerable situation tolerable. It’s a false friend. I found the answer was in changing the situation and trying to create a tolerable situation for me and my family. Since freeing myself from a brilliant but brutal man, I’m now totally cannabis-, cocaine- and drug-free."
Saatchi's finance director Rahul Gajaar testified that, after the couple's former assistants' alleged unauthorised spending had been uncovered, he suggested that they pay off the debt gradually over a long period. However, the Grillos were unhappy with this suggestion, as they felt they would be tied to the Saatchis for the rest of their lives.
Sharrine Scholtz, another former employee of Charles Saatchi testified personal versus business spending on the cards were not distinguished. Scholtz allegedly processed credit statements and allocated spending on items like beauty treatments, clothes, hotels, shopping to business accounts. When Scholtz wanted to leave Saatchi's employment she alleges she was threatened over taxi fares she had been allowed to claim and was falsely accused of stealing from petty cash. She testified that, if she did not sign an agreement her employer wanted, she "thought perhaps [she] would be standing [accused in court] instead of Lisa and Francesca".
On 12 December, the judge made critical remarks concerning comments made by David Cameron in "The Spectator" magazine in which Cameron said he was a "huge fan" of Lawson and a member of "Team Nigella", her support group on social media. The judge asked the jury to ignore what the Prime Minister had said.
On 12 December 2019 Saatchi started proceedings against Rahul Gajaar (who was key witness in the case against the Grillos) former Finance director, who worked for Saatchi for 16 years till February 2019 when he was accused by Saatchi of misappropriation of company assets and misuse of the company credit card for personal use.
Verdict.
On 20 December 2013 the jury found both sisters not guilty.


Make America Hate Again


Michael Wilson (writer)

Michael Wilson (July 1, 1914 – April 9, 1978) was an American screenwriter who was blacklisted by the Hollywood film studios during the era of McCarthyism for being a communist.
Life and career.
Early life.
Wilson was born and raised Roman Catholic in McAlester, Oklahoma. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1936 and did post-graduate fellowship work between 1937 and 1939. He taught English and began his writing career with short stories for magazines. Then, starting in 1941, he wrote or co-wrote 22 screenplays.
Early Screenplays.
Wilson was credited on "The Men in Her Life " (1941) with Loretta Young.
He did some William Boyd westerns, "Border Patrol" (1943), "Colt Comrades" (1943), "Bar 20" (1943), and "Forty Thieves" (1944).
Wilson's career in Hollywood was interrupted by service with the United States Marine Corps during World War II.
Return from World War Two.
In 1945 he became a contract writer with Liberty Films, working (uncredited) on such pictures as "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946).
He was a co-winner of the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for "A Place in the Sun" (1951), and won an Edgar Award and another Oscar nomination for his script for "5 Fingers" (1953).
Blacklisting.
Wilson was named an unfriendly witness by the House Un-American Activities Committee and blacklisted for being a communist. After he was blacklisted, he left for France and worked on scripts for the European film industry.
While blacklisted, Wilson wrote the script for "Salt of the Earth" (1954), a fictionalized account of a real strike by zinc miners in Grant County, New Mexico. The movie was directed by Herbert Biberman and produced by Paul Jarrico both of whom had also been blacklisted. The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
He wrote or collaborated on scripts for Hollywood films without credit or under a pseudonym for much less than his usual fee before being blacklisted, including "Carnival Story" (1954) (for King Brothers Productions who often used blacklisted writers); "They Were So Young" (1954); "The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell" (1955), for Otto Preminger; "Friendly Persuasion" (1956), for William Wyler; "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957), for Sam Spiegel and David Lean; "The Two-Headed Spy" (1958); "Tempest" (1958) and "5 Branded Women" (1960) for Dino De Laurentiis; and "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) for Spiegel and Lean again.
His screenplay for "Friendly Persuasion" was nominated for an Academy Award, but was disqualified because his name did not appear in the credits. Director William Wyler wanted his brother, Robert Wyler, and Jessamyn West credited for rewriting the script, but Wilson disputed this. Wyler then was able under the rules of the blacklist to have one of the few films in history credited to no writer at all.
Wilson and Carl Foreman worked separately on "The Bridge on the River Kwai", but as both were blacklisted, the official credit went to Pierre Boulle, upon whose novel the movie was based, even though Boulle did not even speak English.
Wilson remained in France with his family for nine years, before returning to live in Ojai, California in the United States in 1964.
Return to Hollywood.
Wilson continued to write screenplays, including for "The Sandpiper" (1965), "Planet of the Apes" (1968), and "Che!" (1969). His screenplay for "Planet of the Apes" was based on a novel by Pierre Boulle; only Boulle received screen credit.
Michael Wilson was awarded Writers Guild of America's Laurel Award in 1975 and was posthumously awarded his second Academy Award in 1984 for "The Bridge on the River Kwai".
In 1995, Wilson was credited by the academy's board of directors with an Academy Award nomination as a co-writer of "Lawrence of Arabia" and credited as the winner of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Best British Dramatic Screenplay.
Wilson also completed an unproduced screenplay on December 16, 1976, "The Raid On Harper's Ferry", which was an adaptation of Truman J. Nelson's book "The Old Man: John Brown at Harper's Ferry" (1973). He also apparently wrote unproduced scripts for a movie about the Industrial Workers of the World titled "The Wobblies" and a movie about the infiltration of the Black Liberation Movement titled "Quiet Darkness".
Personal life.
Michael Wilson married Zelma Gussin in 1941; the couple had two daughters. Zelma's sister, Sylvia, was married to another blacklisted screenwriter, Paul Jarrico. Michael Wilson died of a heart attack in 1978 in Los Angeles County, California.


Jayanta Bandyopadhyay

Jayanta Bandyopadhyay (Bengali: জয়ন্ত বন্দ‍্যোপাধ‍্যায়; born 31 December 1947, in Kolkata, India), is a researcher, analyst and author. He is now a Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, Kolkata. He is a Former Professor of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. An internationally renowned professional on public interest research, mountain environment and water governance in south Asia, Bandyopadhyay has authored sixteen critically acclaimed books and monographs, in addition to 150 papers and articles. He has delivered invited lectures in many parts of the world.
Early life and education.
Bandyopadhyay had his schooling in Kolkata after which he studied engineering. He received a Master of Technology degree in 1969 and PhD in 1976 in Engineering Physics from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. After obtaining his doctorate, he turned his research interest to the interdisciplinary area of Science and the Natural Environment. He soon got deeply interested in research on the Himalaya. His professional life started to revolve around environment and economic growth in the world's mountains. In 1977 he joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA, as a visiting post-doctoral fellow in the area of science and public policy.
Career.
Bandyopadhyay has been closely associated with research on environment and economic growth in the Himalaya, especially on the rivers emerging from this mountain. He has been a member of the faculty at IIM Bangalore, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu, and the International Academy of Environment (IAE), Geneva. In 1991 he was invited by the Earth Summit Secretariat in Geneva to single draft a chapter for Agenda-21 on the world's mountains. In 1997 he was invited by the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC) to establish the Centre for Development and Environment Policy. He retired from his position at IIMC in 2012 and spent a year at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi as a Visiting Professor. He has been an adviser to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) New Delhi, and the Water Diplomacy Program at Tufts University, Medford, USA. He recently acted as a review-editor for the forthcoming Report on Himalayan Monitoring and Assessment Programme (HIMAP) of ICIMOD, Kathmandu. The central contribution of Bandyopadhyay is an interdisciplinary approach to the understanding of mountain areas and governance of rivers emerging from the Himalaya.
Bandyopadhyay served as the President of Indian Society for Ecological Economics (2006–08); President of SaciWATERS (2000–09); Chair of Scientific Advisory Committee, GB Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development (2007–12); and as Board Member, International Society for Ecological Economics (2007–09). He was the Coordinating Lead Author for "Freshwater Ecosystem Services" in "Millennium Ecosystem Assessment".


Bjarte Baasland

Bjarte Baasland (born 5 March 1974) is a former Norwegian businessman and convicted fraudster.
He became famous in Norway in connection with the "Baasland case" in the autumn of 2008, when it was revealed that he had gambled away almost (more than €7 million) that he borrowed from family friends and banks. He is the son of Ernst Baasland, who at the time was a Bishop of Stavanger in the Church of Norway. A consequence of the Baasland case was that Ernst Baasland resigned as Bishop and went personally bankrupt along with his wife, Bodhild Baasland, who is also under investigation for fraud. On 2 October 2009, Bjarte Baasland was convicted of fraud and sentenced to 4 years in prison and to return NOK 26,6 million to one of his creditors, Cecilie Nustad. Baasland fooled mainly his mother to lend him money for business projects. She borrowed money from banks, her husband, and her close friend Cecilie Nustad.


Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM equipment


Comparison of XML editors

This is a list of XML editors. Note that any text editor can edit XML, so this page only lists software programs that specialize in this task. It doesn't include text editors that merely do simple syntax coloring or expanding and collapsing of nodes.
Commentary.
Spring Tools Suite and Eclipse have a variety of built-in and free plugins matching or exceeding the quality of the paid versions. They come with a content assist tool that completes tags and can search for classes in any java classpath. They also include validation, bean creation, and commit tools.
A plugin for Notepad++ named XML Tools is available. It contains many features including manual/automatic validation using both DTDs and XSDs, XPath evaluation, auto-completion, pretty print, and text conversion in addition to being able to work on multiple files at once. Other tools are available to edit XHTML.


Shaun T

Shaun T (born May 2, 1978) is an American fitness trainer. He is best known for his home fitness programs for adults and children which include T25, Insanity, Hip-Hop Abs, Cize and Let's Get Up!.
Life and career.
Born as Shaun Thompson in Camden, New Jersey, he grew up in Philadelphia and was raised by his grandparents in Deptford Township, New Jersey, where he enjoyed football, baseball and running track as a student at Deptford Township High School. He received a bachelor's degree in exercise science from Rowan University where he also minored in theatre and dance. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He lives in Phoenix, Arizona.
Thompson has been openly gay since coming out via Twitter in October 2012 and is married to Scott Blokker. They are raising twin sons Sander and Silas, born in November 2017.