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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Huntsville Item column

I had my own thoughts on the City Council proposal to fly a Confederate flage in Huntsville's Oakwood Cemetery, located on Martin Luther King Blvd (where I live). There's more to discuss here.

By Brandon Scott
For The Huntsville Item

HUNTSVILLE — The idea advocated by Confederate descendants and supporters is, “heritage, not hate.” Many of them insist they aren’t racists, rather celebrating Southern culture and history for those who fought for a cause bigger than themselves.

Though, discussion gets testy when identifying the actual cause the Confederacy fought for. By all accounts, attributing the Civil War’s cause to economic turmoil, state rights, or political lobbying eventually leads us back to the slavery issue. The American economy in the 19th century was heavily tied into the work of enslaved African descendants, as well as owning, selling and trading slaves.

Every logical conversation about the Civil War associates the war with slavery, which the Confederate States of America clearly supported against abolition. Secessionists believed the South was under attack by anti-slavery ideologies – that it threatened Southern independence and prosperity. Some extremists even threatened disunion at President Abraham Lincoln’s election.

Leaders of the secession movement often cited slavery as the most compelling reason for Southern independence, most notably Vice President Alexander Stephens who gave the infamous Cornerstone Speech in Savannah, Ga., claiming “subordination to the superior race was the Negro’s natural and normal condition.”

Once this part of the history is understood, an intelligent conversation can be had on the issue of whether it would be appropriate to fly a Confederate flag in Huntsville’s Oakwood Cemetery in honor of Confederate History Month and the dead soldiers buried there.

I covered this story for The Houstonian at Sam Houston State University — despite implications of a conflict of interest: I’m one of two African-Americans on the editorial staff. I was all over it anyway and promised my bosses I’d cover the story with objectivity.

However, that didn’t stop me from having a heated debate with friends on Facebook. A few of my friends are convinced that I’m obsessed with race, to the point where I’ve started to let it define me. This idea ignores my status as a student journalist, not to mention that all of my life I’ve had to peep through racial lenses to make sense of the world I live in.

Nonetheless, my friends and I disagreed on more than how much I let race define me. We disagreed on all points, including the meaning of the Confederate flag and who was to blame for American slavery. They believe the African tribes who sold other Africans to European slave traders were partly at fault.

But the inability to distinguish the Africans who sold slaves and the subsequent slave culture that became part of American society is a failure to understand the issue entirely. The popular idea that celebrating Southern culture with the symbols of the Old South does not equate to a display of racism is disingenuous and misguided at best.

While having coffee with Jerry McGinty Sr., a member of Huntsville’s Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 226, I found the most telling part of our conversation was his acceptance of the concept of “living within society.” He told me there was nothing he could do about living in a segregated Huntsville in the 1950s, so he learned to live with it. McGinty’s view on segregation is very similar to his view on slavery.

“I didn’t live in that time,” he said carefully.

This proved to me that individual racism is the micro-level perspective of U.S. racism. In attempts to clarify themselves as nonracist, McGinty and my Facebook friends overlooked the bigger picture – that prejudices held by individuals were firmly rooted in an extensive system of racism.

What Confederate supporters fail to realize or don’t care to acknowledge, is they are products of their environment. The understanding that racial injustice defined their culture and lifestyle must be buried in a vault from centuries ago.

“It makes me mad when people start talking about slavery and the Civil War,” McGinty said.

His thoughts resembled those of my Facebook friends and those of members of this community who objected to my stance on birther conspiracy issues in a previous column.

Ever wonder why being called a racist offends people more than actual racism?

Why are my Facebook friends more bothered by race commentary than the actual evidence of racism described in that commentary? And why is Jerry McGinty more agitated by associating slavery with the Civil War than the real racism that is associated with it?

It only makes sense if one understands the social landscape of this country. We live in a “white is right” society to this day. That’s where the “learn to live with it” attitude comes from. Don’t challenge the establishment. When we start deviating from virtuous America, we’re crossing the line.

Just as my friends said, “Get over it already and stop letting it define you.”

Confederate supporters have an interesting motto — embracing heritage over hate. It’s an idea that aligns perfectly with the racial undertones in society. It misses the point – as if slaveholders cared enough to actually hate their inferior servants.

Twentieth century sociologist Oliver Cox put it best when he said, “Race prejudice is not an individual idiosyncrasy; it is a social attribute. Ordinarily the individual is born into it and accepts it unconsciously, like his language, without question.”

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RBSC Club Championship, September 24, 2011

Yesterday was the RBSC clubchampionship and this is one of the last races sailed in Belgium. We decided to lend our boats to 2 youth teams: Arnout & Klaas Viktor sailed Falcon BEL666 and Philippe Hendrickx and Gaeton Bols sailed Falcon USA208. The day started early, 9 AM at the beach to rig the boats and to coach the youth with some light wind tips before they were of to the starting area. Emile De Moor sailed his Blade F16 together with Louis Verstraete, so 3 F16's getting ready in the morning, a very nice view!
Wind was very light and start was postponed. Luckily a little sea breeze settled in so racing could go on! Gill went out on the water on a rib with RBSC Youth trainer Laurent to watch the teams and to take pictures. I stayed on shore, as a true trolley dolly :-)
Sun was out and so were alot of boats! No less than 80 boats made the start. This included 60 cats (the other 20 were all yachts from RBSC Zeebrugge). Of the 60 catamarans there were 4 Dragoons battling it out in the youngest class. With the low winds (5 knots) and the heavy current they had the hardest time on the water. There were about 25 boats in both the C3 and C1 class. The C3 was crowded with youth teams. One of the teams was a youth team from our club, VVW Heist: Gilles Hendrickx and Filip Olyslager. They finished first youth on a third place in the C3!
In the C1 the there was 1 youth team on an F18 and 3 youth teams on F16's! "Our youth" had been training the whole week in medium to heavy wind but they weren't too confident to sail light winds. Weighing 138 kgs Anout&Klaas were the heaviest of the three. In total 3 races were sailed in dying winds and increasing current. Clean air and not overstanding the layline was key but very difficult in these conditions. Because of all the training they did, the Falcon teams were off the line very well each time. It was great to see them battling it out in the front!
With steady top 3 finishes it was clear that they had done great! They even came across the line first one time!
Finally the prizes were given and they ended 1st and 3rd in the C1! Winning against some of the best Belgian teams. They were super proud! (and so were weI!).
Great to see so much youth in the top 3, certainly in the 'dad' dominated C1 class! Full results and all pictures.

Raid des Corsaires 2011, France, September 3-4

Although we didn’t race this one ourselves, we think this is a great race, put it on your list! The organization is wonderful and the scenery magnificent. It was a tough job with the wind changing direction all the time and a heavy current, but I think everybody looks back at a great event.

We let a French team sail our Falcon: Thierry Wibaux with his wife Christine. We arrived on Friday with beautiful weather (finally some sun in Europe!) and great ambiance.

On Saturday the start wasn’t until 2 PM because of the high tide (no beach to launch from, until 1PM!). Thierry sailed very well, finishing after Gildas Griziaux on a Viper and behind the 2 F20's and 2 Tornados. For a long time he kept pace with the Tornados making him finish in front on rating I guess. It was a very light wind day and they had to shorten the course. The latest participants arrived after 9 PM! The 2 F20's had a huge lead on all the other boats in these light winds, it was amazing. We followed the race and this was a race in itself :-)

We took the car and drove from waypoint to waypoint checking the race from on top of the rocks or on the beach, a great day for us with great views of this big catamaran race. Lots of spectators followed this race too, it's truly a legend in the St Malo area.

We ended the day with a great Paella diner and some fun lottery with very cool prizes. They do a great job with many voluntary staff. The diner (with nice free red and rosé wine :-)) was held in a large venue. To clean up the tables and chairs after diner they found a great incentive. They first showed a 7 minutes movie about day 1 at Raid des Corsaires and then after this movie they told all the participants they wanted the venue emptied in less then 7 minutes so everybody had to help. They showed the movie again and indeed once the movie was over the venue was all cleaned up thanks to the effort of all 130 teams! Nice work and they create a very friendly atmosphere like this.

On Sunday it was blowing in the morning so racing was postponed. Thierry didn't start the first race as it was only the 5th hour on the boat and it was very windy just before the start. The second race of that day and the last one of the weekend we watched him from ashore and he had a great start, but then suddenly we saw him coming to a stop?! Some bad luck because his adjustable trapeze came loose, ouch :-).

Eventually he was well in front of all the 16's, gaining a lot on the downwind run he said. Before the finish the wind dropped (and changed directions too, a very tough day of sailing wind wise again) and everyone came together again, so I'm not sure what the final results are (no official results yet). The F18's started 5 minutes after the C1 start and Misha Heemskerk took a huge lead on the downwind, even finishing in front of the F20! Everybody came back around 5 PM and an hour later we watched the price giving.

The best 3 teams of each class (C1, F18 and C3) got a nice Sword as a price, very cool! Micha Heemskerk won the F18 and the F20 (Francis Ferrari) won the C1.

At 7PM we drove back home, tired but very happy after a great weekend at St-Malo!

Diamond Sailing Cup 2011, August 20

This is one of our favorite events. For Kathleen because she can win a little diamond (very little but she is saving them all to have – one day – a ring made of it) and in general because this is a compulsory mixed event. Since we are always sailing mixed we like this format a lot.

With a total of 71 boats registered this was again a very successful race, organized by RBSC Zoute. Saturday announced to be a very light wind day, with predictions of force 2 to 3 with maybe a sea breeze coming in and making it a force 4 in the afternoon. Gill had hurt his back while biking (in fact he was texting and biking and he ran into a parked car, not so smart!) and up until Saturday morning we were not sure he would be able to participate. On Saturday morning he felt ok and since the prediction was for light winds we decided to go out.

Start was at 12, we were out on the water at 11 to make it in time (we had to sail for about half an hour to the starting area, because of the light wind). The racing committee did a great job and managed to get 3 races in, but it wasn’t an easy job. They had to change course after each race. The wind turned but no real sea breeze settled. We had a lot of shifts and holes of no wind in the racing area. Tactical sailing!

In the second race we were in 7th place when suddenly the wind turned and instead of sailing downwind we were faced to drop the kite and sail upwind. Unfortunately 3 other boats who were sailing a bit higher than us could keep their kite up and these 3 boats passed us right in front of the finish. Damn! We finished 7th, 11th and 13th, leaving us on a 10th place overall. We were happy with this result, with these light winds and tactical course we still struggle but we had good boat speed and we didn’t really screw up.

Youth team Klaas & Valerie sailed for the first time together (Klaas is normally crew for his brother Arnout Viktor) and they needed some time to get into the groove, but when they did, they rocked. They were very happy to finish race 3 in front of Olympic Sailor Carolijn Brouwer on a Viper, even on corrected time! Great sailing guys! They finished overall on place 9, their last race they were place 4, just behind Wouter Samama, Wim Deca and Patrick Demesmaeker, very happy faces after this great result!

We beached at RBSC Zoute to derig the boats and to put them on the trailer. After the price giving (yes we got another little diamond!) we left for our next race in Oostduinkerke, the Raf Verhaeghe Challenge at Sycod Oostduinkerke.


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Saturday, June 12, 2010

Rolling Along...

I put in another hour and a half on the PIC-Guam prototype today. I am finishing up some additional features for movement. Today I was working on the rule that says a unit can't move from one Zone of Control (ZOC) directly to another. I moved the Hexes from the Game class to be a static member of the Hex class...this makes it easier to access everywhere I need it, and it turns out I need it everywhere. No problem: I relocated the declaration and "rode the compiler" to fix all references.

I'm very pleased with how quickly I can put together meaningful features using C# and LINQ techniques. Using extension methods and lambda expressions, I write terse code with minimal ceremony that is relevant to the requirements.

I like my chances of completing this game in 1000 hours (of effort).

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Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Cepuljoski Family Memorial Fund Launch

From gumball144.com:

"Team Polizei is pledging $10,000 toward the creation of a fund on behalf of Vladimir and Margarita Cepuljoski.

Other Gumballers have expressed interest in supporting the Cepuljoski family, including Team 53, who have started their own effort, and several drivers who wish to remain anonymous.

Any Gumballers interested in supporting our joint efforts may contact us at Cepuljoski Memorial Family Fund.

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Sunday, September 28, 2014

Yearning for a horse at Point Reyes

Bayview Trail

I hauled my husband and son with me on a Point Reyes hike Saturday, but in the end they were the ones who pushed me up the last hill.

We started at Sky Trailhead, always one of my favorite Point Reyes staging areas. At 9:20 the small lot was full, so we parked on the side of the road and began on Bayview Trail. Although the narrow path runs along Limantour Road initially, traffic was light and thick vegetation screens views of the pavement. Within minutes we came across a yearling buck munching at the side of the trail. He was nonplussed at our presence, but when we came within 10 feet he daintily stepped into the woods.
A massive Douglas fir along Laguna Trail

At 0.7 mile we turned onto Laguna Trail. This path descends steadily, mostly through the shade of a young forest -- this area burned in the 1995 Vision fire, but other than an occasional charred trunk on the very old Douglas firs, it's hard to see the scars. Some sections of Laguna permit views to the northwest, and in those clear areas California coffeeberry shrubs were heavy with fruit. All along the length of the trail numerous coyote scats were studded with coffeeberry seeds. The downhill grade steepened for about 1/2 mile, but as we stepped out into a damp meadow near the Clem Miller Education Center we enjoyed a nearly flat interlude. After passing through woods graced with gnarled buckeyes, we reached a junction near the Laguna Trailhead.
Ceanothus tunnel on Fire Lane Trail

The next stretch of Laguna starts out easy but the grade stiffens as it cuts through coastal scrub. A group of backpackers cruised past us, likely on the way to Coast Camp. About 3 miles into our hike, at the junction with Fire Lane Trail, we were feeling fine. Within minutes I was cursing the trail, and me for suggesting it. At a grade hovering around 14 percent, the first 1/2 mile is nasty. Horses have worn a deep grove into the path in many places of Fire Lane Trail -- by the end of the trail I was wishing a horse would have carried my cranky butt too. When we weren't panting for breath, we enjoyed the trail, which alternates between level segments through coastal scrub and steeper climbs through woods. Ceanothus is very common -- in spring their intoxicating aroma draws bees to purple-blue blossoms. Woodrat nests are constructed near California bays along the trail. I learned recently that the woodrats use bay leaves to help keep their nests pest free.

Fire Lane Trail
We hiked up (and much to our dismay, sometimes down, followed by more up) the trail. My husband sang songs from Monty Python's Holy Grail to keep our spirits up. Fire Lane's last 1/2 mile is a butt-kicker, with grades on some short stretches exceeding 30 percent. As we climbed higher green grass lined the trail -- lots of fog moisture keeps these woods hydrated! Finally, at 4.7 miles and 1,100 feet, we burst through a covey of quail and reached the end of Fire Lane Trail. The remaining mile was downhill on wide Sky Trail. I first hiked Sky in 2000, when the skeletal remains of burned trees afforded great views north, but no more. The new forest blocks views.

Totals for this hike: 5.7 miles with 1,312 feet of elevation change (according to Strava).

1 comment:

Susan Alcorn said...

"I learned recently that the woodrats use bay leaves to help keep their nests pest free." Thanks for teaching me something today--fascinating!


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Windermere Agents Move to New Hillcrest Mission Hills Office

Agents from Windermere's East County offices move to new Hillcrest Mission Hills Office.
Adrian Alcantara, Kathleen Bailey, Stephanie Davidson, Carol Kilbride, Monique Matthews and Steve Porter

Windermere Real Estate SoCal opened their new Hillcrest/Mission Hills office last week and already see a lot of activity and interest. “We have had agent demand in the Mission Hills & Hillcrest areas since we first introduced ourselves to the San Diego market,” said Kirk Gregor, Managing Broker for the Hillcrest/Mission Hills office at 265 W. Washington Street. “We are excited to see this office open and be able to host those agents who have wanted to expand their presence in the surrounding communities, as well as having a convenient location to meet with buyers and sellers.”

Windermere SoCal welcomes agents Adrian Alcantara, Kathleen Bailey, Monique Matthews, and Steve Porter from their La Mesa Village office as well as Stephanie Davidson and Carol Kilbride from their La Mesa office to the new office located on the border of Hillcrest and Mission Hills neighborhoods at the entrance to the Mission Hills Business District. They join the enthusiastic family of their fellow real estate professionals in this beautiful and lively new office.

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Berlinagenten Goes Europe

Big news, everyone! We’re thrilled to annouce our award-winning Gastro-Rallye concept is setting sail for gourmet temples all across Europe. The list covers cosmopolitan pearls like London and Barcelona, but also features raw and upcoming gems like Warsaw and Tallinn.

While the cities vary, the concept stays the same: „Dine like a local.“ But don’t be fooled, there’s nothing basic or low-budget here. Our in-the-know local guides take you on a gourmet feasting journey, revealing savvy eats and well-kept secrets in each city. Between the courses, your insider guide will point out the city’s highlights, so you’ll always know where to go during your whole stay. And before you ask: Yes, we carefully selected and personally tested each eatery to bring you nothing but the best. This way you dive right into the culinary scene of each city, finding the hottest restaurants in an instant. No matter if Budapest or Lisbon, Sofia or Stockholm – our Gastro-Rallyes are sure to surprise you with the latest innovations, delicious food and the best eats in town.

Getting hungry? Great! You should join us for a delicious Gastro-Rallye and see what all the fuzz is about. To find out in which cities our Gastro-Rallyes are available, check out our website.

Click here to get to the website.

On tour – Urban Living

When Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken, okay that’s a mouthful, let’s say BVR were having their conference, they asked Berlinagenten for a Damenprogramme’, whereby spouses could entertained during daytime while their other half was at conference. In total there were 200 spouses, and 20 were lucky to sign up for the most exclusive of all tours ‘The Urban Living Tour’, where you visit the homes of three Berlin personalities.

Henrik got the idea looking up at the windows and wondering – who lives behind those curtains? How do the live? How do they decorate their apartments? How do they make their living?

“I wanted to offer my guests the answer of these questions,’ he says. “I know so many cool people and fun personalities in Berlin that I pulled together a concept to open their front doors to visit. I find locals who have stories to tell, odd things to show/share in a fun/cool/design/arty apartment. Most of people are artists or freelancers in the creative fields.

It´s like a reality TV show’ where you step into a room, an apartment and the manuscript is written live on spot. There are many fun surprises will occur depending on your curiosity and eagerness to ask questions. You will be able to sneak around in somebody´s home and have look in each room, or, even discover their sex toys if you are (un)lucky!”.

The Scene meets Eins 44

Something is stirring in deepest, darkest Neukölln. Better known for its kebab houses than an innovative food scene, things are certain to change with the launch of the brand new restaurant Eins 44 Kantine.

Tucked away in an art deco courtyard, you would never know this place existed. Yet after Berlinagenten tested out the menu, it’s guaranteed Berliners will be heading west and hitting the backstreets of Neukölln in the hope of seeking it out. Restaurant manager Jonathan Kartenberg and head chef Sebastian Radtke, were formerly at another one of favourite restaurants, Mani. The cuisine grounds itself in French basics, yet the exciting young team have updated it and then infused it with international flavours to create something brand new.

For a new restaurant, we were impressed by the ambiance that makes this place feel like a familiar cozy neighbourhood eatery, but all the while being highly stylised. The two story building was originally a distillery, so there is a spacious modern, post industrial feel. Its original tiled walls, ceiling and impressive bar, acquired vintage lamps, wooden tables and chairs that date back 30 years combine together to create a very lived-in, cool atmosphere. Being Berlin, naturally smokers are accommodated in the form of smokers’ room, which features a massive wooden table on a turbine engine.

We were certainly impressed by the food. To get our mouths watering, we started out with a gift from the kitchen, a dainty yet delicious mini Pork Belly Burger. First course, we decided on a delicious light crusted Golden Trout with granny smith apple and radish salad, along with a tender Beef Carpaccio with asparagus, grapefruit and a hint of coriander. For the main course, it was a speciality French pork done two ways, with a delightful cauliflower puree, and we also shared a perfectly grilled piece of prime entrecôte with potatoes and beans. Heaven arrived in the form of a 70% percent chocolate brownie cake with rosemary pineapple, mint and strawberry coulis for dessert.

Now for the very good news, despite the quality and the ambience, Eins 44 is very reasonably priced. A three course meal costs 33 euros, four courses is 42 euros and five courses just 51 euros. Or you can buy individual courses. It is complimented with a fine French and German wine list.

Eins 44 is definitely buzzing on our new Berlin restaurant radar! We honestly can’t wait to return.

Insiders: Dominic Hofer from Soho House Berlin

Cute photos Dominic! You look like you have a lot of fun. So, what is your role at Soho House? I’m a Director for International Sales & Relations. What does that involve? I basically bring the Houses and creative companies together to make them one! What is the most challenging aspect of the job? The business runs 24/7, it never sleeps. All of our Houses are very individual, so it is a great opportunity and challenge to find the right solution for our guests. What does Soho House offer that others don’t? We are a private members club, some of the clubs have a boutique hotel attached. All of our Houses have their own character. However, which ever club you’re at, you always feel like you’re coming home. Where can we find you at a midnight on a Saturday night? Simple! I’m ordering hazelnut Schnapps after a great dinner. Getting ready for trouble. GIMME MORE! I love to hunt for chickens in clubs – as you obviously can see from the photo above :) Where can we find you at midday on a Sunday? Mostly in my amazing apartment. I love to spend the Sunday home doing pretty normal things. After a very demanding week full of energy and glamour and fun, I love to clean and have a cup of tea in my hand. I always have music and fragrant candles on. If a celebrity guest asked you for a club recommendation where would you suggest? It always depends. I would suggest Chalet, as it is a very nice location especially in summer times. Winter is Watergate time. I love to see the frozen river spree and the club scene from one point. Is any client’s request ever impossible? We have a YES! YES! YES! philosophy. The word NO does not exist. What was the most glamorous thing you did last year? Spending time with my best friend in Budapest.  Britney Spears live in Vegas on NYE.  And celebrating Christmas, with my family, of course. What has been the highlight of your role so far? I’ve never had so many lucky moments with amazing smiles on guests’ faces. This makes me feel very blessed.

Red Carpet … Henrik’s world

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In pursuit of the highest ideal of red carpet partying, our fearless leader Henrik will go to extreme lengths to make sure he knows the hip and happening of Berlin.

  • Berlin is always hot-to-trot but this was one, very naughty evening, even for us! First stop was Playboy night at The Pearl. There was no sign of Hugh Hefner is his dressing gown but there was copious amounts of flesh on display as Playboy Bunnies strode around, as well as burlesque performances. Next, we went to Insomnia, the infamous fetish and sex club at Templehof. Dominique, the owner of the club and Germany’s foremost dominatrix, had invited us to her birthday party! How could we possibly refuse a dominia without getting a severe spanking? We stripped down to the bare minimal and danced the night away, as people all around us were getting down and dirty. Yes, that means exactly what you think it means!

  • Berlinale always means parties, premiers and star spotting! Eventually, all the red carpets blur into one dazzling red rug, the size of Berlin! Soho House was the epicenter of everything, as usual. The Oscar nominated ‘American Hustle After Party’ took place in the Soho House basement with stars Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale, Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, and Topmodel Toni Garrn in attendance. Soho House also made the most of their fabulous new loft spaces for the party after the premier of Monuments Men, as A-listers George Clooney, John Goodman, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray, Matt Damon attended. Rumour has it that George Clooney was seen trying to get into the Olympic Fruits party but we can neither confirm or deny this.
  • Kreuzberg gets trendier and trendier, by the day. The once trashy area is now turning into the place to go five-star bar hopping. Offering some high camp glam is the PrinzipalBerlinagenten went to the opening party. Like the best bars in Berlin, there is no sign. However once you enter into the long, thin bar, it’s like stepping back into the roaring twenties.  There are two floors, upstairs is a fabulous bar, with a burlesque acts including a girl on a cloud swing high above the patrons heads as the uber cool bar staff, the girls in corsets, the boys in suits made old school cocktails. We loved the make-up table downstairs, so if you’re looking a little rough you canready to take on the night once again.
  • It was the opening that the entire city wanted to get invited to – 25 hours launching their fabulous new hotel – 25 hours Bikini Berlin! They didn’t disappoint with a two-day non-stop party with over 3000 invited guests coming to check out the new hotel. The whole building was made into a party space as the media, hotel and hospitality industry, local celebs and hardcore party people invaded every floor. Every available space was turned into a bar, dance-floor or food station, including an oyster bar, a falafel station, a dessert bar, as well as the 25 Hours signature Neni restaurant, turning out delicious food.There were DJ’s rocking dance floor in the sky sauna, drinks in the corridors and in the bedrooms, where we were encouraged to test out the beds! Most of the action took place in the Monkey Bar, which has in just weeks, cemented itself as the bar to be seen at in Berlin. With performers roaming around the hotel, fire jugglers and fire works, dancing until sunset, the 25 hours Bikini Berlin have set the bar pretty high for the party of the year. For more photos click here

Global destination: Yangon, Burma

If there’s one place that you simply must visit before its on everybody radar, it is Yangon (once known as Mynamar), the capital of Burma. Romantic, historic and now peaceful, Yangon is the top emerging Asian destination of the moment. Once upon a time it was known as the Pearl of South East Asia but after decades of turmoil, the country was closed to the West.  Now it’s reclaiming its crown. Still, the lack of tourists is palatable, you really feel as if you’re one of the first people to visit and discover the incredible number of colonial buildings and fairy tale Buddhist shrines, such as the Shwedagon Pagoda, whose golden spire dominates the skyline.

After seeing how mass cheap tourism affected their neighbouring counties, Yangon has very much targeted high-end travellers. We stayed in three five stars hotel to check out the range on offer. First off, we visited Governors Residence, part of the Orient Express group. Next, we moved to Hotel Strand, built by the Sarkie Brothers hotels in 1901, during the same period they were redefining luxury hotels with Raffles in Singapore and The Oriental in Penang. Finally, it was onto the first big five star hotel of Yangon Shangri La.

For all the beauty and luxury, what we will remember will be the abundant, high quality food. A sophisticated, highly original food culture exists incorporating British, Indian, Chinese, and Thai to make a fresh Burmese mix. Whether that’s buying from hawkers selling a fragrant noodle soup called Thoke for 50c at the food markets, or at the top end colonial era restaurants such as Monsoon Myanmar, or, the recently-opened luxurious Water Library in a colonial mansion. Other favourites include the hotspots for expats Union Restaurant or Le Planteur. Meanwhile, a perfect example of where Yangon is heading is the Bar Boon Dutch Deli and Expresso Bar, which expresses the cool trendy European deli á la NY style.

Top tip: Make a difference while you shop at the Helping Hands Loft Fashion & Accessories

This fair trade shop that opened in early 2012 and carries a variety of accessories, gifts and fashion whose proceeds directly benefit Myanmar artisans whose work supports local initiatives such as healthcare, housing and education. 85-87 Thinbyu Road

The Scene meets Hotel Am Steinplatz

Since the fall of the Wall, it has been the trendy districts Mitte and Prinzelauer Berg in the former East Berlin that have stolen the lime light from the more established, yet ultimately more glamorous West Berlin. Not any more, now the western half of the city is taking its rightful place as the place to stay when visiting Berlin, particularly in the luxury market.

We are totally in love with the Hotel Am Steinplatz  in the elegant residential area around Charlottenburg’s Savigny-Platz. This delightful art deco classic was designed by August Endell, who is also the originator of Berlin’s famous Hackesche Hoefe in 1907. The history of Hotel Am Steinplatz is incredible – famous names such as Vladimir Nabokov, Zarah Leander, Heinrich Böll, Günter Grass, as well as film stars like Brigitte Bardot and Romy Schneider have passed through this hotel.

Now Hotel Am Steinplatz has been given a total refurbishment and becomes the first German hotel in Marriott Hotel’s exclusive Autograph Collection. The hotel includes 84 stylish guestrooms and three suites on six floors. Other features are an exclusive spa on the top floors of the hotel, a fitness room overlooking Berlin.

Berlinagenten are delighted to include Restaurant Am Steinplatz on our Gastro-Rallye West tour. The restaurant pays homage to its past by creating classic Berlin dishes conceived by Michelin-starred chef, Stefan Hartmann, while offering a fresh, new interpretation of German cuisine. This philosophy is also reflected in Bar am Steinplatz, which offers classic cocktails, as well as its own unique recipes using spirits produced in Berlin.

Why fruit is the new rock’n’roll!

February sees Berlin host Berlinale, one of the world’s premier film festivals. However in the same week, it is also home to the world’s biggest fruit conference Fruit Logistica, with 58,000 additional guests visiting the city. Okay, not so glam but certainly a lot more fruity! For the second year running Berlinagenten worked with Olympic Fruit, a leading international fruit distributor out of the Netherlands, to organise a glamorous night that is now firmly in place on the international fruit industry’s calendar. After last year’s gala dinner, our client was inundated with requests from international fruiters to join.

First, Berlinagenten organized a site inspection to an innovative acquaponic urban farming project in West Berlin, where vegetables and fish are grown hydroponically in shipping containers. Then, it was onto a candlelit gala dinner at Soho House. The 60 guests from 11 different countries walked the same red carpet as George Clooney, who was staying at Soho House. Our guests got to experience a champagne reception, a candle lit dinner, as they networked and exchanged contact details between causes. Our clients are thrilled that their event has become ‘the’ gala dinner to get invited to at Fruit Logistica. The very next night, Berlinagenten got fruity all over again.This time, our clients JimboFresh from Spain were entertaining clients and guests. They were the first to try out our super new luxurious Gastro Rallye City West route. With so many companies in town, JimboFresh wanted to get noticed. Berlinagenten organized for the group to get VIP access to The Pearl Nightclub. This included walking straight to the front of the very busy queue and then being escorted to their very own VIP section. The final touch was when the music in the club stopped and our group had the spotlight trained upon them as a troupe of 12 performed a special ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ act before the group celebrated a successful trade fair. With so many of their industry colleagues just beyond the rope, they felt like the Hollywood stars of the fruit industry!

To find out more about Berlinagenten’s incentive and conference programme, click here.

“In a world filled with war, the greatest weapon is love. Make love, not war with new AXE Peace.” This extraordinary Axe commercial has already had three and half million views on You Tube and Berlinagenten kicked the campaign off in Berlin!

Make love, not war – it’s an adage that Berlin lives by. It is also the tag line from Peace, a welcome addition to the world’s leading deodorant, Axe. So for the worldwide media launch of the brand, Unilever and the world’s biggest PR agency Edelman, naturally choose Berlin.

CEO Henrik explains: “The clients mission was to tell the story of ‘Peace, Make love not war’. After two world wars and a city divided, Berlin embodies that peaceful vibe but with a sexy side that embodies the brand”.

Henrik, who has a degree in marketing, knows all about brand building and tailored an exclusive program for Edelman and Unilever. Twenty of New York’s top editors and journalists, five Unilever executives and four Edelmann account managers came to Berlin for 48 unforgettable hours. Although some of the group did actually loose a few hours, somewhere along the way!

The programme highlights were the five star hospitality at Soho House; showcasing four of Berlin’s finest restaurants; a graffiti workshop where participants got to find their inner Banksy and graffiti a wall before being given high heeled stilettos to smash it down; models dressed in military outfits to show the guests around Berlin in jeeps; VIP treatment as they jumped queues at Blitz @ club Cookies and the uber trendy Pearl nightclub; a truly exclusive performance by Salon K, who totally seduced the hardened New Yorkers with a breath taking high-art, dance and musical performance. And did we mention the copious amounts of champagne? There was copious amounts of champagne!

As the area around Rosenthalerstraße in Mitte – the former centre of East Berlin -becomes ever gentrified, now comes the truly metropolitan Dean, a new bar/club concept. In its last incarnation, the venue held the iconic yet trashy bar Delicious Donuts for 20 years. Not that you know where Dean resides like the hippest of Berlin is a very private unless you’re in the know.

There is no sign, shouting ‘Hey! Over here, it’s Dean! The only clues are the vintage prints featuring celebrities from the sixties in the window and a nameless black door. But once inside, it’s so glam and cuts the perfect balance between light and dark. The long narrow all black marble bar, black stone floor and dark gray velvet upholstered bunkettes and seats, and the dance floor are all bathed in honey golden light. The image of Berlin’s beautiful people partying is reflected in the ceiling above on a single shiny gold mirror.

Dean is the brainchild of those purveyors of minimalist, simple, elegant style, The Amano Group, whose Amano hotel sits directly across the road whilst the hotel and restaurant “Mani” is around the corner on Torstraße. Amano bring a new sensibility that Berlin is currently embracing, namely, high-end glamour. That meansthat this isn’t a techno club baby! Berlin DJ San Gabriel is in charge of the booking of international bands and DJ and programmes a soul-funk-house infused mix. But what Dean is really about is the drinks. Award winning bar manager’s Tino Hiller and Philip Bischoff know how to mix to perfect cocktails. We’re always suckers for their Moscow Mules. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dean!

To find Dean and the very best of Berlin’s nightlife, book a Berlinagenten Berlin by Night tour and we guarantee it will be a night you’ll never forget!

Photos: Stjepan Sedlar


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Role of Architectural Models Before BIM - Salt Lake City

Posted by Daniel Hughes on Aug 23, 2016 9:00:00 AM

While visiting Salt Lake City, I was reminded of the role and value; that architectural models previously provided the design and construction teams of large facility projects.

The South Visitors Center of Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City Utah; provides a scale model of the Salt Lake Temple.

The tour guide mentions that it took 40 years to build the Salt Lake Temple.

Scaled architectural models made of wood & plaster, full-size prints of iron work, stain-glass window patterns, staircase handrails & bannisters; are just a few design tools I've found when renovating historic & older buildings.

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Topics: temple square, aspe salt lake city, salt lake temple model, Bradley BIM, Revit Training-Education, architectural model, construction model, building information modeling, design models

Daniel Hughes

Welcome to the Bradley BIM resource portal supporting the Bradley Revit Library of 1,000 Families

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How to get to Ilha Grande

cómo llegar ilha grande

Only 180 km from Rio de Janeiro and 750 km from São Paulo there is this magical island, Ilha Grande, which makes us dream with lives without working, only to enjoy white beaches and tropical vegetations as we contemplate the passing minutes without having to ask us what we need to do next, or agendas or appointments.

The only way to reach the island is by shipp since the island has no airport. But, you can go out from different ports in several cities.

cómo llegar ilha grande

The most common and close port and easy to get to Ilha Grande is: Angra dos Reis. There is also a town called: Mangaratiba. We recommend leaving from Angra dos Reis.

In Angra dos Reis there are three different points, but there are in the Centre of the city and close to the other. In the municipality of Mangaratiba there are two points, one in the Center and the other at the edge of the border with the municipality of Angra dos Reis, the city of Conceição de Jacareí.

For those coming from Rio de Janeiro the point that presents the best value eniantomers is the Conceicao de Jacarei. It is the second closest to Rio de Janeiro and the road to the big island is shorter and faster than others.

Conceição de Jacareí
Vila do Abraão (Ilha Grande)

Vila do Abraão
Conceição de Jacareí

Duration.  (min.)

Mondays to Thrusday

R$ 15,00

09h/11h30min/15h/18h45min e 21h

R$ 15,00

Saturdays and Sundays

R$ 20,00

How to get to Ilha Grande

Arriving at Angra dos Reis from Rio de Janeiro (from the airport)

Arriving at the International Airport of Rio de Janeiro (Galeão), you will have the options of car, bus or van to arrive to Angra dos Reis.

Public transport in Rio de Janeiro

To move by public transport (the cheapest option), just leave the International Airport and take a bus, popularly called Frescão from the company Real towards the Rodoviaria Novio Rio. The cost of the ticket is R15 and the delay of the trip is approximately 40 minutes. There are several differential services to the Center, that pass through this station. Whatever you take be sure you insist the driver get a message where to go down, since the area near the terminal is not very pretty. I advise you always remind the driver.

Once you are at the bus station you will find the window of sale of tickets that will take you to the city of Angra dos Reis or Mangaratiba, depending on the location of the continent you selected to ship to the island.

The journey in bus to Angra takes 2 hours to 3 hours and a half and to Mangaratiba takes 2 hours approximately.

A company that offers this type of transport is Costa Verde, it comes out with great regularity each 45 min and it costs  R 30. For information about timetables and prices you can access the website of the company here.

Transport service (transfer – Van)

The easy, safe and fast way to arrive is by hiring a private transfer, it can be the regular (shared) or particular to the town of Angra dos Reis.

Follow this link for information.

Then do the counts, depending on how your group is composed or if you travel alone, the price is a bit higher than if using public transport with more comfort and security.

You can hire a Taxi service from the airport, you can consider having company for hiring one of these services, since it will be quite expensive. But with security will be much, much faster.

Arriving at Angra dos Reis from Sao Paulo (from the airport)

If you are in the Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo and want to shipp to Ilha Grande from Angra dos Reis, you must go first to the Bus Terminal (Rodoviaria) Tietê, where you will take the bus to Angra.

There is a service of minibuses from the Airport Bus Service Company (phone: 55 11-6221-0244) which operates every day, 24 hours with departures every hour approximately and 45 minutes in peak hours. The travel time is one hour and the price is R 30.

Arrive to Angra dos Reis from Tietê terminal Rodoviário de São Paulo

The only company that makes this journey is REUNIDAS PAULISTAIf you need information of prices and schedules to arrive to Angra dos Reis from Sao Paulo, keep in contact with the company. There is normally a place and it is not necessary to book in advance. To buy tickets, go to the first floor by escalator, then fold in the first corridor on the left and there you will see the window of the company Reunidas Paulista. (It opens at 7.00 am). Verify that is not a holiday or replacement of fortnight to secure place.

ARRIVE TO ANGRA DOS REIS! and now how we get to Ilha Grande?

Port Angra dos Reis – Ilha Grande (Abraão)

Once you get to the Terminal (Rodoviaria) of Angra dos Reis you will see inside a stall of passages to Ilha Grande, from the company Catamarã IGT. The company offers services of ships crossing to the island from a Santa Lucia jetty (Pier known, very close to the port of Angra dos Reis) village of Abraao in Ilha Grande, in about an hour.

It costs R 40 and the ticket you can buy it in the position of the Terminal of Angra dos Reis.

The company Barcas S.A offers the cheapest option but you will have to move to the port of Angra dos Reis (is located 4 blocks from the pier Santa Lucia) and there take the boat to village of Abraao, Ilha Grande. This journey takes 2 hours.

The price is R13 weekdays and R28 remaining days (holidays and weekends).

The frequency of this service is from Monday to Friday at 15:30, and Saturday and Sunday, 1:30 pm.

There are two piers in Vila de Abraão. The Cais da Lapa, where it operates the official boat, the option more cheap, but it takes longer (approximately 2 hours) the company Barcas S.A.

Another dock is the Cais of tourism, where they operate the smaller boats, as the catamaran of the company Catamara IGT, the option that takes less than an hour, but the most expensive.

Both desks are separated by 300 meters approximately. You can walk perfectly one to another, and both are located just a few steps from the most populated part of Vila de Abraão.

Vila de Abraão is the entry point to the island. It is the largest town and site that has greater infrastructure. It is used as a starting point to get to know other places on the island, either walking or by boat.

In this link you can check schedules and prices of the two companies mentioned above and also other options  available for travel from Angra dos Reis to Abraão, Ilha Grande.

Did you like it? Book here and enjoy the city! :)

Author Roger

Soy un tipo muy curioso, inquieto, me mueve un espíritu de aprendizaje. Amo viajar mucho, comunicar, y fotografiar momentos que perduren al tiempo. Titulado como "pregonero de la paz" por diferentes medios de centro américa, me defino como un gran soñador! Me encanta la vida, y me encanta vivirla!

More posts by Roger


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Daily Archives: May 25, 2012

You are browsing the site archives by date.

Cheers To a 3-Day Weekend!

Greetings! I hope everyone is looking forward to the upcoming three day weekend! I know having Monday off makes for a refreshing week. I am sure everyone has their plans made. I have a baptism and a birthday party to attend as well as a cook out to plan, so hopefully I can handle all of those events in one weekend! I love cook-outs, there Read More →

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News and Discussions on Payroll, HR & Employment Law

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Slate not wiped clean by release in context of share sale

share sale

Can an employee extinguish his statutory right to severance pay by way of a full and final release signed in the context of a share sale?

According to a 2018 decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, Kerzner v. American Iron & Metal Company Inc., 2018 ONCA 989 (CanLII), the answer to that question is a resounding “no.”

The case has real implications for those who practice employment law in the context of the sale of a business.

This wrongful dismissal action arose in the context of the sale of Bakermet Inc. (“Bakermet”) in 2008 to ArcelorMittal Montréal Inc. (“ArcelorMittal”). The plaintiff/appellant, Steven Kerzner, was a co-owner and employee of Bakermet at the time of the sale.

Kerzner had been hired in 1980 by Bakermet, a buyer and seller of various types of metals and steel products. He went on to become a one-third owner of Bakermet and president of the company.

In 2008, ArcelorMittal Montréal Inc. (“ArcelorMittal”) purchased Bakermet for $45 million. Kerzner received $17,162,637 in consideration for the sale of his one-third share of the company.

The 2008 Share Purchase Agreement (“the SPA”) provided that no “Key Employee” – a term defined to include Kerzner – had given notice of “an intention to cease being employed with the [c]orporation” and that “the [c]orporation does not currently intend to terminate the employment of any officer, Key Employee or group of Key Employees.”

A release in favour of Bakermet and its successors (“the Release”) was executed concurrently with the SPA. It provided that Kerzner released Bakermet and its successors in accordance with the terms of the Release. “Released Claims” was defined as meaning:

[a]ny and all Claims which any of the undersigned has now, or may have in the future, against any Released Person, for any fact, act or omission up to and including the date hereof, including without limitation by reason of, or in connection with, any Released Person’s position as a shareholder, director, officer, employee or creditor of Bakermet Inc….at any time up to and including the date hereof….

The 2008 executive employment agreement

In 2008 Kerzner signed an executive employment agreement “the 2008 Agreement”. The 2008 Agreement recognized in its recitals that Kerzner’s employment would continue following the share sale.

The following were the key features of the 2008 agreement:

  • Kerzner was to be employed as General Manager at a base salary of $250,000 per year with annual bonuses of $200,000 in the first three years;
  • Kerzner agreed to work for Bakermet for a minimum period of three years;
  • the agreement was for an indeterminate period of time unless terminated;
  • Bakermet could terminate Kerzner’s employment at any time, without cause, on written notice;
  • if Kerzner was terminated without cause on written notice, he was entitled to 12 months of annual base salary, inclusive of ESA entitlements, as well as defined “basic payments” and continued protection under group insurance benefits for 12 months;
  • the agreement included non-competition and non-solicitation clauses; and
  • the terms of the agreement replaced and superseded all the terms in previous arrangements and agreements and Kerzner released any and all “claims” relating to same.

Two subsequent employment agreements were made between Kerzner and ArcelorMittal Ottawa, the validity of which agreements was not challenged.

The 2011 agreement

The 2011 Executive Employment Agreement (“the 2011 Agreement”) was virtually identical to the previous 2008 Agreement, except that it purported to create a fixed-term contract and reduced Kerzner’s compensation (base salary and bonuses). The 2011 Agreement took effect on August 6, 2011 and would terminate on August 6, 2014 unless earlier terminated. It also included a clause requiring ArcelorMittal Ottawa to advise Kerzner in writing at least six months before August 6, 2014 if it intended not to renew the agreement. The 2011 Agreement continued to permit termination without cause, provided that notice was given to Kerzner. It reduced the amount payable following termination without cause to an amount equal to six months of annual base salary inclusive of ESA entitlements, along with basic payments and continued protection under group insurance benefits for six months.

The 2014 agreement

The key change from the 2011 Agreement was that the 2014 Agreement established a two-year fixed term subject to early termination. The 2014 Agreement also reduced the appellant’s annual base salary to $185,000 and reduced his annual bonus to $46,250. The 2014 Agreement continued to require ArcelorMittal Ottawa to advise the appellant in writing of its intent not to renew the agreement at the end of the term, but the length of required notice was reduced to three months. Early termination on a without-cause basis continued to be permitted and in such a case the appellant remained entitled to an amount equal to six months of annual base salary inclusive of ESA entitlements, along with basic payments and continued protection under group insurance benefits for six months.

In 2015, ArcelorMittal Ottawa was acquired by American Iron & Metal Company Inc. (“AIM”) in an asset sale. Kerzner’s employment contract was assigned to AIM. Six months later, on September 11, 2015, AIM terminated his employment with one week’s working notice. In accordance with the 2014 Agreement, Kerzner was offered six months’ salary ($92,500) and continuation of benefits for six months, amounts that AIM asserted were “inclusive of [his] entitlements under the Employment Standards Act”. He was, at that time, 58 years old.

Kerzner sued for wrongful dismissal, seeking 24 to 30 months’ pay in lieu of notice, based on 35 years of continuous employment with AIM and its predecessors. AIM argued that Kerzner’s entitlement to compensation was limited by the terms of the 2014 Agreement.

Decision of the Ontario Superior Court

The matter was heard by way of summary judgment. For reasons given in July of 2017, and subsequently reported as Kerzner v American Iron & Metal Company Inc., 2017 ONSC 4352 (CanLII), the motion judge, the Honourable Justice Mew, concluded that the sale agreement and its accompanying release had the effect of releasing AIM from all claims relating to the appellant’s employment prior to the sale in 2008.

Further, he interpreted the employment agreements following the sale – between the appellant and AIM’s predecessor, ArcelorMittal Ottawa Inc. (“ArcelorMittal Ottawa”) – as a series of fixed-term contracts rather than a period of continuous service. Thus, he held that the appellant’s right to termination and severance pay under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 S.O. 2000, c. 41 (“ESA”), was to be calculated only from 2008 forward. The motion judge found that the termination clause provided for notice that exceeded the minimum notice requirements under the ESA and was enforceable.

Issues on appeal

Mr. Kerzner, who was awarded six months’ pay in lieu of notice pursuant to the termination clause in his 2014 Executive Employment Agreement with AIM argued that he was entitled to additional damages.

Decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario

Writing on behalf of the court, Justice Grant Huscroft held that:

[8] I have concluded that although the motion judge properly found that the appellant waived his entitlement to common law notice for service prior to 2008, he erred in concluding that the appellant released his pre-2008 employment for the purposes of determining his ESA entitlements. The motion judge erred, further, in concluding that the termination clause was enforceable. In addition, the motion judge erred in concluding that the appellant entered into fixed-term employment in 2011 and 2014.

The court then went on to make three findings:

  1. The appellant’s ESA entitlements could not be waived
  2. The termination clause was invalid and unenforceable
  3. The appellant was employed on an indefinite basis

The court’s reason for such decisions was as follows:

The appellant’s ESA entitlements could not be waived

[30] The appellant argues that s. 9 of the ESA provides for continuity of accrued service in the event that an employer sells a business and the purchaser of the business employs an employee of the seller. Accordingly, the appellant’s employment continued without interruption following the sale of Bakermet in 2008 and AIM was required to include his pre-2008 years of service when computing his ESA entitlements. He also argues that s. 5(1) of the ESA invalidates any provision purporting to contract out of ESA entitlements, and that the exception in s. 5(2) does not apply. Further, s. 65 of the ESA prohibits setoff of an employee’s statutory entitlement to be paid severance pay, except in limited circumstances, none of which is applicable here. In any event, there was no evidence that the 2008 Release was ever intended to effect a waiver. The evidence proffered demonstrated that the Release related to the sale of the appellant’s shares rather than to any pending termination of his employment, and the 2008 Agreement contemplated his employment continuing indefinitely.

[31] AIM argues that the appellant waived his pre-2008 common law and statutory termination entitlements by signing the Release in exchange for substantial consideration as part of the SPA. It describes the Release as an all-encompassing settlement agreement – a “package deal” the parties were free to enter into in the context of a share sale, citing this court’s decisions in Biancaniello v. DMCT LLP, 2017 ONCA 386 (CanLII), 138 O.R. (3d) 210 and Cosentino v. Sherwood Dash Inc., 2014 ONCA 843 (CanLII). …

[32] The respondent’s position as it relates to the ESA must be rejected.

[34] Regardless of whether the Release is a stand-alone agreement or part of a “package deal”, it must comply with the ESA. The relevant provisions of the ESA are neither ambiguous nor vague. Section 9(1) is mandatory: employment is deemed not to have been terminated or severed by the sale of the employer’s business in whole or in part, and employment with the seller is deemed to be employment with the purchaser for the purpose of calculating the employee’s length or period of employment. Moreover, s. 5(1) prohibits contracting out of or waiving any statutory obligations and voids any agreement purporting to do so.

[35] In short, the ESA is designed to preclude the very thing that AIM argues occurred in this case. There could be no valid waiver of the appellant’s ESA entitlements.

[36] This court’s decision in Biancaniello is of no assistance to AIM. It speaks to the scope of a release that was otherwise permissible. Nor is this court’s decision in Cosentino applicable. That case was concerned primarily with whether the appellant had resigned his employment. It is not authority for the proposition that ESA obligations may be waived in the context of a larger settlement agreement. At para. 9 of its decision, this court specifically stated that its reasons were “not to be considered an endorsement of the motion judge’s comments with respect to the Employment Standards Act.”

[37] In summary, the appellant’s pre-2008 service could not be waived or released for the purposes of calculating his ESA entitlements. AIM, as successor to ArcelorMittal Ottawa, was required to count the appellant’s pre-2008 service in calculating his ESA entitlements upon termination.

[38] However, this conclusion does not deprive the Release of all effect. Although the Release did not address the appellant’s ESA entitlements and should not have been read as purporting to do something it could not lawfully have done, it specifically addressed the release of all of the appellant’s claims in connection with his position as an employee. Given the context in which the Release was executed and the wording of the Release, it was open to the motion judge to find that the appellant had waived his claim to common law notice based on his pre-2008 employment. His finding is entitled to deference. [All emphasis added.]

The termination clause was invalid and unenforceable

[39] The motion judge held that the termination provision of the 2014 Agreement would violate the ESA only if the appellant had not released his pre-August 2008 service. Because the appellant could not waive his pre-August 2008 service for ESA purposes, it follows that the termination provision, which limits the appellant to six months’ notice on termination, violates the ESA because it provides a lesser benefit than the 34 weeks’ termination and severance pay to which he is entitled under the ESA. Accordingly, the termination provision in the 2014 Agreement, which purports to limit the appellant’s entitlements to six months’ salary and benefits, is void.

The appellant was employed on an indefinite basis

[40] In light of these conclusions, it is necessary to determine whether the appellant was employed on an indefinite or a fixed-term contract basis.

[42] In my view, the motion judge erred in law by failing to consider all of the relevant factors in concluding that the appellant was employed for a fixed term rather than on an indefinite basis. There was significant evidence indicating that, despite fixed-term language in the 2011 and 2014 Agreements, the appellant was employed on an indefinite basis.

[44] Although the motion judge acknowledged the renewal notice provision, he failed to analyze its effect and it did not factor into his analysis. Nor did the motion judge advert to the recitals.

[43] Plainly, the 2008 Agreement contemplated indefinite employment. But so too did the 2011 and 2014 Agreements: despite their fixed terms, both agreements specifically required the employer to provide written notice if it intended not to renew or continue the agreements. The 2011 Agreement included recitals specifically recognizing the appellant’s continued employment, and in particular stated that the parties desired to enter into the agreement “for the continuation of the employment of the [appellant]”. The 2014 Agreement recognized the appellant’s current employment.

[45] As this court explained in Ceccol, at para. 26:

Employers should not be able to evade the traditional protections of the ESA and the common law by resorting to the label of ‘fixed term contract’ when the underlying reality of the employment relationship is something quite different, namely, continuous service by the employee for many years coupled with verbal representations and conduct on the part of the employer that clearly signal an indefinite term relationship.

[46] That is in essence what we have in this case. Although the motion judge found that the appellant had waived his right to any claims arising from his pre-2008 employment, his prior employment remained a fact and formed part of the context for the subsequent agreements governing his continued employment. At the time of his termination in 2015, the appellant had been employed continuously since 1980, and was employed pursuant to an ostensibly fixed-term agreement that required the employer to provide written notice if it intended not to renew or continue the agreement. Although the motion judge acknowledged that unequivocal and explicit language is required to establish a fixed-term contract and that any ambiguities will be strictly construed against the employer (citing Ceccol, at paras. 25 and 27), his focus on the transactions involving the purchase and sale of the business resulted in a failure to recognize the indefinite nature of the appellant’s employment.

[47] I conclude that the appellant was employed for an indefinite term from 2008 onwards and, as a result, was entitled to common law notice for the period of August 2008 to September 2015.

The court then went on to conclude that the reasonable notice period was seven months, but because Mr. Kerzner’s ESA entitlements (34 weeks) exceeded such amount, he was only entitled to such statutory amount.

90% of the court’s decision makes sense to me. And, given that Mr. Kerzner successfully mitigated his damages only two months following the termination of his employment, perhaps the outcome of the case makes sense too. Also, one cannot overlook the fact that Mr. Kerzner made $17,162,637 on the share sale. To that end, I am going to avoid those parts of the decision not addressed in my summary above. (Especially including the court’s analysis at paragraphs 51 and 52.)

What is important to note is that ArcelorMittal could not have wiped the slate clean when it came to statutory entitlements. The ESA is exceptionally clear on this point and Ontario’s top court has now said as much as well. Indeed, the same aligns with what I have been saying on this subject for years, see e.g. Continuity of Employment Following the Sale of a Business.

However, what is interesting to note is that ArcelorMittal likely could have “wiped the slate clean”, at least when it came to Mr. Kerzner’s statutory severance entitlement, had it simply said so.

Subsection 65(8) of the ESA, cited by the court in paragraph 29 of its reasons for decision, provides as follows:

65(8) Only the following set-offs and deductions may be made in calculating severance pay under this section:

1. [Omitted]

2. An amount paid to an employee for loss of employment under a provision of the employment contract if it is based upon length of employment, length of service or seniority.

3. Severance pay that was previously paid to the employee under this Act, a predecessor of this Act or a contractual provision described in paragraph 2.

Had part of that $17,162,637 simply been characterized as statutory severance, perhaps with express reference to subsection 65(8) of the ESA, then it would have at least been arguable that Mr. Kezner had not “released” his claim to statutory severance, but rather already received that to which he was entitled. An exercise in semantics and nuance to be sure, but one that surely mattered.

Takeaways for employees

As with all termination provisions and other documents, it pays to obtain experienced legal advice before signing any document or agreeing to any settlement. Even if you have an experienced business lawyer, it may be prudent to ensure that you are also working with an employment lawyer as part of your team. In this case, the plaintiff was able to obtain more than his ostensible contractual entitlement by demonstrating that his employer had failed to comply with the provisions of the Employment Standards Act.

Takeaways for employers

The takeaway for employers is similar to that of employees, ensure that part of your transaction team includes an experienced employment lawyer. There are ways to address the implications of section 9 of the ESA. For example, purchasers may wish to consider insisting on an indemnity provision from the vendor, to mitigate the amount of exposure they may have following closing.

Sean Bawden

Sean Bawden is a partner with the law firm of Kelly Santini LLP. He was called to the bar in 2008 and practices in the areas of employment law and civil litigation. He has also taught Trial Advocacy for Paralegals and Small Claims Court Practice at Algonquin College. He is a trustee of the County of Carleton Law Association. He is also a four-time OSSC curling champion. His twitter handle is @SeanBawden.

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Tag Archives: size15feet

UK Size15 Master 2018

The young #ukbigfoot Master Ryan

with sizeuk15 feet

is back with new photos and a video,

now 105 photos and 2 videos even with his slave

on my website

This cam approved #footmaster do realtime meeting

and good skypeshows

contact infos for members of

New Size 15 Master

A new 23 yo #footmaster with hugefeet

is UK-King Master Ryan

U.K Size 15 , 6ft7 height, real time session

Vote for him on #footkingspoll

more here

46 photos on #feetpower now

Master Paul Size 15 feet

New FootMaster from New York

Size 15 feet, is KingPaul

In his words

I’m that big brother you’ve always wanted to please.
I’m that tall, dark, and handsome guy
at the bar who makes you want to pick up my tab.
I’m the hot, sweaty alpha you stare at while I work out.

80 photos and full video 2 minutes here

 more on http://www.feetpower.de

Spoiler new Top 10 FootKings October 2016

Today is a special day, 26 years ago East German people go peacefull on the streets,

to change the government, after that all east eurpean countries like poland and romania get freedom as well.

Thanx for 3017 votes on the current FootKingsPoll

Thanx for watching my videos

Check out the new Top 10 of cam approved FootKings

and vote for your fav FootKings please as well

The Top 80 of good Footkings

full results will be post here soon as more updates

Master Seth with size 15 feet – update

The Cali Master Seth with size 15 feet is back with 30 new photos, now 160 photos and 2 videos you can find of this cam approved master on http://www.mastertim.de

vote for me here as well

Top 2 Master Calisize 15 update

Your Top 3 Master from #footkingspoll with size 15 feet, the young Californian FootGod is back with 40 fresh photos, showing his huge feet in flipflops and socklint at his feet, check out his hot photos and full videos on

you can find his contact infos and amazon wishlist there as well.


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Looking Back: April 2018

Looking Back: April 2018

I can’t believe April came and went without me writing some blogs – I’m getting so behind! I worked a lot, but thankfully also had time for a lot of fun things – just not enough time to actually write about them 😀 At the very least, I try to keep up these monthly posts and hopefully soon I’ll find some more time to write blogs.

The first weekend in April was Easter, and we were invited for a really nice Easter Brunch at Jessica and Sander in Reeuwijk. We even did an Easter egg hunt, which was so hard that I almost gave up on finding all my eggs 😀 but it was a lot of fun!

After that I worked for 6 days straight. It was tough, I had only just come back from 2 weeks in Norway and these were my first shifts working independently (no longer in training). It also meant getting up every day at 04:20 or 05:20, I think you’ll understand I was half dead by the time I finished the 6 days 😉

During the weekend I worked, the temperature reached 20 degrees for the first time this year, which we celebrated with an ice cream 🙂

After this work marathon, I had two days off – but they were spent working on the paper I am STILL trying to get published, going to the dentist and voluntarily going into work for an important meeting. Hmm, not the most relaxing “weekend”!

Later that week, we went to a Clouseau concert (for the second time :D) with Sharon and Renier. The concert was totally different from the one in Amsterdam, it was shorter and they hardly talked between songs. It was nice, but the audience was a bit annoying (talking through the concert and blocking my view, how dare they 😛 ). Still, it was a fun evening!

The second weekend of April was a long weekend for me – 4 days off. I really needed it! I still had to spend some of it on the paper – I will be SO relieved when that is out of the way, hopefully soon.

Still, I found time for a bike ride to my favourite “secret” garden (de Heemtuin) at de Kralingse Plas. I enjoyed watching the birds, and all the spring leaves that had exploded after those first warm days!

I also found this cute baby bunny hiding between the spring leaves…

And a family of pheasants, who always seem to hang around in the garden.

Besides birds and bunnies I also disturbed a couple who obviously thought they’d had the park to themselves on a Friday morning – Spring is in the air I guess 😛

On Saturday, we went to Gorinchem for a meeting with an estate agent who’s going to help us buy a house. We spent the rest of the day in Gorinchem to explore the town a bit. I fell in love with Gorinchem’s city centre, it’s so beautiful…

The house on the water is actually for sale, we went to look at it later the next week.

What I love about Gorinchem: it feels like a real (albeit small) city, but when you walk on top of the city walls you are right next to the river. Isn’t that great??

Another impression of Gorinchem…

That evening we had dinner in Leerdam, and we also spent the night there. We wanted to get more of a feeling for where we would like to live. I found Leerdam small and sleepy, and much preferred Gorinchem. Good to know!

The next day we drove to Wageningen to visit Michiel’s mum. We stopped to look at a stork along the way. They used to be such a rare sight, but they have become quite common!

We also stopped in Culemborg to look at two houses we had seen for sale. One of them had this view… nice!

On Monday I had another day off, and my car needed to get a service. I took my bike with me and went cycling – the weather was beautiful! I went looking for birds, and I found some 🙂 I believe this is a wood warbler (Fluiter), but I am not totally sure.

I cycled along de river Rotte, and stopped to take some photos of the 3 mills next to each other. I noticed a footh path going from one to the other, so I went for a little walk.

I loved taking photos of the mills with these beautiful clouds in the sky!

When I got to the last one, the miller was just mowing the grass, and he came to talk to me. He was very chatty and friendly, and ended up inviting me to have a look around the mill. I stayed for over an hour, it was so fascinating to hear about how he ended up being a miller and his experiences living in a mill. He even showed me his living room, decorated in old Dutch style.. so nice!

In the hallway you can see parts of the mill, very cool! This mill dates from 1730 (hard to imagine!) and together with the 3 other mills it pumped the water (one step up at each mill) away from the surrounding fields and into the river Rotte. They all still function, and they are a backup for when the pumping station has a power cut.

Next to the mill is the “summer house” which is a tiny living room and a shed, which in the past was used by the wife of the miller during the summer to bake and do other jobs. Below you can see the miller and his ridiculously cute cat, who follows him everywhere!

The mill with the summerhouse on the left.

About once a month, we go for dinner with my family and my uncle Joop. This month it was our turn to chose a restaurant and organize the dinner. Since I knew it was going to be really warm weather, we decided to go for dinner in a restaurant on the beach at Noordwijk. The service at the restaurant was slightly chaotic (it was really busy), but we were in no hurry and it was so nice to eat outside and watch the sunset…

My family 🙂

The lighthouse at Noordwijk, beautifully lit…

The next day we went to look at two houses in Gorinchem. One was the beautiful house by the water that we had seen from the outside the week before. It was built in 1790 and unfortunately not in the best state. It needed a lot of renovation, and it’s a monument which makes all that even more complicated (and expensive). We’d love to buy it, but unfortunately we had to conclude that it’s too much of a financial risk for us.

It was nice to be in Gorinchem again though, it would be so nice to live there. A few streets away from the city center there’s a mill (with a beautiful view over the river)…

It was 28 degrees that day, which called for more ice cream 😀

A week ago, I went flying with my brother, and my mum joined as well. We were so lucky with the weather!

It was the perfect time to fly over the flower fields with tulips in the west of the Netherlands…

We also flew over the city centre of Haarlem, which was so amazing!!

We stopped for lunch at Texel 🙂

I took so many photos that day, I hope to share them in a blog soon!

The last weekend of April was quiet. I did spend time with my friends Aline and Edwin who came to visit us and we went to see a photo exhibition together. I hadn’t seen them since they came to visit me in Tromsø back in 2013 (click here to read about their visit), and it was really nice to catch up 🙂

On the last day of April we went to see another house in Gorinchem, also in the city centre. It was built in 1999, but it was designed to fit in with the older houses in the street. I liked it, but Michiel was not that keen. So the search continues 😉 (if it starts to sound like a never-ending story, my mum keeps reminding me that it took them two years to find a house – so I guess we should be patient 😀 )

So that was April… It was fun, but hectic. I think May will be better though, I’m going to work 3 days a week instead of 4 so that helps already. I have lots of fun things planned for May: a trip to Brussels with Jessica for example, and I will have friends from Norway visiting not once but twice 😀

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Tag Archives: baking recipes

August is for Fair for Baking

Recipes and Resources for State and County Fairs by Sharon Davis August is not generally top-of-mind baking season, but even while you read, some of the most amazing baking ever is coming out of home kitchens all over the country … Continue reading

Posted in baker, baking education, baking tips, family baking | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment


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Thursday, January 19, 2017

Events for the week of Jan 22-28, 2017

Jan 2017

If you know of any other security-related conferences, seminars or events, please let me know so I can post them (jb at jeffbsecurity dot com).

Full listing of upcoming events can be found at Security Events Calendar.


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Tag Archives: shrek

Fidelity Wars #118: Antonio Banderas – “One Love”

Shrek was a decent film. Shrek 2 was a pretty good film. Shrek The Third was a pretty poor film. And Shrek Forever After, the final film (at least for now), was merely okay-ish. Story wise, the film is entirely … Continue reading

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Trends Spotted at Cannes

The annual Cannes Film Festival drew to a close on Saturday after almost two weeks of actresses, models and elite influencers strutting their stuff on the red carpet. Films are the primary focus at the French Riviera-based festival so there’s understandably a lot of familiar faces from the big screen in attendance – all dressed to […]

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Thursday, February 23, 2012

Another jack day

A warm dry day was in the offing and I was in two minds where to fish. In the end I took the line of closest resistance and hit the drain again. It was running off just the way I like it when I arrived and I soon had the two standby baits of lamprey and mackerel in the margins with the don't-know-why-I-bother sardine on the third rod.

Other people do well on sardines. I can remember just a couple of fish falling for them. In my list of useless baits they are neck and neck with smelts. Mind you my biggest deadbait-caught pike took a smelt. That's about it though! Still, I live in hope that a sardine will one day pull a similar rabbit out of the hat.

Today was not to be the day for the sardine surprise though. It was the lamprey head in the near margin that got picked up after an hour of daylight. The bobbin dropped off but the float wasn't moving when I stood up and grabbed the net. A sheepish dabchick dived  a few yards from the float leading me to think it might have caught the line. However, when I approached the rod the float twitched, then as I got to the rod the float shot off downstream. My strike met with the now too-familiar faint resistance, and a chubby jack of five or six pounds, lightly hooked in the scissors, was soon in the net. I should have checked which side it was lacking a pectoral as I caught  a similar sized one-pec pike earlier in the season.

Shortly after returning the fish and recasting the flow stopped. I'm becoming less and less confident of soaking deadbaits in the drain when there's no flow. I still made the effort to move the baits around and work my way upstream. It was a lovely day to be out once the sun began to shine and take the edge off the strong westerly that was blowing.

By three the flask was empty and my confidence almost shot. I'd worked up quite a sweat by the time I loaded my gear in the car and set off for home and a ponder over what to do next. Option one is go pike fish somewhere else. Option two is to do a spot of river fishing. Option three is have a break and wait for tenchtime!


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Tag Archives | meadwort

meadowsweet tea

How to Make Meadowsweet Tea

The meadowsweet plant is a tall shrub with green leaves and a white or pink blossom that is often mistaken for a wildflower. Meadowsweet is zone-hardy and is easy to grow in your own backyard. In fact, it may already be growing wild in the fields or your favorite park or nature preserve. […]

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The Best Kinda Therapy is Beach Therapy. And When The Offer is for Just INR 699, Count Me Twice? Goa, here I come

Hey Bhagwan, Uthale and Patak de GOA mein? As cliche as it may sound, that is definitely our state of mind this summer. With temperatures soaring to as high as 44, Goa and Beaches is all I think of! Because there is nothing that salt water cannot cure 😉

Serene beauty, relaxing sound of beach waves and the company of you choice. From gorgeous sunrise to sea food and thrift market and soothing sunsets, Goa is definitely THE Cult favorite travel destination. So, this summer make a Goa plan that doe not end up getting cancelled.

Click here to avail an offer an The Park – Friday Karaoke Night with UNLIMITED Food + UNLIMITED Brewed Drinks / Mocktails for *INR 699*. Luxury doesn’t always burn a hole in your pocket. Dont forget to get upto 25% cash back only at

Timings : Friday-7:00 P.M to 11:00 P.M
From : 17 Feb 2016
To : 31 Oct 2018

The Park, located in Calangute blends in centuries old Goan traditions with new age creativity and innovation.The team of chefs create some mouthwatering delicacies. The drinks are crafted to perfection, and the music will make your feet tap, and the best part?  You can enjoy all this for just INR 699!So now immerse yourself into music and unlimited food for just INR 699! What are you waiting for?!

Akansha Kapoor for
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• Posts tagged "PHP"

Blog Archives

How to download YouTube videos using wget and cURL

Hi all, Few days back I got a request in PHPClasses.org to develop a functionality in PHP for downloading YouTube videos. So, here it is. I have already published it on PHPClasses.org. Here is the link: http://www.phpclasses.org/package/9092-PHP-Download-YouTube-Videos.html. In case, you don’t see this page right now, it is still under processing. 😉 The idea is …
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8,567 total views, 2 views today

PDO is abstracted!

Hi Guys Few days back I created a PDO class. I would like to share it with you all, perhaps, it may come handy. You find it on PHPClasses too. http://www.phpclasses.org/package/8853-PHP-Database-access-wrapper-based-on-PDO.html The idea is to abstraction PDO itself. Developers don’t need to know about the implementation if it is either a PDO or simple PHP …
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2,327 total views, no views today

Error and Exception Logging in PHP

Hi guys, I believe that everyone is well aware of errors and exceptions in PHP. And I am sure, everyone must have their own way of handling them. But there is problem in PHP. PHP can easily trap and log runtime errors but PHP error handlers cannot trap fatal errors. And it makes the debugging …
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3,322 total views, no views today

How to consume REST Web Service in PHP

Hi all, As promised on my last technical post http://blog.niteshapte.com/2013-11-08-how-to-consume-rest-web-service-in-java.htm I am posting the same thing in different technology/language. So, this post is about Consuming REST web services using PHP. Let’s start it again…. So, first thing first. What is Web Service? Web Services is a technology which provides an efficient way to share application …
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Data Migrator and Merger: Synchronize MySQL databases using PHP

Hi Folks, Last year, I published a package in PHPClasses to synchronize the records of two versions of the same database schema and also to synchronize the schema. You can check out the link here – http://www.phpclasses.org/package/7448-PHP-Synchronize-MySQL-tables-with-another-database.html. The purpose of this package is simple. Many a times, there is problem while development in a team …
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How to fetch movie identifier/id from IMDB using PHP

Hi Guys Few days back, I published an article for fetching movie trailers from YouTube based on movie name and year of its release. Hope you guys liked that. In case someone would like to check that out, here is the link – http://blog.niteshapte.com/2013-06-21-how-to-fetch-trailers-from-youtube-using-php.htm. Today, I am going to show you how to fetch the …
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How to run SQL *Loader using C, PHP and Java

Hi Guys 🙂 Today, I am going to tell you how to run sqlldr command using C, PHP and Java. It will be a command line interface for running sqlldr command in all the three language mentioned. First of all, what is SQL *Loader? SQL*Loader is a bulk loader utility used for moving data from external …
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16,094 total views, 2 views today

How to fetch trailers from YouTube using PHP

Hi guys, In March 2010, I published a package YouTube Trailer in PHPClasses.org for fetching YouTube trailer, dynamically. You must have seen trailers of a movie/s embedded into a webpage. YouTube allows you to embed videos in external site pages, but you need to know the identifier of the specific video you want to embed. …
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Home >> Linux >> AI Can Be Our Friend, Says Bill Gates

AI Can Be Our Friend, Says Bill Gates

An anonymous reader shares a report: “AI can be our friend,” says Gates. In response to the question, “What do you think will happen to human civilization with further development in AI technology?” Gates says the rise in artificial intelligence will mean society will be able to do more with less. “AI is just the latest in technologies that allow us to produce a lot more goods and services with less labor. And overwhelmingly, over the last several hundred years, that has been great for society,” explains Gates. “We used to all have to go out and farm. We barely got enough food, when the weather was bad people would starve. Now through better seeds, fertilizer, lots of things, most people are not farmers. And so AI will bring us immense new productivity,” says Gates.

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An Interview with the Authors of Dark Matter Credit

Imagine a world without banks. Because there are no credit cards, you have to pay cash for everything, and there’s no way to borrow either. How do you buy car or a house, or start a new business? You hide cash under your mattress. Such a world would be desperately poor, or so research in economics teaches us. Yet someone Europe managed to become rich long before banks spread across the continent. How was that possible?

Dark Matter Credit by Philip T. Hoffman, Gilles Postel-Vinay, and Jean-Laurent Rosenthal solves the mystery. Using data on 250,000 loans from France, the authors found that credit abounded in Europe well before banks opened their doors, thanks to a huge shadow credit system whose importance no one has ever measured before. The system let nearly a third of French families borrow way back in 1740, and by 1840 it funded as much mortgage debt as the 1950s US banking system. And when banks finally appeared, it out-competed them, helping people to borrow, save, and even make payments. It thrived right up to World War I, not just in France but Britain, Germany, and the United States, only to be killed off by government intervention after 1918.

According to the authors, their discovery overturns standard arguments about banks and economic growth and reveals a shadow system made up of thousands of loans between individuals, as in modern peer to peer lending.  Dark Matter Credit sheds light on the problems peer to peer lending will face as it spreads and suggests how those problems can be solved.

What led you to uncover a huge and unknown shadow banking system?

We knew that people were borrowing and lending long before banks existed, because thousands of loan contracts survived in the French archives. We wanted to know how that was possible without banks. How did the lenders know that the borrowers would repay? After all, there was no such thing as a credit score or even an easy way to tell if property had been mortgaged, and potential lenders had for centuries been worried about the risk of default. Could lenders only make loans to family members or close friends? Was that how credit markets worked? If so, lending would have been severely limited.  Early investigations suggested, though, that lending was not so small, and not as local as previous scholars had thought. We suspected that informal intermediaries were matching borrowers and lenders and increasing the level of confidence in the market. To get at what had actually happened, we set out to measure all this lending across France and to analyze what made it possible.

How much lending was there?

Well in 1840, outstanding mortgage debt came to 27 percent of GDP. That was almost as much as in the United States during the housing boom in the 1950s, when there were numerous banks, savings and loans, and government backed mortgages, but all the lending in France was done without any bank involvement, and without any of the government support that stimulated housing construction in the United States. Even way back in 1740, the credit system in France allowed a third of all families to borrow and lend. And the system was incredibly persistent: it was only killed off by government intervention after 1918, but even as late as 1931, it was still providing 90 percent of all borrowers with their loans

How did it work?

The loans, it turns out, were arranged by notaries, who had been drawing up legal documents and preserving official copies of records since the Middle Ages. Over time, they began serving as real estate brokers and providing legal and financial advice, and since they knew who had money to lend and who was creditworthy, they were soon matching lenders up with borrowers who had good collateral and were likely repay. And if they couldn’t find a match among their own clients, they referred borrowers and lenders to one another. One notary might send a good borrower off to another notary, or he might receive a lender from yet another notary. That allowed loans to be made when the borrowers and lenders didn’t know one another. The loans didn’t pass through banks at all—they were all loans between individuals, as in modern, web based peer to peer lending, but all without the web obviously.

Did it do anything else?

The notaries also helped people make payments and manage their savings. And their loan business continued to thrive after banks opened their doors. There were in fact more banks in France than anyone imagined (we know—we counted them), but it took them nearly a century to make any serious inroads into mortgage lending. We also discovered that notaries and bankers actually cooperated with one another to devise a new way for peasants to pay their bills at a time when doing so was difficult outside of cities. This sort of innovation is surprising because it runs counter to an influential argument that financial markets should have been stifled by the legal system prevailing in France and many other parts of the world—so called civil law, which was supposedly less favorable to financial development than British and American common law. That argument is also contradicted by the fact that the notaries themselves were thriving loan brokers, because the notaries kept the written records that were at the heart of the civil law.

How did you measure all the lending?

We visited a lot of archives! We had to because we started in a period before there were any government statistics about lending. So we assembled loan information from original contracts and fiscal sources. Of course, reading a quarter of a million loan contracts would have been impossible, but we also knew that summaries of the loans survived in French tax archives from the early eighteenth century up through the 1900s. The tax records plus some ingenious sampling allowed us to gather the data on our quarter of a million loans and to estimate what was happening in the credit market for France as whole across two centuries. With the sample, we could analyze the impact of urbanization, economic growth, financial crises, and enormous institutional changes during the French Revolution and the nineteenth century.   We also investigated the spread of banking in France and the interaction between bankers and notaries, and we compared French banking with banking in Britain. The comparison suggested that Britain probably lacked as strong a peer to peer lending system as in France, although it did have one. Evidence from other countries implies that similar systems operated in Germany, and the United States in 1900. They too had big peer to peer lending systems that have yet to be explored. And one has recently cropped up in China, but it has caused massive losses and triggered protests, because of problems that the French system avoided.

Philip T. Hoffman is the Rea A. and Lela G. Axline Professor of Business Economics and History at the California Institute of Technology. Co-author Gilles Postel-Vinay is professor emeritus at the Paris School of Economics, and co-author Jean-Laurent Rosenthal is the Rea A. and Lela G. Axline Professor of Business Economics and the Ronald and Maxine Linde Leadership Chair in the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the California Institute of Technology.


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Monday, September 14, 2015

A.R. Rahman silences his critics with words of love and compassion!

Reacting to the controversial Fatwa issued by Raza Academy, a Mumbai-based Muslim group that demanded an apology from Music Wizard A.R. Rahman for composing music for Iranian film titled MUHAMMAD: MESSENGER OF GOD, Rahman in a message in his Facebook page said that he composed the music for the film with uttermost faith in Allah and had no intention of causing offence.

Silencing his critics brilliantly Rahman writes, “Mr. Noorie of Raza Academy has alleged that if I do not to apology than I must not complain on Qayamat (Judgment Day) that I was not warned before on earth.”

He adds, “I wish to enlighten Mr. Noorie that I had composed the music of the film purely because a similar question cropped up in my conscience - what if on Judgment Day, Allah asked me, ‘I gave you faith, talent, money, fame and health… why you did not do music for my beloved Muhammad film? A film whose intention is to unite humanity, clear misconceptions and spread my message that life is kindness, about uplifting the poor, and living in the service of humanity and not mercilessly killing innocents in my name.”

Irked at the plight of multiple assaults being made on holy Prophet Muhammad in recent times A.R. Rahman lamented, “It is really disturbing that in the past few years there have been several immoral, deplorable and ruthless remarks made online concerning the Holy Prophet and according to me most of such irresponsible remarks are due to lack of understanding of the sacred Quran and its teachings.”

He informs, “Hence when Iranian filmaker, Majid Majidi, explained me the subject of the movie I gave my nod because I believe it is our duty to counter the evil reaction against Islam with love and compassion and cinema is the best vehicle to reach out to people and broaden their knowledge about our religion that has been misinterpreted and twisted by certain vested interest.”

Rahman concludes his message with heart rendering and thought provoking appeal. He writes, “Let us set an example in clearing conflict with grace and dignity and not trigger violence in words or actions. Let us pray for forgiveness, and from our hearts bless those who suffer in the world and bless the country that we live in. To so pray is to reflect the noble and enlightened nature of our beloved Muhammad. Amen!”