Computers-and-Technology Articles from EzineArticles.com
Importance Of Information Technology Training Courses
Those people looking to begin a career in information technology (IT) should take part in information technology training courses; this training can also be beneficial to those who have already begun a career in IT. IT training helps trainees?
Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Link-Popularity Articles from EzineArticles.com
Automatic Backlink Software: How Does Social Media Link Building Work?
Increasingly more website owners and Internet marketers are using social media to get quality backlinks. There has been a lot of debate regarding traditional link building methods versus social media. The rules of SEO have changed a lot over the past few months as Google emphasizes organic link building.
Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Web-Development Articles from EzineArticles.com
Businesses Taking Customized Software Development Services
Considering the specific needs of a business, software development companies are offering suitable custom software solutions that can meet their specific requirements within budget. The custom solutions are helping businesses to improve their internal processes that can leverage their potential in the niche market.
Imagine you are moving around in a place where you haven?t been before. What could be the next best thing to chatting to a local? It could be having your Android with Google?s new Field Trip app installed. Field Trip is your personal ?tour guide?. It works unobtrusively in the background ? senses your location, and offers information with pop-up notifications on local history, best places to eat, the local music scene, shops, or just places to have fun.
You could call it a hyper-local discovery tool that pops up with information about the place you are probably standing on. Field Trip is an interesting launch from Google because it gives annoying notifications a fresh twist. You can of course, select the information you would like it to display and give it access to your location data.
The Android app could help to cancel out the strangeness of visiting a new place. On the other hand it could help you discover familiar neighborhoods in entirely new ways. According to the app?s site, the information is collated from different sources like Thrillist, Food Network, Zagat, and Eater for eating joints; Sunset, Cool Hunting, WeHeart, Inhabitat, and Remodelista for shopping; Atlas Obscura and Daily Secret for local trivia; Songkick and Flavorpill for music.
Field Trip is U.S. only so far and if you are there, you can download it from the Google Play Store. An iOS app is expected soon. Take it for a spin.
A nine-year-old boy was killed and three other children wounded when a hand grenade was thrown into a Sunday school session in a church in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, police and medical staff said.
Kenya has suffered a series of grenade attacks since it sent troops across the border into Somalia last October in pursuit of Islamist al Shabaab militants who it blamed for kidnapping its security personnel and Western tourists.
The attack on the church came days after Kenyan troops launched a surprise offensive on the southern Somali port of Kismayu, the last stronghold of the al Shabaab, forcing the rebels to flee.
Police said attackers threw the grenade into the Sunday school service in St. Polycarp's church on Nairobi's Juja Road.
The grenade exploded, spraying the children with shrapnel and fatally injuring the boy. "We suspect this blast might have been carried out by sympathisers of al Shabaab," said deputy police spokesman Charles Owino.
"These are the kicks of a dying horse since, of late, Kenyan police have arrested several suspects in connection with grenades," he added.
Masked assailants launched simultaneous gun and grenade raids on two churches in the northern town of Garissa in July, killing at least 17 people.
After false starting a couple of weeks ago, the Blu-ray trailer for The Dark Knight Rises is back, and Entertainment Weekly has heard from Warner Bros. that December 4th is the official release date. Also on display from EW is this limited edition Bat Cowl packaging which will be available at launch. While there's not a full spec list, extras will include a Batmobile-focused documentary and more than a dozen featurettes about going behind the scenes of the movie with Christopher Nolan and his team. We expect to see mroe details soon, for now just check out the trailer embedded after the break.
She's certainly easy on the eyes, and Miranda Kerr most recently lent her gorgeousness to the cover of the October 2012 issue of Cosmopolitan South Africa.
The 29-year-old Aussie supermodel is featured in a column titled 'Inside Miranda's World' while dishing about everything from her body booster and what she uses as her motivational tool to her favorite gift of all time.
Highlights from Miss Kerr's interview are as follows. For more, be sure to pay a visit to Cosmopolitan South Africa!
On her body image secret: "I have a good relationship with my body and I think that comes down to the fact that I listen to what it's telling me. I'd say the only thing I can sometimes deprive my body of is sleep, and it's in those moments of being tired I can feel a little overwhelmed."
Our her body booster "My all time best beauty tip is to dry-brush your body daily. It improves the functioning of the lymphatic system, improves circulation and leaves skin smoother. It also keeps cellulite at bay."
On her motivational tool: "I have pictures of places I'd love to go, people I hope to meet, things I'd like to do, and even pictures of friends and family I pray will remain in my life. I find it uplifting to look over the images and focus on them as part of my future."
On the best gift she ever has received from Orlando: "One time in Paris, we went to The Hemingway Bar beneath the Ritz. Sitting there, we were inspired to write love notes to each other. I didn't know he'd kept these until a few years later - at Christmas - he presented me with a frame containing all those notes. [It's] my favorite gift!"
The CEO of a 100-year old Montana ice cream maker has offered to resign after he?made what was perceived to be a racist remark on the company's Facebook wall.
The brouhaha began when a self-identified Muslim customer?asked on the Facebook page if the Wilcoxson Ice Cream contained pork in the gelatin used to make it.
?We don't deliver outside of Montana, certainly not Pakistan,? CEO Matt Shaeffer wrote back.
The customer replied that?the comment was ?rude? for assuming he lived in Pakistan. Underneath the customer's name on Facebook it says that he lives in Sheridan, Wyo.,?an area to which the wholesale ice cream maker does deliver.
Shaeffer told NBC News he is sorry for what happened.??It was never intended to offend,? he said.
?I was wrong,? said Shaeffer, whose company, in addition to local customers, has supplied ice cream to?Yellowstone National Park since the 1920's.? ?I should have just answered the question.... I don't want to be the one who took down a 100-year old company because I made a stupid comment. If necessary, I will resign.?
The whole dust-up appears to be?a case of mistaken assumptions and late-night Facebooking gone horribly wrong, Shaeffer believes.
A?screenshot of the Facebook conversation was posted on popular link-sharing website Reddit and soon made the rounds on news websites, blogs, and forums. Users flooded the company's Yelp page with one-star reviews and angry comments, driving down its Yelp rating. The company's Facebook page is down now too, taken offline by Shaeffer because of nasty remarks and coarse language in the comments.
The internet outrage centers on the belief that Shaeffer intentionally made a racist joke. But he?told NBC News that?before responding, he clicked on the user's Facebook profile and saw under the ?Map? box a recent ping showing a location in Pakistan.
That feature usually indicates the geographic location of recent updates made by the Facebook user. Responding to the comment at 10 p.m. after a long day of work,?Shaeffer said he mistakenly assumed the customer was from Pakistan.
By 4:30 a.m. the next morning, the company's Facebook page had already filled with hundreds of ?derogatory? and ?nasty? messages. Now after several days of bouncing around the Internet, the rage bandwagon hasn't shown any signs of stopping.
?It's a mistake to view this as an online-only problem,? said James Alexander, founder and CEO of Vizibility, a New York-based online reputation management startup. He said this?has the potential to ?jump out of Facebook to become a full-blown crisis.?
Alexander told NBC News he questioned Wilcoxson's choice to take down the Facebook wall. He noted that Facebook has several tools for managing comments on your company Facebook page, like manually deleting inappropriate comments, changing settings to filter out comments with foul language or hate messages, or even even turning off comments and posting a message saying you're disabling comments until the conversation cools off.
He? recommended that the company post a full statement online to apologize, explain itself, and make things right. But the key thing is to communicate.
?To withdraw from a conversation that's about you really requires some hard-thinking,? said Alexander. Just because you take down the Facebook wall, ?doesn't mean there isn't a hashtag? about your company on Twitter.
Lost in the mix is the answer to the original question. Wilcoxson's ice cream contains only Kosher gelatin, which doesn't use any pork products.
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Popular HIV drug may cause memory declines Public release date: 27-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Stephanie Desmon sdesmon1@jhmi.edu 410-955-8665 Johns Hopkins Medicine
Johns Hopkins study suggests the commonly prescribed anti-retroviral drug efavirenz attacks brain cells
The way the body metabolizes a commonly prescribed anti-retroviral drug that is used long term by patients infected with HIV may contribute to cognitive impairment by damaging nerve cells, a new Johns Hopkins research suggests.
Nearly 50 percent of people infected with HIV will eventually develop some form of brain damage that, while mild, can affect the ability to drive, work or participate in many daily activities. It has long been assumed that the disease was causing the damage, but Hopkins researchers say the drug efavirenz may play a key role.
People infected with HIV typically take a cocktail of medications to suppress the virus, and many will take the drugs for decades. Efavirenz is known to be very good at controlling the virus and is one of the few that crosses the blood-brain barrier and can target potential reservoirs of virus in the brain. Doctors have long believed that it might be possible to alleviate cognitive impairment associated with HIV by getting more drugs into the brain, but researchers say more caution is needed because there may be long-term effects of these drugs on the brain.
"People with HIV infections can't stop taking anti-retroviral drugs. We know what happens then and it's not good," says Norman J. Haughey, Ph.D., an associate professor of neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "But we need to be very careful about the types of anti-retrovirals we prescribe, and take a closer look at their long-term effects. Drug toxicities could be a major contributing factor to cognitive impairment in patients with HIV."
For the study led by Haughey and described online in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, researchers obtained samples of blood and cerebrospinal fluid from HIV-infected subjects enrolled in the NorthEastern AIDS Dementia study who were taking efavirenz. Researchers looked for levels of the drug and its various metabolites, which are substances created when efavirenz is broken down by the liver. Performing experiments on neurons cultured in the lab, the investigators examined the effects of 8-hydroxyefavirenz and other metabolites and found major structural changes when using low levels of 8-hydroxyefavirenz, including the loss of the important spines of the cells.
Haughey and his colleagues found that 8-hydroxyefavirenz is 10 times more toxic to brain cells than the drug itself and, even in low concentrations, causes damage to the dendritic spines of neurons. The dendritic spine is the information processing point of a neuron, where synapses the structures that allow communication among brain cells are located.
In the case of efavirenz, a minor modification in the drug's structure may be able block its toxic effects but not alter its ability to suppress the virus. Namandje N. Bumpus, Ph.D., one of the study's other authors, has found a way to modify the drug to prevent it from metabolizing into 8-hydroxyefavirenz while maintaining its effectiveness as a tool to suppress the HIV virus.
"Finding and stating a problem is one thing, but it's another to be able to say we have found this problem and here is an easy fix," Haughey says.
Haughey says studies like his serve as a reminder that while people infected with HIV are living longer than they were 20 years ago, there are significant problems associated with the drugs used to treat the infection.
"Some people do seem to have this attitude that HIV is no longer a death sentence," he says. "But even with anti-retroviral treatments, people infected with HIV have shortened lifespans and the chance of cognitive decline is high. It's nothing you should treat lightly."
###
The study was supported by grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA0017408), the National Institute of Mental Health (MH077543, MH075673 and MH71150), the National Institute on Aging (AG034849) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS049465).
Other Hopkins researchers involved in the study include Luis B. Tovar y Romo, Ph.D.; Lindsay B. Avery, Ph.D.; Ned Sacktor, M.D.; and Justin McArthur, M.B.B.S., M.P.H.
For more information:
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neurology_neurosurgery/research/jhu_nimh/researchers/nhaughey.html
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Popular HIV drug may cause memory declines Public release date: 27-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Stephanie Desmon sdesmon1@jhmi.edu 410-955-8665 Johns Hopkins Medicine
Johns Hopkins study suggests the commonly prescribed anti-retroviral drug efavirenz attacks brain cells
The way the body metabolizes a commonly prescribed anti-retroviral drug that is used long term by patients infected with HIV may contribute to cognitive impairment by damaging nerve cells, a new Johns Hopkins research suggests.
Nearly 50 percent of people infected with HIV will eventually develop some form of brain damage that, while mild, can affect the ability to drive, work or participate in many daily activities. It has long been assumed that the disease was causing the damage, but Hopkins researchers say the drug efavirenz may play a key role.
People infected with HIV typically take a cocktail of medications to suppress the virus, and many will take the drugs for decades. Efavirenz is known to be very good at controlling the virus and is one of the few that crosses the blood-brain barrier and can target potential reservoirs of virus in the brain. Doctors have long believed that it might be possible to alleviate cognitive impairment associated with HIV by getting more drugs into the brain, but researchers say more caution is needed because there may be long-term effects of these drugs on the brain.
"People with HIV infections can't stop taking anti-retroviral drugs. We know what happens then and it's not good," says Norman J. Haughey, Ph.D., an associate professor of neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "But we need to be very careful about the types of anti-retrovirals we prescribe, and take a closer look at their long-term effects. Drug toxicities could be a major contributing factor to cognitive impairment in patients with HIV."
For the study led by Haughey and described online in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, researchers obtained samples of blood and cerebrospinal fluid from HIV-infected subjects enrolled in the NorthEastern AIDS Dementia study who were taking efavirenz. Researchers looked for levels of the drug and its various metabolites, which are substances created when efavirenz is broken down by the liver. Performing experiments on neurons cultured in the lab, the investigators examined the effects of 8-hydroxyefavirenz and other metabolites and found major structural changes when using low levels of 8-hydroxyefavirenz, including the loss of the important spines of the cells.
Haughey and his colleagues found that 8-hydroxyefavirenz is 10 times more toxic to brain cells than the drug itself and, even in low concentrations, causes damage to the dendritic spines of neurons. The dendritic spine is the information processing point of a neuron, where synapses the structures that allow communication among brain cells are located.
In the case of efavirenz, a minor modification in the drug's structure may be able block its toxic effects but not alter its ability to suppress the virus. Namandje N. Bumpus, Ph.D., one of the study's other authors, has found a way to modify the drug to prevent it from metabolizing into 8-hydroxyefavirenz while maintaining its effectiveness as a tool to suppress the HIV virus.
"Finding and stating a problem is one thing, but it's another to be able to say we have found this problem and here is an easy fix," Haughey says.
Haughey says studies like his serve as a reminder that while people infected with HIV are living longer than they were 20 years ago, there are significant problems associated with the drugs used to treat the infection.
"Some people do seem to have this attitude that HIV is no longer a death sentence," he says. "But even with anti-retroviral treatments, people infected with HIV have shortened lifespans and the chance of cognitive decline is high. It's nothing you should treat lightly."
###
The study was supported by grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA0017408), the National Institute of Mental Health (MH077543, MH075673 and MH71150), the National Institute on Aging (AG034849) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS049465).
Other Hopkins researchers involved in the study include Luis B. Tovar y Romo, Ph.D.; Lindsay B. Avery, Ph.D.; Ned Sacktor, M.D.; and Justin McArthur, M.B.B.S., M.P.H.
For more information:
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neurology_neurosurgery/research/jhu_nimh/researchers/nhaughey.html
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ? George Strait is getting ready to park his tour bus.
The enduring country music superstar announced Wednesday during a news conference at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum that he will embark on his final tour early next year. Strait will play 21 dates in 2013, then 20 more in 2014 on The Cowboy Rides Away tour. He plans to continue recording music and making occasional live appearances after that, but his road warrior days will soon be over.
"I just don't want to go to the point where I show up and nobody else does, you know?" Strait said in an interview before making the announcement. "It's been great. I've been doing it for 30-some odd years and I've loved it. Sometimes I've not liked it as much. And here lately it's just the walking out onstage part, that's all great. I'm still loving that. It's just the hectic part about touring and traveling and bam bam bam bam. I just feel like it's time for me to try something else."
News of Strait's retirement will come as something of a shock in country quarters. He's so entrenched in the genre he's become part of the bedrock, a landmark to be marveled at repeatedly over the decades.
The 60-year-old Country Music Hall of Fame member from Texas released his first single "Unwound" in 1981, before some of today's top stars were born. Since then he's had 59 No. 1 country singles and is the only artist to score a Top 10 hit in every year of his career. All his albums have gone platinum or gold, selling more than 68 million copies.
Traditional country singer Joe Nichols acknowledged Strait's impact when he called the singer "the Rolling Stones of country music" in a 2010 interview.
And in a lot of ways, that's been true. Until now. The Stones refuse to retire from the road, while Strait has decided to do it on his own terms.
"I'm sure I'll miss it. I'm sure I will," Strait said. "How can you not after doing it for so long. It was a hard decision to make. It was tough. I've lost sleep. But I think about midway through this tour I'll realize that, yeah, I did make the right decision. It's just a part of it."
The first leg of the tour will kick off Jan. 18 in Lubbock, Texas, and end June 1 in San Antonio. Dates for 2014 will be announced later. Martina McBride will join Strait on tour in 2013.
Strait said he was nervous about whether fans will come out and see him, but that's rarely been a cause for concern over the years. His live show is one of country's top draws. He's sold more than 4.3 million headlining concert tickets since 1999, according to Pollstar, an average of more than 18,000 per performance.
He said one of his most memorable performances was his last-minute replacement of Eddie Rabbitt at the 1984 Houston Rodeo in the Astrodome: "He just happened to get a case of laryngitis, which was a stroke of luck for me." And he also fondly remembers opening for Willie Nelson in those early years: "I opened for Willie at a fair one time and we were right in the middle of our set and the crowd just starts going crazy and I'm thinking, 'They're really liking this stuff.' I look behind me and Willie's bus is pulling up."
It's been a long time since Strait opened for anybody, and he can count most of today's major stars among the myriad who have opened for him. Yet he admits, he sometimes still gets that indescribable feeling you get when you walk out on the stage.
"It's just amazing the energy that you feel," Strait said. "I'd say three years ago we played in my hometown of San Antonio for 55,000 people at the Alamodome and walking out there with a crowd like that is just, you're excited, you're scared. There are just so many emotions going on. I still get nervous for things like that until after I sing about the first one or two songs, then I settle down. To try to describe what you feel, it's just a big electric energy feel that's right on top of you."
Strait says he knows he'll miss that feeling, and he reserves the right to return to the road if he wants. But Wednesday he was feeling comfortable with everything.
"I hope people show up because we're going to a lot of the places we've been to for so long, from year to year, and it's kind of like saying goodbye to that," he said. "It's going to be a little emotional."
___
For the latest country music news from The Associated Press: http://twitter.com/AP_Country . Follow AP Music Writer Chris Talbott: http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott.
Teens nowadays face a world so much smaller than what generations before them have experienced. Today, you can make a friend from halfway around the world, without even leaving your bedroom.
The culprit: teen social networking.
?How does teen social networking work, and what forms does it take?? is the question many adults nowadays ask themselves. This is due to the belief that if they know their children?s friends, then they might get an insight of what kind of persons their offspring are.
Well, in order to understand teen social networking, you need to understand that teenagers aren?t all the same. Adolescence is the stage when a person first gets an idea about social interaction; it is that stage when they discover what kind of person they are and who they will eventually become.
Teen social networking revolves around these two contradicting but very much true facts: every teen is different, some teens are the same.
This paradox, this contradiction is at the heart of teen social networking. The fact that every teen is different makes teens want to meet other people and to see if they can find someone to relate with.
The fact that some teens are the same, at least in some aspects, encourages teens to bond and form their own little core groups. This can now expand to become a network.
Teen social networking works on the premise that we are all connected. You know him and he knows her and she knows someone else? etc.
The fact that everyone is connected can fascinate people, especially teenagers. The world has certainly gotten small enough that, if you talk to the right people, you can get in touch with anyone in the world.
There is a theory that a person is connected to every other person in the world through no less than six degrees of separation. However, the emergence of technology is rapidly cutting down this ?theory?. No one would actually be surprised nowadays if he or she found out that they are connected to everyone within one degree.
What forms does teen social networking take? Well, there are, of course, the usual manifestations of little cliques or groups in school. These core groups often form a teen?s first real network. Through the years, this network often expands, ever growing stronger with each additional member.
There are also the different clubs that a teen joins. These clubs are a type of teen social networking in the sense that they let teenagers meet people with the same interests as theirs.
Lately, of course, we have seen the emergence of chat rooms and the ever-popular Friendster and MySpace. These incorporate the use of the technology of internet into interacting socially with other people.
This makes teen social networking especially interesting since they have the opportunity to meet people whose locations are very far from them. This introduces teenagers to whole new worlds where the rules and norms they are used to do not apply.
This then leads them to the belief that what they do does affect other people and that, no matter how different, people should be respected, in order for them to respect you.
As with other good things, however, too much social networking can be bad. And, as always, moderation is the key to a successful social network.
Related posts:
Social Networking Web Sites and the Effects They Have on Today?s Youth
What You Should Know About Adult Social Networking
Social Networking Site: A Good Way of Searching For Business Partners
This article has been contributed by Martin Desrosiers and Julien Morissette. Martin Desrosiers is a partner in the insolvency and restructuring group of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, and Julien Morissette is an associate in the group.
In a judgment rendered earlier this year, Maisons Marcoux Inc. (Syndic de), the Qu?bec Court of Appeal rendered its first decision on the propriety of using the doctrine of marshalling in Qu?bec?s civil law system in over 30 years. While it refused to apply the common law doctrine, it applied a rule of the Civil Code of Qu?bec (CCQ) which arguably lead to a similar result.
Maisons Marcoux was a residential real estate developer which obtained protection pursuant to an Initial Order rendered under the federal Companies? Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). Maisons Marcoux?s first-ranking secured creditor, Caisse Desjardins du centre de la Nouvelle-Beauce (the ?Caisse?) was owed approximately $3.3 million, secured on all assets. As part of the attempted restructuring under the CCAA, it provided an additional $2.2 million DIP (debtor-in-possession) loan, secured by a Court-ordered superpriority charge.
The restructuring failed. Maison Marcoux?s assets were liquidated. A portion of the assets, known as the ?Boisbriand Project,? were subject to various construction hypothecs amounting to $1 million, registered by contractors having provided various services in connection with the development (the Builders). In Qu?bec law, the general rule is that a construction hypothec ranks ahead of a contractual security.
The Boisbriand Project?s liquidation yielded $1.2 million, compared to $5.8 million for all assets. The trustee in bankruptcy sought to distribute the Boisbriand proceeds as follows:
Liquidation fees: $190,000
Directors? & officers? (D&O) charge: $110,000
Caisse, as DIP lender: $900,000
Builders: $0
The Builders contested this distribution, alleging that they should rank ahead of the DIP lender. The trial judge agreed, and the Caisse appealed.
The judges on appeal agreed that the DIP loan was to be paid in full, from the products of sale taken as a whole. The key question, however, was how to allocate it between the Caisse (in its capacity as secured pre-filing lender) and the Builders. The Court resorted to a little-known, and verbose, article of the CCQ:
2754. Where later ranking creditors are secured by a hypothec on only one of the properties charged in favour of one and the same creditor, his hypothec is spread among them, where two or more of the properties are sold under judicial authority and the proceeds still to be distributed are sufficient to pay his claim, proportionately over what remains to be distributed of their respective prices.
The trial judge had granted all proceeds of the Boisbriand Project ($900,000 net of sale costs and the D&O charge) to the Builders, with an according shortfall for the Caisse. The Court of Appeal reversed this order, noting that the Boisbriand Project had also benefited from the DIP loan to the tune of approximately $1 million. Nonetheless, the Court also clearly stated that the pre-filing loan ?bootstrapping? operated by the initial distribution was improper.
On the basis of a 1979 precedent, the Court refused to apply the common law doctrine of marshalling. However, it reached an arguably similar result by applying the middle-ground approach of article 2754 CCQ:
Liquidation fees: $190,000
D&O charge: $23,100
Caisse, as DIP lender: $462,000
Builders: $524,900
The Court reasoned as follows: the gross proceeds from the Boisbriand Project were $1.2 million, 21% of the $5.8 million grossed overall. It was thus for the Builders to support 21% of the $2.2 million DIP loan and also 21% of the $110,000 D&O charge, with the Caisse as pre-filing lender supporting the balance of the DIP loan.
The parties did not seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada and this judgment is now final. The Court of Appeal?s approach is at first sight quite simple, even mechanical. Yet the judgment is couched in equitable terms and an evaluation of the parties? contribution ? similar to what would be expected when the marshalling doctrine is applied.
This case highlights the usefulness of inter-creditor agreements reached in advance, where possible. It appears unlikely that this would have been possible with the Builders on the facts of this case, but fortunately pro rata apportionment was relatively straightforward. However, it is easy to imagine scenarios where article 2754 CCQ would not apply, even by analogy. In addition, for larger corporations, the lending profile is generally much more complex ? replicating the Court?s calculations in this case for a multi-entity structure, with inter-company financing and several layers of debt, could prove very difficult, or even impossible.
Another interesting question is whether a party could request that a court acting under the CCAA or the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act derogate from this legislated version of marshalling. Acting under paramount federal law, a bankruptcy court may have the power to set aside the application of article 2754 CCQ, presumably in favour of the common law doctrine. For the reason given above, this could be necessary in a large bankruptcy, but how explicitly a court would be willing to recognize it remains an open question.
The views and opinions expressed herein are exclusively the personal views of the guest contributors only, unless otherwise attributed. ?Information and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of Weil, its attorneys, or its clients. Please see the complete Disclaimer for additional terms and conditions of use of this blog.
2012 QCCA 192 (in French only, however head notes in English are available under reference 2012 CarswellQue 807).
construction hypothecs -- In common law jurisdictions, the functional equivalent is generally called a ?builder?s lien?.
Central Factors Corp. Ltd. c. Imasa Ltd., J.E. 79-318 (Qu?. C.A.).
Authors? calculations. No precise final numbers were provided by the Court.
This figure is a maximum, as the file was remanded to the trial judge for determination of the validity of the construction hypothecs.
NEW YORK (AP) ? The best way to reduce the federal deficit is through a combination of higher taxes and spending cuts, according to a group of economists.
The 236 members of the National Association for Business Economics recently surveyed say the country needs more fiscal stimulus through 2013, but by 2014 it should be time to throttle back. The reason for the delay: the sluggish nature of the country's economic recovery.
A majority of the economists favor extending payroll tax cuts, current marginal income tax rates and current tax rates for dividends and capital gains for most or all taxpayers through 2013. Deep tax cuts that were passed under President George W. Bush expire at the end of December unless Congress takes action. At the center of debate: extending the cuts for everybody. or just households earning less than $250,000 a year.
When it comes to making those cuts permanent, the group is more split. Nearly three quarters think the payroll tax cut should not be made permanent. The group is almost evenly split about whether to make the tax cuts on income, dividends and capital gains permanent.
The biggest economic worry for the group was not how much to raise taxes or how to trim the budget. The problem cited was indecision: 87 percent of the economists believe that uncertainty about what direction Washington will take is holding back the economic recovery.
The survey on economic policies released Monday also forecast that short-term interest rates would remain at current levels for at least another year. The results are consistent with the last NABE semiannual survey, released in March.
A slight majority of respondents ? 59 percent ? said that current U.S. monetary policy was "about right." The percentage replying that monetary policy was "too stimulative" fell slightly compared with the percentage that held that same view in March, while the proportion answering that policy was "too restrictive" edged up.
The economists said the Federal Reserve should not buy more bonds to support and stimulate the economy, as it has in the last few years. The survey was conducted between Aug. 2 and Aug. 24, before the Federal Reserve announced a third round of bond buying on Sept. 13.
Just 53 percent of the economists said that the action already undertaken by the Fed, known as quantitative easing, has been a success.
There is also a widely shared expectation that health care costs in the United States will account for a larger share of GDP in 10 years than they do at present, assuming that the Affordable Care Act is not repealed.
Finally, 46 percent of the NABE panel expects that in five years, the European Monetary Union will have less than its current 17 member countries. That's down from more than 60 percent just six months ago.
DUBAI (Reuters) - Muslims protested in Nigeria, Iran, Greece and Turkey on Sunday to show anti-Western anger against a film and cartoons insulting Islam had not dissipated.
As delegates from around the world gathered in New York for a U.N. General Assembly where the clash between free speech and blasphemy is bound to be raised, U.S. flags were once again burning in parts of the Muslim world.
Iranian students chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" outside the French embassy in Tehran in protest at the decision by satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, days after widespread protests - some deadly - against a film made in the United States.
Shi'ite Muslims in the Nigerian town of Katsina burned U.S., French and Israeli flags and a religious leader called for protests to continue until the makers of the film and cartoons are punished.
In Pakistan, where fifteen people were killed in protests on Friday, a government minister has offered $100,000 to anyone who kills the maker of the short, amateurish video "The Innocence of Muslims". Calls have increased for a U.N. measure outlawing insults to Islam and blasphemy in general.
In Athens, some protesters hurled bottles of water, stones and shoes at police who responded with teargas. Calm returned when demonstrators interrupted the protest to pray.
ON ALERT
Protests around the world were relatively small and calm, but Western embassies remained on alert after the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed in one of the first protests, on September 11.
The upsurge of Muslim anger - just weeks before U.S. elections - have confronted President Barack Obama with a setback yet in his efforts to keep the "Arab Spring" revolutions from fuelling a new wave of anti-Americanism.
In U.S. ally Turkey, a secular Muslim state often seen as a bridge between the Islamic world and the West, protesters set fire to U.S. and Israeli flags on Sunday.
"May the hands that touch Mohammad break," chanted some 200 protesters before peacefully dispersing.
"We will certainly not allow uncontrolled protests, but we will not just grin and bear it when Islam's prophet is insulted," Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told party members at the weekend.
"The protests in the Muslim world must be measured, and the West should show a determined stance against Islamophobia."
FOURTH QUARTERThe Buffs score 21 points in the final seven minutes to stun Washington State, 35-34, for Colorado's first victory of the season. Stay tuned to Buffzone.com for complete coverage.
Jordan Webb caps a program-turning drive with a 4-yard touchdown on fourth-and goal. Will Oliver's PAT gives the Buffs an improbable 35-34 lead with nine seconds left.
Teondray Caldwell returns a kickoff 56 yards to set Washington State up at the CU 23. Buffs defense holds again. A 42-yard field goal by Andrew Furney makes score 34-28.
Tony Jones scored on an 82-yard run to pull the Buffs to within 31-28. Could CU return the favor to Washington State after last year's fourth-quarter collapse?
CU's defense forces another punt. Buffs have the ball back at their own 10-yard line. Jordan Webb gets injured on first snap of the drive, however, forcing Nick Hirschman into the fray (Connor Wood was hurt in practice late in the week).
Jon Major intercepted a pass to keep slim hope alive for the Buffs. CU's offense took advantage of the opportunity as Jordan Webb finds tight end Nick Kasa on a 70-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 31-21. Five plays, 92 yards and 1:01 off the clock.
After Darryl Monroe draws an unsportsmanlike penalty against Jordan Webb (in soccer it's called flopping), Darragh O'Neil shanked a punt to give Washington State a first down at the CU 30. The Cougars settled for a 45-yard field goal by Andrew Furney to make the score 31-14.
THIRD QUARTERWashington State scores on a 49-yard screen pass that Marquess Wilson takes in for a touchdown to give the Cougars a 28-14 lead with 5:27 left in the third. Caps a six-play, 77-yard drive that included two more third-down conversions.
Bad news for Jordan Webb. After his interception on a deep pass intended for Gerald Thomas, offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy was waiting for him. Buffs have three turnovers now.
The Cougars had two potential touchdown passes to Marquess Wilson broken up by Greg Henderson and then Marques Mosley. Washington State's Michael Bowlin then missed a 53-yard field goal attempt. Buffs with the ball down by one possession (21-14).
CU is back in this game after safety Terrell Smith recovers a fumble and returns it to the half-yard line. On the next snap, Jordan Webb plunges in for a touchdown. Washington State's lead is now 21-14 with 9:53 remaining in the quarter.
The Buffs got a break on their first drive of the half when a running into the kicker (punter Darragh O'Neill) gave them a first down. But four snaps later O'Neill was punting again. Tyler McCulloch with a key drop.
SECOND QUARTER
Colorado had 206 yards of offense in the first half to Washington State's 241. Jordan Webb was 11-for-13 passing for 129 yards with a touchdown. Connor Halliday completed 15-of-23 passes for 200 yards with three touchdowns and an interception.
Jon Embree told KOA radio on the way to the locker room that the Buffs defense must get off the field on third down and the offense must cut out costly mistakes to mount a comeback.
CU defense forces a second Washington State punt after Webb's turnover. Buffs offense decides not to take any more chances from the 20 late in the half. Washington State 21, Colorado 7 at the intermission.
The Buffs had a nice end-of-half drive going after Webb connects on a 9-yard pass to Tyler McCulloch and a 22-yard pass to Nelson Spruce. But then Webb is sacked and fumbles the ball away to the Cougars with just under a minute to go in the half.
CU forces the first punt of the game after a defensive stop. Buffs take over first-and-10 at own 12 with 2:56 to go in the half.
The Buffs went for it on fourth-and-12 and McCulloch hauled in the catch after the pocket collapsed on Webb, but his foot was clearly out of bounds at the 5-yard line and CU turns the ball over on downs with about six minutes left in the first half.
Isiah Meyers hauls in a touchdown catch against CU's Kenneth Crawley to give the Cougars a 21-7 lead. Washington State converted a fourth-and-8 on the drive after recovering McCulloch's fumble.
CU's Tyler McCulloch just fumbled on CU's own 39. Washington State has the ball again.
Halliday connects with Marquess Wilson for a touchdown as the second quarter begins and the Cougars regain a 7-point lead. ?Washington State 14, Colorado 7.
FIRST QUARTER
Sophomore Jered Bell intercepted Halliday and returned it to the Colorado 40. However, the Buffs were unable to capitalize on the turnover. They drove down field, but a holding penalty on third-and-long, pushed them back and Will Oliver missed a 30-yard field goal attempt. Score remains 7-7.
The Colorado Buffs answer with a 16-yard strike from Jordan Webb to Nelson Spruce to tie the score at 7-7 9:04 left in the first quarter.?
Washington State quarterback Connor Halliday connects with freshman Gabe Marks on a 32-yard touchdown to open the scoring Saturday in Pullman. Cougars lead 7-0.
We're just minutes from kickoff as the University of Colorado football team opens Pac-12 Conference play today at Washington State in Pullman.
Colorado is looking for its first win of the season after a disappointing 0-3 start to the 2012 season. The Buffs lost to Colorado State, Sacramento State and Fresno State.
Mike Leach's Cougars are 2-1 in his first season as Washington State head coach. Washington State opened the season with a road loss at BYU, then won at home against Eastern Washington and at UNLV. Today's game is Homecoming for the Cougars.?
"Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry" is an insightful, engaging and inspiring documentary about the activist and famed artist. That having been said, I am sure there are some people who might find it strange that I use the word inspiring for an artist who makes his art from smashing antique vases and pointing his middle finger at landmarks, especially Tiananmen Square.(By the way, does anybody know if there are any photos of his middle finger in front of Yankee Stadium?) I think both are symbolic of how nothing is sacred, especially the Chinese government who he is in a running battle with to gain transparency into the inner workings of its bureaucracy. After they shut down his blog, he went on Twitter and distributed his documentaries for free over the internet. His style is definitely confrontational, as somebody says he reminds him of a hooligan, but in a good way.(As Ani DiFranco once sang, being nice is overrated.) Remember, we are all hooligans, right now.
Ai Weiwei's activism hit a critical point when he criticized the treatment of the poor during the 2008 Olympics and the response to the Sichuan earthquake which killed several thousand children in faulty construction that has been compared to tofu. As New Yorker magazine correspondent Evan Osnos points out, Ai Weiwei was initially inspired politically by the Iran Contra hearings when he was living in the United States that sought to hold a government responsible but did not work as well as some of us would have liked. So, instead of the fortune his son would inherit, he will have something much more precious to leave him.
Now, if I can only figure out if the cat opening the door is supposed to be a metaphor or just darn cute.
Election commission official carries ballot box at a polling station on the day before elections in Minsk, Belarus, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012. Belarus will hold a parliamentary elections on Sunday, but most power will remain in the hands of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Election commission official carries ballot box at a polling station on the day before elections in Minsk, Belarus, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012. Belarus will hold a parliamentary elections on Sunday, but most power will remain in the hands of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Election commission official sets ballot boxes at a polling station on the day before elections in Minsk, Belarus, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012. Belarus will hold a parliamentary elections on Sunday, but most power will remain in the hands of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko receives bread and salt on stage during the Dazhynki harvest festival in the town of Gorki, some 270 km (168 miles) east of Minsk, Belarus, Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. Belarus will hold a parliamentary elections on Sunday, expected to elect what is essentially a rubber-stamp parliament, with most power remaining in the hands of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. (AP Photo/Nikolai Petrov, Belta)
Former opposition presidential candidate Vladimir Neklyaev speaks to voters during a campaign protest in Minsk, Belarus, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012. Belarus will hold a parliamentary elections on Sunday, expected to elect what is essentially a rubber-stamp parliament, with most power remaining in the hands of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Belarusians read posters during an anti-election campaign picket on the day before elections in Minsk, Belarus, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012. Belarus will hold a parliamentary elections on Sunday, expected to elect what is essentially a rubber-stamp parliament, with most power remaining in the hands of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. A poster reads "Freedom for former opposition presidential candidate Nikolai Statkevich" is in the foreground. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
MINSK, Belarus (AP) ? Belarus is holding parliamentary elections Sunday without the main opposition parties, which boycotted the vote to protest the detention of political prisoners and opportunities for election fraud.
The election is to fill 110 seats in parliament, which long has been reduced to a rubber stamp by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the former Soviet nation since 1994. Western observers have criticized all recent elections in Belarus as undemocratic.
Lukashenko's landslide win in a 2010 presidential election triggered a mass street protest that was brutally suppressed, and any rallies after the parliamentary vote would be certain to draw a similar harsh response.
The opposition had hoped to use this election to build support, but 33 out of 35 candidates from the United Civil Party were barred from television, while the state-owned press refused to publish their election programs.
"We are calling on voters to ... ignore and boycott this electoral farce," said party leader Anatoly Lebedko. The other party boycotting the vote is the Belarusian Popular Front.
About 40 candidates from communist and leftist groups critical of Lukashenko are still running, but they aren't expected to make it into the parliament, which has been fully occupied by government loyalists since the last three opposition members lost their seats in 2004.
"Lukashenko has made the situation totally absurd, not even bothering to put a democratic facade on it," said Vitaly Rymashevsky, who ran against Lukashenko in the 2010 presidential election. "He already knows the names of the new parliament members."
The president, who speaks about his critics with contempt, said the opposition parties' withdrawal from the vote reflected their weakness. "They have shown they are nobodies," he said Friday.
The United States and the European Union have imposed economic and travel sanctions on the Belarusian government over its crackdown on opposition groups and independent news media.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has fielded 330 observers for Sunday's vote, but two monitors from the OSCE's Parliamentary Assembly were denied entry to Belarus without explanation.
About a quarter of eligible voters cast their ballots during the week, taking part in early voting that was strongly promoted by the authorities. Ballot boxes stood unguarded at polling stations for days, which observers described as a source of potential fraud.
"They compiled lists of those who took part in the early voting and may punish those who disobeyed," said student Roman Gubarevich, who cast his ballot on Wednesday.
Lukashenko has intensified repression of the opposition since the 2010 presidential election, which triggered a mass protest against election fraud that was dispersed by police, who arrested about 700 people. Some are still in jail, including presidential candidate Nikolai Stankevich.
On Tuesday, plainclothes security officers beat an Associated Press photographer and briefly detained him along with seven other journalists as they covered a protest by four opposition activists calling for a boycott of the vote. The opposition activists have remained in custody.
An Australian television journalist was detained at the Minsk airport on Friday by authorities, who confiscated his camera, computer and all the material he had gathered during a week of reporting before the vote. The journalist, Amos Roberts of Australian SBS TV, left Belarus on Saturday, but left behind his equipment and it was not known whether it would be returned.
Given the relentless crackdown on dissent, observers don't expect any significant post-election protests.
"The opposition was routed in the repressions that followed the presidential vote, and it has no energy for a useless struggle with a predictable outcome," said Alexander Klaskovsky, an independent political analyst.
"It's the most senseless campaign in a decade, which neither the people, the government nor the opposition want," said Yaroslav Romanchuk of the Mises Foundation.
Imagine you are moving around in a place where you haven?t been before. What could be the next best thing to chatting to a local? It could be having your Android with Google?s new Field Trip app installed. Field Trip is your personal ?tour guide?. It works unobtrusively in the background ? senses your location, and offers information with pop-up notifications on local history, best places to eat, the local music scene, shops, or just places to have fun.
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Public release date: 27-Sep-2012
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