 and call it school, then you can do that, too.

The second reason is that Georgia, like every other state in the union (to my knowledge), compels attendance in school, but does not compel education. An important distinction, because if education were actually mandatory, the state itself would have lots of 'splainin' to do.

Now if the law is kind of silly, then why am I going to comply? Well, that speaks to what Elisheva wrote. Why am I going to comply with this nuisance paperwork? Why do I plan to comply with the testing requirements, which don't kick in until 3rd grade, even though I don't need to report the test results to anyone in the state? After all my noise about the American Community Survey, why am I going to follow these rules, when, as you must know if you read my blog regularly, I don't recognize them as legitimate functions of the government and which ideally should be repealed entirely?

Well, I comply with a whole bunch of laws that I don't agree with or recognize as legitimate--taxes, for example. The consequences for not doing so are too high. However, I do always try to comply on my own terms as much as possible. To take the tax example, because we are self-employed, we don't have taxes withheld on a regular basis. We don't pay ahead of time like I think we're supposed to do. Basically, we settle up at tax time and write the governments their checks then. It's ugly, but at least they don't get to use our money all year long and they don't get more of our money than (they say) they are due, to use interest-free until the refund check is cut.

So I'm going to comply with the homeschooling laws--again, on my own terms, as much as possible. Although I really considered not complying, and know of many families who prefer to fly under the radar. Unlike the American Community Survey though, there are actual consequences to non-compliance, and I'm not willing to risk those consequences. There is a difference, I think, in blindly following a law since "It's the LAW" and carefully weighing out the risks and benefits of compliance and making your decision accordingly, even if you do end up complying. So that's what we've done here.

"On my own terms" applies to the monthly attendance forms. Ryan seems to learn something just about every day of the week, and I'm not about to try to account for each moment of "education" simply to mark my kid as "present" on a form. So I'm filling all of the forms out ahead of time for the whole year and will send them in monthly as they are due. The way the law is written allows me to do that. More efficient use of my time anyway.

Also, I have recently joined the Board for one of our statewide homeschooling organizations, HEIR. One of HEIR's primary functions is to monitor our state legislators, to prevent them from "helping" us homeschoolers by passing more laws (and most times, the proposed laws are actually well-intended, even though they are fraught with dire consequences). I'm getting involved in HEIR now because I want to ensure that the level of homeschooling freedom I enjoy in Georgia does not shrink. Anything the legislators do now will most certainly impact my life. So I'm joining up, and for that reason, I think I should be in compliance. And joining the Board allows me to work for changes toward more freedom--I can advocate for the end of the attendance forms, for example--and in this way effect changes in a law that I dislike quite a bit.

Also, also--truancy. There haven't been too many truancy crackdowns (in my county at least), but our governor (Oh-He-Of-The-Rain-Dance) has made truancy a priority for his henchmen administration. My DOI--sigh, my paper--provides me with protection against overzealous government officials. And, happily, it also gets me education discounts at Barnes & Noble, so that's something!

Wow--I've been working on this post for a couple of days now, so I think I'll stop for now. Interesting to think about though.

Kelly said...

Very thoughtful entry, Jenn. I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts as you move forward with homeschooling. You're forging a path I hope to follow in the future!

C. August said...

I agree completely with the strategy of complying with the laws in the most reasoned manner necessary. We're stuck with having to make this calculation in the horrendously mixed world we live in, so we need to make a choice about what laws are easy to and worth ignoring, and what objectionable laws are necessary to grudgingly comply with.

We have families to worry about, so we do what we can, and prioritize when we're dealing with the big guns of intrusive govt.

Kelly Elmore said...

I understand the dilemma. When we had to decide whether to get a birth certificate and SS number for Livy, it was a hard decision (made easy by our transport to the hospital, where they just do it without asking). We hated that the government would be able to start tracking her and getting in her business from about 2 days old, but in the end, there is just too much punishment associated with not getting the documents. Legal trouble for us and bureaucratic red tape for her later. We'll be making the same decision you guys have on the DOI and attendance, though I am still thinking about the testing. Can't wait to hear what you find out about HEIR and how we can get involved in that.

Jessica Lee, Adam Ross, and Evan Ross Cooke said...

"Reason ends at the point of a gun." Or something like that. Don't you just love being thrown into the animalistic survival mode of "fight or flight" when you're just trying to maintain your integrity?

I spent six long years in the military engaged in that fight. For the first three, I didn't even know what I was fighting. Then, a friend gave me a copy of "The Virtue of Selfishness" which set me on a whole different track. That's right, no namby-pamby "Anthem" to start me off.

Elisheva Hannah Levin said...

First, congratulations on your first days of homeschooling.
We are experiencing our last days of it--see my latest post--as the Boychick (aka N.) has decided to go to high school. It's good---it really is--but it's hard for me.

I think your post says very clearly why we decided to go ahead and comply with New Mexico's very minimal Notification of Intent to Home School. First, it does not require the children's names--only their ages and the adult homeschooler's name. Secondly, because N. had already attended school, flying under the radar would not have "flown" for us.

Nevertheless, I have always felt vaguely unheroic when submitting my form. And yet, both C. August and Adam reminded me--"reason ends at the point of a gun." The thought of losing my kids to the system was more than I could bear, and the trauma of trying to fight it would have disrupted their peace and tranquility.

Thanks! I feel better now, remembering that even John Galt did not resist the point of the gun. He did what he was told to do, though, and nothing more. And we did the same thing with this intrusive law.

Kelly, the Chem Geek Princess was born at home in 1985, and we, too, pondered the question of registering her birth with the state. But we reasoned that keeping birth records was a legitimate function for the county in order to maintain population data. In 1985, we did not have to apply for a SS number for her. On tax forms Uncle Sam still trusted us not to lie. Those were simpler days. By the time Boychick arrived after transport to the hospital in 1993, it was different. But then we had no choice, either.<|endoftext|>The following are multiple choice questions (with answers) about computer security.

Which of the following does authorization aim to accomplish?
A. Restrict what operations/data the user can access
B. Determine if the user is an attacker
C. Flag the user if he/she misbehaves
D. Determine who the user is
Answer: A<|endoftext|>limited by lines...

Not too much text in this post- but lots of images and a couple of videos, used with kind permission of photographer/anthropologist Johnny Miller.  His website,, has many more eye-opening images of inequality.

Between golf balls bursting from bunkers onto velvety greens and survival under rusty iron with freight trains barreling through is a social fence, historically constructed, invisible... impenetrable.

Between golf balls bursting from bunkers onto velvety greens and survival under rusty iron with freight trains barreling through is a social fence, historically constructed, invisible... impenetrable.

Long ago my high-school physics teacher introduced me to Edwin Abbott’s “Flatland, a Romance in Many Dimensions”. Abbott's aim was to tunnel into Victorian hierarchies but for me "Flatland" was an exploration of the meaning and possibilities of new dimensions. In Flatland two-dimensional characters live in houses

 do worksheets and call it school, then you can do that, too.

The second reason is that Georgia, like every other state in the union (to my knowledge), compels attendance in school, but does not compel education. An important distinction, because if education were actually mandatory, the state itself would have lots of 'splainin' to do.

Now if the law is kind of silly, then why am I going to comply? Well, that speaks to what Elisheva wrote. Why am I going to comply with this nuisance paperwork? Why do I plan to comply with the testing requirements, which don't kick in until 3rd grade, even though I don't need to report the test results to anyone in the state? After all my noise about the American Community Survey, why am I going to follow these rules, when, as you must know if you read my blog regularly, I don't recognize them as legitimate functions of the government and which ideally should be repealed entirely?

Well, I comply with a whole bunch of laws that I don't agree with or recognize as legitimate--taxes, for example. The consequences for not doing so are too high. However, I do always try to comply on my own terms as much as possible. To take the tax example, because we are self-employed, we don't have taxes withheld on a regular basis. We don't pay ahead of time like I think we're supposed to do. Basically, we settle up at tax time and write the governments their checks then. It's ugly, but at least they don't get to use our money all year long and they don't get more of our money than (they say) they are due, to use interest-free until the refund check is cut.

So I'm going to comply with the homeschooling laws--again, on my own terms, as much as possible. Although I really considered not complying, and know of many families who prefer to fly under the radar. Unlike the American Community Survey though, there are actual consequences to non-compliance, and I'm not willing to risk those consequences. There is a difference, I think, in blindly following a law since "It's the LAW" and carefully weighing out the risks and benefits of compliance and making your decision accordingly, even if you do end up complying. So that's what we've done here.

"On my own terms" applies to the monthly attendance forms. Ryan seems to learn something just about every day of the week, and I'm not about to try to account for each moment of "education" simply to mark my kid as "present" on a form. So I'm filling all of the forms out ahead of time for the whole year and will send them in monthly as they are due. The way the law is written allows me to do that. More efficient use of my time anyway.

Also, I have recently joined the Board for one of our statewide homeschooling organizations, HEIR. One of HEIR's primary functions is to monitor our state legislators, to prevent them from "helping" us homeschoolers by passing more laws (and most times, the proposed laws are actually well-intended, even though they are fraught with dire consequences). I'm getting involved in HEIR now because I want to ensure that the level of homeschooling freedom I enjoy in Georgia does not shrink. Anything the legislators do now will most certainly impact my life. So I'm joining up, and for that reason, I think I should be in compliance. And joining the Board allows me to work for changes toward more freedom--I can advocate for the end of the attendance forms, for example--and in this way effect changes in a law that I dislike quite a bit.

Also, also--truancy. There haven't been too many truancy crackdowns (in my county at least), but our governor (Oh-He-Of-The-Rain-Dance) has made truancy a priority for his henchmen administration. My DOI--sigh, my paper--provides me with protection against overzealous government officials. And, happily, it also gets me education discounts at Barnes & Noble, so that's something!

Wow--I've been working on this post for a couple of days now, so I think I'll stop for now. Interesting to think about though.

Kelly said...

Very thoughtful entry, Jenn. I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts as you move forward with homeschooling. You're forging a path I hope to follow in the future!

C. August said...

I agree completely with the strategy of complying with the laws in the most reasoned manner necessary. We're stuck with having to make this calculation in the horrendously mixed world we live in, so we need to make a choice about what laws are easy to and worth ignoring, and what objectionable laws are necessary to grudgingly comply with.

We have families to worry about, so we do what we can, and prioritize when we're dealing with the big guns of intrusive govt.

Kelly Elmore said...

I understand the dilemma. When we had to decide whether to get a birth certificate and SS number for Livy, it was a hard decision (made easy by our transport to the hospital, where they just do it without asking). We hated that the government would be able to start tracking her and getting in her business from about 2 days old, but in the end, there is just too much punishment associated with not getting the documents. Legal trouble for us and bureaucratic red tape for her later. We'll be making the same decision you guys have on the DOI and attendance, though I am still thinking about the testing. Can't wait to hear what you find out about HEIR and how we can get involved in that.

Jessica Lee, Adam Ross, and Evan Ross Cooke said...

"Reason ends at the point of a gun." Or something like that. Don't you just love being thrown into the animalistic survival mode of "fight or flight" when you're just trying to maintain your integrity?

I spent six long years in the military engaged in that fight. For the first three, I didn't even know what I was fighting. Then, a friend gave me a copy of "The Virtue of Selfishness" which set me on a whole different track. That's right, no namby-pamby "Anthem" to start me off.

Elisheva Hannah Levin said...

First, congratulations on your first days of homeschooling.
We are experiencing our last days of it--see my latest post--as the Boychick (aka N.) has decided to go to high school. It's good---it really is--but it's hard for me.

I think your post says very clearly why we decided to go ahead and comply with New Mexico's very minimal Notification of Intent to Home School. First, it does not require the children's names--only their ages and the adult homeschooler's name. Secondly, because N. had already attended school, flying under the radar would not have "flown" for us.

Nevertheless, I have always felt vaguely unheroic when submitting my form. And yet, both C. August and Adam reminded me--"reason ends at the point of a gun." The thought of losing my kids to the system was more than I could bear, and the trauma of trying to fight it would have disrupted their peace and tranquility.

Thanks! I feel better now, remembering that even John Galt did not resist the point of the gun. He did what he was told to do, though, and nothing more. And we did the same thing with this intrusive law.

Kelly, the Chem Geek Princess was born at home in 1985, and we, too, pondered the question of registering her birth with the state. But we reasoned that keeping birth records was a legitimate function for the county in order to maintain population data. In 1985, we did not have to apply for a SS number for her. On tax forms Uncle Sam still trusted us not to lie. Those were simpler days. By the time Boychick arrived after transport to the hospital in 1993, it was different. But then we had no choice, either.<|endoftext|>limited by lines...

Not too much text in this post- but lots of images and a couple of videos, used with kind permission of photographer/anthropologist Johnny Miller.  His website,, has many more eye-opening images of inequality.

Between golf balls bursting from bunkers onto velvety greens and survival under rusty iron with freight trains barreling through is a social fence, historically constructed, invisible... impenetrable.

Between golf balls bursting from bunkers onto velvety greens and survival under rusty iron with freight trains barreling through is a social fence, historically constructed, invisible... impenetrable.

Long ago my high-school physics teacher introduced me to Edwin Abbott’s “Flatland, a Romance in Many Dimensions”. Abbott's aim was to tunnel into Victorian hierarchies but for me "Flatland" was an exploration of the meaning and possibilities of new dimensions. In Flatland two-dimensional characters live in houses which are polygons with gaps for doors and slide around their two dimensional world. They see only the edge, not the inside, of closed shapes. Its a boring, limited existence but its all they know. The central character meets a sphere from the three dimensional world who moves magically in and out of Flatland and can get inside spaces impenetrable


 gradually reeling him in and finally coming shoulder to shoulder with the grimacing South African in Central Park. Oh, the horrible drama—sleek cheetah snags the exhausted kudu by the hock, the desperate eyes of the hunted. Sadly now, as the nature shows would say, there can be but one conclusion. But why did Ramaala keep struggling? How could he? Why didn't Tergat put him out of his misery? On and on, every step tore a wound even wider. Straining, staggering, more writhing than running, they went on like that for the full, agonizing final mile. The crowd was nuts, sweat spattered and hoarse.

Neither fans nor NYC race organizers turned away in disappointment over the relatively pedestrian 2:09.30 winning time. It was made irrelevant by glorious, brutal competition.

The issue of pacers is ultimately a proxy issue for a trickier issue about the very nature of the sport. Is racing about Ramaala vs. Tergat, Davila vs. Kilel, you vs. your arch rival? Or is it about runner vs. clock, runner vs. record book? Fans might prefer the former view. Accountants and marketers prefer the latter view; it's easier to sell a potential world record to the public than jockeying that may happen between two athletes with no Q ratings to speak of. Where records are the goal, pacers will be a fixture.

We already know what this looks like. The Berlin Marathon, heavy users of pacesetters and the host of more world records than any other marathon, has become almost irrelevant as a competition, a snorefest time trial so dull you wish it would be over faster than 2 hours and 3 minutes. Not to be outdone, the recent London Marathon assembled a star-studded field with pacemakers to match. The weather cooperated, everything was in place for a world record—and it took 2 hours 4 minutes and 29 seconds to become the biggest non-event of the year. None of the stars collided, no fireworks were produced. The reason?

"I was eyeing a course record and the possibility of improving my world record," said the first guy across the line, Wilson Kipsang, "but the pacesetting let me down."

He's not the only one.<|endoftext|>The following are multiple choice questions (with answers) about professional law.

On Wednesday morning the following conversation took place:A man: "My stereo speakers haven't been sounding good lately. The owner of a stereo store promised to give me $15 for them, and I think I'll take him up on the offer. "A woman: "Don't do that. In my spare time, I repair stereo speakers. If you promise to pay me $20, I promise to repair them by next Tuesday and they'll be in tip-top condition. "The man then handed his speakers and $20 to the woman. The conversation and events on Wednesday resulted in
A. a contract for the sale of services governed by the UCC.
B. a unilateral contract.
C. a bilateral contract.
D. an unconscionable contract.
Answer: C<|endoftext|>Browsed by
Month: November 2017

Affordable Home Improvement Ideas

Affordable Home Improvement Ideas

Spread the love

Every home needs a certain degree of improvement and renovations after being used for 5 to 10 years. The degree of improvisation depends on the extent of wear and tear endured by your home. The environmental factors and climate also deeply impact the condition of your exteriors as well as interiors. Small cracks and wet patches across the ceilings and corners of the walls are some of the major signs that indicate that you need to revamp your interiors very soon. If you are concerned about the huge expenditure involved in bringing about all the necessary changes, you would need to spend some time in figuring out an affordable home improvement solution. Read on to learn about a few inexpensive renovation tips.

Waterproof paints

Waterproof paints, play a key role in protecting your interiors and exteriors from all sorts of environmental risks and hazards. There was a time when waterproof wall coatings were quite expensive. But nowadays, there are several brands available in the market that can offer you a more affordable waterproofing solution for your walls and ceilings. You can search online for brand manufacturing emulsion paints and washable wall coatings. You can appoint an interior design company Melbourne to work on your painting project if you are naive about the whole home improvement business. This would definitely provide a professional touch to your interiors. This type of painting works not only help in repairing the damage caused but also it can drastically improve the aesthetic value of your home.

Carpet tiling

Attractive flooring can definitely make your rooms look brighter and cleaner. If you are looking for a low-budget home improvement idea, then floor modification is indeed one of the best ideas. For making things less messy, you can opt for installing a set of attractive carpet tiles. This may not be a long-term solution, but they can last for 3 to 4 years if you invest in a good quality carpet tiling equipment. However, you need to find materials that are easily cleanable and fully water resistant. You can search online for some amazing designs in this category. If you are confused about the best patterns and color combinations you can take the help of a home decor expert. For high-quality tiling projects, most of the interior decorators provide reliable installation and periodic maintenance services.

Window treatments

Windows represent a small yet very important part of your home and you can make drastic changes by decorating them in various innovative ways. Window treatments involve installation of drapes, decorative curtains, window valance, wooden blinds, woven shades, etc. You can also install frosted glass panels or stained glass in areas that require limited daylight.

Reasons To Get A Good Remodeling Done To Your House Regularly

Reasons To Get A Good Remodeling Done To Your House Regularly

Remodeling is one of the main processes done to a house if the owner of the house has a need of upgrading he house or simply wanting to increase the overall value of the house. Sometimes certain people would realize they need a change of scenery at home and they go in for a remodeling process to change a few things around their house. Remodeling is not a very hard thing to do as long as you remember to plan everything up to the tiniest detail. You can hire contractors and designers and other professionals to help you with a remodeling process if you really want it to be a perfect, flawless job. Some people think remodeling a house is not a very good idea at all because it would end up burning up their hard earned money. While remodeling does take some money like other things we do, it is something that will pay you off in many ways. If people understood the reasons they have in order to go ahead with a remodeling process on their house, they would to it more often!

Upgrades everything

As we move forward with time, olden things back from the olden days are not going to be of much use to us in the current day and age. Everything is changing, developing and moving forward and we should do our best to keep up with the rest of the world to help ourselves. By remodeling or even hiring some exterior house painters for a good painting on your house, you are upgrading the state of your house in a minute. As the economies are also changing up every day, it becomes more inexpensive to do it as well.

Raises the value

When you first buy a house it will have a steady value on it that can either rise up or fall down with time. This factor is determined by how much home improvement you and how much you neglect your own house. Even with some painters doing a paint job on your house you are able to automatically raise the overall value that has been set on your house. Remember, the value of your house is vital especially if it comes to selling your house in the future.

Easier to do

In the earlier days home improvement projects or remodeling projects were extremely has to do as it was more expensive and it was harder to get the help that we can easily get todayThis means that if you have a need of improving the standards of your house today, you can easily be able to hire contractors and other professionals for the project and start it off.

Benefits Of Growing Garden In Pots And Containers

Benefits Of Growing Garden In Pots And Containers

Almost we all have that common desire to own a garden whether there is a compound or not. Don’t you have a big house and there is no grassy compound area? Even then you can fulfil your desire to own a garden. How? By doing simple container gardening you can create a garden on terrace and anywhere of the house.
Now, container gardening is much more appealing than grassy garden. Besides, it is a cost-friendly idea and this is why many people are welcoming it. Apart from its pocket-friendliness, there are innumerable benefits of growing garden in large planter pots Melbourne and containers.

It brings a unique look –
One of the primary reasons to go for container gardening is its unique look. In order to decorate the interior of their houses people either hire professional interior decorators or try to do it with their own. So if you come in the second category, then do not worry. You can create different dimensions to your house by putting plants on a container and outdoor pots Melbourne at several corners of your home. Even, you may put a container plant anywhere, like balcony, patio and courtyard and on windowsills. However, most of the people

 the race had already featured nervous surges and slowdowns when Hendrick Ramaala tired of playing and scorched a 4:22 17th mile, the fastest single mile recorded in a marathon. His First Avenue energy blowout worked. Temporarily. But Paul Tergat, the marathon world record holder, soon showed Ramaala the foolishness of his ways, gradually reeling him in and finally coming shoulder to shoulder with the grimacing South African in Central Park. Oh, the horrible drama—sleek cheetah snags the exhausted kudu by the hock, the desperate eyes of the hunted. Sadly now, as the nature shows would say, there can be but one conclusion. But why did Ramaala keep struggling? How could he? Why didn't Tergat put him out of his misery? On and on, every step tore a wound even wider. Straining, staggering, more writhing than running, they went on like that for the full, agonizing final mile. The crowd was nuts, sweat spattered and hoarse.

Neither fans nor NYC race organizers turned away in disappointment over the relatively pedestrian 2:09.30 winning time. It was made irrelevant by glorious, brutal competition.

The issue of pacers is ultimately a proxy issue for a trickier issue about the very nature of the sport. Is racing about Ramaala vs. Tergat, Davila vs. Kilel, you vs. your arch rival? Or is it about runner vs. clock, runner vs. record book? Fans might prefer the former view. Accountants and marketers prefer the latter view; it's easier to sell a potential world record to the public than jockeying that may happen between two athletes with no Q ratings to speak of. Where records are the goal, pacers will be a fixture.

We already know what this looks like. The Berlin Marathon, heavy users of pacesetters and the host of more world records than any other marathon, has become almost irrelevant as a competition, a snorefest time trial so dull you wish it would be over faster than 2 hours and 3 minutes. Not to be outdone, the recent London Marathon assembled a star-studded field with pacemakers to match. The weather cooperated, everything was in place for a world record—and it took 2 hours 4 minutes and 29 seconds to become the biggest non-event of the year. None of the stars collided, no fireworks were produced. The reason?

"I was eyeing a course record and the possibility of improving my world record," said the first guy across the line, Wilson Kipsang, "but the pacesetting let me down."

He's not the only one.<|endoftext|>Browsed by
Month: November 2017

Affordable Home Improvement Ideas

Affordable Home Improvement Ideas

Spread the love

Every home needs a certain degree of improvement and renovations after being used for 5 to 10 years. The degree of improvisation depends on the extent of wear and tear endured by your home. The environmental factors and climate also deeply impact the condition of your exteriors as well as interiors. Small cracks and wet patches across the ceilings and corners of the walls are some of the major signs that indicate that you need to revamp your interiors very soon. If you are concerned about the huge expenditure involved in bringing about all the necessary changes, you would need to spend some time in figuring out an affordable home improvement solution. Read on to learn about a few inexpensive renovation tips.

Waterproof paints

Waterproof paints, play a key role in protecting your interiors and exteriors from all sorts of environmental risks and hazards. There was a time when waterproof wall coatings were quite expensive. But nowadays, there are several brands available in the market that can offer you a more affordable waterproofing solution for your walls and ceilings. You can search online for brand manufacturing emulsion paints and washable wall coatings. You can appoint an interior design company Melbourne to work on your painting project if you are naive about the whole home improvement business. This would definitely provide a professional touch to your interiors. This type of painting works not only help in repairing the damage caused but also it can drastically improve the aesthetic value of your home.

Carpet tiling

Attractive flooring can definitely make your rooms look brighter and cleaner. If you are looking for a low-budget home improvement idea, then floor modification is indeed one of the best ideas. For making things less messy, you can opt for installing a set of attractive carpet tiles. This may not be a long-term solution, but they can last for 3 to 4 years if you invest in a good quality carpet tiling equipment. However, you need to find materials that are easily cleanable and fully water resistant. You can search online for some amazing designs in this category. If you are confused about the best patterns and color combinations you can take the help of a home decor expert. For high-quality tiling projects, most of the interior decorators provide reliable installation and periodic maintenance services.

Window treatments

Windows represent a small yet very important part of your home and you can make drastic changes by decorating them in various innovative ways. Window treatments involve installation of drapes, decorative curtains, window valance, wooden blinds, woven shades, etc. You can also install frosted glass panels or stained glass in areas that require limited daylight.

Reasons To Get A Good Remodeling Done To Your House Regularly

Reasons To Get A Good Remodeling Done To Your House Regularly

Remodeling is one of the main processes done to a house if the owner of the house has a need of upgrading he house or simply wanting to increase the overall value of the house. Sometimes certain people would realize they need a change of scenery at home and they go in for a remodeling process to change a few things around their house. Remodeling is not a very hard thing to do as long as you remember to plan everything up to the tiniest detail. You can hire contractors and designers and other professionals to help you with a remodeling process if you really want it to be a perfect, flawless job. Some people think remodeling a house is not a very good idea at all because it would end up burning up their hard earned money. While remodeling does take some money like other things we do, it is something that will pay you off in many ways. If people understood the reasons they have in order to go ahead with a remodeling process on their house, they would to it more often!

Upgrades everything

As we move forward with time, olden things back from the olden days are not going to be of much use to us in the current day and age. Everything is changing, developing and moving forward and we should do our best to keep up with the rest of the world to help ourselves. By remodeling or even hiring some exterior house painters for a good painting on your house, you are upgrading the state of your house in a minute. As the economies are also changing up every day, it becomes more inexpensive to do it as well.

Raises the value

When you first buy a house it will have a steady value on it that can either rise up or fall down with time. This factor is determined by how much home improvement you and how much you neglect your own house. Even with some painters doing a paint job on your house you are able to automatically raise the overall value that has been set on your house. Remember, the value of your house is vital especially if it comes to selling your house in the future.

Easier to do

In the earlier days home improvement projects or remodeling projects were extremely has to do as it was more expensive and it was harder to get the help that we can easily get todayThis means that if you have a need of improving the standards of your house today, you can easily be able to hire contractors and other professionals for the project and start it off.

Benefits Of Growing Garden In Pots And Containers

Benefits Of Growing Garden In Pots And Containers

Almost we all have that common desire to own a garden whether there is a compound or not. Don’t you have a big house and there is no grassy compound area? Even then you can fulfil your desire to own a garden. How? By doing simple container gardening you can create a garden on terrace and anywhere of the house.
Now, container gardening is much more appealing than grassy garden. Besides, it is a cost-friendly idea and this is why many people are welcoming it. Apart from its pocket-friendliness, there are innumerable benefits of growing garden in large planter pots Melbourne and containers.

It brings a unique look –
One of the primary reasons to go for container gardening is its unique look. In order to decorate the interior of their houses people either hire professional interior decorators or try to do it with their own. So if you come in the second category, then do not worry. You can create different dimensions to your house by putting plants on a container and outdoor pots Melbourne at several corners of your home. Even, you may put a container plant anywhere, like balcony, patio and courtyard and on windowsills. However, most of the people like to keep then on the terrace.

Adds huge verities –
Another benefit of going grassless gardening is, you can plant various trees in a container. Where you may face some limitations while choosing plants for grassy surface but there will be no limitations for container gardening. So, you can plant whatever suits to your house and what comes to your favourite list. You need not to be choosy and you can pick up from a nursery whatever you may like.

Easily accessible


 in black & white?

What are the next 5 of the “Top 10 Indie Films That Could Be Made for Nothing?” Click here to read on >>><|endoftext|>The following are multiple choice questions (with answers) about miscellaneous.

As seen from Earth, the Moon goes through a series of phases due to changes in which of the following?
A. The amount of the Moon's surface that is in Earth's shadow
B. The amount of the illuminated side of the Moon that can be seen from Earth
C. The part of the Moon that faces Earth as the Moon rotates on its axis
D. The tilt of the Moon on its axis
Answer: B<|endoftext|>

Next Gen ATI vs. NVidia

Discussion in 'Graphics Cards' started by BloodTotal, Dec 24, 2012.

  1. Aquinus

    Aquinus Resident Wat-man

    Jan 28, 2012
    9,946 (5.18/day)
    Thanks Received:
    Concord, NH
    Never had a problem with crossfire on my 6870s...
    How so? Please explain this, otherwise you're trolling.

    Honestly, there is practically no data about upcoming GPUs, so I don't think we can discuss much of anything on the topic without going straight to speculation. I think we should sit tight and see what happens.
  2. Nordic

    Jun 27, 2011
    5,614 (2.63/day)
    Thanks Received:
    We have almost nothing to go on but speculation. I would guess AMD and Nvidea would as close as they are in performance as they are this gen.

    Personally I won't be upgrading from my 7970 till maybe maxwell/amd equivalent if games actually can use that amount of power by then.
    Crunching for Team TPU
  3. buildzoid

    Oct 29, 2012
    1,847 (1.12/day)
    Thanks Received:
    from everything I have seen on spec so far I'm pretty sure the AMD 8970 will be around 25% more powerful because it has the same clock just 25% more compute units I wish they actually went 3072 stream processors for 50% more compute power.
    nvidia I have no idea. The gk110 would be cool but I think it be too damn expensive because of the amount of cuda cores and either way I hate the boost functionality on nvidia cards
  4. EarthDog

    Dec 31, 2009
    8,764 (3.27/day)
    Thanks Received:
    If the compute units worked like that you would be right...

    (some) AMD cards have boost too. ;)
  5. GSquadron

    Dec 2, 2009
    3,257 (1.20/day)
    Thanks Received:
    I think that the prices of the cards nowadays are way too high from what they give and problems are rising more and more each day with a lot of people with bad cards. I personally have problems with AMD temps and had some weird artifacts with 9500GT from Nvidia.
    I know it is chance, but seriously for what you pay, they are totally not worth it.

    The prices raise and you get less. This is what I mean dissapointing.
    Performance gains are going to low rates and what I see is a dark future, since you can perfectly run a lot of games with the card I have.

    Simply put, the more money they make, the darker the future will be with graphics.

    This just means, we are already in the dark GPU era.

    For that 200mm^2 chip you pay 500$ or even more which is simply awful.
    The real price of the cards should be around 120$ from my point of view. (only because of hard-work)

    If you see for example a difference between Tegra (nvidia) and mali 400, that is simply stupid, because the whole difference is that support of HDMI, nothing more. So I buy a 70$ tablet which is the same quality (only graphics but still other stuff too) of a 200$ tablet or even more.
    This just brakes your heart at how many cunsumers loose money without knowing what they are doing.

    Note: I remember thinking of the Ipad as a 80$ real price and it turns out that its real building materials are around that price. So the tablet is really a cheap thing, but it is not only Nvidia or AMD who makes the pricy stuff, but all hardware companies. Here it sells for 1000$, which means that 1000:80 is a big ratio and whoever I see a tablet like that, I will immediately think they are stupid.
    Last edited: Dec 27, 2012
  6. Graogrim New Member

    Jan 1, 2008
    308 (0.09/day)
    Thanks Received:
    East Coast US
    I don't foresee myself upgrading substantially before 2014. Granted, something unexpected and amazing could come out of nowhere on the hardware front, but what besides Crysis 3 (which reasonable existing hardware should handle competently anyway) is going to push it?
<|endoftext|>The Protector – Tom Howard

Smoky, Sir Reginald Immodeus Alexander and forty-seven other names from his long and illustrious lineage, sat on the kitchen table watching a flitzard taking shape.  The fibrous creatures couldn’t take form if they were watched, and this one struggled before it died a frustrated death. Flitzards affected human brains, making people fuzzy and distracted.  Smoky’s human charge, Charlie, acted fuzzy enough already.

“Listen, Smoky.”  Charlie peered over his newspaper.  “It says here domesticated cat brains are shrinking.  You have a walnut-sized brain.”

Smoky licked his paws to show how credible he found the newspaper article.  He wished Charlie would take his bike off the wall and leave. His twitching whiskers predicted something bad was coming through from the other side, and the sooner Charlie was out of the battle zone, the better.

Charlie folded his paper and took his cereal bowl to the sink.  “I don’t want to be late.” He poured his leftover milk into a saucer and placed it on the floor.  Charlie didn’t always remember to fill Smoky’s water and food bowls, but he tried to treat him well.  When Smoky had first been assigned to Charlie, he hadn’t been impressed with the young man, but as they grew to know one another, Smoky found him bearable.

Smoky had a fight on his paws.  A fuzziness in the room’s corner showed a nefarious creature was already struggling to enter the real world.

“I envy you.”  Charlie put on his backpack and lowered his bike from the rack on the wall in the hall.  “Lying around all day with your walnut-sized brain, enjoying the good life.”

Get out, and take your giant, one-dimension brain with you.  Smoky had been awake most of the night, stalking and eviscerating a sleep serpent.  He didn’t need a clueless human around to get in the way. From the amount of static in the air, Smoky wouldn’t have time to enjoy the good life today.

Charlie gave him a smile and left the apartment for work.

Smoky could ask Princess, the Persian next door, to help, but his Calico pride wouldn’t let him.  He was Charlie’s Protector. Charlie was destined for greatness.

Smoky took one last patrol around the apartment before lapping up the saucer of milk.  He also used the litter box. When the enemy broke through, he didn’t want to be caught off-guard.

The sunlight through the window highlighted Charlie’s unmade bed, and Smoky gave it a wistful glance before crushing a small snapperling peeking between the dust bunnies.  Although they appeared to be spiders, they were virus colonies targeting Charlie’s toothbrush. Smoky ingested it to nullify the forty-six million viruses it contained.

The distortion in the corner of the kitchen had become a wispy shadow.  The large creature was ready to break through. Smoky was ready, too. His claws were weapons, and his hypnotic stare unbreakable.  He didn’t need Princess. He could handle it on his own.

The pulsating shadow heralded an agnition’s arrival, although he’d never fought one so large and active.  They were electrical annoyances, constructed of scraps of junk. Around them, toasters produced charred slices of bread, ice machines quit making ice in the middle of a party, and ovens and thermostats lost or gained ten degrees.  Smoky had dealt with agnitions before. Overheated motors caused fires, and a large agnition could be dangerous.

Maybe he should use the litter box again.

When the agnition broke through, it happened fast.  One minute, a black pustule oozed out of the throbbing shadow, and the next, a large grey creature with wiry hair and red eyes squatted on the kitchen floor.

Smoky shot forward, but the agnition was quick and strong.  It clawed a cabinet door open and shoved pots and pans onto the floor.  A seldom-used waff

 I mention it was successful despite being in black & white?

What are the next 5 of the “Top 10 Indie Films That Could Be Made for Nothing?” Click here to read on >>><|endoftext|>

Next Gen ATI vs. NVidia

Discussion in 'Graphics Cards' started by BloodTotal, Dec 24, 2012.

  1. Aquinus

    Aquinus Resident Wat-man

    Jan 28, 2012
    9,946 (5.18/day)
    Thanks Received:
    Concord, NH
    Never had a problem with crossfire on my 6870s...
    How so? Please explain this, otherwise you're trolling.

    Honestly, there is practically no data about upcoming GPUs, so I don't think we can discuss much of anything on the topic without going straight to speculation. I think we should sit tight and see what happens.
  2. Nordic

    Jun 27, 2011
    5,614 (2.63/day)
    Thanks Received:
    We have almost nothing to go on but speculation. I would guess AMD and Nvidea would as close as they are in performance as they are this gen.

    Personally I won't be upgrading from my 7970 till maybe maxwell/amd equivalent if games actually can use that amount of power by then.
    Crunching for Team TPU
  3. buildzoid

    Oct 29, 2012
    1,847 (1.12/day)
    Thanks Received:
    from everything I have seen on spec so far I'm pretty sure the AMD 8970 will be around 25% more powerful because it has the same clock just 25% more compute units I wish they actually went 3072 stream processors for 50% more compute power.
    nvidia I have no idea. The gk110 would be cool but I think it be too damn expensive because of the amount of cuda cores and either way I hate the boost functionality on nvidia cards
  4. EarthDog

    Dec 31, 2009
    8,764 (3.27/day)
    Thanks Received:
    If the compute units worked like that you would be right...

    (some) AMD cards have boost too. ;)
  5. GSquadron

    Dec 2, 2009
    3,257 (1.20/day)
    Thanks Received:
    I think that the prices of the cards nowadays are way too high from what they give and problems are rising more and more each day with a lot of people with bad cards. I personally have problems with AMD temps and had some weird artifacts with 9500GT from Nvidia.
    I know it is chance, but seriously for what you pay, they are totally not worth it.

    The prices raise and you get less. This is what I mean dissapointing.
    Performance gains are going to low rates and what I see is a dark future, since you can perfectly run a lot of games with the card I have.

    Simply put, the more money they make, the darker the future will be with graphics.

    This just means, we are already in the dark GPU era.

    For that 200mm^2 chip you pay 500$ or even more which is simply awful.
    The real price of the cards should be around 120$ from my point of view. (only because of hard-work)

    If you see for example a difference between Tegra (nvidia) and mali 400, that is simply stupid, because the whole difference is that support of HDMI, nothing more. So I buy a 70$ tablet which is the same quality (only graphics but still other stuff too) of a 200$ tablet or even more.
    This just brakes your heart at how many cunsumers loose money without knowing what they are doing.

    Note: I remember thinking of the Ipad as a 80$ real price and it turns out that its real building materials are around that price. So the tablet is really a cheap thing, but it is not only Nvidia or AMD who makes the pricy stuff, but all hardware companies. Here it sells for 1000$, which means that 1000:80 is a big ratio and whoever I see a tablet like that, I will immediately think they are stupid.
    Last edited: Dec 27, 2012
  6. Graogrim New Member

    Jan 1, 2008
    308 (0.09/day)
    Thanks Received:
    East Coast US
    I don't foresee myself upgrading substantially before 2014. Granted, something unexpected and amazing could come out of nowhere on the hardware front, but what besides Crysis 3 (which reasonable existing hardware should handle competently anyway) is going to push it?
<|endoftext|>The Protector – Tom Howard

Smoky, Sir Reginald Immodeus Alexander and forty-seven other names from his long and illustrious lineage, sat on the kitchen table watching a flitzard taking shape.  The fibrous creatures couldn’t take form if they were watched, and this one struggled before it died a frustrated death. Flitzards affected human brains, making people fuzzy and distracted.  Smoky’s human charge, Charlie, acted fuzzy enough already.

“Listen, Smoky.”  Charlie peered over his newspaper.  “It says here domesticated cat brains are shrinking.  You have a walnut-sized brain.”

Smoky licked his paws to show how credible he found the newspaper article.  He wished Charlie would take his bike off the wall and leave. His twitching whiskers predicted something bad was coming through from the other side, and the sooner Charlie was out of the battle zone, the better.

Charlie folded his paper and took his cereal bowl to the sink.  “I don’t want to be late.” He poured his leftover milk into a saucer and placed it on the floor.  Charlie didn’t always remember to fill Smoky’s water and food bowls, but he tried to treat him well.  When Smoky had first been assigned to Charlie, he hadn’t been impressed with the young man, but as they grew to know one another, Smoky found him bearable.

Smoky had a fight on his paws.  A fuzziness in the room’s corner showed a nefarious creature was already struggling to enter the real world.

“I envy you.”  Charlie put on his backpack and lowered his bike from the rack on the wall in the hall.  “Lying around all day with your walnut-sized brain, enjoying the good life.”

Get out, and take your giant, one-dimension brain with you.  Smoky had been awake most of the night, stalking and eviscerating a sleep serpent.  He didn’t need a clueless human around to get in the way. From the amount of static in the air, Smoky wouldn’t have time to enjoy the good life today.

Charlie gave him a smile and left the apartment for work.

Smoky could ask Princess, the Persian next door, to help, but his Calico pride wouldn’t let him.  He was Charlie’s Protector. Charlie was destined for greatness.

Smoky took one last patrol around the apartment before lapping up the saucer of milk.  He also used the litter box. When the enemy broke through, he didn’t want to be caught off-guard.

The sunlight through the window highlighted Charlie’s unmade bed, and Smoky gave it a wistful glance before crushing a small snapperling peeking between the dust bunnies.  Although they appeared to be spiders, they were virus colonies targeting Charlie’s toothbrush. Smoky ingested it to nullify the forty-six million viruses it contained.

The distortion in the corner of the kitchen had become a wispy shadow.  The large creature was ready to break through. Smoky was ready, too. His claws were weapons, and his hypnotic stare unbreakable.  He didn’t need Princess. He could handle it on his own.

The pulsating shadow heralded an agnition’s arrival, although he’d never fought one so large and active.  They were electrical annoyances, constructed of scraps of junk. Around them, toasters produced charred slices of bread, ice machines quit making ice in the middle of a party, and ovens and thermostats lost or gained ten degrees.  Smoky had dealt with agnitions before. Overheated motors caused fires, and a large agnition could be dangerous.

Maybe he should use the litter box again.

When the agnition broke through, it happened fast.  One minute, a black pustule oozed out of the throbbing shadow, and the next, a large grey creature with wiry hair and red eyes squatted on the kitchen floor.

Smoky shot forward, but the agnition was quick and strong.  It clawed a cabinet door open and shoved pots and pans onto the floor.  A seldom-used waffle iron shot out and knocked Smoky across the floor. His head struck the wall, and he saw stars.  He jumped to his feet, ignoring the stabbing pain in his side where the waffle iron had struck him.

The agnition tried squeezing between the refrigerator and the wall but was too big.  Smoky dug his teeth and front claws into the creature’s rump. It turned, clawing Smoky’s head before shoving past him


 in the face of the Nazis of our time
Palestinians need real freedom, not a deformed state
Jewish Settler website attacks, incites against Palestinian journalist
Ed Koch’s lying tongue
Khaled Amayreh: A dangerous juncture in Palestinian history
Is the PA capitulating to Israel?
Specter of new Intifada hovers over West Bank<|endoftext|>The following are multiple choice questions (with answers) about miscellaneous.

What is the nickname of Florida's controversial death row electric chair?
A. Old Yeller
B. Old Geezer
C. Old Smoky
D. Old Sparky
Answer: D<|endoftext|>[UPDATED] MMRCA Bids Open, Lowest Bidder In December

The M-MRCA bids are officially open. Senior officials from Dassault and EADS Cassidian were at Air Force HQ for the authentication and opening of bids in the presence of a host of MoD officers including, my sources tell me, DG (Acquisitions) Vivek Rae, Joint Secretary & Acquisition Manager (Air) Ranjan Ghose and Technical Manager (Air) Air Vice Marshal J.S. Panesar.

The Eurofighter team at the bid opening was led by a senior EADS Cassidian official (not Dr Stefan Zoller as earlier posted), while the Rafale team was led by Dassault Aviation Vice President Alain Remaudière.

While nothing is clear just yet, sources suggest that it’s going to be tight: while it will take a few weeks to arrive at a common denomination (also currency conversions apparently — one of the bids had values in at least three currencies), sources indicate that the apparent difference between the two offers is thin, not as much as had been widely predicted (India’s Mint business daily quotes a source with “direct knowledge of the matter” that Dassault’s bid was “marginally lower” on unit cost compared to Eurofighter’s). There is, however, no official clarity on the bids, and there is unlikely to be any before a lowest bidder is made known next month. The MoD will presumably announce the lowest bidder officially.

Clearly, it’s also a time ripe for reading into everything. The Pioneer newspaper suggests that a meeting between the Indian Prime Minister and French President in Cannes on the sidelines of the ongoing G20 summit, inexplicably cancelled at the last minute, suggested that France had lost the competition.

EADS Cassidian released this statement shortly after the opening of bids: Our offer for India’s Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) tender is backed by the four Eurofighter partner nations as well as their respective aerospace and defence industries. It is competitive and designed to deliver maximum value to India. Our proposal to make India a full partner in the Eurofighter programme is fully supported by Germany, the UK, Spain and Italy.

Will update this post if/when Dassault makes a statement.

Graphic / Livefist (Cartoon images© sourced from Laurent Chassard & 0tamago)

43 thoughts on “[UPDATED] MMRCA Bids Open, Lowest Bidder In December”

  1. Seems like Rafel is lowest bidder as there is comment from Eurofighter. The lowest bidder need not explain anything.

  2. EADS is not telling the truth when they say that there is fully supported by the partner nations. Especially in Germany there is strong political oppostion to this deal, as it's against their supposed political values and it would 'destabilise the region' (may be Paki lobbying at work). It would certainly cause India headache in the future, if India selectes the Eurofighter.

  3. Typical bollywood anticlimax…
    When will MOD deliver the baby? Till then IAF will continue to bleed. Sorry state of affairs specially when there is lot of rattling done by the Chinese. Pity

  4. A rapid analysis:
    1 – the price gap between the two offers is smaller than 15% or else the winner would have been announced immediatly.
    2 – Rafale is leading or else Cassidian wouldn't have issued such an useless communique whose purpose seems only to push the indian officals to make more a political choice (satisfy 4 nations against 1) than a financial one.
    3 – knowing the regularly estimated price gap between Rafale and Eurofighter (30%/40%), the Cassidian team has certainly gone to its minimum and can't go no further in this direction. Thus the insistance on the political factors in the communique.
    4 – I really can't figure out Eurofighter making such a "dumb" statement, would they have in a leading position…

    What's your opinion ?

  5. I don't know how could there still be any doubt. The Eurofighter is NOT a multi-role fighter, it was not designed to be one and will never be as good as the Rafale in ground attack.
    The Rafale fulfils ALL of the requirements of the MMRCA, plus France has always proven to India that is a trustworthy partner.

    Case closed: Rafale wins!

  6. Since you say there is not much of differences, what would happen if both Typhoon and rafale happen to have same price points ?

    just for kicks :).

  7. The never ending saga never ends. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. People will be flying alien aircraft before the MOD chooses a plane. Pathetic.

  8. such an early dumb release of statement indicates only one thing from that context,Eurofighter knows it has been pushed back by rafale.I'm super excited to know the full pitch and the marketing and price war initiated after this.Offering F-35 ,and keeping hornets under purview will only help to reduce foul play.From here only India can be the winner in every aspect unless it plays it's cards dumbly.

  9. Thanks Shiv for the posting and for the dedication. Very few webmasters have taken time to update rest of folks on what is going on. Thanks again and keep up the good work

  10. can someone please tell me what the significance of this is? Opening the "bids" seems to me that they are just confirming the prices that were quoted initially. Is this all or am i missing something?

  11. Manmohan And Sarcozy meet cancelled!!!let me guess why, I think India expected much lowered bid from France at the tender. France playing hardball with its proven history of siding India. Eurofighter bid may be low enough to excite India but not good enough for Strategic considarations.

  12. and about the meeting cancelled , french medias (Le Figaro ..) say Sarkozy had to cancel several meetings yesterday at g20 to solve problems about Greece and the Europea debt

    Reliable medias shouldn't report such rumours without any serious verification.

  13. Eurofighter seems to be in front in this contest on the political side. With awarding of the $4billion Mirage 2000 contract to the french, i do not think the government is going to award a $10 billion plus contract too to the french. The french have been adequately compensated with the mirage contract and also the mega multibillion dollar scorpene submarine project.
    Nevertheless India needs to have all its negotiating antennae switched on while finalising the contract and use the best legal minds to ensure there are no loop holes in the contract that suit the interests of either company to the disadvantage of the indian airforce. This is a long term 40 year deal and we should make sure we do not screwed by either company in terms of spares support, end user modifications based on iaf in service operational experiences and support during a conflict with China. With regards to F35 being offered, the point is that plane is so far behind schedule and cost overruns and IOC no where in sight anytime soon, how do we expect the IAF to put it into service in a time frame i.e.2016-2018 where even the FGFA will be ready for take up by the IAF. 2016 is an optimistic target for the F35.
    Eurofighter is currently the only airframe that still has potential for growth. The rafale seems to have to reached its full airframe growth potential barring addition of more powerful engines paid for by India and addition of conformal fuel tanks and AESA radar.
    Personally i feel India should have just stuck with the SU30MKI and given it a massive mid life upgrade with an extra dose of western style glass cockpit avionics and other technologies currently available on the TYPHOON or Rafale.

  14. So the Rafale isn't cheaper by miles!, the news is its marginally cheaper. <5%, life cycle is the same.

    So its down to strategic interest & ToT.

    Shiv in the absence of picture of crying executives which one do you think will win, and which one would you like to see win?

  15. Shiv,i see danger when you said one of the bidder i.e EADS quoted in three currencies. so rupee going low will make things much worse for us.Rafale is good choice because it has both airforce and naval variant with almost proven AESA. Germany, Italy and UK are troublesome partners. we spent billions ,but we never get what we want!!!

  16. Small difference in price but Rafale is already developed and multirole.

A Fascist voice from Spain
The Israel/Palestine one-state solution sounds like a good idea, but...
We must not accept holocaust propaganda in our schools
The Freedom Flotilla in the face of the Nazis of our time
Palestinians need real freedom, not a deformed state
Jewish Settler website attacks, incites against Palestinian journalist
Ed Koch’s lying tongue
Khaled Amayreh: A dangerous juncture in Palestinian history
Is the PA capitulating to Israel?
Specter of new Intifada hovers over West Bank<|endoftext|>[UPDATED] MMRCA Bids Open, Lowest Bidder In December

The M-MRCA bids are officially open. Senior officials from Dassault and EADS Cassidian were at Air Force HQ for the authentication and opening of bids in the presence of a host of MoD officers including, my sources tell me, DG (Acquisitions) Vivek Rae, Joint Secretary & Acquisition Manager (Air) Ranjan Ghose and Technical Manager (Air) Air Vice Marshal J.S. Panesar.

The Eurofighter team at the bid opening was led by a senior EADS Cassidian official (not Dr Stefan Zoller as earlier posted), while the Rafale team was led by Dassault Aviation Vice President Alain Remaudière.

While nothing is clear just yet, sources suggest that it’s going to be tight: while it will take a few weeks to arrive at a common denomination (also currency conversions apparently — one of the bids had values in at least three currencies), sources indicate that the apparent difference between the two offers is thin, not as much as had been widely predicted (India’s Mint business daily quotes a source with “direct knowledge of the matter” that Dassault’s bid was “marginally lower” on unit cost compared to Eurofighter’s). There is, however, no official clarity on the bids, and there is unlikely to be any before a lowest bidder is made known next month. The MoD will presumably announce the lowest bidder officially.

Clearly, it’s also a time ripe for reading into everything. The Pioneer newspaper suggests that a meeting between the Indian Prime Minister and French President in Cannes on the sidelines of the ongoing G20 summit, inexplicably cancelled at the last minute, suggested that France had lost the competition.

EADS Cassidian released this statement shortly after the opening of bids: Our offer for India’s Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) tender is backed by the four Eurofighter partner nations as well as their respective aerospace and defence industries. It is competitive and designed to deliver maximum value to India. Our proposal to make India a full partner in the Eurofighter programme is fully supported by Germany, the UK, Spain and Italy.

Will update this post if/when Dassault makes a statement.

Graphic / Livefist (Cartoon images© sourced from Laurent Chassard & 0tamago)

43 thoughts on “[UPDATED] MMRCA Bids Open, Lowest Bidder In December”

  1. Seems like Rafel is lowest bidder as there is comment from Eurofighter. The lowest bidder need not explain anything.

  2. EADS is not telling the truth when they say that there is fully supported by the partner nations. Especially in Germany there is strong political oppostion to this deal, as it's against their supposed political values and it would 'destabilise the region' (may be Paki lobbying at work). It would certainly cause India headache in the future, if India selectes the Eurofighter.

  3. Typical bollywood anticlimax…
    When will MOD deliver the baby? Till then IAF will continue to bleed. Sorry state of affairs specially when there is lot of rattling done by the Chinese. Pity

  4. A rapid analysis:
    1 – the price gap between the two offers is smaller than 15% or else the winner would have been announced immediatly.
    2 – Rafale is leading or else Cassidian wouldn't have issued such an useless communique whose purpose seems only to push the indian officals to make more a political choice (satisfy 4 nations against 1) than a financial one.
    3 – knowing the regularly estimated price gap between Rafale and Eurofighter (30%/40%), the Cassidian team has certainly gone to its minimum and can't go no further in this direction. Thus the insistance on the political factors in the communique.
    4 – I really can't figure out Eurofighter making such a "dumb" statement, would they have in a leading position…

    What's your opinion ?

  5. I don't know how could there still be any doubt. The Eurofighter is NOT a multi-role fighter, it was not designed to be one and will never be as good as the Rafale in ground attack.
    The Rafale fulfils ALL of the requirements of the MMRCA, plus France has always proven to India that is a trustworthy partner.

    Case closed: Rafale wins!

  6. Since you say there is not much of differences, what would happen if both Typhoon and rafale happen to have same price points ?

    just for kicks :).

  7. The never ending saga never ends. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. People will be flying alien aircraft before the MOD chooses a plane. Pathetic.

  8. such an early dumb release of statement indicates only one thing from that context,Eurofighter knows it has been pushed back by rafale.I'm super excited to know the full pitch and the marketing and price war initiated after this.Offering F-35 ,and keeping hornets under purview will only help to reduce foul play.From here only India can be the winner in every aspect unless it plays it's cards dumbly.

  9. Thanks Shiv for the posting and for the dedication. Very few webmasters have taken time to update rest of folks on what is going on. Thanks again and keep up the good work

  10. can someone please tell me what the significance of this is? Opening the "bids" seems to me that they are just confirming the prices that were quoted initially. Is this all or am i missing something?

  11. Manmohan And Sarcozy meet cancelled!!!let me guess why, I think India expected much lowered bid from France at the tender. France playing hardball with its proven history of siding India. Eurofighter bid may be low enough to excite India but not good enough for Strategic considarations.

  12. and about the meeting cancelled , french medias (Le Figaro ..) say Sarkozy had to cancel several meetings yesterday at g20 to solve problems about Greece and the Europea debt

    Reliable medias shouldn't report such rumours without any serious verification.

  13. Eurofighter seems to be in front in this contest on the political side. With awarding of the $4billion Mirage 2000 contract to the french, i do not think the government is going to award a $10 billion plus contract too to the french. The french have been adequately compensated with the mirage contract and also the mega multibillion dollar scorpene submarine project.
    Nevertheless India needs to have all its negotiating antennae switched on while finalising the contract and use the best legal minds to ensure there are no loop holes in the contract that suit the interests of either company to the disadvantage of the indian airforce. This is a long term 40 year deal and we should make sure we do not screwed by either company in terms of spares support, end user modifications based on iaf in service operational experiences and support during a conflict with China. With regards to F35 being offered, the point is that plane is so far behind schedule and cost overruns and IOC no where in sight anytime soon, how do we expect the IAF to put it into service in a time frame i.e.2016-2018 where even the FGFA will be ready for take up by the IAF. 2016 is an optimistic target for the F35.
    Eurofighter is currently the only airframe that still has potential for growth. The rafale seems to have to reached its full airframe growth potential barring addition of more powerful engines paid for by India and addition of conformal fuel tanks and AESA radar.
    Personally i feel India should have just stuck with the SU30MKI and given it a massive mid life upgrade with an extra dose of western style glass cockpit avionics and other technologies currently available on the TYPHOON or Rafale.

  14. So the Rafale isn't cheaper by miles!, the news is its marginally cheaper. <5%, life cycle is the same.

    So its down to strategic interest & ToT.

    Shiv in the absence of picture of crying executives which one do you think will win, and which one would you like to see win?

  15. Shiv,i see danger when you said one of the bidder i.e EADS quoted in three currencies. so rupee going low will make things much worse for us.Rafale is good choice because it has both airforce and naval variant with almost proven AESA. Germany, Italy and UK are troublesome partners. we spent billions ,but we never get what we want!!!

  16. Small difference in price but Rafale is already developed and multirole. Typhoon costs will balloon up to more than $20 billion to fix this aircraft.


 AM , Rating: 2
call it semantics if you'd like but youre previous statement was in regards to economy vehicles. im well aware that the average price of a vehicle is up to $30k since that number is dragged up by luxury cars, sports cars, and large trucks. the argument was about a mainstream car.

you like making very bold statements like "EV willl be mainstream soon" and "hybrids were never meant to be mainstream". hindsight is 20/20, obviously you would say this now since hybrids have essentially failed and i would disagree with you on ur statement in regards to "only 3 that are doing serious work for hybrids". honestly, only 1 company has tried and thats Toyota. and now you only have 1 company trying to really push EV which is Tesla.

in 20 years from now when the next hyped up successor is around, you can make this same argument again that EVs were only a stop gap. they never were meant to be mainstream. after all, only 1 company actually tried, everyone else said "me too".

RE: so what?
By BRB29 on 5/24/2013 12:13:41 PM , Rating: 2

Yes but the vast majority of vehicles sold are not luxury. The mainstream sedans that sells high volume are Toyota camry, Honda Accord, Nissan altima, etc... They actually outsell the economy cars like corolla by a large margin.
These mid size sedans usually start around low 20s. With just some common options, it is up to 25k+. I recently wanted to buy a 4 door accord with basic options and nothing fancy. It was over $27k. Went to Toyota and got about the same price. Chevy, Ford, Nissan was just a little lower at around $25k.

So yea in 5-10 years, if Tesla releases a $35k EV that can do 200-300 range with the same practicality as a regular sedan then it will sell like hot cakes.

Regarding hybrids not being mainstream, I found that out by doing research because I care where my money goes. I buy all stocks by myself instead of throwing it in a mutual fund. But you don't need anyone to tell you that. Government funding tells you that in clear daylight. Reinventing our transportation requires an entirely new infrastructure. Something that the private sector cannot do alone right now.

RE: so what?
By flyingpants1 on 5/24/2013 1:00:29 PM , Rating: 2
He has thrown out a figure of $20k before, let's hope for the best.

<|endoftext|>T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is an aggressive hematologic cancer that occurs in children as well as adults. Despite intensive therapies, 25% of children and adolescents and 50% of adults with T-ALL will ultimately succumb to the disease. Moreover, the late effects of cancer treatment, including permanent organ damage, hormonal and reproductive dysfunction, and second cancers are a special concern in children as current therapies indiscriminately target all dividing cells. The goal of this proposal is to identify and therapeutically target a pathway that is essential for the growth and survival of T-ALL, the inhibition of which will be considerably less toxic than standard chemotherapy. Class I phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathway has been reported to be activated in over 40% of cases of T-ALL. Although four distinct class I PI3K isoforms could participate in T-ALL pathogenesis, none have been implicated in this process. Using genetically altered animals and novel small molecule inhibitors, we have identified specific isoforms that appear to be essential for the development and survival of T- ALL. Based on these observations, we propose that it is possible to exploit the "addiction" of this hematological malignancy to these particular PI3K isoforms as a new therapeutic avenue for T-ALL. To achieve these objectives, we propose the following specific aims:
Aim 1. To determine the efficacy and to define the mechanism(s) of action by which 2 novel isoform specific PI3K inhibitors may impact on T-ALL pathogenesis. This will be accomplished by evaluating the effects of these inhibitors in an animal model of PTEN null T-ALL, on human T-ALL cell lines, and on primary patient samples. Emphasis will be placed on interrogating downstream pathways that regulate cell cycle progression, protein synthesis, and cell survival using a combination of biochemical and genetic approaches.
Aim 2. To uncover potential PI3K-dependent and independent mechanisms that may result in secondary resistance. This includes identifying resistance-conferring point mutations and alternative signaling pathways using in silico models of drug binding, chemical-induced mutagenesis, and drug-induced resistant disease in animals. Biochemical and genetic analyses will be performed, the latter including gene expression microarrays and array-based comparative genomic hybridization.
Aim 3. To determine the effects of isoform specific PI3K inhibitors on the development, peripheral expansion, survival and function of human T cells. This will be accomplished by evaluating drug effects in a unique human thymus/CD34+ stem cell xenograft model.

Public Health Relevance

The work outlined in this proposal will not only improve our understanding of the mechanisms that contribute to the development and survival of T-ALL, but will also lead to a less toxic strategy to treat this devastating disease, especially in our most vulnerable population: children. )

National Institute of Health (NIH)
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Research Project (R01)
Project #
Application #
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BMCT-C (09))
Program Officer
Mccarthy, Susan A
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
Budget End
Support Year
Fiscal Year
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Columbia University (N.Y.)
Schools of Medicine
New York
United States
Zip Code
Rogers, Kerry A; Byrd, John C (2016) Venetoclax Adds a New Arrow Targeting Relapsed CLL to the Quiver. Cancer Cell 29:3-4
Byrd, John C; Harrington, Bonnie; O'Brien, Susan et al. (2016) Acalabrutinib (ACP-196) in Relapsed Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. N Engl J Med 374:323-32
Subramaniam, Prem S; Whye, Dosh W; Efimenko, Evgeni et al. (2012) Targeting nonclassical oncogenes for therapy in T-ALL. Cancer Cell 21:459-72<|endoftext|>The following are multiple choice questions (with answers) about international law.

Which philosopher called the idea of natural rights 'nonsense on stilts'?
A. Alan Gerwith
B. Emmanuel Kant
C. John Locke
D. Jeremy Bentham
Answer: D<|endoftext|>Well, curious how the world works. I sorta got my answer. Yesterday was her annual gyn exam. Pap smear. Doc says "hmmm, the swab is bloody. That always happens with you. You must have a vein right on the surface of your cervix. I bet you bleed when you have sex." Mrs. Hold replied "no, I married a nice Jewish man, not a porn star, so it is not an issue."

I explained to her that my physical limitations may affect what kind of sex we have, but we still need to work together to make sure sex is physically pleasurable for her. She did not commit to anything. I didn't expect her to.

But at least we got confirmation that my sense of inadequacy is not totally imaginary. Then again, if I were a more optimistic and self-confident person, I would look on this as an advantage. At least I don't make her bleed every time!

Also, last night we saw a commercial for the new Tina Fey / Steve Carrell movie. Tina's character says "I think we are going to get whacked off". He replies "I think we might get bumped off, but I doubt we will get whacked off". I asked her if she whacks off. She said no and blushed and curled her chin into her neck in her "I am embarrassed" body position. I said in a laughing tone of voice "maybe you should". I should have thanked her for sharing.

When you can see it coming, duck!<|endoftext|>Pandora’s box

Separatism, secession, irredentism - all in the name of nationalism - are responsible for an ever-growing fragmentation of existing nation-states. Where once unification was seen as a step forward guaranteeing international status, now we are witnessing a reverse process which is a threat to peace around the world. And most often it is a cover for economic interests.
by Pascal Boniface

Last year’s nuclear tests in India and Pakistan have focused world attention on the problem of nuclear proliferation. But the proliferation of states is potentially an even more serious threat to international stability.

All over the world, countries are fragmenting. It’s a trend that goes beyond North-South and East-West divides (1). The Soviet Union and former Yugoslavia are particularly dramatic examples, but the trend is general - look at Quebec, Sri Lanka, China, the United Kingdom. The same thing is happening in Africa too, where colonial borders, retained for reasons of practicality, started to be redrawn with the recognition of Eritrea in 1993. Change could be on the way as a result of ethnic and political tensions in Somalia, Senegal, Angola, Congo, Liberia, Djibouti and a dozen other states.

In the next few years we are likely to see more new

 so what?
By NeoReaper on 5/24/2013 11:21:27 AM , Rating: 2
call it semantics if you'd like but youre previous statement was in regards to economy vehicles. im well aware that the average price of a vehicle is up to $30k since that number is dragged up by luxury cars, sports cars, and large trucks. the argument was about a mainstream car.

you like making very bold statements like "EV willl be mainstream soon" and "hybrids were never meant to be mainstream". hindsight is 20/20, obviously you would say this now since hybrids have essentially failed and i would disagree with you on ur statement in regards to "only 3 that are doing serious work for hybrids". honestly, only 1 company has tried and thats Toyota. and now you only have 1 company trying to really push EV which is Tesla.

in 20 years from now when the next hyped up successor is around, you can make this same argument again that EVs were only a stop gap. they never were meant to be mainstream. after all, only 1 company actually tried, everyone else said "me too".

RE: so what?
By BRB29 on 5/24/2013 12:13:41 PM , Rating: 2

Yes but the vast majority of vehicles sold are not luxury. The mainstream sedans that sells high volume are Toyota camry, Honda Accord, Nissan altima, etc... They actually outsell the economy cars like corolla by a large margin.
These mid size sedans usually start around low 20s. With just some common options, it is up to 25k+. I recently wanted to buy a 4 door accord with basic options and nothing fancy. It was over $27k. Went to Toyota and got about the same price. Chevy, Ford, Nissan was just a little lower at around $25k.

So yea in 5-10 years, if Tesla releases a $35k EV that can do 200-300 range with the same practicality as a regular sedan then it will sell like hot cakes.

Regarding hybrids not being mainstream, I found that out by doing research because I care where my money goes. I buy all stocks by myself instead of throwing it in a mutual fund. But you don't need anyone to tell you that. Government funding tells you that in clear daylight. Reinventing our transportation requires an entirely new infrastructure. Something that the private sector cannot do alone right now.

RE: so what?
By flyingpants1 on 5/24/2013 1:00:29 PM , Rating: 2
He has thrown out a figure of $20k before, let's hope for the best.

<|endoftext|>T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is an aggressive hematologic cancer that occurs in children as well as adults. Despite intensive therapies, 25% of children and adolescents and 50% of adults with T-ALL will ultimately succumb to the disease. Moreover, the late effects of cancer treatment, including permanent organ damage, hormonal and reproductive dysfunction, and second cancers are a special concern in children as current therapies indiscriminately target all dividing cells. The goal of this proposal is to identify and therapeutically target a pathway that is essential for the growth and survival of T-ALL, the inhibition of which will be considerably less toxic than standard chemotherapy. Class I phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathway has been reported to be activated in over 40% of cases of T-ALL. Although four distinct class I PI3K isoforms could participate in T-ALL pathogenesis, none have been implicated in this process. Using genetically altered animals and novel small molecule inhibitors, we have identified specific isoforms that appear to be essential for the development and survival of T- ALL. Based on these observations, we propose that it is possible to exploit the "addiction" of this hematological malignancy to these particular PI3K isoforms as a new therapeutic avenue for T-ALL. To achieve these objectives, we propose the following specific aims:
Aim 1. To determine the efficacy and to define the mechanism(s) of action by which 2 novel isoform specific PI3K inhibitors may impact on T-ALL pathogenesis. This will be accomplished by evaluating the effects of these inhibitors in an animal model of PTEN null T-ALL, on human T-ALL cell lines, and on primary patient samples. Emphasis will be placed on interrogating downstream pathways that regulate cell cycle progression, protein synthesis, and cell survival using a combination of biochemical and genetic approaches.
Aim 2. To uncover potential PI3K-dependent and independent mechanisms that may result in secondary resistance. This includes identifying resistance-conferring point mutations and alternative signaling pathways using in silico models of drug binding, chemical-induced mutagenesis, and drug-induced resistant disease in animals. Biochemical and genetic analyses will be performed, the latter including gene expression microarrays and array-based comparative genomic hybridization.
Aim 3. To determine the effects of isoform specific PI3K inhibitors on the development, peripheral expansion, survival and function of human T cells. This will be accomplished by evaluating drug effects in a unique human thymus/CD34+ stem cell xenograft model.

Public Health Relevance

The work outlined in this proposal will not only improve our understanding of the mechanisms that contribute to the development and survival of T-ALL, but will also lead to a less toxic strategy to treat this devastating disease, especially in our most vulnerable population: children. )

National Institute of Health (NIH)
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Research Project (R01)
Project #
Application #
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BMCT-C (09))
Program Officer
Mccarthy, Susan A
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
Budget End
Support Year
Fiscal Year
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Columbia University (N.Y.)
Schools of Medicine
New York
United States
Zip Code
Rogers, Kerry A; Byrd, John C (2016) Venetoclax Adds a New Arrow Targeting Relapsed CLL to the Quiver. Cancer Cell 29:3-4
Byrd, John C; Harrington, Bonnie; O'Brien, Susan et al. (2016) Acalabrutinib (ACP-196) in Relapsed Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. N Engl J Med 374:323-32
Subramaniam, Prem S; Whye, Dosh W; Efimenko, Evgeni et al. (2012) Targeting nonclassical oncogenes for therapy in T-ALL. Cancer Cell 21:459-72<|endoftext|>Well, curious how the world works. I sorta got my answer. Yesterday was her annual gyn exam. Pap smear. Doc says "hmmm, the swab is bloody. That always happens with you. You must have a vein right on the surface of your cervix. I bet you bleed when you have sex." Mrs. Hold replied "no, I married a nice Jewish man, not a porn star, so it is not an issue."

I explained to her that my physical limitations may affect what kind of sex we have, but we still need to work together to make sure sex is physically pleasurable for her. She did not commit to anything. I didn't expect her to.

But at least we got confirmation that my sense of inadequacy is not totally imaginary. Then again, if I were a more optimistic and self-confident person, I would look on this as an advantage. At least I don't make her bleed every time!

Also, last night we saw a commercial for the new Tina Fey / Steve Carrell movie. Tina's character says "I think we are going to get whacked off". He replies "I think we might get bumped off, but I doubt we will get whacked off". I asked her if she whacks off. She said no and blushed and curled her chin into her neck in her "I am embarrassed" body position. I said in a laughing tone of voice "maybe you should". I should have thanked her for sharing.

When you can see it coming, duck!<|endoftext|>Pandora’s box

Separatism, secession, irredentism - all in the name of nationalism - are responsible for an ever-growing fragmentation of existing nation-states. Where once unification was seen as a step forward guaranteeing international status, now we are witnessing a reverse process which is a threat to peace around the world. And most often it is a cover for economic interests.
by Pascal Boniface

Last year’s nuclear tests in India and Pakistan have focused world attention on the problem of nuclear proliferation. But the proliferation of states is potentially an even more serious threat to international stability.

All over the world, countries are fragmenting. It’s a trend that goes beyond North-South and East-West divides (1). The Soviet Union and former Yugoslavia are particularly dramatic examples, but the trend is general - look at Quebec, Sri Lanka, China, the United Kingdom. The same thing is happening in Africa too, where colonial borders, retained for reasons of practicality, started to be redrawn with the recognition of Eritrea in 1993. Change could be on the way as a result of ethnic and political tensions in Somalia, Senegal, Angola, Congo, Liberia, Djibouti and a dozen other states.

In the next few years we are likely to see more new states. Even countries noted for their cohesion will not be immune. For instance, China, with its huge population, could turn out to be less monolithic than it appears. For years its out